The Lessons Learned From a Struggle

Hi everyone,

It was another tough week for me on the Adams Pro Golf Tour Winter Series. April Sound beat me up pretty good, and I wound up missing the cut after shooting scores of 78-82. I am pretty frustrated right now, but these past two weeks are showing me that I still have a long way to go before I reach where I want to be. It would be very easy to get down on myself, and start to question whether or not I am making the right choices being out here, but I am not going to allow that to happen. I am viewing every round, every day, every experience, as a very important lesson, and thus far I have learned a lot about my golf game, and about myself, that I did not know before.

I made errors today on the golf course that I do not normally make. On at least three occasions that I can think of, I let myself get out of my normal routine, and it wound up costing me shots. Whether they were slight slip-ups mentally, or lack of focus, they were inexcusable. Two of the mistakes were on the green, with putts I wound up missing, and the third was off the tee, where I got overly aggressive, stepped away from my game plan, and wound up hitting a ball out of bounds. The tee shot mistake led to a quadruple bogey 9 on the 17th hole, which is next to impossible to recover from. These types of things cannot happen, and the reason that we create our routines or our game plans is to follow them! We all make mistakes, and we will always make them, but little ones like I made today need to be eliminated in order to help me perform my best.

Golf is a cruel game, but at the same point, it is the most rewarding game in sports. You are out there by yourself. There are no teammates, no opponents affecting you, and nobody responsible for the outcome except yourself. Everything that happens on a golf course is entirely what you make of it. Golf can fill you with excitement and great feelings, or it can beat you up and leave you broken. It is incredible when you think about it.

So where do we go from here? Thus far, I have not played near the level I expect, nor the level I am capable of. I am enjoying every second of my new life, but it is clear that I need to work harder, and smarter, both on and off the course. That means a better use of my time while I am practicing at Augusta Pines. My practice sessions have to begin to include some technical work, as well as simulation of tournament-like situations. The more I can make my practice mimic a tournament, the more comfortable I will be in tournaments. I also need to make better use of my time when I am at home. My fitness needs to improve, and the frequency and quality of my gym workouts needs to improve. The better shape I can get myself into, the better I will feel on the golf course.

There is a long, hard road ahead, and even after some struggles, I still could not be happier about doing what I am doing. I wake up every morning, and I am chasing the dream I have had since I was very young. Nobody ever said it would be easy, and the most exciting thing is that the work I am putting in today will make me better tomorrow.

Take care everyone!
Stew