Tonight, I completed the construction of my reshafted Wishon Golf 770CFE irons. I also added the 770CFE approach wedge to the set and built two new wedges, a PCF Micro satin sand wedge and a PCF Micro WS lob wedge. Pictures and specs tomorrow.
Two articles on Michelle Wie today. The first, Injured Wie likely out until May, notes that she won’t play again until the Michelob ULTRA Open:
Michelle Wie’s withdrawal from this week’s Safeway International because of a wrist injury disrupts her competition schedule built around a leave of absence from Stanford University’s spring quarter. It likely also means she won’t return to competition until the second week of May, according to those close to the situation.
According to Wie’s managers at the William Morris Agency, Wie aggravated the left wrist she injured while running last year while practicing at Stanford earlier this month. Apparently, she was practicing shots out of the rough, where she spent much of 2007, and on one shot there was a ball embedded under the ball she was hitting, causing the injury.
That’s really bad luck hitting an embedded ball. Yikes! 😥
Another blog quotes David Leadbetter as saying:
This girl is so talented, she could do anything she wants to do in the world of golf. But people in her camp — and I’m not going to name them — have been a bit off on what she can and can’t do. It is tough that she’s a part-time golfer, unlike the other girls who work at it 24/7. In the past she’d go to school, pick it up and just play. Now there’s a lot more pressure on her. These girls — Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Annika — these girls are good. And it is hard for Michelle to be a bit player.
Tiger’s quest for a sixth straight PGA Tour win came to an end today when Geoff Ogilvy hung on to win at the Blue Monster.
Geoff Ogilvy didn’t think nine pars would do it. Not on your life.
With five of the top 10 players in the world chasing him as the final round of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship finally came to a conclusion, the talented Aussie wouldn’t have given you a dollar for his chances if he parred in Monday.
That’s exactly what happened, though, and as a result, Ogilvy claimed both the Gene Sarazen Trophy and a check for $1.35 million. The victory made him just the third player to win more than one World Golf Championships title, although he and Darren Clarke have a ways to go to catch Tiger Woods’ total of 15.
Nice win, Geoff!
The PGA Tour was unable to complete the 4th round at the Blue Monster today due to two weather delays. Tiger is at -12 after 11 holes, well behind Geoff Ogilvy at -17. Since the winning score is likely to be -18 at best, Tiger will probably need to score -6 on his remaining 6 holes just to tie. And with both Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh nipping at Ogilvy’s heels at -15, Geoff may need -19 or higher to win. I’m thinking -19 will get the job done for one of these guys.
I can’t count out Tiger at this stage, but things certainly don’t look good for him to keep his winning streak alive.
Tiger went backwards at the Blue Monster during the rain-delayed third round, finishing with an even par 72 (-11). You have to go all the way down the leader board to the 31st position to find a round that was higher than Tiger’s (Steve Stricker had a 73). Vijay Singh and Graeme Storm both had rounds of 63 to get past Tiger to -12, along with Adam Scott, Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk. Geoff Oglivy had a nice 68 to give himself a 4 shot lead at -16 heading into the fourth round.
Michelle Wie withdraws from Safeway International after reinjuring left wrist
Michelle Wie withdrew from the Safeway International on Friday after tweaking an injury to her left wrist during practice last week.
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“Fortunately, X-rays, an MRI and a CAT scan didn’t show any major injury,” Smoller said. “Her doctor diagnosed it as a sprain, and advised Michelle to rest the wrist for a few weeks to allow it to heal properly.”
While I’ve been hitting my Wishon Golf 550c irons pretty good of late, I’ve decided that I’m not quite good enough a golfer yet to use these fine irons. However, these irons give me much more feedback on how I’m hitting the ball than the Wishon Golf 770CFE irons do, so I’ve decided to reshaft my 770CFE irons with True Temper Black Gold shafts (stiff flex, soft-stepped one club). I’m making all specs between the two sets of irons the same (swingweight, length, loft, lie, total weight) so that the clubs will feel about the same (they will sound different, though). In this way, I’ll practice with the 550c irons, to get the superb feedback that helps me improve in practice, and play with the 770CFE irons, to get all the forgiveness and better MOI for more consistent results on the course.
