The picture at the top of this post is my initial view of the course at 8am this morning. Was a little chilly but a gorgeous start to the day ( it rained 10 mins later but only for a few minutes ).
This was my second start as a pro and I was playing on the jamega golf tour in the first of 5 one day winter series comps. I was feeling ok a the sart time approached, I had been hitting putts for about 40 mins and had got a nice read on the pace and how the break was taking. They were very slow putting up any kind of slope but downhill they wanted to roll and roll !!
I went down to the range and loosened the shoulders up with some half wedges before moving through the even number clubs and finally onto some nice full drives, I wasn't striking the ball particularly brilliantly but as my tee time approached there was not too much I could do about it so I decided I would play one club more and just ease back on the swing for a while until I find my flow again.
My tee time was 9:40am and I would be playing with Jamega tour veteran Warren Bennett and relative young un, Luke Joy.
The view up the first hole was lovely, a tricky little par 4 with a raised green and a gentle left hand bend, I was last to tee off and after watching Warren and Luke melt two drives straight down the middle, my squeaky bum was back again :-). I settled down and cracked a decent drive down the left side of the fairway an left 130yrd into the raised green. I was first to play in and took aim slightly right of the flag with a full p/w, the ball screamed away and started to just slightly turn into the flag, landing about 15ft away ;-).
I walked up to the green and had a look at the putt, not what I wanted to be honest, a slippery 15ft downhill, right to left breaker :-(. Not being the most confident putter in the world I was not overly happy stood over this puppy. I tried to remember all the teachings so far from Jedi Dave ( Dave hicks putting ) and just get a good roll on the ball.
I played my shot, a lovely stroke and watched as the ball rolled down the hill and turned towards te hole, just catching the left side and dropping in for a nice birdie !! Get in, -1 through 1 ? That will do for me ;-).
Luke also rolled in a lovely birdie putt on the first and followed it with 9 more and 8 pars !! A massive -10 that boy will be a mega star !! Mark my words ;-)
Anyway a silly pushed shot on the next 2 holes resulted in a bogey and a double and I was +2 through 3 ! Not the start I was expecting after the first but never mind, a long time left to play.
I made a good up and down to save par on 4 but I definitely wasn't striking the ball well at all :-(. I was putting well but just couldn't get comfy with my longer clubs. I threw away another handful of shots by getting too friendly with the various water hazards that litter the front nine and stood on the 9th tee I was +7 and had visions of another nightmare like five lakes.
I gave myself a bloody good talking to and gave myself a goal of level par from the 9th to 18th. If I could do that, I would shoot a disappointing 80 but at least I would have proven to myself that I can play out here with these boys without looking a complete idiot. How could I be out here playing crap and not showing disabled golf at its best !!
Now I was on a mission, this was time to see if I had some vestige of mental strength in there somewhere.
On to the 9th we go, a par 5 and a birdie opportunity if I play it right, ok , a nice smooth drive down the middle is called for ! I of course hit it straight left !! Have to play a provisional ball and proceed to put that about 5 yards right of the first one, balls. We head up the hole and my first ball is about 3 yards from yet another hazard but is sitting well and I can get a stance so no real problems, I thank my lucky stars and decide that the best way to let the ball know who is boss is by smacking the living bejesus out of it with a 5 wood ;-). This I did to great effect, leaving myself around 80 yard to the flag. I played my 3rd shot, a lovely little pitch that checked up dead around 3 ft left of the flag and I rolled in the resulting birdie putt and walked off with a smile ;-) I just missed birdie on 10 before dropping 2 shots by bogeying 12 and 13 and I was back to +8, I needed a birdie to play my little even par game but as it was I just couldn't see where it was going to come from ! I made 3 nice solid pars on 14-15-16 and really should of had a birdie on one of them but here I was with 2 holes left and two pars would give me another score in the 80s. I was not the happiest camper. The last two holes are par 5s but now the wind had picked up these were not going to be a piece of cake. I knew I needed a birdie so decided to chase it on 17 and pulled my tee shot a little and blocked myself with some trees on the left side of the fairway. I decided it was another show the ball who is boss moment again and pulled out the trusty 5 wood. I hit an absolute ripper, the ball arced over the offending trees and took a great hop when it hit the fairway leaving me 45 yrds into the flag, with the ball now behaving I played a punchy little wedge and the ball stopped dead around 5 ft right of the flag. This could give me my birdie and I could still shoot 80 (+7) which would mean I accomplished the goal I gave myself. I looked at the putt and as I feel a lot more confident with the Dave Hicks Putter I rolled it into the middle of the hole and there it was, a par on the last for a level par last 10 holes.
The 18th hole at studley wood is stunning. A mid length par 5 with trouble on the shape of bunkers in the driver landing area and a narrow fairway bordered with water both sides, a highly elevated tee box and plenty of wind ! A great view, a bum twitchy finishing hole.
After settling myself on the tee I hit a solid drive down the middle and avoided one lot of trouble.
My second shot was too far for me to reach the green so I decided to lay up around 70-90yrd short of the green. This just happened to be the narrowest point o the fairway with water waiting both sides to gobble up anything not dead centre. I had wind coming straight into and had about 200 to the lay up point I wanted. There was only one choice to be made, had to be the five wood. I stood over the ball and just concentrated on making a good strike on the ball. For once my swing was with me and the ball arced away and came to rest, dead centre, 80yrd from the flag ;-) whew, that is two lots of trouble dealt with, nothing to worry about now.
I looked at the 3rd shot and decided a nice crisp 52deg wedge into the wind should be the right club to play, I lined up and again just concentrated on making a clean strike, the ball headed off towards the green and never looked anything but all over it, the ball landed about 8 ft past the flag, took a small hop forward then the spin took hold and dragged the ball bag to within 2" of the hole !!!! Very nearly a nice eagle 3 to finish but at the very worst it would be another birdie and a finishing 79 ! And the last 10 holes played in -1
Whew, what a relief to find my game when I pushed it , I really enjoyed the game an felt a little better about my own game.
I was treated to a game of the most exquisite golf I have ever had the pleasure to watch as one of my playing partners ( Luke Joy ) went on to shoot 8 pars and 10 birdies in a flawless display that just eclipsed any golfer I have ever seen control a ball , and yes, a big statement I know but I guarantee that he is destined to be one of the countries leading stars in years to come.
So after an up and down day , I was pleased with my fight back but as usual felt I could have done a lot better. Today is however, is a move in the right direction in my opinion. I'm starting to get more used to the longer courses and with some hard winter training I know that the game can improve dramatically and who knows, maybe, I can start stringing a full 18 holes of good golf together :-)
Of course I would like to thank Jamega professional golf tour for another warm welcome and well run comp. and I must compliment studley wood golf club on a fantastic test of golf that the course offers with some of the best greens I have had the pleasure to play on this year. And to think I only live 20 minutes away from this gem !!! I will definitely be playing this track again.
With my mind now firmly fixed in the French open in 12 days, I can feel the start of a training plan forming in my mind which hopefully will iron out a few issues and allow me to claim the overall EDGA Order Of Merit 2012 in Paris.
I will be updating throughout the week with practice updates and I am going for a round at the world famous Brabazon Course at the Belfry on Friday so I am really looking forward to that. Will be another great test of golf before I head out to take on the albatross course of Paris national ( Ryder cup course )
So till the next time blogbusters
Monk out
X
This was my second start as a pro and I was playing on the jamega golf tour in the first of 5 one day winter series comps. I was feeling ok a the sart time approached, I had been hitting putts for about 40 mins and had got a nice read on the pace and how the break was taking. They were very slow putting up any kind of slope but downhill they wanted to roll and roll !!
I went down to the range and loosened the shoulders up with some half wedges before moving through the even number clubs and finally onto some nice full drives, I wasn't striking the ball particularly brilliantly but as my tee time approached there was not too much I could do about it so I decided I would play one club more and just ease back on the swing for a while until I find my flow again.
My tee time was 9:40am and I would be playing with Jamega tour veteran Warren Bennett and relative young un, Luke Joy.
The view up the first hole was lovely, a tricky little par 4 with a raised green and a gentle left hand bend, I was last to tee off and after watching Warren and Luke melt two drives straight down the middle, my squeaky bum was back again :-). I settled down and cracked a decent drive down the left side of the fairway an left 130yrd into the raised green. I was first to play in and took aim slightly right of the flag with a full p/w, the ball screamed away and started to just slightly turn into the flag, landing about 15ft away ;-).
I walked up to the green and had a look at the putt, not what I wanted to be honest, a slippery 15ft downhill, right to left breaker :-(. Not being the most confident putter in the world I was not overly happy stood over this puppy. I tried to remember all the teachings so far from Jedi Dave ( Dave hicks putting ) and just get a good roll on the ball.
I played my shot, a lovely stroke and watched as the ball rolled down the hill and turned towards te hole, just catching the left side and dropping in for a nice birdie !! Get in, -1 through 1 ? That will do for me ;-).
Luke also rolled in a lovely birdie putt on the first and followed it with 9 more and 8 pars !! A massive -10 that boy will be a mega star !! Mark my words ;-)
Anyway a silly pushed shot on the next 2 holes resulted in a bogey and a double and I was +2 through 3 ! Not the start I was expecting after the first but never mind, a long time left to play.
I made a good up and down to save par on 4 but I definitely wasn't striking the ball well at all :-(. I was putting well but just couldn't get comfy with my longer clubs. I threw away another handful of shots by getting too friendly with the various water hazards that litter the front nine and stood on the 9th tee I was +7 and had visions of another nightmare like five lakes.
I gave myself a bloody good talking to and gave myself a goal of level par from the 9th to 18th. If I could do that, I would shoot a disappointing 80 but at least I would have proven to myself that I can play out here with these boys without looking a complete idiot. How could I be out here playing crap and not showing disabled golf at its best !!
Now I was on a mission, this was time to see if I had some vestige of mental strength in there somewhere.
On to the 9th we go, a par 5 and a birdie opportunity if I play it right, ok , a nice smooth drive down the middle is called for ! I of course hit it straight left !! Have to play a provisional ball and proceed to put that about 5 yards right of the first one, balls. We head up the hole and my first ball is about 3 yards from yet another hazard but is sitting well and I can get a stance so no real problems, I thank my lucky stars and decide that the best way to let the ball know who is boss is by smacking the living bejesus out of it with a 5 wood ;-). This I did to great effect, leaving myself around 80 yard to the flag. I played my 3rd shot, a lovely little pitch that checked up dead around 3 ft left of the flag and I rolled in the resulting birdie putt and walked off with a smile ;-) I just missed birdie on 10 before dropping 2 shots by bogeying 12 and 13 and I was back to +8, I needed a birdie to play my little even par game but as it was I just couldn't see where it was going to come from ! I made 3 nice solid pars on 14-15-16 and really should of had a birdie on one of them but here I was with 2 holes left and two pars would give me another score in the 80s. I was not the happiest camper. The last two holes are par 5s but now the wind had picked up these were not going to be a piece of cake. I knew I needed a birdie so decided to chase it on 17 and pulled my tee shot a little and blocked myself with some trees on the left side of the fairway. I decided it was another show the ball who is boss moment again and pulled out the trusty 5 wood. I hit an absolute ripper, the ball arced over the offending trees and took a great hop when it hit the fairway leaving me 45 yrds into the flag, with the ball now behaving I played a punchy little wedge and the ball stopped dead around 5 ft right of the flag. This could give me my birdie and I could still shoot 80 (+7) which would mean I accomplished the goal I gave myself. I looked at the putt and as I feel a lot more confident with the Dave Hicks Putter I rolled it into the middle of the hole and there it was, a par on the last for a level par last 10 holes.
The 18th hole at studley wood is stunning. A mid length par 5 with trouble on the shape of bunkers in the driver landing area and a narrow fairway bordered with water both sides, a highly elevated tee box and plenty of wind ! A great view, a bum twitchy finishing hole.
After settling myself on the tee I hit a solid drive down the middle and avoided one lot of trouble.
My second shot was too far for me to reach the green so I decided to lay up around 70-90yrd short of the green. This just happened to be the narrowest point o the fairway with water waiting both sides to gobble up anything not dead centre. I had wind coming straight into and had about 200 to the lay up point I wanted. There was only one choice to be made, had to be the five wood. I stood over the ball and just concentrated on making a good strike on the ball. For once my swing was with me and the ball arced away and came to rest, dead centre, 80yrd from the flag ;-) whew, that is two lots of trouble dealt with, nothing to worry about now.
I looked at the 3rd shot and decided a nice crisp 52deg wedge into the wind should be the right club to play, I lined up and again just concentrated on making a clean strike, the ball headed off towards the green and never looked anything but all over it, the ball landed about 8 ft past the flag, took a small hop forward then the spin took hold and dragged the ball bag to within 2" of the hole !!!! Very nearly a nice eagle 3 to finish but at the very worst it would be another birdie and a finishing 79 ! And the last 10 holes played in -1
Whew, what a relief to find my game when I pushed it , I really enjoyed the game an felt a little better about my own game.
I was treated to a game of the most exquisite golf I have ever had the pleasure to watch as one of my playing partners ( Luke Joy ) went on to shoot 8 pars and 10 birdies in a flawless display that just eclipsed any golfer I have ever seen control a ball , and yes, a big statement I know but I guarantee that he is destined to be one of the countries leading stars in years to come.
So after an up and down day , I was pleased with my fight back but as usual felt I could have done a lot better. Today is however, is a move in the right direction in my opinion. I'm starting to get more used to the longer courses and with some hard winter training I know that the game can improve dramatically and who knows, maybe, I can start stringing a full 18 holes of good golf together :-)
Of course I would like to thank Jamega professional golf tour for another warm welcome and well run comp. and I must compliment studley wood golf club on a fantastic test of golf that the course offers with some of the best greens I have had the pleasure to play on this year. And to think I only live 20 minutes away from this gem !!! I will definitely be playing this track again.
With my mind now firmly fixed in the French open in 12 days, I can feel the start of a training plan forming in my mind which hopefully will iron out a few issues and allow me to claim the overall EDGA Order Of Merit 2012 in Paris.
I will be updating throughout the week with practice updates and I am going for a round at the world famous Brabazon Course at the Belfry on Friday so I am really looking forward to that. Will be another great test of golf before I head out to take on the albatross course of Paris national ( Ryder cup course )
So till the next time blogbusters
Monk out
X