19th Excerpt From My Original Golf Diary-Part 2-Lots of Birdies!

Written on 6-18-03 in the PM.

This was originally written on June 1st.

 

It’s a Sunday, and I didn’t go to church today.  Father forgive me, but we are on our annual and traditional Lake Powell trip.  We launched at Hite again, but the water is much lower.  Things here just aren’t the same due to the drought.  We had to launch from a different place than usual, the driftwood and garbage were tremendous, and you could see the current where we usually take off out across the water.  We’ve had a lot of water fun today pulling the kids in the “Monster” tube, taking a hike where we camped last year, and pulling Eric right off a rock, slalom-style.  

I wanted to try to ski, but can’t because of my knee.  I’ll get to that later.  James and Kyle are playing on the rocks behind me.  Kyle actually skied for the first time.  I was driving the boat when he first did it, but Eric got him to stay up much longer when he tried a little later in the day.  B’s over in the “kitchen” area, but the boys just called her over to look at something.  A is with Eric and they are pulling the girls in the “Monster” tube (Becca included, of course!).  It’s cloudy, but not cool.  Warm breezes are softly blowing the pages of my journal.

Life is good, and I am thankful I can say that...

18th Excerpt From My Original Golf Diary-Part 2-Rest of the Spring Break in VA

Continued from 6-18-03.

 

I have written a lot in the journal that happened after Virginia, but I really need to finish writing about Virginia before I get that in here.  So, here goes…  

        On the second night after playing Pinecrest that morning, Guy and I went to a driving range.  We hit two jumbo buckets of golf balls, and I mean JUMBO.  I told Guy about my swing thought to try and help him out, but I don’t know that it did him any good.  He has a very upright swing and a left arm that bends in the follow-through, and I wish he would get clubs fitted to him with a pro’s help.  He’s so tall and he looks really stooped over the ball.  We used my video camera, because I had brought it to film stuff like the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial for my class, and Guy’s house for Mom and Dad.  

        I was amazed at what I saw in my swing, though.  Impact looked better than it ever had from a side view.  I was hitting down and through the ball and my hands were ahead of the clubface.  From the rear view, though, it was a different story.  My swing was very...

17th Excerpt From My Original Golf Diary-Part 2-More Golf in VA

Written on 4-29-03.

Hello, stranger.  Lots to write, so lets get going.  First of all, my play in Virginia was pretty good.  At Herndon, I had some impressive drives.  On holes #7 and #9, I hit the greens in regulation and double-putted each time.  On hole #12, I hit a huge drive with my driver that ended up on the wrong fairway.  From there, though, I hit a great approach onto the green where I two-putted again.  On hole #13, I made a nice sand save only to three-putt for a double bogey.  Finally, on hole #17, a par five, I hit… 

Continued on 6-18-03.

        ...a drive that got stuck in the mud so deep that we almost didn’t find it.  I got a free drop and cleaned my ball only to pull my second shot badly toward a small creek on the left.  I got another free drop from there because of the mud again.  This was a theme that continued on all of the golf courses we played during this spring break-mud, mud, mud, and free drops here, there, and everywhere.  I backed this one all the way over next to the adjoining fairway.  I hit a great shot from there that landed right on the green and was left with a really slight downhill putt for a birdie, but I actually left it short!  I ended up shooting...

Another Update to Break Up the Excerpts

Written on 5-18-23.

        I am sitting in the basement at 1542, and I just did a workout.  Mostly running up and down the stairs for cardio and some other full body stuff in between.  We are going through the rest of the stuff on this trip before the estate sale, and this is our last chance to grab anything personal.  Then we are going to Colorado Springs to celebrate Mother’s Day late and their 60th anniversary early on Monday evening.  I told B that this is more of a celebration this trip, but it feels weird to not  be doing more work.  I am betting it will take a bit more to go through the last bit of stuff, however, when we start in on it tomorrow afternoon.

On to golf…

I have played with Herman (not his real name) three times at Pinon Hills the past couple of months.  We would have played many more, but I have been busy with coming to Lakewood and the end of work.  He has also done some traveling to go watch his daughter play.  He beat me...

16th Excerpt From My Original Golf Diary-Part 2

Written on 3-24-03.

Guy, AM, and I played at Herndon yesterday.  I enjoyed it very much and was pleased with my play.  I shot a 45 on the front, which included two pars on #7 and #9, a par three and a short par four.  I shot 46 on the back, with two pars on #12 and #17, a par four and a par five.

The addition to my routine helped tremendously.  Thinking “time to focus” before every shot is not only a good trigger to start my routine every time, something I never really had before, but it also helps quiet my mind, focus on a small target, and really do what I say-Focus!  The part where I was supposed to think “time to relax” really didn’t work.  I usually was too caught up with where my ball was going to remember to think of that.  It did help me, though, in between shots.  I would just remind myself sometimes to just relax and not focus so much when I wasn’t addressing a ball.

I have a goal that I have been trying with every round that I have not been able to achieve yet, but I will continue to set it until I can do it consistently.  It is simply to hit every green in regulation or one over, and to double-putt every green.  I did much better on the green in regulation goal on this round.

There.  I am all caught up with what I wrote in my journal while I was gone.  Of course, I still have more to say, so before I go I want to write what I want to write about next time.  First, I want to talk about all of my rounds when I was in Virginia and the driving range we went to.  Also, I want to write that I remembered the names of the guys we played with where we played.  Steve was at Herndon, and Don was at Pine Crest.  At Algonkian, Guy and I actually got to play alone.  

        I also want to write about all the good holes that I played including a 215-yard par three.  I came up with something profound to say when playing with Guy at Algonkian about targets.  Then I want to talk about the “impact bag” swing thought, and how it was very successful for me.  I can’t think of anything else, so until next time…