Imagine you took five shots off your handicap in one year. You’d be pretty pleased, wouldn’t you?

Now imagine your starting mark was two, and you finished that 12 month spell at +3. You’d be flabbergasted.

It was a stunning run that took even Georgia Price by surprise. At the start of last season, the Bude and North Cornwall player was embarking on a first full season in English elite amateur golf.

Now, with the likes of Bronte Law having ascended to the professional ranks, she is one of its stars.

So how do you cope with expectation when you’ve seemingly come from nowhere? We asked the 23-year-old…

You had top-three finishes in both the English Strokeplay and British Amateur last season. It was quite a year…

It was interesting for me. It’s the first year I have played a full season. I had goals but I didn’t really have any expectations. So to put myself in a lot of positions, either in contention or not far off the lead, was a bit unexpected.

Georgia Price

In a way, there wasn’t a lot of pressure because no one really knew who I was. I think it helped me and made me feel a bit more relaxed.

Now people will expect you to be in the frame. Will that be a new kind of pressure?

My dad and I have talked about this a lot. I have just got to try not to put pressure on myself now that I’m on the England squad, for example.

A lot of people might look at it and say ‘people are going to expect so much’. I think it’s really exciting. It’s how you challenge those nerves, I guess, and not use them to add pressure just because people are talking.

I’ll be going into events not thinking about the results last year but as if I had never played them before. I’ll have a really open mind.

You’re a little older than some of the players you are competing against. Does that give you an advantage?

It definitely gives you a bit of one. There are a lot of young girls out there that are doing very well – and a lot of people think you have to be young to compete. Golf is not like that.

Georgia Price

How on earth did you go from a handicap of 2 to +3 in 12 months?

I’d played all my golf in America (at Florida Gulf Coast) and I didn’t really belong to a club. I played in tournaments at the beginning of the year and it just gradually came down. I played at Trevose and the standard scratch was really high. I shot a few under and lost a shot right there.

Is a professional career on the cards?

I am quite relaxed about it. I definitely think I need a lot more tournament experience at this level. It’s a difficult question as I’ve never had to think about it.

I might see how this year goes and maybe look at tour school. But, while I think about it, it seems a bit soon. I’m quite a laid-back person and the important thing is not to rush into it.

Steve Carroll

A journalist for 23 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former captain and committee member, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the national Tournament Administrators and Referee's Seminar. He has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying and the PGA Fourball Championship. A member of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. Steve is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 3-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Hybrids: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Irons: TaylorMade Stealth 5-A Wedge Wedges: TaylorMade Hi-Toe 54 and 58 Putter: Sik Sho Ball: TaylorMade TP5

Handicap: 11.3

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