Adventure Awaits Us...!

"Always find time for the things that make you feel HAPPY to be ALIVE."

Today was the third day of practice, just one more day to get in a solid practice before the Guardian Retirement Championship begins this weekend on Friday, April 25th.  

We had an early 7:30 am shotgun starting time this morning and this is the gorgeous sunrise we began our workday to!

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My roommate Ashleigh and I had a blast these last couple days out on the course practicing along with some off-course good times.  Personally, at every event I make a point to do something new and fun to make the week exciting and worthwhile to remember.  In my opinion, when I am on the road for back-to-back weeks travelling to events and competing, it gets exhausting and repetitive going from the hotel to the golf course and vice versa for 7 days in a row.  Therefore, having a little fun off-course keeps the stress levels low :)  

Our fun adventure for the week consisted of paddle boarding at Turtle Beach and my attempt at a handstand just south of Siesta Key Beach.

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After another long day in beautiful Sarasota in South Florida, my pillow is calling for my name.

Good Night!

The Week Begins in Sarasota, Florida

Early morning wake up call to make my way over to the Sara Bay Country Club to get in an 18-hole practice round.  The course is gorgeous with its Bermuda grass glowing its green glow.  It has fairly open fairways with tricky greens.  It consists of greens rolling back to front at about 11 on the stimpmeter.  There are many false fronts and many areas around the greens where players can get short sided on these sloped greens.  It was about 26 degrees Celsius where I have been loving every second of it out in the office :)  

After spending the day practicing and playing out on the course in the warm sun, it was time to relax. One of the top tourist sites to visit in the area of Sarasota is Siesta Key Beach (#1 Beach in the USA).  Of course I had to make the point of visiting the beach for the first time and boy was it gorgeous.  The sun had set at 7:58 pm and I watched every second of it.

Winded down the day with some dinner and got some rest after a long day at work :)

Back on the Road again :)

My third week of tournament play for 2014 begins this weekend in Sarasota, Florida.  I was up at 4:20 am preparing for my 5:25 am Quickshuttle departure from the River Rock Hotel in Richmond with luggage at hand.  It has been awhile since I have had an early wake up call, but nevertheless I am absolutely looking forward to the next two weeks at competition.  I have been working hard on my swing, strengthening my body and honing in on the mental aspect of this game.  The last couple days in Vancouver consisted of rain….rain…. rain and some more rain which allowed me to really start believing in myself.  As I sit on this bus that takes me to Sea-Tac Airport I am getting really anxious to play in the warm and sunny temperatures in Florida.

Spent a couple hours at the Denver airport during my layover before the final leg of my trip to Tampa.  Three hours…to be exact.  Surprisingly this time goes by fast when I am deep into the TV shows I managed to stream at the airport terminal.  As I board the plane to Tampa it has been a 12-hour day already! Long hours of sitting around, being in close quarters with strangers and changes in my eating schedule makes it feel much longer than it is.  But I made it to my hotel in Sarasota safely with my rental car and after a 16-hour travel day it is time to hit the hay and relax my body. 

IOA Golf Classic at Alaqua Country Club comes to an end!

 "Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great."

In these last two weeks I have learned so much about myself and my potential.  I never thought I would say it but I am really starting to believe in myself.  Although I missed the cut in my first Symetra Tour event, I made a baby step in this second event to really believe in myself and trust with confidence in my decisions on the golf course.  It paid off when I felt that my ball striking is better than it has ever been.  I made the cut and T-50 in the field of 144 competitors.  I am still struggling slightly in the department of trust and confidence in myself  as I stand over the ball but I know it will come with time the more experience I have in this tight competition.  I am really beginning to see my potential and I think that is the biggest flaw I am troubled with.  I need to somehow get over the fact that I have worked hard all my life to be where I am today and just believe in myself.  How hard is that?! But for some reason my unnecessary negative thoughts hold me back from my full potential...  

So for the next couple weeks until the next event I will really focus on the mental aspect of the game because I feel that is what separates the Symetra Tour players from the girls on the LPGA; mental stability and confidence.  So here's to a successful 2014 season and to believing in myself!

Made it onto the Symetra Tour Homepage ! ! !

http://www.symetratour.com

Round 2... Suspended Play at Alaqua Country Club!

I got up this morning feeling great. Had a nice little sleep in until about 9:30 am for my 1:10 pm tee time.  I woke up and fit in a quick little workout/warm-up for my round and got some breakfast in.

My roommate (Ashleigh) and I were keeping track of the storm that was supposed to hit the Orlando area this afternoon... and boy did it hit us!  I had done my range warm-up and as we were driving up to the golf course we saw some girls still playing in the pouring rain and thunder.  We spoke too soon and soon enough they had blown the horn for everyone to come back into the clubhouse for the play to be suspended as the storm had officially arrived.  Everyone had gathered at around 12:30 pm and had to wait for the next update around 3 pm...

3 o'clock had arrived with the weather suspension update and we were notified that play had been suspended for the day until tomorrow morning.  In this unusual case, the tournament director had to decide whether or not they would have players complete their rounds early in the morning and have the final round in the afternoon or just extend the event until Monday...and that is what they had decided.   As of now, the second round will resume play on Sunday and Monday will become the final round day!

Ashleigh and I headed back to the hotel and relaxed until we grabbed some dinner to bring back to the hotel room... this just sums up the life on tour...! A little bit of oven-roasted chicken, steamed vegetables and smoothies...and just ONE red velvet cupcake for our sweet tooth dessert :)

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...

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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 :)

http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=9674814

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."