Wake Me When September Ends

Written on 9-30-17.

  It’s the last day of September already, and  Belinda and I are having a memorable one together.  We’ve slept in, had a fabulous breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes, attended half of a football game of the son of some good friends of ours, and run some errands in town.  We felt like it was a “pinch ourselves” kind of day, for sure.    

I just realized I missed another football game that was at 3:00 today, but we were still in town at that time.  It was a former student’s game, so I am bummed I missed it.  Maybe I can catch the next one.

When we got home, I got to watch the end of today’s action for the Presidents Cup.  America is killing the international team; the score after three days is 14.5 points to 3.5 points.  The Americans need only one more point to win it all.  

Not to jinx myself, or “it,” but I’ve been killing it in golf lately, too.  Nothing under par or anything like that, but my last two rounds, one at Hidden Valley and one at Hillcrest just two days ago, have been more what I hope for and expect.  My scores were ...

81 and 84 respectively.  I won the games we chose to play, too, and I earned two birdies in each round, which always helps the scores.  I’ll write about the birdies and talk about the rounds as I go along.

Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #3-Birdie #19 of 2017

I played all by myself on Tuesday this past week to prepare for Hillcrest on Thursday.  I sent C.J. a text to come join me, but it didn’t work out, so off I went.  It was rough.  I had not walked in a while, so my muscles were sore and stiff, but by the end of the round, things had loosened up.  

I saw Randy up on the patio when I walked by to go inside and sign in, and he teased me about not being around often enough.  I told him I had been busy working, which was true.  Remember, though, I had recently played four rounds in a row during a week I had less work to do, but lately work has picked up.  Lots to do.

When I teed off on this hole, Randy nearly got me with the sprinklers.  I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it, but as I was walking up the cart path from the green on #2, a sprinkler shot out right in front of me.  We chatted briefly after he apologized, and then he watched me tee off from the whites at the farther back tee position.  No pressure.  Thankfully, it was a beauty, a long draw that ran past the fairway a bit.  He must have liked it, because he said, “Perfect.”

It took me a while to find my ball.  I even walked over the hill down there and glanced in the ditch.  When I came back over the hill, I found my ball a few feet from where I had just stopped my push cart.  It was 111 yards away, and it was in the taller grass.  I chose my approach wedge, and I made a wonderful…um…err…approach.  The ball mark was three feet before the hole, and my ball stopped inside one foot on the left side of the hole.  I stopped to take a picture of it, thinking I would send it to C.J., but I never did.  I thought twice about taking the picture, though, because I didn’t want to jinx my putt (not that I believe in jinxes).  The putt was a really simple one anyway.  It was just a tap-in really, but I had to pay attention.

Aztec Municipal Golf Course-New Hole #8-Birdie #20 of 2017

This hole was dreamlike.  I say that, because my shots went right where I pictured them going.  Isn’t that what every golfer really wants?  That is the dream of all golfers, right?  What golfer would not like to see his or her shots go the way he or she imagines them in his or her mind just before he or she swings? Umm…nobody.  

Wow!  Writing that sentence in order to be politically correct really made it sound awkward.

My drive went up the left side, and it was wonderful.  I aimed at a branch on a tree that was on the left side of the fairway, and that’s where it went.  Voila!  It hit that tree, I believe, and it popped out to the right of it a bit.  It did not roll down to the fairway, though.  

The second shot was even better.  Although I was on the left side and I had a tall tree to go over to get where I wanted to go, I took it on anyway.  I hit up on my ball with my 7-iron, and the ball flew right over that tree right where I was aiming.  I pictured it going over that tree in that exact spot, and that’s what it did.  Voila!

My ball was on the green on the front; it did not go down into the bowl.  The flag was on the left side and towards the back a bit.  I had an upcoming putt that needed to skirt along the top of the bowl without dropping down.

That putt was fun, too.  It rolled along the rim as it curved from left to right (like I had pictured), but it didn’t go in.  It stopped short of the hole, so my last putt was downhill and eight feet away.  It curled in neatly right at the end, breaking just three inches.  Voila!  Yeah!

      With those two birdies, I ended up shooting an 81, which sounds good, but that is eleven over on this new lay-out.  On the front, I was just four over, which is really good, but on the back, I was seven over, which could be better.  The back nine, in my opinion, is still the better nine hole opportunity to make a decent score.