Here is a story about my experiences at my first Open Qualifying. I should warn you now that there is no happy ending to this story, my hopes of qualifying crashed and burned at the hands of Clitheroe’s 12th hole. But instead of a happy ending I will share a few things that I picked up on the day that may just help you with your game. Coming into the day I had been playing good golf, I came 42nd at the North Region Championship despite some average putting and felt in control of my swing. I played a practice round a couple of days before and really enjoyed the course. If you haven’t played it I would highly recommend a game if you are passing.

Lesson no. 1 The warm up has no effect on your score.

I tell my students this all the time. Even if you have the worst practice / warm up of your life it doesn’t mean that you won’t shoot your best ever score. My warm up before the round was probably the best I have ever had. I hit exquisite shot after shot, my dad, who was with me, even commented on it.

Next to me was a golfer who I noticed didn’t seem to be hitting it as well and I have to admit it made me feel even better. He shot 6 under and won the day, I went home having missed qualifying. Believe me your warm up has no effect on your play, so if it isn’t going your way don’t panic!

Lesson no. 2 Don’t be afraid to adjust yardages.

The first at Clitheroe is a par 5, after smashing my drive up the fairway to the sound of applause from the spectators it is fair to say that the adrenaline was flowing, probably more so than I had ever felt before. Having reached my ball I was left with the dilemma of what club to take – 191 yards to the flag, into the wind, back of the green a further 15 yards. My standard 4 iron is approximately 192 so with a bit of wind into to counteract the adrenaline it seemed the obvious choice.

The thing went off in my hands and flew the green on the fly! After also going big on the second, and almost making the same mistake on the 5th we eventually got it dialed in by adding 5% to the yardages that I hit my clubs.

You need to make sure that you know your yardages for each club, and it is important they are carry yardages that don’t include roll. This way if you are pumped up, or struggling in the cold and wet in full waterproofs you can add or subtract a percentage so you can find the right club to play, as quickly as possible, in your round. Don’t be afraid to make big percentage changes either, I dropped a couple of shots by not deducting enough to begin with.

Lesson no. 3 If you find a drill that helps don’t stop doing it.

The above statement seems pretty obvious, but it is something that I say time and time again to my students. It was even more ironic that the evening before I played I wrote those exact words in an email to someone I have just begun coaching over the Internet. Yet it wasn’t until the drive home, having not qualified, that I realised I had fallen into the very same trap.

To cut a long story short I have in the past struggled with a push slice from the tee. It rears its head every now and then and is a destructive shot often leading to a lost ball. It’s something I developed when I first turned professional and stopped playing as much competitive golf. It has taken a great deal of time to get the shot under control, last year I didn’t hit a single one in a competitive round.

To control the shot I use a simple drill on the course, which encourages me to complete my turn and to be a little more patient in the transition. A drill that, as I was driving home, I realized I had not done on the course this year! I had slipped into the trap of stopping something that was working for me. Suffice to say the very next round I played I used the drill solely off the tee, and then followed that up with a round at The Grove where I hit every fairway with my driver.

The moral of the story is, if you find a drill that really helps you (as I have done) then this needs to be treated as an ever present exercise. – something that you always do. Your practice may not revolve around this exercise but it will always be included in some form or other whether it be used to warm up with or at the end.

So there are my three lessons. Nothing new but when they are served up on a plate as obviously as they were on that day you can’t miss them. Although it was a disappointing day for the most part I did enjoy the experience and I will keep trying until I succeed, plus I have the added bonus that when the winner lifts the claret jug aloft on the Sunday evening I will know that I contributed £140 to his massive winners cheque!