Also written on 12-8-12
I played with Bruce and Reilly today. I really wanted to play those holes I had missed, so I forced the issue with Bruce to see if he and Reilly would be game. I told him I wanted to play a weird ten holes starting with #15 and going to #18. After that, I wanted to go over to #4 since I was one under after playing with C.J. on Wednesday to see if I could finish that nine holes even or possibly under par. They, of course, were fine with it. They were...
happy to play; it didn’t matter where we started to them.
I did okay. I got a bogey on #15. Bruce decided escalating skins with bonuses for the game, so that helped me get my mind off the low score I was trying for. We all tied with bogeys on our first hole.
Bruce’s tee shot got inside mine for the bonus on #16. We both got pars to push the money to #17. Bruce was ahead $10,000.00 by earning the first bonus.
On #17, Bruce got a par again to our bogeys, so he got another big chunk of change: $60,000.00. Reilly had a putt for par from less than 4 feet to tie, but it lipped out. Bruce teased Reilly after he made his par putt, “That’s a four.”
Reilly said, “I know.”
After Reilly missed, Bruce said, “Cash is good.”
I relaxed on #18 since I had already earned a birdie with James, but I got a birdie again anyway.
Hidden Valley Golf Course-Hole #18-Birdie #44 of 2012
I saw two guys waiting on #3, so I decided to stick with the fairway I was on. I missed, though. Pulled it. I think I subconsciously pulled it; I like playing from #3 anyway. We yelled a fore warning, but thankfully nobody was down there.
When I got to #3’s fairway, those two guys were down there as well. The guy who played first pushed his shot over to our hole, so I quipped, “You play my hole and I’ll play yours.”
When it was my turn, they waited and watched. My pitching wedge put my ball right on the left side of the green where the hole was. They were very complimentary. I had a putt for eagle forthcoming.
Bruce was just off the green in two shots, but he rolled his ball just a bit too far. I asked him to mark his ball to the left to clear the way for my putt. My eagle putt was barely long enough; it stopped just to the left of the hole and I was a tad disappointed that I had not rolled it past the hole, but Bruce reminded me that tap-ins for birdies are always nice, and yes, they are.
That hole had earned me $40,000.00, but Bruce had a commanding lead. It was crowded over by #4, so we decided to just continue on to #1. I figured I would just keep playing if they chose to leave after #3, which is what they ended up doing.
On #1, I teed off first. My drive was smooth and straight. Bruce said, “There’s your winner.”
He was right. He tried to hit a “bender” (his words for a draw) to get his ball to roll past mine, but his ball went too far to the left. Reilly had a super drive, but it ended up not going as far as we all thought it should have. They tied with pars, and I got a bogey, but I had won the bonus of $30,000.00. Bruce and I were tied.
It didn’t last long. Bruce used his 9-iron to pure his tee shot on #2. His ball was in a great position below the hole. My ball kicked across the ditch, and I managed a bogey. Reilly was on the green, but he left his first putt short. It didn’t matter. Bruce nailed his 30 foot putt for birdie. He had just earned another $90,000.00 with another bonus and win. Again he said, “Cash is good.”
On the teeing ground at #3 we all agreed that the winner would take all. That was generous of Bruce because at this point he had really won the game. The only amount of money left to earn was $70,000.00 since this was the seventh hole. We both wanted to give Reilly a chance to take it all, though.
My drive went to the right again. Arrgghhh! Wait. It wasn’t that bad. It went past the cottonwood when I was certain it was going to hit it. I had a pitch from just below the green this time. Bruce made an alignment error for his approach. His ball went through the tree, hit the hill, and rolled down into the “concrete” bunker. I told him to take it out without a penalty and call it “fall rules.” He and C.J. never play out of that bunker because it’s mostly hard ground with a dusting of dirt on top. My pitch went past the hole and off the green on the left side, but I putted it back onto the green to within a couple of feet. It was enough to win the match. Bruce got a bogey and Reilly ended with a double. I should have told them both before they left, “Cash is good.”
I went on alone to finish the round I had started with C.J. on Wednesday. I got another birdie, this time on hole #5 and it was a weird one.
Hidden Valley Golf Course-Hole #5-Birdie #45 of 2012
I teed off with my driver, of course. I was wearing jeans, so I was carrying only two golf balls in my pocket; it’s more comfortable that way and I switched from carrying three to just two a while ago. I had one ball with one letter on it (these are the inappropriate golf balls, so I’ll say the letter A for one and the letter B for the other).
My tee shot headed for the trees, so I hit a provisional. The provisional was the one with the B. This one headed just left of the trees, so I turned around to pick up my head cover when I heard a distant “thock!” sound. I didn’t think it could have hit a tree, but it must have.
