Musings

What happened to Summer? Last week it was tropical and this week squally showers and strong wind. It's made playing and practicing a bit of a mockery. I wanted to really work on my game this week as my friendly game with Paul Sweetman, a fellow Ascot member, 12 handicapper and a real steady player, was a bit of a disaster last Sunday.

It was one of those days when the timing was out and the swing was either too quick or I was too precise and it lacked cohesion. Suffice to say it was a bit of  a chop although I did manage to hit the par 5 fifth hole in two for the first time ever and watched the eagle putt shave the hole (I got the one back for birdie). I did get to the range (Maidenhead Golf Centre) last night and in patches the irons were great but there seems to be a bit of an issue with the big dog.

I was working on the tempo in particular. I use Tour Tempo http://shop.tourtempo.eu/en/information/ which is basically beats set to music in a 3:1 ratio where the backswing is three times slower than the downswing. I have the tunes downloaded onto my i-pod and so set it going and swing. The trick is to actually listen for each beat and not to pre-empt it and swing too fast and it does take some getting use to. It has certainly got me swinging much, much slower than I use to but still work to be done. Here is a sample of how it sounds. http://www.tourtempo.com/mp3s/tracks2.html

It was the start of the Open today and good to see my favourite player Lee Westwood get off to a good start in some of the poorest conditions. His game looks solid and my Homer prediction is for him to break his duck this week and walk away with the Claret Jug. If he doesn't (and I've £10 riding on him) then I'd like to see Poulter do well but sadly he didn't really take advantage of the benign conditions. It was great to see McIlroy set the lowest score but I'm concerned that despite his win in the US at Quail Hollow, that he will be able to handle the pressure and keep it going. He'll definitely win majors but I wonder if this is still a year or so too soon.

I'm definitely going to hit some balls tomorrow night as it's the medal on Saturday. I'm off at 8.40am alongside an ex-captain Geoff Estcourt and single figure golfer Steve Houghton. Lofty company. I had been in decent form but it seems to be tailing off, certainly if last Sunday was anything to go by. Still, I'll go in with no expectations and trying to play with more freedom and less thinking as I have done of late. It seems to be helping. I've a short game lesson booked for Sunday at Sand Martins (where the wife works) with the pro Steve Cox. He was the guy that stopped my outbreak of the shanks and got me into this rich vein of form I'd been enjoying. I'm hoping his chipping MOT will help get my game back on track as we head towards two of the most important days in the calendar, Captains Day (24th July) and the first round of the Club Championship the week after.

Right I'm off to put the I-pod in the bag for tomorrows practice. Back two three. Down two three!