Wells Fargo Championship

Two weeks ago the Wells Fargo Championship was hosted at Quail Hollow Country Club which is in Charlotte, NC. But, first, I am going to update you guys on my golfing.

Three weeks I participated at the Regional High School Golf Tournament. I reached my goal for this golf season, I made it to regionals. The unfortunate thing was that I played horribly. I really wish I had played better. I was nervous because there were a lot of people there that I didn't know and I was playing at a course I had never played before, plus it was to early in the morning to be playing golf.

Now, back to the Wells Fargo Championship. This year, one of our dear friends, Tiger Woods, did not play. Woods announced mid-week that he would not be attending due to a MCL strain in his knee. I routed for my favorite golfer Phil Mickelson; he didn't play well that week either. I had the chance to follow him in person during the Sunday round. I got tickets for this event for Christmas.

Last week was the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. That is a yearly event held at the legendary TPC Sawgrass, also known as the Stadium Course. It is named the Stadium Course because Pete Dye, the course's designer, designed with the spectators of the PLAYERS championship in mind. It is also the permanent home of the PLAYERS championship.

The last day of golf was a close race between David Toms and KJ Choi. Toms was one of the oldest player in the field and was looking for his first win in nearly five years. But, Choi would pull it off in the first sudden death playoff hole in many, many years on the island green 17th. Choi became the first ever Asian PGA TOUR member to win the PLAYERS.

Masters

Today marked the first rounds of this years Master Tournament in Augusta, GA. The Masters is a tournament that has a long and storied tradition. It is played at Augusta National Golf Club. The winner of this historical tournament gets the Green Jacket. The Green Jacket is what is awarded in lieu of a trophy and has been since 1949. The Green Jacket is a sport coat that is obviously green and has the well known yellow logo on the left chest pocket. I personally, would wear that jacket as much as possible. After today's round the leader is a tie between Alvaro Quiros (Spain) and Rory McIlroy (England) at seven under par. My favorite golfer and the raining champion of the Green Jacket, Phil Mickelson, is tied for 14th at two under par. Tiger Woods is is also at the top of the leader board at 24th with a one under par.

Wednesday March 30, 2011

In the past couple weeks things around here have progressed a little. My average score in a nine hole round for this season is 48. Yesterday we had a match at our home course, Stonebridge Golf Club. We placed forth, I think, out of the nine teams in our conference. I shot a 47, which is ok for me but seeing as how I had four pars, I could have easily shot a 41 if I had turned my two triple bogeys and two double bogeys into just bogeys.

My game should improve by a few strokes in the next few days. I have a brand new set of irons on special order. They get into the golf store tomorrow and I will have the weekend to get used them. The reason I had to special order them, is they are custom fitted to me. The irons I got are made by one of the best golf club manufacturers in the business, Mizuno. Most people don't know who the heck they are, but Mizuno has been making golf clubs for many, many years. They also make baseball equipment, but that's irrelevant. The clubs I got are called JPX 800 pro. They also make a "non-pro" version, the main difference is that pros are forged and the other ones are cast from a mold.

First Golf Match

Last Monday we had our first golf match. It was a conference match at Monroe Country Club. Monroe is the home course of Monroe, of course, and CATA. In conference matches all the teams in the conference play at the home course of whoever is hosting it that week. We play in groups of three based on what our average scores are. 6 players from each team participate in the match, the 4 lowest score are counted as your team's score. In our case we shot a 179 which consisted of two 42s, a 46, and a 49. I did not play well, so my score didn't count for our team.

The funny thing about me playing so badly is, one of my friends called it. Monday morning while in Mrs. Harris' Psychology Honors class, one of my friends, Austin, said I would play bad. He said, "I have a feeling you are going to shot a 52 today."

I said, "No way, I'm better than a 52, you know that!"

"I'm just sayin'" he replied.

Next thing I know I am sinking a 5 foot, bogey, putt on my last hole for lousy 52. Isn't that crazy. I told him to say next week, I am going to shoot a 40. He said, "I have to see what I feel, you feel like that day." I hope he is feeling pretty good on Monday, because I sure could use a low score next week. We'll see...

CHS Golf Try-outs

Monday marked the first of two days of varsity men's golf try-outs. Monday was a very windy day, not very condusive to golf. The average wind speed was 20 m.p.h. with gusts of up to 35 m.p.h. I shot a 48, which is ok. Tuesday was much better, less windy and a little warmer. But, what doesn't make sense is that I shot a 49 on the more golf friendly day. I, of course, made the team. I must say though that the freshmen who tried out, aren't the greatest players in the world. In fact, they sort of, stink.

In total 11 people tried-out. David Shaaf was a 12th player that could not try-out due to the fact that he is a part of the state playoff basketball team. Eight people are on the team, including Shaaf, only 3 of which that were on the team last year; Austin Coehher ( or something like that), David Shaff and Me. Four of the other five are freshmen, and Derek Hoyle--who couldn't play on the team last year because he wasn't moved to Cuthbertson, he transferred here.

On a individual level I feel good about this season, but as a team I am not as optimistic. I am going to strive to do my best and make the regional tournament at the end of the season.

AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach

The AT&T National Pro-Am is a charity tournament.  The event is hosted at three different courses through out the 6 day tournament; 2 are within the Pebble Beach Resorts in Pebble Beach, California which consist of, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, and the third is Monterey Peninsula Country Club which is also in Pebble Beach. "Pro-Am" means the field consists of pairs (teammates) one of which is a PGA Tour Professional and the other is an amateur, usually a celebrity. The whole point of this tournament is to raise money for nonprofit charities. The tournament contributes money to the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. This foundation has raised more than $85 million over it's almost 65 years of existence. The Chairman of this foundation is Clint Eastwood, just as a side-note.

Throughout this 6 day event there are many other sub-events than the tournament itself. On the Saturday before the tournament starts a youth exhibition is hosted. All the days leading up to the start on Thursday there are practice rounds at all three courses.On Tuesday there is a Charity Shoot-out hosted by Google. Wednesday is Military day and a Celebrity Challenge hosted by 3M. Thursday through Sunday is the 4 day, 4 round golf tournament.

This year's winners were D.A. Points and Bill Murray, who decided he would participate in the golf itself instead of trying to blow up the gophers on the course. Amongst the list of other celebrities is George Lopez, who as it turns out actually plays golf, it's not just for the show; Andy Garcia, Toby Mac, and many, many more. The list of pros that played consists of Davis Love III, Dustin Johnson, Jim Furyk, Brendon de Jonge, who is a close friend of my uncle's, and a TON more.

To learn more, click on any of the hyper-linked words above or visit http://www.attpbgolf.com/ 

My Golf Experience

This is my first post so I thought I might write about me. I have been playing golf for most of my life; since I was about 6 or 7. This was mostly due to the fact that my grandfather is a huge golfer. He loves to golf and hits the course several times a week. He is the main reason I am where I am in my game.

I love to golf and go out as much as I can; golf is a very expensive sport though. I was on the golf team last year and am planning on playing this year as well. I think my golf game has improved tremendously in the past year or so. I have learned to critique myself and fix things in my swing as I go along. My average score on 9 holes last year was about 50 which is not great but it's also not horrible. I have dropped my average score down to about a 44, which I think is a good improvement in such a short time period. In the past 11 years or so that I have been in this game I have played on many different courses in many different cities on the east coast. I have played in West Palm Beach, FL, Charlotte, NC (of course), around Boston, MA, and Charleston, SC, just to name a few. The course I play at most of the time is Stonebridge Golf Club in Mineral Springs. Stonebridge has a reputation of being one of the toughest public courses in the Charlotte area. Stonebridge is one of my favorite places to play because it is challenging and beautiful. In my opinion it is the best designed public course I have ever played.

Next week I will cover the highlights of this year's AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. Be sure to come back and check it out.