What a beautiful course!
I had a practice round on Wednesday and although I lost 7 balls, I really enjoyed the course. I had been told it was a 'bombers course' but found out that anything crooked was very costly. It was a beautiful day and I had great company playing with Nathan Hill-Haimes who was booked as Nathan Hines so I was half expecting a former Scottish International from Wagga Wagga to trundle onto the first tee! It was also very nice to be able to jump in the car after the round and be home in my own bed 45 minutes later!
The competition format was 36 holes to play on Thursday with a cut enabling 30-odd players to play a further 18 holes on Friday. I wasn't really expecting to qualify for Friday, but I was going to try my darndest! My group for Thursday consisted of Me, Colin Hogg from Machynys and Willem Van der Waal from Holland. Two top blokes who played in great spirit and thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic conditions and top notch course.
Round 1 and I found the fairway on the first tee!! I made a few mistakes around the course but ended up carding a pretty respectable (in my eyes) score of 88 for a nett score of 76 against a CSS of 75. I was actually in the running for getting one of the Nett score places in the final round!
Round 2 was a very different story. 7 more lost balls and a score of 101 with 50 out and 51 back in. I actually started the second round with a par and was thinking it was going to be a great afternoon, then I started getting fast. I didn't notice it, but Willem pointed it out to me towards the end of the first round and I just kept getting faster and faster. I think my swing/arms were getting so fast that I was almost in the finish position as the club was getting to the ball (or the ground, or the rough, or nearly missing the ball!). In a nutshell, my timing was waaaay off and the pink mist well and truly set in.
In all this my bunker play and my putting helped me to keep things relatively 'together' as a humungous score was possibly on the cards (yes, worse than 101!).
I really did have a fantastic day and want to say a massive thanks to Jason Morris for setting up the Mid Amateur Golf Tour. Also huge thanks to Machynys for the outstanding facilities and for the effort they put into the course, it really was outstanding. I wish I had taken some pictures. I carried the video camera around with me for 36 holes and didn't touch it.
I got beaten to a pulp on Saturday by P & K and it's ridiculous rough. I know it was my fault for going in it, but the tension crept back in (only took two holes!) and the speedy Gonzales swing was back with mis-hits galore, more lost balls and 99 shots for 21 stableford points.
I have GOT to figure out a way to keep my relaxed range swing all the way through a round. Something to concentrate on next time I'm out.
I've got my first Nike Matchplay (Formerly Volvo Matchplay) game on Sunday at home followed by my second League to Dubai game on Monday at my old stomping ground of Coed-y-Mwstwr. Hope I can figure it out by then because my good swing is pretty bloody good!
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