Sometimes I Stink

I am striving to be more consistent. What I'm really striving for, though, is to make my average days better. The truth of the matter is that I am going to stink sometimes. Golf is a performance sport, and no one can perform well all the time. Tiger Woods had us fooled for a lot of years when it seemed that he never played poorly. In truth, he simply had such a high personal standard for average that even when he played poorly, he was still good enough to produce results that seemed good to everyone else. Even Tiger stunk to his own standard, but his stinky play was good enough to look successful to the rest of us. When I say I am striving to be more consistent, what I am really looking for is to improve my personal standard of what average is. 

For the past several weeks, I have been trending towards stinky, and this past week in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, at the Honda Classic, I arrived at stink. With the exception of my scrambling around the greens, my game was pretty lousy. I was wayward off the tee, struggled badly with my approach shots, and looked a little bit lost at times on the greens. It was definitely a tough course, and my short game kept me in the tournament on Thursday as I posted an opening-round 73, but I was in trouble early and often on Friday as I posted a 77 to miss the cut by seven shots. The week before in Los Angeles, I wouldn't say that I stunk, but I was definitely playing on the bottom side of my average, and I ended up bogeying my 36th hole to miss the cut by one shot. In all reality, I've lived somewhere between low-average and stinky since the second tournament of this calendar year. 

The problem, however, isn't that I have been stinking. That is going to happen. The problem is that my personal standard of average isn't good enough yet. You see, if I play average golf, I am going to be surfing near the cut-line. I have proven that when I'm playing in the high end of my good range, I can win, but the great players are able to compete and give themselves chances to win tournaments even when playing just to their average. I need to improve my standard of average so that when I play averagely, I am competing for a good finish on Sundays. In doing so, I will also improve my great play and my stinky play. I don't think golf will ever again see a player like Tiger Woods in his prime. Tiger could win a tournament playing at level less than his personal average. I will never achieve that, but I do believe that I can get to a point where I play to my average for the first three rounds and have a chance to win if I play well on Sunday. That is what I'm working towards. 

I say all of that to make the point that no matter how good I get, I am always going to have individual shots, rounds, tournaments, and even stretches of time when I stink. So this little rough patch that I'm in right now is no big deal. I will come out of it and play well, and I will continue to work to improve my standard of average.

I am actually working really hard to improve right now. I feel like I came out of the brief little off-season (December) swinging really well after focusing on my swing mechanics a lot during that month. Then, during the course of playing tournaments seven of the first eight weeks of the year, I neglected my swing mechanics, and things got a little bit sloppy. I have put in a lot of work to improve my swing over the past 16 months, but I still have more modifications to make and a long way to go to feel like I own my swing. I am really excited to keep putting in the work to get better, though. I love to practice, and right now, I feel like so many great things are in store, so I'm motivated to put in the effort that will allow those great things to come to fruition. Right now that means focusing on my swing mechanics more than I might like to. I enjoy to play purely by feel, but for the time being, I'm going to consciously think about my swing mechanics because I know that will make me a better player in the long run. 

I was hoping to qualify for the field for this week's World Golf Championship in Miami, but my stinky play of late didn't get that done. So instead, I'm somewhere even cooler: HOME! I'm excited to have a week off to work and recharge at home. I'll be ready to go play well when I hit the road again for the Valspar Championship outside of Tampa, Florida, and then Mr. Arnold Palmer's Invitational at Bay Hill.

Thank you so much for following and supporting me. I know it's more fun to watch the good results than the stinky ones, but keep believing in me. I'm going to be moving forward. Great things are coming. Keep it here to share the journey with me!

A Beautiful Week at Pebble Beach

I love Pebble Beach. It is quite simply one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. My golf game was off this week, but I still had a great time. I leave Pebble Beach knowing that I have a little bit of work to do to get my swing clicking, but I also leave with a great sense of peace because the true AWE-someness of Pebble Beach reminds me that even in the struggles, I have the greatest job in the world.

I definitely have work to do. My iron play and wedge game were atrocious at times this week on the Monterey Peninsula, and my putting was quite poor, too. There are some encouraging things that I will take with me, though. I don't yet feel perfectly in control off the tee, but my driving stats were by far the best they have been all season. That is a good sign. More improtantly, I played well in the third round with my back against the wall. The cut occurs after the third round of this tournament, and having opened with 73, 73 (+2, total) at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, respectively, I was significantly on the outside of cut-line. In cool and breezy conditions, I played a nice round of 68 (-3) at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club on Saturday and earned myself a final-round tee time. Even in that good third round, I was still sloppy with my wedges and short irons on multiple occasions and struggled with my putter. But I kept hanging in there, and I did enough stuff right to make the cut. My sloppy play, particularly on the greens, cut up with me on Sunday as I ended the tournament with a three-over-par 75 at Pebble Beach. Even with that disappointing finish, I am excited about the fact that I could grind out a made cut with far less than my best stuff this week.

I know that I'm way better now than I was two years ago as a rookie on Tour, and I'm excited to keep improving and become more consistent.

From here, Alicia and I will travel down to Los Angeles for my first LA Open at the famed Riviera Country Club. After a week of rushed and often-frustrated practice at Pebble, I am ready to put in a focused, efficient, and productive week of work in Southern California. I know "that lovin' feeling" can re-appear quickly in golf, and I'm excited to go find it in LA. 

Lastly, I have to give a shout out to my amateur partner from this week at Pebble Beach. Don Colleran, a very legitimate 14 handicap, made the cut right on the number. He was as excited as me to be playing on Sunday, and he took advantage of the opportunity. He made three "natural" birdies for net eagles, and he played his final 10 holes in even par on his own ball, straight up. With his handicap, he posted a final-round 61 and vaulted up into solo third place in the pro-am competition! Way to go, Don!

I love Pebble Beach, and I'm sad to leave, but I'm also excited to go have another great week of doing my dream job. Bring it on, Riviera! 

Thank you for following me and for your support. Keep it here; great things are coming!

Deceptively Good in Phoenix

On paper--or on the PGA Tour website, more accurately--nothing about my week in Phoenix would appear overly positive. I missed the cut. I hit less than half of my fairways and less than half of my greens in regulation. With rounds of 71 and 72 (+1), I posted an over-par total for the first time all season. I still hate to miss a cut, but other than about 20 minutes of sulking on Friday evening, I have nothing but positive feelings about my week and my performance in Phoenix.

I really feel great about a lot that I did during the Phoenix Open. I had a great week of practice, and even though my stats certainly don't show it, I actually hit a lot of really shots in the tournament. I was swinging fearlessly (for the most part), and though I definitely wasn't sharp, I was in control with the exception of a couple wild misses on Thursday. My scrambling was a bright spot as I converted 16 of 18 up and down opportunities from within 50 yards of the hole. While it is poor to miss so many greens, short game numbers like that indicate that I was not missing by much and that I was missing in reasonable spots. I'm also particularly proud of the fact that I was five for five in scrambling from the sand. Shane and I have been working hard on my bunker play lately, and it is fun to see that work paying dividends. My short game was definitely strong in Phoenix, and I feel like my long game is close to being there, too.

I know that I need to have birdie putts to be successful. In total for 36 holes, I had just 16 birdie putts in Phoenix, and several of those were not reasonable looks. I know that is a problem, and I definitely need to continue to improve and strive for more consistency with my ball-striking. I am on the right path, though. My golf swing feels better and better to me all the time, so I know that if I continue to trust the work that I am doing, it's going to start clicking again.

One of the most positive things about the week in Phoenix was my attitude. Despite never really getting anything positive going from a scoring perspective, I stayed calm and played with a lot of freedom during my short stay in the tournament. I definitely got a little overwhelmed by the big crowd on number 16 my first time there, but I even took that in stride. I did start to press just a little bit down the stretch on Friday, but given that I was hovering right near the cut-line the entire tournament, I actually thought about it very little. I was happy with my mindset, and I am excited to continue playing with that type of process-oriented thinking.

