I Walk 36 Holes...in July...at Pinon Hills

Written on 7-16-21.

        Well, it was another frustrating round, but, of course, I have good news.  I arrived in time to pay for the new (to me) Ping G410 Driver, and that was the highlight of the day.  Another big news item was that I walked for 36 holes in the middle of July…and I survived.  

After I played the first 18 holes with the guys, I decided to go directly to the range and try out my new toy, and it was like Christmas in July.  I only used the new driver a couple of times during the round before I decided to put it away, and that was after a huge slice on hole #7.  The best my playing partners could say was, “It really opens up over there,” but that was being nice…

or more likely sarcastic.

It does open up over there, but it didn’t for me.  It did stay in the grass, though.  My golf ball ended up in a wet area, and I could have taken a drop, but I didn’t.  At least it didn’t fly all the way down into the canyon.  

It was after this hole that I thought I should really get to know this driver better before putting it into play, so into the bag it went and stayed until later.  I was a bit sad to put it away, though.

At the range, I brought it out again. I adjusted it from 9º to 10.5º, and I put the 16 gram weight into the draw position for a little bit, too.  Then I changed my mind and put it back to the neutral position.  It was fun to play around with it, and I look forward to playing a full “round” with it, also.  

Today, I realized after looking at the directions (always read the directions) that it should make a loud ‘click’ to lock it back into place with the right amount of torque after adjusting for loft, and it definitely did not ‘click’ when I adjusted it yesterday.  I put it at 10º loft today, and I look forward to trying it once more.  This time, I made certain to hear the ‘click’ sound.  I plan on keeping my Wishon driver (the white knight) as my back-up.

I shot a 101, and I didn’t meet any of my goals.  Wow!  That is bad and sad.  I managed only two bogeys and four pars divided evenly on each nine.  I hit six fairways, so I missed that goal by two, and I only hit two greens in regulation (just terrible), so I fell short by four there.  I triple-putted on the last two holes, but at least my putts averaged out to 1.8 putts for the entire round.  And, I thought I was setting realistic goals.  I will get it…eventually.  Remain patient, Pat.  Despite those two triple-putts, putting remained a strong point, thankfully.  

In the second round, I really just wanted to play a practice round with that Ping and be able to say I played/walked 36 holes in one day, also.  I stayed hydrated, used my umbrella, and took pauses to eat and rest between holes.  I barely made it, though, and I thought about stopping a few times when I was closer to the pro shop, but I persevered.  My right calf muscle seized for a moment later that evening just before bedtime, though.  Today, I have recovered without any incident, and the only after effect I feel is sore feet.  Somehow, I earned a bogey on the last hole, so I was thankful for that.

Next up, I will be playing in Boise for my Father’s Day gift from James and Danielle.