alex noren

Updated and improved backflipper. It's goooooood!

Micke Lindberg...16 years old!

alex

Flying out from Dubai at 2.40 AM has to be the best time. Can't remember taking off nor landing. The best flight! I hate being awake in airplanes. Time seems to go by as slow as it does running on a tredmill. Minutes seems like hours. Short stop in Vienna and then the best pick up in Nice ever. Sir Henrik Davidsson came to pick me and Robert Karlsson up! What a nice guy:) 

Snow and sunshine in Vienna. 4 hours delay seems like nothing when you get free internet and free food. Star Alliances lounges are good. It's hard not to get a gold card which gets you access to the lounge when you fly around the world liek we do. You don't have to fly business. I rarely do. Sometimes when the flight is really long and you have to play the same day as you land it's an advantage. Too much money otherwise. Just for a bigger seat??? 

Felt weird coming out of the airplane having spent 4 weeks in sunshine and heat to feel the cold air hitting you in Vienna. The sun came out too and it looks sweater on the picture too. 

Monaco is not hot either this time of the year. It feels like the city is dead. It's usually a lot of people walking around but not this time of the year. A lot of road work and as you can see in this pic, "marina work" as well.

It's kind of nice having nothing to do though. I have never been this relaxed. Work out is the only thing all day that can count as productive. 

Maybe I should clean up a bit. Packing and unpacking seems like half my life. Heading out to America soon so there is no need to clean up until I will mess it up packing again. 

Life on tour is really nice and I wouldn't change it for anything, but sometimes it would be nice to spend more time than a week at one place and maybe have time for other things than training. I probably have time for that when I get older.

Loading up a video of my friend from home who did that sick backflipper I showed you a while ago on the blog. He has improved it and the video is coming up really soon, as soon as "Vimeo" is done loading it up.  

Also, for those who understand Swedish (although nowadays you can just google translate the Swedish into any language you want) there are two friends of mine blogging for the Swedish tour "Nordea Masters Tour" on it's website and they are doing it great. Fun and interesting reading. Check it out here. 

Have to clean up a little of this mess so I can actually move around and to see the floor.

alex

Heading over to Monaco for a few days before going to America. Nice with some rest. It's been a busy 4 week stretch in the Middle East. Learnt a lot and played some good golf too. Now, the key is to keep a good attitude and keep training...

Dubai sunday in pictures...

Erik hooked up.

Coming out of the thick grass by the 8th green.

Big screen TV and chill down in the club house. Very busy the during the whole week and it gets really crazy after the tournament. 

Last wedge shot into the 18th tricky pin. The approach shot is so deceiving on the last because you can't feel the wind becasue the green is sheltered by the huge buildings they put up for the tournament.

Alvaro Quiros. Great player. Longest player ever to play on a tour?!

Tom Watson finished 8th. Incredible. 68 the last day. Unbelievable.

Nothing worse than leaving a put short on the last hole.

Still happy. It was a good week and I'm really excited to go America, especially for the WGC Match play in a week and a half.

It's funny how quite a place can feel after a tournament. It's been buzzing all week and now it's just dead.

See you in Monaco!

4,5 hours lay-over at Vienna Airport on my way to Monaco. Thought I would answer some of your questions. Thanks for all of them!

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Q.: Great round Alex! .....looks like a tough course so good to see you are enjoying the challenge.  A few questions: 

Re: Bunker practice drill - You want to feel more on your toes for all shots or just bunker shots?

Re: One handed shots - Can you tell us what they help you with technique and/or feel wise?

Re: Mr Cowan - Looks like his advice this week was helpful - what did he work on with you?

A: I like hitting from the bunker when the balls is lower than my feet. It helps me get a little steeper swing plane. I need that. Regarding the one-handed shots, it gets you to feel and understand what each hand should do in the swing and if you can get consistently good strikes with each hand it's easy to hit solid shots when you put them both together on the club afterwards. Me and Pete Cowen usually works on different shots on the range that are needed that specific week. We also do a lot of drills to improve the technique during the week. I've worked with him for so long now and I know all the drills. We still need to go over them and polish it all up.

