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
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