Playing the saxophone, a revolutionary new diet and flying economy. WGC-Mexico Championship debutant Dylan Frittelli writes this week's Player Blog from Mexico.
My travel over the last two years has been crazy. People have suggested that I may currently be the most travelled professional golfer. I make it 37 countries in 24 months. I always believe that you have to go the extra mile in search of results. It’s been like that ever since graduating college; I think my first year on the Challenge Tour saw me visit 17 new countries. If it meant I had to fly to Indonesia at the end of 2017 to secure a top 50 Masters exemption by playing my 7th week in a row, so be it. My 63 year old caddie was not too pleased though!
It’s tough for me to sightsee as I’m an extremely focused individual. To ensure I’m eating well and resting, I would forgo the opportunity to explore the cities and destinations we visit around the world on the European Tour. Why don’t I give myself the best chance to succeed? Focus, apply myself and leave the chance to enjoy these experiences at a later age, hopefully at which point I would have a wife or partner to enjoy it with and a golf career to be proud of.
It was the same for me in college where I partied twice on 6th Street in Austin during my four years! Those who have visited Austin will find this staggering, and for those who have not, I suggest you visit! My thinking was that if I utilised my college opportunities properly, it would allow me to stay in Austin, and make it my home. This would later allow me to discover the city I love so much! Thankfully I have the Dell Matchplay to look forward to in a few week. I can't wait to play in front of a home-crowd.
I made a significant alteration to my diet after the Italian Open. Despite spending hours in the gym with my trainer and doing the right things, I wasn’t seeing the results and was desperately searching for something. It was then I made the choice to remove wheat and dairy completely from my diet and the results were almost instantaneous.
I found my energy levels were consistent, whereas before I would have huge dips during the day. As a result, I’m now consuming more fish and vegetables while eating less red meat and fried food. My diet is a blood type specific. Some people’s bodies don’t react negatively to wheat and dairy while others like mine do.
I’ve always found myself prudent with my finances due to necessity. Growing up in South Africa, in a middle-class household, where my mother was a teacher and my father sold insurance, I was very aware of my parents supporting my sister and I. They gave us everything, but I realised what a strain it put on them. Growing up and being self-aware of their financial commitment resulted in me always looking after the money I had. I didn’t need the latest equipment or new balls. That carried to college at Texas where I was on a golf scholarship.
I would have ‘X’ amount to last me the whole month and that gave me a whole new respect for managing my money. Sure, things have changed now. Yes, I’ve got a lot of disposable income, but I still try and follow the same rules. If the investment means that I can improve my game I will, but if a business class flight is $4,000 more than economy and it’s not going to benefit me, why waste the money?
I do enjoy to stimulate my mind in different ways; sport, academia and culture as well. I like anything that keeps my mind going. I’ve just bought a saxophone; I played growing up. The chance to relearn music is something which I hope can be an escape while also stimulating my mind.
Winning the European Tour Graduate of the Year was a huge honour. I started the year outside the Top 150 in the World Rankings, but as anyone out here will tell you, you figure you can compete anywhere. I also wasn’t a rookie in that I had played approximately 40 times on the European Tour before the season started via the Challenge Tour and co-sanctioned Sunshine Tour events.
I definitely found that transition up to the European Tour a challenging one, but once I began competing out there I began to feel more comfortable. That said, I feel that I have some areas I can improve upon. I was very inconsistent with too many missed cuts and poor performances in the big Rolex Series events last year.
Now after a really good start to the year, making the cut in my last six starts and at a career best 44 in the Official World Golf rankings, I’ll definitely be looking to manage my schedule to try and improve this for the 2018 Race to Dubai season.
I drew some criticism for using a compass during my winning final round at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. My caddie and I were using it all week to gauge the direction of the wind. There was a lot of reaction on social media from fans that questioned the legitimacy and ruling of using a compass in round. I recall purposely using the compass away from my ball to avoid any potential criticism that would suggest I was using the compass as an alignment tool or spirit-level!
Looking ahead to this week I'll be again wearing my Nike’s Solar Sleeves, something that I adopted after seeing athletes in basketball and American football try them. Closer to home Aaron Rai was using them on the Challenge Tour. I instantly loved how athletic they made me feel while playing. I guess it’s now become a bit of a trademark of mine! There are many benefits; sweat-management, cooling and heating and also sun protection (it also helps to save the cost of sun cream) which will help this week in Mexico!
