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.....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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........