Joey's Golf Bag

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.

This evening, in the muggy Texas dusk, I had a lesson with Alan at Golden Bear Golf Center. Before the lesson, I worked on putting, running speed drills. Tonight, I didn’t miss any putts less than 9 ft, so I was pretty pleased with that practice. I then went to the range and hit some sand wedge shots to get warmed up and then switched to the 7-iron.

Alan arrived and I hit a few shots, pretty poorly, with the 7-iron. He then had me switch to the 5-iron and hit fades into the green with the yellow flag. He worked with me on alignment. It took a few shots, but I finally started fading the ball into the flag. My main faults tonight were too much lower body movement (again!), too much hip turn (again!), and a little too far from the ball. I also tended to align too much to the right. We then moved back to the 7-iron and had me hit draws into the green with the blue flag. I tended to pull the ball at first, instead of hitting draws, but eventually got that worked out.

Next up, I got out the driver. The first one was a sky ball, though still with good distance, though a bit pushed. The next three were things of beauty: long and straight down the middle. No changes necessary there! 😎

For my final lesson, we went to the bunker and I hit some sand shots using Dave Pelz’ technique, and then some shots using the Jim Flick technique. Jim was definitely working better than Dave tonight…

I was very, very pleased with my lesson tonight.

This morning, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to practice. The weather was cool, sunny and breezy.

I started out warming up with the sand wedge, trying to make clean contact and good tempo. I was pretty pleased with that club, so I got out the 9- and 7-irons to go with it. I worked pretty well with those clubs, having little trouble with fat shots that I had Wednesday. I concentrated today on making sure to accelerate through the ball and that swing thought seemed to help.

Next up, I got out the three longest clubs and started alternating them. I hit the 3i Halo pretty well today, though tending to push. The 2i Halo was a bit of a problem, as I hit several stinky shots with it and even a slice or two. The driver was very poor today, never really had good ball striking with the club, except when I hit pushes, which were really pushed far right.

I also ran the pin-hunting drill, making only 8 of 20 shots very good or better. My ball striking during the drill was pretty good, but I tended to push a lot of shots, and when I pushed them, they weren’t slight pushes, but very hard pushes well right.

My next drill was to run speed drills on the putting green. I spent about 30 minutes on this drill and I seem to be improving. I hit a lot of putts in the 6-18 ft range, and rarely missed from inside 9 ft.

Next up was a series of bunker shots. At first, I was taking too much sand and left the balls in the bunker. I got that sorted out, even holing one from the bunker. I then started hitting the shots a bit thin and sent a few just over the green.

I then hit 50 or so short lob wedge shots at varying distances, working on touch and distance, again working on accelerating through the ball. I had pretty good results with this drill, tending to have pretty good direction control but not that great on distance. My last drill was chipping with the pitching wedge, which I did pretty well, but still needs work.

All in all, a pretty good practice day. My main issues were with the longer clubs and hitting pushes with the medium and short irons. My short game continues to improve.

I got up before the sun this morning and practiced at The Practice Tee in Plano. When I arrived, I found that the facility had switched back to winter hours and didn’t open until 8AM. No problem, I spent the time putting and chipping until the ball machine was opened just before 8. I had a pretty good putting drill, running the speed drill over and over. I seem to be improving. I also spent a few minutes hitting short chips with the pitching wedge and seemed to have pretty good touch chipping.

After the ball machine was activated, I warmed up hitting short sand wedge shots, working on tempo and feel. I hit the ball pretty good to start and then had difficulty hitting the ball fat. Really fat. Digging to China fat. 😥

I then moved to hitting the 7-iron. At first, I chunked a few. Then I hooked a few. I played around with my stance, my grip, my posture, and never really felt comfortable over the ball. Finally, disgusted, I teed up a ball high and did the slot drill with a 6-iron and finally got good, firm contact on the ball, though drawing more than I would like. I then got out the big stick and pounded some balls, and that seemed to help my tempo, though I tended to hook. Then, disaster: I tweaked my lower back and had to stop.

I rested for a while and my back seemed better, so I went and hit some quarter-swing lob wedges, trying to get my feel back. I was still hitting the ball a little fat, though better than before. Finally, I forced my arms to fully extend, and began to hit the ball much better. As my back seemed OK, I got the driver back out and started punching some good ones straight down the middle, straight or with a slight draw.

Not my best practice, but at least it got better toward the end. My back seems fine now, too.

Tonight, after dinner, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to practice. The weather was cool and calm.

I started off hitting the sand wedge, starting out with half swings. I had difficulty getting my touch back with the wedges, but managed to get the ball going straight, if not the usual distance. I then got out the pitching wedge, 9-iron, 7-iron and 5-iron and alternated hitting those clubs. It took a lot of balls, but I did finally get the ball going straight again, after enduring innumerable hooks. I even overdid getting the club path back inside-to-square and hit some ugly shanks. 😯

I also got out the new Toski driver, 3- and 5-woods that I built; however, I hit the clubs so poorly that it wasn’t possible to evaluate them at all, so I gave that up.

The only drill that went well tonight was my putting speed drill, which I have been concentrating on the last few weeks. My feel wasn’t as good as it has been the last few practices, but even so, the distances that I miss putts has gotten smaller, so I’m making progress.

Not one of my better practices, though at least my putting continues to improve.

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 morning I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to work on my short game. The weather was sunny and very warm, with no breeze at all.

I warmed up with the pitching wedge, and then spent some time hitting full wedge shots with all my wedges, though sparingly with the X wedge. Aside from a fat or thin shot or two, I hit them very well this morning.

Next up, I got out the 8- and 6-irons and alternated them with the pitching wedge. My main issue today was slicing the ball (over-compensating for the draws I was hitting yesterday), but I soon worked that out and was hitting the ball pretty well.

I then got out the long clubs and alternated through them. At first, I was hitting hooks, then I was hitting pushes. I got the 3i hybrid going straight, but the driver and 2i hybrid strikes were all draws or pushes. I never really striped one down the middle with either club.

My final drill was the pin-hunting drill, which didn’t go very well, hitting only 7 of 16 balls very good or better.

I went to the putting green and spent half an hour working, again, on speed drills. This time I used 4 balls spaced a step apart, starting at the hole. I would hit those four balls, then move one step farther from the hole and run the drill again. I continued this drill until I was 12 steps from the hole (36 ft). In general, I left very few putts short and only two or three putts longer than 2 ft from the hole. Maybe I can take it to the course tomorrow.

Next up was the short game area. I spent about 30 minutes working on getting out of the sand. I was very inconsistent with this practice today; I’ll just have to not hit any bunkers tomorrow. My last drill was lofted wedge shots using the lob wedge. I spent another 30 minutes working on this club and finally got my feel back. I’m feeling good about this clubs again.

In general, a pretty good practice, although not my best. I’m as ready as I can be to conquer Arizona National tomorrow.

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.