Boy I've been busy! The summer is here and so is tournament golf. I've had a mixed bag of results and the opportunities I have in professional golf ahead excite me. I was in Memphis this past Friday for the PGA Tour pre qualifier. I unfortunately shot a 71 and missed advancing by one shot. While this is disappointing, I was 4 over after 6 holes and fought back thru adversity with 3 birdies. A final putt on 18 that just slid by from 15 feet for birdie sealed my fate. I showed grit, moxie, and resolve and that was fantastic. Over the weekend I played in a local tournament shooting 72-67 and finished 5th place, 3 off the winner's score. The second day I played really great golf. I continued the marathon by teeing it up Monday in Chicago in a Web.com qualifier. There was 20-25mph sustained winds that made scoring challenging. 69 got in consequently. I had an immense struggle on my opening nine with loose shots magnified by the wind and shot 44. I rallied for an uneventful back nine 35 to finish the qualifier by proving to myself to dig deep and not quit.

Thus, I'm showing flashes of brilliance mixed with pain. The recipe moving forward obviously is more consistency. I do this by working my process of practicing mentally and physically the right way. I can't get so low on a bad shot. I need to forget about it and move on. I have to continue to not get caught up in results on the course. The more I want success and really press to make it happen, the worse I play. I have to let my talent come out by trusting my game and being a reactionary athlete out there. I have one final opportunity this week. I'm headed to Puerto Rico for a 3 day tournament. It's a unique event where the winner takes home an exemption into the 2017 PGA Tour Puerto Rico Open. Look at it as an extended 3 round qualifier. The only way I will find success is by good preparation and as mentioned, letting go of the outcome, results, and incentives. I also can't play scared, have any doubt, or lack conviction under the gun. It's easy to say, but I'm going to go out there and simply play golf with confidence, fun, and athleticism. Let the chips fall where they may at week's end. Thanks for the support. I'm excited to keep working hard and forget about the results. Great things are ahead. Don't worry about results to get results!

 



Golf is the most insane game and I love it for so many different reasons. I had a slow start to my year, but I finally had a breakthrough and followed that with a bit of heartbreak.  On May 1st I played in the annual 18 hole Forest Park Publinx and struck the ball pure all day.  It was very difficult to make putts on the aerated surfaces, and when my putt lipped out on 18, I had to settle for a 69 and 3rd place, missing out on winning by one shot.  The following weekend I played in a regional 36 hole tournament in Southern Illinois.  I ended up winning the tournament in a playoff after posting rounds of 72-64!  I was really proud of fighting off adversity after starting the tournament slowly.  I was four over after 10 holes and played my final 26 holes in eight under.  I missed a short putt for birdie and the win on the first playoff hole and shook that off and rebounded by making birdie on the 2nd playoff hole for the win.  Golf will give then at times take away.  I teed it up yesterday in US Open local qualifying at Forest Hills full of confidence.  This is a positioning golf course that is short, but has obstacles all over the course.  My main theme to simplify golf lately is to react as an athlete, fight off adversity, and commit fully to each shot. 

I made two swings out there at Forest Hills that I wish I could have back because I pulled the trigger with doubt and it cost me with two OB penalties that resulted in me shooting 74.  Had I committed on those shots I would have been in a 4 for 3 playoff.  So, I really feel I've made great strides in dealing with adversity and playing golf as a reactionary athlete.  I will continue to work on these elements, but my attention right now is committing to each shot.  For me currently, when I face a shot that doesn't suit my eye, I have to slow down, breathe, visualize, and trust it by just letting it go.  This can be done by working on my intermediate target principals and not guiding the ball by being scared of OB, water, or any other trouble spot. I have to trust my swing, especially on those visually difficult shots.  I have to keep working hard.  I leave Saturday for Aguascalientes, Mexico for a PGA Tour Latin America Monday Qualifier on May 16th.  There will be 10 spots available and I fully intend to get a spot in the starting field by being a reactionary athlete, with full trust in my swing start to finish, who deals with adversity like a champion.  Stay right here for updates.  I've had some erratic progress, but I am moving like a freight train in the right direction.  Thanks for your support.   

I am home from Guatemala. I'm in a results oriented business and my results didn't make the grade. I missed  the cut by six shooting rounds of 76-75. The first day I was plotting along at even par with four holes to go and made a sloppy bogey with a sand wedge in my hand on 15. The following hole I didn't regain my composure and guided a hybrid shot off the tee out of bounds after not trusting my plan. I finished with a chunked chip on the last and tallied one more bogey to play my last four holes in a disappointing four over. The second day I hit a couple loose iron shots and had 3 three putts. So a combination of poor execution, putting, and a mental blunder cost me the weekend. These are the margins that separate poor golf from competitive golf. I did a heck of a lot well, but I have to be better start to finish. The aspect that was most disappointing was not dealing with the first wave of adversity the first day well. I got nervous and lost my focus.

What I was most excited about was that I for the most part was able to swing free and without mental clutter. I felt more athletic and reactionary out there as opposed to a mechanical robot. I am going to continue to hone in on being an athlete who reacts and trusts my game. This will give me more time to put into my chipping and putting the rest of the year. I finally have got my game out of the gutter and the final polish comes from scoring and confidence. I need to walk taller and with more swagger and turn a few more 5s into 4s and 4s into 3s. My next month entails an event this Sunday in Saint Louis in an 18 hole tourney, then the following weekend a 36 hole regional event. These will be two small scale events to really keep grinding in a competitive arena and build that confidence. After that, I have US Open local qualifying in St. Louis May 10th. I'm ready to go play great golf with consistency. Belief, trust, and hard work when nobody else is watching day in and day out is the formula to get there. Stay right here for some great results soon to come. I'm really excited about what I'm going to do on the golf course in 2016! 

I'm overdue for an update. I'm currently in route back home after a busy 3 weeks on the road during the last month. I have some results to share and motivation to get where I want to be. I competed in January in Bogota competing for my Latin America Tour card. I was undone by a couple high middle rounds and ended up missing the qualifying mark by a handful of shots. It was a frustrating week not to get what I wanted. I continued to push on and refine as I entered PGA Tour Canada Q School this past week in Florida. Once again I failed to get my card with lackluster play that resulted in an untimely withdrawal at week's end do to my inability to get my card and a flight to catch due to weather delays. This leaves me finishing off the first quarter of the year with nothing to show forth in terms of status moving into the heart of my golfing season.

This is where my negative post ends. In life we have a choice each day to be unhappy and dwell or look to the future with positivity and a great mindset. At the end of the day, I am privileged, lucky, and happy to do what I do for a living. I am also highly motivated and uber competitive. Sometimes the latter of which hinders what I'm trying to do. When I want something so badly, I often focus on results and get ahead of myself instead of sticking to my mantra of working my process to get there. A bag of unpleasant results early in the season had me really pressing for success. I tend to over analyze, work even more intensely and harder during struggles and forget about the simplicity of what yields results.

Moving forward, I am really focusing on having fun playing the GAME of golf. It's my job, but at it's heart it is a fun game. I am also working on day in and day out trusting what I am doing. This is most importantly so in tournament golf. It's so easy under the gun to be results focused and feel the tension of having to hit shots correctly in tournament play. My solution is fearless trust in my target and commiting to it routinely. I often say I'd rather have a poor swing with 100% trust than a beautiful swing with doubt.

After a busy past month competing on the Adams Tour, a Monday qualifier, and Canadian Q School, it will be nice to get some rest at home and to really put in some quality practice at simplifying the clutter I have accumulated the past stint on the road. I am a world class, elite golfer, and I am going to play on the PGA Tour for a long time. A wise man once said, " The strongest steel is made from the hottest fire". Adversity can either cause you to wither away or I can learn from my mistakes and come out on the other end stronger than ever.

I have a great opportunity in the middle of April to compete on the PGA Tour Latin America in Guatemala. The old me would have looked at this and said this is a golden chance to get some traction in my career and put undue pressure to succeed by zeroing in from a results standpoint. The new me is excited to go out and hit shots by being 100% committed to my shots in the tournament and letting the chips fall where they may. I derive my confidence from being a relentlessly hard worker and practicing smartly and efficiently. I've changed the banner to my blog this year to "Trust It". I can keep my head held high regardless of my results if I can look myself in the mirror and say after each day that I was fully committed to the shots I played on the course that day. I'm going to trust my game and I know I will find happiness and success along the way. Thank you for your support in me. Great days lie ahead. Time to go TRUST it.

  

    2016 is here and so am I! I've had a great offseason to reset, refocus, reenergize, and rest.  I last left off with my season winding down with a Monday qualifier for the PGA Tour event in Jackson, Mississippi.  I went into the pre qualifier with one focus which was to eliminate the left side of the golf course.  Low and behold I won the pre qualifier with a 65!  The Monday qualifier didn't go as well as I struggled to a 75 where my ball striking and putting didn't produce what I was looking for.  I was extremely encouraged by my new work and the results spoke for themselves.

     It was poor timing where I wish I could have swapped the 65 in the actual Monday qualifier, but I got some tangible results that proved I'm headed down the right path!  2015 may have been a lost year in terms of results, but I'm strongly encouraged that I have found the right recipe for success moving forward.  In 2015 I won 3 one day events/qualifiers.  I can call these "mini" tournaments.  They happened to be at the very beginning of the season and very end of the season where I worked on one idea of eliminating the left side of the course.  I lost that concept through the majority of the year, but at the end of the year evaluation it was easy to see what produced the best results!

    So 2016 is here and I'm extremely refreshed and excited about what lies ahead.  I finally have resounding confidence that my system in place is the right one.  Through trial and error in my golf laboratory I feel I have what I need moving forward to produce consistent results day in and day out through focusing on eliminating the left side.  I also have partnered with a new equipment company!  Cleveland/Srixon has agreed to help me out for 2016.  It's great to have their support and belief in me and I'm excited to put their expertise and knowledge toward my advantage.

    My upcoming schedule is similar to last year.  I head to Orlando, Florida next week to get a week of training/competition in before heading to PGA Tour Latin America Q School.  This year I will be competing in Bogota, Colombia January 26th-29th.  I have had a mild winter here in Saint Louis that has given me ample time to practice both on the course and the range.  I feel next week I will be able to further refine and get ready for Colombia.  Big things lie in store this year and I look forward to improving each and every day.  I hope you stay here to follow along on my journey to the PGA Tour.  I'm going to get there.  Thanks for your support in me!