Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Hey everyone,
I have arrived safe and sound back in Melbourne after essentially 3 long days of travel. I arrived back home Sunday morning,  Melitta picked me up from the airport and I was exhausted. I hadn't slept properly since Wednesday night, then it was a bit of an adventure getting home. I had an 8 hour stop over in Dubai, then a stopover in Singapore so I was pretty relieved to clear customs and  leave the airport.
I had a really quiet day Sunday after getting home and by mid evening I was feeling pretty ordinary so I went to bed. I woke up the next morning feeling horrible, with a really sore throat and headache. I had planned to go out to the course and get started on the things I had learnt last week but I was in no way to be productive.
I had a good rest and then decided to go to the gym, which in hindsight was maybe not the best idea.
I was ill again, and had to go to the doctor. I was told I have pharyngitis, which is inflammation  of the pharynx. I just have to rest and gargle salty water.

I'm feeling a lot better today and have my sights set on getting back into training tomorrow.
My first event is the 9th of January and I will be driving up to NSW to play in a string of pro ams before some of the bigger events.
As for my schedule next year, through playing in the tournament in Morocco I get some status on the secondary  European Ladies Tour. There's not a lot of money to play for so at times I may need to do some casual work but it is a really good stepping stone to get onto the main tour.

Thanks again to everyone, I hope to see you all soon and wish you a safe and Merry Christmas
x

Thursday, 11 December 2014

Hey Everyone,
I have just finished the tournament and things went better than the first two days. Yesterday I played 100 times better than the first two days but couldn't capitalise ion a few opportunities and then made a couple of mistakes and paid the price. I shot a 78, but actually played like a professional golfer. I had played really quite well all day and made a soft double on the 18th. I missed the green long and I basically had no shot. I was fuming, I signed my score card and went straight to the range. My first two shots were basically the hardest I've ever tried to hit the ball I was so frustrated. Once I got that out I was able to realise the positives from the day. I was disappointed that I hadn't made much ground but not all was lost as I felt that I had made some big improvements.

Today I teed off just before 10 am and I played with two Scottish girls, the highlight of the day was that I had a hole in one on our second hole the actual 11th, I hit a 5 iron 154m and it was actually the best shot I've hit in a long time. It was the perfect flight, it landed about 3m short of the flag and rolled in. I played ok for the remainder of the round, but a 79 was the best I could come up with. I think that the course this week is probably the toughest golf course I've ever played. The rough was super thick, and the course was playing so much longer than its yardage. Rory told me that there were a few of the players complaining about the course set up to the Ladies European Tour as the scoring reflected it was a tough track.
Although this year I didn't do anywhere near as well as I had wanted  to I learnt some extremely valuable information about what will help me become a strong touring professional. I have around 6 Pro-ams to play in over January and I have also been fortunate to gain spots into the Australian Ladies Masters and NZ Open.  

I will keep you all posted as to what I'm up to and I appreciate all the support.
Gracie

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Hey Everyone,
We are now 36 holes into the tournament in Morocco and it has not been my best performance. The course is really quite tough and the first day my ball striking wasn't on board and I missed a lot of fairways and greens leading to a lot of shots being had. I've been working on a few things trying to build up my confidence with my long game, but under pressure it didn't stand up. I tried my best on every shot but at the end of our 5 1/2 hour round an 86 was the score I came up with on the day. I was really hurting as I knew I was capable of much better things. Rory and I went to the range to work out what we had learned from the day and try and put it into practice for tomorrow. As much as this tournament is about getting a Tour card its also about me learning what I need to do to ensure I can compete on a world stage going forward.

Today was a much better day ball striking wise but I couldn't put a score together. I had some opportunities I wasn't able to capitalise on and  I shot 84,  and I am well down the leader board.
I felt more confident today and I am going to build on that over the next few days. Rory has been a great help and I know tomorrow will be a better day.
Thanks everyone

Sunday, 7 December 2014

Hey everyone! Hope you are all well. I am good, I have been in Morocco for 3 days now. Our first round starts tomorrow. I made a friend from England, we are staying in the same hotel and decided to walk the course on Saturday as we weren't allowed to play due to the rain in the past week. At first glance the course looked quite long, so solid ball striking will be a key component to scoring well. The fairways are great, rather narrow but the grass is in good condition. After walking the course I did quite a bit of short game practice as my coach said "Grace do shitloads of short game work, and once you have done that do some more." I kept that in mind!
So today we had an actual practice round, I met Rory who will be caddying for me at the course. There are shuttle buses that pick us up and drop us off each day. We had a productive day, mapping out the course and hitting shots into each hole. After the round we had some lunch and then I went and hit a few more balls on the range. When I got back to the motel, I went up to the top floor where there is a pool and put my legs in the water as a recovery type thing.The water was really cold but anything that I think can help me over the week I will always do!
I'm looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead, I know I will be nervous tomorrow but that's because I want to do well. Whatever happens I will take it in my stride and continue to work hard to achieve my dreams.
Thanks again to everyone for your support.
Il keep you all posted love Gracie

Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Hello everyone! I've been at Walton Heath for 4 days now and it's been great. I made some lovely friends the first day I played, and we organised a game for the next day. Kathy, one of the lady's even offered to pick me up which was a good result considering how cold it was! We played the Old course which has lots of similarities to Kingston Heath as I was explaining to my playing partners.
I played 2 rounds on the old course and then yesterday I played the New Course. Both courses are great, the greens on the old are very slow at the moment due to the rain. Today I am playing the new course again and am prepared for the elements. Yesterday I had to borrow a beanie to keep my head from frosting over!

Also on Monday I caught the train into Oxford Circus to catch up with Tina Jeary who was a member at Kingston Heath. It was a miracle in itself that I made it into the city considering I had to catch 3 different trains, overground underground and about an hour later I met Tina. We had some lunch and caught up. I filled her in on what I have been up to and how everyone at the club is :)

I fly to Morocco tomorrow afternoon and will blog on my progress over there!
Thanks again to everyone for their support and sending you all a big hug from over here!