Tell us about your game today...

First topic message reminder :

.. or yesterday or whenever your last game happened.

I played this morning - just a bounce game with one of my regular partners.

There had been a big competition yesterday at the club so the course was a bit quieter today than one might expect for a Sunday. 11:20 tee off as a two-ball and lots of other two balls out there with a couple of quick 4-balls so pace of play was brisk.

Those who have read my posts recently will know that I've been suffering with a nasty foot/ankle injury for a few months and it's just great to be out there at all at the moment. Thankfully the foot came through with flying colours though I think I've been favouring it for the last couple of weeks still and after the game today my knee was playing up but with luck that will just be a temporary setback.

A glorious day though in the Thames Valley with above average temperatures and the course was in remarkable nick for mid March.

The match itself was close for a long way. I felt I was playing reasonably well after not playing much of the winter and after losing the 2nd I levelled it on the 3rd and was one up after nine. Though I felt I was playing better than my opponent I couldn't shake him and he hung in there until I went 2 up on 15. Closed it out on 16 but was made to work for it.

Although it was matchplay I kept an estimated Stableford score and came in with 32 (estimated) points which I wasn't too disappointed with given lack of recent regular play. One NR and a couple of holes where a 3 pointer was well withing my grasp and ended with 1 point (short game was actually pretty good apart from those two nightmares)

Now looking forward to next weekend and a Stableford competition where I've been drawn with last year's captain and next year's!

Finally, after three 2nd place finishes, one 3rd, a 4th and two 7th's from 10 starts this season, I broke into the winners circle last night! Also down to Cat 1 for the first time, time for the hard work to start.

Huge cograts Ban Bam. How long have you been playing and how long has it taken to get to that standard?

ban_bam wrote:Finally, after three 2nd place finishes, one 3rd, a 4th and two 7th's from 10 starts this season, I broke into the winners circle last night! Also down to Cat 1 for the first time, time for the hard work to start.

Good work, well done!!

Like you say, now the hard work begins.........

cheers guys, feels good to get over that hurdle.

nst, afraid its the long version:

i took up golf at 16, a couple of years before heading to uni. starting hcp was 23 and got down to 12 before uni. thereafter the typical pattern of play would be i would play come up for a comp every 4 wks or so: 1 each in sep, oct, mar, apr, may, then home for the summer and play loads. typically i'd go up 0.1 in most of the autumn/spring monthly rounds, and for the first couple of the summer, before getting it to click again.

the summer after 1st year i came down to 8, then back up over the course of autumn/spring to 9 etc. down to 7 the following summer, back up to 8 the following autumn/spring. took a gap year after 3rd year and got as low as 5.5 the week before heading back to uni.

thereafter 4th and 5th year didn't give me much time for golf. i got married and didn't have the glorious long summers of golf anymore. the handicap spiralled up, with the odd decent round here or there levelling it out.

i finished uni and moved down to edinburgh 3 years ago. played quite a few opens to get a feel for some clubs before finally joining one a year past october. by which point the handicap was up to 9.

last year was my first full season of golf since 2001. it was awful. over the previous 4-5 years of playing about 12 games a year [all competitive], i'd developed a really steep choppy swing giving me a punchy cut. i struggled through the year, playing poorly in most comps, with the odd decent round keeping the handicap from hitting double figures. last july the handicap was at the brink of double figures ... 9.4. we spent a week up at my folks and i joined up with an older member who had given me a lot of coaching over my gap year and who had overseen my decent to 5.5. we worked on a few things for the first couple of days and i finished that week shooting two rounds of +3 in competition, dropping the handicap to 8 ... out of the danger zone!

after my return to edinburgh the handicap remained static, other than dropping to the high 7 point's. I played ok over the winter, but decided that i needed to invest in my swing. I spoke to the local pro, and we have had 4 lessons since the end of February, working on softening my steep backswing [getting my hands right, and developing a proper hip rotation and follow through], short game, alignment, and the driver. Each lesson has added another dimension to my game - the one on alignment was probably the eureka moment.

This season i started off 7.9, and have steadily dropped to 5.2. Bizarrly the only club in the bag which has not been behaving is the putter. Probably as i'm focussing more on everything else - but hopefully once it clicks i'll be challenging to match my preseason target of dropping from 8 to 4.

Sorry for the epic, its just great to be playing regular golf once more!

Well done ban-bam envy you mate.

