You know what it's like. You eagerly anticipate a round, manage to have a word with the man upstairs to avoid the rain, and have a great partner to play with. Add in a shiny new Odyssey ProType #9 putter to try out and what happens? You play like a buffoon. And so it came to pass. I'd booked a practise round with my regular oppo Mike Stannard and was really looking forward to it. I was a bit late getting to the club and so the warm up was a bit rushed. Actually it was a complete waste of time as tempo and timing was so out of kilter all I managed were six straight shanks and a loss of confidence.
Suffice to say once I got on the first tee, the panic set in. I wasn't swing well on Sunday when I'd snuck out for a round and I'd not hit any balls since to rectify the issues. Having paid a visit to "Shanksville" in warm up I was pretty nervous on where my little white sphere was heading. As it happens I put a half decent swing on it and got it going forward nicely. Sadly I was directionally challenged by a yard or so and rather than nestle on the fringe of the green it toppled into the greenside bunker.
To be fair, I managed to get it round pretty well early on. A bogey at the second after finding the fairway bunker was followed by a good drive, green in regulation and a par at the third. A par at the next and I'd completed the opening quartet one under my handicap (+2 gross). I found another fairway bunker on the par five fifth, which was perhaps a lesson in course management. The escape was messy and from there the hole ran away with me to register an ugly double bogey. I hit a fat tee shot at the sixth with the swing feeling long, loose and close to the speed of light. Blink and you missed it. It found a deep lie left of the green but a sublime recovery to three feet and a first par save with my new flat stick and I was in a happier place.
Regular followers will know the seventh at Royal Ascot has been causing a few problems lately including a wonderful triple bogey in the recent medal. The problem is if you go too far left off the tee, you can be on the fairway but blocked out by the imposing oak that guards the left edge of the ditch that bisects the hole. I've been left a lot lately. On the fairway, in the rough or even on the third fairway running adjacent to the seventh. This time I was left of centre and faced with having to move it right to left. Fortunately and despite Rhys ap Iolo's best efforts to straighten me out I can still conjure up a draw, some might say hook to order. My hybrid started right of target and curled almost apologetically before the ball landed on the right edge of the green. Two putts and a fine par.
Following my recent win and subsequent handicap cut, I no longer get a shot at the 400 yard par 4 ninth. It ALWAYS plays into the wind irrespective of time of year, weather conditions or lunar cycle. It is a toughie. I hit a great drive but still had 178 yards into the wind. Note to self, don't hit it fat and come up 70 yards short. It make par very hard to get. I hit a mediocre pitch and in the end was happy with a bogey five. Still out in eighteen points and so bang on the handicap.
There must be a word somewhere to describe the act of making double bogey from the centre of fairways. Incompetence springs to mind. A fine drive was followed by an approach that was never going to reach the green. If I'm going to pull a club right on the boundaries of distance then don't hit it heavy. To be fair I took a 9 iron when a smooth 8 would have sufficed. Nothing though can compensate for the duffed chip and with two putts to follow I'd recorded a six from nowhere.
That was the story of the back nine really. Some good like an up and down on the thirteenth from left of the green and some mediocre like poor drives at fourteen, fifteen and sixteen. I managed a closing par which added some gloss on a pretty average thirty two points.
I putted well and didn't three putt but there was much to contemplate. Determined to get back to basics it was off to Blue Mountain tonight to get back to the nitty gritty. Again, there was some good but an awful lot of "not quites". Tempo and the quality of the back swing don't feel right but I managed to slow the seven iron swing down. There are too many moving parts and too many thoughts. It isn't the free flowing and natural swing of a month or so ago. The current thought in my mind is to park the playing lesson on Friday and get Rhys to look at the issues and maybe, incorporate a mini driver lesson in there as well.
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I am playing some good golf. The ball flight is far more neutral than the right to left I had even a few months ago. With the exception of the driver and the odd poor shot where I still slide the hips and don't turn or allow the club head to travel down the line after impact, the right side of the course has been eradicated. I don't hit those weak fades where I come out of it dramatically as I've no room to swing the club. I understand what I'm trying to do and can recognise the faults on the course even if I can't always find a cure during the round.
I'm still in a positive frame of mind. The win proves it can be done. I can put together a run of scores but there are still too many loose shots or bad holes. I seem to lose timing or tempo at key time. Eradicate these and keep it smooth and together and a low score is very much on the cards.
It isn't quite on song, a little off key, but with a little tuning we can get it singing again.
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