Joey's Golf Bag

I hit a medium bucket of balls and played nine at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville today. The weather was mid-60s, almost no breeze, partly cloudy.

I warmed up with my 6-iron, and then began to compare hitting the Big Bertha 6-iron to the Viper Ti-4 6-iron I built this week. It’s clear from hitting the club that it needs to be bent upright 3 degrees to match the Big Bertha club, as I hit the Viper with a fade nearly every shot, whereas I hit mostly straight or slight draws with the Big Bertha 6-iron. I decided to delay any further testing until I get the club bent upright.

I spent almost the whole practice session hitting the longer irons, even getting the 3-iron out for a few shots. I hit mostly straight shots today, some draws and some fades when I wasn’t concentrating. I hit the ball well when I made sure not to start my downswing too quickly. I also hit about a dozen balls with the SasQuatch 3-metal, generally fades; never got the draw working at all. I hit a few balls with the short irons, mostly straight or slight pulls. I hit a couple of full swings with the pitching wedge as well, and pulled it as well.

I then hit a few putts to get the speed of the greens (fast) and played nine holes with Dan, who I met on the range. He played very well today, scoring maybe 2 or 3 over par. Very impressive on this course, as the fairways are very narrow and the greens very small.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Driving. Not very good driving today, as I didn’t hit any fairways in regulation. On the 2nd, hit the 3-metal just into the hazard and had to take an unplayable as the ball was under a bush. On the fourth, hit a 4-iron just into the hazard and took a penalty drop. On the sixth, hit a 4-iron off the tee, fading it into the rough next to a tree. I had to pitch out from there into the fairway. On the eighth hole, hit a 4-iron just into the left rough.
• Short irons. Hit a fade on the first hole into the fringe of the green, leaving a 60 ft chip. On the 3rd, hit a pitching wedge just short of the green. On the fifth, hit a perfect 10-iron into the center of the green for my only green in regulation. I also hit a very nice 7-iron onto the green on the 6th hole to leave a 10-ft putt for par, which lipped out. My 9-iron from the rough on the 8th hole was hit a bit fat and was short of the green although perfectly in line with the flag. Hit a poor 5-iron off the tee on the 7th hole and a poor 7-iron off the tee on the 9th hole.
• Wedges. Hit poor sand wedge shots on the 2nd and 4th hole, which led to the triple bogeys on both. Hit a decent shot out of the sand on the 4th hole, though.
• Chipping. Hit a very good chip on the 3rd hole to 2 ft, the rest were not very close.
• Putting. No three-putts today. Lipped out putts for par on the 1st, 6th, and 9th holes. My only bad putt was on the 4th hole, on which I hit a downhill putt right off the green.

A very pleasant day of golf.