Saturday, June 04, 2011

Now for the Open Tournaments

Saturday 4/6/11 Now that Pennants have finished I have got a copy of all the various Club Open Tournaments in the region yesterday and can start planning my next golfing challenge. The first Open hits off on the 24th of July at Lucindale, in 2010 I won the C Grade this season I am in the B grade and will need to get a bit of dedicated practise under the belt to repeat the performance. This tournament is also the 2nd round of the DK Edwards Trophy which started last season and requires playing in 5 of ten regional Open Tournaments to qualify for a ranking. Entered it last year and it was a good incentive to travel and play in the many regional tournaments. Not entering this year due to the underwhelming promotion and information available on the event circulated by the regions Golf Association. I thoroughly support the idea yet cannot participate in something that is so poorly administered. Given that this is a volunteer based association, it is just not a promising evolution to do things half arsed. Hoping that word of mouth and supplying no running tables/ranking etc is going to inspire golfers to enter.

My motivation is to use these Open Tournaments as the inspiration to get out in the winter weather and practise hard and try to knock off 3-4 strokes by October for the Club Championships. Because of the dearth of low handicappers at our club 13-14 will have me in A Grade and there is no way that I will be competitive against the single figure golfers on my existing number. I have managed to play to 11 and 12 in competition this year so perhaps I may even manage to get into single figures by October. Joined with a group coaching session this week on short game and putting, This has definitely helped in planning my next practise routines that are going to assist in getting 3-4 strokes off my scores. The Open Tournaments have the competitive edge that inspires me to play my best. This time I am aware of the various course layouts and that is going to be a benefit together with my improved game.

Mentally at last I have come to terms with playing off the lower handicap (down 4 strokes in 5 months) It was fun enjoying seeing the numbers and having a wallow in getting there, the need to have competative golf to play and beat others is vital to getting value for the effort put in so far. Yes, I enjoy playing at the home club, the need to play better is supplied by the Open Tournaments. The whole experience of playing with new people and enjoying the socialising is a big part of the anticipation. There are a few courses which “kicked my arse” in 2010 that I am looking forward to returning and having another crack at. Well the sun is now up and time to get out and start the next round of practising. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”. , Geoff