Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Another stroke dropped....

12/7/11 The score at Kingston SE on the weekend finally tipped my handicap down another stroke to 13, the past 8 weeks of extra practise delivered a result on all the set targets. One statistic in particular is inspiring, on the 5th of January my playing hcp was 19 and since then 6 strokes have been dropped off to the current 13.1 exact. Looking at the improving handicap on Golf Link since 2009 the progress this year is on a par to when I went from 32 down to 22.




Even with the optimistic attitude toward reaching the target of 10 in the future, it would be a lie to deny having not thought that this would be beyond my golf ability. I do believe it will happen and put in the effort that is designed to make this a reality. It is still an interesting trait of mine that thinking like a 20 handicapper and playing percentage golf is the biggest hurdle in reaching the goal. The practise routines on the range and practise green are all standards that many golfers have done. The vital game change is between my ears and the mental side of playing golf.



It is not by chance that the recent training was planned to have me playing better at the minute. The coming weekend round is the Lucindale Cavpower Open. "UPDATE" The club program had a typo and the CAVPOWER event is next Sunday, the Caledonian Inn Trophy Round is being moved to this weekend.  I will not be defending my “C” grade victory of 2010 now that I am into “B” grade it will be an attempt to win this grade. The next weekend after on the 24th is the 1st round of The Caledonian Inn Trophy (defending my 2010 title) and then the Kingston Winter Open (Division 2 r/up in 2010). This is how I approach playing competitive golf, wanting to win is motivation. Maintaining the inspiration by defending titles won is how I continue the push to reach the handicap target by focussing on the rounds not the hcp. target. The base of my golf enjoyment is that every round played is really good fun.



Today the weather is a bit crap and getting the days work out of the way is going to take up time until 2pm, hopefully the rain will be clearing and the wind stay moderate. Then out onto the range to begin the next planned training routine. The last one was to get my game consistent with all the equipment and target perceived weaknesses. This has been used since 2009 in preparing for the Southern Ports Tournament, which physically and time wise I cannot maintain all of the time. Now I am adding a 4 week less strenuous regime that is for “conditioning”, using less clubs with more precise targets set for each session. Mental practise is now a must with visualising the courses to be played and the shots required on each hole, this is making up for less time physivally hitting the ball. Strategy is a definite help in playing rounds that I particularly want to play well in. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all” Geoff