GOLF - It is exercise in a good way...

28th July Second day of the excercise program for a golfing tune up is starting to show the effects. The Yoga ‘leg lift’ specifically for my back injury has delivered a surprise result in how much more strength is already established. Since the concentrated effort earlier in the year the improvement in this area has became the norm, to set up and do the routine again and the ease in doing the original regime without any strain is a bonus. Observing golfers in the professional ranks you can see that being turned out like an Olympic athlete is not a must. The Senior tour is not the only less athletic in competitors’ appearance. This does not mean that the players are not fit, playing the sport alone is a good excercise, as there is no impacts from opponent tackles and not too much strain from sprinting or rapid exertion. Golf is a fantastic sport for anyone who is already carrying injury from life. In my case several broken bones, fractured vertebrate and torn muscles did take a little gentle coaxing through the first 12 months of playing, over all between two up to three months of injury time stopped me from golfing. Doctor’s advice should be sought in respect to your injury and playing golf, in my case I went more to check up that the various ailments through the season were not harmful but in fact my body reacting to the improved flexibility and general physical activity.




For arm, hand grip, chest and shoulder stamina building I use a set of hand grips and a chest expander, two excercise tools that do not require room to use them. Both are very easy to store and importantly do not put undue strain on your body when being used, sensibly within your limits of course. In this refresher program the effects came to notice very quickly and I have had to adjust my pitching stroke strength. The mid to long irons are out of sync as well and this will take a little adjustment on the driving fairway to get right again. Off the tee the Driver is working well enough again after this mornings hit out. I had began to get erratic with it on Monday and had not had a real chance to retune the swing tempo until today. Nothing major in error as a result of getting tired after two days of competition and starting to hit at the ball too hard. Now back to the steady easy swing and the ball flying straight at my target point, without any slice.



One matter that I have to consider seriously is a diet change for a while. The winter weather has had me snacking on a few too many comfort foods with cups of coffee. A couple of kilos of apples has replaced the sugar rich biscuits and cakes that had been in the cupboard of late. It does not take much to alter your diet much like smoking (without the nicotine addiction) the habit becomes a part of regular routine. A little discipline is all it takes to get out of the snack attacks.

Thankyou for your time and attention "Hit 'em straight all" Geoff

GOLF - Practice regularly and in advance of playing..

26th July PM The brief description of the previous two days of competition in the Millicent Open (Saturday) and Monthly Medal round at my home club (Sunday) is not because nothing spectacular happened instead the two rounds played near to how I set myself up to play them. The practice that is part of the preparation was the key to my enjoyment and the success on the course.

Play Your Best Golf - Break 90 Vol 1

Towards the end of Sunday’s round the driver shots off the tee began to falter, with a slice beginning to establish in the tail of the ball flight. This is a regular fault in the stroke that the regular practice removes from my game play. In this case there may have been a little tiredness that brought it on which is why the three iron was used on one tee. Today after a casual 9 holes in the morning the slice was still established in the tee shots, so this afternoon a concentrated half hour was put in to getting the tee shot back to perfect. It was deliberately done after playing another three holes and having the tiredness affecting shots as well. In the morning nine my older set was used, being heavier irons with more loft it is interesting to note that the increased distance with the game set has transferred to these as well. Which is further evidence that the improvement has came from swing technique and the practice that established it.



With the Kingston Open on this Sunday accuracy off the tee is vital again, on another course with gum tree lined fairways on some holes and a few long doglegs to negotiate. Physically, a few twinges in some back muscles were noticed during Monday’s hitting and a bit of rest is needed to let them settle.

In fact this week will include another series of physical excercise incorporated into shot practice. Nothing new or major, the concentrated regime from March to April is still proving it’s worth. A week of doing the “leg lift” yoga excercise will firm and tone my back muscles, together with doing the chest expander and hand grip routines for improved stamina for club use. Yesterday in the afternoon practice session my strength was flagging, to be expected after playing in two 18 hole comps. over the weekend and I am definitely no athlete. August is a usual month of golfing, I am choosing to play in the Kingston Open on the 1st. The 8th is a Par round and in this case I may choose to go to Naracoorte and play, there is a 18/36 hole stroke competition there that day. The first qualifying round of the club championships and combined monthly medal is on the 15th. The 22nd and 29th are both the 3rd and final rounds of two trophy competitions, Caledonian Inn and John Leake respectively which I am among the leaders in. Hence a little pre-round conditioning can only benefit my game if done now.



Also a little more work on the short game is in order to refine the variety of shots I can play. Nothing in particular just better control over distance and even a little work on getting more backspin when the ball hits the green from close in shots. Around the green first choice is my pitching wedge, occasionally the sand wedge is used. The 60 degree lob wedge is not even in my bag, eventually it may get a slot once it’s use is mastered, in the meantime the other two irons will suffice. Putting will be getting more attention in particular after the Millicent experience the improvements that this has initiated in play on the greens, I do not want to lose and revert to the previous established putting style.

Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

GOLF - Monthly Medal winning round

26th July The playing of 18 holes in yesterday’s Monthly Medal round at Robe after the Open in Millicent on Saturday was a challenge that delivered very good results for me. Struggled with putting for the first 4 holes, a little gun shy after the pace of the greens the day before and not able to have my usual practice session before tee off to adjust. After those holes though the experience from Millicent was beneficial to the game on and off the green. An 8 in the par five first was not the best of starts and the result of a lost ball, again it was not a major problem as it was at the start of the round. Sticking to my usual strategy I was set to go after a front 9 total from the fourth hole and went on a par charge finishing the front 9 with a 46 and the back nine 41 for a total 87 gross and nett 67.

PLAY YOUR BEST GOLF - BREAK 90
A good enough score to win the monthly medal by one stroke and also picked up a NTP in two shots on the par 4 ninth hole. Best of all the nett 67 has got another .3 off my handicap to 19.7, it was the 2nd of the three rounds for the Caledonian Inn trophy and thanks to the Golf Link rounds being available to review I am now leading this by one stroke. Next weekend is the Kingston Open only a 45 km trip away and a course that has had a lot of work in the past year. Expanded to include new holes in the original 18 since last playing there in the New Year weekend Open ,only the 18th is not completed so it will be interesting to play the new holes. It is also the 6th round of the DK Edwards Trophy and the last one until September 5th at Bordertown. Playing at Kingston will give me five of the necessary six minimum played to qualify.  “Hit ‘em straight all”

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

GOLF - When a course hits back at you

July 24th The satisfaction of playing well and not winning is an attribute that golf delivers more adeptly than any other game of skill. When a player has that experience in a round it can take a little while to absorb the effect and realise the benefits to your game. From the practise round at the Millicent Club on Tuesday in preparing for the challenge this course was going to be to my ability, that feeling of something special was established for the Open yesterday in my game.




My game plan was to use the “Alamo Strategy” do nothing heroic and go and get help while the rest hold the fort... in simple terms do nothing that would bring risk into the game play. My practise round established the game plan of total concentration for accuracy and avoid journey’s into the trees off the tee and along the fairways. The second part was to go for the greens in regulation whenever possible and at least get on in one shot over regulation. The short game was pretty much in the hands of the golfing gods... as much as I have been practising pitching and putting to a greater level the past two weeks my execution of this and ability in reading greens of the calibre at Millicent was the weakness that could not be rectified in time.



With a front nine 47 and a back nine 50 the gross 97 (77 nett) I am not certain what the grade handicap cut of points were. I am assuming that 20 had me in “B” grade (for the Millicent Open) where the two scores had me in 7th place (gross) and 4th place (nett) in “C” grade it was a 2nd (gross) and tied 2nd (nett). For my first ever “B” grade ranking on a course which was a true test of my mettle I am a very happy golfer this morning. There was only one totally unexpected occurrence on the day which had an effect on my game play. Although it was a typically cool winter day with not even a zephyr of wind (unusual) I was hitting 7-pw irons 10-15 metres more than usual. The first time it happened on the 4th hole I hit a six iron after deciding it was not quite a five iron. It was not a one off beautifully hit shot just normal and it wend 15m + long over the green. An up-hill shot to boot and I could only assume it bounced well as the ground was not muddy. Even so a little mental note was made and by chance the next hole was a par three 161m a four iron usually but with the previous hole in mind and seeing that falling short would not be too harmful took out a six iron and sure enough had the distance!



On top of this eventuality the greens had me beaten all day, being quick and over shooting several putts for the day another fault was pitching on the green and the ball which placed that well on my home course would be in a 1-2m distance of the hole just kept on rolling leaving 3-6 m putts instead. here was an example of why playing other courses develops your skill. At the Robe course playing the pitch and run where the ball hits off the green is very risky as the green collars are very spongy uneven grass and the ball will often pop up and stop so I choose to hit the green, at the Millicent course pitching onto the collar and letting the ball run to the green is a playable option. Unfortunately it was not possible for me to adapt to that and so had to suffer the results of hitting the green and the ball rolling far away from the hole. To end up with a gross 97 and to lose a ball on the 18th and have to play a provisional after the only slice into the trees all round was a good result. The course did not beat me but instead gave out the most enjoyable challenge to my ability and yes I will return to play Millicent again as a benchmark of skill. Especially as my short game practise continues along and improves.



This morning as I write this, it is a prelude to heading out and playing in todays competition on my home course, in fact the first time playing two succesive 18 hole competative rounds is too good a challenge to ignore. Plus satisfy the curiosity of putting into practise some of yesterday’s experience is too tempting to ignore. Especially the realisation that hitting the ball accurately is not beyond my ability and that it has been laziness and making errors off the fairways are not punished on many of the holes as opposed to all of them at courses like Millicent. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all” , Geoff

GOLF - Millicent Golf Course a challenge worth taking...

1st Hole - Par 5 - 506 Meters - Index 6

20 July Tuesday Took in four hours of walking around the Millicent Golf Course for 18 holes of practice. Great course and all of the reports about it were accurate, a really invigorating challenge to play on. Have never been there before today and would usually take the chance that it plays similar enough to other courses in the region. Must be getting smarter because if today had not happened Saturday would have been a disaster of a round. Unlike my home course apart from the par 3’s no more than 2-3 greens are visible from the tee and it is hilly as opposed to the flat coastal course I play on. The big note to self is to look up when setting for a shot. had a few probs with not doing this at Keith and Lucindale too, not being used to a course with towering gum trees along the fairways. Importantly have a feel for the greens and definatley have to work on my pitching. At the very least I have an idea of how to play it now for the Open on Saturday. If you are ever travelling near by take the opportunity to call in and… play on a top 100 rating golf course. The Millicent Open is the fifth round of the ten in the S.E.G.A. D.K .Edwards Trophy. Having played in 3 of the first four I should have no problem completeing the required minimum of 6, at the minute well placed in the top order of my grade to be able to put in a challenge for a win.


Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

GOLF - First place finish Lucindale Open

19th July 2010. After 3 weeks of finishing third in competitions, yesterday was a first place finish and Gross Winner of the “C” in the Lucindale CAVPOWER Tournament. As someone commented on my way to receive the prize, “1st is better than third” that has been a motivating factor inmy mind for the past week and it is a reward for putting in the effort to prepare yourself to play as well as possible that made it worthwhile, not the winning. Playing golf is importantly fun and the social enjoyment with my playing partners was a bonus to hitting the ball well. “C” grade is the place where some of the most amazing shots happen in my opinion. As many of us are beginners and at times play the most atrocious shots imaginable the law of percentages decide that eventually the occasional absolute miraculous shot happens. One guy with us hit two on the same hole, a low shooter out of the gum trees scorching across the green heading interstate, stopped by hitting a sign post and ricocheted back to the green. Followed by a putt that was hit hard enough to stun an elephant yet found a line to the hole, bounced up in the air and dropped into the hole like a roulette ball into your lucky number. That was just a couple of the moments that made playing the round enjoyable and not a dull, clinical and methodical delivery of golfing skill.


Maintained the same practice routine throughout the week. Pitching for an hour plus a day into a target net resulted in an accuracy 55% in the net from 5m, 10m and 15-20m out. The closer the more that went into the target which is approximately 75cm in diameter circle. Even at the worst from 20 m out, the ball would land no more that 3 metres from the target. In the round on Sunday at Lucindale this practice was the crucial factor in my success. Also dedicated time for putting practise was included, in the aftermath of the round this was well worth it but is still a significant weakness in my game. I will be spending a bit of time today looking a some green reading practices. The putting practice routines I use are fine, adding the use of a putting stroke guide tool has been a major benefit in establishing a consistent stroke. The faults that cost my rounds are misreading greens and concentration lapses.


Obviously there were more positives in the round than negatives, off the tee as the round progressed I became more accurate with the driver and using the long to mid-range irons were superb (for a 20 handicapper) hitting near 50 % of the greens in regulation. Missed every birdie putt though! It was a very different experience to be hitting the ball to where it was aimed and being able to walk up and do the same with the next shot as well. The small things were what made this happen. Sticking to the set up routine and not taking shortcuts after hitting a few good shots. On a several holes the tee shots were played for safety to consolidate my game and avoid blowouts, this was coupled with shots played to the green that hit. At this moment, a day later it is very satisfying to realise these were not lucky flukes but the result of my practice.


There were errors made that after some reflection and replaying mentally were the result of concentration lapses. At this stage I have one thing that must be done to correct this. When the focus is lost during setting up for a shot I must stop walk away and start the whole set up routine again. With a 46 and a 44 for the front 9 and back 9 respectively (we did start on No. 10 though) my first hole was an 8, three over on a par 5. That was one hole in a total of 44 for that nine, again my focus was not even distracted by the initial score it took a quick calculation to figure out my target for the next three holes and it worked.


This Saturday is another round of the DK Edwards Trophy this time at  Millicent Golf Club, one of the best courses in the region, noted for their fast greens which will be a challenge for an erratic putter like me. A course I have never played as opposed to Lucindale which I had played on before albeit 20 plus years ago. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Golf - Practice putting a ball in a hole

15th July Sticking with my golf program is not difficult with the use of little discipline in the beginning. After so many months of practice the routine is now established and is never an imposition which fits in very well with the enjoyment of playing golf as a whole. In reading many of the coaching guides and training books that are written with a more personal approach to the golfer, (as opposed to the books which are a one way lecture of do this and this and so on.... and miraculously at the end you will be hitting in the 70’s blindfolded.) authors often mention how golfers get on the range and hit the long irons and drivers and rarely put the same effort into their short game. This week is concentrating on the short game specifically pitching from 20m in to the green and putting.

There are still many parts of my game to be improved beside this that require some dedicated error/technique practice, it is only possible to do one a a time and benefit in my particular case and that is okay. No doubt there is many more able and talented golfers than I who can take control of their game development on a broader scale, I cannot and so for this approach is working. After the first couple of days today was the day when it was a pleasure pitching the ball to the target net. The swing was smooth the accuracy for 5m, 10m and 15m was very good by my standard, 50% of the balls went into the net the rest inside a 2-3 m circle. Best of all no mis-hit that dribbled forward, damn those are among the most frustrating errors to make. In a position to pitch onto the green and have an up and down chance for par, instead you dribble the ball forward up to a metre and are left with up and down needed for a bogie.

Did a little practice with the Driver and long irons to finish off today, been a few costly errors made in recent rounds that needed a bit of exploration. The Driver technique that worked so well had started to be eroded from my game. It was all in the mind, thought that the stroke was being played as the professional coaching lesson in January established. Truth was it was not and the occasional fade was beginning to become a slice again and giving me shots off the fairway from the tee as well as out of bounds results. Long irons were nothing major, mostly rushing the set up and not being settled for the shots. Hitting three to five fat long iron shots a round is the usual result and that has been expensive over all in the scores. With totals of gross 91-92’s the past 3 weeks, that is how fine a line it has been of late to breaking 90 and handicap. My next coaching lesson will include playing long iron shots in particular. Up until very recently my technique was the ‘scoop’ off the fairway, with practice now the stroke is more in the pure technique taking a small divot after hitting the ball on the downstroke.

Although reaching the green in regulation is now becoming a regular part of my round, without the stunned exclamation of, “How did that happen!!!” It is still a learning experience with a long way to go from being able to aim at the green and hit, to landing the ball on a particular spot of the green from 150 m out. Modest understatement is not a part of my nature in many things golf is an exception to that. False modesty is a trait that some people put out and that is not something that works in my opinion. Hence I can accept that my game is not rubbish but it is definitely a 20 handicapper game and improving. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all.” Geoff

GOLF - Third place again....

12th July 2010 Put in a fair effort in yesterday’s competition, scoring 36 points and finishing third overall. Unfortunately, 1st place (39pts) and 2nd (37pts) were both the golfers whom I defeated on a countback to win the first round of the John Leake Trophy. We were all tied on 38 points, so now I need to come in with a better than 39 points (at least) in the third round to have a chance at winning this trophy.


