Itching to putt

I love my putter. In fact I love it so much that the likelihood of it ever leaving my bag is as low as a punch to the groin. The only possible contender would be a Newport Squareback 1 which is essentially the same putter with a mallet bit stuck on the end.

Anyway today due to the snow I decided to practice my putting and used the Mark Roe penny putting drill. As the snow fell gently outside the window I was yearning to be on the course and hearing the ball drop. I can't explain why but stroking the ball repeatedly over that coin was almost hypnotic. I was in a zen like state and my stroke was so fluid. Here's hoping it thaws soon as I need to get on the course this weekend.

When will I learn

Frozen off this morning so I went to the range. Things started pretty well and then went downhill. When will I learn to just get a few balls. Got a jumbo bucket and as I slowly progressed through it my approach to each shot deteriorated and so did the results. I guess it was the frustration of not getting on the course. Off the whites again next week in the December medal and then the first round of the Winter League, followed swiftly by a midweek Stableford. At this rate I'll have forgotten where the yellow tees are!

On a positive note I did pick up some Kasco Heat tek gloves and the early signs are very promising. A little odd wearing two gloves though. I'll post a full review when I've taken them on the course.

Baltic

I must be mad. Went to the course this afternoon, it was like a ghost town. A handful of cars and a couple of games taking place. I strolled over to the practice area to continue to work on my swing and get some chipping practice in.

The good news is I hit 50 full shots today and only missed one slightly right. I have definitely developed a draw and sometimes my grip is a little strong and I pull them a little. That said it felt a lot more controlled and it is starting to feel more natural. The one downside is I might have frost bite, geez it was cold. May well have to invest in a pair of those winter golf gloves as the mitts are not enough.

I have got a game in the Club Captains Sunday morning greedy so here's hoping my wallet is a little but heavier after my round!

Hello tweeps!

I have finally buckled and succumed to the allure of Twitter. I have fought a gallent and noble defence but in the end working with youn people and not being part of the social networking phenomena led to too much ridicule. At 31 being labelled an old man/antiquated dinosaur was bad enough but the chirps of "technophope" cut deep. So when Golf Monthly recently put out the shout for Twitter subscribers I buckled.

I'm still a bit of a novice and am only following golfers, as they are the only people at the moment whose day to day activities would interest me. Poulter is by far the leader of the pack, Westwood is very new on and Tiger Woods' attempts are a PR exercise gone horribly wrong.

I don't tweet much myself, what's the point when you have no followers, but the banter between the golfer's is really amusing at times. I just asked Westwood for his old driver as Poults was ribbing him for outdriving him a few times yesterday.

Anyway, I'd recommend joining the fun. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. By the way to celebrate his 10th tour win Poults has offered 10% discount for 10 days in his online store

http://bit.ly/hpYhYo and enter TXW101 at checkout.

Oh and if you'd like to boost my follower base I'm @tigerdes

A worrying feeling of déjà vu

It's snowing. At the moment it's not settling but I am fearful that I may wake up to a snowy White blanket and no golf. Last year was horrendous and I'm hoping the weather doesn't deteriorate turning Suffolk into an arctic tundra.

To make matters worse the littl'un has been ill with chicken pox this week, which has limited my practice time as I've been on bambino duty. We went out for a walk today on the Heath which is also shared with Rushmere Golf Club. I explained to him the joys of golf but as he's two he didn't really get it. He did seem to perk up when I suggested that soon we could go and play 'golf balls' together. Soon is probably a little optimistic but I've already got a putter and wedge lined up for his third birthday.

Anyone fancy a game?

At the moment it looks like I am playing solo this weekend. Was really hoping to build some momentum but struggling to find a golfing companion. Anyone free in Suffolk this weekend?

K.I.S.S.

No not the American 70's hard rock band or the dance and R&B radio station. It wasn't a smacker bestowed on me by some voluptuous wanton hussy nor an excerpt from a hugely successful single by a diminutive artist who is was formerly known as a member of the royal family (which royal family I am not sure: Sheba?).

No K.I.S.S. as an acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid something which I need drumming into me on a regular basis. I have been accused in the past of over complicating things but I really do think that this latest 'eureka' moment will massively help my short game.

I am still persevering with my distance wedges and becoming increasingly successful with distance control. Though my accuracy is still a bone of contention, I am nearly always pin high or thereabouts. I am also gaining a better understanding of my distances for my irons, thanks in no small part to lots of playing time and a GPS.

Where I have had trouble is from 50 yards and in. When I'm on the fringes of the green or wanting to play a bump and run. I have no frame of reference and consequently waste a lot of shots by over or under hitting. I've hit a fair few duffs as well because I've not been committed to the shot.

My solution is simple. I spent some time on Saturday grooving a fringe chipping stroke with a consistent tempo and back lift. I then started hitting chips with everything from my hybrid down to my sand wedge to get a feel for distance and after a bit of practice I got quite consistent. I then hit two fringe chips to a couple of feet on Sunday using a 7 iron and 5 iron, when normally I would have just used my 8 iron and tried to vary back lift. I have found that using a range of clubs and a consistent stroke is much more accurate.

On the back of the early success of that experiment I have now started working on a similar approach for bump and runs. Hopefully, this will help me improve my creativity and consistency around the greens. Most importantly, it should help me commit confidently to those really short approach shots, rely less on my lofted wedges and play the percentages. Once again time will tell...

Mr Blobby

As I sit typing this I feel completely drained. Trying to hold my concentration levels for 18 holes has left my tank pretty much empty. It was hard going today, trying to keep thoughts of how I was doing out of my head and focus on each shot. I was a tense bundle nerves on four footers and had to keep dragging my mind back to putting practice in the garage. In the end I was unlucky on four long putts that lipped out today but a total of 36 putts is a respectable total.

Things didn't start particularly well. It was a shotgun start and we got underway on the 16th. I sclaffed my hybrid into the gorse and hit my provisional further into the crap. Found the first one too a drop then chipped sideways before hitting a nice clean 6 iron. My pitch missed the green and I finished with an 8 for my first blob of the day.

I stuck with the six on 17 and hit both the fairway and green and walked off with a 4 for three points. I was back in the hunt. Two more points followed on 18 and then came my shot of the day, in fact probably the best shot I have ever hit.

Our 1st is a long par 3, 216 yards to the heart of the green. There are three tiers leading to the back and it is guarded by bunkers on both sides. For our enjoyment they had placed the flag at the back on the top tier. I drilled an arrow of a tee shot with my 3 iron that came to rest pin high about 15 foot from the flag. The birdie putt lipped out and I tapped in for a 3 for four points.

I picked up two points on the next three holes I was flying. The disaster struck. I topped my 3 wood on the par 5 5th and then hit two decent 6 irons to leave me 178 yards to the green. For some unknown reason I thought I'd hit an easy 5 iron even though my two previous six irons had gone 181 and 167 yards. Hit a poor shot out of bounds and never recovered. Blob number 2.

Blob 3 followed swiftly afterwards as my tee shot was literally caught by an outstretched gorse limb at waist height, forcing me to take a penalty drop. I duffed my first chip and overhit my second and my long putt for a point just missed.

I went back to my trusty six iron and picked up 3 points on holes 7 and 8, followed by two more points on 9. My iron play was on fire. After another two points on hole 10  I hit a peachy gap wedge off the tee on 11 to ten feet. My birdie putt raced past but I held my nerve to drain the return putt for par. Solid if unspectacular golf on 12 saw me bag another two points.

At this stage I was exhausted both physically and mentally. I knew I was out of the running as I'd already racked up 3 blobs, but I still wanted to finish strongly. It didn't happen. Some tired swings, lapses of concentration and one bastard bunker saw to that and I finished with three blobs, all eights and all one shot from nicking a point.

So how do I feel? Mixed emotions really. On the down side I could have won it today, the last I heard the leader in the clubhouse was on 40 points. There were too many silly blobs and I hit three blinking rakes in bunkers! Also four blobs from 13 - 16 is just not good enough. That said I struck the ball really well today and scored 30 points from 12 holes and that is pretty good going. I was a little cagey towards the end sticking with the 6 iron rather than risking a longer club and maybe being more aggressive would have earned me a better return. 106 is my best score off the whites and I will definitely be taking the positives from today. Positive stats included FIR 38% and the one I am most chuffed with GIR 28%.

So well played to those of you who guessed a score of 30 points. I'll be thinking up a new poll soon.

106 (71)

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

Worth his weight...

Just come back from an absolutely brilliant lesson. I was a little apprehensive because things had gone so well on Thursday and I didn't want any technical thoughts seeping in ahead of Sunday. So there I am standing on the mat, poised like a panther ready to show my pro just how far I've come...what the f....my swings gone I must have left it in the car, at home oh no I left it on the range!!!

He narrows my stance and gets me to just have some half practice swings. Nice and relaxed. Now he's talking to me about simple symmetry. Just allow your hands to rotate, nice and naturally. Yeah that feels better, more fluid. Right now just hit some with that narrower stance and shorter backlift. Bingo! The swing is back, clipping them nicely with the 8 iron out to about 135 yards, effortless. We chat some more, I hit some more and it all feels so good, so natural. Dispersion pattern significantly improved but most importantly I feel in control, just like I did on Thursday. Can I take it onto the course? Well I'll get the answer to that question tomorrow but my aim is simple, score points on every hole.

The poll on Sunday's competition is now closed with 50% of you expecting a score of sub 27 and another 25% believing I may get up as far as 30. I hope to prove you wrong and the two optimists right :). Tune in tomorrow evening to find out how I did.

It's only the range but...

Went to Ufford Park driving range last night. It's a really nice driving range with a number of flags and greens at distances starting at 50 yards going up to 180 yards. At night time the targets are lit and there are 2 markers at 200 yards depicting a fairway sized target area for drives.

I've started to get a better understanding of my swing over the past few weeks. Following some excellent pointers in the latest edition of Golf Monthly and my latest series of lessons I have been trying to engrain a few specific changes. Tonight I got to fully enjoy the fruits of my labour.

I have never struck the ball so well. I felt really relaxed and was hitting my 8 iron, 6 iron, 4 iron and hybrid so sweetly. I was pulling my 3 wood a little bit left but the nasty slice that has plagued my game for so long had vanished, well at least until I pulled out my 3 iron. However, after a few dodgy hits that was producing a nice ball flight albeit a little left of target.

Now the caveat is it was the range, I didn't have a card in my hand, I didn't have to chip or putt or deal with didgy lies, overhanging branches etc. That said I am much more confident in my ball striking and can just relax and hit it on Sunday. I have never felt like that before. I have a lesson booked with my pro on Saturday morning and will leave the full swing alone as I don't want to tinker just yet. Think I'll focus on scrambling with him instead.

I am so happy at the moment as it's been such a long hard slog and I feel that finally I am starting to understand this game. Yes the game will probably come back to bite me on the arse. Yes it will be a completely different experience when I tee it up on Sunday. Yes my swing will probably disappear as soon as it has appeared. But for now I am a very happy bunny.

The countdown begins...

Well my biggest competition of the year is drawing closer and I have to say I am really looking forward to it. Up till now I have played in standard monthly medals, but this is my first crack at an Honours Board competition. Been out on my lunch break to practice with my wedges as I had a bit of a mini disaster with them last weekend. It seems as though some of the practice I have been doing on swing plane is bedding in, I just need to be patient and accept it will take time before it becomes an automatic natural process.

One thing for certain is that I am not feeling any undue pressure from the blog predictions as you guys seem fairly convinced I'm going to have a bit of a tough time this weekend. The poll is open till Friday so plenty of opportunity for any last minute votes to be cast.

