Joey's Golf Bag

I practiced and played at North Texas Golf on Sunday morning, a cool, clear day with a 1 club wind from the southeast.

First, I hit half a bucket of balls on the wedge practice area, hitting 20-50 yd shots with my sand wedge and some shorter ones with the lob wedge. I hit the balls pretty well today, with good distance control and pretty poor direction control. After that, I hit a lot of iron shots with 6-10 irons, only getting out the longer clubs for a few swings. In general, my distances were fairly consistent, but the direction was all over the place, pulls and pushes, only a few balls with any curve to them at all, except for the 6-iron, which mostly faded a bit.

I then used my pitching wedge to chip a few ball, warmed up on the putting green and headed out on the course. My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Distance control was good today. I was using 3/4 swings to keep the ball down a bit out of the wind, so my distances were a bit shorter than usual. Most of my misses were pushes pin high, although one tee shot was short and one nearly to the back of the green.
• Putting was fair. I three putted the eighth hole from about 30 ft. The rest were two putts; didn’t hit a birdie putt all day. The closest shot to the hole was about 25 ft.
• Chipping was poor all day, mostly too long. Same for the only time I hit a lob wedge over one of those 10 ft tall grass plants at 4, went right over the pin, after a pushed shot off the tee. The first hole was an unmitigated disaster, pushed the tee shot, lobbed short, putted long from the fringe and 2 putted from 8 ft.
• There was a guy out watering the greens in front of me this morning. I had to putt through standing water on 6 and 7. I took a practice putt to get the feel for putting in standing water, as I’ve never done that. The putts were slow. 😉

All in all, a fun day with great weather.

I had planned to play today at Indian Creek, but my golf buddy was not able to play (he wanted to see Texas crush Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl).

Yesterday, I went to practice, and it may have been good that I didn’t play today, as the practice was pretty bad. I started off with the 7-iron, trying to get the draw to work, to no avail. No matter what I did, the ball faded or sliced. I even sliced the driver badly, which I almost never do, and most of my 3-metals were fades as well. Finally, half way through the bucket, I tracked down the cause: my club face was much too open at the top, and I wasn’t able to get the face closed when I hit the ball. I practiced a lot of backswings to get the club face correct at the top and finally managed to get the ball going straight, although I never did achieve a reliable draw.

Putting practice, on the other hand, was the best I’ve done in many weeks. I started off with some short putts around the hole, moved on to the 20 ft distance drill, and then went into my usual routine simulating 18-holes of golf. 3 times 6/12/18 ft, 2 times 9/18/27 ft, 1 time 3 balls from 35 ft. I ended the session 5 under par, my best showing in a long time.

Today, I went to the range to find that half the range was closed due to sand being spread on the grass. I got a bucket of balls and set about trying to get the draw to work again. I started with the 6-iron and most balls were fading. I went through a number of different drills to try to get the ball to fade and the best I was able to do was get soft fades or straight shots. My driving was better today, many straight balls, but also a few fades or slices. The 3-metal was better than the driver today, mostly soft fades or straight shots. I finished the session with some short iron shots, mostly slight pushes, but better than usual.

I started the putting drills with short putts, hitting them all. I then moved on to putts with a lot of break from right to left. After many drills from 6/12/18 ft, I finally started reading the breaks well. I then ran my full 18-hole simulation, as above, but after reaching 5 under par after 12 holes, proceeded to give all those shots back. My putting was very poor on the 35 ft drill, three putted them all. Yeech.

ESPN reports Michelle Wie turns pro in Million dollar baby. A quote:

HONOLULU — Michelle Wie, the Hawaii teen who has been competing against golf’s best players since she was in the seventh grade, turned professional Wednesday.

“I’m finally happy to say I’m a pro starting today,” Wie said, wearing a pink Nike shirt and high heels that made her look even taller than 6 feet. “The first time I grabbed a golf club, I knew I’d do it for the rest of my life. Some 12 years later, I’m finally turning pro, and I’m so excited.”

The splashy announcement was hardly a surprise. It had been reported for weeks that Wie would go pro by her 16th birthday next week.

She has signed endorsement deals with Nike and Sony said to be worth $10 million a year, and her first act as a professional was to give some of it back.

Wie pledged $500,000 to the U.S. Golf Hurricane Relief Fund, set up by the major golf organizations.

This morning I went to practice at GBGC. The weather was overcast with a 1 club breeze into my face. Since the red flag was at perfect distance for a 9-iron, I started with that club, hitting a variety of pushes and pulls. Distance was a little short due to the incoming wind.

