Thanksgiving and an early Christmas.

Welcome to the 2010 Frozen Turkey Invitational recap...

I've been thinking about what to write on this blog entry since Brian, Jeff, and I walked off the 18th green. That's probably a lie... it was probably as early as Friday morning when I woke up. I've probably changed it 10 times since then and I still don't know if what I'll write does the day any good! 

We'll set the stage first... Brian, Jeff, and I have had this annual golf outing for a handful of years over the Thanksgiving holiday.  The first couple were unofficial but this is the 3rd year that we've offered up a trophy to the winner.  That makes it totally official!  And to stroke the ego of Brian - he's won the first 2 years and looking for the "3-peat".

The first official tournament was the "Freeze Your Golf Balls Open" on Christmas Eve 2008 at the now defunct (sadly) Glen Miller Golf Course.  By all accounts I think the three of us can safely say that we played the last rounds on that course. It was a surreal experience playing the course for the last time.  For me it was the first course I ever played golf. For our tournament that year we used only 4 clubs (including putter). I know that I was unconscious on the greens and lost by a stroke to Brian on the 9th hole.

Last year was our first time at Liberty playing on the Friday after Thanksgiving... Though I remember taking a one stroke lead after one hole it was short lived as Brian shot 68... I shot 78... and Jeff was somewhere South of my score. I do remember hitting a sweet putt for birdie on 18.

This year we started looking at the weather about a week ahead of time. What? Worried?  Only if you were weak and had to wear 2 gloves the entire day.  Book ended by 50 degree weather was Friday's temperature of 35 degrees with clear blue skies and 5-10 mph winds (which later were easily 10-15 mph).  Thanks to a Flip Video camera that I won in Las Vegas the event was captured for posterity.  The trash talking and gender questioning started early as you can plainly hear...

I had the honor (and luck of the spinning tee) to fire the opening shot to this year's Frozen Turkey Invitational.  A nice high block into the trees right kept the middle of the fairway open for Brian and Jeff's efforts.  How in the world can Jeff swing looking like he's ready to race in the Iditarod?

I had an early chance for birdie on the first hole but my touchy downhill hook putt just didn't have enough borrow on it.

Brian recorded the first birdie of the day with a nice two putt effort on the 502 yard par 5 4th hole.  His only real mistake was a missed shortie on the 8th hole.  My two shots I wish I had back were a couple three putts on holes 2 and 8 otherwise a solid opening 9 tied with Brian at 40 (+5).  After a solid start Jeff had a 2 hole stretch of +5 putting him in last.

We made the turn and had a quick warm up and words of encouragement from Bruce Abernathy in the pro shop and headed out to 10.  The weather was holding up and actually was pretty warm - especially if you were Brian and Jeff who were wearing 2 gloves.  We were all pretty rusty on swinging a golf club but for me I shook the rust off with the driver making the turn. But somehow this began to take more of a serious tone. 

This has always been about 3 good friends getting together once a year to play some golf and endure some good natured ribbing.  But knowing that Brian and I were tied at the turn.... It changed a bit for me because I wanted to take Brian down.  What I hadn't mentioned at the onset of this blog was what was on the line between Brian and myself.  If I won then Brian would make his way to one of my amateur golf tournaments to caddy for me. If Brian won then the next tournament I was caddy for him I would have to do 20 pushups at each tee. When did this get serious?

The next 4 holes found some birdies for both Brian and myself.  Brian with a nice 8 footer on 11 but coupling his nasty double bogey to my par on 12 and then me dropping a long range birdie from 25 feet on 13 put me two strokes up.

Scott +5. Brian +7.  Jeff +14.  On 14 my birdie putt somehow became afraid of the dark and stayed on the lip. Brian's shorter birdie putt skirted the hole and the gap remained the same with 4 holes remaining.  A stellar bogey by me and a solid par by Brian closed the gap to one stroke with 3 holes remaining.  Brian was flirting with OB left on the next hole while I was ducking my head through the trees on the right we both ended up with a couple of bogeys.  I hit a sweet 5 footer for mine.  Then came the 17th.

