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

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

A weekend of vastly different results for me with a bad score on Saturday at Kingston SE. The weather was not the reason for my poor result I have played in worse and had better scores. The winds were 40 to 60 km/hr gusts up from the forecast 35 km winds. It did make playing hard work and in honest appraisal broke my game apart from the ninth hole onwards. With an Out of Bounds on the 9th hole I finished the front nine with a gross 50 when I was looking at a 44-45. It had been a struggle all the way yet I had kept on attacking. The back nine ended with a gross 51 on my scorecard and all day I attacked the greens after my drives. It was just a series of repeated mistakes hitting the ball fat and finishing short too often that was exacerbated with triple of three putt holes. I was not disheartened or beaten by the result and looking forward to the next day of competition at Robe. With much milder conditions cool temperature and a 15-19 km/hr wind it was a doddle compared to the previous day. If it was not for again a couple of fat approach shots and several missed putts the score would have been even better. The competition round on Sunday was in a field of twenty golfers included visitors from Cohuna GC (Victoria) as well as Kingston and Beachport golf Clubs. It was a dual competition with a Stableford and Irish Stableford event played concurrently. With a three way tie at the end of the day between 1st. Ben Semple, 2nd Keith Couzner and myself in 3rd all on 35 points and a count back decided the finishing order. The Bendigo Bank Nearest the Pin was won by one of the visiting golfers Bruce Bird from Cohuna GC. The Most Fairways prize went to Ian Regnier with 13 and the Accuracy Drive won by Scott Fennell. Ryan's Run on the day was for the best Front Nine score and Sean Emery claimed that with 21 points. The Irish Stableford team event was won by Ian Regnier, Sean Emery and Tim Mort whose 74 points earnt them a bottle of shiraz each. I had 8 fairway drives and the rest were not too bad considering that I am using the 400cc Toski regular flex driver again. This is whilst waiting for a replacement driver shaft in regular flex for my larger Cleveland. This is proving the point from my coach that the regular flex is better suited to my now established swing.The loss of distance is still in the 10-20m bracket and I really do need that as part of taking my game to a better level. Three of my greens in regulation were courtesy of the 3 metal off the fairway from 180m plus out. This recentky established facet to my game has cracked open a major barrier in my game that had been stopping my improvement. Next Sunday is a stroke event for the 1st Qualifying Round for the Club Championships, Monthly Medal and 1st Round of the Gallerie Trophy a great day for golfers to get into the mix of the club golfing season. The St Patrick's Day golf round at the Robe was sponsored by Anro Signs who have supplied the effective tee block sponsor displays on the Robe Golf Course. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

A hot training session...

Thursday 14/2/13 Travelled to Adelaide yesterday night this gave me time to get to the Drummond Golf Driving range at West Beach this morning. Wanted to put in a session with the golf swing tool that has ben a vital part of my practise the past month. Hit 60 balls and the results were again exactly what is wanted. Easy swing staying to the corrects path and the ball going straight to the target. Was flaming hot work and that took a toll on my desire to do more than 60 balls. Summer heat wave settling in for the next few days and looking forward to returning to Robe and the coole climate by the ocean Friday. This has been my quota in the past week per session and I am not going to increase it either. Keeping in mind that my fitness needs to be maintained not harmed in the next 2 weeks. What is important to note is that I have put the hybrids away except for the 3 and 4 which are remaining in my bag. The rest are all Titliest AP2 irons which I have not used for 6 months. The improved fitness as well as recovery from injury has been hinting that this was a possibility for a coupke of weeks. This week I have played 3 9 hole rounds and used the irons to very good effect. This is definitely a result of using the training tool as well. The better 'feel' with the irons is what I need to increase green in regulation. This in tandem with my fitness has enabled a more aggressive approach to my game that is much needed. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Winning score at last...

2/12/12 Sunday Three weeks between posts most likely the longest break for me yet still golfing. Sticking ith the fun aspect of the game in the 'less is more' approach to the end of 2012. Recovered fully from the various injuries now and have played a few Ambrose and club competitions in the recovery period. With some basic practise sessions tuning a few game aspects. there is also the club involvement. One more year on committee was got out of me by the president and that has started with a bang at the AGM and firing up a few with a motion to change the constitution.

