Put this in the scrapbook.

A couple of weeks ago I asked our lovely club captain if she had a copy on file somewhere of the flyer that came through my mailbox back in 2010 that started all this madness.

I really wanted a copy of it to add to my scrapbook story of this Fairway to Fifty project(Volume 1 of which has just been completed) .
With some trouble Alisoun was able to find this and gave it to me yesterday.

 So here is a little plug for a tremendous and welcoming golf club,that has managed to survive several bouts of major liquefaction on the fairways and greens after both the February and June earthquakes of 2011 here in Christchurch.

Fortuitous Flyer

Perfect timing!
And a great adventure begun without me even realizing.

I remember I attended that very first lesson with great trepidation as I was still very shy about going out in public with my big (and to me terribly noticeable)facial scars post surgery and having lost so much confidence physically I doubted my body would even be able to manage to swing a club with all the tight stiffness and lack of movement in my neck and shoulder.
I could not believe how heavy those clubs felt and how impossible it seemed to even hit the ball.
I came home with an injury-but not one I expected. Somehow I managed to slash my thumb open with the fingernail of my opposing thumb as I attempted what seemed an incredibly awkward way to hold a club.


Having played a lot of hockey in my youth to provincial level I thought I would have no problems actually hitting the ball!


Wrong.
But I was back the next week.


Giving Golf a Go.


 

Sharkey's Day again.

Not sure if the sun came up "like a big bald head" yesterday  or not but it sure was another day for Sharkey!

A lucky day!

Check out the photo and spot the difference:

And then there were Two.

Indeed,now there are two Lady Shark balls to put into the commodious pocket of the new 
Blue Shark. 

I won the Stableford Competition this week with an impressive 24 Stableford points.

What? I hear the uninitiated query.

The ways of golf are many and varied.

In a Stableford competition you are allowed to take a certain number of shots on each hole based on your current Handicap. If you play to your handicap and finish each hole in the allowable number of shots you score 2 points per hole and you would finish with a total of 18 if playing a nine hole game as I do.

For example: I am currently on a Handicap of 20.2 so in general on a Par 3 hole I am allowed 5 shots to complete the hole. If I hole out in 5 I score 2 points;if I hole out in 4 I get 3 points;do it in 3 and 4 points are mine.Conversely if I take 6 shots I receive only 1 point and none if I take 7 shots.

With a score of 24 I was playing below my handicap!

In fact on Thursday I did my best ever stroke score(total strokes played over the whole 9 holes) of 51-my all time low!

Of course what happens next is that my handicap will come down lower and then I will be  allowed less shots on each hole so it becomes harder for me to score Stableford points.    

Confused?

Bemused?

Well let me just introduce another bit of golf talk-I also got  a Ferret!

Yep!

I tell you,it is a weird and mysterious game.

A ferret is when you hole the ball from off the green. 

A lovely chip shot from off the green that bounced nicely and then disappeared! Yes it bounced neatly into the hole much to my amazement.Good luck rather than good management I have to admit.

Should be called a Fluket not a Ferret.

 

 

Addiction?

The week before last we were in the midst of a glorious Indian Summer and after having found myself on the golf course every afternoon making the most of the last of the Golden Weather I had to ask myself some difficult questions.

Is this golf thing becoming an obsession?

 Am I becoming addicted to the ping of my driver as I tee off?

Do I need to find a local branch of Golfers' Anonymous ?

Do I need to get a sponsor?

No No No
All  I need is a great golf buddy who is as keen as I am to go out as often as possible for a round.
And luckily for me I have just such a friend.
We both started playing golf at the same time back in April 2010 in response to a little flyer that came 
through my mailbox urging:

 "Ladies Give it a Go-3 Free Golf Lessons at Avondale Golf Club"

And give it a go  we did .

And we saw that it was good.

At the time I was needing something to get me out of the house and re-engaging in the world.

Gentle exercise and fresh air, but something new I had never done before so I would not be comparing my body

and its ability to perform with my pre-treatment self.

Something that helped me focus on the present moment and distracted me from the constant pain in my jaw and face.

After our three free lessons the Club Captain offered us a temporary three month membership at a very reasonable rate so we could see if we enjoyed golf enough to warrant joining.

 

Very canny plan! 

Well as we played a few rounds amongst the big trees and delighted in the monarch butterflies that festooned some of the trees on the fairways and occasionally alighted on our balls( the ones we did not loose!)we slowly became hooked.
At the end of the three months we signed up for a half years membership with the Nine Hole Ladies Club.
 And a steep learning curve began!

"Great Golf is a Matter of Club Selection"

proclaims an advertisement in the Golf Gazette.
And I found most of my clubs at The Super shed (-the recycling shop at the dump) for $2 .
Although putters were harder to come by and cost $10.
My golf bag was procured for $1 on special one lucky Thursday.

My assumption that golf was a snobby and expensive game was getting turned on  its head.

Lovely $1 Golf Bag

 Attached though I was to my Tartan Golf Bag(so fitting for the Royal and Ancient Game originating in the Kingdom of Fife,Scotland) this week I bought a new bag with birthday money.

Last week I played in the semi-finals of a Handicap Match Play game at Avondale.I was up against one of the best players in our club but because it was Handicap Match play my opponent had to give me 8 shots i.e. if she scored 50 and I scored 58 we would be even.
This is one of the great things about the Handicapping system in golf-all players can start from an equal footing no matter their skill level.
I told myself that if I won the game I would spend my money on the new bag I had been eyeing up at my favourite golf shop.


So I got lucky- I played a good round and with the 8 shot advantage I am through to the final.The new bag was purchased on Tuesday.

The Old and the New

 

 

A Hole for each Club

 Oh beautiful blue Shark bag 
with 14 separate compartments,
one for each club. 

This, as I discovered today, makes it so very much easier getting the clubs in and out of the bag and eliminates a lot of the clanging together of the clubs as you trundle around the course uphill and down through patches of liquefaction(yes I live in earthquake city!)


On a Roll....
My winning streak continued today when I scored the lowest round at club day.

-a 35 with the help of my handicap(which is now 20.2)

And my prize?
A golf ball of course.

But not just any old golf ball.
Very auspicious for the first day out with the NEW BLUE SHARK   

I win a Lady Shark ball.

It's Sharkeys day today