Jay & Golf Updates

Date:  June 27, 2015

This is what I told my son, Jay.

1) "I know you like sport, but you don’t have to be good in every one of them."  So that you do not create any pressure for him.  He can learn & play whatever sports he likes.

2) Jay has been exposed to many different sports.  But mostly, I told him is for fitness purpose.  I want a child to be very active in sport so that he understands doing sports will do good thing to his health.

3) Golf has been Jay’s favourite sport.  It is a game that the ball does not move.  All you need to do is to hit the stationary ball at the ground.  It is challenging especially at the golf course as there are uneven ground, there will be obstacle, and you will need a little bit of Science to make it roll to places you like the golf ball to roll.

Here is some updates of his learning journey of golf….

He played a few holes to let his coach see how’s his skills.

At the moment, he can only played at the Millennium Course executive 9-hole.  He played 6 holes today because he wanted to go play with Riyandi at the Adventure Cove.  So, we actually skipped 3 holes.  Here is the hole by hole coverage to see his swing, his chips and his putts.  I enjoyed all the videos very much.  It shows how dedicated my boy towards learning to play golf the right way.  Please enjoy the videos.

Hole #1

The first hole is about 95 meter.  He no longer can use his Driver for this hole to tee off.  He has to use a hybrid to tee off about 85 meter.

The drive fly straight, and put his ball right at the edge of the green.  And the green is quite difficult as he has about 10 meter slope (quite steep) need to clear.  So, with one chip and one putt, he got a PAR on this hole.

 

Hole #2

The second hold is about 195 meter.

He uses his big Driver.  Correct stance, and correct ball position for him.  Slowly bring up the driver.

No over-swing.  Hip turned.

Swing the club.  There is a big break at the left arm.  But it’s OK.

Hip turned and let the driver turn his body.

Natural finishing position.

And he nailed it!  The drive goes straight and about 120 meter.  Big drive for an 8 year old kid (9 soon).

Very big drive.

This shall be my favourite photo for a long while.  :)

The 2nd shot he uses his hybrid.  But the ball goes to the right.

He decided to attack the green with a bunker in front of the flag.  He uses a sand wedge to make the shot.

The shot is a bit difficult for him, as he has to hit the shot from a slope going to the left.

As a result, not enough compensation, his ball goes to the left.

From there, again, he uses his sand wedge to try to bring the ball to the green.  Before he do so, let’s practise the stroke. 

Can you hear his club brushing thru the rough?  

And he make the shot.  To the left of the flag.

Left with about 20 plus feet, he putted the ball slightly over.  And then, he nailed the last putt.  

Hole #2 is a PAR 4 hole.  So, 1-2-3-4-5-6 shots.  A double boogey.

Hole #3

This hole is about 95 meter.  So, again, he will use his hybrid for this hole.

He hits the ball to the left and lie deep in the rough.

But look at his butt, his hip finishing.  He is learning the correct way of golf swing, and this will help him to have lesser injury next time.

 Coach is happy with his hips turn.  He is using his hips to deliver the ball.

Ok, he landed his ball at a slope with a deep grass.  So, coach double dare him $100 if he makes his shots on to the green.  HaHaHa… I think coach James saw his stands and knew he is going to hit into the left.  HaHaHa… And indeed, he chip the ball to the left.  But very nice solid chip.

From the edge of the green, he left with about 10-12 feet.

And he bring the ball closer to the hole.  It is a downhill.  So, he needs to control his putting strength a bit.

He nailed the hole.  It is a boogey for this hole.

Hole #4

Hole 4 is a steep uphill 100 meter hole.

Using a driver, he drives the ball to the right.  On a slope with long grass again.

He then hit the ball to the left.  Standing not the steep slope, it is hard for him to place the weight on the left foot, and then, hit the ball front.  That will throw him off balance.  But he did make the shot well.

From the left, again, is another slope.  He needs to chip the ball into the green.  And he hit the ball high up.

Here comes the difficulty putt.  It is a downhill putt.  When we tell him it is downhill, kids is like this, they immediately reduce the speed of the swing.

And they do so, in a very discrete way.  They cut the power by half.  hahahaha

If I don’t say it is a down hill he probably hit it far, but once I told him is downhill, he hit is short.  Very short.

The next hole, he miss his putt.  So, he got a double PAR for this hole.

