Summer Update

My 2017 golf season has been filled with qualifiers for PGA Tour events and Web.com events.  I've only played a few regular mini-tour events.  My thinking behind this scheduling was that I have the financial security to "bet big" on these qualifiers without the need to make money in the small mini-tour events.  Half way through the year I've only been able to make it through one qualifier, but it was a good one.  I played in the PGA Tour event down in Puerto Rico in March.  I missed the cut, but the week was very special and I was able to walk away from the tournament with some strong motivation to get into another PGA Tour event.

The rest of the summer will be a mix of qualifiers and 3-4 days tournaments.  I love the idea of qualifying for Web.com or PGA Tour events, but I also need to make sure my game is prepared for longer tournaments - most notably Web.com Q-School in the fall.  The qualifiers are 1 day shootouts.  Sprints to the finish line.  Your chances of qualifying can be serious hurt with one bad hole.  On the other hand, the 3-4 day events are marathons where you have time to rebound from one bad hole or a bad start.  My schedule is posted along the right side of my website.

This has been a completely different type of golf for me than any other year.  In the past, I was all about scheduling tournaments where I could make money and if there happened to be a Monday qualifier nearby, maybe I would add that to my schedule.  I had always been concerned about my finances and doing everything I could to afford my entry fees and my travel costs.  At the start of this year, I realized that I could spend nearly $50,000 chasing Monday qualifiers, without making a single dime in other golf tournaments, and I'd still have enough money to pay for Q-school in the fall and have enough to get started in 2018.

So here we are on June 1st, and I've only made $2,000 playing golf tournaments this year. Haha.  That number sounds horrible on its own, but I know I'm working hard on my game and making sure that I'm mentally fresh for Q-School.  From now until the end of the year, about half of my tournaments are qualifiers and half are money making events.  That's a good mix of tourneys that will help me assess where my game is and what I need to work out.

Until next time,
Neil

Start of the 2017 Season

Aloha!  My 2017 season gets underway tomorrow from beautiful Hawaii.  I'm trying to qualify for the Sony Open and I start with a Pre-Qualifer on Sunday.  There are 104 players trying on Sunday and the top 40+ ties will move onto Monday's actual qualifier.  I'll post the link below so you can find the results.  I've also posted a link to my 2017 Schedule for the first couple of months.  I will be playing a lot of qualifers this year - hoping to play my way into some PGA Tour events and Web.com events.

Pre-Qualifier Results

Aloha. Mahalo.

Neil

Mobile, AL - 2nd Stage of Web.com Q-School

Q-School continues tomorrow as 2nd Stage begins.  I'm in Mobile, AL playing the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Magnolia Grove.  This is a course I've played many times because my Dad and I spent every spring break here during high school.  I have lots of good memories from playing this course, including my first hole in one on the 14th hole.

I've only played one tournament since 1st Stage of Q-School, which was a Dreamchasers Tour event last week in Arizona.  It was a warm-up for this week and I managed to finish 4th thanks to a consistent score of 69 - everyday!  I definitely had some rust on my game, which was evident with a penalty I called on myself in the first round.  My ball was on the fringe and I marked it and cleaned it.  I thought I was on the green, but I was wrong.  I also whiffed on a shot in the 2nd round as I tried to chip out back to the fairway.  These bizarre things happen when you're rusty and haven't played a lot of tournaments.

Follow along this week here.  No live scoring - just updates at the end of the round.

Neil

Finally, a Colorado Open Recap - And Web.com Q-School Begins

Web.com Q-school begins this week so I figured I should post something about my magical week in Colorado.  If you've been following me on social media, you've probably seen links to a bunch of media articles and interviews that I did.  In this post, I'm going to try to explain what was going through my head during the entire week, but especially during the final few holes.  I know that I won by 3 shots, but it was much closer than that and I'm very proud of how well I remained focused on my shots instead of getting caught up in what other people were doing or thinking about winning $100,000.

