Joey's Golf Bag

This morning I hit a small bucket of balls and played nine holes at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The weather was warm and sunny, with a 1-club breeze from the southeast.

Practice was very mixed from the start. As I was hitting from a slight downhill lie, I hit a number of balls fat. The short irons were working well in practice, but never did get the 6-iron to straighten out. Practice with the 3-metal found me hitting mostly fades or straight shots (unlike what would happen on the course). I also took extra time to practice chipping and putting before playing.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• I had two excellent shots today. The first great shot was on the first hole with a 9-iron. The wind was very soft, so I aimed directly at the hole and hit the ball perfectly to eight feet just below the hole. I nailed the putt in the center of the cup for my first birdie in weeks. The second great shot was a 3-metal off the tee of the eighth hole. I actually hit it long enough that it rolled into the rough at the end of the fairway, leaving me a sand wedge to the hole.
• My putting was excellent today. I had only 13 putts all day and no 3 putts. I nailed the 8-footer on the 1st hole for birdie and a 20-footer to save bogey on the 4th hole. I had only 1 putt on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th hole. Great putting was the only thing that kept me from having one of the worst golfing days I’ve ever had.
• My sand and lob wedge play was atrocious all day. I hit a sand wedge clear over the green on 2, causing double bogey. I chunked so many sand wedges today that I lost count. I also hit a pitching wedge thin over the green and into the back hazard on the 3rd hole and ended up with double and hit a recovery pitching wedge too long into the hazard on the 6th hole. Wedge play and chipping, usually one of the better parts of my game, was the key reason for my poor score today.
• I used the Sasquatch 3-metal on all four par-4 holes today, hooking two of them and hitting one fat on the disastrous 6th hole. I redeemed myself on the 8th, where I hit the ball long enough to roll off the end of the fairway. Unfortunately, I chunked the sand wedge and made bogey.
• I really need to develop a low stinger to get out of the trees. I also managed to clip a branch on a beautiful 8-iron into the 9th hole that caused me to make bogey.

Despite all that (and losing my putter cover on the 6th hole — tracked it down after the round), I had a very enjoyable day of golf. The course is quite difficult, but you can score if you hit good shots. I only hit two great shots all day, and the result is the score you see stinking up this blog.