Thursday, November 03, 2011

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

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