My Golfing Passion...

20/5/12 Sunday. Jumped the gun on the usual early 5.30 am start to a Sunday. Just a few extra jobs to get done first so my mind is clear for today's handicap championshipmatchplay Quarter Final. After the week of discomfort and gradual recovery since the treatment on Friday physically all is good.

Mentally yesterday I just could not get satisfied with the driver performance and the loss of distance off the tee. Added to that was the need to tune up with myirons to remove the occasional pull to the left that was affecting accuracy. Even after this the driver matter was still a distraction, not withstanding that I had no problem with playing Sundays round accommodating the distanceloss. Finally at the end of the afternoon managed to get back on the course with both drivers to have a few swings and hits.

Hit balls with each and the smaller driver still had the longer reach but much worse accuracy. Something was niggling away in the back of my mind that there wassomething not quite right with the fella swinging the club. This is where the coaching video taken of the last session proved its worth again. 1) Rotate hips and follow through. Yes doing that. 2) Bend knees, squat down instance. Yes doing that 3) Roll wrists. Yes doing that.<strong> 4) Oh crap there was one more, the subtle one that is so easy to omit.</strong> Lifting the front foot in the back swing.

Off went the flashing lights and ringing bells. Plant the front foot with a little extra weight on it, the swing then has a stable base. Importantly is the factthat it is not a solid pivot point again, no longer being moved to accommodate the injury constraints of the week. The swing is back with the body behind the forward motion and 220m off the tee and dead straight. Walked fourholes hiiting five balls off each tee as the sun sank and the distance was there and importantly the balls were all in a 20m circle on the respective fairways.

Something that is a reality with my golf and life also is that I make subconscious adjustments for the various injury flareups. Life is easy deal with. Golf thattakes a bigger effort and is more important, that is why the video of the coaching session was so important to do. The four points that the coach identified are all subtle errors the alone have a minor effect on my golf swing.As a group they are the four corners of erratic, unpredictable golf.
Thankyou for your time and attention, "Hit 'em straight all"

16/5/12 Wednesday. Following on from Sunday morning the last two days have still not been in best physical condition at the minute, improvement on yesterday though and that isimportant. While not able to pick up and swing a golf stick Monday. Tuesday morning went out and got myself around fourteen holes playing well within my limits. This practise is in case I cannot get a Bowen Treatment duringthe week to repair the injury flareup. Have to play the next Handicap Championship matchplay round on Sunday morning and some physical therapy is a must.

The round on Tuesday was the epitomy of why coaching is so effective with my game. The efficiency of the stance and swing changes accommodated the physical injury restrictionsso well that selecting two clubs up inside 140m delivered GIR. Outside of that distance taking it easy in the swing and still clubbing up would get well within premium chipping distances. Was joined on the walk for a few holesby another club golfer who commented on how easy I was doing it, that was further confirmation of my golf improvement in 2012. The putter was not very effective on the day although that was not a particular focus in the round,being able to play par/bogie golf with the restrictions was.

It is not often these days that I get knocked flat by the old injuries, been building towards this over the last fortnight of practise and it has peaked now. The tens machinemakes a lot of difference but the nights are restless from being unable to get comfortable, waking up each ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes. The flareups are a fact of life for me and will not be reduced over the comingmonths. At the minute it is not crippling and while the limit of my capability is being tested again, there is a definite purpose in the effort. For some time now I have been feeling a little more power is available in myswing and recent experiments in practise have not refuted that. In the coaching last week I was instructed to release the subconscious restrictions on my swing towards the end of the session. This was done and the distanceand accuracy off the tee was delivered without any effort.

What is required now it to develop the practise routine to incorporate the same build up to being able to hit the ball like that more often. It was a combination of all the coachingand repetition of strokes on the range that day which allowed me to produce the shots I have been working towards. It is not going to be easy and I will have to gradually build up to the level desired. Will not be doing anythingalong these lines for a few weeks at the minute until I have the physical condition to be able to push the limits again. Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all”

13/5/12 Sunday. This morning is not a comfortable one at the minute, after playing my handicap matchplay yesterday. The various broken bits in my body are letting me know thatthey are not amused with the continuing excercise. The physical discomfort is fighting a losing battle in keeping me off the golf course though, as I have had worse. Don’t mistake this as a motivation mind set on my part,been there done that many years ago and well past it as an incentive method.

Whilst treating the problems this morning with my tens machine in preparing to play 18 holes today there was only one reason for persevering. Not the obsession with playing thegame at all, it is the fact that the swing set up and execution I use now will not cause any hurt. This is a major benefit from the coaching in January and it was again highlighted with the coaching session last Wednesday.The new established stance takes away all of the pyhsical misdirection of energy from the previously inefficient technique, cobbled together in accommodating various body action limitations. It did take eighteen months orso of getting fitter and used to playing golf shots for my body to be able to do what the coaching professional was showing me.

The winning result in the matchplay yesterday (3 up with one to play) was a testament to the previous month of preparation. Truth is that I am approaching this golfing seasonwith a definite pre-Tournament plan that starts months in advance of the actual rounds. This is an expansion of the Southern Ports tournament training and coaching that has been so successful for me in the past three seasons.Looking at my golfing as a football club, except that one person is the team, coach and president. Whilst a better analogy is possibly as a race horse. I choose football as a reference to how many people are involved in supercoachcompetitions for league teams, yet would not put as much forethought into their own golf competition rounds.

The opponent I played yesterday is going to be a single digit player, just got his handicap and started on twenty. It took me a a year to get to that handicap figure. Victorycame from the planning in the past month the result came from putting the ball in the hole and a few game playing errors on my opponents behalf. Giving him a stroke on eight holes and finishing with 84 off the stick, 32 puttsand winning was a good result. Apart from one hole with a triple bogey seven (lost ball), the rest were pars and bogies and two birdies on my card. It was the the effortless ease of taking my swing, accuracy off the tee andfairway which gave my game a good base. Without the inconsistent shots of past weeks, no more longer scrambling to save par. It was vital to play the practise swing before shots to reinforce the corrections from the weekscoaching lesson.

Playing again today will be a good opportunity to maintain the two days consecutive competition experience that has been a major benefit this season. I really want to test myselfout physically and technically in a competition round today chasing a par or better round score. It is a bit of an added pressure to the game that needs to be explored. The matchplay group that I am in includes two formerclub champions, tuning my game is a must to have a real crack at beating these guys. Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all”