Football provides a fun twist to practice

The other morning I was lying in bed when at 6am I received a text message from Richard (my coach) telling me that he was on his way around my place to talk about my golf. Sure enough Rich rocked up and we got to chatting and discussing various aspects of my game. He mentioned that he wanted to put a little twist to the way I practiced. He didn't give too much away but he said to meet him the following day at the local football oval with a sand wedge and one ball. My interest was immediately sparked as I love football and I am always interested in learning.

So the following day I met Rich at the football oval and he explained to me exactly what we were going to do and what the purpose of it was. I would perform a series of sprints chasing down a football and delivering it back to Rich in as short amount of time as possible. Following six chase downs I was then to hit on shot at a target about 50 yards away. We repeated this several times. The purpose was to see how my mind and body reacted under a stressful situation. I really enjoyed both the football and then the challenge of hitting a good shot following. I learned that I perform my best when I am reactive. Occasionally, I can take a little long over the ball and as a result I am not as reactive to my vision. Being put in a stressful situation forced me to act naturally. Now the goal is to take this natural, reactive process to the practice tee and the golf course.

We were on the oval for a little under an hour and I was active the whole time. Altogether, I probably only hit about 10-12 shots which just goes to show that you don't have to beat balls for hours on end to have a productive practice session. I think the key to successful practice is having a purpose. Rich tells me that tennis is next. Again I'm very excited to try this and learn more. Keep an eye out for more to follow.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Oneasia and Australian Qualifying Schools

I have just arrived home in Brisbane after a great week in Melbourne where I competed in the Final stage of the Australasian PGA Tour qualifying school. The tournament was held at the Peninsula golf club on the southern outskirts of Melbourne. It is a beautiful golf course which is not long but is very difficult as it is narrow and severely punishes and wayward shots. It is very typical of most of the sandbelt courses, which I consider to be no doubt the best in Australia but also as good as any in the world.

I got to Melbourne a few days before the tournament to prepare as I new the style of golf in Melbourne is very contrasting from the style I have been playing the last five years in the States. I was able to get a good look at the course and get comfortable with the new environment. Unfortunately ,I didn't play well at all the first two rounds shooting scores or 77 and 75. Wet and windy conditions made it difficult however, it wasn't an excuse for the way I played. The final two rounds were solid but missed putts lead to scores of 74 and 72 for a 10 over par total and a tie for 44th position.

Despite this I was able to obtain an Australasian PGA Tour card and I also advanced to the final stage of the Oneasia qualifying school which will be held at Mission Hills in Hainan, China early next month. So, plenty to look forward as I have never been to Asia before, its an experience I am very much looking forward to. This means I have plenty of work to be done on the game over the Christmas break.

I want to wish everyone the best over the holiday season and give all my great friends back in freezing Minnesota a special hello.

Preparation

Since the Australian PGA qaulifyer which concluded Tuesday morning, I have been going about preparation for the final stage of the Australasian Qaulifying school which will be held down in Melbourne in a little over a weeks time. I have met with my coach Richard Harris a couple of times to work on my swing a little. I really enjoy working with Richard. I have been working with Richard since I was 13 years old. He has seen my swing develop over the years and knows exactly what produces my best golf shots, so having his eye on me gives me confidence that I am doing the right things. I prefer not to be working a lot in technique mode however, recently I feel as though it has been getting a little loose here and there so some maintenance work was needed. I am focusing solely on technique mode when I am down the range and then trying to get out onto the course each day with complete focus on play mode. This has traditionally been a transition that has been difficult for me but I am continuing to improve.

Last Wednesday night I had the opportunity to meet with a number of my old teammates from Minnesota. Andrew Tank was in town on a recruiting trip for Iowa State so all the Australian gophers [Bronson LaCassie, Simon Nash, John Hempstock(adopted) and myself] went out to a pub in town for a casual dinner and drinks. It was great to see all those guys and catch up, we had a great evening telling stories of our time at the U.

A soaked sunny coast brings a tuesday morning finish for Aussie PGA Qualifying

What was meant to be a 6:57am Monday tee time at Wynnum golf club on the east side of Brisbane became a 3pm Tee time at Horton park golf club two hours north on the Sunshine coast. The change was brought about by heaving rain in the area over a period of about three days. While the rain never stopped it did ease to where we could at least get onto the course. However, conditions were difficult. All these things presented an interesting challenge to me during the qualifying process. However, I kept in the the front of my mind that these were all things that I could not control and it was important for me to stay in the present with a mindful approach.
Despite having a good mental attitude it wasn't my day on Monday and at the close of the days play I was sitting at 2 over par through 13 holes. I was back early this morning for a 6am restart which meant I was up at 3am and on the road at 3:45am. Again this presents a great challenge and an opportunity to practice. I played the last five holes well making one birdie and four pars to finish the round with a one over par score of 73. Not what I was looking for but as always I will find positives where I can as well as area that need improvement.
I had my brother looping for me on the first day which was great. He did a very good job especially given how wet it was, keeping my clubs dry was not an easy job and he did it exceptionally well. Also, during the long delay I had the chance to catch up with a number of guys who I grew up playing junior and amateur golf with and see what they had been up to over the past four and a half years while I was in school. It was great to exchange stories.
Next for me is the final stage of the Australasian PGA Tour qualifying school. I will be heading down to Melbourne later next week. In the meantime I will work on my game a little with my coach to prepare.

My first 6 months

Following graduating from the University of Minnesota in late may I elected to turn professional right away. During the summer months I played some events on the Dakotas Tour as well as one or two others here and there. I enjoyed the opportunity these mini tour events presented me as I was able to gain valuable experience and continue to learn about my own game as well as try to improve every time I was out there. If I was to be completely honest I wasn't at all happy with the  shape of my game during the summer but I did manage to put a few scores together and make the cut in all 6 of the events I played. It wasn't until the end of the season, in my final two events, before I could notch a couple of top tens (5th at the North Dakota Open and 7th at the Dakotas Tour Championship). Despite not being on top of my game, all in all I would say that I was pleased with my play out on the Dakotas Tour.

Next came the USPGA Tour Qualifying School. I prepared very well in the weeks leading up to the pre qualifying stage and went down to Dallas confident in my abilities to go through the process and play well. I did that and moved on to the first stage, which would be held at the Dayton Valley Country Club outside of Carson City, Nevada. Here, I  would strike the ball average but a consistent putter helped to produce some low scores (72, 69, 70, 68) and advance me through to the second stage, which was held at the TPC Craig Ranch in Dallas, Texas. Again, I prepared well and went into the tournament feeling good and despite playing some solid golf over the four days some missed putts at inopportune times led to scores of 71, 73, 73, 71 and an even par week. 6 shots shy of the advancing number.

Failing to qualify for the final stage was very disappointing knowing that I had put a great amount of preparation into the process of working towards my goal. However, I left Dallas not discouraged, rather with a level of belief that I do belong out there on tour and a new determination to to work hard every day on the process of becoming the best player that I can be.

First Blog

Hey everyone, I have decided that like a few of my mates chasing their dream as a professional golfer I am going to regularly write a blog to keep everyone up to date with where I am in the world and how things are going with me and my exciting new journey as a professional golfer. I intend to update it once or twice a week and I may include things to do with my golf or if there are other more exciting things going on at that particular time I may choose to write about that. Don't expect me to be as detailed as our good friend Victor Almstrom but I do think you'll enjoy a quick glance every now and again just to see how things are going. Keep an eye out for my next blog