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The Call.....

Rockford35

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Alright, you'll have to bear with me on this one, it could turn out to be of epic proportions.

Today turned out to be a great day weather wise. About 26*C around these parts which is stellar for Oct 5. I get up this morning and take care of some business and some odd jobs that need doing.

Then, I get the call.

"Hey, we need a 4th. Can you make it in 25 minutes?"

HELL YA I CAN MAKE IT!

I ran to the window, as the weather outside had escaped me. ZERO wind. And this is an anomoly around these parts. I changed into some half decent garb and headed out, only realizing as the garage door was closing that I had had nothing to eat for some time and needed to grab something. 20 minutes! Cripes!

I headed out towards the course with intentions of picking up a quality lunch from the supermarket. Friggin construction! It would have taken too much time to get to the store. Arby's it is. I figure i've eaten enough Red Lobster to kill a grown horse, a little Arby's cat ain't gonna do me no harm.

Inhaling my "lunch", i headed out to the course. What a beautiful day. What dreams are made of. We get to the course......deserted. No one there. Perfect! The world was our oyster.

I started out nicely with a birdie. Pushed my drive a bit, but not bad for not warming up much. Hit a tight little 8 iron to 6 feet, nothing but cup. I pretty much played the front up and down, only one bogey to bring up. But, the 4 birdies on the front made up for that nicely. The game was getting there. I didn't want to bring up yesterday, so i did my best to entertain the guys i was playing with, keeping it far from memory. I didn't want to jinx it.

The back nine started off well. I had a beer after 9, as i was pretty thirsty, and figured i deserved it. But i only had one. Had to drive home, mind you. Parred 10, 11 and 12. On the tee of 13, i started doing "sunlight math". And, as luck would have it, even my math couldn't add up enough sunlight to equal 18 holes. Cripes!

13 was a par 3. Stuck a nice little 7 iron from 157 to about 4 feet. Jarred. Time was ticking, we needed to hustle.

14 was a par 4, into the setting sun, which made me worry more. I hit a drive just into the right rough, 165 to the hole. Set one on the dance floor and two putted for par. Nice, things are shaping up.

Or so i thought. The others had been playing decent golf until 15. Then the wheels fell off. One took a 9 on the following par 5, the other an 8. It was true stick handling on the green, which was tough, i'll admit. I happened to hit a few good ones on that hole, and ended up lipping out an eagle. Tap in bird. I'm -5 to here.

16 is a par 4, about 440 straight away. The sun was just beneath the horizon by this point. It wasn't looking good. But I was determined to finish this bastard off. I started getting head crazy, and hooked my drive off the tee. In ok shape, but it brought me back to reality. After hitting a great recovery 5 iron to the green (best shot all day, honestly) i hit a lag putt (*****'d out, more like it!) to about 2 feet and sunk that for a par. I ran as i plucked the ball from the hole.

17 is a dainty little par 3. It's about 160 from the marker to middle of the green. The pin was in the back. I figured it was playing about 163, no wind. My brain said 8, but my body said 7. Just get it on the green. Just get it on the green. Aim for the middle, two putt and run. I let one of the other guys hit first, nice tight shot with a 6 iron to about 20 feet. The ball stuck like crazy. I kept thinking, "8 iron?" I was so indecisive, i let the next guy shoot. Trap. Now it was getting dark.

I stepped to the tee with the same HX blue i had been using all round. I had 7 in my hand. I turned to get the 8 but said "F it" out loud. I made my decision. Tee'd up, took my practice swing, checked the target. I could barely see the flag. I took a breath.

Couldn't do it. Grabbed the 8. Frick! The guys were laughing at me. Bastards!

I swung the 8, it felt cold as i hadn't had it in my hands as long as the 7. I stepped up to the ball and delivered a great swing. The ball started out to the right, drew in about 4 yards landed on the green about 18 inches from the cup and dropped.

I started laughing. The guys starting yelling like crazy, but I just stood there and shook my head. After about 50 high fives and another tee off, we went to the green. I fixed my ballmark first, then checked the hole. Yep, it was in there. My second ace. Been close so many times this summer, but this one went down. I'm still feeling that coldness on the 8 iron as i type this.

So, i'm sitting on the 18th tee box, almost too dark to even see the clubhouse. But I have to get this round in. I decided NOT to hit driver, which was a good choice. I hit 5 iron! Smoked it out about 180ish in good shape for an "approach shot", which was basically aim towards where the green was and hope it turns out. I was about 220 away, and there was no way i could hit an iron that far as it was cooling off and the ball doesn't carry as well around that time. I grabbed the 7 wood, as it it super trusty. I took a little off and hit a perfect shot. I'll call it that cuz i never even saw it off the face. I just hoped i could find it.

