The Right Time

There has been a strange warm glow in the sky this weekend. Funny how golf is always much more enjoyable when the sun is out and the mercury is rising. It was a weekend for working on the game in lieu of the Club Championship next weekend. First round is Saturday morning and if I survive the halfway cut then I tee it up again for the final round on Sunday.

Yesterday was a friendly roll up game. However it was a case of 6-6-6. Not the number of the beast but my start (treble bogey, single, double). The first tee shot was a great strike but a block straight right never to be seen again. The reload missed the green too. I came up short on the second after a great drive and a well struck second. However the tee shot on the third was a horror. I've been working on staying behind the ball as my head and body tend to move forward in the swing. This time everything moved and I hit a hook into the environmental area.

After than things settled down and the ball striking was good. It was one of those frustrating rounds where the quality of the striking didn't match the scores. I was missing, but not by much. The short game was good but I couldn't buy a putt.

Things started well on the back nine with a par at ten and eleven but after that the driver went on strike and I was putting it into some rotten positions. To be honest I was split. Disappointed that the work I've been doing on the swing changes seemed to be working well during the Volvo matchplay defeat on Wednesday and then crumbled yesterday with no pressure on. On the flip side, there were some quality iron shots especially with the mid and short clubs.

Today was a period of dedicated hard work on all my game. The morning was spent chipping and putting. The short game was in such a black and dark hole a few months back but is starting to be a more stable facet. I'm not making enough up and downs yet but I'm not chunking and thinning as many so that has to be progression.

After some lunch and a rest, it was onto the swing. I'm finding it hard to get into a position at address that is consistent and allows be to have a stable platform on which to turn while staying behind the ball and stopping the head and body moving. The good ones are now sublime. The bad ones aren't a disasterous miss now and the ball is playable 95% of the time. The driver is the issue. I hit some good ones in the Saturday round. The bad ones were destructive. Lost ball on the third, trouble at twelve and so far right on the fourteenth it was at least fifty yards from the fairway. Out of bounds off the tee on the last.

Today the swing was much quieter and unsurprisingly the results were better. The drives were a better trajectory than of later. Much more penetrating. The three wood was more solid. I am still having some issues with the five wood and hybrid as a result of trying to get the sternum behind the ball without putting too much weight on the back foot.

Of course it hurts to play poorly and frustrating when practise doesn't quite click. However it is the right time to play poorly and work on the game. It's about trying to peak for 8.30am next Saturday in the Club Championship and so I'll hit some balls on Tuesday and then get out on the course for the rest of the week and put it into some practical context with a few holes.

There is never a good time to play badly but rather this week than next. It isn't a million miles from being very good and I'm still so much more consistent in all aspects and in general in 2012 than any time last year even though I qualified for the Golf Monthly Centenary Final at St Pierre and went on to lose the Final on countback. There was too many rounds that never got started and too many that fell away. This year even the bad rounds give me a chance to get it round and therefore make a score. That is progress.

Once I've had my practise session on Tuesday, techique will go onto the back burner and once I hit the course it'll be about making the score, playing each shot on its merit and trying to play with a good tempo. After that there's nothing more I can do to prepare for the biggest event in the club calendar. I have an abysmal history in the event and melt away. Too much pressure on myself has been a problem along with a swing I could never trust. Different ball game this year and I have cautiously optimistic vibes about putting a solid performance in. Time will tell. Until then the hard work continues.