Author: lucboucher

Adidas Wee Wonders UK & Ireland Grand Final – St Andrews

Held on the Strathyrum course at St Andrews, Thierry came 19th in a field of 30 with two rounds of 12 over par over the weekend tournament.  The field of 30 competitors had all qualified through regional events and finals.

Thierry got to the Grand Final after attending 10 qualifying and 9 regional finals around the UK over the last 14 months.  He travelled 8500 miles in that time, never once complaining, with a focus to get to play at St Andrews.

As a result of getting through to the Grand Final, Thierry is through to the US Kids European Finals to be held in Scotland in May 2019. Can’t wait for that experience !

Bouncebackability with a new putter this weekend

Thierry showed bouncebackability on Sunday with an 11th place out of 40 at the Surrey Rookie Tour event held on the 18 hole par three course at Hoebridge Golf Centre.

The Wee Wonder regional final at Farrington Park Golf Club the previous day was a bit of a nightmare on the putting front with Thierry hitting seven of the greens in regulation but suffering from a quadruple and two triple putts.  It was only afterwards he noticed that the metal foil on the face of his club had coiled off and was perhaps affecting the roll of the ball.  It’s the second time the foil has done that.

After a dash back to Silvermere in the early evening, the pro shop guys there lent Thierry a replacement club while they looked at options on his Odyssey club.

As Thierry’s card above from the Sunday competition shows, he started with 6 pars and then yo yo’d through the rest of the round with a couple of double bogeys, two birdies and the rest.

All in all a good round and his best Rookie Tour placing.   It’s amazing what a loaned Scotty Cameron putter can do for the confidence !

A few days later we were back to Silvermere to decide what to replace the old putter with.

Qualified: Six regional finals out of six

My dad and I have just been informed that I have qualified for the East Regional Final for  Wee Wonders.  On Sunday we went to Ingrebourne Golf Club in Essex.  It was an inland links golf course, well that’s what they said and it was brand new! So we had no idea what to expect.

Below are the six regional qualifiers I’ve played at and regional finals I will play at.

Midlands held at Willesley Park Golf Club

South and West Scotland held at Haddington Golf Club

South West England held at Shanklin & Sandown Golf Club

South East England held at Hoebridge Golf Centre

North and East Scotland held at Torphins Golf Club

East England held at Ingrebourne Links Golf & Country Club

The regional finals I am attending during the next six weeks are at

Midlands at Branston Golf & Country Club

South and West Scotland  at Brucefields Family Golf Centre

South West England  at Farrington Park Golf Club

South East England  at Hoebridge Golf Centre

North and East Scotland  at Carnoustie Golf Links

East England  at Cambridge Lakes Golf Club

Hopefully, I qualify at one of these events to play at St Andrews (the home of golf).

A Crazy Three Weeks of Competitions

The last three weeks has been a wild journey that I’m happy to share with you guys.   I’ve travelled thousands of miles playing loads of golf competitions including a number of Wee Wonders regional qualifiers and enjoyed every minute of fun.  There have been a few times on course that have let me down, but the ups are much better than the downs !  Almost got a slam dunk hole in one too.

In three weeks I have played the following courses, mostly chasing Wee Wonders regional qualifications.

  1. A warm up 9 holes at Branston Park
  2. Wee Wonders qualifier at Willesley Park
  3. Paul Casey Trophy at Chobham Golf Club
  4. Wee Wonders qualifier at Haddington Golf Club near Edinburgh, Scotland
  5. Trip to the Isle of Wight to play in a Wee Wonders qualifier at Shanklin & Sandown Golf Club
  6. Nine holes with dad at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight
  7. Wee Wonders qualifier at Hoebridge Golf Club
  8. Nine holes with dad at Mains of Taymouth in Perthshire, Scotland
  9. 18 holes at Torphins Golf Club in Aberdeenshire
  10. 9 holes at Lumphanan Golf Club a few miles away from Torphins
  11. Wee Wonders qualifier back at Torphins where I qualified to play at Carnoustie !
  12. Nine holes with dad at Farrington Golf Club where there’s a regional Wee Wonders event in a month’s time
  13. A great 18 holes at Wells Golf Club where I shot 16 over.
  14. Finally today, a gentle nine holes in a par 3 Cappagh Cup competition at my home club.

That’s a 153 holes of golf in 22 days !

And I got to go to Wentworth to see the BMW European Tour, popped over to Carnoustie to have a look and stopped to take a look at St Andrews !

View over the 1st and 18th fairways on The Old Course at St Andrews.

In the background at the ‘Home of Golf’ is the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.

A Tee Box with a view (at Torphins Golf Club)

The 13th hole at Torphins Golf Club is the most elevated tee box on the course. It gives 360 degree views of the surrounding Royal Deeside countryside and in the distance the large mountains of the Cairngorms.

The hole is a 237 yard (from yellow tees) par 3.

Watch the video below to see my tee shot to the edge of green. Dad didn’t catch the the two other strokes where I parred the hole. Seriously bad camera work….

Isle of Wight Wee Wonders qualifier

Yesterday was Scotland and today the Isle of Wight as I played my South West England Wee Wonders qualifier at the Shanklin and Sandown Golf Club.

In the picture below with me are my playing partners Joel & William.

Joel & William with me

Thanks to dad for photographing me with my eyes closed !

Firstly I want to say I’m coming back to this course to play it again.  I enjoyed it but people told us that the back 9 were even better that the front nine we played.   I had a tricky start to the round going 6 over after three holes as you can see from the card below.

My nine holes in the Wee Wonders Qualifier

Then I started to get it together with three birdies over the next four holes finishing with a score of four over.

Everyone was really friendly at this club.

 

 

Titleist Pro V1 vs Pro V1x

At the Wentworth BMW European Tour event I got to speak with Titleist specialists.  They were really helpful in telling me the difference between the various Titleist golf balls.

 

Amazingly I found out that there is only about a four yard difference across their range in the distance the ball travels from a driver shot.  Yepp that’s from DT Trusoft all the way up to Pro V1.
The major differences in the types of ball are to do with Flight, Spin & Feel.

 

For example a Pro V1 flies lower than a Pro V1x.  A Pro V1 feels softer than its Pro V1x counterpart.   Finally the Pro V1 spins less than the Pro V1x on iron and short game shots.

 

To sum it up a Pro V1x will typically launch higher and have a steeper angle of descent than the Pro V1.  The Pro V1 has a more penetrating flight and therefore due to its shallower angle of descent will roll more when it hits the ground.

 

The Titleist guys were really friendly and gave us samples of the two balls to try.   I’m going to continue to try the Pro V1x balls.  They help with my launch height which is something I’m still working on with my swing.  My dad on the other hand still prefers the DT Trusoft because he likes the feel when playing irons and wedges.   Let’s face it, he gets to use his irons and wedges a lot in a round 😉

A Midlands Final Qualifier

I came second today in the Wee Wonders Midlands qualifier at Willesley Park Golf Club.  We had torrential rain and finished on the seventh hole with results counting for the first five holes.  I came in one over par and the winner was two under.   I’m pretty happy with the result because my driving from the tee is not great at the moment.