The search for new sticks

So I'm on the lookout for new irons at the moment. I've been playing well over the last few months (handicap going from 17 to 14) and I feel that 8 year old irons might not be giving me the performance and forgiveness that I need.

The Titleist AP2s are at the top of my list at the moment. I've always liked irons that provide feedback and reviews seem to indicate that the AP2s do provide this as well as forgiveness. Luckily for me, my home club's pro is a Titleist rep and has a set of demo AP2s which I can take out next weekend. They are stiff shafted and I think I'm more of a regular player but it'll be interesting to give it a try.

Windy day

It was a pretty rough day of golf for everyone on the weekend with blustery 2 club wind all day.

And it showed in the results with only 2 people breaking par out of about 100 players.

I shot a pretty shonky 86 and that pretty much shows that I need more practice for the coming winter.

I've hit some good form over the last 2-3 months with a few top 10 and top 20 finishes (I think there is a 2nd place in there somewhere too) and my handicap has dropped from 17 to 15.

Although I've played well, I haven't really played good enough to win a comp. I think this is more to do with bone-headed decisions rather than bad executions.

It's a stroke comp this weekend and although it's mentally tougher than stableford, I am looking forward to it.

Here's hoping that I finish the round with the same ball that I start with.

Big hitters

I think I'm grouped on saturday with a guy that hits his drive about 300 meters.

Should be fun :)

Going in the right direction

Had another good round on the weekend with 39 points. A top 10 finish and some cash for the kitty.

Felt that I hit the ball well today but my stats show that it was a terrible ballstriking round. Go figure.

Another good round and the handicap might get trimmed down.

That's not how you play golf...

There are training tools ... and then there are 'training tools'.

What the heck is this guy doing?



... he can come over and sweep my yard. :)

My new ride

This is my (bags) new ride. It's a Clickgear 3.0 push buggy.

Thought I'd spend the prize money that I've accumulated over 3 years. I still had to cough up some of my own cash but this sure looks the biz.

It folds up into a tiny package and looks pretty easy enough to push for a round.

Looking forward to giving it a run next week.

Finally shot under my handicap

Well after over a year in the golfing wilderness I finally broke my handicap with 40 points on the weekend. Good enough for outright 2nd (and $60).

It was a pretty solid round with no birdies and just a bunch of pars. My handicap is still on 17 and I'm comfortable with that.

Hopefully I can win/place in a few more comps and win more money to go towards a new Clicgear push cart. :)

Also got RareBirdie visiting in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to getting a round organized at the club. The greens should be fully recovered from the vandalism (punks!) incident and the work on the changerooms should be complete.

Need to see a pro for a lesson

First drive went onto the adjacent fairway and old dudes took money from me. That pretty much sums up my day.

Taking a week break and that lesson can't come quick enough.

Such a promising start...

This is the scorecard for Pornpong Phatlum at the Australian Open. 

http://www.pga.org.au/individual-leader-page/76887/613

Poor fellow, he started the day with a birdie but is now sitting at 15 over after 15 holes.

Handicap blowout

After the hiding I received on the course over the weekend, my handicap has blown out to 16.

And if I shoot another bad round it will be up at 17.

It's crappy but at least it will give me a good chance of placing well in future comps. :)

Club Open Competition

Well after 2 days of grueling golf it's finally over. I finished the competition at 101st. Disappointed with that result but I played some truly shonky golf. Our 4 ball also got the tough end of the draw with a very stiff 2.5 club breeze on Saturday which died off for the afternoon players. And of course the following Sunday morning was calm but breezy for our afternoon tee off.

I can't blame the weather for my result. A combination of nerves, slick unreceptive greens, weather and truly terrible golf contributed.

I think the greens were just unfair and they received a lot of criticism from the players after Saturday. I hit one if my better 5-irons into a green and the ball pitched at the front before rolling (uphill) past the hole and into a bunker. The results spoke for themselves with just one person breaking par that day. The greens got plenty of water on the Sunday morning and they were much fairer then.

There were a host of new faces around with a lot of guns from other clubs competing. It was a bit intimidating on the range with most people striping baby draws into a stiff wind. One guy was in a bright blue outfit with a thick white belt - to wear a getup like that, you better have some serious game to back it up. I even saw guys on the Sunday walking around with their own caddies. Next time I'll ask if my brother would like to lug my bag around. :)

Back to back stroke games are tough and I'm mentally and physically spent. Looking forward to taking a few weeks off from the game to spend time with the family.

Club Open Competition

This weekend is the clubs' open competition. It's a 2 day stroke event and it cost me $40 to enter. Hopefully I can win prizes worth more than that.

I've got a morning tee off on saturday and an afternoon tee time on Sunday. Looking at the fixtures there are quite a few players from other clubs who have entered too.

My game last week was a shocker where I only hit 2 fairways. I was fighting a massive hook all day. Hopefully some time on the range Saturday morning will sort that out. :)

Yay for long weekends.

I'd normally get two games of golf in on a long weekend but it was just one game this time. Such is life with a new baby :)

35 stableford points and a decrease of my handicap to 14 made for a decent outing. I was pretty happy with the way I finished. Needing extra points to finish the 9 on handicap I closed with three 3's.

I'm looking at entering the Hartfield Open. A two day stroke event and hopefully my game is starting to come together.

Highlight of the day: pull hooking my drive on the 17th 20meters off target into thick bush. Finding my ball! Then punching out and making an up and down from 100m for par.

Shooting under my hc

It's been two weeks straight where I've broken my handicap. But my golflink results don't reflect that because my markers have made mistakes on my scorecard.... It's really my fault for not checking correctly though.

Anyway from the screenshot below, you can see that I'm starting to run out of good rounds to use in hc calculation (they take your ten best from your last twenty rounds).

The last round I played was decent enough. My play with the woods was great but it was the iron play that stopped me having a great round. I finished the front 9 with 20 points but only managed 17 on the back.

Oh well, another week and another opportunity to have a good round.

A good score at last.

