Steph's Journal

So my last golf tournament wasn’t since March and boy did it show out there this week in Decatur, IL. I had so many emotions going back out on tour to compete. I went through everything from scared to play against all these girls who have been honing their game for the past few months, to not being able to sleep the night before because I was so excited to get out there and beat them all! Unfortunately, my golf swing had other things in mind.

I felt like I was mentally and physically prepared for this upcoming week. However, my lack of play on the course showed when I couldn’t get comfortable over some shots. With putting in so much time at work, I spent the majority of my practice on the driving range. This is great for when you’re working on a specific thing in the golf swing, but doesn’t do much for you when you need to pick out a certain target or have to shape a shot into a green with a tucked pin placement. There is only so much that can be accomplished on the range before you need to take all that knowledge and apply it on the golf course when you’re out facing all the elements.

Overall, I felt I struck the ball decently. Gave myself quite a few good birdie attempts over the first two days. Still being somewhat shaky and unsure about my swing, I left a few shots out to the right and made it very difficult on myself to get up and down. And with not making any birdies the first day, it’s tough to make up ground if you have a couple of bad holes. So, the night before the second round, I laid in bed dreaming of the ball falling into the hole after ever stroke of the putter. And guess what? Putts started to drop! Before I knew it, no matter where I was on the putting green, I could have closed my eyes and the putts would have gone in! I found myself at 4 under par through 12 holes with two bogeys included in that 4 under. Then, the bottom fell out. My lack of play on the course caught up to me. I proceeded to double bogey the next two holes and drop back to even. I’m not quite sure what happened. I remained calm and tried not to get frustrated. But, I knew at that point, unless I birdied the remainder of the holes, I was not going to be playing the weekend. So I approached #15 with only birdie in mind. I did manage to sink a 20 footer for birdie. However, after lip outs on the next two holes and the final hole leaving the putt 1 inch short in the heart of the hole, I saw my tournament hopes of playing the weekend come to an end.

Many great things came from making those 7 birdies, having 2 double bogeys, and missing the cut by 3 strokes. It showed that I can still play and that my golf swing hasn’t gone into hiding. I fought hard on Friday and proved to myself that golf can be easy and fun again. The harder you try doesn’t necessarily mean, the better you’re going to do. It just means that that may be why it has been so tough for me to relax on the course and shoot the scores I am capable of shooting. So it’s back to the drawing board, but at least now I have stuff to build off of. Don’t count me out yet! I’m just getting started!

Hello everyone! Well, it sure seems like summer came early this year in Florida. I’m not quite sure we had a spring. It went from being quite cold to 100 degree heat in a matter of a week! There are definitely certain days down here when you don’t even want to go outside! And although it’s hot, people are still golfing and the junior camps continue to run at Ibis where I work. I spent the week trying to give some tips to the young kids and make golf enjoyable for them. It seemed like they all learned something and had a good time. However, I think they (and me) had more fun with the water balloons we filled up for them at the end of the week. It sure did feel good though!

I am definitely ready to head to Decatur this week for the Duramed Futures Tour Championship. This is our longest running event. This city really knows how do it right. Aside from the great people I stay with all week and the home cooked meals, the golf course sets up the grandstands on the 18th so it really feels like I am back on the LPGA. We also get quite a lot of people out to the event to fill all those seats!

My game is coming along pretty well. I am still not at where I want to be with my putting but it has definitely improved! I am making a lot more putts than I have been, just not as many as I would like. I think everyone that plays golf can say that. This tournament is a 4 day event, so it is sure to bring lots of excitement all week. Be sure to be checking out the Duramed Futures Tour website for the updates! Wish me luck!

Well, I can’t say that I am overly thrilled with my play a couple weeks ago in Daytona Beach, FL. Actually, my I hit the ball fantastic! The best I have hit it in a long time. It was nice to be out there playing and not have to steer the ball to get it to where I wanted it to go. I felt relaxed and really enjoyed myself out there on the course. The only thing that let me down was my putting! I have never been a great putter, but over the past 3 years, I have come to be a good putter. And fortunately, have never been a bad putter. Meaning, I don’t have a lot of three putts. But, I cannot place myself in the great putting category…yet. I am a good enough putter that I make a couple putts that should be made on the course, average 2 putts a green on the others. However, if I am hitting the ball well and putting the ball close to the hole on my approach shots the majority of my day, I am not sinking the majority of those putts. And this cannot be if you want to be successful at golf and score well.

For example, the Daytona tournament. Friday and Saturday, I hit the ball phenomenal! I hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation. I’m not kidding when I say my average putt on those greens in regulation was about 15 feet. Sometimes quite a bit shorter. So, in saying that, I know it isn’t possible to make every putt out there. But, I would have liked to have made at least 40% of them! This was so not the case. Sunday was not as good as solid shots and not as close to the hole, so naturally it will be tougher to make the longer ones. Each day, I had a total of 35 putts! This number should really never go over 30 or 32 in my opinion. And should be considerably less if the greens in regulation were lower.

So, as you can see, I was happy with my play, just not my putting. I have been working with an instructor to try and get things a little more smooth and consistent. Putting is all confidence and feel. Sometimes, if you have those two things, it doesn’t matter if your technique is good or not, you will putt well. But, in my opinion, it is essential to have these two things to be a successful putter. I know I will get there, just will take some time. The below average putting to me that weekend just was made more apparent because I finally hit the ball the way I have wanted to. Back to the drawing board with the flat stick!

My next event will be next month where I will attempt to qualify the US Women’s Open. I have been wanting to play in this event since I have started my golf career and have to do it. Maybe this year will be the year. It is always a tough challenge playing 36 holes in one day, but I feel I am up for it! Once the putting comes around, this is definitely going to be a reality! Stay tuned!