Written on 7-11-14.
Yikes! We are a month away from reporting back to school. Lots to share, so here I go.
Playing at Grand Lake was fabulous, but different this year. We played Pole Creek for our second time ever, but it wasn’t Guy, Dad, and me this time. For the front nine, it was Guy, Annmarie, ShyShay, and me. This was the first time the two ladies could join us because A.) Shy was old enough to play and wanted to go and B.) Shy was old enough and wanted to go, and that meant Annmarie could go, too.
Let me tell you about my niece ShyShay and how well she did on this official/“real” golf course. She is...
seven years old, and she will be going into second grade. On hole #2, she made a putt from about 30 feet. She was a flagstick attacker. On #4, she assaulted the flagstick with a pitch that bounced off the stick and stopped about 20 feet away but still on the green, and then she used up only two putts to finish from there. Between holes #4 and #9, she had some fluid, long, athletic tee shots that sailed through the Colorado air, similar to the way her mother tees off, but she’s a righty and not a lefty like her mom. On #9, she attacked the flagstick again, somehow not damaging it, by making another pitch that smacked the top of the stick near the flag, causing the whole thing to rattle. Her ball hit so squarely that it dropped straight down, stopping a little more than a foot away, where she finished up with only one putt this time. Beautiful stuff!
She’s no pro, but her potential is boundless. I had a blast watching her and playing with her, and she was showing off for her uncle a little, in my opinion. On the back nine, Mom and Dad joined us in their own cart to just watch and hang out, and they noticed that she still likes to have fun like any normal young girl. If she swung one into a bunker, she would cheer for the chance to be in the sand. On one hole, she didn’t bother to bring out her putter, so she used whatever iron she had, and she just kept clacking her ball and whacking at it until she could tap it in the hole. If her ball landed in the really thick stuff, Guy or Annmarie would dig it out and give it a toss out onto the shorter grass. It was the best mix of let’s see what you can really do, and let’s have some fun and goof around a bit, too.
Guy told me she had a golf camp coming up the following week, so it was great that she could get out and play around, or “a round.” Speaking of Guy, he scammed me with this year’s game. I suggested we play the Reverse Handicap Game with points pushing for ties, and I read that I had given him one stroke per hole the last time we played, so I would do the same this time. I won the first six holes without much of a battle, so we switched it to two strokes per hole. After that, he destroyed me. He took over the match on what was hole #10 for us, hole #1 on the Ranch Course. We had pushed the points on our 8th and 9th holes, so when he got a bogey to my bogey on that hole, he scored 37 points. I did let him have a mulligan on the tee since he had topped his tee shot after lunch, but he earned a real bogey six after that. I couldn’t believe he would take advantage of his unassuming, younger brother like that, but he did.
I thought I would make pars and bogeys, and he would have some more blow-up holes like he had when we first started out, but I struggled on some holes and then he started to play better, so it turned into a rout. Oh well. Who cares? I got to be with my brother again...and on a golf course to boot.
I still had a wonderful time, and here’s why. First, I never got that feeling again, the one where I hated golf, like I recently felt when I had played Pinon Hills with C.J. and the Dingwall boys; my mood was much better. Second, I was on a gorgeous mountain golf course in midsummer with fantastic weather. Third, I got to play golf with Annmarie and ShyShay for the first time since Shy was old enough and wanted to go play. I had played with Annmarie before, but this was doubly special to play with the complete Virginia Swope family unit. Fourth, Mom and Dad joined us for the back nine. So special. Once again, I had been the impetus to get my family out on the golf course with me. I’m so selfish that way.
Yikes! We are a month away from reporting back to school. Lots to share, so here I go.
Playing at Grand Lake was fabulous, but different this year. We played Pole Creek for our second time ever, but it wasn’t Guy, Dad, and me this time. For the front nine, it was Guy, Annmarie, ShyShay, and me. This was the first time the two ladies could join us because A.) Shy was old enough to play and wanted to go and B.) Shy was old enough and wanted to go, and that meant Annmarie could go, too.
Let me tell you about my niece ShyShay and how well she did on this official/“real” golf course. She is...
seven years old, and she will be going into second grade. On hole #2, she made a putt from about 30 feet. She was a flagstick attacker. On #4, she assaulted the flagstick with a pitch that bounced off the stick and stopped about 20 feet away but still on the green, and then she used up only two putts to finish from there. Between holes #4 and #9, she had some fluid, long, athletic tee shots that sailed through the Colorado air, similar to the way her mother tees off, but she’s a righty and not a lefty like her mom. On #9, she attacked the flagstick again, somehow not damaging it, by making another pitch that smacked the top of the stick near the flag, causing the whole thing to rattle. Her ball hit so squarely that it dropped straight down, stopping a little more than a foot away, where she finished up with only one putt this time. Beautiful stuff!
She’s no pro, but her potential is boundless. I had a blast watching her and playing with her, and she was showing off for her uncle a little, in my opinion. On the back nine, Mom and Dad joined us in their own cart to just watch and hang out, and they noticed that she still likes to have fun like any normal young girl. If she swung one into a bunker, she would cheer for the chance to be in the sand. On one hole, she didn’t bother to bring out her putter, so she used whatever iron she had, and she just kept clacking her ball and whacking at it until she could tap it in the hole. If her ball landed in the really thick stuff, Guy or Annmarie would dig it out and give it a toss out onto the shorter grass. It was the best mix of let’s see what you can really do, and let’s have some fun and goof around a bit, too.
Guy told me she had a golf camp coming up the following week, so it was great that she could get out and play around, or “a round.” Speaking of Guy, he scammed me with this year’s game. I suggested we play the Reverse Handicap Game with points pushing for ties, and I read that I had given him one stroke per hole the last time we played, so I would do the same this time. I won the first six holes without much of a battle, so we switched it to two strokes per hole. After that, he destroyed me. He took over the match on what was hole #10 for us, hole #1 on the Ranch Course. We had pushed the points on our 8th and 9th holes, so when he got a bogey to my bogey on that hole, he scored 37 points. I did let him have a mulligan on the tee since he had topped his tee shot after lunch, but he earned a real bogey six after that. I couldn’t believe he would take advantage of his unassuming, younger brother like that, but he did.
I thought I would make pars and bogeys, and he would have some more blow-up holes like he had when we first started out, but I struggled on some holes and then he started to play better, so it turned into a rout. Oh well. Who cares? I got to be with my brother again...and on a golf course to boot.
I still had a wonderful time, and here’s why. First, I never got that feeling again, the one where I hated golf, like I recently felt when I had played Pinon Hills with C.J. and the Dingwall boys; my mood was much better. Second, I was on a gorgeous mountain golf course in midsummer with fantastic weather. Third, I got to play golf with Annmarie and ShyShay for the first time since Shy was old enough and wanted to go play. I had played with Annmarie before, but this was doubly special to play with the complete Virginia Swope family unit. Fourth, Mom and Dad joined us for the back nine. So special. Once again, I had been the impetus to get my family out on the golf course with me. I’m so selfish that way.
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