No not a score where I break my handicap but one where I play to it. Compared to how I've been playing over the last few weeks, a score of 14 over is awesome. But the strange thing was that it didn't feel like a good round at all. I was driving the ball everywhere but the fairway all day. One of those rounds where you shot better than you played I guess.

For some reason I was hitting my tee shots with too much of an "uppercut". I'll have to try and shallow out my swing for next week.

Laugh of the day goes to my dad who grinded down his SW to make it lighter. Thus removed the bounce from it and caused a few fluffs from the bunkers.

Also made my one birdie on a par 5 where my ball didn't get to touch the fairway. This is a bizarre game sometimes.

Untested tweaks?

I've missed two weeks of golf due to wife/baby commitments and a cold. My last game wasn't too bad with 33 points (I had 16 points in the game before that... eep!)

So I'm coming back this week in the middle of the club championships where it's a stroke play event and the course is probably playing harder than usual... and after two weeks off. Can you say big numbers?

And to add a spanner in the works, I'm thinking of trying out a slight tweak to my takeaway with an earlier wrist cock to try and get more clubhead speed.

Aim for this weekend - shoot under 100 :)

Barnbougle Dunes

I know that I'm quite lucky to be living in Perth where we have good weather all year and some great courses to play on but the topic of having group golf holiday came up with some buddies a few weeks back and I can't help nut get excited at the opportunities available. There are some great courses right on our doorstep here in Australia and Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania looks to be one to play if I ever get the chance.

http://top100golf.blogspot.com/2010/05/barnbougle-dunes-golf-links.html

Sent from my iPad

US Open

The US Open is on at some whacked out time in the morning and I plan
on watching it. Apparently my wife has informed me that I will be
doing the graveyard shift with our 5 week old bub tonight. So with the
golf and the World Cup on tonight - is there any need to sleep tonight?

The Driving Range Beefcake

Spend any amount of time on a driving range and you're bound to come
across a range of characters. One guy I came across yesterday I will
call "The Driving Range Beefcake". This is the guy that knows he can
hit the ball a long way and likes to 'flex' for others to see.

I don't try to listen to other people talk on the range but Beefcake
was talking loud enough for the people around to hear. Telling his
friend that he doesn't practice with his driver until he gets it right
(not sure how he will ever get it right if he doesn't practice with
it) and that he is happy to hit 2-iron off the tee all the time.
Friend then states that it'll be easier to hit driver and short irons
into the tee. Beefcake says that's not an issue because he hits 2-iron
250m and proceeds to tee it up. I'm not looking but I hear the swish
of a club and an ugly clunk sound, followed by laughter and his friend
saying "that was a pure shank dude".

As I pack up to leave I take another look and this guy is built like
some underworld hard man. He's swinging so hard that my back hurts
just looking at him. I have to say that he was making good contact
with the ball and that they were probably travelling about 200m. Who
knows if they were going straight.

I salute you Beefcake and your awesomeness. :)

Sent from my phone

Another shocker

.... is this starting to be a common thread on this blog? I've really
been struggling for the last couple of weeks with my game. Well it hit
a new low on Saturday with me shooting 9 points on the front. To add
insult to injury, I also put a ball in the lake and broke my 5-iron on
the front.

It's not often that I've felt like packing up and going home after 9
holes but that's how I've felt for the last two weeks. I have no idea
what's going to happen with each shot. I hit several worm burners and
I also hit several fat pork chop divots. High slices and duck hooks
with the driver also thrown in for good measure. My swing feels very
tired and weak.

Not knowing why you're playing badly can be really fustrating. So I
headed out to the range on Monday to try and get in the groove again,
and apart from a few bad shots most of them were ok. I hope that my
game holds up this weekend.

The 5-iron is currently being repaired. It must have rusted slightly
inside the handle (or maybe I've just abused it too much) but it broke
on my downswing. Lucky it happened inside the grip which held it
together and didn't result in a flying rod.

I did flirt with the idea of getting a new set of Mizunos or Titleist
irons but it's probably not a good idea with a baby due in the next
week. :)

Sent from my phone

FIGJAM

Watching Phil Mickelson hit that shot on 13th from the pine needles
was awesome. The sound of club and ball was like a whip being cracked.
Why can't I get a sound like that?

It's probably why I hit 6-iron 140m and Phil hits it 190m.

Great tournament overall an it's too bad KJ Choi couldn't make more of
a charge. I've got his signature on a hat of mine and was looking
forward to it's value going up. :)

Sent from my phone

LOL ... gold!

So close...

... to my first win at the club.

Stableford was the game of the day and I had a pretty average start
with bogey, bogey, par, bogey. I thought it was going to be a bad day
out on the course but I then birdied the next hole and finished the
front nine at 2 over and 23 points.

The back nine was more of a struggle as I failed to keep up the
momentum and was forced to scramble a lot to score some points. I was
pretty happy at not wiping any holes and finished with 17 points.

40 points only got me tied for second place with five other guys and
that went down to fourth place on countback. It still got me a $30
voucher which is better than nothing.

I've also been hitting my long irons pretty sweet and have been able
to hit the 170m par 3 green two weeks in a row now.

Handicap took a dive and I'm now off 12.7. It's probably a good time
to peak before the birth of our first baby as I might be away from
golf for awhile. :(

Sent from my phone

Found my swing again

Went out last week after about a month off from playing 18 holes and my front 9 was a shocker. Went out with 45 and 2 shots back from my dad. I was hitting big cuts with the driver and even hitting it onto adjacent fairways. Not fun at all!

Not sure what was wrong but I felt very disconnected from my swing. Made a few tweaks on the back 9 and I then started to hit them straight (and long) again. Managed to make 4 pars in 5 holes and things were looking good.

I was tied with my dad on the last hole (a par 5) and only had 100m to hit the green on my third shot. I proceed to hit the fattest shot ever which didn't make the green and I finished that hole with a 7. Call me Greg.

Highlight: Making birdie on the 200m par 3
Lowlight: Driving my ball OB on the next hole

Alex Miceli Rips into Tiger

Thankyou Stephanie Wei for uploading this gem..

Alex Miceli Calls Tiger Gutless from Stephanie Wei on Vimeo.

Bandit?

The winner from Saturdays competition shot a 64 nett. A 10 handicapper
who played two over off the stick. Who knows if this bloke is a bandit
or just a guy who had a really good day.

I should really give him the benefit of the doubt, but having recently
played with a genuine low handicapper who was initially given a high
handicap makes me a bit sus.

Perhaps the club handicapper has changed to the bloke who started me
off on 11.

Grrrrr!

Sent from my phone

Driver troubles and early starts

Decided on an early tee off at 6:45 am so that I could make a 12:00
lunch. I finished 18 by 11:00 and was home 20 mins after that. I do
love being a member at Hartfield - online bookings for tee times and
course marshals to keep up the pace of play is awesome.

As for my actual game, it was terrible. My handicap recently went down
to 13 despite some patchy play. I think my scrambling is what kept me
from blowing out. But yesterday couldn't be saved. Started off pretty
well with a front 41 off the stick. I then 3 putted the 10th and
scored a triple on the 11th. It was hard to get the momentum back (I
think I'm a streaky player) and I finished with 88 / 75 net.

With birthdays and birth classes for the rest of this month stopping
me from playing comps, i've got plenty of time to work at the range.

Sent from my phone

Go Geoff!

Keeping an eye on the PGA tour website. Hoping that Geoff Ogilvy
notches up a win to start off the season with his new Titleist sticks.

One behind sabatini who is currently 10 under for the day... Crazy!

Sent from my phone

One of those days ...

... where I struck the ball great (most of the time) all day, and I scored on every hole (stableford). I had a bunch of 3's on my scorecard and yet I ended up with only 36 points. It's one of those games you have where it fells like you played much better than you scored. To make matters worse, the course CCR was 71 - so I actually played one worse than my handicap. 

I hit 11 out of 14 fairways (78%) so there was nothing wrong with my driving. My GIR was probably about 50-60%. 

So how would you rather play - scoring worse than you played or scoring better than you played?

My preference is to score worse than you played. I might walk off the course confused about my score, but that's better than walking off frustrated with a shonky golf swing .... imo :)

Stroke play stress.

Stroke play is such a different beast to stableford or any other type
of comp. It can get quite stressful when every single shot counts.

Normally it doesn't bother me too much but I was especially nervous
today. I had just gone down a shot in my handicap to 13 and was
feeling like I had to play one shot better than last week to contend
again.

It went fairly well for the first 5 holes but then I shot a triple
bogey. And that just did my head in for the front nine. Another triple
on the back and my energy was gone. I felt tired and couldn't wait to
finish the round.

Oh well, my handicap should go up by one so that gives me an extra
buffer for next week. :)

Sent from my phone

New equipment!

Well it's not quite as exciting as it sounds. We've had two weekends
where the temperature soared to 38 degrees. I played golf on one of
them and was throughly beat after the round.

Something that wasn't performing up to scratch was my drinks. They
would just stay cool for the first few holes and then turn into a warm
energy drink...ick!

So this new bag will hopefully keep things cooler and me fresher
during the round.

Melbourne Visit

I flew to Melbourne 2 weeks ago to visit Rare Birdie. The purpose of my trip was to catch up and play a round of golf with an old buddy ..... oh and to see some guy called Tiger at the Australian Masters.

I arrived on the Friday and being 3 hrs behind with my body clock I didn't know how I'd perform on my Saturday round at 4:30am Perth time. I'd be playing at Yarra Bend Golf Course, a public 18 hole course just a few km's from Melbourne central.

Looks pleasant enough when you arrive.


A hole with a downhill approach. There were a few shots like this where there was a big dropoff at the back of the green. Something to think about when making the approach shot.


[EDIT] One other thing that was enjoyable about 'the bend' were blind tee shots that had to be struck over hills and trees. It just adds a little bit of the unknown when you can't see your ball land.

It was quite an enjoyable round of golf and the course was in pretty good condition. The greens were better than what you'd find at most public courses. I managed to shoot 42 points (equal first) that day and part of that was due to a well behaving driver.

Well that was 2 weeks ago and I haven't touched my clubs since I got back, but I'm hoping to have a good round tomorrow with some of the form I showed at 'The Bend'.

Funny Callaway Commercial

Setup issues

Spent some time at the driving range on the weekend to try and sort
out some issues with my game. There were two issues to address:

1) big hooks with the driver
2) high fades with the irons

Started with my irons first and a lot of my shots were ok. They still
had lots of height but just a touch of fade. But I did notice that I
wasn't taking any divots. It was then that I noticed that I had a lot
of shoulder lean away from the ball. Tried making my setup a touch
more horizontal and the change was almost instant. Shots had a better
trajectory and I started taking some nice divots. Such a small change
to your setup can sure make for significant change in ballstriking.

My next item was the hooks with the driver. Didn't make too much
progress with this problem. There is a pretty good chance that I'll
lose a bunch of balls the next time out :)

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Shocker

Had a shocking stableford round on the weekend. It started badly with me turning up 'late' - the groups were actually teeing off 10mins early.

So I had to tee off immediately without even a stretch. Never got into a rhythm for the whole day and my shots were very erratic. Moments of brilliance followed up with truly hacker golf. I lost 4 balls that day, and got to the last hole with one ball left. 

At least my new Reebok "Play Dry" shirt performed well and made me look like a good golfer.

$1 Million Dollars!!

Back from a break

Having had 2 weeks off after the club champs, I came into today not knowing how I would play. I started off well enough with a birdie on the first hole from the greenside bunker. And the rest of the 9 was pretty solid with the irons and putting. It was just the big dog that was misbehaving. A straight drive would be followed up with a wayward one. I guess after some time off I was going to be rusty and it showed in my driving.

Unfortunately I finished the day 2 over my handicap (which has gone up to 14).

Highlight of the day - the Caddyshack burger I had at the 19th. The homemade beef patty was delish!

