This is why I love golf!

After what I thought to be a disastrous tournament overall for my game; I did get to see some improvement in my short game which I think is the most important part of anyone’s game. You may mess up in the fairway, but your short game can definitely save you.

Monday was my day off only because our course and facilities were closed for maintenance. I am always anxious to get back on the course to figure out how to improve my swing ands improve my overall confidence. Lately I have not been feeling comfortable when I am addressing the ball, the feel at contact, and just my swing in general. For some odd reason, one day my swing can feel great and if I take a few days off or am on vacation, I loose everything that I have worked hard on and in a way feel like I am at square one. With that said, I am taking a week off and going to New York to visit my family for this labor day weekend. I played on Tuesday and I finally got my swing back, I was getting great contact with the ball, and just feeling comfortable again. I hope that my vacation will not hinder my game again, since I might be playing in a tournament a day after I get back. At times, the vicissitudes of my game are frustrating. I dedicate my free time to practicing and to becoming the best I can be, so mentally it takes a toll on me. Golf is mentally challenging, which many people who do not play golf do not understand. If you always second-guess yourself, you will never get the results you want which makes you more frustrated and make the game harder to play. However, this is why I love the game as much as I do. Everyday you can say to yourself, “today feels like a good day and I am going to have my best round.” Once you get on the course that might not always be the case. The key to a great round is staying positive, which I am struggling with, but patience is a hard thing to learn.

Lorena Ochoa

Lorena Ochoa is the best female golf player right now in my opinion. She won her first Major (Women's British Open) under though weather conditions, the week after she won the Canadian Women's Open, and just this past week she won the Safeway Classic. She is an amazing women who is one of the players I look up to and I think should get more recognition then she is getting. She is on this months cover for Golf for Women Magazine and it is amazing to read about her life story.

After her three wins she is going to take a month off to rest and visit her family in Mexico. I definitely think professional players need to take time off, but at the same time I think it might hurt the LPGA in terms of number of viewers for upcoming tournaments. On the other hand, her vacation gives some other players a chance to get a win or two under their belt. I hope Paula Creamer ( my favorite American player) makes the most out of this opportunity and gets another win under her belt. She has played well this year and has one win and a few top ten finishes already on tour. I saw her play at the Long Drugs Challenge, which takes place at Blackhawk Country Club near Danville, Ca last year. To see these women up close is amazing. It really puts it in perspective just how good these players are and that their games are based on precision and consistency more than anything else. I plan to attend the tournament again this year and hopefully Lorena will be playing in that tournament because I would love to watch the world’s number one player up close.

Playing golf with four men

This week the club I play at has been closed because of a major tournament for MEN. They call it the Tall Trees Invitational and each participant in the tournament has a partner, which must be from a different club and for three days they compete against other teams and are treated like kings! The entire course, practice facilities, and the restaurant are closed because of these MEN, which means that for those three days I do not get to practice. One member even told me that he does not like to play in the tournament because all of the men who participate "think they are playing in the British Open."

On Saturday they club was so kind as to let the other member come and play after the tournament, but we would have to walk. I usually walk with a push-cart, but I did not bring my push-cart that day because I thought we could use a cart and attempt to play 18 holes. So they gave me a small bag to put my clubs in, which was broken and kept falling over every time I set my bag down, and my dad and I set off to play with a friend of ours. I started off well and we were having fun until we got to the fourth hole, which was a disaster for me, but I am getting better at letting those holes go and I can recover from them pretty well. On the fifth hole two other friends decided to join us, so I was playing in a group of four men and three of them already think they are hotshots and two of them love to tell me what they think I am doing wrong. Of course, listening to tips from anyone else but my coach really ticks me off, and after that my game went down the drain. I tried everything I could to get my swing back and to not let them phase me, but nothing worked. Even not trying to think about my swing and just ignoring them didn't help. When I take 10 steps back when I have taken three steps forwards in my game really gets me since I practice so much and isn't what I wanted see from my game the day before a tournament. I could even hear two of the men as I was on the tee box discussing my stance and my swing as I was addressing the ball! How annoying is that!

The Beginning

It was the summer of 2005 and every day after work I came home to an empty house. My parents were at the golf course and I was alone, left to sit with the dog and watch TV. Finally, I got fed up and begged my dad to teach me how to play golf.He was hesitant at first, but the next day both of my parents took me to the driving range at the club, and showed me the basics. I was so excited to hit my first ball and of course, I missed the ball and we all began to laugh. But, after 30 minutes I began to get the ball in the air and that was the exact moment I fell in love with golf and joined the exclusive club for golf nerds. Ever since then I have been obsessed with practicing, buying fantastic golf clothes, and watching the look on the faces of men when they watch me drive the ball.
I love watching the LPGA and reading Golf for Women Magazine, as well as playing in as many tournaments as I can. Even though I have only been playing for two years and a few months, I have fallen in love with the game and playing in tournaments. I played at UC Santa Cruz for a year, but I was mostly a back-up player since the others girls had more years of experience under their belts then I did. Nonetheless, I learned a lot about myself and from the girls I played with about golf. Now that I graduated I have been participating in a few tournaments in my area in order to learn how to play golf in a tournament setting and to meet new people. I started this blog to bring more attention to women’s golf and the LPGA. I will talk about my tournaments and my favorite players in the LPGA and some random golf things that I find. I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I love writing it!