A Change for (Hopefully) the Better

There is a saying in golf that goes, "It's not the arrows, it's the Indian." That means that it's not the golf clubs' fault when a golfer is playing poorly, it the fault of the player, himself. And while much of that rings true during this slump I am experiencing, I still feel it's time to shake up my golf bag and the mix of clubs I carry.

TaylorMade Aero Burner Driver

So over the six days, I have examined the clubs in my golf bag and made a few changes. Some clubs have remained, while the majority have been replaced--at least for now. So here is new composition of the 14 clubs currently in my golf bag:
Driver: I am sticking with the TaylorMade Aero Burner that has been in my bag since the end of May. Even though I have wildly inconsistent with it--even shortening by a half-inch to gain better control--I feel confident that will soon begin to yield better results for me off the tee.

4-Wood: I have upgraded the Adams Redline RPM 4-Wood that was in my bag with a newer Adams Tight Lies 4-Wood I purchased at Golf Galaxy last Saturday. The Tight Lies is one

Adams Tight Lies

degree stronger, but both are the same length. I used it in my round last Saturday at The Fairways Golf Club and was impressed with the results. I expect to be as good off the turf as it is off the tee.

Hybrids: I have replaced my steel-shafted 3- and 4-hybrids with new TaylorMade Jetspeed hybrids. I purchased the new hybrids last night from Golf Galaxy, which had them on sale for about 40 percent of their original retail price. Combined with an e-mail coupon that I received and I got them for practically cost. These new Jetspeed hybrids have a Matrix graphite shaft and match my old hybrids almost exactly, except the new 3-hybrid is one

TaylorMade Jetspeed Hybrid

degree stronger. It will play as a 5-Wood/2-iron in my bag, while the 4-

hybrid replaces my 4-iron.

Irons: I have replaced my Wilson Staff Ci7 irons, 5-through Gap Wedge, with an old set of TaylorMade 200 irons, also 5 through Gap Wedge. The 200s, which came out around 2002, are a cavity back iron that looks and feels more like a blade iron. I have had very good success with them in the past and I hope they will instill some needed success in my current game.

Wedges: I am sticking with the Solus 53- and 56-degree gap and

TaylorMade 200 Irons

sand wedges that have been the bag for several years. These wedges are the best I have ever played. They are extremely versatile and I like the fact that they are more of a cavity back than a blade, which helps with forgiveness.

Putter: I have played a great deal with a Snake Eyes MCS2 putter through most of this year, but I have been horrible on short putts all

Odyssey XG9 Putter

year long. My last two rounds, however, I have played with an Odyssey XG9 putter and I have been much better on both my long and
short putts. It has a WinnPro X over-sized grip, which has helped my with my feel. This putter is staying in the bag.

So there you have it. Only four of the 14 clubs in my bag last week have survived. Ten new clubs have entered the bag and will comprise my arsenal when I tee up this weekend and the forseebale future. I will keep you apprised of now they work out.

Better Later Than Never

Driving Range
Bensalem Township Country Club
200 Brown Ave.
Bensalem, Pa
215/639-5556

After a long layoff from golf, and an even longer layoff from this blog, it is time to dust off The Muni Golfer. I feel like one of those PGA Tour pros who lost his card and has to wait for sponsors exemptions or lesser tournaments to get into the field. While I haven't been playing, I have been watching golf on TV and it has slowly gotten my juices flowing once again.

Late Sunday afternoon, I dusted off my clubs and made my first foray of the year to the practice range. Looking to knock off some of the rust and re-discover the golf swing that served me so well in 2011, I went to the practice range at Bensalem Township Country Club. I ordered a large bucket for $7, which is approximately 80 golf balls. Probably a bit too much for the first time out, but I am looking to make up for some lost time.

After some stretching, I proceeded to hit 10 shots each, working my way up through the bag. I started off with my sand wedge, followed in order by my gap wedge, 9-iron, 7-iron, 5-iron, 4-hybrid and 3-wood. I hit 10 3-woods off the tee and my last 7 balls off the turf for a total of 77 balls. I tried not to focus too much on results, but as any golfer knows, that is easier said than done. Overall, I was pretty pleased with how I hit the ball. I few early shanks gave me some briefs moments of concern, but then I quickly corrected that problem. My draw is still working, although I did tend to over-hook the ball on occasion. That will straighten itself out with more practice and eventual playing.

Following the range session, I went to the putting green where I spent about 20 minutes just hitting putts. Here I really just wanted to get the feel off hitting putts, so I really didn't worry about results, but just getting the feel of having the Texas wedge in my hands again. I have to say it felt really, really good.

One nice feature this year at Bensalem's practice range was the V.I.C.T.O.R (Very Important Customer To Our Range) card that I was given. Each time you buy a bucket of balls, they stamp the card and once you've accumulated 10 stamps, you can redeem the card for a free large bucket. This is a great incentive to entice golfers to the range for practice.

Well, that's about it for now. What for an update on equipment a few other tidbits in the next few days.

A Sunday Afternoon 9 at Juniata

Juniata Golf Club
Philadelphia, Pa
Yards: 2805/2185 - 4990
Par: 34/31 - 65
Rating: 63.2, Slope: 106
Score: 48/Front Nine
Date: July 26, 2009

Late this afternoon I headed off to Juniata Golf Club for a quick nine holes, hoping to build on some of the success I had during Friday's round. I played the front nine and got off to a blazing start, with a two-putt par at the 1st Hole and a one-putt par at the 2nd. I made a sloppy 6 at the 3rd Hole after pushing my tee shot right behind one of the few trees between the 3rd and 4th fairways. I lipped out par putts at the 4th and 5th Holes, so I was playing with relative consistency. But at the next two holes, my game came apart rather quickly. I hooked my tee shot badly at the 6th and managed to hit a 7-iron over the trees to right side of the slope leading up to the green. But my ball had come to rest against a small stick, and removing it would have caused the ball to move, thus giving me a penalty stroke. I tried to chip it with a sand wedge, but the ball came up just short of the green. After chipping on past the hole, I had my first three-putt of the day and a 7. At the 8th, I hooked my tee shot wildly into growth along the left side of the fairway. I dropped, then pulled a wedge to the left of the second bunker on the left of the green. I skulled an attempt flop shot way over the green and into the creek, so I re-dropped, pitched over the bunker and two-putted for an 8. At the 8th, my tee shot went left of the green into a marginal lie, which I had to play like a bunker shot. The ball came out much better than I expected and rolled all the way to the back right of the green. From there I three-putted for a 5. My tee shot at the 9th went through the big tree on the left and finished in the left rough about a 130-yards from the green. Playing uphill, I hit a 7-iron to 20-feet behind the hole, which was in the very front left. I three-putted for a 5 and a nine-hole score of 48, three more than I had on the front on Friday. My putting was just a hair off today, but I felt I was still making a better stroke than I had been. Also, my elbow didn't hurt as much as it had been, so the ice treatments are hopefully helping. I iced my elbow twice tonight for about 30 minutes each. One other thing became clear to me during today's round. Although the Gap Wedge that is part of my Wilson Staff Di7 set has a stronger loft, it consistently comes up short from 100 yards, a distance I have been able to routinely hit the Gap Wedges from my previous iron sets. So this evening, I replaced the Wilson Di7 Gap Wedge with a TaylorMade LCG Gap Wedge. This will hopefully help me hit it closer to the pin from around 100 yards.