cian curley

PROGRESS

Q School
I've finally got the chance to sit down and update this blog after a very busy couple of months. I actually cannot believe October is upon us already and we have the cold, windy and rainy winter golf to look forward to. But it is not all doom and gloom for me as I have a certain trip to Spain to look forward to in five weeks time. A tournament where I will have the chance to progress to the Final Stage of European Tour Q School where I will get the opportunity to reach a goal I've been working towards for years. This is of course many golf holes away, 180 holes to be exact, but I've given myself a chance by qualifying through the first stage a couple of weeks ago. I will get back to this in a moment after talking a little about the rest of my season on the Europro Tour.

Improving
The last time I blogged I was about to play a couple of Europro Tour events on home soil, which is always nice, and this is where the season began to turn for me. During the off period I took beforehand I worked tirelessly on trying to improve my tee ball so I could get myself in play more often and give my strengths a chance to shine. In Fota Island GC back in July things did improve although still a little inconsistent. I shot 71, 74, 71 and finished tied 30th. We moved onto another Irish event at Concra Wood GC and I took confidence from the improvements I saw at the previous event. I shot 73, 69, 72 and finished in a tie for 6th place and just 4 shots behind the winner. That week was a great chance for me to get a win but unfortunately I just couldn't seem to go low enough. I really expected to kick on after that but as I was playing really good golf in practice I wasn't doing so when it counted and this led to some more missed cuts. I played another good event at Wychwood Park finishing T29th with rounds of 75,68,74 and I would return to the same course for Q School.

The Scourge of the Double Bogey!
This year on the Europro Tour has been a strange one for me. In the past I'd of considered myself a steady player who didn't make many mistakes but that was certainly not the case this season. Every aspect of my game has greatly improved to a point where I know I can compete with and beat the best players. However looking back the reason I only managed to shoot in the 60's four times and shoot 71 no fewer than on ten occasions was that I made far too many double bogeys or worse. For most professional golfers and especially longer hitters the Par 5's is where you can excel and make tons of birdies and eagles. On the tour this year I made 8 bogeys and 10 double bogeys on the Par 5's alone. This is unacceptable. Out of 113 Par 5's played on the Europro Tour I was a lackluster 20 under par for them. On a brighter note the stats also show that I was inside the top 20 in birdie average on the tour. So it is clear to see that when the bogeys become pars and the doubles become bogeys I will be competing for wins on a regular basis.

Digging Deep
I entered the first stage of European Tour Qualifying at Wychwood Park GC in England thanks to the funding of Team Ireland Golf. The course is a proper test of golf and has a very tough run of holes to finish with. The weather was cold, rainy at times and a stiff breeze blew all week. I played very steady golf shooting rounds of 70,74,73,73 and finishing in a tie for 11th place. I was particularly proud of the way I played the final round as I didn't quite have the game I had earlier in the week and with the added pressure of trying to qualify I had to dig deep, stay patient and scramble well.

Preparation
Looking forward now to the next five to six weeks I'll prepare as best I can for the events in Spain. I'll do some work with Johnny and keep to the practice I've been doing in Carton House. I will also get to the gym more often, it's important for me to keep fitness and strength up especially when I'm not competing as often. Unfortunately there isn't much competitive golf available so maybe some cash games with the lads is all I will get! I will be ready to go however come November and hopefully the next time I'm writing a piece for my website I'll have a shiny European Tour card to wave!

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PATIENCE

Time Off
I 'm currently in a period of three weeks away from competition as I took the decision to withdraw from this weeks WSL Open on the Europro Tour. After playing the events at Bovey Castle, Galgorm Castle and Burhill Golf Club I decided that I needed to take a little break and use the remainder of the time off to work on certain areas of my game. I find it difficult to withdraw from any event but especially so on the Europro Tour as with only 5 Challenge Tour cards up for grabs at seasons end you don't want to fall behind. In saying that though I have learned that I'm not one that is able to play my way through erratic golf and instead I am better off to take a step back, figure out where I am falling down and move forward with a plan to improve.

