Joey's Golf Bag

This afternoon, I played a scramble tournament at Ridgeview Ranch in Plano. The weather was heavily clouded, threatening rain, with a strong, shifty wind. We managed to get through 16 holes before the rain came.

Our score was 35, 1 under, on the front nine, and either 1 under or 2 under on the back; as it was raining hard, I didn’t stick around for the final score. It was a strange tournament, as two of our playing partners had conference calls intervene after the second hole, and they didn’t rejoin us until the 14th hole. My other partner and I played two balls each while the other two were absent.

My contribution to the score:

• First hole: My drive was the best, center of the fairway.
• Second hole: Hit the green with a 9-iron approach shot.
• Fifth hole: Hit both of my 9-iron tee shots to 15 ft.
• Sixth hole: On the par-5 hole, hit a 6-iron second shot just over the green into the fringe; we got up and down for birdie from there.
• Seventh hole: From off the green, hit a birdie chip to 2 ft; tapped in for par.
• Ninth hole: Hit a 45 ft birdie putt to 8 inches, and tapped in for par.
• Tenth hole: The entire hole was played with my ball, for birdie. Hit a good drive, then hit a lob wedge from 85 yds to 7 ft, and nailed the birdie putt. This was my best played hole this year.
• Eleventh hole: Good drive into the center of the fairway.
• Fourteenth hole: Hit 4 ft breaking putt to save par.
• Fifteenth hole: Two putted for par from 20 ft.
• Seventeen hole: Hit a chip to 4 ft to save par.
• Eighteenth hole: Hit 4 ft putt for birdie, after a spectacular drive and approach shot from one of my partners. What was most remarkable about this birdie is that it was made in a torrential downpour.

Themes:

• Driving. Hit about half the fairways today. My misses were, as usual, hooks. That damn reverse pivot…
• Fairway woods. I hit a couple of good fairway woods today, but my playing partners’ shots were better, so none counted.
• Approach shots. Pretty good today. Flew some greens, so my distance is a bit longer than I estimated.
• Wedges. Other than the lob wedge to 7 ft on the 10th hole, didn’t hit any really good wedge shots. Fault was mainly fat, but also hit some thin over the greens.
• Bunkers. I didn’t hit out of any bunkers, as my playing partners hit better shots on the two or three holes where I hit into bunkers.
• Putting. I was pretty pleased with my putting today, really only had two bad putts all day, and both of those were very difficult down-hill putts that I hit long. I only left one putt short.

A fun day of golf today; really enjoyed myself, hit some good shots (and a few stinkers), and putted well.

Update: My team won with a score of two under par. 🙂

This afternoon, after work, I had an hour in which to practice, so I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center. Heavy rain had fallen the previous evening, so it was mats only. I hate mats, so I hit only a small bucket of balls. I worked mainly on the longer clubs tonight. I used the four step Jim Flick drill to work on removing the reverse pivot. I’m still having a heck of a time getting that reverse pivot out of my swing; everytime I let my guard down, it comes right back, sending the ball on a long looping hook. I am seeing progress, but it is taking longer to show progress than I expected. I did manage to hit some good shots tonight, and some stinkers, and my misses tended to be pushes.

Next, I went to the putting green and worked on long putts. I hit several balls from 18, 24, 30 and 36 ft, and am happy to report that I hit at least one putt at each distance. I spent the remaining time chipping with the 8-iron from the rough around the putting green and saw significant improvement in my chipping.

I was very pleased with my putting and chipping tonight, and less pleased with my full swing, but I’m still seeing progress in getting the reverse pivot out of my swing.

This morning, I practiced and played nine at the North Texas Golf Center. The day was warm and heavily clouded with a breeze from the south.

I bought a medium bucket and proceeded to hit short wedge shots at the sand flags at the end of the range. My distance control was poor, due mostly to lack of practice, but direction was good without any tendencies. Next, I went to the range and practiced my Jim Flick reverse pivot correction drill using the 8-iron. Again, I had a lot of difficulty with reverse pivot; whenever I let my guard down, it reappears. I then hit short iron shots at the left white flag, tending to hit pushes. Distances were normal today.

Next, I got out the driver and worked on hitting drives at the right yellow flag, about 230 yds away. I hit a lot of pushes with the driver, but had little sidespin on most shots. I also hit a few shots with the 5-wood and hybrid, but didn’t hit these clubs well today.

I then spent some time figuring out distances with my wedges, and have found I hit the 52° gap wedge about 95 yd carry, and the 56° sand wedge about 85 yds. That’s pretty consistent with my Callaway wedges that have different lofts of 49° and 54°. I then worked on hitting low punch shots with the pitching wedge and 8-iron. With the final balls, I went through the bag trying to hit a good shot with each club, and succeeded, with the exception of the hybrid and the 4-iron.

I visited the putting green for a few minutes, working on speed. The putting green was very slow and I had some difficulty getting the speed up on my putts. I don’t really like putting on slow greens and the green was very slow today.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Hole by hole:

• First hole. Hit a worm burner 9-iron well short of the green. Attempted a gap wedge chip, but hit it thin and 45 ft short of the hole, below the ridge that runs across the green. Hit my putt 12 ft long, missed the return putt and tapped in for double.
• Second hole. Pushed a 9-iron well right of the hole pin-high. Chipped with pitching wedge to 15 ft, missed the putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Third hole. Hooked a 9-iron (that reverse pivot came back) pin-high left of the bunker. Had a difficult down-hill lie, hit a lob wedge pitch 20 ft from the hole, missed the par putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Fourth hole. Pulled a pitching wedge into a grass bunker pin-high, hit a lob wedge chip from an up-hill lie to 12 ft, just missed the par putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Fifth hole. Hit a sand wedge 15 ft over the hole, just missed birdie putt and tapped in for par.
• Sixth hole. Hit a pitching wedge right of the green, chipped with the gap wedge to 20 ft, just missed the par putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Seventh hole. Hit a gap wedge long over the green, chipped with an 8-iron to 20 ft, missed par putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Eighth hole. Hit a sand wedge just right of the green, hit a beautiful chip with the pitching wedge to 6 inches and tapped in for par and my only up-and-down of the day.
• Ninth hole. Attempted to hit an 8-iron punch shot, but pushed it well right onto the 7th hole tee. Hit a lob wedge to 21 ft but left with a putt breaking 4 feet left. Hit the putt too long, leaving a 4 ft breaking putt, which I missed and tapped in for double.

Today wasn’t my best playing, obviously, but I needed to work on my short game, and I got in that work. I plan to spend the rest of the week doing exactly this same sort of practice, with more chipping practice. My putting speed was good except for the first and ninth holes and I was just unlucky that none of my par or birdie putts fell into the hole. Still, I felt a little better about my short game given my pathetic short-game performance in Cancun.

Last Wednesday, on a warm, sunny morning, I played 18 holes on the Jack Nicklaus course at The Golf Club at Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico. The course has three 9-hole courses, named Dunes, Jungle and Lakes. I played Dunes and Jungle. The courses I played were meticulously maintained, the greens nearly perfect and fast. The course runs through the thick jungle south of Cancun. The course is quite pricey but is all-inclusive (green fees, cart, drinks, lunch and transportation to/from Cancun hotels). Surprisingly, range balls are $3 for about 25 balls.

I had a 7:45AM tee time, but got reassigned to an earlier group and went off about 7:30AM, without any opportunity to hit some balls. Because of my last minute swing changes to correct my reverse pivot, I struck the ball poorly all day. The only bright spots were my putting (only one 3-putt) and my bunker play on the Dunes course (conversely, my bunker play on the Jungle course was quite poor). I hit less than half the fairways and managed not a single up and down anywhere on the courses. I’ll not post the score, as it was pretty pathetic. We waited to tee off on only one or two holes and finished the round in about 4 hours, which is pretty respectable for a resort course.

A fun day of golf (despite my poor play) on a very challenging golf course. This is the second hardest golf course I’ve played, only the Pete Dye Course at Stonebridge Ranch was harder.

This morning, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center on a warm, blustery day. I started out running the Jim Flick drill that I learned at the Swing Master clinic last Saturday, using the pitching wedge. I hit the ball pretty straight, so I moved on to the 8-iron, with which I started hitting hooks. I soon figured that out, but not before getting pretty frustrated. I finally started being able to distinguish when my swing was being afflicted with the reverse pivot.

I then started hitting iron shots normally, trying to keep the reverse pivot out of my swing. It was difficult to get the proper swing grooved, but I continued to work at it both with the irons, and later, with the driver and 5-wood. Whenever I hit a shot when the reverse pivot reappeared, I went back to the drill and hit a few balls. This was a long and painful process, but I was finally rewarded near the end of the practice, hitting long drives right down the middle. My final ball was a perfectly struck drive that followed the exact line and trajectory that I desire.

Since the short game area is still closed (due to reopen on April 1st), I went to the putting green and practiced putting, making sure to follow my routine exactly each time. I putted pretty well today, first hitting several short putts, then working my way out to 18, 24, 30 and 45 ft. I didn’t have any really poor putts today, especially, none of those inexplicable putts that are well short or way long.

My practice today started out really poorly, but I eventually figured out how to feel when I have reverse pivot in my swing, and how to correct for it. I think my ball-striking will be much improved once I get used to the correct swing.

This morning, I went to the Swing Master clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather was windy and cloudy, with the wind out of the west. There was one other student besides me. Today, Bill Beverly, the instructor who first taught me golf just over two years ago, was giving the clinic.

He watched both of us hit a few shots. I usually have an issue with hitting hooks, but wasn’t really able to demonstrate it; instead, most of my shots were pretty good, straight, or with a slight fade. Billy then took us into the video area and video-taped our swing. Both of us had reverse pivot, mine just slight but the other student’s reverse pivot was quite pronounced. He then gave us a drill created by Jim Flick (many of the instructors at Golden Bear were trained by Jim Flick). The drill is designed to put us in the proper position in so that we can hit a correct inside-to-square swing. We did the drill while he video-taped it and showed us how it put us into the correct position for the downswing.

We went back out to the range and worked on getting into the proper downswing position and then hitting balls teed high. First he checked our setup and grip, then ran the drill step-by-step, and then we started hitting the ball very softly off the tee. I was hitting soft draws with the drill and soon straightened them out. We worked on the drill for about 30 minutes and finished out the class. I was quite pleased with the class.

After the class, I hit a few balls with the driver, 5-wood, 6-iron and pitching wedge. My drives were quite good, nice, high and long. I had some difficulty with the 5-wood, tending to hit low pushes. Most of my 6-iron shots were quite good, either a soft draw or a soft fade. My pitching wedges were perfectly straight, but short.

After the class, I went to the putting green and practice. I started out hitting a few short putts, concentrating on getting my routine fixed and making sure to accelerate through the ball in order to not leave the ball short. Next, I practiced 18, 30 and 45 ft putts. My speed was not as good as yesterday, but I left few putts short today, tending to go a bit long.

A very fine class today, and I feel like I made a lot of progress getting my swing back in order.

This afternoon, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center on a cool, sunny, breezy afternoon.

I started off hitting the lob wedge at the red flagged green. I had some difficulty striking the ball cleanly at first, tending to hit the ball thin. I was a little frustrated, so I decided to hit bump and run shots with the pitching wedge, and that helped get my feel and tempo back. I hit a variety of low shots with all the wedges, and hit some nice gap and sand wedge bump-and-run shots at the white flagged green.

Next, I got out the long clubs and hit the ball over the blue flagged green. With the driver, I tended to hit draws or pushes, though did hit one monster slice and a moon ball. I then hit some good shots with the 5-wood and 3-hybrid off tees. I then went through a stage where I was hitting hooks with all of the longer clubs.

Next, I went back to the irons, starting with the 9-iron. At first, I was hitting pulls well left of the blue flagged green. After a few of those, I put the ball more forward in my stance and that seemed to help me straighten out my shots, and even get a little fade into them. I then went through the bag, trying to hit a good shot with each club. I succeeded in doing that, with the exception of a duck hook with the 4-iron. I then finished up the bucket by hitting the hybrid and 5-wood off the deck and then a drive or two.

Since the short game area is closed for renovation, I went to the putting green and practiced short chips with the 8-iron. At first, I hit all the shots thin and past the hole. It took quite a few chips, but I eventually worked it out and hit some nice chips, including one holed.

Next, I did a few speed drills, making myself redo any putt left short (my most common fault). I then practice long putts from 18 to 45 ft. I was pretty pleased with my putting practice today; I seem to be making some progress on fixing my primary fault, putting short. I also made myself be more consistent with my routine, making the same number of practice putts and making sure not to stay over the ball too long.

A strange and inconsistent practice, but I did manage a pretty good practice.

This afternoon after work, I had a few minutes, so I stopped off at Golden Bear Golf Center and spent 45 minutes working on putting. I should have spent some time on short putts, but I used the time to work on putts longer than 18 ft. My practice consisted of two drills, the first, dropping 3 balls at a specific distance, hitting all three putts and then cleaning up any that didn’t go in (which was most of them). I practiced putts out to 45 ft and did a pretty good job, except for the usual one or two that were inexplicably long or short. Next, I went through a nine-hole simulation around the putting green. I started remarkably well by nailing two 25-ft putts and lagging the third to about 6 inches. The next hole was about 20 ft away and I hit two of the three putts well, but left one long. The last hole was about 50 ft away and I hit two putts within tap-in distance but left one short by 5 ft and missed that one.

If I could just get rid of the inexplicable putts left well short or long, I’d putt really well. I need to spend a lot of time on short 3-4 ft putts as well.

This afternoon after work, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The day was warm and windy, with a brisk breeze from the southwest.

I warmed up by hitting pitching wedges towards the red flagged green. While the fat shot wasn’t as bad as the last practice, still hit a couple of fatties. Next, got out the 7-iron and was striking the ball pretty well but most shots were hooks or pulls, and my tempo wasn’t particularly great. So, got out the driver.

First drive was a slight fade, then a draw, then a perfect straight one. Next, I got out the 5-wood and hybrid and hit some shots off the deck, particularly well with the hybrid, a bit low but straight with the 5-wood. Also hit some shots off tees with both clubs, and hit some really nice shots. I then got out the 4-iron and started hitting some balls with it since my tempo was back under control.

As I was hitting the 4-iron, Alan walked up and I told him about my difficulties with the wedges. He checked my stance and had me bend my knees a bit more and put my feet closer together and I started hitting the wedges better. As he was leaving, I hit a spectacular hybrid shot and he said, “Last year, you couldn’t hit that shot”. That’s the truth!

Finished up by going through the bag and hitting all the clubs. I hit at least a decent shot with every club, even the 4-iron. My tempo died off at the end, but I was still happy to have gotten my wedges working again and my irons beginning to behave.

I then went to the putting green and practiced putts longer than 18 ft. I paid particular attention to my routine and taking practice putts to get the feel back in my putting. I’ve been neglecting my routine and I think that’s what’s made my putting suck the last two weeks even though I’ve practiced well.

I was pretty pleased with the practice today; just wish I’d had time to get to the short game area.

This afternoon, after work, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather was warm and sunny, with only a trace of a breeze.

I warmed up hitting pitching wedges toward the red flagged green. I hit the ball pretty well, with a fat shot or two thrown in, and most of the shots were pulled just left of the flag. Next, I got out the 7-iron and lined up to hit shots at the blue flagged green. I was striking the ball fairly well, but my shots were mostly pulls or hooks. The more I hit, the more the ball started to hook. I got out the 9-iron and went to work trying to get the path straightened out. Hoping to get the hook out, I put the ball a little farther forward in my stance and worked on getting a clean strike on the ball. For the most part I was successful, but still had that nagging hook or fat shot lurking to torment me. I then rotated in the 5-iron into the mix, but couldn’t seem to get a good strike on the ball.

I traded the irons for the long clubs. First up, I hit the 5-wood, and boomed a nice one at the yellow flagged green. I followed that up by hitting the hybrid and driver. All of these clubs I hit pretty well, the only miss was hooks with the driver. I even hit nice shots off the deck, which was little more than a 1/4″ long grass over very hard dirt. I was pretty pleased with the long clubs, I continue to improve with those clubs, as long as I resist the urge to kill the ball (that causes the dreaded hook monster to torment me).

I then went back to the wedges, hoping to get the fat out of my game. No such luck today, I seem to be digressing with the wedges. I think I’m going to need to get some instruction, and soon.

Finally, I got out the longer irons and worked on striking the ball with the ball more forward in my stance than I’ve been using, hoping to get the hook monster to stay away. I seem to have made a bit of progress, as I even hit a decent 4-iron at the end.

I’d planned to hit the putting green to practice, but found the green overrun by junior golfers, so I reluctantly skipped putting practice and hit the road.