Summer is upon us and Torrey Pines beckons!

Summer is upon us again, after a very pleasant spring. The burning heat did not kick in until the last two days of June, so I was able to catch up on some much-needed practice before leaving for England.

The whole of May and most of April just seems to have been a blur. With school work and exams taking precedence over golf, but now it is back on the course and range. After a three day transit in England where I spent two days practicing on Surrey courses, it was time to board the plane for America, this is my first time I will be experiencing The great American Dream and so far I have not been disappointed, the courses really do look magnificent, I will be playing at the Sycuan Golf Resort and Torrey Pines in the San Diego Junior Masters and the Callaway World Junior Championship before moving on to the PGA West at La Quinta which I am told is a desert course, so there should be some familiarity there. Torrey Pines is a magnificent looking course on the Pacific Ocean and I am looking forward to playing it in the second week of July alongside some of the best 17 year olds in the world. All the courses are longer than the normal ladies tournament length in the UAE, being around 6200 yds and upwards, so it will be a great test for longer shots into the greens, I suppose I will just have to get used to playing longer putts to make par.

The second leg of Summer will be returning to England at the end of July and playing in the English Girls and Ladies Opens in the south and then moving across to Lancashire in the North to play in the British Girls Open which is potentially a marathon 8 rounds of golf to determine the winner, two rounds of strokeplay to make the cut and then a potential 6 rounds of match play over a 6400 yd course; The British Girls is regarded as a Junior Masters attracting some of the best girls in the world, many of whom use this tournament as a sounding board to determine their ability before turning pro, so it really is a tall order and anything beyond the first round of match play is an achievement, but I suppose for those who have aspirations beyond monthly medals, it will be a real wake-up call.

My final leg of summer will be to then travel on to Scotland to pay the British Ladies Open at Prestwick Golf Club, one of the true original links courses, which I am told is advisable to play as many practice rounds before entering a tournament, hopefully, it will be wet, windy and a bit chilly too !! After this three day tournament which concludes with two rounds on the final day for those who made the cut after day 2, it will be a short drive over to the Home of Golf at St Andrews where I will be playing two events in the newly established Scottish Ladies Open Tour founded by Paul Lawrie, these events are made up of 20 lady professionals and the 10 lowest amateurs in the field, so it will be a great experience playing alongside professionals at the Fairmont and the Duke at St Andrew’s, before heading back to Heathrow to board the plane to sunny Abu Dhabi just in time to start my second year of  Levels.

Bye for now.
Sana Tufail (…on the road somewhere in San Diego)