Stoned Again

Following my lesson on Thursday evening and with no practise bar an eighteen hole round on my own on Friday evening where I didn't really keep a score and just used the course as my range, it was straight into a prestigious event at Royal Ascot, The Stone Cup. This is one of the honours board events and is a stableford competition over two rounds. Competitors can choose which two days (Saturday-Bank Holiday Tuesday) they play on.

I was with Colin Osborn and Steve Downey, two of the regular gang from the normal Saturday morning roll up. It was a dank old start to the day with a heavy clouds and an Autumnal mist hanging in the air. Not having had a chance to bed in the swing changes from Thursday I wasn't overly confident and had a fatalistic air of what will be will be. The hooked tee shot at the opener didn't bode well. Although fortunate to miss the pond short and left of the green, it nestled in thick rough and I could only move it forward short of the green. The chip was poor and so I opened with a double bogey.

Things got better with a good drive setting up a par at the second and I made par at the third thanks to a fortunate fifteen foot putt having missed the green left and hit a mediocre chip. It seemed that as soon as I made progress, I'd find a way to halt it and a clumsy three putt at the fourth cost me a shot. I was back on track at the fifth and then dropped a shot at the sixth having hooked the tee shot and been lucky to catch a tree which took the venom out of the ball and stopped it hurtling out of bounds.

I actually fell behind to the card when I went over the back of the short eighth hole and missed the ten foot putt for par. The short game wasn't on song. I hit a good drive down the ninth and found the green with my approach. My first putt uphill from twenty feet was woeful and I left myself nine feet to go. I hit it more in hope than expectation but it dropped, albeit via the side entrance. Out in a respectable eighteen points. In fact better than I'd dared hope and the new changes were working. Not perfectly but the ball was in play.

My tee shot at the tenth was perfect for the shape of the hole. Low with a right to left draw it landed and bounded down the fairway to leave a nine iron in from 112 yards. I found the green without issue. However my putting woes from recent weeks were still with me and I three putted again. In my defence. the greens had been heavily sanded this week and it was hard to force yourself to strike it firmly enough to get it to the hole. Still after ten holes you'd have thought I'd have gotten some feel for their pace.

On Friday, I'd tried to hit a four iron into the eleventh with the new swing and it hadn't gone well, missing right. I felt that it was the perfect club though and banished Friday from my mind. I caught it pure and arguably my best struck shot all day. It never left the flag and finished seven feet short leaving an uphill putt. I converted for birdie and four points on that one hole. These would come in rather handy.

Having made a net par at the twelfth, the toughest on the course and hit a good tee shot into the green at thirteen for another par, I was in a good position. Fourteen has been something of a graveyard of late and when I got a good tee shot away down the left edge of the fairway I thought I was in position to make a par, certainly no worse than a five, a net par and could move on. It was 198 to the flag but it always runs on at this hole and so you need to land it short. I took the hybrid and was confident of getting it close to the putting surface. Somewhere between then and making contact, something got lost in translation and I hit a low hook shot that careered towards the ladies tee on the fifteenth. My recovery wasn't the best of strikes either and I was lucky that it made the green. Two putts later I'd made the net par in fortunate circumstances and got out of there as quickly as I could.

My golfing luck ran out on the fifteenth. I hit a poor tee shot low almost along the ground and it was very short as a result. I took my five wood to try and coax the ball into a good lay up area for my wedges, somewhere between 80-100 yards. I hit it well with a hint of draw but it was a bit right of my target. It was heading towards shin deep grass and almost certain never to be seen again, at least by me. It tried in vain to draw back but landed and took a bounce in the semi-rough and rolled apologetically into the long stuff. We found it. Just. It was in deep grass and despite hitting it as hard as I could it only just rolled out onto the fairway. I pitched on but couldn't make par. A shot dropped and I'd eaten into the banked points from that birdie on eleven.

If I was being critical, I should have made par at the sixteenth. I hit a very good drive and my hybrid was well struck too and was pin high and a matter of a yard or so off the green. I had a patch of fringe to go over and the chip again lacked conviction and left me six feet for my par four. I hit the putt well but couldn't find the hole. Still a net par and so no damage done. By now it had dawned on me that I'd actually got a decent score going despite or as a result of the swing changes (depending on your point of view).

I don't know what happened to the tee shot on the seventeenth. In my practise round on Friday I'd carved a five wood so far right it had cleared all the trouble including more deep grass and I'd had a shot in. I thought I'd made a good swing but the ball went right exactly as it had on Friday. This time despite taking a three wood instead of five it hadn't gone right enough to clear the rubbish. With heart in mouth Colin, Steve and I started looking. I was a very lucky boy. Not only did we find it but it actually sitting in a decent spot and I could get my trusty sand wedge on it. It came out well although I couldn't make a par three. Another shot gone and I'd used the shots in hand from that birdie.

The eighteen was playing a fraction downwind. It has a fairway that can run hot and there is a ditch out around the 260 mark that can come into play. Usually not for me. I hit an exquisite drive, high, proud and with a hint of draw. It hadn't even entered my head until Colin piped up "that'll be close to the ditch." It made the walk to the ball a bit nervy but it was at least ten yards short. Sometimes there's a lot to be said for being a wimpy short hitter. My five wood was solid and I left myself 87 yards in. Perfect for my 52 degree wedge. Colin and Steve were first to go. Steve hit a corker to around six feet. Colin was coming in from the right and had the pond to contend with. He stuck it to around ten feet. No pressure then. Trust the swing Martin. One more good smooth shot. It was good in the air and split the pair landing about nine feet away. Three mighty impressive approaches for the cognoscenti in the 19th to enjoy.

Colin went first and was unlucky to finish a few rolls short but it made the par a doddle. Then it was my turn. Downhill, left to right. Let's not go mad and race it two feet past Homer (although on these sandy greens that would have taken some doing). Get it there though. No prizes for being short. I hit the putt well and it arced beautifully for a closing birdie and another four point haul. Steve was able to follow me in for his birdie too.

When the maths had been done, I'd amassed 38 points. Two under handicap and so a small cut is coming my way. What a performance given the scale of the changes Rhys ap Iolo had made to the takeaway and set up on Thursday night and given it was the first time these had been taken out on the course in anger. My score was eclipsed by Steve who had a massive 21 point coming home for 40 points in total. With any of these two round events, they can't be won on the first day but they can be lost. I'd expected a mixed round as I got to grips with everything and this surpassed my wildest expectations.

I'm not getting too excited as I've a nagging doubt that although these changes will in the long term benefit my game immensely, there has been too little transition time. What I'm saying is that Saturday's round may have been played on borrowed time and that the second round may be a lot harder. Still even if I get 0.1 back for a horror, I'm still getting a cut anyway and very close to 11 depending on the competition scratch score (CSS). Still, I've done it once. I just need to go out and get Stoned again and post a sub-handicap score of 37 or more to be right in contention. If the short game bucks up, the putter warms up and the driving holds up then there isn't any reason I can't. Bring it on. Bring it on - NOW