Perpetual Practice, Patience, and Perspective

 Written on 6-16-2020.

        It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and Belinda is back from her cabin trip with her lady teacher friends.  They had a wonderful time, despite a new fire that was 14 miles away.  B called this group Steel Magnolias this time, and it is because they have been meeting consistently for nearly two decades now.  Just a bunch of old ladies getting together for conversation, food, gossip, and therapy.  

Kody and I had a swell time together while B was away.  “Bach”ing it, as it is called.  I was his nurse, though, giving him his meds and wrapping his leg in bandages.  We walked more than we have since the accident, too, and he was really pulling on the extendable leash to go after lizards, a sure sign of his recovery.  The leash would make a high zipping sound as it let out, and I had to say, “Easy!” as it got close to its full length, so he wouldn’t snap the line…or his neck.  

Even with my vigilance, he still managed to...

lick his wounds.  He does it on stealth mode, so I don’t even hear it.  Hopefully, he didn’t cause any more damage doing that.  

We tell him, “Don’t lick,” and he puts his ears back and closes his mouth, and he looks quite guilty.  Every day, I am feeling much more confident that he is going to be fine, just fine.

Speaking of fine, tomorrow is Matt Fine’s birthday, and it will be Fathers’ Day this weekend.  We sent Matt a bison fetish, and he is coming home to Santa Fe tomorrow to receive it.  I wrote my dad a card Fathers’ Day today, too, and Bev will deliver it this Friday when she brings him our gifts, gift certificates to Red Lobster, Domino’s, and Dairy Queen.  

Kody and I spent a lot of time watching golf today.  Okay, I watched while he slept.

On to golf…

I am currently watching a YouTube video that is replaying the just over five hours of the last round of the Masters this past year.  Or, I should say 2019.  The Masters this year has been postponed until November.  I also watched more videos about Moe Norman.  I found a really fun one from Todd Graves and the Graves Academy that had footage of Moe driving the ball to a fairway, with laser like accuracy.  Over and over and over again.  

It also shows him making approaches from around 100 yards, and the golf balls just start collecting together, mostly behind the hole.  I never saw him miss the fairway of the green.

Finally, it showed him taking bunker shots, and he escapes every single time.  They weren’t exactly getting close to the hole each time, but I would love to have that type of consistency.  In one interview, he said he hadn’t missed a fairway for seven years, and in one round of a tournament, he also said he had hit 17/18 greens.  That’s pretty consistent (I write with much sarcasm).

I practiced at Civitan this past Saturday morning.  I actually got up early to beat the heat, so I arrived there close to 8:00.  I must be motivated for golf to get up early!  I eventually shot one under on the little putting green on the right side from where you walk out of the clubhouse.  It had two holes cut there, and I took turns going back and forth between the two.  I made it fairly easy on myself after failing a few times, but I did make two “long” putts to get it back to one under.  

I went to the newer, larger putting green to practice some more after I got that done.  I eventually made five in a row from about the same line (from four feet all the way to fifteen feet away), and then I got up and in from just off the green five times in a row, too.  I brought the sand wedge that I found with the unique head.  That is the only wedge I have right now, since Don has my clubs.  I was done by 9:30, and I felt accomplished.

I putted a lot in my living room with my roll-up putting green while I watched those videos.  I struggled to make putts from the seven foot mark, though.  I would make seven each from three feet and five feet, but I would consistently miss just one from seven feet.  I kept trying until I made seven in a row from every distance, however.

I look forward to getting my clubs back with new grips and more same length lengths than ever before.  I have requested the same length for my approach wedge through my 5-iron.  They will all be my 7-iron length, and I figure I can lower my hands on my more lofted clubs to adjust if I feel the need.  I have my first lesson with Luke next Thursday, June 26th, and it would be great to get my clubs back before that lesson in order to try out this new swing before my lesson.  I am itching to swing a full swing, and I figure that’s a good thing.  It means I am eager to try it out.  Luke can help me check my address positions, and help me figure it out a lot quicker, I hope.  

I am watching this Masters Tournament, and I am thinking of the single plane swing, and I am wondering if these players would have benefited from it.  Tiger has been in the woods and the pine straw a couple of times, and so has Molinari and Finau, the three players who are in the final group.  If they played a straight ball every time, would they ever miss a fairway?  I am dying to learn this swing and put it into play.  For now, I continue to remain patient.