Joey's Golf Bag

This afternoon, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville to practice and play nine. The weather was quite chilly but sunny, with only a slight breeze.

I warmed up hitting sand wedge shots, then worked my way through the bag, hitting a couple of balls with each club. When I got to the 6-iron, my swing started getting out of whack, so I got out the iPod and hit a few shots with Tour Tempo with the 8-iron. That got my swing back, mostly, but still couldn’t hit the longer clubs well. I finished up hitting pitching wedges, in anticipation of the first hole.

On the first hole, I hit the pitching wedge a bit thin and right; the ball ended up in the back fringe. I chipped short and two putt for bogey. On the second, I hit a 5-iron monster hook into (and nearly over) the range pond. I took a drop, pushed a 9-iron into the woods to the right of the hole. I punched out short of the hole, chipped over the green, chipped long, and nailed a 21 foot putt for triple.

On the third, hit a lob wedge to 21 ft and two putt for par. On the fourth, took another triple after hooking the ball into one of those ball-eating grass bushes, took an unplayable, hit a 6-iron nearly into the right hazard, then hit the ball thin over the green, chipped poorly and 2-putted. On the fifth, hit a sand wedge to 18 ft and two-putt for par.

On the sixth, hit a 7-iron to the right edge of the fairway, then hit a perfect layup sand wedge, but chunked a lob wedge just short of the green, chipped into the bunker, played out away from the hole and 3-putt for a lovely snowman. On the seventh, over-clubbed and hit a 6-iron well over the green. After numerous poor shots, carded triple. On the eighth, got out the driver and attempted to drive the green. Hit a very long drive, but pushed right and ran into the hazard beyond the bridge. Took a drop, went over the green with a sand wedge, hit a nice lob wedge to 10 ft and mis-read the putt and tapped in for bogey. On the ninth, over-clubbed again and hit an 8-iron over the green and down a steep bank. Hit a pretty good lob wedge to 12 ft and left the par putt just short and tapped in for bogey.

It’s madness that I play this game at all.

This morning, at the crack of dawn, I hit a few balls at The Practice Tee in Plano. The weather was cold, but sunny, with a slight breeze from the south. I started off hitting short pitching wedges to warm up. At first, I hit the balls fat, but soon got that worked out and moved on to hitting alternating pitching wedges, 8- and 6-irons. Again, I had a bad case of the fats, so I got out the iPod and switched on Tour Tempo at 27/9. This time it didn’t help; I was badly rushing my downswing, causing me to hit fat.

I put away the iPod and got out the 7-wood. My first shot was a fade, not particularly well-struck, but it caused me to realize my old nemesis fault, too much lateral movement on the backswing, returning to traumatize me again. When I managed to eliminate these two faults, rushing the downswing, and keeping lateral movement to a minimum, I struck the ball well. Encouraged, I got out the driver. My first shot was a snap hook; rushing the downswing AGAIN. I then hit a couple of good, straight drives, then a monster slice. My next swing was rushed, hitting a crappy drop-kick. I then switched back to the 7-wood and hit a good shot. I also hit one or two with the 3i hybrid, but it wasn’t well struck, same faults.

Finally, running out of time, I hit a few 8-iron shots, about half of which were well-struck, the rest with the same ol’ faults. Last few balls I used to hit some sand wedge shots, which were mostly well-struck but with an annoying fat shot thrown in.

Not my best day of practice, but at least I figured out my faults and didn’t get frustrated.

This morning, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to practice. The weather was cool but sunny, with barely any breeze.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my iPod for tempo training, and I certainly missed having it. I’d planned to do more tempo training today, and much long club work.

I started off hitting the 4-, 6- and 8-irons, along with the pitching wedge, and it was apparent from the beginning that I needed to continue my tempo training. I was pretty inconsistent today, hitting some very nice shots, but also a lot of stinkers. My path was pretty good all day, but I hit some hooks and slices, which had been absent while I was working on my tempo. After running this drill for a while, my swing deserted me, so I got out the wedges and practiced hitting each at the purple flag located a mere 65 yds in front of me. This practice was considerably better and I began to get some feel back in my swing. I still managed to hit a couple of fat shots, especially with the 64° wedge, but my wedge practice was quite good and I was pretty pleased.

Next, I got out the long clubs to practice. Today, I left the 3-wood behind and got out the Ping G2 7-wood, which I haven’t hit in months. I added the driver and 3i HALO hybrid to the mix. At first, I struck the ball very poorly, but noticed, again, that I had too much lateral movement, both on the backswing, and also on the downswing. Once I corrected that, I started striking the long clubs pretty well, especially the 7-wood. The driver never really behaved today; I only remember one well-struck shot. The hybrid was mixed but not as good as the 7-wood.

My next drill was the pin-hunting drill, where I hit 8 of 20 shots with a score of 4 or better. Results were mixed. I had one outstanding lob wedge shot and one hit so fat that I didn’t get half-way to the green. I hit one good driver, but most of the other long clubs were poor, except for a very nice 7-wood. Irons were mixed, had some really good shots but also a nasty high hook and a slice. Not my best effort, certainly.

With the last balls, I hit some 3-iron, 3i HALO, and 7-wood shots off the deck. Pretty mixed results here, but I did manage at least one acceptable shot with each club. With my final two balls, I practiced long punch pitches with the pitching wedge and 8-iron, with pretty good results.

Not my best practice, but not my worst, either. I’ll make sure I bring the iPod tomorrow.

This morning at the crack of dawn, I went to The Practice Tee in Plano to hit a few balls before work. The weather was cloudy and the wind was howling in from the south at about 30 mph, but the temperature was in the mid-70s. As I had limited time, I got only a small bucket of balls and started out hitting full swings with the 7-iron. I started out striking the ball pretty well — good, straight path down the target line — slight fades that the wind kindly brought back to target.

I then got out the 5-iron and hit a few pretty well, though low, and then my swing went south and I got a little frustrated. I finally figured out the problem: too much lateral movement on the backswing (an old familiar fault). I worked that out and even hit a very nice, penetrating drive that was unaffected by the strong wind. Still couldn’t hit that damn 3-wood or hybrid, though. For some reason, when I get the 3-wood or hybrid in my hands, my tempo gets too fast and I hit the ball thin or worse, top it. Maybe I need a sports pshrink.

Since I’ve put the Wishon Golf 770CFE irons in my bag, my shot dispersion has improved dramatically with the irons. I can’t credit the irons alone, as I’ve been using Tour Tempo on my iPod throughout my last few practices (and most of that practice was with the graphite-shafted practice 6-iron that is set up like my new iron set). Still… I’m very happy with these irons.

This morning, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center in cloudy, cool weather. There was a breeze in my face that averaged about 1 club.

Today, I brought out the new Wishon Golf 770CFE irons I built this week. In general, I was quite pleased with their performance, although I wasn’t swinging particularly well today. When I did produce a good swing, the irons produced a high ball-flight that landed softly on the target greens. I was especially pleased with a 4-iron shot into the blue target green; the ball came in high and rolled no more than 10 ft after landing. The clubs are a 1/2″ shorter than my previous set and weigh about 28 grams less. It appears my clubhead speed has not suffered from the shorter length, and may even improve slightly once I get used to the lighter swingweight (D-2 vs. D-7). Before I hit the clubs, I was concerned that the sound of impact might be different due to the thin clubface, but I really like how the ball sounds at impact. The sound is more like a forged club than an investment cast club, due, I guess, to the variable thickness forged clubface. The clubheads are certainly more forgiving than my previous set as well. So far, so good…

I felt pretty sluggish today during practice and always felt like I was a little behind in my tempo. I warmed up with the 6-iron and hit several fat shots before I got going. I got out the pitching wedge and 8-iron and alternated shots with those clubs. At first, I got very high ball flight and not much distance, but I soon got the ball flying well. My swing path was good today, mostly straight. My release was not well-timed, so I had a mix of fades and draws, more of the former.

Next up, I got out the hybrid and 3-wood (back in my bag for practice purposes). I never got the tempo right with these clubs, always late and usually topping the ball, so I went back to hitting the wedges, which I did well today, despite a fat shot or two. By now, my back was aching, so I finished out the balls by hitting mid-irons off tees, with mixed results. I had one high, monster hook with the 5-iron, but the hook monster was otherwise absent today. My back didn’t feel up to any additional practice, so my plan to have a full practice with short game and putting was not to be.

Not a very good practice today, but it is pretty clear I will benefit from my new irons. Additional reports to follow.

