Chamblee on Weekley/First Day with the New Swing

As usual, I caught far too little golf on TV this past weekend.  Mid-April temperatures in the 70s up here will make that happen, of course.  But I did catch some highlights on GOLF Channel (tm) Sunday night.  They showed Weekley hit a handful of approach shots.  In most if not all of these shots, Weekley made an abbreviated 3/4 follow-through.  Of course, anyone who has played the game likely knows that he's not necessarily throttling back - rather he's working on extending through the ball and/or controlling the ball flight, something that is absolutely critical on Harbour Town's tiny greens. 

I guess Brandel Chamblee hasn't played the game much as of late.  He referred to these shots as "3/4 shots" implying that Boo was taking extra club and scaling back.  sfobv this wasn't the case.

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Sunday was my first round of the year at the home course.  Despite the word that the course came through the winter looking very good, there was quite a bit of snow mold and winter kill damage to some greens.  The good news is that, since I last set foot on the course last fall, the tree removal efforts have continued.  They've opened up more light and air flow to #8 and #13.  The better news is that, after just one lesson, my ball striking was dramatically better.  I still need to work on it, ingrain it, and trust it.  But when I execute it properly, the ball-flight is outstanding and those lost 10+ yards are back. 

I struggled a bit out of the gate, hitting some quick hooks (solidly struck shots but hooks nonetheless) into Holes 1-3.  I fatted what should've been a stock wedge into #4 and made bogey and stood at +2.  On #5 I pulled driver, but just barely had a shot along the tree line.  I needed to keep it low and had to avoid pulling it.  These obstacles were the trigger that I needed to pull off the swing I've been working on.  I fired a 9-iron from 140 to 10 feet and went drain-o for birdie.  It was on and off in the rest of the uneventful front nine and I closed with 39. 

On the back, things really started to come together on #11 where I pulled it left into the bunker, hit a decent shot but left another putt short on the very shaggy greens.  What's so special about this?  I hit 6-iron from 172 and flew it hole high.  I'm BACK, baby!!  After skanking out a par on the far too easy Par 5 12th, things got going.  I rifled a good drive on #13 into the wind, then hit a strong 9-iron just over the green, got it up and down and made par.  Over the green is good - solid contact pays off.  On 14 I fired SW from 90+ yards to about 8 feet, stopping it on a dime.  Left THAT short too.  Grrrr.  No such problems on #15 where I hit the shot of the day, a laser-beam 6-iron from 170+ into a slight breeze to four feet.  If I can hit a shot or two like this per round, life will be very good.  Wow.  Stiffed it on #16 too but again fell victim to the greens.  On 17 I got fast and loose with a 2nd shot 3-wood from 240 and skanked it into the trees, leading to a bogey.  A three-slap bogey on 18 rounded out a 77.  Still, that's a damn good score for me any time I tee it up pre-June, and a heck of a round given the putting conditions.  Very pleasing.