First to five wins...

Last night I went up to the club for a few hours practice, on arriving at the putting green I was invited into a putting game with Harry the assistant pro and two scratch team players including our course record holder. No pressure then!

The game was basically that we putted around a circle of four holes, everyone stayed still until one person holed a putt with all three of the others missing. The putts were all 10 foot plus distance and taken at the same time so nobody got a lot of time to think about it. First to 5 won, and yes I won the first game and got to 3 before the second game was ended. So all in all not bad performance under pressure and the game was very good for training putting pace and specifically how not to dolly the putt towards the hole.

After that I concentrated on lag putting spending about 45 Min's in total on the green. Now here's a moan, the practice green I know very well, I can putt really well on it, but the real greens are all different paces and my lag putting practice is not worth much out on the course! Luckily 3 footer and 6 footer practice does seam to be slowly making a difference.

After the putting I went for 5 holes to practice pitching and chipping, Trying to get up and down from everywhere inside 100 yards, I'll be honest I suck at it! Easy sub 10 yard chipping I can get them up and down quite often but anything from more than 10 yards is more miss than hit. One issue in particular I spotted last night is my 54 degree wedge fly's very left of my target line with a full swing, maybe I'm forcing it? Also I'm very prone to leaving chips and pitches short, more work on these shots is certainly needed and I may have to start trying harder to get them past the hole on purpose which is something I often practice in my lag putting.

My focus did get taken somewhat from the short game last night by my driving, I was hitting it a bloody mile! I have no idea where it came from but last night for 4 holes I drove the ball like a proper good golfer, high drawing shots from the middle of the club face, it was a joy to hit them, the only thing that felt different to normal was that my tempo and speed just felt really balanced if that makes sense? Anyway it's almost for sure that I'll hit driver like a hacker again next time, that's just golf!

Trust

Sometimes I guess you just have to trust that the practice time you are putting in will make a difference in the end.

The past two days I have spent practice time on the putting green and on the short game.

Putting in particular has been rather ace on the practice green, spent a really good hour last night on there sinking loads. Making sure I worked first on 3 footers, then 6 footers and finally some distance putts. I ended playing putting tennis with Stephen which was really good, he won 3 games to 2, but then he should being off 10!

Pitching on the practice ground is getting much better with my shank all but a distant memory, chipping has also been going from strength to strength in practice.

So when walking out on the course I should be feeling pretty good about my chances of scoring right?

Well Thursday I played 18 and sucked in every part of my game, Then Friday I played another 18 and sucked again, indeed after holing everything I looked at on Fridays hour long putting practice, as soon as I got into the actual round my putting went awol, It was almost funny.

I'm afraid I did not keep stats, on Thursday I doubt I even broke 100, yesterday was a bit better but not inspiring.

But I will keep the faith and trust that practice will tell in the end.

I have to mention that Stephen my playing partner has been playing the best golf of his year these past two rounds, 76 on Thursday and 75 last night, good to see him back to form after losing his single figure status over the first half of this year.

Finally I went up to the club late tonight after our Men's open had ended, just intended to play a few, but it turned into a find the balls walk. One things for sure I will not need to buy any balls for the rest of the year now :D

I can probably play proV1's in all comps for the rest of the year, it was silly the number I found.

Anyway the four holes I actually played tonight I par'ed all of them so it was a good couple of hours!

I had a break for a few days since last Saturday, doing family stuff instead of golf. I got back into it yesterday (Wednesday) with some putting, chipping and a few practice holes. With no comps on the horizon I'm just working on my game.

Looks like my hernia op will not be anytime soon due to holidays, work trips etc. So that will not interfere with summer golf :D Mind you the doc says only two weeks off from golf anyhow :p

However I do feel a bit unfit, I stopped running and going to the gym when I got news of the hernia and after a month I really feel the lack of fitness training on my golf. Carrying the bag in the heat is getting harder. Time to get running again!!

Today I went to the range working on my swing, take away, keeping some back leg flex etc. quite pleased with early results on camera, I'm achieving a better back swing plane which is a start.

However it is obvious on camera that my alignment is poor, I set up closed probably to subconsciously prevent left to right ball flight. Something for me to work on next time.

Going for a few holes at the club late tonight and some more putting. Going to try and get some pitching/chipping practice on the course when it's quiet, I really wish we had a chipping green so i did not have to feel like I'm sneaking on the course to do something a bit dodgy!!!

