Sailing my vessel

the golf center in near Chaska, MN. 2012

Some practice time over the winter in Minnesota, we never had much time to swing the club during these months, but when I did it was fun.

Anthony Dragt and I occasionally traveled a few hours towards the Twin cities just to get some practice time in. During my sessions I always start from the basics I swing until I recognize the fundamental value in my swing. depending on the time frame I can practice till I'm aware of my "conscious competence" and strive to swing as freely as possible. Over time my sessions get easier and starting from the basics no longer applies to warm up, I can manage those images during cool down time.

"In the Zone" is a whole subjective side to my game, I play consistently and strive for continue a postive thought process under pressure and when it clicks in during the final nine hole (sometimes full 18 holes), its smooth sailing from there, I get to see first what I want to do and execute the shot that closely describes the visualized image. The final 18 holes I played on at the Dakotas Tour Championship, I was fully euphoric in this state of mind. After playing a 16 consecutive tournaments on this tour in two short months my heightened  awareness led me into trusting my thought process (including swing flaws) and choose the best shot shape within my ability. The end result was a solid round score 72 in tough weather conditions, the highlight for me is being one of the top scores posted that day. Sadly I missed the cut by 2, having a so-so round on the first day put me too far back.

We're off to see the Wizard!

Golf pro's have to pay their dues in tournament golf, the game lotteries no handouts to success. The term "easy street" is mythical ideology even in at the highest level. The PGA Tour, every golfer in the world considers it THE Top tournament golf, I strive to succeed at reaching this goal not because of the glamour and high purse payouts, but because its competing against the best players in the world. 

As of right now I can't compare my game against the young guns on tour or even the veteran champions who still fight for their PGA Tour status by staying competitive. Persistence is my game and doing structured practice sessions, playing with an enjoyable purpose and a complete passion for improvement generates thought impulses towards the end result - down that long road to the PGA Tour.

Back in my youthful 20's I traveled all of western Canada and played the Atlantic coast of California to the beautiful Pacific coast of Florida. I resided in Phoenix Arizona, and Port Saint Lucie Florida.

Culturally I started fresh in to the world of First Nations golf which made up of many competitive money events as I could afford to travel too. Naturally my interests grew fonder of the glamour of playing golf for a living and support myself the best I could to compete week to week. Up until 2006, my informal education taught life-long values I hold true to my heart when I think of this period in my career.

Harvey Pennick once said “what your trying to figure out in your swing will take you six months, a Pro can tell you in 5 minutes."

During my travels, I met a veteran PGA Tour Champion - Rod Curl Sr. In 1974 Mr. Curl beat top tour winner Jack Nicklaus for the Colonial Championship Title held in Texas, on of the prestigious and traditional event on the PGA Tour today.

Rod offered to coach me through a dramatic swing change that would revamp my game to be as consistent and measurable to those on tour. I jumped at the chance to work with Coach Curl. I became a sponge soaking up as much knowledge about my new swing as I could retain. I found my game to less stressful to play, a thought process easier to manage on and off the course, organizing, planning and persistence is essential for achieving any goal. 

Rod would say “in all my years playing on tour I had raw talent, but talent would only get you so far”.  

Sending out blogs for you readers are a great way to express my thoughts a feeling of what I preicieve on a daily basis in my journey as a golf professional, I thank you for that and I promise as I play more and more (hopefully regularly on tour) the analytic thoughts and personal emotions an be shared with "like minded" professionals or soon to be inspired one's. 

A day in the "Valley"

Whadda ya know, I can blog. More importantly I can express my thoughts an feelings about my life as a Developmental Golfing Pro. My road to the PGA Tour (of course this is my dream, wouldn't be yours if you were a pro golfer?), is a long one and I wake up each morning visualizing myself playing tournament golf and raise the question (in my head) how and when will I be on the PGA Tour? Some days the answer is simple and I acknowledge my current life events and tell myself to be patient, one day at time becomes my mantra. 


For instance, today I was excited to play golf with my fellow classmates from Ridgewater's Marketing & Sales Program. The college had posted an inter-mural student golfing activity hosted at the shortest course in town (Willmar, MN). I spent the morning prepping for the event by heading to the Kandyohi YMCA with my little ones, dropped them of at child watch and changed so I can work out. I did no heavy lifting as I knew the torque I generate in my swing could possibly injure me. I did my best to cross-train ending it with a cool down cardio workout.


After the gym workout I got the kiddos home and had lunch and put them down for their afternoon nap. I love a quiet home, giving me time to stretch doing yoga poses I learned from time living in Arizona. I texted Keifer and Phil to see what they plan to do before we got there, the responded by letting me know they got a round in at their respective course, My team was ready to play! it showed too. 


We had a blast, shooting six under on the front and seven under par on the backside of this nine hole golf course. First time golfing with my classmates and enjoying our time laughing it up and watching "eagle" Phil drop a chip in on the front nine and we got him close enough to putt in an eagle three on the par five 17th hole during this scramble team format.


All in all I my swing felt good enough to execute key shots off the tee and into the greens. A scramble format is fun so I don't get to enter a zone mindset, unless I have been zeroing my focus to play better. I had a great time not stressing on bad shots and just being aware how I was swinging the club and putting the ball. The end analysis - my driver was not my strength today, I over swung some tee shots trying to get that extra distance (for what I don't know?). The shoulder turn I have been working on is in sync with my lower core and lower-body creating more torque than I ever have while keeping balanced throughout most good golf shots. Because Valley GC is such a short track and we played a scramble format for 18 holes, I still suffer naturally from strengthening my wedge game and bunker play. I plan on saving this time for another practice round day and it still the start of the season for us Minnesotans.