Go Fund Me

Happy Sunday everyone!!!
I've started back with my training and casual job. I've been flat out planning the remainder of the year  and have lots of golf to look forward to. I'll be playing pennant for Kingston Heath on the 15/05/2016  I really enjoy playing with the ladies and always have a great day.

Today I created a go fund me account please click on link below and have a look.  This is to assist me to offset my expenses as I head to play on the LET access tour and LET Tour school later in the year.

https://www.gofundme.com/r7x7mcdk

Have a great week and happy golfing,

Grace 

Vietnam

Hey everyone! Happy Easter!!
I've been in Vietnam the past week playing at the Dalat 1200 Golf Club. It's one of the most unique courses I've ever seen or played. It's set in the mountains of Vietnam and at some points you get to 1200m above sea level.
The views are spectacular, but make getting the yardage correct quite tricky.
Being in Asia is always a bit difficult, firstly because of the language barrier. The first day I arrived at the course I had someone come up to me and take my golf bag, they were from the caddy shed but it was the first practice day and I didn't require a caddy because we weren't allowed on the golf course, only the Korean players who were in the pro am could play. I tried to say I didn't need a caddy today but my bag was now no where in sight. After about half an hour of looking and trying to ask the caddies for my bag I finally found my bag at the range which was about 500m from where we were originally.
Lesson learnt don't let anyone take your bag!!
Another interesting observation in Asia is how unorganised they can be. We played at the Dalat Golf Club which only opened in September. Registration requires $130 US Dollars, passport and a few other details. Registration opened on Wednesday so I went in with all my documents but they weren't ready yet. Come back in an hour I was told, no worries so I went and did some practice then came back about two hours later. Come back tomorrow I was told.
No worries. Next I go to get a yardage book, remember we are in Vietnam so I have Vietnamese Dong to pay for things. Yardage books are $20US only.
I had to remind myself where I was I nearly thought I was in the US. In Australia we pay for most things in Australian Dollars, not here though next time I will have some Yen, some Pound, some NZ dollars just so the bases are covered.


It's just another world, little things like getting some wifi connection so I can tell Melitta and my family I am safe are hard to get, you send one message and then it cuts out.
I think it's something that takes time to play well in Asia, you really need to get accustomed to the way things work not just on the golf course but off it even more so.

After two days of playing I missed the cut, the first day was a real struggle for me.
I hit 3 poor tee shots and missed 4/5 putts from within 5 feet. The round took 6 hours 15 minutes.
I thought about it at the end of the day and I had played ok for 14 holes and 4 were just crap. At this level if you want to win or be in contention  you have to have the ability to stay focused for the duration of 6-7 hours. Obviously not all of that time you need to be switched on but I realise I did well at this for 3/4 of the time and I lost focus the other 1/4 but that's all it takes to go from being within reach to way off the pace.

The second day I was 7 shots better, I was calmer and was able to remain focused without having lapses of concentration. I realise to get where I want to go this needs to be a real focus going forward.
My main goals from here in are to keep working harder in the gym, the fitter I can be the easier it will be to stay focused for long periods of time and to really build confidence in my driver.
7 times out of 10 my drives are fine but it's the 3 where I either lose focus or get a bit quick that are costing me shots.
I know in order to get my tour card in December this is something il need to be on top of.

Overall all is not lost, I know my areas for improvement and I am committed to do my best to get the better of my current weaknesses. It's another bit of experience under my belt and although not the outcome I had wished for it's really showing me just how hard the road is and how with the exception of a few it takes time.

Happy Easter and good golfing!

