First Few Birdies of the New Season

Fishin' Fore Chips

I've been braving the cold wet weather we've been having here in North Central Texas lately, hoping to finally reassert some sort of semblance of a grip on my game again. The soap box I stood so proudly upon in my last post has become my new battle cry.---"If you want to go low, go short." The ability to judge my chip shots by a matter of feet rather than yards has improved my score immensely. We won't talk about how bad my game got after the recent heart attack, (I was actually struggling to break 100 for a while there--but I digress), let's just say that my picture was in the dictionary next to frustration, and even served as a back up shot for "high-handicapper". The ability to chip within a few feet of the cup from several locations and 1 putt not only saved many a par, but even led to a few birdies this last round. I enjoyed my first single digit (8 over) round in 2 years, and I had a total of a mere 28 putts. After going over my bag something stood out loud and clear---1/2 of my 14 allowable clubs are short game oriented. Pitching Wedge, Approach Wedge, Gap Wedge, Sand Wedge, Lob Wedge, Flop Wedge, and Putter. Fact of the matter is--as weird as that may sound, once I get within 110 yards, I have at least one club I can use for almost any distance, and that each club (save the putter) has at least 2 (if not 3 or even 4) different swings I use regularly. This virtual panapoly of shots has helped my game more than anything since finally settling on a make and model of ball I can stick with for more than one season.

One Make and Model

Now a lot of us will jump at the chance to play a tour level ball. If you have the club head speed for that sort of thing and a nice fat wallet I say--"Go for it!" I used to have a much faster swing, and a little bit fatter wallet. At that time I played the then 3 Piece Bridgestone B-330 S which fit both my swing and my short game. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to stick with one make and model for both your practice and your game. If you chip with range rocks on the practice green--you should know that they are going to release as much, if not even more so, than your average 2 piece ball. If you're out on the real course hitting a 3 or 4 piece tour level ball it's not going to release anywhere near as much. Why this matters is for the very reasons I was talking about earlier---if you can't judge your chip shots to the nth degree of yardage (which you won't be able to do if you're constantly practicing with a different ball than the one you're playing with) than good luck sticking one close when you've short sided yourself off the green. Good luck judging how that ball is going to react to the green when it comes flying out of that bunker. Good luck judging the distance on that putt-----(Well--you get the idea.)

Now I'm not here just to beat up on 2 piece balls. Lord knows that immediately following the heart attack, and the tremendous drop off in swing speed from that point that I was back to 2 piece balls just to get some distance back in my game. But the fact of the matter is that I practiced with the same ones I played. As my speed came back I found a good 3 piece budget ball that fit my new in between swing--and the Wilson Staff Zip actually ended up fitting my game better than either the Srixon Tri Speed, The TaylorMade Burner TP LDP, or The Top Flite Gamer. All of these other 3 were very fine balls mind you--just seems that The Wilson Zip fit "MY" swing. As my game gets better and better I'll eventually be looking for a new tour level ball for next season. (One that fits my swing and one I can afford to practivce with as well as one that fits my swing.)

Three Courses

I realize this isn't always practical for most people--but I recommend it if at all possible. Find a course that challenges you for distance, one that challenges you for shot shape, and one that you feel challenges your putting. If you only have one course you can get to time and again--hopefully it will be the one that challenges your shot shape. After all--you can always move back another set of tees if you need to work on distance, and as far as putting goes, just playing on any course is a challenge in and of itself. Distance and speed are everything, and the greens I'm putting now will be different than those in the summer---even on the same course. I like the three or four different courses in my usual rotation as they stop me from getting too complacent. It's important to get to know a course, and a home course is something we should all have, but familiarity can breed mediocrity if one is not careful. Personally--I'm just glad to be back after it at all. Have fun----and hit 'em long and straight.