Tournaments, travelling, taking time away from golf, and learning what it takes to play my best – with Rosie Belsham
When I sat down to write my column for this edition, I wasn’t sure what to write about. I’ve just finished a few weeks off so it’s been fairly quiet lately, but a lot happened in the four-week stretch before my break.
I started in England, where my golf was good in places but a little untidy. I then went to Dublin, where I simply didn’t play well. It was just one of those weeks and, honestly, I don’t mind that – I’d much rather not play well than come away with lots of ifs and buts.
I then had four days at home and worked hard on some weaknesses in my game. I took those improvements to Denmark, where we were greeted with some true Scandinavian weather. We were happiest on the days it was only blowing at a steady 30mph and wasn’t raining! Despite the conditions, I played really well and it was great to see things starting to come together. A top 20 finish was a positive result and gave me some confidence going into the following week. That was in Slovakia, where it was sunny with temperatures over 30°C. After finally seeing some good scores and feeling like my game was coming together, I put more pressure on myself as I was trying to hold onto that feeling. My golf became nervy and, as lots of you will know, you can’t play your best golf in that place. I ended up having a disappointing end to what had otherwise been a pretty positive four weeks.
Since then, I’ve been enjoying some time off. I didn’t play golf at all for the first week to let my body recover and reset. After that, it was full steam ahead.
I decided I needed to be much more specific and focused with my practice, particularly my long-game. I’ve worked with Jonathan Levey on my putting for around 18 months, and that has gone from being a weaker part of my game to a big strength. I needed to apply those principles to my long-game, particularly checking my technique with my coach more regularly.
I’m now feeling much more confident and comfortable with my long-game, and I’m excited to take that into the next part of the season.
I also had the chance to watch a lot of the Solheim Cup during the break. I’ve played with some of the European girls and it was lovely to see them win. It also reminded me that I can do that too. Playing in a Solheim Cup is a dream I’ve had for a long time, and I can’t wait to do it one day.
I have four tournaments over the next eight weeks in the build-up to Ladies European Tour Qualifying School in Morocco in December. I’ll be using those events to hone my game and make sure I’m ready.
Finally, one thing which all professional golfers understand is that there is a lot of time around your round on tournament days. You have to find something you enjoy to fill those hours, or it can become very boring and tiring. I love running and going to the gym, and over the past couple of months I’ve realised that doing either of those before an afternoon tee time makes me much more ready to play. I feel more awake and able to concentrate, rather than feeling like I’ve just woken up from a rubbish night’s sleep and being slow to get going.
It might not be the most ideal thing to do as it uses some energy, but I’ve found that a light session improves my golf a lot. Playing professionally is all about finding what works for you – even if it isn’t necessarily what you’d expect.
