White Sands, New Phone, and an Eagle

Written on 5-1-17.

     Belinda and I are driving back home after a fun and long weekend in Las Cruces.  It was a fabulous trip, and we got to spend some extra quality time with Kyle and Danielle last night when we went to White Sands National Monument.  Sadly, Becca had to go to work and could not get someone to cover.  

     It was grand!  Belinda and I had never been there before, so it was a special treat for us to see it, walk on it, feel it, check it out, play on it, etc.  To make things even better for this trip, the mileage is going to be reimbursed, and we got one "free" night at the Hampton Inn and Suites due to my new job with the CORE.  I had a meeting with Rocio on Friday afternoon, and that allows me to skip the mandatory meeting in May.  I even got in a Time to Teach meeting today with Jennifer (last name) who is now the assistant principal at Surprise Elementary (not its real name).  I met with her and her principal, Dora (last name), today to go over the program.  They are going to present it to their leadership team this Thursday, and it has great potential to result in another training.  We shall see.  

     Another big thing we accomplished this weekend was...
the purchase/uprade of Danielle’s iPhone.  She now has a new 6s, and she got a “free” iPad, just like I got a new iPad Mini with a two-year service agreement recently.  She’ll be all set for this summer’s trip to Morocco, Spain, and England.  I feel especially happy knowing she has more memory on her phone (64 GB), and she also should have a shot at better connectivity wherever she goes. 

On to golf…

     I have one eagle and two birdies to report.  They all came in the last round I played with C.J. at Aztec Municipal.  He let me choose the game this time, and I chose stroke play with handicaps again, hoping I could best him this time.  These three under par scores really helped. 

Aztec Municipal Golf Course-New Hole #8-Eagle #2 of 2017

     I was not playing well.  My back and knees were sore from working out, and they also felt weak, due to the long furlough from exercise in March.  I was motivated to beat my first two high scores on the front nine with this new arrangement.  I had gotten my first par in seven holes after hole #7, so that was encouraging.  I quickly added our scores to see where we were at.  I don’t know why.  Usually, I don’t do that, and I know I play better when I don’t pay attention to the score, but it helped motivate me to beat my previous scores.  I was at 36 with two holes to go.  C.J. was at 35, so he was kicking my tail at this point.  I figured that if I went par, par on these last two holes, I would have a 45, and that would be good enough to get my lowest score on the newer front nine.  Then I did better than that.

Except for the drive on hole #3, this was definitely the best drive of the front nine.  It was long and straight, and it had a pleasing trajectory.  Actually, it was nearly identical to the drive on #3 where the tees are now placed at the farther position the majority of the time.

     My ball was eight yards short of the 150 yard marker, and it was on the fairway with a decent lie.  I chose my 8-iron for the approach, and I was trying something new with my iron swings after a successful experiment on a previous hole.  I pictured and felt myself leaning slightly forward on my toes throughout my downswing.  It really worked.  The contact was crisp and powerful, and my ball shot out high and straight, very near my intended line.  C.J.’s ball was just behind the hill on the right side that is short of the green.  Behind that hill, and on the green, sat my ball.  It was 20 feet out to the right of the hole.  C.J. made a masterful pitch to less than four feet; his pitching was certainly on track for this round.

     I was brimming with confidence on this putt.  Love it when that happens.  I picked a spot a foot left and above the hole, and I let it roll.  It followed its path directly into the hole.  Wow!  This is the first eagle on the new hole #8, previously hole #14, the easiest hole on the course.