There’s a lot to be said about playing boring golf. No dramas, no spiralling descents into crisis, no furious hisses through clenched teeth as you turn to your caddie and bark that you knew it was a bloomin’ 6-iron as your approach to the green plugs in the bunker.
While everybody likes a bit of swashbuckling vigour and the kind of gung-ho approach that used to be the reserve of the Light Brigade, the steady as she goes tactic can bring bountiful rewards in this game of fine margins.
“We talk about boring golf when you are consistent and churning out solid scores but that’s what I want to be,” admitted Kylie Henry, as she prepares to resume hostilities on the Ladies European Tour in this week’s Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco. “If it’s boring and successful then great. A string of 68s instead of a 64 followed by a 74? That would do me.”
Finding consistency in this pursuit of wildly fluctuating fortunes can be a bit like searching for lifeforms on a distant planet using just a compass and a couple of old Arthur C Clarke graphic novels. It’s a quest Henry is eager to pursue, though.
Having made a sparkling breakthrough on the European stage with a brace of wins in the space of just a few weeks back in 2014, Henry is keen to add to her haul. She began the 2017 campaign with an 18th place finish in the Vic Open in Australia during an event which included a course-record equalling eight-under 65. That score underlined her abilities. The following day’s 75 highlighted her fight with inconsistency.
“I just have to be a bit smarter,” added the former Scottish ladies’ amateur No 1. “The big goal is basically to feature on the leaderboard more often and be in contention going into the final round. Having won twice on the tour already, I know I should be up there. The good golf is there. I can go very low but it’s doing it on a regular basis which is the problem. I just wasn’t to establish myself as one of the best in Europe.”
Having changed coach last year – she’s now working with Hexham-based pro Andy Paisley – Henry feels the various cogs and mechanisms that form part of the golfing machine continue to be finely tuned. “I initially went to Andy to work on my putting but it’s now developed through all areas of my game,” she said. “He has kept it very simple. To improve, people think you’ll have to do all these technical things and you’ll lose your feel but I’ve chipped away at every part of my game without feeling like it’s been a big change. It’s almost felt quite easy.”
Nothing comes easy in this game, of course. Henry’s husband, the European Tour player Scott, will vouch for the truth in that statement. Having returned to the main tour this season, he has missed his first eight cuts. It’s hardly been a cheery honeymoon period golfing wise so it’s perhaps a good job the pair have enjoyed the real honeymoon period that has followed since they got married at the turn of the year. “We are both good at leaving the golf behind us,” she said. “If you dwell on the bad results, it will really eat you up. We had a honeymoon in Thailand recently and that was the first break we’d both had a for a while. I think Scott needed that just to re-set and start again as he has a run of events coming.”
Both wife and husband will be in Morocco this week as the women’s event runs concurrently with the European Tour’s Hassan Trophy. “This will be my eighth year on tour, I’m a veteran,” she said with a chuckle. “It’s gone very quickly. 2010 was my first full year. I’m very proud of what I’ve done. You often get so caught up in where you want to be that you forget to accept what you have done and realise that this is a dream job. I’ve been fortunate to cement my place on the tour, keep my card for seven years and not get in debt either. I feel like there is so much more and I really feel I can push on and be better.”
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