Saturday, September 24, 2011
Footyheads review 2nd Semi Carlton V West Coast
2nd Semi Final over in the West and Carlton played the game out to the very end. So close to victory coming back and in with a chance several times throughout the game. Even so the loss sucked. Season 2011 is over now and 2012 is the next outing for the Blues and at the minute looking good for fans. GO YOU BLUES!!
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
Four weeks of best effort to come...
23/9/11 Friday, having made it to the business end of the season, like a well used rubber band the elasticity is starting to show a bit of wear. There have been no major injury problems this season. Thanks to being fitter in the most part thanks to playing so much golf since 2009. Sure enough though after all of the effort put in I have stumbled a little in the final weeks injury wise. Carrying the right wrist strain has been possible and not too bad, it is now joined with the left arm and a case of golfers elbow. It is all being worked on and looking after myself as best as possible in the coming weeks is a must, ‘less is more than enough’, when practising from now on in.
Again the good fortune from the final qualifying round is helping. My next round is on the 8th of October in the Semi-Final playing off for a position in the 36 hole Championship matchplay. This gives me time to heal the niggling injuries and be back in good condition. Although my recent writing has not been what could be called positive or confident it is by no means defeatist. Now that I am definately in the running and do not come up against any single figure golfers unless I make the last game, the idea of playing in the club championship is not just a fanciful dream. If this happens I will be playing off against either a 5 or 6 handicapper from my 12-13 handicap position. Not being a person who believes life is a potential Disney Movie of happy dances and free jelly beans at the end of the race against bigger and better opponents, does not make me a pessimist.
Every single care and treatment possible to be put to work in my favour will be given a go. My mental game is getting a total upgrade to top gear and out of the happy hacker mode of enjoying the game and playing into contention for the championship as was done through the season. Since the Southern Ports Tournament in March to now my entire golf year has been playing to make this a possibility, that is a success which I am pleased to have achieved. The feeling is very good to be experiencing at the minute of having thrown everything in my ability into the effort and have followed through, in spite of various hurdles. Without any formulation or crafting of the subject, against every possible opponent I have a motivation to beat each of them in the match play.
Now it is all or nothing to win through and have a crack at the club championship.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
Again the good fortune from the final qualifying round is helping. My next round is on the 8th of October in the Semi-Final playing off for a position in the 36 hole Championship matchplay. This gives me time to heal the niggling injuries and be back in good condition. Although my recent writing has not been what could be called positive or confident it is by no means defeatist. Now that I am definately in the running and do not come up against any single figure golfers unless I make the last game, the idea of playing in the club championship is not just a fanciful dream. If this happens I will be playing off against either a 5 or 6 handicapper from my 12-13 handicap position. Not being a person who believes life is a potential Disney Movie of happy dances and free jelly beans at the end of the race against bigger and better opponents, does not make me a pessimist.
Every single care and treatment possible to be put to work in my favour will be given a go. My mental game is getting a total upgrade to top gear and out of the happy hacker mode of enjoying the game and playing into contention for the championship as was done through the season. Since the Southern Ports Tournament in March to now my entire golf year has been playing to make this a possibility, that is a success which I am pleased to have achieved. The feeling is very good to be experiencing at the minute of having thrown everything in my ability into the effort and have followed through, in spite of various hurdles. Without any formulation or crafting of the subject, against every possible opponent I have a motivation to beat each of them in the match play.
Now it is all or nothing to win through and have a crack at the club championship.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Love it when a plan works...
21/9/2011 In the aftermath of the success in qualifying for the club championships it would be remiss of me to not backtrack to the Junior Coaching clinic on Friday just gone at the club. With a group of 18 year 6-7 students from the Primary School, the regional coach and three volunteers the couple of hours went along really well. The interest by the students and the fun they had with golf shows what can be achieved and the real future of golf that is there to be developed. Of course there are hurdles, getting volunteers on a regular basis is not that difficult. The government need for training, police checks etc and all that entails is a pain in the neck. Make no doubt I and the rest of the members are fully aware of why this must be done. The commitment to having a successful club far outweighs the imposition of time spend in doing administrative duties. The plans for regular junior clinic over the school holiday period are certain to be developed and acted upon after this recent example of junior interest.
Do not be misdirected that this is all too much, instead it is an example of why many golf clubs are struggling. Volunteers are in the main happy to do the work but having to become pseudo employees is an anathema to many. I have lasted one year as secretary not because I do not want to be involved in the club. It is because if I wanted to be an administration officer then my career would still be that and not my current profession. The amount of tasks which involve supplying information to public operations for statistical purposes is not balanced out with the same bodies returning the effort in assisting the smooth operation of golf clubs.
Now to the reason of why I am a golfer, playing the game. The satisfaction of qualifying has proven every effort to get out and practise in 2011 was worthwhile. Out in the rain and wind of storms on the practise range, without hesitation all because I wanted to give myself the best possible chance. Having to come in with a spot on score to set myself with the best possible matchplay pairings did come off. All season I have wrote about my game strategy working towards setting particular goals that if reached in a round enabled specific targets to be set over 18 holes of golf. One was to always aim at being set up after the 12th-13th holes to be able to be aggressive and not playing to minimise damage.
