Golf Channel Amateur Tour National Championship - Round 2

I started my round at 7:18 am at SilverRock Resort on hole 10. Had a good short warm up, but felt good enough about my game and round from yesterday that I felt I could still post a good enough score to make the cut. I played a practice round at SilverRock on Sunday and played well on the front but had bad memories on the back, but I was determined to not let that round get in my head and just focus on what I had to do. I got to the tee box, greeted my playing partners, and we were ready to go. All marshalls for the Golf Channel National Championship are tour directors from across the country who come and officiate the tournament. For each group they tell which tees will be played during the round as well as the local rules and how to abide by them. This morning the marshall told our group that we would be playing from the white tees. I looked at him and ask if I was also playing from the white tees. He looked at me and said, “Yes. The women in the Hogan flight play from the whites.” I proceeded to tell him that I was not playing in the Hogan flight and that I was in Jones. He said, “You are still playing from the white.” I continued to questions him and he continued to assure me that I was playing from the white tees. I took my score card wished my playing partners good luck and off we went. I hit my first tee shot of the day in the water on the right and ended up with a six on the first hole. I calmed myself and brushed it off. It felt like the entire day was full of ups and downs. Bad swings would sneak in and out of my round as well as the good and bad scores. I reached the turn and told myself that I could turn my game around and still have a decent score. A marshall was at hole #1 (my #10) and as I prepared to hit my shot the marshall told me that I was playing from the wrong tee box. I let my playing partners play first while I spoke with the marshall. He radioed in asking if the women were playing from the whites and he told me that the Marshall from that morning had a “Senior Moment” and he made a mistake. He continued to tell me that I had to continue my round playing the whites or else I would be disqualified. At that point because I was already mentally exhausted it took all I had to not break down and cry. I took a deep breath, stepped up to the tee box and bombed one down the fairway. I tried to stay patient and focus on the rest of my round. I only had two pars and two boggies the entire day. That partnered with a 7,8,9 and an 11 left me with a 57 on the front (starting on hole 10) and a 53 on the back.


Looking back on my scores for the past few days in relation to the rest of the field I am devastated. I haven’t shot scores like that in a long time and I know that I and my swing are better than what I have been showing. But, at the same time the scores that are in the lead are in the low 80’s. I have only broken 90 once and have come close a few times in the past few months. The Jones bracket is for handicaps between 16 - 19. Technically our scores should be in the high 80’s if it goes according to our handicap. I don’t think we are flighted fairly and the Golf Channel needs to do a better job at watching the handicaps and making it fair.

One thing I can take away from today is how well I handled my emotions through such a crazy round. A cut is made after three rounds and my game plan for tomorrow is to shoot at every flag, be aggressive on every hole, and continue to play fearless golf. I have nothing to loose tomorrow and everything to gain. Time for a good nights rest.

The Rules of Golf

Here is another great tip I received from The Golf Channel Amateur Tour.---


Golf Channel Amateur Tour

There is nothing in the Rules of Golf that prevents a golfer from switching to a
different brand of golf ball (i.e., from a Titleist to a Bridgestone) on every hole
on the course - so long as the change is made between the play of holes.

However, there is something in the Rules of Golf that says a tournament committee
can impose such a rule.

It's called the "one ball condition" (in the rulebook, it's in Appendix 1, Part C),
more commonly known as the "one ball rule." As you probably know, all Tour events
are played under the "one ball rule." And any rules committee may adopt the "one
ball rule" for its competitions.

GCAT Tournament #3

Sunday was my third tournament for the Golf Channel Tour. I was really excited about this tournament because it was at a golf course I had played a few times during college when I was on the woman’s golf team. Although, I never played well on that course in college because I had only been playing for two years, I was really happy with my game coming into the tournament and I was ready to go out and play some really good golf. I had a slow/very bad start but on the third hole I got things together and made par, and after that everything just clicked and I started getting into the right tempo and things began to fall into place. Granted I left some shots and putts out there, but overall I was happy with my round and felt like I showed everyone that I really can compete with the rest of them and they better watch out. I shot a 97, which isn’t my best score ever, but I will take it considering the past few tournaments I haven’t played well and I can finally say that my swing is coming around and I am really starting to feel confident when I play. This tournament really pumped me up for my next tournament which is in three weeks and has motivated me even more to make my swing better and be more confident around the greens. I really want to blow everyone out of the water on the next tournament and if not that one then the next. I really want to make it again to the National Championships which take place in SoCal this year, and I will work hard to do so. Wish me luck

Tournament #1

The first Golf Channel Tour tournament of the season did not go as planned. My bad golf game decided to show up that day, and all I could do was just deal with it and enjoy the group I was playing with. Even though the day was a bust I met some really nice/cool people and I can’t wait to play again and redeem myself to my flight.

Golf Channel Amateur Tour

Golf season is happily almost upon us, which means The Golf Channel Amateur Tour starts very soon. February to be exact. I have been playing a lot in the off season and feel my game is finally coming around, so I decided to start playing from the men’s tees. If your remember from my GCAT National Championship post I said that distance on the holes was one thing that I was not use to. The holes were so long in Florida and it was hard to get on the green for the par fives in regulation. This year I am not completely sure where I will be playing from because the Directors of the GCAT have canceled my Sacramento Tour or at least removed our tour director, which in my opinion is complete BS. Phillip was/is an awesome tour director who was/is very organized, brought in outside sponsorships, and there were at least 40-50 participants at each tournament. It was a great tour and the members have spoken out about it, so we will see what will happen. However, they opened a San Jose Tour, which is a lot close to my home which will be really nice. I have no idea who the tour director is and where I will be playing, let alone which tees I will be playing from. Nonetheless, I want to come out to the tour playing some really good golf and I want to show the new members that woman can play golf. Some men forget that, which really bothers me. The saying that women are slower than men is over. I have played behind many foursomes of men with my family and they take longer than we do! Anyway, I hope everyone is have a great off season and stay tuned for upcoming fashion for 2009!

Duel in the Desert Location

I totally forgot to post when and where the Duel in the Desert takes place! Thanks LadyGolfer for bringing it to my attention. Duel in the Desert take place February 5-7th 2009 in Mesquite, Nevada, where Big Break Mesquite took place a few seasons ago. For the tournament you will play on three different courses Palmer at Oasis Golf Club, Canyons at Oasis Golf Club, and Falcon Ridge Golf Club. The whole tournament is a packaged deal for hotel and tournament fees, which all comes down to about $800 for double occupancy room or $850 for single occupancy. My co-worker played golf in Mesquite a few years ago and she loved it. She said the courses are great and the price of food is cheap. The hotel that is part of the package deal is CasaBlanca Resort Hotel and Casino. The tournament is a two-person team competition with stroke play format, so the first day is scramble format, day two is modified alternate shot, and the third day is best ball. Anyone can play in this tournament, you do not have to be a member of the Golf Chanel Amateur Tour, although I definitely recommend becoming a member because it is so much fun! You can click here for the full details of the tournament. I would love to know who is interested in the tournament and who will be participating. I haven't decided yet if I am going, but if I can save up some money and convince my swing coach Kris to go, then I am definitely going.

Duel in the Desert

This golf year is almost over and I am excited for a new one to begin. Some great things happened in regards to my golf game this year and I can’t wait to see what next year brings. Last year I had to opportunity to ply in the Duel in the Desert tournament hosted by the Golf Channel and for whatever reason I declined, and now that I have experienced The Golf Channel National Championship in Florida I am now more eager to play in the Duel in the Desert tournament. The Golf Channel puts on some great tournaments even though you pay a pretty penny for them, they are well worth it. If I decide to go I hope to see some of you there.

Golf Channel National Championship - Day 4

The last day was more of for fun then anything else. My mom was able to ride in the cart with me which was really nice. The shotgun start was at 8:30, so I got to sleep in a little bit, and I just didn’t worry too much about warming up. I just practiced on the putting green and walked around and talked to people I had played with in the previous days.

When we drove out the the hole I was in group 14A and one of the guys in group 14b told me that the two guys I was playing with were in the championship flight (scratch to 5 handicap), so he was nice enough to invite me to play with his group. We played in a five some and in order to speed up the game we played on points so a double bogey was 0 points, bogey 1 point, par 2 points, birdie 4 points, and an eagle was 6 points. After a bogey we would just pick up. I think by Saturday I was mentally and physically burned out, even though I was so happy to be playing golf. So I just looked at this day as just trying to make some adjustments to my swing. I realized that I was standing a hair to close to my club, which caused my arms to jam at impact and in turn left the club open. Even though I did not win anything I had a great time with my playing group and overall it was a great experience.

I learned that I need to keep practicing the technique of my full swing as well as the technique of my short game, so when I am faced with competitive tournament my game will not come unraveled when I do mentally. I am not sure how you accomplish this other then pounding balls on the range and just playing as much as you can. I realized that when I play on my home course I am just go out to play for fun and I don’t really focus on what I am doing or what I want to accomplish. From now on I am going to have a new approach to playing at my home course and how I practice. I can’t wait for the off season to come. I really want to work on my strength training and fitness. As much as I love going to the driving range and just practicing my short game, I know the work I will do in the gym will improve my game dramatically and I can’t wait to see the results of it on Tour next year. Next up...Torrey Pines in San Diego.

Golf Channel Amateur Tour National Championship - Day 2

Wow 7:43 Tee time! I have never played golf so early. The sun doesn’t rise here until 7:30! I didn’t warm up as much as I wanted because I didn’t have much time, and I thought it was more important to warm up on the practice green. I thought today would be a better day since I did not want to make the same mistakes as yesterday, but I made different mistakes today. I best hole I had was on a par 3 with a Mickey Mouse bunker, and it was a closest to the pin contest and I had beat the person who was already on the green, which was about 6-8 inches from the hole, and I made the birdie put. It felt really good. Especially since I had a par on the hole before. After that I had two more pars, thankfully, because that really saved my score. I still shot a 106, but as good and confident as I feel, I cannot compete to a certain degree with men who can hit the ball at least 250 yards and when I am trying to reach a 545 yard par 5 in regulation. But, I try to do what I can with how my game is.

After the round I went to the TaylorMade Performance Lab, and it was an amazing experience. I will do a separate post on my experience, but even though I see my swing on camera for my lessons it was great to see it a different angles and the lines for my hips, shoulders and feet. You get to take with you a CD of all of your swings from driver, irons, chips shots, and your putting stroke. I took a modified version of it and I just looked at my driver swing, iron swing, and my putting stroke. I will attempt to implement the changes that I discussed with Travis (the The TaylorMade performance lab guy) and Phillip (my Sacramento tour director). Everything that they said were things that I had previously discussed with my coach, so it was easy to make the adjustments. Tomorrow I play at another new course (Orange Lake) and again I have an early tee time. I am definitely going to try and warm up on the range as much as possible to just loosen up my back and get use to the changes I want to make. Wish me luck!

Golf Channel Amateur Tour National Championship - Day 1

Today was the first day of the GCATNC and I got to play on Disney’s Palm Golf Course. My mom and I made our way over (we got lost on the way) and I only had 45 min. to warm up, which I guess was enough. As I said before I don’t like to warm up too much on the range, because then I start to correct myself, which then just confuses me. After my warm up I drove to the tee, met my playing partners (two really nice women), and then waited for about 20-30 minutes before we could tee off. Skycaddie was nice enough to provide us with the new Skycaddies for the day, which was a big help. My group started on the back nine, which I usually do better on so I was happy. I started off great. I bombed my drive down the middle of the fairway hit my second shot on the green and two putted for par. The next seven holes were just like this, and then for whatever reason everything went down hill from there. The next ten holes were disastrous and my group was put on the clock. I didn’t let the fact that we were on the clock for two holes distract me from my goal, but I just could not get the shots to work in my favor. I ended up shooting a 105 which is awful in my book and I should be doing so much better than that. The good thing is that I ended up paring the last hole of the day and I did a lot of things well. My biggest concern was that I would not get the speed of the greens, but I adapted really well, and I started really well and gave myself a chance to be on top of the leader board. Now looking back at my round I really think the fact that I did not eat enough throughout the round really effected me and my body just wasn’t doing what it was suppose to be doing. I wasn’t keeping my chest behind the ball enough and as a result my bad swing crept in and when I tried to recover, I was just not hitting the ball close to the pin and I was making it hard to make putts. The holes I played well was because I stuck the ball close to the pin and I made it easy to make par putts. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully I can make up some ground on the leader of my flight who shot an 89 today. Wish me luck! I have my work cut out for me.


*You can follow my journey more closely on twitter!

Road to the National Championship

There are only two and a half weeks left until that national championship and my preparation for the tournament is underway. I have isolated what a really want to work on and accomplish before the tournament and here is my list and how I intent to conquer it.

My swing was solid for the Tour Championship, but I felt that it was time to get better overall and just make my swing more efficient and just bring it up a notch. Even though nothing is perfect with my swing I still felt I had a good handle on it and small changes could be made. I took a lesson with Kris, one of the pros at my club, and told her that nothing was really wrong with my swing and I just wanted to make it better. What was great is that there was only one thing she wanted me to start working on because she felt it was time for me to start implementing it in my swing, and it was hitting against a strong left side. We worked on it for the rest of my lesson, did some drills, and in the end I understood what she wanted me to do I was just having a hard time implementing it in to my swing. A few days past and what we talked about wasn’t working. I went to practice after work and I asked Kris if she could stop by after her last lesson for a few minutes so she could help me with my swing. She came over and said that I should keep my chest behind the ball and that will help me hit on a solid side. Ding! It totally worked. Whenever I can relate what I need to do in my golf swing to whatever my body needs to be doing then something clicks in my head and I get it. Otherwise I get completely lost and frustrated.
The second thing I wanted to work on it my short game and getting really comfortable with the basics as well as hitting the spots on the green that I aim for. Feeling more comfortable with hitting over bunkers, hitting high shots, as wells a low running shots. I talked to Kris about this and she shared with me her train of thought when it came to her short game. She said she walks the length of the chip all the way to the hole on both sides, divides the entire length into sections and then picks out the spot where she wants the ball to land and calculates how much roll the ball will have. She then walks back to the ball and visualizes the ball hitting the spot she had previously picked out and executes the shot. I don’t know my carry to roll ratios and for me it ends up being too complicated and because I just want to keep it plain and simple I decided to have my own version of her routine. It really helped me to walk the length of the chip, stop in the middle, stand back from my line and make a triangle between the ball, the flag, and where I was standing. Then I would pick out my spot, walk back to my ball, take five practice swing while staring at my mark, and then execute the shot. This has really helped me visualize the shot as well as making me feel comfortable with the spot I have chosen, and I don’t really thing about how far I take the club back or how much roll there is going to be. The fact that I am visualizing the shot while I am taking my practice swings tells my brain how far to take the club back in order to accomplish what I want. This really works for me for shots just around the green as well as just off.
The last thing I wanted to practice as well as probably the most important to me that I get better at is in between yardages. Yardages such as, 88, 45, 117, etc... I noticed at the Tour Championship there were quite a few holes that were Par 4’s and around 288 yards. I have the advantage of being able to hit it about 200 yards which would leave me with 88 or so yards left to the hole. At that tournament I wasn’t really good at judging what my swing would be in order to take advantage of those yardages and put my self with a fairly easy putt, and this lead to par’s or bogies, instead of birdies. The short Par 4’s is where I can really gain a lead on the rest of field and I will need as many opportunities as I can get in order to make the cut. I have no idea how the other players in my flight play and I really have to make a game plan and refine my game as much as possible.

I found a golf course about 10 minutes from where I work where I will be able to practice on bermuda greens and just really get a feel for how the ball reacts out of bermuda rough and what the putting surface is going to be like. I am very lucky that in a few days I will be playing golf in Naples and I will be able to get a taste of real florida golf and hopefully I will be able to make a bunch of notes and implement those into my game plan.

GCAT Tour Championship

Day 1 - Saturday was finally here and I was really excited to get the tour championship started. I have never played in a tournament where I was so nervous the first few holes. I had never played this golf course and I was in the first group to tee off. Which was great since I could get back home earlier than usual, but I was nervous playing with guys that were so good. Two people in my group had very low handicaps and they could hit the ball a very long way, which was a bit intimidating. After a few holes I started to get comfortable, thanks to my cart buddy who was really nice and we just tried to have fun. The course was quite long and I wasn’t use to hitting my three hybrid into the green, but looking back on the day I probably should of had a strategy going into those par 5 and I should have just laid up and given myself easier chances for par. Overall I was semi-happy with my game. I was happy with the fact that my attitude has really improved and I’m not getting as angry at myself anymore, or at least holding onto the anger. I do get angry when I made a mistake, but after the ball lands the anger goes away. I feel a lot better after I play and mentally I am approaching golf in a different way. I wasn’t getting a feel for the greens so it was hard to make putts and and keep my score down. At the end of day 1 I ended up with 100, which was five shot off of the lead for my flight. I drove home and just relaxed and prepared for the next day.

