british am and irish am

good first round in british am was undone by two double bogeys in my first seven holes at muirfield. although there was three birdies in there also! Had to chase on the back nine due to the low cut and when you are trying to force the issue around a british open venue things can only get worse! thats pretty much how my golf is right now. very inconsistent. lots of brilliance and a few horrific shots. ive been playing the last while with a downswing way too  much on the inside which is causing the inconsistency. i now have a few weeks off to address this and get the downswing on a straighter path. was just a bad time in the season for this swing flaw to show up but plenty of big tournaments left to win before the seasons out.  Qualified in the irish am and won one match but played terribly in the next round and was beaten. looking forward to some heavy sessions in the gym now on my few weeks off.

Also a few people have been mailing me about my stats guy. His name is Graeme Leslie and the statistic service he offers is top class. check out his website www.golfdatalab.com   drop him a mail and tell him i sent you and he will look after you.

onwards and upwards

East

Baltray was in fine condition as always for this years championship and congrats to Cian for his  win. He has been knocking on the door for his maiden win so it was well deserved. Was great to see my leinster foursomes partner des morgan challenge for the title also. His day will surely come also.

A top twenty for me which is probably about right for how i played. Round one i played very solid golf hitting all but two of the greens and i only missed a few fairways. Holed a couple of nice putts for par but nothing of note for birdie.

Looking at my stats for round one most of my approach shots were all within holeable range and i think if i had of come into the tournament with a little more confidence this 71 may have been a 66 and a great start.

I hit too many bad shots in round two and even though i  was terribly unlucky with my side of the draw as we got soaked for most of the round its no excuse for a few of the bad shots i hit. It was a good 76 in the end as i hit some shocking shots on the back nine. Couldnt believe how low the cut was but in fairness the rain cleared and it was perfect scoring conditions in the afternoon. This is where you need a little luck with the draw and this week i didnt get it. But it evens itself out over the season.

Didnt play great in the third round either but managed to putt well and another 71. Played really well in the last round and could have been five under after five with five makeable birdie putts just grazing the edges. A flyer over the green 16 from 132yds  and two bad lies in bunkers on 17 and 18 and i was four over par from nowhere. This is why golf drives grown men to late night bars.

I was proud of myself for playing the back nine in 2 under in the freshening wind and rain to shoot 74 which was the worst it could have been. Lots of positives from the week taken on board. I am  starting to putt well again as my stats showed and there  a lot of postives there in the numbers. Having three putted once a round on average all season it was pleasing to only have one all week and that was a mental error. My iron play was very good and its definitely the strongest part of my game. So hopefully this is my season turning round after a horrible start. British amateur next week in muirfield which im really looking forward to.

Hello June

Thank god june has arrived as may was a disaster! I didnt play well in lytham. First round in Royal dublin was a disaster too with high winds. I found out in this round that the new Penta ball is terrible in the wind! Went back to the Pro V1x for the second round and played a lot better even after a 7 on the first. Welsh Amateur followed in Royal St Davids which is a gem of a place. Played a lot better but putted terrible on the slow bumpy greens. Since then been working on a problem in my swing that was causing some bad shots and im happy that the problem has been sorted. Starting to putt really well again too so hopefully the corner has been turned and can get put some good rounds together. Its almost like i need one good round to kick start the season so this weekends East of Ireland would be the best place for that to happen.