Golf - practise - practise and more practise

22nd March 2010 Lazy start to the day, had a bit of extended R and R this morning. Could be that the post match beer plus staying up to midnight having to finish off some work on Sunday made the sleeping easier.


Okay the result was almost what I wanted in Sunday’s comp, came in second with a net 69 after 18 holes. Sunday Stroke Round – Front nine 43, Back nine 48, total 91. Nett 69. 29 putts. Played a good consistent game and it was fun with the other players, one a single figure handicapper and the other 2 are in the mid twenties and at that stage where their game is beginning to improve and drop strokes. The 3 of them are big hitters of the ball from the tee, between 250-270 m drives, where as I am in the 220-230m distance with my drive off the tee. Now as serious as I am about my game I do enjoy the fun of mucking around and for the last couple of holes we decided to ‘Not hold back’ off the tee. There was no way I was going to hit the ball as far yet I got a lot of value from this on the last two holes.. Of course I was at least 20 m behind the shortest of other three but my shots were all on the fairway and only 110-120 m from the green with a clear shot at the target with no trees or rough impeding my effort. Accuracy is a much greater asset than being able to drive a bomb into the stratosphere. Mind you watching a player launch a 270 m drive off a tee is well worth it. My interest in this player is more than novelty, he has returned to the game after a ten year break and is already back down close to his previous handicap. It is quite possible that he will be a definite contender in the Handicap Championships, qualifying rounds start next week and I am pleased to have seen his game now. If I manage to qualify, there is a good chance he will be a qualifier as well.

As mentioned in a previous post response, I have replaced the #3 and #5 fairway woods with a #2 hybrid in my bag and that has been the correct move. I only use the two fairway woods rarely in a round perhaps 6-7 times. Never been accurate enough with these two clubs for my own satisfaction and the #2 Hybrid has already given me improved accuracy plus 200 m distance in a club for the second shot on par fives, into the wind on par fours and off the tee on the particularly tight par fours that dogleg left or right and are too short for the No #1 driver.

Most importantly, I had less than 30 putts yesterday and began to get the feel of the improvements the putting lesson from the club pro in late February. I combined a lesson on two parts of my game I was not satisfied with at that time and knew needed some coaching. Pitching and Chipping + Putting. Being a low twenties handicapper I hit greens in regulation on occasion, for me I need to be no more than 110-100 metres out for my ability to be accurate enough to hit greens now and then. Even with the extra distance of my Cobra driver and run from the summer fairways I am too far out usually to be accurate enough, so the pitch from 5-10m is vital part of my game in finishing holes. My low putting score was the result of being able to pitch the ball close to the hole consistently around 1 to 2 m distance and the improved putting accuracy combined with this to save me 3-5 strokes off my score. To highlight how good my round was, I only had one bad hole a 10 and still came in with a gross 91 and nett 69. The ten was a result of my other fault that is being worked on, the ‘brain fade’. I am still having concentration lapses on a hole towards the end of a round. This one was particularly bad (at the 15th) as it included a bit of over confident arrogance which had me play two strokes without due care in club selection, hitting my drive a fraction too hard had me slice out of bounds and following my set up routine that worked so well on the other 17 holes. The benefit is that I did it this week and have learnt a lesson before the qualifying round to come that I will have to tune up.

Thankyou for your time and attention , it is coffee o’clock for me now and back to doing some real work. Hit ‘em straight and accurate all.

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Golf - Retail warranty service

March 22 2010 Returned from Adelaide with a free #2 Hybrid on Friday. The good folk at Drummonds replaced the broken XLT Driver with a Top Flite 3000 18degree hybrid. Spent a bit of time Sat arvo and Sunday am before the comp practicing with the stick. Took the #3 and #5 woods out and as expected used the new club four times and it produced the results much better than the fairway woods. I agree with the increased playing improving your game. I have cut back to playing 3-4 days a week ( 2×9 holes and 2×18 holes max per week) and range practice on the other days. This balance stops me from overdoing the physical effort and I bounce back well after a round now. Cheated with the quit smoking did cold turkey last time and quit for 8-10 years this time taking Champix and no withdrawl symptoms and a few side effects that are all better than having a smoke.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Golf - practise, coaching and quitting smoking too

I have kept a daily Golf Diary since last year as I worked towards 2010 and noting my results, thoughts and the things Iwas learning. Had Swing lessons in January with the club pro, I just waited until I thought I was half decent and had some ability thatcould be ‘worked’ with and the coaching was going to have an effect. which it most definately did. I actually had 3 things to be ‘looked’ at to improve my game, and did two lessons; 1) Swing Plane – action was corrected to be more Inside/Out and stopped the slice i had. Lesson 2) Pitching/Chipping – I practise this but never seemed to have it quite right – Follow through technique was not right and using wrists instead of fore arms and the most important part to finish every hole Bloody F@%#King “Putting” have never been consistent or settled in this part of the game. Now 2 months later after the game this weekend am very happy it was the hardest part to change after the lessons. Putting is a very personal feel thing and the adjustment and confidence in the changes took a lot longer to adapt to. The quit smokes is a doddle with the Champix tablets and damn I feel better already lol
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Golf - Quitting smoking does feel good

17th March 2010 At the minute I am going through the worst self inflicted trauma a person can do to themself. Quitting smoking, having done this before and then started again a decade later made me wonder if I am a glutton for punishment. This is week five of a twelve week program taking the Champix tablets. It is all going a treat but the withdrawal symptoms suck. The inability to sleep and disrupted sleep patterns are by far the worst side effect, been up since 5 am (again!) plugging away on the PC doing the work that would normally be done during the day. Any other time that would mean i can head out to the course for longer to have some practise except to day I am travelling to Adelaide.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff