Hello from Belfast Airport where I'm currently waiting for my flight to London and then on to the USA for my three weeks over there.

You've probably read in the press that after my last event in Abu Dhabi myself and Muller parted company. We were both trying our hardest and things just weren't clicking so we decided the best way forward was to part on an amicable basis, which we did with a drink at the bar!

For the next three weeks Wobbly is going to caddie for me which is wonderful. He's a long time friend and has worked for me before, he's great company and very professional in his work and hopefully we'll have a great three weeks.

Although I've had three weeks off I seem to have been chasing my tail the whole time but the high point of the break was receiving the Laureus Award. It was certainly a most humbling experience being in the company of so many of my sporting icons. It was a totally wonderful evening and to be presented with my award by Gary Player was just fantastic and made me feel very proud. So the Laureus Award is sitting happily next to the Claret Jug at home!

I've been working very hard on my fitness and last week I was in the Bio Mechanic lab at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown.  Yesterday Pete Cowen, Ian Garbutt, Professor Eric Wallace from the University, Jonny the trainer and Wobbly were all at home so we had a full analysis of the tests which was really interesting. I then went down on the range to work with Pete after a couple of things were highlighted in the bio mechanic test. Phil Kenyon was also over here last week to cast his eye over my putting so as you can see it's been all go!

I've been working really hard on my golf as I'm fed up with playing poorly, and I've been working out in the gym to get my fitness in better order thanks to Jonny who is pushing me very hard.

Wearing glasses was a new thing for me down in South Africa after I learned from my SV eye specialist that my eyes are very light sensitive - so you'll now see me wearing sunglasses.

Tyrone and Conor have been on half term this week and my golf school down in Antrim organised a three day course, attended by thirty five children, where they had a great time. They had talks, video analysis of their swings, competitions and all sorts of stuff going on.

I'm flying out today to Phoenix to get myself acclimatised and get in some early practice as I've never played the course at Dove Mountain before - but I have to say it does look absolutely stunning.  Wobbly's coming out early with me and I'm also spending some time with Dr Bob Rotella, who has kindly changed his schedule so we can fit in some work together.  I've also had a session with Mike Finnegan from i2i this week which is always very beneficial.

I'm really looking forward to getting there to start practising some of the things that I did with Pete yesterday on the range so I've got a full weekend of hard work ahead of me. After Phoenix it's the Honda Classic where Jonny will be with me putting me through my paces off the course.  Then it's to Miami for the Cadillac Championship and that'll be a great week as Alison, the two boys and my sister Andrea are coming over for that.

Hopefully all the work that I'm putting in on my golf and all other aspects of my game will turn things around and I'll be back up there in contention sooner rather than later. Patience is the key - which I don't have an awful lot of - but I'm doing all the right things!

I'll check in again soon and thanks for reading. Darren.