Let's begin at the very end - the 72nd hole.  I made a 10 foot birdie putt on the final hole, which sealed my victory and set a new tournament scoring record, but I didn't know that at the time.  I saw a leaderboard on the 17th tee where I had a one shot lead.  I made a par on 17 and felt that a birdie on 18 would be important to keep the pressure on my pursuers.  My drive on 18 was one of my best all week!  A slight draw that started on the right edge of the fairway and drew just a bit.  I was left with 285 yards to the back pin, but only about 240 yards over the pond.  With a slight breeze into my face, I decided the smartest shot would be to hit a hard hook up by the green.  Missing left of the green would be just fine, but if I hit a weak high cut, it would've ballooned up into the wind and come up short in the pond.  I started my 2nd shot at the right side of the green and hit a hard hook that came to rest hole-high, left of the green and left of the green side bunker.

Upon reaching the green, I noticed that Jonathon Kaye had bogied 18 to fall back to -20.  That meant the only person who could catch me was Wil Collins, who was in the group behind me.  My 3rd shot was a pitch from the left rough, over a greenside bunker, with about 15 feet of green until the pin.  In the past, I would've hit a flop shot from my position, but this year I've been working hard on a pitch shot that lands soft and releases to the hole.  I have found that to be much more consistent than the unpredictable spin that a flop shot might produce.

The pitch shot came out high and soft, released up towards the hole and left me with a perfect 10 foot, right-to-left breaking birdie putt.  I rolled that putt in and gave an awkward but very emphatic fist pump.  Look closely and you can see the vein in my neck!

As I shook hands with my playing partners, they congratulated me, but I still didn't think I had actually won.  I thought that Wil Collins could make an eagle to tie me.  It wasn't until I got into the scoring tent that I was told I had a 3 shot lead because Collins had bogied the 17th hole.  This picture was taken shortly after I figured it out that I would win.

* I have two moments from the aftermath of my win that I will remember for a long time.  The first was as I walked towards my bag and the thought that I might win hit me.  I pulled my hat over my face and fought a smile.

* The 2nd moment was when I got off the back of the green and I found my Aunt and Uncle.  I was in a zone during the entire final round and didn't let many emotions affect me, but once I saw my Godparents, I was beyond happy to see them and I gave them both the biggest hugs I could.  Unfortunately no one got a picture of those perfect hugs, but I will remember that moment for a long time.

*My shot of the tournament was the 7-iron I hit on the 13th hole in the final round.  I had really struggled on that hole during the week, but in the final round I had 193 yards and committed to taking a little bit off of a 7-iron.  The pin was tucked in the front right with water and a bunker short.  I picked a target about 15 feet left of the pin and hit a great shot that finished just past hole high, about 20 feet left of the hole.  The wonderful thing about that great shot was I had 193 on the 15th hole and 191 yards on the 17th hole.  I carried the confidence from my swing on 13 through the rest of the round and made stress free pars on 15 and 17.  At a time when the pressure had built to palpable levels, it was great to have a couple of prefect yardages on 2 difficult holes.

Once again, 1st Stage of Web.com Q-School begins on Tuesday.  Here's a link to follow the results.  Scores are posted once I finish my round.  No live scoring, unfortunately.

Thanks.  Go Team USA.

Neil

5 Weeks, 8 Tournaments, and 11 States

This past winter when I was starting to make my summer schedule I was excited about a wide variety of tournaments that i would be able to squeeze in - especially during July!  Well I am officially in the middle of that busy stretch.  It began in late June as I packed up my car and left Arizona and I currently find myself in Denver, CO.

From Phoenix, AZ I drove northwest to Reno, NV where I played a Golden State Tour event.  It was played on a course that I've played Q-School on the last 3 years.  I love the course, but unfortunately I didn't play my best that week and missed the cut.  Missing the cut was somewhat of a blessing because I had a 22 hour drive towards South Dakota for my next event and I had 2 days.  I left Reno very early on Wednesday and drove 14 hours to Cheyenne, WY.  Another early wakeup call on Thursday and 8 hours of driving got me to Vermillion, SD with enough time to play a practice round.

