Photo from the East side of the 8th fairway, courtesy of www.thelakesgolfclub.com.au

I received a pleasant phone call Tuesday afternoon which came as quite a surprise. There were a mass of withdrawals for the Australian Open on Monday which allowed a bunch of reserves to get a start. That obviously includes my name!

So I drove straight home and jumped online to get an early flight out on Wednesday. The time frame for preparation very short and today was actually my first look at The Lakes GC. The greens are diabolical. My gosh! Slopes, tiers and valleys everywhere. You could have some nasty putts where you may even be better off pitching the ball. Given todays rainy weather it was a little hard for me to tell how this course will play but thank goodness the greens have now softened off a bit.

I picked up a new driver yesterday which is fantastic! Thank goodness it came. The driver I’ve been using was a terrible fit for me and the difference became really clear when I hit my new driver. It is a Ping Driver with a Mitsubishi Kai’li shaft.

Anyway, much work is to be done and good concentration is needed. Well placed approach shots will be critical to have any chance of sinking some putts and getting into contention.