Welcome to the closing chapters of the 2014 edition of "I am not 3 metres tall and bullet proof".

It has been a year of what feels like progress and improvement even if I have gone out from 12 to currently 14.6 handicap wise. Major failures in all of the matchplay events was a disappointment especially after being among the top qualifiers in the club championships. The trophies for the season include four monthly medals, Winning the three round Caledonian Inn club competition, winning Robe Open Division II Gross and Nett as well as Runner up at Kingston Golf Club Summer Open Div II. These achievements do soften the failure of not improving my handicap. The obvious problem for me on the golf course in 2013 was injury, nothing major but debilitating restrictions which hampered my ability to play consistently and with comfort Typified by the last three weeks of struggle with groin strain. Frustrations comes from actually being much fitter the since 2009 when I returned to the game. As well as having improved my golfing technique so well that I had to clear out all the regular flex equipment and return to using stiff flex shafts mid season. This was a very unsettling period virtually like when I returned to the game in 2009. I was in the dark about my distances with clubs, with all shots combined with the adjustment to using hybrids from, #2 to #6 irons in the bag now. I laugh and enjoy golf because while it is not at my peak right now, I am doing as well as expected from the time spent being able to practise. This week i did not touch a stick until Sunday am. when i wandered over to the course and had a few swings to see if I could consider playing. Which by the end of the days round was a limping struggle but not any pain. Finishing with 34 points and that due to missing a couple of easy putts and chips that could have made a 38 point result achievable. The season failure was in the approach shots I have to get Greens in Regulation into my game to reach my dream of a single digit handicap. That is all which is holding me back, now with a driver (Powerbilt Airforce One N7) and swing that gets 220m consistently (up to 240m regularly) and accuracy. The failure to get the ball on the green from 120 metres and less is killing the dream. Which is never ended until my last golfing breath so onward and downward for 2014. All the best to those who travel through my ramblings each season, Have a great 2014. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, Find the Geoff

Using a Powerbilt Airforce one N7 driver... It works for me

Saturday Summer when it is 19 degree maximum and has been raining for the past 4 hours is much better than winter weather. I will play golf in snow if we had that weather condition here my only fault is I cannot play it as often as I would like due to physical limitations. Which is a golfing motivation of the first instance for me, the improvement to my heath since 2009 is at the least 85% golf inspired. Today I am still tender in the groin and playing the 9 hole comp yesterday it was restrictive while on the course. After playing, the pain was there as well. Which according to common sense recommends not playing golf today and rest up for a Sunday comp.Good thing that common sense is the first thing that goes when accepting that you are a committed golfer. Still wavering on playing or not though as it is raining still and I could spend a day inside doing some work and be responsible. To change the topic there is a possibility that I have gone to the dark side with my latest golf purchase. The Powerbilt Airforce One N7 (My GolfSpy review) I have always been interested in this driver, in particular because of the reaction of golfers to its marketing through advertising. The quest for distance in my golf game has been done now. That came from practise with the DreamSwing and developing a good swing plane with a consistent swing using this tool. To the extent that I had to redo all of my equipment back to stiff flex shafts for my game to work effectively. The only piece of equipment that was not settled had been the driver. Using the Cleveland SL290 was effective but always felt there was a little more distance available in the swing using this club. Cobra Encore ZL was proof of that and the only negative was the amount of height in many tee shots that took a lot of effort to control on my part. The Toskii 400cc Driver has always been a favorite of mine and I took that out of the cupboard during the past weeks. It to had benefited from my improved swing and could reach 230m off the tee and maintain a consistent 215-220m drive with accuracy. Used this club last weekend in claiming 2nd place in the Kingston Open. This Monday the Powerbilt Airforce One driver arrived and it has been great fun putting it through its paces on the driving range and on the course. Yes dear readers it does get good distance, that is said without bias on my part. After a full week of using it regularly and settled into a rhythm with the Driver it has surprised me with the ease in hitting 240 m tee shots. To the more important factor I want which is accuracy the driver is excellent, and it does that with an extra 5-10 m on the Toskii. Alongside the Cobra it is longer over all, with a lower ball flight and I am better able to shape shots with the Powerbilt club also. Not the greatest ball striker myself but fairly consistent and there are times when I hit the sweet spot on the face and the ball flies way like a drag racer car on nitrous oxide. The 'Trampoline effect' does describe this feeling very well. It does not take a powerful swing like usingthe Toskii does and that allows me much better control and distance from shots with less effort. The club is very light which again appeals to me and follows the Cleveland Golf practice of lighter club heads swing faster. Very satisfied to have this Driver in my bag and it was well worth the wait to get a new one for $74 (delivered) via an ebay auction. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, Find the ball, Hit the ball. Geoff

In Winning form again...

It is one of the good things about playing competition golf, winning. Not the be all and end all but not far away from the only reason I play competition golf. The past months have been reliant upon patience on my part to gradually develop balance in my game improvement and fitness. There is a part of me that wants to say this has been easy and while realising the process was easy, doing it was not. I have been playing crap for months, with a game that had no semblance of consistency, direction or form. Yet to me I could see during the experience the individual game improvement points that were cloistered amid the miss-hits and errors. At the same time balancing an increasing fitness regime, that did not get out of hand and end up in another breakdown from pushing the body too hard too soon. The result earnt from the practise and improved fitness in past months came this weekend. Saturday was a hard slog at Kingston SE hot weather and the first time I have actually gone for the morning swim before playing golf as well. Finished with 32 points and that score was affected mostly with 3 x three putts on the back nine that all returned 1 point each. Before the round was finished I had little energy left and poor putting cost me a sub handicap round. Sunday used common sense and did not go for a swim, with the assistance of a gusting wind curtailing any latent desire to get in the ocean. Competition winner on the day with 85 gross and a Nett 69, flagging a towards the end of the round and had 2 x three putts on the back nine. Knew as soon as I finished at Kingston the day before that my game was back in form and said so to my playing partners. Yes, I called the next days victory without a semblance of arrogance, overconfidence or Bullsh#t. It was not easy either and had to work very hard and recover from some tricky situations to get the win by only one stroke at the end of the day. Satisfied at the result, which made the stiffness that set in in the hours after the round a little less uncomfortable. Still have a lot of fitness improvement to come planned and that is not so daunting now I have got the first win for summer on the board. Kingston SE Summer Open on this Saturday and I will be resting up on the body training a little and focus on the putter to get some form in the bank. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, Find the ball, Hit the ball. 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