In Vermillion, I played well and finished 3rd, 1 shot out of a playoff.  The highlight of the week was my play on the par 5's.  I played them -13 for the week -- 11 birdies and 1 eagle!!  The day after the event in Vermillion I was able to play the Gustavus Fundraiser, which I hadn't been able to participate in for 3 years.  It was a blast to get back to Le Sueur CC and play with some friends.  I managed to win the event with a bogey free 63 and our team finally won the team competition.

I spent one day at home in River Falls before flying out to Buffalo, NY for a web.com qualifier, but also spend a couple of days with my nephew!

The Web.com qualifier was on July 4th near Erie, PA and I shot 68, but came up two shots short.  I guess I needed some more fireworks.  My back-up plan to not qualifying was to fly back to Minneapolis and play a NorthStar Golf Tour event at Dellwood CC on July 5th-6th.  My flight from Buffalo, NY left at 5:45am and landed in Minneapolis shortly after 8:00am, with a quick stop in Chicago.  At Dellwood CC, I survived a 6-hour round of golf on very little sleep, and finished right before some major thunderstorms blew in.  A two round total of 139 put me in 4th place alone.  Those 2 rounds at Dellwood were my 4th and 5th round ever on Dellwood and I found a lot of the shots uncomfortable and I never got over that.

After Dellwood CC, I had one day off before driving to Sioux Falls, SD for another Dakotas Tour event.  Bakker Crossing played really tough throughout the weekend and some really difficult pins made it a real battle.  My main problem during the tournament was guessing the wrong clubs.  With the wind blowing 20-30 mph, I had to guess whether it was a 2 or 3 club wind.  I never quite narrowed in on which one it was.  I finished T-15th.

Back to Minneapolis for another one day break, but then I was off to Sioux Center, IA.  I had never played well on the Ridge GC in Sioux Center so I was a bit worried to see that trend continue.  The 20-30 mph from Sioux Falls followed us to Iowa and the first day was a really tough day.  Green speeds reached 14 on the stimpmeter and you had to play extra break because of the high winds!  I played 17 good holes, but one bad swing on my 16th hole of the day and I made a triple-bogey.  The wind died down on the 2nd day and I was able to get some momentum.  I was tied for the lead going into the final day and despite playing really well, somebody just played better.

The day after my event finished in Iowa, I had a flight to Denver, CO where I was to play a qualifier for the Colorado State Open on Monday.  Another 5:45 flight - then straight to the golf course for a practice round.  I was feeling like a zombie, but a HOLE-IN-ONE on the 4th hole quickly woke me up and gave me some energy.

I caught fire that day with a birdie, birdie, par, ACE start and I began tweeting about my hot round...

@tschultz07 @trschultz @ChiWiscoKid @drewthornsberry @ScottmHaskins #neilholebyhole during practice round in Colorado. Started 🐥-🐥-par-ACE

— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 17, 2016

@trschultz @tschultz07 @ChiWiscoKid @drewthornsberry @ScottmHaskins holes 5-12: 🐥-🐥-par-par-par-🐥-🐥-par

— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 17, 2016

@trschultz @tschultz07 @ChiWiscoKid @drewthornsberry @ScottmHaskins par-par-🐥-🐥 13-16. Just trying to keep pace with stenson

— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 17, 2016

@trschultz @tschultz07 @ChiWiscoKid @drewthornsberry @ScottmHaskins finished par-🐥. 61. 3rd time I've had an ace during practice round.

— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 17, 2016

@NeilHolebyHole @drewthornsberry @ScottmHaskins @trschultz @tschultz07 @ChiWiscoKid here it is: pic.twitter.com/ymJhl1jj4A

— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) July 18, 2016

On the following day, Monday, the actual qualifier took place and I wasn't able to catch fire with my putter and I found myself at 69, T-13th, and in a playoff for the last 2 spots.  I made a simple par and so did another player, but player C hit his drive out of bounds, and player D 3-putted for bogey.  I survived the playoff and now I'm playing the Colorado State Open this weekend.

