Its Been A While!

I know it has been a very long time since my last post, but that does not mean I have not been playing golf!  Just a lot of things going on in life and really did not feel in the mood to post.  Been thinking a lot about a number of issues.  Also, golf has been difficult as soo much rain here -- wettest October in over 40 years!  Courses are still mushy and really slow around the greens.  Mainly I have played Fossil Creek and it has been adventurous with all the rain and mud.  Played rounds alone, with some old friends and some new ones, and then a few strays.  Had some good experiences and some not so good.  Almost ruined my pitching wedge wrapping it around one guys' head! 

The starters at Fossil Creek all know me now and are pretty good about getting me out; they are mainly all senior gentlemen and they look out for me.  They ask if I want to play alone or with someone and then we check out who is available (and willing LOL).  I particularly like going out on Monday and Fridays as I can get out before the official twilight time of 1:00pm begins and rate goes to $20 for me.  They let me out up to an hour early usually and that is a pretty quiet time on course if I want to get in a quick round.  One of my favorite starters is TC with whom I have also played a few rounds.  He was giving a course lesson to a young man on one of these and so I was able to grab a few tips :)  TC tried to help me with my 3wood which continues to frustrate me but apart from identifying that I was overrotating on my backswing, did not solve my problems!  But he is encouraging.

Played a short while back with a threesome of guys who all turned out to be salesmen.  They had invited me to join their group and so out we went.  Course was full but not real slow til we arrived on the last few holes. One of the guys mainly talked with me and was intrigued that I was a history prof; he said always interested in history and when found out military history, well then he wanted to see what I knew.  He apparently had been an officer in the Marines in the 1980s before going into sales.  He was a pretty nice fellow but then started telling me how to golf.  None of the three were great golfers -- okay but nothing special and I was staying with them although I had some sloppy shots occasionally.  My chipping was excellent and had pulled off about 5 in a row when I suddenly lifted my head on the long par 5 #8 after putting my iron shot just off the back of the green. I had played the hole smartly and the iron shot was my fourth so now needed to try and chip in.  The flag was on back of the green so I needed to make a nice touch chip into the hole. Well just got greedy and lifted my head to watch it and drug my club!  The marine had the nerve to say "yes I was going to tell you a few holes back that need to keep the sole of the club up or you will drag it."  I just stood and looked at him and really, really thought of beaning him with the PW but did not want to ruin a great club.  I then made my putt.  The other 2 guys snickered at him.  By the time we got to #17, I was distracted and hurting my game, plus the one guy's cigar smoke was beginning to give me a headache.  I finished up but my score had ballooned into the upper 80s.

Played another round with two really nice older guys.  I accidentally hit into them on the par 5 #3 a they were way off to the left and down the hill and I could not see their cart.  My drive was about 220 yards and just a few feet beyond their cart LOL.  We were waiting behind a foursome and they asked me to join them.   They were a lot of fun and very nice to play the round with both retired from energy company and one now works as maintenance supervisor at a local country club.   Also played a round with some younger guys who were not very good but really hysterical.  Round was slow but I laughed a lot.  They just seemed so surprised that a woman could play pretty well.

I am volunteering with the First Tee of Fort Worth and I really enjoy this work.  I am helping to update the database they have for all the kids with whom they work which is about 10,000.  I usually go on Monday mornings and take my laptop; a good grande mocha from Starbucks is a must while doing this work.  I also helped at their annual pro/am tournament that had been rescheduled.  The Friday morning of the tourney was pretty cool but sunny.  I helped run the registration for golfers and to manage the pot for the pro golfers betting pool.  Met a lot of great, nice golfers and one of the other volunteers was actually one of my former students.  The FW director is a really nice guy who is happy to have new dedicated volunteers who can help regularly not just once or twice a year.  He wants me to help write some of their newsletters and such as we move forward.  I also may have a chance to help with work at the Colonial Tournament in the spring; I have done work at the tournament previously when I was with the FW Symphony League and I was so lucky that it was the year Annika Sorenstam played the tournament!  I watched her play part of the first two rounds. 

Finally played another round of golf with my old golf partner/swing czar.  It had been several months and he has been under the weather.    We played Tapatio Springs outside of San Antonio.  The course had been in rough shape because of the severe drought in the area; over the summer they had basically told me not to come play when I had called.  They had had some rain recently, however, so I wanted to play.  Had hoped to play all 27 holes they have and they offer a great 2 for 1 all-you-can-play rate, but partner had to leave early.  I had missed playing with him as no matter who else I have played a round with especially guys, I always have the most fun when we play together AND I play better golf.  He offered a good tip to help with my 3 wood overrotation as well - turn my right foot inward on my stance.  This is an old Ben Hogan tip!   Also told me I was thinking way too much standing over the ball and stance too wide on some of my irons.  Although I drove the ball really pretty well especially on some tricky holes, I did lose pretty decisively to him however and thus lost our bet!  But... since he had to leave, I did not have to pay up :)))  I liked the course and really is in a beautiful location in the hill country and some of the leaves were turning -- just gorgeous; there were a few bare spots especially on the first 2-3 holes and it had us a little worried but rest of course was not too bad.  Did have us on cart path only the whole way though.  Funny I had been cart path only quite a bit back home because of all the rain but strange to see signs saying drought so cart path only!  Did forget to take my camera to the course though :((  Unfortunately, I do not know when golf partner and I will play again and that makes me kind of sad because again I forgot how much fun he is to play with and how he only offers help when I ask for it and it usually always works too!  I really wish we could play a tournament together someday as I think that would be a great experience.

Played last few days back at home and went to range to work on 3 wood.  Well I have been working and working with this club and while have done okay on the range I cannot hit it decently and regularly on the course.  After my help from golf partner, I went to range first to do some work.  Well... bingo!  I hit 40 straight 3 woods with right foot turned in and not thinking so much -- I hit all but 3 of them BEAUTIFULLY!!  I mean mainly straight up and high down the range!  Then on course only needed to hit it 3 times and they were pretty good.  So maybe I have finally turned a corner... I can only hope :)  Also adjusted my stance and the balls just flew well.  Even hit a long 5 iron over the creek, up the cliff and onto the green and five feet from hole on the great #6!  Actually made the putt too which is nice cause now my putting is a little iffy :)

Now football update -- my TCU Horned Frogs are now 4th in the BCS!!! ESPN Gameday will be in town this coming week as well. Really excited about our chance to play in a BCS game...and if some things go our way -- like more of the teams ahead of us slip up and lose a game... we might make it to the championship game if we keep winning. Florida and Alabama have looked beatable and if not before the SEC Championship game then at least one of them will have a loss; Texas should win out to the Big 12 Championship game, but they have been known occasionally to lose to A&M when they shouldn't. (I have to admit though I could NEVER EVER root for A&M to win.) Not sure what might happen if Texas were to lose the Big 12 championship game and we had gone undefeated -- would we be picked over them?? Well I will just focus on this week's game for now but fun to think about possibilities :))) If nothing else, hope we end up at Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix as that would be a FABULOUS trip to take as could play some great rounds of golf while there and maybe drag my old golf partner along since both will be on winter break!

Cold Blustery RAINY days!

UPDATE:  I think I need to make a sacrifice to the Aztec rain god Tlaloc!  Finally this afternoon cleared up today a little and looked brighter (no actual sunshine but something and only some light rain to the east), so off I went to the golf course to at least hit some balls on the range. Decided instead to try and get in 9 holes or more before dark since course pretty empty.  Quickly loaded cart and off I went; everything was still very wet and forward tee boxes badly needed to be mowed as very fuzzy.  Did pretty well on first 4 holes including a decent 3 wood on the par 5 third hole.  Then as finishing on #4 felt it start to rain a little...hmmm I did not have my umbrella or apparently my golf bag cover!!  Figured just some mist so headed for the par 3 #5.  As I set up on the tee box it was definitely raining though I tried to pretend it was not.  As I looked up at the flag to judge my shot, it just opened up and started to pour rain. I could barely even see the green.  Well that ended that attempt at getting in some late holes...sigh.  Plus most of the courses have tourneys scheduled on Monday since Columbus day and holiday for some folks (although I didn't even realize since I do not go into office on Mondays).  Headed back to the clubhouse the way I had come; even the water mocassin Carlito who hangs in the pond at #3 has not been seen in couple months (much like his namesake LOL) because of the rain and cool.  Though I do no have any firstborn or any born to sacrifice, I might have to come up with a stuffed bear or something to appease those rain gods...enough rain already for now!

Ahh well since my last post I have not been able to play any golf - or heck even get to the range to hit balls!!  Oh pooh too many blustery cold days LOL. After that beautiful Friday it has rained pretty much EVERY day and now is pretty cool with north wind and no sunshine.  The only day it did not rain unfortunately I could not get to the course because of other commitments :(  Even forced postponement of the wonderful charity golf tournament for the local First Tee organization at which I was scheduled to volunteer.

The rain really started last Saturday when I attended the TCU-SMU game!  It poured before and during the game and then all that night.  We sloshed to the game (arriving early as usual) but sat through all but the last few minutes as we were running away with it.  This is our old arch-rival game; both teams are located in the metroplex and have played each other for about 100 years. 

I have GREAT seats in the upper deck and so can see the entire field and watch plays unfold.  Have had tix for more about 15 years and have a group with whom I sit and who have been there as long.  Unfortunately they are talking of remodeling the stadium and removing the upper deck and thus my seats!  All of us who sit up here are pretty ticked off and we have not been asked for our input -- I LOVE MY SEATS and do not want to move. 

I try to take friends to games each year.  I am all outfitted with seat cushion, radio, binoculars, etc. and in the rain I just put on the rain suit and now great purple galoshes (rain boots) with white polka dots!!  They are so great and cute and I keep my feet warm and dry and tons of folks complimented me.  Most also wished they had some :))) 

Had a good time with my friends and won the game.  The campus is so beautiful especially with all the additions and updates and love the lit up purple tower at night.

More rain is forecast this week!  I am getting stir crazy and may have to drive somewhere to play some golf.  My home course admitted this morning that they had some standing water as still so humid nothing is drying up and that a few sand traps had been washed out so they will repair this week.  I am going to try and sneak out for a quick round in the next few days.

Had fun with tailgate buddies Saturday nite, as we went out to watch the TCU-AF game at a local restaurant/bar!  Had to fight off the dorky TXTech fans who came late and wanted to have all televisions turned to their game although UT and TCU fans had arrived early and agreed to share.  When one guy kept yacking about how many Tech fans were there, my reply was simply -- "lets go with the games of the highest ranked teams!"  LOL  Since Tech not ranked  and UT and TCU are both in top 10, he had to skulk off.  We all laughed heartily and I made some new friends :))  We had a good time and enjoyed my new friends.  I did feel a little guilty drinking some good margaritas while my team was shivering in 19 degree and below weather with sleet -- but not too guilty LMAO! And yes we won so still undefeated!  Go Froggies!

Well more rain this morning and will be cloudy and cold all day -- no sunshine as originally predicted!  I'm still determined to get out there this week and play or hit balls. Rain in forecast till Thursday with sun next weekend -- we will see.

Beautiful weather & new course for me

Nice week for golf here in North Texas!  Skies remained pretty blue and temperatures are FANTASTIC -- upper 70s and light wind.  Cannot ask for much better....well other than to be on the golf course and playing with great folks.

Played my home course on Monday and did pretty well.  My putting was not great but hit good drives and good iron shots to the green.  Shot a 79 and played pretty quickly.  Great way to spend $20 on a nice Monday afternoon after I had worked online that morning :)  Some really nice guys on the course this day as well.  Always enjoy playing Fossil Creek but I know the course so well that know where I need to hit shots and putts (even if I do not make them).  So think I will need to play somewhere else later this week.

After some pretty nasty thunderstorms, high winds and heavy rains on Thursday evening, I headed south on I35 to play a municipal course that I have driven by many times on my way to San Antonio but never played.  Hidden Creek course in Burleson offered a Friday morning special of only $25, and this was perfect. I could get in a nice round of golf and still be home in time to clean up and change for a nice Friday evening ;)  They do not take tee times from single golfers which always bugs me especially when I have to drive some distance, but they were very nice and assured me that they could get me out on the course pretty quickly and they did - almost as soon as I arrived.

The course is in good shape although for first #12 holes it was cart path only because of the heavy rain from the night before.  The rain had brought a cold front through the area and so had to wear long pants for first time on the course since March!  When I went out to get the paper it was 49 degrees and still in the upper 50s when I arrived at the course.  It did warm up to the mid-70s by the time I had completed the round, however but really enjoyable.

Played with a nice threesome and we had a lot of laughs although our golf sometimes was not so fun; these guys were great and joked about everything.  The pace of play was also really good -- no waiting and that was very nice considering there were plenty of folks on the course.





The course has a few quirky holes like #4 which had a split fairway but the hole was only a par 4 and really fairly short.  Going to the left added about 50 yards to the hole and does not allow you to use the driver off the tee -- turns a straight hole into a dogleg right, so not sure why anyone would choose to go that way, although on this day with cart path only, going right really made for some long walks.  I made a good putt and parred the hole!  Unlike Monday, I putted BEAUTIFULLY all day and really saved myself some strokes -- thank goodness.  The first par 5 was a real zigzag and forced me to not use my driver off the tee which I dislike immensely as makes it really difficult to have a chance to reach the green in two and thus a birdie.

The last hole had a really odd  layout and the forward tee was waaay forward.  Now the course does not have 150 yard poles but rather just markers in the ground so really difficult to judge distance and the hole was a major dogleg left but you had to go over a creek as it turned left.  Then fairway curved even farther to the left -- almost a U-turn.  I could not tell just how far the fairway reached before the creek although the yardage for the hole overall was not great.  I played a layup with an iron off the tee to just before the creek, but when I arrived at my ball I realized I could have hit a driver over the creek and slightly around the corner and then had a good shot to the green.  Oh well -- play and learn.   One hole even had a hedge row in front of the tee box -- never seen that before!

There were also a few holes such as #7 and #12 where the forward tees were really poorly placed and so I hit from the whites on two occasions even though it made the hole play longer.  These holes had nice fairly wide fairways, but the forward tees had been tucked on the far edges of the fairway with trees as obstacles.  Unfortunately, my iron play was AWFUL all day; I just could not hit a decent iron.  Although did hit some good punch shots from out of the trees LOL.  At the range on Wednesday I had really been stroking the ball on all my shots (including that dreaded 3 wood) but did not show this day as I shot an 88!! YUCK!  Now the really funny part was that I made money while on the course...I received my direct deposit for a project for a publisher while I was on the course (a nice size check) and could read it on my Blackberry.

To be honest, however, my mind wandered quite a bit and just was not well focused on the golf course.  But I enjoyed the day and a new course; not sure if I will return as a bit of a drive and the course is fun but not spectacular.  By the time I pulled out of the parking lot and headed back north the parking lot was full.

Golf with Friends

Finally the rain has stopped!  So this weekend I was able to get out and golf with some old friends and a new friend too.  The weather was gorgeous!  Blue, blue Texas skies are hard to beat.  With so much rain lately, the ground is still saturated and every morning a heavy dew coats everything so an early morning tee time meant wet, mushy fairways and little roll, but we didn't care.  Had to remember to take a towel with you onto the fairways and greens so could wipe off your clubface after a practice swing and everything squished as you walked.  With so much sunshine, the day warmed up quickly however, and the humidity made for a nice steam bath :)  The mosquitos, however, were HORRIBLE and almost ate us alive on some holes, even coming for a ride in the cart as they snacked on us. 

Played at one of my local favorites, Hawks Creek which is adjacent to the Joint Naval Reserve Base.  A few planes were out flying on this day, mainly big old transport planes with propellers.  They can be a little loud, but not a problem on such a nice day for golf.  Now there are a few holes on this course that have some pretty unfavorable forward tee boxes.  In both cases the holes have the same basic lay out -- dogleg right, and they have large oak trees about 50-70 yards in front and slightly to the right of the forward tee box.  Straight ahead and to the left are sand traps only about 75-150 yards away.  It seems they figure most of those who use the forward tees must not hit it more than 100 yards off the tee, but if you hit that shot or lay up to that shot, you then have an incredibly long shot toward the green. One of these holes is a par 4 and the second shot would be about 200+ yards, while the second hole is a par 5 and you would still be about 250 yards out to an elevated green protected across the front by three sand traps.  So on these holes I try to hit a nice high cut drive over/around the trees on the right and put the ball in the fairway beyond them.  What a great day it was as on both of these tee shots, I hit beautiful cuts that bent over and around the trees and landed in great positions for my second shots; both drives were about 190+ yards.  I made a par on both although I had putts for birdie. 

Putting was not as good all day as did not place my irons onto the greens in the best of places all day.  In fact no birdies all day which was not what I had planned.  And my 3-wood and I had an up-and-down day again!  Hit some terrible shots with it and then on last hole hit a really nice uphill shot -- have to keep my right leg bent at knee more consistently!

So I shot an 86 for the round, but had a GREAT time!  Two of my playing partners were old friends from work, Tony and Rich.  Because they are very shorthanded in their departments, they have had very few days off and so little extra time for golf since spring.  We had not played together in quite a while but they are so much fun and I always laugh quite a bit when we play that it does not matter so much if I miss some putts.  We were joined by a nice young man, Chris who had a good game.  He had just recently played at La Cantera as well so we chatted about some of our favorite holes on that course.  So what a GREAT day for golf -- good friends, good laughs, good shots and good fun. 

Then to make it extra nice this weekend, my TCU Horned Frogs beat Clemson at Clemson!!!!  Great game although not on television so listened on the radio and then went to see the second half at the campus coliseum where the online video feed from ESPN360.com was shown on large screen.  About 500 of us super fans yelled our heads off :)  Great victory for our program and now we are ranked #11 in the nation.

