The Rest of the First Annual Spring Celebration-How'd We Do?

Written on 6-21-22.

        I have the longest day of the year to do some writing today.  Hooray!

4-I gave Eric free rein to go for it on this par five.  My 3-wood got us safely in position for him to use his driver, and he hit a smooth draw that matched the curve of the fairway.  We were under a tree, and I used my 9-iron to lay up again.  That done, he went for the green with gusto, and it ended up a short pitch from the hole. 

Our playing partners struggled mightily on this hole, hitting shots from the desert rough that put them right back in the rough again.  We had to wait patiently and help them find golf balls until they eventually found the green.

We got back-to-back birdies after this hole, so we were back to even after our bogey, bogey start.

5-My tee shot hit the trees on the corner of the dogleg.  Eric topped his tee shot.  I went for the green despite the overhanging branches, but my golf ball was rejected, and it ended up on the fairway, but it was about the same distance away from where I was.  Eric tried to hit a big draw, but he scuffed it a bit, so it didn’t go very far, but it was closer than mine.  From the first cut, I chose my 8-iron, and I hit a beauty.  It was into the wind, and it dropped 12 feet left of the hole.  We made that for a super par save.

6-We made another bogey despite being right off the green in two shots.  Two bad chips were the reason.

The ranger asked us to pick up our pace, but when I spoke to him privately after I teed off, he said...

A Spectacular Story-A Birdie Off the Water

Written on 6-18-22.

        Well, we placed.  I will recount each hole, because it was a great day/round, and it was soooo fun.  We really played well together, and it was a total team effort.  Better to get it in here while it’s fresh in my mind.  We started on hole #13.  Here’s how it went…

13-We started on this hole, and our two partners, Sonja and Brandt (sp? on both), said they were high handicappers, so we should lead the way.  She said they were around 32’s, but the first two holes proved they were better than what she had just told us.  They got a par, and we got a bogey.  

My 3—wood tee shot went left, but we had a shot at the green.  I told Eric not to lay up, and we should both go for the green.  We were 150 out, and Eric’s approach was just off the green on the right side.  We both hit good chips, but his was closer.  We missed our par putts, however.  Not a wonderful start.

14-Eric had the better drive, approach, and putt from off the green.  I was hoping I would start playing better soon.  Wake up, Patrick!  At least his first tee shot was a stinker, but he didn’t have to do that to make me feel better.  We couldn’t convert the par putt once more, so we earned another bogey.

No FEAR, Be Brave

Written on 6-17-22.

        It’s the Friday before Father’s Day, and I am watching the U.S. Open.  The online portion has been following the group with Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, and Max Homa.  It’s been wonderful to watch, and they should all make the cut for the weekend.  They are finished now, and they all shot +2 the first two days.  

While I watched, I got some stuff done.  I did the usher schedule, and I called Kathy (last name) to see if I could read for her this weekend so she can read for me next weekend when we are in Lakewood.  I got my GHIN going finally, so I can enter my recent scores.  I will do that tonight.  B and I looked at the bills before she went to take a summer afternoon nap.  It’s been a lazy, but productive day so far.  Summer is just great.  We might get some monsoons this evening for the first time.

On to more golf…

I played at Civitan yesterday after we watched Top Gun-Maverick with the Edgertons.  It was 98º, so it was excellent to sit in a cool theater and take in a movie.  The movie was better than it thought it would be, too.  At least better than the original, I felt.  

When it was over, B went home to have dinner with Dawn, and I was not invited, so I decided to play golf instead.  I hoped it might start cooling off by that time, and I knew I could go from shade to shade at Civitan.  I made sure to hydrate and stay cool.  I even stopped after my first nine holes to go grab something to eat and cool off some more.  

Eric and I are playing in our first tournament together tomorrow at Conquistador Golf Course in Cortez.  He is coming to pick me up at (gulp) 5:00 AM.  It’s an 8:00 shotgun start, and the format is two-person scramble.  It’s called the 1st Annual Spring Celebration.  I spoke with Arvin, the coordinator, when I called to give our information, and he said he wanted to start a new tournament.  Maybe we will make it an annual event.

