Written on 1-21-14.
Ten days ago, C.J. and I had a great, fun match of our own. We did the escalating skins game, a favorite of mine. It came down to the last hole, and then it went one more. Here’s what happened.
On hole #1, C.J. won with a par. Then he won on the next hole with another par. I was struggling.
Truthfully, we were both struggling to play...
at our leisure with all the traffic (it was on a Saturday, a typically busy day at Hidden Valley), so at C.J.’s suggestion, we skipped ahead to hole #6. We tied with bogeys there, and then C.J. grabbed some more money away from me on #7. I was getting skunked!
Finally, I won a little bit on hole #8, which was really our fifth hole since we skipped holes 3, 4 and 5. Confused?
I won again right away on hole #9, our sixth hole, and I added the bonus by hitting the fairway, whereas C.J. did not. Now, it was getting interesting. The score was 160K to 140K. I had just barely taken the lead.
We walked from #9 over to #4 to complete the nine holes. Our plan was to go from 4 to 5 and then finish up on 3. It almost worked out that way. We tied again with doubles on #4. Not pretty, I know.
#5 was fun, though. We both earned pars. I fully expected to win it all on this hole. C.J. was on in regulation, but he was well above the hole and the greens were fast from being so dried out. He had over fifteen feet to make his par putt after rolling his first putt so far past the hole. He nailed that one, though, so now I had to make my uphill four-footer to keep this thing going to the last hole, which I did. I remember aiming at the right edge, and thankfully it worked. We pushed to the next and final hole, hole #3, where there was no real advantage for either one of us.
My tee shot went well left. C.J. went right. I got my approach to miraculously go through a tree’s limbs over there on the hills, and my ball ended up just off the green and below the hole on the slope before the green. C.J. pulled his approach, causing his ball to fly the green and go over the hill on the back left side where it ended up near the teeing ground for hole #1.
I put my chip just off the green and near the hole. C.J. pitched back over the hill, but his ball hit the thicker grass and stayed off the green above the hole. He made another incredible save here, though, putting his fourth shot right next to the hole. I had to make my putt to win, and I barely missed. C.J.’s putt was not a gimme, but he was solid again and put it right in the hole.
Now what? We decided to go over to #10 and keep things going.
#10 was the deciding hole. We had similar tee shots. Mine went right. His went left. We were both short of the green with mirrored chip shots forthcoming. I went first. My ball landed in a good spot and rolled towards the hole. It stopped left of the hole about six feet away and near C.J.’s line. Now, it was his turn. I watched from where I had just chipped. His chip looked good. I said that it looked like it was going to hit my ball, but it went past it. Then I said it looked like it might go in the hole instead. And, then...it did! He had chipped in for the win! We were both thrilled, but he was more than I, for sure. He got pretty animated, for C.J. He took home a ton of money and a smile on his face. The final score was C.J.: 540K to me: 160K. At least I didn’t get skunked.
That’s it for now. Next time, I have three more new birdies to start off the new year. The weather has been warm enough for golf, averaging temperatures in the 50’s.
Until next time...
Ten days ago, C.J. and I had a great, fun match of our own. We did the escalating skins game, a favorite of mine. It came down to the last hole, and then it went one more. Here’s what happened.
On hole #1, C.J. won with a par. Then he won on the next hole with another par. I was struggling.
Truthfully, we were both struggling to play...
at our leisure with all the traffic (it was on a Saturday, a typically busy day at Hidden Valley), so at C.J.’s suggestion, we skipped ahead to hole #6. We tied with bogeys there, and then C.J. grabbed some more money away from me on #7. I was getting skunked!
Finally, I won a little bit on hole #8, which was really our fifth hole since we skipped holes 3, 4 and 5. Confused?
I won again right away on hole #9, our sixth hole, and I added the bonus by hitting the fairway, whereas C.J. did not. Now, it was getting interesting. The score was 160K to 140K. I had just barely taken the lead.
We walked from #9 over to #4 to complete the nine holes. Our plan was to go from 4 to 5 and then finish up on 3. It almost worked out that way. We tied again with doubles on #4. Not pretty, I know.
#5 was fun, though. We both earned pars. I fully expected to win it all on this hole. C.J. was on in regulation, but he was well above the hole and the greens were fast from being so dried out. He had over fifteen feet to make his par putt after rolling his first putt so far past the hole. He nailed that one, though, so now I had to make my uphill four-footer to keep this thing going to the last hole, which I did. I remember aiming at the right edge, and thankfully it worked. We pushed to the next and final hole, hole #3, where there was no real advantage for either one of us.
My tee shot went well left. C.J. went right. I got my approach to miraculously go through a tree’s limbs over there on the hills, and my ball ended up just off the green and below the hole on the slope before the green. C.J. pulled his approach, causing his ball to fly the green and go over the hill on the back left side where it ended up near the teeing ground for hole #1.
I put my chip just off the green and near the hole. C.J. pitched back over the hill, but his ball hit the thicker grass and stayed off the green above the hole. He made another incredible save here, though, putting his fourth shot right next to the hole. I had to make my putt to win, and I barely missed. C.J.’s putt was not a gimme, but he was solid again and put it right in the hole.
Now what? We decided to go over to #10 and keep things going.
#10 was the deciding hole. We had similar tee shots. Mine went right. His went left. We were both short of the green with mirrored chip shots forthcoming. I went first. My ball landed in a good spot and rolled towards the hole. It stopped left of the hole about six feet away and near C.J.’s line. Now, it was his turn. I watched from where I had just chipped. His chip looked good. I said that it looked like it was going to hit my ball, but it went past it. Then I said it looked like it might go in the hole instead. And, then...it did! He had chipped in for the win! We were both thrilled, but he was more than I, for sure. He got pretty animated, for C.J. He took home a ton of money and a smile on his face. The final score was C.J.: 540K to me: 160K. At least I didn’t get skunked.
That’s it for now. Next time, I have three more new birdies to start off the new year. The weather has been warm enough for golf, averaging temperatures in the 50’s.
Until next time...
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