Best Ball With Myself

Written on 3-22-2020.

It’s a Sunday afternoon at the Swope house, but it’s different.  We both went to our “church” this morning, but B and Jess chose to walk Jess’s neighborhood and then sit outside on her deck afterward.  I went to my church, but it was on Facebook Live, and I was grateful to have it.  Matt and Danielle are back from Durango where they went for a weighted hike on the Stairway to Heaven Trail.  

I’m writing this in our computer room (now that is mostly normal), but I’ve been putting it off.  Normally, I look forward to doing some writing, but we are all in a little funk.  It feels like a vacation, because we are banned from going physically to work, but how can we enjoy ourselves when all we hear about is the continuing spread of the coronavirus and the resulting deaths.  Scary.  B asked for me to come up with a word that reflects our feeling of feeling grateful and depressed at the same time.  Gratadepressitude?

So, that’s where we are.  I hope to take Belinda and the Alto out for some boondocking, but I have to convince her first.  I so want to go the Bisti, but B doesn’t like the appearance of us going off to a campground or having fun right now.  I get it.  We will...

see if we go or not.

Not that the golf has been great lately (rather the opposite), but I need to mix in the good with the bad.  Here is what happened this past week.

On to golf…

I played more golf in three days than I believe I’ve ever done.  Bruce and I played 54 holes in one day before (or was it only 36?), but I played 20 holes on Monday, 18 again on Tuesday, and another nine on Wednesday.  Usually, we take at least a day off between rounds, but not this time.  I know my membership is coming to an end on April 5th, and with the coronavirus limiting nearly everything we do, golf is still a viable option.  I hope it remains the same this upcoming week.  

Monday was busy at Pinon Hills, so I couldn’t go off the front.  I got sandwiched between two speedy groups when I squeezed in on the back, so I decided to jump off and start on the back again.  A little less pressured, I finished the back only to find a fivesome and a foursome in the queue for the front again, so I decided replaying the back was a better option.  I didn’t have a goal for the day until I started to play the back the second time, and then it was easy: play it better than the first time!

I did.  It still wasn’t pretty, though.  A young couple was ahead of me this time, and they were painfully slow.  I think he was showing her some tips, but they were pretty rude for not noticing their own pace of play.  I admit I let it get to me.  On holes #15 and #16, I lost my first tee shots into the canyon and the rough respectively.  I earned pars after that, but on the scorecard, those registered as double bogeys, of course.  The only other positive thing on this round was the putting practice I did on hole #11 with the extra time they provided for me.  I got three double-putts from three different locations there.  Liking that new putter, and getting used to it, too.

Tuesday was less busy, so I could play the front nine twice.  Once again, the goal was to play the same nine better the second time around, and once again, I was able to do that.  It’s not hard to do when I blow up a few holes on the first nine, but I really did play better.  It could have been reversed, so that’s a positive thing.

I had pars on holes #2, #6, and #7, and I earned bogeys on the last two holes the second time around, a respectful way to end the round considering how those two holes are some of the toughest on that course.

On #2, I popped up my drive, recovered most of that distance with my utility club, pitched on from around 75 yards, and made the putt for par.  Sweet!

On #6, I hit the green with my utility club, got my first putt to go past the hole by about twelve feet from all the way across the green, and then I made that last putt with the S7K putter.  Cool!

On #7, my approach ended up in the bunker that was on the front right of the green.  The hole was on the back right of the green, and I blasted my golf ball all the way to that back tier and made another clutch putt from a healthy distance.  Fantastic!

I had another rather amazing bunker shot on Wednesday on hole #4.  It was in the front bunker, and the lip was blocking my way to the hole that was also on the back tier.  Somehow, I got my ball to fly high enough to miss the lip and get to a spot just off the fringe on the back.  My partner from that day was amazed, too.  How did I do that?

Before I started writing today, I added up the best scores from all these holes, and it’s really not too pretty.  I shot a best ball 91 after two and half rounds.  I know I am working on a different swing, and I just need to stay patient.  Trust the process, and the better scores will come.  Working out with Matt will also bear fruit.  I am getting stronger, gaining more balance, and I am not so winded at the end of the round.  Those things will also help.  I will see what this week brings.  That is if I get to go play.

Until next time…