Joey's Golf Bag

Today, after work, I had another private lesson with Alan at the Golden Bear Golf Center. Mainly, we worked on the longer clubs, and followed up with a putting session. I started out hitting 3-, 5- and 7-irons. He adjusted my stance slightly, having me put the ball a bit more forward in my stance, and also balanced my weight between my feet as I tended to put more weight on my left foot. I hit the irons pretty well today.

I hit a few balls with the hybrid, not as well as I’m capable, but pretty good. We then moved on to hitting the 3-metal off the grass, a club I struggle with. Again, he moved the ball well forward of where I was playing it, and that seemed to help. We did the same with the driver, which completely refused to do anything but hook. He tried out my club and came to the conclusion that the flex was too soft for my swing. I’m having the club re-shafted with a stiff Diamana shaft; we’ll see how that turns out in a few days.

Lastly, we worked on putting. Only changes were to stand slightly closer to the ball and with my feet closer together on short putts. No change on the longer ones. He recommended a few putting drills and that ended the session.

Yesterday, after work, I practiced at Golden Bear Golf Center. The day was cool (for this time of year), sunny, with a breeze from the west. I had forgotten to bring my iPod, so my plan to continue tempo work was dashed.

I started off as usual warming up with the 7-iron and then advanced to hitting the 3-, 5- and 7-irons in random order. At first, my shots were straight and my tempo good; as I progressed, the shots because less reliable. I moved on to the driver, 3-metal and 3i HALO. I hit the 3i HALO pretty well, the 3-metal not so good, and the driver mostly refused to go straight, tending to hook.

My last practice was pin-hunting, and I had one of my best sessions, scoring 4 or 5 (on a 1-5 scale) on half the shots. Usually, I hit about one-third of the shots with a 4 or 5 score, so I was happy with the way practice ended.

Next up was putting practice, which went pretty well. My putting is improving, again.

A pretty good practice on this day.

Today, I practiced and played nine at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The weather was warm and sunny, with just a trace of a breeze.

I started off warming up with the 7-iron, and began tempo training using Tour Tempo at 27/9 with the 5-, 7- and 9-irons. My tempo was pretty poor today, and I never really got my swing working well. I guess nearly a week without the time to hit the range was too long to go and not expect my swing to degrade.

I had a rough time practicing with the longer clubs, failing to hit the driver or 3-metal decently. I did hit a number of good shots with the HALO 3i club, and the 5-iron was mixed.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. On the par 3 holes, I hit a pitching wedge to 12 ft on the first hole, and a 7-iron to 8 ft on the 7th hole. Those were the good ones. My sand wedge tee shot on the 3rd hole was just short of the green, my pitching wedge on the 5th was pulled and hit the tree to the left of the green, and my 4-iron on the last hole was chunked but ran pin-high left of the green. On the par 4 holes, I hit only one fairway, on the 4th hole, hitting into the hazard left on holes 2 and 8. On the sixth hole, pushed the 3i HALO into the trees to the right of the fairway.
• Approach shots. My approach shots on the par 4 holes were disastrous all day. On the 2nd, hit a pitching wedge thin over the hole. On the 4th, although I had a clear view of the green, the pin was protected by an overhanging tree, forcing me to attempt a punch 8-iron, which I pulled left onto a hump in the rough. On the 6th, disaster struck, starting with a pulled pitching wedge layup hit thin into a ball-eating grass bush. On the eight, pushed a 5-iron off a drop right of the hole. Very poor approach shots all day.
• Wedges. Short wedges were very good today, getting up and down on the 5th and 9th holes with beautiful lob wedges. My only poor short wedge was on the 2nd hole, but the ball still ended up a foot from the hole. Longer pitching wedge shots were either hit thin or chunked.
• Chipping. No chippping today; putted from the fringe on the 3rd hole.
• Putting. Putting was very good today, didn’t miss any from inside 6 feet and no three-putts.
• Sand shots. Terrible. Hit two very poor sand shots on the 6th hole, leading to triple bogey.

I played the final hole with Kevin, one of the instructors at HHGR. He hit an 8-iron to 2 ft and tapped in. I chunked a 4-iron, but got up and down from the rough.

Even though I played poorly with the long clubs, my short game enabled a pretty good score, in fact, the best score I’ve had on this course.

On Wednesday after work, and today after work, I spent the majority of my time on tempo training, and also on putting. I’m using the book and CD called Tour Tempo, converted to MP3 and placed on my iPod mini. Wednesday’s work with Tour Tempo at 27/9 was a bit shaky, but improved today. Much work remains to be done, but I can see improvement in tempo and a bit longer in distance as well.

On Wednesday, most of the tempo training was with the shorter irons, and I made some progress with better tempo on my full swing. Today, I hit the 8-, 6- and 4-irons; I saw good improvement with consistency with the 8-iron, somewhat better with the 6-iron, and not much improvement with the 4-iron.

Today, I also did my pin-hunting drill. Started out poorly, then got some good shots in. I never got the driver to cooperate today, though.

My mid and short iron are still going well, but the longer clubs still lack consistency. Today, most of my misses were hooks. I guess that’s an improvement over a slice… I’ve spent some time practicing putting, and still tend to leave the ball short of the hole, but my distance control is getting better. My putts are starting to miss on the “pro” side of the hole, so I think my reads are getting better.

Tomorrow, I’m playing a 4-man scramble at Fire Wheel Golf in Garland, TX, on the Lakes Course. Should be fun!

Today after work, I went to hit some balls at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. I planned to work on the issues that gave me problems yesterday, namely, tempo and tension. For the most part, I had success. The weather was cool and sunny, with a soft breeze from the southwest.

I started off hitting soft 7-iron half-swings, working on tempo and (lack of) tension. I then switched to the 8-, 6-, and 4-irons, hitting half and 3/4 swings until I felt my tension and tempo were good. With the exception of the 3-iron, I hit the ball pretty well during this drill.

Next up were the driver and 3-metal. I hit the driver pretty well today, and the 3-metal not so good, but still a bit better than yesterday.

Finally, I finished up practice with the pin-hunting drill. Very mixed results, generally good with the short irons, middlin’ with the long irons, and mixed with the driver and 3-metal. The last two drives were huge slices, don’t know where those came from, as my usual problem is low hooks. Very few of those today.

Today after work, I had my third lesson with Alan at Golden Bear Golf Center. Today, I started with the driver and 3-metal. At first, while warming up, I hit the ball pretty well with the 7-iron, the 5-iron, the driver and the 3-metal. As I warmed up, Alan watched my shots and made only minor tweaks to my stance (more shoulder tilt away from the target) and swing (wants more forearm rotation on the downswing). Near the end of the session, I had problems with tension; just couldn’t get loose. Alan had me hit short 6-iron shots gripped well down and that helped get rid of the tension. He wants me to hit that type of shot frequently if my swing doesn’t feel right. I’ve been doing punch shots with the 8-iron, and he said that’s a good shot to use as well.

We next went to the bunker to start work on sand shots. I’ve never done much work in the sand and my technique has never been good. Alan taught me a new, simple technique that he teaches beginners, and it worked very well for me. Standing in the sand, ball centered in my stance with my toes buried in the sand below my heels. Full swing. Ball out of the sand every time but once in 10 shots. A miracle! Much easier than the techniques out of Dave Pelz’s Short Game Bible.

A good lesson today, but I had hoped to show more improvement than I did.

Today after work, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to see if I could figure out why I couldn’t get the driver going on Sunday. I started out as usual hitting 7-irons into a strong 2-club breeze. My tempo was good, so I got out the 5- and 3-irons and hit some alternating shots. I hit the ball pretty well, hitting a lot of draws or very long, high hooks with the longer clubs (if only I could get that hook to go straight — I’d probably gain 20 yds). Next up, I got out the hybrid, and couldn’t hit that club at all, or the 3-metal or driver, just like on Sunday. Finally, I had an epiphany…

Following a link posted on Bomb Squad Golf, I read an interesting article on putting in Golf Digest about The Quiet Eye, which describes how good putters have “quiet eyes” when putting. I had planned to work on this technique on the putting green later in the week (time being short today). Since I was hitting the long clubs so poorly, I decided to try the same technique with the driver, focusing very carefully on the spot on the ball where I wanted to hit it. The first ball zoomed straight and true, with exceptional distance for me, even into the strong wind. Wow!!! I hit another, same result. Try it with the 3-metal. Perfect draw! I’m on to something, I’m thinking. I hit a few more balls with the driver and 3-metal, and although not all were perfectly straight, I saw definite improvement in the number of balls that would have hit the fairway.

I’ve only a few balls left, so I decide to go pin-hunting and see how this technique works with all the clubs. First up, the pitching wedge. Hit it fat. With the driver and 3-metal, I’ve been focusing on the spot I want to hit the ball, but that didn’t seem to work well for the wedge. Next shot, I focused on the front edge of the ball and hit a great shot, pulled just a bit, 85 yds into the strong wind. In fact, with the exception of a badly chunked 5-iron (I blame lack of concentration on that particular shot), I hit all the balls well, some with fades or draws, but with improved distance and better accuracy. I was hitting (I thought) a 4-iron at the blue flag about 190 yds away and hit what I thought was a perfect draw right at the flag but it came up a bit short. I’m a little stunned that the ball is a little shorter than I normally would hit a 4-iron into the wind, but then I look down and see it’s a 7-iron. Hey, not bad! Probably 20 yds farther than I usually hit a 7-iron, and into a 2-club breeze! I also hit a perfect 3-iron fade that carried 180 yds into the 2-club wind; that distance is a bit longer than I usually hit a 3-iron with no wind.

OK, maybe there’s something to this “quiet eye” stuff. More later, and tomorrow I will practice the technique with the putter as well.

I went to Hank Haney Golf Ranch this morning to practice and play nine. The weather was cool, with a slight breeze that didn’t affect golf at all.

I hit a small bucket of balls to warm up. Immediately, it was obvious that my tempo was not really good today. I tended to push the short irons, fade or slice the middle irons, and hook the longer clubs. I never got the driver to do anything but hook today, and I should have left that club in the bag. I did hit some pretty good 3-metals, but inexplicably used the driver instead of that club. What a mess!

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I did a very fine job off the tee on the par three holes, hitting four of five in regulation; the one I missed on the 7th hole was a mere foot off the green. Contrast that with the par four holes, where I missed every fairway (except the fourth hole, which rebounded off the net into the fairway) and even managed to hook a 4-iron into the left hazard on the 8th hole. The rest of misses were nasty duck hooks with the driver, including hooks into the nets on two and four (had to take an unplayable on the 2nd hole). The driver shouldn’t have come out of my bag today.
• Approach shots. Miserable performance on the approach shots today. On the second, pushed a pitching wedge right of the green. On the fourth, I pushed a 7-iron layup into the trees, and had a terrible time to reach the green in 4. On the sixth, where I had hooked the driver into the rough left behind those evil ball-eating grass bushes, I had a choice of trying to punch out through a mass of the grass bushes or go over a tall tree. I elected to go over the tall tree (given the number of balls I’ve fed those grass bushes), but just hit the top branches, and the ball fell into the rough on the right side of the green. On the eighth hole, after hitting a 4-iron into the hazard, dropped from the hazard, but had the ball well above my feet. My 5-iron chunked the ball into the hazard again.
• Wedges. I had a very good day from the tee with the wedges, hitting all three onto the greens. Other than the chunked layup sand wedge on the sixth, I had a good day with the wedges, though tending to be a bit long.
• Chipping. Surprisingly, I didn’t have a chip all day; I putted from the fringe on several holes.
• Putting. No three putts today, but still tended to leave putts short. I also holed two long par putts, but didn’t make any birdie putts, even the 9 footer on the fifth.

I was extremely disappointed with my play on the par-4 holes, but did have a very good day on the par-3 holes. If only I could play both well on the same day…

Yesterday, I practiced at Golden Bear Golf Center, hitting a medium bucket due to lack of time. After stretching, I hit 7-irons to warm up and then started hitting the longer irons. My practice on this day was pretty mediocre, with my tempo never really dialed in. I did have a good practice with the longer irons, and I also brought out the Snake Eyes hybrid to hit. In general, I hit the longer irons pretty well, but had some difficulty with the shorter irons and wedges, tending to hit them fat. Fortunately, my pin-hunting drill at the end of practice went pretty well.

This morning, I practiced and played nine at the North Texas Golf Center. Again, I hit the longer clubs pretty well, but the short irons and wedges gave me problems, hitting them fat, or hooking them hard left. Near the end of the bucket, I hit each club in succession, and did pretty well. I then followed up with a long session of chipping and a short putting session, before hitting the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I had very good distance control all day, hitting five greens in regulation, with two shots to 6 ft (unfortunately, missing both birdie putts). Two tee shots were pushed and two were pulled, the rest were on the green.
• Wedges. Mixed results, as I hit a good sand wedge on the first hole, hit one thin on the second out of bounds, and got out of the sand on the third, although not very close to the hole.
• Chipping. Pretty good chipping today, but not close enough to get up and down, unfortunately.
• Putting. Just pitiful. Three-putted the third and fifth holes, missed all five birdie putts, mostly short. Yeech!

A fine day for golf, too bad I putted so poorly today, or I would have had a very good score.

This afternoon after work, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to work on my long irons, driver and 3-metal. I also hit a few with my Ping 7 as well.

After warming up, I hit a few balls with my 7-iron, but my tempo was poor at first. I then got out the 9- and 5-irons, and my tempo got better. I worked on those clubs for a while, and then added the 3-iron. My tempo got much better and I was able to hit all the irons pretty well, even the 3-iron. Next up, I put the irons away except for the 3-iron and pulled out the driver, the 3-metal and the 7-metal. I hit the driver pretty well today, either straight or slight fades, with a slice or two thrown in when I rushed the swing. I also hit the 3-metal better than I have recently, though not as good as the driver. I also hit the 7-metal pretty well, but tended to fade, and if not careful, slice.

My final drill was pin-hunting. In general, I hit the balls pretty well. My biggest issue was pushing the longer clubs; my alignment seemed a bit off today. I also hit some wedges at the red flag, and hit them pretty much on target, instead of pulling the shots, as I’ve tended to do recently.

I had planned to do some putting practice today, but the green was being watered, so I wandered over to the short game area and hit some short wedge shots. My short wedges were mixed, mainly long today.

A pretty good practice. I’m feeling more confident with my long irons and my driver is coming along nicely. Still need work on the 3- and 7-metal, and the short game needs some work to get it back to shape.