Win at the 2015 Heywood Autumn Open

Took the drive across the border to Heywood GC on Wednesday, two and a half hours in the car did have me consider how much it would affect my round. Fortunately I misread the start time and arrived 90 mins before tee off and that gave plenty of time to loosen up. A session in the hitting nets and the chipping and putting practise area were good value.

The round obviously with the prizes was good enough 36 points with a wipe and a few single pointers. The course has wide fairways and that is something that suits my game, the tall gums don't but that is a fair trade off. The short game was the key to the good score, did improve on GIR after Saturday's Kingston round. Even so the number of miss hit second shots was too many, although the progress in practise the past week improved a lot. Off the tee the driver was a power house, again the upgrade has proved it's value. Did have a series of tee block failures though and that came from teeing the ball too low and being a little stiff in the hips. The travel up was not that well suited to me physically. No real complaints though as a win is all the proof needed to endorse the golf being played. My mind is working on the next steps of training in May to reach the single figure goal, currently on 10.7 GA handicap. Thankyou for your time and attention Geoff

Two competition rounds in two days...

13/1/13 Sunday Hack and Slash attempt. It was a lot of fun and this morning I was feeling the effects of playing 36 holes in two days. Not as much as last night when it as lights out at 9.30pm after going to sleep in the lounge chair well before that. It was harder work on the course yesterday with a strong breeze steady all day and gusting during up several knots during the round. A stroke round so every shot counted and I had a lot more than expected. At the end ofthe day though only three more than Saturday with a 91 Gross for a nett 78 with 31 putts. Now for the good news I continued with the hit the tee shots flat out again instead of reigning in the effort to compensate my current lack of match practise. There was plenty of energy left in the tank thanks to the current fitness program. Two rounds in two days after my last competition hit out on the 23rd there had to be a reckoning. The tally of extra shots and penalties began with an out of bounds on the first hole, lost ball on the fourth, ball bounced up into a tree on the fifth for a penalty drop, lost ball on the 12th. 4 penalty strokes added to the score together with having to play three shots as chip outs onto the fairway from under trees on the 13th,17th and 18th holes for a total of 7 extra strokes from inaccurate tee shots. No happy dance at the end of the day with the final tally. I was satisfied with all of my putting except for a three put on the sixteenth. The putting comp on the day was won with 28 and I had 31 not far off the pace. Short game was also a much improved display. Using the 56 degree wedge and pitching wedge at various times doing lob shots and chip and run all with reasonable results. Golf is good when you can get out on a day like yesterday and take the challenge up without recent match play and relying on practise alone. Thankyou for your time and attention. Geoff

A little common sense goes a long way...

26/8/12 Sunday. More mobility and less pain this morning was able to get up at 5am and move well enough through the various newspaper delivery tasks. It has been a while since having a really bad flare up on this scale. It is now when my positive attitude can cause problems. It has always been a matter of "what can I do" when feeling like this instead of thinking "what is not possible."

This has caused problems in the past as pain is a great creator of irrational decisions. This morning I am holding off until 10am before heading out to hit 20 balls and see how my body reacts. Even on writing it common sense suggests not even bothering to do this and sit the day out and recover a little more. It is that I have worked so damn hard to be in a position to win the Gallerie Trophy and sitting in second spot and only needing to be two strokes better than the leader for victory. I don't need to win this trophy, I just don't like not being able to compete and have an influence on the result.

Yes dear readers I am an obsessed golfer who does enjoy the competition of the game. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”

 Geoff

Bordertown Open Tournament result...

3/4/12 Tuesday The weekend tournament at Bordertown was one of extremes in golf. The first day is still one that has me bemused at the result. Starting on the back nine my final scores on the nines were 55 and a 51, total gross 106 for a nett 93. Last time I had a 100 plus score was in September 2011 when I was struggling to play with the golfers elbow injury, prior to that was in November 2010 when playing off a 19 handicap. This round was one of total inconsistency. Could not drive of the tee with any of the recent stability, off the fairways and into the trees on most holes. Requiring a drop for relief with the penalty just to be able to chip out to a fairway. Using the irons on the par 3 holes worked fine enough but then it would be either bad chipping and putting combined to score a double bogie.

The putting result, apart from one three putt all the rest being one or two putts for a 36 stroke total. The greens were beyond my ability to play first up on Saturday. Missing many with the ball just running and catching the rim and going out instead of into the hole. The greens were some of the best that I have played on and the difficulty was my lack of ability on the day in getting the ball into the hole with the first putt. Chipping with the 56 degree wedge was a total catastrophe all day. Most of the time it took two chips to get onto the green, the first invariably going short, added with the second chip never running up to the hole.

Not once during the day was there any lessening of trying to improve my standing and performance. Being a happy good natured golfer really did pay off on the day, no displays of petulance or bad temper came from me for the entire round. Was already getting pumped for round 2 the next day and coming out to improve. There was a bit of moderation in the socialising that night on my part. After dinner with my playing partners and a few others I headed out to see a Johnny Cash tribute show at the Mundulla Oval which certainly reduced the amount of beer consumed on my part. The daylight saving turn back the clock also helped getting an extra hour of rest before starting the day.

Right from the start my game was on track, I did manage to get some chipping and putting practice in before tee off which did not happen on day 1. made the decision to use the Pitching Wedge for chipping all day which proved to be a good choice. The new addition to the bag a Diawa #2 Iron was spot on for the long fairway shots. A total of 8 GIR’s, 8 fairways hit off the tee and much improved putting all contributed to the much better round. A total of nineteen strokes better with an 8 after a bad decision with a ball buried in a bunker on a par three. Fortunately that was the second hole played on the day and with 16 holes to go could be countered. Starting score on the back nine with a 44 after that was a good effort and a 43 to finish and a total score of 87 and a Nett 74. Missed out on second place in a four player countback in the B grade on the day.

With Easter this weekend my golf efforts will be in the clubhouse working the bar for the many tourists. The club has a two person aggregate Stableford competition with Guest day a seasonal recruitment event held. I do not really enjoy playing the pairs events all that much and I have done a fair effort in membership recruiting so I will have a weekend off in competitive golfing. Have a Happy Easter all, “Hit ‘em straight all.”

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff