May Update

Wow. I didn't realize how long it has been since my last post. Time has just really passed me by. Here's a recap on what's been going on since I got back from Georgia.

After playing in the Hooter's Tour event in Georgia, I came back to New Orleans and began preparing for the PGA Tour Zurich Qualifier. For me, it was a two-step process having to go through the pre-qualifer on the Friday before the actual tournament and then the qualifier the following Monday. In the pre-qualifier, I shot 71 which was good enough to get me through to Monday. It was a pretty solid round under windy conditions. Hopefully, one of these days when I make 6 birdies in a round I'll be able to shoot better than -1 under, but I was pleased to shoot under par and get through the first round. On Monday, it was a fight against the golfing god's from the very beginning.

[Before going any further, I want to rewind to the week leading up to the pre-qualifier. During this time, I decided to make a pretty significant change. After almost two years of playing the Bridgestone golf ball, I went back to the Titleist Pro-V1. It's the kind of ball I played before switching to Bridgestone so I didn't think it would be that big of a change. Well, making the switch has brought back some critical distance off the tee that I was losing with the other golf ball. I've hit more drives over 340 yards in the last two weeks than I've ever hit in my entire life. It's changed my game for the better and I look forward to continuing to work with it and getting used to new found distance]

So, back to Monday's round. On the very first hole, I hit driver (which is the same club I've hit off that tee the other 30 times I've played this golf course) except this time it went 30 yards further than normal. It ended up going through the fairway stopping a foot short of going into the water. The next shot I hit was with one shoeless foot in the lake and proceeded to make a triple bogey (7). Now, in a one-day qualifier with 70 guys competing for 4 spots, there just isn't any room to be making triple bogies....let alone on the first hole of the day.

Needless to say, I didn't qualify for the Zurich which was more than disappointing. That's probably the one tournament every year that I prepare the most for so Monday's round was very upsetting. Hopefully, I'll have another chance again next year.

I was able to spend a few days at the actual Zurich Classic here in New Orleans and it was good to watch some of the guys on tour play. I feel like I learned a lot and found some things that I need to work on. At the same time, however, it's refreshing to see them go through some of the same struggles that I go through. It let's me know that there's still hope.

This week, I played in an Adam's Tour event in Baton Rouge, LA at Santa Maria Golf Course. I wish I was writing about how my third round went right now, but unfortunately I didn't make the cut this week. I shot 75-78 which was not nearly good enough. I went overboard with some of the things that I had been working on in my swing and it was just plain bad. Luckily, I was able to figure out the problem the day before the tournament started but it was too late. I hit some good shots during both rounds, but if I had a shot that I wasn't comfortable hitting, I wasn't able to to trust what I knew I needed to do. One of the many vicious cycles to this crazy game. How to work on things to improve your game without overdoing it?

Now, I'm back home in New Orleans going through my usual practice routines. I've got the first stage of U.S. Open qualifying coming up next Monday at Money Hill Country Club. Hopefully this will be the start of getting things back on track. Hope everyone is doing well and I'll have more on the qualifier as the time gets near.