This afternoon, I completed the construction on my new Tom Wishon 770CFE irons by bending them to my specifications. The lofts of the clubs were very accurate, so I didn’t need to adjust the loft of the irons at all. I did bend the irons upright, in general, needing about 1° to 1.5° bend upright to achieve my desired specs.

My specs:

Tomorrow, I will take them to the range for the first time to hit balls and get an initial impression.

This morning, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville to hit some balls. The day was sunny and warm, with a left to right breeze.

I started out hitting full 6-iron shots to warm up, without Tour Tempo, and hit the ball pretty respectably. I then turned on my iPod to 27/9 pre-shot voice and proceeded to run the “Y” drill. At first, my shots tended to be slightly pulled, but I soon improved my path and hit the ball more or less straight, though tending, much of the day, to have the club face a little open at impact. Next up, I hit about 20 balls using the “L” drill; again, similar results, tended to have a mostly straight path and slightly open club face. I then hit a few balls with a 3/4 swing.

Next, I went down through the clubs, starting with the pitching wedge. I hit the short irons pretty well, good path, with square or slightly open club face. Mid-irons had good path as well, but tended to have a slightly closed clubface. I hit only one nasty hook today, that was with the 4-iron. Most of my misses were right with a fade.

When I got to the hybrids, I didn’t strike them particularly well today, tending to rush the downswing and either hooking the ball or topping it. The driver I never hit well today at all. I seemed to be late setting the club and then firing to impact too quickly. I eventually decided to put on 33/11 tempo, just to get my backswing into shape, and hit a couple of decent drives, draws. I wasn’t thrilled with the distance, though, seemed shorter than usual.

I had a pretty good practice today, better than my last one. I’m seeing my ball-striking improving, so I’m pretty happy.

Yes, you guessed it, I spent some time on the range with Tour Tempo on the iPod. This afternoon, on a sunny, warm day, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville to hit some balls. I started off running the “Y” drill with the 6-iron using the 27/9 pre-shot voice track. I hit about 20 balls, tending to pull them slightly, but in general making good contact with the ball. Next up, I ran the “L” drill, again with the 6-iron. I also hit the ball pretty well and had a mix of pulls and pushes mixed with the straight shots.

I then moved on to hitting full swings, but never really got the ball going straight, instead, tending to hit high, long hooks. I then followed up with some pitching and sand wedge shots, and hit mostly straight shots or slight pushes. Last up, I hit some drives, and never had any consistency at all.

Not my best day of practice, but at least the wedges were going straight, if nothing else was…

In my never-ending quest to use the best possible equipment for golf, I’ve built a new set of irons around the Tom Wishon Golf Technology 770CFE iron heads. These are not only the best looking cavity back iron heads I’ve ever seen, but they are designed for high handicap golfers like me.

For the shafts, I selected the new True Temper GS75 ultra-lightweight steel shafts, R300 flex and used Golf Pride Dual Duometer midsize grips. I built the clubs per Tom Wishon’s guidelines in The Search for the Perfect Golf Club, which, for me, are +0.5" longer than standard (I’d been using +1" longer) and will bend them 2° upright. I adjusted the swingweight of all the clubs to D-2.

On Friday, it’s test time!

This morning, on a cool, blustery day, I went to hit some balls at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. I spent most of the morning working on tempo with Tour Tempo on my iPod, and it is helping a lot to overcome the problems I’ve had lately with my swing.

I warmed up with one of the test 6-irons I built a while back, the Toski Target T56 iron head with the UST PRoforce Rv2 75 graphite shaft. I first hit about 20 balls using the Tour Tempo “Y” drill and then followed that up hitting 20 balls with the “L” drill. Mostly, I hit pulls during both drills, so once I started hitting full shots, I concentrated on getting the clubhead path correct. The other change I made was to run the spoken version of the 27/9 pre-shot instead of the one that beeps. That seems to reduce the tension I feel when I use the beeps (I think that’s the primary reason that Tour Tempo didn’t really work well for me in the past).

After about 20 full shots with the 6-iron, I got out the wedges and hit a few full shots with each. Next up, I finished out the practice session by hitting a few balls with nearly every club, doing pretty well with all clubs except the Big Bertha 3-iron and the driver. The rest of the clubs I hit pretty respectively today, and I can see definite progress over the last three practice sessions, reversing the slide my performance had taken earlier last week.