As you may, or may not, have gathered from my socials recently, the last few days have been wild. I’m unsure what I can talk about at the moment and, in any case, I don’t want to say too much more than I have already. Primarily because the opportunity for caddying at JCB is everything that I thought it might be, and then some. The two days on course playing nine and forecaddying nine, being taught consecutively by four different Caddiemaster trainers, was a genuine privilege. Playing that much of JCB was a surprise. Having it largely to ourselves, learning the course, and diving straight into the hustle and information needed to forecaddie was quite surreal.

I loved every moment, and I felt I held my own. It’s hard – think Overcooked golf – or at least a steep learning curve, and way harder than playing golf. I can’t wait to write about it, if I’m allowed, but I’m still a further day’s training off being qualified and in. So maybe next time.

For 2025 – season starts Saturday! – it’s probably helpful to share where I'm currently at, which will hopefully give some context to the year ahead. I sent my coach videos from Prince’s, given I could record them easily there, and the feedback was useful, “Keep squaring up that club face to the path to naturalise the shape on the ball.”

Playing more other good and varied courses was improving my scores at home. It highlighted the need for strategy, rather than trying to brute force success, and made me look at Rushcliffe differently: where to be conservative; where to attack with safety; what to avoid; what to go for. No doubt just playing two or three times a week last year through the summer helped, too, and I would submit a card every time I played a full 18.

In a stroke play singles competition this is done automatically for you and instantly goes on your World Handicap System (WHS) England Golf (EG) app record. The following day your handicap is adjusted if there’s any change in the average of your best eight rounds in your last 20. If you have more than 20 scores on your record, these drop off the calculation as you continually replace them with new scores added. Still with me? You can, in theory, ‘protect’ your handicap by only submitting when you’re required to in competitions – absolutely valid. I prefer not to.

In America, you have to submit each time you play a full round, casual or not, which I like. There is an element of personal and peer gamification in an ‘every round counts’ approach but, for me, it is simply the easiest and cheapest way to track my progress. I would prefer my handicap to always go down, but that’s not how it works, and I treat it as a current and accurate reflection of my ability. I’m frustrated if my handicap goes up when I’m not scoring as well, sure, but that’s an obvious consequence and you’re given a boost with extra shots when you arguably need it most.

More commonly, people will tend not to submit a score (you’re supposed to decide before you start) when playing away, especially at a new course, as you’re likely to shoot higher. I do not do this either, I like having other courses I’ve visited with those scores on my record. I started 2024 off a 10 handicap (low for me), went down to 9 (winter tees), quickly up to 13 (competitions!), and gradually down again to 9 (no job!). I’m still going to submit when I play away every time – unless like Woburn in December 2023 when frozen over and balls literally bounced off the green – but I’m not submitting at home until competitions start again in April. I learned last year that with tees brought forward to mitigate winter conditions, I was able to shoot lower, which felt great especially after the break, then as soon as back competition tees and firmer greens returned, I would immediately struggle with a lowered handicap. Not an ideal way to start the season.

I’m currently comfortable off 10 at home which usually gives me 11 or 12 shots. In 2022, I started off 16 and went up to 19 that year, coming down to 11 in 2023. Last summer, I managed to break 80 at Rushcliffe for the first time in a competition, albeit a Monday yellow tee generally played by retired seniors. Typically, yellow tees are essentially men’s casual play tees, in between the back white competition, front red women’s, and blue junior’s. I’ve broken 80 a couple of times off yellows or in winter but have only come close in white tee comps. It will happen at some stage, hopefully this season, and then become less of a burden.

As is perhaps now apparent, it’s easy to get bogged down in scores and handicaps, even down to scoring on a particular day. Often to your own detriment. Scoring well within your own capability is naturally a byproduct of playing well, and vice versa – it is not more important than simply being out playing and enjoying it. Golf is hard and savagely unpredictable enough without extra undue pressure, and amateur golf is fundamentally a personal battle, so why make it any harder on yourself.

I’ve been considering what my goals are this year and, when asked on the spot at Hollinwell this week by my buddy, I said without thinking:

1. Get my son, Fraser, a handicap

2. Have a professional caddie for a round at a big place

3. Have an eagle on a card

Fraser is definitely getting the golf bug at 12-years-old. He is not interested in going to the driving range – can’t fault him there – but loves being on the course at Rushcliffe. He can hit the ball off the tee, he can progress the ball up the fairway, he can even get out of a bunker, and he’s got far better at putting. The one thing he needs to learn is chipping; he’s no feel at all around the greens and that’s going to cost and frustrate him. But, like his putting, that will come with practice and trying things out.

I will need to take him up there as much as possible this year, and he will need to get used to not having any mulligans submitting his first three cards to obtain a handicap. Having the handicap will give him his benchmark to improve, as it does me, and will allow him to be considered to play for his school. I expect obtaining those three cards will be a tough mental challenge for him, with plenty of ups and downs, but I think he’ll handle that and learn some valuable lessons.

Amusingly, when he played 11 holes last weekend, I’d booked a tee time just before a big visiting group. All eight of these men were on the first tee as we walked from the car to go straight out. Fraser had not hit a ball since last year on the course.

“You don’t have to tee off if you don’t want to in front of everyone, we can drop up on the fairway and start from there,” I offered him. Fraser flatly refused and I advised him to simply concentrate on making a good contact with the ball, don’t try to hit it too hard. My expectations were low, his probably sky high, and I feared for him. I shouldn’t have worried. He hit a lovely, controlled, straight, high ball out the middle of the club over the big carry and up the hill reaching the fairway. We fistbumped, I took his driver off him and slotted it in his bag on my shoulder, and we marched off without looking back – big smiles, chests out, heads high. That’s the shit, right there. He’s ready to play 18 holes this year, no doubt in my mind.

The caddie round is something I’ve wanted for a while, even before the Caddiemaster/JCB opportunity and experience, and may or may not happen this year – it is entirely dependent on visiting a prestigious venue which offers them, and wanting one there. When it does, it’ll be great.

I would love to win a “gold leaf” event at Rushcliffe, a club major and your name on an honours board in the clubhouse, but that requires a lot of uncontrollable luck. Maybe for next year. I’ve never had an eagle on a card before, though, and that’s something I do have a certain amount of control over – so that’s my final one for this year. Next week we’re into the Thursday/Saturday singles competitions. The weather is good. Long may it continue. We might even be asking for rain this year?

It would be remiss of me not to mention Worksop and, especially, Hollinwell. I’m doing both of their Opens in the summer, and given the recent sunshine, it was a good opportunity to have an early look on the cheap. I’ve held off playing Hollinwell as it’s relatively expensive, or at least was last year, but now they’ve lowered their prices at low season a touch, now I understand why. Top 50 in the UK and Ireland, top 20 in England, a magical, high quality heathland in north Nottinghamshire, and a regular Open qualifier venue.

Hollinwell’s layout, old-money firm and tight condition of the fairways and greens, and its setting below wooded hillsides, with changing landscapes, made for an exhilarating few hours which flew by. What struck me most is Hollinwell got better and better to the finish – the downhill par 3 13 was a highlight, and I figured a high point, but the experience instead increased, culminating in a genuinely breathtaking par 5 17 that had a huge winding shelf of a fairway to a raised green amphitheatre framed by those tall pines and its hillside. Holy shit.

We were joined by two young members for the last three holes and they were kind and enthusiastic with us visitors. I drove the ball well at points but still easily found trouble approaching the greens when not concentrating fully, making doubles from the middle of the fairway with ease. Hollinwell looked stunning in early April, and we imagined a treat in full bloom in July. Worksop, extremely narrow off the tee, is unfortunate that it has several top courses in the area nearby, as it’s a great value and thoroughly enjoyable heathland in its own right. I look forward to returning to both later this year.