When The Circus Comes To Town

Welcome to another blog. It's been a while. I've had a very stop start season to date and haven't been in the rudest of health (as you'll see) and so my golf has been intermittent and very in and out.

My home course, Royal Ascot (Royal Ascot Website) has played host to the Jamega Tour (check their website Jamega Tour) for a pro-am on the Sunday and a two day event for the professionals on the Monday and Tuesday with a £10,000 to play for. The Jamega Pro Golf Tour was launched in 2005, creating a platform for professional golfers to experience life as a touring pro. Since then the tour has witnessed several Jamega Pro Golf Tour players progressing to European tour and Challenge tour status. This includes Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, Tyrrell Hatton, Todd Clements and Zane Scotland.

During the season there are a series of mini order of merits that give the professionals some cash bonuses and free entry to the 2023/24 season so plenty to entice the players and add an extra layer of pressure as they tee it up each time.

The Jamega Tour is the longest running tour for developing golfers and trying to pr0gress them up the golfing echelons but it is not the only act in town:

2020protour

Founded by European Tour player Chris Hanson and his caddy Adam Walker, the 2020pro tour (website here - 2020 Tour) has burst onto the scene in 2020 with great success. With an equitable policy that seen a female winner, the 2020protour features plenty of big prizes for participating players including a race to 100 birdies £20000 prize.

Clutch Pro Tour

The Clutch Pro Tour )website here - Clutch Pro Tour another Mini Tour that has really come into its own this year. With prize pots of £10000 to the winner of Major events, its no surprise the Tour has attracted the likes of European Tour regulars Andy Sullivan, Richard Bland, and Robert Rock. Big partnerships with the likes of Mizuno Golf and Modest Golf Management has really thrust the Clutch Pro Tour to the top of the order.

1836 Golf Tour

The 1836 Golf Tour (website here - 1836 Tour) is one of the more established Mini Tours having been around for a number of years now. Like most Tours, it offers a comprehensive order of merit and plenty of incentives for players looking to make the step to bigger things. Created for professionals by professionals, 1836 packs in a strong annual calendar and season ending finale.

The circus stop at Royal Ascot each year is hugely popular with both the members who are always fill the pro-am slots and the professionals who are always hugely complementary about the course and the event as a whole. The pro-am was blessed with warm and sunny conditions and the green staff had done an excellent job in making the course look superb visually and play equally as well.

I was playing with my long time friend Geoff Jones who can be vary dangerous of his handicap and after a late drop-out, our recently installed Club General Manager Stephen Nicholson. We were paired with a wonderful young professional called Ricky Brackenbury. Now as you will recall health has been an issue recently and in the days running up to the day I had been feeling decidedly under the weather with Covid like symptoms although all the tests were negative. On the Saturday I had a really bad pain in my groin where I knew I already had an inguinal hernia and my immediate concern was I had done that more damage. I was very undecided about playing but having committed my entry (and as my friends will testify I try and be financially prudent, or as others call it tight) I decided to play.

The Dream Team

My round on Saturday was a mental battle and mind over matter as the pain in my groin was severe and I could feel it both walking between shots but also playing every shot. It was a monthly stableford and I finished 5th in my division despite not scoring on the 16th and 17th so was very pleased with how I ground a score out.

The downside to that was the groin was even more sore on Sunday and to be honest I struggled at times to make a contribution to the team better ball score. I was trying hard but nothing was happening. Ricky was playing some great golf and was unlucky around the greens. He managed to finally get on the birdie train towards the latter part of the round and would eventually finish 12th in the professional event. Our team tied 11th so no loss of face. The highlight for me was the penultimate hole (our first on the course) which is a par three playing 164 yards on the day. I have never had a hole in one and given how I was playing the chances were remote of changing that. I hit a little five hybrid sweet and straight and it landed on the front of the green, ran towards the hole, having a cursory look on the way past and finished a foot behind the cup.

It would definitely not been the day to get a hole in one from a cost perspective but it was my best shot of the day and won nearest the pin and a four ball voucher to play Chobham Golf Club (view their website - Chobham Golf Club).

And so to the main event and the two day professional event. As always when the bandwagon stops in town it is a fiercely competitive event. This year was no different and with some sunny, if breezy conditions, scoring was good. It was a very close run affair but in the end Barnes Wallis triumphed with a two round score of -10. He shot 63 (-7) in round one and held off some tough play from the other contenders and his 67 (-3) on day two got it done.

It is always an interesting experience to watch these professionals up close. They are good but when you bear in mind they are only on the bottom rung of the professional ladder it brings into stark perspective just how good the players at the next level are and then when you add in the Europro and Challenge tour players it is clear why it takes a lot of talent, hard work and a chunk of luck to progress and make it at these higher levels.

A lot of the professionals use the tour as a way of earning some additional cash alongside their day to day jobs. The Jamega Tour is professionally run and Gary Harris as tournament director runs a very efficient if tight ship.

If the bandwagon stops at your home club or maybe another club local to you it is worth going out and seeing some of the action and if you get a chance to play in the pro-am it is an experience I am sure you'll enjoy

I hope you enjoyed this blog. If you have played in a Jamega Tour event or pro-am let me know what you thought in the comments section or via my social media. I have some exciting stuff coming up in the next few weeks and I'll be bringing some blogs show casing these. I will also be doing a couple of product reviews which will be on my Youtube channel (please check it out - Three Off The Tee Youtube Channel). I will also be making my annual pilgrimage to the British Par 3 championship at Nailcote Hall (sponsored by Farmfoods) from 9th-12th August. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with some of the professionals and celebrities and bring you some great content. It's always a great few days and I hope you enjoy the content.

If you have been a previous visitor to this humble blog then you'll know I am using CBD oil and other products to see what impact it has on my golf over the year. You can check out part one - (CBD Oil Part One) and part two is available here (CBD Oil Part Two). If you read these you'll be aware there is a free to enter competition coming up and I'll be announcing details very soon. You won't want to miss this.

Plenty to get your teeth into and thank you for your continued support. I look forward to bringing everything to you soon and equally hope you enjoy reading it. See you soon and I hope your golf is going well in 2022.

Product Review - Golfers CBD (Part Two - Cold Turkey)

Welcome back to another slice of the Three Off The Tee pie. I hope you're well and getting out and playing some golf. The days are definitely drawing out but I wish the weather would hurry up and become more Spring like. At my home course we've had some heavy rain again this week and the course is still very wet in places. Add in a brutal wind and fearsome wind chill it has all been hard work. Indeed I did a piece on winter golf. If you missed it you can check out it here Winter Golf - Challenge or Chore

And so to the crux of the matter. The sharp eyed amongst you will see this is the second part of an ongoing product review on something called Golfer CBD. I filled you in with part one, on the company, their range of products and more importantly what it had done to help (or not) my game throughout January. Before we go any further if you missed part one, I strongly recommend reading part one here Golfers CBD Review (part one) and seeing what it's all about. You'll thank me.

If you are familiar with part one you'll be up to speed and the plan for the second part of this ongoing review of Golfers CBD, starting with their oil and gummies. The idea was to go cold turkey and not use their products for February and compare my feelings on the course without them, the effects on my scoring and my general thought process during a round. And that is what I did......up to a point. More of that to come.

Golfers CBD oil and gummies - Not allowed while I went cold turkey

So where to start? Well cold turkey has been very cold. I don't think that is a plot spoiler from part one. There was a variable thrown into the mix in part two with a lesson and a competition meant the whole month of cold turkey didn't go to plan.
A final request before I progress, to read part one.
Right here we go. The biggest thing I took away from part one of the test was just how at ease on the course I was. There was a feeling of quietness inside my head and a lack of swing thoughts. There was clarity in my decision making and in my routine which continued over the ball. Now as a 13.4 handicapper with lofty ambition to reach single figures, or as near as possible dammit, then I am still more than capable of hitting bad shots and during the first part of the test I most certainly did. However there was a sense of acceptance. Find it and hit again, hopefully better. Picking up some money in that period helped as well.
So how does that compare to my February golf? Let me sum it up by saying cold turkey, was very, very cold. Everything I said in the previous paragraph went out of the window. I was back to the old me and yes it is winter golf so maybe I should cut myself some slack, but I hit it terribly and the scores were a good 3-4 points per round lower compared to January. Where before I could be playing badly but calmer and get it round in a stableford score that started with a 3, last month was a constant battle. More swing thoughts, more disturbed over bad shots, meaning more swing thoughts, and do you know what, I didn't actually enjoy it as much!
One of the benefits I found in part one was an ability to concentrate and my swing itself felt more smooth and easy. Not so in February where in the bad rounds I looked like an octopus trying to negotiate a revolving door. No timing and while there were patches of good golf, usually on the front nine, the back nine would collapse and I struggled to keep a good score going. I had been tucking into the CBD gummies as well as using the oil for a boost but going cold turkey meant I couldn't do that either. I have nothing substantive or any medical proof of the differences between my two golfing months, and there will be those cynics that say the whole Golfers CBD is just a placebo effect, but my own personal experiences showed a distinct change between month one and month two.
Now then, if you were paying attention, and taking this blog in, you'll know that I said I went cold turkey......up to a point. That point was the February stableford at my club, played off the yellows. As I've alluded to, I still have a dogmatic belief I can get to single figures (or "The Quest For Single Figures" aka "The Quest" as it's known on here) and so I decided to break my cold turkey regime for this one event in an attempt to play well and generate a handicap cut.

Golfers CBD oil - 10%

Perhaps that decision in between the consistent inconsistencies of February highlights the benefit of the Golfers CBD oil. The competition was on Saturday February 12th and I had a lesson on the Thursday (10th) with only a brief range session to make the changes feel reasonable in the swing. So come on then, what happened? I'm glad you asked. I came second in my division and picked up the first place pot for the swindle. I could have won it but made a real mess of our fifth from 100 yards out not to score. That was the difference between a win or not. Gross par and I won.
The point is with the oil before going out and after nine and it was immediately back to that air of calm I've spoken about and I put in another very good performance. Again some may argue that it was the lesson. That may have contributed but having not taken the new changes onto the course and then going out with card and pencil in hand, and while I'd suggest it will have helped, I got far more from the Golfers CBD. There is a more than a tenuous suggestion in my testing to date, to suggest there are definite and positive benefits to using these products.
I have picked up more roll up money in the last two months than I can remember. My scores using the oil and gummies are far more consistent. I am enjoying my golf, even on the not quite hitting it well days, I am playing better using the CBD and I am competitive. So what's not to like?

Golfer CBD gummies - mint flavoured

One of the great things about Golfers CBD is their presence on social media, especially Twitter Golfers CBD twitter link and they are regularly running competitions to win their products and have even had free giveaways so it is in your best interest to give them a follow and see what's going on. If you want to see what products they sell, more information about golf and CBD, lab reports and a ton of other stuff then log onto the website (Golfers CBD website).

So what's next for me and this ongoing review? In order to test further, this link between me taking the products and playing well and not taking them and playing not so well I am going to do a month of taking them competitively and not in social rounds. The competition season is about to start with a pairs better ball competition this weekend (13th March) which is an honours board event at my club (and I've won before) so it should be interesting. This cold turkey review has shown what I thought and experienced but lets extend it further and see if the correlation continues.

If any of you are using Golfers CBD I'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment at the bottom of this blog or contact me on my socials at the front of the site. Have you found it has helped? Similarly if you want to ask a question please feel free by posting in the same way. I mentioned in part one of the review about a free giveaway. That's coming in the next few months so keep checking my blog regularly and keep an eye out on my social media.

Thank you as always for your time in reading my humble thoughts and opinions on golf related matters. The season is really about to start and I wish you well. Play well and I'll hopefully catch you for other blogs (perhaps a "Quest" update) on here soon. There will be some other product reviews coming as well, and these will also feature on my Three Off The Tee youtube channel. You can view the content to date by clicking here - Three Off The Tube youtube. In the meantime happy golfing and I'll see you here again soon.

Product Review - Golfers CBD (Part One)

Welcome along to my latest blog. I hope wherever this finds you, it finds you well and you are getting out and playing some golf. We are still in the midst of winter golf and while Royal Ascot Golf Club (my home club) has been playable, that has meant cold temperatures and some wet and muddy conditions. It is a subject I tackled in a recent blog "Winter Golf - Challenge or Chore" which I strongly suggest you read here - Winter Golf - Challenge Or Chore

However I digress. As the title suggest I am doing another product review. This one will be a bit different so bear with me as I explain. The product I am looking at, and indeed the concept itself will undoubtedly divide opinion and some will buy into it and the benefits and others will dismiss this as placebo at best and hocus pocus will no proven gains. I would hope the doubters will at least read what I've got to say, and the results to date, and will perhaps consider giving the product a go and trying it for themselves.

So what is this product, what does it claim to do and what has it got to do with my golf? I am looking at a company called Golfers CBD and in particular their oil and fruit gummies. Who are Golfers CBD? They are a UK based company (head office in Reigate in Surrey) who are selling CBD or Cannabidiol to improve a players concentration, recovery and sleep and even assist in treating aches and pains. As always with these reviews, I haven't been paid or had any remuneration for this review from Golfers CBD, they have had no input into this review and the views within this blog/review are mine, and are independent based on my own experiences and findings.

It is a developing market and with there are a number of other brands out there including one endorsed by Open winner Darren Clarke. However it is the Golfers CBD products I am going to look at. If you want to find out far more about what Golfers CBD have to offer then check out the website here - Golfers CBD website

The health benefits of CBD are well known and by influencing the receptors in our systems we can change how we react to stress, maintain a good mood and execute motor skills under pressure. The ability to influence these reactions, to aid preparation (through improved sleep) and recovery time makes this the perfect supplement for golfers.

The company are very passionate on where they source their CBD oil from. As well as that how much should you take? This can be confusing but the important calculation is the percentage of CBD. Their 1000mg oil comes in a 10ml bottle, this is 10% strength. Golfers CBD say some companies sell 1000mg oil in a 30ml bottle, this is additional carrier fluid so one third the strength at around 3.3%. Or to put it another way you need to take 3 times as much to gain the same benefits from Golfers CBD. You can get CBD oil from a lot of places including Holland and Barrett (a health store brand in the UK) so I guess the moral if you don't buy directly from Golfers CBD (and you can view all their products in their store here) is you need to do your homework and be careful what you are buying.

Golfers CBD have already got some well known names on board with their product including Solheim Cup player and victorious captain Catriona Matthew and they have a growing presence on social media especially Twitter. Check them out here - Golfers CBD Twitter. It may be in your best interest as they have frequent giveaways and so you may be lucky and get a chance to try Golfers CBD for free if you win.

So you've heard about what CBD is, how it works and how Golfers CBD think it can benefit the average golfer as well as elite and professional players. So what has that got to do with me and my golf? Well, I have been trying the oil in the basic level at 10% as shown below

Golfers CBD oil

I have had an inkling to try CBD for my golf for a few months. This may have come from my social media seemingly being bombarded by different companies (big brother is clearly watching) offering their wares. Again, being transparent, I won the oil and gummies in a free to enter draw from Golfers CBD so that has clearly influenced which make I have tried. I have had to pay for the another batch of oil. That said, I had already been drawn to their products via their social media and so they were always going to be the first manufacturer I used.

The astute amongst you will see this is part one of the review. I am planning to use the Golfers CBD products throughout the golfing season and also to see how it helps with sleep and treating any aches and pains (so my glass back will be a prime candidate).

So lets start at the beginning. I have been using the oil for all my rounds since the new year. I take a couple of drops about 15 minutes before I tee off and have been taking a couple more after nine holes. I have not had any golf instruction during this period and because of the freezing temperatures, strong winds and rain we have had in my neck of the woods, any range time has been restricted to two sessions since the new year so I have had to rely on rocking up and playing on the day and not honing my swing in the evenings.

I can only report on my results in January since using the CBD oil but in the weekend roll ups, I have come second (and picked up some money) and third several times. I have even won the Sunday roll up (and a nice £75) pot which is something I haven't managed to do in well over two years. In very simple terms I have played under my handicap three or four times and those games where I wasn't under handicap, my scores were still well into the thirties, even though I didn't feel I hit the ball particularly well and struggled with my short game in the wet winter conditions.

There will be those that simply say this is a change in my golfing fortunes and I am simply riding the crest of a purple patch. That's possible, and I'd love it to be true but my form before Christmas and before taking the oil simply wasn't that consistent. If you've read the this blog you'll know that consistency in my golf is not a common theme. There will be some that say this oil is a placebo and by taking it I am somehow shifting my thoughts into a better place. Again, that is a point of view but not one I subscribe to based on what I've seen to date.

I don't have any scientific data to back that up. I'll leave you to look at the Golfers CBD site and see what they say about the products. What I can do is give you my feedback on the oil and how it has affected me. In very plain and simple terms, I have an air of calm when I am out of the course. I have far fewer swing or technical thoughts in my head (a regular problem), and feel I can see the shots more clearly. There is an air of acceptance of the outcome be that a good shot or bad. I am simply playing on an even keel emotionally.

Golf takes time and you can be out on the course for four hours or more. That's a long time to concentrate and every round will present stressful situations and emotional challenges. The Golfers CBD website talks about CB1 receptors. These receptors are moderators of your memory, mood, motor function, perception of pain, stress response and thinking. For the player there are many obvious benefits just in the course of a single round of golf, particularly the positive effect on mood, motor function, stress response and thinking. This is what I have found. I am more positive about my golf and the outcome of the shot, and even if I hit a shocker I can deal with it.

I have talked about playing under my handicap but I can honestly say I haven't played great golf. I have topped shots into a hazard, struggled with the driver and messed up chips. What I have managed is to find a way to get it round, sometimes playing ugly. To do that I have had to accept the poor shots. That is something I haven't done often, and a poor shot would often see me question technique, moan about bad luck or get wound up inside. Taking the oil before a round and after nine has changed all that. My response to poor shots is so very different. There is a calm, something I am struggling to put into a cohesive sentence, but an air of positivity and a mood shift towards thinking I can make the best of any round and situation I find myself in. As I say it's hard to put into words but in practice there has been a real change in my golfing persona. Some who know me would say I am a glass positively empty when I play, not even half full, but since using the oil that has definitely changed for the better.

I have also had the Golfers CBD gummies (see here - CBD Gummies) which have let me have a boost on the way round. I have tried to keep these in reserve but I had a very good round last Sunday (23rd January) and thought I may have been in contention to pick up the pot for a second week running (although a magnificent round well into the forties put paid to that) and started to get ahead of myself in the closing stretch, The gummies helped put me back into a more focused place. What I have tried to avoid is taking the oil and the gummies together too often. While the proof has seemingly been in the pudding with my performances, and the oil in particular has given me a good base line to start this season long review, I don't want to be reliant on taking more and more products to stay at the same level.

I am going to play February cold turkey and not use any of the oil or gummies and see what effect that has on my performance. I will be interested to see if the level of consistency remains (or indeed improves). Will I still have the aura of calm, focus and lack of swing thoughts? It should be an interesting comparison.

So there you go. A very unusual product to review but one that I think you'll hear a lot more about in the next few years as research data and more reviews come through. I can only give you my own thoughts on what I have found and that is there definitely seems to be something in this and that there is a basis to say it has helped my game so far. It will be up to you to decide if you want to give it a go for yourself, maybe after seeing my ongoing reviews through the season. At this point, I am a convert and it has seemingly improved my game.

To finish, I will be giving away a Golfers CBD gift pack in the future and details on how to enter will be in a future review so keeping following this blog. It'll also be on my social media so if you don't follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/hackergolfer) please do so. While you are at it please look at my Three Off The Tee youtube channel and subscribe. You can find it here - Three Off The Tee youtube channel

A Golfers CBD gift pack will be given away as these reviews progress - keep following the blog and my social media links

Thank you for reading this review and I hope it has at least given you some food for thought. Don't forget to check out the Golfers CBD website as there is a host of information that may help you. I am really excited to see how this plays out over the course of the golfing season and what impact it actually has on my game. So far so good but lets see what happens and how it helps my game (or not) once the competitions start and will it help me on the Quest For Single Figures? Join me for the next part of this product review soon.