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Club review – bowral golf club

golfspin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:48:40 +0000

Golf Blog - Bowral course review

Well last weekend saw me treck down to Bowral, about 1 hour south of Sydney to play in an annual social golf club tournament ‘the Koobaloya Cup’.

The event is a two day event using a stableford handicap system (thank god). the schedule kicked off with us teeing off in groups of 4 at 1.30pm on the Saturday followed by a massive night on the turps and then a 9.30 tee off on Sunday.

Saturday was a beautiful day and the course in really good condition. Unfortunately my golf wasn’t. Even with a huge handicap I still only managed to scrape up 26 stableford points.

Saturday night was a great night finished up with a 2.30 am finish and a very sore head on the Sunday mornig for tee off. That being said maybe I should drink before golf more often because I finshed the day in 2nd place on 39 stableford points. maybe the sore head forced me to keep the head down.

The course itelf is really well maintained, very picturesque and peaceful in the southern highlands of NSW. Some of the downfalls of the course is that it is really lacking in decent course markings, limited distance markers and direction to the next hole, etc. The course layout is a strange one finding yourself having to cross back over holes that you have already played.

All in all a great weekend and not a bad course. Definitely worth a round if your in the area.

Golf Blog by Golf Spin

Golf Ball review

golfspin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:15:11 +0000

Golf Blog - Bridgestone ball review

Through advanced polymer engineering, Bridgestone delivers another technological breakthrough. The new e6+ provides superior performance with a straighter more accurate ball flight and a softer feel through its advanced Low Compression Multi-Layer contstruction.

The e6+ Multi-Layer design with its innovative Anti-Spin/Extra Velocity Inner Cover is engineered for players seeking a straighter ball flight with longer carry distance and roll.

The enhanced low compression design provides an extra soft feel on all shots and a smooth roll off the putter. The 330 Seamless dimple design delivers advanced aerodynamics for a consistent trajectory leading to pin-point accuracy.

source: www.iseekgolf.com.au

Golf Blog by Golf Spin

Golf star Natalie Gulbis hits sleeping fan with wedge shot

golfspin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:10:40 +0000

Great wedge shot by Natalie Gublis. Teach this guys to sleep in the stands:-)

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6igp66VXs8

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Callaway Diablo edge review

golfspin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:34:38 +0000

Callaway Diablo edge review

Golf Blog by Golf spin

A bit of light humour after such a serious post

golfspin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:52:43 +0000

Excuses that you can tell when you have played a bad shot

A fly landed on my ball right when I hit.

A squirrel picked up my ball and put it in the bunker.

A squirrel pushed my ball into the trap, the good-for-nothing wannabe rats.

After that last shot, I’m just too embarrassed to try and hit the ball.

All the golf schools I liked were too expensive – so I self-taught.

Before the sex change, I was allowed to hit from the red tee. Its just too difficult to score now.

Bermuda grass sucks. My club keeps getting stuck.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Damn it, have you no etiquette? Please quit breathing when I swing.

Didn’t you hear that sound in the woods during my swing? It sounded like a duck. What’s that smell?

Ever since I made a hole-in-one, I can’t concentrate.

Fore!

From three hundred yards out it looks like the green sloped away. I should have laid up.

Golf is about etiquette, not playing well.

Golf isn’t fun if it’s competitive, so I don’t try hard.

Hackers tore up the green. I can’t play competively under these circumstances.

I aimed my shoulder too far left of the target.

I always aim too far left when coming out of the bunker.

I always choke when money is on the line.

I always get kicked off the course for being intoxicated. This is the first round I’ve finished.

Source: http://www.golfjokes.co.uk

Golf Blog by Golf Spin

Coplicks Tallebudgera

golfspin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:43:01 +0000

Golf Blog - Coplicks

As previously posted during a previous review Coplicks at Tallebudgera on Queenslands Gold Coast is a good course to get out and have a social hack with friends……or so I thought.

I travelled to Coplicks this past weekend for a social hit with friends as a group of 4. We were teeing off at 6am to avoid getting caught up in the weekend social comp that starts at 6.30. One of our playing party turned up with a friend who has only emigrated from Scotland 3 days ago to have a walk around the course with us not knowing that Coplicks have a no non players policy.

The policy itself is fair enough so our new Australian paid his fees as a player with the intention of just accompanying his new friends along to enjoy the company and the conversation. he had never played golf before and just wanted to see what the game was all about.

We played as a group of 4 and 1 non player (although paid full fees to walk the course) until the end of the second hole when we were approached by the course marshall (playing in the group behind us mind you) who rudely informed us that our non player despite paying his fees must either play or leave the course and that as we were now a group of 5 needed to split into two groups.

I have played this course regularly over the past 18 months and this is the first time that I have seen the course marshall let alone seen him police playing conditions despite seeing some of the slowest payers attempt this course that I have ever seen.

This guy also then had the audacity once he split us into two groups to ask to play through our rear group (even though we were not playing slow and still parring most holes) and hit up on our first group.

This course is a very short course and as I previously blogged good for a hack with mates due to its cheap price and quite poor condition. However with an attitude from staff and course administrators that would rival a course of a much greater standard this course is simply no longer worth the trip nor the money.

Allenby joins Australia’s golf greats

golfspin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:40:28 +0000

golf blog - golfing great Robert Allenby

Robert Allenby is the 2009 Australian PGA Champion, running out a convincing winner after a rock solid final round of 66 gave none of those lining up to challenge in the final round at the Hyatt Regency Coolum a chance.

Allenby missed only one green in an impressive display, doing what he had to in order to hold those lined up behind at bay, eventually wining by four over Scott Strange and John Senden with Marc Leishman alone in 4th position one shot further back.

For the Victorian it was his 4th PGA Championship in the last ten years, the first two coming at the Royal Queensland in 2000 and 2001, the third in 2005 and now this year’s clinical victory. He joins an elite group of Australian golfers with four or more PGA Championships to their name. That list includes the likes of Kel Nagle, Norman Von Nida and Bill Dunk.

Leading by one heading into the final day, Allenby missed out on a birdie at the par five opening hole but was quickly into stride with a birdie at the second. He again missed out on a birdie at the reachable par five 5th, the easiest hole of the day, but once again he made up for that lapse with a birdie at the short par three 6th. Despite missing his only green of the day at the 9th he was able to save par and made the turn one ahead of West Australian Scott Strange who appeared as if he may be Allenby’s strongest challenger.

Allenby however would two putt the 12th for birdie to go to 12 under and then added further birdies at the 15th and 17th to shut the door.

“Obviously I had some very tough competitors behind me starting the day,” said Allenby. “I tried to just pace myself and hit as many fairways and as many greens as I could and if you do that and make the occasional putt then you are going to slip ahead of them. There were still a few contenders there towards the end, the birdie at 15 was nice and then to birdie the 17th gave me a four shot lead.”

“I’m normally fairly consistent in the fairways and greens I hit but to do it on the final day under the gun is very special. I have been working very hard on my game and my swing back in Florida and obviously it is that good now that I am starting to win tournaments. The putting feels fantastic and I was very calm and relaxed out there.”

John Senden emerged as a threat to Strange’s hold on second place when he made the turn in 32 and then added another birdie at the 12th to move to 10 under. He was unable to make any further progress but it was a good bounce-back for the Queenslander after missing the cut in last week’s Australian Open. Senden shared second with Strange.

Strange continued the considerable progress he has made in world golf over the last two years, adding this to his two European Tour victories in the last eighteen months. Ranked only 123rd in the world at present this will help as he looks to make progress in the world ranking. “I can’t say at this stage what 2010 holds for me as we have a baby due in January,” said Strange. “I’m not sure when I will be playing after that but I think the top 50 in the world is my next step.”

“Rob played just great, added Strange. “I just had to keep playing golf, I knew I had to step up to the plate and I did that but just didn’t get the ball to drop in as few shots as him. We both played similar really he holes the putts and I didn’t hole anything.”

Like Allenby, Strange has faced family adversity losing his sister Natalie to breast cancer last year. Allenby’s mother Sylvia has passed way earlier this year from abdominal cancer.

“We played a practice round together in Abu Dhabi this year and Robert said how much he was wanting to win for his mother then and I told him it would happen but he just had to let it happen. It has taken all year but now he has two.”

Marc Leishman produced a strong last round to finish alone in 4th position bringing to an end a season which should see him named as the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year and further confirming his immense promise

Nick O’Hern and Michael Sim finished in share of 5th. Sim secured the Norman Von Nida Medal as the winner of the 2009 Australasian Tour Order of Merit, heading Moonah Classic winner, Alastair Presnell, by a massive $92,000.

