Ready to Go at Mount Vintage Plantation

I'm playing this week on the NGA Tour at a venue called Mount Vintage Plantation in North Augusta, South Carolina. The course is phenomenal. It features dramatic elevation changes, lots of mounding in and around the fairways, and severely undulating greens. The putting surfaces are smooth, hard, and very fast, too, so the course definitely presents a great challenge. In two days of preparation on site, my game has felt ready for the challenge. I'm hitting the ball beautifully, and I feel that the toughness of this course fits the strength of my game. The course demands precise approach shots and great imagination and feel on and around the greens. I am ready to have a great tournament. I'm going to be relaxed and play intelligently for the entirety of this event. I'm going to have fun and not make any major mental mistakes all week. I get started at 8:36 on Thursday morning. Come back for nightly updates after the rounds. Thank you for following me!

Delayed Summary of Last Week + Great Things Coming!

I'm sorry that I haven't updated you since the first 33 holes of last week's event. If you have seen the final results, you know that I do not have a lot to brag about in terms of my finish, but I am actually very pleased about some things that happened in the middle of the tournament. I'll cover the good and the bad from last week's event and will also talk a little bit about my plans for the coming weeks. Last week's finish didn't look good on paper, and the final round didn't feel good in action either, but I am still feeling great overall and am pumped to build on my strong start to the year.

The last time I wrote on here, I had completed 15 holes of my second round at the eGolf Tour's cold and windswept Irish Creek Classic. I returned to the course on Friday morning to prepare for the planned 8:30 a.m. re-start of round 2. Frost pushed that re-start back until 10:00 o'clock, but even with the extended delay, wind chill factors were in the 20s when we teed it up. I stood at three over par for the tournament and had a to play three of the toughest holes on the golf course to finish my second round. Though my mindset was pretty good, I'd be lying to say the thought of "just surviving the cut" hadn't crept into my mind while thinking about the closing three holes at Irish Creek. When it came time to tee it up, however, I was right where I needed to be mentally. I formed a good game plan before each shot and executed really well. I finished my second round with par, birdie, par over the final three holes for a second-round 70 (-1). That was a really good feeling to go out in tough conditions on tough golf holes and execute well.

After posting my second-round score Friday morning, it was a waiting game for the second-round to be completed and round-3 tee times to be released. I pegged it at 1:50 p.m. to begin my third round and proceeded to play 17 solid holes Friday afternoon. I hit very few poor shots on Friday, but I just couldn't seem to catch fire and start rattling off birdies. Every aspect of my game felt pretty good, but I couldn't get any mid-length putts to drop and stood at just two under par through 17 holes when play was suspended for the day. I really played well for the 20 holes I played on Friday, and I had myself in a great position in the tournament with 19 holes left to play on Saturday.

Unfortunately, to quote my friend Michael Sims, "golf happened" on Saturday. My game felt great on Friday, and I was agonizingly close to really tearing it up, but I just didn't have it on Saturday. I continued to drive the ball well, but everything else was a real struggle. My iron play, short game, and putting all cost me shots in Saturday's final round, and after making par on the final hole of my third round for a 69 (-2), I ballooned to a 75 (+4) in the final round, which took place in the week's best scoring conditions. That round sent me tumbling down the leaderboard, and I finished in a tie for 37th. I still can't really explain why I played so poorly the last day, but I'm motivated to keep improving so days like that will occur even less frequently.

Everything is good with my golf game, though. I may have been trying a little bit too hard in the final round, but other than that, I'm just going to chalk it up as "one of those days." I have had two days of practice since Saturday's debacle, and everything is feeling as good as ever. It is time to turn my attention to this week's event.

Although, with that said, I do need to confess my shortcomings in practice from last week. The crazy weather and daily delays did make practicing difficult during last week's event, but I'm disappointed to say that I once again came up a little short of finishing all of my work goals. I did all of my short game work, ball-striking drills, and fitness work, but I came up two putting drills shy of completing all of my work. In addition to that, I once again failed to hole enough chip shots and bunker shots to fulfill my tri-weekly requirements.

Now, it really is time to turn my attention to this week's event. I will hit the road Tuesday morning for North Augusta, South Carolina, and this week's NGA Tour event at Mount Vintage Plantation Golf Club. I had a productive day of work on Monday, and I am ready to have a great tournament week. I am going to be relaxed and really enjoy myself from beginning to end this week, but at the same time, I am going to commit to having efficient and effective practice sessions and completing all of my work goals. This is going to be a great week!

My first four tournament weeks of the year have done nothing to lower my very high expectations for this year. I think that all of my outcome goals are very achievable, and I think I'm off to a good start in pursuit of them. I need to really emphasize my work goals in the coming weeks to ensure that my game is continuing to improve, but of equal importance, I need to make sure I am enjoying myself in all that I do. I absolutely love what I do, and as long as I remember to have fun with it, I know that I will continue to progress towards my goals.

