I've been long overdue for an update. I've never intended this blog to be negative, but sometimes it feels good to use this outlet to get my frustration out. I played in European Qualifying School in Scotland in mid September and it was an unsuccessful journey. I played in Web.com Qualifying School in mid October in Nebraska and it was an unsuccessful attempt. That finished off my Qualifying Schools for 2015 and I failed to get status after attempting OneAsia, Latin America, Canada, Europe, and Web.com q schools. Zero for five. My outcome goals were to get status and compete and I didn't reach my goals. That flat out hurts because it was obtainable and it's the only way for me to move up the ranks and be able to make a living at this game. I'll be turning 31 on November 1st and know that my clock is ticking in terms of getting to where I want to be in golf professionally.

I'm not going to reset my goals yet for 2016 because I still have a month left of tournament golf in this season. I'll be competing in 2 PGA Tour Monday qualifiers in Jackson, Mississippi and Sea Island, Georgia over the coming weeks. I've had a couple of weeks to process what went well and what didn't this year and have leaned on some new advice to try and improve. One of the areas I feel I have disregarded is what I was doing earlier in the year that led to 2 Moonlight Tour wins and a solid showing on the Adams Tour. I was working on elements of my swing that produced one type of shot shape: fades. Thus, I was eliminating one side of the golf course: the left side. I was consiously working on these swing cues, but didn't realize that by doing this I was eliminating the left side of play in tournaments. I had control of my swing and golf ball. If I hit a poor shot, it would miss on the right side, and I knew where it would be and could get up and down from there.

As soon as I had a couple of poor weeks with my ball striking, I began to question what I was doing and went back to my old ways of going week to week with what felt best. Instead of trusting in my changes, and realizing there would be some struggles along the way, I gave up on the changes I had made over the winter of 2014 and Spring of 2015. As soon as it got "hot in the kitchen", I fled back to what was comfortable. Soon there after I was back to missing both ways, left and right. When you have no idea where your ball is going, it is a lonely, terrible, unnerving feeling.

Thus, it is my at the forefront of my career right now to get back to what I was doing. It was producing great results! There will be tough moments that lie ahead, but I have to persevere through those moments and believe in my system of success. Playing tournament golf by eliminating one side of the course is a really great way to find success and be able to FEARLESSLY TRUST my swing. It takes away the doubt. I strongly believe this fade action will be the best way for me to play. After this last month of qualifiers, I am in the process of setting up some instruction with one of the industry leaders in golf body biodynamics. This will help confirm to me that my body is working a certain way in the swing to produce a consistent swing that can time and time again repeat a swing that eliminates one side of the course. It has been a tough stretch of tournament results for me, but after my failure in Nebraska it brought some clarity on what I need to do moving forward to succeed. Elimination of one side of the course in competition, fearlessly trust it, especially during the periods where the "kitchen is hot", and finally have some FUN along the way! I'm going to get where I want and have a hell of a lot of success once I get there. Stay right here for updates from my upcoming qualifiers. Thanks for your support!

I'm overdue for an update. Over the last 2 months I haven't been overly busy with tournament golf as I'm saving up for a hard push at the end of the year with q school. Of the few events I've played I shot a bunch of rounds right around par, but nothing crazy to note. Over the last two weeks I competed in two web.com Monday qualifiers in Lawrence, Kansas where I shot a 74 and Springfield, Missouri where I shot a 70. Both attempts did not grant me access to the tournaments.

I completed round one today on the Swingthought Tour in North Augusta, South Carolina. I shot a 3 over par 74 today, which leaves me well back on a very scorable course. There was already a 61 posted this morning. Where I struggled today was with my iron play and putting. To take a bigger picture look of where I'm going the rest of the year with my swing, I have to play each day with my swing cues and beliefs inside my swing system. Without being too technical, I am working really hard on fluid rhythm and coiling in my backswing properly. I have simplified my system into 4 words: rhythmed-out leveraged coil. I can make as many small tweaks to my swing as I want, but any variations and swing thoughts have to come from this system.

