Written on 10-24-18.
I have a break here at Twin Lakes in the afternoon, so I am going to take a few minutes to catch up some more on that latest Hillcrest round. Bruce did so well on the front nine that he alone got us to three down by hole #9. My par, the only one on #4, got us back to just one down, but his pars on #5 and #8 regained that stronger three-up lead for their team.
On the back, my par on #10 got us back to two down, but C.J. earned the only birdie of the entire round on the par three #12 to put us back to three down once again, and that’s how it remained until we ran out of holes on hole #16. Before his birdie, I nearly earned a par on #12 to get us back to just one down, but instead, I ended up on the receiving end of yet another putt that lipped out due to too much speed. I had the strongest finish in our group on the final two holes with two pars, but it didn’t matter. The final scores were: Pat-88, Eric-105, C.J.-100, and Bruce-83. I was happy to see that Bruce had only beaten me by five strokes; that strong finish helped. Stinker Bruce proved that you can take a break from golf and come back just as sharp as ever.
Written on 10-27-18.
Well, this is just plain fantastic! I am sitting in a very expensive Airstream at Wahweap near Glen Canyon Dam and Page, Arizona. This was Amanda’s idea. She was googling Airstreams, and she stumbled upon this campground where anyone can stay in an Airstream right next to Lake Powell. We are celebrating our anniversary earlier this year, and it will be our 28th on November 24th. It was a surprise trip for me. I had no idea where we were going until we drove into the national park itself.
As we drove in, A and B allowed Eric and I to guess what we would be staying in, and after many incorrect guesses, we discovered it would be two huge Airstreams, one per couple. We did some research and found out that these would probably cost over 100 grand if we chose to buy one. We agreed we would not want to spend that much money on a trailer. We are looking at...
the smaller, less expensive trailers like R-Pods, No-Bo’s, and T@B 400’s. Who knows if we will actually buy one someday, but the more we talk about them, the more likely it becomes. Sadly, we have not been up to A’s and E’s cabin home for months.
I just searched an older golf journal, and I found out we were in Canada at the beginning of June 2016. These journals are really great for discovering our history. We (the four of us) could not remember the name of the town where we stayed when we were in British Columbia at that beautiful, big VRBO for our 25th anniversary until I researched and found out, but only because I had put in the name of the whale tour we took, and I learned that I had spelled it wrong, too. I had put in Mackey, but it was Mackay. We were all struggling to remember the smaller town where Eric bought some coffee mugs, and that was Telegraph Cove. I bought a jacket there that I lost at Hillcrest a while back. Thank you, previous golf journal, for helping us to figure out this small mystery.
Written on 11-3-18.
I am on the top floor of the brand new Durango Joe’s on East 20th in Farmington, and it’s a comfy, classy, cool environment for writing. It has new chairs, new paint, new flooring, and an original feel to it. Thankfully, I don’t smell the new paint, but I do smell the coffee, and it’s wonderful!
The only two drawbacks are the sounds of the country music that is lightly playing on the speakers (I wouldn’t country music) and the occasional roar of a vehicle’s engine that flies by out on 20th. I can put in my earphones, though, to change that. There. Headphones in and Apple Music going. I am sitting right next to the window with a white mug in a large red circle. It’s very pleasant here, and my Irish cream frappe is yummy.
Belinda is with her sisters and her mother in Mancos at the cabin home today, and they are celebrating Jess’s 75th anniversary. I’ve been hanging out with the cat and the dog, and they have both thrown up a little bit on our new bedroom carpeting. Hooray for me!
On to golf…
I’ve been on a kick trying out new drivers lately, and I don’t really know why. I did drive all the way to Civitan to be turned away due to a storm that had just blown in. Instead of driving home, however, I decided to drive to Dick’s instead, and because I had my driver with me, I thought I would compare it to some newer ones with different specs. Now I know why.
I learned some things. First, I have enough clubhead speed to warrant having a stiffer shaft. According to Richard, who worked briefly at Hidden Valley, too, I would do better with a stiff shaft with a mid-bend point. He said either 9.5 or 10.5 would be acceptable for the loft.
With my own driver, I averaged 94.9 MPH with 13 swings, and I had one swing that was 101.1. With the Taylor Made M1, I had an average of 94.5 with seven swings, and my fastest was 96.9. The M4 showed an average of 96.8 after nine swings, and one swing clocked in at 100.2 MPH. The Tommy Armour averaged 96.2 with eight swings. My favorite, the Callaway Rogue with jailbreak technology, gave me the most consistency. I averaged 98.2 with that one, and some of my longest drives, too, with an average carry of 259 yards and an average of 282 yards for total distance. With that club, I hit four of the most gorgeous, slight draws of the entire session.
