After a first round 73 that left me in sixth place, I was feeling pretty good as I didn’t play my best and was still in great shape to finish inside the top four spots which would earn the berth in the national PNC. My driving is normally the strength of my game but for some strange reason it was the weak part of my game during that first round. I only hit two fairways on the front nine but good scrambling allowed my to make the turn in even par 36. Despite finding a few more fairways on the second nine, I could only manage one-over par 37 that totaled 73 and three shots behind the leader. As an eternal optimist, I was happy that I didn’t play my best and was in a great position to earn one of the four qualifying spots and a trip to California. I was looking forward to round two.

The warm up on the driving range was going great on the hot Tuesday morning before my 9:10 tee time in the second-to-last group of the day. I felt as if I couldn’t hit a bad shot even if I tried. My putting stroke on the practice green was in good order as well. I was firming in the short and had good touch on the long ones.

Time to get it on. As I stood over my opening tee shot on the 400-yard par four, negative thoughts began to enter my mind. Should I be hitting a 3-wood? Am I properly aligned? My grip doesn’t feel good. These extra thoughts helped me produce a low duck hook left of the fairway but luckily with a shot to the green. Long and right went the approach and after a chip and two putts a first hole bogey was posted on my card. OK. No problem, it’s only one hole. The par four second has numerous fairway bunkers for not only poor tee shots but good ones as well. I managed to find the fairway and a crisp 8-iron to eight feet behind the hole was just what the doctor, or psychiatrist, ordered. It didn’t matter that I missed the birdie attempt as I felt I had found that driving range swing which was producing solid, straight golf shots.

Then the third hole catastrophe. The third hole at the UClub is a 590-yard par five with water up the left side from the tee box until the 300-yard area. Any shot left of center will find the water and the drop is on the tee box as knee high grass prevents one from dropping where the ball may have crossed the margin of the hazard. The fact is if you hit it left off the tee is just like hitting it out of bounds as the only option is to hit again from the tee. As I mentioned before I was feeling good as the two swings I made on #2 came off really well, just like I envisioned. I felt like I was aiming up the right side to hit a slight draw to get as much roll out of the shot as possible as I wanted to challenge the green in two. Maybe this was poor strategy, but I wanted to be aggressive as I felt during round one, I was playing defensively.

As soon as I made contact with the ball I knew it was bad, and when I looked up to follow the flight of the ball, it confirmed my feelings. Due to the shape of the hole as I previously mentioned, the best option I had was to hit again from the tee box. I dug another ball out of my bag and went through my routine once more. Splash! Another hook in the water. The emotion I’m fighting now is anger so without thinking of much other than swinging harder I teed another brand new Titleist Pro-Vx and let it rip. Splash!! For the third time in the water! Shell-shocked and in a state of disbelief, I found another ball in my bag and without trying, I laced a beautiful drive right down the middle of the fairway just three swings too late. From there, I proceeded to continue make a mess, and after a flubbed chip shot and missed three-footer, the nightmare was finally over. My third hole of the day had taken 12 strokes and with it, any chance of qualifying for the national event.

Many thoughts ran through my mind as I drove from the third green to the fourth tee, but luckily, I settled on being a good playing partner as to not bring my playing competitors down. I accomplished this by acting as if things were going my way and wouldn’t you know it this approach lead to spectacular golf over the last 15 holes. Four birdies and no bogies for the rest of the day gave me a final score of 4-over par 76 which isn’t all bad considering I was 8-over after the first three holes. On top of that, both of my playing competitors, Anthony Price and Reed Hughes, had great days and qualified for the national PNC, and Anthony won the event.

Despite wanting to store my clubs in a closest for the next few years, I was out on the driving range two days later working on my old nemesis — the hook. One of these days, I’ll get that shot under control and who knows what dream I’ll realize then?