I then went to the driver. I started with a mix of slices and hooks, but soon was hitting the majority of balls straight down the fairway with a mix of slight draws or fades. I hit even better with the 3-metal, nearly every ball was in the fairway with a draw, straight or fade.

Things went south as soon as I got out the 19-hybrid. Every ball sliced, badly. I worked for a while to correct it, finally hitting a few straight, but everytime I thought I had it straightened out, the slice would reappear. I let my fustration get to me a little, I’m afraid. I decided to hit some hard wedge shots, but was hitting nearly every shot fat by at least 2 inches. I gave that up in frustration, and returned to the driver to work out my anger.

Fortunately, that worked. Out of a dozen balls, maybe two wouldn’t have been in the fairway. I followed it up with some very straigth 3-metal shots, though some were a bit fat.

I started putting practice with 20 ft putts to get the speed down. After a few drills, my speed was pretty good. I picked a hole with a lot of break and started the 6/12/18 ft drill. Three drills had me 3 under par for the drill. Next, I ran 2 drills at 9/18/27 ft. The first drill was nicely done, as I holed the 27 ft putt (including 3 ft of break). Unfortunately, I gave all of those shots back, three putting twice on the next 9/18/27 ft drill, and also three putting once on the 3-balls from 35 ft drill.

A very mixed practice session. At the very least, I’m pleased with my progress with the woods, but disappointed that I let my frustration get to me on the hybrids and wedges.

This morning I visited the GBGC to practice. The skies were mostly cloudy, the wind was in my face with a 1-2 club breeze. I started with 7-irons, hitting half swings with mixed results. As I’ve been out of town on business since Sunday, I was a little rusty this morning. After a few shots, I started hitting some decent balls, some fades, some draws.

I got out the driver and quickly started hitting them down the middle of the imagined fairway. Out of a dozen swings, only two were outside the fairway. I even managed a draw or two to go along with a five straight ones. I managed only one slice, so I was very pleased. I also had respectable distance for me, about 180-200 yd carries into the wind.

Next up was the 3-wood, and continued to hit mostly straight balls. I did have one ugly fat shot, but even that one was right down the middle. Carry was about 170 yds.

The three hybrids followed. The 23-hybrid was a mix of fades, draws and straight shots, with a slice or two thrown in the mix. The 19-hybrid was very mixed, some slices and hooks, to go with a bunch of fades. Only with the 27-hybrid did I manage any straight shots of note, but there were also a lot of fades and even a slice.

I moved on to the middle irons. The six iron hooked constantly, but after a few shots managed some straight shots and a push or two. The seven iron was a disaster, hooks and slices. Moving up to the 8-, 9- and 10-irons produced a mix of pushes and straight balls. Distance was shorter than usual due to the strong wind and my high ball flight.

Putting was next. I started out with the 6, 12, and 18 foot drill, but as I hadn’t putted for nearly a week, I went back and hit a few from 20 ft to get my speed and rhythm back. After that, I ran the 6/12/18 ft drill three times, with two birdies and a three putt. Next, I ran the 9/18/27 ft drill twice, with two more birdies and two three putts. I finished up with three balls from 35 ft, and finished up 1 under par for the simulated 18-holes. Ironically, all of the birdies were from the middle distance, none from the shorter distances. As I used a harder set of holes with more break than usual, I was pretty happy with the putting. I still need work on short putts with significant break to get rid of the three putts.

A pretty good practice session today, considering a long layoff due to travel.

Ben Hogan once said, “If I miss a practice, I can tell. If I miss two practices, you can tell.” Well, I haven’t practiced in a week, and, boy, could I tell, you could tell, the whole range could tell. 😉

Not that I’m comparing myself to Hogan, understand…

The weather was cloudy, windy and cool today, the result of Hurricane Rita off to the east. Not a drop of rain to be seen.

I guess it was lack of coffee this morning, but it took about 10 mis-hit balls for me to get the draw working on soft 7-irons this morning, and even then, each draw was surrounded by ugly shots, fat, thin, sliced. Yeech! I moved on to the big stick and things were ugly until I got my setup grooved in, and then I hit some nice straight ones and even some pretty draws. After that, I hit the 3-wood better than I have in many months. I even managed some nice draws, unusual for me. Thanks to the 2-club wind behind me, the balls were also going a lot farther than usual.

The rest of practice was pretty much a disaster, though. I never got any consistency out of any clubs, even my favorite 27-hybrid was fading or slicing today. I just had no energy. I hit a few short irons, mostly pushes and went home when I ran out of balls.

Say it ain’t so, Michelle!

Golf World (via ESPN) reports Wie to turn pro.

Michelle Wie will turn pro sometime between now and Oct. 11 — her 16th birthday — perhaps as early as next week. In doing so, she will become the world’s highest-paid female golfer.

According to sources involved in the negotiations who requested anonymity, Wie will sign endorsement deals with three companies (one believed to be Nike) worth an estimated $8 million. Adding in tournament appearance fees and other endorsements, the Hawaiian teen’s compensation for her first year as a pro is expected to reach $10 million — not counting what she wins on the course. She also will enlist the services of the William Morris Agency to secure further commercial endorsements and guide her pro career, shunning traditional golf-management companies and suggesting her long-term aspirations may involve transcending the game as much as dominating it.

This morning I went to practice, in hopes of redeeming my swing from my atrocious performance yesterday on the golf course. Theme: setup and (lack of) tension. These were to be my only swing thoughts during practice. And the results were surprising to me. Incidentally, the weather was very pleasant, with a steady, two club wind directly in my face.

On setup: I concentrated on proper grip, posture, ball position (about 2″ inside my left foot, constant for all clubs). I also made more practice swings than usual, concentrating on reducing tension, light grip, no forcing of the club face.

I started off with 6-iron half swings using balls teed high. The balls were drawing nicely, so I got out the driver. The first four drives were perfectly straight. The next was also perfectly straight, but I went under it and hit a moon ball. I followed those with some duck hooks and then returned to straight. Next, I hit some 3-metals, mostly fades, but good shots. I managed to turn the fade back to straight flight.

Next up were the hybrids. I started with the 19-hybrid, hitting good shots with a slight draw or fade. I was very pleased with the ball flight. With the 23-hybrid, I was hitting mostly straight balls. With the 27-hybrid, I started with some slight fades, and managed to move them back to straight. Again, very pleased with the ball flight.

Then came the 6-iron. In contrast with my usual fades with the 6-iron, I was hitting hard, high hooks. After being unable to make the ball not hook, I went back to the 27-hybrid, where I hit some nice draws. Back again to the 6-iron, hooks. Hmmm…

I went on to the 7-iron, hitting a mix of hooks and draws. No fades at all, and certainly no slices. Very strange.

I moved on to the short irons, hitting the 8-, 9- and 10-irons with similar results, all mostly straight with only a slight fade or draw on the 8-iron. I went back to the 7-iron and found that I was now hitting draws. Back to the 6-iron, the hooks were turning into draws, until the final shot faded.

Strange practice session. Not a single slice to be found. I guess a combination of reduced tension and a ball position slightly forward of where I’ve been playing it helps.

Now that the weather is starting to cool down, I will be able to practice more often after work.

Jarvis and I played Lake Park Executive course today (a very beautiful day), and it was simply ugly. I’m not even going to post the score, as the title says all.

A miracle happened! Dallas is cool enough today to practice after work. I haven’t been able to practice after work since May, due to temperatures well above 90 degrees F since mid-May. Today was nice and cool, about 78 degrees F when I arrived to practice.

I had a pretty poor practice today. I started first with 7-iron as usual, trying to hitting half swing draws. Not really working today, so I got out the big stick and hit a few balls to get loosened up. Most were fades, the draw just would not work today. I changed ball position, checked the backswing, but nothing really got the draw back.

I moved on to some old drills that were handy for getting the proper swing path. After a few swings with only my left foot on the ground, I was able to get the ball drawing again. I re-enforced the drill by hitting short 6-iron swings with the ball teed up high, the ball centered between my closely spaced feet. I was then able to get the draw working, which was a good thing, because I had only a few balls left.

The remaining full swing practice was with the short irons, all of which were straight but somewhat shorter in distance than usual.

I followed up on the short game green, hitting some lob wedges at various distances. It took me a while to get the swing grooved (early swings were long and right). I eventually got the swings working and hit some good lob and sand wedges. I also spent a few minutes in the bunker. The sand was very soft and I had difficulty getting the balls out of the sand with the face open. I gave up on that and had good results with the face square to the swing path. I ended the session getting three balls onto the green without issue.

I followed up with some putting practice. As usual, I simulated 18 holes of golf. Two drills of three balls at 6, 12 and 18 ft, followed by four drills at 9, 18 and 27 ft. I had only one birdie, but no three putts. My speed control was good today, but I had some difficulty with the break. I finished up with two long distance drills, hitting three balls each time from 45 ft. I had one three putt on both of these drills. I usually do better than that.

Tomorrow, Jarvis and I will play the Lake Park Executive Course again.