Winning with ugly golf is better than losing ...

30/7/12 Monday. After the erratic day at Naracoorte on Saturday fronted up on the home track for the Sunday 29th of July competition. It was the first qualifier of the Gallerie Trophy and a Monthly Medal round. Proving that no matter how ugly your golf is, the score is what separates the winners from the losers not how pretty your game is.Won the day with a 77 Nett and 89 off the stick. The NTP was mine on Sunday missing the  Putting on the day (27) went well enough with 29 putts and Ryans Run for the best back nine score was picked up by myself.

Not a bad return of winning results on the day after being battered hard in past weeks on neighbouring courses. My golf was ugly  as far as the structure of the round went. Playing well off the tee again and putting well enough a few poor chips did not help and the most damage to the score was from the fairway shots. Two lost balls knocked the charge towards playing to Par off the rails. One in particular was a great shot but a club too much that went straight to the green, over it and into the native bush surrounds. Dropped a club played a provisional and it landed a couple of metres from the pin. 

All of the day there was no feeling of stability in my game. This week will be spent refreshing my game brain, that seems to be the problem. Concentration lapses is what is the cause of this erratic game play. On making an error with a stroke the following shot is played correctly and the rest of the hole is played effectively and efficiently. It is not that concentrating is a problem it is the maintaining of the focus in rounds that is causing the most damage. Together with one fault that I do not seem to be able to get the better of at the minute, getting the distances of my clubs settled. 

Not choosing the correct club and hitting the ball too long or too short has been put down to playing unfamiliar courses in the past month. Yesterday on my home track though it was blatantly obvious that the club selection on the front nine was out of sync with the actual distances I hit the ball. On the back nine there was an improvement that resulted in GIR's and obviously the NTP won on the 16th hole is one testament to that. Apart from refreshing my mental golf a concerted effort is needed to get on top of the club selection for fairway shots. This will be interesting with a complete hybrid set arriving in coming weeks. I will start with a clear slate with the new sticks to establish their distances.

The next two weeks are a Par round on the 5th of August and Stableford on the 12th of the month. Then the first Qualifier for Club Championships on the 19th as well as the second round of the Gallerie Trophy. Then the 26th of August is the second and third rounds of the respective Qualifying rounds. While my golf is not at its best currently. It was still better than the rest of the club opponents in the last competition. There is going to be some serious work in store on the practise fairway and greens in the build up to the club championships.

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Cloned golf clubs they work...

27/7/12 Friday. As a golfer one of the enjoyable facets of the game is looking at, playing with and thinking about new golf equipment. Especially the clubs available, with such a large selection of different clubhead designs available all espousing technological improvements with their release.Perhaps it is a throwback to my teenage years when I enjoyed getting a tube of glue and putting together the various bits in the model aeroplane kits because today I enjoy making up club sets. Cobbling together old iron set sitting in their box and swapping shafts and club heads into different variations. This is easy to do no workshop required at all moving between the kitchen, lounge room and the dining table I can quickly put a set of irons together or regrip them.

Which bring me to the next point once all of the old clubs lying around have been taken apart, swapped over and put back to the original configuration, what do I do next? Having sparked up my interest and got into the experience of constructing my own version of a club more material is needed. When it comes to golf, my money is best spent on playing the game the rest is just a casual hobby that is additional fun. So the best alternative is to purchase the second and third tier golf equipment manufacturers components to make my own set.

Here is where I found the nasty side of golfing, the various opinions on major brands and the lesser know equipment manufacturers quality, performance and ethics. Some opinions I read were so unashamedly biased it appeared to be only lacking one thing and that was endorsement from an advertiser. It was this that made me committed to not supporting only major equipment suppliers, I do not accept extreme almost fanatical ranting against anything as it makes me want to know why an opponent is shouting over the voice of the target.

This one I found a reasonable and balanced review http://www.golf-club-revue.com/golf-club-clones.html

Here a comparison trial was done between two golf clubs performance original and a clone,

http://www.mygolfspy.com/clone-golf-clubs-vs-name-brand/

And another discussion piece http://www.livestrong.com/article/273091-about-clone-golf-clubs/

From ValueGolf.com (a supplier of cloned equipment) is this description

“Clones are something very common in the world today – chances are you’ve seen or use some type of cloned product every day. Just a couple  examples: Computers: Just about every computer out today is a clone of the original IBM. Remember the cost of the original IBM computers? Not cheap. So an alternative soon followed: less expensive components without the ridiculous mark up combined to make a computer of similar quality at a fraction of the cost. Some of those clone companies even progressed to be their own established brand names, like Dell. Some clone golf companies have become their own established brand too, Tour Edge, Nickent for example.“Compare to” products: No doubt at the grocery store you’ve seen a product that says “Compare to….(brand name)”. Cereal for example. I know personally, because my cholesterol is a little bit high, I started eating Kashi Heart To Heart brand. Not a bad tasting cereal, but expensive at $5.00 a box. Then I discovered Wegmans “Heart Essentials”, which in my opinion actually tasted better, and was half the cost. 
Guess what I buy now? The same principle applies to golf clubs.
Yes, there are many examples of cloning today, and golf clubs are no different. "

Whilst I will always look at, trial, consider and purchase the so called First Tier golf equipment manufacturers products at the same time I will continue to purchase the lesser known golf equipment suppliers products as well. Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

New club set have shipped...

25/7/12 Wednesday. Unexpected trip up to Adelaide today and returning home tomorrow afternoon. Quickly threw in some travelling clubs with the overnight bag and dropped in to the West Beach Driving range late in the afternoon. Feeling a little stiff and out of sorts at the minute and getting a Bowen Therapy treatment on Friday morning to tuyne up the body again.




Enjoyed hitting 60 balls and not having to pick them up like I do at home. There are times when I could happily be a range rat, still the mixture of both practise avenues inluding the home course where it is a fairway with distance markers works well enough. Have put in some good quality putting time this week. Getting confidence and importantly the right attacking attitude of holing every putt possible still needs some more practise.



Checking the email inbox I saw the shipping notification for the new set of clubs from the US have been dispatched. Looking forward to the potential game improvement that could come from a complete hybrid set. After my coach suggested replacing the 3 and 4 irons with hybrids I was not totally convinced. I carry a #2 Hybrid and not a 3 wood in my bag and it is a very effective club.



Won the 185 metre Par 3, NTP at Lucindale with it last weekend. The 3 and 4 irons are clubs that I hit quite well. Considering how different the hybrid feels and the effectiveness with distance, ease of use and accuracy why not try a complete set of hybrids in the bag. There are better hybrid sets on the market but for the sake of the exercise initially the ones I have bought will do the job required well enough. It is always exciting experiencing the discovery of what technology can do to my golf game.

Robe Golf Club Newsletter first Issue


This month we have got out the first online Newsletter to members. It is a gradual evolution and the club facebook page is gradually increasing in its use by members also.Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

CAVPower Open wrap up...

24/7/12 Tuesday. It could be said that I am becoming a one hit wonder with my winning effort at Lucindale coming from getting Nearest the Pin in the 185 metre 12th hole in the A Grade competition. Missed the birdie but got the par and it was full steam ahead from there on the first nine played. Starting on the tenth hole I had racked up a double then triple bogie (3 putt) start. Finishing with a gross 45 after nine holes the confidence was there in being able to match that or better on the second nine holes after lunch. My belief and confidence did not carry me over the line though, four double bogies on the last nine with one 3 putt and five bogies returned a 49 and a total tally 94 and a Nett 82.

The fault was in part scoring 18 putts on both nines with 2 x 1 putts and 2 x 3 putts and the rest all two putt efforts. There was at least one putt attempts that missed and that compounded the damage. The real damage was the lack of greens in regulation that came from poor drives in the main that required recovery shots to the fairway with no real attempt possible in making the green. Whilst the short game was good enough too many times I was left with a 3-4 metre first putt on greens that were much quicker and with more borrow than I was comfortable with.

The result is on my scores now and has to be accepted as a fail. Whilst the past months poor scores has been taken in good grace the failures are not being well received on my part. There are many factors that can be attributed to the results mostly from playing unfamiliar and markedly different courses to the home track. The time has come where the easy going enjoyment of just being outside and playing golf has to be given a boost into concentrating for 18 holes in getting the best result possible. After the coming weekends Naracoorte Open Tournament to close off July, it’s into club championship qualifying rounds during August. Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

Weight loss improves my golf...

Diet Supplements available here make an offer... http://www.quicksales.com.au/buy/auction.aspx?itemid=15243678

It is very noticeable in the past month how the weight loss is improving my golfing. Not in making the ball go longer or more accurately but in the enjoyment of the game. Particularly during practise, competition rounds and after playing there is less stiffness and tiredness. With my various injuries from motor vehicle accidents the lessened strain on the body from carrying less weight really is a boon. After twenty years plus of living with the injuries I knew when to expect the assorted aches and pains to flare up. Especially since 2009 and returning top playing golf three to five times a week as well as practise there has been a few months lost to recovering from putting too much strain on damaged body parts.

After three weeks I have began to up the ante in my practise sessions as well. With more freedom of movement and flexibility apparent with the weight loss I can now put in a one hundred percent effort for 20 to 30 balls at a time. Where as before ten balls at 100% was a safe limit to reach in a practise session. Fitness in golfing is often a minor focus with the game skills getting the lions share of effort. Even among Professional ranks commentators will often mention that Golfer X has had  a significant improvement in making the cuts and winning tournament since concentrating on improving their fitness. You can be certain that my desire to lose weight was not one of vanity but wanting to be fitter and healthier.

Starting Week Four today (Saturday 21st July 2012) Total weight loss in the past 3 weeks of taking the diet supplement capsules is 4 kilograms.

This morning when doing the weekly weigh in an unforseen problem cropped up. I do not use a digital scale which has an LED screen with the weight displayed. Instead my scale is the older version with the wheel that rotaes to your eight. Hence this morning the weigh in looked to be less that last Saturday, only by 200-300 grams at a guess. That cannot be a positive figure so I am recording a zero kg loss for the past week. At the end of week four the loss will be more obvious on the scale.

Day 15 Saturday coffee, 2 hot dog and bread at golf, 2xBeers Beef Rogan Josh rice.
Sunday coffee, No Golf Dinner Steak (grilled) salad chips, Monday coffee,lunch 2 x sandwich cheese tomato ham Dinner Beef Rogan Josh rice. Apple. Tuesday coffee Lunch 165 g packet of Cracker Biscuits, Dinner Corned Beef Vegetables Potato Broccoli Carrot Wednesday Breakfast Coffee, Sausage, Bacon Egg apples, Cracker Biscuits 160gDinner Beef Rogan Josh rice. Thursday coffee apples and Ham, cheese tomato and bread for lunch, Dinner Beef Rogan Josh rice. Friday Coffee , Lunch 2 x sandwich cheese tomato ham Apples Dinner Scrambled Eggs Toast. My exercising was irregular with and unexpected trip to Adelaide mid week. Wednesday Thursday and Friday I was out on the golf course but only played 5 holes Wednesday and Thursday with 9 holes on Friday.

The only consistent was taking the two diet supplement product capsules each morning. Travelling to Adelaide mid week through out my excersise and dieting routine a little with work commitments on the return.Weather permitting will try to get in daily walks of 3km to 6 km at least 4 times during the seven day period. Although next week I am travelling to Adelaide again on Wednesday.

As any reader can see this diet has not had any food regimentation apart from moderate quantities and having junk foods twice while travelling (Chilli Cracker Biscuits 160g x 2) Only small packets but this is eating instant carbohydrates.

Even so the score is Diet Supplements 4 kilogram weight loss in 3 Weeks, Scepticism Definitely changing my opinion. Will put in the effort in the fourth week of this experiment, which also includes playing the Lucindale CAVPower Open on Sunday. Which has perhaps the best Schnitzel Lunch for players to enjoy even if playing the crappiest game of golf in your life this meal makes up for it. Followed by real country kitchen prepared afternoon tea that would explode the average heart with the lashings of cream, sugar, jams and other country goodness! Plus having a round of beers this week is going to NEED a big disciplined effort to try and drop a Kilogram and make it 5 kgs weight loss in 4 weeks of trialling the Diet Supplements.

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Less golf to play better...

20/7/12 Friday. A week of doing real work that has interfered with my golfing obsession, have survived the withdrawal symptoms and gearing up for another weekend on the course. The less golfing time was a definite choice besides work responsibilities it was time to freshen up and have a break from the latest dedicated practise and playing routine.

Competition wise my results were not good on the weekend with the Naracoorte Winter Open over 27 holes a poor score but a very worthwhile hit out on the course. Struggled on the greens all day and breaking the round up into the three nines delivered a 51, 51, 41. There were very few poor shots that put me in positions where I did not have a clear shot to the fairway or green. It was simply inability to hit greens in regulation and putt accurately. The greens are back to a slick level of speed. After the past few weeks I am improving though not totally comfortable on them.

The Saturday competition at Kingston was a Par round. It was after this that I had a revelation which exposed a mental game playing fault which had began to affect my rounds. At my home track and in most travelling events I play the competition is stroke rounds. With few Stableford or Par rounds played, with my usual Stroke round strategy to get to the 14th hole in good shape score wise either on my handicap or just under. Then attack the remaining holes to come in under my handicap. Can you guess what my game fault is?

