We Play One Time at Hidden Valley Again

     That was fun!  I’ve been on the receiving end of a beating from Bruce and C.J. at Hillcrest many times before, but Mike and I had come back from being two down.  It felt good.

     We played at Hidden Valley on Thursday, too.  I went early to get breakfast and get warmed up.  I saw Randy, and I ordered a breakfast burrito.  We talked about how things were going with the golf course, and he said he is still looking for some people to step up and take over with a non-profit.  It sounds like things are still in limbo.

     Bruce and C.J. showed up, and we were off.  I chose escalating skins, and they agreed.  I won’t go into detail, but it did come down to the last hole again.  Bruce never really got anything going, so this contest came down to C.J. and me.  I won the front nine, but all the big money comes on the back side.

     When we came to the last hole, I figured C.J. had the edge.  He had won four skins on the back, but I had a chance if I played the last holes well.  I finished par, par, par, but it wasn’t enough.  I won #16 and #17, but C.J. finished with a par of his own, and with a pop on the last hole, he gained a net birdie and won the the skins game.  Even my hitting the fairway on the last hole for the last big bonus could not beat him.  The final scores were Bruce: 250K, Pat: 770K, and C.J.: 990K.  

     Although I took second place it felt like a win with my strong finish.  C.J. had to get that net birdie to beat me, which to his credit, he did.  I shot an 82.  Bruce shot a 91, and C.J. earned a 90.  He really had a brain break on hole #6, where he piled up multiple strokes with bad pitches.  I gave him a handicap seven on that hole.  

     I feel good about my game right now.  I am killing it off the tee.  I go back and forth with my new Warrior driver, which I am calling my driver/3-wood, and my Wishon driver, or the White Knight.  What I struggle with is my irons.  I fail to find the bottom of my swings on some of my approaches.  If I could figure that out, I would get some really low scores.  

     Enough for now.  I wrote a lot today, but I have my cardiologist appointment tomorrow, so I am going to go to bed.  

Until next time…

It's Fun When It Comes Down the Last Hole

Hole 10: Mike saved us on this hole.  My first tee shot sliced wildly down the hill (the hill that goes downtown!), so Mike stepped up and earned a tying bogey to keep us at two down.  Thank you, Mike!

Hole 11: I returned the favor on this hole.  My drive actually went to the right side of the green (a little dangerous due to the out of bounds), and I had a tough lie on my second shot, so I flubbed it toward the green.  I recovered with a decent chip and a putt for a par, but Bruce earned a par, too.  Still two down.  We could have easily been four down, but Mike and I were playing well, taking turns having good holes.

Hole #12: I earned the only par by hitting the green and using up only two putts, but we also got a gift on this hole.  Bruce should have had a par, but he had another putting malfunction and got a bogey.  

     He said that the time away from golf causes him to lose confidence with short putts, so he tends to want to peek to see if his golf ball is going in instead of keeping his head down and trusting his stroke.

Hole #13: Bruce and I tied with pars on this long, difficult par four.  Still one down.

Hole #14: Bruce made a third birdie with a long putt, so we found ourselves two down again with four to go.  Not the best position to be in.  

     I wondered if I should have gotten relief due to the sprinklers that were on my line of my putt from just off the green.  Mike said he would do some research after our round to find out, but I bet he’s forgotten about it by now.  I probably would have earned a par, or at least a bogey, instead of the double I got, but it didn’t really matter with Bruce’s birdie.

Hole #15: Mike and I both earned bogeys, and that was good enough to win this hole.  C.J. and Bruce struggled to double pars with unbelievable and rare mental lapses.  Bruce even shanked his tee shot into the bushes!  Back to one down with two three holes to go.

Hole #16: After Mike hit his approach onto the green, I told him he could have a birdie if he wanted.  I should have told him the same thing on all the other holes, because he drained his fairly long putt…for a birdie!  Boy, did we need that.  He also had an incredible drive, getting his ball to stop up on the top of the hill close to the 100 yard marker.  Impressive!  We were even with two holes to go.  It was anybody’s game at this point.

Hole #17: I had another swell drive.  I really drove it well that day, only losing that one shot down the hill on #10.  I messed up my second shot with my 5-iron, though, barely getting it to the corner.  My utility club, however, redeemed my lousy second scuffed shot with a smooth 200+ yard shot to the fairway just in front of the green.  I then made a decent pitch and a better than decent putt for my par!

