The Twelve Blogs of Christmas... #3

     In the third blog of Christmas, my blogger gave to me, three golf stories, two Christmas wishes, and the story of HCG...(This is going to get more difficult as the days go on, but let's play and sing along, shall we?).

     Today, I will regale you with stories about my escapades on the golf course and golf related news.  As you know, golf is pretty much what I'm all about...(it's the reason I moved here in the first place).  The plethora of course choices and the weather allows me to play a variety of course types and year round.  There are the true desert courses...those with grass only on the tee boxes, fairways, and greens where the rest of the course is waste areas and cactus and rocks...(which I have dubbed "the native"--you don't want to hit your shot into "the native").  These courses put a premium on accuracy and distance control and are a true challenge (and a colossal pain in the butt).  The rewards are great if you play well, but a bad round multiplies faster than rabbits in heat and can cost you quite a few golf balls.  Then there are the combination courses.  They still have "the native" surrounding the holes, but there is more grass surrounding the fairways (rough) and greens.  These are a little easier but they usually have more bunkers and water hazards to make up for it.  Then there are what I call "east coast" courses.  All grass and mature trees with very little of "the native" surrounding it... (as you can guess there are very few of these in the desert).  Real trees, what a concept.  These courses allow you spray the ball around more but then you have to deal with hanging branches and blocked shots, just like back East.  My home course is called Longbow and is located in Mesa, Az.  It is a combination of all three types of courses I just described with several holes for each type.  There are also 4 sets of tees to choose from ranging in yardage from 7100 yards and in.  It was here that I shot my first round under par (70) for eighteen holes.

     Which brings me to story two of our golf trilogy... my goals as a golfer.  My handicap at the moment is 4.6 (there is a mathematical formula involved, so I let the Arizona Golf Association geeks do that for me).  Professional golfers have negative handicaps and those with a zero (0) are called "scratch" golfers and that is the goal.  Another goal is to play a round of golf in all fifty states and a few countries...(I have already started this trek and will continue as time and money will allow). When I am coming to a state near you I will try and let you know so that we can arrange a visit... Hand in hand with the handicap goal is to shoot a round of golf in the sixties (score, that is, not temperature). I have a couple or three scores of 70, but have not been able to crack that sub-70 barrier.   Those are the long range goals.  For the upcoming year of 2012, I want to accomplish 100 rounds of golf for the year.  I know it will be difficult because of my added responsibilities at work, but nothing worth having is easy and hard work and dedication are needed in order to accomplish anything worthwhile...(worthwhile to me that is).

     Last but not least is an idea I have been toying with for a little over a year now and have not discussed in this forum before...(I may have already, but humor me, I'm old).  I have been toying with the idea of writing a book about golf and my personal relationship with the game I truly love.  It would be stories about my past struggles with alcohol and drugs and how the game of golf contributed to saving me and helped me to get where I am today.  I have discussed this with my sister and have some pretty solid ideas, so it's just a matter of putting pen to paper...(more like fingers to keyboard).  The ultimate challenge is to keep me focused long enough to see the project through...(you all know how hard THAT will be), but I believe it's a story that I need to tell for myself and maybe to help someone else struggling with what I went through.  It may never get published, but I believe the process is the thing I need...(don't worry, I am not in any trouble. My sobriety is stronger than ever).  It's time to bring that period of my life back into focus so that I can close the door on it once and for all.  Dwelling in the past is an opportunity to repeat past mistakes, but the message I believe that's in there is important and I want to share it.  I will keep you up to date on progress and ask you to remind me to keep working on this...