The Kokopelli Golf Stance

Mr Science Reports

I walked with Terry Burke, John Ross, and Curt Byrum again today.

Terry has a blog:  http:\\www.championspursuit.blogspot.com

Curt started out on fire, birdied #1, 3, 4, and 7, but then bogied 8, 14, and 15.  Came back with birdies on 16 and 17, shooting another 68 and is tied for 3rd with Peter Senior.  His birdie on #3 was a tap-in deuce, no more than 2 inches.  On 14, he missed the green to the left, in the tall rough, wedged it barely onto the green and it rolled down the slope, down to the bottom tier, past the hole to the opposite side of the green, hovered for a second at the fringe line, and then plunged 20 feet down into a collection area.  He putted from there and almost made it.  15 is 359 yards around the dogleg, but only 306 as the crow flies across the desert.  Curt went for it, and ended up in a tuft of tall fescue, unplayable.  His third shot came up short of the green, and he had a harsh word for himself after that one that we can't repeat in a family blog!

John had an up and down day with 4 birdies and 3 bogeys.  On 16, he hit his tee shot into the greenside bunker, short-sided, and had a sort of iffy lie with a ridge of sand behind the ball.  He left the pin out, hit it perfectly onto the fringe and it rolled right into the hole.  The pin had been out for Terry to tap in his par putt, and I wasn't sure that they hadn't just forgotten to replace it, so I asked John and he said he left it out on purpose, because he had a good visualization of the shot.  John is tied for 7th with Robin Freeman and Bruce Vaughan.

Terry struggled.  On the front 9, everything was difficult, and he was +1 for the day on the 9th tee.  For the 3rd day in a row, he hit his second shot to the par-5 9th into a greenside bunker, this time on the upslope below a high lip, about 60 feet from the pin.  The sand was soft and deep, and with the awkward stance and not wanting to hit it fat and leave himself a long birdie putt, he bladed it over the green and into the landscape rocks next to the clubhouse.  Fortunately, it bounced out of the rocks and onto the grass, where he had a downhill, sidehill lie behind a tree near the green, and he was short-sided to a pin placed on a small ledge at the back of the green.  His next shot hit the tree and fell short, and he couldn't keep the 5th on the top shelf, and made 7.  It was looking very grim, but he gutted it out on the back 9.  After pars on 10 and 11, he started hitting irons more accurately, and stroking putts better.  He birdied 12 and 13, and burned the edge on 14, and made one more birdie on 17 to finish with even par 71, tied for 10th.  Terry is playing with Fred Holton and David Peoples tomorrow.

Steve Haskins shot another 65 and is in front by 4 from Ronnie Black, who shot 64.  Rod Spittle shot 66 to go with a 67 yesterday, and is tied for 10th with Terry, R. W. Eaks, and Joe Ozaki.