Club Championships recap

Our club championships were held recently and I was very excited in the lead up to it. It was going to be my first ever club champs, and I knew that the course would be setup for an extra challenge. Playing the course last year (for my card) just before the competitions, I found that the course was playing really long, the pins tucked into corners and the greens were super slick. So that was what I expected this year. The comp would consist of 3 rounds stroke play, then a cut of the top 12 from each division going through to the final round of stroke. I was playing in B-division and my game was average at best leading up the the first round.

Round 1

The day was cold and wet. We did get sunshine for our first tee shots, but the rain soon came after that. And I found myself standing over my shot with hail coming down by the 4th hole. The greens were soggy, I was wet and cold, I couldn't feel my fingers but I was enjoying it for some reason. I didn't play the front 9 well, going out with a 45. But the back 9 was better with quite a few pars. In the end I finished with a score of 77 nett. It was one of those strange days where you feel like you've played well, but it just wasn't reflected in your score. I thought that it would be pretty hard to make the top 12 with a starting score like that.

Round 2

Another cold and wet day was what we played in, but I was still determined to enjoy the day and not give up. It was a solid round with good ball striking and not too many mistakes. It felt good enough to be under par but once again the score didn't reflect how I thought I played. Perhaps I think that I'm better than I really am :)

I finished the day with 73 nett. 6 over for the tournament seemed like a lost cause but having a quick look at the scores of everyone else in my division put me somewhere in the top 20.

Round 3

So being in the top 20 gave me a glimmer of hope. I thought anything under par might give me a chance and I went out with confidence. Once again the round felt great, and I thought that I played my best round in a few months. But for some reason I finished the day with 73 nett ... again! 

I didn't think my 3 rounds were good enough to make the cut but I was suprised to find the next day that I had made the cut. Perhaps I pulled off a Steven Bradbury of sorts. Anyhoo... excitement all round!

Final Round

I turned up knowing that I was probably about 6-7 shots behind the leader and that it would be a pretty hard task to get near that. Our group were probably the guys "making up the numbers". :)

The day started better than expected with a chip in birdie on the first hole. Not bad at all. I finished the front 9 well with a few good pars. By the 10th hole I was 4 under my handicap, and I thought that I might even have an outside chance of top 3. But my good run ended with a 7 on the 11th. I had 2 more 7's coming home and that really hurt. Another birdie on the 17th reduced the hurt but the damage had already been done.

I finished the day with another 73 and 2nd in my division. Not sure how I finished overall but it sure was a wild ride.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience. The pressure of stroke play over 4 rounds, the tough conditions and the solid golf played will not be forgotten.

I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks, hoping that I can carry the good form through and lower my handicap.

Being a man!

A big thankyou goes out to Rare Birdie for implying that I'm a wuss
for not wanting to play in wind and rain.

Well I went out there and had a pretty good game. Struck the ball well
and finished one under my handicap. Eventhough I left a few shots out
there with some bad 3 putts and loose shots. Still good enough for
10th on the day. :)

Sent from my phone

Rain forecast

Rain is forecast for this weekend. Now do I be a man and play in the
rain or do I wuss out and stay home?

I really want to get in some much needed competition rounds under my
belt, but not if it's going to be a wet and windy day.

Right now I'm leaning towards not going. Decision would be much easier
if channel 9 would do a decent job of broadcasting The Open
Championship.

Sent from my phone

My national ranking

64820..... According to golflink. Not sure if that is good or not but
I'd sure like to improve on that number.

Stuart Appleby king dork?

I think Appleby is a great golfer. But this is the pic of him on the
US Open iPhone app.
What the!?

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.

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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 :)

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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. :)

Breezy!!!

It was the golf clubs annual Country Cup today and the game was stableford at Secret Harbour. It's a links style course next to the beach and littered with pot bunkers.

I've had a pretty crappy time with stableford games this year, not once have I shot over 30 points. But today was a nice change :)

I had a pretty solid game for most of the day, with a 17 on the front and a 16 on the back. The back 9 didn't end too well with me scratching the 16th and 17th holes. I think I would have finished 3rd for the day had I at least got a point on each of those holes. Once again my driving was pretty good. I only missed 2 fairways all day (not by much) and managed to unleash a (wind assisted) 300m drive.

A 33 point game isn't too impressive.... but we were playing in a 2 to 3 club wind. Strong enough to drown out someone talking to you.

On a side note... if you think driving into a tight fairway littered with pot bunkers and a strong crosswind is scary. Just take a whizz in snake infested bushland. Every shot after that will seem like a piece of cake. :)

An Extra 15 - 20 Meters!!

Nothing adds more distance to your drives, than a 4 putt on the previous hole.

On a related note... my usual golf club is having a demo day on the 15th. Very exciting stuff, but unfortunately I just found out that a buddy from my home group is having his bucks day then. :(
Hopefully there will be time during the day for me to hit the range for an hour or so to hit some new drivers.

Christmas Treat

Well it's the time of the year where I start to think about new equipment. Once again a new driver is on the top of my shopping list. I've been resisting the urge to get a new driver due to the fact that I've been hitting my drives fairly well. So why change? Well I'm curious about what the new technology in drivers can do and I've scored myself a new job so a treat for that would be nice :)

Some sticks on my radar:

* Callaway X460 - Pretty traditional shape and easy on the eye.
* Callaway i3 - Good performance according to some reviews, and it has been superseded so I might be able to pick one up for cheap
* Cobra L4
* TaylorMade Burner or R7 CGB

I've usually struggled with hitting big headed drivers due to it just not looking right in my eyes. It was probably all in my head anyway. So I'll hopefully get to try some out over the next few weeks to get an idea of what is out there.

Freeby

I've got another game with the club tomorrow... but this time it's free. Courtesy of the club... as long as I turn up to the AGM on time. They are providing a free game for everyone that turns up to the annual meeting.

As for the state of my golf game... the last game I played at Burswood Park was a shocker. I lost 4 balls .. and 3 of them were on one hole. But I'm still quietly confident about tomorrow.

Christmas time is coming around again, and the wife has suggested that I get myself something golf related as a treat. The usual thoughts of a new driver or a set of irons come to mind. hmmmm.... lots of possibilities. I'll see how my game goes this weekend ... if my driving is shocking then a driver might go to the top of my list. :)

If it ain't broke...

