Swope Putting Green Fun and a Return to the North Rim

Written on 10-9-21.

        I am enjoying the view and the cool temperature out on our back deck.  Kody is lying down right next to me, and Belinda is waking up in our bedroom after a short nap.  James and Casey came to visit us this weekend, and it has been wonderful.  We had lunch at James Ranch, and then browsed around Honeyville for a bit after.  

On to golf…

I hosted another Wednesday night at our green this past week, and it was our largest group yet.  C.J. came for the first time, and Grant made his return.  Herman (not his real name) came for about an hour, also.  Eric had work to do with Miguel, so he didn’t come this time.  Grant and I were happy to have four players, so we could play the game we were thinking about from when we had it all to ourselves.  We thought it would be fun to have teams and have one teammate pitching and the other one putting for a competition.  It worked out that I got Herman first, and I was thrilled, because he has such a great short game.  He didn’t do too well, though.  He had a bad night.  I, however, made...

two ridiculous putts to help us win.  He did manage to get two shots onto the green, but they weren’t close to the holes we were trying for.  

I made the first one from the fringe near the red flag to the blue flag on the right.  Then I followed that one with an even more amazing putt from the past the blue flag on the left to the red flag.  They were impressed, and so was I.  Like Han Solo said, “You know, sometimes I amaze myself.”

After Herman left, we experimented with my new turf mat I bought from Amazon.  It has three types of turf: fairway, rough, and first cut.  At least, that’s what we guessed the three different surfaces are.  We moved the mat from our lawn to our deck and tried out multiple different (and difficult) locations.  After the experiment with the new mat, we ended before dark with a putting shoot-out, and I managed to win against both of them, but "home green” advantage helped.

Yesterday, we played at Pinon Hills.  Eric and C.J. left after nine holes due to back problems.  Eric was lifting with bad form when he was doing some work at home, and C.J. complained of sciatica pain.  I will continue this later…

Written on 10-18-21.

We are back at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and it is glorious.  A, B, and I took the mile hike from our campground over to the lodge where they both worked as “busgirls” during the summer of ’88.  B and I knew of each other back then, but we hadn’t met officially yet.  B has always told me how it was the best summer of her younger life, and it was fun to see them reminiscing as we walked along.  

They did their best to find the cabin they stayed in more than 30 years ago, but they never could be certain which one it was.  They did agree that #55 fit their memories the best.  It was along the rim and not so close to the lodge.  Its entrance didn’t have another cabin right when they walked out, and they said it felt right, but nothing said, “This is it!  This is the one.”

Now, we are back in our Alto and having some quiet time after lunch.  It is cold and blustery here, and we are cozy in our Baker Street.  Temps are ranging between the 30’s and 50’s.  I am writing at the table, and B is under a blanket in the back reading from her iPad.

Back to golf…

I managed to win the points game by catching C.J. just before he left.  I scored two more points than he did (14 to 12), and Eric struggled.  C.J. did well, because he was hitting fairways to get those two points more consistently, and sometimes he even got three.  I found it ironic that he won the longest drive on the final hole, but it was because he was the only one to hit the fairway.  We played with Phil, and I remembered around hole #4 that we had played together once before.  I missed left, Phil’s was long, and Eric’s went right, but C.J. was right in the middle, albeit short. 

Phil and I continued the game on the back, and he did much better, because he changed strategy; he hit his 3-wood instead of his driver.  He started really well by hitting the first three fairways, but he eventually fizzled in the end.  He came back in a big way, but my front nine score helped me to win the day.  The final score was 31 to 26.  

I hit my best shot of that round on hole #10.  I used my “turf buster” to make an approach from the rough from the left side from over 200 yards away.  I struggle with not pulling my tee shots on that hole often.  

Miles (I thought his name was Chip, and he thought mine was Richard when we saw each other back on hole #3), the ranger, watched the whole thing. He saw it bounce up and onto the green.  I made the par, so I won the hole, too.  Phil three-putted for a bogey, but he hit the fairway and the green, so he got more points right away on the first hole.

Phil made an incredible shot, also, on hole #16.  He made a left-handed, club turned upside down, pitch onto the green.  It was under a branch, so I gave him huge kudos for that. He confided that he had never attempted a shot like that before, so that made it all the more impressive.

Because I worked last week at Twin Lakes, I cancelled “Swope Green” night on Wednesday.  It was getting chilly, too, so I don’t know how many would have come anyway.  I have worked four days this month, and it’s a relief to be working again.