Hey everyone!
I have arrived back in Melbourne after being away for the past two weeks. Firstly I was in New Zealand for the ISPS New Zealand Women's Open which was held at Clearwater Golf Club in Christchurch. It was my first open at this venue, the only previous NZ Open I played in was at Pegasus Golf Club but they swapped about 3 years ago.
I arrived in Christchurch on the Tuesday and was greeted by my billet for the week, Llyoyd.
We had about a half hour drive to their home and stopped in at the golf club on the way home so that I could register and have a bit of a look around.
The next day I had a practice round with my friend Bre Elliot.
The course appeared to have some pretty challenging holes with a fair bit of water in play.
I was hoping I'd be playing in the pro am the following day but with a bigger field I wasn't required and therefore only had one proper look at the course.
In hindsight that wasn't enough. I played the first two rounds and managed to find most of the water on the course. As it had been fairly still on the day I played a practice round a lot of the notes I had made needed adjusting due to the wind and I was caught guessing how to play the course.
I missed the cut but learnt a valuable lesson, that if I have never played at a venue I need a minimum two rounds there before the competition starts in order to feel confident with my gameplay.
Although I was disappointed I had to pick myself up( with the help of a few others) and look onto the next event.
I was then off to Sydney to play in the NSW Ladies Open which was held at Oatlands Golf Club.
I had played here lots but gave myself 3 practice rounds to really determine the best way to play the course and feel confident with that. By Friday, the first round I was ready to go and I had Melitta come up and caddy for me which was great. We played really steady the first day, 4 birdies and 4 bogeys gave me an even par round of 72 and had restored a bit of belief in myself.
The next two days were similar and I shot 71, 72 to finish T27 out of 107 players.
Although I didn't win or wasn't really in contention come Sunday I was proud that I was able to bounce back from the week before, and in doing so beat a lot of really good professional players.
I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks of training hard both at the club and the gym and possibly looking for a casual job to keep me on track to play as many events as possible throughout the year.
Thanks to everyone for the support
Gracie
