A Date that I had circled on my calendar has finally come and gone, that date was 4-16-16. Just another Saturday for most people, but for myself, it was so much more. Was all the hard work I’ve put in the last 6 months through the frigid cold and late nights going to shine through on this day? For the start of my golfing year, everything from Tee to green seemed to be working better than ever before, but the short game I possessed last year was nowhere to be found. Could I muster up a good enough performance to not embarrass myself? These are the questions I was asking myself as I prepared for my first amateur tournament for a local circuit I joined in the off season.
Everything from game planning, practice scheduling, and overall preparation was being executed daily, but things still weren’t clicking. Thirty hour practice weeks on top of working full time was starting to wear on me when the results were few and far between. My stats for my first few rounds of the year weren’t adding up; how could I be hitting 44% GIR and 40% fairways, and not be breaking 90? Last year the stats were half that and I rarely had a round over 90.
4-15-16
It was time to put in a full day of work and try to collect any confidence possible. I leave the house at 7am to play a round at a course that will challenge me with a good practice facility to work on anything I discover during the round. Round Result: 91 with 45% GIR and 40% fairways, 39 putts. But the most important part was what happened on the practice grounds afterwards. I remembered an old chipping method while I was hitting multiple shots from different locations. All of a sudden I was scaring the hole from off the green, and leaving myself with make-able putts. I buried this confidence in my back pocket, and left the course.It was time to go play my practice round at the Private Country Club where my event was being held. I step on the practice putting green thinking the greens were going to roll even faster than the previous course that gave me troubles. Surprisingly to me, they weren’t faster, instead a tad slower. As the round plays out, I take several notes of where on greens to be, and good places to miss. I finish the round with my best score to date for the year. 87, and at this point hoping to be able to replicate it for the big day that is looming.
4-16-16
(12:05pm)
I show up to the course an hour before my tee time as my coach instructed to keep nerves and anticipation low. I walk over to the range after registration to find that my tee to green game isn’t cooperating like it has been. I hit one last good shot and check the time.. Shit…
(12:45pm)
Now I’m scrambling around to get to the chipping area, I hit 5 shots from off the green, and hole one of them. So I move to behind the bunker to hit some flops, hit my landing spot on 3 shots. So i jump in the bunker, 3 solid thumps out of the sand. Grab my bag and rush around the clubhouse to get on the putting green.
(12:57pm)
My original plans consisted of sitting on the practice green for an hour before my round, now I have 5 minutes. I hit 6 putts around the hole, 1 uphill, 1 downhill. Pace was good, but nothing dropped, except my putter, because it’s time!
(1:06pm)
First on the Tee from the 1:06 tee time is…. you guessed it, me. I step up, taking deep breathes to settle the ball on the tee, step back and take a few practice swings. At this point I’m just focusing on blocking out the 50 members on the deck drinking mimosa’s hoping for the worst so they can have a good laugh. I step in, and absolutely knock the cover off the ball! A 520yd Par 5, slight dogleg left, with a hill at about 300 yards has probably never been so small. I ended up catching the hill and rolling all the way to the bottom to leave myself with 126 yds. I ended up only leaving with a par, but I’ll gladly leave the first with a par and no nerves. I continued the front nine, and posted a 39, and thought to myself how I have a real chance at this thing. Unfortunately, The back nine gave me more troubles today just as it did the night prior. I step up to the hardest hole on the course, 18th tee, 13 over for the round. At this point I don’t think I can win, but securing a top ten finish would be an accomplishment for the way I’ve battled. I pull my tee shot left and have tree trouble. I then remember watching an earlier group hit approach shots into the green while I stood on the 10th tee. All 4 of our their shots, pin high and lower were pulled 60 yards off the green into a deep ravine in front of the putting surface. As I stand over my 172 yd shot, I have no option but to hit a punch shot and try to get it into the green side bunker. Success! Only problem now is, I need an up and down on this sloping green to salvage par. I proceed to thump it out to 6″ to grab my par while receiving applause from the groups watching waiting for people to finish.
I finish the round with an 85, and a whole lot of confidence. I check the leader board to see that my 85 was good enough for fifth, and couldn’t have been happier. My first official tournament was done, and I get to leave being in 5th place in the standings out of 140 guys. My goal when I joined this local tour was to be top 10 to be invited to Nationals at the end of the season, and so far, I’m on the right track!
Next Stop: First Major of the Season @BlackWolf Run!
FairwaysAndGreen 