on 8/26 15 buddies and I decided to brave the smokey, hazy conditions for a morning round of friendly skins at Rancho Solano GC in Fairfield, Ca. Having just returned from mandatory evacuations due the LNU complex fires which are still raging through Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Yolo and Lake Counties, I needed to get out and chase the ball around. after a 2 week break from golf I wasn't sure what sort of game I was going to have, but I really didn't care. At 65 years of age I can still walk the course and if I played poorly only Smokey the bear would know... plus with skins, you never know... The first 6 holes went by without much fanfare, a birdie, some bogeys, no torn muscles or leg cramps. Nice. I approached the 8th tee box a bit miffed at have just missing a 5' downhill left to right sliding par putt on 7. My buddies both parred which didn't help the feeling. #8, 186 downhill yards to a blue flag back left corner, a bit of a smallish elevated shelf on a big fat green. Both Chuck and Mike put their T shots on the upper shelf with mid range birdie putt opportunity's. 2 balls on the shelf, both decent shots. One of them was going to be "closest to" for $16 no doubt I addressed my Titleist #3 ProV1 "YOCHA DEHE" LOGO'D ball knowing I had to also hit a good shot to keep up with my overachieving fellow competitors. In fact my last thought as I commenced my stroke was "Hit a Good Shot ***". I went for the high draw without hesitation and as soon as I hit it Mike went nuts... "Great swing! It's got the look... It's gonna go... Keep turning... keep turning.... If that was the right club it's in! YEEEEEEEE-Haw!!!" I figured Mike's brandy coffee was starting to kick in as I was pretty sure I went over the top of the flag at least 5-10' up the hill behind the green... I've had my heart broken on this hole before... When I walked up to the green Mike was scrambling over from his cart, still verbalizing his believe that he had just witnessed magic. I for one couldn't see the ball descend from it's apex due to the smokey background but Mike has made a living out of picking out the beauty in boozy, smokey environments so who was I to discredit his opinion... I saw ball #1 about 15' short left and ball #2 pin high left about 12'. I still couldn't see my ball which was typical for a ball behind the green... BUT as I walked towards the cup a pronounced pitch mark was perhaps 6" below the hole dead on line from the T box... I could still hear Mike's yelping as he cried... "Lookeee there, it's in the G** D*** Cup!" Far Out Man!" Mike's an old guy too... Such a cleansing moment of shock and joy. Quite the contrast to almost everything else that's the world's been throwing our way lately... "closest to" on #8 and a skin... $82. My bar tab was $90. Glad to pay it! Great game Golf. Great ball Titleist!