15/11/11 Tuesday. Started the “No Golf” period after Sunday’s round at Penola. Hopefully the two week lay off will do the job and get the body back to a condition of playing without discomfort. The 18 holes last played summed up my current capability on the course, tried all day and there was nothing in the tank again. Was using the 3 iron off the tee after two holes and even this stick had an irritating fade all day. The Driver came back out on the 17th and even though the game was over and done I had at least figured out the problem, simply standing too far out from the ball earlier. Drives on 17 and 18 were crackers and dead straight. Most second shots for me were chips back out onto the fairway and the third shot at the greens in the main, fell short. Did not feel as though I was under clubbing, just could not get the distance right when hitting the ball well.
The greens were great fun had the speed right and read them well all day, the putting was an enjoyable part of the day. Short chips were okay as well but bogie golf on a 12 handicap is never a good scoring basis. I recall getting 1 par hole all day and three wipes in the round. Finished with a total of 24 stableford points. Was not upset in the slightest about the poor result, not a tantrum thrower when it comes to golf at any time. This round was no more that playing one too many and was a club representative obligation, the only reason I played was for that reason.
At the minute my goal has been to play at the Vines on 2/12/11 and that may not happen, depending on the progress of my fitness to play well again. Will play the Village Classic Ambrose at Robe on the 26th of November and at best have a few putts and a couple of hits on the practise range to gauge how the golfers elbow injury is healing. The Club AGM is on the 23rd and my final duty as club secretary that night, staying on the committee in the coming season if my nomination is accepted. Work is getting a foot in the door and have to reduce some golfing commitments. Thankyou for your time and attention. Hit ‘em Straight allGeoff
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
The final season round Robe Open
9/11/11 Wednesday The Robe Open on Sunday was my last committed hit on a course for a few weeks, time to rest up a bit giving my elbows a bit of recovery time. The improvement has been gradual and the frustration and irritation of the injury has been a boon of sorts. You may think that this is taking optimism a leap too far in maintaining a positive attitude. For me it is not, the pain and incapacitating aspect of the golfer/tennis elbow injury was never pleasant. I have endured and lived with far worse pain in the past 20 years, in comparison this was a doddle to get through. One of the difficult parts of my rehab was to not over do it, given that I have experienced higher pain levels in the past and kept pushing the limits. A disciplined approach had to be enforced and not negate the slow recovery progress.
The limitation in my swing from driver to chipping and on the green with the putter also required a few changes to accommodate the recovery while still improving my game. The restriction in the swing made getting the technical execution of the strokes as good as I possibly could. End result was that as the injury improved my game has still benefited from the experience. The last 3 weeks I have played with blades and that required greater concentration and a higher skill level to play shots. It would have been very easy to pull out the cavity back game improvement clubs and still played golf with out making any specific effort to improve until the injury was repaired. This week I have put the blades away and gone out with the AP2’s the last two days and reaped the benefit of an improved long and short iron game. Early days yet and the recovery is still not 100% so back to the blades tomorrow and continuing the process.
Ended the Open with an 86 Gross and a 74 Nett in A Grade, was a little surprised when on the first tee realising that I was grouped with single figure and past champion golfers. No nerves or hestiation just something that I observed and spent a few seconds acknowledging the reality in my mind, on the 7th of November in 2010, I was playing off a 19 handicap. The round was ticking along nicely until the 13th and 14th holes, 2 lost balls and the round was shot. Pars on the next 4 holes were a good enough recovery from those two holes. Again though it was errors in the same places of a round that has been affecting my golf for several months. This may be coincidental as far as the timing in rounds, it is still a matter of me not playing consistant good golf.
Relaxing rounds to follow in November, with and Ambrose at Penola on the 13th during the Champion of Champions round and at the Robe Village Classic Ambrose on the 26th of November. With the continuing improvement of my golf being the only focus I have at the minute, it is also important to not go past the reason I play the game. Golf is fun, an enjoyable game whether practising or playing in a competition or socially. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
The limitation in my swing from driver to chipping and on the green with the putter also required a few changes to accommodate the recovery while still improving my game. The restriction in the swing made getting the technical execution of the strokes as good as I possibly could. End result was that as the injury improved my game has still benefited from the experience. The last 3 weeks I have played with blades and that required greater concentration and a higher skill level to play shots. It would have been very easy to pull out the cavity back game improvement clubs and still played golf with out making any specific effort to improve until the injury was repaired. This week I have put the blades away and gone out with the AP2’s the last two days and reaped the benefit of an improved long and short iron game. Early days yet and the recovery is still not 100% so back to the blades tomorrow and continuing the process.
Ended the Open with an 86 Gross and a 74 Nett in A Grade, was a little surprised when on the first tee realising that I was grouped with single figure and past champion golfers. No nerves or hestiation just something that I observed and spent a few seconds acknowledging the reality in my mind, on the 7th of November in 2010, I was playing off a 19 handicap. The round was ticking along nicely until the 13th and 14th holes, 2 lost balls and the round was shot. Pars on the next 4 holes were a good enough recovery from those two holes. Again though it was errors in the same places of a round that has been affecting my golf for several months. This may be coincidental as far as the timing in rounds, it is still a matter of me not playing consistant good golf.
