After a week and a half of balmy weather in mid March, temperatures
returned to seasonal, making GTA golf outings the exclusive purview
of hardcore players. With daily temperatures topping out in the
single digits, I opted to brush up on some golf theory, instead of
testing the weather gods.
My study was focused primarily on golf ball flight laws. I was
interested in this particular field because of the ball flight
tendencies I had observed recently when hitting my driver. The big
stick seemed to produce two different ball flights; one was a
pull-fade that started left, before curving back slightly to the
target line, while the other was a straight pull that started left
and carried straight as an arrow. I would try to execute the first
shot every time, but every once in a while, the second flight path
would result. As you can imagine, a straight pull like that can leave
you in a very poor position.
Both flight paths are caused partly by an outside to inside swing path. No
surprise there, I've known for a long time that my tendency is to
swing the long clubs outside-in, or over the top, as some people
refer to it. When the club face is square to this path, the result is
the straight pull. When the club face is slightly open to this path,
the result is the pull-fade.
One way to cure the straight pull is to keep the club face slightly open
to the path, while leaving the swing path unaltered. This is fine,
except when there is an obstacle left of the target line that
prevents you from starting the ball in that direction. You also lose
yardage on the pull-fade, or cut shot, as other people call it. If
your swing comes really from the outside, the fade can also turn into
a big old slice. A better cure is just to stop swinging from the
outside-in. Ideally, one should be able to swing
inside-outside-inside. In other words, the swing path is parallel to
the target line at the moment of impact. This is easier said than
done, but I simply must do it if I am to improve.
With these thoughts sunning through my head and the weather getting a bit
better, I headed out to Granite Ridge Golf Club. I played the Cobalt
course, which is the site of my best golf round ever, a 10 over par
82. If memory serves me correctly, that was from the white tees
(5,962 yards), while this time I played from the blues (6,480 yards).
It's funny, because at just under 6,500 yards, the course does not
feel long at all to me. Length is not a major factor to me; shot
quality is much more important. After all, a bad shot is a bad shot;
if it's made from the white tees, it's still going to hurt you.
I got off to a pretty good start with a par and three bogeys on the
first four holes. I popped up my drive on the first hole as a result
of teeing the ball up too high, but followed up with good drives on
hole #2 and #4. Hole #3 is a par-3, so obviously the driver stayed in
the bag. The drive on hole #2 felt particularly good. The entire left
side is out of bounds, so the straight pull would be disastrous. I
practiced an inside-out swing path and visualized the club being
square to the path at impact. Sure enough, the ball started slightly
to the right and stayed straight, coming to rest about a yard into
the right rough. It was encouraging to see that I could actually make
that swing.
Hole #5, a par-3 measuring 151 yards resulted in a triple-bogey, but I
played it mostly well. The tee shot must carry the edge of a pond to
a green that is surrounded by water front, right and back. Adding to
the danger, the entire left side is out of bounds. I hit an 8-iron
the perfect distance, but perhaps two yards left of the green. The
problem is that space is occupied by a paved cart path. My ball took
two big bounces on the path, propelling it near the out of bounds
fence back and left. The only way to get a swing on the ball was to
put my back to the green, close the club face severely and chip the
ball to where I could get a clear swing. My third shot was a
Mickelson-esque flopper that came to rest on the green, but well left
of the flag. A speedy putt went past the hole, leaving a testy
comebacker, which I missed.
The remainder of the front nine produced a couple of pars and a couple of
double bogeys. On hole #6, a beautiful 4-iron off the tee travelled
215 yards to the centre of the fairway, leading to par. On hole #7,
the straight pull off the tee reared its ugly head, but that is the
place to miss on that particular hole. I sliced a 5-wood into a pond
on my second shot, hence a double-bogey. Another 3-putt was the cause
of the double-bogey on hole #8, after my driving got back on track. A
chip and a putt saved par on the final hole.
After a bogey to start the back nine, I hit 4-iron from the tee on hole
#11. Again, I hit a pure beauty. The ball travelled 222 yards to the
centre of the fairway. Oh baby! Too bad I hit my 52 degree wedge thin
and pulled it into a bunker. From that moment on, bunkers absolutely
killed me. I hit my first bunker shot fat, failing to get out. I hit
the lip on my next attempt, but fortunately the ball travelled near
the hole, enabling me to save double-bogey with a 2-putt.
On hole #12, I was in the greenside bunker after two shots. I shanked
one across the green, forcing a chip and two putts for another
double-bogey. Following a par on hole #13, I was once again in a
greenside bunker after two shots on hole #14. Two shots were required
to get out, leading to yet another double-bogey.
On hole #15, a par-5 that I consider the toughest hole on the course, I
was yet again in the greenside bunker, this time after three shots. I
overshot the green, then chipped on. A 3-putt finished things off for
a triple-bogey. This was so disappointing, because my two first shots
on the hole were spectacular. With out of bounds on the right side, I
played the patented pull-fade to perfection, sending the ball to the
middle of the fairway. Then, I hit a super controlled 5-iron to the
middle, leaving just 130 yards to the green. Why I pulled my pitching
wedge into the bunker from there is beyond me.
I had one more bad hole before the day was over, a triple-bogey on hole
#17. My approach from the middle of the fairway was a push-slice
that found water. I also 3-putt the hole. On a positive note, I made
par on the final hole, a par-4. In fact that hole featured the only
good bunker shot I made all day. The reason? It was a fairway bunker!
From 130 yards out, I went straight at the flag at the front of the
green. The ball just carried a bunker fronting the green and left a
12 foot uphill putt for birdie. I missed it, but the hole was well
played nevertheless.
So at the end of the day, I shot 96. I calculate that I lost 4 strokes
due to poor bunker shots, and another 4 shots due to poor lag putts.
Had I been able to control those, this would have been a round of 88,
which is where I really think I should be. The ball flight theory
seemed to help me out. Now I need to practice bunker shots and focus
a little bit more on putting.
Score: 96
Putts: 37
Fairways: 5
Greens: 4
Penalties: 2
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