The 2013 season is a few months away and it is good as always to be a Carlton Fan looking forward to the next series
of games to play. Changes in the team as well as the coaching staff will have us all expecting results that are improved on recent seasons. Brett Ratten has left a team that is competitive and competent and Mick Malthouse
has stepped in to graft his football method into Carlton. This is not just about the playing group it is about the whole club and it is not going to be easy either.
All Footyhead wants is to be able to see the Blues playing in the finals series and having a crack at the premiership
title. Top of the dung heap and crowing over every other team at the end of a season with a Premiership Cup is what footy is about. Go You Blues!!!
Tuesday 1.1.2013 Sitting here at the minute and it still seems like yesterday I returned to playing golf seriously again. In fact it was in 2009 that I picked up the clubs and started again. Four fun filled golf seasons have passed and it has been exactly that a lot of fun. As a matter of fact it has also been a very intellectually stimulating experience so far and that is something which makes it possible for me to get more from the game than just sporting, social and competitive activity.
The game has changed a lot since when I began playing during the late 1980's. Equipment is far more diverse and there is something to suit every individual golfer it seems. I still recall going to get a new set and being totally bemused by the array of club styles available. Today I have been through the gamut of cavity back styles, old and new blades, shaft varieties and then there are the various balls which come into the equation. To be playing with a full set of hybrids which suit my golfing progress and the specific needs that influence my golfing game now was not easily arrived at. The journey though was a bucket load of fun. My final range session was using the #5 Hybrid and the accuracy, ease of hitting the ball and the results came from the combination of equipment and coaching that established a decent swing at last.
In 2012 I pushed my self to the limit of endurance. Starting with the goal of getting to a single digit handicap it became obvious that this was too big of a hurdle for my ability early in the season to achieve. This is where the awareness of what golf involves that has been learnt from online interaction showed its worth. Coaching became the total focus of my season and working on what was taught. Whilst more attention could have been paid to playing the game to win I did well enough in the first half of the year to win two club season trophies. That satisfied my ego.
Letting me become absorbed in the process of getting a decent swing to hit the ball right down pat. It was the effort that went into improving my fitness that made this possible. Losing 8 kilograms was a big help. Not to forget that I also stopped smoking two years ago as well as gradually beginning a new exercise program specifically to assist my golf.
Something that I became aware of in my golfing adventure has been my physical shortcomings. It is very easy to make excuses for not changing how you go about doing many things. Simply because change to a routine is always an unsettling venture for people who generally are creatures of habit. Peoples reaction to natural weather events have me in stitches at times when there is a hue and cry about all of the disruption that happens. Good grief 50 years ago people seemed to be a lot more reliant when the power went off yet now there is almost a need to have a public execution to satisfy the people whose usual day has been disrupted!
Back onto the topic again the previous body training methods used specifically weights were particularly unsuited. This time I chose cable/strand pulling exercises a simple piece of equipment that can be packed and travel with me. In the last two months of 2012 I began regularly using it to do some basic conditioning. In the meantime researching the various exercise sets and which parts of the body they affect. The method is as usual to document the progress starting from today and have a record of the ineffectiveness of my program.
My goal is to develop stamina and the strength to be able to make the same swing every time without tiredness affecting execution. Targeting specific body areas again in the search to improve my damaged bits. As usual I cannot help myself in the quest to get better. Once again I am doing what I have sworn to stop doing, this time though I am not trying to break the restrictions. The point of recording the progress is to be able to see the first sign of discomfort in front of me and stop straight away instead of continuing.
Have a great 2013, thankyou for your time and attention, "Hit 'em straight all"
Geoff
It was hard work just to get a decent basic swing established in my game. The consistency which is the key to playing good golf is not something which just happens. The practise which all competent golfers do is what gives them the game that delivers winning results.
My resume' was highlighted with poor fitness plus physical disabilities and that was before I picked up a club and tried to hit a ball when returning to the game in 2009. Season 2012 was when the coaching sessions finally achieved the results needed. It has taken 3 seasons to establish a credible swing that could actually be used to develop a swing from which is closer to the expected standard required to play consistent golf.
These obstacles have all been significantly improved upon since then as a handicap fluctuating between 12-13 shows.
I will continue to push myself again in 2013 and this time as with every other season have a better place to begin from again. Thankyou for your time and attention. "Hit 'em straight"
Geoff
Saturday 29/12/12 The clock is ticking towards the end of the golfing year and sitting back reflecting on the past has to be done. Started out with my usual confidence and ambition to play my best and did so at times. Other rounds were terrible and the goals set were not reached when it came to making a single digit handicap.
Highlight of the season was the 78 off the stick and breaking 80 for the first time in a competition. Having to do it in the penultimate round to win a seasonal club trophy and in rain and wind was very satisfying. Played in many regional opens and was in the trick shot winning brigade often enough. A Grade or Division One success was beyond my ability in these open fields. There is always a learning experience with golfing and this year was realising that all the practise I have done so far has been good enough to give my game a base.
The past few weeks has been the best I have hit the ball ever.
"Nor is it just words the results of three second place finishes in the last three weeks competition including the Division 1 Nett at the Kingston Open last week. Yes there is some pride in the results gleaned from the effort. It still surprises me at the reaction of some golfers to winners who do not spout false modesty when having success. Water off a duck’s back to me the slights and to be honest poor sportsmanship of some losers in golf clubs. I will go as far to say that this facet of club golfing is also an influence on the failure of some clubs to progress into having growth in people joining these clubs.
Yesterday I had a very light range session 40 balls 20 with the #5 hybrid, 10 each with the #3 Metal and Driver. Nothing more than a technique practise session, hitting balls with measured effort. Concentration directed at making certain the stance, grip, swing and set up were being as well as possible and establishing consistency. Then off to the putting green to do the same with setting up for the all important finish to every hole."
A combination of equipment, using the full hybrid set has bee a major assistance. Fitness, with the weight loss and specific cable stretching exercise program that I have began adding stamina and consistency in being able to play the same shots regularly. Lastly but by no means least is the coaching program that I followed this year has got my game to the position where I do the right things to hit the ball and know what it is I am doing.
This summer I will be too busy working to play competition golf in January with any regularity. Which is going to be used to good stead.
Continuing the less is more approach has worked very well in my recovery from the season injuries. This time it is being used to commit to practise and more practise with the cable pulling exercise program being followed rigorously to prepare for the 2013 Southern Ports Golf Tournament. My fourth crack at this. Again will be playing as many open tournaments as possible and travelling a lot wider a field so don;t be surprised to see your own clubs mentioned in these pages. Have a great 2013 all. Thankyou for your time and attention.
Geoff
