Bulldog2k's Journal

jeez bulldog
i though i was mad for golf but you are just a mentalist!!!!
just watch out that you dont overdo it, they say you can have too much of a good thing.
dont add your scores up until you are safely off the 18th green

Bath, hey! I love that place!

When we sometimes spend the day there we drive over Lansdown past the golf club and racecourse. I live in Malvern Worcs but I am a Bristol boy and have a fondness for the area.

Great thread, keep up the work and Aquae Sulis will pour on you

I've had quite enough aquae sulis pour on me in the last week, thank you very much!

Played 36 this morning while my car was in the garage. The feet blisters were ok, but now I have a blister on my right hand ring finger, where it's rubbed against my middle finger, which must imply something wrong/too tight with my grip, and I played 18 and was feeling brave so grabbed a cup of coffee and played another 18 straight away afterwards. I now have such a weird pain on the front of my right shin. It's definately muscular - it hurts more when I lift my right foot/toes - but you wouldn't have thought there were any muscles there..!? Ah well... It'll make a man of me.

However - tomorrow is my second handicap round, with a nice guy - an uber-nice guy, who no doubt will make me feel relaxed, and I'm sure that'll be a good thing.

I'm not feeling a lot of confidence in my swing ATM, which is weird; I'd gone from scoring the two best rounds so far, to feeling like I don't know what I'm doing, in the space of a couple of rounds. I guess that's how golf is, but I wish I wasn't feeling that right now. Today's were 92 (fine, but pleasing that that was HC reduced to 87 which I would be delighted with tomorrow - 26 starting HC - which would be fine) and a thoroughly mundane 96, with a comedy 9 on a par 4 (and I was in the greenside bunker for 3! )

That said, the improvement in my putting stroke has reaped rewards, and I had a break through with my chipping as well today, which was also heartening.

Ah well. Bring it on. As long as I score below 100 (and I bloody well should), a 28 HC will be fine. A week on Sunday should, if all goes according to plan, be my first club medal tourney, and the Sunday after will be my 2nd internal tourney - the Captain's Cup. 28 will be fine. I might not be as big a bandit as Pedro, but perhaps I could be Pablo, his deputy. I can go further down the trail ahead with the binoculars, waiting for the tourists to arrive...

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

hey bulldog
i represent that remark

I stank.

Really. Really, really desperate. Striking the ball well? I wasn't even striking the ball. Flubbed the first tee shot, took 7 on the first, 2nd tee shot shanked into the trees on the right for 6, by the time I got on the 3rd green, I'm not sure the ball had left the ground. I hit what felt a reasonable tee shot on the 6th which my obscenely positive playing partner ("Good shot!" Hmm... But was it? Really?) said he'd seen land well couldn't be found, and the seventh hole, despite being in greenside bunker for 3 transpired for 8.

The only saving grace was my new found confidence in chipping was going well, and my putting was ok.

The tough eigth went ok for 6, and the 9th T shot was put squarely in the front bunker, but played to two inches out. That fired me up, but not much. 52. God dammit.

My playing partner returned his dog back home, while I took a few practice swings in the net waiting for him. I was striking the ball pretty cleanly, and waited.

Teeing off on the 10th, I caught the ball the smallest of glancing blows to send it approx 10 inches. Playing the second off the deck was a better strike in the wrong direction. My subsequent 9 on the hole deepened my frown lines by some way.

That said, things then picked up, seing as I actually started concentrating on my pre-shot routine and thinking about the things that I know I have to think about to hit good golf shots. How do I manage not to think about them anyway? I wish I knew...

Bogey, par, bogey, double bogey (but SI 3), bogey. Stepping on to the 16th tee needing 15 shots on last three holes to break 100. This is so stupid!! 4 days ago I shot 87!! But I only have myself to blame. Nevermind the 87, I need to break 100, or have the humiliation of the card not counting...

Crack the 5 iron away, and draw it round the corner exactly as I wanted. The three iron is the front of the green, and the following chip is to 3 feet. I miss the putt, but a score of 5 is great.

17th tee. Uphill, OB left. Hook it, but make such bad contact with the 3 iron it doesn't go far enough to be OB. The second 3 iron is much better, 80yds short of green. A half-swung 9 iron (because I'm tired of thinning the PW) is left to the edge of the green, but a short putt leaves me too much to do, and I end up with a 6 - ok on a tough hole, but I need 4 on the last hole to break 100 and have it count. I don't have to try to ignore the embrassment of having to work my ass off to break 100; it's all I care about now. 4 shots. I'll be damned if it's gonna beat me.

There are tee shots on this course that scare the hell out of me and this isn't one of them, though I don't know why. There's plenty of trouble from the vast drop on the left, and the OB behind.

Pitching wedge and hit it. I can feel myself pull it slightly across my body, and look up as soon as I dare. High, so high, hanging up there. Is it clearing the front left sand?

Yeah.

Then it rolls. My playing partner and I are both straining after it, both of us almost shouting, "Come on! Sit down! Stay!"

It rolls so close - so perilously close to the edge, and teeters above the massive drop on the left...

... and sits that's prob 25 feet on a flat green. I know I have to at least 3 putt. I'm home

The first putt is short, and I leave myself with a six footer that I miss, six inches wide, which I sink for 47 back (inc a stupid 9), making 99.

Gah...

I don't know. The last 8 holes have been fine, but 99? Godamnit.

But hey. When the HC reduced figure is considered, it's exactly the same as on my first card. And I still have one card to play, against the club handicapper. If it goes well, and I score what I want (a HC reduced score of 86 - resulting in HC of 25) then I will be drinking lots to celebrate. If I don't, and I end with a 28 - well, hey, what the hell. At least my first tourneys are going to be a lot of fun.

You know, I guess the main thing is, the ball striknig came back, and the chipping and putting is in much better shape. I know this sounds dumb, but I've learnt a lot about my game in the last week, and I guess that's the ultimate irony that the score today couldn't have reflected that less.

Oh well. Onwards and upwards

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

Good 18 today, hitting the ball really well. I really enjoyed it - course to myself, teeing off at 6pm in gorgeous sunshine

45 out, 50 back, 95, HC reduced figure of 87 (ie; playing to a 26 HC from the 61 SSS). The 95 included 3 7's and a 10 so I must have done ok on the others! But I'm still kind of disappointed with 95.

My shin's still hurting, my blisters are bad, and my hands hurt. I wonder if I'm playing too much? But I'm enjoying it so much it's hard to stop. First tourney a week tomorrow. And the swing felt so good today, even both times on my bogey hole (the 6th, with the OB left, trees right, and the narrow fairway).

But I was playing better, miles better. It was good to feel good again

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

You remind me so much of myself when I started playing golf, I would practice until my hands bleed and almost despair at my game at times.

I strongly recommend you try Greg's right hand drill, it takes a bit of adjusting to but the way it straightens out the shot and creates such solid contact should help a great deal.

Yesterday...

Was VERY aware of my last HC card against the club handicapper (which is this morning - it's 5:45 now!), so I went out, early start as ever course to myself.

I figured - for badness - I try playing the RH drill on every shot. OK. In the first 9, I actually was really impressed. My ball striking was longer and better. It feels really weird, but when you change something, that's to be expected, isn't it?

I tried it what I thought was the 'Greg video' way - that is, normal set up, then cock the right wrist, and preserve it through impact. I did top a few, and bizarrely, even on good strikes, whacked my chin on my right shoulder as it came through! Hmm - that's prob not right!

Even so, it was going cool. I only hit one wild shot - an odd hook that I really got under and pulled and lost into the trees on the eighth for an 8.

The 49 on the outward 9 was a very poor score that doesn't reflect so much actually how much I was enjoying the RH drill as poor short game.

Inward 9: I thought the topping thing might be to do with not 'bottoming out' my swing low enough, and I concentrated on really extending my left arm. That did it! Lower ball flight, straighter ball, and - although I'm still doing what feels like a 1/2 - 3/4 backswing, my ball's going the same distance for the same effort!

