Joey's Golf Bag

Yesterday, I played my first round of golf in over a month at Stonebriar on the Fazio course. I was worried that the muscle spasms in my back would keep me from playing; instead, the heat seemed to be good for my back and I had no problem at all. We played a two best ball shamble (everyone tees off, then plays their own ball from the best drive). Our team finished out of the money at +9, but I was pleased how well I played considering I’ve barely practiced at all. My driving was pretty good; I hit 9 of 14 fairways and didn’t have any penalties with the driver. I did put two balls in the water on par-3 holes, though. I hit 5 GIR, all on the front nine and got up-and-down 4 times for par. My putting wasn’t great, as I had 34 putts, which is better than I’ve had in a while (I have put the Odyssey 3-ball putter away and went back to my TWGT S2R putter). On the scorecard, I had a 92 (45 on the front and 47 on the back). Of course, since this was a shamble, not all the drives I played from were mine. Also, since we were counting only two balls and no scores over double by the rules of the tournament, my actual score would have been about 94. Anyway, I was pretty happy.

This morning, I went to the Byron Nelson tournament. I arrived around 11AM, got some lunch in our suite, and then went to the driving range, where I watched players warm up. I watched John Huston hit quite a few balls. I really like his syrupy smooth swing. I spent about 45 minutes watching a wide range of players. Jeev Milkha Singh had all sorts of gadgets on the range. The most interesting was some sort of swing aid that made sounds like beads in a shaft when he swung the club. He had some other gadget attached to a wedge. I saw Justin Leonard warm up; he was hitting 30 yard pitches and making the ball stop on the second bounce. Really, watching these guys warm up was really cool. I don’t know why I’ve never done that before, as this is the fourth or fifth time I’ve been to the Byron.

After that, I stopped back by the suite to get a bottle of water and went to the first tee. I watched John Huston tee off on #1; his ball flew over my head and ended up behind a tent. He took relief from the immovable obstruction; I was pleased that I determined before he arrived at the ball exactly the place he would end up taking a drop. He hit a nice shot onto the green from there.

I then watched another group (I’ve forgotten who was in that group) play #2, then skipped ahead to #3, a very long par-4 hole. The tee was up, and the wind was behind the players, so they weren’t even hitting driver on this hole. I walked #4, catching up with the group on that hole as they were playing their approach shots. I didn’t recognize any of the players on that hole, though one was possibly Bobby Hutcherson. He hit a nice long drive on this hole (one of his playing partners put one left into the water on the left), and then hit a wedge that struck the flag stick and spun back down the hill onto the front fringe. I found myself next on the bridge beside hole #5 and the tees for #10 and #16. I watched the group of John Sendon, Stuart Appleby and Chris DiMarco tee off on #10, then watched a group tee off on #16 consisting of Jarrod Lyle, Aron Price and Chris Wilson (these guys were really far behind the group in front of them). Next up on #10 was Michael Bradley, Will MacKinsey, and Brad Faxon.

The reason I was waiting here was I wanted to follow the young teenager, Jordan Spieth, for a few holes and see how the 16-year-old from Jesuit High School could play. I’d heard on PGA Tour Radio, while driving to the tournament, that he was at -2 and might make the cut.

And yes, this kid can play. I was right behind the tee on #16, an absolutely perfect spot to watch the players tee off on that hole. His group was right behind the group in front, and there was a massive crowd following that group, easily as big as those I’ve seen before at the Byron following Tiger Woods. All three players hit fine tee shots into the fairway; Jordan’s shot was maybe 5 yards behind the other two players. By the time they were to hit their approach shots into the green, I was already up by the green. Jordan hit first and put his into the deep bunker to the right of the hole. Next, David Lutterus hit a spectacular shot about 12 feet behind the pin, giving him an easy putt for eagle. Finally, Blake Adams (at the time -9 for the tournament) hit a shot into the same bunker as Jordan. Both of them hit excellent bunker shots and were able to make birdie on the par-5 16th.

Next, I positioned myself behind the tee box on #17 to watch the players hit their shots into that tricky little par-3 hole. The kid played safe and hit the ball into the right side of the green, away from the water on the left. He two-putted for par.

Next, on #18, Jordan hit a fine drive onto the left side of the fairway on this dogleg left hole with water lurking. He hit a nice shot from there and two-putted for par to finish at -3 and make the cut.

And that was my day at the Byron.

Christina Kim’s book, Swinging from My Heels: Confessions of an LPGA Star, is out. Here she is, at a party thrown by her publisher at Chelsea Piers in NYC. She has a better swing in 5″ heels than I’ve ever had.

Via Wei Under Par.

After more than a month of rehabbing my back, I was finally able to get back out and hit some golf balls today. And what a gorgeous day! Mid 60’s, breeze from the northeast, sunny skies!

I had an opportunity to play 18 today, but I turned down the round as I suspected that I wouldn’t have been able to break 120 today. I would have been right.