I play with score minimisation as my goal for most rounds, never really try to break par on most holes. When playing a Par round it is either a win (+) half (0) or a Loss (-), even though I was a little flat after the 27 holes on Friday that was no reason for my inability to score better in the Par round played. On all holes a half was easily achievable yet I had four losses on the front nine and one on the back for a -5 result. That was a total of five strokes too many. It did not matter how many strokes I picked up on winning holes. In a Par competition it is the hole not the strokes that decide your final result and my play is set in stone from playing so much stroke play. This weekend I will play Stableford at Kingston on Saturday and yes you guessed it, Stroke in the Lucindale CAVPower Open on Sunday.

Physically at the minute the weight loss program is definitely improving my enjoyment of golf. Less pain from the various broken bits is very noticeable not to forget the extra energy and stamina. Having a break from golfing this past week has been a smart move also. Too often I end up in a debilitating state from doing too much for too long especially when feeling very energetic and healthy. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

Performance improves with losing weight..

Diet Supplements available here make an offer... http://www.quicksales.com.au/buy/auction.aspx?itemid=15243678 A fortnight ago on the first of July,  I began a weight loss program to improve my overall health, well-being and fitness. Eating a proper balanced diet is important to not gaining weight and combined with a regular effort to exercise a steady weight can be maintained. Unfortunately there are times when my various injuries are debilitating enough that I lapse into a  poor diet with far too many carbohydrates and also include between meal eating of 'junk' foods ie corn chips, biscuits etc. This compounds into more weight and less ability to maintain the occurrence of injury flare ups.

The last bout of this had seen my weight become far to much at 109 kilograms and it was time for a dedicated weight loss effort to be done. This time after the success with the Champix tablets which stopped my cigarette smoking habit two years ago after several failed quitting attempts at cold turkey, I looked at taking a diet supplement to assist with weight loss. Discussions with my doctor and having seen friends losing weight with prescribed medications put me off that option considering the side effects and my condition was not drastic enough to do that course of action.

I browsed the net and found several that were appealing and eventually took up one that had a very appealing trial offer. Following is the record of the first two weeks of the dieting while taking the supplement at the same time. Perhaps fortunately for reader sake I did not take a picture of myself at the beginning. I have since started recording a personal image at the beginning of each new dieting week. During the first four weeks of seeing if these supplements do assist in weight loss as I am a sceptic in the effectiveness of  "diet pills'.

• Jul 02 2012 14:12
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• Member since 2010

Of late it has been a bit of a struggle to keep the kilos in check. Not unusual for me to have to work at it and that just takes a little discipline. Unfortunately the body has been a little restricted due to my current obsessive golfing actions and the mid week exercise has been further hampered by crap weather. Hence a couple of extra kilos has been added, which of course increases the load on the various broken bits of my frame and restricts exercise efforts more. What is a definite Catch 22 in this case.

Anyways in my browsing online checking up on my usual diet info came across a newspaper article on a Dietary supplement capsule program. Not being a pill taker in general for many years. These days I am a little more open to the benefits that can be provided with the right stuff. Yet still very sceptical of anything be it a medical prescription or not.

Being so damn inquisitive and having an attitude still of trying stuff just to see what happens as I have on the golf journey there comes a time when theoretical analysis has to be acted on to get a definite answer to shut up the voices in my head.
So this time after a week of research and being very critical about the idea I am giving it a go. Will not be mentioning any names of products etc but at this stage after three days some effects are noticeable.

1) Definite appetite suppression

2) some increased vitality/energy

3) have not began to grow new physical appendages or howl at the moon

This product does not include caffeine and also today I received the second 30 day dietary supplement that goes with the first. I started out at 109kg so it will be the proof in the results at the end of July if this works or is a con for the lazy who go from fad to fad looking for a quick fix.

• Jul 02 2012 14:57
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• Member since 2010

I do not believe in the placebo effect in the influence of this product on my body if any. I am very much tuned in to my body and what is going on but this is an experiment to answer a question on a product. It cannot “make fat disapear” that is crap and not possible there must be physical actions to do that, either less intake and more exercise.
I know exactly what I am taking in calorie wise so this is not going to be a result based on how I feel. I do not subscribe to any of the ‘fat people’ excuses that are bandied around. I do believe in the affect of chemicals on the body to inhibit appetite and stimulate a person to be active. The cost is so negligible to trial it for 30 days that it is worth a test. No interest what so ever in the full program on offer at all that is irrelevant to the reason to be having a go at the product.

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• Jul 03 2012 08:18
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• Member since 2010

 The answer to losing weight is to reduce carbohydrate intake, in particular sugars and grains. Pretty much the diet program I have followed since recovering from a serious motor vehicle accident in 1982. The carbohydrate free/reduction one of no milk, butter, cheese, bread, cooking fats etc. Unless you prepare your own meals it is difficult to significantly reduce this intake unless the cook either goes on the diet as well or is willing to prepare two meals.

LoL had a later than said delivery for mine 15-18 days the US supplier had no real idea of where “Austria” and is that a third world country? was lmao. The US postal service can be very slow from the inland states also.

I am very skeptical of the dieting products promoted in media ad-nauseum. I have had friends use prescribed diet medications and seen the weight loss effects and discussed the product with my GP.

To show my attitude is this example, I took Champix a couple of years ago to quit smoking, that worked and the doctor had some requirements that I had to follow 100% while using the medication. I am sure that it is possible to produce a medication that would have the same effect to stop people eating as Champix stops people from smoking. How dangerous would a medication that removes the desire to eat be? Hence the ones that are available for dieting have noticeable side effects and are only prescribed on a very limited basis by my GP.

What I have been doing to control my diet and weight effectively is to include the Fat Burning soup dieting program at times in the past three years to knock off the 2-3 kg that can be added when I am recovering from a bad bout of injury flare ups. Once I lose the weight I find it easy to keep it off. Unfortunately playing golf to the extent I am to improve has significantly increased my injury flareups.

I am not significantly altering my diet in this month, I am moderating it and will be still drinking beer, milk with coffee and eating breads, rice and other carbohydrate foods.

The product site has a description of it and of course endorsements from users. I also read a review from an unbiased site on various dieting products. This one was queried in that there was not a definite medical experiment on the effectiveness, just claims that medical experts do acknowledge it has an effect.
It is no loss to me if it does not work.

I expect this week to lose up to 1kg with the dieting I am doing, any extra than that I will subscribe to this diet supplement.

The following may be disturbing to some viewers. The hair was already there before starting this experiment and not a side effect of the capsules hahah. These pics were taken today, (Wednesday 4/7/12 morning) and I did do a weigh in which is not usual when dieting until the end of the week. I will keep that figure off here until the end of the week when the tally that matters is listed.

• Jul 06 2012 07:29
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• Member since 2010

Today, before the first weeks weigh off, on Saturday morning, to see the results and time for an update on some observations. Two particular bodily reactions have been noticed in the week. This one I directly attribute to the second supplement. As I started taking this one a couple of days in the laxative effect of it was obvious in its description to me at least.

Over all this has not been a problem my bowel movements are regular. Apart from the first couple of days when I kept taking the supplement at noon it has been no inconvenience. Now taking it with the other supplement in the morning the timing and the ablutions are back to the usual time.

The second observation I cannot be certain of it being related to the supplements. One of the outcomes from the MVA thirty years ago was damage to my kidney area. This definitely affects my bladder and there are times when urinating ten-fifteen times in a day and night occur. This is usually in conjunction with having strained the injured back area and a Bowen Therapy treatment soon returns some more moderate waterworks activity. On Saturday and Sunday the flow was running very often day and night, Monday was back to a more usual level, then Tuesday off and running again, Wednesday the flow abated and Thursday the flood was back.

Again I am not certain of this but am choosing to make a correlation to both actions as losing fluid is a definite way for weight to drop off. The body is a very wet package inside the skin and excessive fluid loss is not a good thing. It was not a deliberate reaction on my part to maintain a regular fluid intake (water) as I do this anyway.

I am a aware of the debate that people get into on various fitness/training benefits and programs. Personally I think it is a brilliant reaction to something which seems to be thrown at the public regularly. What is good for you, what should be done etc… The intake of water is another furphy which is pumped out, it sells a lot of bottled water. The need to drink X amount of litres per day is not as vital as some would have us believe. I drink water regularly by the glass each day, the only time I carry a water bottle is when golfing.

With the previous observations noted I also will comment that there has been a definite lessening of physical discomfort in the injured back area. That I am attributing to the lessened strain due to weight loss.

• Jul 07 2012 08:59
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• Member since 2010

Saturday AM did the weigh off and the result is quite promising tipping the scales at 106kg down from the 109kg this time last week. One addition to the final total comments mid week when I took the pics of the torso and chest I hopped on the scales and the reading was 105kg.
That did concern me a little losing 4 kg in 5 days is acceptable when doing a rapid diet program like the 7 day Fat Burning soup that a hospital will prepare for obese people in prep for surgery. Hence with that knowledge I increased my intake of carbs on wed, Thurs and Friday.
I am short for time this morning and will detail the week long diet that has been eaten in conjunction with the supplement capsules.My expected goal of weight loss was 1 to 1.5kg from the dieting. In which case I will attribute a further 1.5kg weight loss to the diet supplements in week one.

