31st Excerpt From My Golf Diary

     I have not done an excerpt from my old Golf Diary in a long time, so here goes...     

     In this excerpt, I see once again that history repeats itself. First, I describe a 6-iron swing that makes me want to keep coming back to play golf.  I wrote that same type of description for one of my most recent eagles with a 9-iron approach.  Second, I write about ending the year with a bang!  In this excerpt, I shoot one of my best 9 hole scores ever, if not the best one yet, a +4 at Encanto in Phoenix.  I just wrote that same thing with my two eagles and Bruce's round of 2 under.  

Written on 1-3-02.

On to golf…

     I just want to write about birdies now.  I earned two more while in Phoenix, and I haven’t written about the three before that happened when we went to Phoenix to interview with the DOD.  

Mountain Shadows-Hole 5 on 12-8-01

     This is an Executive Golf Course, and it’s a really nice one.  I actually just drove around until I found a golf course, and this was the first one I found.  I was pretty wound up before the interview, so to go play golf after it was over was very refreshing.  I played from the executive tees and not the championship ones, so this hole was a par three playing at 150 yards.  I hit my shot to the right of the hole, but just a little above it and on the green.  I had a breaking putt from right to left slightly downhill.  It was about 15 to 20 feet maybe. It curved right in.  That was one!

Mountain Shadows-Hole 7

     That’s right.  This was a second birdie in the same round.  I had just gotten a double bogey on one of the only two par fours on the course, so I was a little bummed going to the next tee box, but I usually don’t let a bad score affect my play, and it didn’t on this hole.  This hole was about 120 yards, so I used my pitching wedge.  The flag was on the very front of the green.  I hit it to about four feet away.  It was a little uphill putt this time.  I knocked it in, but didn’t really realize that I had just made two birdies in one round until I was putting my putter cover back on while walking off the green.  I gave a little whoop once it hit me.  Wow, my first two birdies in one round, but it gets better…

Mountain Shadows-Hole 12

     You got it.  Three birdies in one round!  I was so happy when I got this one.  Once again, it took me a second to catch on.  I don’t know why, but I guess I was pretty focused on my playing and not on the birdie count.  This hole was really cool!  It was another par three, and it was 140 yards, but it was playing...
a little longer than that according to where the tee boxes were. I knew a 6-iron would get it there.  Now the putt was great, but this stands out as one of the best iron shots I have ever made.  That 6-iron struck the ball so smoothly, and it made the nicest cracking sound.  I couldn’t even see the flag because it was hiding behind a bunch of tall trees.  I just knew the flag was there because I had taken a quick look before I walked up to the tee box. It was such a nice trajectory, too.  It sailed right up and over those trees, and I couldn’t see where it landed, but I had a good feeling.  It was a great feeling of smoothness and power, but also pure “effortless-ness”.  It’s what makes people want to play and keep playing golf, I know.  When I got up to the green, the ball was above the hole, but just a little to the left.  Now I faced a slightly downhill putt that was kind of slippery and broke from right to left.  It was about fifteen feet or less.  I made that one, too and recorded a total first for me, three birdies in one round!  The only problem was there were no witnesses, but I know that I really did it!  

     The last hole was pretty nice as well.  I had played pretty steady the entire round, but it was getting dark and I wanted to finish.  When I got to the last hole, it was very hard to see.  I had to hit over water, which was kind of scary after I had hit one in the water at hole #8.  I hit it, but couldn’t see it because of the dark until I had driven my cart over there.  I had hit it on the green, but I had a very long putt.  I left that first putt well short, about eight feet.  I made the next putt for par, though, ending one of the best eighteen holes I had ever played.  I scored ten over for the entire round, 66 when par was 56.  Another highlight was splashing out of every trap I had landed in with just one shot, and landing them on the greens.  I hit three or four bunkers.

Hidden Valley-Hole 3

     I want to stick this one in there because I hadn’t written about it yet.  Eric and I went to play before I had hurt my back.  Hole three is a downhill par four.  I hit a huge drive that disappeared down over the hill.  It was long and straight.   It was one of the best drives I have ever hit.  I knew it was long, and I was right when I got to it and saw that it was past the fairway by a few yards!  It was a nice drive, but not that big of a deal.  I had some help with the conditions of the course.  The fairways were hard due to the cold, but it was still a long drive.  I then hit my Thomas sand wedge up onto the green.  The hole was on the second tier, and I had managed to get my shot on there, but I was still twenty feet or so away.  I made that putt for birdie, which was really nice because the green was in a terrible condition because it was hard and covered with sand.  Eric was a witness, of course.

Encanto Park Golf Course-Hole 5

     Eric and I got to go play while we were in Phoenix even though my back was pretty shaky.  The first time I played this front nine, my back was killing me for the first five or six holes. I shot a miserable 49 getting only one par.  I beat Eric in match play, but lost in stroke play.  He shot a 47.  The second time we played was on Saturday after going to the zoo.  I slipped in these two birdies right before the year 2001 ended!  The first was a par three that was next to the little amusement park that Belinda and I had taken the kids to the day before.  This is not a premiere golf course!  When Eric and I played it the first time, we played with two guys who joined us (it was terribly slow that day) named Jeff and John.  Jeff said we came all the way to Phoenix to play Encanto?!  It isn’t the nicest course, true, but it is the closest to Jessica’s house, and the green fees aren’t so bad, especially the twilight fee which we ended up paying both times.  It was a long par three, though, measuring at 188 yards.  The day before I had overshot the green with my 5-wood.  This time I used my 4-iron.  This was another well-struck iron.  I landed the ball about twelve feet from the pin on the right side.  I saw a little brown piece of grass to aim just under to get it to the hole.  I don’t know if it actually went just under that brown spot, but I know the ball went in the hole!  So, that makes eleven birdies so far.

Encanto Park Golf Course-Hole 6

     I am so thrilled.  I scored two birdies in a row.  Another first!  This was a short to average par four of about 353 yards.  I hit a nice drive with my 5-wood that put my ball just short of the bunkers on the left side of the fairway.  When we got there, the snack cart came, so I bought Twix for me and pretzels and a Snickers for James.  After that, I regained my focus and hit a nice 5-iron from about 160 yards.  It landed just on the front of the green.  The flag was toward the middle back.  The putt was uphill, long, and with a small break after the hill from left to right.  Eric was taking the cart around the green when I saw the ball tracking toward the hole.  I hollered out Eric’s name, a habit we both have when we think our putt is going to go in the hole.  He looked up just in time to see it fall right in front of the flagstick.  Eric was so nice.  He was not playing well, but he said I was “unstoppable” that day.  I not only made two birdies in a row, but also scored my lowest score ever for nine holes.  I made par on the last hole, which was the #1 handicap hole on the course, a very long and narrow par four of 427 yards.  I went 3-wood, 5-wood onto the green, putter, putter tap-in for that par which ended my score at 39.  I was a little disappointed to discover that par was 35 and not 36, but I was only four over after nine holes.  If I had not made two double bogeys, I would have been only two over or even!  What a great way to end the year of 2001!

     Next time, I will give some of my thoughts on Tiger’s new instruction book.  Glad my back is feeling better, but January is not the best time of year for playing golf around here.  Until next time…