2013 Handicap Watch

First topic message reminder :

Right - all you competition addicts, a thread to share our handicap adjustments (perhaps some tales of woe...hopefully some tales of banditry) this year. Geeky or what

Dunno, only knew the rule after reading about it here last week. Was really wierd, the other ball must have become dislodged with my first effort and popped up. Red mist ensured I didn't check again...

Improving your lie, practising on the course, take your pick.

Played solid this evening but holed just about everything on the greens, and a handy chip in too - result? - my best ever medal score at the home club, and a handy 0.4 cut to lowest ever exact- 4.6. 2nd in the overall medal, won my section and the scratch, in the 2s, so a profitable evening!


07 AUG___73n68___CSS/72___+1____-4____t2/148___-0.4 = 4.6
02 AUG___73n67___CSS/71___+2____-4_____1/48____-0.5 = 5.0 (away)
31 JUL____77n71___CSS/69___+8____+2____t17/49___0.0 = 5.5 (away)
27 JUL____77n72___CSS/69___+8____+3____t22/66___+0.1 = 5.5 (away)
22 JUN____80n75___CSS/72___+8____+3____t33/72___+0.1 = 5.4
16 JUN____88n83___CSS/72___+16___+11___34/37____+0.1 = 5.3
15 JUN____83n78___CSS/73___+10___+5____t56/109___+0.1 = 5.2
08 JUN____80n75___CSS/75___+5____EV____t18/141___0.0 = 5.1 (away)
01 JUN____78n73___CSS/72___+6____+1____t16/163___0.0 = 5.1
29 MAY____85n80___CSS/72___+13___+8____t75/120___+0.1 = 5.1
25 MAY____78n73___CSS/74___+4____-1____t18/153___-0.1 = 5.0 (away)
04 MAY____78n73___CSS/73___+5____EV____t15/155___0.0 = 5.1
27 APR____78n73___CSS/70___+8____+3____t22/73 ___+0.1 = 5.1 (away)
20 APR____75n70___CSS/73___+2____-3____t4/151____-0.3 = 5.0
03 APR____81n76___CSS/74___+7____+2____t20/81 ___+0.1 = 5.3
Starting 5.2

barra

Are you Mav, and when are you picking up the Porsche cayenne turbo?

Nice one barra, good shooting. Keep it up!

It was my lowest medal round mac, not a course record  
Cheers shclaff :

HOw's the short game coming along Barra?

Solid thanks s_r. Still get the occasional duff but that's normally down to a bit of indecision now rather than fear. Good last night, holed one chip and got up and down 3 out of the other 4 occasions. Haven't been keeping stats, but probably averaging about 40%+ up and down over the last couple of months which is an enormous improvement from the beginning of the year when it was probably more like 10%.

Midweek medal yesterday and back down to 9 thanks to shooting 1 under my handicap.

Strange round really - hit 5 GIR and made birdie on 3 of them. Bizarrely 2 were on 400+ yard par 4 (SI 2 & 3) playing into the wind - hit rescue to about 8 feet on one and 3 wood to about 15 feet on the other.

Annoyingly bogeyed both back 9 par 5 after being on the fringe in 3 both times and 3 jerking - one was very frustrating as I was only about 30 yards short in 2 and flubbed my pitch

Still 0.4 lower than I started the season and my aim of being off 8. something is still within reach having 2/3 medal rounds left to play

Definitely a what could have been yesterday. +1 through 14, but went bogey, bogey, double and Par to finish with a 77 less 4 for 73. CSS 74 so down to 3.6 back where I started for the season. Was struggling to finish with the light and 15 & 17 are tough holes but frustrating aint the word! 

Havent posted on this thread for a while but thought id share an update.

Only managed 8 comps since start of may (was hoping to play 3 a month as we have at least one a week) .... but results have been (just checked howdidido)
handicap 6.0 to start (par 72)

78 net 72 = 5.8
81 net 75 = 5.9
79 net 73 = 5.9
76 net 70 = 5.7
32 points = 5.8
76 net 70 = 5.4
33 points = 5.5
77 net 71 = 5.2 (got cut .3 due to taking a 9 on the par 4 7th)

Had hoped to get out and play in the mid week medal but weather is rubbish.

Scratch match this weekend, been enjoying playing Scratch team this year but it has caused me to miss a few comps. Iv played 3 scratch team games and haven't lost a singles yet, 2 wins and a half (going to post a thread about that one!)

My goal for this year (as I only picked up a club again for the first time in 5 years in March) was to get down to 4.
I think that will be a struggle with only about 6 comps left but im hopeful! Id love to break par but at the moment my short game isn't good enough. Going to work hard on my putting over the next few months and hopefully have a crack at the club champs next year!!

What were you before your golfing hiatus oneorthree?
1 or 3??
Sounds like you rediscovered your form pretty quickly - nice playing.

My last handicap before May this year was 1.3 in 2005, I played off scratch for a couple of seasons.

Getting there slowly. Hit the ball a fair bit further than I used to and fairly straight.
My short game is the real problem; I don't hole many putts and have been missing from 4-5 feet quite a lot.
Used to be a great putter but really struggling now.
If I can sort out my putting and my wedge play (as I rarely put it inside 12feet when I have a wedge or less) then I think I can get to 3or2 by the end of next season
I HOPE!

Decent round yesterday - nice birdie on 1, good drive, solid 4iron pin high and a good up and down. Poor bogey on two, but hit a lovely drive and 8iron on 3, narrowly missed out on a birdie - one of those irritating horse shoe's with the putt from 15 feet (had an even worse horseshoe later on 13 from much closer... ). poor drive on the next, but back in position, but fired an 8iron over the pin at the back of the green leaving a tricky up and down - bogey. great approach into 5, leaving a left to right trickler down the slope from no more than ten feet. trickled it by, lipped out and kept rolling, missed the tricky one back urgh - another bogey. good up and down on the next to save par, but another poor drive and another bogey at 7. followed up with another on 8 after just catching a nasty bounce off the green, i hit a decent chip to 3 foot but missed...got to keep the head down... another bogey. poor drive on 9, but a good 6 iron from 170 set up a 15 foot birdie attempt - missed. bunker on ten - nice recovery but missed the resulting 6 footer - thought i had it! +5 after 10 then, and spiralling a bit. thankfully the rot was stopped, missed 1 fairway and hit every GIR for the last 8 holes. unfortunately my birdie putts all stayed above ground. quite pleased to have finished strongly - the day's highlights, some really good fairway splitting drives on 1, 3, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, and a monster up 18 to finish. Slightly frustrated at the same time as before stepping onto 18 i miscalculated that i needed a birdie to finish +3 and earn the 0.2 cut i need to get to 4hcp. smashed the drive leaving barely a 60 yard flick, but worked out on my way down that a 3 would only get me to 4.5. still, hit a lovely pitch to 8 feet, and despite missing the putt, couldn't be too hard on myself. hopefully saving all them birdies and holed putts for the medal on wednesday.


24 AUG___77n72___CSS/72___+5____EV____t19/140___0.0 = 4.6
07 AUG___73n68___CSS/72___+1____-4____t2/148___-0.4 = 4.6
02 AUG___73n67___CSS/71___+2____-4_____1/48____-0.5 = 5.0 (away)
31 JUL____77n71___CSS/69___+8____+2____t17/49___0.0 = 5.5 (away)
27 JUL____77n72___CSS/69___+8____+3____t22/66___+0.1 = 5.5 (away)
22 JUN____80n75___CSS/72___+8____+3____t33/72___+0.1 = 5.4
16 JUN____88n83___CSS/72___+16___+11___34/37____+0.1 = 5.3
15 JUN____83n78___CSS/73___+10___+5____t56/109___+0.1 = 5.2
08 JUN____80n75___CSS/75___+5____EV____t18/141___0.0 = 5.1 (away)
01 JUN____78n73___CSS/72___+6____+1____t16/163___0.0 = 5.1
29 MAY____85n80___CSS/72___+13___+8____t75/120___+0.1 = 5.1
25 MAY____78n73___CSS/74___+4____-1____t18/153___-0.1 = 5.0 (away)
04 MAY____78n73___CSS/73___+5____EV____t15/155___0.0 = 5.1
27 APR____78n73___CSS/70___+8____+3____t22/73 ___+0.1 = 5.1 (away)
20 APR____75n70___CSS/73___+2____-3____t4/151____-0.3 = 5.0
03 APR____81n76___CSS/74___+7____+2____t20/81 ___+0.1 = 5.3
Starting 5.2

Back up to 7 again...yet another big comp (36 hole Club Champs at my 2nd club) down the toilet
Preparations going in were ideal again, good form earlier in the week (had a 2 over gross 72 on Monday on an away course) and resisted the temptation to over egg the pudding in the latter half of the week.
Started single, double, double, par, double, double (even the par brought disappointment as I missed a 3 footer for birdie). So head completely gone after 6 holes. Shocking 88 morning round. Better afternoon round of 79 which will make the buffer.

