Hello again from the sunshine state,
This past week I competed in my second tournament of the season in Lake Wales, FL at Lake Wales CC. I played a practice round on Monday but was only able to get through 13 holes because of a storm approaching the golf course. I was able to get a good feeling for the course and was happy to see that the course was easy for walking since I wasn't going to have a caddie for this tournament. I played 9 holes on Tuesday and saw the rest of the back nine. My ball striking felt good those past two days which was exciting heading into the final two practice days before the first round on Friday. Since there were two pro-ams playing on Wednesday and I wasn't in either of them I had a good solid morning practice. I worked on putting drills, did some chipping and had a good range session. There was a mall nearby but it wasn't what I was expecting. It did pass some afternoon time and took my mind off golf. I played another 9 holes on Thursday and was ready for my first round to start on Friday!
In my first round I shot (-1) 71. I hit the ball well and had two bad three putts that should have never happened. I felt calm out there and was pretty happy with putting myself in a good position after the first round. My second round was a (+2) 74 which was a grind throughout the whole round. I had a lot of good birdie opportunities but wasn't able to capitalize on them. I still felt calm out there but I let some shots get to me a little bit more than in my first round. It was really windy during my second round and I was happy for not giving up while out there in tough conditions. The final round was Sunday and I shot (+5) 77. My final round was frustrating, particularly with my chipping. I had simple chips to pins that I did not execute well. Normally my short game is a part of my game that I can count on so that was disappointing to see my score go up with unsuccessful up & downs around the green. Even though my final score of (+6) 222 doesn't look great, I had a lot of good things happen during my round. I saw improvements in my ball striking since AZ, I had some really good sand saves, I feel I have gained some distance with my clubs, puand I was able to put myself in a good position on the leaderboard. I had it up to 14th place at one point during my final round which I saw once last year. It's a slow process but I'm gradually seeing the changes and the changes are heading in the right direction! I'm going to take what I learned from last week and use it to make this week's tournament at the IOA Golf Classic even better!
I feel a lot better so far with my practice and workout routine while on the road. Playing full time last year was a great experience and so far it is helping with my first two events. A big thank you goes to Bob and Gail for being a wonderful host family during my week in Lake Wales!
Onto the next tournament :)