Joey's Golf Bag

This morning, Jarvis and I practiced and played nine at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The day was cloudy and cool, with the breeze from the west.

I had a very poor practice today, seemingly unable to hit any good shots at all until the end of practice, where I smoked a 5-iron right at the pin to the left side target green. Other than that, probably my worst practice since I started playing golf.

Jarvis and I decided to match play today. My first shot, a pitching wedge, was shanked into the water on the first hole. Jarvis put his tee shot in the left bunker, got the ball out and nailed a 25 ft putt to go 1 up. On the second, we both played poorly, but Jarvis pulled out the hole to go 2 up. On the third, Jarvis was on the green, but I hit a sand wedge fat and then chipped to about 8 ft. Jarvis left his putt short, I missed my putt for par and he missed his putt, so we halved the hole.

On the fourth, I hit a 5-iron into the center of the fairway; Jarvis chunked his tee shot and then hit the next shot into the hazard. My next shot, a high 7-iron trying to fly over the trees, just struck a branch and left me just in front of the hole. Jarvis conceded the hole and that left him 1 up.

On the fifth, I pulled a sand wedge and hit the tree on the left. Jarvis put his ball on the green, but then proceeded to three putt and allow me to halve the hole. On the sixth, I hit a 5-iron off the tee into the center of the fairway, then a nice pitching wedge layup, followed by a x-wedge shot pushed into the bunker. I won the hole after Jarvis pushed one right into the harzard, to even the match.

On the seventh, I hit a 6-iron thin short of the hole, chipped short and two putt to win the hole after Jarvis hit his second over the green. On the eighth, hit another 5-iron into the center of the fairway, then hit a 9-iron a little fat just short of the green, chipped to 4 ft and hit the par putt, to win, after Jarvis’ par putt missed. At that point, I’d won the match 2 & 1, but we finished out the ninth hole anyway, which I won with a two putt bogey after hitting a 9-iron fat short of the hole.

After the terrible practice, I got my swing back on the fourth hole, and played pretty well after that. That redeemed my day of golf.

This afternoon, I played at Indian Creek on the Lakes course. The day was very warm and sunny for the first day of October, over 90F, and a little breezy. We went off at 2:40 PM and finished at 7:10 PM, so it took us 4-1/2 hours to get around the course. We were waiting on the group in front of us most of the day.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I had a pretty good day off the tee, hitting six fairways and two par-3 holes in regulation. Six seems pretty poor, but most of the ones that missed were just off the fairway (and one went long into a fairway bunker). I had only two poor tee shots, one a slice that splashed into the pond on the 7th hole and another slice that went clear over into the next fairway on the 8th. Not one hook at all, my usual fault.
• Approach shots. Here’s where things got ugly. I hit only one, count ’em, one green in regulation that wasn’t a par 3. Terrible shots. Couldn’t hit the hybrid to save my life. Hit irons long, hit them short, hit them right, hit them left, seemingly everywhere but on the green. 😥
• Wedges. Awful, just awful. When I wasn’t leaving them short, I was hitting them long. My short game just deserted me today; I got up and down only twice.
• Chipping. Didn’t chip very often, had one good chip to two feet, but the rest weren’t close.
• Sand shots. Hit into only one bunker, a fairway bunker on the 12th hole. I hit a clean shot out, but should have used one more club, so the ball got wet.
• Putting. Pathetic. Four 3-putts. I left most long putts well short, in spite of my hard work over the last few weeks. On the practice green, I’m a monster; on the course, I’m a kitten. No insult to kittens, you understand.

The only good thing in my game today was the driver. The rest of my game was a disaster.

Still had fun, though. 😯

Jim, Jarvis and I practiced and played nine at the crack of dawn this morning before work, at The Practice Tee in Plano. We hit a few balls, putted and chipped, and then hit the course on this cool, partly cloudy, breezy morning.

Since I arrived before the fall opening time of 8AM, I chipped and putted until the ball machine was unlocked. I chipped a few dozen balls, tending to leave them a bit short (except for one or two that I skulled across the green). I then ran my usual putting drill, which went pretty well. By that time, balls were available, so I got a small bucket and started hitting 3/4 sand wedge shots, working on keeping my lower body still and my hip turn moderate. I had some difficulty with consistency in distance, though direction was pretty good. I then got out the 7- and 9-irons, and again had difficulty with getting a consistent strike on the ball with my “new, improved” swing (as usual, making a swing change makes me worse before it makes me better).

With my last few balls, I got out the longer clubs and hit some balls off tees with the 5-iron, 2i and 3i hybrids and the big stick. I struck the driver well, though tending to fade the ball. The hybrids were pretty poor, either hitting slices or chunking them. I hit some good 5-iron shots, though tending to draw them. Out of balls, we hit the course.

The course was in pretty poor condition due to the drought and on-going maintenance. The first hole is being reconstructed and is currently replaced with about a 50 yd first hole. Two other holes had half the green stripped off and the sod used to reconstruct the first hole. The fairways, if they can be called that, were a mix of bare spots and deep cracks from lack of rain. The greens were in pretty good condition, though the tee boxes were pretty much suffering from overuse and the drought.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I was pretty pathetic off the tee, hitting only one green in regulation on the 50 yd first hole with a 3/4 lob wedge. Mostly, I was short and right, as my “new, improved” swing isn’t, yet, “new and improved”. I also didn’t do a good job of judging the wind today, either.
• Wedges. Very mixed. Chunked one, hit a couple long and over the green. In general, yeech! 😐
• Chipping. I had one very nice chip to tap in distance, but otherwise not very impressive, as indicative of my score.
• Sand shots. None, didn’t hit into any bunkers today.
• Putting. The only positive note today was my putting, taking only 13 putts today and no three putts. The results could have been even better, as I lipped out at least 3 putts for par. My only birdie putt of about 11 ft was left 6″ short. My longest putt hit was a par putt from 15 ft on the 6th.

On Friday afternoon, I played at The Golf Club at Vistoso, located just north of Tucson in Oro Valley, AZ. I went off the 10th tee at around 2:45 PM, playing with a retired golfer from Kansas City. We were behind six foursomes playing 4-man scrambles, so the going was very slow. At the turn, instead of playing the front nine, we played the back again and had the course pretty much to ourselves and were able to play very fast and get 18 in before the sun went down.

Because of rules requiring new golf courses in Tucson to be limited to 45 irrigated acres, only tees, fairways and areas around the greens are grass, the rest is desert scrub (cactus, brush, sand, various desert plants, trees and bushes — quite beautiful, actually). Any balls hit into the desert are pretty much lost unless you get lucky, so golf on this course is target golf. Get it on the fairways and close to the greens, or your ball is in the desert. Fortunately, the fairways are pretty generous, but you must be very controlled on your distances. All tee areas go over desert on their way either to fairways or greens, so accuracy is important, as is distance control. Most par-5 holes consist of two landing areas separated by strips of desert, so distance control is very important. Most of the greens have false fronts and layup areas in front of them.

We only played the back nine, but the par 3 holes were quite challenging, none short, with deep bunkers protecting most of the greens. The most interesting hole on the back nine is the 14th, a short par-4 hole, called “Risky”. The par-4 fairway is divided into two parts separated by desert, giving you the choice of laying up using a short iron off the tee, a 200 yd carry to the fairway ajoining the hole, or for long hitters, going directly at the hole.

While the course is quite beautiful, the course had just been scalped. The fairways were very firm and tee shots ran very long. This caused me trouble on the par-5 holes, as my normal distances were much, much longer than usual due to the scalped fairways. The greens were in pretty good condition, though there were a few bare spots, not unusual at the end of summer.

All in all, a very nice course. I want to play it again on my next visit to Tucson, when the fairways are green and the greens are perfect. Still, I enjoyed the course and would highly recommend it for golfer who want a tough course that demands accuracy and distance control.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ryan and I played 18 at the Randolph North Golf Course in Tucson. Randolph North is the best of five Tucson, AZ municipal courses, and was the location of the Ping / Welch’s LPGA Tournament. The course was built in 1925 and is a traditional course built for walking. The course was in very good condition, considering it is the end of summer and will soon be re-seeded for the winter. The greens were in excellent condition; the fairways showed signs of summer stress. The weather was warm and partly cloudy, and we got a brief burst of rain on the 12th hole, which left a stunning rainbow over the course.

We went off the first tee at about 2:45 PM and finished well before the sun went down, in about 3-1/2 hours. We seldom waited on any holes even though the course was pretty full.

