Drat

I played well today in the Monday qualifier for this week's Nationwide Tour event in Pittsburgh, but the final results certainly don't show it. Green Oaks Country Club is a fairly easy golf course tee to green, but becomes very demanding because of the severity of the slopes and speed of the greens. I handled the challenge well through 12 holes and recorded two birdies and no bogeys in the first two thirds of my round. The final six holes, however, were a different story. I hit a couple of really good shots on the 13th and 14th holes, but on both occasions, my ball found a way to end up in a less than desirable spot and I suffered back-to-back bogeys. A solid birdie on the par-five 15th gave me hope, but when I pushed a short par putt at the long par-three 16th and missed, I knew my fate. Disappointingly, I lost focus on the last two holes and played hockey on the greens to finish with two more bogeys despite having extremely make-able looks at birdie on each of the last two holes. The final tally for the day was a two-over-par 72. I played much better than that, however, and am still feeling good!

I am going to get on the road to head back home for another week of great practice. I won't get another shot at the Nationwide Tour for a little while, but I still have some exciting things coming up! Come back in the next few days for a practice report and to hear my plans for the near future. Thank you, again, for following me and for your support!

Feeling Prepared

I had a great week of practice this week. For the second straight week, I failed to finish a couple of my putting drills that are part of my process goals for the year, but it sure wasn't for a lack of trying. I spent hours on the practice green, but was having trouble finishing a couple of my drills. It's disappointing not finish all of my goals, but I did a stellar job with my fitness routine and wedge-play drills and feel great about all areas of my game.

I had a smooth drive to Pittsburgh, PA, yesterday afternoon and played a great practice round at Green Oaks Country Club today. Tomorrow morning at 7:48, I will tee off at Green Oaks in the Monday Qualifier for this week's Nationwide Tour event--the Mylan Classic at Southpointe Golf Club. The qualifying course, Green Oaks, is an extremely old school country club course featuring a lot of short, tree-lined holes that are well-protected by bunkers and rough with greens that are small, slopey, and absolutely lightning fast. If you read that description and think, "that's right up Peter's alley," you are exactly right! I really like this course, and I feel like I had a successful practice round today. The course will require some intelligence on shots into the greens and patience on and around them, but I know that I will have to pick some spots to be aggressive and make some birdies. I am ready to play a good round of golf, and know that if I can be focused for 18 holes, I will execute well and be successful.

I'm going to be relaxed and confident tomorrow. It should be a great day. Come back in the evening to hear all about it!

Great Practice; Going to Try Again!

I want to give a quick update of my week thus far and tell what is coming next. I have been having a good week of practice in my beautiful East Tennessee home. Some time with my family and even some extended family has been very relaxing, but I have also been working very hard on my fitness and my golf game. Some days of very good practice and a couple of great "friendly" matches have me feeling good about my game. A six-birdie, no-bogey round on a breezy day at Holston Hills on Thursday afternoon showed the benefits of the work I've been doing as my wedge play and putting were both very solid. I still have some work to do on my putting and wedges to finish my process goals for the week, but I am on the right track! It has been a very productive week, and I feel like I am continuing to get better.

I had told myself that I was going to be done chasing Monday Qualifiers for a while after the one in Knoxville this past week, but given how well I've been playing, I have decided that I need to drive to Pittsburgh, PA, to play in the Monday Qualifier for next week's Nationwide Tour event. I am playing well, and I know that if I stay patient and continue to believe in myself, I will get into an event soon. With that belief firmly in mind, I will hit the road tomorrow afternoon for Pittsburgh and give it another good effort on Monday!

Between now and then, I am going to have another good practice at home tomorrow morning and a good day of work learning the qualifying course on Sunday. It's going to be a productive weekend. Come back for a good report on Sunday night!

Heartbreak Kid (Monday Qualifier-wise)

The trend continues, but this time both the disappointment and the optimism are magnified. To make a long story short, I have once again come up one shot short of Monday Qualifying--this week for the Nationwide Tour's Knoxville Open.

