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Nature Valley Ameteur Tournaments

You can definitely do it, dude. I'd be your caddy if I didn't have a real job. Just don't freak yourself out. Play golf, have fun, and hit some shots. The rest will take care of itself.
 
Ha, thanks Hawk. That is one thing that will be different this tournament than others that I have played. My brother has caddied for me in every tournament I've ever played in, and usually does a good job of keeping me focused and motivated. Our city tournament is this weekend and finishes on Sunday so he is staying back to play in it. Also, Nature Valley does not allow caddies for some reason. It says followers are welcome but I assume they probably make them follow from the sides or something. So even if he wanted to come and caddy he would not have been able to. It will be a little different not having him on my bag. I am lucky to have a job with a laid back boss who basically lets us take whatever time off we want, and I'm on salary so I'm still gettin paid! lol. He already told me I can take a few days off for the national championship at Sawgrass if I make it and even offered to make a donation to assist me in my travel costs. I'm not gettin rich where I work but it is definitely a great job to have while I continue to work my way through college.
 
Sounds like a nice setup. Just saw the pro I work with and it went really well. I plan to play today and tomorrow by myself. Saturday I have 3rd round of my match play to play. Sunday I'm down with you guys. And then Monday we're going at it. Pretty exciting next few days.
 
You've got a lot of golf going on slider. Its so hot here I'm trying not to wear myself down, so I'm just limiting myself to 9the holes each day leading up to this weekend. Gotta be able to keep my energy levels up this weekend!
 
How ya feeling slider? Feeling pretty good about Monday? I know everyone has their good and bad days so there is always a chance I could have a rough day Monday, but with the way I have been playing I think I have a chance to contend. I'm going to treat Sunday like its tournament day and not take any risky shots and just play smart, that way I can see how close I can get to shooting my goal of 79. I'm looking forward to playing Sunday and I hope you shoot low!
 
Do you guys know the yardages you will be playing?
 
I'm feeling pretty good. I think I play at 6800. They posted tee times and some reason have me as a 15 handicap... Trying to find a number to call to change that.
 
Slider I was just about to tell you I noticed that too. That's weird. I tee off at 9:27, they set my handicap at 8. I will be playing from the blue tees which is about 6500 yards. Man im gonna have to drag myself out of bed to get to the course early enough to warm up! Lol
 
I couldn't find any sort of phone number. I sent an email to the only place I cuold find. This kind of is a bummer because obviously I want to play against people in my flight. And not in the birdie flight which is below yours!
 
Called up Deere Run, they gave me a number for Sarah who will be onsite for the tournment. She said the system messed up and quite a few handicaps are way off including tee times. She said there will be another mass email with correct information in the next 15-30 minutes.

PHEEW!!! I was starting to panic since I wouldn't be playing against people in my flight in my group. Glad they are aware of it.
 
Now it's updated 8:51 tee time for me. Not too bad. 10:47 sounded better cause I had more time to take it easy and get ready on a slower pace.

INGolfer - did your time change?
 
Handicap changed to 9 (I'm normally a 9.2) and tee time just bumped back 9 minutes to 9:36. Man I am getting so excited!
 
My new Scotty Cameron Kombi-S came in today and I played with it over lunch. It probably will make the bag for my match play and Deere Run.

New equipment always gives me a little more confidence as its a different look and have different memories associates with it. I think with this putter I should sit there and put 6' all day and make them all to build confidence and promote good emotions with this flat stick :)
 
I think having something new always promotes new confidence as well. I just replaced my iron grips today from stock to multicompound and I am really excited to go hit them in a little bit. I got the red and black because my iron heads have red so they look awesome
 
Well not good...went out for 9 holes and my hook with my long irons came back. I'm hooking my 3 and 4 iron as well as my 3-wood. When I try to fix it I just push it like 40 feet right. I've got less than 3 days to fix this!
 
INgolfer said:
Well not good...went out for 9 holes and my hook with my long irons came back. I'm hooking my 3 and 4 iron as well as my 3-wood. When I try to fix it I just push it like 40 feet right. I've got less than 3 days to fix this!
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We can take a look at it when we meet up on Sunday. I have the V1 app for my iPhone and use it all the time for myself
 
Played today for my match. Won 3-1 and put up a 75. Pretty happy with that score. Let's see what tomorrow brings
 
Well I went to the range today and my first bag of balls I did not hit one good shot. Pushed most of them right, even sh*nked a few but I think that was just out of frustration. I took a timeout to chip for a little bit and that went great. Went back on the range for a second bag and hit them better. I think I was pushing my hips past my left knee on my downswing, so hopefully that wad my problem. I guess we'll see tomorrow, otherwise you guys might have to help me out. My swing seems to be day to day lately.
 
INgolfer said:
Well I went to the range today and my first bag of balls I did not hit one good shot. Pushed most of them right, even sh*nked a few but I think that was just out of frustration. I took a timeout to chip for a little bit and that went great. Went back on the range for a second bag and hit them better. I think I was pushing my hips past my left knee on my downswing, so hopefully that wad my problem. I guess we'll see tomorrow, otherwise you guys might have to help me out. My swing seems to be day to day lately.
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We'll get you straightened out tomorrow and ready to win that eagle flight!
 
How did it go?
 
Vegan702 said:
How did it go?
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Not too good for me. Putter was ice cold and it amounted to a lot of 3 putts. I guess someone put up a 72. Competition is getting tough
 
I am at work right now so I will have to post more about my round this evening. I finished third, 4 strokes off the lead. Had a triple on the front because of a dumb mistake and didn't look at my yardage book on the hole, and had a couple missed putts within 6 feet. I made quite a few other putts though so I was probably still right around my average putts per round. I have only broken 80 twice in my life, and I would have had to shoot 80 at a pro course to win my flight. Overall I am happy with my score for the difficulty of the course, but I will get more into details later. It is definitely something I want to do again next year.
 
OK...finally had a moment to post some thoughts. First of all I played 2 rounds here, once for practice the day before the tournament with Slider, and then the following day for the tournament itself. The thing I loved most about this tournament experience is that some of the equipment was still around from the John Deere Classic so it made it feel more like a tournament atmosphere. After my practice round I was not too hopeful for the tournament because for the past week I had been struggling with all the irons in my bag, and it was no different during the practice round. I have been pushing most of my irons, not just my long ones, and it definitely cost me strokes because the greens are so elevated with severe slopes around them that if you miss the green by just a little bit it can kick out of bounds or down into a catch-all area way below the green. For the tournament on Monday I felt a little more comfortable navigating my way around the course, but it still came down to being able to hit my irons. Upon pulling up to the clubhouse I immediately felt like I was in a tournament atmosphere. They have a bag drop, Nature Valley signs all over the place, free granola bars, a few drinks in the coolers in the carts, etc. I had my yardage book to use, which came in handy except for the one hole I didn't use it for....I forgot that once the fairway ends it drops off to about 50 feet down, and the slope is very severe. I had to punch out from some trees, rolled over the end of the fairway, and my ball was halfway down the slope, so I had a very awkward stance on my next shot, sh*nked it, and ended up taking a triple....that really got on my head for a couple holes, and I ended up taking 3rd place out of 27 competitors...lost by 4. So that hole really made the biggest difference all because I didn't look at my yardage book. I could have won, and I was even having a horrible weekend with my irons. I only hit a few greens in regulation, but from within 50 yards I was putting it within 10 feet consistently, so I saved quite a few pars, and even had a birdie on a short par 4 when I only had 76 yards to the hole after my drive. The foursome I played with was great, and the tournament was run very well. I think for the most part people were honest about their handicaps, although after sitting in the clubhouse after my round to see if I won I overheard the conversation of the guy who took second, and I think he was a sandbagger. He claimed to be a 10 handicap, but he shot even on the front, which on this course is EXTREMELY difficult. He was in the group behind me and he was driving it 325 all day, hitting most greens, etc. Still...I almost beat him, he only got me by 2 strokes but he had a couple bad holes on the back. I shot low 90's for my practice round, but ended up shooting 85 on Monday for a net score of 76. That score has won a few Nature Valley tournaments for my flight, so I knew I would come close. Had I looked at my yardage book I could have spared myself the triple on the front, and remained focused for the couple of holes after that and had a good chance at winning. Overall it was an exciting experience, and I will definitely do it again next year. There is also a tournament at TPC Michigan which is even closer to me, so I may do both next year so I have an extra shot at going to the championship. I was excited to do so well at my first shot at it. Had I been hitting my irons better like I have been for the last few weeks I think I would have won. And of course, I went out today and remembered one tip I was given at the beginning of the year, and I was hitting my irons pure again! Grrr....Anyway, it was a great experience and would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of competing. Just don't come compete at Deere Run or or TPC Michigan next year in the Eagle flight because I will have to beat you! lol.

Here are a couple photos from my round on Monday:
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Great pics and looks like you had a great time. That is a fantastic course.
 
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