Joey's Golf Bag

Tonight I practiced with the intent to work on shaping shots, specifically, to get the draw working. Starting with 7-iron half swings, I was soon drawing the ball fairly consistently. I also was drawing the ball well with the 6-iron, the longest iron currently in my bag.

Next, I got out the big stick and had very inconsistent results, only about half of the swings found the fairway. Most of the bad shots were slices tonight, instead of hooks. I also hit a few balls with the 3-metal, with similar results. I followed those clubs with the hybrids and never consistently hit draws, only fades or slices. Even when I switched back to the 6 or 7 iron, I hit a draw, but immediately following that shot with the hybrid produced fades or slices for the most part. I never did get a draw working with any of the longer clubs tonight.

I also hit a few short iron shots, consistently straight. Out of 10 balls, I had only 1 poor shot, a shank.

After full swing practice, I spent 30 minutes on the putting green working on putts from 6 to 27 feet. My speed control was good tonight, but my directional control and reading the break was not as good as usual. As usual, I simulated 18 holes of golf, making only 1 birdie, and only 1 three putt. I also hit 3 balls from 45 feet, and didn’t three putt.

A pretty good practice tonight, with the exception of the long clubs. I didn’t have any time to practice wedges or chipping tonight.

A month or so back, I was at the Golden Bear Golf Center one Sunday morning when I was approached by a Nike rep and asked if I would like to hit a prototype Nike fairway wood, a 3-metal. “Sure, always in the mood to hit a new club.” I had to sign an NDA, so that’s why you haven’t seen anything in this blog. Well, the SasQuatch driver showed up in this month’s Golf Magazine, so… on with the review.

Interestingly enough, it hasn’t shown up on Nike Golf’s website yet. It has shown up at The Golf Warehouse, though, showing Nov. 1 delivery.

The rep lined up three 3-metals , a Taylormade R5, a Callaway Big Bertha Fusion, and the SasQuatch prototype (didn’t know at the time that was the name). I hit the Callaway first, and I hit a mix of draws and fades (I meant to hit it straight, but I’m not really good enough at this point to choose exactly what shot I hit). This is the same pattern I usually hit with my Ping G2 3-metal, spraying shots all over the fairway (but mostly in it). Next, I hit the Taylormade R5. I couldn’t get the ball in the air with this club, just hit low worm burners about 20 ft off the ground. Finally, I picked up the Nike club and hit several shots, every one with no side spin at all, just a slight push or pull. “No way, that’s just luck”, I’m thinking to myself. So, I pick up the Callaway club again, and hit the same mix of fades and draws all over the fairway, very typical for me. Back to the Nike, again, every shot straight down the fairway.

“Can I keep this?” I ask the rep.

“No, but you can get one on November 1st.”

Now, I can’t wait for November 1st!

Update: I found it on Nike’s website (google knows all); the driver was announced August 29. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.

The USA wins the Solheim Cup 15-1/2 to 12-1/2 with the rookies Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, and Christina Kim leading the way to victory. Sports Illustrated reports Creamer helps U.S. win back Solheim Cup. A quote:

CARMEL, Ind. (AP) — Juli Inkster saw flags waving, heard chants of “U-S-A!” and felt a lump in her throat on the practice range, the intensity building before the first match Sunday in the Solheim Cup.

She gathered all the American players she could find. With their hands together in a collective fist, they broke huddle with a shout that carried them to victory and kept their record perfect on home soil.

“FINISH!”

“That was our key phrase,” Paula Creamer said. “They don’t remember how you start, but how you finish.”

I went to practice this morning. The weather was cool, with a 10 mph wind directly in my face. I wanted to work on all of the things I did poorly while playing yesterday.

I started (badly) with short sand wedge shots, shanking a few. I gave up on that, got out the 7-iron and got my tempo back together. After that, I took out the driver and hit some, mixing up very nice straight ones with duck hooks. Either they were straight or they were hooked, not much in between. I experimented some with ball position within my stance, but ended up where I started. Next, I hit some shots with the 3-metal, mostly straight. After that, I hit a lot of shots with the hybrids, mostly fades. I never did get a draw going, straight was the best I could do today. Some minor work with the short irons got them going straight again, instead of pushes.

After I ran out of balls, I went over to the short game area and hit dozens of short and medium length lob and sand wedges. Apart from a few fat shots, I was pretty happy with the practice. I also hit some 15-20 yd chips with the pitching wedge with good results, still some a little long, but better than yesterday.

Next was the putting green. One of the two greens was down for maintenance; the other one had just had some sand spread around. I mostly ran the 3 ball drills where I place the balls at 2 and 3 yd intervals. I had good success through successive drills, with only a single 3 putt. After about 5 drills, I putted several balls from 35-40 ft, with no 3 putts.

A good day’s practice, I was pretty happy afterward.

Jarvis and I played nine holes from the back tees on the Lake Park Executive Course today, and stunk up the place. My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Did not hit a single green in regulation.
• Short irons were short by 5 yds all day.
• Long irons / hybrids were mostly pin high, but all were fades.
• Two drives: I hit a draw on the 5th that wants a fade, and a fade on the 4th that wants a draw. I thought I hit the draw out of bonds on the 5th, but it bounced back in bounds. The provisional was also a fade.
• Sand wedge was working well, except on 6 & 7, where I hit it fat.
• Chipping was poor, all long.
• Putting was mediocre, didn’t hit anything beyond 5 ft. Two putts from the fringe were 8 or 10 ft long. Three putts on 6 & 7 (yeech — nothing I hate worse than 3-putting).

To sum it up, I had a very poor day.

