That said we decided to play a round together anyway. Alan Cutler is a dangerous golfer off 15. Diminutive in stature he is a gritty fighter who can tonk the ball a good way. He's ably supported by Peter Spriggs who can be another handful off his 12 handicap. In the end, we shared the spoils with Alan and Peter coming back from dormie two down to halve the game on the 18th. No psychological advantage gained or lost and it was great fun and a real appetiser for the main event next week. The deadline for the game to be played falls next weekend and so we're be out whatever the weather. I think you can safely predict torrential rain and gales for 8.30am next Saturday.
I hit it reasonably well in places given the conditions. I guess the highlight would be making an eagle at the par 5 15th, even though the hole was shortened. The approach was a bit of a low running hook but it ended up six feet away and so I'll take substance over style all day long. I followed it with a cracking drive down the tough 16th (see my latest Hackers Guide to see how tight the drive is) and then nailed a 5 iron from 171 yards. It fizzed off the club and was as pure as I can hit it. It reminded me why the hard work I've been putting in on the new one plane swing is worth the effort.
I always feel short changed playing on temporary greens but the company was superb. It was a friendly game and we all hit some good and bad shots. Next week will be more serious but I'm sure we'll enjoy it as much and at least win or lose we can walk way knowing the result hadn't been influenced by the frozen ground and temporary greens making putting a lottery.
As there was another frost overnight I decided to be pro-active and hit the range this morning, keen to build on the progress I'd been making with my swing. As it turned out I had one of those sessions where nothing really worked. I knew what I was working on, what I was trying to achieve and how to get to the end result but couldn't find a way to make it happen on a regular basis. It was good in parts and hugely frustrating in others. In the end I think I got too bogged down on it being right and not focused enough on enabling. Back to substance over style. I know my teaching professional Rhys ap Iolo keeps banging on about it not having to be picture book, but I want it to be as sound as possible technically so come the moment of truth and I'm up there competing in 2012, I can just swing and rely on the outcome.
I've been hampered all week with a very sore back. It felt like a trapped nerve or even worse a re-occurrence of sciatica but I had a chiropractic session on Friday afternoon. They've said it was just muscular and have manipulated a few joints and given me a deep massage and touch wood we're back to normal. I can't say I felt it playing yesterday and certainly not on the range so I can't blame that for todays poor session. I've some exercises to do to keep it loose and I need to make sure I keep it warm and rub some old fashioned Deep Heat in regularly but it shouldn't stop me hitting balls this week.
I'm close to where I want to be. I know where it is going wrong and I've gone back to the Plane Truth website (Rhys teaches the Plane Truth system and pupils can get a 10 day trial of the site and then choose to subscribe for a year - well worth doing) and watched the video clips on the cause of the problem and curing the faults and have a clear mental picture of what I need to do.
The plan is to put the hard work in this week, get the swing into a nice groove and go out and enjoy the match on Saturday. My partner Mike Stannard was up in St Ives last week at the Titleist fitting centre and he's gone and got himself a new bag of custom fitted clubs. There is a very real chance they could be here this week and he's threatening to take them out into battle next weekend. Personally I'm thinking about giving our club pro a bung to say they haven't been delivered yet.
And so another weekend passes by. I feel short changed golfing wise but at least the back is better and I can put some work in again. My mantra this year will be "SUBSTANCE OVER STYLE" and it doesn't have to look pretty, just work and get the ball in the hole. We'll work on trying to get it right, and I'm going to be booking another lesson soon anyway. If I can get it on the right track before then, it'll make it easier to sort what needs fixing without going back over old grounds.
This is the year Rhys and I get my game to a new level. I was happy to set the bar at a handicap of 10 but I think he's got the aim of single figures. I'll need a brand new short game for that but we'll wait for better conditions before we tackle that can of worms and we'll look at the swing for now. Short term its about winning next week any which way and booking a quarter-final berth. The rest we'll worry about afterwards. Game on and let the hard work commence.
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