Score: 82
It just wasn't going to happen. I'd reached the end of what I was able to milk out of the broken swing I was left to play with. Looking back, I wish I would of stayed a little more patient starting out in the second round. I knew I was going to have to shoot under par, but I just didn't know how much. After birdieing the first hole, I thought there was going to be a chance to put something together. However, it seemed like I was just shy of having enough control over my ball to squeeze out more than 1 good shot for every 5 taken. Once I made my first bogey, I felt like I had to birdie every hole.
From there on in, I was giving three or four shots back after every time I made a birdie. It was a combination of a slightly too aggressive game plan and not hitting it well enough to execute that game plan. And by the end of the round, I was hitting driver everywhere just trying to force a miracle.....it just wasn't meant to be.
We drove back to New Orleans this morning, and I've already had a "looksy" from Brian out here at English Turn. After 10 minutes, we had diagnosed the problem and I left the range today feeling better than ever. If only I knew a week ago what I know now, I might be writing this blog about how I am in contention to win tomorrow instead of sitting here at home two days earlier than I'd like to be.
But, I'm taking this situation and only looking forward. I've been saying throughout these last two weeks how if I could get my swing back to match my putting, I could find myself seriously competing in one of these next few tournaments. Still, it was nice to see some balls go in the hole and for once say that my putter actually helped me instead of the opposite. Now that it feels like I'm headed in a direction to finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together, who knows what could happen. I do know that the PGA Tour Zurich Qualifier is just around the corner and something tells me this could be the year. It's time to take my game to the next level and set higher expectations. At least that's what I think.
There are few things I might look into playing between now and the Qualifier, but so far that's the only thing written in stone. I'll definitely be home for at least a week before anything potentially comes up, so that means there will be a lot of practicing and playing in the near future. Thanks to everyone who continues to follow and support me in this journey to the PGA Tour. All the best!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Adam's Tour Southwest Louisiana Open (Lake Charles, LA) - First Round
Score: 76
I spoke to soon. Today was again a struggle with my swing and this time I wasn't able to save the round. I guess in a way I did a little cause it felt like my score could of been higher. I did have two 3-putts which should of been avoided, but it was all in all a bad day.
I started my round on the back nine and was never able to get anything going. Every hole I felt like I was fighting for pars, so there were no birdies to be found. This course is a lot more penal off the tee for errant shots and needless to say that was the biggest issue for me on the day. However, when I made the turn, I still felt like there was a chance I could get a few strokes back because the front nine is the easier side.
Unfortunately, it was more of the same except I was able to avoid making bogey's for the most part. There were some better shots there on the front side, but nothing that sparked the beginning of anything consistent. When I did find myself with a birdie putt, it seemed like I was always in that 25ft range and was never able to get one to fall. I did finally avoid getting shut out on the day by making birdie on the par-5 8th, but gave it right back with a 3-putt on the 9th (my last hole of the day).
After shooting 76, I'm certainly not out of range of making the cut, but I'm going to need something under par tomorrow. The course is playing pretty tough and the greens are hard and fast. I would think that if I can get back to +2 over that should be good. Hopefully, some of the things I was working on this afternoon after my round will be the start of better ball striking to come. My tee time tomorrow is 1:00 off #1.
I spoke to soon. Today was again a struggle with my swing and this time I wasn't able to save the round. I guess in a way I did a little cause it felt like my score could of been higher. I did have two 3-putts which should of been avoided, but it was all in all a bad day.
I started my round on the back nine and was never able to get anything going. Every hole I felt like I was fighting for pars, so there were no birdies to be found. This course is a lot more penal off the tee for errant shots and needless to say that was the biggest issue for me on the day. However, when I made the turn, I still felt like there was a chance I could get a few strokes back because the front nine is the easier side.
Unfortunately, it was more of the same except I was able to avoid making bogey's for the most part. There were some better shots there on the front side, but nothing that sparked the beginning of anything consistent. When I did find myself with a birdie putt, it seemed like I was always in that 25ft range and was never able to get one to fall. I did finally avoid getting shut out on the day by making birdie on the par-5 8th, but gave it right back with a 3-putt on the 9th (my last hole of the day).
After shooting 76, I'm certainly not out of range of making the cut, but I'm going to need something under par tomorrow. The course is playing pretty tough and the greens are hard and fast. I would think that if I can get back to +2 over that should be good. Hopefully, some of the things I was working on this afternoon after my round will be the start of better ball striking to come. My tee time tomorrow is 1:00 off #1.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Adam's Tour Southwest Louisiana Open (Lake Charles, LA) - Preview
We're here in Lake Charles, LA getting ready for the start of the next Adam's Tour event. The course we're playing is called The National Golf Club of Louisiana. This is one of the tournaments that I played last year, so I'm hoping that having a few rounds under my belt will help me this week.
Yesterday was the designated "practice round" day, and since I was in Lafayette, I wasn't able to play. Then today, the tour had their pro-am which took up the course almost the entire day. So, I was not able to get in a practice round before tomorrow and instead took a cart out late this evening and just road around. After seeing all the holes again, I feel like I've got a good game plan for the week and not playing a practice round shouldn't have any affect on how I play.
I was able to spend a few hours practicing this afternoon and I'm hoping that I may have figured out something that has been causing some of the struggles I've been having with my swing. Hopefully, I'm not speaking to soon, but I was pleased with the way I was hitting towards the end of my practice session. Also, the greens are in great shape so I expect my putting to only get better.
The winds are supposed to be up throughout the rest of this tournament. They're expecting gusts around 30mph which should make the course play pretty interesting. I'm off early tomorrow (8:30) so maybe I'll be able to get in 9 holes before the wind starts really blowing. Hope all is well with everyone!!
Yesterday was the designated "practice round" day, and since I was in Lafayette, I wasn't able to play. Then today, the tour had their pro-am which took up the course almost the entire day. So, I was not able to get in a practice round before tomorrow and instead took a cart out late this evening and just road around. After seeing all the holes again, I feel like I've got a good game plan for the week and not playing a practice round shouldn't have any affect on how I play.
I was able to spend a few hours practicing this afternoon and I'm hoping that I may have figured out something that has been causing some of the struggles I've been having with my swing. Hopefully, I'm not speaking to soon, but I was pleased with the way I was hitting towards the end of my practice session. Also, the greens are in great shape so I expect my putting to only get better.
The winds are supposed to be up throughout the rest of this tournament. They're expecting gusts around 30mph which should make the course play pretty interesting. I'm off early tomorrow (8:30) so maybe I'll be able to get in 9 holes before the wind starts really blowing. Hope all is well with everyone!!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Nationwide Tour - (Lafayette, LA) - Monday Qualifier
Score: 69
Today was the Monday Qualifier for the Nationwide Tour event in Lafayette, LA. Since you can see my score, you can tell that I played pretty well. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to miss a playoff by 1 stroke. There are about 90 guys for 7 spots and 68 is in as of right now. There are still people out there playing that teed off in the afternoon, but the winds are picking up and I doubt the number goes much lower. At the end of the day, it may take 67 but either way I'll be on the outside looking in.
It's frustrating that for the second time, one hole is going to cost me a chance at playing in a major tournament. Last year, I made double-bogey on the 12th hole at the PGA Tour Zurich Classic qualifier to miss by a shot and this time I made double-bogey on the 12th hole of a Nationwide Tour qualifier to miss by a shot.
The day started off pretty well. I missed a few good looks at birdie on holes #2, #3 and #5. Then, I 3-putted the par-5 6th from about 15ft. The two footer I had coming back for par went down in the hole and back out right at me. But from there, I strung together 5 straight birdies. The putter was hot to say the least. However, the 12th hole was the one road block of the day. It's a difficult hole, about 420yards into the wind with water and out-of-bounds surrounding the fairway. I pulled my drive just a hair and the wind made it turn over just a yard to far and ended up in the water. From there it was a struggle and four shots later I was in for a double-bogey 6.
That put me back at -2 under for the day and I knew that wasn't going to be good enough. I managed to birdie the par-5 14th and then gave myself good chances from about 12ft and closer on holes #15, #17 and #18. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to get any of them to fall and finished the day at -3 under par (69).
Overall, it was still a good day and anytime I can post a number in the 60's I'll be happy. I've just got to find a way to clean up my rounds in these one day qualifiers and then I might find myself teeing it up with the big boys some day. Once we realized I wasn't going to make, Erika and I drove over to Lake Charles, LA to get ready for the next Adam's Tour event which starts Wednesday.
Today was the Monday Qualifier for the Nationwide Tour event in Lafayette, LA. Since you can see my score, you can tell that I played pretty well. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to miss a playoff by 1 stroke. There are about 90 guys for 7 spots and 68 is in as of right now. There are still people out there playing that teed off in the afternoon, but the winds are picking up and I doubt the number goes much lower. At the end of the day, it may take 67 but either way I'll be on the outside looking in.
It's frustrating that for the second time, one hole is going to cost me a chance at playing in a major tournament. Last year, I made double-bogey on the 12th hole at the PGA Tour Zurich Classic qualifier to miss by a shot and this time I made double-bogey on the 12th hole of a Nationwide Tour qualifier to miss by a shot.
The day started off pretty well. I missed a few good looks at birdie on holes #2, #3 and #5. Then, I 3-putted the par-5 6th from about 15ft. The two footer I had coming back for par went down in the hole and back out right at me. But from there, I strung together 5 straight birdies. The putter was hot to say the least. However, the 12th hole was the one road block of the day. It's a difficult hole, about 420yards into the wind with water and out-of-bounds surrounding the fairway. I pulled my drive just a hair and the wind made it turn over just a yard to far and ended up in the water. From there it was a struggle and four shots later I was in for a double-bogey 6.
