| Day 46 - Tuesday, October 4 - Colorado | << Index |
| Anticipated: Play golf at Trinidad Golf Course in Trinidad, Colorado. |
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| Click on the photos below to enlarge | ||
 Welcome sign to Colorado and entrance sign to Trinidad Golf Course |
 Carol Cometto, Pro Shop Manager and Philip Lopez, the assistant manager |
 Newspaper reporter “Doc” Leonetti |
 Scenes from the golf course,lower left -- clubhouse from the first fairway |
 More scenes from the golf course, upper 2 pictures -- Fisher’s Peak in the background, the focal point of the golf |
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We were able to tee off at 8:30AM. The weather was blustery and overcast with the temperature hovering in the low 60s (15 c). As the day went on, the temperature warmed to a comfortable level and it became partly sunny; however, the wind continued to blow quite hard.
Even before we teed off we knew that we were in for a treat. The golf course is the epitome of a picture postcard. Every hole presented us with a panoramic view of the golf course and surrounding mountains. Trinidad Golf Course was designed and built in 1914 by the same golf course architect who designed the famous Broadmoor in the Denver area. It is considered the finest 9-hole golf course in Colorado.
The course is well maintained and the fairways and greens were in good shape even though the whole course had recently been aerated. As can be seen from the pictures, there was seldom a level lie and as usual with a mountain course, the greens had both subtle and extreme breaks, which made them difficult to read and putt. As can be surmised, we both had several 3-putt greens. The tees for each nine were located such that one set of tees seemed like a completely different golf course from the other set. Jim shot 89 (yardage = 6160) and Pat shot 113 (yardage = 5337). Pat appeared to play well enough to shoot in the low 100s, except her putting deserted her. Jim needed a crucial 2-putt from 40 feet on the 18th hole to break 90. Fortunately, his first putt left him one foot from the hole for a tap in.
As we have stated in earlier journals, Pat’s goal is to break 110 and Jim’s is to break 90. After 46 rounds, Pat’s score average is 110.46 and Jim’s is 88.8. Pat has 15 rounds to bring her average down to 110. Jim’s handicap calculates to 15.5 and Pat’s to 30.8. The handicaps are calculated using elements of the standard formula, but modified to use all the scores played to date.
After our first nine holes we met Doc Leonetti. Doc is a reporter from the local Trinidad newspaper. He interviewed both of us for an article to be published tomorrow or the next day. Doc is also a college Psychology professor at the local Trinidad State Junior College. He works part-time as a stringer for the newspaper.
We were also fortunate to meet Philip Lopez (the assistant pro) after our 18 holes. We really enjoyed our round of golf at Trinidad, and we certainly wish to thank Carol for her kindness prior to our arrival by responding to our inquiries. We also want to thank Carol for waiving the golf and cart fees, and for the gifts of a “logoed” golf hat, visor and golf ball. We will not use the ball, but every time Jim wears the hat, or Pat wears the visor, we will remember our pleasant day at Trinidad Golf Course.
Our drive from Trinidad to our next stop, Liberal, Kansas took us due east on highway US160 right to Liberal (250 miles) (400 km). We arrived at 6:00 PM; however, we lost an hour when we crossed into Kansas. The Colorado portion of the drive was mostly flat and desolate. The land appeared to be used for open grazing. The Kansas part of the drive appeared to be large grain farms (corn, wheat, sunflowers, etc.)