Joey's Golf Bag

I practiced on Friday at GBGC after work. It was not pretty. I’ve been working on getting my shots to draw, rather than fade, and it has been getting harder and harder to get the draw working. Friday was no exception, nearly everything was fading, and even, gasp!, the slice came back. I’m pretty sure that the main issue is my backswing is not in the proper plane, too flat, and I sometimes keep the club face too open at the top. I draw the ball most effectively when hitting half swings, and find it harder to get the draw to work on a 3/4 swing, and almost impossible with a full swing. Thus, I almost always use a 3/4 swing when I’m on the course, as it gives me better control of distance and direction.

On Friday, I also had problems hitting the balls fat, which I have mostly avoided for the past few months. Both of these issues compounded on Saturday, when Jarvis and I played the Lakes course at Indian Creek. Warming up, nothing would draw except on half swings, and everything else faded or sliced. This was not a comfortable feeling when playing on an 18-hole course for the first time since the spring.

The day started out poorly, made triple on the first two holes. I finally got it sorta working on the third, fourth and fifth, all of which I bogeyed. The remaining holes were very poor, and Jarvis and I decided to call it a day on the ninth hole, as the other two players were playing much better and getting annoyed with our poor play.

The only good thing about my game on Saturday was my putting. Despite the poor scores, putting was not the cause, as I had only 1 three-putt, and that one wasn’t really a three putt as the ball was on the fringe and not on the green. The greens of the Lakes course were the best Bermuda greens I’ve ever played on.

It looks like more lessons are in my immediate future.