I think I've said before - I'm a driving instructor. I was halfway through my day yesterday when my car gave up - bloody thing. Had to cancel my lessons - so annoyed. Got back early, and as a mark of my annoyance, went straight to the website about a golf coaching course I'd read about in Today's Golfer.
The more I read, the more interested I got. The test of playing ability is a round of 83. Hmm. 11 over par? I can do that.
I'm a long way away from that, though. I've only just started. It's typical me to start thinking about teaching it. But then that is me - I've always taught. I was a secondary school teacher for 7 years. I was a qualified snowboard instructor, a guitar teacher, not a driving instructor. Teaching is what I do. Whilst I can only imagine how arrogant this is going to sound, I know I can teach golf.
So I come to a decision - I set myself a target; I'm going to qualify as a golf coach 2 years from when I started playing - ie; April 2009.
Accordingly, my amended targets from the above post;
1) Bogey golf (a) - 18 over par
2) Bogey golf (b) - 18 over SSS
3) Shoot 11 over par - the figure needed for the coaching course
4) Half bogey golf (a) - 9 over par
5) Enrol on the coaching course
6) Half bogey golf (b) - 9 over SSS
7) Single figure HC
8) Qualify as a coach by Apr 2009
So - with that in mind, I'm in the mood to go out and get some practise in. I decide I'll go up the range first, then shoot 18, then work no my short game on the course until it gets dark and I have to pick my girlfriend up from work.
At the range I don't warm up at all, and on the second shot feel a muscle pull in my back - well, under my left shoulder blade. It really affects my followthrough. This is absolutely idiotic, and I fully deserve it for not warming up. Accordingly I tell myself - not for the first time, after having read about the back troubles of several esteemed members on here - that I MUST ask advice about a proper warm-up regime, and I MUST stick to it.
Down to the course; first tee, driver straight up the middle, but it goes very wrong from there for a 7. This doesn't, though, set the tone for the round - I follow it with par, par, bogey, par, bogey, double bogey, bogey, par. Out in 41. Awesome. I smell the tempting scent of PB, and maybe that golden target #1 for me - bogey golf, +18 over par. The par on the nineth has given me one shot in hand - at the moment, I'm +8. I've also hit every single fairway so far, which is unheard of for me!
I steam another drive up the middle of the fairway, and steam the following 60 yard SW pitch in to the extremely deep greenside bunker. The first shot rolls back to my feet, and the second is out - 2 putt for a 6.
My one shot in hand for my round of bogey golf vanishes. Gulp. I really want to snatch some shots back on the easier holes coming up to comensate for the much more trouble some 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th.
Bogey, par, bogey, par - and I stand on the tee of the 15th with my most hated tee shot with two shots in hand for my bogey golf target - that is, I'm +12, having played 14. The tee shot is ok - it's drawing, but just clings to the left edge of the fairway. Simple 8I to the valley at the front of the green - and I get too greedy over the trees. It's always left - or a heart-stopping moment, I think it's OB, but it crashes into the branches and down to the floor.
Man - I'm in the middle of the wood! There's not even a shot sideways on to the fairway. I honestly think all I can do is thump it low with the hybrid and hope for the best. I get lucky, and it just squirts out, but still well short. The SW to the green is ok, but as I look at it, a bloody dog runs up to it and picks it up! The seems to be some sort of omen. Played 4. Really need an up and down here. The chip is to two feet, but I'm really casual about the putt, and deserve the result - it bends around the hole and stays up. 7.
My two hard earned shots again vanish, and I now need 3 bogeys on the last three holes to make my target. I don't think the lump of grey between my ears is up to the challenge.
The tee shot off the 7th (16th) is always a test, but I can hit it. It's a draw down a big hill - I know as a 26 HC I shouldn't be trying to shape shots, but I can do it. Indeed, I did it on the first nine on this round.
Well not this time. Pushed miles right on to the 8th fairway, and my heart sinks. I don't think I can do it. When I get to it, at least there's a shot back between the trees to where I want to be. I end up where I should have been on the tee shot, played two. 5I down the hill - and it's beautiful, straight, great contact - how far's it going to roll?
Not far enough - front of green, maybe 25 yards short. The chip is a good line, but probably 6 feet short. I'd love to hole this putt - but don't. 6.
So I trudge up the path to the 17th with a heavy heart, knowing I need bogey and par out of the last two holes. I actually don't think - deep down - I can do this.
I run the key thought through my head as I swing the driver a few times; do not try to hit it hard, do not try to hit it hard. I address the ball, and at the top of my backswing, the synapse fires across the front of my brain that says, "Try to hit it hard". I get the inevitable fade/slice round the corner - that must be in the dry water hazard that runs the length of the hole up the right.
That's the second fairway I've missed, but more importantly, it's the last nail in what was a very pretty coffin. When I get there, it is in - only just though. Sim-rough, about 150 short, with a tree just blocking my view of the green. I now have nothing to lose, and decide on an easy six with an open face, and see if I can fade it round the tree. I know, though, that I have my work cut out, with the ball in the hazard, and not being able to ground the club or make a practise swing.
I think - not for the first time - of the 40 foot bronze statue of Scrags outside his Melbourne clubhouse, with the inscription in latin on the pedestal that says, "SWING EASY!"
So I do.
Oh, that felt like a nice shot. I look up. The fade doesn't happen enough, but it's great contact, and heading for the left of the green - not the bunker, but perhaps for the dry ditch on the left. It was, I thought, as I trudge towards it, a valiant effort. When I get there, I'm delighted to see it's short of the ditch, in the semi rough.
This leaves me probably 30 yards short of the pin, and luckily the line doesn't really go over the bunker. I hit a sweet shot - it always looks good - a SW up high, and it rolls to 6 feet.
Somehow, I should have managed to rescue a bogey out of this, and then I would still need a par on the last. As I stand over the putt, I think, hmm, three inches of borrow from the left, 6 feet, uphill, gotta make sure it gets there. Wouldn't it be sweet if I could drop this and take the pressure off the last hole?
It never looks like missing, and I can't stop myself jumping, shouting and punching the air. What the hell, the course is deserted - it's 8pm
So now - with the game not only rescued by the par on the last hole, but now actually looking fine, I take the 9I again. The only things here I mustn't do is drift left down the bank or find one of the bunkers at the front.
Swing easy. I do, and it looks good, as long it's long enough to clear the front right bunker.
It lands right in it. ****.
The shot out at least is out and at least is on the green, but is 25 feet away, and I know I have to two putt now. I allow for 4 feet of borrow from the right which doesn't happen, and I'm left pin high, 4 feet from the flag.
So this is what it comes down to?
What else is there to say? I know I must not leave it short, and jam it down the throat of the hole for a bogey.
Again, I punch the air. That was it. The best round of golf I;ve ever played, but more critically, one in which I set myself a target, and held it together while it tried to unravel.
For the record;
84 (+18) - a new PB, nett 8 under par; 28 putts (a new PB) with 45 feet of holed putts; 10 out of 12 fairways hit (7 out of 8 with the driver); up and down on 9 greens; 7 pars (no birdies); scrambled on 37.5% of holes
I took a moment before the short game practice! I started doing Nicole's drill - the Par 18 - it's a great drill, and one I want to come back to, before I thought, wait - this is silly. My short game's never been better. Wouldn't I be better evaluating what I'm good at and what I need to improve?
So - I figured my driving was fine in that round - not the longest but straight. My chipping was as good as it's ever been, and my putting likewise. My approaches from 40-100 yards aren't great, and my
irons into the green off the deck are probably the weakest part of my game. I'm also not comfortable in bunkers.
So I toddled off to the 150 yard marker on a couple of fairways and hit balls in, and it did, in fact, underline the fact that I need to practice this. I'm a lot happier with gentle shots with the 4H than I am with the 5I, but then I'm planning to get my pro shop to order me the 5H to match the 4H I bought from them, and that should make this kind of thing easier.
I then spent some time in the really deep bunker on the first, and started to see that I think I was trying to belt it too hard and taking too much sand, and that the nore important thing for me to focus on is not so much trying to empty the bunker on to the green, but focussing on the follow through. Then it starts to get dark, and I realise Ive been playing for about 5.5 hours, and my hands are slightly sore - so I head down in to town and wait for the missus to appear.
Happy days. Happy enough that this morning, I decide to take a morning off, and give the back muscle a chance to recover. Good luck to all playing golf this weekend.