Month: July 2014

The chip in eagle on the par four third hole put me two under par, and I coasted along the front nine with a couple bogies making the turn at even par. The back nine was a bit of a struggle with seven pars and two bogies ending the day at two over par. Final score was 37+36=73 which is my second best from the regular tees. No double bogies but not a single birdie either. My putting was slightly off, otherwise it would have been a stellar round for me. My handicap has dropped to a snazzy 4.2 which happens to be my lowest handicap so far since I was a young buck. There is still hope for the aging golfers in this world.

Today was as a national day of mourning in The Netherlands for the first time in more than fifty years. The last time was way back in 1962 with the death of Queen Wilhelmina.

The whole country is stunned in disbelief that this inhumane crime could have been committed against such a peace-loving and innocent people who have nothing at all to do with this stupid war supported by Poetin's thugs in eastern Ukraine.

Nearly three hundred passengers and crew shot out the sky by a surface-to-air missile, falling and crashing to a terrible death. Of those, one hundred ninety three Dutch citizens. First happy and relaxed looking forward to a family vacation in Bali and then the next second a ball of fire. Whole families wiped out in a second. Since Holland is such a small country, most everyone knows someone who is related in one way or other to one of the victim's families or friends.

Heart-rending view of the seventy-two hearses bringing the bodies back home.

It was surreal watching the line of forty hearses rolling through the beautiful green countryside on such a sunny and warm day. Droves of crying people standing along the road throwing flowers as the vehicles passed by slowly. The same scene to be repeating four days in a row before all of the bodies have been repatriated.

That last time I felt this sad was when Kennedy was shot. I was six years old and watched the funeral procession on the television.

For the first time in my life I decided to go out and splurge by hiring a well-known club-fitter for professional advice. He measured various aspects of my swing (velocity, angle of descent, spin, alignment, etc) as well as my bodily dimensions (height, arm length, hand size, stance and angle I address the ball) to come up with clubs tailor-made and optimized to my abilities and constraints.

The shaft was shortened slightly, the resting position of the club head adjusted upwards so that the ball impacts a bit higher on the club face, and introduced a new shaft flex between stiff and regular/senior, among other things.

With the same clubs I can swing at a slower velocity, gain more control at impact and on average hit the ball 10 meters farther. Sometimes if I hit the ball just right, the ball flies so purely that I can barely feel the impact it feels so soft. I can hit my 8-iron more than 150 meters, for example. After two days of warming up and practicing with my new weapons, not trying to kill the ball, inspiring certain subtle mental adjustments and increasing my confidence by being more positive about my abilities, I enjoy golf that much more.

Thanks to these new beauties, I managed to play a super weekend of golf. In fact, I went out and won the second major club tournament called "Clubkampioenschap Tegen Par" where per hole you score a zero(0) for par, a minus(-) for a bogie or better and a (+) for a birdie or better. I came in at the top by shooting -4, +2 and -6 for a grand total of -8.

Winnaars van het Clubkampioenschap Tegen Par - 21-07-2014
Na een zeer warm en spannend weekend zijn de kampioenen bekend!
Annemiek de Langen heeft met -25 (19 parren en 5 birdies) de eerste prijs bij de dames in ontvangst mogen nemen.
Goede tweede is Lotte Hoekstra geworden en Conny de Wolff staat op de derde plaats.
Bij de heren is Kiffin Gish met -8 kampioen (30 parren en 8 birdies) geworden, gevolgd door Ed Schelkers en op de derde plaats Maurits van der Linden.
Winnaars proficiat!
In totaal zijn er 71 birdies en 1 eagle gemaakt in dit weekend, het birdieklassement kunt u terug vinden onder de downloads van de wedstrijdcommissie.

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Netherlands win World Cup third-place playoff final after beating hosts Brazil 3-0 in Brasilia.

Sure it would have been better had we made it to the finals, but third-place is pretty good for such a small country on the world's sport stage.

During the NK Strokeplay Heren Senioren golf championship, I was hitting the ball really well. Despite the disappointing results, I have to admit that in general I felt pretty good after the two day tournament. Twenty-fourth in a field of eight-eight of the best Dutch senior golfers is nice. These guys are pretty good, and being part of this interesting challenge keeps me sharp and competitive. I also got to meet many nice guys who are dedicated to the true spirit of golf.

Unfortunately I had three disaster holes: two triple bogies and one quadruple bogie. Two caused by mad slice drives into the thick forest and one caused by a flubbed five iron off of the tee which went into the water hazard. Despite these disasters, I am proud to say that I kept my cool and shook them off with a casual smile and chuckle. The course was in beautiful condition and perfect golf weather, so I could not complain.

That's ten lousy strokes thrown out of the window. If I had only parred those easy holes, I calculate that I would have come in third place. What a shame. However, we all know that golf was never meant to be a game of "ifs" so be it. Better luck next time.

This is what I see every morning when I walk into the office in Delft.