Merry Christmas!

Hope your Christmas is a happy one and you enjoy time with loved ones (or a colf course).

Golf Club TLC

Adam was having his morning nap today so I took the opportunity to give my golf clubs a thorough clean and tidy. Bit of elbow grease, soapy water, wire and plastic brushes, car polish (considered T-cut, then thought better) and 90 minutes then "hey presto".

 Should try to clean them more than twice every eight years!!!

Eight Penalty Drops for lost balls/out of bounds!!!

Saturday was the December Turkey Trot Stableford comp at Coed-y-Mwstwr golf club, what a disappointing round of golf! I had to play my 3rd shot from the tee far too many times (eight penalty drops!!!). If those 3rd's were my first shot, my round would have been much better than 24 stableford points.

I had a spare token for some balls at the driving range so I popped to the range before the comp. I was actually hitting the ball reasonably well but that form stayed in the car and didn't come out to play on the course.
I think I tried too hard from the tee. The nice relaxed, rhythmical swing I had found was gone.
I lost so many balls on Saturday that I might need to buy some more this week!!
I could make all sorts of excuses about the playing conditions ('twas a bit boggy, a little breezy and raining at times) but the long and short of it is: I played poorly and got tense and aggravated. My putting was pretty poor too but one positive was my chipping and pitching. I was pretty pleased with that aspect of the round.

Congrats to Andy Hill with yet another win!!
Thanks to Rich, Jerry and Mart for the round.

Next week is a new week and a new comp.

Hips, Torso/Shoulders, Arms, Hands

Was having a chat with Paul, the pro at Coed-y-Mwstwr, about golf stuff and got talking about Mark Bull and the work he does with biomechanics etc. One thing I really understood from Paul was the importance of the right firing order for the swing to help to generate power.
I went to the driving range this evening and tried to put it into practise with quite good results (from what I could tell under spotlights in 0degC). My fingers were freezing after a couple of minutes but a good hour and a bit of concentrated repetition and the firing order was feeling pretty great. I felt like I was using less effort, the strikes were solid and the distance and direction were fantastic. I really should take a video camera with me one day to see if it looks anything like it feels.
The results of swinging with this firing order helped me to see that I was addressing the ball with a too strong a grip which was closing the clubface through impact and sending all my shots left (tonight). I neutralised my grip and the flight was higher and straighter all through the bag!
I like to hit alternate balls with different clubs by the end of the buckets of balls which usually gives a few erratic shots. Today they felt better. Just need to remember swing thoughts that will help me recreate that swing during my next rounds.
Must get to the practise area early enough to warm up the chipping and putting monster on Saturday.
Wish me luck!

Scores website for Coed-y-mwstwr

Just found a link for the scores via Richard Evans on Facebook. Here they are on Masterscoreboard

Ladies invitational and a new lesson or ten learned.

I went to the course yesterday a little early for my planned tee-time which was originally at the completion of the Ladies Invitational and scheduled for 1240. I was going to have a proper warm up and hang out in the bar for a bit. I popped in to see Paul in the Pro shop for a second and one of the Ladies was asking if there was a spare bloke around as she had a no-show. I offered my golfing services and was introduced to Jill, Phil and Rob and sent to the 1st tee.
It was a perfect day for golf, a little chilly but the sun was out and there was no rain for a change!
Unfortunately my golf wasn't perfect and I hadn't contributed many points at all. Along with taking part in the ladies invitational, Phil, Rob and I were also competing in the Men's Stableford and after 9 holes I had amassed a whopping 11 points with Rob and Phil achieving similar results. I did however manage to get a couple of good holes in on the back 9 and ended up with 27 points by the end of the round.
I duffed a few chips for the first time in a while during the round, I haven't done that for a while and was enjoying not duffing. I also had quite a few putts scrape the edge of the hole.
My full shots were pretty good, even though I had changed my swing a bit although the ball strikes were a touch slap-hazard sometimes.
I threw away two (possibly three or four) points on the 16th hole today. It was very frustrating and I'll share the experience for your entertainment.
I had reached the 16th green in regulation. A really good drive and a slightly weak gap wedge left me a fairly lengthy putt almost straight uphill on probably the trickiest green on the course for a birdy, nett eagle. I lined up my putt to be outside the left edge and stood over the ball getting ready to putt. I was having to hold myself from falling forward quite a bit so my brain started telling me that I must have read the putt wrong and I changed my line without checking and just putted. Everything was screaming at me to stop and think but my shoulders wouldn't be dissuaded and they just hit the ball. During the initial lining up process I had decided that Jills ball was WAY outside my line and didn't need to be moved. My new line however, was a direct hit. Two shot penalty for me and my next putt was my sixth and for a point. I missed it so successfully turned a possible 4 pointer into a blob.

Anyway, next week is a new comp and I'll have hopefully got some more practise in before Saturday too as I'm working nights this week.

I found out that Coed-y-Mwstwr golf club is now on Twitter @coedymwstwrGC. I also heard that the results will be put on the club website, but am yet to find them.

Driving Range tonight

I mentioned the golf instruction manual in my intro page which got me back to reading it again. I would love to have the time and facilities to be able to go through all the lessons and tests outlined in the book but at the moment I just have to make the most of the time I have available.
I recently had alignment issues corrected by a clubmate which has helped me to correct the swingpath of the clubs. This has enabled me to feel as though I am now able to extend my swing and incorporate a full shoulder turn so tonight I had a spare 45 minutes to pop out to the driving range after Clare got home from work and have a go at implementing this new-found confidence. It felt REALLY strange! Instant improvement on distance, and the solid shots felt amazing. Alignment needs adjustment and it will take a while for it to start feeling natural but I'm feeling quite good about it.

I bought some new wedges (MD) for my Christmas present from Clare. I've got a new pitching wedge (48 deg), gap wedge (52 deg) and sand wedge (56 deg). I also have a very cheap lob wedge (60 deg)with zero bounce which only comes out for flop shots. The new wedges feel amazing to hit and I'm looking forward to using them on the course.

Day indoors, watching golf.

Watching the final day of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in SA is making me feel much better about my own golf, which is quite regularly played in the rain.
Tough course obviously, tired pro's too after a full year.

Those blokes can abolutely wallop the ball!

A really good drive for me is 240yards which is miniscule compared to these guys.

Wales V Australia International Scramble 01/12/2012

Frosty and nippy start to the day today for my first comp in a couple of weeks. It was a scramble with a shotgun start at 930 so that we could be done with plenty of time to make sure that the Rugby could be watched.
I was teamed up with Steve and Steve and fortunately, they both had their short games with them, I'd left mine in the car!
My driver was working OK today and I managed a few nice drives with the highlight of my day being my drive to the dogleg par 4 6th hole's green! I was a very excited australian after that! It resulted in one of our two birdies for the day.
I'm not sure of the result, but fairly sure we didn't win. Not enough birdies in that format (Greensomes/betterball??). Still had a great day and don't think I will have troubled my handicap.

 

Next weekend is a stableford comp again.