A doctors visit, step one to better golf in 2014

Yesterday was spent inside pondering the state of my golfing capability. Unable to get out and hit balls due to the combination of work and injury. Not my preferred choice on such a great summer day but a forced necessity. A day well spent after all was said and done and at this early hour of the new working day I have formalized the coming golf season plan with very unexpected direction. The first step in my 2014 golf season is to go to my doctor and discuss the recurring injuries which really stifled the past seasons golfing. The fact is that my various broken bits from a MVA in 1982 are the cause of the problems. What is also a fact is that I am in the best physical fitness condition in a decade due to Bowen Therapy, playing golf since 2009, combined with swimming and strand pulling in 2013. There is two particular injury flareups which affect my golf, oh and general life also. My back muscles seize up and become inflamed, painful and restrictive. This is not a major restraint as it once was, doing a couple of sets of strand pulling exercises in particular, literally resets my back muscles withing minutes. The major debilitating injury is in the groin, no not my thinking stick, it is a muscle strain of sorts down the right thigh. It is a symptom of my actual back injury that throws the hips out of alignment and starts with a favoring of the right leg when walking. This adds strain to the groin and eventually the area is sore, restrictive and simple walking is difficult as is sitting in one place without discomfort. This is nothing like the pain and discomfort I have had in the past so it is a good thing. Having improved this condition so much in the past decade my mind is tuned into looking at all options that may improve my health a all opportunities. I do not self diagnose my problems and devise treatments, that is what professional health practitioners are for. Right now the obvious recurring groin problem in the past year is the symptom that needs review. Whilst Bowen Therapy repairs it the increased physical activity of golfing is part of the problem. The cure is not to stop golfing, I have to go to my GP and start the process of preventing the groin strain from happening so often and if possible stop it altogether. There is more to golf than hitting the ball, finding the ball is very important as well. Using that phrase as an analogy, is my first step towards having another crack at getting a single digit handicap in 2014. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, Find the ball, Hit the ball. Geoff

Welcome to the closing chapters of the 2014 edition of "I am not 3 metres tall and bullet proof".

It has been a year of what feels like progress and improvement even if I have gone out from 12 to currently 14.6 handicap wise. Major failures in all of the matchplay events was a disappointment especially after being among the top qualifiers in the club championships. The trophies for the season include four monthly medals, Winning the three round Caledonian Inn club competition, winning Robe Open Division II Gross and Nett as well as Runner up at Kingston Golf Club Summer Open Div II. These achievements do soften the failure of not improving my handicap. The obvious problem for me on the golf course in 2013 was injury, nothing major but debilitating restrictions which hampered my ability to play consistently and with comfort Typified by the last three weeks of struggle with groin strain. Frustrations comes from actually being much fitter the since 2009 when I returned to the game. As well as having improved my golfing technique so well that I had to clear out all the regular flex equipment and return to using stiff flex shafts mid season. This was a very unsettling period virtually like when I returned to the game in 2009. I was in the dark about my distances with clubs, with all shots combined with the adjustment to using hybrids from, #2 to #6 irons in the bag now. I laugh and enjoy golf because while it is not at my peak right now, I am doing as well as expected from the time spent being able to practise. This week i did not touch a stick until Sunday am. when i wandered over to the course and had a few swings to see if I could consider playing. Which by the end of the days round was a limping struggle but not any pain. Finishing with 34 points and that due to missing a couple of easy putts and chips that could have made a 38 point result achievable. The season failure was in the approach shots I have to get Greens in Regulation into my game to reach my dream of a single digit handicap. That is all which is holding me back, now with a driver (Powerbilt Airforce One N7) and swing that gets 220m consistently (up to 240m regularly) and accuracy. The failure to get the ball on the green from 120 metres and less is killing the dream. Which is never ended until my last golfing breath so onward and downward for 2014. All the best to those who travel through my ramblings each season, Have a great 2014. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, Find the Geoff

Using a Powerbilt Airforce one N7 driver... It works for me

Saturday Summer when it is 19 degree maximum and has been raining for the past 4 hours is much better than winter weather. I will play golf in snow if we had that weather condition here my only fault is I cannot play it as often as I would like due to physical limitations. Which is a golfing motivation of the first instance for me, the improvement to my heath since 2009 is at the least 85% golf inspired. Today I am still tender in the groin and playing the 9 hole comp yesterday it was restrictive while on the course. After playing, the pain was there as well. Which according to common sense recommends not playing golf today and rest up for a Sunday comp.Good thing that common sense is the first thing that goes when accepting that you are a committed golfer. Still wavering on playing or not though as it is raining still and I could spend a day inside doing some work and be responsible. To change the topic there is a possibility that I have gone to the dark side with my latest golf purchase. The Powerbilt Airforce One N7 (My GolfSpy review) I have always been interested in this driver, in particular because of the reaction of golfers to its marketing through advertising. The quest for distance in my golf game has been done now. That came from practise with the DreamSwing and developing a good swing plane with a consistent swing using this tool. To the extent that I had to redo all of my equipment back to stiff flex shafts for my game to work effectively. The only piece of equipment that was not settled had been the driver. Using the Cleveland SL290 was effective but always felt there was a little more distance available in the swing using this club. Cobra Encore ZL was proof of that and the only negative was the amount of height in many tee shots that took a lot of effort to control on my part. The Toskii 400cc Driver has always been a favorite of mine and I took that out of the cupboard during the past weeks. It to had benefited from my improved swing and could reach 230m off the tee and maintain a consistent 215-220m drive with accuracy. Used this club last weekend in claiming 2nd place in the Kingston Open. This Monday the Powerbilt Airforce One driver arrived and it has been great fun putting it through its paces on the driving range and on the course. Yes dear readers it does get good distance, that is said without bias on my part. After a full week of using it regularly and settled into a rhythm with the Driver it has surprised me with the ease in hitting 240 m tee shots. To the more important factor I want which is accuracy the driver is excellent, and it does that with an extra 5-10 m on the Toskii. Alongside the Cobra it is longer over all, with a lower ball flight and I am better able to shape shots with the Powerbilt club also. Not the greatest ball striker myself but fairly consistent and there are times when I hit the sweet spot on the face and the ball flies way like a drag racer car on nitrous oxide. The 'Trampoline effect' does describe this feeling very well. It does not take a powerful swing like usingthe Toskii does and that allows me much better control and distance from shots with less effort. The club is very light which again appeals to me and follows the Cleveland Golf practice of lighter club heads swing faster. Very satisfied to have this Driver in my bag and it was well worth the wait to get a new one for $74 (delivered) via an ebay auction. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, Find the ball, Hit the ball. Geoff

In Winning form again...

It is one of the good things about playing competition golf, winning. Not the be all and end all but not far away from the only reason I play competition golf. The past months have been reliant upon patience on my part to gradually develop balance in my game improvement and fitness. There is a part of me that wants to say this has been easy and while realising the process was easy, doing it was not. I have been playing crap for months, with a game that had no semblance of consistency, direction or form. Yet to me I could see during the experience the individual game improvement points that were cloistered amid the miss-hits and errors. At the same time balancing an increasing fitness regime, that did not get out of hand and end up in another breakdown from pushing the body too hard too soon. The result earnt from the practise and improved fitness in past months came this weekend. Saturday was a hard slog at Kingston SE hot weather and the first time I have actually gone for the morning swim before playing golf as well. Finished with 32 points and that score was affected mostly with 3 x three putts on the back nine that all returned 1 point each. Before the round was finished I had little energy left and poor putting cost me a sub handicap round. Sunday used common sense and did not go for a swim, with the assistance of a gusting wind curtailing any latent desire to get in the ocean. Competition winner on the day with 85 gross and a Nett 69, flagging a towards the end of the round and had 2 x three putts on the back nine. Knew as soon as I finished at Kingston the day before that my game was back in form and said so to my playing partners. Yes, I called the next days victory without a semblance of arrogance, overconfidence or Bullsh#t. It was not easy either and had to work very hard and recover from some tricky situations to get the win by only one stroke at the end of the day. Satisfied at the result, which made the stiffness that set in in the hours after the round a little less uncomfortable. Still have a lot of fitness improvement to come planned and that is not so daunting now I have got the first win for summer on the board. Kingston SE Summer Open on this Saturday and I will be resting up on the body training a little and focus on the putter to get some form in the bank. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, Find the ball, Hit the ball. Geoff

Hit the ball, find the ball...