If you have read this entire post, thank you very much for your loyal support. Even if you skipped some parts in the middle, thank you for keeping up with me. :) I will do a better job of keeping you updated during my tournaments in the future. Keep it here for reports from the NGA event this week. Great things are coming!

15 Holes on Day 2

I just want to give a two-liner to tell you about the events of day 2 from the eGolf Tour's Irish Creek Classic. My afternoon tee time was delayed two hours by morning frost, so I played just 15 holes after teeing off at 2:30 p.m. My game didn't feel good at all once I hit the course, but throughout the round I did enough things right here and there to hold it together. I've made two birdies and two bogies so far in my second round. I'm going to feel better tomorrow and let my game shine for 21 holes. I think I can be back in contention by the time we hit Saturday's final round. Come back for a more detailed report of rounds 2 and 3 on Friday evening. Thank you for following me!

COLD and WINDY at Irish Creek

The first round at Irish Creek in this week's eGolf event was brutal. Wind chills were in the low 20's to start the day and as temperatures rose slightly, the winds only increased. I was very pleased with my ball-striking, but I struggled on the greens all day in round 1. I made my only birdie of the day on the my fifteenth hole (the 6th at Irish Creek) to get back to even par, but finished with three consecutive bogies to post an opening-round score of 74 (+3). I'm disappointed with that score, but my game is in a great shape, and a very solid practice session after my round has me feeling as good as ever. Conditions should be a bit more stable for my afternoon tee time in Thursday's second round, and I am pumped to play well and get myself back in contention. Come back for a good round-2 report. Thank you for keeping up with me!

More Motivated Than Ever

Looking back on last week's event, the NGA Tour's Spring Hill Classic, I am 50% encouraged, 40% motivated to improve, and 10% frustrated with myself. After struggling mightily with my focus and execution in the first three holes on Sunday, I gave myself a pep-talk and played the final 15 holes with two-birdies and no bogies to post a final-round score of 71 (level par). Though I was in a good mindset over the final 15 holes, I still didn't feel like I was getting much out of my game. I drove the ball okay and putted okay, but was incredibly mediocre (at best) with my irons and wedges. I ended up in a three-way tie for 6th but was just three shots behind the winner. It is incredibly encouraging to have such a high finish when I feel like I could have gotten so much more from my game. That is why I am more motivated than ever to keep improving. I feel like my game is better than it has ever been, and I just need to further sharpen it so that I can let it all out in tournament play. The 10% frustration comes from the fact that this golf tournament was so winnable for me, and I gave it away with some extremely poor and uncharacteristic blunders. That is okay, though. I will improve, and I will take advantage of plenty of opportunities to win this year.

All-in-all, I cannot be disappointed. This was my first event on the NGA Tour. I posted rounds of 68, 68, 72, 71 and never trailed by more than four shots at the end of any round. I overcame tough starts on both Saturday and Sunday to keep myself in contention in the tournament and ended up with a tie for 6th place finish. That means I have finished 4th and 6th the past two weeks on the two largest mini-tours in the United States. As much as I think I could and should have won this past one, those finishes are not too bad for this early in the year.

My week of practice this past week looks terrible on paper. The golf course had no short game facilities at all and the weather was not conducive to good practice sessions, but I didn't put up much of a fight. I had no short game sessions at all (and boy did it show--my chipping and wedge play were awful at times), and I wound up three drills short of finishing all of my putting practice, too. I did put in a lot of quality work on the putting green, but could never quite complete my 6-footer drill on the grainy practice green. I also left out one of my ball-striking drills. Like I said, it was not a good week of work on paper. On a positive note, I did a great job of keeping up with my fitness work. It is definitely a challenge to fit workouts and runs into my tournament weeks, but I feel so good when I stay on top of my fitness.

I'm heading back to familiar grounds this week as the eGolf Tour plays at The Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, NC, Wednesday-Saturday. Though the weather appears that it will present quite a challenge to practice on Tuesday and for the first round of competition on Wednesday, I'm determined to have a better week of work. If I can clean up my short game and wedge play and stay focused from beginning to end, I know that my game is good enough to win golf tournaments. I'm going to work hard to do just that.

One other note about my practice: I'm determined to reach my goals about holing chip shots and bunker shots. I have been awful at that so far this year, but it adds such a great element to my practice, and I know that it will pay huge dividends when I need to hit great short game shots in big tournament situations this year. I'm really going to commit myself to those goals this week in my short game practice and see if I can make progress.

I'm excited about my start to the year, but I know that bigger and better things are coming! Keep it here for good reports from the eGolf event this week and other good updates. Thank you for following me!

