Clutch Pro Tour Event 8 - Slaley Hall

Monday 15th July - Practice Day 1

After a total of 7.5 hour drive, I eventually arrived at Slaley! I will mention that I did not do this one go, I stopped off in Harrogate which was around three quarters of the journey up on Sunday night, mainly to watch England against Spain which turned out to be disappointing.

This week we would play both courses at Slaley, the Hunting and Priestman courses.

I played here at the end of 2021 for the Europro Tour champs but just on the hunting course and in October, it was very cold and wet.

We played the Hunting course today which after the amount of rain they had, was soaking wet. The balls were plugging in the rough and no run at all so it was playing it's full length.

To make it fun and engaging, we played a fourball match, best ball on the front 9 and then combined score on the back for £5 front 9, £5 back 9 and then £5 overall.

I've found this to be really good to get competitive for the week while getting a good sense of the strategy for the course.

My partner and I managed to win the front 9 and overall so we were £5 up for the week which is always a good start!

Tuesday 17th July- Practice Day 2

With rain forecast for the afternoon, we decided to get out on the Priestman course early on and teed off just after 8am.

This course certainly presented more birdie opportunities with it being slightly more open than the Hunting course but you still need to hit it in position off the tee.

Both the courses were soaking wet and the greens on the Priestman were slightly slower than the Hunting. It really was just target golf, wherever you hit the ball, it would finish but you had to keep it in the fairway as the rough was thick with the high possibility of mud balls which would make it very difficult for the approach shots.

We played another match which was good fun and unfortunately I was on the losing team this time so I lost my £5 that I won yesterday! With the early finish from the round, I did a little post round practice then spent the afternoon chilling in the Hot tub back at our Airbnb. A nice touch this week to help the recovery after the long journey.

Wednesday 17th July - Round 1

My first round was on the Hunting course, we would play one round on each course and then the top 50 that make the cut would play the final round on the hunting.

An 11am tee time for me, which was a good social time. We had little wind with a bit of sun and the course was gradually drying out. I got off to a great start, making comfortable birdies on the par 5s 2nd and 3rd. You had to make your score early on as the finishing holes are really tricky on the hunting. I made two silly bogeys on 5 and 6 but bounced back with a birdie on 7 and I was feeling good.

The 9th was a tough par 4, 460 yard par 4 playing downhill to a stream then the 2nd shot off a major downslope with around 200 yards to a raised green so it required two good golf shots. I hit two decent shots to the front but failed to get up and down for par. I then made 4 consecutive bogeys, two of which came from not close enough chip shots, one three putt and one poor approach shot. The round quickly became a grind to hold on but I managed to gather myself to finish with 6 pars down the tough stretch. The 18th again was a 460 yard par 4 but uphill and I hit 5 wood, 5 wood from 220 yards to 20ft, my shot of the day. I didn't make the putt but that was a solid finish. I had work to do on the slightly easier course to make the cut.

Thursday 18th July - Round 2

8am was my tee time and I was the first group out on the Priestman course which is great. It was cloudy with light winds but the wind was forecast to pick up a bit later in the day. A good start again after making a birdie on the 2nd where I hit a close wedge shot. However this was undone after I lost my tee shot on the par 5 4th to walk off with a bogey. After this I really struggled to get it going with driver and I kept putting myself in poor positions especially on the par 5s. Due to being out of position, it became difficult to control my ball out of the juicy rough to set up good birdie chances. I three putted the par 3 11th and whatever I was trying, just wasn't coming off. My round was summed up on the 17th, hit a good drive and my approach shot from 150 yards, pitched on the flag and deflected off the green, I still made par but sometimes golf does that. I did however hit my best drive of the day on the 18th so I will use this going forward.

A frustrating week after a good result last week, my game was slightly off in the key area's, off the tee and approach play.

A weekend of some rest and practice ahead of Oxford next week where the winner will earn a DP World Tour start.

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Ryan