Day 2
It was a bit tough driving back and forth to Sacramento both days from San Francisco, but it had to be done because of my dog and in a way it gave me time to think about the first day and on the way back to Sacramento I got to relax and calm myself for the days round. On Saturday when I arrived at Lincoln Hills I gave myself plenty of time to warm up and get use to the greens and a feel for chipping. But, I probably gave myself a bit too much time to warm up because I start to fix my swing instead of just warming up my back and my body. So Sunday, I didn’t leave too much time for warm-up and went to the first tee about twenty minutes early and just talked to the guys who were in the groups in front of me and I just stayed relaxed until it was time to tee-off. I had a great day and my tee shots were going right down the fairway and I actually had some puts that dropped. Since I was feeling really good with my game the last two holes on the front nine were par fours and I told myself that I really wanted to par both of them. I did and I shot my best score for 9 holes, which was a 44. I was feeling really good for the rest of the day and I was on my way to having a round under 90 and in order to achieve it I had to par the last three holes which where a par 3 and two par fours. I pared 16, had a chip in for birdie on 17 and I was putting for par on 18. One of the members in my group was putting on about the same line I had so after he put I stepped in to read what the ball did. It broke from left to right, which was the complete opposite of what I read. For whatever reason I did not believe what I saw, and I thought he might have put a bad stroke on the ball which made the ball react differently. So, I trusted my instinct and I played the ball with a right to left break. WRONG! He read the put right and I didn’t believe his read. I was so ready to slap myself after that put because I should have believed what I saw, and I ended up missing my bogey putt to leave the 18th hole with a double bogey. I had a chance to accomplish my goal and I blew it, but at least I gave myself a chance to accomplish that goal and even attempt to make up the five shots I had to in order to catch up to the leader. At the end of the day I ended up in second place with a 90 for the second day and a score of 190 for the two days. The winner shot a 186 for the two days and he won the personalized cart bag, which at first I wanted but after I saw it I didn’t because it was so manly looking. :) But nonetheless, I learned a lot from the tournament about what I have to work on for the National Championship in Florida in October and there were also a lot of things that I was really happy with. I can’t wait to start preparing for the National Championship and making a list of what I would like to accomplish before and at the tournament. Next up...the Women’s 18 Hole Ladies Mystery Trip!

Tour Championship Day 1

It is the time of the year where golf season is coming to an end and The Golf Channel Amateur Tour has our Tour Championship. It is two days of competitive golf at Lincoln Hills Country Club. I have never played there, but I am feeling good about my game and my goal is to just minimize the mistakes and shoot one day an 89. I know I am more then capable of doing it and I just have to make it happen and trust my instincts. Wish me luck!!!

Golf Channel Amateur Tour at Apple Mountain

So my promise of a Tuesday post was smashed, but I will blame it on our Tour Director for taking so long to get the pictures to me. :) Nevertheless, I got my pictures and here we go. This was the first time I had played this course and there has always been talk amongst the players that this was the hardest course on the tour and most people didn’t play in that tournament because they had a bad experience. I was told I wouldn’t like the course because I had to drive it straight in the fairway, and before I got my clubs cut down that was a bit of a problem for me a times. This tournament was farther than I had ever driven to a tournament and it felt even longer. Towards the end of my drive up I was getting really tired and I had to make a stop at McDonald’s to just get the blood flowing in my legs and get something in my stomach. After I ate I got back on the road and made my way up towards Lake Tahoe to Camino. As I got closer the navigation in the car said that it would not be able to complete the directions because it had not mapped out all of the roads. I began to panic a bit, but thankfully I remembered the exit off of the freeway and after I got off I turned into a parking lot and got on my iphone and I got the rest of the directions from the Apple Mountain website. So, in a sense MY BELOVED IPHONE SAVED ME!!! I got there safely and warmed up and mentally prepared myself for the round to come. There were a lot of ravines on the course, so knowing my yardages and where I could layup was key, and my Sky Caddie played a very big role that day. I felt really comfortable the entire day with my driving and iron shots. Probably the only thing I would change was that after my first mistake with my hybrid clubs it didn’t click that I was standing to far away from the club until the 18th hole, which caused the ball to have a slight tail right. This caused me to have quite a few shot where I could have been on the green in two, but because I started to top it or have the tail I just couldn’t get the yardage I wanted and it would end up in the hazard. But, what I was the most proud of was that the tournament before I was uncomfortable with yardages between 70-80. So I practiced those week before the tournament and they really came through for me and I was so happy that I practice a shot like that.