My score:

Themes:

• Tee shots. I had a pretty respectible day with the driver, hitting about half the fairways. I was less successful on the par-3 holes, hitting only the 15th in regulation.
• Approach shots. Here’s where I continue to struggle. I had a pretty mediocre day with approach shots. An illustrative hole was the par-5 ninth. I hit a driver into the center of the fairway, then misjudged the distance to the creek running in front of the green and put the ball into the water. I took a drop and placed a short wedge shot to about 30 ft, which I promptly holed for par. Basically, although my distance control was pretty good, I sprayed approach shots all around the greens and almost never on them. On the back par-5 holes, I was chunking shots left and right, simply awful.
• Wedges. Pretty mediocre, getting close on very few shots, and flying the green on more than one hole. I managed to get up and down on only about three holes, and that’s some ugly golf.
• Sand shots. I hit into only one bunker, and got out, but not close, to the hole.
• Chipping. For the most part, I wasn’t close enough to the hole to chip, so was left with short wedge shots.
• Putting. Putting improved somewhat, as I tended to hit long putts past the hole instead of leaving them short as I so often do. I nailed a 30 ft putt for par on the ninth, and another long one for par on the 11th. I had only two three-putts that I remember, but I didn’t keep stats like I usually do.

I played poorly today, but the course was very fun. It seems easy at first glance, but is more difficult than it seems from its length.

This afternoon, I played eighteen at Arizona National Golf Club, on a warm and sunny day in the desert. The course is visually stunning, well designed and fitting with the land. The fairways were in nearly perfect conditions, though the rough was, well, a bit rough, meaning some bare spots. The only downside was the bentgrass greens were in pretty sad condition. They’ll be re-seeded for the winter shortly, though.

I warmed up in the practice area just off the first hole, starting with the lob wedge, then moving to the 7-iron, and last with the driver and 3i hybrid. The lob wedge started pretty inconsistent distance-wise, though direction was good, but got better as I warmed up. I never really hit the 7-iron or longer clubs consistently. Finally, I putted for a few minutes and went to play.

I went off at about 2:15 PM and finished the day at 5:45 PM, so a full round took only 3-1/2 hours. I went off just behind two high school golfers walking, who courteously let me play through, as I was in a cart. I soon had out-run them and had the course pretty much to myself until the turn. At that point, I caught up with a foursome of the University of Arizona golf team (and, WOW!, those guys can hit a driver). They soon outdistanced me and I didn’t see another golfer until I finished the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Off the tee. When I warmed up, I hit the driver pretty poorly, so I left it in the bag and hit it on only two holes, one of which flew into a swampy area for a penalty, and the other ended up in a fairway bunker. The rest of the time, I teed off with the 2i or 3i hybrids, mostly the latter, and hit 9 of 13 fairways, which is very good for me. I hit only one of the five par-3 holes in regulation, but that was a very nice 6-iron.
• Approach shots. Very mixed results. I hit only four greens in regulation today, and one of those was a par-3 hole. Mostly, I hit hooks or pushes, which left me to one side or the other of the greens. On the par-5 holes, I reached only one in regulation, but I did end up in the fairway after my second shots on three of the four par-5 holes.
• Wedges. Better today than the last time I played, but still not very good, getting up and down on four holes in total. I did stiff one short wedge shot to 18″ on the 15th hole, but that only saved double.
• Bunker play. I had one stellar bunker shot to about 4 ft, but that was after chunking the first one. I was in two fairway bunkers, chunked both of the shots. This surprised me, as I never had any difficulty before hitting out of fairway bunkers; those cost me at least two shots.
• Chipping. Pretty poor today, tended to be long.
• Putting. I had a total of 36 putts, which included four greens with a single putt and four 3-putts. Yeech.

Despite my poor play, I was pleased that I never got angry or upset at any time on the course, and just played and had fun. That in itself is remarkable for me, as I tend to be a somewhat emotional player when playing alone.

I had tremendous fun today, and highly recommend the course (once the greens get back into shape after the brutal Tucson summer).

This afternoon, Jarvis and I played nine at the Lake Park Executive Course in Lewisville. The day was warm, with a soft breeze from the southeast. We chipped and putted and then hit the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. Pretty good off the tee today, hitting two greens in regulation and one of two fairways. My irons were typically just left of the green; I’m drawing them a bit too much, but every tee shot but one was about pin-high (the exception was a pitching wedge on the 2nd hole, which I hit thin over the green). The one fairway hit was a perfect 3i hybrid down the middle; the second fairway was missed when I pushed the drive well right.
• Approach shots. On the fourth hole, I hit a 6-iron a bit thin but pin-high just left of the green. On the fifth hole, I had a shot at the green, but since I was well right, I would be hitting over the sixth green, and players were on that green, so I used a 9-iron to lay up. Unfortunately, someone yelled from the road at the moment I hit it and it went long into the rough.
• Wedges. Just atrocious. On the fifth hole, hit a sand wedge fat from the rough, then hit a lob wedge over the green. A second lob wedge sailed 45 ft from the hole, and I three-putt from there for a snowman.
• Chipping. Chipping was pretty poor today, none closer than about 6 ft. This in spite of 2 days of chipping practice in my back yard. My feel for chipping and putting is just awful lately.
• Putting. Awful, just awful. Only a single 1-putt green, the second, where I hit a 6 ft putt for par. On both three-putts, I hit the first putt well short and the second well past the hole. A total of 19 putts. 😡

