Archive for June 2008

The Futures Tour has had a tournament in Ohio for the past 20 years. So when I started playing back in 2001, we traveled to Lima, OH. This was a great event here because it had been held at this site for at least 10 years. The community always knew when we were coming to town and always very excited. This is very important when traveling all over the country, to feel welcome and make sure the community has a good time with the event.

Anyway, the site in Lima could not afford to hold the tournament for another year starting back in 2005. However, the state of Ohio still thought it was important to have the Futures Tour still traveling there. So after Lima, we headed to Batavia, OH near Cinncinnati. This course was fantastic and I saw a lot of familiar faces from Lima. But again, the site needed to be moved again and we ended up in Mason, OH. We played at The Golf Center of King’s Island. A Senior PGA tour event along with LPGA events have been hosted there. This center is also currently holding many professional tennis tournaments.

So this area is no stranger on how to run a high quality professional event. I’m not “behind the lines” of running the event, but it appeared to me that everything ran smoothly and we had some really nice crowds out for the tournament. The community was more than excited to have us in the area. I was shown first hand how welcome we were there with the couple we stayed with. I was pampered all week and felt very comfortable staying there. My mom even had a chance to experience the life of a professional golfer in housing. She made the trip out for the event and also got to stay with me.

My housing hosts were very accommodating and made me feel happy to be there. I was so comfortable, I asked one of my housing hosts, Dave, to caddy for me. Always good to have some local knowledge of the course. He did a fantastic job and even out ran me on a few holes with the bag on his back! So not only did I have a great place to stay and a great golf course, I had a very nice fan club all week: my mom, my caddy, his wife, Sharon, & also two very good friends Angie & Lori. I hope they enjoyed watching the golf as much as I enjoyed seeing all of them! Thank you guys, you made my week one to never forget!!!

The other day I was trying to count how many times last year I was in one of the lead groups going into Sunday’s final round or any round for that matter. I know it wasn’t good when my head started to hurt from all the strain, ha ha. In fact, I know of only one time last year I was fortunate enough to do so. But, this year, after only 6 events, I have been in the final groups 4 out of the last 6 tournaments! Only a quarter of the way through the season, and I have crushed my progress from last year. I am feeling more confident, more prepared, and definitely enjoying myself more out on the course.

I don’t want to be mistaken. Just because I am playing a little better, that is not what is making me happy. What’s making me happy is that I am learning play & have fun with the game again. I know I am a good player. I know I can compete with the best, I’ve done it. So no need to keep putting pressure on myself to perform.

On the Futures Tour website every year, they have a virtual player which always scores even par. This player is put up against the actual players on tour to see how they would match up on the money list. At the end of the year last year, the virtual player was #1 on the list. I was reminded of this in an e-mail a few weeks back from a great guy I met while playing in a pro am in Maryland. If there ever is a time on the course I start to make a couple of mistakes and take a bogey or two, I think of this. So at that point, my goal out there is just to get back to even par. I know if I can accomplish this, I am going to do well for that day. It is amazing how your mentality switches when taking this approach. It seems almost easy to shoot par. Then, shooting under par is just another stroke away. I credit this to my consistency the past couple weeks.

My goals as a professional golfer are slightly different then the average amateur player. However, I think this mentality can work for everyone. Your goal may not be even par, it could be breaking 80, 90, etc. Or even maybe hitting more greens in regulation or having less than thirty putts in a round. Try it, I think you will find your scores, as well as your attitude improving. Thank you, Ed! Check back next week to see how the upcoming event in Ohio turns out!

Has anyone ever been to Lake Geneva, WI? I think this may be one of my most favorite parts of the country the Futures Tour visits each year. From just about every hole on the course you get a great view of the the lake. The courses aren’t actually on Lake Geneva, but on the other one which is Lake Como. The house I stay while I am there is also on the lake. Just about a half a lob wedge away! I am never in a bad mood when I stay here because everything is so beautiful to look at. On the whole, I was happy with my playing this past weekend. My greens in regulation were up, as well as my fairways. I only missed 5 fairways the entire weekend. And the ones I did miss, were only in the second cut. It’s always easier playing from the middle of the fairway rather then the rough or even a hazard. I was hitting a lot more greens as well.

However, I seemed to have left my putting stroke in Pennsylvania when I was home last week. I started the first round with 4 three putts and 2 three putts from the fringe. Saturday was a little bit better with only 1 three putt but I also threw a 4 putt in there! I haven’t had one of those in a long time. These greens had a lot of slope to them and I thought the speed of them were kind of inconsistent. That’s not much of an excuse, because everyone had to putt them. But I talked to a lot of the other players and they seemed to have the same problem. Which made me feel a little better.

So for our upcoming off week, I am going to spending a lot of time on the putting green to get ready for our major championship in Decatur, IL in a couple of weeks. That golf course will be very different in that it is more open and flat. I definitely need to get the putter going for that week! The good news is, my putting never seems to go away for too long, so I am really looking forward to that tournament. Hope everyone has a good week!