Went out and did 9 holes last night and should be pleased with 5 over, but didn't hit a solid long iron once. Driver and 3-wood working great and getting some distance due to plenty of run, and my wedges were good. Long irons though went straight but didn't seem to get a clean hit. Putting again was not good enough

Well done Bam Bam ,

I'm going into my 5th Saturday Medal round in 6 week tomorrow, which has included,

- A matchplay qualifier - went up 0.1, to 16.5.
- Week off
- Monthly Medal - cut 1.8, to 14.7.
- Board Comp - went up 0.1, to 14.8.
- Final Medal - Stableford adjusted buffer...

Tomorrow is the Open (got let in on the proviso I play of the max hc which is 14, which id fair enough) and i reckon i'm due a decent round, been working hard with out really see much sign of improvement, so i'm hoping it will all just click into place.

Then no more medal rounds until the July Medal, which is a bit of a releif to be honest, i wanted a safe 15 hc by the end of this stint, so that was achived early on, and changed the focus to getting to 14 for the Open and Div 2 Medals (sneaked into the Open, but will need a net 60-something for drop to 14... we'll see..)

thanks guys,

got my 12th medal of the year tomorrow, twinged a muscle in my thigh yesterday slipping off a ladder, but hopefully will be settled enough to shoot another low one.

good luck tmrw rossa.

doc, i'm struggling with the flat stick also. surprising as last season it was working really well. i've been playing the odd mid-week game and the pace of the greens seems to be far quicker at the weekends, so probably just a bit unsure of the pace more than anything.

Well done Rossa - you and I will have to have a round at some point; you're only about an hour from me. Thanks for sharing that with us Ban Bam. Putting comes and goes for me too. Playing better with flatstick than in previous years - still averaging 38 putts though, which I think is at least 4 too many. If I could save 4 shots there, handicap would soon drop.

Where are you noshanking? I'd be up for a game.

Medal round today and the wind was the main issue here. At least a 3 club wind - I 'striped' a 5 iron into the wind on a 150 yard hole - I ended up 20 yards short of the green!! I reckon it was a well hit 3 iron today and there were some high scores.

But just about played to my handicap - if only I could putt.

Well done Rossa hope the ladder issue not too serious, well just for OS here's my weekly Mavette update.

I'm still a Spaz with crutches so hobbling my way around the bar is my golf for the moment. But last week Mavette got to go to an away game with the full ladies team from our club, she wasn't in the main team but played at the backend of the actual matches with another reserve and said she enjoyed it playing against the grown ups and positive feed back from her playing partners saying she took to it well and seems comfortable.

Today she had her first real matchplay experience though, she got picked to represent our clubs junior side based on her perfomances this year. So she made a little bit of history by being the first girl to represent our club and she was partnered with the clubs junior captain (17year old lad off 3handicap) her opponents both boys,one was built like a house and looked like he'd been shaving since birth but was in fact 17 years old, and a scratch player, the other was a 15year old lad and played off 6, so she was a little nervous being thrown in the deep end with her newly cut handicap to 13 (another good medal but her scores are now really levelling off at +11 to +13)

She and her partner lost the match on the 17th to an eagle by the opponents scratch guy. But mananged a chat with our Junior organiser, the oppositions JO and the scratch guy, they were all full of praise for her and said she has real potential and at no point did she ever show she was nervous (even though she had a few nervous tears beforehand so she handled that well) and that at no point did he ever show signs of giving up or accepting defeat untl they shook hands at the end. The highlight of my conversations was when talking with the 17 year old scratch playing man beast (looked like he was 12foot tall from where i was hobbling, thoroughly nice lad though) he said that when he first found out he was teeing up against an 11year old girl he thought what on earth is she doing here and at least he'd be finished by the 12th hole so he could walk in and get a burger. He then said he was taught a lesson by her in that he should never under estimate anyone and make light of an opponent becaue she played beyond he age and gave them a real run for the match and he would take pleasure in playing a practice round with her at his club should she wish to take part in their Junior Open as she was the best girl he'd played against.

I was happier with his honest comments than I was withanything else. Next week she is playing for the first time in a full ladies medal comp which counts towards qualifying for the ladies club championship. I think her handicap is levelled off now for the year and now is about learning how to manage the course and play against more competent players and in bigger events.

That should be a separate story all of its own, Mav, inspiring story and a good lesson to all. Congrats to your young lady.

Thanks Mav - and well done Mavette, another hurdle successfully crossed.

I don't think it's just for me Mav - as I have said before, Mavette has a number of ether Uncles here.

I always tell her about her followers on here! She made me laugh the other day when I was talking to her about her surrogate uncles on here and how people ask after her. Simply said to me well in 2years when I'm scratch dad you can set up my twitter page and call it @mavette!!! The confidence of youth

Thanks for the update Mav - sounds like another good couple of weeks for the Mavette. I've no doubt she has plenty of followers on here - her exploits make great reading and I agree with you about the honest comments from the 17 YO man-beast. Sounds like she made another admirer there but it's good to hear honest comments rather than wishy-washy platitudes

Not terrible but not quite happening yet. Starting to hit things a lot more cleanly but it was a bit of an alomst day. The wind really took the course up a level in terms of the difficulty of getting the yardage right. Was struggling with that as the flight of my irons is starting to change. Long and short all day. Very hard to get the yardages right.

Rossa wrote:Where are you noshanking? I'd be up for a game.

Cheltenham Rossa. Can't be much more than an hour away from you.

Noshankingtonite wrote:

Rossa wrote:Where are you noshanking? I'd be up for a game.

Cheltenham Rossa. Can't be much more than an hour away from you.

No its not far, my mum is in Stroud and my Sister is in Bristol so the M5 is a well trodden route! I was told last night that my next 7 weekends are 'booked' by either golf or the future wife feverishly filling the gaps, but i'll drop you line on the sticky thread if a window comes up and maybe we can sort something out for later in the summer.

We'll if there are any other people in this part of the world up for a game, there was a fella who played at Kenilworth... Butterbeanbags Perhaps...? i haven't seem him on v2 though...

Mav, good story mate!

Is she giving lessons yet? I could learn a thing or two...

The open was an experience... the greens were the quickest i have ever played, it added a whole new dimension to them, all of a sudden 4 footer i would normally bash into the back I couldn't because, They were breaking a bit and after missing a few and having 4 footers back i got tentative and quite frankly they beat me up, mentally wore me down...

It started off very well with a par on the first despite putting my birdie putt form the middle of the green onto the fringe, i hole out and went on my merry way, with 4 bogies following, before a regulation par on the hardest hole on the course (http://moseleygolfclub.co.uk/wordpress/hole-5) and another bogie on 6, i stood on the 7th tee (par 5) breathed a huge sigh of relief having not only survived the difficult opening stretch but given my self a really good chance to post a good score.

A solid 3w and 5i left me with an 8 iron to the green, i pushed it, and short sided myself, i pitched on over a bunker and it ran through to the fringe and 3 putt ensued... a hooked tee shot on the next and another 3 putt form the fringe on 8 gave me another double and my confidence of the greens was shattered, a 4 putt on the 9th from the fringe was another double and the implosion was complete...

I regrouped, got a bogie, then a par on 19 and 11, before finding the cabbage bushes on my approach to 12, and another double... another solid bogey on a very tough par followed which left me 14 over after 13, so i reconciled that the CSS would be 72 so 75 would be required to buffer...

Then a miss hit on the 14th tee and another 3 putt, got me a 6, followed by a 7 on the next courtesy of a sprinkler head and a lost ball... and i was beat, I limped home with a double and a 2 bogies for a net 81 (which was actually an 80 for hc purposes, as I’m off 15 but played off 14 in order to get in).

I was fun to play the course set up at its hardest and in such great condition but if the green are going to be like that for the rest of the summer i think I’ll need to spend some time on the putting green!

Rossa wrote:

Noshankingtonite wrote:

Rossa wrote:Where are you noshanking? I'd be up for a game.

Cheltenham Rossa. Can't be much more than an hour away from you.

No its not far, my mum is in Stroud and my Sister is in Bristol so the M5 is a well trodden route! I was told last night that my next 7 weekends are 'booked' by either golf or the future wife feverishly filling the gaps, but i'll drop you line on the sticky thread if a window comes up and maybe we can sort something out for later in the summer.

We'll if there are any other people in this part of the world up for a game, there was a fella who played at Kenilworth... Butterbeanbags Perhaps...? i haven't seem him on v2 though...

The name Butterbeanbags rings a bell, think he might be on the old contact list if you want to track him down??

