Matt Wallace was “in really good spirits” last Friday evening and with good reason. The Moor Park Golf Club professional felt he was driving the ball the best he had all year after signing for a four-under-par 67 to lie two shots off the first round lead at a second stage European Tour qualifying tournament in Spain. The signs were very encouraging.

Four days later the 26-year-old had flown home and was back playing at the Rickmansworth course after missing out on a place at final Tour qualifying by 14 shots and seeing his hopes of securing a place at European golf’s top table by right end for another year.

The disappointment was understandable when Wallace spoke to the Watford Observer on Tuesday, but this year’s star of the Alps Tour is nothing if not philosophical about how the sport can bite you when you least want it to and intends to use this frustration to spur him on. “It’s a little bit of a step back but I can use it as my drive to work harder for the start of next year,” he said.

Wallace travelled to Lumine Golf and Country Club already assured of a place on the second tier Challenge Tour for 2017 after winning the Alps Tour’s Order of Merit by a considerable distance following his sixth victory of the season at the European satellite tour’s Grand Final.

Although the Pinner resident triumphed in Italy last month, he felt he hadn’t been driving the ball “all that great” and met up with coach Matt Belsham before flying out to Tarragona. After altering his set up a little, Wallace “started hitting it really nicely” and the confidence in his swing continued through practice and the first round. It wasn’t to last.

Wallace explained he normally takes the left side of a golf course out of a play off the tee so the ball doesn’t miss the fairway in that direction. What happened from Saturday’s second round onwards though, was that he started to bring rough on the left and right of holes into play.

“When you have both misses it’s quite destructive,” he said. “That second, third and fourth day I just hit the positions you couldn’t do and that’s why I made quite a few double bogeys. You don’t really make doubles if you drive it well at the level I’ve been playing at and I just drove it poorly, I couldn’t save myself.

“I’m not too disheartened because I saw some really good improvements in my game but I’m just gutted it came at a time when I needed my best game. I felt I had a really good chance, I felt I could have a really good chance at the next tournament at the final [qualifying] stage but it’s the way golf goes sometimes.”

Following his opening round of 67, Wallace carded 76, 74 and 75 to finish way down the field on eight-over-par and he reflected: “Like with any golfer, if they have a poor tournament they’ll be down. You can’t just be happy with missing cuts or playing poorly but Q School is the hardest tournament in golf because you have set positions you need to finish in.

“I know final stage is a little bit different because you have different outcomes – if you make the cut you get your Challenge Tour card, if you get [top] 25 you get a European Tour card – but at the second stage you have to finish in the top 17 to get through so it is quite brutal. But it was just frustrating that I didn’t play the way I know I can.”

Many golfers might be tempted to take a break after such a setback but Wallace already has another goal potentially in his sights.

The Moor Park professional signed for Chubby Chandler’s International Sports Management stable last month and following that move he is a hopeful of gaining an invite to compete on the European Tour for a third time at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa at the start of next month.

“I don’t think I’ll take a rest now,” he said. “There are rest periods, I’m not playing tournament golf [currently] so my mind is at ease but I want to feel in really good shape for next year.

“I’m going to look back on this year and be happy but I’m also going to work even harder. There’s improvements to be had and to work towards.”

Wallace is now used to the demands of playing competitive golf abroad but reflecting on this year, he explained: “The only difference is having the expectation, especially on the Alps Tour of winning and then going to my first European Tour tournament and being in sixth place after two rounds and just having lots of different ups and downs that I have to learn from.

“My girlfriend said something really nice the other day: ‘Every single event is an experience, you’re learning something different. Even though it might not be the right outcome you want, it’s a new experience’.

“I’m still learning; I’m learning every time I play; I was playing with Callum [Moor Park European Tour professional Callum Shinkwin] today and I’m learning stuff from him. We bounce off each other and hopefully I can be where he is in a few years’ time or even in the next year.”