Getting the Season Started

Written on 3-7-21.

        B and I drove to Bayfield today for lunch at Chavolo’s, just for a change.  We took Misty and Kody with us, and we are parked in the parking lot at Bayfield Intermediate School now parallel playing.  Not parallel parking, but parallel playing.  She is reading The Survivors by Jane Harper, and it’s obvious what I am doing.  Life is great.

On to golf again…

When I played at Pinon Hills last, I played with somebody named Wes.  His son is playing for Tom Yost on the Piedra Vista golf team.  He was very polite, and we had fun together.  I hope to play with him again someday.  He was pretty good, and he earned a birdie on the tough #8 par five.

I earned two pars, one on hole #2 and the other on #6.  Those are both super scores for me, but the one on #2 was nothing short of spectacular.  My drive found the fairway, but it was short of the 150-yard marker.  Pinon Hills now has black and white striped poles in the middle of each fairway at that yardage, and those are great for aiming points.  My approach was low and left, and it ended up in the back end of the bunker over there, a long pitch from the green.

This next shot was...

the best shot.  I used my Sandy Andy, and I squared up at the flagstick.  It was just over the hill, and I didn’t have much green to work with.  I was just hoping to stop my golf ball on the green, but it turned out much better than that.  I asked Wes how it was able to stay on the top tier where the hole was cut, and he said that it bounced once and then spun to a stop immediately.  It was probably around a 30-yard pitch out of the bunker.  

I still had to make the putt, though, and I had twenty feet left.  I aimed right with my S7K, and I put plenty of speed on it.  It dropped in for one of the best par saves I have ever made.

With that par, and another one on #6, I was feeling pretty good about my progress.  The 7-iron was enough to hit the green on #6, and my putting was right on the button again for a second par.  That hole has been a bit of a nemesis lately, because I haven’t even been able to get off the tee with my 5-iron or my 6-iron.  That I could hit the green with my 7-iron speaks to the success I get when I work hard on my single plane swing.  Here’s to many more successful tee shots on the par three’s this upcoming season.

Okay, time to stop again.  It’s 2:04, and we planned to be back by 3:00 for B’s church with Jess.

Until next time…

3-8-21

I played 18 holes with Greg Braum today, and C.J. joined us for the first nine.  Hooray!  It felt like the true beginning of this golf season, and it will be C.J.’s birthday tomorrow, too. He will be turning 75.  He asked me to tell him when he got to 75 on the scorecard, but he was tired after nine, so he left.  It was so wonderful to see him, and he started another year’s membership.  

I texted Bruce to ask him to let me know when he was ready to play.  He agreed, and now I won’t have to worry about letting him know every time we go play until he texts me.

I found out Greg’s last name is actually McClurg, just like Tom’s, the head pro who used to be at Hidden Valley (no relation).  I never knew that, and when I told Belinda tonight, she said she didn’t know about that either.  I found out when I told Duane at the pro shop that I was in the group that teed off at 1:50.  He said McClurg, and I didn’t know it I had the right group…or the right time.  Turns out I did.

I had some real success on the back nine.  I shot a 44, and I never had a blow-up hole.  It was refreshing to come home and see that I didn’t have a bunch of golf balls that I had just found on the course after I looked in the “junk” for the ones I lost.  

I was so happy with my new swing, and I could see how it could continue to be very consistent…if I keep working at it.  I did a respectable job of “red zone” and “green zone,” and I really like that part of the single plane swing teaching that is often overlooked.  Once I went into the “green zone”, I got my distance from the ball and my ball position correct (mostly), and then when I got comfortable, I pulled the trigger.  It’s like Moe said, “Miss ‘em quick.”  

I mostly focused on keeping my trail leg very still and bracing into it/around it.  It felt like I was very close to the ball, and I was taking a very restricted and quick backswing.  The rest I couldn’t tell you about.  I just took my swings after that, and for the most part, it worked.  

The best stretch was from hole #11 through #16.  I went par, bogey, par, bogey, par, bogey.  Highlights were a long putt on #11 for a super up and down to get it started, and a really long drive (winter fairways) on #13 that rolled out to nearly the 150-yard marker.  I barely outdrove Greg on that one.

Off to bed now.  Until next time…