29/11/11 Tuesday. The past weekend golfing was a pleasure to see and play in, starting on Friday afternoon with my first decent hit in 2-3 weeks. The 9 hole “chicken run” competition on Friday afternoons is fun and my approach to this is to especially enjoy the round and use it to tune up my game for competition. Having spent so long on the side lines of late it was good to be hitting the ball well and enjoying the company of my playing partners. Akin to a scene from Caddyshack the skies around us on the course were black with flashes of lighting sparking across the roiling sky followed by rolling thunder. With two holes to go the wind changed direction and the storm clouds turned towards us and soon big fat raindrops were splatting onto heads. Sitting on 16 points and playing well I stuck it out to the end. Totally drenched by the finish and a total of 20 points was well worth the soaking.
Saturday was the Robe Village Classic Ambrose and our four put in a very credible effort. With a final total of 7 under for the day, getting 5 birdies on the front nine our game lacked the putting skill on the back only adding another 2 birdies to the scorecard. We did not get any bogies or worse in the round either, but not able to drop the birdie putts on the back nine had us miss out on the prizes on a countback at the end of the days play. Best total was a 14 under, proving that the summer conditions are a boon to playing better golf. Each team included 1-2 players who were invited players for the next days Robe Village Classic Tournament for 5 hcp. or less golfers in the Mens and 18 or less in the ladies tournament. Personally I felt some responsibility for out teams shortcomings on the back nine, struggled after the 11th hole to putt well especially. In the team talent scale I was the 2nd best golfer, with a Scratch, me on 12, a 23 and a 27.
No matter it was great fun and it was well worthwhile to see the difference between my standard and a scratch golfer up close and unleashed off the tee. With the consistent set up of each hole with a shot on the fairway every time before the scratch golfer teed up, it was possible to see first hand the talent that is in the hands of low handicappers. On the day he used the driver several times off the tee in the Ambrose which if it was a solo stroke round would have used anything from a fairway metal to #2 iron. That comment was filed away in my brain box together with the observation of the same game approach from Mark Pretty (+1 hcp.) who played in my group during the Robe Open on the 6th of November.
Mark Pretty and Dylan Morgan were both tied at the end of the Open’s 18 holes and there was a playoff to decide the winner. Out club has a two hole playoff with best gross score deciding the winner and if tied it is sudden death play until there is a winner. The 2011 Robe Open video footage of the 5 playoff holes has been edited now and is included in the post here;
1st playoff hole
2nd Playoff hole
3rd Playoff hole
4th Playoff hole
5th Playoff hole
Winners Presentation Robe Open 2011
This was an interesting notation in my mind when referring back to my first year back golfing in 2009. I played successfully in that season using the #3 iron off the tee for 6 months before getting coaching from the club professional in January 2010 in using a Driver. Even today with the smaller driver (380cc) in the bag, I do not have to change to a #3 metal off the tee when that is a better choice than a 460cc Driver. Improvement with the #2 Hybrid in coming months is a must, this club is going to be a vital ingredient among others in my quest to reach a 5 handicap. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all” Geoff
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
A little dummy spit... Feel a lot better now
24/11/11 Thursday. Getting close to spitting the dummy at the minute, had a gutfull of not playing golf today. After spending a few hours at the club sorting out the stock in the bar and with the electrician getting the power fixed went to the car and got the sticks out of the boot and played five holes.
Bit of anger in the first few holes so some ratty shots, still hitting greens in regulation was done a couple of times. Putted crap and did not care was just happy to throw off the shackles and have a swing. Still some damned pain in the right fore arm, that is not a good sign. Of course I would rather have the arm ,even if it is a bit second rate than be a Mr Stumpy. In fact as I write this the anger is really roiling away, a good thing. Have been through a lot of physical discomfort for a long time so my acceptance of it is very limited. Being fitter from playing golf and enjoying the handicap progress, stopping something so good is not easy.
Saturday is the Village Classic Ambrose, unfortunately only two of us from last seasons successful team can make it and I am not in prime form. That said it is an Ambrose and will suit my current game very well. Pretty pumped to play after so long away, hahahah two weeks of reduced golf. Then Sunday a day of watching a field of 24, 5 or less handicap golfers playing for the 2011 Village Classic honours.
The power problem had been noticed for 6 months or so and was a dimming of the lights in the main. Sparky gets the call and says it is not a good sign, as an electricity nimrod I had no idea what this potentially meant. A mini Hiroshima or a burst of cow flatulence. To make a long story short after answering no to the questions ie has any one been shocked with the juice or any electrical equipment been fried. He was surprised and then showed that instead of 240 Volts the club was getting up to 300V. ETSA sent a crew straight away and fixed the lines and so now we are back in the safety zone. By pure luck it seems because the club gets limited use through winter, not much wedding hire etc the possible disaster was avoided.
The Club AGM went well last night, bigger attendance than the last one, which in AGM terms can be a concrn as if members are happy they dont come out in large numbers. Yet the meeting went along smoothly the floor members voiced no concerns or problems with the plans and decisions mooted for the coming expansion. New people on the committee as well which is a good thing and I have stepped down from Secretary and taken on Vice President for the year. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”, Geoff
Bit of anger in the first few holes so some ratty shots, still hitting greens in regulation was done a couple of times. Putted crap and did not care was just happy to throw off the shackles and have a swing. Still some damned pain in the right fore arm, that is not a good sign. Of course I would rather have the arm ,even if it is a bit second rate than be a Mr Stumpy. In fact as I write this the anger is really roiling away, a good thing. Have been through a lot of physical discomfort for a long time so my acceptance of it is very limited. Being fitter from playing golf and enjoying the handicap progress, stopping something so good is not easy.
Saturday is the Village Classic Ambrose, unfortunately only two of us from last seasons successful team can make it and I am not in prime form. That said it is an Ambrose and will suit my current game very well. Pretty pumped to play after so long away, hahahah two weeks of reduced golf. Then Sunday a day of watching a field of 24, 5 or less handicap golfers playing for the 2011 Village Classic honours.
The power problem had been noticed for 6 months or so and was a dimming of the lights in the main. Sparky gets the call and says it is not a good sign, as an electricity nimrod I had no idea what this potentially meant. A mini Hiroshima or a burst of cow flatulence. To make a long story short after answering no to the questions ie has any one been shocked with the juice or any electrical equipment been fried. He was surprised and then showed that instead of 240 Volts the club was getting up to 300V. ETSA sent a crew straight away and fixed the lines and so now we are back in the safety zone. By pure luck it seems because the club gets limited use through winter, not much wedding hire etc the possible disaster was avoided.
The Club AGM went well last night, bigger attendance than the last one, which in AGM terms can be a concrn as if members are happy they dont come out in large numbers. Yet the meeting went along smoothly the floor members voiced no concerns or problems with the plans and decisions mooted for the coming expansion. New people on the committee as well which is a good thing and I have stepped down from Secretary and taken on Vice President for the year. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”, Geoff
Monday, November 21, 2011
How low can I go.....
21/11/11 Monday. Sticking with the no golfing effort to assist in recovery from the Tennis/Golfer elbow malaise. The last week was not easy did go out on Tuesday and hit 20 balls with my drivers just to work on the swing fault which affected the Penola round and had a 15 minute putting session on Wednesday. That is the total of golfing practise and the least number of hits in the past three years, so it was a difficult excercise. At the minute the recovery is still very slow, unfortunately on weekends I throw the papers for the local newsagent. Whilst the discomfort was less on Sunday than after Saturdays paper round it was not a good thing to do. At this stage I will have a hit on Friday in the Chicken run 9 hole stableford, before playing in the Robe Classic Ambrose Comp. on Saturday. Should be no problems with this amount of activity, although the Race To Cypress Lakes competition on the 2nd of December is looking like a non entry for me. Only 7 spots left in the field for the Vines and I cannot commit given the slow improvement.
