Timacuan G.C. - Practice Round

The practice round went well today. It was nice to get back on a course that I've played before. There's a certain level of comfort that comes with being in an area where you grew up. I hope that will translate into a few less nerves this week and lead to some good scores.

The course plays at around 7,000 yards in total distance. The most important key to playing well this week will be driving the ball straight off the tee. There's trouble on every hole whether it be water or out of bounds. I'd say over half of the holes are tight near the landing area. The good news is that all of the par 5's are reachable in two (weather permitting) and the par 3's are very fair. So, the game plan will be to play the par 4's smartly, and try to take advantage of the par 5's.

The forecast this week is very good so far. I'm still struggling with the consistency in my swing, but when things are clicking I'm hitting it as good as I ever have. Let's hope the good shows up tomorrow. Tee time tomorrow is 8:18 off #10. I can't wait to get back out there again.....!

Back in Florida

We're back in Orlando again. Erika and I had a fun weekend with her family in Baton Rouge, LA before flying out this afternoon. The win by LSU on Saturday certainly helped out a little. I'm glad we're done with football until January because I don't think I can take another nail-biter this year. Right now we're pulling for a bid to the Capital One bowl game because that would mean we'd have both our families in Orlando together. I think we have a pretty good shot.

Tomorrow, we'll be heading north to Lake Mary, FL for our next tournament. This week we'll be playing at Timacuan Country Club which is a course I've played before. In fact, my freshman year of high school I won our conference championship there so I've got some pretty good memories to build on. We plan on staying up that way the next couple of days since it's about an hour from where my parents live. I'll have more tomorrow after my practice round. 'Til then..........

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope yall all had a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving feast. Erika and I just got back from Houston after visiting some family and friends for the last couple of days. It was great to see everyone especially since I don't get over that way too often. We actually go two Thanksgiving's because we did an early meal on Tuesday with her family as well. The only thing better than Thanksgiving is two Thanksgiving's.

This week's been very busy. I've managed to practice as much as possible and get to the gym a few times. Today will be much of the same and then we're heading to Baton Rouge for the football game tomorrow night. On Sunday, we'll be flying back to Orlando to get ready for the December series of tournaments. I want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. I'll have an update when we get back to Florida. Take care!

Back Home

Just wanted to let everyone know we've made it back home to New Orleans safe and sound. It feels good to back. I already put in a good workout at the gym. I was looking forward to that for a long time. We'll be spending the next few days getting settled in and practicing as much as possible. Good luck to the Tigers tomorrow.

Stoneybrook East - Second Round

Score:  72

Well, it wasn't the score that I needed, but it was still a solid round of golf.  The focus that was lacking yesterday, was a lot better today.  From start to finish, I played very consistently.  On the front nine, I made 8 par's and 1 birdie.  On the back, I made 3 bogie's and 2 birdie's.  Two of the bogie's I made on the back nine came as a result of me trying to be aggressive coming in.  I knew that if I wanted to have any chance of making the cut, I needed to pretty much birdie every hole.  I was hitting drivers on hole's that wouldn't normally be, and taking dead aim at every flag.  And for the most part, it went well.  I executed most of the shots like I wanted, but unfortunately the aggressive style cost me a couple strokes.  

The biggest issue again today was my putting.  However, this time, it wasn't a lack of feel or speed on the greens.  I probably had more birdie putts from 15 feet than I've ever had in a single round before.  I was hitting good putts with the speed that I wanted, but nothing was going in.  It was just one of those days.  On #15, I did make a putt from about 60 feet.  I guess I used everything up on that one hole.  

So, I didn't make the cut this week, but I still feel good about how my game is progressing.  It's been two months now since I've started back playing competitively, and I can definitely say that I'm starting to get the confidence back that I need.  To me, that's the most important thing in order to be successful as a professional golfer.....or anything really for that matter.  And the only way to achieve that level of confidence is to keep playing.  

Our November series has come to an end.  Erika and I will be flying back to New Orleans on Friday.  It'll be good to get back home and see everyone again.  I can tell you that I'm very anxious to get back in the gym and continue working towards the goals that I've set there.  I also anticipate playing as much golf as I can to keep improving and be ready to play once the tour starts back up in December.  'Til next time......

Stoneybrook East - First Round

Score:  77

I definitely missed a good opportunity today.  The weather was perfect.  The course was set up about as easy as it gets.  There are no excuses for not putting up a good round today.  As I look back on my round and try to figure out what happened, I feel like I just never got focused and ready to play.  I made 7 bogie's today and only one of them was legitimate.  I missed some really easy shots all throughout my round today for no reason.  Usually with a round as high as 77, there would be some sort of struggle with a certain part of my game that would cause that.  I guess my struggle today was getting focused.  Simply put; I made too many stupid mistakes.

As easy as the course and conditions were today, the scores are consequently pretty low.  My 77 has put me in a tough position going into tomorrow.  I expect the cut to be around -2/-3 under par which means I need put together a great round.  The good news is it can be done.  There are a lot of birdies out there and my goal tomorrow is to just concentrate as much as I can on one shot at a time.  We'll see what happens.... 

Stoneybrook East - Preview

The course we're playing this week is called Stoneybrook East. It's on the southeast side of Orlando about 30 minutes from my parents house. I went out to the course after lunch and got some good practice in. The course is very similar to North Shore which is where I played my first event. There's lots of water and houses surrounding most of the holes. The overall length of the course is fairly short and has the typical big, rolling greens that I'm starting to notice a lot more down here. Growing up on the north side of Orlando, the courses that I grew up playing were older and the greens were not quite as big. A lot of the newer places that are being built have big greens with a surprising amount of slope. Because of this, it makes putting even that much more difficult and can be challenging when judging the speed around the greens. But everyday, I feel that I'm getting more and more adapted to this style.

My tee time tomorrow is 7:42. The forecast is supposed to be mid-80's and sunny; it doesn't get any better than that.