The Christmas season is fast approaching – in fact, it’s galloping along, and for a person who steadfastly refuses to hang a bauble or send a card while still in the eleventh month of the year I have to admit I’ve already broken all my self-imposed rules.  Full disclosure – last weekend we hosted Christmas dinner (yes, turkey and all the trimmings and plum duff) for fourteen.  This was largely my hubby’s branch of the family and it was a grand collective effort with everyone having an allotted responsibility, food, drink and preparation wise.  So, it all bowled merrily along and the house now seems strangely, and blessedly, quiet.  The most noise since the departure of our guests came from trying to manhandle the bottle recycling bin up to the gate for its next collection.

The reason I mention the festive season is to warn (reassure?) you all that this will be the final blog offering of the year and that we will be taking our annual break until sometime in……… well, who knows exactly when?

For me, this has been the strangest of years with zero golf interaction at any level for me.  No attendance at majors, no research to do, no interviewing players, no being abreast of all the unrepeatable swirlings emanating from the rumour mill.

There’s been no interaction at club level either.  It’s now been thirteen months since I last played and with my golf club being forty minutes away it’s a little too much of a fatiguing drive for me to just pop by the club for a coffee and to see who’s around.  The result is that it’s been an odd (non) golfing year for me and my only connection with the sport that’s been a massive part of my life has been through a screen – either a television one or a computer one.

If you are a regular reader of the blog you will be aware there has been no movement on the instruction front either (ongoing joint pain), so I’m following my friend Mary McKenna’s advice.  “Remind all your readers to just look back at your tips over the winter!”  They are all there on youtube or just go to the Coaching tab at the top of the home screen if you fancy a quiet bit of golfing armchair meditation with a glass of something nice at your elbow..

Here’s hoping things are a little different next year.

I must say I did enjoy the denouement of the Ladies’ European Tour (LET), with the last event, the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana, being played at Alferini golf club.  There was a smorgasbord of Swedish talent on display with Linn Grant and Maja Stark, two great friends and two great golfers, battling to the wire to see who would triumph in the season-long Race to the Costa del Sol.  In the end, it was Grant who, with a third place finish, scooped the Rookie of the Year title as well as the big Order of Merit one, with Stark runner-up and yet another Swede, Johanna Gustavsson, third in the season’s standings.

One of the main draws in Spain was Leona Maguire, the highest-ranked player in the field at world No 11. She was fresh off the plane from last week’s LPGA event in Florida  and jet-lag or no, she finished a highly creditable fourth, going on on Monday to attend a small Solheim Cup gathering down the coast at the invitation of captain Suzann Pettersen.  By now, I really do hope she’s got the feet up at home in Ireland and is enjoying a well-earned rest after a fabulous year.

Meanwhile, battling it out for the Spanish Open crown was yet another Swede, Caroline Hedwall, (top picture) four-time Solheim Cup player, who has found tournament victories a little thin on the ground over the last eight years.  Always an impressive ball striker she has become a little jittery on the shorter putts and admitted to wondering did she still “have it in her” to handle the pressure and win again.  Her questions were answered when she rolled in a fifteen footer for birdie on the fourth extra hole to deny the elegant Swiss player, Morgane Metraux, her maiden tour title.

Metraux is another to watch for captain Pettersen.  She has just completed her first season on the LPGA and has comfortably secured her card for next year.  Winning is her obvious next step and I don’t think it’ll take too long.

As the players are heading home for well-deserved rest and relaxation I’m looking to start gearing up a bit more if possible.  I decided I really did need to keep the grey cells in some sort of working order so I’ve done the training to become a Controller for the Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire Blood Bikers.  The Blood Bikers are a network of regional charities, run completely by volunteers offering a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service to hospitals and health centres.  The riders collect and deliver all sorts of samples and tissues all over their area (and frequently further afield).

My first shift will be on Friday December 2nd, the very day this blog is posted, from 7am until 1pm and I will (hopefully) be in control of 3500 square miles and up to seven riders from Shropshire, North Staffordshire, East Staffordshire and Cheshire.  This is arguably the most pressure I’ll have felt since I was on tour decades ago, so wish me well as you sip your morning cuppa!

If I survive, and the riders survive, I’ll see you in the New Year.

 

All sorts of season-ending trophies, titles and bonuses are being handed out at this time of year and the professional tours have been recognising the best of the best.  Meanwhile, the amateurs up and down the land are trotting forth to try and win a Christmas turkey, braving all sorts of adverse weather conditions and perhaps being inspired by their heroes.

In this most disruptive of years in the professional game we have had some really heart-warming stories and there’s no better place to start than in the women’s game with New Zealander Lydia Ko.  Now 25 years of age, Ko amazingly has just completed her ninth season on the LPGA tour.  In her early days she swept all before her, becoming the youngest ever world No 1 back in 2015 at the tender age of seventeen.  For a while she could do no wrong but an extended period of a revolving door of instructors and caddies derailed her to the point that she slipped outside the top 60 in the world.

Many a player would have been thrilled to have owned Lydia’s record during these “off” years.  She “only” recorded two victories on the American tour between the 2016 and 2022 seasons but her work ethic and innate charm never wavered despite her travails on the course.  I remember interviewing her after one of her rounds in the 2016 Women’s Open and not looking forward to it as she had driven OB at the last and finished with a double bogey.  Players can be very thorny after a finish like that and need to be approached warily (think Colin Montgomerie or Darren Clarke or almost anybody).  Lydia, however, couldn’t have been more courteous or co-operative and added a sparkle that I wasn’t expecting.  I’ve never forgotten it.

And now she’s back to her best, tucking away a cheque for $2 million dollars last Sunday – the largest first prize in the women’s game – for winning the CME Group Tour Championship.  This was her third win of the year enabling her to scoop up the Vare Trophy for the season’s low scoring average as well as the Rolex Player of the Year award.  In her own words it has been a “dream season” and with her wedding to look forward to on December 30th it will be a year she never forgets.  She’s a class act.

Finishing runner-up to Lydia last week and pocketing the biggest cheque (US$550,000 or thereabouts) of her four and a half year professional career was another class act, Ireland’s Leona Maguire.  She notched her first LPGA victory back in February and had three other top five finishes, most notably a fourth place in the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield.  This has all been instrumental in propelling her to a career best eleventh place in the world rankings.

Leona’s 2022 report card has not been the only positive one produced by European players, which must be very pleasing for Solheim Cup captain Suzanne Pettersen, who is undoubtedly already sizing up the contenders for the match in Spain in September.  For golf fans from these islands the maiden LPGA wins of Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Gemma Dryburgh were real high points, as was Charley Hull winning for the second time on the American tour. There was also continued good play from Celine Boutier and Georgia Hall, two stalwarts of last year’s Solheim victory.

The ever reliable Swedish production line seems to be rolling along nicely with the phenomenal new talents of Linn Grant and Maja Stark and I was particularly pleased to see Anna Nordqvist finish highly last week after a difficult season.  So, all in all, I’d suggest that it’s quite a rosy picture for captain Pettersen to contemplate.

And perhaps things aren’t quite so bad for Luke Donald either as he ponders his selections for the Ryder Cup, also being played next September and also a home European fixture.  Rory reigns supreme, having climbed the world ranking mountain to the No 1 spot again, at the same time finishing top on both sides of the Atlantic.  In my, clearly unbiased, opinion he has been No 1 both on and off the course, assuming the role of chief spokesman on behalf of the PGA tour and its players in the ongoing LIV saga.

Sterling performances from Matt Fitzpatrick, the US Open champ, the ever formidable Jon Rahm, and the resurgence of Tommy Fleetwood, Dubai’s newest resident, will surely gladden Donald’s heart.  And whenever he casts his eyes towards American shores, he’ll see Ireland’s Seamus Power sitting proudly atop the standings.

Seamus has had a golden month, starting with winning for the second time on the PGA tour at Bermuda.  He followed this up by being in contention in his next two starts, finishing third and fifth and growing ever more comfortable in the heat of being in contention.  It’s a long time till the Ryder Cup in Rome but it’s a great start.

Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Alex Noren and Tyrrell Hatton will all surely be noted in Donald’s little black book but I’m sure he’ll also consider the super talented Hojgaard twins from Denmark and Scots Ewen Ferguson, Richie Ramsey and Bob McIntyre.

Perhaps Europe’s Ryder Cup team will be less affected by the LIV desertions than the Americans.  After all, who are we losing?  Sergio, Westwood, Poulter, Casey…?  All in their forties with, dare I say it, their best golf behind them.  On the other hand the Americans will be without DJ, Koepka, Dechambeau, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson, all but the latter potentially in their prime.  Somehow, come Rome, I don’t think we the golf fans will be giving any of the aforementioned a single passing thought – we’ll be caught up yet again in an enthralling Ryder Cup tussle.  So, no, we won’t miss them.

