Joey's Golf Bag

Today, Dad and I played nine at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The day was warm and sunny, with a slight breeze from the west. My day started off inauspiciously by dunking a ball in the water at the first, but I played pretty well otherwise.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

How I played:

• First hole. Hit a pitching wedge right of the hole, which cleared the water but bounced back into the water. Took a drop from there, chipped poorly from the rough and two putted for double.
• Second hole. Hooked my 7-wood left in front of the net, then hit a big push right of the hole into the hazard, but fortunately playable from where it lay. Hit a pitch over the green, chipped to about 12 feet and two putt for double.
• Third hole. Hit a lob wedge so fat that it went about 20 yards. I then hit a stellar lob wedge to a foot and tapped in for par.
• Fourth hole. Hooked my Thriver into the left rough, leaving a 9-iron to the hole. I hit a worm burner to about 75 yds in front of the hole. From there, I hit a lob wedge shot well right of the hole, but on the green. Three putted from about 45 feet for double.
• Fifth hole. Hit a sand wedge to about 15 feet, just missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.
• Sixth hole. Hit a chunky 7-wood a foot off the right of the fairway. Hit a perfect layup pitching wedge, then a lob wedge to 12 feet. Just missed the putt for par and tapped in for bogey.
• Seventh hole. Hit a 7-iron just left of the green, chipped to 3 feet and tapped in for par.
• Eighth hole. Hit a 5-iron off the tee, leaving an approach wedge to the hole. I hit the AW to 12 feet and hit the firmly struck birdie putt. 🙂
• Ninth hole. Hit a 9-iron to 7 feet, but just missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.

37 is my best score on this course, so I was pretty happy with the way I played.

Michelle Wie shot a 3-under 69 in the second round of the Ladies German Open. She’s only 3 shots behind the leader, Lora Fairclough, of England, who is at -10 after two rounds.

Go, Michelle, GO!!!

Michelle Wie shot a 68 in the first round of the Ladies German Open on the Ladies European Tour.

That 68 put her into a tie for fourth place. I hope that Michelle’s game is finally rounding back into form.

This morning, Jarvis and I played 18 on the Creek course at Indian Creek Golf Club. We went off at 9AM on a cloudy but very warm morning. The course was in excellent condition, firm and fast. The greens were very smooth and pretty fast.

Today was the first day I’ve walked 18 (just bought a Bag Boy Express 120 push cart) and it pretty much zonked me out. The weather was cloudy until the back nine, and the temperature went up dramatically when the sun came out. Fortunately, the wind came up as well. I’ll continue to walk, but during the summer, only when I go off in the early morning.

My practice time has been very limited this month, as I’ve been busy at work and also had my back spasms flare up again. My back was fine today and I expect to get to practice more regularly.

My score:

Themes:

• Tee shots. I had a pretty bad day off the tee, hitting only six fairways and two par-3 holes in regulation. I had problems with hooking the ball with the driver today. I had two penalties off the tees, including hooking (yet again) into the water with my 7-wood on the 18th. That hole continues to vex me.
• Approach shots. Stinky. Just stinky. I hit two greens in regulation on approach shots, and two greens off the tee. I did have a couple of approach shots that were just off the green, though.
• Wedges. Not pretty. Either I hit them fat and short, or thin and long. 😮
• Chipping. Not good either. I got up and down exactly twice all day. Mostly left them short.
• Sand shots. I hit into two fairway bunkers and two greenside bunkers. I wasn’t pleased with my sand play today, but at least I didn’t leave any in the bunker. The shots just weren’t very good.
• Putting. I had 36 putts today and two three putts. I missed all my birdie putts and managed to three-putt a hole that I hit in regulation. I had only two one-putt holes. Despite that, my putting seems to be improving, if only slightly.

A fun day of golf, even though walking 18 completely wore me out.

I’ve built yet another Wishon Golf Technology club, this time a 585HI hybrid 4-iron. I used a Wishon Golf GI-335 Hybrid Iron shaft, Tour weight, R-flex, with a Wishon Golf V-Series oversize grip. I had Wishon Golf bend the club to a 62° lie and 24° loft. I built the club to 39.25 inches in length with a swingweight of D2.

I’m taking the club to the range tomorrow.

Photos:

TWGT 585HI 4-iron face

TWGT 585HI 4-iron back

Yesterday, I played 18 at Pecan Hollow in Plano. The day was warm and sunny, with a light breeze that had little effect on golf shots. We went off at 12:30PM and finished just after 5PM. The golf course was playing firm and fast. Conditions were not great, some of the greens were a little bumpy and there were some bare spots on the fairways. Very playable, though.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Off the tee. I was really pleased with my new Wishon Golf 919THI driver. I hit 8 of 12 fairways with it (hitting 1 of 2 fairways with my Wishon Golf 949MC 7-wood). I also hit one of the par-3 holes in regulation off the tee, so I’m happy to see my long game is getting better (finally).
• Approach shots. I hit six greens in regulation. My main issue today was hitting the ball a bit thin (the fairways were very hard) and short.
• Wedges. My lob wedge really let me down today. I either hit the ball thin or fat. I can really only remember one really good approach wedge and one really good half swing with the lob wedge, otherwise I didn’t do well.
• Chipping. Lately, I’ve been mostly chipping with the lob wedge, and today I left a lot of chips well short. I then switched back to using the approach wedge, and tended to hit them a bit long. I did manage to get up and down three times, though.
• Sand shots. Hit into two bunkers today, both on the third hole. I hit out of the first bunker thin over the green into the second bunker, then hit that one thin as well, making a triple on that hole. Yeech!
• Putting. I wasn’t particularly pleased with my putting, left a lot of putts well short on the slow greens. I didn’t miss any putts inside 4 feet, so I was pretty happy with that. I missed all five birdie putts, unfortunately, and had a total of 37 putts.

