A Birdie, At Last
Today, I played nine at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The day was cool but sunny, with a slight breeze. I hit a small bucket of balls to warm up, with mixed results. I hit the longer clubs pretty poorly today, so I left them in the bag for the most part. In contrast to the last two practices, I hit the wedges and short irons pretty well, barely any fat. The mid and long irons I tended to draw or hook. I’d decided today to chip using the 8-iron, so when I went to the putting green to practice, I chipped in my first ball directly into the cup, and the next one went over the hole about 3 ft by the cup. My distance control was spotty on the green; I’m still getting used to the new grip and stance.
On the first hole, I pushed a well-struck pitching wedge well right barely into the pond. I took a drop from the 2nd tee, hit a lob wedge to 12 ft and two-putt from there for double.
On the second, I hit a worm burner 5-iron just in front of the fairway bunker, then pushed a 9-iron into the right bunker. I hit a pretty decent sand shot 10 ft past the hole and left the par putt inches short and tapped in for bogey.
On the third, I hit a good lob wedge directly over the flag long by about 20 ft and nailed the double breaking putt for my first birdie in months. I was one happy camper. 😎
On the fourth, feeling good about my swing, I got out the hybrid and pushed a well-struck ball directly into the hazard. I took a drop, hit a good pitching wedge so my next shot would have a clear go at the flag. I got a bad bounce and the ball ended up in the left rough. I pushed a sand wedge into the right bunker, hit it a bit thin over the green, chipped over the green, then chipped and two putted from about 6 ft for a baseball team. AAAAIIIEEEYYYY!!! 😳
On the fifth, pushed a lob wedge short and right, chunked a lob wedge pitch, chipped to 3 ft and two-putt for a double.
On the sixth, decided to try the hybrid again, hit a fade under the trees to the right. I was just behind a tree, so I had to hit a layup. Chunked it. Decided to layup with the sand wedge in front of the green from there, hit a branch and ended up in the left rough. I hit a good pitching wedge to 12 ft and two-putt for double.
On the seventh, hit another worm-burner 5-iron well short, chunked a lob wedge short, chunked another just onto the green and then hit a perfect putt from 20 ft for bogey.
On the eight, pulled a well-struck 5-iron into the creek, took a drop, pushed a sand wedge right into the bunker, hit it thin over the green, hit a short lob wedge onto the green from a downhill lie with a tree blocking my swing path, and then two-putt from 30 ft for triple.
On the ninth, hooked a 5-iron into the driving range net, chunked a lob wedge onto the fringe, putted from the fringe to about 3 feet and hit the putt for bogey.
My short game really let me down today, leaving everything short, unless I managed to hit the ball thin over the greens. I had good speed control on my longer putts, hitting two from about 20 ft, but blew too many short ones. I got up and down only twice today, and both were for bogey.
I remain the Salieri of Golf.