Congrats to Zach Johnson

I just wanted to take a little moment in my busy life to congratulate Zach Johnson on his victory at the Masters this year. I am very proud of the way he handled himself during the final round and also how he represented Christ after he won. I was so excited to see him step up and not back down to Tiger, it is nice to see someone other than Tiger winning especially when Tiger is in the tournament. Zach has been my favorite golfer since I had the opportunity to have dinner with him and his wife, coach, and caddie last year before the Nissan Open. He is a great model of a Christian man playing professional golf. I pray that God would bless him in his golf and in his ministry out there on the PGA Tour and the impact that he has on the nation through his testimony on TV.

The Last Two Weeks

In the past two weeks I have done 4 qualifiers and have missed all four of them. Two of them have been Nationwide Monday qualifiers and the other two were Hooters tour Tuesday qualifiers. I would have the Nationwide qualifier, finish that and then have to drive 3 hours to the next location and play the Hooters tour qualifier the next morning. Lets just say I was making it very hard for me to make it into the Hooters event. Both Nationwide qualifiers I played well in, the first one I shot 71 (-1) but missed making it by a couple of shots. The second Nationwide qualifier I shot 75 (+4), which was a really good score. The weather was terrible that day, the wind was blowing between 35 and 40 mph so my score of 75 was not that bad only missing that one by a couple of shots as well. Both of the Hooters qualifiers I did not play to well. The first one was at a course that I played last year, but because of the Nationwide qualifier I didn't get to play a practice round before my round this year. The course was no different, the greens were a lot better than they were last year but besides that the course was the same. I came out and struggled around the course shooting a 74 (+2) to miss the qualifier by 4 shots. My friend Holt that has been staying with me in the RV the last couple of weeks made it through the qualifier so I ended up caddying for him in the tournament. Then for the second Hooters Tour qualifier I came to the course straight from the Nationwide qualifier not playing a practice round exhausted from the day before and struggled through the front nine shooting 3 over par, I started out the back nine making birdie on 10 and 12 to get it back to 1 over par for the round. I figured that if I was able to come in at even par or better I would make it through the qualifier. The next hole I ended up 3 putting from 65 feet to go back to 2 over, still though I had both par 5's left on the back nine so if I birdied both of them I would finish at even par. The 14th hole is a par 5 dogleg left with hazard all down the left on the inside of the dogleg. I pulled my drive into the hazard and made a double bogey on that hole to fall back to 4 over par. When this happened I knew it was over, I let up just a little bit on my mental game and made a double bogey on the next hole, then I finished the last three making one birdie and one bogey to shot 78 (+6) to miss that qualifier as well. Next on the schedule I am off to McCormick South Carolina to play in the next Monday qualifier for the Hooters Tour. I feel that in my trying to do both the Nationwide qualifiers and the Hooters qualifiers I was making it very difficult on myself to make either one, so from no on I will not be doing any more Nationwide qualifiers until I am exempt into the Hooters events.

