It’s been a quite a year for amateur golf in Great Britain and we asked some our leading players what were their stand-out moments and also asked them to look ahead to 2022
‘Before I hit it, I knew I’d pull it off. I had never felt as comfortable in a golf match’
1) Your best round of the year and why?
Probably my morning round at Woodhall Spa at the Champion of Champions event. Posting a good score of three under from the back tees of a real championship course is different to posting it around your local course. It’s a proper test and it wasn’t something I was able to play a lot recently so it gave me a confidence boost to not doubt myself.
2) Your best shot of the year and why?
In the county championship final on the 8th hole at Hendon, I blocked my tee shot on a par five and needed to hack out. My opponent was in position A. I got it out passed his tee shot and, at three up to this point, I watched him pull his second shot left of the green. I had full confidence and from 230 yards hit a rescue wood to about 12 feet. I had planned the shot to fall in with the contours of the approach to a flag behind the bunker and before I hit it, I knew I’d pull it off. I had never felt as comfortable in a golf match despite the fact it was a crucial point in a final!
3) The best shot you saw and why?
That came from a friend of mine Dan Parsons. We were playing the foursomes morning round of a club match. I put Dan over the green and Dan pulled a rescue to bump through 30 yards of rough, bad ground and up the hill to a flag sitting just above a slope the other side. The imagination he had to pull it off was incredible. He knocked it to 12-15 feet and when he pulled out a rescue, I admit I thought ‘what are you doing Dan!’ I shouldn’t have put him there in the first place, but I never pictured that shot and he did. Sometimes the imagination of shots is lost on many people including myself.
4) Your favourite moment of 2021 (this could be personal or something completely random but golf related)?
Favourite moment was winning the Hudson Trophy with my club. It’s a competition at South Herts celebrating the link the club has with Robert Hudson who revived the modern day Ryder Cup after the second world war. Winning with your team-mates is always better than individual wins, but winning with the Sudbury ‘Barmy Army’ around was even better. We’re lucky to be well supported by our members and friends.
5) Your hopes and ambitions for 2022?
Enjoy golf. It’s frustrating, but there are worse things in life. We had a great talk from Karl Morris with Middlesex earlier this year and his point when you hit a shot is ‘if you’re not afraid of the outcome, you’re free to move’. So if you’re not worried about the result, you’ll be able to hit the shot with more conviction. As such, I hope to be chilled out in my approach always with golf, because regardless of the result, I like to enjoy it whatever happens.
6) One thing you would change about about golf for next season?
I’d like to remember to plot myself around the golf course more, rather than going for flags at times. That is where better and more consistent scores will come from and I forget that at times when I play.