Mountain Magic: Part One

There is truly only one word to describe the experience I had in Arizona late last week.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was out there visiting my family and also competing in a golf tournament with Mama Bender, our first chance to play together as partners since I was in high school.

We ended up doing better than we ever could have expected, but more on that later!

I’ve decided it would be easiest to recap the adventure in three parts, beginning with the opening dinner and our first day on the course! On the eve of the competition, we gathered at Cochise-Geronimo (where I had my wedding reception) for a delicious meal.

There was a lot of food to choose from, but the highlight was this taco shell filled with avocado, tomato, lettuce and diced chicken, then topped with an incredible Southwestern sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.

I also enjoyed fresh jicama salad (yum!), prime rib and a whole wheat roll.

For dessert, my mom and I each had one of these pineapple cream horns. So sweet, rich and flavorful!

After dinner, we amused ourselves by visiting the caricature artist. We had a great conversation with him and decided to sit together for the picture. The result was not quite what we were expecting – I’m missing eyelashes, for one thing – but it was hilarious all the same. We made sure to take a real photo to capture any resemblance.

What do you think? I’m not so sure about the buck teeth and bumps below our lips, but who knows? 😉

We spent a little more time chatting before heading home to rest before the big day. On our way out, the event hosts gave each of us a pretty pink rose for good luck.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early and headed to the course. The tournament team served up a delicious breakfast. My mom and I split a plate of pancakes to fuel up, topped with strawberries, maple syrup and a touch of whipped cream and chocolate chips, naturally.

We also brought a to-go box of eggs, bacon and fruit with us to enjoy while playing.

And last but certainly not least, one of the women who was working the event was kind enough to offer us her specialty iced coffee. There was no way we were going to turn that down. We needed all the energy we could find!

Before we knew it, the tournament had begun. Our first day out was on the Cochise course playing a best ball, which means that as partners, we take the best score out of the two of us on each hole to come up with the combined best score possible. There is both a gross and net score, which is determined by handicap. If any of this doesn’t make sense, just nod your head and go along with it. 🙂 Golf lingo can get a little confusing!

My mom and I were thrilled with how the day turned out. Other than one minor slip up on a par 5 that involved both of us hitting balls into the water and having to take an “8” as our best score, we balanced each other perfectly. I got a birdie or par on every hole that she struggled on and vice versa. We never even had a bogey!

As a result, we finished with a 75 gross score (that 8 on the par 5 was what made up every stroke over 72). We were happy, but not expecting anything huge, so imagine our surprise when we found ourselves tied for first place gross and second place net!

Turns out, our 75 was the best score in the second flight and our 64 net also helped us qualify for the shootout, a special subset of the tournament that would take place the next day. We were over the moon excited about our dream catcher. 🙂

But more fun was still to come. I can’t wait to share the next part of the story with you!

Hope your week is off to a fantastic start. It’s back to reality over here, but a very good reality. We launched our DreamChamps blog yesterday! If you have a chance, check it out and let me know what you think.

Are you a golfer? Have you ever competed in a golf tournament?

Abrazos,