My short game and putting let me down, but I was happy with the way I played today, and particularly happy with my new driver. I still need to figure out the best swingweight, but it’s definitely kicked the 525GRT out of my bag.

You go, girl!

Michelle, I’d like to see you qualify for the Women’s British Open as well. You only have 15 days left to apply. Get moving!

Yesterday, my wife and I went to the EDS Byron Nelson tournament. We arrived around noon on a cold, cloudy, blustery day, had some lunch and huddled in the stands above the 18th hole for most of the day. Some thoughts:

• Course changes. I only got a close look at the first and eighteenth holes, and the course conditions were absolutely stunning, perfect in every way. The rough height was perfect; not high enough to keep players from going at the hole, but high enough to keep the players from putting a lot of spin on the ball. Excellent! The USGA could learn a thing or two from the course setup here at the Nelson.
• The four-tiered lake in front of the 18th hole was a little over the top for Texas. The flowers didn’t really look natural, though I liked the reeds and if they lose the flowers and allow the reeds to grow naturally, the hole will look nice.
• These guys are slow. Jeez, I thought muni courses around town were slow, but these guys were pathetic. There was a 20 minute gap between the 4th group (Luke Donald, Ken Duke, Kenny Perry) and the third group (Dudley Hart, Jesper Parnevik, Brian Gay). It was so slow my wife took a nap. Of the 15 groups I saw come into 18, only 2 or 3 groups were on the tee when the group before them was on the green. C’mon, guys, keep up.
• The longest drive I saw on 18 was by Charlie Hoffman, who also had the best approach shot I saw. Unfortunately, he missed the short birdie putt. That cost him about $80k.
• The 18th hole played very well for a finishing hole. At least six shots were in the water while I watched. One group had all three players in the water, two off the tee and one on the approach. Kenny Perry, though, got lucky: his tee shot was left of the ponds, in the rough. Yikes!
• I was a little disappointed with Sergio’s black outfit. It’s Sunday, you’re in the next to last group, how about a little color, eh, Sergio? His putting stroke is looking a lot better, though it didn’t show up on Sunday.
• The loudest roar I heard, other than Adam Scott’s two putts for birdie on the 18th, was when Luke Donald holed his ball from the drop circle for par on the 17th. I didn’t see it live, but did see it on the TIVO afterward.
• Some drunk somewhere behind me yelled “You suck!” when Kevin Sutherland missed his birdie putt. I hope they escorted that drunk off the course.
• Around 4PM, the clouds parted, the wind eased, and the sun came out, setting the stage for the first PGA Tour playoff I’ve witnessed live. What a show!

This was the first time I’ve picked a winner not named Tiger in a PGA Tour event and had that pick win. Congratulations to Adam Scott for a fine clutch performance at the Nelson.

Adam Scott, my pick to win the tournament, is in the lead at -8, three shots ahead of four players tied at -5. My surviving dark horse picks, Luke Donald is tied for tenth at -2; my other dark horse, Scott Verplank, had a bad day and fell back into a tie for 56th place at +4. Sergio Garcia had a nice 65 today to put himself in contention at -4.

On Thursday, I teed it up at Stonebridge Ranch on the Hills course for a Shamble tournament with customers. For this event, we played a shamble (everyone tees off, the best drive is picked — everyone’s drive must be used at least once every nine holes) and you play your own ball into the hole. However, on the par-3 holes, we played a scramble. We played holes 1-9 and holes 19-27 on this 27-hole course. The weather was heavily clouded with brief moments of sunshine, with blustery winds in the 20-30 mph range.

I played quite well, although I had an inauspicious start (popped up my first drive), but otherwise played very well. We were scoring two balls per hole, and my score was used (or tied with a score used) on about half the holes. We ended up at +3 on this pretty difficult and long course (blue tees, rating and slope 71.7 / 124, 6571 yards). My drives were used a couple of times because of positioning (not length, two of my playing partners out-drove me by 20-40 yds). I wasn’t able to attend the awards ceremony, so I don’t know where our team finished overall.

Highlights: The tournament started with a golf exhibition put on by the Long Drivers of America. On two of the par-5 holes on the front, Brian Pavlet (3rd hole) and Art Sellinger (7th hole), teed off for us, leaving us with either a wedge or a 9-iron into the green on those two par-5 holes. Unfortunately, we did no better than birdie on the holes, not hitting our eagle putts. On the par-3 8th hole, there was a team filming the hole like it was a PGA tournament, complete with commentators and 3 cameras, one on the tee, one behind the green and one to the side of the green. Of our group, I was the only one to hit the green in regulation. I hit a 6-iron about 40 feet past the hole, leaving a downhill putt. My putting attempt was pathetically short, but we were still able to get two par putts to fall. We each received a DVD of the entire tournament’s play on that hole, though I’ve yet to view it.