Speaking of the cut-line... It didn't actually become official that I had missed the cut until early Saturday morning. I ended up finishing tied for 71st for the second tournament in a row. That is a big bummer because the top 70 and ties make the cut on the PGA Tour. I played in the early wave on Friday, and it seemed for most of the afternoon that my score would earn me a Saturday tee time. It wasn't to be, however, and that is okay. I actually made a gutsy par on my 36th hole to give myself a chance to make the cut. After an errant drive left me with a tough second shot from the fairway bunker, I hit my approach into a left green-side bunker some 90 feet from the right hole location. To make matters worse, I had to stand outside the bunker and reach way down below my feet to hit the shot. I hit a great bunker shot to leave myself about seven feet to save par and I rolled that putt right in the middle. It ended up not being quite enough to earn a weekend tee time, but it sure felt good to save that par at the time!

So, I definitely know that I need to hit the ball a little bit better, but I also know that I'm not far off. Alicia and I have already made the journey to Pebble Beach, and we are so excited to get another week started. My game is close to coming together. Great things are just around the corner. Thank you for following and believing in me. Please keep it here for an update from Pebble Beach!

Good Three Weeks To Start 2016

Alicia and I are home for a week off right now. I'm hungry to play, so it was a hard decision to skip an event, but I must admit that it is nice to enjoy HOME. We returned to East Tennessee from a three-tournament stretch that included one good result and two disappointing outcomes, but I am feeling great about our start to the 2016 portion of the season. We will use this time at home to rest, build on the positive things from the first three events, and prepare for another fun stretch of tournamnents that will begin next week. 

The Sony Open in Hawaii did not exactly go according to plan. Coming off a great week with a good result at the Tournament of Champions, I entered the week of the Sony with high expectations. I actually had a very nice week of practice and work, but I was never sharp on the course. I drove the ball erratically and struggled with my putter. Still, despite feeling like I was struggling, I posted scores of 69, 67 on the first two days and went to the weekend in position to make a positive move. I struggled mightily early in my round on Saturday, and though I came back to play my final nine holes in two under par, I posted a third-round 72 (+2). I was tied for 79th place after Saturday's round, and because so many people had made the cut, I was not allowed to play on Sunday. The Tour calls that an "MDF," which stands for "Made Cut, Did Not Finish." I still get credit for a made cut, but it was disappointing to play poorly on Saturday and not have the opportunity to compete in the final round. Even though it didn't always show during the tournament, I still had a nice week at the Sony Open and feel like I continued to improve. 

From Hawaii we traveled to La Quinta, California, for the Career Builder Challenge. The Career Builder is the old Bop Hope Classic, and it is still a pro-am format where the first three days of competition take place over three different courses. I never felt like a played badly there in the California desert, but I made three costly mistakes and never got hot with the putter. I posted rounds of 68, 70, 70 for an eight-under-par total, but I finished the first three days tied for 71st. In other words, I missed the cut. I was extremely disappointed on Saturday afternoon because I felt like I was close to playing very good golf, and I really hated to not have a chance to go compete on Sunday. It's no fun to miss a cut, and I'm pretty sure I will always hate it, but nothing about my performance in the desert has me worried. I actually saw some bright moments with my driver during the event, and I know that I can clean up the costly errors I made. I wasn't far from playing well, and I'll get it clicking. 

When I look back on the first three tournaments of the calendar year, I am really encouraged. From an outcome standpoint, I played ten rounds and accumulated a total of 27 under par. That's not great given the golf courses that I played, but 2.7-under-par per round is certainly not a bad statistic to build on moving forward. More importantly, when I look back over my practice log from the last three weeks, I see that I am doing good work, and I know that my game will keep progressing. Two specific things on which I am working very hard are my driving accuracy and my bunker play, and I'm happy to report that I saw some great signs in both of those areas during the last tournament. (Shout out to caddie Shane for the help in the bunkers!) I am proud of the way that I work and prepare, and I am confident that I will continue to achieve great things because of that. My first three tournament weeks of 2016 were a great start in that regard. 

I'm excited to keep getting better. Having this week off will help me do that. I'm going to play a lot this year, and that is a privilege to which I am very much looking forward, but I know it is something I need to approach with a bit of caution. Shane had to talk me out of signing up for this week's event because I badly wanted to play. If I had, I would be starting the year with at least eight consecutive weeks of tournament play. I know I could handle that, but weeks off are valuable, and I have earned the right to pick my schedule. I am going to make this week valuable by charging up and being ready when Alicia and I travel to Arizona for the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Sunday. 

Thank you for following me and believing in me. We are just getting started! Keep it here to enjoy the journey!

In case you missed it: Alicia and I hosted Inside the PGA Tour in Knoxville, and they did a nice job telling a little bit of our story. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2Nr2LgxKnE&feature=youtu.be

Catching Up from Hawaii

I'll start with the present. I'm currently getting ready to go to bed at 8:15 pm on Wednesday evening in Honolulu because I have a 7:30 tee time on Thursday morning in the first round of the Sony Open. I have had two really good days of preparation here on the island of Oahu, and I am feeling great heading into the tournament. Waialae Country Club, the host of the Sony Open, is one of my favorite courses on Tour, and I am ready to have a great event here. 

In addition to two good days of preparation here at the Sony Open, I am also carrying the good vibes of a solid performance from last week's Hyundai Tournament of Champions into this tournament. After a six-week break from competition, I teed it up in the winners-only tournament last week in Maui with high expectations for myself in 2016. I had put in a lot of hard, focused, intelligent work over the off-season, and I was ready to let that shine against an elite field to start the year. I began the tournament in an unsettling fashion by bogeying the first two holes, but I recovered to post a two-under-par round of 71 in my first round of the year. I followed that with rounds of 66, 69, 69 for a 17-under-par total and a tied-for-sixth-place finish in the tournament. It was a solid score and a solid result with which to start the year, and both my performance and the result validated the effort that I put in over the offseason. 

Playing in the Tournament of Champions was a very cool experience and one that I would like to have each and every year for the next few decades. I won't lie; it was extremely fun and even a little intimidating to share such an intimate tournament with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Bubba Watson, Zach Johnson, and other top players in the world. It was almost overwhelming, in fact, early in the week to look around at the players with whom I was sharing the practice facilities, but as the week wore on and the tournament began, I firmly grasped the facts that I had earned the right to be there and I belong in that company. What I cool feeling! And my play showed that I believe it. I truly believe that I belong in that tournament and among those players, and I'm ready to keep doing the work that will get me back there every January. 

I could tell several stories, golf and non-golf related, from the week in Maui, but I'll just mention some cool things in bullet-point format. 

-I saw sea turtles! I don't know anything about marine biology, but using my parent's snorkeling gear right off the beach in front of the hotel, I swam with sea turtles. 

-I shot -17 for four rounds without ever feeling like I putted as well as I can. 

-I got to see humpback whales breach from the golf course. 

-On the twelfth hole on Sunday, I hit a poor drive into the wind and it went into a bunker that was less that 250 yards to carry. When I got to the bunker, I couldn't even see my ball. It had plugged so deeply into the face of the sand that I had to remove some sand to identify my ball and then re-cover it. I was in a bad spot, but I swung hard and advanced my ball about six feet. From there, I faced a blind shot of about 180 yards into a strong wind from the first cut of rough. I hit a four iron into the sky ahead me. It ended up on the green about 25 feet from the hole, and I made that for par. It was one of the better pars of my life, and it helped me keep a solid round going on Sunday. 

My week in Maui was a great start to 2016. I'm really excited to keep following my plan and to continue improving, and I'm ready to have another good tournament in Hawaii at this week's Sony Open. 

Thank you for following me! Keep it here for another update later this week.

The Hard-Work Phase of the Off-Season

In my last post, I said that the term "off-season" can be a little misleading when used to describe my time away from competition. I don't like to take much time off, but this month I have actually done a really nice job of adding rest and time away from the golf course into my routine. Alicia and I have relished some lazy mornings from time to time here in December, and we enjoyed severel great days of Christmas-ing with both of our families. So I guess I have had something of an off-season, and I have really appreciated it!

