Written on 8-27-22.
I am back from Lakewood, and it was a fantastic trip. Who wouldn’t want quality time with their loving parents? It was just a marvelous three days, and I am so grateful that I had the time to go be with my folks. They are slowing down, for sure, and I see it more and more on every trip. I helped out with whatever they needed, but we mostly just visited and hung out this time.
It’s a Saturday, and I am fighting back yawns and sleepy tears. My sleep schedule is off after going, but I am getting it back in sync. It’s difficult to focus, but writing will line me out. It usually does. I just did some light house cleaning while B went to Hobby Lobby with Amanda. Now, it’s 12:39, and she is lying down in our bedroom for a well-deserved nap after her third week of school.
On to golf…
I wanted to write about Riverview with Melton and C.J. the last time, but we started dinner early that night after the BMW Championship ended.
I played well, and I was encouraged. Melton shot a 77, and I shot an 88. When we came to hole #18, I had outscored him on the previous five holes. My score on those holes was 19, and his was 21. I even scored a birdie on #17.
Riverview Golf Course-Hole #17-Birdie #10 of 2022
Yes, I made it to double-digits this year! I used my pitching wedge, and I am wondering how I could have scored such a big number earlier this year on such an easy hole. It was just over 100 yards to the pin, and I made great contact, so my golf ball landed on the green and short of the hole around 18 feet away.
When I putted, I thought I didn’t put enough speed on it. It broke a bit from left to right, and it kept on rolling and rolling until it spilled into the cup. Melton said something like, “Look at this guy.”
Unfortunately, I played #18...
terribly. I didn’t get a bogey like last time when I beat Eric, and I attempted to use the same strategy. I used a 6-iron off the tee, and I pulled it left into the junk. To save time writing about it, I ended up with a nine, but I did manage to get another two-putt.Melton wondered why I used my 6-iron. If I am going to hit into the junk, I should at least give it a go with my driver, he thought. He also told me I had dropped incorrectly, or rather, not intelligently. I could have dropped farther back to give myself a better angle for my third shot.
Here I was outplaying him, and then I got a huge shot of humility. High score. Check. Bad strategy. Possibly. Not knowing a rule. Check. Bad execution. Definitely.
Oh, well. The learning continues…as it always does with this game. One day I am going to come to that hole with a chance to beat Melton, and I am going to play it perfectly. Until then, the struggle continues.
I just thought of something. Melton is my new Bruce, the guy who sets the bar for me. I did invite Bruce, but he said he had plans. I would love to have those two meet and play with each other at some point.
I have a shot to beat Melton someday. If I had not scored that nine on the last hole, I would have shot an 83 or an 84, just six or seven strokes away from his score for the round. Finding six or seven strokes is an arduous task in golf, though, and I did score a nine on that hole. Sigh.
Unfortunately for C.J., he struggled. As the round went on, I told him he couldn’t say he got a double ever again, because he scored a lot of those.
When I was in Lakewood, I stopped to check out a Star Wars collectible store called Jeff’s Collectible Empire. I showed Donna, the lady running the store, my app with my collection, and she invited me to bring the stuff I wanted to sell next time. She would go through it and offer fair prices, she said. I plan on bringing some when I go in October.
After that, I had some extra time, so I found Raccoon Creek Golf Course nearby, and I went to their driving range. I wanted to try out my newest driver that I got for only $30.00 from teeprize.com. I got a coupon from them in the goody bag. I chose the Thomas Golf Offset driver with 10.5 degree loft, and it has a pretty whippy shaft. I had Thomas irons with their aim and alignment technology at one point in this journey.
I removed the plastic covering on my shiny, new, and cheap driver the range and gave it a go. I couldn’t slice the thing. I mostly straight-pulled shots, but they were long. After I got a little used to it, I left to go have BLT’s with Mom and Dad.
I drove home on Thursday, and I left early hoping I might be able to play nine holes somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be South Fork. I played the front nine at the Rio Grande Club and Resort, and I was able to tee off at 1:30. I went to the range for about fifteen minutes to “develop a relationship with the ground” and also swing the new driver a few more times.
I had three pars and two bogeys. I hit four out of seven fairways. I had four one-putts. I was pleased. The bad holes came after I was rushed due to a guy and his wife pushing me and the impending lightning and rainstorm on the last three holes, or that’s the story I am sticking with for this journal.
It was glorious to stop for a bit and play golf in a beautiful setting. I ended with a par, but it could be considered a birdie. I am not counting it, however. They shortened the par five 9th to 333 yards due to construction on the cart path, and I scored a four. I had an excellent shot out of a bunker for my approach, and a “just as excellent” up and down from off the green, too.
I used the new driver the whole time, and I played from the blues. It did a respectable job. I just measured and marked the length I should be standing away from the ball with it, and I noticed I was standing too far away when I played, so I wonder if that will make it better for next time.
Next up, I know I will be playing with Troy (Casey’s stepfather) in Albuquerque at a country club he just joined. I am looking forward to that! I also hope to play at least once or twice this week, too.
While I was in Lakewood, I ate lunch with Darrell Herrera, conversed on the phone with Tom (last name) and Colin (last name), hung out with Joe at the house, and I stopped by the Littleton Golf and Tennis Club to see Troy, too. I stopped by, because it was on the way home from the Red Robin where I had just eaten with Darrell. It was super to see and talk with all of them.
While hanging with Troy, we took a cart out on the course to see another Alameda alum, Alan (last name). Darrell and I were just talking about Alan, so I found it ironic that he was playing on Troy’s course. Troy had even given him a lesson a while back, and I remember talking with Alan about him playing more golf now that he retired from Cherry Creek School District.
While we were waiting in between shots, I showed Troy a couple of videos of my swing, and I also told him that I had realized he was showing me the stack and tilt swing when he was at GolfTec. I remember having great success with his “hands to the wall” tip, and that is stack and tilt as well.
On the drill where I “hit it hard and stop quick,” he said he loved my hand positions. He calls it “hinge and hold” when he does it with his students. He took some time to show me how to correct my little “over the top” move, too. He had me set a range ball basket near the ball. I need to try that on my “home range.”
The latest Rob Cheney video demonstrated the “flying wedge,” and that is something I could work on perfecting. He demonstrated the “Precision Impact” training aide, and he gave a discount code. I’d seen it before on another video. He said he wished he could play with it, because it gives him the greatest contact possible.
I saw and saved another video about “If you could punch a wall, you could swing a golf club.” Okay, I just checked, and I was close. It is called, “If you can throw a punch, you can compress the ball!”
I hope to work on both of those things when I practice this week.
I am caught up with my writing now, and I cleaned my clubs today, too, so I am going to enjoy the FedEx Tournament’s third round.
Until next time…
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