Hello World!

Here we go... This is a very short introductory posting to summarise who I am and what I hope to do in this space.

I'm currently (April 2008) 37, turning 38 in a week or so (born 70/04/24...). I've been playing golf on and off for approx. 3 years. One of my new year's resolutions for 2008 is to try and play a weekly round of golf - so far I'm managing to average a round every two weeks. I've already reaped some reward for the more regular golf as two weeks ago I broke 100 for the first time in my short golfing career. Which tells you something about the level of my game :-). However, I've managed to dip below 100 two consecutive weeks (98 & 99), which is encouraging.

Officially my handicap stands at 30. Ouch! That means that I play from the maximum allowed handicap of 23 (as I understand it). That is I'm allowed to double bogey all the holes on the course and triple bogey the five most difficult ones - after which I ring. Stableford = zero for a ring, 1 for my maximum score without ringing, 2 for one shot better and so forth. For my latest handicap info and last couple of scores click here.

I have a very dynamic collection of golfing buddies. Dynamic as in sometimes we play together and other times not! In the course of my blogging you will be introduced to Sven, Attie, my dad (also Mike), Christoph (a 5-6 handicapper) and some other buddies, family and friends of friends. Attie recently vowed never to play golf again after two particularly bad rounds, but following on Trevor Immelman's victory in the US Masters (2008) last night (our time) he seems to have rekindled some of his spirit for the game.

I started playing golf after a friend of mine and his wife (Jaco -a.k.a. 'Flaps' and Amanda) visited us in our very idyllic coastal village. They've just started playing at the time and dragged me along for a round. I was 'converted'. Before I thought of golf as a snobbish game of people dressing funny!

My dad passed his old clubs on to me, which he got second hand to start with. I suspect the clubs are older than I am... I think I actually did him a favour as it gave him an excuse to buy new ones. I'll expand on what I have (and haven't) got in my bag, but it is basically irons 3-9, a pitching wedge, sand wedge, fairway 3-wood and cheap 1-wood (which I currently avoid at all cost). Then there's the 'ping' putter to round off the collection. ((For an update on my new clubs, click here))

In addition to playing more often (last year I only handed in about four or five score cards), the other element that greatly improved my score is called Eric. That's Eric as in a caddy at Royal Port Alfred. Slightly rough around the edges but extremely good at reading putting lines. He's worth his weight in gold as far as I'm concerned.

By the way my home club is Royal Port Alfred Golf Club, we had our centenary celebrations last year (2007).

What I really want to do right now is sing Immelman's praises, hopefully later this evening or tomorrow morning. Staying up 'till two in the morning was all worth it!

Oh... so what do I want to do in this space. Well, as I see it at present I'll pass along trivia about golf and blog about my own (golfing) pain and suffering. If our (South African) golfers keep on performing you'll be bombarded with posts on that as well.

Until later, enjoy your golf!