Joey's Golf Bag

Summer has arrived here in Big D with a vengeance. Yesterday, I was able to get out early at Golden Bear and miss the really hot part of the day. Still, I sweated like a pig, as there was little breeze to compete with the bright sunshine and oppressive humidity.

I started off in the short game area, hitting short pitches from a mound just off the green in the rough. My pitches were all long, but I soon got the swing speed right and hit some really nice shots. I’m using a Stan Utley style pitch (square, narrow stance, quick set of the club and using the bounce) with my sand wedge. Next, I hit some longer pitches from the same area but to the flag just on top of the Pete Dye style bunker. My distance control wasn’t as good with the longer pitches, plus I tended to hit them right of the flag. Next, I went into that bunker and hit about 20 or so balls out of the bunker. I got the majority of them out, and about half the balls were hit really nicely.

After the short game practice, I went to the putting green. First, I hit a few balls from 12 ft just to get a feel for the speed of the green. Next, I hit 3 footers until I hit at least 10 in a row. I then ran my usual speed drills, hitting putts from 6 to 18 ft, making sure all putts went by the cup if missed (and re-doing the putt if left short), then hitting lag putts from 24-45 ft. Since I’ve gone back to the TWGT S2R model 3 putter, I’ve putted much better than with the Odyssey 3-ball. That club is in for an extended stay in my closet.

After putting, I got a large bucket of balls. I did my usual “Every Shot Must Have a Purpose” warmup, followed by extensive work with Tour Tempo 27/9. My ball striking went from terrible to mediocre, but hey, that’s an improvement. My driving was still erratic, but distance was good; just need to get the ball to go straight. Finally, I hit half pitching wedge shots to the purple-flagged green, and managed to get that nice tempo and rhythm that I’d found before I hurt my back back in April.

This morning, I was up rather late due to staying up way too late the previous night. The heat was already in full blast furnace mode by the time I got to Golden Bear. This time, I started out on the range, after getting a full bucket of balls. Since I was already warmed up and ready by the oppressive heat, I hit 5 sand wedges to get going, then hit 3 balls to each of the five greens, followed by 5 drives. I then tried to recapture the smooth rhythm I’d found at the end of my practice yesterday, but after hitting about 20 balls, couldn’t quite get it going. I took my driver out of the bag, and boom! Now, I had my rhythm. I hit the driver quite well, mostly right down the middle of the range at the 250 yd marker (measured at 234 yds with my laser rangefinder). I even was able to work the ball a little, calling draws and fades with pretty good success. My distance was a bit short, no better than 220 yd carry, but I was pleased that I was hitting the driver so well. I hit a lot of drives, taking a break or two to cool down, and then played a mock round of the front nine at Coyote Ridge.

While my driving in the mock round was not perfect, all of my approach shots, with one exception, were really good. I even made mock birdies on the par-5 4th hole, hitting the green in 2 after a good drive and a perfect 7-wood approach, and hitting a perfect 2nd shot on the par-4 6th hole after a poor tee shot. My mock front nine was only marred by a hooked approach into the water on the ninth. Still, a really nice 39 on the front. (I have a really good imagination 😉 ).

After running out of balls in that mock round, I rested for about 5 minutes in the shade, before going to the putting green. I started out hitting ten 3-foot putts in a row, missing several times and starting over, but eventually getting 20 balls in a row before I moved on. Next, I hit a few balls from 12 ft, making 3 of 5 to start off. I moved out to 18 ft, and still managed to put 2 of 5 in the cup. Next, I practiced lag putting from 24-45 ft, hitting a lot of balls from 30 and 45 ft. My 30 ft lag putting was good, getting almost all of the balls within 2 ft of the cup, but from 45 ft, only a couple of balls were within 3 ft of the cup. I still need a lot of work from 30 ft and out.

My game is starting to improve again after my long layoff due to my back injury. I was happy to see some improvement, and I hope to get back to where I was in time for the away tournament next weekend.

