Rio Mimbres Yields Two Birdies

Written on 3-20-25.

     B and I are heading back to Aztec today.  She is driving now after we switched at the new Allsup’s in Cuba.  Lots of concrete there.  I am betting it will take a lot of the business that comes through Cuba, though; it’s so new and shiny and clean.  

It’s been a fantastic spring break, the last one for our careers.  We had dinner at James and Casey’s last night, and Danielle joined us, too.  Danielle left early to go to bed before her shift at Station #3 today.  We stayed and played a game of UpWords.  Casey was the judge and scorekeeper.  She had to switch chairs twice, each one becoming more comfortable than the last.  Her back is hurting more and more, and B said her belly felt tight when Casey asked her to feel for movements.  Next time we see them, it will be for the birth of our grandson.  That feels surreal to write that sentence.

Back to golf…

I came up with the game when Eric and I played in Deming.  The course there is called Rio Mimbres, and it was

...rough.  I hope it gets better as the weather improves.  It had patches of grass in some places (different kinds of grasses), and patches of dirt and rocks in others.  We used my Arccos App to help navigate it all, but looking at the satellite images often didn’t help.  I was surprised we were able to use Arccos, since I cancelled my membership.  We couldn’t see where the fairways were on some holes.  On other holes, it looked as if the trees were right in the middle of the fairways when I lined up my tee shot.  Because it was brown on both sides of those trees, it was difficult to discern which way to go sometimes, too.  Because it was so rough, we decided to place our golf balls in the nearest grassy areas if they somehow ended up in the dirt or rocks.  I saw no reason to scratch up our clubs for a vacation round.

Back to the game…  I said the first three holes would be the warm-up holes, because Eric hadn’t played yet this year.  Turns out, I needed the warm-up, though.  He went par, bogey, par.  I had higher scores, but they didn’t count for the game.  

I chose to have the last fifteen holes divided into three groups.  We played the points game, and whoever had the most points would win the one point for those five holes.  We took fairways out of the equation right away, because it was hard to discern where they were.  I threw in birdies for five points.  If you won the two or three out of the three sets of five holes, you were the winner.

I won the first hole, so I drew first blood with three points.  We pushed the points for winning the hole the next two holes, and then I struck again with a bogey to his double on the par five 7th.  He did win the last hole with a par to my bogey for three points, but it was a little too little, too late.  I won the first point.

It looked promising for Eric on the second set of five holes.  He won the points for the first two holes to take the lead at 6-0.  Then I took over.

I hit the green on the par three 11th for three points.  That was one of very few G.I.R.’s for either of us.  On the next hole, I won the rest of the match with a birdie.

Rio Mimbres-Hole #12-Birdie #2 of 2025

My drive sailed left of the fairway on this shorter par four.  The scorecard says it is 368 yards from the whites.  I took a drop on a bit of grass back and left of where it landed.  My approach with my 8-iron went straight up and down with the flagstick, but it landed short.  The pin was on the front, and I decided to putt from off the green.  The grass was short, and it was flat, too, so it was the safer option.

Eric went first.  He was just off the green on the left side, so it was looking good for him to get a par.  He put too much speed on his putt, however, and his ball rolled all the way across the green.

When I sized up my putt, I was just hoping to get it close to secure my par and win the hole.  It turned out to be extremely close.  It rolled and dropped into the cup for our first birdie of the day.  

I won 11 points to end the match then and there.  Five for the birdie, three for the win, and three more for the push from the previous hole.

I didn’t think of the birdie points until after we rode away in the cart.  I was trying to avoid having too much excitement in my voice, since it wasn’t good news for him.  He agreed, though, and we chose a new game for the last five holes.

Eric chose skins.  It would be $10,000.00 per hole with no pushes.  We were trying to get the cart back in time, too, so we picked up our pace.  The girl in the pro shop said to have it back by 5:45, and it looked like we might not make it.

Eric won the first with a par.  I took a seven after hitting into a bunker with water in it.  On the next hole, I got my second birdie.

Rio Mimbres-Hole #16-Birdie #3 of 2025

This was a short par five, but it was into the wind, so I said from the start, “I don’t think we will be going for it in two shots.”

I was wrong.  I was close to 200 yards out after my drive, so I chose to go for it.  Water protected the green on the right side, so Eric chose to lay up.

My approach with my 5-iron/utility club went left, and I thought it might have landed in the trees and bushes.  I couldn’t see where it ended up.  Eric successfully got into position for his approach.  We drove right past his ball when we started to search, but we did find mine.  It was in some dirt, and my swing was restricted due to a small tree behind it.  It was when we looked back that we saw Eric’s ball, so he took the cart back to play his third shot.

While he was doing that, I played mine.  This was the best shot of the day for me.  I thumped my ball into the hill guarding the left side of the green, and it popped up beautifully, killing the momentum, and it stopped on the green just above the hole.

Eric asked me to putt first to see if I would win the hole outright, so I did.  I saw a bit of left to right break, but it went straight in.  I had just won $10,000.00 myself.

He won the next skin with a par on the par three 17th.  He made a great approach that landed right of the hole.  I struggled to earn a bogey.  He was in the lead at this point.

We tied the next hole with two bogeys, and then we were suddenly on the last hole.  I could only tie him, but he could win the final contest outright if he got the lower score.

His drive went left and ended up in the dirt amongst some smaller trees.  I hit one right up the middle, and it settled on the right side of the fairway.  No drop needed for me.

I helped Eric with his drop, but he ended up dropping his ball right in the middle of the fairway, for some reason.  I know we had been dropping nearest point of relief up to that point, but I just shrugged and allowed him to do it.

My ball bounced right a tiny bit to end up on the lower part of the green.  The pin was on the back upper tier, so it would be a tough two-putt to earn my par.  So far, though, mission accomplished with the fairway and G.I.R.

His approach sailed over the green and ended up in the rocks 20 yards away.  It might have hit the hill on the backside of the green.  I did triple-putt.  Darn it!  I left an opening for him to tie me.  He had a putt of ten to twelve feet to get his bogey, but it stoped short, so we ended up tying with $20,000.00 each.

More later…  I still want to write about the crazy wind storm, but we are in Bloomfield now, and I want to give my eyes a rest.