James Turns 30 and Rypstick Results

Written on 8-20-23.

        Belinda has had two full weeks of school, and it’s gone pretty well so far.  August is always a bit rough since she has to get her schedule set up.  She hopes to have it all done by the end of next week.

I signed my contract yesterday, so I will get my first visits in for this year in August.  I am excited to get going, but it’s only a seven month contract this time.  Not sure why.  That might be a good thing if I am needed again up in Colorado Springs, though.

James turned 30 last week, and we just came back from his party yesterday.  We drove up on Friday with Amanda, and we spent the night in the Tru Hilton Hotel on I-25.  Amanda spent $200.00 on her room, and she hoped...

Kyle would spend the night with her, but he ended up spending the night at James’s.  Despite that, it was a fun time, and it was a very eclectic party.  James has the gift of making friends from all kinds of diverse backgrounds.  Someone commented that his birthday party was a good rehearsal for their upcoming wedding here in Aztec.  That is true.

My cousin Becky’s husband, Gordon, passed away this morning.  He had a cancerous brain tumor, and he/they chose not to have the chemo treatments.  We are sad, but it wasn’t a surprise.  I feel fortunate that we were able to visit them when we went to Black Canyon earlier this summer.

On to golf…

I have done five sessions with my new Rypstick now.  I am not sure if it has helped, but I did shoot my best score of the summer last week, an 88.  My average speed has improved from 76 mph to 91 mph.  According to the app, I have gained more speed than 95% of users in my category.  I am just happy to have had a lower score.

I have been watching some Peter Cowen videos lately.  It started with a Danny Maude video.  He shared his lesson with Pete, the #1 instructor of gold in the world, and it focused on the right arm’s role.  It resonated with me.

With the Rypstick I am just swinging as quickly and as smoothly as I can to get more speed, though.  With Peter’s tip, I am dropping the club into the slot, and then simply turning with my body with my irons.  It feels more like a two-step motion, but it looks smooth when I video my swing.  When I focus on my right arm and wrist, I get better results.  I will continue to work with it.

I beat Herman (not his real name) this past Wednesday for a beer.  He gave me five strokes for our little competition on the back nine, but that isn’t the reason I beat him.  I beat him, because he lost his ball on #16.  We think the group on #17 picked it up.  I would have let him drop and given him a one stroke penalty, but I didn’t get the chance to tell him; he gave up and walked over the the tee box on #17 after looking around for a while.

He was even at that point, and he went on to have a stellar round getting only one bogey on the final hole.  He has seven pars, one bogey, and one unfinished hole.

I don’t believe I would have beaten him if he hadn’t lost that ball, but I did end up having my best nine hole score of the season, shooting a 42 from the whites.  The highlight came on the final hole when I made a long putt for a par after having to pitch in from the fairway.

On the front, I had another long putt for a bogey on the par three #4.  I finished the front with an excellent up and down from the bunker on the par five #8, too.  Then I had a smooth approach on #9, and that set me up with the best birdie opportunity of the day.  I was pleased with this round, but I still know I could do better.  I had one big blow-up hole on the front on #5, and I had some unnecessary double bogeys on the back, too.  Part of being able to score better is eliminating those larger scores.

Until next time…