Sure enough after two days of sunshine, today is overcast with intermittent drizzle. Not a bad thing as I have had a lay day from swimming. A little tender in the lower back, brought on by the last two days of fully extended hitting with the Cleveland Driver as part of the comparison testing against the Cobra Encore. Wish i could decide between the two in a simple and conclusive way they are both good but the differences are significant in some aspects. The Cobra has the ball explode easily off the face, The Cleveland has the ball launch but has a better 'feel' with shape and accuracy in my hands. After a serious two days of use the distances are on a par. The Cobra still feeling easier in getting the same length as the Cleveland. Yesterday the shortest with the SL290 was 220 metres hitting that distance 4 times off the tee and the longest 237 once and the other 3 Drives were between 225 and 230 metres No complaints about those figures on my part at all. Considering that 200 metres is closer to my average previously. If it was just equipment that caused the improvement the decision would be easy. Instead the fitness and training of the past season is the major cause of my improvement. Hence I want to continue to build my game around accuracy as before and adjust to the benefits of more distance with all clubs. That has been a problem until recently even now with the improvement stable and able to play to the new club selections I still have some tuning to do. Even though my brain says what club to use the experience of the past 4 years still holds me to a semblance of disbelief. The better weather of late has assisted immensely. By finally being able to get out and play 9 holes without having to run for cover from rain after a couple of holes makes a big difference. For an idea dear readers of how difficult the changes have been to my game and adjusting to them following is some club choices. Distances from 2009 to 2013 are first, an 8 iron for me was 120m max.Yesterday hitting 8 irons 135-140m to the green. PW 100m max and a real effort, Now a smooth 115-120m club, The 7 iron 135m easily now I can grab it for shots to the green from 140 to 150 metres with ease and no accuracy problems. Carrying #2 to #6 Hybrids in my bag has been another benefit and even there the distances gained up to 20 meters in some situations. The #2 Hybrid has a low ball flight and the harder summer ground conditions has made it possible to get up to 210 metres with this club,Usually a comfortable 180-190 metres is this clubs range. Today will be a rest up this morning and at the minute just a review of my game progress. Putting practise will be the main focus in coming weeks I still have a poor GIR average. Until that improves I need to get a one putt game entrenched to make par and eventually make more birdies. Thankyou for your time and attention Hit the Ball ,Find the ball, Hit the ball. Geoff

Still unsure what to have in the bag...

Since winning Division II of the Club Open there has been little opportunity to play competition golf. Which has been no problem enjoying the Ambrose event on last Saturday and in the main relaxing practise session to keep the form that has returned tuned. This week I have been using the Cleveland SL290 driver instead of the Cobra Encore. This is to answer the nagging question of whether I need to upgrade. Today I was hitting the drives 220 to 240 m off the tee with the Cleveland and doing so with full effort and the Cobra is on the same level. It feels as though less effort is needed with the Cobra of the tee, in comparison the SL 290 feels as though there is a little more in the tank that a change in shaft would deliver. This is the quandary that faces my golfing at the minute. Fitness is improved, technique and ability as well. Combined with the summer weather it is time to establish the final set up of my bag and chase that goal of a single digit handicap. All ths will be fun and the Kingston Summer open on the 14th of December is my next major competition to put my game to the test. Thankyou for your time and attention Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Footy Nanna and Jame Hird...

Footy Nanna rant on James Hird http://www.reverbnation.com/geoffdening/song/18942109-footy-nanna-and-james-hird Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Yes more distance is a fact in my golfing game...

Thursday 17/10/13, Dear readers and other believers in the mystic religion of WAKFUK, yesterday I wandered around for nine holes experimenting with the latest driver conundrum. This was done with a Cobra S3 ZL stiff flex (yes a white one) It is fortunate to have a mate who has that much underestimated devotion to the 'Must Have" tenet of WAKFUK. It was used as a comparison to the Cleveland SL290, shortened shaft in my bag. I do not espouse to the trial in net and on a range to justify a new driver in the bag. At the end of nine holes I am bemused by this experiment. Hitting into the wind and with the wind the ball went further and by that I mean significantly so. My playing partner commented that my swing seemed much slower with the Cobra. I believe this was because I was controlling the swing and not trying to push the limits of it in my hands. In essence it was to be able to compare it to how I play with the Cleveland. On the Final Hole I settled down and let fly off the tee with two drives with the Cobra and then played a more controlled drive. Then I hit two drives with the Cleveland which landed 1m in front and 2m short of the restrained Cobra drive and I mean that literally that accuracy with the Cleveland even surprised me! Comfortable 200m drives with a gusting cross wind. The First two though were draws and 220-230m drives. The result at this stage is I can get much more distance with the heavier Cobra and easily, the accuracy though is compromised for the minute. This is a moderate problem though as I played several drives and they went near enough to where i was aiming. What was particularly noticeable is the 'power' of the tee which propelled the ball so far with so little effort. Without doubt the Cleveland cannot deliver the distance of the Cobra. The conundrum as always for me is with a game based on control and accuracy from never being capable of hitting particularly long now I have to figure out how to play with that ability now available. I add this is not solely due to equipment but significant fitness improvement as the basis combined with technique from using the Dream Swing trainer. Thankyou for your time and attention hit the ball find the ball hit the ball Geoff

Good form needs the correct equipment..

Wednesday and finally a bit of time to recount the past weeks golfing. Got back to a flatter swing which has delivered immediate results and back in the minor placing's in club competitions again. On a trip to Adelaide last week called in to Drummond Golf and spent 40 minutes in their nets getting my swing checked out and calibrated on the computer. My swing speed is still around the same pace. The vastly improved technique and timing from using the Dream Swing has been the factor which has taken me back to stiff flex iron shafts. This was a very beneficial analysis session, as well as experimenting with the new X10 driver. Interesting to put my Cleveland SL 290 with the shorter shaft alongside new drivers and hold its own. That said the importance of having the correct shafts has now become vital in my golfing progress. Having a social nine holes this afternoon and will be using a Cobra S3 Driver. Look until last week absolutely no intention of getting another driver was the answer. In fact the question was not even in my mind, nor was getting stiff flex shafts and new iron either a month ago. It is a very hard decision to make, getting my game to settle into effective play with the improvements. Then have to consider that the equipment has to change as well. The new irons are a must an driver change not at all and it is firtunate the guy who I am getting the irons from has just changed driver as well. Playing nine holes with the S3 Driver and a few practise sessions will feed my interest enough. Now to the weekend results, finally. Only one round played after a 3 hour drive from Adelaide to make it to Kingston Saturday morning out the car and scored 32 points. With 4 x three putts the only real problem and that I put down to the travelling. Finished in 10th place out of 32 golfers, did not play Sunday it was another very windy day and I had work as well to tidy up so a rest was the choice. Pacing myself to tell the truth and taking some time to get settled into my new golfing capability. It is great to be champing at the bit to play again. Also only 6 weeks to go and 3 years on committee are finished and I will enjoy the freedom of that a lot. Thankyou for your time and attention hit the ball find the ball hit the ball Geoff

Al Square Par round success...

Took the trip to Kingston yesterday and played in their Par round. Was short of time leaving Robe later than usual and had no warm up chip and putt. Was not concerned as the goal was to have some fun and still explore the adaptation to the improved golf game that I have developed. finishing all square to end the round was a very good result given my recent results over eighteen holes. Not having a practise putt and warm up hit did influence the result yet was of no concern seeing that I played well enough to be square at the end of the round. It was unusual in one respect that the Kingston greens were significantly slower that I am accustomed to. this caused several putts to fall short of the hole. Frustrating when putts were 2-3 rolls off falling into the cup. Still not perturbed about the matter. It does show the importance of having a warm up before playing is to my game. The other problem was with the wedge to the green from 100 meters in to the green. It was a confidence issue for some reason I shanked the first shot top the right and after that was rattled every time I was setting up to play the next shot. This morning I am heading out for another warm up definitely before playing today. With the improved game ability that has developed in the past season. Yesterday was a day while playing well I could truly engross myself in the changed game I play. Off the tee is no real problem with the accuracy, distance and comfort. The problem has been the second and third shots (on par five holes) Adjusted to the need to play 2 clubs shorter for many of these shots now, Using a seven instead of a five iron has been a big change. The other adjustment was mental from being 20 to 30 metres closer to the green off the tee. Instead of enjoying the achievement I was choking on the expectation placed on myself to hit the green, as well as trying to pick the correct club. Fresh start today, a stroke round and the October Monthly Medal round looking forward to the experience and building on the growing comfort in the still new golf game I play. Thankyou for your time and attention hit the ball find the ball hit the ball Geoff

Back to the future...

