Thursday, March 26, 2009

Perfection

Last night I finished off my best season of squash so far.

As mentioned in my last post I've taken great strides in squash to improve my game over the winter. Finally, I have a sense of satisfaction for a lot of hard work. I guess it wasn't exactly hard work, but it was a lot of playing, practicing and lessons to get to this point. What is that point? I finished off my Monday night league undefeated. That's right, 10-0. This was my first time going a whole season without a loss, and will move me up to the top rank for Mondays. A very nice accomplishment for myself.

I will be looking to improve further. Mondays are actually the "easier" night for my league. Monday is no push over, but for some reason there seems to be more competition in the thursday night league. Not sure exactly why. A lot of the same people play monday as thursday, but for some reason I didn't play as well on thursday. I actually went 7-3 in my thursday night league. Pretty good, but I lost atleast 2 out of those 3 that I should have won. I went through a 3 week period where I played like absolute shit. How'd i turn it around? I played 4 days in a row one weekend with my buddy Tim who is consistently 1 level a head of me. I lost all 4 matches to him 5-0, but learned a lot. Just hitting nice solid lengths for 4 days really gave me an advantage. My backhand became such a smooth stroke that I've really jumped a head of my level. Everyone has a good forhand, but I've developed a great backhand, even my coach thinks it's better then my forhand. So that was the big improvement i made. I can hammer it to my opponents backhand all game long and dominate by keeping it on that side of the court.

So next season starts towards the end of april. I'll be playing in the 1 spot (out of 6) on mondays, and will stay at the 4 spot (out of 4) on thursdays. Hopefully I can hang with the guys at 1, I know there is some real good players at that level. But I really want to move up on thursday. If I can get to the number 2 seed on thursday by this time next year, I will have moved into the A division, something my coach said would take my 5 or 6 years. I'm on year 2. I'm gooooooood!!!!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Why the new post?

I know I've let down all the S, E, and S fans out there. I'll offer an excuse, but I know it won't satisfy the hunger you've had for a post since some time last year. I had such an awful finish to the golf season last year that I was sick of writing about my failure. However, I apologize for the lapse in content and will be back on the scene for the foreseeable future.

So why the return?

Well, this past weekend, March 21st 2009, I finally had the pleasure of returning to the golf course for my first round of the year. No not in Arizona, or Florida, or somewhere warm, but right here in cold as balls Canada. Our course opened up last Thursday and with that news nothing was stoping us from getting on the track first thing saturday morning. Matt, Call and I met up for breakfast at 9:30, I actually didn't get there till about 9:50 after waking up with a hangover drinking away my disappointment in the Sabres the night before. After some quick eggs (which sucked cause the omellets are getting smaller by the day) we bundled up and teed it up around 11:00Am.

It was pretty cold at first when we started, but after a few holes I was down to just a sweater and feeling good.

How'd I play?

I'd say pretty good considering it was the first time since September 08. Started off with a smooth 5 iron to get things rolling. Remarkable imporvement over last years first shot of the year when i released my driver further then the ball went.Would go on to double bogey the hole. However things improved from there on out. Ended the front nine 5 over. 41 was pretty good for the first round. Expecially considering Cal was 3 over and Matt was 6 or 7 over.

Back nine was slightly better. After a string of pars on the first 3 holes I'd bogey 14. Chunked my 3rd shot on 15 but rolled in a 20 footer for par. Got into some trouble on 16 and ended up with a double bogey. parred 17 with a nice little chip from the rough to about a foot. On 18 I hit a great drive down the left hand side of the fairway. Came up a little short with a 6 iron from 175. I was probably little optimistic and tried to hit a flop shot from about 10 yards from the pin but wasn't aggresive enough and came up short, chip and putt for a bogey and solid 81. Pretty good for my first round out, especially considering I could have easily been in the 70's with 1 or 2 better decisions.

The highlight of the day, beating Matt. But not just beating matt, actually pwned (No idea what that means, Cal used it) matt. Think he was something like 15 or 16 over. Not sure cause he didn't even finish the last hole after hitting a tree and losing his ball off the tee then walking up the fairway talking on is cell phone while we finished. Call was in the 70's, but he's good so was expected.

All in all it was a phenminal day being on the course again. Just felt right in so many ways. Can't stop thinking about getting out again next weekend. Conditions were great for march. Dry as a bone thanks to some great work by our grounds crew last fall installing new drainage. Greens were acceptably cut, puttable but slow. Really no complaints at all on the course. Walked off with dry pants.

a quick update on the rest of my life.

Squash - playing 4 or 5 times a week.Getting much better. Have moved up from the D division to B division. I'd say in golf terms, I'm playing at a 10 or 12 handicapp, wouldplay the A division in the club championships. I love squash. Has definitly become my addiction for the winters.

And in even more exciting news, I got engaged this past winter to the most amazing girl in the whole world. Getting married this summer and then off to Greece for 3 weeks. Can't wait.

Going to be back at the blog for the time being. Check back for more updates from the greatest glove cleaner in the world.

www.seapark.ca