Pitching practice

I had some really good pitching, bunker, putting & driving practice today at the club/driving range.

I find that I can concentrate and get really good results for 30 Min's to an hour then things get sloppy and I start 'experimenting' with my technique. But a change in focus can get me back on track again.

So I started pitching to target markers in a cross wind and getting good results, both in terms of the ball strike and feel for distance. Using a 54 degree wedge for shots of about 40-50 yards.

Once my focus was lost on pitching and I started playing iffy ones, I went and worked on bunkers getting out of the shallow practice bunker every time and even starting to get some feel for the distance that the ball rolled after landing with different swing strengths.

Finally when I got sloppy in my bunker focus it was onto the putting green where I had 30 Min's of sublime putting from 3-10 feet, starting at 3 feet and concentrating on rolling the ball at the hole instead of hitting it, I got into a rhythm hitting the target almost every time and gradually extended the distance, I started to putt very well, seeing the break and having the speed of the green almost exactly. In fact that was my best putting practice, I will have to try and duplicate it again next time. It could be the basis for a practice routine that makes me a better putter.

Well I say finally, but an hour later I was at the range with unexpected free time and 40 balls, Actually my warm up irons were real bad and so I went to the driver which after a few wild slices and hooks, I started to get good width and middle them really nicely, again hitting through a cross wind so I can't say if the draw shape was partly my swing or all winds work, but the point is that a high % went where I wanted them to and they felt solid good long hits.

All in all, very happy with today's practice.

I also must take notice of my limited concentration time, multi hour practice ending in a sloppy technique can not be as productive as a good 45 Min's of solid confidence inspiring practice. I want to try and keep my practice to between 30 Min's and at most 1 hour, on any one area of my game with breaks in between areas.

My Swing

I have been watching quite a few of my swing clips recently on V1 home swing software, where you can compare your swing to some pro swings. It makes it easy to see differences and faults. There is a list of thinks I would like to change about my swing:

Straightening of my right leg on the back swing.

Cupping of my left wrist at the top of the back swing, makes the club point slightly right at the top.

My wrists are far back behind my shoulder on the back swing, I.e. on a quite flat inside plane.

OTT move, possibly related to the swing plane.

Out to in, I don't release the club down the line, I release the club inside the line after impact.

I suspect there are other faults or issues that I don't have the knowledge to see yet.

The big question is, are any of these faults deal breakers with regards to improving over time? I still can't decide weather to tackle them now or leave them for the Autumn/winter/future and just concentrate on my short game now during the summer playing months while we have good greens conditions. My head say's get a short game, my heart wants a good full swing asap.

What I don't know is weather a good swing can help a consistent short game?

I can get around with my swing, (My best was just last night, 8 over par 66 for the 15 holes we played, but more often I score high 80's when I play well).

From videos it looks like I often aim slightly right (subconsciously, I don't do it on purpose), but I get a good release on the ball so I hit in effect a controlled pull which some times draws/hooks if I get it wrong, very occasionally I get a fade with a wood or long iron but that's rare, mostly my problem is the left side although recently while trying to deliberately swing in to out with driver and 3 wood I have been seeing more push shots than pulls.

Best golf of the year

I can't believe that a few days ago I was ready to jack in the game, and then tonight I played my best ever golf. The catalyst is not in doubt, freed from fear of uncontrollable shanks I played without protecting my pitches and chips for the first time in weeks. Tonight I actually did have one shank, but I knew what caused it and also knew I would not do it again.

It started when I headed up to the club to go to the practice area and work on pitching. I saw Stephen on the putting green and we decided to play a few holes on the way to the practice ground. So off we went and I just had the confidence on every shot right from the start, as the round progressed I got more and more confident I almost knew I was going to hit a good shot even before I got to the ball. We cut out 3 holes to bypass a slow 4 ball and by the time we got to the practice ground I just wanted to keep going so we just played.

I returned a score of 66 for the 15 holes we played, which is 8 over par, I had just one double bogey on the 6th hole when my third hit a ball washer and rebounded 30 yards.

But on the back nine I played the best golf I ever have experienced. I came back in 38, par for the nine is 34, That included three 3 putts!!!!!! No doubles, No duffs, loads of GIR's and pars, great driving and even despite the 3 putts I putted well.

I can account for all four of the dropped shots, one of them on each of the three puts and the shank on the 12th.

It's true what they say, golf is more fun the better you play :)

One day, I know I'll do this in a medal, can't wait!!