On Sunday even after a pair of 7’s on theses two par four holes, I could go hard on the closing five holes and it was by millimetres that I missed out on getting all 5 in regulation par scores. This left me in limbo as to what the matchplay pairings would be having tied with another golfer in qualifying. By good the good fortune of my scores I won out in the pairings and miss playing both the defending champion and one of the club’s (with 15 “A” grade championships) best golfers in the semi and qualifying finals. It is still going to be a hard road through the matchplay finals, it is realistic in dreaming of making the final. Luck has had and will have no bearing on the outcome, making it happen is up to me and not changing what has been in place all season. All the aches pains and crunchy bits that I feel now because of the seasons’ effort are not pleasant, but having succeeded and made it this far were well worth inflicting upon myself. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em Straight all” Geoff
Do not be misdirected that this is all too much, instead it is an example of why many golf clubs are struggling. Volunteers are in the main happy to do the work but having to become pseudo employees is an anathema to many. I have lasted one year as secretary not because I do not want to be involved in the club. It is because if I wanted to be an administration officer then my career would still be that and not my current profession. The amount of tasks which involve supplying information to public operations for statistical purposes is not balanced out with the same bodies returning the effort in assisting the smooth operation of golf clubs.
Now to the reason of why I am a golfer, playing the game. The satisfaction of qualifying has proven every effort to get out and practise in 2011 was worthwhile. Out in the rain and wind of storms on the practise range, without hesitation all because I wanted to give myself the best possible chance. Having to come in with a spot on score to set myself with the best possible matchplay pairings did come off. All season I have wrote about my game strategy working towards setting particular goals that if reached in a round enabled specific targets to be set over 18 holes of golf. One was to always aim at being set up after the 12th-13th holes to be able to be aggressive and not playing to minimise damage.
On Sunday even after a pair of 7’s on theses two par four holes, I could go hard on the closing five holes and it was by millimetres that I missed out on getting all 5 in regulation par scores. This left me in limbo as to what the matchplay pairings would be having tied with another golfer in qualifying. By good the good fortune of my scores I won out in the pairings and miss playing both the defending champion and one of the club’s (with 15 “A” grade championships) best golfers in the semi and qualifying finals. It is still going to be a hard road through the matchplay finals, it is realistic in dreaming of making the final. Luck has had and will have no bearing on the outcome, making it happen is up to me and not changing what has been in place all season. All the aches pains and crunchy bits that I feel now because of the seasons’ effort are not pleasant, but having succeeded and made it this far were well worth inflicting upon myself. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em Straight all” Geoff
Monday, September 19, 2011
Back in the race....
18/9/11 The Junior Golf Clinic on Friday was an unexpected success. The amount of interest in playing golf at the school was totally unknown to the club. The coaching was done by a member from another regional club who had found that his own club which was struggling for golfers, at the same time there were junior members who played at the club but not in the competitions. Since getting the junior coaching clinics at the local schools running now 40 plus Juniors are developing a golf interest and playing at the club.
Back in the hunt for the club championship after the 2nd Qualifying round, not a spectacular effort returning an 87 gross, 74 nett with 28 putts. Good enough for third place in the weekly competition, winning the putting and a nearest the pin also today. Recovered from the wrist injury which was damaging last week, combined with returning to the 400cc driver the game teetered on a handicap breaking result.
With a 42 on the front nine the next four holes was a par and three 7’s from two lost balls and a couple of bad putting efforts. Even with that I chose to attack hard and 3x Pars and 2 Bogies on the last 5 holes were testament to not giving in and having faith in my ability. Finishing with a 45 on the back nine which was a result of dropping some very good putts. It would have been very easy to pass last week off as an ‘injury’ affected round. Instead I did rehab on the injury and worked on my putting which was 34 (I think) the week before. In fact I had began to make a technical error in my set up that was totally giving a false reading for the direction the ball would go. Still one more concern on putting, for some reason misreading the green speed is becoming a fault that leaves 2-3 puts well short of the hole each round.
Returning to the 400c driver was marked with accuracy and no strain on the injured wrist. With a lighter shaft and more flex compared to the 420cc driver the fine weather circumvented the loss of 20-40m off the tee. This has been a part of my game that has been accepted as a fact of my limitations due to technical errors with the driver. Now that I have improved the swing plane the driver is now a game strength and reliable in my hands. Unfortunately my irons from 7 to PW are accurate yet my drives are generally in the 3-6iron distance from par 4 greens, whilst using the 400cc driver. Need the GIR to start and improving the long irons is happening slowly, it is much easier to have the driver getting the ball within 7-PW range to get the GIR’s.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
Back in the hunt for the club championship after the 2nd Qualifying round, not a spectacular effort returning an 87 gross, 74 nett with 28 putts. Good enough for third place in the weekly competition, winning the putting and a nearest the pin also today. Recovered from the wrist injury which was damaging last week, combined with returning to the 400cc driver the game teetered on a handicap breaking result.
With a 42 on the front nine the next four holes was a par and three 7’s from two lost balls and a couple of bad putting efforts. Even with that I chose to attack hard and 3x Pars and 2 Bogies on the last 5 holes were testament to not giving in and having faith in my ability. Finishing with a 45 on the back nine which was a result of dropping some very good putts. It would have been very easy to pass last week off as an ‘injury’ affected round. Instead I did rehab on the injury and worked on my putting which was 34 (I think) the week before. In fact I had began to make a technical error in my set up that was totally giving a false reading for the direction the ball would go. Still one more concern on putting, for some reason misreading the green speed is becoming a fault that leaves 2-3 puts well short of the hole each round.
Returning to the 400c driver was marked with accuracy and no strain on the injured wrist. With a lighter shaft and more flex compared to the 420cc driver the fine weather circumvented the loss of 20-40m off the tee. This has been a part of my game that has been accepted as a fact of my limitations due to technical errors with the driver. Now that I have improved the swing plane the driver is now a game strength and reliable in my hands. Unfortunately my irons from 7 to PW are accurate yet my drives are generally in the 3-6iron distance from par 4 greens, whilst using the 400cc driver. Need the GIR to start and improving the long irons is happening slowly, it is much easier to have the driver getting the ball within 7-PW range to get the GIR’s.
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
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