Recap of Pro Tournament #29
On March 13th I played a single-round event at River Plantation Golf Club in Conroe, TX. I shot 77 (5 over par) to ultimately finish in the back of the field and make no money. Although the result was disappointing, it felt great to get back into competitive golf and I was able to move on from the event with a positive outlook. Here is a breakdown of the details:
The tournament entry was $220. Small tours like this (The Legacy Golf Tour) offer some side games so I put $50 into the gross low score of the day. I played a practice round the day before that cost $45 and I paid a $20 cart fee on the day of the tournament. There were no other expenses involved in this event because the course was only 20 minutes from where I live and no travel expenses were necessary. The total cost came to $335. I received no money for my finish, but I did get a $100 reward for the gross low score (there was only one other player who put $50 into the pot), so at the end of the day, this event came at an expense $235.
My physical and mental game showed some rust from the 5 months out of competition. My stats for the round were 8/14 fairways in regulation, 12/18 greens in regulation, 2/6 up and downs, and 33 total putts. Clearly my short game and putting cost me the most strokes during this round. I was experiencing a lot of nerves on and around the greens early in the round that definitely influenced my performance. I feel a lot of the nerves came from excitement, however, I was experiencing a little bit of “fear of failure” early in the round which made me hesitant instead of having a confident trust in my ability.
My best shot of the day came on the par 3 7th. The hole was on the right side of the green and measured 189 yards from the tee box. With the wind crossing from right to left, I chose to hit a high cut with a 6 iron. The ball started a couple of yards left of the hole and slightly cut towards the hole, landing and coming to rest just 1 foot from the hole for a kick in birdie!
After being 4 over par in the first 5 holes, I began to calm down and develop some better focus for the rest of the round. By the end of the round, I was beginning to feel the groove of competition again and I was able to score my ball down the stretch very well after getting off to that slow start. Even though my final score on the day was poor, I walked off the 18th green with some confidence and a serious dose of motivation as I look forward to the next tournament. I believe if I can get into consistent competition as I start this season, my physical and mental game will sharpen up and develop momentum to carry through the whole year. It’s going to be a big year!