2022 Season Getting Started
Hard to believe it is already the third week of March but that means the golf season is about to be in full swing and I am pumped to get rolling in competition!
As I look forward to competing this year I have a slightly different strategy as I approach this season. Over the last 2 years, I have been playing the largest tournaments that I could get into. They provide a great experience, a professional atmosphere, large purses, and strong fields. All of these things are important attributes and things I appreciate from good mini-tours. The problem over the last 2 years has been my lack of performance. I haven’t been playing my best golf and when you miss cut after cut, it gets really expensive to play $1500 golf tournaments and walk away with added experience but no check.
This year, my plan is to play a lot of smaller tournaments (even if they are handicapped scoring). This will allow me to rack up on experience and test my game over and over for a cheaper price tag. I still have my sights set on the large tournaments and there are a handful of big events that I will still play this year. I will also be open to signing up for bigger events when my game is rolling with good momentum and I have gained confidence from good practice and consistent results, but at the end of the day, I want to see progress in my competition results and I believe a one step at a time strategy will be best.
I have already played a couple of events to start this season off. The Fairway Golf Tour started the season in February and I was able to jump in and play a couple for my first reps of the year. Unfortunately, the first didn’t go very well as I picked up where I left off last year. It takes a little bit of time to shake off the rust after a break of competition so I wasn’t discouraged by that first result. My next event was up in Oklahoma City in the typical 30mph wind of early March. I was able to take a great step in the right direction managing my game around the course, shooting a couple over par, and finishing in 4th.
My biggest takeaway from the better performance was not an improvement in ball striking (even though the conditions in OK required good trajectory control). The difference was certainly in my mental approach to the round. One-shot at a time, one hole at a time, and using my knowledge to play as effectively as I could. Even though I missed a few putts and made some unforced bogeys, I felt a lot better about the state of my game and walked away from that tournament with some added confidence.
Moving forward, my plan is to play some single-day events coming up between OKC and Houston. On the 23rd, my next event is the pre-qualifier for the Monday qualifier into the Valero Texas Open! Stay tuned and check out my Instagram for the day-to-day. Time to get back to work!
