4.10.10 Round

[Richie3Jack]

At Windermere today. Some breeze going on, but not too bad. Nice day weather wise. Greens are still a tad bumpy from leftover aeration. Still hitting the Hogan Bounce Sole 1+'s

#1 - Big driver down the middle. We lucked out as they had the tees wayyy up. Hit a 9-iron okay, but wound up nice, about 7 feet below the cup. Hit a good putt that lipped out, went past the cup, and then rolled back in. That's how crazy the pin position was (-1)

#2 - Caught a 4-iron a little high on the clubface. Good chip with a LW to 2-feet. Actually a tough putt as far as 2-footers go, but I made the putt (-1)

#3 - Big driver down the middle. Caught a 3-wood off the heel, but it looked a lot better than it was. Mediocre chip with a SW. 2-putted from 20 feet. (-1)

#4 - heeled a 3-wood off the tee, but I was down the middle. Tricky downhill lie, but hit a beautiful 7-iron to 5-feet. Made the birdie (-2)

#5 - 6-iron to the front of the green. 2-putted from 25 feet, but the first putt was good until it got bumpy and went short (-2)

#6 - Hit a hyrbid high and left. I needed to hit it low and to the right. Had a 3-iron from 200 yards on downhill lie into the wind. Hit it okay but into the trap. Somebody didn't rake their footprint which is where my ball wound up. Pretty good bunker shot to 12 feet. Missed the putt (-1)

#7 - 7-iron pin high to the left side of the green. 2-putted from 30 feet (-1)

#8 - Didn't hit the driver great, but it went down the middle. Flushed a 6-iron at the flag but the wind knocked it down a bit. 2-putted from 30 feet. Good run at the birdie here (-1)

#9 - Nice driver down the middle. Hit a decent 3-wood up the middle. Tried some things I worked on with my SW and had the right distance, but pulled it a tad. Hit a beautiful putt, but there was some dead grass that knocked it off line. Good thing is that I had the feeling that the ball would get knocked off line by that dead grass, so it took the sting out of the miss (-1)

#10 - Great drive down the middle. Had a funky lie and tried to aim it at the flag and let it funnel below the cup. Instead I pushed it a tad and it never came down. Beautiful putt that burned the cup and made par (-1)

#11 - Flushed a 3-iron but a little too much and left me with a 40 foot putt. Great first putt that burned the edge, but went 6-feet bye. Made the comebacker (-1)

#12 - Good driver down the middle. Had a 9-iron to the flag, but didn't feel comfortable and practically hit a SHANK into the trap. Good sand shot to 8-feet, but I lipped out the putt (E)

#13 - Good driver down the middle, cut the fairway bunker beautifully. Still a little shaken by the shank and hit a 9-iron well, about pin high to 30 feet and 2-putted there (E)

#14 - Good driver down the middle. Hit a 3-wood very low and skated past a fairway bunker and wound up in good shape. Hit a semi-flop with the LW and almost jarred it. Made the 3-footer for birdie (-1)

#15 - Beautiful driver down the middle. Had a 9-iron again, the same club I shanked on #12 and I was still a bit antsy over it. It was a shot where I could just feel the clubface being dead shut at the top of the swing and of course at impact and hit one well left of the flagstick. That left me with a 60-foot putt. I then 2-putted from there, great 2-putt. Almost made the birdie (-1)

#16 - heeled a 3-wood, but I was down the middle on this crappy hole. Hit a 5-iron flush and it hit the middle of the green and took one gigantic bounce over the green. You can't win on this hole.

Hit a nice chip with a LW to 3-feet and made the putt. (-1)

#17 - Still not comfortable with the irons after that shank on #12. Hit a 6-iron thin, but found myself on the green, 30-feet away. First putt went well short. And then the next putt broke much more than I thought (E)

#18 - Low draw with the driver down the left side. Hit a 4-iron well (it's a par-5) but to 50+ feet. Another really good putt and tapped in for birdie (-1)

I think there is some progress made here. I got to the range and didn't hit the ball well for the first 1/2, but got it down a bit in the second 1/2 of the range time. The putting had some good stretches, particularly from 8-12. The shank rattled me a bit, but I still hit mostly good iron shots coming in. I don't hit this new driver as far. I think it gets too much spin from looking at the ballflight. Oh well.







3JACK

[TeddyIrons]

Nice round 3jack. I notice you hit a few off the heel, particular with the driver/3 wood, and shanked a 9 iron... . Any ideas what causes this for you? Have you changed your ball placement since starting ABS? I've always had a tendancy to hit my 3 wood off the heel, both pre and post ABS.

[Richie3Jack]

3-wood heels should be common in ABS because you can't flatten out the lie angles on those 3-woods...or flatten it more than 2 degrees. I have some plans probably next year on how to attack the 3-wood issue. The shank was probably due to not getting into pitch elbow. Sometimes I get more into punch elbow and the shaft tips out and the shank will occur.

As far as the 3-wood goes. I've looked for some flat lie angles on 3-woods. I'm currently looking at taking a persimmon 2-wood or 3-wood, see how that performs. If it does well, I will ask Lag if he can bend it flat and I will pay him cost to do so.

If that doesn't work, perhaps look at some very low lofted hybrids at say 15.5-17*. They'll still be too upright, but since they are easier to hit, that will take away some of the difficulties of the upright lie angles. I have a 20* hybrid that I still hit quite well.






3JACK