Managed to get out and hit 30 balls yesterday with the five iron and work on getting comfortable with the new-found improvements. How much of an impact is the increased swing speed having on my game can be typified by an example from Sundays Stableford round. Travelling easily 7 points after five holes just enjoying the round in good weather. Sixth hole hit a comfortable drive from the tee, 150 m from the green. Either 5 iron or hybrid easy hit grabbed the hybrid swung easy as and watched the ball sail over the green into the bush! WTF must be a fluke I know this distance and swing needed in my sleep. Reload same club easy swing POW! Even sweeter hit, flew over green and bush to be found on adjacent fairway. Just one of several occurrences in Sundays round that ended with 29 points. Not playing crap just out of my long established comfort zone. Which not surprisingly is a lot of fun. Honestly the pleasure of being able to do something that was never considered attainable is great. Yet in all truth it is virtually taking me back three seasons in my golfing, playing to 20-25 handicap because I have no idea what the ball is going to do. . Here is the upbeat point, I can go back into my golf blogs/diary to then and renew what I did to take the next steps to playing down to the 11-12 handicap figure again. Instead of battling away trying to recapture form it is simply follow the same path that worked so well before that was recorded in my posts. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Back in form at last...

Sunday 22/9/13 A good nights sleep and ready to play another 18 in today's home club comp. Finished in a credible 7th place in field of 34 at Kingston SE yesterday, it was good to have a but of form return in my game. The realisation that part of my form drop had been caused by equipment no longer suitable to my golfing is still a surprise. Facts; Playing golf regularly since 2009, have got down to 12 handicap and blown out to 15 in the last two months of winter golfing. Fitness, using the Dream Swing trainer, health and golf swing are at their best in a long time. Changed from regular flex driver shaft to stiff approx 4-6 weeks ago. Have been using regular flex iron shafts since 2011. There are three video links in this post of my golf swing in 2010, 2012 and September 2013. GOLF SWING 30 march 2010 Recently a mate actually got fitted by our club Pro after I suggested to do this instead of getting the clubs he wanted online. He did this and I could have been knocked over with a feather when he said he needed to get stiff flex shafts in his new Irons! This guy have extra stiff driver shaft (Ping G20) hits a 260-280m drive easily. His iron shots are all over the place and it made no sense until I found out he was using regular flex shafts. In my favour is that this has been what my game was doing. The control accuracy of iron shots had gone to pieces of late and made no sense to me why. 2012 Last Golf Range session By chance it has been shown that I have picked up a lot of swing speed and need stiff flex shafts myself now. The Cobra Forged S3 irons are great and I have not budgeted $300-$400 for another iron set this year. Fortunately in my shed is a set of old S300 shafts and a set of Nike Stiff Flex graphite shafts fitted to and old set of Keith Knox blades. Took that sets 5 iron to the range this morning and used it in tandem with the Cobra 5 iron. Hit it a little shorter but this time it felt great where as before it damn near broke my hands when using them. So may be able to save by fitting the NIKE shafts to my AP2 irons in the meantime while waiting to regrip the old S300 shafts and see how they perform. Golf Practise September 2013 Either way greatly increased swing speed was the last thing I was expecting. Even though the Dream Swing hand book does say that this will happen I discounted that as a possibility for a porky 50 year old bloke. Still it is great to have the power to go with improved swing technique and ability. In the space of three days I have gone from reconciling myself to having peaked as a golfer to rejuvenated and on the move down again. It has been 6 months of training with the Dream Swing combined with the Strand pulling exerciser routines that have made this happen. The swing improvement is well recognised by myself the increased swing speed though has rocked my entire game plan foundation. Now is another period of major golf game reconstruction for me. Thankyou for your time and attention hit the ball find the ball hit the ball Geoff

No Way; Swing Faster and hit longer...!

Saturday and back on a golf course and a bit of improvement in a game at last with an 89 gross 74 nett. The week of helped a little and a very weird and unexpected discovery yesterday playing in the 9 hole chicken run. A mate had asked me to sell some Cobra S3 forged S300 shafted irons. His work has him travelling a lot so he changed to Cobra AMP's to counter the lack of playing time he is getting to get form with them. The Chicken Run is fun and I decided to have a wack with the Cobras, great looking sticks and endure my lack of ability to use S300 shafts. Have regular flex in my irons and hybrids. Well it seems that the last few months of exercise and training has more than made it necessary to go back to stiff flex in my Driver. I hit the ball excellently with the Cobras and a lot of the problems with my recent iron use disappeared. Hence today I put the Cobra irons in the bag for the round at Kingston and this time had 18 good holes of golfing. So Friday has been a bloody expensive 9 holes as the Cobras will not even get a look in on ebay. Staying in my bag instead. Thankyou for your time and attention hit the ball find the ball hit the ball Geoff

Footyheads Review 2013 Elimination Final

Carlton get a finals appearance courtesy of Essendon being disqualified. Richmond make their first finals appearance in several seasons. Then 94,000 fans turn up to see the Elimination final that was a cracker of a game. All or nothing for either team and Richmond 4 goals (26 points) in front at half time the second half was sensational! Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Get fit and win golf..

Sunday 25/8/13 After 2 months of frustration yesterday I finally put a half decent 18 holes together. Nothing spectacular finishing with -3 after the round. At no time did it feel like or happen that my round was about to fall apart. Even the loss holes were always close to halves. The only irritations, that came from two three putts. Finishing the day with 32 putts and a little more wayward off the tee than I have been lately 11, but GIR's made the difference. What really made the improved score was nothing to do with golf. Playing nine holes is a doddle for me and that has been shown in all of my practise of late. My technique across the board has been vastly improved Yet for 8 weeks my golf has been falling apart in competitions. There had been one significant change in my routine since the golf began to fall apart, I had stopped the morning swimming and the daily fitness workouts with cable/strand pulling. At Home the next day an 85 off the stick with 25 putts was good enough to win the August Monthly Medal. A $20 Strand Pulling set and a series of simple excercise routines and my golf is back on the winners list. That is what I started using after the last 7 rounds of failure, it was the only thing I had stopped doing since the failing began. Up until 8 weeks ago I had been still swimming 3 mornings a week and using the strand set each day with a 10 to 15 minute routine as well as doing 15 reps (just did one now) when sitting at my desk or watching tv at night. It is that simple to improve your stamina. Look at your own golfing, do you practise? do you get coaching? do you look at a round and isolate those shots that went wrong and realize where the club be it driver, iron, wedge or putter went off line and the ball missed the target? Then you have no difficulty in calculating why the ball went in the wrong direction so you practise more to stop the deviation again. Have you ever considered that it was not lack of ability that caused the fault, instead it was because you had tired during the round? That is what I realized last year that fitness is more than walking around the course it is being able to swing a club precisely through the round and that is every club from putter to driver. How many times have you miss hit a chip shot or a putt and thought how did that happen? It does not happen with my game now yet it was simple little miss hits that were destroying my scores on one or two holes in past weeks. Still practicing the same amount but I was not excising any more. Start it again and after two weeks the form is back and I have my third club monthly medal in a row for 2013. Thankyou for your time and attention hit the ball find the ball hit the ball Geoff

Footyhead's review rd 21 Blues defeat Richmond

The season is coming to the close and the Blues have a faint chance to still make the 8. All relying upon other teams winning and losing. Carlton can still make the finals. The Blues pulled off their grittiest win of the year on Saturday, beating Richmond by 10 points at the MCG. The Blues trailed by five goals at quarter-time before dominating thereafter to win 16.10 (106) to 14.12 (96) to stay in ninth place and remain within striking distance of Port Adelaide. If the Blues can beat Essendon at the MCG on Saturday night, they will travel to AAMI Stadium in the final round of the season to play Port in what will be a virtual elimination final. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

New Hybrids in the bag...