Southern Ports Tournament in 2012 , end of February and first week of March is still the major start to next seasons competition targets, after finishing second in “B” Grade in 2011 and the same in “C” Grade in 2010 now I am up into the”A” Grade. Relishing the challenge at having a crack at this, reality is that being in the higher handicap section of the grade, target is the Nett competition not the Gross. Another two weeks are committed to recovering from the injury before I have to start the pre-Competition preparation.
The upside to not playing golf at the minute is the amount of “thinking time” that my game is getting to counter not being out playing. Was about time, in hindsight, that I sat back and put some thought into where I am going with golf. The dreamed of handicap goal back in 2009 when starting was 10, the must get target was 15. Reached that figure in February 2011, and now playing off 12. Nearing the first of the double figure handicap numbers, has me looking at the single digits below. Playing to 19hcp is still fresh enough in my experience to be able to notice the major improvement in 12 months to be 7 strokes better. Whilst all of the playing focus is on cracking the 10hcp level, mentally my mind is rambling among the single digits for a target.
Being aware of other golfing partners/opponents achievements over this time handicap wise is a benefit. Specifically two have got down to a 6hcp from 12-13 another from 4 to 2. In that time there has been several casual golfing partners, who during rounds have discussed their handicap journeys from where I am at to the single figures. After a week of thought, the revised handicap dream target is 5, I will accept 6 or 4 either side of the number as well, which pretty much reveals that until I get there the hunger to improve is a motivation at the minute. Being able to go back over three seasons of a golf diary and two of blogging which were written as the golfing happened is a significant benefit. I can see where I have had various influences, positive and negative on my game develop. The equipment and coaching experiences are especially valuable. In fact the latter is the most influential aspect which improved my game. A golfers attitude to receiving professional coaching is what makes or breaks their game in my opinion. For those who stand by the position of coaching does not benefit a golfers game, that is your choice. I will draw your attention to the fact that the professionals who play at the highest level today, still get coaching to keep their own game at it’s best.
Whilst I do have a documented training/practise schedule that has worked so far it is not static or set in stone. It has evolved since 2009 to produce my golf improvement and although it has maintained the core principles to enable playing my best golf. Not once have I gone off on a tangent chasing one of those imaginary “Secrets” that will take your golf to a brilliant level. Grip and Swing in tandem with practise are what has got me this far. Never have I gone to a coach without a set idea of what was needed. Hence I could listen to the advice. practise the routines and here I am playing my best golf for now. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”
Geoff
Southern Ports Tournament in 2012 , end of February and first week of March is still the major start to next seasons competition targets, after finishing second in “B” Grade in 2011 and the same in “C” Grade in 2010 now I am up into the”A” Grade. Relishing the challenge at having a crack at this, reality is that being in the higher handicap section of the grade, target is the Nett competition not the Gross. Another two weeks are committed to recovering from the injury before I have to start the pre-Competition preparation.
The upside to not playing golf at the minute is the amount of “thinking time” that my game is getting to counter not being out playing. Was about time, in hindsight, that I sat back and put some thought into where I am going with golf. The dreamed of handicap goal back in 2009 when starting was 10, the must get target was 15. Reached that figure in February 2011, and now playing off 12. Nearing the first of the double figure handicap numbers, has me looking at the single digits below. Playing to 19hcp is still fresh enough in my experience to be able to notice the major improvement in 12 months to be 7 strokes better. Whilst all of the playing focus is on cracking the 10hcp level, mentally my mind is rambling among the single digits for a target.