To this end, this morning, I reshafted my 770CFE irons with True Temper Black Gold stiff shafts, instead of the True Temper GS-75 shafts I’d been using. I’ve soft-stepped the shafts one club to match how I built the 550c irons and I’ll swingweight them, once the epoxy sets, to the same D-6 swingweight. I’ve also ordered the AW clubhead that I didn’t have in the 770CFE set, and I’ll put that club together when the head arrives.
This afternoon, I practiced at Golden Bear Golf Center, on a warm, sunny, breezy afternoon. I warmed up with the 7-iron, hitting the ball pretty well, then moving on to the 5-iron, 7-wood and driver. I hit all these clubs pretty well, so I got out the pitching wedge, 8-iron and 6-iron to work on my irons. Unfortunately, I wasn’t hitting the irons well at all. I decided that I needed to focus on getting my hands in front on the ball at impact. I placed a ball up on a tee and worked at getting a late release with good impact on the ball. It took quite a number of shots, but I did get my swing working well again, even down to the 4-iron. I finished up the bucket with a few wedge shots, but I’d lost the good impact and late release I’d had with the longer clubs. My right arm (especially my right elbow) felt sore, so I cut my practice short. I was pleased that I’d gotten back my lag, at least on the irons, but disappointed that I wasn’t hitting the wedges consistently. Much more to work on, obviously.
This afternoon, I practiced at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville, on a breezy, sunny day. In direct contrast to my last practice, the wind was blowing strongly on my back.
I started off hitting a couple of 7-iron shots to warm up, followed by every other club, hitting about 5 balls each. I was hitting the irons pretty well, but not as good as on Monday. I then got out the pitching wedge, 8-iron and 6-iron, and then my shots weren’t good. I never really put my finger on the exact cause, but eventually, I figured out that I was practicing on a down-slope, and that had put something in my swing that caused me to hit poorly. I moved to another, flatter location on the range, and things got better. I had a really good practice session with the longer clubs, especially the driver. If I’d been on a course, more than 80% of the drives would have been in the fairway, so I was very pleased. I also hit a few good 4-woods (with a stinker or two thrown in).
Next, I went back to the irons to see if I could fix whatever was wrong earlier. I did manage to hit the ball better, even with a good, late release, but still wasn’t pleased, as I tended to hit the ball inconsistently. I hit a few short wedge shots with the sand wedge, trying to get my touch back. I hit a few good shots, but there were a disturbing number of fatties in the mix. I never did get that fixed, so I wasn’t particularly pleased with my practice.
Since the wind was howling, and the putting green still dormant (though looking a lot better after the heavy rain yesterday), I skipped putting and chipping. I’ll be really happy when the dormant bermunda grows back and I can really get my short game back into shape. The practice areas are really beaten up now, both at Hank Haney and Golden Bear, so it’ll be nice when the grass grows in again. Late February and March are not good short game practice times, because the dormant bermuda hasn’t been growng since late October. The grass is starting to green up again, and I expect to be back on the putting green and short game area in two or three weeks.
This afternoon, I practiced at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville, on a very windy, cloudy day. The temperature was quite comfortable, but the wind was howling at 2-4 clubs into my face during the entire practice.
I warmed up with the 7-iron, striking the ball pretty solidly to warm up. I then hit about 5 balls each, starting with the pitching wedge and working my way down through the clubs until I got to the 7-wood. I then spent some time with the longer clubs, alternating the 5-iron, hybrid and 7-wood. I hit the 5-iron and hybrid very solidly; the 7-wood I tended to hit high fades that were magnified by the wind into slices.
I got out the driver and hit it pretty well once I got it grooved. My distance wasn’t very good, but considering the howling wind I was hitting into, wasn’t bad. Next, I spent some time hitting irons, running through the bag from the sand wedge all the way down to the 4-iron. My ball striking was the best I’ve done since my long Christmas vacation, so I was pretty pleased today.
Because of the howling wind and poor condition of the putting green, I didn’t putt. The putting green is beginning to come out of dormancy, so I expect it will be in good condition again in a few weeks.
One of my better practices. I hit good shots with every club in my bag, so I was pretty happy.
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