Could not take it sitting around and not get out and have a decent hit for another day. Played 9 holes after 10.30 to put the new hybrids through their paces on course. Very satisfied after the round a tidy 42 off the stick and the hybrids proved that this club is much easier for my game style. Keeping #7 to PW and a 56* irons in the bag the rest are #2-#6 Hybrid Clones of the TM Superfast rescue clubs. At this stage will play Friday Chicken run and that will be my golfing weekend total. G/f down for a stay as well as taking some time out of playing just to refresh myself. Thankyou for your time and attention hit the ball find the ball hit the ball

Monday 6th. Back home and warming up after the Eudunda Ambrose trip. Was fun to play a fun round of golf in fact. Probably exactly what my game brain needed. The shortened Driver experiment is over for the minute. As I took the shaft out and put in the Stiff Flex shaft that arrived on last Thursday. It was an interesting trial and I am looking forward to hitting the same club head with a 5 cm longer shaft. With the 9* short reg flex shaft there was not much distance loss compared to the longer shafted 10.5* regular flex club head. That distance loss at full power was noticed yet the accuracy was so easy to achieve and the distance off the tee felt to be longer than usual combined with the accurate drives. I am not going to pass this experience over in a hurry. I can still shorten the shaft in the 10.5* driver at a later date in desired. Most likely I will just replace it with the very short one pulled yesterday and experiment with that first.

This pic of me was taken while hitting a cracker of a drive an easy 240m, down hill without much run so very satisfied with that hit. The Fluoro Polo Shirt and cap or Beanie were included with the entry fee so the course looked like a council worker convention. Putting on scrapes was a battle to be honest that delicate 'feel' of the run of the grass greens is not any use. The mental block to whack the ball into the hole was so hard to circumvent. Still we dropped some great puts on the day and that added to the fun.

This weekend is the Naracoorte Open Weekend 9th-11th of August and the plan is to play both Saturday and Sunday. Depending on work of course which may save me the pain which seems to come from playing this course. Have to be getting close to knocking out a good round at Naracoorte though and as usual full of optimism and looking forward to the trip. "hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball." Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Millicent Open another learning curve...

Tuesday 30/7/13 Slowly recovering from the 27 hole trek on Sunday on the Millicent course. fortunately the cart hired worked for 18 holes before coming to a stop. Even so walking the last nine holes was not that bad and fortunately the rain which was intermittent during the day did not return. My card was a battle from hole one with a 10 to start and this was not a problem as I felt that I could come back from that with 26 holes to go. That was not to be the Driver was wayward and whilst on my home track and at Kingston this would be no great problem the dense tree lined fairways and ferns took a toll Three lost balls did the main damage to my card. The putting was not that hard and this was pleasing, to see that my game has improved so much compared to the first time I played this course in 2010. Finished the first nine holes with 53 hits including a 10,8 and 8 three lost balls in total. The next nine was a 47 and the third nine a 46. A total field of 47 golfers and only four broke 80, there was thirteen scores of 80 to 89 leaving a total of thirty golfers who did not break 90. There were eight golfers in the C Grade which had the highest handicappers in it up to 27. It was not an easy day on the track with some strong winds and rain adding spice to the course. Great fun all day playing with out any fear and in the company of a 1,3 and 6 handicapper on the day. This is a point that had a lot of bearing n the day, it would have been very easy to reign in my stroke play to the more efficient, accurate and limited shots with the limited swing. Instead I chose to stick with the full swing and it was difficult in some cases with the ball going too long and into trouble or wide and in the rough among trees. The good shots though were excellent, four GIR and seven fairways hit and 35 putts on the first 18 holes tell part of the tale. The seven shots among trees off the fairway were lethal to the score. Watching the 1 handicapper using a 3 wood and hybrid off the tee except on par three holes has since delivered a very rewarding game strategy. In his case it was because of how far he can hit the ball and retain accuracy. For me today it entailed playing nine holes with a different #2 Hybrid and not using the driver at all returning 4 pars and 3 bogeys. The usual #2 Hybrid showed some interesting abilities on Sunday that did not ring true. Today it was changed over to a stiff flex hybrid instead of regular flex, with this came better consistency and accuracy. Yes the full swing is a lot faster than before and the regular flex hybrid had became unstable with the club face alignment to impact slicing right. It was also done with an older set of Seve irons that are heavier and not as effective as the usual Titliest ap2's in my bag nor my usual putter. All is good and even though the transition period is frustrating in some aspects, the change is a big step in the direction to a lower handicap. Am going to experiment some more with the #2 Hybrid rounds as well that was particularly effective today 170 -180 m off the tee and then another hit with the same hybrid on par fours and I was on the green or just off the edge. Very easy golf playing like that, all learnt while paying attention to a playing partner on Sunday. Thankyou for your time and attention. hit he ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

First hit in anger an it was fine..

Friday 26/7/13 Maintained the push on the swing change today. With a good return given the circumstances. The nine hole Chicken Run was played after getting back from Adelaide with no warm up and in the usual manner of bucket loads of sledging and general gamesmanship from playing partners. It is fun and relaxing at the same time to play with the reward of getting results to throw back in response to a sledge. Not a bad result on the day third place with 17 points. Wiped the first hole played just to damn stiff after 3 1/2 hours sitting in the car driving home. Off the tee was good playing with two big hitters and claimed the long drive on one hole and the rest were up with the guns. The message in my mind was how soon before I start to transfer the fuill swing to the rest of my clubs in a round. At this stage it is all about getting a few sessions on the practise range and playing the full swing with every club. Today the accuracy was good thanks to the past weeks practise and that is a big confidence booster. Looks like the mental side of the experience has been successful. Even today I was wanting to play the full shot but did not take the step up. For no other reason except no preparation has been taken to pave the way. Thankyou for your time and attention. hit he ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

WoW I have a game changing glf swing at last...

Wednesday 24/7/13. This morning with an afternoon 9 hole social round to play I had a different practise session. With the need to work on my tee shot and the slice fade that was getting a toe hold no irons were hit. Just to add to the warm up grabbed a #3 and #5 wood to experiment with, comparing the regular flex #3 to my stiff flex one and the #5 to the #2 hybrid. Worked my way through the various clubs and settled the query that the #2 hybrid is the better. The #3 woods is a toss up and will keep exploring with the variation in shafts although at worst the fairway metals do have 10 meters more distance. Then it was time to hit the driver and see if I could repair the fault.. This was mildly successful and it was circumvented by the discovery/realisation of something that was more important to my game overall. As regular readers are aware I am not a big hitter of the ball and put accuracy before distance in balance with my golfing capability. Today because of the warm up with fairway metals etc I revisited something that I have noted in past diary entries but is put on the bottom of the to do list as it is testing the physical limits of my capability. My back swing is restrained from the effects of a 30 year old back injury and so the habit is what causes moderation in the swing not need. Since January my physical ability has been significantly improved with swimming in tandem with weight loss and exercise over the past 4 years. Every now and then I would have a full back swing with my shoulder under my chin on the back swing when practising, perhaps 2-3 swings and then left alone after feeling the stretching of the injured area. Today though I felt great and decided to put the established physical limit to the test. Make no doubt about it the boiling nervous feeling started in my guts the second I started to get ready to warm up. The focus was intense just to force myself to swing the club and the hands to keep moving back. This is were all the coaching and practise again proved its value. My body was doing what I had been taught and practised and although it felt absolutely out of control the shoulder was under my chin and then I started the downswing to hit the ball. No pain no discomfort and the swing felt easy even if the ball was send scorching to the left, there was more power released than I even come close to usually. Making note that I had taken my eyes off the ball in the downswing the next shot was done just as easy and the eyes stayed on target. You guessed it, the club head hit the ball and it soared like a rocket, I have no idea if it was the balls speed or relief that my body did not explode that made me feel dizzy afterwards. Did not over do the test hitting eight balls in total resulting in much less control over where the ball went. What made this insignificant was that four of the balls went as far as I usually hit my best and the other four were 20 to 30 metres longer than the best I can do consistently. This is no trivial one club improvement, it is a game changer. Every club will be used totally differently with this capability. The fact which makes this a difficulty is the realisation that mid season I am top qualifier for Handicap Championship, Won two monthly medals and several runner up placing's. I am about to begin working on something which will totally change my game, one that already is effective. Fact is the change is imperative to get me to the goal of single figure handicap. The hardest part is that to do this is going to take a lot of concentration to not fall back into the existing comfort zone of my golf game. The choice is accept mediocrity and have some success, or go for the gold and be a dominant winning golfer. The decision has been made and I would rather risk and suffer the failures on the way to success than be mediocre. Thankyou for your time and attention. hit he ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

Mental weakness destroys my golf game...