I started with a Kiwi and can’t finish without the mention of another Kiwi, Ryan Fox, who finished runner-up to Rory in the DP World Tour rankings.  His has been an outstanding year which is all the more heartwarming coming after difficult Covid years when he could barely get back home to see his wife and young family, so difficult was it to travel in and out of his native land.  It seemed like he was in contention every week – two wins, four seconds and a third place bear testament to that – and a meteoric rise from 213th in the world rankings at the start of the season to 27th (one ahead of Seamus) assures him of starts in all the majors for 2023.  His is a very well-deserved off-season.

I must add one PS for fear of not being allowed back into Ireland if I don’t mention Padraig Harrington’s stupendous maiden campaign on the US Seniors’ tour.  With four wins under his belt there was no one to touch him…..except Steven Alker, who also notched four victories and played golf of the highest order.

And, oh yes, Alker is another Kiwi.  There’s clearly been some sort of magic dust sprinkled on the men and women from the land of the long, white cloud in 2022.  Wonder if we could bottle it too?

Congratulations all.

Christmas has come early in this house with the unexpected, joyful arrival through the door the other day of the tome Peter Alliss was working on when he died.  For me, that was the end of all meaningful accomplishment for a few days as I nestled down to enjoy PETER ALLISS:  REFLECTIONS ON A LIFE WELL LIVED.

I don’t know quite what I was expecting.  In truth, I hadn’t given it much thought but Jackie, Peter’s wife, had confessed to me that it was a difficult project to bring to a close and that the family was keen that it should be done as a lasting testament to Peter.  On opening the first pages I discovered that Peter had enlisted the talents of fellow Norn Irish person Bill Elliott in this, his final project.

I whooped with delight.  This must surely be a marriage made in heaven.  Bill is as skilful with the pen and keyboard as Peter was with his impeccable timing and mastery of the spoken word.  The irreverent, observational Elliott humour has been capable of holding court in a multitude of media centres around the world and when you add this to an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of golf it is a delightful mix.  And as Patricia drily reminded me, “Bill has been around for a very, very long time!”

The book only very loosely follows some semblance of a chronological timescale but, rather like its author, it rambles hither and thither, just exactly the way good conversation does with an old friend.  There’s nothing wishy-washy about Peter’s opinions, however, and in a wonderful chapter near the end of the book he discourses on a range of subjects from Brexit to modern day education to Gary Player to Love Island.  Where else would you come across such a range of diverse topics, all in a clump?  No punches pulled, but a gentle questioning wonderment as to how on earth did we arrive at this point?  Peter always left you with food for thought.

I was privileged to spend quite a bit of time with Peter over the years and be in his company when he was in full flow.  A number of my favourite stories are absent from this book, which just goes to show the extent of the treasure trove of yarns at his disposal.  How Bill and Peter corralled their collaborations inside the covers of a manageable book is a mystery.  No worries about lack of material here, I’d venture to suggest, so ruthless censorship must have been the order of the day.

One of my own favourites is the tale of Peter going to the Dublin area for a tournament after which he decided he’d stay an extra day with some friends.  When he did get home he had somehow “misplaced” a whole four days of which he had zero memory.  Four weeks later an important looking envelope arrived in the post – the deeds to a tract of land he seemed to have purchased in Wicklow.  When he did get round to visiting it some years later he discovered it was situated on an almost vertical hill and was neither use nor ornament to anyone.  He assured me, however, that he was positive he’d had a wonderful time while acquiring this useless field!

Censorship notwithstanding, the book bounces merrily along discoursing on such topics as the Masters, the Ryder Cup, television and rubbing shoulders with the stars of stage and screen.  Underpinning it all, however, is a great sense of the support of family and especially Jackie, Peter’s wife of many years.  The closing chapter is a touching epilogue on “My Peter.” by Jackie, an enabler of the highest order.  She kept everything running so Peter could go off and do what he did best and when mobility became an issue for him in later years she was his constant companion, waiting in our BBC production office for the day’s commentary to come to an end when we could all be released back into civilisation and, with a bit of luck, to a nice evening dinner.

The book is a wonderful read, thought-provoking, funny, poignant and beautifully written.  Enjoyable for those who never knew Peter personally and enjoyable for those of us who did.  It’s hard not to delight in his obvious zest for life itself and his disarming acknowledgment that things came rather easily to him down the years amazingly never seemed to produce rancour or envy in others.

Jackie states that she was “so very blessed to have shared over fifty years with such a unique and special man”.  I feel that we are the lucky ones – lucky that the family so generously shared Peter with the rest of us down the years.  They have done so again with this book.  Buy it, read it, treasure it.

