A Year In Review

I am writing to you with regards to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

I actually had a good week last week in the US Open and finished Tied 16th. This result has lifted me to the top of the Access List and barring some extraordinary results in Germany this week, I’ll get into the French Open. That’s great for me obviously, however it only qualifies me for the French Open. And while the French Open is a great event, frankly, I much prefer the Irish Open.

Therefore this morning I asked the European Tour if they would be able to transfer my start, once finalised into the French Open, over to the Irish Open. Unfortunately this is not possible due to Access List regulations.

Because of this, I am asking if you would consider extending me an invite into your event.

I am also willing to donate a percentage of any prize money earned to Rory’s foundation. Although not too much as my past results at the Irish Open have been quite good and being English I want to keep as much prize money for myself as possible…

On top of this I am happy to provide time for you, whether that be before or during the week to help promote the event in any way I can.

Finally, I just wanted to let you know that I am in fact half Irish myself. And I have 73 cousins, so the gate receipts would be significantly boosted.

Thanks for your consideration,

Best regards,

Eddie Pepperell.

Writing invite letters became a passion of mine this year. I started the year with more professional notes, always drafted by my manager, for me to amend where I saw fit. By the time the Irish Open note had to be drafted, my patience had eroded, and my manager’s influence vanished with it. Needless to say, I never received the invite into the Irish Open.

In 2017, for the first time in my career, I experienced the bitter reality of not being involved in tournaments that I truly wanted to be part of. It was painful watching the BMW PGA, the Irish Open, the Tshwane Open, all historic and great events, on TV. I felt helpless, knowing that I was watching my career fall further behind everyone else’s. Like that of a snooker player I suspect, waiting in the corner, hoping to get another shot at it, but not knowing when. The uncertainty was most frustrating.

Those who follow me on Twitter will know I’ve joked about the dog being the turning point for me this year. While little Guscott has been quite the addition me and Jen were after, the truth is obviously more complex. March and April of this year was when I planted the seeds that helped me return to the upper echelons of the European Tour, or Top-Ten-No-Win golf as I call it. We moved out of our flat into a house, a move which underpinned my sudden appetite for risk, as I was convinced the housing market was hitting a top. To go along with this, I, and TaylorMade agreed to part ways, allowing me to use equipment of any sort. This also represented a risk as it meant me giving up free cash, something which professional golfers are hardly fond of doing. What this period of the year proved to me was how I was right to take these risks, because I believed they would ultimately be worth it. I put aside any fears of experiencing short term losses, and instead went along with what I was figuring out, and pursued my convictions. I’m most proud of this.

It’s at this point I will write about my equipment changes and how they helped transform my game from Q School participant, to a Top-Ten-Few-Short machine. I owe much gratitude to Titleist, and in particular, one man; The lanky Oracle with glasses. I went to see him in April. I explained to him my shot patterns, what I did and didn’t like to see, and what I wanted. I came away from that session so much more knowledgeable. I said to him that I was afraid to use the driver because I’d hit so many shots low and left with it. Subsequently, and purely out of fear, I would then hit some high and right. He explained to me that my driver simply wasn’t creating enough backspin to basically rule out the low, left shot. In hindsight, I was so incredibly naive when it came to the technical aspects of equipment. As soon as we added backspin to the driver, and put a different, higher spinning ball in play, the low and left shot pretty much disappeared, and my confidence gradually returned. This change was 100% the reason behind my top 20 at the US Open. I was unafraid to hit driver that week on a course that demanded good driving, in an environment that was also quite challenging.

As I predicted, my blogs have become less insightful the better I’ve played this year. This is probably down to the fact I’ve spent more Saturday’s and Sunday’s on the course, as opposed to being at home, reflecting on another disappointing week. What I have (re-) discovered though, is that our best golf is usually played under the orchestration of a quiet mind. A state that is focused, but not searching. I have managed to finally take the reigns a bit more with my coach and where it used to be a case of him keeping me on the straight and narrow, I have sometimes felt this year it’s been the other way around. That’s not meant to discredit his incredible knowledge or methods, I just feel I’ve gotten better at understanding my own imperfections and habits, and how best to stay on top of them, rather than abolish them.

As I enter a period of rest before 2018, where my season will begin, I feel as though my goal is simple; To keep doing what I have been doing. However I am all too aware of how hard this is to do. Because as with all actions, come consequences. A good thing may always be a good thing, but what starts a bad thing is often the response to the unintended side effects of something, even if that something is good. So I shall continue along the same path I have been on, but try to double down on identifying any irregularities that may creep up on me.

I hope to make 2018 the year where I’m the one receiving invite letters in 2019.

Have a spectacular Christmas.