I have always believed that there is no point entering any competition unless you believe you can win it.  If I play like I did for the first 7 holes last weekend I know I am in with a shout. That said the main plan is to go out there and enjoy the stableford format, safe in the knowledge that one or two bad holes won't necessarily put me out of the running.

Theory and practice

Up until now I've got things a little wrong. I have been operating under the misconception that learning how to hit a golf ball and learning how to play golf are one and the same thing. In my defence this simple, though perhaps slightly naive, misinterpretation is understandable. Hitting a golf ball a decent distance in a straight line is nothing more than a small miracle. That said it is the equivolent of learning to play football by doing 'keepy uppies' in the garden or aspiring to become a great cricketer by only playing in the nets. Here you can learn a decent technique but how you use that skill whilst playing the game is an altogether different proposition.

For starters the 'hitting a golf ball' approach fails to accurately replicate the situations you find yourself in on course. Comedian Robin Williams sums up the sheer harshness of the sport rather succinctly in the clip below (apologies for the slightly harsh dialect assault in the prologue).

So there I am in the rough, in a bunker, under a tree, behind an obstacle and I make a bad choice, execute a poor shot or a combination of both. Hitting a ball just doesn't prepare you for the situations and scenarios that playing the game does. Don't get me wrong 'hitting the ball' is an important part of the process a sound technique will help you avoid trouble, hit fairways and greens in regulation. But as Rotella asserts, 'Golf is Not a Game of Perfect' and I frequently find myself in trouble, sometimes through a rather unfortunate rub of the green.

I understand my swing now and have a better understanding of what felt wrong on a poorly struck shot. I am now beginning the process of separating my analysis and practice mindset from my playing psyche. But crucially I have been hindering my development by going through the 'hitting a golf ball' process on course rather than 'playing the game'. There are people with butt ugly swings, a fraction of my distance that significantly outscore me because they know how to play the game of golf.

My learning starts now...

Getting there...

Played this morning with a chap called Ian who was quite simply having the round of a lifetime. He walked off the course with a net 64 after some of the most stunning wedge play I have ever seen, made all the more impressive by the fact he plays off 24. He must have hit about 4/5 shots today to within four feet and given his dead aim putting a great score was always in the pipeline. He finished 3rd in the medal last week and with shooting like that I'd say he was a favourite to win the stableford comp next week.

For a change I got off to a stunning start. Hit my tee shot right and my wedge long leaving a monster putt that needed to drop a tier as well. I gauged how I thought it would run as it dropped down the tier and just aimed to get it to run out of steam at that point. It dropped. Without doubt the best putt I have ever hit. The next 6 holes continued in that vein and I was standing at the 8th on 17 points. Unfortunately, Ian commented that we were both playing to par and the wheels came off for a bit.

I was unlucky on the 10th with a beautifully drilled tee shot catching the tree on the left of the fairway and dropping from its soaring flight like a shot duck. Then on 12 I hit the best tee shot of my life. Little bit of a following wind I smashed my 3 wood 261 yards. Putts were dropping all over the show and I was becoming increasingly confident off the tee. I hit some pretty good chips as well today including one that hit the pin and refused to drop on the 15th.

So 23% FIR with a fair few misses in the first cut of rough and 30 putts. The problem? The bit in the middle. I picked up 2 penalties from the tee box and an additional (and unnecessary) 3 from open play. I hit too many bump and runs long and a few duffed wedges short. My swing is far from perfect but I was getting in more trouble with my approaches today than from the tee.

What is promising is that I kept my mind clear, I didn't try to fiddle, I accepted the swing I had brought to the course and used it. This week while I continue to work on those pesky swing changes, I'll also spend some time working on my scrambling from 80 yards in. That cost me about 20 shots today which would have taken me sub 90. That said I am pleased with my haul of 30 points, happy with how I played, delighted with my chipping and putting, ecstatic with the three solid blows with the 3 wood and hopeful that my best is just round the corner.