I was very frustrated with my short game today, but pretty pleased off the tee. I was drawing the ball very consistently today, but not compensating for it in my stance, thus, the ball was just left of the green on just about every hole.

Beats working, I guess.

This afternoon, I played nine at the Executive Course at Lake Park in Lewisville. The weather was heavily overcast, barely any wind, and a light rain fell throughout the round. I walked up to the first tee, stretched a little and started playing.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

• First hole, par 3, 160 yds. Hit a towering draw with a 5-iron pin high about 10 ft left of the green. Hit a very poor chip with the lob wedge and two putt from there for bogey.
• Second hole, par 3, 108 yds. Hit a pitching wedge to 21 ft and just missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.
• Third hole, par 3, 150 yds. Hit a 6-iron fat and short of the green. Hit a lob wedge pitch clear over the green. Second lob wedge from there was 25 ft past the hole. Two putt from there for double.
• Fourth hole, par 4, 326 yds. Hooked the drive into the rough left of the cart path on a mound, leaving about 140 yds to the hole. Pushed a 7-iron well right and then missed long (again) with the lob wedge. Next lob wedge went long again. Two putt for double.
• Fifth hole, par 4, 343 yds. Snap hooked with the driver into the out-of-bounds bank, but got a lucky bounce back into the rough just clear of the out-of-bounds stakes. I had 210 yds to the hole (that’s a really crappy drive), so I layed up with a 9-iron over a tree to 85 yds and hit a sand wedge from there to 12 ft just below the hole. Left the par putt short and tapped in for bogey.
• Sixth hole, par 3, 148 yds. Hit a 6-iron off the toe and the ball landed about 30 ft short of the green. Hit a lob wedge well over the hole (again!) and lagged a beautiful putt from 25 ft to 4″ and tapped in for bogey.
• Seventh hole, par 3, 150 yds. Hit a 6-iron directly at the flag to about 30 ft short. Hit the birdie putt short, the par putt long and tapped in for bogey. 😥
• Eighth hole, par 3, 118. Hit a 9-iron 18 ft over the flag. Lagged a putt close and tapped in for par.
• Ninth hole, par 3, 142 yds. Hit a 7-iron about 30 ft short of the hole, ran the birdie putt 8 ft past the hole, then ran the par putt 6 ft long and then hit that putt for bogey. 😳

Themes:

• Driving. Poor, both snap hooks. I should have left the big stick in the bag and played the hybrid off the par 4 holes.
• Irons. Good iron play today, hitting four greens in regulation. My distance control was pretty good, as I played very conservatively on distance today, taking an extra club on any hole even slightly longer than my usual distance. Also had a nice layup 9-iron from the rough and a very good full sand wedge, with the ball well above my feet, to give me an opportunity to make par on the fifth hole.
• Short game. Pathetic is the only word to describe my short game today. The lob wedge has been my go-to club, and every shot with it today was long, very long. I don’t know what happened; I can’t remember playing that poorly with the lob wedge before. Much practice is prescribed for this week.
• Putting. When I finally got on the green, my putting was good on all but two holes, both of which were bad three-putts. After my stellar practice session working on speed control yesterday, I was very disappointed with my putting today.

Despite the rain and my poor short game, I had a lot of fun today.

This morning, I practiced and played nine at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The day was warm, soft breeze from the west, and mostly sunny.

I started out hitting a small bucket of balls, warming up with the 7-iron and adding the 9-iron and 5-iron as I warmed up. I hit the ball a bit short to start, but soon had my swing grooved in. Next up, I got out the driver, 3-metal and hybrid. My driver was first hooking slightly, then fading slightly, and then right down the middle. I hit mostly draws or hooks with the 3-metal, and mostly straight or draws with the hybrid. My last drill was hitting full wedge shots with all the wedges; tendency was to pull the wedges, and also tended to hit them a bit fat. But, no more balls, so I went to the putting green to chip and putt.

Chipping was not very good today, but near the end hit some pretty good chips. Putting, on the other hand, was very good. I worked first on speed drills, putting four balls one step apart and then moving out one step and repeating the drill. My final drill, I nailed all four putts from 6, 9, 12 and 15 ft, probably my best performance in quite some time.

Time to play: there was quite a wait today, as two groups (one with two kids) were in front of me.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

How I played:

• First hole. I hit a 3/4 pitching wedge slightly fat and the ball ended up about 25 ft below the hole, but just on the green. I putted to about a foot and tapped in for par.
• Second hole. I hit a 6-iron a bit thin straight down the middle. I had about 60 yds to the hole, pulled my X wedge shot which hit on the down-slope and ended up in deep rough. I used a lob wedge to the green (around a tree) to 12 ft and hit the par putt.
• Third hole. I pulled a sand wedge shot well left of the hole, leaving a 45 ft putt, a double breaker. I left the first putt well short and three putted the hole.
• Fourth hole. I snapped hooked a driver into driving range net and had a very long second shot in deep rough. I hit a 7-iron into the middle of the fairway. I had a sand wedge left, which I pushed right, hitting the overhangin tree and the ball dropped into the right bunker. I punched out of the sand, leaving about a 12 ft putt, which narrowly missed and I tapped in for a double.
• Fifth hole. I pulled a sand wedge well left and the ball trickled off the green into the fringe. I chipped to 4 ft and hit the par putt.
• Sixth hole. I hit a high, arching draw into the ball eating bushes on the left side of the fairway. I took an unplayable, dropped in the rough, and pulled yet another sand wedge into the left bunker. I tried to play a soft lob wedge out of the sand, but it went long and rolled into the bunker on the other side of the hole. I played out of the sand to 4 ft and hit the putt for double.
• Seventh hole. I pushed a 7-iron well right of the green, where the ball hit an overhanging tree and dropped onto a down-slope in the rough. Chunked the lob wedge shot short of the green, chipped onto the green long and two putted for double.
• Eighth hole. I pushed a 6-iron well right, hitting yet another tree and the ball bounced well short into the fairway, leaving me 190 yds to the hole. I pulled the hybrid well left, hitting the top of a tree and dropping into the rough on the left side of the creek. I hit a 9-iron punch shot under the trees to the green, where it just trickled off. I had a difficult stance for chipping, but did chip to 4 ft, but screamed in agony when the putt ended up 1″ below the hole, which I tapped in for double.
• Ninth hole. Pushed a 9-iron right of the pin, which hit the green and spun back just into the fringe. Three putt from there, due to the first putt left short.

Hoping to redeem myself, I got another small bucket of balls and proceeded to hit all the shots that I’d messed up on the course. I started with the driver, hooking the first, fading the second, and then hitting some pretty good ones straight down the middle. I also hit some 3-metal and hybrid shots, hitting about half straight or slight draws, the rest hooks. I also hit some irons, hitting them pretty well, not pushing the way I did on the course. I finished up by hitting all my wedges, trying to get them to go straight. I mostly got the pull out, but also hit a few fat.

Not my best day on the course, but I can see a bit of improvement.

This afternoon, in stifling Texas heat and humidity, I played a 4-man scramble charity tournament at the Pete Dye course at Stonebridge Ranch. We shot +2 from the blue tees. (The winners shot -14). 😮 The course is long, 6829 yds, rating 73.5 and slope 137, from the blues. This is the toughest course I’ve ever played. The course was set up with extremely challenging pin positions. The greens were the fastest I’d ever played, though very soft from frequent watering needed to keep bentgrass alive during this heat wave. The condition of the course was immaculate, although a few greens had been punched, probably last week.

We started off with a shotgun start on the 4th hole, which we promptly bogeyed. We had 3 bogeys and 1 birdie; the rest were pars. My contribution to the team was 3 or 4 excellent tee shots using the Sasquatch driver, a 191 yd tee shot using the Halo hybrid pin-high, but just off the green on a par 3, a couple of very good mid-iron approach shots, a couple of nice lob wedges from around the green and a few long par putts. I also had quite a few stinkers thrown in as well, including three balls dumped in the water and another lost in the deep grass.

Very fun day, although we did get run off the course by a thunderstorm just as we reached the last hole of the day. At that point, the rain felt very refreshing.