CNN reports on golf in my city in Dallas: 72 holes in 72 hours. The courses (none of which I have played — yet) are:

• The Tribute Golf Club
• The TPC at the Four Seasons
• Texas Star
• Cowboys Golf Club

After allowing my sore left elbow to recover for a week, I went to practice tonight. I started with some half 7-iron swings, a little ragged at first. After that, I hit some short irons, mostly straight and on-target. Next, I got out the driver and hit some balls. The first shots were slices, but I adjusted my backswing and got them going straight again. Distance was pretty pitiful, about a 180-200 yd carry on the better swings.

Proceeding to the 3-metal, after some backswing adjustments, started hitting the ball straighter than usual and some a soft fade. Only one or two slices. I then proceeded to the hybrids, starting with the 19 degree and working my way downward. There were a few slices, but with adjustments, the ball was flying straight or a soft fade. Distances were 155 with the 27-degree, 160-165 with the 23-degree and 170 with the 19-degree hybrid. The hybrids continue to work well for me, but I think the swing weight is a little low. I’m considering reshafting the clubs with a slightly heavier shaft (probably a TT Dynamic Gold Lite) and making them each about 1/2″ longer.

I then hit some 4-, 5- and 6-irons, and was duck hooking or drawing, no fades or slices. Weird! The 5-iron was travelling about 150 yds tonight, not bad for me.

A few balls were left, so I hit a few full wedge shots, mostly slightly pushed right.

Putting practice wasn’t as good as usual; I was leaving putts over 10 ft short and short putts were long (when they didn’t go in the hole). I had to practice short 3 to 4 ft putts some tonight, as I missed a few. I got it fixed at the end by holing a several 4 footers without any misses.

I was pretty pleased with the practice session tonight, as I saw little effect of a week’s layoff.

I’m not able to practice or play today due to pain in the inside of my left elbow. It started hurting on Friday morning and was painful enough to require medication. The pain was worse this morning, so I have forgone playing and practicing.

I last practiced on Wednesday, and was fine afterward. I did take a few practice swings Thursday night with my 3-iron, to check positions. Maybe those practice swings did it. I’ll do a better job of warming up next time.

P.S. At times like this, I miss Vioxx. That stuff was the best for muscle or tendon pain. Too bad it kills you…

I went to the range tonight to try out a new practice routine to see if it improves my swing. As always, I warmed up with some 7-iron half swings, but instead of progressing through the long irons, I went immediately to the driver. With the driver, I was spraying shots all over the range, hooks, slices, moon balls, worm burners. Ugly, ugly stuff.

Next, I then hit some balls with the 27-degree hybrid. With a half swing, I nearly hit the blue flag some 145 yds away. 3/4 swings were completely flying the green, so were at least 155 yds. This is a big improvement over Sunday and validated my theory that swinging the driver helped me reduce tension and improve distance. My distances tonight with the hybrids were about 150-155 yds with the 27-degree hybrid and 160-165 yds with the 23-degree hybrid. I also improved distance on 4-, 5-, and 6-irons as well, but I didn’t keep records of the distances.

I didn’t practice any short irons tonight, but I did some short (15 to 40 yd) pitches with the lob wedge and sand wedge tonight. My distance control was not so good. I tended to be a little long tonight, and most shots were to the right of the target. I never did get the wedges straightened out until the end. I didn’t have time to putt tonight and only hit a few chips with the pitching wedge.

I visited the range this morning to practice. As usual, I started with the 7-iron, hitting half swings off the grass. Most shots were fading to the right. After some adjustments, I made most shots go straight or slight draw, with an occasional hook thrown in for variety. I then hit 6-iron 3/4 swings and moved on to the 5-iron and 27-degree hybrid. As with the 19-degree hybrid, I was hitting the hybrid about 5-10 yards farther than with the equivalent iron. I had some trouble this practice session with slicing long irons, but soon adjusted to straight or slight draws. I moved on to the 4-iron and the 23 degree hybrid, and again, hit the hybrid better and longer. I hit a few shots as well with the 19-degree hybrid.

I moved on to the driver and 3-wood. I was spraying the 3-wood all over the place, hooks, slices, just making a mess of things. As I hit better with the driver, I switched and found the same problem. As I’ve noticed in the past, when I don’t hit the driver straight, it is usually because I’m too far from the ball, and that was the case this time. As soon as I moved in a little, my shots started going straight again. I hit a few with the 3-wood standing closer, and the shots improved there as well.

My final drill is “pin hunting”. For this drill, I aim exactly at the pin with the right club for the distance. The red flag was about 90 yards away, so I started with the 50-degree pitching wedge, and was 5-10 yards short. The 10-iron was about 5-10 yds long. I tried a 3/4 swing 10 iron and nearly hit the pin.

The blue pin was about 140 yds away and I was short with a 6-iron. Next up was the 27-degree hybrid, but I hit the ball straight over the pin carrying it by 20 yds. Oops. My shots with both the 23- and 27-degree hybrids were going about 20-30 yds farther than during practice. I’m guessing that swinging the big stick took out the tension and allowed me to hit the ball longer. On the next practice session, after warming up, I’m going to work my way down from the driver and see how I hit the ball.

Only a few balls remaining, so I hit the 19-degree hybrid at the white flag 160 yds out. My alignment was bad, as the shots were landing pin high with no fade or draw 20 yds to the right. Usually my alignment is good, but not today.

I didn’t practice with the wedges or short irons today; those clubs need little maintenance.

After my mediocre putting yesterday, I practiced for about 25 minutes on the putting green. First, I did my usual drill where I place a ball at 6, 12, and 18 feet to get the speed of the green down. This time I chose a hole with a significant amount of break to the right. It took me three of these drills to get the speed correct. That drill paid off, as the next drill that I do is putting several balls from 21 ft and then 30 ft. Both of these drills, I hit 1/3 of the putts and didn’t three putt at all.