Joey's Golf Bag

It’s been a painful two weeks since my last post. I’ve practiced a number of times, and my swing was getting progressively worse, not better, over three practices. Then, in desperation, yesterday, I got out my iPod with Tour Tempo on it, set it to 27/9 and hit balls. Slowly, my swing came back and I started hitting the ball decently again. So, this morning, I went to Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville and set out to continue training with Tour Tempo. Happily, my swing continued to improve. In fact, I felt good enough to go play nine. So, after having a good putting practice session, I paid for nine and played.

Disaster struck on the very first hole, hitting the ball thin directly into the water, skipping several times and nearly getting onto the grass. But, alas, no luck, ball stayed wet. Took a drop and hit a wedge just over the green, chipped close and tapped in for a cool double.

Next hole, par 4, I hit a 6-iron draw, just clearing the fairway bunker on the edge of the fairway. I hit a sand wedge a bit fat just short of the green, chipped poorly and two-putted for bogey.

Next hole, par 3, I pushed a high lob wedge shot well right. The ball hit a log just outside the hazard, bounced high into the rough over the green. I hit a poor chip (again) short and two-putt for bogey.

Fourth hole, par 4, was just plain ugly. I pushed my tee shot with the 3i hybrid into the hazard. I took a drop and then hit a lay-up 8-iron, hoping to get a clear shot at the green that is well-protected by an overhanging tree. I was left with a sand wedge to the flag, but that required clearing an overhanging tree. I am the acknowledged master of hitting the only branch that can be hit; and I didn’t disappoint: clipped that branch and landed in the rough just to the right of the green, narrowly missing the bunker. Naturally, I hit the ball thin right over the green, then hit a lob wedge pitch short and two putt for a nasty triple.

Fifth hole, par 3. I hit a pitching wedge hook right of the green, chipped short to 12 feet, and then proceeded to three-putt for double.

Sixth hole, par 4. I hit a 4-iron off the tee, hooking it into the left rough ton to a hump with a difficult uphill lie. I hit a good 8-iron short just short of the green, chipped short (again!!!) and just missed the par putt by an inch, and tapped in for bogey.

Seventh hole, par 3. I hit a 5-iron draw left of the green, chipped short (see a pattern yet?), hit a putt to 6 inches and tapped in for bogey.

Eighth hole, par 4. Normally, I get out the driver and try to drive the green, but that club has not been playing nice, so I decide to play safe and hit a 5-iron off the tee. There’s an overhanging branch over the fairway that I’ve hit numerous times with a 6-iron, so I figure a 5-iron won’t go high enough to hit it. Riiiiiiiiiight! Bonk!!! OK, mulligan time. Move the ball back in my stance a little. You know what’s gonna happen… Bonk!!! The only freakin’ branch that can be hit, and I’ve nailed it twice… Only this time, who knows where the ball went… Why is it I’m perfectly consistent when I don’t want to be????

I’ll save you the disasters that followed on the green at the eighth and ninth holes, as the point has been made.

I’m the Salieri of Golf.

This afternoon after work, I practiced at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville on a warm, but cloudy, evening. Mosquitos swarmed around me for much of the practice, causing the occasional bad shot (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).

I started off warming up with the 7-iron, hitting the ball pretty poorly at first, so I spent much of the practice working on the slot drill. That drill much improved my ball-striking over my last practice. My distances were shorter than usual, due in part to hitting the ball very high. I may need to move the ball back in my stance a bit to lower the ball flight, but for now, I’m focusing on other things. My other work was on improving my lag, and I can’t report much improvement in that area, other than a few shots here and there.

I worked on the slot drill for about 1/3 of the balls, alternating the sand wedge, 9-, 7- and 5-irons. While working on the slot drill, I hit the ball very straight, but shorter than usual, even 2 clubs shorter. Again, I’m hitting the ball extremely high, even the 5-iron.

After the slot drill, added the 3i HALO and the driver and added them to the mix. The hybrid I hit high and short as well. The driver was mixed; when I properly loaded the shaft and got good lag, I hit the ball straight and long, but I wasn’t able to do that consistently. I hit a couple of high fades or push fades, and a duck hook or two, so no consistency.

Next up, I traded out all the clubs and got out the pitching wedge, 8-, 6-, and 4-irons, the 2i hybrid and kept the driver. I tended to pull the pitching wedge, but hit it solidly. I tended to push the 8-iron, but distance was more normal than most of the clubs. The 6-iron I hit mostly straight, with reasonable distance. The 4-iron I didn’t hit very well, tending either to hit it a bit thin, or very high and short. Weird… At that point I was nearly out of balls, so I hit a few drives, pulling them left pretty badly.

A pretty good practice today. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and had to run to go vote before the polls closed (libertarian!).

This morning, I went to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville on a cloudy, dreary day, threatening rain. My plan for today was to test the irons and woods I’ve built over the past few months and see if any of them can pull existing clubs out of my bag. In short, no.

I warmed up with the Toski Target T-58 6-iron that’s been in my bag most of the year. After that warm-up, I lined up my test 6-irons:

• Snake Eyes Viper Ti-4 with Grafalloy Prolite graphite shaft;
• Toski Target T-56 with UST PRoforce Rv2 75 graphite shaft;
• Toski Target T-56 with Dynalite Gold SL steel shaft;
• Toski Target T-58 with Custom Lite steel shaft;
• Snake Eyes 600B forged heads with Dynamic Gold steel shaft.

Basically, with the irons, the test was completely inconclusive, none stood out from the rest, although my best shot of all was with the Snake Eyes forged head (and there’s no way those unforgiving clubheads are going in my bag until I’m a much better golfer).

Next up, I got out the Toski T-6 driver, 3-wood and 5-wood and tested them. With the sole exception of one shot with the driver, and one with the 5-wood, I was completely unable to load the stiff shafts in these clubs, which makes me conclude that my swing is not suited to stiff shafts. The shaft never seemed to load properly and I never really felt like I could hit any of the clubs well. So, stiff shafts are definitely out, for now.

This morning, I practiced at Golden Bear Golf Center, on a cool and cloudy day.

I warmed up using the 6-iron, and then started hitting balls with the 4-, 6- and 8-irons. I didn’t hit the ball very well at first, so I ran my slot / lag drill for a few balls. Next up, I got out the driver, bombing the first one well down the range, and then hitting mostly fades or slices. I added the 3i HALO to the mix, but never really hit the club well, tending to hit the ball high but not very far.

Next up, I ran the pin-hunting drill, hitting a mere 6 of 20 shots with a score of 4 or 5. I hit a couple of stinkers, including a snap hook with the driver. My final drive, though, was a perfectly struck.

With the few remaining balls, I hit some 7-, 5- and 4-iron shots with the ball teed up, and with the exception of one of the 4-iron shots, hit them very well. After the relatively poor practice, that was a relief.

Next, I went to the putting green and had a pretty good speed drill. The green was running faster than usual, but I didn’t have much difficulty with speed today. I also hit a couple of balls from 45 ft, but didn’t really have that distance wired in.

I then went to the short game area and spent about 45 minutes hitting all sorts of shots with my lob and X (64°) wedge. I had good direction control today, and I struck the ball well (very few fat or thin shots), but my distance control was lacking. I haven’t spent enough time with the wedges lately.

Despite my relatively poor long game practice, I redeemed my day with good short game work.

This afternoon, after work, I hit some balls at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The weather, when I arrived, was mid-50’s, cloudy, with a strong wind behind me on the range.

My plan for today was to work, as usual, on tempo, timing and lag. I started off with the 6- and 4-irons to warm up. I wasn’t striking the ball well at first, hitting weak fades. After I warmed up, though, I striking the ball pretty good. I got out the 8-iron and added it to the mix, hitting balls toward the back flag.

