Two Games - Same Result

It has been a flurry of golfing activity this week. I've discovered I can chip using a conventional chipping method and have lost hours of my week on the putting green grooving the stroke and getting some feel for the shot. Add in a lesson and a seminar on the art of reading greens along with two club competitions and it's been all go.

I played a rare midweek stableford on Thursday afternoon. I tend to be unavailable as work gets in the way and time is limited. I was planning to just have a social round with my regular golfing partner Mike Stannard. He has been struggling a little for form and I wanted to just try a few things out and test the short game on the course. However when he arrived there were two members looking for a game and before I knew it we were in it and on the first tee.

I had one of those rounds that will ring a loud bell with golfers everywhere in competitive play. I couldn't get anything going and every time I made a modicum of progress or recovered from a set back, I'd find a way to undo all the good work. I did have a couple of moments of bad luck too with two shocking lies. I missed the green at the par three eighth only to find the ball lodged on an upslope directly under the lip of the bunker.

On the fifteenth I missed the fairway left in the semi rough but was unfortunate that it found a hole, presumably an old divot and the ball was barely visible let alone playable. I chopped it towards the adjacent fourteenth fairway and then tried to take the green on from 197 yards, Sadly I hit an imposing tree on edge of my target line and the ball went AWOL.

I didn't score on either hole and while you can put a strong argument forward for not being in these positions in the first place, the fact that I couldn't attempt a recovery did seem particularly galling. In between though I did hit some decent shots. I chipped stone dead while standing in a bunker at the seventh with the ball chest high outside the hazard. I chipped and putted for par at the ninth and tenth to salvage par.

In the end my 31 points was only good enough for fifteenth place in the division and a 0.1 increase on the handicap. Still, there was always a chance to repair that with the monthly stableford today. I was paired with Mike Goodwin and Geoff Adamson. Both very good players and Mike has a sublime short game while Geoff hits it miles with effortless ease so I needed to be on my game.

A welcome sight on a very, very hot and testing day

On the hottest day of the year it was always going to be hard going and so it was essential to get off to a quick and solid start. Hitting the opening tee shot out of bounds wasn't the ideal start and even though I chipped an putted with my second ball to salvage a point, the tone was set.

The round had alarming similarities with the midweek competition. I couldn't get anything going but unlike Thursday, the ball striking wasn't as solid especially off the tee. Where I was able to at least get ahead of my handicap on occasions, today I was always hanging on and trying to preserve a net par on most holes.

There were a number of unforced errors but also moments of sheer frustration. I hit my drive on the third hole right but had a good lie and 157 yards to the centre of the green. I hit a lovely six iron but it was literally a yard too short, pitched directly on top of the green side bunker and bounced back in. On another day it would have landed and taken a kick forward. I had a number of makeable putts on several holes but my stroke was poor. It may have been because I was intent on reading the green better following my Aimpoint seminar last night. It's no good knowing it is going to break six inches right to left if you then put an abysmal stroke on the putt.

I had 31 points again and another 0.1 back to get me back to 10.0 and a step further away from that elusive single figure handicap. I didn't play as well today and with the forecast set firmly on SCORCHIO tomorrow I'm in two minds whether to get back out and play or hit some balls, work on the changes my teaching pro Rhys ap Iolo instigated yesterday or try and groove the chipping and putting stroke.

It's been a packed few days but I feel happy that I'm getting the information and ammunition I need to kick on again. You can't play well every time and my two rounds weren't poor but just lacked a spark and the rub of the green in places. I feel better about my short game but need to find my driving again. I do have something from the lesson which should help.

Last year these two scores would have been doom and gloom but I realise my game in 2012 is in a better place and I'm doing the right things. The rounds were different but the result was the same. Sometimes you won't get what you deserve. I shot a personal best recently without swinging well and I know some days you can hit it great and not make a score. These performances were down to errant shots and pure bad luck at times but I'm still just one round away from single figures so there is still plenty to look forward too. If I needed a positive, the hot weather today and Thursday have done wonders for my sun tan.