Finally, I took a little road trip as well this weekend to gather some photos of war memorials/cemeteries for my project that I described in a previous post.  Travelled to a few small towns in North Texas.  Mainly I wanted to see the cemetery in Terrell that has a small section for the 20 graves of RAF pilots who died while undergoing flight training during World War II.  The cemetery plot is in the traditional Commonwealth Graves site style -- the English garden -- and it is in a small Texas town and in a HUGE old cemetery dating from the 1800s.  Very unusual and really stands out in a typical American cemetery, but I love it.  I find the British military cemeteries so peaceful and a little piece of England so far from home.  The headstones are uniform as are the identifications while at the bottom are placed personal sentiments chosen by family.  The setting is surrounded by flowers and native flowering shrubs.  For this plot, the local Terrell Heritage Society is responsible for the maintenance and care of the plots.  Did have an interesting run-in with gentlemen at local historical society who wanted to dive into a discussion of who was really responsible for the start of the Civil War; I politely escaped and moved on to another interesting site in a tiny town of Blooming Grove that has a large memorial in the city park with the names of all those from the surrounding area who served in America's wars as well as the burial site for two K-9s who saw action in WWII.

More golf is on the agenda for the next day or so as well while the weather remains so nice although a little cooler.  Fall has arrived so have to get out and enjoy the great weather days when they are here.

Rain, rain go AWAY!

Typical Texas -- and I say this as a native -- we tend to get rain all at once or all one week and then go weeks/months without.  So September has been rainy, rainy, rainy - yuck.  This plays havoc with my golf game.  No, I do not play golf in the pouring rain or when there are storms around and truthfully, not a big fan of playing in much of any rain.  In my younger days I played soccer and played in any weather -- rain and sleet and so cold that my fingers and toes went numb!  But now that I am a little older (and maybe wiser), I tend to not want to PAY to play in yucky weather.  Just gets hard to keep grips dry and nothing fun about ball skidding off club face because of water or flinging mud all over myself and playing partner :)

I will admit that my willingness to play in poor weather, however, is partially dependent on who I am playing with LOL!  I once played a round in the most miserable of weather but my male playing partner that day was really HOT - so it was worth it :)  Of course if it is a little cool and wet , it can be fun to warm up together later LOL.  [If I am just desperate to get out on the coures in the winter when pretty cold, the key is to go out early when the much older retired guys and members play as they often have golf cart covers and heaters.]

Now college football is a little different...I will and have gone to watch my TCU Horned Frogs even in the pouring rain or extreme cold.  I have my rain suit that I purchased for less than $10 bucks at the Army/Navy store and it is great.  The jacket has big pockets for my radio and will even go over a sweater, and while the pants are usually pretty long for me, I just roll everything up and it keeps me dry!  I have played golf in this suit and not too bad.  I have 2 clear sets so my TCU colors can still be seen :)

It may be dry this weekend but of course EVERYBODY will be out trying to play since it has been so long and I have some other commitments :)  That's okay I can play Monday and by then the courses will no longer be big mud pits!  Of course there is major front coming that night and MORE rain.

Update on golf partner:  Out of hospital and doing much better so that is good, but not sure when/if we will be golfing again anytime soon.  Oh well it has been fun and I have learned some things.

I will be travelling around the state especially east and south Texas, however, as I am combining 2 research projects--golf and history.  Besides checking out a variety of golf courses, I am building an online database of war memorials that I will use in teaching and writing; this is a long term project and really is worldwide, but Texas has so many memorials that it makes for great weekend trips since my current schedule allows it.  In 2006 I spent 6 weeks living in Rome (Italy) studying Trajan's column as part of an NEH Summer Seminar but also had the opportunity to visit a variety of other war memorials including US, British and German WWII cemeteries.  Other commitments kept me from moving forward on this project but now I have time to really start building this project.  Should be fun & maybe can find some dry courses:)

B-days & Trophies on course

Forgot to mention in my last post that another birthday has come and gone.  I think the universe is giving me hints to just stay at home more these days.  Started when my golf partner decided he could not get together for a golf birthday bash with me; he did call to sing Happy Birthday (much surprised) and promised he would "make it up to me."  Hmmm not sure about that one coming from a guy, especially since he still owes me for the last round of golf we played :) but hey I am an optimist!  I decided to play a round that day since surely the golf gods would smile on such a special day for me.  The gods were hit and miss!  Arrived on a Friday morning to a really quiet course!  The early morning retirees were already half way through and there was just no one else around.  So as is unfortunately becoming my norm, I played alone.  Did shoot a 77 so that was good.  That evening again my karma began to hit a wall.  Ended up with just one other girlfriend going out; she did her best to find a happening place to have fun, but -- and I am not kidding here -- all the places we went were DEAD!   Even a local well known nightclub known for its nightlife was almost empty, probably good since I'm not really nightclub person.  Had some good but expensive drinks though.  We decided to just stick with our local OTB where the bartenders know us and the shaken margaritas are GREAT and affordable -- plus chips and salsa always a hit :)

Haven't played as much golf lately and some frustrations when I have.  My golf partner/swing czar has been very, very ill this past weekend and in the hospital (here's hoping better soon), but now out and hopefully recovering.  Will be at least 3 weeks before ready to play again and know he will be chomping at the bit to get back out there.  I was VERY worried and concerned and just distracted me from wanting to play plus led to lack of sleep.

With start of semester and friend's illness I just have not been in right mindset to play as much.  When I have played... well it has been interesting....Let me start here by saying that some folks just need a slap to the back of the head occasionally to rattle their brains.  Two very recent experiences are examples.

One was a day I went to play and the course was not very busy and so off I went (yes on my own again LOL). I started catching a twosome ahead of me even though I was playing two balls; it was clear that I was gaining on them.  Soon I was forced to wait longer and longer for them at tee boxes and in fairways and they were in no hurry.  They also had NO intention of letting me play through although there was NO ONE in front of them for at least 2 holes.  In fact they would deliberately turn away and hurry to the next tee box if I came up to the green behind them.  Very, very frustrating and the round just slowed to a crawl. Now I must admit I do not much care for slow golf and this rudeness just began to make my temperature boil.  I ended up behind them the rest of the round and had other groups then waiting behind me.  If you are slowing other folks down and there is space ahead of you, then let folks play through. Now my golf partner has frankly told me that part of this is because they just do not want to let a woman play through; if true, really sad :(

The other little topic I just must mention is men who bring their "trophy" women (wives or girlfriends) to the course on BUSY days like weekends in primetime.  Now my golf partner uses this term quite a bit and I think most of you know of which I speak here.  But last week must have been "bring your trophy day" to the course -- it was loaded with men (mostly older) with young ladies who had NO clue about golf.  It is great if you want to bring your lady to the course and help her learn but not during the peak hours of the weekend; and this should especially be true if the trophy is not at LEAST a "7"!  So the rest of us had to endure these spectacles of clueless ladies who mainly did not play but would every other shot or so be given a "hands on" lesson.  This greatly slowed down the pace of play.  The gentlemen with whom I was playing were clearly aggravated by this and began to make comments.  With so many of them (I counted 5 such twosomes that I could see alone), I started aggravated but then just found it funny and sad.  You could see the guys were trying to impress the other men on the course with their women (again I reiterate they need to be at least a "7" for that to be the case) and they just loved being able to put their arms around the ladies or give them a pat on the fanny when they had swung the club -- even if the lady missed it! The guys were also trying to show off for the women.  What I found particularly humorous was when a couple of the guys were trying to appear to be really great golfers but kept duffing shots!  LOL [Hopefully he did not need to be a good golfer to impress the woman!]  One guy in my group, after watching a real spectacle on the green ahead of us as we had to wait endlessly in the middle of the fairway, turned to me after the trophy hit a putt into the hole from about a foot and had jumped up and down and then hugged and smooched her man before they finally got off the green, and said "that just gives women's golf a bad name; why don't you go give her some lessons?"  I just smiled and said "that is not women's golf and why don't you go give him some common sense?"  We all burst out laughing.  At the end of the round when I had shot a 79, my golfing group all shook my hand and told me how much fun they had playing golf with a really nice lady who sure knew how to golf and they were sorry it had taken more than 5 hours although they enjoyed the company!  So what a day it was on the course!

Weather, work and 3-wood issues

Well with the semester starting, I have not had a chance to hit the links in over a week!  Yikes.  Love my job though and other than the beginning and end of semesters, I usually have plenty of time to play. Now for the upcoming holiday weekend (or at least on Friday) the weather may not cooperate.  I will admit I do not play in the rain; as a youngster I played soccer in ANY weather even extreme cold where my fingers and toes became numb.  Now that I am older and a hopefully a little smarter :)  and I have to PAY to play, well I do not need to play in weather that makes me miserable -- so I don't!

As I have mentioned on previous posts, my 3-wood and I are not having the best relationship these days.  Of all my clubs, it is the one with which I am most inconsistent and it can drive me batty!  I have changed my grip to find more consistency (apparently I had been gripping it wrong all these years), and I am working on keeping a good swing speed as I tend to rush it.  I also have this maddening habit of straightening my legs as I swing with this club, which just makes no sense 'cause I don't do that with any other club.  My golf partner/swing czar has been trying to help me with this one, but I think I need another lesson session with him to try and get this thing consistent.  I have been working on it at the range and will have a day that I hit almost all of them just great, and then the next time only about half of them go so well.   I do not hit this club all that often in a round, mainly just on par 5s.  And if I hit it well, I can often reach the green in 2 so that I have a chance to lower my score.  Otherwise I am forced to use my 4-iron which I hit pretty well but about 20-25 yards shorter.  I do have a hybrid 3 but do not hit it much farther than 4 iron and not always as well controlled. 

