Update from Mark

Hi folks, thought it might be a good time to give you all an update from over here in Europe.

The year so far has been reasonably encouraging, pretty steady tee to green and still working hard to improve the short game.  I had a pretty hectic flying schedule in Jan / Feb so thought it would be a good idea to take the two Asian tournaments off that are currently being played and concentrate on having two good weeks here in London.  The big part of the European Tour season will start next week with the Spanish Open and that really kicks off a great run of events for the summer.  Please go to my Tournaments page to see which ones I will be playing.

So the last 10 days have been spent here at my flat in Ascot, not far from London.  I really marked these two weeks as a time to get fully prepared and ready to go, as well as putting in some really hard work on some changes.  One of these was seeing my fitness trainer and starting a new programme, really focusing on fixing some poor muscular balance and tightness, particularly around the hips and glutes.  Once these get better it should help with what I am trying to do with my swing and from there I can then move on to some more strength based work.

I also took some time to see a specialised putting coach which was very interesting.  Spent time with the SAM putt system and really figured out key things that need to be improved.  There was a lot of set up and body movement issues there that should be able to be fixed and this will just take some time on the putting green with good drill work.  Finally tomorrow I am seeing a bio mechanist here in London.  This involves getting wired up and analysing exactly what the body is doing during the swing and seeing if there are any sequence issues and or weaknesses.  This works in perfectly with the fitness work as you will almost always see body issues affecting what you can or can’t do during the swing.  Sometimes it really is a case of your body just not allowing you to make a movement, or hold a position, so this is really helpful.

Apart from that I am keeping an eye out on the flying situation here, hoping that it clears for my flight to Spain on Monday, otherwise I better start walking now!   Managed to have a beer in London and see off a friend last Saturday night who is heading back to NZ, always good fun in the big smoke and good to catch up with a few mates.  Other than that it will be backside up for the next few days, working hard and then making that hole in the couch even bigger, I have been trying to catch a few Super 14 games here on tv and it was good to see the canes have a win at the weekend.The weather is starting to warm up a bit here so I think we must be due for a good summer, finally.

Hope everyone is doing well and thanks for your continued support.  Cheers, Browny