Had my second game with the club since returning from my Japan / chickenpox holiday. And I have to say that it was a good outing. The conditions were tough... light rain with gusty swirling winds. I punched a 5-iron into the breeze from about 120m away and it still ended up short of the green.

The front 9 was tough and I finished it at 8-over. But the back 9 was completed in just 3-over.. :)
No birdies were made during the day.. although I had 5 good opportunities for them. It was all good enough for a 83 gross and 71 nett. Just enough to sneak into 2nd place in the day's comp.

It was one of my better driving days with just one missed fairway.... and I was looking at new drivers in the pro shop before the round too! Guess I'll be sticking with my trusty Callaway Hawkeye :)
I also had a great putting round with no misses from within a meter (one of my weaknesses is short putts)

Hopefully this will make my handicap head in the right direction..

Wet n Wild

This was what the course looked like when I arrived there on Saturday morning. It was wet and windy. We had rain going sideways just a few minutes before I took this shot. Although the day seemed unforgiving, I was looking forward to the challenge of playing in some windy conditions.

It had already felt like 18 holes after only the first two holes. The weather turned real nasty just after our tee shots, and my pants were soaked by the end of the 2nd hole. I was +2 but it felt like -2 in those conditions. Fortunately for us, the worse was over. The only thing left to battle for the rest of the day was heavy winds and a player in the group that took at least 10 waggles before committing to his shot......zzzzzzzzzzz.

The Good: Handicap down to 11
The Bad: Using my handicap up on the front 9

Stack and Tilt?

Checked out the GolfDigest website tonight and there was a swing article dubbed "The New Tour Swing". Now I'm not always buying into the latest swing tips and tricks these golf mags dish out as they can sometimes seem like they're selling snake oil. Are you going to swing a broom around to get a feel for "sweeping your drives"? I've yet to see anyone pull a broom out of their bag at the driving range.... and I don't want to be the first.

Going back the the picture. It's Aaron Baddeley at the top of his backswing. Nice and compact, but his upright spine angle is far from conventional. I've always thought that you should angle your spine away from the target and it's something I've been working at doing recently. It's been working well for me, but this new Stack and Tilt theory is intriguing.

I'm not going to overhaul my swing anytime soon (It's been working for me recently), but this new swing is different and if it's going to help with better ballstriking with my irons then I'm willing to give it a shot.

Perhaps the next time I head to the driving range after shooting a score in the 90's would be the time to try this out :)

Balls, balls, balls....

The club comp this weekend was a game of Par. You get a "+" for breaking your handicap on a hole and a "-" for going over. I finished the day on +4, which roughly equates to a 79 off the stick. Enough to win the comp and a $27 voucher for my next round. yay!

It was looking like a bad golf day for me when I hooked my first 4 drives into trees. But some scrambling saw me come out with only two bogeys. Once I got my drives straightened out, the rest of my game clicked and I managed to get around the course without too much trouble. The putter was also behaving and I didn't miss too many putts. I got this strange feeling half way through the round, where it seemed like the hole was bigger than usual and that all my putts had a good chance of hitting their mark. Most of this game is played in your head. Must be also why it's so maddening when things aren't going right. :)

I also came away with 4 new balls (2 birdies, 1 ctp, 1 long drive). It should have been 5 but some doofus lost one of the cards for closest to the pin.... It was probably me because I carried all the markers back to the club. :P

The club Winter Cup starts next week and I hope to carry some of this form into that competition. I've been told that my handicap will be 11 the next time I tee off so it's going to make comps a little harder.

49 Inches!!

I headed out for a round of 18 with a buddy of mine. It was nice to have a round with him as he hasn't been able to get out much since having a little baby. I'm trying to hold off on children as long as possible.. :)

I also carried my bag for the round... I gotta try and do something about my gut since finding out that I'm 0.1 into the overweight territory of my BMI. It's not too bad.. but my feet are aching at the end of the day. Caused by carrying the golf bag 18 holes.. or carrying my bigger gut around.

We joined up with two guys and one of them swung like Earnie Els. His drives looked so effortless and easy. They were big hits that had a nice little draw to them, and travelled about 280 - 300 meters (I felt so inadequate). We asked what his secret was and he handed me his driver.... it was almost my height! :O

Turns out his shaft is 4 inches longer than standard @ 49 inches :O

Handicap Drop

After last weeks big game, my handicap dropped by 3 shots to 12. It's heading in the right direction, and it's going to be tough to get it down further. I am feeling pretty confident with my game at the moment. It's got nothing to do with my driving or iron play, but my shortgame. I might not be hitting many green in regulation but I feel like I can get most chips close to the hole.

As for my game this week.. I finished with an 85 for 1 over the handicap. Not too bad considering I had three double bogeys on the front 9.

Oh yeah... driver shopping might be back on the agenda later this year :)
I'm not necessarily looking for more distance (although that wouldn't hurt) but a little more forgiveness.

Positives this weekend: Handicap down / didn't get drenched / free game of golf
Negatives: hurt my left wrist fixing a leaking tap at home :(

Back to the 70's

Yes.. I have shot a round in the 70's after 6 months of hacking away. 76 to be exact, +5 over the card for a net score of 61.
More than enough to give me 1st place for the day. For my troubles, I got a $27 voucher for Collier Park... enough to cover my next round. :)

I worked hard (30 mins before tee off) on my putting and chipping to try and avoid the short game debacle from my last outing. Glad I did, because my driving and iron play was pretty average. I kept most of my drives on the short stuff, but failed to hit many greens in regulation. The short game saved my round.

I haven't had a chance to play with the big hitters in the club until today. I got grouped with 3 of them. Their casual 'safe' drives go out about 230 meters (about where I max out), and when they decide to rip it... it's another 20-30 meters further out. Pretty scary playing with these guys... but I managed to keep my ego in check and stick to my game.

-ve's : didn't take any of my good ballstriking from the driving range to the course / left 2 makable birdie putts short
+ve's : $27 voucher / return of my short game

I'm starting to like this game again :)

Short, Short, Short!!!