107 (71)

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

Green shoots of recovery

After Sunday's disaster I have had a pretty busy week at work and this has prevented me from getting any practice in. Perhaps that was a good thing. Had planned to go to the range last night and as I was getting ready to leave the house we had a power cut, meaning I had to stay in.

Managed to get some practice in today though and I'm hoping that the first green shoots of recovery are starting to show through. I spent time working individually on three different elements of the swing and then attempted to bring them together and succeed to some extent.

In terms of changes I've:

1. slowed down my tempo and shortened my back swing
2. worked on stopping my left wrist from hinging and bringing my left arm across my body more
3. not looking up to early and keeping that right knee flexed

I had some success in improving my dispersion and was pleased with my progress today. Now comes the tricky part. I am playing tomorrow morning and intend on going out there and 'schlapping it around'. Not worrying or thinking about any of the practice from today, just using whatever swing I've brought and getting the ball in the hole. Then on Monday back to bedding in the changes during practice.

It's an alien approach to me as it's only the second time I've learnt a sport as an adult. The first was pole vaulting but we'll save that topic of conversation for another time.

1922 Cup nine days and counting...

In remembrance

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

From Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen

Dambuilder

"Right chaps, goggles on and chocks away!"

As an historian I always find this time of year rather poignant. Appreciation of the bravery, courage and sacrifice of two generations from two world conflicts and a sense of tremendous admiration and sadness for the soldiers who continue to protect this country and the families bearing the terrible burden of bereavement.

It is therefore with a degree of embarrassment I confess that until I studied A level, I honestly thought the phrase was 'Chocs away' and had something to do with rationing and the benevolence of members of the RAF.

November 11th has an uncanny knack of placing things in perspective. On reflection my rather moribund and sombre Sunday mood was significantly disproportionate to the round of golf that had caused it. I felt rather chastened by that realisation and my mind turned to the Ruhr Valley mission of 617 squadron. I suppose at present a poor golf shot is having the same impact on me as an accurately placed Barnes Wallis bomb. The result is a deluge of emotion and swing thoughts that leads into a negative spiral from which there is no recovery.

I must try harder to use the swing I have brought on the day and remember in the grand scheme of things it is really just a game.

My thoughts, gratitude and admiration to the courageous few that continue to protect us and the families that support them.

Car crash

I am seriously not very good at this game. Today tee shots were awful and approaches poor including 6 penalties out of bounds. Chipping was hit and miss with numerous duffed efforts. Putting dire racking up a total of 40 putts. A measly score of 122 with 18 stableford points the end product. A scorecard littered with 8's but at least this time I handed it in straight away. I don't know where to go from here. I'll keep plugging away on all the things I mentioned yesterday but I just think that I lack any natural golfing ability. So many other people have started after me and are playing/scoring better, I seem to be getting steadily worse. From a sense of optimism I am now dreading the Stableford Cup in 2 weeks time.

That said I am looking forward to playing for fun next week, when how I score doesn't matter. Snakes, Camels and Ducks is on the itinerary.

Thank you Golf Monthly

As a beginner I do spend a fair amount of time reading instruction pages of golf magazines. A little bit of me feels that this month's edition of Golf Monthly was actually written especially for me. No seriously, it was almost as if the esteemed editorial team popped round for a cuppa and engaged me in the process of planning the December edition. 

"Talk us through your problems then Tiger"

"Where do I start? It's been a tough year. I first picked up a set of sticks last August, I've had umpteen lessons and practice as much as I can but I'm rooted to a 28 handicap. In fact I can't even play to a 28 handicap. But here's the rub at times I can play some really good golf, my eclectic best is +2 gross but I either get off to a disastrous start or have a nightmare finish. Anything you can do to help would be great"

"No problem, leave it with us and we'll observe you over the next few weeks and see what we can do"


Trust me, the heel is well worn

They obviously clocked my glove as I let them out of the house as the first tip related to that. I have plenty of wear on my heel pad of my glove suggesting a tendency to have a lose left hand grip. Old glove's thrown away, new gloves and grips bought to help reduce slippage and promote a better grip.

