Post-Surgery Birdies #1 and #2!

     It took a while, but I earned my first post-surgery birdie this month, and then just the other day I earned one more.  It was such a relief, and I had told Bruce as we walked along during these past several times we have played that I was working hard to get it (my first birdie after surgery).  

     I had come close on a few holes.  I remember...

a birdie putt that missed just right on the par three #16, and I had a decent shot at another one on hole #18 after a nice pitch, but that one missed also.  These birdies are another signal that I am on my way back.  I am playing well, too.  This past Sunday, I actually played well enough to beat Bruce at a game I chose, escalating skins with escalating bonuses.  This was the first time I beat Bruce post-surgery, too.  He has beaten me in every game we have played since I started playing again... until Sunday.  This is how the birdies played out.

Hidden Valley-Hole #14-Birdie #6 of 2011 and First Post-Surgery Birdie

    I teed off with my driver, and after my second shot I was just in front of the green behind the hill that is on the right side there.  After a nice pitch, my ball was ten to fifteen feet away from a pin placement that was on the top right side.  Bruce and I both had putts from about that same distance.  *On a side note, when I went looking for my two birdies on the scorecards we used, I kept finding all the birdies Bruce had made.  If I were to guess the ratio, it would be five to one. 
    I rolled that putt right in, and Bruce and I usually high five each other for birdies and great shots, but this time the high five meant much more to me; I had birdied again, and it felt like a major accomplishment.  Life is good.  Let the birdie record keeping continue.

Hidden Valley-Hole #1-Birdie #7 of 2011 and Second Post-Surgery Birdie

    This happened just this past Sunday at the beginning of the game I won.  I teed off with my driver.  Dean, the pawn shop guy who talks to himself all the time joined us (he rode in a cart while we walked) just as we were teeing off.  All of our tee shots went left.  We found Dean’s right away, then mine (although it took a while), and Bruce’s must have hit the cart path because it was way up there.  When he pitched out sideways, his ball hit the cart path again, so he had double scuffed his ball on the very first hole, something Bruce wishes would never happen.
    My approach from around 150 yards (8-iron) went on the line I had chosen, but it was a mistaken line.  I thought the flag was on the left side because I couldn’t see it, but it was really up front on the right side.  Don’t know how I missed seeing that!  I had to pitch on from behind the green on the left side, but my pitch did not get my ball over to the front where the hole was, and I was left with a long curling right to left putt that went over a small hill.  It was from around thirty feet.  I thought it had a chance of going in only as it slowed near the hole, and then it surprisingly went in.  I quickly told Bruce that was my second post-surgery birdie, and Dean seemed more happy than either one of us.  He went on and on about it for a minute or two. 
    We found out when I was teeing off on hole #4 that the last time Dean had played, the (last name’s) who live right off the course witnessed him getting a hole in one on hole #13.  They were teeing off on #8 when they saw his ball bounce once, hit the flagstick, and drop in!  It was a double eagle and he had two witnesses.  They were encouraging him to put it in the paper when they saw him playing with us, and it became a topic of our conversations for the rest of our round.  A double eagle!  That is something I have never done, and Bruce said it was more rare than a par three hole in one.  I believe it.
    Next time, I want to relay what I missed out on when I was out of it due to my brain surgery recovery.  Bruce and C.J. had an adventure one day when I was still not able to play yet.  Oh, and I can write about how I managed to beat Bruce Almighty.

Until next time...