Joey's Golf Bag

Yesterday, I built a new Tom Wishon CLF Series 1 putter. I used the Tom Wishon straight putter shaft and a Tom Wishon V-Series putter grip. I built it to a length of 34.5 inches. The really nice feature of this putter is the interchangeable loft faces, available in 2°, 4° and 6° lofts. I installed the 4° loft face, and that seems to work well.

Some photos:

After I built the putter, I hit my first six putts from 15 feet! Alas, the perfection didn’t continue after that, but so far, so good!

Tiger shoots 65 to win Dubai by a stroke.

On a day of thrilling drama at the Emirates Golf Club, Woods emerged the victor after a quite sensational back nine of six under par 31 that culminated in a stunning up and down for a title winning birdie on the 18th green. It was a classic Woods moment, the kind of finish that only a man of his peerless mental fortitude could produce.

If you count unofficial and non-PGA Tour events, Tiger has run his winning streak to five events (three straight on the PGA Tour):

1. Dubai Desert Classic
2. Buick Invitational
3. Target World Challenge
4. Tour Championship
5. BMW Championship

Let’s see how many events Tiger can win before his streak runs out. He will probably tee it up next at the Accenture Match Play Championships.

This afternoon, I practiced on a warm, sunny, winter day at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather was perfect, should have worn shorts…

As usual, I started off in the short game area, running the sand drill, first hitting short chips with the AW and then hitting longer pitches with the sand wedge. I hit a few balls out of the bunker, but my distance control wasn’t good, except for the last shot, where I opened the clubface and hit a nearly perfect shot just past my target hole.

Next, I hit high pitches and long chips. My touch wasn’t good; I kept having issues hitting fat pitches. I mostly got it straightened out, but never was particularly satisfied with the results.

I got a large bucket of balls and went to the range. Because of the gorgeous weather, it was nearly full from end to end. I warmed up with the sand wedge, and had problems hitting fat shots. I then got out the 8-iron and really went after the ball. That pretty much cured the fat shots. I ran through warmup hitting every other club until I got to the 4-hybrid, and then got out the iPod and hit some balls with Tour Tempo set on 27/9. I felt like that tempo was a little slow, so I put on 24/8, but that was definitely too fast. My ball-striking was pretty good at times, and pretty poor at other times. I didn’t really have a dominate fault today, as I hit a few hooks, pushes, pulls, slices, etc.

I didn’t really get a late lag until near the end of practice, when I managed to achieve some good late releases with the lob and sand wedge, hitting very high shot farther than I usually hit the clubs. I then went up through the bag, trying to keep that late release, but wasn’t successful past the pitching wedge. I also tried to hit some drivers today, but that club was so bad I put it back after only two swings.

I went to the putting green to finish up practice, and spent nearly an hour practicing. I first hit 4-foot putts until I holed 10 in a row, then started on the speed drill. My first four speed drill putts were all holed (from 6, 9, 12 feet, and then again from 9 feet). If I left one short of the hole, I ran the drill from the same point again. I kept up the speed drill until about 27 feet from the hole, then practiced lag putting from 30 and 45 feet. I really needed some serious putting practice after my pathetic performance last Sunday, and I was pretty pleased with the practice.

I had a good practice today, but it is clear that I will have to practice more than once a week if I’m going to continue to improve my game. Fortunately, January is gone, so I’m looking forward to better weather leading up to springtime.