About Me

My name is Mark and I LOVE GOLF.

I am 32 years old and started playing golf when I was 13. I would like to think that the child like thrashing of a golf club has given me the grounding that most current tour pros attribute to their success, but sadly that is not the case. I soon gave golf up in pursuit of football and tennis, so although I have surrounded myself with sport from an early age I cannot honestly say that I am an experienced hardened golfer. From the age of 15-30 golf and me had many encounters that typically lasted a few weeks at a time and generally had no or little direction. I had my first lesson when I was 27 years old and due to money and time constraints did little to improve my game.

About 2 years ago I embarked on a recurring dream to get as good as I could at golf and I ultimatley wanted to turn pro. This was not necessarily with the objective of waiting impatiently for Lee Westwood to join me on the 18th green, in the final pairing on the last day of the 2010 British Open at St Andrews so I could get on with holing my 2 footer that I had just nailed from 100 yards to win the championship. It had more to do with realising what could have been. I have said it already - I LOVE GOLF and I think I am pretty good.

Let me clarify that. When I hit some shots there is a part of me that says I should be playing main tour golf, but there is another part of me that KNOWS that is ridiculous when I hit fats, thins, shanks and tops. I guess that puts me in the same boat as millions of other golfers out there that are and stay as weekend hackers. Over the past 2 years I have read over 25 books that cover every aspect of the game and even started a course of lessons which changed my swing from the self taught stack and tilt (not good) to something which resembled a fluid motion. Over that period of time I have gone from playing 18 holes in 28 over (mainly due to 3 or 4 major blow up holes) to achieving a handicap of 15.7. That was last achieved in May 2009 (sadly I rarely play in members competitions as I prefer to play early morning or with friends who cannot afford the membership fees). I have had the odd +9 round and have shot a couple over for a quick 9 hole game on my jack jones on more than 1 occasion.

In October 2009 I decided enough was enough. Everyone I played with said I was a bandit for playing off 16. Was I? or did I just look like a pro that scored like a hacker? Not sure if that is even possible, but I wanted to find out and so after I moved house last year I hooked up with a PGA teaching pro at a Cranfield Academy and poured out my heart (with tears omitted). I explained my patchy relationship with golf and the many false starts I had. I knew that lessons were important and even more so was the need to stick with it, but I had also read that the average handicap worldwide is just NOT changing. This made me dubious, but I was still driven but my desire to achieve great things and a solid belief that I was not a 15.7 handicapper. A house move had taken from May-Sept'09 so I was fairly rusty.

What has happened since then has inspired me to put my story together in the hope that I can inspire others with similar financial and time restraints to acheive great golf. Its only been a few months, but my plan and strategy will form the basis of this blog and I hope you enjoy the ride.

I have read book about guys that went from +33 to par in a year, guys that went from 28 to scratch in a year and dedicated themselves full time to the roll.

This plan named 'Operation Scratch' and am aiming to complete it within 2 years. More importantly although strict I am going to be VERY REALISTIC in the hope of getting others to join me in a similar quest or just to say "Stuff it, this year I am going to reduce my handicap"... If this sounds like you then hopefully we can improve together and you will learn from some of the tips and strategies that I will employ.!!!

Thanks for listening, watch this space and lets have some fun this year all doing the same thing - Getting Better!!!