Real progress

Today's round didn't start too well. In fact it started very badly, my tee shot went right and the Wedge I played just rolled a smidgeon too far and trickled off the back of the green. Queue a six followed by a nine and a five. It all went massively wrong on the 4th where I ended up blobbing in frustration, before massively slicing my tee shot on the 5th eventually carding an eight. Another five followed before a glimmer of hope...

I've been toying with the idea of getting a hybrid and today borrowed a Cobra Baffler hybrid from the pro shop. I finally got to grips with it (at least I though I had) on the 7th hole, a short par 5. I drilled me tee shot 223 yards to the left side of the fairway and then hit again just over 200 yards to leave me a chip onto the green. Unfortunately I overcooked it and two putted for par. It seemed as though this would be a rare plus point as I double and triple bogeyed the following two holes.

So nine holes in and a solitary par (that should really have been a birdie) I'd carded a 51 + a blob, it wasn't pretty. Then it clicked. I got to grips with the hybrid, my wedge play went to another level and despite the strong winds I played a pretty solid back nine which included my first ever birdie.

I hit the hybrid 191 yards into a strong headwind on 10 and hit my wedge intentionally onto the slope past the pin for it to roll back down the hill for a six footer that I put away. It's taken me four months, but I've finally got that birdie monkey off my back. My ball vanished on 12 (my fault for pulling the 3 wood out of the bag) causing a rather frustrating blob blemish on my card, but other than that I had a pretty solid back nine coming in with a 36 + blob.

All in all I'm a happy chappy

• an overall score of 87 for 16 holes
• improved FIR (36%) and GIR (25%)
• 22 stableford points for the back nine
• average driving distance of 193 yards
• +7 for the 8 holes I completed on the back nine

It's not ground breaking but I'm starting to miss more fairways to the left, which is something I'm working on, my pitching is much improved, my chipping is getting there and I must now save my pennies to buy a 2I hybrid. Used a 3I version today, but think the extra distance will better fill the gap between my 3W and 3I. Here's hoping Messrs Watney & McIlroy can keep it together this evening...

87 (62)

6(3), 9(5), 5(3), -(4), 8(5), 5(3), 5(5), 6(4), 7(4), 3(4), 4(3), -(5), 4(4), 5(4), 6(4), 4(4), 5(4), 5(3)