Ben goes back to basics with partner to recapture lost form

Worldham Golf Club amateur Ben Homewood admits giving playing lessons to his partner has brought his own form up to speed in the build up to the Lombard Trophy Final.

Homewood will team up with newly-wed PGA Professional Steve Cowle for the National Pro-Am Championship event in Portugal.

But a shared interest in golf with girlfriend Jo is fine tuning his own preparations.

Cowle and Homewood qualified for the showpiece event in the Algarve by winning the Regional Final held at Walton Heath Golf Club in July when they carded a 10 under par round of 62 to win by one shot.

That sent the Hampshire club into the £41,450, Coca-Cola and Pestana Resorts supported, grand final which is being held at the Vila Sol resort in the Algarve between September 20-21.

Homewood admits his form has suffered since winning at Walton Heath.

But there has been no escape from the game as he works as a greenkeeper at Worldham.

“I went for about a month when I couldn’t putt or chip,” said the Surrey-based 26-year-old.

“But touch wood, in the last couple of weeks it’s come good again.

“It all went and I tried to forget about golf for a while. But as I work at the club, I should probably say forget about ‘playing’ golf.

“Getting the job here was a bit of an accident, one of their blokes left and I was asked if I wanted to do an apprenticeship with them.

“Now I can finish work and go and play.”

But 15-handicapper Homewood admitted he got a boost which put his game back on track.

“My other half’s just started to play golf, and it’s different and quite nice,” he said.

‘I’m concentrating on what I’m doing but also trying to help her get started. There’s a shared interest in the game but I’m also saying the simple things as well.

“Then I realised I was telling Jo to do it, but I wasn’t doing it myself. That’s probably why I’ve played a little bit better, I’m saying it then doing it myself. I’m talking my way through it.”

And Homewood admits that playing abroad will be a totally new experience for him.

“I’ve never even been abroad, the Monday after we won at Walton Heath, I had to send off for passports, so that’s been a bit stressful too,” he explained.

“But I’m really looking forward to playing abroad, never mind that it’s in a competition like this.”