Joey's Golf Bag

I played nine at North Texas Golf in Dallas on a very hot morning. There was a variable breeze from the west. The golf course was in typical summer condition, very firm, with bumpy, slow greens.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

My round:

• First hole. Hit a 9-iron fat, leaving me 40 feet short of the pin. Chipped long with the AW, lipped out the 15 foot putt and tapped in for bogey.
• Second hole. Pured a 7-iron 35 feet over the pin (should have hit an 8-iron). Left my first putt six feet short but popped in the next for par.
• Third hole. Hit an AW so fat, the ball went maybe 30 feet. Hit a sand wedge pin-high but just off the green. Chipped within 2 feet and tapped in for bogey.
• Fourth hole. Hit an AW fat and right into a puddle. Took relief from the puddle, chipped from a downhill lie with the lob wedge to about 6 feet and hit the putt for bogey.
• Fifth hole. Hit an AW 40 feet pin-high right of the hole. Struck a very poor putt 15 feet short. Pured the putt, but it hit a bump and bounced over the hole. Tapped in for bogey.
• Sixth hole. Hit another fat AW short of the green. Chipped with the AW to 2 feet and tapped in for par.
• Seventh hole. Hit another fat AW perfectly in line with my target, but just on the green 30 feet short of the hole, leaving me with a difficult putt up to the hole on a ridge that goes across the green. Hit a putt perfectly on line but 2 feet short. Tapped that in for par.
• Eighth hole. Hit a 9-iron pin-high but left of the green in a grass bunker. Chipped about 7 feet short of the hole, but pured the breaking putt into the hole.
• Ninth hole. Hit an 8-iron left of the greenside bunker, chipped with the sand wedge 6 feet past the hole, and hit the breaking putt for par.

Today, I had no golf swing at all (one really fine tee shot, even that one with the wrong club), yet I tied my best score on this course with a combination of good chipping and good putting (14 putts including one unlucky 3-putt). In short, I put the ball in the hole even though my golf swing abandoned me. I was really proud of how I played today.

Update: Forgot to mention that I played three balls today (a Bridgestone e6+ on the first three holes, a Titleist ProV1 on the second three, and last year’s Nike One Platinum on the last three holes). There was no discernible difference in the three balls, which were chosen because they were listed as soft, high spin balls in Golf Digest’s last ball test.

Paula Creamer posted a very nice 11 under par 60 at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic today, which gives her a 5 shot lead in the first round and a new course record.

This morning, Jarvis and I walked 18 holes on the Lakes Course at Indian Creek Golf Club. The weather was cool at first, though warming rapidly to around 90F by the time we finished. There was little wind on most holes. We went off around 7:15AM and finished the round in about 4 hours.

My score:

Themes:

• Tee shots. I didn’t hit the ball well of the tee, hitting only four fairways. I either pushed the ball right, or hooked it left and never felt confident over the ball. I also hit one of the par-3 holes in regulation. I had two penalties off the tee, one of which leaked left into the water on the 18th hole.
• Approach shots. I hit five greens in regulation, and in general, my approach shots were pretty good, as I was just off the green in many cases.
• Wedges. I didn’t hit a lot of wedge shots today, tending instead to hit chips using the pitching wedge.
• Chipping. I did pretty well chipping, mostly with the pitching wedge. I hit a couple of close chips to get up-and-down, and also chipped in from off the green on the par-5 14th hole to save par.
• Bunker shots. I hit only one bunker today, a deep greenside bunker. I got out, but not close to the hole.
• Putting. I continue to struggle with my putting. I missed a couple of short putts and had four 3-putts for a total of 35 putts. That’s not nearly good enough.

With the exception of driving the ball and putting, I had a pretty good day on the course. This is the best I’ve done on this course, so I was pretty happy.

I’ve been having some difficulty hitting my 4-wood reliably, as I can generally hit my 7-wood just as far, and straighter, unless I really swing well. As a result, I’ve built a new 5-wood (18° loft vs 4-wood 16.5° loft) using the new Tom Wishon Golf Technology 919THI fairway clubhead. I’ve decided in the short term to put the 525FD “Thriver” in my bag to hit off the tee only on holes where the driver is too long, and to take out the 4-wood and 7-wood, and replace those clubs with the new 5-wood.