All year up until last month, I would go week to week with a new swing thought on what felt good at the time. In order to put 100% faith and trust in my swing in competition, I have to have a repeatable golf swing that I believe in. My system: rhythmed-out leveraged coil allows me to do just that. Today my swing wasn't where I wanted it to be, but I'm going to press forward with hard work under the practice guidelines of my swing system. I'm ready to go play a great second round and go from there.

I head to Canada Saturday for a PGA Canada Monday qualifier, then 2 additional tournaments, an Adams Tour event in Texas and the New England Open in Vermont before heading to Scotland for first stage of European Q School. It all comes down to visualizing a shot, trusting my swing(rhythmed-out leveraged coil), then being an athlete and feeling it out and doing it. I make it harder than it needs to be sometimes, but I'm glad that I now have established my swing system. This is huge in my long run success and consistency. Thanks for reading and great things are coming.

Golf is a lot like a science experiment. You keep fine tuning and perform trial and error until you get a system in place that works. I have an unwavering system I believe in and work at day in and day out. However, I've got a small tweak I'm going to start implementing. I'm consciously going to once again think about and visualize winning tournaments more regularly. All the mental game guys stress sticking to your routine and process, but I've fared quite well in my amateur days intentionally going into tournaments thinking about nothing but winning the tournament and believing I can beat everyone in the field.

I've got away from that in pro golf. I can honestly say I've gone into many tournaments hoping to play well, and hoping to make the cut, then playing well on the weekend. Rubbish. I need that killer instinct internally. I'm going to win my share of tournaments and no one can stop me. It's this internal cockiness I need. I've got the tools, but I need to sharpen my mental game. I competed this past week shooting even par in my 27 hole tournament on Monday and I finished 15th and just inside the money. I finished today on the Adams Tour. It was shortened to a 36 hole event. I was scrappy all tournament, but didn't swing the club or chip it quite well enough to compete. I shot 2 over and missed cashing by 3 strokes.

I'm in mid air as I fly to Pittsburgh for the Frank Fuhrer Invitational starting tomorrow. I'm going to bring this winning mentality for all 4 rounds this week with a great attitude and am going to have a ton of fun along the way. I have my process moving forward that I will stick to, but it's going to include a winning mindset as well. The physical portion is there. It's time to go be a mental warrior and champion as well. Big things ahead. Thanks for your support.

    How can you ever be the best at what you do if you don't know what the best is? Well, I got a first hand taste of what I need to continue to do to get to the PGA Tour on Monday. I got a spot into the U.S. Open Sectional after waiting the morning as an alternate. It was a 36 hole day. 120 guys for 15 spots into Chambers Bay. I began my quest at Brookside Country Club at 8am. Brookside had faster greens, more tucked pins, and a slightly more difficult layout. The recipe for success was a couple under at Brookside, then go play well on the much easier Lakes Country Club in the afternoon.

    Unfortunately, I didn't have my best stuff Monday morning and the course bit back from not executing. I short sided myself time and time again, which led to next to near impossible up and downs. I continue to hark on the importance of playing the par 3's better. This requires better execution from my mid and long irons. I made a handful of really poor swings with my par 3 tee shots that cost me. I know I can't be perfect, but I have to be better.

    I was paired with PGA Tour rookie, Nick Taylor and long hitting Jason Kokrak. Nick won in his 4th start last year on tour in Mississippi. Jason has been a mainstay on tour for years, and has the ability to overpower a course. When he is on with his driving, golf can be very easy. What I took away from playing with these guys is that they aren't robots. To take zero away from their extreme talent, I without a hesitation of a doubt can say I measure up and can compete with them week in and week out. I got my butt kicked Monday, but it was more a measure of my lack of execution, not a talent gap.

    After firing a 79 in the opening round, I began my 2nd round trying to get some reps in. I was playing much more solid in the afternoon, but a weather delay occurred 12 holes into my round, and I withdrew to get on the road back home. What I took away is I need to keep simplifying my game. It's easy to get trapped in improving my mechanics. There is a time and place for that, but my focus when the gun goes off need to be really putting together a great game plan for each shot, getting into my target, trusting it, then making my swing with great rhythm.

    I did a great job of that Monday for the most part, but need to continue to improve on having better clarity with improved visualization, TRUSTING it, then swinging it with better rhythm. I got quick in transition for whatever reason, and it led to some wayward shots. This simplicity day in and day out is going to lead to really good things. I have to stay accountable on really focusing on this simplicity. Here's to great rhythm and trust moving forward!!! I tee it up next Monday in a 27 hole local tournament that will be a great confidence builder for me, then an Adams Tour event starting next Thursday in my backyard of St. Louis. It's going to feel great to sleep in my own bed and compete. I'm excited about my progress and what the rest of the year has in store. Keep it right here for continued updates!

 

Time for an update. Golf is hard, but I'm resilient, tough, gritty, patient, hard working, determined, and confident that I will soon be playing great golf. To get you caught up to speed, I played my US Open qualifying at my home course Norwood and lost in a 4 for 1 playoff for the last spot. I played a solid round of golf in the morning in a steady rain, but in the end my hopes were dashed in the playoff. On the first two playoff holes I had 20 footers to win the playoff. On the 3rd playoff hole I made a bogey on a par 5 from 210 yards out from the middle of the fairway and a par advanced. I then lost the first alternate spot on the next hole with a bogey. I knew that the 1st alternate spot was key to fight for as well, but it wasn't to be. After 4 holes of playoff golf where I couldn't seize the opportunity, I left my home course with my head down, but was proud of my fight.

The following 2 weeks I spent in Guatemala and Honduras on the PGA Tour Latin America. Unfortunately at both events I got off to extremely poor starts with an 85 in the first round in Guatemala, and a 79 in the first round in Honduras. Both these opening round guaranteed missed cuts and it stunk to be so uncompetitive in two events that I wanted to play well in. The highlight of the 2 weeks was a hole out from 140 for an eagle two during round one in Honduras on #18 in round one. Even that though, only put a bandage on a hemorage of a round.

If you read the laundry list of positive adjectives I spewed out in the first sentence though, you now damn well know I'm going to dig myself out and be resilient. In fact, I sit in a hotel in Columbus, Ohio right now preparing to do just that. I drove from St. Louis to Columbus intentionally so that tomorrow morning I can sit on the 1st tee and hope that a spot opens up from a late withdrawal into the U.S. Open sectional. I'm an official alternate, so I have a remote chance. This is one of two tour sites, so the likelihood of a couple PGA Tour pros withdrawing because they are tired after The Memorial is high, and I hope to capitolize on that potential scenario. Regardless of whether I get a shot tomorrow morning, I signed up for the Web.com Monday qualifier 2 hours Northeast of Columbus in Canton, so I have a 1:00 pm tee time locked in as a plan B.

I've been working hard on my game and have had a great attitude along the way, but I've struggled to find the right mix of the physical a.k.a. mechanical parts of the game to go along with my great attitude. I firmly believe I have implemented the correct tweaks mechanically to start playing great golf. The first part is to talk the talk, now the next part is to back it up. It may happen tomorrow, it may not, but I promise you great golf is on the horizon. Sometimes you have to go through the lowest lows and darkest of dark days to come out on top. That's what I'm going to do. I'll update soon with my upcoming schedule. Until then, fingers crossed for my Plan A or B to pan out tomorrow. Great things are coming!

