mailman

So heres the thing I see in your post. How do you know if you like your coach or not given you have hardly seen him? Dont you think three quarters of the problem here is that you aren't committing yourself to your lessons? What do you hope to achieve if you dont invest your own time and effort in to your learning plan? Hope that doesn't sound too critical (because its not). Its just that if you are going to spend money on something then you should try to make the most of it but you can't do that if your lessons are spaced out haphazardly. Regards Mailman

Two best shots of the week for me :) Shot 1 - Driver, 286 yards with a lovely fade right up the guts of the fairway. Shot 2 - 4 iron, 215 yards centre of green! Followed by putt for eagle which just stopped short of the hole (another half role and I would have had my second ever eagle!). Turned my courses second par 5 in to a long par 4 (only the second time Ive done this). Really chuffed with how all the planets were in alignment, my tongue was in the correct side of my mouth, striking the ball in between heart beats and how awesomely that one hole went! :) Regards Mailman

I went the other way today. Had 50 out in what could only be described as utter bollocks on almost every single hole. The only saving grace on the front nine was an eagle chance pulling up an inch from the hole on a par 5 (285 yards with driver followed by 220 yard 4 iron then 10 foot putt for eagle). Back nine was a different story! 41 back in, 4 pars, 4 bogeys and just the one double! In my defence I've been suffering from Man Flu (tm) all week and when I woke up this morning I wasn't sure I was going to play in today's comp! Certainly the front 9 had me questioning going out. However, a good back nine meant life was good and ended up with a net 69 and second place when I left the club house : Regards Mailman

Thank you 14 :) Regards Mailman

I've been waiting literally my entire life to post to this thread!!! :) I had my first ever eagle today on a tricky par 5 at my local course. The drive was 297 yards that came to rest perfectly at the top of the fairway that turns hard right in to the green. Second shot was a 7 iron, 175 yards to the pin with a very slight baby draw and a very helpful tail wind that came to rest 5 feet from the pin and then a good putt in for my first ever trophy golf ball :) Yay me! Regards Mailman

So often I've gone out with a low 40's for the front 9 and then crawled back in with a 63! Or it will be the other way out, 55 out then back in 40! In fact only once have I put together an entire 18 holes and even with a 7 on the last hole my final score was 81. But I think that's just a teaser as I haven't got close to repeating that since! Regards Mailman

Going from 103 in to the 80's in 12 months is easy. The real issue is going from averaging in the high 90's to making your average score being in the 80's! Therein lies your real issue. Getting your game to the point where even your really bad rounds are high 80's instead of, say, being 103! Regards Mailman

Congratulations mate. Well done :) Regards Mailman

That should give you a healthy handicap cut aye? Regards Mailman

Cy, Was that really a 448 yard par 5? Do you struggle with the big sticks as that hole screams eagle chance all day long (assuming it doesn't do anything silly like doing a 180 degree turn to the left or something???:) Nice video too. Regards Mailman

Do them just so you can go to the back of the class and watch all teh hawt chicks! :) But seriously, kettle bells and Pilates will both do your game a world of good through developing core strength, flexibility, power etc. Regards Mailman

I thought that was a picture of you for a second??? :) Give kettle bells a go if there are classes at your gym. You will love it. The other good one is Pilates which will help with core strength and flexibility too. Regards Mailman

Hi Christian, The class is run from the gym attached to my golf club and I got pulled in by a couple of club members who attend the classes. The class has also been developed in conjunction with the Titliest Performance Institute (sounds a bit like name dropping doesnt it :). All of the exercises are related to improving stability, core strength and flexibility but before I started the class I did an assessment to see where I was physically. There is a set of 12 tests that you go through and you basically get a rating from PGA tour level down to "should be on your death bed" level :) Each session would be a mix of stretching, core strength and flexibility development, circuit training and strength training.basically high intensity training that benefits your golf game. Mix in there kettle bells, weights, trx exercises etc and you have a really, high energy fun little session that gets a serious sweat on and gets the old heart beat up! Regards Mailman

I get out and run every other day. At the moment Im doing 10k sessions in an hour and Sundays are my long run day (14 to 20k) where I get out early afternoon before the wife goes out for a run (as she goes off with the other mothers from our community...and I dont want to slow them down! :)). About 2 months ago I decided to supplement my running with a couple gym classes to help add muscle and definition but one of the classes I do is a specific golf fit class where the exercises are all related to golf. The other class I do is kettle bells, which absolutely rocks! Even in that short time I can see a massive difference in my body shape oh AND more importantly I can definitely feel I am imparting more power in to my golf swing now too! Also, an added bonus, muscle is an efficient fat burner! :D Well done on getting closer to your goal weight mate. I think that once you get down to 200lbs that will just be the end of the beginning as the next challenge is to keep the weight off and hopefully not slip back in to your old habits! Regards Mailman

EBay is your friend for golf balls! I can usually find near A Grade pro v1's for 50p a ball (around 75cUS). In the winter I use Srixon distance balls and even prime grade balls cost a song (about 20p each). It's the same for most balls, costing a fraction of their new price and to be honest while losing an eBay pro v1 still hurts it doesn't hurt as much as if it was a brand new £3 ball! :) Regards Mailman

That is a great comeback on 4, 5 and 6 too mate! Congrats on the handicap as well. As the saying goes, it can only come down from there :) Regards Mailman

[Damn text editor! Let's try that again!] Here's a couple things that helped me over the last 18 months; 1. Have alternatives available - As Christian says, don't give in to temptation. However you can help yourself here by having alternatives available to snack on when the munchies attack! I used to smash a big bag of crisps or a packet of chocolate biscuits or a bag of lollies without a second thought but now I always make sure there is plenty of fruit and nuts (cashews, almonds, Brazil etc, natural not salted!) In the house. If I want a snack then I'll grab a handful of nuts and raisins or a sweet Apple, Orange, pear, prunes, grapes etc and all of these things can sate your desire for suger. Apple's are especially good at combating sugar cravings and almonds, cashews and Brazil nuts are great for helping you to get over hunger pangs. 2. Get active! For me golf was an integral part of changing from a mainly sedantry and inactive lifestyle to getting out there and enjoying the great outdoors! I could build my weeks training around the fact that I knew every Saturday would involve a 15km power walk (ok, if I could hit straight it would only be a 10k stroll every round :). Every little bit counts as well! I used to commute in to London 2 or 3 days a week so I knew that each morning REGARDLESS of weather I had a 2km walk to the train station then another 2km from Moorgate in London to the office. Incidentally just walking to the office saved me £5 a day on tube fares! So each day if I did nothing else I was at least getting out for an 8km walk, and most importantly of all, actually enjoying my walks (only to be ruined by work at the other end!!!:). Once in the office I'd walk between floors as much and as often as possible! So not even trying I could easily end up walking at least 10km a day, which is a great base to start with. 3. Cheat days :) I love bread! I love wholemeal bread even more!!! My cheat day would be the day I'm playing golf so breakfast would be porridge AND a couple thick MAN slices of wholemeal bread toasted with FULL FAT butter and peanut butter! I'd also allow myself potatoes on my cheat day, especially roasted potatoes with a roast dinner! The thing is I wouldn't go crazy on my cheat day though. It wasn't a licence to undo all the hard work I'd put in during the week but it was a reward day where I could have carbs and sugar if I wanted and over time I found myself desiring sugary treats less and less to the point where they didn't even cross my mind on my cheat day. My final point is you have to love yourself regardless! Have pride in yourself and don't beat yourself up if you fall off the band wagon. Just pull yourself up and dust yourself off and start again. Set yourself a goal and do what ever you have to achieve that goal! Just remember this is probably one of the most important journeys you will ever undertake and it won't be easy as you will by trying to undo years and years of poor choices BUT the rewards will be endless! Regards Mailman

It's nothing special, just a woggo standard Sony handicam. Sadly it can shoot high speed footage but that's not too much drama as I can use iMovie for slow motion stuff like this; [VIDEO]http://youtu.be/iJS8An_gk-Y[/VIDEO] The mount just means I don't have to faff about with tripods and stuff. Regards Mailman

Speaking of which I got a camera mount for my golf cart (the mount is actually for a motorbike handlebar but fits on the the handlebar of my cart without a problem) so that I could get video on the course without having to take a tripod or trying to balance the camera on the bag! :) Regards Mailman

My god, what happened with the 10 shots? Looking at your stats was it a lost ball off the tee that started the carnage? Oh, I didn't realise you played on municipal courses, which would make things hard for you unless you went out later when the course was quieter? Also, what weight are you at now and what is your goal? I've settled on 91kg, down from 124kg at the start of last year. Regards Mailman

Mate, In regards to your distances with your irons I would try and get that sorted ASAP. If it's at all possible go set yourself up on a hole with a long fairway and just hit 6 balls with each club (discounting miss hits or balls struck too well, like a 200 yard wedge:), walk to the balls which are hopefully in some kind of bunch and measure back to your bag with a range finder. This should help you build a picture of the distances you can get with your clubs as even for us high handicappers this is still valuable information. It is a great feeling trying to play tactical golf so that your approaches in to greens are with full clubs (because you are aware of your distances) and then nailing those approach shots! :) If you can't do on course testing then find a flight monitor or even use a range as even that would still help. Yes you could do this with game golf but it's going to take you probably several months before you have enough data available to build that picture. At least this way you could get out this weekend, capture your distance information and then use game golf over time to fine tune your distance card. Regards Mailman

Cheers lads :) You lucky bugger! I wish my work had a gym! Mind you, having said that I haven't been in to my office since the start of March as I've been working from my home office :) Of all the things I've done I think it's the golf fit classes that have helped out the most. I feel more flexible, stronger and just more healthy all over. In fact I can see the physical changes in myself as Muscle has started to develop. I also could speak about nutrition for hours! I love food! I used to REALLY love all the wrong kinds of quick fix gratification food that had absolutely no nutritional value but over the course of the last 18 months I've retrained my mind to love healthy options (by healthy I mean things like full fat milk, cream, butter, cheese, meat with FAT on it...you know, PROPER healthy food) and also avoid low fat sh1t, sugars, processed foods like the plague! So yeah, every little helps with where my golfing game is heading and while I may never break in to the 70's I guess I am at least giving myself the opportunity to do that. Regards Mailman

I well and truly smashed the 90 barrier yesterday with an 81 on my local course (par71, 6300 yards) AND that included a 7 on the last hole!!!!! My course has probably one of the hardest starting holes in the country, along with Englands hardest par 3 for its 4th hole BUT I found myself in uncharted territory after walking off the 4th hole at gross even par! This included hitting all four GIR's and 2 of three FIR's along the way. This is something Ive never done in my entire life (four pars to start off with!)!!! Finished the front 9 at 3 over par gross (39) which included 6 pars and three bogeys. On the 9th I I bunkered my approach shot after hitting the FIR leaving me with a tricky 20 yard shot to the green, which I promptly put the ball right next to for a tap in par! Back nine was a bit more of a struggle but still ended up with a 42 which included 4 pars, 4 bogeys and a triple on the last hole! I dont know if Ill ever get the chance to scare the 70's again in my life as yesterday was just one of those days where everything clicked! I was driving like a god, iron shots where as solid as they have ever been and I didnt have any three putts all day long! Even with the 7 on the last hole I was still happy because that 7 could have been an eight if it wasn't for sinking a 10 foot putt to at least end the hole on a high! :) Then again, Ive put in some real effort this last 6 months to try and deliberately improve my golf. Ive been running for general fitness, attending golf fit classes at my golf course (gym sessions specifically tailored towards golf), doing kettle bells for general strength and toning and probably most importantly of all I joined a Golf Academy close by home which gives me access to coaching, a ton of technology and also on course assessments (at no extra cost). Added up altogether this has helped not only with golf but also with life in general. Just to keep things in context, with my current 22 handicap that would have been 47 stableford points or a net 59 :) Sadly as this was an on course assessment with my coach, who isn't a member of my club, I couldn't submit the card for handicapping purposes. All in all life is good at the moment! Regards Mailman

[b]Brampton Park Golf Club. Par71, White Tees 6310 yards. Exact Handicap: 22[/b] Front 9 - 39 out, 6x Par, 3x Bogey, 3x FIR, 6x GIR, 8x 2Putt, 1x 1Putt Back9 - 42 back, 4x Par, 4x Bogey, 1x Triple Bogey, 2x FIR, 2x GIR, 5x 2Putt, 4x 1Putt Total: 81 (39/42 and 31 putts) [b]Notes from todays round.[/b] 1. This is the most pars Ive ever had in a round of golf (previous record was 8). 2. The front nine 39 was the first time I have ever broken 40! 3. This is the lowest number of bogeys Ive ever had and most certainly the lowest number of double or worse bogeys Ive ever had. 4. No three putts in the round which helped clean up a number of holes, turning bogeys in to pars and double bogeys in to bogeys! 5. 81 is the lowest score Ive ever shot in my life to date! Today was an assessment round to see what progress Im making after joining a local golf acadamy to help improve my game. That does mean the round does not count towards my handicap (as my pro isnt a member of my course). Life is good! :) Regards Mailman

The whole premis of the question is wrong simply due to the large number of variables that comes with our beautiful game. Golf isn't as black and white as the question makes it out to be and takes no consideration of something as basic as players handicap and skill level. Mailman