2023 Trans-Mississippi Amateur July 10-14
After spending a couple more days in Carrollton, GA I made the trip over to Dallas, Texas for the 119th Trans-Mississippi Men’s Amateur at Brook Hollow Golf Club. Boy was I in for a surprise when I looked at the forecast. It was peaking at around 45 degrees each day and was close to unbearable. My game hasn’t been in great shape of recent and I was struggling still in the practice round and range sessions leading up.
Round 1 was a strange one, I got off to a poor start with bogeys at 2 and 3 to sit at 2-over par early. I hit some really poor shots and it was actually my short game and putting that kept me moving forward. After the 3rd hole I managed to go the next 15 holes with no bogeys and 3 birdies on a decently tough track. I was really happy with how I fought and ground out a decent round with how my swing was feeling but I knew it was going to be an uphill battle to produce something good in the 2nd round.
Round 2 started off average again, I hit some horrible pull draws with my driver that I was hitting all week that got me into a little trouble. Then when I was in good position I found a way to mess it up. I missed a couple makable putts and was +2 at the turn. Right around the cut line. I have a really bad habit of tinkering and making small or sometimes even big swing changes or feels on the course. Sometime they help but most of the time they hurt me and this was one of those times. I played this entire round with many different swing ‘feels’ which resulted in me losing any kind of feel that I had. Usually, I can feel the shot before I hit it but this was not the case, I couldn’t feel anything. I fell apart on the second 9 and shot +9. I’m not proud of how I held myself during this and it will be something I’ll be aware of more in the future.
The tough thing about writing reviews like this is when things aren’t going well on the course, I feel like I have to sit here and explain all the reasons why I’m struggling and how I’m going to overcome them. I’ve always relied heavily on how my swing ‘feels’ when I’m out on the course. When it feels good I feel confident and when it feels bad not so much. Since being in America and even a few months before that I’ve really been struggling with how my swing has been feeling but I’ve managed my game well and my skill has still allowed me to hit the ball pretty good and give my self the ability to score. My short game and putting has let me down in the previous events but this event it was the other way around. I’m not sure that I have the answers but I’ve been in this position many times before. I will be talking to the people around me for advice and make a plan to overcome this.
I may not have the answers at the moment but know that I will be working hard to turn things around. Thank you for all the support team.