Second Monday Qualifier

Sorry for the late post, but last week was the second Monday qualifier for the Hooters Tour in Lake Mary, Florida. I arrived at the course a couple of days early to play some practice rounds and get to know the greens the best that I could before the tournament. I have been working very hard on my game in the last couple of weeks really trying to make it through one of these Monday's. I felt really good about my game going into the round on Monday, confident with my swing and stroking the putter well. I hit the ball very well, making 6 birdies on the round, but making 2 bad swings on two separate holes that led to double bogie's on those holes. In the end I shot even par 72, could have been a lot better but I am happy with the result none the less. Not really thinking that i was going to have a chance since I thought the course was playing very easy, I came into the scoring tent and realized that I was tied for the tenth spot (they take 10 guys from the Monday into the tournament). I was pretty excited about that although I realized that i was tied with 11 other guys for the very last spot. That meant that we were going to have a playoff, 11 guys for 1 spot. Not that great of odds, but I was feeling good about how I was hitting the ball and felt that I could win this playoff. So we all piled into carts and the took us to a hole that was unoccupied and we started playing. The first group of 3 then the second group of 4 and lastly the third group of 4. The way that they do it is after playing the first hole the groups would wait at the end and whatever was the lowest score won and if there was a tie for the lowest score they would play the next hole until one person would win. I was in the second group, the first group went off looking very nervous none of them hit very good tee shots, but we couldn't see what their scores were. Our group was next, I stepped up and hit a great tee shot down the right side of the fairway, the longest in my group. Two of the guys in my group really struggled off the tee and were going to have a tough time making par on the first hole. The other guy in the group stepped up and hit a great iron shot into the green that looked like it was inside 5 feet, but it was hard to tell. After that I told myself that these guys are not just going to lay down and give this to me. Now it is my turn and I approached the shot with confidence and hit a great shot, the ball must have landed a foot from the hole, but proceeded to roll out about 8 feet past the hole. I have to say that I was very impressed with myself to be able to hit that shot after the guy in front of me hit it that close in a playoff. Then comes the putt, I had a downhill left to right putt. I felt I had a good read on it and stepped up and hit it. I hit the putt just the way that I wanted to, but ended up misreading the putt and the ball slid past the hole on the low side. The other guy in the group was closer than I and on the other side of the hole, he got up and nailed his putt right in the center. No one else out of the 11 guys made birdie and the playoff was over after one hole. I really learned a lot about myself in the playoff, and after the round before I found out what was going on I was just hoping that I would have a chance to get in and I got that chance. I didn't win, but it was a great experience to learn from. We have this week off, but next week I am playing in a Nationwide Monday Qualifier in Valdosta, Georgia. The qualifier for the Hooters Tour is on Tuesday to accommodate those who want to try the Nationwide event. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I will start to do a lot of traveling in the next week and from then on . Thank you for your support and I will be updating this next Monday night.

Joe

First Monday Qualifier

On the road again, back out living out of the old RV. The first qualifier was tough, I had just finished driving across the United States (not hitting a golf ball for 5 days) and then try to step up with two days practice and play good. Well that's not what happened, it is a tough course playing at 7,400 yards with a 25 mph wind the entire day. I played pretty good on the front nine making bogey on the 9th hole to shoot one over, but hit a bad streak on 10,11, and 12 going bogey, double bogey, and bogey. That was really tough on me mentally being even par after the 8th hole and then after the 12th hole I was 5 over par. That is pretty close to where I finished up, 78, but it really helped me to get back in the swing of things. I am getting ready for the next Monday qualifier, which is tomorrow, feeling very confident with where my mental game is and my swing. I feel like I have gotten a lot of the rust off and now am ready to play some golf to the standard that I hold myself to. Please keep me in your prayers, for safe travel and that I would play to my best abilities, but also that God would continue to use me to impact the lives of other golfers out here. I really feel like God has put me in a position in a lot of peoples lives to share the gospel with them and let Him change their lives for his glory.

Thank You,
Joe

Travel in Guatemala

Because I missed the cut at the Guatemala International Open, I was given the opportunity to travel around the country and see some amazing things. First on Saturday me and some friends woke up early and decided to go on a hike up one of the vocano's, don't worry with a guide of course. (because that makes it much better) What doesn't make anything sound better was that we decided to hike the most active of all of Guatemala's Volcano's, which I latter read that they have more than 15 around the counrty. Our guide, who spoke english, ( not much) told us about the history of Guatemala and its people as we were hiking up the mountain and many other things about the natural landscape and the trees and plants that were native to Guate. After about an hour and a half into the hike we came to a sign that warned us that if we go past this point we are putting ourselves in danger of gases and lava. Just what we were looking for, some excitement to get our minds off golf. Enough talking I will let my pictures do that. Next we took a taxi ride up to the Quaint and beautiful town of Anitgua. We had a lot of fun going to all the different shops in the town, just about every door way is a new shop with different things to look at. After the sun set and the street lights came on we wondered the streets for a little more had some dinner and then took the hour long taxi ride home for a fun filled day in the sun. Then on Sunday we had some big plans that fell through, we were trying to fly up to Tikal where the Mayan ruins are for the day and then fly home, but it just didn't work out. This didn't stop us, we had back up plans, now we are going to go on a jungle canopy tour- using zip lines to go from tree to tree. This could have been one of the most fun things I have done in a long time. I really enjoyed this. This bottom picture is of my friend Ron flying down the zip line. After the nearly 1000 meters of zip line through the jungle we rode by horse back to the place where we started. Over all I had a blast doing all of these things over the weekend, and it definatly helped ease the pain of missing the cut. Oh yeah and I did all of this with less than a 100 dollars.