Stats:

fairways hit 45% (My average 46.4%)
Greens in Regulation 73.3% (My average 25.3%)
Putts per Green 2.2 (My Average 2.01)
Putts per GIR 2.28 (My average 2.28)

Never did get around to practice my pitching :D

Releasing the club face

My thread on Golf Magic's forum, asking for help with my shank problem received a good amount of replies all trying to help. Three people in particular gave similar advice to do with releasing the club head. That rang a bell with what Harry the assistant club pro told me once before too. Anyway I decided to give more attention to releasing the club and started by chipping with airflow balls so I could put some oomph behind the release to really get the feel of it without the balls going miles.

On last nights results we may be onto something, I chipped the air flow balls and then went to real golf balls and by the end of a long session of only chipping I could genuinely say I never shanked even one ball.

Tonight I aim to head up to the course and the practice ground to try pitching in a similar way. I know I've claimed a cure before, but I'm very exited after last nights chipping performance, I could even stand close to the ball and find the middle of the club face.

I'm kind of praying that this could be the simple answer I have been hoping for that restores my confidence in my short shot ball striking.

I think that when asking about problems online, posting a video clip really helps people to give better advice. Also I can see what they meant when saying I was leaving the club face wide open. In the video clip when the hosel hits the ball the club face is nowhere to be seen, That must be because it was lagging behind wide open. Also now I come to think of it it did feel recently like I was holding the club face off to try and stop the ball going left as much.

Rabbit's Matchplay

Well I got taken apart last night in my first ever match play event. I lost the match by halving the 13th Hole for a boggy 5.

We were both off 25 handicap's. I had 6 pars in 13 holes and won just one hole, played about as good as I could do! Out in 45 despite twice out of bounds off the tee on that nine holes.

It was an object lesson in scoring, I outdrove the guy by miles, but every time he got to the 150 marker I knew he would be in the hole in three shots. He just played a stormer, every time I got par he halved, he played like a 10 handicap! It was actually a pleasure to watch him play so well, I did not mind losing because I played my best golf and still got slaughtered.

But what it really drove home was how important a strong short game is, he pitched, chipped and putted just fantastically, while chipping/short pitches were my downfall.

If you had put my long game with his short game then we would have had some damn good scoring combination despite my two lose drives.

My stats especially GIR were the best for a long time:

46% of GIR (My average is 22%)
54% FW's hit (My average is 46.4%),
1.77 putts per hole (My average is 2.00)
2.00 putts per GIR, (My average is 2.28)

And I made my first ever up and down from a bunker!!!

Mx25's back in the bag :D

Up and Down, but not for Par....

This game of golf we play can take you from the heights to the depths of despair and back up again in no time.

Yesterday I visited the Pitch n Putt, they had cut the grass and the greens are showing some sign of regrowth, so I started out practicing chips and pitches. But soon the shanks had me in despair, I just could not stop hitting them. Both chips and pitches, total nightmare.

After that I went to a driving range to practice half swings trying to work out how to swing in to out correctly. But all I got was shanks and fats. In desperation I took a lesson from the pro at the range, he wanted me to swing on a different plane, taking the club straight back and straight through and boy did it feel wired, it also gave me a slice and did not stop me shanking.

Because I'm unlikely ever to have another lesson with this dude just due to it not being my normal range, I'm going to ignore what he wanted me to do. Waste of £15.

I was low, I could have just quit and sold the clubs, it's so hard when your shanking and you have swing changes, everything is wrong and nothing feels solid.

I was also so tempted to cancel my match play that was just recently arranged for that evening.

When I got home I posted in desperation on Golf Magic forum for help with my shank problems. I included some video and got some good feed back which I will be using to try and help.

If your interested the thread is here http://www.golfmagic.com/forum/forummessages/mps/dt/1/UTN/36213/V/8/SP/

Then my wife wanted me out from under foot so I had to go play the match play. With low, low expectations I surprised myself by hitting the ball solid and having no shanks!!!

It's a stupid game..

Anyway, I'm easily pleased and because I played well, despite losing badly, I'm back in upbeat mood and ready to do battle with the shanks and beat them.

Also for a bonus, I'm still off 25 and not 26, for some reason I did not get 0.1 back on Sunday like I feared. :D

Medal 6

No return was the final outcome.

