Watching Dan the Man

    Eric invited me to come watch Dan (last name), his brother-in-law, play in the New Mexico-West Texas Mid-Am Golf Tournament at Pinon Hills.  We met him in his cart as he was driving down to the range.  Eric’s father Craig came along, too, and he even rode in the cart with Dan while he played.  It was Craig’s 80th birthday recently, so Dan gave him a dozen golf balls and some golf hand warmers/muffs.  He even gave me two sleeves of Taylor Made golf balls.  Nice of him!
    He had already played one round the day before where he said he shot an 85, but that must have been a practice round.  He said the greens were giving him fits.  I just checked the online results, and he ended up tied for sixth with a total score of 150, a 78 and a 72.  The day we watched he was playing in a group that included the defending champ and some other really good golfer who was wearing corduroys. 
    What I noticed was...

they all drove the ball a long way, and they all had small laser range finders.   One other thing that stood out was the motion they made with their right hands sometimes just before putting.  They would whisk their hand back and forth with a putting motion in an effort to figure out the speed.  I don’t know if this was really effective, but it looked cool and very professional.
    For the five holes we watched Dan and his group, he had three pars and two bogeys.  The bogeys happened because of his putting.  He would be aggressive on his birdie putts and that would leave him four or five feet to finish with, and then he would miss his comeback putt.
    As we talked to Debbie on Eric’s truck phone system on the way home, Eric thought we were making Dan nervous, but Debbie assured us that this was not the case.  Dan does not get nervous, according to her.

10-24-11
    It was great to watch Dan play again.  He is a master, even better than Bruce (sorry, Bruce), and it’s always good to see excellent players playing.  Watching all of them made me want to play, work out, play some more, get a new driver, and a new set of clubs, and, and, and...
    Our JV volleyball season is almost over.  We play our last match against Kirtland at home this Thursday.  Where did the time go?  Where did the season go?  First, it’s amazing that I was able to coach at all considering I just had a two-inch nasty tumor removed from my head at the end of this past June.  Second, it’s been a blessing to coach my daughter and my niece.  Looking back on this season will be so satisfying.  I’m glad I did it.

Until next time...