Hi folks, it's been a while since my last blog but to be honest not much has been going on. I guess now we're into November, the countdown to xmas has started. This should be fun!!
I am currently nursing what was very nearly a serious wound to my my wrist. Yep, I spent last night at A&E following probably one of the worst accidents I've ever had. I was cutting a cardboard box and for some reason I was pulling a stanley knife towards me that slipped and went straight through my wrist. Thankfully, I missed my artery! In fact it hardly bled at all even though it was a large open wound!! Anyways A&E glued and steri-stripped me back together and now I have to keep a large dressing on it for a week. This rules out any swimming this week and due the fact that I can hardly move it without it really hurting, this pretty much rules out the gym and certainly rules out any golf this week!! What a bummer!! Apparently it should be ok after a week or so, so I'm just gonna have to be patient.
Aside from that, I haven't played much golf. When I did play I was hitting a lot of pushes and missing a lot of shots right, mainly from cutting across the ball. This occurs now (from a one-plane point of view) when I go back to my old move of lifting my arms on my backswing rather than getting them behind me. Once this occured to me, I started to play well again almost straight away. It's always tricky to do this, as getting the arms behind me feels like the last thing I should do when I'm missing right. But i'm not missing right from an in-to-out path! It's an open face caused by cutting across the ball. Anyways, I cured it and have this knowledge in the bank for next time I struggle.
I have kept up the gym and the attention to my diet and it's going very well although I have felt myself slipping gradually. When I weighed myself last friday, I was 11 stone 6 lbs. My target is 11 stone exactly by xmas. This gives me just under 2 months to lose 6lbs, an extremely achievable target. But, I need to refocus and re-discipline myself so my eating needs even more care this week (apart from the chinese I had last night!). But, I know what to do - I've just got to do it!!!
Anyways folks, that's from me for now....
Monday, 2 November 2009
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Fully Qualified!!!
Greetings. Have been a bit busy over the last week but I have some fantastic news. After 3 long years of hard work, setbacks and successes I am very excited to announce that I have completed my PGA training course. It was a huge relief and a big source of celebrations during my trip to Cardiff last weekend (the Stereophonics were awesome by the way).
That's the big news at the moment. I don't know what it will mean in terms of my career in the long term as I am committed to my dispensing job right now, but it does mean that I can focus purely on playing and practising over the winter. I am going to save money as much as possible over so I can play plenty of tournaments over the winter. I also need to finish my dispensing NVQ soon!! I want to finish this by the end of the year if I can and i am nearly half way through.
That's about all I have to report right now. Life is good, I'm now a fully qualified pro golfer and and can breathe easy. I'll write again soon when I have something more to report....
That's the big news at the moment. I don't know what it will mean in terms of my career in the long term as I am committed to my dispensing job right now, but it does mean that I can focus purely on playing and practising over the winter. I am going to save money as much as possible over so I can play plenty of tournaments over the winter. I also need to finish my dispensing NVQ soon!! I want to finish this by the end of the year if I can and i am nearly half way through.
That's about all I have to report right now. Life is good, I'm now a fully qualified pro golfer and and can breathe easy. I'll write again soon when I have something more to report....
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Here comes the winter...
Morning all. Well, suffice to say the winter weather is drawing in. It's cold, overcast and a bit windy which is a shame as we had a beautiful weekend. Hopefully we still have some nice sunshine to come. Speaking of the weekend, I went to the races at Ascot! It was amazing! What a cracking way to spend a day, and to spend A LOT of money.
Unfortunately I came home £50 lighter having not won a single race! I was gutted. I have a friend in Brighton who gambles full-time and for the most part successfully. He picked my horses for me and I didn't get one result! Even he said the results were crazy, all the outsiders were winning. Oh well, gambling is great when you win but how often does this really happen.
With the exception of last weekend, I have kept up my gym visits and healthier eating and have weighed in this morning. I have now lost 7lbs in 4 weeks and am sitting on 12stone exactly. This is the lightest i've been for a good 3-4 years so I am excited. Just 1 stone to go and I'm there! I have stepped up my swimming and am now doing 40 lengths every session. The first time I did this last week it took me 28 minutes and last night I did it in 20 minutes. I always find that lengths 10-15 are the hardest. Maybe this is the 'wall' that people talk about as my arms always really hurt. However, as I approach 20 lengths I find that this goes and I can swim confidently. I absolutely love to swim so for me this is an easy way to do cardio work. I am doing 100 sit ups every night. I can only do 10 at a time presently which is a bit frustrating as it takes me a while to get the 100 done but I just stay patient and do them.
I played golf at Hollingbury as usual on wednesday and had another astonishing round. After a woeful start and being +7 through 5 holes I had it back to +4 through 16 and then 3 putted and finished with a 78 (+6). I just had a look on my last 3 rounds. How's this for a stat: for the first 6 holes of the last 3 rounds I am a combined +16 and for the remaining 12 holes I am a combined -7! That is crazy and something I definitely need to get my head arounf. I am -10 for my last 3 back nines and +19 for the front nines!
This shows that I am playing phenomenally well and phenomenally terribly. I am fully committed to my 1-plane method now and my understanding improves every day. My ball striking is generally very solid its just the accuracy, particularly with my driver. I think a goal over the winter will be to suss out my tendencies when I play bad so I have more of an idea of how to correct them. I have been to my new club Holtye a couple of times now and am loving it there so I have definitely found a good place to work on these things.
Anyways, I am off to Cardiff tomorrow to see the Stereophonics. I cannot put into words how excited I am about this. I love this band and always have. I had an amazing night last year when I saw them at the O2 so tomorrow should be amazing!!
Anyways, thats about it for now. I'll write again next week...
Unfortunately I came home £50 lighter having not won a single race! I was gutted. I have a friend in Brighton who gambles full-time and for the most part successfully. He picked my horses for me and I didn't get one result! Even he said the results were crazy, all the outsiders were winning. Oh well, gambling is great when you win but how often does this really happen.
With the exception of last weekend, I have kept up my gym visits and healthier eating and have weighed in this morning. I have now lost 7lbs in 4 weeks and am sitting on 12stone exactly. This is the lightest i've been for a good 3-4 years so I am excited. Just 1 stone to go and I'm there! I have stepped up my swimming and am now doing 40 lengths every session. The first time I did this last week it took me 28 minutes and last night I did it in 20 minutes. I always find that lengths 10-15 are the hardest. Maybe this is the 'wall' that people talk about as my arms always really hurt. However, as I approach 20 lengths I find that this goes and I can swim confidently. I absolutely love to swim so for me this is an easy way to do cardio work. I am doing 100 sit ups every night. I can only do 10 at a time presently which is a bit frustrating as it takes me a while to get the 100 done but I just stay patient and do them.
I played golf at Hollingbury as usual on wednesday and had another astonishing round. After a woeful start and being +7 through 5 holes I had it back to +4 through 16 and then 3 putted and finished with a 78 (+6). I just had a look on my last 3 rounds. How's this for a stat: for the first 6 holes of the last 3 rounds I am a combined +16 and for the remaining 12 holes I am a combined -7! That is crazy and something I definitely need to get my head arounf. I am -10 for my last 3 back nines and +19 for the front nines!
This shows that I am playing phenomenally well and phenomenally terribly. I am fully committed to my 1-plane method now and my understanding improves every day. My ball striking is generally very solid its just the accuracy, particularly with my driver. I think a goal over the winter will be to suss out my tendencies when I play bad so I have more of an idea of how to correct them. I have been to my new club Holtye a couple of times now and am loving it there so I have definitely found a good place to work on these things.
Anyways, I am off to Cardiff tomorrow to see the Stereophonics. I cannot put into words how excited I am about this. I love this band and always have. I had an amazing night last year when I saw them at the O2 so tomorrow should be amazing!!
Anyways, thats about it for now. I'll write again next week...
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Holtye!!!
Hey all! It's been another busy week of work and the gym but I am very pleased to say I lost another 2 pounds last week. If I can keep that this week, that's half a stone in 3 weeks which would be brilliant. My weigh in is tomorrow morning, so fingers crossed.
I'm not massively overweight or anything, it's just that like most people I feel that I am carrying a bit too much and therefore want to lose the excess, tone up a bit and get fitter for my golf.
I played Hollingbury yesterday and shot a very nice level par 72. I got off to a slow start again and was +4 through 8 holes. However a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th plus another one saw me home in -4 for the 2nd successive week at Hollingbury. I am feeling great about my golf right now. My iron play is so much better than it has been and my putting has improved too. I cannot wait for next year!!
Thankfully, I have finally sorted out a golf club to play and practise at! I got in touch with Holtye golf club, and after a few exchanges with a very nice secretary I popped down there and sorted it all! Holtye is only a 9 hole course, but it is a great little layout and is in great condition. Also they have a nice big practise area, a big putting green, driving nets and a little short game area! This is everything I need so I am extremely relieved!! In addition, it's fairly near work and is also en-route to Brighton too should I be heading back that way.
So, tonight it's the gym again. I managed to swim 40 lengths of the pool tuesday night so this is my goal going forward, dependant on how hard I have worked up in the gym. Either way, I always do a minimum of 30!
I'll leave it there, I'm off to the Ascot Races this weekend so i'll look forward to that! Tata!!!
I'm not massively overweight or anything, it's just that like most people I feel that I am carrying a bit too much and therefore want to lose the excess, tone up a bit and get fitter for my golf.
I played Hollingbury yesterday and shot a very nice level par 72. I got off to a slow start again and was +4 through 8 holes. However a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th plus another one saw me home in -4 for the 2nd successive week at Hollingbury. I am feeling great about my golf right now. My iron play is so much better than it has been and my putting has improved too. I cannot wait for next year!!
Thankfully, I have finally sorted out a golf club to play and practise at! I got in touch with Holtye golf club, and after a few exchanges with a very nice secretary I popped down there and sorted it all! Holtye is only a 9 hole course, but it is a great little layout and is in great condition. Also they have a nice big practise area, a big putting green, driving nets and a little short game area! This is everything I need so I am extremely relieved!! In addition, it's fairly near work and is also en-route to Brighton too should I be heading back that way.
So, tonight it's the gym again. I managed to swim 40 lengths of the pool tuesday night so this is my goal going forward, dependant on how hard I have worked up in the gym. Either way, I always do a minimum of 30!
I'll leave it there, I'm off to the Ascot Races this weekend so i'll look forward to that! Tata!!!
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Gym and golf....
Mawnin' all! Have got off to a flyer with my new healthy lifestyle. Went to the gym 5 times last week and watched closely what I was eating and lost 2 lbs!! What a great and encouraging start. Hopefully I've found a formula which is working. I'd tell you what it is but I'd have to kill you ;-)
Played golf at Hollingbury last night and had another eventful round. I was rusty, crap and frankly useless for my first 5 holes and it did not feel good to be stood on hole 6 at +7!! It was extremely cold and windy so not the best conditions anyway but after a steady par on 6 I suddenly found my swing again. I played home in -4 from there to shoot 75 in strong winds (including a holed greenside bunker shot for eagle on 17) so this was great. The amount of golf I'm playing now is diminishing very rapidly indeed! I have the next 4 wednesdays off in which I will hopefully play at least 27 holes. After that I will be more or less full time at work and am doing stuff on most of the weekends so to be honest I am considering knocking it on the head for the rest of the year to recharge the batteries and come out focused, committed and keen in January to prepare for my tournament season!!
I got asked yesterday whether I was still considering turning amateur and my simple response is that I will give it until I am 30 and if I am no nearer to my goals and feel like I've given it my best, that will be when I turn amateur again and focus on competing at a high level in that arena.
Not really much else to report just now. I guess things go a bit quieter now in the build up to xmas. My focus for the moment is to get myself down to 11 stone. I would love to achieve this goal and as I said, I have gotten off to a great start. I'll leave it for now. All the best....
Played golf at Hollingbury last night and had another eventful round. I was rusty, crap and frankly useless for my first 5 holes and it did not feel good to be stood on hole 6 at +7!! It was extremely cold and windy so not the best conditions anyway but after a steady par on 6 I suddenly found my swing again. I played home in -4 from there to shoot 75 in strong winds (including a holed greenside bunker shot for eagle on 17) so this was great. The amount of golf I'm playing now is diminishing very rapidly indeed! I have the next 4 wednesdays off in which I will hopefully play at least 27 holes. After that I will be more or less full time at work and am doing stuff on most of the weekends so to be honest I am considering knocking it on the head for the rest of the year to recharge the batteries and come out focused, committed and keen in January to prepare for my tournament season!!
I got asked yesterday whether I was still considering turning amateur and my simple response is that I will give it until I am 30 and if I am no nearer to my goals and feel like I've given it my best, that will be when I turn amateur again and focus on competing at a high level in that arena.
Not really much else to report just now. I guess things go a bit quieter now in the build up to xmas. My focus for the moment is to get myself down to 11 stone. I would love to achieve this goal and as I said, I have gotten off to a great start. I'll leave it for now. All the best....
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Life is good...
Hey folks, hope you're all well. It's been a very hectic couple of weeks but for once I feel very good about life and am feeling very happy and settled in most things. My golf is good. I played very well tonight and my putting was horrific! Despite that, I had the ball on a string and loved every second of it. My ball striking is coming along so well now that I am getting a massive buzz about what could happen next year.
I just love golf. I have done for 16 years now and will do for the rest of my life. I am driven very hard internally and am very clear on what I want to accomplish. The down days are horrible but they never put me off. All they do is spur me on to work harder - although this can work negatively at times as I can sometimes become obsessive. I'm working so hard on enjoying the game and not letting things get me down. I think that when you are given things to deal with in life it completely changes your outlook in all aspects of it. On the days I keep my temper in check, I love to play and I feel much better about myself.
I am going to try and save as much money as I can over the winter for tournaments next year and I am actually going to take charge of myself and start taking myself seriously! I heard a great clip from the golf psychologist recently which simply says that if you don't feel confident, ''ACT AS IF'' you are. I have continually put myself down in front of others about my golf. I guess on some level it takes the pressure off me to play well. But what a negative thing to do, and I don't know anyone else who does this. Well, maybe one person who I should think knows who they are if they read this. So, I am endeavouring to live this way now. I am a professional golfer. I know myself that I deserve and have earned this status so why not start believing it?!
I have joined a gym again and am undertaking what I consider to be a major lifestyle overhaul. I've given up chocolate, I don't have sugar in my tea now, I am cutting the beer down although I like to leave this as a treat as I can do it in moderation anyway and I am exercising hard!! I want to lose over a stone in weight. I want to become stronger and I want to become fitter as this will make me more confident. The fact I'm a bit overweight has made me very self-conscious and to be honest I probably havent taken the care of myself that I should have done. So, this all changes now!!! I'd love to work on my golf technically over the winter but I still don't have anywhere in Tunbridge Wells to do this so I'm not really sure how to tackle that one.
I aim to finish the year on a high. After an extremely low beginning to the year personally, if I can finish the year with my PGA qualification and as a qualified dispenser, I would consider that a successful year. It would be streets ahead of last year. In all honesty if I could erase 2008 completely, I would! But, things are looking up now. I've got some exciting things coming up. Next week i'm going to see my favourite band Coldplay in London and the following week I am seeing the Stereophonics. In addition, I am seeing Ricky Gervais in December so there is a lot to look forward to.
My dispensary job is going to be exciting too over the next couple of months. We are moving in to a brand new surgery so this will be cool!!
Anyways, I've waffled on enough for this blog..........
I just love golf. I have done for 16 years now and will do for the rest of my life. I am driven very hard internally and am very clear on what I want to accomplish. The down days are horrible but they never put me off. All they do is spur me on to work harder - although this can work negatively at times as I can sometimes become obsessive. I'm working so hard on enjoying the game and not letting things get me down. I think that when you are given things to deal with in life it completely changes your outlook in all aspects of it. On the days I keep my temper in check, I love to play and I feel much better about myself.
I am going to try and save as much money as I can over the winter for tournaments next year and I am actually going to take charge of myself and start taking myself seriously! I heard a great clip from the golf psychologist recently which simply says that if you don't feel confident, ''ACT AS IF'' you are. I have continually put myself down in front of others about my golf. I guess on some level it takes the pressure off me to play well. But what a negative thing to do, and I don't know anyone else who does this. Well, maybe one person who I should think knows who they are if they read this. So, I am endeavouring to live this way now. I am a professional golfer. I know myself that I deserve and have earned this status so why not start believing it?!
I have joined a gym again and am undertaking what I consider to be a major lifestyle overhaul. I've given up chocolate, I don't have sugar in my tea now, I am cutting the beer down although I like to leave this as a treat as I can do it in moderation anyway and I am exercising hard!! I want to lose over a stone in weight. I want to become stronger and I want to become fitter as this will make me more confident. The fact I'm a bit overweight has made me very self-conscious and to be honest I probably havent taken the care of myself that I should have done. So, this all changes now!!! I'd love to work on my golf technically over the winter but I still don't have anywhere in Tunbridge Wells to do this so I'm not really sure how to tackle that one.
I aim to finish the year on a high. After an extremely low beginning to the year personally, if I can finish the year with my PGA qualification and as a qualified dispenser, I would consider that a successful year. It would be streets ahead of last year. In all honesty if I could erase 2008 completely, I would! But, things are looking up now. I've got some exciting things coming up. Next week i'm going to see my favourite band Coldplay in London and the following week I am seeing the Stereophonics. In addition, I am seeing Ricky Gervais in December so there is a lot to look forward to.
My dispensary job is going to be exciting too over the next couple of months. We are moving in to a brand new surgery so this will be cool!!
Anyways, I've waffled on enough for this blog..........
Monday, 31 August 2009
Exam, The Drift and Guernsey....
Just back from Guernsey. Had a great time. It really is a very beautiful island and is so relaxed and chilled out!! More on that in due course...
Well I've had one very busy week!! Tuesday saw me travelling up to Birmingham for my equipment technology retake, hopefully my final piece for my PGA course!! Yep, if I pass this I realise 3 years of extremely hard work and achieve my PGA qualification! This will be the proudest achievement of my life!!
I think the exam went well. I had to do 2 technology jobs. One of them was to build a club from components ie mine was to build a sand iron with a regular flex that was an inch shorter than standard and had to have 3 layers of grip tape. Then I had to adjust the loft and lie of a golf club. Both of these jobs went well I think and now I can only wait for my results. Fingers crossed, I was extremely nervous but think I coped well.
On thursday I had the south region assistants championships at The Drift. I shot 83 (+10) and 79 (+6) for a +16 total. This was disappointing but I take many positives from the second round particularly. In the morning I didn't play poorly but I scored poorly. There were a lot of sloppy errors, mainly with my shortgame and I putted woefully. It was an 83 that probably should have been 76 ish.
My afternoon round could have been an enormous breakthrough in my confidence. Bearing in mind this is a tough course and is very treelined I was -1 through my first 7 holes and was playing beautifully. I made bogey on my 8th which was a tough hole but then on my 9th I was in a greenside bunker for two on a par 5 and managed to take 4 from there. From then on I had 2 3-putts and another bogey to be stood the par 5 8th (my 17th) at +4. After splitting the fairway I only had two iron and proceeded to block it way right in the trees. This was my only truly bad swing in the whole afternoon round. I felt even worse when I hit my provisional ball to about 20 feet.
I found my first ball in the trees and could only hack out back to the fairway. Even so, my shot smacked a tree and proceeded most unfortunately to roll under a tree root. From there I could only chip out and made double bogey on what should have been a birdie hole. I parred the last and signed off my 79 feeling very short changed in what had been my best tournament round for 2 years. Sometimes the score really doesn't justify how the person had played. But I played well and enjoyed the day.
Anyways, on the friday we set off for Guernsey. I've never been a good flier and was very nervous, particularly when I saw the Dash-8 aircraft we were due to fly on. However both flights were fairly uneventful and I had a great time in Guernsey. I swam in the sea twice which was brilliant. I haven't done this for years and wish I did it more often. I'd love to go back. It would be a great place to live as it is so relaxed. However the lack of golf courses and the fact that it is so quiet means that it may remain as a holiday possibility.
Anyways, after a hectic week all is back to normal now. Back to work tomorrow.....
Well I've had one very busy week!! Tuesday saw me travelling up to Birmingham for my equipment technology retake, hopefully my final piece for my PGA course!! Yep, if I pass this I realise 3 years of extremely hard work and achieve my PGA qualification! This will be the proudest achievement of my life!!
I think the exam went well. I had to do 2 technology jobs. One of them was to build a club from components ie mine was to build a sand iron with a regular flex that was an inch shorter than standard and had to have 3 layers of grip tape. Then I had to adjust the loft and lie of a golf club. Both of these jobs went well I think and now I can only wait for my results. Fingers crossed, I was extremely nervous but think I coped well.
On thursday I had the south region assistants championships at The Drift. I shot 83 (+10) and 79 (+6) for a +16 total. This was disappointing but I take many positives from the second round particularly. In the morning I didn't play poorly but I scored poorly. There were a lot of sloppy errors, mainly with my shortgame and I putted woefully. It was an 83 that probably should have been 76 ish.
My afternoon round could have been an enormous breakthrough in my confidence. Bearing in mind this is a tough course and is very treelined I was -1 through my first 7 holes and was playing beautifully. I made bogey on my 8th which was a tough hole but then on my 9th I was in a greenside bunker for two on a par 5 and managed to take 4 from there. From then on I had 2 3-putts and another bogey to be stood the par 5 8th (my 17th) at +4. After splitting the fairway I only had two iron and proceeded to block it way right in the trees. This was my only truly bad swing in the whole afternoon round. I felt even worse when I hit my provisional ball to about 20 feet.
