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Risk, Reward and the downright Ugly...

3/9/2022

Hello All, Welcome back to my newly refreshed Tour Blog! Its been a while since my last blog post so plenty of things to catch up on with you all, and I hope you enjoy what i've put together.

Included in this blog post:

- My Story of the 2021 season in more detail
- My Golf plans for 2022
- 100 Club Latest news
- Competitions + Prize Giveaway
- Upcoming Golf Days

Risk, Reward and the downright Ugly. No better way to sum up life as a touring professional.

As exciting and thrilling the drive can be for us all to have the tiniest bit of success, it unfortunately comes with all sorts of stress a long the way, whether its financial struggles, avoiding injuries or illness, or even just the pressure of holing a 10ft putt for £3.5k, knowing that if you miss it your walking home with chuff all, or if you hole it you're on the next flight back to South Africa.

Tour average of holing a putt from 10ft is 40% on perfect surfaces. So leave yourself a smelly downhill right-lefter with half of Yorkshire's finest footprints around the hole, whats odds are you giving yourself ? Take a look at this...

Yep, without doubt the best tee shot and most important putt i've made so far in my career, and perfect timing just a few days after my golf day at Leeds Golf Centre and a boozy weekend of celebrating my birthday back at the end of August.
The response from everyone afterwards was overwhelming to say the least, knowing that the next big step was, could I perform to this level on a bigger stage? My Answer would be, abso-chuffin-lutely!

Here's the full video of the short game clinic I put together for everyone on the day, it's 26 minutes long, so you may want to check it out on youtube later giving you my own perspective on some basic short game shots and bunker technique. Apologies in advance about the sound but can just about hear most of it.

Now i think all Touring Professionals will agree that there is a huge risk for any reward in playing golf, and i'd say the top of that list is definitely the financial risk we take and always having to rely on a sponsors 'word' whether they will invest in you or not. And when was an amateur this was one of the huge reasons that held me back from taking that plunge to the big boy league.

Which was why at the start of 2021 I took the risk to spend the 1st month of our 3rd lockdown developing a website and this blog, but also creating a brand to attract sponsors, I created a promo video that was way out of my comfort zone and challenged myself to believe I could persuade 50 people to join my brand new #100Club.

Took the risk, got the reward within 10 days, Pretty Damn impressive.

Sunshine Tour Bound..... and straight into the deep end after a 9 week lockdown, I had 6 days to prepare for the 1st of 6 events, made the cut on the number, Yes -7 <MINUS SEVEN CUT>. And finished the week with an eagle birdie finish for 11 under.

The reward kept on growing, I was having the time of my life, perfect weather, amazing cheap food, immaculate golf courses.

I missed the next two cuts by 1-2 shots and had 3 weeks to prepare for the final 3 events on the Challenge tour.

Drove up to Limpopo (Safari Area) for an early practice round, before the event at Euphoria, managed to get squirted in the face with a sprinkler on the 17th par 3. Turns out they use sewage water to spray the course. Funny at the time.

Took the risk, Ended up in hospital with severe Typhoid Fever (caused by Salmonella), Unlucky.

Cost an unexpected £8k and blew a huge chunk out of the season budget. Had insurance, never got paid out. Forced to withdraw from the final events.

Down right ugly.

Came back home after 10 days in a hotel quarantine, with a real urge to get back to playing again and with 5 invites on the Europro coming up 3 weeks later and a potential sponsor offering to fund the events, there wasn't any time to mess around.

I had abdominal pain & was feeling weak, which made me unable to do any gym work to build my body back up to which led to again very good performances considering the circumstances but missing 4 of the 5 cuts by 1/2 shots was a hammer blow to my overall confidence.

What most experienced Pro's probably know well by now is to not go off promises people give to you to when it comes to sponsorship when you need it, and when I had no response from this certain individual after he asked for my bank details, the situation had gone from a couple of risks, to absolutely no reward, and now to the downright ugly side of 'f**king' up the whole season.

And thats the problem with this profession, you need to take a lot of risks to get any reward, and you can push as hard as you want to get there and if you don't achieve it, things can get pretty damn ugly very quickly.

And thats where I decided to take a break from competitive golf and focus of spending a month preparing my game and putting together a fantastic golf day back in August to allow me to be able to afford a few more 1 day events and at this point returning to South Africa was never on the cards until I took one more risk...

£4500+ was advertised on the 2020 pro tour twitter feed for the winner of their upcoming event at Northcliffe thanks to Hazzad Golf giving a huge bump to the 1st prize. And my friend Ross Earnshaw (Pro at Sandburn GC) had sent me the link on twitter after I finished my golf day, we had been doing some competitive practice together up at Sandburn where my performance coach (Steve Robinson) is based. And we had heard on a podcast about Eddie Pepperell playing off the red tees when he first turned pro to get use to the lower scores being shot every year. So as a laugh we gave it a go and I turned up to Northcliffe the next monday feeling like i was still playing off the red tees and trying so shoot double digits under par. The result:

3 hours sitting in the car waiting... Play off time. Live TV. Big Crowd. Couple of 8 irons in the nett. & Buggy back to the 18th Tee.

Obviously walking up there was quite nerve racking as I hadn't seen the ball fly for a few hours, and all i could think about was what club I should hit as i had put the ball in the bunker short right in regulation. Adam Walker did the coin toss which I won.

I chose to go first as I knew hitting the green was such a pressure shot in itself never-mind anything near the flag.

A big risk as if I miss the green John Parry could easily put one close when he's on form.

The wind had dropped from 3 hours earlier and I stuck to my guns and went straight at it with the same club. 8 iron. And almost took the paintwork off the flag. 10ft. Take that Paz.

I could literally taste the Bacon, Brie and cranberry pizza at CCJ (Country Club Joburg) melting like butter in my mouth.

Took the risk, went straight for the flag, Henrietta got the reward.

So there's one of the very few rewards that i've managed to experience on the golf course in the last year, but could I have done it without any of the risks i've taken to get to that point? Was it all worth it ?

No better feeling than Winning.

I went away for a few days in Scotland and planned to play in the Europro Event on the way back down from the NC500 at Leven Links. And depending on my result at this event I was going to decide if I was tournament ready.

I was 1st reserve on the Sunday night of the Wednesday event and waited around until Wednesday 3pm and not a single person dropped out.

Took the Risk, Got kicked in the Nuts, Move on.

By waiting around sitting on a bench and warming up 4 times just desperate to play knowing I had hit some serious form, was all the pushing I needed to return to SA, and on the way back down I went for my 2nd jab as at this time we still had hotel quarantine rules.

Now personally for me, my biggest achievement of the year has to be not only earning £5000 the first time in April, but to do it again by my own will from my golf day earnings and winning in style. And even though it was never on the cards, my biggest problem then was dealing with the anxiety of returning to a country that I had developed quite a huge amount of anxiety to just visit again. To the point the week prior I hadn't eaten and was vomiting out of fear from repeating the trauma from last time.

Here is the plan that I was facing.

I knew I had gained a lot of confidence from the win, but was advised by everyone including my GP not to go, however I knew deep down that if I didn't go right now, I would never be able to do it again & I would regret it.

With a very unhappy Dad, I made my flight within minutes and took a 24 hour triple flight journey towards Port Elizabeth for the 1st event of 4.

I played fantastic in really tough conditions, unfortunately I really struggled with the grain on the greens and missed the cut by 3.

I then flew over to Durban & took a 3 hour journey down to the Wild Coast. For what felt like a perfect setup for my style of game lots of wedge shots, and slow bumpy style of greens.

Unfortunately we played the Pro Am the day before and we got rained off to the point we spent 3 days in our hotel rooms from non stop rain. That bad they ended up cancelling the entire event!

Wasted almost a £1k on that week!

We go again, this time at the spectacular Gary Player Country Club.

Bucket list golf course for everyone, and it definitely lived up to its expectations.

I shot +4 in the qualifier with -2 getting you through. Inexperience definitely showed, as I made lots of silly mistakes missing shots on the short side leaving impossible up and downs. And even when I did hit the green, holing putts was tough with lightning fast undulating surfaces it was tough to keep the speed right.

The final two events was at Blair Athol north of Joburg, then back down to the coast at St Francis Links.

Both fantastic venues and extremely demanding tee to green.

Blair being the 3rd Longest Course in the world at 8300 Yards and St Francis recently being ranked the Number 1 course in South Africa.

I missed both cuts in the end, with Blair being so long it definitely needed you A game which I didn't have those two days.
And St Francis I improved dramatically tee to green, but the grain on the coastal greens made it very difficult for me to be able to commit to reads on putts as I would back home.

What's Ben been up to ?

Since returning from South Africa mid November, i've spent a lot of time working on a physical and mainly mental rebuild on the problems i faced in 2021 and here is how ive been dealing with them:

1. Green + Grain Reading - Worked tirelessly with coaches Steve Robinson And Joe Feather on technique with the putter, my SAM putt lab stats have improved dramatically, and devised a plan for when returning to SA with using a string line to be able to get comfortable on cross grain reads.

2. Ongoing chest pain / breathing difficulties - Had all the appropriate tests and a plan is in place for CostroChronditis. Including lots of bodyweight HIIT workouts and using an inhaler to help get the lungs working.

3. Mental Work - The reality of Tournament golf has highlighted the mental toughness needed to cope with the cut - throat environment. Working with a Psych on both this and coping with stress management + anxiety.

4. Good routines - Strict morning routines, breathing work, reading, injury prevention exercises, nutrition and sleep.

Plans for 2022?

Retain Card - at Final Stage of Sunshine tour school 20th April

Clutch + 2020 Pro tour

European Tour School

Sunshine Tour Season (Fingers Crossed)

Overall goal is to progress onto the Challenge Tour in 2022.

100 Club News

The 100 Club has officially hit its 1 year anniversary

Upcoming Golf Days?

I'm planning to hopefully host 2 golf days this year in attempt to raise cash for the season and get more involved with my 100 club guys, with more clinics and prizes to be made.

I will hopefully be hosting a Ryder Cup style event at another venue TBC

And also hosting another golf day with big prizes like I have done at my home course Leeds Golf Centre.

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When is the right time to turn Pro?

10/5/2021

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Before I get started lets rewind 6 weeks back…. Professional golf had officially broken me. If I was to describe it would be like putting a slab of utterly butterly on a warm pan and expecting it to stay solid. I’d just been on a 8 miss cut streak, 6 of which were by 1 shot, I’d completely run out of cash after backing myself to perform by shelling £700 a week on the Europro tour, a potential sponsor went quiet on me for the 2nd time, so my only option was to either stop playing and wait to host another golf day or think of some cracking content I could put together for a new Onlyfans account as I’d heard a lot of success stories about ‘revealing’ yourself online.
Instead, I put down the clubs, worked my socks off (pardon the pun), pieced together another golf day, with the hope of raising enough cash to prolong the season on europro or even just play mini tour events until the end of the season.

Here’s how the golf day went at my home course - Leeds Golf Centre

You can see the full short game clinic by joining my 100 Club where you will be part of a private community hosted by myself, keeping you regularly updated through the weeks of my tour journey, both here in the U.K. and on the Sunshine tour out in South Africa. You'll also receive your very own #100Club Collector's item in the post ...

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How hard is it to qualify for the open?

6/30/2021

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Every year around the end of June, every aspiring golfer comes out of hibernation to pursue their dream of qualifying for the biggest prize in golf, 'The Open'. Remarkably 3 of the last 4 years Ben's managed to pull his finger out and qualify for the final stages, and even managed to chop his way to a couple of wins along the way.
But whats even more interesting, his current success rate at final stage is still better than his online dating tinder matches of 0-3......

Now most of you will know how the system works, on a normal non covid year, everyone outside the top 1000 OWGR has to go straight to regional qualifying competing for around 7-11 spots into final stage where there are eventually 3 spots. To enter all you all have to do is have a handicap of scratch or below or have taken the plunge to turn professional.

This sounds simple, but if you want to qualify through the final stages into the real thing you really do have to raise the bar....

Since the age of 12 when I started playing, my dream has always been to qualify for the open and between the ages on 12-19 my main motivation was to get my handicap down to scratch as soon as I could. Unfortunately until the age of 18 I was stuck on a 3 handicap with no real chance of getting any lower. I was heavily overweight around 17 1/2 stone and never really had the confidence to fit into any groups, and didn't even get considered into the Yorkshire county setup until I was 20. 'If your face fits' they say, well in this case my face was far too chubby to fit.

It was until I finished 6th form and decided to have a gap year where I finally managed to break that barrier. And in 3 months my handicap plummeted from 3.3 handicap to -2.1. Which for anyone to know on the old system to have that big of a drop you have to be seriously consistent and the only way for that to happen is having a big change in your approach to playing golf.

I'd put this initial improvement down to 3 factors:
1. I'd met Duncan Mccarthy at Moortown GC who put together blitz fitness classes for golfers of all sizes. In 3 months I'd lost over 4 stone and got myself fitter than i'd ever been. This was Circuit training blasts which put you through an hour of hell twice a week. Put it this way, for anyone who did these classes, twice a week was more than enough as it would take 4 days to recover in time for the next class.
2. I started working at Leeds Golf Centre, which gave me the opportunity to start having regular golf lessons at a discounted rate in return for extra clients. At the time Dan Seaman (yes the goalkeepers son) offered to help me out for free after seeing how bad I use to swing the club.
3. Duncan also started some mental work with me at the golf course to get my pre shot routines more fluid and help with channeling thoughts to get me prepared for a competitive environment.

My first attempt at open regional qualifying was at my 2nd home, Moortown GC, where I managed to shoot level par to sneak in at 3rd place tied with Nick McCarthy, I was 3 under on a very nervy back 9 which set me up for my first time at Final qualifying over in southport at Hillside GC.

My 2nd attempt was at Fairhaven where i managed to win with a score of level par due to extremely firm ground conditions (2018 drought).

Both years at final stage proved that I still wasn't ready for the 36 shootout against some of the worlds best. I wont lie, both these experiences felt like I was a little out of my depth with youth and the quality of players next to me on the range like peter Uihlien and Robert Rock aka Captain stripeshow.

Since then I've been determined to raise my own level, and have looked at every aspect of how I can improve myself on and off the course to give myself the best chance of competing in golfs biggest competition.

Most noticeably since making changes in my diet and approach to fitness with the help from Phil Holmes & Will Wayland, to swing changes with long time coach Joe Feather and physio Paul Farqueson and more in depth performance / analysis with Steve Robinson. In 2019 I finally managed to achieve a lowest handicap of -4.6 when I won Regional qualifying for the 2nd time in a row at Firthaven (also known as fairhaven) with a round of -5 67.

The 3rd time felt totally different, it was the first time where i'd got through and felt comfortable in the position and level of golf I was competing at. I'd come into the event with a lot of confidence with a recent 4th place finish in the Brabazon trophy and course record in the English Amateur. I was relaxed, but unfortunately a slow start of 4 over front 9 stopped any chance of getting through, but finally a 3 under par 2nd round proved that I could score at this level.

What happened this year?

Now unfortunately this year didn't go quite to plan, I shot 3 over par at Hollinwell for the regional qualifying and super disappointed as I felt like my game was good enough to get through to finals again.

Leading up to it, I had a high level of motivation with missing out on last year, I decided to get some extra practice in on my short game by going back late to the golf club after having dinner to get a couple of extra hours practice in, and even withdrew from the Europro event just to prioritise Open Q. However this kind of backfired as I was very sloppy on the day and missed a few short putts. Very unlike me.

But lessons learned. I'm taking a some time off from travelling to concentrate on getting a few things ironed out upstairs and recover from a bit of mid season burnout. ILL BE BACK!

So from past experience of playing final qualifying and seeing a couple of my old Yorkshire squad friends Sam Bairstow + Nick Poppleton get through yesterday I've simplified what I think you need to be to give yourself the best chance of qualifying for golf's biggest prize, not the British open..... The Open

Minimum requirements for Amateurs:
- Handicap of +2 or better with the new WHS.
- Able to win at county mens level
- Recorded stats for at least 1 full season
- Has been a member at a reasonably hard golf course or previous open venue
- Threatened a course record a few times.

This would most likely get you through 1st stage on your very best day.

Ideal Requirements to get through Final Stage
- Handicap of -4 or better with old system this may even be -6 now?
- Reasonable fitness level and have played in 4 round events regularly.
- Able to compete at national level amateur events
- Previous history of winning events on respected golf courses
- Driver Carry of at least 265+ yards
- World class from inside 100 yards, especially short game + putting

And if you can put all of that together with a big set of bollucks you may have a chance of qualifying for the Open.