Admission Review Programme (ARP)

One thing I have neglected to mention so far is the ARP element of the PGA which all prospective professionals have to partake in. I guess all my focus so far has been on that ruddy playing test.

However, to elaborate on the ARP, it is basically a 2-day induction to the PGA Foundation Degree Programme (the 3 year course which we all have to go through) which is carried out at The Belfry (the PGA headquarters of the UK).

The morning started delightfully - with a 4am wake up to drive there. The Belfry is all the up near Birmingham, some 180 miles away!!! Bummer considering I dislike distance driving intensely. Anyways, I rolled up about 7.30ish and the registration wasnt until 9 so I just decided to hit some balls on the driving range. This was no normal range, on the corridor to the range there were studio's for all the top golf manufacturers, where I then found out that all the top UK players go to experiment with new equipment! Cool, I thought.

Anyways, the morning began with a basic introduction to the programme and an overview of all the different things we will be covering over the 3 years which include coaching, business (AGAIN! - I now have 6 years business education behind me!), rules and tournament administration, sports science and club repairs.

After this we checked into our hotel rooms but that was non eventful.
Then, we were given a talk by a chap called Graham Jackson about distance learning. With the exception of a one week residential course per year, this entire course is done by the post via the mail and the balance of trying to balance this with my job and also my main priority - my playing career is not a particularly thrilling one. I digress....

After an unusual lunch, the afternoon session was spent in a business and rules workshop which was quite interesting.

The evening was spent entertained by a few beers, a posh meal in the suite where the European Ryder Cup dined and a wee trip to famed 'Belair' nightclub. However, I was a good lad and tucked myself up before midnight.

The second day basically consisted of 3 workshops - swing, sports science and club repairs which I found particularly interesting.
Then the head pro gave a talk about the various avenues we can go into when qualified professionals and I didnt realise how many there were - playing, equipment, coaching, corporate organising, dinner speaker, rules official, retail - the list goes on!!!!

I learned an absolute bundle and definitely am committed to enrolling upon completion of a certain test......

'When's the next test???!'

Well, as the title implies, attempt number three was again unsuccessful. This was by far the toughest to swallow though, as I missed the target by one shot! ONE SHOT!!!!!!!

I'm honestly not one to make excuses but I do not attribute this failure entirely to bad play in the afternoon!!

The morning round, with the exception of a 7 iron that must have flown 190 yards over a par 3 green and out of bounds went very well. 75, ok not a fantastic score but a score I was content with gave me a 10 shot cushion going into the second round. 'Great' I thought, 'This lunch break will be a great chance to regain some focus and energy' (it must have been about 30 degs in the sun!!)
However, no sooner had we sat down, a man in a red top cam flying round the corner: 'you guys are due on the tee in ten minutes. You better move it if you dont want to get penalised!'
Thus, no sooner had I sat down, I was back on the first tee again with no food inside and feeling knackered from the morning round.

After a shocking start, I managed to compose myself and with 8 holes to go I had 6 shots left to play with.
But at this point, all energy and adrenaline had gone and I was literally running on empty. After a series of 3 straight doubles, I found myself on the verge of blacking out and devestated by what had happened! If anyone organisers of this event ever you read this, you guys should be ashamed. You take £65 quid off us every time for these tests and then subject us to rules beyond all sense!!!!! I'm quite pissed off by this as you can imagine and feel like this one was quite literally ripped out of my hands. It was good to play well in the morning but what seemed to be a great day turned into a nightmare AGAIN! 83 shots in the afternoon and there was me sat in the clubhouse with that now all too familiar feeling.

I've got 2 more attempts at this left this year and am now asking myself some serious questions. I can't understand why I am finding this so hard when I know for a fact am more than good enough to pass this and compete with the big guys. The next test is gonna get it. No more Mr Nice Guy sensible golfer - I'm gonna kick some serious ass cos I'm fed up with putting myself thru this!!!

Till next time.....

Will Young

I took my lady R to see Will Young last nite. We went to see him at Leeds Castle and I must say that he is very talented indeed, although it has to be that some of the dance routines were a tad err 'camp' for either our liking. That being said, I personally have always been a fan and thought he is a superb vocalist, which he certainly is.

The show was disappointingly short - a mere hour and a quarter which considering that it started 90 minutes late too and that we spent a total of 4 and a half hours waiting for the thing to begin (thank goodness for a few beers haha!). Ah well, nevermind it was still a great day with R and the music we did see was great entertainment and Leeds Castle is a beautiful place to visit for sure.

I had a practise round, well I say 'round', I walked off after 5 holes because play was horifically slow and it seems like an ok course. We could really do with some rain in the next couple of days though because the ground the was very hard and bouncy, which I hate!

I have had another consultation with the hypnotherapist. I had a good in depth discussion with him about things such as the influence of luck. 'Why should you be worried about luck when it is a factor beyond your control?' He asked me. 'Well', I thought, good point you've got me there.
I amusingly (well I thought so) added 'yeah well but its a bit irritating when you hit a good shot that bounces 90 degrees left into a bush!'
This escalated into a session in working on composure. This is vital to me me because temporament, composure, anything that involves the mental side basically are huge weaknesses of mine that i will need to sort out if I am ever to make a career out of this game.

I was given some great tips to use on the day so if they work half as well as the stuff with my nerves, I will be in good stead Friday. I'm seriously not even analysing anything about this cos quite frankly i'm more laid back about the whole thing now and just wanna find some form on the day and pass. Rest assured, if it happens this time round I will be the happiest man in the world. If not, then as I have with the other two tests, I will simply move on and concentrate on the next one - NO BIG DEAL!

One thing that is hitting home is that I have been placing way too much emphasis on this test and this has stopped enjoyment on any level of the game for me. I realised this the other day and thus have begun telling myself there are more important things and things in my life which I should feel happy about and that GOLF IS ONLY A GAME!

Stay tuned.....

Failure number 2 - third time lucky!

Well I wish this blog came baring good news, but unfortunately i failed my test again with what only can be described as embarrasing scores of 86 and 79!

I can't put this failure down to nerves this time. In fact my consultation with the hypnotherapist guy, Steve Griffiths (www.naturalchildbirth.com) proved to be of great use. I felt more nervous the day before to be honest than on the day itself. I was given some brilliant techniques for breathing and also using peripheral vision which definitely put me at ease.
Anyone wishing to conquer any fears or anxiety etc, I would highly recommend seeing this guy. I was very impressed about how much just one session and one telephone call changed my outlook on the whole test. The only good thing that came out of this particular test was that I know now that nerves wont be detrimental to my performance as I know how to prepare and deal with. Now, i've just got to learn how to play the bloody game again.

All aspects of my game were downright poor. I hit 6 fairways all day, 15 greens out of 36 in regulation, only got up and down 5 out of 22 times and only made 16 pars all day! I was in disbelief when i worked this out! I have been practising all these areas very hard and to be honest cannot understand how they could possibly ALL have been so bad on the day! It sounds negative but I feel like a real underachiever at the moment because I am getting no reward for the efforts I've been making and now wish I had played in the club championship before it becasue this could've raised my confidence. Ah well, rant and rave over!

I have another test next friday. I've decided to try Clandon Regis against the advice of many who have given it quite a verbal bashing. I feel the change of scenery will help and hopefully I'll have a caddie to help me this time too.

Fingers crossed. Bye for now