I almost quit…my first pro event of the year

In episode 3 of Quest For The Open, I launch my own golf tour series! Here’s how I got on in the first event…

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this time on Quest for the open I nearly quit it was dty I thought about it play great at the event I’m hosting and remember what episode we’re [Music] on P hit the golf ball comfortably well enough to play professional golf at the highest level I’d be happy to hit the ball as well as Pete hit it today I I think you’re pretty good well I mean how cool is that U if that doesn’t inspire me then I really don’t know what will fortunately I have many competitions coming up in which to prove my game and get ready for open qualifying today further rainfall on the cars some heavy some persistent this is not worked out as we had planned uh the UK has been rained on constantly since October last year which has led to courses being decimated and competitions I was hoping to play canel however along with the PGA of Lancashire we’ve managed to organize five Quest miniseries events leading up to June these are events that we are sponsoring we’re putting up money for the first prize and just trying to get as many really good local Pros playing as possible the first one is here at Fleetwood Golf Club and I literally cannot wait to play however I am nervous Simon at the PJ langa has organized these events but I’ve put the money forward I’m doing something which is not very comfortable it’s something which I’ve not done before like this and anytime you do something new it’s always going to feel weird honestly like what if I have a shocker like what if I play really badly what if I just embarrass myself you know what it’ll be fine it’ll be fine it’ll be uh it’ll be fine and this video is brought to you by my very good friends at shot scope the best distant measuring device company in the world and with them in this video we have a giveaway to announce for a new V5 watch and to be in with a chance of winning that make sure you like this video and be a subscriber to the channel and stay tuned because later in this video I am going to be using the shot scope data to analyze my round and explain exactly what went right and most likely what went arai [Music] [Music] that [Music] [Music] [Music] is woo that could have gone anywhere anywhere in the [Music] worldo hell yeah I just got standing water and mud right 48 y into [Music] [Music] wind we’re at Fleetwood now as you will notice there I just held onto my back it is subsequently come to light that my perap forus was in spasm and that is a muscle or something I wasn’t quite clear just above my glutos Maximus on the right hand side which was impinging onto my sciatic which is a big ass nerve which was causing my leg to feel like it had small electric volts going down it for the rest of the round so that was fun it’s not quite TPC myle beach however it wasn’t actually affecting my swing so that’s fine but also I believe it came on because I didn’t get to the golf course in time so even though I managed to start okay the actual buildup to this event we were late kind of leaving Manchester there was traffic it took ages to get there so I only arrived with about 20 minutes to spare until my tea time for the first 18-hole comp of the year of an event that I’ve kind of sponsored that I really wanted to do well at the preparation was not ideal that was a very nice K that was that was an exceptional kit I think that’s a a sign and a really good reminder for all these events going forward that I just need to make sure that I’m fully prepared I’m fully ready and I’m I’m on point as I tee off because there was no doubt that during these first few holes I was just trying to find like my swing I was trying to find a feeling and I wasn’t quite sure where that ball was going to go fortunately I might to hit some decent shots but it wasn’t ideal and a definite reminder about being better prepared all it [Music] went big so a note to self more of a reminder make sure you get there early talk to myself in a third person make sure you warm up and make sure that you are fully mentally prepared to play WoW nothing’s are given today point [Music] hold oh hello caught in a wee bit of a scarifier there [Music] absolutely sh myself over 18 in whack for [Music] [Music] go wow no no I’m like I should have I should have learned from yours but the more I’m look at it the more I’m like well it has to a bit [Music] [Music] [Music] now as we continue throughout the round this may become a running theme as you can see here my drive on the fifth when a stop about 382 yards now yes it was downwind yes the Fairway was a little bit dry where it landed but still 382 SCH smackaroos is not too bad but I only had a love W remaining and because the greens really firm because it was slightly downwind I was trying to land it at the front and it just came up short and then this led to a three put it led to a bogey after being only 70 yards away from the stroke index one par 4 that is just not good enough and it shows again that I need to work on that part of my game my swing is looking all right I’ve got