Tuesday, June 30, 2015

I need to work harder and be more focused on my cause - coming back from Naples Tournament

Another week has passed and I played two events this last weekend. One in Vero Beach, FL and one in Naples , FL.

To say I am satisfied with myself would be a straight up lie. While on both days I had my moments and played golf as it should be played. I am far from where I should be. This causes major stress issues which I did not encounter before like that.

On Saturday I had good round, but was not able to sink my putts as I should. It would not be a big deal, if there were not half a dozen putts which were very make able and within 5 feet.

My tee shots were acceptable and my approach shots were not bad. A few wrong decision in terms of club choice or shot choice really caused the biggest trouble. In all, I played a round which just does not reflect my game and my ability. I struggled my way through it and finished OK.

Last Sunday I then played at Esplanade in Naples. Small qualifier for the WGAT USA. My swing was in much better rhythm and my course management was by far better than the day before. Really did not make big mistakes and played along nicely. However, again I struggled to get my putts in and on 2 holes I clearly made choices which cost me an unbelievable 6 strokes! Now that is for sure not acceptable.

Again I have to say that those are mental errors. I am aware that I do not have the perfect swing and for sure I am not working hard enough on my game. However, with my current game I should never use more than 74 to 78 strokes to play the courses I am playing on. at this time

On a good note I have to say that I am able to get out of any crisis situation on the course and come back strong with good shots. Now that is a huge plus. The average player when shooting an 8 or so pretty much is done for the round. For me it is a hole by hole thing. Shoot an 8, follow up with a birdie and a par.

In all I have some positive things which I can take from both golf rounds I played, but clearly I am far away from were I was just a couple months ago. While there is some mental issues which I am not sure yet how I will master them, I know for sure that my daily routine simply is not what it needs to be.

But getting this routine done every day is not that easy. Even though I have plenty of opportunity and options, there is also plenty of other stuff around which continuously throws me off. It is not that those issues are existent, it is how I deal with them.

In other words, I am completely unsatisfied and frustrated with my daily golf routine, practice and play. Also I am not satisfied with my physical progress on top of that.

Here is the thing: I do not practice enough, play enough, work out enough, work on my mental game enough and get easily side tracked by things around me which really have no meaning for my golf future at all.

While you are reading this you now might think that I am on the edge of giving up and let it all go. And you are totally wrong! I am just getting started. But I need to make some serious changes. Changes which might have a profound impact on my life, social life, family life and environment around me. Not all of them will find a warm welcome from others. But that is the least I am worried about.

Right now I am worried that I spend all this time and $ and  do not move forward in the right direction.

How shall my days look like? No answer here today. But I will write about it for sure and again will ask for more advice and tips.

I cut my tournament schedule down tremendously already. Not too excited about it, but needs to be done.

Mainly focusing on 2 things for the rest of the year:

1. Win the National Finals of the WGAT USA after winning the Tampa Bay Tour
2. Play the Mid Amateur and Mid Senior Amateur of Florida and get into the World Golf Ranking

In between trying to play some FSGA Events, which are most important for moving forward and some Golf Channel Tour Events, if they are on courses in my area.

2016 is already on the plan and despite I want to play as many events as possible, my focus in the future needs to be official ranking events and National Events. Only with those  I ultimately will be able to move forward.

So yes, I am not happy with my current circumstances in golf and frustrated with the way I am doing my work, but all it does is making me more determined and more aggressive in pursuing my goals and my dream. After all my time is running and it is running fast. Now 47,  I have 3 years to the Senior Tour and  just need to keep going, working and believing ( the last one being my top strength), no matter what!

As always I appreciate comments, suggestions, tips, any info which  might help to move the game forward or improve the basis in terms of sponsorship, equipment, travel, events etc.

Thank you for all your nice messages and support. Those alone represent a big help.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Garmin Approach S2 - 18 months in use - is it still working?

In December 2013 I wrote a review about the Garmin Approach S 2. Just go to the archive and take a look at it.

Today I write a short follow up.

I have played well over 100 rounds of golf with this GPS watch. Tournament rounds as well as social rounds. All kinds of courses in different states. Played in good weather , bad weather and very bad weather.

All I can say is that the Garmin Approach S2 worked great every single round I played with it.

But I want point out a few things which you might consider before using it.

1. Accuracy

The Garmin Approach S 2 is accurate to a point. Away from what they say, I figure that I have plus/minus 3 yards, maybe a little less. It depends how good you are to determine the relevance of this distance. To me it is relevant, but I can live with it because I work with a rangefinder on top of the watch and use yardage books. Often I prepare a play book with google earth. I also heard that other watches do the same or are worse. I played with people who had the same watch and there was a difference or used other watches and there was no , small or huge differences.

2. Functionality

My Garmin Approach S 2 worked great (and still does) on every course I played. But I have to mention that there were a few occasions where it did not.

I played courses in several states. The GPS watch was able to find a satellite and give me data. However, here are the few things which did happen:

- a couple of times my watch did not find a signal. Both or all three times that happened we played in extreme weather. Clouds, storms and rain. So I understood and you understand, that the signal just could not be picked up properly

- on a couple of courses the holes were mixed up or the watch jumped to the wrong hole. So you stand on 5 , but get yardage for 8. That is a technical error which is also easy to understand. We are talking about satellites in the heavens and then my tee box is next to another tee box. The simple fix was to just scroll to the right hole

- One or two times I played a track which was not entered into the Garmin system yet. New courses or courses which were altered fall in this category. Champions Gate Country Club being one of them.
There was nothing I could do and there will be nothing you can do. But again, it was not the watches fault.

3. Others

- The loading cable had some issues. When I click my watch on to the loading clip it does not always start the loading process. I always check twice that it works. It happened a few times that I put it on and went to bed. Next morning I woke up and found my watch not loaded at all. So you need to watch that part after a while. Maybe it is dust or fat on the contacts.

That is it. I like the watch. All points above are no big deal. The watch is very durable, easy to wear and it works. That is what you are looking for in a watch.

It is true that they now have watches with all kinds of gadgets. But we need to focus on the game, not on all kinds of other things. For that matter what you need is 3 distances and a range finder.

My suggestion is to start with this watch and then determine if you want to spend more money later.
It would be nice to hear from other golfers about this watch and how they feel about it. Meanwhile I think it is a very helpful gadget for my game.



Did this short article help you? Please let me know. I am trying to create helpful information and am open to suggestions at any time.