Day One-Hidden Valley Championship

10-15-10


     I am looking at the scorecards from that weekend, and I am upset that I didn’t write about the tournament right away. It’s better when it’s fresh in my mind, but I’ll do my best to recount the highlights anyway.
This was the best tournament (stroke play) that I have played to date. I took 2nd place in the First Flight with my gross score. I shot an 84, 86 for a 170 total, and my net score was a 138. Bruce took 2nd place in the Championship Flight with his gross and net score, tying another guy exactly, so they both got $40.00 in the pro shop, too.
On Saturday, I played with Mickey and Terry. Mickey is the course superintendent who retired, and then, after a miserable stint with a highly recommended guy who took his place and ruined things (I heard all the grisly details on hole #12), was asked to come back out of retirement and fix it all. Which he did. He was great on hole #9 when my ball ended up in the ditch.
I did not follow all of the proper procedures, but he and Terry both said I was fine for how I did it since this was a “mellow” tournament, and Mickey told me how to do it the right way for the next time. Mark your ball in the hazard and then mark the spot for nearest relief. Then using a club from your bag, mark the spot two club lengths from that spot with another tee. Drop your ball between those two spots, but not nearer to the hole. I did not do any of that, but they agreed that I was dropping in the correct place anyway. They both told me that the guys who play in the tournaments in Durango are real sticklers for the rules, so if I planned on playing there in the future, I needed to be aware of that. Mickey said he respected those rules, and he also thought that golfers were getting away from them, and that was not a good thing. I agree. Especially in a tournament, I want to do things right. It makes the win sweeter. Even though I did not do things “properly” for my drop, Mickey said I was an “aficionado,” and he knew I respected the game and the rules and I wanted to do things right. Since this was Hidden Valley’s championship, and not the U.S. Open, we were all fine with the drop I took. On day two, I got another compliment from John (last name). I’ll relay that compliment later.
Terry played really well. He shot a 77 with a 40 on the front and a 37 on the back.