Chris Hanson's winter training has gone better than expected - he’s bagged himself a trophy.
At the end of January the Woodsome Hall attached professional headed out to the south of Spain with his family for some winter sunshine and warm-weather practice.
After two weeks on the practice field at Los Naranjos, near Puerto Banus, and three rounds of golf, he moved on to Alcaidesa on The Gecko Pro Tour.
The tour organises 10 winter tournaments annually in southern Spain with a total prize fund of over 200,000 euros.
Hanson takes up the story: “Wind, wind and then more wind!
“There are two courses here and we played the ‘heathland’ course … It’s never seen heathland, as it’s nothing like the heathland which I grew up on at Crosland Heath!
“But the layout was pretty interesting and very hilly. I played solidly and took the first round lead on -1, the only person to break par, and that was with a bogey bogey finish.
“Day two we had a two-hour delay for extreme winds but once we got out there, I knuckled down and after a poor start I stuck in and finished -2 for the day.”
His final scores of 70, 71 were good enough to claim top spot and a prize of 2,000 euros, two shots ahead of Scotsman Ross Kellett from the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre.
He followed this up with a tied 12th place at La Canada on the same tour.
Hanson said: “The best feeling from this win was that the work I’ve done over the winter and the trip to Spain have been totally justified, I’m doing the right things – and taking the financial risk has been well worth it.
“It’s also been the most constructive February I have ever had for practice, the months grinding in the UK through the winter make me wonder why I’ve never tried to do this before … so a massive ‘thank you’ must go to David Pitts, of DPPublicity, for giving me and my family the opportunity.”
The warm weather got the Woodsome Hall man thinking , he added: “We’ve had a small taste of the Spanish lifestyle down here too, and that’s always been something that has interested us.
“So you never know, if I get that ticket to the main Tour, we could be relocating.”
