I had another disappointing day at Portland today. Same score at 25 points.

Why? Well I can’t blame the weather today, it was a glorious Spring- like day. Sure the course is soggy and bounce is unpredictable to non existent, with many balls pugging on contact with the ground. My cart wasn’t plugged in to recharge ( did I forget?) so I was annoyed with myself, but I got a ride with another player. My hip is giving me some discomfort and I didn’t take any pain relief prior to the game. I am sleep deprived as the result of our old dog’s prostate issues making several trips outside each night, in addition to my own need for a pee at night!

I hit a string of double bogeys to start with. The greens had just been rolled and were fast in comparison to their usual speed. We all missed putts to start with. I three putted the first hole after a good start off the tee, a half way reasonable approach and chip on. The first putt went past the hole by about 3 m!

Then my tee shots went astray. Some went too far left when I was trying to avoid the boggy right side of fairways. Attempted fades didn’t fade, they went straight left. I mishit a couple off the tee on the early holes, just trying to smash them I think. I settled down by hole 7 and scored pars on 7,8 &9. The back 9 were a string of bogeys, then I managed to mishit a shot over the tree on the corner of hole 13 and then 3 putted on 14 ( two more doubles). My tee shots improved on the last few holes and I hit a few reasonable fairway wood shots into the greens, but with no roll out none of them got onto the green.

Chipping was not a strength today. I got it on the green ( GIOTG) but no where near the hole, so 1 st putt was a long one.
If it was any consolation, none of my playing partners played a lot better than I did today. The winner ( off 7 handicap) scored 32 points. Good day, good company, poor golf by all. Such is life ( N. Kelly)

I am in the market for some water proof shoes.

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Can break 80

I hear you OB. Living alone and not being able to have any social contact for weeks sucks.

Another ridiculous rule is the it is O.K. to exercise outside with hundreds of mask wearing strangers, with unmasked runners and cyclists leaving a trail of exhalation wafting behind them, yet I am forbidden to walk around the golf course solo swinging the clubs. Why? I am a country member too. We have Bookatee on the club website, so you need never be near another human when on the course. One player every ten minutes, pay your fees online. Why no golf then? Well allowing golf to proceed would be a bad look, not egalitarian enough for our illustrious leader. Perhaps it was the risk of golfers driving a bit far from home, yet surfers drove around and congregated out on the sea waiting for the big ones.

I was mildly peeved during the previous State wide lock downs, when locally we had not had a case of Covid for 12 months or so. It did not compute at first. Now I understand why OIL mandated that rural areas must cease production. It was to reinforce the non- existent ring of steel around Melbourne. Let me explain. If there was noting to do out in the sticks, the motivation for dick heads from Melbourne to escape was lessened. It is cheaper for Dan not to have to pay the Police to do the Ring Of Steel, even if they had the manpower to do it well.

Now that we have a modicum of freedom, the escapees are building in number as time passes. The businesses are being used as unpaid warders, being threatened with fines if they serve the escapees. That is a win win situation for the government .
One of the local cafe owners saw a heap of non-locals lining up to get fed and watered. She thinned the crowd by yelling out, ” If any of you are from Melbourne, you might as well FO now, because we won’t serve you!” Welcome to country !

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Can break 80

I had a very enjoyable game at Portland this morning with Can Break 80, aka Mr Consistency.What a lovely swing he has! Weather conditions considered we played pretty well in the sloppy conditions on certain parts of the course. The wind built from moderate to strong, as we played the last few holes. It blew my cart over on the 18th.

Arccos rated my game Driver OK, Approach shots from fairway needs work, Short game close to a 8 handicap level and Putting near 5 handicap level. On the first few holes I agree my fairway wood were poor, but later as I took Geoff’s advice I hit a ripper 170m 4W into the wind for a GIR and my Shot of the day(SOD). Most of my 4 double bogeys occurred from silly errors/ club selection errors/ poor tee shot placement. CB80’s shot of the day was a 6 iron over the corner trees onto the green on hole 13 to save par. We mucked about trying various chip shots into the green from close range. The hybrids gave the most reliable bump and run results in the mucky soft verges. My score was somewhere between 85-88 if I allow for the few Mulligans Geoff allowed me to hit. A B- minus game? It was the 17th hole before I got a face full of mud ( wet fairways make for unpredictable bounce effect when you hit an iron shot). I thought it only appropriate that I hit a ball into the dam on hole 16 to show the visitor where not to go.

Two Steps forward
1) I only really put the ball in poor positions from the tee about three times, but only lost one shot each time, recovering back into play without having to go sideways.
2) The 4Wood worked well, but I have to not try to snot it. A slower rhythmic swing works better. Plus I tried to use it too often today, when the 7W would have worked better. We tried it once just to prove the point.

One step back
1) Club selection when chipping today was off to start with. I used too high loft and cost two shots in the first 4 holes. Rookie error. One I hit a SW in long wet grass and went under the ball, while the other I hit a 9 iron and clipped an overhanging branch. The other doubles I scored today were a combination of a poor Driver shot and wind gusts affecting carry distance of approach shots ( one short, one long)

Thanks for a very enjoyable game Geoff.

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Can break 80

I played 9 holes in the slush at Portland today, mainly to test whether the 2 driver concept is worth it for me. I hit a draw with the Cleveland HB Launcher Turbo driver and a fade with the Nike Driver off every tee to compare the outcomes. On some holes I hit fades with both.

Why bother, you may well ask? Well our course has a few holes that are dog leg right shape and ideally you want to hit down the left edge for as long as possible so you can get around the bend, even if you are short. Too close to the right side and you don’t have a clear shot at the green. I was trying set up the Nike Driver to be able to hit down the left tree line and fade back, not go left at all. In the past when I tried this with the Cleveland it would turn over and my ball would end up in the trees ( left side).

To cut a long story short, it was disappointing. The Nike either was too short off the tee or faded a little too far. I could close the face back to neutral I guess and try again, but for now I will go back to just using the Cleveland driver. I found the Cleveland I try and fade and it either goes low and straight left side or fades back just a bit. ( 10 m further than the Nike). The Nike sounds really powerful when you hit it well though.

The other good thing I found was the Cobra ” 4 wood” I have built is doing the job well for second shots on par 5 holes, carrying consistently mid 160m distances. I have married a 5 wood head ( 17 degree loft) and a 44 inch fairway wood shaft. I can fade and draw the shots. The slightly longer distance means I am hitting into the green with mu 9 iron or PW ( two off my most accurate clubs) . I got 6/9 GIR today.

I will tell you that I hit a few Mulligans while waiting for the group in front of me to play. I hit the second shot from where the Cleveland driver shot landed, and with the exception of a fat shot with the 6 Hybrid on hole 4 , I was pretty pleased with them.
I even put a 50% swing LW shot on hole one near the pin ( duff -free!) . Lag putting went well and I think I only missed one short putt. Not that is is 100% accurate but Arccos recorded 38 strokes, showing that I can break eighty if I can keep it on the fairway and stop doing dumb shots. ( take my time/ think it through/ a couple of practice strokes)

News Flash! Golf is back on tomorrow.

I am a bit excited to be able to use two different clubs in my bag. I have put a 45.5″ shaft in the Nike Vapor Speed driver and set it at 11.5 degrees open for fades off the tee. I have measured it on the PRGR launch monitor and it has gained 10 yards over the 44.5 and about 3 mph swing speed. I have fitted a 43.5 inch shaft to my 5 wood and set at 17 degrees it has done the 3 mph/ 10 yard increase too. It will be fun to see what that translates to on the course.

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Weetbix, BumpunRun