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Monday, March 11, 2024

Love / Hate Relationship

Like many, I have a love / hate relationship with golf. So much to love. So much to hate. 

The loves:

Nothing better than hitting a great shot.

I need the exercise. Walking up and down the hills. Might as well hit a ball with a stick while I am walking.

I am a decent putter.

Refreshing to play by myself, to be alone with my thoughts. Some people can’t seem to stand being by themselves, not being able to talk to someone, to not have music blaring. Not me. Great to be out in nature, hearing the birds and the wind, being able to think.

Seeing the sunrise.

Even practicing is fun.

The hates:

I can’t see where I hit the ball. That’s half the fun.

Golf takes a long time to play. That’s why I play first thing in the morning. Beat the heat in the summertime, but in winter it’s damn cold.

Golf is expensive. I buy an annual membership at the cheapest course in town, and buy used balls from thrift stores.

I’m bad. I need to practice more.

With the time change, at least it was a beautiful morning. The professor arrived good and early as well (725 am, above). The sun was still peeking out when we teed off. Since I was playing with Gee, I hit few mulligans. I actually took a picture on every tee box, so I have a time stamp of how long it took us to play each hole.

1. 735 am (top). Good drive. Flubbed a couple of fairway shots. Good chip, but over the green. Decent chip back. I putted bad all morning.

2. 748 am. Flubbed two 6 irons off the tee – and my second shot as well. Decent chip. More poor putts.

3. 755 am. Decent 7 iron off tee landed short. Awkward stance resulted in a poor chip. No excuse for the second poor chip. Poor putts.

4. 801 am. Good 6 iron off tee. Landed on the green but rolled off. Decent chip. I’m gonna quit talking about the putts.

5. 808 am. My tee shot sailed right – across the street, where it hit a wall – and bounded all the way back into the fairway. Chip sailed low, and rolled off the back of the green. Good chip back. I don’t remember any of my putts.

6. 815 am. Hit a worm burner of a hybrid. Flubbed a fairway hybrid, then hit a decent one that stayed right. GT hit a low drive that got a good roll to the 150 yard marker (below). From behind a tree a hit a great 7 iron to the fringe. Then I got out my putter.

7. 826 am. Good drive off tee. Flubbed a 6 iron, then hit another 6 iron to the right. I hadn’t been hitting shots off to the right in ages. Made good contact twice, but both got caught up in the trees. Then a good chip onto the green. Three putt.

8. 838 am. My drive sliced into the trees. Poked it back into the fairway. Hit my wedge too short, then a better chip onto the green. Finally, a decent lag putt.

9. 851 am. Teed up the ball too high, and popped it up high and short. Pulled my fairway shot left, but still decent. Two good chips. Three putt. Glad that was over.

Stopped at Wendys and RaceTrac on the way to work.

After work Saturday I did some housework and laundry. Later I drove C to Perimeter Mall, then to Taqueria in Brookhaven. Long line – 30 min to get to our table. Duke/UNC was on the TV.

Back home we watched the 2005 movie “Pizza My Heart”. One of the Italian dads was the elevator operator from You’ve Got Mail.

These blog posts may be coming at you out of chronological order, so you may get just confused as I am.

BOOKS ROBINSON [SABR Bio] was the first player to capture a league MVP, an All-Star game MVP and a World Series MVP. Brooks was AL MVP in 1964, the 1966 ASG MVP, and the 1970 World Series MVP. When Frank Robinson won the 1971 ASG MVP, he became the second and last person to win all three. He once received a standing ovation from the home crowd after striking out. He had been called out on strikes in the 8th inning of 5th & final G of the 1970 World Series. Returning to the dugout, head hung low, the Oriole faithful rose with a standing ovation for his dream WS. Willie Mays was the first player to win a Gold Glove 12 straight years: 1957-’68, tied in 1970 by Roberto Clemente. Robinson got his 13th in 1972, then added 3 more. No other position player has that many.

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