Welcome to my blog, a place that I'll use to collect all of my thoughts and explain my golfing journey. So, let's start at the beginning - I'm Matt and I'm a golfaholic BUT whilst I'm hooked this time around (excuse the pun), the same can't be said for when I played golf in my formative years. And, to that end I believe I picked up my first golf club around the age of 7, when my Dad took the family to the driving range so he could practice his own game.
I don't remember much about my golf in between then and my teenage years but I do know that I took lessons when I was around 12 and began playing a little too. The problem was, I liked it but I didn't love it. There were other things in my life that I felt deserved my time, including football and school and so I can't say that I ever really gave it my all. I can also confirm that club technology has improved dramatically in the twenty or so years since I last played, which was late in my teens, as back when I was around 12 I had a set of Wilson Staff blades that must have had the tiniest sweetspot you can ever imagine.
I had no clue about course management or the necessary skills to overcome the inevitable triple, quad (or worse) bogeys that I used to get back then either. I continued to play, maybe once or twice a year until I was around 18, including when abroad on holidays. And, even though I had a more sensible set of cavity backed irons by this point, they still didn't offer anywhere near the level of forgiveness that their modern day equivalents now possess.
A second wind...
Like many, I guess, I got involved with golf again as it was a recreational sport we could enjoy as the UK came out of lockdown. However, it wasn't my only dalliance with the sport during that period, as my brother will attest to, he's the one to blame for my current addiction. I live on the Isle of Wight, a nice holiday spot for people that don't live here and he was visiting back in the summer of 2019. He invited me along as he was going to play what would later become my home course - Freshwater Bay. It's not the longest ( off the yellows) but it more than makes up for it with the topography, as it's a traditional in-out course that straddles the Tennyson Down.
Topography is not the only challenge or its defence though, as given it's a links style course you can imagine the sort of weather we encounter, with wind a considerable factor to be overcome. Anyway, check out some of my course vlogs on the YouTube channel if you want to see what it's like, even though those never get filmed on the worst days, as I wouldn't be able to keep the camera upright.
Anyway, I've digressed... I didn't play that day and just drove the buggy, as I'd recently dislocated my shoulder quite badly and didn't want to aggravate it. I did hit a couple of shots into greens though and quickly realised that perhaps I might want to get back into it. The next day I recovered my old set of clubs out of storage and went with my brother to play Westridge Golf Centre, a little nine hole course that we hoped wouldn't be too taxing and it wasn't. I enjoyed the day (always nice to spend time doing this sort of thing with my brother), stowed the clubs away and didn't really think about them again until COVID hit and suddenly I needed a way to exercise and clear my mind, away from home, which was now my workplace too.
For the next few months I honed my skills (which weren't great) at Westridge, grabbing rounds when my schedule and the weather permitted, with the clubs put away that winter as I waited for the world and weather to return to a suitable condition in which to really give it another go.
I played a few rounds at Westridge in April and May of 2021 and was scoring well, relatively speaking, as I was breaking 100 with ease and eating well into the 80's, something which I wouldn't have done when I used to play. It was at this point that I made the decision I was going to invest in some new clubs and join Freshwater Bay as a member.
My first round didn't really go to plan, a 108, albeit without anything above a 4 iron in my bag, as I was still trying to make progress with the irons before I introduced any woods.
Seems I was generously giving myself a 36 handicap there and I was only 4 over, handicap adjusted, and I had a par! Anyway, as a challenging course I always knew this was going to be a challenge for someone returning to the game, as I had.
I spent the next ten rounds playing in the 90's with two rounds down into the 80's before having another 100+ round. My average for 2021 ended up being an 89, with 34 strokes as my putting average, something I know because I'm a bit of a geek and track (almost) everything and have created what I like to call a Glimpse Tracker, which is something you might like to use as inspiration for your own purposes.
I'd been posting some of these cards as general play to the system in order to get a handicap and looking back through the My England App it tells me as of 1st December 2021 I was a 24.8
I'd also started to play with a society group towards the tail end of 2021, which not only allowed me to play some of the other courses on the Island, it also offered a more competitive environment, something I've learnt that I'm pretty handy at...
2022 - getting more competitive
I continued playing with the society throughout 2022 and started the season with them off 18, which is where my current handicap currently sat. The society rules dictate that the winner of each event gets cut by two shots until they get to 15 and second place is cut by a shot, this is in order that everyone has something to play for and the same people don't win all the time. However, I was driven throughout 2022 to make a marked improvement and by the end of the season I was playing off 8 with the society, having won the last few events.
I did a few UK golf trips with my Dad too, trying out some nice courses along the way, something I hope to repeat during 2023. I also played in a number of competitions at my home course and was invited to play for the team on numerous occasions against other clubs and fared well here too.
As the season got into the latter stages I made a big mistake now that I reflect on it, as whilst I found a club that I could hit very well repeatedly (Sim2 Max 7 wood, 200+ yards off the tee and deck) I replaced my Cobra F8 draw biased driver with a Ping G425 MAX, an aspirational purchase that was treating myself with for playing so well.
It went well to start with but I quickly found I was leaking everything out right and suddenly had no confidence off the tee with it and started losing strokes to the point where I took it out the bag and started hitting 7 wood off the tee, even on the long par 4's and 5's.
This was a quick fix, as it immediately put me back in a position to score well, however in the long term I think it's hurt me and I'll explain why a little later along with an explanation as to how I'm planning on resolving the issue.
Although I clearly had the issue with driver, mentioned above, I finished out 2022 having dropped 10 strokes off my handicap, down to 14.6 (from 24.8), a result, I'm sure you'll agree, is quite amazing, albeit I'm sure there's been much bigger drops by others over a similar timescale. Not counted towards my handicap and which would have undoubtedly have had a further impact had they been, I had my two best scores to date too, breaking 80 with a 79 and 77.
These were solo 'practice' rounds but nonetheless it's given me a proper glimpse into where my game can go. I've included the scorecard above not only because I'm proud of it (the round is actually on my YouTube channel too, as I was filming) but because I think for higher handicapper's it shows what's possible even when you don't have a scorecard full of birdies. Better scorecards are about reducing the big numbers (doubles, triples and worse) and even bogeys are great scores. I celebrated each of those 8 pars just as much as I did the birdie...
Whilst my handicap is down 10 strokes it's also worth noting that my 2022 average at Freshwater was an 84 (5 strokes better off) whilst my putting was improved too with an average of 32.
2023 - Going BIG, no going home
I'm aiming for a single digit handicap in 2023 and whilst I'm not digging down into the high 70's at the moment the conditions aren't really conducive to low scoring either. As you can imagine, playing in 30+ mph winds takes controlling your flight to whole new level but I'm keen to carry on playing through the winter nonetheless.
In terms of being able to achieve my goals this season I have a few plans in place to help with my progress...
During the back end of 2022 I added a 3 wood to my bag to match my 7 wood (Sim2 Max) but opted for the high launch version (16.5 degrees) with a Proforce V2 HL shaft to match. It's another great weapon in my arsenal and I hit it just as well as I do with the 7 wood (which has a Fujikura Ventus Regular shaft in it).
I've since added a Taylormade Original One mini driver too, as it offers that playability of a 3 wood (with 13.5 degrees of loft) but has a head size between a 3 wood and a driver (270cc). I've been getting on well with to be honest but I knew I'd lost something in my swing, including speed by not using driver for such a long time. I've also had a bad back that's impacted my swing, even though I've carried on playing through it.
In order to try and reorganise my swing and gain some of that speed I've made a pretty significant investment but one that I don't think can be ignored. Afterall, as we age we're all basically losing speed...
That investment is The Stack System from Sasho Mackenzie and Marty Jertson, it's a swing speed system that's even helped/helping tour pros such as Matt Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland amp up their swing speed. So, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. My first impressions are that the system is mega but I'll get into that in a separate post as I plan on keeping a speed diary to show my progress.
If you're still here and reading, thanks for sticking with me and I hope you'll come back to my blog to track my continued progress, both on and off the course.
2023 I'm coming for you!
Comments
Post a Comment