After more than a month of rehabbing my back, I was finally able to get back out and hit some golf balls today. And what a gorgeous day! Mid 60’s, breeze from the northeast, sunny skies!

I had an opportunity to play 18 today, but I turned down the round as I suspected that I wouldn’t have been able to break 120 today. I would have been right.

I went to Hank Haney Golf Ranch this morning to hit a few balls. I bought a small bucket and went to the range. I warmed up in the usual manner. First, 5 balls with the sand wedge, followed by 3 balls with every other club, until the driver, where I hit 5 balls with it. My ball-striking was pretty pathetic today, but I was just happy to be able to hit balls, so there was absolutely no frustration at all. I’d say I hit maybe 5 good shots out of the bucket, all of these with the driver or 4-wood. None of the clubs really worked other than those two, but I’m happy to have hit some balls. Tomorrow, I have the same plan, and to add in putting and short game work. (The putting green was closed at HHGR).

No issues at all with my back, I’m happy to say.

Life is good, even if the golf gods hate me.

On April 1, I had my latest lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. At that time, I felt that we had put in place the last missing pieces that my golf swing needed. That change was quite minor, putting my knees more over my feet at setup. This change stopped my tendency to lunge toward the target and gave me a much more firm, balanced setup. Along with a lot of swings working on making sure my hip rotation was properly done on the downswing, I felt like I now had all the pieces assembled. All I needed was tempo. The following Sunday, while hitting balls on the range at Coyote Ridge, my swing finally fell into place.

Johnnie and I were having a little contest to see who could hit the ball closest to the red flag on the right side of the range. From my position, this was a full pitching wedge shot. Depending on the wind, I would land the ball on the green or leave it just short into the bunker. Since I was having to hit a full shot to get to the target, I decided to just try a soft 9-iron instead of a hard pitching wedge, and suddenly, I’m hitting nearly perfect shots at that flag. One after another, the ball is landing right around the flag, just like magic. Johnnie looked at me while hitting the shots and commented on my smooth swing. I’d found my tempo.

We then went at the blue flag on the top of the hill. On this day, I’d brought along my new TWGT 5-hybrid to try out. With the new tempo, I went right over that flag. I was really liking my swing. I got out my 6-iron, and hit some really nice shots, all of them with a nice high trajectory, just one excellent shot after another. I’m still using that same smooth, soft swing that I’d used with the 9-iron, but I’m hitting the ball farther than usual. What the heck, I thought, let’s try a 7-iron. Suddenly, I’m nailing shots right into that green with a 7-iron, a good club longer than usual. Wow, just wow!

After that, we had a few pitching contests at the chipping green. We both were hitting some pretty decent pitches and some of them were really good. We retired thereafter for beers and conversation in the clubhouse.

The next day, after work, I decided to go hit some balls at Hank Haney. My good tempo from the previous practice was still with me and I had one of the best practices with the irons and wedges that I’ve ever had. However, near the end of practice, my lower back was a little sore, so I finished up by hitting a few pitches at the new targets in the pond. I left happy, ecstatic really, at how well my swing was coming along.

That’s when the agony started.

The next day my back was pretty sore. I thought it was just overuse, so I decided to rest it. That didn’t help. By Friday, the muscle spasms in my back were so bad I could barely get out of bed, and sitting was especially painful. I started back into my stretching and exercise routine that I’ve used before to fix muscle spasms in my back, along with sessions on the TENS machine and pain medication.

Dad came for a visit the following weekend. We usually play golf, but with my sore back, we spent the weekend watching my son play tennis alternating with long sessions in the media room watching Phil win the Masters. No golf was played, but much golf was watched.

By this last weekend, I’d found myself mostly symptom free, though long drives in the car could still induce pain. I’ve not yet gotten back on the range. It’s been more than two weeks since I hit a golf ball, and it may be another week before I feel good enough to hit balls again. I’m missing this month’s GGA tournament on Saturday. This is depressing, since I’m still tied for 6th on the total points leaderboard.

The Golf Gods hate me.

This morning, I had another lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. I hit a few balls in the fitting area to warm up and started the lesson. I told him about my difficulties with the driver (push fades) and inconsistent ball-striking with the irons (fat or thin). He had me hit a few balls and then looked at the video. My hands weren’t in front of the ball again (a re-occurring theme). He taped a rod onto the shaft of my 7-iron and had me set up normally with the rod clear of my left side. He had me hit short shots with that rod in place. At first, I hit the ball well right of the target line, but as I hit a few more balls, managed to get the ball going straight. A look on the video showed my hands well in front of the ball at impact. I took my sand wedge and hit a few short shots with it, and the video showed good impact with my hands well in front of the ball.

Next, we worked on the driver. I did a few practice swings the previous drill in mind, and then hit some shots. The first shot was a drop kick, but I started hitting some good shots. In the video, we noticed that my wrist position at the top has improved; my wrist is flatter, with the result that the clubface is no longer open at the top. My other, less important issue, was a slight reverse tilt at the top. He had me swing with a 3/4 swing, and on the video, I still had a full swing, but the slight reverse tilt was gone. He’s not concerned with that issue at the present as it is minor.

Today’s lesson was quite good, so I decided to run over to Hank Haney Golf Ranch and hit a few balls. I started off pretending that the rod was attached to my 7-iron and hit short shots. I had a difficult time of it, but I kept at it and started hitting some well-struck, but low flying shots. I changed to hitting full swings off a tee, and my ball-striking gradually got better. With the remaining balls, I played a mock round at Coyote Ridge on the range. I was pleased to say that, with the exception of one shot, well struck (not always straight, but neither fat nor thin).

I was quite pleased with my progress today. A vast amount of work remains, but my ball-striking is finally improving.

This has been a strange week for golf. On Sunday, John and I went to Top Golf to hit balls in the relative comfort of a heated driving range, with interesting targets. I hit the ball poorly; too many swing thoughts from my lessons. On Wednesday, we managed to get in nine holes before the sun went down. Again, too many swing thoughts. I won only one skin. On Thursday, I had my fifth lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. I told him about my golfing woes from the past week. We worked mainly on a slightly different setup (more shoulder tilt away from the ball) and then concentrated on getting my hands in front of the ball at impact. We also worked on getting a little more hip turn before impact. We spent the entire lesson on these two items, especially making sure that my right arm was bent at impact, and not straight. By the end of the lesson, I was beginning to my hands in front of the ball at impact on a full swing. I don’t think I’ve done that since I hurt my shoulder in late 2008.

Yesterday, after work, I made a quick run to Hank Haney to hit some balls before the sun went down. I hit a lot of balls, but not particularly well. Too many swing thoughts.

This morning, I played in the GGA tournament at Grapevine Golf Club. There was a frost delay, so I didn’t get on the first tee until about 12:30PM (my original tee time was 11:03AM). I had warmed up very nicely on the range, but didn’t know that there was a delay, so after I finished warming up, I discovered that it would be at least an hour before I teed off. Since it was cart path only, I decided to walk, so I loaded up my push cart. I prefer to walk anyway, but this is the first time I’ve walked in a tournament. We played Pecan followed by Bluebonnet.

While I was pleased that I warmed up well, I was very apprehensive on the first tee. Fortunately I striped my tee shot right down the middle, leaving me with a relatively short approach. I hit my approach pin-high, but right of the pin and two-putted for par. On the second hole, my tee shot was hit a tiny bit fat and I was short and left of the flag. I hit a nice chip and made a short putt for par. On the third hole, I hit yet another nice tee shot, but my approach shot was hit dead right into the crap above the green. I didn’t find the ball, took a drop and proceeded to make a mess of the hole, making triple. Still, I had a good nine, shooting 45 despite way too many swing thoughts.

