2026 Coyote Howler

Looking back at the day from a “20/20 hindsight” perspective, I probably should have cancelled my participation. Earlier in the week I had received some distressing news, which I hadn’t fully processed. The weather was going to be crappy — cold with intermittent rain and drizzle.

But I don’t give up easily, even when I probably should.

Check-in and warm-up went as expected. The was no player’s meeting, So I landed at hole 10, where I was scheduled to start. The card members, who were in good spirits despite the dismal morning, consisted of Robin and Rick (fellow MP60 contestants), as well as Luke, who was unlucky enough to get saddled with the “oldsters.” My first drive of the day was a forehand that drifted a bit too far right and landed in the rough, but an overhead scramble and a 15’ putt gave me a par, and the start that I was hoping for. Holes 11 and 12 were similar, conservative play leading to a couple more pars. Hole 13, a brutally long par 5, usually gives me trouble due to it’s length. I over-threw the backhand drive, causing it to turn hard into the right rough, putting it deep enough to prevent me from doing anything except pitching out. I decided to pitch out using a forehand roller that turned hard left and ended up across the fairway and into the left rough — only about 20’ further down the fairway. Flustered, I decided to throw an understable driver (given that the fairway was an upslope) but overthrew once again and nearly ended up in the right rough again. Frustration continuing to grow (and realizing my disc choice mistake from the last throw), I pulled a more stable driver and threw my 4th shot, which (of course) hyzered left and put me within 5 feet of the left rough again, and just barely at the crest of the hill — at least 250’ from the raised pin on the downslope green. I was throwing my 5th shot, and determined not to fly the green and end up down the hill (again!), so I shorted the approach and left myself with a 60’ death putt. With my first smart shot of the entire hole, I pitched to the base of the raised basket, then dropped in my double-bogey.

(Since I normally bogey that hole, I wasn’t too unhappy with that score.)

Hole 14 is a tough par 4 with a fairway that turns right, then doglegs HARD left to a severe downslope and a well protected, sloped green. I threw a good forehand drive to deal with the right turn, but didn’t quite make the dogleg corner. My second shot was a high spike hyzer to get around the corner and get as far down the fairway slope as possible. With a good view of the green, I planned on a straight approach with my Bard, but left the nose up and the shot ended up short and right, partially obstructed and 40’ from the basket. Missing the long-ish putt left me with another bogey. The next hole is “the longest short hole” on the course, with it’s tight line, it’s heavy upslope, and it’s enticingly close, but oh-so-far-away green. One early tree hit on the drive, one short forehand upshot, and a disappointing long putt attempt (and failure) equaled another bogey. Hole 16 is the last of what I think of as “The Four Holes of the Apocolypse” — the four holes on this course that ALWAYS give me trouble. However, a smart, controlled drive left me in a great position for my second shot. The second shot hit the only tree in the second part of the fairway, but I was still left with a relatively short (but extremely downhill) look at the basket. Thrilled with the prospect of a decent score on this hole — and knowing the odds of missing the basket and turning the possible birdie in to a likely bogey (or worse), I chose to lay up and take the par.

(As a quick aside, I have the expectation that I will bogey each of those last four holes; the crazy-long 13th, the slalom-lined 14th, the crazy-uphill 15th, and the “mess-with-my-mind” 16th. Finishing that set of 4 holes at a +4 was a perfectly acceptable, if slightly annoying, outcome.)

After a relatively easy par on the soft-par-4 17th, we had arrived at the extremely difficult 18th — another tight tunnel, turn-right-then-turn-left brutality that is just long enough to let me get myself into trouble. My drive faded slightly right, but far enough that I had no air shot toward the green. Instead of pitching out and taking the extra stroke, I attempted another forehand “cut-roller” which twisted left when it hit the ground and shot into the left rough — again leaving me with no shot to the green. I threw my Bard on a high hyzer, hoping to get far enough around the trees to give me a look at the basket, but one of the guardian trees had other ideas, and knocked my shot down well short of the green. So the finish was an up-and-down bogey, and a score of +6 for the first 9 holes.

My target score for the round was +7. I was going to need to step it up.

My first two shots on the long par-4 1st were good ones, leaving me about 80’ to the well guarded green, but my approach was (once again) short and right, leaving me with a long, obstructed putt. Two putts later I had reached my target score for the round — with 8 holes to go. I stepped up my focus on Hole 2 and got my drive through the tunnel, but slightly left of the open fairway. My second shot was the best shot I had thrown all day, leaving me with an open, unobstructed approach to the green and leading to an easy par. My next drive (Hole 3) cut right a bit too early to make the corner of the dogleg in the fairway, but a soft, floating approach helped me avoid OB (4’ behind the basket!!) and earned me another par. I had one of my best drives ever on Hole 4, ending up in the center of the fairway and around the initial left dog-leg turn, but I pulled my second shot into a fairway tree, which sent my disc deep into the left rough. My scramble only go me to the bottom of the gulley that crosses the fairway and into the left rough once again, leaving me with no choice but to scramble to the green and putt out to another bogey.

My score was now +8, one stroke over my target. <sigh>

I early-release the drive on hole 5 and landed under a bush in the left rough, but a scramble forehand and a 35’ putt get me out of that jam with another par. The rain had started, and was getting heavier as the temperature seemed to be dropping — and I started feeling like I couldn’t get my hands (especially my thumb) dry enough. This was evident in my first two shots on Hole 6, both early-released backhands and very short. However, I was able to throw a high and wide approach to the green, and sink a 20’ putt to save the par. I decided to throw a backhand drive on Hole 7, but hit an early tree and dropped OB. My putt from the drop zone flew the green and landed in the rough beyond the basket. With my first egregious unforced error of the round, I hit the basket band with the 15’ bogey putt, and finished the Hole with a double bogey!

