Many many thanks to old and newfound friends :)

I'd like to take up some space in this forum to thank a group of people who have made my last 7 days in Singapore really enjoyable. I'm flying back to Dubai tomorrow for a few more months of hard work, and hope to be back in Singapore sometime in September.

I'd like t thank the guys who have taken time of of their schedules to play golf with me,namely the likes of Duval, tituman, seebayho, golfchow (n junior), Khorkar, taskie, eiji, alvin, slinger blee2007, zhenxua, mizzy -- to the latter 3, my apologies for the lapse in performance, and thanks for the patience extended towards my rather 'off' morning. Needless to say, the company this morning was nothing short of awesome

To eiji, alvin, and slinger, thanks for showing me what 'snakes' was all about -- it was certainly an eye-opener, and thanks to you guys, I've learned that I can play a decent game of damage control if I put my mind and heart to it. You guys are seriously great company, and there's never a boring moment (esp if you-know-who is standing over a crucial putt).

I'll also be looking forward to rounds with my old Indo-kakis of watermyforest, pushslice and Yarra, and also hopefully with mloy when I get back!

hope u have enough time for golf in dubai with your SO going along this time! hopefully i play better golf when u visit again in sept.

bro, sorry we couldn't catch up, this week has been quite heavy in the office. next time we have to have a game, I have new toys and im sure you have more than a few kekekeke

Wifey coming along with you this time?

Sadly, I had to miss out this time Ghoonk. I'm still looking forward to a game with you when you're back next... or the next... or the next....

On behalf of Ghoonk (hope you ok with this since you didn't include the following names...hahahahahah):

I will also like to thank Duval, Tituman and SeeBayho for taking their time to show me around (again) at MBGC. The day ended with an exclamation mark with the ace fm ' you should know who by now '.....

@ Duval: work hard on your swing....you can do it.

@ Titu: Fantastic drives...wat more to say

@ SBY: we will call you Si Beh Easy

till we meet again...........

Birdman wrote:

Sadly, I had to miss out this time Ghoonk. I'm still looking forward to a game with you when you're back next... or the next... or the next....

As they say in the Middle East -- en sha Allah, i.e. God Willing

Duval_S wrote:

On behalf of Ghoonk (hope you ok with this since you didn't include the following names...hahahahahah):

I will also like to thank Duval, Tituman and SeeBayho for taking their time to show me around (again) at MBGC. The day ended with an exclamation mark with the ace fm ' you should know who by now '.....

@ Duval: work hard on your swing....you can do it.

@ Titu: Fantastic drives...wat more to say

@ SBY: we will call you Si Beh Easy

till we meet again...........

heh, didn't forget you guys, just failed to cut and paste successfully

eiji wrote:

hope u have enough time for golf in dubai with your SO going along this time! hopefully i play better golf when u visit again in sept.

You've improved vastly since our first round. Ballstriking is much better, and today, you hit quite a number of shots well with good compression and accuracy. Your game is coming together, and next time, I'm sure you're going to be showing huge improvement again.

SO won't be limiting my golf much since she doesn't wake before 10 am on weekends. I'll be out for the first flight, and back home by the time she's up

Duval_S wrote:

On behalf of Ghoonk (hope you ok with this since you didn't include the following names...hahahahahah):

I will also like to thank Duval, Tituman and SeeBayho for taking their time to show me around (again) at MBGC. The day ended with an exclamation mark with the ace fm ' you should know who by now '.....

@ Duval: work hard on your swing....you can do it.

@ Titu: Fantastic drives...wat more to say

@ SBY: we will call you Si Beh Easy

till we meet again...........

actually, it was more of:

@ Duval - you're 80% there already. Fundamentals are good, just a couple of missing bits that can be solved with one or two sessions with a swing coach, and a few more sessions at the range hitting 30-40 balls max.

@ titu - don't sell that 4w of yours. EVER.

@ seebayho - thanks for the tips about releasing and my habit of being casual about my game. Very true on both observations, and am working on them. Today, played snakes with slinger, eiji and alvin, and had to stay focused and manage the course well. Shows that I can do it, so it's between enjoying the round and shooting a good score now

Ghoonk,

It's great to finally meet face to face with my ally in this forum.

Enjoyed your company and I will try my best to make a trip to Singapore with my clubs during Hari Raya. Looking forward teeing it up with you too, bro!

Safe trip and take it easy out there! Let me know a month in advance when you are heading home.


-e-

Yarra, will do that -- always good to find someone who is just as geeked out over equipment as I am!

P.S. I got my R510 TP Kajiki'd. WOOHOOO~

i'm familiar with titu hitting that 4w..awesome. Did he also take out the CHIPPER?

ghoonk wrote:

Yarra, will do that -- always good to find someone who is just as geeked out over equipment as I am!

P.S. I got my R510 TP Kajiki'd. WOOHOOO~

Nice! Read my review on the i15 yet? That Kajiki rocks on the fairways too, man! It's actually a Kajiki 80 instead of 70 as mentioned on the shaft, acoording to DGman.