Two shanked 8 irons from the fairway on the 8th hole, both into the right hand hazard, where I scored a nine to wreak the score. That was followed by the no return on the 9th after losing my ball in the rough. I did not have the heart to go back the 200+ yards and play another from the tee, not on captains day when I felt we were losing ground and causing a hold up. Combined with an 8 on the next hole before I got my head back together.

It all equalled game over concerning a handicap cut and the NR means a 0.1 back, so now I'm off 26 :(

It started badly in the practice net this morning before the round. I was not hitting it well at all and seriously regretted putting my old irons in the bag this morning, so I went out in a poor state of mind.

However I did get my tee shot away on the 1st ending under a tree, which was to become quite a feature of the front nine for for me.

I was playing with Stephen now off 10, and Alan who I have not played with before off 28. One of the things that has changed from my first medal is that the nerves have gone. Alan played well apart from off the tee which cost him, and Stephen went out in 4 over par was looking like he was onto a great round but it unraveled for him on the back nine, I'm sure it was the beer that the captain treated us to at the halfway house!!

Anyway I played steady just under my handicap going alright up until the 8th, finding tough lies under trees cost me but not seriously, I was going OK. Then the nightmare of the shanks and the no return.

After the half time beer I cheered up, I mean why get upset, I'm playing golf on a fantastic sunny day with good company!

I proceeded to come home in 44 which included the 8 from the 10th hole.

Ohh well, I learned some stuff as usual.

My swing changes unraveled in the pressure of marking a card, even the woods, I played an OTT swing all day. The only time I felt secure was inside 100 yards!

On the positive side, my putting was good today on Captains day when the greens were as fast as they can make them and the pins were in the toughest places. Also I did not shank any short pitch shots, just the two full 8 irons which is probably due to the ball being below my feet at the time.

After the round I took my name off the comp list for next week, I need to sort my iron play out before trying again in a medal. Next comp Monday 21st after work.

Iron change and ProV1's

I stopped by a driving range yesterday while out on my travels. I had my 8 iron in the car boot from my last set of irons. It's an MD Tungsten Ti2 iron with a regular shaft and off the shelf loft and lie.

The reason I took it was to compare the results to my new set of irons, Mx25's, stiff shaft purchased over the winter off ebay.

Yesterday I was leaving the Mx25's out right quite often, pushing them not fading. This is one of the results of the new in to out swing I'm working on.

The old 8 iron with the regular flex was drawing back from the right quite strongly, lovely to see, a true draw aim down the target with alignment sticks, ball starts right of the target and comes back left to the target.

The driving range had a shop attached and they kindly measured the lie of my Mx25 8 iron. Turns out they are 3 degrees flat.

I was thinking about this and I bet that the irons being flat helped me when my swing was out to in with a closed face, they probably stopped me pulling the ball as much. Now however they are not helping me bring the ball back from the right side.

While I like the lower ball flight I get with the stiff shafts, I think the Mx25's will be retired until I get a chance to have them bent back to a regular lie. In fact I'm considering going to Mizuno to be custom fitted then I will see where the irons should really be bent back to, then I would only need do it once.

Until then I will be going back to regular flex MD irons. They actually are easy to hit, the only thing I slightly dislike is, if I go over the top by accident then the ball can pull hook alarmingly and even on a well struck shot they do tend to fly really high which is ok if there is not much wind!

Anyway I will get up the local range today to give them a hit before playing the medal with them tomorrow.

Up at the course last night for 9 holes, Some good some indifferent, driving ranged between really good ball flights and some that I came across out to in. My new swing is still work in progress. Irons went ok but nothing ace. Still it all resulted in a 43 for the 9 holes, inc 3 par's so I can't complain. The thing is I feel I can go much lower than that, Maybe it's delusion, but I feel better than that score, well at least in general play! I look on this as a good thing as the game is about mental confidence as much as anything! The best thing of all though is that's the second time out on the course in two days with not one single shank!!!! That alone had me smiling all night.

The other thing that made me smile like a kid was going into the field left of our par 5 2nd, late on in the evening. I was like a kid in a sweet shop, because the grass is high and it's out of bounds nobody tries to find their ball, I came out after 10 mins with 5 proV1's a proV1x, an NXT Tour, and a Callaway Tour (i)S plus a hand full of lesser balls.

Felt like I was 12 again!

Anti-Shank

I think i figured it out.

I have been setting up with the club sole flat to the ground. the shaft of the club is then quite steep, if you draw a line up from the hosel to the butt of the club, that same line would point to my stomach rather than my waist. When I take the club back to 9 o'clock and then bring it back to the ball, hey presto instead of coming back face to ball it comes back hosel to ball.

Now, if I set up with the club butt pointing to my waist, i.e. flatter, and then reach just a smidgen for the ball, taking the club away by turning the shoulders and returning it brings the club face back to the ball, not the hosel.

So I tried it out on the course, 12 holes, no shanks.

I have my fingers crossed that I have found a cure :D

Woods still going strong tonight and putter was hot too, if I can get my irons working then I will be quietly confident again.

I entered some more medals in the next few weeks so we will see.

Range time

Due to the rain I headed to the driving range tonight, working on a couple of things, keeping flex in my rear knee on the back swing, not getting to steep on the back swing and then coming down on the inside.

The range time went fairly successfully for such big changes in swing thoughts, my woods in particular once again went very well, I struck all my irons and wedges well on full shots, chips were a bit to strong and short pitch shots were still shank infested.

Accuracy was not great with the irons, but that will come when I'm not having to think about how I'm swinging the club.

All in all very promising.

Regarding the shanks, I paid special attention to them today. I now am sure 100% that I can shank with both an inside to out swing and an outside to in swing, so I'm almost ready to discount path as the root cause.

I can also shank holding the club face off and when making sure the club is released and even closed through the ball. I tried altering the standing distance away from the ball, tried making sure my shoulders turned both back and through.

That leaves, posture and/or weight shift or grip as the most likely cause.

Next time out I'm going to try a more in the palm grip and also concentrate on keeping my head rock still and staying in posture.

However I'm beginning to think it's just something I will have to live through and one day they will just get better. My new strategy on the course is using chip and run from anywhere short of a full swing :D

Finally, I was going to post some video from the other day, but the format I shot it in does not seam to work with my editor program so until I figure how to crop it there will be no clips.

The way ahead

I've been thinking the past few days about my game and how to proceed for the rest of the summer.

I had earmarked this summer down as for working on my short game and just playing rather than concentrating on my swing. However right now I'm motivated to change/work on my swing to get it more inside to out in the hope that that will solve my shank issue.

I do think pitching practice is a way to both work at my short game and work at my swing, doing three quarter swings, half swings and part swings, because 100 - 20 yards in is where I need to practice my game anyway.

Real lack of local short game facilities now that the Pitch n' Putt is not a nice place to practice also becomes an issue.

If I still had that Pitch n' Putt facility, I could work on my swing mechanics in conjunction with my pitching game. I will revisit the place after the rain stops and see if there are any signs of it returning to life. As it is now your hitting a ball into a dirt circle instead of a green and one that is almost the hardness of a cricket wicket! Then losing sight of your ball as it bounces off into the 8 inch high rough.

The only other option is the golf club's practice area, which really is just a triangle of steeply uphill grass where you can't work out your yardages, only work on your technique.

I guess I will have to just suck it up and use one or the other because I believe working on pitch shots will eventually help all my game including my shank.

Saturday in the sunshine.

Just back from a long enjoyable day at the golf course in brilliant sunshine. I'm probably going to be lobster red tomorrow despite the sun cream.

I began this morning on the practice ground with my video camera and chipping/pitching I wanted to get a down the line shot of my shanking and succeeded very quickly.

After capturing some swings on memory card I set off down the 8th which was deserted and close to where I was practicing. Focusing on swinging from the inside I found that my 3 wood was going great with some nice draws. The irons were a bit hit and miss and distance was certainly down with the longer and mid irons.

But no shanks.

I played OK and got back to the club house for some liquid refreshment and a spot of putting while I waited for my lunch.

After that I went to the net and filmed some more swings with a wedge, and an 8 iron before wandering towards the first tee.

As I was walking there I met Harry the assistant pro and we decided to play a few holes. Harry helped me a lot, we talked about course management, my grip, ball position and importantly my aiming. Then onto little pitch shots where he really wanted me to minimise my leg movement and get the club releasing through the ball. That seamed to have a good effect so I will be pursuing it in future practice. I almost have myself convinced that excess leg movement is also a component of my issue.

Anyhow it was a great fun day, especially for my driving, out of 17 holes that I used the 3 wood to tee off with only one shot would have had me in real trouble. I did not keep stats, but I hit a lot of fairways.

I have not looked at the video in detail yet, maybe I will be able to post it tomorrow.

Video shocker!

