Eurosport - Fri, 13 Nov 10:35:00 2009
GolfMission has been a buzzword for a few months now and we jumped at the chance to see what it's all about.
"GolfMission is an exciting addition to every round and gives players of any ability an incentive to play better," read the press release that dropped through our door.
It certainly got us thinking but we can say with honesty that we made the trip to Kent with a touch of cynicism in the forefront of our mind.
Now Eurosport-Yahoo! do not profess to be the best in the world, but we can say that we are always trying to hit the fairway and make the putts - hence the cynicism.
Pulling into the car park on a cold but glorious day, we did not know what to expect. Motivational speaking that would put Anthony Robbins to shame or a magic tool that would lop shots off our handicap?
Well there was a little bit of the former as we knocked back a hot cup of coffee, before being presented with a GolfMission pack.
The suggestion is that GolfMission will improve your focus and help you handle the pressure moments out on the course. But how does it do this?
You are presented with a gamecard which contains missions for you to complete through the course of your round and it became clear how it helps on the first hole.
A shocker of drive down the right left Eurosport-Yahoo! in all sorts of trouble. A drop, hack out sideways, long iron and pitch onto the green later left us staring at a 25-footer for a SIX. On other occasions the red mist would have descended and the putt would have been charged past, followed by a miss coming back leaving an eight on the card. However, one of the challenges was to two putt or better four holes in a row. So, with this in mind the 25-footer was lagged up and the tap-in made.
Yes it was a seven, but the first part of one of the missions had been accomplished and the walk to the second tee was not the depressing one that it could have been.
A host of different cards come in the pack, meaning you and your playing partners are faced with different challenges.
Gavin Lawler has been one of the success stories of GolfMission, with his handicap coming down from 9.6 to 4.4 in the three months he has used it, and he told us that it improved his focus out on the course.
"The way I think on the course has been transformed," he said shortly after smashing a long iron into Position A on the 18th. "My focus is always on my golf and my shot selection is so much better."
The aim is clearly to focus the mind rather than tinker with the mechanics of your swing or thrust a new piece of equipment costing hundreds of pounds into your bag.
Geoff Chapman is the brains behind the operation and so convinced is he of its merits he has sold his acclaimed restaurant to take GolfMission to market.
Chapman clearly believes GolfMission can help overcome the mental battle that so frustrates golfers.
"It is often said that the simplest ideas are the best and the concept behind GolfMission is quite simple," he said. "But it is also said that 90 per cent of golf is played between the ears, yet as amateur golfers we spend thousands of pounds on training gimmicks just to help us try to find an advantage in the other 10 per cent."
You will not need to spend thousands to put GolfMission to the test, as the starter pack comes in at £10 with the box set retailing at £19.99.
It is a great accompaniment to your social round of golf and would be ideal for society days and those golf tours that can throw strangers together.
Time and again you see people walking round a course without uttering a word to their partners, but we were constantly checking on our mission progress and it proved to be the ideal ice-breaker.
It can be played as an accompaniment to your usual Stableford or stroke-play format and Eurosport-Yahoo! will certainly be keeping it close to hand.
For more information on GolfMission, visit www.golf-mission.com.
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