Two steps forward

Blinking nora it's cold. When I rocked up to the club this morning the car thermostat said one degree, seriously what was I thinking. Anyway I hit a few chips and a few wedges in the net ahead of my lesson. Focus today, not for the first time I might add, was release. However, the real revelation came when my pro changed my grip making it slightly weaker. Felt so much more comfortable and my new way of taking my grip has made me more consistent. Bu the end of the lesson I was hitting it pretty well.

So 90 minutes to kill till my round and it was time to break out the target circles for the first time. I set up my alignment sticks to present a gate to aim through and the circles around the hole to show how close I was. My new chipping approach seems to be working pretty well and after draining a few putts I was ready for the off.

Terrible start it was too. Sliced my first right, overcooked my wedge, duffed my chip, hit a good second chip fluffed the putt and walked off with a six. Second hole sliced tee shot, hooked second shot into gorse, duffed fourth, hooked fifth into gorse...you can see where I'm going here. So thats +8 for the first two holes...mmmm.

As I trudged despondently off the 2nd I had caught up the three ball in front. Rather than playing me through they rather kindly asked me to join them and I am so glad they did. I have a huge vote of thanks to Ian, Todd and Bob as they helped me get back on track. Bogey, bogey, double bogey, bogey followed and then I duffed my tee shot on the 7th. Flushed my second and third to actually give myself a birdie opportunity. I walked off with par. Another poor tee shot on the 8th and a solid recovery hitting a low 8 iron under the trees. Par. Good tee shot, good approach on the 9th, par.

Chipping was much better, approach shots much improved and putting right on the money. The signs are promising and I'm really looking forward to next week's medal. It's time to put a decent card together.