Hi Friends

HNY!

2025 has flown the nest and we are here in a chilly 2026.

Where has this fine newsletter been hiding? I’ve been quite busy and I have also been contemplating my relationship with the game of golf (yes again!)

You see the game of golf can do that to you.

I played in a match a while ago at the course I love to hate…………………..Yes Tyrrells bloody Wood.

That place really is my nemesis so I should learn my lesson and give it a wide berth.

Do you have any courses like that? Places that just don’t fit the eye?

But if nothing else us golfers are suckers for punishment so I won’t give it a wide berth, NO, I shall return and in this life or the next I will have my vengeance.

Enough of that rubbish.

The title of this newsletter - The “Tournament reveals the training” was a quote a saw on Instagram.

This very much sums up my 2025. I played a grand total of 4 competition rounds and didn’t exactly “light the candle”

But then what should I have expected?

I didn’t play loads, I certainly didn’t practice much if at all.

And I didn’t get any proper competition reps in to dial in the game.

It was like Rory only playing The Masters and The Open all year and expecting good results.

Tournament golf is a different breed to “friendly” golf. You have a card in the hand, there is more pressure, you care about the result and……………….you really care about the result!

So I ask you - Are you a tournament golfer or a golfer that plays tournaments?

A tournament golfer is someone who has prepared diligently in all areas of the game, has a competition mindset, follows processes and systems, stays accountable to himself and stays in the present whereas a golfer who plays tournaments is the guy (me) who shows up and wings it.

As my dad always used to say “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”

I got the concept of the Tournament golfer from a really good golf book I recently read, if you want the details let me know.

In total I played 4 competition or tournament rounds and put in ZERO general play cards in 2025 - my handicap moved from 2.9 to 3.1, far removed from the heady days of my zero point something handicap.

BUT - 2026 will be different. Mark my words, it WILL!!

I thought I’d have a look at all my “friends” handicaps on the EGU WHS app and see what sort of moves were made in 2025.

Did most people go up? go down? stay the same? and how many rounds were inputted?

I have also reached out to some of the protagonists who were successful in reducing their handicap and asked what had driven that improvement,

Headlines from 53 golfers

So the best performing golfer in terms of reducing their handicap (in my small EGU friend list anyway) was………….

Buj from The Addington, who moved from 7.7 to 5.5 inputting 40 rounds.

I asked him what were the 3 big things that helped him to achieve this and he told the following

1/ Hitting ‘rock bottom’ shooting a 95 at St Georges Hill in April ( including losing a ball off the 1^st & 2^nd tee ) I finally realised ‘I had a problem’ and buying new shoes wasn’t going to solve it…. ( I still bought new shoes though… just to hedge my bets )

 2/ Practice over playing, setting aside time to hit some balls, using windows of time, I’m fortunate I live near facilities, and The Addington has a great short / mid game area. Spend time chipping and putting, but practice all the ones you need, be bold, learn new shots…

 3/ Stop worrying about your score, the only shot that matters is this one….

Then we had Dom who says the following were the levers that worked for him, he moved from 7.5 to 6.1 and inputted 94 rounds!

1.Putting (new putter) (a lovely center shafted Mizuno model)

2.Wedge game from.100 yards or less.

3.Straight driving 

And lastly we had Pete he moved from 12.6 to 11 and inputted 98 rounds!!!

What I love is that I asked Pete about the swing changes, and he told me was from various bits on You Tube (same coach as me 😃 )

What is also interesting is that they didn’t mention golf lessons. This will be a subject for a forthcoming edition - Do golf lessons help or hinder??

So 70% of golfers got worse, including me. What was going on in 2025??

Before I go let’s have a quick look at the venues for the majors this year,

Ta da,

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