Grip and swing all work together...

Skipped the Friday Chicken Run in favour of leaving early to drive the 100 km to Penola and playing nine holes there instead of at the home track then leaving. Apart from the advantage of time it also made it possible to play a different course and pretty much all to myself apart from the 'Roos.

The cliche' Australian picture on a country golf course. Course ruling is that 'roo droppings are also a movable item in bunkers. Was a very slap happy nine holes on my part enjoying the relaxing walk and hit. Refreshing the golf brain from playing the same track each week. Took a while to get serious as I settled into hitting the ball correctly. First few drives were in the gums alongside the fairways, just sloppy grip and set up nothing more, hitting two balls the second drive was settling on the fairway. Chipping was poor and the putting terrible on the faster greens, even given the relaxed mental focus. Did par the last three holes easily though. The purpose was not to play well but to get away from the crowd and explore where my game was at. The Driver was beautiful off he tee by the end as were the iron shots. Finally sorted out the cause of the sloppy shots and in hindsight the cause of the residual shoulder pain. The point of contact between my body and the clubs was the problem. Even though it had already been noticed as the sloppy shot cause the shoulder issue had not been recognised. The restriction of the shoulder injury over the last season had been the root cause of my opening my grip. This eased the strain on the shoulder through the swing, at the cost of making the ball fade regularly and slice too often. Until Friday though when I played nine holes with the hands up on the grip again, which of course added the whipping power from the wrists as well, for the first time post round the shoulder did not hurt from being strained. The power in the swing was coming from the body motion and wrists through the ball. The shoulder was not being used to drive the ball, only to move the club back and forth on its swing plane. No freaking wonder after the past few rounds there has been a burning sensation in my shoulder blades, all caused by trying to rip the ball using the wrong muscles. Not angry at myself, quite pleased to have fixed and recognized the cause of two golfing problems. Still feels a little surprising that this is me who figured out the issue, although it was not patently obvious until after the fact only suspected. Thankyou for your time and attention , Geoff

Golf is practice, rest, more practice...

Rest day yesterday, common sense does influence my golfing a lot more these days. Knowledge is a good thing to have having to learn through experience in the first place invariably sucks. For me at least, as this generally involves pain in some form. Intend to amble out for a casual round of wak f@k in the 9 hole chicken run today. Will be interesting to release the impatience to have a hit around a course, combined with focusing on the obvious requirements to hit the ball well. In such a short time, the past couple of weeks, since starting pre-season golfing I am enjoying the game immensely. The facets which have to be practiced have been recognized. The first major improvement has been getting my grip back to where it should be. Such a simple action that is so important to playing well. All it needed was to put the hands back on top of the grip and correct the fault of having my right hand down in particular. This was causing an exaggerated slice/fade on too many strokes. As my game is based upon accuracy off the tee especially, this causes a cascading effect of poor shots. As it should be though golfing is fun and that is a vital ingredient to my success. Thankyou for your time and attention First round results Leaderboard with 38 Australians in the field http://www.asiantour.com/tournaments/412/leaderboard/ Geoff

Second competition round for 2015...

Tuesday and back home after a spur of the moment trip away yesterday.Left the golf clubs behind as well and left before going out an playing nine holes Monday afternoon. Have got the hunger back for golfing again and surprised myself a little as well. Sunday competition and an easy 33 points with three wipes. Poor putting cost me and a couple of crap chips and drives, same as the week before. My game is travelling well considering the extended layoff. A bit of a niggle in the shoulder still, which is not acceptable and will need a doctors visit. Almost did not play yesterday the carpark was full with mostly holiday golfers. Great for the club as the green fees are what makes us financial, social golfers all over the course make it hard to put the game face on though. Which usually does not bother me, Sunday though the serious golf game reared it's head and I got a bit stroppy on the last hole with a large group in front holding up play. Summer holidays is golfing mayhem here and is not the true competition season. Only problem was me, the game brain switched on and through my calm demeanor out the window.

Today I got home and dealt with the irritation by going out for nine holes of serious wak f@k. The problem was caused by my game unexpectedly hitting form. The Driver was hot and today settled into the groove better. It is all in the stance, grip and swing of course yet on Sunday it began to sync up. Today after nine it was wow factor time hitting straight long and with ease. Long irons are reasonable enough for this time of the year and only need tuning for game form. Chipping and 100 to 80m in shots are not any where settled where I want them or next season. Think it is dedicated practise time for the green shots, never been an issue before as I was never this close off the tee before to play GIR shots from here. Last season had the 6-8 irons dialed in for the GIR shots now it is 56 degree wedge shots, it is summer so the 9 and PW need to be improved for winter at the least. Putting and chipping are both rubbish at the minute. That is simply due to no practise for the putter. The chipping is a work in progress as I am trying to get back spin on these shots. What it all comes down to is I b\need the finesse and consistency with all shots and more variety t call on in game play. The single digit is beckoning and I am going to the dance. There is one other vital golf skill I am concentrating on also, fitness. I am certain that this will reduce 3-4 strokes of my handicap alone. Thankyou for your time and attention Geoff

A golf game returning to good form...

Had a good amount of time to reflect over yesterdays round and the result. To finish tied 3rd and to be 4th on a countback (34 points) was fun. This is the important difference between now and the 'competition golf' season. I missed two easy putts on the 17th and 18th (which if dropped would have claimed 2nd spot) and did not care at the time. The guy who beat me for third had a bigger reaction to the missed putts, we played in the same group. I still am not bothered by the loss and simply happy to have played a decent round of golf. Today there is a few twinges in the shoulder, that is the concern. This is still my recovery period and the result is far down the list in what matters in golf to me at the minute. I hit the ball well off the tee to the green and the errors on the day were in essence no more than six strokes from drives, shots to the green, chips and putts. Combined with a bit if tiring towards the end, quite simply it was an easy round of golf and the exact representation of my current standard. Today there was a brief though to go out and hit some balls, perhaps play a couple of holes or six, even some chipping practise. All declined after the conversation in my head, in favour of the 'less is more' mind set and let the sore spots recover. The chipping errors were not bad, it was the fact that I can now get back spin and stop the ball on the green. Which means I have to start pitching the ball closer to the pin now and the transition from pitching short and running the ball to the hole is still entrenched mentally. Two drives off the fairway added a couple of extra strokes to those holes. One tee shot with a five iron was short into the wind and dropped into a water hazard. Again a mental fault, usually hit a 7 iron and pulled up the stroke with a mental block unable to accept the wind needed a full 5 iron. So here I sit in losers paradise and not at all bothered. My golf is returning to a better standard than what is was before. and once again it is on to the goal of single digit handicap in 2015. Thankyou for your time and attention Geoff