Hola lectores, al igual que el Lumpa Oompa que cayeron en la cuba de azcar, este blog semanas ser tambien ser corto y dulce.

Which basically means "hello readers, like the Oompa Lumpa who fell in the vat of sugar, this weeks blog will also be short & sweet!"


 

Yes, the weekly Newsletter has gone International and this week comes to you live and loud from a Lanzarote living room!

With the season hurtling towards us at a speed of knots and my impending 40th Birthday beating it to the final lap bell, I took the opportunity to get away for a short break before I once again sacrifice my living and breathing existence to the Golfing Gods.

Let's just get one thing out the way early........the weather is lovely!! Ok, that's that covered and I promise I won't mention it again......although I might just pop a few random photos in just for sheer devilment!

To be honest, you deserve that kind of tranquility after the physical and psychological endurance you go through just trying to get to your destination! But that in itself provides interesting social observations!

Let's start with trying to book a flight! Now, I'm no aviation expert but you'd think when you book a 'flight' that at the very least you are ensuring a vessel with the ability to get airborne (let's call it a plane!), a suitably qualified driver (let's call them the pilot), and a comfortable object to secure yourself to for the duration of the journey (let's call that a seat!).

Turns out not to be strictly the case! 

Yes, we are back on that old chestnut, the joy of Online Shopping! So here is your starter for 10! 

Q: When is an Online Price not an Online Price!? 

BZZZZZZ! "Fry - Cambridge" 

A: Is it when they hide elements of the cost to make it look cheaper than it is so they get higher rankings on Comparison Websites!?

Turns out you can buy a flight but not necessarily guarantee yourself a seat on that plane unless you pay extra! Otherwise it's Russian Roulette at the Check In desk with the others who decided not to secure a seat! This means the airline could, if they wanted to, oversell tickets for that flight!

Now, I may be a Fifer and now an adopted Aberdonian but I wasn't going to fall into the stereotype nor take the chance so I stumped up the extra dough and reserved our seats. Oh but wait!! Having clicked to do that I became such a valued customer that I was offered a fantastic 3 for the price of 2 incentive! The 3 things being, the aforementioned padded deck chair with the concrete armrests and 2" reclining feature, a bag allowance unless you were able to survive a 7 day holiday on 6 kgs of clothes and under 100ml of toiletries, and some inflight food poisoning.....I mean a meal! All for the bargain price of £35! 

So now with choice, and for only a few pounds more than a standard seat, I decided to select front row seats! More leg room, nearest the toilet, easy on and off the plane.......on paper a 'No Brainer!'????

On plane however, not quite the case! You get called last to board the flight by which time you find no space in any over head locker for your hand luggage, and as you have no seat in front of you to put it under the only other option is to wander down the length of the plane looking for a space. Perhaps not a major inconvenience before takeoff, but when the etiquette on landing appears to be grab your bag and make a charge for the exit as soon as the seat belt sign goes off, the 'front rowers' now basically have to wait on the plane emptying! 

Still it was convenient for the toilet though.....or was it? At no point was the toilet queue shorter than a Primary School Christmas Party Conga, so the front rowers again had very little chance to join it....not even when the music stopped! Then factor in that every time the person leaving the toilet tried to get back to their seat it required squeezing past the assembled ensemble, resulting in what I'll describe as some unwanted cheek to cheek action!

So from one Butt to another, and but for leaving the plane later then hoped you know that you will still need to wait on your bags at what I like to call the Carousel of Chaos.

You'd think the way these grown adults were wedged Rizzla tight to the carousel so they wouldn't miss a trick that that the conveyor belt was about to deliver relief aid to Syrian refugees, with not enough to go around!

Nothing stranger than folk!


 

Peculiar people brings me nicely to this week's golfing gossip. 

Even he'll admit it but Bubba Watson is as 'Out There' as one of his prodigious drives. The guy who unfortunately says it like it is, but not necessarily always saying what he means!! After some comments a few weeks ago were misconstrued, Bubba struggled with his form. He had just missed the previous 2 cuts and pegged it up at Riviera for the Phoenix Open quite low on confidence.

However an opening 66 put him in a Tie for 2nd and created a platform for him to kick on from. The same couldn't be said for Americas No 1, Jordan Spieth. Jordan notched up his worst opening round as a Tour Pro when he shot 79!! But if we mere mortals can take anything from that, it is that even the best have bad days. If you need more evidence click here to check out a clip of Master Spieth trying to put things right on the Range after his round! You know it's not your day when this happens!

