I Get Sick, Tom at Golf U.S.A., a New Golf Push Cart and Escalating Skins with Bruce and C.J.

6-6-11
     It is lunch here at the CTX.  I have already eaten, so I am taking some time to write.  Okay, that first sentence was from yesterday.  Soon after that, I got a headache that was so bad it caused me to get sick in the bathroom, call Belinda, and go home to take a nap. 
    Now, it’s the 7th, but I have already eaten again, and I am taking time to write again.  This time, I hope I don’t get sick!  It started with

some hiccups, some loud hiccups.  Frances offered me a ginger chew? to help me.  As soon as I swallowed it, things got worse.  I knew I had to find a toilet and fast.  I was feeling woozy, so I walked in a zig-zag down the hall to the bathroom.  Between bouts of throwing up, I noticed that the toilet had a sensor versus the usual handle for flushing.  I hoped my head would be big enough to cause it to flush.  It was. 
    Okay, enough of that.  On to golf...
When Bruce, C.J., and I played this past weekend, the big news was that it was the first time I would get to use my new push cart, an early Father’s Day gift from my family.  I bought it at Golf U.S.A. from Tom.  Speaking of Tom, I never gave him full credit for being my first golf instructor.  Not only did I buy my first starter golf set(totally non brand name Mitsushiba golf clubs) from him years ago, but I also took lessons from him.  In my first article in Four Corners Golf Magazine, I only credited Mike Stark and Gary Eagle, but before those two guys, I had a few lessons with Tom right there at Golf U.S.A. at the indoor driving range.  Honestly and sadly, I don’t remember much of what he taught me.  I vaguely remember him saying something about how the trick was to repeat that, to do that over and over again, and I think he was talking about the club’s path through the hitting zone.  I also remember him doing a demo swing for me and taking a big whack at a ball to remind me to freewheel it and to not steer the club.  I was impressed with the power he generated, though.
    So, I bought the same kind of push cart, a BagBoy, that Bruce bought, but mine has four wheels instead of three.  I chose blue, and it is called the Quad.  I did not know there was a three wheel version of the carts.  Bruce said his cost around $139.00, but the ones I saw were all $199.00.  I didn’t even bother to ask for the less expensive version because this was a Father’s Day gift for me, and it was much easier to spend more money since I was the one buying the gift for myself.
    How did it go with a push cart for my first time?  It went well.  I have been having muscle tension headaches (part of the reason I got sick yesterday), according to my doctor, Dr. Lavengood.  I have a prescription for an appointment with a physical therapist in Aztec this Friday at 2:00.  Just thinking about it makes me want to sit up straighter as I type this.  There, that’s better.  I wonder if that is what the physical therapist will be showing me. 
    At the end of the round, I was less tired.  I was still tired (we played a full eighteen holes walking), but I was less tired.  I missed taking some shortcuts that I used to take when I would simply carry my bag, but that was no big deal.  I can’t walk across ditches anymore.  We all pushed our carts through the big wash that cuts through hole #13. 
    We played the escalating skins game, one of my favorites, and one that I know I’ve won before.  C.J. was the big victor this time.  He won all the money for holes #6 through #9 when he got a par to Bruce’s bogey and my double bogey (ditch problems off the tee).  At the end of the front nine, he had won $330,000.00.  Bruce had won four holes: #1, #2, #4, and #5 for $120,000.00. I was getting skunked. 
    It wasn’t until hole #12 when I finally won some of the money.  I got a par with a nice chip to about four feet and a putt that I knew I was going to make before I took the stroke.  I was on the board with one hole, and I had tied the amount Bruce had worked so hard to earn on the front nine.
    This is a good spot to talk about Bruce’s putting decisions for this round.  On two holes, he decided to go for the birdie and the all-out win instead of the lay-up, and in both cases it bit him in the backside!  He ended up losing to C.J. (hole #9) or tying with C.J. (hole #7) when he did that.  He mentioned that he would remember that when playing the back like it was the lesson from the front.
    I won some more money right at the end of the round.  I had this delusion that I might be able to win it all if I would just win the last three holes.  I won two out of three, but that was not enough.
    I think the final score was C.J. $700,000.00, Bruce $560,000.00, and me $450,000.00.  The nice thing is that I am playing with the winner C.J. in an upcoming best ball tournament this weekend!  I hope I can do my part to help.