Inside the Ropes

My thoughts on…

… Robert Trent Jones Golf Club

On my way to the Melwood Prince George’s County Open in Maryland, I had the enjoyment of playing Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia, overlooking Lake Manassas. For anyone who’s played this course, you understand what I mean when I say it was a joy!

Jones once said of the course, “the terrain is aesthetically perfect.  I don’t think we could have done anything better anywhere.” 

He couldn’t have been more accurate.

In golf, most of the time you don’t have an “experience” when you are trying to overcome the design challenges, like a baseball player may have the first time he steps onto Wrigley Field. That’s not the case with Robert Trent Jones Club; it is an experience that I will not soon forget.

… BMW Charity Pro-Am

Coming off my Fort Smith Classic first place finish and the BMW Charity Pro-Am tournament, I am focused and determined more than ever to win two more tournaments and earn my way back onto the PGA Tour. I really played well last week and feel great about my golf game as a whole. I have made a few alterations to how I putt and will just focus this week on getting back to the way I putted during my win.

The BMW Pro-Am was a nice tournament with a lot of extra attention that you don’t typically see on the Nationwide Tour. While the celebrity participants add a lot of exposure it does cause some disruption to the pace we are used to playing.

One challenge that we do not usually have is that the tournament is played on three different courses about 45 minutes from each other in North Carolina and South Carolina.  The locations make “settling in” for a few days difficult.  I shot a low of 66 on Saturday and if my putting comes around I’m hoping for great things over the Memorial Day weekend tournament.

Jay

About winning the Fort Smith Classic...

For me, the Fort Smith Classic didn’t get off to a great start.  After 10 holes I was three-over.  I had to dig in or go home.  So I hit the course with my caddie and started to grind it out.  After a few birdies here or there on one of the wettest courses that this year’s tour has seen, I was able to piece together a respectable round.

Friday…it was simply a blur.  On occasion it happens. Even though my mood was a bit gloomy that morning, I wanted something good to occur.  After all, I’d made the cut four weeks in a row. I was so focused on each shot of every hole that I couldn’t tell you what the scorecard read or what pin number I was aiming for.  Before I knew it, we were in the clubhouse with a chance to do something impressive.

After a bogey free Saturday my confidence began to grow.  Still there were questions in my mind of what the final round would bring.  I’ve faced a number of final rounds with lots of opportunity, maybe not to hoist the trophy, but at least to carry home a nice check.  Somehow, to this point I haven’t been able to get it done. Sunday golf is really a rollercoaster momentum game for me and I just try to stay on the right side of the momentum. 

A birdie on the first hole of the fourth round did a lot to relax me.  This put me ahead of the course rather than playing catch-up.  For most people, nerves show up as butterflies, but not me.  I carry all of my stress in my hands.

When I played out the final round I came was 7-under for the day with a 16-under finish. I was truly ecstatic. There I was at the age of 40 with the chance to top these great, young players. And it felt good to finally finish well on Sunday, too. After Justin Bolli hit his last couple of shots, I was thinking that I hated to see a guy bogey the last hole for me to win. But I felt like my game was on and I deserved to win the tournament.

Nothing describes the feeling of winning.  I’m not just talking about the feeling of being on top of the leaderboard.  That’s special, but add to it the satisfaction of taking home a trophy to your family, the calls of congratulations, the reward of making your sponsors proud and you’ve got a glimmer of what it’s like to win a tournament.  For a guy who’s spent 10 years on the PGA Tour, nothing is more special than knowing he’s one step closer to getting back.

And it’s funny how things change. I played the Fort Smith Class nearly a decade ago and finished three-over, never thinking I would be back.

Jay