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:

When I hit more fairways and greens, my scores are lower.  Wow, no kidding?!

   Because of the points game, the best ball game, the smaller spaces on the scorecards there, and our three scores filling it all up, I did not have room to chart this round, but I am going to do it from memory since I know it was a good round as far as the stats go for me.  I know that I had five pars on the front and five pars on the back, and I won the points game.  The final score for the points game was: Me-71, Norm-36, and C.J. 35. 

   I thought my stats would be better, but they were still good.  I hit eight fairways out of thirteen and seven greens in regulation.  I used eighteen putts on the front and eighteen putts on the back.

   Two songs popped into my head when I played today.  I left some of my first putts short, so one of those songs was “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing.”  Thankfully, I made most of those second putts, though.  I had two triple-putts, one on hole #7 and the other on #17. 

   The other song came to me on hole #13, the straight par five.  I missed the fairway to the right.  My ball was in some cut up weeds just inches from the uncut weeds and rough, but my 7-iron got me back on track leaving only 100 yards to the green.  This other song is by Aerosmith.  Instead of “I’m Back in the Saddle Again,” it’s “I’m Back on the Fairway Again.”

   I enjoyed playing with Norm again, Bruce’s brother-in-law through marriage.  He’s from St. Louis, Missouri, and he’s heading back home on Saturday.  He caught me off guard twice with his yardage joke/trick.  I must be really eager to help someone with the distance to the center of the green, because twice he said, “I wonder what the yardage is here.”

   Both times he said it, though, he was standing right next to a yardage marker.  Both times I fell for it, but I was a little quicker the second time to catch myself—a second after I had told him it was 150 yards. 

   Norm had two great birdies, one on hole #3, the downhill par three, and the other on hole #5, the shorter par five.  He put his tee shot on #3 four feet from the hole, and he hit the green in regulation on #5 from the dirt followed by a long putt of about fifteen feet.

   I remembered something about my round with Bill and Don that I wanted to recount here too.  Bill has only played for a year and a half.  I mentioned he was from Nigeria and that he worked for Conoco Phillips, but I didn’t mention his Nigerian accent.  It was outstanding; I could listen to him talk all day.  I heard him talking with his deep voice on the phone to someone on hole #18, “I em on dee golf cowurse right now.”

   He also told the story of his “rookie-ness.”  When he first started, he unknowingly stepped on someone’s line.  He said, “Dey yelled et mee.  Dey were so upset abowt it. Of cowurse I had no ideea it was wrong.  It wuz ownlee my second time to play.”

   C.J. and I talked about how well I played when he was giving me a ride home.  He said he was eager for me to take on Bruce when he returns.  I told him that I am still a 16, and Bruce is still a 10, but I knew what he was saying.  I am playing some of my best golf right now.  I know it’s not where I want to be, but I am feeling confident.  That terrifies me to even write that, though.  I know one thing about golf, and that is as soon as I think I’ve got it, it will make me pay.  C.J. said what I have been thinking lately, though.  He said it’s just a matter of time before I break 80.  I hope he’s right.  I really do.