Golf in Guatemala

Hello everyone, now that I am back on the road again I will be posting more regularly. Right now I would like to let you know how my trip went down in Guatemala. I was so excited about my trip to Guate (that's what I will call Guatemala from now on) that I started brushing up on my Spanish by listening to a free podcast from iTunes. In the end the trip did not let me down, although the golf side of things could have gone much better I really enjoyed my time there and would do it all over again even if the outcome was the same. I started off the week on not such a great note, but I was up for anything. The only flights that they have from LAX to GUA are red eyes, this is not good for me since it is very hard for me to fall asleep on planes. But once I arrived to Guate everything was fine, I was tired but it worked out okay. For the first couple of days things were very routine, wake up early get down to the lobby wait for the shuttle go to the golf course play a round of golf with some practice before and after. Come back to the hotel from the golf course and have some dinner that the tour had set up for us somewhere in town.

Things were going good I felt confident about my game all around, I even hired a caddie for the week that was at some of my practice rounds so i could get to know him before the tournament. I felt prepared. The first round of the tournament I had an early draw, my first tee time was at 8:20, I get to the course with plenty of time to spare and realized that it was already windy. Usually, here at this course it is calm in the mornings and in the afternoons the wind picks up. I still felt confident about my game and my ability to play in windy conditions, but I made a couple of mistakes early underestimating the wind, and all of a sudden my confidence is shattered, not because I started out bogey, bogey, but because I had gone long on my approach shots on both hole 1 and 2. Doubt started to creep in my mind, but I tried to stay strong. I fought hard all day, but just wasn't hitting the ball very well, relying very heavy on my short game to save me, which it did but not enough. I shot a 77 on the first day, which sounds pretty bad, but under the circumstances I was only one shot of the cut line. I figured that if on the second day I could go out and shoot a couple over par I would make the cut. Well my intentions were good, but I was not able to execute my plan the way I wanted to. In the second round I hit the ball better than the first round but putted and chipped much worse, not getting up and down one time all day. That makes for a very long and frustrating day. In the end I shot a 81 the second day for a total of 158 and the cut was 152. I really felt like a good opportunity was lost to make a cut there, but there were some important lessons I learned there that week.

Pepsi tour @ Wood Ranch CC

In the meantime, while the Hooters Tour is not in season, I have been playing in some smaller tour events around southern California. Just this last Monday Feb. 12th, I played in a Pepsi tour event at Wood Ranch in Simi Valley. This was a last minute decision to where I just showed up that morning hoping they had room for me to play, which they did. I wasn't expecting much because I haven't been hitting my driver or irons to well, but I have been spending a lot of time working on my putting and wedges. Well all I can say is that the putting practice I have been doing has paid off. I had the best putting round of my life only putting the ball 22 times, this is amazing never before have I done this. So now your asking well how did you play? Well even though i didn't hit the ball great my putting made up for it. I shot 69 (-3) on a very difficult golf course only hitting half of the fairways and only 8 greens. I shot even par 36 on the front nine and then make the turn and shoot (-3) 33 on the back nine. My group was the last group of Professionals so when we came in I didn't have to wait for anyone more scores to come in. I come to find out that I tied for first place and I am going to be in a play off. The last time I was in a playoff was when i played on this summer tour during college and I lost after the second hole, this time it was different. We skipped over the first hole because there were people playing on it and we went to the second hole, a short par 5 that requires you to lay up off the tee. I hit three wood into the left rough and my opponent hit driver in the left rough as well. I am a little behind him and further to the left, I am first to go with 235 yards to the hole. I hit a three iron just short of the green side bunkers leaving me about 40 yards to the pin. My opponent has to hit a cut shot around a tree, which he did not execute the way he wanted to and the ball hooked on him and went into a hazard up by the green. He had to take a drop from the hazard then chipped it onto the green having a 15 footer for par. Now it is my turn to go and I hit a great pitch shot out of the rough that ended up just behind his ball, leaving me to putt first for birdie. I stepped up thinking that I am just going to make this putt and not even give him a chance to tie me. A little more than 15 feet with about 3 inches of break moving from the right to the left, I had a good read on this putt and I trusted it. Boom!! I nailed it right in the center of the hole, one hole and the playoff was over, I was victorious for the first time in a playoff and for the first time as a professional.

