Humility and Good Sportmanship

Tuesday 4/1/11 A lesson in Humility and Good Sportsmanship was the result from a 9 hole Ambrose competition Monday afternoon. It is obvious to readers of my posts from the 2010 Season playing competitive golf and trying to win is a definite part of my enjoyment of the game. Enjoying social rounds and accepting the days when my game is not going to be good enough or so bad that it resembles a game of hockey played by someone who is deaf, dumb and blind is just as important to me.




During January the Club Professional is running a 9 hole 2 player Ambrose on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, $20 entry per team of two, complimentary sausage sizzle after the round. The Prizes are $100 voucher for First place and $50 Voucher for the runner up on each day. Plus NTP, a $50 Accommodation Voucher. All up they are what I call substantial prizes on offer and something that I will enter in and play as well as possible to try and win. Yesterday after 6 holes and missing a couple of birdie chances my partner and I were still square with the card, playing well enough to be enjoying the game and still in with a chance to come in under the card. As a pair of 18 and 19 handicap players, that in itself would have been a good enough reward for having a crack in the competition.



On the 7th hole my partner hit off first and faded onto another fairway with the requisite call of “fore”

to the players there, even though we did not see where the ball finished it was well placed enough from experience for the next shot to be from the adjacent fairway on the par 5. So I chose to take the risk and load up a bigger drive attempt, it went disaterously wrong and sailed out into the realms of the Bermuda Triangle never to be seen again. Unfortunately the first ball could not be found and the players on the fairway at the time had moved on to the green and were putting out. In our search to find the missing ball we did find another but after asking the other group they said it was not theirs and that was the end of our challenge for the competition.



It was about now that my temper began to rise, I can wear making mistakes in rounds that cost success. Unfortunately I do get into a very concentrated attitude when playing for a win and the frustration at losing a ball was enough to make me steam up. A little talking to myself and attitude adjustment during the walk to the next tee block, followed by a 260m drive took the edge off. It was a timely little lesson that reminded me of the period in 2010 when I had a several anger fuelled moments in practise rounds at the frustration of my game slowly becoming better.It was also a really good moment in showing how differently I approach playing social golf and competitive rounds.



My partner and I could have chosen to play the found ball and say nothing about it but did not choose the cheating path. It is interesting to be sitting here and realising how easily he cheating choice could have been justified, but morally I just could not do it. The thought of having played on as if nothing happened makes my guts go tight and is a very uncomfortable feeling. When watching a game of soccer and seeing players take “stage dive’s” for free kicks or penalty shots on goal I get the same feeling of umbrage at seeing blatant cheating. In soccer the umpire wears the bile of a crowd for paying a free kick, in golf it is up to a player or the marker of their card seeing a transgression. It was a good feeling to know that winning does not mean so much, that I would stoop to cheating.  “Hit ‘em Straight all” Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

2011 Tee'd off and loving it.....

Monday 3/1/11 First competition round of the new year has been played and the result was excellent. Finishing 2010 with the beginning of consistent form and sub 90 scores derived from the practise and persistence effort, I have been looking forward to the end of the holiday break and getting back on the course. Had my best ever official score off the stick in yesterdays stroke round, getting an 83 gross for a nett 64 with 27 putts for the day. It was a winning score for the competition and the expected revival of my “Handbrake” monicker in the clubhouse. It is all good natured stirring and something I look forward too as it was a little lacking for a few months in 2010 due to my lack of consistent success. Playing off 19 (18.6 exact) Sundays result should have me playing off 18 at least, the consistent effort of the last 4 weeks must recognise the summer conditions have a major influence on the lower scoring.




I am not the official club “Ned Kelly” icon after the weekend. A fellow golfer who had stated that this year he would be playing much less golf is facing true confusion. This bloke had several years ago practised, played and studied his golf with the dedication that only another golfer can understand in the quest to get a single figure handicap. Accepting the fact that he was never going to get below 12 the game has become an occasional social round and playing off a 22 hcp was enjoying his golf. On Saturday playing at Beachport in the New Year Cray Day carded a gross 76 for a Nett 54. Unable to come to the club for yesterday as it was a Lawn Bowls competition day, it is certain that the “Bushranger of 2011” is going to be his title for a long time. You just have to love a game that can come up and bite you on the @rse with a brilliant result as well as disastrous ones.



As is well known among regular readers, my first competition goal in 2011 is to play well and have a crack at winning the “B” Grade of the Southern Ports Golf Tournament. My entry fee and application has been posted and received, already the training regime that was used last season is in practise and with recent results working as well as it did in 2009/2010 also. After the struggle at times to play consistently in the mid-latter part of 2010 it is very satisfying to be realising the improvement in my game now, accepting the problems were nothing more than a transition period.



An absolute believer that there is no quick fix in establishing a golf game even though I knew it was going to be disheartening at times in 2010 did not make the experience any more pleasant. Now that period has past it is without any shame I can admit that the times where my anger exploded during solo practise rounds surprised me. Adhereing to the ‘gentleman’s’ (rules of golf) code of conduct in competition rounds became a focal point in 2010, for two reason not accepting the bad attitude and antics of others and telling them so, also made me even better behaved to prevent the disgrace of being a practising hypocrite.



Sitting here now it is hard to believe that the game I am producing at the minute is as good as it gets. My confidence is still developing after all it is a marked difference between the 25 Handicap for the same time last year and the 18 today. Still it is possible to improve more and that is a must in fact, needing to be able to play consistently to a 14-15 handicap to win the “B” grade of Southern Ports by the start date in the first week on March. Thankyou for your time and attention all, Have a great new year in 2011. “Hit ‘em Straight “Geoff

A great end to the weekend..

20/12/10


Golf forums are markedly different to many of the sports forums which are popular on the ’net. Whilst most sports forums have the posters commenting mostly about the Highest Professional Competition ie AFL, NRL, FA, NBA etc. Golfing forums do cover PGA competitions yet there is a great deal of comment on individual golfers, club and regional competitions. Golfers are not in the main spectators and importantly we are not team members like players of football, basketball, hockey and other sports. This is perhaps self explanatory to why golfers can openly discuss their own performance and not be treated with derision for doing this as most of the readers are not armchair critics who do not play the game and can relate to what is being said.



Getting very close to the end of the season/years postings for 2010 and keeping my list of goals short and sweet in the results targeted has been a success. Well I am calling it a success, the most important goal was to achieve a 16-15 handicap and at the minute I am waiting for the last two rounds played to be loaded by the respective club handicappers. As posted above (yesterday) prior to the round that followed Sunday afternoon, on Saturday I won the Kingston SE Summer Open Div #2 (B) grade with an 88 (69 nett), this was matched with an 87 (68 nett) 41 stableford points in the Robe Club Competition the next day. In the two days I played to a 15-16 handicap and my handicap at the minute was 19 so I expect to drop to 17-18, (have not done the calculations myself for now).



That is good enough for me to accept as a win in achieving a goal. October and November were hard months as my game began to improve and the vital consistency had not established itself. Also the necessary mental adjustments to how I played the game were not strengthened to match ready. This was the most difficult transition to make, being mentally on the same level as my improved playing ability.

It was a difficult struggle adjusting to play in my preferred low risk percentage game whilst the shots the previously were safe, would play too well now, as I could hit the ball so much better. Golf is a game of millimetres and that is how little change in a shots execution can happen to make the result very different. For now though it is time to sit here and wallow in the results and satisfaction of my golf in 2010. Thankyou all for reading and commenting though the season. Best wishes for the New Year and a happy Christmas to all. “Hit ‘em Straight all” Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

KINGSTON Summer Open

19.12.10


It is with a sense of self satisfaction that I can say my year of golf in 2010 has been a success. Yesterday was the Summer Open at Kingston and my score of 88 Gross (69 nett) was good enough to win my first Div 2 (B Grade 14-20 hcp) competition. It has been a good year as always on and off the course and the result yesterday was the culmination of the past 2-3 months of practise and persistence coming to fruition. Avoiding the time honoured golfers cliche “I could have played better” is easy in this “warm fuzzy” moment. There was no moment of ‘Zen’ consciousness when scoring a good result was in my minds eye vision of the achievable. The final score was a result of playing within my limits, not trying to push my limits. When the conservative safer option existed that had a higher percentage of success associated with the effort, I took it yesterday.



A return to the way I played last season has been on the cards all season. To do that had to include the additions to the way I play now; A) Using a Driver off the Tee and not Irons on all holes. B) Using #2 Hybrid on fairways and tees. C) Being able to hit the ball with more consistency and accuracy with all clubs. The difficulty came with being able to accept being a better golfer able to play shots that previously were ‘too risky’ and could now be played with a much higher success rate. This was not easy to adjust to. My confidence was shattered a few times when I played a shot that failed in the main because I was breaking the “what is possible” template from 2009.



The conditions yesterday were not perfect either, with a consistent wind that threw in some very strong gusts out of the blue and an occasional shower. In retrospect today is a crap day, very strong wind plenty of rain overnight and showers predicted for the day. Whereas yesterdays conditions had a beneficial affect in contention on the game, today it is a challenge to be able to lift myself and go out and play in much more adverse condition. I will accept the challenge and that is not because of ego but the desire to enjoy being able to have a crack and push my limit. Winning is a definite bonus that gives a lift in it’s reward for the effort put in over a season. Even though the 88 gross was not my best score off the stick, it is playing to a 16 handicap on one of the 2011 Southern Ports Tournament courses. There is a day between rounds during the actual tournament, today I will be going out and playing 18 holes on another Southern Ports course, in more trying conditions as part of my conditioning program.



Time to start getting ready for the days competition, Thankyou for your time and attention all, Hit ‘em Straight all”
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff