Early night tonight, 0743 tee-off tomorrow morning. I was planning on heading off after the kids go to bed tonight and kipping in the car near the course ...... revised plan is to get to bed at the same time as the kids, get some shut-eye til midnight and hit the road by 0100 for the 5 hour drive to Ganton waaaaay up north.
I'm going to try to get some video from my experiences of the day and will pop it on here hopefully shortly after I get back. I'll still do a written account of the day as I enjoy writing about my escapades and I'm sure some of you enjoy reading it too.
I'm a little bit nervous about the day. The three-ball in front of mine has two players off -1 and one off -2! Hoping I can learn something by being on the same fairways as them. I'm also a teeny bit concerned about my left index finger after stupidly sawing into it with a tenon saw on Monday, requiring 4 stitches.
Bit of skin glue, steristrips and elastoplast should hold it together I reckon (hopefully!).
Anyway, wish me luck!
See you in a bit.
I arrived at Pyle and Kenfig just after a torrential downpour of biblical proportions to see rivers and lakes where rivers and lakes weren't supposed to be.
That delayed my start for an hour or so as we waited for the water to drain (which it does exceptionally well!) and we were off for the first of two qualifying rounds this weekend.
I normally try to have a warm up hit on the range before I head out for a comp round and didn't get to the range because I chose to help out with some water clearing. Bit of an error on my behalf as my first tee shot went way left into the gorse bushes, followed by my second which ended just short of the gorse.
It was still raining so I was wearing my rain jacket (which I bought when I was 4 stone heavier!) and I duly blamed my poor start of a quadruple bogey 8 on the big, baggy beasty and stuffed in my golf bag.
It must have worked, because I completed the front nine at a very respectable 5-over 41 with 2 birdies and a number of quality shots and par saves.
I was playing with our club Captain Paul Lewis and along with Tony they made a really pleasurable 3-ball. I continued to play really well and ended the round with 88 shots for a nett 76 and 9th place in the nett competition. This resulted in a drop in my handicap from 12.4 to 11.8 and a pretty good feeling about my golf.
Sunday started wet too, but I managed to have a warm up and didn't have to play any provisional balls from the first tee. What a relief. I had another fantastic front 9 holes ending up with 42 strokes and was in a really good position and on track for possibly qualifying for the plate section of the gross club championship and in a really strong position for the nett competition.
The front nine I was playing with Keith Halley and John (6? times club champion) Savile. John hurt his shoulder early on in our round and had to withdraw after 9 holes. I think John was my lucky charm for the day because his departure signalled the start of my 'issues'. Either that or he is a form thief.
I got a bit quick on my first drive from the 11th tee and donated a ball to the farm on the left of the course. I got a bit quicker on my second drive from the 11th and sliced the ball massively, cleared the deep rough and perched nicely on the practice fairway. A nice 3-iron to the proper fairway was what was needed and after carving 2 more balls into the thick, thick, thick, thick rough I managed to get my 8th shot to the fairway about 150 yards from the pin. I was feeling a bit 'tense' by now and 5 more strokes to get the ball in the hole for a very messy 13 didn't help me to relax much.
That was the beginning of the end for me. I managed to get a bit calmer and hit a few more good shots but I still carded a 61 stroke back 9 for a crappy total of 103.
I'm not sure where I finished or who won as the results aren't out yet but I took some massive steps back into some sort of form this weekend and am actually feeling pretty good about my game heading into the Mid-Amateur golf competition coming up this Friday at Ganton. 5 hour drive, quick nap in the car, 36 holes of golf followed by the return 5 hour drive. I might be a bit tired after that effort.
