Joey's Golf Bag

Seven penalties. Nine holes. This must be a record for futility.

I played this morning in the brutally hot Texas sun at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. I’ve been struggling with my swing of late, and thought I had it mostly worked out yesterday. I hit the ball pretty well warming up, especially at the end where I hit the ball perfectly straight. On the course, well, it was ugly.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. On the first hole, hit a sand wedge just short of the green (this is the first time I’ve hit a sand wedge on this hole). On the second, chunked a six iron down in the cart path, and then took a bad bounce into the hazard on the right; took a drop (1st penalty). On the third, hooked a sand wedge long and left, almost to the hazard. On the fourth, hooked a driver just into the left rough. On the fifth, hit the green 36 ft from the hole (just about the longest putt possible on that green). On the sixth, pushed a booming drive right into the hazard (penalty #4). On the seventh, toe-hit a six iron just short of the hole. On the eighth, I attempted (again) to drive the green, but pushed it just right into a tree and the ball luckily landed in the fairway. On the ninth, shanked a 9-iron and lost the ball (penalty #6); hooked the next into the driving range net and had to take a drop (penalty #7). Quite possibly the worst driving day in history.
• Approach shots. On the second, from a drop, hit a pitching wedge into the fairway, leaving 80 yds to the pin; next shot, hit a thin, hooking sand wedge into the hazard (penalty #2). On the fourth, hit a thin 9-iron into the hazard (penalty #3). On the sixth, from a drop, hit a pitching wedge into the fairway; hit a sand wedge high over a tree but it clipped a branch and dropped into the right bunker. On the eighth, from the fairway, chunked a 9-iron into the hazard (penalty #5); hit the second long and left of the hole. Quite possibly the worst approach shots in history.
• Short wedges. Pretty good around the green. On the second, after the drop, hit a lob wedge to about 12 ft. On the third, hit a lob wedge to about 9 ft while standing on a log. On the fourth, hit a lob wedge to about 15 ft. On the seventh, hit a lob wedge to 12 ft. On the eighth, hit a lob wedge to 8 ft. On the ninth, left a lob wedge on the fringe 12 ft from the hole. I would have liked the ball closer, but at least the lob wedge around the green was respectable, only missing the green once.
• Sand shots. I had only one sand shot, on the sixth, which I hit about 8 ft past the hole. Two putted from there.
• Chipping. No chipping today; hit putts from the fringe to a foot on the first hole (tapped in for par). Putted in from the fringe on the ninth.
• Putting. With the exception of the 3rd and 5th holes (bad three putts), had a good day putting, hitting a 12 footer for par on the seventh and holeing one from the fringe on the ninth. Total of 16 putts.

Today was an enormously frustrating day. I thought I had my swing back in sync after my July fall, but obviously not.