• Jul 09 2012 11:57
• 2088 posts  | Edit
• Member since 2010

A couple of days into week 2 of the Diet Supplement experiment for July. Starting this week at 106kg after losing 3 kg from the 109kg
The food eaten during week one was not what I would call a strict diet regime at all;
Day 1 Saturday coffee, 1 hot dog and bread at golf, 2xBeers Restaurant meal Mixed Oysters, Kilpatrick, Natural Wasabi and Lime then a Soft Shelled Chili crab main course + 6 glasses of white wine
Sunday coffee, Golf again 2 x Hot dogs 2xBeers Dinner Spaghetti Bolegnese, 2xRed Wine plus Ice cream, Monday coffee, Leek Potato soup and small spag Bolegnese at lunch Dinner Bacon, Tomato grilled. Tuesday to Thursday coffee apples and Meat /cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch, Dinner Chicken Marsala and Rice, Friday Curry Noodle for dinner 2 x Beers
That I lost 3 kg was a bonus that half I believe must be attributed to the Diet Supplement capsules.
Exercise includes 2×18 hole comp rounds plus three 9 hole hits.
This week I am off and into the next challenge of weight loss. My guestimate is going to be 1 kg following a similar diet with the daily supplements in the morning. The laxative effect kicked in again on Sunday. There is a definite feeling of wellness and energy I will prescribe to the supplement capsules.
The easing of pain and discomfort has also started with less strain on my injured body regions from carrying 3 kg less weight. Still a skeptical approach to the experiment and week two will be another testing time for the “Diet Supplements” up against results.

• Jul 14 2012 09:45
• 2088 posts  | Edit
• Member since 2010

Starting week three now on Saturday 14th July. Lost another kilogram (1) in the past week and starting weight is 105kg. 
The sceptical opinion that I began with regarding the diet supplement capsules is definitely on the wane having lost a total of four kilograms during the past two weeks of taking them.
This week was a particular test for the whole weight loss program. Travelling and unable to prepare meals myself and exercise as often with the daily walks around the golf course. Hence losing any weight at all was not looking good and still another kilo has been taken. As always the personal feeling of wellness has improved with the current weight loss.
My food consumption this week is certainly not what would be deemed a recommended weight-loss diet.
Day 8 Saturday coffee, 1 hot dog and bread at golf, 2xBeers Chicken Marsala and Rice.
Sunday coffee, Golf again 2 x Hot dogs 2xBeers Dinner Steak (grilled) salad chips, Monday coffee,lunch 2 x sandwich cheese tomato ham Dinner Grilled Schnitzel, salad chips, Apple. Tuesday Restaurant Battered Garfish, salad, chips 4 glasses sparkling wine Wednesday Coffee, apples, Lunch Turkish Bread olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip and cheese, Dinner Vegetable fritters and salad Thursday coffee apples and 1 x Burger pattie and bread for lunch, Dinner beef schnitzel (grilled) coleslaw and chips, Friday Coffee 2 x grilled cheese and toast, lunch corned beef, 2 x small boiled potatoes cauliflower and apple pie with icecream 2 x Beers Dinner Baked Potato with cheese and salad. Apart from playing 7 holes of golf on Monday and Tuesday and a 27 hole round at Naracoorte  Saturday my exercising was irregular.
The only consistent was taking the two diet supplement product capsules each morning. This week I will not be travelling and weather permitting will manage to get in daily walks of 3km to 6 km at least 4 times during the seven day period.
My guestimate for the coming week is 1.5kg in weight loss with a similar diet and taking the daily diet supplement capsules.

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Naracoorte Winter Tournament coming up...

12/7/12 Thursday. A busy week has kept me on the road travelling and that has kept me away from the keyboard following the past weekends golfing. Last Saturday with the coming events at Naracoorte starting with tomorrows 27 hole Winter Tournament round I headed off to reacquaint myself with the course. Not one that I have tasted much success on, in fact it has been perhaps one of the main motivations for making the effort to improve my game.

It was an enjoyable day with the company of playing partners and my fortunes on the game side were mixed. In the same manner as the first round at Keith several weeks ago it was all about having fun and getting aware of the course challenges. This time the score was one less than at Keith a lowly 24 Stableford points and instead of the long drive I won the NTP. Off the tee my drives were a mainstay of the positives from the day. The problems came on the greens which when last played were affected from lack of water and were becoming very benign. This trip the greens were back to the difficult challenge of my first visits to Naracoorte. Struggling with the putter was not a concern, the poor short game chipping and from one hundred metres in was.

