I'm not sure about you but for me the pinnacle of the golfing season has to be the annual club championship. At Royal Ascot Golf Club, we have a prize for both the best gross and net scores. Realistically I don't have a prayer of winning the gross prize and it's all about the net for me. The competition is organised in handicap order with the lowest handicaps setting off first on the Saturday morning and there is then the small matter of surviving the halfway cut which sees the top sixty and ties back for a second round on the Sunday. This time it's in score order so the best scores are out last.
The first round was played in dry conditions, although a tricky breeze ensured that scoring wouldn't be too easy. The green staff at the club had done a fantastic job of getting the course ready and in my opinion, the greens haven't been any better in the ten years we've been playing on our new course.
Practice had been curtailed by a distinct lack of form and I was struggling with a bad back which was hampering my turn (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/that-was-short-lived-sos.html).
I started off in steady fashion and by the third hole I was in a comfortable place, level with my handicap and hitting it reasonably well. And then I imploded. A snap hook off the tee at the fourth meant chipping away from the out of bounds fence which was the catalyst to a double bogey. No matter, the fifth is a par five I can reach in regulation. A good chance to make a solid par and steady the ship. I found the fairway and placed my second into position A+. A simple nine iron from 118 yards with all of the green in front of me. I pulled it left into a bunker. If you follow my adventures you'll know I had a bunker lesson not so long ago and have worked hard on improving my technique. It was a simple escape. The green staff had freshly raked every bunker and I should have made no more than a bogey. I caught it thin. No sand at all and the ball sailed merrily miles over the green, out of bounds. A triple to follow the double.
The golfing gods have a way of sensing weakness and playing with it. The sixth is a par three and I missed the green right into another bunker. Were they mocking me? The ball was under the lip to compound matters. This time I splashed it out to seven feet and converted for par. I made a solid net par and then came to the shortest hole on the course. It's only 139 yards and I missed it short and right. I should have just pitched on, two putted and moved on. However it was sitting nicely and I thought I could slide a wedge under it and land if softly. Instead I knifed it over the other side of the green, duffed another chip and walked off with yet another triple bogey. I walked off the ninth with a bogey and out in 47, or +12 gross and all my stroke allowance used already. The back nine would be tough.
It started off badly with another double bogey. A welcome par followed and I made five at the hardest hole on the course the SI 1, twelfth. A chip and a putt par at the thirteenth and suddenly I was looking like a golfer. It was going terribly well until the sixteenth. I hit a wild drive right of the fairway and then played a great recovery under the trees to leave 129 yards and a simple eight iron. My hard work was undone with a pulled approach into knee high rough, left of target. In fact, I was lucky to find it and luckier still to get it out. Yet another triple bogey. I limped in with a bogey at seventeen and net par down the last but it all added up to a horrid gross 91 (net 79). Surely not good enough to make the cut?
2015 Club Championship Round 1 Statistics
In fact I made it.....just. I was third group out on the Sunday. On the plus side I'd continued my run of successive cuts and this was the fourth consecutive time I'd pegged it up in round two. Conditions in the first round had been warm, but with a pesky wind. On day two, they were nothing short of horrendous. It poured down with rain. It had been raining heavily overnight and the course was saturated in places with several bunkers already filling with water.
I don't like playing in waterproofs but having worked hard on a slower, more compact swing, I felt confident that the hard work on the range might have stood me in good stead. A net par and a fairway found at the second. The first round had been blighted by too many rash decisions, poor execution and bad thinking. From the middle of the fairway at the second and a mid iron for position, I was expecting to have a simple pitch in. Instead I blocked it right and was lucky to avoid out of bounds. I had to pitch out sideways and an early double bogey to blight a card.
It was hard work even by the third to keep the grips dry, the glove dry and concentration levels high. Coming to the fourth I was determined to avenge the mistake of the previous day. I hit a great drive. Normally I'd hit a high shot with my gap or sand wedge, to the right of the green and let it feed down to the middle of the putting surface. So why did I off a bare, wet lie did I decide to play an eighty yard chip and run. I made five. It should have been par. I did par the next two and so was trundling along. In fact I was out in gross 42 (+7) and so was close to my handicap despite the horrific conditions which showed no sign of abating.
A chip and putt par at the tenth and all was going well. I went into sand on the right of the eleventh. Another poor escape barely got out of the bunker and a chip and three putt brought my world crashing back down. I started to struggle and another double soon arrived at the fourteenth and a another at the penultimate hole. I signed off with yet another at the last hole.
In the end I limped back in a miserable 48 shots for a total of 90 gross (net 78). It was a shot better than my first round despite the conditions. I went through five towels and seven gloves during the round and had worked diligently to keep everything dry.
2015 Club Championship Round 2 Statistics
My efforts were only good for 43rd place overall out of 60 who made the cut. Very disappointing as were the two 0.1 handicap increases which sees it languishing at 12.1. I really hoped I had a chance of a good showing and I'm struggling to pinpoint exactly why my good form has been so fleeting.
I've spoken about these poor shots before and I was hoping they were becoming a thing of the past. I haven't practiced well and the niggle in the back has hampered progress. The silly thing is I went out in the week after the club championships when the back allowed and was hitting it well. Back to that old issue of taking it out on the course. It certainly isn't a case of over working it, although I have neglected the short game again.
The calendar is going quiet for a few weeks. I'm playing in a club match against Caversham Heath at home (Royal Ascot Golf Club). We have a commanding lead after the away match and we should close it out and take the trophy we compete for. The following week we're closed as the Red Bull Air Race is coming to town and we give part of the golf course over for their air gates. It is good business for the club and we are grateful for their income (http://www.redbullairrace.com/en_US/event/ascot-2015). During the weekend the course and the club are shut as they need to protect a "sterile" area as the planes fly over.
From there we crank it up for Captains Day, another staple part of the calendar, followed by a big competition, the Longhurst Cup over the bank holiday. It is one of the Royal Ascot "majors" and I won it back in 2000. After that we have "The Masters" a thirty six hole medal event over one day. It's invite only and open only to competition winners over the past twelve months. I'm in courtesy of my June stableford win. Plenty then to work hard for. I am still confident of getting to single figures. Maybe not in 2015 but eventually. I know the game is in there. I just need to stop the car crash holes.
I have been working with Andy Piper at Lavender Golf Centre in Ascot on and off since the start of the year, usually on an intermittent basis when I feel old faults are creeping back in, as well as freshening up the short game. We've talked about a winter programme and evaluating my 2015 season, seeing where the damage is being done. He wants some detailed statistics on how I play each hole to see where the bad shots come from. We'll look at technique again and try and be disciplined in my mental approach and take the work I've done with New Golf Thinking forward and playing with confidence in my swing and a mind devoid of thoughts.
In the end the net prize was won with a 73, 68, the latter being a great effort in wet conditions although the rain had eased as the leaders went out. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The gross prize was one with 76, 72 again the +2 score being admirable in the damp and under pressure.
Your narrator is laid up again with a sore back. I tried to play the monthly medal on Sunday and lasted one hole and two shots down the par five second before I had a searing pain down my back, through my buttock and down my leg. It took me fifteen minutes to shuffle back to the sanctuary of the clubhouse. I've been working hard at keeping it warm and loose and have several physiotherapy sessions booked so hoping it'll be right by midweek and in time for some short game work.
Not what I wanted then but I'm pleased how well I dug in in the second round even when the back nine started getting away from me. It would have been easy to blame the rain, stopped working to keep the kit dry and just blasting away. I tried on every shot. I am still in a stronger place than the start of the season and the swing and set up tweaks are helping. A winter with Andy, some strong focus on the scoring zone from 100 yards and in between now and the Winter and hopefully I'll rediscover the form that saw me do so well earlier in the year. Rest assured I'm still working towards the magic land of a single figure handicap and will get there. I'm still hoping it'll be in 2015 but if not I'm back in 2016 even more determined. Until then I'll keep you posted on how my progress is coming along.
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
That Was Short Lived - SOS
Well that didn't last long. There I was enjoying a brief moment of good form, winning a monthly stableford, a top ten in the monthly medal and picking up a few quid in the weekend roll ups. My golfing life was rosy and I was in a good place. I had even managed thirty three points in my last competitive round, after struggling with some swing changes and not feeling like I hit the ball very well. Granted it was 0.1 back on the handicap, but it was only a handful of poor shots that really did for me.
And then it evaporated like a puddle in the summer sun. I have lost my swing completely and had to put an urgent SOS call out to Andy Piper at Lavender Park Golf Centre for a lesson. I had been trying to bed in the changes (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/back-up-and-running.html) and make a wider, slower swing. However somewhere, somehow things had got lost in translation and instead of taking the club back properly I'd taken it back too straight and too wide and the dreaded shanks and some terrible strikes had begun to manifest. I had tried to grind it out on the practice ground but couldn't pin point the issue. It had also begun to have an effect on my back and I was getting some soreness from the weird way I was trying to do things.
Things came to a head a couple of weeks ago. I had a shocking practice session on the Friday night and couldn't get a ball going straight or from anywhere near the centre of the club. I went home in a filthy mood and got to the club very early on the Saturday morning to warm up and find that missing spark before playing in the usual Saturday roll up. It was arguably worse than the previous evening. And then I got a sharp pain down my right side of the back, through the buttock and down the leg. Hello sciatica my old friend! I knew it was pointless trying to continue and if I'm honest it may have been a blessing. The round had the potential to be four hours of absolute hell and would have severely damaged my fragile golfing psyche. I've always been a streaky player and usually ride the wave of good form for a good few weeks before having to then go back and scrap for everything I get.
I have to be honest and say it had got so bad, I was seriously considering chucking the clubs on E-bay and walking away from the game. I couldn't see any light. I was hitting shank after shank, and nothing was going forward in a straight and high manner.
I was fortunate that Andy Piper could squeeze me in for a lesson. I was dosed up on ibuprofen and Deep heat gel to keep the back loose and ward off the twinge in the sciatic nerve. It was good enough to warm up. I told Andy he had thirty minutes to stop the clubs hitting the internet. No pressure. In the end what ailed me was relatively simple. Posture (remember I've spoken about that before) was too hunched again, the left shoulder was closed to the target line, and I was taking the club back too straight, mistaking that for width. The last point was the biggest issue and my arms had become disconnected which was why I was returning the hosel to the ball. Andy brought back a drill from the golfing archive, putting the butt of the club in my navel and simply keeping it there as I made a small turn. Instantly it connected body and shoulder turn, and took the club on a more rounded, but correct path. Posture was easy to fix as was keeping that left shoulder out of the way and square. The results were instant and my golfing psyche felt a wave of relief wash over it like the sunlight appearing from behind a dark cloud. Add in a return to a shorter, better tempo and it was flying off the sweet spot. All done in twenty seven and a half minutes and just enough time to touch on pitching and re-affirming what we'd worked on before. Good times.
However the good times didn't last. I returned to the range a few days later and the strike and direction barely resembled what I achieved in the lesson. I was sticking rigidly to the posture, and the trying hard to take the club away properly. I didn't want to play last weekend but with the club championships on the horizon I knew I had to get out and work through it on the course.
It wasn't pretty. A meagre 27 points. Conditions were tricky with a brisk wind. There were some good holes in there but so many poor strikes as well. One bright spark was the quality of my putting and I holed a number of good putts in the ten-fifteen feet corridor and holed the niggly two-three footers confidently. It was just getting the ball to the green that was the issue.
As you may have realised by now, I'm a stubborn so and so. Belligerent you might say. I know I'm good and I know single figures will be reached. Several teaching professionals have said my game stands up to their lower figure clients, and not just in lessons, but merely passing by at the range. Most haven't even coached me, and some haven't even spoken to me before so it's not a case of ego massaging (or touting for future teaching business). So what you say? Well, I hit the range on Sunday again. A familiar story began to play out. The strike was a tad better but I was directionally challenged.
Something strange was happening. Next door to my bay was a teaching bay. In it was a mat with a line indicating the correct takeaway path on it and with a mirror on the back wall to check the posture. I shouldn't really be in there but it wasn't in use so what was the harm. The crazy thing was, if I hit one or two balls on that mat, I was nailing the ball perfectly. Sneak back next door to my own bay and I couldn't replicate the move. Even putting my own visual aid down to replicate the mat, it wasn't working. Step back into the teaching bay again and BOOM, off it went. Why? How?
The range session on Sunday hadn't gone to plan and confidence had plunged deeper than the Greek economic crisis. Determined to find something, anything, I ventured to the club in the afternoon to play a few holes. You can't play golf on a range. A familiar mantra. If confidence was low before I went out, the bottom had fallen out of my world by the end of nine holes. If the PC had been to hand I would now be blogging about a new hobby (threeofftheline if I take up fishing?). I was trying to swing slow, compact and paying attention to posture and that left shoulder. So why was it still not working. As I had an hour or two to kill, having got permission from the wife to be out for eighteen holes, it was off to the practice ground. Suddenly I found the middle of the nine iron. And then again. And then the middle of the eight. And the seven. Not every time but more in the space of thirty minutes than the practice sessions that week and more than in the twenty seven holes I'd played at the weekend.
So a new week dawns. Club Championships next weekend over two days. A halfway cut to survive on Saturday and back for the second round (hopefully) on Sunday. Realistically, I can't win the major prize for the lowest gross score but there is a prize for the lowest net score. I've survived the cut for the past few seasons and managed to register a sixth place back in 2012. The last couple of seasons have been blighted a poor round, usually the opener which has left me playing catch up. This year, with form so patchy I am not under any illusion that the halfway cut represents an achievement at this stage and mentally I've resigned myself to getting 0.1 back on the handicap on Saturday, and the same on Sunday should I play.
I'm not being negative or defensive. In fact I'm hoping that going in with zero expectations will actually free the golfing brain and let the technique I've striven to improve to flow forth. I managed to play yesterday. I can leave you the reader on a more positive note. Things were getting better. I found a way to get it around. The ball striking was better. There were too many missed greens and poor irons, usually following a decent drive. Some tee shots were wayward. I found out of bounds at the seventeenth trying something different off the tee. It was actually a good shot, just too far left of target. I found the pond right of the last green but from where I struck the shot from I couldn't see it properly and seemed to take a horrid kick sharp right into the water. My pitching and chipping are coming together following my recent lessons and this will help especially if the ball striking isn't perfect. However there was a birdie at the tenth, several sand saves and some par numbers as well.
I am still not 100% confident with where the game is. I'm back out tonight to work on the chipping, pitching and bunker play. Tomorrow is pitching and putting and then Friday is about putting the final touches to the long game ready to peg it up on Saturday. The threat of the clubs hitting E-bay has passed and while my game is not where I wanted it to be, peaking for the biggest weekend in the club calender, it is what it is. I'll try my guts out to do as well as I can. My take has always been try and score as well as possible and handicap cuts will take care of themselves. Nothing has changed.
I told you before, it was going to be roller coaster ride. The last few weeks have been wilder than normal, but that's part of the fun of this pursuit towards single figures. You have to hit the lows every so often (not too often) to enjoy the climb back up again. The game is in flux but we'll see what the final parts of my build up to the weekend yield and what round one has in store. I'll be back to share the highs, and learn from the lows. Not quite the blog I envisaged and it shows how fleeting form is for the average club golfer is. Things were ticking along and then we hit a big pothole in the road to single figures. A few running repairs and the tracking is back online, the engine has been given the once over and I'm ready to motor towards the second half of the season.
And then it evaporated like a puddle in the summer sun. I have lost my swing completely and had to put an urgent SOS call out to Andy Piper at Lavender Park Golf Centre for a lesson. I had been trying to bed in the changes (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/back-up-and-running.html) and make a wider, slower swing. However somewhere, somehow things had got lost in translation and instead of taking the club back properly I'd taken it back too straight and too wide and the dreaded shanks and some terrible strikes had begun to manifest. I had tried to grind it out on the practice ground but couldn't pin point the issue. It had also begun to have an effect on my back and I was getting some soreness from the weird way I was trying to do things.
Things came to a head a couple of weeks ago. I had a shocking practice session on the Friday night and couldn't get a ball going straight or from anywhere near the centre of the club. I went home in a filthy mood and got to the club very early on the Saturday morning to warm up and find that missing spark before playing in the usual Saturday roll up. It was arguably worse than the previous evening. And then I got a sharp pain down my right side of the back, through the buttock and down the leg. Hello sciatica my old friend! I knew it was pointless trying to continue and if I'm honest it may have been a blessing. The round had the potential to be four hours of absolute hell and would have severely damaged my fragile golfing psyche. I've always been a streaky player and usually ride the wave of good form for a good few weeks before having to then go back and scrap for everything I get.
I have to be honest and say it had got so bad, I was seriously considering chucking the clubs on E-bay and walking away from the game. I couldn't see any light. I was hitting shank after shank, and nothing was going forward in a straight and high manner.
I was fortunate that Andy Piper could squeeze me in for a lesson. I was dosed up on ibuprofen and Deep heat gel to keep the back loose and ward off the twinge in the sciatic nerve. It was good enough to warm up. I told Andy he had thirty minutes to stop the clubs hitting the internet. No pressure. In the end what ailed me was relatively simple. Posture (remember I've spoken about that before) was too hunched again, the left shoulder was closed to the target line, and I was taking the club back too straight, mistaking that for width. The last point was the biggest issue and my arms had become disconnected which was why I was returning the hosel to the ball. Andy brought back a drill from the golfing archive, putting the butt of the club in my navel and simply keeping it there as I made a small turn. Instantly it connected body and shoulder turn, and took the club on a more rounded, but correct path. Posture was easy to fix as was keeping that left shoulder out of the way and square. The results were instant and my golfing psyche felt a wave of relief wash over it like the sunlight appearing from behind a dark cloud. Add in a return to a shorter, better tempo and it was flying off the sweet spot. All done in twenty seven and a half minutes and just enough time to touch on pitching and re-affirming what we'd worked on before. Good times.
However the good times didn't last. I returned to the range a few days later and the strike and direction barely resembled what I achieved in the lesson. I was sticking rigidly to the posture, and the trying hard to take the club away properly. I didn't want to play last weekend but with the club championships on the horizon I knew I had to get out and work through it on the course.
It wasn't pretty. A meagre 27 points. Conditions were tricky with a brisk wind. There were some good holes in there but so many poor strikes as well. One bright spark was the quality of my putting and I holed a number of good putts in the ten-fifteen feet corridor and holed the niggly two-three footers confidently. It was just getting the ball to the green that was the issue.
As you may have realised by now, I'm a stubborn so and so. Belligerent you might say. I know I'm good and I know single figures will be reached. Several teaching professionals have said my game stands up to their lower figure clients, and not just in lessons, but merely passing by at the range. Most haven't even coached me, and some haven't even spoken to me before so it's not a case of ego massaging (or touting for future teaching business). So what you say? Well, I hit the range on Sunday again. A familiar story began to play out. The strike was a tad better but I was directionally challenged.
Something strange was happening. Next door to my bay was a teaching bay. In it was a mat with a line indicating the correct takeaway path on it and with a mirror on the back wall to check the posture. I shouldn't really be in there but it wasn't in use so what was the harm. The crazy thing was, if I hit one or two balls on that mat, I was nailing the ball perfectly. Sneak back next door to my own bay and I couldn't replicate the move. Even putting my own visual aid down to replicate the mat, it wasn't working. Step back into the teaching bay again and BOOM, off it went. Why? How?
 |
| Put me on this mat and I can hit it properly. Why couldn't I do it in my own range bay without the visual aid? |
So a new week dawns. Club Championships next weekend over two days. A halfway cut to survive on Saturday and back for the second round (hopefully) on Sunday. Realistically, I can't win the major prize for the lowest gross score but there is a prize for the lowest net score. I've survived the cut for the past few seasons and managed to register a sixth place back in 2012. The last couple of seasons have been blighted a poor round, usually the opener which has left me playing catch up. This year, with form so patchy I am not under any illusion that the halfway cut represents an achievement at this stage and mentally I've resigned myself to getting 0.1 back on the handicap on Saturday, and the same on Sunday should I play.
I'm not being negative or defensive. In fact I'm hoping that going in with zero expectations will actually free the golfing brain and let the technique I've striven to improve to flow forth. I managed to play yesterday. I can leave you the reader on a more positive note. Things were getting better. I found a way to get it around. The ball striking was better. There were too many missed greens and poor irons, usually following a decent drive. Some tee shots were wayward. I found out of bounds at the seventeenth trying something different off the tee. It was actually a good shot, just too far left of target. I found the pond right of the last green but from where I struck the shot from I couldn't see it properly and seemed to take a horrid kick sharp right into the water. My pitching and chipping are coming together following my recent lessons and this will help especially if the ball striking isn't perfect. However there was a birdie at the tenth, several sand saves and some par numbers as well.
I am still not 100% confident with where the game is. I'm back out tonight to work on the chipping, pitching and bunker play. Tomorrow is pitching and putting and then Friday is about putting the final touches to the long game ready to peg it up on Saturday. The threat of the clubs hitting E-bay has passed and while my game is not where I wanted it to be, peaking for the biggest weekend in the club calender, it is what it is. I'll try my guts out to do as well as I can. My take has always been try and score as well as possible and handicap cuts will take care of themselves. Nothing has changed.
I told you before, it was going to be roller coaster ride. The last few weeks have been wilder than normal, but that's part of the fun of this pursuit towards single figures. You have to hit the lows every so often (not too often) to enjoy the climb back up again. The game is in flux but we'll see what the final parts of my build up to the weekend yield and what round one has in store. I'll be back to share the highs, and learn from the lows. Not quite the blog I envisaged and it shows how fleeting form is for the average club golfer is. Things were ticking along and then we hit a big pothole in the road to single figures. A few running repairs and the tracking is back online, the engine has been given the once over and I'm ready to motor towards the second half of the season.
Sunday, 12 July 2015
Back Up And Running
Welcome back to you the faithful reader of my humble offering. It's been a quiet few weeks. My golf club, Royal Ascot, was affected but the world famous Royal Ascot horse race meeting and it meant the course was down to twelve holes but with access in and out severely limited it was a virtual no-go zone.
I opted for a lesson on the Wednesday with Andy Piper at Lavender Park. I was hoping for a mid-season swing MOT. Instead I got two fairly hefty swing changes, both things we'd discussed previously. The first thing was to slow everything down. Speed kills and my swing is way too quick. I have needed to slow it down for years. When my timing is on, all is good. On a bad swing day I'm too erratic. The other change, and the one that is going to be the real stumbling block is to shorten the swing. Those that have seen the swing in action will know I struggle with a huge over swing, which results in a lift of the head on the back swing as the shoulders continue to rotate. The wrists over hinge and again it takes timing to get it all working. After thirty years of doing the wrong thing, it's going to take time to break a cycle.
The results were not pretty post lesson. I struggled to marry a slower tempo, almost slow motion, with stopping the swing after completing the turn and resisting the thirty year pattern of keeping going. In itself I would normally hit the range for a number of sessions to groove the changes and work on the drills. However in this case that wasn't an option as I had a game booked the following day at Studley Wood in Oxfordshire and Reigate Hill in Surrey on the Friday. Neither round will live in the memory although both courses, especially Studley Wood, were excellent.
I have been working hard. Very hard, and I have to be honest, it's been a bit of a grind and rather frustrating. The tempo side of things I can do. It takes a lot of effort and will power but I can do it. As for shortening the swing, that has been so, so hard. I can do it. When I do and I tie it in with a slow tempo to allow me the time and the room to make a proper coil and release, it's sublime. I'm longer and straighter and it's abundantly clear why Andy has insisted I try and work through this to give me the best chance of finishing the 2015 season as strongly as I can.
I have been experimenting with the S55 irons I bought not so long ago with the intention of using the smaller head and heavier shaft to improve my ball striking. (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/still-not-at-races-struggling.html). It has helped a lot and I can really feel the turn and when the wrists start to over rotate. It's harder when I go back to my normal I25's and the issue I have is I'm not good enough (yet) to be able to use the S55's on the course regularly. The I25's being lighter are a little harder to feel where they are in the swing and to make a compact short swing
The competitive diary has been light at the club in the wake of the Royal Ascot race meeting and it has given me a chance to play some practice rounds in the usual roll up groups and hit the practice ground as well. Whilst I've not shot the lights out, my play has been steady but there have been some serious trust issues on the course. It's really difficult, and perhaps hard for the reader to appreciate, how hard to break something so ingrained is and still try and play without a plethora of swing thoughts over each and every shot.
It was back to competitive play at the weekend and the monthly stableford. I was in a happier place with my swing after another week of grind and practice. It is still a work in progress and far from the finished article but I'm not hiding and will take it out on the course at every opportunity to try and play with it. Being paired with a young three handicapper in Luke Downey and a fine Scottish chap off seven called Stephen Hamilton I was in a tough school for a first outing in anger with the new game.
I started reasonably well. I was unlucky to find sand at the first off the tee but made a safe net par and was ahead of the scorecard after the first three. I was only 104 yards out on the fourth hole, with a wedge in my hand from the semi rough left of the fairway. I hit a massive pull left that hit the bank on the side of the green and rolled out of bounds. It was inevitable once I saw what I'd done and given the firm conditions and I was reaching for a new ball before the shot had touched down. In the end it was an ugly quadruple bogey with a duffed chip, after the second approach with a wedge went long. I bounced back with a par at the next, gave one back at the sixth and another at the eighth. In the end I turned in sixteen points, which considering the horror on the fourth, was a pleasing effort. There were some fine shots in there and one or two wayward ones but it could have been a whole lot worse.
July Stableford Statistics
I made a par at the tenth after an excellent tee shot and again was unlucky to miss the green at the eleventh and find sand. I was even more unfortunate at the twelfth, the hardest on the course when a superb six iron from 165 yards was a matter of inches from clearing the trap and being very close. Golf can be a game of fine margins. I gave a shot back at the par three thirteenth although this hole often plays harder than the stroke index of 17 would indicate and I'm often happy to take bogey here and move on. My obligatory bad hole on the back nine came at the fourteenth. A hooked drive (tempo too quick and a swing far too long) into deep rough meant I could only chip out. I hit my third right into a lateral hazard, dropped under penalty and pitched and putted for a double bogey, although it added a single point to the total. Another point went at the fifteenth but I made a rare par at the sixteenth (SI 3). My drive was a little right, but a fantastic hybrid from 221 yards told me exactly why I've embarked on the swing changes. Two putts later and a safe par secured. I missed the green right, at the penultimate hole, a 218 yard par three, although it was another fine tee shot that came up just shy of the green. A so, so chip to eight feet and then a great putt salvaged a par.
My tee shot at the last was arguably the best of the day. Sadly it got me over excited and I reverted to a quick, long swing for the next and left my ball just short of a tree in the rough on the right with water between my ball and the green. I went for the miracle shot and it didn't come off. A penalty drop and with the green side pond to negotiate again. I didn't hit a great pitch technically but it made the journey to the sanctuary of the green and I made a good putt (even if it did a lap of honour) in front of the masses enjoying a drink on the patio in the summer sun. Always play to the crowd.
In the end, my 33 points was one shy of the buffer zone and so it's 0.1 back on the handicap which now stands at 11.9 (12). However it was a pleasing first effort and perhaps the competition came a week or two too soon. So what can we make of all this? Why am I doing it? Shouldn't I leave well alone?
The simple answer is while the work I have done over the last few winters has moved the swing forward enormously compared to where it was even two years ago, it isn't as robust and consistent as I know it can be. The issues can always be traced back to tempo (swinging too fast) and length (over swing and lifting). Both then require compensatory moves. Fine when I'm on and a dog to get right when I'm off. I have spoken to Andy Piper, a coach with a fine pedigree and stable of clients including professionals, county players and many single figure golfers and he feels I am beginning to gain the credentials to get myself to where I want to be. The short game is still an issue, not for the first time and I will need to switch attention to that again, but for now the focus is on the long game and bleeding the changes in again and again.
The biggest part of the swing change, and reducing the length of swing, involves a wider take away, without breaking the wrist and coming inside as has been my want for so long. From a wide start it should be a simple shoulder turn into what would probably be considered a "two plane" (for those familiar with Jim Hardy's one and two plane work) position. It is this last bit I struggle with and it's still a fight to stop and not let the hands work independently and onwards making me lift. When I do it right it feels like a three quarter length swing (but I'm actually making a coiled full turn). As I've alluded, distance and dispersion are beginning to come as a pair.
Many on here will see this as more mumbo jumbo, way too many technical thoughts, more snake oil and way too much detail. You may be right and perhaps putting it in print, although cathartic for me, isn't actually doing justice to what I seek to achieve and perhaps I need to find a before swing and take one of where we are now for those that know about these things to consider and view.
Whatever your take, and you're all welcome to your own opinion, it's something I'm working hard on right now. It wasn't something I planned to be doing but I have found that Andy Piper hasn't really changed too much since I started using him, and that for the most part the tweaks we've made have helped and got me back playing good golf and even back into the winner's circle. You can't get better than that (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/winner-winner-chicken-dinner.html)
If he feels this is the time to make the change and that the swing and my progress towards single figures will benefit then I trust him. We're not reinventing, we're refining, albeit after thirty years of it being wrong. I've a match this Wednesday in the Nike Matchplay (a national better ball matchplay event) and my partner and I have a home draw. I'm hoping the swing will continue to manifest into something robust, reliable and with fewer moving parts and at least I'll have a wing man to carry me along.
Going forward will be attritional. I am under no illusion that there will be set backs and the swing won't be perfect overnight. I've always said I'm here for the long haul. For now though I'm happy that the club is fully up and running again and we're back on the course. I'm in a happy place with the new swing, even if it can still be improved a lot more yet. I had a couple of dodgy holes in the competition and still threatened the handicap buffer zone. It's a monthly medal next weekend and there really is no hiding place there. Let's see where it take me.
I opted for a lesson on the Wednesday with Andy Piper at Lavender Park. I was hoping for a mid-season swing MOT. Instead I got two fairly hefty swing changes, both things we'd discussed previously. The first thing was to slow everything down. Speed kills and my swing is way too quick. I have needed to slow it down for years. When my timing is on, all is good. On a bad swing day I'm too erratic. The other change, and the one that is going to be the real stumbling block is to shorten the swing. Those that have seen the swing in action will know I struggle with a huge over swing, which results in a lift of the head on the back swing as the shoulders continue to rotate. The wrists over hinge and again it takes timing to get it all working. After thirty years of doing the wrong thing, it's going to take time to break a cycle.
The results were not pretty post lesson. I struggled to marry a slower tempo, almost slow motion, with stopping the swing after completing the turn and resisting the thirty year pattern of keeping going. In itself I would normally hit the range for a number of sessions to groove the changes and work on the drills. However in this case that wasn't an option as I had a game booked the following day at Studley Wood in Oxfordshire and Reigate Hill in Surrey on the Friday. Neither round will live in the memory although both courses, especially Studley Wood, were excellent.
I have been working hard. Very hard, and I have to be honest, it's been a bit of a grind and rather frustrating. The tempo side of things I can do. It takes a lot of effort and will power but I can do it. As for shortening the swing, that has been so, so hard. I can do it. When I do and I tie it in with a slow tempo to allow me the time and the room to make a proper coil and release, it's sublime. I'm longer and straighter and it's abundantly clear why Andy has insisted I try and work through this to give me the best chance of finishing the 2015 season as strongly as I can.
I have been experimenting with the S55 irons I bought not so long ago with the intention of using the smaller head and heavier shaft to improve my ball striking. (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/still-not-at-races-struggling.html). It has helped a lot and I can really feel the turn and when the wrists start to over rotate. It's harder when I go back to my normal I25's and the issue I have is I'm not good enough (yet) to be able to use the S55's on the course regularly. The I25's being lighter are a little harder to feel where they are in the swing and to make a compact short swing
The competitive diary has been light at the club in the wake of the Royal Ascot race meeting and it has given me a chance to play some practice rounds in the usual roll up groups and hit the practice ground as well. Whilst I've not shot the lights out, my play has been steady but there have been some serious trust issues on the course. It's really difficult, and perhaps hard for the reader to appreciate, how hard to break something so ingrained is and still try and play without a plethora of swing thoughts over each and every shot.
It was back to competitive play at the weekend and the monthly stableford. I was in a happier place with my swing after another week of grind and practice. It is still a work in progress and far from the finished article but I'm not hiding and will take it out on the course at every opportunity to try and play with it. Being paired with a young three handicapper in Luke Downey and a fine Scottish chap off seven called Stephen Hamilton I was in a tough school for a first outing in anger with the new game.
I started reasonably well. I was unlucky to find sand at the first off the tee but made a safe net par and was ahead of the scorecard after the first three. I was only 104 yards out on the fourth hole, with a wedge in my hand from the semi rough left of the fairway. I hit a massive pull left that hit the bank on the side of the green and rolled out of bounds. It was inevitable once I saw what I'd done and given the firm conditions and I was reaching for a new ball before the shot had touched down. In the end it was an ugly quadruple bogey with a duffed chip, after the second approach with a wedge went long. I bounced back with a par at the next, gave one back at the sixth and another at the eighth. In the end I turned in sixteen points, which considering the horror on the fourth, was a pleasing effort. There were some fine shots in there and one or two wayward ones but it could have been a whole lot worse.
July Stableford Statistics
I made a par at the tenth after an excellent tee shot and again was unlucky to miss the green at the eleventh and find sand. I was even more unfortunate at the twelfth, the hardest on the course when a superb six iron from 165 yards was a matter of inches from clearing the trap and being very close. Golf can be a game of fine margins. I gave a shot back at the par three thirteenth although this hole often plays harder than the stroke index of 17 would indicate and I'm often happy to take bogey here and move on. My obligatory bad hole on the back nine came at the fourteenth. A hooked drive (tempo too quick and a swing far too long) into deep rough meant I could only chip out. I hit my third right into a lateral hazard, dropped under penalty and pitched and putted for a double bogey, although it added a single point to the total. Another point went at the fifteenth but I made a rare par at the sixteenth (SI 3). My drive was a little right, but a fantastic hybrid from 221 yards told me exactly why I've embarked on the swing changes. Two putts later and a safe par secured. I missed the green right, at the penultimate hole, a 218 yard par three, although it was another fine tee shot that came up just shy of the green. A so, so chip to eight feet and then a great putt salvaged a par.
