TEE TO GREEN:Things have been hectic since the birth of Katie but it's time to knuckle down and press on

THINGS HAVE been pretty hectic of late what with the arrival of our first child Katie in recent months. Never mind the sleep deprivation, I have found it difficult to put in my normal amount of practice when at home and that has been reflected in my results.

On the road I can’t help feeling somewhat guilty that I should be home helping more with my wife, Ciara. The calls back home tend to put your mind elsewhere and sometimes it’s hard to concentrate on the job in hand of competing.

The main problem is the lack of quality practice when I’m home in Newcastle; it’s literally 24-hour stuff at the moment. It’s just the way it is, that’s life, no point in moaning about it, just have to get on with it.

This is my first season on the main European Tour after winning my card at Tour School where I got a Category 11 ranking. At the start of the year I struggled to get into events because I am still well down the pecking order.

That said I benefited from the re-rank the week before Wentworth and moved up from 29th to 18th within the category which has helped get me into more tournaments. In theory I should get into eight to 10 more events than I would have before the re-rank.

Part of the problem is not knowing what tournaments I’ll get into until the last minute. In March I got a call on a Tuesday when I was playing an Alliance at Bright Castle. I missed a call to say I got into Malaysia. If I’d said yes I’d have had to get from Bright Castle to Malaysia for a Thursday tee-time. Not the ideal way to prepare for a tournament.

I make all the flight and hotel bookings myself. If I keep my card this year I might look for a management company. Perhaps someone like Horizon could be an option if it works for us both. I already know a lot of the guys there having played with the likes of Colm (Moriarty), Michael (McGeady) and Gareth (Shaw).

At the moment it’s about keeping a handle on the budgets for I’m pretty much a one-man band with help from some friends who come out on tour and caddie for me. A typical week competing on the tour costs around €1,500 – €2,000 depending how far you have to travel and how early you book flights and accommodation.

Take last week in Wales, you could have gone deluxe and stayed at Celtic Manor but we took the Lenny Henry route and pitched up at the Premier Inn, 25 minutes away on the other side of Cardiff.

I think Celtic Manor will be a great Ryder Cup venue, it’s great for spectators and many of the holes are close together so you’ll see and hear what’s going on. It’s probably a better matchplay course than strokeplay.

The last two weeks I’ve had my friend Ross Methven on the bag because Andy Beattie, my regular caddie, was unavailable. At the start of the year Andy and I tried to pencil in events and he was looking at taking a sort of sabbatical from work, but I said ‘don’t’ for what’s the point in taking three months off if I only get into a couple of tournaments.

Now it’s very much week-to-week and this week in Portugal I have my brother-in-law Peter Smyth on the bag. Between the three it works and they all know my game which is important. Sure you can pick up a good caddie each week but my preference is familiarity, that way I can relax and chat with them better.

Mistakes get made on the course but at the end of the day they are friends helping me out. Ultimately I swing the club and hit the shots so it’s my responsibility. It’s a job to me and my livelihood. Regular caddies on tour tend to get a set fee and percentage of winnings whereas I generally cover their expenses and throw them a few quid if we have a good week.

Apart from keeping my card I don’t set goals; just got to believe in the game that got me on tour. That said a wee win would sort it all out, just one win would be fine.

After Portugal we head straight to Slieve Russell for the Quinn Direct Pro-am. It’ll be the first Irish PGA event I’ll play in but it’s the biggest with a €70,000 prize fund. Damien (McGrane), Peter (Lawrie), Eamonn (Darcy) Des (Smyth) are all down to play in it too.

I’ll treat it as a little holiday, take Ciara and Katie up to the hotel for a few days and give us all a bit of rest. Catching up on sleep could be the order of the day.