Had the numbers and won the vote, yet there was dissent on over the procedure and listing in the agenda so in the interest of club harmony let the motion lapse and will call a special general meeting after the new year. This is a good thing as the older members were not expecting this to have support now they know their way is not the majorities choice. Showed that the club is split significantly on the future view and operation and this is not going to go away now a vote has been taken.


Yesterday played Kingston and the form returned with 37 points 85 gross with 32 putts including one 4 putt and three 3 putts. Not even bothered with that it was expected. The rest of my game is really on song and still keeping my game preparation at a minimal level and resting up. An open on the 15th is in the schedule and that is being used as focus to get my putting under 30 a round. Thankyou for your time and attention
Hit'em straight all
Geoff

CAVPower Open wrap up...

24/7/12 Tuesday. It could be said that I am becoming a one hit wonder with my winning effort at Lucindale coming from getting Nearest the Pin in the 185 metre 12th hole in the A Grade competition. Missed the birdie but got the par and it was full steam ahead from there on the first nine played. Starting on the tenth hole I had racked up a double then triple bogie (3 putt) start. Finishing with a gross 45 after nine holes the confidence was there in being able to match that or better on the second nine holes after lunch. My belief and confidence did not carry me over the line though, four double bogies on the last nine with one 3 putt and five bogies returned a 49 and a total tally 94 and a Nett 82.

The fault was in part scoring 18 putts on both nines with 2 x 1 putts and 2 x 3 putts and the rest all two putt efforts. There was at least one putt attempts that missed and that compounded the damage. The real damage was the lack of greens in regulation that came from poor drives in the main that required recovery shots to the fairway with no real attempt possible in making the green. Whilst the short game was good enough too many times I was left with a 3-4 metre first putt on greens that were much quicker and with more borrow than I was comfortable with.

The result is on my scores now and has to be accepted as a fail. Whilst the past months poor scores has been taken in good grace the failures are not being well received on my part. There are many factors that can be attributed to the results mostly from playing unfamiliar and markedly different courses to the home track. The time has come where the easy going enjoyment of just being outside and playing golf has to be given a boost into concentrating for 18 holes in getting the best result possible. After the coming weekends Naracoorte Open Tournament to close off July, it’s into club championship qualifying rounds during August. Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

Naracoorte Winter Tournament coming up...

12/7/12 Thursday. A busy week has kept me on the road travelling and that has kept me away from the keyboard following the past weekends golfing. Last Saturday with the coming events at Naracoorte starting with tomorrows 27 hole Winter Tournament round I headed off to reacquaint myself with the course. Not one that I have tasted much success on, in fact it has been perhaps one of the main motivations for making the effort to improve my game.

It was an enjoyable day with the company of playing partners and my fortunes on the game side were mixed. In the same manner as the first round at Keith several weeks ago it was all about having fun and getting aware of the course challenges. This time the score was one less than at Keith a lowly 24 Stableford points and instead of the long drive I won the NTP. Off the tee my drives were a mainstay of the positives from the day. The problems came on the greens which when last played were affected from lack of water and were becoming very benign. This trip the greens were back to the difficult challenge of my first visits to Naracoorte. Struggling with the putter was not a concern, the poor short game chipping and from one hundred metres in was.

The following day at Robe was the final round of the John Leake Trophy and I needed a 37 or better to be in the prizes, finished with a score of 35. The only wipe on the day came on the first hole with a lost ball, came back well and on the eighth hole was putting for three points lipped out and missed the next putt to end up with one point. The lack of time taken cost me at the end of the day yet it was a good day overall and finished in the prizes for the day in third place.

Of all the mistakes made it was confidence that began to suffer when playing many shots. The pull to the left with irons mostly and to a limited extent off the tee had me rattled. The problem is it happen no more than four to eight times in a round but every one of those ads another stroke to my score and in the case of the first hole on Sunday a lost ball penalty. Wednesday I had a coaching session at Drummond’s Golf West Beach with Glenn Roberts and repaired the damage mentally. More importantly I now know what is the cause of the fault and how to work on the improvement.

