2023 Pacific-Coast Amateur July 25-28

I arrived in Vancouver, Canada in the early hours of the morning on Sunday 23rd. After a quick nap I managed to pull myself out of bed to get ready for the practice round on a wet and cool morning. It was a very pleasant change from hot and humid and made me feel a little more at home.

Capilano Country Club was home to the 1992 Eisenhower trophy where the New Zealand team famously lifted the trophy. It definitely was on my mind as I walked around the course. The course was short, with massive pines and a lot of true dogleg holes. The greens had a lot of slope with not many pin positions available. Ball striking was going to be at a premium as it would be difficult to make a lot of putts and get up-and-down regularly.

Going into the week I was still feeling uncomfortable with my swing, the club is just feeling a little foreign in my hands and my overall movement just isn’t feeling very fluid. I have been in contact with my old swing coach in the hope of working out some feelings to try and get myself into a position where I can begin to hit some quality shots again.

Round 1 was what I expected, I had a terrible range session before the round (which is not unusual for me) but I haven’t had a lot of evidence to believe in my ability to work it out on the way around the course. I managed my game well and putted nicely for a solid round of 69 (-1).

Round 2 was a massive struggle and I need to do better at not letting these rounds blow out the way they have been, my ball striking was no good and that accompanied with the putts not going in resulted in me shooting a 77 (+7), I felt like no matter what I did I just couldn’t get the ball to go where I was looking. I had a really good range session after round 2 and was grateful that there was no cut in this tournament as I had another couple of rounds to try and put something together.

Round 3 was better, I still struggled off the tee a bit but I actually hit a couple of shots that were beginning to feel like my old self again this gave me some confidence that I was moving in the right direction with what I. am working on in my swing. I ended up signing for an even par round of 70.

Round 4 was more of the same, I hit the ball ok, not great but really manage my game well and played to the fat side of the green on every approach shot. I was determined not to make too many bogeys. I did a really good job of this, only making 1 bogey for the entire round. Unfortunately, I was only able to make 2 birdies as I just couldn’t get the ball close enough to give myself some good looks. I shot 69 (-1) to close my account and ended up finishing on a 285 (+5) total.

I feel as though I’m moving in the right direction with my game and I’m starting to see a few decent shots out on the course and on the range. I will continue to work on my game in an effort to get it back to where it should be.

Thank you for all the support, it times of struggle it’s what keeps me going!