Practice

Yesterday started with a good workout to get back on my training schedule. I don't know why, but I've learned to enjoy working out a lot more than I used to. I guess it helps to see results as I have gained 20 pounds over the last 3 months. The entire afternoon was spent chipping and putting since the course was closed. That area of my game will see a significant amount of attention over the next two weeks. Way too many three-putts in my last two tournaments.

Yesterday, while at the gym, I was introduced to a guy who wants to start helping me in my training. He seems to know a lot about working out and nutrition so I decided to give him a chance. In exchange, I will be giving him a few golf lessons here and there. So this morning, we got together for the first time and had a great workout. I like having someone there to push me, as well as helping me do the exercises correctly. We plan on getting together again on Thursday. This afternoon I will be out on the driving range working on my swing. I've got some things I want to work on and I'm looking forward to improving every aspect of my game.

Home

Man it feels good to be home again. We left Houston this morning around 10, stopped in Lafayette to have lunch with one of Erika's friends, and finally pulled in around 5 this evening. Most of our time so far has been spent unpacking and catching up on house duties. Tomorrow will be much of the same. I plan on getting back on track with my work-out schedule and hopefully squeeze in a little practice even though everything is closed on Monday's. I've got the next two weeks to practice and prepare for my next tournament. I will be sure to keep yall updated on my progress.

Thanks to everybody for all yall's support. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who are pulling for me and always willing to help. I couldn't do this without yall.

Tigers move to #4. Scary!

Q-School Pre-Qualifying (Round 4)

Sorry for not getting to my blog after yesterday's round. As soon as we finished playing, Erika and I decided to just go ahead and drive to Houston last night. It was a good call because we got to spend a night with my sister and brother-in-law and save money spending one less night in the hotel.

Yesterday's round went better than the previous two. I shot a 73 which included a -1 under (34) on the front, followed by a +4 over (39) on the back. Again I was able to put together a series of really good holes, but still managed to make costly mistakes coming in. There were also 2 three-putts on the card for the back nine, which absolutely drives me crazy. The guys I played with were the nicest I've been paired with all week, and I think that had a lot to do with why I was more relaxed yesterday than any other. I was finally able to settle down early in the round and just have fun. I'm hoping that this is a start to a lot of tournament rounds played this way in the future.

The north Texas journey has come to an end, and I must say, it was a fantastic experience. I got to see new parts of the country, finally spend time with the person I love the most, and do what I love doing best. No matter the outcome, it was an adventure I'll never forget. I can't wait to get back home and begin practicing my butt off. There is a drive inside me that I've never had before and I know that there are only good things to come.

The Tigers play Miss State at 11:20 so I've got to get to a t.v. for that. GEAUX TIGERS! Tonight I get to see my best friend who also lives in Houston, and then tomorrow we're heading home.

Q-School Pre-Qualifying (Round 3)

Well I got into a pretty big fight today............with the golf course..........and I lost badly. It was a good 'ole fashion butt whoopin' on behalf of the Golf Club of Dallas, and I didn't appreciate it very much at all. Right out of the gate, I was taking jabs and uppercuts (in the form of penalty strokes, buried lies, and three putts) right on the chin. I was quickly praying for the bell to ring so I could go to my corner and re-group. Unfortunately the bell never rang, and everything got out of control very quickly. I turned at +7 over (42). The good news is I managed to string 8 pars in a row starting out on the back nine before making bogey on my last hole from the middle of the fairway. Sound familiar? With a 9-iron nonetheless. Grand Total: 78

The highlight of the day was that Erika made her debut as a caddie. The golf course provides push-carts for rent that you can use to push your clubs around and that's exactly what we did. I'll be the first to say that she did a great job and will be back on the bag tomorrow.

My assessment up to this point is that my swing just not "rehearsed" enough to last over time. I seem to find myself searching for swing thoughts during my rounds, because from one hole to the next, there's no telling what shot I'm going to hit. I've managed to put together a series of very good holes, and immediately follow them up with a bunch of bad holes. Putting is another area of concern for me right now as well. If there is anything I've learned from this experience so far it's that I've got a lot of work to do to get to where I want to be as a player. The encouraging part is that I can't wait to come home and get started. I know the level I want to get to and I know what I need to work on. I can definitely say that I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's going to take a miracle to get back into the hunt tomorrow, and that's exactly what I need. Don't know my tee time yet, but I'm sure I'll be starting on the back again.

