Joey's Golf Bag

Ben Hogan once said, “If I miss a practice, I can tell. If I miss two practices, you can tell.” Well, I haven’t practiced in a week, and, boy, could I tell, you could tell, the whole range could tell.

Not that I’m comparing myself to Hogan, understand…

The weather was cloudy, windy and cool today, the result of Hurricane Rita off to the east. Not a drop of rain to be seen.

I guess it was lack of coffee this morning, but it took about 10 mis-hit balls for me to get the draw working on soft 7-irons this morning, and even then, each draw was surrounded by ugly shots, fat, thin, sliced. Yeech! I moved on to the big stick and things were ugly until I got my setup grooved in, and then I hit some nice straight ones and even some pretty draws. After that, I hit the 3-wood better than I have in many months. I even managed some nice draws, unusual for me. Thanks to the 2-club wind behind me, the balls were also going a lot farther than usual.

The rest of practice was pretty much a disaster, though. I never got any consistency out of any clubs, even my favorite 27-hybrid was fading or slicing today. I just had no energy. I hit a few short irons, mostly pushes and went home when I ran out of balls.

Say it ain’t so, Michelle!

Golf World (via ESPN) reports Wie to turn pro.

Michelle Wie will turn pro sometime between now and Oct. 11 — her 16th birthday — perhaps as early as next week. In doing so, she will become the world’s highest-paid female golfer.

According to sources involved in the negotiations who requested anonymity, Wie will sign endorsement deals with three companies (one believed to be Nike) worth an estimated $8 million. Adding in tournament appearance fees and other endorsements, the Hawaiian teen’s compensation for her first year as a pro is expected to reach $10 million — not counting what she wins on the course. She also will enlist the services of the William Morris Agency to secure further commercial endorsements and guide her pro career, shunning traditional golf-management companies and suggesting her long-term aspirations may involve transcending the game as much as dominating it.

This morning I went to practice, in hopes of redeeming my swing from my atrocious performance yesterday on the golf course. Theme: setup and (lack of) tension. These were to be my only swing thoughts during practice. And the results were surprising to me. Incidentally, the weather was very pleasant, with a steady, two club wind directly in my face.

On setup: I concentrated on proper grip, posture, ball position (about 2″ inside my left foot, constant for all clubs). I also made more practice swings than usual, concentrating on reducing tension, light grip, no forcing of the club face.

I started off with 6-iron half swings using balls teed high. The balls were drawing nicely, so I got out the driver. The first four drives were perfectly straight. The next was also perfectly straight, but I went under it and hit a moon ball. I followed those with some duck hooks and then returned to straight. Next, I hit some 3-metals, mostly fades, but good shots. I managed to turn the fade back to straight flight.

Next up were the hybrids. I started with the 19-hybrid, hitting good shots with a slight draw or fade. I was very pleased with the ball flight. With the 23-hybrid, I was hitting mostly straight balls. With the 27-hybrid, I started with some slight fades, and managed to move them back to straight. Again, very pleased with the ball flight.

Then came the 6-iron. In contrast with my usual fades with the 6-iron, I was hitting hard, high hooks. After being unable to make the ball not hook, I went back to the 27-hybrid, where I hit some nice draws. Back again to the 6-iron, hooks. Hmmm…

I went on to the 7-iron, hitting a mix of hooks and draws. No fades at all, and certainly no slices. Very strange.

I moved on to the short irons, hitting the 8-, 9- and 10-irons with similar results, all mostly straight with only a slight fade or draw on the 8-iron. I went back to the 7-iron and found that I was now hitting draws. Back to the 6-iron, the hooks were turning into draws, until the final shot faded.

Strange practice session. Not a single slice to be found. I guess a combination of reduced tension and a ball position slightly forward of where I’ve been playing it helps.

Now that the weather is starting to cool down, I will be able to practice more often after work.

Jarvis and I played Lake Park Executive course today (a very beautiful day), and it was simply ugly. I’m not even going to post the score, as the title says all.

A miracle happened! Dallas is cool enough today to practice after work. I haven’t been able to practice after work since May, due to temperatures well above 90 degrees F since mid-May. Today was nice and cool, about 78 degrees F when I arrived to practice.

I had a pretty poor practice today. I started first with 7-iron as usual, trying to hitting half swing draws. Not really working today, so I got out the big stick and hit a few balls to get loosened up. Most were fades, the draw just would not work today. I changed ball position, checked the backswing, but nothing really got the draw back.

I moved on to some old drills that were handy for getting the proper swing path. After a few swings with only my left foot on the ground, I was able to get the ball drawing again. I re-enforced the drill by hitting short 6-iron swings with the ball teed up high, the ball centered between my closely spaced feet. I was then able to get the draw working, which was a good thing, because I had only a few balls left.

The remaining full swing practice was with the short irons, all of which were straight but somewhat shorter in distance than usual.

I followed up on the short game green, hitting some lob wedges at various distances. It took me a while to get the swing grooved (early swings were long and right). I eventually got the swings working and hit some good lob and sand wedges. I also spent a few minutes in the bunker. The sand was very soft and I had difficulty getting the balls out of the sand with the face open. I gave up on that and had good results with the face square to the swing path. I ended the session getting three balls onto the green without issue.

I followed up with some putting practice. As usual, I simulated 18 holes of golf. Two drills of three balls at 6, 12 and 18 ft, followed by four drills at 9, 18 and 27 ft. I had only one birdie, but no three putts. My speed control was good today, but I had some difficulty with the break. I finished up with two long distance drills, hitting three balls each time from 45 ft. I had one three putt on both of these drills. I usually do better than that.

Tomorrow, Jarvis and I will play the Lake Park Executive Course again.

Tonight I practiced with the intent to work on shaping shots, specifically, to get the draw working. Starting with 7-iron half swings, I was soon drawing the ball fairly consistently. I also was drawing the ball well with the 6-iron, the longest iron currently in my bag.

Next, I got out the big stick and had very inconsistent results, only about half of the swings found the fairway. Most of the bad shots were slices tonight, instead of hooks. I also hit a few balls with the 3-metal, with similar results. I followed those clubs with the hybrids and never consistently hit draws, only fades or slices. Even when I switched back to the 6 or 7 iron, I hit a draw, but immediately following that shot with the hybrid produced fades or slices for the most part. I never did get a draw working with any of the longer clubs tonight.

I also hit a few short iron shots, consistently straight. Out of 10 balls, I had only 1 poor shot, a shank.

After full swing practice, I spent 30 minutes on the putting green working on putts from 6 to 27 feet. My speed control was good tonight, but my directional control and reading the break was not as good as usual. As usual, I simulated 18 holes of golf, making only 1 birdie, and only 1 three putt. I also hit 3 balls from 45 feet, and didn’t three putt.

A pretty good practice tonight, with the exception of the long clubs. I didn’t have any time to practice wedges or chipping tonight.

A month or so back, I was at the Golden Bear Golf Center one Sunday morning when I was approached by a Nike rep and asked if I would like to hit a prototype Nike fairway wood, a 3-metal. “Sure, always in the mood to hit a new club.” I had to sign an NDA, so that’s why you haven’t seen anything in this blog. Well, the SasQuatch driver showed up in this month’s Golf Magazine, so… on with the review.

Interestingly enough, it hasn’t shown up on Nike Golf’s website yet. It has shown up at The Golf Warehouse, though, showing Nov. 1 delivery.

The rep lined up three 3-metals , a Taylormade R5, a Callaway Big Bertha Fusion, and the SasQuatch prototype (didn’t know at the time that was the name). I hit the Callaway first, and I hit a mix of draws and fades (I meant to hit it straight, but I’m not really good enough at this point to choose exactly what shot I hit). This is the same pattern I usually hit with my Ping G2 3-metal, spraying shots all over the fairway (but mostly in it). Next, I hit the Taylormade R5. I couldn’t get the ball in the air with this club, just hit low worm burners about 20 ft off the ground. Finally, I picked up the Nike club and hit several shots, every one with no side spin at all, just a slight push or pull. “No way, that’s just luck”, I’m thinking to myself. So, I pick up the Callaway club again, and hit the same mix of fades and draws all over the fairway, very typical for me. Back to the Nike, again, every shot straight down the fairway.

“Can I keep this?” I ask the rep.

“No, but you can get one on November 1st.”

Now, I can’t wait for November 1st!

Update: I found it on Nike’s website (google knows all); the driver was announced August 29. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.

The USA wins the Solheim Cup 15-1/2 to 12-1/2 with the rookies Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, and Christina Kim leading the way to victory. Sports Illustrated reports Creamer helps U.S. win back Solheim Cup. A quote:

CARMEL, Ind. (AP) — Juli Inkster saw flags waving, heard chants of “U-S-A!” and felt a lump in her throat on the practice range, the intensity building before the first match Sunday in the Solheim Cup.

She gathered all the American players she could find. With their hands together in a collective fist, they broke huddle with a shout that carried them to victory and kept their record perfect on home soil.

“FINISH!”

“That was our key phrase,” Paula Creamer said. “They don’t remember how you start, but how you finish.”

I went to practice this morning. The weather was cool, with a 10 mph wind directly in my face. I wanted to work on all of the things I did poorly while playing yesterday.

I started (badly) with short sand wedge shots, shanking a few. I gave up on that, got out the 7-iron and got my tempo back together. After that, I took out the driver and hit some, mixing up very nice straight ones with duck hooks. Either they were straight or they were hooked, not much in between. I experimented some with ball position within my stance, but ended up where I started. Next, I hit some shots with the 3-metal, mostly straight. After that, I hit a lot of shots with the hybrids, mostly fades. I never did get a draw going, straight was the best I could do today. Some minor work with the short irons got them going straight again, instead of pushes.

After I ran out of balls, I went over to the short game area and hit dozens of short and medium length lob and sand wedges. Apart from a few fat shots, I was pretty happy with the practice. I also hit some 15-20 yd chips with the pitching wedge with good results, still some a little long, but better than yesterday.

Next was the putting green. One of the two greens was down for maintenance; the other one had just had some sand spread around. I mostly ran the 3 ball drills where I place the balls at 2 and 3 yd intervals. I had good success through successive drills, with only a single 3 putt. After about 5 drills, I putted several balls from 35-40 ft, with no 3 putts.

A good day’s practice, I was pretty happy afterward.

Jarvis and I played nine holes from the back tees on the Lake Park Executive Course today, and stunk up the place. My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Did not hit a single green in regulation.
• Short irons were short by 5 yds all day.
• Long irons / hybrids were mostly pin high, but all were fades.
• Two drives: I hit a draw on the 5th that wants a fade, and a fade on the 4th that wants a draw. I thought I hit the draw out of bonds on the 5th, but it bounced back in bounds. The provisional was also a fade.
• Sand wedge was working well, except on 6 & 7, where I hit it fat.
• Chipping was poor, all long.
• Putting was mediocre, didn’t hit anything beyond 5 ft. Two putts from the fringe were 8 or 10 ft long. Three putts on 6 & 7 (yeech — nothing I hate worse than 3-putting).

To sum it up, I had a very poor day.