Written on 7-25-19.
It feels like summer. Zero to very little stress. Swamp cooler on low. Only commitment today was taking our two pets to the vet. In just a little bit, Belinda and I are going to continue to finalize our trip to Quebec. Oh, and lots of golf. Golf yesterday and golf tomorrow. Write about golf today. Life is good.
Yesterday, Shawn and some guy I’d just met named Gary played at Pinon Hills. It was dry and hot and exhausting, but we made it, and it was a tad better than when C.J. and I walked while Shawn and Davis rode this past Friday. C.J. and I were struggling at the end of that round, moving so slowly and gasping for breath as we walked the last three holes. Just beat. I played better, so that was encouraging. No birdies again, but I managed to shoot a lower score than Shawn for the first time in a long time. He shot a 96, and I shot a 91. My goal was to beat my 98 from that Friday round. I did just that, but I really should have broken 90; I just had a really rough time focusing on #18, and that led to a snowman.
Written on 7-27-19.
It’s 7:35 PM on a summery Saturday evening. Belinda and I have already our dinner and dessert. She’s on the back deck with her iPad, and I’m in the computer room writing this. We washed both vehicles today, and I tried out the “new to us” car-washing “wand” that I was given when I helped Mom and Dad clean out their smaller storage shed during the 4th of July week. It worked really well, and I know that thing will save us money on car washes. Why pay when we can do it here at home easily and efficiently? We plan on having a Facebook Video Chat with James in a couple of hours, so I am writing now before we take Kody for his evening walk.
On to golf…
When Shawn and I played with that Gary guy earlier this week, Shawn asked me if I wanted to play in a scramble on Friday back at Hidden Valley. I checked with B, and we had...
nothing going on, so I said I could. He said that Roger Collins was paying for the tournament fee with his businesses, so I wouldn’t have to pay a thing. I thought it was going to be Roger, his brother, Randy, and Shawn playing with me, but Mike Goen played in Randy’s place, so I got to ride with him all day, and it was fabulous. What a great team!
It was one of the best golf days of my life, so I am going to recount it here hole by hole again. It was that good! We started on hole #6, so that’s where I’ll start, too.
Hole #6-Staring on a par three is not ideal, especially the one where a hole-in-one could win one fortunate golfer a bunch of cash, but that’s where we started. Because Mike was helping run the tournament, we were the second group to start on that hole. That gave us a bit more time to stretch, warm up, and swing our clubs around a little to pretend we were warming up for something bigger than what we really were getting ready for.
We were playing from the white tees, but they were on the upper part of the teeing ground, so it was around 170 yards. I chose my 6-iron, because the small amount of warming up didn’t feel like enough to reach the green with my 7. The hole was in the sweet spot, but nobody won the cash, and we heard from Judy and Dede that only about six groups had hit the green, and that was past the halfway point of the tournament.
My ball did find the green, however, and it was on the left side. My birdie attempt rolled inches above the hole, and I made the comeback putt for par, so Shawn said to me, “Good hole,” as we walked back to our carts.
We started out even.
Hole #7-We used Roger’s tee shot, but it ended up in the tall grass on the left side of the fuzzy island that’s in the fairway over the hill. My second shot with my utility club gave us the best option for our approach, even though it was among the trees, and my sand wedge from about 60 yards put us on the green. Somebody made that long putt for birdie, so we got it under par for the first time. One under after two holes.
Hole #8-My driver was not working well yet. My first tee shot with it on #7 went left, hit a tree, and ended up way back on the fairway compared to Roger’s. On this one, my ball went far, but it got stymied by a tree over on #7’s fairway. We used Mike’s tee shot that rolled out from the rough onto the left side of the fairway instead. It was still over 200 yards to the green, but at least it was on the fairway. I put my ball behind the green with my utility club, but Shawn got us in a better position for a pitch from the front right side of the green. Shawn then pitched his shot to the hole on the front of the green (not in the bowl), and it rolled his ball to around six inches from the hole, so we used a “putter stick,” a tongue depressor that was painted purple. I didn’t think it was within that range, but Mike and the rest insisted it was, so we earned a birdie there. I honestly didn’t understand the “putter stick” concept until after that hole. Once I understood it, I agreed with the group. It was close enough to earn our first eagle of the day. We were three under after three holes.
Hole #9-This hole was all mine, so I earned this birdie without any help at all.
AMGC at Hidden Valley-Hole #9-Birdie #8 of 2019
This was my third attempt in this tournament to figure out my driver and get it going. I really needed it to work well in order for us to go low. I attempted once more to aim out to the left and hit it really hard, but it turned over and went left again. Thankfully, it went left enough to stop on the fairway on #3, even though I was hoping it would fade or possibly slice to #9’s fairway.
We had just a tiny amount of tree trouble. The approach required a bit of a draw to get it around the trees that blocked the left side of the green, the side where the flag was located. I chose my 8-iron. Shawn, Roger, and I use similar clubs for most distances, so the 8-iron seemed like the right call. We were around 148 yards away from the flag.
My ball curved around the closer trees, flew over the farther cottonwood, and landed just left of the flag. Shawn hit s shot that nearly matched mine, but his rolled a bit farther and behind the hole. I tapped in my ball for our birdie. Four under after four holes now.
Hole #10-Shawn’s tee shot landed on the green, but it stopped above the hole, so Mike’s was a better option. Even though his was off the green a bit, it was on the front right side, so we had an uphill putt that had, we thought, a better chance of going in. Nobody got it in, though, so we settled for a par. Still four under after five holes.
Hole #11-My driver worked even better on this hole, and my ball flew and drew towards the right side of the green. I thought it had gone past the hole, but it was even with the flag and on the collar on the right side. Putting was super deceptive. I went first, and my ball petered out to the right and stopped way short. Mike was the one who hit it hard enough to get it close enough to get our birdie here. Five under after six holes after this one.
Hole #12-Roger and I both had beautiful drives, but his got a kick that got it even closer to the green. The flag was on the bottom tier, so it wasn’t hard to pitch it up close enough with all of us giving it a go to get another birdie. Six under after seven.
Hole #13-Roger had another sweet drive that went over the tallest cottonwood, and we had a pitch from just to the right side of the bunker. Mike’s pitch was the best, and we had a putt that went from the left side to the right side where the hole was cut. It was mostly straight, too, with only a bit of break to the left. I don’t remember if we made it, though. I remember Roger lipping the hole. Maybe we got it within a “putter stick.” I will have to check on this. I am pretty sure we got a par on a par three again. I texted Shawn just now, and he agrees it was a par, so four under after eight holes. Still six under after eight holes.
Hole #14-I was the last one to tee off. No pressure. Nobody had hit the green before it was my turn. Shawn went short and right. Mike went left, and Roger went long and left-er, possibly over the ditch. I chose my 6-iron, and it flew right at the center of the green. Not one of us could see it land or where it ended up. When we got close, we saw that it was on the back left side, and it was just on the fringe. The putt was so simple to me. Just putt it out to the left a few feet and let it funnel to the hole. I smiled inside after my putt just missed the hole and then stopped just two feet away. When it was Mike’s turn, he followed my lead and my read, and he nearly holed it, but he definitely was within a “putter stick,” so we had earned a birdie on one of, if not the toughest, hole on the course. We were now seven under after our first nine holes.
No comments:
Post a Comment