Yes that can be used to describe my stature. It can also be used to describe my putting over the weekend.

Apart from making a birdie on the first hole, my putting for the rest of the round was terrible. I left a lot of first putts short, leaving me many testing 2nd putts. My chipping was also shoddy. Tee shots and irons were kinda average. When I think about the round, there was nothing too great about it. But I did finish the round with the same ball I started with :) It's always good to end it without losing a ball.

Considering how bad the round felt, I still managed to shoot a +12 off the stick for a 69 net. Another two or 3 strokes less would have been enough to win the monthly medal.

Oh well... I'll try again next month.

Tiger Upgrade Friends?

Tiger decided he couldn't have a best friend with only two majors, so he upgraded to Roger Federer.

:)
Courtesy of Hot & Not.

And what's with Sergio spitting in the cup? Pretty gross if you ask me.

CPGC Matchplay Trophy - 2007

CPGC Matchplay Trophy - 2007
Originally uploaded by ZanMan77.

Well... after 4 rounds of grueling matchplay, I got to take home my prize. It wasn't easy though. My game was a bit shaky for most of the 18 holes, and it completely fell apart on the 13th with me hitting my ball out of bounds. I conceded that hole to go one down with 5 holes to play, my opponent was hitting it pretty solid and it looked like he was doing it easy.

But I pulled my head out of my butt and put in some pretty solid shots to par the next 4 holes to win the match 2 & 1. I was pretty happy with those 4 holes but I wish I could play like that for all 18. :)

To top things off... I also won 3 beers at the club raffle after the game.
:)

Shanks!!!

There is nothing more terrifying than hitting shank after shank on the driving range 10mins before teeing off for a match. Well that's what happened on the weekend, and I was in a panic. I managed to hit a solid first drive with everyone watching, but then went ahead and topped my next shot. :(

I was two down after two holes and it was looking bad. But I managed to grind out the rest of the front 9 to pull even by the turn. I scored a birdie on the 10th (free ball.. yay!) and managed to pull out a 3 hole win on the match.

So I've got one more match to go before the final. And I'm playing against the club captain this weekend. Here's hoping for another win. :)

Matchplay: Through Round 1

Our club started rnd 1 of our matchplay comp and I'm happy to say that I made it through. I got to the second round last year but had to withdraw because I wouldn't be available the week after. This time I've set aside 4 weeks to try and make it to the final. I think I've got a good chance of progressing because my current HC is 15. I know I can play better than this.

And I did on Saturday. Overall my game was solid. I would have shot around 82 if it was stroke play. The good part of the day was winning 3 balls for my effort. I got two closest to the pin prizes and one for a birdie. It would have been 4 balls if I didn't get pipped by a few meters on the long drive hole.

Looking forward to this weekends play. Here's hoping that I can make it to the 3rd round. :)

Scott Nofriends

Being a regular golfer I often come across people wandering the current hole I'm playing looking for their wayward balls. But this was a first. Upon seeing a guy looking around the fairway, we told him that no balls were spotted coming through the fairway. He replied:

"I'm looking for my friends"

in a think foreign accent. I thought I misheard him but he told us that he lost his group of players.... what the!

Not knowing what to say we just wished him the best of luck finding friends and kept playing. We saw him a few minutes later playing by himself behind us, but lost him after that.

I sure hope he found his friends. :o

Tiger Trap

Not being a huge fan of Tiger Woods when he burst onto the scene many years ago, I've grown to admire his ability and his achievements. I now count myself as one of his many fans. :)

I'd be pretty pleased if he suddenly rocked up to my tee and asked to hit off with us. :)
It's hard not to like the guy when you see how he interacts with average people / golf hacks like us.

Golf stat tracking application

As one of my friends know, I've been planning for years to write a Mac application to track golf scores. It was a good idea, but I find it hard to sit down to write code after doing it all day at the office. I did write one about 4 years ago. It was called StatCaddy and was about a version 0.7 type of standard. I would have continued on with this app but it was a Windows application. This was before I discovered the joys of OS X. :)

A couple of years down the track and no lines of code written (but lot's of dreams of raking in a good living from sales of StatCaddy) I got sent a link to an application that looks like it does all that I planned.

It's called Scorecard



The demo allows you to enter 5 rounds. So far I've only added one ... but it looks quite good and polished so far.
I'll evaluate it over the next few rounds to give a buy or trash verdict. :)

Hot Hot Hot!

Itching for a round of golf, I headed out to Burswood yesterday. On a day forecast to be 41' it was a crazy idea. The worst part of the day was the humidity. I usually soak a small towel to wrap around my neck on hot days but that was close to useless. My game was out of sorts for most of the day. Overall I'd sat my game was bad... with flashes of brilliance (I did get two birdies). I was only +1 on the back 9 until I choked on the last hole with a double bogey. Overall an 80 in those conditions isn't too bad.

I've also been watching the Women's Australian Open this weekend. It's great that someone like Karrie Webb still returns back for the Aussie tourneys. As for the quality of the golf... it's outstanding. Their golf is something that I can relate to better then the men's game. I can't bomb my drives 290 meters like the guys but my distances are more similar to the ladies.

It looks like it'll be 2 weeks before my next game. I'm hoping to get out with the club for a bit of competition play and the schedule says that we're going to be playing at Meadow Springs. So I'm looking forward to that. I just hope that I'll get a chance to head down to the driving range for a quick tune up.

Golf-fest

I've had a good couple of weeks over the holidays with 2 sometimes 3 rounds of golf a week. Thanks to my awesome wife who is encouraging me to get out there with a mate who is visiting from interstate. Thanks Pessimistic Golfer for visiting and playing heaps of rounds :P

Overall I'm pretty happy with my game. I've shot two rounds in the 70's and have been striking the ball well (most of the time).

We've been trying out courses that we used to play years ago. Places like Wembly and Carammar. It's been nice to see how my game has progressed over the last 3 - 4 years. My driving distance has increased by 10 - 20 meters and I've been able to put the ball in places that I haven't been able to reach before.... and that includes an additional 10 meters into the bushes too. :)

Looking forward to the golfing year ahead.

iCareerEagles++

For those that are not geeky enough... I added another eagle to my career tally (3) with a chip in from 10m on a par 5.