     C.J., however, made a clutch and tricky four-footer from above the hole to match my par and Mike’s par to push the match to the final hole.  Wow!  What a putt.

Hole #18: It’s always fun to come to the last hole with a chance to win it.  That just doesn’t happen very often.  Before I teed off, I said as much, and I commented on the fantastic weather, too.  Bruce concurred.  

     Then I hit another grand drive, right on the fairway and approximately 160-165 yards from the hole. Bruce went left towards the trees.  Mike found the fairway, too, and then C.J. went farther left than Bruce, out onto the dirt actually.

     Mike’s tee shot was just behind mine, so we talked while the other two struggled from behind the trees.  He said we had a pretty good chance of winning this match from the way things started, but I knew better.  Strange things can happen in golf, and I knew it wasn’t over until it was over.  I accidentally said, “Never say never,” but that isn’t what I meant to say.

     Must have been the stroke talking.  I meant to say, “It’s not over until it’s over.”

     Thankfully, I had an approach just short of the bunker.  From there, I made a pitch that stopped to just to the left of the hole, leaving only two feet.  I should have had a par, but I missed that putt.  I could hear the small gasps escaping from everyone’s mouth (not really), but I made the putt that won the match after that.  That one was only a foot away, and a bogey was all we needed to close it all out.  Bruce and C.J. had continued to struggle, but C.J. managed a double, so to miss would mean we would have tied.  Phew!  We won!

I Keep Trying to Include Eric, But...

Written on 11-9-19.

     I am in our computer room on a Sunday afternoon.  B went to Kelly’s school to help her move to another classroom (not sure why she has to move), and Danielle is reluctantly facing her bedroom.  She plans to go through everything in a Konmari Method kind of way to declutter and basically clean things up.  She watched the movie Yesterday with me, and that helped her procrastinate…until now.  Because of that movie, I am listening to Beatles Radio on Pandora.

On to golf…

     I’ve played golf twice recently, and both times, we had a blast.  I attempted to include Eric, too, but both times he couldn’t play.  He said he could play, and then something came up.  We wanted to play our usual fall round at Hillcrest and go out to Cuckoo’s after, so I set it up for a Sunday afternoon with great weather predicted, but he couldn’t play because Kyle was in town.  A very legitimate reason.  I called Mike (last name) to take his place, which he did.  More on that round coming up.

     Then Bruce and C.J. wanted to play Hidden Valley again for some reason (to support local or to reminisce?), so I set up a day to play there on another super weather day, considering it’s November.  I invited Eric again, but he called me in the morning to let me know he couldn’t play, but he might join us on the back nine.  

     This time, the police were with him...

I Find My Inner Warrior due to Warrior Golf

Written on 10-27-19.

     Hello again.  I’ve been avoiding my golf journal, my silent friend, because I struggle with the keyboarding.  It’s frustrating.  What would take minutes to write before takes…well…more minutes due to the constant mistakes.  I feel ready to write again, though, because writing is integral to my life.  And, how will I get better without the attempts, the practice?  Actually, my golf journal is the ideal spot to practice.  I just didn’t feel ready until today, so I avoided it.

     I just posted the above entry in FB.  Haven’t posted anything from my golf journal on FB in a long time, but I felt this was important to share.

On to golf…

     I did a trial with the company, Warrior Golf.  If I tried out their 3-wood, 5-wood, and their 7-wood, I would get to keep their driver…for free.  What a deal!  I would have 45 days from the day they were delivered to try them out, and I took them to the range a couple of times.  They were fine.  They just didn’t outperform my TaylorMade woods and my Wishon utility club.  Truthfully, I hardly use those three clubs.  I use my utility club the most, and I have had great success with it, so I see no reason to trade it in.  So, I prepared to return them all…except for the driver.  

     I called to get my return authorization number, expecting to get a pitch to get me to keep all four golf clubs.  Bless their hearts, because they really did try.  They wanted me to try out new irons and a putter for a special deal, and they tried to get me to keep the woods for a lesser price.  I finally acquiesced to the woods for a much lesser price.  I paid $150.00 per club, minus the driver, but I agreed to get $300.00 refunded to my America Express, so I would get to keep each club for about $50.00 each.  I could live with that.

     Now, I will get to continue to work with them if I want to, and I might even use them.  Shawn expressed an interest in trying they out, so now he can do that, too.  

Until next time…