It may only be early in the season, but I’ve learned so much already and I’m improving all the time, writes Rosie Belsham
I‘ve managed a bit more routine in the weeks since my last column, with a schedule that’s allowed me to spend a week away then a week at home pretty consistently. As much as the back and forth is tiring, I’ve been grateful for the time at home to learn and improve between events.
After each round, I look at what has been good and what’s not so good and I’ve been looking to change those bits ready for the busy part of the season. I can sometimes struggle for confidence on the course too, so I always highlight what was good in the last event and put that to the test in my practice before I identify the weaker parts and what can be done to improve them.
In my first event in Morocco, I fought so hard to make the cut after a weak first day. I highlighted my gameplan was the problem on day one as I hit good shots with results that weren’t as great. After a couple of adjustments, I had one of the low rounds of day two.
Professional caddies can be so helpful when developing gameplans and focusing on clear targets for every shot – not necessarily just the flag all the time. Being able to commit to targets and hit them gives me a lot of confidence. Right now, a full-time caddy is a cost I simply can’t afford, so I am learning as much as I can myself and figuring out how to have a high quality gameplan for every shot.
When I reflected on the event in Morocco, the change I made had clearly worked and I took that into the first round of the next event in Portugal. I played some of the best golf I have in a long time in the first round but couldn’t buy a putt. After a lot of post-round putting practice, my tee shots left me on day two and I missed the cut by one shot. That’s got to be the worst feeling in golf! I would rather play horrifically and accept it was a bad week than feel so close to being really good and miss out on a chance to take on the course again by one shot.
After a couple of days of reflection, I was back to the quest to get better. Using a launch monitor and being able to drill down into the figures has become so valuable in the last few years. During my time at home, I focused on understanding why my driver was wayward. While my strength and speed work in the gym has improved my swing speed, a faster swing which was not quite on plane resulted in some wayward drives which were accentuated by higher spin numbers. I have worked hard to correct both issues, and a testing session with the team at PING led me to swap into a stiffer driver shaft and different head – resulting in less spin and more length off the tee. I also worked with my coach to correct a slightly out to in path.
I am excited to see what the change in equipment does to my scores as I head back out on tour for four events back-to-back. Let’s see what I can learn about the process, myself, and golf these next few weeks.
