Joey's Golf Bag

This afternoon, Jarvis and I played 18 at the Indian Creek Golf Club on the Creek Course. We went off at 12:30PM on a sunny, but blustery, day.

My score:

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit 6 fairways today. My driving was pretty good, being just off the fairway on most of the others. I had only two poor tee shots, both hooks: a 7-iron on the 8th hole into the water, and a 4-wood into the water on the 18th hole. I hit only one of the par-3 holes in regulation, the short par-3 14th hole, where I hit a pitching wedge. The 9th hole was playing as a par-3 today due to water damage on the fairway; I hit that hole in regulation as well.
• Approach shots. My approach shots were pretty good today, although I didn’t hit many greens in regulation. I had one penalty on an approach shot on the 13th hole, where I had hit a 4-hybrid into the right rough. My only shot was a punch shot between two trees; unfortunately, the shot didn’t “punch”, instead it hit a branch and went straight right into the water.
• Wedges. My wedges let me down today; I shanked two lob wedge shots, and left others short.
• Chipping. My chipping was decent, getting up and down four times.
• Bunker shots. I was in two bunkers today. One was a fairway bunker, and I was so close to the lip that the only shot I had was with a pitching wedge. The other one took two tries, but I did get up and down on the second one.
• Putting. I had 31 putts today (no 3-putts), so I was pretty happy with my putting. I didn’t miss any putts inside of about 6 feet. My best putt was from 15 ft for birdie on the first hole.

My front nine score of 40 was by far my best ever. Unfortunately, I followed up that excellent front nine with a poor back nine. Still, 90 is my best score ever, so I’m pretty happy.

OK, not really, it was a YouTube video.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve practice several times. Though my short game continues to improve, my ball-striking has not. I ran into Alan Niederlitz at the Golden Bear Golf Center and he diagnosed my swing: casting. That dreaded casting move had gotten back into my swing. That afternoon, I came home and read some articles I’d bookmarked, and found again the Hogan video. Finally, I understood how I’m supposed to swing. I went back to the range that night and tried to incorporate Ben’s downswing into mine. It’ll be a long grind to get it imbedded in my swing, but now, for the first time, I can feel what the swing is supposed to be.

This afternoon, we played a scramble tournament on the Creek Course at Indian Creek Golf Club. The afternoon was warm and sunny with a soft breeze. We went off at just after 1PM and finished just after 5PM. We went off the 5th hole with a shotgun start. Our score (the winning score was 58!):

My contributions to our score:

• Sixth hole. My drive was the best.
• Eight hole. Hit a 7-iron closest to the pin.
• Ninth hole. My drive was the best.
• Tenth hole. Hit a perfect drive down the middle, then hit a gap wedge to 18 feet from the pin.
• Twelfth hole. Hit a 7-iron to 30 feet from the pin.
• Thirteenth hole. Hit a perfect drive over the tree on the right edge of hazard into the middle of the fairway.
• Fifteenth hole. Hit a sand wedge approach shot to 25 feet from the pin.
• Seventeenth hole. Hit an 8-iron approach to 21 feet from the pin.
• Eighteenth hole. Hit a cut lob from deep rough to 20 feet and nailed the par putt.
• First hole. Hit a 20 foot birdie putt.
• Second hole. Hit an 8 foot birdie putt.

This tournament was perhaps the most fun day of golf I’ve had. The driver went straight most of the day, though my drives were only occasionally used as my playing partners were longer than me on most holes. My approach shots weren’t great, but I did manage to hit nearly half the holes in regulation, though my playing partners were closer on some of those holes. My putting was atrocious until the 18th hole, where I hit a 20 footer to save par. On the next hole, the first, I hit another 20 footer for birdie, and followed that up with an 8 footer for birdie on the second.