I found my first ball in the trees and could only hack out back to the fairway. Even so, my shot smacked a tree and proceeded most unfortunately to roll under a tree root. From there I could only chip out and made double bogey on what should have been a birdie hole. I parred the last and signed off my 79 feeling very short changed in what had been my best tournament round for 2 years. Sometimes the score really doesn't justify how the person had played. But I played well and enjoyed the day.
Anyways, on the friday we set off for Guernsey. I've never been a good flier and was very nervous, particularly when I saw the Dash-8 aircraft we were due to fly on. However both flights were fairly uneventful and I had a great time in Guernsey. I swam in the sea twice which was brilliant. I haven't done this for years and wish I did it more often. I'd love to go back. It would be a great place to live as it is so relaxed. However the lack of golf courses and the fact that it is so quiet means that it may remain as a holiday possibility.
Anyways, after a hectic week all is back to normal now. Back to work tomorrow.....
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Disappointing...
Played Hollingbury tonight and was actually very disappointed with how it went. On a perfect night for scoring, I had to play last 5 holes in -2 to shoot 77. At one point it looked like I might not even break 80. This is far from what I was expecting as my confidence was really high. I just couldn't trust my swing AGAIN!! I do trust what I've been working on - countless successful range sessions lately have reinforced that to me. I just couldn't produce it on the course tonight. It's quite funny and ironic how the problem escalated really. I pushed a couple of shots early on and could then feel myself fighting against making the backswing that I have been learning recently and the one that has lately hit a ton of good shots.
Whenever I got it right, I did hit good shots - at least I can take heart from that but I guess everything changes on the course.
One thing I did realise was that if keep my backswing fairly slow, I stand a lot more chance of making the correct turn on my downswing but I have got to keep my spine angle!! I hit a good few thins tonight as a result of not doing this.
I guess the work continues...
Whenever I got it right, I did hit good shots - at least I can take heart from that but I guess everything changes on the course.
One thing I did realise was that if keep my backswing fairly slow, I stand a lot more chance of making the correct turn on my downswing but I have got to keep my spine angle!! I hit a good few thins tonight as a result of not doing this.
I guess the work continues...
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
The Drift and Lamberhurst...
I played Sunday and Monday!! 2 games in two days - woohoo and in the sunshine I loved it!
I decided on Sunday to go and play a practise round at The Drift (the course my tournament is on next week). This is one tough track and it is going to be a tough 36 holes. It never ceases to amaze me how good the scoring is around this course in The PGA Southern Open every year. It is one tough track! It is tight and extremely bouncy. Normally under these conditions I would choose to play very cautiously from the tee. However, here, there are quite a few holes where you can't do this as the longer club you would be playing to the green with just won't hold the green!
I played ok, but it was frustrating. I hit so many decent approaches only to watch them hit the green and go straight off the back!! 36 holes of that next week is going to be frustrating. I'm hoping it might rain a bit in fact! I played the front 9 twice as the course was very busy and it is a nice course to play so I am looking forward to it.
I then played Lamberhurst on Monday and didn't have such a good day. There were a lot of blind dogleg holes where I didnt know where to go and this lead to some dodgy swings and some iffy shots. I hit a good few decent ones and closed out the round well so at least I went home on a high.
Then, tonight I went to the range and had another good session. Overall at the moment I am striking it great and hitting a lot of very good shots. I just need to get out on the course more.
One issue I am having at the moment is my alignment. I think this is a problem that many golfers struggle with. I mis-aim to the right a very high amount of the time and then when I get myself aligned properly it feels like I am aiming way left which I then either seem to steer or end up hitting left!! I think I just need to persevere with it until it gets more comfortable.
Not such a big blog tonight, been working lots at the surgery. All is good though...
I decided on Sunday to go and play a practise round at The Drift (the course my tournament is on next week). This is one tough track and it is going to be a tough 36 holes. It never ceases to amaze me how good the scoring is around this course in The PGA Southern Open every year. It is one tough track! It is tight and extremely bouncy. Normally under these conditions I would choose to play very cautiously from the tee. However, here, there are quite a few holes where you can't do this as the longer club you would be playing to the green with just won't hold the green!
I played ok, but it was frustrating. I hit so many decent approaches only to watch them hit the green and go straight off the back!! 36 holes of that next week is going to be frustrating. I'm hoping it might rain a bit in fact! I played the front 9 twice as the course was very busy and it is a nice course to play so I am looking forward to it.
I then played Lamberhurst on Monday and didn't have such a good day. There were a lot of blind dogleg holes where I didnt know where to go and this lead to some dodgy swings and some iffy shots. I hit a good few decent ones and closed out the round well so at least I went home on a high.
Then, tonight I went to the range and had another good session. Overall at the moment I am striking it great and hitting a lot of very good shots. I just need to get out on the course more.
One issue I am having at the moment is my alignment. I think this is a problem that many golfers struggle with. I mis-aim to the right a very high amount of the time and then when I get myself aligned properly it feels like I am aiming way left which I then either seem to steer or end up hitting left!! I think I just need to persevere with it until it gets more comfortable.
Not such a big blog tonight, been working lots at the surgery. All is good though...
Friday, 14 August 2009
Bristol and busy week!
Good morning all! I have posted a link from my twitter page to this blog so if anyone chooses to read this then hello to you and thank you for taking the interest!
I went to Bristol and saw my Nan in hospital over the weekend. To cut a long story short, she had (baring in mind she's 93) a 4 hour operation about 4 weeks ago and now she's doing great. Was so great to see how positive and relaxed she was. She's been through a lot over the last few years but now she has a cracking chance of making the big 100.
I seriously hate going to hospitals, they make me so anxious. I always come out counting my blessings that I am healthy as some of the people in there are suffering in a way I probably can't even imagine. One girl in there, only a 27 years of age was in the bed opposite my Nan and she was so ill it was awful. I discovered she had Crohn's Disease. I don't really know what this is but I know for sure that I never want it. It's all too easy sometimes to think you have significant problems, when in reality you aren't even close. This was a big wake up call for me. Anyways, Nan is doing great and will be home very soon.
I haven't played much golf at all this week. I have been doing a lot of hours in my other job so have only played once. I played on Tuesday afternoon at Sweetwoods. This is a great course near East Grinstead. I played really nicely actually and hit some really good iron shots. I was +3 through 14 holes but then had no choice but to leave. I can only describe it as sunstroke? I was poodling along nice then suddenly my mouth went completely dry, I got unbelievably dizzy and my legs started trembling. I think it was extreme dehydration and it was entirely my fault. I won't let this happen again ever. I've written 2 or 3 assignments about the importance of hydration and it is vital!! If you dehydrate, you can't concentrate and you feel very poorly indeed. This is not condusive to good golf.
I was hitting the ball nicely though and really beginning to feel comfortable with my backswing.
I've been to the range twice this week to continue grooving my backswing. I am so excited by the way i'm hitting it and even more excited by the fact that I finally have full understanding of where I've been going wrong. I've chosen not to be taught by anyone. I believe I have a good enough understanding of my technique and beliefs that I am content to work this way.
My backswing feels very shallow indeed and when I get it right the club feels miles behind me. This is because I am now letting my arms and the club follow the turn of my shoulders, rather than my previous fault of lifting my arms and getting disconnected (or above plane). I know this is correct because all I need to from there is turn my shoulders back through as hard as I can on my downswing. The club never gets trapped behind me as long as I turn!! FACT!! This has yielded some arrow straight shots, time after time and even extra distance!!
There are critics out there, my brother being one of them, for me undertaking this method. I have always had faith in the concepts of it though which is why I have stuck with it. Even on bad days, I have simply told myself that I just hadn't executed it properly. It has taken me over a year to get to this point though as it has been essentially a complete change of method and the way I have struck the ball this past week has made it totally worth it!
I have a tournament next week at The Drift which I'm really excited about. I'm not going to grade the success of the day by my scores. I just want to hit some nice shots under a competitive environment and feel comfortable with my swing. If that happens I will consider the day a success! I can't wait.
I also have my equipment repairs exam coming up which I am very nervous about. It's all stuff I have done before but this is the only thing that I need to do to pass my PGA course so it's fairly important you could say. We'll see what happens.
Anyways I'll leave it there for today and will write again soon...
I went to Bristol and saw my Nan in hospital over the weekend. To cut a long story short, she had (baring in mind she's 93) a 4 hour operation about 4 weeks ago and now she's doing great. Was so great to see how positive and relaxed she was. She's been through a lot over the last few years but now she has a cracking chance of making the big 100.
I seriously hate going to hospitals, they make me so anxious. I always come out counting my blessings that I am healthy as some of the people in there are suffering in a way I probably can't even imagine. One girl in there, only a 27 years of age was in the bed opposite my Nan and she was so ill it was awful. I discovered she had Crohn's Disease. I don't really know what this is but I know for sure that I never want it. It's all too easy sometimes to think you have significant problems, when in reality you aren't even close. This was a big wake up call for me. Anyways, Nan is doing great and will be home very soon.
I haven't played much golf at all this week. I have been doing a lot of hours in my other job so have only played once. I played on Tuesday afternoon at Sweetwoods. This is a great course near East Grinstead. I played really nicely actually and hit some really good iron shots. I was +3 through 14 holes but then had no choice but to leave. I can only describe it as sunstroke? I was poodling along nice then suddenly my mouth went completely dry, I got unbelievably dizzy and my legs started trembling. I think it was extreme dehydration and it was entirely my fault. I won't let this happen again ever. I've written 2 or 3 assignments about the importance of hydration and it is vital!! If you dehydrate, you can't concentrate and you feel very poorly indeed. This is not condusive to good golf.
I was hitting the ball nicely though and really beginning to feel comfortable with my backswing.
I've been to the range twice this week to continue grooving my backswing. I am so excited by the way i'm hitting it and even more excited by the fact that I finally have full understanding of where I've been going wrong. I've chosen not to be taught by anyone. I believe I have a good enough understanding of my technique and beliefs that I am content to work this way.
My backswing feels very shallow indeed and when I get it right the club feels miles behind me. This is because I am now letting my arms and the club follow the turn of my shoulders, rather than my previous fault of lifting my arms and getting disconnected (or above plane). I know this is correct because all I need to from there is turn my shoulders back through as hard as I can on my downswing. The club never gets trapped behind me as long as I turn!! FACT!! This has yielded some arrow straight shots, time after time and even extra distance!!
There are critics out there, my brother being one of them, for me undertaking this method. I have always had faith in the concepts of it though which is why I have stuck with it. Even on bad days, I have simply told myself that I just hadn't executed it properly. It has taken me over a year to get to this point though as it has been essentially a complete change of method and the way I have struck the ball this past week has made it totally worth it!
I have a tournament next week at The Drift which I'm really excited about. I'm not going to grade the success of the day by my scores. I just want to hit some nice shots under a competitive environment and feel comfortable with my swing. If that happens I will consider the day a success! I can't wait.
