Part Three

In case you missed the first couple:
Part One
Part Two                                                               


I woke up the other morning just before five a.m to use the little boys room, when returning to bed I had a peak out the window to see what the day was going to bring. When I pulled the curtains I noticed someone heading off to work, later that day I was relaying the story to my mum and she replied with:

"Sure you use to get up at that time to play Golf!"

And she was right. Back in 1993 when I got bitten by the golf bug it wasn't as easy as it is now to play so I used to get up before the sun so I could sneak out and play nine holes around Greystones Golf Club before the green keepers arrived.

From there my love of the game grew and when in school I would day dream about winning big tournaments, travelling the world playing golf and all the luxuries that came with being a Professional Golfer. I even practised my autograph, just in case.

Fast forward twenty odd years and while walking from the driving range all that practise started to pay off. At first I was like, "no no I'm not a pro" but towards the end of it I was just walking around with a sharpie signing anything that got in my way.


Sure when will I get the chance again I suppose. I didn't care the only reason the kids were asking me was because BMW were making an outrageous fuss out of me and I was being followed by my own actual entourage. So I lapped it up.

This happened to be the exact time my Mom, Sister, Niece and better half arrived on site. I can only imagine their reactions when they seen me surrounded by camera's, signing autographs.




Not long until we got to meet our Pro, Michael Hoey.  Standing on the famous 1st tee where Darren Clarke got that incredible welcome during the Ryder Cup in 2006 surrounded by grandstands that butterfly in my stomach started to flutter again. The fairway getting smaller and smaller

Then our Professional started walking towards us.

Straight away you could tell he was a nice bloke, strong handshake, eye contact and a genuine warmth. The butterfly started to relax.

We got the small talk out of the way and stood aside to watch Michael rip one down the left side of the fairway. Couldn't have placed it in a better position. I had tried to use the new Facebook Live function to show mine and Michael's tee shots but as you'll see the butterfly obviously wasn't that relaxed with all the shaking that went on ( Michael's Opening Shot )

Now my turn.... Kenny handed me my three wood " Keep it on your left side Rob"
As I reached for a tee out of my pocket the butterfly in my stomach suddenly invited all his friends over. I was rattling, I could barely get the tee into the ground.

And its funny, but just as I got the ball onto the tee, A thought  came over me how wouldn't my Dad have loved to have seen me hit this shot. I really had to compose myself. My eyes weld up, but a couple of deep breaths later I kept it on my left side and piped one down the middle.

 

Job done, and I reckon Dad was watching anyway. 

I think I actually fist pumped with Kenny, definitely a first time doing that for a tee shot. Walking off the tee, the weight lifted off my shoulders and a smile appeared on my face. I honestly don't think it left until I fell asleep that night.

Strollimg side by side with Michael the thirteen year old inside me whispered "enjoy this, its not exactly what we dreamt of but its a very close second"



Hearing Michael say "Nice swing there Rob" made the walk to my ball all that bit nicer too. I swiftly picked my ball up and put it in my pocket.


Why, you ask,  Well it was a strange format we were playing that day, a Tour Scramble.

• All four players drove
• The pro selected the best drive ( he played his own ball )
• Myself, Fiachra and Fergal would play out the hole individually from the ball he selected
• And the worst score we could have on the hole was a par.

I think its a format designed to help high handicap players and speed up play (even though it took us just shy of six hours) 

Michael's ball was best placed out of the four of us so we marked and got ready to hit after him. 

Fergal and Fiachra, my playing partners, were both handy golfers, each off six handicap. So when Michael turned to us and said "Guys, this is probably the lowest handicap group I've played with in a Pro-Am" I thought we would 100% be making speeches at the presentation, but before I could get carried away he also said

"Just so you know you haven't a hope of winning this"  with a cheeky grin.

The format totally suited the high handicap, we would go on to make a lot of birdies, Michael even an eagle but because your score couldn't go backwards we were always chasing our tails.

After Michael hit, the lads said "Fire away Rob" . So I placed the ball, went through my routine and was just about to pull the trigger when Kenny said " Keep it on your left side Rob", as he would do for nearly every shot for the rest of the day. I think I was lob sided going home.

But thankfully he did, I hit a career best iron shot to about five feet, Which drew a big cheer from the gallery. The gallery made up as mentioned of family, but also a good contingent of Glen of the Downs members.

 I can't even remember where the lads hit there shots too as I floated up the fairway. Marked my ball, threw it to Kenny, cause that's what the Pros's do. It wasn't even dirty. 

Funny this, but I replaced the ball, took some practise strokes and yes you guessed it, missed it on the left side. 

To be continued....

Part Two

(Just in case you missed Part One)

*WARNING Straight down the middle can not be held responsible for injury caused by reading the following. Beware names will drop.

So where was I?

Oh yea, lights, camera, Action !

After getting introduced to the other Am's in my Pro Am group, (two really nice fellas, Fiachra and another so nice I can't remember his name!) Paul from vocal explained to us why we'd been miked up and what the camera's would be doing.

"Okay guys, the plan today is BMW want to document how your experience goes. As you are aware you've been miked up and will be live for the next six hours. Don't worry we'll try not keep the cameras in your face but it'll be worth it in a few weeks when we will have a nice little ninety second film for each of you"

Six hours recording for ninety seconds, That's a lot of editing and bleeping out if I didn't play well.

So from sitting in the stands like an ordinary "patron" fifteen minutes earlier I suddenly find myself with two cameras on me being asked to explain what it meant for me to be there today and why I was Ireland's most driven golfer. Cue all the cliche's:

"Well golf is my life, Just so happy to be here today, I've always dreamed about holing the winning putt in The Irish Open, maybe today I'll get the chance to hole the winning putt in the Pro Am"

I just couldn't stop talking,,,,, But I suppose ask me anything about golf and that's normally the reaction.

I've been very lucky during the front nine of my life (35 years young) to have been in some pretty surreal situations that make you stop and look around and go WOW

• Having a dance off with Bruno Mars in a nightclub in Hollywood, this nightclub had a swimming pool in it!
• Giving golf lessons to Irish Internationals at 5am at a house party 
• My son's birth being announced on prime time television in America Luca
• Getting the eye off Courtney Cox

To name a few. Funny situations, all good fun. But when Shane Lowry walked by where we were getting interviewed and gave me the "who's your man" look, the butterflies in my stomach woke up!

So after all the basic interviews were done it was roughly 1110, three hours to kick off! Paul gave us the all clear to wander around and do whatever we wanted and we were to meet back up on the range at 1300.

The range... I've mentioned in previous blogs that this is where I spend most of my time if I go to a tournament, watching all the Professionals go through their routines and warm ups.

This was when I started to feel like I was at The Oscars. We flashed our credentials and walked the red carpet, no it wasn't lined with movie stars but in my world they were as good as. 

A who's who of European Tour stars. I felt like a kid in a sweet shop. I didn't know what or who to look at, the sound, that strike of a golf ball gave me goosebumps, All the reasons I started playing and why I loved this game so much basically my teenage years flashing through my mind.

And then we spotted him. The Masters Champion, unfortunately he wasn't wearing his Green Jacket, but we were able to stand no more than three yards from him and watch him do his thing. Myself and Kenny were both baffled at what he was doing, we both would think we had our fingers on the pulse when it came to modern equipment and practise drills but this was all new to us.


After watching him for about twenty minutes only one word can describe him "Focused" He was so into what he was doing. Nothing around him phased him, no small talk, just work. I know its something that gets lobbied around when someone wins their first major, but Danny Willett will definitely win more majors.

We walked up and down the line, both with sore sides from the elbow nudges that followed.

"Kenny, look look look"

"Rob, my god did you see that"

We would both consider ourselves good to decent players but watching these guys hit the ball could either do two things, totally destroy our confidence or motivate us. Hopefully the later was the effect we both felt.

Then out of nowhere this strange feeling came over the range, Heads turned, people whispered, pointed... There he was, well so we thought. I'd never seen a golf bag get so much attention. Rory's caddy JP had arrived on the range and placed his bag down. People started to hover. Waiting patiently. Five, Ten, fifteen minutes passed still no sign of him

Then all of a sudden, THIS ROAR erupted, it was like Ireland had scored a winner in the last minute, We looked around still no sign of Rory. But then the roar turned into a chant:

NIALL
NIALL
NIALL
NIALL
NIALL

Your man from X Factor, Niall Horan. Biggest reaction of the day. Now my niece is a huge fan of 1D so all I could think of when I seen him was getting a photo of him to make her jealous, who could ask for a better uncle! I had one simple job to do:

"Hi Niall, my niece is a big fan, any chance of a photo"  Sounds easy right. I've never seen a guy been hassled so much and I was that close to leaving it....

Thank god my eyes weren't closed. Sent Alanna photo with following text "Just Saying"

After all the fan's calmed down, the main event arrived on the range, Rory. Myself and Kenny got ourselves into prime position. And just watched. Not much was said, the best golfer on the planet two yards from us. He slowly went through his bag, few wedges, nine irons, six irons, four irons, three wood, then BOOM

I have never seen anything like. I've seen Tiger in his prime hit a driver, but what Rory did right in front of us that day was borderline ridiculous.

Picture the scene. He's directly in line with a forty foot tree, the tree is about two hundred and fifty yards away, a good drive for most. His ball was rising as it went over the tree. We thought the first one was a fluke, then he did it again and again and again. The strike, the power were impressive, but the trajectRORY was actually scary.
Rory on Range

Before we knew it was 1245, time to get the boots on. Back into the real locker room. Kenny grabbed the bag and we headed to hit balls beside the big boys. Walking across the range the camera's spotted us.

"Now just do your normal thing Rob, pretend we're not here"

So I started a few stretches, body movements, getting the blood flowing you know. Was just about to hit my first shot. Tap on the shoulder.

"Rob that was brilliant, any chance you could do it again, we'd like to get it from a different angle"

Kenny, where's my agent !

The few days previous I had been hitting the ball so bad, I mean real bad. Actually losing sleep over it. I kept having this vision of my shot off the first tee and having to shout...

"FORE LEFT"

So I slowly started to hit a few shots, felt ok, then that quick hook, Snap. Snap.

"Rob, just get your weight onto your left side and hold it there"

Thirteen is normally an unlucky number but these thirteen words Kenny said to me, made my day. I started it hitting it good, nearly great again. Went through the bag like Rory did and was nearly finished when Kenny gave me a wedge.

"Lets do a little warm down Rob, keep it on your left side"

"Hit slow swings at the 100 yard marker"

Bang
Bang
Bang

Three in a row straight off the sign.

"Right Ken lets go to work"

To be continued.....