To miss an event that is so close to my beautiful home and one in which I had great success last year makes this the most disappointing missed qualifier I have experienced. On the flip side, the manner in which I came so close today leaves me feeling as optimistic as ever about my game. I was packed with nervous energy this morning at the beginning of my round, but I did a great job channeling that energy and focusing on each shot. My execution was great, but unfortunately, I was a little too "amped" and had trouble controlling my distances over the first few holes. A terrible first putt on the third hole resulted in a three-putt bogey from just 30 feet away before an inexplicably long seven-iron approach from the fairway sailed over the fifth green leaving a tough up-and-down and resulting in a second bogey. I was two over par through five holes, but felt like I was executing well. From that point on, my golf was nearly flawless. Despite a couple of missed opportunities on the greens and two disappointing pars on back-to-back par 5's at numbers 9 and 10, I birdied six of the final 13 holes and made no bogeys in the stretch to post a four-under-par round of 67. At the end of the day, it worked out that exactly seven players shot 66 or better, so I was once again left on the outside, but I am extremely proud of my performance today.

Coming down the stretch, I knew my back was against the wall, but I also knew that I was executing well enough to make something great happen, and I almost did. I was just one under for my round heading to number 15. A great up-and-down for birdie at the par-5 15th preceded an aggressive tee shot down the watery 16th fairway to set up a short-iron approach and another birdie. A solid drive and a very good 8-iron approach into the 17th left me with a 20-foot putt from directly behind the hole, but a well-hit putt missed high of the hole. I went to the 450-ish yard 18th hole determined that I was going to make a two. A perfect drive took advantage of the wind at my back and got me to within 130 yards of green. Facing an uphill approach, I launched a pitching wedge up into the wind right at the flag. When I climbed the hill to the green, my ball was sitting four feet directly behind the hole. A great putt found the hole and capped off my round. It was so great to execute well down the stretch. My game is great, and I am ready for great things to happen.

This one hurts; there is no doubt about that, but I am going to have a strong week of practice this week and be ready for whatever is coming up next. I need a night to process some things in order to come up with a good plan moving forward, but I will come back in a day or two with an update of where I'll be heading next. Something good is coming in the near future, and I can't wait to make it happen and then share it with all of you! Thank you so much for your support and encouragement!

Great Week of Practice; Ready to Go!

I am feeling good! The last five days my practice has been very good and productive. I was determined to finish my process goals this week, and, though I came up two putting drills short today, I am incredibly pleased with my effort. I was against the eight-ball in terms of time this week after missing two days of practice on Monday and Tuesday because of the weather-delayed Monday Qaulifier in Kansas City and then spending the better part of Friday on the road, but I still completed all of my fitness goals, all of my wedge-play goals, and made a strong attempt at all of my putting goals. My wedge play really feels sharp after my practice this week, and, despite struggling to finish my last two drills today, I had great practice with the putter as well. I feel good all-around and am excited for some good things to happen in the near future.

Tomorrow is the Monday Qualifier for this year's Knoxville Open on the Nationwide Tour. I had a lot of success in that event last year, and am hopeful that I will get the chance to build on that success this year. I tee off at 10:00 o'clock tomorrow morning at Willow Creek Golf Club in the qualifier. I have played Willow Creek before, but, having not seen it in four or five years, I played a practice round on Saturday to refresh my memory. I am comfortable on that course. I know it will take a good round to qualify tomorrow, but I believe that I am prepared to play great. It will be very important that I stay in the present and do a good job of committing to each shot tomorrow, but I know that I am ready to do that. It should be a great day. Come back to hear all about it after the round!

Going to Get My Practice Back on Track

I have spent the last two and a half days in Columbia, MO, and have had three of my most productive practice sessions of the summer. My travel and competition calendar has been a bit hectic the past four weeks, and I have used that as an excuse to get lazy towards my practice and fitness goals. The process goals that I made for myself this year are very realistic and do not require that I push myself above-and-beyond what would be a productive amount of practice. What the goals do is keep my practice very focused and add an element of pressure to my practice. I am pleased with the way that I have been playing all summer and feel good about the amount of work that I have put into my golf game, but I know that if I complete my process goals each week, my practice will be more efficient and provide greater benefits to me in my competitions. With that in mind, this Wednesday I rededicated myself to achieving my process goals each week . I have had three great days of practice since then. Today I will drive home to beautiful Dandridge, Tennessee, where I will have two more good days of practice in preparation for the Monday Qualifier for next week's Nationwide Tour event--the Knoxville Open. My game still feels awesome, and I know that it is just going to keep getting better. That breakthrough for which I have been waiting might just come on home turf! Keep it here for another report heading into Monday.

Rock Barn Wrap-Up & More Monday Disappointment

I'm sure by now most of you have seen the final results from last week's Egolf event at Rock Barn Golf Club in North Carolina. I am sorry that this update is late. After shooting 73, 64 to make the cut right on the number, a fairly solid weekend performance of 69, 69 moved me up the leaderboard to finish in a tie for 21st. I felt very comfortable at Rock Barn and would have liked to have had a better finish than that, but I am very proud of the fact that I kept a good attitude and played with confidence all week despite struggling a little bit with my ball-striking and putting. I was one over par midway through each of my weekend rounds before finishing strongly both days to shoot some decent numbers. My iron play, wedge play, and putting were all a little off at Rock Barn, but I made good decisions (the last three rounds) and did enough things right to pick up a solid finish.

The tournament at Rock Barn was the last event of the regular season on the Egolf Tour. The second of my three outcome goals for the year was to finish in the top 20 on the Egolf Tour's money list. I am happy to report that I have achieved that goal. I am currently number 18 on the tour's overall money list and number 15 among Egolf Tour members. The reason I mention that last number is that the Egolf Tour pays for the top 20 finishers on its members' money list to go to PGA Tour Q-school in the fall. That means that I will have a 4,500 dollar burden lifted from my shoulders. I am excited to have achieved this goal. It shows that my game was fairly solid throughout the course of the year and that the practice that I am putting into my golf game is working. Having narrowly missed qualifying for the U.S. Open in June (the third of my outcome goals for the year), it feels good to put a check mark next to this goal!

Speaking of my outcome goals, my number one goal for the year is to earn enough money on the Nationwide Tour to qualify for its Tour Championship in October. Despite playing well and having some close calls, I have not made any concrete progress towards this goal because I have not succeeded in Monday Qualifying for any Nationwide Tour events yet. I am certainly behind the proverbial eight ball in terms of achieving this goal, but I highly believe that it is still possible. The Nationwide Tour has a handful of events remaining before the Tour Championship, and I am confident that I can get on a run and play multiple events as soon as I get into one.

Unfortunately, I won't be making that first Nationwide Tour start of the year this week. The Monday Qualifier for this week's event in Kansas City was a bit of a weather-delayed nightmare. I was slated to tee off at 11:27 yesterday morning, but morning storms and torrential rainfall delayed tee times just over five hours, so it was a 4:45 in the afternoon before I teed off. The course was not in great shape by the time I got to it, but I was determined to be mentally tough and have a good day. Because play was horribly slow, I got in just 13 holes before dark, but I played fairly solidly and made three birdies and no bogies on Monday. I had to return to the course to play the final five holes this (Tuesday) morning, and I felt pretty good. With a fairly strong wind blowing, I made solid pars on holes 14-16 and hit a good drive on the par-5 17th. Facing a strong left-to-right wind and 270 yards to a green fronted by a pond, I hit a perfect lay-up shot down the fairway and left myself 85 yards to the flag. I hit a crisp wedge shot, but let the ball float a little too much in the cross-wind and my ball settled eight feet right of the hole. From there I faced a slick putt with at least a foot of right to left break, but I felt good about it and expected to make it. I didn't. I hit a very stupid putt. Having visions of the quick putt leaking low of the hole, I gave it a little extra speed to help it hold its line, and I rammed it through the break, and it rolled some five feet past the hole. I was fairly calm and went through my routine well on the ensuing par putt, but did not hit a very good putt and suffered a very disappointing bogey. A par on the difficult par-4 18th left me with a score of 70 and one shot short of qualifying. It is hard to swallow another close call leaving me on the outside, but I need to remain encouraged by the fact that my game is good enough to have me in these positions so often.

My game is still feeling good. I need to have some good practice this week because I have definitely been a little loose with my ball-striking the past couple weeks, but I am happy about how well I am able to hold rounds together even though things feel a little bit off. My wedge play needs some more attention as does my putting, but I know that the work I have done all year on those two areas of my game has me in great shape moving forward. I still think I can achieve my goal of getting to the Nationwide Tour's Tour Championship, and a good week of practice this week will help me move towards that next week when I tee it up in the Monday Qualifier for the Nationwide Tour's Knoxville Open. I know that my breakthrough is coming, and it would be very storybook-ish to have it happen at home!

Thank you all for following me and for your continued support. I really enjoy the encouragement I receive from you! Great things are coming. Keep it here to hear all the news.