I got up to the club last night at 5.15 with the intention of doing a light bit of practice. However Stephen was also at the club and as there seamed to be a lot of people/match plays milling about getting ready to start we decided to head out fast, after playing the first we saw the front nine of the course was already quite busy and we changed plan to head down the 12th and play a few holes out of the way (teeing off of our 12th is allowed if the 11th is not occupied). Well just as we teed off a guy appeared on the tee of the par 3 11th and so we had to get a shift on so as not to hold him up. What proceeded was the fastest 10 holes of golf I ever have played, the guy behind was supper fast and so we kept in front, never letting him wait for a single shot as we played 11 holes in one hour! We figured he would walk in after the 18th but he also continued back up the first after us!
In fact it was far too fast to be enjoyable, just get to the ball hit it, find it, hit it, chip it, putt it and move on. I played bogie golf from memory, it was too fast to record scores and stats, even my memory of the shots is hazy all I can remember is having a great draw going with my driver and for the first time ever using driver on the 14th and drawing it around the right to left dog leg away from the right hand OB, a shot I would never try in a comp!
The guy chased us around back up the first hole and so on until I called time out after the we had played the third. I wanted to practice golf not practice speed playing.
So back we went to the putting green to putt for about 45 Min's, I was working on lag putting from 40 ft and holing out 4 footers. After getting my tempo back on the putting green the course had become more deserted so we played the first hole for the third time that night and then off the 4th tee, got up to the green and spent the next half hour in chipping practice which is what I really headed up to the course to do in the first place!
After about 30 Min's Gavin's arrival was announced when his drive landed with a thump some 20 yards short of the green, the hole is 333 from the forward tees, you can cut some off as it doglegs a little but that drive had to be 290/300 carry into what little wind was wafting. Gavin is the course record holder around our place and hit's it rather a long way!! In fact he hits a 4 iron almost as far as I carry a 3 wood, it's quite amazing. We decided to play on with him and put in a few more holes messing about with 2-3 balls and hitting pitches/chips etc.
Watching someone really good is actually nice for your game, that is if you don't try to murder the ball in response to their mammoth hitting! I resisted trying to hit it a long way and just tried to copy how he hit down through the ball. Really good players get this trajectory that I envy, the ball takes off lower, on a shallower piercing angle and actually climbs higher eventually but always on that piercing angle, then kind of stalls and falls out of the sky much steeper as it runs out of forward momentum. Compared to us hackers and our rainbow trajectory it is very, very different. Especially on short 40-60 yard pitch shots Gavin plays these almost punch shots that have that piercing trajectory they stay relatively low and stop dead quick. Those shots were what I was trying to emulate with very limited success!!
Anyway by this stage having had nothing to eat or drink since lunch time I was feeling it, in fact I was almost feeling a little drunk and wobbly and I could not hit driver for toffee by the end, we finished up on the par 3 11th at five to ten and you could only follow the ball for about a hundred yards before losing sight of it.
In all I spent close to five hours at the club, played 20 holes, and must have hit hundreds of balls, when you include the putting/chipping time it was like a whole weeks practice in one night :p
Very enjoyable but very tiring.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Back to it.
Managed to get upto the golf club last night for a practice session it felt like the first time in a long while. I spent about 40 Min's on the putting green, happy with my putting from 10 foot and in, I'm not great, but I am happy that there is progress from that distance. Lag putting though from greater than 20 foot is still a big problem. I would say that 95% of my three puts come when the first putt is more than 20 foot away from the hole, I'm sure I'm not unique in that respect, but I do want to reduce the number of 3 putts and that means doing more and more work on long putting and distance control.
After the putting green I played 8 holes dropping down 2-3 balls and practicing chipping, short pitches and long putts after driving off. Actually my driving was way off with a nasty hook shot or a block to the right all the way around, the full shots I played were affected by a push fade that I have developed while trying not to come OTT, but the fade does not show up every time which makes it hard to play for. I still think it's mainly due to me protecting my right hand a little and not releasing the club as hard.
Anyway, I still scored ok with some good putting so all in all it was a good practice session that ended with me chipping onto the first green for 30 Mins as it was so quiet. I need more of these kind of practice evenings but with a fortnights vacation looming I doubt I'll get as much achieved as I would wish before September.
