GOLF

[Coopers DIY Beer Team]

Sorry that you lost your Dad, Otto. Keep friends and family close and keep chasing those golf balls around the course. Cheers, Frank. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

22 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Sorry for your loss Otto, Hang in there & all the best for the future. 

You are a positive bloke & as you know time heals. I am sure you will get back on top of your golf & start kicking a*** again.

Cheers

Phil

Thanks mate, it's definitely tough but I'm getting there. The golf has been a good help despite the crappy play at the moment.

8 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Sorry to hear about your dad, mate.  Things like a Forum are secondary in those situations.  Nice to hear that you are getting back into the golf.  Often those that we lose would have a "get back into it" view.  But it is always harder than that.

Thanks mate, yeah absolutely. And yeah, I actually had a match play quarter final to play the day after, mum said that he'd tell me to go and play it. I wasn't sure about it but I went, and won it on the last hole. Unfortunately didn't win the whole thing but I suppose it gave me confidence that I could keep going and not just stop living. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

1 hour ago, Coopers DIY Beer Team said:

Sorry that you lost your Dad, Otto. Keep friends and family close and keep chasing those golf balls around the course. Cheers, Frank. 

Thanks Frank, I will do

[Tricky Micky]

On 7/27/2023 at 8:14 AM, Otto Von Blotto said:

I haven't posted for a while, but I have been playing regularly. Just not very well. I lost my dad back in late May, and while initially I still managed to play pretty well, it went downhill as more time went by, most rounds over the last 6 weeks or so struggling to get past 25 points with only two or three over 30. Handicap has blown out to 10.9 as a result. It's mostly mental, in that I'm letting bad shots or holes get to me too much. It's like as soon as one happens I feel like the round is stuffed already and it's gonna be another bad day. I am working on getting back to the one shot at a time mentality that did work well though.

However, I'm slowly getting back to the better form from earlier in the year, Saturday was ordinary but managed 31 points on Sunday. I had 18 on the back 9 with a wipe after the tee shot on 16 took a horrid kick off a tree and went ob. Apart from that, I made par on the other holes from 13 to the clubhouse, so I can take some confidence from that into this weekend. 

Also, I did a wedge fitting in early June, and I'm waiting for them to arrive now. Ended up with SM9 in my usual lofts of 50, 54 and 58. More bounce as well since my swing is reasonably steep. Looking forward to getting those in the bag!

OVB @Otto Von Blotto mate, so sorry to hear of your loss mate. I hope time helps heal your pain. I trust you can think of the all the good memories of your Dad OVB and celebrate his life.  Take care of yourself and and be kind to you too.

[GregT5]

Sorry to hear that Kelsey.

I had to get over thinking that Dad would always be around. It takes a little while to get used to it but there will always be great memories. 

Look after yourself and family. It does get better in time. 

[DavidM]

Sad news about your Dad

As others have said, look after yourself and family. The memories never go away.

Play Well

[Otto Von Blotto]

Thanks guys. I'm sure I will feel better in time, however long it is. Probably the reason behind my dip in form as well. 

Today was just another example of it. Wasn't really swinging well, a lot came up short of greens for some reason. And the usual lately of off line shots ending up in terrible positions almost every time. 

I did get my new wedges which had arrived, and immediately noticed the increased spin around the practice green. Didn't get a lot of opportunities to play my favourite 50-70m low spinny pitch shots out there. One didn't stop and check up, but I probably didn't make pure contact. Another one later did, and came back off the green. Also chipped in for birdie. It'll take a bit of time to get used to them but I can see they'll perform better than the old ones. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, I reckon if I can have one decent round it'll bring back a lot of confidence that I've lost. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Well I had a much better day today, not quite my best but a pretty good improvement over the rubbish of the last 6 weeks or so. As the round progressed I felt like I was getting my swing back to where it was when I was playing well, particularly off the tee. I didn't hit a lot of fairways but the misses weren't bad ones either. The new wedges went really well, the added bounce on the soles, and extra spin being new grooves is giving me much better control around the greens, and also with the longer pitches and full/almost full power shots. This one landed and just stopped dead 3 feet away. GA came back down a bit to 10.6. Looking forward to Friday and Saturday which are both black markers stroke comps, taking Sunday off for a brew day.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Absolute garbage on the weekend, didn't even break 90 either round. It's times like this I wish I didn't have to work because I'd rather be on the range or the course trying to work through it and get back to how I know I can play. I will be able to practise on Thursday at least, that may be range or a quick 9 holes if I can get a time that suits my break time. I am not fully committed to every shot for some reason, when I hit it hard like normal it usually goes well, but there's too many I'm holding back a bit on. 

[DavidM]

My golf has been hit and miss for a while now, GA out to 19.4 !

Two day comp at the local club and I played average on Saturday, once again too many missed shots.

Sunday started ok but on the third hole it all fell apart, had an 11, few holes later a 9, 20 across two holes. not coming back from that.

56 for the front nine, then things fell into place and I started showing signs of how I know I can play and came home with 42.

Highlight of the month was a game at Grange, where the Liv Golf was played. Invited by a member, who also paid for everything,  great day, I even played well. Good to stand on some of the tee's and see the course the pros played on tv a few months ago.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Mine's just been miss for 2 months, apart from that 35 points last week and one or two others that were ok. Probably won't get a practice in now as my shifts aren't what I thought they'd be, maybe Wednesday will be a long enough break to do it. 

[GregT5]

Monthly medal stroke round this week.  Started bogey, double, double and thought it was going to be a long day.  Finally got my game in some sort of order and finished  46 on the front 9 and 45 on the back to finish 91/76. Only 3 over my handicap which after the first 4 or 5 holes I was reasonably happy with. 

