Hillcrest Birdies

Written on 10-1-17.

Welcome to October!  Belinda and I are outside of Silverton, after having just driven right through downtown.  We stopped near a sign that says ALPINE LOOP, BACK COUNTRY BYWAY, and it has a map with a legend and some pictures, too.  Dave Logan is announcing the Denver Broncos game, and they are at home against the Raiders.  It’s going well.  The Broncos are ahead in the 3rd quarter.  I don’t know the score, but I think it’s 16 to 7.  It is.  Dave just updated it.  

Every few minutes, the wind where we are parked is so strong that...
it’s shakes our Ford Escape.  The sun is shining in through the sun roof and Belinda’s window, though, so it’s warm and cozy in here.  The sun roof is like a picture frame, and the picture is constantly changing with gray and white clouds moving by like frozen ice chunks on a river.

Driving through Durango to get here was nostalgic.  I followed a Dodge Durango into Durango, and that reminded me of Mike (last name), who bought one of those cars years and years ago.  Leaves were already blowing along the islands on the streets, and that reminded me of previous fall seasons when I went to Fort Lewis.  Then we drove by the Best Western Mountain Shadows, and I was reminded of our little in-state vacation where Bev, Guy, and I played in that indoor pool there with the bubbly cover.
    Driving by Dalton Ranch, I remembered two pars I made, one on the par three that’s close to the highway where I escaped from the tall grass after a huge pull off the tee and the other a par on the par five that runs along the railroad tracks where one of the guys I played with said I had played it just like a pro.  

It’s funny what sticks in your head, but at least my golf memories were good ones.  That’s me, an optimist, and that’s what this whole golf journal is mostly about, too.  Better to remember the better shots and holes than the bad ones.

Speaking of better shots and holes, these birdies came from my round at Hillcrest this past week.

Hillcrest Golf Course-Hole #1-Birdie #21 of 2017

With no warm-up swings at all, I topped my first tee shot, but we all took mulligans off the first tee, so I am counting this birdie, especially because we arrived late and barely made it to the first tee at our assigned tee time of 12:20.  My second shot, with my 3-wood, was super.  It drew slightly, following the curve of the water on the left side, and it settled in the middle of the fairway, 100 yards out.  The pin was on the front in the middle, so I chose my approach wedge again, but my ball landed just short of the green.  We were playing with Carl (not his real name), a member there who knows Mike, so I was visiting with him while also trying to explain the day’s game to Eric.  Although my ball was off the green, I chose to use my putter, and my ball rolled right at the flag, never wavering until it struck the stick and dropped in.  According to the rules of the GIR game, the one C.J. and I like to play often now, I had earned five points.

Hillcrest Golf Course-Hole #10-Birdie #22 of 2017

C.J. left after playing nine holes.  I am only guessing, but I think he is still not as completely excited about golf as he has been in the past yet, and it didn’t help that Bruce was not there.  Rei is in the hospital.  I don’t want to speak for him, but I don’t think he liked the game I chose either, because getting GIR’s at Hillcrest for him is even more difficult compared to Hidden Valley.  After the front, I was ahead 22 to 8 to 4.  Eric managed to get eight points, but I thought he’d be doing better after playing at Civitan weekly with his mom.  He said his irons were working well for him, and on some of the holes, they really were.

This tee shot was marvelous, a long stripe that looked so beautiful in the air I consciously chose to hold my pose longer than I normally do.  Carl complimented it after he took his second shot from one of the hills on the right side.  My ball landed out on the fairway far enough that I was able to get my second shot with my utility club to roll up onto the green after landing just short.  The flag was on the left side near the middle this time.  Eric got on in regulation just a bit farther away from where my ball was, so I got a bit of a read from him, even though his ball came in from a slightly different angle.  I did not leave my eagle putt short, but it stopped about a foot away from the hole on the left side.  I didn’t line it up, or follow my regular routine; I just tapped it in.

The final score for the game was 49 to 23.  Eric managed to score better on the back than on the front.  It was really a gorgeous day for golf, too.  The sun would come out from behind the clouds and warm us up, and then it would hide again and a breeze would come along to cool us down again.  The La Platas were dusted with snow, so it made this incredible background for the rich golf-green landscape made even prettier with the changing leaves on the trees.

Carl was an interesting playing partner.  When Eric pitched his third shot up onto the green on #11, he knocked his ball back to him.  I guessed, or just had a feeling, he was going to do that, so I objected, saying, “Don’t you knock that ball back to him!”

But, he was knocking it back right in the middle of my objection.  Eric’s ball was close, but I don’t think it was as near to the hole as Carl said it was.  I really didn’t care, but he never knocked a single ball back again after that.

He also paid attention to what we were saying with the scores, so when he hit his tee shot close on #13, he asked how many points it was for a green and one putt, so I told him seven.  Then he made the putt.  He got another birdie on hole #14, so he announced that he now had 14 points, which was true.

Before I attempted my birdie putt on #15, he swung his putter back and forth over the hole like we were playing at a putt-putt course.  That was the moment I thought he was a little weird.  Nice, but weird.  

Hole #15 was a really fun hole, and it was a highlight for all of us.  First, Charlie teed off, and his ball landed on the front right side of the green and rolled over the left side, similar to Bruce’s shot at Pinon Hills on hole #12 recently.  Then Eric took his tee shot from around 189 yards or so, and his ball landed on the green even closer to the back flag location than Charlie’s.  I joked that I didn’t want to follow those two tee shots, and I told Eric that I was using my 5-iron (he chose his 6), so I hoped mine would be closer.  

It was!  My ball flew with a slow draw, hit the green, and then rolled out to the left side of the flag, closer than both of their tee shots.  Eric agreed that he should have used his 5-iron, too.  All three of us got our pars, but Eric really earned his.  His second putt was a long one, and it barely dropped in on the left side.  It was an amazing double-putt, considering where he started with that second putt.  

There.  I’m all caught up with my last four birdies and my last two rounds.  I don’t have much on the schedule for the beginning of October, so I told C.J. I would be calling him to let him know when I would head out to play again.  Eric and I also made plans to play on October 12th at Hillcrest again and then spend the night at the Strater with our women after that.  That would be fun!  Hopefully, Bruce will be able to join us that day.  We shall see.

Until next time…

I also want to write about a swing thought that is working really well for me lately, but that can wait until next time.  The Bronco game is over now, and they escaped with the win, 16 to 10.  It’s also 5:26, so Belinda and I need to go find some dinner and head home.