The event is Thursday, July 21st - Sunday, July 24th.  I tee off very early on Thursday morning and I think they will have some kind of live scoring.  Follow along with all the results here.

And if you're not following me on Twitter or Instagram, you're missing out on much more up to date results and comments.  It's easier for me to quickly put up my results on instagram with a single picture as opposed to composing an entire blog post.

INSTAGRAM
TWITTER

Neil

Let's Get Caught up with 2016

It's been nearly 2 years since my last post and although a lot happened in the last 22 months, but I'm just going to talk about my last 5 months of tournaments.  This past winter, I played a mini-tour in Arizona called the Dreamchasers Tour.  The cheaper entry fees and guaranteed 3 rounds were what first attracted me to play.  Eventually, other golfers started noticing the same things and they started getting as many players as the other mini tours, if not more.

1.  Lone Tree GC - My first tournament since September '15, a full 4 month break.  I had a lot of rust on my game and it showed.

2.  Blackstone CC - 3 weeks of good practice really made a difference and it ended with a nice 4th place finish.

3.  Wigwam Red (Heritage) - A frustrating week prior to the tournament bled into my golf and I struggled to find any momentum or any focus.  My only birdie of the week was on the final hole of the final round.  It seems impossible to go 53 holes without a birdie.

4.  Moon Valley GC - I quickly put the tournament at Wigwam behind me and got off to a fast start - 65 in the first round.  My 2nd round was pretty sloppy and frustrating, but I battled back on the final day and posted a solid 67 to sneak into the top-10.

5.  Lone Tree GC 2.0 - Nearly 2 months after the first tournament at Lone Tree, I went into this tournament excited to see how much my game had improved since January.  My first round 68 was nothing special, but the 2nd round 72 had a bit of a rollercoaster type feel to it.  Lots of wind on the 2nd day made it play much tougher and I found myself +4 after 10 holes.  However, 3 of my bogies were from 3-putts, not bad swings.  That gave me some confidence and I birdied 3 of the final 8 holes to get almost all of those bogies back.

The final day was something really special.  Another extremely windy day made the stroke average ballon to 73+, but I got off to a blazing fast start.  Birdies on 1, 2, 3, 5, & 6 got me "in the zone" and a 25 foot par putt save on 7 kept me focused.  A great 6-iron on 8 to 3 feet got me another birdie.  On 11, I hit a prefect gap wedge to 6 feet and made the putt.  The 12th hole was into a 25 mph wind and I hit 5-iron from 175 yards to about 20 feet, but rolled in the big-breaking putt.  Five straight pars through 17 left me with the down-wind, par-5 18th.  After a good drive, I had a 6-iron in where I played safely into the center of the green instead of flirting with the water.  I left myself 25 feet for eagle and the putt somehow stopped on the front lip, overhanging the cup.  I came up 1/2 millimeter from a 61 and a tournament win, but it felt so rewarding to have a great week and an amazing final round.

6.  Golf Club of Estrella - I hadn't played the golf course prior to the first round and it showed with a few cautious and careful shots.  I rebounded nicely in round 2, with a tidy 65, but the final round was a little bit sloppy and I finished 4th.

7.  ASU Karsten Course - A week filled with messy and inconsistent play.  Each of the three rounds had moments of brilliance and solid play, but those moments were too short and unsustainable.

8.  Legacy GC - Tour Spring Invitational - The "biggest" tournament of the spring had a couple of things riding on it.  The Dreamchasers Tour gives out bonus money for every 2 month stretch and going into the last event of April, I had a slim points lead over a couple of players.  I played tight during my first round, unfortunately with that bonus money on my mind.  Round 2 was much better, with no thoughts but hitting a good shot at my target.  The result was a bogey free 62 that got me into contention.  The final round was very similar to the 2nd day, but a poor finish (bogey on last 2 holes) left a bad taste in my mouth.  Luckily I earned an extra $1000 for winning the March/April points bonus.

9.  Ak-Chin Southern Dunes - A week of great ball-striking, great putting, and a great attitude all added up to a wonderful 6-shot victory.  A fast start in the first round - birdies on 1,2, & 3 got things rolling and I continued to fire at pins and continued to make putts each day.  On the final day, my 6 shot lead was 7 after a chip-in on 4.  But my closest pursuer, Nathan Tyler, picked up a shot on 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10 to get within 2 shots.  Nathan hit his approach to 10 feet on 11 and I missed the green.  My chip rolled outside of Nathan's coin, but I made the par putt and he missed the birdie putt - still 2-shot lead.  I birdied 12 and 13 to increase my lead to 3, but 14 was the real gut-check of the final round.  On the drive-able par-4 14th, I found the green-side bunker, but Nathan hit a beautiful drive to about 15 feet.  I thinned my sand shot over the green and into the back bunker, buried underneath a rake.  I chopped my shot out of the buried lie, but it stayed in the bunker.  Now, hitting my 4th shot from the bunker with Nathan 15 feet for eagle, I had a thought, "This is it.  You've completely blown the lead."  I took a deep breath to let that bad thought disappear and it did.  I refocused on getting this next shot close.  I splashed it out and it rolled down and into the hole - ho-hum par.  Nathan missed his eagle putt and my 3-shot lead was 2, with 4 holes to go.  After that amazing par save, I played great golf.  A perfect drive on 15, followed by and 8-iron to two feet.  I laid up on the par-5 16th after both competitors hit it into the weeds and I hit my 3rd shot from 65 yards to 2 feet.  A smart 6-iron into the center of the green on 17 lead to an easy two-putt par.  Another perfect drive on 18 and a 7-iron safely onto the green lead to an awesome 6-shot victory.


10.  Troon North - Monument - Greens that were very bumpy made putting very stressful and frustrating.  In the first round, I missed 3 putts that were less than 4 feet.  I finally made some putts during the final round and managed to finish t-4th.

11.  NorthStar Memorial Classic - Mississippi National GC - I had an ice cold putter all week in Red Wing and wasn't able to take advantage of some great ball-striking.  I love that I didn't have a bogey on the front nine all week, but I just wasn't able to catch fire on the back nine.

12.  Wigwam Gold - I captured another victory with some solid play at Wigwam Gold in Arizona.  I birdied 1, 4, & 6 during the first round to take the lead and I never looked back.  My only bogey of the first round was on 17.  I hit what I thought was a great 2nd shot, but it went too far and into the back bunker.  I made some really sloppy swings on 9 & 10 of the final round, but I quickly rebounded with a great approach shot on 12 and then a hybrid into the center of the green on 14 - and an easy two-putt for birdie.


My schedule for the rest of the summer is posted, with lots of Dakotas Tour events and a few Web.com Qualifiers.  I will be better at posting updates with my results.

Neil

I'm Exhausted!

It's been quite a exciting 32 hours.  Let me simply lay it all out in a timeline:


Sunday 1:25pm - Final round of tournament in Aberdeen, SD.
Sunday 5:45pm - Finished round and immediately get on road towards Omaha, NE (ate dinner in car)
Sunday 11:15pm - Reach hotel in Omaha, NE and go to bed after taking a shower

Monday 4:45am - Alarm wakes me up.
Monday 5:00am - Get back on road for final 3 hours of drive towards Lawrence, KS
Monday 8:10am - Arrive at golf course, quickly warm-up for 8:57 tee-time.
Monday 12:45pm - Battled the course for 16 holes (1-under par).
Monday 12:46pm - Headed to 17th tee when official finds me and gives me the good news.
Monday 12:46pm - Give official a celebratory bro-hug.
Monday 12:47pm - Sign scorecard and give it to the other player in my group with awkward hand shakes and goodbyes

Monday 2:00pm - Arrive at host golf course. Register, find locker, contact Caddie, contact parents.
Monday 2:30pm - Registration tells me that there is a host family that just opened up.  I jump all over it and secure some private housing for the week.
Monday 3:00pm - Head to the Titleist van and ask for a couple of new wedges with different bounces and different grinds.
Monday 4:00pm - Return to Titleist van to pick up newly assembled wedges.
Monday 4:01-6:00pm - Waiting to hear from Caddie and host family.  In the meantime, I practice a bit with new wedges and then take brief nap in locker room.
Monday 6:15pm - I finally realize that I haven't eaten anything all day.  Leave the course to get dinner.
Monday 7:00pm - Book Caddie's flight from Oregon to Kansas City for Tuesday morning.
Monday 7:30pm - Arrive at host families house and feel like it's time for bed.

32 hours
2 tournament rounds of golf (2nd one not completed though)
8 hours of driving (Aberdeen, SD to Lawrence, KS)
3 different golf courses (Aberdeen, Lawrence, Overland Park)
1 meal (dinner in the car on Sunday night)
5 hours of sleep
3 showers (to both wake up and clean up from long days out in the hot sun)
1 nap

--All adds up to just another web.com tournament.

Neil

Utah Championship

In my last post I talked about my plans to travel from Nova Scotia to Winnipeg to play a PGA Tour Canada event.  After talking to a couple of players, they convinced me that I had a better that 50% chance of getting into this week's event in Utah.  I changed all of my plans for Canada and made my way to Utah.  Sure enough, on Monday afternoon, I received the phone call saying I was in the field for Utah.  Good thing I was already en route.

The first round begins on Thursday and I tee off at 1pm local time (MST).  Golf Channel will have coverage all week so tune in at 6pm EST on Thursday night to see if I play my way onto TV.

I'm playing at 4400 feet of elevation and it's going to be a warm week, both of which mean the ball will go a long way.  Weird fact about this course, I will only hit 1 driver on a par-4.  Every other par-4 is a lay-up with a hybrid or a 3-wood because they all have bunkers or trees that pinch in at around 280 yards.

I'm sorry I haven't talked about last week in Nova Scotia.  It was an exhausting Sunday - 36 holes - and then a long travel day on Monday.  Hopefully I can get to it next week, recapping both Nova Scotia and Utah.

Here's a link to this week's leaderboard.


Neil

Schedule Set for 3 Weeks

For the first time this year, I have golf tournaments scheduled beyond 1 week!  All year I have been in an odd position - "on the bubble" for Web.com events or chasing Monday qualifiers.  Some of my trips to Monday qualifiers have been scheduled with a small mini-tour event, in case I'm unsuccessful with the qualifier.  Even those are somewhat unscheduled tournaments because it's tough to make flight/hotel/car reservations if I don't know where I'll be after Monday.

Luckily, I know I'm going to be in the field for next week's Web.com event in Nova Scotia.  From there, I have signed up for the PGA Tour Canada events in Winnipeg and Thunder Bay in subsequent weeks.  I will gladly change my plans to include the Web.com event in Utah and Idaho if I get into them, but I'm just excited to have 3 straight weeks of tournaments planned.

Neil

US Open Week

Today begins US Open week, which is one of my favorites tournaments to watch all year.  I love the Masters too, but something about watching the pros grind and battle for pars is entertaining.  Plus I enjoy watching the US Open travel to a different course each year.  Some courses have been boring and forgettable (Olympia Fields '03, Southern Hills '01), but others have been awesome (Olympic Golf Club '98 & '12, Winged Foot '06, Merion '13, Pinehurst '99).  Those awesome courses immediately went on my 'Courses to Play' list.  While I was in San Francisco last week, I got to cross off one of those courses - Olympic Club (Lake Course).

The first time I heard about Olympic Club was during the 1998 US Open.  I remember how cool the course looked with the giant cypress trees lining the fairways and small, sloped greens reeking havoc on the players.  It also helped that Payne Stewart, one of my favorites players at the time, was leading the tournament after 3 rounds.