I went to Hank Haney Golf Ranch this morning to hit a few balls. I bought a small bucket and went to the range. I warmed up in the usual manner. First, 5 balls with the sand wedge, followed by 3 balls with every other club, until the driver, where I hit 5 balls with it. My ball-striking was pretty pathetic today, but I was just happy to be able to hit balls, so there was absolutely no frustration at all. I’d say I hit maybe 5 good shots out of the bucket, all of these with the driver or 4-wood. None of the clubs really worked other than those two, but I’m happy to have hit some balls. Tomorrow, I have the same plan, and to add in putting and short game work. (The putting green was closed at HHGR).

No issues at all with my back, I’m happy to say.

Life is good, even if the golf gods hate me.

Simply an astounding finish by young Rory yesterday at Quail Hollow, going 5 under on the last five holes to crush the field by 4 stokes. Who needs Tiger?

An amazing golf score by Ryo, but please note that the course was only 6,545 yards, about the same length off the tee that I play every month in the Grapevine Golf Association tournaments.

via PGATOUR.COM – Ryo Ishikawa shoots 58 to win Japan Tour event.

Ryo Ishikawa shot a 12-under 58 — the lowest score ever on a major tour — to win The Crowns on Sunday for his seventh Japan Tour title.

The 18-year-old Ishikawa tapped in for par on the par-4 18th after his 15-foot birdie try slid inches by the cup. He had 12 birdies in his bogey-free round on the 6,545-yard Nagoya Golf Club course.

“I always dreamed of getting a score like this but didn’t think I would do it so fast,” Ishikawa said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I’m sure it will after a few days.”

… and I can’t see the tournament I’d like to watch, as the LPGA isn’t broadcasting the Tres Marias Championship, where Michelle Wie leads after the 2nd round (go girl!). And since Tiger missed the cut by 8 strokes in the Quail Hollow Championship, that tournament has lost its luster.

My back is improving, but it is still not well enough for me to get out on the range yet.

The golf gods hate me.

On April 1, I had my latest lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. At that time, I felt that we had put in place the last missing pieces that my golf swing needed. That change was quite minor, putting my knees more over my feet at setup. This change stopped my tendency to lunge toward the target and gave me a much more firm, balanced setup. Along with a lot of swings working on making sure my hip rotation was properly done on the downswing, I felt like I now had all the pieces assembled. All I needed was tempo. The following Sunday, while hitting balls on the range at Coyote Ridge, my swing finally fell into place.

Johnnie and I were having a little contest to see who could hit the ball closest to the red flag on the right side of the range. From my position, this was a full pitching wedge shot. Depending on the wind, I would land the ball on the green or leave it just short into the bunker. Since I was having to hit a full shot to get to the target, I decided to just try a soft 9-iron instead of a hard pitching wedge, and suddenly, I’m hitting nearly perfect shots at that flag. One after another, the ball is landing right around the flag, just like magic. Johnnie looked at me while hitting the shots and commented on my smooth swing. I’d found my tempo.

We then went at the blue flag on the top of the hill. On this day, I’d brought along my new TWGT 5-hybrid to try out. With the new tempo, I went right over that flag. I was really liking my swing. I got out my 6-iron, and hit some really nice shots, all of them with a nice high trajectory, just one excellent shot after another. I’m still using that same smooth, soft swing that I’d used with the 9-iron, but I’m hitting the ball farther than usual. What the heck, I thought, let’s try a 7-iron. Suddenly, I’m nailing shots right into that green with a 7-iron, a good club longer than usual. Wow, just wow!

After that, we had a few pitching contests at the chipping green. We both were hitting some pretty decent pitches and some of them were really good. We retired thereafter for beers and conversation in the clubhouse.

The next day, after work, I decided to go hit some balls at Hank Haney. My good tempo from the previous practice was still with me and I had one of the best practices with the irons and wedges that I’ve ever had. However, near the end of practice, my lower back was a little sore, so I finished up by hitting a few pitches at the new targets in the pond. I left happy, ecstatic really, at how well my swing was coming along.

That’s when the agony started.

The next day my back was pretty sore. I thought it was just overuse, so I decided to rest it. That didn’t help. By Friday, the muscle spasms in my back were so bad I could barely get out of bed, and sitting was especially painful. I started back into my stretching and exercise routine that I’ve used before to fix muscle spasms in my back, along with sessions on the TENS machine and pain medication.

Dad came for a visit the following weekend. We usually play golf, but with my sore back, we spent the weekend watching my son play tennis alternating with long sessions in the media room watching Phil win the Masters. No golf was played, but much golf was watched.

By this last weekend, I’d found myself mostly symptom free, though long drives in the car could still induce pain. I’ve not yet gotten back on the range. It’s been more than two weeks since I hit a golf ball, and it may be another week before I feel good enough to hit balls again. I’m missing this month’s GGA tournament on Saturday. This is depressing, since I’m still tied for 6th on the total points leaderboard.

The Golf Gods hate me.

Over the last few days, I rebuilt my wedges (replaced the TWGT PCF Micro Tour wedge clubheads with Micro CX clubheads) and built two new Tom Wishon Golf Technology 331H hybrids. The Micro CX wedges are unfortunately discontinued, but I bought 3 each of the 56° and 60° clubheads before they went out of stock. For me, these are the perfect wedges, so I still have a two year supply before I’ll need to find a new wedge.

