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September 17, 2005
When is a poor round a good round?
When it's on a beautiful day, on a nice golf course, in the company of some friendly strangers -- as was the case today, when I took a break from studying by going down to Prescott to tee it up at Antelope Hills. I showed up as a single and was sent out on the North Course, an old-style layout of considerable length, by my standards, at 6551 from the gold tees.
I didn't have a great round, but on the 11th hole, a 395-yard par-4 that doglegs slightly to the left and uphill, had one of those moments that make scores seem less important. I hit a solid tee shot (with the titanium driver that's so big, it's almost like cheating), but it faded a bit and crossed a cart path to the right of the fairway, leaving me some 160 yards to the green on a bare patch of hard ground with no grass at all. Having some overhanging trees -- as there are on almost every hole on the North Course -- I had to hit a low cut shot to put the ball on the green. I'm not carrying a 4-iron these days -- an oversight I may rectify, maybe taking the 9-wood out of the bag -- so I took a 3-iron and hit one of the best low cut shots I can remember. Starting it just to the left of the green, I faded the ball almost all the way across into the right greenside bunker, but fortunately not quite that far. It ran onto the green -- and, as it turned out, just off the back edge, from which point, I chipped back, then two-putted.
Nothing spectacular, in the greater scheme of things, but shotmaking is my favorite part of golf -- not just executing a shot, but manufacturing something a little unusual... like a low cut with a 3-iron from 160. That kind of shot, even more than a long tee shot or a birdie putt, makes the game worthwhile.
OK, so I did shoot a rather untidy 95. That's OK -- there was no money at stake.
I have to say, I like Prescott -- and not just because it has at least half a dozen public golf courses (compared with Flagstaff's one), although that's certainly a plus. If things had worked out differently, for Meg & Urb's Excellent Adventure, Career About-Face, and Great Western Land Grab, I would probably rather live in Prescott than Flagstaff. But that's neither here nor there, at this point.
Posted by Urbie at September 17, 2005 09:16 PM