Well, I’ve had a week!!
After leaving it alone from Monday to Wednesday, on Thursday I headed up to Felixstowe for my lesson with Sam. We did a little swing work, but really, with two events in the following three days, it was more a check in and a chat about some strategy for the events and what good would look like.
I have committed to having a lesson every month this year, but for me, that doesn’t mean making big bold changes to my swing every month. Sometimes it turns into some structured supervised practice with some pressure drills or games thrown in.
Recently I had been playing with the pause at the top of my swing, but this has now done its job of shortening the backswing and I can now safely go back to a more fluid swing – with it naturally stopping where I want it to, rather than crossing the line at the top.
With my trip to St Annes coming up, we used the conditions to hit every iron in my bag at a target. With this particular wind on the range into and off the right we worked on starting the ball right of target and letting it drift back in, starting with my wedge and working up to the 4 iron, I safely hit the target with all but my 6 and 4 irons, missing those two to the left of the target. Good fun drills though to try and create a bit of pressure and focus.
The Amateur Golf Events Little Aston Pairs Event Was Great
Friday was the Amateur Golf Events Little Aston Pairs that I had entered with my friend Chris.
Let’s talk about the course first. Little Aston has been on my radar for a while – as have many others – and I was suitably impressed. As a venue it is tucked in a rather affluent feeling housing estate and private roads leading in, for anyone that has been, it gave me Wentworth vibes.
The clubhouse and changing rooms were great and all the staff on site were happy to guide and assist.
The course matched my impression. The amazing putting green seems to slope around forever (I didn’t have time to see it all but assume there were 18 holes) as almost a mini golf course. The layout was great with a mixture of tree-lined fairways and heather as well as some challenging bunkers and water on a fair few holes too. There were also some great undulations to the course offering some spectacular views from some tee boxes.
The course, as many others are I’m sure, was fairly dry so plenty of roll was on offer and some extremely firm greens were tough to hold in places. Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The event itself was excellently run. It’s a tough gig trying to get 160 golfers (80 pairs) out onto a golf course and keep them moving. The guys from Amateur Golf Events did a fantastic job of hosting. Due to there being so many people there is no waiting around at the end for prizes, everything is posted out and I already had an email with results before I had arrived at my hotel in Lytham – where I was staying for the next two nights. Worth noting that for an ‘Open Pairs Better Ball event’ the scoring wasn’t too silly, which I was pleasantly surprised to see. Two pairs came in with 45 points as a winning score. We were only 10 points off the lead…
If you would like to know more about Amateur Golf Events – who have numerous venues coming up this summer – please click here.
Playing in The Old Links Trophy at St Annes Old Links
I then jumped in my car and headed even further north. Destination Lytham in readiness for the Old Links Trophy at St Annes Old Links on Sunday.
I had a free day Saturday and duly found out that the Lytham Trophy was being held at the newly announced host of the 2028 Open, Royal Lytham. As luck would have it, it’s a short journey from my hotel so off I went to watch some of the best young amateurs in the world. I had a good few hours at Lytham St Annes and met the current ladies captain who was super keen to tell me about some of the changes to the course and what goes into some of these events. We had a great chat for an hour or so about all things golf, Lytham, the Open and it was so refreshing to have that time with someone who is so passionate about this wonderful place. It’s going to be a great year for her personally as Lytham is also hosting the Women’s Open later this year. If you find this weekly column, again all the best for the coming year and thanks for the hospitality.
The golf itself was also very impressive, but I expected nothing less to be honest.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the same welcome at St Annes Old Links on Saturday afternoon when I popped over to buy a course guide ready for Sunday – didn’t have any. Do some chipping and putting – wasn’t allowed. And hit some balls – range is for members only. Never mind, back at the hotel I went to watch the football.
Sunday – the day of my first big event for 2026. And wouldn’t you know it, after weeks of no sun and dry weather, it’s raining. I had an 8:10am tee time off the 1st hole – second group out – so I wanted to arrive around 7:15 to give myself a chance to hit some balls and roll the putts I wasn’t able to do the day before.
Luckily the rain only lasted for the first four or five holes, but by that point I had already managed to shoot myself out of the whole thing to be honest. I was so disappointed with how I started – being +11 after seven holes. Snap hooking both driver and mini driver, finding a bunker on six of the first nine holes. It was basically car crash golf. I managed to dig in and finish the first round +13 and I think that’s the positive I will hang onto. That and my putting. On some tricky greens I putted very well.
The second round was better, but a few dropped shots in the last six or seven holes left me with a second round 80 (+8).
When I look at the leaderboard, in a field of 72 players, I was 37th net and 25th gross. I had a look up and down and saw some better golfers shooting a lot higher numbers, so I can also take solace from the fact that I wasn’t the only one who struggled with St Annes’ penal bunkers and the wet thick, rough.
But after a clear stress-free journey home, it’s a weekend that I will remember fondly, some great golf, great laughs and I enjoyed it enough to maybe think about heading back next year and have another crack.
One side note, my Cam Young/Sepp Straka EW bets this week left me with £100 profit, so it’s not all doom and gloom…
Matt Holbrook is a long-serving Golfshake ambassador known for his course features, opinion pieces, and product reviews. A dedicated golfer from Suffolk, he is an active member of Stowmarket and Felixstowe Ferry Golf Clubs and frequently travels to play in open competitions. With hundreds of rounds logged through Golfshake, Matt is committed to continuous improvement and enjoys sharing insights from his experiences on and off the course.