The Great Game Continued and My 12th Birdie

    Hole #18 was incredible; we all got birdies!  Here’s how I got mine with a little bit about how they got theirs thrown in. 

Hidden Valley-Hole #18-Birdie #12 of 2011 and Eighth Post-Surgery Birdie

    I chose not to go for the fairway on #3 this time.  My drive ended up right, but I had a decent lie.  The problem was the trees were in my way.  My consistent ball flight is a draw or straight.  I rarely fade or slice, but now I was forced to try and do that, and I failed in an epic way.  I did everything I knew about slicing to try and get it to go that way.  I moved my left foot back, I made my swing more upright, I gripped the club tighter and I made a faster swing, but...

my ball still moved right to left.  It ended up over by hole #3’s green.
    I love my Wishon wedge.  I made a great pitch with it, and I had a great result again, almost as good as the floppy pitch I had done earlier on hole #15.  This pitch was about fifty to sixty yards, though, not twenty to thirty.  My ball ended up right of the hole about three feet away.  I had a downhill putt that could easily move left with the slope, but how much? 
    C.J. ended up about six to seven feet away on the same side I was on, and he was putting for birdie, too.  Bruce was on the other side with an uphill birdie putt, and he was a little closer than C.J., but not as close as mine.  C.J. went first.  Birdie!  Then Bruce.  Another birdie!  I mentioned something about the pressure that was on me to make this after they had made theirs.  On these kind of putts, practice has shown me that picking out a spot just above the hole and putting to that spot is the best bet.  It’s like putting to a hole that is above the hole, but I always pick out really tiny spots or discolorations.  It worked again!  We all birdied this hole, and I am certain that that is a first for us.

    I was done, though, at that point.  I shook hands and walked off the green to leave.  I do not have a full year’s membership like they do, and I had only paid for nine holes, so I was going to go home.  I had work to do at school and at home like always, anyway. 
    It was not until I got halfway to where I had parked the truck that I noticed it was gone!  Belinda had come to pick it up with one of the kids so they could have a vehicle.  I thought about calling them to pick me up, and then I thought about playing some more?  Hmmm.  Call or play some more?  I ran back to the #1 tee and caught Bruce and C.J. just as they were teeing off. 
    I had made it back, and I was the International player again for the first three holes.  The United States team was still one up as we started the front nine.
    I need to take a break.  I am uncomfortable writing here in the back seat.  Danielle is driving now, and we are halfway to Denver on this long, long road trip.  See you again soon.