It is not a surprise it has been something that has been in my thoughts the past weeks. First was to discern the why of the matter. Before it evolved into choking, the seeds were planted in the deadly game fault of 'playing safe'. So bloody stupid of me to fall into this innocuous trap. Chipping close to the pin is easy, then I started to think about the putt to come before playing the chip shot. As the synonym goes 'Putting the cart before the horse' does not work. To put things in the wrong order skews the result towards a direction of failure.

Next weekend is 27 holes at the Millicent Open and these greens are a couple of speeds above the slick greens at Lucindale. This week will be also getting my mind right with chipping. I do it well until I get on course and the confidence to play the shots evaporates. This is either choking or some mysterious brain fade by alien space rays. I will go with choking as the most likely culprit.

The rest of my game was very effective 12 plus fairways hit, very good approach shots setting up par chances or bogies if not one putts. The problems cause has been identified, now it is up to me to have the mental strength to not maintain waving the flag of surrender. Thankyou for your time and attention. hit he ball, find the ball, hit the ball Thankyou for your time and attention, hit he ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

Standing up in the winter golf weather...

8.45pm Wednesday with a storm front forecast to reach here tonight the day was one with gradually increasing winds from 1pm onward. With a few jobs to get done it was not possible to schedule to a practise session. The difficulty was over come by making the most af a couple of half hour breaks to get in a chipping session and later in the day a good workout out with the 6 iron and four iron. That was an important one to do as it required hitting into the strengthening wind. Putting my rhythm and technique to the test for a pass mark. The wet conditions and playing in the rain I can deal with in the main. Fronting up to the brunt of the strong winds off the Southern Ocean here is the make or break game standard a coastal golfer has to have. The coming British Open is often remarked upon with the weather conditions the players have to deal with. The same applies here as well in the middle of winter. When man of 105kg fit and strong struggles to stay on his feet while playing a shot, let alone hit the ball forward 150m on the fairway or green, your game needs to be well tuned. The bonus today was I managed to get out for an hour session after 5pm. Put in a combined series of drills chipping and putting then out with the driver into the wind. Worked out very well especially happy to be hitting the driver the same distance as last week. Considering the wind strength it is possible that my new driver is becoming very effective in my hands. The experiment of the previous week and using low tees has delivered an effective result. Not at its best yet either so looking forward to more practise if possible weather wise this week. Together with what has been a very small change in my stroke play. All that entailed was where my eyes focus in the set up to improve my club head direction before and after impact. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

Saturday will be a trip to Kingston for the Shell Roadhouse Trophy (Stableford event) Won a Shell event last season in the Kingston Summer Open and hopefully will pick up a place finish on Saturday. Looking forward to playing a Stableford even the day before the stroke competition at Lucindale. Not positive why it is so, yet this mix is something that sharpens my competition play. A Par round encourages me to attack to get the + result, which is not my usual 'percentage' game play. Hence it feels uncomfortable in comparison to Stableford where I can get 2 points for a 'par' score yet have the possible 3 or 4 point return for playing better than handicap on some holes. Sunday is the Lucindale CAVPower open event. A popular tradition in the region for golfers. I enjoy playing the course with the fairways between towering gum trees and the greens which are prepared to a treat for the Open. The bonus being that the course has two days play on it before the open on Sunday. The pace is usually a little muted than on day one of the event. Having never played the early days I only have this on hearsay that the lightning fast greens carve up a lot of cards in the early pairs events. Lucindale Golf Tournament Proudly Sponsored by CAVPower 18th - 21st July 2013 Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

My mobile app. now available...

Get my personal phone app. for free, from Standup comedy, "Licence to Thrill Radio serial and the Ballad of Adam Lindsay Gordon,. Check the settings on your Android device — make sure "unknown sources" are enabled or allowed. From your Android device, scan the QR code on the right or enter the following URL in your mobile browser: http://www.reverbnation.com/geoffdening/android Tap "Download App" from your Android device Find the app file (it will be called .apk), and tap it. You should see a message that asks you if you want to install the app. Say yes! You're done! Enjoy my app. for free

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Another golf improvement in the offing...

11/7/13 Thursday Thoroughly enjoying golfing at the minute. It has been a good three months since I had became jaded with the game to an extent. A combination of career, domestic and social interruptions to getting outside and golfing were the cause. On the plus side living in reality and having everything associated with that going well is a good thing. The break in Queensland whilst short was the perfect fillip for what was ailing me, out of the rut and active has been the result of having such a refreshing holiday. Golf is fun for me and competition is an important part of that fun. Just as the 5 holes just played with two ball on each hole until it became too dark to continue is fun and important. To amble around and hit both tee shots within 10 m of each other on every hole and on the fairway is a thrill. The new driver is becoming settled in my hands today's experiment was using shorter tees off the block. This has been considered for a few months after seeing several other very good single digit handicappers using the ordinary wood tee with the driver. Firstly though I had to get my game into a good enough state that would make it possible to do the experiment well and give the result some credence. As you can expect the result of playing 5 holes with 2 balls and all drives on the fairway and within 10 metres of each other and some 2-3 metres apart has definitely given me food for further though. Will play the short tees tomorrow in the 9 hole chicken run tomorrow. Even wit the recent good result my coaching advice received has definitely quashed any over confidence in my ability getting entrenched. Still not cocking my wrists enough on the backswing, my tempo is still jagged both of which are causes of my main faults lack of distance and erratic shot which spray out still. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Geoff

DreamSwing 5 minutes to set up and hit the ball perfect...

Welcome the Dream Swing. Practising with the Dream Swing allows you to FEEL and LEARN the swing of your Dreams. The golf swing is a feel motion. You learn the feeling of a motion by repeating it. The Dream Swing forces the golf club to swing on the perfect swing plane for you. Using the Dream Swing programs your mind body coordination with the feeling of your best golf swing. It's easy to repeat a motion you have felt. Results have proven The Dream Swing to be the most effective swing improvement system ever. Its easily adjusted for each golfers body type from beginners to top Tour Players. A better golf swing guarantees better scores. If you want to improve your swing and play better golf, you're at the right place. With the Dream Swing you won't waste your time practicing your common swing mistakes. If you have any questions, comments, or disagree with anything you see while browsing the site please contact through this blog. If you want to play better golf tomorrow, order the Dream Swing today. When you Practice your best golf swing your guaranteed to play better golf. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

New Driver in the bag, now more practise...

This morning the latest driver for my bag arrived. Purely functional and a club that I am comfortable with. A Cleveland SL290, 460cc with 10.5 degree loft and 43g Regular flex shaft, previously using a 310 version (440cc) with a voodoo stiff flex shaft and moving that on as it was too stiff to be consistent with. Managed to get my labours all done and dusted in the main by noon and headed to the range to hit some balls. Using it in tandem with the Toskii 400cc driver for comparison. The first insinct on the range was to hit the ball too hard and I let this pass and at the same time was quite satisfied with the results. Sprayed the ball and the slices were not too bad although would have been disaster in a round to be that wayward. It was all about getting the feel of the new driver and how the ball behaved when hit either well or badly. Once loosened up I headed off to get some work done before returning to the club later and playing nine holes. Very satisfied with the 38 off the stick in the nine hole round with two double bogeys all from poor club choice when chipping and using the putter off the green. Something that would not be done in a competition round but good to experiment with low percentage shots in practise. Off the tee was excellent if a little too much height with several drives.Keeping that in mind I returned to the course a couple of hours later and gave the Cleveland another workout. Putting my observations to the test with changing my set up posture and adjusting the take away. That got the ball trajectory lower and added 10-15 metres to the driver shot off the tee. Nothing spectacular dear readers only reaching 220 metres with accuracy and ease, which is the minimum I want off the tee. More practise is going to be the key of course and that is not a problem. Having settled into the ;swing: with the new driver, knowing what is to be established for the best return. Now it is time to get the putting up a few points in accuracy. My game is travelling well at the minute and that is from steady and regular practise. I am still chasing the elusive single figure target and to do so have to shave off a few more strokes. Greens in regulation is the first goal that has been attacked for improvement and is improving still. Chipping is okay, putting still is marred by the occasional c@ck up. Then the fitness level is under attack to improve as well, more stamina means less errors caused from tired efforts. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Geoff

Top of the Winners list again...

