Friday, 28 March 2014

IOA Golf Classic at Alaqua Country Club (Longwood, FL)

This week is my second Symetra Tour event!  I was really excited when I found out I got into this event during my week in Lake Wales.  I felt that last week's event in Lake Wales, FL was as if it was a practice week.  I arrived in the warm Florida weather after being in Vancouver for 6 months training in the cold and I was just getting used to playing in the warm and humid weather for this week.  It was definitely a shock to my body playing in these conditions as I found that I was hitting the ball further than I have been since last summer and it has taken some adjusting to the distance changes here.  But I feel that it is time to play my best as I am slowly getting used to this weather as my game evolves.



Meet my new friend Popeye the Sailor Man who is now a part of my bag :) 




(My roommate Ashleigh Albrecht for the week!)


I also had a little fun doing a photo shoot for the Symetra Tour...





*****


Today was the first round of the IOA Golf Classic in Longwood, Florida.  I had a morning tee time at 9:50 am.  I got up at 7:20 am and began my morning routine and headed out to Magnolia Plantation (Home of the Mike Bender Academy) to hit some golf balls.  This was an alternate practice facility in association with the Alaqua Country Club because it was larger and accommodated more space for the girls to practice/warm up.  




I did my morning warm up at the range for 20-30 minutes then headed to Alaqua Country Club.  



As I drove up to the course, I was able to see some pin placements from the road and began getting into the zone.  All I had wanted to focus on today was the each shot.  I tend to get ahead of myself, but I really focused on taking my time during my pre-shot routine.  I got to the course and started warming up my short game with a few chips and putts and hit a few more balls before I teed it up.  

One of the coolest and weirdest things is hitting into a water range with floating balls....


My round had started a little rough... the front nine was designed with very narrow fairways and very small greens, water hazards surrounding the greens and lining the fairways (did I mention the wind was blowing about 25 km/h?!)  It was a little intimidating which is why I probably did not do as well as I had hoped.  Going through 10 holes I was +5.  At this point I knew something had to change.  I decided I needed to change my attitude and know that I needed and could change things around.  I started to think happy and positive thoughts and focused on each shot at hand with concentration.  All of a sudden I was pin-seeking and stroking the ball better than I had on the front nine.  Coming down the stretch the wind started picking up and I needed to just relax and calm my nerves once I had started to make birdies and make a comeback to make up for my poor front nine.  On the par-3, 18th hole, I had 171 yards to the hole with a little wind coming from behind me so I decided to hit a 5-iron.  I had not made very solid contact with the ball but it had the line to the hole the whole way.  I was walking down the fairway with my playing partner talking about our swing changes and all of a sudden the crowd in front of the clubhouse started clapping...we had no idea what was going on.  All of a sudden the crowd started cheering and signalled that I had made a HOLE-IN-ONE!!! It was the coolest feeling although I had not actually seen the ball go in the hole, but to have it in front of everyone to see was an amazing feeling! I was caught up in interviews about my hole-in-one that I had forgotten to take a picture right after, so once I got back to the hotel I got it together and smiled with my lucky golf ball :)






Time for some REST and another day to play my BEST.


"It is not how GOOD you are, it is how GOOD you want to BE."



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