Hole in one today!!!

Sunday 2nd February. Hole in One Day! Yes dear readers today I achieved one of golfs holy grail's for players. Surprised of course, watched the ball fly towards the hole hit the edge of the green pop up into the air and bounce on the full into the hole. A #4 Hybrid on the fourth hole a 165 metre par three.

I think this was my first 18 hole competition outing in 6 to 8 weeks at least. Resting up recovering from injuries and busy with work as well has curtailed even practice sessions of late. Today a mild 34 degrees and free from work commitments so I bit the bullet and decided to get out and enjoy a social competition round. You know that you are respected when the captain comes up introduces himself and proceeds to tell you that golf requires holding the rubber handle bit and hit the ball with the club shaped bit. The greens keeper asks if you have paid your green fees as that is required by visitors when playing on the course. Put the pressure on for the rest of the round, after scoring the trick shot. I had a sudden ramping up of pride in not wanting to get the ace and then score 30 points. It was flaming hard work the injuries were tender and had a decent limp with the right groin and hamstring at the limit by the 18th. The dodgy shoulder was totalled after the 16th. Yet the never give up attitude had me throw everything into the last hole, best drive of the day 250m +, green in regulation almost a birdie and finished with a 3 point par and 37 points.

Once again failure to get greens in regulation was the weakness in my game. Struggled with chipping and still not disappointed considering the lack of recent practise. Sitting here well fueled with cider, ice packs on shoulder and proud that I rose to the occasion, hurting or not to play as well as i did. Pride may be something others frown upon I do not. Today I aced a hole and tried my best to score well to do this justice. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, find the ball, get it out of the hole and do a happy dance. Thankyou for your time and attention , Geoff

A doctors visit, step one to better golf in 2014

Yesterday was spent inside pondering the state of my golfing capability. Unable to get out and hit balls due to the combination of work and injury. Not my preferred choice on such a great summer day but a forced necessity. A day well spent after all was said and done and at this early hour of the new working day I have formalized the coming golf season plan with very unexpected direction. The first step in my 2014 golf season is to go to my doctor and discuss the recurring injuries which really stifled the past seasons golfing. The fact is that my various broken bits from a MVA in 1982 are the cause of the problems. What is also a fact is that I am in the best physical fitness condition in a decade due to Bowen Therapy, playing golf since 2009, combined with swimming and strand pulling in 2013. There is two particular injury flareups which affect my golf, oh and general life also. My back muscles seize up and become inflamed, painful and restrictive. This is not a major restraint as it once was, doing a couple of sets of strand pulling exercises in particular, literally resets my back muscles withing minutes. The major debilitating injury is in the groin, no not my thinking stick, it is a muscle strain of sorts down the right thigh. It is a symptom of my actual back injury that throws the hips out of alignment and starts with a favoring of the right leg when walking. This adds strain to the groin and eventually the area is sore, restrictive and simple walking is difficult as is sitting in one place without discomfort. This is nothing like the pain and discomfort I have had in the past so it is a good thing. Having improved this condition so much in the past decade my mind is tuned into looking at all options that may improve my health a all opportunities. I do not self diagnose my problems and devise treatments, that is what professional health practitioners are for. Right now the obvious recurring groin problem in the past year is the symptom that needs review. Whilst Bowen Therapy repairs it the increased physical activity of golfing is part of the problem. The cure is not to stop golfing, I have to go to my GP and start the process of preventing the groin strain from happening so often and if possible stop it altogether. There is more to golf than hitting the ball, finding the ball is very important as well. Using that phrase as an analogy, is my first step towards having another crack at getting a single digit handicap in 2014. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit the ball, Find the ball, Hit the ball. Geoff

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