The Swiss Senior Open - Bad Ragaz

Back in the days when I played the European Tour, I never much liked my annual visit to Crans Montana in the heart of Switzerland. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved the town and journey to and from it but the golf course…well it was something I never really got along with. The altitude played havoc with my clubbing distances and I just couldn’t find a way to play well around there.

Bad Ragaz 1st Tee

The Bad Ragaz Resort

The Clubhouse

Now last week, I flew to Zurich and took about a 90 minute bus ride South East to an utterly stunning little town called Bad Ragaz, the venue for this years Swiss Senior Open. Thankfully, it’s not very high, so the altitude really doesn’t affect the ball as much as Crans Montana used to but it was warm and the ball definitely flew a few yards further than normal. Bad Ragaz is a shortish, tree-lined golf course at the base of a valley, which is surrounded by these stunning beautiful mountains that reach up to the sky.

I teed off in the first round, mid morning on Friday playing with an American whom I’d never played with before, Anthony Kang. Anthony and myself were to play the first two rounds of the Alliance with a couple of Bad Ragaz members, Irene and Carin (who may I say, were an utter joy to play with). Both ladies had wonderful games, great personalities and didn’t hang around on the course neither! They made for perfect Alliance partners!

Anthony, Irene, Carin & Me

Round 1, I absolutely ripped it tee to green hitting 15 Greens in Regulation but sadly, once again, whenever I missed a green it was a single or double bogey. I missed literally every opportunity for birdie and shot a +1 round of 71.

Round 2, I didn’t strike the ball as cleanly or as accurately as I did in round 1, although I did hit the same number of GIR. With 34 putting in round 1 and 35 putts in round 2 (for +2, 72) I was way down the field entering the final round.

Now I’m not going to lie, I’m having a very strange year; I’m happy in myself, I’m putting the work in and I have no significant reasons (off the golf course either) that make any sense as to why I’m not posting really good results. This game really is a nightmare sometimes!

In the final round, I played with Jean-Francois Remesy and Simon Brown and JF completely lost the plot half way around the golf course. A four putt at the 13th hole sent him into a mental frenzy that put pay to his day. Simon and myself played similarly well, hitting the ball pretty solidly but getting nothing out of the round. I posted 71 and Simon 72 I think.

I finished on +4 for the week in a tie for 53rd spot. I feel physically sick and frustrated with my game and am really at a bit of a loss to understand where the problem is. I have two weeks before the Senior Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl and I’ll be working my nuts off on my short game in the hope of building some confidence for the biggest event of the year as well as the rest of the season.

Thanks for your continued interest everyone x