One Week Later

Movie quote from last blog post is from Aladdin by the way. Genie responds with that after hearing Aladdin tell him that he would wish him free after using his first two wishes.

Last Saturday the 19th, Henry and I had gone golfing at Sage Lakes. I had mentioned that he and I have no other side bets this year, just the dime a hole for the skins game. Well, I guess there is another bet I forgot to mention because of it's unlikeliness to happen very often. This bet being $5.00 per eagle if we are to in fact able to do succeed in such a task. He and I have never eagled a hole except for one time, he attained the score of eagle on a par 5 at Sand Creek

at the end of last year.

Henry had been golfing pretty bad up until this week, he had gone a couple of times on Friday and figured something out. I wasn't too worried and figured he still wouldn't be able to beat me. Boy was I wrong! I won the first hole, we tied the second hole so that dime is carried over to the next hole. Well, he putts in a birdie from like 40 feet from just off the green. Birdies count as double, not just for that given hole, but also any carried over from the previous. Thus he wins .40 on that one hole. That is fine, stuff like that happens from time to time. I had done the same thing to him like a week before. The next hole is where this day's events really starts. He hits a drive on number 4 and has about 110 yards left. I drove it inside of him, walk up to my ball to watch his next shot. He was off to the right of me. He hits a decent shot just left of the green and a bit short. Watching his ball in the air I figured he might be able to two putt and get par. Out of nowhere his ball takes a crazy bounce the opposite way it was headed, bounces a couple of more times, then eventually takes a dive into the hole. He scores an eagle, and I am down $5.60 on 4 holes. The skin itself is only worth .20, but the eagle is an extra $5.00. The day wears on and that is all he was able to muster from me as far as skins. He birdied another hole and won some skins, I birdied one hole and tied for the other skins. So, I lose the $5.60 on the day. His best score for 18 holes of golf previous to this day was an 8 over 78. My best score was (at the same course) 7 over 77. He ended up scoring a 76 and the best round between us! I didn't mind losing the money on the day, but to lose the best round score between us? That sucked. I was actually happy for him and I was a much better sport about the days events than I would have been last year. Why was I a better sport? Well, because I am golfing better this year and figured that I would win the money back and (hopefully) the best round before the end of the year. Good for you Henry!

That brings us to this last Friday. I was able to get in a nap before having to bowl our last night of league night for this year. We ended up taking first place on that league which of course we were all happy about. I go to work after bowling then we are set to golf at 9:15 the next morning. I was wicked tired from no sleep, but I love to golf and hadn't been for a week, so I still went of course. Our tee time was also pushed back to 9:45 because of frost. I par the first three holes, bogey the next two, par, bogey to be three over par after 7 holes. We arrive at the tee box on 8 which is a par 4. I hit a pretty good drive right down the middle of the fairway. Henry is up one skin and we have two carry overs up to this point. Henry hit his drive to the right behind some trees and was forced to pitch back out into the fairway. I knew if I didn't do anything stupid that I should win this hole and be ahead for skins. I had 140 to the pin and decided on 9 iron. Pin in the middle. I setup and told myself to clear my left side so the ball would travel the distance it was supposed to. I hadn't been clearing and was losing yardage all day. I hit the ball, and watching it in the air I knew that I wouldn't lose the hole. The ball was going directly at the pin. The ball never landed on the green! Barbara then says that the ball went in? I never heard a noise and the wind wasn't blowing hardly at all, so I just assumed that I hit the ball too far and it was over the green. I figured it was going to land on the green, but maybe I got a hold of it and it carried the green. The other three finally get to the green area and are still insisting that the ball is in the hole. I walk my bag to the side of the green and start toward the hole, just to check. I can see the edge of the hole as I am walking up and no sign of a ball maybe hitting directly at the cup and tearing up the hole a bit, so I still don't think that the ball is in the hole. I pear in and don't see it, but can only see the far edge, I lean over a bit more and the ball is in the hole! I score and eagle! $5.00 back to me. I honestly didn't think the ball was going to be in the hole, but of course I was hoping. The ball never made any noise, didn't tear up the edge of the cup, but dove directly in the hole and didn't bounce out! All three things just seemed to be a little too weird to find the ball in the cup! I was one over after 8 holes with that lucky eagle and off to my best round at Sand Creek ever. Which was kinda weird in it's own right because I had mentioned to Henry the week before that I only golf good at Sage Lakes. I have never scored anything close to decent at Sand Creek and for sure not Pinecrest. I bogeyed 9 which was pretty dumb, but was very pleased with a 38 (2 over par) on the front nonetheless.

Number 10 at Sand Creek is the hardest hole on the course. Trees left and right and it is en extremely long par 4. I hit my drive left and figured to be behind trees, it wasn't and my second shot was short left. I chipped up and drained an 8 footer for par. Yeah, I parred the toughest hole on the course. This is when I started to think about beating Henry's previous weeks best round ever of 6 over par. Hole 11 is a par 5 that is pretty easy to par. I hit my longest drive ever on the hole and hit my second shot on the green. I was putting for an eagle. I misread that putt, but knocked in a two footer for birdie. I was one over after 11 holes, my best start ever and it wasn't at Sage Lakes? I parred the next three holes and had a 15 footer for birdie on 15, but I three putted! Earlier before our first hole I was on the putting green and for some reason I couldn't get the speed down for putts that exact length? I hadn't thought about it until after hitting the first putt about 4 feet past the hole. Yikes, I am way fatigued by now and I have to hold it together for three more holes. I am two over with three holes to play. I should have the best round ever in the bag. I bogey the next hole after missing the green right. My drive on 17 goes right into the trees! I was able to barely have a swing and was able to muscle up a shot just short of the green. Chipped up and putted in another 8 footer for par. 3 over and one hole to go. As long as I did not get an 8 on the longest hole in the city I would beat Henry for best all round score. My swing had turned to crap and I wasn't comfortable at all. I was reverting back to my old swing for the last three holes and I knew that if anything went wrong an triple bogey 8 wouldn't be that far fetched. I hit my drive perfect, one shot down. Henry was about 20 yards behind me and mis-hit his three wood and had about 150 left to the green. I am for sure not comfortable with woods as you may have read from previous blogs, so I played it safe with a 4 iron. I hit it pretty chunky and ended up directly in front of Henry middle of the fairway. I had about 140 in, uphill and played an 8 iron. I bladed it, but it ran up on the green about 35 feet from the pin. I had a birdie putt and the best round ever. I shorted the birdie, missed the par putt left and shot a 4 over 76. Par for the course at Sand Creek is a 72, whereas par for Sage is a 70. Walking off the course with Barbara, Henry had already driven off to their vehicle in the golf kart, I inform Barbara that I just beat Henry for the best round ever. I wasn't too sure if I added everything correctly and knew Henry would have it added up by the time I got to the car. I was loading up when he asks "76, Jason"? I say if I added correctly that is what I came up with. Barbara chimes in with her question towards Henry at this point "Isn't that what you shot last week"? Henry confirms that our scores were indeed the same. Of course I let him know that his score was a 6 over par, and mine was a 4 over par, thus beating his best round by 2. I figured I would beat his best round ever, but I had no idea that I would better it the very next time out. I figured that I would win the $5.00 back. I didn't figure it to be by holing out on a par 4. I made $5.90 on the day, even though he tied my birdie by slopping in a birdie on the same hole. Thus, there wasn't double pay out for skins on that hole. It was a good week for him and a better following week for me! Congrats Henry, and sorry you couldn't bask in the glory of having the best round ever for more than a week!