Taking Stock
I am well aware that any player will only get judged on the scores they post and with a tie for 33rd and two missed cuts to show for in my last three events it certainly doesn't make for good reading. But as I am taking stock of my game during this off period I have many reasons to be positive and optimistic about 2012. I can go through all the events individually and say things like "only for I finished with three bogeys I wouldn't of missed the cut here" and "if I didn't get the bad side of the draw I would have done well there" but as I reflect and study my stats the facts are very simple.

Statistics
As the European Tour is where the best players play and is also where I am aim to be I'll compare some of my statistics to theirs. I've seen huge improvement in my putting this year. I'm averaging 28.77 putts per round and 1.740 putts per green in regulation. Both these stats would rate me well inside the top 10 in European Tour stats for 2011. On the other hand my driving accuracy is at 56.1% which would rate me just outside the top 150 players on the tour. This is a very brief summary but it shows where improvement is needed. I've always been a good iron player and had a tidy shortgame but I know if I can get the ball on the fairway more often I will bring my scoring average down and therefore get myself into contention more often. For the record it is currently 71.93 which is only just inside the top 150 on the main tour.

Golf At Home
Looking forward I have some golf in Ireland coming up with the Audi Cork Irish Masters in Fota Island, Co.Cork and the Kingspan Concra Wood Open in Co. Monaghan. Before them two events I'll be out in Royal Dublin GC this coming Monday aiming to qualify for The Open Championship at Royal Lytham this year. As the title above reads 'patience' is required as I know the hard work I continue to put in will pay off soon.

Chat soon!
PS. Please don't hesitate to use the contact section of the website for any messages or feedback.

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And We're Off!!

The Europro Tour
The Europro Tour season is officially under way with the first two events completed at Wensum Valley in Norwich and Lingfield Park, just south of London. I also had a return to the Q School Final at Frilford Heath GC. I needed to go back to the Q School this season to try regain my full playing category on the tour. It was a successful week on a golf course I enjoy. I played very steady throughout the week and an opening pair of 71's had me in decent shape heading into the final round. I felt them scores couldn't of been much higher but I stayed very patient into the final day and I got my rewards as I closed with a 5 under back nine for a 67 and finished in a tie for 6th place. The top 30 from the Q school received a Category 3 status which guarantees you can play every event.

Scrambled Well
I was full of confidence heading to the season opener at Wensum Valley a week later. As it turned out torrential rain interrupted the event and I was the last player to get finished the 1st round before play was suspended for the day. With the 7 hour long delay the event had to be reduced to 36 holes and the cut was made after 18. The cut fell at +3 which meant I missed out by 1 shot. It was unlucky for me the way it turned out but I couldn't get down on myself as these things just happen sometimes and they are out of your control.

Unplayable
Moving onto Lingfield Park and the rain once again played it's part. The course was already very soft and any rain would have made it unplayable. This week every player completed their first round on Wednesday but that night the heavy rain came in and play didn't resume until after 2pm on Thursday. The tournament organisers were again under pressure to get the event finished by Friday and took the decision to make another 18 hole cut although this time the players making the cut were to play two more rounds. This seemed to upset a lot of players but the way I look at it is that some players got unlucky the previous week and others players got unlucky the week after. These sort of things always seem to even themselves out in this game.

Short Game Skills Pay The Bills
As for the remainder of the tournament I posted 71 72 71 which left me in a tie for 27th place. I was pleased with the result as it was a week where I struggled with my swing but I dug in and scrambled well for a respectable finish. I now have 2 weeks at home before a run of three events at Bovey Castle, Galgorm Castle in Northern Ireland and Burhill GC. I'll be meeting my swing coach to do a little technical work but mostly I'll be keeping my practice sessions simple with a lot of wedge and short game practice. As my coach says - "Short Game Skills Pay The Bills"!!

All the Best!

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Pre Season in the Sun!

Southern Spain
I have just returned home from a super two weeks spent in southern Spain. It was great to get an opportunity to travel to a more golf friendly climate before the season kicks in. The aim travelling south was to get a lot of work done on my game and also to shake any winter cobwebs in a competitive environment. And also I guess to put all the swing improvements I have worked so hard on to test.

