More Of The Same

Another competition and yet more mediocrity although to be fair yesterdays showing in the monthly stableford was a lot better than my last outing in the October medal. The course itself had stood up pretty well to some intense rain over the latter part of the week but was playing longer although it meant the greens were receptive to anything thrown in with a degree of height.

I was partnered by Dave Walker off a handicap of 14 and Geoff Scammell playin off 19. I'd not had the pleasure of their company before but it was fair to say the banter far outweighed the quality of the golf from all of us. I hit a good opening drive which didn't find the bunker right of the green but was balanced precariously on the downslope into it. It needed a good touch to ensure I didn't duff it straight into a sandy grave and I managed to get it onto the green. The putter was the culprit and I three putted which rather set the tone.

There was some good play such as a par at the third and some mistakes such as missing the green at the fifth from 102 yards and sticking it into the bunker. It was an old tale of one step forward and two back. Every time I looked to have done the hard work I'd find a way of frittering shots away. In the end the 16 point total for the front nine was about all I could have expected.

The back nine started with a real shock to the system. I hit my drive to the right edge of the fairway on the tenth and stood there with a six iron into the green. I'm not sure what happened other than pilot error as I carved a huge slice way right into the trees. I dropped another (my fourth) and put that where my fist attempt should have gone onto the green and managed to rescue a point.

However this nagging slice which had blighted my recent medal card was back. On the twelfth I found the fairway and then carved a five wood so far right it ended up on the tenth green. I duffed my first approach but then played a superb recovery from a harder lie to four feet to make an unlikely five. It was a shot lived glory as a hooked tee shot on the par three thirteenth and a poor attempt to get out of the thick grass the ball found itself in meant no points on the hole. The fifteenth was another hole where I had the chance to hit the green in regulation and spurned the opportunity to drop another point. On the sixteenth it was the putter that let me down again when I had a simple three foot putt for par following a good chip and run. I pushed it wide of the target.

In the end I managed to close with a par five on the eighteenth and had amassed fifteen points coming home to finish with a grand total of thirty one. It was enough to ensure another 0.1 back onto the handicap and was only good enough for fifteenth place in division two.

There was no golf today although I did manage to get out for a couple of hours of practice this afternoon to hit some chips and putts. Following a tip from the Golf Monthly Forum I'm trying to implement a tad more wrist cock in my chipping action which was working quite nicely at times. I'm not sure its textbook but as my chipping is still a major area of concern I'll take any short term remedy until I can find a longer term resolution. The putting stroke is still not 100% but at least I felt the head was on line. All in all it's more of the same. Some good, some bad and some downright ugly.

On the plus side I've my lesson next week and so my teaching professional Paul Harrison can have a look and give me some pointers. I think the culprits are turning too flat and coming over the top (AGAIN!!) and sliding and not turning the hips on the back swing and especially on the downswing. Old, old habits that disappear and then reappear with monotonous regularity. Will I ever learn?