News on the fitness front, I have succeeded in running to my schedule so far and doing a bit of stretching after the runs, the 1/2 stone of blubber that I put on in the past month is starting to shift and my legs are starting to recover after the run's, but as yet I have not found the motivation to add the strength exercises :(
After the putting green I played 8 holes dropping down 2-3 balls and practicing chipping, short pitches and long putts after driving off. Actually my driving was way off with a nasty hook shot or a block to the right all the way around, the full shots I played were affected by a push fade that I have developed while trying not to come OTT, but the fade does not show up every time which makes it hard to play for. I still think it's mainly due to me protecting my right hand a little and not releasing the club as hard.
Anyway, I still scored ok with some good putting so all in all it was a good practice session that ended with me chipping onto the first green for 30 Mins as it was so quiet. I need more of these kind of practice evenings but with a fortnights vacation looming I doubt I'll get as much achieved as I would wish before September.
News on the fitness front, I have succeeded in running to my schedule so far and doing a bit of stretching after the runs, the 1/2 stone of blubber that I put on in the past month is starting to shift and my legs are starting to recover after the run's, but as yet I have not found the motivation to add the strength exercises :(
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Medal 7
I got talked into playing a medal tonight on short notice.
I only found out yesterday that the medal was on and thought I better get to the driving range last night because I have not hit a ball for two weeks. Unfortunately after about half a bucket of balls I hit the mat too hard with a wedge and hurt the back of my right hand. I have had this problem once before but in a much more painful way, that time I was out of action all winter, indeed I could not even hold a knife for weeks that time...
This time it was not nearly as bad and I just protected it through today and decided I would try to play the medal and see how it went. In fact despite being a bit apprehensive before I started, the hand was pretty much OK in the end, I just could not power through with the right hand, so I left the club face open a bit and played a push fade instead of a draw with my irons.
The course was sodden and playing about as long as it can do and the greens were like sponges, quite a change from the last time I played it when everything was baked bone dry.
Anyhow neither of those reasons excused my poor play, in fact I was wild off the tee a few times, and my short game and putting was abysmal, probably just the result of two weeks away from the course. I was out in 51 and pretty despondent, however I came back better and finished with a 95 that included a suicide 8 on the par 3 15th hole. Because that score will be reduced to a net double bogey 6 and assuming the CSS is the usual 69 I should get cut 0.4. Not quite what I had hoped for but it could have been a whole lot worse after the first 9 holes...
64% fairways hit.
33% GIR.
38 putt's, inc 4 3 putt's.
4 penalties.
1 up and down sand save for a par.
4 pars, 5 doubles or worse.
I only found out yesterday that the medal was on and thought I better get to the driving range last night because I have not hit a ball for two weeks. Unfortunately after about half a bucket of balls I hit the mat too hard with a wedge and hurt the back of my right hand. I have had this problem once before but in a much more painful way, that time I was out of action all winter, indeed I could not even hold a knife for weeks that time...
This time it was not nearly as bad and I just protected it through today and decided I would try to play the medal and see how it went. In fact despite being a bit apprehensive before I started, the hand was pretty much OK in the end, I just could not power through with the right hand, so I left the club face open a bit and played a push fade instead of a draw with my irons.
The course was sodden and playing about as long as it can do and the greens were like sponges, quite a change from the last time I played it when everything was baked bone dry.
Anyhow neither of those reasons excused my poor play, in fact I was wild off the tee a few times, and my short game and putting was abysmal, probably just the result of two weeks away from the course. I was out in 51 and pretty despondent, however I came back better and finished with a 95 that included a suicide 8 on the par 3 15th hole. Because that score will be reduced to a net double bogey 6 and assuming the CSS is the usual 69 I should get cut 0.4. Not quite what I had hoped for but it could have been a whole lot worse after the first 9 holes...
64% fairways hit.
33% GIR.
38 putt's, inc 4 3 putt's.
4 penalties.
1 up and down sand save for a par.
4 pars, 5 doubles or worse.
Monday, 19 July 2010
Back to the rain.
Just back from a week of too much work, too much heat and far too much heavy food and wheat beer in Germany.
I feel sluggish and chubby, it's time to resurrect a fitness regime!
I stopped running and using the gym weights when I was confirmed for the hernia I got while doing squat thrusts with too much weight in the gym. That was a few months back now and I'm starting to feel the lack of real heart pumping exercise. Seeing as I can't get the hernia op until October I have decided to get back to running and some light body weight exercises/stretching until then.
At least I can keep fit and keep the weight off even if I can't really build any mussel.
Besides, the fitness does really help with golf, especially towards the end of a round when you have been carrying the bag in some heat for 3 hours.
I just came off the treadmill having jogged 3 miles at 6 mph, plus a 10Min walking warm up and 10Min's walking warm down with the obligatory stretches. Not feeling too bad considering it's at least 2 months since I last ran. Should be back up to speed in a month or so I hope. Plan is to run three times a week, do body exercise another 3 times a week with stretching at every session. Lunch times are my designated exercise time so I still get to golf in the evenings :)
Apparently it rained here most of this past week so while I'm looking forward to finding the course a bit less parched, I do hope it stops soon as I'm in golfing withdrawal!
I feel sluggish and chubby, it's time to resurrect a fitness regime!
I stopped running and using the gym weights when I was confirmed for the hernia I got while doing squat thrusts with too much weight in the gym. That was a few months back now and I'm starting to feel the lack of real heart pumping exercise. Seeing as I can't get the hernia op until October I have decided to get back to running and some light body weight exercises/stretching until then.
At least I can keep fit and keep the weight off even if I can't really build any mussel.
Besides, the fitness does really help with golf, especially towards the end of a round when you have been carrying the bag in some heat for 3 hours.
I just came off the treadmill having jogged 3 miles at 6 mph, plus a 10Min walking warm up and 10Min's walking warm down with the obligatory stretches. Not feeling too bad considering it's at least 2 months since I last ran. Should be back up to speed in a month or so I hope. Plan is to run three times a week, do body exercise another 3 times a week with stretching at every session. Lunch times are my designated exercise time so I still get to golf in the evenings :)
Apparently it rained here most of this past week so while I'm looking forward to finding the course a bit less parched, I do hope it stops soon as I'm in golfing withdrawal!
Monday, 12 July 2010
Two weeks no golf
Since returning from Scotland a bad back has sidelined me and combined with a weeks worth of trade show for work that starts tomorrow it looks like no golf for a while :(
Friday, 9 July 2010
Scotish Open
No practice for me these past two days, On Wednesday I had a work meeting in Glasgow and afterwards having finished early I nipped up to Loch Lomond to check out practice day at the Scottish Open. I managed to see Phil Mickleson and Ernie Ells among others play in the Pro Am and spent time walking the course and checking out the practice range till late o'clock.
Indeed I enjoyed it so much I arranged a quick day off work for the next day and found somewhere to stay the night near by. I then got to spend Thursday watching the first round golf too. I followed Chris Wood, Christian Cevaer & Michael Hoey in the morning, then vaguely followed big Phil's, big Easy's and big (literally :p) Montnty's groups in the afternoon. By the ninth hole in the afternoon the crowds following those headline groups made it too much hassle so I went and watched the pro's practicing on the range for an hour then took a ringside seat at the par 3 17'th and watched all the remaining afternoon groups come in.
It was very enjoyable and quite revealing as to how those guys actually play and practice and how the courses are set up.
Firstly let me say they hit it a god damn long way without much obvious speed and strength, it's quite clear that technique and tempo plays a huge part in the power they display. I mean 300 yards carry is a long way!! No really! Makes me laugh when so many Internet amateurs claim 300 yard driving averages, to this day I have not seen any handicap player hit a driver as high and as far through the air as those pros do, and another thing, most of them deliberately use a fade shot off the tee ( if not on all shots) and I'm quite sure that if they went after one they could get more yardage than they actually play for.
The other amazing thing is how little they try and work the ball unless they have too. Baby fades, little cut shots and small draws are the order of the day until they get out of position. Highlight of Thursday was Phill Mickleson on the first fairway, he was 20 yards behind a big dead tree, he sliced the ball around the tree and onto the green in true big Phil style. That was worth watching :)
But the most impressive thing was their distance and trajectory control with irons and their short game skills, truly worth watching.
And the most surprising thing is how many putts they miss. Now obviously they are good putters and to be fair their distance control is spot on and impressive, but it just goes to show why putting is often the thing that makes the difference for those guys, because from 4-6 foot they miss a lot more than I expected even on the practice green. Still much better than us hackers of course but amazingly human.
Having said that the greens looked awfully fast, and the course looked set up pretty tough with shaved run off areas and some fairly demanding fairways to be found. No way would I brake 100 on a course like that even off the short tee's! Those greens would give me about 45 putts and my lack of short game would kill me :p
It was very obvious why the pro's rounds take 5 hours, they spend an age on the greens, reading it, walking around to every side view, getting set up, trying to make the putt count. Where as in club golf we pretty much all rush the bit at the green, which for the sake of family life's and our Sat morning sanity is probably no bad thing because we all hate 4.5 hour rounds let alone 5.5 hour ones, but I think putting and how to read greens correctly, that may be the single biggest difference we could make to our hackers games if we went at it like a Pro.
All in all I enjoyed being there and if you ever get the chance of watching an event especially a practice day when there are much fewer spectators then I heartily recommend it.
Indeed I enjoyed it so much I arranged a quick day off work for the next day and found somewhere to stay the night near by. I then got to spend Thursday watching the first round golf too. I followed Chris Wood, Christian Cevaer & Michael Hoey in the morning, then vaguely followed big Phil's, big Easy's and big (literally :p) Montnty's groups in the afternoon. By the ninth hole in the afternoon the crowds following those headline groups made it too much hassle so I went and watched the pro's practicing on the range for an hour then took a ringside seat at the par 3 17'th and watched all the remaining afternoon groups come in.
It was very enjoyable and quite revealing as to how those guys actually play and practice and how the courses are set up.
Firstly let me say they hit it a god damn long way without much obvious speed and strength, it's quite clear that technique and tempo plays a huge part in the power they display. I mean 300 yards carry is a long way!! No really! Makes me laugh when so many Internet amateurs claim 300 yard driving averages, to this day I have not seen any handicap player hit a driver as high and as far through the air as those pros do, and another thing, most of them deliberately use a fade shot off the tee ( if not on all shots) and I'm quite sure that if they went after one they could get more yardage than they actually play for.
The other amazing thing is how little they try and work the ball unless they have too. Baby fades, little cut shots and small draws are the order of the day until they get out of position. Highlight of Thursday was Phill Mickleson on the first fairway, he was 20 yards behind a big dead tree, he sliced the ball around the tree and onto the green in true big Phil style. That was worth watching :)
But the most impressive thing was their distance and trajectory control with irons and their short game skills, truly worth watching.
And the most surprising thing is how many putts they miss. Now obviously they are good putters and to be fair their distance control is spot on and impressive, but it just goes to show why putting is often the thing that makes the difference for those guys, because from 4-6 foot they miss a lot more than I expected even on the practice green. Still much better than us hackers of course but amazingly human.
Having said that the greens looked awfully fast, and the course looked set up pretty tough with shaved run off areas and some fairly demanding fairways to be found. No way would I brake 100 on a course like that even off the short tee's! Those greens would give me about 45 putts and my lack of short game would kill me :p
It was very obvious why the pro's rounds take 5 hours, they spend an age on the greens, reading it, walking around to every side view, getting set up, trying to make the putt count. Where as in club golf we pretty much all rush the bit at the green, which for the sake of family life's and our Sat morning sanity is probably no bad thing because we all hate 4.5 hour rounds let alone 5.5 hour ones, but I think putting and how to read greens correctly, that may be the single biggest difference we could make to our hackers games if we went at it like a Pro.
All in all I enjoyed being there and if you ever get the chance of watching an event especially a practice day when there are much fewer spectators then I heartily recommend it.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Handicap's UK versus USA...
I use a scorecard app on my iphone, it's called GolfShot and after a round it emails you the scorecard and adds the round to your stats.
Last night I noticed something on the scorecard that was emailed to me, it has a USA style course rating and slope rating for my home course. I checked the other scorecards and I got info for rounds off the yellow tee's and the white tee's.
This kicked off a google search about US handicaps and one thing lead to another and soon I was deep in calculations.
Now I know full well that only my real Congu handicap counts, but... In my vainglory I have calculated other handicaps...
I decided I will have an official handicap at the club and a unofficial handicap, call it a society handicap that I will play off for society/forum meets and matches that get played for a few quid between friends and strangers. This will make me feel less of a bandit in casual matches because at the moment I will not play anyone for money off 25, it's just not right, I do not feel comfortable doing it.
Also I was interested to see how my USGA handicap would come out compared to my Congu handicap so here are the results...
Official Congu Handicap (All qualifying comps off medal tee's) = 25.4
USGA comp only handicap {(All qualifying comps off medal tee's) 2 lowest cards from the 7 comps played} = 23.0
UK Society handicap (All 2010 recorded scorecards all tee's) = 17.5
USGA Society handicap {(All 2010 recorded scorecards all tee's) 6 lowest cards from the 16 played} = 16.0
I find it very interesting that because USGA handicaps can use cards from general play + match play and only use the best cards from up to your last 20 rounds that they do come out lower than uk handicaps.
*disclaimer
This assumes that the GolfShot app is accurate in it's course and slope rating of my home club!!!
The course rating seams fine as 69 off the white tee's tallies with our normal CSS, and 68 for the yellows would therefore seam feasible. Where I'm unsure is on the slope rating, on websites it suggests that the average is 112 and uses 113 in the calculations, GolfShot has our slope rating at quite a high 120 for the yellows and 122 off the whites which seams very high if the average is 112 ish!!!
However I have nothing else to confirm/disprove it by and even if I use 112 the result still comes out lower than the UK version, so as a piece of fun it stands :D
Last night I noticed something on the scorecard that was emailed to me, it has a USA style course rating and slope rating for my home course. I checked the other scorecards and I got info for rounds off the yellow tee's and the white tee's.
This kicked off a google search about US handicaps and one thing lead to another and soon I was deep in calculations.
Now I know full well that only my real Congu handicap counts, but... In my vainglory I have calculated other handicaps...
I decided I will have an official handicap at the club and a unofficial handicap, call it a society handicap that I will play off for society/forum meets and matches that get played for a few quid between friends and strangers. This will make me feel less of a bandit in casual matches because at the moment I will not play anyone for money off 25, it's just not right, I do not feel comfortable doing it.
Also I was interested to see how my USGA handicap would come out compared to my Congu handicap so here are the results...
Official Congu Handicap (All qualifying comps off medal tee's) = 25.4
USGA comp only handicap {(All qualifying comps off medal tee's) 2 lowest cards from the 7 comps played} = 23.0
UK Society handicap (All 2010 recorded scorecards all tee's) = 17.5
USGA Society handicap {(All 2010 recorded scorecards all tee's) 6 lowest cards from the 16 played} = 16.0
I find it very interesting that because USGA handicaps can use cards from general play + match play and only use the best cards from up to your last 20 rounds that they do come out lower than uk handicaps.
*disclaimer
This assumes that the GolfShot app is accurate in it's course and slope rating of my home club!!!
The course rating seams fine as 69 off the white tee's tallies with our normal CSS, and 68 for the yellows would therefore seam feasible. Where I'm unsure is on the slope rating, on websites it suggests that the average is 112 and uses 113 in the calculations, GolfShot has our slope rating at quite a high 120 for the yellows and 122 off the whites which seams very high if the average is 112 ish!!!
However I have nothing else to confirm/disprove it by and even if I use 112 the result still comes out lower than the UK version, so as a piece of fun it stands :D
Monday, 5 July 2010
Watching the pro
I was lucky enough to tag along tonight for 11 holes with Pete the club pro and Stephen who was having a playing lesson. Watching Pete work around the course is really an education and your tempo always improves for a while after seeing his easy powerful swing.
I managed to play quite well despite a few chip outs following misdirected drives, and one out of bounds with my 3 wood.
I scored 51 for the 11 holes including one birdie from 5 greens in regulation, & 21 putts.
I'm getting to the stage that I would like to play a medal again :D
More short game practice planned for the rest of the week, I was thinking about going up to the Loch Lomond European tour event on Wednesday/Thursday, but the weather forecast is not good so I will stay home and play golf instead!
I managed to play quite well despite a few chip outs following misdirected drives, and one out of bounds with my 3 wood.
I scored 51 for the 11 holes including one birdie from 5 greens in regulation, & 21 putts.
I'm getting to the stage that I would like to play a medal again :D
More short game practice planned for the rest of the week, I was thinking about going up to the Loch Lomond European tour event on Wednesday/Thursday, but the weather forecast is not good so I will stay home and play golf instead!
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Penta
On Friday evening I headed up to the club to practice my short game while playing a few holes. I also wanted to test some balls I had found yet never played before, I took a TaylorMade Penta, a Srixon Z-Star & a Z-StarX.
I don't know what it is about the Penta but I really enjoy playing it, the ball is really long off my driver, not only that but it has a great trajectory for me and holds it's line into the wind well. Feels fine off the irons and stops on the greens just fine. But as important as that aspect is it's insignificant compared to how it comes off my putter, I feel really confident with this ball, it seams to roll at the hole really well and feels great off the putter.
If only I could justify spending £35 a dozen for any golf ball, then I would play this ball every time I could in both practice and competition. Alas, I can't justify it, maybe when I stop losing ball so often...
The short game practice was not too successful due to the course being busy, I did get a few 100-75 yard pitches in and got a few close using a little cut shot that I learned at the driving range.
More practice needed!
I don't know what it is about the Penta but I really enjoy playing it, the ball is really long off my driver, not only that but it has a great trajectory for me and holds it's line into the wind well. Feels fine off the irons and stops on the greens just fine. But as important as that aspect is it's insignificant compared to how it comes off my putter, I feel really confident with this ball, it seams to roll at the hole really well and feels great off the putter.
If only I could justify spending £35 a dozen for any golf ball, then I would play this ball every time I could in both practice and competition. Alas, I can't justify it, maybe when I stop losing ball so often...
The short game practice was not too successful due to the course being busy, I did get a few 100-75 yard pitches in and got a few close using a little cut shot that I learned at the driving range.
More practice needed!
Friday, 2 July 2010
Due to the rain I headed upto the driving range after work last night. Got a couple of alignment sticks from the shop and started hitting balls.
I concentrated on full wedge shots, 54 degree wedge, 50 degree wedge and the Driver.
I started enjoying it and ended up using 160 balls! :S
I hit my wedges really nicely, that is in terms of contact, I also had good contact with the driver, but the results for all of them were less pleasing in terms of direction. With me aligned correctly my wedges went straight left maybe 10 degrees and my driver either blocked then faded or started straight and hooked left.
The driver was just wild and I believe I was swinging at it too hard and too fast last night so I backed off it and went back to wedges.
I ended up trying to swing more in to out to in and did succeed in getting my wedges more on line towards the end, indeed I was hitting them satisfyingly close to the target by the end and started trying slight cut shots which worked quite well and combined with trying to hit the ball first I was getting some good stop even with the range balls.
I concentrated on full wedge shots, 54 degree wedge, 50 degree wedge and the Driver.
I started enjoying it and ended up using 160 balls! :S
I hit my wedges really nicely, that is in terms of contact, I also had good contact with the driver, but the results for all of them were less pleasing in terms of direction. With me aligned correctly my wedges went straight left maybe 10 degrees and my driver either blocked then faded or started straight and hooked left.
The driver was just wild and I believe I was swinging at it too hard and too fast last night so I backed off it and went back to wedges.
I ended up trying to swing more in to out to in and did succeed in getting my wedges more on line towards the end, indeed I was hitting them satisfyingly close to the target by the end and started trying slight cut shots which worked quite well and combined with trying to hit the ball first I was getting some good stop even with the range balls.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
July practice plan
After reviewing my stats and practice log for June I'm motivated to change some things in July and set out a practice plan.
General practice
My aim is to make more of my general practice time while playing holes on the golf course. I often just play without thinking about the practice. I intend to focus more of my putting and especially my short game practice on the course, because I have to be practicing pitches, chips and putting on real greens, I'm convinced that this is the only way to actually transfer my practice gains to the golf course. This may mean playing less holes overall but I think it will be key to improvement.
Putting
I aim to keep up my level of practice for the next month as putting is 'the' most important thing and I'm starting to believe I can putt. Slight change of emphasis as per the above to take it more onto the course. I need to set up a putting routine so I don't get rushed and un-focused on the green which happens to often right now.
Chipping
Needs lots of work and more time, more on course focus, and onto a green chipping time is needed. I also intend to get a lesson off Harry the Assist pro, I want to learn how to play those high spinning low flying, high checking shots he uses.
Pitching
Also needs more work and time, again on course practice will be the bulk of my focus. Pitch mark repairer at the ready!! I need to figure out distance control as a priority. I'm not sure if I should go for a feel based system using less clubs or a more scientific system of 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 swings with more wedges. I need to decide this. Also intend if money allows to get a pitching lesson and use my iphone GPS program for distances.
Sand
I'm now confident of getting out of sand, I need to practice getting it closer to the hole while getting out.
Irons
Swing changes are postponed until the autumn/winter time. All iron practice will be general during practice rounds or while warming up/for tempo at a driving range. Main goal with irons is to hit to a distance and a predictable shot shape. I want to improve my GIR % and because I think it is artificially high this month after my one great 15 holes where I hit 70 odd percent of the greens. I'm going to look at my overall percentage and try and move it towards 30% GIR. That means hitting a consistent iron shape and distance.
Fairway woods
No specific practice intended, a 3 wood off the deck is a penalty waiting to happen for me, I will not go there at the moment.
Driving
Weekly driving range sessions using driver, 3 wood and 3 hybrid off the tee, focused on finding target fairways and hitting out of the middle of the club consistently.
General practice
My aim is to make more of my general practice time while playing holes on the golf course. I often just play without thinking about the practice. I intend to focus more of my putting and especially my short game practice on the course, because I have to be practicing pitches, chips and putting on real greens, I'm convinced that this is the only way to actually transfer my practice gains to the golf course. This may mean playing less holes overall but I think it will be key to improvement.
Putting
I aim to keep up my level of practice for the next month as putting is 'the' most important thing and I'm starting to believe I can putt. Slight change of emphasis as per the above to take it more onto the course. I need to set up a putting routine so I don't get rushed and un-focused on the green which happens to often right now.
Chipping
Needs lots of work and more time, more on course focus, and onto a green chipping time is needed. I also intend to get a lesson off Harry the Assist pro, I want to learn how to play those high spinning low flying, high checking shots he uses.
Pitching
Also needs more work and time, again on course practice will be the bulk of my focus. Pitch mark repairer at the ready!! I need to figure out distance control as a priority. I'm not sure if I should go for a feel based system using less clubs or a more scientific system of 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 swings with more wedges. I need to decide this. Also intend if money allows to get a pitching lesson and use my iphone GPS program for distances.
Sand
I'm now confident of getting out of sand, I need to practice getting it closer to the hole while getting out.
Irons
Swing changes are postponed until the autumn/winter time. All iron practice will be general during practice rounds or while warming up/for tempo at a driving range. Main goal with irons is to hit to a distance and a predictable shot shape. I want to improve my GIR % and because I think it is artificially high this month after my one great 15 holes where I hit 70 odd percent of the greens. I'm going to look at my overall percentage and try and move it towards 30% GIR. That means hitting a consistent iron shape and distance.
Fairway woods
No specific practice intended, a 3 wood off the deck is a penalty waiting to happen for me, I will not go there at the moment.
Driving
Weekly driving range sessions using driver, 3 wood and 3 hybrid off the tee, focused on finding target fairways and hitting out of the middle of the club consistently.
End of Month report
So it's time to start a new months practice log and record Junes practice & performance for posterity.
Before writing this post I felt like I spent a lot of time this month playing and practicing for not much difference in scorring, But then I looked at my stats for June against my stats for the rest of the year and it shows a marked improvement this month. Then thinking back I have improved my putting (despite the stats) and I have worked through the shanks and come out stronger. I have enjoyed getting out in the great weather and got more comfortable in comps. In fact I have had some really good scores and less bad scores. But also I have recorded good rounds and not always recorded bad rounds so I'm not sure the stats paints a completely true picture. I will try from now on to record both good and the bad when I play with a card.
All in all it has been a good month. As well as the practice log I will record my stats for the month here as well, hoefully in time I will see genuine prgression by looking back to posts like this.
I have good feelings for July :D
Stats
Faiways hit 50.8% (My average 46.4%)
Missed left 27.6% (34%)
Missed Right 21.7% (19.7%)
Greens in regulation 37.0% (25.3%)
Scrambling 3.9%* (6.4%)
Sand saves 0.0%** (0.0%)
Putting Average 2.02 (2.01)
Putting per GIR 2.13 (2.28)
Scores by Par
Par 3's - 3.9 (4.2)
Par 4's - 5.3 (5.5)
Par 5's - 5.8 (6.0)
Scoring
Eagles - 0% (0%)
Birdies 1% (1%)
Pars 32% (22%)
Bogies 36% (39%)
Doubles or worse 31% (38%)
Score total +19.4 (+23.4)
* (only records up and down for a par not a boggy)
** (only records sand saves for a par not a boggy)
Practice time
Putting time 495 Min's
Short game Practice 570 Min's
Driving range 840 balls (Estimate 480 Min's)
Practice holes played = 135
Comps
Medal Holes played = 36
Match Play holes = 13
Practice log
5 holes short game practice, 29th June.
45 Min's Putting practice, 29th June.
11 holes general play, 27th June.
30 Min's putting practice, 27th June.
4 holes general practice, 26th June.
18 holes general practice, 25th June.
1hr putting practice, 25th June.
18 holes general practice, 24th June.
45 mins putting practice, 24th June.
1 hr chipping and short pitching practice, 24th June.
60 balls, driving range, 24th June.
9 holes on course practice, 23rd June.
45 mins, putting practice, 23rd June.
80 balls driving range, June 23rd.
40 balls, driver practice, 19th June.
30 Min's Putting practice, 19th June.
45 Min's bunker practice, 19th June.
1hr Pitching practice, 19th June.
15 holes practice play, 17th june.
1.5 hr's chipping practice, 16th June.
20 Min lesson, swing plane, 15th June.
80 Balls, half swing, in to out practice, Shank city, 15th June.
2 hr's Short game practice, shank city, 15th June.
1 hr's Putting Practice, 12th June.
60 balls, driving range, old irons, 11th June.
9 Holes general play, + second ball practicing pitching inside 100 yd's, 10th June.
Driving range, 80 balls, swing work, 10th June.
12 holes practice, 9th June.
1.5 hr's driving range, swing work, 8th June.
22 holes, practice round, 5th June.
1 hr net practice on swinging from the inside, 5th June.
1 hr chipping and short pitching, 5th June.
Lesson and 2 hrs hitting range balls, 4th June.
2hrs chip & pitch practice, 3rd June.
1hr putting practice, 2nd June.
1hr driving range on tempo, 2nd June
2hrs putting practice, 1st June
Before writing this post I felt like I spent a lot of time this month playing and practicing for not much difference in scorring, But then I looked at my stats for June against my stats for the rest of the year and it shows a marked improvement this month. Then thinking back I have improved my putting (despite the stats) and I have worked through the shanks and come out stronger. I have enjoyed getting out in the great weather and got more comfortable in comps. In fact I have had some really good scores and less bad scores. But also I have recorded good rounds and not always recorded bad rounds so I'm not sure the stats paints a completely true picture. I will try from now on to record both good and the bad when I play with a card.
All in all it has been a good month. As well as the practice log I will record my stats for the month here as well, hoefully in time I will see genuine prgression by looking back to posts like this.
I have good feelings for July :D
Stats
Faiways hit 50.8% (My average 46.4%)
Missed left 27.6% (34%)
Missed Right 21.7% (19.7%)
Greens in regulation 37.0% (25.3%)
Scrambling 3.9%* (6.4%)
Sand saves 0.0%** (0.0%)
Putting Average 2.02 (2.01)
Putting per GIR 2.13 (2.28)
Scores by Par
Par 3's - 3.9 (4.2)
Par 4's - 5.3 (5.5)
Par 5's - 5.8 (6.0)
Scoring
Eagles - 0% (0%)
Birdies 1% (1%)
Pars 32% (22%)
Bogies 36% (39%)
Doubles or worse 31% (38%)
Score total +19.4 (+23.4)
* (only records up and down for a par not a boggy)
** (only records sand saves for a par not a boggy)
Practice time
Putting time 495 Min's
Short game Practice 570 Min's
Driving range 840 balls (Estimate 480 Min's)
Practice holes played = 135
Comps
Medal Holes played = 36
Match Play holes = 13
Practice log
5 holes short game practice, 29th June.
45 Min's Putting practice, 29th June.
11 holes general play, 27th June.
30 Min's putting practice, 27th June.
4 holes general practice, 26th June.
18 holes general practice, 25th June.
1hr putting practice, 25th June.
18 holes general practice, 24th June.
45 mins putting practice, 24th June.
1 hr chipping and short pitching practice, 24th June.
60 balls, driving range, 24th June.
9 holes on course practice, 23rd June.
45 mins, putting practice, 23rd June.
80 balls driving range, June 23rd.
40 balls, driver practice, 19th June.
30 Min's Putting practice, 19th June.
45 Min's bunker practice, 19th June.
1hr Pitching practice, 19th June.
15 holes practice play, 17th june.
1.5 hr's chipping practice, 16th June.
20 Min lesson, swing plane, 15th June.
80 Balls, half swing, in to out practice, Shank city, 15th June.
2 hr's Short game practice, shank city, 15th June.
1 hr's Putting Practice, 12th June.
60 balls, driving range, old irons, 11th June.
9 Holes general play, + second ball practicing pitching inside 100 yd's, 10th June.
Driving range, 80 balls, swing work, 10th June.
12 holes practice, 9th June.
1.5 hr's driving range, swing work, 8th June.
22 holes, practice round, 5th June.
1 hr net practice on swinging from the inside, 5th June.
1 hr chipping and short pitching, 5th June.
Lesson and 2 hrs hitting range balls, 4th June.
2hrs chip & pitch practice, 3rd June.
1hr putting practice, 2nd June.
1hr driving range on tempo, 2nd June
2hrs putting practice, 1st June
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