Written on 6-27-18.
It’s my other birthday tomorrow, and I will be seven years old this time. I’m 51 now, so that means I was 44 when I had my brain surgery?! That’s nuts. Time sure is a funny thing.
This birthday is highlighted (or “lowlighted?”) depending on how you look at it due to the sudden death of our dear friends’ son, Reilly, just two days ago. Bruce and Diane have now lost their second child due to Cystic Fibrosis, and we are all in denial, shock, and mourning. It’s another lesson that we should continue to take nothing for granted and enjoy every moment with the people we care about most.
That’s what I’ll continue to do. I recently wrote a post on my golf blog about the little and big moments in our lives. Big moments like weddings and childbirth are incredible, of course, and I wouldn’t trade them, but it’s the little moments that I remember with a different fondness. I still remember sitting in my ‘79 Buick Estate Wagon on Main Street in Durango with Belinda one evening when we were in college and becoming best friends. We listened to the radio, talked about nothing and everything, and enjoyed each other’s company, and I realize now that I was falling in love with my new best friend in that little moment.
Looking back seven years ago, I remember little recovery moments. These all took place after the surgery, and they all marked the beginning of my comeback. I could...
vacuum the living room once more. I could play volleyball on the front lawn again. I was somehow able to watch the kids play volleyball in Farmington on a sweltering day like today. Those tiny moments in my life brought me to this bigger moment, my seventh birthday. I continue to take all of these moments, big and small, with sincere appreciation and joy. And although it’s very fresh and they are suffering terribly, I know that Diane and Bruce would not trade any of the moments they had with their wonderful children.On to golf…moments
When C.J. and I played yesterday, he chose the Escalating Skins game, and it was a close match. I played well, and my drives were a large part of the reason why. I missed three putts that were inside four feet, though, so that was frustrating. I would have broken 80 if those putts had dropped. That’s golf.
After earning four birdies in this round, I should have been the winner, but that wasn’t the case. C.J. played really well at the end, and that ended up being the difference in this game. These are the birdie descriptions, however, and how they helped me keep the lead for the majority of the match.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #4-Birdie #12 of 2018
The flag had been moved from the bottom to the top for this round, so it was a different look from the teeing ground; it looked so close. I chose my approach wedge, and I am certain that watching the pro’s at the San Juan Open helped my swing on this round. My contact and ball flight were great, and my ball flew in a direct line with the flag. It ended up landing just short of the green, and it settled on the fringe. I chose to putt despite the rough, patchy collar. Somehow I managed to get the speed and the line right, and my ball was stopped abruptly by the hole. If it had missed, it would have gone past by five feet or more. I won the hole with this birdie.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #8-Birdie #13 of 2018
We were surprised to find the white tees moved up to where they usually are. I fully expected to walk back towards the fence to tee off again, because that’s where they’ve been all summer. I commented that I was happy to be able to say that I got at least one par from that incredibly long distance before the tees were moved up again. When the teeing ground is back there, this golf hole is 525 yards, according to the scorecard, and it goes from almost one side of the golf course to the other, similar to #7. From the whites, it says it’s 418, so that’s quite a difference.
No doubt the teeing ground being closer helped make this birdie possible. My tee shot was long, but it was out to the right, and it stopped in the taller grass that is on #16. I set up for a draw with my 6-iron to move it around a tree, and it worked out, but it came out lower than I pictured.
My golf ball ended up on the top of the hill on the right front side of the green. I had a tiny launching pad with an uphill lie for my pitch, and I used my approach wedge again. It popped up and landed on the green, but it slowed down so much from the rougher green that I thought it might not make it into the bowl. It crawled in, though, and then it surprisingly picked up a lot of speed as it rolled down toward the flag, stopping just four feet short of the hole. I got a bit of a read from C.J.’s putt, so I aimed more at the hole than I would have if I had not watched his putt. It went in, and I got $80,000.00 with this birdie.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #13-Birdie #14 of 2018
I had to earn a birdie to win this hole, because C.J. gets a pop, and he managed a bogey/net par. I used my driver, and C.J. had been complimenting my drives throughout this entire round. I was making smooth, long circles with it, and the results were wonderful. This was one of the best. My ball flew over the cottonwood, and C.J. said it looked like it was still climbing as it went over. It ended up past the cart path that divides this hole and #18.
*We have been lifting, cleaning, and placing for the past few rounds, because the course has been so wet and in many places partly muddy due to all of the watering they have been doing.
Lifting, cleaning, and placing gave me some help for this birdie, so that’s why I mentioned that. My golf ball was muddy and in a bad spot. Placing it after cleaning it no doubt helped my next shot. I used my trusty approach wedge again, and I swept my ball up into the air where it dropped just before the green, and then it bounced on and rolled up near the hole. I couldn’t see it from where I was, because I was below the putting surface, but when I walked up to the green, I saw my ball was less than three feet away. I took my time to make that putt, though, and I went before C.J., because I had ordered a breakfast burrito when we made the turn, and I wanted to go pay for it and pick it up without slowing us down too much.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #18-Birdie #15 of 2018
Normally, a birdie would secure the win on this final hole, but not this time. C.J. earned his par, therefore earning a net birdie and a tie for the last huge chunk of money and the win. He also earned the final bonus by hitting the fairway, and that was a big bonus of $100,000.00. He had his best drive of the round on this hole, putting his ball in position right near the corner of the fairway.
I chose not to go for the fairway bonus, though, because the out of bounds is still not in play, so I cut the corner instead. This final drive was another beauty, and it went so far that it ended up left of the bunker on #13. My trusty approach wedge actually let me down on this hole, and my ball landed short and left, stopping in the bunker that guards the front right side of the green.
Earlier that morning, I was in the same spot in that same bunker demonstrating explosion shots to The First Tee kids. I joked with C.J. that I had better get a good result after showing the kids how to play this kind of shot. I did!
My ball shot out on a wave of sand, and it stopped on the green, but it ended up above the hole. I had a long downhill putt to contend with now. From around 15 feet, however, I found the right line, and my ball rolled down and turned right, stopping in the hole that was on the front right side of the green this time. Sweet! I had just earned four birdies in one round, but I did not get the win.
We played a playoff hole for the last of the money, and we chose to go from next to #18 over to #13’s green. C.J. got a three, and I missed another short putt for my three, so he got the rest of the money and the win. Great playing, C.J.! I ended up shooting an 82, but that was with some short putts that refused to go in and a blow-up hole on #7 where I put two of my golf balls out of bounds, earning an ugly nine. So, it was an 82, but it had the potential of being a 75. My driver tee shot on #7 was just a fraction off, and it bounced off the cart path and out of bounds. Another yard to the left, and it would have stayed in play. Oh well. Once again, that’s golf.
Until next time…
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