It was sweet and it was the icing on the cake on my Saturday round of 81 off the stick. Which is a score that I didn't think I had any chance of getting. It had been about a month and a half since I got out onto the golf course and the day was a stinker at 38°. So a score like that in those conditions has given me back a big shot of confidence in my game.

Looking forward to the many rounds of golf over the next few weeks of the holidays :)

Don't be scared... let it go!

I didn't get out for a round this week, but I did take a trip down to the range. I struck the ball pretty well and most shots were straight or draws. But for some reason this doesn't occur when I'm out on the course. I think it's a mental thing where I'm scared of releasing the clubhead fully. I'll just have to trust my swing more and loosen up the tension in my hands.

It doesn't look like I'll get a chance to get out with the club this weekend either :(

I might have to try and squeeze in a midweek round :)

Lame Duck

We played a game of stableford yesterday. I finished with 35 points.. which equates to a one over my hc. The first 9 was a bit hit and miss with 17 points. But it got worse when I started my back 9. I hit a duck hook on the 10th and was lucky to find my ball. Another hook on the 11th and one on the 13th where I had to scratch the hole really hurt.

I think I was starting to tire and that was causing my bad swings. It was also a pretty difficult day because of the wind. I really have to try and play better in windy conditions.

But I was pretty happy with the way I finished off the last 3 holes. I knew I needed to score some points to get close to shooting my hc and managed to get par's on the final 3 holes... I think that's what they call 'grinding it out'.

What could have been ...

I had a day off for an electrician to come and do some work on a rangehood installation. And I was off to the golf course after he was done.

I had a ripper of a front 9 with a +2 (38). My tee shots were a bit hit and miss. But I was able to recover from all the bad drives with some pretty good saves.

With great anticipation I headed to the 10th to start my back 9... but 3 holes into it, my stomach started to play up. I couldn't take it anymore and had to return to the clubhouse.... quick! The runs was the last thing I wanted on a day like this. I went back out feeling quite light on my feet and played one more hole before needing to head back in again :( ... oh well, at least I par'd the hole after my detour to the clubhouse :)

I'm not dissapointed.. it's quite amusing looking back on it :)

I think I would have shot in the high 70's if I could have played on. It gives me some good things to take into this weekend when I tee it up with the club again.

Let's hope I get to stay out for the full 18 holes this time :)

Wilson - 17' Hybrid

Didn't get a chance to play a round this weekend. But I did manage to sneak down to the course to buy myself a hybrid. It's a Wilson Staff 17' hybrid. Something to replace my 3-iron, which like my 2-iron is just in my bag for show.


There was also a Cobra demo day down at the driving range, so I tried out their new driver with the carbon composite crown. That 460cc head is huge! Something I noticed about the strikes I hit was the height of my ball flight (9' & stiff shaft). I think a regular flex shaft would suit me better. But the biggest difference was the forgiveness. The Cobra was longer than my current driver by about 10/15m but at $575 I'm not sure if it's quite worth it. :)

Maybe as my Christmas prezzie :)

11 Shots better

Went out for a round with some old uni friends today. The weather was just awesome. Overcast and cool all day :)

I shot a pretty average 46 on the front 9 and it was looking like another ho hum round. But a couple of pars and one birdie (can't remember the last time I got one) to give me a back nine of 41 sure made it better. The biggest thing that helped was my misses... I didn't make worse than a bogey on the back.

Looking forward to my next round :)

Tragic...

I shot 98 ... said that I would be happy with an 85 but I was nowhere near that. 

The day started great with me nailing my tee shot straight down the fairway with a 250m drive. I had a look at the club face and there was a big ball inprint right in the center. So I centerd it and really compressed the ball well. I thought this might be my type of day.... until I found that my ball landed in a nice big pork chop size divot. From there I struggled to an outward 9 of 48. A 50 on the back 9 just completed the shocking round. 

I didn't actually strike the ball that badly... I just can't put it all together at the moment. 

Oh well.. I'll just keep persisting. As long as I stay under 100 :)

Return to the club

Finally getting a chance to play with the club group tomorrow. Looking forward to it since it's been about 1-2 months since I've played with those guys.

I'll be very happy if I shoot 85 (That kinda indicates how bad I've been playing recently).
:)

I'm close :)

Close to getting back my good golf scores again. I shot an 87 on the weekend. Not very spectacular but there were some promising developments. I hit some good long drives, decent mid irons and my putting was solid. 

There was a bit of fade in most of my shots but nothing too distance zapping. I also switched to the Callaway HX Red ball. Cheaper than the black tour version and probably more suited to my swing speed. I can hit the range more often with the money I save :)

Where I did falter was my short / wedge game. This plus a few wayward drives really hurt me with some double bogeys.

One of my buddies that played was swinging his new R7. Now I used to average about the same distance with him on our drives. But I was quite suprised to find that he was outdriving me by a good 10m / 20m. Even when I hit a solid 240m drive, he was 10m past me eventhough his ball rolled through the rough. I'm using a Callaway Hawkeye 9' (old tech) and now I'm wondering if I should upgrade my driver. It'll make me hit further... but that's no good if I'm just going to be further into the bushes :)

I was considering a hybrid to help me with those shots out of tricky lies. Maybe that's the smart purchase. It would be a good club to use on those long par 5's when I'm not too confident with my 3w. It might be a little Christmas present to myself later this year. :)

A new hope.

No not the movie but my golf game.

I haven't touched my clubs for a month or so and I'm itching to get back out for a game. I've just been too busy with working weekends and planning a holiday. Anyway, my wife and I were in Phuket last week (I should have brought my clubs) and I picked up a golf magazine from the resort library. While flicking through it by the pool and sipping mocktails (yes I lead a hard life), I picked up some tips that I thought could help my shameful ball striking.

My bad ball striking leads to a weak fade and sometimes a slice... and this robs me of so much distance. I used to have a pretty strong grip with both my hands, but I tried going to a neutral grip (left) and slightly weak (right). Combined with some tweaks to my backswing, I started to hit some powerfull draws with my irons and driver. There were some big hooks but not enough to cause worry. And those weak fades were pretty rare.

