FIFTEEN years in the business, but Lora Fairclough feels her game is in better shape than ever.

The European Tour golf professional has had to weather a few lean years, but turned the corner this summer when she finished the season bang in form with two second places and a third.

Now for the first time in a while, she cannot wait for the new season to begin.

Fairclough, who lives in Adlington, quickly established herself on the Tour when she turned professional and finished in the top 10 order of merit six times in the first 10 years.

She was a member of the Solheim Cup team in 1994 (the ladies equivalent of the Ryder Cup) and won four major competitions, but her last success was back in 1998 when she captured the German Open.

She has suffered a barren spell since then, but 2005 has been a watershed and 35-year-old Lora puts much of her new found success down to her retired father Gerald, who is now her caddie.

She said: "Having my dad with me has made a massive difference and given me much more confidence. He never volunteers anything without me asking for his help, but it is good in some situations to have another opinion

"One of the reasons I have done so well is because I have had someone there, battling for me. When you travel to such places as Australia, you feel very lonely and isolated. I am a bit of a homebird and dont like leaving home - sometimes I think I may be in the wrong job.

"This has been a good year. As in all sports you have ups and down but this year it has all come together. I have had some high finishes and ended 15th in the order of merit.

"It started well in Australia, in February, where I finished fifth in the Open and 13th in the Masters. That set me up mentally. and after a blip in a couple of early European tournaments, I feel I have played as well as ever."

She reached peak form in the last couple of months when she finished second in the Nykredit Masters in Denmark and OTP Bank Ladies Euro Open in Hungary and third in the KLM Ladies Open in Holland.

Loras resurgence in form came too late to book her a place in this years Solheim Cup, but she has no regrets.

"It is a wonderful experience and there is nothing like it, Lora said. "I would dearly love to have played in it again but it is not the priority. It is not how you earn a living. I made the mistake in 1996 of concentrating on getting in the team and then missed out at the last event. I have learned my lesson.

"I am already looking forward to next season and I havent said that for a while. When you are struggling all the time, it is mentally straining, but I have had some good local sponsors over the years and even this year I was sponsored for a couple of the events, which took the pressure off. But it is my choice and I have chosen to earn a living this way.

Lora has now put her clubs away for a couple of months, which allows her to concentrate on watching her beloved Bolton Wanderers. It will not be long, however, before she is back on the greens when she flies off to Singapore and Thailand in January and then on to Australia, where she hopes another good start will set her up for an even better year.