Joey's Golf Bag

OK, Tiger says his streak was over when he lost at the HSBC World Match Play Championship. But that’s not a PGA Tour event, and neither is the Ryder Cup. So, as far as the PGA Tour is concerned, he just won his seventh consecutive event at the Buick Invitational. Let’s keep the count going…

1. British Open
2. Buick Open
3. PGA Championship
4. Bridgestone World Championship
5. Deutsche Bank Championship
6. American Express Championship
7. Buick Invitational

Tiger’s website says his next PGA tournament is TBD (he is playing on the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic this week), but will probably be the Nissan Open or the Accenture Match Play Championship. Tiger has never won the Nissan Open, despite playing eight times.

Can he run the streak to eight PGA tournaments?

I had a few minutes today, so I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center and hit a few balls and putted. The day was warm and sunny, but that dreaded sign was up: “Mats Only”.

I really hate hitting off mats.

I got a small bucket and proceeded to stink up the place. I really couldn’t get any club going today, until the end. I started off pretty well, hitting a pitching wedge at the red flagged green, and a 7-iron at the blue-flagged green. My tempo was just off today, I guess. I only finally got it going again once I had about 5 balls left and my driver out. I concentrated on taking a wide, full turn and, finally, hit a decent couple of shots down the fairway, nice little draws.

After I ran out of balls, I went to the putting green and ran my speed drill. I had a good drill going and hit some pretty long putts in the 18-24 ft range. My speed from long distance wasn’t perfect, but better than usual. My new putting grip and style has improved my putting quite a bit.

Ran out of time and wasn’t able to visit the short game area.

This afternoon after work, I practiced at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The day was nearly perfect, temperatures in the high 50s, sunny, trace of a breeze.

I started off hitting full pitching wedges to warm up, hitting them a bit sporadically. Someone had placed three flags in front of the pond, so I also hit some lob wedges, mostly pretty good shots, at those flags. I then got out the 9-, 7- and 5-irons and alternated those clubs. I hit the 9-iron pretty solidly, but the 7- and 5-irons I hit nasty hooks at first. I gradually got the longer clubs straightened out, but still tended to draw them instead of hitting them straight.

Next, I got out the long clubs (driver, 3- and 5-woods, and 3-hybrid) and hit those clubs. I hit the driver pretty well, but had difficulty at first with the others. I soon worked them out, though, and even hit a decent 3-wood. The 5-wood I struck pretty respectably today, even off the deck.

Next, I ran the pin-hunting drill. I had a shaky start, but finished strong, hitting 10 of 20 shots with a score of 4 or 5 (on a 1 to 5 scale), so I was pretty happy.

I ended practice hitting lob- and x-wedge shots at the flags in front of the hazard. I also tried a few cut lobs with the x-wedge, but only managed one good cut lob. I finished practice hitting a couple of shots with the 5-wood and 3-hybrid off the deck and a couple of drives. My final set of shots were pretty good and I finished practice with a grin on my face.

I then went to the putting green. My distance control sucked on longer putts, but my short putting was pretty good.

A fine day for practice. I managed to get in a pretty good practice today, lacking only chipping and bunker work.

Tiger’s last event on the PGA Tour seems like ages ago, but now Tiger tees it up at Torrey Pines. Let’s see if he can make it seven PGA Tour events in a row, or if someone step up and end the streak.

OK, Tiger says his streak was over when he lost at the HSBC World Match Play Championship. But that’s not a PGA Tour event, and neither is the Ryder Cup. So, as far as the PGA Tour is concerned, he just won his sixth consecutive event at the American Express Championship. Let’s keep the count going…

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

Tiger’s website says his next tournament is TBD, but will probably be the Tour Championship. Can he make it seven?

Yesterday afternoon was a near-perfect day, temperature in the mid-50s with little wind, so, in between car washes, I practiced at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The weather here in Dallas was especially bad last week, alternating freezing rain with torrential downpours.

I started out hitting pitching wedges to get warmed up. I had problems initially hitting the ball fat, but soon worked it out and proceeded to get out the 8- and 6-irons to alternate shots. I hit the 8-iron pretty well, tending to slightly pull the ball left of target. Next, I got out the longer clubs. I hit the driver pretty respectably, finding the imaginary fairway in about 80% of drives. The other long clubs, the 3- and 5-woods, and the 3-hybrid, were never really hit consistently, tending to hit low hooks. Next up, I got out the wedges and practiced hitting less than full shots with the sand and lob wedges, starting with shorter shots and working my way up to longer ones. I still had some difficulty hitting fat shots, mostly when I tried to get a little more distance, so I’m probably back to rushing the down-swing again. I’ll get the iPod out with Tour Tempo (if the weather ever warms up again) and work on tempo. That always seems to help.

My final drill was to run through the bag hitting all the clubs. I hit them all pretty well except for the 3-hybrid and fairway woods, which were not hit very well. All the iron shots were hit well, and the final driver was a nearly perfect draw right down the middle.

I didn’t have time to putt or chip, so I’ll start with that next time the weather warms up enough to practice.

This afternoon, after work, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville to practice. The day was sunny and warm, the wind, howling earlier, had died down to almost nothing.

I started out hitting pitching wedges to the center green just over the pond. The distance today was such that I was just short of land with the pitching wedge. I hit the ball pretty well to start, although I did have one shot hit very fat. Next, I got out the 8-, 6-, and 4-irons, along with the 3-hybrid and alternated hitting shots with those clubs. I hit the 8-iron extremely well today, the 6- and 4-irons were a bit shaky, especially at first. After a few rotations through those clubs, I got out the long clubs, today being the driver, 3-wood, 5-wood and 3-hybrid and alternated those clubs. With the driver, I started out hitting high slices, but soon fixed my path and hit the driver pretty respectably. The 3-wood and 5-wood were struck poorly at first, but once I got my tempo in order, began to hit them pretty well, generally with a slight fade. The 3-hybrid I also hit poorly at first, mainly topped, but when my tempo improved I hit that club pretty well also. I was pretty pleased with my long clubs today; I feel like I’m turning a corner to improvement.

Next up, I got out the wedges and hit some full shots with each club. I hit all the wedges well today, with the exception of about one fat shot each. With the last of the balls, I hit 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 shots with the sand and lob wedges. I finished up the bucket with a few 4- and 5-irons. My next to last 4-iron was a hook, but my last shot was a thing of beauty, right at the target tree.

I ran out of time and didn’t get any short game work in, other than the wedges. I was pretty pleased with my practice today, despite the fact that I haven’t practiced in over a week (due to illness, bad weather and looking for a new car).

This afternoon, I practiced at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The weather was sunny but chilly, with a light breeze from the east.

I started off hitting pitching wedge shots to the center green, just clearing the pond from my location. I was striking the ball pretty well at the start, my main faults being a ball hit a bit thin or slightly pulled. I then got out the 6-iron, Nike 3-wood (newly trimmed to play 42.5"), Tom Wishon 5-wood, and the 4-iron. With the exception of the 4-iron, I hit all these clubs pretty well today. I tended to fade the woods slightly, but otherwise hit them well. I never got the 4-iron working today, tending to hit low hooks with it.

Next, I got out the driver and hit some balls, alternating with the 5-wood and 3-wood. The driver I hit pretty straight today, but all the balls were lower than usual and carry distance was pretty mediocre. I started out hitting the fairway woods well off the turf, but the balls were flying lower than usual as well. Then I got a case of the fats with the fairway metals, but soon worked it out and got the ball flying a more normal trajectory.

Next, I got out the wedges and hit a variety of half and full swing wedge shots, hitting them all pretty well today; main fault was a bit of a pull, but many were perfectly straight. I also hit some punch shots with the 8-iron. The first ball was hit poorly, but then I got dialed in and hit a couple really nice shots close to the pin. I also hit some cut lobs with the 64° wedge, hit them pretty well except for one fat shot.

As the sun was going down, my position ended up in the shade and I got very cold (no jacket). So, I got out the pitching wedge and 9-iron to finish up the bucket. I hit the first two pitching wedges fat, digging to China fat. The 9-iron was struck extremely well, nearly hitting the pin. My final shot was a fat 3-wood.

As I was about to freeze, I ended my practice without visiting the putting green. I was pretty pleased with my first 2007 practice.