Getting Closer

Just finished my 4th event of the season on the Dakota’s Tour at the American State Bank Open. Some good, and some bad, but it all added up to another missed cut. It’s extremely frustrating getting the rust off, and it’s ALMOST there. I’m starting to get the feels I had when I was as playing tournaments consistently, making more birdies, draining some putts, but unfortunately a few mistakes have cost me.

I was extremely excited to play the first round because I was paired with Tim Ailes, a veteran on the mini tours and I knew I would learn something from, and boy I did. Tim hit 18 greens (that’s all of them for you keeping score), 12 fairways and never had stress shooting 66. After the round I asked him some questions about playing (never be afraid to get advice) and he told me that there’s a difference between being sharp, and tournament sharp. He said it was awesome how I fought back (being +3 after 5 and ended up playing in -4 from there eagling my last hole), but that I just needed to work on how I thought my way around the course which I heavily agree with. I learned a lot to take forward into next weeks event in Waterloo.

The second round was a little bit of what’s happened to me in the past on cut day, nerves cause mistakes that I normally never would make, but today was different in one major regard, I didn’t allow the bad start to rattle me. I doubled the second hole, and followed it up with a bogey, but I made two birdies on 6&9. I got off to another horrific start on the back, but made three more birdies coming in. I am SO CLOSE, but not quite there yet. Every week I get better. Every week I learn more. I just need to put it all together.

My biggest issue has been par 3’s, I can trace every missed cut to my par 3 play and this event is no exception. I was +1 for the event, and played the par 3’s in +7. Almost makes me sick thinking about it. One of the thing’s Tim told me was “when you pick a target you need to think of your shot as coming out of a shotgun, not a rifle.” I’ve been aiming my tee shots extremely aggressive, and my “misses”, which really are just normal dispersions, have hurt me. It will be my main focus going into next event. Most guys on the Korn Ferry Tour and about 50 guys on the PGA TOUR use a course management program called Decade Golf. It is something I am going to heavily look into, I know if I can manage courses better, I will get closer to my full potential.

I give a lot of credit to my better mental approach to Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect, which I’ve started reading again in detail, taking notes and really putting the stuff into practice. As well I’ve put into practice a 3 hole system. I am just trying to play every 3 hole segment in -1 or better . It makes me focus more on the moment, reset if there’s a bad stretch, and get some great bumps and encouragement throughout the round. Of the 12 possible segments I played 6 of them and hit the mark or better, including one stretch that I played in -3!

Tomorrow morning I am headed to Omaha to see my friend, and short game guru James Sieckmann. Excited to learn from him, pick his brain, and leave a better golfer!!

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream.” -Paulo Coehlo