I also have my equipment repairs exam coming up which I am very nervous about. It's all stuff I have done before but this is the only thing that I need to do to pass my PGA course so it's fairly important you could say. We'll see what happens.
Anyways I'll leave it there for today and will write again soon...
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Better Wednesday....
Hey! Well it's been an ok day today. I played 2 rounds as I usually do on a Wednesday, one round at Hollingbury and then one at East Sussex National. I was eager to see how things would go and to be fair on a day in which I had a triple and a double and 3 3-putts in the afternoon, +9 was pretty encouraging really. All my damage was done on the greens, except for 2 bad holes.
At Hollingbury in the morning I shot 74. I started with my customary fashion by losing a ball on hole 1. I could go on till I'm blue in the face about that hole. All I can say is that I have played that hole 22 times this year and average 5.09. As sad as it sounds, I almost think of it as a par 6 as it gives me so much mental torture. After that, to be fair I made two costly swings and a duffed chip, so +2 was a nice result. I felt nervy over the new swing I'd been working on at the range but I stuck with it. I've been hitting so good on the range, I knew it was just a case of letting it happen.
To be fair, at ESN, I think I played pretty well on the whole!! I was +1 through 8 holes and then had a shocker down the 9th for a triple bogey. I 'duffed' my drive and then hit a 3 wood in a ditch. Then on 10 (a par 5), I hit a cracking drive and then hit my 2 iron into a spot right of the green in which I was in thick grass having to play a chip under a tree. I made a stupid bogey. Then I had 3 3-putts from there and ended up with 79. This was the absolute worst it could have been and my back 9 tee to green play was extremely solid and comfortable. I feel really assured that I have found the swing keys I need to play well and hit some great shots. We'll just have to see how it goes going forward. I do not feel good with my putter at all, this is a huge worry actually. I am pushing putts big time and as for my speed control, terrible!!
As an aside, I have a tournament coming up in 3 or so weeks at The Drift, a tight golf course near Guildford. I will try and practise as much as I can for this but I am having problems finding anywhere in Tunny Wells to play. It's frustrating as I am spending a fortune at the driving range just so I can hit balls and I am seeking measures to sort this out.
Anyways I better leave it there for tonight. Although the scoring wasn't great I felt like it was a good start with my swing changes. Let's see what happens...
At Hollingbury in the morning I shot 74. I started with my customary fashion by losing a ball on hole 1. I could go on till I'm blue in the face about that hole. All I can say is that I have played that hole 22 times this year and average 5.09. As sad as it sounds, I almost think of it as a par 6 as it gives me so much mental torture. After that, to be fair I made two costly swings and a duffed chip, so +2 was a nice result. I felt nervy over the new swing I'd been working on at the range but I stuck with it. I've been hitting so good on the range, I knew it was just a case of letting it happen.
To be fair, at ESN, I think I played pretty well on the whole!! I was +1 through 8 holes and then had a shocker down the 9th for a triple bogey. I 'duffed' my drive and then hit a 3 wood in a ditch. Then on 10 (a par 5), I hit a cracking drive and then hit my 2 iron into a spot right of the green in which I was in thick grass having to play a chip under a tree. I made a stupid bogey. Then I had 3 3-putts from there and ended up with 79. This was the absolute worst it could have been and my back 9 tee to green play was extremely solid and comfortable. I feel really assured that I have found the swing keys I need to play well and hit some great shots. We'll just have to see how it goes going forward. I do not feel good with my putter at all, this is a huge worry actually. I am pushing putts big time and as for my speed control, terrible!!
As an aside, I have a tournament coming up in 3 or so weeks at The Drift, a tight golf course near Guildford. I will try and practise as much as I can for this but I am having problems finding anywhere in Tunny Wells to play. It's frustrating as I am spending a fortune at the driving range just so I can hit balls and I am seeking measures to sort this out.
Anyways I better leave it there for tonight. Although the scoring wasn't great I felt like it was a good start with my swing changes. Let's see what happens...
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Eureka!!!!
Well if this blog had been written at the start of the day, it would have been perhaps been quite negative. But, in a bizarre twist of fate and as crazy as golf can be sometimes, my range session left me feeling amazing!! Seriously shocked by the way it went today.
Before I go any further, I'll discuss the events and the unsatisfying game I had in the week and I'll also admit that this is not intended as arrogant because I have had countless range sessions in which I have 'tonked' it and felt great only to play like a pillock on the course straight after.
To discuss my golf this week, I played Tuesday and Wednesday at Hollingbury. On tuesday I played pretty solid and shot a 73. The only thing I really did wrong was a soppy 3 putt and a push that caught the wind and went out of bounds. But it was effortless and typical of the kind of golf I can play.
Wednesday was a complete rollercoaster to be honest. When I look at the score, 78, I'm very unhappy. When I look at the way it was compiled, in hindsight it's pretty exciting. So what happened?
Well, after a perfect tee shot on hole 1, I proceed to hit a huge block to lose the ball, then a hook (with 7 iron!) and a duffed chip ultimately leading to an 8! Then I parred the next and proceeded to hit another enormous block off the 3rd tee, losing another ball. So, I started quad, par, double - a run of figures I can't say I ever remember pulling off before! To cut a long story short I dropped 2 more shots, yet stood on the last tee at only +5 for my round as I had also made 3 birdies! Then I lost the ball way left of the tee but birdied my second ball for +6! As I say the score was disappointing but the fact I battled so well to limit this to a 78 was a great sign!!
Anyways, I learned in a hurry that the 'rotating the wrists' thing is great when it works, but the misses are incomprehendible. The only thing I can do in this scenario is go to the range and 'search in the dirt'. My discovery today hopefully will yield great going forward. I believe I have sussed out my problems!!
So to todays session. Again I will bullet point these - this could be a blueprint for all struggles in future.
- Adopt my usual bent over spine angle.
- Conduct my swing via a shoulder turn back and then simply turn the shoulders back to where they started, maintaining my spine angle.
- With this, simply let the arms 'ride along' and do not let them get away or lift away from me. This was the key moment!!! Essentially it feels like my arms are way behind me. In fact, I experimented by feeling that my arms were as far behind me as I could get them - yet I did not push one shot because I was turning my shoulders!!!
Essentially, I believed I that all my problems with my backswing recently have come from me lifting my arms on my backswing! When I looked at this, I found that I felt terrible at the top when I did lift them, compared to perfect and passive when I didn't. It dawned on me that any lifting of my arms on the backswing would have to be replaced coming down. In other words, I am combining the 1ps and 2ps!! If I needed any help to convince myself:
- Every swing felt comfortable
- Every shot went straight
- This happened time after time after time!!!
It was so exciting, I have figured that any lifting of my arms gets me above plane and then I seem from there to be capable of any compensation and any shot possible. Keep my arms low, let them follow my shoulder, and then turn my shoulders through as hard as I want. This worked for pitching, drawing and fading, any shot I wanted to hit. I really can't wait to take this to the course now I seem to have the understanding of this. Only time will tell, but I feel like I have finally learned where I have been going wrong this whole time. Watch this space........
Before I go any further, I'll discuss the events and the unsatisfying game I had in the week and I'll also admit that this is not intended as arrogant because I have had countless range sessions in which I have 'tonked' it and felt great only to play like a pillock on the course straight after.
To discuss my golf this week, I played Tuesday and Wednesday at Hollingbury. On tuesday I played pretty solid and shot a 73. The only thing I really did wrong was a soppy 3 putt and a push that caught the wind and went out of bounds. But it was effortless and typical of the kind of golf I can play.
Wednesday was a complete rollercoaster to be honest. When I look at the score, 78, I'm very unhappy. When I look at the way it was compiled, in hindsight it's pretty exciting. So what happened?
Well, after a perfect tee shot on hole 1, I proceed to hit a huge block to lose the ball, then a hook (with 7 iron!) and a duffed chip ultimately leading to an 8! Then I parred the next and proceeded to hit another enormous block off the 3rd tee, losing another ball. So, I started quad, par, double - a run of figures I can't say I ever remember pulling off before! To cut a long story short I dropped 2 more shots, yet stood on the last tee at only +5 for my round as I had also made 3 birdies! Then I lost the ball way left of the tee but birdied my second ball for +6! As I say the score was disappointing but the fact I battled so well to limit this to a 78 was a great sign!!
Anyways, I learned in a hurry that the 'rotating the wrists' thing is great when it works, but the misses are incomprehendible. The only thing I can do in this scenario is go to the range and 'search in the dirt'. My discovery today hopefully will yield great going forward. I believe I have sussed out my problems!!
So to todays session. Again I will bullet point these - this could be a blueprint for all struggles in future.
- Adopt my usual bent over spine angle.
- Conduct my swing via a shoulder turn back and then simply turn the shoulders back to where they started, maintaining my spine angle.
- With this, simply let the arms 'ride along' and do not let them get away or lift away from me. This was the key moment!!! Essentially it feels like my arms are way behind me. In fact, I experimented by feeling that my arms were as far behind me as I could get them - yet I did not push one shot because I was turning my shoulders!!!
Essentially, I believed I that all my problems with my backswing recently have come from me lifting my arms on my backswing! When I looked at this, I found that I felt terrible at the top when I did lift them, compared to perfect and passive when I didn't. It dawned on me that any lifting of my arms on the backswing would have to be replaced coming down. In other words, I am combining the 1ps and 2ps!! If I needed any help to convince myself:
- Every swing felt comfortable
- Every shot went straight
- This happened time after time after time!!!
It was so exciting, I have figured that any lifting of my arms gets me above plane and then I seem from there to be capable of any compensation and any shot possible. Keep my arms low, let them follow my shoulder, and then turn my shoulders through as hard as I want. This worked for pitching, drawing and fading, any shot I wanted to hit. I really can't wait to take this to the course now I seem to have the understanding of this. Only time will tell, but I feel like I have finally learned where I have been going wrong this whole time. Watch this space........
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Frustration..
Hello again. It's been a couple of weeks since my previous blog. I was writing more or less every day so thought I should spread them a bit so I've got more to write about.
So, what's the situation?
Well, the news isn't that great to be honest. In fact, it's been very frustrating. I have been having very good sessions on the range and just not being able to take it to the golf course. For some reason, I just feel extremely uncomfortable on my backswing and this bleeds into my downswing which makes my bad shots feel horrendous. But then i'll get to the next shot make a slightly better backswing and hit an awesome shot!! I need to get to the bottom of this. If I feel good at the top, I hit good shots. That's all there is to it. I went to the range tonight to experiment and see if I could find some kind of means of making things more comfortable. More on that later...
Last week I finally got off my backside and went to do some work on my pitching. This was a lot of fun and has certainly given me a basis to work from. I really wanted to spend some time on Waterhall or Hollingbury to test this for real but the weather has been rubbish the last 2 weeks.
I worked on my half and three-quarter swings with my gap and sand wedge. Here's my yardages so far:
GAP WEDGE
1/2 swing - 50 yards
3/4 swing - 70 yards
SAND WEDGE
1/2 swing - 44 yards
3/4 swing - 56 yards
These yardages are very basic and as I say I need the opportunity to work with and adjust these on the golf course. At least I have rough ideas now. I have been pitching more with my sand wedge lately and building my confidence.
My last 2 wednesdays at Hollingbury have been inconsistent. Last week I shot 82 and 79 (+17) in some severe gales in which I made 24 pars over the day and no birdies and then yesterday I shot 76 and 75 (+7). I can't make up my mind about yesterday. The conditions were tough and I did not play well. Thinking back over the day, I hit so many poor shots and made lots of sloppy mistakes. Yet, I shot 10 shots better than last week. I guess I have to take heart from knowing I can scramble. For some reason, the more reliant and more pressure that is placed on my short game, the better it is. The figures are still poor in terms of the quantity of up and downs I am making but I am throwing in 3 putts as well!! My game feels really poor at the moment but my scores are possibly reflecting better than this. That's a good sign as it tells me that as soon as I get to grips with my swing feels so uncomfortable surely I am gonna start shooting some low numbers. I'm trying to be patient but it's so hard. My temporament has always been questionable but recently it has not been good at all. I absolutely hate this side of myself and wish I knew how to deal with things better. There is no magic formula, I guess it comes down to self control and perspective. I need to work on this.
So, the range today. How did it go?? Well it started poorly but ended quite well. I hit balls in front of a mirror but this told me nothing. It looked nothing like it felt so I decided that I would avoid looking in the mirror and concentrate on feelings.
I made some slow backswings to try and get to the bottom of things - to try and see if anything felt good, bad, uncomfortable etc. I wondered if i've actually been rotating my club face shut on my backswing. This was possible and could explain why I hit so many violent lefty shots at times and also pushes when I try to fight it.
In the JH book it talks about rotating the forearms from the halfway back position to the top of the backswing as a necessary means of completing the backswing on plane even though theoretically this gets the clubface open. As someone who is prone to pushes, any movement to get my clubface open has always scared me. Maybe this is why my fault is what it is. Anyways, I thought ok, lets give this a go. One thing, actually two things I will say about this are that one: it felt strange but far more comfortable at the top and two: my downswing felt easier to make and I actually ripped a few nice and high! It was exciting but I find it so hard to trust this move. I know that any conscious move on my part to square up on the downswing leads to disaster but it seems to happen pretty much automatically anyway. I can only assume that the backswing facilitates these good moves on the downswing. Either way, as I say it feels much more comfortable so I think I may stick with it and see how it goes. It's going to take a lot of practise for me to trust it on the course though. Let's see.......
So, what's the situation?
Well, the news isn't that great to be honest. In fact, it's been very frustrating. I have been having very good sessions on the range and just not being able to take it to the golf course. For some reason, I just feel extremely uncomfortable on my backswing and this bleeds into my downswing which makes my bad shots feel horrendous. But then i'll get to the next shot make a slightly better backswing and hit an awesome shot!! I need to get to the bottom of this. If I feel good at the top, I hit good shots. That's all there is to it. I went to the range tonight to experiment and see if I could find some kind of means of making things more comfortable. More on that later...
Last week I finally got off my backside and went to do some work on my pitching. This was a lot of fun and has certainly given me a basis to work from. I really wanted to spend some time on Waterhall or Hollingbury to test this for real but the weather has been rubbish the last 2 weeks.
I worked on my half and three-quarter swings with my gap and sand wedge. Here's my yardages so far:
GAP WEDGE
1/2 swing - 50 yards
3/4 swing - 70 yards
SAND WEDGE
1/2 swing - 44 yards
3/4 swing - 56 yards
These yardages are very basic and as I say I need the opportunity to work with and adjust these on the golf course. At least I have rough ideas now. I have been pitching more with my sand wedge lately and building my confidence.
My last 2 wednesdays at Hollingbury have been inconsistent. Last week I shot 82 and 79 (+17) in some severe gales in which I made 24 pars over the day and no birdies and then yesterday I shot 76 and 75 (+7). I can't make up my mind about yesterday. The conditions were tough and I did not play well. Thinking back over the day, I hit so many poor shots and made lots of sloppy mistakes. Yet, I shot 10 shots better than last week. I guess I have to take heart from knowing I can scramble. For some reason, the more reliant and more pressure that is placed on my short game, the better it is. The figures are still poor in terms of the quantity of up and downs I am making but I am throwing in 3 putts as well!! My game feels really poor at the moment but my scores are possibly reflecting better than this. That's a good sign as it tells me that as soon as I get to grips with my swing feels so uncomfortable surely I am gonna start shooting some low numbers. I'm trying to be patient but it's so hard. My temporament has always been questionable but recently it has not been good at all. I absolutely hate this side of myself and wish I knew how to deal with things better. There is no magic formula, I guess it comes down to self control and perspective. I need to work on this.
So, the range today. How did it go?? Well it started poorly but ended quite well. I hit balls in front of a mirror but this told me nothing. It looked nothing like it felt so I decided that I would avoid looking in the mirror and concentrate on feelings.
I made some slow backswings to try and get to the bottom of things - to try and see if anything felt good, bad, uncomfortable etc. I wondered if i've actually been rotating my club face shut on my backswing. This was possible and could explain why I hit so many violent lefty shots at times and also pushes when I try to fight it.
In the JH book it talks about rotating the forearms from the halfway back position to the top of the backswing as a necessary means of completing the backswing on plane even though theoretically this gets the clubface open. As someone who is prone to pushes, any movement to get my clubface open has always scared me. Maybe this is why my fault is what it is. Anyways, I thought ok, lets give this a go. One thing, actually two things I will say about this are that one: it felt strange but far more comfortable at the top and two: my downswing felt easier to make and I actually ripped a few nice and high! It was exciting but I find it so hard to trust this move. I know that any conscious move on my part to square up on the downswing leads to disaster but it seems to happen pretty much automatically anyway. I can only assume that the backswing facilitates these good moves on the downswing. Either way, as I say it feels much more comfortable so I think I may stick with it and see how it goes. It's going to take a lot of practise for me to trust it on the course though. Let's see.......
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Learning-dings!
Well it was an evening of discovery at the range this evening, particularly after my round yesterday afternoon I was anxious to get to the bottom of a few things. Although I had played a couple of good ball striking rounds, I needed to find out why it went so wrong and felt so foreign in the afternoon. It took nearly 300 balls this evening but I think I found some very important things out, but I won't know these for a fact until next time I hit the course.
I'll summarise these things rather than waffle on:
* My set up is crucial!! Get over the ball!! I worked on establishing my set up position and then adjusting this until I could reach under my knee caps!!
*I have taken the focus off of my shoulder rotation in my backswing and trying to trust that if I stay in my spine angle I will turn in the 48" zone!!
* The '2' move is absolutely crucial to my ball striking!! I will now be focusing on this by making the move by increasing the flex in my left knee!
* Shoulder turn through the ball. I ascertained that this was definitely my problem yesterday. I know how to distinguish the feeling between turning and tilting my shoulders and for some reason the tilting thing was feeling very natural!! Aargh - that is not good, and I realised this was true because when I rehearsed some slow motion shoulder rotations it felt very strange. However I built this up from short backswings and before I knew it I was crunching it and it felt so easy! I think this is where I struggle when things go bad and so I will need to be aware of it when things go bad.
I'll probably elaborate more as and when. For now at least I have documented this....
I'll summarise these things rather than waffle on:
* My set up is crucial!! Get over the ball!! I worked on establishing my set up position and then adjusting this until I could reach under my knee caps!!
*I have taken the focus off of my shoulder rotation in my backswing and trying to trust that if I stay in my spine angle I will turn in the 48" zone!!
* The '2' move is absolutely crucial to my ball striking!! I will now be focusing on this by making the move by increasing the flex in my left knee!
* Shoulder turn through the ball. I ascertained that this was definitely my problem yesterday. I know how to distinguish the feeling between turning and tilting my shoulders and for some reason the tilting thing was feeling very natural!! Aargh - that is not good, and I realised this was true because when I rehearsed some slow motion shoulder rotations it felt very strange. However I built this up from short backswings and before I knew it I was crunching it and it felt so easy! I think this is where I struggle when things go bad and so I will need to be aware of it when things go bad.
I'll probably elaborate more as and when. For now at least I have documented this....
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Better Round, and poor round!!
Well I played 36 holes today, and overall it was a very mixed bag. My 2 rounds were compiled very differently. In the morning I shot a level par 72 and hardly put a bad swing on the ball!! One bad swing and a 3-putt caused two 6's but other than that it was the steady kind of round I used to compile regularly. I'm beginning to realise how important the 2 move is to my swing and how much easier it is to make my downswing from this position.
I did not play well in the afternoon, however. Considering it was a darn sight better condition for scoring with much less wind, 78 was not a good effort, especially considering how it was compiled. It was a bit alarming actually because for some reason I felt unbelievably anxious over the ball and just felt like I couldn't get into the right place at the top and therefore that the ball could literally go anywhere. On one shot, I literally had to stop mid-swing as I felt so bad at the top of the backswing!! This was worrying and I couldn't come to terms with it. I don't know what happened there really. I recovered to hit plenty of good shots but I was not swinging with any confidence at all. I hardly hit a good iron shot the whole way round. I'm pretty sure that I was tilting my shoulders on my downswing and therefore trapping myself. I'm gonna need another range session to work on this. I need to get my arms working better on my backswing as I seem to be getting really 'steer-ey' all the time and I know I don't need to. But for some reason, I can't trust myself.
And as for pitching the ball, well this is now becoming a serious problem. I made so many bogeys today from pitch shots. It was driving me bonkers. I must have steered every bloody one of them and as for distance control, AWFUL!! This can't go on any longer - I need to spend a lot of time pitching and getting confident. A pro golfer should never be shying away from pitch shots! These are supposed to be what seperates the good from the great and to be totally honest, half the time I don't even feel like i'm gonna hit the green!! And my putting still sucks too. I had 2 ridiculous 3 putts today from nowhere and miss so many short putts it was painful. I just couldn't trust where I was aiming and was putting a bloody good push stroke on the ball again. This is not good. There seem to be a lot of negatives in this blog. I guess that +6 over 2 rounds was not a bad total considering the amount of rubbish in there and it was a 7 shot improvement on last week. Hopefully I can build on this. I'm gonna go back to my Jim Hardy book tho and see if I can't find something on my backswing to sort myself out. I think I need to work on the forearm rotation to the top of my backswing. I'll look at this tomorrow and write again after.
I'll leave it there for now....