8/7/13 Monday. Back on the winners list in yesterday's club competition. Claimed the July Monthly Medal with a Nett 72 (Gross 86). Hitting 12 fairways on the day certainly helped as did the improved approach shots from 150 metres in from the past weeks practise with the DreamSwing on the range. Fitness let me down in the last few holes for the third week in a row. Started swimming again this morning in the Icebergers group and will add to that with a Strand Pulling routine on a daily basis as well. Once I get the feeling back in my fingers and toes any ways! The swimming is very good for my well broken and battered body and we had stopped for the year as the water temp. drops to 11 degrees for a few months an it can get very stormy on the coast in winter as well. We had all been missing the swimming benefits for the past month and then some idiot saw that the usual current change had not happened and had the audacity to check the water temperature here last week. Sure enough it was at 14 degrees and not a freezing cold 11 degrees, WTF! So into the water we leapt this morning and swam the laps. Yes I feel better for it and even more so in coming weeks. At least I am a golfer and have a rational reason for being mental enough to swim in the Southern Ocean in winter. Back to the important golf stuff, my form is improving due to practise, practise and more practise will get me a little more benefit as well. It has taken some dedicated effort to get out on the practise range and course the past month and practise. Like all amateur golfers the fact is playing the game we love does come second to other commitments. Even with my self centred lifestyle golf can be shunted into the back of the priority queue at times. This is not done happily on my part and the reason is obvious when the recent results are set up as why. The past three weeks have returned two Monthly medal wins, leading qualifier in both rounds so far of the club handicap championship, a fourth place on count back for third in the other club round played. Top ten finish in A grade at Keith Open (Gross) Top five finish (Nett). Plus in a best two of three scores with one round to go, I have a three shot lead over the nearest challenger and five shots over the next best golfer in the club Caledonian Inn Trophy. All thanks to practise nothing else has been the cause of this success. There is one other aspect of my golfing which is about to be reinvigorated to directly improve my results. Fitness training, the past month I have faltered over the past 3-4 holes with physical restriction from tiredness. Not sleepiness but physically drained from the effort and that affects concentration and causes more mistakes. Adding strokes to my score. Improving my physical condition is worth it to reduce scores by 3-5 shots in my opinion. The one other improvement to be garnered will come from equipment additions. Specifically the driver replacement that I am still waiting for after a week from ebay. Using the Toskii 10 degree 400cc driver did return 12 fairways hit yesterday. The Cleveland SL290 will make a little more distance (10-15m at least) available off the tee with the same accuracy. Adding another hybrid to my bag last week is also a scoring bonus. The #2 is very effective and I am not certain at the minute with sticking with just a #4 hybrid and not adding a #5 or even a #3 as well will be the best option. As well as the continued use of a #3 Fairway Wood may be better suited to being replaced with for example a Cobra Long Tom #2 Wood. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Geoff

Winter...windy, wet and still good golfing

6/7/13 Saturday, At the minute I am not certain if I will travel to Kingston for 18 holes today or stay and have a practise round on the home track. My new driver has not turned up yet this week which is a little frustrating so I will be using the Toskii in Sundays Monthly Medal round. It is also the 2nd rounds of both the Handicap Qualifying Championship as well as the Caledonian Inn trophy. After the first rounds of these events I am leading in the Caledonian trophy and am going for my third win of the event in a row. This and winning another Monthly Medal are my main motivations for the round. I have already qualified for the Handicap Championship and will wait until the match Play starts before letting that event become a major motivation. In Adelaide on Wednesday and Thursday the effort was made to get to the Drummond Golf driving range to hit 50 balls and keep my game in tune. This was time well spent, both days the range had me hitting into the face of strong winds. Being a particular weather feature of my home track in winter this helped a lot with the practise. Could have played in the 9 hole comp. on Friday after returning home with some rushing around. Instead took my time and cruised through the chores and went to the practise range and hit a relaxed 30 balls in the windy conditions. Today will work on my short game around the greens and putting before hitting a few balls on the practise fairway. Then front up to the weather of today and play 18 holes. It will be fun on the day and I am looking forward to getting out and enjoying the walk and hitting. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Geoff

June a Month well spent ...

DreamSwing Australia The swing trainer that works... Time flies when you are having fun and that is apparent with the space between posts. Returned from a holiday in the sunshine in Queensland and refreshed from the swimming and relaxing. Golf did not even get a look in and the break must have worked. The previous weeks I have been struggling to complete a consistent 18 hole round that has seen my handicap creep out to 14. This Sunday in the 1st handicap championship qualifier round and monthly medal I had a win with a nett 72. Missed a few easy putts so all was good. The biggest change came with a driver upgrade. Using a Ping V2 Rapture off the tee with a regular flex shaft added that 10-15 metres. Importantly was the feeling in the swing and contact that was crisp and controlled. The Taylor Made R5 has been good as a trial and the M Flex shaft was holding me back from getting the full benefit of my improved shot play. Will keep using the on loan Ping until a new driver arrives in coming weeks. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. 19/6/13 Wednesday Cold but a nice enough day with clear skies so will get 9 holes in this afternoon. The practise routine is back in the groove concentration is on the 5 iron 150m shot accuracy hitting 50 balls a day on the range since last week. Putting is improved as well which helps. The driver issue is sorted with a Ping Rapture V2 on loan until I get the TM R9 or similar off the bay. 27/6/13 Thursday. The practise has paid off with the result from the Keith Open my best in 4 visits. This was the first intra club open I ever played in back in 2010. Remaining the benchmark in some respects for my game and this time I finished 10th over all and 5th in A Grade nett. This week has been a continuation of my practise and the form is looking good for this weekend. The first round of the John Leake Trophy. 29/6/13 Saturday. Managed to get in some practise this morning after setting up the club for this weekend’s Bridge Tournament. A major fundraiser for the club each year it is part of the volunteer aspect of running a golf club. The practise hit was vital still looking for the next driver up grade and have tried out a TM R1 the last 2 weeks and it did not feel right. Good club get decent distance but the striking the ball with it just feels crap. Back out with the Toskii 400 cc driver and while 10-15m shorter off the tee it feels so damn good hitting the ball that makes up for the distance loss. Playing off an 8 handicap in the none hole chicken run I still finished with 16 points with two wipes not bad going for a bloke who is on 13.6 hcp. In good form to put in a challenging effort in the Sunday competition tomorrow and will try and get in 40-50 balls with the 6 iron this afternoon following the bar stint at the club. 1/7/13 Monday. Rained in today nt even able to get out for a practise hit so far. Not a bad thing I am feeling a little stiff this morning and towards the end of the round yesterday did falter a little mentally which was very costly. June has seen a return to form in my golfing with increased practise. The Dream Swing trainer is the foundation to my improved consistency. It has made practise much more effective and efficient with a solid swing that is not affected with working on correcting other faults. Winning the club monthly medal three weeks ago and top qualifier so far for the Club Handicap Championship. In my fourth visit to Keith in the annual open I returned my best finish 10th over all in A grade and 5th in the Nett. with an 89 Gross, 75 Nett. This weekend I have a fourth place finish in the club comp losing a count back for third. A new driver has been purchased and is on the way. It is a return to the future having chosen to get another Cleveland this time the 460cc SL290. Really keen on getting a Taylor Made R11S but this will do for the minute. Played this weekend with my Toskii 400cc 10.5 degree and it is a sweet club accuracy wise but I drop 10-15 metres off the tee with it in winter. It was a fun day out and the wind did pick up as the day wore on and the first taste of what is to come in July to September hastened the need to get a driver that can crank out a few metres more. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Steady golf is the reward for practice

So much for quitting golf, not that this thought crossed my mind in the past week. Did a little musing on the loss and there was nothing in my thoughts to incite an personal sporting revolution. A couple of phone calls on Friday afternoon and I was out playing in the 9 hole chicken run. Funnily enough with out any collusion it was two other A Grade golfers in the match play rounds who are playing off against each other tomorrow. It was good fun and a lot of verbal b/s was thrown around during the 9 holes. Once again I was on the fairways off the tee with straight accurate drives. And again the second shots at the green were marred with a couple of bladed strikes. These mishits really irritate me. Hitting the ball 'fat' which invariably fall short are not as likely to be disasters. Hitting the ball 'thin' results in the ball flying uncontrollably forward sideways and long. This problem is one of comfort and not being consistent enough with my set up and will be corrected with more practice. Short game and putting is still competent enough to be very good at times. It is also reasonably consistent these days even as I am adjusting to a new putter. There is also a particular change in my putting which is taking significant effort to adopt. It has became the preferred standard to putt at the hole not towards it and fall short so often. Which brings me to the 9 hole Chicken run I play off 8 which is 6 strokes less than my current playing handicap. Today a score of 16 points not a bad effort on my part, did it easy too with the errors not too destructive. Tomorrow I am off to Kingston SE top play 18 holes and enjoy myself. Taking the time to return to why I love playing the game and have fun in the preparation for the coming months. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Geoff

Footyheads Review Carlton V Melbourne rd 6

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Matchplay Quarter final and Naracoorte GC Two Cocks Ambrose

Saturday 11/5/13 Did not pick up a golf club today, resting up and catching up with work after playing in the Naracoorte Golf Club Two Cocks Ambrose event. As always a brilliant day organisation wise and catering with food and drinks was outstanding. Bbq steak and sausages, lamb roasted to perfection all with complimentary wines of the region as 200 golfers hit around the course. Our team finished with a 9 under 63 gross and 55.2 Nett not bad for 5 golfers all on 13 to 16 and one on 24 Looks like my match play game is on tomorrow after the opponent was laid up with a serious hand injury. Form is good enough and have done a putting session tonight. Off the tee yesterday as well as going for the greens and getting GIR yesterday all bode well form wise. Weather is the deciding factor Weather forecast Heavy rain overnight and showers sunday with 14-18 degree temperature is not too bad wit winds up to 24km. To be honest the winter weather tends to play in my favour generally. Going to be great fun with a 6 shot difference in handicaps 7 to my 13 and having a crack at winning. Thankyou for your Time and Attention Hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

Sunday 5/5/13 I have no proven idea of what went wrong yesterday! Hit the ball well off the tee, putted well enough, chipped well and struck the ball well on my approach shots, which all fell 20 metres give or take a metre short all day. It was like that film with Bill Murray “Ground Hog Day” and with only 18 holes to play not enough time to rebuild what ever was broken. It was up with other very frustrating competition rounds I have played. Not a person to look for excuses there was only one factors that outside of my golfing that was influencing my game. For some reason the contact lens in my right eye was blurred all day and I could not get the best focus with both eyes. I do know it takes two eyes for depth perception yet this was golf. I hit certain clubs set distances all that remained is the possible mental psyche out of myself with the sight problem. Playing partners Hutch, Nick and Lofty. This morning I have no eye sight problems and the only change is not wearing the contacts from yesterday. Winner James Norcock from Naracoorte golf club The golf day was great fun the social side of playing club opens in the country regions is a big influence. Never know who you are going to play with and just turn up and join in the day on most occasions and feel very welcome. That was more so in the first year I played the Regions opens. These days I know many of the players yet still choose to play with whomever the club put me with. Still meet the golfers I know when arriving or after in the clubhouse, but have new social golfing mates as well. Being the huge power hitter I am it is no surprise (choke, cough, fart, dribble) that I won the B grade long drive. Which gave me a chance to get up and compliment the Penola Club on their excellent day. No matter how many kangaroos I see this mob (30+) at Penola are something special. It is almost as if the all come out of the pine plantation to watch us whack the balls around the course. Thankyou for your time and attention, Hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

Dreamswing golf training tool working well...

The proof of the Dreamswing Training tool is shown regularly in my golf these days. Dreamswing Ebay Listing Getting the improved ability to draw the ball and also hit long and straight is all still relatively new in my game ability. This is not consistent enough to deliver the results needed to hit single figures at the minute. Whilst I stick to hitting the ball straight to the target in general. I do practise the shots that have the ball moving through the air in draws and fades as well. Dreamswing Video of a practise session The target to shave strokes for me is Greens In Regulation that is where my game falls down. Adds several strokes to a round for me. Even on a good day this is where the most obvious ‘extra’ shots come on the scorecard. On the good day I have a short game that gets the ball in the hole or a tap in putt. Playing so many chip shots under pressure increases each time with a bad shot possible. Not accepted mentally but a fact given my standard of golfing. Nothing spectacular on my part although the satisfaction of being able to shape the ball is further strengthened with the realisation that it all comes from knowing that I set up to hit the ball straight. The need to shape the ball is secondary to hitting it straight to the target in my game plan. Managed to get in a good set of practise sessions Thursday. The dentist treatment was not as debilitating as the previous trip and I was aching to have a few hits. 50 balls into the chipping net target, 50 balls on the putting green. Onto the practise fairway 30 with the six iron and 20 with the driver finished off the practise. Still some improvement to come to reach a lower handicap standard. Importantly the ability is there and practise will get the result. The six iron shots were very consistent and satisfying. The driver I broke into 2 lots of 10 balls. The first ten I just was hitting the ball with no target in mind except to loosen up. These balls sprayed all over the place, 5 were pulled to the left and that is much better that the slice which has been my game destroyer. The second ten I was settled and loose in stance and swing movement. The result had 9 of the ten balls hit the fairway target areas of 35 metres width, the one miss was only 10 m to the left.metres Thankyou for your Time and Attention Hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

The little things make the golf better...

Wednesday 24/4/13 Survived a dental visit today and took sometime to be able to get out and hit some balls. Not very energised to begin and kept to a casual walk over 5 holes exploring the swing changes. Effectively with the consistent standard I have now it is all about getting accuracy for GIR results from 150m into 100m. I have not been practising this enough of late, business is booming and interfering with golfing. Not a total tool though and do put the career before the golfing. Even so there is some fine tuning to be effected before I start hitting lots of balls. It is a very simple set up change when addressing the ball. Opening the face of the irons a little to prevent the damage from pulled approach shots. Not certain how this fault got established initially. I will guess that is may be a part of playing with too small grips for so long. Now that has been rectified the closed face is glaringly obvious. Making the slight adjustment in opening the face and swinging to the target has the ball on target and that is the goal. The Driver topic has still not run its course yet in my game. Happy enough with the R5 and the M Flex shaft. Going to keep my eye out and perhaps pick up an R9 with a suitable shaft. Not a must get piece of equipment at the minute as I am still improving off the tee technique wise for a few more weeks. Thankyou for your Time and Attention Hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball , Geoff

Wet, cold, tired and a winner...

Sunday 21/4/13 Four hours of steady rain and wind that did not cease until the group teed off on the 18th hole. With the wind remaining and the rain becoming drizzle. Thorough soaking of the course and players was a minor inconvenience. The freezing cold hands was the main problem trying to keep circulation and feeling in them to grip a club. It was a game of endurance and sticking at the game plan. A couple of three putts hurt and one lost ball were the major score breakers. I was coming back from the difficulty of adjusting to the weather in the first six holes well enough. It was a round that every shot was hard work. My concentration and shot making technique were all tested and passed well enough. Won the day with a nett 77 (gross 90) also claiming Ryan's Run for the best Back Nine on the day with a nett 37.5 Tied in the putting comp. with 28 losing after after a count back. Saturday 20/4/13 The trip to Heywood was not a great scoring day on the card. short game and putting was a major fail. The driver off the tee was given a workout taking advantage of the wider fairways to see how effective the new club is. Absolutely proved that this is a major plus in my game. Accuracy, consistency and distance were all delivered. As well as something unexpected added to the game ability that I can do. Heywood Golf Club Open Always played the hit the ball straight golfing strategy, yesterday I took on the course with deliberate fade and draw shots using irons and hybrids around doglegs and trees. I have known how this is done for some time and occasional practise on the range showed I could do it. Never have I chosen to play these shots in a game as a first choice. Yesterday though the game was one of exploring my capability and I did play the fade and draw shots. They worked and my playing partners commented on the shot execution with cheers. It was amazing to set up and open and close the club face and then chose the line of flight to be played and do it perfectly. I do not see this as a major game change in being able to play the shots. I do take this ability as a major proof that I have got well executed swing and shot playing technique to rely upon. Thankyou for your Time and Attention Hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball Geoff

Footyheads review Rd 3 v Geelong 2013

Rd 3 against Geelong was a game that looked to be in the balance until the final few minutes again for Carlton. Out played in the end to lose by 16 points against a team and club that has been a fixture in finals. Geelong were to steady and strong when it came to the end of the game. Leaving with a win and Carlton with a 3 loss start to season 2013. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Footyheads Rd 2 Review Carlton V Collingwood 2013

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

All I want is a ball that works well...

Wednesday 10/4/13 The time schedule worked out and managed to get on the range and have a simple session hitting a bucket of balls with the six iron. Nothing spectacular for many in my case though very special. Enjoying being able to hit the ball with a fluid, consistent swing. Having my body rotate at the hips and the club follow through easily behind my body just like 'real' golfers do. Twenty plus years since I have had this much movement and that is special to me. There were some crap shots but 90% were all grouped in a 30 metre target area. This is all part of developing the ability to get greens in regulation. As well as the practise goal, there is the fun aspect of finally being able to step up to a ball and hit it with ease to a target. All that jealous from watching the pros hit a ball with such ease is now gone as I do it myself and it feels easy as well. As usual my mind is not stagnating on golfing either, or wallowing in the fun being had. It has began to plan doing that ting which was a dream. You see on T.V. all the time the pro's spinning back their short irons. Once in a blue moon I would do this myself. Never deliberately though, purely by happen stance. Now with this much improved swing in my ability it can be a possibility for me to to do this deliberately. The following four things are what is required as I understand the theory; 1. Have clubs with sharp, fresh grooves. 2. Use golf balls that are designed to improve feel around the greens, versus balls that are designed to go as far as possible. 3. Position the ball further back in your stance so that you hit down sharply on the ball. 4. Hit the ball first and then take a divot. While it's true that finding the right golf ball can help any golfer to play better and get backspin, I'll put up my hand and say... "I'm no golf ball expert" I enjoyed using the Taylormade Burner ball that was taken out of production and replaced with the XD. Which I find to be crap compared to the Burner. The Penta is so so as well. Don't mind using the Srixon or Callaway balls Pro V's wasted on my ability. Have enjoyed using Optima's again as well the TS gives the best performance. What do other golfers use that works well enough for their game? I am not after a one dimensional ball for distance or spin etc. Nor am I after a general multi purpose ball. If a ball is round I can hit it well enough to play a good round. I am getting tired of being jerked around by manufacturers who change for no reason that I can validate as genuine. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Geoff

A great weekend of golfing...

With some equipment upgrades on the way. Re-gripping my irons is a must do,they are way too small and this is causing the pull to the left on too many approach shots. This is causes a lack of certainty in playing the shot for the green, compounding into more errors. As well as the continual scramble for up and downs to get par, putting too much pressure on my game ability. My golf is not rubbish, yet, it is all getting retarded by not working on the little things that only practice can improve. The recent experimenting with the Seve Ballesteros irons, and Ben Hogan 'Magnum" cavity back style irons has been a good experience. The main result has been that the equipment is not the key to improving my golfing as much as practice is the real need that has to be consolidated. On top of getting much more physically fit to make it possible to maintain a consistent level of golfing performance, this has already proven the value of good physical health. On Sunday after playing the day before competition round with the Hogan irons for a nett 77 result even though they were 2.5cm too short. The blow out holes of which there were three all were caused by poor drives of the tee and not being able to play recovery golf well enough. The next day I decided that the time of experimenting was over and put the Titleist AP2 iron's back in the bag. Again it was three holes with poor drives that did the damage this time a Nett 75 score was the result. With a new driver on the way to build on my technique improvement. The re-gripping of the irons as well is to remove a problem from my game play. The new driver will have a regular flex shaft that is better suited to my swing speed. The most important thing is to get the practice schedule established. The repetition has to be maintained for 18 holes not the 14-15 at the minute which has me playing catch up golf to get a score which is wanted. Thankyou for your time and attention. "Hit 'em straight all." Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

New driver and new irons?....

Wednesday 3/4/13 It has been virtually a golf free week since this time 7 days ago, by my standards at least. No particular reason for less playing or practising, a combination of rest, physical and mental from golfing, work commitments and it felt that it was time to do so. Tuesday and today has included some casual social golfing. No dedicated practise more so that fun filled amble around a course hitting balls and 'feeling' the state of my game out. All was in good condition off the tee, on the fairway and on the greens. Short game was lacking in the accuracy and general execution and that is to be expected at my golf standard when not maintaining practise. Putting was surprisingly at a better standard than expected. Good to know that this side of my game has reached a stable level. Not a brilliant level yet one that is reliable and that is a valuable confidence booster. The Cleveland 310 Driver has been sold on. The results from using the Dunlop Fastrax driver are the reason for this. Instead of re-shafting the Cleveland I will build on my improved technique more with the 400cc driver until I find a replacement. This is no hurry to do and it is just a matter of picking up a bargain on the 'bay. Besides as always I get a buzz out of looking at Golf Porn online and having a purpose as well as a perve. With the added bonus that I no longer buy every second set or stick that takes my fancy. I was keeping an eye on myself in that regard. I do see the stupidity of the fox guarding the hen house in that description. There has been a development a very unexpected one in fact. Went to visit a mate who is moving house and relocating to Queensland for a coffee and bullsh@t. Ended up in the shed as blokes do moving stuff around and he mentioned there were two old sets of clubs gathering dust. It is part of the golfer religion that this is akin to feeding the hungry or healing the sick, a true golfer will get the abandoned clubs and at least swing them. Well under the boxes etc was a bag inside a garbage liner. opened up and there was a set of Ben Hogan Magnum irons. Made between 1986-89 in the early cavity back style. Cut the long story short mate said would I like to have them he does not play at all so I obviously offered to have a hit at least. C'mon it is cruelty to inanimate objects to not hit balls with old golf clubs. Yes, took them home and cleaned them before going for a hit. All and excuse to fondle these notably ugly irons to look at. Kinda like that old saying 'Ugly but with a great personality' The looks meant nothing to this golfer who is all for personality and the obvious fact that the sticks are Hogan's. Well here I sit 50 balls at the range later and hooked. The shafts are 2.5-3 cm shorter than my current shafts, grips are old and greasy, shafts a bit pitted, Apex 3 rating? Who cares, I have hit the last 20 balls into a gusting wind and put 5 inside a 10m target circle and 12 all grouped 10m to the left of the target circle. The Magnums are something special to hit. For a 12 handicap golfer who needs some game improvement irons and prefers the older CB style, Magnum is getting in the bag. The Ben Hogan brand helps in the credibility stakes, the performance though was the clincher. Will look forward as always to finding the club distances compared to my current club choices. Golf, the shed explorers dream sport. Hit 'em straight all Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Season 2013 started with the Blockbuster against Richmond on a Thursday night. Richmond held off a fast-finishing Carlton to break a nine-game hoodoo against the Blues and hand Mick Malthouse a five-point loss in his return to coaching. However, the Tigers made hard work of it after leading by 42 points midway though the third term before a Carlton onslaught almost stole the show. The Tigers scraped to victory. But only just. In front of a huge crowd at the MCG on Thursday night, Carlton kicked the last five goals of the game and might well have won if either of Chris Yarran's two shots in the dying stages went straight. A winning start to the season is always the goal and this time the Blues were 5 points short. It was close run at the end and both teams dominated the game convincingly at various times. The final result is all that counts and there can be no recriminations that will change this. The coach and players all did what they could to win and failed. Not by much though and the come back from a 40 + point deficit by Carlton was a good thing and almost a perfect thing. The season has began now it is time to unite and follow the unknown path towards a finals appearance as the first goal of season 2013. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff