Charlotte Austwick Professional Golfer
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2020 Life Update

4/10/2020

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Well what a strange year 2020 has turned out to be.  With having LET tour school in January, I had already made the decision not to go to South Africa and work to save some money up for the European summer schedule. Unbeknown to how the year was going to pan out and that competing in Europe this summer was going to be pretty much off the cards.
Covid 19 started appearing and the Tarleton Tour mixed and ladies pro ams in March and April were both cancelled.  The LET Access schedule was pushed back, events cancelled/postponed, and the tour made a decision to carry forward rankings to 2021. The LET Access restarted tournaments in August but only winners of events and top 5 order of merit would gain any additional merit for their successful performances.  
Consequently, I made the decision that I wouldn’t travel this summer, with covid-19 impacting my family directly as well as the ongoing problems with the pandemic and fluctuation in travel restrictions and cost of doing so. 

Lockdown life saw me continue to work on my fitness and to change some things technically in my golf swing in my home made net between the apple trees. The technical changes have continued since lockdown with the addition of changing my golf coach and now working with Liam James.   I played in a couple of 2020 pro tour events but made the decision to work hard at the technical stuff without having the additional pressure of having a scorecard in my pocket for a little while. 

I found a new lease of life doing some DIY and painting furniture too during lockdown, under my dad’s watchful eye anyway!  I’ve also done a couple of photo shoots for Suitably Sporty and also tried my hand at some commentary with Content Live at some 2020 pro tour events.
In June I was offered a job and am now employed at Pike Hills Golf Club and have been working here since July.  I am thoroughly enjoying being back at PHGC, its been about 9 years since I was a member and I’ve been very kindly welcomed back as though I’ve never been away!

Alistair (Club Secretary) had a chat with me one day and asked if I’d considered doing my PGA, many of you reading this can probably picture my reaction of “oh no not for me, I’m not interested”.  However... the idea lingered in my mind and after having a chat with my parents I decided that it wasn’t actually a bad idea.  With how 2020 has turned out and with the unknown nature of what the future holds I felt it was the right time to further invest in my education and personal development .

For those that do not know the details the PGA is that it is a part-time distance learning foundation degree in golf, covering all aspects from coaching, to business, and club technology.

Golf has been and probably always will be a large part of my life so I thought to gain an additional qualification which will allow me to confidently teach and work in a golf establishment alongside my Accounting Business Finance and Management degree was a smart move.

This is certainly not me ending my playing career, but it is something to give me a little more stability moving forward.  I actually feel that it could well enhance my playing because I will have opportunities to compete closer to home and more frequently through the regional PGA, the Women’s PGA and national events.  Consequently positively impacting my match fitness and readiness for when I can safely get across to Europe to compete on the LET Access and LET once more.  I will also be eligible to play in a lot more pro-ams, so if anyone wants to play in a pro am and requires a pro, and would like me to be that pro please get in touch!

I will start to offer coaching in due course, both on course and on the driving range at Pike Hills GC.  If you are interested in having lessons with me please get in touch.

Thanks for reading!

Happy golfing and stay safe! 😷🏌🏻‍♀️⛳️
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Reflection on 2019

31/12/2019

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This is a little later than i had originally planned to post but I've enjoyed limiting my computer/technology time over the last few weeks with Christmas festivities, as well as working on the bars at the racecourse around my training.
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Another year has passed by, more golf has been played, more lessons learnt and more life experiences had, both on and off the golf course. Feels like not more than a month has passed since New Years Eve 2018, time really has flown by.
One of the most important lessons I’ve learnt this year is that life really is too short to not do the things that I want to do with my life and that in a blink of an eye everything can change.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to the people who have supported me throughout 2019, my parents, friends, and all the people I have been lucky enough to meet along the way. Those people who have welcomed me into their homes to stay during tournaments, thank you so much!
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I am looking to 2020 with a positive outlook and a strong body and stronger mind.
I’m looking forward to the challenges I’ll face and making more happy memories.
A few stats from this last year:
27 Events
41 Flights
101 hours/ 4 days 5 hours in the air
169 nights away from home
7 Countries visited
South Africa (8 tournaments), Spain (7 tournaments), Switzerland (2 tournaments), France (1 tournament), Sweden (3 tournaments), Ireland (1 tournament), Czech Republic (1 tournament), England (4 tournaments)

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The start of 2019 saw me spend 8.5 weeks in South Africa on the Ladies Sunshine Tour. Lots of ups and downs along the way. I qualified for my first Ladies European Tour, the South African Open whilst down there.
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A last minute trip to El Rompido in Spain turned into a great week with 6 lovely ladies and winning the Tarleton Tour Ladies Pro-am; the biggest, ladies only Pro-am in Europe.
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A few action shots from golfing all over Europe during the summer months, highlights include qualifying and competing in my first Ladies European tour eventhigh leaderboard positions after 1 round in let access events, and competing in the World Invitational tournament at Galgorm Castle in Northern Ireland. I’ve had many good rounds throughout the year just haven’t managed to get it all together in a single tournament.
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I've been lucky enough to have some lovely friends on tour to travel with and enjoy times on and off the course.
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Throughout the last couple of months I've enjoyed having a bit of time at home, getting back in the gym doing some winter training, and on the range to make a some swing improvements, as well as reading plenty to strengthen my mind.
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My 2020 season starts down in Spain at La Manga at Ladies European Tour School in the next couple of weeks.


If anyone is interested or in the position to give me some support towards the costs of tour school or towards my 2020 season please contribute on my go fund me page below:
Charlotte's Go Fund Me Page
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Tarleton Ladies Pro Am

6/5/2019

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On Wednesday 24th I saw a post on social media by one of my friends saying that a female pro was needed for a ladies pro am the following week... I confirmed I was available and I was contacted by Tarleton later in the day to confirm that they would be very happy to have me.
Flights confirmed from Leeds Bradford 7.15am on Saturday morning so i had 2 days to get ready!

The warm weather was welcomed when i landed in Faro airport and met a group of ladies also playing in the pro am to be transferred across to the Precise Resort, El Rompido.

My team, a group of ladies who have been friends for years were there to welcome me when i got off the coach.

The format of the week was 6 lady amateurs with 1 lady professional per team, 21 teams were there from across Europe.

El Rompido has a North and a South Course and i would be playing 9 holes with both of my groups of 3 each day. For the main competition we all counted as a team and 4 stableford scores were to count per hole out of the 7. A different but interesting concept and great fun.

Sunday
Our practice round on the North course, we started on the 10th hole, and to keep it fun Tarleton arranged that we play it as a Waltz format, 1, 2, 3 to score over the first 3 holes and so on. My team was split into 2 teams of 3 and both teams played steady, it was good for me to see the course and the ladies playing for the first time.
Welcome drinks and players meeting this evening, and dinner with my team to get to know them a little more.

Monday
We had a practice round on the South Course today but we were all mixed up playing a Texas scramble with ladies from other teams, I had 2 groups of lovely ladies from all over the U.K. and 1 from Norway and again played 9 holes with each.

It was a drop out Texas scramble format so if we chose my drive i couldn't then play the next shot, which i think was a great idea to involve the whole team.

Tuesday
Day 1 of the main competition and we were playing on the North course again, after a good warm up, we didn’t play the first hole to the best of our abilities but everyone’s games improved as the round went on.
A respectable 147 points put us in 8th place after the first round on what i was told to be the harder scoring course.

Tuesday night is traditionally party night with karaoke on the Tarleton Tour. So plenty of drinks and laughs were had and we all had a great evening!

Wednesday “Day off"
Despite a few sore heads most of my team wanted to get some practice in before we went to the local town and beach for some lunch and a chilled afternoon.

A mixture of some range time and then around the greens, bunkers, chipping and putting. It was great to have my team be so keen to get out and do some practice at the great facilities at El Rompido and to see their skills improving with my help was also rewarding for me.

Thursday
Playing on the South Course teeing off the 10th.
The team did great and with a points score of 156 we moved up to 4th position with one round to go, 4 points behind the leaders for the final round so all to play for. Steph & Cheryl’s putting had particularly improved after our practice on Wednesday.

Friday

We started on the 1st hole of the South Course for the final round, the ladies all played great, Steph had 40 points on her own, and Chris had 36, then everyone else got their fair share of points on the card.
When we totalled up the 2 playing groups scores to find out our best 4 from 7, we had an amazing 170 points, 26 under par, including 13 points on one hole. We knew we’d done great but didn’t know if it was going to be good enough until the presentation at the gala dinner.

A chilled afternoon by the pool and lots of whispering about scores but nobody knew who had actually secured the team victory.
At around 10pm the presentation started, we had a team 2nd place in the waltz, Steph won 2 days of best individual, and Chris got round 3 2nd individual too.
Even when second place for the team event was announced we still didn’t know if our score was actually enough to secure the victory. But when we were announced as the winners it was fantastic, my team was over the moon and so was I!!

I had a lovely week at my first Tarleton pro am and we really played as a team, I was thrilled to see the improvements from the ladies I’d helped through the week too!



To see my name up on the top of the leaderboard again was lovely too. 🙂. I had a good week individually putting some new skills into practice on the course.


A week at home before my next string of events come in Switzerland, Sweden and Switzerland.

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2018 Season

7/10/2018

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It's been a balancing act juggling 2 part-time jobs alongside playing this year but I've managed to play about 14 events this year, 5 of which were only 1 day, 1 round events, so not a huge amount of tournament rounds really but more than last year!
When I went to Mark Pearson for my first lesson in February he asked what I wanted to achieve this year, I said to enjoy my golf and travelling and competing in tournaments, and I have done that.  I've loved being back out on the circuit with girls I've been friends with for years and meeting new, and playing and competing on new golf courses in different parts of the world.

I'm pleased with the progress I have made this year, I would be pulling my hair out in frustration earlier in the year and really struggled with the driving 'yips' but I have worked through that and learnt to accept the shots that I hit now, good and bad.  I have put some great rounds together and a lot of good part rounds together and made a few mistakes that I have not been able to recover from.
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Swedish Golf Tour
The Tegelberga Open in Southern Sweden.
I used this event to get me back into golf tournament mode after over a year out of the habit.
Very rusty from a scoring point of view and really struggled off the tee, an issue I've been battling for a little while.
I was fortunate enough to stay with the Knutsson family who looked after me like I was at my home away from home.

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My second outing of the year was to the Lavaux Ladies Open in Switzerland

I was very anxious prior to round 1 despite 2 great days of practice and consequently started my tournament off poorly but after the first 3 holes I settled down and played some good golf.
Second day I went out and tried to have a little more confidence in my ability and got round in a respectable +2.

We were right on the edge of lake Geneva so had some stunning views off the course this week.
​Spain for the Spanish LET Access Series Tournament
First round a very tidy 5 birdies 5 bogies and 8 pars for level par

A different position to what I have been in for a while, being in the top 25 after round 1 and being in contention of making the cut after the first round instead of being so far down the leaderboard to come back from.
With a bit of added pressure and a long wait between rounds having tee'd off early round 1 and late round 2 I struggled after hitting a few poor shots and getting myself wrapped up in it all trying harder and harder to hit better shots
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Back to Sweden to Johannesburg Golf
Really nice golf course
Stayed on site in their hostel’ hotel, a bit of an experience

A handful of bad swings culminated in too many high scores on my scorecard and a missed cut.
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PGL Pro am at Le National
I got a last minute phone call 3 days before so even with very short notice I couldn’t miss the opportunity to play at the Ryder Cup venue a couple of months before the main event.  
My team Paul, Gary & Carl were great company for the 3 days and we improved each day as a team at a really challenging venue.

The course is brutal, as I'm sure many of you saw when watching the golf last weekend, there's no escaping trouble if you hit a poor shot.
I actually played some good golf throughout the 3 days but some of the bad shots I hit destroyed hopes of a good 3 round tournament. However, I finished birdie par on the last day so that will stay with me for a good while!! :) 
A great trip, and some more competitive golf under my belt!
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Bossey Ladies Open on the LET Access Series and presented by Team Pitch & Play
A really lovely golf course, I played some of the best golf I have in a good while tee to green but annoyingly struggled with my short game on and around the greens!
Beautiful views over lake Geneva, from the opposite direction to where we were at Lavaux earlier in the year.
​Swedish Golf Tour and LET Access Series event at 
Allerum Golf Club
We had really tough conditions in round 1, it was very very wet but the course held up well.  However, I did slip coming off the 9th tee and jarred myself, thankfully there was a physio on site who released all the stress in my back after round 2.  We had a bit of a challenge leaving the golf course at 7pm and going back to a small apartment for 5 of us and getting everything dry before our 8am tee times the following day- "life on tour" at its finest!
After a little chat with myself to stop doubting my ability I played some solid golf in round 2 and shot -1, I played very steady golf and didn’t put myself in much difficulty, 15 pars 2 birdies and a bogey.
Really pleased, a solid round under my belt to build from!
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Pro-ams
The Oaks Junior Pro-am
10 years after playing in the pro-am as a junior with 2 fellow Yorkshire Girls teammates, this year I took my own team of girls from Fulford GC. 
We had a great day, despite hit and miss weather and a thunder and lightning delay, the girls played great and  won a prize for the best girls team, and we beat the Fulford boys team so good day all round!



East Yorkshire Ladies Winter Golf Alliance 
Pro-am at Easingwold Golf Club with Lady Captain Gillie, Lady Vice Janet and another of Fulford's lady members Alison.
We had a great day despite the weather and the ladies played great as a team, and I helped out with quite a few birdies.
We did well enough for us to win the event on a better back 9 score.
I also won the lady pros longest drive, and had a respectable individual score in the conditions we had.



Welwyn Garden City Charity Pro-am
What a great event to have been a part of, an all female professional pro-am.  40 mph winds made it quite the challenge on this compact tricky golf course but it certainly didn't spoil the day.
My team consisted of 3 male members from Welwyn, Colin Callander who I have known many years from playing junior golf, and Roy and Ian.  
I played steady just too many bogies and not enough birdies for +6 but finished tied 5th in the pro individual event, on a tough day.  The men dove-tailed nicely and finished strong for us to finish in 2nd place as a team.
Thoroughly enjoyed the day and looking forward to returning next year!
Nøtterøy Open Swedish Golf Tour
What a beautiful part of the world and such a welcoming golf club! 
Unfortunately golf being golf I had a poor few days scoring, I played some reasonable golf but a mental error combined with a bad swing on the 11th round 1 sent me on a whirlwind for the remainder of the round!

It's always valuable to learn at each event I go to and I did exactly that, after a trip to the range post-round 1 I got some confidence back and hit the ball a little better over the next couple days.  Using the last 2 rounds as practice for the remaining events I have.
The Swedish Tour have run some great events this year, really well organised on some nice golf courses.



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The remainder of 2018 will be working towards Ladies European Tour School in December in Morocco, I will probably take a trip to Spain for a competition or 2 between now and then to keep my game as sharp as I can coming into winter.
In order to go to tour school I could do with some financial help though and if you or anyone you might know is in the position to help me I would greatly appreciate it.  I have set up a gofundme page if you would like to pay it a visit ​www.gofundme.com/helping-me-get-to-let-tour-school
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Enjoying the journey

24/6/2018

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You may have been wondering where i have been and what i have been up to, well I have been quietly working hard at my fitness, and golf game to get back on track after having all of last year out of action because of surgeries due to injury and illness.

Throughout the winter months i worked full time as Assistant Manager at Fulford GC in the office alongside some bar work and actually really enjoyed the challenge and new experience. However, knowing that i have not been able to accomplish all i would like to with my golf i was quite happy to do the role temporarily and know i could come back out to compete this year. I'm still currently working 2 part-time/casual/flexible jobs alongside my golf, not ideal but i need to get money together to be able to play somehow!
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Women's professional golf on the Ladies European Tour is not exactly as strong as we would like it to be and the main tour schedule has been quite sparse in events up to now. The LET Access Series has consequently been oversubscribed in nearly every event and because of my lower category I have not been able to get into the events and so have not had many chances to play competitively.

But...Last week i got into the Lavaux Ladies Championship in Switzerland, an event on the LET Access Series organised and sponsored by Team Pitch & Play, who are great supporters of the Women's game. Obviously, i was quite nervous/anxious but also excited to get out there, especially after the great recent training sessions i have had. One of my biggest challenges recently has been performing the awesome golf shots that i can produce on the range, under testing pressure out on the golf course under tournament conditions.
My main goal for the week was to enjoy the experience, and to test my game again to see how it held up under tournament pressures after having a few weeks of a different approach to working on my game, and I am pleased to say it was a really enjoyable week.
I had plenty of laughs with my roommates Keely & Chloe and it was great to catch up with friends that i have known for a long time on the golfing circuit. I loved being out on tour again! 😊

Our bedroom window looked out over Lake Geneva, stunning scenes, i could've sat there for hours taking it all in.
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To say my legs were burning from trekking up the hills each day would be an understatement....pictures do not do the steepness of the slopes justice!!

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After a couple of good days practice it was time to play.
Wednesday 9.06 from the 10th tee, a 367 yard downhill hole, out of bounds all the way down the left side. It only required a 4 iron from the tee to get it down into play. Really quite nervous/anxious but also excited to get underway I clipped my ball down the right hand side just catching an adjoining fairway bunker with the 18th hole. Okay, fine, we’re down there and in play I thought to myself, smiled and walked on. A good recovery, reasonable pitch and I was on the green but 3 putted for a double bogey, not the end of the world, move onto the next, we’ve started.
11th tee, time for the driver to come out of the bag, 3 tee shots later and I was down the fairway, the first 2 I actually hit reasonably well but I turned them over a little too much long left and into some deep rough never to be seen again. I made a par with my 3rd ball but unfortunately on my card it was an 8, sadly no mulligans in this game!!
8 over through 3 holes, not the start I was hoping for but I was actually very calm, I stuck to my routine and focused on being relaxed, smiling and continuing progressing forward. 
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11 over through 9 holes and still calm, I moved onto the front 9 and played some pretty steady golf, 5 pars and 4 bogies, nothing dramatically happened, just a 3 putt here and there a missed green and not getting up and down.
Having finished +15 yes of course I was disappointed with the final score but I didn’t really think about the number so much I was proud of myself for sticking in there and not being defeated. They have a rule on the tour that if you shoot +19 in the first round you are automatically withdrawn, i was glad that I had kept it below that number so I could play, learn, and build confidence in the second round.
We had a little trip into a local town Vevey, a wonder around some shops before heading down towards the lake and were mesmerised by the stunning scenes!
Day 2 14.06 tee time from hole 1.
A bit of a lie in before getting up to the club with plenty of time for a bit of putting practice before some lunch and then my pre round warm up, music playing on the range making it a relaxing atmosphere.
Time to head out, again somewhat nervous but looking forward to playing, and one of my key thoughts was to continue on the flow I was on for this 9 yesterday.
First tee shot a pushy right one down onto the adjoining 9th semi rough....not quite where I wanted to be but actually I could see the green from there, it was a blind second shot downhill from our fairway. Pw onto the green and drained a 25 footer for my birdie. 😃
A few bogies and a couple more birdies I made the turn in +1, 3 shots improvement on that 9 already, great!
A few people watching us on the 10th tee and I was a little nervous again but I had just hit some great shots so I kept focusing on them and blocking out the negatives. I hit a lovely shot down the middle of the fairway, and made a solid par.
11th tee, obviously, after yesterday’s fiasco I wasn’t going to go left was I....I pushed it up the right and into the fairway bunker, absolutely fine, another solid par made.
The only annoyance of my second round was on the 12th hole, an odd par 5, 5 iron from the tee, another iron shot up then a short iron onto the green, I made a silly clubbing choice and clipped a tree with my second shot and went out of bounds, doh! Walked off with a double, the only blemish on my scorecard on the back 9, 8 pars other than that and several birdie putt chances.
A +3 2nd round and I was grinning from ear to ear! My game felt steady all day, I hit some great shots, I hit some poor shots but didn’t freak out, I stuck to my routines and ground it out.   

My best round of golf in competition in ages! Having not competed for more than a year I knew coming back out to compete would be tough but after a challenging time i feel that I have finally made a nice step in the right direction!! ☺️🏌🏻‍♀️⛳️

My next event is the LETAS in Spain in a couple of weeks.

In other news I have also qualified for the final of the American golf Long Drive Championships 🏌🏻‍♀️😃⛳️
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Thank you for having a read and having an interest in my journey. I hope you're enjoying this lovely weather and happy golfing!


If anyone reading this could offer me any sort of sponsorship or assistance, to help me on my golfing journey it would be greatly appreciated. Please get in touch! 😊🏌🏻‍♀️⛳️

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Post- Surgery Update

10/3/2017

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Just a little update for all of you following my progress

This week marks 6 weeks since I had surgery on my ankle, open surgery too, not just keyhole like i had originally thought!  

There has been a lot of discomfort and wobbles, some falls and many sleepless nights and when you're used to having your own independence, having that taken away becomes quite frustrating after a little while.   But I won't deny it has been quite pleasant to get waited on hand and foot by mum and dad as well as my niece and nephew when they’ve been round! :)

​The first 3 weeks post-surgery are a bit of a blur, I was that dosed up on medication due to the pain and discomfort, trying to sleep and rest as much as possible.  Getting about on crutches is a greater challenge than I first anticipated and the requirement to wear clothing with pockets to carry things I wanted with me has become a must! 
The last 10 days or so I have experienced a really awful pain in my left calf, after a phone call to 111 and due to my circumstances I had the delight of spending the whole day in York Hospital last Friday for tests and an ultrasound.  Fortunately this all came back clear of deep vein thrombosis but annoyingly I was discharged with ‘muscular pain’ and it didn’t get to the bottom of the pain or even help it.    

I returned to the surgeon this week who is very happy with the way my ankle has healed and recovered so far. There was very little tenderness around my ankle when he felt it so it seems like the surgery has been a success, however, it is still going to take another 6 weeks for the internal area to heal properly. 

Rehabilitation is the next step, and I am being looked after by a nice well experienced physio, he advised me yesterday that this sort of injury is going to take 6 months to full recovery.  And quickly said that he knows what athletic people like me are like in terms of wanting to get back to fitness as quickly as possible, so we are to take it one week at a time.  When I told my surgeon and the physio about the calf pain I have been having recently they believe it could be from the pressure of the air-cast boot, the lack of use and the muscle wastage, all of which seem reasonable reasons but the physio has said he is going to keep a close eye on it for me.      

The first step; and this week’s rehab goals are to wean myself out of my ‘moon boot’ into an ankle brace, and to start to try to use one crutch instead of two, sounds easy….right!?  And I am now allowed on my exercise bike for 20 minutes at a time with no resistance, twice a day.   

It seems it is going to be a little while until I am out on the golf course but I’ll be onto my putting green at home just as soon as I can stand and be stable on both feet without too much pain!  In the meantime I’m working on keeping my mind active and developing some other skills.  

I hope you’re all well and thank you for having a read!   


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A look back on 2016

31/12/2016

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As I sit and reflect on my first year as a professional golfer I can honestly say I feel quite proud of how far I have come.

When I made my first trip to LET prequalifying in November 2015, I cracked/froze /choked, I didn’t feel that my body and mind were part of the same person and I just couldn’t find a way out, I completed 2 of the most awful rounds of golf I had played in a long, long time.  I was withdrawn from the tournament due to being on a score that was non-competitive to the competition.  One lady in particular was really supportive In Morocco, Sue, a UK based professional who now referees too.  She reminded me that I’m not the only golfer to ever experience this and that numerous top professionals go through something very similar.  Obviously the whole experience hurt but after a little time to reflect, I knew I could only come back stronger.   
Almost exactly a year on, I returned to Mohammedia to pre-qualifying again, I’ll admit I was quite apprehensive about going back! Obviously I wanted to go back and do my upmost best and qualify but my personal goal was to complete all 4 rounds with reasonable scores and I did just that.  I finished tied 36th in a field of 64 players, where 34 + ties were going to advance to LET Final qualifying school.  Coming that close to qualifying was a bit bitter sweet in the end because I did what I set out to achieve but a few shots less and I would’ve returned to Morocco in December for Final stage!  Something that was really nice throughout this trip was that Sue the same referee as last year was there again, she watched me play a few holes and spoke to me afterwards saying how pleased she was to see me there again and how impressed she was of how my game looked!
Unfortunately, 2016 seems to have been plagued with illness and injury, I started the year with an ongoing ankle injury which started in November time 2015. I was sent for an x-ray to rule out a possible stress fracture and then referred for physio at Selby hospital in January, months passed having regular physio appointments but the pain/ache stayed the same.  Eventually, I was referred to see a musclo-skeletal physiotherapist who reassured me that playing golf and training was not going to make matters worse and decided the course of action would be to go and see one of the foot/ankle specialists in York. I saw him and he agreed that an MRI scan would be the best course of investigation.  This MRI scan happened on the 13th July, I then had to wait until September for the prognosis, nothing could really be seen, which Mr Stanley the specialist said can also happen.  A week later he brought me back into the hospital for an injection into the ankle, which could make the problem better or worse, unfortunately it made mine worse.  Another appointment 6 weeks later and Mr Stanley wanted me to have an ultrasound to see if that could determine what was going on in the joint which is causing me continuous pain/aching.  My next appointment is 5th January with Mr Stanley. One of the options is an ankle arthroscopy which should hopefully happen in January time too and put this problem finally to bed.
Alongside my problematic ankle, I was really poorly and was getting really awful headaches through February, I had blood tests and weeks’ worth of antibiotics, and eventually was sent for a head CT scan to check there wasn’t anything more serious going on; however, fortunately it got written off as a nasty virus.  Two other times at tournaments this year I came down poorly, in Sweden with flu and a fever in Finland.    

​However, despite these problems that are uncontrollable something I have controlled is having a great time out on tour and below is a snapshot of my golfing year!


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Sunningdale Foursomes
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Even after a rough month with illness I couldn’t not return to Sunningdale to defend our 2015 title.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be this year and we were knocked out in the 2nd round. 
However, Sunningdale is always going to be a special place to me and even more so now with my name on the board in the main lounge among many other fantastic golfers. 
​We were also able to enjoy the annual ‘Champions Dinner’ where we were lucky enough to sit with Peter Alliss and have a lovely time over a delicious carvery in the dining room at Sunningdale.

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Bags are packed and ready to make my first trip abroad of the year to Spain!
Very typical of the way I travelled most of the year

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Santander Ladies Golf Tour
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5th-10th April Real golf de Pedreña, Santander
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The home of Seve Ballesteros, what a special venue to start my year.
A couple of lovely practice days in nice sunshine and then the weather turned for the tournament, cold and very wet!!
Managed to have a little trip out to see the area with my travel  friends on the trip.


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LET Access Series
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25th-30th April Gams-Werdenberg golf club, Switzerland
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Fortunate enough to stay with a lovely couple within their house with beautiful views, in fact almost everywhere you looked there was beautiful views in Switzerland.
The deep rough lining the fairways caught me out again at this event, and I was withdrawn for being ‘non-competitive’ from the second round.
I managed a sight-seeing afternoon in Zurich with my room-mates for the week. Another city to tick off the list, some beautiful architecture! 

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LET Access Series

8th-13th May Augas Santas Balneario & Golf Resort, Ribeira, North west Spain
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This area had some really bad weather leading up to our arrival and the golf course had really taken some punishment. It was the wettest I have ever seen a golf course to be.  Many fairways were like mud baths, it was a real shame but the Spanish Federation officials and the LET Access did a great effort at running the tournament the best they could.  Including turning 2 par 4s into par 3s for the event and we had a 1 round cut due to the persistent rain. 
I had a much better day first round shooting +4; sadly missed the cut and I could’ve done with another round to build my confidence the way the first round had done.

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Santander Ladies Golf Tour

22nd - 26th May Club El Zaudin, Sevilla
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This time it was a trip to the south of Spain, to the sunshine and warmth at Zaudin golf club in Seville.
Again, another tough week on the course through the tournament, but yet another beautiful golf course to play.

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LET Access Series

14th-20th June Boras Golf Club, Sweden

A bit of entertainment for us in the practice round when the sky all around us got darker and darker, we didn’t know whether to run, hide or carry on playing!
This was one of the weeks where I ended up poorly; turns out I had the flu. I managed to play round 1 but I went out for round 2 and I felt dreadful, I carried on playing but looking back I should’ve walked off and called it a day.  Being in that position is really difficult, I’d flown all that way to compete and I wanted to play but really, physically it was too much for me to do.

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One consistent factor throughout my year has been my training with Rachael Tibbs, Dynamic Golf.

She has been a great help to me these last couple of years and i'm looking forward to getting my body fit and being able to fully continue my strength and fitness development in the future!

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​Through July and into August I was at a bit of a loose end with my game, my performances couldn’t continue the way they were, and it was beginning to hurt me mentally, especially when I know what I am capable of.
After a chat with someone I regard as a good friend from Fulford golf club, I went to see Neil Cheetham for some lessons. 
He gave me some inspiration, and within half an hour from a few basic changes i began getting a sharper contact on the ball, he gave me the bug to want to practice again!


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​LET Access Series

21st- 28th August Hillside Golf Club, Vihti, Finland
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This tournament came as a bit of a surprised, I only got in a week before the event but I chose to get on a flight and go!  Due to my ranking I did not get into events very easily last season so hearing I managed to get into one I had the urge to go and play!  Fortunately, a good friend of mine Jane already had a lovely host family who I was able to stay with too. 
Hillside GC in Finland, a course that used to have a ski ramp functioning down the side of the 9th hole so that gives you an idea of how steep some of the hills were!
I had a decent first round, understood where the bad shots came from and could manage it, but I was in the slowest group I’ve been in for a long time! I had a sore back and just thought it was a muscular ache but turns out I got a fever and had to withdraw from the second round, I had learnt my lesson from Sweden and I was in no fit state to play, I was gutted because I really felt I had turned a corner in round 1!
Kari the father of the household took me for a ride in his old school car, a 1969 Corvette Stingray, which was a little highlight to the week!

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LET Access Series


12th-18th September Elisefarm Golf Club, Hörby, Sweden
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This tournament was hosted by Fanny Sunesson, Nick Faldo’s long time caddy.  She set the course up, and chose the pins positions, and in the Q&A session we were lucky enough to have with her she explained her process in doing so.  Such an interesting and inspiring lady!
An up and down couple of days in the tournament, some great golf but then I had periods of really bad in there too ruining my rounds.  I did finish with an eagle on my last hole through a great drive, really nice 8 iron into the green and knocked in my 8 foot putt, which just made me laugh after the previous really poor few holes I had just played! Funny game we play!!
Jane and I had time to have a trip into Copenhagen for the day, in which we took bikes around the city in the hunt for the little mermaid statue, and eventually found it!

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LET Access Series & Santander Ladies Golf Tour

17th-23rd October La Penaza, Zaragoza

The best 2 rounds of golf I had played in over a year, and what a great feeling! Had a nice group, and enjoyable couple of days which does tend to help with the game too! I did still miss the cut but I was very happy with my rounds, especially being -2 for last 6 holes of the 2nd round too, great improvement
Another beautiful Spanish course, and enjoyable few days! 

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​Santander Ladies Golf Tour

31st Oct-1st November Golf Santander, Madrid
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This was the last event on the Santander Ladies Golf Tour for 2016, playing golf in shorts and t-shirt at the end of October was lovely, whilst it lasted!!
We had a lovely few days of practice and a nice morning and lunch out in Madrid  doing some sight-seeing.
Unfortunately the rain in Spain arrived, I was lucky enough to finish my first round dry as I was out first in a 2-ball but everyone else behind got rather wet.  The 2nd day’s weather was horrendous and play was eventually abandoned.  As you can see in my last picture the greens were totally flooded!

21st position

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​Ladies European Tour pre-qualifying

12th-21st November Mohammedia, Morocco
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As you’ve read above, this was a pretty good week for me to end my season!
Tied 36th position, 34 +ties qualified for final stage
Had a few issues with travelling on this trip, with my suitcase going missing on the way there and our flight home getting cancelled!! 

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​3e Actuaries Open Equatorial Guinea, West Africa

5th-13th December Championship Golf Course Mongomo
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This was an invitational tournament, a totally unique experience, getting to play golf on the edge of the jungle and alongside some male professionals too.  My golf wasn’t as I’d wished and I struggled with my ankle again this week.  However it was quite an amazing and special experience to share the reality of humanity in the world we live in. 

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Making friends along the way
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Met 2 young chimps in Africa, it was the most amazing experience! :) 

I've enjoyed a nice bit of time to relax and recover over the festive period and now looking forward to preparations for 2017.

Please take a look at my social media for little updates along the way!
https://twitter.com/Caustwick
https://www.facebook.com/Caustwickgolf15
https://www.instagram.com/charlottea.91


                                     Happy New Year! :) 


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