So I guess I need to set up a session with my swing czar (he really owes me one anyway).  And hopefully work and weather will cooperate so I can get back on the course.

More golf courses in Central Texas I plan to try and play this fall:  Republic, Bandit, Buckhorn, Golf Club of Texas at Briggs Ranch, Olympia Hills (SA), Pecan Valley, La Cantera Palmer Course, Fort Sam Houston course, and Tapatio Springs.  Plus some in small towns I have not yet discovered!

Cart Path Only

My last course for this trip to San Antonio was River Crossing with which I was completely unfamiliar.  My golf partner had arrived and he suggested this course that he had played quite frequently in the past.  So I had made a tee time and was warned that because of the drought and their conditions that the course was cart path only!  Figured all the walking would be good for me.  Unfortunately, the night before it rained!! I know, twice now when I am in San Antonio it has rained so maybe I am helping fight the drought.  The problem for us golfers was that meant the next morning it was SUPER humid on the course and absolutely no wind for the front 9; so very very steamy conditions.  We were dripping sweat just changing our shoes.

River Crossing was built as part of housing development that had not really taken off and so it was still open to the public.  There were some houses on the course but many vacant areas and some remote areas with no development.  The clubhouse was undergoing major renovations and so the pro shop was in a trailer.  The folks took our money but were not real welcoming; they seem to mostly have members to whom they cater. 

The course did appear fairly brown in the fairways but the trees were beautiful.  Again like La Cantera the water features were pretty dried up or nonexistent.  I did ask if the course crossed the river or ran alongside it, but was told no.  So not sure why the name?  [Of course I play a course near home called SugarTree and I have never seen a tree that grows sugar only a tree made of sugar in a candy shop!]

As I sweated my way around the course I worked on improving my 3 wood with helpful advice from my golf partner (swing czar).  It worked to some degree and I vowed to return home to the range to work on what I had learned.  Now we had a bet for lunch riding on the round (on these bets he usually gives me 10 strokes) and I was staying close after a few tough holes on the front nine. 

At the turn we apparently lost all the groups behind us -- nobody else could stand this heat and humidity!  But we plugged along.  The course is pretty other than the brown areas and is tree lined but more wide-open than Silverhorn.  Fun to play and challenging but not unfair.  Forward tee boxes were pretty brown and dried up compared to the other tee boxes but the alignment was not too bad on most holes although I noted 3 that had a tree blocking about half of the aiming point.   #1 Tee has a strange alignment from front tees with a split fairway.

As we came down to the last three holes I had a pretty good lead, and despite my partner's attempts to rattle me I managed to hang on at the end.  I did hit my drive a little too far on 18 and ended up on the far side of the protecting bunker.  I had to hit two shots to get out but managed to make a double bogey - just enough to win the bet.  I had never really hit long sand shots onto the green so he went back and gave me some pointers that I can now use.  So I learned some things with this round.

Now there was nothing out near the course, we were both quite drained and both had several hour drives to get home, so I settled for a small cheeseburger, fries and a large diet coke at the McDonalds across the street.  I was just happy to have something else cold to drink. On my drive home I thought happily about all the great golf I had enjoyed over the three days and all that I had learned.

There are still more courses in that area that I plan to return to play so I will be back!

Back to La Cantera Alone

I returned to play La Cantera again but this time on my own.  I called to make my tee time and then actually changed it the afternoon before, moving into a late morning tee time.  I needed to be done by 3:00pm.  When I arrived, the parking lot was full of pickups and trailers -- this looked liked Hyatt Hyatt Hill Country all over again except this time I learned it was the Texas Deer Association!  Never heard of these groups.  They were not playing golf but taking up the parking :)

When I arrived in the pro shop I was greeted quite nicely and told that the course was not too busy and little playing after me.  They knew I had played here before and so didn't see the need to give me a lot of instructions.  I hit a few balls on the range which appeared even more brown and dusty than previously.  The greens were again blazing fast as I noted on the practice green. 

The starter, Steve, was an older gentlemen and very sweet.  He gave me the whole spiel and then asked if I wanted to play the forward tees.  He drove down with me (as if I could not find them) and proceeded to watch me tee off and critique my shot which just happened to be smokin hot along the left side so that it rolled into the middle at 200 yards!  He suggested I hit two since there was a foursome ahead of me.  I did and hit the second one exactly same place :)  So I was off to a good start.