With that said, I've also been getting after my golf game pretty hard, too. I took the week of Thanksgiving completely off from golf and the gym but have been back at both with quite a bit of energy since then. 

If you follow my blog regularly, you may remember me writing at the beginning of this PGA Tour season about replacing my Goal Board and the idea of big Outcome Goals with a more process-oriented Plan Board. Here it is:

That Plan Board is guiding my work. My Performance Goals and Personal Goals don't need a lot of explanation. My performance goals are simply statistical benchmarks for which I will strive thoughout the season. I did well in many of those areas in my five events of the Fall Series, but I can definitely continue to improve in all of them. As it says on my Plan Board, I want to continuously "work towards" my Performance Goals. My Personal Goals are simply statements about the character with which I want to live my life on and off of the golf course. I feel like if I am working towards my Performance Goals and living out my Personal Goals, it puts me in a great position to be successful. 

The part of this board that might require some explanation--and the part that is specifically applicable to the conversation of hard work--is my Process Goals. My Process Goals define my preparation. So what do "Practice 20, 20, 10" and "Fitness 25, 20, 5" mean? Simple. I have created for myself a Full Week Practice Schedule, Light Week Practice Schedule, Full Week Fitness Routine, and Light Week Fitness Routine. These schedules and routines simply lay out the practice drills and workouts that I will do during a full or light week of work. So, back to the 20, 20, 10 and 25, 20, 5. The 2015-2016 PGA Tour season--from the Fry's.com Open back in October through the Tour Championship in late September--covers exactly 50 calendar weeks. During those 50 weeks, I will complete 20 weeks of Full Practice Schedue, 20 weeks of Light Practice Schedule, and 10 weeks off from practice. Similarly, I will complete 25 weeks of Full Fitness Routine, 20 weeks of Light Fitness Routine, and 5 weeks off from fitness activities. Having my Process Goals structured this way holds me accountable to following a strong plan but allows me to have flexibility and rest when I need it, too. My Process Goals are really the basis for my success in golf. My improvement starts with following my process, and steady improvement is the reason that I have and will continue to achieve the things I want.  

As for what is contained in my Practice Schedules and Fitness Routines, I will just say that both are made up of a challenging but realistic set of expectations that work all areas of my golf game and my body. Following the Practice Schedules I have set up makes my practice fun because I am always trying to achieve goals and complete a task. It makes my practice very focused and intentional.  Similarly, following my Fitness Routines gives me extra motivation to get my work done in the gym and be prepared physically to be the best that I can be on the course. 

In the four weeks since Thanksgiving, I have completed my Full Fitness Routine all four weeks and have completed two weeks of Light Practice and one week of Full Practice. That is some pretty good work for the "off-season," and I am feeling great.

In addition to that work towards my Process Goals, I have also put in some really good work on my golf swing. I feel like my mechanics are continuing to develop and my swing is becoming more repeatable, more efficient, and more effective. It is cool for me to see how much working towards my Process Goals helps to integrate new swing feelings into my game quickly. Because I am always doing drills that require me to achieve some result, I am forced to balance "swing practice" with actually hitting shots to specific targets. Practicing in this way has allowed me to work on my golf swing without losing the target-orientation that has always allowed me to play well. The bottom line is that as my swing improves, I am improving my golf game right along with it. Though it sounds counterintuitive, those two do not always happen together. In this way, working on my Process Goals is helping me with the work that I am doing on my swing, too. 

I couldn't be happier with the way that I am following my Plan Board this off-season. That is the hard-work phase. Now, for just a minute, I get to have a little extra fun and enter the dream-big phase of the off-season. But, before I do, I want to make one thing clear: My Plan Board has replaced my Goal Board. I'm not into Outcome Goals. I want to play well; I want to win tournaments; I want to have a long and successful career at the highest level of golf. Those things are obvious. I don't need to write them down. Instead, I need to follow a great plan so that I can make them all happen. I have the great plan in place, and I'm going to follow it. The dream-big phase isn't about writing down specific outcome goals. It's more fun than that. It is day-dreaming about possibilities that are very realistic for me if I stay committed to my plan. 

Here are the things I day-dream about: 

Qualifying for and contending in major championships.

Climbing towards the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Winning the Fed-Ex Cup.

Playing on Ryder and Presidents Cup teams. 

See? Wasn't that fun? Now, here's the coolest part: I can make all of those things happen. 

That is the end of the dream-big phase of the off-season. It's time to get back to following my plan. That is the thing that is written down. That is the formula for success. That is the thing that I can control. It will bring me the results that I want. And, most importantly, following my plan is pretty darn fun, too!

Thank you very much for following me and for your support. The off-season is nearly over, and I'll be back in action next week at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Keep it here for more frequent reports as I get back into the tournament schedule. 

The Celebratory Phase of the Off-Season

As it applies to me, the term "off-season" might be a little misleading. I genuinely love to work at my profession. I made it a full seven days without practicing the week of Thanksgiving, but that felt like a very long time to me. I know the importance of rest, and I am certainly taking things fairly easy this month, but I love the process of getting better too much to spend much time away from golf. The off-season does offer an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the great things that happened over the past year, and we have certainly enjoyed doing some of that, but it is also the time to set the stage for an even better season moving forward. We have already celebrated, and I will continue enjoy some rest, but my focus is very clearly set on being prepared to reach new heights in 2016.

It is important to look back on 2015 and really celebrate all that I accomplished. After getting banged up from a confidence standpoint during my rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2014, I knew that I either needed to get better or find a different profession. I decided to do the former. I dedicated myself to a thorough plan that addressed all areas of my game during the long off-season preceding the start of the 2015 Web.com Tour schedule. I began the season with my sights set on returning to the PGA Tour, and I remember feeling confident. I won the fourth event of the Web.com Tour season, collected several other top-ten finishes, and finished the season number four on the money list. After the final event on the Web.com Tour, I had just one week off before the start of the 2015-2016 PGA Tour season. My second year on the PGA Tour started with a missed cut, but despite that, I knew that I was ready to compete at the highest level this time around. Three weeks later I won the Sanderson Farms Championship for my first PGA Tour win, and I collected another top-ten the next week in Mexico. Clearly, from simply looking at the results, there is a lot to celebrate this off-season. The thing that I will remember the most, and of which I am most proud, however, is the fact that I bounced back from a low point at the end of the year in 2014 to achieve what I did in 2015. I know that with the right plan and a smart work-ethic, I can achieve great things in golf. That knowledge is worth celebrating. 

Alicia and I have done a couple of things to celebrate the great year that we have had. First, we took a trip with our agents to New York City to see the MLB.com offices and to visit with another possible partner in KIND Snacks. I had never been to NYC before, so the trip was a thrill for me just to see that crazy place, but to get to spend time with our friends from MLB was special. They were super excited for the success that we have had, and also, just like me, ready and expectant for more of it. Getting to see the corporate offices of KIND Snacks was really cool also. I have greatly admired that company since finding out about them earlier this year, and my admiration grows the more I learn. No relationship with them is official, but whether I represent them in any way or not, I will enjoy their products and share their passion for trying to make the world a KINDer place. 

The other thing that we did to celebrate our year was host a dinner to say "thank you" to all of our friends who have supported us and made it possible for us to live the lives that we do. It was a great night, and it was amazing to see all of the people who showed up to share their love for us. I'm so thankful to Alicia for planning the party and making it happen. 

It is important to celebrate, and we did so with those two incredibly fun and fulfilling events this off-season, but now my focus is on making sure we have the need for another celebration dinner next December. I have been working on my golf game since the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and I am excited to say that I still feel like I am getting better. I have a three-day trip down to Florida scheduled for later this week so that I can get in some intense work, and I will continue to put in solid half-days of work here in Tennessee throughout this month. In my next post, I will describe what my practice and fitness goals are for this 2015-2016 PGA Tour season, but for now, just know that my off-season work is being guided by a focused plan. I am preparing to be better in 2016 than I was in 2015. That should make for a couple of fun celebrations next December. 

Thank you for following me and for your continued support. Keep it here for the next installment of my off-season series which will focus on my practice and fitness goals.