Joey's Golf Bag

In my never ending quest to improve my game, I went to the Swing Clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center this afternoon. I arrived early and went to the end of the range to warm up. I started out with the pitching wedge, and hit fat, fat, fat shots. I switched to the 9-iron and began to get my swing ironed out. I then got out the 7-iron and started to hit some decent shots, tending to pull the ball a little. The big hook wasn’t to be found today, for the most part.

Alan was the instructor today, and we started out with the sand wedge at the purple flagged green. I hit the wedge pretty solidly and he thought I was hitting it pretty well. The fat shot was no where to be found. Next, I got out the 7-iron and I hit a few balls, tending to fade the ball. Here I am at the swing clinic, wanting to fix my hook, and I’m fading the ball. (This game continues to baffle me). After I hit a few balls, he adjusted my grip. My left hand was fine, but my right hand was too far clockwise. He moved it counter-clockwise until it fit better over my left thumb. This had the immediate effect of making the shot dispersion smaller. He also adjusted my stance slightly to give my shoulders more tilt to the right. After that, my ball-striking improved pretty dramatically. As always, he’s able to fix me up and get my swing back into shape. The main thing he wants me to work on is to not freeze over the ball before I swing.

I hit a few drives, mostly well-struck, though there were two or three moon balls in the mix and also hit a few 5-woods, and that’s when the hook came back. My final drive was a perfect slight fade right over the blue flagged green, carrying about 220. Time was up and I headed home happy with the swing clinic.

Last time I practiced on May 1st, I managed to tweak my lower back. On Friday, I finally felt good enough to go to my long delayed driver fitting with Dave Murray. Dave’s shop is at Spring Creek Golf in Plano. I wanted to see which of two Tom Wishon Golf clubheads would fit me best, the 949MC or the 525GRT.

I warmed up on the range with my 7-iron, striking the ball cleanly, but with a big hook. I was puzzled as to why I was hooking the ball (my dreaded reverse pivot wasn’t evident), but Dave took one look at my swing and saw I wasn’t driving my right knee toward the ball on the down swing. On my next swing, I drove my right knee toward the ball, and it went straight. Hmmm… nice to get a little lesson along with the fitting.

First, I hit the 949MC 460cc clubhead with a 10.5° loft, which Dave had fitted with the ZT shaft in regular flex. I didn’t get enough spin with the driver, so we moved on to the 525GRT at 9.5° with a high-launch Interflexx shaft in stiff flex. I needed about 0.5° more loft to get my ideal launch angle. My best swings had a 230 yd carry with this club.

I also hit my current SasQuatch Lucky 13 driver, and it showed a launch angle of 17° and a spin of 3500 rpm, which he said causes me to lose distance because the ball will tend to fall out of the sky and not run after hitting the fairway.

We decided to go with the 11° loft 525GRT head with the mid-low Interflex shaft in regular flex, instead of the high-launch shaft, to compensate for the fact that the loft is slightly more than I need. Length was set to 44.5″, as I hit the club better when I choked down on it about 1/2″ (he had built the club at 45″). So, I ordered the club and should have it late next week. I’ll visit the range and give a report shortly thereafter…

This afternoon, after work, I had a spare 45 minutes to hit some balls at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather was partly cloudy with a breeze from the south.

I started off hitting sand wedges at the purple-flagged green, and had a really frustrating time with hitting the ball fat. Annoyingly fat. Instead of fighting it, I got out the driver and started to bust some balls. My first drive was a perfectly straight, but lower in trajectory than usual, bomb, right at my target green flag. I alternated hitting the driver with 9-iron shots, concentrating on keeping the reverse pivot out of my swing. About 60% of my drives were well hit; I did have a couple leak right, either pushes or one or two slices. Only one hook snuck in. I was pretty happy with the driver. Most of my 9-iron shots were straight as well, though it was hard to tell if distance was longer or shorter due to the incoming wind.

