Breaking 80 – New Low Round

Absolutely perfect weather today, low 80′s, crystal clear skies, low humidity and just a slight breeze. My wife and friend Tim headed over to Spooky Brook golf course for an early afternoon round. I decided to play with an old set of Adams Idea A1 Pro Irons I had down in the basement. They have a nice thin top-line, are pretty workable, but have are a slight cavity back, so more ‘forgiving’ than the Mizuno MP-33s I generally play. So I hit the range early in the morning to warm up, hit about 50 balls, and get a feel for these clubs again.

So, onto the score, I shot a 76 (par 71) – 36 (+1) on the front 9, and 40 (+4) on the back. I wasn’t hitting my driver all that well, actually completely abandoned it on the back nine. But, for the most part, I was hitting decent iron shots. Where I really excelled, however, was in the short game and putting. 25 putts, with this new GEL Diamond putter I have been reviewing, went down as my best putting day of all time. I’m really starting to love this putter, the alignment aid on the back is outstanding and the anti-skid insert does wonders on long putts. I actually sunk a 25 foot birdie putt at one point, great stuff. As I mentioned, the short game was spot on as well, numerous great chips and pitches inside 100 yards and a couple nice sand shots put me in position to drain moderate length putts all day. Here, another club I reviewed recently, the Eidolon V-Sole 56 Degree wedge really stepped up. I have such confidence with it at this point that I feel as if I can get close or sink any shot inside 100 yards.

Now, if only I could square away the driver situation…On the back nine, I mostly played the 2 iron or Nickent Hybrid, which lead to 6/7 fairways hit, and for the most part, in good position to hit the green in regulation. So yeah, hitting hybrids all day, ending up 175-150 to the green is ok, but it would be nice to hit 6/7 fairways with the driver and be 100-150 all day

In the bag for this round:

Driver: TM r7 425
Hybrid: Nickent 4DX #3
Irons: Callaway Big Bertha 2 Iron
Irons: Adams Idea A1 Pro 5-PW
Wedge: Cleveland CG-11 52
Wedge: Eidolon V-Sole 56
Putter: GEL Diamond Putter
Ball: Top-Flite D2 – Distance