Utah Championship and a Great Hike

I was incredibly surprised and disappointed by my performance in the Utah Championship. I was coming off a great week of practice at home and had two solid days of preparation in Utah leading into the tournament. I was feeling ready when I teed it up on Thursday morning. Things didn't go according to my plan. I was erratic off of the tee, and despite a great comeback to post a two-under-par 70 in the first round, my sloppy play cost me in the afternoon on Friday, and I struggled to a 77. Those scores gave me the weekend off, and that is no fun in my line of work.

I really felt prepared to have a great tournament in Utah, so this result is particularly disappointing. The problem can easily be traced to my play on the par fives. The course had four par-fives, and depending on the wind direction, at least two of them were easily reachable for me. Without doing anything special, I would have expected to play the par fives in at least two under par per round. Instead, I played them three over par combined during my two rounds of the tournament. The problem, as it was on many of the other holes as well, was largely caused by my inability to get my tee shots in the fairway. Accuracy off the tee has to be one of my strengths, and I KNOW that it is, but I didn't have it this week in Utah. For me to be successful, I have to drive the ball well, and I simply didn't do that this week. 

The bum results in Utah don't mean that my process is failing; they just mean that I had an off week. My practice has been fantastic lately, and I still feel excellent about my game. I know that my plan works, and I also know that poor weeks are going to happen. The goal is to get so good that I can still compete even when my game is a little bit off, and I'm going to get there. I was definitely disappointed to miss the cut in Utah, but I still believe in myself and my process and am excited to get back to work!

After the tough day on the course on Friday, I needed some Mountain Therapy on Saturday. Utah delivered. Check out some of the stunning pictures from my hike: 

That was just what I needed! Now I'm ready to get back to work and chase down my goals. I'm flying to Kansas City as I write this and am excited to start preparing for next week's event--the Digital Ally Open. 

Keep it here for another report soon. Thank you for following me, and keep believing; you know I will!