Next up, I got out the wedges and hit half and full wedge shots, pretty cleanly for the most part, except for a fat shot or two with the lob wedge. I then got out the 2i hybrid and the driver, and alternated shots with those clubs and the 8-iron. Strangely, I hit the longer clubs better than the 8-iron. My first drive was a bit of a fade, but I hit mostly slight pushes or pulls today. The hybrid didn’t behave as well, but I hit it better than I’ve been doing lately.

I then ran my pin-hunting drill, hitting a mere 6 of 20 shots with a score of 4 or 5. I really had only one poorly struck ball, but the rest of the shots tended to be pulled or pushed. My two best shots were drives at the flag on the right end of the range. I pounded two near perfect drives, both of which ended up next to the flag, one just to the right of it and one just to the left.

As I ran out of balls, I got out the 7-iron, teed up some balls and proceeded to whale on the balls, hitting high draws up into the wind, causing the balls to carry as far as I normally hit a 4-iron. Encouraged, I teed up a ball and hit a 4-iron. Unfortunately, hit it a bit thin, so got no benefit from the wind. The last ball, I overswung and hit a stinker.

Still, a pretty good practice. I didn’t have any sun left for the short game, unfortunately. The sun did manage to show itself just as it disappeared below the horizon.

This afternoon, I attended the swing clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center. I was the only student today.

Before class, I spent about 20 minutes working on my usual speed drill on the putting green. I putted pretty well today, despite no putting practice since last weekend. I warmed up hitting 4-irons and we spent most of the time hitting that club toward various target greens. I started out hitting the ball pretty short, but soon had the club grooved in and started striking the ball a little better. He diagnosed my hook for me (I’m not completing my turn around my spine after striking the ball). I also tended to cast the club when I got quick with the downswing, and we worked that out as well.

Next up, I hit some high slices with the driver. He fiddled with my stance and I started hitting the ball down the middle with a little fade.

I finished up by going through the irons, hitting them well for the most part. I also hit a couple of balls with the hybrids, and struck them pretty well with the exception of one topped ball with the 2i.

I was pretty happy with the swing clinic today. Still have much to work on…

Yesterday, after work, I hit a few balls at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville. The day was cool and cloudy, threatening rain, with a breeze in my face.

I started out warming up with the 8-, 6- and 4-irons, with an occasional pitching wedge thrown in for good measure. My primary plan on this day was tempo, timing, and lag. I finally found a good drill for lag in Golf Magazine, and discovered that my instructor at Golden Bear Golf Center had me doing a very similar drill at my last lesson.

My initial aimpoint was the far left flag. At first, I was hitting the ball very high and short, even the 4-iron was struck very high. I had some difficulty striking the ball consistently, but when I managed good timing, tempo, and lag, the results were incredible: I nearly hit the 4-iron over the net! From where I was hitting, that would mean a carry of well over 220 yds with the 4-iron, which is about as long as I usually carry a driver! Maybe it’s time to put the Big Bertha 3-iron back in the bag…

Amazingly, I hit the long irons better than any other clubs on this day, hitting the 4-, 5- and 6-irons well, usually straight or with a slight draw. The mid-irons tended to push or fade, and the short irons, well, pretty much spraying them everywhere.

Next up, I got out the driver and pounded a very high, looping slice, nearly over the right net. Oops… need to release the club a little better. I hit some better shots down the middle, but high and short. The wind was responsible for some of the distance loss, but still shorter distance than usual. The 3i HALO I didn’t hit well at all today, tending to hit pull-slices.

I ran the pin-hunting drill again, hitting only 5 of 20 shots with a grade of 4 or 5. Lots of 3s though, so not as bad as the score indicated.

As it was about to rain, I decided to hit the last five balls with the short irons. The first ball was well-struck, a towering 9-iron. Next up, chunk! Next, chunk! WTF??? Last ball, the ultimate humiliation, a shank! 😳

A pretty good practice today, until the stinky ending. I wasn’t able to putt, since it looked like rain.

This afternoon, after work, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center on a fabulous, cool, sunny, breezy day.

