Well that’s that then!

I haven’t blogged for what seems like eternity. So many things have taken over my life over the last 6-9 months that I just don’t seem to be able to find the time to do much else other than work, be a father….don’t worry, I’m still playing my weekly round of golf! I’ve started up a new business which will hopefully take me away from the property rentals industry, something I have lost all passion for in the last few years and no doubt a big contributor to my mental state. Setting up the new business has been a huge task but I’m thankful that I have had some help from family members which has relieved some of the burden, although I must admit, sometimes it felt like I was doing it all by myself. At last though, it’s all done and it’s just a case of building up my clientele and getting the brand out there to the masses around North Essex.

You don’t have to be fit to play golf…..do you?? (Part 2)

As I was frequently visiting the gym and doing a variety of weights and cardio exercises, I felt like I was getting back in shape and that all Liam would find is that actually I’m a pretty fit person. I was still intrigued to see what he could do for me and see if maybe if my body is holding me back in any way. Personally I didn’t think it was too much, OK, maybe the gut could do with being a bit smaller but in time that would reduce in size. At the end of the day, all you’re doing is swinging a golf club, do you really need to be that fit? Does it really matter all that much? As I said in part 1, I had nothing to lose in trying it out so I anxiously went along to our planned session at the clubs gym.

You don’t have to be fit to play golf…..do you?? (Part 1)

So, those who know me, will know that up until I joined my current golf club, The Essex Golf & Country Club, I was never really bothered about fitness and definitely never paid attention to what went into my body. I’ve never been a picky eater, well, not since I was a child anyway, I’d eat anything from full English breakfasts to triple burgers and large pizza’s. Four of five years ago, if you came to my house at around 9pm, I guarantee you, you’d find me slouched on my sofa playing Xbox, polishing off 2 litres of Dr Pepper an industrial sized bag of Thai Sweet Chilli crisps and a big bag of Maltesers thrown in for good measure. I smoked roughly a pack a day, every day, and didn’t really care what damage I was doing to myself, I was just enjoying life the way I wanted to. Just writing about it now makes me feel a little disgusted in my old self…..but also a little jealous!

YouTubers

With work once again hitting a bit of a quiet period, my attention turns to keeping myself occupied, time to sit down and write. Blogging takes time, it’s an enjoyable process but you always need something to write about, something interesting that you think will engage your audience and keep them reading to the end. When it comes to golf, there isn’t a lot that hasn’t already been said. I’ve read hundreds of articles and blogs over the years and part of the challenge is keeping things fresh for anyone who does stumble across my blog. One thing I’ve not seen before, although I’m sure there is someone out there who has done something similar before is to review the “Big Boys” in the world of YouTubers! So here are my thoughts on the guys that are taking the Golfing world by storm on YouTube.

Blog 11: Celtic Manor 2016 – GPT

At the beginning of the year an advert popped up on my Facebook page informing me of the “Mizuno Golf Pairs Tour”, intrigued I followed the link to see what it was all about. Usually the MGPT events are played over the course of a few days with the winners/runners up getting to a grand final somewhere else in the country with a chance to win some good prizes. Despite my desires to play in competitions like that, my lifestyle and bank balance don’t really allow me to participate in them, they’ll either be pretty expensive once you take into account travel, hotels & food etc but also, I have a wife and two young kids who take up a lot of my free time. However, the advert on my Facebook wasn’t advertising a 4 day event, this time they had spaces available for a one day event, played on the 2010 at Celtic Manor, a course I’d played once before a couple of years ago and had a bit of an obsession with the place ever since.

Blog 10: The Majors!

The golfing calendar for players and viewers alike revolves around four events called “The Majors”. If you ask any player on any of the professional tours, what their main ambition for the career is, it would be to win one of the major championships. Whether it be to win a green jacket at Augusta or to lift one of the most famous trophies in all of sport, the Claret Jug, the honour and prize pot that these tournaments bring to their victors is beyond huge and can lift them to stratospheric fame within the world of Golf. You’ll often see interviews with players, generally during the week of a major where they’ll be asked what it means to them to win a major trophy, I can almost guarantee you they’ll say something along the lines of “It’s what you dream of as a kid”, which is true, after all, you wouldn’t be a very ambitious or imaginative child if you were sinking a putt on your lounge carpet to win the Pebble Beach Pro-Am! It’s always got to be the winning putt on the 18^th at St Andrews or Augusta. But, of all the 4 majors, which is the best one?

Blog 9: Slow play is all the rage! (Part 2)

My old playing partner, Gary, left The Essex because of the time it was taking out of his day to play a round. He’d like to get out relatively early so would aim to hit the range to warm up at around 7am. He’d make his way to the first tee (always last minute!) for his tee time at around 8am and go out for his round, most of the time with me. If we were looking at a 4.5-5 hour round then we weren’t walking off the 18^th green until 12:30-1pm. In the early days we’d head up to the bar for a coffee afterwards, or an overpriced bottle of London Pride (private joke), then he’d head home at 2-2:30pm, probably walking in the door at around 3pm. As time went on, he turned into a bit of a “car park golfer” (someone who doesn’t go to the bar after a round and goes straight home) purely because he wanted to get home as quickly as possible to see his family, which was understandable as he works in London and doesn’t get home till late most nights during the week. It was disappointing for me, I enjoyed watching the footy and having a drink in the bar but wasn’t too enthusiastic about heading up there on my own, so would normally go home as well. He’s since left and joined a club closer to his home, whether or not it’s any quicker, I don’t know, but I don’t blame him for leaving.

Blog 9: Slow play is all the rage! (Part 1)

What is it with the media and slow play at the moment? Everywhere I look there seems to be articles or people discussing slow play out on the course. It’s suddenly a hot topic that everyone has an opinion on, even the Pinseekerz guys have started up a “Slow Play” feature on their app to try and speed clubs up around the world, with various incentives available to members. Slow play is something that effects everyone at some point during their golfing career, but I’ve never known there to be so much fuss about it until now.

Blog 8 – Clique Cliquety Clique (Part 2)

So, I managed to get an invite to play but despite that I was still greeted with “Who are you?” and “Who invited you?” didn’t really get myself and the organizer off to the best possible start as that immediately made me feel like I wasn’t welcome. The “banter” in the clubhouse before the round was quite personal to the group so I sat there and struggled to get involved with the conversation….felt a little out of place if I’m honest. Despite a shaky start when paying my £4 entry fee, I did rather enjoyed myself, I played pretty well and as I knew a few of the guys in the group, I was able to have a good laugh out on the course, for the most part, but I never really felt like I was part of the group, but it was my first outing so that was to be expected. At the time, I thought it might be the start of a new golfing venture so I wanted to make an effort to impress and get invited back. Due to the bar prices at the club being quite high, they always finished their golf and went down the road to a local pub who would lay on some free nibbles for them. I followed them down there and stayed for a couple of hours, brought a round of drinks and did everything possible to include myself, but found it quite difficult. I definitely would have given it another go if I’d stayed at Forrester Park but found myself moving to The Essex not long after.