Putting problems?

If you are a golfer and you have problems with your putting. Here is a solution. Play on this course where all the holes are of a more reasonable size.

Irons, all of the same length!

I came across this new idea today. Every golfer has a favourite iron. For me, it is the 8-iron. Imagine now playing with a set of irons, all of the same length as my favourite iron. During my set up, the ball distance from my feet does not change. So, my swing plane remains constant. I can therefore use the same easy swing for all my irons because they have identical shaft lengths and swing weights.

Golf secrets revealed

This video has gone viral on the internet.
http://www.monstergolfswing.com/

Birdie

I almost shot 5 birdies yesterday.

This golfer must have scored quite a few!

New accessaries

Last year my right knee was bothering me a lot. I played mostly 9-holes (half round) instead of the full round of 18 holes. So, early this year I took a break of three months away from golf by going back to Malaysia for CNY and staying a month in Suzhou, to smell the flowers. When I came back to NZ, it was so difficult for me to restart my game again. I was subconsciously looking for excuses not to play: the weather was bad lah, too cold lah, too foggy lah, cannot see the ball lah... It was certainly hard to get up at 7 a.m. when the temperature was single digit. So, one day I found a way to motivate myself to continue playing. I bought a lot of new gear: shoes, trolley and bag. It was a total commitment of NZD775.

I am happy to report that I have succeeded in starting up my game again.  Over the last two weeks, I played the full round of 18-holes, 3 or 4 rounds a week.  Hurray! Credit must certainly go to Kevin Lee who gave me lots of encouragement to continue playing.

Many older golfers, like me, stop playing, not because we are too old or unfit. Usually it is because we cannot accept the fact that we cannot hit them 200 metres off the tee any more. If you hit them 10 metres shorter with the driver (one wood), your ball will not reach the 135M marker on par-4 holes. So, your favourite 5-iron is not enough to put the ball on the green any more! Now you will need to learn to club up and use a 4-iron instead of the 5. The problem is this. Although there is not much

difference between these two clubs, you will find that the slight difference is enough to kill your confidence and ruin your game for ever. On par-3 holes, you can no longer reach the green using your preferred iron. You may even have to learn to become proficient with a 5 wood so that you can hit the ball far enough to reach the par-3 greens! Don't even imagine that you can use a 3-iron because that is the longest iron and hardest to master. Many golfers don't even carry a 3-iron in their bag.

This is terrible. You are losing distance fast and not just with the driver. Golf is now an entirely different game from what you have been doing for years and years. All your other clubs become inadequate for hitting the distances you expected them to do. You will need to spend time on the driving range once more because you have to relearn your golf swing and perhaps adopt new strategies for playing this game. The difficulties seem so numerous and overwhelming.At this point sadly, many older golfers decide to give up and stop playing for good.

Older golfers say that they don't have time to go to the driving range to practice to use the long irons. This is not true at all because all they have now is time. If only they can change their attitude and forget about playing off the blue tees! In fact they should be considering teeing off from the white tees instead of the red. Recently, the club green keeper removed the red tee markers in order to redistribute the divot marks on the fairways so that the grass can have a chance to recover. Playing off the white tee markers, I became aware that on par-4 holes, my tee shots could reach most of the 135M markers! My game became easier and less stressful. This is how golf should be; not too easy, challenging enough but achievable.

Only in NZ.

Using a motor bike like this on a golf course is not permitted on most golf courses of the world. In fact one of the reasons for playing golf is to walk the course and keeping fit. It usually takes 4 hrs for a group of 4 players to walk and play all 18 holes.

Golf

The feel for my tee shot came back yesterday at the driving range. After I hit 70 balls, I used full power and it felt really good. I was aiming slightly to the right and using an in-to-out swing path; but the balls were all down the middle! So, it is really true that what I thought was the correct way to hit a draw shot was in fact the way to hit a straight ball down the middle!!

Every time I just swing and try to hit the ball on the sweet spot and don’t worry about where the ball goes and every thing turns out just fine. If not, I make one small adjustment and see what happens to the next ball. If I changed more than one variable in my golf swing I do not know which change gave me the result, whether good or bad. A very small single adjustment in my preparation for a golf swing has a big change in the resulting trajectory of the ball.

Many golfers make the common mistake of trying to coordinate too many variables into their swing e.g: grip, foot position, line up to target, set-up, bent knee, straight back, chin up, straight left forearm, wrist cocked, slow back swing, accelerating down swing, in-to-in swing, weight transfer left to right, weight transfer right to left, moving the left hip out of the way, head very still, rotate, follow through, hit down, take divot with iron, release on impact, right wrist rolling over left at impact, full release and use no more than 70 % full power.

If you think of all these things you will certainly end up a very confused golfer at the tee. You will probably not hit the ball exactly the way you want it. It could result in any one of these shots:
draw, fade, hook, slice, pull, push, shank, fluff, top, sky, miss...

The desirable shots are fade and draw. We try to avoid making all the other shots. An ideally straight shot down the middle is rare and is not actually possible to repeat. It does happen occasionally and is not a consistent outcome even for the professionals. Putting a little spin on the ball will help us to control its flight, either to the right (fade) or to the left (draw). Be happy with that.

When a golfer is new at the game he hardly ever bends the ball to the left. His shots are mainly fades or slices to the right. Usually after his handicap comes down to 18 or less (takes 2 years), he starts to draw and hook the ball to the left. This is a normal progression. First you slice, then you hook your shots. Every golfer goes through this process. This is a most frustrating time for him because now he cannot stop bending the ball to the left. When he was new to the game he cannot stop bending the ball to the right.

As his understanding of the mechanics of the ideal golf swing increases, one day he will suddenly be able to bend the ball’s flight left or right at will. When this happens, he becomes completely addicted to the game of golf. He will play golf at every opportunity he gets. When he cannot get to the golf course he will go to the driving range or even to the nearest park, to hit his bucket of balls. As he plays more frequently he will see his ability improve almost daily. His handicap comes down steadily and he begins to think that a handicap of 9 (single figure handicap) will soon come within his reach.

This is the most interesting time for the player. His addiction and commitment to the game of golf is almost complete. We hear quite often that a golfer’s wife has become a golf widow. The comparison is very apt. All it means is this. He prefers now to spend his spare time playing golf rather than with his wife. He actually gets a rush every time he birdies a hole.

The anticipation of this adrenalin rush, starts every time he tees up his golf ball at the tee. This is repeated many times, as a round of golf consists of playing 18 holes. For 3 or 4 hours these peaks and troughs continue to maintain him in this euphoric state. There are very few games that can deliver such a mental high for such an extended period of time. It is in anticipation of this adrenalin rush (high) that golfers get excited every time they make arrangements to play a game. If you wish to read more on this subject, I have written a blog just about golf .

St. Andrews, Hamilton

After playing golf at the Narrows for 2 years, Kevin Lee and I found that the course was no longer challenging any more. We joined St Andrews in December 2007. The bunkers here are over 3M deep and they are the size of tennis courts. No kidding!

6th tee, Narrows

This is the 5th green at the Narrows golf course. There is a plum tree planted at the 6th tee, overlooking this green. Every year in September we enjoyed the awesome blossoms and later on, the juicy fruits in summer. At other times there are many delicious Feijoas on those bushes nearby.

golf tip

The secret of playing consistent golf is gaining control of the ball. This can be achieved by always using up to 70% power and not using full available power. As a golfer gains confidence and control of the ball, he may increase power progressively up to a maximum of 90%. Never try to increase distance by increasing power in your swing. Simply use a longer club and hitting the ball in the same way as always, using the same power, same grip, same swing, same set up every time. Let the club decide the distance. Do not increase power in order to get more distance. Change the club to a smaller number (longer shaft and steeper face angle).

The difference in ball distance between irons is around 10 metres. Last week I tried out a 6, 7 and 8 irons at the lake side. The balls all landed around roughly the same spot; but the ball hit with a longer iron rolled further after landing. From the 100M mark I usually use an 8 iron for the green. That means I will use a 7 iron from around 110M and a 6 iron from 120M and a 5 iron from the 135M marker. At the lake side I noticed that all my balls landed in roughly the same spot but rolling 10M further with the next longer iron. Of course there are other variables to consider

like the condition of the fairways, lie, slope, bounce, wind direction etc. All these variables are outside our control. We leave these alone and control what can be controlled: our power. Then we will find that we can actually play to our handicap quite regularly, if we do not try to birdie every hole.

If I bogey every hole, I will return a score of 5x18=90 which is quite a respectable score for my handicap of 16 (+2  or 2 over.) There is no real need for an amateur to attack every single hole.

My basic golf set

This is my basic golf set: Driver, 3-wood, 5-iron, wedge and putter. With these 5 clubs I can play 18 holes and score below 100 strokes. If I have a full set of 14 clubs I usually score around 92. The other 9 clubs help me to save at least 8 strokes a round. My best score was 85 played last month. A year ago I scored 106 for my first round of golf at the Narrows.
The rules of golf allow a golfer to carry a maximum of 14 clubs in his bag. If any golfer carries less clubs than 14, there is something wrong with his strategy. He is not using all the clubs allowed in this game and penalizing himself unnecessarily.

new electric trolley

I have just bought a new electric golf trolley which is very small and compact. With this new weapon I expect to be able to play two rounds of golf every day!!

new bag

My new golf bag has a built-in organizer which keeps each club in a separate compartment. If there are 40 golf balls in the little basket, guess how many golf balls are in this large basket?

The Links, Hope Island

I managed to play some golf at the Gold Coast Country Club and also at the Links, Hope Island.

golf quiz

Question:
Why is it that when we hit the ball with 100% strength using the driver, it does not go as far as when we hit it with only 80% power?

Answer:
The ball goes far into the bush and is stopped by the trees! A ball hit with 80% strength has more chances of hitting the sweet spot and will go straight down the middle of the fairway where there are no trees! It will roll on and on. The distance covered is therefore much greater!

The Dunes, Matarangi

I went on a golf tour with 3 other golfers over the past few days. We played Thames and Matarangi. Next month, I hope to play at Sanctuary Cove Resort and perhaps the Royal Pines, Gold Coast!

A golf handicap!

After I took home the X'mas ham two weeks ago, the Narrows golf club chopped my handicap down to 23. I now play mostly in the mid 90's. I have played over 20 rounds over the past 3 months and is at present sharpening my skills with the long irons. The driver and fairway woods are all ok after 3 years slogging away at the driving range. (For my workout during the cold winter months in NZ, I hit 100 balls daily to keep fit.) My short irons are also doing just fine. I practised those at the lake side. I chipped two balls into the cup last week!

I have practised my 7, 8, 9, P and S daily at the lake side ex-mini golf site for a full year. The council has recently put more sand into the 11 bunkers. I regard this place as my private golf course because I seldom meet any one else playing there in the morning. Some times I hit a 9 wood there because the par 3 first hole at Narrows is 161 metres. The 10th hole is also par 3 at 195 metres. Initially I used my driver for that hole because that was exactly the distance of my drives! I usually hit them over 200M now. Nowadays, I am using a 2 iron or a 3 wood for that hole. (I found out that I am not allowed to tee up more than two club lengths behind the blue markers!)

I found an excellent new way to wait for my golfing partners in the morning. I tee off alone when I am ready, playing hole No 1, then hole No 18; carrying only one or two clubs plus a putter with me. I repeat this process until I see my friends arrive! Then we tee off together. Guess who birdied the first hole?!

the 18th, 114M

The 18th hole at the Narrows is a very challenging hole, especially in the afternoon when the sun is in your eyes. The green is long and narrow with deep bunkers on both sides.OB on right side of right bunkers.

more golfers!

Shawn and I played 18 holes today at the Narrows. He scored 130 strokes for his first round of 18 holes. Looking on the positive side, let's say that he can only improve from here onwards! We met a few experienced golfers who gave

him some more free coaching on swing techniques, set up and course strategy.I think he is now convinced that he needs to work more on his putting and the driver. I shared my golf secrets with Michael: practice daily by hitting 100 balls at the driving range!

Tiger eclipsed

Yesterday, Shawn and I played 9 holes at the Horsham Downs golf course. It was his very first round of golf ever. He enjoyed it tremendously. He has been practising his swing for two months at the driving range (woods) and the practice area at the lake side (short irons). My golf school for new migrants at the Claudelands show ground is now closed due to the presence of the circus. We are using other empty parks in Hamilton. Venue changes every day for obvious reasons! We hope to keep ahead of the HCC enforcers by only using the parks outside his working hours. Smile!