Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Won through to the championship final...

12/10/11 Wednesday. Played the Semi Final matchplay round to decide the final pairing for the club championship this afternoon and came out with a victory 3up with 2 to play. Can say that all the goals for the season were reached and given a dedicated and serious attempt on my part. A very satisfying season and with one more game to go feel humble in the achievements. It is not going to be a very humble series of practise sessions from now until Sunday’s 36 hole crack at the title.

It was not luck on my part or my opponent that got the victory it was the regular practise routines which were followed through the season. In fact my opponent commented on this towards the end of the match. It is and has been the key to the improvement and results since 2009 when beginning to play. Specifically was the observation that I do not go out and hit buckets of balls, instead practise has a set series of targets and quality of the practise strokes is more important than quantity.

The extra three days before playing the matchplay did give my elbow injury time to recover a little more. Off the tee and fairway play is acceptable. the short game is not quite fluid and comfortable. From now until Sunday tee off, putting especially will be a focus in practise. The opponent is last seasons club champion currently a 6 handicapper to my 12. After the victory in the 2009 Club Handicap Championship against the same opponent he has dropped 6 strokes to a single figure and I have dropped 13-15 strokes. This time the match will be off the stick, looking forward to the challenge and the competition on the day.

Took a little while to hit my straps today all square after the front nine (44 off the stick each), the back nine got the game attitude into top gear. Had 5 pars to shut out the game in the seven played, winning hole numbers 10, 11 and 12 to have the opponent chasing wins. It was an effort to get into the matchplay frame of mind. Even though I was confident all match and never headed, two missed puts in the first 3 holes had me 1 up when it could easily have been 3 up. First time I have played 18 holes for a while and the injury was only a small inconvenience.

Game on time until Sunday and excited to have made the final match relishingthe coming challenge. Thankyou for your time and attention all. “Hit ‘em straight” Geoff