I did not play well in the afternoon, however. Considering it was a darn sight better condition for scoring with much less wind, 78 was not a good effort, especially considering how it was compiled. It was a bit alarming actually because for some reason I felt unbelievably anxious over the ball and just felt like I couldn't get into the right place at the top and therefore that the ball could literally go anywhere. On one shot, I literally had to stop mid-swing as I felt so bad at the top of the backswing!! This was worrying and I couldn't come to terms with it. I don't know what happened there really. I recovered to hit plenty of good shots but I was not swinging with any confidence at all. I hardly hit a good iron shot the whole way round. I'm pretty sure that I was tilting my shoulders on my downswing and therefore trapping myself. I'm gonna need another range session to work on this. I need to get my arms working better on my backswing as I seem to be getting really 'steer-ey' all the time and I know I don't need to. But for some reason, I can't trust myself.
And as for pitching the ball, well this is now becoming a serious problem. I made so many bogeys today from pitch shots. It was driving me bonkers. I must have steered every bloody one of them and as for distance control, AWFUL!! This can't go on any longer - I need to spend a lot of time pitching and getting confident. A pro golfer should never be shying away from pitch shots! These are supposed to be what seperates the good from the great and to be totally honest, half the time I don't even feel like i'm gonna hit the green!! And my putting still sucks too. I had 2 ridiculous 3 putts today from nowhere and miss so many short putts it was painful. I just couldn't trust where I was aiming and was putting a bloody good push stroke on the ball again. This is not good. There seem to be a lot of negatives in this blog. I guess that +6 over 2 rounds was not a bad total considering the amount of rubbish in there and it was a 7 shot improvement on last week. Hopefully I can build on this. I'm gonna go back to my Jim Hardy book tho and see if I can't find something on my backswing to sort myself out. I think I need to work on the forearm rotation to the top of my backswing. I'll look at this tomorrow and write again after.
I'll leave it there for now....
Monday, 6 July 2009
Tournament At Pyrford...
Hey! I had the Crown Golf Assistants Championship qualifier at Pyrford today. It was blowing an absolute 'hooley' and I seriously dislike windy conditions as I tend to struggle in them! Here are the vital statistics:
Score: 82
F'ways: 9/14
Greens: 9/18
Up and Downs: 3/9
Putts: 33 (2 3-putts)
Penalty shots: 4!!!
Yup, I shot 82. I have to be honest though, I didn't play as bad as that and hit a bunch of great shots that didn't really get the reward they deserved. I got off to the perfect start and was -1 thru 3 holes. Here's my round:
1 - I hit a nice little drawing 5 wood down the middle and then a gap wedge to about 20 feet. Then I 2-putted nicely for par.
2 - I hit a solid 6 iron about 20 feet pin high right of the flag and just off the edge of the green. From there I holed the putt to go -1.
3 - I hit 7 wood off the tee and pushed it slightly. However it suited the shape of the hole perfectly and wound up about 50 yards from the green. From there I hit a POOR pitch about 25 feet short of the hole but 2-putted for par.
4 - Crunched a drive down the middle of the fairway, then hit a good 5 wood up to about 100 yards short. There, I totally lost concentration and skulled my gap wedge over the green. This was poor and I compounded it with a duffed chip and a 2-putt bogey. Back to Even Par.
5 - Hit a poor blocked 5 wood off the tee and an even worse 8 iron block 2nd shot! However, I hit a great pitch to 7 feet and boxed the putt for a par.
6 - This was the first time I got screwed by the wind. Having watched my playing partners have their shots blown majorly long so I hit my wedge softly. It never really got up in the air and got blown straight down into the front bunker. From there, I had an average bunker shot and missed my par putt. +1.
7 - Realised on my way to the tee that I'd forgotten my 'two move' and proceeded to hit a sweet 3 wood down the fairway. Then I hit a nice 9 iron which came up about 30 foot short. Then I hit a terrible first putt and missed the next for a lame bogey. +2.
8 - Nice 7 wood lay up to about 60 yards short. Then baring in mind the pitch was straight downwind, I did well to get it to about 20 feet. 3-putted woefully again!! +3.
9 - Cracking 3 wood down the middle. Then, on a very narrow lay up and a strong crosswind, I let my 5 wood lay-up drift on the wind for my first taste of the water!! I took my drop and the wind seemed to drop and then pick up and then drop again. I committed to an 8 iron and hit is really solid at the flag. However, I got the wind wrong again and ploughed the ball over the back of the green from where I chipped and 2 putted for a double bogey 7. Front 9 score: 41 (+5).
10 - I hit a gorgeous low 5 iron straight at the flag again through the wind. It seemed to penetrate the wind completely and ended up long. However I putted back down to 3 feet and saved par.
11 - Tried to draw my driver and it stayed straight. From there I flushed a 3 wood just right of the green, leaving a pitch over a hill. I struck my chip perfectly with plenty of spin and left it about 6 feet away. This was a good save when the putt dropped!!
12 - I hit a lovely 5 wood down the middle and the layed up with a pitching wedge. I was left with 84 yards and hit a shocker!! A REAL SHOCKER!! The ball flew low left, over the back of the green in to a lake!! I was in shock!! The wind just propelled my ball forward like i'd never seen. Not even I can misjudge a pitch that badly!! This is how bad the wind was. Anways, following a duffed chip, I made another double bogey 7 and went to +7!!
13 - Hit a lovely low draw with my driver and then a beautiful 5 wood straight at the middle of the green. I didn't see it land and when I got to the green and found it had gone through the back into deep rough I was gutted. I had misjudged the wind again. I hit a great recovery but couldn't save par. +8.
14 - I went for the green but bottled it right slightly. I hit a good shot out of the rough but it didn't release. I 2 putted from 30 feet for par.
15 - I hit a gorgeous low 3 wood down the fairway and then another misjudged pitch to the back of the green. 2 putt par.
16 - I hit a low thinned pull with a 5 wood in to a fairway bunker. From there I hit a great recovery over water with a gap wedge to about 20 feet for a 2 putt par.
17 - I could not commit to a club here. I couldn't decide on the wind. In the end I took a 7 iron and although I hit it well, turns out the wind was against, and a massive gust just killed it up in the air. It bounced back in to the water hazard. From there, I had a lousy drop in to a divot and chunked my pitch short of the green. From there, I hit a much better pitch and holed an 8 footer for another double. +10.
18 - I didn't commit or concentrate on my 5 wood tee shot and shoved it right into water again. I dropped out, smacked a 5 wood up near the green and pride allowed me to chip and putt for par
Back 9: 41 (+5).
Overall: 82 (+10)
Well, it was a day of good execution and poor judgement. On those grounds I feel quite pleased really. I swung it well. I had to remind myself to stand over the ball properly and make my two move. These usually culminated in good shots. My new routine with my grip is working well. I am working to get rid of my closed clubface problems by starting with an exagerrated weak grip, and I work from there back to square position. This was great, it really took my hands out of shots and I didn't really get any closed clubfaces so I was pleased!!
My pitching particularly needs dire work. I have absolutely no idea of my distances so I really need to pull my finger out and work on this. It cost me a pantload of shots today. On a longer golf course I would have done ok I think. And as for my putting, it was it's usual crap!! My judgement of distances is poor!! I have the yips and just basically zero confidence. I am licking my wounds a bit now, so am going to think about how I can improve these areas of my game.
Anyways, for a long blog, I'll leave it there.....
Score: 82
F'ways: 9/14
Greens: 9/18
Up and Downs: 3/9
Putts: 33 (2 3-putts)
Penalty shots: 4!!!
Yup, I shot 82. I have to be honest though, I didn't play as bad as that and hit a bunch of great shots that didn't really get the reward they deserved. I got off to the perfect start and was -1 thru 3 holes. Here's my round:
1 - I hit a nice little drawing 5 wood down the middle and then a gap wedge to about 20 feet. Then I 2-putted nicely for par.
2 - I hit a solid 6 iron about 20 feet pin high right of the flag and just off the edge of the green. From there I holed the putt to go -1.
3 - I hit 7 wood off the tee and pushed it slightly. However it suited the shape of the hole perfectly and wound up about 50 yards from the green. From there I hit a POOR pitch about 25 feet short of the hole but 2-putted for par.
4 - Crunched a drive down the middle of the fairway, then hit a good 5 wood up to about 100 yards short. There, I totally lost concentration and skulled my gap wedge over the green. This was poor and I compounded it with a duffed chip and a 2-putt bogey. Back to Even Par.
5 - Hit a poor blocked 5 wood off the tee and an even worse 8 iron block 2nd shot! However, I hit a great pitch to 7 feet and boxed the putt for a par.
6 - This was the first time I got screwed by the wind. Having watched my playing partners have their shots blown majorly long so I hit my wedge softly. It never really got up in the air and got blown straight down into the front bunker. From there, I had an average bunker shot and missed my par putt. +1.
7 - Realised on my way to the tee that I'd forgotten my 'two move' and proceeded to hit a sweet 3 wood down the fairway. Then I hit a nice 9 iron which came up about 30 foot short. Then I hit a terrible first putt and missed the next for a lame bogey. +2.
8 - Nice 7 wood lay up to about 60 yards short. Then baring in mind the pitch was straight downwind, I did well to get it to about 20 feet. 3-putted woefully again!! +3.
9 - Cracking 3 wood down the middle. Then, on a very narrow lay up and a strong crosswind, I let my 5 wood lay-up drift on the wind for my first taste of the water!! I took my drop and the wind seemed to drop and then pick up and then drop again. I committed to an 8 iron and hit is really solid at the flag. However, I got the wind wrong again and ploughed the ball over the back of the green from where I chipped and 2 putted for a double bogey 7. Front 9 score: 41 (+5).
10 - I hit a gorgeous low 5 iron straight at the flag again through the wind. It seemed to penetrate the wind completely and ended up long. However I putted back down to 3 feet and saved par.
11 - Tried to draw my driver and it stayed straight. From there I flushed a 3 wood just right of the green, leaving a pitch over a hill. I struck my chip perfectly with plenty of spin and left it about 6 feet away. This was a good save when the putt dropped!!
12 - I hit a lovely 5 wood down the middle and the layed up with a pitching wedge. I was left with 84 yards and hit a shocker!! A REAL SHOCKER!! The ball flew low left, over the back of the green in to a lake!! I was in shock!! The wind just propelled my ball forward like i'd never seen. Not even I can misjudge a pitch that badly!! This is how bad the wind was. Anways, following a duffed chip, I made another double bogey 7 and went to +7!!
13 - Hit a lovely low draw with my driver and then a beautiful 5 wood straight at the middle of the green. I didn't see it land and when I got to the green and found it had gone through the back into deep rough I was gutted. I had misjudged the wind again. I hit a great recovery but couldn't save par. +8.
14 - I went for the green but bottled it right slightly. I hit a good shot out of the rough but it didn't release. I 2 putted from 30 feet for par.
15 - I hit a gorgeous low 3 wood down the fairway and then another misjudged pitch to the back of the green. 2 putt par.
