Second competition round for 2015...

Tuesday and back home after a spur of the moment trip away yesterday.Left the golf clubs behind as well and left before going out an playing nine holes Monday afternoon. Have got the hunger back for golfing again and surprised myself a little as well. Sunday competition and an easy 33 points with three wipes. Poor putting cost me and a couple of crap chips and drives, same as the week before. My game is travelling well considering the extended layoff. A bit of a niggle in the shoulder still, which is not acceptable and will need a doctors visit. Almost did not play yesterday the carpark was full with mostly holiday golfers. Great for the club as the green fees are what makes us financial, social golfers all over the course make it hard to put the game face on though. Which usually does not bother me, Sunday though the serious golf game reared it's head and I got a bit stroppy on the last hole with a large group in front holding up play. Summer holidays is golfing mayhem here and is not the true competition season. Only problem was me, the game brain switched on and through my calm demeanor out the window.

Today I got home and dealt with the irritation by going out for nine holes of serious wak f@k. The problem was caused by my game unexpectedly hitting form. The Driver was hot and today settled into the groove better. It is all in the stance, grip and swing of course yet on Sunday it began to sync up. Today after nine it was wow factor time hitting straight long and with ease. Long irons are reasonable enough for this time of the year and only need tuning for game form. Chipping and 100 to 80m in shots are not any where settled where I want them or next season. Think it is dedicated practise time for the green shots, never been an issue before as I was never this close off the tee before to play GIR shots from here. Last season had the 6-8 irons dialed in for the GIR shots now it is 56 degree wedge shots, it is summer so the 9 and PW need to be improved for winter at the least. Putting and chipping are both rubbish at the minute. That is simply due to no practise for the putter. The chipping is a work in progress as I am trying to get back spin on these shots. What it all comes down to is I b\need the finesse and consistency with all shots and more variety t call on in game play. The single digit is beckoning and I am going to the dance. There is one other vital golf skill I am concentrating on also, fitness. I am certain that this will reduce 3-4 strokes of my handicap alone. Thankyou for your time and attention Geoff

A golf game returning to good form...

Had a good amount of time to reflect over yesterdays round and the result. To finish tied 3rd and to be 4th on a countback (34 points) was fun. This is the important difference between now and the 'competition golf' season. I missed two easy putts on the 17th and 18th (which if dropped would have claimed 2nd spot) and did not care at the time. The guy who beat me for third had a bigger reaction to the missed putts, we played in the same group. I still am not bothered by the loss and simply happy to have played a decent round of golf. Today there is a few twinges in the shoulder, that is the concern. This is still my recovery period and the result is far down the list in what matters in golf to me at the minute. I hit the ball well off the tee to the green and the errors on the day were in essence no more than six strokes from drives, shots to the green, chips and putts. Combined with a bit if tiring towards the end, quite simply it was an easy round of golf and the exact representation of my current standard. Today there was a brief though to go out and hit some balls, perhaps play a couple of holes or six, even some chipping practise. All declined after the conversation in my head, in favour of the 'less is more' mind set and let the sore spots recover. The chipping errors were not bad, it was the fact that I can now get back spin and stop the ball on the green. Which means I have to start pitching the ball closer to the pin now and the transition from pitching short and running the ball to the hole is still entrenched mentally. Two drives off the fairway added a couple of extra strokes to those holes. One tee shot with a five iron was short into the wind and dropped into a water hazard. Again a mental fault, usually hit a 7 iron and pulled up the stroke with a mental block unable to accept the wind needed a full 5 iron. So here I sit in losers paradise and not at all bothered. My golf is returning to a better standard than what is was before. and once again it is on to the goal of single digit handicap in 2015. Thankyou for your time and attention Geoff

Hit the ball, find the ball...

Sure enough after two days of sunshine, today is overcast with intermittent drizzle. Not a bad thing as I have had a lay day from swimming. A little tender in the lower back, brought on by the last two days of fully extended hitting with the Cleveland Driver as part of the comparison testing against the Cobra Encore. Wish i could decide between the two in a simple and conclusive way they are both good but the differences are significant in some aspects. The Cobra has the ball explode easily off the face, The Cleveland has the ball launch but has a better 'feel' with shape and accuracy in my hands. After a serious two days of use the distances are on a par. The Cobra still feeling easier in getting the same length as the Cleveland. Yesterday the shortest with the SL290 was 220 metres hitting that distance 4 times off the tee and the longest 237 once and the other 3 Drives were between 225 and 230 metres No complaints about those figures on my part at all. Considering that 200 metres is closer to my average previously. If it was just equipment that caused the improvement the decision would be easy. Instead the fitness and training of the past season is the major cause of my improvement. Hence I want to continue to build my game around accuracy as before and adjust to the benefits of more distance with all clubs. That has been a problem until recently even now with the improvement stable and able to play to the new club selections I still have some tuning to do. Even though my brain says what club to use the experience of the past 4 years still holds me to a semblance of disbelief. The better weather of late has assisted immensely. By finally being able to get out and play 9 holes without having to run for cover from rain after a couple of holes makes a big difference. For an idea dear readers of how difficult the changes have been to my game and adjusting to them following is some club choices. Distances from 2009 to 2013 are first, an 8 iron for me was 120m max.Yesterday hitting 8 irons 135-140m to the green. PW 100m max and a real effort, Now a smooth 115-120m club, The 7 iron 135m easily now I can grab it for shots to the green from 140 to 150 metres with ease and no accuracy problems. Carrying #2 to #6 Hybrids in my bag has been another benefit and even there the distances gained up to 20 meters in some situations. The #2 Hybrid has a low ball flight and the harder summer ground conditions has made it possible to get up to 210 metres with this club,Usually a comfortable 180-190 metres is this clubs range. Today will be a rest up this morning and at the minute just a review of my game progress. Putting practise will be the main focus in coming weeks I still have a poor GIR average. Until that improves I need to get a one putt game entrenched to make par and eventually make more birdies. Thankyou for your time and attention Hit the Ball ,Find the ball, Hit the ball. Geoff

Back in form at last...

Sunday 22/9/13 A good nights sleep and ready to play another 18 in today's home club comp. Finished in a credible 7th place in field of 34 at Kingston SE yesterday, it was good to have a but of form return in my game. The realisation that part of my form drop had been caused by equipment no longer suitable to my golfing is still a surprise. Facts; Playing golf regularly since 2009, have got down to 12 handicap and blown out to 15 in the last two months of winter golfing. Fitness, using the Dream Swing trainer, health and golf swing are at their best in a long time. Changed from regular flex driver shaft to stiff approx 4-6 weeks ago. Have been using regular flex iron shafts since 2011. There are three video links in this post of my golf swing in 2010, 2012 and September 2013. GOLF SWING 30 march 2010 Recently a mate actually got fitted by our club Pro after I suggested to do this instead of getting the clubs he wanted online. He did this and I could have been knocked over with a feather when he said he needed to get stiff flex shafts in his new Irons! This guy have extra stiff driver shaft (Ping G20) hits a 260-280m drive easily. His iron shots are all over the place and it made no sense until I found out he was using regular flex shafts. In my favour is that this has been what my game was doing. The control accuracy of iron shots had gone to pieces of late and made no sense to me why. 2012 Last Golf Range session By chance it has been shown that I have picked up a lot of swing speed and need stiff flex shafts myself now. The Cobra Forged S3 irons are great and I have not budgeted $300-$400 for another iron set this year. Fortunately in my shed is a set of old S300 shafts and a set of Nike Stiff Flex graphite shafts fitted to and old set of Keith Knox blades. Took that sets 5 iron to the range this morning and used it in tandem with the Cobra 5 iron. Hit it a little shorter but this time it felt great where as before it damn near broke my hands when using them. So may be able to save by fitting the NIKE shafts to my AP2 irons in the meantime while waiting to regrip the old S300 shafts and see how they perform. Golf Practise September 2013 Either way greatly increased swing speed was the last thing I was expecting. Even though the Dream Swing hand book does say that this will happen I discounted that as a possibility for a porky 50 year old bloke. Still it is great to have the power to go with improved swing technique and ability. In the space of three days I have gone from reconciling myself to having peaked as a golfer to rejuvenated and on the move down again. It has been 6 months of training with the Dream Swing combined with the Strand pulling exerciser routines that have made this happen. The swing improvement is well recognised by myself the increased swing speed though has rocked my entire game plan foundation. Now is another period of major golf game reconstruction for me. Thankyou for your time and attention hit the ball find the ball hit the ball Geoff