Full swing was very good today. Mixture of straight shots and push fades for the most part.

Off the tee my notes have 9 fairways, and 2/4 par 3s. The other 5 tee shots were 1 slight pull which was fine, 2 pushes that were fine, a push into a fairway bunker (ironically my birdie hole) and a push fade on the last that bought some trees into play. But none of my full tee shots cost me shots. For the par 3s I hit a push to sand with a 7i and a sliced 5i short right. Neither cost me more than a shot, and both the sand and chip shots gave me a decent putt for up & down but I didn’t convert them.

So I’m very happy with this swing approach. It gives me something simple to focus on doing when I swing the club, and gives a pretty good dispersion.

For approach shots I hit a 4i fat into the second and failed to get up & down, topped a 4w second on the par 5 6th for no penalty, sliced my 4w second on the 10th which put me behind trees and cost me a shot when my 8i approach didn’t carry the trees, and sliced my 4w 2nd on the par 5 18th into water again for a lost shot. Sounds like I should put the 4w away, but I hit a wonderful one on the 9th, and also a very good tee shot with it on the 7th. And I can’t really blame it for poor swings. Will do a bit more practice with it though because I need it on long par 5s – which Hills has in abundance – 491m, 516m, 545m and 504m off the whites. Blues are 544, 560, 555 and 575!

It might seem from the stats that I would be disappointed with my short game today but I’m actually pretty happy with it.

No up and downs but I gave myself a chance with every short shot. They were all solid shots, and that is a big positive for me.

With the putting I think it’s first to say the greens were pretty terrible. I only had a very quick putt on the practice green because it had so many black holes, as if a disease was eating away at the grass. I thought that hopefully the real greens wouldn’t be anything like that but they were. Which made them very lumpy and bumpy. And they were very slow too. So they didn’t help with my putting.

And overall my putting was pretty good. The 3 putts were due to leaving the first short generally because I had some very long putts and it was hard to hit them hard enough.

But I burned a few holes and mostly left myself with very make able second putts. So overall a decent putting day on some nasty greens.

wooohooo ….

Long journey’s are worth the wait. Congratulations on getting there mate and putting together such a consistent round. You should be pumped !

I know how hard it is as I’m not far behind you in that respect. Eradicating the doubles and triples completely, I want it too !

I wonder why Hills is a scoring venue. I played there twice just a few months ago and came away with an 88 and an 89 which at the time was pretty good for me. As you said its pretty bloody long. hmmm what gives there.

Cheers

Weetie … you had any rounds recently where you had multiple birdies ? I reckon in 8 of my last 10 rounds I have had a single birdie. But its getting to the point where I am having 4 or 5 makeable birdie putts in a round. Inside 20 feet or so. I do suck at putting which is why I only ever drop one.

Offsetting the dreaded double or looking after a big part of a triple … I gotta start taking advantage more of these situations.

Cheers

Had a round at Windaroo a while back with 2 birdies, but it is very rare. Totally agree with you about improving the conversion rate. Definitely got more putting practice coming my way! And chipping. Those 2 areas are where my shots are.

Not sure why Hills is good for scoring. Had a 93 there last time – back in February. One of the other guys I played with had his best score today too – 89. He was really striping them on the front 9 – had a 42.

Takes my unofficial handicap to 13.7

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!

Starting 2012 on unofficial 17, target 12 then single figures
Inaugural Official Handicapper and Treasurer of the SEQ Golf Guys
LEARN then PERFORM – Geoff Mangum

Bravo Zulu, Booyah, Ooorah, Hot diggity and great shootin tex : )

First of many.

Thanks 2P. Might need to grow a great beard if I want to get to scratch though!

Been a long time coming. Added up my own card and was like “Holy crap!”, but didn’t let myself believe it until the scorer confirmed. I’d love to always play tee to green like this. Just gotta get the shorter sticks firing!

Well done mate. You are coming in red hot for the Gainsbrough.. game

Gotta get my name on that trophy!

Thanks El Presedente!

Hey Weeties my mate, so happy for you buddy, done the hard yards and reaped the rewards.

But hold press, this is but the beginning buddy now you now you can!

Damn, you bought a smile to my face, wish I could see yours!!!

:)

Thanks Scott mate, I’ve been on a real high all day. Rang the missus. Range my Dad. Rang sandy. Posted here in about 4 places. Posted on Facebook in 2.

Back to that joke about the old man and the twins hey! :-)

Made my day and week for sure. Only thing stopping me saying month and year is the Nationals!

I’m on the 80’s train now. Single figures next?

Mate you have the steely desire and work ethic to be there for sure, it’s well within your grasp, so why not grab at it?

Race you!

Sure, let’s go for it!

I can’t lose – all my excuses are lined up! Starting twice as far away as you! Only play once or twice a month! Not a member anywhere!

Of course you have to do it in comp, and I’m just a social hacker – so it all balances out! :-)

Can I put in a rule that you have to take driver off every tee?

Well done weeti, solid track as well. Look forward to seeing you become a single marker.

Thanks Deano. Not counting my chickens yet – this has been a very up and down journey. But I know what I need to do so I just need to bloody well do it! :-)

A testament to the up and down journey is your breaking a barrier! BIG CONGRATULATIONS, MATE!

