Hit the ball, work the ball, hit another ball

Enough of the sitting around and not having any golfing. The tolerance limit was reached, with some sensible rules nailed in place the practice net is getting used to soothe my golf addiction. Nothing special, day one yesterday 20 balls with the 6 iron, today 30 balls. No chipping into the target buckets, this irritates the injury more than hitting full tilt irons or drivers. As does putting. My thoughts did go to hitting more balls today, it felt great with balls flying off the club face with so little effort. Importantly was the focus on the set up and follow through to fine tune the swing technique. So hit another ten to satisfy my curiosity. Whilst it was great fun to work on tuning the ball striking and technique for the future, there was the beginning of an ache in the shoulder with the last couple of swings. All good though the rest is working and the Xrays are next Monday until then it is up to me to not waver from the No Competition Golfing decision. Certainly not easy to do for me either, relying upon the practise net to counter the desire to play this weekend. Considering how yesterday I said no to the enquiry about playing in the two person Ambrose at Penola this Sunday. Yet this morning I was musing over playing 18 holes at Kingston Saturday. Writing these posts is cathartic in a major way. Making me look at what I am thinking about and reminding myself at the same time as to why I must not play. At the minute I can recall several golfers I play with, all who have came back too soon from injury. Their regrets were all the same, having to accept the frustration as well as in a couple of cases re-injuring themselves. My approach is to begin tuning my game now within strict guide lines. I have already noticed how much better my swing and ball striking is in the short abeyance so far. Once the injury is identified and treated, I know that my game is going to realise major improvements. DON'T Hit the ball, No need to find the ball, DON'T hit the ball Thankyou for your time and attention. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Gasfield/Fracking free Declaration Day at Robe SA 11th October 2014

The Community Gasfield Free Declaration Day was celebrated at Robe Sth Australia 11/10/ with community speakers, families and friends standing up to Shut the Gates on industrial interests. Organised by the Limestone Coast Alliance http://www.protectlimestonecoast.org.au/ Also in attendance were State Senator Mark Parnell, speaking on the two bills he has before State Parliament one on the 16th October and the next in November 2014. Also Federal Senator Penny Wright spoke on the issue in a national perspective. Protecting the Limestone Coast from Fracking, Mining and Exploration. A celebration of what makes the Limestone Coast so precious and to declaring ourselves ‘Gasfield Free’. 11am Saturday 11th October Town Beach Foreshore Victoria Street Robe Link to video of the day and the speakers. http://youtu.be/fLcBZAOADxI?list=UUaF4mhnTO4so6OsXvIDC8eg Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Victory! 2014 Club Handicap Champion

Men's Handicap Championship final Saturday and winning 1 up after 18 holes. Was a good game but flaming hard work all day. 4 down after four holes, three down after 9. Kept coming at my opponent, giving him a stroke on ten holes. Managed to get to one up after 15 then all square again after 16. Halved the 17th and then dropped the winning putt on 18 after my opponent had a horse shoe putt ring around and lipped out. The winning facet of my game for me was greens in regulation. By Tuesday and finally I could type with out sooking in the discomfort of the effort. No matter how much I attempt to tell myself that this pain and the effort put into playing in the Champs and going on to win was stupid, immature, self serving wank et al there is not the slightest wavering in the satisfaction of winning the bloody thing. Today I will give the doctors a call and book in to have the shoulder looked at and do whatever has to be done to repair the damage etc. If it means no golf for a month or three could not give a toss in fact that would only add to the satisfaction of winning the Championship. Without doubt, I am lessening the depths of shallowness, when it comes to the importance of the win and anything else as far as I am concerned in 2014. A mate asked for a detailed description of the win and with a straight face I could run through the four rounds shot by shot over the month of play offs. Yet I could not tell you what I had for breakfast or dinner over the past week as easily. This is a reflection of how I added the 'mental' side of golf to my game in this period. This season has been the best for my physical golfing improvement. Established the consistent swing, from this base came the progression to better body mechanics and all of the associated golf benefits. The esoteric game facets, those intangible golf tools of concentration and comfort of being in the zone as some call it were worked on as well. Literally meditating on the game was what I did. Sure I read the various bits of golf info in magazines and books as usual. This was the detail that was reviewed while recumbent and in a state of harmony meditating on playing golf. It will be nice to actually let golf go off the table for as long as it takes to physically come good from the current injury. Only so I can start on my next golf obsessed goal. Golf stroke mechanics is the means by which golfers make decisions (selecting clubs, selecting shots) and execute them (making shots) in the sport of golf. For all golfers, it consists of a pre-stroke — in which golfer choose which club they want and their stance — and the actual stroke. The stroke is a complex motion, and there is still disagreement on what constitutes a good golf swing. In “Work and Power Analysis of the Golf Swing,” "Nesbit and Serrano suggest the golf swing has been studied by scientists and mathematicians who have developed various equations to help explain the complexity of the swing. It is generally agreed that a successful and consistent golf swing requires precise timing and mechanics, from the grip and position of one's fingers, to the position and movement of the feet. At any moment of the swing, whether back swing, down swing, or upswing anything can go wrong that will throw off the whole body and result in a miss hit. Complex motion The goal of the golf swing is to direct as much kinetic energy as possible into the club head so when it comes into contact with the ball, all of the energy will transfer to the ball, sending it into flight. The complex motion of the body first starts with the stance. This is critical to make sure the golfer has a low center of gravity to remain balanced throughout the swing path. The swing starts with the arms moving back in a straight line. When the club head reaches the level of the hip, two things happen: there is a stern wrist cock that acts as a hinge along with the left knee (for a right handed swing), building up its torque by moving into the same line as the belly button before the start of the upswing. As the swing continues to the top of the backswing (again for right handed golf swing), the golfer's left arm should be perfectly straight and his right arm should be hinged at the elbow.[1] The downswing begins with the hips and the lower body rather than the arms and upper body, with emphasis on the wrist cock. As the golfer's hips turn into the shot, the right elbow will drop straight down, hugging the right side of the golfer's torso. As the right elbow drops, the wrists begin to snap through from the wrist cock in the backswing. A solid extension of the arms and good transfer of body should put the golfer leaning up on his right toe, balanced, with the golf club resting on the back of the golfers neck.[1] Importantly, all of the movements occur with precise timing, while the head remains completely still with eyes focused on the ball throughout the entire swing. Musculature A golf stroke uses muscles on core (especially erector spinae muscles and latissimus dorsi muscle when turning), hamstring, shoulder and wrist. Stronger muscles on wrist can prevent wrists from being twisted at swings, while stronger shoulders increase the turning force. Weak wrists can also deliver the impacts to elbows and even neck and lead to injury of them. (When a muscle contracts, it pulls equally from both ends and, in order to have movement at only one end of the muscle, other muscles must come into play to stabilize the bone to which the other end of the muscle is attached.) Golf is a unilateral exercise that can break body balances, requiring exercises to keep the balance in muscles. A recommended exercise is free weight, an exercise not reliant on machines to stimulate and balance the fine muscles." The final paragraph identifies why I embarked on a specific exercise routine using Strand/Cable Pulling equipment and hand springs. The success of this season was assisted by my improved physical capability from doing this for the past year. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff