Bucket of sand

This is the bucket of sand you carry around to fix up your divots from
the fairways. I only used it once today. Not sure what went wrong but
I shot 22 over (9 over my handicap).

Monthly mug

I had a good stableford round 2 weeks ago and because of that managed
to take a stroke off my handicap.

So I was just hoping to shoot my handicap at the monthly mug strike
event. My round actually turned out quite well and I managed a gross
score of 82 for a nett 69. Good enough for 4th and two shots from the
win.

The handicap has dropped to 12.7 and my confidence is on a high.
Here's hoping that I can continue the good form :)

Sent from my phone

Padraig Harrington Puts Happy Gilmore to the Test

3rd place

With my local course having sanded greens I decided to play with a
group of guys at Glen Iris. The competition was stroke and I managed
to finish 3rd (out of 12) with a gross score of 83.

I had a pretty bad front 9 with 8 bogeys in a row. I blame the slow
greens and Titleist DT Carry ball I was using. Compared to my one
remaining DT Roll, the Carry had too much of a high ball flight for
the windy conditions. So I switched to the DT Roll on the 9th and
proceeded to play the last 10 holes in 3 over.

I can't wait to get through this box of DT Carry's that I have.

Round highlight: hitting the back of the green on a par 5 in two with
a big drive and a pure 3-iron

Round lowlight: walking off that green with a bogey 6 :(

Return to Glen Iris

With my home club greens being sanded I've decided to play with a
social club of Burmese guys this week.

The course will be Glen Iris. I played a solid round there a few weeks
ago with just the last few holes spoiling the card. It's not a
difficult course so I'm hoping to do well.

I started hitting some bad hooks off the tee last week, possibly
trying to hit too hard. I'll be trying to keep my swing smooth and
steady this time out.

Sent from my phone

Tiger coming to Australia

OMGWTFBBQ!!!!

Tiger Woods is going to get paid $3M to come and play a tournament in
Melbourne later this year.

My first thought was to book some airline tickets to go and watch the
tournament. Then I realized that I'd have to fight through massive
crowds in crazy Melbourne weather to catch a glimpse of tigers ankle.

I think I'll stay at home and watch the tourney on tv :)

Sent from my phone

A new skill to practice

You want how much for that jacket !?!?!

With winter around the corner I've been thinking about getting a new rain jacket and this was on the top of my list Adidas Clima Proof Storm/.

But then I found out that the price would set me back upwards of $400.

I sure hope they are cheaper on eBay.

iPhone publishing test

My new bag and hat

Back into it.

Well after a long hiatus / slack off. I'm blogging again. Prompted to by myself and Rare Birdie.

What has changed since the last posting? I've joined Hartfield Golf Club, a private course (open to the public Mon / Tues). It's a much harder track than Collier Park being longer and having harsher bush to contend with.

My usual fade that served me well was no good at Hartfield. My tendency to try and go for much needed distance just resulted in big slices with even less distance. So it was with great excitement that I made a booking with the resident pro for a lesson. In just one short 30min lesson, he was able to have me hitting straighter shots without that weak fade. My main fault turned out to be shoulders that pointed left of the target.

So I've been working on getting my shoulders aligned with the target, and making my takeaway path more inside the line. These two changes have really made a difference with my shots.

So good that I hit 73% of fairways on the weekend. This is all well and good but I think I really need to make an improvement to my game between the ears. Brain fades and really ugly swings are putting me in deep trouble. Losing balls and generally wiping 3-4 holes on stableford comps.

Anyhoo, stay tunes for more ramblings this year.

Eagle!!

Played a casual round with a buddy yesterday and I scored another eagle. Holed with a pw from about 90m out. I wont mention how the rest of the game went :)

I'm also about to join a private club called Hartfield (where my dad plays). There are several reasons for this decision:

• I can pick my tee off times. I currently have to turn up at 10am and don't get home until 6pm. This gives me no time to spend with the wife


• The greens at Hartfield are excellent to putt on. The putts roll true, unlike the bumpy greens I play on.


• Hartfield is long. I had to hit quite a few hybrids and long irons into the greens.


• It's a harder course... hopefully this will make me a better golfer


• I get an official handicap.


• The wife approves :)

Amazing Round

Well I played in the Monthly Medal round this week and my game was at another level. I sometimes go though 3 or 4 stretches of good holes where I can get a run of par's, but I sustained this level for most of the round. I played the front 9 in +1 with 8 pars. My only bogey came on a 180m par 3. Unfortunately I played the back 9 in +8, with seven of those shots occurring on two par 3's. Two bad swings really cost me, and I didn't recover too well from those shots. I did bounce back from the two bad holes nicely with a par and a birdie.

My 68 was good enough for a 3rd place. The first place medal was easily within reach... :(

The new driver was again brilliant, I hit plenty of fairways and I don't remember hitting so many wedges into greens. The rest of my game felt pretty solid too.

Some stats:

• Par 3's: +9 (ouch!)


• Par 4's: -1


• Par 5's: +1


• Fairways: 11 / 13 (84%)


• GIR: 9 / 18 (50%)


• Putts: 32

All in all it was a good day out. I've had a taste of what it's like to almost play par golf.... and I like it. Hopefully I can keep up the good play.

Shot selection...

Thinking about the last game I played, I've realised that I hit 9 bunkers that day. It's way too much and some of those bunkers could have been easily avoided by better club selection.

I think I need to try and maybe hit 3W off some tees and lay up on some par 5's the next time I head out.

I'm sick of raking bunkers!

FT-3 In Play

Finally got to put the FT-3 into competition play today and boy was it impressive. My first drive of the day was a 260m hit straight down the fairway. +8 on the front 9 put a lot of pressure on the back for me to shoot my hc. But I was on target by only being +10 after 16 holes .... what happened next can only be described as a "Van de Velt" like collapse. I played the final 2 holes in +6 (double bogey and quadruple bogey). Walked off the last hole feeling pretty empty and stunned at what happened. I think parring the last two would have got me 2nd place in the comp.

As for how the driver performed..... brilliant! I'm starting to get some solid shots in and they are going 250 - 260 m. I'm hitting to spots on the course where I don't normally reach and find myself hitting more wedges into greens.

Now if only I could learn to chip and putt, I might be able to get my hc heading in the right direction. :)

FT-3 Review

Well I got hold of my FT-3 earlier this week. From the time of purchase on thursday night, it only took 4 days to arrive. FedEx... you rock!

I took it down to the driving range to compare it with my Hawkeye VFT. Both clubs were 9' regular shafts.

The first thing I noticed with the FT3 was the sound .... not a 'ting' sound like other titanium drivers but more like the sound you might get if you struck a ball with a can of coke ... !? It's a little bizzare but I'm getting used to it. The look of it at address isn't too bad compared with some other 460cc drivers, the head is big but doesn't look monstrous.

I got the draw weighted driver and it did produce nice baby draws with the ball flight, but I didn't get as much roll as I expected. It is still possible to hit ugly slices and duck hooks but I feel like the club is still more forgiving than the Hawkeye. I could still hit small fades with a weaker grip, good to know that I'm not stuck with a draw.

In terms of distance... it's hard to tell but I believe on average the FT3 is probably longer than the Hawkeye. My longest drives still seem to come from my older driver and draws with the Hawkeye seem to have much more roll.

I still haven't used the FT3 on the course but hopefully I'll get a round in this coming weekend.

New Toy on it's way

My wife and I headed out to the GolfBox annual carpark sale. It's quite a hyped event and I was hoping to snag myself a cheap Callaway FT-3 or FT-5. Well there was one 10' FT-3 available at the right price, but it was a soft flex shaft... not quite suited to me. And the FT-5 drivers were all around $600... boo :(

Wifey was a little disappointed with me not getting a club and urged me to try online ...... yeah I'm one lucky guy :)

So after trawling eBay and finding nothing, I came across http://callawaygolfpreowned.com/. About 30mins later, I've got this baby coming in....

Putting Routine

I've been struggling with my medium to long putts for the last few rounds. The main problem being my length. I've been putting on a good line but I've been leaving the ball very short of the cup. But a quick 9 holes on Saturday arvo had given me renewed confidence.

I think that I got too fixated with getting the right line that I've forgotten about trying to get a feel for the length. Now I setup and get aligned first, then just focus on the cup to get a feel for the distance.... and it worked with no 3 putts for my 9 holes.

Looking forward to my next full round :)

Broken Sunglasses

I broke my sunglasses at the end of my last round while pulling them off my hat. One arm somehow got caught and was pulled apart from the frame. It was pretty distressing because they were my beloved Oakley O Frames which have served me well on the course over the last few years.

Looking for a replacement pair on the interweb yielded no love. They are no longer made by Oakley, nor is anyone selling them on eBay. :(

But now I've got this baby on order....

HALF JACKET® XLJ


No guarantees on how much it will help my golf game... but at least I'll look good hacking through the rough.

Madness

I played a round of golf in scorching 37 degrees today .... and so did a lot of other people.

We all must be completely bonkers mad!

I have a suspicion that most of us would probably do it again next week if we had the chance :)

Nothing spectacular out of me today... just shot to my 12 handicap.

3 Sticks What????

The club game of the day was 3 Sticks Golf. We can carry 3 clubs plus a putter and get to tee off from the forward tees. It was something different and I was looking forward to it. The clubs I decided to carry were:

• 3 Wood - Decent distance off the tees, and I get to use it on the par 5's. Also good for punching balls out of the rough


• 6 iron - Gives me better results than my 5 iron and I can always de-loft it for extra distance


• 8 iron - Probably too strong as my last club, but I felt more comfortable with this than a 9 or PW

I had a lackluster front 9 with a stableford score of 16. I thought the back 9 would be a struggle, but I turned my game around with 7 pars for a 21 on the back 9. My total was only good enough for 5th, but my score of 37 was the best I've ever shot in stableford.... and only with 4 clubs. Maybe I should leave the driver and half the set at home the next time I play.

It was great having to improvise on each hole and it has given me new confidence in playing different types of shots with my clubs.

I'm looking forward to my summer of golf. :)