ScienceBoy
Money List Winner
The joy of Public courses and loan clubs
Out of the blue the wife gets offered a job and headed off to a training day early this morning. Was not expecting it but spamming the whole of Cambridge with CVs was going to get something EVENTUALLY (turns out it was 3 offers at once after 6 months of nothing!)
So with 3 hours of free time, the in laws having a lay in, I headed out to my little retreat of Cambridge lakes golf course. A tiny little 9 holer of just a few thousand yards at most, holes ranging from 80 to 135 yards.
My clubs were resting back in Hampshire as I had no intention of playing on this weekend up here (I am working in Hampshire and come to see the wife in Cambridge every other weekend). So I had to loan a bag, balls and clubs from the pro shop!
Well the mismatched set of a PW, 9 and 7 iron was tough enough to get on with due to them being a mild offset, blade and massive offset respectively. What made it even worse was the putter looked like it had been used to prop up a hefty player too many that had been leaning on it. The face was closed and its loft was closer to a senior players driver than anything else. An open forward leaning stance sorted it out a little anyway, thankfully my hours with the V-Easy made coping with this little of a problem.
The course itself was in good condition as usual. The fairways had been recently spiked but the greens were as good as many 18 hole members courses I have played! Rolling true and hardly bobbling.
Feeling barely awake (it was 8am) and a little nervous having spent the previous lesson correcting a flying elbow that resulted in a few $h@nks. I had not been to the range since but I had been swinging away in every free moment at work or at home without a club in my hand. I focused on feeling my old natural swing and hoped for the best, the one that got me to 12 last summer would be nice, before I abandoned the game for 7 months.
I spent a while in the net, just getting the swing going and getting used to the clubs. Things seemed to go well!
So playing on my own, in front of a small group now congregating on the first tee (a real mix of the public course crowd) I nailed a PW to 10 feet... Feelin' good!
It was at the point I missed the hole by two feet left that I realized the putter was bent closed and lofted! The thing took off like a chipper shot!
I then stabbed it past on the right with an over correction and started cursing to myself.
Two bogeys later after again nailing wedges to 10-15 feet (I was thinking it was a 3 putt putter) I found the middle of the fourth green just like the rest but now three over par! Somehow the birdie putt dropped! Fantastic!
I repeated the birdie feat again from 10 feet two holes later after another 3 putt bogey from 20 feet. I finally worked out how to putt straight with the bent short stick and parred my way home for a +2 gross score of 29 and only one green missed!
I had another 9 after and that was much the same, pretty much all pars and rolled in a par on the last for a +3 gross 30! Only two poor iron shots in 18 short holes and both I had that flying elbow, one $h@nk, one hooded hook over correcting for a flying elbow.
I feel SOOOOO confident now, the lessons are really helping me get back into golf after the layoff and I am 13 under my handicap for the last 36 holes round the Cambridge lakes golf course.
Apart from the golf I did notice a few other things, a kid playing with what looked like his younger brother. The older kid spent all his time directing the younger player around, what shots to play, what he could score etc and no time on his own game. I saw beginners enjoying my iron shots but smiling as they took 3-4 goes to hit their own ball. Everyone just seemed to be having fun, the small kid being bossed around was very good at standing up for himself! What a lovely atmosphere and what fun golf!
Thankfully I had something to blame for all those 3 putts...
Out of the blue the wife gets offered a job and headed off to a training day early this morning. Was not expecting it but spamming the whole of Cambridge with CVs was going to get something EVENTUALLY (turns out it was 3 offers at once after 6 months of nothing!)
So with 3 hours of free time, the in laws having a lay in, I headed out to my little retreat of Cambridge lakes golf course. A tiny little 9 holer of just a few thousand yards at most, holes ranging from 80 to 135 yards.
My clubs were resting back in Hampshire as I had no intention of playing on this weekend up here (I am working in Hampshire and come to see the wife in Cambridge every other weekend). So I had to loan a bag, balls and clubs from the pro shop!
Well the mismatched set of a PW, 9 and 7 iron was tough enough to get on with due to them being a mild offset, blade and massive offset respectively. What made it even worse was the putter looked like it had been used to prop up a hefty player too many that had been leaning on it. The face was closed and its loft was closer to a senior players driver than anything else. An open forward leaning stance sorted it out a little anyway, thankfully my hours with the V-Easy made coping with this little of a problem.
The course itself was in good condition as usual. The fairways had been recently spiked but the greens were as good as many 18 hole members courses I have played! Rolling true and hardly bobbling.
Feeling barely awake (it was 8am) and a little nervous having spent the previous lesson correcting a flying elbow that resulted in a few $h@nks. I had not been to the range since but I had been swinging away in every free moment at work or at home without a club in my hand. I focused on feeling my old natural swing and hoped for the best, the one that got me to 12 last summer would be nice, before I abandoned the game for 7 months.
I spent a while in the net, just getting the swing going and getting used to the clubs. Things seemed to go well!
So playing on my own, in front of a small group now congregating on the first tee (a real mix of the public course crowd) I nailed a PW to 10 feet... Feelin' good!
It was at the point I missed the hole by two feet left that I realized the putter was bent closed and lofted! The thing took off like a chipper shot!
I then stabbed it past on the right with an over correction and started cursing to myself.
Two bogeys later after again nailing wedges to 10-15 feet (I was thinking it was a 3 putt putter) I found the middle of the fourth green just like the rest but now three over par! Somehow the birdie putt dropped! Fantastic!
I repeated the birdie feat again from 10 feet two holes later after another 3 putt bogey from 20 feet. I finally worked out how to putt straight with the bent short stick and parred my way home for a +2 gross score of 29 and only one green missed!
I had another 9 after and that was much the same, pretty much all pars and rolled in a par on the last for a +3 gross 30! Only two poor iron shots in 18 short holes and both I had that flying elbow, one $h@nk, one hooded hook over correcting for a flying elbow.
I feel SOOOOO confident now, the lessons are really helping me get back into golf after the layoff and I am 13 under my handicap for the last 36 holes round the Cambridge lakes golf course.
Apart from the golf I did notice a few other things, a kid playing with what looked like his younger brother. The older kid spent all his time directing the younger player around, what shots to play, what he could score etc and no time on his own game. I saw beginners enjoying my iron shots but smiling as they took 3-4 goes to hit their own ball. Everyone just seemed to be having fun, the small kid being bossed around was very good at standing up for himself! What a lovely atmosphere and what fun golf!
Thankfully I had something to blame for all those 3 putts...
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