Written on 7-14-18.
I played by myself this past Wednesday after the supervised practice session for the Par kids. C.J. wasn’t going to play, because he had two scramble tournaments coming up on Thursday and Friday. Bruce and I planned on playing yesterday, so he didn’t join me either. It gave me some time to work with my new clubs some more. My goal, and my personal par (what I taught the kids about on Tuesday) right now is to shoot 80 or better, and to hit at least 8 greens in regulation for eighteen holes. I almost got both goals. I beat the Bogey Man by shooting a 79, my lowest score so far this year. I managed six greens in regulation, but it was close to eight, because two shots ended up just off the greens.
I’ll be wrapping up The First Tee this coming week, and it will be a relief when I’m all done. I haven’t reported it here yet, but Randy hired a new general manager/director of golf operations at Hidden Valley, and his name is Ty Ried.
Ty D. Ried is a former Class A PGA Professional of ten years with playing experience resulting in four professional victories. In addition, he has experience in managing several prominent golf facilities nationwide. Ty is a graduate of the New Mexico State University Professional Golf Management Program endorsed by the Professional Golfer’s Association of America where he was a member of the Men’s Golf Team as both a player and an Assistant Coach. He also earned his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from NMSU. Ty has 6 hole-in-ones and one double eagle to his record.
I am excited to have someone promoting golf there again.
When I played alone this past week, a final birdie helped me get under 80. This is how it happened…
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #18-Birdie #20 of 2018
The out of bounds stakes are still not in use, so I cut the corner. It would not have mattered, though, because my ball made it past the cart path and settled into a tiny marsh that’s below the farthest teeing ground on #14. I took a free drop, and then I took out my new 9-iron. My golf ball flew directly at the flag that was on the left side this time. It stopped short, however, and missed the green. I had two areas to contend with: the old collar and the new collar. The new collar is the area that they are letting grow out on the greens in order to help them recover? Like I’ve written before, our greens have been steadily shrinking this season because of this. Every green has a darker green ring that looks like it is eating the green from the outside in. I used my approach wedge to pitch it on and avoid it all, though, and it worked. My putt was eight feet or so, and it had a bit of right to left break.
My ball caught the bottom edge of the hole and was tossed out on the back side. It stopped for the briefest moment on that backside before it lost its balance (that’s what it looked like) and then fell back in. It looked like a person who did not want to fall back into a swimming pool.
This was a victory, for sure, because like I wrote above I had beaten the Bogey Man. Who’s laughing now, Bogey Man? I am!
He got his revenge, however, yesterday when I played with Bruce. Bruce and I played after I helped out with the Special Olympics group again. Belinda came to help once more, and because we only had six participants I was able to convince her to play the game with her group up on the driving range. She told me later she hit a really good one, and she told all the people around her, “Hey, I’m pretty bad at this, but I think that was a good shot.”
They agreed. When I picked her up with the equipment, I had her swing another one, and she had great contact again. This really means nothing. It certainly doesn’t mean I will be playing golf with Belinda from here on out. No way. I’m glad she had success, though, and I am really thankful that she could help me out again. She ended up helping three times this summer. Thank you, Belinda.
Bruce chose the Reverse Handicap Game, and it was close until the midway point of the last nine we played together. We played the back nine first, so the match ended on hole #6. After the back nine, Bruce was ahead 58 to 31. I capitalized on a double bogey he got on hole #14. I earned 20 more after winning holes #2 and #3. When we played #4, we both got birdies.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #4-Birdie #21 of 2018
I had been visualizing a great tee shot on this hole for a while now, because I haven’t had success there lately. I discovered that my 9-iron is really too much club, even when the pin is way down at the bottom, which is where it was again this time, so the new pitching wedge got the call. Great call. My ball flew right at the flag, and I had a flicker of hope for the elusive ace, but it stopped short.
Bruce’s tee shot, however, went long. His ball ended up left and behind the green, so he faced a long and difficult pitch. Guess what he did. Yes, you guessed correctly. In typical Bruce fashion, he pitched it in, but this hole-out came with an extremely fortunate bounce, in my view. I saw the whole thing. His golf ball landed on the dirty, bumpy part that is around the green, and that caused it to kick forward and start rolling. It struck the pin and fell in, of course. It was a miraculous shot, truly. This is proof that the more Bruce practices, the luckier he becomes. He would laugh at that sentiment, though, because he hasn’t been practicing. How about the more Bruce plays, the luckier he becomes. There. That makes more sense.
Now, I was faced with having to make my putt to push the points, and it was worth 14 points. Thankfully, it was straight and only five feet away. I pictured my practice putting green strip again, and I rolled my ball directly into the hole.
I had an easy opportunity to extend the match on the very next hole, too. I was on the green in regulation. Bruce had already two-putted for his par, so I only needed to do the same. I had a bunch of bumpy stuff to go over, but I decelerated that first putt and ended up in a small crater and too far away from the hole to have a legitimate shot at making my par putt. Bummer.
If I added correctly, Bruce ended up winning 108 to 71. I wish I had extended the match, and I wish I had played better overall. I mentioned to Bruce on the teeing ground on #8 (as I drink my beer while I write this) that I should not have had two beers the night before I played. I was not trying to make an excuse, but I do believe I am not as sharp as I could be when I’ve had alcohol the night before. Hmmmmm, maybe I should stop doing that.
Until next time…
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