That put me back at -2 under for the day and I knew that wasn't going to be good enough. I managed to birdie the par-5 14th and then gave myself good chances from about 12ft and closer on holes #15, #17 and #18. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to get any of them to fall and finished the day at -3 under par (69).
Overall, it was still a good day and anytime I can post a number in the 60's I'll be happy. I've just got to find a way to clean up my rounds in these one day qualifiers and then I might find myself teeing it up with the big boys some day. Once we realized I wasn't going to make, Erika and I drove over to Lake Charles, LA to get ready for the next Adam's Tour event which starts Wednesday.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Adam's Tour - Coca Cola Classic - Final Round
Score: 73
Well, today was much the same as the previous three. It was again a battle with my swing trying to find some consistency. The day started out promising as I played the first three holes well executing every shot and just nearly missing a couple good looks at birdie. From there, things started to get a little shaky. I ended up making four bogeys on my first nine holes by way of some wayward shots and a three-putt on the 9th hole.
As I made the turn, I kept telling myself that I had been making birdies throughout this tournament and today was going to be no different. In my mind, all I was thinking was that I was going to make 5 birdies on the back side. After birdieing the first three holes, I was on a mission to birdie every hole. Another birdie on #5, and I was one shy of my goal. Unfortunately, I made two careless mistakes on holes #6 and #7 giving back a couple bogeys before birdieing the 18th hole to make number five. I was very proud of the way I fought back and remained positive after a poor front nine.
Overall, it was a successful week. I was able to get the most out of my rounds with the cards that I was dealt. It was certainly not my best ball striking week, but definitely one of the better putting tournaments I've had in a very long time. With the 73 today, I finished at -2 under for the tournament and in a tie for 35th place. Its a start, but there's still plenty of work to do before I'm able to put myself in position to really compete.
I'm now in Lafayette getting ready to play a practice round tomorrow. Monday is the qualifier for the Nationwide Tour event here in town. There are about 90 guys for 7 spots so I'll need to tighten my game up if I want to make it through. More to come on that soon.
Well, today was much the same as the previous three. It was again a battle with my swing trying to find some consistency. The day started out promising as I played the first three holes well executing every shot and just nearly missing a couple good looks at birdie. From there, things started to get a little shaky. I ended up making four bogeys on my first nine holes by way of some wayward shots and a three-putt on the 9th hole.
As I made the turn, I kept telling myself that I had been making birdies throughout this tournament and today was going to be no different. In my mind, all I was thinking was that I was going to make 5 birdies on the back side. After birdieing the first three holes, I was on a mission to birdie every hole. Another birdie on #5, and I was one shy of my goal. Unfortunately, I made two careless mistakes on holes #6 and #7 giving back a couple bogeys before birdieing the 18th hole to make number five. I was very proud of the way I fought back and remained positive after a poor front nine.
Overall, it was a successful week. I was able to get the most out of my rounds with the cards that I was dealt. It was certainly not my best ball striking week, but definitely one of the better putting tournaments I've had in a very long time. With the 73 today, I finished at -2 under for the tournament and in a tie for 35th place. Its a start, but there's still plenty of work to do before I'm able to put myself in position to really compete.
I'm now in Lafayette getting ready to play a practice round tomorrow. Monday is the qualifier for the Nationwide Tour event here in town. There are about 90 guys for 7 spots so I'll need to tighten my game up if I want to make it through. More to come on that soon.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Adam's Tour - Coca Cola Classic - Second & Third Rounds
Its hard getting a blog posted without having the internet and use of my laptop so here is a summary from yesterday and today. Yesterday was certainly better than the first. I was driving the ball better and finding the fairway more often. Because of that, I was able to attack more pins and wound up with 5 birdies for the day and a score of 70. It was good enough to make the cut by a shot. After two rounds, I felt like my putter had allowed me to get the most out of my rounds as possible. Not something I've ever been able to say before. In fact, after holing about a 30 footer on #18 for birdie, one of my playing partners uttered the words "man that was someputting" which was definitely the first time someone has ever said that about me. I couldn't help but smile.
Today, I was back fighting my swing again and really struggled to put the ball in positions to make birdies. Every now and then I would hit a good shot but it wasn't enough to get anything going. Finally, by the 14th hole I started feeling a little more in control and was able to reel off birdies on three of the last four holes for a second consecutive round of 70.
I'm definitely pleased to be where I'm at right now all things considered. For once, my swing has been costing me shots whereas my putting is helping me save shots. There's no telling what could happen if I put together a complete round here one of these days. I'll have one more shot tomorrow to really move up the leaderboard and finish this tournament off properly. I guess we'll just have to see what happens tomorrow.
