The Road to Alwoodley – Week 8: And relax
Preparing for the Brabazon Trophy: Week 4
Tuesday April 23
Buoyed by my efforts at Ganton, I am in the gym at 6am, and on the range by 7.45. I have a lesson in the evening for two hours.
Jack seems to have entirely given up on teaching the golf swing so we head out to the course to, quote, “get imaginative”. This starts by throwing six balls down 225 yards out into a cold wind and handing me a 4-iron.
This does not require imagination, it requires a different club.
Sometimes I think that Jack is so desperate to be a tour coach that he is more deluded about his pupil’s golf than I am. Not possible.
We discover that despite carrying a 2-iron and desperately wanting it to be my ‘go to’, I am in fact more likely to be able to play a grand piano and conclude that this is an area for improvement
I get home and make a belated attempt to arrange a game in tomorrow’s midweek Stableford. I want to play first thing and start by contacting my regular playing partner Dan, who can’t do it.
So I revert to two others who are playing already, together, without me! Or even asking me! I am devastated and embark on some kind of twisted revenge porn foray through the club diary to find other ‘friends’. I will show them. Neither of them can do it either.
So, I end up back with Dan on his terms, in the afternoon. It was ever thus.
Wednesday April 24
I start the day by creating a WhatsApp Group for potential golf partners. They won’t be getting away that easily again.
Then I go and see Tibbs to discover I am getting better at jumping.
I end the day in turmoil after playing the April Midweek Stableford with Dan.
Hit it out of bounds with a gap wedge at the 2nd. Try so hard to be resilient, and play each shot on its merits, but cannot lag putt and cannot shake the feeling that I am a muppet. Wrestle it round to the 16th dropping just one more and then proceed to pitch a 6-iron 200 yards and then it rolls under a hedge.
I attempt this recovery:
Have to say that I have overlooked the kneeling, left handed swipe in my practice schedule, here is my method:
– club selection is crucial
– how to grip it is confusing
– two goes are mandatory
– a blob will followDM me for more information pic.twitter.com/pevYQHbQ2D
— Tom Irwin (@TomIrwingolf) May 1, 2019
We decide to walk in as it is raining. I hope beyond hope that the forecast lightning either strikes me down or nulls the competition to being a non-qualifier. No joy on either front.
I round the day off with a trip to Old Trafford to watch a Manchester United team try really, really hard and be totally outclassed. I conclude this is a metaphor and barely sleep.
Thursday April 25
I’m working from the golf club all day. I start the day with a nonchalant 18 at par 18 and finish off with six holes from the Brabazon tees that go beautifully.
I speak to Karl about my prep and he concludes we are on the right track and that I shouldn’t be bothering with trifling midweek comps.
I am re-calibrated and ready to take on the ‘world’s most competitive man’ in the club’s Scratch Knockout at 7am the next day.
Friday April 26
I read with interest that Tiger needs six hours to get his body working. I conclude that getting up at 1am would be excessive so settle on stretching the night before and getting to the club at 6am so I can do a full warm up. HE IS ALREADY HERE.
I selflessly (resentfully) share the range balls I have requested to be left out and we tee off almost half an hour early. I am flustered and ill-prepared but make it to the turn 1-up due to putting slightly less worse than my oppo.
This does not last and on dewy greens I toss away hole after hole with bad chips and worse putts. I lose 3&2 and am in the office by 9.40.
I cannot really explain how badly this match affects me. I throw myself into work in the fashion of the grief-stricken and then sulk on the couch in silence while my wife packs that evening for our holiday. Infantile. Sad. Typical.
Saturday April 27
I get an email back from Karl, here is the exchange:
Hello
I have just had an absolutely dreadful experience, losing a scratch knockout.
Teed off at 6.45. Have barely hit a golf shot worthy of the name, a couple of really rank necks BUT might still have had a chance had I not either three-putted or taken three from the edge on six consecutive holes from 8 to 14 to go from 1-up to 2-down.
I am extremely worried about the effect of tension on my golf as everything had been going so well.
Please say something constructive, like “Don’t worry about it.”
Tom
—
Tom
What I would say is don’t let one round/experience define the progress you have been making.
For me the key to all of this is that the idea of ‘consistency’ is a total myth from Woods downwards.
It is a very irrational and unpredictable game and for whatever reason you were not there this morning.
Instead of ‘looking for consistency’ maybe the ultimate skill is to have a different relationship to the unpredictability.
To see it for what it is..part of the game of ALL good players.
To realise that it is about keep moving in a desired direction KNOWING that there will be horrendous bumps in the road but you keep going in any case.
Karl
I conclude that Karl is a genius and go to Italy on holiday.
Missed week 3 of my preparation for the Brabazon Trophy? Head to the next page…
Tom Irwin
Tom is a lifetime golfer, now over 30 years playing the game. 2023 marks 10 years in golf publishing and he is still holding down a + handicap at Alwoodley in Leeds. He has played over 600 golf courses, and has been a member of at least four including his first love Louth, in Lincolnshire. Tom likes unbranded clothing, natural fibres, and pencil bags. Seacroft in Lincolnshire is where it starts and ends.
