Two Birdies: One at Hidden Valley and One at Hunter's Run

9-12-10

   I just submitted my article about Hunter’s Run to D.K.  I like it, but I worry about offending anybody, particularly Bob, the owner there.  I know he did not want an article, so I hope he reads it and likes it. 

   I did not play well after hole #4, but I had a great time, and knowing how low-key it is there made for an even more enjoyable experience.  He let me play for free for crying out loud.  Nobody does that.  I did go get some cash to pay him after my round was over.  I think the attitude there is...
“Sure, do whatever you want.  Play some golf, drink some beer or wine if you want to.  Have fun, but don’t hurt anybody or anything while you’re at it.  Walk if you want to or ride in a cart.  Pay now or pay later.  You look trustworthy to me.  Just have a great time and be respectful while you are here.”

   That’s the long way of saying it’s mellow and relaxed there.  I have two birdies to record, one at Hidden Valley when I played with Bruce and C.J. again, our first round since school had started, and the other at Hunter’s Run.

I’ll start with the Hidden Valley one, and I’ll recount how close the competition was with a game I chose for that round.

Hidden Valley-Hole #9-Birdie #18 of 2010

   I was doing well with the game I had chosen when we got to this hole, and this birdie helped me even more.  We talked about how we need to incorporate birdies with higher points for next time.  How we played this game this time, The Chain Game, birdies were the same as pars.  Bruce thought we should have them count for more points than pars, or even better, have them double the points you get for that hole.  Maybe next time.

   I can’t find the scorecard for this round, and that is very disappointing.  I could have talked about the exact points and how close the game was right up until hole #16 when Bruce won the whole thing by hitting the green, getting a par, and winning the hole.  My missing the green at that hole ended my chances, which is a bummer because we were running neck and neck up to that point.  When Bruce won that hole, he got seventeen points, and that was one point more than the points I had worked so hard to earn on the previous three holes.

   I used my Wishon utility club for #9’s tee shot.  I had a beauty of a position to go for the green.  I was in the first cut of rough right at the corner of the dogleg there.  My 6-iron got the call for the approach, and it was the rough that helped this shot end up on the green.  The ball came out low, and that was a good thing.  It allowed my ball to avoid the tops of the trees, and when my ball landed it bounced just to the left of the bunkers heading for the green.  It kept on going and rolling and I kept on thinking it was going to stop, but it ended up on the left side of the green where the flag was.  I had about a 12-foot putt for eagle, a left to right breaking putt.  That putt ended up being short when I was trying to get it to go past the hole.  I had a short putt for birdie, and I had no problem making that.

Hunter’s Run-Hole #1-Birdie #19 of 2010

   I used my driver off the tee.  It’s a fun tee shot because it’s a downhill par five.  It kind of reminds me of hole #1, or what used to be hole #1 at the San Juan Country Club.  Yes, it’s still #1; I just checked their web site.  As I walked to my ball, Bob challenged me to break 40.  He said if I did he would buy me a beer.

   That’s why this birdie was so great.  I had a super start to break 40. It took me a long time to find my ball, though.  I knew it was in the dirt on the left side, but I could not find it for a while.  I kept walking back and forth, and I kept getting tricked by the little white flowers that sparsely populated the dirt over there.  I finally found it by walking closer and closer to the green.  I had only a short pitch, but I had to go over the small creek to get on the green.  I chose my pitching wedge, and for such a compact swing, a bunch of dirt exploded off my clubface.  The ball came out low, but it landed on the front of the green and rolled to the back.  I had twenty feet for my eagle, and I left that putt short not knowing how big of a swing to use.  I had no idea what the speed would be like since this was my first putt on this golf course for more than ten years.  The greens looked a little fuzzy and slow, and they were.  Not as much as the South Forty’s, but pretty slow.  I left it about a foot short, and then I made the second putt without a problem.