Golf At Eaton Canyon

So this morning we were at Eaton Canyon and it was different only because i took off my vest the second I got there. Which means it was going to be warmer than usual. EC is odd in that I always lose balls here and there are so many potholes my feet hurt on hole 4 and 6. But I HAVE been playing well here the last couple of times I played so that's encouraging. Wouldn't know it from the first 2 holes though. The first hole I spent more time OB on the left fence and then on the right tree line before actually getting on the green after 5 shots. I was lucky to do 7. No different on Hole 2 even after a nice tee shot finally. The difference was that neither Scott nor Greg played decent either. They too were having problems. So all 3 of us looked like a bunch of rookies after the first couple of holes. And even on Hole 3 where we all barely made the fence. Actually I didn't. But I goaded the ball down the path and got myself a 4. Which won the hole! My first 2 shots on the next hole were decent. But my approach shot to the green wasn't long enough and instead trickled into the sand trap. End of hole. The next hole (Hole 5) was my best. I knocked a 6-iron 140 yards to the edge of the green and got myself a par. On the longest Hole 6 I knocked my first 2 shots within 60 yards of the green. And only a missed par putt made it a bogey. My tee shot on 7 was long and straight down the middle too. I was finally on a rhythm. But I messed up the approach and left it short. And got another bogey. I was on in 2 on the short Hole 8, but 3-putted to a 5. My first 2 shots on the last hole were pretty good too. But again, I flubbed the fairway approach. Oh well, we never really kept track but I think I won 4 holes today. Not bad. Not good, but not bad. Good enough to pick up lunch at Crimson on the way home. Salmon kabobs and lentil soup. There's some comfort to having that dish I think. The lentil soup (see pic) is particularly satisfying. Last week I had it and I immediately drifted to a nice nap right after lunch. I had more sleep last night so I basically just spent the next couple of hours watching the old sitcom Chuck from 15 years ago. Still identifying with the story of the mythical journey of the normal guy turned extraordinary. Isn't that what I'm trying to do with all the internal work and using energy? Hey I'd settle for being able to control it to have a better golf game. Certainly I could have focused better. It's all about getting relaxed and getting out of my head and letting go and when I do that better, I have a much better golf game. That's what I have to practice don't I? Not to hit the ball better, although doing that will help me develop unconscious competence and muscle memory. But more so to help me relax and focus before the shot and get my head out of it. 

And so the rest of the day I spent basically chilling. I was already at almost 9000 steps by the time I was done with golf so just going to the grocery store took care of it. I hadn't done that all weekend, a product of the required trip to our E3 site on Friday. It's like it took me out of grocery shopping rhythm LOL. I did need to spend some time working on the internal work of how to stop myself from snapping. How to manage my own state in the moment. And really isn't that the same as controlling my state before I hit a golf shot? It's putting in a new program so I don't react like I did when I yelled at Johnnie yesteday. The more I think about that the more I KNOW it is ME that needs to fix my issue. It is me that needs to forgive myself. All my child wants is to play with me 100% of the time. It is MY responsibility to teach him how to do that safely. I need to condition him to learn. But FIRST I have got to get a handle on my state don't I?! Ok then. And so I drifted for the rest of the day and actually spent time at the barbecue grill grilling meat for next week and for dinner tonight. That would be Italian sausage and a nice top sirloin. And then I watched Fear the Walking Dead. Another group of people that found something extraordinary in themselves. Something we all can do right? And so I went to bed getting ready for a lot of catching up work for next week. For my job. Getting ready for the end of the month heading to Thanksgiving...