Getting in the swing of things.....

7:36 am - Wednesday - July 6th - Likely, CA - 56° F, humidity 54%, wind 3 mph out of the south.....back to crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 81° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were exploring the Kananaskis Valley in Alberta, Canada......↴

After my great experience hitting a bucket of balls last Thursday I was determined to play at least 9 holes on Tuesday.  TLE and I were at the Clubhouse by 9:30 am where I hit a few balls on the driving range to see if I still 'had it', and I did.  After hitting a dozen balls I called it good, and around 10 am headed out to the 10th tee to play the back 9.  The first hole was a little rocky for me, but I hit a good chip shot into the green and one putted.....that was the first chip shot I've been happy with in long time.  On the 11th hole I hit a beautiful drive to within 50 yards of the par 3 green, and then hit another beautiful chip to within 7 feet of the hole where I two putted for a bogey.  Over the course of the 9 holes I bogeyed both par threes, and the par 5, 500 yard 17th hole, and doubled bogeyed the 539 yard par five 15th hole.   I hit a great drive on the 17th, then two consecutive 5 woods to within 50 feet of the green.....I cannot remember the last time I hit two consecutive 5 woods that far, and straight.  I then hit another great chip, and two putted for my bogey.  For me playing bogey golf (one over par on each hole) is like playing par golf.  Over the course of the 9 holes I found myself having fun playing golf for the first time in a long, long time.  There were way more good shots than bad, and my short chipping game was almost flawless.  Being able to chip onto each green within 50 yards, successfully, saved me a lot of strokes.  I finished off the round by hitting a drive on the 18th to within 50 yards of the par 4 hole.  My first chip was not good, but my second one was.  I ended up with a double bogey, but could easily have parred the hole with a better first chip.  

I might mention that for the first time TLE played a little golf.  She brought along her pitching wedge, and putter, and chipped with me onto each green, and then putted.  She had a great time, and it was good to see her giving it a try.  I'm hoping to get her to hit a small bucket of balls on the driving range soon to see what she can do with her other clubs.

Still basking in the afterglow of a good round of golf we headed into Alturas to pickup a few necessities, and then stopped off at Rubios for some more of those great Street Tacos (the Monster Burrito for TLE), then over to the local city park to eat them at one of the picnic tables....

The wonderful, amazing, delightful Carne Asada Street Tacos with the freshest rice and beans ever!

The Monster Burrito...to be fair, TLE only ate about a third of it, and we took the rest home

Jalepeños....just hot enough!

....we were back home by 2 pm, at which time I took, apparently, a long nap awaking around 4 pm.  I was, however, not done with my day, though.  Around 4:30 pm I decided I needed to ride the perimeter road again on my Haibike SDURO.  You will recall that on my last loop ride I did it in 22 minutes, and 55 seconds.  I was determined to kick it up a notch (still riding in the first assist level) to see if I could best my prior time......

That smile tells you everything you need to know about the ride

.....to say I was successful in besting my prior time would be an understatement.....I eclipsed my prior time by just over 3 minutes averaging 11.2 mph!......

....I was not expecting that at all.

After a quick hot shower I headed out to the 'lido deck' with a couple of fingers of Scotch, and a cigar to celebrate my accomplishments of the day, with TLE joining me a short time later.

I am very pleased with the progress I am making in my golf game, and eager to begin playing more.  My back is not even bothering me anymore, and I'm edging closer to that illusive 'repeating swing'.  

Thanks for stopping by!