Monday Qualifier a Success

Hello Everybody,

I'm writing from Augusta, Georgia with news that I successfully monday qualified into this week's event. I would have been exempt if I had played one more event, but since last week was my first one I had to earn my way into this tournament. It was actually good for me to play a round that meant something. If I didn't make it I would've had to decide whether or not to come home tonight or stick around until Thursday to see if I could sneak in as an alternate.

I shot a 76, and 79 was needed to qualify. Through 14 holes I was even par and then I finished bogey, bogey, par, double. Not a very good finish, but overall it was a really good day. I hit the tee ball great and had control of my iron play. It's too bad that I didn't make more putts through the first 14 holes because I could have had a better score.

This new course is totally different than last week's course. Last week, the bermuda grass was all dormant (which means dead) so there was no rough. This week has thick rough and fairways that aren't dormant, but quite healthy. Also, the greens this week are bent grass which is what we are all used to up North. I'll be working hard on the greens the next two days so I can putting can catch up with my ball striking.

As I said before, I'm writing from Augusta, Georgia. The main reason for that is because I don't have access to the internet in McCormick, South Carolina. I don't even get cell phone service there so it's kind of like a black hole for technology. I don't know how I will be updating throughout the week, but I'll figure something out. If you want to know where McCormick, South Carolina is look on a map at the Georgia-South Carolina border. North of Augusta (Georgia), but South of Greenville (South Carolina) is where I'm at. All around me are State Parks and Strom Thurmand Lake. Gorgeous area to visit if you want to fish or spend time on a lake. It isn't crowded at all, very quiet.

The reason I traveled to Augusta today was to 1) get something to eat (my only choices in McCormick are Subway and Hardees) 2) find internet service (I found some in a hotel's parking lot: Thank you Augusta Suites Inn) and 3) drive past Augusta National Golf Club. It was cool to see Magnolia Lane. It is right off the road and despite a strong urge to pull in there, I did not.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll post again later this week.

Neil
This Week's Field (my name will be added soon)

36 Holes.......1 Birdie......2 Eagles!?!?

Yes, that's true. It's sad, but somehow I made more eagles than I did birdies. I like the 2 eagles, but only 1 birdie in 36 holes is horrible. Especially since I had plenty of chances. I never felt comfortable on the greens and never took advantage of my good shots by making putts longer than 10 feet. I was too worried about the speed of the green (or lack there of) and the bumpiness of them. That prevented me from making solid strokes. One good thing about my putting was that on the greens that were smooth, I made putts. Just goes to show you how your mind can get in the way of making a good putting stroke.

Besides the putting I struggled with my tee shots today. I needed to hit my 3 wood and Driver better to day if I wanted to score better. When I did find the fairway, I hit good approach shots and had opportunities to make birdies.

The score was better than yesterday so I hope to take the positives from today and this week and use them next week.

I will talk to you next from McCormick, South Carolina. Until then, have a nice weekend.

Neil
My Scorecard

A Good Day (despite what the score was)

Hello All,

Looking at the score, you might not think today was a good day, but it was. I hit a lot of good shots. It's just unfortunate that my bad shots and my mistakes blew up into really big mistakes. I did struggle with putting today, not making many putts. Overall I felt very cautious on the greens. The greens are slow and bumpy and my putting stroke isn't quite in mid-season form. I didn't make anything over 15 feet so despite feeling good about hitting the ball, I wasn't rewarded or able to take advantage of the good shots.

I saved my round on number 17 when I holed my shot from 110 yards. My second shot actually flew right into the hole and stayed there. It destroyed part of the cup and made me feel much better about my round. The next hole, 18, I hit my drive through the fairway and into a hazard. It was a dried up creek so I hacked my next shot through some branches, under a tree, and up onto the green. I two-putted from 25 feet to finish with a 77.

I play late on Friday so I won't update until after 9pm. You can wait until I update, or check the scores here.

Thanks for all the emails and phone calls. I appreciate all of my friends and family cheering me on.

Neil
Scorecard for Round 1
Leaderboard for entire Tournament

A Friend in Need

Hello Family and Friends,

On a sad note, one of my friends from Gustavus had an accident and was seriously injured last week. Thankfully he's been improving each day and he is responsive and alert.

Jake was a teammate of mine on the golf team at Gustavus. He is one year older and works down in Arizona as an Assistant Golf Pro. Jake was a great teammate. He worked his butt of to make the varsity team his senior year and helped us have one of the best spring season's in school history. Jake was always helpful and supportive. I can't even count all of the times that he gave me a ride to the golf course. Last fall, while in Arizona Jake helped me out of a jam and let me play golf at the golf course he works at.

For those of you reading this that know Jake, you probably already knew what happened. In case you weren't notified about his website, here is a link. Keep Jake in your thoughts and prayers so that his health continues to improve and that he makes a full recovery.

As for me, I've played the course the past two days and really like it. It's a great layout. It isn't in very good shape, but overall it's a really nice golf course. It's has everything: a short par 3, 4, and 5, and a long par 3, 4, and 5. Tomorrow will be more practice. There is a pro-am so I won't play until late afternoon.

Final Thing:

For those of you who have subscribed to my website, have you received any emails notifiying you that my website's changed? There may be a problem with the subscriptions so let me know if you've gotten the emails.

Neil
Jake Sand's Website

Arrived in Alabama

I've successfully travelled to Auburn, Al and will begin practicing for my first tournament Monday. The weather is gorgeous and the forecast for the entire week looks amazing. If you look in the sidebar, you'll notice the weather graphic has been moved and changed. I'll change that so you can tell what the weather is like at my tournament. The subscrition graphic was also moved. It is now below the schedule so you can still subscribe if you'd like.

For those of you who have subscribed to my website, I will be pausing the email notification once my tournament starts. That means you will receive an email after my first round, but not again until after the tournament. I don't want to flood your inboxs with notifications. After getting the first one on Thursday you'll just have to remember to check it on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you forget, you'll get a notification on Monday.

Make a Comment, Email Me, Check out the Forecast, and Look at the Players in the Tournament

Neil

Detailed Schedule

I've uploaded a detailed picture of my schedule for this summer. Click on the schedule table in the sidebar and a new window will open showing my schedule. You'll now be able to see a more detailed schedule. It shows which tour I'm playing during a specific week and I hope to post my results on here too.

EDIT:

I've noticed that if you're trying to access the picture of my schedule on a PC it has not loaded (It worked fine on an apple computer). I changed the link so now you will find the schedule picture linked under the table's title, not under the table itself. Just click the title and a new window will open up.

The Schedule is Posted

Look in the sidebar.....I've got my schedule up. I know it isn't a very detailed schedule, but I'm working on putting a more detailed picture linked to the simple table. Basically it's up there so family, friends, and random visitors can see where I'll be travelling this summer.

Further explanation of the schedule will be that my first 6 events are all on the Hooters Tour and the sixth one (in Greenville, NC) is a major tournament. Compare my schedule to the entire Hooters Tour Schedule at this website. You'll notice I'm not scheduling the first 5 events. Part of this is because I'm not allowed to officially play in an event until May. If I choose to I can try and Monday qualify into those events and I might do that for the event in Auburn and McCormick. I'll make my mind up on those April tournaments in the next 2 weeks.

-Rochester, MN is a Nationwide Tour qualifier. The Scholarship America Showdown that has been at Troy Burne the last two years moved to Somerby Golf Club in Rochester.

-Coon Rapids, MN is the Minnesota State Open

-Miami, OK is a Hooters Tour event

-Omaha is another Nationwide Tour qualifier

-Choctaw, MS is Hooters Tour

-Milwaukee is the Wisconsin State Open

-Conway, SC is Hooters Tour

-Columbus, NE is the Nebraska State Open

-Valdosta, GA is Hooters Tour

Finally, in October the Hooters Tour has their Tour Championship. I hope to qualify for that, but you can only miss four events so I may need to add some tournaments so I don't miss more than four. That might be impossible to do, but I'll try.

Take Care. Don't be shy: 1. Sign My Guestbook (you can leave a private entry if you only want me to read it), 2. Look at my pictures from last summer's tournaments, or 3. Email me with comments, questions, concerns, or some advice.