Cold in Round 3

The temperatures were downright chilly for Saturday's third round at the NGA Tour's Spring Hill Classic. Add a consistent breeze blowing at 10-15 mph, and you get a day that is cold and difficult. Those kind of conditions should give me a huge advantage, but unfortunately, my game was a bit sour at times today. I felt good heading into the round, but a bogey-bogey start put me a bit behind the eight-ball early. I stayed calm and really hit some great shots in the next few holes, but could only take advantage of them with a birdie on the reachable par-5 third where I hit two great shots onto the green and two-putted for a birdie. Another bogey at the long par-4 seventh sent me to the back nine at two over par for my round. I made a great birdie at the par-3 eleventh but followed it up with an incredibly dumb choice after missing the fairway on the reachable par-5 twelfth hole. I tried to hit a huge slice out of some trees right of the fairway, and ended up rattling around in trees left of the green before my ball fell into a hazard. I ended up with a disappointing bogey on the hole. I stayed committed to my plan the rest of the day, and recovered from a disappointing par at the par-5 fifteenth to finish par-birdie-par and post a round of 72 (+1). I am certainly disappointed that I didn't play better, but I still feel great about a lot of what I did in round 3. I fell down the leaderboard into big tie for eighth heading into the final round, but I'm just four shots behind the leader. The weather promises to be challenging again for Sunday's final round, and I am excited to see what happens when I put a solid round together!

Here's a cool story from my day. You know how I made it part of my process goals this year that I must chip-in at least ten times and must hole at least three bunker shots every three weeks. I have learned that it is really hard to make bunker shots, but in the effort to do so, I have noticed that my shots from the sand have been dancing all around the hole. I was coming off of a bogey-bogey-birdie start when I drove it in the trees on the fourth hole today. I didn't have a chance to hit in on the green from where I was, but I could squeeze it into a front bunker, and I was confident in my bunker play. I hit a perfect bunker shot that was rolling right into the middle of the hole with good speed when it somehow rattled off the flagstick and sat on the back lip. It was unbelievable that the ball didn't go in. It was hardly moving when it hit the flagstick. Oh well--I am going to hole some important bunker shots this year; I can feel it!

I'm pumped to get out there and get after it in the final round of this week's event! My game feels good, and I know great things are coming. Come back for a final-round report on Sunday evening. Thank you for keeping up with me!

In Great Position

I'm sorry that I'm a day or two behind with updates from my event this week. I have good news to share. I have posted matching rounds of 68 (-3) to stand at six under at the midway point of the NGA Tour's Spring Hill Classic in Tifton, GA. With wet, cold, and breezy conditions making the course fairly challenging, those scores have me in great position heading into the weekend rounds.

I am able to relax this morning because I played the last three holes in darkness yesterday (Friday) to finish my second round. There is simply not enough daylight this time of year to get a full field of 162 players (many of whom play much too slowly) around one golf course, so play was suspended each of the first two days with players still on the course. My group was told when we reached the 7th tee (our 16th hole) in Friday's second round that we could suspend our play for the day whenever we chose to do so. Given forecasted temperatures in the mid-30's at the time of the morning restart, we decided to battle the waning light and played all three of our remaining holes. It was too dark to read a putt on the 8th green and absolutely ridiculous on the 9th (our 18th), but fortunately, I hit a great approach to just more than two feet on our final hole and was able to make it from there in the dark. I'm still not sure whether finishing with such limited sight was a smart thing to do, but I really do believe it would have been difficult to get warmed up and ready to play just one or two holes had I chosen to return for a Saturday-morning finish to my second round. As it is, I finished par-par-birdie and am excited to be indoors preparing for my third-round tee time, which will likely be sometime between 12:30 and 1:00.

My game has been pretty solid this week. I have definitely hit a few squirrely drives and some iron shots that have made me scratch my head, but with the exception of one dumb choice from behind a tree on Friday, I have followed an intelligently aggressive plan and been committed to every shot that I have hit. My mindset has been good and I have felt fairly calm on the course. I went through a lull in my second round where I felt like I was executing well but couldn't quite make any birdies, and I was getting a little bit antsy, but I stayed patient enough to continue making good choices. I felt like I could have posted a better score in round 2, but I know that my game is ready to play great this weekend.

This is exciting stuff! For the second consecutive week, I have myself in contention in a golf tournament. A rain-out thwarted the final-round move I was going to make last week, but a sunshiny weekend forecast (cold, but sunshiny) promises I will have two more rounds to find the top of the leaderboard this week. I'm pumped but will stay relaxed and continue to play intelligently. Come back for reports from both of the weekend rounds, and follow the action at www.ngatour.com. Thank you for keeping up with me!