The following day at Robe was the final round of the John Leake Trophy and I needed a 37 or better to be in the prizes, finished with a score of 35. The only wipe on the day came on the first hole with a lost ball, came back well and on the eighth hole was putting for three points lipped out and missed the next putt to end up with one point. The lack of time taken cost me at the end of the day yet it was a good day overall and finished in the prizes for the day in third place.

Of all the mistakes made it was confidence that began to suffer when playing many shots. The pull to the left with irons mostly and to a limited extent off the tee had me rattled. The problem is it happen no more than four to eight times in a round but every one of those ads another stroke to my score and in the case of the first hole on Sunday a lost ball penalty. Wednesday I had a coaching session at Drummond’s Golf West Beach with Glenn Roberts and repaired the damage mentally. More importantly I now know what is the cause of the fault and how to work on the improvement.

Tomorrow the tee time of 9.18am has me leaving at early morning for the 100 km plus trip up to Naracoorte. Had a wander around the home course this afternoon after getting back this morning and all was fine. Looking forward to the challenge of Friday’s round and see if I can step up.

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

 Geoff

Break my handicap to win...

5/7/12 Thursday. Managed to get in a fifty ball practise session this morning to keep on track with improving the short iron performance. The distance matter has been resolved with the various irons from #7 to the Pitching Wedge. It has made a difference to my comfort when setting up for a shot, concentrating on playing the shot. Without the distraction of thinking, “where is it going to go?” as I settle into the stance.

This morning the balls were all on target to the recalibrated distance expectation. I still have this unplanned pull to the left with the short irons occurring. The problem with this is that I do not know what causes it exactly, it is a swing fault that has been identified previously. At that time though my decision was to leave it be as it had only began to be an irritation as my game improved. Prior to the improvements in 2012 after coaching in January my stroke play was more erratic at its best. Now at my best there are no more than five shots which really affect my scoring and that includes these shots which add a chip to the green on a handful of holes per round. The ball goes no more than five to 20 metres in the movement to the left and it is a gentle curve in the flight.

As regular readers would be aware m golf game premise is a very simple one based around hitting the ball straight. Playing draws or fades is not a consideration in my planning for any round. This has evolved from my need to establish a consistent and reliable swing since 2009. Learning to move the ball has had no part in this vital facet of my golfing standard. Having reduced my handicap twenty four strokes, from thirty six to the current twelve and on target for that original goal of a ten handicap this has worked so far.

I do know the theory on how to play strokes that will move the ball, but do not practise them at all. It is only necessary when I make an error on the practise range and the ball slicing and being able to know what to do that corrects it for the next shot. I will not consider developing this facet of a golfing armoury until I have a 100% reliable swing.

The Driver workout this morning was especially satisfactory, limited it to 20 balls to make it a ‘best or bust’ effort. I do a loosening up routine to begin a practise session, before swinging the club every time to minimise errors. Put the pressure on right from the start, the first ten balls hit flat out going for maximum distance. Not disastrous with a fifty percent accuracy on the fairway and the missed shots to the left and right were not dreadful but still off the fairway and among trees in some instances. The second set of ten balls I followed the example of yesterdays practise and went for fairway targets and returned ninety percent accuracy. With a drop of ten to twenty metres in distance this is still my optimum standard for playing in competition.

On days like this the repetitive practise can be so boring and bland without anything spectacular. The ‘best or bust’ start with the driver was a good cure for that. To then follow up with the efficient shots that hit the fairway so often made it a good fun session with a great result. The incentive to go for a place finish this weekend and the need to break my handicap and play a sub par personal round to do this is really motivating. Thankyou for your time and attention, ‘Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

Adjusting to loss of distance...

4/7/12 Wednesday. Today it is time to start on the short iron improvement required after the weekends rounds. Taking the #7,#9 and PW out to the practise fairway it only took few hits to get into the rythym. Beginning with the pitching wedge to warm up and swinging the club easily the ball was coming off sweetly and well flighted. Into a slight breeze which may have had a moderate effect on the distance after hitting twenty balls it was time to stop then walk out to see the results and pick up the balls.

Accuracy wise was an improvement from yesterdays 30% increased to 20% this was the standard for all three irons used. The distance reached with the shots showed I had been labouring under a major misjudgment. The P/W was reaching 85-90 metres easily but was well below the expected 100 metres. Sure enough the seven and nine irons were also 10 metres shorter than expected when picking up the balls after each twenty ball hit out.

