Written on 7-4-18.
Well, hello. Happy 4th of July! It’s 3:42 in the afternoon, so I’ve got a little over an hour before I need to get the barbecue going for the party here at our place. We are having Dale, Amanda, Eric, Char, Dorrie, and Craig over for our 4th of July celebration and dinner tonight.
Life is great right now. Belinda and I cleaned our whole house and did some yard work a couple of days ago. Yesterday, I played golf in the morning and then we met the Moores for the movie Incredibles 2 and had dinner at their home afterward. Today, we got even more done, including working out, a little bit of shopping, and paying Gross Receipts. I am feeling pretty accomplished right now, which is great because I head out of town to go to Orlando early tomorrow morning. It’s time for my Time to Teach training on how to host invitationals, and I am so looking forward to this new and exciting opportunity.
On to golf…
I have three new birdies to add, so here I go…
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #16-Birdie #16 of 2018
Hey, I got my 16th birdie this year on the 16th hole. Cool. C.J. and I were playing the Reverse Handicap Game, but we decided on our own the rankings of the holes before we played, which made it much better. He was whooping up on me on the front nine, so I was behind 37 to 62, but I heated up on the back. I only lost hole #14, and we tied on the last hole, so I got all of the rest of the points on the back nine.
This birdie, of course, helped. I teed off with my...
6-iron, and that put me in a great position. I’ve been using my sand wedge more often than I usually do, and this was a good distance for that club, too. My ball flew high and hit the green, but it rolled off on the back right side. It was on the collar, though, so I chose to putt from there. That putt was past 25 feet, so I am sure I gained a stroke or more by making that one. The final score ended up being C.J.: 81, and me: 104, so it was a competitive match.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #7-Birdie #17 of 2018
I played nine holes by myself on Sunday to experiment and have fun with my brand new single length Sterling Irons from Wishon. I actually have “double length,” though, because I chose 8-iron length for my PW, 9-iron, and 8-iron, and I chose 7-iron length for my 7-iron, 6-iron, and 5-iron. I chose two lengths, because I wanted a bit longer 5-iron for slightly increased clubhead speed, and I figured the two swings would only be a tad different with the 8-iron length being so incredibly close to the 7-iron length. Also, I must admit that I would feel a bit self-conscious swinging my 5-iron with such a short club. That’s silly and mostly in my head, but it’s all about confidence and perception.
Ironically, I did not use a single one of the new “double length” irons for this birdie, and here’s why. My driver put my golf ball in position to go for the green in two shots. I was on the left center side, and I was just over 200 yards away. My next stroke was played with my 21° 7-wood, or what I call my par five killer. This shot launched my ball all the way past the rest of the fairway where it stopped on the front of the green, so that shot probably gained a stroke or more, also.
My putt had to go across a large number of patchy areas to get to the hole. The hole was just past the middle of the green and left of the hill that is on the right side. I’ve been working on getting my putts to go past the hole every time (after rereading Every Shot Counts), and this one did go past the hole (after a lot of bumps and bounces) about four feet. The birdie putt was a little bit left to right, and I read it correctly and it dropped in the hole.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #9-Birdie #18 of 2018
Last one. This one just happened yesterday. C.J. and Don took on Norm and me in a best ball match play competition. The hard part was figuring out how many pops to give to Norm. He said he was typically 14 strokes above par…for every nine holes, so I suggested we give him a pop on every hole. Thankfully, C.J. said that should never happen, and he was right. Instead, we gave him pops on every hole, except #8 on the front, and on #10 and #17 on the back. That was fair.
I got to show Don how much I appreciated the new irons. On #2 and #6, I hit both greens in regulation with my new 9-iron. Similarly, the demo 9-iron club he let me use gave me lots of success, and I hit every GIR on the three par three’s on the front the first time I played with that one. I really am finding the 9-iron to be my favorite so far. For this birdie, however, it was the 7-iron that worked out really well.
My drive put me in such a great position to see the flag. I was right on the fairway with a clear view between the trees. Because I was just past ten yards behind the 150-yard bushes, I chose the new 7-iron. The 7-iron swing was very satisfying, and it made a fun swishy, gravelly sound at impact. My ball shot up high and straight and headed directly for the flag. I thought it was going to land on the green and really close to the flag, but it hit on the top of the hill and stopped just barely off the green on the front left side. I felt fortunate it did not spin and roll off the “cliff” and back down the hill.
I chose to putt from there, because it was on the collar, but I had to move my hands down the grip on my putter, and my right leg was slightly lower than my left due to it being on the downslope. I left the flagstick in, and my ball headed toward it, tracking right to left the whole way. It tapped the stick and fell in for the win and a birdie.
Norm and I ended up winning on hole #17 when I made my putt for par. I ended with four pars in a row to help close out the match.
There. I’m all caught up and just in time. It’s 4:58 and time to go get the grill going. Happy 4th of July!
Until next time…
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