Hole #5

This is a 196 meter PAR 4 hole.

It is a very long hole.  He drives the ball to the right.  Right side of buggy, lying on a slide slope.  Correct stance, correct swing, correct hips turn.  He hit it about 110 meter.

He is left with about 70-80 meter.  The coach asked to use a 9-Iron where he really should use a 7-Iron here.

Well, he hits it short.  And the coach thought about it, and he says he might be advising the wrong clubs just now.  hahahaha

Now, he has to hit on a slope again. 

Today is a game with lots of slope shots.

But he hits it OK.  To the left.

Just outside the green.  So, he spent 3 putts here.  A double boogey.

Hole #9

We skipped hole 6, hole 7 & hole 8.  Because Jay Jay wants to go Adventure Cove to join his friend Riyandi for water play.  So, since the coach has left, so, we skipped the three PAR-3 holes, and go straight to the last hole which is a 212 meter hole.

I reminded him about the hips turn.  And he nailed it.  The ball landed on the mark of 10 meter in front of the 100 meter marker.  So, he drives about 122 meter.  Big drive.

Then, with his trusty hybrid, he hit the second shot onto the green.

This is to show you his second shot, how far away from the pin.  Great shot Jay!

His first putt.  Miss it.  But close to the pin.

And he nailed his putt.  He score a PAR on the last hole.

He should be quite happy about this!

This is probably one of his best score I have seen so far playing so many times with him.

He has a Junior Medal game competition coming up this Sunday 2:30.  Hope it does not rain.  All the past 2 events were cancelled because of rain.

He will be competing with all these higher primary students in the group.  Let’s see how he do.

He is learning, learning fast, learning correctly.  And I think he is going to do well.

OK.  Let’s go home pick up Kay Kay and go Adventure Cove.  Well done Jay for today’s great game.

Today’s Score

=====

Hole 1 - PAR3 - 3 (PAR)

Hole 2 - PAR4 - 6 (DOUBLE BOOGEY)

Hole 3 - PAR3 - 4 (BOOGEY)

Hole 4 - PAR3 - 6 (DOUBLE PAR)

Hole 5 - PAR4 - 6 (DOUBLE BOOGEY)

Hole 6 - PAR4 - 4 (PAR)

=====

Total 6 holes

Total 21 shots - and Jay made it with 29 shots.  8 over.  Not too bad.

For a kid.

Jay And Short Game Competition

Date:  Mar 22, 2015

There is only one medal for this short game competition.

Jay is the one of the youngest in his class.  The rest I think is P4-P6.

So far he has yet to get any medal this year.  The older kids are definitely much better golfer than him.  But he enjoys it.  

Today competition is to hit putting into the hole from all direction (with slopes) and score points.

Not so hard, not so easy either.  The kids needs to learn how to read the green, read the slope and putt so that it goes into the hole.

This is one of the hole that made him proud.  He is the only kid who get the ball in twice in the long putt.  The rest did not get it in.

He still learning how to read the green, so, some holes he is in trouble.

Chip and run.  Not too bad.  And he scores.

He learned the technique and applied it in his golf game.

He has some problem in the sand bunker shots.  He did not score well there.

I think he placed his ball too far right.  That is why the swing did not catch much sands and the ball flies up high.  

Jay likes golf a lot.  Kay expressed his interest in golf too.  So, it will be very happy for us if the whole family can go to Golf Vacation trip together when they gets older.

Next week is a big day for Jay.  he is going to take part in his first every Golf Game Competition.  It will be the monthly Junior Medal game competition with his peers.  Let’s see how it goes.  Anything can happen on the golf course.  HaHaHaHa.  Good luck Jay.

Golf - My First Ever Eagle

Date:  Feb 9, 2015

I will be retiring these irons… It was boutique irons from Romaro.

I bought a new set of clubs.  Yamaha Inpres RMX UD+2 Forged Irons.  My birthday presents.

So, we go and try it out the new irons on my birthday.  We played two rounds of 9-holes at Millennium Course @ SICC.

Guess what I did?  Yes.  At the last hole Par 4, I made it in TWO.  

Yes, It is my first ever Eagle hole.  From the tee box, 213, I used my 3 Wood fired a very straight shots at the green, and it landed about 6 meter away from the flag.  And when I putt, the ball went into the hole straight.  My wife was giving me an unbelievable face when she saw me putt the ball into the hole.  And I scored an Eagle.

This is the Eagle Ball.

I just realised I hit 7 pars and 1 eagle on this Millennium Course.

Just two months ago, I scored my first ever Hole In One.  My picture came out in the club magazine.  

The club insurance gave me S$1,000 for the hole in one.  

I played a game in the morning, rang the bell, and treat everybody beer and drinks.

The happiest day.  :)

Jay's Super Putts

Date:  Mar 30, 2014

Today is outdoor day.  Here we are at the Millennium course again.  It is very hot day.

The coach is teaching them putting today.  There will be the putting distant and putting accuracy.

Also, how to read the green.  Read the slopes, and also so golf ethics.

This is the putting accuracy.  Putt to the small circuit.  There are some small slopes as well. both downhill and uphill.

Let’s take a look at how he do in a small competitions.

He scores 7 points, the highest.  (1 point for passing thru the circle, and 2 points to hit within the circle).

COOL!

 Or ya, last week was the monthly medal competition.  Again, the two winner are Jay & Martina (boys and girls team).

Last week is hitting accuracy.  Have to hit betweens the cones, and hit to the circuit for chipping too.

This is why he won last week medal.  Solid driver shot.

Not too bad iron shots too.  No topping the ball, straight and passing thru the cones, etc.

Junior Golf - Monthly Competition on Chip & Putts

Date:  Feb 23, 2014

Today, Jay Jay practise chip & putts.  Let’s look at how he chip in the ball into this hole.

Today is the monthly competition day.  Today competition is on chipping & putting.

It is a hot day, but it’s OK la.

Higher class students are competing on the long challenging putts.

Coach teaching Jay Jay on aiming, and swinging the clubs to do a correct chip.

During the practise round, he corrected a lot of bad habits.  Wow! Nearly went inside the red circle. 

OK.  After few rounds of practise.  The competition begins.  The coach are not giving any tips to the students and the students will have to do the chip & putts all by themselves.  He chip from where I stand to there, and then start his putting.

And 1 chip and 2 putts, he sinked the hole in 3.  Well done Jay Jay!

OK.  Here’s the result.  Jay won the boy’s competition.

After the competition, more practise, and more corrections.  So, he slowly improve his swings, his understanding of golf.

After the class, since there are no buddy using the green, me and Jay Jay spent another 1 hour there just to do more practise on chipping and putting.  I also teach him what I know about chipping and putting.  And we went thru different slopes, and see how the ball being chip and run.

We tried shop chip and long chip too.

Not too bad.

So, from now on, every Sunday, after his golf class, I have decided to stay back for one more hour just to practise more on the golf.  So to let him had more time to hit more balls on the real green.  Hopefully this will help him to be more familiarise with the game and slowly build his mental on the games.  

The little girl (not little actually) saw Jay Jay put both pitching wedge and putter behind his back...

She also tries to put both her clubs behind.  Cool!

Junior Golf Program

Date:  Feb 17, 2014

First I have to thank teacher Veandhan @ Fairway Golf Academy spending last year training Jay Jay.  So that Jay Jay has learned the basics of swinging a golf clubs.  He did an excellent job, and very patient too.  Last year, he brought Jay Jay to Jurong JCC 5 holes executive to let him experience golfing.  He brought him there 5 times thru out the year.  

This year, I have move Jay to a more competitive training in Golf.  Since he likes Golf so much, so I think it is also good to let him expose more to the golf the natural way.  So, yesterday it was his first day in the Junior Golf program @ SICC.  And there are a lot of kids learning and enjoying the golf there.  He actually missed last week class as he need to take his Taekwondo grading.

Wow!  Next week, there is already a monthly competition of 5 holes chip & putt.  

I like the format of the golf training program.  It is very nicely done, and I am very sure it will help the kids to improve their understanding of golf and improve their game.

 Jay Jay is enjoying every bit of the game under the scorching sunlight.

1 chip 3 putts, well done Jay.  The green is a bit hilly, so he needs to learn how to read the green properly.  Wahahaha

Good work Jay!

Meanwhile, where is mommy and Kay Kay?

Oh, she is practising golf at the driving range.  While Kay Kay is sitting there playing his game.  Wahahaha