That’s my plan and I’m sticking with it, at least through the weekend. 🙂

Specs: I built the 5-wood (hand selected 18° loft with square clubface) to a length of 41.5 inches long using a TWGT 7-B2P fairway shaft, tipped 1.5 inches, with a TWGT V-series oversize grip. I built it to a swingweight of D-1, like the rest of my fairway metals.

Some photos:

Tiger announced on his website that he is planning to have knee reconstructive surgery and will be out for the remainder of the 2008 season.

Ouch! Tiger, we’ll miss you.

More at Woods out for rest of ’08.

My practice time has been minimal of late because of work and very hot weather. I’ve only been able to practice on weekends in the morning, after 11AM it is just too hot. However, a thunderstorm came through the area today, so I took advantage of the cool weather to hit some balls after dinner.

I warmed up with my usual routine, then put down my alignment shaft and worked on my irons. At first, I hit the ball poorly, making just about any fault you can name. Finally, in desperation, I teed up a ball a half-inch off the ground and ran a drill from George Hibbard’s book Golf’s Critical Details. I hit a couple of balls with my 9-iron using the two-handed drill and suddenly, my lag is back. I started hitting great shots, consistent, perfect trajectory, good distance. I ran through my irons trying to achieve good lag with each club, even getting some very good shots with the 5-iron. For about 20 shots, I hit the ball about as good as I’ve ever hit the ball.

The perfect swings didn’t last, as some of my faults crept back in (pushing short irons, hooking long clubs), but I was extremely pleased that I was striking the ball so well. I hit every club well, with the exception of the driver and 4-wood. Those clubs always seem to take more practice to get going than my other clubs, and I ran out of time and balls before I really had the chance to work on them.

I didn’t have time to putt or practice the short game, but I always emphasize those aspects of my game during the weekend practices.

I just finished viewing the playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate at the US Open this afternoon (I had to work, so watched it on TIVO). I don’t know if Tiger’s 91 hole victory was the greatest of all time, but it was certainly the best golf tournament I’ve ever viewed, topping even Tiger’s 2006 victory at Hoylake in the Open Championship (in my view Tiger’s greatest victory because of his mastery of strategy and shotmaking, until today). How Tiger was able to overcome his very painful surgically-repaired knee and lack of practice will be the stuff of legend in an already legendary career.

SI has an excellent article on Tiger’s victory in Woods outlasts Mediate to win his 14th major.

Michelle Wie shot a 4-under 137 (70-67) in the Rockville, MD, sectional qualifier to earn a spot in the US Women’s Open.

Congrats, Michelle!

This morning, Dad and I played 18 at the Cowboys Golf Club in Grapevine. The course was in very good condition, though the greens had been punched probably a week ago. We went off at 9AM with another twosome and finished in 4 hours 40 minutes. We waited on the group in front of us much of the day.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation

Themes:

• Tee shots. I didn’t hit the ball well off the tee today, hitting only five fairways and no par-3 holes in regulation. I had two penalties off the tee as well. My major fault was hooking, though one was a huge push.
• Approach shots. Not very good today, either. I hit just three greens in regulation. My main fault was pushes to the right of the green.
• Wedges. I was pretty pleased with my wedges today, as all three greens I hit in regulation were with the approach wedge.
• Sand shots. I hit into one fairway bunker and two greenside bunkers. I got out on all three, but none of the shots were close to my target.
• Chipping. Not very good, got up-and-down only twice. I mostly went long today.
• Putting. Boy, I stunk. I just couldn’t get the speed right today at all. 40 putts total, only two one-putt greens, and six 3-putts. Pathetic.

I was pretty disappointed with my play today, as I just couldn’t get my irons to go straight (big push right most of the day) and big hooks with my driver. Not to mention that my putting was terrible. Lack of practice is really messing up my play and now that summer is here, it’ll be harder to find time since practice in the afternoon after work is really not possible due to Texas heat. Alas.

It’s been a long haul for Michelle, but she’s finally back on the leaderboard again. She picked up a 6th place finish at -14 under in the Ladies German Open.

Good job, Michelle. I’m looking forward to seeing you back in contention this summer.