My tee shot at the last was arguably the best of the day. Sadly it got me over excited and I reverted to a quick, long swing for the next and left my ball just short of a tree in the rough on the right with water between my ball and the green. I went for the miracle shot and it didn't come off. A penalty drop and with the green side pond to negotiate again. I didn't hit a great pitch technically but it made the journey to the sanctuary of the green and I made a good putt (even if it did a lap of honour) in front of the masses enjoying a drink on the patio in the summer sun. Always play to the crowd.
In the end, my 33 points was one shy of the buffer zone and so it's 0.1 back on the handicap which now stands at 11.9 (12). However it was a pleasing first effort and perhaps the competition came a week or two too soon. So what can we make of all this? Why am I doing it? Shouldn't I leave well alone?
The simple answer is while the work I have done over the last few winters has moved the swing forward enormously compared to where it was even two years ago, it isn't as robust and consistent as I know it can be. The issues can always be traced back to tempo (swinging too fast) and length (over swing and lifting). Both then require compensatory moves. Fine when I'm on and a dog to get right when I'm off. I have spoken to Andy Piper, a coach with a fine pedigree and stable of clients including professionals, county players and many single figure golfers and he feels I am beginning to gain the credentials to get myself to where I want to be. The short game is still an issue, not for the first time and I will need to switch attention to that again, but for now the focus is on the long game and bleeding the changes in again and again.
The biggest part of the swing change, and reducing the length of swing, involves a wider take away, without breaking the wrist and coming inside as has been my want for so long. From a wide start it should be a simple shoulder turn into what would probably be considered a "two plane" (for those familiar with Jim Hardy's one and two plane work) position. It is this last bit I struggle with and it's still a fight to stop and not let the hands work independently and onwards making me lift. When I do it right it feels like a three quarter length swing (but I'm actually making a coiled full turn). As I've alluded, distance and dispersion are beginning to come as a pair.
Many on here will see this as more mumbo jumbo, way too many technical thoughts, more snake oil and way too much detail. You may be right and perhaps putting it in print, although cathartic for me, isn't actually doing justice to what I seek to achieve and perhaps I need to find a before swing and take one of where we are now for those that know about these things to consider and view.
Whatever your take, and you're all welcome to your own opinion, it's something I'm working hard on right now. It wasn't something I planned to be doing but I have found that Andy Piper hasn't really changed too much since I started using him, and that for the most part the tweaks we've made have helped and got me back playing good golf and even back into the winner's circle. You can't get better than that (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/winner-winner-chicken-dinner.html)
If he feels this is the time to make the change and that the swing and my progress towards single figures will benefit then I trust him. We're not reinventing, we're refining, albeit after thirty years of it being wrong. I've a match this Wednesday in the Nike Matchplay (a national better ball matchplay event) and my partner and I have a home draw. I'm hoping the swing will continue to manifest into something robust, reliable and with fewer moving parts and at least I'll have a wing man to carry me along.
Going forward will be attritional. I am under no illusion that there will be set backs and the swing won't be perfect overnight. I've always said I'm here for the long haul. For now though I'm happy that the club is fully up and running again and we're back on the course. I'm in a happy place with the new swing, even if it can still be improved a lot more yet. I had a couple of dodgy holes in the competition and still threatened the handicap buffer zone. It's a monthly medal next weekend and there really is no hiding place there. Let's see where it take me.
Monday, 15 June 2015
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
When your narrator left you at the end of the last entry, he was teetering on the brink of a handicap increase up to 13 and a step further away from the desired single figures target. As you'll know if you read my humble offerings regularly, it's not a case of playing badly a lot of the time and that it's close but I'm managing to chuck some bad holes into every round to ruin any good work I've put in during the round.
Last weekend was the monthly stableford. I'd had a short game lesson at Lavender Park Golf Centre with Andy Piper who changed my set up, grip and way I approached pitch shots and in particular bunkers and I'd invested most of practice time (which has been limited) into working on that. My long game had been a little neglected and there was a degree of nervousness after a practice session the day before hadn't gone to plan.
The weather was unseasonal with a very strong wind up around 20 mph promising to make it a real challenge. As all golfers know, the opening tee shot of the day, especially in a competition, is a scary proposition and the first hole at Royal Ascot is a long 229 yard par 3 with out of bounds close enough right to catch a sliced effort, a pond short and left for a hooked shot and two bunkers left and one right of the green. Despite the ever present danger, I picked a target, trusted the swing and bashed a five wood majestically onto the green. Two putts later and I was off and running with a par. I made par at the next and should have made it a hat-trick at the third but threw in an annoying three putt from twenty feet. And then one of this pesky road crashes popped up.
The fourth is a real sleeper. On the card it's only 320 yards with a Harry Colt style bunker in the middle of the fairway about sixty five yards short of the green to catch anyone trying to attack the green off the tee or getting to aggressive. The green is the biggest protection and slopes severely from right to left and back to front.
It should just be a fairway wood or hybrid and a wedge or short iron in. However I hit a poor tee shot right into heavy rough and a copse of trees. I had a back swing but a truncated follow through courtesy of a silver birch but managed to play a great nine iron recovery and considered myself unfortunate that it ran over the back and off the green. I didn't play a great chip but then three putted and didn't score any stableford points. All that good work in the opening holes pegged back in an instant.
If you are a regular reader you'll know I've embraced a concept called New Golf Thinking, a book (available on Kindle and Amazon) that helps you think better. I was lucky enough to meet John O'Keeffe, one of the co-authors at The Grove last year to go through the book and it's techniques. It has really helped and one of the chapters deals with spiralling down, which simply put, means not letting one bad hole lead to another, and then another. I made an up and down for par at the fifth and sixth to keep momentum going and managed to reach the turn with an under handicap score of nineteen points.
I made a net par and then threw in another three putt at the par three eleventh to lose ground. I made a par at the hardest hole on the course (according to stroke index) the twelfth. And then another road crash. A big snap hook of the tee at the 178 yard thirteenth into a hazard left of the hole. A drop, a hack, a chip and two putts and a seven and no points. The fourteenth is a left to right dog leg measuring 430 yards but usually plays down wind. This was the case and I managed to get a good drive down to the dog leg and a clear sight of the green. I hit a poor approach into a bunker thirty yards short of the green. For most club golfers the long bunker shot is tough and the last time I was in this bunker it was wedged under the lip offering no chance to get it out and on. This time it was playable on the up slope. I drew my 52 degree wedge, set up as per my lesson and played it to perfection. It soared out, pitched and checked and followed the contours of the green all the way to the bottom of the hole for a welcome if unexpected birdie.
Progress continued with a par and a net par and then at the seventeenth I threw in my third bad hole of the round. It's a tough par three at 218 yards with out of bounds hard left. That's where I stuck my tee shot. I played three off the tee which was so far right it was on the fourteenth fairway. I pitched well and two putted but that was an ugly triple bogey and no points.
I knew that I was going well and that a par (net birdie) at the par five final hole would give me 36 points. Now many of you will know that thinking ahead like this is a dangerous thing and it's something New Golf Thinking speaks about but it's been a while since I was in this position. With the wind wreaking havoc I was thinking it may have got me into contention. I hit a good drive and a fabulous fairway wood to leave a nine iron from 118 yards with the wind blowing hard into my face. I made a very nervous swing and pulled it left into a bunker. I trusted my new technique and splashed out to six feet and made the putt for a sand save par.
Conditions were so bad in the wind that CSS (competition standard scratch) went out to 73 (+3) and my final tally of 36 points was good enough for a nice 0.6 handicap cut back to 11.8. More importantly it gets me closer to 11. Furthermore, I managed to win division two. GET IN. Not only was it a win, and a handicap cut but I am now qualified for the Royal Ascot Masters, and end of season thirty six hole medal event open only to competition winners. A triumvirate of reasons to celebrate.
Despite all the reasons to be cheerful part three (as Ian Dury once celebrated in song) I am frustrated by my ongoing ability stop the bad holes creeping in. I've been moaning about this for ages and have been trying hard to be strong mentally but I'm struggling. It's never the same hole every time, the same type of error and seems to come from nowhere even when I think I'm going well. It is something I think I need to sit down with a professional and dissect in greater detail. I got away with it this time as the wind made it incredibly difficult and not many managed to score well. I won't be so fortunate all of the time.
June Stableford Statistics
I am happy though. You have to be whenever you win and get a handicap cut thrown in. I was thrilled that I got up and down from two out of three bunkers, and made up and down almost 50% of the time. Vindication of the good work I put in after my lesson and the difference a few simple changes can make.
This weekend was the monthly medal. Again, your narrator went into it not swinging well. I had two practice sessions on Thursday and Friday and neither were great. Too many moving parts and the swing felt out of kilter. I was still hitting it half decent but it was a struggle. Medal golf is tough. Every shot counts and there's nowhere to hide. This was going to be a bumpy ride.
I was in sand left of the green on the first and made a nervy escape and two putted for a net par. I was long with my approach at the second and tried to nudge a putter down the slope but I was woefully short. I should have chipped it. Unforced error. And then it began.....AGAIN. Our third has a carry over a protected environmental area and I hit a rubbish drive, pulled low and left and it was off to the drop zone to play my third and I still had to clear the hazard. I nailed a hybrid. I've worked hard on the pitching following the short game lesson, and I hit a great effort to five feet and holed the putt for a bogey five. A great escape.
I was really fighting the swing all the way. I never felt comfortable over any shot. I missed the green at the par five fifth with a short iron and came up short at the par three sixth. I made a rare (for me) par at out seventh hole, a long par four with a ditch crossing the fairway. This is at the landing zone for a driver forcing players to lay up off the tee or take on a long carry into a narrowing landing area. I hit a hybrid off the tee and the same club onto the green and two putted. I hit the green at the shortest hole on the course, the 139 yard par three eighth. And then it happened again. I chucked in a four putt green. Yes you read that correctly. Four putts from no more than twenty feet. How? Why? What a way to walk of with a double bogey having done the hard work.
I was out in 44 shots or three over my handicap for the front nine. I wasn't swinging great but for the most part was getting it round. It was functional, attritional golf. Not pretty. I opened the back nine with three straight pars, hitting greens in regulations. That said I still wasn't confident over the ball and wasn't feeling the swing. I returned to the scene of one of the meltdowns from my stableford win, the thirteenth. This time I hit a far better tee shot but it missed the target left into a heavy lie in clover. I chipped it out well. Too well really and it checked and came up eight feet short. I'd been struggling with my putting all round and hadn't come to terms with the speed of the greens. This time I got the ball to the hole and scrambled a good par. I was back in the game and back level with my handicap.
A net par at the fourteenth kept the round on an even keel. And then it happened. Another bad hole. I hit a terrible drive. A big yahoo that sliced right on a left to right wind and into heavy rough. I could only hack it out and then compounded the situation by hitting my third into a fairway bunker. The approach was short, the chip came up short and two putts later it was a miserable double bogey to put my round back on the back foot. I scrambled an ugly bogey down the sixteenth and didn't play the hole well but got away with it. The seventeenth was another bad hole the week before and this time I came up short and left. I chipped well. Again too well and it came up short, gripping on the surface. A majestic par putt from ten feet for a fine scrambled par.
I made a solid par at the last and it was back in 39 shots (+4) gross and a total of 83 shots, nett 71 (+1). It was safely in the buffer zone and good for sixth place in division one. I was short by three shots and while you can argue that four putt accounted for two of those, it's hard to see where the other was wasted. While you could argue the double bogey at fifteen was the culprit, I'd suggest that my game wasn't really good enough on the day. I wasted shots with missed greens (the second, fifth and fourteenth) and it was a struggle from start to finish.
