Best Laid Plans And All That

Following last weeks dismal effort in the Saturday roll up and my subsequent withdrawal from The Masters I was hoping to dive back onto the golfing bandwagon. Alas, the golfing gods have pounced and I've gone down with a debilitating bug. Personally, I think it's swine flu at best, more likely bubonic in nature but the good lady wife thinks it's nothing more than a passing cold. Either way I've felt crap all weekend and so there has been no golf. That meant missing out on the medal today and the roll up yesterday.

To compound matters further, I hit the range last week to try and capitalise on the progress I'd made last weekend where my swing was wider and with a better turn. I was hitting the ball pretty well and all was starting to look up and I was hoping to try the swing out in the "relaxed" atmosphere of the roll up. However hitting ball after ball off the range mat has given me an outbreak of golfers elbow in my left arm.

Golfer's elbow is a condition affecting the elbow muscles, tendons and the bony knobble (epicondyle) on the inside of the elbow where the muscles that flex the forearm attach to the upper arm. The symptoms consist of pain and soreness due to inflammation over the epicondyle, especially when quickly flexing the arm and hand, as in following through after hitting a golf ball. The cure is extremely boring to avid golfers: lay off from swinging a club until the symptoms have settled. This can be anything from one to 12 weeks depending on the severity.

Having been to my GP he has advised me to rest it for two weeks and not play any golf and particularly not to practice at the range. TWO WEEKS! Is he mad? Doesn't he know there is the Golf Monthly National Final at the Forest of Arden on the 13th October and that my game is in the doldrums. Not to mention being selected for a club match on Saturday away to Caversham Heath, the Greensomes Challenge at Royal Ascot with my long suffering partner Mike Stannard, another club match at home to Tylney Park and a lesson with my coach Paul Harrison at Maidenhead Golf Centre on October 2nd. When does he think I'm going to bed my swing changes in and more importantly take it onto the course and try it out.

I had it all planned out ahead of the Golf Monthly Final. Plenty of short game work with a great practice aid called the V-Easy which is beginning to really help my chipping. Designed by a golf pro called Bob McArthur it is a simple but effective tool to help both chipping and putting.

When using it as a putting and chipping aid, the legs of the V-Easy are placed under the arms and held in place by the upper arms while the club shaft rests on the hinge. The club shaft lies on top of the hinge close to the bottom of the grip and rests on the wrists. It can be lowered or raised for comfort. The player then lowers the club to the ground and makes the stroke with the V-Easy holding the wrists in the correct position for putting and chipping.

Simples. The plan was to get the short game back on track, continue to work on my long game and get a final swing MOT from Paul on the 2nd and work on it before heading up the motorway to the Forest of Arden. The best laid plans...... So what am I going to do? Well the cunning plan is to wean myself off the Lemsip, cough medicine, throat lozenges (told you I was bad - proper poorly and definitely not Man Flu) and replace those with ice packs and regular doses of anti-inflammatory tablets. I'll be there at Caversham Heath on Saturday deliciously under cooked and see where I go from there. Mike has his work cut out on Sunday but as it's greensomes we can take his drives and as long as I can then get him close to the green from there his decent short game should keep us in contention. After that we'll have to see.

One thing I do know is that I've been bored out of my mind without any golf. Even though I'm not well enough to swing a club and even putting in the carpet is too much of an effort (yes I've tried) I'm missing my usual fix. Still I'm also hoping that the enforced break may help and I can go to Caversham free of any expectation. It'll either be great or my partner on the day is in for a long, long round. Who knows? Right time for my next dose of medication. Nurse!