Relaxation time off the Golf Course...

6/4/12 Friday This weekend is still looking at being mostly golf free. Could play if I wanted too but I am sticking with the idea that formed mid Tuesday that now is a good time to let the body have a little rest. Among many lessons that have been learnt since 2009, one is that playing at 100% efficiency is not physically and mentally possible for too long. The improvements since January have been many and at the minute my instinct is to have a time out and relax away from the golf course.

Yesterday found myself at the club doing some volunteer tasks and had a 30 minute wait for a cart hire to turn up. Grabbed the putter and wedge and put in 10-15 minutes on the practice green, then ambled to the range and hit 20 balls with an 8 and 6 iron. That was enough to soothe the withdrawal symptoms. The balls hit all had good flight and accurate enough. That will be my approach this Easter weekend head out and hit 20 balls if I want to feel the club hitting a ball and that will be satisfactory.

One impressive return from last weekend's tournament was the #2 iron effectiveness. Especially the accurate ball placement in conjunction with the distance carried. Being a golfer who does have a preference in playing iron shots the #3 iron is easy for 165m plus. The #2 Hybrid in my hands stretched to the 200m limit and an easy 180m plus generally. Sadly maintaining consistency with this club is a failing of mine and is woefully inaccurate. The Diawa #2 iron (cavity back) has the distance of the hybrid but the accuracy was a huge difference in its favour.

My clubs carried is going to need a little thinking about over the winter in this instance. At the minute the hybrid is not even in the picture as worthwhile being in the bag. This weekend I am reshafting a 400cc Driver with a stiff flex shaft to trial on the range. Use a 380cc Driver to good effect on the course but the slightly larger Driver was around the mark, with a very flexible shaft was fine when carrying injury. The imp[roved swing plane and body posture I now have has relieved the injury restrictions. So I will test out the driver and see if it can deliver some extra distance.

Regular readers will perhaps see this as a visit to hypocrisy on my part, distance has been a secondary goal after accuracy for most of my golfing. In the recent gradual improvement, 220m drives are the norm off the tee. Have stretched to 230-250m drives in summer and to maintain a 230m drive would be a very good trade off for the winter. I am coaxing the extra distance if it is possible, simply to get closer to Par 4 greens and improve the GIR strike rate. Once the reshafting is set I will get out and have a few cracks on the range to see if this change can get that little bit more off the tee.

Thankyou for your time and attention, "Hit 'em straight all”

 Geoff