Hai!
Made a bit of a milestone today. This year been averaging 98-105; playing reasonably but having a couple of horror holes.
After school went to a lovely little course in Boldmere - 4500, par 62, and went round in 82! 20 over par is massively better than anything else I've managed so far in my brief career as a hacker, and I'm absolutely delighted. Scored that despite having 8 x 3-putts, and 4 of the par 3s are over 200 yards, too.
Ball striking was a lot more consistent, and my touch around the green was much better, even if I was still a little iffy on it.
Also played the chip of my life; I swear to God if a tour player had made it, it would have been on a montage! Over hit a mid iron to the green by about 20 yards, it caught a bank at the top of the green, hit a path, and then finished on a down hill lie of a secondary bank. So I'm 25 yards from the pin, green runs away from me, and I'm half way up the second bank with a hugely downhill lie. Delicate little putting stroke with a little bit of hinge, over the bath and bounced *just* on the spot I was aiming for on the top of the first bank, and rolled down, onto the green, rolled, and finished 2 inches away for my par. It was beautiful and creative. My playing partner who plays off 12 thought the absolute best would be rolling no more than 6 foot past the pin.
Main aim today was (after reading some of Dr Bob's stuff on holiday) was have far fewer mechanical thoughts on my way round, and 'back myself' a little more. Felt a lot more enjoyable, and didn't let the odd bad shot bother me. Vocalised a lot of my positive thinking, and my playing partner benefited, as I was telling him what I'd read that he should be telling himself if that makes sense. I think he got the hint towards the end and starting giving a bit back, which helped!
Put a shit load of hard work in the last few months, after last year averaging 110-115, peaking on 102 - and it's really paying off. Going to keep that up, range once a week and course once a week, and just try and keep up the positive thinking all the way round the course.
Love golf!