A Hillcrest Halloween

Written on 10-31-17.

Happy Halloween!  Amanda, Eric, and Jess are coming over to help us hand out candy in about an hour, and they are having dinner with us, too.  It’s going to be a fun evening.  We’ve set up our little gas fire pit out on “Haven,” so that will be a cozy place to see all the trick or treaters coming up our sidewalk.  

I’m feeling ready to write about golf again, so here I go.  First, we had another fun round at Hillcrest recently.  This time, it was Bruce and C.J. taking on Mike and me once more.  I was overly confident after shooting an 84 there last time, so I ended up not helping much at all.  Here’s how it went down this time…

Hole #1-We all tied with bogeys.

Hole #2-Bruce and I tied with pars.  Mine was unorthodox.  I was in the trees left of the hole with Bruce, so I had to punch out under them.  I used my 5-iron, and it worked.  My ball ended up on the green and even with the hole, even though my ball was way over on the left side.  

Hole #3-Mike got a bogey to match C.J. and Bruce.  I had a terrible hole, getting a seven after not getting off the teeing ground like I should.  Sadly, I think I lost my...

Telegraph Cove jacket on this hole when I was running around with my push cart and bouncing it over the bumps that are over there in the rough between holes #3 and #4.  Sigh.  I called and gave my information, but I haven’t heard anything.

Hole #4-Mike and I tied with C.J. with bogeys.  Bruce struggled on this hole.  Still even after four holes.

Hole #5-Mike got a par, and we had the lead for the first time.  I should have had a par, too, but my par putt from six feet lipped out.

Hole #6-Just like the previous hole, Mike earned another par to win this one.  I should have earned a par again, too, after getting on in regulation, but I severely misread my first putt from across the green.  

Hole #7-Bruce was the only one to get a bogey, so they got one back.  We were back to just one up.

Hole #8-C.J. wisely traded the closer teeing ground on this hole with the farther one on hole #7, and it paid off big time with a birdie and another win.  Back to even.

Hole #9-Bruce was the only one with a par on this hole after hitting a brilliant shot to twelve feet.  My par putt lipped out yet again.  We were one down after the front nine.

Hole #10-Bruce backed up his par with a birdie, so Mike’s and my pars meant nothing.  Even with our decent play, we were suddenly two down.

Continued on 11-1-17.

Hole #11-I got a par after driving my ball right up next to the green on the left side.  That was fun!  I’d never done that before.  My pitch was well short, though, and the pin was on the back right side.  My long birdie putt looked like it went right over the hole, but Mike, who was tending the flag, said it rolled over the right side.  Mike got a par, too, but so did C.J., so we remained two down.

Hole #12-Mike hit into the water twice, and I didn’t step up to help out, so Bruce’s bogey helped extend their lead to three up.

Hole #13-Bruce earned a par with a long comeback putt and extended their lead to four up.

Hole #14-This hole ended up being the deciding factor in the match, in my opinion.  My drive sailed for the top of the middle of the larger trees that protect the houses on the right side of this hole (it looked like it was certainly out of bounds or lost with all of the leaves coating the ground over there).  Not good.  I thought it was a goner, of course, so I hit a provisional, and that tee shot was a beauty; it went straight up the fairway, and it was long.  As C.J. emphasizes often lately, second shots are always better.  

Bruce’s tee shot flew out to the right, also, but it looked like it would fly past those large trees and make it to the open area just past them.  It did.  

My ball, somehow, ended up in the leaves and the shade and not too far back from where Bruce’s ball ended up.  I have no idea how that happened, but I took it.  I had a shot at the green, too, and I managed to get my ball on in two shots, but it was well left of the hole and pretty far away.  I snatched up my provisional on the way up to the green.

I stopped after I picked up my other ball to watch Bruce’s approach.  This was the shot of the day, for sure.  He skulled his shot violently.  It came out low and fast, and it was on track to fly well past the green and head to nowhere good.  He said it might have ended up in the water if it had kept on going, but it didn’t.

He asked it to hit the bunker, and it did!  The sand stopped most of its momentum, and then it popped up onto the green and rolled toward the hole.  With one amazingly lucky shot, Bruce and C.J. went from losing a hole and possibly losing some momentum to sealing the deal on the very next hole.  I walked over to look in the bunker, and I saw a splash that looked like a well-executed bunker shot.  What are the odds?  

Mike and I both got pars, but with Bruce’s astounding “bunker” shot, so did he.  Instead of being three down with four to play, we were now four down with four to play, or dormie.  Ugh.

Hole #15-Bruce and C.J. needed to only tie to win the match, and that’s what they did.  We all got pars, but I felt that mine was the most amazing.  My tee shot was just off the green on the front left side.  The flag was on the back right side, so I had the whole green to cross.  I put too much speed on my second shot, though, so it ended staying just barely on the green and still well to the left of the hole.  

From where I was, my putt looked like it would break left, not right.  It was a total illusion.  After watching some of the others’ putts (and seeing my own second shot) and knowing that approach shots from the other side definitely break to the left, I knew this putt would break to the right, but it just didn’t seem possible.  I was a good twenty feet away still, but I put my ball out there to the left with a small leap of faith and just hoped it wouldn’t do what my mind was telling me it would.  It didn’t.  It broke to the right about a foot, and it went into the hole.  Crazy!

Hole #16-The match was over, but Bruce got another par to all of our bogeys.

Hole #17-We all got bogeys, but I made another (in my opinion) amazing putt to get mine.  This time, I was ten feet above the hole, and my putt slowed and actually stopped on the left side of the hole before it decided to roll in.  It looked like one of those little old-fashioned handheld wooden games that players tilt all kinds of different angles and directions to get those tiny silver spheres to go into the holes.  My ball had stopped, but it was as if someone tilted the green to allow my ball to roll and fall in.  

Hole #18-C.J. earned a well-deserved par after two incredible long distance shots to get his ball on the green in regulation.  His second shot was from over 200 yards, but it rolled right up onto the green.  It was spectacular, and I can forever rib him about being allowed to move up to closer teeing grounds from here on out.

Mike and I both shot 89’s.  Bruce shot an 84, matching the score I had the last time I played there.  C.J., despite ending with that awesome par, shot a 94, but he sure got the scores they needed when they needed them to help them secure the win.

Although we lost, it didn’t feel like it.  We played respectably, and although they have now beaten us twice in a row there, I feel confident that we have what it takes to beat them someday.  Bruce and C.J. definitely earned their win, though, playing well together once more.  

That’s enough for now.  Next time I write, I have one more round and one new birdie to catch up on.  Oh, and I want to write about the latest with our MacBook Pro, too.  Oh, and I want to figure out the Reverse Handicap Game math mystery, also.

Until next time…