So, what have I done since my last blog... well, I took the family on holiday to Portugal and came back 3 kilos (six and a bit pounds) heavier than when I went!

My fitness trainer Steve McGregor soon had me back to my fighting weight on my return and after a few days getting me and my game back into shape, I set off for Memphis. It took me three days to get there because I went via Pebble Beach.

My new approach to the majors is to get most of my on-course practice done ahead of the championship itself. That way I don’t have to do too much in the immediate build-up so arriving at the first tee fresh and... MORE »

Whoever coined the phrase about ‘change being as good as a rest’ wasn’t thinking about golf. I certainly didn’t get any rest out of the change Ernie Els recently made to the West Course at Wentworth.

Normally after two days of the PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event, I’m heading back home up the M1 wondering why I ever drove down in the first place.

Not this year my friends. Not only did I qualify for all four days, but also managed to climb into the top 10 as many of Europe’s finest punctured in the new potholes Ernie and his co-designers placed along the new-look Burma Road.

Ernie’s mandate was obviously to make the course tougher and he has definitely succeeded.... MORE »

We have a saying in England which covers days when a golfer’s timing is a little less than expected, wanted and needed. It goes along the lines of: ‘couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo’.

I had total empathy with that statement on Sunday during the final round of the Players’ Championship at Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra, Jacksonville, Florida. (If you need the zip code contact UPS). The banjo was in my hand, the bovine butt staring me in the face, but hit it... no way, and that’s not an affliction I’ve suffered much from in the last couple of years.

I may have been leading going into the last day, but, to be perfectly honest, I got away with things... MORE »

There I was at home in Worksop looking forward to a holiday in the sun when a great big black cloud draped itself over my, and a million others, plans.

Iceland literally blew its top. Mount Eyjafjallajokull belched its fury into European airspace and Barbados was out of the question for the Westwoods.

So Laurae and I swapped a week on the beach for two days in London which was very pleasurable, but not exactly what I had in mind when returning from Augusta.

What else have I been doing since my last blog? Watching football – or soccer if you are American – for one thing. As my regular readers will be aware, Nottingham Forest is my team and hopefully we... MORE »

An English writer – I will save his embarrassment by not naming him, but it was John Hopkins of The Times – prefaced his question to me in the post-Masters press conference by calling me Phil.

‘It’s Lee,’ I said. ‘You’ll recognise Phil when he comes in next. He’ll be wearing a green jacket.’

And so the much-coveted jacket of Augusta was draped around Phil, and good luck to him and his family.  I had to make do with the much less coveted runners up position. So it’s been 3rd, 3rd, 2nd in my last three majors. I can’t wait for Pebble Beach in June to try my best to continue that descending sequence of figures.

Don’t worry, I intend to keep knocking... MORE »