A Different Golf Sunday

I woke up to a different kind of Sunday today. Oh it's still golf Sunday. But our tee time is not until 11:20 AM today. That's because we chose to play at Harbor Park Golf Course. It had been a year since we last played there and we all grabbed the chance to play again, even if it meant not starting until much later than our usual 8:30 AM start. It was also pretty nippy out, largely because it rained for the first time in SoCal yesterday. The first rain of the season. It wasn't raining today, but the winds had picked up. And it wasn't the usual Santa Ana winds either. It was a cold, blustery wind this morning. Still I didn't have to get out of bed first thing and hop into my golf clothes and head on out before I was even 100% awake. This morning I could lollygag, I could make myself some breakfast, take my time and have my Earl Grey hot tea. Hmmm... maybe this is better than being out playing golf really early. At least once in a while right? Heck, last week I was dealing with anxiety on the way to the golf course... not even realizing that there was something internal that was probably keeping me from having really good games. And so this morning I thought about Harbor and all the past games I played there. Sometimes I played well, a lot of times I didn't. But today I have a weapon I didn't have previously. My irons. Let's see if I actually do better. First things first, I almost went down the wrong freeway, going all the way to the 10 Fwy and then realizing it was the 405 I would usually take. It has been a really long time hasn't it? At least I did remember that it was off the 110 South and I could easily get on the 110S via USC. And so I got there in relatively the same amount of time. I even made a pit stop at Subway and picked up a tuna sandwich so I could have lunch while playing. Even before I got there, Scott called asking if it was really open. That's because the parking lot we usually park at was closed. But the back parking lot was open. It used to be very very packed on Sunday mornings, what with a flea market and then multiple soccer games going on in the adjacent field. Today the entire complex was virtually empty. We did see a couple of golfers teeing off so I knew it would be open. So let's get on to the golf... it was a blustery, windy day as I said. So much so, I felt my car being pushed against on the drive here. Still I wanted to start off good and I smacked my first shot 175 yards off to the right. I always do that. And then I whiffed on the next 2 shots. Sigh... not this again. I did finish with a 6. But on the 2nd hole it was even more of the same! So much so I whiffed on 3 consecutive shots off the fairway. i mean I missed the ball entirely! WTF?! I decided I needed to make an adjustment. On the 3rd hole, I hit the tee shot well. And on the 2nd shot I decided to swing the iron like my driver. And BAM, I hit it 150 yards down the fairway! That was it! The adjustment that I needed. I finished that long hole with a bogey 6. And then on the next hole I hit a 6 only because I 3-putted after hitting 3 straight irons into the wind. But they were straight. The next hole was my best hole. The tee shot was held up by the wind again but it did go 160 yards. And the 2nd shot went another 160 but straight. And the third went 150, again straight. With a 6-iron. And then the chip went 15 yards from the hole. I had a par putt! I missed it, but I'll take the bogey. Same on the next hole. I got on in 2 with 2 straight iron shots and 2-putted a bogey. Next hole same thing, after 2 shots I was 60 yards from the green, and finished with another bogey. And that was pretty much the story. My irons worked today and I was very satisfied. And despite the high wind, it felt great to play here again. And we finished in 2 hours because we weren't waiting for anybody, unlike in the past when there would be a really long wait on each hole.

It was still only 2 PM when I got home. I laid on the couch, had a snack, tried to clean up the house. I had gotten my exercise of course, so much so that my hamstrings were actually sore from all the walking.  I was already at 9000 steps when i got back. I didn't expect to see Johnnie today because it's Lisa's birthday and she was apparently celebrating at her family's house. It didn't even cross my mind but for a brief few minutes. I had plenty of other stuff to think about.  I relished playing at Harbor today. It had been way too long. That alone already made it a pretty good day. I made some spaghetti last night using the new clay pot I bought at Marukai. And for some reason, the spaghetti bolognese turned out better than ever. Which is why i had it for lunch today and the rest of the ground beef I used to make unstuffed cabbage, fast becoming my favorite again. And of course I had to watch FEAR THE WALKING DEAD. Morgan's reunion with Al and Dwight. Things coming to a head in the battle against Virginia. Should be interesting. And with that I went to bed satisfied that I had a pretty good day and a pretty good weekend.