GAF

Military Golf Competition

/ The Grateful Golfer / 18 Comments

Roundel Glen Logo (1)On Wednesday, I am entering a stroke-play tournament to hopefully make the team to represent my military Wing at the Ontario Regional Golf Championship in July. This tournament is a three-day combined stroke event where the top five male and top two female players will move on to the next level. The Wing golf tournament will be played at my home course of Roundel Glen Golf Course in Astra, Ontario.

The Ontario Golf Regionals, played at the Petawawa, Ontario, is a three-day stroke-play event with several competitions in one.  First, there is the overall team competition.  Each day, the lowest 4 scores of the seven players are used to determine the total score for the Wing on that day.  (For those who think that the female scores do not count, think again; they are usually used a couple of times during the tournament)  After three days of competition, your total team score will be used and the lowest team score wins the event and crowned Ontario Regional Team Champions.  They receive a pennant which is proudly displayed at their home Unit.

Another event inside of the team competition is the singles competition.  The person with the lowest gross score after three days is crowned the Ontario Region individual champion (men and women).  Additionally, the lowest five male and two female gross scores make up the Ontario Regional team that represents their region at the Canadian Forces National Golf Competition.

The National Competition, played at Shilo, Manitoba, is the same format as the Regional Competition except the players are significantly better.  It is an exciting time of military golfers and believe me, bragging rights are as important as the hardware.

I am excited to start for the upcoming competition and my GAF (Golf Attitude Factor) is extremely high!

I am a grateful golfer!  See you on the links!

Golf Attitude Factor – GAF

/ The Grateful Golfer / 10 Comments

GAF is a new golfing term I developed today on the golf course! My Golf Attitude Factor was on a sliding scale today! I started out as a 10 – dropped to a 3 – and finished as a 6! For those who are staring at the screen with a puzzled look, please let me explain!

Unfortunately, I have not swung a club in a week because of work! I hate it when life gets in the way – especially work! However, all amateurs must bare that cross! So, this morning as I approached the first tee box I was a 10 on the GAF and was looking forward to an excellent time on the links. I was playing with my usual group and their light-hearted approach to golf always make me smile!

As my game progressed, my GAF dropped to a 3! I actually chipped over the a green today….twice! I drove the ball fairly well, but my short game was reminiscent of 20 years ago, but that is life when I do not play for a week or so. My scoring was the worst to date and I was frustrated on every shot….and I mean every shot! Until….

Fixing a SwingOn the 13 hole, I stopped; yes just stopped; I changed my thoughts and changed my game. (Norman Vincent Peale) How this happened was actually very easy and as I look at it after the fact, obvious. My first step was to putt everything out! I know, most of you are saying that I should be doing that anyway, but when frustration kicks in, I have a tendency to stop following my proven successful routine!

Routine is my saviour on the golf course. I score my best when I follow my routine without exception. To help make sure my success, I have to do the following things:

After realizing that my game was not what was expected, I focused on what makes my game better – and hopefully great. After focusing on success, but GAF raised from 3 to 6!

6 is a good GAF considering how I played today. I was happy with my game, thoroughly enjoyed the company, and finished strong. In the future, I am going use the GAF to keep me focused and understand that my steady state should be at least a seven!

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!