The 2020protour – Experience what the Pro’s do!!

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of meeting up with Chris Hanson to chat about the 2020protour, the first gender-equal tour with an equitable policy which he co-founded with his good friend Adam Walker.

Despite the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic, this history-making mini-tour has gone from strength to strength since the inaugural event back in March at Crosland Heath Golf Club, attracting professionals from various Tours (Ladies European, European, Access and Challenge inter alia), ex-Ryder Cup players and elite amateurs…with innovative (free) live coverage streamed on various social media channels by Ian Waterhouse of LiveSportNow.

So when Chris and Adam posted the following notice on social media…

…I did not hesitate to enter this ‘not to be missed’ golfing opportunity.

What follows is a very personal narrative of the build-up to the event and the actual event/day…a composite golfing cocktail of openness, self-deprecation and some humour (hopefully)…above all, I just hope you enjoy the read.

Sunless Fairways

Reality ‘kicked in’ even before the metaphorical ink had dried on my online entry form!! To try and explain…

Philip Larkin was a poet, novelist, and librarian. In 1962, a couple of days before his 40th birthday, he wrote a letter to (short story writer and journalist) Maeve Brennan which contained the sentence:

“I can’t say I welcome the prospect of going down life’s sunless hill”

I am umpteen years north of 40 and based on my life experiences have to disagree with the tenor of Larkin’s thinking aligned to this landmark birthday. However, about 18 months ago, I adapted his sentence to establish a personal golfing statement of intent, namely:

“I am not prepared to go down golf’s sunless fairways any more”

Down to a handicap of 7 before the ‘intervention’ of University and Life…but then over a  period of 40+ years, playing on an irregular basis combined with collecting a diversity of bad (golfing) habits when venturing onto the links found me struggling to play off a handicap of 25 at the start of 2019.

Optimistic Recovery

Cutting a very long story short, I then commenced monthly golf lessons with Rich Pace (currently Head PGA Professional at Beverley & East Riding Golf Club and soon to be Head PGA Professional at Hornsea Golf Club)…and I have never looked back!! Rich has been absolutely brilliant in starting the long and at times painful process of arresting the slide and purging my bad habits (though still many more to eradicate), effectively rebuilding my swing and approach from scratch. Not been easy at all, but at the time of writing, my handicap is now 22 and (hopefully) improving!!

Aligned to the technical coaching, I recently started an S&C exercise programme under the expert guidance of Sam Vickers (who is based at the National Golf Academy, Woodhall Spa Golf Club), to address and improve thoracic mobility and core stability.

IMHO, Rich and Sam are both first-class practitioners in their respective areas of expertise and I can’t thank them enough on the first steps of this journey to golfing recovery and to one day finally say goodbye to the sunless fairways!!

No Hiding Place – Part 1

But…despite this rejuvenated outlook and optimism, I could not ignore the fact that come the 14th August there would be no hiding place at this 18-hole Amateurs only tournament as there would be:

• A championship golf course to navigate (or in my case possibly circumnavigate!!).
• A maximum playing handicap of 18.
• An official starter.
• Leaderboards and on course scoring.
• An official photographer.
• Everything else that would no doubt occur on the day.

But…after assimilating all of the above, the overriding thought was simply ‘I just can’t wait!!’.

Life is all about having fun and experiences and pushing/stretching yourself wherever possible…on the day it really wouldn’t matter whether my golf was good, bad or ugly (and more than likely all three!!), it would just be such a fantastic experience.

Preparation

Preparation is a facet where a golfer such as myself (amateur/high handicap/weekend golfer) really must address in an attempt to improve. Most rounds of golf are played at Beverley & East Riding Golf Club (my home course) which over time becomes familiar, though that in itself can lead to complacency on occasions.

In my own way, I attempted to prepare whilst remembering this event would be all about having fun and experiencing what the Pro’s Do.

I have played once before at Wheatley Golf Club, albeit many years ago. What I remember is that Wheatley is a beautiful parkland course with the fairways lined by silver birch and pine trees. From the white tees, a very challenging but very fair golf course…good shots are rewarded, bad shots are punished.

Unfortunately, due to Golfing Herald and family commitments I was unable to take up the offer of a practice round so instead, I printed off the Professional’s Tips from the excellent Wheatley Golf Club website (picture below…must remember my reading glasses!!).

I then watched the panoramic YouTube videos from tee to green for each hole.

Also, I played in a Pro-Am on 7th August at Bishop Auckland Golf Club with PGA Assistant Professional Darren Grey…that was a great experience to have an opportunity to play 18 holes under different conditions on an away course.

Only time would tell whether any of this preparation would be beneficial.

Tee Times

A week to go and the tee times were published. My assumption, in advance of the draw being announced, was that I would be teeing off in the first group at 10:00 so that the better players would play in the last few groups.

Wrong again…drawn in the penultimate group at 12:24 (unsubstantiated rumours that my game has improved must have reached Chris and Adam!!).

No Hiding Place – Part 2

A couple of days after the tee times were published, I looked at the BBC weather forecast for Friday 14th August. Wish I hadn’t!!

• On Sunday – the forecast was for thundery showers and rain.
• On Monday – the same forecast as of Sunday.
• On Tuesday – no thundery showers…hurrah…but now raining all-day.
• On Wednesday – no rain after 10:00.
• On Thursday – overcast but dry all-day.

By now, my mind strangely wandered to the classic episode ‘No Hiding Place’ from the 1970s UK sit-com ‘Whatever happened to the Likely Lads’, where Terry and Bob attempt to hide in various locations to avoid knowing the score of the afternoon international football match between Bulgaria vs. England before they sit down in the evening to watch the highlights on TV.

During the day they accidentally/partially see a newspaper billboard with the headline ‘England F…’. They came up with several possibilities such as England Flop, England Fightback, England Fiasco, England Five…and so on.

Anyhow, they finally settled down with a couple of beers in front of the TV to only hear that the match had been postponed…the headline had read ‘England Flooded Out’!!

I just hoped that the weather gods would be in a good mood on the 14th August and that when driving to Wheatley Golf Club I wouldn’t see or hear ‘2020protour event W…’.

The Day

Before setting off to drive the 30 miles or so to Wheatley Golf Club near Doncaster, I logged onto Twitter to catch up with social media for Golfing Herald. Read with interest a post about the event from the 2020protour who had arrived at the course and were busy getting everything set up in readiness for the day ahead…the photograph below was attached to the post…#cantwait.

Relaxation

Driving to Wheatley Golf Club, I had an awareness of the butterflies in my stomach fluttering with increasing wantonness. I needed an immediate relaxation technique.

So what better way than listen to a radio dramatisation of ‘The Abergavenny Murder’!! (one of the best Sherlock Holmes short stories created by Bert Coules from a passing reference in an original story by Arthur Conan Doyle)…and yes, this excellent murder mystery certainly helped!!

Ethereal

Upon arrival and like all the other players I had to sign in/register which meant walking from the car park to the clubhouse, via a pathway which skirted very close to the 1st Tee.

I could honestly sense a sort of ethereal atmosphere which changed in an instant to an excitable buzz…surely this ‘buzz’ could not be associated with my arrival, of course not. I quickly realised that all the attention was focused on the 1st Tee and a certain Lee Westwood, one of the best ever Professional golfers from these shores.

Thankfully he was not eligible to play!! Instead, he was caddying for his son Sam…an example of how golf and in particular the 2020protour can break down any preconceived concepts and barriers.

Classy Touch

After signing in I was informed that there was a ‘Goody Bag’ for each competitor…in addition to a pen, golf ball, tees and a chocolate bar there were a couple of other artefacts that aligned to what the day was all about.

The first artefact was a pocket-sized hole-by-hole yardage chart and the second artefact provided the pin placements for each hole…13 7R for Hole 1 and so on…a classy touch from Adam and Chris.

@themajor2020

After watching various groups tee off and hitting a few putts on the putting green, I could feel the nervous excitement starting to rise and then it was time…time to meet the other players in the 12:24 group and time to meet ‘@themajor2020’.

Firstly, my group…I could not have wished for a better draw…Jordan Hammond and Gary Dunckley from Dewsbury District Golf Club and Steve Bradley from Outlane Golf Club were all so friendly and great company from the off…thanks guys.

@themajor2020 is the twitter handle of John Major, the official starter for all of the 2020protour events…not to be confused with John Major who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997 (who is also renowned, and at times lampooned, as being the only man who ran away from the circus to become an accountant!!).

Back to John Major the official starter. Such a nice guy who after covering the rules for the day (placing in the bunker, scorecards, score validation, etc.), chatted to us all to very capably put us very much at ease so by the time he said…

“This is the 12:24 group and on the tee is…”

…all nerves were under control…thanks, John.

Opening Hole

After completing my preparation I had decided to use a hybrid on the opening hole, a 359 yard Par 4. It seemed like the correct club based on the layout of the hole and my overriding desire to get my first shot ‘away without any disaster’.

Looking back, it was, without doubt, my best tee shot of the day!! Finished just to the left of the fairway about 180 yards from the green (note to self: must imagine I am playing in front of a gallery with an official starter calling my name as part of my pre-shot routine!!).

Out came the yardage chart but with a tree between my ball and the green I sensibly took a 9-iron to ‘clear and avoid all of the trouble’…a pitch to the back of the green and 2 putts later ‘up and running’ with a bogey 5 on the first…really pleased with this steady start. Sadly nothing lasts forever, or in my case at this event, nothing lasts more than one hole!!

Achilles Heel

My golfing ‘Achilles heel’ sadly flared up big style on just about every tee shot after the relative success on the opening hole.

I continued to select what I thought was the correct club for each tee shot based on the preparation before and during the round but if the execution is, to say the least, ‘not good’ then the preparation is effectually negated.

Earlier, I said that the course at Wheatley quite rightly punishes bad shots…well I volunteered for some serious self-punishment. On some holes, my tee shot and provisional both found trouble which meant our group split into ‘search and rescue’ pairs…I even found some spots on the course which would probably not be located by GPS and the Greenkeepers probably don’t realise are within the boundaries of their domain (I am of course being slightly self-deprecating)!!

Miraculously I managed to keep the scorecard ticking over until the Par 3 11th (more on that hole in a second) when I finally N/R…but throughout I just kept smiling and unconditionally absorbing the fantastic experience, though I was very disappointed that the official photographer was not present when I rolled in a putt the length of a cricket pitch at the 13th…for a bogey 5!!

Professional Short Hole

Despite my earlier foreboding, the weather gods behaved impeccably all day so by the time we reached the Par 3 11th (measuring 192 yards from the tips) there was a cloudless sky and the temperature was continuing to rise.

Then, out of nowhere, Chris Hanson appeared in a buggy kindly handing out bottles of chilled water to wilting golfers such as myself…another classy touch.

Then, before departing to hand out water to the next group there was a throwaway comment from him along the lines of ‘This is a professional golfer Par 3, a proper Par 3’. He was not wrong…a great golf hole but where sadly I N/R!!

Playing to the Gallery

The closing hole is a 491 yard Par 5…a left to right dog-leg with a pond strategically positioned just short of the landing area in front of the green.

After a sort of non-descript tee shot which somehow found the first cut of the fairway, I remarkably smote the ball with my hybrid over 200 yards…absolutely no idea why or how. Then, to prove it was no fluke, hit an excellent 5 iron to the edge of the green…those 2 shots alone illustrate why golf is such a great leveller and such a great sport and why the next round can never come soon enough.

The Nineteenth

To finish at the Nineteenth and behalf of all the players I would like to say thanks to:

• Adam Walker, Chris Hanson, Sue Hanson and John Major for organising and facilitating an excellent event…all of your hard work was much appreciated and good luck for the remainder of this season’s 2020protour.
• Wheatley Golf Club Greenkeepers for presenting this championship course in perfect condition.
• Wheatley Golf Club for their kind and generous hospitality throughout the day.

Watching elite players on TV does not convey how good they actually are until you play a course such as Wheatley from the ‘Tips’…makes you really appreciate how good professional golfers are (such as Nicholas Poppleton, Rochelle Morris, Marco Penge, Sophie Lamb, Andrew Wilson and too many others to mention) who are playing on the 2020protour.

Of course, it would have been brilliant if I could have written how I sank a 10-foot putt for a Par at the last for a round of 84-18-66 and finished in the prizes, but for me, that was not what this event was about. In my own way, I was really competitive but the day was all about experiencing what the Pro’s do.

Would I love to play in another of these events? Absolutely.

Would I recommend these events to other amateur golfers? Absolutely.

Until next time…more lessons, exercise, practise and rounds of golf….and without question continued fun and experiences.