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