Gold Coast Golfer

Returning to Golf After an 11 Year Hiatus

2023-01-03T04:23:00.001+10:00

Spending a bit of time with my two sons - one of the reasons my interest in golf has resurfaced

It's been about 11 years since I stopped playing golf with any regularity. Coincidentally, that also happens to be the lowest I was able to get my handicap down to. I don't remember exactly why I stopped playing, but I suspect it was for a variety of reasons.

I was hooking a lot just before I stopped playing and I can remember that frustrating me a lot. It just seemed like a problem that I couldn't overcome. A change in jobs and the introduction of new hobbies, diving and photography at the time also contributed to my interest in golf waning.

Showing a group how to raise a front wheel - an essential skill that requires a bit of balance.

My clubs eventually found a home with my eldest son, the one putting in the photo above, while I continued to pursue other interests, moving from diving to surfing and then ultimately to mountain biking. And in mountain biking I found a passion so strong that after a few years I found myself instructing others in the art of weaving through trees at high speed.

To be honest, mountain biking was something I was passionate about in my youth. It was a hobby I put aside shortly after I met my wife and started a family, simply because it seemed less important back then. And it was a sport I returned to after a 15 year break, except this time, I became much better at riding than I ever had during my younger years.

Working with my son on his swing

I think golf has been attempting to force itself back into my life for several months now. My father, being an avid golfer and the main reason I originally learnt to play, actually gave me a set that he happened to acquire - an old set of Cleveland CG16s with a Taylormade driver, hybrid and lob wedge. Beyond the passion that he and my mother have for golf, I think it was also a subtle hint that he'd like to spend a bit more time with me.

And there was no way I was going to get my parents onto mountain bikes!

But it was actually my middle son that triggered my interest in the game. While Alex had lessons when he was a kid, he'd never really developed an interest in golf, not until recently. He'd messaged me a few times about getting some help with his swing, to which I replied that I was not the best person to help him with that.

Still, he persisted and over the Christmas period we ventured out to the driving range. Not having his own clubs I gave him the set my father had recently given me, leaving me with an old hybrid, a 3 iron and some wedges left in the garage. Needless to say he was ecstatic. And when we ventured out onto the range, much to my surprise, I was actually able to help him with his swing.

Turns out, my years of mountain bike coaching had helped attune my sense of observation and breaking down body movements into things that I could explain. Which immediately got me to wondering - could I do the same for myself, and actually correct some of my old problems.

A few sessions on the driving range with my sons over Christmas revealed that my hook was still dominating my swing. But with my new found sense of body awareness, I've actually been able to diagnose a number of the things I've needed to fix - something I'll get into another time. Suffice to say that I found myself getting a little excited with the thought of getting back into the game.

The other thing I've managed to take away from mountain biking is the ability to just be in the moment. You see, if you're doing anything but riding with a clear mind, you run a very real risk of running to a tree, or falling off the side of the mountain. And of course, there's also the sense of balance that's needed while zipping around on two wheels in the forest - I've become much more aware of my body movements because of it.

A set of new Srixon ZX7s that happened to fall into the boot of my car after Christmas

With my passion for golf seemingly reignited, I debated through the holidays as to whether or not to reacquire my old golf clubs from the eldest or to start building a new set. Golf after all, is not cheap when it comes to equipment. That said, have a look at the cost of a high end mountain bike sometime - golf equipment is a relative bargain by comparison!

After much agonising on reinvesting in new golf equipment, I decided to start with a new set of irons. After all, the Mizuno MX20s of my old set are now over 20 years old and I figured could do with an upgrade. I'll get to exactly why I ended up with the Srixons in another post. But for now, I'll just say that I'm very, very glad I purchased them!

And so here I am, back again after all this time and ready to pick up where I left off. It seemed appropriate to me that I restart the old Gold Coast Golfer blog - after all, reflecting on my golf experiences with this blog was an integral part of my golfing journey back then. I'm looking forwad to seeing where this new chapter takes me.

Remembering The Feeling

2011-11-01T05:19:00.001+10:00

I have to admit to playing less than great golf of late. Actually, my golf has been downright atrocious compared to where I was playing this time last year. The reason? I'd become a hooker.

I am of course, referring to the sort of shot I hit while playing golf - not the other kind. Needless to say, it's been a constant source of frustration for me. And the more I tried to fix it, the worse it seemed to get! The only way I was able to get around it was to feel like I was deliberately playing a strong fade. And even then, I was still hitting draws, with the occasional hook.

The problem has since gone away. How did I manage to fix it? Well, by having to focus on getting a ball out from a tight lie underneath a string of trees.

In that one instance, focusing on the shot that I needed to hit, I completely let go of any swing thoughts. In that moment I remembered the feeling of hitting a shot that would start with striking the ball cleanly, with a closed, de-lofted iron. I would rotate my forearms heavily on contact, producing a draw that would hold off just until the ball got past the trees before turning towards the fairways, narrowly avoiding the second set of trees that lay in front of me.

In that moment, I remembered that my swing wasn't the issue. It was just my head. As soon as I stopped worrying about how I should swing my club and focused on what shot I wanted to hit, my swing problem went away. Instantly.

There's a line of golf coaching that says 'If you have a great swing and you just let the ball get in the way, you'll hit great shots'. I think that works only for some people. Those people that are more technical - the ones that like to focus on the detail of the swing.

For another group of us, we're all about playing by feel. That's not to say that we shouldn't work on our swing. However, once we've got a solid swing, focusing on the ball and what we want to do with it, and letting our body figure out how to do it unconsciously works for best for us. It's about being confident in how we play our game, believing we know how to hit the shot we need to hit, and letting our mind and body take care of the rest.

It's a lesson that I have to remind myself of every year. Remember the feeling. That feeling of pure joy and excitement, knowing that I can hit the shot the way I want to. It's only when I forget that I know how to play that my golf starts falling apart.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, my shot from underneath the trees didn't quite work out. I was just a foot to far to the left in my aim and I clipped the tree. But the golf I played after it was just fine.

Golf Equipment Review - The Bushnell Pro 1600 Laser Range Finder

2011-10-17T05:00:00.000+10:00

With golf, distance and accuracy are everything. Generally speaking, knowing where you need to hit to is a fairly straight forward exercise. Knowing exactly how far however, is a very different story.

Over the years I've found myself becoming better at estimating how far away a target is. Where I once relied heavily upon a GPS to figure out a distance, these days I can rely a lot on my own experience and judgement. Especially when I'm playing on my home course.

Having said that, I do find myself at times looking for a bit of help in figuring out how far a pin might be. Or it might be the distance to a bunker or water hazard. Or even some random tree branch! And this usually happens when I'm playing at different course which is naturally lacking in distance markers.

Enter the Bushnell Pro 1600 Laser Range Finder. On the surface, it's a rather simple device that resembles a set of powerful binoculars, but with only a single view finder. Sporting 5 times magnification the Laser Range Finder is able to accurately identify distances from up to 1,000 yards away. Oh, and don't worry - if you're in a country that prefers metric measurements, the range finder can display units in meters as well.

I happened to try out this marvellous little device when I last played with my mother, who received one for her birthday. While in the past I've scoffed at the need for laser range finders, you can now call me officially converted. From wherever I was on the course, to figure out how far my next shot was going to be I simply looked through the scope, aimed at a target, and pressed a button. From there, it's a simple matter of picking the right club.

The device itself is infinitely simpler and easier to use than a golf GPS. No longer do you have to worry about uploading or mapping out your next course. Or even figuring out if you're on the right hole!

Simply turn up, point to find the distance, and pick a club to shoot with. And in terms of accuracy, I couldn't fault it. I seemed to pick the right club every time, something that I can't say I do with a GPS.

Price wise, Bushnell's Pro 1600 is comparable with higher end golf GPS units. However there's no need to worry about subscribing to anybody's software updating program to keep up to date with additional golf courses. Another advantage also comes from battery life. Because the unit isn't always turned on, you'll find the battery lasting a lot longer than a golf GPS.

Others might argue that golf GPS units do just more than tell you how far away something is. Tracking scores, recommending clubs based on part performance, storing notes on a course are all part and parcel of GPS functionality these days. But in all seriousness, I've yet to come across a golfer that makes full use of that additional functionality.

If you're someone who regularly plays at different courses and likes to know how far to hit, the Bushnell Pro Laser Range Finder is definitely something I would recommend. Simple and easy to operate, it's something that you'll be able to take to any course and make use of.

Golfers - True Outdoor Adventurers

2011-10-03T16:16:00.001+10:00

This was sent to me by a friend...

I live in Florida and when my doctor asked me about what I did last weekend, I told him about my day. "Well, yesterday afternoon, I waded across the edge of a lake, came face to face with an alligator, got scraped up pretty bad making my way through heavy brush, marched up and down a huge hill, stood in a patch of poison ivy, crawled out of some deep sand and jumped away from an aggressive cotton mouth snake." Inspired by my story, the doctor said, "WOW you must be an awesome outdoors man!" "
No," I replied, "I'm just a shitty golfer."

Golf Bag Review - The Cleveland Golf Lightweight Stand Bag

2011-09-02T18:14:00.001+10:00

I've always wondered about people who carry their golf bags. Carrying a set of clubs on your back always seemed like a difficult way of getting around a golf course.

The other thing of course you have to wonder about is how good can a stand bag really be? My assumption has always been that it's either got to be light enough to carry, meaning that you miss out on a lot of features, or it is actually fully featured making it too heavy. A bag that has to compromise can't be a good thing.

As much as I love my Ping Staff bag though, it is one very heavy bag and all but impossible to take on domestic flights around Australia without incurring a signficant additional baggage charge. So after recently being invited for a hit in Melbourne while on a business trip, I needed to find a way of getting my clubs on a plane without breaking the bank. Enter the Cleveland Golf Lightweight Stand Bag.

Design

My initial impressions were that Cleveland's Lightweight Stand Bag is not too dissimilar to other stand bags on the market. The standard stand system exists which unfolds the legs automatically as you rest the bag on its base and then tilt it on its side. A set of comfortable four point shoulders straps are attached and are easily adjusted to suit the carrier. And of course there are a range of pockets on situated throughout the bag.

