Latest on my Golf Journey

So, as some of you know, I’ve been on a bit of a golf journey over the last few years. At first, it was purely about trying to get my handicap down to a certain number (5.5) which with the new world handicap system, it’s actually really quite hard to see that progress clearly sometimes.

I realised that golf had become about much more than just chasing a number. It became about trying to be the best golfer that I can be. About challenging myself. About putting myself out of my comfort zone.

And that really started when I first went and played in a ladies’ tournament in Vilamoura. It was my great friend Rie’s suggestion that I should go and play. So I rocked up at this tournament not knowing anyone, got paired with one of the Portuguese team players on the first day of the pairs, and that really was the beginning of quite an interesting path that golf ended up taking me on.

I then got talked into playing some of the Portuguese Golf Federation events. I turned up at my first federation Mid Amateur, played awfully, and got so nervous, which was not helped by the fact that on day 2 there are cameras greeting you on the first tee and then on variou parts of the course.… that definitely affects your swing when you are not used to it. .

But despite that, I met some amazing women and some amazing people. It was also pretty good for my Portuguese.  I carried on entering more of these Tournament and, in the process, travelled around this country, going to places I’d never been before and playing courses I would never normally have gone to.

It also gave me a little bit of purpose with my practice and with my gym training. It stopped just being “go and hit balls” and became more about seeing what I was capable of if I actually committed to improving.

Rie was one of my biggest supporters through all of this. She was my “golf geek” bestie.  She used to say how i was a shame we didn't get to play these tournaments together, travelling around and competing. One of the things I promised her, just a few weeks before she passed away, was that I would do my best to try to qualify and make it onto the Portuguese team one day.

Whilst competing in the National Mid Ams at Praia D´El Rey

last year(, where I came unofficially second, unofficially because my nationality application is still stuck somewhere in the system), I was asked whether I was available to play in the ELSGA Tournament because somebody had got injured. In the end, I didn’t need to play, but it suddenly made everything feel a bit more real. It made me realise there was actually a possibility this could happen.

So after that, I became much more focused. I wanted my swing to become more reliable. I wanted my practice to have more purpose and more structure.

I hadn’t had lessons for most of last year, but then I ended up messaging somebody I knew on Instagram who was doing free swing analysis. I remember thinking that if he just told me I overswing, I was going to ignore him. But he didn’t, which led me to starting to work with Huw via Skillest App, who has been brilliant. 

At the beginning of this year, when I sat down and wrote out my golf goals for 2026, the first thing on the list was to play for Portugal and on the 11th of May, I woke up to an email asking if I was available to go and play in Sweden in the Marisa Sgaravatti Trophy.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

I’d just played at Vidago Palace, which is about 750km away from where I live. The first round had been “interesting”. The second round was much better once I’d got used to the course a little more. Then on the 17th hole I made my first double bogey and immediately thought, “Well, there goes any chance of getting high enough up the table to make the team.”

But I finished the round, drove home, and then woke up to that email.

So that’s where the golf journey is at the moment.

The next six weeks are going to involve a lot of work, and every spare minute outside of work will probably involve me practising in bunkers, on putting greens, or out on the range preparing for Sweden.

It still honestly hasn’t sunk in yet. I feel incredibly privileged and honoured to have the opportunity to represent my country. And it really does feel like my country now after living here for 22 years. Portugal truly feels like home.

So now we see what happens in Sweden in June… and where this story goes next.