Inspirational

Two words. Luke Donald. After opening at the Northern Trust Open with a solid 68, that positioned him at the top of the leaderboard, his entire game deserted him. He was left despondent as his second round crumbled around him. A shot shy of 80 he trudged off desconsolate with a 79 that saw him cut from the weekends action. Based on his twitter posts he then took a medieval flaggelant approach to rediscovering his touch with punishing gym sessions to burn away the frustration (and probably several hundred calories).

Stan Badz / Getty Images

At the Accenture World Matchplay a week later he was a man reborn. At the start of his final with Martin Kaymer he had yet to play the 17th or 18th holes competitively. He had broken the record for the fewest number of holes played by any player on route to the final, 73. Over those 73 holes he had amassed 27 birdies a staggering 37%. He has also become the first player in the tournament's 11 year history to win the event without playing the 18th. An extremely kind Justin Rose tweeted him a description! I find it amusing that one of the many 'twitter haters' a certain @DanTaylor89 had suggested that Mr Donald "hit the ball like a girl and that he should "grow some muscles you pussy", yet these statistics came on a course measuring just under 8,000 yards. I wonder if he's choking on his humble pie this morning?

Since I started playing golf I have been obsessed with short game and putting. It's taken me a while but I have finally got to a place where consistent execution is a reality and I can now focus on nailing my distances and improving my visualisation, club selection and touch. Luke Donald has always been an inspiration in this regard, primarily because he dominates the PPR and scrambling statistics on tour. This week he has given me a masterclass on playing to your strengths and being red hot around the greens. My admiration for him knows no bounds and it is interesting that he and my other golfing idol G-Mac are now tussling it out at the top of the world rankings.

Spring is in the air...

The new season is just one month away and things are looking up. The most important thing has been meeting new people at the club. It makes such a massive difference playing with good company and as I enter my second year I actually feel like a real member of the club. Not only is the company much appreciated but also the supportive words of advice that are offered at opportune moments. It is no coincidence that my performances on course have improved whilst playing wih the members of the swindle. Their pearls of wisdom and expert ball finding skills have enabled me to be more relaxed while executing shots and unsurprisingly the results have been much better. I'm also enjoying my golf more and taking the opportunity to observe how lower handicappers manage their game, the course and the elements. Presently, my brain is a sponge relentlessly soaking up golf knowledge. The challenge is identifying which parts are most applicable to me.

I really hope the course dries out this week so that next week's medal is on. It would be great to finish this golf season with a lower handicap and start the new one with some momentum. When the clocks go forward I'll also be able to spend more time at the club playing a few holes and honing my short game. I have made another slight alteration to the Pelz 4x3 wedge system. Rather than a quarter swing pitch, which I struggled to execute consistently, I now play a chip shot with a longer back swing, producing similar distance but with more control. More on that later this week.

The sun's out, spring is in the air and there is most definitely a spring in my step...

Dampened...but not my spirits

Great day today. Admittedly the foul weather had arguably made the course easier with nine holes on temporary greens but you can only play what is in front of you. Cold, damp, rainy and windy it wasn't easy playing today but I'm please with how I performed. Primarily my putting and chipping were very solid and I finished with 30 putts today, with a number of one putts set up by solid chips.

Unfortunately, I couldn't put the Z-Stars into play as there was little point on temporary greens. A minor blip on the 8th hole saw me hit two consecutive tee shots out of bounds and a solitary blob on the card. As there were only six of us we opted against individual play and instead played as two threeballs and played better ball stableford with two scores counting on each hole. We didn't fare too well on the front nine but had a stormer coming back racking up 47 points. Our total was 84 points one shy of the other groups 85 point total.

On a personal note I amassed 39 points and to be honest my striking from the tee was a little iffy. From the deck however, it was much better and with some solid chipping I was avoiding anything worse than a double bogey. Just a solitary triple and one NR on the scorecard and more interestingly only one par. Now I know that I can par at least five or six holes on the course and to score 39 points with only one on the card is actually a positive sign. To me it shows that I am starting to cut out the costly errors and playing more consistent golf.

However, the biggest revelation that helped me score 21 points on the back nine came from a tip from my playing partner today. He suggested I was teeing the ball too low and that by teeing higher I would get a cleaner connection. Wow! What a difference. Ball striking much improved and a solid tee shot adds confidence to you when you play your approach. It got so much better that on the 16th I actually outdrove my playing partners, although I did end up in the gorse, using a 3 iron to their driver.

Things are looking up, but as I write the rain is pouring down outside and there is a danger that next week's medal may be called off. I really hope not...

89 (67)
5(3), 6(5), 3(3), 7(4), 6(5), 5(3), 6(5), -(4), 5(4), 5(4), 4(3), 6(5), 6(4), 5(4), 6(4), 5(4), 5(4), 4(3)

Necessary evil...

So last night I was compelled to return to the driving range to keep the swing ticking over and see if I can finally resolve my issues with the hybrid and 3 wood. If I was judging my session on ability to hit those troublesome longer clubs then I'd have to say I suffered an abject defeat. However, that was not the principle purpose of my visit and my irons and wedges were very solid and this makes me happy. While the driving range is a necessary evil for now I yearn to practice on the course/practice hole at the club. When I do my focus will be heavily focussed on how I perform with the shorter clubs.

 Jeremy Ellwood writes an interesting article in this month's Golf Monthly on the inherent differences between long hitters and short hitters on tour. His findings re-enforce the assertions of Pelz and Rotella that they key to success is a razor sharp short game. I think I am slightly longer than average but obviously this is inhibited by the fact that I struggle to hit anything 'bigger' than a 4 iron with any consistency. That said I am now super confident hitting 4 iron from the fairway and I am absolutely skint. Now you may wonder what these two unrelated facts have in common. Well my iron striking can now keep me out of trouble and give me a maximum of about 380-400 yards from my first two shots from any tee. That is just enough distance for my course. Also with barely a few pennies to scratch together it means I can invest a smaller amount in more lessons, work harder to improve my striking with my 3 wood and hold back on buying a driver.

The Golf Monthly article has inspired me to return to my first principles: learn the game from green to tee. Putting is much improved, chipping and pitching are next on the agenda. The allure of the 910D2 is still strong but as finances dictate I must resist, I can at least be committed to plan B. Not only does this include using the current weapons at my disposal but it also means attempting to boost my short game and putting practice time to 20 minutes per day. The clocks going forward on March 27th will certainly make that easier to achieve!

Shotmiser G500...stunning software update

Just downloaded the latest update from Shotmiser and it will revolutionise my practice and dispel any need to buy a laser rangefinder! I practice my wedges on the heath and up to my 8 iron on our practice hole. The problem up until now has been measuring how far I hit it and my average distances. Obviously this is priceless information for approach shots especially when you are using a partial swing. So I am ecstatic that Shotmiser have introduced a new Practice Utility function on their GPS. Effectively, you set your tee position, hit a load of balls, then go up to each one and click the ball icon and it will tell you your distance for each shot and calculate your average.

The biggest turn off for this product was the cost of each course download but with 100 free downloads available with each purchase I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better golf GPS.

I'll be road testing this new feature on my lunch break but can safely say if it performs half as well as I am expecting I'll be well impressed. Update to follow...

...ok I am back from the heath and can report that the new tool is excellent. Worked through relaxed approach shots with my GW, SW and LW recording average distances of 98, 87 and 76 yards  respectively. It makes figuring out your average so simple and also helped me put targets  at the right distance. Very easy to use and I only hope that in a future software update they add in dispersion. For now most impressed!

New balls please...

18 months in and finally things are starting to come together. Had an enjoyable lunch break working on my wedge approaches and chipping. The latter is alomost unrecognisable from where it was a few months ago. Good distance control, solid connection and sound control. Wedge approaches aren't quite on the same level but at least now I am making cleaner contact, with fewer duffs and better dispersion.

Having spent a significant amount of time this month practicing on the course my accuracy has improved considerably. That, coupled to a significant reduction in penalties has led me to the decision that as the winter fades away it is time to put a better ball into play.

Now I know I get a lot more check when I play a premium ball, especially on my chips. I also think that knowing the ball will check will make me more confident in playing chips around the green. Greater control should lead to more opportunities for one putts and par scrambles. There is obviously a danger that a higher spinning ball will wreak havoc with my long game, but there is only one way to find out. So this Saturday in the swindle, unless there is a monsoon making the whole experiment pointless, I'll be teeing it up with a Srixon Z-Star X. If it goes well I'll be looking to purchase a whole load more before the bargain basement stocks are depleted.

A (frozen) fistful of progress...

Yesterday. Cold, wet, dejected yet strangely feeling rather positive. Fast forward to the present and I am actually feeling even better about how yesterday went. The hybrid was confined to the bag for the entire round after a rather disastrous snap hook on the first tee. The 3 wood never made it out. But that's a good thing in a way as I was striking all my irons really sweetly. I hit 4 iron off most tees and though I struggled a little with a bit of a pull I more often than not found myself in the first cut of rough on the left hand side of the fairway. That was positive number one. Iron striking with warm(ish) hands was consistent and solid.

The second area of improvement was my grip. My new method of applying the grip meant that the club felt like an extension of my body, it was natural and apart from a wind assisted slice on the 4th my ball flight and control was strong, albeit slightly left of target on occasion. This will make my pro happy who doesn't mind if I am consistently missing slightly left of target. Something about phase two of my development and flatter swing plane. Here's hoping that will also cure my ills with the longer clubs!

Point three: temperament. Now this I have really struggled with in the past and often I have allowed a poor shot to completely derail my round. Despite the awful conditions I had got off to a flying start, 22 points from the first 10 holes. Cold hands and a weak tee shot found water on 11 and I never recovered, blob. Having hit two solid shots on 12 the curse of the cold hands struck again and an almost air shot, just nibbled the top of the ball, and a nasty thin contirbuted to putting me behind a gorse bush for 5. Managed to lob it over and just missed making a single putt. 1 point. Battled the elements for 4 points from next two holes, blobbed and then got five points from last three holes. Would have been six if it hadn't been for the lake on 17th green. Normally my round would have disintegrated.

33 putts shows that I am starting to get better with the flatstick though there is still clearly room for improvement, which in itself is a positive. I holed quite a few in that 6-10 foot range yesterday and walked off with five single putts. As my chipping gets better I should give myself more opportunities to one putt.

Which leaves me to finish on my final high which was pitching. Now in the past my game has been hampered by fats, thins, tops, and weak slices when I've been 80-100 yards from the green. My distance knowledge is getting much better and more often than not I am choosing the right club, partial swing AND executing the shot. Now I am not knocking them stiff yet but as my swing improves and directional control gets better I hope to be closer to the hole as I am nearly always pin high or thereabouts.

So despite the soaking and disappointing back nine I am extremely cheery about the direction my game is going. The significant amount of time I have spent on course is definitely helping. Much more than time spent on the range. A brilliant example of this came on our 12th hole. Off the whites you hit your tee shot from behind a bank of gorse and cannot see the fairway. I am notoriously bad at not knowing where my tee shot has gone, unless I've sclaffed it three feet!!! My apologetic playing partner said he'd lost it. It's ok I chirped back I know exactly where it is. In fact I knew where each and every one of my tee shots went yesterday and here is why. When I first started playing a few practice holes on my own I was constantly lifting my head up to search for the ball. Invariably I'd lift it early, ruin my through swing and see my ball arcing into trouble or out of bounds.  So I decided on a different tactic. Concentrate on where you want to put the ball, trust that your swing will put it there and execute your swing trying to keep your eyes transfixed on where the ball is/was for as long as possible. Naturally your follow through will bring your head up back to the point you were aiming at and more often than not your ball will be heading in that direction. I have always tried to visualise, but most importantly now I trust my swing to put the ball there. This is something I would never have done on the range. Practicing on the course is simply a far superior way to improve your technique!