Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Golf - 54 holes fixes the slice, hook and putting yips


Play Your Best Golf - Break 90 Vol 1
8th June 2010 Peaked this weeks training this morning after playing 18 holes 3 days in a row, was not certain if 18 would be played this morning. It was not imperative to do so in respect to my training program, although it could not hurt and eventually in coming months it would have to be done any way. Playing three consecutive days of 18 holes is something I have not done for at least a year, when I was first starting to play golf again.


First result to report is my physical condition being excellent, feet and ankles a little stiff is the only noticeable after effect from 54 holes played. Not positive about the next assumption, felt a little resistance in my back and ribs to the swing turn during the last 6 holes today and Monday as well. This became apparent during practise swings and I adjusted the stroke to remove the feeling with no ill effects. Sitting here 4 hrs later there is no residual stiffness or tenderness, in which case this can be put down to tiring towards the end on the rounds. As it took two months to prepare for Southern Ports tournament in March this year, I have definitely progressed to a greater extent in my physical conditioning without being consciously aware this was happening. I am aware that golfers do not need to be an athlete to play good competative golf, the higher your level of fitness is does give you another asset in game play. It is very easy to ignore fittness in the quest to play better golf, the game does require you to learn specific skills and repetative practise to hone them. I do use a couple of excersise tools, a set of handgrips and a 5 strand chest expander. If I have a gap in playing golf then I use the excersise equipment. Just to keep my arms, shoulders, hands tuned and active.
I view my golf practise and training the same as a trainer sees a horse in preparation, have a set of goals to meet in competition and know that the conditioning is done well in advance. Tuesday my score improved on the day before by one stroke a gross 90 (33 putts), compared to 91(30 putts) on Monday and Sunday’s 93 (32 putts). No complaints from this happy golfer, no matter what errors were made in the round that could have made the score lower, consistency has been established in my game again. It has been a challenging target to achieve with new irons and establishing a better fitness and physical condition while still trying to be competitive and improve my game skill level at the same time. My game scores of late have been below acceptable standards and this is no critique of my ability. Simply my skill is not that good, a 21 handicap indicates that.
Today I am not going to play a round, instead with the lousy weather a little practise on the putting and pitching range will do and I can catch up on some career work for a change this week. My iron game has been intriguing to experience of late. The irons have a lot more feel and the ball can be shaped with draws and fades. Getting a consistent swing every time is still being worked on. During the past 3 days the feel of my swing has became second nature and the grip as well, and memorised into how to do it correctly, more often. The driver was totally on the mark in the 3rd round, settled into that 200m distance shot that gets the best results with accuracy. The added bonus was that the distance had crept out to 220m off the tee average with the continued practise of the past days. Did enjoy the past months of winding up and really giving the ball a crack off the tee, the wayward shots were disastrous though and it is good to be back to a profitable game rythym on the tee. As usual looking forward to the coming weekends game and having a red hot go at winning my first Monthly Medal for the season.  “Hit ‘em straight all.”Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff