(Editor's Note: Golf fitness trainer Sean Cochran (www.seancochran.com) is at the 2006 Open Championship with Phil Mickelson, for whom he serves as trainer. Sean will be filing daily journal entries through the conclusion of the tournament.)
A little golf, nice weather, and some tame adventures
Mid-Day on Friday as I recollect yesterday's mayhem. I think we are all getting the hang of driving on the opposite side of the road from what we're accustomed, and manual transmission. I did forget to mention one incident on our way to Hoylake. We had completed our scenic tour of Liverpool and were on our way out of town, on a toll road no less, when we came upon the tollbooth. Imagine, seven Americans, just off a plane from the States, no British pounds in hand, I think you can paint the rest of the picture. It was humorous, to say the least.
Outside of that little incident the driving has been tame. Phil Mickelson’s agent has a good feel for the manual transmission, and did not stall the car once getting out of the driveway. But I will say on a couple of occasions, I have walked around to the driver’s side door when I am not driving, out of habit.
Friday was a fairly typical day of preparation for a major championship. Phil, Dave Pelz and Bones (Phil’s caddie, Jim MacKay) were at Royal Liverpool Golf Club practicing all day. I did not see them until late in the evening. I, on the other hand, had my own little adventure on a links course in the area.
As I said in yesterday's journal, the owner of the house where we are staying arranged an outing for himself, a friend and me to play Candy Golf Course. It was my first experience on a links course, and it was different, to say the least.
The owner of the home picked me up at 4 o’clock (remember it does not get dark here until close to ten in the evening), we drove a short distance, and the clubhouse appeared. A typical red brick clubhouse, nothing too fancy, but I did find the driving range experience to be a little different than what I'm accustomed too.
The driving range was laid out in a big field next to the No. 18 fairway, nothing different there, but what I found interesting was that each person practicing on the range had one of those ball picker bags, the ones which I am accustomed to seeing around a short game area.
So the golfers practicing would hit their golf balls, then go retrieve a bag full on the range with their ball "picker uppers." Granted, there were only a couple of people practicing, but I did find this a little unusual based on what I'm using to seeing back home.
The layout was a fairly traditional links-style course; a series of holes next to a large body of water, hard fairways, pot bunkers, knee-high grass, rock-hard greens, and plenty of wind. All these factors made for an interesting round of golf.
My round started off well, four pars on the first four holes, and I imagine my playing partners were thinking I was some pro from the States. Then the wheels started to fall off. I pulled driver on the fifth hole, hit down the left side of the fairway. The ball hit the fairway, bounced 10 feet in the air, and jumped into the high grass. We searched for about five minutes before finding my ball. I hacked it out with a wedge, and again it hit the fairway, and rolled into the intermediate rough.
At this point I was thinking; "OK, hit a good chip shot, save par, or bogey at worse." I hit a high wedge onto the green, it bounced on the hard surface, and rolled off the back. I could not believe it! I putted in for double.
I had a couple more holes like the one above and learned a few things about links golf. Number one, the wind is going to play havoc with your ball. Number two, fairways are hard and the ball will run. Number three, the greens are not soft, and you never want to end up in one of those pot bunkers.
All in all it was a fun round of golf. The Brits I played with were a pleasure, and I did get a kick out of their sayings such as "blokes," "strapping good shot," and "cheers mate." I am planning to play the course again on Tuesday and lets just say my course management choices will be a little different next time.
I got back to the house around "nine and a half" in the evening. Pelz was there and asked, "So, did you take that links course to its knees?" My reply was, "Not exactly." It was a fun day of golf, the weather was great, and I am sure there will be more adventures on and off the course to come.
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