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

T46th - BMW Charity Pro-AM

Two weeks ago I finished T-46th at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greenville, SC.  Overall it was a great week - making the cut and playing on Sunday - but a closer look at my play left me disappointed with my finish and anxious for my next Web.com event.

The story of each round is pretty similar, in that I played well, but did not get a lot out of any round.  I never had back to back bogies and only had 6 throughout the entire week.  On the other side, I only had 15 birdies for the week and never caught a really hot streak.  I was waiting/expecting that hot streak because of how well I was hitting the ball.

The most frustrating moments of the tournament were the back nines of round 3 & 4 at Thornblade Club.  I had 1 birdie and 2 bogies in those 18 holes and I had plenty of chances to get many more birdies.  More specifically, I played holes 15 and 16 even par, when I should have made birdies on those reachable par-5s.  In the final round, I was in the middle of the fairway with a hybrid into both 15 and 16.  I came up short on 15 and flopped a wedge to about 10 feet.  I made a good stroke, but over-read the putt and missed it on the high side.  My hybrid reached the green on 16, but left me a 60 foot eagle putt that had to navigate a big slope.  I left the eagle putt about 7 feet short and despite another good stroke, I under-read this putt and missed it on the low side.  That was my first 3-putt of the week (70 holes into the tournament).

Best thing about the week was how much fun it was to play well and how comfortable I felt playing inside the ropes.  My Web.com events in South America didn't have a lot of spectators, but Greenville was quite busy on Saturday and Sunday.  The 18th hole was surrounded by corporate tents and I really enjoyed interacting with the spectators - especially the kids.  Walking off of 18 green there were about 20 kids waiting there and asking for my hat or glove.  My caddy and I emptied all of the golf balls from my bag and handed them to the kids - even autographing as many of the balls as I could.  That was a lot of fun.

Now that I've made some money on the Web.com Tour, my current ranking will be moved up after the next reshuffle (after the event in Wichita, KS in 3 weeks).  That will give me a better chance to get into tournaments, but I'll still be a bubble boy.  Right now I've been about 30 spots out of most tournaments, but I think I'll be closer to 10 spots.  Hopefully I can Monday qualify for the event in Wichita and make a big check.  Then I'll be able to set my schedule for the rest of the summer.

Until then, I will be competing in the US Open Sectional qualifier in San Francisco.  Play begins early on Monday, June 2nd.  Here's a link to follow results.  36 holes on Monday played over 2 courses.  I tee off at 7:21am PST and then 12:51pm PST.  The qualifier is being played at Lake Merced GC and Olympic Club (Ocean Course).  Olympic Club has hosted the US Open 5 times, most recently in 2012, but we're not playing the US Open course (Lake Course).  I still love being on the grounds of Olympic Club.  No where else in the world are the golf courses framed so well with Cypress trees and dense with fog.

Heavy Fog

Hit it through the chute of Cypress trees, but be careful because balls love to stay in them.

Neil

BMW Charity Pro-Am - Greenville, SC

After a long and frustrating couple of months, I'm back.  Last time I was here, I was playing some bad golf in Chile and Brazil.  That bad golf continued throughout March and April and a lot of other problems started creeping in.  The biggest problem was not being able to set any schedule  In the past, I've liked to know that during the winter/spring I would be playing several Gateway events in Arizona.  This year, I wanted to stay focused on the Web.com events so I choose not to play locally in AZ.  Unfortunately, I didn't get into any Web.com events outside of South America so I had to scramble and add a few random tournaments at the last minute.  My game was rusty and my patience was being tested every week when I failed to get into the Web.com events.  During my struggles, I saw a lot of good things when I practiced, but the tournament results just seemed to be miles behind.

Now, I'd like to believe that I have slowly pulled myself out of that slump and am ready to go on a big run.  Quite a few things have happened in the last few weeks which points to an upward trend.  First was that I truly hit rock-bottom.  I had an awful tournament and was embarrassed by how poorly I played.  Everything that could have gone wrong did and even my good shots lead to double bogies.  Luckily I had my caddie with me and we were able to diagnose the issues and begin anew the next day.  Next, I started to see the results in a tournament instead of just practice rounds.  I came close to monday qualifying for the Web.com event in Valdosta, GA, but I needed a birdie on the 18th hole and messed it up.  The best thing about that round was after my awful start, I could've just packed it up and quit (especially after a 3-putt bogey on #7), but I had the feeling that a lot of birdies could be made.  I went on to make 7 birdies in a 9 hole stretch and that put me on #18 needing one more birdie.  Finally, I made a quick trip (3 days) back to Arizona to play in the local US Open Qualifier and advanced by finishing 4th.  Considering everything else I was trying to balance, it was great that my mind was focused and clear while playing so I could play well.  I will be playing the US Open Sectional qualifier in San Francisco on June 2nd.

I've saved the best news for last, which is that I snuck into this week's Web.com event in Greenville, SC.  A week ago I was 21 spots out and didn't feel very optimistic, but when I had moved up to 9 out by last weekend, I started to believe.  Once Monday rolled around, I was 3rd alternate, and I was very glad that I was already in the area so I could go right to the courses to practice.

This week's event is a Pro-Am where everybody plays 1 round at 3 different courses and then the top 65 players make the cut and play Sunday.  This is also the first event of the year that is televised on The Golf Channel - just a couple of hours of coverage a day.  Keep an eye out for me.

Until the tournament starts, check out my new website.  The blog will still be updated, but they'll be linked through the website.

Neil

Chile Classic in Santiago Begins Today

Greetings from Santiago, Chile.  This is my first trip to South America and I'll talk about it in much more detail later.  For now, I'm simply posting links to where you can follow my results.

Leaderboard

I tee of at 2:30pm local time (12:30pm EST) on Thursday and 9:40am (7:40am EST) on Friday.

The weather is perfect, very warm with lots of sun.  As for the golf course, it's all about hitting fairways.  Lots of sharp doglegs and trees block any shot that is in the rough.  Plus the greens are small and surrounded by bunkers so I'll need a clear shot to hit a lot of greens.

Enjoy watching online.  I've really enjoyed getting texts, emails, and tweets from friends who are wishing me well.

Neil

Exciting Times - New Equipment & Endorsement Deals

I've been in the need of new equipment for quite a long time.  My irons are 4 years old.  My Driver and 3-wood are 3 years old.  Here's a picture of my 7-iron, with a significant wear pattern on the clubface:

At least the wear pattern is in the sweet spot.

There are a few reasons why I haven't changed equipment, but the main 2 are money and fitting.  Money, because I've been loyal to Mizuno irons and Titleist for a while, but haven't had luck getting equipment from those companies.  They offer me equipment at a discount, but that's where the 2nd reason comes in.  Fitting - I can't just buy equipment off the rack.  My game is at a point where getting a shaft that fits my swing can make the game easier.  In the 4 years since I last ordered irons, technology has improved and a lot of new shaft options are out there.  Before putting new equipment in my bag, I want to test a variety of shafts (lighter, heavier, stiffer) to see what can help my game.  And that brings me back to the money issue where the equipment companies won't give me a fitting unless I pay for it.  It's like a vicious cycle where I won't buy equipment without a fitting, but won't pay for a fitting.  #firstworldproblems

All of these things changed when I earned my Web.com card.  Every club company is on site at each tournament and there is an equipment truck that will build, repair, and tweak whatever I have or need.

The really exciting aspect comes from the endorsement deals I've been offered.  Titleist/FootJoy offered me a ball/shoe/glove deal, which is great because I play the Pro-v1x ball (have since college).  I've been offered an equipment deal from Adams Golf and they flew me out to Dallas to their headquarters to get a tour quality fitting.  I spent 2 days in Dallas.  The first day was experimenting with different shafts and comparing the results.  Day 2 was an on the course test to see how the clubs react on the golf course.  It's exciting to see what I came out of Dallas with, but it will take some time to get comfortable with the new equipment.  The person who built my equipment and fitted me for the clubs is the Web.com Tour representative for Adams, which means he will be on-site for the tournaments.  It's great to know that I have a guy I can go to if I have a problem with my clubs.

In addition to the equipment deal with Adams is an additional endorsement from Southwest Airlines.  Adams and Southwest are partners and will be helping me out with some frequent flier miles, which will come in handy for this year:

Approx. 48,000 miles of travel this year with @WebDotComTour #frequentfliermiles pic.twitter.com/4NCWSuSqSX
— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) February 1, 2014

Neil

What's Next?

The Web.com season begins in a week with an event in Bogota, Columbia.  Here is a link to the entire schedule.  After one event in Columbia we have two weeks off before 4 straight tournaments in Chile, Brasil, Panama, and Louisiana.  The first 4 events are international, which helps my chances of getting into the fields, but also makes the travel much more expensive.  My conditional status puts me on the bubble for each of the first 4 events.  As of Monday, Feb. 3rd here are my numbers vs the players in field:

1. Columbia - 159/144 (15 players out)
2. Chile - 153/144 (9 out)
3. Brasil - 151/144 (7 out)
4. Panama - 151/144 (7 out)

I've been checking these numbers everyday for a few weeks try to get a sense of which way I might be trending.  The best thing about the Chile event is that I have 20 PGA Tour members ahead of me and there are 2 PGA Tour events that week (WGC Cadillac and Puerto Rico).  That means most of those 20 members will get into one of the PGA Tour events and I'll move inside the field list.

Follow me on Twitter to see day-to-day updates if my number changes.

I have a few other exciting things to talk about so check back throughout the week for more updates on new equipment, endorsement deals, and perhaps a surprise that will be launching in the coming weeks.

Neil