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I am in a happy place tonight. Today I played the Stableford comp at Heywood gold club and broke 80 for the first time in a proper competition. I didn’t break 80 by much ( 79 OTS) with 42 points, but I can say that I finally hit a score with a 7 in front of it.
Conditions were good, with little wind on the front 9 , but it built as the round progressed. The fairways were grassy and greens smooth and fast, compared to my home club. My tee shots were accurate, but still shorter than ideal. I got the hybrids to work today and hit more GIR than usual with my irons.
I hit 3 birdies, 7 pars, 6 bogeys and 2 double bogeys. Both doubles were results of poor choice on clubs pitch/ chip shots. One were I should have used LW to avoid the ball running off a green and taking three putts to recover. The other I used the LW instead SW for a full shot into the green. It came up 5 m short of the green, needing another chip to get on the green.
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I am embarrassed by my typing skills. I need to double check my messages before posting! Sorry. My excuse is that in my day we had typists , usually women very skilled at deciphering illegible long hand writing and touch typing.
I always think it is a good idea that it is good to have something to look forward to. I like to keep busy, if possible.
My membership of Rotary International keeps me pretty busy. Playing golf with fellow Rotary club members got me started in competition golf in the Mumbannar Masters, a great low stress way to get the confidence to enter golf club competitions. I noted there is a golfing fellowship group in Rotary as well. I hope to join that group soon.Things to look forward to in golf for me:
1) Another trip to Adelaide to pick up my late father -in-law’s work bench to go into my son-in-law’s new shed on the farm.
2) Pick up my $90 set of clubs I scored on Face Book in Adelaide. (Tour Edge hybrid-irons).
3) Playing a few games with my mate Geoff, who hopefully will be using his new to him golf clubs from Sydney ( Hunter Express willing). He has been trying to learn using player’s irons without much success. The new clubs should be more forgiving.
4) I have a game planned for the Warrnambool course ( in top 100) with Mr. Relatable Aus. (a You Tuber) next month
5) I want to work on a method of getting my carry distances of my irons in the 6-8 area sorted with good gapping distances. Arccos is telling me that the ” smart ” distance ( distance I hit 70% of the time) in games of the 7 &8 is almost the same, and the 6 iron is closer to where the 7 iron should be. I know with good strike I can get the desired 10 m or so gap, but not in game situations. My thoughts are I can just work on strike or try a different 6&7 iron to see if that makes any difference. Hence my picking up some hybrid- irons to try them out.check loft angle of 6, 7 & 8 irons.
Unfortunately my irons are cast heads, so even if they are out/ need adjustment I can’t change them.
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I am embarrassed by my typing skills. I need to double check my messages before posting! Sorry. My excuse is that in my day we had typists , usually women very skilled at deciphering illegible long hand writing and touch typing.
I always think it is a good idea that it is good to have something to look forward to. I like to keep busy, if possible.
My membership of Rotary International keeps me pretty busy. Playing golf with fellow Rotary club members got me started in competition golf in the Mumbannar Masters, a great low stress way to get the confidence to enter golf club competitions. I noted there is a golfing fellowship group in Rotary as well. I hope to join that group soon.Things to look forward to in golf for me:
1) Another trip to Adelaide to pick up my late father -in-law’s work bench to go into my son-in-law’s new shed on the farm.
2) Pick up my $90 set of clubs I scored on Face Book in Adelaide. (Tour Edge hybrid-irons).
3) Playing a few games with my mate Geoff, who hopefully will be using his new to him golf clubs from Sydney ( Hunter Express willing). He has been trying to learn using player’s irons without much success. The new clubs should be more forgiving.
4) I have a game planned for the Warrnambool course ( in top 100) with Mr. Relatable Aus. (a You Tuber) next month
5) I want to work on a method of getting my carry distances of my irons in the 6-8 area sorted with good gapping distances. Arccos is telling me that the ” smart ” distance ( distance I hit 70% of the time) in games of the 7 &8 is almost the same, and the 6 iron is closer to where the 7 iron should be. I know with good strike I can get the desired 10 m or so gap, but not in game situations. My thoughts are I can just work on strike or try a different 6&7 iron to see if that makes any difference. Hence my picking up some hybrid- irons to try them out.1 user liked this post.
Wowzers, Drummond saw you coming!
For me, that’s where it all fell down, for the same $800 and maybe an additional 2 hour round trip you (however much longer to a golf club) could have received your very first advice from a professional rather than a checkout chick looking to make a sale on brand new clubs.There will always be the argument about not getting “fitted” until you have a repeatable swing and this absolutely makes sense, but to be convinced to drop $800 on your first set that clearly wasn’t right is crazy.
The lesson here too is that someone picked up a year old set for half the original price and there will always be near new sticks for sale, so for me it’s about speaking to a pro to get a feel for what you will need at the start and work through from there.
Love your story XR, thanks for sharing.
Wisdom in retrospect is a common thing. In Drummond’s defence they did give me the two tier option; Set up to $500 range + Putter, Set up to $1000 range + Putter.
Update: I could not help myself yesterday when I saw a set of Tour Edge Bazooka Hybrid-irons ( 3,5,7,9,SW plus a putter and 5 wood) advertised for $90. I will pick them up in Adelaide next week. We were visiting friends anyway. It seems I was fastest of 12 possible buyers.
My plan of taking just my wife’s set of club when travelling and sharing them didn’t please SWMBO, so this half set will suit me. I really only wanted to buy the & iron to try it against my Milford club for consistent carry distance.
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I spent most of yesterday cooking BBQ food for our Rotary club at our local Drag Race meeting. Man those vehicles and noisy and scary fast! I can’t wait until the electric drag racers outperform the piston engine fuel burners.
After 3.30 I snuck out the course and noticed Adriano on the course at hole four. He has my permission to use my golf cart, when I am not playing. I joined him on hole 5 and we did the front 9 holes in what was perfect conditions. The greens are starting to recover after the core/ sanding treatment debacle.
Just mucking around I scored a 41 ( 4 pars/ 5 bogeys). I hit all the fairways and got slightly more distance. I was trying to swing a little faster and strangely the balls stayed on fairway. I even got my drive on hole 4 over the hill, then put shot 2 into the bunker ( hit it fat) . I also hit the bunker on hole 8 when I went pin hunting, rather than my usual safe route to the right of the bunker. The ball embedded itself into the wall of the bunker on the green side of the bunker. I tried a method I had seen on You Tube where you point the tow of the wedge at the wall and whack it. I was surprised that the ball lifted out and onto the green!
Two steps forward
1) Hit the fairway on all but #5 hole and even then it wasn’t punishing.
2) More distance off the tee.
One step back
1) I seem to have issues with my second shot on hoe 4 if I make it over the hill with my tee shot. Do I get over excited/ PSR ignored? Do I fail to compensate for the slight side hill lie ( ball above feet) and hit it fat? Just not used to hitting from there?What a great day for golfing. Sun and a light wind. Day one of the South West Classic 4 day event at Portland and Heywood clubs.
It was a 4BBB event and my team mate ( handicap 19) and I played well as a team, alternating in scoring all but two holes. Score 42 points.
My personal stroke score was 87, I birdie, 5 pares, 8 bogeys, but 4 doubles ( mostly 3 putting)
3 up and downs
4 GIR
35 putts.My tee shots were good today. Approach shots from 150- 100m were a bit off target today.
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Can and will break 80 = start of 2021= 11.3.
finished 2020 well with 80 OTS at Warragul.
It will be an interesting 2021, We will be homeless for most of the year, but will still be able to focus on golf.
Tournament schedule mapped out and focus will be on playing well in selected key events, with lots of Personal best scores on those courses.
goal for end of year = 7.4 or better.Well done that man!
I am bored. Recuperation from this croup causing virus ( well the grand kids all developed croup) is taking too long.
I went out for a hit at the practice fairway to work on strike with my irons, mainly because I was getting weird carry distances with my 6,7 & 8 irons. Using my PRGR launch monitor I hit balls noting swing speed, smash factor and distances. Not surprisingly if I hit the ball well and with a decent speed and some ball compression the distances started to sort in groups. Human error = weird distances.
I took the Nike driver with me to test the effect of closing the face angle at the hosel. The best way to test whether it would work was to play a few holes. The result was an improvement with increased distance up to 200m, possibly getting the face more closed at impact. I tried a few low fades into the wind, but it didn’t fade much. I tried hitting up on the ball for draw shaped shots , but it was sending them too high. The Vapor Speed is known for giving a high flight .
I played my usual 5 hole circuit ; 3 par 4, a par 5 and one par 3. I was about to go home when I saw Adriano on the first tee. I replayed holes one and two with him, then as it began to get colder I started to cough again. Home to a warmer house and a nice glass of red! I played some good golf, with pars and bogeys, very few misses off the tee and good approach shots. Best of all, no doubles! I am hoping I can repeat this on Friday in the 4BBB comp.
hope you are back on course soon as it looks like we might be locked up again with bans on everything being imposed
Xman got flooded down there today.
I hope you are safe & dry X.Yes it felt like a tropical down pour roughly mid 30’s mm in a few hours. I left my ute window open too!
The course has dried out fairly quickly though this morning when we played 9 holes for the Mumbannar Masters comp. I dosed up on Panadol and cough mixture and wore a mask all game. The weather? Light wind from the south and light drizzle/ heavy air. Soft underfoot. I took the Nike Vapor Driver with A-flex shaft for a play today, just for a change.It is a fairway finder at 44.5 inch shaft, but just a tad short to use for competition.
I started out on hole one laying up for a bogie result,but I thinned a LW shot through the green. I haven’t done that for ages, so I will blame my wonky viral balance. A double on hole one isn’t quite the ideal start, however hole 2 my Drive was on the fairway, my 4H shot was a GIR and two putts for a par. I hit a 212 m Drive on three, another crisp 4H Hybrid shot closer to 160 m and bunted a 3H 25% swing under the pine trees that hit something in the grass and stopped short of the green. Chip and a putt for another par. Te tee shoy with Driver on 4 didn’t draw back at all, so I had a tricky fade around the tree with my 5H ( 140m distance) that ended up on the green. Great! Not so great the three putts I took to sink it. The greens are slow again and a bit rough. Still a boget 5 isn’t my worst ever score on hole #4. I put the Drive on the green with the Nike, and two putts for par. My approach shot into hole 6 was hit fat with the 8 iron, so I scrambled for a bogey. Hole & tee shot wasn’t hit crisply, but the 4H shot was. I should have measured the flag distance and hit my 7i , not my 8i . Poor decision making = another double. I hit pars on 8 &9 making a score of 42.
Two steps
1) I hit 5 pars, 2 bogeys, 2 doubles. Hit more GIR and up and downs than usual.
2) I hit the single length hybrids much better today. Ball back a bit in the stance and hit down like an iron shot works with these 7 iron length shafts. Hit them like a normal hybrid and they are thinny low in the flight ( horrible)One Step
1) Short game errors cost me doubles. Wrong choice for club for a downhill chip on on #1 resulted in a thin shot that cost me two more . A bump and run was less risky. Not taking enough time to make sure a tap in putt went in , cost me another double. The pace of the greens was erratic for sure, but my three putt on 5 and 7 were more my fault.I am isolating at home,keeping a low profile wearing a mask when around others. Feeling a little better yesterday I started evaluating my problem areas of my golf bag in the back yard net, using a small launch monitor.
I am comparing my cavity backed 6 iron ( 29 degrees loft) with a hollow bodied hybrid-iron ( 30 degree) to see if there is an advantage. So far the forgiveness I noted on the course of the HB Launcher has been verified.
Today I will hit the 6 iron and hybrids. I am playing around with ball position with the hybrids to see if I can get a better strike reliability. Foot spray will be used for sure.
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Well it didn’t last long. I began to cough yesterday afternoon and felt unwell. Having sick Grand kids last week , I guess it was inevitable that they would share their bugs. I dosed up on Panadol and cough mixture and wore a mask for the entire game today.
I started poorly and missed a few fairways on the front 9 holes, plus I rimmed about 4-5 putts. They just would not drop today! I slowly improved as the game went on, finishing with 5 pars on the back 9. They were working on the greens on the back 9. It looked as if they were trying to correct the sanding job done a few weeks ago with a drag behind the mower. They were faster for sure after the treatment. There were a few little rocks or hard dirt bits on the surface that deflected one of my putts. Bummer. No doubt a roller will be next .
Anyway I had a bad day at the office, but scored 32 points and 91 strokes. A year ago I would have been happy with 91!
I was out of bed early and teed off at 7:30 It was mild a slightly sunny, with little if any wind at first.
I was trying to play stress fee golf, hitting shots I know I can hit in a effort to keep the ball in play. In essence, club up one club and swing a bit easier.
On hole #1 I aimed at the corner of the dogleg left and hit an easy Driver shot and popped the ball within an 8 i range. I had the distance right but the ball drifted out right, so I was short sided and had a rise to get over. I tried a bump and run with my 5 -Hybrid. I didn’t quite hit it hard enough, but got in the hole with 2 putts. This stress free golf might just work. A bogey on this hole isn’t a bad start.
For the rest of my round I managed to hit the fairway all but 4 times. two left and two right in the light rough, which resulted in one par and three bogeys. Arccos is telling me I need to work on my distance off the tee. I think I will need to get a bit fitter over the next months before I start any speed training though. The old body is groaning a bit of late.
Anyway I was much happier with my 6,7,8 iron approach shots @ 115 m-135 m ( 8 GIR today) and I managed two up and down pars. Approach shots 135-165 m were not so good today, where my SL hybrids were going left.
Chipping went well today, getting closer to the pin, hence the better putting numbers. I am getting confident with my 60 and 56 CBX2 wedges, rather than always coming in low with an 8 i, PW. I was running past the pin a lot when short sided.
The putter was on song for all but two holes. One of the three putt hole was a brain fart, tap in putt that turned more than a Shane Warne flipper. 33 putts ( 5 by one, 11 by two and two by 3)
2 birdies, 8 pars, 7 bogies, one double for 79. How I wish I could do this in a competition round!!
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That sounds like you had a lot of missed shots Weeti, but still ended up grinding out a reasonable score. Anything above 30 points is an O.K outcome.
have a great Christmas XRMAN and hope that 2021 will be a better golfing year.
Thanks Can Break 80. I hope the same for you.
Not much golf has been played in the last week , with X-mas approaching and all.
I did manage to find a Ladies Flex 5 wood ( Adams brand) to complete my wife’s set. I know last of the big spenders!I am happy to report that during a brief break in the weather I took my wife to the course for a hit. After a warm up doing 1/4 and 1/2 swings off a tee, we did 3 holes. She teed off with her 5 iron/hybrid and hit the next shots with a a 9 iron. The look on her face when she got most of them airborne was priceless! Then she tried a 7 wood tee shot and sent it out about 80 m. She was hooked!
The weather turned to crap again so we cut it short.3 users liked this post.
Is personal par still a thing?
Like playing bogey golf ( 18 over) as your personal par if your are at 18 handicap or thereabout?
