Round of golf at Blacknest Golf Club

On Sunday past I played a round of golf with my brother at Blacknest Golf Club.

My first impressions of the course as we drove up into the car park that it looked like it had a good driving range area which subsequently i found runs parallel to the first tee and the club house/bar/restaurant is very pretty. Massive glass doors that slide all the way open and look out onto the course. Very welcoming and a great looking facility.

The course itself is very beautiful, quite challenging but not too difficult that you cannot shoot a good score.

I really enjoyed the course and played pretty well, even hitting a personal best driver shot. The greens were in fantastic condition and were quite fast.

All in all a fantastic day of golf at @blacknestgolf which is a very beautiful course. 

Even got to see these little guys running around.

First round of golf with my new irons

Well on Sunday morning at 7.30 a.m I left home and headed for the golf course at Furzley for my first round of golf with my new irons. I couldn't wait to test them out and was hoping that I would be able to control the ball well with them.

First of all my new Dunlop NZ9 Driver.

WOW! That is the first expression that came to mind when I hit it. I know it is not a top end driver and that it is a relatively budget end driver but what I experienced was pure quality. I hit the driver further and straighter than any other I have tried so far and I am extremely glad I purchased this driver.

Now my new Taylormade irons are incredible! I tried various shots and was really able to shape the ball a lot easier with these irons than I ever was with my old set. They also are a lot longer than my previous set and  they are so much easier to shape the ball with. I cant wait to play more regularly with them now!

Also I started using a new ball at the weekend, and I am trying out the Srixon Z Star. I have to say is feels great and the work-ability of it around the greens is fantastic. Hopefully it will improve my scores!

New irons and moving to Taylor Made brand

Well I have now chosen to go with Taylor Made brand for my new clubs. I managed to pick up a very reasonably priced set of Taylor Made RAC irons from Ebay and when they arrived I noticed they were practically brand new. The seller did say they were in great condition but I didnt think he meant that he had hardly used them! My gain i suppose.

They are a beautiful set of irons 3-PW and now that I have 3 and 4 iron I am a lot happier. My old set started from 5 iron and I had two hybrids so I am very happy I now have that extra club selection.

I am someone that likes all my clubs and woods etc to be the same brand. I hate having a set of irons in one brand then 3 different makes of woods etc. So i have started to purchase the rest of my set. I Now have my Odyssey putter, Taylor Made Irons and have now just purchased a brand new Taylor Made Hybrid.

I now am looking to buy a 3 wood and then probably save up a little and get a top of the range Taylor Made driver, something like R11 or R1 etc.

Going to hit the range quite a few times before I go near the course just to get more comfortable with my new set as hopefully I will be getting my membership to my local club and I can start obtaining an official handicap and enter some competitions. Cant wait!

First round in ages and happens to be my all time best score!

On Friday 29th March I finally was able to get back on the course after weeks of bad weather closing all the local courses in my area!

Today however was a beautiful, (albeit cold), morning and I was just very happy to be on the course!

I had an early tee at Furzley Golf Course and started on the back 9 as front 9 was pretty busy already. I knew my first few holes might not be my best golf as I have not played in so long. The first 3 holes are par 3, par 4 and another par 3. I shot 4 on each of them so I was enjoying my round so far. I started to feel the grove quickly and from holes 9-17 I shot 4 on every hole. Might not sound great to some people but for me this is great. I even hit a beautiful hybrid shot a couple of feet from the hole which seeing as the lie I was in has to be my best ever shot!

I doubled the par 4 18th and then headed over to the front 9. I was feeling very happy with my round but didn't unfortunately come across some idiotic vandalism, nothing major and on the grand scheme of things not anything to get upset about its just annoying. 

The rest of my round I was very happy with and although I didnt play the front 9 as well as I played the back 9, I did score my best round at Furzley Golf Course which has a par of 62 and I shot 74. Again not amazing for some people but good for me. 

Ignore the scribble, that is club selection etc.

Overall I had a great round and was very happy with the way I played. It was also the very last round I got to play with my first set of golf clubs. They were a budget set but I did like them and enjoyed using them. I did keep good care of them and managed to get a good price on Ebay which along with some savings has given me enough money to get my new Nike golf clubs. Cant Wait!!

Well I cant now play golf until my new irons arrive which should be by next week, then I am going to do a little review on them and post it here. 

Again thank you to anyone who reads this, its just something I like to do. 

New clubs coming!

Well I have had the same set of clubs for a few years now and seeing as I really want my game this year to really get going I have decided to sell my existing clubs and purchase some new ones.

I looked around various websites for different sets and I ultimately decided that as I like Nike products anyway that I was going to stick with a set from Nike. I dont have a huge budget at the moment so I decided to go for the Nike Ignite 3 irons. They seem perfect for what I am looking for. Forgiving but also controllable.

Now just waiting for the proceeds of the sale of my clubs so I can purchase the new ones! 2013 is going to be a good year for my game!!

Another wet weekend which stops golf!

Well as per my last post I was really looking forward to playing golf this weekend and had booked in to play at Blacknest Golf Course.

Unfortunately once again, (getting silly now), the course was shut due to the heavy rain.

I just want to get back on the course and get my 2013 golf season going!.

Hopefully i can get to the course this week, (if the weather allows!).

My 2013 golf season starts at Blacknest Golf Club

So my first proper round of golf in 2013 starts on Sunday at Blacknest Golf Club.

It seems that every time I go to play golf so far this year the course has been shut due to either flooding, snow or I just have not been able to make it. So I cannot wait for Sunday.

I have hardly used my new Odssey putter and I really want to get my game in good shape before I apply to join Portsmouth Golf Club, (most local course to me).

So Blacknest Golf Course is my first complete round I will be playing this year and I cant wait. I have never played there but from what I have heard and also what my Brother has told me it seems to be a really nice course.

I am hoping this weather continues to be ok so I can get on the course as much as possible.

Hopefully I will have a good round and will blog what my experience there was like.

Snow Stopping Play Again!!

It seems at the moment every time I plan to go play a round of golf the weather has other ideas!.

We have had a lot of flooding in the UK which has made a lot of the local courses unplayable but after a few weeks of relatively dryish weather I thought to myself i could have a nice round today.

Once again the weather had other ideas and overnight it snowed!. What is it with me at the moment, I just want to get on the course!.

Hopefully it has all gone by Wednesday and I can enjoy a round after work. Unless the weather decides otherwise!.

Getting back to it!

Well its been a long time since i wrote on this blog, plus its been quite long time since i have actually played golf!

Last week was the first time i have played golf in quite some time, (months), and the venue was Quindell Golf Course  and when we arrived i was very excited. Massive automatic gates let us in and the course is surrounded by a plethora of Millionaires houses. So far so good!

The UK has been having a lot of rain lately so we were expecting the course to be a little bit boggy and upon arrival to the bar, (as it has no pro shop), was informed that buggies and trolleys were not allowed. bit of a problem for me as i had only brought my trolley bag. Once funds were sorted out we were then told that only holes 1-11 were in play! We were not happy but had traveled 40 mins to the course so decided to go ahead as we were told we could play them twice.

What they did not tell us was that of those holes 1-11 every single green was not in play and there were temporary holes for every hole!. We were not happy at all and made our feelings known at the bar.

I have to say that i would like to go back to this course however, just on a day when you can actually play it properly. It does seem to be relatively well kept and it has beautiful views. It unfortunately just left me with a sour taste in my mouth. I am going to give it another chance when the weather improves however.

With regards to my game, its kind of unfair to analyse as i did not get my putter out once because of the temporary greens, (which was more of a closet to the pole wins the hole situation).

I drove well and chipped ok, but hopefully back out to Denmead hopefully this weekend which i am looking forward to.

Anthony x

Few days off because of injuries!

Even though I do not support any particular football team, I do like to play for my local team. This past Saturday, (8th Sept), was our first game of the new season and I played. It was a cup game and we won 5-4 with me scoring a hatrick! Unfortunately it came at a price as I have re-injured my knee that I had surgery on a few years ago.

This means that I have been unable to get on the course or the driving range which is driving me crazy! I dont want to take much time off my golf game as I feel that it is really coming together lately and I feel that too much time off will only be detrimental to my game. Hopefully I can rest up and get on the range or the course on Wednesday sometime. So please body, heal quickly!! 