June Medal Statistics
In hindsight, it has been a great couple of weeks. I won and perhaps more satisfyingly managed to construct a competitive medal round without playing well with no more than a double bogey on the card. That's progress and I'm in a good place. Work continues on the short game. In my head, I want to become the best short game player at the club, especially from sand. Perhaps an unrealistic aim but if I can get an electric short game that functions under pressure, something I've not had in the armoury for many years, it gives me a real safety net when I don't swing well as per the medal round.
Royal Ascot Golf Club is in a state of flux this week as the world famous Royal Ascot horse race meeting takes place. We give over swathes of the course to helicopters, coach parking and the sheer volume of traffic makes it hard to get in and out of and to be honest it's worth avoiding. I'm giving it a wide berth and opting to work on short game and have a lesson booked for Wednesday to try and get on top of my swing. It isn't far off so won't need major surgery. I'm heading to Oxford and a course called Studley Wood on Thursday. We have a reciprocal agreement with them and it has a fantastic reputation especially for their greens. On Friday I'm off to Reigate Hill for a social game with my best mate. This is a great facility and as well as a short but taxing course has a fantastic practice facility (http://www.reigatehillgolfclub.co.uk/surrey_golflab.htm).
It has been a long time coming readers and despite my fine round a few months ago at Blackmoor Golf Club, this was the first time in a couple of years that I've won at Royal Ascot. I'm chuffed, more so about the handicap cut and really feel that at last I am starting to get the rewards my efforts have deserved. I need to carry this forward. I am still certain I can make single figures. I have been told this by several teaching professionals and I know it is in there. I hope the shock of such a positive and upbeat post hasn't caught you unaware. I am a happy golfer and with big events like the club championship coming up, there's a lot to be optimistic about. Good news and time to reflect and enjoy!
Last weekend was the monthly stableford. I'd had a short game lesson at Lavender Park Golf Centre with Andy Piper who changed my set up, grip and way I approached pitch shots and in particular bunkers and I'd invested most of practice time (which has been limited) into working on that. My long game had been a little neglected and there was a degree of nervousness after a practice session the day before hadn't gone to plan.
The weather was unseasonal with a very strong wind up around 20 mph promising to make it a real challenge. As all golfers know, the opening tee shot of the day, especially in a competition, is a scary proposition and the first hole at Royal Ascot is a long 229 yard par 3 with out of bounds close enough right to catch a sliced effort, a pond short and left for a hooked shot and two bunkers left and one right of the green. Despite the ever present danger, I picked a target, trusted the swing and bashed a five wood majestically onto the green. Two putts later and I was off and running with a par. I made par at the next and should have made it a hat-trick at the third but threw in an annoying three putt from twenty feet. And then one of this pesky road crashes popped up.
The fourth is a real sleeper. On the card it's only 320 yards with a Harry Colt style bunker in the middle of the fairway about sixty five yards short of the green to catch anyone trying to attack the green off the tee or getting to aggressive. The green is the biggest protection and slopes severely from right to left and back to front.
It should just be a fairway wood or hybrid and a wedge or short iron in. However I hit a poor tee shot right into heavy rough and a copse of trees. I had a back swing but a truncated follow through courtesy of a silver birch but managed to play a great nine iron recovery and considered myself unfortunate that it ran over the back and off the green. I didn't play a great chip but then three putted and didn't score any stableford points. All that good work in the opening holes pegged back in an instant.
If you are a regular reader you'll know I've embraced a concept called New Golf Thinking, a book (available on Kindle and Amazon) that helps you think better. I was lucky enough to meet John O'Keeffe, one of the co-authors at The Grove last year to go through the book and it's techniques. It has really helped and one of the chapters deals with spiralling down, which simply put, means not letting one bad hole lead to another, and then another. I made an up and down for par at the fifth and sixth to keep momentum going and managed to reach the turn with an under handicap score of nineteen points.
I made a net par and then threw in another three putt at the par three eleventh to lose ground. I made a par at the hardest hole on the course (according to stroke index) the twelfth. And then another road crash. A big snap hook of the tee at the 178 yard thirteenth into a hazard left of the hole. A drop, a hack, a chip and two putts and a seven and no points. The fourteenth is a left to right dog leg measuring 430 yards but usually plays down wind. This was the case and I managed to get a good drive down to the dog leg and a clear sight of the green. I hit a poor approach into a bunker thirty yards short of the green. For most club golfers the long bunker shot is tough and the last time I was in this bunker it was wedged under the lip offering no chance to get it out and on. This time it was playable on the up slope. I drew my 52 degree wedge, set up as per my lesson and played it to perfection. It soared out, pitched and checked and followed the contours of the green all the way to the bottom of the hole for a welcome if unexpected birdie.
Progress continued with a par and a net par and then at the seventeenth I threw in my third bad hole of the round. It's a tough par three at 218 yards with out of bounds hard left. That's where I stuck my tee shot. I played three off the tee which was so far right it was on the fourteenth fairway. I pitched well and two putted but that was an ugly triple bogey and no points.
I knew that I was going well and that a par (net birdie) at the par five final hole would give me 36 points. Now many of you will know that thinking ahead like this is a dangerous thing and it's something New Golf Thinking speaks about but it's been a while since I was in this position. With the wind wreaking havoc I was thinking it may have got me into contention. I hit a good drive and a fabulous fairway wood to leave a nine iron from 118 yards with the wind blowing hard into my face. I made a very nervous swing and pulled it left into a bunker. I trusted my new technique and splashed out to six feet and made the putt for a sand save par.
Conditions were so bad in the wind that CSS (competition standard scratch) went out to 73 (+3) and my final tally of 36 points was good enough for a nice 0.6 handicap cut back to 11.8. More importantly it gets me closer to 11. Furthermore, I managed to win division two. GET IN. Not only was it a win, and a handicap cut but I am now qualified for the Royal Ascot Masters, and end of season thirty six hole medal event open only to competition winners. A triumvirate of reasons to celebrate.
 |
| That winning feeling. It's been a long time coming at Royal Ascot but it's good to be back. |
June Stableford Statistics
I am happy though. You have to be whenever you win and get a handicap cut thrown in. I was thrilled that I got up and down from two out of three bunkers, and made up and down almost 50% of the time. Vindication of the good work I put in after my lesson and the difference a few simple changes can make.
This weekend was the monthly medal. Again, your narrator went into it not swinging well. I had two practice sessions on Thursday and Friday and neither were great. Too many moving parts and the swing felt out of kilter. I was still hitting it half decent but it was a struggle. Medal golf is tough. Every shot counts and there's nowhere to hide. This was going to be a bumpy ride.
I was in sand left of the green on the first and made a nervy escape and two putted for a net par. I was long with my approach at the second and tried to nudge a putter down the slope but I was woefully short. I should have chipped it. Unforced error. And then it began.....AGAIN. Our third has a carry over a protected environmental area and I hit a rubbish drive, pulled low and left and it was off to the drop zone to play my third and I still had to clear the hazard. I nailed a hybrid. I've worked hard on the pitching following the short game lesson, and I hit a great effort to five feet and holed the putt for a bogey five. A great escape.
I was really fighting the swing all the way. I never felt comfortable over any shot. I missed the green at the par five fifth with a short iron and came up short at the par three sixth. I made a rare (for me) par at out seventh hole, a long par four with a ditch crossing the fairway. This is at the landing zone for a driver forcing players to lay up off the tee or take on a long carry into a narrowing landing area. I hit a hybrid off the tee and the same club onto the green and two putted. I hit the green at the shortest hole on the course, the 139 yard par three eighth. And then it happened again. I chucked in a four putt green. Yes you read that correctly. Four putts from no more than twenty feet. How? Why? What a way to walk of with a double bogey having done the hard work.
I was out in 44 shots or three over my handicap for the front nine. I wasn't swinging great but for the most part was getting it round. It was functional, attritional golf. Not pretty. I opened the back nine with three straight pars, hitting greens in regulations. That said I still wasn't confident over the ball and wasn't feeling the swing. I returned to the scene of one of the meltdowns from my stableford win, the thirteenth. This time I hit a far better tee shot but it missed the target left into a heavy lie in clover. I chipped it out well. Too well really and it checked and came up eight feet short. I'd been struggling with my putting all round and hadn't come to terms with the speed of the greens. This time I got the ball to the hole and scrambled a good par. I was back in the game and back level with my handicap.
A net par at the fourteenth kept the round on an even keel. And then it happened. Another bad hole. I hit a terrible drive. A big yahoo that sliced right on a left to right wind and into heavy rough. I could only hack it out and then compounded the situation by hitting my third into a fairway bunker. The approach was short, the chip came up short and two putts later it was a miserable double bogey to put my round back on the back foot. I scrambled an ugly bogey down the sixteenth and didn't play the hole well but got away with it. The seventeenth was another bad hole the week before and this time I came up short and left. I chipped well. Again too well and it came up short, gripping on the surface. A majestic par putt from ten feet for a fine scrambled par.
I made a solid par at the last and it was back in 39 shots (+4) gross and a total of 83 shots, nett 71 (+1). It was safely in the buffer zone and good for sixth place in division one. I was short by three shots and while you can argue that four putt accounted for two of those, it's hard to see where the other was wasted. While you could argue the double bogey at fifteen was the culprit, I'd suggest that my game wasn't really good enough on the day. I wasted shots with missed greens (the second, fifth and fourteenth) and it was a struggle from start to finish.
June Medal Statistics
In hindsight, it has been a great couple of weeks. I won and perhaps more satisfyingly managed to construct a competitive medal round without playing well with no more than a double bogey on the card. That's progress and I'm in a good place. Work continues on the short game. In my head, I want to become the best short game player at the club, especially from sand. Perhaps an unrealistic aim but if I can get an electric short game that functions under pressure, something I've not had in the armoury for many years, it gives me a real safety net when I don't swing well as per the medal round.
Royal Ascot Golf Club is in a state of flux this week as the world famous Royal Ascot horse race meeting takes place. We give over swathes of the course to helicopters, coach parking and the sheer volume of traffic makes it hard to get in and out of and to be honest it's worth avoiding. I'm giving it a wide berth and opting to work on short game and have a lesson booked for Wednesday to try and get on top of my swing. It isn't far off so won't need major surgery. I'm heading to Oxford and a course called Studley Wood on Thursday. We have a reciprocal agreement with them and it has a fantastic reputation especially for their greens. On Friday I'm off to Reigate Hill for a social game with my best mate. This is a great facility and as well as a short but taxing course has a fantastic practice facility (http://www.reigatehillgolfclub.co.uk/surrey_golflab.htm).
It has been a long time coming readers and despite my fine round a few months ago at Blackmoor Golf Club, this was the first time in a couple of years that I've won at Royal Ascot. I'm chuffed, more so about the handicap cut and really feel that at last I am starting to get the rewards my efforts have deserved. I need to carry this forward. I am still certain I can make single figures. I have been told this by several teaching professionals and I know it is in there. I hope the shock of such a positive and upbeat post hasn't caught you unaware. I am a happy golfer and with big events like the club championship coming up, there's a lot to be optimistic about. Good news and time to reflect and enjoy!
Saturday, 6 June 2015
Hillside And Beyond
Southport, a quaint seaside town on the North West coast that is also home to some fine golf courses in a very short piece of land amongst the dunes. I was up there to compete in the Golf Monthly Forum "Race To Hillside" National Final having qualified in the Southern Area event at Blackmoor.
The day dawned warm and sunny but with a stiff old breeze blowing off the Irish Sea. As a links golf novice I was nervous about what lay ahead. Form hadn't been good, this was a tough course against some very good players but having said that, it was also about having fun.
