Lee Miller (21.2)

Best Round! yes! yes!

Jan 1st I decided that my golfing resolutions for 2009 would be:

1) shoot a round under 90 as my personnel best was 93.

2) Get my 25 handicap down to 20.

3) Play in all the big Golfshake events.

4) learn how to use a fairway wood.

Well today only 25 days into the new year I have achieved 2 of them already! Having mastered the fairway wood at the range I took it out onto the course today and shot an 87. My best by a mile. To mid and low handicappers this may seem routine but for me it is huge.

The first 3 holes seemed to be going okay nothing special until the 4th hole. (SI 1) I hit a decent drive up the middle and then reached for the fairway wood. Just as i had practiced up the range I got a true flight straight up the middle onto the fringe. A lagged putt gave me a solid par which i knew was a nett eagle.

The best was yet to come as on the 8th I got my first ever gross birdie on a short par 4 (301yrds) dogleg left. I took the corner on with a drive and then struck an iron to the heart of the green, pin high about 6ft away. It gave me that amazing feeling we all know but for me it doesnt happen very often. All that putting practice into an empty pineapple chunks can on the living room floor must have paid off as I sank it. I regret to say i even punched the air and bellowed "YES!" like id won the Masters...

I then parred the 2nd hardest hole to get another nett eagle and after a good drive and a fired up fairwood wood, a pitch onto the par 5 green in 3 followed. So did a 2 putt par. In the middle of the back 9 I had the feeling I had a good score going as I bogied or better most of the holes.

I tried to put it to the back of mind as if just by thinking about it I would curse it.

Going down the last 2 holes my partner then tried to remind me about the scorecard..."Hey Miller.. Youve got a good card here. If you can par the last 2 reckon you can get under 90"

Just what you want as your teeing up on a tight par 3.

I escaped with par after a fairly routine tee shot, long putt, short putt.

As I stood on the last I felt a different kind of pressure. Silence. The 2 lads I was playing with were trying so hard not to put me off they were silent. This made it worse. I needed the background noise of Ben eating a crunchie and Dale looking for a tee in his bag.

I hit a poor drive in truth but knew the green was not protected by bunkers down the right side so again reached for the fairway wood. It was short of the green but close enough for a chip to within 6ft. I missed the par putt and took the bogie thinking I had blown it.

When we were in the car park totting up the scores I was expecting a 91 and so delighted when I found out it was an 87!

Positives are that I have hit a sub 90 round and have confidence in using a fairway wood. My handicap has also reduced by 2.8 shots.

All I can think about is getting out there and beating it - I love golf...

HHC A REVIEW

High Handicap Competitons - A reviewEarlier this year I posted a forum asking if any other like minded golfers wanted to play in a high handicap competition. I was new to golf and not very confident of playing in one of the more established events with lower handicap golfers scoffing at me. I felt like many others, embarassed that a lower handicap golfer would resent helping my look for my ball in the jungle whilst his was in the middle of the fairway...again. I wanted to know if anyone else felt like that and if they wanted to play a round with like minded golfers who are improving slowly.The response was overwhelming as lots of golfers felt exactly the same. We even joked that we would be the equivilant of Non-League Football. The idea was simple. Only handicaps greater than 23 could enter a full handicap stableford competition at some cheap but challenging courses. This would be a compeition we were all capable of winning and all capable of coming last in.  So the first ever Golfshake.com HHC was born in June at Tamworth Muni course. Yours truly scrambled to 3rd spot with 39 points. Chris Perry shot his way to an impressive 41 points to come 2nd. Mark "Bandit" Pallett smashed his personnel best round to get an awesome 46 points. It didnt matter who won really - that was the birth of the HHC and over the next 5 months a further 4 events were organised. It wasnt the same faces either, new people entered events close to them and as word spread more and more players attended events. We'd created a monster.Chris Perry was the brain behind HHC2 - "Return to the bushes" as he took us to West Midlands GC on a scorching hot July day. The 18th hole was a real challenge for us high handicappers and from personel experience was the nicest course I had played on at the time. Carlton Burrows bagged 3rd spot with 38 points, I putted my way to 41 points only to be pipped at the post by Cliff Dadds who scored 42 points including an eagle at the second hole as he pitched in from a good 50 yards! ( seeing Cliff play a few rounds I now know this was not a complete fluke as he is actually a very talented golfer)Satwinder organised HHC3 and it was almost a washout. The weather was awful. Still though the attendance was impressive. I was at a wedding and remember smirking thinking of the brave golfing souls wandering around Lemington Spa as the wind and rain peltered the windows of the warm room I was in. Conditions made for tough golf as the winning scores were low. Carlton Burrows again made 3rd place his with 26 points. Ray Perryman's reward for braving the cold was a second place finish with 27 points. Adrian Murray adapted best though claiming 1st place with 32 points.HHC4 took place at Brampton Heath, Northampton. Cliff Dadds was the organiser and arranged for perfect conditions, overcast with a little wind. The deep rough made driving straight an advantage. (although when is it not!) Many a ball was lost before we made it into the clubhouse. Trevor Kirby clawed his way to 3rd with 40 points. Myself and HHC3 winner Adrian Murray shared 41 points each. It was Adrian though who claimed his second HHC crown in a row on countback.HHC5 - Luckily for me and everyone else Adrian Murray is unable to make Thorpewood in Peterbrough for Martin Lichfields event. With familar faces such as previous winners and podium finishers, Cliff Dadds, Carlton Burrows, Ray Perryman and Trevor Kirby in attendance though anyone could win the final HHC of 2008.It has been fantastic to attend these HHC events and it has served it purpose as many golfers including Chris Perry, Adrian Murray and Cliff Dadds have registered so many good rounds they may be inelligable for next years events. If you are new to golf or a bit nervous about playing in a competiton or just want a round with a good set of lads then you would be at home in these competiton formats.I hope they continue in 2009....