The 331H hybrids, a 5-hybrid and a 6-hybrid, were hand-selected for stock lofts, and I shafted them with TWGT S2S Gold Tour Hybrid shafts, S-flex. I used TWGT V-series oversize grips and swingweighted the clubs to D-1. The club lengths were 38.75″ for the 5-hybrid and 38.25″ for the 6-hybrid. I don’t really expect to put the 6-hybrid in my bag, as I hit the 6-iron pretty well. The 5-iron is probably going to be replaced; I’m pretty inconsistent with the 5-iron, though with my improved swing, I’m going a lot better.

The wedges were rebuilt on True Temper Black Gold shafts, s-flex. Both wedges were made to be 36″ in length, with TWGT V-series oversized grips and swingweighted to D-8. The Black Gold shafts have been discontinued by True Temper, so no link available, though the shafts still seem to be available from a variety of sources.

… but not getting the results I want.

Last Saturday, I played a two-man best ball tournament at Grapevine Golf Club. I’d been working hard on my swing, but still had problems keeping the ball on the fairway off the tee. My irons have improved, but my driving, previously the best part of my game, was now pretty poor. I’ve been hitting a mix of pushes and hooks, and in general, not having a clue about where the ball was going to go off the tee. The howling wind didn’t help either. When I hit the shot solidly, I didn’t have any issue with the wind, but most of the day my shots were anything but. I really only had two well-played holes: #2 on Mockingbird (hit my hybrid just over the green and got up-and-down for par), #3 on Mockingbird (hit a very long drive with the wind, leaving me a pitching wedge to the green, which I hit pin-high into the center of the green and two-putt for par). I did manage another par on #6 on Bluebonnet, but that was after a huge push with the driver, a mediocre iron shot short of the green, a pitch hit thin well past the hole and bombing a 35 ft putt into the cup. The one hole that really describes how my day went is #1 on Bluebonnet. I hit a good drive just short of the fairway bunker, a low 4-wood to about 10 yds short of the green, a pitch hit thin over the green, a putt from off the green no-where close to the hole and 2 putts for bogey. And my putting was just terrible all day, which didn’t help.

Yesterday, I had a lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. I told him about my struggles with the driver and the longer clubs. He put me on the video, and again, I’d reverted back to not having enough hip turn at impact, with a bit of a lunge toward the target. He changed my setup slightly so that my knees were more over my ankles (feeling a little like riding a horse). He had me hit shots over and over with my 4-wood, making sure to feel like my left butt-cheek was moving straight back on the downswing. Viola! Instant improvement in ball contact. He told me to expect to have to hit 1000’s of balls before fully incorporating that movement into my swing.

After my lesson, I went over to the simulator and hit some drives. My driving improved dramatically, and I hit some of the longest drives I’ve hit yet on that simulator. My swingspeed is slowly improving. I’ve not gotten it to 100 mph clubhead speed yet, but I’m averaging about 92 mph now. My goal is a consistent 100 mph clubhead speed.

As it turns out, Bridgestone was in Golf Galaxy doing ball fitting. We started with my usual ProV1 ball, then tried the Bridgestone Tour B330-RXS ball and the e5 ball. I had the best distance with the Tour B330-RXS ball, and he gave me two sleeves of balls to try out on the course. I’ll play them on my next round and see if I can tell a difference.

This morning, I played 18 at the Indian Creek Golf Course on the Lakes course. We went off just before 10AM and finished about 3 hours and 40 minutes later. I like fast golf. The weather was very cold when we got to the course (mid-40s), but had warmed into the 60s by the finish. I shed two layers of clothes along the way. The course was playing firm, though there were puddles in some areas due to recent rains, and the greens had recently been sanded.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Off the tee. After several weeks of pretty good driving, my driver took the day off. I hit only 6 fairways today. I had problems hooking my tee shots today. I also hit one of the par-3 holes in regulation. I was in the woods far more than I usually am.
• Approach shots. I hit four greens in regulation (good), but also had two penalties on approach shots. One ball was lost left of the green on #5 (a hook) and one trickled into the water on #14 (a topped, pushed 5-iron). My fairway woods were worm burners today for some reason, but since the fairways were firm and fast, still managed to have short irons or wedges into the par-5 holes. My misses today were mostly hooks.
• Wedges. My full wedges were pretty good. My pitches were mediocre, as I only got up and down twice.
• Chipping. I didn’t do any chipping today, instead, used the putter near the green.
• Sand shots. I hit into only one bunker, the right hand greenside bunker on #17. I didn’t get out the first time (took too much sand) and went over the flag on the second (not enough sand).
• Putting. My putting was marginally better today, as I had only two 3-putts. However, I still had a problem leaving my putts short. 36 total putts.

Well, my scores are trickling downward, my iron play is improving, but driving balls into the tree meant I was unable to really give my irons a chance. This was my first bad driving day in quite a while. I had too many recovery shots to execute today because of that. Still, beats working.