16 - I hit a low thinned pull with a 5 wood in to a fairway bunker. From there I hit a great recovery over water with a gap wedge to about 20 feet for a 2 putt par.
17 - I could not commit to a club here. I couldn't decide on the wind. In the end I took a 7 iron and although I hit it well, turns out the wind was against, and a massive gust just killed it up in the air. It bounced back in to the water hazard. From there, I had a lousy drop in to a divot and chunked my pitch short of the green. From there, I hit a much better pitch and holed an 8 footer for another double. +10.
18 - I didn't commit or concentrate on my 5 wood tee shot and shoved it right into water again. I dropped out, smacked a 5 wood up near the green and pride allowed me to chip and putt for par
Back 9: 41 (+5).
Overall: 82 (+10)
Well, it was a day of good execution and poor judgement. On those grounds I feel quite pleased really. I swung it well. I had to remind myself to stand over the ball properly and make my two move. These usually culminated in good shots. My new routine with my grip is working well. I am working to get rid of my closed clubface problems by starting with an exagerrated weak grip, and I work from there back to square position. This was great, it really took my hands out of shots and I didn't really get any closed clubfaces so I was pleased!!
My pitching particularly needs dire work. I have absolutely no idea of my distances so I really need to pull my finger out and work on this. It cost me a pantload of shots today. On a longer golf course I would have done ok I think. And as for my putting, it was it's usual crap!! My judgement of distances is poor!! I have the yips and just basically zero confidence. I am licking my wounds a bit now, so am going to think about how I can improve these areas of my game.
Anyways, for a long blog, I'll leave it there.....
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Wednesday's Golf...
Well I played 36 holes today in extreme heat and to be in honest I wasn't very happy with how it went. I shot 79 (+7) at Hollingbury in the morning and then 76 (+6) at Singing Hills in the afternoon for a lame +13 total. This standard simply isn't good enough for where I want to be.
In terms of ball striking, I was pretty good really. I struck a lot of solid shots, it was just the directional element that was bad!! Damned if I couldn't rid myself of the bloody hooks and pulls again!! I was tearing my hair out by the end of as I just couldn't find a fix. I worked on weakening my grip a bit but I was terrified of err-ing in the opposite direction and considering I haven't worked enough on this at the range, I simply couldn't trust it. My driving was great, but to be honest without being arrogant, it always is. But my irons were inconsistent and my shortgame was downright abysmal.
On the back 9 of my second round I actually shot -1 and hit a lot more decent shots simply by making sure my address position was good.
With regard to my short game, well how do you like these figures:
- 0/7 for up and downs on the morning round &
- 4/11 for the afternoon.
A total of 4/18 up and downs over two rounds is simply unacceptable. A lot of was down to terrible putting in the morning. 37 putts in a round is disgraceful!! Urgh, I hate to read it. I was blocking putts all morning, just couldn't hit the damn thing on line and it was very frustrating. I worked on turning my body through the putt a little bit more at lunchtime in an effort to release it a little better and had 29 putts in the afternoon on some tricky greens. However, I only hit 8 greens in reg which in itself is not a very good number.
So, the tale again lies within inconsistency. I set myself a goal to make no double bogeys the whole day and only made 1. This wasn't a bad start. At Hollingbury in the morning I managed this but I also had 9 bogeys. This is too high. At this point, I only want 6 bogeys at an absolute maximum! A lot of my stupid bogeys came hitting TERRIBLE pitch shots. Oh my god, at times it felt like a miracle that I even hit the green. I seem to do this stupid thing where my hands seem to want to steer the ball!! This is not what I want as it an absolute killer under pressure and can make me look very silly indeed!! 50 yards and in needs work urgently. But, I am not sure exactly what it is that is causing my problems. Therefore how can I honestly aim to improve. Hopefully through trial and error I will figure it out.
We will see. Anyways, I'll leave it there for now....
In terms of ball striking, I was pretty good really. I struck a lot of solid shots, it was just the directional element that was bad!! Damned if I couldn't rid myself of the bloody hooks and pulls again!! I was tearing my hair out by the end of as I just couldn't find a fix. I worked on weakening my grip a bit but I was terrified of err-ing in the opposite direction and considering I haven't worked enough on this at the range, I simply couldn't trust it. My driving was great, but to be honest without being arrogant, it always is. But my irons were inconsistent and my shortgame was downright abysmal.
On the back 9 of my second round I actually shot -1 and hit a lot more decent shots simply by making sure my address position was good.
With regard to my short game, well how do you like these figures:
- 0/7 for up and downs on the morning round &
- 4/11 for the afternoon.
A total of 4/18 up and downs over two rounds is simply unacceptable. A lot of was down to terrible putting in the morning. 37 putts in a round is disgraceful!! Urgh, I hate to read it. I was blocking putts all morning, just couldn't hit the damn thing on line and it was very frustrating. I worked on turning my body through the putt a little bit more at lunchtime in an effort to release it a little better and had 29 putts in the afternoon on some tricky greens. However, I only hit 8 greens in reg which in itself is not a very good number.
So, the tale again lies within inconsistency. I set myself a goal to make no double bogeys the whole day and only made 1. This wasn't a bad start. At Hollingbury in the morning I managed this but I also had 9 bogeys. This is too high. At this point, I only want 6 bogeys at an absolute maximum! A lot of my stupid bogeys came hitting TERRIBLE pitch shots. Oh my god, at times it felt like a miracle that I even hit the green. I seem to do this stupid thing where my hands seem to want to steer the ball!! This is not what I want as it an absolute killer under pressure and can make me look very silly indeed!! 50 yards and in needs work urgently. But, I am not sure exactly what it is that is causing my problems. Therefore how can I honestly aim to improve. Hopefully through trial and error I will figure it out.
We will see. Anyways, I'll leave it there for now....
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Back from Glasto!!
Well what an amazing few days I had at Glastonbury. It was the most incredible thing I have ever done, literally, a once in a lifetime experience for reasons both good and bad! I wont dwell on the negatives, they were centred around toilets and queuing constantly.
The biggest positive was the music, but in a much bigger sense than I ever imagined. I saw people I like and I was introduced to people I didn't know. Regina Spektor was absolutely phenomenal!! What a talented lady, not to mention very gorgeous too. I think I might be in love haha!! There's something about talented musicians that does it for me. Maybe because it's something I aspire to be.
Other great performances were Paolo Nutini, Bat For Lashes, Bjorn Again (an Abba tribute band that were surprisingly good) and Newton Faulkner. Nutini and Faulkner were incredible. Paolo's voice and Newton's guitar playing were amazing and it was just a pleasure to witness. This has definitely spurred me on to improve my own musical skills. I'd give anything to have a decent enough singing voice to seriously persue music. I feel that with time and work (which I haven't properly had) that I could be a good keyboard/pianist!!
So, to conclude Glasto - well I can't conclude it really except to say that the music really made an impression on me that I will never forget! I have forgotten the downsides already and am wishing I was still there. But, all good things come to an end and I think I may have to go again someday!!
Anyways, I came back and went to the range last night. It was a pretty good session actually. I was striking it well and hitting it quite long. I have to keep reminding myself to bet more over the ball at address but when this is good, I hit it it pretty well. I have gotten far more comfortable with my downswing too and seem to have figured out how to do this properly. One thing I looked at was my tendency to get my clubface closed at impact which has been really irritating me! I decided to heat 4 or 5 balls with a grip that felt really weak and low and behold started to hit slices. So, I worked back from there and ended up with a grip that still felt quite weak but was hitting the ball straight as an arrow!! This was the main thing. I'm happy with this as I've always thought that grip was a personal thing anyway and this may well be the right one for me.
Anyways, lots of golf coming up for me!! I'm gonna practise tonight, then play 36 holes tomorrow. Then, I will play thursday afternoon too and then both days over the weekend before my tournament at Pyrford next monday!!! It's all preparation really for this event. I know my chances of qualifying are very slim, but I just want to post a reasonable score. It's the mental side of competitive golf that has been the hardest for me. I think I might play extremely conservatively on the day from the tee and hit away from any trouble. One of my best bits of advice, and very basic, is from my dad. It is: "if you hit the fairway, you are in the hole".
So here will be my three aims for the round:
1/ No unnecessary risks - if I make a bad swing, so be it, but at least do it trying to hit the right shot!!
2/ Do not bring a double bogey into play. This essentially means playing percentages and identifying when I am in trouble!!! If I don't make a double bogey then I think i'll be fine.
3/ 18 circles. This refers to a mental tip from Karl Morris. It essentially means that I must pick 2 or 3 components of a preshot routine and produce them on every shot on a hole to win a circle. This will illustrate that I have given my utmost attention to every shot.
Anyways, that will do for todays blog and will update again soon!!!
The biggest positive was the music, but in a much bigger sense than I ever imagined. I saw people I like and I was introduced to people I didn't know. Regina Spektor was absolutely phenomenal!! What a talented lady, not to mention very gorgeous too. I think I might be in love haha!! There's something about talented musicians that does it for me. Maybe because it's something I aspire to be.
Other great performances were Paolo Nutini, Bat For Lashes, Bjorn Again (an Abba tribute band that were surprisingly good) and Newton Faulkner. Nutini and Faulkner were incredible. Paolo's voice and Newton's guitar playing were amazing and it was just a pleasure to witness. This has definitely spurred me on to improve my own musical skills. I'd give anything to have a decent enough singing voice to seriously persue music. I feel that with time and work (which I haven't properly had) that I could be a good keyboard/pianist!!
So, to conclude Glasto - well I can't conclude it really except to say that the music really made an impression on me that I will never forget! I have forgotten the downsides already and am wishing I was still there. But, all good things come to an end and I think I may have to go again someday!!
Anyways, I came back and went to the range last night. It was a pretty good session actually. I was striking it well and hitting it quite long. I have to keep reminding myself to bet more over the ball at address but when this is good, I hit it it pretty well. I have gotten far more comfortable with my downswing too and seem to have figured out how to do this properly. One thing I looked at was my tendency to get my clubface closed at impact which has been really irritating me! I decided to heat 4 or 5 balls with a grip that felt really weak and low and behold started to hit slices. So, I worked back from there and ended up with a grip that still felt quite weak but was hitting the ball straight as an arrow!! This was the main thing. I'm happy with this as I've always thought that grip was a personal thing anyway and this may well be the right one for me.
Anyways, lots of golf coming up for me!! I'm gonna practise tonight, then play 36 holes tomorrow. Then, I will play thursday afternoon too and then both days over the weekend before my tournament at Pyrford next monday!!! It's all preparation really for this event. I know my chances of qualifying are very slim, but I just want to post a reasonable score. It's the mental side of competitive golf that has been the hardest for me. I think I might play extremely conservatively on the day from the tee and hit away from any trouble. One of my best bits of advice, and very basic, is from my dad. It is: "if you hit the fairway, you are in the hole".
So here will be my three aims for the round:
1/ No unnecessary risks - if I make a bad swing, so be it, but at least do it trying to hit the right shot!!
