Season reflection and Winter Plans

Junior

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On the handicap front, its been a good season for me, managed 16 qualifying rounds which is my highest ever and came down from .8.2 to 6.6 (currently 6.8). Played really steady stuff and the lessons with Phil Archer have really paid off. Outside of comps, i've had several rounds of 2/3 over and also managed a big 'w' on the 3 day Sunningdale and New Zealand trip. My only bugbear is the one low medal round that is still eluding me.  

Not sure what i'll do this Winter. I usually go to the driving range one evening per week as its something to do. I have one more lesson to take from the package I bought so will probably take that in a couple of weeks and see what he says.  

Socially, its been a really enjoyable year too. Lots of different courses played (new and old) and quite a few opens as well with people from here and my own club. Notable days out & new courses played include Hamilton Island (Australia), Hoylake, Sunningdale, New Zealand, Sandiway, and Celtic Manor.

I don't really want the season to end.
 

rudebhoy

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2nd year playing, got my first handicap (23) about 6 months ago, but been struggling to get anywhere near it for most of the summer. Have seen an improvement in recent weeks, scoring around 30 points (34 best, 27 worst) over my last 8 or 9 games.

Feel like I am improving and getting a bit more consistent, but still a long way to go!

Will play through the winter, and hopefully by springtime I'll be ready to kick on with getting the handicap down.
 

Crazyface

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It's been a trying year golf organization wise. Beaten into second place in a major when I was convinced I'd done enough to win. If I could putt I'd could play off 10 I'm sure.
Trying to rest my Tennis/Golf elbow, which ever it is. It hurts to lift or move anything. But strangely I can swing and hit a golf ball, just end up in agony the next day.
It's going to be a long winter fretting over if to leave or not.
 

thesheriff

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This season has been my first of competitive golf and I've had a truly great start. Was allocated a h/c of 18 and won the second competition I entered. Dipped a bit after that, though picked up some consistency since and have buffered or better in each of my last 7 competitive rounds to now play off 15.6. Throw in a mid-week competition (non-qualifying as off the yellow tees) gross score of 76 (+6) and it feels as though there's plenty more in the tank.

Though my biggest successes have been in the matchplay comps. I won the club C champs and I have reached the final of the summer doubles and SF of summer singles which are ongoing due to fixture backlog. My overall matchplay record is 11 wins, 0 losses for the year and would love a clean sweep come the end of the season.

So over the winter my plan is to keep playing regularly at the weekend and improve my putting. Despite having reasonable success this year, some of my putting stats are horrendous and a clear are for improvement.
 

ScienceBoy

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down to having a 2 1/2 year old runnying around that needs looking after.

I see that, got my 2 year old asking to “pway” all the time, toot toot cars and megablocs are my main hobby now.

Can’t remember if you live on the south side or not, if you do I wonder if they are at the same nursery.
 

lukeysafc100

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It's been a trying year golf organization wise. Beaten into second place in a major when I was convinced I'd done enough to win. If I could putt I'd could play off 10 I'm sure.
Trying to rest my Tennis/Golf elbow, which ever it is. It hurts to lift or move anything. But strangely I can swing and hit a golf ball, just end up in agony the next day.
It's going to be a long winter fretting over if to leave or not.

Crazyface just get back to playing and enjoy golf! Stuff the club politics side of stuff and get back to why you joined that club and why you play golf!
 
D

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On reflection it has been a pretty good year.
I have been cut from 5.2 to 4.3, shot level par rounds on a couple of occasions and was runner up in our club champs' beating a few scratch/county players (only 2 of us shot sub 150 for the 2 rounds).
I've also played some great new courses - Porthcawl, Sunngidale (Old & New), Hollinwell, New Zealand, Hankley Common, and enjoyed the GM meets that most of those games involved.

But I also feel it's been a bit of a disappointment of a year. In over 25 rounds I buffered 18 times, and most of those were after really good front 9's. So I feel I let slip a lot of good opportunities to get cut.

So my aim for next year is to get down below 4.0, preferably to a position where I can enter some more big comp's and actually make the ballot (the Justin Rose Mid Am for example, which was balloted at 3.0 this year). To do this I need to make good starts and actually kick on on the back 9, rather than going backwards or just defending good starts.

So I'd give myself 6.5 out of 10 this year.
 

MendieGK

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my season has been a bit of a weird one. I've arguably bit the ball worse than previous year and i've certainly not taken advantage of the par 5s that are usually a huge shot gainer for me.

However, my handicap has come down from 2.7 to 2.2 taking me to my lowest ever. this is largely down to getting 3 cuts that totalled 1.4 when the CSS was really high and i played a good round (i was the only person to shoot under his handicap in the PM of the Woodhall Spa open). I've also won a load of prizes and prize money.

so all in all its been a good year.

the season technically never ends for me now that i am a member at Burnham and i will be able to keep practicing a lot on the skytrak in the garden.

Goals for next year are be low enough to get into the South East of England Links Champs (£60 for 36 at RSG and 36 at RCP - assuming you miss the cut) and to keep getting closer to the the hallowed 0.0 handicap that i crave so badly.
 
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Reasonably decent season for me, although didnt get in as many qualifier rounds (only 9) as I'd hoped. Started at 18, now down to 16 - target was to get to 15 but hoping I might manage a supplementary or two before season really finishes up.

While it's not really reflected in the scoring, feel Im now hitting irons a lot better than I ever have. Ditched 10 year old, cheapo, beginner irons mid-season and bought second hand Mizuno's that have been a great investment. Took a while to get used to, but ball striking is much improved - partly down to the better clubs but also because they've forced me to strike ball more consistently. And with that, last month or so I've started playing about with shaping my shots, surprisingly with some success which has brought a new dimension and enjoyment to how I play some holes. Far from consistent though.

And with that, end of season coming at wrong time for me unfortunately as Im getting right into my golf. So instead of dumping clubs in the shed as planned, I might actually join up to the winter league so that Im motivated to get out on the course over the winter and continue to work on ball striking. I develop bad habits at the range so going to try and keep on the course as much as possible so that I can hit ground running at start of next season.

A shank also plagues my game randomly so I'm going to try and develop technique to keep it at bay next year. Got an issue with putting too but focus between now and next season is tee-to-green.
 

Jimaroid

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Bit of a mixed year. Had some great golf outings in good company but I've not really had any time to do anything towards my handicap goals or participate in any regular competitive club golf.

5 qualifiers in all of 2017 doesn't amount to any sort of progress or personal achievement. Feeling a bit miserable at the moment as my work-life balance is all broken.
 
D

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hoping to move to the south coast, Dorset looking favourite, maybe Devon or even Sussex, plenty to sort considering our house has just gone on the market :eek:

Shame to see you leave the area but will look forward to the meet :D
 

Dasit

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My first season playing and gone from 23 to 14.


My game is really up and down atm as I am still developing a swing.

Even when I play really crap I have still managed to make buffer from just grinding out holes.

Shot under 80 3 times with a PB of 6 over 78, so if you offered me that back when I couldn't break 100 last September would have taken it.


Plan for the winter is play as normal, my course only gets better in the winter :thup:
 
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