Neil

Schedule..........Coming Soon

Hello Family and Friends,

I finally got the information from Hooters Tour. As I had expected, my ranking number projects me to start on May 8th. That is the sixth tournament of the season and happens to be the closest in proximity to River Falls (Chicago, IL). Every other tournament will be farther away.

I will be putting my schedule into a table and putting it into the sidebar within the next few days. There was a table in the sidebar, but I removed that until I get my full schedule up there. Looking at my schedule now, I'll be playing events on the Hooters Tour, State PGA Sections, and some Nationwide Tour Monday Qualifiers. To be more specific I'm looking at 10-11 Hooters Tour events, 3 State Opens, and 2 Nationwide Tour Monday Qualifiers. Included in my schedule will be an attempt to qualify for the US Open (PGA Tour).

Check back later this week to see the schedule in the sidebar. Also, don't forget to sign my guestbook and subscribe to the website if you'd like to receive email notices when my website changes.

Thanks,
Neil

Several changes to the website

Greetings,

I'm still waiting for information for the Hooters Tour. Sometime this week or next, I'll get a package with the information I need. Until then, I'll keep my tentative schedule off of the website. Once I do get it I will put my schedule on the website. Currently you can see a table in the sidebar that refers to the 2006 Schedule. This is where the actual schedule will go.

The table in the sidebar is only one of many changes that I've made to the website in the last few weeks. The first change I made was the overall look of the website. This new template gave me some better options for adding links, adding tables, and a more desirable look. However, I have heard that the website is difficult to read because of the dark background and the lighter colored text. This is where another change to the website comes in. I've added a poll in the sidebar that asks whether or not you like the new look. Please answer so I know how many people like or dislike the new look. You can also just leave a comment for this post about the new look. Feel free to post the comment anonymously if you don't want me to know who dislikes the changes.

Other new changes include a hit counter that is on the bottom of the front page. This will keep track of how many people visit the site. I've added links in the sidebar that go to the Hooters Tour website, a page with some pictures, and a page where you can sign my guestbook. I ask all of you to please sign my guestbook, especially if you visit this website regularly. You can sign it privately if you only want me to read it.

One more change is a subscription service that you can sign up for. If you do this, your email will receive a notice when I update this website. All you need to do is type your email into the space in the sidebar. You will then receive a confirmation email making sure that you want to activate this subscription. You activate it by clicking on the link in your email and then you're set.

The final change is that many of the post titles are now links to results. Going back to the summer, you'll notice clicking the title will take to to a webpage with results from the tournament.

That's all for now. I will update as soon as I get the package from the Hooters Tour. Until then, please sign my guestbook, take a look at my pictures, and subscribe to the website if you want to be notified.

Neil

Happy New Year

It's been a long time since my last post, so I figure I'll update everybody on what's happened since November. Since finishing Hooters Tour Ranking School I've tried to project my schedule for the summer, but I can't finalize it until I hear from Hooters Tour. They'll tell me when I start and from there I can start planning what tournaments I'll travel to. Feel free to look at the schedule online. It's been updated since the original tentative schedule.

Hooters Tour 2006 Schedule

The only other thing that has changed since November is my schedule during January and February. I had planned on playing in the Gateway Tour's Desert series, but after some thought I decided not to. One of the reasons was the cost. I would've had to pay $10,000 for only eight tournaments. This summer I'll be paying $850 per tournament for the Hooters Tour and that is a lot per tournament. Paying $1,250 per tournament seems like too much. It would've been good experience, but I can save that money for this summer in case I need it.

Besides costing too much, I decided not to play in the tour because I was burnt out and needed a little break from golf. I've always enjoyed the winter months where I can put my clubs away for a few months. It helps me get refreshed and excited about the upcoming golf season. I've taken that break and now I'm ready to go this year. If I hadn't taken a break I would be struggling in the tournaments and wouldn't be playing at my absolute best.

When I hear from Hooters Tour I'll post and try to put my schedule online for everybody to see.

Take Care,
Neil