Today, I was back fighting my swing again and really struggled to put the ball in positions to make birdies. Every now and then I would hit a good shot but it wasn't enough to get anything going. Finally, by the 14th hole I started feeling a little more in control and was able to reel off birdies on three of the last four holes for a second consecutive round of 70.
I'm definitely pleased to be where I'm at right now all things considered. For once, my swing has been costing me shots whereas my putting is helping me save shots. There's no telling what could happen if I put together a complete round here one of these days. I'll have one more shot tomorrow to really move up the leaderboard and finish this tournament off properly. I guess we'll just have to see what happens tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Adam's Tour - Coca Cola Classic - First Round
Score: 73
Sorry I wasn't able to get a preview up before the tournament started. The internet is not working at our hotel so I'm having to write this using my phone. Therefore, I'm going to keep this short and sweet because its not easy typing on this thing. Like I mentioned this past week, this is a course that I've played about 10 times before so I felt like I had a good game plan going into this event.
My swing today resembled what has been going on for about the last week or so now. I'll hit one shot good and then the next one bad. The confidence that I was feeling all last month has dropped off a bit. So basically when I had to hit a shot that I was a little uncomfortable with I often struggled. Ironically, it was my putting that actually allowed me to shoot 73 cause it could of been about 5 shots higher. So from that perspective, I've got some good thoughts to build off of.
The course is playing very fair. Conditions are perfect. I need to find the fairway a lot more often tomorrow and eliminate the unecessary bogies. Hopefully I can find the swing that was working so well not too long ago and put together a good round. Tomorrow's tee time is 8.20 off #1.
Sorry I wasn't able to get a preview up before the tournament started. The internet is not working at our hotel so I'm having to write this using my phone. Therefore, I'm going to keep this short and sweet because its not easy typing on this thing. Like I mentioned this past week, this is a course that I've played about 10 times before so I felt like I had a good game plan going into this event.
My swing today resembled what has been going on for about the last week or so now. I'll hit one shot good and then the next one bad. The confidence that I was feeling all last month has dropped off a bit. So basically when I had to hit a shot that I was a little uncomfortable with I often struggled. Ironically, it was my putting that actually allowed me to shoot 73 cause it could of been about 5 shots higher. So from that perspective, I've got some good thoughts to build off of.
The course is playing very fair. Conditions are perfect. I need to find the fairway a lot more often tomorrow and eliminate the unecessary bogies. Hopefully I can find the swing that was working so well not too long ago and put together a good round. Tomorrow's tee time is 8.20 off #1.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Gearin Up!
As we prepare to hit the road Monday, I wanted to share some last minute thoughts before we leave. Now that Mardi Gras is behind us, things have started to get back to normal. I've tried to fit in as much practice as possible in between all the parades and bad weather. Not that I was at all the parades, or any for that matter, but just living in New Orleans makes you feel the affects of Mardi Gras.
First off, I'm happy to say that my putting is getting better. If any of the rounds I've played lately are any indication then there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The new putter I've been working with seems to be giving me a better feel for the greens and more speed control. I'm finally starting to make some putts outside of 10ft and the 4 and 5 footers for par. I'm confident that the changes I've made will be very helpful going forward.
My swing has been as good as ever, and I think I can finally start to use the word "consistent" when describing my ball striking. I've got a good pattern going with my shots and I'm hitting it more solid than I ever have before. There was a tiny slump earlier in the week where I was struggling a bit. I was slipping back into some old habits, but after two solid days of practice yesterday and today, I'm back on track.
Monday, we leave for Alexandria, LA which is the location of my next tournament. It's the first Adam's Tour event of the year and so far it seems like it's going to be a full and exciting event. They've got practice rounds scheduled for Monday and late-afternoon Tuesday. The first round starts Wednesday. That's it for now. I'll have another update Tuesday night before the tournament. 'Til then......
First off, I'm happy to say that my putting is getting better. If any of the rounds I've played lately are any indication then there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The new putter I've been working with seems to be giving me a better feel for the greens and more speed control. I'm finally starting to make some putts outside of 10ft and the 4 and 5 footers for par. I'm confident that the changes I've made will be very helpful going forward.
My swing has been as good as ever, and I think I can finally start to use the word "consistent" when describing my ball striking. I've got a good pattern going with my shots and I'm hitting it more solid than I ever have before. There was a tiny slump earlier in the week where I was struggling a bit. I was slipping back into some old habits, but after two solid days of practice yesterday and today, I'm back on track.
Monday, we leave for Alexandria, LA which is the location of my next tournament. It's the first Adam's Tour event of the year and so far it seems like it's going to be a full and exciting event. They've got practice rounds scheduled for Monday and late-afternoon Tuesday. The first round starts Wednesday. That's it for now. I'll have another update Tuesday night before the tournament. 'Til then......
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