The National Golf Course + Oak Tree

Practice Practice Practice

Sunday was another chance to put the coaches' words of wisdom into action. This was a three person outing at a National golf course in the UK. Unfortunately there was no time to practice at the driving range, there was an opportunity to tee off earlier ahead of two games of four pairs. Just as well, otherwise it would have been a long day.


Teeing off with the 'gatekeeper' watching, time seemed to stand still. I used the driver but sliced the ball wide, to the right of the fairway and into the woodland. It wasn't a great start. The conditions were changeable, initially we experienced snow, then sleet, rain and lastly sun. I had opted for a cheeky yellow ball in case the Gods were to let rip.

As I took my stance in the woodland, there was a beast…..of an oak tree, its trunk wide in diameter, towering over my position (although five metres away). Sods law, the wall would strike this imposing monster/menace…and it did.

An almighty ping, followed by a 'doing' and the ball rebounded off the tree and ended about twenty foot behind my original position. Still relatively close to the tee, the two four ball pairs had arrived on the horizon and no doubt witnessed this battle against the tree.

The form did improve. When the technique worked it worked well. Playing off a 28, I managed a score of 17…not fantastic but an improvement from the 9 the previous outing.


Things that threw me were striking the ball on an uneven surface….this shot was not in my golfing vocabulary. I was yet to reach that golfing level or gain that skill, as one might experience in a computer game. Other gremlins continued to haunt, including the PW and SW. My short game was well either 'long' (i.e. 'over hit', chipped beyond the green) or 'very short' (i.e. the ball went nowhere). One might conclude that my short game was non-existent. Again…I had focused so much time on the long play, I simply did not have the right technique/follow through with the PW and SW. It was frustrating. Conquer those clubs and the handicap may well fall.

Another improvement had been the lack of balls lost. It was on the 17th hole I realised this fact…..and then 'plonk' one went into the lake, further up on the same hole, there was another 'plonk', the ball landed in more water.
Moral of the story is don't tempt fate.

In a nut shell, Sunday included a lot of psychology. I was defeated by frustration. We finished the course on the 19th hole with a well earn't pint.

Next Blog Entry
The next Blog entry will be look at a comical clip of that legend John Daly in action on the course...

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