It was raining this morning. Today is Kevin Lee's last game of golf with me for a while. He said that he needed a few days to tidy up his house before going home with his sons to Taiwan for holidays for a month. Hopefully Chung would want to remain my golf partner. He is not playing very well because he has no long irons shots and his wedge shot was very haphazard. He needs to practise more with a bucket of balls either at the driving range or by the lake side.
I think golf for him and the Taiwanese means different things from what the game means to me. My score on the card is just as important as the exercise I get by walking 5.8 km every day. Not many people practise at the range for 3 years before they go to the golf course for their first game of golf. I did that!I noticed that Kevin Lee's golf etiquette has improved a lot. He started to repair his pitch marks on the green. Lately he even repaired those marks made by other people! However he is still not taking his turn to hold the flag, putt or play the ball on the fairway. He also has a dangerous habit of walking in front of his partner while the guy was still setting up to hit his ball on the fairway. His golf etiquette has been rather poor in the beginning. He seldom marked his ball on the green because he kept losing his ball markers. I have given him all the markers that I can spare.
I persuaded Chung to submit his card today. He was under the impression that he has to score very well before he could submit a score card. I explained to him that he must start now by submitting his cards until the club awards him an official handicap. Then he can work his handicap down from 36 by continuing to submit a card regularly. He should also take part in the week end competitions.
I told the club committee last X'mas that I have not been playing golf for a while. My handicap was 23 when I stopped playing golf 20 years ago. I was keen to join their X’mas competition. I did not have a club awarded handicap. I have submitted only 2 cards. The committee gave me a temporary handicap of 23 just to play in that competition. I won a ham and my handicap was immediately chopped down to 22. I have since submitted more cards. My handicap today is 20 and I play usually in the low 90's.
Later on I submitted many more cards when I was playing regularly with Kenny Chen who had a handicap of 16. The other golfer in my group David Jin (uncle) did not have a handicap; but he regularly scored below 90. His putting was excellent. By playing so often with these two good golfers my golfing skills have improved a lot. Initially my long irons shots were poor. I was using a hybrid club(chicken leg) and a 9 wood for my fairway shots. Soon I practised more with the 4 iron at the lake side and was able to put aside these non standard utility clubs. Kenny also carried a hybrid in his bag. His drives were consistent. He could hit an excellent draw shot with his driver. David Jin’s tee shot is high and straight, going about 230M. My drives were around 195M in the beginning. It soon increased to 210M and I was able to give these guys a match and a good run for their money.
I persuaded Chung to submit his card today. He was under the impression that he has to score very well before he could submit a score card. I explained to him that he must start now by submitting his cards until the club awards him an official handicap. Then he can work his handicap down from 36 by continuing to submit a card regularly. He should also take part in the week end competitions.
I told the club committee last X'mas that I have not been playing golf for a while. My handicap was 23 when I stopped playing golf 20 years ago. I was keen to join their X’mas competition. I did not have a club awarded handicap. I have submitted only 2 cards. The committee gave me a temporary handicap of 23 just to play in that competition. I won a ham and my handicap was immediately chopped down to 22. I have since submitted more cards. My handicap today is 20 and I play usually in the low 90's.
Later on I submitted many more cards when I was playing regularly with Kenny Chen who had a handicap of 16. The other golfer in my group David Jin (uncle) did not have a handicap; but he regularly scored below 90. His putting was excellent. By playing so often with these two good golfers my golfing skills have improved a lot. Initially my long irons shots were poor. I was using a hybrid club(chicken leg) and a 9 wood for my fairway shots. Soon I practised more with the 4 iron at the lake side and was able to put aside these non standard utility clubs. Kenny also carried a hybrid in his bag. His drives were consistent. He could hit an excellent draw shot with his driver. David Jin’s tee shot is high and straight, going about 230M. My drives were around 195M in the beginning. It soon increased to 210M and I was able to give these guys a match and a good run for their money.
Unlike the afternoon group who played golf just to kill time in NZ, my group was very competitive. I played with Tom Yang on a few ocassions. He would not even stop talking while I was trying to set up for my tee shot. I have avoided playing with him since that episode. There were other golfers around: Eddy, Simon Lee, William Liaw, Chung, Chang and Joe Kuok. Today my drives go around 210/220M, especially in the summer months when the fairways are harder. I have hit balls to 230M at the 8th hole where my ball landed opposite the 9th tee box! From there it was an easy 9 iron shot to the green. I have gained at least 20 metres off my tee shots since I started playing golf at the Narrows last September. My irons have also gone a bit further than before. My 6 iron can now reach the green from the blue marker at 135M. The ball is high and makes a deep pitch mark on the green. It did not roll more than 3 metres.
Today I tried out my 3 wood on the 12th fairway. I hit my third shot 190M onto the green and two putted for a par. It gave me a real sense of achievement! This week my 3 iron was not working well at all. I have lost my confidence in it. So it is staying in the bag! I am thinking seriously of replacing it with that hybrid utility club which is now in storage. It was tempting but that would be taking a step backwards and accepting defeat. At the 10th hole (179M)I used the 3 wood for my tee shot. I hit the ball ON and two putted for par. I had 4 par and 9 bogies giving a score of 92. I submitted the card.
At the car park we met Tom Yang and his wife Rosa getting ready to play golf. They have a friend Lee with them. He was the man who taught Chung how to play golf. Chung said that Lee could reverse the ball backwards on the green using his wedge, just like the pro does it. Chung also hero worships Duncan who has a handicap of 4; but I suspect that the feeling is not mutual. Chung needs to buy a new driver.
With the newer and larger titanium metal woods available today, no body uses a composite driver any more. I started playing golf in 1981 with a similar Spalding driver made of plastic composite. Golf equipment and technology have come a long way since then. Drivers have bigger titanium heads, longer shafts made of carbon fibre and weigh less than older models. The end result is that we can generate more club head speed and hit the ball further.The smaller 1.62" diameter rubber wound balls are no longer in use. Today's golf balls are all 1.68" diameter made in two pieces, a solid core and a very tough covering. They seem to last almost forever. It is no longer possible to cut them by mishitting with a long iron. My favourites are: Srixon, Nike, Callaway and now Titleist (pro V1x 332). The higher compression balls go further but are harder to control their flight. There is no point to gain 10 metres off the tee, if you end up deeper into the bush! These are Pinnacle, Taylormade, Top Flight, Optima and any ball with these promises: distance, pro, tour, burner etc. These harder (higher compression) balls are normally white and brighter in appearance. They feel like hitting with a plank so that there is no control of the ball direction at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment