Benny Ahlenbäck

After a couple of weeks off from golf I’m now back to swinging the club again. Today was my first practice session in the new studio at Laholm. It’s a heated room where you can open two large doors and then hit straight onto the range. Since you open that much it gets pretty cold but it blocks out most of the wind and it’s alot better than standing out in the open air.

I didn’t get in to the two European Tour events that I entered now in January. Hopefully I get in to a Challnge Tour event in India instead at the end of the month. Last day of entry is 12th of January so I’ll know by then if I get in or not.

After a month in Spain I’m back home in Sweden enjoying the warm weather:) On monday I played the final round of the qualifying at Costa Ballena. I was one over par after three rounds and I knew I had to make a really good score the last round in order to have chance of making it through to the next stage. I started the round really well and was four under par after five holes. I continued playing well but didn’t manage to roll in the putts. On my eleventh hole I made an easy bogey and after that I never managed to get back in the game. A few mistakes on the remaining holes ment that I finished the day at one under par and level par for the tournament. To make it through you had to be eight under par total so I wasn’t close to making it. I’m disappointed with the fact that I didn’t manage to play better golf. I felt the whole tournament that I had good game in me but I didn’t manage to produce the shots when I neede to. The margins are small in golf and like I said I’m disappointed that I didn’t make the final stage but now I can’t stop thinking about how I’m going to improve and get better and some day make the European Tour.

Yesterday I flew into Jerez where two golf buddies of mine picked me up and drove me back to Costa Ballena. This is the course we’re playing the qualifying at this week. It starts in two days and will be played over 72 holes. I’ve played the course before but it was several years ago so I didn’t really remember all the holes but after a practice round today it feels alot better. The course is in good condition if anything the greens are a little soft but it’s supposed to be perfect weather these next couple of days so hopefully the’ll get a little more firm during the week. My game feels ok at the moment and I feel that I’m close to something good. The key for this week is to be patient and remain positive what ever happens. I felt last week and the week before that that I was trying to hard to make a good score and that I was stressing too much so this week I’m just going to play and see what happens. My access to the internet is limited this week but I’ll try and write as much as I can.

At the range at Costa Ballena

Today was a good day on the course. I played really solid but didn’t manage to make that many putts. I finished four under par and was happy with that. There wasn’t much wind today but the little wind that was was very beneficial and made the par 5′s reachable. The greens are very soft which make them easy to hit but not very easy to putt on, they get bumpy very quick. I tee off nine in the morning tomorrow and hopefully I can keep up my steady game and make a few more putts.

Yesterday I played the last round of Altorreal Futures Open. As I mentioned earlier I was two over par after the first round and after a nine on my fifteenth hole the second round I finished seven over par that round. I was nine over par after two rounds and was of course not happy with that. Last round I played a little better and managed to shoot three under par and advance a few spots on the leaderboard. I ended up 30th in the tournament and was very dissapointed with that luckily enough I get a second chance next week. The second tournament starts on tuesday and is played on Hacienda del Alamo. I havn’t palyed the course yet but we got here yesterday and it looks really good. We’re playing a round tomorrow and hopefully the course is as good as I think it is.