Practise limitations.....

My club has a short driving range, around 220 yards.

This prevents any practise with  a driver - fair enough.  However, golfers are not allowed to hit shots of the grass, even with short irons.  This limits practise to the mats.  Mats, in my humble opinion, are unhelpful; often giving a false sense of security - shots still appearing to be OK.

I was consistently taking very large divots, robbing me of distance and accuracy.  On the range, because of the club bouncing of the mat, my shots appeared OK.  After a lesson at a rival range that allows practise of the grass, due to a much longer range, it was clear what my problem was.

I now go to this range to practise of the grass.  This prevents me from damaging my course's fairways because of being unable to work on and eradicate my problem on the range.   Surely, it would be better, even on a short range, to allow golfers to strike short irons, allowing for realistic practise reflecting shot conditions on the course and, protecting the course at the same time.

Golf pirate - avast!...

So, I have a lesson.  Been playing a lot of fat shots with huge divots - very ugly!

The pro identifies lifting and dropping during the swing.  Cure - keep my chin up and allow my shoulders to turn.  Dead easy when you say it quickly!  Play a medal and put it into practise.  Not too bad - more practise needed.

Following week I play my club singles first round - handicap difference 10, in my favour. I put my lesson into practise.  An awesome round (or part round) follows.

My opponent is 2 down after 2.  3rd hole (par 3) sees me against the face in the bunker, opponent on the green.  He should get one back here - no problem. Bunkers are not my strong suit.  I play out to 2 inches from the hole - my opponent 3 putts.  He is visibly shocked.

8 up after 8.  He manages to half the 9th.  I buy him a pastie - he's looking pale. 10th hole - on in 2, a par for me.  Game over, 9 and 8 - a massacre.

I feel a little embarrassed.  However, it shows a good lesson can have immediate results.

Dressing the part.......

Most golf clubs require a certain standard of clothing, often slavishly enforced.  My club is no different, although with a fairly lax approach to enforcing the standards of dress prevails.

In a recent game I played with a couple of ladies, one 40ish the other, somewhere in her 50s. The latter's dress left somewhat to be desired. Now, I'm all for a pretty girl dressing in a way to show herself in the best light.  My 50s lady was dressed a little like the picture, perma-tanned and bleached blonde, not wearing well!

Her skirt barely covered the important 'bit's. Needless to say, she bent over, as in the picture, at every opportunity, showing her knickers each time.  A thoroughly unpleasant sight I have to say.  Particularly on the putting green, I found myself looking studiously the other way.

So, without being considered a prude, could I ask all you 'mature' ladies out there - please, please dress your age, and spare us!

Timber shifting...

This is a saying from my Royal Navy days.  It refers to the art of cheating when playing crib; essentially your opponent would move his crib board marker a few more points than he had actually scored!

Obviously, golf is a game, supposedly, based on trust.  However, there is always the opportunity to cheat via various means with some players.

Last weekend and this weekend I played in two competitions - one a 4BB and one a medal.  Both demonstrated cheating by my fellow players.

Last weekend was the monthly medal, I played with a couple of lady golfers.  Both of these ladies were 'flexible' in their scoring.  When taking drops on a few separate occasions, they both seemed to lose a shot here and there - so instead of a 7 it was a 6, for instance.  Once can be viewed as a mistake; 2 or 3 times is, I'm afraid cheating.  Both ladies were, of course adamant that the were correctly counting their scores.  Mind you,  one of the ladies came a cropper twice in a couple of bunkers, scoring over 15 on each occasion.  Karma?

This weekend, saw an incident that annoyed me more than the above.  I was playing in a 4BB.  Our opponents had a single handicap player, obviously not playing as well as he thought he should.  Having taking on a difficult long shot over water, we saw his ball hit the trees near the water.  Lost ball, assumed to have disappeared into the water hazard.

Now, the rules state that you can take a drop behind the point of entry into the water, keeping that point between you and the green.  It was obvious where the ball probably entered the hazard, taking a line from this point would have left a difficult shot with trees blocking the way to the green.  So, the single figure handicapper, chose to have us believe that the ball was drawing strongly, thus the point of entry just happened to fall in the only spot were he would have a clear shot to the green, therefore saving him at least one shot.  Shameful.

It is a pity that players feel they need to behave in this manner.  After all, the only people they are really cheating, are themselves.

Custom fitting

I started playing 10 years or so ago.  My local club sold me a set of Ping i3 blades.  A very nice set of golf clubs.  Unfortunately, however, totally wrong for me.  a few years down the line they might have been right, but not as a beginner.  A case of the pro shifting what stock he could?

After struggling with these clubs for a number of years, it was time to take some action having seen no real lasting improvement over this time.

Having read many articles extolling the virtues of custom fitting, I thought I would go down this route.  Extensive research and reading of many reviews I opted to take a look at Mizuno clubs.  Off to the Mizuno national fitting centre then.

Within a few swings with my Pings, I was informed they were clearly not right for me; no surprises there then!  The pro then had me hit a variety of clubs with different shafts, lies etc.  We plumped for a set of Mizuno MX200s with shorter shafts, correct lie and a decent set of grips.  The whole process was informative, professional and enjoyable.

My game is now steadily improving, my ball striking greatly enhanced.  With practise, I am sure my handicap will move in the right direction.

So, is custom fitting the way to go.  In my, humble opinion, the answer is a resounding yes.  Remember, with most manufacturers, custom fitting will not cost you any extra.  So get fitted and get your game on track!

ProTrolley GT 300 golf trolley review

This is how my birthday present of 15 months ago looks now.

A brief overview of experience with this product:

• controls broke after 4 or 5 outings - repaired under warranty
  
• couple outings later handle cracked - repaired under warranty
  
• tyres shredding after around 8 to 10 rounds
  
• aluminium upright sheared rendering the trolley useless
  
• 36 hole battery lasts no more than 16 holes - struggles to get up minor inclines
  
• net result - ruined trolley - company expects me to pay more money to sort it out
  

My recommendation - steer well clear.  I had uploaded a review to youTube - this has mysteriously been banned for defamation - a simple, honest review of a shoddy product.

Hmm - ProTrolley - the truth hurts!