How Shawn and I Won Together for the First Time

Written on 9-2-19.

     It’s Labor Day, and now is the “next time I write.”  I never know when the next time will be, but this time it happens to be Labor Day, and we happen to be in our new Alto about to spend our fourth night ever in our fabulous new camper.  It’s been dreamlike and surreal.  Multiple times, B has asked, “Are we really doing this?”

     We are.  This night, we are staying at a campsite in Canada called Algonquin Provincial Park, and we are at the campground called Lake of Two Rivers, Campsite #14.  Somehow, we managed a spot that is by the lake, so that is where it begins to get dreamy.  I wonder how we were able to reserve this spot the night before.  We are a pitch shot away from the beach, and our site is roomy and away from the other sites.  

     Tomorrow, the plan is to hike, have lunch at a nearby cafe, and then go out in a canoe.  We like this place so much, we plan to reserve another spot (or this same one if we can) for a second night.  Life is so hard right now (over the top sarcasm there). 

On to golf…

     On the back nine, I played more like I am capable.  Would it be enough for Shawn and I to get our first win together, though?  Here’s what happened.  

     We were one down after the...

first nine.  Tim’s birdie and C.J.’s par on the par three #4 got them back to even on the front, and then we remained locked in a tie until hole #8 where Shawn and I both blew up, and they both got pars, C.J. with one of this three pops per side.  Thankfully, as I had previously written, Shawn saved par on #9 to keep us at just one down, so that’s how we started on the back.

     I managed a bogey after a lousy tee shot on #10, but Tim matched that, so we remained one down.

     I was the only one to par the par four #11, and it was with a drive that went well past the 100 yard marker and up the left side, one of my longest ever on that hole.  I hit the green with my approach wedge, and I managed to use up only two putts for that par.  Hooray!  We were back to even.

     Then I was the only one to par the par three #12, too.  I hit the green with my 5-iron, and despite my first putt breaking away from the hole and stopping five feet away, I sunk another par putt.  Tim, sadly, was really struggling and cursing himself…and his golf ball.  After getting a quadruple bogey on this hole, he discarded his golf ball next to the green swearing he would never touch it again.  He said I could have it, so I chose to pick it up.  I am pretty sure I just used it this morning here in Canada when I played nine holes at Emerald Links near Ottawa.  It’s a Titleist.  

     We were now one up, and we never looked back, pulling away to two up on hole #15, the par three across the canyon, where Shawn stepped up and got a par while the rest of us struggled to double bogeys.  

     I finished off the match on #17 when I got the only par again, so we won going away two and one.  Yes!  We did it.  Shawn and I won a match together for the first time.  Phew.

     I ended up shooting a 90 with two very different nines, a 50 and a 40.  I’ll take finishing with a 40 every time vs. ending with a 50 after shooting the 40 first.  It felt wonderful to end well before this road trip.  C.J. and I tied each other after adjusting his score for his handicap.  Shawn shot a 95, and Tim shot a 93, which is atypical for his type of play, and that’s why I thought Shawn and I could take those two on.  I figured it would be an even match, and it really was.  

     Also in golf, I played for the first time on this trip this morning at Emerald Links, a course that was just seven minutes away from our second ever campground with our new Alto, Hither Hills, but I didn’t play well at all.  I didn’t even get a par.  

     It felt great to get out and play, though, and the course was gorgeous in the mist and the fog this morning.  I met two friendly fellows who joined me on the final three holes (I only played nine), Connor and Cory sp?  I had a few decent drives and approaches, but some of those were “second shots,” so not really worth mentioning (even though I did just mention them).

     The only bright spot was on the range actually.  I could not miss with my 3-wood or my driver there.  Sadly, that did not transfer over to the course (except for those second shots I just mentioned).

     That’s it for today.  My Allagash White Belgian Style Wheat Beer is done, and I’m getting sleepy.  This traveling is stressful and exhausting (tiny amount of sarcasm).

Until next time…