I firmly believe I play one of the most taxing mental sports in existence. Last week in Canada I came up short of obtaining my tour card on PGA Tour Canada for the summer. It stings because I set a goal to get myself into the PGA Tour system and work my way up the ladder. This put a damper on that goal temporarily and I currently sit in no mans land with no status here in the USA. The landscape of developmental tour golf has changed. Domestically if you have no status you are limited to watered down mini tours, state opens, and Monday qualifiers since all the tours tied into the PGA Tour system are overseas in Canada, China, and Latin America.

Last week I went in with thorough preparation, and a goal to really stay level all week. I hit some poor shots and great shots and stayed real level, but I didn't produce the goods. I putted and putted and putted. I holed next to zero putts of any significant length. It's funny, because I've been working so hard to shore up my chipping and iron play and put my bread and butter putting and driving on the back burner. Well, that came back to bite me last week. I drove the ball poorly and putted beyond poorly. Taking my 2/3rds success guidelines, I came up well short of my marks in both categories. I hit my irons great and chipped it ok. What I took from this is I need to work on all elements of my game equally, regardless of how I'm performing in each facet of my game.

In baseball, scouts refer to an elite player as a 5 tool player. Golf is similar. You need to 1) drive with power 2) drive with accuracy 3) execute solid iron shots 4) chip & pitch efficiently 5) putt with prowess

Thus, all aspects of these 5 categories need to be constantly monitored and refined. I can honestly say I took for granted my putting and driving as they have always been my best areas. My practice moving forward will cover all 5 areas equally. For most my career, I've zoned in on my iron play and chipping. I've worked the hardest in these areas, as they have been my weakest link. By doing that, in some ways I've mentally made it that much harder because I've admitted that those aspects haven't been where I want them to be and have stressed out and drove myself crazy trying to perfect them. I'm really proud of the strides I've made in my chipping and iron play, but I have to equally focus on the other 3 tools required to be a complete player.

I want to finish this blog post by stressing the importance of going out there in competition and really having fun and being patient. I've greatly improved my flatline approach, but deep down I'm still too results driven. Externally I appear calmer, but I'm still churning inside trying to hard to produce results. I have to be more process driven and hit more shots with imagination, fun, and athleticism. It is so easy to get caught up playing golf for a living and tie each shot to the results. Truth be told, that is how I make my living in life. Moving forward though, I have to put that aside and have fun and absorb myself in the process of getting there. I have a lot of opportunity still in front of me this month. Tomorrow is my US Open qualifying at home, then I leave for 2 weeks to Central America for 2 starts on PGA Tour Latin America.

A previous me would have first and foremost stressed the importance of playing well so I could seize the opportunity. The new me is going to sit back, work really hard on my game, have a ton of fun along the way, and let my immense talent shine forth by not being so critical and intense. I've long said its like having a Ferrari in the garage, but I haven't found the keys. I'm going to find the keys by relaxing, taking deep breathes, enjoying the journey, and realizing everything I need talent wise is already in me. The talent will reveal itself by not putting this self-inflicted pressure on myself. Thanks for reading. I'm ready to go out and perform at an elite level by not focusing on performing at an elite level. Let's have some fun!!! Thanks for reading.

I write to you today from mid air as I am flying from Saint Louis in route to Courtenay, British Columbia in Canada for PGA Tour Canada Q school May 5-8 ( www.pgatourcanada.com ) I am in good spirits and have been working my tail off to get better. That's all we can do in business. Strive to get better each day. I last left you with my new 2/3rds guideline principal and desire to play more flatlined, with complete acceptance of my shot outcomes. Well, that first tournament out I did an A+ job of doing just that.

 I had many opportunities to get down, but I stayed the course and gutted out a 13th place finish in Alexandria, Louisiana on the Adams Tour. My -9 total was one of my lowest aggregate totals as a professional. Tangible proof that I'm working on the right things physically and mentally. I took about a month off after that tournament to get ready back at home for Canada. I continue to have an outcome goal as stated earlier in the year to get inside the PGA Tour system and then work my way up the ranks.

Another great opportunity in that regard presents itself this upcoming week. I am more equipped than ever to handle it as I know deep down I am finally in the right place mentally and physically. My 2/3rds guiding principal has given me great feedback over the previous couple months on what is working and needs continual improvement. I still am pushing to drive my chipping up & down numbers up, and have been working remarkably efficiently at improving that area. I've made some great short game tweaks that are getting me closer to constant greatness. 2/3rds gives me that buffer for error acceptance and really frees my mind from the evils of striving for perfection.

I will be able to get 2 great days to prepare myself for the week ahead in Canada. I'm finally playing fearless golf and I truly am buying in and believing in my system. Call it maturity, call it confidence, I know my time is coming in this game. Not to look too far ahead, but May is a busy month for me. Right after Canada I return home for a week to compete in the first stage of US Open qualifying at my home course of Norwood Hills. So excited to tee it up competitively for the first time at my home track. The following two weeks I have secured starts on the PGA Tour Latin America in Guatemala and Honduras. ( www.pgatourla.com ) Wonderful opportunity awaits me and I'm blessed and excited for the competition that presents itself this month and beyond. Stay right here for updates. Great things are coming.

   

     I last left you as I was about to begin OneAsia Q School in Los Angeles.  To get everyone caught up to speed, I did not obtain my card via the qualifier.  There were definitely positives to take away, even from what on paper was a "failed" mission.  I needed a pretty low round in round 4 to get partial status, and halfway through round 4 I was on track to get there!  I made a costly bogey on my 9th hole, then followed that up with a double bogey on 10.  From there, the damage was done and I couldn't recover.  After sitting back and processing the last two q schools, I took away the positives that in Florida I was one solid final round away from obtaining a card on tour.  In California, I inched fractionally closer, as I was only a solid final round back 9 away from obtaining status. 

    So what is it that needs to be addressed to get over that final hurdle?  Heck, that is the question every human being on earth is asking themselves in every line of work.  Well, the answer for me lies with a brutally honest look deep within me.  If you look at the banner to my blog, it reads 3 simple words.  Process. Patience. Attitude.  You would think if that is the theme of how I operate, I would be doing a good job of living up to it.  Well, I need improvement.  The picture above is obviously a look at a heartbeat.  How this pertains to me, is I have to do a much better job at playing "flatline".  If I take a deeper look, it is triggered from the perfectionistic qualities of my personality.  Well, in golf this can equate to death.  Perfect shots time and time again are unattainable. 

    When I make a birdie, I shrug it off as a ho hum occurrence, because mentally that is what I expect of myself. As soon as some adversity comes along in a round, I absolutely berate myself for my imperfection.  This is such a dangerous, miserable way to play. A burdensome slippery slope.  I literally could go 8 straight holes for instance, hitting nothing but exceptional shots, and then the moment a shot doesn't come off as desired, I tear myself apart.  This makes my internal confidence a dangerously fragile thing.  Living and dying by the results of each shot.  So, what needs to be better, a lot better, is this "flatline" mentality, especially on the back end of things.  All this perfectionism ties directly into process, patience, and attitude.  I can look at the OneAsia final round as proof.  I eagled my 8th hole of the day to get to 3 under for the round.  On the 9th hole, I made a poor iron swing and left myself in a really tough spot to get up and down.  Walking off the tee, I was internally beating myself up.  I then proceeded to not get it up and down from a tough spot, and my attitude, patience, and process were all shoved aside.  I failed to regroup, and proceeded to play the 10th hole really poorly, and just like that my tournament and week were over. 

    This is just one example of many I can think of that has surfaced that shows what has to change for me to get over the hurdle.  Hard work only takes you so far.  The rest is being able to channel my talent in the right direction.  So in order for me to correct this, it isn't a physical matter.  It is that space between my ears where I have to be really focused.  I have a mental motor pattern that is "brainwashed" into a certain routine.  I have to be able to adapt an acceptance of my swing outcomes, whether good, bad, or indifferent every time.  This has to be repeatable every waking hour of every waking day.  Break it down to golf is a game, perfection is unattainable, and I am fortunate to play this game for a living.  Once I get out of my own way, the results will come.  It seems so backwards.  By not focusing on the results, the proper results will find there way into my career.

