Catching Up With Troy and Meeting Terry

     I played the par threes on the front well with a birdie and two pars.  On the back, I had a triple on #7 and a double on #15, though.  Bruce was steady, but he did not play as well as he had when he had played with C.J.  He shot a 76 with C.J. and an 82 with me with matching 41s on the front and back.  We played well enough to help us tie the Bogey Man at +4 on the round.  He had a really good look at a birdie to beat that mean old Bogey Man on #18, but he missed right.  I was proud of my scrambling par on #18, and I ended up shooting an 87 with a 43 on the front and a 44 on the back.  So, we tied him.

    Like I had written earlier, Troy called me on the Friday of Labor Day weekend to let me know...

he was on his way to Pinon Hills of all places to play golf, and the reason he was in town was to see Angelo play football.  After texting back and forth, I met him on hole #7.  The guy in the pro shop, a young kid, let me go warm up on holes #8 and #9 as they were playing in.  I thought that was classy, a real nice gesture.  He could have said no, but he didn’t. 
    Troy was playing with Terry Kiser, the actor.  He is most famous for his role as the dead guy in the comedy “Weekend at Bernie’s.”  I tried to see if it was available on Netflix, and of course it wasn’t, but it would be fun to see that movie again after meeting, playing, and visiting with him.  He is a genuinely nice guy, and Troy calls him their “family mascot”  He has adopted Troy’s family, and they in turn have adopted him.  He is like this super cool uncle to them, and a big fan of Troy, Jill, and all three of their children.
    I played well, and I believe it was because it was so relaxed.  Troy mentioned the improvements I have made with my swing.  I think his only negative/constructive criticism was I needed more leg action.  Troy was teeing off from the farthest tees while Terry and I were on the whites.  Troy’s drives, even with the few beers he had been drinking, were landing close to the same spots mine were, and I had some pretty nice drives.  His swing is still a powerful swing full of violent control.  His head is so steady, and his turn is so long and large for his size.  Once again, he impressed me.
    #8 was a warm-up hole for me, and on #9 I earned a par.  They were playing with a married couple, and the wife, Ruth, was not really playing, but by my joining them all, we made a group of five, and then she really stopped playing.  Someone told on us, so the kid from the pro shop came out and spoke to us on the teeing ground on #10 to see if all five were really playing.  We said we all weren’t (because Ruth really was not), but chose to split up anyway.  I thought Troy and Terry knew this couple, but they had just met.  I thought they were affiliated with Troy and the football team somehow, so I was feeling guilty for breaking up their foursome.  Once I figured it out, though, no problem.
    I got a par on #10, and then a par with an asterik on #11 since it was not officially a par.  I forgot my wedge on #9, so I had to go get it.  Even with a cart, it took so long to get there and back that I met Troy and Terry again on the fairway at #11.  I just dropped my ball next to Terry’s, but I "parred" in from there with an approach, a chip, and a putt.  In all, I had four pars (including the one with an asterik), four bogeys, and one double.  Not bad. 
    Terry left us on after hole #15 to go seal the deal on a brand new Ford Escape he was buying that day at Zeim’s Ford Corners, so Troy and I played in by ourselves up until hole #18 where we chose to leave after we could not find Troy’s drive.  Belinda was waiting to pick us up out front, and Troy wanted to get to the game on time to see his son warm up. 
    It was great to just hang with Troy; we caught up on life, and he was impressed with how well I was doing, all things considered.  On hole #17, he called Coach Lewis, and I spoke with him for a few minutes before playing my second shot.  It was great to hear his voice, too.  I thought about retirement as we played, and I thought about how nice it would be to retire in Montrose and play golf at Cobble Creek every day, or twice every day, or three times.