With the RBC Canadian Open Qualifier set to go on June 25th at Kings Forest Golf Course in Hamilton, I've decided to document my progress in events leading up to the qualifier. Today the PGA of Ontario took us to Listowel Golf Club for the PGA of Ontario Assistant's Spring Championship. LIstowel is a small country town about 35 km west of Waterloo, and is very much in the middle of no where. However, I made it there and was not feeling at my competitive best after waking up at 5am and then driving an hour and a half. My original plan was to drive and play a practice round the day before and stay the night as my tee time was 8:50. The major problem was that the nearest hotel was 45km from the course. So I felt the best thing to do was play in the morning on Monday and spend the afternoon with my wonderful family....
Family life has been great and I love them all to death. My three young boys have been the best thing to happen to me since meeting my wife. The greatest thing about being a dad and playing golf, is that the bad days on the course just don't linger much longer than the car ride home. Because when I walk in the door all my missed shots are soon forgotten. The small things in golf just don't seem to bother me anymore.
Nonetheless, I got 5 hours of sleep, made the drive, felt out of whack, and didn't feel comfortable all day on the course. Professional golf at this level is totally a shootout at one day events. So, if you are feeling well and your swing is feeling well, you will probably have a good tournament. But if you feel just a little out of place, it could mean death by micro errors.
I was paired with Ed Maunder, a former Canadian Tour Member and a fine player who is the current Assistant Professional at Deerfield in Oakville. Ed also plays our local Golden Horseshoe Area Golf Tour. The other player in our group was Teejay Alderdice. Teejay is the Assistant at Devil's Pulpit and is enjoying fatherhood of his nine month old baby boy. It was a good pairing and we talked and chatted quite a bit out there.
After an ok warm up and feeling that my game was good to go for the day, I stepped on the first tee and proceeded to hit an extremely good drive, but felt a small swing flaw creep in and was lucky the ball didn't go hard left. I went on to par the par 5 opening hole and started my day with 4 straight pars. I found trouble on the par 5 fifth hole, hitting it into the fairway bunker and getting a very poor lie. I made bogey. My first six of the day. In total I made four six's in my round, and at my level only one six on the card results in mediocre scores. I have never won anything while making a six in my round. Not that I think of that on the course, but I just don't know to many players in one day events who can card a six or two and end up being the winner. Any winner's scorecard is generally full of threes, fours, and a couple fives. I shot 39-37-76 and finished right in the middle of the pack.
Though the score was not very desirable, I did manage to have a sound short game. I made a handful of putts from 4-8 feet for pars and keep my round from being totally disastrous. Any time I play golf I will always find the positives and not worry about what went wrong. I love walking into the clubhouse and listening to my fellow competitors berate themselves by lletting everyone know about all the negative things that happened to them. "I missed three two foot putts today!" is what I often hear. I tell everyone how great my short game was... otherwise I would've been 85. I never mention the three duck hooks and 4 sixes I made. I analyze my stats and put a premium of practice on what I did poorly. In this case, my driving was poor. However, the problem was more routine related than mechanics related. So the solution will be to play a few holes and focus on working my routine a little differently rather than belting ball after ball on the range. In the end I will feel more comfortable on course and get great feedback on how my body feels with a small change in routine. Good golf can be summed up by a solid repetitive routine. That's something that was not evident in my long game at Listowel. Good golf is also a result of knowing the solution to poor outcomes and in the end managing yourself to not worry about the small stuff.
The next stop for me will be the PGA of Ontario Spring Championship at Bond Head just south of Barrie. The event takes place May 30-31and last year in this event I finished tied 12th with rounds of 69-74. The draw has been released and I will be paired with two great players who were winner and runner up in last seasons player of year category, Ken Tarling and Danny King. It will be fun and stay tuned for my post with results from Bond Head.
Statistics from PGA of Ontario Assistant's Spring Championship
score: 76 (+4)
fairways: 4/13 (30.7%)
greens: 10/18 (55.6%)
putts: 30 (1.67/hole)
scrambling: 4/8 (50%)
sand saves: 1/2 (50%)
Nonetheless, I got 5 hours of sleep, made the drive, felt out of whack, and didn't feel comfortable all day on the course. Professional golf at this level is totally a shootout at one day events. So, if you are feeling well and your swing is feeling well, you will probably have a good tournament. But if you feel just a little out of place, it could mean death by micro errors.
I was paired with Ed Maunder, a former Canadian Tour Member and a fine player who is the current Assistant Professional at Deerfield in Oakville. Ed also plays our local Golden Horseshoe Area Golf Tour. The other player in our group was Teejay Alderdice. Teejay is the Assistant at Devil's Pulpit and is enjoying fatherhood of his nine month old baby boy. It was a good pairing and we talked and chatted quite a bit out there.
After an ok warm up and feeling that my game was good to go for the day, I stepped on the first tee and proceeded to hit an extremely good drive, but felt a small swing flaw creep in and was lucky the ball didn't go hard left. I went on to par the par 5 opening hole and started my day with 4 straight pars. I found trouble on the par 5 fifth hole, hitting it into the fairway bunker and getting a very poor lie. I made bogey. My first six of the day. In total I made four six's in my round, and at my level only one six on the card results in mediocre scores. I have never won anything while making a six in my round. Not that I think of that on the course, but I just don't know to many players in one day events who can card a six or two and end up being the winner. Any winner's scorecard is generally full of threes, fours, and a couple fives. I shot 39-37-76 and finished right in the middle of the pack.
Though the score was not very desirable, I did manage to have a sound short game. I made a handful of putts from 4-8 feet for pars and keep my round from being totally disastrous. Any time I play golf I will always find the positives and not worry about what went wrong. I love walking into the clubhouse and listening to my fellow competitors berate themselves by lletting everyone know about all the negative things that happened to them. "I missed three two foot putts today!" is what I often hear. I tell everyone how great my short game was... otherwise I would've been 85. I never mention the three duck hooks and 4 sixes I made. I analyze my stats and put a premium of practice on what I did poorly. In this case, my driving was poor. However, the problem was more routine related than mechanics related. So the solution will be to play a few holes and focus on working my routine a little differently rather than belting ball after ball on the range. In the end I will feel more comfortable on course and get great feedback on how my body feels with a small change in routine. Good golf can be summed up by a solid repetitive routine. That's something that was not evident in my long game at Listowel. Good golf is also a result of knowing the solution to poor outcomes and in the end managing yourself to not worry about the small stuff.
The next stop for me will be the PGA of Ontario Spring Championship at Bond Head just south of Barrie. The event takes place May 30-31and last year in this event I finished tied 12th with rounds of 69-74. The draw has been released and I will be paired with two great players who were winner and runner up in last seasons player of year category, Ken Tarling and Danny King. It will be fun and stay tuned for my post with results from Bond Head.
Statistics from PGA of Ontario Assistant's Spring Championship
score: 76 (+4)
fairways: 4/13 (30.7%)
greens: 10/18 (55.6%)
putts: 30 (1.67/hole)
scrambling: 4/8 (50%)
sand saves: 1/2 (50%)
