Too Good To Be True

Well the results have been announced and we've weighed in to use racing parlance and sadly, despite my best efforts I've been relegated into second place in the Haig Cup at Royal Ascot Golf Club. I had a sterling first round in the event which is a bogey competition played over the Easter break. Players have to play two rounds but can choose which of the four days they go out on. I started on Good Friday and did really well to finish +3 for the round and lay second going into my next round on Easter Saturday with the clubhouse leader one ahead on +4.

It had been a decent round, particularly in terms of my short game, so often a weak link. Four consecutive up and downs to salvage par from the 9th through to the 12th which included two consecutive sand saves from greenside bunkers at 11 and 12 are testament to the renewed belief my teaching professional Rhys ap Iolo has installed and the dedication and hard work I've put in to try and get a modicum of consistency. It is still a long way from the finished article and still way too flaky under pressure but those four saved shots really made the first round score.

If that was good, my second round was superb. I set a personal best score in competition play going round the front nine level par gross with a birdie at the par five 2nd and the tough (stroke index 2) 7th hole offset by a careless bogey at the 6th where I pulled a nine iron left and at the 8th where my seven iron into the short par three was too greedy and although it pitched four feet from the flag there was no room to stop it on that portion of the green. It rolled off and I was left with tricky chip back which didn't really leave me in a position to make the par putt.

The back nine was a case of getting in my own way mentally and the realisation that I was well and truly in the mix. I need to work a lot more with Rhys this season on the mental side, developing a pre-shot routine and making sure it is the same in terms of the amount of time I take on every shot. If I can stay in the moment and not wander forward two or three holes, the next time I contend should be easier.

The closing holes of the second round were cases in point. I took a five wood at the par five 15th and blocked it way right towards the 16th tee to meekly lose the hole when a six iron and a wedge onto the green would have sufficed. I hit the green at the 16th after a tight and steered drive (definitely anti out of bounds left). Although it was a long, forty foot effort, length and line were way out. I hit the 17th with a good bad un and then three putted from twenty feet. Those two halved holes I thought might have a bearing.

In the end I got a handicap cut for my efforts from 13.3 to 12.0 so it isn't all bad. The eventual winner came in on the Sunday with a +9 second card to go alongside his +2 first effort and so cruised to a four hole win although my +7 was in turn three clear of third place. Sometimes you just have to hold you hand up and say you were beaten by a better man on the day. It is beginning to grate though. I came second at the Golf Monthly Centenary Finals at the Forest of Arden in October on countback. How cruel was that? Now I put in a performance that really vindicates the decision to swap teaching pros, encompass the one plane methodology and the leap forward in terms of a functioning short game. There are only so many times you can be the bridesmaid. I've been going on for ages that there was a good score in there. Finally I've been able to do it under pressure and not only that but I've been able to shoot low on day one and go out and improve on that on day two.

Rhys has been trying to get my swing much steeper. He has had me working on a drill with a tee placed to the left of the ball about an inch or so away and trying to focus on hitting the tee peg and the ball. I've worked on it at the range and the quality of the strike and the direction was much improved especially with the driver. That was all I had in my head on every shot. "Hit the tee peg." It was as good as I've hit it on the course in years.

Nothing left to do but reflect on what might have been, gird the loins and face the challenge of winning another event off a lower handicap figure. I can go lower still and frittered a few shots away over the two rounds. If I can align a mental fortitude with consistent shot making and striking then a handicap of 10 is definitely on the radar for 2012 and maybe even that magical single figure handicap that is a cornerstone of Homer's Odyssey. Congratulations to Mr Munk on his outstanding achievement but be warned, Homer is on a mission now. I've had a taste and I want more.