Blog Comments

I'm exactly the same. Each hole just blends with the next, and by rounds end the entire course becomes a blur. I'd be lucky to note 5 significant areas of the course, and if I did, I wouldn't remember what hole they were on.

Trappings of a hacker I suppose. Taking in a course and having a plan of attack for every hole is harder to do when each shot has the potential to go anywhere other than where you really want it to. Taking note of course layout's and bunker placements is probably only something that starts naturally happening when you're consistently hitting the shots you want.

Until then, you just have to take it as it comes.

Pius the beer consumption might have a little to do with it!

Not bad, actually. 33 points on a windy day, which was a 15 stroke improvement on my last round, and still felt like I have plenty of improvement there. I birdied the first and had a tap-in par on the second, so for a while there I thought I had exorcised all of my golfing demons. Not quite, but I'm pretty happy.

I got myself back to a straight ball-flight with the driver and would have hit around 10 fairways. Over the moon about that. Ball striking was much improved. Irons were 50-50, with strong winds and a bit of bad luck making things look worse than they were. Three good shots just clipped the edge of greenside bunkers on the way down. Chipping was OK, but I realised that I hadn't really spent much time practicing the tricky 20-30m chips that are probably the ones that you really need to get good at to score, so that's something I'll focus on a bit more. Left a few of them short and still had 2 or 3 putts. Chipping with an 8-iron really makes me feel a bit more confident though, because I know that even my worst effort is still likely to end up in a puttable spot.

What else? The lowlights. Worst hole for the day was a short par 4 where I hit a good drive, duffed a chip and then played green-tennis, whacking the ball past the hole twice with bladed chips and then putted around a bunker because I was too embarrassed to try again. Also topped one tee shot - on a short par 4 when I decided to be smart and use a hybrid off the tee. Nothing worse than playing safe and stuffing it up. I also played two very good bunker shots and missed both 3 foot putts for the sand saves.

Oh, and my putting was very poor. Missed a lot of gettable ones and a couple of gimmes. Might need to pull the putter out in the loungeroom again for a couple of weeks.

Turns out they have moved the club champs to November, so I expect I'll be well into the next trough by the time that rolls around.

+1

How'd it go?

Mate know how you feel,put a second shot on a par 4 about a metre away. The rest of the day all the wheels fell off the truck. But I am a sucker for this game again and that one shot keeps me going for another week.

Andy, that's what I'd like to do, but historically I've never had much touch and I'm not too good at hitting 'soft' with a less lofted club if you know what I mean. I tend to bash them accidentally or I get scared of bashing them and quit on the stroke. That was my reason for getting a 52-56-60 wedge setup - I was having more luck when I could have more of a swing at the ball and know that it wasn't going too far. I had a system where I always took the same quarter swing and just varied the club. It really worked for a while, but I'm starting to doubt the wisdom in that - especially at Queenscliff where lots of the chipping is off really sandy lies that tend to disintegrate as soon as the club hits the ground. Very little margin for error in this approach. Maybe I do need to suck it up and do whatever it takes to learn to bump and run. At my age it's time I started playing like a cagey old bloke.

Yoss, that sounds about right. I actually went to the beach the other day and hit some balls off flat sand and noticed that I'm often hitting before the ball or and rarely after it. I usually just look at the ball, so I'll concentrate more on hitting in front of it and see if it makes a difference. If I don't duff anything in my next round I'll send you blokes a beer each.

Best metaphor ever!

As an 18 capper i am fully qualified to offer advice but i've been having a lot of success chipping with a narrow stance, grip right down, hands forward and really focussing on hitting the ground just in front of the ball. seems to be working.

Try a hybrid or 7 iron around the greens, and see how that goes.

Sage advice Westy. The damage had been done before the wind got up in this case, but that's still the way I'll be looking at it. None of the blokes I played with had more than 28 points, and there were a few others in the clubhouse looking worse for wear too.

Yoss, I've actually got a chipper at home (should whack it up on the pro shop to see who leans that way, actually). It is sitting in my closet, just waiting to come out, but it's not going to happen because I'm determined to convince myself that 3 wedges are the way to go. What a lovely metaphor.

Queenscliffe + wind + handicap cards = a difficult day. Don't sweat it LL. Tomorrow is another day.

I'd go the chicken route before a chipper. Chippers are very ghey.

Oh, forgot another highlight - one bloke snapped one of his graphite shafted clubs. No witnesses. He claims that he stepped on it accidentally, but we weren't buying that. Is there a penalty for that?

You're right Andy. I hit up BrisVegas for some tips before the game and that's pretty much what he told me as well.

As for the six iron approach, it wasn't a mammoth drive from memory - I still had 155 or so to go to get there. I'm usually pretty handy with the driver, I probably drive like a single figure player when I'm playing well, but my problems begin immediately after it goes back in the bag and I get progressively worse as I get nearer to the hole. One thing I did find at Brookwater was that I was playing lots of approach shots from good drives with the longer irons, which I'm not really used to doing. Makes the game much harder for me, as I'm really lacking precision once I get above a 7 iron. Direction is iffy, and I really don't seem to have a good handle on distance these days.

Actually, Redcliffe was a sneaky long course in a few places too, but that could have been because I played a lot of second shots after hitting trees. Both courses left me wishing I carried a fairway wood a couple of times for tee shots and approach shots.

Sound like a great trip.

Brookwater is fine if you hit it straight off the tee, hit the greens and putt well.....

I get nowhere near hitting the green on the 18th. I don't know how you manage to hit a 6 iron into it.

John Holms? lol. Poor bugger. As a policeman he probably would have had to walk into pubs wearing that on a name tag too.

Not sure if the junior stuff is still running, but I hope they are - Queenscliff are pretty keen to get new members in, so the junior route should be one they are looking at. Somebody was telling me that they have an 'OzKick' style golf skills program that runs at Ocean Grove for 8-12 year olds, but I don't know the full details or whether or not that runs elsewhere.

I was a member there for 3 years when I was a junior. They where the best club for juniors as they did alot for them. Robin Holms was the junior coordinater back then, and funny thing is, is that here husband was the captian of the club and his name was John Holms.

True that was his name, he is a copper.

Queenscliff. I'm blaming the sandy lies for all my duffed chips.

What course are you playing at?

Its ok my first rounds where absolute shite! in hindsight I shouldn't have chased greens like i did. I think I really should have played all the holes to bogey them. Ie forced layup after drive. Just hit whatever club gets you to 100 out and aim to get up and down for par or bogey.