Internet Upgrade Coming to Our House

We are upgrading our internet speed, so I am currenly unable to add new posts from home.  We should have the newer faster service up and running by the beginning of September, so I will add a new post soon after that. 

Just some quick tidbits:

First, I am playing golf with Bruce (and probably C.J.) tomorrow at Hidden Valley, the first time I will play since school started. 

Second, D.K. contacted me about writing a new article for the fall issue.  I might write about Hunter's Run in Ignacio, or I might write about the tournament that took place at Glacier between all of the clubs in this area, the one Hidden Valley claimed victory for the inaugural event.

Until next time...

4th Excerpt From My Golf Diary

In this excerpt, Eric and I play golf at Painted Mountain in Arizona as part of a time-share presentation deal.  I putt for an eagle for the first time, but the par five I am playing is such a short one, it's more like a long par four.  Each time I read one of these excerpts, I am struck by my enthusiasm.  I sure use a bunch of exclamation marks!  

5-25-00

   Lots to write about so here goes.  Over spring break, Eric and I played at Painted Mountain in Mesa, AZ.  We went for a time-share presentation and deal.  We listened to the speech, but both of our families said no!  The kids sure had a lot of fun playing in the pool while we were there. 

I recorded my best score ever.  After fifteen holes on a par seventy course, I had shot a seventy-five.  What helped my score the most was that I had made par on the first five out of six holes!  Par was fifty-nine on those fifteen holes, so I was sixteen over.  I was very happy!  I was set to break one hundred, something I haven’t done yet.  If we hadn’t stopped on account of darkness, I would have.  FastFeet, our kitten, is trying to eat my pencil right now, so it’s hard to write.

 

Painted Mountain-Hole 11

   It’s a par five.  I think I used my driver.  We were playing with two, much older gentlemen, Fred and some other guy.  Sometimes, the other guy would start a hole and then just sit in the cart and let Fred finish it for him.  That’s how old they were.  I don’t remember the other guy’s name, but just insert some old guy’s name and it will be close enough: Archie, Bert, whatever.  One time before teeing off, he had his pants down and was taking a leak in broad view right there on the course!  It was pretty amusing playing with them.  They must have been in their late sixties or early seventies.  Maybe older!  I’m not a great judge of age.  One time, the guy whose name I can’t remember hit a great drive on a par three onto the green.  He told Fred to go make a birdie for him, and he did! Anyway, on this hole #11, Eric thought he had out-driven me, but he was looking at one of the old guy’s golf balls.  Mine was a good fifteen yards ahead.  The big thing about this hole was that I was on the green in two!  From the white tees, it is four hundred sixty-five yards.  I was putting for an eagle for the first time.  It was a very long putt down hill, and I three-putted to end up with a par.  My second shot, though, was great.  A three iron struck so smoothly it caused Fred and his partner to stop talking and say, “That’s a fine golf shot.”

   Next time, Robby, Bob, Chris, and Josiah at Pinon Hills.  Also, my sixth birdie.  Plus, my hardest earned, illegal, and silly bogey at hole four at Civitan.  And yet one more birdie!

More Thoughts on Anne Frank and Writing

8-13-10

   I am out on our back deck at dusk.  Sprinklers are just finishing up their cycle.  A clear line is drawn on the horizon, accentuated by the dark black below with a few house lights and an orange creamy color above that blends so seamlessly into a light blue that I can’t tell where the orange ends and the blue begins.

   It’s Friday and we’ve begun the new school year.  No children yet, but we’ve had our first staff meeting...

Lifetime Eagle #8!

8-8-10

   Great news!  I scored a new eagle yesterday when I played with C.J.  We played eighteen holes at Hidden Valley.  Here’s how it happened…

Hidden Valley-Hole #11-Eagle #8 of My Lifetime and Birdie/Eagle #18 of 2010

   I teed off with my 5-wood, my usual choice for this hole.  It was a nice drive, but I wasn’t sure if it would end up on the fairway or slightly off of the fairway on the left side.  When I got to my ball, I found out it was just off the fairway, maybe ten feet away.  I saw the 100-yard marker, and I could clearly see (in my mind) the 100-yard circle coming through my ball, so I chose my sand wedge.  Since the flag was on the front, I was thinking it would be approximately 90 yards to the hole.  The day before I had tried to hit down on a ball that was in the taller grass and ended up shanking it out of bounds.  For this shot, I reminded myself to simply let the club do the work.  Another thing that made this swing so beautiful, so relaxed, was that we had played holes #10 and #11 earlier that day, and I had already earned a par on each one.  I had just bogeyed #10, so C.J. and I decided we would keep the par scores I had earned when we started.  So, I counted this as a free score in my head, a score that might or might not count.  It was like a free swing, so I swung freely...

Pole Creek-Time Alone With Dad and Guy

Dad and I on Hole #9-The Ridge at Pole Creek Golf Course

8-4-10

   I was right on both counts.  It was precious time together, a time that I will never forget and always cherish, and shooting a low score on the new course was difficult.

   I shot a 46 on the front, which is average for me now, but not too bad.  Then I did even worse on the back nine, shooting a 49.  Par was 36 for each nine.  It was not my full swing that was the problem, though.  For the first time I can remember since I started playing, it was my putting.  I triple-putted way too often.  The greens, despite practicing on them for a few minutes before the round, were… confusing.  I started by not making a big enough swing, leaving my ball short of the holes.  Then I switched to taking too big of a swing (as the greens were getting faster due to the warmer temperature), putting my ball too far past the holes.  I did make some great putts, though.

August Already?

8-2-10

   Whoa!  We are in August now.  It seemed only yesterday when I wrote that we were halfway through July.  When we get back home after our vacation here in Grand Lake, we will be exactly one week from reporting back to school on the 11^th. 

   We are on our Grand Lake family reunion vacation, staying at a cabin five miles or so outside of Granby this time.  It’s a nice cabin, but it was not cleaned well before Guy and Annmarie arrived.  They called to get someone in here (a lady named Fudgie?) to clean it.  It’s better now.  The Lamberts were here for Friday and Saturday night.  They left yesterday around noon.  Now, it’s Mom, Dad, Guy, Annmarie, Shylah, and our family.  We plan on leaving on Wednesday morning.  Mom and Dad plan on leaving tomorrow afternoon.  They need to get back to be with Emily who is staying with them for a goalie camp.

   We started at Winter Park with a nice lunch at The Cheeky Monk Restaurant and then...

Riverview in Kirtland with C.J. and Norm

Wow, I played well again.  I shot an 84 at Riverview today.  I scored a 41 on the desert side, the front nine, and a 43 on the back, the longer more flat and boring side.  The back nine score included a triple bogey on the final hole, a 384 yard par four, so I had a great chance at an 80 before starting that last hole. 

   Norm chose for us to play the points game again even though he did not feel comfortable choosing.  C.J. wanted to do a best ball thing, and I recommended we do both.  So, we did.  I was happy to play the points game again, and my playing partners commented that it might be because I won the last time.  They were right.  I saw for the first time why Bruce likes this game so much.  It was a small epiphany for me.  Here it is; it’s very simple:

High Praise for Hidden Valley

I played with C.J. and Norm today.  I thought C.J. would want to take a break after playing twice over the weekend in Albuquerque, but he called me and off we went.  I won the game we played, and I earned a new birdie.  It’s getting late, so I am going to sleep now, but I plan on writing about that round tomorrow. 

   We plan on playing again on Wednesday, but at Riverview this time, just for a change of pace.  I am so looking forward to that.  I’ve been itching to play a different course.  I was hoping for Hillcrest, but Riverview will be wonderful.