Clutch Pro Tour - Event 3 Frilford Heath (Red course)

Monday 13th May - Practice Day

Frilford Heath Red course is one of my favourites on the schedule and I've played well here in the past. Arrived at the course, got warmed up and went out on the course for the practice round. The focus today was to refresh the clubs / tee shot lines and then get a good feel for how the course is playing in terms of firmness and green speeds.

Previously when I've played here, it's been more in the height of summer so it usually is burnt out a little but this year, the golf course is super lush with thick rough just off the fairways. With the warmer weather we've had over the weekend, it was playing firm which makes it difficult to hold the greens if you were not in the fairway. The wind was a factor as well, blowing up to 20mph so it felt like a grind during this practice round a bit. A big test this week will be driving accuracy then approach play control. The margin of hitting good shots vs slightly off shots is very small around here, which is another reason to why I enjoy it.

Tuesday 14th May - Day 1

A morning tee time of 9am today and we had a lot of rain overnight so the course will be playing a little softer compared to the practice round. The original forecast was suggesting that we would be playing in the rain for the morning but luckily this cleared through and it was just cloudy. I started very well and I was -2 through 4 holes. Feeling solid and in control I hit a couple of out of position tee shots on 7 & 8 which led to bogeys and then I missed the green with my iron shot on the 9th. I finished the front 9 with 3 bogeys which was a little annoying. The wind was starting to pick up and for the back 9, I felt like I was battling a little. Not quite hitting good enough shots to set up birdie chances, 2 examples of this was after good drives on 14 & 15, with wedges in my hand I could only hit my closest to 15ft. The putting was fairly cold, didn't hole much all day and I finished the round at +1 after all pars on the back 9. Some work to do tomorrow.

Wednesday 15th May - Day 2

2pm tee time today and the weather was about as good as it gets for golf. A little breeze, mainly sunny at around 20 degrees.

I got to the club a bit earlier to get some extra practice done. The short game area is very good at Frilford so I went there first, being creative and hitting a variety of shots. I then did putting work, speed drills and hole out drills. I figured that I just needed to be a little more stable over the putt during my stroke so that was my putting thought for the day.

I had a very good warm up range session, getting a lot of driver reps in ahead of the round.

However, annoyingly I got off to a poor start. Starting on the par 5 10th, after a miss judged pitch I didn't make birdie but on the 11th the par 3, I made a silly double bogey. My tee shot found the bunker but the ball stuck half way on the upslope and I proceeded to hit the bunker slightly over the green on the run off to which I failed to get up and down. Followed by a poor drive on the 12th, I was already +3 for the round.

I gathered myself and managed to set up very good chances on the next 4 holes but frustratingly I could not convert on the greens. I felt like I was hitting good putts with speed but I really struggled to read them. Some would break more than I thought, others less so it was just a battle.

After a silly bogey on 17 from just off the green, putting across a tier, I was now +4 for the round and making the cut was now a very big ask. Walking to the 1st (my 10th) I said to myself, let's just enjoy this 9 and give it my all. The wind was dropping and it was just a perfect evening for golf, I tried to be super present to immerse myself in these conditions.

I birdied the 1st hole with a good wedge to 6ft then I hit the par 5 2nd in two to 2 putt for birdie. I knew I needed 4 more birdies to have a chance of making the cut. Another poor drive on the 3rd, left me with a bogey. But I hit a great shot into the 4th, par 3 playing 180 yards to 10ft. I just missed the putt so I had to birdie the 5th hole and eagle the par 5 6th to set up any last recovery. I played the next 2 holes perfectly, I birdied the 5th and on the 6th I had 17ft for Eagle, it was now or never. I thought I hit a perfect putt but it just broke a little more at the end. It wasn't quite meant to be but I was really pleased with how I played my last 9 holes where I made 5 birdies, unfortunately it all came a little too late. I finished +1 for the round and 3 shots off making the cut.

The combination of essentially 4 penalty shots from tee shots and not enough putts holed would always make it very difficult to get into contention. The signs are there that it's very close and I believe it will all click very soon.

We are at Cumberwell Park next week.

Thank you for following my journey, come and join our team if you would like to gain more of an insight.

Ryan

Scorecard