2/ Do not bring a double bogey into play. This essentially means playing percentages and identifying when I am in trouble!!! If I don't make a double bogey then I think i'll be fine.
3/ 18 circles. This refers to a mental tip from Karl Morris. It essentially means that I must pick 2 or 3 components of a preshot routine and produce them on every shot on a hole to win a circle. This will illustrate that I have given my utmost attention to every shot.
Anyways, that will do for todays blog and will update again soon!!!
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Chartham Park...
Well I shot loads. That's the long and short of it really. I was surprised as my session at the driving range went pretty well last night. I hit a lot of great shots and really started to feel comfortable on my downswing.
I actually drove the ball quite nicely today. In fact, in terms of ball striking, everything was pretty solid. It was just the accuracy side of things. I am missing a whole bunch of shots left and this is a real worry as I really don't seem to be able to sort this out. I'm not convinced that I'm always coming over the top. For some reason I am getting my clubface really shut unnecessarily. It's not like im starting shots right of my target. They start straight, or left even, and then curve left. This has kind of been a long term habit as I always used to get stuck on my downswing and then have to flip my wrists to square my clubface. With any luck if I continue to swing down on a better line, this may well correct itself.
My short game was much better tonight. I didn't stub one chip shot and got up and down a good few times!! This was nice. I'm basically focusing on getting my weight on my left side to start with and then I have to be really careful not to slide my hips and throw my upper body backwards which has been causing me to duff my chip shots.
I leave tonights blog there, as I'm away to Glastonbury tomorrow and therefore am going to forget about golf for a few days. I'll hit the range next monday before playing on tuesday and wednesday. I'll continue to work on these things i've been working on, as I feel I am definitely heading in the right direction.....
I actually drove the ball quite nicely today. In fact, in terms of ball striking, everything was pretty solid. It was just the accuracy side of things. I am missing a whole bunch of shots left and this is a real worry as I really don't seem to be able to sort this out. I'm not convinced that I'm always coming over the top. For some reason I am getting my clubface really shut unnecessarily. It's not like im starting shots right of my target. They start straight, or left even, and then curve left. This has kind of been a long term habit as I always used to get stuck on my downswing and then have to flip my wrists to square my clubface. With any luck if I continue to swing down on a better line, this may well correct itself.
My short game was much better tonight. I didn't stub one chip shot and got up and down a good few times!! This was nice. I'm basically focusing on getting my weight on my left side to start with and then I have to be really careful not to slide my hips and throw my upper body backwards which has been causing me to duff my chip shots.
I leave tonights blog there, as I'm away to Glastonbury tomorrow and therefore am going to forget about golf for a few days. I'll hit the range next monday before playing on tuesday and wednesday. I'll continue to work on these things i've been working on, as I feel I am definitely heading in the right direction.....
Monday, 22 June 2009
Lindfield Golf Club
Lindfield Golf Club - 21/6/09
Score - 75 (+7)
G.I.R - 10/18
F'ways - 4/12
Putts - 33
U & D - 0/8 !!!
Penalties - 1
Yesterday I played a practise round at Lindfield Golf Club with my brother. It was a fairly short course (a par 68) and I shot 75. This was a bit of a disappointing score, but considering I hit 10 greens and didn't get up and down once from any of these missed greens, this was certainly the highest score it could have been. I started the round really nicely with a cracking drive and wedge to 12 feet for a birdie on the 1st and then a nice 6 iron into the par 3 second. There were good and bad shots from then on but on the whole I was fairly pleased.
To summarise my tee to green play, my mid to short irons and wedges were pretty solid really! It was a lot better than it has been. My steeper shoulder angle at the top of my backswing definitely has yielded an improvement. But my wood shots weren't as I would have liked them.
I think I need to work on ensuring I am get my arms in the right position alongside my steeper shoulder turn ie 'closing the a' as JH writes about. A problem I seemed to have, especially with my longer clubs was 'coming over the top'. I believe this was that my steeper shoulder turn was getting my arms too much in front of me. Thus, I am off to the range tonight to work on this. I think I am getting the hang of the correct downswing moves. I need to put more work into my 2 move and try to ingrain this as I do not like it as a swing thought on the golf course!!
With regards to my short game, well I really am struggling big time. I am stubbing an awful lot of chip shots and feel extremely uncomfortable over the ball. I think I will have a look again at my Stan Utley short game book to try and rediscover my touch. I feel I have the knowledge and feel to be good around the greens, I just don't seem to be executing very well at the moment.
Lots of work to be done really. I am hitting the range tonight and then heading to Chartham Park for a game tomorrow. Hopefully I can hit some decent shots again. I look forward to working on it tonight.
I am away for the Glastonbury Festival from Wednesday, but I have a tournament in 2 weeks time at Pyrford so next week I will really try and put some good work into my short game ahead of this. It would be nice to get it up to scratch definitely...
Score - 75 (+7)
G.I.R - 10/18
F'ways - 4/12
Putts - 33
U & D - 0/8 !!!
Penalties - 1
Yesterday I played a practise round at Lindfield Golf Club with my brother. It was a fairly short course (a par 68) and I shot 75. This was a bit of a disappointing score, but considering I hit 10 greens and didn't get up and down once from any of these missed greens, this was certainly the highest score it could have been. I started the round really nicely with a cracking drive and wedge to 12 feet for a birdie on the 1st and then a nice 6 iron into the par 3 second. There were good and bad shots from then on but on the whole I was fairly pleased.
To summarise my tee to green play, my mid to short irons and wedges were pretty solid really! It was a lot better than it has been. My steeper shoulder angle at the top of my backswing definitely has yielded an improvement. But my wood shots weren't as I would have liked them.
I think I need to work on ensuring I am get my arms in the right position alongside my steeper shoulder turn ie 'closing the a' as JH writes about. A problem I seemed to have, especially with my longer clubs was 'coming over the top'. I believe this was that my steeper shoulder turn was getting my arms too much in front of me. Thus, I am off to the range tonight to work on this. I think I am getting the hang of the correct downswing moves. I need to put more work into my 2 move and try to ingrain this as I do not like it as a swing thought on the golf course!!
With regards to my short game, well I really am struggling big time. I am stubbing an awful lot of chip shots and feel extremely uncomfortable over the ball. I think I will have a look again at my Stan Utley short game book to try and rediscover my touch. I feel I have the knowledge and feel to be good around the greens, I just don't seem to be executing very well at the moment.
Lots of work to be done really. I am hitting the range tonight and then heading to Chartham Park for a game tomorrow. Hopefully I can hit some decent shots again. I look forward to working on it tonight.
I am away for the Glastonbury Festival from Wednesday, but I have a tournament in 2 weeks time at Pyrford so next week I will really try and put some good work into my short game ahead of this. It would be nice to get it up to scratch definitely...
Friday, 19 June 2009
Intro and Tonbridge Range Session
Hello!! This is my blog where I can write purely for myself purely about my golf. It will mainly be a point of reference but also a journal of my golfing experiences. I am virtually fully qualified as a PGA Professional Golfer, and I have recently turned my attention to changing my technique.
I am very much intrigued by Jim Hardy and his one-plane swing theories!! I would say that I have been working on adapting this technique with a determined and adamant view that when I get this right (whenever that may be) I will be a consistently high performing level. I don't know what my level will be, that is to be determined with I guess no set deadline.
Anyways, I had a good range session tonight. I went to Tonbridge Golf Centre (my local range) with the view that I haven't been turning my shoulders properly and getting them pointing within the zone that JH talks about. This is zone extends from the ball to about 48" outside it. I was thinking, if I don't get to this position at the top of my backswing, how can I execute the downswing properly! So my goal was to establish (by use of the mirror at the range) exactly the position I needed to be in! Then I needed to figure out, how would I get there consistenty.
I ascertained that when I am in the correct position at address, I can comfortably reach my knee caps with my arms and hands. This is the first aim, and feels that I am very bent over. Once I have done this, it feels that my right shoulder goes high behind me on my backswing. Whenever I got this right I must say I was hitting very good shots!! So I need to get the right start position and then turn my shoulders this way to stay in my posture!! Remember this. Also, don't sway AT ALL!! I don't want any lateral movement at all (my swing is rotational!).
With regard to the downswing, I haven't quite put my finger on this just yet!! I'm aware of and happy with the principle of turning my shoulders on the downswing but as for doing this 'on plane', I don't know if i'm quite there yet. This has always been something I've struggled to do consistently. But whenever I get it right, it really does feel so easy!! I must have hit about 10-12 8-irons tonight, all exactly the same strike and penetrating ball flight. All I know is I need to get the backswing right and then keep my spine angle the same. If I do this I have a good chance, but I still need to learn the shoulder turn on the downswing.
The two move works well on irons for compressing the ball. I simply stand on my left foot a little bit more for my downswing and let rip. I haven't noticed any great consistency with this yet but we'll see how it goes.
I'm playing Lindfield Golf Course on Sunday with the swing thoughts mentioned above. Let's see how it goes....
I am very much intrigued by Jim Hardy and his one-plane swing theories!! I would say that I have been working on adapting this technique with a determined and adamant view that when I get this right (whenever that may be) I will be a consistently high performing level. I don't know what my level will be, that is to be determined with I guess no set deadline.
Anyways, I had a good range session tonight. I went to Tonbridge Golf Centre (my local range) with the view that I haven't been turning my shoulders properly and getting them pointing within the zone that JH talks about. This is zone extends from the ball to about 48" outside it. I was thinking, if I don't get to this position at the top of my backswing, how can I execute the downswing properly! So my goal was to establish (by use of the mirror at the range) exactly the position I needed to be in! Then I needed to figure out, how would I get there consistenty.
I ascertained that when I am in the correct position at address, I can comfortably reach my knee caps with my arms and hands. This is the first aim, and feels that I am very bent over. Once I have done this, it feels that my right shoulder goes high behind me on my backswing. Whenever I got this right I must say I was hitting very good shots!! So I need to get the right start position and then turn my shoulders this way to stay in my posture!! Remember this. Also, don't sway AT ALL!! I don't want any lateral movement at all (my swing is rotational!).
With regard to the downswing, I haven't quite put my finger on this just yet!! I'm aware of and happy with the principle of turning my shoulders on the downswing but as for doing this 'on plane', I don't know if i'm quite there yet. This has always been something I've struggled to do consistently. But whenever I get it right, it really does feel so easy!! I must have hit about 10-12 8-irons tonight, all exactly the same strike and penetrating ball flight. All I know is I need to get the backswing right and then keep my spine angle the same. If I do this I have a good chance, but I still need to learn the shoulder turn on the downswing.
The two move works well on irons for compressing the ball. I simply stand on my left foot a little bit more for my downswing and let rip. I haven't noticed any great consistency with this yet but we'll see how it goes.
I'm playing Lindfield Golf Course on Sunday with the swing thoughts mentioned above. Let's see how it goes....
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