Relaxing rounds to follow in November, with and Ambrose at Penola on the 13th during the Champion of Champions round and at the Robe Village Classic Ambrose on the 26th of November. With the continuing improvement of my golf being the only focus I have at the minute, it is also important to not go past the reason I play the game. Golf is fun, an enjoyable game whether practising or playing in a competition or socially. Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all”Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Comedy Gala fundraiser, Royal Flying Doctor
Was a little rusty on the night, been a while between standup sets. For a good cause happy to participate and well done by the organisers and all who got up and performed on the night
Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
The statistics tell the tale of struggle...
3/11/11 Thursday Back home and caught up with the work tasks and time to sit down and review the golf since Sunday’s 18 hole effort. It was an effort also, a stableford which returned 29 points. My first full round in a couple of weeks was not too bad, the last 5 holes were a struggle. Whilst the Golfer/Tennis elbow is abating the restriction is still obvious in my game especially in lasting the distance. Admittedly I may be overdoing the 9 hole rounds during the week but I only have to get myself to the coming Sunday Club Open Competition in decent form, then I will stop for a few weeks. Have a club representative commitment to play on the 13th at Penola in a regional competition that I would prefer not to play.
Even with the injury hampering the golf it is not destroying my game. Making a few adjustments to allow for the flagging performance including putting the Cobra #3 metal bag in the bag has been a benefit. The short game and putting are acceptable, chipping is much better than several months ago. Practise has been the major facet together with returning to using blades to chip with in the old Wilson 1200 set. These clubs are enjoyable to use and even though they feel very different to the AP2 set, the distances are comparable from the 3 to PW.
Still struggling with hitting, Greens In Regulation. This is the most frustrating aspect of my game at the minute. It is a matter of more practise with the 3-6 irons and that is hampered by the injury. Together with a pernicious fault hitting 8 to 9 irons from 110m and in to 40m at the green and getting the distance right. The ball is going straight and the flight is good but 8-9 times out of 10 is short or long. These two facets of the game are not enjoyable and will benefit most from stopping for a week or two. In the daily 9 hole hits since beginning last week scores of 43-45 made up from 3-4 pars, 3-5 bogies and 1 Double bogie have been the norm. Playing well enough and the failure to hit 2 or 3 shots less is not causing any concern about how my game is developing.
Continuing the practise has delivered the improvement in chipping that has been very helpful in keeping the scores reasonable. Starting to get the ‘flop shot’ around the green, with opening the face on chips and the ball dropping and stopping. Getting a positive out of the negative again has added to the experience.
The GIR statistic in my game is very poor, as far as my expectations go. Not to forget that as a 12 handicapper hitting greens in regulation is not possible 50% of the time, in reality 30% is expected and even then I am still under the target going from 27% in August to 16% in September/October. Taking into account that I have been hitting the fairway with 59% of my tee shots. Followed with missed GIRs at 113 from fairway shots and a decreasing Up-and-Down total rate of 23.9%. The average was peaking at 38.5, 33.3 and 47.5 during August 2011, then the Golfer/Tennis elbow began to have a significant negative impact. Just love playing golf and the challenges the game throws up and taking them on in the quest to improve.
Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all.” Geoff Geoff
Even with the injury hampering the golf it is not destroying my game. Making a few adjustments to allow for the flagging performance including putting the Cobra #3 metal bag in the bag has been a benefit. The short game and putting are acceptable, chipping is much better than several months ago. Practise has been the major facet together with returning to using blades to chip with in the old Wilson 1200 set. These clubs are enjoyable to use and even though they feel very different to the AP2 set, the distances are comparable from the 3 to PW.
Still struggling with hitting, Greens In Regulation. This is the most frustrating aspect of my game at the minute. It is a matter of more practise with the 3-6 irons and that is hampered by the injury. Together with a pernicious fault hitting 8 to 9 irons from 110m and in to 40m at the green and getting the distance right. The ball is going straight and the flight is good but 8-9 times out of 10 is short or long. These two facets of the game are not enjoyable and will benefit most from stopping for a week or two. In the daily 9 hole hits since beginning last week scores of 43-45 made up from 3-4 pars, 3-5 bogies and 1 Double bogie have been the norm. Playing well enough and the failure to hit 2 or 3 shots less is not causing any concern about how my game is developing.
Continuing the practise has delivered the improvement in chipping that has been very helpful in keeping the scores reasonable. Starting to get the ‘flop shot’ around the green, with opening the face on chips and the ball dropping and stopping. Getting a positive out of the negative again has added to the experience.
The GIR statistic in my game is very poor, as far as my expectations go. Not to forget that as a 12 handicapper hitting greens in regulation is not possible 50% of the time, in reality 30% is expected and even then I am still under the target going from 27% in August to 16% in September/October. Taking into account that I have been hitting the fairway with 59% of my tee shots. Followed with missed GIRs at 113 from fairway shots and a decreasing Up-and-Down total rate of 23.9%. The average was peaking at 38.5, 33.3 and 47.5 during August 2011, then the Golfer/Tennis elbow began to have a significant negative impact. Just love playing golf and the challenges the game throws up and taking them on in the quest to improve.
Thankyou for your time and attention, “Hit ‘em straight all.” Geoff Geoff
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