I played in the Portuguese Amateur last week without much success unfortunately. I changed my irons to the new grooves about a month ago and as a player who spins the golf ball  a lot this was helping me stop the ball on the green without excessive spin. This would have been very beneficial in Portugal as it was like playing darts over there, the course was that soft.

Unfortunately for me i didnt get to use my new irons as at Irish Coaching Training the weekend before I left for Lisbon, eagle eyed team mate Dara Lernihan spotted my six iron was bent in the head and had to be taken out of play. This meant i was back to my old clubs with the box grooves which meant me doing some serious spinning of the ball in Portugal. This is not good when the pins are at the back as they were in the tournament! The six iron must have got damaged in transit when I got them and I’m amazed I didn’t spot it myself earlier. I reckon a trip to the opticians was needed but more on that story later!

On arrival in Portugal the weather was very Irish with cold and wet conditions. Apart from a few funny tee shots in practice i played pretty well and was very hopeful of a great tournament. It was also great to play two rounds in practice with two top class Walker Cup panelists Paul Cutler and Alan Dunbar. These lads have talent in abundance and will play on the European Tour if they put the work in which im sure they will. Playing with such good players only brings on your own game so this was a great benefit of the week.

The luck of the draw wasnt kind to me in round one and i was left in a 2 ball and in the worst of the weather conditions and bumpy soft greens. I didn’t play well but I was grinding  a score at +1 thru 16 only to drop three silly shots at two short par fours to finish. The Icelandic guy i played with didn’t have much luck but I’m not surprised as he had a remarkable pre shot routine of about ten practice drills. Interesting to say the least but a nice guy none the less. Round 2 brought better conditions and I played pretty well but only managed a dissappointing level par round. Played with a really good player Roman Vettal from France who was impressive and my Icelandic friend from day one who increased his practice drills to 12 for round two. What a nice bloke though.

Round three was the best I played all week but I had a bad run of holes in the middle of my round and shot a bewildering 76.  Missed 9 putts from the 5-10 ft range for birdie which didn’t help. I didn’t miss a putt inside 5 feet all week (which I rarely do anyway) but didn’t hole much outside that range. I found an answer for this in the opticians today though. More on that later!

Overall for the week I was dissappointed with my scores and some areas of my game which were very rusty. I would be like last years champion hurdle winner Punjabi. I need lots of runs. The more match practice I get the sharper my game is. Sports coaches go on about it a lot but there is no substitute for match practice and i probably should have gone out to sunnier climes for a week’s golf before the tournament. But there are lots of positives from the week too and like a good racehorse I will train on! Hopefully the weather improves here and I can get more rounds of golf in.

Lisbon itself didn’t excite us all very much. As an area it is quite under developed and poor compared to Ireland. We are a lot better off in Ireland so you wont hear me complaining too much in the next few weeks! The hotel had no gym which was a total Tony Blair. I was restricted to a couple of light sessions on the beach of sprints, press ups, jump squats and core work. When i dont train i feel like crap. Also i ate more bread in six days in portugal than I had in a year in Ireland! Couldn’t refuse it though as it was hot and delicious! We were extremely well looked after by our team manager Ken and we behaved ourselves as well apart from a few ice cream desserts.

Since getting back been hard at it in the gym and sorting out a few issues that are bothering me slighty. I am booked in to see a physio this week to get to the bottom of this slight neck pain I’m getting when I hit a shot hard. It’s only a niggling injury but I want it gone asap. I have also decided that my new irons aren’t for me as they go too high. So I have been testing a new set of  irons which I hope to have in the next fortnight. I will be changing my driver also going back to Titleist 909 D2 as my R9 has been misbehaving lately. I won the South with a titleist D3 but the D2 goes a little higher than my D3 which goes too low. Great in the wind though. Something I may have been guilty of over the winter was messing about a little by using equipment that was given to me. I’m glad I’ve realised that now before the season has really started and I am going back to clubs that are right for me. Sometimes these things can happen over the winter.

Also I was at the opticians today. I’m gonna have to start wearing contact lens while playing golf . I sometimes wear sunglasses anyway when its sunny but they will be on a lot more this season. According to the very pretty optometrist I am slightly short sighted so this would suggest my putting is gonna improve from medium to long distance with the contacts in.  I’m a really good putter inside five foot but don’t hole enough outside that range. I know of one top Irish pro who had a similar problem and after he got contacts his putting improved dramatically.

My next tournament is the West of Ireland so already looking forward to that. After a bad tournament last week I’d love another one straight away to put that right but I have to do some work this week. As I said earlier, I always take the positives out of things and last week’s tournament will be of huge benefit to me over the course of the season. I have no doubt about that. Anyway talk soon. Will leave you with some wise words of wisdom.

Consistency Is The Key
“Eat before you are hungry.
Drink before you are thirsty.
Rest before you are tired.
Cover up before you are cold.
Peel off before you are hot.
Don’t drink or smoke on tour.
Never ride just to prove yourself.”

Wonder if Tiger read the last line.