decent distance control over most of my clubs but actually out there in the elements having control over where I’m landing my wedges is absolutely key and these are the types of conditions I could be playing in in open qualifying you know they links courses they are bound by the difficulty of the wind and the conditions I’m not going to be guaranteed to have nice predictable weather it could be blowing at 30 mph it could be absolutely smashing down with rain I need to make sure that I’m preparing myself for these types of events so you know being out there even though the conditions weren’t ideal and stay tuned because they’re going to get worse it’s good preparation let’s look at it that way l don’t [Music] [Music] it’s [Music] [Music] 88 from 102 pen wind down here half a 54 [Music] go go a what a line yeah sit down well not the draw chunk and run yes jeez cheers wow day I didn’t I fa that was brutal might you help me out on the end with that line all right some gable holes coming up hold it yeah sure on that one not sure fortunately that is uh abouts back all right so T want to give away any R is it there so that’s going to be the line oh wow if you can feel the pain and the disappointment coming through the screen to wherever you are watching this in the world then that is an accurate representation of how absolutely gutty did and heartbroken I felt at this moment I’m getting into a scorable section of the golf course and I’ve just hit a t- shot out of bounds and I’ve hit my second t- shot my third off the te into a bush and I’ve had to take a drop now I must admit at this point my head was a little bit scrambled uh and as you can see with this iron shot which was meant to be a layup I almost hooked this out of bounds as well it was actually quite near where Park car and at that point I will not lie to you it did Flash through my cerebrals that I should maybe just walk in and just not kind of continue with this round because it was I was right on the edge I was right on the edge of my comfort level and really this this feeling and this this nonsense in many respect about trying to not embarrass myself when I’m out on the golf course you know this event and filming these things things it was all just getting a little bit a little bit on top I just felt it kind of rising in my chest somewhat um actually okay shot onto the green s sketchy tput kind of wiggled a bit at the end with my parp put here the this anxiety that was feeling it carried on to the next hole as well which is a par five going into the back nine should be able to attack now I knew from my notes beforehand my preparation notes that there was a lot of room on the left hand side side where I could miss however as the weather is warming up the grass is growing a little bit and it’s a lot thicker over that side than I thought so we couldn’t actually find the ball to begin with and yet again I was feeling gutted I was feeling absolutely devastated was walking back to the tea um we’d only been looking for it for about a couple of minutes and then I thought well I’ll run back to the tea let the guys carry on searching fortunately they found it as I was halfway back there so then I had to run back and my heart rate was going I just wasn’t focused and managed to hit a wedge up there but again poor approach it was just again getting a little bit on top of me I wasn’t heeding the advice that podre was giving me about you know taking it literally one shot at a time not worrying about the results just focusing on the process and then letting the result be what it may um which is again easier said than done but I wasn’t able to do it in that little time period and to drop four shots over two holes both of which fives is not ideal come on let it slip well uh this is a coastal golf course in the United Kingdom and the weather turned slightly foul it had been pretty Grim all day so it been like raining on and off obviously the wind had been really strong but now the rain started to come down a lot heavier as a Brit and specifically as an Englishman we have very very very many different variations of rain that cannot be understated the raindrops that were coming down at Fleetwood they were really really fat they were fat and when they hit you they kind of hurt because they were being pelted along at near 40 m hour by this point so it was a bit grim and to battle through this section and only drop one shot was actually not too bad however it also calmed me down and it set me up for a little bit of a bounce back J oh on you yes yeah you you might send a helicopter take off at Fleetwood if that is that the first one 60 yards we Landing the shore 3/4 wedge Jordan’s ball just let it draw I fasted that so badly I always I always thinking this like it’s very very very very very rare you hit a good fat shot I think I might just hit the first the first good fat shot in history though that was awful that was truly pent well you know what a bit of Lu why not why not come on talk to trolley not you guys you guys just chill it’s fine don’t worry about turn God good what performance ah right here we go come on two good driv got wind move he hurricane after seven