Monday, December 29, 2025

Should Beginners Play 18 Holes?

Written on 9-21-25.

    It’s another Broncos’ Sunday, and I am in our computer room listening on my little MGD radio.  It is also the memorial service for Charlie Kirk today.  So sad.  He was close in age to James and Danielle, so I think of Casey and Rowan without their James.  I think of Danielle not being able to serve her community as a firefighter.  Of course, I think of (and pray for) Erika Kirk and their two children.   This happened because someone didn’t like what he had to say.  I believe he (the shooter) would not have wanted to kill Charlie if he had met him, though.  Charlie was all about that.  Many people would agree with that sentiment, too.  People should use their words (something we said to our children often when we were raising them) instead of violence.  When people don’t have an argument, they sometimes wrongly choose violence instead.  So sad, but I have trust in God.  That Erika was able to forgive the shooter during the service was incredible. 


On to golf…


When Eric and I played in Utah, we were matched up with a couple.  They smiled when they greeted us, and the first thing the guy said was, “You guys look good.”

I think he meant experienced.  We found out right away that they were not experienced.  Very friendly, just not good at golf.  Later in the round, they admitted they were beginners.  Eric and I, to our credit, kept it light and amiable.  This was a vacation round after all.  I knew that we would be hard-pressed to finish 18 holes before it got dark.  By the time we had made it to the second nine, I knew we wouldn’t make it, which was a bummer.  Eric and I even talked about telling them we were going to go on ahead, but we decided against it.  They did tell us on hole #9, after we had let a third group play through, that they were having so much fun playing with us.  Yes, we “looked good” like he told us when he met us, but we also were good (at least for amateurs).  They were not.  They were green and uncoordinated.  I don’t say that to be mean; I know they would agree with me.

Let me get to the point.  I would have preferred if they had practiced a bit more before playing on this “real” golf course.  It would have been better because beginning golfers slow down the pace of play. So s l o w.  I bet there is data on that.  It would have been a better experience for Eric and me if they wouldn’t have had so much alcohol as the round went on, too.  They would whiff over and over again, but they would whiff many more times as the round went on.

Suddenly, on hole #14, they decided to go on ahead of us.  They said they were going to goof around and enjoy the scenery.  Wow and phew!  It was still too late to finish our round before it got dark, but at least we got to enjoy the rest of it by ourselves.


Until next time…

Sunday, December 21, 2025

Eric Falls Off at Ledges

Written on 9-19-25.

   When we went to back nine, we tied the first five holes.  He chose to have a beer to help him relax again.  It worked the last time at Grandote (barely), but it didn’t work this time.  He did scare me a little, however.

We got bogeys on the first two holes, double bogeys on the third, and two more bogeys until I finally broke through.  Here’s how I won the match on hole #15.

The back nine was shorter, but it became tighter.  Many of the greens were smaller and elevated.  I would compare it to Riverview with their two contrasting sides.  

Hole #5 was only 281 yards from the whites, but it was...

Friday, December 12, 2025

Ledges Golf Course-Part 1

Written on 9-14-25.

  Okay, I forgot to bring our MacBook, so I didn’t get to write about anything at Snow Canyon.  That’s the first time I didn’t bring our laptop while camping.  Instead of writing, I watched a DVD in our camper one day.  It was Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and it was fun to watch again.  

It’s another Sunday, and I am listening to the Denver Broncos vs. the Indianapolis Colts.  It’s past halftime, and the Broncos are leading 28-20.  I just cleaned my clubs again, and B is relaxing on our back deck.  The weather has been steadily getting cooler, and we received plentiful rain in Aztec when we were at Snow Canyon.  We saw debris on

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Snow Canyon is Coming!

Written on 9-7-25.

      It’s a Sunday afternoon, and Belinda and I have been prepping for our next camping trip to Snow Canyon in the southwest part of Utah.  We drove through Kanab on our way back after the Edgertons continued on their way to Canada to see the bears snag salmon out of the river there.  We stayed at a sanctuary/campground on our way home, and I said I would like to go back there to explore some more.  Well, tomorrow we will go do just that.  

If I would have said that the anniversary of Dad’s death was a year ago yesterday, and Danielle would be starting over at the Albuquerque Fire Academy tomorrow, I don’t know if I would believed either of those things.  They are as true as Tiger Woods’ aim with his putter, though.  

I miss my Dad.  Bev recently put many of the...