Joey's Golf Bag

Yesterday, I played 18 on course 1 at Sherrill Park in Richardson. It might have been my all-time worst golfing performance. I’m blaming the cold, though sunny, weather with a brisk 20-30 mph wind. We went off at 1:12PM and finished about 4 hours later, which is pretty fast for golf in Dallas on a Sunday afternoon.

In reality, I can’t blame the wind for all my troubles, as I had every swing fault known to man. I hit fat wedges, I hit thin wedges, I hit hooks, I hit pushes, I hit slices, I hit chunks. A veritable cornucopia of swing faults. Things were so bad at one point, that on one particular par-5, I hit 4 trees (not counting ricochets after the first tree was impacted). I’ll not even get into my putting, where I set a new personal record for futility.

I hit only one club well all day, that being my Tom Wishon Golf 915HL 5-wood, which I hit only three times, two of which were the best shots I’ve ever hit with the club. The best of the bunch was the tee shot on the short par-4 10th hole, where I launched the perfect shot right over the large oak tree which guards the fairway into the center of the fairway, leaving me exactly 100 yds to the center of the green (I know this because my ball was about a foot from the red platter in the fairway).

My signature hole, the 18th: I hit a perfect 3-hybrid shot down the right side of the fairway just in front of the creek, leaving an 8-iron to the hole. I then proceeded to hit the ball thin right at the pin, which I nailed solidly. The ball bounced onto the back fringe, where I promptly mangled the hole by 3-putting for bogey. 😥

I’ll not post the score, as it was well north of 100.

Crappy golf, but for some unfathomable reason, I still want to play more golf.

A sign of madness, that’s for sure.

This afternoon after work, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center on a cool, but sunny, afternoon. Only a slight breeze from the west was blowing.

I started off hitting gap wedges to the red flagged green. The first shot was slightly fat, but the next few shots were well-struck. I then got out the 7-iron and proceeded to hit high hooks well left of the blue-flagged green. A bit discouraged, I got out the driver and hit a high fade, followed by a high hook, and then a perfect drive right at the green flag. Now encouraged again, I got out the 5-wood and hit some shots. After two high fades, I started striking the ball perfectly straight and long. I then got out the hybrid, but never really hit it particularly well.

Next, I got out the 9-iron to work out my hooks. After a push, I hooked a couple of shots and then hit one very nicely. I then got out the 5-iron and again hit high hooks. I then alternated the driver, 5-wood and 5-iron, trying to get the hook out of my swing. I finally succeeded by letting my grip weaken a bit and swinging with a bit less tension. I then hit some very nice iron shots with the 9-, 7- and 5-irons. With the last few balls, I hit some more iron and hybrid shots, the irons well-struck but the hybrid shots were weak fades.

Next up, I went to the putting green to practice putting. I’ve been trying to swing more freely with minimal grip pressure. I ran the speed drill, putting the ball very cleanly, but a little longer past the hole than I prefer. I ended putting practice with some very nice putts from 30 ft, none of them more than 20″ from the hole.

A good practice on a beautiful afternoon; I was very pleased.