Canadian Tour Spring Q School : Morningstar GC

This wasn't a very exciting week for me. It was littered with frustration. My pitfall the entire week was putting, I was misreading the greens where if I wasn't missing on pace I was missing on line. It got so bad for me on these greens that once I would read a putt I would sometimes give more or less break than what I read standing over the ball to make it fall and of course nothing. Not to mention a bad start, the first day I made two swings on the front nine when I wasn't ready, swung anyway and it cost me 3 strokes by the 8th tee. Day two the putter was cold still and I was 73, it was amazing though how little momentum I had on the course because nothing would fall for me. Can't say I wasn't doing everything else great I hit a flag from the fairway day two (and 4) they rested only 8 feet away and missed both. I hit almost every shot into the greens from within 140 yards to 20 feet or less all week. So when you have no momentum I tried to make something happen which again was a bad decision because it was completely out of my game plan to cut corners on certain holes. I payed the price on every single one and managed to escape with a 75 ... somehow. The final day was of course a little more relaxed, in my mind the only thing I could do to get into the top would be 8 or 9 under and that's pretty much out of reach on this course. Either way, the entire day my ball striking was impeccable I hit so many balls to within 10 feet it was ridiculous. 2,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,14,15,16 were all balls 15 feet or less, one of them hit the flag, and one sat on the lip which was hole 11 from 132 I was an inch from making an eagle... I made that putt. So the final day was rough because I felt like I was playing a great game and the ball never could get rolling to the next hole because I would miss the putt and I would question what I did wrong. It was painful.
The good thing is I was able to pull some positives out. Along with the old ones of remember to never shoot when not ready, be fully committed to your shot, stay even keel I was able to see the potential for great scoring. If I just learn from a few mistakes and take that to the next week there is the potential for some great things. I saw the ball hit from 140 yrds and in nearly to perfection... it was more than I could've asked for I gave myself so many chances all week. Again though, it's putting that held me back this week.
Monday I will be travelling to Victoria for the Monday Qualifier for the Canadian Tour Event. I will be travelling with my good Irish pal Barry O'Neil who is meeting me here in Parksville today and then we will continue to travel.
I would like to thank the Loftus family for giving me their home, it's always nice to feel at home when you are playing in these types of events. I would also like to thank my caddy Bill Vandervelde, who not only was a great fan of mine on the course but gave out some good hard cheers for my fellow competitors in my group, we had a great time and I hope he did too. I will be in touch this Monday, I intend to get these putts dropping and see my potential actually be realized in the coming months.
Thank you Morningstar, for a stressful but excellent week.

JS

Canadian Tour Q School : Practice Round

Well tomorrow morning the final Canadian Tour Q School begins and I can say I am as ready as I'll ever be. I've put a lot of practice and work into getting my lines and thought processes ready fro this event. The Morningstar GC is a tough little track but if I steer clear of trouble I should do just fine. Earlier this week I had to make my own course yardage book as the club here does not have one of their own. It's a good thing I've been around some of the best course yardage books made by the guys at the GAO in Craig Loughry and Marcus Strom. Making this book also gives me a better understanding of the course and got me to focus more on the courses ins and outs. The tee shots are a key factor on this course. There is a lot of trouble around this whole course but most of the time you can hit irons off the tee to be in just as good position as someone with a driver. The greens are also a key factor here. Today in the practice round the greens keeping staff still hadn't double cut and rolled the greens as they plan on doing this week for the event so I anticipate the greens to be a whole different kind of beast tomorrow. These greens look like a Pete Dye design, very undulating and many tiers. This was the main reason I made the course book so that when I am hitting into greens I know exactly which way the green will be sloping for that specific pin placement and hit my ball into the correct spot as needed for best chance to make a putt. I'm assuming like most greens like this getting the ball below the pin is imperative.
I tee off tomorrow morning, actually the very first tee time of the day so I will be the very first group on every single green. That's definitely an advantage, the greens will be slick but extremely smooth with no footprints. Hopefully all goes well, I know I can shoot some great scores on this course but most importantly I know where to be aggressive (which is hardly ever) and when to play smart and keep my lines straight. I'll let you know how the first round went tomorrow. As I can see on www.cantour.com I am on the top of the leaderboard so I intend on keeping it there.

Wish me Luck, this is the one!

JS

British Columbia Arrival

Hi everyone, it's been a little while since I last posted. Since the Shell Houston Open monday qualifying I have been working hard on being ready to compete and earn my card once and for all here in Parksville, BC at Morningstar GC. First of all I would like to thank everyone who has been giving me well wishes and encouragement. An especially big thanks to Woodensticks Golf Club for allowing me to use the facilities at my leisure to make sure I was ready for the Canadian Tour as well.
So, I arrived this morning in Nanaimo, BC at 10am and was then brought back to where I'll be staying alongside the Morningstar GC. I will be staying with the Loftus's and already they have made me feel right at home. Eventhough I was feeling a little tired I went out for a quick round on the course just to get an idea of what the courses feel is like. I don't think the course is playing as tough as it will be for the event as the greens are slowed down at the moment but was assured they will be close to 11 on the stimpmeter for the Q School. Mike Loftus (who I'm staying with) is the General Manager here at Morningstar GC and I feel this will be a great test, especially once the greens start rolling at 11. The views on this course are amazing, a few tee shots are right into a large mountain range in the distance... it's absolutely beautiful. There is even a family of Bald Eagles on the front nine which is quite a thing the see up close, today two of them flew directly over my head only missing by a good 20 feet while I was on the green putting. With all this nature surrounding the course it will be easy to drift off into the beauty. Over the course of the week I will spend a little more time on learning the lines for tee shots and of course the greens. Stay tuned, I'm feeling good and ready to join the Canadian Tour through Morningstar GC.

JS