Be

Top of page post AB?

Yup :)
Sorry weety, just wanted to see if I could get my name up on each forum…..I was successful ;)

Onya – that’s a stat!

Hit the range for a couple of buckets with sandy. Too wet for the short game areas so only pitching and full swings today.

It’s amazing how hard it is to control myself! I know I am supposed to swing the whole club with my upper arms. Pretty simple hey! And yet over and over the old ways come back! Stupid game.

Nevertheless I hit the ball pretty well most of the time. Pretty happy. I have decided to go the whole hog with Manuel’s grip. Which basically means left thumb on top and the matching slightly weaker right hand. This should play a straight to push draw to push shape that I find very playable.

Most of my work today was on understanding how it feels for me to swing the club with the arms. Do I feel the club more, the arms more? Does it feel like everything moves together as a unit? That sort of thing.

For me it feels more like activity of the arms. That is what I do. I swing the club but my focus is in the bits doing the moving.

Hopefully it will come together nicely tomorrow at Redcliffe.

Can’t wait.

Bix, have you got a walking machine at home?

Exercise bike is about all. No treadmill. Why?

No matter if you haven’t got a walker.

Up late mate. Partying?

I’m interested to hear your walker suggestion Razaar. I have one.

Up late mate. Partying?

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

I wish, those days are gone. Doesn’t look good for Reddy with the wind. What is it with ISGDays here and weather. That day at Bribie was terrible and the course was a disaster. At least Reddy will be in good shape. Enjoy your day.

I’m interested to hear your walker suggestion Razaar. I have one.

’The past is history, the future one may never see and today is a gift which is why it’s called, the present’
KungFu Panda
VTPP #534

Set it on a low setting to begin with and set up in your golf stance side on to the tread facing left to feel the foot action of the backswing and to the right to feel the forward swing feet action. In an efficient swing, the forward feet action is a reverse of the backswing action. I have found a treadmill to be the best way to feel the pressure exerted on the feet to move the weight during the swing. It is also a good exercise for balance and stability in the lower body. Take it easy to start with and use the hand rails.

It gives an idea of how the golf swing requires the use of muscles that we rarely get to use outside golf.

Thanks :)

Reddy was definitely showing her teeth today razaar! We played off the blues so plenty of medium to long par 4s. The 200m par 3 played directly into the wind. The last 4 holes also played straight into the teeth of the gales. Made them very very long! Hit a 245m drive with the wind and downhill on the 9th and was still left with about 180m!

Not that I played it well. Wind didn’t help – there were many times where it was all I could do to stay in balance as I addressed the ball – made swinging a bit nerve racking! :-) But I hit some poor shots as well and not many very good ones!

Anyway, to update properly…

Headed out to Redcliffe Golf Club on a day they forecast – correctly as it turned out – 35km/h winds gusting to 50. Made for an interesting round as the winds got stronger and stronger throughout the round.

Struggled throughout the round with pretty much everything but the driver. Wasn’t terrible, but could not put good shots together consistently. And had a pretty unlucky round.

Finished with 12 over 47 on the front and 9 over 45 on the back for a 21 over 92. Hit 6/7 fairways in each nine – 12/14 fairways. They are pretty generous but my driving was really solid today.

Only converted 2 of those into GIRs. Got 1/4 of the par 3s in regulation. That left 15 holes not in regulation and only got 2 of them up and down. So that explains 13 of the extra 21!

5 pars 5 bogies and 8 doubles. It was a day of doubles!

Started well with a par, then …
Doubled the 2nd after hitting a terrible hybrid into trees and chipping out and then chip and 2 putts.
Doubled the 3rd after pushing my 4i approach shot then leaving my first chip way short, then another chip +2!
Par 5 on the 4th after topping a 4w second shot and then PW on and 2 putts.
Bogied the 5th after thinning my sand shot and taking 2 putts.
Double bogie 6th after topping my 4w approach and then taking 3 putts from off after a 70m pitch.
Double bogey 5 on the 7th. My worst driver shot of the day on a par 3! Standing on the tee I had no confidence in being able to hit the ball as gusts kept my unbalanced. Sure enough I pulled the drive, didn’t hit the pitch hard enough, and a sand shot thin again and 2 putts!
Bogied the 8th after pushing my PW into the sand.
Doubled the 9th after a cracking drive when I hit my 4i approach fat. PW over and chip +2.

While my up and down stats on the front are the obvious candidate I place a lot of blame on my approach shots. With that many fairways I should have had more GIR and easier chip shots. Too many sand shots (the sand was very compacted and I had trouble getting even my lob wedge under the ball) and pitch shots instead of straight forward chips.