    The more you try to hide from it though, the results or outcome do have a direct correlation to putting a score on the card.  It is through this truth that I have come up with a new target result goal.  The basic premise is of a 2/3rds principal.  If I can hit 2/3rds of my fairways, hit 2/3rds of my greens, and clean up around the greens by getting up and down 2/3rds of the time, I am going to shoot a great score.  This leaves me with the wiggle room necessary to accept these bad shots that will inevitably surface in every round.  I can chalk up a poor swing to being within that 1/3 window of errant acceptance.  In terms of applying this to putting, if I two putt 2/3rds of my greens and one putt the other 1/3rd, I will arrive at 30 putts.  My putting performance therefore will require the daily goal to two putt no more than 2/3rds of the time.  Once again, the errant acceptance buffer is in place.  There will be days where I outperform the 2/3rds guideline, and also days where I underperform the 2/3rds standard.  It also will be a great way to chart in my game what areas are working and need improvement.  I really am onboard with this and am excited to make this a big part of my campaign. 

    It still is very much a slow period/offseason to my golf season.  I will be headed to Alexandria, Louisiana for an Adams Tour event starting March 18th.  Following that on March 23rd, I will compete in the 1st Web.com Monday qualifier of the year in Mississippi.  Success for me will not come from hard work.  That is something I pride myself on.  True it is an important part to being an elite golfer, but for me my success will come from being better, much better, at acceptance of my poor shots.  Here's to a "flatline" golf game for 2015.  I know that is the key to unlock my true potential.  Thanks for reading and your support.

    Well, 2015 is here and I'm off and running. Coming off a couple month layoff, it was imperative I cut myself some slack for being a bit erratic out of the gate. That definitely was the case with my two week stint in Florida. First off, I got the 10 ton gorilla off my back. I won my first tournament as a professional as I begin my ninth season as a pro. It may have been a one day event in a small field, but I can't tell you how proud I was to get it done. It happened in my very first event of the year. I shot a 69 at Championsgate in Orlando and won by 3 over 18 others in the field. Three days later I won again shooting a 67 at Disney to beat out 39 pros. Two wins in one week after waiting over 7 years to finally get it done!

    I had some spotty golf as well that first week of training in Orlando, but headed down to Sebring, FL with full steam as I awaited PGA Tour Latin America Q School. I began the first round last Tuesday and after several holes of nerves finally settled down. I got it to 2 under with 4 holes to play, but really struggled down the stretch and finished the last 4 in 5 over to post a 75 in round one. The second day I played well and got it around in one under to get back in the mix. Day 3 I once again had it going. I pushed it to 2 under on the day w/ 4 holes to play to get back to even for the tournament. Unfortunately, I had an identical finish to day one and dropped 6 shots in 4 holes to close out my day.  The last day I had my work cut out. The wind blew significantly, and I needed a round of several under par to get a conditional card. Unfortunately, I played poorly start to finish the last day and didn't obtain my Latin America card for 2015. It was a total bummer, but I'm upbeat because my game is really starting to come together.

    I have no time to sulk. There's no room for that. I have to pick myself up and get ready for my next opportunity. I write this as I'm flying to Los Angeles for OneAsia Q School. This begins on January 27th, so I'll have 2 full days to get ready. I need to polish up a few rough spots, but I will be 100% ready to go come Tuesday morning. You can follow along at www.oneasia.asia to track my progress this week. Last week ended with a small bump in the road, but in pro golf you have to roll with it and be confident with a short memory. My first win is already wrapped up in 2015, now it's time to go out and be consistent for an entire tournament. I'm up to the challenge. I've got to keep my head down and keep working meticulously. Big things are ahead. Process. Patience. Attitude.