A Scramble for Par and Don and Bill

7-26-10

   Okay, so it’s not tomorrow, but here it is.  We were confident that we would only give the Bogey Man four strokes on the back, but we didn’t.  The back can be easier sometimes, but not this time.  We shot a 42, which was also my final score on the back.  Since par on the back is 35, we gave him seven strokes, but at least we got him on the front. 

   I would like to go back to the front to write about hole #8.  I really wish C.J. had earned a par on this hole, but he missed his putt for par.  His drive landed his ball up against the fence that borders #13.  From there he made a fantastic save/approach that actually landed on the green, but rolled off just a bit on the left side.  His birdie putt from off the green came up short, and he almost made that putt for par, but it was not meant to be. 

   I, however, made my best par save of the summer.

Three Young Kids and an Old Guy

This post is from earlier this summer when I played in two volleyball tournaments with my two children and my niece and nephew. Our team name was The Frying Pan Wolves (we picked nouns from a hat), but we became known as three young kids and an old guy around the tournaments. I get to the golf about halfway through the post.

7-3-10
In the Settin’ in the Sun tournament, we took 3rd. We took 3rd out of four teams, but hey, we got 3rd. We also, however, took one game off of everybody we played.
In pool play, we beat the eventual winners in one game. Their team was called The Campfire Girls even though they had two guys on their team, George and his son Reed.

3rd Excerpt from My Golf Diary

7-22-10

     In this third excerpt, I noticed that I used the word "hit" most of the time.  Now, I use the word "swing" instead because of what I learned from Mike and Gary, the former head pros at San Juan Country Club and Hidden Valley respectively when I took lessons from them.  It took years and years to figure this out, but I do NOT "hit" the golf ball, I "swing" the golf club, and the ball gets in the way.  I also record my fourth and fifth birdies ever, although I had two "fourth" birdies, one on a life-size computer game at Dave and Busters's and one at Civitan, the par three course in Farmintgton.  I took James and Danielle with me to Civitan, and since it is dated the year 2000, they would have been seven and five years old respectively.  This August, they will be seventeen and fifteen. I end by writing about how I felt golf should be played.  

3-2-00

Whoa!  2000!  A new millennium of golf.  I’ve got a lot of catching up to do including two more birdies.

Frank McCourt, Cabin Musings, and Money

7-16-10

   We are on the downhill slide now.  Yesterday it was only halfway through July, but now we are done for.  Now, it’s past the middle of July; summer might as well end at midnight tonight.  Okay, not really.

   I brought Teacher Man up to the cabin to read again.  I love that book, and I admire that man, Frank McCourt.  I look up to him as a person and a writer.  I want to write just like he does, but make it my own.  Sounds contrary, doesn’t it, but when I read his words, my mind does happy flips.  He had a gift; he wrote from the hip, and my eyes roll right over the words happy and satisfied to be taking them all in, impressed and content with the fact that this man knew how to write, knew how to put words and stories together in the most satisfying and entertaining ways.  No wonder he earned a Pulitzer Prize.  He was a master!

   The greatest compliment I can give him is that his books make me want to do what I am doing right now, write.

Little 3-Club Tourney and C.J.'s Curse

7-10-10

   I won a golf tournament today!  It was a small tournament and an unofficial one, but hey, a win is a win.  I will continue to downplay it here, but I do know that any win is a good win.  I did what I needed to do, and I got it done.

   C.J. called me earlier this week and left a message saying that Hidden Valley was hosting a 3-club tournament on Saturday.  I assumed that Bruce and C.J. were planning on playing in it, too, so I didn’t call him back; I just showed up this morning.  He wasn’t there.  Tom told me I would be playing with three other guys.  One of them was named Rocky, and I met him right there at the register.  He was one of the guys playing in the group ahead of us when I played with Chris.  We passed them that day when we made the turn since they were playing slowly.  I think they are all about having fun, and not so serious about golf.  I overheard Tom say they usually can get pretty “sauced” by about the 16^th hole.  After it was over today, I heard Rocky tell Doug (last name) that he got an 8, and then he got a 9, and then a 10.  Yes, not so serious about golf; I think that’s true. 

Thank You, Yoda and Chewie

7-9-10

   Chris asked me to be a part of his foursome the day after the 4^th of July when I had played alone.  I wrote a tidbit about that earlier (in my journal, but not in this blog), but it was very nice of him to ask me.  C.J. showed up when we were about to head over to the tee box on #1, and I had a slight awkward moment when Bruce also pulled up in his jeep, or maybe Bruce had the awkward moment, I don’t know, but I don’t want to speak for him.  He apologized for not calling me to ask me to play that morning, but I obviously couldn’t play with him since I was riding in a cart about ready to go play with another group.  I felt like I was "cheating," and he felt bad for not calling.  It was a tad awkward.

Planet VickiJoan

7-5-10


The following post tells the story of my first visit to Planet VickiJoan last year.


7-8-09


   I played at Civitan the week before the Classic with Vicki and Joan, two of my friends from the Bisti Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project that encourages teachers to see themselves as writers in order to become better teachers of writing. This was the first official golf outing for what we members affectionately call 'The BWP', and it was delightful and refreshing. We played a different version of golf that day, and it was a jolting reminder of what it was like when I first started playing golf. We went to a planet I’ll call Planet VickiJoan.

Meanwhile, Back on Planet VickiJoan

  Last Friday, I played with Vicki and Joan again, two of my friends from the Bisti Writing Project.  I played with them last year for the first time, and they are members of the Western New Mexico Lunatic Fringe League (great name).  Follow this link to check out their blog/site: wnmlfgolf.blogspot.com/.


  After this post, I will copy and paste the entry from my journal that tells what happened the first time we played for my next post.  If you want to read it in chronological order, read that post first.

7-5-10

   I just put away my clothes.  Cell phone is charging.  It’s the day after the 4^th of July, and I am relaxing and writing.  And, I just finished playing golf with Chris, Tim, and Pat.  I asked Chris to see if he could play with me yesterday on the 4^th of July.  I tried Bruce and C.J., too, but because of the holiday nobody could (or would) play with me.  So, I played by myself.  We did have a big family get-together at the (last name's), so I only played nine holes.  Because of the volleyball tournament, playing nine holes was just right.

   I have the Planet VickiJoan experience to share, so I’ll start with that.

   Playing with Vicki and Joan again was fantastic.