Rules / Format

BREAKING NEWS - THE EAST MIDLANDS QUALIFYING EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE AT MAPPERLEY GOLF CLUB, NOTTS ON 14TH JUNE.

GOLF LICENSE

GOLF LICENSEHaving only taken up golf a couple of years ago I found my first couple of experiences a bit daunting as I'm sure most players did when they began. I had no clue over what the different colour tees meant, no idea what the red, yellow and white stakes were for and perhaps worst off all no clue about the rules. Not to mention etiquette as I obliviously trampled across my partners putting path and spent an eternity looking for my ball without letting the players behind play through. It took me about six months to learn most of the quirky gentlemanly ways golf has from playing with experienced golfers who patiently told me what I should be doing. By this stage I had embarrassed myself, annoyed everyone I had played with and possibly even damaged the courses. I put this down to the fact that everybody goes through this when they are learning.But why?I once witnessed a player hit his drive onto another green aside the hole we were playing. Before I could shout across to him he had played his second shot from off the green back onto the correct fairway taking a large chunk of green with it. He looked around innocently as a barrage of abuse came his way. This is a dilemma. He should know the rules before playing golf. Its his own fault. But how do you learn the rules?Would it be such a bad idea for a golf license to be introduced. I'm talking about a one off 3 hour session with a recognised Pro at the clubhouse in which he covers the basics of golf such as terminology, course layout, rules, etiquette, dress code etc. This should also include a practical demonstration on simple things like marking your ball on the green and how to repair your pitch marks, replacing divots etc.This should then be followed by a quick exam and then upon completion and a small fee to cover the costs a golf license should be issued. If courses then asked to see licenses before allowing players on the course this would then make golf safer, quicker to play and give confidence to beginners who will not have to feel like we did stepping onto the first tee.I am convinced this would make golf safer and more enjoyable for all without putting any potential new players off. We already have Pros at most courses up and down the land why not use them to educate beginners? They would be getting paid and the clubs would also be ensuring that any the non-educated hacker is a thing of the past.

Gentlemans Game

I sat in the recliner with a brew in one hand and the sky remote in the other watching with envy the pros caress the ball around Agusta. My wife came and sat down and began immediatly with the twenty questions game all wifes and girlfriends are compelled to play when sport is on.

Whos playing, What does he have to do? Where is this at? Who do we want to win? etc...

Amongst this barrage of questions Paul Casey had addressed a putt and before he practiced his swing either the wind or Uri Geller moved his ball a fraction of centimetre. He immediatly stood up and called a penalty on himself.

"Why did he do that?" my wife asked

"The ball moved so he has to call a penalty on himself its in the rules" i replied glued to the box

"Yes but why did he admit it... He would have got away with it..."

I explained that golf was a gentlemans game but she didnt seem to understand. A few weeks later I drove my callaway warbird number 3 into the rough. A regular occurance for me. My playing partner to my delight stumbled on it and walked across to the fairway to were his ball smiled at me. As I got to my ball it was a Callaway Warbird Number 1. Without even thinking I informed him it wasnt my ball. I ended up taking a drop in the end.

It has since dawned on me that Golf really is unique in terms of sportsmanship and fair play.

Take our nations sport of football in which diving is now commonplace and playacting to get a fellow professional sent off is widespread. Players spit and swear through 90 minutes and then induldge in god knows what off the pitch.

Even cricket now has sledging and using gummy bears or whatever to shine the ball illegally. Formula one's Alonso and Hamilton were hardly an example of sportsmanship even before their team were busted for spying on another team.

Sport is big business and so if the rules can be bent or broken without anyone noticing then teams and individuals will do it. I understand that.

I hope that this never happens to golf though.

In a sporting world of corruption and foul play Golf has to remain true to the fundimental which make it such a pure sport...

Honest self regulation.

Lee Miller