Welcome to 2013.  It has been some time since my last update and with good reason.  I needed to get away from the game.  I had several reasons for this decision.  After multiple years of missing at Q School on both the International and US front, I needed to reevaluate whether this crazy game was going to be my career path.  I took time this Winter to ponder just that and even snuck in a part time job at a local St. Louis Budweiser distributorship to further venture away from the game.  When Spring arrived, I had spent enough time in the "penalty box" and realized golf is not only my passion, but beats the heck out of any other job this world has to offer.  Along the way these past years, there have been definitely times where the job part of golf for me has got in the way of the enjoyment of the game.  Working this Winter in a real blue collar setting helped me realized that people in jobs in every capacity of the working world hate their jobs at some point.  Golf is everything to me, and to let it go is unthinkable.  The humbling work I put in this Winter drove the message in loud and clear:  Golf is just a game and I am blessed to be able to play it for a living.
 
    The other thing I took away from this Winter is that I want to dial my schedule back so that I am as fresh as I can be heading into the Fall Q School.  In all the years past I have put the full court press on in terms of playing in tournaments from March till October when Q School started.  By the time the Fall rolled around, I was burnt out on travel and it took its toll both physically and mentally.  This year, not only am I starting the season late, but I am making sure to schedule breaks throughout the season to ensure come the Fall I am 100% both mentally and physically.

    The season for me is just getting under way.  Don't think that I am some rusty washed up golfer.  I practiced six days a week and worked out like Rocky Balboa this off season.  My first tournament of the year was the PGA Tour Canada Qualifying Tournament in California.  It was 312 guys for 20 cards.  I started out of the gates slowly and was unable to make up enough ground late to get in the mix.  This made me have to reshuffle my proposed schedule for the year, but all was not lost.  I am going to play in a hodgepodge of different events and qualifiers that best gets me ready for the Fall. Two weeks ago I played an NGA Tour event and finished T27 with very poor putting. Last week I was in Charlottesville, Virginia for an Egolf event.  I missed the cut with poor putting, but my ball striking was exceptional.  As soon as my putting resurfaces, I know all the other elements of my game are there and great things lie ahead.

The pictures above are all pretty neat to me.  The first one is from a town 90 minutes West of Calgary.  I am headed to Calgary Sunday to play in next week's PGA Tour Canada Monday Qualifier.  It is on my itinerary to head west to Banff to check out the scenery, and I think the picture shows why.  The second picture is of the course I played last week just outside Charlottesville.  It is called Spring Creek and is one of the best maintained courses I have ever played.  The cross cutting of the green surrounds indicates just how in tune the course superintendent was with perfection.  The final picture is my favorite.  It is of a small bar in Charlottesville called Miller's.  Why does this have any significance?  This was where one of my heroes, Dave Matthews, got his start many moons ago.  He bartended here as he started his career to supplement some income and met several of his band members inside this very bar.  It is where he served his apprenticeship as he made it in the music world.  As I sat in Miller's last week for a dinner by myself, I could not help thinking about the parallels Dave Matthews faced in the early 90's as I am now.  He was struggling to find his way and pouring his heart and soul into what he loved just like me.  The road will take on many twists and turns as 2013 unfolds, but I look forward to the opportunity to find my success with a new outlook and a refreshed game that is ready to make it happen.  Thanks for reading.