The First Week!

Hi Everyone,

For those of you that know me, you're probably wondering why someone who had a scoring average of about 76, didn't break par in a tournament this year, and barely even played much golf this summer, would turn professional. And, quite honestly, that is a fair question. After finishing college in the spring of 2008, I had thought that highly competitive golf was coming to an end for me. I wasn't enjoying myself on the golf course nearly as much as I should, and I didn't have the motivation to practice like I needed to. I assumed that I was moving on to other things, and I put golf on the back burner. I had been playing non-stop golf for almost five years, and I think I burned myself out a little. One winter in Winnipeg changed all of that!

Winter could not have been more difficult for me. Not only was it FREEZING in Winnipeg, it was the first time in quite a while that the option of playing golf wasn't there. I had the golf dome, I had the hitting bay at Caddy Shed, where I worked, but it wasn't the same. I couldn't go play nine holes in the evening, and I couldn't just spend an afternoon beating balls on a driving range if the urge came. As the winter went on, I could feel that itch coming back. I had thought golf was going to take a step back in my life, but the winter proved to me that I wasn't ready for that. Once the spring hit, I was extremely excited to get back on the course.

Of course, Winnipeg's spring was awful! We were about a month behind in getting out to play, and the courses suffered from a very difficult winter. I was working a lot, both at Caddy Shed, and with Taylor Made/Adidas Golf, so I was busy, and didn't miss too many great days to play. I didn't even expect to want to play that much, so working two jobs was just fine with me! As the weather got nicer, and the courses got into better condition, I started to notice myself dying to be out on the course. No kidding, right? Who wouldn't want to leave work and play golf? This was very different for me though, because it was a complete 180 from the summer of 2008. Golf was fun again! Good shots were exciting, bad shots gave me a chance to hit a great one the next time. This is what it was all about! I couldn't wait to get to the golf course, and when I was there, I never wanted to leave.

As the summer went on, and even though I did not perform at the level I expected to, I knew that professional golf was still what I wanted to do. I started thinking about it more and more, and as the summer got closer to ending, I knew it was time to take the next step.

That leads me to right now, as I sit in my room in the Woodlands, Texas. I'm just down the road from where I went to college, in one of my favorite places in the world, and the dream has finally taken shape. I'm a professional golfer. I wake up in the morning, and I go to work at the beautiful Augusta Pines Golf Club. When I leave the course, I head to the gym, where I work to get myself into better shape. When I am done at the gym, it's back to my place, where I plan out how I'm going to get better tomorrow.

This is the life...I hope you guys are along for the ride!

Hit it straight!
Stew