Thanksgiving Walk and One Final Birdie for 2021

Written on 11-27-21.

        Let me see.  Who came with us on our walk this morning?  Two-legged: Belinda, Amanda, Kyle, James, Casey, Danielle, Brian (aka Yip), Cynthia, Luke, and me.  Four-legged: Kody, Pawz, Apollo, Moose, Yenta (sp?), Misty, and a timid, gray cat in a backpack that has a window orb thing for viewing the outside world.  The cat is named…well, I just learned it has changed names five times.  Only Cynthia and Luke really know.

Everybody except Kyle leaves in about an hour, and it has been a wonderful, relaxing, delicious Thanksgiving.  We pulled it off again, and the turkey was delicious and free after buy $150.00 in groceries at Safeway.  It was just under 24 lbs., and it cooked for 5.5 hours.  Yummy!  *Update: Danielle chose to stay until Monday.

On to golf…

I want to recount the most recent birdie from my round at Pinon Hills.  I picked up Herman, because he didn’t have a ride, so I was able to see where he lives for the first time.  Their home is near San Juan College, and I know the neighborhood, but I had never seen that part of it.  An older, maroon truck that belongs to his son was...

outside on the street.  It was up on jacks, and it was missing the front right wheel.  He said he was fixing the axle, and then he was going to ask his son if he could have it back.

        His son has a beautiful, black Dodge Charger, which I saw after our round.  Herman said his son pours a ridiculous amount of money into that one, so that is why he is asking to have his truck back.

We played with C.J. and Greg, and Greg is the reason I set up this round.  He and I talked about playing at Pinon when we were playing in Monticello, so I got a tee time at 1:00.  I offered it to Eric and Grant, but I knew they wouldn’t come, so I asked C.J., too.  I said he could just play for nine holes with a chance of extending to eighteen to entice him.  That worked, but when his swing left him on #9, he called it a day.  He was the only one walking, too, which is rare, but I really wanted to finish before dark.  We barely did, too.

When we got to #7, I made this birdie…

Pinon Hills Golf Course-Hole #7-Birdie #4 of 2021

I am so happy to be writing about another birdie in 2021.  I hope to get more, of course, but December starts this week, and I have six school visits cuts into the golf time.

I teed off with my 3-wood, and it wasn’t great.  It was higher than usual, and it drifted to the right side of the fairway, but the approach more than made up for it.  

I aimed to the left side of the green and took a magnificent divot.  It faded, but stayed mostly straight as it headed towards the left side of the green.  It was from a tad over 150 yards.  After it landed, it rolled to the right and down into the lower tier in the center of the green, and that was where the flag was.  I didn’t see how close it was, but I was confident that it would be pretty good.  It was better than good; it was a foot away.  

I told Herman that I wished he had seen my approach, because it was beautiful, but he didn’t seem impressed when I told him about it.  Greg and C.J. had the right reactions, however.  I tapped it in.  Yeah!  Another birdie in 2021!

Greg had a rough round that included triple bogeys mixed in with pars and bogeys.  I felt bad that he didn’t have as great of a round as he had had at Monticello.  I told him sarcastically, “Welcome to Pinon Hills.”

That was mean, but I didn’t mean for it to sound like that.  I remember Scott (last name) saying something similar to me when I got dunked on by Bryce (last name) in a pick-up game before my freshman season.  He told me, “Welcome to the RMAC.” 

Greg saw what I was working on during our two rounds together, and it has piqued his interest.  He was seeing the great results (with the better swings, of course) when I took my divots.  I have said it before, but with my shorter irons, it’s binary from now on.  I am either taking a divot, or I am not.  If I have not, then I have failed.

It is later in the day now, and I am ready for bed.  Kody is breathing heavily by our bedroom door after having dinner and a burp.  B is snoring lightly next to me, and it is 10:14.  I am going to church tomorrow, so I will shut down and rest my eyes.

Until next time…