Cool. Sounds good. JAS lives in Swindon area. Might be able to get a Midlands/South West event organised

Noshankingtonite wrote:Cool. Sounds good. JAS lives in Swindon area. Might be able to get a Midlands/South West event organised

JAS is planning to come down to my place for a game on Sunday 26th June, if you are free please join us

drive4show wrote:

Noshankingtonite wrote:Cool. Sounds good. JAS lives in Swindon area. Might be able to get a Midlands/South West event organised

JAS is planning to come down to my place for a game on Sunday 26th June, if you are free please join us

Feel free to come out on the 25th if you're in the area as well. My friends and I are more than happy to demonstrate the depths to which a bunch of blokes on a weekend away from their other halves can sink.

holed a few putts over the weekend and nearly a few chips, but had a poor weekend off the tee. striking it well but pushing everything right. time for a lesson methinks before next weekends club champs qualies.

Had a tune up session for Wednesday's medal (first of the season at my new club). Started with 2 textbook pars only to get a dose of the lefts for the next 7 holes and lost 3 balls. Pretty sure it was a gripping issue as the back 9 went pretty well apart from 2 holes where I got a dose of the rights and lost another ball. 3 pars and 4 bogies and 2 doubles on the back is more like what I was expecting, a 3 putt par from 25 feet on the last was a sickener though. Hopefully I can knock the ball about a little more consistently on Wednesday.

Following a miserable 27 points at the weekend I wasn't exactly full of confidence going into my match tonight. It was in the Volvo National Matchplay competition, so against someone from a neighbouring club. He had to give me 5 shots (7 to my 12) and I was at home, so I guess I was favourite. I proceeded to chip in on the first, was 3 up after 5 and despite making a mess of a couple of par 5s I was still 2 up at the turn. I won 10 with a shot, birdied 11 with a 30 footer, won 12 with a par, halved 13 and then closed it out by again chipping in on 14!

Medal at the weekend, chances are I'll be back to the kind of form I last showed in strokeplay.

Another Tuesday bounce game today and I was hitting the ball really cleanly on everything that was long. Drive was good and solid with no hiccups and good placement, long and mid irons were fine as well as full blooded short irons. I've changed my setup a little, with more weight on my left leg and hit down rather than sweep again. I have now sorted my alignment (thank you Gareth) with my King Cobra deep faced 5 wood and I think I am in love with it.........that reminds me, it's still in the car, better bring it in and tuck it up for the night. <OSdriftsalittlerememberingthe200yardshotintothe17th>

But, from 30 yards in, I am still a car crash waiting to happen. I left so many shots out on the course, at least 10, through appalling putting, including I am ashamed to say 2 - yes 2 four putts and any number of 3 putts!



JAS - HELP!!!!

Went out again last night and came to the conclusion that the driver is hurting me too much at the moment. So I went to the 3 wood for the back 9 holes. What a difference.

On top of that I got a second round with the new toy in my bag. Very very impressed. It seemed like every time I had it in my hands I had a very makeable putt afterwards. Long may that continue!

So what a capricious game this is.......

Tuesday I was smashing my drives and striping the irons but couldn't putt to save my life.

Today I only had one 3 putt, missed virtually nothing from 6 feet, but couldn't drive straight or hit a sweet iron for the life of me.

Argh! Frustrating game. Medal a week and bit back, played pretty decent to handicap and striking was generally very solid. Stableford last night - 28 points and played like a c*ck. Hooks off tee for first half and blocks for second half combined with which, I must have hit a branch with every attempted recovery shot. Best hole was our third - index 3, 441 yards, slightly downhill. Huge drive with a soft draw (one of the few that was actually any good) which left ~130 yards from middle of fairway; easy PW.....shank into deer country! Lovely, knew it was going to be a good day . Couldn't even blame the weather or the course either. At least the afterwards was good.

Ah well, always next time!

Made one of the best starts I ever made today but got held up by a slow group in front and then the club champion was playing somebody in a tie behind us and we waved them through against my better judgement. I then had two wait about 15 mins or more to hit my approach from 210 yards on a par 5, only to top it twice and slice another approach short and right, duffed two chips and 3 putted for a 9. The wait totally ruined my tempo and I started rushing everything.

The rage grew with each passing shot and didn't really subside fully for another 4 holes. I was most annoyed because there was no rush to let the tie through, we could have played out the hole and let them though on the par 3 that followed (where there is a nice bench to have a seat as we wait). I should have objected so I can only blame myself for letting this happen. Ended up with 33 Stableford points with 4 blimps, still leaking a lot of shots well left.

Played a bounce game today and scrambled a bogey on the first, but then played really well on the front 9 to be 4 over gross. back 9 just seemed to carry on either bogey or par and didn't double once until the 15th, when I had a little look at the card. So finished having 3 doubles which hurt my card, but still played to 14 so pleased with that. Would have preferred to do the back 9 in 40 like the front, and finish up 8 over gross instead of 14 though. Why did I take a sneaky peak at my card.

