On Thursday I went to a fitting session for new golf clubs at Portsmouth Golf Centre. This was an interesting experience. I was taken to the end of the driving range where; behind a locked door, was a veritable arsenal of club heads and shafts. It was like entering an SAS firing range with a multitude of weapons to choose from. For a golfist this was like entering heaven.
For those unfamiliar with the process, it consisted of me hitting balls from a mat with various makes of club and the computer analysing what I was doing. A multitude of figures appeared on the giant TV screen and the flight of the ball was plotted also. I did some of my own analysis, replacing all the figures with a single word; crap! I did find a set of iron I could hit reasonably straight, however, and these turned out to be Yonex. The Callaways, Wilsons and Pings all looked good but I couldn't hit any of them as well as the Yonex. A slight adjustment of head angle was required but I did rather well with them. The Yonex driver also turned out to be the best for me. There seemed little point in buying a big name brand of clubs,which looked aesthetically pleasing, if all I could do was hit the ball onto an adjacent fairway. My new clubs were therefore ordered apart from the driver, which was available to be taken away immediately. I was now looking forward to Sunday and the chance to try it out.
Sunday was another glorious day, just right for whacking some golf balls. On Thursday I hadn't decided on a new putter, so I asked in the club shop if I could try out a few on the putting green. After about half an hour I was much poorer but in the possession of a very fine Wilson Vizor putter. It was now time to put my two new clubs to the test.
The new driver was duly put into action on the first tee. I took a practice swing, my new weapon feeling like it could wallop the ball for miles. The actual shot went low and slightly off to the right, fortunately hitting another golfists trolley which left it in the middle the fairway instead of in the trees. Not an auspicious start. On arriving at the green, however, my latest acquisition did the business with me almost sinking a 20 foot putt.
On the second I managed to hit a magnificent tee shot beyond the tree that splits the fairway; by far the best drive I'd done on this hole, my new big gun doing a marvellous job. I made a one over 6 on this hole with a pretty good putt. It was looking like the driver and putter were making a difference.
The rest of the round went very well,including 3, yes 3, pars! I managed to cock up the ninth, tenth and last 2 holes but finished on a best ever score of 107, translating to 31 points, again a best score, losing by only 2 points.
Reflecting on how well I'd done, in the bar later, I realised the date was the first of April; the whole round had been a joke! All those wonderful shots, magnificent putts were as nought, just a well timed jest from those pesky fairway fairies! Ah well, I'll have to see what happens when the new bats arrive. Unfortunately the clubs may not arrive until next week, when I'm due back in Dundee. I was hoping to have them before I went as there's a chance to play after work up there, mind you with all that snow it would appear to be unlikely.
It looks like The fairies' little joke will continue through April, and guess who's the fool?!
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