First, regrip those clubs. New grips can make your clubs feel like new again and also provide you with better feel to hit the shot. Worn grips not only can cause the club to move in your swing but they also can ruin a brand new glove with the dirt that accumulates over time. Secondly, get on the chipping and putting green. The full swing may be a little rusty after a winter lay-off but the short game can carry you until the full swing catches up. Finally, get out and walk 9 holes late in the day as it’s a great time to walk a few holes and hit a extra shot or two. Experiment with different clubs and shots such as high fades, low hooks, and flop shots. Not only is this great practice but I think you’ll find that it can be a lot fun also.

A perfect drive and crisp wedge over the flag left me a 10-foot putt for birdie. I stroked the ball on the line I picked with the correct speed only to have it lip out on the high side of the hole. Very disappointing. On 11 my drive stayed a little too far right as I was aiming conservatively again which left me a downhill second from 165 yards. Calculating the downhill approach from the rough I felt like the shot was playing more like 140 yards which is a perfect nine-iron. I struck it true but the ball really jumped and airmailed the green into a spot that would challenge the best short game magicians. I chose to use a 6-iron and run the ball up a steep, closely mowed slope and then downhill to the hole. I was happy with result as I left myself a six-footer for par straight up the hill. Another solid feeling stroke had the ball on the line I intended but just before the hole the ball darts left and misses for a bogey. I didn’t know it at the time but this was a crucial time in my round if the two putts would have found the hole as opposed to missing. Now I’m three over for the day questioning myself versus one-over and feeling good about the day.

A par on the 450 yard 12th settled me back in but my worst swing of the day on the par three 13th left me with too much to save par so the bogey placed me at four-over and a shot away from the cut line. Rock solid pars on 14 and 15 brought me to the nightmare of a hole par three 16th. The hole is playing 205 yards with water guarding the entire length of the hole on the right side. The left side of the green is no bargain either as high grass and bunkers await a bail out form the water. I decided on a 4-iron and aimed at the left side of the green hoping for a small left-to-right fade. The contact of the ball on the face of the club was so solid it didn’t feel as if I even struck the shot. A towering shot at the target ensued as I watched intently as to where it was to land. With such solid contact the ball never did fade and stayed on the line I picked and flew a little farther than expected. I was faced with a downhill pitch from two inch rough with not a lot of green to work with. I opened the face and slid the club underneath the ball with a long, flop shot swing knowing the water loomed on the other side of the green if I were to flinch even a little. The shot came off nicely and left me another one of those nasty six-footers for par. A miss read lead to another bogey which has me now at five-over and on the cut line.

A rock solid drive and six-iron left me with a 30 foot birdie putt on the demanding 17th which I two-putted for par. Standing on the 18th tee we waited to tee off for nearly 10 minutes as groups were going for this tricky par five in two shots. I felt like I was thinking positively as I wanted to play the hole as if I were comfortably inside the cut line instead of sitting on it. Not to say I wanted to try something foolish, but I wanted to give it my best shot. Maybe this was a mistake. I pushed my drive into a fairway bunker but had a lay-up shot with no real obstacle in front of me. The terrain of the hole sloped severely from right-to-left so I aimed up the right side of the fairway to compensate for the slope. I didn’t execute the shot very well and pushed the ball too far right on the side of a hill with long, thick grass. From this position all I could do was hack out for my fourth shot and try to make par from over 100 yards with a good approach and putt. I couldn’t pull off what I needed to do and a bogey six gives me a 78 for the day and leaves me at 6-over for the tournament. I knew this was to be outside of the cut-line but my wife and caddy Amber checked scores all afternoon in hopes the line would move to six-over.

