The Golf Gods Hate Me
Yesterday, on a hot, muggy Texas afternoon, I played 18 on the Lakes course at Firewheel. As I’d been hitting the long clubs poorly, I put my new Wishon Golf 525GRT driver and 949MC 4-wood back in the closet (not wanting to mark up the clubs with my crappy skyballs or drop-kicks) and got out my old Nike SasQuatch driver and Wishon Golf 915HL 5-wood. These clubs have suffered under my (lack of) golfing skills, so were already thoroughly marked up. I just couldn’t bear to mark up my new driver and 4-wood with my crappy swing.
I arrived at the course around noon, got some balls, and put on Tour Tempo at 27/9 on the iPod and proceeded to warm up. As usual, my wedges were fat until I warmed up and then well-struck. I then got out the 6-iron and hit some balls. Most were well-struck, and I was pretty happy with my swing. Next, I got out the Nike driver and worked on driving the ball. Not so good. I hit about every type of shot possible, a nice high hook, and booming slice and a low burner or two. Nothing to encourage me on the course…
Our foursome filled out and we went to the first tee to start our round. I volunteered to hit first. I hit a low hook that ended up in the under a tree, but in the fairway with a clear shot to the green. OK, not so bad, at least it’s playable. I don’t remember what transpired on the hole, but my scorecard says double. The second hole is a short par-3. I hit one close to the green, chipped poorly, leaving a 25 ft putt with a 12 inch break. I nailed it for par. The other three par-3 holes I bogeyed, two of which I hit the green, only to three-putt. The rest of the holes were just disasters. Anytime I hit a club longer than an 8-iron, I hooked it; any club shorter than a pitching wedge was either hit short or fat. There were a couple of exceptions, but that’s the trend: hit a pitching wedge, 9-iron or 8-iron, good shot; hit anything else, disaster.
The golf gods hate me.
By the eighth hole, I was making big numbers, like snowmen or baseball teams. This continued (except for par-3 holes) until I tripled the par-5 13th hole, and all my long clubs were banned from use. I read once that you should use the longest club gives you 80% probability of being in the fairway, and on this day, that club was the 8-iron. I tried the 6- and 7-irons, but they both betrayed me. So, 8-iron it was. Once I started using an 8-iron off the tee, I didn’t have worse than bogey on any remaining hole.
In summary, I can hit a pitching wedge, a 9-iron and an 8-iron reliably, and the rest of the clubs, well, suck.
I know exactly why I was hitting the ball poorly (my tempo gets quick), but I’ve been nearly incapable of getting back my tempo once lost. Even on the range, it can take 10 or 20 balls to get my tempo back once I lose it. This is most disconcerting.
The golf gods hate me.