Where the bag stands out a bit more from other bags is in the divider system that it uses to separate the clubs. Featuring an eight and a half inch top the unique divider system looks suspiciously like Mizuno's Kabuki club organising system, but in reverse. Rather than using a traditional six or 14 way divider system, the top opening is divided through a unique set of curved openings that allows the clubs in any of the seven spaces created by the divider to fall in a way that makes them easily accessible when the bag is rested on its stand.

Other features that are of note are the golf ball and tee holders attached to the bag's spine, along with a golf glove holder. There aren't features that I usually appreciate as I normally have a golf buggy to hold these items. When you're walking around a course though, being able to easily get to another ball or tee without having to rummage through pockets is a great thing. The bag also features a place to attach a towel, hold an umbrella, and comes with a rain hood to help keep you clubs dry.

Construction

Normally golfers are interested in how sturdy and robust a golf bag is. How well they'll hold up to the elements and withstand being accidentally dropped is an important part to the value proposition of a golf bag.

In the case of what I was looking for, it was all about weight. While I was still concerned about overall build quality, the bag I needed had to be light enough to avoid being hit with excess baggage charges on the flights. At a shade under 2kg or 4.4 lbs, Cleveland's Lightweight Stand Bag fits the bill.

What has surprised me though is that light weight does not necessarily translate into weak and flimsy. The main tube that forms the structure of Cleveland's golf bag is strong and sturdy, despite its light weight. Covering the tube is a combination of polyester, air mesh and honeycomb ripstop material. The combination is used in different sections of the bag to optimise the strength and weight of the bag, while also making the bag itself reasonably resistant to marking.

Other features of the bag clearly demonstrate that keeping the bag light weight wasn't the only consideration in its design and manufacture. A molded plastic handle and four point shoulder strap gives you several ways of carrrying Cleveland's golf bag around without fear of anything breaking. While inside one of the pockets you'll find fleece to protect valuable items such as sun glasses and mobile phones.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is always a subjective thing and the design of golf stand bags are no exception. While not as impressive as my Ping Staff Bag, Cleveland's stand bag still presents itself as an impressive bag in its own right. Desite its light weight, Cleveland's stand bag doesn't present itself as one of those bags that appears to be disproportionately thin. Nor does it seem to be so large as to appear comically unwieldy being carried on a course. Overall it strikes that balance of being an efficient, good looking and practical stand bag.

Cleveland produce the Lightweight stand bag in a range of different colours, depending on the country you're purchasing them in. In conjunction with the primary colours, black and white are also mixed in to produce an smart pattern of colours that make the bag stand out on the course. I personally opted for the yellow simply because it's not something you tend to find on the course.

Practicality

I had three main concerns when I purchased Cleveland's Lightweight Stand bag. The first, of course, was its weight. With a 23kg weight limit for baggae on the plane I figured that I had 13 kg for all of my golf gear. That included a full set of clubs, a dozen golf ball, tees, towels, hats and gloves. And the weight allowance also had to account for the fact that everything would be travelling in a padded golf travel bag as well. The overall weight on the scales at the airport? 12 kg. Check concern number one.

My second concern was being able to walk around a course without tiring so much that my game would be affected. What I discovered, at least in the case of Cleveland's bag, is that it can be easier to walk around a course with a lighweight stand bag than pushing a cart around. With a comfortable shoulder harness that is easy to slip in and out of and stand legs that extend when the base plate is pressed down, carrying the bag with a full set of clubs in the bag was a breeze. An added bonus of carrying the bag was in the fact that I didn't have to clean wet grass off my push cart after I had finished a round. Check concern number two.

My last worry was about the practical elements a stand bag itself. Would my clubs slide in an out easily? Would there be enough storage space in the bag? Could I get to everything I needed easily? As it turns out, these were things that I needn't have worried about. The interesting divider system made the clubs easy to pull out and return to their respective spaces. There was ample room for golf balls and tees. Small items such as hats, wallets, phones and keys were easy to find spaces for. And perhaps what surprised and delighted me the most was the fact that firstly, an insulated water bottle sleeve was discreetly build into the bag, and secondly, despite carrying a thick winter jacket with me, Cleveland's Lightweight Stand Bag swallowed it with ease.

Conclusions

To say I haven pleasantly surprised by Cleveland's Lightweight Stand Bag would be understating the fact. I have been absolutely blown away by how practical and easy to use the stand bag has been. It literally checks all of the criteria that I had, and didn't have on my list - to the point where I would be quite happy to have it as my every day golf bag.

The one thing that I have failed to mention that really makes Cleveland's Lightweight Stand Bag a winner is the price. Retailer for under $100 in Australia, I was able to pick mine up for the princely sum of $85. That's up to two to three times cheaper than comparable stand bags with similar features and build quality.

So if you're looking for a fully functional, practical, and stylish stand bag that doesn't weigh a ton an represents simply outstanding value for money, don't go past Cleveland's Lightweight Stand Bag. It really is that good.

The Unofficial Update on The Colonial and Robina Woods

2011-08-21T08:30:00.003+10:00

I thought it was probably time for an update on what's happening with the financial issues that that have shadowed The Colonial and Robina Woods golf courses of late. For most members, it's coming close to membership renewal time which is at the end of September. Hopefully the information I have might help you in making a decision as to whether you should stay or if you should look for membership somewhere else.

So officially, the Colonial and Robina Woods golf courses are for sale under the direction of the receivers and the controlling bank that is owed the most money. The sale is being handled by a commercial real estate agent and if you ask any of the staff that's probably as much as they can officially tell you. I do actually get the impression that like the members of the club, they are almost as much in the dark as the rest of us.

Unofficially however, I've been able to glean a couple of pieces of information from different sources - who shall remain nameless!

Firstly, there are a couple of suitors for the golf courses. The details of who they are remain confidential and I really have no clue as to whom they might be. Potential buyers could range from your business people all the way through to professional golfers who want to have a go at running a golf course. Take your pick. There is definitely interest though so expect a change of owners in the near future.

Secondly, the time frame for the completion of any sale transaction is not something that is likely to occur quickly. When I spoke to the staff at Colonial about a month ago, their impression was that if the sale were to occur shortly, by the time commercial negotiations were completed and contracts were signed we would likely be into November. My own experience in this area is that negotiations and contracts always take much longer than people expect them to.

Thirdly, there's a chance that The Colonial and Robina Woods Golf Courses could be split up and sold to separate buyers. Whether this occurs or not is likely to be more a commercially driven transaction - whatever arrangement offers the most money in the right time frame is how the courses will end up. But don't be surprised if the partnership between The Colonial and Robina Woods finishes up when the sale is completed.

Incidentally, if that scenario were to occur I believe Robina Woods is viewed as the more prestigious course while The Colonial is the one for the masses. That may have a bearing on how future memberships are offered through both clubs. The main concern for us existing members, or even those that are thinking about joining one of the clubs as a new member is what happens if a new buyer takes ownership.

If you have a copy of the current membership application you'll find some additional legal jargon that hasn't been there in previous years. The section that is of most relevance to membership is at the very bottom. I can't claim to be a lawyer, but I have had a little experience with commercial terms through stuff at work.

My translation of what they have there in english is simply that if new owners take over and they significantly change the memberships terms, a portion of the membership fees will be refunded to existing members. It will depend on when such a transaction occurs but we'll effectively pay for the months that we were members and be refunded for those months where we aren't members.

Oh, and incidentally, if you take up the Mega or Mega Social membership, it doesn't say either way. However I'm assuming that you won't get any portion of your membership back.

So that's my unofficial update in a nut shell. It's definitely a wait and see game but at least the receivers have tried to give us some confidence that existing members won't be left out of pocket if or when a sale goes ahead. And on that note, at least The Colonial the course continues to be well maintained with lots of work going on to improve various areas. From the staff's perspective, it's business as usual - or even better as the banks and receivers have allowed more money to be spent on maintenance than the actual owners! I guess a course in excellent condition will fetch a better price than one that isn't.

For my money, I'll definitely be renewing. Mind you, I'm likely to take up the six month renewal option - but that's due to personal and work circumstances. For the time being though, I'm confident that members will come out of the deal just fine and there's little to worry about if you're thinking about whether or not you should renew your membership

The Happy Gilmore Lesson

2011-08-14T21:36:00.002+10:00

A few weeks ago during a particularly ordinary round of golf I on a whim decided to attempt the 'Happy Gilmore'. It was an interesting exercise which I managed to pull off with a surprisingly good deal of success. It does help that I used to play field hockey and so I'm actually used to hitting the ball on the run. It might have been a bit bigger, but it was also moving a lot of the time. You can go here to check out the video.

The drives that I hit doing the 'Happy Gilmore' worked so well that I actually had to think about why I was able to do that. The last drive I hit was a stunningly long shot with a touch of draw that I've not been able to achieve with my normal, more controlled swing. And there in lay the key.

The 'Happy Gilmore' in its pure form is probably the most uncontrolled shot you are ever likely to attempt. When you attempt to hit it, you're really not doing too much thinking about what your swing is doing, whether you're on plane, if your weight distribution is correct, and what happens if you don't pull off the shot perfectly. You're just focussed on hitting the ball... for good reason! Whatever else happens just happens.

For those of you that have been reading my blogs over the years, you're probably aware of the regular arguments that I've had with my driver. As I've become a better player, the one area that seems to have not improved so much is my drive. No matter how many lessons I've had or which driver I use, it's just one area that's struggle to come along with the rest of my game.

Well, after my Happy Gilmores (and yes, there were more as I had to demonstrate it to the kids over the weekend as well), I realised how much fun I was having. I also realised how consistently I was driving off the tee using the technique... as consistently as can be expected when attempting to hit a little white ball teed two and a half inches off the ground!

I've never thought of hitting my driver as fun. Everytime I've pulled it out of my bag there has always been a certain amount of trepidation. Is it going to go straight? Where will I miss? How badly can I mess it up? Should I hold back a little? What do I have to do if I get into trouble? While I don't think of these things consciously, they have always seemed to be at the back of my mind.