On to next week...

Edited August 7, 2023 by GregT5

[GregT5]

A Par round today (who doesn't love Par!)

Nothing spectacular, drove pretty well all day which took a bit of pressure off the rest of my game.  Putted well too and finished square on each nine. 

Ended up 11th out of a field of 60 players. Happy with that. Interestingly enough 8 of the top 10 players were high handicap C Graders with the winner on +7 with a 29 handicap.  A bit disheartening to see that score on the screen in the clubhouse as you are signing in. My playing partner had to shoot 5 under the card just to tie him. 

On to next week...

[Otto Von Blotto]

We had a 33 marker hit 44 points on Saturday, but the GA app has stats on that sort of thing now, and the percentage of winners overall is pretty even across all handicaps. 

I didn't quite reach those heights but I did have a pretty good round. I've been working on my takeaway and it's helping get back to a better swing again. Stats wise it looks crappy, but most of my misses weren't destructive and I felt like I was hitting it better. Chipping was ok, but I'm still getting used to my wedges. Putting was the best part of the game and certainly saved a few strokes holing a few medium to long ones. 

Yesterday was with the social club and was total garbage, however it was a really early start that I had to wake up around 4:15 to get to, and my body clock simply doesn't get to sleep early enough to get the rest I want. I kinda felt like I'd have an ordinary one before we even teed off, lack of rest makes it difficult to concentrate properly. While it was disappointing to play like I did, I didn't really care that much either given the reasons for it, and not being an important round in the scheme of things. 

Public holiday Wednesday up here so I'll be back out there at my usual late morning time, pretty confident I won't have another shocker

Edited August 13, 2023 by Otto Von Blotto

[Otto Von Blotto]

Not too bad yesterday, unfortunately as per usual lately I didn't start well. I might hit the range pre round in future and see if that helps get my swing going better before the back 9. Nice to finally hit some fairways though. I do feel like I'm starting to come out the other side of the form slump, the swing is feeling better than it had been. It's a slow process but I'm seeing improvement even if the scores don't always show it. Yesterday for example from inside 150m I hit the green 73% of the time. That's a lot better than I have been. Need to keep it up though. 

New wedges are going really well, I hit a number of decent approaches with them, getting plenty of spin to stop on the green. One even zipped back a few feet. Getting more used to them with chipping as well, and judging longer pitch distance. Really enjoying hitting them, I feel like I can control them much better, the swingweight is perfect, which obviously leads to better control over the ball and better shots.

This putt on 15 came up short by less than a foot, otherwise I didn't have my best putting day. The greens were a little slower than usual. They'll probably be quicker again on Saturday.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I had a pretty good day on Saturday. It was quite windy, so I didn't really have any expectations. I usually don't score well in windy conditions although I still have fun trying to manufacture shots to deal with it. This time was better, I figured I wouldn't be all that accurate with the longer shots and approaches so I needed to be on with the short game and putting, fortunately I had a good day in those areas. Back to playing both days on the weekends now that the second batch was brewed yesterday.

[DavidM]

Played four games last week, and was feeling a bit stiff by the end!

Hit in the 30's for the first three games and was half happy with the way I played except for scrubbing the last Twice!

Saturday was different, I was never in it, drove ok (for me) but couldn't chip or pitch.

Missed short shots all over the place, frustrating.

Oh well, more practice needed

[GregT5]

I feel your pain David, I played a game very similar to yours.  Drove pretty well then rubbish near the greens.  The only highlight was my drive on the 18th which got me the NTP and a $20 bar voucher. 

[DavidM]

13 hours ago, GregT5 said:

my drive on the 18th which got me the NTP and a $20 bar voucher. 

And isn't that the best part of the game, You know you can do it, but you don't know when it's going to happen!

Makes you come back next week to try again.

[Kegory]

29 minutes ago, DavidM said:

And isn't that the best part of the game, You know you can do it, but you don't know when it's going to happen!

Makes you come back next week to try again.

"Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose," Winston Churchill.

But, yeah, it's those times when it actually goes right that keep you coming back to try again.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'm usually the opposite. I have more desire to come back if I play horribly because I want to work on things to sort out whatever the issue was. That's why I always hate playing bad on Sundays, because I have to wait five days to go back again

[Kegory]

16 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I'm usually the opposite. I have more desire to come back if I play horribly because I want to work on things to sort out whatever the issue was. That's why I always hate playing bad on Sundays, because I have to wait five days to go back again

Thus far every day I've played horribly but I kind of know what you mean. One day I hit three consecutive good strokes on the 2nd, including a chip in for bogey, and I considered going home right after that. Quit while you're ahead.

[DavidM]

I'm one who enjoys it even when it's all crap.

Wednesday's game all fell into place, started well, and kept it up!

Drives were OK, irons good, chips to tap in range!

Made for a good day out finished with 22 front and 18 back, second place for the day.

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Found some form today in the monthly medal. Unfortunately my handicap has blown out over 3 shots in the past couple of months or so, but I did expect it given the circumstances. I was just aiming to shoot something close to it today but to go 4 under was pretty kickarse. I reckon my best shot of the day was a 15m or so shot over a bunker on 15. Open face 58° wedge hit it straight in the air and got it to about 2 feet. Made a heap of other up and downs as well. Back again tomorrow off the easier white tees, in the meantime watching the European masters from the Swiss Alps, what a beautiful course that is!

 

[Kegory]

9 holes today at the serene

& picturesque Foster Golf Course