I played my US Open Sectional Qualifier last Monday at Lake Merced GC and Olympic Club (Ocean Course).  I started at Lake Merced and got off to a great start with nearly perfect swings/shots on the first 6 holes, but I walked off with all pars.  I couldn't make any putts and that got me to start forcing some things and that lead to some bad swings and mistakes.  By the time I finished my morning round, I was +5 despite hitting it really well.  In the afternoon I needed to do something miraculous to qualify for the US Open.  I played well on the front side (3 under, 33), but I lost it all on the back and limped to a +1, 72 finish.

The next day, Tuesday, my caddie and I were able to play the Lake Course (US Open course) because he knows a couple of members and one of them could host us.  We tipped it out at a mere 7140 yards, but this is at sea level where a 9-iron has a slim chance of going more than 150 yards (especially once the fog rolls in).  The stretch of 2-6 are brutal holes which play very long and considering you never have a flat lie anywhere on the golf course, you better be ready to hit some long irons.  I'm proud to say that I made two 2s on the front side (#3, #8).  I hit a hybrid from 247 on #3 to about 5 feet.  Then I hit a 4-iron from 206 on #8 and rolled in a 25 foot putt.  

By the end of 17 holes I was 1-under par, with 6 birdies, but I needed one more to shot in the 60s.  The 18th hole is a short 347 yard par-4, but the fairway is in a low area and it slopes from left-to-right.  Any ball in the right rough is going to have to navigate a second shot over a cypress tree.  The picture below is from about 200 yards out (click on the picture to enlarge it).  I hit hybrid to the bottom of the hill and you're left with a blind approach to a green that is only 10 steps wide.  It doesn't show up very well on the photo, but there are 3 bunkers surrounding the 18th green and they are shaped like the letters I.O.U., as if to apologize for the tough test of golf you just played.  My approach shot was 117 yards out, nearly a perfect pitching wedge, since it played uphill and into the wind.  I hit the shot to 5 feet, right below the hole and rolled in the putt for a 69.  Making 7 birdies was a lot of fun, but sprinkling in 3 bogies and a double are a testament to how challenging the course plays.

There is only 1 fairway bunker on the entire golf course and not a single water hazard.  Out of bounds is only in play on 2 holes and you have to hit bad shots to hit it that far left.  Basically the golf course uses the terrain, trees, and greens to challenge you.  My favorite new term that I learned is "reverse-camber", which refers to a fairway sloping the opposite way that the hole doglegs.  There are about 6 or 7 holes that have reversed cambered fairways.  The 9th hole is one.  It's only 449 yards, but it doglegs hard left-to-right and the fairways kicks everything left.  The green also slopes left and balls like to run off the left side, down the shaved fairway.  Your best option for the approach is to hit a cut into the green, but that's not the easiest thing to do off of a hook lie.  Basically the whole golf course makes you feel uncomfortable and unbalanced.

I have a couple other pictures to share.  First is the tee shot on #16, which is a monster par-5 - 622.  They actually put in an extra tee for the 2012 US Open at about 670, but removed it because it is pretty much in #15 fairway.  This beast of a par-5 doglegs hard to the left, but you have to negotiate a chute on your drive.  Something that Jim Furyk didn't do very well on Sunday in 2012.  They moved the tees up to the white tees (560 yards) and he snapped hooked a hybrid into the left trees.

The next picture is of the approach from #14, a 417 yard par-4.  The reason I like this photo is because is shows off the awesome cypress trees (look at the naked one on the right side, which is a perfect aim point from the tee).  Also, I birdied this hole so it's deserves a picture.  I birdied 18 and 16, which are the other photos.  I notice a trend.  Perhaps if I had taken more pictures, I would've had more than 7 birdies.

Final picture is of Olympic Clubs famed 'Burger Dogs', which are cheeseburgers on hot dog buns.  I haven't eaten a hot dog in nearly 20 years and I doubt I'll ever eat one for the rest of my life.  I say this because a burger dog is the closest I'll get to a hot dog.

I lied.  I have a few more pictures.  No explanation needed, just posting them for you to see.

Enjoy watching the US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 (another course I've played).  I'm back in tournament action next week with the Web.com event in Wichita, KS.

Neil