The Road to Alwoodley – Week 8: And relax
Preparing for the Brabazon Trophy: Week 1
Be careful what you wish for. I wanted a cat once. So I got a cat and it nearly died on the second night in my care. It cost me £1,000 in vet bills in the first week just to keep it alive and I gave it to my in-laws soon after. I no longer want a cat.
I have always wanted to play in the Brabazon Trophy. And now I am. And I am already regretting it.
When I say regretting it, I mean it is the last thing I think about before I go to sleep at night and the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. And also what wakes me up in a cold sweat at 3am.
I feel like I did before exams at school – chronically under-prepared and like I am about to go through an experience that might haunt me for the rest of my life. Which they do.
As much as I am trying to reinvent myself as an elder statesman of the game – you know, a nostalgic starter in an elite competition, enjoying one last hurrah, with a slight chance that I might show the youngsters a thing or two, something akin to Monty at the Troon Open a couple of years ago – the truth is that I am less of a has-been and more of a never-was.
I have played golf since I was 13 and been around a scratch handicap for years, but I really, really have to try to stay at that level, and the truth is this is probably as good as I have ever been. So I really have no place being in this competition at all.
My golfing pedigree is limited to a few monthly medal take downs as a junior and the occasional club championships in the dim and distant past. I do know some really good players though.
However, the Brabazon Trophy is taking place at my home club, Alwoodley, and my handicap is good enough to get in. So I am not going to pass up the chance to take part.
It is almost exactly eight weeks until the Brabazon starts, and preparation is going to be key if I am ever to show my face around there again.
For those of you who don’t know what the Brabazon Trophy is, it is arguably the top amateur stroke play event in the world for men. The list of former winners includes, but is not limited to, Sandy Lyle and Charl Schwartzel.
This diary is going to track my attempts to prepare – bearing in mind that I am fitting this in around my wife, two toddler boys, trying to run a company – and now having to write this.
One thing in my favour is that it is not like I am coming to this cold. I am a massive try-hard even when I have nothing to prepare for so really this is nothing out of the ordinary. I just have the cliff-edge prospect of humiliation at the end.
Sunday March 31
Days until the first round: 66
It’s Mother’s Day and the clocks have gone forward so I take advantage of my family lying in by getting up at 6am to go and practice my pitching in the park.
Then I go for a run, before coming home to unveil some unsatisfactory presents, including this hose attachment…
Monday April 1
I have a golf lesson from my coach, Jack Backhouse. He openly laughs at a drill I have been trying because it sounded good on a podcast. By the end of the lesson there is some hope as we have worked on a shot-shaping drill. Jack explains that I now have a one-way miss that is only up to 30 feet right of target. He is presenting this as a positive. I spend the evening wondering why my backswing is so short and googling ‘flying right elbow’.
Great session with @TomIrwingolf yesterday, worked on the appropriate dispersion pattern with different shot shapes #pure pic.twitter.com/wIn7aGhH2v
— Jack Backhouse (@JRBackhouseGolf) April 2, 2019
Tuesday April 2
I get to the golf club at 7.30. It is raining and there are no range balls so I play a game of par 18 in the rain. When the range opens, I can’t wait to work on my new 10 fades and 10 draws drill. It goes really well, thanks for asking. Decide that I might win the Brabazon Trophy. Have a meeting with Adidas and now have some new trainers. For some reason I decide to go to watch Manchester United pathetically lose to Wolves and get home at 2am, ruining an otherwise successful day.
Wednesday April 3
At 7.30 I go and see Rachael Tibbs, my TPI fitness instructor. I have been working with her since June last year. It is an exciting day because we are testing my progress. The good news is I am much stronger. The bad news is I am slower. We conclude I am tired and mumble something at each other about the importance of rest.
Thursday April 4
Exciting day today as I am playing with Nick McCarthy with whom NCG would like to have a working relationship. He is a Challenge Tour player and ranked in the world’s top 1,000. We play at Alwoodley off the plates so it is great chance to see where my game is at. I am petrified of making a fool of myself and start with four 5s. Nick shoots 67 without really noticing and I rally to shoot a 2-over 74. I am delighted and he is confused as to why. I vow to spend more time with really good golfers and see if I can become infected by whatever it is that they have.
Friday April 5
I am at Brocket Hall with my wife for the night, trying to make up for the hose thing. In the morning I play nine holes on my own and do a thing called ‘Potential Betterball’ that Karl Morris asked me to do. It is refreshing to have something to get over intense about when playing on your own, I muse that being able to legitimately putt with the flag in makes golf on your own much less weird. I do not like this game really because I am worried that my ‘potential betterball’ might be a couple over but thrillingly I am 4-under for the nine holes and run into the clubhouse to write this blog/prepare my winner’s speech.
Tried a game of ‘potential betterball’ (essentially hitting every shot twice) on the instruction of @TheMindFactor was worried throughout that my potential was a couple over, but actually went okay pic.twitter.com/IeJlnvOmVy
— Tom Irwin (@TomIrwingolf) April 5, 2019
I might not be as positive next week. We’ll see.
What is the Brabazon Trophy?
The English Men’s Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship for the Brabazon Trophy is one of England Golf’s major championships and is generally considered the world’s top stroke play event for amateur men.
There are two regional qualifiers for the championship and at least 30 players from each are guaranteed a place in the championship, as well as special invitees.
It is 72 holes of strokeplay and the 2019 edition will be played at Alwoodley, in Leeds, from May 30 to June 2.
More information can be found on the England Golf website.
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.
