Written on 7-31-15.
We chose to go inside soon after I wrote that because of the bugs and the colder air. Today, we are driving Danielle back to Las Cruces. Well, actually she’s the one driving right now, but we are all headed that way. It’s 3:57 PM, usually my nap time, even though I hardly ever take naps; I just feel nappy at this time of the day…every day. I’m in the passenger seat, and we are just on the other side of Albuquerque. We just passed Isleta Boulevard.
B is behind Danielle, and the rest of the vehicle is filled with Danielle’s stuff: make-up, bags of clothes, her bridesmaid dress for Daryl and Katie’s wedding, speakers, a bamboo plant that used to belong to Belinda, pillows, a sewing kit, a plastic dresser with three drawers, and a bunch of other stuff she’ll want and need this year, her sophomore year.
Oh, and my golf clubs are directly behind me buried under all of that stuff. It was a bit of an issue/controversy whether I should bring them or not. Belinda and Danielle chose to love and allow it, though. We are making this trip more of a vacation compared to the last time we came and brought the bulkier items like the box springs, mattresses, dressers, and shelves.
Reilly is back. He and Bruce went to play nine holes today at 11:00. He had a successful surgery to repair his collapsed lung. When Belinda saw Diane yesterday at the hair place, Diane said that he is only on oxygen at night, so that’s an improvement. I’m excited to play with them again now that he has returned. If we weren’t going down south, I would have played with them today.
I earned two more birdies when Bruce and I...
continued to try and beat the Bogey Man a week ago. With the help of one birdie from C.J. on #6, we were able to beat him on the front nine. We said we would be even, and that’s how we ended. I helped with pars on #3, #5, and #8. I shot a 44, and Bruce shot a 42. We kept the the same game going on the back nine. We played with Dean, the pawn shop guy, even though he was riding and we were walking. He joined us on hole #3, and decided to just stick with us for the rest of the round. He and C.J. both birdied #6 with tee shots that peppered the flag. C.J. put his ball a foot away.
We were not off to a good start. We both bogeyed the first three holes. Dean, even though he wasn’t a part of our little game, didn’t fare much better. He got a par on #10 and then bogeyed the next two. So, we dug a hole. We were, however, quite optimistic that we could make them up with birdies on the remaining holes. I got two.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #14-Birdie #22 of 2015
We missed out on getting a birdie on #13. That would have helped our cause, and that’s a hole we should birdie, but it wasn’t to be this time. My drive was long, low, and left. I thought it would catch the alley. It did, but it didn’t spill out onto the fairway like it’s supposed to do. Instead, it got caught in the taller grass from all of the summer rains.
The ball was below my feet for my next shot. I chose my 5-iron, and I was about 190 yards away. Even though I was on the left side, and even though the trees were over there, I made what felt like a fade swing. I was avoiding the ball flight that happens frequently when the ball is below my feet, the huge left to right swinger. I was hoping for a fractional left to right swinger, and it was well struck. It was so well struck I thought it might have ended up off the back of the green, or worse, in the ditch. It wasn’t. It was just past the hill that sits on the front right side before the green. It was also just off the green, so I could use my putter.
The hole was on the top and near the middle. My putt went past the hole farther than I wanted it to, and I still had six feet of green to maneuver. After waiting for Dean and Bruce to putt up out of the bowl, I took my turn. The putt was tricky. It had a foot of right to left break on it, and it was downhill-ish. I found a little white thing to aim for, and it was the perfect target. My ball arched across the remaining space and dropped in the hole.
It was great to get one back, but we still had to make up two. We parred our way through #15 and #16, and I was hoping Bruce would get a birdie on #17, but he ran into some trouble right away with his tee shot that attacked more branches than leaves on one of the closer cottonwoods. We both got doubles. We were now +4 with only one hole left. Bummer. My final birdie helped the cause, but it wasn’t near enough.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #18-Birdie #23 of 2015
I aimed for #3 again, but it didn’t work out. My ball headed toward the trees on #18 instead, the ones on the left side just off the fairway and near the bunkers. Bruce’s and my tee shots were three feet away from each other, and we were both less than three feet past the last bunker in the rough, too. I asked Bruce who was away, and he said it was me, so I joked that I was upset because he had outdriven me. My ball was sitting down in the grass more than Bruce’s. I chose his old club for my approach. I thought in my head, and then said aloud a couple of times, “Over the trees and into the hole.”
It almost worked! I hit down and through with more force than usual. I felt that I had to dig it out of the thicker grass. My ball flew over the right side of the cottonwood that blocked my way, and it landed on the green in the middle. Then it rolled to the left and down the slope, heading toward the hole. It stopped five feet away. Eagle attempts are rare. Eagle attempts from five feet away, even more so, but I did my best to play it like I would any other putt. It was downhill again. It was right to left again.
It was a difficult read. I changed my mind, but I was confident when I made my stroke. I wanted to make sure it was high enough, and my original read gave me the feeling that it would fall below the hole, and I certainly didn’t want that. If I’m going to make it, I want to give it a chance. I let it go, but it stopped just even with the hole, less than five inches away and on the right side, a tap-in birdie.
We chose to go inside soon after I wrote that because of the bugs and the colder air. Today, we are driving Danielle back to Las Cruces. Well, actually she’s the one driving right now, but we are all headed that way. It’s 3:57 PM, usually my nap time, even though I hardly ever take naps; I just feel nappy at this time of the day…every day. I’m in the passenger seat, and we are just on the other side of Albuquerque. We just passed Isleta Boulevard.
B is behind Danielle, and the rest of the vehicle is filled with Danielle’s stuff: make-up, bags of clothes, her bridesmaid dress for Daryl and Katie’s wedding, speakers, a bamboo plant that used to belong to Belinda, pillows, a sewing kit, a plastic dresser with three drawers, and a bunch of other stuff she’ll want and need this year, her sophomore year.
Oh, and my golf clubs are directly behind me buried under all of that stuff. It was a bit of an issue/controversy whether I should bring them or not. Belinda and Danielle chose to love and allow it, though. We are making this trip more of a vacation compared to the last time we came and brought the bulkier items like the box springs, mattresses, dressers, and shelves.
Reilly is back. He and Bruce went to play nine holes today at 11:00. He had a successful surgery to repair his collapsed lung. When Belinda saw Diane yesterday at the hair place, Diane said that he is only on oxygen at night, so that’s an improvement. I’m excited to play with them again now that he has returned. If we weren’t going down south, I would have played with them today.
I earned two more birdies when Bruce and I...
continued to try and beat the Bogey Man a week ago. With the help of one birdie from C.J. on #6, we were able to beat him on the front nine. We said we would be even, and that’s how we ended. I helped with pars on #3, #5, and #8. I shot a 44, and Bruce shot a 42. We kept the the same game going on the back nine. We played with Dean, the pawn shop guy, even though he was riding and we were walking. He joined us on hole #3, and decided to just stick with us for the rest of the round. He and C.J. both birdied #6 with tee shots that peppered the flag. C.J. put his ball a foot away.
We were not off to a good start. We both bogeyed the first three holes. Dean, even though he wasn’t a part of our little game, didn’t fare much better. He got a par on #10 and then bogeyed the next two. So, we dug a hole. We were, however, quite optimistic that we could make them up with birdies on the remaining holes. I got two.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #14-Birdie #22 of 2015
We missed out on getting a birdie on #13. That would have helped our cause, and that’s a hole we should birdie, but it wasn’t to be this time. My drive was long, low, and left. I thought it would catch the alley. It did, but it didn’t spill out onto the fairway like it’s supposed to do. Instead, it got caught in the taller grass from all of the summer rains.
The ball was below my feet for my next shot. I chose my 5-iron, and I was about 190 yards away. Even though I was on the left side, and even though the trees were over there, I made what felt like a fade swing. I was avoiding the ball flight that happens frequently when the ball is below my feet, the huge left to right swinger. I was hoping for a fractional left to right swinger, and it was well struck. It was so well struck I thought it might have ended up off the back of the green, or worse, in the ditch. It wasn’t. It was just past the hill that sits on the front right side before the green. It was also just off the green, so I could use my putter.
The hole was on the top and near the middle. My putt went past the hole farther than I wanted it to, and I still had six feet of green to maneuver. After waiting for Dean and Bruce to putt up out of the bowl, I took my turn. The putt was tricky. It had a foot of right to left break on it, and it was downhill-ish. I found a little white thing to aim for, and it was the perfect target. My ball arched across the remaining space and dropped in the hole.
It was great to get one back, but we still had to make up two. We parred our way through #15 and #16, and I was hoping Bruce would get a birdie on #17, but he ran into some trouble right away with his tee shot that attacked more branches than leaves on one of the closer cottonwoods. We both got doubles. We were now +4 with only one hole left. Bummer. My final birdie helped the cause, but it wasn’t near enough.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #18-Birdie #23 of 2015
I aimed for #3 again, but it didn’t work out. My ball headed toward the trees on #18 instead, the ones on the left side just off the fairway and near the bunkers. Bruce’s and my tee shots were three feet away from each other, and we were both less than three feet past the last bunker in the rough, too. I asked Bruce who was away, and he said it was me, so I joked that I was upset because he had outdriven me. My ball was sitting down in the grass more than Bruce’s. I chose his old club for my approach. I thought in my head, and then said aloud a couple of times, “Over the trees and into the hole.”
It almost worked! I hit down and through with more force than usual. I felt that I had to dig it out of the thicker grass. My ball flew over the right side of the cottonwood that blocked my way, and it landed on the green in the middle. Then it rolled to the left and down the slope, heading toward the hole. It stopped five feet away. Eagle attempts are rare. Eagle attempts from five feet away, even more so, but I did my best to play it like I would any other putt. It was downhill again. It was right to left again.
It was a difficult read. I changed my mind, but I was confident when I made my stroke. I wanted to make sure it was high enough, and my original read gave me the feeling that it would fall below the hole, and I certainly didn’t want that. If I’m going to make it, I want to give it a chance. I let it go, but it stopped just even with the hole, less than five inches away and on the right side, a tap-in birdie.
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