Being aware of other golfing partners/opponents achievements over this time handicap wise is a benefit. Specifically two have got down to a 6hcp from 12-13 another from 4 to 2. In that time there has been several casual golfing partners, who during rounds have discussed their handicap journeys from where I am at to the single figures. After a week of thought, the revised handicap dream target is 5, I will accept 6 or 4 either side of the number as well, which pretty much reveals that until I get there the hunger to improve is a motivation at the minute. Being able to go back over three seasons of a golf diary and two of blogging which were written as the golfing happened is a significant benefit. I can see where I have had various influences, positive and negative on my game develop. The equipment and coaching experiences are especially valuable. In fact the latter is the most influential aspect which improved my game. A golfers attitude to receiving professional coaching is what makes or breaks their game in my opinion. For those who stand by the position of coaching does not benefit a golfers game, that is your choice. I will draw your attention to the fact that the professionals who play at the highest level today, still get coaching to keep their own game at it’s best.
Whilst I do have a documented training/practise schedule that has worked so far it is not static or set in stone. It has evolved since 2009 to produce my golf improvement and although it has maintained the core principles to enable playing my best golf. Not once have I gone off on a tangent chasing one of those imaginary “Secrets” that will take your golf to a brilliant level. Grip and Swing in tandem with practise are what has got me this far. Never have I gone to a coach without a set idea of what was needed. Hence I could listen to the advice. practise the routines and here I am playing my best golf for now. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”
Geoff
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Golf as described on ABC Gruen Planet 16/11/11
gruen planet 16/11/11
“Chalmers took home 1/4 of a million dollars after the Aust. Open, Tiger Woods income has dropped from $100 million to $60 million p/a.
Host Wil Anderson, “Russell how is it that golf a moderately popular game, is the best paid”
“because it is a game played by white in the main, middle class men in the richest countries in the world”
“Well that does explain it…” as simple as that.
Agencies look at sporting events as advertising properties and golf is one of the premium and most valuable. The main reason for that is, “Who watches it” mostly 35 year old plus males with money.
And the consumers of golf product are wealthy, so it is a rich persons sport. Not necessarily a rich persons sport but more so than your average persons sport. Played by upper middle class people who love spending money on themselves, because in the main they are selfish.
Then the one panelist (who plays golf came in)... What! all golfers?
There are two things; One you participate in golf, it is the rare sport where you can increase your participation the older you get and the more you enter you wealth phase. Second in golf you see anything a new driver, ball, pair of socks that will take half a shot of your round you gotta go buy it…”
Episode link Gruen Planet Episode 8 16/11/2011
This TV show is entertaining and delivers the cold hard truth of Advertising up with a serving of wit and in house Advertising opinion. As a golfer myself I had a laugh at the segment the above transcript is taken from. Admittedly this program does have a significant humour quotient as part of the patter, so this has to be taken into account with these words out of the program.
That said it showed to me the image problem Golf has in Oz. It is a cheaper sport for me to play than Football or cricket for that matter., being country based the membership is not too expensive and I get to play as often as I like. Yet golf carries the dated imagery of “exclusivity” still in the minds of many.
Golf has to overcome this sterotypical image to regain a larger share of the sporting public playing the game.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
“Chalmers took home 1/4 of a million dollars after the Aust. Open, Tiger Woods income has dropped from $100 million to $60 million p/a.
Host Wil Anderson, “Russell how is it that golf a moderately popular game, is the best paid”
“because it is a game played by white in the main, middle class men in the richest countries in the world”
“Well that does explain it…” as simple as that.
Agencies look at sporting events as advertising properties and golf is one of the premium and most valuable. The main reason for that is, “Who watches it” mostly 35 year old plus males with money.
And the consumers of golf product are wealthy, so it is a rich persons sport. Not necessarily a rich persons sport but more so than your average persons sport. Played by upper middle class people who love spending money on themselves, because in the main they are selfish.
Then the one panelist (who plays golf came in)... What! all golfers?
There are two things; One you participate in golf, it is the rare sport where you can increase your participation the older you get and the more you enter you wealth phase. Second in golf you see anything a new driver, ball, pair of socks that will take half a shot of your round you gotta go buy it…”
Episode link Gruen Planet Episode 8 16/11/2011
This TV show is entertaining and delivers the cold hard truth of Advertising up with a serving of wit and in house Advertising opinion. As a golfer myself I had a laugh at the segment the above transcript is taken from. Admittedly this program does have a significant humour quotient as part of the patter, so this has to be taken into account with these words out of the program.
That said it showed to me the image problem Golf has in Oz. It is a cheaper sport for me to play than Football or cricket for that matter., being country based the membership is not too expensive and I get to play as often as I like. Yet golf carries the dated imagery of “exclusivity” still in the minds of many.
Golf has to overcome this sterotypical image to regain a larger share of the sporting public playing the game.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Penola Golf Club Champion of Champions
15/11/11 Tuesday. Started the “No Golf” period after Sunday’s round at Penola. Hopefully the two week lay off will do the job and get the body back to a condition of playing without discomfort. The 18 holes last played summed up my current capability on the course, tried all day and there was nothing in the tank again. Was using the 3 iron off the tee after two holes and even this stick had an irritating fade all day. The Driver came back out on the 17th and even though the game was over and done I had at least figured out the problem, simply standing too far out from the ball earlier. Drives on 17 and 18 were crackers and dead straight. Most second shots for me were chips back out onto the fairway and the third shot at the greens in the main, fell short. Did not feel as though I was under clubbing, just could not get the distance right when hitting the ball well.
The greens were great fun had the speed right and read them well all day, the putting was an enjoyable part of the day. Short chips were okay as well but bogie golf on a 12 handicap is never a good scoring basis. I recall getting 1 par hole all day and three wipes in the round. Finished with a total of 24 stableford points. Was not upset in the slightest about the poor result, not a tantrum thrower when it comes to golf at any time. This round was no more that playing one too many and was a club representative obligation, the only reason I played was for that reason.
At the minute my goal has been to play at the Vines on 2/12/11 and that may not happen, depending on the progress of my fitness to play well again. Will play the Village Classic Ambrose at Robe on the 26th of November and at best have a few putts and a couple of hits on the practise range to gauge how the golfers elbow injury is healing. The Club AGM is on the 23rd and my final duty as club secretary that night, staying on the committee in the coming season if my nomination is accepted. Work is getting a foot in the door and have to reduce some golfing commitments. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit ‘em Straight allGeoff
The greens were great fun had the speed right and read them well all day, the putting was an enjoyable part of the day. Short chips were okay as well but bogie golf on a 12 handicap is never a good scoring basis. I recall getting 1 par hole all day and three wipes in the round. Finished with a total of 24 stableford points. Was not upset in the slightest about the poor result, not a tantrum thrower when it comes to golf at any time. This round was no more that playing one too many and was a club representative obligation, the only reason I played was for that reason.
At the minute my goal has been to play at the Vines on 2/12/11 and that may not happen, depending on the progress of my fitness to play well again. Will play the Village Classic Ambrose at Robe on the 26th of November and at best have a few putts and a couple of hits on the practise range to gauge how the golfers elbow injury is healing. The Club AGM is on the 23rd and my final duty as club secretary that night, staying on the committee in the coming season if my nomination is accepted. Work is getting a foot in the door and have to reduce some golfing commitments. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit ‘em Straight allGeoff
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
The final season round Robe Open
9/11/11 Wednesday The Robe Open on Sunday was my last committed hit on a course for a few weeks, time to rest up a bit giving my elbows a bit of recovery time. The improvement has been gradual and the frustration and irritation of the injury has been a boon of sorts. You may think that this is taking optimism a leap too far in maintaining a positive attitude. For me it is not, the pain and incapacitating aspect of the golfer/tennis elbow injury was never pleasant. I have endured and lived with far worse pain in the past 20 years, in comparison this was a doddle to get through. One of the difficult parts of my rehab was to not over do it, given that I have experienced higher pain levels in the past and kept pushing the limits. A disciplined approach had to be enforced and not negate the slow recovery progress.
The limitation in my swing from driver to chipping and on the green with the putter also required a few changes to accommodate the recovery while still improving my game. The restriction in the swing made getting the technical execution of the strokes as good as I possibly could. End result was that as the injury improved my game has still benefited from the experience. The last 3 weeks I have played with blades and that required greater concentration and a higher skill level to play shots. It would have been very easy to pull out the cavity back game improvement clubs and still played golf with out making any specific effort to improve until the injury was repaired. This week I have put the blades away and gone out with the AP2’s the last two days and reaped the benefit of an improved long and short iron game. Early days yet and the recovery is still not 100% so back to the blades tomorrow and continuing the process.
Ended the Open with an 86 Gross and a 74 Nett in A Grade, was a little surprised when on the first tee realising that I was grouped with single figure and past champion golfers. No nerves or hestiation just something that I observed and spent a few seconds acknowledging the reality in my mind, on the 7th of November in 2010, I was playing off a 19 handicap. The round was ticking along nicely until the 13th and 14th holes, 2 lost balls and the round was shot. Pars on the next 4 holes were a good enough recovery from those two holes. Again though it was errors in the same places of a round that has been affecting my golf for several months. This may be coincidental as far as the timing in rounds, it is still a matter of me not playing consistant good golf.
Relaxing rounds to follow in November, with and Ambrose at Penola on the 13th during the Champion of Champions round and at the Robe Village Classic Ambrose on the 26th of November. With the continuing improvement of my golf being the only focus I have at the minute, it is also important to not go past the reason I play the game. Golf is fun, an enjoyable game whether practising or playing in a competition or socially. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
The limitation in my swing from driver to chipping and on the green with the putter also required a few changes to accommodate the recovery while still improving my game. The restriction in the swing made getting the technical execution of the strokes as good as I possibly could. End result was that as the injury improved my game has still benefited from the experience. The last 3 weeks I have played with blades and that required greater concentration and a higher skill level to play shots. It would have been very easy to pull out the cavity back game improvement clubs and still played golf with out making any specific effort to improve until the injury was repaired. This week I have put the blades away and gone out with the AP2’s the last two days and reaped the benefit of an improved long and short iron game. Early days yet and the recovery is still not 100% so back to the blades tomorrow and continuing the process.
Ended the Open with an 86 Gross and a 74 Nett in A Grade, was a little surprised when on the first tee realising that I was grouped with single figure and past champion golfers. No nerves or hestiation just something that I observed and spent a few seconds acknowledging the reality in my mind, on the 7th of November in 2010, I was playing off a 19 handicap. The round was ticking along nicely until the 13th and 14th holes, 2 lost balls and the round was shot. Pars on the next 4 holes were a good enough recovery from those two holes. Again though it was errors in the same places of a round that has been affecting my golf for several months. This may be coincidental as far as the timing in rounds, it is still a matter of me not playing consistant good golf.
Relaxing rounds to follow in November, with and Ambrose at Penola on the 13th during the Champion of Champions round and at the Robe Village Classic Ambrose on the 26th of November. With the continuing improvement of my golf being the only focus I have at the minute, it is also important to not go past the reason I play the game. Golf is fun, an enjoyable game whether practising or playing in a competition or socially. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Comedy Gala fundraiser, Royal Flying Doctor
Was a little rusty on the night, been a while between standup sets. For a good cause happy to participate and well done by the organisers and all who got up and performed on the night
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
The statistics tell the tale of struggle...
3/11/11 Thursday Back home and caught up with the work tasks and time to sit down and review the golf since Sunday’s 18 hole effort. It was an effort also, a stableford which returned 29 points. My first full round in a couple of weeks was not too bad, the last 5 holes were a struggle. Whilst the Golfer/Tennis elbow is abating the restriction is still obvious in my game especially in lasting the distance. Admittedly I may be overdoing the 9 hole rounds during the week but I only have to get myself to the coming Sunday Club Open Competition in decent form, then I will stop for a few weeks. Have a club representative commitment to play on the 13th at Penola in a regional competition that I would prefer not to play.
Even with the injury hampering the golf it is not destroying my game. Making a few adjustments to allow for the flagging performance including putting the Cobra #3 metal bag in the bag has been a benefit. The short game and putting are acceptable, chipping is much better than several months ago. Practise has been the major facet together with returning to using blades to chip with in the old Wilson 1200 set. These clubs are enjoyable to use and even though they feel very different to the AP2 set, the distances are comparable from the 3 to PW.
Still struggling with hitting, Greens In Regulation. This is the most frustrating aspect of my game at the minute. It is a matter of more practise with the 3-6 irons and that is hampered by the injury. Together with a pernicious fault hitting 8 to 9 irons from 110m and in to 40m at the green and getting the distance right. The ball is going straight and the flight is good but 8-9 times out of 10 is short or long. These two facets of the game are not enjoyable and will benefit most from stopping for a week or two. In the daily 9 hole hits since beginning last week scores of 43-45 made up from 3-4 pars, 3-5 bogies and 1 Double bogie have been the norm. Playing well enough and the failure to hit 2 or 3 shots less is not causing any concern about how my game is developing.
Continuing the practise has delivered the improvement in chipping that has been very helpful in keeping the scores reasonable. Starting to get the ‘flop shot’ around the green, with opening the face on chips and the ball dropping and stopping. Getting a positive out of the negative again has added to the experience.
The GIR statistic in my game is very poor, as far as my expectations go. Not to forget that as a 12 handicapper hitting greens in regulation is not possible 50% of the time, in reality 30% is expected and even then I am still under the target going from 27% in August to 16% in September/October. Taking into account that I have been hitting the fairway with 59% of my tee shots. Followed with missed GIRs at 113 from fairway shots and a decreasing Up-and-Down total rate of 23.9%. The average was peaking at 38.5, 33.3 and 47.5 during August 2011, then the Golfer/Tennis elbow began to have a significant negative impact. Just love playing golf and the challenges the game throws up and taking them on in the quest to improve.
Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all.” Geoff Geoff
Even with the injury hampering the golf it is not destroying my game. Making a few adjustments to allow for the flagging performance including putting the Cobra #3 metal bag in the bag has been a benefit. The short game and putting are acceptable, chipping is much better than several months ago. Practise has been the major facet together with returning to using blades to chip with in the old Wilson 1200 set. These clubs are enjoyable to use and even though they feel very different to the AP2 set, the distances are comparable from the 3 to PW.
Still struggling with hitting, Greens In Regulation. This is the most frustrating aspect of my game at the minute. It is a matter of more practise with the 3-6 irons and that is hampered by the injury. Together with a pernicious fault hitting 8 to 9 irons from 110m and in to 40m at the green and getting the distance right. The ball is going straight and the flight is good but 8-9 times out of 10 is short or long. These two facets of the game are not enjoyable and will benefit most from stopping for a week or two. In the daily 9 hole hits since beginning last week scores of 43-45 made up from 3-4 pars, 3-5 bogies and 1 Double bogie have been the norm. Playing well enough and the failure to hit 2 or 3 shots less is not causing any concern about how my game is developing.
Continuing the practise has delivered the improvement in chipping that has been very helpful in keeping the scores reasonable. Starting to get the ‘flop shot’ around the green, with opening the face on chips and the ball dropping and stopping. Getting a positive out of the negative again has added to the experience.
The GIR statistic in my game is very poor, as far as my expectations go. Not to forget that as a 12 handicapper hitting greens in regulation is not possible 50% of the time, in reality 30% is expected and even then I am still under the target going from 27% in August to 16% in September/October. Taking into account that I have been hitting the fairway with 59% of my tee shots. Followed with missed GIRs at 113 from fairway shots and a decreasing Up-and-Down total rate of 23.9%. The average was peaking at 38.5, 33.3 and 47.5 during August 2011, then the Golfer/Tennis elbow began to have a significant negative impact. Just love playing golf and the challenges the game throws up and taking them on in the quest to improve.
Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all.” Geoff Geoff
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