2012 Tour Workshop Blog

Welcome aboard unbeatentoday!

You need to get a more distinctive forum name though!

Look forward to hearing from you in due course...

Unbeatentoday - same divot pattern as mine then - lol

It’s a fortnight of widespread travels on the European Tour – last week we had events in Hong Kong and South Africa and now they’re in Spain and Dubai.

This week there’ll be players from both ends of the money list competing in very different events – the final stage of the Tour Qualifying School and the World Tour Championship.

The top 60 in the money list will be battling it out for the big bucks in Dubai whilst, at the other end of the scale, players will be fighting to gain a tour card for 2013. These are two very different events with two totally different types of pressure.

Our Workshop set off for Girona yesterday and we’re travelling out tomorrow to meet up with it. Then we’ll have 3 full practice days before the first of 6 qualifying rounds that start on Saturday - the guys in Dubai will be halfway through their tournament by then.

As usual for the Tour School there will be a complete mixture of players, from the guys that have played Ryder Cup and won multiple tournaments to the younger guys looking to break through. It’s not a fun week for anyone as heartache and disappointment is guaranteed for most of the field. The depth of quality keeps on growing every year, so to even get a card for the tour is an incredible achievement, but that does mean a lot will miss out.

Here's a couple of links - the 73 players that made it through Stage 2, and the full list for the final stage.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/qualifying/season=2012/tournamentid=2012991/news/newsid=178478.html#earn+their+place+final+stage

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/qualifying/season=2012/tournamentid=2012995/teetimes/index.html

We’ve had a steady week with the majority of the work being re-grips and loft and lie checks. We’ve had 3 or 4 re-shafts to do that were broken during transit and also had to build a complete new set of woods, irons and wedges for Daniel Vancsik, thanks to Iberia failing to get his bag on the same flight as him!

Although Vancsik’s clubs eventually turned up he decided to put the new MP-64s in play, replacing the 59s he’s been using all season. He also fell in love with the T4 wedges so they’ve replaced his JPX wedges. That’s a bold move for such an important week and not something we’d normally recommend, but he’s happy enough with all the changes so hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of him next year.

Max Glauert will also be hoping to be out on the European Tour in 2013 (but for his first time) and we’ve been helping him out with some new T4 wedges this week.

Here's a few pics from the week...

And a bit of custom stamping on Max's wedges...

unbeatenthisyear wrote:

And a bit of custom stamping on Max's wedges...

What alterations have been made to his 52 wedge and why?

Assassin wrote:

unbeatenthisyear wrote:

And a bit of custom stamping on Max's wedges...

What alterations have been made to his 52 wedge and why?

His spec is +1" so to get the required swing weight we had to take a bit of weight out of the back the head.

unbeatenthisyear wrote:

Assassin wrote:

unbeatenthisyear wrote:

And a bit of custom stamping on Max's wedges...

What alterations have been made to his 52 wedge and why?

His spec is +1" so to get the required swing weight we had to take a bit of weight out of the back the head.

Thanks for the reply

Another beautiful day here in Spain...

It turned out to be another brutal Tour School, with all the heartache (for many) and joy (for very few) being delivered as predicted. Imagine missing the cut or missing out on the top 25 by a shot or 2. One bad day in the office, a 3 putt or a lost ball and you’ll have a totally different tournament schedule for the next 12 months.

Unfortunately some of our players didn’t make it through so will now be spending most of next season on the Challenge Tour. Those that have won tournaments previously will be exempt for those events in the coming year, and others will be relying on sponsors’ invites or local rankings to get into some main tour events – they then need to make the most of those limited opportunities or they’ll be back at the School next year.

It really is a tough position to be in, but for others a “new life” is just starting. Just getting on to the main tour is a huge achievement where “just” 4 decent rounds in any given week can be a life-changer. Who’d be a tour professional?!

Commiserations to those that missed out and congratulations to those who made it – I’m glad it only comes around once a year!