Not too perturbed at my performance and the result, a few errors with my approach shots and a couple of bad drives cost me a better score, wiping two holes. Fact is I am a 20 handicapper and still improving to the next lower handicap figure.



I was particularly satisfied with my putting it was confident and consistent for the whole round and did not have any three putts. Importantly I did not miss a putt inside 2 metres from the hole, as has been happening over the past two weeks. the past week putting and pitching practise was my main focus and proved it’s worth in the round. Scrappy pitching did cost me a couple of points as well as the mid iron approach shots that I hit fat. This week will be a continued favouritism of putting and pitching practise. I want to get the two skills back to a consistent facet of my game. The mid iron shots are going to have to take a back seat to the short game practice, the execution is not that disastrous to my game at the minute more frustrating than a round wrecking fault.



The fault with drives of the tee has been identified and corrected to a degree. It was nothing new that had happened. The slicing and inaccuracy was caused by no longer executing the drives as the coaching from the club professional in January had established. Although it ‘felt’ like I was still playing the strokes with my driver correctly this was a fallacy. Unfortunately the weather has been particularly bad here and I did not get to practice the corrected stroke enough before playing the round. Bad drives cost me two holes of scores and I will reiterate that the round was not bad and provided more satisfaction with my game as it is at the minute.



The time has come to retract an opinion I have about my game and ball hitting. Not many things peeve me and one of those that does is false modesty and it is time to stand up and admit to a part of my game that I have been understating for the past few months. Not blatantly ignoring the aspect on my part more so not convinced or certain that there had been a significant change and this round has delivered the final proof. Understating my club distance hit very nearly became an established fault. There are still several longer hitters at the club, yet now 235-250 metre drives are the norm in rounds. The same with the iron shots not as consistent and this unsettled state is the main reason for the mis-hit (fat) shots played on Sunday. It is particularly unnerving to be relearning how far I hit irons during a round even though it is a part of my practice routine. A 10-15 metre distance increase is significant and across the range from the 3iron to PW in my bag.



The next few weeks will have me concentrating as much as possible to maintain the progress of late. Travelling in totally new regions of the handicap is exciting and stimulating, hitting greens in regulation, putting for birdies are now usual parts of my rounds and not the unexpected surprises. It delivers a level of excitement and interest in getting out to play that is stimulating. I have no idea when my ability at golf will peak, that is something that I want to know and so will have to keep playing. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit ‘em straight all. , Geoff

GOLF - Winter play is a new game

10th July 2010 Looks like my request for some winter weather has got through to the weather gods. I am sitting inside contemplating going out to film the course in its tougher playing conditions. Not raining but the gusting winds that makes the game so challenging here are rattling the windows. Doing a little mental refresher course in my mind at the minute, I have been out and practiced in the less favourable weather this season and it looks like tomorrows comp. will be the first time the practice will be needed. As usual feeling confident that I will be reasonable on the course, a little added incentive is that a win should have me the likely winner of the John Leake Trophy for the season. A best two of three rounds, won the first round and am in good form at the minute so should be able to come in near the top.




Have put in the hours practising putting and pitching this week. The long game is not going to have much effect on my improvement in coming months. To cut 4-5 more strokes a round off my scores is going to come from getting up and down in two shots when not on the green and one putting for birdie when on in regulation. Following on from last weeks round and recovering from a 10 on the first hole, yesterday afternoon’s 9 hole ‘Chicken Run” stableford comp also had me pull out the stops with 2 points after 3 holes and 18 after completing 9. Added to this I was also playing off 19 hcp and not my official 20 hcp. One of the conditions of this comp. is that players who win have a shot taken off their hcp the following week also players who come in with a 21 points plus for the nine also lose a stroke.



This is to make it a very open and fun competition not dominated by the same golfers winning each week. I have found it to be particularly effective in improving my game on two fronts. It is enjoyable and a very good tune up for the club competition round on the Sunday. Of equal import is that I get to experience playing off a lower handicap than usual in a competition and having to perform to win an event against other golfers. Like many golfers I try to break my handicap in practice, when playing off a lower hcp even if it is only 9 holes, the competative spirit certainly kicks in for me. Not to forget I do a lot more laughing, sledging and chatting than I or my playing partners would do in an official round.

It is especially intyeresting in this comp. The surprise many of us get when playing and seeing the other game face of people who previously we thought were so serious is a great benefit to the club social character. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit ‘em straight all.
 Geoff

Golf Chokers - Gary Player speaks on then and now.

As we age the perception of the following generation of golfers and their quality and character starts to cross our minds. Yes, times have changed well Doh!? The obvious statement is truly stupid, Time does not stop and evolving technology has changed the face of golf and the people who play it now, depending on their age some players can remember playing with Woods that were clubs made of wood, not the No. 1 Golfer of the time. The first metal drivers coming on to the scene in the 1980's as well as the iron revolution from PING and the end of having to play with blades as virtually the only choice of iron.

Gary Player a true champion of golf has delivered his views on the topic in his most recent book and following is an excerpt of an interview  and the link to the fuull transcript...

 Gary Player talks Tiger, mental toughness and how he stays fit at age 74

The 74-year-old nine-time major champion has written a new book, Don't Choke: A Champion's Guide to Winning Under Pressure.

Most pro athletes hate to even say the word choke. You wrote a book about it. Why?


I've done about 14 or 15 books in my career, and it's mostly been on theory. And so I thought, is theory really the important thing? You look at Trevino — he takes the club outside the line, and he's shut. Palmer takes it back, and he's shut. Nicklaus takes it upright with a flying right elbow. Hogan took it back on the perfect plane. Snead took it back inside and up. You have all these different swings. So what makes a champion is certainly not the swing. The swing is not the thing. It's what's upstairs.


Look at me. I was small, I had to travel and I had great difficulties to compete on the Tour. I was far from home, and I saw a lot of demonstrations against me because I was from South Africa. There was a lot of adversity.


In the book you say that you never choked. How did you avoid it?


I really believe that when you're young, the difficulties you've encountered are to your advantage. When I was young my mother died when I was 8. My father worked in a gold mine 12,000 feet underground. My brother went off to fight alongside the Americans in World War II. So I said to myself "when I play one day — and I never said if, I said when, — one thing I'll never be is scared to win. Most of the time when I was playing in these big championships, when I had a chance to win, I won. I can honestly say I never lost a tournament because I flat choked. The thing is, after what I'd gone through,


subconsciously I said, man, this playing in a golf tournament is Mickey Mouse compared to what I'd gone through as a young person. The worst thing you can do is to start thinking about the trophy, or the check, or the fame that you'll get out of the experience.






Are young players today softer than they were in your era?


Young people today are coming along at a different time. [Many are] obese — 26 percent of the youth, 55 percent of the grownups … how do you go into life and excel? You cannot obtain success unless you're in good condition mentally, physically and have a positive attitude.

I look at the Tour now, and there are all these international players coming in and taking over. What is the reason? You know what is? I think, we live in this great country of milk and honey. You think there's a sense of entitlement. We've got to get people to get back to the grindstone

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

GOLF - Documentary filming starts today

8th July 2010 Today is the first day of shooting of the Golf Documentary I have developed after 9 months of pre-production work. The preparation has been enjoyable, a little more so than usual as this included playing a lot of golf. Which may be an understatement and I fully intend to play a lot more golf in the coming months of filming as well. Movie production can even be seen as an analogy for developing your own golf game, doing a little bit at a time to produce the finished product. There are a lot of little bits to be done in the coming months to craft the completed film and it will be as much fun as playing golf.


This week has not been as concentrated on playing and practising that has been the way of late. Preparing for shooting today did take up a bit of my golf course time. Managed to get out for a casual hit on Tuesday and play 9 holes on Wednesday which showed again that it is a good thing to have a break from practice and playing all of the time. Hitting four of nine greens in regulation was very satisfying, not getting any birdies was not too much of a concern. Did not putt well either, finished up with 16 putts in a score of 42 with a couple of very scrappy pitches as well. The focus in coming weeks is on the short game for me to have any further progression down the handicap numbers. Now playing off 20 and taking 6 months to get there has been entertaining, it was also a requirement to be able to start shooting the film so the added motivation I am sure did help in reaching the target.

This coming weekend is the second round of the John Leake Trophy a best of three competition I won the first round and will be putting in a concentrated effort to keep in the lead Sunday. Being a Stableford competition does suit higher handicappers if they are on song and playing well. It is particularly favourable to the mid 20’s player who is on the path to the high teens and can come in with pars and birdies on those holes where they get 2 strokes. I only get two of those now, but scoring 3 points for a par is a just as effective in coming in with a near 40+ total and that will be just fine. Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all” Geoff

Kingsbarns live web cam 18th green Saint Andrews golf course.

18th Hole Kingsbarn St Andrews Golf Course
Nothing on tv to watch or you enjoy watching the grass grow even. Of course there are the times when you can actually watch the hole being worked on by ground staff and people playing golf on the course.

Don't expect to be entertained with non stop action, even golfers canot play during the night.  
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

GOLF - Achieved first goal of 2010 Season

After 6 months of seriously trying to improve my playing handicap ,the target of 20 has finally been reached. In that time I have dropped 5 strokes through a combination of professional lessons/coaching, practise, practise, a bit more practise and last but by no means least equipment changes. Also included in the mix is the Mental conditioning and thought put into the game when playing and practising.

To finally reach the target has been a concentrated effort on the course and ignoring the “IF” factor. It is nothing new in golfer’s language we have all experienced the “IF’s” during a round of golf. Those shots that “IF” they had done this instead of that and hence saved a stroke here or there, your score would have been better. There is nothing wrong about the IF’s of the game in many cases, they can be inspiring and give the little bit of belief and confidence boost to improve your game. On the other side of the coin the IF’s can become excuses and the beginning of a litany of hard done by tales why a golfer never manages to play as well as they think they can.

Imagination is a part of golf usually about the visualising of shots to be played, this is not fantasy and the “IF factor being used as an excuse is a fantasy and never a reality. Results are what matter on the scorecard not what could have been the score “IF” something had been done different. In the round this weekend that finally got me to the 20 handicap I had a 10 on the par 5 first hole which after my handicap allowance deduction was 4 strokes over. As I have mentioned previously I break a round of 18 holes up into 4 parts. The first four holes, then the next five to complete the front nine. The next four holes is the 3rd section of a round with the final five holes played at my best possible standard to get the score I am chasing. It was very plausible for me to use that first hole hole score as; “IF it had not happened my score could have been better”, excuse.

Instead my approach was to put my head down and attack the next 17 holes and not go over my handicap allowance. Playing off 21 minus the 4 strokes over on the first hole I had to play bogey golf for the rest of the round and try to get a few pars along the way. I went one better on the ninth hole and scored a birdie 3 which was the equivalent of an eagle with my one stroke handicap allowance. On the front nine I had a 47 off the stick which is acceptable and I came home with a 45 on the back nine a Gross 92 for a nett 71 with 33 putts. I finished 3rd in this medal round one stroke behind the second place getter and five shots behind the winner on a nett 66.

What cost me a better score was not the 10 on the first hole, through the next 17 holes it was the short game, which I have just began to practise with more preference than the long game. I have reached a standard off the tee and with the second shot to be either, 5 or less metres off the green and on in regulation occasionally. Not being able to stop the ball within the 1-2 m area around the pin often enough, more concerning is missing the close putts from 30-60 cm, (two misses in the last round) are what I have to improve now. With a very good selection of clubs at my disposal, my first choice is to practise and refine my technique, not select a particular club to cover my lack of practical ability in pitching.

Making the improvements to the golf game I play has been successful for several reasons. One of them is that after reviewing my games standard, the corrections were targeted one at a time and not all at once. In effect each time one fault was corrected or execution of a shot became consistent through practise, my game stabilised a little more. When it comes to golf, my knowledge is at the level my handicap in playing represents. A playing handicap of 15 is the current goal, I have enough knowledge and developing ability to reach that over this season, together with another couple of coaching lessons and the observation of playing partners games.

The round was also the first in a best two of three, Club Sponsor's trophy and I am 5 strokes behind the current leader. Next week is the 2nd round of another best two of three Sponsor's trophy which I am currently leading. This time last year was about learning to play the game let alone being able to think about having a dedicated crack at winning club trophies until the end of the season. This year I am using these trophy competitions as added incentive to maintain and improve my playing standard. It seems to be working and the success is a bonus with the satisfaction of playing better golf all up. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit ‘em straight all

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff