Another In And Out Weekend (Same Old, Same Old)

What a glorious weekend. Wall to wall sunshine, hot and the course looked a treat. The greens are still a bit iffy following their recent treatment but slowly but surely they are coming. A few more weeks and they should be great to putt on. With everything set fair, I was looking forward to my game with the normal gang in our Saturday roll up. What transpired was definitely not in the plan. Quite simply I was rubbish.

The swing hadn't felt quite right all week and even warming up I knew I was struggling but hoped once I was on the course swing thoughts would dissipate and I could trust what had been working so well in the last few weeks. The opening tee shot was a wild slice, fortunate not to find the out of bounds but far enough wide to find a totally unplayable lie. I took a penalty drop recovered well and then promptly three putted from twelve feet to make sure I didn't score. The scorer wasn't troubled at the second either as I lost a ball with my second shot after having found the fairway off the tee. I finally managed to get on the board on the third and then proceeded to play steady if unremarkable golf. Too many unforced errors and a distinct feeling of unease with my swing meant I couldn't get anything going. Another no score on the tiny par three eighth didn't help and I reached the turn in a miserly eleven points.

The back nine started in better vein but again any forward momentum was promptly stopped with another mistake. In the end the total of twenty eight points was probably a point or two better than my golf suggested. Not a happy Homer. There were a few plus points including some solid chipping, which had been lacking on the first nine, and a few decent drives but nothing that really set the pulse running.

Sunday saw the course closed in the afternoon for a shotgun competition so it gave me the ideal opportunity to adjourn to the practise ground and really work on the swing. It hadn't fallen apart completely and Saturday was more a case of "one of those days" than a fundamental implosion. The plus side of the new one plane swing is that there are only a few aspects that need checking and so it was really a question of hitting some balls and working through the list of possible causes. In the end a hip slide and a shallowness into the ball seemed to be the chief culprits. Regular offenders. I worked hard on turning better through the ball, trying to recapture the feeling I had a few weeks back of being on top of the ball at impact and ensuring the club exited low and left. With the sun beating down, I was hitting ball after ball very well. There were some bad ones in there but that was inevitable. The majority were really good. A lot were really good.

With the field to myself I took the opportunity to work on my pitching. Not very well as it transpired and I encountered a dose of the J Shermans. Again the problem was easily traced and rectified but it has left me with an underlying nervousness. Distance control is the biggest issue I've got and I was really keen to spend some quality time getting a feel for those fiddly little half shots. I put two targets out at 40 and 60 yards with the plan to use different clubs and develop an understanding of the length of swing required for each one. The attack of the rights made the task much harder and in the end, the hour I spent wasn't as productive as I'd hoped. I retired to the practise bunker as I'd had sandy issues on Saturday but had been recovering well from sand in recent rounds. This was far more encouraging and the ball was popping out nicely. I am still having issues from side hill and uphill lies and I just need to give myself some more time to work out a plan of attack to deal with these. The biggest cause for concern is actually the putting which seems to be very erratic and I've lost confidence in my stroke and set up. I'm loathe to change putters but I've not been able to find anything that I'm happy with on the practise green and on the course I'm more focused on technicalities rather than length and line. That said, I've lost all feeling for distance as well. If it isn't one thing it's another. One day everything will click into place simultaneously.

All in all, it was time well spent. I am more comfortable with where the swing is now and I've a lesson with Rhys ap Iolo on Thursday anyway so hopefully we can give it a once over and ensure it is tightened up. There is a big competition at Royal Ascot over the bank holiday and so I'd like to be able to repeat the success I had in the last one at Easter. It is in there, but I think I've gotten a bit tied up in the why and how and not enough about the doing. I think the nightmare nine holes I had last Monday where I couldn't string any good shots together and lost four balls has dented my confidence and that Saturday did little to repair the damage. I've said before I'm a confidence player and a streaky one and that when I get on a roll I can be very, very good. It's getting on the wave in the first place and being able to ride it for as long as possible that hasn't always been easy. At least I feel I have more about me with the one plane swing and so we'll see what the new week brings.
I'm going to play a few holes tonight to just reaffirm that the swing is in a better place and then hit the practise ground later in the week before seeing Rhys on Thursday. It isn't a million miles away and so perhaps a few tweaks here and there and we'll be off and running. It would be nice to be competitive again but as long as I play well, ideally with another handicap cut, then that'll do for me.