A morning with Tom Ayling
Early morning on the course

Some top professionals

After Hossegor, I was pretty disappointed with my performance in the final two rounds. I saw that I had made poor decisions and was not getting the most out of my game. François my coach has been talking about getting help from a professional caddy but I didn't really know how to go about things. By chance, we met an ex-caddy who now works for the French golf federation and he introduced my dad to Tom Ayling. Tom has caddied for some fantastic golfers like Victor Dubuisson or Alex Levy and has been on the bag at events like the Masters, the Ryder Cup and The Open. He has a lot of experience and valuable knowledge.

An early start

Tom said it would be best to come down to Moliets so he could watch me play and see if he could help. Because of the number of tourists in that area, he advised us to tee off very early. We live about two and a half hours away from Moliets, so we got up very early. We left the house around 4am made it down to Moliets, warmed up, and teed off. The course was beautiful as it always is. I hadn't played there since 2019 but besides changes made to the lips of the bunkers, the course was the same. Compared to the Grand Prix the greens were slower but that is understandable considering recent heat waves we've had in the South of France.

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View from the second tee at Moliets

Lot's of good information

Over the course of the round, Tom and I talked about plenty of things. Most of what we discussed are really basic things that I know I should be doing but I don't always have the discipline to do. Additionally, we spoke a lot about dispersion and stats. The emphasis was really on understanding your game, how it is on the day, then based on that choosing shots and targets to hit that are realistic and help you gain shots on the field. We also spend some time working on chipping. He helped me with my technique and suggested more connection of the right elbow which should make me use the bounce of my wedges more effectively.

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Tom and I discussing things

I was really happy with the time we spent together. At the beginning of the day, I wasn't sure if I was going to learn that much and if the early start was going to be worth it. In all honesty, it was. I learned so much about the requirements and precision you need in your work to try to be the best you can be in your field. What was great too was that Tom agreed to help me in the future. This means I will be going down to Moliets or other courses in the winter to gather some more information about course management. Finally big thanks to Tom Ayling for his time and Moliets Golf for giving us access to the course ahead of the crowd.

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