Blog
Located some 3.5 hours South West of Athens (or 45 mins West of Kalamata, where I flew in to) the Costa Navarino Golf Resort’s 4 golf courses are split into three locations. The International Olympic Academy and the Hills Course are located atop a hill offering simply stunning views across the Navarino Bay and the Ionian Sea. Below you sits the Bay course (which was a lot of fun) and some 15 minutes down the road was Navarino Dunes course, set within the grounds of the Romanos Hotel.
For several years now, I’ve really struggled with my putting and as I’ve always said, despite certain supposed professionals disagreeing with me, posting solid scores is all about putting. You can hit it poorly, miss 6 or 7 greens in regulation in a round but if you putt well, you can still post a score and stay in the tournament.
The first tournament of the year was a long time coming, but what an amazing place to start the year it was. The Apes Hill Resort in Barbados is a relatively new golf course, opening only 15 years ago but since then, the course has undergone one or two changes, particularly to the green complexes where they’ve been softened.
As is obvious by this year’s results and by several of my recent instagram posts, my mindset hasn’t been at its best when it comes to enjoying my “Life on Tour”. Playing golf as a profession is a bit like being a professional gambler because you’re spending thousands of pounds per week (in costs) and hoping that your performance (and subsequent winnings) significantly outweighs the costs! You’re betting on yourself against the field.
So last week I travelled to Germany and onto the WinstonGolf course (one of my very favourite venues) which is located about 90 minutes east of Hamburg. It was a last minute decision to play as I had been dealing with a bad back given that my pelvis and sacrum was out of alignment in the weeks leading up to the event. Having spent a small fortune on Chiropractors and Back / Body Specialists I was hopeful that I could swing freely and actually compete with my Legends Tour Colleagues.
Now last week, we flew to Zurich and took about a 90 minute bus ride South East to an utterly stunning little town called Bad Ragaz, the venue for this years Swiss Senior Open. Thankfully, it’s not very high, so the altitude really doesn’t affect the ball as much as Crans Montana used to. Bad Ragaz is a shortish, tree-lined golf course at the base of a valley, which is surrounded by these stunning beautiful mountains that reach up to the sky.
As some of you might know, my dearly departed Mother was from Ireland.. and I first played there in the 1991 Walker Cup at Portmarnock (which was unbelievable)…the public came out in the droves and it was my first real experience of playing in front of big crowds. After turning professional, I visited the country twice a year playing the Irish Open and European Opens between 1992 and 2006. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met there, nor how many pints of Guinness I’ve consumed with the locals, but I can tell you it’s one of the best places you could ever visit.
