High Expectations Yield Higher Results

Written on 9-15-22.

        I’ve gotten a lot done this morning, so I am taking some time to write.  I go back to McCoy and Newcomb next week, so I e-mailed both schools to remind them, and I also confirmed plans with teachers who set up times with me on my last visits.

I still haven’t gotten a call from the CORE, but I will remain patient.  Hopefully, by tomorrow?  

On to golf…

I played so well on the back nine, I thought I could handle playing from the golds.  I did okay, just three strokes higher than the front nine.  I stumbled a bit at the end with a couple of double bogeys.  

I did manage to be the only one to get a par on the first hole, and I did it with another masterful pitch and a putt.  Everyone else got bogeys, so it was a good start.  I hit a decent tee shot with my “turf buster” on the par three over the water after that, but everyone got a par to my bogey on that hole.  I did better than Tyler, because I don’t think he got a legal score.  Some of his tee shots went...

wayward.  I scored an 85 for the round, and Melton shot a 78.  Just eight strokes, and I will have him.  That’s all.  Just shoot an even par round.  I can do it.

After the round, I gave him a ride home, and he invited me in to see his son’s new dog.  He wasn’t there, but Melton gave me some of their green chili.  It was super to hang out with Melton, and I was glad he saw me.  They planned to play the next day at 12:30, but I passed.  I had church, and we planned to play Hillcrest on Tuesday.

We played two days ago in Durango with Greg.  Eric and I drove up together.  Oh, yeah.  Bummer.  I just remembered that Misty is gone now.  A and E chose to put her to rest yesterday, because she wasn’t walking anymore.  So sad.  She was a wonderful dog.

Sorry, rough transition here, but back to the golf…

We finally played the match play game with three players.  I took on Eric and Greg the first three holes.  Eric and I paired up for the middle six holes, and then Eric took us on for the final six.

Here’s how it played out.  I managed to gather two points on them, but they got three points on me.  Eric and I got two points, but Greg managed to get three points off of us, and we really screwed up on hole #12, the over the water par three.  Greg got a bogey, and Eric and I blew up on that hole.  Unfortunately for Eric, he managed only one point when he was the loner on the other par three #15 with an excellent putt for par.  Greg and I got four points during that stage, so it ended up Greg: 9, Pat: 8, and Eric: 5.  

Two things stand out to me for not being able to get the victory.  First, I had a putt of about three feet on #6 with a slight break to the left, and I didn’t put a confident stroke on it, so it fell below the hole.  If I had made that, I would have earned one more point, and they would have lost a point.  Arrggghhh.

Second, Eric and I should have played hole #12 better.  If either one of us had gotten a bogey, Greg would have not gotten the winning point, so either one of those holes made the difference.  It was a fun game, though, and I would do it again if we had only three people playing.  I shot a 42, 49 for a 91.  Greg shot a very steady 43, 43 for his 86, and Eric shot a 98.  

Another pleasant thing about this round was the weather.  It was overcast and cool most of the day, and it even sprinkled a bit for the first few holes.  I was most proud, also, of my pars on holes #2, #8, and #9. I had a smooth 5-iron to hit the green on #2, and an excellent chip that clanged off the flagstick on #8 to a foot away.  To get a par on #9, the toughest par three/par five felt just wonderful, too.  

Now, we are waiting to see if Greg and Grant will be playing with us at Pagosa next Saturday.  Greg may play only nine holes, because there’s a huge tournament at Hillcrest the next day.  I told him it would be fine if he chose not to play with us because of that, but we shall see.

I am working on looking past the ball like I wrote about recently, and I am trying to figure out a way to NOT come over the top and graze the ball to gain more distance and be even more consistent, too.  

I looked at videos of my swing from one day when I wore my seersucker shirt, and that was the day I would drag the club back, feeling the weight of the clubhead, and then swish it through on the downswing, feeling the weight once more.  Those videos from the down the line view had a beautiful under the plane motion.  I am going to try that some more right now on my personal driving range.