Understandably winter weather does have and effect on the distance of shots and the clubs used. With varying degrees of influence depending on individual golfers. For a short hitter of the ball as in my case, where the surprise came from was due to the increase in use of my shorter irons. Being that my approach shots previously were played with #5 and #6 irons more often than not. It was my first instinct to think that it was a reaction to pressure and failure to be able to play the shorter irons consistently. Instead the answer was much simpler I was hitting the ball well enough, only expecting the distance covered to be greater. Hopefully the better weather will hold on for a couple more days and I will be able to get comfortable with the distance of the clubs and continue the months improvement.

In the afternoon I managed to get out and have a good workout with the driver. Working through three lots of ten balls it was a very enjoyable session. The first ten I warmed up quickly and was into the rythym with accuracy and comfortable. The Second ten ball I let the controls loose and swung for distance. With that came a lessening of accuracy, not too drastic nor acceptable in game conditions though. For the third session feeling the effects of the exertion I did the smart thing. Reigned in the unlimited quest for distance and the ball was delivered with ease to the target and a 75% accuracy rate with it. While I enjoy the benefits from the improved distance off the tee, there is quite some work to go before I can truly rely upon it as an unquestioned game feature.

It was not until this morning that I had a bit of a surge in my golf interest for the weekend. The club comp which has the 3rd and final round in its 'Best Two of Three' format on the coming Sunday for some reason I had decided that was beyond me. Weird yet it has obviously been sitting in the subconscious since Sundays round.

I am still in the running if a score of 38 or better can be lodged this weekend, that would tie me with the current leader. So the practice sessions are now being done with an added incentive of playing to better than my current handicap this weekend. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all” 

 Geoff

Still winning and improving as well...

3/7/12 Tuesday. A good weekend of golfing fun on Saturday and Sunday, with two different rounds score wise. Saturday Decided to play at Kingston and get in eighteen holes as the home track was well covered with water after the Friday rains. Apart from a few passing light showers the rainfall was negligible and even the wind was not too strong in affecting the golf played.

Scoring a credible 38 points in the Stableford round with an 82 off the stick and 27 putt was a good enough result to win on the day. It was a reduced field with the A, B and C grade golfers playing club championship match rounds. Over all I played consistent and effective golf. Mixed in with some good and bad shots it is encouraging to know that I have and can improve further. Sunday at Robe the course had dried out significantly since Friday and I was not as focussed on playing and that showed in the end result. While the 29 points was good enough to have me in the top section of the finishers I let myself down several times with inefficient shots. From poor tee shots, fairway play as well as chipping and putting.

Importantly I did have fun and on the eighteenth hole whilst I could have still played to improve my score, instead I decided to push my limits and go for distance off the tee. Two balls went out of bounds and I was not bothered in the slightest it was better to have played and lost than not taken the risk to see what the result would be. Next week is the third and final round of the John Leake Trophy and a score of 40 stableford points will tie with the current leader and 37 will have me matching the current second highest score. This is really an exciting opportunity to know what score I am chasing and being able to go hard for the title with a scope of 3 points to be in the running for a place finish.

This week I will be working on a specific section of my game. The shorter iron shots from 130m into 50m were a particular failing this weekend. This was also noticed at Keith the weekend before, playing off a 12-13 handicap I expect a certain number of errors. When one occurs often enough that by its result puts more pressure on the next shot it is time to target it for improvement. Previously I played very few second shots from 130 metres or less to the green, with the increase distance off the tees in the past 3-4 weeks though this shot has became more prevalent. Whilst golf is about consistency, at my standard the more often I play a shot the nearer I get to having a poor one occur.

Before the need was top play good #6 to #3 irons to the green and have a good chip shot when they missed. So I practised to get them at their best. Now it is time to improve the #7 to 56 degree Wedge shots in accuracy as this is what I am using for greens in regulation shots. It is possible to play them well now but the prevalence and expectation of them is too much for my current ability. The three highest lofted clubs rarely got much use in a round outside of chipping 20 metres to the green. Now they are the clubs that are first choice to hit the green in regulation and I have faltered badly in their use.

The current golfing level of play and practise is being maintained as I prepare for the Naracoorte Winter Tournament from 27th to 29th of July. The week before is the Lucindale CAVPower Tournament and all of this is preparation for the Club Championship qualifying rounds which begin on August the 19th. The week before on the 12th of August is the Millicent Open and I am entering as many of these as possible to really push myself against the A Grade sectional competition. At this stage I am playing well enough at the home club, Golf Link has my average finishing position as 4th place. This is not good enough though to compete against the single handicap golfers in A Grade, I can hold my own against some but the current and past champions are out of my league. Absolutely nothing is guaranteed in this getting me over the line in front but it is great fun devising the program and doing it to see if it works. Not to forget that I really enjoy travelling and playing in golf tournaments with or without the current reasoning. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff