Joey's Golf Bag

After my pathetic performance on Saturday, I scheduled another lesson this week. I also spent an hour late this afternoon hitting mostly drivers. It took a few dozen balls but I did eventually manage to make the driver go straight and long (occasionally).

One of these days I’ll become a good golfer, even if it kills me.

Yesterday, in very cold, cloudy and windy conditions, I played the Grapevine Golf Association tournament. Even though we went off at noon, the temperature was below 50F and the wind blew as hard as 40 mph during the day. This was the first time I had to account for the wind while putting, and things did not go well. The tournament was scored using modified Stableford scoring, so nothing worse than bogey mattered. I had one par and three bogeys on the day, and that was my pathetic attempt to play golf when any normal person would have decided to stay indoors.

Here’s an interesting item in Tiger’s interview last Wednesday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Apparently, Tiger’s father Earl can out-putt Tiger. That’s amazing.

ASAP Sports – Golf – 2009 – ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD – March 25 – Tiger Woods.

Q. How much influence did your father have on your putting stroke, and could you talk about the nature of that influence?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, Dad had everything to do with my putting stroke. How I putt now is how I've always putted as a kid. I look at the picture, how I get my feel, the drills that I do, everything has been taught by my dad.

When I go out there and practice my putting, like I did at Doral, I didn't putt well, I didn't make any putts, I went back to all my basics that my dad taught me. It's good times, good memories going back to all those different things and remember all those different times. But my dad has laid the foundation for my stroke.

And even I remember in some of the good years I've had in golf, like '99, 2000, 2001, coming back to southern California I'd take my dad out and we'd go putt, and he'd routinely beat me. Anything he said about putting, I'd always listen. He just had a wonderful feel, a wonderful touch, and I really understood how to make the ball roll consistently each and every time.

From the very nice GolfClubAtlas website, Daniel Wexler discusses the changes to Augusta National over the more than 70 years since its creation.

In My Opinion.

It is a true paradox in the world of golf course design.

Consider the game’s two most famous layouts, the Old Course at St. Andrews and the Augusta National Golf Club. The former is a product primarily of nature and a timeless, almost mystical evolution – as though whatever cosmic forces govern such things have gently massaged the landscape (with a little help from Alan Robertson) over the course of several centuries. The latter, conversely, ranks among the most carefully planned layouts of all time, its creators – the legendary Bobby Jones and Dr. Alister MacKenzie – building it as the embodiment of a clearly articulated set of cutting-edge design principles. Yet as the game has changed immeasurably over the last 110 years, St. Andrews, a golf course “built” with virtually no plan whatsoever, has remained largely constant. Augusta, on the other hand, a layout based on the strictest of concepts, has been altered nearly beyond description.

Go figure.

But Augusta, after all, is not your local neighborhood golf course; indeed, it is not even your standard, run-of-the-mill, Major championship venue. By hosting The Masters every peacetime April since 1934, it has inevitably been subject to the sort of nipping and tucking that generally takes place perhaps once a decade (when a U.S. Open or PGA Championship visits) at places like Winged Foot, Oakmont or Pebble Beach. But at Augusta, well-intended ideas to improve the golf course seldom are tempered by several years’ worth of study and debate; with the next Major never more than 12 months away, they happen quickly – and, in the contemporary era, with almost numbing regularity.

Yesterday, John and I played a quick nine holes at Coyote Ridge, going off just before 11AM and finishing in about 2 hours, after we caught up with a foursome and had to wait for the green to clear on a couple of holes. The weather was sunny and cool, with a 1-2 club breeze from the south.

My score:

*Hit green in regulation.

My round:

• First hole. I hit a hybrid left into the rough, on an upslope. I should have used less loft to account for the upslope, but I didn’t and came up short of the green. My chip was long, and I two-putted for bogey.
• Second hole. I hit a really nice drive onto the right side of the fairway, but my 5-iron layup was hit fat and left in front of the bunker. I hit a hooking approach wedge pin-high but nearly 60 feet left of the pin. My first putt was well-short and I lipped out my second and tapped in for bogey.
• Third hole. The pin was well up near the front edge and I had only 150 yds. With a two-club breeze behind me, I decided on a 7-iron, but came up short just below the green when the wind decided to die down just as I hit it. I hit a really nice SW chip to about 6″ and tapped in for par.
• Fourth hole. I popped up a 3-wood left into the rough on an upslope. I absolutely pounded a hybrid, unfortunately, into the pond. I managed to retrieve my ball (scaring a couple of snakes in the process), took a drop and hit an iron into the bunker just left of the green. Lying four in the bunker, I hit thin all the way to the other side of the green and two-putted from there for double.
• Fifth hole. My streak of going left off the tee ended as I pounded a driver right of the fairway but with a clear shot at the green. My approach with a 7-iron was left and short, just below the grass bunker on an upslope. I tried to hit a high pitch, but instead hit it thin and over the green. My chip from deep rough was just short of the green, my second chip was long and I two-putted for triple. 🙁
• Sixth hole. I hit a very nice drive into the wind, but unfortunately didn’t clear the last fairway bunker. My 7-iron from the bunker was fat. My approach from there was short and I managed to three-putt for double. YEECH!
• Seventh hole. The wind was really blowing by this time, and I underclubbed. The ball hit about a foot below the green and rolled, slowly, agonizingly into the pond. I took a drop from where I crossed the hazard, pitched to about 15 ft and two-putted for bogey.
• Eighth hole. I popped up a drive into the middle of the fairway. I hit a hybrid thin to just in front of the hole. My chip was pin-high but about 12 ft below the hole, the flag on the far right hand side of the green. My putt was perfect speed but I over-read the break and tapped in for bogey.
• Ninth hole. I always play this hole very difficult hole very conservatively. I hit a hybrid into the left side of the fairway, then a second hybrid into the right rough well short of the hole. My third to the green was about 20 ft below the pin. I two-putted from there.

A very mediocre nine holes, but then I’m working on swing changes and that definitely affected my game. The potential of the improved swing is certainly there, but much work remains.

This afternoon, I had my first lesson with Jeff Kennedy at Coyote Ridge. I warmed up for a few minutes with a 7-iron and we started the lesson. Jeff had me hit a few balls and started fixing my stance. I had too much weight on my forward (left) leg and was straightening my right leg on the backswing. We spent a few minutes working making sure to balance my weight evenly between my feet. He had to correct me several times, because I always wanted to put more weight on my left foot. He said my grip was perfect and my posture good.

Next, he worked on my alignment to the target. He demonstrated to me that I was lining up right of my target, thus, I’d trained myself to have to come over the top in order to get the ball back to the target. He also had me stand closer to the ball was I was too far away, which tended to make my balance poor. Once I had my weight balanced, my alignment to the target fixed and the ball the proper distance away, I started hitting the ball straighter and my balance was much improved.

He then gave me my driver and he showed me the proper way to line up with the ball off my left heel. He made sure my weight was evenly distributed between my feet and that I added a slight spine tilt right. He had me not hover the club, but instead set it on the ground and swing from there. My driving was immediately improved, very little side spin at all on the ball and good directional control. And once he had me swinging harder at the ball, with good distance as well.

None of this instruction was any different from what I’d worked on with Alan in 2007, but I’d gotten bad habits again by not having regular instruction. I’ll not make that mistake again. I’ve found the right instructor.

I was very, very pleased with this lesson, and I’m going to continue working with Jeff weekly to make sure I get the changes embedded in my thick skull.

Yesterday, I played Indian Creek on the Lakes course. The course was in very good condition, firm and fast, although the greens had been sanded sometime in the last week. I’m a resident, so I get a small discount. Since I usually walk this course, I didn’t notice that there’s a $5 charge for GPS in addition to the cart fee. The cart fee and GPS charge ended up larger than the green fee!

OK, two rants. We were behind a group of golfers that were playing from the tips. At least some of these guys should not have been playing from the tips, because most of them were hitting their second from about where I would hit a 5-iron from the white tees. (I always play from the whites because that’s where my handicap index puts me.) And they were very slow, as our foursome easily kept up with them even though we had a 15-year-old in our group who sprayed balls all over the course. We had to wait on these guys on every hole.

Enough ranting.

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep the scorecard because John turned in the card for his handicap. So I’ll summarize my crappy round (54 on the front, 48 on the back for 102 score).

• Tee shots. I hit about 5 or 6 fairways and two of the par-3 holes in regulation. I had two penalties off the tee into the water. I was really unhappy with my long game on this day. For some reason, I kept chunking shots with my 5-wood, which meant I was effectively hitting a lob wedge off the tee.
• Approach shots. I hit only one green in regulation all day, other than the two par-3 holes I hit off the tee. Because my driving was bad, I was usually short of the green as I didn’t trust my 5-wood into the green, so I often had a wedge for a third shot on the longer par-4 holes. I had one penalty on an approach shot, a badly pushed iron into the water.
• Wedges. I had a couple of good wedge shots into greens (typically for third or fourth shots). On the other hand, when I was using a wedge for a recovery shot, I hit them very poorly. If I ever figure this game out, I’ll let you know…
• Chipping. I only got up and down three times all day. My problem today was if I hit the ball solidly, it was usually short, and if I didn’t, then I chipped it thin way past the hole. This was especially annoying given the amount of practice time I’ve devoted to chipping.
• Sand shots. I didn’t hit into any bunkers, something of a miracle.
• Putting. I very narrowly missed all three of my birdie putts. I had two 3-putts, and got up-and-down three times, so that means I had 37 putts. Terrible.

Well, there you have it. A very poorly played round. I can’t say that anything I did all day was good.

This morning, I played with the Shriners at The Trails of Frisco Golf Club in Frisco, TX. The weather was a bit chilly when we teed off around 9AM, but quickly warmed up to around 80F by the time we finished. The day was sunny and pretty calm to start, but a 1-2 club breeze kicked in at the turn. The course was in very good condition, except for the bunkers, which had not yet dried out from 4 days of heavy rain that ended last Saturday. We took free drops out the bunkers due to their condition.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Off the tee. I did pretty well of the tee, hitting 8 fairways and three of the five par-3 holes in regulation. I did have one penalty off the tee on the par-5 7th hole, but otherwise kept myself out of trouble off the tee. My best tee shot was a 5-iron to 10 feet on the third hole.
• Approach shots. I didn’t do very well on approach, hitting only two greens in regulation. I didn’t have any penalties off approach shots, though I did have a penalty on my second shot on the par-5 10th hole. I had a very difficult lie and pulled the shot left into the creek (I did manage to recover the ball, so I didn’t lose a ball all day).
• Wedges and chips. I wasn’t particularly pleased with my wedges or chipping today, as I only managed to get up-and-down three times all day.
• Putting. My putting was very mixed. On the par-4 fourth hole, I hit the green in regulation, only to putt off the green, hit a poor chip and two-putt for double. My only other bad putting hole was on the par-4 17th hole, where I three-putted. Otherwise, not too bad. I had a total of 34 putts.

I was pretty happy with how I played today. 91 is my best score so far this year. I wish I’d putted better (especially the one I putted off the green — I would have broken 90 if I’d two-putted that green). A very enjoyable round of golf.

This afternoon, the clouds over Texas finally parted and I was able to go over to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville and hit a few balls. The range was almost completely full, an unusual event even on nice Sunday afternoons. The day was cool at first, but the sun warmed everything up. There was about a one club wind from the west.

I bought a large bucket and went to the short game area, planning to run the sand drill. However, the sand was still very wet from four days of rain, so that was out. Instead, I hit about 40 balls at the floating green. My first three balls with a sand wedge were perfectly struck and landed easily on the floating green, with a nice backspin bounce. I moved back a bit and missed a few, mostly long. I hit the floating green on about 25% of the shots, even from pretty long range with the approach wedge. I tried a variety of shots with all my wedges, including a few cut lobs. I was pretty happy with the wedge practice.

Next, I practiced medium and long chips with both the sand wedge and lob wedge. My sand wedge chips from pretty long range were really nicely struck; of about 10 balls, the farthest from the hole was about 6 feet, and half were inside 3 feet. My lob wedge chips weren’t quite as good, but I rarely use that club for chipping.

Next, I went to the range and warmed by hitting a few 7-irons, then working my way through the longer clubs. My long clubs were very poor, so I went back and ran the L- and Y-drills from Tour Tempo (though without the iPod). I started striking the ball pretty well, but I never did get the long clubs to co-operate. I hit a lot of 1/2 and 3/4 swings with the short irons, trying to get consistent ball flight and to get my pull straightened out. By the end of the bucket, I was pretty pleased with my full wedge shots and irons through the 6-iron. The 5-iron and hybrid never behaved.

I’d planned to do some putting practice, but the green was very wet from the rain, so I decided to skip that today. Aside from lousy long clubs, I was pretty happy with my practice. I’ve been unable to practice due to a full schedule and bad weather, but I’m off this week and plan a full schedule of golf, golf, and maybe more golf.

Shiny orb teed high
Breeze behind, fairway beckons
Elusive birdie