Now I start to get my teeth into it! from the 10th - Par, par, bogey - run into the guy against whom I had the AWFUL 99 on my 2nd card - he invites me to join him - bogey, bogey. He asks me what's changed? Why am I playing so confidently?

42 back. Great stuff. My 91 is my third best ever. I mull over this all day: Do I really want to change something about my swing the day before the modt important round I've played so far - that will, actually, determine if I'm even ALLOWED to play in the medal at the weekend.

In the end I think, What the hell? I wasn't striking the ball that well recently anyway. Let's do it.

But when I get into Bath after work to pick my missus up, I get there at 8:55, and figure I can squeeze 3 holes in, even though it's nearly dark. Just to convince myself I can do it.

1st tee: straight but short shot. I watch it; yeah, but it's not that short - it is a little, but it's not far away from where I normally try to cream it to. Catch the 2nd shot and pull it left more than I need to. It's a shot I have to play quite often, and at some stage I could do with some advice on it - more later! 3rd shot is the pitch to the bank that falls short. Chip up the bank is ok, miss the 5 footer for a 6.

Yeah, but if that happened tomorrow (today!) that's be ok.

4th tee: thin the T shot, grr. Still good for a chp and a two putt for bogey.

Scramble down through the trees to the nineth. Can't see a whole lot by now!

I know this is the last shot, the confidence booster for tomorrow. I take it off the medal tee with the PW, cream it between the two front bunkers to 4.5 feet, which I sink for a birdie. Hehe! Well chuffed.

So bring on today!

I'm gonna play with the RHD; it really did make a difference. Straighter and lower for less effort. It's not, I realised, a panacea; it can't cure poor grip, poor alignment, and outbursts of stupidity. But for everything else, it rocked!

So today, I'm playing to 'The Plan'. (Scrags, you won't like this - bear with me )

The Plan is my approach to the idea of eating elephants, or any other big and intimidating tasks - you break it down in to smaller bits;

The Plan

1) Two separate 9 holes, each to 45 or better, in an attempt to break 90.

2) Every hole to Bogey, which allows 3 'spare' shots

3) Playing every hole for bogey at my course means standing on the 7th tee (in both separate nines) for 28, which is great. Standing on it for 30 means two sixes on the hard par 4s, and a par at the last (very do-able), or a 5 and a 6 and a 4 on the last. Either is fine.

4) Remember that if part of 'The Plan' fails, it can and will be repaired by something later on in the same 9, or maybe the next 9.

5) All other parts of 'The Plan' are included in my '10 Commandments' posted previously.

So, I'm in early to maybe play 5 holes warm up (which I gather I'm not really allowed to do? But can't really get a straight answer on it from anyone).

Here goes...

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

Bulldog...

As I understand it, you are not allowed to practice on any part of a stipulated course prior to a competition round. Refer Rule 7-1

Unless...

The Committee declares part of the course ok for practice.

My suggestion would be hit some balls on the practice fairway, if you've got one...

All that aside, good luck...!!!

Cheers

Glad to hear the RHD works for you

Please don't practice on the course before the comp, you may well be disqualified. It is OK to practice in Matchplay but not stroke-play.

Anyway, have a great game!

have a good one bulldog
you are a crazee crazee man
cheers from pedro

Thanks for the advice about practice, chaps. We don't have a practice fairway, just a net and a practice green that doesn't seem to bear a lot of relation to the greens on the course! But I'll remember that for competition play.

So, to recap, yesterday's task: 3rd and final round, against the club chairman, and chap in charge of handicapping. I have to beat 100 - I absolutely must if I want to achieve a 28 in order to play the medal on Sunday, but really, I want to beat that by something - anything! I think realistically 25 should be a goal, but I just want to beat 28. But I guess we'll see...

I was kind of surprised when the chairman brought along a friend who'd only just started, but no worries, was glad to have someone else to play with - I had plenty of time and the he obviously wanted to kill two birds with one stone.

1st tee shot, straight up the middle. The first 4 holes go bogey, bogey, bogey, par, and after 4 holes, I'm in the pleasing position of being level with my 12HC partner. The fifth tee shot, again, straight up the middle, the 3 iron to the green slightly left, into the heavy rough, but within 20 yards. God, I love the RHD! Haven't hit a duffer yet.

So I do. Badly. Flub the chip 3 feet forwards, into the heavy rough. Then, for good measure, do it again. Finally get it out on to the green and 2 putt for a 7. Idiot.

That wasn't in the plan! Two of my three spare shots gone for nothing.

I hate, as I've said before, the drive off the 6th tee - a 150 yard layup before the violent down hill left dogleg. OB left, and by God, don't I know it. My playing partner, though, tells me not to think of it as a fairway, but to visualise it as a 25 yard wide green thats 150 yards away, and that thought really helps.

When I get there, I really have been unlucky to come up against a tree, and all I can do is fudge it on to the fairway. 3rd leaks right on to the bank, 4th to the back of the green, and a not especially inspiring three putt from 25 feet on an easy green is another 7. Goddamnit.

The wheel start to fall off.

7th T shot is fine, 2nd shot topped, 3rd into the greenside bunker. An Adolf Hitler follows (2 shots in the bunker), and I three putt for an 8. Gah!

8th tee, nice shot but the 2nd shot I slice, and I (and in fairness I should give my self credit for this, rather than beating myself on the odd occasion it happens) thought I'd stopped that kind of caper. I trudge back on to the 7th fairway, top the chip back on the 8th, finally fudge it back on to the 8th with my 4th, take my medicine. Chip, 2 putt, 7 again. I wonder if throwing a paddy might be helpful, and try repeatedly bashing my clubs against a tree, Basil Fawlty style?

9th tee: The shame shot as last night. That's weird. It looks longer now! I take a nine iron, and pile it high up the bank on the right. Both my partners have trouble. The boss sends it way deep, down the bank at the back so he's 10 yards below the level of the green, and the inexperienced one puts it through the back and into the middle of a bush.

I show my knowledge of the course by bumping my chip wide left, probably 15 feet left of the flag, and letting it roll down the bank for a comfortable 8 foot 2 putt for a bogey. The boss tells me it was well thought out, and I'm pleased with it.

50. Worst score for I don't know how long, and up till the half way point (of the out 9) of the 5th green, it was all cool.

Right. I roll my sleeves up. It's really hot, blue skies, sweating like a pig. I'm gonna grab this round by the scruff of it's neck whether it likes it or not.

10th tee, straight shot, 2nd shot under the trees to the front of the green, chip to the 4 feet, putt it out, par.

11th tee, into the bunker, sand out leaves it 30 feet short, 3 putt, but I'm still playing within The Plan.

12th tee, leaking right towards trouble but it stays on the short stuff. 70 yard low bump and run with a 3 iron puts it at the front of the green, chip and two putt, another bogey, still in the plan.

13th, topped short, but another good pitch using the bank to bring it down, 2 putts, bogey. The Plan holds.

14th (the scene of the earlier haemorrhage): tee shot down the middle, good strike on the 2nd shot, chip, 2 putt, bogey. The Plan holds...

15th, the horrible (6th) tee shot. Stuff it down the middle, top the 2nd, but the 3rd goes down into the valley in front of the green, from where I chip to 2.5 feet. Great stuff. I stand over the 2.5 foot putt for a bogey with an uneasy feeling, and somehow three-putt for a 7. I'm not sure I could even articulate my rage at myself. I'm 2 shots over Plan, BUT I'm standing on the '7th' tee for 30, so I know what I have to for The Plan.

Shove the T shot well wide on to the 8th fairway, and the chip brings it back to where I should have been for 1 shot, 3rd slices well right over the trees again. Provo plays to a perfect position.

We find the original, and I run it down the hill so that it's 1 foot short of the bunker so that the bunker is directly between it and flag.

I know all the theory. Pretend it's not there. Imagine it's not there. Just play the shot as you would play it in the back garden. My head fcuks up at the moment I play it and inexplcably, on the downswing, I suddenly worry about the downhill slope on the green on the other side of the flag. I choke on it, splat, 5 feet forwards, straight in the sand. I've obligingly put it cleanly in there, like a waiter helping someone into their seat.

No Adolf Hitler, please. Whack, straight out to the 3 feet, putt out for a 7, and by God, I know it could have been worse.

Come on. Hold it together. That leaves 8 shots for the last two holes to play to The Plan. This is a tall order, but what the hell... Tee shot is straight, 2nd shot is straight, chip on to the green, but 3 putt from 15 feet. 6. Not good enough.

2 shots left...

On the 18th: Again, I take my 9 iron, and hope for the shot I played last night...

...it flies high and straight. Comes down between the two bunkers, pitches on to the green, rolls to 3 feet. I think I've earned the right to play air guitar on my 9 iron on the way off the tee and do so.

I putt it out for a birdie, giving me a 45 for the back 9 and The Plan somehow has held. 95 gross wasn't a thing of beauty, but it was enough. In the clubhouse for a coffee, the boss checks my card; the HC reduced figure (bringing double bogey+ to double bogey, brings my score down to +28 over SSS, so I have achieved my goal, I have my handicap for Sunday, and life is peachy.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit gutted. I didn't play to capacity today, and I - as someone (I can't remember who) said on here - left some shots out there. 2 wasted pitches in the heavy rough, 3 putting too many times, but in particular from 2.5 feet.

I really wanted to beat 28. I'm gutted, but I'm not going to be down about it. I had an objective and achieved it. All it means is I should enjoy it while I've got it. Roll on Sunday. I treat myself to a Wetherspoons lunch as celebration...











... and that should have been the end of the story. It was only when I checked that the card had uploaded on Wireless18.com that I noticed that it had listed my card's HC reduced figure as 88 - ie; +27 over SSS. My heart was lifting as I double checked it, and, yup, sure enough, it was +27. I ring the chairman to ask him to double check it, and now - NOW - I feel really fired up. That's more like it. How can one shot make such a difference? It doesn't, of course, to anything other than my pride and self belief.

All good.

Now... Another 18 this morning, and let's see if we can't get The Plan rolling properly.

And Greg - if you ever read this - you will never know how much pleasure (in all seriousness) your RHD has given me in the past 2 days. Thank you so much.

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

Congrats Bulldog on bettering your h/cap goal...

Looking fwd to reading more details of your future rounds and watching the strokes come off you cap as you go...

Cheers

nice job bulldog
now you got something to work too!
chill out now and work on bringing the h/cap down

Right then, here goes!

First club medal today. It's absolutely sluicing down. I'm a little bit notorius in my club for playing in the rain in shorts and a T shirt, but as it's medal day, have had to buy a waterproof jacket and an umbrella!

Not sure who I'm playing with yet but it has been suggested by one of the guys I bump into a lot that I'll be playing with the group affectionately known in the club as 'The Sh1t-heads'. Man, how I laughed! Slow rounds beckon because of the amount of time spent searching hedges

The most important thing is not to let it rattle me, particularly in the pace of play which is going to be wildly different.

Going to play to The Plan, and see what happens. The Plan didn't cope last night with taking three shots to get out of a bunker twice, and three-putting 7 greens, but hey-ho...

On another note, further to my 'No Woods' policy, yesterday, I bought a square driver clone - A Slazenger Blockbuster, I believe. Whilst I didn't use it in my last practice round last night to play holes with, I took the chance to belt a few balls off all the long tees I could, and actually I was really pleased It's still going to take some getting used to, but I guess I was probably hitting something like 40% of fairways, with 30% ok-ish, and the last 30% wild.

I'm still not going to play it today, I think. It's strokeplay, I have The Plan, and I think in this medal, at least, I should stick to what I know. It was interesting, though, and I was very pleased with it. Will have to see how it transpires.

To all others playing in the mad weather today, good luck and enjoy.

Here goes!

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st