Joey's Golf Bag

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.

On Friday, I played 18 holes at Sherrill Park Golf Course in Richardson, TX. The morning was cool and cloudy, but eventually the clouds cleared and the day became sunny and warm.

I must say that, because of the my previous disasters on 18-hole courses, I had a tough time sleeping, dreaming of all the bad things that had happened before. Not helping was the previous week’s disaster at Hank Haney Golf Ranch, where I had posted my worst score (that I’ll admit to, anyway, 😉 ). When I arrived at the course, I was very nervous and jittery. I warmed up by hitting a few balls, starting out with the 7-iron and hitting a few half and full swing shots. I then hit some longer irons and started to get pretty good tempo going. Finally, I pulled out the driver and hit one of the best drives I’d ever hit, a perfect draw right down the middle of the range. Elated, I went to the putting green, where the speed of the greens took some major adjusting before I putted well. Despite the speed, I still had a tendency to leave the putts short, and that problem would plague me all day.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I had a pretty respectable day with the driver today. On the first hole, I hit a high fade clear over the trees on the right into the 2nd fairway into a group of balls that had been hit off the tee by a group playing that hole. After they all hit, I went to the remaining ball, to find… not my ball! One of that group had played on with my ball! Oh well, I dropped another ball where mine had landed, hit a good shot over the trees back into the 1st fairway and played on, making a par on the 1st, my first ever par on a par-5 hole. On the second, hit a perfect drive down the middle. I ended up hitting six fairways, not very good, but pretty good for me. I also hit the green off the tee on the par-3 sixth and thirteen holes. On the 17th hole, hit a perfect 4-iron off the tee into a great position on the right hand side of the fairway.
• Fairway woods / irons. I only took the 3-metal out of the bag once, on the par-5 fifth. I had hit my drive into the left rough behind some trees. I had a good lie, so I attempted to hit a draw with the 3-metal. Complete disaster: I pulled the shot, hit a tree and ended up in the rough on the right side of fairway, where I had to punch out with an 8-iron. I had some very good approach shots with the 4-iron, hitting the center of the green on the 16th hole from 172 yds, and hitting another 4-iron from 175 yds pin high, but right of the green on the 17th. I chunked a 5-iron, but don’t remember which hole. I hit a perfect 8-iron from the fairway 15 ft right of the pin on the 18th, probably my best driving and approach hole all day.
• Short wedge shots. Not very good today. On the 10th hole, I hit a great drive just right into the rough to the left of the green, leaving an 80 yd shot to the flag. I promptly hit it thin over the green. My only great wedge shot of the day was on the third hole, where I knocked the ball to 2 ft to save bogey, following a second 7-iron tee shot right of the hole, after dumping the first one into the water. I hit into the sand on two holes and got out of the sand on both, but not close to the holes.
• Chipping. Not a good day at all, generally left the chips short due to the speed of the greens. This was one of the places where, had I done better, my score would have been a lot better.
• Putting. Not bad, my main difficulty all day was leaving putts short. I managed to 4-jack the ninth hole, though, after hitting the green in regulation. I missed all my birdie putts.
• Other items of interest. I had three penalties today, one on the par-3 third hole, where I sliced a 7-iron into the water. I had two penalties on the 12th: the first a booming hook off the tee over the trees on the left into the water. I also popped the drop into water on the other side of the fairway when my punch shot under the trees faded instead of going straight as I had planned. Made triple on that hole.

I had a tremendous day of golf today, breaking 100 for the first time by eight shots! The day could have been much better, but I’m extremely happy to have broken into double digits. This day validated all the hard work I’ve done this spring. I hope there are many more good days to come.

This morning, I practiced and played nine at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The weather was warm and cloudy, threatening rain. I got a medium bucket and started working on my irons.

I warmed up with the 7-iron today, hitting 3/4 swings and a punch shot or two. I had pretty good rhythm early, but after I switched to alternating 9-, 7- and 5-irons, had a rough period where I hit the ball poorly. I then went back to practicing punch shots, and started to get a little tempo going.

