Archive for January, 2009

This year’s Chinese New Year break is such a ‘golfy’ affair. On the 3rd day of CNY, I was already golfing away hahaha. And there’s more to come!

My performance today wasn’t too bad at all. Played 18 holes at Palm Garden, starting with the Palm Nine and then continued with the IOI Nine. Now my 1st nine was quite terrible, scoring triple bogeys and double pars almost throughout the 9 holes. To make it worst, I lost 7 balls in 9 holes! That’s like unacceptable.

Thank god I picked up my game on the 2nd nine. In the 2nd nine, I only lost one ball into the OB with was a bit too rough to find the ball. I guess that alone tells how much difference in performance between the 1st and 2nd nine. Managed to scoop a PAR 5 and a few bogeys, all in the 2nd nine.

Comparing to the previous round, I did shave off 6 strokes from my total strokes for 18 holes, and I’m now only 45 strokes away from 72. Improvement is definitely there in the 2nd nine as I can feel much more confidence and power with my shots. I’m also getting more and more familiar with my Nike clubs, should be able to master them well real soon.

Below’s a copy of the scorecard today, let’s keep cutting my strokes in the upcoming games!

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Today’s the first round of golf I play on course with my new Nike Victory Red, Forged Split Cavity irons. I didn’t do too well but the feel of the irons was awesome! They’re not perfect as I can get a smoother feel with the blades on sweet spot but they’re still awesome, rather forgiving and best of all, very playable in terms of the ability to control the ball.

I didn’t do too well but I didn’t do too bad either. 90% of my shots flew high as intended, I’m no longer topping the ball or hitting fat shots. That’s a really good start to begin with. Few things still missing from my game is I still can’t gauge and control my distance and my balls sometimes are still not straight enough, causing me extra strokes here and there. Also, my putting were still as terrible as before. There a quite few 3-4 putts on green, that’s really bad cause it adds up to a lot of strokes. Guess I really need to start practicing my putts to cut down my strokes.

My verdict on my Nike Victory Red Irons, they’re not the perfect set yet as the feel is still not as smooth as the Tiger Woods Blade version, but they are indeed a very good set of irons, one that you can grow and improve with. They are exactly what I need for now and I’m very happy with this investment.

We played the 2nd nine first, followed by the 1st nine. I basically burnt the entire 1st nine we played, scoring double pars and triple bogies. On second nine, I scored 1 par 4 and a bogey (par 4 hole as well). Stats and such are shown in the scorecard below.

Anyway, today marks the first round of golf in my journey since I got the new Nike irons, and I’m 51 strokes away from 72. For those not familiar, 72 strokes is when you complete 18 holes with all pars. That’s a zero handicap level. To go pro, you need to be at this level at the very minimum, and you need to be here consistently.

As for the men’s handicap system, the most basic one is handicap 24, that’s like your handicap license. 72 + 24 is 96 strokes, that means to qualify for the most basic handicap at an average of 96 strokes in about 10 rounds, I’m still 27 strokes apart. Thinking positive, I’m only 27 strokes away from my handicap license, and only 51 strokes away from professional golfing… hahahah

My target, progressively improve my game, get my handicap in 2009, and possibly start joining golf competitions towards the end of the year. If all works well as intended, I hope I can at least qualify to join the MayBank Malaysian Open next year. By the way, Anthony Kim is joining this competition this year, happening next month at the Saujana Golf and Country Club.

(My scorecard at Tasik Puteri Golf & Country Club)

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Paul Casey wins Abu Dhabi Championship by 1 shot

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Paul Casey shot a 2-under 70 Sunday to win the Abu Dhabi Championship by one stroke over Louis Oosthuizen and defending champion Martin Kaymer.

Casey, who last won a tournament at the 2007 Abu Dhabi event, had three bogeys on the back nine to finish at 21-under 267.

“I have missed winning for the last two years, so this one is very special,” said Casey, who captured his ninth title on the European Tour.

Source: www.golf.com

Indeed, this is very special to me too. Paul Casey won the championship, hours after I bought my Nike Victory Red Irons. Guess what, he was using Nike’s Victory Red Irons too!

I’m happy for him, happy for myself for picking up this set, and happy for Nike for making such a great range of irons plus getting so much publicity with it.

As the tagline goes, Get to know the newest hue of victory – Red

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Today, 18th January, 2009, marks a very important day in my golfing journey. Today’s the day I finally got my own set of irons, the brand new Nike Victory Red Irons – Forged Split Cavity, and they look absolutely beautiful!

I got the irons set, 4-PW with NS-PRO shafts. I also added a SW which comes with a standard True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shaft. 8 clubs in total.

Finally, a set of irons that I truly love. In my humble opinion, it’s beautiful in design and it’s smooth like butter, thanks to the fact that these are indeed forged irons, meeting the standards of Tiger Woods himself (although he uses the blade version, something too professional for me to handle now)

Anyway, this is definitely a new beginning in my golfing journey as I learn and improvise my game with this new found love. They do cost me quite a bomb but given the credibility, design and raving reviews they’ve got so far, I think the price is rather decent. Definitely worth a go if you’re looking for a long-term set that you can grow with.

With these, as what the Tiger Woods said, you can expect to get a blade feel with the forgiveness of cavity-back irons.

Stay tuned, I will be posting more posts about these irons once I get the chance to play them, hopefully really soon!

These irons will be my first real investment in my golfing journey, and more will come soon, for example…

  • I’m gonna need a new driver – perhaps the Nike SQ Dymo Drivers? (I’m currently using a 2nd hand Taylormade R5 Dual with Fujikura’s regular graphite shaft)
  • I’m probably gonna need a Lop Wedge as I get more demanding at my game (available in the Victory Red range)
  • And I most certainly need a new putter! (currently using a very basic old blade putter, the Scotty Cameron feels really good, I’m definitely salivating over them right now)

All the above, in 2009? That’s probably gonna happen, I hope it does lol, let’s see how it goes…

More links about the Nike Victory Red Split Forged Cavity Irons

http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/7734-nike-introduces-victory-red-iron-series

http://blogs.golf.com/equipment/2008/08/update-on-nike.html

http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/galleries/7985/1/0/nike-victory-red-vr-irons.html

http://www.sandbox8.com/2008/08/27/nike-victory-red-irons-announced/

http://www.worldgolf.com/newswire/browse/15295-Nike-Golf-announces-introduction-of-Victory-Red-premium-line-irons

http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/Shared/PageTemplates/Article.aspx?id=24583

http://www.pgatour.com/2008/equipment/12/07/giftguide.victoryred/index.html

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Oh dear, must’ve woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Went to office without thinking much about my apparels and jeng jeng jeng…

Kuan Yews fashion blunder - hopefully no one sees em!

Kuan Yew's fashion blunder - hopefully no one sees em!

White socks with black leather shoes, I look like a school prefect or something lol!

Anyway, got em nicely covered with my jeans, I think I’m gonna stay on my desk the whole day and keep these glaring white socks covered lol!

Kuan Yews fashion blunder - covered up

Kuan Yew's fashion blunder - all covered up

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