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Thanks for the advice, he makes it look very simple but in practice the hold seems to break or I push outwards trying to concentrate on pushing through, needs a lot of time at a pitching green and with my impatience I am trying it out on the course, sometimes look like a magician but more often a clown

I had a quick watch of his youtube video then tried it at the club range.

Certainly makes for a crisper chip, more flight and less run. I think if you put the hours in at the range it would work very well, if you are the casual golfer could be a bit of a granade.

Got a couple of social rounds this week, may try it out and report back!

Would be good to here how you get on, , going to try and stick with it for a while myself, when I have played it well I think this is the way to go, I think you just need to get to the point that it feels natural. Have you seen his overhead bunker shot, amazing, not thinking of trying thet just yet

I used to love those Big Three television matches.

Played just 10 holes today. Struggling with hinge for short chips (i.e. inside 50 yards) but seems to work very well for me outside that range. So much so have tried to set my wrists more on all shots. When it works it gives you that little more clubhead speed, which is always useful.

Another round tomorrow, with 3 high handicappers, so a good chance to practice stuff.

Played against the 3 high hanicapers. Literally.

We decided it was the 3 of them vs me, with a twist. They range from 18 or 24 in handicap.

Default position is I give them no shots. When match is all square, I have to give just one of them a shot on the next hole, they could decide which one and on each hole they were allowed to change which one got the shot. Obviously I am playing against their best scorer on a hole.

If I go 1 up, they get 2 shots on a hole, 3up they all get a shot. However if I go 1 down, none of them get a shot and if I go 2 down I can choose one of them to add a shot to.

Obviously all decisions are made on the tee before we played each hole.

It worked really well. I got to 1 up at best and 2 down at worst. Was fun adding a shot to one of them, the moaning that followed was hilarious, welcome to my world of being punished. They didn't see the irony when we both got par but I won the hole.

I birdied the 17th to make the game all square down the 18th. One of their team and myself both got par on the 18th, thankfully he wasn't the one they gave the shot to, so the match was halved.

Was a fun twist on matchplay, with changing handicaps the odds are it'll always make it the the last hole, which is really what you want.

That's a really nice recipe for a game, Hoopie. I do something similar with a friend whose real handicap would be somewhere in the forties. One on the par 3s, two on the par fours and three on par 5s. If either players goes two up, the allowance is increased or reduced by one. Three up and it moves another one. As you say, it's almost bound to get to the last hole.

No rain and moderate wind today so i'm off soon for a round

9 more this morning. It's a bit chilly and a chance of rain, but it's a course I haven't played before so looking forward to it

I seem to be finding the same, to me is is having the bottle to be aggressive enough with this method from within 50 yards, very hit and miss at the moment with it, hitting some with a fully opened face and they are landing and stopping but others look like somebody playing for the first time has hit them, I think it needs a lot of practice before you can have the confidence to keep attacking the shots

I will leave it for shots around the green that are in deeper rough. Chipping is one of my stronger parts so best I try to change the weaker bits first.

Always good to hear people's tips and what they are working on.

Spent the last few months really working on rotating my hips early. Try to start the downswing by get your hips out of the way first, time it well and it is brilliant, get it wrong and you end up pulling it left. Have to hit out to the ball, which for a natural fader can be a scary swing thought.

Played 18 and was very hit amd miss. Putting was a dissapointment and didn't hit a fairway until the 15th.

Mostly a good [half] round today. Won the matchplay 2&1 and picked up a couple of pars some solid drives and huge improvement in chipping.

Same trouble as usual though, in the middle of a solid round is always a disaster, in this case the 6th hole, a 563 yard par 5 with a 70 degree dog leg to the left. It's 250 yards to the corner with water and trees on the inside. That needs a good drive for me to get that far but can get away with being a bit short as long as you're out to the right. Well I lined it up all wrong (I always seem to do that when the tee box points the wrong way), hit a fair drive but it was a bit short and ended up being left instead of right.

So there I am, short of the corner by 30 yards with trees and water in front of me. My playing partner has pulled his drive more than me and we thought he was in the water but actually stopped on a mud flat just leading towards the water so he's got a shot, albeit a very iffy lie. He also doesn't have to get up and over the trees so he can play straight across the corner far enough up the fairway to be within reach of the green.

I'm also 1 hole up at this point, absolutely no reason to do anything other than the safe play and chip up to the corner. Not my style, always costs me shots. I try to take a 6 iron up and through just the top leaves of the trees to get me within range of the green. I know it's dangerous so I'm nervous about it, don't catch it clean, smack it straight into the trunk of a tree, bounces into the water. Now I'm dropping it back at my feet in 4, still short of the corner.

This time I chip it up to the corner as I should have done to start with. so I'm on the fairway, where my drive should have been, but I've taken 4 to get there. Meanwhile, partner nails his shot over the corner and puts the pressure on. I'm still 300+ yards away and I figure I've got to do something special from there so I grab my fairway wood to make as much distance as I can. As is common these days, I top that and get maybe 120 yards out of it. The holes is lost now.

I slice my 4 iron into the trees on the right, short of the green too. Try to chip out between the trees, top that as well and am right up behind a tree trunk. Chip out backwards, under hit the pitch. I've had 9 by now and still not on the green. Decide to putt from a couple of yards off the front edge, way under hit that too but at least I'm on the short stuff. Obviously my head's gone at this point so it's no surprise that it takes 3 more putts to get home for a delightful 13. I'd only shot 14 for the 3 previous holes put together.

Ended with a score of 54 which is actually ok for my 3rd round in 3 years but should have been so much better. I'll just have to focus on the many positives.

(Just as well we agreed on match play, I lost by 6 on stroke play thanks to that 13 lol)

Nice summary TG, those high scoring holes hurt like hell!

I also hate tee boxes that point the wrong way. If you are right handed use the right hand marker to align with and ignore the direction of the tee box. (assuming that doesn't put you in front of the markers) then just try to ignore the direction of the tee. Easier said than done.

Another tee box tip high handicappers rarely seem to know is to tee up on the forward pointing grass (lighter green as you look towards the hole). If you are slightly fat on the ball the club head will slide through more easily. Just watch the PGA golf on tele, especially par 3s, the divots will mainly be on the light green grass.

That's a good tip on the grass, thanks. Although the course I play it's more about finding a level bit of the tee!

+1 good tip.

18 booked for later this morning. Desperate to get off 28 handicap before the year's out and running out of time as it'll only get harder as te weather turns. Think I need a c.90 to achieve this. Like TG, I need to cut out those really bad holes.

97. Felt I played quite poorly. Might look in to getting some lessons.

couple of 55's for my round = 110
an chip in twice

Treated myself to a new set of clubs yesterday, Ping G Irons, Driver, 3 Wood and the best investment a 4 crossover, always struggle to keep hybrids straight so gave this ago at American Golf, hit long and straight from the off. I took it out on the course yesterday and first shot on the 4th, a 250 yard par 4 landed it just in front of the green, second shot was on SI1 par four, only hit this green in 2 twice before but yesterday hit the driver then the crossover and was 6ft from the pin, pitch park was a foot from the ball position. Early days but first impressions are that this club is amazing and could be a game changer