Having seen the Trilby
Tour on Sky Sports last year and thinking it looked like a pretty amazing day
out, my desire to take part in one was quite high. There were two catches
though. The first was that you had to have a handicap of 18 or less and mine
was 22 when entries opened and the second was the amount of hard-earned paper
bits required. It is pretty good value for that money, just justifying them as ‘spare’
would be very difficult. The moons aligned and I held my breath for the
required amount of time while balancing on my left little toe and ‘hey PRESTO’
Wales regional event at ST Pierre @here I come!!!’
I would loved to have
had a practice round or two prior to competing on the day, I just wasn’t able
to. Fortunately for me, my outstanding Caddie (Club Secretary, very good golfer
and all-round nice guy: Gareth Summerton) had played there around half a dozen
times and the Strokesaver of the course was excellent. My recent history of
playing well the first time I experience a course had me feeling buoyant.
I arrived early (0740
for an 1130 kick-off!!!) and grabbed the gear required for the day then felt
the nervousness build and every muscle used for golf get twitchier by the
second until I was blasting my putts twice the required distance and spraying
my warm up shots on the range all over the place! Gareth tried to get me to
swing easier and remember my tempo, I tried to as well.
The first tee is an
experience to be remembered! I was very nearly sick. The mention of 3.5million
viewers on Sky Sports didn’t help, neither did watching some previous groups
tension-induced shockers. I was playing with Dan (2010 Kent champion) and
Johnny (sixth Trilby event). Both of them were clearly nervous too, so I didn’t
feel too bad. I stood behind my ball and told myself just to stick to my
routine, then hit a beautiful drive, straight down the left of the fairway! I
almost wanted to fist-pump that, but managed to compose myself and refrain (the
TV cameras were on!).
I wish the rest of the
shots were as nice as that first one! You really have to be very precise with
the placement of your golf balls. My second shot parked me directly behind a
very large tree which my 9iron did not manage to clear and I ended up having my
first really nice chip for the day to get up and down for a 6 and my first 2
points.
After six holes I was
feeling pretty good about golf and had a few very lucky breaks along the way to
be standing on the 7th tee with 12 points already in the bag off ¾ handicap.
I hit one of the worst slices I have hit in some time. It went so far right,
that it cleared most of the trouble and left me with a reasonable chance at scrambling
to the green down the wrong fairway. I almost got a point with my putt just
lipping out after being in the green-side bunker and recorded my first blob
after a very adventurous hole. This would not be my first very adventurous hole
leading to a blob!!
I finished the front 9
with 13 points. I felt as though I was still in with a chance to make the top
ten even though I had two blobs. All I needed to do was play some steady golf.
TV cameras were following us on the 10th. My drive was pretty good,
leaving me with a pretty easy shot to a green protected left and through by
water. I sprayed my approach right into the trees and it popped out just off
the edge. Pretty poor chip left a monster putt which I dropped in the hole for
a timely par4 and hopefully a little bit of TV time! We’ll see in October.
I had a nice haul of
points over the next few holes and was standing on the 14th tee with
21 points! A nice drive down the centre was required with a bunker at 270yards
on the right which should have been out of reach. SNAP-HOOK LEFT into the trees
and a lucky bounce out of the tree into the greenside bunker on 13 leading to
an extremely adventurous hole which utilized the two previously played holes!
Still had a putt for a point, just missed it though.
Gareth gave me the
perfect play for the tricky 15th hole. Hybrid straight at the
bunkers on the right leaving a nice approach downhill to the green protruding
out into the lake. I did the first part perfectly! I even hit my second shot
really well, I just got my clubface alignment wrong and pushed it into the
massive grass to the right of the green. I then duffed my provisional shot
leaving me a massive chip to go in for a point which went through the green.
This hole just became my second chance at getting on the TV! Unfortunately it
will be in the ‘Rougues Corner’ bit, if anything. Unfortunately my short game
had left me. Duffed approach shots on 16 and 17 led to single pointers and
dashed any hope of making the top ten.
The 18th
hole at St Pierre is its signature hole for a good reason! It is stunning! I
can also imagine it would be extremely tough into the wind. I was really
expecting the cameras to be rolling for our tee shots on this massive par3 from
an elevated tee to an even more elevated green 210 yards away. My trusty Hybrid
got me onto the dance floor with one bounce and left me a huge birdie putt
which unfortunaltely require two follow-up putts to complete the round with 25
points. I really feel as though I had a great opportunity to make it to the
finals, but golf had other ideas.
Huge thanks to Gareth
for spending his day dispensing invaluable advice and carrying my new Triby
Tour golf bag around the place! Your help saved me from me really well! Thanks
also to Jackie Summerton for the photos and your support on the day was greatly
appreciated. Thanks to William Hunt and his team, along with the marshals from
St Pierre. The day seemed to run really smoothly and it was a great pleasure to
take part in a top-notch day!
Hopefully I can start
popping some pennies aside for next year!
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