Looking at the Ping data, the last driver I took swings with, I averaged the fastest speeds and the farthest distances. I averaged 99.8 with that one, and my average carry and total distances were 256 yards and 286 yards respectively. I pulled/drew every one of those drives, though, averaging 25 yards away from the target line. If I bought it, I would just have to aim to the right all the time.
I went back the other evening with Belinda. She wanted to buy new tennis shoes before the weekend, and I knew that she would reluctantly allow me to buy a driver if I could only make up my mind. I couldn’t. It was a lousy showing, and I wasn’t swinging well at all, especially compared to the first go-around. I took a closer “look” at the Tommy Armour clubs, because I could get two clubs for $200.00. They were including a fairway club, or a 3-wood or 5-wood with the purchase of a driver. That’s a great deal! I am going to blame the clubs, though, because I had awful results, and it didn’t matter if it was 9.5 or 10.5. I realized that I would not pay a penny for a driver I don’t feel confident with.
Another reason I chose not to buy, however, was the sales guy. Because I wasn’t having my best swings, he started giving me some tips. Bring your hands lower. Relax your shoulders. The last one was the final straw: Fire your hips. It complicated my swing and made things worse, not better. The only thing that made it okay with me was I knew he only had the best of intentions. No sale for him, though. Belinda helped me to walk away when she asked if I was ready to go home. I was.
That night, I thought of Don and his Wishon Clubs. He might have a demo club or two that I could try, and I could even take those out on the course. I texted him early the next morning, which was yesterday. He did have one 919 THI club, and it does have a stiff shaft, but its loft is 11, higher than I have ever used. He said he had another one at AMGC, but it wasn’t there when I looked, so I let him know. Then I took the one driver he had for me borrow out on the course, and I really liked it. It helped me get one of two birdies on the back nine.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #12-Birdie #45 of 2018
This was not a great swing with this demo driver. The first swing with it on #11 went way right, and my golf ball ended up near the teeing ground for this hole. The tee shot for this birdie also went waaaay right, and it nearly went out of bounds. I watched the whole thing. It headed toward the fence, and it amazingly ricocheted off of it with a lot of speed, sending my ball closer to the green. Cool! It settled in a spot 40 yards away on the right side. My pitch with my sand wedge got my ball on the green, but it was just a foot away from the fringe, and my putt was still eight paces away from the hole that was on the bottom tier this time. That “swing thought” on putts about getting it to the hole helped again. I know I have a chance of making it if I swing my putterhead fast enough to feel like I’ve swung nearly too fast. Those are the putts that are more likely to go in, and that’s what happened with this putt, too.
Aztec Municipal Golf Course-Hole #17-Birdie #46 of 2018
I went back and forth between my pitching wedge and my 9-iron before I settled on the 9-iron. The pitching wedge was part of the equation only due to the yardage. The Grint App said it was either 120 or 126 yards (not sure which one) to the flag, and either one of those would really be best for my pitching wedge distance. I knew from experience, though, that the 9-iron is the club I have the most success with on this hole.
Then I had success with it again. My ball flew just to the left of the flag as it flew over it. It stopped quickly on the green, moving a bit to the right after landing. The putt was weird. It was downhill, but I couldn’t decide the break, and I think that was because it was a double-breaker. It would move to the left at first as it started down the hill, and then it would come back to the right as it got closer to the hole. I chose to just roll it at the hole, and it worked out by going right in! I am nearing 50 birdies now, and since it’s the beginning of November, I have a solid chance of getting that done.
I just realized that I am coming up on 20 years of writing about golf. I started in September of 1999, so next September marks a special anniversary.
Back to the new driver shopping. I am going to ask Don how much he wants for that driver, or if that one isn’t for sale, how much for a new one. I’d like to get my size and type of grip on there, too, so that would be an extra cost, but not much. This could be the one.
Here’s why. On #12, I got that birdie due to that lucky kick off the fence. On #13, my ball ended up at the bottom of the hill in front of the green. That is one of the closest I’ve ever come to driving that green before. In other words, this driver gives me more distance. One of the guys watched my tee shot, and he said something like, “Nice drive! I hate guys who can do that.”
I told him it was because of the driver. He laughed.
On #18, my ball carried to the top of the farthest cottonwoods on the left side of the fairway, the ones near the ditch. I never found my ball, but this was a long, high drive, and I loved how it felt. This driver makes a sweet “twhippp” sound at impact.
On #14, my drive went through “the alley” and rolled out to the fairway, and on #9, I was only 132 yards from the flag because my ball rolled just past the fairway. Wow!
That’s enough for now. I’ve worn out my welcome at this new coffee shop. I am thinking about going to see Bohemian Rhapsody at 6:00 at the Allen 8, and it’s just now 5:30.
Until next time…
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