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Tom on Tour 2013
Apr 15 2013 Posted in Golf News, Tom Sherreard by GoKartWe’ve been following Tom Sherreard, from Chart Hills, on his pro quest since 2012. This year the the season has already taken him to Egypt and Spain on the Alps tour (are there Alps in Egypt? We’re confused…)
“A new golfing year has started and with this in mind I am writing my first blog of the 2013 season. Last year didn’t end quite as planned, falling short at the second week of European Tour School leaving me to play Alps Tour golf for a further year. Having finished 11th on the Alps tour last year I managed to keep my playing rights without having to go back to the Alps Qualifying School.
So far this year I have played three events on the Alps, the first two as part of a winter series in Egypt, finishing T17th and T14th respectively. The third event was played at Golf de Layos near the beautiful town of Toledo near Madrid. I played solidly all week apart from a couple of mistakes leading to two double bogeys. Despite this and the tough conditions I managed to finish on a total of 217 (+1) for three rounds, finishing in a tie for 12th. With three top 20’s in my first three events I feel happy with a solid start, however I know there is much more to give and the prospect of the 2013 season excites me; it’s just a case of getting in the grove and finding the swing again.
My next tournament takes me to (more…)
Add a comment TweetTom on Tour – the ups and downs.
Oct 27 2012 Posted in Golf News, Tom Sherreard by GoKart“I wrote last time from the mountain tops of the Dolomites in Italy. Since then I have felt both the highs and lows that come from the game. I had two more tournaments on the Alps tour to play before European Tour Q School and I’m afraid to say I played pretty poorly in them, ending up missing both cuts. So that led to a bit of a slip down the order of merit (luckily only one spot) as well as a loss in confidence; not ideal when heading to Qualifying School the very next week…
Fortunately though, I managed to find some form for Q school and came out finishing 9th out of 75 players (with the top 18 and ties progressing to second stage). A couple of weeks off followed, then it was time to head for the penultimate event, at the Panoramica Golf Resort in Valencia.
I must say this is one of the best courses I’ve played this year. It’s demanding off the tee requiring you to hit driver on a lot of holes, complete with well manicured, quick and undulating greens. I played nicely for 50 holes, and was poised in second place with 4 holes to go. But then fate took a bit of a hand with the arrival of the mother of all rainstorms. Certainly a bit of unfortunate timing but I’m not going to blame the conditions for the bogeys on the last four holes – a poor finish which cost me about €4,000 – which naturally hurt a bit.
BUT it’s important to take the positives out of the 50 good holes and not focus on the 4 bad ones. My next trip is for the finale of the Alps Tour at Pont Royale Golf Club near Marseille. This is my last chance to earn a challenge tour card through the Alps Tour. Straight after this event I will be heading to the second stage of tour school at El Valle Golf Club near Murcia, Spain.
You can follow my progress here on europeantour.com (follow the links to Q school at El Valle), and to follow me in Marseille just go to alpstourgolf.com
Tip of the month;
Putting Warm Up
A quick tip for when you have just 5 minutes spare to warm up and you’re near the putting green. Simply pick a hole and hit putts from a range you know you won’t miss from (for me this will be around 2 and half to 3 feet). I know this may sound silly but this will get the brain into the habit of recognising a pattern of the ball falling into the hole. Out on the course you’ll subconsciously be expecting the same thing, even from longer distances.
Secondly, to do some pace putting practice; pick a target that is not a hole, it can either be a tee you put in the ground or the cut of the fringe. Again this avoids the brain continuously seeing the ball miss (as it’s unlikely you will hole a lot of putts from long range) but gives you a good opportunity to practice the long ones. Again this tip may lead to you being ribbed by your playing partners, but you just wait and count your winnings at the end of the round…”
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Tom on Tour. And getting snowed on. In August?
Sep 17 2012 Posted in Golf News, Tom Sherreard by GoKartMore news from the Alps Tour with Tom Sherreard, this time playing in the Valle d’Aosta Open. You can read more about Tom’s GoKart blog here.
Tough school
So my travels have recently taken me to a small town in the Dolomites of Italy named Breuil Cervinia. Now I’m not a skier but I imagine those in the skiing loop would see this as ski heaven. The course is located 2000 plus metres above sea level, and to be honest maybe golf was an afterthought to try to attract more people to this ski resort. However, courses like this are a good thing; you can disregard at least 50% of the field, due to the fact they will be so annoyed by the condition of the course. The tournament became a battle of attrition, trying to fight the course and the weather conditions, culminating in snow on the last day… (31st of August I might add). In the end I finished tied 8th on a total of -3 for the tournament. Although this was a good finish I actually moved down in the order of merit to 10th position; I guess you have to play well to stay near the top. My preparations now turn to the first stage of European Tour Q school which I will be playing at Hardelot starting 25th September. You can follow my progress at europeantour.com.
Tip for the month
Warming Up: As promised my blog will come with useful tips to help your game. This edition’s tip is on warming up. I still play with a lot of amateurs either in pro-ams or just back home, and I can’t tell you the amount of guys that don’t warm up or prepare in any way at all. Guys that come out at the weekend after working 5 days a week and can’t understand why they play the first 9 so poorly. My tip is simply to hit 20 balls before playing; just get the muscles used to what they are about to do for the next 4 hours. If you don’t have time for this, just do some stretching, warm up the muscles, just with normal stretches. This may get give rise to a bit of banter amongst your usual 4 ball but when you’re taking the money on the last green you will be happy you put up with the abuse.
Tom’s tales from the Tour.
Aug 06 2012 Posted in Golf News, Tom Sherreard by GoKart
Meet Tom Sherreard who’s going to be writing a regular column here on the GoKart blog.
“Hello fellow golfers, let me introduce myself. My name is Tom Sherreard and I am a professional golfer on the Alps tour. My journey to becoming a pro golfer has been a long and so far successful one, but I shall spare you most of the details and just highlight a few achievements for you. I represented England golf at 3 different age groups including captaining the U18s squad in 2005. I also played in the 2008 British Open at Royal Birkdale as an amateur finishing 19th.
As I mentioned I am currently playing on the Alps tour, this is one of four ‘satellite tours’. These tours are one level below the Challenge tour, with the top 5 golfers at the end of the year progressing to the Challenge tour, we are currently half way through the year and I am in 9th on the order of merit, with a very good and realistic chance of gaining a Challenge tour card for 2013 if I can carry on playing well. I will be writing a regular blog on the GoKart site to keep everyone updated with my progress and giving you tips on how to improve your game and bring down those scores. I will also answer any questions you guys can throw at me, so please feel free to send any questions to me on twitter at tsgolf63 (or post a comment below if you prefer). You can also keep track of my progress at www.alpstourgolf.com . So get those questions coming in and happy golfing.”
Well we’re delighted to have Tom writing a regular piece for our blog. We know him from our local, Chart Hills, but to help other (more…)
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