An Extravaganza Practice Round

Written on 5-2-24.

      I am at Newcomb on my final day of work this year.  I have a break before I go support a teacher teaching a lesson, and I am finishing up my lunch.  

On to golf…

We have our big Across the Border Golf Extravaganza in two days.  Greg and I are teaming up for that one, and I am soooo looking forward to it.

I played on Monday with Greg, Marc, and Mike Goen.  Herman (not his real name) showed up, and we made it a group of five, but Mike told me on hole #2 that (in the future) he would prefer to have no more than four.  Arggggh!  I didn’t know what to do.  It was unusually silent, and I hoped Herman didn’t feel like he didn’t belong.  I didn’t invite Herman, but I didn’t mind if he joined us.  What can I say?  I’m an includer.  

It worked out fine.  I told them right from the start that we wouldn’t have to wait on Herman, because he is the best player out of all of us. He was hurting, though.  His back had been strained, and he wanted to go walk it out on the course instead of staying at home and getting stiff.  He even shanked a couple of shots!  

He played with us until the turn, and then he left us to go get a beer.  I explained to Mike what had happened after Herman left, and he understood.

I didn’t play well on the front nine, but then we switched to a scramble on the back nine to get ready for that portion of the tournament.  The first nine holes will be a scramble.  Actually, we should have done the scramble on the front thinking back, but it was still good to get a feel for how it would go.  Greg and I took on Mike and Marc, and we did well.

We got a birdie on the 11th hole.  Greg got us to a point just off the front of the green, and I finished with a putt from there.  It was about a 30-foot putt.

We stayed at one under for a while, and then we got it to two under when I made my own birdie on hole #15, the par three.

Pinon Hills Golf Course-Hole #15-Birdie #4 of 2024  

I have been burned by this hole before by pulling it left towards the hill on the left side.  My ball has gone long, and I end up with a high number.  It’s been a while since I have not gotten off the tee here, but that’s another way things can go wrong, so it was great to have a simple birdie here on this day.

I chose my 9-iron and made a functional swing.  My ball did not bounce down from the hill, but landed on the green.  I had less than three feet to clean it up, and this hole helped us get to two under for our little competition against Mike and Marc.  Because I did it all by myself, I can count it as a birdie for this journal.  

We ended up getting bogeys on #16 and #18.  Mike commented that we were human after the first bogey.  We played well together with this format, and it got me excited for the upcoming tournament.  We were able to beat Mike and Marc during our practice round.