chilly practices at Family golf practice facility

Hit a large bucket of balls at a local golf facility. Instead of an open field to fire aimlessly at, this place was carpeted with fake water and greens everywhere. The ball bounced a lot because the underneath was likely concrete, unlike some of the local fairways in the midst of a hot summer dry spell. I was joined by my lovely daughter Angeline who attempted to smack a few out there. With a lot of practice she may get onto hitting that white ball with authority. Maybe become obsessed and addicted like the rest of us. Joining us was Alex, her rangy bud. Alex is a naturally athletic and I could see him pounding out some balls with an aging set of Pings. He would be no slump on the golf course. Okay Alex lemme see yer touch around the green dude!

I was hitting off the mat this time and again focusing on the driver. I hit some real straight ones, but the slice began to creep in to my dismay. My final ball in the bucket zoomed out straight as an arrow, which left me with good thoughts for my next round

Wednesday night golf

I shot a 45 at Tyandaga Wednesday evening. An interesting round with 2 bush cutters from the Brantford area,Herb and Joe. These guys I think came right from the set of "The trailer Park Boys" Nice guys that did not play too badly. As long as there were plenty of smokes and beer on hand. I seemed to have a good touch around the greens and managed a chip in on the 4th hole, only after 2 attempts to get out of the sand. I scored a bogey. My drives finally straightened out, but the mid irons seemed to have gone south. I was not making good clean contact with my irons which was quite baffling. However I managed to keep my emotions in check and simply enjoy the antics of my chainsaw redneck pals, as there voices got louder with each beer consumed. It is now Friday. The skies are dark and the possibility of another 9 hole game with Brenda tonight seems slim

tuesday night at the Range

tonight I had to drive a ways to a different golf range because my local one was too full. Why would so many people be out tonight working on their golf games? what's with that?
I brought my driver a couple of hybrids and some irons to work on my inglorius swing once again. I wonder about the yardage markers at these places. Sometimes it appears I am hitting my irons way longer than I would think according to the yardages marked. The wind was not a huge factor tonight. I think I need new grips on my Tommy Armours....however if I get new ones I can not use this as an excuse for lousy play. Same with the new shoe idea. At any rate I was working on my slice, and at first realized I have it perfected. The ball starts out in the centre and ends up in downtown Hamilton eventually. I try different things and realized that If I focus on keeping both arms incredibly straight at impact the ball will in fact track pretty straight. that is what I will bring with me to my next round. should be tomorrow with Jimmy the Chef....another of my excellent golfing pals.

Tyandaga 9 holes

Brenda and I played the front 9 of a hilly local course here in Burlington last night. A warm breezy affair among the ups and downs of this hilly locale. I had a goal in mind and that was to attempt to "not knock the cover off of each and every ball I tried to hit" I found this trick worked out great and I had far better success with control and consistency in my ball striking. A nice smooth swing. I was not concerned so much with distance as I was with good solid contact. I made 2 pars and pretty much bogeyed the rest of the holes with a double bogey thrown in for frustration purposes. Final score 46.

Brenda had trouble making solid contact with the ball and destroyed many worms out there with here low flying grass skirting efforts. She had just arrived home from work and rushed over to the course.....so not that many expectations. As usual with Brenda she managed her standard chip in from just off the green. a nice 25 footer on the par 4 4th hole.....

I am questioning my nike 3 wood with the small head. This club has a small sweet spot and I think a replacement club is in order. Until next time.

correction

I stand corrected by Rick. My drives were in fact about 240 not 140...quite a difference!
I did not golf or go to the range last night, but pondered the sorry state of my golf shoes.
It is time to think about getting a new pair....maybe a high tek shiney pair like tiger wears?
I can see another 2-3 mores yards off the tee with those babies!

I look ahead to the possibilities of Q school once again and the chance to be playing with my heroes Nick Price, Mark OMeara, Nickie Faldo for big US money.

To the Range

Hit some balls last night and worked on staring and focusing intently at the back of the ball before hitting and during. This is a great exercise to stay down. I can come up way too quick and mishit. This works real good especially for short irons and chipping....I can now work my way up to Q school, and then hopefully the Seniors tour....
I also focused on an easy free swinging grip. I know there is a real tendancy to grip way too hard, by having a loose easy grip there is a real whippiness and flow that will occur. This allows for good solid contact and chances to hit the sweet spot.
I practiced some wedge shots to the green into the wind about 20-30 yards. Trying to judge how high and hard to hit the ball and what the wind would do. A great little exercise.

Chedokes' Martin in the heat

I played 27 holes yesterday in the extreme heat after work with Ric the Security guard. I had a 49, 40, 45 for the 3 9 hole segments. As usual I fought tooth and nail with my driver to avoid my cursed and dreaded slice that has mangled my game this year. A few drives went long 140+ Ric and I were pretty close distance wise. I tended to find the right rough more than I would like he was more in the fairway. My mid irons for the most part went well and my chipping I was happy with at times. My putting was okay, sometimes atrocious and sometimes great. Such is the erratic ways of this mysterious game. Ric nailed about 3-4 8-12 foot putts that gave him some good scores. He went 41 45 41 or something like that. I think I have to invest in a good putter, a new pair of eyes and a course in how to read greens. I work in a library and know how to read books, but greens?





Chedoke is a good little course for the money $30 per person after 3 with cart. It was not too busy, and we played along nicely. A few young teens foursome, were courteous enough to let us play through. I wonder why some older hacking adults can never have that sense of golf etiquette on other courses.



I felt a lot better about my game and it boosted my confidence for further rounds this year. I can't wait to get out again with the usual suspects (you know who you are)