Deer Park Masters Qualifying Event
28th June 2021
I was not really looking forward to this event due to my recent form but knowing the course well helps and still felt I could get it round in the required score to qualify. It was nice to be playing with Scott Catlin (Affordable Golf) and would you believe it, Gareth Hardy (Prestwick St. Nicholas). The third time in two weeks we’ve played with each other but great company.
Both these guys played in the first-ever Logos Friendly event at Dullatur back in 2019 so we had a good bit of reminiscing and chat straight away and offered for Scott to come to our next event at Dundonald which he happily accepted.
The boys were playing well and I tried to stick to playing within myself rather than keeping up with them, but it’s one of the hardest things to do when your game is a bit off and inevitably you try to hit it just that little bit harder and further to compensate which doesn’t help. Playing a limited amount of golf combined with little practise will not get results, and I’ve kind of been fitting playing in due to the past year’s work and family commitments. Not really an excuse but a fair enough reason, and the main difference between the boys being level after 9 and me 6 shots behind them thanks to a few errant tee shots!
I’ve never been a quitter but for a moment on that 10th tee, I felt like the day was over.
I still had 9 holes to play and could see it far enough but the encouragement I got from the group was nice, especially Gareth.
I forgot about what had gone before and played the next 6 holes in even par. Only 3 holes left and if I could just birdie one or two of the last holes you never know.
I had a completely different mindset even though my swing was still not great. Both Scott and Gareth were cruising at 1 under par and we got on to talking about politics and people charged with running our country and other nations around the world.
We were all in unanimous agreement that nobody in government seems to be trustworthy and it’s such a sad state of the world today. Leadership should be a service to those under you but seems to be used mainly to look after personal interests, which reminds me of the phrase, “Bob’s your Uncle”. I also mentioned that Trust is so important in relationships and without this, it generally always ends in a breakdown, personal or professional. It’s just as well we have one such person who we can trust eternally.
With one hole left, I summoned up all my concentration and played the hole the way I saw it. 4 Iron to the corner and then a wedge to what so though was stiff. As we all walked up our balls surrounded the hole with 1 ball a foot away and 2 balls 6 feet away.
We all thought mine was closest as it’s a semi-blind second shot where you can’t see the green surface, but it was Gareths. I was slightly disappointed and if this had been the front 9 I may have missed the putt.
I wasn’t missing this putt and knocked it in the back of the hole.
I congratulated the boys on a game well played but they seemed more pleased for me that I finished well and gave myself a chance of a 1st or 2nd Reserve slot which normally gets in.
I seem to be playing with a lot of the same players these days but it’s good for moving those relationships forward.
It takes time to lay foundations and I’m encouraged more by the few that have been reinforced recently, especially with the disruptions of the past 18 months.
We never quite know the impact we have but today the encouragement I received from my fellow Pros was a real blessing.
We keep going.
Vincent Brown
Vincent’s partners Gareth Hardy had 6 birdies and Scot Catlin 5 birdies