And then came a cascade of errors. An overturned drive on Hole 8 (into the right rough), followed by a roller scramble with rolled past the basket by 50’, led to another bogey. Then an early release drive into an early tree on Hole 9 left me short of the creek and with an awkward stance. My forehand recovery shot hit another tree and forced me into ANOTHER scramble, finally getting to the green in 3, I proceeded to two-putt my way to a double-bogey.

Final score: +13 (76), rated at an 891. Five strokes lost on the last three holes. Without those mistakes, I would have been at a +8 (71) which was rated at a 928, which I would have been happy with. As it was, that round was 15 points under my rating and left me scratching my head. I was happy with the pace that I had been on until those last 3 holes. But, it was time for warm food, some dry clothes, and quick call home to check in, and back to the course to see what I could do on the short layout.

I started once again on Hole 10, with the other two MP60-ers, as well as Chris, the afternoon’s unlucky recipient of our “grandmaster-ly” aged wisdom (and ancient cultural references!)

Picking up where I let off at the end of round 1, I pulled my backhand drive hard right into an early tree, threw a sub-par recovery shot, followed by a mediocre approach and an unnecessary two-putt, to start out the round with a double-bogey. Undeterred, I stepped up to the teepad of Hole 11 and threw a great (albeit short by 50 feet) drive, setting up and easy par. Likewise, I threw a conservative drive on Hole 12, avoiding the rough short and left of the green (which always seemed to attract my drives), leading to another par. I made a MUCH better first drive on Hole 13, but after a second full drive up the hill, my forehand approach (shot #3) was a little TOO aggressive, and I felt pain in my lower back, just above my right hip. This is an injury that I have been nursing for a few weeks, and just when I think that it’s mended, it comes back out to say “Hi!” and lets me know that it’s still around. Since it usually only gives me problems when I throw hard forehand shots, I figured that it was probably a good idea to avoid the forehand drive for the rest of the round. Walking up to my lie, I see that I had been TOO conservative with my target and the disc had stayed left, well outside putting range, which led to another bogey. Since (+3) was my target for the round, and I was already at that point, I had to decide whether to continue to be conservative or risk being a bit more aggressive and trying to recover some of those strokes.

<Queue ominous horror movie music.>

Deciding on the aggressive path, I stepped onto the teepad of hole 14 and promptly yanked my backhand drive hard right into the rough less than 100 feet down the fairway. The disc was deep enough in the rough that the only play was a recovery pitch back onto the fairway, making no progress toward the green. My next drive, a forehand, dove back into the right rough well short of circle 2, and once again prevented any appreciable forward progress. After a long putt (failed) and a short putt (succeeded), I was left with a triple-bogey 6, and an understanding that, perhaps, an aggressive style is a poor choice when one is cold and wet and already frustrated by less-than-stellar play.

Going back to being conservative, I restricted myself to playing for placement, making sure that each shot choice was one one with the highest percentage of success. The drives on each of the next 6 holes (#15-#18, then #1-#2) were played as carefully as I could manage; most of them trading distance for risk avoidance, and giving me a very boring, but very appreciated set of pars. All the while the knot in my lower back was building in volume — from minor twinges during forehand shots to high-voltage shocks when taking anything other than short and careful strides. The round became and exercise in management, managing risk and pain alike with careful shot selection and gentle movement. The drive on hole 3 was awkward, given that I normally throw a forehand, but knowing that those mechanics were increasingly restricted as the muscles in my back stiffened to protect the injury. I managed the shot but it flew almost comically high landing short and right of the green, but allowing for an equally comical and equally awkward approach and putt for a par. Having managed a forehand drive on hole 3, I foolishly tried a forehand drive on hole 4, only to pull the shot hard left into one of the first available trees and having the disk head into the right rough, less than 50 feet from the teepad. At this point, my mechanics for shots from both sides were pretty much restricted by trying to use my core as little as possible, with the pain now appearing during both forehand and backhand throws. Several trees later, I found hole 4’s basket for a bogey, then hacked my way through hole 5 for a double bogey. Hole 6 gave me a bit of relief with some simple throws that I could manage without pain, and I picked my way to a par. Holes 7 and 8 were the same, although the forehand drive on hole 8 woke up the slumbering beast who had given up gnawing at my back. Arriving at hole 9, the last hole of the day, I was simply looking forward to being finished — which sucks when playing a sport that I love. A pair of uninspired throws and a 2-putt later, I finished the round with my 3rd bogey of the round. The final damage for round two was a +10 (68), rated at an 886 — which I would consider a poor showing, except that I had very poor mechanics (and even poorer focus) for most of the round. The final total was a +23 (144) for the day; last place, and deservedly so.

I finished the round; cold, wet, and barely able to finish my cart tear-down and get myself into the car for the drive home. Thankfully, I have several weeks to recover before my next outing. Unfortunately, that next outing is the Lake Marshall Open, an A-tier that I look forward to every year, but on a pair of highly difficult and demanding courses. Between now and then, I’ll be doing whatever I can to rest and heal the back injury, and get whatever practice I can manage without further damage.