The Last "First"

2-3-12
    I played nine holes today.  It was after parent-teacher conferences, and the weather was decent.  I woke to snow all over our backyard. It was on our fence, the trees, the sagebrush, everything except the sidewalk and the roads.  Those were just wet.  I wanted to play golf, but I thought no way.  Then after going to Farmington and returning the belt that did not work in my scooter from ATV World, I noticed how...

it was nice all of a sudden.  The sun was out, and it was warm and comfortable.  It was only 2:40ish, so  I could still get in nine for sure.  I called C.J. first; Bruce was still in school.  C.J. agreed, so I called Bruce after all just to leave a message.  He answered, though, so I told him what we were doing.  He wasn’t going to make it, so it turned out to be just C.J. and me.  Literally.  The weather must have scared everyone else away; we had the whole course to ourselves.
    Before I get to that, though, I did have one last “first” I wanted to write about. When I continued and played nine more holes by myself in early January, I did have a great par save on hole #18, my first great par save.  It was getting dark and cold, but I wanted to finish.  I called to have someone pick me up; Danielle came sooner than I thought she would, so she had to wait until I was done.  It took much longer than I thought it would because I could not find my ball after my tee shot, and I really wanted to find it.  I do not remember ever pulling my tee shot this far to the left.  It wasn’t on the #3 fairway; it was all the way over on #1.  That in itself was a first. 
    Two younger guys who were playing behind me ended up playing through.  It took me that long to find my ball, and since I was so far to the left, they probably thought I was done and gone.
    Anyway, while they were finishing up I laid up to the #3 fairway, the one I was hoping to hit with my tee shot.  I went over some trees using my sand wedge to do this.  It worked.  From there, I ended up short and on the hill, a familiar place I am sure for many players on this hole.  My pitch, my fourth shot, ended up past the hole and at least twenty feet away.  This was a long putt similar to the one where I had for that great up and down on #8 recently.  Too long could have been bad, probably off the green.  No guts to get it to the hole would certainly not work either.  It rolled in!  It was worth finding my ball and making Danielle wait.  Okay, enough of the “firsts” of 2012.