Please repair pitch marks!!

After a quick 9 holes of practice yesterday i was confused by the amount of pitch marks i was coming across!

It has long been something talked about within golf that everyone should repair their own pitch marks and it ruins greens if you don't. I have heard so many people say that but yet i still see so many greens with un-repaired pitch marks. Although i do not spend my time hunting round greens for marks, i do make a conscious effort every time i step onto a green to repair my own mark and any others that i see whilst putting.

I took a picture of the pitch mark that my ball made whilst playing yesterday and as you can see from the picture,  it can really be a problem if i were to leave it the way it was.

So please people, please repair your pitch marks!

Good round at Furzeley GC and friendliness on the golf course

Well last night i decided to go for a round of golf at Furzeley Golf Course. Its the course which is the closest to me and is a small 62 par course.

It is a beautiful course especially in the summer and although it has no par 5's, it does provide a lot of challenges.

I got to the course at 6.45pm so there was quite a few twilight golfers on the course already. My round started pretty well and by the 5th i was +1. Once i walked onto the 6th tee i could see that there was already a two ball still waiting to tee off and i went over and sat on the bench to wait my turn.

The two ball came over to me and we started chatting and "Colin and Olly", then invited me to join them. We enjoyed a great round of golf but could only finish the front 9 as it was getting too dark.

This wouldn't happen in most sports where complete strangers introduce themselves and offer for you to join them, and that is why i love golf so much!

Time for a new putter!!

Well i have decided now is the time for a new putter!

I currently use the stock one that came with my set and although i would say my putting is one of the strongest parts of my game, i feel that with a new quality putter it will only get better!

I have three models in mind and am going to go and test them out next weekend.

First up is the Nike Method Core Putter!

Or the Odyssey White Ice no.3

But i think i might go with the Odyssey White Ice no.9 as it looks amazing!

Anyways i am going to try them out next weekend so hopefully i will have a shinny new putter in my bag very soon!!

Rory Mcllroy wins Deutsche Bank Championship!

This is just a very quick post to congratulate Rory Mcllroy on a fantastic performance at the Deutsche Bank Championship where he came from behind to win with a great score of -20!

Congratulations Rory!!

My round of golf at Wickham Park Golf Club, including a 30 yard chip in!

Well this past Sunday, (02/09/12), myself and a friend went to play at Wickham Park Golf Club in Hampshire. It is a beautiful course, and is well looked after. It has a simple but well stocked Pro shop and an onsite driving range.

The weather was not brilliant and we thought it would be ok as we had booked a buggy. Unfortunately when we arrived we were told that some of the buggy's were broker so we would be unable to use one. They kindly gave my friend a free trolley as i had mine in my car. They were very helpful and told us we could have a buggy half price next time!

So onto the par 3 1st we went. My friend pushed his shot to the far right of the green and i managed to hit an 8 iron to within about 9 ft. A pair of par's to start seems like a good omen for the round and we walked onto the par 4 2nd. After a great drive by Alex and a good drive from me that just ran into the start of the rough, things started to go from good to great! I fluffed my second and then my third shot went down a bank off the edge of the green. I thought if i could chip it close and one put i would walk away with a bogie and be relatively happy. As it turned out my wedge shot bounced a foot away from the cup and rolled it for par!

Unfortunately that is where my good round ended. Im not sure if it was the constant rain that put me off or whether it was just one of those rounds but i shot 8 consecutive bogies and then a few pars for one of the worst rounds i have had in ages. Not a birdie in sight!

I have to say however that this is the second time i have played at Wickham Park Golf Club and i find it a beautiful course that is quite long and also quite challenging in places.

Hopefully the next time i play there i will have a much better round!

First Post!

Well i thought that i would make a quick first post to get the blog up and running! Thank you to anyone that comes to view my blog.

Basically I just want to blog my progress of my golfing journey. I love the game of golf and about a year ago started to take it more seriously. Hopefully soon I will join my local club and start playing competitions etc. Anyway thank you again for viewing the blog and I will keep it as updated as I can!.

Anthony