Brian and I both have some opinions about this hole from our past as we just don't play it well. It's a par 5 measuring about 535 yards.  Today I played it the worst.  Let's just go long story short.  Brian plays the hole smartly.  I go aggressive... lose a ball, horseshoe a putt, take a 9 to his 6, toss my putter and find myself 2 strokes down. I ask again... When did this become serious?  This is a fun outing! :) 

As is standard at Liberty we hit tee balls on 18 switching clubs.  Brian and I hit lefty and Jeff goes righty.  I couldn't tell you who won the long drive on the first drive as we were all equally bad but what you don't see from the videos is a second round and Jeff won by about 15 yards.

With what's called hitting with some "Red Ass" I outdrive Brian by 10 yards and still wasn't out of the winners circle yet.  Though Brian was nice enough to 3 putt to squeak out the 1 stroke victory.  Final scores weren't all that to be proud of but this wasn't about competition... was it?

Brian - 80 (+10)

Scott - 81 (+11)

Jeff - 90 (+20)

And now a page of out of Brian's teachings...


What did I like about today? The fellowship of friends has no bounds and is significant in my life.... and hopefully forgiveness for tossing my putter on 17!

What did I learn today? That for me to be a better caddy to Brian I have to practice what I preach. Staying calm and making the right decisions under fire.

In a time of thanksgiving and counting the blessings in our lives.  I'm truly thankful and blessed to have friends like Jeff and Brian. The good natured ribbing is on in good fun. The only thing I'm not liking is that I have to deal with this loss for an entire year.  I'm sure there are other things in life that could be worse!

Great job Brian and I hope you enjoy your early Christmas!

And now something really different!

It's late Saturday night in Vegas.... yeah and I've found myself wanting to write a blog post.  Call me crazy.  It's going on 20 hours for me being awake but the day's been oh so full.  There IS something in the air in these casinos and it's no wonder that you can lose track of time (amongst other things).  However, I am here on business and I have a 9 AM class session to attend.  ::SIGH::

If you ever wonder what lies above your own cloudy days....

A revelation I had along time ago.  Always makes me smile when I see God reminding me of it. And it's still just as inspiring upon touchdown at O'Hare.

Eventually my flight ended up in Vegas.  Sat next to this "kid" named Juan on the way in.  At first I thought he was just a nervous flyer but then realizing he had a beer and a full glass of water prior to his flight... revealed the truth.  He was on his way to Vegas for the typical birthday bash.  Happy 30th!

After landing in LV and making my way to the MGM Grand...

.... I had to wait a bit on my room to be ready so off to sitesee!  Wow.  Um. Yeah.  Big place this Las Vegas.  Interesting.  Did I mention wow?

And Pink Lady Sexual Chocolate or whatever the hell his name was located within 100 ft of the hotel.  This place cracks me up!  Gonna be some scar tissue with this one.  Either that or therapy somewhere down the line.

So finally I get checked in and find the room.  And I felt like I swallowed the red pill and went down the rabbit hole. Being a good caddy I stepped off the yardage and it's a solid 4-iron aka 210 yards from the elevator to my room.  And if you look at the following picture there's still another 90 yards to go to the end of the hall!  Check out the picture from my room still looking to the end of the hall!!!

Skipping the boring details of work I found myself walking back passing the KA (pronounced "kah") Theatre here at the MGM Grand. I got hooked on Cirque about 9-10 years ago but hadn't attended a show under Le Grand Chapiteau until I went to see Quidam in Cincinnati about 5 years ago.  Now the show at MGM has no such "big tent" but what is great about any Cirque show is how it transforms you as you walk into theatre.  A couple years ago I read a very creative and very inspiring book called "The Spark". It was about a man who had felt his creative light fade.  He stumbled into a Cirque show and upon meeting a woman who worked at Cirque took up her invite to see what Cirque was about.  It's a great book and a pretty quick read.  I'd recommend it to anyone.

