Cancun is Coming, Special Olympics, and a Return to Civitan

Written on 7-22-18.

     It’s nearly noon on a Sunday, and Francesco Molinari has just won another tournament, but this is a big one, if not the biggest one.  He just won The Open at Carnoustie with a bogey-free 69, ending his four days there at nine under.  Tiger was his playing partner for the day, but he ended up falling short at five under for the tournament.  Doesn’t he know that if I pick him to win, he’s supposed to win?  I chose to go to church early at Holy Trinity in order to catch the last two hours, and I’m glad I did.

     I’ve got the rest of the day to write, relax, and pack now.  We leave for Cancun tomorrow!  The First Tee is done for the summer.  I have two Time to Teach trainings coming up, one on the Monday immediately after we return, but for the most part, I feel I can take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy this vacation.  

     I’ve played tons of golf recently.  We played on Wednesday at Hillcrest, of course, and then I played Friday and yesterday, also.  It’s been great, and I still have more...

golf to look forward to in Mexico.  Life is great.  What follows is a recap of the last two days.

     Friday was the last day for me to help out with the Special Olympics group this summer at the area games.  I volunteered to help score the irons portion, and it did not take as long as the state games, because we had fewer participants.  When it was over, I took advantage of the range.  It cost $10.00 for a large bucket, $4.00 more than at Pinon Hills, but the pro and his assistant claimed their range balls were better than Pinon’s, because they aren’t distance limited.  They did appear to fly farther, and that was especially noticeable with my sand wedge going 90 to 100 yards instead of 80 to 90 yards.  I had one of the best sessions ever with these new irons, but I have never seen myself as a practice player, especially a banger of golf balls at a driving range.  I prefer to play.  This, however, was necessary to better figure out and know the distances with my new irons.
     After the range and my free lunch (for volunteering), I stopped at Civitan to play 18 holes before heading home.  Belinda was tutoring her two students, Harper and Hudson, so I had a fabulous excuse to stay away from home a while longer.  Also, Ed Strauss generously had given me four free rounds there that he had won at the Mosaic Academy Fundraiser?  Thanks, Ed.  I still have three to go.
     I played okay.  I chose not to tee it up on any of the holes to increase the challenge and figure out my distances even more while using the golf balls (Bridgestone e6 Soft) I prefer to play with actual playing conditions.  I shot back to back 33’s, but making short putts was an issue on the first nine, and that is typically never an issue.  I missed four within four feet.  I managed a birdie on the second nine with an ugly chip shot.

Civitan Golf Course-Hole #7-Birdie #22 of 2018             

     It’s funny that I still remember that this was the hole where I scored a nine when I first started playing.  It’s the one that has the high net to protect the traffic and the people that go back and forth on the road along the left side.  

     On the first time around, I hit the green in regulation on the left side, but that was one of the holes where I triple-putted when I missed my short par putt.  The flag was on the front right side. 

     This time, my pitching wedge shot my ball high up into the air toward the right side of the green, but it fell short by ten feet or so.  I chose to chip from there with my sand wedge, but it came out low and left and less than crispy.  Because it came out so low, it started rolling immediately after getting on the green, but it was heading right at the flag.  When it hit the flagstick, it turned right and circled the entire 360 degrees around the flagstick until it fell in on the front side where it had just entered.  That was fun to watch, and it made me smile.  

     Despite feeling exhausted and a little burnt out, I managed to par the last hole before I left.  I parred that hole twice, once with a 6-iron and a two-putt and one final time with a long pitch and a putt.  I look forward to going back and playing three more times…for free.