This year GCD is honoured to have five time European Tour winner Michael Hoey write his Tour diary. You can follow Mike on facebook here ...
This year GCD is honoured to have five time European Tour winner Michael Hoey write his Tour diary. You can follow Mike on facebook here and on twitter here.
The last few weeks have been pretty good from a golfing point of view. I've been at two of my favourite events of the year - The Dunhill Links Championship and the Portugal Masters. There's nothing like the event in St Andrews, you get to play on three great courses with some really famous people. It's not just the top pro golfers who attend but there's a vertible feast of the who's who of sport, entertainment and business. You often see some of the lads, or their girlfriends/wives on the range with the camera getting pictures taken with a hero. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get Bev Brian O'Driscoll's autograph or picture. Something I've heard quite a lot about since the event!
I play the event with Bill Farish, an American Horse Breeder from Kentucky. We've been partners at it since 2011 when I won. Bev and I even managed a trip to visit him in Florida in early 2012. He's a member at Seminole and Augusta. His Dad is a member of the R&A as well so they have all the golfing links and are some of the nicest folk you'll ever meet. It takes a lot of the nervousness out of the Dunhill for me as I know Bill is a decent guy with a good game and we have fun. Some of the amateurs are harder work and it can make a huge event very difficult.
Generally we take a house and we've stayed in the same one now for three years. I don't like the beds so this year Bev and Erin stayed in the house with our nanny (Bev's Mum). I called in for breakfast, lunch and dinner and went back to the Fairmont to sleep. It was the best of both worlds! They made me all my favourite foods, and sandwiches for the course and I got peace to rest after dinner. Gerry (my caddy) thought it was a ridiculous situation and laughed when Bev told him what was going on. All she wanted was peace and quiet, its a long week!
The weather wasn't the kindest but we did get finished. Unfortunately as we were heading to the ferry home from Troon we got a call to say it had been cancelled due to the wind. It meant another hour in the car to Cairnryan and the slow ferry back to Larne. The lampposts were moving and I'm glad we were on the slower boat. There were a lot of ill people on board! We all seemed to cope well and even Erin got her sea legs!
I had about 12 hours at home to sleep, eat and repack then get to the airport for the flight to Faro. Originally Bev and Erin had planned to come as well but we thought better of it. It really would have been too much for them. I gave their room in the apartment away to Gerry, provided he cooked. Ideal arrangement really! Its normally a really hot week and I love it but this year it rained. I think a few strange decisions were made on timings, largely influenced by TV scheduling if you believe the rumours and so the event ended up being 36 holes. Its a huge shame as its normally such a well run and supported event. I hope its still on next year, as I really enjoy the set up.
I'm home for 10 days now. Next event is in China and I've a few things to fit in before I go. My passport with my visa should arrive back tomorrow. I have three passports - 1 Irish and 2 British so I can travel and still get a visa should I need too. It can get quite complicated sometimes, but thankfully travelling on either passport is a lot easier than being South African! They need a visa for pretty much every country we go to! I'm heading to UUJ to the biomechanics lab on Wednesday morning after a gym session, and I'll have another gym session on Friday. Then I'm heading to the K Club for Johnny Foster's stag do. Johnny is my coach but we've known each other a long time because of Amateur golf. He's also the reason Bev and I met. I was out with him and a load of other lads on New Years Eve 2008 and Bev was out with one of her school friends. Bev, Johnny and Tina were all at school together and so we all ended up as one huge group.
When I get back from the weekend I've a session with Shane (my physio) with the trainer at SINI to go through some specific exercises and treatments for me. Shane really supervises all my physical stuff now, it helps to maximise the work I do with Johnny and Justin Parsons on the course. I'll head to Dubai on Wednesday evening to work with Justin for a few days before I get to China and the BMW event. I missed out on playing it last year but really enjoyed it when I played in 2012. I think it was one of the first times I played with Rory in a competition.
I'll have 5 days at home before I go to Turkey and then onto Dubai. They're huge events and I'm really looking forward to playing in them. The most important bit is that I should get home in time to see baby Hoey number two arrive. We don't know whether its a boy or a girl but it sure will make Christmas more disorganised this year! I think I'll be away a lot more next year just so I don't disrupt the routines that are put in place in my absence!
I play the event with Bill Farish, an American Horse Breeder from Kentucky. We've been partners at it since 2011 when I won. Bev and I even managed a trip to visit him in Florida in early 2012. He's a member at Seminole and Augusta. His Dad is a member of the R&A as well so they have all the golfing links and are some of the nicest folk you'll ever meet. It takes a lot of the nervousness out of the Dunhill for me as I know Bill is a decent guy with a good game and we have fun. Some of the amateurs are harder work and it can make a huge event very difficult. The weather wasn't the kindest but we did get finished. Unfortunately as we were heading to the ferry home from Troon we got a call to say it had been cancelled due to the wind. It meant another hour in the car to Cairnryan and the slow ferry back to Larne. The lampposts were moving and I'm glad we were on the slower boat. There were a lot of ill people on board! We all seemed to cope well and even Erin got her sea legs!
I had about 12 hours at home to sleep, eat and repack then get to the airport for the flight to Faro. Originally Bev and Erin had planned to come as well but we thought better of it. It really would have been too much for them. I gave their room in the apartment away to Gerry, provided he cooked. Ideal arrangement really! Its normally a really hot week and I love it but this year it rained. I think a few strange decisions were made on timings, largely influenced by TV scheduling if you believe the rumours and so the event ended up being 36 holes. Its a huge shame as its normally such a well run and supported event. I hope its still on next year, as I really enjoy the set up.
I'm home for 10 days now. Next event is in China and I've a few things to fit in before I go. My passport with my visa should arrive back tomorrow. I have three passports - 1 Irish and 2 British so I can travel and still get a visa should I need too. It can get quite complicated sometimes, but thankfully travelling on either passport is a lot easier than being South African! They need a visa for pretty much every country we go to! I'm heading to UUJ to the biomechanics lab on Wednesday morning after a gym session, and I'll have another gym session on Friday. Then I'm heading to the K Club for Johnny Foster's stag do. Johnny is my coach but we've known each other a long time because of Amateur golf. He's also the reason Bev and I met. I was out with him and a load of other lads on New Years Eve 2008 and Bev was out with one of her school friends. Bev, Johnny and Tina were all at school together and so we all ended up as one huge group.When I get back from the weekend I've a session with Shane (my physio) with the trainer at SINI to go through some specific exercises and treatments for me. Shane really supervises all my physical stuff now, it helps to maximise the work I do with Johnny and Justin Parsons on the course. I'll head to Dubai on Wednesday evening to work with Justin for a few days before I get to China and the BMW event. I missed out on playing it last year but really enjoyed it when I played in 2012. I think it was one of the first times I played with Rory in a competition.
I'll have 5 days at home before I go to Turkey and then onto Dubai. They're huge events and I'm really looking forward to playing in them. The most important bit is that I should get home in time to see baby Hoey number two arrive. We don't know whether its a boy or a girl but it sure will make Christmas more disorganised this year! I think I'll be away a lot more next year just so I don't disrupt the routines that are put in place in my absence!
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