The Kokopelli Golf Stance

6410 Yds, Par 72, Slope 117, by G.Nash


They Say: "North Golf Course is located in Sun City, south of Grand Avenue. This is a beautiful 18 hole facility, with plush greens throughout the course. The course is known for its doglegs and large trees. There is a full service Grill and Deli on site that serves breakfast, lunch and an assortment of beverages. The Pro Shop has a wide variety of clothing and accessories that are available for purchase."


OMG. It's not "like" the South, and all the other courses in the Sun Cities, it is the same course!

But -- and this is what can make golf even on a relatively unprepossessing property interesting -- we were not the same . . . Mr Science improved to a 41-42=83 . . . still short of his mark . . . but he got his two birdie quota, and putted better all-in-all. I started off rotten, totally negating the good vibes from my 78 the day before -- did I tell you about that?


Oh, I did. Ok, then . . .


So I had a 46 on the front9, which was really their back 9, thinking I had to shoot a 32, now, to tie Saturday . . . 8^P. . . I did write down the lengths of my two birdies, 18' & 10', just cuz I knew Mr Science writes all his first putts down . . . his two birdies were 40' and 20'. . . both longer than mine . . . see, I said it was his distance control, not his putting! . . . 8^) . . .

my first birdie was on #4, a short par 4 with no fairway trouble. Mr Science hit first to the green, wedge distance, it looked like it would hit the pin . . . we couldn't quite see because the large trap guarding the green obscured the bottom of the pin. . . . I hit my sandwedge left of the trap, 18' away . . . "Your Radar-like wedge shot has intimidated me," I said. But Mr Science said, "I think I hit the back of that bunker" and so it proved to be . . . he was 21 ft away . . . narrowly missed his birdie . . . I managed to sneak my birdie in the low-side . . . felt like a real victory after the rough start I'd had, and was totally unexpected.


The par 5 #5 wouldn't be an adventure, you'd think, but I got too cute and my power fade sliced into the trees on the inside of the dogleg right. . . fell straight down . . . Mr Science hit his tee-shot into the middle of the fairway, not too long. His second toed-out on him a little bit and wound up on a small mound off in the 2nd cut, bout 100 from the green. I was on a little launching pad, myself, with the wind was behind me, so I tho't I'd take a flyer and see if I could still get near the green. I had recently re-discovered that uphill lies tend to make you pull the ball, and I had an uphill hook-lie, but I still gave it a good swipe with my 3 wood, aiming right/over the trees between me and the green, but it was a horrible pull hook. Good distance tho', just about half of it was going the opposite way of the dogleg . I watched it fly thru the trees over there unimpeded, one-hop in hardpan off a wall to somebody's yard, as if off the wall at Fenway Park. It caromed 30 or 40 yards back towards the green, out of the trees, to where I had a clear shot! Well, clear not counting the little tree that blocked my view of the green, but that didn't bother me: up and over, no problem . . . came up a yard short of the green, tho. I putted it but it broke 2 feet more down to the right than I planned on . . . a knee-knocker par, one thrill after another. . . Mr science hit his lob wedge 40' past the pin, which took me by surprise, but I think the rough took the spin off his shot -- like I say, IMVHO, his problem is not his putting, but his distance control -- but he made that moot by coaxing that snake into the hole.


I said, "Well, now, you have to admit you hit 4 perfect shots, since you made that putt."
He said, "Naw! My drive was short, my 3wood sliced into the rough, my lobwedge was tooooooo long; I just made one Great shot!"


That design is quirky -- in kinda cool way -- in that #6 is also a par 5 . . . I was riding high, 1-under on this 9, driving well, putting well again, and hitting some irons, buzzing a little bit about Mr Science's putt -- one doesn't like to put on a display, if you know what I mean -- but getting that birdie-quota is something that is worth laboring for, . . . So I hammered my drive with a tight hook that followed the inside curve of the dogleg, predictably 250, maybe 260, which is my new norm, when I'm on, so I only had 210 to the green. My ball was teed up in a fairway riffle from the mower. I waited for the green to clear, then the carts, then I smacked it solidly, but offline. It bounced once on the cartpath, up into the tree hanging over the cartpath, then stopped hole-high. I didn't have enough positivity about that 3rd shot . . . so I chunked it halfway up the hill, then bladed the next one past the pin. . . and missed the come-backer, so, ok, I'm even par after 6.


I fubar-ed the par3 210 yard 7th hole, just like I'd fubared the 179 yd #17, double-bogies both.


So I said to myself, "Self: with 2 birdies you can still have another 36."


The par 4 #8 is 406 yds. So I know I'm going to be 150 out, which is good for me. I pulled it left. It wound up in the rough, exactly between the 150 post and a tree. I had to hit a choke-down, knock-down half7 iron to the front of the green . . . a shot that is coming back to me slowly, which I don't know why, except that I try it all the time . . . it bounced once onto the green, then rolled slowly by the pin, to 10 ft. past. I did make that birdie, on the low side, again, yeah -- so what!


The par 4 #9 is only 370, so I figger I can at least finish strong, with a par, but I am playing for birdie. I pulled my drive left, thru the dogleg. I'm out 160+ in the rough, and there is a big greenside bunker intruding into my vision, but I still think I can do it. But some part of me didn't. I skulled the half-5 I wanted to hit. I hit a good half-pw, still planning on a 1putt par, but it came up 1 club short, into the bunker . I almost flew the sandshot into the hole, then missed the 4ft comeback. A double bogey. Total 39 for this 9, total of 85 for 18. I just had triples and doubles I didn't have yesterday.


So one might say that this is a very different course from the South course, from the other courses, because one played it differently, oh, not as well, but aside from the nagging recollection that there were two holes with interesting bunkering and mounding, by-and-large, all the holes have slightly elevated tees, more elevated greens, large flat fairways, eucalyptus and palm trees bordering the fairways, occasionally intruding into play, like all the other courses.