It's not the arrows...

There's an old saying that is used frequently in golf: "It's not the arrows, it's the Indian." It is generally used when a golfer is hitting the ball bad and tries to blame it on the golf clubs. I recently found myself in this same situation and had to remind myself of that old quotation.

After hitting the ball so poorly during my first round of the season two weeks ago, then hitting even worse at the driving range a week later, I found myself suddenly replacing almost all the clubs in my bag. My Wilson Staff Smooth Driver isn't working so lets go

back to that TaylorMade R9. And the Callaway fairway woods should go too, replaced by TaylorMade Burners. Why stop there? Might as well take out the Wilson Staff Ci7 irons. Lets see, maybe my old TaylorMade Tour Burner irons would be better? Suddenly, my golf bag started to look like it did in 2009 and 2010.

After looking for several days at my old/new set of golf clubs in the bag, I started to think about the old saying, "It's not the arrows, it's the Indian." And this Indian hit that Wilson Driver and irons pretty well last year. Those Wilson irons made a birdie, three pars and three bogeys on the first seven Par 3s I played this year. This Indian hit those new Callaway woods pretty well on the range this year too. So it's definitely too earlier to be panicking over a few bad shots when this Indian has only played one round of golf and had three sessions at the practice range. So good-bye again TaylorMade Driver, woods and irons. Back into the bag goes Mr. Wilson and the Callaway woods. This Indian is sticking with his current arrows.

Muni Golfer's Darrell Survey

At every PGA, LPGA, Champions, Nationwide and Japanese PGA Tour event, I representative of the Darrell Survey stands on the 1st and 10th tees during the tournaments first round and records the equipment being used by each golfer in the field. This information is then compiled into a weekly and yearly report that is sent to subscribing golf equipment companies. The companies use this information to monitor that their staff players are adhering to their contracts, as well as using the information in print and broadcast advertising. So when TaylorMade claims it is the #1 Driver on the PGA Tour or Titleist says it is the #1 one ball in golf, it is thanks to the data collected by the Darrell Survey.

While no one from the Darrell Survey has ever looked in my bag before I started a round of golf, I do keep a record of the equipment I use during every round I play each year. So here then is my version of what the Darrell Survey's year end report would have contained for the Muni Golfer for the 2011 season. In the 13 rounds I played last year, I used one driver, seven fairway woods, 3 hybrids, one 4-iron, two sets of irons (5-GW), three wedges, four putters, seven golf balls and three golf gloves.

Here's a breakdown:

Drivers:
Wilson Staff Smooth

 Fairway Woods:
Adams Redline RPM 4-wood, Sonartec SS-07 4-wood, TaylorMade Burner 3-wood, TaylorMade Burner 5-wood, Adams Fast 10 3-wood, Adams Fast 10 5-wood, Golfsmith XPC Plus 4-wood

Hybrids:
Tommy Armour 845, TaylorMade Raylor

4-iron:
TaylorMade r7 CGB

Irons (5-GW):
TaylorMade Burner, Wilson Staff Ci-7s

Wedges:
Solus 53-degree, Solus 56-degree, Solus 59-degree

Putters:
Odyssey White Hot XG #9, Odyssey White Hot Tour #9, Odyssey White Hot Rossie, Snake Eyes MCS-2

Golf Balls:
Maxfli Revolution, Maxfli Fire, Wilson Staff Zip, Titleist Prototype #1, Titleist Prototype #2, Titleist NXT, Titleist DT SoLo

Golf Gloves:
adidas Exert, FootJoy Sta-Soft, FootJoy SciFlex

Range of Confusion

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

After my mediocre first round to start the season, I headed back to the practice range at Bensalem Country Club late yesterday afternoon. I ordered a large bucket of balls and set about working on the one part of my game that gave me the most trouble during the opening round--driving off the tee on Par 4s.

After some stretching and swinging my Sklz Gold Flex swinger trainer, I warmed up by hitting 10 sand wedges. After another 10 swings with the Gold Flex, I hit 10 4-hybrids off the tee. These shots were slight draws with decent yardage. After a few more swings with the GF, I hit 10 5-woods off the tee. These were some of the worst shots I've hit this year--low slices. They were so bad, I didn't even try to hit my 3-wood, but moved instead to the driver, another club that gave me problems in my opening round. Yesterday was no better. I hit some duck hooks, but mostly fades to the right. It got so bad that I began trying to hit a fade off the tee instead of my normal draw. No matter what I tried--changing my stance, grip, etc.--I couldn't hit the ball right-to-left. After hitting confusing and frustrating shots with my driver, I put it back in the bag.

I finished up by hitting 10 chips and pitches with my pitching and gap wedges, followed by six 7-irons to finish off a very disappointing practice session. Because of the time, I skipped going to the putting green. I may go back to a shorter TaylorMade Burner instead of my Wilson Staff Smooth Driver for my next round this weekend in the hopes that it will get my swing back on track. I think that playing on a course, no matter how bad I play, may be the only thing that will get me back into the groove I had through most of last season.

First Round is Far From Par

The Fairways Golf & Country Club
Warrington, Pa
Yards: 2255/2248 - 4503
Par: 32/33 - 65
Rating: 62.1, Slope: 104
Score: 51/39 = 90
Date: May 19, 2012

I finally teed it up for the first round of the season last Saturday at The Fairways Golf & Country Club in Warrington, Pa. I like this course because, at just over 4500 yards, it is an easy course to walk. The course has seven Par 3s and 11 Par 4s. It was in excellent shape and the weather was beautiful; a sunny day that wasn't too warm with a light breeze.

 The Fairways Front 9

My round got off to an ominous start when I topped my opening drive short of the ladies' tees. I recovered to hit my hybrid to just over 100 yards, then skulled my pitch shot over the green, duffed my chip then four-putted for a 9. The second hole hole was an almost duplicate of the first, except I hooked my tee shot out-of-bounds and skulled a bunker shot into a marshy area. Back-to-back 9s to open my round. The next two holes are Par 3s and I managed a par and a bogey, before again hooking my tee shot to the left for another double bogey. I hit my tee shot at the 284-yard Par 4 5th Hole into the creek, but recovered to walk away with bogey. I missed a short par putt at the 168-yard 7th Hole, but blew my tee shot at the 8th Hole way right and three-putted for an 8. A par at the 133-yard 9th Hole left me with a 51 on the scorecard for the first 9 of the season.

 The Fairways Back 9

The second nine started like the first, with a semi-pulled tee shot and a duffed chip for another double bogey. But then my game seemed to settle down a bit, although I still had problems finding the fairway on the Par 4s. After another bogey at the 11th Hole, I made my first birdie of the year at the 150-yard Par 3 12th hole, rolling my tee shot up to three feet. I missed par putts at the next two holes, then parred the Par 3 15th and Par 4 16th. I closed out my round with bogeys at 17 and 18 for an inward 39, only 6 over par. That left with a total of 90 for the round.

 My birdie hole--Par 3 12th Hole

I was extremely disappointed with how I hit the ball off the tee with my driver and 3-wood. It alost like I never went to the driving range the previous two weeks. I was either hitting duck hooks or hitting it thin off the heel of the club. My chipping and pitching were also very suspect as I left several shots short of the green. I did, however, play the Par 3s extremely well, making a birdie, 3 pars and 3 bogeys. And my putting was better than I thought it would be, although I did miss a few short putts. It is still early and the only I am going to bring my game around is practice and play rounds.