Sorry to read the course bulletins about the wet weather this week, I'm out with the family in Egypt having our 'summer holiday'. I guess the awesome autumn had to come to an end sometime.

On the plus side, winter rules comes into effect in November so you'll be able to clean and place your ball on closely mown areas. As in previous years there will also be teeing up on a couple of holes.

The 4th and 12th fairways have improved dramatically over the last 2 years since we've adopted this procedure. Is it down to good greenkeeping, good growing conditions or the winter teeing up? The jury's out on that one but one this is for sure, the 4th hole plays so much different than it used to.

You may know of my penchant for pet hates and much like the unease that requires someone to claim 'One' when a ball falls off a tee peg, so we also have the same ritual on the 4th tee requiring one person in every group to say 'that'll come down from there' when a ball is struck left off the tee.

The claim nearly always came true on the 4th hole and the balls would indeed come down from the bank and finish in the fairway, it was one of the key local knowledge routes on the course. However I've noticed over the last year that balls RARELY 'come down from there'.

Perhaps I've noticed it the most as it was a route used by me more than anyone but the hole certainly plays a lot different nowadays and I wonder if the more lush 4th hole has led to this change? It's fairer these days, but more exacting also.

When we played the 24 hours golf challenge I played the 4th hole 7 times with the pin on the front left. My strategy went like this:

1st round - driver off the tee, in the trees left - bogey 5

2nd round - 4 iron off the tee, in the rough left - lost ball

3rd round - 6 iron off the tee, on the left of the fairway, blocked out by overhanging branches - bogey 5 

4th round - 8 iron off the tee, wedge to the green - birdie 3

5th round - 8 iron off the tee, wedge to the green - birdie 3

6th round - 8 iron off the tee, wedge to the green - birdie 3

7th round - 8 iron off the tee, wedge to the green - birdie 3

So two things need to change on the 4th hole. One is strategy and the other is one person in the group now needs to claim "That may come down from there or it might not, or you might be blocked out by the trees"!

When I'm back I'm going to run a series of hole strategy assessments and the first one will be the 4th hole. 



 

I held a taster session for ladies beginner group coaching session last week and 8 ladies took part. A five week class will commence in 2 weeks' time and it's great to see everyone enjoying something that they may previously not have thought they could do. Surely that's one of the great aspects of sport? - That you can challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone and forge new experiences.

I've tried to do that with my own kids over the years and introduced them to all the home grown sports plus skiing, surfing and this week we've been snorkelling on the coral reef which is another first for us all. It's certainly useful to remember what it's like to engage in a completely new activity to appreciate what a new golfer feels. 


Lastly, you'll be glad to know that I haven't lost my reputation for taking bad weather with me wherever I go - on our first evening we had hail which the locals said they had NEVER seen before and this was followed by an amazing thunderstorm that lasted all night and caused floods to be shown on national TV! 

   

So batten down the hatches at home, I'll be back soon!