Breaking through, leaning on confidence, building a healthy tournament mindset.

             Emerald hills golf course is located in Arnolds Park IA, near lake Okoboji, an impressive lake resort community. Head Professional Randy Rohlfsen, has always treated me with respect and enthusiasm as I have been a part of playing this wonderful event for several years now. Like the San Juan Open I get to enjoy competing on a great course while meeting new faces and kind members. Making face as a professional compliments what it means to be on tour, because without them (host event Sponsors and Amateurs) There is no us. My gratitude to play on the Dakotas Tour is the feeling I get from special events like this one.

            I make more birdies on par four’s than I do on par five’s it seems, maybe cause it feels that much better to capitalize on good shots and great putts. This week’s Emerald hills Camp-Foster Pro-am was one to remember after a good solid round of shooting 69 (click for Scorecard). The day was a mixture of fortuitous bounces and managing disaster after tough breaks throughout the round. Wednesday morning July 10^th 2013, I teed off on hole number one and played effortlessly making four birdies until I hit an overhanging tree off the tee on hole number seven. Despite managing a bogey from a poor tee shot I had seen where I unconsciously made the mistake. Hole seven’s tee shot forces a fade off the tee to be able to leave a direct shot to an uphill approach to the green, for the shorter hitters it could pose as a challenging long par four. As my confidence in ball striking has been high, I re-thought my decision to “leave the three wood in the bag and opt for the five wood (19⁰ hybrid), haven already taken the head cover off the three wood and choosing my line of sight, my mistake was not realigning my target accommodating the higher trajectory thus clipping the overhanging branch and falling straight down on the forward tee box: I must point out that I did land in front of the red tee marker’s for those of you who think I should have dropped my trousers.

            Four well managed shots later I made bogey and gave myself a look at a decent ten footer to save par. Mentally, when discussing with my caddy – Kip Knutson, the line I had instinctively chosen was the correct one and my will of wanting to save par cause me to second guess my read in the break. The break from the other side of the hole I somehow saw I a slight double breaker from that distance of 10’ having an uphill put. This course has no trick to its greens and there is no dominant break towards a river like the courses in Durango, CO. or the San Juan Open, Either way I managed my efforts to not over react and be presently aware of what I had accomplished from tee to green. 

            Holes eight through hole eleven I notice my emotional state was leaning towards nervousness and questioning my ability to finish this already great round. My swing wasn’t the issue nor was any other part of my physical game. How could it I had the help and good company of a caddy conversing about this great day of golf and how we both enjoyed watching and playing good golf. As a golfer, Kip considers himself around a 12-handicap on most courses, he enjoys the thought process of the game and learns by habitual observation. He had his fill that day knowing his excitement in learning I was pleased to have him by my side. Kip know enough about me and my level of confidence as a professional player that expressing my thoughts about the last bogey on hole eleven was a mere result of miscalculation of club selection, given our location on this downwind par three playing slightly downhill at 163 yards to the pin. Pulling 8-iron out of the bag I landed the ball 164 yards over the flagstick ending up one pace off the green. The number to the front of the green had been about 154 yards (typically an 8-iron distance for me) and ten paces to the pin location tucked in back left corner of the green. Like most shots this entire round my ball striking was predictable in slightly pulling my mid-irons a few yard left of my intended target, I did that with my 8-iron over the flagstick when I realized a comfortable 9-iron would have done the job like it did on my approach on hole seven from the same distance and wind direction. Allowing me to discuss this fact of miscalculation and affirmed my belief as a result together we moved on to the next hole, par five 12^th hole. 

            Internally, with the help of self-affirmation I need to process why I felt nervous during those last four holes and if I continued believing in my nervous behavior I would end up reacting instead of playing golf with fluidity, “trust in hitting a good tee shot, trust in hitting a good approach and believe in your ability of being a great putter.” I remember rehearsing this at Bakker Crossing that past Sunday second round striving to make the cut, my energies from posting a under par back nine that day helped me today at Emerald hills making one more birdie, saving par on another failed approach on the par last par five -16^th and coming to the eighteenth green having to two putt from the fairway fringe and hopefully save my par.

            I worked my way back to four under par as I stared down that 6 footer for par on eighteen. I read an obvious left to right break and proceeded to miss on the lower side of the hole. Now, I could go into micromanagement mode and detail why I missed this putt for par and lose out on about three hundred bucks in earnings not to mention tour bonus points. Overall I learned that under pressure when finishing the round the process of a strong mindset is the result of an organized practice regimen. I could always go back and adopt a few more disciplinary actions to strengthen my putting routine; I know this will comfort my state of mind over a similar putt, and possibly for the win.

            Always building trust in what I do to play better golf is the goal and learning constructively from my mistakes and errors. This is what I have done here today and hope to continue the process as I play on to my next three day event in Aberdeen SD – Moccasin Creek Western Printing Pro-Am July 19^th – 21^st, wish me luck everyone.