The honours however are with the winner however, establishing an important place in Australian golf’s history with his 4th PGA Championship to go with his two Australian Opens.

Source: www.iseekgolf.com

Golf Blog by Golf Spin

Tiger – Golfing legend but still human

golfspin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:08:09 +0000

golf blog - tiger is human

Tiger Woods – the name conjures images of a golfing legend, a superstar sportsman who’s name is always mentioned when we are debating things like best sportsmen of all time, best of the best, etc.

His talent on the golf course is unquestionable, unwavering and all conquering. Golfers of all ages look to emulate his talent, his style and his look right across the golfing planet. On the golf course he is without doubt – the King!

These last few weeks the situation off the course has become a nightmare for Tiger with the now well covered list of ‘trangressions’ covered in the media. Even those few non-golfers out there who for some reason hadn’t yet heard of Tigers golfing exploits are now hearing his name and talking about his off course exploits and discussing them around the water cooler.

These transgressions of course bring into serious doubt Tigers moral compass when it comes to fidelity. But does this change his ability to play golf, or how he approaches each new shot. Of course not.

How Tiger handles his off course ‘transgressions’ will measure Tiger as a man and a role model in society but when it comes to the Golf course he is and will remain for many years to come a force to be reckoned with.

Golf Blog by Golf Spin

Original piece by Brent Lupton

Appleby superb during tough second day

golfspin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:54:41 +0000

Golf Blog - Appleby on fire

That which makes the New South Wales Golf Club such a great golf course is that which makes it so vulnerable, namely its proximity to the ocean and the elements that come with such a location.

In the opening two days of this week’s Australian Open, the layout displayed both sides of its character. From the magnificence of day one’s early morning conditions to the point where early on day two it became necessary to suspend play for 5½ hours the golf course, this was our great game at its best and worst.

It is indeed a shame that such a great golf course has been subject to such scrutiny in its very first staging of the Australia’s national championship but to a large extent there is little blame to be attached anywhere. The most controversial hole and the one which caused most damage on day two on day two, the 13th, had a hole cut in the middle left of the green but on closer inspection there was virtually no other flag position which would have provided a better option.

The strong and blustery southerly wind kicked in earlier and much stronger than had been forecast making almost any pin position on that green and on one or two others almost impossible to set, never mind play. As a consequence of that hole and the increasing wind making several others marginal, play was called at 8.30am, just 80 minutes after it had commenced on day two.

The one criticism that appeared constant with players was that the AGU and or the PGA Tour had not allowed, in their green speed set up, for the sort of wind that blew on day two. Admittedly it was stronger than forecast but both Stuart Appleby and Greg Chalmers were amongst those who felt the green speed should have been at least a foot slower than they were running at.

By the time the players returned to the golf course at 2.00pm the wind had calmed but not significantly. In the exposed areas of the course it was still blowing extremely hard but the course was now playable and as the wind turned a little to the south east it began to subside further.

Chalmers later added that compared to some of the stories he heard from players during the break and the clubs they were using on certain holes, which he had yet to face when play was called, the wind was perhaps two clubs different after play resumed.

Stuart Appleby took up where he left off. Through just four holes of round two before the enforced break, Appleby returned to the course and when he holed a 25 foot eagle putt at the 9th (the course’s 18th) he had made the turn in an amazing 33. At 9 under Appleby had moved three ahead of his joint first round leader, Scott Hend, with Hend forced to wait until 5.30 pm before he would hit off, courtesy of the tee times reshuffle.

Appleby moved further ahead when he added another birdie at the, into the wind, par five 5th and was threatening to blow the tournament apart. He may well have by adding another at the 8th (his 17th) and then at the last hit his approach to three feet and made it for consecutive rounds of 66.

There were many cursing the day and the course set up and various other issues on day two but for those who complained, the perfect comeback was to remind those who dared of Appleby’s amazing two rounds. He played in the worst of the conditions and leads by six.

There was no getting around it – this was some of the most impressive golf in the most demanding conditions. Golf Australia will be thankful for his efforts as they can use him to counter some of the criticism they will no doubt cop.