Thanks for all your prayer and support, I will be playing another Pepsi tour event this weekend on Sunday and Monday down in Temecula. The results are on the Pepsi tour website and www.pepsitour.com then click on the results hyperlink and you can find it there.

Joe

Results from Ranking school a month later

I just have to say that since I have come home from Ranking School I have been very busy working on my game and on my motor home and other things to get ready to leave for the tour. I promise that once I am back on the road I will be much more diligent about posting. Anyways, back to the results from Ranking school. I could write about a ten page paper on the hole by hole analysis of each round, but for time and for the sake of my readers enjoyment I have decided not to, but to give you a synopsis of each round. For the first round I was nervous, but just wanting to get off to a good start. What I mean by a good start is one the doesn't put me in a hole for the rest of the week. According to those standards I succeeded, I had a good solid round shooting even par 72 only missing one fairway all day. The rest of the stats were good to hitting 10 greens (okay), but only having 29 putts (good). Happy with how I play the first round, but could see much room for improvement, came into the second round ready to go. Things did not get off to a good start for the second round. I started off the second round par, double, triple. Lets just say i was pretty devastated after that, although I was able to realize that this is a 72 hole tournament so there is a lot more holes to be played I came back on the next hole and made birdie. That was just about the last good thing for this round. Shooting 44 (+8) on the front nine, I was trying to do anything I could to keep myself in the game to finish out this round without making a fool of myself. I didn't do much on the back except make a birdie on the last hole to shoot 39 (+3) on the back nine for a 83 total. This round was very frustrating not only because of the obvious, the score, but I had the two worst bunker lies of my life in the same round, during a qualifier none the less. These two bunker lies cost me about 5 strokes alone, which still doesn't explain for all of the high score, but they were both on the front nine making it hard to keep my mental edge sharp. The third and fourth rounds were very respectable shooting 73 (+1) and 70 (-2). The third round I hit the ball well, but I just couldn't make any birdie putts. I only made one birdie through the whole round, but that also means that I only made two bogie's in the round. The last round was great, it could have been one of the best ball striking days I have ever had. I hit 15 greens in regulation (great) and had 31 putts (so so), but more than anything I was proud of myself for how I came back after the second round. My total score for the four rounds was 298 (+10), yeah I know I was +11 just in the second round. What I would give to get that day back, but that is what it is and I know that God has a plan for me and this is obviously in it because it already happened. So now the first tournament is in Guatemala Feb. 26th through Mar. 5th. I will be playing some small tour events between now and then to keep my game sharp. I will keep you updated.

Joe

Been a long time since I posted

The last time I posted was in October!!!! I apolagize for the lack of effort on my part, but I am ready to get back in the swing of things posting a couple times a week. Well lets get started by filling you in on my offseason at home in California. It was a much needed rest from the non stop tournaments and traveling. Once I took a short break it was back to some hard work on the golf course, but also in the gym. I have hit the gym hard working between 3 - 5 times a week. I've also been trying to keep my tournament experience up by playing some smaller events. Playing the Golden state tour, Pepsi tour, and the Califonia Players tour all around southern California. Now I am getting ready for the start of the new year on the Hooters tour. I am now down in Orlando, Florida getting ready for the Hooters Tour Ranking school, which goes from the 16th-19th. I will be home on the 20th practicing hard getting ready for the first tourney of the year, which is in Guatemala in late Feb. I will keep you updated this week on the ranking school.

Joe

1st Stage Dayton Nevada here I come

So I drove up to Dayton Nevada today from Newbury park this morning, just about a 7 and 1/2 hour drive. Not to bad though, it could have been a lot worse. I am really excited for the tournament to get underway, I have practice rounds for the next two days and then on Tuesday is when the tourney starts. I have been working hard in the past couple of weeks to really get my game kicking on all cylinders. Things are looking good with the game, just at that point where I want it to get underway.

I just realized that I never posted anything from the Hooters Tour "Tour Championship", I guess that's because I didn't make the cut (booo). Very frustrating tournament, I shoot 71 (-1) in the first round which puts me tied for 30th ( or something around that), whatever in real good shape to make the cut, the top 60 and ties. Then on Friday day two I get of to a good start making pars on the first 4 holes and then making an eagle on the par 5 5th hole, two under on the day, three under on the tourney. Don't know what happened, but I know it was a mental slip, I finished the front nine double, par, bogey, bogey to shoot 2 over after being 2 under through 5. Even still I am very much in this tourney to make the cut, I just have to keep my head in the game and stay away from the big numbers. That is exactly what I didn't do. I go par, par, eight, eight. Not really what I was looking for. THREE balls out of bounds in two hole, how ridiculous is that, I was about to shoot myself after that happened. Needless to say I finished the round shooting 83 to really make sure that I missed the cut.

Things are much better now, both on the mental side and in the swing. All I had the chance to do today was a little chipping and putting, but I feel good and confident that all the hard work and practice that I put in is going to pay off in the end. I am very fortunate to be staying on the golf course with some family friends that live here. I know how great is that, thank you Lord. Not only is it nice to be in a house for the week but it also saves me about two hundred dollars. I will do my best to keep you posted, I know I have been totally slacking in the past couple of weeks, but I, I have no excuse, but I will post a couple of times this week to keep you updated. You can also find the scores on the internet at www.pgatour.com/qschool Please pray for me that I would trust in the Lord and lean fully on him all the time, especially in the hard times. Also that I would be a light in this dark world, sharing the gospel with the people that God puts in my path. Take care and God Bless.

Joe

PGA Tour First Stage Qualifier Info

I found out today that I will be playing at Dayton Valley Golf Club in Dayton Valley, Nevada. The tournament will be held October 24th-27th. I am excited about what is coming up, the Tour Championship for the Hooters Tour Starts in two days. So I have a couple of big tournaments coming up and I feel that I am playing the best golf of my life. I have been talking a lot with my dad about how important it is to be mentally strong and not only that but be mentally positive. I have been working hard to get in a good frame of mind out there on the course, not getting mad at myself, not talking down on myself when I hit a bad shot, but more trying to be my own caddie mentally. I am really excited about where my golf game is going in all areas. My swing has improved so much in the past year since I have been working with Jerome (My swing coach), also my mental game is continueing to improve with the help of my dad (My Mental coach). The Lord has been so faithful to me, I thank Him for everything that has happened this year and give him all the glory, for without Him I could not have done any of this. Please keep me in your prayers and keep checking my blog for updates and results for the upcoming tournaments.

PGA Tour Prequalifing Results

Hello everyone, I don't think that I could be in a better mood right now. I am sitting in the airport and my flight just got delayed, but you know what, it doesn't bother me because yesterday I made it through the Pre-Qualifier for the PGA Tour. I shot (-5) in my last two rounds to make it by one shot. I finished the four round tournament at (-2) 286 in 36th place, 42 players from the field made it through to the next round. Had it not been for my putter I would not have made it through. I was doing my stats this morning and realized how good I really did putt. I had 29 putts the first round, 27 putts the second round, 25 putts the third round, and 25 putts the fourth round. That is an average of 26.5 putts per round, that is awesome-my best putting performance ever and to do it here at the qualifier was incredible. My four rounds were 74, 73, 68, 71. Another amazing stat that shows both the good and the bad is that I made 22 birdies for the four rounds, that's more than 5 birdies a round. The reason why that shows the bad is you realize how many mistakes I made by only shooting (-2) with 22 birdies. I mad 4 double bogies and 1 triple bogey, those I need to get rid of if I want to make it through the next stage. I am just about to get on the plane and head to Atlanta to play in the tour championship for the Hooters Tour. Please be praying for me and checking my blog for updates. Thank you for your interest.

At Home Working on the Game

I finally made it home from a long year traveling out on the Hooters Tour. I have decided to skip the last three tournaments on the Tour to come home and prepare for Q-School. That's right I am going to Q-School this year for the first time. I am really excited about what is happening for the rest of the year. I am working hard on my swing with my coach, playing and practicing every day, working out getting my fitness level up to the standard that it needs to be. I have scheduled a Golden State Tour event on the 14th and 15th of Sept. At the Norman Course at PGA West. Then the Pre-qualifying for Q-School is near Houston, Texas on the 26th-29th. I also have the Tour Championship for the Hooters Tour in Atlanta, GA during the first week of October. That is what I have on the schedule for right now, but I am planning on getting more tournaments for the rest of the year. I will continue to keep this blog updated on results and scheduled tournaments. Thank you for your continued support and prayer. I have a lot of decisions on what to do for the next year so please pray for me.

The Final Stretch

These last two weeks have been a little bit of a struggle for me. It has been very frustrating because it feels that my game is close to putting up some great scores, but I am just making too many mistakes each round. I missed both cuts in the last two tournaments a number of great holes, but then making bogies and doubles on the other holes. I am excited to come home take a little break from golf, I have played the last 7 weeks in a row with no break. That sounds great to a lot of you (which it did to me at the beginning of the year), but I didn't realize how hard it is and how much it takes out of you. I am tired and ready for a break, but as soon as that break is over it is time to work hard on my game and prepare for Q-school. Josh and kevin are going to be driving home with me, flying out to Nashville where I will be meeting them to start our adventure home. We are planning on taking about 6 days to drive home, turning it into a road trip instead of a burden on my shoulders. They will be coming out on Wednesday the 30th and we should be home by Tuesday the 5th. Thank you so much for your support and your prayer this year. During the off season of the Hooters tour I will be playing golf at home in Newbury Park and in tournaments in Southern California. I will continue to post and keep people updated on results and future tournaments to come. Please pray for a safe trip home for the three of us. Thank you.

Thought I did this over a week ago

I am very sorry I really thought that I had posted this message that I am about to write about a week ago, but I guess it didn't make it. Going back two weeks ago I finally made the cut at the Pearle River Resort Classic. The second round had been delayed to Saturday so as soon as I finished I had about an hour until I had to tee it up again for the third round. With all the confidence that I had from a good finish in the second round I got off to a hot start making birdie on the first hole followed by 4 pars and another birdie. Back to five under for the tournament, I was feeling really good about my game and my mental approach. I finished the front nine making two bogies to shot even par on the front nine. Then I started out the back nine bogey, par, bogey, so now I am 2 over with 6 holes to go. I finished the nine with three birdies in a row, two pars and a bogey to finish at even par for the round. The fourth round did not go very well. It seemed as if all parts of my game were down a level. My driver was poor, my irons were not accurate, my chipping was bad, and I struggled with my putter. I ended up shooting 77 to finish the tournament at (+2) 290, which put my in a tie for 45th place. Even though I struggled on the weekend I am still happy with my overall performance and I am thrilled to say that I made my first cut in a professional tournament.

Finally, I Did It!!!

