Kelly Clarkson (and my shot of the year)......

Obviously these two are not linked (lol).

Rach and I travelled down to Bournemouth at the weekend to see the first American Pop Idol, Kelly Clarkson in concert and I can certainly say we were not disappointed. I knew she was very talented anyway but to hear her sing live was superb. She sang probably every song from her second album including my favourite 'Since you've been gone' and two of the biggest highlights were 'beautiful disaster' which she sing without any backing music and a cover of 'Why' by the Eurythmics which she sing with just the aid of a guitar.
It was nice that there was a lot of interaction with the crowd and she seemed very down to earth and grounded, despite all the success she has had. I hope she comes back over here for another tour soon as I'd love to see her perform again.

As an aside, the support act were a band called 'The Faders' and they were very good indeed. Check them out.

Today I gave my first unofficial lesson. It was unofficial as I didn't charge (altho the chap did buy me lunch) but it was my first in terms of it being one of the Mid Sussex members approaching me formally for some help with their golf. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous beforehand. We decided to have a game of golf, I would observe him playing and then pass on my observations. Altho the tee time was 11.24 I was already there at 9am so I could have a bit of practise as I hadnt played for 2 weeks and did not want to play like a prat in front of him (thankfully I didnt).
The 'lesson' went very well I believe and he seemed very acknowledging of my suggestions. One thing I tried to do was explain all the reasons for the advice I gave, as I know this hasn't always been done with me in the past which can leave you a bit confused sometimes, not to mention less likely to take the advice!

On a personal touch I had my best shot certainly of this year, if not the past two or three years and it was very fitting that it happened to be the final shot of my round. Baring in mind I had made an eagle at the 16th and then three-putted for bogey at 17 to be stood on the 18th tee at +3 for my round, this was a sweet end to the round. The 18th is a 420 yard par 4. I slightly pushed my tee shot and it landed in a fairwar bunker (the one that always seems to get me, some 150ish yards from the hole. The shot was slightly into wind and also the ball wasn't lying particularly great so I knew I had to make a good contact to get to the green. I set up and hit it. The contact could honestly not have been any better. 'Shot' the guy I was playing with said and with a bounce about one foot past the hole, the ball proceded to hop and then spin back straight in to the hole for an eagle 2 and the first shot I have ever holed from a very bunker!! WOOHOO!!!!!
I shrieked like a little girl in excitement, it was so funny!!! After a high 5 from my playing partner and 'pupil', I could not resist say perhaps rather modestly 'so thats how you play a bunker shot from the fairway' - cue more hysterical laughter!!!

This was definitely a career highight today and the best part was that I know I have my first golfing 'customer'. Another date has been set and I look forward to it too.

Today has been a good day.........

The upcoming year........

Hello again folks, not been a lot to report lately as the weather is continuing to be a pain in the a*** if you know what I mean.

I did have a lesson recently which was encouraging. My main aims are currently to work on posture, both at address and then more importantly maintaining it throughout my swing. It became apparent that I was 'getting taller' on my downswing which was causing all kinds of problems with my swing plane. Hopefully, by grooving this new change, I can improve my swing plane and reduce the need for fast compensatory hands. Apologies there to any non golfers who read this as I would guess that paragraph made absloutely no sense to you! Haha, sorry!

I have decided that as from March onwards I will go for two lessons per month - one to work on my swing and the other to work on my short game (chipping and putting etc). I have also been getting some excellent advice from my boss too with regards to my mental side - an area he really excels at and i'm fortunate enough to get his advice on this. I haven't mentioned the fact that I have lessons elsewhere to him as I don't want him to take it personally - it certainly isnt personal. I've spoken to friends and they also have lessons away from the club they work at. I guess the issue is that we don't want to stand on their toes and take away from their business by asking for their time during a working day.

I had an interesting discussion with my boss the other day and it was quite interesting because he said he saw my personality traits being mirrored in my golf game! The main factor with me is confidence. I'll admit I'm certainly not always the most confident person in the world off the golf course or at work necessarily, but in golf (playing test aside) I always thought I played confidently. After more consideration, I realised how right he was. I have full faith in my abilities when they aren't being put to the test (or 'under pressure'). However, when they are being put to the test, I immediately begin to doubt myself and my ability and play in the most negative way possible! I know this for a fact as I know how I felt during the tests last summer. Itried to play so safe or 'negatively' that I never gave myself any opportunities or a real chance to pass. Rather than 'playing to pass the test', I was 'playing not to fail the test' and exerting pressure on myself for the whole day.

The biggest thing I can try and do for this year is to be more courageous and fully accept the consequences of decisions I make on the course. Technically speaking my game is shaping up really well except for my putting which is gonna need a whole bunch of work (i'm quite worried about this actually!). I'm sure with a bit of hard work this will improve.

I have been considering my schedule for this year. One thing coming up is the Davies and Tate again. It's quite weird as I have represented Hollingbury for the last 8-9 years and this year I will be representing Mid Sussex. I played a trial for Mid Sussex last week with the captain who had never seen me play before and hopefully the 71 I posted will be good enough evidence that I can contribute to the team. We have been drawn against a team called Cowdray Park and I've not played this course before. I look forward to going there tho, as it sounds exciting and challenging.
For the rest of the year, I will play in a county Order of Merit called the 'Chanctonbury Ring' at West Sussex. This will be great playing test practise a it is 36 holes in a tournament environment. Then, if all going well in test terms, I will stay amateur up till the end of June (and enter the Sussex Amateur Championship and the Mid Sussex Club Championship) and then turn pro at the beginning of July!