Knowing the work that goes into the creation of a Cirque story, the absolute perfection of the artists, the phenominal imagination of the set and fashion designers, and the incredible engineers I know going in this show will be amazing.  I sat at this show wide-eyed taking in everything I could.  With my self-diagnosed ADHD I pick up quite a bit and wanted more.  Dual stages that move in and out with one of the stages going vertical.  The sounds... the elements... the sights... I felt like a little kid.  Creative passion was once again racing through by body. If you think that Cirque shows aren't your style then it's going to be hard to convince you to go.  But if you want to feel like a child again.  If you want to sit wide-eyed in your chair you need to experience a Cirque show.  I thought the Vegas shows were too commercial and that Cirque sold out for having so many shows but I was wrong. Go beyond that thinking and just fill your mind with how the story flows.  How the artists perform. How the engineering of the sets happens seamlessly. 

Next time you're in Vegas I would highly recommend KA. Next time you read about Cirque bringing Le Grand Chapiteau to a city near you.  Go.  Yeah it's pricey but you'll leave feeling so much different than you ever have after any other show.

See... these posts aren't always about golf.  But I remind you the parallels of golf and life are similar.  You get out what you put in and if you're not careful you may just come out a smile.

Carolina Blues…

I apologize for not getting the blog updated sooner after Friday’s round.  Between travel both Friday night and Sunday my time window I thought I had Saturday closed rather quickly.

In the grand scheme of things Friday was anti-climatic.  The prep time for the round was as it had always been with arriving at the course, putting green, chipping area, full shots through the bag, and finally a handful more putts before heading to the tee.  This time it was different in more ways than one. 

First was the weather.  We enjoyed warm (and sometimes humid) temperatures since our arrival on Saturday night.  In my best Scottish brogue “It was a wee bit brisk, laddie” on Friday morning.  Low 50 degree temperatures but clear, blue skies greeted us.  20 degrees cooler than the previous days and with wind out of the North.  The cooler temperatures were a refreshing shock to the system but the near opposite wind was an unanticipated change.  Prevailing winds for this area are out of the SSW which was no doubt put into the thinking of the course design.  The practice range layout was totally different being that SSW wind creates a left to right path across that part of the pasture.  It’s a golfer’s nightmare in regards to prep time.

Secondly, in terms of a golfer’s mind that is scoring and playing below his expectations as well as playing in nearly the last group means the focus may not be what it needs to be.  None the less our goals never varied from the earlier rounds.  Same swing thoughts.  Same determination.  We were much improved on the greens today but still having difficulty playing a golf ball that was afraid of the dark.  I had to change the luck somehow so I decided to challenge Brian with every birdie we made I would do 10 pushups on the next tee with each sequential birdie adding on to that total.  Call it golf course cross training.   And unless the PGA Tour objects to it and when we make it to a tour event the same challenge applies!  Who says you can’t have fun on the course?

One of the topics Brian and I talked about mid-round was of the focus needed in our position and how much more is needed when you don’t want to get out of bed to play a round that really nets you nothing.  But that’s the part of what did we learn today.  The focus to come out and play well when there’s nothing on the line can only gain you the experience when everything is on the line. 

All in all, the week was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had on a golf course to date.  Brian said it would be.  Friday would find our brains feeling like mental ground beef. 

What did we like about today?

We had more confidence on the greens today.

We still were making adjustments "on the fly" to keep trying to improve Brian's position throughout the day.

What did we learn today?

The focus needed for a tournament leading group round pales in comparison to the focus needed for the tail end group.


This won't be the last of this blog.  I'll be updating it over the coming weeks.  The one thing I didn't expect was how much the passion of golf burned inside me over the week.  I personally shut down my game about 3 weeks ago but now want to go play!  Brian is already looking at tournaments for next year.  I know we'll be back in Pinehurst this time next year.  I'll pass along future tournaments as we progress through the year.

The annual gathering of Brian, Jeff, and myself over the Thanksgiving holiday will certainly be posted.  Stay tuned.  And until we meet again here's wishing you enjoy each moment that's presented to you and hope you have the opportunity to share it with someone.

A Reflection

Hi, all.. Brian here.. I just had a few things I wanted to say on here as I reflect on this week particularly, and the weeks leading up..

First off, this week has obviously been a very trying week on the golf course. It has been baffling, in a sense that I have worked very hard in tireless hours, and haven't seen the results I wanted. Round 1 on Tuesday was a different story, but Scott's and my words for the last 2 rounds have been that we were "very close." People at home don't understand what it's like to play these types of courses, against these types of fields, with this type of pressure and emotion. For anyone, it's 'easy' to go shoot a good score at your home track, and brag to friends about playing a good round... Think about this, try adding 600 yards, about 40 bunkers, a few hundred trees, and greens that are way quicker and more undulated to your course, then try and shoot these same scores... With that said, back to the 'very close' comment, where 3 feet right of target, or 6 steps short, or missing pace on the greens by mere inches are the difference between birdies and bogeys. Shots that I've hit this week would be above average and most likely be rewarded at home, turn into bogeys and doubles here in Pinehurst.

Enough rambling about my game, and to the point of me writing this entry instead of Scott...

I want to thank all those people at home, or elsewhere, that have been supportive of Scott's blog on the computer, and the support of me while I am chasing my dreams. Cat and Larry at Highland Lake Golf Course, in Richmond where I practice, have been nothing less than spectacular for me. Not only in the sense that they give me a place to practice and hone my skills, but every single day I walk in the clubhouse door and there are 2 smiling faces there pushing me to become better, with full support every step of the way, and also just being there if I want a couple people to listen and understand my issues when not many others will.

I also want to thank my friends and family for the support not only this week, but over the last 2 years since I turned pro. There are a lot of people that have made sacrifices on my behalf, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you. Especially to my parents, the long hours following me around on courses as a junior golfer, to college golf, and now professional, long road trips, weird hotels, and many new faces.. Without the two of you, NONE of this is possible. I can make one promise to you guys, as tough as things may be for me on the course, I will NEVER give in, and ALWAYS do the best with that talents that God has given me.

Finally, I want to thank Scott. People don't realize how tough it really is to be a caddie. It is much more than just carrying a bag for 18 holes. Since Scott and I talked about the possibility of working together months ago, he has done his best to help me do the best I can. For example, as I picked him up from the airport in Charlotte the other night, one of the first things he did was pull out a makeshift yardage book that he had made from information he had found online, and started gameplanning with me right there in the car. Especially this week (with me being grouchy at times) I'm sure he has thought "What am I doing with this fool?" But without batting an eye, he has always picked me up with words, actions, and others. He didn't HAVE to miss a week of work, and he doesn't HAVE to put up with me hitting shots into trouble, and he doesn't HAVE to put up with me being on edge emotionally for most of the week, but because he is a good friend, he did. No matter the results on the golf course, I will always remember the fun we had this week, as player, caddie, and friends. Thanks, Scott, it means a ton that you could experience the thrill of PGA Tour Q School with me.

For the rest of the followers, tomorrow is a new day. There is still one day left to go out and do my best. Head held high, positive attitude, and a determined focus, we will take the tee one final time in 2010 here in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

-Brian

Tah dah!

It's always been said that a bad day on the golf course is better than a good day in the office. So what does it mean when your office is the golf course?  All things considered today was a good day. We kept to our game plan of tee to green. We're still a bit befuddled on the greens (that's my 25 cent word for today) but some putts did fall today. I think the biggest putt of all was when we made the turn and Brian hit a 15 footer for par on #1. An 18 footer on #2 gave us some much need pep.  Though dropping back to back shots on #3 and #4 we still plugged away.  Stats today were every bit of good as yesterday... 10 of 14 fairways... 10 of 18 greens (though we know that stat will get better). I here what Brian says during the round.  His confidence is still high.  He knows that this week hasn't gone as expected but remains positive. 

What did we like about today:
We continued to stick to our game from tee to green.
Staying focused amongst distractions.

What did we learn about today:
It doesn't take making a birdie putt to gain confidence.
It's easy to fall into the trap of other golfers "miseries" and draft off their problems.

Post round we headed into Pinehurst Village to Dugan's Pub.  The chicken breast sandwich I had was off the chain and as sandwiches go it was at least a "D" cup in size! That and two Yuenglings and I told Brian I needed to run behind the car back over to Pinehurst #2 to work it off.  There was a throwdown of sorts on the putting green this evening.  I lost 3&2 on the huge putting green at the Pinehurst clubhouse. 

However I learned something in my defeat!  Brian taught me the fine art of plumb bobbing.  I know it sounds trivial to most but when explained in 50 words or less (being self-diagnosed with ADHD) my concentration time is limited and the theory stuck.  With it being 50 degrees and dropping back in Iowa now I just have to make sure I remember when March/April comes around. 

We met Dan Boever out on the practice range at Pinehurst while we were out there.  He's a former long drive champion now schlepping his talent doing trick shots.  Gotta go with what works, right?

The goal for today was to get an early start tomorrow morning which means we would be mid-pack.  That didn't exactly happen even with the winds down from yesterday.  It may be a bit of a blessing to have a 10:20 tee time tomorrow as it's only supposed to get to a high of 65 tomorrow.  It will be around 50 when we get to the course just after 9 in the morning.

We're still positive for a good result for tomorrow.  Same goals.  Same determination.  Though it's not the result we wanted when this date was first put on the calendar sometimes in defeat the lesson learned is better than the result in winning. It gives us the drive and determination to reach our goals.

I'll see what I can do to blog on the way home.  It's one of the reasons why I bought by Droid X so I can do some work from the road. I can tell you I certainly didn't buy it for the battery life!  It sucks!  We'll be making tracks for Richmond post round.  I know a couple more blogs on this week will be posted very soon.  I hope everyone has enjoyed a little different look to Q School for this year. 

Sanitary seal...

With a later tee time this morning we got plenty of sleep last night.  Almost like sleeping off a hangover. Brian's talked about the 20 extra minutes you can put into your game making a difference.  Not banging golf balls so much but just polishing up a part of the game that you feel will make you more effective the next day. Our 20 minutes last night consisted of just reading greens.  Dropping a golf ball at a distance and see if we were seeing the same thing.  We still felt the sanitary seal was left on the cup all day as nothing dropped from  beyond 5 feet.  It was as frustrating on the greens as you can imagine.  Tee to green we couldn't have asked for any better.  We do know that we'll be more aggressive over the next two days on approach shots.

What did we like about today:
We executed the game plan from tee to green just as we planned.
Great bunker shot on #4 (60 footer and stopping it to 3 feet)
We hit every putt 5 feet and under.

What did we learn about today:
As golfers we're never satisfied with our result.
After missing 2 short putts on holes #1 and #2, I got back into the moment and hit a great 3 iron tee shot on the third hole.

Pictures for today include Brian warming up with the big dog... It actually triggered 2 swing thoughts for the day that hopefully will carry over beyond the rest of the week for Brian. And yes he did notice that his stance was a bit closed on this shot.

And a little action shot just after impact with the 4-iron...

We do have to give a shout out to Raffeale's Restaurant in Southern Pines, NC.  Our early dinner started about 45 minutes prior to them opening at 5 pm but we were welcomed with open arms by the owner, Raffaele, who immigrated to the area 30 years ago and runs a wonderful establishment.  Great pizza, salad, and rolls as well as hospitality!  A must stop when you're in the area. 

The weather has been eratic to say the least.  Winds were up all day with some really fast moving clouds.  Evidently there were tornado warnings in the northern part of the state.  No worries as it wasn't close to us.

Tomorrow is the late tee time we had hoped for earlier in the week but unfortunately it's starting on 10 tee. Weather calls for rain early.  But it was te same for today. We still be out there grinding away.  Giving it our absolute best on every shot.

Blindsided...

Morning fog greeted us on the range...



And no one saw the rest of the day coming... and we won't belabor too many points on the day.  Over a beer at lunch Brian broke it down like this:

What did we like about the day:
We played the par 3's well.
We stayed competitive and never gave up.
With the exception of #18 we made a very good decisions on club selection all day.

What did we learn about the day:
We over read some putts.
We put in great work on yardages - flip side being we didn't work enough reading greens together(see #1).
The importance of trusting everything we've worked on.

Tomorrow's another day.  Same goals.  Same swing thoughts.  Same determination.

A good kind of Payne...

Today was a pretty good day at Pinewild.  Though we were caught off guard by rush hour traffic at the first tee.  Seems everyone wanted to be the first out this morning.

What's a little more difficult to see is the group heading off the tee and the group ahead of them just reaching the green.  Nonetheless Brian and I hung ended up with a cool pairing of Kevin Grady and his caddy Sean .  Particularly relevant was that Sean was originally from Cincinnati and is a huge Bengals and Reds fan.  He had plenty of stories to share from his associations with the two teams and some very cool stories about his time as a looper over at Pinehurst #2 since he moved here a handful of years ago.  It was almost an expensive round for Kevin as he came this close to holing out on the par 3 7th hole.  Since the green is slightly elevated the best we could figure that the ball spun back into it's pitch mark but it kept it from going in the hole. 

We made it through 15 holes today and as we made it to the 16th hole we were told that we had to clear the course as soon as possible.  Well placed carts were waiting for us.  On the way in picked up a couple stray golfers and no sooner than we got back the sky pretty much cut loose.  It was a Nor'easter!  The storm packed a nice jab of wind and rain as there were some fallen trees as we were driving out of the area to lunch and power was out in selected areas. 

After an hour we headed back out to finish the last 3 holes.  It was probably the coolest time on the course in the passed 2 days as it was just golfer and caddy.  No time table.  No rush.  Just golf, strategy, and friendship.  We tied up a couple loose ends on the range and then I'd be remiss if I got my ass handed to me on some chipping contests though I did break through for a victory from the pine straw.  Just goes to prove who plays from more of those lies versus the fairway!  Back over to the putting green for some solid putting drills and it was off to Pinehurst #2.

It's an overused adjective but both Brian and I consider Payne Stewart a hero.  Whatever superlative you want to use there was no doubts to his play on the golf course and his life off the course.  24 Tour wins including 3 Majors including 2 US Opens, his early brash attitude at times was a turn off to some but there is no denying his impact on the PGA, his respect for the game, and commitment to off the field charity work.  He was truly popular with the fans and always was an impeccable dresser. The Payne Stewart Award has been given annually to the PGA player that exhudes those traits since the year after his death.  The realization that today, October 25th, was the day he died back in 1999 made it such an impactful time as Brian and I toured the #2 course grounds.  #2 is having renovations done to it in preparation for the 2014 US Men's and Women's Open so the look of it is so much different than you see in TV. Here's the first tee... normally you'll have a grandstand down the right side of the tee with people 5-10 deep down the right side. 

The bronze statues of Donald Ross and Richard Tufts as well as Payne Stewart stand guard of the practice green between the 1st tee and 18th green... the plaques commemorating them need no words other than what's scribed upon them.

And amazing poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...

Payne....

Payne and friends...



Good times away from the grind of the golf course this evening. It was nice not to think about lays ahead for us. Thanks to Brian to setting up this special time for me.  The significance of this day with Payne Stewart made it that much more. 

Tomorrow will be a truly be a great day.  We tee off at 9:00 AM going off the 1st tee.  Brian's ready.  I'm ready.  We're ready.  I received a tweet from a PGA Tour caddy earlier in the week (he knows funny!) and his advice was simple.  "Don't worry about the score. Focus on each shot and have more fun than the other guys. Score will take care of itself".  Well said....

Take a deep breath.... Do what you do.

Sunday practice round...

What a gorgeous day today!  Needless to say this is a beautiful area.  Both of us getting some much needed rest from a day of travel yesterday we arrived at the course around 10:15 or so... dropped the kids off at the pool and then headed to the range. 

The whole part of a practice round is just that - practice for the golfer and cross-checking the professional yardage books for the caddy.  These are created by someone with who takes the time to pour over every yard with locations of sprinkler heads, bunkers, green depths, and green undulations. They certainly make the job easier.  It's our job to modify those notes to exactly what we need for the round.

We started off the 10th tee but it's no where near as awesome as the first hole you see below.  This is a monster of opening hole.  It can be stretched to over 600 yards... pretty much a 3 shot hole.  Like looking down the barrel of a gun!

Of course we had to keep tabs on the Bengals during the day.  Who-dey was keeping up his end of the bargain though as it turned out Cincy didn't do so well... but here he is representing!

We've settled in for the evening.... catching up on football highlights.  Did anyone watch Jonathon Byrd hit the ace to win the playoff?  Only in Vegas, baby! I met Jonathon the year he won the JDC.  One of the nicest guys you could ever meet. 

Right now we're going over strategy for tomorrow as we're going to try to make it as "live" as possible.  Out early for a typical pre-round warm up session and then be to the first tee by 8:30.  After the round, lunch, and some final practice we'll be heading over to Pinehurst #2 to look around. Couldn't think of a better way to cap off the day while in the Pinehurst area.  Until tomorrow we hope this blog finds you doing well and hope everyone had a great weekend.

And now trains...

Interestingly enough... this train pretty much bisects the course in half.  This was taken about 6pm after our round when we were on the range.  Jokingly, one of the guys (Johann Benson) we played the practice round with said that the tracks give someone the opportunity to lay on the tracks if they triple bogeyed the 15th on their way to the 16th tee.

Planes and Automobiles

Long day of travel for both Brian and myself.  Brian had the longest of the travel plans leaving Richmond by car at 9:56 AM while all I had to do was make my connecting flight at O'Hare with my final destination of Charlotte.  The last couple hours on the road from there into Pinehurst consisted of winding roads amongst tall pines glowing in the brightness of a full moon.

Tomorrow's weather is to be mid-70's and sunny.  Some strong focused practice is on tap for tomorrow starting around 10AM.  We can't play the course until around noon.  I've gone over the official yardage book enough by now.  As much as Brian is ready to get to the course... so am I.

The next couple days are all about emersing ourselves in the course.  On our drive from the airport we talked about improvements in Brian's overall game as well as the most important aspect of his game... the mental game.  He admitted last year there was some stargazing on his part that took him out of his game and he lost focus.  Playing in more tournaments and Monday qualifiers this year has allowed him to get that out of his system to wear he's just concentrating on his own game. The past 3 months have been all about improving.  We're both excited to get out to the course and finally start getting out of theory and into execution.

Q School websites...

Follow along with scoring here...
http://pgatq.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgatq10/event/pgatq1013/index.htm
Click on the results tab to see round by round.

http://www.pgatour.com/qschool/

Timing...

I don't know about you or Brian or anyone else for that matter... where in the world did this week go?  There's a lot more to talk about then just me whining that I still have to do laundry, pack my bags, clean the dishes and even get some work done that's still at the office and get it done tonight!  But interestingly enough it's timing that breeds success next week for us.

Remember when you were really young and so excited for Christmas morning to arrive you dive head first into your presents and the next breath you take your presents are all opened and a huge pile of paper is all that is left of the moment?  It's that reminder to ourselves to not waste the moments in our lives and to enjoy them with every sense of our being.  For Brian and myself that staying in the moment will help the both of us next week.  If we're not careful we can go through next week so fast that it will be next Friday evening driving home and we won't recall a thing.  One of our goals is to make practice meaningful... make rest time meaningful... make each round, each hole, each shot meaningful. Interestingly enough the anxiety I felt just 10 minutes ago starting this entry knowing I have all this stuff to do tonight just melted away when I took a deep breath and stayed in the moment and started typing.

I'm heading to see Tyrone Wells in concert in Evanston, IL Friday night. Brian will no doubt polishing up one last practice item tomorrow and packing.  The blog will be quiet until Saturday evening when we arrive in Pinehurst. Don't worry though we have a lot to share with our friends and families over the coming days and weeks.

Background check...

It's funny that we feel compelled to always let our backgrounds be known before we go forward.  But in this case with such a new blog it's probably justified whether it's right, wrong or indifferent.  I won't apologize.  One of the reasons starting this blog is to help chronicle PGA Tour Q School through the eyes and ears of Brian Maurer and myself (Scott Schultz). It will also host some tournaments I play in throughout the year but will no doubt be host to anything golf related.

