Tried to get to the putting green early yesterday so there weren’t too many players practicing.

Thought I wasn’t in the Pro-Am so wanted to get the early practice in so we could just hang out by the pool afterwards becasue it’s seriously hot here. Somehow I got into the Pro-Am so I took a break by the pool before playing…

One thing Robert Karlsson has taught me is to save energy during the week so you are fresh on sunday afternoon when it matters the most. That’s why I really could enjoy the pool. A few years ago, I would have been hitting hundreds of balls instead and wearing myself out.

Pro-Am shots…

Still sore after that gym session two days ago so Pierre gave me a free card today…thanks a lot! I will never beat you in chin-ups again:)

After a long day it was nice with some Japanese food in the marina…

Now it’s time to prepare for today’s play…little nervous but I like that feeling…It means I care I think.

See you!

Felt like this day has been the most productive day in a while!!! Really good! Started off white some putting to get the feel for the greens. Then a little range session with Mike Walker, Pete Cowen’s assistant, who is really good! Started working with an old drill, putting the left hand underneath the right to get a nice feeling for how the body should move.

Better ”slot” position than with my usual grip:)

Colin and Mike Walker looking for things in the game that we can improve

Played a practice round with Robert Karlsson, it’s great that he is back on tour! The round was great when we didn’t have anybod in front of us or behind so we could hit a lot of shots on and around the greens to get a good feel for the course. Like playing long practice rounds, feels like the more time I spend on a golf course, the better I know it. Kind of logical…:)

11th hole at Oceanico Victoria…great par 5 with a cool second shot into a small green

Then it was time for some gym with Pierre Johansson (my physio) and Johan Edfors. Johan has worked with Pierre for a long time and he is very strong and beats me in every exercise. It kind of sucks, but I’m trying to get closer to his standard which is a great motivation.

We finished the session with a chin-ups competition…

…in third place with 16 chin-ups, Pierre Johansson!

In second place with 17 chin-ups, me!

And in first place with 18 chin-ups, the unbeatable Johan Edfors.

Although I lost to Johan, I broke my old record of 14 chin-ups. Don’t know how I could increase it by three but I guess it was the espresso I took just before the session. I never drink coffe, but Pierre told me it could make me perform better so I downed one as quick as I could:) Is it bad when you are more motivated before a session in the gym than before playing golf?

A nice swim after to cool down was the perfect ending of a perfect day!

Later!

Q: Routine wise on the greens, are you a read, line up & stroke guy or is there any notion of visualisation, feel & will the ball into the hole?? Come on man, give up the secret!!

A. I’m pretty much a read, line up and stroke guy. My practice is a lot more ”just do it” training with no thoughts and mostly on auto mode. I’m not reading the greens in practice, I’m just trying to make the putt on instinct. I want that practice to move into my tournament game more and more and hopefully I can be on auto mode in the tournaments as well in a few years. 

Q. I guess your putting is more like Steve Stricker, more strait and upright? I really like his putting, looks so easy. What a sick round Ross had !!! Ok, it’s a pretty easy course but 24 under after 3 rounds, its not minigolf, or is it? Feels like its a putting comp… when you guys are on a a course like that :-/ Whats your view on these kinds of scores you can do these days? 

A. Yeah, Stan Utley’s (my putting coach) putting is a lot more upright then mine is. Steve Stricker putts great! Hands are higher on-line with the shaft. I try to get my hands higher but I find it a little difficult to do under pressure. We’ll see what happens. Yes, it was the easiest course we have played this year (according to the scores), but hat off to Ross, he played unreal golf. The course was fairly short and not to much rough. It’s nice to play a course like that once in a while, because it boosts your confidence. Although, I much rather play tougher courses so I can improve my game. On an easy course, it’s all about putting. On a tougher course, all parts of the game are tested. I like it when the winning score is around 10 under par.

Q. That magic top-50 mark on the World Rankings is getting closer. A few more good tournaments during the fall will do it. Is that an important goal for you or do you see it more as a bonus if you accomplish what you want on the golf course?

A. It’s a nice feeling getting closer to that spot. I want to play in all the biggest tournaments and the key to do that is to be top-50 in the world. So, it’s a very important thing for me. To get there, I need to do accomplish the things I want to achieve on the course. 

Keep asking questions, I try to help and answer them and you also help me reflecting on what I do good and what I need to improve. So, thanks a lot!:)

Really happy with finishing 4th last week. I didn’t really think that after that bad start on thursday. But, I accomplished my goal of only looking forward, not dwell on the past. It went well this time:)

Learnt a lot from the experienced and great players I played with in Madrid. Thongchai Jaidee has the best attitude I’ve seen and that’s the reason he has won so many times. He hits the ball great as well, but he is always happy on the course and it looks like he loves every minute out there. Jimenez played nicely as well. He has a special aura around him, he looks like a matador and is so great with the crowd. His game is very good and his short game must be among the best in the world. 

Flew late last night over to Portugal to play the Portugal Masters at Oceanico Victoria Golf Club in Villamoura. 

Madrid is a nice place but Villamoura is incredible. The beach is five minutes away and the golf course is one minute away. Best of both worlds. 

I had two goals today. The first was to re-energize myself to get ready for this week. The second was to not play golf. The second one was pretty tough since we are this close to the golf course…

Got a great deal at this hotel and the hotel pool looks amazing…

Headed down to Villamoura marina to have a look if we could find anything to do to get away from the golf course…we found a dolphin safari trip! 

