Rounds of Golf Like This Don't Come Around Often

Continued from 10-29-22.

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        Patrick (last name) bought a yardstick for our round at the Bishop’s Classic.  This was the first time I had seen one of those.  So, if we got the shot within the yardstick, we could count it, but we had to measure how much length was used on each hole you used it.  The good thing was that you had both sides, so that was 72 inches of advantages.  We used it to help our score on at least nine holes, and we used it for one eagle, many birdies, and a couple of pars.  It made a big difference on our final score, and we also used up all four of our mulligans.

I heard the winning score was a ridiculous 43.  The 2nd place score was 50-something.  At least we played better than the team we were matched up with, and we did very well with only two players.  Patrick said he used to be a 12 handicap, and I could totally see that.  I love this tournament, and I believe in the cause.

I got the certificate for the free round of golf at Hillcrest from Greg in the mail.  He enclosed a note that said we should use it before it expires, so I arranged...

for us to play on Thursday, the 21st, which was a beautiful weather day.  Eric had a lot of things going on, so I asked Herman (not his real name), Bruce, and C.J., and they actually all agreed.  

It was truly golf perfection.  Great group.  Incredible fall weather with the colors.  What more could one ask for?  Oh, I know; I earned a birdie, too.

Hillcrest Golf Course—Hole #14-Birdie #12 of 2022

I was playing respectably well, considering the state of my game right now.  I shot a 44 on the front, and I was making my way around on the back.  My drive was acceptable, and it faded to the right.  Not super far, but we were playing the blue/gold tees.  This tee was from the blues, but it’s only 354 from there, and it is downhill.  

Because I was in the rough, I chose my 7-iron, and I would have chosen my 8 if I were on the fairway.  I got some good fortune on the approach.  My ball dropped towards the bunker guarding the front of the green, and it looked as if it would plug or possibly land in the bunker, but it did something funny instead.  I wish I could have seen what happened, but it came in with a decent descent angle, and it must have rolled into and then out of the bunker.  It ended up on the collar still short of the putting surface.  

I chose to use my putter, and it looked like it would break two feet to the left.  It broke less than that, however, but I missed my line.  It dropped in for another birdie for this year.  

This round, to me, was the match-up between Bruce and Herman.  I tried once before, unsuccessfully, to have them play together.  Bruce chose not to play then, so I was thrilled that he agreed to play this time.  I also thought it would be fun to have a match between C.J. and Herman vs. Bruce and me.  I will check to see who would’ve won that, but I somehow didn’t have the courage to say it at the beginning of the round.  We played no games as the group, so it was just a simple round of golf and straight-up scores.

I played fairly well.  I shot a 44, 43 for an 87.  C.J. had a rough go of it, shooting a 102.  He had a super drive and approach on the final hole, though.  His approach nearly went into the hole.  What a thing that would have been!  Then he triple-putted for a bogey.  Bummer.

Herman didn’t do too bad for Herman.  He shot a 39, 41 for an 80.  Bruce, after a long lay-off from golf, shot a 45, 41 for an 86.

He had a superb back nine, and he got two birdies in a row on holes 11 and 12.  I think Herman could see his potential from those two holes and his back nine score, too.  Oh, and Herman grabbed his own bird on hole #16, also.

I had a slew of bogeys (eleven) and three pars.  And, I had the one birdie, too, so it was very consistent with my game right now.  I see on my GHIN app that I am scoring 4.06 on par three holes, 5.02 on the par fours, and 6.04 on the par fives, so it felt satisfying to shoot my handicap, and I missed tying Bruce by only one shot.

I just checked out how Bruce and I would have done in best ball match play against C.J. and Herman.  We would have won 2 and 1, so it would have been a close match.  Bruce’s two birdies on the back help us go two up, and then my birdie got us to three up.  Herman's birdie got it back down to two up, and they had a chance to still tie at that point, but Bruce’s bogey on #17 ended it at 2 and 1.