Jan/Feb

Hey everyone,
The last pro am I played was at Long Reef Golf Club and I was lucky enough to have Melitta come up and caddy for me. I shot 3 under par 70 which was the 4th best score for the day. The next day we drove home from Sydney.
The last few weeks have been quite busy after playing all the pro ams up in Sydney I came home for a couple of days before heading down to Torquay for the Victorian Open at 13th Beach Golf Club. For the first two days I was paired with Becky Morgan from Wales and Marion Ricourdou from France. Both girls have status on the LPGA so playing with them was a good opportunity to see where I was at.
I played well in round 1, shooting 1 under par 72 which in the wet conditions was a good score.
My playing partners shot 74 and 75 and I could see that if I stay patient and keep persevering there's no reason why I can't be out there also in time to come.
Round 2 was fairly windy and we were out on the beach course which is quite exposed. Afew mistakes and I made the turn 2 over par. I was a little frustrated because I made a couple of small errors and paid the price.
On the tenth hole I paid a big price for a poor tee shot, I pushed my drive right of the fairway and was in the tee tree. I had to take a drop back, I rushed it a little bit and dropped it too close to the tee tree and didn't have a great shot at getting over them. I need up making a 7, and after doing so much good work I was now in danger of missing the 2nd round cut.
I pulled myself together and played the remaining 8 holes in even par and signed for a 78. Not my best work but I had made the cut and had another shot at it the next day.
I ship out 73 the next day hitting 16 greens. If a few putts had have dropped I could have shot 4-5 under.
For the first year ever they had a 3 round cut, and on the website it stated 35 professionals plus amateur plus ties will play the final round. I had a nervous wait but figuired I was sitting around 38th but when you remove the amateurs I was within the 35. I was getting excited to play.
At around 6pm I looked on the web to see I had been cut, and was sent an email saying the wrong factsheet was released on the Internet and apparently we had been given the correct one in our player pack.
Obviously I was pretty disappointed not only that I wouldn't get to play on Sunday but that such an error had been made.
There was not a lot I could do, the fact was I wasn't going to be playing and I had to come to terms with it.
I'm learning so many things in this world are out of our control, I missed out on being except  in the Australian Open by $200. That was tough but there's nothing I can do except focus on what I have achieved so far this year and be proud of the inroads I have made.
In saying that there is a long way to go and a lot more challenges to face.
Thanks for the support and I head to the Gold Coast on Sunday for the RACV Ladies Masters.
Cheers
Grace

Alpg Pro Ams

Hey everyone,

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The start of the ALPG season has come around again so last Sunday the 3rd Jan I hopped in my car packed with my golf clubs, clothes and everything in between and started the long journey to Moss Vale. For those who don't know it's about and hours drive short of Sydney! 

Thankfully mum and dad bought me a couple of CD's for Christmas so that helped the time go by, there was a huge storm about half way but before I knew it I was arriving at my billets Gill and Neil Button's home.

I was also lucky enough to stay with them last year as well and they are wonderful people to stay with.

The first couple of practice days rained non stop, but I put my wet weather gear on and got out there to check out the course.

Obviously not a lot had changed since the previous year, but the most important thing during these practice days is to try and develop a feel for the speed of the greens and to also get an idea of which clubs to hit off the tee.

The first round was here and I had a 12.10 tee off time. They were running behind on the tee and it was about 12.35 by the time we hit off.

It wasn't the start I had hoped for, I made a few poor swings and found myself 4 over through 5 holes.

I was a bit anxious so I tried to settle myself and just carry on. I made 3 birdies after that and finished the day with a  1 over par 74 which in the wet conditions wasn't to bad. It was a long day, playing with 3 amateurs it took around 5.5 hours to play. I was proud of myself because one of the things my coach told me is never to panic on the golf course and that's something this time last year I wouldn't have been able to do.

I played fairly steady the next day and shot 73. I finished 31st in the first event.

The next day we had the Mount Broughton Pro Am. I played well with six birdies and 3 bogeys for a 

3 under par 69. I was pleased with the day and went home to rest before the last round.

It was a tough day, a bit windy and there is some really thick grass just off the fairways so at times it was hard for me to just stand up and rip it. I got a little tentative off the tee and misjudged s few putts but stayed fairly patient, and shot 74.

This put me in 6th position which was a good result early in the season.

We have two days off before I get ready for the Oatlands Pro am starting Thursday! Someone mentioned it might be 43 degrees so il get plenty of water into me!

Thanks to you all for the support and I hope all is well at home!

