I'm Not There Yet, But I'm Closer Than I Was Yesterday

After several days of getting over jet lag, I got back into my playing schedule with an All-American Tour event.  It was played last Monday-Wednesday at Sundance GC, which is way out west from downtown Phoenix.

My game was a little rusty (physically), but mentally I was sharp and excited to be back out there.  My short game showed the most rust.  I failed to get up and down on a handful of easy shots throughout the tournament.  On the other hand, my strong focus kept me from letting those mistakes sabotage the rest of the round/tournament.

One example is during the final round.  I was just short of the green in 2 on the par-5 9th hole.  I chipped it up to about 4 feet, but missed the putt.  This could've been the start of a downward spin, which would've resulted in a disappointing finish.  Instead I shrugged it off and eagled the next hole, the par-5 10th.

The other example happened early in the first round.  I hit my approach to 1 foot on the 1st hole of the tournament.  I came up just short on the 3rd hole and hit an awful chip to about 15 feet.  It was a straight forward bump-and-run, but I banged it way past.  I didn't make the putt and tapped in for bogey.  After the nice birdie on 1, the bogey could've put me in a funk for the rest of the round, but I shrugged off that mistake and went to the next hole.  I birdie the next - #4, and also birdied 7, 8, and 9 for a front side 32.

By the week's end I found myself tied for 4th.

The weirdest stat of the week - -

* First round - 7 birdies, 1 bogey, 1 double bogey
* Second round - 7 birdies, 3 bogies
* Third round - 1 eagle, 1 birdie, 1 bogey

Odd how some rounds you can only make a bunch of pars, whereas other rounds you make a load of birdies, but throw in a few bogies.

A few pictures to share.  First one is from Thailand, during the final stage practice rounds.  Follow this link, scroll to the bottom, and find my name.  Click on it and you see a picture of me teeing off.

The other picture is from this past week in Arizona.  During the final round, a photographer snapped this picture:

Am I smirking?  or grimacing?  You tell me what you think.

I've got another tournament this week - Tuesday through Thursday.

Neil

Safe Return from Thailand

Traveling back from Thailand was just a exhausting as it was going there, but it feels good to be home, with some time to relax.  I don't need to retell the story of traveling halfway across the world.  Instead I've got a bunch of pictures I need to post.

After the pictures, I'll explain what tournaments I will be playing for the rest of the year.  Even though I didn't earn my Asian Tour card, I've still got a fun scheduled plan and enough tournaments to keep me busy all year.

These pictures are from the entrance to our hotel.  It was an open aired hotel/lobby and they changed these floral arrangements every couple of days.

These pictures are taken from the same spot in Beijing airport.  We had an 8 hour layover on the way to Thailand and a 7 hour layover on the way back home.  Both times we landed early in the morning.  Beijing was cold - about 20 degrees - and the airport wasn't much warmer.  It's a huge airport that has ceilings reaching about 50 feet high, so there are a lot of cold draft blowing throughout the terminal.  The picture with the sun was taken on the way over to Thailand and that was the first time we saw the sun in about 24 hours.  On the way back, it was extra foggy, but it might have been a mix of fog and smog.

J.J. Grill was the place to eat.  A short walk from our hotel was our "hang out" spot.  We ate a lot of meals here, played a lot of cards, and always got ice cream for dessert and our walk home.  We rented motorbikes from here and got our laundry done.  Jane's family owns the place and it has been open for 15 years.  Her sister does massages all day.  The picture of the food is chicken stir-fry with young chili, which isn't too hot (it's got a little kick), but it's got a great flavor.

Lambo was the family dog at J.J. Grill.  He became more comfortable with us as we came there everyday.  It's found it amusing that Lambo learned to understand Thai and would obey his owners when they asked him to sit or come.  I struggled learning the numbers so I could tell my caddie what club I wanted to hit.

"Monkey Island" - the first day we rented motorbikes we drove South and ended up at this location, which was atop a step hill, right on the ocean.  It has a large temple (no pictures allowed) and it's surrounded by monkeys.

We rented motorbikes a couple times during our trip.  It's a cheap way to get around, but I had never ridden a motorbike so I was a little nervous at first.  Especially considering that we immediately got onto the highway and went 70 or 80 km/h.  No major accidents, just one small crash as we arrived at "Monkey Island".  My bike crashed into Jeff's - my shin was scraped and the front fender broke off (small fine when we returned the bikes).

This is one of my favorite photos from my trip.  The old fashioned sewing machine (operated by a foot pedal!) with a seasoned woman working hard, but maybe not too hard judging by the coconut drink nearby.

Our last day in Thailand we rented motorbikes, but we had to return them to a place about 7 kilometers away from our hotel and J.J. Grill.  Jane actually drove us up there to pick up the bikes and when we dropped them off we could've hailed a taxi, but we decided to walk.  How many miles is 7 kilometers? It's over 4 miles.  We ended up walking about 3 of those miles on the beach, alongside the ocean.  This picture is of a full moon with the moonlight reflecting off the ocean.  If you look closely at the horizon, you'll see a bright "dot" of light.  That's a green light from a fishing boat that is out to sea.

The trip to Thailand was a great experience and really proved that traveling across the world isn't out of my comfort zone for a golf tournament.  I wouldn't have been able to do this trip a few years ago because it was difficult to travel outside of the midwest.  Since then, my game has evolved far beyond Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas.  It's even matured past Arizona and North Carolina.  I'm excited to make any trip where the golf tournaments are good enough.  This summer I'll have the PGA Tour Canada and I'm already eying the European Tour Q-School which is in the fall.

Besides PGA Tour Canada, I'll most likely spend the month of May out east playing eGolf Tour.  Until May I'll be in Arizona playing All-American Tour.

Neil