In golf, I wanted to get the rest of that round that we played at the “new” Aztec Municipal Golf Course at Hidden Valley in here. That was the round Bruce earned his first ace on hole #2. I am still thrilled about that. Still basking in the glow of it all. So happy for Bruce. It’s just so cool. He did it! And, we were all there to witness it.
C.J. and I were taking on the father/son team again in match play. We were getting spanked. With Bruce’s hole-in-one and a round of even par on the front nine, we were down five holes. It was brutal. Great for Bruce and Reilly, but C.J. and I couldn’t get anything going. I was...
non-existent for the first five holes because I was just doing my best not to shank anything and everything. It took until hole #5 before I could earn a measly bogey and that was with a shank. Then I got my first par on hole #6 only to implode on hole #7 with a double par. I finished the front nine with my second par, and that got us to four under before we started the back.
We all bogeyed hole #10. I had one of my best drives on #11, but we never found it. It was long, and it faded right around the corner, a real beauty. C.J. earned the only par on #12, so we were three down. Then I barely drove across the wash on #13, but it was enough to get on the green and earn a par. C.J. and I both earned pars to their doubles, so we were just two down. I am proud and happy to write that I earned my first birdie of the year and the season on good ol’ #14. That got us to one down. We were really gaining now. Here’s how I earned this birdie…
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #14-Birdie #1 of 2015
This is fun! I earned my first birdie of the year on the new golf course at Hidden Valley during the same round Bruce earned his first ace. C.J. and I were charging and Bruce and Reilly were not playing as well, so this hole helped with the momentum.
We were playing from the whites. My driver landed my ball on the fairway, around 160 yards out from the green. I chose my 7-iron to approach. To avoid shanking, I was concentrating on a few things. First, bring the club back lower and slower. Second, make a wider arc on more of an outside-in path. I believe my shanks were caused by a path that had been too inside-out. I was throwing my club away from my body too much, and if I ever didn’t close my club face in time, shank city! Third, bring my left foot back a tad more and move the ball slightly forward to help get and keep my club face open through impact. My 7-iron swing gave me a most satisfactory feeling. It was a high, straight shot that headed directly toward the left side of the green where the flag was. I was a bit worried that it might have been too much, but as we approached the green, I saw only one ball on the green, and I knew it was mine. It was below the hole, and it was about thirty feet away, so I had an uphill eagle putt. I was thinking about never leaving eagle putts short, so I didn’t. My ball stopped just even with the hole on the left side, less than a foot away. It was another satisfying feeling to make that putt and earn my first birdie of this season.
Bruce and I earned pars on hole #16 to put us back to two down. Darned if he didn’t almost record two aces in one round; his tee shot rolled right by the hole and stopped less than four feet away, but he missed his birdie bid barely to the right. We could not win the match now, but we could at least tie, and that would be a small victory after being as low as five down. C.J. earned a par on #17 after driving his ball over everything and barely landing just past the ditch to the right side of the cart path. From there, he got up and in with three more shots.
I was the only one to earn a par on #18, and I thought we had done it; I thought we had come back from being five down to tie, but it wasn’t meant to be. C.J. admitted just before I made my putt from about twelve feet for my par that he had accidentally played the wrong ball on the previous hole. He thought the Bridgestone ball he had found past the ditch was his, but it was really Bruce’s second ball after Bruce’s first ball caught one of the cottonwoods near #15’s green on the way over.
So, we ended up losing, but we still felt pride in our turn-around and our comeback. And, of course, kudos to Bruce and Reilly for hanging on and winning. We are all back at Hidden Valley, and it’s a great feeling.
C.J. and I were taking on the father/son team again in match play. We were getting spanked. With Bruce’s hole-in-one and a round of even par on the front nine, we were down five holes. It was brutal. Great for Bruce and Reilly, but C.J. and I couldn’t get anything going. I was...
non-existent for the first five holes because I was just doing my best not to shank anything and everything. It took until hole #5 before I could earn a measly bogey and that was with a shank. Then I got my first par on hole #6 only to implode on hole #7 with a double par. I finished the front nine with my second par, and that got us to four under before we started the back.
We all bogeyed hole #10. I had one of my best drives on #11, but we never found it. It was long, and it faded right around the corner, a real beauty. C.J. earned the only par on #12, so we were three down. Then I barely drove across the wash on #13, but it was enough to get on the green and earn a par. C.J. and I both earned pars to their doubles, so we were just two down. I am proud and happy to write that I earned my first birdie of the year and the season on good ol’ #14. That got us to one down. We were really gaining now. Here’s how I earned this birdie…
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #14-Birdie #1 of 2015
This is fun! I earned my first birdie of the year on the new golf course at Hidden Valley during the same round Bruce earned his first ace. C.J. and I were charging and Bruce and Reilly were not playing as well, so this hole helped with the momentum.
We were playing from the whites. My driver landed my ball on the fairway, around 160 yards out from the green. I chose my 7-iron to approach. To avoid shanking, I was concentrating on a few things. First, bring the club back lower and slower. Second, make a wider arc on more of an outside-in path. I believe my shanks were caused by a path that had been too inside-out. I was throwing my club away from my body too much, and if I ever didn’t close my club face in time, shank city! Third, bring my left foot back a tad more and move the ball slightly forward to help get and keep my club face open through impact. My 7-iron swing gave me a most satisfactory feeling. It was a high, straight shot that headed directly toward the left side of the green where the flag was. I was a bit worried that it might have been too much, but as we approached the green, I saw only one ball on the green, and I knew it was mine. It was below the hole, and it was about thirty feet away, so I had an uphill eagle putt. I was thinking about never leaving eagle putts short, so I didn’t. My ball stopped just even with the hole on the left side, less than a foot away. It was another satisfying feeling to make that putt and earn my first birdie of this season.
Bruce and I earned pars on hole #16 to put us back to two down. Darned if he didn’t almost record two aces in one round; his tee shot rolled right by the hole and stopped less than four feet away, but he missed his birdie bid barely to the right. We could not win the match now, but we could at least tie, and that would be a small victory after being as low as five down. C.J. earned a par on #17 after driving his ball over everything and barely landing just past the ditch to the right side of the cart path. From there, he got up and in with three more shots.
I was the only one to earn a par on #18, and I thought we had done it; I thought we had come back from being five down to tie, but it wasn’t meant to be. C.J. admitted just before I made my putt from about twelve feet for my par that he had accidentally played the wrong ball on the previous hole. He thought the Bridgestone ball he had found past the ditch was his, but it was really Bruce’s second ball after Bruce’s first ball caught one of the cottonwoods near #15’s green on the way over.
So, we ended up losing, but we still felt pride in our turn-around and our comeback. And, of course, kudos to Bruce and Reilly for hanging on and winning. We are all back at Hidden Valley, and it’s a great feeling.
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