Joey's Golf Bag

I practiced and played nine at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville today. The weather was warm and sunny, although clouds moved in while I played. The wind was soft and from the west.

I started out hitting a small bucket with my practice 6-iron, hitting mostly draws into the green on the left. I also hit a bunch of 8- and 9-irons into the center green just beyond the pond. I spent much of the time shaping shots, putting the ball back in my stance to hit draws, a little more forward for straight shots, and a little more forward than that for fades. From my practice today, it looks like the primary reason I tend to fade is the ball is too far forward. I hit many shots with the SasQuatch 3-metal, mostly straight or draws, only one or two fades, and even those were soft fades.

I was also able to finally hit the practice 3-iron I made. I hit mostly draws with it, but the distance wasn’t very long. In fact, I hit it good enough to try it on the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Trends:

• Driving. The 3-metal, which worked well in practice, was poor on the course. I hit a fade into the hazard on the second hole and a draw on the fourth that hit a tree on the left and ended up in the rough on the right side of the fairway. Only the shot on the sixth hole was down the middle. I used the 3-iron on the eighth hole, setting up for a fade, but hit a hard draw into the hazard on the left.
• Long irons. I hit a fine 5-iron on the seventh hole into the fringe of the green, exactly where I was aiming. My 3-iron off the tee drew instead of faded, however.
• Short irons. Short irons were mixed. I hit a good 9-iron to 30 ft on the first hole, hit a perfect layup 10-iron on the sixth hole, and a good 7-iron off the tee on the ninth hole to 18 ft. My 9-iron in the rough from the drop from the hazard on the eighth hole was very poor, hit fat and right into the right rough. My 10-iron on the fifth tee was way right as well.
• Wedges. I had a very poor day with the wedges, mostly well short. I had difficulty with the hard packed ground mainly, mostly hitting the ground before the ball which left the shots short. On the third tee, hit the pitching wedge thin and into the hazard.
• Chipping. I used the pitching wedge to chip, only twice. The first chip, from the fringe on the seventh hole, was nearly perfect, just 2 ft from the hole. The second chip, from the fringe on the eighth hole, was well short.
• Putting. Mixed results, mostly hit every putt about 4 ft past the hole. Fortunately, I hit all the recovery putts, except the one on the first hole, where I had my only three-putt.

A very nice day for golf. I need to work on hitting wedges off hardpacked ground, as that gave me trouble all day and led to the poor scoring.