I pleaded with Dave the new pro I saw tonight at short notice at the Golf academy, 'Please cure my shank'.

He watched a few balls and I even shanked one for him. Then we went up to the video studio and he videoed a shot.

It's a shame I don't have a copy of that swing to show you because it was shocking, no really, dreadful. I wonder how the hell I hit the ball at all and no wonder everything went left!

It's my fault and a bad trend, I seam to miss interpret instruction into an extreme version of what I'm told. In an effort to hit down on the ball I have developed the most amazingly steep over the top, out to in swing combined with an anti slice closed club face which has given me my pull hook.

So instead of an inside to out shank, I had the opposite a big time out to in shank.

Taking the club back way outside the line I almost can't do anything but come back over the top, it was disappointing, frustrating and almost embarrassing to see it. In 3-4 months I had taken a decent swing and screwed it into a crap one.

I have a video of my last lesson in march and the video of my swing today after he told me to flatten the down swing and stop holding the face closed on the back swing. It was bit better on the second video today almost like the swing from march, but still a bit steep? So we headed down to the range and the mirror and I basically went back to one of my early lessons on swinging from the inside. Rotating open the club face on the back swing and holding my left wrist flat at the top instead of cupped. All typical high handicapper lesson stuff.

When I flattened out the swing plane on the range I hit a true draw again, not a pull draw that I have been playing, but rather a genuine start to the right and draw back to target shot.

The swing felt very, very different, more like a swing around my body and not hitting down on it at all. In fact the pro told me to forget hitting down on it until I have cured my shanks and I agree.

I'm not going to go near a course with card in my hand until I have this swing grooved and I have sorted my pitching & chipping out. So for me it's hitting balls at the range and the practice area for the foreseeable future.

Another thing is for sure, different pro's tell you different stuff, I have decided that I always will have video lessons so I can see what the hell they are on about from now on, and that I'll have a lesson each month or two just to make sure I'm keeping on track.

Anyway I'm relieved to have a more substantial idea of what has been going wrong and something to work on to cure it.


March 2010, 5 iron.


June 2010, 8 iron.

Short game practice & dispare

I decided to head to the Pitch n' Putt for some short game practice. It's a few weeks since I have been there so I was surprised to see they have killed it in such a short time. The greens are dead, in fact mostly there is only soil where the greens are, not even brown grass, just totally dead, it's such a shame, also they have let the grass between holes grow to above ankle height, meaning you can't find your ball unless you keep careful track on it. From being an ace short practice facility it's become almost totally useless.

Also dead is my short game, infested with shanks again, it was a dead loss, it seams the only way I can make sure not to shank it is to hit the ball a bit fat and roll my wrists through making the ball go left. When I do that you can see a nice mark on the face where I got grass between the club and ball, which is always soooo close to the heal of the club.

I have given up trying to get my weight back that seams to make no difference. So I rang the golf academy and booked in for a Video lesson tomorrow night, if they can't show me what I'm doing wrong and give me something to work it out of my game I don't know what to do.

I have decided there is no way I'm playing another comp until this is sorted.

Medal 5

The good = I broke 100 and had 0 penalties off the tee, best driving performance for some time.

The bad = my chipping & putting went walkabout, 41 blows with the flat stick, 5*3 putts :(

The Ugly = The shanks are back and this time in my irons, I had 6 of them, 1 of which was into water for my only penalty.

I knew I may be in trouble at the driving range before the game, I went to warm up my driver & 3 wood, but it was obvious from the second ball with a wedge that I was swinging real bad. I was push slicing balls, and I almost never ever do that anymore with an iron, it's even very rare in my wood play and the dreaded shank was back.

I felt too fast and not controlled and in the end I mainly just stood with feet together hitting balls to regain some or any of my tempo.

Then our tee time got moved back so I had an hour to kill, which was spent putting.

You would think that 3 hours practice on this area of my game, over the past two days would translate into a decent putting performance, but not a bit of it.

I was playing with Stephen and Harry the assist pro.

In common with other comps my start was bad 5,8,8.

The first 8 was course management stupidity, me playing ping pong in the trees instead of chipping out, I very much hope I have learned my lesson with trees now!!!

The second 8 was my first 9 iron shank and penalty combined with a 3 putt!

Honestly if it was not a medal, I would have walked right then but I kept it together and after that I actually scored ok despite the shanks and three puts!

21 for the first three holes, ended up at 97 for the 18.

57% FW's hit
4 GiR's
41 putts

No cut, no increase in Handicap.

I'm not going to play this weekends medal, next comp I'm entered for is the 12th June. That will give me time to practice finding the middle of the club face instead of the hosel. I'm going to get out the Video camera and try and see what's happening.

Tuesday Practice log

I sometimes moan at the lack of practice facilities at my home golf course. We have only one putting green where no chipping is allowed. A couple of areas for practice on quite steep slopes and neither is long enough to hit anything more than a gap wedge, although one of the areas does have a practice bunker. Then one net and that's pretty much it.

So even though committee notices prohibit practice on the course, many of us do some. This takes the form of dropping the odd second ball while out on the course. Taking a few chips around one of the green's that's out of the way. While that works after a fashion, it's not great and often like last night it's not even possible. When I got to the club at 5pm it was busy with roll ups, match play pairs etc etc.

In the end I settled for putting practice only, which may be a blessing in disguise in terms of quality practice, but is not as satisfying as getting out and doing it while playing 12 holes.

I concentrated 90% on putts inside 5 feet, most of them were 3-4 feet in my estimation, I found that I was missing something like 2 every 10 balls.

Basically I put 5 balls around the hole in a rough circle and tried putting them in, I sometimes got around the circle with all 5 in the hole, but never twice in a row.

When funds and time allow a putting lesson is going to be arranged, because I can both push and pull putts. I have a two ball Odyssey putter and when concentrating on the stroke going straight back and straight through the ball often does go dead straight, but because I'm concentrating on the stroke I often forget to hit the ball with a good rhythm. Then when I concentrate only on the line and speed, I get great rhythm and a good feeling stroke, but that's when pushes and pulls can appear.

By the end of the two hours I was mostly trying to get a routine and ball position that is consistent for every putt, which is not as easy as it seams.

Anyway despite my back hurting by the end, I got a lot out of it and I'm determined to make more putting time, not just tag it on after 12 holes if I feel like it.

I will become a good putter!

Big dog at the range

I was passing a large driving range and 9 hole course yesterday so I stopped with a view to working on driving. The range was nicely laid out and pretty new with targets in front of me at 110, 150, 200 & 250 yards. As I warmed up I started to suspect the yardages, and true enough when I hit driver everyone of them sailed past the 250 yard marker.

I hate it when ranges put false markers up, measuring the range later on Google maps the back fence is only 215 yards away, they may be using range balls that go less distance, but even so, the markers compared to actual ball distance are still way, way off. I'm not a short hitter, then again I'm not pro long either, but according to that range I 'carry' driver 275 and an 8 iron 165 yards. I wish!

Anyway, rant over, the practice was actually very good, I tried hovering the driver at address and it certainly seamed to help me get going with a smooth takeaway. Turning back into the ball it seams that for me it is all about the hip turn. If I get a really good left hip first turn then I get a gentle draw, or a straight, or at worst a slight push. If I quit on the hip turn even a little bit then my upper body and hands take over and the ball goes left.

Also I can't hit a good fade with the driver (or any club above a wedge!), I can hit a fade by standing closer to the ball and turning hard through it, but it's a push fade, not the gentle coming slightly back from the left fade that I crave. Whenever I aim left I either push fade it or double cross myself and shoot it straight left. Either way it's not a pretty result, maybe I need to have a lesson on fading the ball.

My last observation about driving range practice, is it's too easy to align correctly on a mat in a bay, even when you step off between every shot, you still get a feel for correct alignment and almost every shot goes where you expect, not at all like on a tee box while playing.

After the range I went to the club and played 12 holes, not scoring just playing. On the first driving hole I found the left hazard with my first and teed up again turned hard and got my best ever drive away. No idea how long it was, I just know it was very long, it's the first time ever I took a 7 iron for the second shot into our par 5 second, usually I'm taking at least a 21 degree hybrid and even then expect to play a third shot with a half wedge.

Even so it was a disappointing practice round, I used a mixture of driver & 3 wood and hit only one of the fairways with my first ball, 4 out of the 10 tee shots had me in some kind of trouble with three of those out of bounds or in a hazard, 5 tee shots leaked left but only two you would called hooked, one pushed right. Not a great performance!

I have to cut out the penalties off the tee!

Wednesday is the midweek medal, I was going to do short game practice tonight & putting, but so far it's raining and cold so I will see how it looks later before deciding what to do, if it's still raining I may hit more balls at the range.