Love the 5-Hybrid and the My54's

Written on 12-1-23.

    I got stir crazy this afternoon, so I did go ahead and drive to the golf course to play nine holes.  It was cold, but I didn’t care.  On hole #7, it started to flurry with confetti-like snow, and it was surreal.  I had never played at Pinon Hills when it snows.  It was beautiful.  I can picture my golf ball sailing through the air and the snowflakes on #8’s fairway.  Pretty cool. I mostly went to play with my new Wishon irons out on a golf course, not just in my backyard.

I managed two pars, and the new clubs helped.  On hole #2, I used my 3-wood to tee off, and I ended up just 149 yards out.  I chose my 7-iron next, and I used that new baseball grip.  My ball sailed with a wonderful trajectory to the middle of the green.  I managed two putts from there for my first par. 

The second one came on hole #6.  I used my new 5-hybrid (I used it for the very first time on the previous hole for an incredible tee shot), and I struck another beauty.  My ball landed on the front part of the green.  I checked the yardage, and that shot was 170 yards downhill with a large side breeze coming in from the left.  I used up two putts there, too, of course.  I hoped I would get another birdie, but my first putt missed left, and it was a smidge short.

I love the new 5-hybrid.  I did have those two successful and consistent swings with it.  I did...

struggle with my pitching wedge and my 8-iron little.  The new grip style has me coming into the ground earlier than I would like, so I took some large divots that started an inch behind the ball instead of after the ball.  I will correct that, though.  My feeling with the new irons is, “Hooray!”

I cleaned them all up, and I have lined them up against our file cabinet.  It’s like Christmas has come early this year!  I see the weather looks warmer next week, so the plan is to take them out again.

Until next time…  

Written on 12-7-23.

I had another outing yesterday with my new irons, and it went well, especially the front nine.  No birdies, though.  I had a consistent front nine, and I shot a 44 that included three pars.  I tried something from the book that John, our neighbor, let me borrow called Be A Player.  Pia and Lynn have their players understand, know, and write down their My54’s and their Not54’s.  Here are mine…

My54’s

Aggressive driving

Fluid irons with divots

Relaxed and friendly demeanor 

Plan of attack

Accepting the results of every shot

Not54’s

Rushing after a bad shot

Not accepting the results

Lack of energy-not eating healthy and staying hydrated throughout the round 

I thought about all of the rounds where I have played really well, and that is where my My54’s came from.  After I played yesterday, I added the last one to my Not54’s.

If I do the My54’s, I have more success.  If I do the Not54’s, I do not.  Something funny (to me) happened on the biggest blow-up hole of the round, hole #13, where I scored a 10 on an easy par five.  It was a cluster show for sure, and it will be filed in the “forget about it” box, but there were lessons there, of course.  

What I thought was funny was when I tried the new Not54 idea of not rushing things after a bad shot.  I do tend to hurry after a bad shot, and it didn’t really matter, because I was playing the hole illegally anyway; I just want to get it in here.  

I chose not to play a provisional ball after my tee shot, and I should have done that, too.  The group behind us was pressuring us on many holes, so I chose to just go on, and I hoped I would find it.  I was the last one to tee off despite getting a better score than one of my playing partners.  

I didn’t find it, though, so I just dropped off the fairway.  I used my turf buster, and I pulled it left.  It was a good strike, but it was far enough left that I had to take an unplayable lie after that.  I dropped illegally there, too.  I was probably three or so clubs away from where my ball was, but like I just wrote, it didn’t really matter.  This was a hole for lessons.  It was at this point that I remembered to slow down, so I did.  I lined up my shot, followed my routine, and I was more deliberate than I normally would be when things go wrong.  The swing was great.  My pitching wedge had an awesome strike.  My ball flew towards the flag!  Then it hit the hill before the flag and bounced down into the water.  I chuckled, because I had slowed down, but it still ended in a bad result.

I heard something Iona Stephen said on her Chasing the Red series on YouTube, and it was new to me.  She said she has an intention with every shot (or she tries to).  Then she can evaluate how well her intention turned out.  I liked that.  Pia and Lynn say to rate each shot as great, good, good enough, or not good, I think.  Dr. Rotella says to accept the results.  I like the idea of intentions, and here’s an example.

On hole #12, I had a pitch shot to get my ball on the green.  I set an intention to get in on the middle tier, the tier that had the hole.  That really helped me to focus, and I barely did it.  My ball stopped just past the hill, and I used two putts for my bogey there, a good enough result.