Another Dip Into the '80s

When the golf is good, life is good. And when the golf is bad, life's awful. I shot an 84 yesterday (lowest score ever), so life's pretty good for the moment. The photo above from my round yesterday captures how I feel, and by the end of this blog post, you'll understand why.

For most of the golf season, you see, I've been struggling with the 150-yard shot due to the fact that my 5-iron can't always reliably make it and my Ping G30 4-hybrid is about as useful for hitting a golf shot as a ski pole. Once upon a time, I owned a Mizuno ladies 7-utility hybrid that looked like a hard-boiled egg on a stick, and I used to hit that pretty well, back when I was trying to break 100 consistently. But that was more than 5 years ago, which is like 25 years in golf club age.

So this year, I decided to do away with all my ladies' clubs and switch them to men's senior flex so my bag would be more consistent. This meant trading in my beat-up old ladies Ping G5 9-wood and 7-wood for a 5-iron and 4-hybrid. The iron replacement worked out, but I just couldn't get the hang of the hybrid.

A few weeks ago on the range, I was practicing my 4-hybrid and hitting every shot as though I were trying to murder all the squirrels hiding in the woods on the left. A couple of guys in the adjoining stalls offered their sage wisdom, which ranged from "You should read that Ben Hogan book on getting rid of a hook. Saved my life!" to "How about you try putting your hands like this, and your feet like that?" (To which I was thinking, How about you try not standing so close to me?)

But a third guy chimed in with something that really rang a bell with me. "I tried playing a 4-hybrid once. Never took. I went back to my old 7-wood and played great ever since."

"I think I'm going with that advice," I told the other two guys on the range. And I promptly went straight home and ordered a Ping G25 7-wood from a certified reseller online. It was listed in "good"condition and came as described, with a few cosmetic scratches but nothing that would affect playability.

Yesterday was the first time I played it on the course, and it made a world of difference. No more struggling with shots in the 150-160 range. No more indecisive thoughts about whether to just hit the crap out of my 5-iron or choke down on my 5-wood because I was afraid to hit my 4-hybrid. Just pure 7-wood confidence.

Here's a cropped version of the photo above, taken from my round yesterday:

In this close-up, you might be able to make out my pink ball at the back of the green. This was a shot from about 155 yards back of the center of the green. First time I'd ever made it on in two at this particular par 4. Thanks to my new 7-wood, I made a lot of score-saving shots. Yup, life is good.