Joey's Golf Bag

This morning at the crack of dawn, I went to The Practice Tee in Plano to hit a few balls before work. The weather was cloudy and the wind was howling in from the south at about 30 mph, but the temperature was in the mid-70s. As I had limited time, I got only a small bucket of balls and started out hitting full swings with the 7-iron. I started out striking the ball pretty well — good, straight path down the target line — slight fades that the wind kindly brought back to target.

I then got out the 5-iron and hit a few pretty well, though low, and then my swing went south and I got a little frustrated. I finally figured out the problem: too much lateral movement on the backswing (an old familiar fault). I worked that out and even hit a very nice, penetrating drive that was unaffected by the strong wind. Still couldn’t hit that damn 3-wood or hybrid, though. For some reason, when I get the 3-wood or hybrid in my hands, my tempo gets too fast and I hit the ball thin or worse, top it. Maybe I need a sports pshrink.

Since I’ve put the Wishon Golf 770CFE irons in my bag, my shot dispersion has improved dramatically with the irons. I can’t credit the irons alone, as I’ve been using Tour Tempo on my iPod throughout my last few practices (and most of that practice was with the graphite-shafted practice 6-iron that is set up like my new iron set). Still… I’m very happy with these irons.

This morning, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center in cloudy, cool weather. There was a breeze in my face that averaged about 1 club.

Today, I brought out the new Wishon Golf 770CFE irons I built this week. In general, I was quite pleased with their performance, although I wasn’t swinging particularly well today. When I did produce a good swing, the irons produced a high ball-flight that landed softly on the target greens. I was especially pleased with a 4-iron shot into the blue target green; the ball came in high and rolled no more than 10 ft after landing. The clubs are a 1/2″ shorter than my previous set and weigh about 28 grams less. It appears my clubhead speed has not suffered from the shorter length, and may even improve slightly once I get used to the lighter swingweight (D-2 vs. D-7). Before I hit the clubs, I was concerned that the sound of impact might be different due to the thin clubface, but I really like how the ball sounds at impact. The sound is more like a forged club than an investment cast club, due, I guess, to the variable thickness forged clubface. The clubheads are certainly more forgiving than my previous set as well. So far, so good…

I felt pretty sluggish today during practice and always felt like I was a little behind in my tempo. I warmed up with the 6-iron and hit several fat shots before I got going. I got out the pitching wedge and 8-iron and alternated shots with those clubs. At first, I got very high ball flight and not much distance, but I soon got the ball flying well. My swing path was good today, mostly straight. My release was not well-timed, so I had a mix of fades and draws, more of the former.

Next up, I got out the hybrid and 3-wood (back in my bag for practice purposes). I never got the tempo right with these clubs, always late and usually topping the ball, so I went back to hitting the wedges, which I did well today, despite a fat shot or two. By now, my back was aching, so I finished out the balls by hitting mid-irons off tees, with mixed results. I had one high, monster hook with the 5-iron, but the hook monster was otherwise absent today. My back didn’t feel up to any additional practice, so my plan to have a full practice with short game and putting was not to be.

Not a very good practice today, but it is pretty clear I will benefit from my new irons. Additional reports to follow.

This afternoon, I completed the construction on my new Tom Wishon 770CFE irons by bending them to my specifications. The lofts of the clubs were very accurate, so I didn’t need to adjust the loft of the irons at all. I did bend the irons upright, in general, needing about 1° to 1.5° bend upright to achieve my desired specs.

My specs:

Tomorrow, I will take them to the range for the first time to hit balls and get an initial impression.

This morning, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville to hit some balls. The day was sunny and warm, with a left to right breeze.

I started out hitting full 6-iron shots to warm up, without Tour Tempo, and hit the ball pretty respectably. I then turned on my iPod to 27/9 pre-shot voice and proceeded to run the “Y” drill. At first, my shots tended to be slightly pulled, but I soon improved my path and hit the ball more or less straight, though tending, much of the day, to have the club face a little open at impact. Next up, I hit about 20 balls using the “L” drill; again, similar results, tended to have a mostly straight path and slightly open club face. I then hit a few balls with a 3/4 swing.

Next, I went down through the clubs, starting with the pitching wedge. I hit the short irons pretty well, good path, with square or slightly open club face. Mid-irons had good path as well, but tended to have a slightly closed clubface. I hit only one nasty hook today, that was with the 4-iron. Most of my misses were right with a fade.

When I got to the hybrids, I didn’t strike them particularly well today, tending to rush the downswing and either hooking the ball or topping it. The driver I never hit well today at all. I seemed to be late setting the club and then firing to impact too quickly. I eventually decided to put on 33/11 tempo, just to get my backswing into shape, and hit a couple of decent drives, draws. I wasn’t thrilled with the distance, though, seemed shorter than usual.

I had a pretty good practice today, better than my last one. I’m seeing my ball-striking improving, so I’m pretty happy.

Yes, you guessed it, I spent some time on the range with Tour Tempo on the iPod. This afternoon, on a sunny, warm day, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville to hit some balls. I started off running the “Y” drill with the 6-iron using the 27/9 pre-shot voice track. I hit about 20 balls, tending to pull them slightly, but in general making good contact with the ball. Next up, I ran the “L” drill, again with the 6-iron. I also hit the ball pretty well and had a mix of pulls and pushes mixed with the straight shots.

I then moved on to hitting full swings, but never really got the ball going straight, instead, tending to hit high, long hooks. I then followed up with some pitching and sand wedge shots, and hit mostly straight shots or slight pushes. Last up, I hit some drives, and never had any consistency at all.

Not my best day of practice, but at least the wedges were going straight, if nothing else was…

In my never-ending quest to use the best possible equipment for golf, I’ve built a new set of irons around the Tom Wishon Golf Technology 770CFE iron heads. These are not only the best looking cavity back iron heads I’ve ever seen, but they are designed for high handicap golfers like me.

For the shafts, I selected the new True Temper GS75 ultra-lightweight steel shafts, R300 flex and used Golf Pride Dual Duometer midsize grips. I built the clubs per Tom Wishon’s guidelines in The Search for the Perfect Golf Club, which, for me, are +0.5" longer than standard (I’d been using +1" longer) and will bend them 2° upright. I adjusted the swingweight of all the clubs to D-2.

On Friday, it’s test time!

This morning, on a cool, blustery day, I went to hit some balls at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. I spent most of the morning working on tempo with Tour Tempo on my iPod, and it is helping a lot to overcome the problems I’ve had lately with my swing.

I warmed up with one of the test 6-irons I built a while back, the Toski Target T56 iron head with the UST PRoforce Rv2 75 graphite shaft. I first hit about 20 balls using the Tour Tempo “Y” drill and then followed that up hitting 20 balls with the “L” drill. Mostly, I hit pulls during both drills, so once I started hitting full shots, I concentrated on getting the clubhead path correct. The other change I made was to run the spoken version of the 27/9 pre-shot instead of the one that beeps. That seems to reduce the tension I feel when I use the beeps (I think that’s the primary reason that Tour Tempo didn’t really work well for me in the past).

After about 20 full shots with the 6-iron, I got out the wedges and hit a few full shots with each. Next up, I finished out the practice session by hitting a few balls with nearly every club, doing pretty well with all clubs except the Big Bertha 3-iron and the driver. The rest of the clubs I hit pretty respectively today, and I can see definite progress over the last three practice sessions, reversing the slide my performance had taken earlier last week.

It’s been a painful two weeks since my last post. I’ve practiced a number of times, and my swing was getting progressively worse, not better, over three practices. Then, in desperation, yesterday, I got out my iPod with Tour Tempo on it, set it to 27/9 and hit balls. Slowly, my swing came back and I started hitting the ball decently again. So, this morning, I went to Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville and set out to continue training with Tour Tempo. Happily, my swing continued to improve. In fact, I felt good enough to go play nine. So, after having a good putting practice session, I paid for nine and played.

Disaster struck on the very first hole, hitting the ball thin directly into the water, skipping several times and nearly getting onto the grass. But, alas, no luck, ball stayed wet. Took a drop and hit a wedge just over the green, chipped close and tapped in for a cool double.

Next hole, par 4, I hit a 6-iron draw, just clearing the fairway bunker on the edge of the fairway. I hit a sand wedge a bit fat just short of the green, chipped poorly and two-putted for bogey.

Next hole, par 3, I pushed a high lob wedge shot well right. The ball hit a log just outside the hazard, bounced high into the rough over the green. I hit a poor chip (again) short and two-putt for bogey.

Fourth hole, par 4, was just plain ugly. I pushed my tee shot with the 3i hybrid into the hazard. I took a drop and then hit a lay-up 8-iron, hoping to get a clear shot at the green that is well-protected by an overhanging tree. I was left with a sand wedge to the flag, but that required clearing an overhanging tree. I am the acknowledged master of hitting the only branch that can be hit; and I didn’t disappoint: clipped that branch and landed in the rough just to the right of the green, narrowly missing the bunker. Naturally, I hit the ball thin right over the green, then hit a lob wedge pitch short and two putt for a nasty triple.

Fifth hole, par 3. I hit a pitching wedge hook right of the green, chipped short to 12 feet, and then proceeded to three-putt for double.

Sixth hole, par 4. I hit a 4-iron off the tee, hooking it into the left rough ton to a hump with a difficult uphill lie. I hit a good 8-iron short just short of the green, chipped short (again!!!) and just missed the par putt by an inch, and tapped in for bogey.

Seventh hole, par 3. I hit a 5-iron draw left of the green, chipped short (see a pattern yet?), hit a putt to 6 inches and tapped in for bogey.

Eighth hole, par 4. Normally, I get out the driver and try to drive the green, but that club has not been playing nice, so I decide to play safe and hit a 5-iron off the tee. There’s an overhanging branch over the fairway that I’ve hit numerous times with a 6-iron, so I figure a 5-iron won’t go high enough to hit it. Riiiiiiiiiight! Bonk!!! OK, mulligan time. Move the ball back in my stance a little. You know what’s gonna happen… Bonk!!! The only freakin’ branch that can be hit, and I’ve nailed it twice… Only this time, who knows where the ball went… Why is it I’m perfectly consistent when I don’t want to be????

I’ll save you the disasters that followed on the green at the eighth and ninth holes, as the point has been made.

I’m the Salieri of Golf.

This afternoon after work, I practiced at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville on a warm, but cloudy, evening. Mosquitos swarmed around me for much of the practice, causing the occasional bad shot (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).

I started off warming up with the 7-iron, hitting the ball pretty poorly at first, so I spent much of the practice working on the slot drill. That drill much improved my ball-striking over my last practice. My distances were shorter than usual, due in part to hitting the ball very high. I may need to move the ball back in my stance a bit to lower the ball flight, but for now, I’m focusing on other things. My other work was on improving my lag, and I can’t report much improvement in that area, other than a few shots here and there.

I worked on the slot drill for about 1/3 of the balls, alternating the sand wedge, 9-, 7- and 5-irons. While working on the slot drill, I hit the ball very straight, but shorter than usual, even 2 clubs shorter. Again, I’m hitting the ball extremely high, even the 5-iron.

After the slot drill, added the 3i HALO and the driver and added them to the mix. The hybrid I hit high and short as well. The driver was mixed; when I properly loaded the shaft and got good lag, I hit the ball straight and long, but I wasn’t able to do that consistently. I hit a couple of high fades or push fades, and a duck hook or two, so no consistency.

Next up, I traded out all the clubs and got out the pitching wedge, 8-, 6-, and 4-irons, the 2i hybrid and kept the driver. I tended to pull the pitching wedge, but hit it solidly. I tended to push the 8-iron, but distance was more normal than most of the clubs. The 6-iron I hit mostly straight, with reasonable distance. The 4-iron I didn’t hit very well, tending either to hit it a bit thin, or very high and short. Weird… At that point I was nearly out of balls, so I hit a few drives, pulling them left pretty badly.

A pretty good practice today. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and had to run to go vote before the polls closed (libertarian!).

This morning, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville on a cloudy, dreary day, threatening rain. My plan for today was to test the irons and woods I’ve built over the past few months and see if any of them can pull existing clubs out of my bag. In short, no.

I warmed up with the Toski Target T-58 6-iron that’s been in my bag most of the year. After that warm-up, I lined up my test 6-irons:

• Snake Eyes Viper Ti-4 with Grafalloy Prolite graphite shaft;
• Toski Target T-56 with UST PRoforce Rv2 75 graphite shaft;
• Toski Target T-56 with Dynalite Gold SL steel shaft;
• Toski Target T-58 with Custom Lite steel shaft;
• Snake Eyes 600B forged heads with Dynamic Gold steel shaft.

Basically, with the irons, the test was completely inconclusive, none stood out from the rest, although my best shot of all was with the Snake Eyes forged head (and there’s no way those unforgiving clubheads are going in my bag until I’m a much better golfer).

Next up, I got out the Toski T-6 driver, 3-wood and 5-wood and tested them. With the sole exception of one shot with the driver, and one with the 5-wood, I was completely unable to load the stiff shafts in these clubs, which makes me conclude that my swing is not suited to stiff shafts. The shaft never seemed to load properly and I never really felt like I could hit any of the clubs well. So, stiff shafts are definitely out, for now.