Next? Reverse pivot...guilty as charged. When I lose concentration I do fail to maintain the flex and tension in my right knee. Spent my whole Thursday practice session working on it and have decided that will be my only swing thought until I have overcome it.

This is looking good GM what else have you got? Ah yes my chipping, now Bob Peltz (well his book) told me to have an open stance, but if you say I'm making things unecessarily harder I believe you. Feet parallel to target line from now on I promise and I'll spend half my Saturday practice working on it.

What about the other half of Saturday? Well I was going to go to the range and bash my long irons, hybrid and 3 wood but I can't now as I need to spend half the session on the short game practice area. Who says that would have been a waste of time, G-Who? Oh G-Mac well he's had a bit of a tasty year this year anything he says must be golden. Work on my distance wedges instead, no problem, I like doing that though I do struggle with my quarter swing. You don't call it that...pocket to pocket, that sounds much simpler. Will definitely give that a go. And I promise I will try to remember "hit it good, don't hit it hard".

What about my putting though, I have a tendency to overcomplicate when I can score and get tentative. How much will it miss by and adjust. Actually that's a simpler way of thinking, Nice. Really excited about my golf now, can't wait for the medal on Sunday it should be fun. Shame it's winter now though, wish I'd had these revelations when days were longer and temperatures were warmer. 50 reasons to enjoy winter golf, an immense competition to win some top quality warm clobber and the 100 top courses to salivate over...ok, ok you've done enough, I take my hat off and salute you. Golf Monthly...take a bow.

No expectations

Miss Havisham, Estella and Pip in the film adaptation

GCSE English. Tuesday afternoon. The lesson draws to a close and the geeky, swotty students file out of the classroom one by one. At the front of the classroom stands our teacher, brimming with pomposity and grinning like the Cheshire Cat. The 'lazy' are left behind to sit a retest on our course text: Great Expectations.

The Dickensian tale is one of an orphan Pip, whose life is turned upside down by a chance encounter with an escaped convict, support of a mysterious benefactor and a twisted and stunningly beautiful woman. Whether Pip actually achieves his great expectations is not the crux of the story for me. A far more telling plotline is how the harder he strives, the more his world seems to be turned upside down.

Anyway, while I was practicing my putting in the garage I happened to spy my old course text in a clear storage container. I'm a sentimental old fool and keep most things that made a significant mark on me: including the cricket ball that gave me the gap in my two front teeth.

I failed the retest, primarily because I hadn't read the novel. My teacher's steadfast determination to ensure we had all absorbed this text meant continuous retests till you passed. I read the book.

Good job too as it sparked my interest in English, which I went on to study at A level. Though I confess I am no longer an exemplar of the Eats Shoots and Leaves grammatical mantra, I learnt a fair amount from Pip's adventures and my study of literature.

So when Sunday comes I shall not be tempted into putting pressure on myself to perform. Instead I shall have no expectations and thoroughly enjoy knocking that little white ball about. Medal? What medal?

Long and short of it

No opportunity to hit the range this week so bar a couple of forays to the Heath my main practice this week will take place on Saturday morning. Bit of a dilemma on what to prioritise ahead of Sunday's medal. Accuracy off the tee or around the greens? Decided to spend some time on the short game as opportunities are scarce now because of the early onset of darkness.

Plan of action is to hit a few wedges and regauge my distances and then spend some time chipping from a variety of lies. Along with my new mindset is an aspiration to operform well against a new, slightly unusual statistic: MIR.

A Miss In Regulation requires a shot that misses the green to finish within 30 yards of the dancefloor. From this position I should get the ball in the hole within three shots, essentially bogey golf. As a result my practice on Saturday will be to recreate a wide variety of these MIR situations and attempt to get up and down from those positions. Where I fail to do this I should have a tap in / gimme for what would be a theoretical bogey.

I feel more confident in my game than I have before any previous medal but there is also a refreshing lack of expectation. I'm just looking to go out, enjoy my round and hope to score well. Exciting times...

Teflon

During my school days I spent some time in goal. There were more than a few occasions when I was unfortunately given this moniker. In fact, if memory serves me well, it was also a term used to describe my wicketkeeping every now and then. In my defence the gloves I was using in both football and cricket were hardly top of the range. Grip matters.

There were times I'd be standing up to the stumps wearing what can best be described as a pair of cymbals. Now my teammates showed no sympathy in that I reacted to the nick and got in the right position, only to see the ball bounce out.

Similarly in football they were equally critical. Despite a gale force wind blowing and a pitch bearing closer resemblance to the fields of Passchendaele, there was a ludicrous expectation that the ball should be effortlessly plucked from the air. When it inadvertently slipped from my grasp and onto the head of an opposing striker I was promptly sent to Coventry: possibly in the hope that Steve Ogrizovic would help improve my ball handling.

Bearing that not particularly illustrious history in mind, it should come as no surprise that I've recently been having golf grip issues. I really had not realised quite how worn my Tour Velvets were. In comparison to my new grips they were like bars of soap. After my practice session yesterday I am hoping that the lighter touch will lead to much improved ball control. That certainly seemed to be the case yesterday.

October stats

Limited golf this month due to my excursion to God's Own Country, but I've made some positive progress in terms of how I think on the golf course. A couple of experiments and thinking more about Stableford scores has helped me lift some of the pressure on my tee shots. Though I hit fewer FIR than I have in the past, a lot of my misses were in the first cut of rough. I think I have made positive progress off the tee I now need to translate that into solid approach shots, then maybe, just maybe I'll be cooking on gas. My clubs are currently being regripped and I've noticed that my grip is a little too firm and strong. That seems to be the principle cause of the shots I am losing left. Hopefully, after a little adjustment that will improve.

I've got my November medal next week, then a highly competitive game against big bro followed by my first Honours Board competition: the 1922 Stableford Cup. Despite one uber optimist estimating a score above handicap (many thanks for the vote of confidence, enjoy a cyber pint on me) the majority feel that a sub 30 score is more likely. Voting will stay open until the Friday before so keep your guesses coming.

So practice last month. Losing a third of the month on holiday was not ideal, but I did squeeze in a lesson and just over 7 hours practice. Very little time spent putting as I've focussed on bedding in the swing changes from my lesson. Funnily enough my putting stats have improved but they could have been so much better if it wasn't for some poor lapses in concentration. As I have no clubs this week there will be much time spent in our slightly chilly garage practicing with the short stick.

Practice

Distance	Time (minutes)	% of practice time
Driver	0	0%
Other Woods	20	5%
200 - 250 yards	25	6%
150 – 200 yards	15	3%
100 – 150 yards	220	51%
Short Approach	115	27%
Bunker Play	15	3%
Putting	20	20%
Total	430	100%

Rounds
A rather startling birdie conversion statistic, perhaps made more possible by the fact I hit fewer GIR. Though I didn't get many scrambles I was chipping close enough to make two putts a formality and I think that has removed a few unwanted 3 putts from my stats. As I mentioned above where I am missing many fairways I'm in the first cut of rough so I actually think that statistic belies the improvements I have made. That said both FIR and GIR have been adversely affected by some stupid penalties I have incurred. That first game back from Scotland being particularly woeful.

Statistic	Performance	SS2 Handicap level
Fairways in Regulation	25% (37%)	24 (18)
Greens in Regulation	12% (16%)	19 (16)
Putts per Round	34.88 (36.41)	17 (21)
Birdie Conversion	25% (7%)	Scratch (26)
Par Scrambles	0% (5%)	28+ (28+)
Sand Saves	0%	28+
Penalties per Round	6.19 (2.66)	28+ (28+)

The SS2 handicap level is a calculation made indicating your performance on different facets of your game.

The next six weeks will see me play a lot of golf off the Whites, which can only be good for my improvement. Medal next week, Stableford Cup on the 21st, Medal first week of December and the first leg of the Winter League the week after. Here's hoping it is the prelude to a very Merry Xmas.