I got a 282 shafted with a prototype of TP7HD (blue version) today. I will play it tomorrow and PM you the result. It is replacing my RIP 70X, if it is better than the RIP it'll be a keeper for sure. Just need to find a suitable head for the RIP.

Yeah, he did

Damn effective too!

Hey ghoonk, it was nice meeting you again at SSN. Looking forward to your next trip back and have a game with you. (1-2-3)

Till then safe journey home.

I have been golfing for quite a while, I think I know what I am talking about.
Ghoonk, ....you are one of the best iron ball striker in the GR.

Capitalize on that awesome advantage!
Stay focus you shall be hitting sub 80 every time!
Replay your Bob Rotella CD.

In the mean time I will work on your tips and we have another game when you are back.

ya, 1-2-3, and you tee off from blue?

will post my return dates, so we can get some rounds going!

seebayho wrote:

I have been golfing for quite a while, I think I know what I am talking about.
Ghoonk, ....you are one of the best iron ball striker in the GR.

Capitalize on that awesome advantage!
Stay focus you shall be hitting sub 80 every time!
Replay your Bob Rotella CD.

In the mean time I will work on your tips and we have another game when you are back.

Thanks, man, from you, that's high praise indeed.

For some reason, after last night's SSN, I lost my mojo, and stank big time this morning - blee has the details. Maybe flexibility was gone, not sure, but I will keep reading/listening to Rotella, keep playing an internalized game of 'snakes' and continue to work on my ball striking!

seebayho wrote:

I have been golfing for quite a while, I think I know what I am talking about.
Ghoonk, ....you are one of the best iron ball striker in the GR.

Capitalize on that awesome advantage!
Stay focus you shall be hitting sub 80 every time!
Replay your Bob Rotella CD.

In the mean time I will work on your tips and we have another game when you are back.

Care to share Ghoonk's tip? He always have some interesting and, most-importantly, useful tip to share. It is always enlightening and entertaining being around him...

Bro, thanks for the tips. Safe journey back and hope to see you back in SG soon.

Khorkar - next time, we play in the same flight!

[quote="Yarra"]

seebayho wrote:

It is always enlightening and entertaining being around him...

I agree to the above.

Really looking forward to having a game with him. ghoonk, I'm not playing from the blue tee. Its gonna take too long for me to get there.

Yarra wrote:

[
In the mean time I will work on your tips and we have another game when you are back.

Care to share Ghoonk's tip? He always have some interesting and, most-importantly, useful tip to share. It is always enlightening and entertaining being around him...[/quote]

If you have seen Ghoonk's hitting the iron you will appreciate his quality of ball striking.
Crisp, solid and precise.

According to him, you must really relax the wrist and TRUST the club head to do the striking for you.
I took his advice to heart and play 9 holes today.
When the ball was well executed, the feeling was quite orgasmic!

seebayho wrote:

Yarra wrote:

[
In the mean time I will work on your tips and we have another game when you are back.

Care to share Ghoonk's tip? He always have some interesting and, most-importantly, useful tip to share. It is always enlightening and entertaining being around him...

If you have seen Ghoonk's hitting the iron you will appreciate his quality of ball striking.
Crisp, solid and precise.

According to him, you must really relax the wrist and TRUST the club head to do the striking for you.
I took his advice to heart and play 9 holes today.
When the ball was well executed, the feeling was quite orgasmic![/quote]

Will give it a try on the course tomorrow...

It's not the easiest trick in the book. In my case, I need to focus on the feeling of taking the grip back on the takeaway (in the past, I used to 'pick up' the club with my wrists), then at parallel, remember to hinge my wrists when my arms are parallel to the ground. Top of backswing, due to my problem of over-active shoulders and hips, my coach suggested that I trigger the downswing with my arms - the lower body doesn't remain completely quiet, but quiet enough that it prevent my hips from shifting, which in turn does not trigger my shoulders to open to target too quickly, hence causing my right shoulder to turn DOWN into the shot instead of FACING the target (which causes a fade/push/slice) during the downswing. I don't think of unhinging my wrists, instead trusting that they will unhinge by themselves when my hands are almost parallel.

Sounds complicated, takes practice, start with your PW at the range, and practice on grass where possible - you can't get the feeling of compression off mats the way you do off the grass.

seebayho - to be honest, monday and wednesday were amongst the best ballstriking days I've had recently. Problem with me is that when I am under pressure, my swing becomes more mechanical than relaxed - what you saw that day on the back 9 was me playing to enjoy the company and the course, after a disappointing 9 holes where I felt pressured to play well. At SSN, I was just there to relax and enjoy the company, so again, my swing was very relaxed and I was able to make good contact. Lesson - don't keh kiang and swing at 100 balls the night before a round. I only brought up 50 balls for general swing practice and ended up hitting almost twice that number, which probably resulted in muscle stiffness the next (i.e. this) morning