NSU Shark Invitational

After a kick up the arse from Coach Marsh, we set about preparing as best we could for our home tournament at PGA National Golf course. I personally practised hard before the tournament trying to figure out what went wrong with my swing at the end of Yale and trying to develop some confidence on the greens. I had a session on the Sam Putt Lab, which indicated my putting had a lot of work to be done. I needed to create a better setup position, as it was very closed in relation to my target. Also the tempo of my stroke was very inconsistent, and so coach threw me the Metronome and said get to work.

By the time PGA came about i felt good about my chances. I played a good first round but finished with 3 bogeys for a 75 which was disappointing. The next 18 straight away was a shock to the system as i had never walked 36 holes carrying a bag before, i felt very sluggish and unmotivated to get the job done, i didn't putt very well and scored 77. As a team we lied 4th after 2 rounds, a promising position 8 shots, back, individually i was 42nd, very disappointing. However i took this as more of a positive because i realized that my Cardio training and nutrition had all of sudden become vital to performing well in college golf tournaments.

The last round got under way and after being 7 over thru my first 12 holes, i decided that i could actually play the game finishing with 4 birdies in my last 5, each of them i didnt even have to putt they were so close to the hole. A closing 76, for a 32nd position wasn't the greatest outcome, but there were a lot of positives out of the week, learning that with my game being poor i could still get it around a very tough golf course.

The team did great finishing with a closing round of 289 (-1), unfortunately we lost to Lynn by one shot! But some great positives from the week and its a shame we couldn't have had a chance to play them in a playoff.

A few things to improve for next time

Stick with Left below right putting

Cardio off course training and Nutrition whilst competing

Better practise habits for the next tournament

Yale

We arrived yesterday after 2 flights from Fort Lauderdale and an hour drive to Yale in Conneticut. The weather was terrible cold, windy and rainy. I thought we had flown back to England.

We arrived and went straight to the golf course. I couldnt believe how much this place is like being at home. The lush green fws and greenside rough reminded me so much of Wentworth. We did some putting work, mainly speed, the greens here are slow bumpy and slopey so just like England.

The practise round unfortunately got cancelled because of the poor weather, so we decided to go explore the town of Yale. We visited a burger place were the Ham Burger was invented! Then onto a surprise our coach had setup for us, a tour of ESPN's studios!!!!!

ESPN was great, we had a tour of the whole facility, looking at the number of different studios they film the sports shows on a real treat.

Onto the tournament, after never playing the course for a practice round we headed onto the first tee with no expectations. I proceeded to play some nice golf for a score of 71, along with 2 other 71s from the two americans and a 72 from Jack Bartlett put us in a tie for 2nd after day 1. We then headed out to a nice italian restaurant in the middle of Yale.

The next day the conditions were freezing and tough for us all to handle as we are used 25 degrees and sunny every day. We all proceeded to play awfully in the wind and rain and ended up finishing 7th a terrible finish for us. I shot a closing round 78 to finish around 25th, a very disappointing finish, i just didn't have it with me that day and was unable to post a good score.

We headed back to campus on 2 flights from Connecticut, on the way back we discussed what are goals should be for the next tournament which would be our tournament at PGA NATIONAL

Tournament Prerparation for West Florida

We begin this week preparing for our opening tournament in Pensicola which is in the North West of Florida. The tournament is hosted by the University of West Florida and will contain 8 of the top 10 Division II schools, ranked before the season. At Nova we are ranked 3rd in the Nation for Division II, If we were to win the first tournament beginning Monday we will go to the the number team in the USA, which is very exciting and motivates me to perform well.

As for preparation, I took my stats from the last 6 qualifying rounds. The stats proved how much i had improved in some key areas, my Driving Accuracy was averaging 70% of Fws hit which is a great bonus. The biggest improvement was seen in my short game, every round i was averaging at least 50 percent scrambling stats. The biggest improvements however must come from 3 areas, Iron play hitting more greens, Bunker play and Putting. If i do these things better at W Florida i will have a great tournament.

On the Mental side of things, Im currently trying to create a practice plan with my coach in order to get the most of my practice. I want to make practice as difficult as possible so then when i get out onto the course it seems easy. Other areas include my Pre Shot Routine, and acceptance of bad shots

I also had some advice with my swing coach Hugh Marr, iv added some videos of my swing below

Nova Southeastern

I arrived here at Nova on August the 19th. I chose Nova because its a great business school, blended with a great golf program. Since being here i have finished qualifying rounds for the first 2 tournaments which are at W Florida and Yale. The qualifying was over 6 rounds of golf at Grande Oaks golf club in Fort Lauderdale and Emerald Hills in South Florida. Grande Oaks is a great traditional course with tight fairways and a lot of water hazards. Emerald Hills is by far the toughest course i have ever played. It holds regional qualifying for the US Open and around par usually qualifies. Measuring 7450 yards of the tips, we play number 8 a par 4 at 520 yards into wind with no roll on these soft fairways, its safe to say if u make 4 it feels like an birdie. With the climate were getting at the moment Drives are more likely to get backspin than wedges.

Anyway my scores at grande oaks were 77 (6 over) and 68 (3 under) the second round i played decent but excelled with my short game converting 7/8 miss greens and having just 26 putts a HUGE step in the right direction. Now onto 4 rounds at Emerald Hills, the HARDEST Course in South Florida. I was buzzing and felt so confident after my 68. I fired a 77 (5 over) off the back tees in the rain. I played rubbish but put a steady score on the board. Emerald off the tips can make you feel like you played bad when you didn't.

Next onto more hell at Emerald next round i fired 77, then 76, then 75 a great finish placing me 4th overall with one round at PGA National which holds the Honda Classic.

I started just awful in the last qualifying round, ripping it 270 with a 3 wood off the first tee, i had 110 into the green, i chipped a sand wedge 30 yards long into the water, not the best start. Despite going to 4 over par through 5 holes, i played the last 13 holes in -1 which was great news and meant i qualified 3rd in the team. Some great play meant i was going to the first 2 tournaments.

PGA NATIONAL

This course holds the Honda Classic in March of the FL swing on the PGA. We are playing our Home tournament here on the 10th October which is very exciting.