All that vanished when I got the SasQuatch driver out. I hit the driver extremely poor today, low duck hooks, worm burners, high slices; anything but straight. Yeech!!! 🙁 By this time, I had only a few balls left, and it started to rain a little. I waited it out and then hit the remaining balls with my sand wedge toward a flag on the far left of the range. About half I hit fat, the rest I hit well. Pretty much the theme: half good, half bad.

I then putted some, trying to get good speed, and then hit the course. Since my swing changes haven’t fully kicked in, I don’t really have a good idea what my distances are anymore, other than I’m about 20 yds longer than I used to be. So I guessed… 😐

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots: Very poor off the tee today. On the first hole, hit a 10-iron into the bunker on the right (probably should have used the PW). On the second, hit a duck hook with the driver into the water. On the third, hit a PW clear over the green into the back hazard (probably should have hit SW). On the fourth, hit a draw with the driver well left of the fairway, hit a tree but ended at a spot that left a clean lie and clear shot at the hole. On the fifth, in a heavy down-pour, hit a PW thin over the hole into the water behind it. Hit the next PW perfectly to about 15 ft. On the sixth, hit a low draw with the driver that ended up two feet left of the fairway with a good lie in the rough. On the seventh, hit a high slicing 5-iron that hit a tree and kept the ball out of the hazard. On the eighth, hit a 4-iron hook that flew the hazard on the left and ended with a clear shot at the green. On the ninth hole, playing at 160 yds, hit a 4-iron that sliced high into the hazard; hooked the second tee shot onto the cart path. There it is: nine tee shots, 4 penalties. OUCH!
• Approach shots. I had a very good day with approach shots on the par 4 holes, probably my best day ever. On the second, after a drop from the hazard, hit a 5-iron that dropped just short of the green when it hit the only branch that could be hit (I’m really, really good at that….). On the fourth, hit a high, perfect 5-iron fade, perhaps my best 5-iron shot ever, from 160 yds out of the rough to 15 ft from the flag. On the sixth, hit a perfect 8-iron fade from about 110 yds high over a tree to 7 ft. On the eighth, hit an 8-iron punch shot beneath the trees to 20 ft (ball rolled up against the fringe of the green. I was still grinning when I got home after playing the par 4 holes so well.
• Wedge shots. Yeech! Hit two PWs off the tees into hazards. On the first, didn’t get out of the bunker with the first SW, hit the second one thin over the green. Hit a decent SW pitch from there. Hit a decent SW pitch onto the green on the second, but the ball rolled just off the green. Hit a decent SW off a bare lie on the 7th that rolled onto the fringe. Hit a decent SW after relief from the cart path on the ninth.
• Chipping. Had only one chip today, on the third hole after a drop from the hazard, rolled over the green and I putted from there.
• Putting. I had birdie putts on three of the four par-4 holes, but missed them all from inside 20 ft, but made all the par putts. Had a three-putt from 15 ft in the heavy rain on the fifth hole.

Well, despite a mediocre score, I was still proud of the way I played the par-4 holes, even if I did stink up the par-3s.

This afternoon, I ventured out into the cool, sunny weather to practice and play nine at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The temperature was in the mid-60’s, and a one or two club breeze was blowing in from the north.

Since I have been practicing well the last few days, I decided I would try, once again, to conquer this challenging nine-hole course. Alas! I should know better…

I bought a small bucket of balls and hit the range. I started right back where I was yesterday, hitting the ball well. I hit most of the clubs well during practice, even my SasQuatch 3-metal and the 21-degree hybrid. My only real issue was pulling the short irons and wedges. Pulling the short irons didn’t really bother me, since on this course, all the trouble is on the right.

After hitting all the balls, I putted for a few minutes and then played.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. Only hit one green in regulation and only one fairway. My best tee shots were on the first, where I was just right of the green, and on the ninth, where I hit a perfect 7-iron fade to the center of the green 25 ft from the hole. Utterly unbelievable was the tee shot with a 4-iron on the eighth, where I hit a seemingly perfect shot only to hit the only branch that hangs over the fairway. I hit terrible shots on the rest of the holes, including a fat pitching wedge into the hazard on the third hole.
• Approach shots. Terrible, as well. Even my layups out of the rough sucked, hitting them from one side rough to the other side rough. On another layup out of the rough, I had a clear path to the fairway except for a single, skinny branch: I hit it.
• Wedges. Indescribably bad today, didn’t have even one worth discussing, except that I managed to get out of the sand nicely on the fifth (only to 3-putt) despite being in a deep hole left behind by another golfer who did not rake.
• Chipping. I did hit some very nice chips today, but also managed to hit one over a green as well.
• Putting. Good today. I had only one 3-putt today, on the fifth hole, where I lipped out a 4 footer to save bogey. I had single putts on 2, 4 and 6, which shows how poorly the rest of my game was today.

Today was one of those days that tests your desire to ever play the game again. I had practiced and played well the since Friday, and was gaining confidence. After the round, I hit another small bucket of balls just to see if I could get back into form, and not surprising to me, I hit the ball pretty well again.

Golf is testing my persistence.

Today I went to North Texas Golf to practice and play nine. The day was very warm, partly cloudy, with a one-club breeze from the south.

I started off hitting 7-irons, working, as usual, on inside-to-square path and keeping my downswing smooth. I had trouble all day with keeping the path inside-to-square on any club longer than a 7-iron, but had pretty good success with keeping my downswing smooth. Practice started well, got crappy in the middle, and went well again at the end. I spent the first part of practice alternating 3-, 6- and 9-irons, but didn’t hit the longer clubs well today. After I went pin hunting, I started striking the ball well, hitting as many as 80% of the shots well during that drill. Next up, I went and hit about 40 shots with my wedges, starting out hitting long chips with the PW, moved on to hitting 20-50 yd shots with the sand wedge, and a few with the lob wedge. It’s been a few weeks since my touch was good, but it was very good today.

Next up was chipping practice. I had a middlin’ practice chipping, never really got grooved in. Finally, spent some time putting, but had trouble keeping the speed up, leaving most putts longer than 12 ft short. That would be the theme for long putts today as well.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. Today, I hit 5 greens in regulation, the best I’ve done in quite a while. Even with the one club wind, I was striking the ball pretty well today. I really had only one bad tee shot today, on the second hole, where I pushed the ball well right. At least I didn’t hook it in the hazard, like I did last week… The tee shot on the first hole was only off the green 3 inches, and most of the other holes I was able to putt from the fringe.
• Wedges. I hit only two wedge shots today, one of which I hit a bit fat and left a rather lengthy par putt on the 2nd hole, which I missed. The other was on the third hole, where I hit the SW long, actually hitting the flag (not the pole) and leaving a 15 ft putt for par, which I missed.
• Chipping. I hit only one chip today, putting from the fringe on the other holes where I missed the green. The chip on the seventh was perfect, leaving me a two foot par putt.
• Putting. Putting wasn’t very impressive today; I left nearly every long putt short by 4 or 5 ft. My short putting was good, though, having but a single three putt, on the 6th hole, where I lipped out a 6 ft putt for par.

I was very happy with my game today, as a 31 ties my best score on this course.

I practiced and played nine on Saturday at North Texas Golf. The weather was cool and sunny when I arrived, but became heavily clouded later. The wind was from the south, fairly light, one club at most.

I started off hitting 7-irons to get into rhythm and then switched to hitting alternating 3-, 6- and 9-irons. At first, I had very good tempo and was hitting the ball well. Later, I had a problem with pulling the 9-iron badly left of the target, or hooking the longer irons. I did hit a few fades with the 3-iron, but most were draws with the 3- and 6-irons. After that practice, I got out the 3-metal and wasn’t able to hit it well at all, hitting a mix of worm burners, fades, slices or hooks. Next, I got out the short irons and went pin hunting, trying to land the ball at the pin of the target greens. Again, mostly hitting the ball left of the target with all of the clubs.

Next up, I went to the wedge target area and started hitting short wedge shots. Mostly, I had distance control issues, mostly long, and a few fat shots thrown in, which happens when I rush the downswing. I never did get the distance dialed in. I finished up practice chipping with the pitching wedge as the clouds threatened rain. I skipped putting practice and proceeded directly to the course, afraid I would be unable to get in nine holes if I waited any longer. Skipping putting practice would be painful…

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. Although I hit only two greens in regulation, my tee shots were good, except for the second hole, where I hooked the tee shot out of bounds. I played it as if the out of bounds were a lateral hazard, though, because there was another group closely behind, and I didn’t want to delay them. My distances seem to be getting a bit longer, as I hit the ball past the pin on 5 of the greens and was pin-high on the rest. I was within inches or feet of being on the green on three other holes, having a bad tee shot only on the 2nd hole and hit a pitching wedge off the tee on the 7th into the hazard (pin-high, as the pin was at the front of the green).
• Wedges. Only one wedge shot today (other than pitching wedges off the tee) was one I left short on the first hole.
• Chipping. I hit a great chip to 2 ft on the 5th hole, otherwise, chipping wasn’t great.
• Putting. One three putt today, on the 2nd. Otherwise, lipped out two birdie putts and hit a 10 footer for par on the 8th.

Except for the 2nd hole, I had a good day of golf. I shouldn’t have skipped putt practice, because it didn’t rain.

Today I went to practice and play nine at North Texas Golf. The day was beautiful, sunny skies, with a slight breeze from the south. I planned to practice everything: full swing, wedges, chips, putts. It has been more than a week since I last practice, due to the cold, rainy weather we’ve had lately.

I started off hitting the practice 6-iron blade I made a few weeks ago. The first shot was hit a bit thin, but the next few shots were pretty well struck, going a bit farther than usual. Once I warmed up, I pulled out the 3-, 6- and 9-irons, and proceeded to alternate shots with each. I was concentrating on an inside-to-square path and keeping the start of my downswing slow. I’ve found over the last few weeks, that if I do those two things well, I have a slight draw or straight shot with good (for me) distance.

Today, things were a bit weird. My usual problem, as with most beginning golfers, is the slice. Today, the slice was gone (with the exception of 2 or 3 shots with the hybrid or 3-metal) to be replaced with pulls (on short irons) and hard hooks with the longer irons. The better shots were straight or slight draws, with poorer shots tending to hook or pull. Occasionally, I would hit a push with no side spin at all. Distance was pretty good for me, as long as I kept the downswing slow and smooth. As soon as the downswing got quick, I tended to hit the ball a bit fat, which reduced distance.

Bad luck: after I had hit about 1/3 of a medium bucket, 60 junior golfers descended onto the range, covering it from one end to the other. I decided to finish practice with a few full wedges (about 5 balls each of the pitching, sand and lob wedges) and then hit the course, hoping to get going before the juniors got going.

No luck. I played the first hole (badly) and then made par (with an outstanding chip to 3 ft) on the second when the junior golfers fanned out all over the course. I’d (stupidly) assumed they would start off from the first tee, but instead send a group of 4 juniors (with accompanying adults) to each hole on the course. I gave up at that point and went home, bummed out.

Oh, well, everyone has to learn. Usually, the juniors play on Saturday, but the rainy or cold weather of the last two weekends must have pushed them to Sunday. Live and learn.

I practiced and played nine at the North Texas Golf Center today. The wind was howling from the west or north, anywhere from 1-3 clubs; otherwise, the weather was very nice and sunny.

Since it has been about 2 weeks since I was last able to practice, due to overseas travel and poor weather, I expected to have a pretty mediocre practice, and it was, for the most part. I spent most of practice trying to get the swing path on the proper inside to square path, and having little success at it. I finally got it working a little near the end of practice, but in general, was not a good practice day. I was hitting with the wind behind me, which greatly increased distances, hitting 9-irons as long as I usually hit 6-irons.

The wind was really howling at the end of full swing practice, and especially when I tried to hit short wedge shots. Basically, it was impossible to hit high wedge shots, as the wind took them and sent them sailing. I spent that practice time hitting long chips, a skill that I’ve allowed to lapse, as I prefer to come in high and soft. That type of shot was a complete impossibility today. I also spent a considerable amount of time practicing short chips as well (really my only successful practice today).

I spent a few minutes before hitting the course to practice putting, which I thought went well, except my long distance putting distances were all short. That trend would continue on the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. Despite my poor practice today, I hit the ball very well off the tee. My main difficulty was doping the wind, which I consistently under-compenstated for all day. On almost every hole, into the wind, I under-clubbed, and with the wind, over-clubbed. Also, when hitting against a side to side wind, I also under-estimated the effect of the wind. Thus, I was short into the wind, long with the wind, and left or right more than expected with a side wind. I hit only two greens in regulation, but never was more than 8 ft from the green on any hole.
• Chipping. Despite a very good practice, my chipping was pretty poor all day, mostly chipping short. I got up-and-down on only two holes today.
• Wedge shots. Other than off the tee, didn’t hit a wedge shot all day, since I was close to the green on every one I missed.
• Putting. In short, I sucked today. Three putted twice (four times if you count putting from the fringe). My distance control from 20 ft and in was very good, but beyond 20 ft, distance control was very poor, which led to the three putts. My score would have been much better if I had putted like I usually do.

Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want, so I’ll be a lot smarter about reading the wind after today.

The scorecard was burned ritually. This day will never be spoken of again.

Today, I practice and played nine at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The weather was mid-50s and sunny, with a slight breeze from the east.

I started off hitting 7-iron shots to warm up. I was concentrating on three things today: a slower start to my downswing, an inside path, and a full turn during the backswing. I did well on everything but the inside path; I had a hard time getting into the groove today.

I hit the short irons well, although I had a tendency to pull the short irons, indicating a slightly over the top swing. The mid-irons were not very good, mostly fades or worse, slices. The long irons were bad during practice, and not much better during play.

I hit some short wedge shots during practice, and with the exception of some hit slightly fat, did pretty well. Again, many were slightly pulled.

I spent a few minutes putting to get the speed of the greens and then played nine.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. Hit only one fairway and two greens in regulation. I hit 4-irons on all the par-4 holes, except for the sixth hole. Even so, hit one in the hazard on the second and another into the hazard on fourth. I did manage to hit the fairway on the eighth hole with a 4-iron fade. The tee shot with the 3-metal on the sixth hole was launched very high and ended up in the right rough, where I had to lay-up into the fairway.
• Short irons. Hit two greens in regulation. Hit a nice 9-iron to 30 ft on the first hole and a pitching wedge onto the green on the third. My 9-iron after a drop on the second was hit the green but rolled off into the rough just over the green. Hit a perfect lay-up 9-iron on the sixth hole from the rough. My 7-iron from the fairway was pin-high on the eighth hole, but pushed into the rough just off the green. My 7-iron tee shot was also pushed, this time into the right hand bunker.
• Wedges. Mostly short today. Had one disastrous wedge from the rough on the eighth hole that flew the green; the return sand wedge ended up in the bunker.
• Chipping. Good chip on the fifth to save par. Otherwise, none were closer than 5 ft.
• Bunker shots. Had two balls in bunkers, got out onto the green to about 8-10 ft on both.
• Putting. Nothing good to say about putting today, as I hit none over 6 ft and managed to three-putt the third hole from 15 ft.

Despite the perfect weather, had a pretty poor golf outing today.