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