Monday 24/1/11 Got myself around the course yesterday for the first 18 hole round since injuring myself 2 weeks ago. 91 off the stick and 34 Stableford point was the result, with a wipe on the last hole a par 4 with 7 strokes. The new putter a Wilson 100 with a longer 37 inch shaft has been a major benefit to my game. Not at all disapointed with the result was flagging rapidly on the last two holes and simply ran out of energy. again my own fault, no prizes for guessing who forgot to take his water bottle with him on a hot day and was stupid enough to not have a drink while playing. Getting a drink did cross my mind during the round but one of my other faults when golfing interfered, I get so single minded I consciously don’t break out of the routine of playing to my detriment.
Made one particular change to my game since the injury, stopped using the Cobra Driver to enforce some much needed discipline on the tee. Used the No 3 Shark Metal off the tee and also on the fairway to good effect considering it has only recently been put back in the bag. Quite a confidence boost to be able to hit this club so well either straight or with a slight draw. This was one of my weaknesses when beginning, consistently slicing shots with most clubs, with disastrous results from the Driver/Fairway metals. In 2010 I watched an interview with Camilo Villegas and he was asked what his favourite golf club was? "I'd better love all 14. I eventually have to hit them all, and if I dislike one, I'll just get over the ball with a bad attitude, and the outcome won’t be great." I have adopted his reply and to good effect in my own game since then. Making a specific effort to have no preference and this has developed a greater confidence and wider spectrum of shots to choose from in a round.
The other point that has been raised from using the #3 Metal has been whether I should continue using Stiff shafts on my clubs. The #3 is a regular flex and with the effects of the back injury caused by playing too much and having one too many ‘Blood Rushes’ to the brain with a tee shot. I used it to enforce taking easy technically correct swings and not falling in to the “belt the cover off” fault. Being a little tentative top start the rythym soon came into my game again and an improved consistency and accuracy with the #3 metal off the tee and fairway.
I have since been to the pro shop and taken out a selection of regular flex irons for some comparison testing and there is a definite appeal to changing to regular flex irons. The first thing though is to get the driver choice sorted and I am going to stick with my irons as is while experimenting with Regular flex Drivers for a couple of weeks and see what eventuates. As regular readers from my 2010 post would recall I played with irons in 2009 choosing accuraccy over distance with great success in my first season of golfing again. That is still an underlying focus for my game development, yes I can hit 220 - 250m drives now. I would rather hit the fairways though and if using a regular flex driver shaft increases the % of this that is the deciding factor. Thankyou for your time and attention all, Hit ‘em Straight. Geoff
