Home in Brisbane

I touched down in Brisbane after nearly a three week stint on the road. I got in town about 5:30 on Australia day which gave me plenty of time to meet up with friends and have a few celebratory drinks.  We had a great evening and everyone was in top spirits even despite the devastation that has struck many of our closest friends. Today, I went down to some of our friends homes to help unload a few truck loads of villaboard that my old man had delivered for our friends whose homes were affected by the floods. It was the first time I had seen first hand inside homes that the waters reached. It is certainly crazy to see and until you see it with your own eyes its hard to imagine how such an event can happen and how much damage has occurred. I applaud everyone for battling on with a brave face and great attitude.

The Surf coast tournament in Tourquay the previous week was a little bit of a battle for me. After slipping to 5 over par through 11 holes in the first round I was able to salvage the round somewhat over the final 7 holes with a couple late birdies to finish with a 75, which I believe left me in about 90th position. For the most part I played solidly in the second round but dropped a couple late shots to finish with a 70 and put me at 1 over par at the end of the second days play. I would have to wait around all afternoon to see whether or not it would be good enough to make the cut. Unfortunately, I finished in a tie for 51st place which put me one shot and one player outside the cut line. A little difficult to swallow but sometimes that's the way things go in golf. I'm sure it wont be the last time it happens in my career.

As for now, I look forward to spending so time at home doing some practice and getting in the gym. I feel that I have plenty to work on after the last couple of weeks so I look forward to getting to it.

Hope everyone is doing well wherever you may be.

China/Flooded Brisbane

I have received a number of emails and facebook messages from people expressing the concerns regarding the floods in Brisbane. I want to say thanks very much for everyones concern and I have relayed your messages to my family in Brisbane. I have been away for a little over a week and won't be returning home until later in the month. I have been speaking constantly with my family and its definatley a very difficult time for many people. Everyone is pulling together to help out anyway that they can. Events like this really put the important things in life into a much clearer perspective. I know that at times I have been guilty of letting things that really don't carry that much importance in the big picture get me down. My thoughts are with the people who have been affected by the floods.

Last week I played in the final stage of the Oneasia tour school. The tournament was hosted by the Mission Hills golf club in Hainan, China. The course was quite open off the tee and had large contouring greens as its defence. It could play quite long but they moved the tees around so it didn't play to its full length of 7400yards. Overall my ball striking was poor and I had rounds of 77, 71, 75, 72 which left me outside the top 40. I'm no doubt disappointed with the way I played but I'm keeping a positive attitude and moving forward to the Surfcoast knockout, a new tournament on the Australasian tour this year which is held in Geelong just outside Melbourne. The event begins Thursday, I am heading down to Geelong tomorrow to meet up with Bronson LaCassie who I will be staying with during the week.

Keep an eye for my next blog.

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.