Needless to say it didn’t and the 11-hour drive home from Indiana wasn’t something I was looking forward to. However, as the trip started out my wife and I went through a number of emotions. We left angry and talked poorly about any and every topic we could imagine. After anger we were depressed as we knew we shouldn’t be going home so early. Sadness was the next stop on our roller coaster as we consoled each other for a while. Acceptance was the next stage as we could only blame ourselves for what happened which lead us to happiness. The fact is Amber and I spent seven days at a five-star resort for reduced room fees and played golf in a national tournament. So what if we messed up on the last hole, over 5,000 PGA club professionals across the country try to qualify for the event and only 312 are fortunate enough to participate. Out of the 312 that were there, my two day score was in the top third of the field so I did play well despite missing the cut. Most importantly though is the time I had with my wife. Amber doesn’t play golf as she is the rock of our family which is very time consuming. Full time job, full time wife, full time mommy, along with volunteer work doesn’t allow for a lot of recreation time. This is a week she can connect to my world and despite a couple of little spats, (what husband and wife doesn’t have them on trips?) we had a memorable week together which makes our relationship all the more stronger. I’ll bogey the last hole every time as long as she is there for me, however, she is quite the competitor and has sternly told me to never let it happen again.

Even par through nine holes in windy conditions was a good score but I wasn’t happy as I teed off the 1st hole, my tenth of the day. I killed the tee shot straight down the middle which left me 125 yards to a hole location in the back of the green. On most great golf courses and especially Donald Ross courses going over the green is a big mistake but in the practice round the uphill approach played much longer than the yardage. I calculated an extra five yards for my approach which is a perfect full pitching wedge and struck the shot perfectly on line. I couldn’t tell where the ball landed due to the elevation but had a bad feeling it was long. As my caddy, who also doubles as my wife, climbed the hill we could not see the ball on the green and found it over the green in an impossible par saving position; another bogey. I made two nice pars on the next two holes but bogeyed the difficult par three fourth hole with another missed short putt which left me two-over par for the day. The frustrating part of the day was I was playing good enough to be under par but wasn’t scoring well enough which left me in the position of trying to stay patient.

I managed to accomplish my goal of patience as I finally made a nice short putt for par on the long par four fifth and also parred the extremely difficult 220 yard par three sixth. Three holes to play and I wanted to finish the day as I started, even par. In order to obtain this in round goal I needed to finish two-under on the last three holes which I felt was doable because of the holes that were left. One par five and two par four’s in which if I continued to strike the ball like I’ve been doing all day, I should leave myself with three good birdie chances. Well, the plan worked as I nestled a 60 yard wedge to five feet of the par five seventh, my sixteenth hole, and knocked it in the middle of the hole. On the par four eighth, my pitching wedge approach left me 18 feet for birdie in which I poured into the hole to get me back to even for the day. The sun was setting as I played the final hole of the day and I may have made the best swing of the day with my 3-wood which left me in between my pitching and gap wedge. I chose the longer of the two clubs due to more elevation to the green but the shot ended up in the back fringe. A great chip shot scared the hole to death only not to fall but left me with a rock solid par to end a tough day on the links.

My opening round 70 left me inside the top 30 in a field of 312 which will be cut to the low 70 and ties after the second round. Needless to say, dinner tasted a whole lot better after finishing the way I did and left me anticipating another good day on the Pete Dye course.

I’ve known that I would compete in this event for the last 10 months, and I have tried to get in shape. I’ve walked, I’ve run, I’ve lifted weights and I still spent all day today recovering from my two practice rounds.

The Donald Ross course (one of the all-time great golf architects who came over from Scotland to design several golf courses in America in the early 1900s) is a typical old golf course. There are lots of elevation changes and severe greens. The course is tough around the greens and the elevation changes make it challenging to hit from the fairways.

On the other hand, the Pete Dye course is typical of a modern golf course. When a golf course was built in the early 1900s, there wasn’t much land modification. Pete Dye’s design called for major land manipulation. The land was significantly changed — lots of dirt brought in and lots of trees brought out.

The condition of the new Pete Dye course is unbelievable. It may be the best course I’ve ever played, condition wise. Check out some of the pictures below of the first two days of practice. I tee off tomorrow at the Donald Ross course at 1:20 p.m.