Joey's Golf Bag

This morning, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville to practice and play nine. The day was heavily overcast, hot and humid. I started off warming up by hitting 7- and 9-irons, and then proceeded to hit most of the clubs in the bag. I tended to hit the short irons and wedges fat, and fought that flaw all day. I hit the driver pretty well during practice, but the 3-metal and hybrid were not good. I chipped and putted for about 20 minutes and then hit the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. On the first, hit a pitching wedge over the green. On the second, hit a near perfect 7-iron into the fairway, but it bad-bounced into a bare lie near the left hazard line. On the third, hit a pulled sand wedge into the bunker on the left of the hole. On the fourth, hit a perfect, 233 yd drive into the fairway, leaving a mere 78 yds to the pin. On the fifth, hit a sand wedge fat just short of the green. On the sixth, hit a 223 yd draw just in the left rough. On the seventh, hooked a 6-iron and lost the ball. My provisional drew left of the green, but was pin-high. On the eigth, skyed a tee shot into the center of the fairway (I was attempting to drive the hole). On the ninth, pushed a 9-iron into the right bunker.
• Approach shots. On the second hole, attempted to hit a slice around a tree, but hit it fat well short of the green and chunked a pitch shot into the right bunker. On the fourth, pushed a sand wedge that hit the overhanging tree and bounced just short of the green. On the sixth, hit a pitching wedge thin that bounced 25 ft past the hole, but held the green for my only green in regulation. On the eighth, hit a seemingly perfect 5-iron directly at the flag, but it flew the green (I overclubbed).
• Wedges. Wedges hurt my game today, hitting some fat and some long.
• Chipping. Chipping was mediocre at best today; closest to the hole was about 6 ft.
• Sand shots. Every bunker had wet sand, and I’ve only practiced in wets sand once before, so I didn’t expect to do well out of the sand today. On the second hole, after a poor wedge shot, I hit the sand shot well over the green into deep rough. I then flew the green back into the same bunker, but that shot was better and ended up on the green. On the third, the ball buried deep in the wet sand and my shot didn’t leave the bunker. The second shot was on the green. On the seventh, I hit a sand wedge long into the sand. My sand shot was left only 12 ft from the pin, but I three-putted from there. On the ninth, my sand shot was left 6 ft from the hole.
• Putting. Good reads, poor speed. I left several putts inches short that would have gone in the hole if my speed had been good. I three-putted the 7th hole from 12 ft, very, very poor putting on that hole.

I was really frustrated with my poor short game today, and especially leaving putts short. My long game came together today, though, so at least I have that. And considering I’ve rarely practiced in wet sand, didn’t do too badly there. I’m guessing I missed 4 or 5 putts short that should have been made because the read was perfect and the speed off. I could have had a pretty good score today and I messed it up on the greens.

Still, I had fun.