Next door to Hillside is Royal Birkdale. Arguably the most famous of the trio of courses it has hosted eight Open championships and will do so again in 2017. The last one in 2008 was one by Padraig Harrington. There is a fine time line that shows exactly what they have achieved over the years (http://www.royalbirkdale.com/club-history). It has an iconic clubhouse that rises from behind the eighteenth and I was keen to have a look around before the serious part of the trip too place
It is a tough start and looking down the first hole you can only imagine the pressures the top players face (http://www.royalbirkdale.com/course/holes/first-hole).
From Royal Birkdale it was a two minute jaunt to Hillside. It is ranked number 30 in the Golf Monthly top 100 courses and we received a very warm welcome in the professional shop and clubhouse. Wanting to do my best I wandered out to the practice area including a superb short game facility. It was here that I was to get a rude awakening. I was hitting the ball nicely and had a smooth tempo and all was good. All except that it was straight into the teeth of the wind and even with my driver, I was struggling to get the ball past the 200 yard marker. Others came and I felt better when they also struggled.
The short game area had an immaculate green that wouldn't have been out of place on any course along with two deep pot bunkers, a taste of what lay ahead. I was managing to get out without too many issues and my short game was in reasonable shape. Time to get to the first tee and get it on.
There were seven regional winners going out in two groups. I was in the second group and so had a chance to see how the first group tackled the opening hole. It's just shy of 400 yards and has the Southport to Liverpool railway hard down the left and with a fairway bunker right. The fairway was quite generous but with the wind blowing right to left and having seen several tee shots already blown towards the railway and out of bounds it was still a daunting task. In the end my tee shot was aimed at the fairway bunker but I blocked it right of that into heavy rough. It was a nervy start and an opening double bogey
After a few nervy holes I settled down. The opening holes meander along the side of the railway line and across the tracks lies Southport and Ainsdale or SandA as it's affectionately known. Like Hillside it is an Open qualifying venue for this years championship. SandA has its own prestigious history (http://www.sandagolfclub.co.uk/about_southport_and_ainsdale_golf_club) and has hosted the Ryder Cup twice.
I was managing to play the longer holes well but was struggling with the par threes including a lost ball off the tee on the seventh. However I bounced back with par at the next and in the end managed to go out in thirteen points. The tenth at Hillside is a glorious par three playing 172 yards uphill between two large dunes flanked with pines. I carved another wild tee shot right and again failed to score. It wasn't the start to the back nine I was looking for. However I was finding my feet and started to make a few bogeys (for net par) and the odd par (for net birdie). There were a couple of problems, including an annoying three putt but in the end, my fourteen points coming home was a decent effort.
To illustrate how hard this course was playing, the thirteenth played 402 yards. I hit my driver right out of the middle and flushed a five wood but despite two of my best shots of the day I was still twenty yards short. The wind was playing its part.
In the end, my twenty seven points may sound a paltry return, but it was good enough for third place after count back. The winner managed thirty one points playing off a seven handicap. I think everyone enjoyed the challenge but there's no doubt the course was the winner.
Southport is certainly blessed when it comes to quality courses and if you are ever in the vicinity you really should play one or more of these venues. It isn't cheap but these places are so iconic and in such fabulous condition it's worth every penny and if the wind blows I can assure you that you'll be hitting a lot of shots so you will definitely get your money's worth. That said, they aren't fearsome and are fair but challenging. A fantastic trip and third place was above my expectations.
It was back to Berkshire (a five hour road trip) and the Stone Cup over the bank holiday weekend at Royal Ascot. This is a stableford competition over thirty six holes but where the players can choose which two days out of the three they want to play. I played my opening round on the Saturday.
Things got off to a quick start and I opened with two pars, dropped a shot at the third and then parred the next two. Regular followers will know I've had issues at the 178 yard par three sixth in the past but today I hit a solid four iron to within ten feet and made a very rare birdie. Level par gross after six. Rare territory. I dropped a shot at the next but it is the second hardest hole on the course but then, almost inevitably I chucked in a road crash hole. I cannot seem to keep these off the card and it's a big problem. The hole only measures 139 yards but I missed the green miles left, duffed a chip, chipped on and then inevitably three putted. I made a net par at the ninth and was out in +5 gross and more importantly twenty stableford points.
I always view the first two holes of the back nine as a chance to pick up shots. They are a mid length par four measuring 371 yards and a par three of 178 yards. However today I only managed to make a net par on both. Not a problem but a chance missed.
I thought my luck was holding when I made an outrageous par on the twelfth, the hardest hole on the course having not seen the short grass once thanks to an outrageous twenty five foot putt. I gave one away at the next but two more pars and I was back under handicap. The sixteenth is a tough par four with out of bounds tight left. I took a three wood for safety and didn't get all of it and it was short and right. I was forced to lay up and was in the middle of the fairway with just an eight iron in hand. I have no idea why it happened but I pulled it miles left of the green into an unplayable lie and in the end the quadruple bogey was never going to add to the points tally. I dropped another at the penultimate hole which always plays harder than its stroke index of 13. I had a chance to par the last but failed having missed the green left again with an eight iron and was reliant on a six foot putt to make a bogey (net par).
Still, with two holes where I didn't score, it was still thirty six points and twelfth place on the opening day. In these competitions spread over several days you can't win it after round one but you can play yourself out of contention and so I was pleased with my work but was also very annoyed at the bad holes and the ongoing problem of throwing killer shots in from nowhere.
Stone Cup 1st Round Statistics
Back for more on the Monday I knew I needed a similar score or better to be competitive. There were some impressive scores in but I started reasonably. Not as well as my first round but level with my handicap after three holes. It could have been better but for an annoying three putt on the third. And then, like round one, a huge score appeared from nowhere on the fourth. I missed the fairway right into heavy rough and with a tree hampering the swing. I moved it forward and then hit my pitch over the back of the ground. I chipped back on and had to hole a fifteen footer for bogey and a point. I missed. And the one back and that was a triple bogey.
The rest of the front nine was fairly steady. I missed a green from 135 yards at the fifth but for the second competitive round running made par at the sixth this time courtesy of a sand save from the right hand bunker. In the end I was out in seventeen points which considering the horror at the fourth was decent effort especially as I didn't feel my game was quite on key. I got the dropped shot back at the tenth and was level handicap with eight to play and a chance to kick on and challenge.
I lost ground again at the eleventh after missing the green right and hitting a poor bunker shot. I was holding position until the fourteenth. I found the fairway with a good tee shot and hit a good approach from 201 yards but pulled it into the bunker short and right. It left a long bunker shot. Or it would have but when I arrived at the ball it was rammed in the face under the lip. I had no stance and did well to get it out at all. I chipped on and two putted but another double bogey. Damn.
Stone Cup 2nd Round Statistics
I made par at the par five fifteenth and a net par at the tricky sixteenth but could only manage a single point at the final two holes. It was a whimper and I finished with thirty two points and 68 points overall. In the end I finished eighteenth overall. Not as good as it could have been but a steady performance none the less.
On the downside, the Monday round was another 0.1 back on the handicap and I'm teetering on the edge of going up to 12.5 which is a 13 handicap in new money. Not what I had planned at the start of the season and if I'm honest not what I feel I've deserved. So many rounds are being punctuated by these two killer holes. It isn't even the same ones every time or I'd have revised my course management on them by now.
I am still upbeat. I still have total faith in my chances of getting to single figures and will keep going. I'm enjoying my golf (apart from those pesky bad holes each round) and loving the journey. It has been an interesting few rounds to Hillside and beyond. With the season now in full flow it's time to take the good points from my links odyssey and bank holiday challenge for a Royal Ascot major and go for it.
The day dawned warm and sunny but with a stiff old breeze blowing off the Irish Sea. As a links golf novice I was nervous about what lay ahead. Form hadn't been good, this was a tough course against some very good players but having said that, it was also about having fun.
Next door to Hillside is Royal Birkdale. Arguably the most famous of the trio of courses it has hosted eight Open championships and will do so again in 2017. The last one in 2008 was one by Padraig Harrington. There is a fine time line that shows exactly what they have achieved over the years (http://www.royalbirkdale.com/club-history). It has an iconic clubhouse that rises from behind the eighteenth and I was keen to have a look around before the serious part of the trip too place
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| The famous Royal Birkdale clubhouse |
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| The 1st hole at Royal Birkdale |
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| Standing beside the 18th green where Opens are won |
The short game area had an immaculate green that wouldn't have been out of place on any course along with two deep pot bunkers, a taste of what lay ahead. I was managing to get out without too many issues and my short game was in reasonable shape. Time to get to the first tee and get it on.
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| Ready to play beside the short game area |
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| The lull before the storm |
I was managing to play the longer holes well but was struggling with the par threes including a lost ball off the tee on the seventh. However I bounced back with par at the next and in the end managed to go out in thirteen points. The tenth at Hillside is a glorious par three playing 172 yards uphill between two large dunes flanked with pines. I carved another wild tee shot right and again failed to score. It wasn't the start to the back nine I was looking for. However I was finding my feet and started to make a few bogeys (for net par) and the odd par (for net birdie). There were a couple of problems, including an annoying three putt but in the end, my fourteen points coming home was a decent effort.
To illustrate how hard this course was playing, the thirteenth played 402 yards. I hit my driver right out of the middle and flushed a five wood but despite two of my best shots of the day I was still twenty yards short. The wind was playing its part.
In the end, my twenty seven points may sound a paltry return, but it was good enough for third place after count back. The winner managed thirty one points playing off a seven handicap. I think everyone enjoyed the challenge but there's no doubt the course was the winner.
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| The finalists in front of the 1930's clubhouse |
It was back to Berkshire (a five hour road trip) and the Stone Cup over the bank holiday weekend at Royal Ascot. This is a stableford competition over thirty six holes but where the players can choose which two days out of the three they want to play. I played my opening round on the Saturday.
Things got off to a quick start and I opened with two pars, dropped a shot at the third and then parred the next two. Regular followers will know I've had issues at the 178 yard par three sixth in the past but today I hit a solid four iron to within ten feet and made a very rare birdie. Level par gross after six. Rare territory. I dropped a shot at the next but it is the second hardest hole on the course but then, almost inevitably I chucked in a road crash hole. I cannot seem to keep these off the card and it's a big problem. The hole only measures 139 yards but I missed the green miles left, duffed a chip, chipped on and then inevitably three putted. I made a net par at the ninth and was out in +5 gross and more importantly twenty stableford points.
I always view the first two holes of the back nine as a chance to pick up shots. They are a mid length par four measuring 371 yards and a par three of 178 yards. However today I only managed to make a net par on both. Not a problem but a chance missed.
I thought my luck was holding when I made an outrageous par on the twelfth, the hardest hole on the course having not seen the short grass once thanks to an outrageous twenty five foot putt. I gave one away at the next but two more pars and I was back under handicap. The sixteenth is a tough par four with out of bounds tight left. I took a three wood for safety and didn't get all of it and it was short and right. I was forced to lay up and was in the middle of the fairway with just an eight iron in hand. I have no idea why it happened but I pulled it miles left of the green into an unplayable lie and in the end the quadruple bogey was never going to add to the points tally. I dropped another at the penultimate hole which always plays harder than its stroke index of 13. I had a chance to par the last but failed having missed the green left again with an eight iron and was reliant on a six foot putt to make a bogey (net par).
Still, with two holes where I didn't score, it was still thirty six points and twelfth place on the opening day. In these competitions spread over several days you can't win it after round one but you can play yourself out of contention and so I was pleased with my work but was also very annoyed at the bad holes and the ongoing problem of throwing killer shots in from nowhere.
Stone Cup 1st Round Statistics
Back for more on the Monday I knew I needed a similar score or better to be competitive. There were some impressive scores in but I started reasonably. Not as well as my first round but level with my handicap after three holes. It could have been better but for an annoying three putt on the third. And then, like round one, a huge score appeared from nowhere on the fourth. I missed the fairway right into heavy rough and with a tree hampering the swing. I moved it forward and then hit my pitch over the back of the ground. I chipped back on and had to hole a fifteen footer for bogey and a point. I missed. And the one back and that was a triple bogey.
The rest of the front nine was fairly steady. I missed a green from 135 yards at the fifth but for the second competitive round running made par at the sixth this time courtesy of a sand save from the right hand bunker. In the end I was out in seventeen points which considering the horror at the fourth was decent effort especially as I didn't feel my game was quite on key. I got the dropped shot back at the tenth and was level handicap with eight to play and a chance to kick on and challenge.
I lost ground again at the eleventh after missing the green right and hitting a poor bunker shot. I was holding position until the fourteenth. I found the fairway with a good tee shot and hit a good approach from 201 yards but pulled it into the bunker short and right. It left a long bunker shot. Or it would have but when I arrived at the ball it was rammed in the face under the lip. I had no stance and did well to get it out at all. I chipped on and two putted but another double bogey. Damn.
Stone Cup 2nd Round Statistics
I made par at the par five fifteenth and a net par at the tricky sixteenth but could only manage a single point at the final two holes. It was a whimper and I finished with thirty two points and 68 points overall. In the end I finished eighteenth overall. Not as good as it could have been but a steady performance none the less.
On the downside, the Monday round was another 0.1 back on the handicap and I'm teetering on the edge of going up to 12.5 which is a 13 handicap in new money. Not what I had planned at the start of the season and if I'm honest not what I feel I've deserved. So many rounds are being punctuated by these two killer holes. It isn't even the same ones every time or I'd have revised my course management on them by now.
I am still upbeat. I still have total faith in my chances of getting to single figures and will keep going. I'm enjoying my golf (apart from those pesky bad holes each round) and loving the journey. It has been an interesting few rounds to Hillside and beyond. With the season now in full flow it's time to take the good points from my links odyssey and bank holiday challenge for a Royal Ascot major and go for it.
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
Turning A Corner Or Flattering To Deceive - Hillside Awaits
As you will recall, your narrator was waiting on the final placing for his dismal net 82 in the last medal. It was only good for 23rd place in Division one and it was a very poor performance. Undaunted I was able to enjoy some social golf last weekend with no handicap pressure or card in pencil in hand.
Both rounds on Saturday and Sunday were a curate's egg of good, bad and a few "oh my god's" that defied description. It has been an ongoing problem for a while and it's killing my scores. I didn't disgrace myself too much and finished mid-table in both roll ups. I'm still working hard on improving posture and slowing the tempo down to give myself more time to actually complete the swing going back and finish it off after I strike the ball. In practice it's been steady progress but hasn't transferred to the course...yet.
On Thursday I'm off to Hillside, which is situated next to Open venue, Royal Birkdale and is an final qualifying course in its own right and rated number 30 in the Golf Monthly top 100 courses. I'm not that conversant with the nuances of links golf, rarely getting an opportunity to play this type of golf. It is the Golf Monthly Forum "Race To Hillside" national final and I am there as one of eight regional qualifiers having got through at Blackmoor Golf Club (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/lightening-strikes-twice.html)
Regular readers will notice your narrator struggling of late and the handicap has gone out from a starting point of 11.7 in 2015 to 12.3 and dangerously close to the 13 mark. Not what I wanted and not ideal in a pursuit to single figures but I never said the journey would be quick or easy!
I hit the range last night and there was some good stuff there. Some not so good but enough to persuade me the 225 mile journey may not be quite the waste of time my current form might indicate. It promises to be a tough test and the forecast is for 15-20mph winds to keep it interesting. They haven't announced which tees we'll be off but it will not doubt be a tough examination
I managed to get today off and was up at Royal Ascot by 7.00am to get a final practice round in before setting off. I have to be honest I wasn't sure what to expect but what transpired may just be a sign I'm turning a corner. I started par, par, birdie, par, par, standing at -1 gross on the sixth tee, It's been a bit of a tricky hole and doesn't suit my eye. It was blowing into a stiff breeze (ideal preparation for my links golf examination) and I hit a four iron to the front edge. Sadly I was to tamely three putt. I dropped a shot at the next after a poor tee shot but it's stroke index 2 (so a net par). A par at the eighth and a I got a good drive away at the ninth. I hit a poor approach, way too fast in my tempo but pitched on and two putted. Out in +2 gross
It was going well until the 12 where I hit a terrible drive, pulled low and left and destined never to be seen again in shin high grass. It led to an ugly triple. It's these killer holes that blight the card too often. I then hit one of those "oh my god shots" off the thirteenth tee off the toe and nearly missing it completely. It led to another double. The fourteenth is a dog leg left to right. I hit a good tee shot but pulled it left of my target line and again it cost me a lost ball and a triple. I'd gone from +3 to +11 in four holes. I can't stop the bleeding.
I made par at the fifteenth, a battling bogey (net par) at the sixteenth and found the green at the long 218 yard penultimate hole hitting it with an excellent hybrid. I didn't hit a great drive at the last and it found a juicy lie in the rough. I didn't make good conduct but my third was a great fairway wood. I pitched well to twelve feet but couldn't make an unlikely par. All in all it ended up as an 82 gross (+12) and level handicap.
It had the potential to be so much better. Playing on my own (but holing out everything) there was not pressure but on the front nine I was picking my targets and playing the wind magnificently. Definitely some of the best golf I've played for ages.
Have I turned a corner of am I still flattering to deceive. There's not doubt Hillside will provide a proper examination especially in the predicted winds. If I do what I know I should be doing and swinging that much smoother and slowing it down to Mach 1 or below then who knows?
One thing is for certain, the first will be a tough opener. It measures anything between 386 and 396 yards depending on the tees we'll use. According to the website:
Both rounds on Saturday and Sunday were a curate's egg of good, bad and a few "oh my god's" that defied description. It has been an ongoing problem for a while and it's killing my scores. I didn't disgrace myself too much and finished mid-table in both roll ups. I'm still working hard on improving posture and slowing the tempo down to give myself more time to actually complete the swing going back and finish it off after I strike the ball. In practice it's been steady progress but hasn't transferred to the course...yet.
On Thursday I'm off to Hillside, which is situated next to Open venue, Royal Birkdale and is an final qualifying course in its own right and rated number 30 in the Golf Monthly top 100 courses. I'm not that conversant with the nuances of links golf, rarely getting an opportunity to play this type of golf. It is the Golf Monthly Forum "Race To Hillside" national final and I am there as one of eight regional qualifiers having got through at Blackmoor Golf Club (http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/lightening-strikes-twice.html)
Regular readers will notice your narrator struggling of late and the handicap has gone out from a starting point of 11.7 in 2015 to 12.3 and dangerously close to the 13 mark. Not what I wanted and not ideal in a pursuit to single figures but I never said the journey would be quick or easy!
I hit the range last night and there was some good stuff there. Some not so good but enough to persuade me the 225 mile journey may not be quite the waste of time my current form might indicate. It promises to be a tough test and the forecast is for 15-20mph winds to keep it interesting. They haven't announced which tees we'll be off but it will not doubt be a tough examination
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| The view to the 1930's style clubhouse |
It was going well until the 12 where I hit a terrible drive, pulled low and left and destined never to be seen again in shin high grass. It led to an ugly triple. It's these killer holes that blight the card too often. I then hit one of those "oh my god shots" off the thirteenth tee off the toe and nearly missing it completely. It led to another double. The fourteenth is a dog leg left to right. I hit a good tee shot but pulled it left of my target line and again it cost me a lost ball and a triple. I'd gone from +3 to +11 in four holes. I can't stop the bleeding.
I made par at the fifteenth, a battling bogey (net par) at the sixteenth and found the green at the long 218 yard penultimate hole hitting it with an excellent hybrid. I didn't hit a great drive at the last and it found a juicy lie in the rough. I didn't make good conduct but my third was a great fairway wood. I pitched well to twelve feet but couldn't make an unlikely par. All in all it ended up as an 82 gross (+12) and level handicap.
It had the potential to be so much better. Playing on my own (but holing out everything) there was not pressure but on the front nine I was picking my targets and playing the wind magnificently. Definitely some of the best golf I've played for ages.
Have I turned a corner of am I still flattering to deceive. There's not doubt Hillside will provide a proper examination especially in the predicted winds. If I do what I know I should be doing and swinging that much smoother and slowing it down to Mach 1 or below then who knows?
One thing is for certain, the first will be a tough opener. It measures anything between 386 and 396 yards depending on the tees we'll use. According to the website:
"The railway dominates the left hand side of the hole and the fairway bunkering means that a well positioned drive is crucial. If you manage to stay on the fairway the approach to the green should be relatively straight forward.
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| The first hole. Not exactly a gentle opener |
I'm not convinced and that bunker by the green looks daunting but we'll see how it goes. I'm energised by my performance this morning and I'm too long in the tooth to get overly excited. I've had too many false dawns but it does reiterate the fact that the work I did from Andy Piper at Lavender Park Golf Centre on posture and tempo is starting to pay dividends. There is a good golfer in there and single figures is achievable and still firmly on my agenda. I have a stubborn steadfast belief in what I'm doing and that I'll get there.
I'll be sure to give you all the details, the good and the ugly and hopefully your narrator will have tales of daring deeds, exciting golf and a good performance. Ideally a win would be good and I always play to win (but lose graciously as my dear old dad use to say) and I am invigorated and ready to go. The bag is packed, the outfit chosen and I'm ready to hit the road. A front nine of +2 gross would be nice. Hopefully the corner has been turned and that Hillside isn't another episode of flattering to deceive.
Sunday, 10 May 2015
And So It Goes On - But With Tinges Of Promise
Last weekend was a Bank Holiday and a chance to enjoy copious amounts of golf. Saturday was a monthly stableford and on the Monday I played in the Jubilee Cup, a pairs competition, better ball stableford off three quarter handicaps with my regular playing partner Adam O'Neil at Royal Ascot Golf Club.
As you are no doubt aware by now my golf is going through what is commonly known as a slump. Well on the course it's a slump. In practice I'm actually hitting it reasonably well. There was a couple of comments on my last post. Both are coming from the same direction, that my practice is perhaps not realistic enough and that I have too many lessons and too many technical thoughts in my head when I'm playing.
I replied to the post regarding the unrealistic practice (thanks for taking the time to put both comments on there - http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/golf-sucks.html) and if anyone else has anything to say on anything I write about, feel free to put your own thoughts. With regards the latter comment, there was a period a few seasons ago where that was undoubtedly true and my head was full of chocolate frogs and my game was paralysed by technical thoughts. However I've worked hard in the last few years to play with an empty head and New Golf Thinking has done a lot to help me just take a practice swing, pick a target, get over the shot and fire. In terms of the lessons, then I try and have a few over the winter to get ready for the next Spring. I try and have a couple during the season, usually if something goes astray. I want to work specifically on the short game but aside from that I've nothing planned for the moment. The last lesson worked on posture and tempo and these are things I just need to work on in practice now and take onto the course.
Let's start with simple facts. I scored 29 points in the stableford and another 0.1 handicap rise. That means I'm up to 12.2 (starting 2015 on 11.7). However there was some good stuff in the round. I actually hit the ball better than I had done in competitive rounds of late. I missed too many fairways and greens but by fine margins (into semi-rough and the fringe of greens or bunkers). The quality of the ball striking was better.
