Cloran... second 9... 4/24/10

[cloran]

Sunken Meadow GC. (Green Course).

After my first 9 I wasn't really sure what to expect. Just trying to have some fun again. I brought the 1960 Wilson Dyna-Power irons. I had them bent 3* flat and new Itomic grips put on.

1. Par 4 dogleg left. 3 wood off the tee into the right rough. 133 yards in. Didn't make great contact and left the ball short right. Chipped to 2 feet, 1 putt... par. (E)

2. Par 4 dogleg left. Driver faded into the right rough. I had 150 yards left, but a lot of grass behind the ball. I took one extra club (6i) and hit a good shot. Landed short of the green and rolled up past the hole. 20 feet for birdie. Missed the birdie putt longby 3 feet, but made the come backer... par. (E)

3. Par 4 dogleg right. Great drive. High, long fade. Didn't get much roll, but it traveled a total of 270 yards. 9 iron to the center of the green. Pin high, 25 feet right. 1st put was downhill R-to-L... missed long by 6-7 feet. Missed the come backer putt. 3 putt bogey, arg! (+1)

4. Par 3. 3 iron pushed into right rough, pin high. I landed my chip shot where I wanted, but it ran out and onto the fringe past the cup. Used my putter from there. Hit it 8 ft passed the cub, two putted from there... double bogey. (+3)

5. Par 4 dogleg left. 2 iron off the tee. I tried to cut too much of the corner off and ended up in the left rough. Hit a very high 8 iron over the trees in front of me. Ball landed pin high and rolled 20 feet passed the hole. Two putted for par. (+3)

6. Par 4 dogleg left. Again, cut too much of the corner off, but this time with the driver. Had 9 iron in. Hit it off the toe, but it stayed on the green. Short and right of the hole, 30 feet or so. Two putted from there for par. (+3)

7. Par 5 dogleg left. Hit a horrid driver/slice/power fade off the tee. Under a tree for my second shot. I punched a 2 iron into the fairway. I had 240 to the green, trees to go over (it's a severe dogleg from 150 yards out) and I could only see parts of the green. I ripped a 3 wood dead straight at the green over the trees. I walked up and apologized to the group in front... the ball was 3 inches off the front of the green. They weren't upset at all : "Good shot, man!" Used the putter and knocked it 3 feet passed the hole. Made the return put for par. (+3)

8. Par 3. Last week I hit my Mizuno Fli Hi 4 iron on this hole and ended up long and right of the hole... today I tried my "new" Wilson 5 iron. Hit a very high fade. Ended up 2-3 yards short of the green. Now, this is where playing muni courses can really kill a guy... the ball was sitting on a patch of hardpan with a sprout of grass behind it. I had no idea how to hit the shot. I was just a few steps off the green and maybe 30 feet from the pin. I flubbed my chip onto the green. Missed the 1st putt short and the slope really grabbed the ball as it slowed down. I had 4ft for bogey and it lipped out... ARG! double bogey. (+5)

9. Par 5 dogleg right. Hit a big push off the tee but wasn't too concerned because it's open there. I always seem to find this spot on this hole. The fairway ends at 100 yards and the hole dips into a ravine with thick rough, so you don't want to go long if you can help it. I hit my 53* wedge to the end of the fairway. I had 117 yards to the pin. I hit my PW about 115 on the range prior to the round so I thought I had the perfect club. I hit just the perfect high fade... that flew past the hole and bounced into the rough over the green, huh? This hole has a severe back to front slope so now I was chipping out of the rough, down hill and had a very small margin for error. I hit a good chip to the spot I wanted. The ball released 15 feet past the hole, about as good as I could do from there. Two putted for bogey. (+6)

This is only my second time playing and I matched my career best for 9. That's promising, but the best part is that I did it with 5 pars. That really made me happy. My swing is very far away from a good ABS model, but I decided to dance with the girl I brought today and it paid off. I was quite pleased.

The irons are fantastic. I snapped the 8i at the range yesterday and had to replace it with the 8i from my '71 buttonbacks... I bought a replacement 8i with the same shaft off ebay this morning so hopefully it will be here by weeks end.

I only hit 1/7 fairways, but was always in play and a few times never more that a foot or two into the rough. I hit 4/9 GIR, pretty good given my tee shots... and had 18 putts. This is where I can improve my scores the quickest. Chipping and putting.

[gmbtempe]

That sounds like good ball striking.......obviously short game is rusty off the layoff.

[gmbtempe]

Oh and hard pan with a tuft of grass, depending on what you had to carry I would think a 52 or 56 and take it up steep and down and an abbreviated follow through and its likely going to check. I have to have confidence with that play so you dont blade it.

If I could roll it through stuff you could use a putter or sand wedge and hit it with the leading edge above the equator and play for a little extra roll out.

[cloran]

I was about 6 feet off the green and the pin was another 20 feet on. Without the problem lie I would have chipped to about 10-12 ft on and let it roll out (using my 58*)... I had the choice of blading it over or chunking it on... I chose the chunk, lol.

[pavaveda]

Cloran, for chipping (really short pitching in my case) practice, I've been chipping off one of my carpet strips from my impact bag to rug with 4" squares. I chip from different distances with different clubs using those yellow foam balls or the white plastic ones. The main thing I think it's helped me with is just getting a slight routine set up for hitting these pitches. It goes something like this:

1. Aim the face behind the ball, slightly right of my target (since the face is actually slightly closed and delofted when I come into impact)
2. Look at the target spot (4" square spot on the rug), fix it in my mind.
3. Look at the ball
4. Make a swing that will send the ball to the target spot (best results come from continuing to look at the spot where the ball is even for some time after impact)

That's the routine. As for the swing, I set up with most of the weight on the left foot, in an open stance. Swinging mostly with my body lines. I try to just use my pivot, and I try to finish with the club directly in front of me, left hand close to my left pocket.

Try it out; see what you think.

I think it's helped, and last weekend, I was able to chip in from the rough just off the green to a close, downhill pin. Of course, the hole-out was mostly luck, but landing the ball very close to my desired landing point was all I was focusing on.

P.S. If anyone else has some good chipping/short-pitch practice drills that they like, and can be done indoors, I'd love to hear them.