It's been a busy year

2011 has been, lets say, interesting, educational and also frustrating with regards to my golfing journey. My love for the game is as strong as ever and with winter approaching its time to really knuckle down and create some positive practise routines.
My Handicap ( not through lack of trying ) has stayed at a steady 12, which on reflection is a pretty good representation of my game throughout the year. Granted, I was hoping to reduce it but with the lack of proper practise and the correct mental approach I never really progressed.
At the beginning of the year I was following the lessons of Don Trahan through daily videos and thought that this new approach to the golf swing was going to lead me to some untapped hidden talent which has been eluding me. Unfortunately I came to a point when I felt that this more vertical golf swing was giving me far too many swing thoughts and had me really deviating from my traditional swing and leaving me very frustrated with my progress. This is no fault of Dons teaching, which I still think is great, but maybe aimed at the older golfer who has limited flexibility, I just felt that I got more success and consistency using the more traditional swing.
With a new/old approach to my golf swing mechanics and also the joining of a new club Stoke Albany it's time to look forward to progress.

Practice paying off

As I'm sure all good Touring Pros do ;), that is clean those grooves and grips. In all honesty I've only just started to do this regularly but after last weekend's tournament, this will now be the first job on the list, (not that clean clubs alone were the reason for my good round ha ha). It was the Priors Hall Pitcher (individual stableford) and another great day albeit pretty gusty. We ( Steve and I) were booked for 3:00pm on the Sunday, which gave us a really clear course and good time between shots, ( ignore the members blog they exaggerate, lol ).
      The round started with a routine par followed by a sandy bogey ( caused by attempting to play a knock down 6 iron into the wind, which I had never practiced and ended up in the green side bunker ). The rest of the front 9 was pretty good with 1 birdie ( on stroke index 2 ), 4 pars and 2 bogeys ( one due to a lost ball ), this got me out in a very respectable +2 (38). On to the back 9 and a great par made on the hardest hole on the course after a wild (sliced/power faded) drive. That was unfortunately followed by my first of two doubles which came about from a wrong approach club selection and daft 3 putt. Bad hole forgotten about and par birdie on the next two ( the birdie should've been an eagle after a cracking 5 iron approach to 4 feet on the long 500 yard par 5 ). The rest of the road home consisted of 1 par, 3 bogeys and 1 double all from inaccurate drives and approach shots but all in all a fairly good 80 with a few shots left out there that could've been avoided.
       Back at the clubhouse and wondering if my 41 stableford points were going to get me into the money. The scorecards were added and I was tied for the top spot only to be shunted down to second after being beaten on countback. A thoroughly enjoyable round and great to see what I have been practicing starting to make the difference on my scorecards. My round analysis gave me alot of good feedback as to where I dropped shots and how. This now gives me a menu for my practice sessions and allows me to focus on whats important (practice with a purpose). The Priors Hall Pitcher results show the full leaderboard also any 2's recorded and handicap changes. I couldn't finish without giving a shoutout to my playing partner Steve Njeri who finished his round with a very impressive 40 points (overall 3rd), Mr Scrambler that handicap is going south.