mon right into the wind for you owe me it was about that time I actually learn of the score that was leading which was two under by Phil Kelly it goes to show and you’ll see the lead board at the end here that out of all these Pros no one actually broke 70 around the 6,300 Y golf course so shows what the conditions were actually like and how tough they were a trudge the Walk of a weary man who has nothing left but the will to go on terrible and we did get the rough end of the draw there’s no doubt about that going off last we got the worst of the weather so I do need to take that into the account that’s not making excuses that’s just how it was so actually that little bounce back to restore a little bit of Pride it it made me feel a lot more positive about the day and this chip this made me feel very good about myself wow that Li was hor this as well sheh [Music] [Music] oh fell in love it fell in love with the one I thought I like that’s like the hardest round I’ve played in that’s the hardest round of golf I’ve played in years that was so hard The only positive the literally The only positive is I didn’t literally just walk in off the course after the ninth CU it was tempting it was tempting I thought about it but we carried on we made it through you got some birdies out there a couple shattered I’m absolutely kned need soup now I need soup and coffee so let’s have a look at some of the stats from the round which as mentioned might one of the hardest I’ve ever played in kind of competition conditions this really shows a little bit about what the conditions were like so this is my performance average on the round at Fleetwood now my average drive here was 337 yards so that’s kind of like literally number one on the PJ tour however I think we’ll probably put that down to some of the drives being about 50 mph downwind so yeah let’s put that in context and then when you compare it to my eigh line average distance of 138 yards which is normally 175 you get an idea of what we were dealing with so sometimes you have to look at Stats and understand the conditions that you played them in so what I’ve done here is I’ve combined all my competitive rounds of 2024 now this is wherever I’ve had a scorecard in my hands for 18 holes so the scratch gol for series The competitions the Queue at Myrtle Beach all this is in the 2024 competitive 18 rounds and you can see here a stros gain which is a comparison uh against a scratch Baseline I’m gaining 1.97 Strokes on my t-shots against that scratch golf of Baseline now that’s excellent that’s really good that shows me that I’m actually hitting it off the te really well especially with the driver and even against a tall player that’s 0.14 shots lost so I’m practically hitting it as good as an okay Toro off the T which is great you know hitting out of bounds aside but that’s a real positive with the driver my Approach play again this is the weakness losing almost 1.2 Strokes now there’s things I’m doing within my swing which I’m working on which I’m grafting on but realistically especially at Fleetwood I should have hit a lot more green so I was put myself in good positions it was just not understanding yardages not understanding winds not understanding where to land it properly and I think there’s a couple of things that I learned from that first of all I do know my yardages but these are all new golf clubs and a new golf ball moving into this season it’s going to take me time to adjust I need to get out on the course more and actually understand not what I’m doing in the studio but what I’m doing out on the course so yes I need to work on my technique yes I need to grind and get better but actually being on the golf course and understanding how that translates into a real world scenario is what I need to do more of but it also means that throughout this year during these competitive rounds I’ve not actually shot on the par I have had quite literally a glut a litany a a plethora of rounds at about level and one over but not getting under par now that obviously needs to change and I’m confident that we’re going to be able to do that but again what has really come through with this that in competitive round I do need to improve my mental game and I know it doesn’t seem like it with this round but generally I actually feel that it’s getting better like I’ve stabilized a lot I think just going out of bounds was a real test there and even though I didn’t bounce back as quickly as I wanted to you know there were some pretty dark thoughts going on there for half an hour or so came through it not too unscathed not too unscathed so yes it’s something that I need to keep working on and I will continue to do so now we also mentioned about the chance to win a new shot scope V5 five watch now to do so simply follow these instructions we’re going to be doing the giveaway on social so if you’re not following us on these platforms make sure you hop over there now so there’s a few more things ticked off the qual graph what I need to do to try and qualify for the open and if you do want to check out the rest of the series that’s been going on so far in 2024 you can hit the links here