Joey's Golf Bag

This morning, as the sun was rising, I practiced at The Practice Tee with some friends before work. The weather was cool and clear, with a 1-club breeze from the north. It was quite a change to practice in cool weather instead of the usual brutal Texas summer heat.

I warmed up with the 7-iron and then moved on to hitting the 8-iron, 6-iron and 4-iron. I had a bit of trouble getting a smooth swing going this morning. I just couldn’t seem to get moving very quickly. It took a while, but I finally started hitting respectible shots. Next up was the driver and hybrid (I left the 3-metal in the car, planning to try out my new Cleveland 2i HALO, but I ran out of balls). The hybrid I didn’t hit very well today, but the driver I hit pretty well, though an rare hook or slice slipped in.

I also put impact tape on the hybrid, 6-iron and driver to see if I’ve improved the number of strikes on the sweet spots of the clubs. I’m happy to report that my impact zones on all clubs has improved, moving closer to the sweet spots on all clubs. With the driver, I’m just to the inside of the center of the club (I had much difficulty in the past with toe strikes, that problem is gone), on the hybrid, I hit most shots on the center, but low on the clubface; with the 6-iron, the impact zone was at the right location but a bit low on the clubface. I’m pleased that I’ve improved from the toe strikes that plagued me a few weeks ago.

Next up, I ran a pin-hunting drill. My performance was subpar today, hitting only 7 out of 19 as very good (4) or excellent (5). The driver performed the best, 3/4 shots very good or better.

My final drill was more speed drills on the putting green; again, I had a very good putting practice. Maybe some day I’ll get that same performance on the course.

Let’s keep a count…

1. British Open
2. Buick Open
3. PGA Championship
4. Bridgestone World Championship
5. Deutsche Bank Championship

Next up for Tiger is the HSBC World Match Play Championship. Can he make it six?

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 went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to practice, under heavy clouds threating rain. There was a soft breeze from the north.

I warmed up with the 7-iron, and then switched to rotation of pitching wedge, 8- and 6-irons. After hitting a few rotations through those clubs, and hitting the ball pretty well (main defect today was hitting pushes or fades), I moved on to the longer clubs. I got out the driver, 3-metal and hybrid and worked on tempo with those clubs. I started off a bit rough, but soon had those clubs performing well. Again, the main fault I had today was pushing the ball well right, though I struck the ball well.

I then got out the wedges and rotated through them working on correcting the pulls and fat strikes that I had yesterday. I had pretty good success getting the pulled shots back to straight, but still had some difficulty hitting the ball fat. That happens when my tempo gets quick, and I’ve had to work hard on slowing down my tempo.

My last drill was pin-hunting, and despite some bad shots, had one of my better days where 10 of 20 shots were rated 4 or 5 on a 5 point scale. I was pretty pleased when I finished up that drill. By now, I’d run out of balls, so I went to the putting green to practice.

The pin-hunting drill scale:

I spent the entire time on the green running the speed drill, this time with 3 balls. I started off with 3 balls spaced 3, 6 and 9 ft from the hole, then moving out 3 ft, etc. I had an extraordinary day with this drill, making more than 60% of the putts out to 30 ft. I was very pleased with my putting practice today. Now, if I can just get that skill to work on the course…

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.