So I've got a game scheduled with some mates tomorrow at Collier and I'm looking forward to it. Let's hope I can shake my bad form and get a good round in. :) 

Where have I gone?

Well I'm back to blogging again. But the question should be "Where has my golf game gone?". It's been a long time since I've blogged. I wish that I could say my game has returned, but it's still in a pretty bad state. I shot 94 the last time out.. pretty embarassing really. 
It was back with the club, which I'm going to try and play with more often. 

I'm still having the same problems. I'm not making clean contact with my driver or swinging on the right path. Which equalls some weak cuts/slices and putting more pressure on me on my second shots. My irons aren't that hot either. Oh well.... at least my shoes are comfy.

I think part of the problem is the expectations the other guys in the club have of me. Earlier this year, I was striking the ball well and hitting it as far as some of the longer drivers in the club. Which was quite something for someone my size. I have this reputation of being a long hitter, and I think that's putting more pressure on me. Not using that as an excuse... but it just makes me feel worse when I have a bad game. 

I'll have to try and get out tomorrow to get some time on the driving range. Hope it's not too wet. :)

3 Birdies... again!

Well it was a nice and sunny June morning and I decided to abandon my wife for some golf :)
I'm lucky to have someone so understanding and supportive with this game.

I headed down to my usual course (Collier Park) hoping to find some sort of form. The day started with a bad drive that sliced into the rough. Nothing new there. But I managed to put my second shot on the green and then 1 putt for birdie. Not too much of a shabby start. My next drive was another slice / high fade, which is something that I've been hitting alot of recently. It's costing me distance and making my second shots longer than they should be. I had a feeling that my arms just didn't feel connected with my body, so I tried keeping my right elbow tucked in to keep it in sync and less complicated. And the next drive I hit with that was pure and dead straight. I went on to finish the round hitting 12 of 13 fairways.

Pretty good driving stats but my irons were a bit hit and miss. My score for the round was 84 off the stick, 2 below my handicap. It's a good score, but I'm a touch disappointed to not do better after finishing the front 9 at just +4.

Good news is that I'm starting to hit the big dog well again. I've been contemplating purchasing a Nike Sasquatch driver to get a bit more forgiveness. But if I keep hitting the driver like today, I might as well save the money and perhaps spend it on lessons.

I've also started to try the new Taylor Made TP Black balls. They don't look as funky as my usual HX Tour balls with the hexagonal dimples, but they do have a decent bite when hitting to greens and seem to perform well in terms of distance. The one great thing with this ball is that it stays really white. The HX Tour and ProV1's start to fade and look dull after a few holes, but the TM's looked pretty darn good after a whole round with them. I'll have to post up some pics of the ball for proof. :)

3 Birdies!

If I said that I had 3 birdies in my last game, you would probably think that I shot a pretty good score. Well all that I managed was an 86. I played at my dad's club, it's longer and more challenging than the standard public courses I play (which is a nice change). We had a 4 ball, and the game was skins at $1 a hole. I was feeling pretty confident and thought I had a good chance against the others.

The front 9 was pretty tragic to say the least. I picked up my only skin on the 9th with a 6-iron 3rd shot into a par 5 to be an inch from the hole. That was the only highlight, for some reason I just can't string together good shots on each hole. i was out in a dismal 46.

The back 9 was much better. I picked up another 2 birdies. One was a chip in from the fringe and the other was a shot from a fairway bunker to a few inches from the pin. I was in with a much better 40.

My tee shots were ok without being too damaging, but the irons just didn't come together that day.

My day ended with 10 skins (you also get one for sand saves and chip-ins), which was good enough for 2nd. I'm still uncomfortable with my swing. I hope to sort it out at the range tomorrow. I'm not playing a round this weekend, but I do have a day off on Monday... and this is where I'm heading.. Kennedy Bay. It's one of my favourite courses. I like the links style courses, and one that gives you different options off the tee.

Here's hoping Monday isn't washed out. :)

RareBirdie visits

Had a visit from an old golfing buddy in from Melbourne, and we made the most of the good weather by squeezing in two rounds over two weekends. He's been struggling with his game recently and I saw first hand what he means. All I can say is.. keep on plugging away mate, it'll get better. Want me to look after your Mizuno's when you switch back to your TM's? :P

As for my game... I think it's coming around again. The last two rounds yielded scores of 87 & 86 (par 73). My ball striking wasn't that crash hot. A playing partners young son (9 ish) got closer to the pin than me on a long par 3 :)
It really felt like I didn't have too much control over my swing, but I'm happy with the way I grinded out those rounds.

Not having the time to play a round last weekend, I headed to the range just to keep some sort of feel. I hit my last 5 balls really pure and long (got to remember to load up the right side).

Something else that I'll have to think about this year is if I should buy a new driver or not. My wife is encouraging me to treat myself and get a new driver. I currently hit a 9' Callaway Hawkeye. Not sure how big it is but I'm guessing around 350 - 375 cc. it's quite puny compared to most drivers people are wielding these days... I feel quite inadequate sometimes. :)
Wondering if going bigger with more technology will help my game or just send me deeper into the woods.

Just a few pars please

After reading Rare Birdies posting on his form slump, I'm more at peace with my current golf game. I'm looking at my current poor form as a temporary slump instead of something more permanent. So there is hope.

Once again I failed to break 90 today. I think it's been about 3 or 4 rounds since I've shot in the 80's. But I did manage to get a birdie. I used to average about 1 per round but it also has been about 4 rounds since my last birdie.

I don't think it's any particular part of my game that's hurting me. I can hit quite a few good shots, it's just that I can't string a couple together on each hole.

There is some good news though. My putting is much better. Those shaky 1-2 meter putts were dropping and I feel much more confident standing over putts.

Looking the part

I had another shocker last weekend. I drove the ball quite well but was terrible around the greens. I've really lost alot of touch. I'm having a real hard time getting up and down from the edge of the green.

I looked like this


But played like this