That’s the kind of response we’re looking for in this game—happiness!

I see that limiting big numbers and making a couple of birdies were the big keys. Looking forward to hearing more from you about how to do it…

:)

Thanks golfsavvy. Limiting the big numbers is definitely a large part of it. I know that that is a major reason I need to take a big step up in my short game because I leak a lot of shots there.

Today, and every day where I score my best, was about high GIR stats – 13 today. But I can’t expect that level to be my norm so I need to be able to score anyway.

But today I didn’t lose many shots from my short game. Just didn’t gain many. A single 1 putt and no up & downs tells the story. But I do take away a positive that I felt I was mostly OK with my short game. Good will be when I consistently leave most inside 6 feet and a fair number inside 3. But at least I gave myself putts that were possible today. Rimmed a couple. Which is definitely a step forward. I’ve put a lot of time into my short game and I am hopeful that it is starting to click.

But this is golf, so the next game is a whole new thing! :-)

My first ever hit around Gainsborough Greens is on Sunday. Looking forward to it.

I’ve been continuing to work on Manuel de le Torre’s approach at the range. Really liking the whole approach. Swing the club away from the target with the hands, swing the club towards the target with the arms. Simple! But not necessarily easy! :-)

Been successful off the mats. Much more consistent. Still getting a variety of draws and fades. Driver is probably the club that can go either way, but I think that on the course I can aim to keep the ball a bit forward in my stance and promote a draw. But reality is that this is still a bit of an unknown for me on the course. I may try and get another hit in before Sunday just to get a bit more confident of what the ball wants to do with the big dog. Very happy to play a draw if it’s natural. We’ll see.

Did a bit of testing of some GPS principles to hit draws and fades. Started to get a bit of confidence that I will be able to build this skill into my game, but it’s not ready for the course.

It is a good way though to learn the GSP principles so I can use them to assess lies and choose targets.

Fun this game is! :-)

Went to Oxley range last weekend to work on chipping and putting, and test the Vision Bob against the Penta. Found that performance with both balls was very similar on the short shots. I intend to stick with Bob for now as I like the visibility. I do want to get a better idea of its length off the tee though because it did seem to be a little shorter than usual at Hills, despite the dry and hard conditions.

Had a lot of fun at Oxley. Tested my new ATV wedge in the sand and found it is really excellent in deep fluffy sand. I’ll still prefer my lob for thin sand as it has very low bounce. Tried it out of the fluffy sand and it is truly terrible – just buries and leaves the ball jumping a couple of feet forward. But the 56 was bad out of thin sand so it works well.

My chipping was good. I’ll keep grinding away at the chipping because I truly believe that it will be the key to single figures – getting a decent percentage of up and downs!

Also did a fair bit of putting practice at Oxley. The green was pretty furry and slow but it was a good test. It was also a chance to practice relying on my body for distance control. Building confidence. Was rolling it pretty well. Putting is obviously the other key to scoring and I have a lot of improvement to make there.

I need to keep practicing my 3 to 8 footers on the mat at home to ensure I am rolling the ball where I am aiming. If I get my stroke going so I can trust the direction, and improve my distance control by trusting my body to put the right amount of hit on the ball, then I should see a 3-6 shot improvement.

Which would be very nice! :-)

Nice practicing weet. I’ve done a change up on chipping. I’ve tried using 7,9 and wedge.(I use 52 but a wedge favorite was suggested). I take normal stance and basically they all just runout differently. I now use these clubs greenside more than any.

A putting drill for distance control, and to drive you insane. Stick a note ($5 or whatever) and putt the ball to stop on it. It’s slick surface doesn’t make it that easy of a task. I’ll let you choose the distance.

6 inches sounds like a good challenge!

I’m pretty much using my 54 degree for all chipping at the moment. It’s about a 50:50 club for me and flys out at a fairly low trajectory and therefore bounces fairly straight. Only pull the lob when I don’t have much space. Pretty rare really.

Enjoying the short game practice a lot. Almost as much as the full swing. Almost! :-)

Had a chance to hit Oxley range this morning. It was extremely windy. Extremely!

Worked on really swinging the club towards the target. And swinging the club head back with both hands working together. With this swing approach my common errors are starting the club back inside and flatter than I should. And on the swing it is swinging my arms instead of the club. That usually results in the shoulders going hard and hitting a pull, or sometimes a cut.

However if I do swing the club it is a really good result. Mostly straight where I aimed. Sometimes a little push draw. Sometime a little push. But generally very acceptable.

Did a fair bit of pitching practice. It’s a good way to practice the overall approach because it is a bit slower. I really know when I’ve swung the club compared to swinging the arms as the ball goes low like a punch when I swing the arms. But swinging the club produces a very nice trajectory.

Similarly with chipping, but it’s more about whether I set up with the shaft vertical to get a more lofted shot that stops quick or with a bit of forward lean to get a lower shot with more roll. It’s good to have both options.

I am finding that for all shots, but especially for putting and chipping, everything comes together when I focus my attention on a spot on the back of the ball, and focus my intention on hitting that ball to the target. Then I just swing the head back with the hands and the whole club through to chip, and lower my left shoulder to putt.

Building confidence in all aspects of my game, so looking forward to testing it at Gainsborough on Sunday.