Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Pointe at Lookout Mountain
Or it might have been that first hole . . . Sometimes it happens that I hit two good shots on the first hole and Mr Science does not, despite his warming up with a bucket of balls and I, with a hot breakfast, and it happened this time.
I was in the middle of the green putting 20 ft for a birdie back towards the front of the green while Mr Science was in a deep swale in front of the green, so you'd figger I'd be in good position to par and he would be in position to save bogey with a shot, a putt, and a tap-in, but . . . . he pitched right up next to the hole for a tap-in par, from that position I now have come to recognize as a very typical Mr Science leave, but if you have the short game, why not use it?
The woman of the couple we were playing with was away on the green, not too far off my line, so after she putted off the green, I said aloud that mine might not reach the hole -- but it did and rolled off, too, so we both wound up with the same shot as Mr Science had had. Not as good of results.
So I haven't been back, tho' I'd like to, but Mr Science did recently, for a charity tournament:
We played the Pointe at Lookout Mtn. It was the complete opposite feeling of playing Palm Valley the 2nd time. Instead of a vague familiarity, I remembered every hole, and each interesting feature. The 10th is my favorite tee shot in Phoenix.
It was a scramble.Paul is a 4, and the other two were about 20, longer than me, but wild. We came in 13 under, 5 shots out of the lead. We needed 3 tee shots per man, and Paul used two mulligans on the last hole to get his last one in. I drove it pin high on 14, 327 yards. Hit a 5-iron onto the 18th and we made the eagle putt.
I had some sort of swing "feechur" in the middle of the round. I was hitting it pretty good, but at the start of my downswing my sunglasses would fly off my head. I think that has to indicate some sort of flaw, but I'm not sure what I was doing. It went away after a few shots.
The snack shop at the turn is on top of the hill, with the marble
bathroom. (The others are marble, also, all decorated the same, with gold
fixtures and stained wood trim.) Long steep path up from the 9th
green. The tee is up there, and the fairway is about 80 feet below the
tee. 419 yards straightaway par 4 with desert on the left and thick bushes
on the right. 187 yard carry to reach the fairway. Greenside bunkers
left front, right front, and behind the green on the right.The hole goes South. You're in the middle of the mountains in the middle of Phoenix (7th Street and Thunderbird). Desert and mountains in all directions. The Marriott resort is there, but not walking distance from the course. There are some houses, but a lot of it is preserve
