A Man in Love

It was about 94 degrees, a four MPH breeze gently swirled through my hair, and the sun had finally given in after baking my skin for a few hours, it was disappearing over the western hills of Central Texas...I stood in the 18th fairway at The University of Texas Golf Club, still 225 yards away from a back hole location after a 300 yard tee shot right down the middle.  The 517 yard par four finishing hole is typically downwind to make it play a little shorter, but today the lack of any real wind made it play to it's full potential.  Not only is the hole long, but the green is tricky, and the deep bunkers guard it's right side while a stream meanders from behind the green that guards the left side as well...

Before I stepped into this golf shot I had an epiphany.  Here I was in one of the most beautiful places on earth, with two gentlemen I don't play golf with enough, taking in beautiful weather, and all because of the game of golf.  The game that has taught me more about life than anything else.  A game that just recently taught me an age old lesson - "Don't mix business with pleasure..."

Turning pro in the fall of 2010 seemed like a dream come true at the time, and don't let me ever tell you that I wasn't excited to my very core about it, because I was.  I had put off the decision since graduating from college.  I always had a reason not to play professionally but in hindsight it was always the wrong one.  I finally turned pro to enter the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.  This was an incredible experience that I will never forget, nor will I ever regret.  However, after failing to move on to Stage Two of the process by a single shot in Kingwood, TX that October, professional golf turned out to be a very bitter time in my life.  As it would turn out, playing the game for money is really no fun for me.  I play the game to compete, with myself and others.  That is the single greatest thing about golf, you can always get better at it!  I have such a passion for the game and I truly enjoy helping anyone else that shares the passion for the game and the passion to compete that I do.  When I played in tournaments as a professional though, my passion went away...

The game of golf now became a game of expenses, time, paychecks, taxes, and overtime.  It was a job in every sense of the word...It took me about 18 months and over a half a dozen tournaments to put it into words, but I had simply taken something I enjoyed and tried to turn it into a profitable business.  Anyone who has done this, whether they succeeded or not, will tell you that it is a very tricky move to make.  I had mixed business with pleasure, and that was a mistake.  

About a week ago, I finally sat down with my laptop and filled out the online application for reinstatement of my amateur status in golf.  Since then, I found that my passion for the game has rekindled itself to it's original intensity seemingly though hitting the "submit" button...

Golf is a game I play because I love it.  I play it for pleasure and nothing else.  I was an amateur in every sense of the word, and by the end of this year I will be an amateur again.  I am excited to compete on all levels of the amateur game again with a lifetime goal of playing in The Masters.  The only way to do this as an amateur is likely through winning a USGA event, which are difficult to even qualify for, but I have my whole life!  I think that's a pretty good goal...

So in the 18th fairway, I stood contemplating that shot, but I also remembered just how in love with this game I am.  I never really stopped, I just took a step in the wrong direction.  The fact that I hit a majestic 4-iron to 12 feet and holed the putt was inconsequential.  I could have hit it in the water and come to the same conclusion.  I've made the right choice, and I may be deeper in love than I've ever been...

A Shot of Redemption in Kingwood

471 days after the heartbreak of a lifetime I returned to Kingwood, TX.

The last time I was in Kingwood was for the first stage of PGA Tour Q School. I was struggling with my game, but doing what pros do, putting it together. Including my final round 71, three of my four rounds were under par despite not having my best stuff. Unfortunately a third round 77 had put me in a position where I had to put up a number in order to advance to the next stage.

The top 22 players and ties advanced, and as it would turn out, I finished Tied for 23rd place, by a single shot. One swing, one chip, one judgement of the wind or slope, one subtle break of a green, one club-selection...It would be so easy to go back and find one wasted shot of the 289 that I hit over four days.

My return was on the opposite side of the bag, caddying for my friend Mark in an Adams Pro Tour Series Event. Out of boredom in the practice round I asked Mark if he would mind if I hit the occasional shot, and he obliged. I had found a Dunlop golf ball literally submerged in mud on the 12th hole, and decided that was good enough to hit a few times.

We arrived at the 15th hole, a par three measuring 162 yards. Mark hit a beautiful shot, drawing towards the front hole location, coming to rest about 5 feet away. I got up there and swiftly kicked the gobs of mud from the face of his 8-iron and dropped my Dunlop onto the brilliant green rye grass. It came to rest on a nice piece of turf so I just decided to play it as it was...I sent the ball flying high and to the right of the hole and as it started to draw back Mark said "Do me one better..." My ball landed and started rolling, and we assumed it was near Mark's, about 5 feet away.

Upon arrival to the green, we realized there was only one ball below the hole, Mark's Titleist. He immediately asked "Did you jar it?!" I replied "I don't know. Where else could it be?"

Mark ran up to the hole, peeking downward and saw my muddy Dunlop lying there in just one shot, and immediately burst out laughing. I was quick to join him. We both spent the next ten minutes discussing all of the ways that I was NOT properly prepared to hit a perfect golf shot. I was wearing layers that I wouldn't wear if I were playing. I was using Mark's golf club, which has a different lie angle, and is a different brand than mine are. I was using a Dunlop golf ball covered in mud. The club was covered in mud from Mark's previous shot. I just goes to show that sometimes things are going to happen whether you're prepared or not.

I had to find a new ball to hit occasionally, as the Dunlop will now be filed away with my other three hole-in-one balls. I proceeded to hit poor golf shots the rest of the day as well as laugh whenever it returned to my mind that I had made an ace in the fashion that I did...It may not have been worth as much as an advancement at Q School would have been, but it's one shot of redemption that will leave me with a fond golf memory of Kingwood, TX.