The old gang was back at it today at Newcastle. Rick, Paul, Dan and I got a very early start playing China Creek. The weather was great, though a little cold early on. Newcastle had just punched the greens last Monday, so they were a bit sandy and much faster than Plateau's greens were last weekend.
Overall I shot a very inconsistent 90. My irons were rocking on most of the par 3s (I par'd 3 out of 5 of them) including my shot of the day on the second hole where I hit my Taylor Made Rescue 4 iron to about 7 feet. Missed the birdie putt of course, but after my double bogey on 1, I was happy to get such a nice par. My Ignite driver was either spot on, or waaaay right today. I had probably 4 really good drives with it, but some real stinkers too. On the 16th hole, I sliced the ball so hard, it crossed the street and hit some people's house. As we roll up in the carts, the guy is standing in front of his house tossing my ball in the air. Fortunately, it didn't hit any glass or people so they thought it was pretty funny. He tossed it back into the fairway. That's an outside agent, right?
My iron shots are getting much longer now, though it is tough to tell how long a given shot will go anymore. One one of the par 5s, I hit a good drive to the right side just off the fairway. I was still 235 yards from the green, so I figured I would just lay up with my 5 iron -- if I hit it well, it should go about 160 or so and I'll have 75 yards in to the green. I hit that 5 iron perfectly, it was like I didn't hit anything at all. The ball took off and flew a good 180 yards with a little draw across the fairway. Wow, that was cool! Fortunately, there wasn't that much trouble there. I also hit a couple of great 4 irons shots that flew long and straight. I think I would have done better today if I had relied more on my irons and less on my driver. A good plan for the next round if the Ignite does not return to it's traditional booming straight drives.
Realistically, I should create a playbook for what to do when certain clubs are hot and when certain clubs are not. If the woods aren't doing well after the first couple of holes (or on the range) start teeing off with the rescue 3. When the irons are working (like they did today) go 5i, 5i, 5i on the par 5s.
The main thing I need right now is a good driving range with good practice balls so I can start to map out what my distances are now. I know they are longer now than they used to be but I don't know exactly what anything is anymore. My 7 iron used to go 125 yards about a year ago, now it is 140 to 150 but I would really like to know for sure what these shots are going like. Does anyone know of a good practice facility like this?
Heh--- I say that like people who I haven't already asked read this... :)