Oh, so close!

Hi everyone,

A 5 over par round of 77 put me 5 strokes back of the winner and only one stroke "out of the money." I am taking a disciplined approach and rather than dwelling on that "one or two strokes I would like back" I am focusing on what I have learned this week. 77 in a pressure packed situation is respectable but if I want to contend out here I need to turn a 77 into a one or two over par round. I REALLY learned a lot this week! Here's some of the GOOD from this week:

• Played 3 consistent rounds. Over 54 holes I made only 2 double bogeys. Lots of pars, birdies and a few bogeys.
• Putted solid...28, 30 and 29 putts each round.
• A stat that I have worked hard on is my greens in regulation (GIR). This week I hit a solid 9, 8 & 10 greens. I shot 73 hitting 9 greens so can still score without hitting greens in the double digits.
• What you don't see about the final round is that I had 3 "almost" chip ins. Chips that grazed the hole and ended up tap in distance. My focus used to be getting chips close but my focus in the past few months has changed to "I can realistically give this a chance to go in". This is not a reckless thought but rather one bolstered by confidence.
• Felt like I played agressively and decisively this week. I didn't allow a poor swing (and we all make those!) deter my focus on the next shot.
• Saw that "playing within myself" was rewarded. There were 2 challenging holes (a long par 4 with a sharp dogleg and a visually challenging 2nd shot & a 560 yd par 5 that required all the distance my body can muster). I was even par for 3 days on the par 4 (a hole I am guessing the field averaged at 5 or higher) and an average of 3 over on the par 5 (which was probably average for the field). These holes helped me to trust in my ability to get up and down with my wedges from 20-60 yds. Which I did 3/5 attempts. Not a bad stat!
• Was really pleased with my ball striking particularly with my long irons and my fairway woods...clubs that I at times are a bit more challenging to hit for me.

Here are a few things I am going to work on for next week. What I can do BETTER:

• Wedges...although I was successful in getting up and down from 20-80 yds there were a few that got away from me. Going to work on wedges from different yardages and different situations.
• Playing within myself. There were a few situations that I played a shot or shots that I should have taken a different approach (sometimes I should have been more conservative and sometimes I should have played more agressively). I am going to keep this in mind as I prepare for my next event.

I will be playing in the SunCoast tour's event at Huntington Hills this coming week. You can follow results on their website. For results from this week click here.

Feeling good about things! Will keep you posted!

Mary