Welcome to my monthly newsletter for September. I’ve only had one event on the European Senior Tour to compete in this month which was the Travis Perkins Senior Masters at Woburn Golf Club which is one of my absolute favourite venues in England as it’s a stunning location, and the staff are so keen to get the job done right. I can certainly endorse Woburn as a great place for an outing as the facilities are excellent, and it has three very interesting courses. 

After a decent start in the tournament proper shooting a level par 72 with the course playing very long after a wet week prior to us arriving. I was in contention just three strokes off the lead after round one and really, I should have been under par after a little bad luck on a couple of holes. Unfortunately, the following two rounds weren’t quite so good as my back and hips were still so stiff after weeks of struggling to recover from the British Par 3 where I jarred something pretty badly it seems, as I’ve continued to struggle to get it sorted out. In the end I finished tied for 35^th which wasn’t too bad a result considering, but a mile away from where I needed to be looking at the Order of Merit table this season with only the top twenty keeping their card for our revised tour in 2016!

I would though like to congratulate Colin Montgomerie who achieved the incredible feat of becoming the first player to win the same title in three consecutive years on both The European Tour and Senior Tour – that is some achievement to win a title three times in a row regardless of wherever you play!

Unfortunately as I say it seems I’m destined to be plagued by my recurring bad back issues which I had thought I was over in the previous twelve months, but sadly I was presumptuous it would seem. I’ve been back to the physiotherapist once again intensively in an attempt to get me ready for the last two events of the season… the first of which is just around the corner. It has made preparation difficult, and the swing continues to feel fragile unfortunately despite some good coaching theory from the coaching staff at my local course, Carus Green so I think I’ll need a large slice of luck as well as excellent recuperative powers to be truly successful I think, but we’ll see. Certainly it won’t be for the lack of trying though!

One of the highlights of the past month was working with the BBC once again, this time to provide some analysis and commentary on the Walker Cup matches at Royal Lytham St. Annes. The event holds a special place in my heart as does the course, so it was a pleasure to cover all the action which was made all the better by Great Britain and Ireland’s fantastic 16½ - 9½ win – their best ever points tally helped by the slight change in format in the last six years, but still it was a very impressive performance all the same. There was some amazing talent on show in both teams, and it would surprise me in the least if we don’t see a major championship winner for these matches into the future.

I also recently had my six monthly skin check in Market Harborough through my excellent specialist Dr. Graham Brown where I had a further four blemishes zapped with dry ice to hopefully stop any further growth or spread in the future fingers crossed. I always look to raise awareness of the dangers of skin cancer whenever I can which is why I work closely with Skcin - a melanoma and non-melanoma charity dedicated to the prevention and early detection of all types of skin cancer. I also work with PAR skincare a Swiss company which creates products that have been formulated for people who spend a great deal of time outdoors like myself. It’s worth checking out the products they produce which I genuinely think are the best skin products on the market right now.

With me looking ahead to the future, I had a meeting with Janine Edwards of St. James’s Place about my pension provisions to get things sorted out for when my golfing career eventually comes to an end. It’s an important issue where I’m trying to make the right decisions for the future, but without the best advice it is a bewildering world out there particularly to me who’s a complete dummy when it comes to finances…. so I can endorse the fact of getting the right people to advise you!

Another great benefit I believe to my game/physicality is getting products where it will help me hopefully perform better with my golf. I think the wrist bands produced by BioFlow will help anyone. They have coupled magnets with other sympathetic materials to enhance a golfer’s performance…. certainly I’ve been wearing them for a number of years now, and think they do something good for me…. certainly I wouldn’t want to be without them! 

Other than that, I’m looking forward my next event at the beginning of October, the French Riviera Masters at the impressive Terre Blanche Golf resort in the south of France. I also have the Eligo Pro/Am in Portugal next month in the Algarve which I’m really looking forward to as I think southern Portugal is a great place to play with so many great courses in the region… and decent weather too usually too! Then the final event the Tour Championship is in Mauritius in early/mid December, so I have plenty to inform you about before the year ends I’m sure. With luck I’ll be able to report much more positive news before Christmas is upon us!

I would of course like to extend my thanks to all my supporters and sponsors and give special mention to Tilly Hats, Galvin Green who have produced some new products which I really like wearing, Farmfoods and of course, Carus Green, my base of operations golf wise. If you have never visited us up in Kendal (….the gateway to the Lake District National Park) then please look at our website www.carusgreen.co.uk as I think you’d be impressed by the much vaunted facilities we have developed under the watchful eye of the owner Graham Curtin.

Anyway all the very best, and I hope this finds you well…. on and off the course!

Gary