Written on 9-28-18.
I am just writing to make the time go faster until I present at a staff meeting here at Crownpoint Elementary School. It’s 12:54, and we start at 1:00, so I don’t have much time.
I saw that the United States is now down 5-3 after the Europeans swept them in the afternoon rounds. That’s quite a turnaround. C.J. has picked the Europeans to win, but I chose the Americans. We still have tomorrow and Sunday to go, but it’s already shaping up to be extremely competitive.
When we played on Wednesday, C.J. was not feeling well due to a Shingles booster shot, so he stopped playing after twelve holes. Don joined us, though, so he and I finished the rest of the round together. We played, at C.J.’s suggestion, the Reverse Handicap Game, and we decided, in the interest of saving time on the first tee, to just use the handicaps on the scorecard.
We started on the back nine, and I shot my best back nine score this season, finishing at just two over. I earned two birdies at the end of that nine to really help lower that score.
Okay, people are showing up. Writing for a few minutes helped. Off I go.
Until next time…
Written on 9-30-18.
Kody and I are sitting outside at “Haven,” our front porch. It’s a bit breezy. It’s just not quite cold enough to make me get up and go get a jacket, though. John and Chopper came up to say hello and visit for a bit, and Chopper didn’t bite, growl, or bark at Kody for the first time since they’d first met. Hopefully, they will get along from here on out; Chopper is a favorite of ours, for sure.
I played yesterday all by myself, and it was...
fantastic. I saw Randy eating a late lunch out on the patio, and he immediately apologized for not knowing about Dale’s death until a week ago. I told him not to worry about it, but it did surprise me, considering how much he is involved with the community.
Ty was let go, so I simply said, “No more Ty, huh?”
He then mentioned something about, and I am paraphrasing here, if he had wanted someone to market for him exclusively something, something, something, and that the job requires some really specialized skills. That was all he said. So, just like that, we no longer have a general manager again.
Let me get these new birdies in here. I got two when I played with Don and C.J. and two more when I played alone yesterday.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #17-Birdie #39 of 2018
Like I had written earlier, our game was the Reverse Handicap one, and C.J. and I were tied after he had won the points for holes #14 and #15. I told Don, who had not earned any points at all at that point, that it took me four holes to earn the same amount of points C.J. had earned in two.
This hole gave me back the lead. I used my lovely new 9-iron, and it really was fun to show Don how appreciative I am of my new irons, the irons I recently bought from him, by making great swings like this one. My ball landed on the green before the hole about 15 feet away. Earlier in the day, I nearly had a hole-in-one on #2 with my 9-iron. My ball landed two feet past the hole and spun back diagonally where it just missed the hole and stopped short and left. My uphill straight birdie putt from there lipped out. In my defense, the greens were plugged and sandy, and a few of the cups were sticking up a bit and had to be tamped down.
On the hole just before this one, my birdie putt from about 12 feet lipped out, too. After I made this one, however, I was able to say I had made a longer putt for birdie on this hole than on the previous hole. With the points from both holes, I earned 16 points.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #18-Birdie #40 of 2018
Cool! I’ve earned 40 birdies this season already. With September ending, though, I hope I’ll be able to keep playing as much as I have. Since I bought my membership, I have kept track of how many rounds I’ve played to be certain I’ve gotten my money’s worth. Well, I certainly have. My round yesterday was my 29th round so far.
For this birdie, it was pretty straightforward. My driver put my ball past the trees and nearly in the ditch. I had a clear view of the green and my 6-iron did the trick of getting my ball on the narrower green in two shots. Unfortunately, the hole was on the right side and not the left where my ball was. My first putt was a long one that went over the ridge in the middle of the green. It went up and over, and it stopped about eight feet past the hole. From there, I put plenty of speed on my uphill putt to help me earn two birdies in a row. Sadly, this birdie only earned me one point. According to the scorecard, and we all disagree with this, this hole is the easiest one on the golf course, so it was only worth one point.
We played the back nine first, because there was confusion about whether the front was open due to the work on the greens. Before we finished up on #18, though, I got a thumbs-up to continue on to the front from Eric, the guy working in the pro shop that day. C.J. left after playing #3, and he did look like he needed a nap. He was listless and less talkative than usual, so he really did go home to take a nap. Before he left, he had earned 32 points for those holes that he had won on the back nine. Don got on the board after winning hole #1 with a super accurate pitch that left a ball mark just a couple of inches in front of the hole, stopping less than a foot away. His par on that hole earned him 16 points. When the game was all over, the scores ended up like this: C.J.: 32, Don: 50, and me: 79. If C.J. gave his points to Don, then Don bested me by three points. Don really did play much better on the back nine. His final score for 18 holes was an 86 with a 42 on the back. Mine ended up being an 82 with my 36 on the back nine.
I chose to go play by myself yesterday afternoon, because I had gotten a bunch of work done for the CORE, and it was a gorgeous day. I’m so glad I did. I broke 80 again with another 79, and I got two more birdies to add to my total for the season.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #8-Birdie #41 of 2018
I set my usual goal of getting at least eight greens in regulation or more before I teed off. I also thought to myself that if I could break 84, the United States would win the Ryder Cup. Well, at least I can say I did my part. I ended up getting nine greens in regulation, too.
For this first birdie, I had the help of the best pin position possible. It was down in the bowl, so I was really hoping for an eagle, but my 7-iron approach was pushed to the right side of the green. I chose to putt across at least 30 feet of the rougher green that had been left to grow and recover. It’s very difficult to judge how much speed to put on those kinds of putts, because it can have smooth parts and tough, patchy parts, too. I didn’t think I had put enough speed on it, but it did manage to roll down the slope and spill out onto the green. After it got on there, it also turned right towards the hole, but it stopped less than three feet away. This green, especially in the bowl, had a bunch of sand, enough to hide the green putting surface from view in some places. That made the putt more difficult. I wasn’t sure if it would roll the way I wanted. Thankfully, it worked out, and I earned my one under score for this hole. Take that, Bogey Man!
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #11-Birdie #42 of 2018
This feels great to get caught up on these birdies. For this final one I’m writing about today, my drive was the best part. It was actually too good, flying my ball past the green. I saw my ball on the hill that is behind the green as I was walking past the flag, which was on the front right side of the green for this birdie. I saw my ball mark, too, when I got to the back of the green. It was on the back right edge just a foot away from the collar.
For my approach/pitch, I used my sand wedge, and I thought that it would certainly be okay to put my ball past the hole. If it went too far, I thought, I could still earn my par by going back uphill to the hole. That turned out to be a good thought, because my ball kept rolling and rolling, and it stopped less than three feet away on the left side. I had an easy uphill putt, but I took nothing for granted. I made sure to follow through and get it right in the hole.
There. All caught up. I may play golf one more time before we leave Thursday after school to go to Emily and Carter’s wedding next weekend. Although Belinda thinks it is not cool to bring my clubs to see if I may be able to play next weekend, I am going to bring them to see if an opportunity presents itself. We won’t be coming home again until Monday, because I have a meeting with a principal for Time to Teach on Monday afternoon, so it could happen. It’s going to be a fun weekend! It will be nice to attend a wedding instead of a funeral this time.
Until next time…
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