Joey's Golf Bag

This morning, I practiced and played nine at North Texas Golf Center in Dallas. The morning was warm and sunny, with a variable breeze mostly out of the west.

I warmed up on the range using a warm up scheme developed by Bob Winters and described in the book Paper Tiger that I’ve been reading. Basically, it’s this: 5 sand wedge shots just to warm up, no target, no judgment, followed by three shots each (with a complete pre-shot routine and a target) with the sand wedge, 9-iron, 7-iron, 5-iron, 3-iron (which I replaced with my 7-wood), 3-wood (which I replaced with my 4-wood) and 5 shots with the driver. After that, simulate the first three holes on the course. For me, I simulated 8-iron, 8-iron and pitching wedge. This practice session went well until I got to the 4-wood, whereupon I tended to slice it and the driver, even though I hit the 7-wood nearly perfectly. Live and learn.

Next, I went to the pitching area and used the rest of the balls to practice short pitches at three of the target circles. I was pretty pleased with that part of my practice. The last three balls I hit at the farthest target circle and had pretty good distance control but lacked a bit of directional control. I then went to the chipping area and hit a few chips, the first three of which were within 3 ft of the hole, so I went on to the putting green. There, I hit a couple of three footers to warm up, and then ran a speed drill out to 24 ft, and lag-putted a few from 30 ft. That concluded my pretty good practice session.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

My round:

• First hole. Hit a 9-iron from 116 yds thin and left into a tree, the ball dropped short of the hole and about 3 ft inside the out of bounds marker. I had a difficult chip to the hole, which I ran 8 ft past. I just missed the par putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Second hole. Hit a 9-iron from 128 yds just short of the green, chipped short to about 6 ft, missed the putt for par and tapped in for bogey.
• Third hole. Chunked a pitching wedge from 108 yds, badly, about halfway down the fairway, hit a lob wedge to 25 ft, just missed the par putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Fourth hole. Hit a gap wedge from 95 yds to about 18 ft short of the hole, just missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.
• Fifth hole. Hit a gap wedge from 92 yds to about 20 ft short of the hole, left the birdie putt about 8″ short and tapped in for par.
• Sixth hole. Hit a pitching wedge from 113 yds well left of the hole. The ball hit a light pole and bounced onto the green about 50 ft short of the hole. I hit a really nice lag putt to 3 ft and made that for par. Just a bit lucky! 😉
• Seventh hole. Hit a gap wedge from 91 yds pin high 10 ft right of the hole, just missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.
• Eighth hole. Badly chucked a pitching wedge (again!) from 98 yds, then followed that up with a shanked lob wedge onto the ninth fairway. Hit a pretty good pitch using the lob wedge just slightly over the green, but chipped to 3 ft and tapped in for an ugly double. 😥
• Ninth hole. Hit a pitching wedge from 113 yds to about 24 ft short of the hole, rolled a nice lag putt to 2″ and tapped in for par.

I played a pretty good round of golf today, just missed tying my best score on this course by one shot. Although I putted well (no three-putts), I didn’t get any of my five birdie putts to drop. My speed was good all day, and none of my second putts was stressful. All in all, a pretty good day of golf for me.