C.J. Wins, Two Students, and the DMV

9-25-10

   On the back nine, I had earned 17 points by the time I got to hole #16, not the 16 points I thought I had when I wrote earlier about this round.  Bruce had 22 points up to that point, but he blew it wide open by getting 17 more points on hole #16.  Then he got 16 more on the next hole, and it was really over.  The final score was Bruce-74, Pat-41, and C.J.-12.  Bruce and I traded scores on the front and the back for our total stroke play scores.  He went 44, 41 for an 85, and I did a 41, 44 for 85, too.  C.J. recovered and played much better on the back nine; he just couldn’t get any chains going.  He shot a 42.

   On a Thursday after school, we met again for nine holes.  After hole #2, we saw two little girls riding around with someone in a cart...
It turned out to be Melanie, a third grader who was in my class last year, and Missy, her little sister who is in my class this year.  They were riding along with their Uncle John (not their real names).  They met up with us again at hole #4 and stuck with us from then on until the end of the round.  It was a little distracting to have them come along, but not too bad.  They walked with me on most of the holes, but they were so good!  They were silent whenever we asked, and they would hold still when someone was playing a shot, too, except for hole #8 when they ran down a hill there when C.J. was teeing off.  I don’t think he noticed, though.

   I made a really long putt on hole #6, about a 40-footer.  The greens were sanded, so I thought that made it a bit more tough, and also a bit more spectacular.  I missed the green on the left side.  Then I chunked/skulled my chip way past the hole to the right side of the green.  My putt had to travel down into the swell in the middle of the green to get to the hole, and it fell in! 

   C.J. completed a goal for this summer during this round.  He later confided in us that he wanted to shoot lower than both Bruce and me in the same round.  He did.  He shot a 41 to Bruce’s 43 and my 45.  C.J. and I both made our putts from just off the green on hole #8.  Those putts were not of the short variety either.  Mine was a bit longer than his, but he and I both saved par with those long putts.  They were probably around fifteen to eighteen feet.  I had a three-footer to tie Bruce’s score on #9, but it was on the left side of the hole, and I put too much speed on it, aiming for the top side of the hole.  It lipped out and ended up four to five feet away.  Then I missed that one and ended up with a double instead of a par.  Victories are fleeting.  Both Bruce and C.J. beat me this time.  C.J. played steady, steady golf to earn his win.

   After the round, I got John’s phone number.  Melanie really wanted me to give him mine, but I had my cell phone with me and he did not, so he gave me his.  I called him when we played again on the very next day.  The girls did not come with him this time.  I called both Bruce and C.J. after the round on Thursday to apologize about asking them to play with us, thinking it might have been a big distraction for them.  Bruce was fine with it, but he wondered if it was harder for me after teaching all day.  The truth was, though, that I had only taught a half-day that day.  I took a half-day to go to the Road Runner DMV to get the title thing straightened out with the (last name)’s.  Turns out I didn’t need to take a half-day after all, but I never would have known that.  Brandyn was leaving the next day, and I had no idea how long it would take, and I also didn’t know that I would not need to be there after all.  They could only get the title processed for them, but it has to be mailed to them first.  Then I have to wait until they mail it to me before I can take it and have it registered in my name.  As of today, it is still not ours officially.

   So, I called John to let him know we were about to tee off.  He said he’d be there right away, but we teed off without him when he didn’t show up after about ten minutes.  He then showed up after we were on the fairway on #1.  I offered to let him go back and tee off and that we’d wait, but he didn’t want to.  It turned out to be his warm-up hole.

   For me, it turned out to be a birdie hole!  The rest of the round was forgettable, but this was a great start.

Hidden Valley-Hole #1-Birdie #20 of 2010

   My drive was on the right side of the tree, not the side I prefer, but it was long enough to be able to go under the tree limbs of the huge cottonwood in the middle there.  I used my 7-iron, and I thought it was going to be good.  I thought it might even be on the green, but this green is so hard to hold.  I was off the back, and I was just slightly to the left of the hole.  I made a great chip from there, a lean on my left leg with my left foot open kind of chip.  I put it within four feet, and I made the putt from there.