Practising.
I spent the majority of my time practising at a place called La Quinta GC which had good facilities. I also visited places such as La Cala Resort which is a fantastic, Irish owned, golfers paradise with 3 different golf courses. I was also privileged to tee it up at Valderrama one of the days. The course is an absolute gem and every hole is a challenge, really enjoyed my day there.

Scoring and Competing.
I was confident going into my first event in Spain but unfortunately things turned ugly early and I struggled with my ball striking on a course that was not forgiving to it. I ended up in a tie for 21st in a small field. Afterwards I made the decision to spend less time beating hundreds of balls on the practise ground and more time playing on the course. I needed to get back to scoring and competing and away from technique and mechanics.

Ball Flight
In the second event which was played at a nice course called Valle Romano I performed really well. The biggest improvement I saw in my game was the consistency in my ball flight, especially off the tee. In 2011 I only hit 48.6% of fairways which is just not acceptable for a professional. In Valle Romano I averaged almost 70% which is more like it. Had it not been for a cold putter on the super slick greens I would have been in contention for the W! As it was I finished in T8th position. A good event all the same.

Europro Tour
I have two weeks at home now before the start of the official season on the Europro Tour. I will spend some of my time in the gym but mostly I'll play as many rounds as I can but also working on my wedge game and putting. This is where your game needs to be really sharp If you want to be a winner and progress up the tours.I'm really excited about the 2012 season and I feel good times are ahead. Hard work and patience is the key. I'll check in again after Frilford Heath!

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Hello Everyone

Welcome to my new website.
Firstly I want to give a big thank you to RightClick Solutions for the work on the website. It's exciting to see how it will develop and I hope you enjoy what you see. Throughout the year there will be constant updates of where I am, what I am doing, photos, news and results. You can also follow me on Twitter by clicking on the link on the left of this page.

Winter is over.
Well, the winter has flown in for me this year compared to previous years. It can certainly be a downer for us golfers with the short days, lack of tournaments and poor weather. In saying that the elements have been relatively kind this year and since I began working with my new coach Johnny I have got a lot done. In October we sat down together and discussed the improvements I needed to make to my game in order to get to the next level. This has certainly kept me very busy and I'm beginning to see the rewards already.

New Season.
I will be starting my season in March with a short 3 week trip to southern Spain. I'll use the good weather and facilities down there to help sharpen me up before I kick off the season in full. I'll also play 3 events on the new winter tour, The Gecko Pro Tour, while I am there. After Spain I have a week off and I'm back to Frilford Heath G.C. in Oxfordshire to improve my category on the PGA Europro Tour. A week after that the season will really get going and I'm pleased to see that 3 events on the tour will be played in Ireland this year. As the season progresses I should also play some Challenge Tour events and the invites will provide a great opportunity to move up that level.

2012
That's all for now, I hope you enjoy the website and also enjoy your golf for 2012. I'd appreciate any feedback or thoughts on the site or if you have any questions please see the contact section or email contact@ciancurley.com.

Amateur Highlights

Individual Honours:
2010: Winner East of Ireland Championship
2010: Invited to play Irish Open European Tour
2009: Tied 1st Irish Order of Merit (Willie Gill Trophy)
2009: 4th East of Ireland Championship
2009: Runner Up Irish Close Championship
2009: Semi Finalist West of Ireland Championship
2008: Semi Finalist Irish Close Championship
2007: Semi Finalist North of Ireland Championship
2007: Semi Finalist Irish Close Championship

Team Honours:
2010: European Team Championships
2009: Home Internationals
2009: European Team Championships
2008: Home Internationals (Winners)
2007: Home Internationals

Professional Highlights

2011: T27 Lingfield Park Championship Europro Tour
2011: T26 Formby Hall Classic Europro Tour
2011: Winner Fota Island Pro Am Europro Tour
2011: T5th Final Qualifying School Europro Tour
2011: T2nd Qualifying School 1st Stage Europro Tour

2012: T11th European Tour Q School Stage 1
2012: T6th Kingspan Concra Wood Open
2012: Winner Kingspan Concra Wood Pro Am