Medal today, level after 6, then put 2 balls in the water on 7, parred 8 & 9. Poor back 9 though, 3 doubles and ony 2 pars. Took the money in the swindle and should get a small cut, even though only 12th in the medal, thanks to the quad on 7.

Good couple of days for me, shot 74 in the 1st round of the Bournemouth scratch yesterday ( we won't mention the afternoon round) then 41 points 4BBB today in the Invitation day with LJ to finish 4th + we had a couple of 2's on our card as well so we walked away with a Taylormade wedge and a dozen Srixons each.

Started at 5.6 yesterday and ended the weekend off 5.1 so I'm a happy bunny

Nice going D4S a cut and a prize can't complain at that sort of weekend at all.

I'm still in full recovery mode hoping to start proper recovery in next coulple weeks so a little mavette update to keep me going, played her first full ladies strokeplay yesterday at our place, medal comp that is dedicated to a former lady captains memory also serves as a qualifier. Top 5 non exemptions in the event qualify for ladies club championship which is a matchplay knockout (different to the mens cc) she finished a respectable 9th in the overall medal and picked up the 4th qualifying spot. So she goes into wednesdays draw for the event, apparently they seed it somehow though I don't know criteria other than the late qualifiers like her are lowest ranked likely to get a tough draw.

Well done D4S - all you have to do now is stay there! This is not the first time you've reached cat 1 is it? You've been saying for ages that it was time to change your wedges as well. It sounds as though a good time is being had by everyone in Bournemouth.

A little bit of light walking for you soon then Mav - bag carrying maybe or do you think that might put Mavette off?

Indeed i will be light walking OS but won't be on ou course a few hills the knee will struggle with t first so will have to build upto that, it'll be acase of a few walks on the treadmill to start with then a few exercises to build the muscles up again before I walk the course, when i am able i'll walk it with her in her bounce games but i'll let her get on with the competitive stuff

highly frustrating yesterday. played in scratch-9 dunfermline open. out in three under 32 playing some steady golf. left a couple of shortish 5ft birdie putts out there. started back with a bogie after a pushed drive. poor shot on 12 put me in real trouble meaning penalty drop carding a triple to drop to +1. a three putt on the next meant another bogey. re grouped and parred the next three. birdie on 17 then took four to get down trying to flop it over a bunker on 18 meaning a double to finish tied 6th/143 and out of the prizes. was coping with a migraine for the majority of th round but feeling very down after throwing away a golden opportunity to register a sub par round. hcp down to 5.0 which i guess is good hcp stabaliser having just broken into cat 1. guess there are some positives to take into next weekends club champ qualies.

Wouldn't say by everyone shanker. I had a shocker. Still... Hit some decent shots and rode that d4s pony to a new wedge (which is due to be gifted to someone)

I'm getting so peed off playing rubbish, decided to give it a miss today. (The forecast wasn't great either!)

I've developed a push, don't know why. It started about three weeks ago when having lost two balls in the right jungle I decided to tee up on the right and aim at the left edge of the fairway. This worked for the rest of the round and whatever I was doing it was consistent through the bag from wedge to driver. Normally when I push it's because my body slides forward a bit, but I don't think that's the cause this time. It'll probably disappear as mysteriously as it came (here's hoping!!)

LondonJonnyO wrote:Wouldn't say by everyone shanker. I had a shocker. Still... Hit some decent shots and rode that d4s pony to a new wedge (which is due to be gifted to someone)

I wasn't just talking about the golf. There was plenty of time for some of these wasn't there, and a few Rubys as well!

Gift! Ah darn it, it's going to 'El Ringo' isn't it?

oldshanker wrote:Well done D4S - all you have to do now is stay there! This is not the first time you've reached cat 1 is it? You've been saying for ages that it was time to change your wedges as well. It sounds as though a good time is being had by everyone in Bournemouth.

A little bit of light walking for you soon then Mav - bag carrying maybe or do you think that might put Mavette off?

Yeah, got down to 5.3 last year before going back up to 6 but put in a lot of work recently and it's starting to pay off. Also changed my 3 wood and now played 4 rounds with it, not missed a fairway with it yet off the tee which has helped.

Dammit, can't believe I just said that!!!

Maverick wrote:Indeed i will be light walking OS but won't be on ou course a few hills the knee will struggle with t first so will have to build upto that, it'll be acase of a few walks on the treadmill to start with then a few exercises to build the muscles up again before I walk the course, when i am able i'll walk it with her in her bounce games but i'll let her get on with the competitive stuff

Swimming and Aqua-jogging are really good for rehab of knee ligament injuries. It gets the joint and ligaments working on resistance without the high impacts that can re-injure your knee.

Played a mixed open yesterday - it p****d down all day, got soaked and they cancelled it as I was going along the 14th aaarrrgghhh

Mind you the wife & weren't playing that well - it was survival mode really

A difficult day for me too yesterday in awful conditions. Started with 6s on the first two par 4s after finding a ditch or water on both of them - yet given the difficulty of those first two holes, to be only +2 after 2 against my handicap it wasn't the end of the world as I've played those first two much worse in the past (one of my playing partners started 9, 8!)

Then a rock-hard bunker with wet send and a 3 putt cost me dearly on the 3rd and my medal round was already over. From then on it was a battle just to hit my own buffer zone. The rest of the front 9 was pretty much to handicap and I was still fighting. The first half of the back 9 is a little easier (despite a 2-3 club wind) and apart from a bad 3-putt from only about 5 foot in 11, I picked a couple of shots back.

Looked like I might need a birdie on 18 to hit my buffer zone (which despite my relatively high handicap is by no means out of the question as it is relatively short par5 and had the strong wind behind. Sadly I hit my worst tee shot of the day, topping a driver into a pond about 50 yards in front of the tee

Still managed to par it with 2nd ball but the 2 shots from playing 3 off the tee meant I go up another .1 and get a shot back on playing handicap

oldshanker wrote:

LondonJonnyO wrote:Wouldn't say by everyone shanker. I had a shocker. Still... Hit some decent shots and rode that d4s pony to a new wedge (which is due to be gifted to someone)

I wasn't just talking about the golf. There was plenty of time for some of these wasn't there, and a few Rubys as well!

Gift! Ah darn it, it's going to 'El Ringo' isn't it?

Actually the wedge is going to my uncle... who may or may not refuse it in his bag as its very lofted for him I think... after that The Ringers son gets a look in.

As for the curry... What can I say. We found a decent one and on the basis that I was playing 36 the following day I was very reserved when looking at the menu for my potential main course. But when it came to ordering time my mouth betrayed me and ordered a vindaloo.

I looked at the results LJ and saw you handed in a NR for both rounds - WTF happened?? Same really goes for D4S - 74 in the first round and 84 in the second?

There - I've let the cat out of the bag and told everyone your scores!

Not really LP. Already mentioned the NRs myself.

Truth is I started pretty well. A 15-20 footer for birdie on the first. A good two putt on the second. Then I had a 14 on the third. It was very Kevin Na. I was about 30 yards for 2 on the 3rd and thinned the ball off a completely bare lie into the trees right of the green. It was on the path in the woods with no real shot. Looking back I should have gone back to the place I hit from previously but I thought I had a chance and off the mud only managed to hit it into some nettles. From there it was a farce of unplayable lies and then finally an up and down from the woods. I was happy to carry on but then I managed to lose a ball from nowhere just to the left of the 4th. I had no real need to walk back so NR at that point.

In the second round I played a lot more consistently and lost one going down 18. Again I saw no real advantage in walking back as it wasn't that good so I left it.

Very annoying but such is the game at times. That 14 was funny though.


As for D4S. The morning round was very good. But considering the condition of the place it only took a few bad kicks and the scores would run up easily. There was literally almost no grass on the entire track. Every shot was almost a bunker shot from dust. I take my hat off to the guys who shot low numbers. But to my mind it was pure luck out there this weekend.

Broadstone. Much much better. Even though I still didn't play well it was a much more enjoyable course. Dry in places yes... but there was at least life in the grass! I think the grass at Queens (with the exception of the greens and tees) is pretty much done now. It could do with being closed and reseeded I think.

One of this month's magazines has a Top 100 course listing for England, Broadstone is #40

LondonJonnyO wrote:I was about 30 yards for 2 on the 3rd and thinned the ball off a completely bare lie into the trees right of the green. It was on the path in the woods with no real shot. Looking back I should have gone back to the place I hit from previously but I thought I had a chance and off the mud only managed to hit it into some nettles.

Sounds like a perfect example of when you should always play a provisional ball!!

Hard luck, sounds like you had a tough couple of days. Well played drive4show.