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Friday 29 January 2016

Cookin' on gas....

With a break in the weather I've now managed to get on my course for 4 rounds over the last 7 days, with today being the 4th and just like the song, it feels good.

Saturday was my first day out on a golf course since my trip to Enville Golf Club and the first round on my own Coventry Golf Club course for some weeks due to the poor weather and it being closed!  It certainly blew the cobwebs away and I found myself a little anxious at times and as you all possibly know, that feeling certainly doesn't help when playing golf and only leads to poor ball striking and extra strokes, but hey, I was out on my own golf course, who's counting, just enjoy the moment and the good company.

I was generally surprised and as such suitably pleased with my driving with both my big dog and my mini-driver on Saturday which I've started to rotate on some specific tees and it's starting to pay dividends, my chipping and putting is still by far the best part of my game but, it's that bit in the middle I've got to work on more, the long game with long irons and my fairway wood is by far the weakest part of my game, get that right and the #YOTF will be easy to achieve.

So with clearing that bit of rustiness I decided to hit the course again early for the Sunday morning roll-up, I played with 2 members I'd not played with before which is always nice and we had some good fun out there.  I didn't get off to a great start even though I drove the ball well again off the tee, I slapped a couple of 2nd shots in the wet and somewhat muddy parts of the course and as such only scored 1 point on each of the first 2 opening holes, after some nice pars and getting back on track and more importantly back to level handicap, I then hit a wild block into the trees on the 9th which resulted in a blob (no score) meaning all the hard work after a poor start and getting back level was undone in a single hole, and so I turned 2 over handicap.

The back 9 was much more positive, our 10th hole is a long par 4 and until that Sunday I'd never reached it in regulation, a good drive followed by a personal best with my 4w put me on the front of the green, the mandatory 2-putt secured my par, I then birdied the par5 13th and although I dropped the odd shot on the run in, I pulled them back on the following hole with the end of the round resulting in a 1 over handicap.

I managed to get out again on Thursday and once again the improvements in ball striking, club selection and course management all came together, so much so I was only 6 over gross on the turn and 2 of those were from a silly double bogey on our par3 5th hole which is a comfortable level par hole for me but I over thought the shot and clipped the top of a tree only to give me an impossible angle back to the green.

I'll be back on the course today (Friday) in what are currently very windy conditions, perfect practice for my trip to Hayling Island on Wednesday next week where I will be exposed to all the elements on a great coastal links course, obviously you'll all hear about that trip next week, so please look back in.

With my golf and practice being so limited due to the weather and course closures all around me since before Christmas, and what with having new clubs which need plenty of time to bed in, the improvements in all aspects of my game are starting to shine through now that I'm getting back out there, the #YOTF is definitely becoming more of a reality than a hopeful wish.