My GHIN had me at 14.8, but I didn’t see any of the scores from last year.  The most recent score they used was from January of 2018.  I was entering all of my scores from Pinon Hills last season, but I didn’t see any of them.  I just don’t understand where they went.  Maybe they were so bad, they weren’t counted.  Ha.

Civitan was fun.  I mostly used it as a practice round for the tournament tomorrow.  I was having success with straightening my arms at impact and taking divots.  Taking a divot has such a tremendous effect on hitting it straighter and getting the proper distances.  I wrote on the scorecard FEAR, because I would sometimes be afraid to hit the ground.  Why?  Hit the ground.  Take a divot.  It will be a better result.  On the second nine, I played two balls, and I earned a birdie on hole #2.  The approach came up short, but I chipped it in with my gap wedge.  I won’t count it, because it was with my second golf ball.  My putting was really on, too.  On three holes, I putted it well past the hole, but I made the ten foot (on average) comeback putts.  I never triple-putted, but that is the way it should be on those easy greens.  I hit nine greens out of 26 holes.  I say 26, because I didn’t start playing two golf balls until the second hole on the second nine.

When I thought of FEAR, my mind wandered to Star Wars.  I heard Grand Moff Tarkin saying, “Fear will keep the local systems in line, fear of this battle station.”

Truly, fear is what keeps me in line when I play golf, but when I am brave, things go much better.

Okay, I am off to go enter my scores.  I am super excited for the tournament tomorrow!

Until next time…

A Birdie at Conqistador

Written on 6-14-22.

        We are boondocking just outside of Mancos, and we are on top of the mountain past the Target Tree Campground.   Amanda is staying in her RV right across from us.  Eric just got here, but he will be going back tonight, because he is watching Dorrie.  I wish he could have come to play golf with me this afternoon, but I had fun working on my game.  The only drawbacks were the slow play and the wind.  I did manage to get a birdie, though!  

Conquistador Golf Course-Hole #7-Birdie #7 of 2022

This hole is a par three, and the flag was on the front of the green.  My Garmin told me it was 140 yards to the front, but the wind was in my face, so I chose my 7-iron.  I had worked on some things on the range, and they were mostly working, so I used them here.  One of them was changing where I was looking at the ball.  Instead of the back of the ball, I focused on the front, and that helped me to get my contact with the ground after the ball.  The other thing was putting a ball cleaner in my right armpit as I swung through.  That helped me to keep my right arm closer to my body to turn my body more than just throwing my club to square the face.

Both of these things helped me get a satisfying contact sound, and my ball sailed into the wind and landing to the right of the hole and on the green.  

The putt had a little bit of right to left in it, and that was the perfect read.  My ball rolled slowly to the left and fell in the hole.  I was glad to grab a birdie during this round.  It was similar to a putt I have done many times on my putting green from hole #2 to hole #3.

I shot a 44 on the front, but I didn’t complete the back nine.  I let a couple of youngster brothers play ahead of me while I ate my lunch at the turn, but I knew they were not headed towards more slow play.  One of them was going into sixth grade, and the other would be starting third grade.  They had very smooth swings, and they made it look easy off the tee.  

After they played #12, they walked off the course their beautiful home.  They lived there, so they simply stopped for lunch.  

I thought it (the slow play) would get better after that, but it got worse.  The two ahead of them were beginners, and then a group of five or six let those guys play through after hole #14, so I just started over on the back.  I played back to #14, and I met up with boys and their father when I came back to the par three #12.  That’s when I learned how old they were.  Exhausted, and not willing to continue (it would not have been right to play more holes than I paid for), I decided to stop playing.  I had gotten what I had wanted out of the round, and I was in charge of bringing dinner from Pizza Hut for dinner.  I stopped to fill up our Canyon ($40.00 for eight gallons!) while waiting for the pizza.  Thankfully, the golf was inexpensive.

Until next time…