Okay, my dream run of form fell over in a heap on Saturday with an ugly 19 in stableford. I felt fine while warming up, but realised in the midst of my warm up that I was running out of time, so missed a couple of the steps that I normally take in my preparation. I don’t know if that had something to do with how I played, but I certainly felt out of sorts heading to the tee.

Nothing was working right – from ball striking to shot selection. Every single time I felt like I hit a shot well, it ended up getting a crazy bounce and winding up in a bunker or behind a tree or something. I think I got to 5 penalties in the end over the course of the round (with plenty being truly unforced errors.

During the round I really tried to work on my mental focus, making a real effort to try and play better on the second 9 (which I did, I only scored 7 points on the front). Secondly, I was using the opportunity to try some shots which I would normally shy away from in favour of more conservative approaches. In particular, I practiced using high flop shots around the green where appropriate rather than sticking to the bump and run. As a result, I now feel confident that I can execute those shots on the course at least as well as my normal approach, and have identified that there are actually a range of situations on my course where that type of shot is likely to leave me in less danger of trouble than a lower running shot.

So though it was a bit of a slog, I am pleased that I learned something from the round and have some food for thought to take away and improve my game in future.

Okay, another checkin.

I have been playing more good rounds than bad and my handicap is coming in at a rate of knots. I am still one of those high handicapper bandits that people complain about, but people are pretty gracious about it now that the good shots are starting to come with a little more consistency.

At the moment, having just celebrated my 12 month anniversary of joining my club as a trial member (and seriously taking up the game again), I have got to my best handicap ever. I am treating my true anniversary as the beginning of February when my handicap went live, so I am aiming to get to at least 25, and hopefully to about 22 by then.

It is a fun way to play golf, when those holes that I have extra shots on really feel like an opportunity to score well, even when I don’t feel like I am hitting the ball particularly well. I know that I will even out in due course, so I am trying to really enjoy having the extra leeway while I still have it.

I intend to start a new thread for 2013, as the end of year coincides with a mini-sea change and a move fulltime to our weekender meaning more time on the peninsula, and opportunities for more regular practice and lessons at the club.

With another couple of rounds left till my anniversary I am down to 24 and still playing well. One of the biggest positive developments I have noticed in my game is my improvement in distance particularly off the tee.

My mantra has been trying to play bogey golf, but I am rapidly approaching the point where bogey golf won’t keep seeing me improve. So I am going through my course to identify a half dozen holes that I can begin to work on trying to hit the green in regulation regularly.

This should give me a game plan to try and keep giving room to improve while not stretching myself on holes that I don’t yet have the game to take on.

Well I think I am going to start a new thread for 2013 as I have formulated a new goal – I will finish this one off in due course when I hit my anniversary will document my stats and improvement.