The weather in France didn't cool down at all from the last update and the only thing that kept me sane was the fan that reception managed to get to me in my room. I did a little bit of practice on Wednesday but spent most of my time on the putting green working with my arc, this is a routine I'm getting back into and seems to be paying off.

I played ok the first round with nothing really happening and finished with a couple over 73. The second round was one of the best I've played in a long time, we only managed six holes before a big storm came in and we got taken off the course, when we got back out a couple of hours later I couldn't find my swing and really struggled but managed to find a way of getting it round in 1 under, even with a double bogey on 18. One of my old caddys mentioned something about checking my alignment on Friday night after I told him of my struggles and on Saturday morning I realised he seemed to be correct, I was aiming too far right with my feet and too far left with my shoulders, a good warm up session had me going out with a new found confidence. As there was another storm predicted we went off two tees which had me teeing off the same time as the leaders but on the 10th tee. I got off to a good start only to be stopped by a three putt at my 10th and a short missed birdie putt at my 11th. I then reeled off five birdies in a row before three putting the par 3 eighth. I managed to hit every green and all but one fairway in regulation which was night and day from my second round. I finished with the best round of the day and moved myself up into a good position for Sunday. There were decent crowds on Sunday which was nice and after another good day I was at 10 under with two holes to play... until... I didn't get up and down from just off the 17th green and then made a nine at the 18th hole, it was one of those moments where I wanted to jump in the water after my two golf balls! I played the 18th in eight over par for the week which was hard to swallow but that's what makes the Paris National such a great golf course.

Monday was a day of laundry and a visit to Matfen to see a group of youngsters from North Tyneside. They had been competing in the Mel Weir Golf Day, Mel Weir had been a golfer and when he passed away left a foundation to get youngsters playing golf. I think this is a great gesture and can only benefit the children involved. I had a lovely time meeting the kids and Mrs Weir.

I drove up to Loch Lomond on Tuesday to be met by some horrible weather, the forecast was the same all week and for once the forecast was right! As I mentioned last week Titleist were on site fitting their players for the new 910 driver, the driver has two fittings on the hosel to be able to change the lie and loft of the club, this is the first driver to have sixteen different settings available. After trying a couple of settings we got it sorted and I was very happy with the way I was hitting it. I had my usual routine on Wednesday of hitting a few balls, chipping but most of the session was on the putting green.

I played ok but really struggled on the greens, Loch Lomond had a very bad winter and lost most of their greens and had to relay them, they did a great job to get the course looking how it did but the greens weren't good, I've never seen so many very short putts missed as I did last week, although they were the same for everybody we all know that they're not as only some putts bobble.

I'm really happy with my game and am looking forward to the second half of the season, it'll be nice to have a week off after a really long run to relax and also keep working on my game. I would love to have been at St Andrews this week for The Open but will enjoy watching it on TV.