Q. what about the new grooves? what does the rest of the guys say?

A. I like the fact that we get less spin but I don't like how the tours have controlled it. The rules are so vague. For example, all my irons from last year were legal except for the 9-iron and my lob wedge. I could play with all the other ones but it would be a hassle trying out a new 9-iron and then get tested all the times during the year because some of the other clubs were on the border line for being legal. Same thing with the old wedge Phil Mickelson used which had square grooves but was legal. The governing bodies has to make it clearer for us players. A lot of players are very upset since some players can use old clubs and so on. I don't know the best way to control and govern this but I know that this is not the best way for sure.   

Q. Hello Alex! Do you believe in vision 54? Will you be the one who brings home the first major trophy to Sweden?

A. Off course it's possible to shoot 54! You can shoot 36 if you are good enough:) I hope to have a chance to bring one home sometime soon. 

Q. Alex, just found this video of you on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p738s3sr2NM

Can you explain the purpose of the drill (unless it's a magic secret, then you can just email me haha)

A. I like that drill since it helps you to get high and you turn enough in the backswing. It also gives you a good position to hit the ball from on the way down since you are pretty high. 

Q. One question though: When you say the tournament is «run very professionally», what exactly do you mean by that? To me the tournaments all look a bit the same. (Different trophys though.) Is it how they treat you, is it the perks, is it the food, is it the cars?

A. I like tournaments where they set the course up tough, when the tournament is focused on the game and not everything around it. Sometimes, tournaments try to focus everything on the sponsors so they can have as much fun as possible in the beer tents. I think the sponsors like it better watching Watson and other great players playing a great set-up golf course than drinking beer. Maybe it's just me thinking that way. The course in Dubai was set-up so tough. The rough was very high, pretty firm greens and add a lot of wind on top of that. It's one of the best courses we play all year. I always learn so much by playing this tournament and that's how I grade the tournament. If I don't learn anything, the course is not set up well at all, probably too easy. This week, I really sharpened up my short game due to the tough conditions around the greens but also since I missed so many greens so I got a lot of practice:)

Q. Do you know a lot about equipment or do you leave it all up to the equipment guys?

A. I know enough I would say. I'm not a freak about it. I know how I want the ball to behave and try to arrange my clubs in a way that will produce tha ball flights I want. 

Q. Your thoughts around Tom Watson please?

A. He is amazing. That's all I have to say. That course was set-up so tough but he is that good I guess. He beat the crap out of me:)

Q. lol at your drive from fairway at 18th during the 2nd round of the Dubai tournament, frustrated ...eh? But great shot!

A. Haha. I hit a lot of drives from the fairways in practice so I know pretty much how it will behave. I love hitting it to get some extra roll when it lands but in this case I tried to slice it up into the right-to-left wind and to carry the water hazard in front. I just cleared the water. I heard the TV-commentators thought I was totally nuts choosing that shoot.

Q.  I was wondering what kind of economical agreement you players have with your caddies ? If you don't want to tell us yours specifically it would be nice if you could tell us what it normally looks like. Is it a percentage of what you win or is it a regular salary no matter results but with a bonus if the player do well in the tournament.

A. The usual caddie fee is around 1000 Euros a week as a fixed fee. Than add 5% of the prize money to a made cut, 7,5% for a top-10 and 10% for a win. This is pretty much the average deal. It can very a lot though from player to player. 

Q. i noticed that u are wearing Boss now...have u got a got a new sponsor?

A. Yeah, started this year. Feels good!

A lot of good shots today. I'm focusing on them now:) My new plan. No more negatives. Only happy things! Started great both nines.

Had a good session on the range afterwards as well. Feeling a lot better now than I was feeling last night. One more round to go. I'm gonna have fun. 

