No Fun

Played a friendly game with my mate Hywel Lloyd at Ascot. He was not a well bunny after a night on the beers watching the golf. It was a glorious day and shirt sleeve weather. The course was an absolute picture with the trees in blossom and the daffodils in full bloom. And that is where the good stuff ends.

I went to the range last night to try and find the cause (and a fix) to my bad swing and came away angry and frustrated. I'm not turning properly and the swing feels totally wrong but I can't find the cause or the cure. It's killing me on the course as I'm losing so much power and distance.

We had a little match, without any stakes, and to be honest I got it round rather than played. I'm not driving well, putting too much pressure on long irons and woods to make up the difference and missing too many greens when I do get in range. I chipped better than of late and my putting was solid so there are some positives.

The point is I'm not enjoying my golf. Tuesday was fun as it was nice to meet Dave and Tony from the Golf Monthly Forum but my game was well out of sorts. I'm reliant on Hywel in matches and pairs events and feel I'm letting him down and holding him back. I can't give him much of a battle most weekends even though we halved the game today. I'm down for the stableford tomorrow but going in with no positive energy.

So where do I go from here. As I've posted before I did hit the ball great at the range last weekend after my recent back problems. I was building up some momentum at the start of the year too before the snow came. It's all been stop/start but whenever I've started again I feel I've taken two steps back. I'm tempted to get a lesson but I was hoping it would fall into place and I could play my way back. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hitting it all over the place all of the time (some wild drives today though) but I'm frustrated that the swing is so lacklustre after putting so much time into making improvements over the winter. I don't think it's fair to blame my back for the lack of turn and think these are old habits coming back to the surface.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. It never seems quite so bad if you're playing poorly but it is warm and sunny and the weather is set fair tomorrow. At least I can settle down and watch Westwood and Poulter fly the English flag at the Masters and hopefully one of them will come out on top tomorrow.

Total number of lost balls in 2010 = 8