Appleby knew there was a potential problem when standing over a short putt at the 11th, his second hole, the ball oscillated. A hole later he was off the course but when he returned he put on a display of some note. “I controlled the ball well and controlled the length of shots well,” said Appleby after his round.

“I am very respectful of this golf course and the weather. If you get lazy and make a mistake it will cost you.”

Appleby was restrained but clear in his criticism of the course set up. “This (the situation today) was totally avoidable. The green speed needed to be at least a foot slower.”

Soon after Appleby had completed his post round press conference, his closest competitors were struggling in their second rounds which for the likes of Scott Hend, James Nitties and Peter Wilson had started as late as 5.30pm (Hend), 5.50pm (Nitties) and 7.10pm (Wilson). They will complete only 6 or seven holes this evening but whatever they do it will not make any difference to Appleby having a substantial lead overnight.

They will be out early in the morning and may be advantaged by better weather early on Saturday.

As Appleby left the course for his hotel however his day was done. He was seven shots ahead of Nitties and Wilson who would be late for dinner.

source: www.iseekgolf.com

Golf blog by Golf Spin

Did Tiger Woods’s dream die in the car ‘crash’?

golfspin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:53:27 +0000

Golf blog - tiger troubles

As confessions go, this was not so much a hole in one as a drive buried deep in the sands of the bunker. Tiger Woods’s statement, issued yesterday afternoon, was an extraordinary five-paragraph mea culpa that raised more questions than the Iraq Inquiry.

“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behaviour and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.”

There was no indication what exactly “those transgressions” were. No explanation was offered of the “faults”, no hints what “behaviour” means or of the nature of those “personal failings”. One thing we can be sure of: Tiger Woods was not going to such lengths to apologise about his driving.

It all began with a minor traffic infringement, a moment of carelessness behind the wheel, in which, at 2.45am last Friday, Woods ping-ponged between a tree and a municipal fire hydrant outside one of his homes. It might have been something he could have kept between him and the bloke at the garage who he asked to beat out his bent rear bumper had not a neighbour alerted the emergency services. The first policemen on the scene found Woods lying dazed on the pavement with his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren, standing sentinel over him, clutching a golf club. The driver’s window of his Cadillac SUV was smashed.

If it sounded like the opening set-up of a trashy novel, that was certainly how it was perceived in the internet’s gossip lounge. Immediately, stories began to circulate that all was not as it seemed in the flawless, peerless, seamless domain of the Tiger. Rumours span round of extra-mural relationships, of terminal cracks in a brittle marriage. Then a nightclub hostess hired a lawyer to deny that she was anything to do with something that – until that moment – the rest of the world had not realised even was a thing anyway.

Then a woman in Australia denied she had anything to do with anything either. And oil was hardly poured on troubled water when Nordegren explained that she had used the golf club to smash the window in order to extricate her husband from his vehicle. As you would do: so much easier, having seen him trundle gently into a tree, to run back into the house, select a six iron from his bag, use it to hammer at the reinforced glass before reaching in to haul your husband up and out than – say – simply opening the car door.

You didn’t have to be a student of conspiracy to find a more plausible explanation in the much-touted theory which alleges that, following a row about his serial infidelities, Woods had fled the home, pursued by Mrs W setting about his motor with the tool of his trade, causing him momentarily to lose control of the steering. If nothing else, it has a certain dramatic roundedness.

But it is not the circumstances of the crash that speak so loudly of where Tiger Woods now stands. It has been the reaction to it. Some observers suggest this could be his Chappaquiddick, a motoring infraction the response to which could bring everything down. As with the Kennedys back in the Sixties, the first instinct of the Woods estate was to retreat into the compound. The man himself refused to speak to the police, his brigade of advisers refused to furnish details to the press, Woods even refused to participate in a scheduled charity tournament in Cleveland run in his name, citing injuries sustained in the accident.

Injuries sustained in the accident? He was driving at 20mph in a tank. What – everyone watching was anxious to know – is he hiding?

But the Woods machine could not hold back the internet tide. Stories emerged with a pace beyond even the capability of the trashiest of net gossips to track. Post rationalisation was everywhere. Those in the know claim they had long been aware that he was taking romantic advantage of his renown, that this had fed back to the mother of his children and that the resultant marital disharmony was threatening to blow apart the carefully constructed world of Tiger. Suddenly, everything has started to dismantle.