I also hit a few 5-wood shots, but never really got that club going at all, tending to hit the ball thin and low. I finished off practice with a couple of pitching wedge and lob wedges to the purple-flagged green. This time, they were pretty well struck and not hit fat. I ran out of time and wasn’t able to putt, chip or practice my short game.

A decent, but not great, practice.

This afternoon, after work, I played three-way match play at North Texas Golf. The weather was cloudy but warm, with a strong breeze from the west. We hit a few balls to warm up and then hit the course.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit three greens in regulation. I had only one bad tee shot, a shanked gap wedge on the 8th hole. The longest club I hit today was an 8-iron on the first hole (into a strong wind); the rest were 9-irons or less.
• Wedges. Besides the tee shots, I had only one wedge shot, from the spot well right of the 8th hole, where I hit a lob wedge to about 15 ft.
• Chipping. I hit one good chip to 2 ft on the first hole, my only up and down for the day.
• Sand shots. None today.
• Putting. Pathetic, really. I didn’t hit a putt over 5 ft and three-putt twice. As usual, left a lot of putts short.

We scored the holes as follows: hole won outright, 2 points; hole tied, 1 point; hole lost, no points. I ended up winning three holes and tying one for a score of 7, tying me with one of my playing partners. Instead of a playoff, we agreed to use the total strokes as the tie-breaker, and I won that by two strokes. 🙂

Last Friday, I played 18 at the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club. The day was sunny, warm and humid. A 2-club wind blew throughout most of the day. The course was in very good condition and the greens were pretty fast and smooth.

I warmed up on the range, into the wind, starting off with my sand wedge. I then hit a few balls with the 7-iron, and it was clear that the wind would be a big factor. I hit some drives, but never really got a drive I was happy with, tending to hook. That problem would plague me all day. We went off on the 10th hole on a shotgun start at 9 AM and finished around 2PM. A celebrity tournament featuring many current and former sports stars caused most of the delay in play. We were also playing from a mix of gold and black tees, so the course was playing longer than the ones I typically play.

Two holes typify the day I had. The 15th hole is an amazing par-3 hole on the Atlantic Ocean. The tee is a good 100 ft above the hole, and both the tee and the flag were in the back, making the hole longer than the distance on the score card. I hit a 7-iron pin-high, but well left into a bunker. I had a difficult lie, and I chunked the ball only a few feet. My next shot from the bunker was hit thin, going across the green into another bunker. I managed to hit a decent bunker shot, but missed the putt and tapped in for a glorious triple bogey.

The 17th hole is a par-4 hole that dog-legs left around the Atlantic Ocean. My tee shot was well-struck, but it hooked onto the beach. As I approached the ball, I had a nice lie on the wet sand, seemingly clear of the surf. Just as I approached the ball, a large wave ran up the beach and ran off with my ball. I went back to where the ball crossed the hazard, took a drop and promptly hooked my approach shot onto the beach, again. This time, the ball was far enough above the wave, so I used my sand wedge to punch the ball back into the fairway. I hit it fat, but it still managed to get onto the fairway. I then struck a perfect 9-iron 6 ft below the hole, but lipped out the putt for a glorious triple-bogey.

That pretty much sums up my day.

Themes:

• Drives. I hit only one, count ’em, one fairway, all day. That’s not as pathetic as it sounds, as many were just off the edge. My main fault all day was hooking the ball, and it got so bad that I abandoned the driver and went to a mix of 5-woods and hybrids, but hooked them as well. All my penalties for the day were off the tee (4). My tee shots got so pathetic on the front nine that it completely destroyed my tempo and timing for the rest of my game.
• Approach shots. I had a pretty stinky day on approach shots as well, but did manage a few good ones. I hit a 7-iron on the par-5 13th hole to 15 ft, pin-high, for my only green in regulation (and par score) of the day. I also hit a fantastic 9-iron to 6 ft on the par-4 17th hole (see above). I had difficulty with the wind all day, hitting many shots long when downwind, and short when upwind.
• Wedges. I didn’t hit a lot of wedge shots, as I used either an 8-iron or pitching wedge to chip when close to the hole. When I did hit a wedge, the results weren’t good, either hitting them thin, shanking one, or hitting the ball fat, which meant I had to hit another wedge. My wedge play has not improved, even though I’ve spent more practice time on them.
• Chipping. Mixed results chipping. I had four up-and-downs, and most of these were from chipping the ball close or putting from the fringe. My chipping has improved as I’ve put more emphasis on practicing chipping.
• Bunker shots. I did very poorly on the back nine with bunker shots, either hitting them fat for little distance, or hitting them thin over the green. On the front nine, I had one very nice lob wedge out of a bunker on the 3rd hole to 6 ft but didn’t get up-and-down. 😥
• Putting. My putting improved marginally, as I had only two 3-putts on the day. I had a total of 33 putts, which is my best performance in a long time, but still pretty poor. This is due to my poor short game, which leaves me with too many putts beyond the golden 10 ft.

