Gustavus to be featured on "College Central"

There is some exciting news coming from my alma mater, Gustauvs Adolphus. The Golf Channel has decided to feature the Gustauvs men's and women's golf program on their show, College Central. I believe it will be the first Division III program to be featured. Here's the release that I received saying when the show will air:

A Golf Channel crew was on campus in late August to film the segment. Here are the air times; all times are eastern time:

Wednesday, September 27, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 28, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, September 29, 2:30 a.m.
Friday, September 29, 5:30 a.m.
Friday, September 29, 9:30 a.m.

Just one note about the times, I looked online and found that the shows will be on at 5:30 central instead of 6:30. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'll be watching at 5:30 in case that is when it's on.

If you receive the golf channel on your tv package, check it out.

EDIT: (5:35 pm, Tuesday)
I just found out that the show will be on at 5:30. So disregard the times listed above. They are off by 2 hours. Wednesday night at 5:30 will be the first airing.

Neil

New Music Friday

Last weekend in Nebraska I got off to a good start, but played poorly the rest of the tournament. I shot a 70 in round one, but it was spread out over two days. After finishing round one on Saturday morning, I had a short break before beginning round two. After Saturday, I stood at 148 (70-78). On Sunday, I played ok through 11 holes, but played the last 7 holes 10 over par, finishing with an 82. And just to make things better, after playing that horrendously I had a 7.5 hour drive home! That's a fun way to conclude your weekend.

I choose not to play the event in Georgia. The primary decision was travel. If I didn't enjoy the 7.5 hour drive home from Nebraska, I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed the 20 hour drive to Georgia and then the 21 hour drive from Georgia to River Falls.

Without the event in Georgia, I thought I was done for the year. That changed Thursday night. Friday afternoon I'll be playing in the Hillcrest Country Club Pro-Am. This time, Hillcrest Country Club is in St. Paul, not Eau Claire like it was a few weekends ago. I love Hillcrest Country Club (in St. Paul) because it's an old style course with wonderful greens and rolling fairways. Unfortunately if you look outside, you'll notice the weather isn't good weather to play golf in. I'll just put on my rain suit and enjoy the course.

As for the new music, I received some feedback after posting the other songs. I have several new songs and some new recordings of old songs. A change for this set of songs is that I'm playing saxophone on some of them. "Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea", "Over The Rainbow with Sax", and "Autumn Leaves with Sax" all have me playing the sax, playing piano, as well as recording the Bass, Guitar, and Flute parts.

"Danny Boy" and "Danny Boy 2" are the same songs, but different versions. The first is me playing an electric piano and the second playing a grand piano. Listening to both is a good example of how the sound of the piano makes a difference in the style I play. The electric piano has much more short notes that aren't connected where as the grand piano is much smoother (especially the 2nd time through the melody).

"Over The Rainbow with Sax" was recorded on the first take. There are a few mistakes early on, but I liked the rest of it so I didn't record another take.

Here's a link to the new music. This one's a link to the old music. Feel free to download the songs or just listen to them via the internet.

For those of you working today, have fun. I'm going to go catch a cold playing golf.

Neil

Where Did All The Sunshine Go?

I looked at the forecast on Friday night and had a hard time believing it would only get to 65 degrees the next day. Boy, was the forecast right. On Saturday, I teed off at 9:44 and I actually brought a pair of mittens onto the course because my hands were so cold. I also put on an extra layer, meaning I was wearing a mock-turtleneck, polo shirt, and wind-jacket. Just two days prior I was wearing shorts and a polo shirt. It was quite a change and a big adjustment was needed. Wearing that many extra layers restricts the golf swing and I never felt it more than on the first hole on Saturday. I didn't hit any balls to warm up, and my first tee shot was dead into the wind. I had stretched, I had swung clubs to warm up, but my first swing felt like it had been months since I last hit a ball. My shot was pulled left and hooked even farther left. My swing kind of felt like I was wearing a straight jacket.

After that crazy first shot, I warmed up quickly and got into a pretty good rhythm. I made a great birdie on the 14th hole and another one of the 16th. A few pars after that and I had a 70 in round one. That put me in a tie for first.

