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…