Q-School Pre-Qualifying (Round 2)

Today's score: 75.
Weather condition: Perfect
So why did I shoot 5 strokes higher today when the weather was so good? Beats the heck out of me. Just goes to show that golf is a funny game. I even started off today with a birdie on my first hole. And again, I came out playing smart, hitting fairways and greens and making pars. However, around the 6th hole, I seemed to lose complete control over my distances. Everything was coming up short. 4 of the 7 bogies I made today were from right in the middle of the fairway. And 3 of those 4 were with wedges. That is just pathetic......plain and simple. Two other bogies were on par 3's were I had hit my shot right at the flag and one time I was short and the other was way long. It was just one of those days where no matter how hard I tried, nothing was working. The good news is, all of the mistakes I've been making are relatively easy to correct. Everyday I get more and more comfortable being back on the course and under tournament conditions. I'm still learning how to adjust to different courses, different environments and weather. But I guess that's just all apart of the process. The 75 dropped me into a tie for 37th so tomorrow I'll need to have a good round. Erika asked for something in the 60's so I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen. Tee time is 8:00 of #10.....AGAIN!

p.s. We ate a Joe's Crab Shack tonight. It was a first for me, and the most crab I've ever eaten at one time. But man was it good. 'Til next time......

Q-School Pre-Qualifying (Round 1)

First off, I want to say that I am glad to have this round over with. We started off by having a 2 hour weather delay before ever getting to tee off. So that was fun. (Side note: When Erika and I were sitting inside during the delay, I noticed that one of Jack Nicklaus' sons, Gary, was sitting next to us. We had a few laughs over it, and strange enough, I'm paired with him tomorrow.) Back to golf. The round started off well. I played a lot of smart shots as I was just trying to make pars. The weather was still very overcast and windy, so pars were good. At about the 5th hole, the rain started again. For the rest of that side, it was rainy and windy the whole time. On my 9th hole, (#18 since I teed off the back) the weather was at its worst. And it just so happens that #18 is the longest par 4 on the course and its uphill. After hitting driver in the fairway, and a 2-iron into the green it took another 4 strokes to get my ball in the hole which lead to a 6; double bogey! Before I teed off on the next hole, the rain had stopped and the wind was down. That's kind of a summary of how the weather was the whole day. I managed to shoot -2 under on the back nine and ended up at even par (70) for the day. I'm very pleased with my score for today. It's been a long time since I've played a tournament round of golf under the conditions like we had today, and it took a lot of patience and deep breaths. Luckily I had Erika there with me to carry the umbrella and extra rain gear when I wasn't using it. She was such a big help to me today and easily saved me a couple of strokes. Tee time tomorrow is 8:19 off #10 again. Right now I'm tied for 7th so let's hope I move up even more tomorrow.

Dallas - Practice Round (Day 2)

Today was another practice day. This time I was able to play the back nine, and man what a difference from the front nine. The back was full of hills, hidden creeks, and blind shots. I was glad that I had bought a yardage book because the back nine was a little more tricked up. However, with that being said, the course is still overall short in terms of length and fair with the way it's all laid out. I had one bogey and one birdie and the rest pars.

After playing, I hit a few more balls to tighten up some of the things I'm working on in my swing and putted for about an hour. The greens are still very tough to read and to get a feel for the speed. I plan on taking a little more time than usual when I'm putting tomorrow to help improve that part of my game. My tee time is 8:57 off #10. Wish me luck!

Dallas - Practice Round

Back in Dallas. Today was a practice day. I went out to the Golf Club of Dallas around 10am this morning and began getting a feel for the golf course. First stop was the putting green. I would of expected the greens here to be similar to ones I just played in Lubbock, but they are completely different. In Lubbock, the greens were bent grass which is very soft with little grain. These greens are bermuda which provide a harder surface and a lot more grain. This means the uphill putts are super slow and downhill ones are fast. I will be sure to get a lot more putting in tomorrow in order to get a good feel for them. After putting for over an hour, I went on to the driving range. There I was able to work out some of the kinks that gave me trouble on the back nine this past Friday. By the time I was done hitting, I felt pretty good about my swing.

The course wasn't open for play until 12:00 so around 12:15 I teed off for a practice round with a couple other guys I just met. I only played the front nine today and my opinion so far is that the course is just so so. They said that Dallas had received almost 15 inches of rain the last couple of weeks and it showed. The course was very wet. Even with the fairways being so wet, the course still played relatively short. None of the holes were really tricky or had anything dangerous to worry about. The only defense the course has so far is very small greens with severe rough all over. For the front nine, I made 2 birdies and a bogey with the rest pars. I feel much better now then I did on Friday. Hopefully tomorrow, things will get even better as I plan on playing the back and maybe even the front again.

Tigers move to #7.......just a little at a time.......a little at a time!

Round 2 - City Bank Open (Lubbock, TX)

Today I shot a 79. I was even par through 9-holes, and then all of sudden the wheels came off. There was even a shot today that I can say really changed the momentum of the way I was playing. It was #1 (my tenth hole since I started on the back today). Par 4. My drive was just off the fairway, about 95 yards to the hole. A perfect 58* wedge for me. Once I made contact, I knew something wasn't right. When I looked up, the ball was just above head high and screaming over the green. It must of flown 120 yards easily, and if it weren't for a few trees behind the green, Lord knows where it would of gone. I would love to know what caused the ball to react that way. Those of you who play golf would probably say, "you skulled it Aaron." And trust me, I would be the first to admit it if I did, but I swear I didn't. From this position, take my word for it, it's not where you want to be. I ended up making double bogey and in an instant everything was just spiraling out of control. I had told Erika as we were walking down the fairway on that hole that I needed to shoot under par on the back nine and I was right. The cut was at -2 under par. After making double, the nerves came back and I began trying to force everything throughout the rest of the round. And that never works. After a few more bogey's and another double, I was on my way to a 7-over (43) on the back nine for a grand total of 79. Ugghhh!

All in all, I want to take the positive out of this weeks tournament. Tournament golf is a whole different ball game, and to come back after 2 years and get that first round under par is a win for me. I would of loved to follow it up with another good round today, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. The good news is I'll have the next few days to practice and get ready for q-school, which is the main objective right now. Tomorrow, Erika and I will be heading back to Dallas to get settled in and ready for next weeks journey. I've enjoyed it here in Lubbock and would definitely come back again next year if its in the cards.

Round 1 - City Bank Open (Lubbock, TX)

Man am I glad to have this first round under my belt. Nerves are something that you can just never get used to or practice, and mine were with me the entire day. From the moment I teed off to the last putt on 18, I was feeling nervous the whole time. I guess now that I'm older I'm dealing with them a little better than I used to so I was able to manage a pretty good round. Plus, having my wife Erika with me has really helped calm me down throughout the day. Just one look at her and I can't help but smile.

Onto the round. I shot a 71 today. I made 4 birdies and 3 bogies, one of which came on the last hole. (I hate bogeying the last hole) It leaves such a bad taste in your mouth. But, I can't complain. After a 2 year hiatus, I'll take anything under par at this point. I feel like I played pretty smart all day. I managed my game well and avoided making any major mistakes. My putting was better than its been in the past, but I still had one three-putt on the card today. That's something that I'm working very hard to eliminate. I would rate my ball-striking at about a B+ which I will also take at this point. Now, after playing the course twice, I feel like tomorrow will be even better. Hopefully I will be able to settle down a little bit throughout the round and shoot something in the 60's. My dad always said, "shoot something with a 6 in front of it." Tee time tomorrow is 1:30.....I'm the last group off.

The first round of competition starts tomorrow. My tee time is 9:10, and as our family friend Coop would say...."that's a perfect time." Hopefully I will have some good news for yall tomorrow. Goodnight!

Practice Round

The practice round was a success. I got to meet up with an old friend who played on the LSU golf team with me. The course was definitely different then what I'm used to. One of the members at the club said that we're at 3,300 ft (which I find hard to believe.....maybe I heard that wrong) but nevertheless there was some tricky elevation that added a refreshing character to the course. It was also nice to see the ball go a little further now that I'm not below sea level. Tomorrow will be another practice day before Round 1. 'Til then.....

Lubbock

So Lubbock is in the middle of nowhere for those who haven't been.......or driven too. I didn't think we'd ever get here. If I ever come back it'll be thanks to Southwest. This also marks a first time I've seen 10,000 windmills (or vestas as these fancy ones are called) scattered randomly all over the place. Combine that with the amount of oil pumpjacks we saw and I think Texas has enough energy for the whole country. Or at least it seems that way. I was able to hit a few balls today for the first time in 4 days. Contact was made so that's good. Can't wait to play a practice round tomorrow, and get this week started.

p.s. Tigers moved to #9.......wooh!

Last Day

Well, I'm officially unemployed. Today was my last day working at the New Orleans Country Club. I've made a lot of friends over the last two years and I will certainly miss being there. I'm very excited to be starting a new endeavour and beginning another chapter in my life. Tomorrow, it's off to see the Tigers play and then on to Dallas, TX. Hopefully more good news to come. GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!