Off the green

No one can imagine how thankful I am having recovered from some deadly virus, which to my gratitude wasn't the h1n1 bug. Since falling ill some 4 weeks back and having recovered some fortnight ago, I have not been able to find the time to even lift a golf club. Such is the tiresome situation that I find myself in.

This coming weekend I intend to take some serious time off to practice that swing again. Hopefully I get to relax and unwind. Time is really relative as to who's counting and who's waiting.

Focus... Focus

Many roughs, bunkers and obstacles ahead. The hole seems smaller than it is. Though the flag is nowhere in sight, we must trust the club we have in sight will carry us closer to the target. Breathe in, breathe out, and never lose sight of the ball. Never! Am back to the range.

Give me golf or else

Damn! The whole political fiasco has got my mood really screwed. Because of that I can't seem to hit the darn ball! What the phuck is wrong with this whole gormen? Are they out of their frigging minds? Wait do they even have a bloody mind? Nope, just look at that Zambry ala kazam! Zero. Brainless arseholes living off their mama's dried up milk. Why can't they realise that the rakyat is smarter now and do not want their stupid, nonsensical, ludicrous crap of what they call a democracy. Wait till the next GE lah! Till then let us all have our own time at work, play, at home and away. Let me play my golf without your fucking racism shit lah! Dork!

Running nose, sore throat, darn!

What a week it has been. After Sunday's extra hot day, I found myself waking up on Monday with a horrible sore throat. By the evening, I was already having a running nose. Tuesday my sore throat develops into a full blown running nose. An inevitable flu follows and by Wednesday, I find myself K-Oed due to a full blown flu, sore throat and wheeze. MC for sure and by this night, I'm reeling with the prospect of whether I could really recover before heading for work tomorrow. Bummer, no golf for the last 4 days. Sob!

Mixing the 3 and 1

Honestly, the 3 wood has got to get out of my bag. After hitting 5 and deciding to jump to 1, I finally seem to be getting it right. The only problem though is with 3, as I have no idea why it is so difficult to control that club. If it was the swing then the driver or 1 would be much more difficult to comprehend, wouldn't it?

I'm just thinking that the XPC Rough Rider is just not the club for me. First of all its face is thin, making it suitable for a single or lower teens handicapper. Secondly, the weight of the club is light as a feather, where else most of my clubs have a heavier feel. These two factors could well be the horrible reason I'm missing the trees for the woods.

Hope I can confirm this later at the range and see if it really is the cause of my concern. Darn!

Wishy washy set

So far after regular driving, it appears that the slightly heavier irons suit me better. However, there's an air of frailty when it comes to choosing the woods. At the moment I have a beginner's Spalding fairway wood which I find very comfortable. For 3 wood I have a Harrison fibre-x but it feels way to light to even know where the club head is. It's like swinging air! The driver is another different set which should be quite all right, the Taylor-made big-air series.

With so many different types of clubs in my bag, it's no wonder I'm having so much difficulty tring to figure out a proper swing. The dilemma now is whether to get a new 3 wood or keep hitting till I get my swing to match this club. Hmm, as a newbie there must be some clear upgrade from the 5 wood to the 3, right? If only it was that easy.

The three types of grips for holding a golf club (source: golfroundup.com)

So I just changed from the usual 'ten finger grip' or 'baseball grip' to a more relaxed and controlled 'interlock grip'. Why you may say? Well, since my fingers can easily wrap around the club, it is very uncomfortable to not have the pinky finger in a more relaxed position.

But having changed the grip, swinging the club has been easier but after hitting some 300 balls this week, I started to shank. Can you beat that, a damn shank? The ball just goes skewing to the right as it comes off the damn heel of the club.

I now have to scramble for tips on how to stop this darn dreaded shank. Basically I must be leaning in to the ball and my right hand is just not coming in fast enough to rotate the club face. That means I got to get the balance right and the right hand more involved.

Crazy. Changing the grip has suddenly got me changing even the swing. At least though it's for the better, I hope. Gulp.