James turns 20 today! Happy birthday, James! Belinda likes to mention that we are not doing today what we were doing 20 years ago. I remember crying happy, joyful tears after seeing my son for the first time and for being so proud of Belinda who had pushed for two and a half hours with no pain medication. Sadly, we do not get to be with him today, though. We just took him down to NMSU two weeks ago, but Kyle is on his way there today with his family, so we are at least sending along a birthday care package.
Written on 7-22-13.
I earned yet one more birdie when I played golf with C.J. yesterday. This was the third time he and I played alone together since Bruce was out of town. Bruce is back now, and he and C.J. are playing at Riverview today.
I chose to come here instead. I can play golf more easily and more often than I can have a camping spot at Lake Haviland. And, as an added bonus, I get to have my wife Belinda all to myself before I go out of town to Boston this weekend with my buddy Joe.
I haven’t written about it yet, but Joe is...
treating me to a trip of my choice after having earned my Masters degree. It’s taken this long to schedule it, but it’s finally here. I’ve had my Masters for four years now. Life and a brain tumor got in the way, and Joe is a busy guy.
He asked me where I wanted to go, and after some deliberations in my better brain, I chose Boston. I chose Boston for many reasons, but the biggest is because of the Brookline Country Club and the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Open where Francis Ouimet succeeded in beating two of the best players in the world, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray.
I want to see that golf course for myself. I leave this Thursday, and I will write about the entire experience, just like I did when I went to the Masters with Guy.
This is how I earned that birdie from yesterday.
Hidden Valley Golf Course-Hole #10-Birdie #23 of 2013
I chose the game this time, and I chose Escalating Skins with the bonuses. This was a great start. I got the bonus and the win. C.J. hit the green, but his ball stubbornly stayed up on the top of the green on the front. Mine, however, rolled down to get closer to the hole.
He finished his par, and then it was my turn to putt. The hole was halfway between the bottom of the slope of the green on the front and the back side of the green. My putt was about fifteen feet with a bit of a downhill. If it moved, it went from left to right slightly.
I need to stop acting surprised when my putts go in; I’ve made quite a few long ones recently, so I need to act as if it’s a normal event. I did act a little surprised, though, when this one fell. My birdie gave me the first $20,000.00 of the contest.
C.J. played incredibly well again...for the first seven holes. These were his scores: par, birdie, par, bogey, birdie, par, par. He was one under after seven holes! It was fantastic! And then we came to hole #17.
Before we got to #17, though, he had also won $180.000.00 by winning every hole plus the bonus of the closest to the pin on #16. He was blowing me away again, and it wasn’t as if I was playing terribly; I played steady golf after getting a double on #11. I should have gotten up and down from just off the green behind #12, and my par putt lipped out on #13, but other than that I was doing fine.
Disaster struck C.J. on #17, though. I told him that #17 just jumped up and bit him on the #*% as we walked over to #18’s teeing ground. He agreed. I won a ton of money that had been pushed twice to this hole. It ended up being 210k, and then he had another bad hole on #18, scoring two snowmen in a row, and here we were in the middle of the summer.
I did get a lucky break to help my cause on #17, though. My approach with my 9-iron was too chunky, and it didn’t have enough to even get halfway there. It was headed for the ditch, but it bounced off the cart path instead, sending my ball up next to the green. Phew.
Then I had a terrible topped tee shot on #18, too, but I scrambled to save a par. My second shot with my 6-iron from right next to a bush and out of the dirt cuffed my ball out onto the grass on #3, but I still had over 250 yards to go. I used my bigger Wishon utility club to clear the trees, but it just clipped the top of the farthest tree and dropped my ball to below the hole and still sixty yards away. I made a better than decent pitch to get my ball on the green and above the hole. It was cut on the front in the middle this time. I used the toe of my putter to deaden and slow my putt, and it worked. I aimed two feet to the right and barely tapped it. It got on the line and stayed there. I ended with a 38.
C.J. went home to watch the rest of the British Open. I stayed and played the front nine, but I did not “legally” complete it for a score. I ran to play through two groups early in the round forcing myself to rush every routine and shot, and when I got to #8 I was asked to play through one last time. That tee shot hit the fence, so I hit a provisional, but after five minutes I couldn’t find either ball, so I gave up and walked directly to #9 to finish from there.
There. I am all caught up. I will probably play one more time before Boston, and after that I’ll be recording all the details of the Boston trip.
Until next time...
Written on 7-22-13.
I earned yet one more birdie when I played golf with C.J. yesterday. This was the third time he and I played alone together since Bruce was out of town. Bruce is back now, and he and C.J. are playing at Riverview today.
I chose to come here instead. I can play golf more easily and more often than I can have a camping spot at Lake Haviland. And, as an added bonus, I get to have my wife Belinda all to myself before I go out of town to Boston this weekend with my buddy Joe.
I haven’t written about it yet, but Joe is...
treating me to a trip of my choice after having earned my Masters degree. It’s taken this long to schedule it, but it’s finally here. I’ve had my Masters for four years now. Life and a brain tumor got in the way, and Joe is a busy guy.
He asked me where I wanted to go, and after some deliberations in my better brain, I chose Boston. I chose Boston for many reasons, but the biggest is because of the Brookline Country Club and the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Open where Francis Ouimet succeeded in beating two of the best players in the world, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray.
I want to see that golf course for myself. I leave this Thursday, and I will write about the entire experience, just like I did when I went to the Masters with Guy.
This is how I earned that birdie from yesterday.
Hidden Valley Golf Course-Hole #10-Birdie #23 of 2013
I chose the game this time, and I chose Escalating Skins with the bonuses. This was a great start. I got the bonus and the win. C.J. hit the green, but his ball stubbornly stayed up on the top of the green on the front. Mine, however, rolled down to get closer to the hole.
He finished his par, and then it was my turn to putt. The hole was halfway between the bottom of the slope of the green on the front and the back side of the green. My putt was about fifteen feet with a bit of a downhill. If it moved, it went from left to right slightly.
I need to stop acting surprised when my putts go in; I’ve made quite a few long ones recently, so I need to act as if it’s a normal event. I did act a little surprised, though, when this one fell. My birdie gave me the first $20,000.00 of the contest.
C.J. played incredibly well again...for the first seven holes. These were his scores: par, birdie, par, bogey, birdie, par, par. He was one under after seven holes! It was fantastic! And then we came to hole #17.
Before we got to #17, though, he had also won $180.000.00 by winning every hole plus the bonus of the closest to the pin on #16. He was blowing me away again, and it wasn’t as if I was playing terribly; I played steady golf after getting a double on #11. I should have gotten up and down from just off the green behind #12, and my par putt lipped out on #13, but other than that I was doing fine.
Disaster struck C.J. on #17, though. I told him that #17 just jumped up and bit him on the #*% as we walked over to #18’s teeing ground. He agreed. I won a ton of money that had been pushed twice to this hole. It ended up being 210k, and then he had another bad hole on #18, scoring two snowmen in a row, and here we were in the middle of the summer.
I did get a lucky break to help my cause on #17, though. My approach with my 9-iron was too chunky, and it didn’t have enough to even get halfway there. It was headed for the ditch, but it bounced off the cart path instead, sending my ball up next to the green. Phew.
Then I had a terrible topped tee shot on #18, too, but I scrambled to save a par. My second shot with my 6-iron from right next to a bush and out of the dirt cuffed my ball out onto the grass on #3, but I still had over 250 yards to go. I used my bigger Wishon utility club to clear the trees, but it just clipped the top of the farthest tree and dropped my ball to below the hole and still sixty yards away. I made a better than decent pitch to get my ball on the green and above the hole. It was cut on the front in the middle this time. I used the toe of my putter to deaden and slow my putt, and it worked. I aimed two feet to the right and barely tapped it. It got on the line and stayed there. I ended with a 38.
C.J. went home to watch the rest of the British Open. I stayed and played the front nine, but I did not “legally” complete it for a score. I ran to play through two groups early in the round forcing myself to rush every routine and shot, and when I got to #8 I was asked to play through one last time. That tee shot hit the fence, so I hit a provisional, but after five minutes I couldn’t find either ball, so I gave up and walked directly to #9 to finish from there.
There. I am all caught up. I will probably play one more time before Boston, and after that I’ll be recording all the details of the Boston trip.
Until next time...
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