Joey's Golf Bag

The weather is really crappy this weekend: rainy, cold, blustery. Guess I’ll just watch the Northern Trust Open on the Tivo. Philly Mick has a 4 stroke lead, so it’ll be entertaining to see if he can hold on to win.

This afternoon, after work, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The afternoon was warm, but heavily clouded, with a 1 to 2 club breeze in my face.

The short game area is in pretty poor shape now due to dormant bermuda (just been scalped and sanded), but I decided to hit some balls anyway. I started out in the deep grass bunker hitting a few balls nested deep in the dormant bermuda rough. My touch was very poor and I didn’t really chip the ball well out of the grass bunker. I then went into the sand bunker and ran the sand drill using my lob wedge (the sand bunkers are in perfect condition). I hit a few balls out of the sand, poorly at first, but then got my swing grooved and hit a few good ones close to the hole. Next, I practiced pitching with the lob wedge, but never really felt comfortable over the ball and my results were pretty pathetic. I was about to give it up, and then holed one. OK, it went in, but I wasn’t particularly happy with my pitching at all.

There was a huge crowd of junior golfers on the putting green getting some lessons, so I skipped putting and got a large bucket of balls and went to the range. At first, I had difficulty, hitting thin shots, but I soon got my swing working and proceeded to hit shots into the teeth of the wind at the blue-flagged green. Normally, that green would have been a 7-iron, but with the wind, I had to hit a 5-iron. I hit the longer clubs surprisingly well today, hitting the green with about 1 out of 3 shots. Indeed, I was hitting the 5-iron better than the 9-iron today, and about as well as I was hitting the 7-iron.

I spent much of practice time rotating through the irons, even getting out the 4-iron and hitting a couple of good shots with it. I also got out the 4-hybrid and hit some very good shots, but also a number of hooks. I struck the ball pretty well but my direction control was pretty poor. I did get out the driver for a few shots, but put it away as I only was able to hit either high booming slices or low duck hooks. Yeech!

Still, although the driver refused to co-operate, my irons continue to improve. I’m still in a funk with my wedges, though, hitting some good shots, some fat shots and some thin shots. Completely inconsistent, in other words.

This morning, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather, like yesterday, was spectacular, sunny and warm, with a one club breeze blowing from the southeast. I started out on the putting green, trying, but not succeeding, to hit 10 four foot putts in a row. I got to 9 but never got to 10. I then ran the speed drill out to 27 feet, re-doing the drill if I left a putt short. I was pretty pleased with that drill. Next, I practice lag putting from 30 and 45 feet, and was really happy with my lag putting from 45 feet.

Instead of going to the short game area, today I went to the fairway bunker on the far end of the range. There, I practiced my sand drill using a 7-iron, and then hit a few balls out of the sand toward the blue-flagged green. I was pretty happy with the shots, though I tended to hit them just a bit thin. I raked the bunker and went back to the range.

I had three goals for today. First, get some lag back in my swing. Second, to get the driver going more or less straight, and three, to practice wedges and long clubs. I succeeded on all counts, though I didn’t get a lot of time in with the long clubs except for the driver.

I warmed up with the approach wedge, then worked my way down through the bag until I reached the driver. Instead of fat shots, my primary miss today was thin shots. I was hitting the middle irons well, but the short irons and wedges I tended to hit a little thin, and the longer fairway woods a little fat. In general, though, I was hitting the ball better than yesterday, getting a good late release on a couple of mid-irons, but strangely, not really getting much on the shorter ones.

I spent a lot of shots alternating between the 6-iron and the driver. The first couple of drives were big slices, but I soon straightened them out and got a little draw going. I was pretty erratic, but with pretty good distance. My 6-iron started out rough, hitting fat, but I got that club going pretty well also. After that drill, I went through the irons, alternating the 9-, 7- and 5-irons, with a couple of 4-hybrids. I hit some good shots, and a couple of stinkers with all the clubs, but the 7- and 5-irons are looking pretty good. Though I started out pushing shots right, I ended up pulling shots at the end.

With the remaining balls, I hit a few wedges, and again, the dominate fault was hitting them thin. Although I hit a few good ones, hitting them thin was the main issue.

I had a pretty good practice today, though I didn’t spend much time on the short game, instead, practicing fairway bunker shots. After I got home, I watched the Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the TIVO and saw Vijay skull one out of the fairway bunker to lose the playoff hole.

This afternoon, on a warm, fabulously beautiful day, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. I started off with my new Tom Wishon CLF-1 putter on the putting green. I started off hitting 4 foot putts, trying to make 10 in a row, but gave it up after about 20 tries to get more than 4 to roll in. The greens are still dormant, and I picked a hole that was pretty difficult to roll the ball consistently. I finally gave that up and ran speed drills. My speed was pretty good today, though I didn’t roll in a lot of putts, due to the inconsistent putting surface. Next, I lag putted from 30 ft, inconsistent at first, then nailing the last putt in the center of the hole.

After putting, I went to the short game area and ran the sand drill, first with the approach wedge using a chipping stroke, followed by half swings with the lob wedge. I then lined up a bunch of balls and practiced hitting them out. I was pretty good at first, then went through a stretch were I barely got them out, and then hit one or two close to the target hole. Not my best, but it’s been a week since I was last able to practice, due to very long hours at work.

Next, I went to the range to hit some balls. I got a medium bucket and ran through my usual warmup drill. I wasn’t striking the ball particularly well today, so I got out the iPod, turned on Tour Tempo at 27/9 and hit a bunch of balls. That helped, but I was pulling a lot of balls well left of my target. I was never really happy with my ball-striking today.

Not my best practice, but it was good to have excellent weather and time to practice. Tomorrow, I plan to play nine at North Texas Golf and see how my short irons are working.

Yesterday, I built a new Tom Wishon CLF Series 1 putter. I used the Tom Wishon straight putter shaft and a Tom Wishon V-Series putter grip. I built it to a length of 34.5 inches. The really nice feature of this putter is the interchangeable loft faces, available in 2°, 4° and 6° lofts. I installed the 4° loft face, and that seems to work well.

Some photos:

After I built the putter, I hit my first six putts from 15 feet! Alas, the perfection didn’t continue after that, but so far, so good!

Tiger shoots 65 to win Dubai by a stroke.

On a day of thrilling drama at the Emirates Golf Club, Woods emerged the victor after a quite sensational back nine of six under par 31 that culminated in a stunning up and down for a title winning birdie on the 18th green. It was a classic Woods moment, the kind of finish that only a man of his peerless mental fortitude could produce.

If you count unofficial and non-PGA Tour events, Tiger has run his winning streak to five events (three straight on the PGA Tour):

1. Dubai Desert Classic
2. Buick Invitational
3. Target World Challenge
4. Tour Championship
5. BMW Championship

Let’s see how many events Tiger can win before his streak runs out. He will probably tee it up next at the Accenture Match Play Championships.

This afternoon, I practiced on a warm, sunny, winter day at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather was perfect, should have worn shorts…

As usual, I started off in the short game area, running the sand drill, first hitting short chips with the AW and then hitting longer pitches with the sand wedge. I hit a few balls out of the bunker, but my distance control wasn’t good, except for the last shot, where I opened the clubface and hit a nearly perfect shot just past my target hole.

Next, I hit high pitches and long chips. My touch wasn’t good; I kept having issues hitting fat pitches. I mostly got it straightened out, but never was particularly satisfied with the results.

I got a large bucket of balls and went to the range. Because of the gorgeous weather, it was nearly full from end to end. I warmed up with the sand wedge, and had problems hitting fat shots. I then got out the 8-iron and really went after the ball. That pretty much cured the fat shots. I ran through warmup hitting every other club until I got to the 4-hybrid, and then got out the iPod and hit some balls with Tour Tempo set on 27/9. I felt like that tempo was a little slow, so I put on 24/8, but that was definitely too fast. My ball-striking was pretty good at times, and pretty poor at other times. I didn’t really have a dominate fault today, as I hit a few hooks, pushes, pulls, slices, etc.

I didn’t really get a late lag until near the end of practice, when I managed to achieve some good late releases with the lob and sand wedge, hitting very high shot farther than I usually hit the clubs. I then went up through the bag, trying to keep that late release, but wasn’t successful past the pitching wedge. I also tried to hit some drivers today, but that club was so bad I put it back after only two swings.