The other week I decided to use the same mind set as I have been while hitting the Happy Gilmores: Get on the tee, pick a spot, imagine the shot, and just go for it. Now, I know you might be thinking, "Well duh! That's what you're supposed to do all the time!". The difference for me is in the 'Just go for it' bit.

As it turns out, as I've lost control with my driver, I've begun to hold back my swing when using the driver. It's something I've never really thought of because even when I've been holding back, I still out drive the majority of my playing partners. What has been affected however, is the transfer of weight from my back foot to my front.

In "just going for it", I have become a lot more free with my swing and weight transfer. Letting go of the control has allowed my body to shift the weight from my back foot to my front much more efficiently and in doing so, it's appeared to resolve a myriad of swing issues I've had. Not only am I hitting the fairways more, but I'm hitting a hell of a lot further than I ever thought possible.

So there you have it. Too much control is not a good thing with your golf swing. Sometimes, it's best to let your body do things a bit more naturally and not try to control your swing too much - a lesson learnt from doing the 'Happy Gilmore'!

My Happy Gilmore Impersonation

2011-07-22T09:46:00.001+10:00

I wasn't have a great game this morning so I thought I'd have a bit of fun and do my best impersonation of Happy Gilmore. You can really hit the ball a long way doing this! It's not for the faint hearted though - I think I might have pulled something in my shoulder!

Thanks to my good friend Hugh for his expert recording of this memorable occasion. Three takes was all we needed.

Book Review - Tiger - The Real Story

2011-07-16T05:55:00.002+10:00

I've seen a lot of books about Tiger Woods over the years, particularly in light of his recent activities. The one that has piqued my interest the most is the one written by Steve Helling. The title, 'Tiger - The Real Story' always sounded like it would give you an insight into Tiger's life and the reasons as to why he did the things that led to the demise of his "Golden Boy" status.

And it does exactly that, although perhaps not in the way that you would necesarily expect. You see, when I read the book's title, 'The Real Story' to me implied that Tiger himself would have provided a lot of the detail within the story itself. This isn't the case.

Steve himself has met and interviewed Tiger over the years a number of times, and was even present at Tiger's wedding to Elin. I've no doubt that Steve was able to gain some insight into Tiger's persona through a few of those meetings, although he himself admits that Tiger always seemed to be wearing a mask and not letting much out. However if you were looking for a story about Tiger written by someone who knew him very well, you might be disappointed.

That's not to say the book itself is a bad read. Too say I was a bit surprised when the first few chapters were dedicated to Earl Woods was probably an understatement though. After all, isn't the book supposed to be about Tiger? I didn't really buy the book to read about his father's childhood history.
As you read through the book though, you begin to get some perspective as to why Steve has written the book this way. More so than anyone, Earl Woods had a major influence on Tiger's life. In fact, he was probably the dominating influence. As a father I've watched my children start growing up and copy some of my behaviours. As a son, I'm very much aware of the fact that sometimes I actually do exactly the same things that my father did - both good and bad.

To learn about Earl Wood's life is to gain a potential insight into the man that Tiger Woods might actually be, not the persona delivered to you by his management team through the media. As an example, while Tiger and his team have worked hard to portray his... I'll call it wholesome image over the years, his periodic swearing tantrums on the course are in stark contrast to this and are almost legendary. And yet, if you know anyone who has ever been in the military you'll know that they are professionals at unleashing tirades of swear words. It doesn't surprise me that Tiger has the swearing tantrums on the course. I've no doubt he learnt it from his father as many of us did. What surprises me is how he manages to keep it in check as much as he does.

All in all, 'Tiger - The Real Story' is a book that may help you understand why Tiger isn't the perfect person that so many people wanted him to be. It is worth a read if you're looking for some insight into Tiger's life. However, don't expect to discover any intimate details on his life that you might not have been able to glean from other sources.

For my part, I can't help but feel for Tiger. It almost seems as though his father was living a life that he had always wanted through Tiger. After he passed away, it was like Tiger discovered that he had a life of his own to live, but he had been so busy living someone else's that he didn't know what to do. I can't imagine what it must be like to live the life of someone that you're not. Especially when you're doing it for the benefit of others.

I hope that Tiger publishes his own autobiography in the future. In the meantime, 'Tiger - The Real Story' is something that can fill the gap while we wait.

Golf Club Review - The Mizuno MP Titanium Fairway Wood

2011-07-09T07:56:00.024+10:00

In my ongoing search to outfit myself with my ideal set of clubs I have struggled to find a replacement for my old Cleveland Hibore 3-wood. While the Hibore isn't the oldest club in my bag, it is the only one that is from my very first set. Having said that, the shaft has been replaced 3 times and I can't really fault its performance, consistency, or forgiveness.

However, in the never ending pursuit of perfection in the game of golf I've often wondered if I could get more distance out of a modern day fairway wood. After all, the Hibores were first released in 2005 and in the world of golf equipment, that makes it a great grandfather.

After my experiences with the Mizuno MP-CLK hybrids which were along the lines of "Holy @#*$7! Did you see how far that went?!", I thought Mizuno's latest fairway wood just might be trick. And so without putting too much thought into it, I bought one.

Design and Aesthetics

Just like the CLK hybrids Mizuno's MP Titanium fairway wood is noticeably smaller than a lot of the other fairway woods out on the market. While the club head size appears to be roughly the same size as my Hibore, which also supports a small club head, the MP Titanium takes it a step further and also maintains a relatively shallow club face. It's the sort of size that can put some people off buying the club, particularly if you're after something to use as a back up to your driver when it's giving you grief. However these physical design traits have been incorporated to maximise workability for both off the tee and from the fairway which is something that the "better player", for whom the club is predominantely designed, will appreciate.

Technology wise, you could be forgiven into thinking that there isn't much too the MP Titanium. A relatively traditional, pear shaped club head, finished in a piano black scheme, is what you get at address. The glossy, white club shaft aside, the MP Titanium is the sort of club that will appeal to the traditionalists and players that prefer simplicity over fanciness.

The other thing that you'll notice at address if you have a keen eye is that the club face is very slightly open. It's the sort of set up that will appeal to those who have a tendency to over draw the ball or like to work their shots in both directions.

What you can't detect from above is the technology built into the club head. Mizuno talks to incorporating it's "Hot Metal" technology - a fancy way of saying that it uses high grade titanium, for the club face. The use of titanium allows the club face to be relatively thin, making the club lighter and giving the club face a higher core of restitution (think spring like effect) while maintaining the club's structural integrity.

The thin, light weight design carries through to the club's crown as well. Making the top and face of the club lighter has allowed Mizuno to optimise the weight of the sole of the club head. This positioning of the weight has been done in way as to lower the center of gravity to minimise spin without adversely impacting the club's workability.

Shaft

Like the CLK hybrids the shaft that comes with the MP Titanium is a genuine Mitsubishi Rayon Fubuki shaft, which played a major factor in my decision to purchase the MP Titanium. I absolutely loved the way the Fubuki shaft felt in the CLK hybrids and seeing the gloss white shaft attached to the MP Titanium club head led me to the conclusion that I would get a similar experience.

The reality is that while the shafts in name are the same, the specifics of their design characteristics are slightly different. In the first instance the Fubuki in the MP Titanium is ten to fifteen grams lighter. It also has a higher torque rating and different kick point.

Mizuno also offer a number of other custom shaft brands as an option. The Exsar HS5, Project X, UST Axivcore Blue, and Grafalloy Prolaunch shafts are also available if you're looking for something with either a different shaft weight, torque rating, or kick point.

Feel

Ordinarily when I do these reviews I focus on how well the club transmits feedback to let you know whether or not you've hit a shot well. With the MP Titanium I've had to focus on another aspect of how it feels - what it feels like as I'm swinging the club. As an intuitive rather than a technical player, feel is one of those things that is critically important to how I play. If I'm not comfortable with a club in my hands there's just no way I can hit it well, even if there's nothing wrong with the club itself.

For me the shaft itself is the driving force behind how a club feels during its swing. The Fubuki shaft in the MP Titanium, with its lighter weight and higher torque rating delivers a very different experience to the CLK hybrids. Whereas the CLK hybrids play as if they had steel shafts that emphasize control, the MP Titanium to me feels as if it was bordering on the edge of being out of control. That really has something to do with my current level of skill as a golfer, but it's something to bear in mind.

As for club head feedback, it is a wood so you'll never get the same "hot butter slicing" feel that you get with the irons. However after hitting a ball I always know where the ball has gone and what it's doing without having to watch it. The MP Titanium's club head seems to be able to tell you what sort of shot you've hit. Straight, draw, fade - you know where the ball has always gone.

And when you're on the money, the MP Titanium delivers a very sweet sensation up the shaft. If you haven't your shot well, the shock of the shot isn't at all harsh. You do know that it isn't what you wanted to hit though.

Performance

My main reason for purchasing the MP Titanium was to find a club that would go further than my aging Hibore 3 Wood. When you hit the MP Titanium well, boy does it deliver. Off the tee, the MP Titanium was a good ten meters further than a well struck shot off my Hibore. Off the fairway, I found that I could get a similar difference in shot distance.

The trajectory of my shots however, were very different. While my Hibore, with it's scalloped shaped head launches low before climbing, the MP Titanium with its more traditonally shapped club head seems to launch higher and stay in the air for longer. It's something that probably helps to contribute to the longer distances I found that I could get.

The MP Titanium is right at home shaping shots. Designed with a slighly open face the fairway wood plays a natural fade which is reasonably easy to control when you're hitting well. Inducing a draw is also a relatively straight forward exercise.

The downside of the MP Titanium is that there is very little forgiveness built into the club. For me, I found that not my swing and ball contact had to be right on the money to extract the performance that I was looking for. Coming in too steep and I would find my shot ballooning. Hit the ball off-center and a significant amount of distance would be lost.

Other Items of Note

Mizuno supply a traditional sock type head cover which is easy enough to pull on and off. It's finished in an attractive white and black combined with a touch of red trim that makes it look reasonably purposeful. I also mentioned that the Fubuki shaft is white, which provides a nice contrast to the piano black club head without managing to distract you when you're at address. The only downside I've found of the white shaft is that if you don't have individual club dividers in your bag, you may find the grips of your other clubs occasionally making a mark.

