Spring Meeting 12th - 13th May 2018

Major Championships in golf are what defines a players legacy. For example, Colin Montgomerie is held as one of Europe's greatest ever players. Although Colin won 7 consecutive order of merits (1993 - 1999), had an unbeaten singles record in the Ryder Cup and captained a winning European Ryder Cup side. Major championships were a story of heart break and I believe are a massive regret to what was a fantastic career.

At club level this doesn't change. Winning a PGA tour event to professionals is like winning a monthly medal, mid week Stableford or club knockout trophy (Minus the £1M Dollars). Major competitions come around where members can win the prestigious honour of having their name decorated around the clubhouse.

How does Spring Meeting work?

Spring Meeting runs over a Saturday & Sunday during the early/mid part of May. Due to the course closure for the whole weekend, players can either sign up for one round on either Saturday or Sunday or for both days. Only players that sign up for the 36 hole medal play are eligible to compete for the Spring Meeting trophy.

Round 1

Like every 36 hole competition, you cannot win the trophy on the first day, but you can lose it. The start to my first round was a continuation of my play over the past few months, failing by small margins. It was a case of just missing greens and failing to be able to scramble. On the 3rd, 5th & 7th, I found myself feet from the green with simple up & downs. Missing all 4ft - 6ft putts on them holes cost me 3 needless bogeys. A Birdie on the 8th was the only consolation on the front 9 as I managed to 3 putt the 9th. +5 thru 9 was not the start I was looking for, I knew I would need something between 33 - 36 on the back 9 to stay in contention.

Its funny to think that shooting 41 on the back 9 wasn't that far away from something around 34. On the 11th I made a simple mistake from 160yds which lead to a needless bogey. The 13th & 14th is where this 9 turned very disappointing, dropping 3 shots on the back to back par 5's. After a great drive on the 487yd 13th, I found myself with 185yds to a front flag over the river. I think the miss hits on the front 9 and bad iron shots made me club up in order to play safe. Again I would hit a high right shot that because I clubbed up, ended up flag high just off the right of the green. With a simple 20yrd chip, birdie was still a possibility. I would go on to thin my chip shot and fat my return chip. Taking 4 to get down from 20yrds is just another example of my wasteful play at the moment. I would have 200yrds into the 477yrd par 5, 14th. Again I would miss hit my approach and pull the shot out of bounds, leading to a double bogey 7. I would also 3 putt 16 from 8 feet, missing from 18 inches.

In my head I know that was 9 holes where 33 - 36 could have been shot with a few better iron shots. Mentally this 82 was one of the most frustrating rounds I have played in a long time, 18 holes of continuous missed chances to build momentum.

Round 2

With the disappointment of round 1 very much in my memory, round 2 was always going to be a case of finding some positives. I set out hoping for some steady play, even if I wasn't threatening my birdie tally for the year. My first 3 holes would be exactly what I was looking for, 3 greens in regulation & 3 pars to start. Next would be a strange couple of holes where 2 missed greens cost me bogeys, in between the two bogeys I made a birdie on the Par 5 fifth. This is the kind of stat I will refer back to later in this post. 7, 8 & 9 would finish the front 9 off nicely with 3 pars. Currently +1 for the round, it was 4 shots better than my erratic front 9 from round 1. The back 9 at Lamberhurst is the more scorable of the 2 sides. Depending on flag positions, I mark off 5 realistic birdie opportunities (10, 13, 14, 16 &18). I think I got a bit ahead of myself in this department and forgot about what I was really wanting out of this round. A few errant iron shots & some questionable chipping on 10 & 12 lead to bogeys. The 13th would be another pivotal part in my round. Rd 1 saw me take 4 to get down from 20yds and take bogey, which ruined any momentum. Again I found myself in the middle of the fairway staring a front flag over the water. Literally 5yds over the limit of my 4 iron, I clubbed up to a 3 iron for a bit of margin for error. Just through the back of the green, I had a reasonable 25yard chip and run for my eagle. Astonishingly it wasn't my strike that let me down, the fact I hit it 8ft right was a little strange. What happened next was a sign of frustration! Wanting to put things right from round 1, I gave my 8ft putt a 'positive' run. Running my putt through the break, I then missed my 3ft return putt. This meant, I had somehow accumulatively taken 8 shots to get down from 45 yards over the 2 days on the 13th. Let that sink in for a minute.....

The end of my round would be a small rollercoaster aswell, I would finish with 2 birdies, 1 nett birdie and 2 bogeys for a +4 round total.

In an earlier blog I posted that my goal was to go round in +8 for two rounds, this was obviously not achieved. Shooting +14 for two rounds for a 2 handicapper can never be seen as positive. The main positives I can take out of the 2 rounds is the potential scoring positions I put myself in, even if I wasn't able to capitalise on 80% of them. I compare it to a good striker in football who keeps missing chances, if the striker continues to put themselves in the same positions then at some point form will show and the chances will be converted on a regular basis.

In round 1 my 'up & down' and 'scrambling' conversion rates were 22.2%. During round 2 when I shot 6 shots lower, I improved my 'Up & Down' conversion rate to 30%, whilst my 'Scrambling' fell to 10%. With statistics like this, it's hard to blame all my erratic iron play on my poor scores. I have been open regarding my short game over the past few years, but this is just an example of what happens when my long game isn't to my normal standards.

The overall 2018 Lamberhurst G.C. Spring Meeting Champion was a good friend of mine in Martyn Taylor, or trigger as he is known to a lot of us. Off 19, two rounds of Nett 70 was enough to clinch the title. I am very happy for him as Triggar is someone that loves his golf and winning a 36 competition like this will make his whole year.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read about my 2018 Spring Meeting. It wasn't exactly the competition I was looking for, but the potential was there.

GOC