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

Steady golf is the reward for practice

So much for quitting golf, not that this thought crossed my mind in the past week. Did a little musing on the loss and there was nothing in my thoughts to incite an personal sporting revolution. A couple of phone calls on Friday afternoon and I was out playing in the 9 hole chicken run. Funnily enough with out any collusion it was two other A Grade golfers in the match play rounds who are playing off against each other tomorrow. It was good fun and a lot of verbal b/s was thrown around during the 9 holes. Once again I was on the fairways off the tee with straight accurate drives. And again the second shots at the green were marred with a couple of bladed strikes. These mishits really irritate me. Hitting the ball 'fat' which invariably fall short are not as likely to be disasters. Hitting the ball 'thin' results in the ball flying uncontrollably forward sideways and long. This problem is one of comfort and not being consistent enough with my set up and will be corrected with more practice. Short game and putting is still competent enough to be very good at times. It is also reasonably consistent these days even as I am adjusting to a new putter. There is also a particular change in my putting which is taking significant effort to adopt. It has became the preferred standard to putt at the hole not towards it and fall short so often. Which brings me to the 9 hole Chicken run I play off 8 which is 6 strokes less than my current playing handicap. Today a score of 16 points not a bad effort on my part, did it easy too with the errors not too destructive. Tomorrow I am off to Kingston SE top play 18 holes and enjoy myself. Taking the time to return to why I love playing the game and have fun in the preparation for the coming months. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Geoff