My Trip to Phoenix
To be honest, I'm not quite sure where to start this week. As you know, I spent last week with Tyrrells members David Weller and Terry Moore plus our ex-General Manager Luke Edgcumbe in Scottsdale, Arizona, watching Saturday's round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open (there were 201,000 people watching that day...only in America!) We then represented Tyrrells Wood in a Pro-Am the following week.
I've been fortunate enough to have watched some great golf tournaments over the years but I hadn't seen anything like this before. The TPC Stadium Course is set-up to accommodate over 500,000 people during the tournament week with the main focus being the par-3 16th hole. It's only a short hole, with a purpose built grandstand totally surrounding the hole.
Now normally when I watch a golf tournament I'd walk the golf course or go to the practice range to watch the players, but not this time. I'm not ashamed to admit that we arrived at the golf course at 9am and headed straight to the 16th hole and didn't leave that spot until play had finished for the day, some eight hours later! We spent the whole day watching this short par-3 hole being played.
It's difficult to describe what it's like, the closest I can think of is trying to play golf in the middle of a rowdy football stadium as you can see and hear form this video I took. You can see US Tour Pro Bryce Molder putting out after hitting a great shot into the green, it's the first game that played the hole that day and so was only about 11am with many spectators already feeling the worse for wear! It was great fun to watch and certainly got louder throughout the day. What a fantastic way to start the trip.
The Pro-Am followed which was played over four different courses in the Arizona desert. The courses were fantastic, the weather too and our golf a little hit and miss! However, Team Tyrrells still finished a creditable 9th place out of 17 teams. Overall my golf was pretty good although I did find it difficult getting used to the conditions, my score improved every day through the trip and I finished with a couple of rounds under par which was very satisfying.
Whilst in Scottsdale we had the opportunity to play the TPC Stadium Course on the Wednesday following the USPGA tournament - what an experience it was playing the course that soon after the Tour event. The grandstands were still up and the course condition was superb. I played well all day (shooting the low round of the day from the pro's!), the only slight disappointment was three-putting the last two greens for a two-over-par round.
As you can tell, it was an amazing trip and I cannot recommend golf in Scottsdale enough. If you ever get the opportunity to watch the Phoenix Open then go for it - you won't be disappointed!
A big thank you to all the Tyrrells members who took part in our Callaway Club Fitting Day, it was great to see many of you testing the latest products. Best of the evening was a 22 yard improvement on an average driving distance! You really must try their new XR 16 driver!
If you missed out on Wednesday's Fitting Day then fear not! We have exclusive access to the full demo kit from Callaway until Monday, 22 February and so if you'd like to find out for yourself what all the fuss is about, please pop into the shop over the weekend.
Last chance for a FREE grip
It sounds pretty obvious, but your grip is your only point of contact between you and your club and so if you haven't re-gripped your clubs in the past 12 months, it could be costing you.
Don't believe it makes a difference, huh? Well, take advantage of our FREE offer, we'll re-grip one of your 7-iron for free and you'll be able to see if it really does make a difference. What have you got to lose?
Learn more in our article below.
Learning to celebrate mistakes
When we are learning something new, mistakes are normal. When we are young we fall hundreds of times before we can walk, we crash our bike loads before we learn to ride - we use mistakes as a mechanism to learn. Somewhere along the line as we get older we are conditioned to see mistakes in a negative light, to fear, punish and avoid them. But if we are making mistakes, then we are trying new things, we are actively trying to change, to improve and to learn something new. Mistakes are all part of the process of learning and should be embraced - click here to view a video!
There are three types of mistake:
The 'that's how stuff works' Mistake - These are the kinds of mistakes which just happen. The best players in the world sometimes miss 2-foot putts on a dead flat green. These are mistakes which can happen to anyone for no particular reason, other than we are human, we're not machines and sometimes we hit bad shots. These are certainly not a reason to beat ourselves up
The Process Error - These are great learning opportunities. I've been working on a practice routine to help me strike my fairway shots better. On one shot I forget my routine or I don't quite execute the shot quite how I intended. I recognize the error in the process, and refer back to my practice drill to fix it next time. Again, no reason to get upset or discouraged. Use this as feedback and use these mistakes to learn, grow, and improve
The Red Flag - I leave myself an awkward pitch up and over a bunker with very little green to land the ball on. I'm unsure how to play the shot or what club to use - I end up hitting the ground before the ball and the ball finishes in the bunker. This is a great opportunity to recognise a gap in my skill set, I go away and get help and learn how to play this shot.
When we are learning something new, it's human nature to avoid moving out of our comfort zone. We've all been in situations where we are trying to change something in our swing, mid-round it's not quite coming together so we revert back to what we are comfortable with. But...
What we are comfortable with isn't working, that's why we have sought help and a change in the first place!
Learning takes time! If I've made a mistake it just tells me that I've not quite mastered the change yet. Refer back to your practice routine; don't be tempted to disregard everything just because of one bad shot
The key to consistency is a consistent thought process; I'm not going to get a consistent swing if I'm changing my swing thought on every hole!
Learn to embrace your mistakes; don't feel embarrassed or discouraged by then, they are all part of how we get good at stuff.
Last opportunity to book your Game MOT!
If you want to get your game off to a positive start this year then a 30 minute game MOT is the perfect place to start, but hurry - Game MOTs are only available until the end of February! MOTs are a great way to assess where you currently are with your golf and plan out how we can get you achieving your golfing goals this season.
To book your Game MOT for just £15, contact Jo Taylor via assistant.professional@tyrrellswoodgolfclub.com.
The next 10 days at Tyrrells
Tue 16 Feb - Many congratulations to the team of Gerry Ross, Judy Baker & Jo Kavanagh who won the ladies Yellow Ball Competition with an excellent score of 90 points in very frosty conditions. Please click here for the full results.