I started off alternating 9-, 6- and 4-irons, striking the ball pretty well. I was using one of my new 6-irons, the one with the graphite shaft, and its lower swingweight seemed to have little effect on my ball striking. My dominate failure today was a push or a push fade, only had one hook (with the 4-iron). Next up, I got out the longer clubs, the new Toski driver, the Toski 3-wood, and the 3i HALO hybrid, along with the 4-iron, and alternated hitting balls with these clubs. Initially, I was slicing the driver, but I eventually got it straightened out, though it took a few balls. Ironically, I seemed to hit the 3-wood cleanly, but didn’t see where the ball went on several shots. 😕 I finally started hitting the hybrid pretty well today, tending to pull it a bit. The 4-iron was struck well for the most part, aside from the hook I previously mentioned.

Since I was striking the ball pretty well, I decided to run my pin-hunting drill midway through the bucket instead of waiting until the end. I managed 9 of 22 shots with scores of 4 or 5, and a bunch of 3’s. It was one of the better pin-hunting drills I’ve had in a while, really having only one bad shot in the bunch.

Next up, I hit a few short wedge shots at the close-in purple and white flags, striking the ball pretty cleanly. I tended to hook the pitching wedge, but hit the rest pretty well. I managed to hole one pitching wedge shot, perfectly played just past the white flag, and it rolled back right into the cup. 😀 I also practiced a lot of long chips toward the purple flag, and also hit a few flop shots with the 64° wedge. I also practiced opening the club face of the sand wedge and lob wedge to make the ball travel higher (not that hitting the ball higher was particularly good on a windy day like today, but when I’m striking the ball well, it’s fun to hit a few shots that require a bit of skill).

After I ran out of balls, I ran my usual speed drill on the putting green. I performed pretty well up to about 30 ft, but past that distance didn’t do particularly great at first, but soon recovered. I even managed to lag 3 of 4 from that distance to easy tap-in length.

All in all, I was very pleased with my practice today. Tempo was good and the number of poorly struck shots was low. Quite possibly the best practice since the early summer. The only thing I forgot to practice was bunker shots; I spaced it.

This morning, as the sun was rising, I had a quick practice at The Practice Tee in Plano. The morning was warm and sunny, with a trace of a breeze.

As I had limited time to practice this morning, I warmed up with the 6-iron and then proceeded to test my new 6-iron prototypes while I worked on making a slow, smooth swing. For the most part, my ball-striking was pretty good today, as I had only a few poorly struck balls. My dominate fault was a push or push-fade. Only when I got out the longer clubs did a hook appear, mainly with the 4-iron, when I tried to hit the ball hard.

My testing with the 6-irons were inconclusive, so I got out the driver to hit a few balls. At first, I was hitting long, high, slices, then long, high hooks that became snap hooks, then I worked it back to draws. Not a great practice, but at least I was able to do a little shot shaping with the driver, and recover from mishits.

That’s all I had time for this morning, as time available to practice was very limited. My “hosel rocket” swing stayed away today, thank the golf gods…. As I’m planning to play at Bear Creek this weekend, I’ll need one more full practice session before then. Hopefully, weather will be good tomorrow or Friday.

In my neverending quest to make and use the best possible clubs, I created two new iron prototypes for testing against my current Toski T58 irons. I built two new 6-irons, using the Toski Target T56 iron head, and two different shafts, the True Temper Dynalite Gold SL steel shaft and the UST PRoforce Rv2 75 graphite shaft. I also made each club 1/2" longer than standard and bent them upright 2°. I used Golf Pride Midsize Dual Duometer grips.

I tried out both clubs this morning, along with the Snake Eyes Viper Ti-4 6-iron (Grafalloy Prolite shaft, +1″, 2° upright) that I built a while ago, but my testing was inconclusive. I didn’t see a marked difference in any of the clubs, though I’m leaning toward removing the Viper from the mix, as I don’t like how it sounds when I hit the ball.

I’ll need to do a much more extensive evaluation at a later time. I thought that the lighter shafts and lower swingweights (D-1) would allow a bit more distance, but that’s yet to be proven. I’m also trying out shorter clubs in an effort to make striking the sweet spot a bit easier.