"Footyheads" review, Rd 13 Carlton def Swans

Carlton saw off the challenge by Sydney who were out to establish their credentials as a top four finalist. The return of Mathew Kreuzer to the Carlton team from knee injury was a highlight of the win against the Swans.

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Welcome to the nightmare...

AAAAAAARRRRGHH!!!! The frustration of Sunday’s round had me going internally berserk for the duration of the 350 km trip to Adelaide afterwards. Never has a round of golf promised so much, led to the brink of delirious ecstasy and then abandoned me to go and begin a stamp collection.




It was always an iffy proposition with the weather forecast yet the field teed off on time playing 5-8 holes before the full fury of nature hit the course. At the run for cover I was 1 over the card after 5 holes. My game was on song and stopping was the last thing on my mind. One of my playing group was keen enough to at least play nine so we headed out to the 6th tee after 30 minutes. Ending with a 42 after a lost ball (plugged and did not see it hit the fairway in the conditions) penalty and one miss hit, on the green the flat stick was on song too with 12 putts.



Eventually 6 hardy souls were willing to continue the comp. and off we went as a large group, eventually finishing in winter darkness on the 18th. The moment was lost for me after all the delays, a back nine 52 (20 putts) had me lose the count back for second place. Still won the putting though, one ball won to replace the tally of three lost on the day!



The four hour drive afterwards was torture, my mind was reeling from the fluctuating fortunes of the days golf. Still laughed and enjoyed the day no matter what went wrong and not once did any display of bad humour or etiquette lapses occur on my part. As I was so focused for the round and the first nine was delivering the results of the current practise routine in prep for the coming open golf tournaments.



I have no excuses for the result, the frustration though is so hard to expunge. Taking responsibility is a must for me to be able to be satisfied with golf and I am. Fact is I play social, enjoyable golf at the club and that is why I am a member. The desire to challenge myself in competition is a private goal. Playing in any conditions and importantly learning from the experience with friends is an unseen benefit that days like yesterday deliver.



Even so Bugga, Bugga, Bugga!!!!

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

 Geoff

Compete... Or Practise golf?

19/6/11 Sunday 8 am, rain, rain and a little more rain all night and through to an hour ago will mean that the course is going to be very soggy on the flat. Which is the front 9 at Robe, if it stops raining I will be out in the stroke round having the first competition game with the new irons. After having put in a good solid week on the practise track this unexpected change is going to throw my pre-Tournament preparations out a little. The upshot is that my short game is much better than last week, having had to delay the planned Driver practise while getting familiar with the Bridgestone’s.

A few months ago I began reading  posts on THE DAN PLAN, where a fella is putting in 10,000 hours of practise to have a crack at playing professional golf. I follow his blog on line and it was interesting to read a recent post where he played a social round with a friend (single figure golfer) for lunch and won for the first time. It was a rare thing to read that Dan felt a little bad about winning and taking the prize from a friend. He is still only using short irons as his plan prescribes and doing well enough. For some one that is targeting playing professionally the reaction to his first win and how he felt will soon change, In fact it must, I wonder what the plan prescribes for, when does Dan start playing competitive golf? A commentator during the US Open at Congressional remarked yesterday the difference between current golfers who practise the game more than playing it, as he and his peers did and how it affects a golfers game play.



The 10,000 hours figure caught my eye in another blogger’s writings who is trying to achieve a Professional Golf standard as well. This time it was explained why that was the number of hours selected. Specifically for this golfer it was from Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The following comments are from this review of the book at http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/malcolm-gladwell%E2%80%99s-new-book-outliers-and-the-10000-hour-rule/
“Gladwell’s gift as a writer is not for justification and proof of his claims. What Gladwell does have is an extraordinary gift to use stories to explain abstract ideas in a way that is vivid and memorable, a way that brings those abstract ideas quickly to mind at later need. This shamanic gift is dangerous, for if you read his books credulously, it leaves you open to believing ideas that may be false. It’s also incredibly valuable, for what you learn you internalize deeply. In my opinion, this more than makes up for whatever Gladwell’s books lack in rigorous justification.

I say all this so you know what to expect from Gladwell’s new book, Outliers: The Story of Success.Outliers is a vivid and memorable exploration of a single question: what makes some individuals so successful? It’s not a book that lends itself to a brief summary, for to summarize is to lose the essence of the stories which make it an enjoyable and memorable read. For this reason, I won’t review the book here, beyond saying that I strongly recommend the book, with the caveats above: read sceptically, and check the original literature when in doubt!”



The weather today is not encouraging to play golf and in all fairness my practise this week has been good and a rest could even be of benefit. I want to play because I want to have a competitive round of golf against a field. That is a driving force in the enjoyment of the game for me. On Friday the Chicken Run was one of the worst nine hole scores I have had, 9 stableford points and it was great fun. A lot of stirring, sledging and risk taking shots combined to make it a great round. Playing off 10 (actual hcp is 14) the Chook Run is a competitive round that has the bonus of being able to get fun out of a crap score, and a good scores gives experience playing to a hcp that is far beyond my current ability.



Stroke round today and following the last two rounds of 82 and 82 getting out and having a crack to get to 13 is a priority at the minute for my golf. The weather is a minor concern when it comes to getting on the track and chasing the dream. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all” Geoff

The New Irons have been selected....

16/6/11 Thursday The NEW IRONS!!! Had no idea that my search would end so quickly after setting myself on the trail only 7 days ago. The set chosen is used and come from the 2010 club champion and are the set he was using when I won the 2009 club handicap championship against him. Had always intended to have a hit with his old Bridgestone J33’s and played with him on Sunday and organised it during the round. Having moved on to Titleist AP2’s and down to a 7 handicap from the 10-12 he was on in 2009 was a factor in my choosing to have a hit with them. Was a like a kid on Xmas eve the night I received the clubs, then kept grabbing odd sticks while walking around the house and having a bit of a set up and waggle in the living room.




First two days were a couple of hours on the practise range alternating between the J33’s and my current favourite iron the Ping Karsten clones. The J33’s are a combo set with cavity backs from 2 to 7 irons and blades from the 8 to PW. Yes the set has a 2 iron which I had never used before even though I use a #2 Maxfli 16 degree Hybrid. As I played 2009 without using Drivers and #3 iron was first choice off the tee then and successfully I add in winning and getting 8 or so strokes off my starting hcp., I had a plan. After two days of range practise and champing at the bit to get on the course in earnest. Discovered some major changes in my iron play with the J33’s. First and most obvious was the added distance with the lofted irons, with a definite improved control in shot play. Secondly was the need to change my stance, moving a little closer to the ball at address, fixed the early problem of pulling shots to the left.



Today was the day the plan was put into action, simply play 9 holes with the irons only. With a strong wind it was a definite challenge on some holes and a 46 off the stick was a credible score. With one three putt and a little inacuracy caused mostly by selecting a club too much on three second shots I was very satisfied. I must comment on the 2 iron, used it of the tee on all holes except one par 3. It was excellent hitting into the wind and with it as well. Apart from the clubs owner another golfer (and former club champ) I play regularly with uses a 2 iron a lot. This player is going blind (glaucoma) and has drifted out from 4 to a 10 and needs a spotter to play. Have caddied for him in championship match play and learnt a lot, watching a fella who cannot see where his ball goes yet as his swing so good that hi ball rarely if ever is off the fairway.



The accuracy of the lofted clubs was superb the PW made the difference from 100 m and in. Last week that was a distance that had me struggling in club choice. Tomorrow is the “Chicken Run” and this time will be the irons and the driver in unison. Lack of distance off the tee today really did stretch my capability on all second shots with and into the wind on the par fours. This set of clubs have a good history for me to measure myself with in progress for the next couple of years.



The former owner of the irons hits a long ball, where as I have never been in that realm. At times of late with the better swing and physical condition it has felt that there was a little more in the tank on some iron shots. Leading me to question if the irons needed to be upgraded and hence the start of my search last week. With the J33’s that bit ‘extra’ is now coming into the stroke play and is going to take a bit of getting used to.



The past two years of trial with cavity back and blade irons has worked for me. If I had used these clubs last season when they were available it would have been a wasted effort. That I can “feel” these irons surprises me, the difference between these and what I have progressed with to this stage is like chalk and cheese. It has invigorated my delight in golf even more, visualising practise sessions with deliberate efforts shaping shots. This has made every bit of effort, pain, enjoyment, and disapointment to get to this level of playing golf worthwhile. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”, Geoff