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bloodredsun · #8 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 10:45 AM

Handicap: A :Officially I have gone down from 16 to 14 in my society handicap but as I've been improving recently (77, 84, 82, 77, 75) I'm not sure that this is a real relection of my improvement. Online calculators think that I'm closer to a 7 or 8 handicap.

Driving: B : Still long but I've gained to ability to shape the ball both ways and control the height of my drives. This has really helped when it's been windy. Still not as reliable as I need it to be though and the occasional snap hook is my bad shot.

Irons: A : Biggest improvement this year. A free swing check at my local driving range picked up a grip fault which was costing me distance. Strengthening my right hand has given me better control and some extra distance but the real kicker is my bad shots just aren't a bad as they used to be. A mishit ends up either on the green or just near it. So rather than costing me a full shot, mishits now tend to only cost me the chance of a birdie. The area I need to look at most is the 3/4 wedge shot - I don't have the necessary distance control to put the ball close time after time.

Chipping/Pitching: B+ : My chipping has improved greatly. I used to alway pitch the ball at the flag when I was off the green as I didn't have great distance control on my chips but that seems to have been sorted out. This has led to shorter and easier par save putts and increased the (rare) likelihood of chipping in.

Putting: B : Alignment of putts is good, distance control is better than it was although by no means perfect. I just need to read the greens a little better to be really happy.

All around improvement: B+ : My goal for the year was to become a single figure handicapper which I sort of achieved so I'm happy with that. I'm also enjoying my golf more. This has been the biggest improvement I've experienced in one year which I can only attribute to the amount of time spent at the driving range.

My ultimate goal of playing off scratch is still way off!