Golf fitness equals lees strokes per round

Played my way to the end of the Monthly Medal round for a third place finish. Managed to win the putting competition on the day, not too bad considering there was a four putt in there. Two chip ins, one for birdie and one for par helped out in that result. It was an interesting day of golfing in review. Once again I jumped out of the box and first four holes were pars, yet once again on the 6th and 7th. holes I had brain fades or errors which made the score balloon. In the first instance was a four putt, it came from my body starting to sieze up. The next hole the first ball was pushed wide right and then a totally rank second shot on the par five, from stiffness in my body movement. It took a mental battle to get the focus back. I was feeling the strain to the movement through to the end. The nub was a 46 on the front nine and then coming home with a 40 on the back with one lost ball in that and a double bogie on the tenth as well. The saving asset was my daily chip and putting practise sessions, the chip ins were not flukes I was playing for them. I dropped 28 putts on the day with the 4 putt and two chip shots that went in. Greens in regulation were average for me and this is now becoming an imperative to getting priority in the practise routine. Checked in for a body tune up on Thursday as the strain of the past month is beginning to affect the golfing capability. This is limiting my capability to practise. Today there is significant discomfort and after doing the short game and putting session that was enough. As much as I would like to be having a session on the range, the common sense of "Less is More" rules. I know that there is no need to hurry and push the training effort up a notch. If I do the discomfort will increase and that is a major negative. Instead the exercise routine is given the lead to replace the desired range session. That way still improving my golf capability in another area. Thankyou for your time and attention Geoff

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