An easy gym session. I hate it when Pierre tells me to go easy and save some energy for the sunday round. Edfors is the same. We like challenges. But, I guess Pierre knows what he is doing so we listen to him. Sometimes. It's great when Pierre is away. We can go how hard we want to:)

Pierre is getting a lot stronger. I don't like it.

My roomate this week and a caddie on the tour, Erik. 

Pic from today's play. 

Good night!!!

alex

Let's see where I was today on the course...

Here.

Here.

Here.

And here. These lies add up to a 74:)

Jaidee was a lot happier. He played the easiest round of golf I've seen. 66 with no effort. I want to play like that! One day:) It was really nice to see! I had another tough day out there. It feels like I'm gonna hit myself in the hip on the way down to the ball:) I found away to not hurt my hip on the driving range after and it gives me hope for tomorrow. The higlight of today was when I driver-driver on the last hole to the back of the green and two-putted for birdie to finsih off with a smile on my face. Pierre waited eagerly in the weight room afterwards. It's amazing how happy you get after a workout. I know I've told you before but I have to say it again. I don't know what happens inside the body but is it endorphins that releases or something. I like endorphins then!!!

Late thai dinner with the brother and co. Sweet! He is a pretty good photographer huh? 

alex

Nice day! 4 under and happy! Played good today, kept control of the ball and the temper:) It was a windy day here in Dubai and the sand was blowing around like crazy. Sharing the lead with McIlroy and Schwartze at the momentl. Some holes played so short today in downwind and some holes played unbelievable long into the wind. Had a wedge in on nr 6 where I usually have 4 or 5 iron left. But then it was the opposite on some other holes. Our hole group played well today. Hansen was -3 and Jaidee -2 so we helped each other a lot it felt like. 

8.37 AM. Windy but no sandstorm yet. 

Around 9.15 AM. Windy and sandy!

Now I understand why the camels have that special eye lid.

Heard that Tom Watson came in on +1. Not bad in these conditions. One of the media guys working for the European Tour said he liked my preview but after reading his preview mine felt a bit weak. I think I have to include his preview on the blog for the next tournament. 

I have a new swing drill by the way. I always have new drills but this one, I've actually used for three days in a row now. That could be a record. The drill is to swing to the top, paus for 2 seconds and then swing down and try to hit a normal shot. That feels like the best drill I've tried so far in my life. My swing coach Pete likes it since I get shorter in the backswing and stronger in the change of direction and my physio Pierre likes it because my core looks stronger doing that. I like it because I hit it better. I really don't care exactly how it looks, I like a clean solid strike, which I haven't felt in a long time. 

See you soon! Bed time. 

alex

Trying to present a preview for the Dubai Desert Classic for you guys:

It seems like all players like this event. It's run very professionally by the "Golf in Dubai" corp. and since it's a great field every year it's a BIG tournament in our eyes. This desert course at Emirates Golf Club doesn't seem as "deserty" as other courses in this genre since it has a lot  more rough in play. Not just fairway and sand as some of the other courses. Otherwise, Emirates Golf Club plays pretty similar to the last two week's courses in Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Narrow winding fairways, fairly long, thick rough and hard and semi-fast greens. These greens go to super-fast on the weekend usually. They look like they are starving and begging for water. That's just how we want them though. The surface gets quicker and more even than when it's lush green. 

The field is very strong. Pretty much all the top European players and some of the other world elites are here. Tom Watson's presence is great for this tournament.

I'm playing with Tongchai Jaidee and Anders Hansen tomorrow. I like them both and we have played together before. Teeing off at 08.25 AM local Dubai time and that's among the last early starters. My game felt pretty good today and my frustration from last week has cooled off a bit. I'm focusing my attention on keeping cool and staying in the present. All here and now. Nothing else. Let's see how I do. I'm excited to play some tournament golf again.

Hope you guys are all good and please let me know what you want in a tournament preview like this for next time. I hope my next tournament will be in Tucson, Arizona for the WGC Match Play. I'm now ranked 57th in the world and top-65 on the world rankings gets in. I will now by monday. But now, I'm here and going to do everything I can to play some sweet golf:) 

Ciao!

alex

Great day today! Got a lot of motivation and inspiration heading back out there after yesterday's not-so-much-golfing-day. Started the training off the best way possible. We were measuring wedges and trying to hit them to different yardages on the side of the range. While Colin was out there running around trying to see where my balls landed, the Callaway crew brought the "Trackman" to me. It's a device that measures everything about the ball flight. Distance, ball speed, spin rate and everything else that might be interesting. We played some games on that thing and I got really hooked. Want to buy my own so bad now. I would have a lot of use of it for sure. 

View from the player's lounge looking over the driving range. Tuesday and wednesdays are busy days on the range.

Al from Callaway is a "Trackman" expert! We had such a great session. I love that thing. 

Callaway photo shoot. Trying to look cool while swinging. Not the easiest.

Swing plane little low maybe. I should bump it up a touch.

Never been so nervous before. Went up to Tom Watson in the locker room to try to get his signature on this flag. I felt like 10 again asking for golf balls at the 18th green in the Compaq Open tournament in Sweden. 

Ok. 

Pro-Am tomorrow. Tournament is near and I need to sleep. 

Hope you all are good!

Ante the camera man is on his way down here so I think he will give you some nice photos from here. Loads of Tom Watson I hope. He is my hero. Almost cried when he lost in the Open playoff. 

alex

Just woke up in Dubai and looking back at last week. I learnt a lot. The last two weeks has been very similar. I start good (not feeling and playing great but scoring well) and then I overanalyze my game and tire myself out mentally for the next three days and finish not so good. 

- My goal last week was to keep a good attitude throughout the whole week. I managed to do so the first day but not the last three. I didn't play in the present. I was looking ahead and thinking of how I want to be playing and that the way I play now isn't good enough. Although, my shots weren't great I could've still played good if I just focused on the shot ahead. Not the year ahead or the next few years ahead. I'm a pro at putting pressure on myself and trying to overwork myself. I think it helps me sometimes but hurts me as well. 

- The more I struggle with getting out of my own way, the more I understand that if my short game was a little sharper, I still would score well because my long game isn't as bad as I make it to be. Looking at the last day in Qatar, I had so many chances and didn't convert many at all. A few up-and-downs early on would make me have momentum throuhgout the round and just cruise a little bit more mentally. Not beating myself up and put even more pressure on the long game. 

- I was really happy with watching Robert Karlsson come down the 18 with a two-shot lead. I thought to myself, if there was somebody else with that lead I might have been nervous watching them but not Robert. He is rock solid and so mentally sharp and focused so I knew he would hit it in the middle of the fairway and finish of with a birdie to seal the deal. I played the two first rounds with Robert in the Royal Trophy and I was amazed by his focus on and off the course. He was very detailed and wants to have control of the situation on the course. I'm a little different. If I feel that my game is on, I tend to let go a lot and just play. Maybe learning from him would make me play a little better when I'm not at my best. Worth thinking about, who knows. 

- It's also amazing how much I love this game. I finished the round early yesterday around lunch time so I hade a lot of time before the flight. Jetski, gym and relaxing. Today, my plan was to have a off day and just hang out and re-fuel my body. When I played yesterday, I was looking forward to have some time off. Now, all I want to do is get out there and practice. Not that I want to redem myself, just becasue I love it. So, feeling that makes me really happy. 

When I read the comments before I saw that some of you guys wanted to have a little preview of the course set-up, my game, other players' games and so on before the tournament starts so I'm gonna try to do that. My brother is coming as well so he will take care of the camera and hopefully get you guys updated with some fun stuff. 

Time to a non-golfing thing....See if I can stay away. Looking good so far.

Take care!

alex