Final Points

Ordinarily when I'm reviewing a club it's because I've done a lot of research on a particular club type and decided that it would meet my needs before I purchased it. The MP Titanium is the first club that I've really gone out on a limb and bought it. The CLK hybrids impressed me so much that I just assumed that the MP Titanium, being of the same generation, would do the same.

The reality of what I found is a bit different. The MP Titanium ticks all the boxes. Small club head to maximise versatility? Check. Ability to work the ball and shape shots? Check. Ridiculously long distance? Check. Excellent feel to let me know what I'm doing wrong? Check.

The problem is that while the MP Titanium tells me what I'm doing wrong, I've really struggled to alter my swing to suit. I believe the issue for me lays within the shaft that so impressed me in the CLK hybrids. Built for maximum distance, feel, and flexibility, it also requires an inordinate amount skill to control the club head that is attached to the end of it. It's a level of skill that I just don't have a this point in time.

Mizuno clearly advertises that the MP Titanium is made for the low handicapper. It's something that I can vouch for. It's a club that can provide you with an extraordinary amount of distance and workability, provided you have the skill to get the most out of it.

The MP Titanium is the fairway wood I want to have in my bag. However for now, until my skill level improves it will be relegated to my bag of spares underneath the stairs. It's not a club for the high handicapper, or even the mid-handicapper. But it is a very capable fairway wood that one could aspire to hit.

Where In The World Is Gold Coast Golfer - 2011?

2011-06-30T07:16:00.002+10:00

Hi all and apologies for disappearing again. I've had a few events that have happened over the last few months that have caused me to question the direction that I was heading with my life. It happens periodically but major events like the ones that I've been experiencing usually seem to happen once every decade or so. The first time was when I made the decision to no longer be a pilot in the Royal Australia Air Force and pursue IT. The second was when I left the RAAF completely.

This recent event stemmed from the realisation that I'm not being all that I could be. Once upon a time I pursued everything with a passion and determination that wouldn't allow anything to get in the way of a dream, goal, or belief. In April this year though, I realised that over the course of the last two to three years, I had compromised who I was and in so doing had turned into a shadow of my former self.

I'm not one hundred percent sure of exacty how things got to be this way. What I do know now though is that when a number of challenges and pressures start coming at you from different angles sometimes it becomes easier to think that you can't change the situation, so why bother. Work, family, relationships, finaces - it becomes just a bit too easy to convince yourself that life is okay and you're happy with things. Perhaps happy isn't the right word. Comfortable is probably more appropriate.

But the thing is that it isn't okay. Especially if you've always held yourself to high performance, moral, and ethical standards. Held against the light of who I once was, I feel like how I've been living my life in recent times has been down right disappointing.

It was while I was on a course, ironically about leading change, that life decided to give me a reminder of exactly what I could do and who I was. In the company of complete strangers I rediscovered the passion for excellence that I had misplaced. Without going into details, the company of people that I was with gave me their respect, faith, and trust - something that I feel a lot of people whom I have current relationships with seem to no longer provide.

I don't have any illusions as to why things in my life are where they are. The simple answer is because I let them get this way. I stopped believing in myself. I stopped fighting for what I believe in. And I started to believe that I couldn't change the world.

Then life gave me a choice. Through a series of unplanned, and some may even say unfortunate events, I had to make a choice to continue living the life that everyone else told me to live. Or I had to start being true to myself and begin doing what I knew to be right.

Actually, it wasn't much of a choice. There was simply no way to keep kidding myself that my life was okay. I had to start being true to myself again.

So, you might be wondering why I'm writing about this in my golf blog, right? Well, as corny as it sounds, golf and this blog were a few of the things that kept the candle burning for me. In golf remained my passion to excel, my belief that I could become great at something if I focussed, and my determination to overcome any obstacles that were thrown in my path.

And as for this blog, what started as an exercise to try and improve my writing so I could one day tick off my bucket list "must write a book" has turned into something that far exceeded anything that I had planned or hoped for. I have no idea of how large my regular reading base is, but it doesn't really matter. The fact of the matter is that those of you that have read my musings have helped to keep me from losing myself by helping me believe that what I was doing was a worth while exercise.

I'm not really sure what happens next with my life, but I will keep writing about golf. I still have a few more things to take care of but I'm hoping to get back into posting updates at least once a week shortly.
So thank you, all of you, for your support and patience. It means a lot.

Oh, and just for the record - isn't it amazing what you can learn from trying to hit a little white ball around some beautiful scenery?

De-lofting for Distance

2011-05-29T06:37:00.000+10:00

This week I played a round with someone new at The Colonial who happened to make a comment about my iron swing. For him distance had been an issue that was plaguing his game, and when he mistook one of my 6 iron shots for a 4 iron shot, he wondered why my handicap wasn't lower.

My consistency issues aside, one of the things I've find that makes a tremendous difference to how far I can hit an iron over a lot of others that I play with is my tendency to de-loft the club face at impact. It's a feature of my swing that plays a much greater role than how fast I'm swinging at the ball.

Some golfers tend to use a flatter, or even scooping swing to get the ball in the air. With the shaft straight up and down the club face has more loft causing the ball to fly higher rather than more forward. Modern game improvement clubs help with sets that have less loft but more weight built into the bottom of the club to help get the ball in the air and moving forward.

De-lofting the club at impact is effectively where the shaft is leaning forward at the point of your strike by having your hands slightly in front of the club head through your swing. This tilt also causes the club face to lean forward reducing the amount of loft that the ball sees when you hit it. Done correctly, it is also possible to pinch the ball between the ground and club face to add a touch more spring into the shot as well.

So how do you learn to de-loft your irons at impact? Well, go and see a golf pro is my first answer. My second is to find one of those golf impact bags you can hit with a club without snapping the shaft and swing into it hard. Attempting to swing a club into a big thick object tends to not make you want to try and scoop it up with a golf club. Instead you should find that you'll have a natural tendency to swing down into it to move it forward. One thing that is really important however is that your head must still remain behind the ball at impact, otherwise you'll find yourself pushing or slicing a long way.

There is probably one other point I'd like to highlight about de-lofting that I recently discovered. It's possible to do it with all clubs and in some cases it's not that desirable. In my case, I'm referring to my driver swing. The act of de-lofting my driver at impact results in a lower launch angle that can rob me off distance. It does, however, help my 3 wood off the tee when I'm having a bad day with my driver!

Putter Review - The Odyssey White Ice 2-Ball Golf Putter

2011-05-22T17:07:00.000+10:00

Different putters aren't something that I get the opportunity to try out a lot. I've had my Odyssey Black Series putter for a number of years now and although we have our off days... actually weeks is probably more accurate, on the whole our relationship is still pretty good.

Having said that, I have been considering getting a second putter for a little while now. Off weeks of putting can really be a bit depressing and even though using another putter shouldn't fix the problem, the mind is a strange beast and can sometimes be tricked into performing better.

Enter the Odyssey's White Ice 2-Ball putter. No, I haven't bought one. I purchased one for my mother as a birthday present last year. However when she's let me try it out I've been so impressed by it that I have considered getting one for myself. And the great thing about the White Ice putters is that unlike the Black Series putters, they don't give you a heart attack when you have a look at the price!

Design

The first thing that you'll notice about the 2-Ball putter is obviously the two markings designed to resemble golf balls. A consistent staple of Odyssey's line the two ball design works on the theory that by having what appears to be a view of three golf balls in a row you'll be able to line up your shot a lot more consistently. Generally speaking I prefer a simple view at address but when it comes to alignment aids, the the 2-Ball format is probably my favourite. The ball style alignment aid maintains an element of simplicity which doesn't distract you from the putt itself.

The other main design item of note with the White Ice 2-Ball is is that the putter head is a mallet style rather than a blade format. The mallet design provides a greater level of forgiveness on off centre strikes which can help players if they don't have a consistently perfect putting stroke. For some players though, the mallet style is a trade off against flexibility, losing the ability to perform softer putts off the toe.

Insert technology is something that Odyssey have extensive experience with in their putter line up. The White Ice line up uses a multi-layer insert to optimise not only feel and sound, but also control. The hosel features a full shaft off-set combined with a double bend that usually features in Odyssey mallet putters. Loft on the club face is 3 degrees which is designed to work with the club head to optimise ball roll at impact and to minimise skidding.

The other thing to take note of is that the 2-Ball putter also comes with adjustable weights. Located at the bottom rear of the putter the circular weighted discs can be changed to hold either the 350, 360, or 370 grams to cater for different course conditions. And the best thing? These weights come with the putter on purchase - you don't have to spend extra money buying them.

Aesthetics

I've always been one for simplicity and elegance when it comes to my clubs. Fancy designs with markings all over them tend to distract me from what I'm doing. In this regard, the White Ice 2-Ball putter ticks the boxes of not distracting the player while offering the benefit of an effective alignment aid. In addition to the clean design Odyssey have finished the putter head in a dark nickel finish which gives the putter a premium look.

Feel

These days Odyssey have a significant amount of experience when it comes to fine tuning the inserts they build into the face. I found that the insert in the White Ice 2-Ball putter head gives the putter exceptional feedback. Built into the insert is enough softness to provide you with the feedback of how well you've struck the ball balanced out with the the firmness to give you confident distance control.

I found that the 2-Ball's swing weight is a touch heavier than some of Odyssey's other putters, including my own. With the lightest weight option, the 350 gram disc attached to the head the White Ice putter was very well balanced and promoted a confident swing and follow through.

Performance

Gauging the performance of a putter can be both a simple and tricky exercise. It's simple in the sense that all a putter has to do is make a ball roll straight and to the distance you've hit it to. Where it becomes tricky is that if you have little confidence in the putter, it's hard for the club to take a stroke lacking confidence and turn it into a straight, well rolling putt. That being said, for me the White Ice 2-Ball gave me sufficient comfort to putt confidently.

The two areas I'm generally concerned with are how well the ball rolls at impact and a putter's forgiveness. Ensuring the ball rolls rather than skids after impact is an area that Odyssey have invested a lot of research into over the years. Even over longer distances, provided a smooth putting stroke is used there is minimal, if any, skipping or skidding when the ball is struck.

Being of a mallet design the 2-Ball offers a higher MOI than putter heads using a blade design. The higher MOI offers more forgiveness on off centre strikes. You can think of the White Ice 2-Ball as having a much larger sweet spot to putt confidently from than some of the other putters on the market.

Other Items of Note

A good quality head cover is supplied with the White Ice 2-Ball putter. It uses velcro to firmly attach and keep itself attached to the putter head. Within the cover is a compartment that also houses the tool and the additional weights that come with the putter on purchase. It's a convenient way of ensuring everything that you need to putt well stays together.

Final Points

The Odyssey White Ice 2-Ball ticks all of the boxes: a tried and tested design that has been infused with the latest technologies, a dark nickel finish that inspires confidence through a premium look, an excellent feel balanced with performance and control through the incorporate of a well designed insert, and an increased sweet spot through the mallet design for those times when your putter stroke may not be performing as well as it should. On top of all of these features, the putter also possesses increased flexibility with the ability of changing the weights to tweak the putter for different conditions.

The combination of all of these design characteristics and technologies delivers a putter that helps to inspire confidence when you're standing over the ball. Along with its affordable price point, it offers an excellent performance/value equation without compromise.

News From The Range @ Robina

2011-05-18T06:56:00.000+10:00

The driving range at Robina Woods is having a few specials on at the moment. I received a newsletter from them a few days ago but as of Sunday night they were offering free clubfit sessions using their Accusport Vector Launch Monitor. Not only do you get to find out whether you're striking the ball with optimum launch angles and spin rates, you actually get to see where and how you're hitting it with your own eyes down the driving range. Having been through the process personally it's well worth it and is free for the first ten people that call The Range. You can contact them on 07 5593 2757.

The other thing that The Range has happening at the moment are specials on Titleist and Cleveland equipment. If you're after some Vokey wedges at discounted prices or looking to snap a bargain on some ex-demo Cleveland Launch DST woods and rescues in near new condition at half price, it's probably worth your while having a look. They're also holding a reasonable range of other Titleist and Cleveland equipment which you can try out down there.

You'll find the The Range at Robina just opposite the Robina Woods Golf Course.

Golf Course Review - Emerald Lakes Golf Course

2011-05-15T07:24:00.000+10:00

Amongst the championship courses on the Gold Coast Emerald Lakes is considered to be one of the courses that offers exceptional value to both the public and its member base. Providing its customers with excellent value does not, however, translate into a poorly maintained course with minimal facilities. In fact, for what they charge it's quite surprising as to what they are able to offer.

And what you get when compared to other courses is a championship style course that offers a reasonable challenge for the discerning golfer. A combination of wide and narrow fairways that often dog leg left or right, strategically placed sand traps and water hazards, reasonably paced greens and mature trees and foliage on the course will present enough of a challenge for most without making the layout too difficult for those that are just getting into the game.

The layout itself is relatively flat, with only a few water hazards lining the course that are likely to give you some trouble and clumps of trees and vegetation that aren't too dense. It's not the sort of course that punishes you for straying a little ways off the fairway. However, that can provide you with a false sense of confidence that tempts you into trying the "hero" shot instead of taking your medicine, when all you should be doing is trying to get the ball into play.

The strength of the wind is the other challenge of this course. Because of it's flat layout and the coastal nature of the Gold Coast, the frequently strong sea breezes can present a reasonable challenge to the average golfer. A number of the holes point towards the coast and with a strong headwind to contend with on the day that I played I found myself deliberately trying to keep the ball low off the tee. Think of it as mother nature's way of adding variety to Emerald Lakes.

The greens are maintained in a reasonable condition, particularly given the traffic that comes through the course. Like the majority of courses on the Gold Coast the surface of the greens is smooth and hard which makes them easier to maintain. Don't expect any lobs into the green to spin back unless you can impart a tremendous amount of spin. I found the putting speed to be on the average pace side which provides a reasonable challenge for the average golfer..

If there is one thing note worthy about Emerald Lakes it would be the facilities available to members and the public. Firstly, it is one of two courses, and really, the only full sized course that allows you to play golf at night. Admittedly, lights are only available over 9 holes. However given Gold Coast City Council regulations 9 holes is likely all you'd be able to fit in before they would have to turn them off anyway. I haven't had the pleasure of trying night time golf out yet but I am told that the set up works reasonably well, although tall shadows coming off the ball present a challenge.

The driving range is another noteworthy facility of Emerald Lakes. For most people, a driving range is a driving range. What makes the one at Emerald Lakes special is the fact that it also has lights which means you can practice well into the evening after work. Chipping, practice bunkers, and a putting green are top notch which allows you to practice your full game at the range.

On the other hand, if you don't feel like focussing on your game you can take the family to the 18 hole putt-putt style course they also maintain on site. Or, if you just want something completely different take your tennis racket down and have a hit on one of the many courts they have. After it all, you can relax with a drink in the club house which maintains tables both inside and out depending on your mood.

The downsides of Emerald Lakes are far and few between. One of my criticisms is that the pro-shop isn't the best equipped that I've seen, which I find strange given the amount of traffic that the club itself must get. The only other criticism I have is with the golf carts and their battery life. Over the course of one round of 18 my playing partners managed to drain the batteries of two golf carts. Admittedly, one of the guys was reasonably heavyset, but that's no excuse, particularly when the course itself has no hills to contend with.

Annual fees at Emerald Lakes are quite reasonable, although there is a reasonably hefty joining fee for new members. Given the state of golf on the Gold Coast at the moment and the very competitive discounting going on at some of the courses I'm surprised it's as high as it is. While a joining fee might drive loyalty, in the current environment I imagine many new golfers will be seeking clubs that don't have such a high barrier to entry.

That being said, Emerald Lakes does present golfers with the opportunity to play on a championship style golf course at a price point the masses can reach. Coupled with some of the most complete facilities on the Gold Coast it's a club that stands out from the masses for reasons other than just great golf.

The Official Update on the Colonial's Financial Issues

2011-05-07T18:53:00.000+10:00

I received the monthly newsletter from the Colonial last night. It's essentially a summary as to why the Colonial and Robina Woods are now under administration but unfortunately doesn't offer too much insight into what will happen next with the courses. Here is what was said in the newsletter:

From the Directors of Playmore Golf

Tuesday 19th April
"It is with deep regret that I must advise the Directors of Playmore resolved last night to place the company into Administration.

You are all no doubt aware of the issues which have impacted our business, but I detail a time line on the most recent external issues we faced.

The impact of the GFC became apparent in 2009 with a downturn in our 3 key markets (1) tourism, (2) business (group golf) and the Gold Coast general population (our market is primarily retirees who saw their investment portfolio fall dramatically.)
Discounting became more prevalent as a consequence of the GFC, but was substantially aggravated by the actions of other competitors in the market who reduced rates by 30%
In 2009, there were 5 floods in 7 months
In December 2010, Palm Meadows, having closed for a few months was leased to a new operator for a minimal cost (presumably because of the benefit to the hotel) and reopened. The new operator took discounting to a new level. The initially offered golf at 50% off and then reduced this further.
In December/January 2010/11 there were major floods
Gold Coast Tourism fell of a cliff after December, 2010 (as a result of the publicity around the floods and no doubt strength of the AUD). Capacity of flights to the Gold Coast are being cut on a continuing basis both domestically and internationally. Whilst the capacity will eventually return, there is no doubt that it will lage demand.

In some respects, the fact that we were able to fight another round, with all these things happening within a relative short space, reflects both on the inherent attributes of the two courses as well as the effort the team at Playmore made.

The Board and owners of Playmore have come to the realization that the extent of the current pressures can no longer be regarded as an aberration, but rather as a constant... at least for some months to come.

Whilst this action comes as a huge disappointment to unitholders (as well as at a very significant financial loss), I truly understand that the stress and consequences of this action may be greater for employees and members. I sincerely apologise for this.

Administrators SV Partners were appointed and are responsible for creditors. Contact details are SV Partners Anne Meagher. On 19th April McGrathNicol were appointed Receivers and Managers of the companies and responsible to recover the banks debt and will have precedence over the sale of the properties. Until we are advised otherwise both golf courses are trading as normal."

Unfortunately it's hard to gauge any real direction of what might happen with the courses and there are a lot of questions that could be asked by members. Will the courses will be sold or will the administrators trade Playmore out of their current financial issues? If they are sold, will they be sold as a pair or will they become separate and independent courses? And what happens to the existing memberships if a new owner takes over?

One other thing that I have been thinking about is how many other courses are affected by similar issues. The majority of golf courses will probably be fighting similar issues - I would expect all with the exception of the private courses of which are far and few between. The challenging environment in which the Coast's golf courses are now having to operate in may see a few more courses follow a similar course, which of courses started with the well known Palm Meadows Golf Course.

For the locals, ultimately it may mean a more competitive environment which drives down the cost of memberships and golf as a whole. However there's a good chance we might lose a great golf course here or there as well.

Nothing In Particular: The World's Only Golf Green Boat

2011-04-28T06:00:00.001+10:00

A friend of mine recently sent this to me - a video of the world's only floating green and the fact that you need to hop onto a boat to get onto it. Instead of changing the tee markers to mix up the distance the entire green moves instead. It's the sort of thing that would play havoc with a golf gps... and let's not get started about reading the green!

The Colonial and Robina Woods Golf Courses Currently Under Administration

2011-04-25T07:21:00.001+10:00

Last week it was announced publicly on the the local Gold Coast news that the owners of The Colonial and Robina Woods golf courses had gone into voluntary administration. Both courses are owned by the private company Play More Golf to which all profits of both courses go to.

It would be easy to surmise given the poor economic environment on the Gold Coast that both of these courses are yet more victims of the times. However if you're a member or have played on either courses you'd probably comment on how busy they've been, even with all of the bad weather we've had. There's also been a strong focus on retaining memberships with value additions for all levels of members to ensure their profit base remains where it needs to be.

After asking around it appears that the death of the courses has been somewhat exaggerated. It's been confirmed that both courses have indeed maintained profitability. However the issue appears to lie with the parent company Play More Golf. At that level exactly what has gone wrong is a bit hazy. Rumours of whether the administration was actually voluntary or forced by creditors are running rampant but you get the picture.

In any case, the company that has taken over management of operations and payment of outstanding amounts owed ha apparently assured staff that its business as usual and that in their experience to date, only 1 out of 40 companies forced down this path has ever needed to be broken up and sold to new owners. For those of us with membership renewals looming, I expect we'll see some incentives to make sure that we remain loyal members of either course.

As for the long term future of both courses, only time will tell us what the final outcome will be. Stay tuned for further updates.

A Fitting Experience - Finding A New Driver

2011-04-19T13:53:00.000+10:00

I've only ever been fitted twice in my life for some golf clubs. The first time was when I decided to take up golf seriously. I went to a golf shop my parents had recommended and booked myself in for a fitting which included a radar device to tell me how fast I was swinging and where the balls I hit were theoretically landing. It also included a hitting bay which looked out into a wall full of pocket marks and a variety of off the shelf six irons.

It was my first experience at trying to take golf seriously and at the end of it all, I came out with a new set of irons and a fairway wood which really probably didn't make too much of a difference to my game. The reality of that particular fitting session was the pro was really just finding something that I liked, selling it to me, and then measuring me up so the clubs would be the right size.

To say the experience was over rated would probably be underselling the effort put in by the pro that sold me the clubs. I will say that the retail experience didn't represent what I would call being fitted in the true sense. It was just someone that spent some time with me trying to sell me some clubs. Enter my most recent experience with club fitting.

Peter Shaw at The Range over at Robina Woods Golf Course has recently taken over management of the facility and was recommended to my by some of the guys at Colonial. I'll talk about Peter and what his intentions are with the driving range at Robina Woods in more detail another time. This particular post is all about the fitting experience that I went through with Peter.

Peter responded quickly to an email inquiry I sent to him and then dropped by the Robina Range to meet with Peter. He was kind enough to spend some time with me talking through options before we decided on a fitting session. We talked through the process of what would happen, which included reviewing the results that would be captured on computer using the Vector Pro tracking system to decide the best course of action. He also gave me some interesting insights into some of the golf manufacturers which led to the conversation of a possible shaft or full driver replacement.

The following day I met up with Peter who gave me a bucket of balls to warm up with while he set up the Vector Pro system and his computer. The first thing I noticed was that the Vector Pro sensor Peter used sat beside where the ball was being struck from. The other thing I noticed was that when setting the balls up, the range balls had two parallel lines that had to be facing the sensor otherwise it failed to take an accurate reading.

This was a bit different to the set up at the retail shop that was used in my previous fitting, where the radar was positioned behind me and normal golf balls were used. It certainly gave me the impression that Peter's set up would provide much more accurate readings than my previous fitting.

One of the great things about getting fitted out at the driving range is that you can physically see exactly where your shots end up and how it got there. It's something that differentiates being fitted out at a driving range from the experience in the retail shop. And while a computer can tell you what the ball should have done in a hitting booth, for me nothing really beats seeing what happened myself.

I started off with hitting with the FT-9 while Peter took readings for a baseline. We were in agreement that the set up of the FT-9 that I had was definitely not working for me. However what he observed on his computer was not quite what I had expected. What we found out was that my swing speed with the FT-9 wasn't the 105 mph that I had previously been assessed at, but rather closer to 85 mph at the moment. This could have been due to an unconscious decision by me to slow my swing down to gain control of the FT-9, inaccuracies in the system that had previously assessed my swing speed, or a combination of both.

A couple of other interesting points we discovered was that I was launching low and spinning high with the FT-9 - not a great mix for distance or accuracy. Peter gave me a couple of different set ups to try, most with a club head that had a higher loft than my 9.5 degree FT-9. One of the most interesting insights we gained was that I was able to hit faster with heavier shafts than with lighter shafts. The other was that I seemed to hit better with a shaft with a stable tip.

When we got down to the last driver set up that I tried on the day, I'm pretty sure Peter had a pretty good idea of what I needed. He had been carefully observing the swing and ball speeds along with the amount of spin that had been occurring with each of my strikes, along with where my shots were landing on the range. Instead of something out of the Titleist fitting cart he had been using he went into the office and pulled out a near new Tour Edge Exotics XCG3 driver he had acquired from someone as a trade in. It's a brand I'm already familiar with having tried out one of their hybrids.

What I saw with the XCG3 was that while not every shot was perfect, the misses weren't too bad. I eventually came to the point where instead of a slice to the left, my occasional misses became an over draw or a slight hook. The good shots however, were a hell of a lot better than what I could hit with the FT-9 on the day.

After going down to get fitted for a new shaft Peter recommended against doing anything to the FT-9. The reason? My launch angle with the 9.5 degree FT-9 was too low. After talking through it we concluded that I was de-lofting at the club on impact - which is a great thing to do with irons but not what I should really be doing with a driver. The low loft of the FT-9 coupled with the head's design to impart a reasonably high amount of spin meant that I was striking the ball with less than ideal launch angle and spin characteristics. It was unlikely that a change in shaft with the FT-9 head that I had was going to resolve that.

I've no doubt Peter could have matched me with a new Titleist driver and shaft combination. Instead, his recommendation was that the XCG3 fitted with the Aldila DVS 65 shaft was likely to be the best option for me at the moment while I worked on continuing to resolve my driver swing issues that have plagued me pretty much since I started playing golf. My strikes with the Tour Edge Exotics driver resulted in a higher swing speed, better launch angles and spin rates, and a much better feel which enabled me to swing more confidently. And being out at a driving range, I was able to see the results for myself. My first game with the XCG3 just served to reaffirm that Peter had made the right recommendation.

The entire club fitting with Peter at the Robina Woods Driving Range compared to the retail fitting into a hitting booth that I first went through served to show me how different both the experience and the effectiveness can be. Firstly, there can be reasonably large differences between the accuracy of the equipment used to track your launch and spin characteristics. Secondly, getting fitted on a driving range where you can actually see how your ball flies and where it lands adds an additional dimension that you don't get in a hitting booth. Sure, a radar can tell you where your shots would have theoretically landed. But let's face it, there's nothing like really seeing where your shots went to give you the confidence in your decision.

The final thing I discovered is that not all people in the golf fitting business are equal. Finding someone who is willing to take the time to get to know you and your game is as important as capturing the launch angle and spin rates with each shot you take. Where you are with your game and how well you swing plays a big part in being fitted for the right club. How do you find that sort of person? Word of mouth is all that I can recommend. And even that can be a bit hit and miss.

As for my latest fitting experience, I couldn't be happier. All in all Peter Shaw spent the time to get to know me and where I was at with my game. He didn't offer me a rolls royce solution but instead provided me with what I needed to improve on my current game. If you live on the Gold Coast and are looking for someone to assess your swing, fit you for a club, or do repairs, head down to the driving range at Robina Woods. Peter is someone I'd happily recommend without hesitation.

For those of you who want to find out more about Peter and what they offer at The Range, Robina you can get more information at their website: www.therangerobina.com or find them on Facebook.

Death of the Great Golf Shops?

2011-04-10T06:31:00.000+10:00

Recently I thought I would wander down to Norm's House of Golf and talk a bit more about the Callaway Razr Hawk and Fujikura Speeder 757 combination he'd let me borrow the week before. One of the conversations we'd had was about selling that particular combination for $500, a bargain considering the shaft itself normally retails in Australia for over $450.

To my disappointment and partial surprise, when I arrived first thing in the morning the doors of what had been Norm's golf shop were firmly locked shut, with a couple of "For Sale" signs placed out the front. As a customer with a bit of history with Norm and his staff the disappointment stemmed from Norm not telling me he was shutting his doors.

I say only partially surprised though because it was only in January that Norm and I were having a discussion of how poor business had been of late. He had commented that he should just close up shop. I did ask him if he'd consider selling to someone else however he said he wouldn't sell a struggling business to someone that ultimately might end up failing further. At the time I thought he had only been thinking about things but he was obviously serious with things probably already well in motion back in January when we were chatting.

Great customer service is something that everyone appreciates but when times are tough and people start looking for bargains, it can become difficult to maintain that positive attitude that goes hand in hand with great customer service. I've never thought about the business of golf but I'm sure many of you out there are of the opinion that the death of the Great Golf Shop, which attempts to do everything, is only a matter of time.

There is a saying in successful business: Do only what you can do better than anybody else. In a world of increasing competitiveness it's just not possible to excel at everything. And in a world where people are looking for the greatest value, sometimes at the expense of great customer service, there are far too many golf businesses competing in the cheapest price domain. It's simply not possible for the Great Golf Shop to compete in the segments of great service and great value - they just can't afford to do it.

Ultimately, I believe we will see a change in how golf equipment will be sold, where the business of selling golf equipment will be broken up into very distinct markets. We've already seen some of the transformation already taking place:

The budget low end equipment brands of golf being sold through department stores and non-specialty sports stores;
The non-customised heavily discounted or superceded equipment being sold through online outlets that can run their businesses significantly cheaper than the traditional retail outlets; and
The opportunity buys of equipment that occur at the pro-shop because it just happens to be really needed at the time.

These shops and outlets already cater to the vast majority of the golfing market. The theory behind the Great Golf Shops is that they offer a level of service that will help you improve your game further. The reality is that unless you're a good golfer trying to become a great golfer, the customised service that these shops offer is rarely delivered to those that really need it. Relative to total the sales of the Great Golf Shop, the custom fitting services in reality probably only make up a minor percentage. It's an extremely small market which cannot continue to support the existence of the Great Golf Shops.

What does that mean? Well, it's my personal view that eventually the Great Golf Shops will die out, leaving behind smaller, specialised golf shops that cater for the good to great golfer searching for the fine tuning required to take their game to the next level. These shops, which will also cater for golf equipment repairs and adjustments, may be located at the course Pro Shop, local driving ranges, or may even be able to sustain their own small business. But they will cater for a much smaller market of golf because let's face it - the percentage of golfers looking for the level of fine tuning that a custom fitting offers is small compared to the mass market of golf equipment as a whole.

So that's my opinion - we will eventually see the death of the Great Golf Shops. As sad as it is and as much as I enjoyed buying and trying things from Norm's House of Golf, I believe a new era of golf retailing is fast overtaking the game.

And as for Norm Hobbs - thanks for your support and bargains over the years and I do hope you enjoy your retirement.... which I've heard involves taking a Harley Davidson around Australia.

Quick Golf Club Review - The Callaway Razr Hawk with Fujikura Speeder 757 Shaft Review

2011-04-03T05:26:00.001+10:00

I picked up Callaway's Razr Hawk driver from Norm's House of Golf so that one of my playing partners could try it out. He's been fighting a ballooning problem so not only did Norm loan me the Razr Hawk Driver head, but a Fujikura Speeder 757 shaft as well. I'm not personally in the market for a new driver however with Callaway's latest and greatest model floating around, I couldn't resist having a few hits with it on the back 9 yesterday. The fact that I'm writing about it the following day should give you an indication of where this review is going to go.

Design

The Razr Hawk is part of Callaway's latest high tech line of clubs which utilises the melding of materials to create clubs with much finer tolerances and weight distributions. Previously embodied in the fusion technology line the Forged Composite technologies Callaway minimises the compromise that comes when using a single material to manufacture a golf club head. In particular, the shape and weighting of the club head can be optimised to suit different people's needs and requirements. Stronger and lighter materials that can be shaped as needed mean that Callaway can manufacture the Razr Hawk to be more exact in design.

A number of the Razr Hawk's design elements have been carried over from previous clubs such as the FT-9 and the FT-Tour. The use of the hyperbolic titanium cup face which removes excess material from areas to optimise weight distribution and response is one such design element. Another is the Razr Hawk weighting system which is in essence the same as the Optifit systems of the FT series clubs where the positioning of weights underneath the club helps facilitate or resist the rolling over of your wrists at impact for different swing curves .

The focus of the Razr Hawk's design over previous Callaway drivers really is around the Forged Composite technology. Stronger but lighter means that a person can theoretically swing the club faster. Callaway also claim that the Razr Hawk is 43% more aerodynamic than the FT-9, which is marketing speak for "you should be able to swing this faster". The aeronautical engineer (yes, I am a certified one) says that it's just marketing hype, but I won't get into the hows and whys in this article.

Aesthetics

I am a self professed traditionalist when it comes to club head aesthetics. I love the look of blades as well as smaller and clean looking club heads. When it come to high tech clubs there is always the danger that some of the technology will filter into your view at address. This isn't an issue with the Razr Hawk.

When I first set up to hit the Razr Hawk my first comment to everyone was that it was almost identical to my FT-9. The sleek, piano black finish gives the club head a nice, clean finish while the club head size is neither too large nor too small for the masses. At address the Razr Hawk is a handsome looking club that inspires confidence.

The view from underneath the club gives you you the sense that there is a bunch of technology hiding within the head that you just can't see. It's not overly busy but it just gives you the sense that there's something mysterious at work inside the club head that's going to help your game.

The Fujikura Speeder 757 Shaft

This particular Razr Hawk found itself attached to Fujikura's Speeder 757 shaft, reputed to be one of the best golf shafts ever made and commonly found on tour in the hands of many golf pros. To be honest it probably requires a review of its own - but I'll do that another time.

My playing partner has a tendency to put too much spin on his driver shot which causes a bit of ballooning and I was assured that the 757 would combat his problem. It is a heavy shaft with an extremely low torque rating and a mid to high bend point designed to lower spin and promote a lower trajectory. After a bit of research I discovered that the core of the 757's technology comes from the honey comb carbon fibre weave that not only makes it resist twisting, but in a way that makes it more consistent than many other shafts on the market.

Feel

There is simply not a bad thing that I can say about the feel of this club with the 757 shaft. The 757 shaft is incredibly consistent - I knew exactly where the club head was and what it was doing throughout the entirety of my swing.

As for the Razr Hawk, I either hit it dead centre each time or the Razr Hawk masks it so well that I didn't know about it. Matched with the 757 the Razr Hawk has a solid feel that inspires confidence, enough for me to consider thinking about trading up my FT-9, even though it's not even a year old yet!

Performance

Wow was my reaction to my second shot with the Razr Hawk. Actually, it was more like "Holy @#*&!!!". My playing partner wasn't totally convince that the Razr Hawk/757 combination was solving his ballooning problem so I told him to hit his drive and I'd hit one to compare trajectories and distance. So he hit shot about 220 meters, or 240 yards. I walked up, had my shot and swore as my my rocketed down the fairway and landed 50 meters from the green. 280 meters - or 306 yards! My longest drive ever!

Workability wasn't something that I received much insight into. My neutrally weighted FT-9 Tour has a 1 degree open club face while this Razr Hawk I was using was the standard square club face with a draw weighting. I found myself trying to do a light fade to keep the ball straight and struggled to move the ball right to left on some of the holes I normally prefer to hit a power fade on. I'm sure it was just a function of not having the right club head for me however if you're someone who struggles with a fade or slice, the draw version of the Razr Hawk might be perfect for you.

Other Items of Note

Callaway give you its standard sock type cover for the Razr Hawk. I personally prefer the magnetic covers as they're easier to take off and pull on, but the sock covers do a fine job of protecting the club head and shaft as well. The other thing to note is that the Razr Hawk is available in a variety of configuration - open, square and closed faces, fade, neutral, and draw weightings, and of course in the I-mix configuration that allows you to match different shafts on the fly.

Final Points

This was supposed to be quick review, predominately because I really didn't get a chance to test the Razr Hawk in detail. However even with the wrong club head for my swing attached, I am impressed. I am confident that with the right shaft attached to it, the Razr Hawk is a really, really long driver that I could control with a greater degree of accuracy than ones I've previously used. I actually enjoyed standing on the tee with it, which is something that I can't say I've ever done with a driver.

To be fair, Fujikura's Speeder 757 shaft, might have had something to do with the performance that I was experiencing.... actually a lot. But the Razr Hawk/757 combination delivers extreme distance and excellent levels of accuracy. I've not doubt as well that matched to the right club head the Razr Hawk will deliver the levels of workability that better players are looking for. If you're looking for a new driver, put the Razr Hawk with the right shaft on your "must check out" list.

Golf Club Review - The Mizuno MP-CLK Hybrids

2011-03-22T05:29:00.003+10:00

Elegant design, clean looks, bold colours, really, really small club head - these are just a few of the thoughts that popped into my head when I first spotted Mizuno's MP-CLK hybrids sitting in a rather unassuming golf bag at my local golf shop. I'd been looking for a new hybrid for those times that I was playing off championship tees - Monthly Medals and the like as the distance gap between my 3 wood and my 18.5 degree hybrid was just a bit too large.

Norm's House of Golf was kind enough to loan me a demo to see whether or not I'd like it. The interesting thing for me was that the demo I was trying was a 17 degree CLK that someone else had returned, citing it as unplayable. It's not something you hear a hybrid called very often so I was very intrigued at how it would actually play.

Design

Slip the head cover off the MP-CLK and the one thing you will immediately grab your attention is the size of the club head. While most hybrid club head sizes have grown into being almost as large as what used to be the size of a fairway wood club head almost a decade ago, the MP-CLK bucks the trend by being very compact. I doubt you would find a current hybrid with a smaller club head size out there.

Another thing that is noticeably different compared to other hybrids is Mizuno's use of the scooped back or scalloped shape design in the club head. Basically this is where material is taken from the top back of the club head to allow the centre of gravity to be positioned lower, facilitating a higher launch with less spin. It's not a common design trait amongst woods and hybrids - I'm only aware of Cleveland's Hibore XLS, Ping's G15 and Mizuno's MX-700 hybrids using this particular design trait. However my own experience and thoughts on the scalloped shaped club head design is that the lower centre of gravity really helps to promote distance, which is also Mizuno's claim.

On the materials front Mizuno haven't quite extended the use of titanium technology that it has used in the MP Driver and Fairway woods to its hybrids. Instead Mizuno have used 1770 steel in the face and body of the club head while still giving it the "hot metal" moniker. The other thing that you can't see is the use of internal weighting within the club head itself, with the exception of a slight bulge towards the bottom rear of the club head. This hidden weighting is in place to keep the centre of gravity low and deep, adding to the high launch, less spin design of the club.

Aesthetics

With its white shaft contrasting sharply against its black head bold is the first word that comes to mind. And then you look a little bit closer and realise how small that club head is, which is potentially fine if this is your first foray into hybrids and you're replacing a long iron with it. In fact, if you're a better player who is used to having a smaller club head behind the ball you might even find the size of the club head confidence inspiring. However if you're switching from another hybrid to the MP-CLK, there's a good chance that you might find this club head a little intimidating.

From address the other really noticeable design trait is the way the metal finish from the club face extends over the top of the club head, giving the top of the club a two tone finish. I've read a variety of opinions on this type of look. Some prefer the cleaner look of a single coloured club head. Others can relate the metallic finish they see at address to the top line of an iron. Whatever your preference, the finish does tend to make the MP-CLK a little busier at address than other hybrids, although not to the point of being noticeably distracting.

Shaft Selection

Mizuno have employed a Mitsubishi Rayon Fubuki shaft to be matched against the MP-CLK's club head. It's a stand out feature of this club, and not just because it's painted gloss white. The shaft itself appears to be matched perfectly to deliver that high launch, low spin design trait that the CLK's club head is also designed to impart. In conjunction with its performance, the shaft also provides outstanding feel, translating exactly where the club head is and what it is doing at all times through your swing. Mizuno also offer Exsar and UST shafts as options but my personal opinion is that the Fubuki shaft is a perfect match to the CLK's club head.