I went to the putting green to finish up practice, and spent nearly an hour practicing. I first hit 4-foot putts until I holed 10 in a row, then started on the speed drill. My first four speed drill putts were all holed (from 6, 9, 12 feet, and then again from 9 feet). If I left one short of the hole, I ran the drill from the same point again. I kept up the speed drill until about 27 feet from the hole, then practiced lag putting from 30 and 45 feet. I really needed some serious putting practice after my pathetic performance last Sunday, and I was pretty pleased with the practice.

I had a good practice today, but it is clear that I will have to practice more than once a week if I’m going to continue to improve my game. Fortunately, January is gone, so I’m looking forward to better weather leading up to springtime.

On Sunday, I played 18 on the Championship and Masters courses at Firewheel. We were scheduled to go off at 1:30PM, but there was heavy fog that morning and we ended up going off at 2PM. We finished up in near darkness just after 6PM. The weather was quite sunny and pleasant, even though the temperature was in the mid-50’s, as there almost no breeze.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit 6 fairways, not good, but in reality, it was even worse, as two of the shots were in the fairway by virtue of hitting trees and getting lucky bounces back into the fairway. With the driver, I was either hitting low hooks or high pushes. I did hit two of the par-3 holes in regulation, though, which is pretty good for me. My first two tee shots resulted in two penalties into hazards. Yeech!
• Approach shots. In general, my short iron or wedge approach shots were pretty good, as I hit five greens in regulation (two being off the tee on par-3 holes). My long irons tended to hook and my fairway shots on the par-5 holes were, to put it bluntly, pathetic. I had one penalty when I pushed a 4-hybrid shot into a creek.
• Chipping. My chipping was mixed, as I only got up and down twice all day.
• Sand shots. I hit only one greenside bunker, and I caught too much ball and hit just over the green. I hit one fairway bunker, which I promptly chunked into the next fairway bunker. The shot out of the second bunker was respectable, though.
• Putting. On, boy, did I suck! 43 putts, nine 3-putts. It was if I hadn’t practiced putting for a year. I hit exactly one putt that was over three feet. Mostly, I left putts well short. Truly my worst putting day ever.

OK, my practice time was very limited during January due to travel and bad weather, but I didn’t think my putting would be the part of my game that would let me down. I knew my driving would be bad as I’ve really only been working on irons and wedges lately. Thankfully, January tends to be the worst weather month in Texas, so I expect I will soon be back on the range.

Yes, it was bad, but I did have fun. Yes, I am crazy, thanks for asking. 😉

I’ve been unable to practice since Jan. 13 due to a week of travel and a week of bad January weather. Finally, today, the cold, cloudy weather cleared out of here and I was able to go to Golden Bear Golf Center to practice. Though the temperature was in the mid-40’s, it was quite comfortable since there was virtually no wind.

I started out in the bunker, running the sand drill, then hitting a dozen balls out of the sand, getting every one of them out, but without good distance control. I then hit a variety of pitches and chips. My touch was pretty poor today, that’s what goes first when I can’t practice. My main issue was hitting fat. I wasn’t pleased.

Next, I went to hit some balls. On mats. I hate mats. I hit poorly off mats and they tend to cause me to sweep the ball instead of taking a divot. Even so, I hit the short irons and wedges pretty solidly, but my long irons were pretty shaky, and the driver, well, just bad.

Did I mention that I hate mats? Well, I hate that rubber tee even worse.

I finished off my practice with a good speed drill followed by some lag putting. Surprisingly, my putting had barely suffered at all from my two week layoff.

OK, my game is pretty shaky after two weeks off. We’ll see what happens on the course tomorrow.

I’ve been working hard on my game during the holidays. I’ve practiced every day that the weather is good, so I’ve only missed two days since I started on vacation. I’ve spent all of my practice time working on three primary elements: dynamic impact (lag), tempo and making sure my swing is not over the top. I’ve gradually gotten better over the last couple of days. Today was one of my better ball striking days, though only with the irons. I haven’t been working much on the woods.

Today, I managed to get some lag in my swing again, though only on the short irons. I started out in the bunker at Golden Bear, running the Bobby Clampett sand drill. This drill has been effective in improving my impact on the ball and also occasionally producing lag. It has also dramatically improved my sand game. Using Tour Tempo on the iPod has helped as well.

I’ve also worked hard on my putting as well, and I’m seeing improvement in speed, though I still need work reading the greens. The practice green at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville has some really tricky humps and bumps, and I like practicing reading greens there, as that green is much more severe than any of the courses I’ve played locally.