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.