Cruising out from the marina

Cool animals…Then we headed for the caves down by the beach…

Here is the ”lion’s rock”

On the way back to the marina, we saw Christiano Ronaldo’s summer house, pretty nice!

After that I tried to find some other activity other than golf…the gym was the first thing I could think off. 

Just ordered room service with Mikko. He is still happy after his second place finish yesterday. It made him secure his card for next year and he really deserved the great finish.

Later!

Fast update. Seriously low scores on the golf course, 60 from Ross McGowan today and 63-63 from Mikko Ilonen last two days. Really bad fotball in the Sweden-Denmark match today. Zlatan was good though! Madrid is not the place to eat before midnight…Burger King is the only place open, feels like a great excuse.

Sweet to have a dinner in the city with the guys after just staying in and having room service every night. Saw a little of Madrid. Huge city. We stay really close to Real Madrid’s football stadium, Santiago Bernabeu, but there are no ”la Liga” games this week. Bad timing!

Some photos from today…

View from the gym

Watching the President’s Cup in the gym…I need to get a life!:)

The city view from the hotel room. 

Mikko Ilonen is tired after shooting two 63’s in a row! Amazing playing!

Tomorrow is going to be a great day with loads of opportunities and I hope I can take them all to move up the leaderboard!

See you then!

Here are some answers for the questions you sent me!

Q. Great Video and a great swing, however who do u believe has the best swing on the European Tour and who has the best swing on the PGA Tour? My top three swings would be Geoff Ogilvy, Luke Donald and someone called Alexander Noren lol

A. I believe Tiger Woods has the best swing on the PGA Tour and Sergio Garcia has the best one on the European Tour.

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Q. AL, haven’t asked you this, but i take it you are practising with the new grooves for next year? How do they feel? I’ve heard from some guys that the difference is huge, which quite surprised me to be honest.

A. I tried them out on the range at Gleneagles. They felt the same for the irons and very close to the same for the wedges. I only tried from the fairway cut grass and maybe there will be a bigger difference from the rough. Callaway will have a new softer ball, which still goes further so it won’t be to big of a difference overall I think.

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Q. Does your brother play golf too? is golf a game that has been played in your family before such as your dad? do you play golf with your family often? 

A.My whole family plays, brother is the best with hcp 3 and mom and dad are ok as well. I play a few rounds a year with them…It’s fun…serious bets going…the loosers do the dishes.

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Nice day today! No bogeys and 5 under par, 67. I like these kind of days. Can I maybe get some more like this, please?:)

From this morning around 9 a’clock…looks more like 6 a’clock but the sun doesn’t get up before 8.15 here in Madrid.

Saw Pelle with his sweet look on the putting green after the round…

In the taxi on the way to the gym I saw some serious artists in the road. At every red light they show up to do some tricks and then go around to the cars hoping to get some money for their performance. 

Gonna post some Questions and answers now. Look at the next blog post.

Bye for now!

Played with Thomas Björn and Thongchai Jaidee today and it was really inspiring…Thomas hit it so good all day. Such impressive iron shots. Straight and low into the wind. Great control. Tongchai is a very good player. He makes it look really easy to play golf and has one of the best attitudes out here. He takes a bogey with a laugh and gets on with it. 

Started great but had a terrible 5th hole, a par 5. Hit it left off the green with my second shot on the carpath and it bounced down into heavy rough. When we didn’t find at once, I decided to stop looking for it since it was such a bad spot and it would be better off playing my provisional ball from the greenside bunker. The spectators didn’t understand what I meant and kept looking for it and found it. The rule says I have to play that ball if it’s found within 5 minutes. It was a bad lie, but I could still hit it out. Hit it ok but the ball hit a wooden pole a bit forward and bounced further back into a really bad spot. From there, I had to take a penalty drop and I ended up making a triple bogey, 8. I was furious. If they would have stopped looking for my ball when I told them, I would have made 5, 6 or 7. Now, I made an 8. I felt like all the energy just ran out of me. I started so well with birdie chances on every hole and now I was three over after 5 holes.  

All i tried to do after that was to hit a few good shots in a row and get my game together again. Started playing better and better and when the round was finished I shot 1 under, 71. I was really proud of myself. I did it! This is what I’ve practiced the most at. To try to move on, whatever happens and focus on the next shot. If I give up in the middle of a round, it’s the same as giving up golf in whole. Always play the next shot with total focus and koncentration. You can’t do that if you’re still mad about the last shot. My college coach told me that! 

There were a lot of good scores today and I’m not even close to the top but I’m still happy that I got it together today. There is still a chance with three rounds to go. Anything can happen!:)

Thanks for the videos some of you guys sent me! I posted some comments in the comments box and if anyone else wants to send some videos feel free. I’d love to have a look and maybe help out…I have a lot of spare time at night here. Room service almost every nigh and good internet connection:) Could it get any better!!??

Later!

His swing was the best!

Just great!

If there are some who would like translation of my blog to Swedish you can just click on the link below. It’s not perfectly translated but it’s understandable..

Om det är någon som vill ha min blogg översatt till svenska så kan ni klicka på länken nedan. Det är ingen perfekt översättning men det är fungerar. Önskar jag hade tid att skriva på båda språken. Förlåt, men hoppas att det här också går bra.

http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=sv&js=y&u=blogg.aftonbladet.se%2Falexandernoren&sl=auto&tl=sv&history_state0

Many thanks to my brother for finding this link:)