Stephens County Pro Am #6 (2007)

Some things I learned:

1) You are what your record says you are. There is a reason I feel like I'm in this no man's land between Advanced and Intermediate. I shot a 73-77 (24 holes each), which the PDGA website said were rounds of 899 and 889 rating. Advanced rating according to PDGA is 915 and up. (At least that appears to be when you are required to play in that division.) At roughly 9 points per stroke (b/c the course playing marginally more difficult than the average course which is 10 points per stroke), that means I played 2-3 strokes (over 24 holes, roughly 1-2 strokes over 18) higher than a typical advanced player.

2) Size may not matter but length does. I just can't drive as far as players 40-50 points higher than me. My short game is okay, but not above average.

3) Every stroke counts the same. The most important putt I made was the first hole; it helped me recover from a shaky drive and shakier approach. Starting +1 just gets me off on the wrong foot.

4) I'm mentally stronger than I have been but still not totally there yet. At one point in round 1 I was -2 and putting for birdie. I had one of those putts where the disc hit the basket, fell to the ground, flukishly landed on its edge and rolled fifty feet away, turning a possible two into a four. Earlier I might have let that derail my whole round or day. For the first time in a tournament setting I was able to shake off a bad break and still play some good golf. In my second round I was very tired, but I managed to finish birdie, par on holes 10 and 11. In another age I might have figured (rightly) that I was out of it and just picked up a few loose strokes, but I'm trying to play from first hole to last.

5) A tail wind doesn't just knock the disc down on putts. My most difficult lesson was a 70 foot approach that only went maybe 40 feet because the tail wind just knocked it straight down into the ground. Cost me a stroke on what should have been an easy three, but that is a lesson I will remember.

Round 1 (Starting on hole 14)(Short pins, short tees)

3-3-2 3-3-3 3-5-3 3-3-3 3-3-2 2-4-4 4-2-3 2-3-4 (73)

Round 2 (Starting on hole 12)(Long pins, short tees)

4-2-4 3-5-3 4-5-3 2-3-3 2-3-2 3-3-4 3-3-3 3-4-3 (77)