I walked the fairway in darkness with my partners, as they sorta played up the course, and eventually gave up. I got to about 180-190ish from my approach and couldn't find my ball. Oh no!

We had a mad search, and finally my friend found it about 10 yards from where i was standing. Ya, it was that dark. I grabbed my 56* wedge and punched one on. Even if i bogeyed out, who cares! I figured i was within 20 feet, and in good shape to 2 putt. We all dragged our sorry asses around the green and had a look. The ball sat 8 inches from the cup, no lie. Unbelievable.

This was the most insane day of gold i have ever had. I contemplated quitting on the way home. I don't think it could get better than this for me.

Golf Season 2004, I bid you farewell.

Here's the ball. It's going into the collection. I gave my other ace ball to my girlfriend at the time. I'm sure she cherishes it. :sobbash:

Cheers guys, sorry this was so long!

R35
P1000757.JPG
 

Loop

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2004
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Great story Rock! And the best way to finish the season. The golf gods were with your today :canada:

I know that feeling. When you realize everything is getting smooth, you're getting more and more nervous. But you're so much in the zone, everything you do is a great shot. These days are so rare. :D

And I understand what you mean by a bizarre day. Personally, I'd think the day was made for you.
 

Youngun5

Beware of the Phog!
Aug 26, 2004
2,734
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great job rock, its a shame you can't play a little longer, you have something that i still don't have and thats an ace, i'm trying really hard, hopefully this season will boast great results, you just gotta love those kinda days and cherish them forever, you know its funny i had arby's today also,
 
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Rockford35

Rockford35

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Gun,

It's all about Arby's. :thumbup:

R35
 

grazo

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Aug 31, 2004
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Nice one Rock!

So what did you end up shooting?

(I could try and add it up but I'm lazy) :p

What was more exciting? The ace or the score for the round?
 
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Rockford35

Rockford35

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I ended up at -8 for the day. Best ever by far. Probably an unatainable score for me ever again. Par 71 course, so a 63 will never be written on the card again.

The best shot i hit all day was the recovery 5 iron that I hit. I needed to draw it around some trees and hit it over a trap to the fat of the green. Pulled it off perfectly.

The hard shots are the ones where you have to think and execute, not just aim at the flag and fire away.

If conditions were like that all the time everywhere, alot of people around here would be posting great numbers. A good example was when we were on the front 9, a car off in the distance took an old gravel road and kicked up alot of dust in the process. We played 3 more holes and the dust still hadn't settled because there was ZERO wind. It was like playing indoors.

The ace was nice. I liked my first the best as it was a great shot.

Geeze, it sure is nice out today..... :p

R35
 

DaveE

The golfer fka ST Champ
Aug 31, 2004
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Forget about the life of crime and head straight to tour school. And DO NOT get rid of those irons. Personally I've shot 63 plenty of times. Oh wait, you mean for 18 don't you. ;)

Just so you know I feel nothing but joy and happiness for your achievement. No envy, jealousy or anything like that really. :flipa: Ok maybe a little.
 
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Rockford35

Rockford35

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Thanks Dave.

Everyone has a fluke day in their lives. It's called "their best score ever day".

I've had mine.

I may keep the irons. Maybe.... ;)

R35
 

Bravo

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Aug 27, 2004
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Great Story

Rock:

I could only dream of shooting such a score. What a round!!!...and the falling daylight injected a sense of foreboding that made the story quite suspenseful...

After such a round, all you want to do is PLAY and the season is coming to a close.

Well, perhaps this will lead you to anticipate the coming season all the more....

One time our traveling group went up to North Carolina to play. This was a family owned 27 hole facility. The accommodations were cabins scattered around the property.

When you checked in, the issued a golf cart to you (gasoline) and said, "this will be your cart, 24 hours a day, for the entire weekend". After we finished each day, we would take the carts to the clubhouse for dinner and then back to the cabins. As you can imagine, these carts had headlights for driving in the dark.

We all got quite drunk one night and got the carts out at 2:00 to play a 3 hole Emergency round. It was a blast putting on the greens with the lights of three golf carts shining like crossed lightswords on the surface.

Hey, glad you found your ball on 18. Would have been a disaster to lose it after such fine play....
 
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Rockford35

Rockford35

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Cool story Bravo.

That would have been sweet to see the night putting. Hell, i didn't see mine!

Cheers,

R35
 

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