Funny how you do something over and over and then one day go what the hell are you doing?’

Practicing putting tonight and realised that I have been swaying my head left on the back swing – pulling my whole body down instead of my shoulder! Stopped doing that and just felt so much better. So much. And the putting just felt much simpler and cleaner and more reliable. And it showed in the results.

Oh dear!

Played a quick nine with sandy this afternoon. Finished with 40. On fire ready for the Nationals! :-)

Went par, par, bogie, bogie, bogie bogie, par. Solid but gave away a few shots too easily. Not bad though.

Played a quick nine with sandy this afternoon. Finished with 40. On fire ready for the Nationals! :-)

Starting 2012 on unofficial 17, target 12 then single figures
Member of the South East Queensland Golf Group
LEARN then PERFORM – Geoff Mangum

You really lit up the front nine yesterday mate. It was great to watch.

Thanks sandy – but you were only a shot back! Very impressed!

:-)

Should we tell them?

Thanks sandy – but you were only a shot back! Very impressed!

:-)

Should we tell them?

Starting 2012 on unofficial 17, target 12 then single figures
Member of the South East Queensland Golf Group
LEARN then PERFORM – Geoff Mangum

There is nothing to tell.. You shot 40 an I nabbed a 41. WE SMASHED IT.

Smashed it at the range tonight too! Straight even sometimes! :-)

Really bit the bullet tonight and got that grip much stronger in the left hand, while trying to maintain Peter’s neutral right hand.

No surprises that quite a number of nasty hooks resulted! But reality for me is that that is because I’ve been straightening the right wrist into impact, so I need to train the correct grip and the correct release.

I’m pretty happy with where I’m at with my swing. Maintaining balance through my left foot throughout the swing is working well. Where I lose it is getting overly focussed on the back swing – trying to control it.

What worked best tonight is to swing the club head back from the ball to get things going, but then to let my body move the club how it will, while maintaining an intention towards the target and feeling the weight move back into the left foot. Was hitting the ball solidly, nice straight flight with a very acceptable variation in path and shape.

In fact distance seemed very good, although under lights with my poor sight it’s hard to say. Won’t know until I play on the weekend!

Only had time for a very quick practice in the sand. Good results with the lob wedge, and generally I think that is my preferred club from the sand. It would only be in very deep fluffy sand that I would probably get it out. My technique is very aggressive in the sand, and I tend to bounce back into the ball with the sand wedge.

Forgot to take my new wedge tonight (yeah, I know!) so not sure how it will go in the sand yet. Hopefully will be able to get away from work tomorrow early enough to have a hit with sandy so will have to remember it for that!

Only had a couple of chips tonight. Was ok, but definitely not awesome. I will do a lot of it tomorrow if we do get to Oxley.

Went to Oxley range with Kurt. Hit is like crap! Divots pointing a bit left, so no surprise that I was fading it. Also a bit off the toe.

Actually crap is a bit harsh, but was more fade than I like. I think that the range provides a slightly side hill lie with the ball under the feet, so that added a bit, and challenged my balance.

In the end that was what I really got a light bulb moment on tonight. I don’t think I have ever properly swung in balance until tonight. Very different feel, very different dynamic. Didn’t get a lot of balls after I had the light bulb, and probably won’t unless I go early to Emerald Lakes. I might to do some pitching and some full swings.

Also did some pitching and chipping with my new wedge. Too early to tell with the pitching but I loved the feel and the weight of the club for chipping. So it will be in the bag for the weekend!

Bring on the Nationals!

The Nationals wrap up!

Overall I played average, crap and then average! Short game was consistently … well consistent. Which for me means bad! :-) 50 short game shots Saturday, 51 Sunday and 49 Monday – so 14, 15 and 13 over for the short game! Doesn’t leave much out of my 15 handicap!

Long game was good on Saturday when I remembered my grip change, poor on Sunday when I didn’t, and improved immediately after I re-remembered on Monday! Was 38, 45 and 39 on the long game.

Finished equal third on Monday which was very pleasing, especially after Sunday’s performance!

Most importantly it was one of my best weekends ever and I had an absolute ball. Already looking forward to next year!

Emerald Lakes

This was the social round but we decided to play off the blues. Played with Grey wolf and 2Putts. Was a great way to spend an afternoon with some great blokes.

Started great and was 2 over after 6. 2Puttx was wondering how I ended up off 15. I showed him!

Had 42 on the front and 46 on the back for an 88, net 73 which was 3 over the 70 ACR. Not bad, but should have been better.

1 bird 6 pars 6 bogies 4 double and 1 triple.

5/13 fairways 10 GIR (maybe a personal best) but no U+D’s. 5×3 putts with 38 in total.

Enjoyed myself a lot. Thanks to my partners on the day, and for everyone who gathered for dinner at the unforgettable Ash more Steak and Seafood that night.

Saw the light on….thought I’d drop in.

Is there any beer left?

Palm Meadows

Now to a whole world of ugly! First the good news, which that I got to spend an afternoon with Schmuck, Dr Nick and big Wozz! Thanks gents for being great company.

Finished with a 24 over 96. Not pretty! Started on the 16th and the ball was not going where I hoped as my old weak grip was in play. Hit 51 and 45 but if I wrote it as I played it it would be 48 and 48.

Had 2 pars 11 bogies 2 double and 3 triple.

7/14 fairways, 3 GIR, 2 U+D, 39 putts including 6×3s and 3×1s.

Was pretty disappointed, especially when I realised how big an impact I’d had by messing up my grip. The boys were great, saying that I’d hit the ball solidly just not straight. And the good Dr shared some things he’d noticed especially with my putting.

Despite the scores, and the unbelievably poor condition of the bunkers (and I am a fan of tight bunkers but dried mud that you can drag the rake across with barely any visible impact are not bunkers) it was a great afternoon.

And a great evening! :-)

Hey Goldman. Plenty left, so drop in anytime! :-)

Got home safe and sound mate?

Was a buzz to finally get to meet you. A rare example of a situation where the reality lived up to the buzz!

Which could say more about the lack of buzz than anything, but the legend lives on!

Definitely buzzless buddy.

Yes mate…home around 2, been on the computer since (work first, then here).

Great to meet you Weety…we need to get into the same group next time.

I know the bloke who does the Vic ISG draw….trust me :-)

Talking about the evening …

Well should actually begin with the evening before. Caught up with a lot of the characters first at Emerald Lakes, but more chance to chat at dinner. Was great to meet so many people who I’ve interacted with here and have a very nice drop of red (thanks Barnesy). Was a lot of fun.

Then the next morning headed down to the range after sandy and I polished off half a smorgasboard at the breakfast! Met up with many of the guys from Saturday and most everyone else wandered in at various points. Some great info provided by the team, Head pro, Pete and the Savvy one. Much appreciated gents.

Dinner after the game was an awesome affair. Bruce was unbelievably calm under enormous pressure. Madam was even more incredible under even greater pressure. Extreme heckling from some very rude members of the crew. Of course I was perfectly behaved!

What a great night. The ‘around the grounds’ was funny and informative. Was great. Had a ball. Watched Goldy smash a whole lasagne! Smash my own decent portion of it too!

Thanks also to the sponsors. Very much appreciated all.

Definitely buzzless buddy.

Yes mate…home around 2, been on the computer since (work first, then here).

Great to meet you Weety…we need to get into the same group next time.

I know the bloke who does the Vic ISG draw….trust me :-)

Smoldy.
Kicking arse and taking names since 2012.

A wink’s as good as a nudge to a blind man mate!

Is it just me or does that saying make no sense?

Much like 99% of the conversation Sunday night! :-)

Robina Woods

Straight up let me say that this might be the best course I’ve ever played. Hard to be sure after just one round, and so long since I’ve played Hope Island, and not a real round at Brookwater. But this place has it all…

...interesting holes with great variety

...lots of challenges – tight fairways, strategic layout, greens that you definitely want to think about your approach on. Not every hole is there to bite you but many are very bite indeed!

...damn it’s pretty – great views, holes where you stand on the tee and the hole opens up before you like a postcard, beautiful sand and water, everything looked immaculate, just a course I want to play again.

On the round then …

Played with DJCraig in the 4BBB who is a very good golfer. And a good partner. And a good bloke. Was a lot of fun and laughs.

Also played with Head pro and Stinkler. While it is probably massively understating it Stinks was not 100% on the day. But he’s always good to spend time with. And it was great to spend some time with the big Head and watch him in action. He hits a very nice ball I can tell you! Beautiful draw flight off the tee.

Finished with 35 points and 88 which was 17 over.

1 bird 3 pars 10 bogies 4 doubles

8/14 fairways, 4 GIR, 1 U+D, 35 putts with 1×3 putt and 2×1 putts

Overall a pretty good result I was very happy with.

And then a very nice lunch and chat, prizes (I got equal third on the day with the legend that is 2Putts), and then it was over.

What a great 3 days!

Have had a couple of range sessions working on swinging the club and getting my grip right. Making a change in approach like this obviously takes a bit of time but there is no doubt that the results are generally very solid. Still getting my head around the whole thing. Although it is simple to say ‘Swing the whole club back with your hands towards your right shoulder and then through with the tops of your arms straight towards the target’ but it is taking a bit of a mental shift.

The light bulb moment today was to keep my focus on the ball, both eyes-wise and also from an intent perspective. It centred the swing better and stopped me getting caught up on my back swing path. Was hitting some very nice 9 irons at the end of the session.

Did a fair bit of chipping practice at Logan today. The practice green hole locations were on really slopey bits today so that made things more challenging. Determined that swinging the club head more than the whole club is better for me for chipping and pitching feel. Tested the full swing approach with shorter swings but it was very inconsistent. Ditto with the keeping the Y idea. So I’ll keep the same approach there for now.

My focus is on getting runs of 8#’s in my rounds for the remainder of this year and hopefully getting my unofficial handicap down to 12 before 2013. Short game will be the key – so more chipping and putting practice to come.

Good luck to the SEQ GG’s at windaroo tomorrow – wish I could be there.

Dropped the youngster at the airport and dropped in to the range on the way home. Same old same old for me – getting my grip sorted and learning to swing the club back or forth!

I am at the point where I am testing out very minor variations in the grip. Top of the grip sits over the top part of the little finger. Testing whether the bottom needs to be more in the second part of the forefinger or over the joint. I’m not settled yet because I am still fighting a bit of flipping and so I’m still a bit more inconsistent at impact than I’d want. Looking like the joint though!

As far as the swing goes I am starting to get the hang of swinging the club as a whole with the hands and then the arms. It is a very different feel. But by getting both hands working together on the back swing today I was getting a better path and top position.

Using the arms on the downswing is the bit that I keep forgetting to do. Often this is fine because my body gets the club back through the ball without much thought. But the path then tends to be … well … variable! And the flip tends to return!

But overall progress is good. Was hitting my irons especially solid and with good distance. And pitching it well too.

What I like about this approach is that it has very specific objectives but they give you room to perform them how your body works naturally. My improvement path is simply to do them more consistently. It’s a very positive approach – focussed on what to do only, not on what not to do. It’s also externally focussed which according to Mike Hebron’s information is the best way to learn!

Looks like I’m actually heading back with the family for some fun at the range this afternoon, so will get a little more practice!

Had a few more range sessions. Thinking about the errors I get with this approach. And I have to consider that many of the variations are due to me messing with my grip. Last session I really determined that the 6 o’clock line runs across the first joint of my forefinger (furthest from the palm). Still need to get comfortable with how high I need to get on my pinky – nice and tight with my palm seems to be the go, but more testing to do.

But if I maintain that grip the errors seem to mainly be the old pushes. Did hit a few pulls, which doesn’t surprise me because this swing does involve controlling the path and so I can get the path a bit left and pull it. Not a bad result though as it’s usually not very far left.

Did hit the odd hook, but I have a sense that this was mainly when I was tweaking the grip and playing a bit stronger. Definitely need to check this now I’m closer to a settled grip. I don’t like hooks!

A quick bucket at the range today. Pretty settled with the grip except for one thing – I may need to tweak it if I get some hooks out of getting my swing plane and ball position better. I think that I’ve been setting up with the ball centre rather than the club. Not so much with the longer clubs … although maybe there too?

But overall was very solid again with full swings and pitches.

Chipping was more hit and miss. Tendency to flip and hit them fat. Hate that! :-) More work on swinging the club and not throwing the club head required!

Range again tonight as Her Ladyship headed off to a kitchen wear party.

Weakened the grip a tad more and got some good results from that (which is as per Manuel’s method). Pretty happy with how the grip is coming together.

I am finding myself swinging back and forth between feeling the club more – feeling in the sense of being consciously aware of – or feeling the motivating body part more, whether that is hands on the back swing or arms on the through swing. I’ll need to go back to the book and reread Manuel’s instructions. And I can ask GolfSavvy here which is very nice.

For chipping it is definitely better to be aware of the hands and arms, and I suspect that will be the same for the full swing, but I am very conscious that the intent needs to remain very much on swinging the club back and through.

But overall I am finding this creates a very solid swing, good ball flight and contact. Very happy with it.

Had a hit today with the future son in law and one if his groomsmen. Hit Hills International off the whites. Par 72 ACR 73.

Finished with a 79! So I have finally done it – broke 80! WooHoo! So pumped right now! It was also my first ever round with nothing worse than a bogie.

Had 1 birdie 9 pars 8 bogies. 9/14 fairways. 13 GIR. No up & downs out of 4. 38 putts including 3×3 putts and 1×1 putt.

Played the 3s 2 over, 4s 2 over and 5s 3 over.

Very very very very very very very happy!