Brian Quackenbush Golf

I guess it happens to everybody at some point. My clubs didn’t get here with me last night. They were mis-tagged and sent to Jacksonville, FL. They should be boarding their connecting flight from Atlanta to Wichita soon and will arrive shortly after noon. This will probably push back my practice round an hour or two, but no big deal.

Titleist came through with the replacement 905S driver. I cracked it on Tuesday, called that afternoon and the replacement showed up on my doorstep Thursday morning. That’s great turnaround and product support!

It looks very similar to my backup, and now that I’ve played my backup for a few days I’ve gotten used to the very slightly different look compared to my old one. I’m just going to stick with the backup for now.

Swing and putting tweaks are coming along nicely. I’m hitting good shots with better shot shape throughout the bag and definitely getting more power (could the cracked driver face be a symptom of the new power?). Today I was happy to be able to vary my swing speed and still feel the club in the right positions. This is normally a very good indicator that I’m swinging well. I’ve spent a ton of time on my putting the last few days and it’s getting where I want it as well.

I’m off to Wichita, KS tomorrow for the Nationwide Tour qualifier on Monday.

I put the new 695MB irons into play today in a recreational round at Woodside. As expected, they’re setup right and perform great.

Unfortunately, after almost 2 years of steady use, the face of my 905S driver cracked today. I expect I did it on the 5th hole because I absolutely nailed one that flew about 300. From then on, most of my drives were “spinny” up and to the left. I thought it was just the swing changes I’m making that weren’t stable, but now I suspect it was the cracked driver.

This driver performed incredibly well for a long time. It’s about the longest-lived driver I’ve ever played. I have a backup 905S, but am not thrilled about how it sets up. It looks a bit closed to me. So, I have a call in to Titleist for a replacement.

Today’s round at Woodside was great progress. I made 5 birdies against one bogey on the Jones course…always a good test. I’m very pleased with where I am compared to late last week when I decided to withdraw from the Monday qualifier. This is about the timeline I expected when I made the decision. I figured I would have more frequent good performance early in the week and get more consistent throughout the week.

I received a new set of Titleist 695MB irons a few days ago. These are the upgrade from the old 690MB’s I’ve been playing since mid-2005. They look similar to the old version and are absolutely beautiful.

I finally had a chance this morning to check the lofts, lies and lengths on my friend Pat Williams loft and lie machine (note to the Woodside guys who know Pat…it’s worth buying him a few beers to make sure your clubs aren’t way out of alignment). I measured my old 690’s first because I had them fit a few weeks ago down at Sea Island. They were all a bit upright which is how we set them up when I was down there. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have set them up like that since my ball flight was tending to a draw and the extra degree of upright generally adds more right-to-left.

The one iron in the set that was off was my 8 iron. I noticed over the last several weeks that I was steering away from this club…hitting easy 7 or hard 9 instead. It also just “looked wrong” and for good reason. It was an extra degree upright compared to where it should have been (so, about 1.75 degrees upright in total). This explains why I was missing this iron more left than the rest of the set. It was easy to dial it back to where it should have been and now I can’t wait to see how it looks and plays over a shot.

There are two things you should take from my experience. First, have your lofts and lies checked by someone who knows what they’re doing. Get them checked as soon as you get a new set and then periodically after that…especially if they’re forged since forged irons tend to bend with use. Second, if you have trouble with a certain club in the bag, it could easily be the fitment. Get it checked and compared the rest of the set.

After I checked my old clubs, I proceeded to check and setup the new clubs. Manufacturers had been notorious for sending out new clubs which weren’t setup to proper specifications. I was very pleased with the clubs that Titleist sent me. Every single loft, lie and length was setup exactly to spec. I stayed with their lie angle specification which was generally 0.75 degrees flatter than my old set. This should take a bit of the right-to-left out of my shot shape. I also added a degree of loft to my 4 and 3 irons compared to the old set which was one degree stronger than spec. I did this because my new Titleist hybrid is slightly shorter and softer than my old Sonartec. Adding back a degree to the long irons should give me better spacing between these and the new hybrid.

I had a lesson with Jack Lumpkin earlier this week. It was very productive and addresses two issues that I’ve been “band-aiding” for a couple months. First, though I was keeping it in front of me pretty well from tee to green, I was starting to fight the left side of the course a bit. This was clearly due to instability in my lower body which was keeping me from a proper turn. Because of this my swing path was getting a bit too much in-to-out. We have worked on lower body stability before, but this time Jack put it to me differently and it clicked in my mind.

We also worked on my putting which was starting to feel less smooth over the last few weeks. I was working my hands outside on the backswing and hinging my wrists under to keep the putter on path. I had also changed my backswing and follow-through length to compensate for the discomfort I felt with this move.

I worked on both changes all week, but didn’t feel like I was making the progress I had hoped for. I clearly took a step backward in order to take several steps forward. Since my progress was less than what I had hoped for, I decided to withdraw from this week’s Nationwide Monday qualifier in Omaha. I have complete confidence that what I’m working on will feel great in a few more days and I will be ready for the next qualifier in Wichita next week.

I missed the cut in Columbus Friday in the Nationwide Tour event. I just didn’t have it this week. The second round was a bit better, but still not what I would normally expect from myself. So, I’m heading down to Sea Island to see Jack Lumpkin on Tuesday for a mid-season tune-up. Then it’s back to the Nationwide Tour for the Monday qualifier on the 23rd in Omaha.

I’m encouraged by a few statistics from the 2007 season so far. Below are the statistics and my Nationwide Tour rank in each:

The stats I keep on the website (which are definitely 100% accurate) are even a little better than what is listed above. Putts per round is 28.60 and Putting Average is 1.739 which would rank me 4th and 8th respectively. So, I’m essentially ranked in the top 10 in 6 statistical categories. This is great support for how well I’m playing so far this year.

Nothing good to report from today’s round. I shot an 8-over 79 where nothing seemed to go my way. The wind was up on a very challenging golf course, and my ball striking was only average. I seemed to get penalized for both my good shots and my bad ones today. My putting felt good, but I had 35 in total. I just went back through the round and counted 12 good putts that either lipped out or rolled over the edge with good speed. 6 of these were inside 8 feet and 6 were between 8 and 15 feet.

I also got a bad bounce off a sprinkler head with my drive on 11 and hit the flag on 18 with my approach shot and ended up 12 feet away. It was just a day where nothing seemed to go right when I hit it well and my bad shots were punished.

I was disappointed that I let some bad etiquette get into my head today. I think it was a combination of hitting a few poor shots and not getting any putts to drop that made this player’s (and his caddy’s) lack of etiquette really stand out. You expect to have a situation like this every so often, especially when you’re in my position getting paired last in these events with players who may not have much professional experience. I know it happens and know to back off and regroup when something bothers me. It’s just very frustrating to have a disruptive influence when I’m trying to make the best of these opportunities.

What makes it more difficult to swallow is that I’ve gotten a few of these pairings this year after playing my way into the event. I’m not sure I agree with the Tour’s tee time policy in this respect. If a guy plays well enough the previous week or gets his earnings up high enough he should be rewarded with a theoretically better pairing. So, it’s another experience that I hope I can learn from.

My number on the money list was high enough to get me into this week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational in Columbus, OH. This event went straight from the money list without consideration for whether or not a player had membership status. I believe this is the only event all year where a non-member can get into the field without any status just because they have made enough earnings. It is a great break for me and I’m not going to look that gift horse in the mouth!

I got into town this morning and did some work around on the practice facility. I didn’t get a chance to see the course because of the afternoon pro-am, but I did pick up my yardage book. The newly-renovated course looks like a bear. It’s 7,455 yards and a par 71. I’m happy that I played Oakland Hills only a week ago because it is still fresh in my mind and should make this course look short.

Not much else to report here in Columbus. I had a great few days off (though I would have rather had a chance to play in last week’s Nationwide Tour event). I feel refreshed and ready to go. I regret that I won’t be able to defend my Southern Open win from last year’s Tarheel Tour. The Southern Open is this week also.

A few good tournaments in June allowed me to make a $1,063.60 donation to the Capital Hospice. Total donations since we started our partnership in mid-2005 are now over $7,500. Thanks to my sponsors for enabling this very worthy partnership with a charity that I believe in deeply. For more information on the partnership, click here.

Oakland Hills South Course is the most difficult course I have ever played. It is most likely one of the five most difficult courses in the world right now. It was setup today at its most difficult with every single hole location as tucked as it could be. It was what golf is probably like in hell. There were 4 holes where you could make birdie with a perfect drive and approach shot. The other 14 yielded birdies to perfect shots and blind luck. You were happy on most with two-putt pars from 40 feet.

The course is 7,445 yards and a par 70. I’ve played long courses before and this is among the longest I’ve played. But, length alone isn’t what makes it difficult. Fairways are incredibly small in the landing areas. Rough was so brutally long that you never had the option of going for the green with your approach shot if you had more than a wedge. The fairway bunkers, which you were hoping to find instead of the rough with off-line tee shots, were normally so deep that your option was to wedge out well short of the green. Then, there are the greens. The speed and slopes are appropriate for a course 6,500 yards in length…not one 1,000 yards longer than that. With a slight increase in green speed and firmness, Oakland Hills South could have hosted a US Open today.

Contemplate this. There are 4 par 4’s over 490 yards in length, 2 of them uphill. One of them, the famous 18th, is probably the most difficult par 4 I have ever played. The landing area on the dogleg right slopes to the left, away from the dogleg. The fairway is about 25 yards wide and is surrounded by bunkers and deep rough from which you have no chance of reaching the green. Should you find the fairway, you have 200-220 yards left, uphill, to a green that is only 17 yards deep and fronted by huge bunkers. If you hit the surface, you better be on the proper half or you must negotiate a “buried elephant” that runs down the center of the green from front to back. The ninth, a par 3, plays 257 to a ridiculously undulating green. The 17th, another par 3, plays 238 with about 10 yards of uphill. As you can see, 6 of the holes are so difficult that par is an excellent score.

I played the North course in the morning and shot the 6th lowest round of the North course AM wave. So, I was looking good going to the South course for the afternoon. I got off to a reasonable start on the front and turned in 2 over. But, the back nine bit me pretty good and I shot a 40 to finish 4 shots out of the playoff in 34th place.

I feel OK about the event despite missing the top 12 that qualified for the Open for a few reasons. First, I essentially played both courses blind. My experience from the 2002 US Amateur was mostly useless since I didn’t remember any of the North course and the South course had changed so much. I was giving up a lot of course knowledge to the guys who had practice rounds or even a walk-around. Second, I was pretty much brain-dead from two weeks competing and a 5 hour drive last night. I felt my intensity slipping a few times during the round. It’s very clear that I need a couple days off.

I’m in Cambridge, OH tonight after phase one of my drive back to Aiken. I plan to take tomorrow and Wednesday off before getting back into it on Thursday. I will find out tomorrow morning if my position on the money list looks good to get me into the Nationwide event in Columbus.