Happy Day today (almost!!)

had a competition day today with the concrete society @ Nizels Golf Club in Hildenborough, Kent - a stapleford 4 ball, had 4 knocked off my handicap taking me to a 24, then another 3 as we were playing 7/8ths, so down to a 21 before i even started, no pressure eh, after a poor round of 139 on saturday, went to the driving range to shake a few demons out before the game, just took the 5 & 7 Iron for 25 balls a piece, did'nt scuff or top a single ball on either iron and 90% went straight (honest), average 7 iron 130-150yrds, 5 iron 180-200yrds, left driving range happy bunny and arrived @ course patting myself on back. tee off 1.48pm - let my 2 customers & guv'nor go first, all 3 hit approx 200-250 yrds 1 dead centre of fairway, one to the left & one to the right, my first hit with the 5 iron (left the driver alone after saturdays disaster) 240yrds off to the right slightly, well happy !!!!!

the only thing i let myself down on again was my short game and a few more penalties due to the odd lake being hit (confidence dropped due to panicking rather than just playing it) and ball losses in some really really deep rough, finished the round with a 127, to some that's not that brill but to me from a 139 its bloody magic !, made some decent shots with the irons best drive on 3iron was 300yrds & 5iron was 240 but let myself down on pitching & chipping, but something to work on @ the driving range on next visit, kept putting @ the 45ish mark and think if i had taken a little more time could have got it down a bit more. Finished the day with 16 stapleford points & out of 38 people there, top points were 39, i finished a decent 21st place, not bad as i have only been playing since april, well chuffed with myself, things back on the up.

A 5iron 240 & 3iron 300yards really no need to carry driver or 3wood if your hitting those yardages improve your short game & your handicap will drop like a stone.

Congratulations on the improvement of scores. Keep at it we all have bad times, and often remember these rather than the better ones :/

But seriously, check those yardages. 300yards with a 3 iron - I'm assuming it was downhill and rolled 100 yards! Bubba!

Well done Tim. If you are hitting 90% straight shots that is a great start.

Don't get obsessed with hitting things a long way. I'd say consistency is better than distance (ok, we all like to compete on distance and it does help). But you are better off knowing that your 7 iron will go approx 130 or 140 or 150 yards. If you need more distance, take a longer club, don't try and hit it harder. Try and build that easy, repeatable swing!!

Good luck...

Paul, duly noted on the irons yardages, i tend to be a bit of a geek when it comes to the driving range a hit a comfortable 20 and make a note of what i can do with them without breaking my back to do it so it gives me my ranges, but like with all games sometimes, what happens on the driving range wont always happen on the course...

Chris, had a friend checking the yardage with his rangefinder gadget and also it was from up on the high tee on hole 6 on nizels and its a pretty nice drive whatever you take on it , http://www.theclubcompany.com/clubs/Nizels/courseBrowser/index.html

i ended up just before the tree on the right. so it was approx 290-300 but when it was done through the range finder it read 298, to me thats 300 !! lol

Derek, have laid off on the driver as it was adjusting my swing too much and for some reason affecting the irons on next shot, so thought to get a bit of consistancy stick to the irons, as for the woods i dont think i would attempt them until i have mastered them on the driving range.

thanks for you comments all, just well chuffed it turned out to be a great day