So...where does the ability to swing a club go when carrying a card in hand? It's NOT nerves, I don't feel nervous. I've won matchplay titles (singles twice at my home club, 4bbb & 4somes at my 2nd club and in the latter stages of those I felt nerves and controlled them well). The course wasn't playing hard (3 of the 4 par 5s were reachable in 2 - indeed I wen't through the back of 2 of them in 2). Actually for the most part I was swinging the club well, It was like every error was a double bogey. Course Management wise I had a plan off the tee and I stuck to it. I'm left mystified as to where/why all the shots dribbled away. Seriously beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, my 2nd course just isn't my type of course, it just doesn't suit my eye.

Anyway...back up to 6.5 so will be going to Carnoustie next week for the Tassie as a 7

Jas it is mental. You denial will only prolong the pain.

McLaren wrote:Jas it is mental.  You denial will only prolong the pain.

Of course it's mental...I know that much. What I'm saying though is that it's not nervy mental (or at least I don't feel it is - I don't stand over the first teeshot with butterflies in stomach, my hands don't shake over a 3 foot birdie putt). Is it lack of concentration mental? Probably, which suggests I need to put a lot more into developing a consistent routine.

I basically have all the shots, I can fade, draw, punch, bump & run, drop & stop. Whilst I'm not what I would call long, I'm not short either (slightly above average I would say). I execute the shot I want to execute a high percentage of the time (clearly not enough in big comps where the %age success rate drops).

It is cracking under pressure mental to be more precise.

McLaren wrote:It is cracking under pressure mental to be more precise.

Of course having been there and watched my every shot yesterday you'll be able to expand in great detail on your assumption...oh wait...you weren't there. Still you can still expand, just a few further pieces of complete and utter guess work should do it.

Jas it is obviously not a great feeling to accept you bottle it more than others with a card in hand but coming to terms with this might help you score better. I am not saying this to be hurtful or wind you up but because it is the most likely case.

Just because you don't feel nerves does not mean you should ignore an obvious symptom of nerves. In this case scoring very poorly with a card in hand compared to bounce games.

McLaren wrote:Jas it is obviously not a great feeling to accept you bottle it more than others with a card in hand but coming to terms with this might help you score better. I am not saying this to be hurtful or wind you up but because it is the most likely case.  

Just because you don't feel nerves does not mean you should ignore an obvious symptom of nerves.  In this case scoring very poorly with a card in hand compared to bounce games.

OK...lets go with your theory that it's bottle, rather than pollute the Handicap Watch thread tho, I'll start a new one.

Ok, sounds like a good idea Jas. No doubt we can sort you out.

JAS - having played with you, it's not bottle. I sometimes find, dismiss this if you wish, that I am not nervous enough stood on the first tee! I know that when the butterflies are fluttering, and that is forcing me to concentrate I play better. I am genuinely the worst partner in a friendly fourball, because however much banter, needle, size of the wager, it really doesn't matter and my concentration drifts. I have to feel a bit "tight" to get the best out of my golf. Just possible you may be too relaxed - or is that just bunkum?

Hi Puligny, Thanks for the observation, if I thought I could gain by going along with Mac's theory then I'd entertain it but I'm sure it's not bottle either

You could actually have a very good point, re not being nervous enough because when I have felt nerves (in matchplay finals) I've came through (been in 4 finals, won them all).

Closest I've come to nerves in a medal round was on the Burnside in the Tassie at Carnoustie 2 years ago. Never thought about what was happening until I birdied 15 and the guy who was marking my card said "F..... d'you realise you're level par with 3 to play?" "Well I do now!!" Those 3 holes there were nerves yes but never felt out of control...safe Par 3, middle of the green, lag up, tap in Par. The horrendously difficult Par 4 17th, got into trouble but sunk a 10 footer for bogey. On 18 its a drivable Par 4 but with OOB all the way down the right. Playing partners looked away when I pulled out the driver but I was so confident of nailing one (why change my game plan?). Put it green high, chipped on, lipped out for birdie but a tap in par for a one over gross (I was off 8 at the time). Whilst I loved that round and what I achieved (I had the 5th best gross out of 350 over the 2 medal days on the Burnside that year), I do wonder now if it raised my expectation level too high..."well if I can do it at Carnoustie, I can do it anywhere" theory. On the one hand its a confidence booster but on the other hand it's a very high bar to get back above. Other courses, particularly my own 2, I should be ripping it up, I'm not though. I can go to Muirfield, shoot my handicap, N Berwick and beat it, Your place and beat it....yet come home for a comp...and flop. Too relaxed, blase, causing concentration lapses, could well be the issue. Be interesting to see what I shoot on the Burnside next Monday, or indeed on the Championship next Tuesday.

Aren't you captain at one of your clubs JAS? Or is that next year? Maybe that has something to do with it?

No Davie...Captains Curse is indeed next year's excuse

Could be as simple as because you are so prepared you just expect to play well and as a result don't concentrate enough until it's to late?

Nay Bother wrote:Could be as simple as because you are so prepared you just expect to play well and as a result don't concentrate enough until it's to late?

Yep I can see that theory as well, there seems to be a pick up around the point I get to the threshold of missing the buffer...which of course is way too late.

JAS - obviously I have no idea about your game and so these are just the musings I came up with given it sounds like you generally have the ability to do what you want to do with the ball more often than not.

I don't think it sounds like a bottle issue as you seem to demonstrate ability to go away and plan and execute so you can play to your handicap (or better) which indicates the bottle is if anything a strong suit. It sounds like there is something you do (or don't do) at home that contrasts to away.

On that basis perhaps there is a sub conscious over confidence due to familiarity on your own track(s)? As you say you have a game plan for a lap, maybe familiarity of your place leads to an over aggressive plan at your own place versus your away comps? Maybe even a simple thing like your club(s) tricking up pins/course a bit for big comps?

Or you just have "one of those days" and it happens to co-incide with big comps.

Well pleased with my round today, a win and a likely 1.2 shot cut to 7.9.

Almost went up to 11 but somehow I found form and shot +6 and 2 under CSS so back to 10.0 which is where I began the season.
1 medal left to play in.

A stableford of minimal activity. Putts not going for me, shots dropped on relatively easy holes, parred all my shot holes. 34 points and point 1. 5.0 (net +0.4 for the year). All gone a little bit south over the last few weeks and the spectre of the cold, windy and wet winter spectacle beginning to peek over the hilltops.

74 net 69 for a 0.4 cut (CSS was 73) yesterday

4.8 now.

Cant work out if im happy or disappointed with the round. I was +3 after 6 (under clubbed it into the 2nd and it plugged against the face leaving me with a double bogey, then went long on the 6th and despite a great flop shot I missed the resulting 8 footer.)
Birdied the 7th and 8th with 2 excellent 9 irons to about 10 feet on each.
Birdied the 10th (reachable par 5 down wind) driver 5 iron and 2 putts. Then just a couple of bogeys on 15/16. 15 is a long par 3 into the wind and I holed a good 6footer for 4 after airmailing the green with my 2 iron. Accepted a bogey at 16 after pulling my drive and being blocked out for the green.
Another missed green on the par 3 last, but recovered well with a good chip for a tap in par.

Almost all dropped shots were due to mis clubbing it. The wind wasn't massive but I seemed to either go long or short on quite a few holes.

Putting has been pretty bad lately but I ended up with 29 putts and only missed one putt under 5feet.

A few more competitions over the next month, hopefully finish the season as a 4 handicapper.

Last medal round of the year that I can play in and looking for a decent round to achieve my goal of ending the year off 8.something (9.3 before yesterday's round).

Haven't played for a while due to holidays and work so no high expectations and swiftly lowered by dropping shots on the first 2. After that though played level par for the last 16 to shoot 71 gross net 62. Won the medal and got cut to 7.9 which I'm well happy with - lowest handicap I have ever held.

Didn't feel like I did anything exceptionally well - only hit 4 fairways but when I missed it was mostly only by inches/feet as opposed to yards; hit 11 greens but didn't feel like my irons were particularly crisp; couple of good up and downs and one putt holed over 10 feet with 30 putts in total. Certainly not complaining and work to do over the winter to improve further.

Bizarrely, have also shot 71 once before in a medal and also started with 2 bogeys.

74 (net 69) CSS 72

.3 cut to 4.5 now

A fairly non descript round. 9 regulation Pars (greens had been hollow tined making putting a lottery) only had one birdie putt inside 10feet which was more a misread than the greens.

10 is a par 5 which is always reachable with a mid/long iron and a nice start to the back 9.
Not so nice start when you duck hook one off the tee. penalty drop (unplayable) 6iron, wedge to 2 feet and escaped with a par

A few more nondescript pars then a 3 putt bogey on 15. 16 another reachable par 5..... Again not so reachable when you hook one in the trees!
Lost ball, 3 off the tee (straight down the fairway... Why is it that hitting 3 off the tee is so easy?) 4iron front right, 2 putt bogey.
Sand save on the last from a dodgy lie was nice.

Not too displeased, no birdies but the greens were impossible after being hollow tinned 2 days before and my putting isn't great at the moment.
3 qualifiers left before winter I believe, im within touching distance of a 4 handicap which would help me enter a few decent local opens next year.

New putter and a putting lesson this week. fingers crossed I start holing a few more!

At last handicap going in the right direction! 0.2 off. Very uneventful round, no birdies, twelve pars, one double bogey (the first) and five bogies. 37 points. Only missed one putt under four feet (and that one felt good - must have misread it). New h'cap 7.8 which at least is lower than I started the year at even if playing h'cap is still the same.

.1 back tonight to go to 8 dead, but had putt on the last to hit buffer so not too bad after a terrible start.

My golf has stunk recently. I'm blaming a new job and lack of time but suspect it's not entirely the truth. I've developed an irritating habit of having a treble at some point in every round and missing the buffer zone by one every week.

Up to 6.3 now and the hopes of finishing the season at 5 are gone. Be happy to remain at 6 and this Sunday's 36 hole medal Club Championship and our sadistic head greenkeeper could easily see me up to 7. Always a hope of RO if he makes it really tough I guess.

Results from Sunday only just up, 41 points (and a surprise win) gives me a nice little 0.3 cut to 4.7 (started year at 4.6), this added to the unexpected net level par hold on Saturday (despite being out of sorts) topped off a fairly decent weekend handicap wise.

3 under after 4 last night then played like a muppet for the rest of the round. racked up a 9 on the par 5 8th after duffing my 2 iron 3 times, penalty drop after a splash and another after causing the ball to move when moving some loose debris after one of the crappy 2iron shots. ended up making buffer but another chance for a healthy cut squandered. had 3 eagle putts on the other par 5s but missed them all.

2 comps since I last posted.

Mid week Stableford last Thursday 35 points.
Nothing really to say about the round. Turned in 14 after finishing bogey blob (1 lost ball & 1 penalty drop)
Got going round the back 9, few pars and an birdie then got caught against the lip of a bunker, left it in there in my own footprint then barley got it out. parred the last.

no change (buffer)

Then a medal on Saturday..
the best 18 holes I have put together since returning to golf.
Holed good 10-12 footers on 1,2,4 to get to -3. then a couple of great bunker shots (one fairway one greenside) on 7&8 kept me going.
Turned -3. 2 putt birdie on 10 then a few regulation pars.
Stood 205 yards from Par 5 14th with my 2nd shot. was thinking of an eagle and possibly nicking back the course record I had previously held. turned the shot over a bit and short sided myself but holed a good 8 footer for birdie.
Then I have to say I started "twitching" a bit. Girly 30footer down hill on 15 left me 6 feet short and I missed to go back to -4.
Went with a 2 iron for safety off the tee on 16 which I pull hooked behind a tree. bogey -3. solid pars on the last 2 to finish with a 69 which I was delighted with all things tolled.
-0.8 to 3.7.

Final board competition on Saturday morning (champion of champions thing for medal winners this year) so hoping I can carry on the good form and get down to a 3 handicap.

Iv been hitting about 150 balls a week at the range the last month or so which has given me a lot more consistency. Still prone to a nasty pull hook when I get lazy but wont look at having a lesson until winter.

Really enjoying golf at the minute (which I couldn't say 5-6 months ago when I started playing again!!!)

two excellent front 9s this week followed by two abysmal back 9s. choking on the brink of getting cut to 4 - only one more opportunity before the long winter, and only a p.b. equalling 73 at duddingston will be enough now to sneak to 4.4 - very frustrating.


05 OCT___79n74___CSS/72___+7____+2____t39/147___+0.1 = 4.8
02 OCT___76n71___CSS/72___+4____-1____t12/100___-0.1 = 4.7
18 SEP___80n75___CSS/72___+8____+1____t29/94_____0.0 = 4.8
14 SEP___NR_______CSS/69___NR____NR____t68/84___+0.1 = 4.8 (away)
28 AUG___83n78___CSS/72___+11___+6____t60/116__+0.1 = 4.7
24 AUG___77n72___CSS/72___+5____EV____t19/140___0.0 = 4.6
07 AUG___73n68___CSS/72___+1____-4_____t2/148___-0.4 = 4.6
02 AUG___73n67___CSS/71___+2____-4______1/48____-0.5 = 5.0 (away)
31 JUL____77n71___CSS/69___+8____+2____t17/49____0.0 = 5.5 (away)
27 JUL____77n72___CSS/69___+8____+3____t22/66___+0.1 = 5.5 (away)
22 JUN____80n75___CSS/72___+8____+3____t33/72___+0.1 = 5.4
16 JUN____88n83___CSS/72___+16___+11___34/37____+0.1 = 5.3
15 JUN____83n78___CSS/73___+10___+5____t56/109___+0.1 = 5.2
08 JUN____80n75___CSS/75___+5____EV____t18/141___0.0 = 5.1 (away)
01 JUN____78n73___CSS/72___+6____+1____t16/163___0.0 = 5.1
29 MAY____85n80___CSS/72___+13___+8____t75/120___+0.1 = 5.1
25 MAY____78n73___CSS/74___+4____-1____t18/153___-0.1 = 5.0 (away)
04 MAY____78n73___CSS/73___+5____EV____t15/155___0.0 = 5.1
27 APR____78n73___CSS/70___+8____+3____t22/73 ___+0.1 = 5.1 (away)
20 APR____75n70___CSS/73___+2____-3____t4/151____-0.3 = 5.0
03 APR____81n76___CSS/74___+7____+2____t20/81 ___+0.1 = 5.3
Starting 5.2

I think I might rename myself from JAS to "The Buffer". 4th buffer round in a row since coming back from Carnoustie a month ago. Pretty shocking off the tee to be honest, only 6 greens in reg which is a huge dip in that stat (usually between 10 & 12). But....26 putts!!!..wtf!!! I'd die for that stat every week )

Well what a contrast to yesterday (just a bounce round today rather than a medal tho) 12 greens in reg (more like it) but 36 putts (10 more than yesterday...wtf!!)

Jas, the fact that you're hitting more greens usually means you're going to have a lot more putts. Still easier to 2 putt than get up and down (think this has been discussed before). 12 GIR is pretty good going wotever!

Competition last sunday.
77 net 73 buffer = 3.7

Played a scratch match on the Saturday and played very solid in my singles 11 pars, 2birdies, 1 bogey gave me a 6&4 win. Chap I was playing was a fairly decent golfer but gave me a massive headstart by losing balls on 1,3&6 which put me 4 up through 6 even though I was 1 over.
I was looking forward to sundays medal as iv had some great form lately and thought I might be able to trim my handicap to a 3.

I was level Par after a birdie on 10 and some solid front 9 golf but then came the 11th!!!!!
11 is a monster, 230ish par 3 with thick bushes left and long and deep bunkers short and right. Hit a solid enough 3 iron which caught the right hand bunker, tried to be cute and nip the ball clean to stop it but ended up thinning it into the bushes over the back, found the ball but had to take an unplayable, only advanced it about 10 feet out of there, half duffed my chip and holed from 8 feet for a treble bogey 6!

Was still a bit angry on 12 and pull hooked my 2 iron into trees, chipped out sideways and then instead of playing safe I went for a pin cut tight to the front about 15feet away from the lake) caught my 5 iron a bit fat into the lake, then actually got up and down well from the drop zone for a double bogey 6. parred in for +5 (77) but disappointed on the whole.

Bought a new putter recently and holed a lot of good putts... no monsters but didn't miss anything short which is always pleasing.

Medal Saturday, Medal next sunday, then Autum Stableford following sunday.

3 competitions and im hoping I can get down to 3 again which would mean that I can enter quite a few nice Open competitions and know im fairly safe to not be balloted out on handicap.

Enjoying my golf lately, re-read a couple of old bob rotella books (which had been in the loft for about 7 years!) and have helped me get back to basics some what.
Still prone to a bit of a vicious pull hook on occasion so after this month im going to get some lessons booked in and hopefully practice a lot over the winter.

Bug has got you again 1or3 hasn't it!

What putter did you plumb for?

Went of a Nike Method one, classic shape length etc. Really liked the way it sits behind the ball.
The lad in the American golf was trying to tell me I needed a mallet type putter or some space age looking Nike thing because my stroke is fairly straight and I need something toe weighted blah blah blah. I told him not to worry, he definitely had a sale and just to let me find a putter I liked the look and feel of!
To be fair, I have holed a lot more 5-10 footers than usual (probably about 80%) and it is due not only to feeling confident with a new putter but also due to me focusing on releasing the putter more (as I tended to push a lot of putts and hold the face off.

I have really got the golfing bug again!! start of the season was a struggle as I didn't have a consistent miss but I have practised a fair bit and played at least once a week so am now a lot more confident over the ball.
I was off scratch in 2005 and i now really regret drifting away from the game for all those years.
I will never be a top top amateur now (as im a bit too old and have family / work commitments) but im hoping to get down to somewhere near scratch in the next couple of years and compete at a highish amateur level (county / regional etc)


Went up the range last night and bumped into a lad i used to play Junior golf with who now plays on Europro / jamega. he was off about +4 when he turned pro in 2005 and i remember playing in a junior open where he shot 64,63 to break the course record twice in a day and win by about 15 shots (i had 76,70 and played very well that day) he is stuggling to make any money these days and i asked him what had changed in the last 5-10 years and why he hadn't kicked on to become a solid tour player...
He told me...... i did alright for a few years and played well on the challenge in 07/08 but my new coach told me my swing isn't consistent enough so iv been trying to rebuild it for the past 3 years.........
I didn't actually ask him but in my head i was shouting "What the fkuc? your swing was good enough to get you to +4 and shoot under par for fun at tough courses yet you decide because of what a teaching pro says that your not good enough and need to rebuild a swing"

Madness!! .... however that anecdote has lead to the post im currently putting up on the board!!

Last Medal on Saturday and unfortunately up .1 to finish 3.5 for the season  . Bit of a collapse after looking like getting cut for most of the round and being +3 thru 14 but finished bogey, double, triple and then bogey. Nice.

Started the season at 3.6 so its been a ok, consolidating season but still disappointed I didn't end up off 3 at the end, since at once stage id got down to 2.9. Never mind bit of work through the winter and plenty of hope again in March/April for next year.

72 net 69. -.3 (3.4)

Delighted with a 72 but really a round of what could have been.
Took a 2 iron on the first tee as it was downwind and a driver would be too much club (dogleg right) Proceeded to half shank/half toe slice it, into trees about 100 yards from the tee... queue fits of laughter from chap I was playing with who I have a regular side bet with! started with a double bogey seven but then went: Par, Birdie, Birdie, Par, Birdie, Birdie, par, par to be -2 though 9 (and 5 bits up!!)
Teed off on long par 5 10 in nice dry cloudy weather, 2 putt par from 30ish feet. -3 through 10. Then by the time I got to the par 3 11th the heavens had opened and wind picked up.
Scrambled the waterproofs on and slapped a 3 iron into the rough. Double bogey. got to 15th tee still at -1 despite playing in what felt like a tropical cyclone, standard miss green no up and down. level
Hit one of the shots of my life into 16 (170 yard 7 iron with 15 yards of draw as I was blocked out by trees) to about 6 feet and holed the putt.
Then followed up the fantastic birdie on 16 with quite a decent bogey on 17. pull hooked a 3 wood, took a penalty drop out of unplayable rough. Hit a 9 iron into greenside bunker which plugged, splashed to 25 feet and holed the putt for bogey. Standard Par on the last for a 72.

I haven't played in weather like that since I returned to golf and now remember why I never owned a golf umbrella (because I refuse to play in heavy rain)
Was very please to shoot level par but I curse the gods for changing the weather after 10 holes!!
No idea where the 2 iron shank on the first came from and if it wasn't for that, a rushed slappy tee shot on 11 and a lazy swing on 17 I could have threatened the course record......

Then again, if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

Medal again this sunday, hopefully I can hang onto this decent from for another week!!!