The changes I’ve been making to fix my reverse pivot have turned my golf swing into a random direction generator. I can’t just play for a hook, because about only about half my shots hook (and the amount of the hook isn’t consistent), others go straight and a few get pushed. I trust nothing about my game, other than putting, but I can’t get the ball close enough to the hole for my putting to make an impact on my score. My swing changes have also destroyed my wedge swings as I’ve been concentrating on my long game and not on my short game. In short, my game is a mess.

But, I still had fun. I must be a lunatic. 🙂

This afternoon, after work, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The day was warm and sunny with a breeze from the southeast.

I started off hitting lob wedges at the red flagged green. I had a mix of very good shots with some struck fat. I then got out the 9-iron and hit some shots at the blue flagged green. Again, I hit some very nice shots and also a fat shot or two. Next, I hit a couple of 6-irons at the white flagged green and wasn’t happy at all with my ball striking. That annoying reverse pivot kept coming back to haunt me. I couldn’t get the feel of the swing and was striking the ball poorly.

I got out the long clubs, which usually helps me get my tempo back. Today, I had a tough time getting the swing to work at all. I probably went through 20 or so balls before my tempo and swing began to come together again. I hit two or three very nicely struck balls with the driver and 5-wood, and, just as suddenly, the swing vanished again.

In desperation, I hit little chips with the wedges to get my feel back. I hit some pitching wedges from a chipping position, going from shorter to longer shots. This drill seemed to help get my feel back. With the last four balls, I hit the driver and 5-wood. I hit one stinker and one good shot with each club. After I ran out of balls, I went to the fairway bunker and hit two shots using a 7-iron. One I struck thin, but right at the target, the other, I hit pretty well, but it faded more than I anticipated.

Next, I went to the putting green and ran speed drills. I tended to run the ball long today, which is better than leaving the ball short. I finished up practice by chipping from the rough around the green. I was pretty happy with my chipping. I did well from good lies, and pretty good from difficult lies.

A very frustrating day, but I persevered through the bad spots and finished up with good short game and putting practice.

This afternoon, after work, I played nine holes of match play with Jarvis and Nikhil at the North Texas Golf Center. The afternoon was breezy and warm.

We hit a few balls to warm up, practiced chipping and then hit the course. We scored match play by awarding 2 points if the hole was won outright, one point to each player on a tied hole with the lower score, and no point on a loss. Jarvis won three holes outright (on two of those holes, he hit long par putts to win) and I won two holes outright (both by getting up and down from off the green for par). We were tied at the end, so we putted on the ninth green to break the tie. Nikhil chose a 15 ft putt with a nasty break; both Jarvis and I missed the putt, and tapped in. Next, we decided to chip from a tricky spot below the green in the rough. Jarvis hit his chip well long, I chipped to 3 ft. Jarvis missed his long return putt and I tapped in my 3 footer for victory.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit only one green in regulation, but I struck the ball pretty solidly, just did a poor job of compensating for the wind. I really had only one bad tee shot. My tee shot on the ninth, a pitching wedge, was right over the pin, but way long; I hit the club about 10 yds longer than normal.
• Wedges. I hit only one wedge shot, and it was bladed over the 2nd green into casual water behind the green (the ball was outside the red hazard sticks).
• Chipping. My chipping was decent today; I got up and down twice due to excellent chipping within tap-in distance on the fourth and fifth holes.
• Sand shots. None, didn’t hit the ball in the traps today.
• Putting. Putting was good until the eighth and ninth holes, which I three-putted. I had a total of 18 putts, and that included two 1-putt greens.