I found the B first. It was far, far away from the green, off the fairway and near the cart path. I hit a low shot with my 7-iron to put it just outside of 150 yards and back on the fairway, but I was determined to find my first ball. The whole “A and B thing” confused me for a moment. The ball I had just found was in a spot where I thought I would find my first ball, so I was second-guessing which one was the provisional. Did my second ball have the B or the first? It was the second one, right? This is for a "legal" score, so I wanted to get it right. I convinced myself I had hit my A golf ball first, and then I remembered that it was, but now I had to find it.
I did. It was where I thought the B ball should have been. I used my pitching wedge to lay up. My ball was 2 feet away from the 87 yard sprinkler. I used my sand wedge with an abbreviated swing. My ball landed on the green even with the hole on the right side. The hole was near the front of the green. The putt had a slight break to the front of the green. I thought about all of this A and B stuff before I putted. I even thought it would be fun to write about what happened if I made that birdie putt. Right before I took my stroke, a chilly breeze made me catch my breath and shiver a bit, but then I pulled the trigger. My ball rolled the 7 to 8 feet that remained and fell in. I laughed right after I had made the birdie because I knew I now would have to write about it. And now I have.
I finished the round well. I got bogeys on #6 and #9 and pars on #7 and #8. On #6, I just missed my 3 foot putt for par. On #8, I made a great (in my opinion) up and down from the front of the green using only my putter. The par putt was from 15 feet or so.
After all of this piecemeal play, I had shot a 38 on the front with two birdies (#1 and #5), four pars, and three bogeys. That is my best score on the front ever. I had one hole left to play to complete the 18 holes, though.
After #9, I walked over to play #12. When James and I had played together, this was the only hole where he helped our score with a better pitch than mine; the rest I had earned all on my own, so I wanted to play it by myself to make the back nine score a “legal” one, too. I was hoping for at least a bogey. I ended up with a double.
My final score on the back nine ended up being a 37 with two birdies (#13 and #18), four pars, two bogeys, and one double bogey. I shot a 37, so my final score was a 75, one stroke off my new best score ever! Woot! If I had gotten that bogey by myself on #12 I would have tied my best score. Wow, I just scored a “pieced together” 75. Awesome!
Until next time...
I played with Bruce and Reilly today. I really wanted to play those holes I had missed, so I forced the issue with Bruce to see if he and Reilly would be game. I told him I wanted to play a weird ten holes starting with #15 and going to #18. After that, I wanted to go over to #4 since I was one under after playing with C.J. on Wednesday to see if I could finish that nine holes even or possibly under par. They, of course, were fine with it. They were...
happy to play; it didn’t matter where we started to them.
I did okay. I got a bogey on #15. Bruce decided escalating skins with bonuses for the game, so that helped me get my mind off the low score I was trying for. We all tied with bogeys on our first hole.
Bruce’s tee shot got inside mine for the bonus on #16. We both got pars to push the money to #17. Bruce was ahead $10,000.00 by earning the first bonus.
On #17, Bruce got a par again to our bogeys, so he got another big chunk of change: $60,000.00. Reilly had a putt for par from less than 4 feet to tie, but it lipped out. Bruce teased Reilly after he made his par putt, “That’s a four.”
Reilly said, “I know.”
After Reilly missed, Bruce said, “Cash is good.”
I relaxed on #18 since I had already earned a birdie with James, but I got a birdie again anyway.
Hidden Valley Golf Course-Hole #18-Birdie #44 of 2012
I saw two guys waiting on #3, so I decided to stick with the fairway I was on. I missed, though. Pulled it. I think I subconsciously pulled it; I like playing from #3 anyway. We yelled a fore warning, but thankfully nobody was down there.
When I got to #3’s fairway, those two guys were down there as well. The guy who played first pushed his shot over to our hole, so I quipped, “You play my hole and I’ll play yours.”
When it was my turn, they waited and watched. My pitching wedge put my ball right on the left side of the green where the hole was. They were very complimentary. I had a putt for eagle forthcoming.
Bruce was just off the green in two shots, but he rolled his ball just a bit too far. I asked him to mark his ball to the left to clear the way for my putt. My eagle putt was barely long enough; it stopped just to the left of the hole and I was a tad disappointed that I had not rolled it past the hole, but Bruce reminded me that tap-ins for birdies are always nice, and yes, they are.
That hole had earned me $40,000.00, but Bruce had a commanding lead. It was crowded over by #4, so we decided to just continue on to #1. I figured I would just keep playing if they chose to leave after #3, which is what they ended up doing.
On #1, I teed off first. My drive was smooth and straight. Bruce said, “There’s your winner.”
He was right. He tried to hit a “bender” (his words for a draw) to get his ball to roll past mine, but his ball went too far to the left. Reilly had a super drive, but it ended up not going as far as we all thought it should have. They tied with pars, and I got a bogey, but I had won the bonus of $30,000.00. Bruce and I were tied.
It didn’t last long. Bruce used his 9-iron to pure his tee shot on #2. His ball was in a great position below the hole. My ball kicked across the ditch, and I managed a bogey. Reilly was on the green, but he left his first putt short. It didn’t matter. Bruce nailed his 30 foot putt for birdie. He had just earned another $90,000.00 with another bonus and win. Again he said, “Cash is good.”
On the teeing ground at #3 we all agreed that the winner would take all. That was generous of Bruce because at this point he had really won the game. The only amount of money left to earn was $70,000.00 since this was the seventh hole. We both wanted to give Reilly a chance to take it all, though.
My drive went to the right again. Arrgghhh! Wait. It wasn’t that bad. It went past the cottonwood when I was certain it was going to hit it. I had a pitch from just below the green this time. Bruce made an alignment error for his approach. His ball went through the tree, hit the hill, and rolled down into the “concrete” bunker. I told him to take it out without a penalty and call it “fall rules.” He and C.J. never play out of that bunker because it’s mostly hard ground with a dusting of dirt on top. My pitch went past the hole and off the green on the left side, but I putted it back onto the green to within a couple of feet. It was enough to win the match. Bruce got a bogey and Reilly ended with a double. I should have told them both before they left, “Cash is good.”
I went on alone to finish the round I had started with C.J. on Wednesday. I got another birdie, this time on hole #5 and it was a weird one.
Hidden Valley Golf Course-Hole #5-Birdie #45 of 2012
I teed off with my driver, of course. I was wearing jeans, so I was carrying only two golf balls in my pocket; it’s more comfortable that way and I switched from carrying three to just two a while ago. I had one ball with one letter on it (these are the inappropriate golf balls, so I’ll say the letter A for one and the letter B for the other).
My tee shot headed for the trees, so I hit a provisional. The provisional was the one with the B. This one headed just left of the trees, so I turned around to pick up my head cover when I heard a distant “thock!” sound. I didn’t think it could have hit a tree, but it must have.
I found the B first. It was far, far away from the green, off the fairway and near the cart path. I hit a low shot with my 7-iron to put it just outside of 150 yards and back on the fairway, but I was determined to find my first ball. The whole “A and B thing” confused me for a moment. The ball I had just found was in a spot where I thought I would find my first ball, so I was second-guessing which one was the provisional. Did my second ball have the B or the first? It was the second one, right? This is for a "legal" score, so I wanted to get it right. I convinced myself I had hit my A golf ball first, and then I remembered that it was, but now I had to find it.
I did. It was where I thought the B ball should have been. I used my pitching wedge to lay up. My ball was 2 feet away from the 87 yard sprinkler. I used my sand wedge with an abbreviated swing. My ball landed on the green even with the hole on the right side. The hole was near the front of the green. The putt had a slight break to the front of the green. I thought about all of this A and B stuff before I putted. I even thought it would be fun to write about what happened if I made that birdie putt. Right before I took my stroke, a chilly breeze made me catch my breath and shiver a bit, but then I pulled the trigger. My ball rolled the 7 to 8 feet that remained and fell in. I laughed right after I had made the birdie because I knew I now would have to write about it. And now I have.
I finished the round well. I got bogeys on #6 and #9 and pars on #7 and #8. On #6, I just missed my 3 foot putt for par. On #8, I made a great (in my opinion) up and down from the front of the green using only my putter. The par putt was from 15 feet or so.
After all of this piecemeal play, I had shot a 38 on the front with two birdies (#1 and #5), four pars, and three bogeys. That is my best score on the front ever. I had one hole left to play to complete the 18 holes, though.
After #9, I walked over to play #12. When James and I had played together, this was the only hole where he helped our score with a better pitch than mine; the rest I had earned all on my own, so I wanted to play it by myself to make the back nine score a “legal” one, too. I was hoping for at least a bogey. I ended up with a double.
My final score on the back nine ended up being a 37 with two birdies (#13 and #18), four pars, two bogeys, and one double bogey. I shot a 37, so my final score was a 75, one stroke off my new best score ever! Woot! If I had gotten that bogey by myself on #12 I would have tied my best score. Wow, I just scored a “pieced together” 75. Awesome!
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment