This blog is designed to keep family and friends of Neil Johnson updated with his professional golf career. Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment or send me a message at mrneiljohnson[AT]hotmail.com
I was making great time - on those directions you can see that the estimated time is 12 hours- probably only taking 11 hours to get to Scottsdale. Unfortunately I ran into the worst detour in the history of detours. Again, take a look at those directions and find Jakes Corner, AZ on it. There was an accident on Highway 87 near Sunflower, AZ and that closed down the highway. The detour rerouted us towards Jakes Corner and then down to Roosevelt, AZ. That's where the true chaos began.
The road from Roosevelt to Tortilla Flat is a mountain pass road and a dirt road. To add to the difficulty, I was driving into the sun, which limited visibility at times. Just take a look at some of the pictures I took - I was only driving 10 mph so I could snap a few pictures.
Driving into the sun with a windshield full of bugs and dirt made visibility bad. Many times, I had to roll down my window and stick my head outside so I could see the road.
Several 1-lane bridges on this road. Further down you'll see a truck stuck because the turn into a 1-lane bridge was too sharp.
Definitely a scenic drive - just easier to do it in a truck.
Next 2 pictures are of a truck that got stuck. He tried backing up and straightening out, but eventually let us pass - instead of waiting. I was the 3rd car in line and I bet about 20 were behind me.
Driving into a canyon, with a 1-lane bridge up ahead.
Another pretty view.
Finally pavement. Still several miles of curves, but at least no more dirt on my car.
I've got some pictures of my car - full of dirt and dust, but I'll post those next time.
I don't have anymore golf tournaments this fall, but my final one in Nebraska ended up with a T-23rd. I shot 3 over 74 on the last day, which was one of the windiest I played all summer.
Shot a 69 in round 2. Had 2 three putt bogies and got a bit unlucky with the wind kicking up on my back nine. If I had been on the other nine with the stronger wind, it would've been easier. Instead, on my side two of the toughest holes were made tougher with a cross wind and dead into the wind. The short par 5 on that side was also dead into the wind so that wasn't reachable. Oh well - you can't complain about the weather or your pairing, it's just pure luck.
Today is going to be extremely windy, and out of the same direction as yesterday. That will make the final round difficult for everybody - especially when you add in final round pin locations.
Last tournament of '08. After this I'll start preparing to move to Arizona for the winter.
I shot a first round 70, which is 1-under par. I walked off of the course upset because I didn't take advantage of many shots today. Hit plenty of greens and had plenty of chances to make birdies, but almost all of the putts I missed were over-read.
After missing 8 straight putts on the high side, I made a slight adjustment which lead to birdies on 16 and 17.
I guess the score could've been worse, but I'm disappointed I didn't shoot a 67 or 68 today.
One of the guys I played with made a hole-in-one today. He knocked it in on the 140 yard par-3 11th hole. The ball landed about 5 feet right of the hole, but it spun left and disappeared. I've never written a one down on a tournament scorecard - it was kind of weird checking the hole-by-hole scores after the round.
I found out today that I will receive a much bigger than expected bonus check from the Dakotas Tour. I finished t-11th in points and I assumed that meant I would split the 11th place bonus check. That would've amounted to about $460. However, you have to play in 7 of the 8 major tournaments to be eligible for a bonus check.
The only major I didn't play in was in Minot. Also, if you look at those results you'll see that I made a check in 6 of the 7 majors I played in. That explains why I made more money than some of the guys who earned more points than me. I played better in the 3 or 4 day events where more money was up for grabs and they earned points in the 1 or 2 day events where money was much smaller.
Whatever the reasoning behind my place on the points/money list, I'm excited to be receiving a bonus of $1068.75.
I have the Nebraska State Open this weekend so check back for results on Friday.
A final round 70 in Hankinson, ND placed me in a tie for 13th. After a successful two months on the Dakotas Tour I finished 9th on the money list and t-11th on the points list. I think that t-11th on the points list will earn me a little bit of bonus money, but probably not much more than a few hundred dollars.
This past weekend I played over in Eau Claire at the CVGA Tournament of Champions. No hope of winning player of the year this year because I didn't play in enough events.
Let me begin with some basics - I hit last on 12 of the 18 tee boxes during the round. And until I made the last putt on 18, I had the worst score in my group.
What did I shoot? - 64
The other two guys shot 63 and 65. We had 23 birdies and 2 eagles between the three of us (I had both of the eagles). Mr. 63 had one bogey and Mr. 65 had two bogies (plus a penalty stroke - where he still made par).
As a group we all birdied 1, 7, and we played 13 4-under. I shot 33 on the front nine and was losing by 2 shots to both players. Amazingly, we all pared 10, 11, and 12. But those three holes and number 2 were the only 4 holes during the entire round that our group didn't have at least one birdie on a hole.
Second round is Thursday morning and I'll play with the same two guys. The toughest thing about tomorrow will be bouncing back after a low round. It is often difficult to play well the next day - you're expecting things to be just as easy as the previous day. I'm going into the day knowing about this hurdle so hopefully I can play another great round.
Shot a 1-under 71 in round 2. Leader is at 11-under through 2 rounds so I'm 8 shots back. Long way to go, but tomorrow the course will play about 400 yards longer and the pins should be the toughest we've seen all weekend. Basically, the course will be playing a lot tougher than it has the first two days.
Never got anything going at Eau Claire CC. Shot 73-72 in the final 2 rounds to finish T10th. Never got to 2-under par during a round and never struggled enough to be 4-over par. It was just 4 rounds of making pars - with a few bogies and an occasional birdie sprinkled in.
Shot a 2-under 70 in Fargo for the first round of the ND State Open. Made 2 birdies and 16 pars.
I shot another 71 in Williston and finished t-10th. I hit the ball great on day 2, but had an off day putting. Ended up with 36 putts and 35 shots! Pretty tough to hit the ball fewer times than you putt it.
On Sunday I won my 2nd CVGA event of the year. I shot a 5 under 67 at Princeton Valley in Eau Claire. Three putted the first hole for bogey, then went on to make 6 birdies and no more bogies. Was in control most of the day. Unfortunately I only won $162, but it's nice to play well in an event that I should win.
Monday and Tuesday were the first two days of the WI State Open. It hasn't been pretty or very sharp, but I'm in 15th place with a 73-71. I'm 7 shots back, but with only half of the tournament done there is a lot that can be done on Wednesday.
Live scoring exists, so if you're at work, check it out.
First round in Williston and I shot 1-under 71. This is a difficult golf course because every hole is surrounded by knee high native grass. The wind is also a factor. It only blew 20 mph today. That seems pretty calm for this area. It's supposed to be a sunny day tomorrow - I bet that means it will blow much stronger.
Round 2/Final round is tomorrow. A few guys shot 66 to take the lead so I'm 5 shots back.
I shot a final round 65 at Arrowhead CC in Rapid City. I finished in 5th place and also picked up an extra $1000 for having the low round of the day. I shot 2-under 34 on the front nine and then made 4 birdies on the back to shot a 31.
If there ever was a stress free 65, Saturday's round was it. I actually had 32 putts and still shot 65! I only missed one green all day and managed to hit 3 of the par fives in two shots. That means my ball-striking was nearly perfect. 32 putts and 33 swings is an odd way to shoot 65, but I'll take it.
Now I travel to western North Dakota - near Montana and Canada.
I finished T-19th in Yankton. A final round 70 moved me up a few spots. During the four tournament rounds, I was never more than 2-under par and never more than 2-over par. The two nines that I shot over par (37 and 38), I came back on the 2nd nine and shot 33's - both times.
Now I'm in Rapid City, SD - amongst all the Harley owners. I shot 3-under 68 in round 1 and 71 in round 2. I'm in 15th place with one round to go.
I shot 1 under par 71 and made the cut with some room to spare. It was very windy today and I struggled on the front nine, shooting 38. I rallied on the back nine and only had 12 putts on the final 9 holes. Shot a 33 on the inward nine.
The cut fell at 213 and I'm at 212.
The worst news during the day was the $53 I won for getting a skin in round 2. Again, I knocked it in from 116 yards for an eagle 2. All I won was a $53 skin and I PAID $60 TO GET IN THE SKINS GAME!!! What a joke. Either 12 pros got into the skins or the pro shop is skimming about 30% off the top. I'm calling shenanigans.
Final round is Sunday - I tee of at 11:54. After the round, I'll drive to Wichita, KS for a Nationwide Monday Qualifier.
2 under 70. On paper that is better than yesterday, but it didn't feel that way. I only hit 7 greens today, but two hole out from off the green really helped. I chipped in on #2 for birdie and then I holed out from 116 yards on #10 for eagle. I also two-putted for birdie on #15 and #18. The rest of the holes were a battle. Several errant shots and some really bad putts plagued me during the round.
I happy that the round was an improvement from yesterday, but I'd like to put together a solid round of golf where I feel good about ball-striking and where I just wait for the putts to drop in.
1 under 71. It wasn't pretty, but I hung in there and managed to finish. I hope to get something going in round 2 because a bunch of 71's isn't going to do anything on this course.
Monday was a Nationwide Tour qualifier and I lost in a playoff. The playoff consisted of 8 guys for 2 spots. I bogied the first hole and was out of it. I played well to shoot a 69. The wind was really strong all day and that made the greens very fast; not to mention hitting the ball straight.
Because I failed in the playoff in Omaha, I travelled to Yankton, SD for the next Dakotas Tour event. Tuesday was another qualifier - this time much easier. Monday was 80 guys for 7 spots. Tuesday was 57 guys for 27 spots. I shot a 68 and easily made it. The playoff was at even par 72. That means I'll be in Yankton for the rest of the weekend. This is the biggest Dakotas Tour event and it's 4 rounds.
I made the cut on the number. Nice twist after missing last year's cut my one. When I finished, I honestly thought I missed it again by a single shot. I shot 71-70, which is 1 under par. I made a 20 foot birdie putt on my final hole and that birdie got me inside the cut.
I haven't scored well the first two days. I've missed a lot of putts and hit a few too many wayward shots. My putting stroke felt good at the end of the 2nd round and I finally made some putts so I'll be able to carry that into the final round.
I tee off at 8:20, then travel home to get some rest before the weekends tournament.
Several mental mistakes were my problem this week. After two great weekends in South Dakota I had a setback this weekend and failed to make the cut. I shot 74-75, but that was the worst I could’ve shot.
My first mistake was on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. After failing to qualify for the Nationwide event in Missouri on Monday I drove home and safely reached Minneapolis at 3am Tuesday morning. Despite being exhausted, I didn’t get much sleep because by 9am the sun was beaming into my room and keeping me awake. It didn’t help that my room was at a balmy 85 degrees. I took Tuesday off, didn’t even touch a golf club. I needed one, but I fully expected to get back on the course on Wednesday.
I tried sleeping in again on Wednesday with a little more success, but when I woke up I was too worn out to play a full round. I ended up practicing for about 2 hours and then I repacked my car for this weekend’s trip.
Thursday was a travel day. I arrived in Aberdeen at about 1pm, with a plan to play a practice round. Again, I was too tired to play a full round so I only practiced for an hour. I never even walked the course – and that cost me 2 or 3 shots on Friday.
I never felt comfortable on this golf course. It was 7100 yards with plenty of hazards to hit the ball into. If I had played a practice round, I would’ve known where those hazards were and I wouldn’t have made so many tentative/steered swings.
The final mistake I made was in the 2nd round, hole 15. I had just birdied #14 to get back to even par (+2 for the tournament). I needed to play the last 4 holes 3 under to make the cut, but that was very possible with a reachable par 5, short par 3, and one short par 4. On #15 (the short par 4) I had a gap wedge left to the pin and in the middle of my downswing another professional on an adjacent hole began talking. He was no more that 15 yards from me and it startled me – I hit the shot long and right of the green. The mistake wasn’t that shot, but the next three. On my chip, I was still upset about the pro talking in my swing and I stubbed my chip. Then on my 20 foot putt for par, I was STILL upset about was happened back in the fairway. Making bogey there pretty much eliminated all hopes of making the cut. I remained “on tilt” for the next two holes and bogied 16 and 17.
I’m disappointed that I missed the cut this weekend, but it seems pretty clear why. My preparation was not what it had been the previous two weekends. I was understandably tired after Missouri, but I needed to see this golf course before playing the tournament. Hopefully I won’t make that mistake again.
Monday I have a tournament in Marshall, MN. I have played that course before. Friday I have the MN State Open – a course that I have played before. Plus I have all day tomorrow to sleep in and get reenergized.
Many of you regular readers of this blog already know I finished 2nd at the South Dakota State Open. I shot a final round 65 and lost on the third playoff hole. I could stop here and simply enjoy the high finish. However, I'm going to be brutally honest. I choked my guts out during the last 6 holes.
My round started out great. I birdied 2, 3, 4, and 6. A violent lip-out on 9 had me turn with a 32. I then went crazy with birdies on 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15. That got me to -14 for the tournament and -9 for the day!
If I could have one shot over, it'd be my 2nd shot on 16. I hit a gap wedge that landed within 10 feet of the hole, but spun back 30 feet onto the fringe. I then missed the downhill 3 foot par putt. I also bogied 17 and failed to birdie the par-5 18th.
In the playoff, it got worse. After my opponent bogied 1 I had a 3 foot putt for the win. I missed in on the low side. We both birdied 2 and then he birdied 3 to win.
It's very unfortunate that I missed two 3 foot putts on the final 6 holes. I don't think I made a bad stroke, the putts just broke a lot! I played them both outside of the hole and they still broke across and missed.
Mentally I struggled down the stretch. I was cruising for 15 holes and the one bad break (spinning back off the green) rattled me. I also started thinking different thoughts. No longer was I thinking about the tempo of my swing, but rather the possibility of shooting 63 or lower.
The positive about the tournament is that I put myself in a position that I've never been in before. I admit that my nerves got the best of me, but I believe that I'll learn from yesterdays mistakes and hopefully not make them next time.
Today (Monday) I tried to qualify for a Nationwide event in Springfield, MO. I shot 70 and will most likely be 4 shots short. My downfall was on the greens. I hit the ball really close on the last 11 holes, but regardless of whether I kept it below the hole or not I couldn't get the putts to drop. Again, I don't feel like they were bad strokes. I started all of them where I wanted, but I misjudged the speed/break or both.
I'm about to get on the road. I'll be back in Minneapolis sometime Tuesday.
I'm behind on posts so I'll update you on my last few rounds. Going back to last weekend in Sioux Falls, I shot a 2 under 69 on the second day and finished T-7th. I won a skin that day so I made $1534.33.
On Wednesday I played in a one day pro-am in Okoboji, IA and shot a 76. Struggled on the greens all day and didn't come close to winning any money.
This weekend, I've been in Vermillion, SD playing the South Dakota State Open. Round 1 was on Friday and it was windy; much like last weekend - gusting to near 40 mph. I played really well and shot a 1 under 71. That put me in 19th place. I teed off at 1:50 and most of the 66's, 67's, and 68's were in the morning.
This morning, I caught a break with the weather. Very little wind starting out and I shot an opening nine 34 (2 under). Making the turn the wind was picking up very quickly. I eagled my 11th hole of the day, hitting an 8 iron into the par 5. The next par 5, which was also down wind, I hit a wedge into it and made an easy tap in birdie. Through 17 holes I was 5 under without a bogey and without a 5 on my scorecard. I played the 4 par 5's 5 under and parred every other hole. On number 9 I hit a great drive down the left side. The wind was blowing hard to the right, but the wind never moved my ball and my ball went under a tree and into long grass. I hacked it up by the green, but failed to get up and down. Nearly perfect through 17 holes and then bogey the last for a 68.
I survived the first round. It was very windy today. Only 3 or 4 guys shot under par, which is extremely rare for the Dakotas Tour. This tour is usually about going as low as possible. Today, I shot 72 (one over par) and find myself in the top 15. I pared the last 10 holes.
I hit the ball very solid today. With as much wind as there was, any poorly struck shot would be blown a long ways off course.
In to the wind, I hit a 3-iron 170 yards. Down wind I hit a drive 380 yards. That kind of shows how dramatic the wind was. Toughest thing about the round was that 4 of the first 5 holes were dead into the wind. Many guys (including one in my group) got off to horrible starts and couldn't recover when they got to the down wind holes.
Everybody's talking about less wind tomorrow, but I don't believe it. This is South Dakota. There is nothing to stop the wind. The entire state is one big plain.
I'm in Sioux Falls, SD playing in the 1st Dakotas Tour event of the summer. This tournament and this course are new to the Dakotas Tour and it'll be interesting to see how the course plays. It's not a long golf course (6901), but most of the Dakotas Tour courses play at about 6500. The golf course is also extremely firm; it's what I imagine playing in Scotland is like. On the par 3's, you're not looking at the distance to the pin, you're looking at the distance to the front of the green.
I tee off at 11:48 on Saturday and it's going to be windy. It's supposed to gust to 45 mph.
Summer of Neil continued in July. From Memorial Day through July there are about 65 days. I estimate that I played 75 rounds in those 65 days. Most weekdays I would wake up before sunrise and drive from Minneapolis to River Falls. My tee time was usually 7:30 and Travis Meyer and Andy Rauscher were usually there to join me. The three of us had some great battles on the course, but we always finished by 11:00 am. I didn't want to drive back to Minneapolis so I always tried to find a second match, whether another one at River Falls or at Troy Burne. Lots of times I would finish the second round by 4 and drive home during rush hour. That means most people were working in an office while I was playing one or two rounds of golf. That's a fun day of work.
My tournaments throughout July were successful. I played very consistent golf throughout the entire month. Round 1 at the South Dakota State Open and the qualifying round for the Dakotas Tour event in Yankton were my two worst rounds of the year.
Round one at SD State Open was filled with too much apprehension. I had played so well for a month, but all of those confident thoughts disappeared during the round. My group had two amateurs and it was embarrassing to shoot 76 in front of the amateurs. The next day I redeemed myself and shot a 68. After being embarrassed one day, I felt great after day 2.
The other bad round of July came at the very end. I shot a 77 down in Yankton, SD and fell way short of qualify for the event. I hate to use excuses, but this qualifier was on a Tuesday. The weekend before I played in the Minnesota State Open. After the State Open I drove up to Hayward, WI and qualified for the WI State Open on Monday. Monday afternoon I drove from Hayward to Yankton. That meant from 5pm on Sunday to 9pm Monday I was driving for 11 hours, sleeping for 7, playing golf for 6, and probably eating/relaxing for the remaining 4. I was exhausted in Yankton and after a bad start on the first few holes, I didn't have the energy to recover.
Very disapointing that I failed to qualify for that Yankton event. Really bad news was that after my round I had to drive home to Minneapolis. I was already upset about my bad round, already exhausted, but I had a 6 hour drive home to stay awake for. I got home by 6:30 pm and immediately went to bed. I woke up Wednesday morning around 9am. From Sunday night until Tuesday night I drove approximately 1200 miles and played golf in northern Wisconsin and southern South Dakota. I enjoyed playing all over, but don't like the long travel affecting how I play.
Moving onto the positive rounds for July I have to start with the Minnesota State Open. Going into the weekend I was very excited to play Bunker Hills. It is one of my favorite public courses in the Twin Cities area. I've played it for conference championships and several rounds with my dad. I shot a 3-under par 69 on Friday, which was tied for first. On Saturday morning I was asked to do a radio interview on KFAN. It was my first radio interview and while the questions were that inquisitive, I found a way to make the interview fun. My roommate bet me $20 that I couldn't mention the Phil Segner Memorial Golf Tournament on air. The tough thing about that tournament is that it doesn't exist; in fact, one of my roommates is Phil Segner. I told "Common Man" that when I was 8, the very first tournament I played was the Phil Segner Memorial Golf Tournament.
On day two of the State Open I improved and shot a 4-under 68. That put me in the last group with Dave Tentis and Cane Hanson. Both Dave and Cane blasted the ball way by me on the final day. Both Dave and Cane had caddies carrying their bags. I was definitely an underdog on the final day. I finished tied for 4th because I couldn't hit my approach shots close enough to the hole. Trying to make 25-30 foot birdie putts all day was too much to hope for. Despite struggling for most of the final round, I made a long putt on #18 to tie Tentis and earn an extra $800.
One more highlight of the Minnesota State Open was autographing some golf balls for my cousins. They came out on the final day to watch and I gave each of them a ball that I used during the tournament.
My other good tournament was the Waterloo Open. This tournament has a cut after one day. 170 pros play one round and it gets cut down to the low 60 scores. I figured I would have to shoot 69 to make the cut and after bogeying the first two holes I knew I had some work to do. I birdied the par 5 5th hole and then got another one on the par 3 9th. I eagled the par 5 12th and then birdied the par 5 16th. As soon as I tapped in on #18 for a 69 I safely assumed I would make the cut because the wind was really starting to swirl. Sure enough the afternoon scores were higher and 70 was the cut. On day two I made up some ground with a 4-under 68. I had some wonderful up and down saves during this round and some near miraculous shots behind trees.
June is a much more fun month to review than May. I didn't have to play in any severe winds and my game excelled in the perfect conditions. I played 7 competitive rounds in June and only one was over par (73 - +1 at Spring Valley).
Breaking down the month even further I will say that each round during June was better than the previous one. Spring Valley was a grind where a few timely up and downs saved the day. At Chippewa Falls I didn't play with a lot of desire and that produced several lazy shots. A few days later I tried to qualify for a Nationwide event, but was unsuccessful. I started the round off very well and found myself 2 under par through 11 holes, but I struggled on the last 7 holes and missed qualifying by 2 shots. I remember thinking after hole 11 that I needed to reach 4 under to make it. Admittedly, that thinking lead to forced shots and extra pressure.
I really wanted to qualify for a Nationwide event during 2007 and looking back on that day in June I know that was my chance. I've played Hastings CC numerous times and have always had success on it. A 69 would've made it and I was in perfect shape after 11 holes. Lots of tournament rounds or holes slip away during a summer, but this qualifier really slipped right out of my hand.
The rest of the month was a breeze. My swing found a repeatable rhythm that made things fun and successful. At Clifton Highlands I won by 3 shots and managed the golf course perfectly. I had a game plan to keep my ball below the hole and that made the difficult pin locations seem easy. At Eau Claire I wanted to play the first 27 holes well enough so I had a chance to win the tournament on the final nine. On day one I birdied the last 2 holes to get into the final group and after nine pars to open the 2nd round, I had a chance on the back nine. A birdie on #11 got me within 2 shots, but disaster struck on #13. My main opponent drove the ball under a tree and had to chip out. I was in the middle of the fairway, but hit my approach over the green. I made a double bogey and Eric Rolland got up and down from the fairway to save a par. Now with 6 holes to go I was down 4. I birdied the next two and Eric bogied 2 of the next 3. That meant with two holes to play I was tied. On #17, Eric made a chip from off the green to take a one shot lead. On the final hole I hit a driver off of the fairway and got my ball 30 yards short of the par 5 in two shots. My third shot was 8 feet below the hole and I made the putt to pull even with Eric. On the second playoff hole I hit an 8-iron to 3 feet and made the putt to win my second CVGA event in as many weeks.
The best feeling I had all month was in the playoff with Eric. The second hole was a par three. Several hours earlier I had hit an 8-iron to about 15 feet just right of the hole. Playing this hole a second time I knew 8-iron was a perfect club. All I had to do was get direction right. There wasn't a single thought about how to swing the club because I knew my swing it would take care of itself.
Another high moment of the month was the qualifier for the Minnesota State Open. I had never played Chaska Town Course before, but the course is right in front of you. After a fast start with 3 birdies in the first 7 holes I cruised the remaining holes and was the low qualifier. I drove the ball beautifully and nearly hit every fairway. My irons were firing at all pins. The only bad thing during the round was my putting. I had two three putts. I teed off in the first group and after posting a 2 under 70 I asked the official if I could go home. The low 14 scores qualified and he told me to stay close to the course and call in about 2 hours, just in case 14 players broke 70. I called 2 hours later and was still medalist by 4 shots.
I wanted to get this published on Monday, but forgot to finish it until Wednesday. I will be reviewing July sometime next week. I'll plan for next Wednesday, but I might be late.
It should be clear that my game was rusty during May. Scores varied from 67 to 81. I failed to qualify for a Nationwide event, but was able to make some money and gain some confidence during the CVGA events.
I played in a lot of different weather this month. The Indian Hills Pro-Am was chilly with a lot of wind and occasional showers. At New Richmond it was once again cool with a ton of wind. It was sunny with calm conditions for the St. Croix National CVGA. Then it was back to a lot of wind for the US Open Qualifier. The last two tournaments of the year brought good weather with very light winds. Basically I played well when the wind was calm and struggled when the wind was high.
During May I received a new driver that I used all year. This new driver was the best driver I've ever owned. I hit more fairways throughout the year than any other year. Several rounds were stress free because I wasn't chipping out of the woods and I wasn't taking a drop after hitting a drive into a lake.
I remember a wide range of thoughts throughout the month of May. After struggling at Indian Hills Pro-Am I was very dissapointed and worried that my swing would struggle like it did during 2006. During the round at New Richmond I was +6 through 6 holes and was just hoping to break 90. During the US Open Qualifier I hit some absolutely horrible shots and even missed a tap-in 14 inch putt. Those were the low points of the month.
At certain other times I felt very good about the progress I was making during the month. At St. Croix National I kept the ball on the golf course (thanks to the new driver) and that is the number 1 key to playing that course well. The Bloomer tournament was a big breakthrough for the month. I hit my irons really well that day and was in control of distance and direction with every iron. I did make one mistake that day; which was thinking I had the lead after 18 holes. I was the last group to finish and before starting my final 9 I thought I heard somebody say I was in the lead by a few shots. With that information I played the last 9 holes very conservative and without a sense of urgency. I failed to birdie a 250 yard par 4 as well as a 450 yard par 5. Once I finished the 27 holes I realized I was actually trailing by 2 shots before the final 9.
What I learned that day was to not trust an old man who mistakenly thought I was leading, but also to keep pushing for those birdies as if I'm way behind the leader. This lesson helped me in June with my two CVGA victories that month.
Now that my 2007 season is done I figure it’s time to reminisce and summarize how I think the year went. Over the next few weeks, I’ll update new posts that focus on one month at a time. After discussing each month, I’ll move onto each tour that I played on. You’ll find a big difference in my results on the CVGA versus the Dakotas Tour.
