I'm Back, Baby!

I wrote recently about discovering the Srixon Soft Feel ball.  I played one by accident, when my ball-hawking wife tossed it to me. I had asked for another ball after a particularly poor iron shot, and she tossed me the Soft Feel thinking it was a Z Star.  After a few holes playing this ball, I couldn't help but notice I was hitting it farther.  So I bought a dozen and have been trying them out.

I used to be a pretty big hitter, but, with my ailing back and expanding waistline, my tee shots have been steadily shrinking to the point where par fives are all pretty much three shotters.  My Hogan blades, though pretty to look at, have not been producing many shots worth talking about, and I was accepting that this was going to be the new normal for me.

Suddenly, with this new golf ball, I'm back to hitting the ball where I was hitting it ten years ago; not where I was hitting it as a thirty year old, but plenty far enough.  I have always said that distance wasn't that important, but that was easy for me to say when I was hitting it long enough to be able to get home on most, if not all, of our par fives, which are only five hundred yarders.

On our number ten hole, which measures four hundred and twenty yards, I'm suddenly getting my tee ball to the one fifty again.  Instead of having to come in over the pond on my second shot from one seventy five, or eighty, I'm able to stop worrying and hit a smooth seven iron.  It makes a big difference.

Yesterday, on our four hundred and seventy seven yard par five thirteenth, I hit a three wood and a twenty two degree hybrid to a foot and a half for my eagle.  With a Titleist Pro V, it was a three shot hole using those same clubs. I'm getting long, baby!  Hell, since I started using that ball, I've been standing taller, walking faster; the Missus even says I'm a better lover!

Now, as far as my scores are concerned, I'm missing some shots long and in places I didn't miss them before.  I'm not spinning wedges back, and I'm still figuring out club selection, so I haven't been scoring that well. I shot 74 the other day, bogeying the last two holes.  I played a practice round with Kathryn the other day where I had seven birdies, but only played sixteen holes.  I went out in 45 the other day and was ready to commit Hari Kari, but came home in 34 with a sloppy bogey on eighteen, so there's hope if I can get my yardages figured out. 

So, if you are like me, getting a bit long in the tooth and thick around the waist, perhaps it's time to try one of those low compression balls like the Srixon Soft Feel.  I would never have believed the extra distance they give me.  Hell, I think I could be a player using them; if I could putt.  And switching balls beats the hell out of going to the gym; or, worse still, going to the pool and doing water aerobics with the Missus!