My weekend started out entirely too cold and early, I think I had to leave by 6:45 to be in Casa Grande by 7:30. Still, it's far easier to wake up to play golf than it is to work. I was hitting golf balls on the driving range at about 40°, and every shot that wasn't solid stung a fair amount. Swinging a club in four layers of clothing is a bit restricting as well.
As I mentioned the other day, Francisco Grande is known for it's Black tees at over 7500 yards, fairly long by any standards (except ice golf, perhaps). The allure of those tees was too great, so that's what we played. Even better, the course suited my game perfectly by not having any out-of-bounds. When you went beyond the grass there was nothing but dirt, so an errant tee shot is not only easy to find, but often quite playable.
Somehow I managed to have more luck during that round than just about any round I can remember (because it sure didn't feel like skill, or at least it shouldn't be). My sand wedge around the green was on fire. First hole, pitched it to six inches. Several other holes I put it to 3-4 feet. One of the later holes I flopped it over a tree, over a bunker, and landed it on the green with minimal space to work with. The one place it let me down was out of the actual sand! I was only in one trap all day, and my shot out caught a little ball and I hit it across the green. As I usually consider my sand game to be a strong point, that was disappointing.
I had a couple other good shots as well. One par 4, from 210 out, I had a tree in front of me that I couldn't go over. I managed to slice a 2-iron, moving the ball about 30 yards left-to-right, and landed it on the green. Another hole I was particularly happy with was the longeset par 4 on the course, at 486 yards. I put my tee shot behind a tree, and tried hitting a 3 wood around it from 240 yards. I clocked the tree hard, and the ball went straight sideways into the fairway. Still 240 yards out, I landed a soft 3 wood on the green to about 10 feet and made my par putt. :-D
When all was said and done, I missed my putt on the 18th for a 79, and ended up with an 80. Not bad at all given the length of the course. It was nice to use longer clubs from the fairway as well. Looking at my stats, the fact that I only hit 4 greens in regulation and still shot an 80 shows how well I was playing around the green. I even lipped out 3 putts, so the potential for lower was definitely there.
One point of interest, Hexcel actually has a manufacturing facility in Casa Grande, on the same road as the golf course. Who knew? :-P
My luck either continued or ran out on the way home however, depending on how you look at it. Another coolant hose broke about a mile from home. I ended up pushing it home later in the day with help from Teresa and Evan, as I wasn't able to change the hose there in the Olive Garden parking lot. :-P Since this is the second time a stupid little hose has broken, it's time to replace all of them. I made it to the dealer just before the parts department closed, and while they didn't have most of the hoses in stock, they should be here on Tuesday. Hopefully tonight I can try to take most of the old ones off so they'll be ready to go on the car and I can start driving it again.
I've been putting off replacing this coolant temp sensor in the Neon for a while now because the manual indicated it was going to be a pain to replace. Located on the back of the head, have to drain coolant, blah blah whatever. I just didn't feel like it. Yesterday I was certainly more motivated, as I wanted a car to drive to work on Monday, and I didn't want to drive it in the "lean when cold" condition it was in anymore. I felt incredibly stupid when I look around and find that the temp sensor not on the back of the head, but it's on the intake manifold on the front of the car, very easily accessible! A 2-minute fix, and here I've been putting it off for weeks. Car started up the first time and didn't stall, fantastic. Took it over to Napa for a test drive, and it certainly felt like it was running better when cold, plus it wasn't stalling.
That was yesterday afternoon though. :-P This morning I start it up, and it stalls right away. In fact, it won't hold an idle at all until the engine is fully warm, and then it's fine. So I guess I still have the same problem, but at least it's running a little better.
So hooray, I have to fix my car now, and the Neon still isn't really fixed. That's just how I wanted to start the week.
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