May Stableford Stats
In the end it was good enough for 17th place in Division One. Aside from another annoying handicap increase I was frustrated but pleased. I felt like I didn't get any breaks and that the work I've put in isn't being repaid. Patience is key and as long as I feel I am doing the right things on the course I am realistic to think that this dip in form has to end soon.
I played in a Sunday roll up the following day. I started poorly. Very poorly and was struggling by the turn but I played the back nine in a much better manner and eventually wandered home in 31 points. Not enough to win any cash by a long chalk but a long way from the bottom of the pile. The last nine holes actually gave me some encouragement that I wouldn't be a hindrance to my partner and that perhaps we had a chance in the Jubilee Cup especially as he's been playing well lately.
I am a former winner of the Jubilee Cup (with a different partner) and have had a few near misses. My partner Adam O'Neil and I were very close in the annual pairs competition a few months ago, missing out by a couple of points which were frittered away and left a bitter taste for a while after.
The format is better ball stableford off three quarter handicap. We started off well and were going along nicely as a pair. I was far more steady playing the front nine better than I had done for a while. I holed out on every hole and was out in forty shots (+5 gross) and that was the sort of form I knew I was capable of. It is in there I just like to keep it well hidden.
My partner struggled a little as we rounded the turn and in truth was getting a touch frustrated with his own game. We had gone out as a pair in twenty one points and were in great position to kick on and another nine holes in similar fashion would post a score that may have been in contention.
I managed to play the first six holes of the back nine steadily. We were going along well but not making the gross pars we were on the front side and it was becoming a bit of a scruffy performance. Again, the ball striking was solid enough but too many missed greens when a fairway was found.
Jubilee Cup Statistics
Although we were chugging along, our chances of a winning score were drifting away. They ground to an earth shuddering halt at the sixteenth hole. It plays 425 yards (stroke index 3) and has out of bounds tight left. I had been hitting the ball with a left to right all day and on this tight driving hole I suddenly hit a horrible hook out of bounds. Not a problem. I was sure my partner would get me out of jail. Apparently not as he hit an even bigger hook even further out of bounds. A cardinal error in a pairs event which meant we didn't score on the hole.
We could only make a single point on the penultimate hole, a monster par three of 218 yards. I came up short and despite a good chip my putt was scared of the dark. I made a mockery of the last although my partner came good and made a fighting par. We finished 14th overall, nicely placed in mid-table. I finished eight, four, eight (quadruple, bogey, triple) which was annoying but take those three holes out of the equation, bearing in mind this was a pairs event, and I had a respectable twenty seven points for the first fifteen holes off three quarter handicap.
All in all then, the problems continue and the golf is way too erratic. There has been some good stuff, especially in the Jubilee Cup. I guess having a wing man makes it easier and takes the pressure off a little. I can do it. Some holes are really solid but why do I still have to chuck in the one or two car crashes. It happened last season (it's all in here folks, just go back and read the back posts!) and I thought this year was going to be the breakthrough one.
I'm not entirely sure where I go from here. Well I do, to a degree at least. I'm taking the advice posted on the "Golf Sucks" thread (and please put your own thoughts here or on any blog as I'd love to hear your views) and the advantage of the warm weather due to arrive for the early part of the week and getting out and playing. Clearly I can do it in practice and not replicate that on the course so I'm playing as much as I can for a while. Let's see what difference this makes.
I need to do something and fast. I'm writing this on the back of another medal meltdown this morning and although the scores have yet to be checked and ratified, I signed for a net 82 (+12 over handicap). It will be another 0.1 back unless there weren't many good scores under handicap and it's reduction only competition for handicapping (I live in hope). Things were as bad today as they were good for most parts in the Jubilee Cup. Triple bogey on three and four set the tone, the latter courtesy of a pulled nine iron out of bounds from 114 yards. That's agony.
To be honest my game was all over the shop and I didn't feel the club or the swing all day. I lost interest after another treble bogey at the twelfth and the final few holes were an exercise in going through the motions. I did try on every shot but focus and intent had left me.
It seems medal play has a hex over me at the moment and I am racking up some horror scores in this format. Of course it's the purest form of the game and the biggest test as every single shot counts and has a consequence but I seem to melt and capitulate. I don't know why. It's certainly not nerves and I'm definitely not trying too hard or thinking too much. As far as I am aware I am trying to do the same things I would do in a roll up game or a stableford.
And so it goes on. The handicap will be out to 12.3 (almost back to 13) if the competition isn't reduction only and golf continues to bite me hard. I am trying to stay positive as there's enough in snippets in the roll up last Sunday and the Jubilee Cup to know there's a golfer in there and a score trying to break out. I'm changing tack and playing more and we're see where that takes me. Get out and play my way out of this dip.
Keep the faith dear reader. I promised you the road to single figures would be rocky. Granted I wasn't expecting this many bumps in the road but heck, at the end of the day the determination is still there in droves and I will get there. The tinges of promise keep reminding me that I can do it. I need to look at things like course management. I'm sure playing my home course regularly makes be blase about the holes and I don't always plot my way round. When I play an away course, especially a new one I've not played before, I seem to swing smoother and plot my way around better. There's got to be a lesson there. I need to ensure tempo work continues and I slow the swing down and maintain a good posture. It's in there. I need to let the good times return. I'm sure they aren't far away, even with my medal score today. I do hope so!
As you are no doubt aware by now my golf is going through what is commonly known as a slump. Well on the course it's a slump. In practice I'm actually hitting it reasonably well. There was a couple of comments on my last post. Both are coming from the same direction, that my practice is perhaps not realistic enough and that I have too many lessons and too many technical thoughts in my head when I'm playing.
I replied to the post regarding the unrealistic practice (thanks for taking the time to put both comments on there - http://threeoffthetee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/golf-sucks.html) and if anyone else has anything to say on anything I write about, feel free to put your own thoughts. With regards the latter comment, there was a period a few seasons ago where that was undoubtedly true and my head was full of chocolate frogs and my game was paralysed by technical thoughts. However I've worked hard in the last few years to play with an empty head and New Golf Thinking has done a lot to help me just take a practice swing, pick a target, get over the shot and fire. In terms of the lessons, then I try and have a few over the winter to get ready for the next Spring. I try and have a couple during the season, usually if something goes astray. I want to work specifically on the short game but aside from that I've nothing planned for the moment. The last lesson worked on posture and tempo and these are things I just need to work on in practice now and take onto the course.
Let's start with simple facts. I scored 29 points in the stableford and another 0.1 handicap rise. That means I'm up to 12.2 (starting 2015 on 11.7). However there was some good stuff in the round. I actually hit the ball better than I had done in competitive rounds of late. I missed too many fairways and greens but by fine margins (into semi-rough and the fringe of greens or bunkers). The quality of the ball striking was better.
May Stableford Stats
In the end it was good enough for 17th place in Division One. Aside from another annoying handicap increase I was frustrated but pleased. I felt like I didn't get any breaks and that the work I've put in isn't being repaid. Patience is key and as long as I feel I am doing the right things on the course I am realistic to think that this dip in form has to end soon.
I played in a Sunday roll up the following day. I started poorly. Very poorly and was struggling by the turn but I played the back nine in a much better manner and eventually wandered home in 31 points. Not enough to win any cash by a long chalk but a long way from the bottom of the pile. The last nine holes actually gave me some encouragement that I wouldn't be a hindrance to my partner and that perhaps we had a chance in the Jubilee Cup especially as he's been playing well lately.
I am a former winner of the Jubilee Cup (with a different partner) and have had a few near misses. My partner Adam O'Neil and I were very close in the annual pairs competition a few months ago, missing out by a couple of points which were frittered away and left a bitter taste for a while after.
The format is better ball stableford off three quarter handicap. We started off well and were going along nicely as a pair. I was far more steady playing the front nine better than I had done for a while. I holed out on every hole and was out in forty shots (+5 gross) and that was the sort of form I knew I was capable of. It is in there I just like to keep it well hidden.
My partner struggled a little as we rounded the turn and in truth was getting a touch frustrated with his own game. We had gone out as a pair in twenty one points and were in great position to kick on and another nine holes in similar fashion would post a score that may have been in contention.
I managed to play the first six holes of the back nine steadily. We were going along well but not making the gross pars we were on the front side and it was becoming a bit of a scruffy performance. Again, the ball striking was solid enough but too many missed greens when a fairway was found.
Jubilee Cup Statistics
Although we were chugging along, our chances of a winning score were drifting away. They ground to an earth shuddering halt at the sixteenth hole. It plays 425 yards (stroke index 3) and has out of bounds tight left. I had been hitting the ball with a left to right all day and on this tight driving hole I suddenly hit a horrible hook out of bounds. Not a problem. I was sure my partner would get me out of jail. Apparently not as he hit an even bigger hook even further out of bounds. A cardinal error in a pairs event which meant we didn't score on the hole.
 |
| The 16th at Royal Ascot. The trees left are out of bounds. Not he place to go, so guess what.... |
All in all then, the problems continue and the golf is way too erratic. There has been some good stuff, especially in the Jubilee Cup. I guess having a wing man makes it easier and takes the pressure off a little. I can do it. Some holes are really solid but why do I still have to chuck in the one or two car crashes. It happened last season (it's all in here folks, just go back and read the back posts!) and I thought this year was going to be the breakthrough one.
I'm not entirely sure where I go from here. Well I do, to a degree at least. I'm taking the advice posted on the "Golf Sucks" thread (and please put your own thoughts here or on any blog as I'd love to hear your views) and the advantage of the warm weather due to arrive for the early part of the week and getting out and playing. Clearly I can do it in practice and not replicate that on the course so I'm playing as much as I can for a while. Let's see what difference this makes.
I need to do something and fast. I'm writing this on the back of another medal meltdown this morning and although the scores have yet to be checked and ratified, I signed for a net 82 (+12 over handicap). It will be another 0.1 back unless there weren't many good scores under handicap and it's reduction only competition for handicapping (I live in hope). Things were as bad today as they were good for most parts in the Jubilee Cup. Triple bogey on three and four set the tone, the latter courtesy of a pulled nine iron out of bounds from 114 yards. That's agony.
To be honest my game was all over the shop and I didn't feel the club or the swing all day. I lost interest after another treble bogey at the twelfth and the final few holes were an exercise in going through the motions. I did try on every shot but focus and intent had left me.
It seems medal play has a hex over me at the moment and I am racking up some horror scores in this format. Of course it's the purest form of the game and the biggest test as every single shot counts and has a consequence but I seem to melt and capitulate. I don't know why. It's certainly not nerves and I'm definitely not trying too hard or thinking too much. As far as I am aware I am trying to do the same things I would do in a roll up game or a stableford.
And so it goes on. The handicap will be out to 12.3 (almost back to 13) if the competition isn't reduction only and golf continues to bite me hard. I am trying to stay positive as there's enough in snippets in the roll up last Sunday and the Jubilee Cup to know there's a golfer in there and a score trying to break out. I'm changing tack and playing more and we're see where that takes me. Get out and play my way out of this dip.
Keep the faith dear reader. I promised you the road to single figures would be rocky. Granted I wasn't expecting this many bumps in the road but heck, at the end of the day the determination is still there in droves and I will get there. The tinges of promise keep reminding me that I can do it. I need to look at things like course management. I'm sure playing my home course regularly makes be blase about the holes and I don't always plot my way round. When I play an away course, especially a new one I've not played before, I seem to swing smoother and plot my way around better. There's got to be a lesson there. I need to ensure tempo work continues and I slow the swing down and maintain a good posture. It's in there. I need to let the good times return. I'm sure they aren't far away, even with my medal score today. I do hope so!
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