Arccos Advice

Written on 4-28-24.

      James and Casey came through Aztec this weekend and dropped off Ekko along the way.  They were going to Durango to celebrate Cory Saxon’s 30th birthday party.  Ekko was great, and he really is grown up now.  He weighs nearly 80 lbs., they said.  Kody was exhausted after he left this morning, and he took a long nap in the cool dirt in the backyard.

I will work two more days this week, and then I will be done for the year.  Belinda is continuing on, of course, but she is excited that the month of May is starting.  She is outside pulling weeds by Baker Street, our little camper, as I type this.  I feel guilty, but it’s a Sunday, and she is happy.  I think she is.  Pulling weeds can be cathartic, and I would do it later this week, but she couldn’t wait.  Hmmm, she can be stubborn at times.

On to golf…

I played twice at Pinon Hills recently, both times from the blues.  I played nine holes on Thursday last week after running some errands.  One of those errands was paying for my GHIN in order to get that started before the Across the Border Golf Extravaganza tournament next weekend.  Then I played yesterday with Herman (not his real name) and Shawn.  

Tomorrow, I am playing tomorrow with...

Greg, Marc, and Mike.  Marc and Mike are pairing up for that tournament, too.  Greg and I will be a team, and this will be a practice round for the tournament.  I just checked the post for the tournament on FaceBook, and it will be a scramble for the first nine holes on Saturday at Pinon Hills, and then it switches to a best ball for the final nine.  On Sunday at Hillcrest, it starts with nine more holes of best ball, and then it ends with an alternate shot format.  

Herman said that he and Dave won this tournament last year.  Wow!  That’s impressive.  I have no idea if it is flighted according to handicaps or not, but I am betting it is.

I played with Sean (last name) last Thursday.  He was the reason I played from the blues.  His mother rode along in a cart, and he used to play against Luke Tanner in high school.  He was very skilled, and I noticed a lot of tattoos.  He played for Piedra Vista when Luke played for Farmington.  He said the reason for Luke’s success was his consistency.  He also told me this was his first round at Pinon Hills after a long hiatus, and he usually plays in Cortez.  His mother said it stirred up a lot of memories of walking and following along when he was in high school.

I played decently, and I drove it really well from the farther tees.  With his 4-iron or his 3-iron, he could drive it as far or farther that I did with my driver.  That’s how skilled he was.

Yesterday, I started like I did when I played with Sean.  I duplicated the first four holes, going bogey, bogey, bogey, double bogey.  I got a bogey on #5 yesterday compared to a par when I played with Sean, but then I blew up on #6 by not getting off the tee box.  It was similar to what I did when I played with Sean.  I write this to note this is one of the areas Arccos is showing me where I could really improve.

Here is what Arccos is telling me (in order) about the three areas where I could improve the most: Approach Game (100-150 yard), Shots from the Fairway, and Par 3 Tee Shots.

Here is a tip from each one.  For my approach game, Ryan Crysler is telling me to used five balls in a row on the practice tee and try to get them to land within 30 feet on either side of a target.  Choose random targets from 100-150 yards.

For the shots from the fairway, Ryan also says to play the 3 ball game when the course is not crowded.  Use the recommended club from Arccos first, and then hit the next stronger club, and then choose the club two clubs stronger with a knock down approach (if applicable).  Determine the best kind of shot from that yardage.

Finally, for the par three shots, Andrew Rice instructs me to tee the ball up barely above the grass to make it look like a good lie from the fairway.  Be careful not to tee them up too high, though.

Those are all good suggestions, but like Herman said after our round yesterday, it comes down to consistent contact for all my shots.

I didn’t play too well yesterday, and I was hoping to beat Shawn, but it didn’t work out.  I did, however, manage another birdie for this year!

Pinon Hills Golf Course-Hole #7-Birdie #3 of 2024  

I had just wrecked my score on the par three #6, so this helped with that.  I used my driver, and I outdrove everyone, even Herman!  I had just over 100 yards to the middle, and that was where the pin was.  I used my pitching wedge, and my approach came out low, but it worked out really well.  My ball was the only one that ended up right of the hole.  Shawn putted first, and he barely missed his birdie putt.  He felt the wind pushed it enough to cause it to miss right.  My ball was positioned with the wind blowing across the green from the fairway, so my putt went to the left side of the hole, stopped for a second, and then got blown into the hole by the wind.  It helped that the hole was cut poorly on that side, so it had a smoother entrance.  Yes!  I will take it.

Okay, I am going to bed.  It’s 9:20, and my eyes are getting fatigued.