Written on 5-30-19.
We are hanging out in bed talking to Kyle on the phone right now. It’s late; it’s 10:17. He has to defend his thesis tomorrow morning. I’m confident he will do well. I honestly don’t know why he is talking to us right now, though; he should be sleeping.
I am writing this late, because I play golf again tomorrow. I wanted to get another new birdie in here before I head out to earn some more in the morning. Also, I just posted to my blog for the third time this month, and it was the first time I pasted an excerpt from My Golf Diary Part 2. That post was from 2002. Good grief. I’ve been playing golf for nearly two decades now. This September will mark the 20th year I’ve been writing about golf.
When Bruce, C.J., and I played on Tuesday, I played much better. The weather was better, and I was well past finishing those antibiotics for my sinus infection this time. I believe those two things helped me to be able to concentrate and play closer to my potential. I also did a focused visualization of myself playing the golf of my dreams there, and I physically practiced by hitting into the impact bag multiple times as part of a lower body workout the day before. I am betting all of those things contributed to a lower score this time. My goal was to break 100, and I ended up breaking 90, too, with an 86, shooting 43 on both sides.
Here’s how the birdie came about this time…
Pinon Hills-Hole #9-Birdie #7 of 2019
The last time I played this hole, I pulled out my driver and then quickly replaced it with my 5-wood when I remembered that left and long is not where I wanted to be on this hole, and with my pulls and hooks lately, that was a real possibility.
The 5-wood was not enough last time, however, especially when it went left, too, so I switched to my 3-wood this time. It went left, also (ugh), but it ended up on the fringe just off the fairway, and my ball was in a farther position than the 5-wood had given me.
From there, it was up to the utility club to get me up the hill and in a position to make my approach. I have been “utilizing” this club often and well lately. I do my best to swing hard like I want it to slice, but it never slices. It just goes longer and straighter. Cool.
This time, though, it did curve to the left just like my tee shot. Thankfully, it wasn’t a duck hook that went into the desert or over to hole #18. It stopped in the rough, though, and it was still far from the hole. I saw another ball over there, and I almost played it, but when I saw my ball ten yards ahead, it made sense that that’s where my ball should have been. I chose my 5-iron for my third shot, and I hit a low, straight shot that stopped just short of the green on the right side. Because it was thick grass, it didn’t go as far as it should.
The approach wedge got the call for my final pitch shot. I aimed well out to the right, because the slope of the green where the flag was funneled the ball towards the hole. The flag was cut in the middle part of the green on the right side. My pitch went much farther right than I had pictured, but because of the result I was happy it did. It bounced in the taller grass first, then hopped once on the fringe before it started rolling right at the hole. Then it fell in for my first birdie ever on this really long and difficult par five.
I won the hole, of course, but I didn’t win the game. Next time I write, I will explain the game and how it went. I need to go to sleep now.
Until next time…
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