Thats the goal, lets see what happens........

Jonathan Goodwin....

As you can tell from my David Blaine blog, I am quite in to stunts and impressive feats that involve bravery and quite often stupidity.

I saw a programme on E4 last week called 'Death Wish Live'. In this show, various people performed live stunts on air in front of the general public that were very dangerous. The above guy, Jonathan Goodwin, starred in the show on Monday and Friday. To sum him up, he is a professional escapologist who takes it upon himself to think up various scenarios and then with the help of his dad to set them up, he tries to escape from shackles such as barbed wire, cable ties, rope etc before he: gets burned(by an iron in one case), cut by pins, runs out of air (submerged in water), electrocuted etc depending on what the scenario is.
The beauty of watching this guy and that I saw on the internet, he does not always get it right and it is simply hilarious.

On the Death Wish live show, he screwed up his first stunt. The stunt was to escape from a noose around his neck before a timer went off, pulling him upwards and effectively 'hanging' him. As I said, he didnt escape in time and was there left hanging by his neck some ten feet in the air. Fortunately the accident wasn't fatal but the rope burns around his neck were certainly not desirable.

On the Friday, he came back to do his second stunt. The stunt was called 'Buried Alive' and involved him being tied up and vacuum packed in a plastic bag and locked inside a coffin before being buried 6 feet underground and then being covered over by 5 tonnes of liquid cement! Uh, this obviously sounds crazy! They showed footage of the last person to attempt this stunt, who unfortunately died as a result of it!!!
The tough part of this (apart from untying yourself, getting out of the plastic back and unlocking the coffin - doddle!) was to do all of this whilst having to hold your breath and burrow your way through the liquid cement before it hardens!!! Liquid cement does not take very long at all to harden and I must say, what a way to meet your maker!
Fortunately, this stunt was succesful and very impressive as the whole things was filmed from inside the coffin.

I have since checked out his website and the escape clips are absolutely brilliant. My favourite one is the iron escape. The fact that it went wrong was unfortunate but the whole clip was hilarious!
I would highly recommend checking out this website and this individual who is very entertaining and funny!! The future plans are funny too altho the idea of strapping a toddler to a radio overhanging a bath while being restrained in it is perhaps ludicrous but what a great idea.

Ah, have been very amused by watching these antics. Stay tuned......

Golf update and the great collapse........

Between periods of thick frost and bitterly cold weather, I have managed to keep a fairly consistent practise routine lately. I have not gone more than 2 days without playing or practising now for two weeks which is good. Just waiting for the sun to come out now!

I have been dedicating a lot of work on my short game, particularly my chipping. I created a very effective way of practising this by taking some balls and a tee and using this to work on discovering how my clubs vary in terms of carry and roll. I read somewhere that feedback is a very important of learning during practise and this seems to be a very good way of doing this.
My putting isnt particularly great but, it is slowly changing and improving. I have been reading the 'Dave Pelz Putting Bible' and day by day I am learning loads.

I haven't really been working on my swing much. This is because I have a lesson at Chichester next week and havent wanted to do too much on it till then. I havent had a lesson since November, so am very much looking forward to seeing where I am with my swing in terms of what i've been working on, and where to go in the future with it.

I found out dates for my playing test yesterday. I have a decision to make: Clandon Regis has a test on the 11th of May and Bishops Stortford has a test on the 22nd. I dont particularly want to play at Clandon but feel that it is still another opportunity. It has crossed my mind that I may try and apply for both tests, to make sure I get into both. I know this sounds negative but if i have to make a choice, I think i'll choose to go to Bishops Stortford and don't want to risk missing my chance to play there. We'll see - watch this space.

Now for the collapse story.
Today, I had to play a pairs match but as it turned out, my playing partner couldnt make it so I had to play 2 guys on my own (and give them a whole bunch of shots!!). I'll cut this story short..
On the front 9 I played the best nine holes I have played for about 3 years! I shot 31 (-4) and was 3 up and firmly in control. Then, with a combination of bad decisions and some just downright poor play combined with my opponents playing much better, I totally collapsed and came home in 43 (12 shots different!) for a 74 and a loss of the game by 2 holes!!!
Not really sure what happened there! Thats the crazy thing about golf - one minute things are great and the next minute I felt totally out of control of my swing and couldn't hit a good shot!
The only justification I have is that I tried some stuff out that i've been working on and as it turns out, I guess that I hadn't worked hard enough to get these things to a state I could rely on under any pressure. Hats off to the guys I played tho, they didnt let me away with anything and it was a fantastic match which I thoroughly enjoyed.
It's also nice to put up a good performance with two members I didn't really know. I am keen to be portrayed as a good player and my front nine holes in no way tarnished this.

Bit mystified by the way it fell apart today. This hasnt happened since the summer (guess when in the summer if u can!)

Bye for now......