Joey's Golf Bag

This afternoon, I took the afternoon off from work to play a practice round at Grapevine Golf Course. The weather was sunny and warm, with a variable breeze from almost none to two clubs. I didn’t get a chance to warm up or putt, and we went off on Mockingbird just before 1PM. We finished our round in three hours and 45 minutes, playing in a foursome.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

Themes:

• Tee shots. Today, I used my driver on any par-4 or par-5 where driver could be used. I hit five fairways and had two penalties off the tee. The first was a pulled driver that hit the cart path and jumped into the woods on the third hole on the Mockingbird course and the second was a shanked iron into the hazard on the 7th hole of the Mockingbird course. Most of my drives with the driver were well-struck, but I had a lot of difficulty with the 5-wood today. I didn’t hit any of the par-3 holes in regulation.
• Approach shots. I hit four greens in regulation and had another three penalties on approach shots. I didn’t strike my irons very good today, and my hybrid, though well-struck, was often pulled left badly.
• Wedges. I didn’t hit a lot of pitches or full wedge shots today. I had a nice approach wedge up the hill on the short par-4 2nd hole on the Bluebonnet course after a really good drive, though I narrowly missed the birdie putt. My main issue today was hitting the wedges too high and too short.
• Chipping. My chipping was pretty good today. I got up and down six times, but not always for par.
• Sand shots. I hit into two fairway bunkers and one greenside bunker. My first fairway bunker shot on the first hole on the Mockingbird course was pretty well struck with a 7-iron, but I had to lay up because the lip wouldn’t allow me to go for the green. My second fairway bunker shot on the 6th hole on Bluebonnet was plugged and I was happy just to get the ball out cleanly with a sand wedge. My greenside bunker shot on the 8th hole on Bluebonnet was terrible and didn’t get out, so I had to do it again. The second one flew the green. 🙁
• Putting. With the exception of two holes I three-putted, my speed was good all day. I even nailed a 60 foot putt for bogey on the 6th hole on Bluebonnet. I think that’s the longest putt I’ve ever hit, and I knew it was going in when it was 20 ft from the hole. I had a total of 33 putts today.

While today was not my best golf, at least I was able to get the driver going a little bit and hit a few good chips and a few good putts. I also broke 100 for the first time since I injured my shoulder (it didn’t really bother me today at all). We’ll see if I can get it going this weekend in the next Grapevine Golf Association tournament.