Golf Tips & Quips

I just finished watching last nights replay of The Golf Fix with Michael Breed. The topic was wedge play, which is something I was very interested in, because this is where I lose strokes if I am not able to cozy the ball up to the hole within tap in distance from just off the green.

Mike Southern recently posted an article called I'm stuck in the Greenside Rough. At the end of his article he jokingly said, "Of course, if the weather stays this hot, I may have to post a tip on playing hardpan... or maybe cracked mud..." I immediately commented by saying, "Actually...That would be a good post for me. Some of the courses out here in Phoenix, such as the last one I played, had areas where the rough wasn't grass. It was like hard clay. You can see them in my pictures. Not the easiest shot to execute with any kind of consistency. At least not for me."

As always, Mike responds to his readers wishes, and he followed up with an article entitled, What Rough? This Is Hardpan. After reading this article, I realized why I was struggling with my shots off of a hardpan lie. Too much bounce.

In my last round, I had two shots that were from my favorite distance, which is 110 yards with a sandwedge in my hands. Both shots were off a hardpan lie, and on both occasions, I left my shots well short of the green. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong until Mike explained that on this type of lie, a club with less bounce is needed.

During this episode of The Golf Fix, Breed visited wedge guru Bob Vokey in the Titleist truck, which travels to each PGA Tour event to aide the players that use their equipment. Breed and Vokey touched on the subject of bounce and they confirmed what Mike had taught me. Vokey even mentioned that golfers in Arizona, where I live, need less bounce on their wedges than someone who lives in another region of the country where the turf doesn't get as baked by the extreme heat.

My 60 degree wedge has 7 degrees of bounce and my 52 degree wedge has 8 degrees of bounce. My sandwedge, however, doesn't have the number on the wedge, but I would say it has somewhere between 12 and 14 degrees of bounce. What I should have done on the two shots I mentioned before was take my 52 degree or maybe a pitching wedge which has less bounce and hit more of a knockdown shot.

I'm playing a course this week which has areas that will leave me with a hardpan lie if I miss the fairway off the tee. I don't want to be in this situation, but I am actually looking forward to trying it out now that I have a little more knowledge of how to execute this tricky shot. Most of the United States is experiencing very hot weather, so you too may be faced with a similar situation. Hopefully this will help you as well. Have a great round and always hit your target.

I had a chance to go to Phoenix Golf Fest this past weekend with Bryce. The event was held at ASU Karsten Golf Course, home of the Sundevils golf team. Basically it was a huge demo day. Most of the major manufacturers were in attendance showing off their latest equipment and technology. The only dealers that I didn't see were Titleist and Ping. I was surprised that Ping wasn't there seeing as how the course is named after Karsten Solheim, founder of the Ping brand.

This is the first time that I had ever been to a demo day, so I was excited to try out a bunch of different clubs to see if there is really a difference in performance. Seeing as how I have TaylorMade irons and wedges, I headed over to their tent first.

I had to try out the new R11. I tried one with a 9 degree loft and that didn't work out to well. I have trouble getting height on my ball as it is, so I quickly switched to club head with 10.5 degrees of loft. Much better trajectory, but I didn't hit it as well as my Ping G10.

Next I tried the TaylorMade Burner Superfast 2.0. This club suited my swing much better. The instructor told me that since my swing speed isn't super fast, the lighter weight is to my advantage because it helps increase my clubhead speed.

The Doctor is a Callaway guy so I had to try out a few of their items just to see what they were working with. I was impressed with the Razr irons. I hit the ball really well with these clubs. It felt like I hit the sweet spot every time. Great feel off the clubface. I was told that they are very forgiving. The way my swing is sometimes, that's a good thing.

I moved over to the Cleveland tent because I wanted to try out their wedges. I really wanted to see how they performed around the greens, but they didn't have a set up for pitching and chipping. They felt pretty good on the range though, but like I said I wanted to see how the ball would react on those short chip shots.

I also tried out the Cleveland Mashie that they are advertising all over The Golf Channel. These are their version of a hybrid club. I didn't hit these that well. I've find that I hit clubs that "look right" to me, if that makes sense. For example I hate hitting the Nike Sasquatch driver because of the way it looks. It just doesn't look right behind the ball, therefore there is a mental block which keeps me from hitting his club well. This is the case with the Mashie.

Going back to Nike, I tried my first set of blade irons. I use irons with a big cavity back for that extra forgiveness I was talking about earlier. I hit a few that were beautiful. I can definitely see the advantage to using these irons, but I soon found out that I am not consistent enough to use them. Give me a few more months and I will be there.

After I hit the irons, I picked up the Victory Red VR Pro driver and I hated it. It just felt all wrong. The sound, the feel. I wasn't impressed...Until the Nike rep came over and switched the shaft. I never realized that the shaft can make such a huge difference. He changed it to a Fubuki Shaft and it was like night and day. I began to hit the ball a lot straighter and further. Again, I think it was a feel thing. The first shaft sounded like I was hitting a tin can. The second shaft felt a lot more solid.

Since May is free lesson month, they also had a few instructors giving 10 minute lessons. Unfortunately, I had a tee time for that afternoon at Longbow Golf Club and I had to leave before I could get my lesson. This is probably a good thing because I probably would have been thinking to much about changes instead of just playing.

If you ever get a chance, check out a demo day when it rolls through your town. I learned the importance of getting fitted for the right club. It really makes a huge difference. I know it's easy to just buy a set of clubs off the rack, but if you want to play your best, properly fitted clubs are the way to go. Have a great round and always hit your target.

I visited Kokopelli Golf Club today for a little putting and chipping practice. I shared that I had found a good driving range and I think I will continue to work on my full swing at that location. Kokopelli's range was crowded, so coming here might mean a lengthy wait just to hit balls.

Kokopelli has a nice practice area where one can work on all facets of the game. Besides being too pushy with my swing, my putting has not been very good. The main thing I wanted to work on today was pace.

I started out with an around-the-world drill. If you look at the picture on the right, you can see what I am talking about. The good thing about this drill is that you get to practice different breaks from the same distance. This hole was on a slight incline, so from one angle it breaks from left to right. From the opposite side, it breaks from right to left. One side is uphill, while the opposite direction is downhill.

I did this for about 20 minutes. After the twenty minutes was up, I had to go around-the-world three times without missing a putt before I could move on to the next drill. By doing this, I put a little pressure on myself to simulate game-like conditions. Playing games like this help to keep the boredom away that comes with repetition. It also gave me a positive visual. Seeing the ball go into the hole over and over should give me more confidence when I am faced with a similar situation during a round.

All I was trying to do with my first putt was to get it to within a three foot radius of the hole. This would bring me back to my prior drill and back into the comfort zone. This drill takes the pressure off the first putt. I often find myself trying too hard to make birdie, when I should be thinking about making a good lag putt, which would leave me with a tap-in par.

I moved on to the chipping area. I hardly ever use my 60 degree lob wedge. I am more of a bump and run kind of guy, but I need to add this skill set to my repertoire in order to have a more complete game.

I worked on the drill that Troy Vayanos gave us when he did his guest post on chipping. Be sure to read the article, because I can not explain it as well as he does. The exercise puts an emphasis on keeping the hands ahead of shaft and clubface. As amateurs we tend to try and help the ball up into the air by flipping our right hand. Keeping the hands forward ensures more consistent results.

I am going to have to practice this drill a lot more. I think my biggest hang up right now is trusting that I can make a big swing, and if I catch it right, it will only go a short distance. I have to trust the loft of the club. I figure it will come with practice. It is a "been there done that" situation. The more I practice, the more confident I will be when the shot counts.

I skipped the range, because it stayed pack the entire time I was there. As I said in a prior post, I have to be more efficient with my practice time anyway. Today was all about putting and chipping. I am feeling a little bit better about this part of my game. I just need to stay consistent with my routine. This game can be mean if it feels that it is being ignored. Have a great round and always hit your target.

I paid another visit to Arizona Biltmore Country Club yesterday. I was joined by The Doctor, Bryse, and T-Mose. I was eager to play the Links Course again because I felt that I could shoot better than the 91 that I put up on Monday. This was only my second time playing this course, but I figured that since I had seen the course once before, I would easily better my previous effort.

Well...I didn't. Shot a 92. The front 9 was a bit of a roller coaster ride. I bogeyed the first four holes, which is fine. I'm a bogey golfer right now. If I mix in a few pars, I'm in the 80's for the round. I then preceded to double the next two holes which hurt, especially after the drive on the par 4, 6th.

I hit a nice drive about 250 yards (see my video below) down the left hand side of the fairway. I was in perfect position for my second shot into the green. Unfortunately, that's when I came down with a case of the "pushes". I had a straight forward shot of 91 yards to the front of the green and I put it in the bunker right of the green.

From there, I had a downhill lie out of the bunker, with no green to work with. I sculled it and put the ball into the bunker on the opposite side of the green. I could feel my blood starting to boil. I got out and then two putted from there for a six. Perfect drive. Nothing to show for it.

The "pushes" plagued me for much of the round. I ended up in bunker after bunker. My sand game was really tested today. The fellas joked that maybe subconsciously, I was wishing I was still on the shores of South Beach.

I did have a personal victory on the par 4, 12th. The last time I played this hole, I hit a perfect hybrid right down the center of the fairway. Unfortunately, there is a lake that splits the fairway and green about 200 yards from the tee, and my ball ended up on the drink.

I decided to go with 7-iron this time. I just wanted to get it out there to leave my self with a wedge in hand for my second shot. Bryce jokingly asked me, "Is that your hybrid?" Not this time. I learned my lesson. I hit a great tee shot, put my next shot on the green, and two-putted from there for an easy par.

Now from the sublime to the ridiculous. I bogeyed the next for holes before coming to the par 4, 17th. I was on pace for a score in the 80's. The fairway slopes severely from right to left off the tee. I aimed down the right side of the fairway and let one rip and then I heard, "That's out bounds." "Ha Ha Ha!!!"

There was a foursome of ladies behind us and one of them thought it was the funniest thing in the world that I had hit it O.B. It wouldn't have been bad if she had left it that, but she kept on. "I saw it." "It rolled way down in the ditch." " Your ball is gone." Okay, I get it. Bad shot.

I don't know why I let it bother me so much, but that hole was pretty much done after that. I hit my next shot off a tree and out of bounds again. The following shot sailed over the green and I was left with an uphill chip that I left about 40 feet short of the hole. After a gruesome 3-putt, I walked off the green with a round killing 9.

If I am ever to break 80, I have to learn how to eliminate these careless mistakes. Instead of going for the green after I had hit it O.B., I should have chipped back into the fairway, and given myself a chance at bogey.

Good course management, in my opinion, is more important here in Arizona than it was in Florida. The courses are flat in Florida, and one can still have a flat lie after an errant shot. There are many more elevation changes and undulations here in Arizona. Even when laying up, you have to be precise with your yardage. You might be in the fairway, but may be stuck with a downhill lie with the ball below your feet.

This week I'll be working on straighten out my wedges and irons as well as spending some time on the putting green. I missed a couple of shorties today that would have again, had me in the mid-80's. Ahhh...those testy little 4-footers. Have a great round and always hit your target.