But back to Bubba, he had previously won at Riviera two years ago so clearly the course brings back good memories for him and allowed him to get in a more positive frame of mind. All those positive, confidence inducing vibes got him back playing well. So well that he won the event and he never changed anything about his game. He didn't panic and have an emergency lesson with a coach or tinker with his technique or technology.

It's such an interesting aspect of playing to your potential - Belief! Hearing Bubba talking about his victory and mindset that week coincided with me taking a very powerful book on holiday with me.

Many Golfers around the world have invested in the words and philosophies of Dr Bob Rotella. In this case "Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect".

It's obviously very in depth and thorough, but there are a couple of basic elements that tie in very much with the secrets to Bubbas success last week that we, as golfers, can all learn from.

Firstly, to play good golf in the immediate future (i.e. the next shot) you have to draw on the good feelings of the past. When you're faced with a certain shot, don't think about what you need to do or what you shouldn't do. Instead search the memory banks for the times you hit this exact shot perfectly, visualise how it looked, revisit how it felt, know that you can make that shot, then let it happen. You are far less likely to get in your own way and much more likely to execute!

The second part is, if you expect and hope your physical play will become consistent, then you must make sure your mental routines are equally as consistent.

So in other words, for your shots to be more consistent your swing needs to repeat, as does your physical pre shot routine and your mental pre shot routine.


Positive thinking and better routines are definitely high on my agenda now too. Largely because by the time you read this I will officially be a fully-fledged adult! Thursday was my Big Four-O, and for the first time ever I can say that my golfing career is on a Par with Tiger Woods! Neither of us have hit a ball since the autumn of last year, have dodgy knees and a niggling back problem. In fact if this holidays sunbathing goes according to plan you might struggle to tell us apart at all!

One thing I might have over Tiger is that now I own a Kilt! Something I've always promised myself I'd get and thought what better treat to give myself for my landmark birthday. But it does bring me back to my 'Hidden Extras/False Advertising' rant from earlier!

I'd previously seen the Kilt outfit I wanted years earlier in a Highland Outfitters whilst I was in Glasgow and set about trying to find it again up here in Aberdeen. However it transpired that this was an outfit that only this Outfitters in Glasgow did. So I visited their website, where I saw the outfit I wanted and it detailed the price (not cheap but I won't divulge) and all the pieces you received in the package. So I arranged a fitting appointment and headed to Glasgow.

As you would expect, the pictures they used in their website were of a strapping young Scotsman making the kilt and outfit look magnificent. At the fitting took place I was informed that there was an "£85 surcharge for the Kilt Material!". To this day I've still not heard a logical explanation of why you can advertise a price of a kilt that excludes the cost of the material! I started to think if I didn't pay it I would end up with "the Emperors new Kilt!" with which it would be pretty easy to see if I was a 'True' Scotsman or not! Perhaps the only thing that would spare my blushes would be my Sporran!.....but it wouldn't be the Sporran pictured with outfit in the Website picture! Nooooo, it would be a much more boring and basic black one unless I wanted to pay the £59 difference! Oh, and lastly the shoes he was wearing were not the ones that came with the outfit either! If you wanted them they were £30 more too!

I tried to imagine what it would be like if I adopted some of these methods, or more importantly how the Customers would react!

The only thing hidden in my Prices are the things you DO get that you DON'T have to pay for!

FREE Advice, Green Grass Trial and Expert Fitting. After Sales care and a Record of Purchase and a hassle free Returns procedure. Trade In facility and Multi payment options WHEN you receive the goods, not before.

Our Shop and Services to you are delivered honestly, genuinely to a high standard and most importantly we care about our Members. All we ask is for your support.

It seems some Members care about us too, and I was really touched last week when I received Birthday Cards and Presents from some Members before I left for my holiday. 

I guess, by the gifts I received, they've got to know me well in the 13 months I've been at the Club.......an ageing alcoholic!!

Thanks to the wonderful weather the Course has really come on a.......oh no, wait! Sorry that's the weather outside my Villa I'm thinking of......oops!

More up to date course news next week!

   

Due to me being busy with Jury Duty most of last week, I managed to get a week's extension for my assignment. So I have been concentrating on that after work. After this I have one more assignment which I'll only have two weeks to do!

This week's alliance was at Montrose but unfortunately due to the frost in the morning, we were on winter greens. The strange thing was that we were playing on fairways! I was off at 12 so the ground was no longer hard and it was a fine day for golf. There was 16 holes open and I shot 64 which was a few shots back. The winner had 58. 

Next week is at Duff House Royal.


 

Glitz Band - Saturday, 12 March 

From 7pm 

To Book Tables & Tickets see the Bar Staff.