2010 Goal #1 Accomplished

[Travtex]

Under 50 for nine at the Real Course this afternoon. It's a subset of my 'Break 100' goal for the year, but between working nights and the pace of play I've been hitting on the course... Not realistic to even get 18 holes in, right now. Anyway, went out with a bit more confidence in the swing after finally getting some video. Freed me up to analyze the hell out of my round -- Left way too many shots out there.

First thought: My driver is either straight-up cracked, entirely poorly fit for me, or both. I've been hesitant to 'Blame the stick' and put it all on my swing, but the evidence is just piling up in the favor of pitching this driver into the lake.

#1: Driver, weak slice OB. 3 off the Tee: Weak fade 180 yards behind a tree. Very lucky to save double bogey.

#2: Driver, weak slice into the woods, 180 yards. Punched into the fairway. Too much club on the approach. Chunked a chip. Was my Dear God hole for the day. +4, up to +6 for the round and starting to think it's another 'No point in keeping score' day.

#3: 5 iron, 185 right into the bunker. Short 'n tight, catch the lip right back INTO the bunker. Overcorrect and blast it over the green. Chip back to save +2. Jeeeeez. +8 through 3.

#4: 3 wood, 245 yards right down the fairway. Who the hell needs a driver? Overshoot the pitch to leave myself a 60-foot birdie putt. Putt to within 3 feet. Wow. Lip out the dinky par putt. Damnit. +9 through 4.

#5: 3 hybrid, 220 yards just pulled a couple yards right of the fairway. Glad I didn't go with the 3w, as I really pumped the hybrid further than expected and ended up about ten yards short of a creek. 2nd shot, I top my 3w. It pops straight up into the air, and bounces about ten feet. I utter creative profanity. 3rd shot, now that I'm half behind a tree, have to punch a 5 iron to about 170 out. 4th shot, put a 6 iron into the wind and fly the green by ten yards. What the hell? I'm Bubba Watson all of a sudden? Up and down for bogey. +10 through 5.

#6: 9 iron. Card says 147 yards, after I hit the thing about ten yards short I notice a yardage marker on the ground that says 158. I'm thinking... that one wasn't entirely my fault. Up and down for Par. +10 through 6.

#7: 3 wood. Catch it thin as all hell and it ends up about 180 yards. Thinking I'm going to fly the green again, I club down to a 6 iron and catch it a bit thick this time, 10 yards short of the green. Iffy chip to the fringe. 20 foot putt to a few inches. Argh. +11 through 7.

#8: Another creek at 240. 3 hybrid goes 215 yards. 120 to the hole, go for the 10 iron (Yes, I have a 10 iron. It's a 44* PW, basically). Pull it about ten yards right. Come about a foot from getting up and down. +12 through 8.

#9: Wide open Par 5. Give the driver another chance. Hit it clean, and the damn thing still only goes about 180 yards, fading off into the woods. Pretty good look at the green, give the 3 hybrid a ride about 200 yards. Ten iron is pushed left a bit. Do the same sequence again: Iffy chip, great lag putt, tap-in bogey. +13 for 9.

49. Easily six or seven strokes on that card that just should not have happened. Don't know what the deal is with the driver. Don't know when I started pumping my 3w 240 and my 3h 210, but not going to complain.

Overall, my best 9 holes so far... but also pretty frustrating, because I know I had quite a few idiot strokes added up on the card.

[DaSportsGuy]

I've been hesitant to 'Blame the stick' and put it all on my swing, but the evidence is just piling up in the favor of pitching this driver into the lake.

Try it. One of my regular playing partners had to heave his putter into a hazard. Since then, I've noticed his putting has gotten much better. Who knows, could be a mental thing with the club or it could just be the club itself.

[Dad-2-3]

Just a quick observation of the summary of your round. I count 4 shots lost the the driver and 6-7 lost to "chunked chips", "iffy chip", "blasts over the green" from bunkers and "lipped out par putts". I'm in the exact same situation in my game. I always thought that my long game sucked, but after I started keeping stats it appears as if it is 150 yards and in that I'm losing most of my shots. Just a reality check from one hacker to the other.

Congrats on reaching a 2010 goal so early in the season!

[Travtex]

Just a quick observation of the summary of your round. I count 4 shots lost the the driver and 6-7 lost to "chunked chips", "iffy chip", "blasts over the green" from bunkers and "lipped out par putts". I'm in the exact same situation in my game. I always thought that my long game sucked, but after I started keeping stats it appears as if it is 150 yards and in that I'm losing most of my shots. Just a reality check from one hacker to the other.

Yeah, one thing that really stuck out to me was the pretty damn good lag putting coupled with the hideous short putting. That doesn't even make sense to me, hah. Got to be a mental thing, as from the lag putts I obviously have some feel. Need to spend a day at the range doing nothing but 3-4' putts 'til I'm sick of them. Then do more of them.

Also, 'Driver into the Lake' seems like a solid idea. Currently, I'm eyeballing the shaft, too. I might be whipping it around a bit too much, making it a chore to close the face. Hitting my 3h with stiff flex in the 210-220 range, yet I have a 45g 'R' flex in the driver. Been doing some swing analysis and... might just be overswing, too. I'm kinda getting all Daly on the thing at the top: And getting into the downswing, looks like the face is wide open: Can -really- see the ugly from behind: But, since I don't do that with any other club in the bag... maybe it's a torque thing?