Tomorrow the tee time of 9.18am has me leaving at early morning for the 100 km plus trip up to Naracoorte. Had a wander around the home course this afternoon after getting back this morning and all was fine. Looking forward to the challenge of Friday’s round and see if I can step up.

Thankyou for your time and attention, ‘Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

Adjusting to loss of distance...

4/7/12 Wednesday. Today it is time to start on the short iron improvement required after the weekends rounds. Taking the #7,#9 and PW out to the practise fairway it only took few hits to get into the rythym. Beginning with the pitching wedge to warm up and swinging the club easily the ball was coming off sweetly and well flighted. Into a slight breeze which may have had a moderate effect on the distance after hitting twenty balls it was time to stop then walk out to see the results and pick up the balls.

Accuracy wise was an improvement from yesterdays 30% increased to 20% this was the standard for all three irons used. The distance reached with the shots showed I had been labouring under a major misjudgment. The P/W was reaching 85-90 metres easily but was well below the expected 100 metres. Sure enough the seven and nine irons were also 10 metres shorter than expected when picking up the balls after each twenty ball hit out.

Understandably winter weather does have and effect on the distance of shots and the clubs used. With varying degrees of influence depending on individual golfers. For a short hitter of the ball as in my case, where the surprise came from was due to the increase in use of my shorter irons. Being that my approach shots previously were played with #5 and #6 irons more often than not. It was my first instinct to think that it was a reaction to pressure and failure to be able to play the shorter irons consistently. Instead the answer was much simpler I was hitting the ball well enough, only expecting the distance covered to be greater. Hopefully the better weather will hold on for a couple more days and I will be able to get comfortable with the distance of the clubs and continue the months improvement.

In the afternoon I managed to get out and have a good workout with the driver. Working through three lots of ten balls it was a very enjoyable session. The first ten I warmed up quickly and was into the rythym with accuracy and comfortable. The Second ten ball I let the controls loose and swung for distance. With that came a lessening of accuracy, not too drastic nor acceptable in game conditions though. For the third session feeling the effects of the exertion I did the smart thing. Reigned in the unlimited quest for distance and the ball was delivered with ease to the target and a 75% accuracy rate with it. While I enjoy the benefits from the improved distance off the tee, there is quite some work to go before I can truly rely upon it as an unquestioned game feature.

It was not until this morning that I had a bit of a surge in my golf interest for the weekend. The club comp which has the 3rd and final round in its 'Best Two of Three' format on the coming Sunday for some reason I had decided that was beyond me. Weird yet it has obviously been sitting in the subconscious since Sundays round.

I am still in the running if a score of 38 or better can be lodged this weekend, that would tie me with the current leader. So the practice sessions are now being done with an added incentive of playing to better than my current handicap this weekend. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all” 

 Geoff

On the driving range...

21/6/12 Thursday Up in Adelaide and solid rain for the last 12 hours at least, 50-70mls here has made it wet everywhere. The good thing is that the Drummond Driving range is available so i can hit balls and not have to pick them up afterwards, The main aim was to get time on the range with the driver. Did that, still got wet, the need to get in form with this club now is imperative and a little discomfort is warranted.



Had a selection of demo irons as well to trial on the range. A couple of Wilsons, Wilson Staff Di11 Irons – Graphite/Half and Half a combo metal graphite shaft and the Cleveland CG16 the three were all fun to hit and an informative exercise for future reference. Not shopping for new irons, the AP2’s do a good enough job. Looking to the future though and I am sure a set of quality cavity backs will be a benefit to my game.

Finished the session off with the irons and in full flight with my swing once loosened up. Each of the three types had identifiable characteristics. The Di11 and CG16 were forgiving as to be expected. I could not split them as to which was the better for my game. The lighter Cleveland perhaps by a slight margin of preference from the “feel”.


The Driver was on song and ticked all of the boxes for a good practise session. Still room for a lot of improvement though and that will come in time. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”
 Geoff

Next tournament is the Keith Open...

20/6/12 Wednesday. Planning for the Keith Open has been the main concern this week. Fortunately I had made an error thinking that it was a two round tournament played Saturday and Sunday. Instead it is two days play but only the Sunday is the 18 hole Open event. In which case I will no go and play on the Saturday in the Stableford competition and get a look at the course and be aware of the nuances.

It will be a big ask to get a win, I have always enjoyed playing at Keith. Being able to drive up and have a round the day before the Open is a definite bonus, a 300 km round trip but on country roads it is smooth travelling. Some consider the course a short 5986m Par 73 layout with four par 3s ranging from 122-190m, nine par 4s ranging from 285-393m and five par 5s ranging from 439-477m. With my current form the par 5 holes are all potential birdie opportunities for me at the minute.

This week so far has been light practise just swinging easy with the clubs and keeping the irons in tune and still getting used to the new driver. I am still enjoying having a belt with the Cleveland driver off the tee blocks pushing the limits of my capability with the club. Finishing each session with the required controlled accurate hitting that is used on competition days. There is a method in the madness of sorts. At the minute the weather has the typical gusty wind which in winter makes playing coastal courses a challenge. Being able to practise in this condition is a bonus, not always fun often hard work. Playing shots straight into, across and with the prevailing wind with all clubs is invaluable.

Travelling to Adelaide for a couple of days later this afternoon which will include a session at the driving range on Thursday. One of the best things about heading to a driving range is not having to go and pick the balls up after a session. That adds a lot of enjoyment to the practise for me alone. Back into the same routine after the landmark result on the weekend. The motivation has always been there with my golf efforts. Having a definitive result on the score card has made it all well worth the commitment. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all” 

Geoff

Longer, straighter, better golf....

29/5/12 Tuesday. It is a great feeling when your golf game begins to deliver the rewards of practise and coaching. This is not about the ‘Eureka” moment as is often raved about when hitting that first perfect shot or realisation as is usually the lead to some miracle golf tip that is on offer to you now online. Having experienced that enjoyment and appreciation of the first time perfect shot it is good. Doing it consistently and also getting the benefit of seeing your handicap drop that is great. At the minute my game is steadily establishing a new paradigm as the gateway to single figures. The changes are small but significant and that is something that has to be acknowledged. Patience is a definite virtue when playing golf and working on improvement.

Consistent golf games do not come from chopping and changing practise routines and a new coaching

example every time you see an answer to a golf thought on offer. For myself the gradual physical improvement over the past three seasons has delivered a handicap that is twenty three less and a game bordering on breaking eighty. Equipment wise there is still a lot of experimentation on my part using different irons, putters and drivers in practise. The logic is that if my technique is correct then I should be able to get good scores, even with equipment that is not best suited to me.

At the minute I am using two different drivers and they both deliver similar results with one being much longer and the other more accurate. With the latest coaching session improvements becoming more established the distance is not changing as much as the accuracy is between the two drivers. Used in tandem during practise the longer driver in my hands is becoming more accurate and that is very encouraging. Iron wise the consistency is again repeated with controlled shots that are accurate and long with the AP2’s, a set of clubs that I had put away due to a lack of the aforementioned aspects. Now that this is possible again with the AP2’s I am getting the benefits of the extra distance that has always been the big advantage from them.

Lastly it has been a period of experimenting between putter design. The practise sessions utilising the two different designs revealed a major improvement with the mallet ‘two ball’ style that previously was so erratic it has been in the locker for two seasons. The coaching in January improved my putting style significantly. The mallet putter was so often two or three club lengths short of the hole or past it previously. Now the distance is in the hole or past it, the practise sessions using it really make me work harder on accuracy with it though. For some reason, it is so precise that a mishits of millimetres on the face of the club and I know the ball will miss the hole.

After the struggle of the past fortnight with physical infirmity, now the treatment is taking effect and I am not suffering all is good. Together with the improvement in swing and the mental exercise of using a variety of tools in practise I can start to build my game up. This preparation is for a few events in June, Handicap Foursomes Championship, third placing last season, then the final round of my defence of the Caledonian Inn Trophy. The last weekend of June is the 23-24th and the Keith Open Tournament. A full dancecard on the golf course coming up it will be fun, Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em Straight all”

, Geoff

Maintaining injury recovery with practice...

16/5/12 Wednesday. Following on from Sunday morning the last two days have still not been in best physical condition at the minute, improvement on yesterday though and that is important. While not able to pick up and swing a golf stick Monday. Tuesday morning went out and got myself around fourteen holes playing well within my limits. This practise is in case I cannot get a Bowen Treatment during the week to repair the injury flareup. Have to play the next Handicap Championship matchplay round on Sunday morning and some physical therapy is a must.

The round on Tuesday was the epitomy of why coaching is so effective with my game. The efficiency of the stance and swing changes accommodated the physical injury restrictions so well that selecting two clubs up inside 140m delivered GIR. Outside of that distance taking it easy in the swing and still clubbing up would get well within premium chipping distances. Was joined on the walk for a few holes by another club golfer who commented on how easy I was doing it, that was further confirmation of my golf improvement in 2012. The putter was not very effective on the day although that was not a particular focus in the round, being able to play par/bogie golf with the restrictions was.

It is not often these days that I get knocked flat by the old injuries, been building towards this over the last fortnight of practise and it has peaked now. The tens machine makes a lot of difference but the nights are restless from being unable to get comfortable, waking up each ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes. The flareups are a fact of life for me and will not be reduced over the coming months. At the minute it is not crippling and while the limit of my capability is being tested again, there is a definite purpose in the effort. For some time now I have been feeling a little more power is available in my swing and recent experiments in practise have not refuted that. In the coaching last week I was instructed to release the subconscious restrictions on my swing towards the end of the session. This was done and the distance and accuracy off the tee was delivered without any effort.

What is required now it to develop the practise routine to incorporate the same build up to being able to hit the ball like that more often. It was a combination of all the coaching and repetition of strokes on the range that day which allowed me to produce the shots I have been working towards. It is not going to be easy and I will have to gradually build up to the level desired. Will not be doing anything along these lines for a few weeks at the minute until I have the physical condition to be able to push the limits again. Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

One down...three to go

13/5/12 Sunday. This morning is not a comfortable one at the minute, after playing my handicap matchplay yesterday. The various broken bits in my body are letting me know that they are not amused with the continuing excercise. The physical discomfort is fighting a losing battle in keeping me off the golf course though, as I have had worse. Don’t mistake this as a motivation mind set on my part, been there done that many years ago and well past it as an incentive method.

Whilst treating the problems this morning with my tens machine in preparing to play 18 holes today there was only one reason for persevering. Not the obsession with playing the game at all, it is the fact that the swing set up and execution I use now will not cause any hurt. This is a major benefit from the coaching in January and it was again highlighted with the coaching session last Wednesday. The new established stance takes away all of the pyhsical misdirection of energy from the previously inefficient technique, cobbled together in accommodating various body action limitations. It did take eighteen months or so of getting fitter and used to playing golf shots for my body to be able to do what the coaching professional was showing me.

The winning result in the matchplay yesterday (3 up with one to play) was a testament to the previous month of preparation. Truth is that I am approaching this golfing season with a definite pre-Tournament plan that starts months in advance of the actual rounds. This is an expansion of the Southern Ports tournament training and coaching that has been so successful for me in the past three seasons. Looking at my golfing as a football club, except that one person is the team, coach and president. Whilst a better analogy is possibly as a race horse. I choose football as a reference to how many people are involved in supercoach competitions for league teams, yet would not put as much forethought into their own golf competition rounds.

The opponent I played yesterday is going to be a single digit player, just got his handicap and started on twenty. It took me a a year to get to that handicap figure. Victory came from the planning in the past month the result came from putting the ball in the hole and a few game playing errors on my opponents behalf. Giving him a stroke on eight holes and finishing with 84 off the stick, 32 putts and winning was a good result. Apart from one hole with a triple bogey seven (lost ball), the rest were pars and bogies and two birdies on my card. It was the the effortless ease of taking my swing, accuracy off the tee and fairway which gave my game a good base. Without the inconsistent shots of past weeks, no more longer scrambling to save par. It was vital to play the practise swing before shots to reinforce the corrections from the weeks coaching lesson.

Playing again today will be a good opportunity to maintain the two days consecutive competition experience that has been a major benefit this season. I really want to test myself out physically and technically in a competition round today chasing a par or better round score. It is a bit of an added pressure to the game that needs to be explored. The matchplay group that I am in includes two former club champions, tuning my game is a must to have a real crack at beating these guys. Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff