New Putter.

I was searching for a trolley with a seat attachment to help out with taking Adam around the golf course the other day and found one from Clikgear which I might grab at a later date. But I stupidly picked up a few putters and started having a play around with them.
I have had my Odyssey Whitehot Rossie for years and felt pretty good with it although always seemed to miss at least my fair share of edge burners. The Rossie mallet is face balanced so that the face is parallel to the ground when balanced by the shaft on your finger. I learned not long ago that this is a design feature aimed at those who putt straight back and straight through. I have a definite arc.
I picked up an Odyssey whiteIce no9 (small mallet) with the face hanging to what has been described as suitable for a medium to strong arc and tried a few putts. I was astounded at how I didn't need to consider the face at all. I was able to just swing the putter without the need to aim the face. It felt amazing ...... and I left it in the shop.
I had a quick 9 holes before work the other day and found that this new test of a putter had ruined my ability to putt with Rossie! Grrr.
I went back to the shop today with the intention of buying the WhiteIce no9 and as I was walking in I asked the bloke if they do putter fitting to which they said "Yep" while looking at me as though I had asked the stupidest question in the world.
A quick static fit with an adjustable gizmo and I discovered that 33" length and a slightly upright lie were the fit for me and a selection of milled and insert putters were given to me to test.

I ended up with a 33" classic shape putter from Cleveland golf with a milled face and the correct face balance. I love the way it feels and can't wait to get used to it on the treacherous greens of Pyle and Kenfig.

Goodbye Coed-y-Mwstwr! Hello Pyle and Kenfig!

When I first moved to the UK I was just getting excited about golf and was stunned by the quality of the golf courses in and around the Bridgend area. I spent quite a bit of time on those courses with Uncle Tony and thought that one day I would love to join at P&K where he is a member and where I spent many a pound on green fees.
The two nines are very different with the back nine being a very tough links loop set through the dunes of the Kenfig Nature reserve and the front nine playing exposed playing across the prevailing ‘breeze’. Well as of last week I’m taking up a trial membership at that great golf course!
I’ve loved my time at Coed-y-Mwstwr and am still a member there until July and if I could afford to be a member at both, I would. I will miss the boys and the banter along with the friendly atmosphere in the clubhouse and the fantastic bar staff. I will also miss the excitement of the Coed’s Ryder Cup, although I don’t think I was going to make the team this year anyway.
I have already been using the practice facilities at P&K and am enjoying being able to practice from the grass rather than a mat and the pitching area will be a great help as that part of my game is really letting me down at the moment.
My first competition was last Saturday and I only just shot under 100 (99). I lost heaps of golf balls and was pretty frustrated overall. I tried not to expect to shoot under 80, but my expectations are still pretty high. I hope I can get a few rounds in before the first game in the League to Dubai so that I can make the most of the home advantage that I should have around this tough course and use my new skill set (yet to be developed!) to play well on my away games.
This Saturday is a Stableford comp and I’m hoping that a few hours kip after a night shift will be enough to let me swing the club and concentrate for 18 holes. Looking forward to getting to know the members at P&K and possibly playing for the Wayfarers against the Coed.
Thanks again to all the members and Staff at Coed-y-Mwstwr golf club for making my first experience of a golf club a memorable, fantastic experience.

51 days to go!

Amazing Decadence..... Golf provided as a service..... Delicious food...... good laugh with new friends...... my golf trip of a lifetime was the League to Dubai finals at the end of last year.

There are 51 days to go until entries close and the competition starts.

Get your entries in and try and stop me from taking your place at the finals again this year. I've had a taste and I NEED more!
The League to Dubai website is where you can find out more.

Some progress ....... finally!

I had another lesson with Paul Thomas during the week where we worked on improving my posture allowing me to stay connected and reducing my tendency to 'come over the top'. I also discovered while I was at the range on Thursday,  that locking my left arm straight helps too.
It's always a bit difficult to implement changes on the course but I manged to do a fairly good job of it today.

After a par/par start, I carded an 8 (!@#@!!) On the par 4 3rd hole! Not happy Jan!

I managed to get my head sorted by the next hole and carded a par on the downhill par3 over the pond.

My round did require quite a bit of scrambling which overall I did pretty well and I was very pleased with my putting.
I hit 12 pars, 4 doubles or worse and 2 bogeys.
I had a few squiffy shots and a couple of severe 'pulls' but overall I was quite chuffed to have signed my scorecard for a very respectable 81 (nett 69)
Less mistakes and more birdies next time!

Highlights footage from the League to Dubai finals

Arabian Golf TV has published a highlights package from our Grand Final Experience in Dubai. Enjoy!

Plateau

I had heard about 'the plateau' with regards to your golf improvement and initially thought "a couple of weeks without improvement won't be too hard to deal with".....

Well it's been since November now and I'm starting to get a bit desperate!

I bought a series of six lessons from Paul Thomas at the start of winter with the intention of having one lesson each month and continuing my improvement towards single figures. Fail!
I've worked every second weekend, had only two lessons (the last was this week), failed to improve my handicap (gone from 11.3 to 11.9) and have still only shot under 80 once.

I'm still super excited about golf, I still believe I can reach the level of golf I have set for myself and I'm still aiming for and working towards the same goals. No significant improvement over the last 3-4 months is just a touch frustrating.

The last lesson I had felt like a bit of a breakthrough. My hunched posture had been making it very hard for my arms to stay connected to my body. We worked on fixing that and the results right through the bag are very encouraging! My over-the-top pull isn't as severe and the new posture will give us the foundation to shape way shots the way I want them.

I'm looking forward to reporting some positive progress in the not too distant future!

The League to Dubai Finals. Part 5. The Earth Course

The course on the League to Dubai finals package that had captured my imagination and stirred the excitement of my inner 5 year old was the famous Earth Course by Greg Norman at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. I had seen it on TV and imagined myself holing Justin Rose's monster putt from 2012 and replicating Henrik Stenson's incredible approach shot in the final round of the DP world Championships at the end of the 2013 race to Dubai. I had felt the elation of hitting the iconic 17th island green and had not envisaged myself being stuck in 6 foot deep bunkers! (more about that later).

Rob Flanagan had kindly let me leave my car at his place while we were away and we had planned to play together in the final round and fight eachother for the title of the 2013 champion. Well..... we were playing together in the final round, but we were fighting to fend off the honours of the wooden spoon. I had beaten Rob at the regional final at the Macdonald Donnington Grove in Newbury and I was planning on repeating that feat on this beautiful Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates!

The clubhouse is still under construction and the temporary digs would still put a lot of clubs to shame with a massive balcony overlooking the driving range giving views of Dubai and the Burj Khalifa towering over the rest of the city in the distance.

After a quick introduction, a short stint on the driving range and a little play on the very flat and fast practice green it was go time for Rob, John (bad belly) and myself. The sign at the first tee said a measly 7675 yards, fortunately we were playing from the competition tees and NOT the championship tees! It was still a loooong golf course!

I had a decision to make on the first tee. I had 15 clubs as we had checked out of our hotel already and I was chopping and changing between using my Hybrid or my 3iron. I chose my 3iron for the round and I have never hit it as well as I did on that day. I definitely made the right club choice. This round was the first time I ever remember using every single club in my bag! I had an amazing round and really enjoyed my day with Rob. Unfortunately Johns D&V got the better of him by the 9th hole and he had to call it a day. This meant that I no longer had to worry about the wooden spoon! I was quite worried about John and was relieved when he relented half way to go and get sorted. I've taken a few photos from the day and as I can't remember all the specifics from my round, I won't bore you with the details except for a few memorable holes after these photos.

My 3iron to just short of the 220 yard par3 4th was beautiful (the hybrid might have just got there and I still don't totally trust my 3 wood).

Snap hooked a 6 iron off the tee on the par3 6th over water and didn't call a provisional ball for my third from the tee not having ever played with a designated drop zone before. Silly billy.

Rob hit a fantastic approach to 4 feet from the tan bark on the dogleg par4 8th for a fantastic birdie. It was a pleasure to watch and applaud!

I hit an awesome drive on the par5 14th leaving about 235 to the green and then perched my approach shot right on the edge of the fairway bunker short of the green. I then shanked that chip into the face of the bunker and watched in amazement as the ball kicked out and away from the water to leave me with a  shot at the green for my 4th.

The 15th was a sea of sand from 175 yards to the green so I layed up short of the bunker. I slightly pulled my approach left with my 7iron and stiffed my second chip to within 2 feet and tapped in. I'm trying to forget the duffed first chip!

On 16 I flirted with the water on the right and had an approach shot from 165 yards out of the rough. I hit a beautiful 5 iron straight over the pin landing about 5 feet passed it which scooted over the back of the green. Meanwhile Rob had hit the fairway a loong way forward of me and popped a wedge to about 5 feet.

My chip was terrifying! I could see exactly what I had to do though and I popped it out of the rough onto the green and watched it trundle down the slope to about 4 foot from the pin leaving a straight-ish, uphill putt for par. The little bugger squirmed out of the hole! The hole must have had cling film over it because Rob missed his little  birdie putt too!

We caught up to the group in front on the tee of the famous 17th hole and watched them tee off with varying success. 

Our turns came and Rob just rolled off the back and I managed to hit a squiffy 5 iron into the front left bunker leaving no green to work with and ignored the large 'fat' part of the green. As I mentioned at the beginning, I had to get the ball to barely scrape over the top of the bunker to avoid going over the back of the green and to give myself a chance to hole the putt. I managed to succeed on my 5th attempt and then holed the short putt. Rob dropped on the back edge and nearly chipped up and down for a 4, just missing his putt.

I really should either wear my glasses or get my eyes fixed. I was standing on the famous 18th tee looking in the book which showed that the fairway on the right of the creek was reachable from our tee. It turned out not to be but I sliced my drive into the houses being constructed while aiming for that non-existent fairway. My provisional ball was a good one followed by a near miss with my 3 wood which tapped the ball to 200 yards from the green. It was time for the 3iron to go to work again and I hit a sweet shot to the edge of the greenside bunker. I had to chip in for a point from there and I hit a beauty! It lipped out but I was still stoked to have made it around the world famous Earth Course. I hope you've got a decent idea of the fantastic condition of the course from the photos and that you enjoyed reading about my escapades!

As soon as I had finished the round, I was thinking that I didn't have the game for that course. On reflection I believe that I let the occasion get to me. My long game has the potential and I just wasn't concentrating enough on my short game. This year there will be a lot of practice and concentrated effort on improvement and hopefully I can redeem myself next year and be a force to be reckoned with!

Congratulations to Carl Greenwod, Neil Ratcliffe and Andy Holden who took out the top three places in the singles competition taking it right down to the wire.
Congrats also to Chris Wall and Mark Green who held on to their 2nd day lead to clinch the title from Colin Ledwith and Alan Smith in 2nd and Joe Sach and Dan Smith in 3rd. The guys at the top played phenomenal golf all week and are deserved winners!

Congrats to Jason Swann who overcame a substantial deficit to reel in Jason Tabor and take the staff trophy.

Go to www.leaguetodubai.co.uk to enter for your chance to stop me from getting to Dubai next year! Best £36.75 I have ever spent!