I was playing alone again though at a resort course -- a girl could get a complex with all these rounds alone! I did seem to be followed by some of the grounds crew for quite a bit of the front 9 as they seemed a little surprised to see a lone female golfer who was playing close to par.  I just smiled to myself and probably had a little more swagger in my step -- felt empowering to hit them well.

This time on number 2, I played the dogleg right by going over the trees and dropping the all on the fairway thus taking out the dogleg and making par.  You really must ignore the alignment of those forward tees and just aim where you want to hit it.

I did notice that more of the forward tees were in a little poorer shape than the other tee boxes as if they needed more watering.  And the course in general was a little brown around the edges but most fairways were pretty green.  The water hazards were pretty bone dry ( and a few stank).  I also made sure that on beautiful #5 with the elevated tees that I teed off from an elevated tee box instead of the lower forward tees.  Was really fun watching my ball soar down the fairway toward the green.

I did get caught behind some slower playing foursomes but at the turn, the guys let me play through when they stopped for more beer.  They teased me that I was playing too well for them :)  On the back nine I did come across some pretty slow groups including several that were playing together as an unofficial tournament; they kept waiting on the tee boxes for group behind them so they could chat. They finally all let me play through as I was kept pulling up behind them. I was happy to let them linger over their games but I had somewhere to be later that afternoon.  One group let me play through and then watched me on the 16th tee where I drove the green at 200+yards!  What a great shot and I made birdie!  In fact birdied 2 of the last 3 holes to finish with an 80.

I will probably return here again to play the Palmer Course which is a little more isolated but supposedly just as fabulous.

Fun with the deer

I could not resist returning to San Antonio to play more golf before my semester starts back.  Played three days in a row on different courses.  Wanted to play Tapatio Springs but the head pro admitted they are in really bad shape due to the drought so I passed for now and will return when they have had some rain.

First day drove down to play Silverhorn Golf Course about which I have heard many good things.  Made my tee time online with a special so was able to play for almost nothing.  Did have a little trouble with traffic on I-35 because of an accident so I was boogeying to make my tee time.  When I arrived and was waiting to pay I was a little disturbed when after the person in front of me had paid, the pro told the starter that the threesome at 2:24 was now a foursome!  Well I had made a tee time as a single golfer for 2:24 so that was my tee time.  Hmm this did not make me happy.  The gentlemen then was startled when I stated I was there for the 2:24 tee time; he made an excuse but said that I would be able to play shortly.   I did hit a few balls on the range and then met the starter.  He too looked perplexed as he tried to figure where to place me and asked if I preferred to play alone.  He finally figured it out and he put 3 singles together to play pretty quickly so I only started about 15 minutes after my original tee time.   We did have a little fun when one of the original guys backed out stating he needed to hit more warmup shots first, then another single showed up.  The first guy ended up in the group behind us -- so he didn't hit too many more shots :)  I think he was just scared!

 I think he felt a little bad that I had to wait and since I was the only female anywhere in site (well besides the cart girl) he started to talk me up by asking questions.  Well small world but he was a retired college prof and now he and his wife spent their time golfing and travelling.  My two playing partners were two really nice younger men; one was a steel maker who was very curious about my playing.  We conversed quite a bit and he was very complimentary (flirting) which helped make what turned out to be a very long hot round enjoyable.

After rushing to make the tee time, I was still pretty pumped up and it took me almost 9 holes to get into my playing rhythm.  Plus the course is pretty tight with many trees on the edges of the fairways.  I hit some pretty good drives on some holes only to end up on the edge of the fairway behind a tree with the only shot a punch out to the middle of the fairway.  Frustrating!  The course also played a little long for me so that even with good drives of 200 yards I was still often playing longer irons into the greens.  The par 3 number 5 played 137 yards into the wind so that was a challenge but I hit a low 4 iron onto the green and made par. 

The course also had a number of holes (besides par 3s) that were cart path only -- again the effects of the prolonged drought, but it is a beautiful course in the middle of the city.  And deer were everywhere!  They ran across fairways and lurked around greens.  I only caught them with my camera few times but saw them all over and heard them rustling in the undergrowth.  Funny to step into a bunker and see little hoof prints -- guess they don't know how to rake behind themselves.

The first 9 holes we played in 2 1/2 hours but the back nine slowed to an absolute crawl so that the entire round lasted a little over 5 hours.  After my drive and the heat I was pretty tired and headed to my hotel to grab some food and rest.