Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Played 9 holes last night. First game since Saturday and it showed down the first! No rhythm whatsoever haha! Ugly double!

After that it went very well. Guru put me on to a little book about quantum golf. Tried the principles in it and it worked an absolute treat. The principle in case you are wondering is a type of clear key. I found it worked much better than what I had been using but it could be a simple case of a change for the better.

The greens had been top dressed and were in pretty poor order so I didn’t worry too much about my putting, I could feel I was rolling it well and may have holed more on better greens. My long game (after the first) was in great shape. I was hitting long straight drives with no effort at all and was finding the putting surface with regularity.

I hit 6 out of the 9 greens and thought it should have been better because I was playing the 9th in pretty much the dark. I thought I was about 80 yards short of it and hit gap wedge, turns out I was about 120!

Still it was very encouraging and I am looking forward to getting 18 holes tomorrow – hopefully it won’t rain!

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Hi Styles,

Ian here from the mid am. I having been reading through your great thread which I find really interesting. Having witnessed your swing first hand, I have absolutely no doubt that you will achieve your goal of scratch.

I am not in a position to give you any advice but I would say that having played 36 holes with you, I can only conclude that you are a natural golfer, a great striker of the ball with a tight short game. I would have to conclude that maybe you think about your swing too much rather than letting your game flow.

I look forward to reading about the round where you just let it flow and shoot in the 60’s. Keep going with the journey and good luck..

Ian!!!!

Welcome aboard, I’m delighted you found the site and hope you enjoy reading the articles. Your words are very kind and they have definitely given me a boost this morning.

How is your own journey going Ian? Did you play well in Bundoran? Hope it was an enjoyable game regardless of the score and I hope you and the family had a great time. Whats the handicap at the moment?

Let me know if you are interested in the site especially the golf school articles because Paul Smith (aka The Guru) will be here in Belfast at the end of September and is giving 3 clinics. If you and Con are interested in coming up (or just yourself) I’d be delighted to see you again and I know what Paul has to say will improve your game – and all for just £50!

Did you get any of the books I suggested?

Really glad you found the site!

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Wow Lag!!!!

Those are awesome – I’d love to see the reverse to see how well you are wearing a hole in them!

I’d have to say that you can use the 62 Topflites, they’d be the best tools for a windy day at Portrush, I reckon the only ones I could get the ball airborne with would be the 87 Maxflis although my eye was drawn to the 53 Armour Silver Scotts.

Its a great collection. I must take some photos of an old set my Dad has that allegedly belonged to Fred Daly – complete with old leather bag!

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Styles’ .. which set for you?

Took these photos tonight.. Got to thinking, which sets would do us best on the old Irish Links?

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

kosis: welcome to the forum. Good to see another ‘green grass’ man. I am looking forward to seeing the place very soon now.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Hi Styles,

Ian here from the mid am. I having been reading through your great thread which I find really interesting. Having witnessed your swing first hand, I have absolutely no doubt that you will achieve your goal of scratch.

I am not in a position to give you any advice but I would say that having played 36 holes with you, I can only conclude that you are a natural golfer, a great striker of the ball with a tight short game. I would have to conclude that maybe you think about your swing too much rather than letting your game flow.

I look forward to reading about the round where you just let it flow and shoot in the 60’s. Keep going with the journey and good luck..

Topic: Townsville Golf

I rather think that offering a return of 10% is a little genorous to put it lightly. Latest scuttlebutt is that if something is not sorted out by the end of next month the recievers will move in. This would be a shame ,the club has been around for over 100 years & is only in trouble because of bad management decisions over the past few years. they have asked members to invest $5000 each into the club to get them out of trouble with promises of a 10% return after 5 years. I have my doubts that they will get enough takers to solve the problem.
Thanks for the plug there Hibore, We are rather happy with what we have here & it is only going to improve over the next few years. We are always happy to welcome visitors to the course.
Hope to catch up with you in Adelaide in about 12 months time
Regards
Stuart.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

And you wondered why so many plumbers play golf?

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

More rain today, more rubbish golf.

Suppose I shouldn’t have high expectations as I haven’t been practising lately.

Pretty fed up. I’m stony broke now and am still hitting too many bad shots. Need a bit of good news or some good luck.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

No golf at all yesterday 3/4 of August’s average rain fell in 24 hours. We are building Arks!!!

Its better to stay silent and look a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt

– Mark Twain

“Eons of manhours are lost trying to substitute effort for technique and trying to eliminate effect instead of cause.”

– Homer Kelley

Seen the news today. You ok where you are?

The golf course here in Banbridge flooded pretty bad and so did the one in Belfast. I had waterlogged drains but nothing serious.

