When lockdown shut down the day job, Calum Hill saw it as an ideal opportunity to go see his girlfriend Miranda in Arizona and maybe have a little knock here and there to see how his in-progress swing changes were going.
In around 80 days in the US, mercifully long before the virus swept through the southwestern states, the 25-year-old from Crook of Devon in Perthshire played “four or five little mini-tour, pay-to-play” events, won two, kept his game sharp, put into practice his changes, and came back to Scotland just a week before quarantine for incomers was imposed.
It could hardly have worked out any better. The rookie pro hit the ground running in the Betfred British Masters and shot a superb 67 to be just off the lead at Close House, and seems to be regaining the momentum that saw reach the European Tour just 18 months after coming from his US base to play full-time in Europe.
Reaching the main tour this season after three Challenge Tour wins, he flatlined a little at the start of the year, and the shutdown was actually timely.
“As soon as India was cancelled, I headed out to Arizona and while I was there just played a few mini-tour things,” he said. “Some were terrible, a couple were a success, but the biggest thing was I was trying a few swing changes and it was a chance to put what I was working on into practice.
“Then when I came back I worked with my coach David Burns, just a lot of swing work to get the game as improved as was possible through that time, so that when I did come back, it was with all cylinders firing.”
Hill’s problem was an occasional tendency “to hit a massive left”, and it’s still a work in progress.
“It was just to get going in a consistent direction; not that the good weeks aren’t good, but sometimes it would just fall apart and I wouldn’t know how to fix it,” he admitted.
“Whereas now I have an idea of what goes on in my swing and what my tendencies are, and how to quickly correct it if they’re a little off from day to day. It’s worked out well for me.”
Being more loaded through the backswing keeps it under control, although it does mean on occasion he’s blocking the ball out right a bit, but that’s more manageable.
“I had a wee bit of a block going today, but I’d been hitting it left the last few days and it’s far better to be hitting right than left,” he said.
“It’s a tricky little course. There’s plenty room in some areas and not a lot in others. There’s a lot of holes where it’s tight off the tee and you don’t see a lot of the flags into the greens, not the bottom of the flag anyway, so it’s tricky to judge and you have to trust your number.”
Hill doesn’t ever seem to have trouble scoring, and has an admirable tendency to bounce back after mistakes. He followed a five at the fifth with two immediate birdies, and then after a bogey at the short 12th and “a horrible horsehoe” putt at 13, picked up a couple of birdies at 16 and 17.
The tour rookie’s perennial fear of not holding on to the card has been expunged this year with all categories guaranteed for 2020, and it does present a chance for the younger players.
“I guess we have a free run at it now, don’t we?” continued Hill. “But I haven’t really thought about it that way, I’ve just come back to try and play the best you can. The ideal scenario obviously is to improve your category and there’s one really good way to do that.
“I’ll definitely play the first five of the UK Swing. I haven’t played any of the courses before, but it’s nice to play a little bit of golf in the UK, I haven’t been able to do that these last few years.
“It’s good to get a continuous run in England and Wales and see what happens. We’ll see about week six. I fancy playing at Valderrama, I’ve never played there before and I definitely don’t want to play seven in a row.”
