Conference Champions

Im writing this blog entry a little late due to the hectic schedule i have had in the last few weeks. 2 weeks ago we made the 4 hour bus ride to Bradenton Florida to compete in our annual SSC Conference Championship. As a team we played the practice round in a staggering 6 hours, we used the time to get a great game plan. One thing that sets us apart from the rest of the field is the way we pay attention to detail in our preparations. We looked at the course in depth noting the widest hitting areas off tees, where to be on the greens for certain pins. Green slopes, plan A and plan B routes to certain holes and most importantly where to miss the greens which would still leave a simple up and down. The key for the week was always going to be the team which managed their game well and cut out three putts and big numbers. The greens were so slick and slopey that it was vital to hit into areas where you could easily two putt


Round 1 i played fairly solidly hitting 13 greens shooting a 1 over 73, i thought i left a few out there but my coach quickly told me that was one of the best scores of the day. The 2nd round i started off great with 4 birdies in my opening 5 holes. The approach shots were great and the putts were dropping nicely. As the course toughened up i made a couple of bogeys but was very composed the whole day shooting a great 70 on one of the toughest courses in Florida. Despite my consistent play i lay one shot off the lead from team mate Oscar Lengden. In the afternoon as a team we shot -7 blowing the field away in the process.

We started a blustery last day with a 19 shot lead and our goal from our coach was to increase it to a 25 shot victory. Through 27 holes i was leading but Ben Taylor my team mate was charging 4 under through 9. 18 proved to be a huge lesson for me in course management trying to hit a ridiculous shot which had very little chance of coming off i walked off with an 8 and a hard lesson which i would have to learn from for the future. Playing smart is the most important trait a tournament golfer can have, big numbers ruin rounds and confidence in a heart beat and 5 on a tough hole is usually fine as it can be made up with a birdie in the next few holes.


I want to write a special congrats to my team mate Ben Taylor who shot an amazing 67 to win the individual title by one. The team ended up extending our lead to an amazing 37 shots, i finished 3rd individually and made the all conference team with 3 other team mates, Ben,Oscar and Ricardo. We looked forward to regionals and came away from the week very confident in our chances of making Nationals in Kentucky.


Things to improve on

• Par 5 Scoring Avg - Stop trying to smash drives on par 5s. Hit the fairway
• Approach shots into par 5s with woods and hybrid - Smoother swings producers shallower contact and higher trajectory
• Smarter targets into tough greens
• Driving accuracy (Driver)on par 4s and 5s