We see the big boys teeing up every weekend but not everyone knows the absolute grind that these players follow to live their dreams.  We follow people like Tiger and Phil because of their success and stature but we don't know about the 1000's of other golfers that tee it up annually to one day compete against them.  You wonder with Tiger and Phil's success so early on at how they would have reacted to the grind of Q School. John Feinstein's an award winning columnist and has written some top rated books including a great account of the 2005 final stage in his book Tales From Q School (http://www.feinsteinonthebrink.com/). I have nowhere near the credentials that he has nor any of the other journalists that cover golf like Matt Adams (http://www.fairwaysoflife.com/index.asp) has but we will bring it to you from the best perspective we know how. The hope is that for every moment that is spent on the golf course you can enjoy and cheer us on.

I've already noticed that I refer to Brian and I as "we".  He's the man who works tirelessly day in and day out aiming to play on the PGA Tour against the best (including that of our hometown hero Bo Van Pelt).  I'm the one that he personally asked to "be on the bag" for Q School. I'm as honored as anyone can be. I'm a designer by degree and profession. I have a day job that I go everyday for a weekly paycheck. Brian's playing the "Future's Market" in doing now which will get him his job later. But whatever our backgrounds and for the next few months we are "we".  A team. Living and dying on golf shots but also enjoying every moment knowing that no matter what happens out there we do it with respect, honor, and our faith in God.

We teamed up earlier in the summer for the John Deere Classic Qualifier. For every Monday qualifier there's usually a Thursday or Friday qualifier before hand to separate the wheat from the shaft.  Winning that tournament nets you nothing in the grand scheme of things as Monday is the ticket that gets punched. We made it through at even par that day. And focused our sights on Monday. I can still see (probably Brian too) the shorty putt missed on the 15th at Pinnacle CC that day. But for that one missed opportunity there are others such as the 10 extra minutes we took during our practice round to laser in some distances on the pin placement.  Do hear Brian say after the shot "no matter if we hit this putt or not the extra time we spent getting that distance right was worth it" gave me the confidence on how to do things right by being his caddy. After all this was my first real gig as caddy.  I've played for over 30 years and have won my share of amateur events but I was in uncharted waters. A golfer gets his confidence with hitting the right shot under pressure.  A caddy gets just as much confidence when he pulls the right club. To tell Brian on 18 (a devilish uphill par 3) that as much as he wants to shoot at the pin he has to give himself the chance to have a birdie putt a minimum and he pulls off the shot that needs to happen at that moment was worth it... a near miss from 20 feet still was the fate for that shot and that day. The toughest part was hearing that you miss a two for one playoff by one stroke.  I had a 45 minute drive and Brian had 5 hours to let that stir in the pot. I've NEVER felt that emotion before that stirred within me.

Brian has had great success as a junior golfer through high school in Richmond, IN where he was part of the State Championship team in 2003 and Runner's up in 2004 under Ron Murphy.  He played all four years at Ball State posting 8 top 20's and 4 top 10's his senior year.  He won the Pre-Qualifier to Q School last year out in California and has played quite a bit on the Hooter's Tour though not to the successful level he is aiming for.  I've known Brian since his high school days when he was laying in wait behind the 3 point line to drop in a timely basket for the mighty Red Devils varsity basketball team.  We've played our share of rounds together.  Whether he remembers or not, I remember the first time he beat me as it was at Buck Point in Brookville, IN (a PB Dye course that sadly closed this year). Our third member of the group during our yearly outing, Jeff Lane, probably remembers as well.

Regardless, though this was less of "background check" and more of a "stage set" there are 4 days until we arrive in Pinehurt, NC for the 1st Stage of Q School for the PGA Tour. Me by plane.  Brian by car. A couple full days of practice will be the prelude to 4 days that could lead to a lifetime starting October 26th.  Stay tuned....

And now it begins...

I've been contemplating about a blog for a while now.  My self-diagnosed ADHD has gotten in the way until now.  It's ok, folks, I'm a trained professional.  My hope is to share the passion of golf in my life with you.  Golf to me is a parallel to life.  Teaches you things about others, yourself, and life in general.  If you don't pay attention you may miss it. On those occasions you do find yourself in the moment enjoy the experience and write about it.  Posts will make you smile or scratch your head wondering if I'm off my medication.  But over time, like everything, I hope it will be one of those stopping off points in your day or week to follow me and the game that I truly love.  Love to watch (thanks Golf Channel and others).  Love to listen (thanks XM146).  Love to play.  Love to be...