My Golfing Passion...

29/5/12 Tuesday. It is a great feeling when your golf game begins to deliver the rewards of practise and coaching. This is not about the ‘Eureka” moment asis often raved about when hitting that first perfect shot or realisation as is usually the lead to some miracle golf tip that is on offer to you now online. Having experienced that enjoyment and appreciation of the first timeperfect shot it is good. Doing it consistently and also getting the benefit of seeing your handicap drop that is great. At the minute my game is steadily establishing a new paradigm as the gateway to single figures. The changesare small but significant and that is something that has to be acknowledged. Patience is a definite virtue when playing golf and working on improvement.

Consistent golf games do not come from chopping and changing practise routines and a new coaching
example every time you see an answer to a golf thought on offer. For myself the gradual physical improvement over the past three seasons has delivered a handicapthat is twenty three less and a game bordering on breaking eighty. Equipment wise there is still a lot of experimentation on my part using different irons, putters and drivers in practise. The logic is that if my techniqueis correct then I should be able to get good scores, even with equipment that is not best suited to me.

At the minute I am using two different drivers and they both deliver similar results with one being much longer and the other more accurate. With the latest coachingsession improvements becoming more established the distance is not changing as much as the accuracy is between the two drivers. Used in tandem during practise the longer driver in my hands is becoming more accurate and thatis very encouraging. Iron wise the consistency is again repeated with controlled shots that are accurate and long with the AP2’s, a set of clubs that I had put away due to a lack of the aforementioned aspects. Now thatthis is possible again with the AP2’s I am getting the benefits of the extra distance that has always been the big advantage from them.

Lastly it has been a period of experimenting between putter design. The practise sessions utilising the two different designs revealed a major improvement withthe mallet ‘two ball’ style that previously was so erratic it has been in the locker for two seasons. The coaching in January improved my putting style significantly. The mallet putter was so often two or three club lengthsshort of the hole or past it previously. Now the distance is in the hole or past it, the practise sessions using it really make me work harder on accuracy with it though. For some reason, it is so precise that a mishits ofmillimetres on the face of the club and I know the ball will miss the hole.

After the struggle of the past fortnight with physical infirmity, now the treatment is taking effect and I am not suffering all is good. Together with the improvementin swing and the mental exercise of using a variety of tools in practise I can start to build my game up. This preparation is for a few events in June, Handicap Foursomes Championship, third placing last season, then the finalround of my defence of the Caledonian Inn Trophy. The last weekend of June is the 23-24th and the Keith Open Tournament. A full dancecard on the golf course coming up it will be fun, Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit‘em Straight all”