Welcome to my latest monthly newsletter for April. I start off the report this month continuing to finalise my equipment issues with PING. Though I’m still waiting for my new Ping G irons to arrive, I feel that the latest gear I’ve got so far is going to help make the game a little easier for me in the future…. and look smart on course too! Unfortunately, it takes time to get everything sorted, but things are moving in the right direction now I believe. I’m looking to get everything sorted during May when I’ll hopefully get some more competitive golf under my belt. I did play at Sandiway in an 1836 Tour Pro-Am, but unfortunately my partner and me were unlucky with the weather that day…. and I didn’t play particularly well either on this occasion which is always disappointing. However playing courses successfully “blind” is never easy, but it is always worth playing these events as they give you feedback on your preparation for events in the future…. and the course was entertaining and relatively dry which is a bonus!

Back at Carus Green, we hosted an event to raise funds for a young amateur Adam Chapman who is now based here at Carus as he looks to make the transition successfully to professional level which will be fun for us to follow. Twelve teams of four turned out to play, and there was also a two course meal served. Adam spent part of his winter training in Portugal with the England elite squad, in addition to Spain and Australia earlier in the year. I’ve given him some putting coaching/advice and he’s certainly a talented player who I hope to see competing with the best of them in the future.

Of course the big golfing event of the last month was the US Masters which was a marvellous spectacle and had an incredible twist in the tale when Jordan Spieth suffered a spectacular collapse to hand a gilt-edged opportunity to win the title to Danny Willett who grabbed it memorably with great aplomb. The Yorkshireman’s win is fantastic for British golf, and I was lucky enough to play with Danny in England teams – he’s a wonderful golfer with a very specific style that he has honed over the years with a good friend of mine Graham Walker, a coaching professional up at The Oaks GC near York.

Another promising talent for the future to watch out for is Andrew “Beef” Johnson, who won his first European Tour title at the Spanish Open recently at the wonderful Valderamma GC. Again, he’s another great player I’ve had the opportunity to play with on the EuroPro Tour. He and players like Shane Lowry prove that top golfers come in all shapes and sizes, not just gym dwelling “flat bellies”… but still have amazing talent, and are entertaining characters as well! I wish Danny and Andrew every success for the future.

Later in the month, I played at the Dunham Forest in another 1836 Tour Pro-Am where I played fairly well but my putting wasn’t up there with the eventual winner Marcus Armitage on seven under par whom I played with that day. It seems to be a theme of the month, cold weather, bumpy greens and courses playing very long! However again, it was a pleasure to play a new course with a potential star of the future…. and he’s certainly another player to keep your eye on.

I also played in the Rotary Club Charity Golf Day at the spectacular Royal Birkdale Golf Club. It’s a truly wonderful venue with an iconic clubhouse and that day the whole team I played with performed very well which was great fun on a genuinely decent day at last! The Open Championship course was showing signs of coming out of the depths of winter, and is worth the effort to play if you get the chance! Although with two professionals on our team myself and Lee Edwards (…with amateurs Maurice Cotter and Graham Curtin making up the four) we were not allowed to win a prize that day it was a moral victory for our team as we would have won top prize by a point (on 91 points) from three other teams that day!

Carus Green also had a visit from local MP and Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron who was visiting us to see how we coped with the dreadful floods late last year. He was also very impressed by the facilities here at the club, as are all first time visitors of course. We keep going from strength to strength now that the major work has been completed restoring the club from the original flood damage. For instance our new golf simulator – also used on Sky Sports – is now up and running which is a significant upgrade on the previous one we had in every respect. I’ve found that it’s incredibly accurate, and is a great tool in developing your game as well as being great fun with the excellent graphics to “play” some great courses from around the world in the comfort of a dry warm room! I say it time and time again, but I’m very proud to be associated with the club which never rests on its laurels and always looks for improvements. Next up is a new pro shop and an extension to the dining/bar facilities as well as brand new balls for the range which I believe is one reason why I think we have the best range in the north of England, if not the UK.

I seem to have been treading water this last few months as I wait for the “season” to begin, though as I’ve mentioned before, I have no idea how many tournaments I’ll be able to compete in on the Senior Tour. All I can do is be as prepared as possible by stepping up my play and practice in the coming weeks and months and get myself in the best possible position to perform well when the opportunities present themselves. I do now have a number of opportunities coming up to play in the next couple of months to kick start my competitive year which will be exciting to get started again. I’ll keep you informed as to how that goes.

Just a final couple of things to mention. Firstly I’m proud to announce that I’m now an ambassador for Max Golf Protein which is a fantastic on course nutritional product and you can find out more information here through the website www.maxgolfprotein.com. Finally, I’d like to give a mention to Jane Reekie at Whippersnapper Embroidery who has done the embroidery for the pockets on my PING tour bag and carry bag too – it looks really professional and she really has done a fantastic job so thank you Jane and the Whippersnapper team!

Anyway all the best to all of you, and I’ll be in touch again next month!

Have fun…. and I’m sure Spring is on the way!

Gary