Some people got it really bad as I’m sure you seen on the news.

Floods!

Halfway down there is a video clip

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Styles, can you tell us your thoughts on Visiontrack? Would love to find out more about what think of it as a learning tool.

To be honest, the weather has been so bad I haven’t used it since the first time last Thursday.

I think it is a useful aid, certainly it gave me confidence to hit ‘out’. For $100 it is the sort of thing that is worth the gamble.

I plan to use it more this week so will report again as I use it more often

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Guru,

Not that I am turning pro as I an not an idiot or a dreamer but what do you claim when it comes to golf when you do you tax? Is it fee’s , clubs, travel expenses. Are you able to advise the forum here on what you claim? I am not the ATO or the IRS….

Trent
For a touring pro, s/he would also get tax deductions for such “everyday” things as vitamin supplements, sport massges, gym classes or things done or spent on to maintain the body etc.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Styles, can you tell us your thoughts on Visiontrack? Would love to find out more about what think of it as a learning tool.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

A little, I think it was mainly I was making a fundamental error in my swing like we talked about and when I stopped doing that, things became better.

Its better to stay silent and look a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt

Mark Twain

“Eons of manhours are lost trying to substitute effort for technique and trying to eliminate effect instead of cause.”

Homer Kelley

Yeah I find that.

If I start mishitting etc I try to hard to correct things and things just go more awry. However once I convince myself that the swing is sound and just relax, it starts to come back together.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

No golf at all yesterday 3/4 of August’s average rain fell in 24 hours. We are building Arks!!!

Its better to stay silent and look a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt

– Mark Twain

“Eons of manhours are lost trying to substitute effort for technique and trying to eliminate effect instead of cause.”

– Homer Kelley

Seen the news today. You ok where you are?

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Trent: Normal working expenses that you can demo that without them you could not earn a buck for them to tax. You do need to be able to demonstrate that it IS your business. Rule one. Have a good honest accountant.

One in the USA that got me was if you spent time teaching ‘charitable cases’ that you could deduct an amount of time value that went that way. I looked after a few ‘special kids’ who were great fun to spend time with. The locals told me I could do that if I were actually working there.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

No golf at all yesterday 3/4 of August’s average rain fell in 24 hours. We are building Arks!!!

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Guru,

Not that I am turning pro as I an not an idiot or a dreamer but what do you claim when it comes to golf when you do you tax? Is it fee’s , clubs, travel expenses. Are you able to advise the forum here on what you claim? I am not the ATO or the IRS….

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

A little, I think it was mainly I was making a fundamental error in my swing like we talked about and when I stopped doing that, things became better.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Did you feel yourself in the morning round like you were trying to control everything more and more as the wheels wobbled?

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Leinster Mid Amateur conclusions.

To be 15 shots better in the afternoon lets me feel pretty good about myself. The morning was awful but in the afternoon, for a while I was really threatening.

One of the keys was my instruction to myself to really relax and stop forcing.

I’m a little concerned with my putting especially long (over 25 feet) putts. My distance control doesn’t seem good at all.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Leinster Mid-Amateur Report:

First round was a disaster, I shot 21 over, easily the worst score of the year and yet I felt I was swinging well. 4 pars and no birdies in 18 holes.

One of my playing partners played very well in the morning. He played off 7 and got it round in style, his highlights being 3 birdies in a row from 15 to 17. A great score that almost got him cut to 5! I hope you find the site Ian and get a chance to look at the golf school. Ian ended up winning the best nett score for the first 18, I doff my cap sir!

Well after a swift lunch I headed out again, Ian assured me that I couldn’t play as badly in the afternoon, I wasn’t so sure! I started with 3 bogies then relaxed on the 4th tee and hit my best shot of the day. “What did I do differently?” I asked. Made par and then hit a terrific shot into the very tough par 3 5th and converted a great putt for bird. From that moment on I played much better. I 3 putted 6 and 10 for bogies. Then had a 3 putt en route to a double on 11. A par on 12 stopped the bleeding but I doubled 13 and bogeyed 14.

15 was a par 5 I bogeyed in the morning but I almost holed for eagle from the greenside bunker and tapped in for birdie. I had a good par on 16 and then a great bird on 17. After a poor first putt on 18 I rolled in a 15 footer for par on the last. 7 over with at least 5 shots left on the course due to putting alone, on another day I could have been level par or better.

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

This man has not only good ears but a brain to absorb the info…..a good student:)

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Clampetts book is about swinging as opposed to hitting. Good pick up there Styles.

Not so much a pickup as a listen! You told me it the other day!

Topic: Styles' journey to Scratch and beyond!

Clampetts book is about swinging as opposed to hitting. Good pick up there Styles.