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Hooters Winter Series – Southern Dunes

Kind of a disappointing week. I shot 75-73–148 (+4) and will miss the cut by 5 or 6 shots. I felt like I was swinging it decently coming in, but I just never seemed to be very precise out there this week. I missed a few too many greens, but never seemed to be far off when I missed and hit a lot of really good shots as well. On the whole I tended to miss in really difficult spots to save par from, and in the end my short game just couldn’t bail me out every time.

After numerous first round delays, we started the tournament three hours behind schedule which really threw off the tee times, especially for my side of the field. After making up some time during the day, I teed off for my first round at 3:50 yesterday and only finished six holes before play was suspended for darkness. I got off to a slow start yesterday making a dumb double bogey on my second hole after hitting the wrong club off the tee but managed to get a birdie in before we stopped play and went to bed last night +1 through 6 holes. We restarted this morning at 9 am and finished the first round at about noon. After the restart I was playing okay and had a chance to salvage my round, but I 3-putted my 17th hole and missed the green with a pitching wedge on my last hole of the day to close with two bogeys and shoot 75. We had 10 minutes to regroup and then head back out for the second round.

Early on in the second round I got off to a good start making two birdies and just missing a few other mid-range birdie tries, but I 3-putted the same hole I did in the first round and turned at -1 on the afternoon. I had been hitting some pretty good shots, and I thought that if I could get  a few putts to fall I’d have a chance to make a charge up to the cut line. I hit it to 15 feet on #’s 10 and 11, but missed both putts. I then hit it green-side in two shots on the par 5 12th and made birdie, but that’s where my steam ran out. I missed the next few greens in bad spots and just couldn’t find ways to save pars. Three straight bogeys did me in and I parred my last few to end the round and my tournament.

Going into yesterday I talked about how I was looking at this in some ways as the start of my process to set up next year, and in a lot of ways my feelings about my goals and plans are confirmed by this week. I am starting to feel a lot of the changes in my golf swing that I made this year take hold under pressure and yield some very exciting results. The biggest change I’ve been trying to make this year was to sync my arms and body more fluidly, and this week for the first time I could sense the improved transition feel natural as opposed to forced. That is an enormous step in the right direction. If I can keep making it more and more natural, I won’t have to think so much about it, and it won’t be nearly as difficult to execute. At times this year I’ve executed the transition the way I want to and have played well, but for consistent results in any aspect of your golf swing a move must be natural. That’s why this week is exciting and feels like another big step forward. Unfortunately, I feel like I’m currently fighting my swing plane, which causes me to hit shots off line, and therefore the work that I’ve put in and the changes I feel aren’t really rewarded all that much in my score. Going forward, I think I’ve laid a great foundation for success in 2010. I’ve got a practice plan that focuses on building on the base I’ve put in by emphasizing work on my short game and scoring while continuing to refine my golf swing. I’ve also got some great mental exercises to do that will help me stay sharp and focused. I think it’s gonna be a fun year ahead.

Obviously shooting 75-73 and missing a cut is not where I want to be with my game, but there was too much good going on this week to get too down on myself heading back home. I’ll be posting again sometime in the next week or so as a wrap up of 2009, and will probably post again shortly after that to do a 2010 preview. A lot of the mini-tour schedules were just recently released so I’m still in the thick of planning exactly what I’m going to do next year. I may pick up a few small events in Jan/Feb, but for sure I’ll be playing in the first eGolf Tour event of the year at Palmetto Hall in Hilton Head Island, SC February 17th-20th. Check back in over the next few weeks to get my thoughts on the past year and plans for the coming year. Thanks for watching and happy holidays.

Tim

2009
12/16
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Hooters Winter Series – Southern Dunes

After a few weeks back at home for Thanksgiving and a couple weeks of practice, I’m back on the road for my last event of the year, a Hooters Winter Series event in Haines City, FL. It’s the same format as the last two of these that I played; 54-hole tournament with a cut after 36 to the low 40 players and ties. This week’s course is a good test measuring about 7,250 yards and playing all of it. Central Florida has had a decent amount of rain this fall so while the fairways and rough and very lush from the rain, the ball just isn’t bouncing very much on the tee shots. There are sand traps all over the place with most holes having at least 6-8 bunkers on them. The greens are varying in size and shape but are relatively slow so the slopes in the greens don’t feel too severe. As opposed to the previous event that I played, there aren’t too many par 4’s that everyone will have wedges into, so mid-iron play will be much more of a factor, especially since the soft greens accept shots meaning you can still be aggressive if you have a 6-iron in your hand.

I’m looking forward to this week because I feel like I’ve been improving a lot lately in numerous aspects of my game and want to see my progress in tournament conditions. I’ve spent a lot of the last few weeks working on goals for 2010 and coming up with a plan to make them happen. I am working at and will continue to work at my golf swing, but a part of my plan is to step up my work on my short game and ingrain a few mental drills that are showing strong signs of giving me better confidence and focus. I’ve started implementing my plan during practice over the last week or so and feel like it is going to put me down the right path. I think that this week can be the start of the plan in action, so I’m excited to see how it goes.

I tee off tomorrow at 1:15 off #10 for the first round and at 9:00 off #1 on Wednesday for the second round. I’ve posted the links below and will most likely be posting again after the second round. Check back in then to see how things are going. Thanks for watching.

Leaderboard: http://ngawinter.tourgolfscores.com/public/tournament/index.cfm?tournament_id=184 (click on leaderboard link)
Course Info: http://www.southerndunes.com/course.asp

Tim

2009
12/14
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Hooters Winter Series – Stoneybrook Recap

After starting the week strong with a 68 and backing it up with a 72, I was hoping to make a run today but just couldn’t get any putts to fall. I fired a 71 posting two birdies against a lone bogey for an incredibly boring round. I didn’t hit my irons quite as precisely as I did in the first two rounds, so instead of numerous birdie tries inside 15 feet, I had most of my tries from 20-30 feet. It may not sound like a huge difference, but over the course of the round those feet add up and you tend to make fewer putts. I hit some better putts today than I had over the last few days, but lipped out six times as even well struck putts just didn’t seem to want to go in. I was at least able to move up a couple places to finish in a tie for 32nd and make $924 for my efforts.

Although it would have been nice to execute on the greens a little better than I did this week, seeing myself hit it really well for two days and solidly today is encouraging. I continue feel myself getting better and gaining confidence in my abilities to perform at this level. I’m really looking forward to the next few months when I can get in some great practice and play a few events to really solidify the work I’ve put in this year. Looking ahead I’m going to be away from tournaments for a few weeks to spend Thanksgiving at home and get some practice time in during December. I’m scheduled to play in another Hooters Winter Series event in central Florida December 15-17 to finish out my year.

I feel good about the direction I’m heading and am starting to organize myself for next year. I think continuing the things I’m doing now will keep me headed down the right path to prepare for my next event as well as getting ready for 2010. Check back in over the next few weeks for updates about the remainder of the year, and once I’m put together for next year I’ll post about my plans. Thanks for watching and if I don’t post again before next Thursday, have a happy Thanksgiving.

Tim

2009
11/19
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Archived 2009 Posts
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Hooters Winter Series – Stoneybrook Rounds 1 and 2

It’s been a decent week so far after firing rounds of 68-72–140 (-4) and making the cut on the number. For the first time in a while I’ve hit the ball light years better than how I’ve scored it, and in some ways that’s a sign of some big progress. Coming into the week I had started to feel pretty good about my ball-striking, and so far those feelings have been confirmed. So far I’ve hit 29 of 36 greens in regulation and most of the seven I’ve missed were just off the edge and were simple up-and-downs. I’ve only made two bogeys so far, and both came from swings that weren’t horrible; they just weren’t quite precise enough to produce a good result.

Unfortunately the reason I only made the cut by the skin of my teeth after such beautiful long game play has been my putting. In short it’s been terrible. Other than making a few 10-15 footers to start the tournament, I’ve struggled to make anything, even some gimmie range putts. Yesterday afternoon I gave myself numerous birdie tries from inside 15 feet and didn’t convert nearly as many as I would have liked. To top it off I closed the round missing two simple birdie tries inside 6 feet. Today was more of the same missing a couple really short ones and not making a single putt outside 6 feet on my way to making just a single birdie out of 14 tries.

Obviously it’s very frustrating to miss so many short putts that had they gone in would have put me only two or three shots off the lead. However, the biggest obstacle in the way of sustained success throughout the year was my ball-striking, and I’ve hit the ball spectacularly this week without feeling like I have to make perfect swings all the time. I think my last lessons hit on a root cause of some of the struggles I’ve had all year, and now I’m starting to execute the correct motion with more ease. This is a huge step in the right direction. As my swing continues to feel easier to execute, the better it will hold up under pressure. Going forward I know I can putt well and that this week has been an aberration so far, so feeling this sense of confidence in my long game I think is a harbinger of future success.

For tomorrow I tee off at 8 am off #10 and start the day in a tie for 35th place. My goal is to just focus on each and every shot just as any other round so far this week. I will say that a good round can do a lot for me; I’m only a few shots from being on the edge of the top 10, and luckily nobody behind me can catch me (one of the benefits of making the cut on the number, only upside from here!). I’ll definitely tweet the outcome when I finish and will try to get a post up tomorrow evening after I get home, so check back then to see if I can make a move up the leaderboard. Thanks for watching.

Tim

2009
11/18
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