Did Joe get his fairytale ending?
In the final part of Project Joe, we find out if this beginner golfer can achieve his goal of breaking 100
o, after months of trying to master the game from a standing start, beginner golfer Joe Brewin came to his final round of Project Joe still yet to shoot that elusive score in the 90s. He met up with PGA Pro James Whittemore at Wellingborough Golf Club, an admittedly difficult course for the task that lay ahead, for one final tune up before taking on the challenge. Would the lessons and new clubs courtesy of Cobra Puma Golf finally reap the rewards?
Joe’s assessment
Football, Bill Shankly once declared, is a simple game complicated by idiots. Well my name is Joe, and I am an idiot.
Golf has turned out to be a complicated sport for me – much more than I’d ever anticipated when taking it up. As it turns out, it’s also a lot harder than I thought it would ever be and, boy, do you need to invest serious time to make yourself better.
With a six-month-old son and full-time job, that hasn’t been quite as easy as I’d hoped – for some reason, “Goodbye, see you in four hours” doesn’t always go down especially well at home with the wife.
Since beginning this series with Cobra Golf, though, there’s no doubt that I’ve improved significantly; everything from basic posture to my swing is better than it was three months ago, thanks to the help of coach James Whittemore and my own practice.
The custom-fitted clubs have been an absolute dream – hit them as sweetly as I know I can and I’m still thinking about the connection hours later. There’s also a hell of a lot to learn, though, and it’s mostly swimming around my head: are my knees bent too much? Is my grip relaxed? Am I rotating enough? Am I snatching too quickly? What on earth are my wrists doing? Am I lined up properly?
So, going into my final round at the lovely Wellingborough Golf Club, there was the nagging sense that I wasn’t going to crack my 100 target – and on a tough course with a slope rating of 139, perhaps not even my previous best of 115. For starters, my two weakest areas just
“Hit it sweetly and I’m still thinking about it hours later”
happen to be quite important: anything off a tee, and putting. With much more focus going into my irons and wedges, I hadn’t managed to learn a solid driver swing that was going to get me anywhere productive, nor had I put those valuable hours in on the putting green.
When you can’t consistently get a bit of distance up the fairway in a straight line, you’re a) immediately hampering yourself and relying on rescue shots from the off and b) that’s even if you avoid a penalty in the first place – especially on a course with only two par 3s. It’s not conducive to a good score and will hold me back until I can get it right.
But as I teed off (well, a 6-iron off the floor) on the opening hole, things didn’t begin too badly. If I could putt anything near half-decent, doublebogeys might become pars and the odd disaster hole (hello, that ten over there) could be reduced in severity.
Alas, my fatal mistakes – mainly overhitting on speedy greens I wasn’t used to – kept holding me back. Still, I improved as the front nine went on and actually ended fairly strongly. At the halfway mark I’d shot 56: not in 100 territory, but on to beat my best score at least, and looking to shave shots rather than limit damage. It wasn’t impossible.
But it’s amazing what this game can do to your head. Start thinking about the score and you’re in trouble. Start adding swing thoughts (of which I have many; far too many) and you’re in more trouble. Start losing confidence and it’s a downward slope. Combine them all and you’re in for a serious struggle.
Unfortunately, that’s what happened. After kicking off the back nine with an eight and then telling my patient Golf Monthly partner that at least I hadn’t notched a ten like usual, I duly obliterated my scorecard with this score a few holes later. Bury me in a bunker and leave me there.
As the triple-bogeys continued, I knew the game was up. Sure enough, I ended with a somehow-better-thanexpected 66 on the back nine for a frustrating 122 finish. And yet strangely, I didn’t walk off the course with an impending sense of early retirement. Quite the opposite, actually – I was only thinking about the positives. Some pretty good bunker work; mostly strong wedges; learnings about club selection around the green and how to create a divot. I’d got plenty of pointers on the day and I came away from Wellingborough with some incredibly useful takeaways for next time.
I already knew where I was weakest, and it was exactly what stopped me carding a better score – cutting out three- and four-putts could have legitimately shaved off about 15 shots.
I’m constantly feeling like I could turn a corner at any moment, which I think is good because it suggests improvement. Once I get the right feelings and everything becomes a little more natural, I’m hoping to get much closer to my target of 100.
It’s all part of the journey, ultimately, and no one thinks it’s easy – just speak to any club golfer who’s still constantly searching for something more. It can feel lonely when you’ve just chunked one into a bunker, but such is this game that’s become my new obsession. A game this idiot is trying to make much less complicated.