Practice Round at Bad Waldsee

I've been practicing here in Bad Waldsee for two days now, nine holes yesterday and full 18 today. Two totally different sides on this golfcourse. Front nine is very wide and open, back nine is played around a small lake with some very demanding shots. Long par3s and easy par5s, it's tough to guess what the scoring is going to be like, but I think you can go really low here IF you manage couple of the key shots on the back nine.

Loving the new putter! I feel like a normal golfer (in the good sense on the word) with it! :) Swing feels great and I was hitting the ball about as well as possible today. I've got a great swing thought going on, I wish the tournament started tomorrow, since I feel so ready to go! Gotta wait until Monday...

15th hole, par3. Left is ok...

9th hole, wide open like the whole front nine

12th hole, getting more narrow...

14th hole, probably the most demanding tee shot on the course

Back to a basic one....

When things aren't working you gotta try something else. I realized that it has been about ten years since I last considered myself a consistent, good putter.

Back in those days, I used a traditional "Ping Anser-type" putter. Ever since then, I've gone through close to 20 different "face-balanced", mallet style putters. Never really thought about changing back to a toe balanced, traditional shaped putter until I tried one in a shop yesterday. It just seems to swing back and forth so much better than the heavy spaceships I've used lately. Sure, the aiming might not be as accurate, but by using a line in my golf ball I should be fine. I've practiced with it for two days now, and my putting stroke feels more free than in a long time!

Since I missed the cut in the last tournament, I spent the day practicing in GolfClub Munich Eichenried before heading to our next tournament site. They hosted the 2011 BMW International Open. What a fantastic place, and great practice facilities! I also squeezed in a little visit to a local guitar store. A new putter, great golf course, guitars - a GREAT day! :)

Taylor Made Tour Ghost TM110

Short game area in GolfClub Munich Eichenried

A wall of Gibson Les Pauls - only a guitar player can appreciate this! ;)

Roller-coaster round

What a day... 72 with four birdies and one eagle. I gave myself a chance to shoot a low number, but four 3-putt greens and one 4-putt green destroyed my chances.

This was one of the worst putting rounds all year...Bad speed control and lots of short putts missed. Sure I made some also, but the amount of mistakes on the greens was just overwhelming. With decent putting I would be picking up nice finishes in these tournaments, and with good/great putting I would be playing for the win, it really is as simple as that.

I will stop by a golf store tomorrow, we'll see if inspiration could be bought...;)

Next tournament starts in five days. I really hope that I could get in peace with my putting by then so that I could play some real golf!

Stats from today: FW 11/14, GIR 17/18, UD 1/2, Putts 37

I hate bad playing...

-4 in the pro-am yesterday got my hopes up for today, but this cruel game punched me in the face again. I shot a 77 on the first round of the Internetworld.de Open.

Drove the ball great all day, but on two occasion I let my mind wonder off to the out-of-bounds right of the tee, and of course that's where the ball headed on both occasions. Missed two fairways all day; both in the O.B!! Two three putt greens on top of that. Five over is what you get if you make mistakes like that. 

Weird game this is...I shot 9 shots more than yesterday, but overall I hit more good shots and less bad ones today than I did yesterday! I had a great practice session after the round and I feel very confident heading into tomorrow. I'm going to need at least a -4 to make the cut, but I feel like I could easily go lower than that if I can take my confidence from the range out to the course! :)

Stats from today: FW 12/14, GIR 12/18, UD 3/7, SS 0/1, Putts 33

Back in Germany

Flew from Helsinki to Munich this morning for two EPD Tour events in a row. Let's hope I didn't pack too light due to the heat wave in Finland; it was only about 13 degrees here today!

First tournament is the Internetworld.de Open on the Gut Thailing golf course. Looks like they've had a lot of rain here, the course was really close to flooding. Holes play a little longer due to the softness of the fairways, but then again the approaches are easier because of the same reason. Greens are a bit bumpy at the moment, but I seemed the get the hang of them quite fast. I was really happy about the way my putting felt; I was much more comfortable with my alignment than in the past weeks. Pro-am tomorrow, and the tournament starts Tuesday.

18th hole

I guess it's supposed to be a tough stretch of holes...? :D

Tee shot on 4th hole

On 3rd spot and missed my alarm...

Yes, this just happened...I missed my alarm clock and couldn't make it to the golfcourse on time. I was on third spot going into final round of the Finnish PGA Championships. I'm so sorry for everybody who were pulling for me and hoping that I would do well. I feel like a complete idiot and don't know whether to laugh or cry...

Not going to stay home today and feel sorry for myself. I'm going to practice until it hurts! Leaving to Germany tomorrow for two tournaments in a row; that is if I wake up on time to catch my flight...

73 on the first day

Opened the Finnish PGA Championships with a one-over 73. Could've not really be any higher than that....

Judging by today, I've definitely found whatever was lost with my swing during the last tournament! A solid round with 17 greens in regulation on a fairly long golf course tells that shots stay within a good margin of error. I'm really happy about my progress on that part of the game.

Putting on the other hand has been terrible for couple of weeks now... I'm trying to figure it out the best I can, and I have some ideas for tomorrow! Let's see (and hope) that they work! :)

Stats from round 1: FW 11/14, GIR 17/18, UD 0/2, SS 1/2, Putts 36

© Linna Golf

Recovering...

Well, the Finnish Open didn't really go as planned... Missed the cut and played terrible, nothing like the weeks in the past. I've since put in serious amounts of work to get my confidence back. On the last day of Finnish Open (the day I missed the cut) I actually spent over 15 hours of the golfcourse...:)

Today was a great day and I started to get my groove on finally! Swing felt fluid and powerful, which is always a nice feeling!

I decided to add the Finnish PGA Championships to my calendar; tournament starts on Thursday and I'm heading for practice round tomorrow.

10.30pm, time to go home...:)

Finnish Open starts tomorrow!

Back in Finland, and ready for some action! The biggest event in the Nordic League, Finnish Open presented by Mikko Ilonen start tomorrow. I'm not playing on EPD tour until late July this one fitted my calendar perfectly.

The golfcourse is a great test! Some narrow tee shots where you just have to hit a good shot, no way around it. Good play off the tee is going to be key this week. I feel like I have to fight my swing a bit at the moment, but fortunately the ball is still flying pretty straight most of the time... Let's hope that the adrenaline and focusing on targets will take my mind off technique just enough to make it all good for tomorrow!

1st hole

4th hole

10th hole

12th hole

17th hole...water, where??! :)

Photo by VeVe Media Ky. Click here to read a feature from golfpiste.fi

71 today, missed the cut by one shot...

With the perfect weather that we had today, a 71 was not enough to keep me inside the cut-line in Coburg Brose Open. I had one shot, and one man too many ahead of me. I finished only seven shots behind the leaders, and cannot help to think that I should've been up there if my putting had been decent...

Well, at least found my swing today! I recorded the first 18 greens in regulation of this year! Too bad that the putter stayed ice-cold throughout the whole tournament. I cannot remember another time when I'd hit this many GOOD putts that look like they are gonna go in, but find a way to burn the edge of the hole. Two misses from less than 1m on the backnine today to top it off.

Stats from today: FW 13/14, GIR 18/18, UD 0/1, SS 0/1, Putts 36

I just have to put this behind me and look at the positive things. I'm hitting it better than ever, and my chipping and putting feel great! I really can't be mad at myself when a 2,5m putt doesn't drop in, if I've made a perfect stroke. I just gotta keep doing the things that I can control well, and let the rest take care of itself. My shortgame has improved to so much lately, and I'm not going to let this week neglect that.

Heading back to London tomorrow morning, about 10 hours of driving ahead of me... Next tournament in Finland starts on June 14th. Hopefully the putter has warmed up by then! ;)

Struggling on the first round

Golf was not easy today...I shot a 73, which puts me on T37 spot after opening round in the Coburg Brose Open. However, the field is very packed so a good round tomorrow would lift me higher up the leaderboard in a flash.

I fought hard in the beginning as I hit a couple of bad shots. Then, two stupid bogeys from the fairway 90m away...Tried hard to get it back on the backnine (holes 1-9), but no matter how well I stroke my putts today, they just didn't fall in! A really frustrating round! 

In the last couple of days my swing hasn't felt as comfortable as it did couple of weeks ago. Worked on the range after the round today to try retain that feeling, and I feel like I found most of it! Let's hope the feeling stays there overnight :)

Stats from the 1st round: FW 12/14, GIR 13/18, UD 2/6, SS 1/2, Putts 32

18th hole (practice round)

9th hole (practice round)

On the range after todays round

7th in Haus Bey

With a 72 on the last day I finished T7th in Haus Bey. Started the day with a missed one meter par putt, and ended it with 17 straight pars after that! Needless to say, I had my share of chances to get some red numbers on the card, but regardless of good efforts there just wasn't any "mojo" in there...

Stats: FW 12/14, GIR 13/18, UD 2/3, SS 2/4, Putts 32

I'm currently 13th in the rankings on EPD Tour. In order to reach top5 (which gets Challenge Tour card), I'd need a win and some good finishes from the remaining seven tournaments. The last tournaments have certainly given me the feeling that I have a chance to do that! But no matter how badly I want to win, I can't be mad for finishing 7th... it still proves that I'm playing solid. I'm really glad about how much I've improved since the start of the season, and it feels great to be in contention week after another!

Last night, I drove to Coburg for our next event. Pro-am on Sunday and the tournament starts on monday. I'm heading to the golf course now, for a full fun day at work! :)