IF the first few days of the New Year are anything to go by then 2018 is going to be hectic for former Ludlow Golf Club member Ollie Farr.

The 29-year-old is planning to move house in the first week of January – with a flight booked to South Africa just three days later.

From there it’s off to Abu Dhabi with trips to Oman and Qatar also in the diary before the spring.

But Farr has no complaints, he’s just delighted to be back on golf’s European Tour after two years playing on the lesser Challenger Tour circuit.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” admitted Farr, who used to live near Tenbury.

“You look down the list and they are all fantastic events.

“The trips to the Middle East are always a highlight but I’m particularly looking forward to Wentworth [the BMW PGA Championships] when my family will be able to join me.”

Balancing his golf and family life – he is married with a 15-month-old son – is something that Farr has learnt to deal with over the years.

"He was globe-trotting when on the European Tour in 2014 and even the Challenge Tour took him far and wide.

“I’m lucky in that I have some very good people around me,” he added.

“As a family we know what to expect and are better prepared having learnt over the years.

"It’s much harder than I imagined it was going to be but we work hard on managing the situation.

“When I’m away we try to speak most nights to try and keep things as normal as possible though it’s always difficult because as a professional golfer you are always travelling.

“I’ve learnt that I don’t want to be around for more than three or four weeks at a time and the family will come and join me at a couple of the events.

"We realised these things from the last time I was on the European Tour – you have to be in the best state of mind to perform at your best.

“The main thing is to enjoy the year ahead.

"I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I should’ve done last time and maybe didn’t appreciate it.

"I made mistakes and I’ve learnt from those.

“Much of the Challenge Tour was in Europe but we still went to some strange and different places, playing golf where you wouldn’t expect it.

“We went to Kazakstan and Kenya which was a little bit different to what we were used to. It’s actually quite a good thing for golfers as we tend to be a bit blindfolded and by seeing how people live in other parts of the world makes you appreciate what you have back home.”

For Farr, winning the Foshan Open in China in October was the highlight of 2017.

“I had played some phenomenal golf all week and was just hoping that I could keep it going into the tournament,” he explained.

“It was the second biggest event of the year in terms of prize money so it was a good one to win but it had also been three years since my last victory so it was a great feeling.”