Bogied the par 5 10th when my hybrid again hooked badly then I left the 6i short and chip +2 – starting to get repetitive! :-)
Pared the par 3 11th with one of my best non-driver shots of the day, a 4i.
Bogey 5 on the 12th – 4w approach then chip+2!
Bogey 4 from a very poor 8i off the tee. Hit a very nice 40m pitch but not good enough to get it down.
Parred the 14th with a 4 hybrid that was again a toe hook but OK, hit my PW fat but chipped up and putted down.
Double bogey 6 after another fat approach shot a 40m pitch that was OK but a bit right and then a bad 3 putt – my only official 3 putt – from 10 feet or so.
Par 5 although I pulled my 4 wood second but 8 iron threaded between trees with a little fade and 2 putts.
Double double for the last 2 long par 4s straight into the wind. Good drive on the 17th but hooked that rotten hybrid into water then pitch and 2 putts. Topped my drive on the 18th – so actually that was my worst drive for the day – then 4 wood and then a 7i from 110m that came up way short! Sand +2!

Again my approach shots were disappointing more than my short game. I hit some very good pitches today. And some good chips too that were unlucky or misread enough to not give me simple putts. 34 official putts, 3 Texas, 8 chips 4 sand and 4 pitches. Except for the sand and one chip most were at the better end of short game for me. Sand was tough. Very thick and wet and compact. But even those weren’t terrible, just not shots that gave me a realistic up and down opportunity.

I think that my full swing is coming together. It is consistency now that I need to get. Just a bit more work at the range.

I will need to have a good look at my hybrid. I am consistently hitting it way out on the toe creating shots that start right, hook left and go short. Very ugly. I don’t know why but it is the very obvious worst aspect of my play today. That club alone cost me 4-6 shots today. Trees, water, short. Unless I can start finding the middle of the face consistently she will have to go.

Handicap moves back out to 13.7 as a 15 from McLeod drops off. So playing off 14 again!

it was a tough day out there today mate. the last 3 holes into the wind were extra tough. But what a course it is… It would have to be one of the best club course’s in Brisbane.

Absolutely. It would be right near the top of my list of clubs I’d join if location wasn’t an issue. Brilliant course, genuine challenge, good condition even though they’d cored the greens recently. I really like it. I would happily play there multiple times a year.

Especially if I can learn to hit an iron! :-)

Just to give you all an idea of how blowy it was I can remember at least 4 different times today where I was lining up to take my shot and got distracted by the sight of my clubs making their own way down the fairway!

On the 16th the wind blew Don’s whole bag into the bunker. Ownesy saw it all and just stood there holding the flag having a chuckle to himself. Very funny.

And we raked the bunker! No smiley faces.

Would love to come for a range session with you guys sometime … facebook when you plan your next venture and I’ll try to tag along

A great read Weet

Cheers

Will do mate

Hit the range tonight for the usual bucket and a half and some chipping. I believe that I am getting closer to how this swing is supposed to work. In his book Manuel de le Torre talks about swinging the club towards the target, but he talks about doing that by having in your head the visual of the club swinging over your right shoulder and then swinging through towards the target. I have been trying to feel the club in the swing, but MDLT doesn’t mention that. It was something that I thought of!

So tonight I was more focussed on the arms doing the swinging, and just swinging everything from the arms down back and through from the upper arms. And I was cracking my 6 iron. Had a last few drives and was getting a bit of a hook out of them, so will need to do a bit more work there. But it’s looking pretty good. Always though the next session will be the teller – if I can keep it working!

The positives for me is that I am continuing along a path, aiming to get better at achieving an action rather than trying to work out what action I want to use.

Chipping went pretty well. The practice green has bounced back and has a good grass cover now, so it is like a real green! Same approach – swinging with the upper arms – was working well. Still inconsistent with spin – some biting substantially more than others – but improving.

Was a good session.

Followed up with another good session last night, although only the mats because I didn’t get there until late.

Swinging the club! It’s an intention rather than a conscious action. And that is my ongoing challenge! I try and direct the club consciously. Not steering because I’m not consciously managing the face. Being too conscious of what the club is doing at all times.

Whereas if my thinking is about the arms doing the work things work much better. Less flipping/throwaway. More solid contact. And consistent ball flight.

So it was a good session. Especially pitching. Great contact with the wedge. Cleanly ball first. Nice lower flight, and good control.

Full swing was very good with the irons but a bit inconsistent with the driver. Probably, much like Redcliffe, mostly in play. But too much mixing of pushes and draws.

Hope to get out tomorrow, weather permitting, to do a fair bit of short game practice.