Ode to Penmar

How many times did we play at Penmar in the last decade?! Used to be we would play there practically most Sundays, first with Roe and Ellen and then with Mandy and Chris. Those days are long gone though I'm afraid, lost in the new normal of the pandemic where you have to get up on a Friday at 6 AM to even get a sniff of a tee time for the following Sunday for the busy courses like Penmar and Harbor Park and even though you won't be able to get all 4 golfers in. Which is how I got a tee time at Penmar this morning. I started with 4 then 3 when Scott pulled out and then 2 when Chris pulled out. Although Penmar was the course of choice in the not-too-distant past, that was because it was closest to those of us in Westwood and even closer when we moved down the block. I do have memories of simply walking there with my golf cart like 2 1/2 years ago. It did have drawbacks even then. You always had to wait at each hole... so much so a 9:30 tee time would not usually end until amost 1 PM more than 3 hours later. And we never did score well in this course. Still we have SOOO many memories on this course. This was where Lisa and I learned to play after all. I can even remember when Dexter was still joining us on a Saturday or Sunday. I can't believe that's been more than 10 years. Anyway, all those drawbacks seemed to have changed when we played today. They don't send out 5-somes anymore and they go 10 minutes between golf slots, which does quite a bit in terms of speeding up the play. And with less golfers, the course actually felt like it was very nicely manicured! And on some holes, it even had a Roosevelt-like quietness. It was all amazing! And it was so different to pick up food at Starbucks and still be less than 10 minutes away. As far as the play itself, I can't say I changed the narrative on how we don't score well on this course. First shot off the tee? Yanked to the left. Missed from the fairway, 3-putted to a 7. I blasted my only great shot from the tee on Hole 2. But my 2nd shot ended up in the bunker which blew my chance at a par. Short 3rd hole which I played dozens and dozens of times, I deposited an iron to the left but got on the green on the next hole. Only to miss my par putt. I whiffed on the tee shot on Hole 4 where I used to hit mammoth tee shots, but got in front of the green 30 yards away on the 2nd hole. Too bad a chip got me way way left leading to a 3-putt and another 6. Hole 5 I whiffed the tee shot, but got on on the 2nd shot. And then missed the putt for another bogey. OK I wasn't actually playing that badly. Until the next hole where I whiffed 3 shots from the fairway. That was lucky to be an 8. And on Hole 7 I got in front of the hole again after 3 shots but missed a bogey putt. Hole 8 got me in front of the hole again after 2 shots but missed a bogey putt. Hole 9 tee shot hit the trees on the left and I had to take 4 shots just to get near the green and 3-putted from there. All in all I didn't play that badly, but I whiffed way too many shots of the fairway and missed chippies from right in front of the hole. I just didn't slow down my swing enough. But it WAS a beautiful day out and I was glad to get out to play. And we got done by 10:30 too! A first for Penmar! 

We got done so early with golf that I toyed with the idea of dropping by Lisa's to say hi. Until I remembered her parents were swinging by. So I nixed that and just went home. Ordered online from Crimson. They screwed up my order though and didn't give me any lentil soup. That's been kind of a trend of late that I need to reverse somehow. That my orders have been screwed up. Happened at McDonald's last week when they didn't give me Johnnie's chicken nuggets and instead gave me a cheeseburger. It usually doesn't happen with Crimson though. I think it's merely a test of my patience. After all, isn't that what I am flunking with golf? Still going way too fast and not slowing myself down enough? I could have checked the order before i left. And now I am at home cussing out the restaurant for messing up. It wasn't my fault I know but I still need to find patience within me. The rest of the afternoon I spent on the couch just chillin'. And then I headed out to Supercuts to get a haircut. Should have done it last week before the photo shoot. Now it's way too long and unkempt. And I need to take advantage that Supercuts is still open. New quarantine rules are supposed to get stricter starting tomorrow after all. This will be my Christmas haircut. And so I got my fresh cut and actually got pushed into working a bit. HealthNet report due. Oneida sent me a text chat. I finished it tonight just to get it out of the way. Submitted it at 11:20 PM. Hey I didn't have anything to watch so I didn't have any excuses. FTWD concluded last week. Walking Dead isn't going to start until next year. I just didn't get motivated to do the Silva program which is something I DO need to finish as well. Instead I got me a medium pizza from pizza hut and just chilled the rest of the evening. 4-day Thanksgiving weekend is all over. One holiday down, Christmas coming up.