Winner Penola Autumn Open 2015

Sticking with the training program of "less is more" is returning results. As much as I would like to increase the tempo and try to hurry the golfing progress, the smart choice is to stay with the current intensity. Success today at the Penola Autumn Open winning the A Grade Nett with 73 (84 Gross).

Errors were made that more practise will improve. Specifically the 100-150 metre greens in regulation shots. Putting, Driving, Chipping were all good enough. A few drives went wide and that was the failing, having to recover from among trees. All good in the main and looking forward to tomorrow and the home club Monthly Medal. Keeping the current rythym does not seem to be a problem. The essence of my practise at the minute is to refine the execution. In particular, chipping and putting for finishing holes in as few strokes possible.The Driver, has been performing well enough and this week the 3 Wood #5 iron and 3 Hybrid were given more range time. Not a lot only adding a slight improvement in todays' round and that was value enough. Tomorrow morning will be another light practise session as with today and the inclusion of the Wood, Hybrid and long irons wil be the close for the warm-up again Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Second round and third place...

Third place behind 40 points and 37 points with 85 gross, 35 points at Robe to finish my weekend comps. Dropped .2 for a GA Handicap of 11.1. This round was not bad with two lost balls on front nine (15 points) and coming home with a 39 gross and 20 points. Was not rattled by the day at all, played golf and attacked all day, keeping the game brain engaged in the round. Sitting here showered refreshed and digesting the possibility from today and yesterday that I play to my handicap or close to it when playing slightly below average. This is not only the musings of a satisfied golfer, there has been some analysis of recent scores back to February to check the feasibility of the claim. Firstly this is all from a golfer who is very confident at the minute and that state of gaming has taken three months of dedicated effort. The results are the measure of capability and that is supportive of my assertion. Lastly is the sense of Golf that is the combination of all of the facets in my game. I am not looking for a pseudo crutch to support my game approach. Today when down in the round after a lost ball on fourth and then seventh hole, the game brain did not falter. I knew it was from lax tee shots nothing more, I was working on an attacking game. This delivered without any change in tempo on the back nine. What has been realised once home and looking at the statistics is that I have the game to do better. Fact is I have to work on the long irons more, with the 100 m training plan appealing at the minute. The big fails were the hybrid and #3 wood I am erratic with them accuracy wise, even though I rarely use them in a round the failures are not acceptable. range work is the only fix and that will not take long. Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Breaking 80, always a good result...

After having a very good round yesterday 79 Gross/Nett 66 (41 points), the form of the past months is still maintained on the course. I am really crap at false modesty and downplaying my capability. So what if I play well or bad, saying so does not affect the scores to come one iota. What does is the practise and awareness of my golfing game. Yesterday I played steady all day and that came from the past weeks of settling into a routine that takes out the mental distractions especially from the performance mix. Total Golf for me is the physical actions of practise, fitness and mental conditioning. Being capable of playing well does involve the confidence to play well to be running parallel with the efforts. As a typical club golfer my words have no officially recognised base and there is no desire on my part for them to be. They are my words in these posts though, the irrefutable proof is in the resulting scores and victories. I am a follower of The Dan Plan and enjoy his journey and tales. I have never held back when it came to commenting on his journal in particular his lack of competition golf experience. This is no criticism of the goal or ambition of Dan. The Australian Club golf system is far removed from the US. I do believe that is in some part why we have so many quality professional in comparison to the US on a per capita basis. I give my own social round scores nothing more than training day status. Playing square to the card or a couple over in a social round is nothing special. Winning a club competition and having 2-5 more strokes is far more valuable. Even though when playing you do not know the other scores it is a competition being played to win. Presentation of the chocolates at the end show that you were better than the rest of the field in the competition on the day. Today is a new competition at a different club and yesterdays score has no impact on the card at the end of today. What I want though is to play as well again and the opportunity to win is the motivation not the desire to have a good score. Thankyou for your time and attention , Geoff

Season 2015 all about "Total Golf"

Welcome dear readers, I recommend settling into your seat and perhaps taking the stimulant of your choice as the following may be a boring read. Golf is a game of regularity and consistency for that is what champions do to play and win. Each year I begin a new thread here relegating the previous year to the knowledge bank of experience. In 2014 I won Gold and Silver at the Masters Games, in 2015 at another course I won Gold and Silver. In Southern Ports A Grade 2014 finished 4th in A Grade Nett after 3 rounds. In 2015 I finished 3rd in A Grade Nett, 1.3 strokes behind the tied first and second Nett winners. In 2014 I won the Club Handicap Championship in October and promptly had 3 monthly out of golf as injuries recovered. In 2013 My body and game was shot by August and I struggled to the end of the season easily disposed of in the Matchplay rounds of the Club Handicap Championship. Every season I have had a review and used the postings to analyse the ups, downs and head on collisions to destruction that have scattered through my golfing game. Unlike the figures of statistics this diary of sorts has supplied the details of golf games including, physical, emotional and social events. I am an amateur golfer who enjoys the game in all its aspects. This is why the details are so valuable to my improvement. Today was the beginning of the next physical phase of my golf game preparation. Added to the gym bench is an incline walking machine in the shed. Whilst my game development is delivering results and that proof is not lightly said as the preceding results show. Have no doubt about it. I set myself from last season, to match or do better than the 2014 results in Southern Ports and Masters Games. Fitness has been a major focus as a cause for several failures. As important as being able to drive, chip or putt a ball is the ability to last the full distance of a round and more. The two events I set myself for at the start of the season are 36 hole and 54 hole competitions. I use the Friday 9 hole chicken run competitions to set myself for 18 hole competitions. Two 9 holes rounds that I now charge hard at every round. This has been difficult to assimilate into my golf psyche. My game is still based upon the easiest shot, best percentage of success model. Everything is based around having the shot to be the one to put the ball into the hole as soon as possible.I try to break my handicap in every 9 hole Chicken Run and this is a club competition where every time you win the chicken two shots are dropped off the playing handicap for the next Chicken Run. Last year I had got down to 3 before the annual reset to the official handicap in January. The challenge in 2015 is to set my fitness to a very high level and not create an injury as I did in 2014. My brain is benefiting from this disciplined activity, that is another value added indirectly to my 'Total Golf' approach. Thankyou for your time and attention Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff