Joey's Golf Bag

I hit a small bucket of balls and played nine at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville today. The weather was warm, soft breeze from the west.

During practice, I hit the clubs I normally hit while playing the course, namely, the 5-10 irons and 3-metal, along with a few full pitching wedges. Unlike yesterday, where I hit mainly draws and hooks, today I hit mainly straight balls and slight fades. My 3-metal practice was unusually good today, hitting straight balls almost exclusively, just to the right or left of the target green. After hitting balls, I practiced putting for a few minutes and started into the round.

For the first time, I played this course no worse than bogey golf. My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Summary of my day:

1. Hit a 9-iron right and long leaving a difficult 25 ft putt down hill. Hit a nice putt to 3 ft and tapped in for par.
2. Hit a 3-metal into the left side of the fairway, leaving a full pitching wedge to the hole. Pushed PW right into rough, chunked the chip into the fringe, and 3 putt from there, an ugly double.
3. Hit a 3/4 pitching wedge long into rough behind hole. Chipped long and 2 putted for bogey.
4. Drew a 3-metal into the center of the fairway. My 8-iron into the hole clipped a branch of an overhanging tree and dropped into the rough on the right side of the hole. SW came up short. Chipped to 5 ft and hit the putt for bogey.
5. Hit a 10-iron to 25 ft. 2 putted for par.
6. Pulled a 3-metal left, but it big bounced into the center of the fairway. However, trees on the right prevented a clear shot to the flag, so I planned a lay-up 10-iron to the front of the hole. Plans changed when I sliced it into the hazard on the right. Took a penalty from the lateral hazard, dropped from where the ball crossed the hazard, chipped to 6 ft, and hit the bogey putt.
7. Hit a 5-iron fat into the short grass in front of the green. SW short into the fringe. Chip hit the pin and I tapped in for bogey.
8. Hit a 5-iron a bit thin off the tee into the center of the fairway. Pushed the 9-iron approach shot to the right of the hole. SW hit a little long into the back fringe. Hit a poor chip and 2-putted for double.
9. Hit a slight fade 7-iron just right of the green. Hit a chip to 6 ft, but misjudged the break and tapped in for bogey.

I was pretty happy with the way I played today, considering I didn’t practice my short game this week at all. I hit all four fairways today, the first time I’ve ever hit all the fairways on this course. Chipping practice is demanded tomorrow; if it wasn’t for chipping, I would have had a very good day.