Finally, at last I made a cut. I am so excited right now I can't really contain myself. I feel so relieved to get that heavy burdon on not making a cut off my chest. I started out this tournament with a bang, the first round I came out firing shooting a 67 (-5) which put me in third place at the end of day one. The round went a little something like this, I started out on the par 5 10th hole where I hit a great first drive of the day right down the middle of the fairway. I hit my three wood for my second shot and hit it right on the green giving me a putt for eagle. I barely missed my eagle putt giving me a tap in Birdie on the first hole. What a good way to start. I made a par on the next three holes and then made birdie on the 14th hole (my 5th hole) to go two under for the day. I made par on the next two holes and then on the par 5 17th I got the break of the day. I pull hooked my drive heading into trouble, but it hit a tree and bounced back into the rough. I felt so relieved when I saw my ball bouncing back into play. I layed up with a 7 iron leaving myself 90 yards to the hole, I hit a little lob wedge in there to 5 feet behind the hole. I made that putt to go 3 under for the round. I made an easy par on the next hole to finish the nine at 3 under. On the first hole (which is my 10th hole) my tee shot landed in the fairway and rolled into the rough by 2 inches. I get up to my ball and there is a huge glob of mud right on the back of the ball, right were the club makes contact with the ball. I tried not to make it bother me and I hit my shot, missing the green long and right of the pin made it for a difficult up and down. I hit a good chip shot that left me with a 15 footer for par, which I barely missed making my first bogie of the day, back to 2 under on the day. Now after that I had to do some pep talking to myself to get me motivated not to be satisfied with 2 under par. I teed it up on the next hole and ripped a drive right down the middle. It was a par five leaving me with 240 yards for my second shot, I hit my two iron just short of the green then chipped it up and made the putt for birdie. I then birdied the next hole and the next hole for three in a row to get to 5 under for the day. I finished the round with 5 straight pars nearly missing birdie on every one. The second round was just as exciting coming down the stretch. I will just tell you about the end. Anyway I was really struggling for the first part of the round, feeling very nervous, trying to do everything I did in the first round and it felt like nothing was going right. I was 5 over par through 11 holes, all the way back to even par for the tournament with 7 holes to play when they blow the horn for inclement weather, and thank the Lord that they did because things were not going well. They ended up not starting play until this morning, Saturday, at 8:30. So I had time to recoop, regain my focus and come back out the next day determined to play well. So I came out this morning playing the 12th hole, pared 12 and 13, then I birdied 14, 15, pared 16, birdied 17 and pared 18 to shoot 1 under on the back and 74 (+2) for the second round. Three under par for the tournament, not only did I make the cut, but I was tied for 21st place with two rounds to play.

A good week off

Last week after the tournament in Miami, Oklahoma (Pronounced Miama) we had a week off that I decided to go down to Birmingham, Alabama where my friend Holt lives. I didn't play very well in Miama, missing the cut by a number of shots, I was eager to have a good week off from tournament golf to work on the game. It was a really good week, my friend Holt is a member at a great course named Greystone. This place has two great golf courses and a great practice facility and the course was generous enough to only charge me a cart fee to play out there with him. Needless to say it was a great week of practicing and playing, I was able to really hone in on my swing and work on my short game. All this practice gave me a tone of confidence to go into this week in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Time to catch up

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while, but my internet reception was poor in Blythville, Arkansas. Things have been frustrating lately, both with golf and then not being able to find someone to stay in the motor home. I would much rather have someone staying with me to offset the costs, but also to help with the loneliness. I played really well of the tee in both rounds, but I struggled with my irons making it very difficult for me to score well. I shot 74 the first round and then shot 76 my second round for a total of 150 to miss the cut again!!! Well aside from golf this last weekend I was able to visit a EVFree church in Springfield, Missouri which was much needed. It has been difficult for me to get to church out here, not knowing were to go or if I would be able to park the R.V. close by. Please keep in your prayers that I would grow closer to God being out here and that I would put my trust in Him in every part of my life.

Down by the Bayou in Louisiana

Sunrise, thursday morning in Shreveport Louisiana, the day was looking bright for some good golf. I started with a great morning to go with the awesome sunrise. I just started to have a stirct pregame routine that includes half an hour set aside to prepare spiritually; reading the bible, praying and meditating. After my pregame routine I felt great, ready to go out and conqure the course. I got off to a good start, 1 under through the first 3 holes, but then really lost it making 5 bogies in the next 6 holes to shoot 40(+4) on the front nine. Pretty discouraged, but keeping my head up and trying to keep my concentration sharp I started the back nine attempting to get myself back in the tournament. Again like the front nine I was 1 under through the first three holes of the back nine to put me 3 over total for the first round. As the same as the front nine I finished the back nine very poorly, with two double bogies and a three putt bogie to shoot 40 on the back nine. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that the heat index was about 105, a very high humitidy rate, I was so exausted and dissapointed and frustrated by the end of the round that I sat in the club house for about an hour and a half doing nothing but watching TV. After getting some energy back I went out to the practice tee and worked on my game. The next day I didn't tee off until 1:21 PM, where the heat felt even worse because there was very little breeze. Since I wrote so much already I will give you the highlights of the second round. I shot 73 which I am very happy about coming back after shooting 80 the first round, but it wasn't a round that had 17 pars and 1 bogie. I start off the round with a double bogie, but finished that nine with 5 birdies and a bogie to shoot 2 under par. Then birdied the first hole on the back to get to three under, then for the last 7 holes I had 4 straight bogies between 2 pars on each side of the bogies. Even though looking at it as a whole I am happy to shot 1 over par, but you can understand why I was very frustrated by the end of the round. To make 6 birdies on your round and finish at 1 over par is not very fun, but again I keep proving to myself that I have the talent to play at this level. I played six straight holes in the middle of my round at 5 under par going birdie, birdie, par, birdie, birdie, birdie. Next we head up to Byltheville, Arkansas ( In the middle of nowhere) for the next tourney. Please keep praying for me, for that is one thing I am always in need of.

The Latest results from Greenville

The years second major for the NGA Hooters tour was hosted at Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville, North Carolina. The course was interesting to say the least, greens were not as good as the last couple tournaments we have played, but to truly presented a challenge. Scores were higher this week because of the difficult and bumpy greens. For the first round I hit the ball solid all the way around the course hitting 13 greens in regulation and hitting 11 of 14 fairways, but I only got up and down 1 out of 5 times and three putted twice. To upset all of those bogies I had four birdies that brought my total score to 74(+2), which puts my one shot above the cut line after the first day. So I figured I go out there the second round and shoot an even par round and I will be there for the weekend. My second round started out steady by making pars on the first 4 holes missing a 6-foot birdie putt on the 4th hole. I then made bogey on the next hole because of a poor tee shot, and double on the next hole because of another poor tee shot. I was frustrated, but I know that I can come back from this. I made par on the next hole, then preceded to hit the ball to the front fringe in two shots on the par 5. When I failed to get up and down there I started to feel the heat, time is running out, there are only ten holes left with only two par 5's left. The ninth hole is a 225 yard par three over water, I hit my tee shot pin high on the right fringe when the pin is on the left side of the green. Again I failed to get up and down from the fringe to make bogey to shot 4 over par on my front nine. I made a bogey on my tenth hole, things were not looking to good, but I never gave up. The next hole is a par 5, I hit driver then 6 iron to the middle of the green 25 feet away from the pin. I two putted for a birdie to get back to four over for the round. I made par on the next three holes and then birdied the par 5 15th hole to get to 3 over on the day. Then I made a bogey on the next hole to go back to 4 over and finished par, par to shot 76(+4) on the day. For the two day total I shot 150(+6) to miss the cut by 4 shots. One of these tournaments coming up I am going to break through this funk and make a cut. I am very close, but I just can't seem to finish it off in the second round. I feel that once I figure it out the flood gates will open and I will start making a bunch of cuts. Keep praying for me as it is tough out here for me spiritually, but with God's help anything is possible. I will be flying home on Monday night so please pray for safe travels as I drive the motor home by myself to Nashville, TN and then fly home from there. I will see some of you soon.