A pretty good day of golf. My chipping is improving, and my putting, at least, isn’t getting worse. My full swing continues to improve as I work on correcting the reverse pivot, and that has the nice side-effect of giving me more length. As a flew a couple of greens today, I’m going to need to recalibrate my lengths.

This afternoon, after work, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to practice putting. The sun had finally peeked out from the clouds and a stiff breeze was blowing from the south.

I had only an hour to practice, so I spent the time practicing putting. I first checked the roll of the ball, and found that to be fine. I followed that with the speed drill. Next, I putted several balls from 15, 21, 27, and 36 ft. If I left a ball short, I putted it again. I then took a short break and spent some time putting 2, 3, and 4 ft putts. I ended putting practice with a few more putting drills from 15 and 27 ft.

I putted pretty well today. One day I actually hope that I will putt as well on the course as I do on the practice green…

This morning, at the crack of dawn, Chinh and I played 18 at the Indian Creek Golf Club on the Lakes course. The weather was quite cold, in the mid-40s, and breezy. The sun did peek through the clouds on occasion, but not really enough to make it comfortable to play much of the time.

My score:

Themes:

• Tee shots. I hit seven fairways, and two par-3 greens in regulation. I really didn’t drive the ball well, one of the drives was a moon ball, and another hit a tree and bounced back into the fairway.
• Approach shots. My short irons were pretty good today, although I only hit three greens in regulation. My mid-irons and 5-wood shots weren’t particularly good today.
• Wedges. Wedges were the main reason I scored poorly today. I only got up and down twice all day. My only memorable wedge shot was a cut-lob off bare ground on the 18th hole; I hit the 60° wedge over a very tall tree onto the green.
• Sand shots. I had only two sand shots today. The first was in a fairway bunker. I had a side-hill lie and I attempted a pitching wedge shot back into the fairway, but pushed it right into the water for a penalty. My other sand shot was in a deep bunker, but I got out cleanly to about 10 ft from the hole.
• Chipping. I did a lot of chipping from the fringe with the putter, and those weren’t too bad. My other chips with the 8-iron and wedges tended to be long.
• Putting. Yeech! I hit only one good putt over 10 ft, on the par-4 13th hole, where I nailed a 15 ft putt for par. I had a total of five 3-putts, 4 of which were on the front nine, and two were on greens I hit in regulation. In my defense, all the 3-putts came on holes with difficult putts. I left very few putts short, which is my usual fault; instead, ran some putts well by the holes. I got up and down only twice today.

Considering how much I’m struggling with correcting the reverse pivot in my swing, I thought I struck the ball pretty respectively today. My main issue was very poor wedge shots and chipping.

This afternoon, after work, Jarvis and I played nine at the North Texas Golf Center. The weather was cool but sunny, with a variable breeze from the north. We both hit some balls, hit some chips and pitches, but ran out of time to putt. That would cost me…

I hit only 3 greens in regulation all day. My only great shot of the day was my tee shot on the 8th hole, where I hit a pitching wedge to 6 ft and hit the putt for my only birdie of the day. The birdie brought me back to even with Jarvis, and we both played the ninth hole poorly. I hit an 8-iron over the green and left myself with a difficult chip; Jarvis pushed his shot pin-high, but right of the green. His pitch went long and left. We both missed our par putts, and went to the first hole to play sudden death. I chunked a 9-iron well short, left a chip just on the fringe, and missed my par putt. Jarvis hit his shot long into a puddle behind the green, got relief from casual water, hit a chip onto the green and made his putt. Mine missed and Jarvis won 1 up.