And now that I have taken care of all your Christmas shopping, what are you going to do with all this free time?

What a glorious autumn this little part of our world is enjoying in terms of female players from these shores triumphing on the LPGA tour.  Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh (top) is the latest to become an LPGA champion (and the first Scot since Catriona Matthew in 2011) winning  the TOTO Japan Classic last weekend.  She joins Englishwomen Charley Hull and Jodi Ewart Shadoff in giving us three winners on that tour in the space of the last four weeks.  That’s a first, so let’s enjoy it and celebrate these players, not forgetting Ireland’s Leona Maguire and her win earlier in the season.

Gemma is in her fifth season on the LPGA and prior to this tournament her best finish had been a fifth place.  She smiled her way round the golf course, seemingly impervious to the relentless pressure exerted by numerous, logo-bedecked Japanese players who kept hitting hybrids in from around 200 yards and holing the putts.  Gemma just smiled and followed suit and even the thundering sight of a rampant Linn Grant in her rear view mirror, a winner six times in the last fourteen months, didn’t shake her.

Prior to this tournament the Scot’s aim was to make the season-ending CME Championship which takes place next week and for which the top 60 players on the LPGA tour qualify.  That’s nicely checked off the list now and there are a few other experiences from the week in Japan that will stand Gemma in good stead.  Playing professionally in that country for the first time, she found herself leading an LPGA event for the first time in her career.  That was late in the third round during which, by the way, she was playing with Atthaya Thitikul, the 19-year old sensation from Thailand who is the current world No 1.  Unfazed, Gemma shot 65.

The Japanese fans just adore their golf and despite understandably pulling for the home players the respect afforded to all the competitors was something the players all mentioned in their post-round interviews.  Whatever the reason, it was apparent that the Scotswoman was very comfortable out there in the heat of battle and when the pressure was at its greatest she covered the closing eight holes in five under to put the finishing touches to a superb second 65.

I asked Lawrence Farmer, Gemma’s long-time coach, if this win was out of the blue and he told me that she’d been playing very well since the end of July, had been a very solid player for quite a while, so, no, not really.  Having coached major champions, Lawrence is someone whose opinion I value and he agreed with me when I said Gemma reminded me of Cristie Kerr, the nine-time American Solheim Cup player, who was the bane of many a European Solheim Cup team.

When the celebrations die down, the Solheim Cup will now undoubtedly be on Gemma’s radar and I’m quite sure that Europe’s Solheim Cup captain Suzanne Pettersen will have been paying very close attention, particularly to the Scot’s calmness under pressure.

We’re honing in at a rate of knots on January 2023…………which means a revision of the Rules of Golf.  For years and years nothing seemed to change but in the last decade and a half or so since I did the R&A rules exam quite a lot has changed.  And when you’ve had a year like me without dusting off the clubs at all, the new rules can quite easily pass you by.

I took note therefore when the sister forwarded me an article highlighting a couple of changes and clarifications coming into play in January.  Firstly, Rule 10.2b(4).  This states that a caddie must not “deliberately stand in a location on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball for any reason”.  There was always the implication that a player’s partner shouldn’t crowd the line of a player either in order to see what way his own putt might break if on a similar line.  This has now been made much more explicit and is worth remembering if you play a lot of foursomes or fourballs at your club.  It’s simply not allowed and the penalty in stroke play is two shots (Rule 22.6) and in match play loss of hole (Rule 22.8).  Do read the rule for a fuller explanation.

Now, perhaps some of you recognise the putter in the picture above?  The implement, I mean, not the person.  Maybe you even have one in the bag, or perhaps in the garage?  Yes, it’s the self-standing putter – that club which enables a player to set the blade down, walk behind the putter to check the aim and then return to take his stance happy in his alignment.  From January you may no longer use the putter to aid your alignment. This is completely consistent with the rule banning caddies from lining up players.  Quite rightly too.  Aiming is a massive part of the game and psychologically removing that doubt is an enormous help to the player, taking away a large part of the skill of the game.  NB however, the actual putter is not banned, only its use as an aid to lining up.  This is similar to the broom handle putter not being banned, rather there are restrictions on how it can be used.

Finally, before I fall into the trap of moaning about the rules and how they still seem as complicated as ever, the following, doing the rounds of Whittington Heath members, served as a great reminder to me of how golf really does teach you to take the good breaks with the bad and just get on with things, no matter how difficult.

Now, any complaints about your current circumstances?….