Midwinter update

As I write this, 18th of Feb, we are six weeks or so away from the start of the season. There's been the whole acres of nonsense about Tiger Woods, snow, snow and more snow, and I've bought a new trolley. A Motocaddy S1, no less, replacing the old Frazer unit I have struggled with for the last year.

As far as Tiger goes, can I just say that I don't care what he's been doing and with whom? He is going to face a small section of the media on Friday and make some sort of apology, but I'm not sure who he's apologising to and for what. As far as I can see it's between him and his missus.

Right, what's been happening? Winter golf has been......mixed. I've been struggling with my swing off and on, but I'm quite excited because I think I've worked out what's been going wrong. Not getting my let hip out of the way quickly enough so tending to push the ball right, coupled with an annoying tendency to lift my head up on shots, so I've also been topping the ball a bit. As PG Wodehouse said - keep your head still, keep your eye on the ball and dinnae press. My swing thoughts tend to go: slow back, smooth through, and a Hollywood finish, but hey, nobody's paying me.

Our winter team includes two juniors, my son Peter and Andy Norton. Both of them are growing like bamboo, so their geometry changes on a week by week basis. Despite this, both are playing pretty well, though as a team we haven't troubled the prize table yet. Our fourth member is Eddie Robson, as last year, who is still playing two full rounds of golf a week at 84. A great guy and still very spry, though I think the hills at Mapperley are starting to take their toll a little and he says he isn't intending to play every Saturday through the summer.

Peter, Julie and I played Ruddington grange this week. Nice course only spoiled by tipping down with rain. I shot 86, which may not sound great but is a lot better than I have been playing recently. Peter had an eagle 2 on the par 4 9th, which he is unbearably smug about!

And that's it, really, except to say that it's club AGM next week and I'm standing for the committee. It is apparently going to be a vote, which will be interesting. Everywhere I have joined a committee for in the past has been only too delighted to have people willing to serve, so this is new territory. Wish me luck!