Feel

Mizuno have a reputation for delivering the best feeling irons out on the market. It's a little more difficult to design a hybrid or wood with the same level of feel but with the MP-CLK hybrid Mizuno have definitely given it their best shot.

My measure of a club's feel usually has something to do with whether or not I know that I've stuffed up a shot before I've look up to see where the ball went. The MP-CLK lets me know not just when I haven't struck the ball right - it also tells me when I've struck it 100% perfectly.

Mizuno have managed to match the materials, shaft, and design of the club head perfectly to create what I believe is the best feeling hybrid around. Off the toe, heel, too low or high and the CLK will translate a slightly jarring contact that you'll know wasn't solidly struck. Get it in the centre and you'll swear you're hitting a Mizuno iron. Well, maybe not quite, although it's probably as close as a forged iron feel as you're going to get in a hybrid.

Performance

There are two levels of performance that accompany the MP-CLK. Unreal and unplayable. I don't think there's really any in between.

I happened to purchase the CLKs at the height of some of my best golf ever, early this year. At that point in time and with as near a perfect swing as I could get, the CLK just blasted the ball down the fairway to what I thought were ridiculous distances. At one point I'd swear that there really wasn't much difference between my 3 wood, and the 17 degree CLK, both off the tee and from the fairway. With a good swing the CLK just blasts them launches them high, straight and ridiculously long. Slight draws and fades are a breeze while the snap hook that I sometimes get with hybrids is almost impossible to replicate with the CLK. And all the while, I really didn't feel like I had to try very hard at all to get the best out the hybrid.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you can't hit the ball close to the centre of the CLK's face every time, the results are extremely punishing. My ball striking since the beginning of the year has deteriorated significantly - a story for another time. With my swing has gone my ability to use the CLK effectively. The CLK doesn't provide anywhere the same level of forgiveness that other hybrids on the market do. Ball strikes off the heel or toe are punished with a significant loss of distance. To catch the ball high of low on the club face results in a low and short ball flight. The CLK is just not a club you can hit with a poor swing.

Other Items Of Note

The MP-CLK's headcover in its black and white colour scheme presents as an attractive item in a golf back. It's a slip on cover commonly found with many hybrids that slips on and off easily. You do however have to make sure that it's over the club head properly as it can slip off if you don't have it on properly.

Final Points

A brilliant club? Absolutely. As long as you're able to hit it.

Mizuno advertise the MP-CLK as having tour ready workability and it certainly fits the bill. With its small club head size, amazing feel, and outstanding distance a good golfer could easily fall in love with this club and have no issues replacing their long irons are shorter woods with this versatile hybrid.

But by the same token it is an incredibly punishing club in a category where forgiveness is advertised as a key selling point. The MP-CLK is not a hybrid for the masses and if there's any chance that you might overstate your golfing abilities, look elsewhere. Being much smaller in size and with minimal forgiveness this is a better player's club only and isn't a club that's going to improve your game. You have to be able to strike the ball well if you want to use this club.

However if you are a better than average golfer looking for a club that will give you more distance and height to land softly on those long par 3s, or you're looking for a more versatile club than your 5 wood without sacrificing too much distance, look no further than the MP-CLK. It is an outstanding golf club, in the hands of the right golfer.

For me personally, the CLKs have found a permanent home in my bag. I just can't go past the precision, outstanding feel, and ridiculous distance that Mizuno has managed to build into these hybrids. And I have yet another tool in my bag that tells me that my swing needs fixing!

Never Pay Too Much Attention to Unsolicited Golf Advice.... From Anyone!

2011-03-19T13:38:00.000+10:00

Well, I owe everyone yet another apology. I said I was back but the reality was that I wasn't quite ready to start writing again. The exact reasons as to why is something I'll go into another time. Let's just say that over the last few months my golf game took a fairly serious nose dive.

Last week I finally managed to figure out the cause of the problem. Unsolicited advice. But not just the sort you get from your playing buddies or the know it all stranger you're occasionally paired with. This particular piece of advice was from a pro.

The last time I was at my local golf shop one of the pros noted that I had a "reverse pivot" in my swing. He took me over to the hitting bays and watched me hit about ten balls, attempting to correct my reverse pivoting problem.

Thinking that the pro would know best, since January I have been attempting to incorporate his advice into my game, with disastrous results. I went from shooting consistently in the low teens, with the occasional round banging on the door of single digits, and fell back down into shooting in the mid 20s!

In contrast to the advice I was given, my local pro Glen Hollick, who's had a good look at my swing over the course of a few lessons, has told me that it's fine and that all I really need to do is have more confidence in it. Last week I remembered that particular piece of advice and switched back to what I had previously been doing. Yesterday, I shot 12 over, 3 under my handicap.

Just to be clear, I probably do have a part of my swing that might resembles a reverse pivot. However my swing is probably built more along the "Stack and Tilt" principles than a traditional golf swing. I didn't set out to have a "Stack and Tilt" swing - it's just my swing... the one that works best for me. And a pro that has been working with my over the course of a few lessons hasn't tried to change it for good reason. If there is an issue with my swing, it's that I sometimes slide too far forward, which is the problem that Glen has previously identified.

So the moral of the story is simply this. Taking on unsolicited advice from anyone that doesn't know your swing is a foolish thing to do. There's a big difference between working with a pro who gets to know your game compared to someone who is just trying to fit you into a box without knowing what works best for you. At the end of the day we all have a one main swing that works best for us and it takes time for a coach to understand what that is.

Book Review - Your 15th Club

2011-01-16T07:04:00.000+10:00

If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll know that I'm a big fan of Dr Bob Rotella's golf psychology books. Working with a lot of professional golfers on the PGA Tour including big names such as Padraig Harrington, Bob has done a lot of work to help both amateurs and pros alike to understand what it takes to play great golf from a mental perspective.

First published in 2009 Your 15th Club is Bob's most recently released book. The reference to a 15th club is about your self confidence and your own image of yourself as a golfer, and on reading it a number of truths ran true to me. In fact, I was so excited about some of the ideas in the first few chapters that I wrote a prologue to this blog!

Some of you that have read the series of books that began with Golf is Not a Game of Perfect may be wondering what's actually different in Your 15th Club. After all, fans of Rotella will also recognise that he has a tendency to repeat certain concepts in some of his books - although another way of looking at that is he's reinforcing certain ideas.

While Bob's other books have been about how you should handle the game of golf from a mental perspective, including pre-shot routines and strategies to handle the course, Your 15th Club is all about how you see yourself as a golfer. It's a subtle difference from his previous books, but in my mind it's an important one.

Rotella doesn't refer so much to the visualisation of process of how you're hitting the ball, but rather how you see yourself as a golfer. Ideas such as taking a bad shot and seeing it is as a one off abnormality to your game instead of focusing on the shot as how you normally play are subtle but crucial ideas that can impact your perception on you as a golfer.

As per his previous books, Bob makes reference to historical greats, his own experiences with touring pros, and his psychological background to compile a set of ideas that should change how you see your game and the level of golf that you play. And while the latter half of the book tends to refer to ideas and concepts that you're probably familiar with, the first half of the book has I feel very useful and meaningful information. Especially for the golfer who feels as though they have the skills, but the game just doesn't seem to be coming together for them.

So, if you're a golfer who believes that you should be playing better than you are, there's a good chance that Your 15th Club will have some ideas that will help you get your game to where it actually should be. It won't happen overnight mind you, but with some conscious (and subconscious work) on your golfing image, you should see improvements in both your score and your enjoyment of the game.

Nothing in Particular - Things Only a True Golfer Will Understand

2011-01-11T17:34:00.000+10:00

Thanks to my father - a reasonably good golfer in his own right and one of the main reasons for me having some idea of how to play - for the statements below. You might have seen some of these before but they're still a worthwhile read.

ONLY A TRUE GOLFER WILL UNDERSTAND THESE:

Don't buy a putter until you've had a chance to throw it.
Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.
When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls.
If you're afraid a full shot might reach the green while the foursome ahead of you is still putting out, you have two options: you can immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball halfway there.
The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about the golf swing.
No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse.
The inevitable result of any golf lesson is the instant elimination of the one critical unconscious motion that allowed you to compensate for all of your many other errors.
Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot.
A golf match is a test of your skill against your opponent's luck.
It is surprisingly easy to hole a fifty foot putt . For a 10.
Counting on your opponent to inform you when he breaks a rule is like expecting him to make fun of his own haircut.
Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.
It's not a gimme if you're still 5 feet away.
The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree.
You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two inch branch 90% of the time.
If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.
Since bad shots come in groups of three, a fourth bad shot is actually the beginning of the next group of three.
When you look up, causing an awful shot, you will always look down again at exactly the moment when you ought to start watching the ball if you ever want to see it again.
Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.
If you want to hit a 7 iron as far as Tiger Woods does, simply try to lay up just short of a water hazard.
To calculate the speed of a player's downswing, multiply the speed of his back-swing by his handicap; I..e., back-swing 20 mph , handicap 15, downswing = 300 mph.
There are two things you can learn by stopping your back-swing at the top and checking the position of your hands: how many hands you have, and which one is wearing the glove.
Hazards attract; fairways repel. Keep this in mind.
A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours.
If there is a ball on the fringe and a ball in the bunker, your ball is in the bunker. If both balls are in the bunker, yours is in the footprint
It's easier to get up at 6:00 AM to play golf than at 10:00 to mow the lawn.
A good drive on the 18th hole has stopped many a golfer from giving up the game.
Golf is the perfect thing to do on Sunday because you always end up having to pray a lot.
A good golf partner is one who's always slightly worse than you are....that's why I get so many calls to play with friends.
If there's a storm rolling in, you'll be having the game of your life.
Golf balls are like eggs. They're white. They're sold by the dozen. And you need to buy fresh ones each week.
It's amazing how a golfer who never helps out around the house will replace his divots, repair his ball marks, and rake his sand traps.
If your opponent has trouble remembering whether he shot a six or a seven, he probably shot an eight (or worse).
It takes longer to learn to be a good golfer than it does to become a brain surgeon. On the other hand, you don't get to ride around on a cart, drink beer, eat hot dogs and fart, if you are performing Brain Surgery !!!!