On the back, things came a little undone. My short game gave up the ghost, and I either hit my wedges fat and short, or thin over greens. Ugly. Still, managed to get around in 53 despite two triples and a quad. I finished up by hitting the pin on the 9th hole on Bluebonnet and tapping in for bogey.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Off the tee. I hit 8 of 14 fairways and one par-3 hole in regulation. I had one penalty off the tee, a topped hybrid on Bluebonnet #4.
• Approach shots. I hit four greens in regulation. I had one penalty off an approach shot, a 7-wood hit dead right into the crap on #3 on Pecan. I was just off the green on several shots, so not so bad.
• Wedges. Wedges just ate my lunch on the back, either hitting them fat and short, or thin and over the green. Seriously stinky. My only memorable shot (after hitting an approach wedge so fat that the greens crew sent out a backhoe to fill in the divot) was a 1/2 swing approach wedge that hit the pin on #9 on Bluebonnet and dropped 3 ft away. By some miracle, I made the putt (for bogey).
• Chipping. I got up-and-down only four times, so I wasn’t particularly thrilled with my chipping. I tended to hit my chips long.
• Sand shots. I hit into only one bunker, a fairway bunker on #7 on Pecan. I attempted to hit a pitching wedge to the green, but the ball caught the lip and went back in. My second bunker shot was nicely hit onto the green.
• Putting. On the front, I had only 15 putts, but had four (!) 3-putts on the back. I had a total of 36 putts, pretty darn stinky.

Well, I played decently on the front, but my putting and wedges really stank on the back. Still, 98 was my best tournament score, and considering the very cold and cloudy weather, not too bad. I’ll probably be in the money.

Update: I came in 2nd gross for the tournament, and I’m now second on the leaderboard. 🙂

This afternoon after work, I had a lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. I told him about my good driving the last time I played last Friday, and also how bad my irons had been. My main issue on the course was inconsistent contact with the ball. Sometimes I hit the ball fat, sometimes thin. I just could never make solid contact on the ball. He had me hit a few balls with the pitching wedge so he could see what was happening. The first thing he noticed was I didn’t have enough shoulder tilt. We fixed that easily, I just setup the same way I do when I hit the driver, plus a little more forward lean of the club. This change helped immediately with making better contact on the ball.

Next, we noticed on the video that my hips were nearly square to the line at impact. That looks like my main issue right now. We worked on getting my left hip to turn properly so that my hips are turned toward the target at impact. This change was a little hard to get used to, but certainly necessary. He wants me to initiate the downswing by turning my hips to the left. I thought I was doing that, but it was clear on the video that I wasn’t. He gave me a drill to help with that. I hit a few balls trying to get the hip turned properly, and on the occasion when the club hit the ball, I made powerful contact on the ball.

Next week, we’re going to work on my position at the top. The clubhead is quite a bit open at the top, so that’s what we’ll work on next week, and also check that my hips are turning properly.

I’m making progress, more slowly than I’d like, but I’ve had little time to practice due to work schedule and bad weather.

On Monday afternoon this week, the weather finally got out of the freeze zone and I was able to hit a bucket of balls before the sun went down at Golden Bear. I didn’t hit the ball very well, too many swing thoughts from my lesson the previous week. Most of the balls that were well struck were going dead right 15 to 30 degrees right of the target. I had problems with tempo as well, due mostly to lack of practice because of the very cold weather.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to Hank Haney Golf Ranch to hit some balls. The weather was pleasantly warm and sunny, but there was still ice on the pond, see photo.

Well, I managed to make the short irons go straight, more or less, but the long clubs were all going right. The driver, well, let’s not talk about the driver, other than to say, if players were on the 2nd green, they’d be in danger.

Today, I went to a golf lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy, and what an outstanding lesson it was. While my swing had marginally improved from the last lesson (grip was good, posture better, much less sway on the downswing), my swing path still needed work. My main issue was that I wasn’t in a good position at the top of the backswing, and that’s where we spent the bulk of the time. First, he put a Swingyde on my 7-iron and that device, once I made a few swings, improved both my swing path and my release. Next, he focused on getting me into a good position at the top of my backswing. Once he got me to move into the right position, the ball started going straight and my clubhead speed was really improved.

Wow, just wow.

OK, I know it will take weeks or months to get this improved swing (a pretty classic Jim Hardy one-plane swing) grooved, but the improvement on the video was amazing.

Much work to do, but I’m feeling more optimistic than I’ve felt in the two years since I first broke 90.

The third round of the Women’s British Open is just about in the books, and Catriona Matthew leads at -4. Christina Kim will be in the final group at -1. Paula Creamer lurks 6 back at +2.

Here’s how my favorite players played today.

• Christina Kim -1 2nd
• Paula Creamer +2 T7
• Michelle Wie +7 T30
• Morgan Pressel +9 T40

After a nice vacation, I’ve finally achieved a state where nothing in my body hurts when I swing a golf club. No muscle spasms in my back, no sore shoulder, no tendonitis in my right elbow. Life is good!

Of course, after my long layoff of not playing or practicing, my golf game has gone south. I played last Thursday at Trails of Frisco and the only thing I can say positive about that day was I didn’t die of heat stroke. And should you need a ProV1, be sure to search carefully in the woods and long grass, as I left a bunch there. You’ll know they’re mine by the blue arrow on them.

In the meantime, I’ve created a practice bag and a playing bag. The idea here is that my playing bag uses clubs that are more forgiving than the clubs in my practice bag. My playing bag you can find on the In the Bag page. My practice bag consists of:

• TWGT 525GRT driver
• TWGT 949MC 4-wood and 7-wood
• TWGT 550C irons, 4-AW
• TWGT PCF Micro SW and LW
• Adams Golf Dixx Putter

I also have a new TWGT stand bag for my playing bag, which is about a pound or two lighter than the Great Divider stand bag I’ve been using for the past couple of years. That bag served me well, but is showing signs of wear and I had to repair the stand with some cable ties.

I also picked up a discontinued Adams Dixx putter just before my vacation. This putter has a little computer on it that determines path, clubface position, speed and tempo of the putt so I can work on fixing my putting. I’ll post a review in a couple of weeks after I’ve used it for a few weeks. I’d planned to use it when I played on Thursday, but forgot to put it in my bag. It is very promising so far, but a little quirky in the way it works.

I’m also getting ready to build a few new clubs. I’ve new 4-, 5- and 7-wood clubheads from TWGT and also new CX Micro wedges to replace the PCF Micro wedges I’ve worn out. I’ll get those done this week if all goes to plan.

Finally, I did manage to hit a few balls at Hank Haney Golf Ranch after lunch. There was intermittent rain and a light breeze from the east. I managed to run through two tokens before the rain started coming down a bit harder and I started to get soaked. I spent most of the session getting the driver to go straight, and also spent some time with tour tempo and short irons. I’ve got a long path ahead of me to get my game back in order, but at least nothing hurts and I can practice without pain.

I’ve been limited in my practices to short pitches, chips and putting for the last couple of weeks due to muscle spasms in the muscle just below my left shoulder blade. I’ve hit very few full shots since I last played in the April tournament. My short game and putting are improving, though, so I’m pretty happy otherwise.

I’ve made a few changes to the equipment in my bag. My two PCF Micro wedges are worn out, so I’ve put back into the bag my CX Micro SW and LW I built a while back. These have hardly been used.

I’m also going back to using my 949MC 4-wood and 7-wood, not because I’m unhappy with my 525FD 3-wood or 919THI 5-wood (after all, these clubs produced my first tournament birdie). I just thought I’d like to try a different arrangement in my bag. I also put my 525GRT driver back in the bag, just for fun.

Though my back still isn’t 100%, I plan to play tomorrow. I’ve found that if I limit my follow-through, it puts less stress on my back.

That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.