Hitting the New Sticks...

It's been a bumpy ride...

The first thing I did was take them to the range. My shots were all to the right and well short of where I expected to hit them. I had similar results the next range session. Both of these sessions were hitting off the mats due to major rain in the area.

I continued to play the Top Flite clubs out on the course because I had no confidence in the Bridgestones. Then one afternoon I was swinging the 7 iron in the living room and I realized my problem. It was that I was adressing the ball with the club face even with my hands. When I moved my hands forward to impact position, the face rotated to slightly open. If I closed the club face and moved my hands forward a bit (impact position) the club face was square. I took this to the range and I was hitting the ball straight. I could close up the face a bit and produce a draw, and I could open it a bit and get the fade.

I began making loops at Green Caye and while I seemed to have lost a club or more in distance, I has hitting the ball very well. Playing in very windy conditions over several outings I posted scores of 33, 35, 32, 35, and 33. I was calling my shots (draw, fade, straight) and hitting greens 50% or better.

Then I took the new sticks out to a regulation course and everything fell apart. It seemed that I made very few solid iron shots over a couple of rounds. Luckily my driving and short game were pretty good and I managed some okay scores (93 at Pasadena and 95 at Eagle Pointe).

My problem was that I was teeing the ball up at Green Caye for all my tee shots. The result was poor performance off the turf. So, I'm now hitting off the turf at Green Caye and struggling. Last two loops produced a 41 and a 36 (remember Green Caye is a par-three course; par = 27 for a loop). Yeah, ouch!!

Well, if I've learned anything it's that I can always find the answers somewhere in a bottomless bucket.

After hitting the range a couple of times I played Bayou yesterday and had much better results with the irons on a very windy day. Too bad my driving decided to let me down though - I posted a 98 with four snowmen. Two were triples where I hit water or OB and the other two featured a shank off the toe that flies 45 degrees right of my target line. My main problem with the irons was drawing them too much. I hit several long as well so I think the distance is coming back. Rotating the club face through impact produces more draw and distance so I think I'm settling into these clubs nicely.

The J33 Combos are definately a tougher to hit when compared to the Top Flite Tour Oversize irons I started with. They have a smaller sweet spot and off center hits can get pretty ugly. The good news is that I'm hitting them pretty well. I know I'll continue to improve with them and hopefully gain some more of the distance back.

I'm hoping to play in a scramble Thursday - I'll post a report if I do.

-Greg