April 2011

Well its been a long time since I had anything to say about my quest to get to scratch. In all honesty I feel less and less convinced that it is a realistically achievable goal, however I'm going to push on.
I started hitting balls again about 6 weeks ago. The elbow is better but a long way from being fully recovered. I doubt it will ever be fully right however it is manageable - I just wont be able to hit a lot of range balls. This means the quality of my practice will have to improve.
I got fitted for and purchased a new set of irons - Titleist AP2s, 2 degrees flat with Dynamic Gold S300 shafts. They are great clubs. I am struggling to adjust to how high they flight the ball but thats an adjustment I am willing to make.
Since I started back, I have played 4 rounds. I only broke 80 once, however I am starting to feel it is coming round. My hiatus seems to have helped eradicate the driving problems that plagued last year. In relation to improved practice quality - I have made one commitment to myself. I refuse to hit a single range ball without making sure my ball position is right. To do this, I will use alignment poles. I played a round lately with my teaching pro and was shocked when he said my ball position was terrible but sure enough he was right. How frustrating that I can't even get the simplest of concepts such as ball position right!!!
One other development - over the years I have had two particular swing flaws the I struggled to eliminate - the bent left elbow and the club getting behind me on the backswing. Well, I think I have finally settled on the key to eliminating this problem - I need to keep both elbows and forearms much closer together on the backswing. Essentially instead of relying on the left arm to keep the left arm straight, I can get a little help from the right arm!
Handicap is at 3.9 now and rising. Hopefully that will change a little over the next few months.