Cheers - Gracie 

November/ December

Hey everyone,
Just a quick post to let you know what I have been up to. My last event was the Anita Boon Pro Am in NZ where I played fairly steady to finish 6th. I shot rounds of 75,74. We played at Northshores Golf Club in Auckland.
I was billeted with a nice family close to the course for the few days I was there. Since returning home I have been working at Riverside, catching up on afew extra sessions with my trainer Brendan at The Biomechanics group and practicing!
I've got a busy schedule over Jan, Feb as il be driving up to Sydney to play in all the Alpg Pro Ams starting with Moss Vale on the 7th Jan. All of the events can be followed on the ALPG website which is Alpg.com.au. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank  a couple of company's, firstly LACD clothing who have been supporting me the past year and have given me some fresh gear to wear over the summer. I also have to thank Simon Dun and Ferrari Wong from Awards Shipping Agency who have joined my team, along with Transworld Freight and Freight Solutions for 2016. I'm looking forward to a great 2016!!

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Gracie

Hey everyone, 

Well what an experience it has been so far. Last week I was in India playing the Indian open. That was an unbelievable golf course, unlike anything I'd ever seen or played on before.

The day itself didn't go to plan, So it was a very tough experience. I was struggling with my tee shots keeping  the ball on the fairway and it was a super tight course, with thick rough and plants off the fairway. I racked up a solid cricket score and had to withdraw from the tournament, as on the LET Tour if you are a certain number over par they withdraw you. Probably the toughest experience I've had as a golfer, going into a tournament with a great opportunity feeling good then having it all fall apart. Although I did need to put things into perspective, some of the girls playing on Tour all year found it super tough, so I needed to keep that in mind and use it as an experience to learn from. 

As I couldn't play the next day in the tournament Lj  and I set out to find a course I could play at. We drove about an hour away by taxi, the traffic in Delhi is insane. There's just chaos everywhere so we did well to get there! We played a course with three of the locals.

On the Sunday night it was then time for me to travel to China to Mission Hills for the first stage of European Tour School. The first day I was there it was a little confusing, you had to go to the golf reception and get a card and a caddy ticket before you could play. For anyone who has an opportunity to ever go to Mission Hills I would highly recommend it! The place is awesome, first of all there's so many golf courses to choose from but the hotel is clean and there's a really nice gym and so many swimming pools. 

For the tournament I had a caddy named Lee who had been caddying at Mission Hills for two years.  Considering I didn't have my A game my scores of 74,75,73,77 were okay but this time not good enough to make it to the finals. There are some really positive signs that came out of the week, I also played with the girl who won the qualifier and realised from watching her how important it is to be consistent and long with your tee shots. She didn't have a traditional golfers swing but it was powerful and consistent and she didn't flinch.

These are the things I'm taking back home with me to work on throughout 

the year. Through the week it was also good to have dinner and catch up with fellow Aussie Hayley Bettencourt and her family. Sometimes being away in different places is tricky so it's always nice to see familiar faces. 

Now I'm  in Sanya to play at Yalong Bay Golf Club, myself and a couple of the Indian girls who I have made friends with had to catch the railway service across China to get here. That in itself was a mission, in Australia we tend to have order at a train station or line up if there's a queue . Not in China, it's a dog fight! Just to get onto the train we were pushed and shoved, thankfully I'm a lot taller than many and just gave them evil looks.

After two hours we had made it and then got a bus to the hotel.  I'm going to check out the course this morning, then see what Sanya has to offer! 

Thanks for the support cheers

India

Hey everyone!
I have arrived in New Delhi, India after a pretty good couple of flights. I had a minor issue checking my bags in but after resolving that I was on my way.  I had a quick stopover in Hong Kong  after a 9 hour flight, then it was another 5 1/2  hours to Delhi.
After getting through customs and collecting my bags I was off to look for my friend L.J who is a champion and has come over to caddy for me in the first event.
We got a cab to the hotel which was about a half an hour trip, and certainly very interesting. People cooking on the side of the road, sitting, walking and the traffics crazy.
The course isn't open to play on today so il try and walk afew holes and practice.
Thanks for the support and il keep you posted with my progress!
-Gracie