A Cozy Saturday at the Swope House

Written on 11-18-23.

        B just made some pancakes for herself.  I walked Kody this morning, and I just made a tee time for this Tuesday at 11:50.  B is hosting a bridal shower for Grant and Rachel’s daughter, Zoe.  It’s a cozy Saturday at the Swope house, and we are relaxing on our first day of Thanksgiving vacation together.  I am in the computer room, and I hope to get caught up on my writing and do some reading today, too.

On to golf…

Eric, Greg, and I played at Hillcrest on the day I went to my cardiologist appointment.  Eric and Greg...

beat me.  Darn it.  They played well.  Kudos to them.  Greg joined us only for the back nine (our front), and we also played with the sweetest lady named Annie.  Annie was older and trim.  She played well on some holes, but not so well on others.  At one point, Greg said Annie was playing better than all of us.  I know she had pars on 11 and 12.  She was very sweet and petite, and she was a pleasure to play with.

I started the 1, 2, 3 game on hole #12, and they were fine with that.  I had already earned the first points on hole #10 by winning the hole with a bogey.  Unfortunately, I blew up on the very next hole, and it just didn’t get much better after that.  After our first nine, Eric had 22 points, Greg earned 13, and I managed ten.  Honestly, it’s nice to see Eric playing better.

On the front nine (our second nine), we played with Kermit and Bryson.  Bryson is in third grade, and Kermit is his father…and a stud golfer!  He played from the tips, and he was even on his round.  I remember him missing two par putts from less than five feet (they lipped out), and making two birdie putts from well over five feet.  Wow, his play was impressive!  Kermit was tough on Bryson, too, but Bryson did space out a bit like most seven-year olds tend to do.  Kermit had monster drives that were accurate for as long as they were.

I made a valiant effort on the front nine (our second nine) to catch Eric.  I had a rare blow-up on hole #1.  Eric started well by winning that first hole, but then he stalled out until the final hole.  I really did need some help from him in order to rally and win during this nine holes.

It was embarrassing to do so poorly on the first hole playing with Kermit and Bryson.  Not a great first impression, huh?  I sliced my driver shot out of bounds onto the range.  Yuck!  Then I overcompensated and pulled one dead left and low into the water.  My next two shots found the water, too.  Ugh.

Then it got better.  I scored one point with a threaded drive on #2. I scored six points on the next hole with the longer drive in the fairway and a winning bogey score.  I scored three more with another “good enough for a win” bogey on #4.  We tied on the next hole with bogeys, but I got another win on #6 for three more points.  I knew I was gaining, but I focused more on my play than the score.  I got three more points on #8 with yet another bogey.  I know, I know, it was a lot of bogeys, but I was rallying because Eric wasn’t scoring any points.  

I actually caught him after that hole.  I was leading 26 to 25.  Then he played the last hole marvelously.  He did what he needed to do to guarantee the win.  It was on the par three #9, so there is no fairway, but he did hit the green.  His tee shot was closer than Bryson’s (and this was Bryson’s best shot of the day) and Kermit’s.  He earned four points for that, and then he left no doubt about winning the hole for three more points by making the following putt for our only birdie of the day.  It was an incredibly tough putt, and he nailed it.  #9 has one of the most difficult greens for reading putts and getting the right speed, too!