Sunday's weather was very similar except there were small patches of sprinkles making it feel even colder. I was in the last group and the whole group seemed to feel the pressure of being at the top of the leaderboard. I never really found a rhythm on Sunday. I lost a ball on #6, but managed to save a bogey. Later on #15, I had a one shot lead and I hit my drive in the river and made bogey. The next hole my birdie putt lipped out and my opponent made his birdie. It wasn't a bad stroke, I just miss read the putt. I had the exact same putt on #17 and got the same result. A good stroke with good speed that just didn't break as much as I thought it would and it lipped out. For the day, I ended with a 75 and lost by one shot.

After the weekend, there are a lot of positive and negative things I can take from both rounds. Let me list the negatives first, then I'll make myself feel better with the positives.

• Come Sunday, the swing I had on Saturday had disappeared and I was struggling to find a new one. All year, I've had a difficult time carrying momentum from one day to the next.
• My nerves were shot and I played like I've never been in the situation of leading a golf tournament. At least I wasn't the only one; my whole group was feeling the nerves and struggling to get into a comfortable rhythm.
• I failed to get up and down to save par on #17 despite being 5 feet off the green on the fringe and only 70 feet from the pin. That put me 2 behind with only one to go.

Now the positives:

• My round on Saturday included several quality up and down saves. I've been working hard the last few weeks on my short game and to see the improvement in competition felt great.
• After missing a 5 foot putt on #11 (on Saturday), I one putted 5 of the remaining 7 greens.
• On Sunday, I was 2/2 on sand saves. One was a short short of only 20 feet, but the other one was a long shot around 80 feet that required me to fly the ball at least 50 feet. Just like my short game, I've been working on my sand game and have seen improvement in practice and now in competition.
• I shot under par, which I haven't done in competition very much this year.

Next up: Nebraska State Open From there, I'll travel to Valdosta, GA. That will be an easy trip. Don't be surprised if there's another crazy trip into my mind and eventually Georgia.

Remington Ste Neil Johnson

CVGA Extravaganza

This website needs some music. It's become boring without it; at least for me. The continued talk about inconceivable mistakes that I've made on the golf course have left me slaphappy enough to take drastic measures. I only have three remaining tournaments before I:

1. prepare myself for the winter off
2. try to forget about the poor golf I've played this summer
3. find some shred of optimism that I can carry over into the winter and next year
4. continue my search for an alternative domicile (anybody who knows of an awesome place to rent that is cheap, let me know) [I'm also looking to buy, so send me options if you have heard of anything in the area] {the area being: Western Wisconsin, Eastern Suburbs of the cities, and maybe St. Paul}

Getting back to the drastic measures, I've begun recording some music and realize that I can't possibly "miss a cut" when playing the piano. While up in North Dakota for 9 days, I stayed at the same place every night; Brian and Connie Evenson's home. They were wonderful hosts and were more than happy to have me continue staying with them, just as long as I played their piano for them. I've always enjoyed playing for other people because I can tell they feel good just hearing the live music. I feel good hearing the music, but it's even funner to be making it yourself. Enough talk.

Follow this link and you'll find five recordings that I've uploaded to the internet. All of these songs are familiar songs so if you don't recognize them, I guess I need more practice. Once you've reached that website, you'll have two options:

1. Listen to the music streaming from the internet (this is done in the small box located on the right side of the screen, below my name. Just press play)
2. Download the songs and listen to them over and over again on your computer

I hope you enjoy the music because I've enjoyed recording it. There will be more in the near future.

Now back to the golf. I play in Eau Claire, Wisconsin this weekend. It is the CVGA Championship. Two rounds played at Hillcrest Country Club. Nice thing is that since Eau Claire is so close I don't have to drive more than an hour and I get to stay at home all weekend. Much better than a hotel on the road.

I've played many rounds there throughout high school and have several memories. One of those was during my sophomore year when my whole group got disqualified for breaking a rule and then disordely conduct. Not my finest day on a golf course, but I redemed myself the following year when the conference championship was held there. I shot under par and helped the team tie for a conference title. My individual score also helped me secure the first of two conference player of the year awards.

The maturity I gained from playing there my sophomore year to my junior year was very obvious and that is why I always enjoy going back there. If I hadn't grown up, I would've burnt out or never amounted to much more than a talented high school golfer. My wonderful high school coach helped me mature during that year, so Paul Meyer deserves much of the credit. I hope my good fortunes and good memories on Hillcrest grow by the end of the weekend.

I tee off at 9:44 on Saturday. Check back here for updates and scores

Remember to check out the music

Neil