Joey's Golf Bag

This has been a strange week for golf. On Sunday, John and I went to Top Golf to hit balls in the relative comfort of a heated driving range, with interesting targets. I hit the ball poorly; too many swing thoughts from my lessons. On Wednesday, we managed to get in nine holes before the sun went down. Again, too many swing thoughts. I won only one skin. On Thursday, I had my fifth lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. I told him about my golfing woes from the past week. We worked mainly on a slightly different setup (more shoulder tilt away from the ball) and then concentrated on getting my hands in front of the ball at impact. We also worked on getting a little more hip turn before impact. We spent the entire lesson on these two items, especially making sure that my right arm was bent at impact, and not straight. By the end of the lesson, I was beginning to my hands in front of the ball at impact on a full swing. I don’t think I’ve done that since I hurt my shoulder in late 2008.

Yesterday, after work, I made a quick run to Hank Haney to hit some balls before the sun went down. I hit a lot of balls, but not particularly well. Too many swing thoughts.

This morning, I played in the GGA tournament at Grapevine Golf Club. There was a frost delay, so I didn’t get on the first tee until about 12:30PM (my original tee time was 11:03AM). I had warmed up very nicely on the range, but didn’t know that there was a delay, so after I finished warming up, I discovered that it would be at least an hour before I teed off. Since it was cart path only, I decided to walk, so I loaded up my push cart. I prefer to walk anyway, but this is the first time I’ve walked in a tournament. We played Pecan followed by Bluebonnet.

While I was pleased that I warmed up well, I was very apprehensive on the first tee. Fortunately I striped my tee shot right down the middle, leaving me with a relatively short approach. I hit my approach pin-high, but right of the pin and two-putted for par. On the second hole, my tee shot was hit a tiny bit fat and I was short and left of the flag. I hit a nice chip and made a short putt for par. On the third hole, I hit yet another nice tee shot, but my approach shot was hit dead right into the crap above the green. I didn’t find the ball, took a drop and proceeded to make a mess of the hole, making triple. Still, I had a good nine, shooting 45 despite way too many swing thoughts.

On the back, things came a little undone. My short game gave up the ghost, and I either hit my wedges fat and short, or thin over greens. Ugly. Still, managed to get around in 53 despite two triples and a quad. I finished up by hitting the pin on the 9th hole on Bluebonnet and tapping in for bogey.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Off the tee. I hit 8 of 14 fairways and one par-3 hole in regulation. I had one penalty off the tee, a topped hybrid on Bluebonnet #4.
• Approach shots. I hit four greens in regulation. I had one penalty off an approach shot, a 7-wood hit dead right into the crap on #3 on Pecan. I was just off the green on several shots, so not so bad.
• Wedges. Wedges just ate my lunch on the back, either hitting them fat and short, or thin and over the green. Seriously stinky. My only memorable shot (after hitting an approach wedge so fat that the greens crew sent out a backhoe to fill in the divot) was a 1/2 swing approach wedge that hit the pin on #9 on Bluebonnet and dropped 3 ft away. By some miracle, I made the putt (for bogey).
• Chipping. I got up-and-down only four times, so I wasn’t particularly thrilled with my chipping. I tended to hit my chips long.
• Sand shots. I hit into only one bunker, a fairway bunker on #7 on Pecan. I attempted to hit a pitching wedge to the green, but the ball caught the lip and went back in. My second bunker shot was nicely hit onto the green.
• Putting. On the front, I had only 15 putts, but had four (!) 3-putts on the back. I had a total of 36 putts, pretty darn stinky.

Well, I played decently on the front, but my putting and wedges really stank on the back. Still, 98 was my best tournament score, and considering the very cold and cloudy weather, not too bad. I’ll probably be in the money.

Update: I came in 2nd gross for the tournament, and I’m now second on the leaderboard. 🙂