Joey's Golf Bag

This morning, I practiced and played nine at North Texas Golf Center in Dallas. The morning was warm and sunny, with a variable breeze mostly out of the west.

I warmed up on the range using a warm up scheme developed by Bob Winters and described in the book Paper Tiger that I’ve been reading. Basically, it’s this: 5 sand wedge shots just to warm up, no target, no judgment, followed by three shots each (with a complete pre-shot routine and a target) with the sand wedge, 9-iron, 7-iron, 5-iron, 3-iron (which I replaced with my 7-wood), 3-wood (which I replaced with my 4-wood) and 5 shots with the driver. After that, simulate the first three holes on the course. For me, I simulated 8-iron, 8-iron and pitching wedge. This practice session went well until I got to the 4-wood, whereupon I tended to slice it and the driver, even though I hit the 7-wood nearly perfectly. Live and learn.

Next, I went to the pitching area and used the rest of the balls to practice short pitches at three of the target circles. I was pretty pleased with that part of my practice. The last three balls I hit at the farthest target circle and had pretty good distance control but lacked a bit of directional control. I then went to the chipping area and hit a few chips, the first three of which were within 3 ft of the hole, so I went on to the putting green. There, I hit a couple of three footers to warm up, and then ran a speed drill out to 24 ft, and lag-putted a few from 30 ft. That concluded my pretty good practice session.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

My round:

• First hole. Hit a 9-iron from 116 yds thin and left into a tree, the ball dropped short of the hole and about 3 ft inside the out of bounds marker. I had a difficult chip to the hole, which I ran 8 ft past. I just missed the par putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Second hole. Hit a 9-iron from 128 yds just short of the green, chipped short to about 6 ft, missed the putt for par and tapped in for bogey.
• Third hole. Chunked a pitching wedge from 108 yds, badly, about halfway down the fairway, hit a lob wedge to 25 ft, just missed the par putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Fourth hole. Hit a gap wedge from 95 yds to about 18 ft short of the hole, just missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.
• Fifth hole. Hit a gap wedge from 92 yds to about 20 ft short of the hole, left the birdie putt about 8″ short and tapped in for par.
• Sixth hole. Hit a pitching wedge from 113 yds well left of the hole. The ball hit a light pole and bounced onto the green about 50 ft short of the hole. I hit a really nice lag putt to 3 ft and made that for par. Just a bit lucky! 😉
• Seventh hole. Hit a gap wedge from 91 yds pin high 10 ft right of the hole, just missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.
• Eighth hole. Badly chucked a pitching wedge (again!) from 98 yds, then followed that up with a shanked lob wedge onto the ninth fairway. Hit a pretty good pitch using the lob wedge just slightly over the green, but chipped to 3 ft and tapped in for an ugly double. 😥
• Ninth hole. Hit a pitching wedge from 113 yds to about 24 ft short of the hole, rolled a nice lag putt to 2″ and tapped in for par.

I played a pretty good round of golf today, just missed tying my best score on this course by one shot. Although I putted well (no three-putts), I didn’t get any of my five birdie putts to drop. My speed was good all day, and none of my second putts was stressful. All in all, a pretty good day of golf for me.

This morning, I played 18 at the Indian Creek Golf Club on the Creeks course. The day was heavily overcast, breezy, warm and humid. We went off at 7:45AM and finished at 12:15PM, for a 4-1/2 hour round, not bad for a muni course on Sunday.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit the ball poorly off the tee, making three penalties with the driver. I blocked to the right most of the day. I did hit two par-3 holes in regulation, one a beautiful 5-iron to 12 ft for birdie, another one to 25 ft, but I messed that up with my only three-putt of the day.
• Approach shots. Not particularly good, hitting only one par-4 in regulation. I was often short, as I was hitting out of the rough or from under trees all day.
• Wedges. I was pretty good with the wedges today, as I got up and down four times.
• Chipping. Despite all my chipping practice, I didn’t really chip well today, tending to hit them thin.
• Bunker shots. I hit into four bunkers today, including two fairway bunkers. Both green-side bunker shots were hit a bit thin and long. I hit one very nice pitching wedge out of a fairway bunker, my other was a 9-iron hit a little fat.
• Putting. Today was my best putting round ever, needing only 31 putts, and only a single three-putt. I nailed putts from as long as 25 ft today and really only missed one short putt (on the hole I three-putted). I was very pleased, as the greens were as fast as I’ve ever played on.

I didn’t play well today, aside from my putting, but I had a lot of fun and never got frustrated or angry even though I hit a lot of really poor shots.

This morning, I practiced and played nine at North Texas Golf. The day was very warm and humid, partly cloudy, with little breeze. There was dew on the first three or four greens that made the slow greens even slower. That would play havoc with my game all day.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. Pretty mixed, as I hit only three greens in regulation, and none of those were close to the hole. I had a couple of tee shots just off the green (by an inch and by 6 inches). I was hitting the ball a little fat on nearly every shot, so left the ball short on a number of holes. On those that I had a clean strike on the ball, I tended to be a bit long. On the final hole, I hit a 9-iron just right of the pin; it hit the down slope of the mound to the right of the green and rolled under a bush, so I had to take an unplayable. I hit only the sand wedge through 9-iron off the tee as the course was set up short today.
• Wedges. Aside from the tee shots, I didn’t use any wedges from around the green, other than using the pitching wedge to chip.
• Chipping. I had two up-and-downs for par today; on both of these holes I was just off the green and putting. My other chips weren’t particularly good.
• Putting. Putting was just a disaster today. I had three 3-putts, and on each of the second putts, I lipped out. I also lipped out the first putt on the final hole to save bogey. My worst putting in months, and some of it was due to the dew on the greens.

My warm up practice was pretty poor, so considering how the practiced, I probably did better on the course. If only I could putt…

Yesterday, on a hot, muggy Texas afternoon, I played 18 on the Lakes course at Firewheel. As I’d been hitting the long clubs poorly, I put my new Wishon Golf 525GRT driver and 949MC 4-wood back in the closet (not wanting to mark up the clubs with my crappy skyballs or drop-kicks) and got out my old Nike SasQuatch driver and Wishon Golf 915HL 5-wood. These clubs have suffered under my (lack of) golfing skills, so were already thoroughly marked up. I just couldn’t bear to mark up my new driver and 4-wood with my crappy swing.

I arrived at the course around noon, got some balls, and put on Tour Tempo at 27/9 on the iPod and proceeded to warm up. As usual, my wedges were fat until I warmed up and then well-struck. I then got out the 6-iron and hit some balls. Most were well-struck, and I was pretty happy with my swing. Next, I got out the Nike driver and worked on driving the ball. Not so good. I hit about every type of shot possible, a nice high hook, and booming slice and a low burner or two. Nothing to encourage me on the course…

Our foursome filled out and we went to the first tee to start our round. I volunteered to hit first. I hit a low hook that ended up in the under a tree, but in the fairway with a clear shot to the green. OK, not so bad, at least it’s playable. I don’t remember what transpired on the hole, but my scorecard says double. The second hole is a short par-3. I hit one close to the green, chipped poorly, leaving a 25 ft putt with a 12 inch break. I nailed it for par. The other three par-3 holes I bogeyed, two of which I hit the green, only to three-putt. The rest of the holes were just disasters. Anytime I hit a club longer than an 8-iron, I hooked it; any club shorter than a pitching wedge was either hit short or fat. There were a couple of exceptions, but that’s the trend: hit a pitching wedge, 9-iron or 8-iron, good shot; hit anything else, disaster.

The golf gods hate me.

By the eighth hole, I was making big numbers, like snowmen or baseball teams. This continued (except for par-3 holes) until I tripled the par-5 13th hole, and all my long clubs were banned from use. I read once that you should use the longest club gives you 80% probability of being in the fairway, and on this day, that club was the 8-iron. I tried the 6- and 7-irons, but they both betrayed me. So, 8-iron it was. Once I started using an 8-iron off the tee, I didn’t have worse than bogey on any remaining hole.

In summary, I can hit a pitching wedge, a 9-iron and an 8-iron reliably, and the rest of the clubs, well, suck.

I know exactly why I was hitting the ball poorly (my tempo gets quick), but I’ve been nearly incapable of getting back my tempo once lost. Even on the range, it can take 10 or 20 balls to get my tempo back once I lose it. This is most disconcerting.

The golf gods hate me.

This afternoon, I played 18 on a heavily overcast day, threatening rain, at the L. B. Houston Golf Course in Dallas. The course was in fairly good condition, considering the vast amount of rain that Dallas has endured for the past two months. We frequently had to take relief from standing water in the middle of fairways, and the greens were showing the stress of too much water. We also had to spray on mosquito repellant to dodge the monster mosquitos that were big enough to carry off small children.

Before going off around 1:45 PM, I putted a little and hit a few chips. I didn’t get a chance to hit any balls. Our foursome went around the course in a little over 4 hours. We had to wait on only one hole (the first) and we let a single player play through on the 10th. There was hardly anyone else on the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I was just awful off the tee, hitting only five fairways and two par-3 holes in regulation. I had very few well-struck shots with any of my long clubs.
• Approach shots. I hit only three greens in regulation, and two of those were par-3 holes. Pretty crappy.
• Wedges. I had six one-putt greens, and four of these were good wedge shots (mostly lob wedges). I also had some stinkers, such as the 13th hole, where I twice hit thin lob wedges across the green.
• Chipping. I had two excellent chips. On the second hole, I chipped to 3 ft and saved bogey. I also had a stellar chip to save par on the third hole, where I hit a really nice chip to a foot to tap in for par.
• Sand shots. None. I managed to stay out of the bunkers today.
• Putting. I had seven one-putt greens, and four three-putts. My best putt was a 20 ft putt I nailed for birdie on the 4th hole. I had a total of 33 putts, which is my best putting performance in a long time, but still pretty mediocre.

I didn’t play very well today, but I did manage to break 100. I did have fun out there, though, and that’s the point.

This afternoon, Jarvis, Anton and I played nine-hole Skins Game at the Lake Park Executive Course in Lewisville. The rain clouds finally parted this afternoon and the sun beat down on the soaking wet course. The mosquitos swarmed. You would think we were playing golf in the swamp. The 18-hole course was closed because of the wet conditions.

We went off about 4:45 PM. My day:

• Hole 1, 160 yd par 3 playing to 168 yds. I hit a perfect 5-iron shot to 10 ft pin high, but missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par to win the hole.
• Hole 2, 118 yd par 3 playing to 97 yds, I hit a gap wedge just short of the green, chipped with the pitching wedge to 6 ft and made the putt to win the hole.
• Hole 3, 152 yd par 3 playing to 143 yds. I sliced a 7-iron into the water and lost the hole to Jarvis, who made bogey.
• Hole 4, 350 yd par 4. I hit a hooking drive left of the cart path, with a clear shot at the hole from 115 yds. I hit an 8-iron well over the hole (normally, I would hit a soft 9-iron at this distance, but my clubs were well short last time I practiced… live and learn), chipped past the hole, leaving about 15 ft for par. Left the putt two ft short and tapped in for bogey, but still won the hole.
• Hole 5, 370 yd par 4. I hit a low drive off the heel into the center of the fairway, leaving 168 yds to the hole. I hit a 5-iron a bit thin, left and just short of the hole. I chipped to about 8 ft below the hole and two-putt for bogey, winning the hole. That would be the last hole I would win today.
• Hole 6, 154 yd par 3 playing 155 yds. I hit a 6-iron pin high but right of the green. I chipped short and two-putted for bogey, tying the hole with Anton.
• Hole 7, 146 yd par 3 playing 144 yds. I hit a 7-iron onto the green about 30 ft short of the hole. I then managed to 3-putt for bogey, but still tied the hole with Anton.
• Hole 8, 130 yd par 3 playing 123 yds. I hit a 9-iron really fat and lost the hole to Jarvis, who parred the hole and won 3 skins.
• Hole 9, 144 yd par 3 playing 142 yds. I hit an 8-iron really fat (again!) and lost the hole to Anton, who picked up double money on the last.

Assessment:

• Tee shots. I hit two greens in regulation and one of two fairways. Basically, I had 6 good tee shots and 3 stinkers.
• Approach shots. I over-clubbed on the 4th hole but hit a good shot. My other approach, a 5-iron was hit a bit thin but still a good shot just left of the green.
• Wedges. Just pitiful. I need lots of practice with my wedges to hit them well, and I haven’t practiced.
• Chipping. Pretty good today. I got up and down with a nice chip on the 2nd hole.
• Putting. Not very good. The longest putt I hit was about 6 ft and I three-putted three times. Yeech!!!!!

Not my best day on the course, but I had a really good time, never got frustrated or upset, even though I hit some bad shots and putted poorly, and got eaten alive by mosquitos. And my back felt fine all day, even though we walked the course. I’m back!

This afternoon, after work, I played three-way match play at North Texas Golf. The weather was cloudy but warm, with a strong breeze from the west. We hit a few balls to warm up and then hit the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit three greens in regulation. I had only one bad tee shot, a shanked gap wedge on the 8th hole. The longest club I hit today was an 8-iron on the first hole (into a strong wind); the rest were 9-irons or less.
• Wedges. Besides the tee shots, I had only one wedge shot, from the spot well right of the 8th hole, where I hit a lob wedge to about 15 ft.
• Chipping. I hit one good chip to 2 ft on the first hole, my only up and down for the day.
• Sand shots. None today.
• Putting. Pathetic, really. I didn’t hit a putt over 5 ft and three-putt twice. As usual, left a lot of putts short.

We scored the holes as follows: hole won outright, 2 points; hole tied, 1 point; hole lost, no points. I ended up winning three holes and tying one for a score of 7, tying me with one of my playing partners. Instead of a playoff, we agreed to use the total strokes as the tie-breaker, and I won that by two strokes. 🙂

Last Friday, I played 18 at the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club. The day was sunny, warm and humid. A 2-club wind blew throughout most of the day. The course was in very good condition and the greens were pretty fast and smooth.

I warmed up on the range, into the wind, starting off with my sand wedge. I then hit a few balls with the 7-iron, and it was clear that the wind would be a big factor. I hit some drives, but never really got a drive I was happy with, tending to hook. That problem would plague me all day. We went off on the 10th hole on a shotgun start at 9 AM and finished around 2PM. A celebrity tournament featuring many current and former sports stars caused most of the delay in play. We were also playing from a mix of gold and black tees, so the course was playing longer than the ones I typically play.

Two holes typify the day I had. The 15th hole is an amazing par-3 hole on the Atlantic Ocean. The tee is a good 100 ft above the hole, and both the tee and the flag were in the back, making the hole longer than the distance on the score card. I hit a 7-iron pin-high, but well left into a bunker. I had a difficult lie, and I chunked the ball only a few feet. My next shot from the bunker was hit thin, going across the green into another bunker. I managed to hit a decent bunker shot, but missed the putt and tapped in for a glorious triple bogey.

The 17th hole is a par-4 hole that dog-legs left around the Atlantic Ocean. My tee shot was well-struck, but it hooked onto the beach. As I approached the ball, I had a nice lie on the wet sand, seemingly clear of the surf. Just as I approached the ball, a large wave ran up the beach and ran off with my ball. I went back to where the ball crossed the hazard, took a drop and promptly hooked my approach shot onto the beach, again. This time, the ball was far enough above the wave, so I used my sand wedge to punch the ball back into the fairway. I hit it fat, but it still managed to get onto the fairway. I then struck a perfect 9-iron 6 ft below the hole, but lipped out the putt for a glorious triple-bogey.

That pretty much sums up my day.

Themes:

• Drives. I hit only one, count ’em, one fairway, all day. That’s not as pathetic as it sounds, as many were just off the edge. My main fault all day was hooking the ball, and it got so bad that I abandoned the driver and went to a mix of 5-woods and hybrids, but hooked them as well. All my penalties for the day were off the tee (4). My tee shots got so pathetic on the front nine that it completely destroyed my tempo and timing for the rest of my game.
• Approach shots. I had a pretty stinky day on approach shots as well, but did manage a few good ones. I hit a 7-iron on the par-5 13th hole to 15 ft, pin-high, for my only green in regulation (and par score) of the day. I also hit a fantastic 9-iron to 6 ft on the par-4 17th hole (see above). I had difficulty with the wind all day, hitting many shots long when downwind, and short when upwind.
• Wedges. I didn’t hit a lot of wedge shots, as I used either an 8-iron or pitching wedge to chip when close to the hole. When I did hit a wedge, the results weren’t good, either hitting them thin, shanking one, or hitting the ball fat, which meant I had to hit another wedge. My wedge play has not improved, even though I’ve spent more practice time on them.
• Chipping. Mixed results chipping. I had four up-and-downs, and most of these were from chipping the ball close or putting from the fringe. My chipping has improved as I’ve put more emphasis on practicing chipping.
• Bunker shots. I did very poorly on the back nine with bunker shots, either hitting them fat for little distance, or hitting them thin over the green. On the front nine, I had one very nice lob wedge out of a bunker on the 3rd hole to 6 ft but didn’t get up-and-down. 😥
• Putting. My putting improved marginally, as I had only two 3-putts on the day. I had a total of 33 putts, which is my best performance in a long time, but still pretty poor. This is due to my poor short game, which leaves me with too many putts beyond the golden 10 ft.

The changes I’ve been making to fix my reverse pivot have turned my golf swing into a random direction generator. I can’t just play for a hook, because about only about half my shots hook (and the amount of the hook isn’t consistent), others go straight and a few get pushed. I trust nothing about my game, other than putting, but I can’t get the ball close enough to the hole for my putting to make an impact on my score. My swing changes have also destroyed my wedge swings as I’ve been concentrating on my long game and not on my short game. In short, my game is a mess.

But, I still had fun. I must be a lunatic. 🙂

This afternoon, after work, I played nine holes of match play with Jarvis and Nikhil at the North Texas Golf Center. The afternoon was breezy and warm.

We hit a few balls to warm up, practiced chipping and then hit the course. We scored match play by awarding 2 points if the hole was won outright, one point to each player on a tied hole with the lower score, and no point on a loss. Jarvis won three holes outright (on two of those holes, he hit long par putts to win) and I won two holes outright (both by getting up and down from off the green for par). We were tied at the end, so we putted on the ninth green to break the tie. Nikhil chose a 15 ft putt with a nasty break; both Jarvis and I missed the putt, and tapped in. Next, we decided to chip from a tricky spot below the green in the rough. Jarvis hit his chip well long, I chipped to 3 ft. Jarvis missed his long return putt and I tapped in my 3 footer for victory.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit only one green in regulation, but I struck the ball pretty solidly, just did a poor job of compensating for the wind. I really had only one bad tee shot. My tee shot on the ninth, a pitching wedge, was right over the pin, but way long; I hit the club about 10 yds longer than normal.
• Wedges. I hit only one wedge shot, and it was bladed over the 2nd green into casual water behind the green (the ball was outside the red hazard sticks).
• Chipping. My chipping was decent today; I got up and down twice due to excellent chipping within tap-in distance on the fourth and fifth holes.
• Sand shots. None, didn’t hit the ball in the traps today.
• Putting. Putting was good until the eighth and ninth holes, which I three-putted. I had a total of 18 putts, and that included two 1-putt greens.

A pretty good day of golf. My chipping is improving, and my putting, at least, isn’t getting worse. My full swing continues to improve as I work on correcting the reverse pivot, and that has the nice side-effect of giving me more length. As a flew a couple of greens today, I’m going to need to recalibrate my lengths.

This morning, at the crack of dawn, Chinh and I played 18 at the Indian Creek Golf Club on the Lakes course. The weather was quite cold, in the mid-40s, and breezy. The sun did peek through the clouds on occasion, but not really enough to make it comfortable to play much of the time.

My score:

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit seven fairways, and two par-3 greens in regulation. I really didn’t drive the ball well, one of the drives was a moon ball, and another hit a tree and bounced back into the fairway.
• Approach shots. My short irons were pretty good today, although I only hit three greens in regulation. My mid-irons and 5-wood shots weren’t particularly good today.
• Wedges. Wedges were the main reason I scored poorly today. I only got up and down twice all day. My only memorable wedge shot was a cut-lob off bare ground on the 18th hole; I hit the 60° wedge over a very tall tree onto the green.
• Sand shots. I had only two sand shots today. The first was in a fairway bunker. I had a side-hill lie and I attempted a pitching wedge shot back into the fairway, but pushed it right into the water for a penalty. My other sand shot was in a deep bunker, but I got out cleanly to about 10 ft from the hole.
• Chipping. I did a lot of chipping from the fringe with the putter, and those weren’t too bad. My other chips with the 8-iron and wedges tended to be long.
• Putting. Yeech! I hit only one good putt over 10 ft, on the par-4 13th hole, where I nailed a 15 ft putt for par. I had a total of five 3-putts, 4 of which were on the front nine, and two were on greens I hit in regulation. In my defense, all the 3-putts came on holes with difficult putts. I left very few putts short, which is my usual fault; instead, ran some putts well by the holes. I got up and down only twice today.

Considering how much I’m struggling with correcting the reverse pivot in my swing, I thought I struck the ball pretty respectively today. My main issue was very poor wedge shots and chipping.