The thing about Tiger Woods is that he has built a career on the assumption of imperviousness. His peers have learned over the past 15 years that no matter how well they perform, he will beat them. No problem they can pose is sufficiently sizeable to worry Tiger. On the last day of a major tournament, they know he will be there in his red shirt, nerveless and ruthless, ready to crush their aspirations.

He is the absolute epitome of the winner. It is a selling proposition to which – much to Woods’s good fortune – many an organisation has attached its corporate flag. A man whose favourite sound is rumoured to be the rustle of a dollar bill folding into his wallet, he has accrued more sponsors than Imelda Marcos did shoes. And many of them use his seamless image as a screen on to which to project their own.

Nike was the first to recognise his potential. Though he has always avoided making play of race, Nike were less reticent. Subtly alluding to his parentage, their first campaign with him featured dozens of young black and Asian faces reciting the line “I am Tiger Woods”. The implication was that no matter the lack of privilege in your background, if a mixed-race lad like Woods could triumph in the world’s most exclusive mainstream sport, then you could, too. Provided you bought Nike kit, of course.

For Woods to remain such a huge commercial proposition he had to work assiduously to keep the canvas clean. The less he said, the better; his sponsors would do the talking for him. His last significant press interview was with GQ magazine in 1998. In it he revealed intriguing hints of character. His media minders decided that that was a mistake and he has done no more. There was to be no chink exposed in the facade, no crack in the carapace: the image was of unageing, untroubled, utter invincibility, a surface from which all human foible had been expunged.

Into a life as charmed as the one Tiger led, the real world was simply not given access. Whisked from appointment to appointment, protected and cosseted, for years the only problems he has been obliged to overcome were those presented on the golf course. But these past couple of years, his encounters with reality have become more frequent. And the intrusions have proved much harder to deal with than any tricky par three.

Most traumatically, things began to change in 2006, when his father Earl died. The man who did more than any other to propel Woods to fame and fortune, Earl had been by his son’s side ever since he thrust a club into the boy’s hand on his second birthday. At first it seemed Woods would overcome his loss. He won the Open at Hoylake in the very year of his father’s death, his tear-stained celebrations demonstrating a human – and highly saleable – warmth.

But if that victory provided as stark a restatement of his ability to overcome any problem as his sponsors could wish for, it didn’t last. Earl did more than offer coaching advice. He was Tiger’s moral compass, providing the kind of guidance that was way beyond the remit of sycophants protecting their next pay day. Thus, without the old man around, Woods began to behave differently. Instead of meeting adversity with his former sanguine ease, it became possible to see him railing against misfortune.

On the course he would chuck clubs, swear after bad shots, wear the kind of surly face in defeat against which his father would always counsel. After suffering a serious knee injury, which kept him away from the game for a year, he returned this season seemingly out of sorts. Previously so utterly invulnerable, now he gave his rivals a sense of the first signs of decay.

Clearly, without Earl around, Tiger has felt free to play. Since he cannot walk five yards from his car to the practice green without being accompanied by a sizeable entourage, his media minders must have known about his “behaviour”. They must have braced themselves for the fall-out. And they must, this week, have realised that they could no longer keep a lid on things. So they opted for a faux openness, hoping the public would be forgiving of this hint of humanity. They may be right; we mortals tend to be surprisingly forgiving when our heroes show evidence of feet of clay.

But it is Woods’s reputation on the course that worries him most. And that is now suddenly in peril. If this is how he deals with adversity, it can only provide succour to his rivals. For years, they were convinced that nothing could ruffle the Tiger fur. Now they have been gifted a chink in his armour and they will exploit it ferociously. In this most mentally charged of sports, no longer need they worry that Woods’s mere presence is enough to guarantee him victory. Suddenly, he appears horribly vulnerable. And thus the goal he had set himself looks at risk.

What he has always wanted, more even than that billion dollars he has in the bank, is to surpass Jack Nicklaus’s record of major wins to become unequivocally the greatest golfer of all time. Two years ago, before Earl died and he lost control of his Cadillac, it seemed tantalisingly within reach. Now things look very different. It may be the case that nobody was seriously harmed in that crash last weekend. But all the same, a dream may well have died in Tiger Woods’s car.

source: www.telegraph.co.uk

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