One great example was on a par 5 I hit my third shot to about 70 yards away, and it was uphill and I could only see the top of the flag. I felt comfortable with this shot and I took aim right at the pin and the ball came off really nicely and the ball ended up hitting the pin and landed a foot a way. I was so happy that I took a picture (left). My ball is the closer one. :)

The second time it really came in handy was on a par three, some of the men on the tour have been complaining that I get to hit from the first tees so I have been moved back, which isn’t a problem, but on this par three I had 70 yards exactly to the hole and I was practicing my short pitch shot with my pitching wedge and the rest of my group was standing on the tee and one of the guys under his breath, but loud enough I could definitely hear said, “there is no way she is going to make it with that shot!” It shocked me quite a bit since I was already over the ball, and I just said to myself yes you are yes you are. You are going to make it, this is a shot you have practice and you can do it. I calmed myself and hit the ball. I caught it a bit thin, but it ended up being the closes to the pin out of my group, and I just picked up my tee and said “and you said I wasn’t going to make it.” I missed my birdie putt, but made par so I was happy about that. The entire time I never thought once that I was going to win, I knew that if I just played my game that I would post a good score and that was all that mattered. We finished and I ended up with a 92 and I wasn’t sure how that would hold up. I had a 92 in the last tournament and I was badly beaten by and 87. On this tour you never know what is going to happen. So I walked in to turn my card in and one of the other guys who outplayed me last time said, “you have to beat a 104.”




I happily smiled and said, “ I think I got it.” I went to the car to put my clubs away and change my shoes and then made my way back to where everyone was and kept my fingers crossed that no one one had beaten my 92. As I walked in to the grill everyone in my flight stood up and applauded. It made me feel really good and then our tour director Phillip presented me my award and said that I had beaten everyone by eight shots. It felts so good to win especially since I drove so far to play in the tournament.


I earned enough points with this win to put me in third place for the points standings for the National Championship. The top four from each flight get to go, so hopefully I will keep my spot after this weekends tournament since I am taking a break and I hope to go into the tour championship feeling even more confident with my game and ready to win. A win will guarantee me a spot to the National Championship in Florida, which has been my goal this season. Up next I will be attending the PGA show in Las Vegas!!! I am very excited about it and I can’t wait to get there on Monday and I will be taking tons of pictures so stay tuned.

Apple Mountain Golf Resort

The tournament this weekend went really well. I will get into it in more detail, once I get pictures for it, but I will say that it was a great course and a huge boost in my confidence level. I ended up winning and beating the other players in my flight by 8 strokes! I promise I will have the rest of the story up asap!

The Golf Channel Amateur Tour

Winter is finally over and daylight saving is finally here! This means two things.
1. I can finally start consistently working on my game and see some improvements.
2. Tournament season is finally here! Tournaments are always a great way to see how your game truly is and if you have been practicing the right way. Last weekend was the tour opener in Stockton,Ca and I had been practicing and gearing up for this tournament since January, but of course I had some swing issues the week before. So, the last week I ended up working hard on my swing, which wasn’t what I was planing on and it left me a little worried because I wasn’t where I wanted to be with my game. This left me a little worried going into the tournament and I had to switch my mentality from wanting to win to having no expectations, which in a way is the mentality you want to have going into tournaments. My ball striking was my down fall as well as my chipping, but my putting saved me on every hole and I am so glad I practiced the push drill for hours to build up my confidence. My next tournament isn’t until the end of April so hopefully I can get my swing issues remedied, and from the video my mom took of my swing I think my only issue is that I am holding onto the club a bit too long, which causes the club to stay open. I have posted my swing below and I would like to hear what you guys think!