Former European Tour golfer John Wade is trying his luck at The Senior Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club. Wade, a vocational PGA Professional, will prepare a daily blog, detailing his experience during one of the Tour’s most prestigious tournaments.

It’s been a couple of really hot days here at Lytham St Annes to complete preparations for the Senior Open Championship.

The course is an incredibly tough test of golf and with more baking conditions forecast, the ball will be tough to control around this classic.

Preparing for this has been difficult given the cold in Melbourne, but I’m so fortunate working at Commonwealth Golf Club where the golf course plays so well over winter and gives you the opportunity to practice all the shots required.

My week started with pre-qualifying at Fairhaven Golf Club at 6:30am and after posting 1-under in strong winds, I was anxious to know whether I’d done enough to advance. I filled my time at the local coffee shops and returned later in day to see if my score was good enough to qualify. Thirteen hours after teeing off, I could finally leave the course with a place in the field achieved.

I’m feeling the effects of a long day yesterday and with the aches and pains flaring in the body I took the option of taking care of registration and other admin rather than grinding away on Tuesday.

A night at the world matchplay darts tournament at nearby Blackpool was an amazing experience to wrap up the day. I wish my putting was as instinctive as those skilled darts players!

It was nice to get the mind on another interest in searching for the right formula to play good golf.

At this event, rubbing shoulders with some of the best golfers of all time is special and sharing practice rounds with guys like (Bernhard) Langer, (Tom) Watson and (Jose Maria) Olazabal still gets my attention.

So far, the most enjoyable part of this venture onto the Seniors Tour has been catching up with familiar faces from my former days playing the European Tour.

My goal for this week is to simply enjoy playing in a tournament of this stature. Where that takes me I’m not quite sure.

All I know is that after struggling to swing a club for the past few years with injury, I just appreciate this opportunity to play at this wonderful venue and reflect on how natural this style of golf is.