Madison, WI — I have not written since the end of the year, but I ended on a sour note at Q school and that left me in deep thought about my future.  Playing golf as a pro has been a wonderful thing.  I traveled the world chasing my dream and had the opportunity that few others have experienced.  I am very grateful for this.  I am grateful for the experiences that opened my eyes to new cultures and other ways of life.  In the age of commercial air travel, I am grateful to travel to places so very far from where I live.  On the other hand, I am grateful to have zig-zagged all around our great country in a car, to see it in a way that many others have not.  Road trips are priceless!  Most of all, I am grateful just to have the opportunity to play golf as a pro.  I could not do it alone, I needed a lot of help.  Many people have been very generous with me and to them I am immensely grateful.  But, the reality is that I cannot keep playing on the mini-tours.  Unfortunately, Q school is very difficult and I never played my best golf there.

And so it is time to write a new chapter, I am officially retired from golf.  What a great ride with some incredible highs and devastating lows.  I enjoyed it all, but I look forward to creating a new me.  So much of me has been tied to golf for many years that it has been challenging to see beyond this part of me.  It has been a struggle, but I am ready for the next step and ready to find a new career.  I do not know for which career I am qualified.  What I do know is that the skills I developed in overcoming challenges as a professional golfer will prove valuable in any career.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lantana, TX — A bit out of touch with you, but trying to keep a low profile this week.  It’s tour school and time to focus.  There has been lots of rain in this area, 12 inches this month!  The course has been barely playable so far because of the sloppy conditions and my rain pants will be on all week.  Yesterday we played the second round, then immediately went back out to start the third round because of today’s forecast of severe weather.  I played 8 holes of the third round before dark and we never started today because of the conditions.  Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow, but we are supposed to play the remainder of the third.  The fourth round has been pushed back a day into Saturday, which really stinks because it means I won’t be back for Halloween with Abby.  What a bummer to miss the first one in our new house.  Hopefully a ticket to second stage will make us feel better.

Pinehurst, NC — I played pretty poorly this week as I really struggled with my ball striking.  I hit some shots that I have not seen in a long time, which put a lot of pressure on my short game and putting.  We played a couple of great golf courses in the Pinehurst area.  One course, Pine Needles, recently hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 2007.  It is a Donald Ross design and featured many of the same challenges as another famous Donald Ross layout, Pinehurst No. 2, which held the U.S. Open in 1999 and 2005 and will again in 2014.  I went over there to check it out and saw the statue of Payne Stewart in the one-footed, fist pumping pose when he made that 15 footer for par on the last hole of the tournament to beat Phil Mickelson by one shot.  That was cool!

As for my game, I am down to the last week of prep before Q school.  I’ll be working hard to sharpen things up and will make a trip to see my coach on the way to the tournament.  This is usually a good tune up for me, physically and mentally.  My swing feels way too complicated at the moment, never a good thing.  I spoke to Chappy and he gave me a couple of things to work on which already helped when I was at the range today.

Here is a photo from number 18 at Mid Pines Lodge and Golf Club.  I love the pine trees!

Midland, TX — Right now I am enjoying the lightning show.  Too bad my flight leaves in 35 minutes.  I’m not sure that will happen, but my fingers are crossed.

Yesterday, I shot three under in the Nationwide qualifier and that was not good enough.  I needed a few more putts to drop.  The good news is that I am showing improvement.  I went to the range after my round and learned a little more about my swing.  I have definitely struggled to get it right in the last month, but like I said, I showed improvement yesterday.  As long as that happens I know I am alright.

Midland, TX — When was the last time you drove a car without power locks or power windows?  Those have become standard features these days, but not for my rental car.  I’m not complaining, I just hope I don’t forget to lock one of the doors allowing some lucky guy to score the clothes that I am supposed to be wearing for the rest of the week.  It has a surprisingly large trunk for a small car and if it wasn’t for the 300 pounds of my baggage and I weighing it down, it would probably get 82 miles per gallon.  When I first sat in the driver’s seat I halfway expected to find a brake pedal on the passenger side as well.  It would be the perfect car for driver’s ed with the speedometer in the middle of the dashboard, three feet to the right of the steering wheel.  It is conveniently placed for the whole world to see.  Slow down Todd, you’re driving too fast!

When was the last time you went to your hotel room, slid in your key and the door didn’t open?  I know, that happens, right?  But, when was the last time that not only did you have the wrong room, but you had the wrong hotel!  It seems a bit far fetched, but it happened to me last night.  Let me explain:  three hotels back into the same alleyway.  I arrived after hours and had to go to one of the other hotels to pickup my room key because the lobby was closed at my hotel.  It was dark and I thought there were only two hotels because two looked alike.  One hotel was smart with 4 digit room numbers, but the other two were very similar.  It was a good thing no one was home!

Goldsboro, NC — At a Tarheel Tour event this week.  I had a great session with Chappy last week and am really looking forward to continuing the work we started.  I played my first practice round today and I’ll get another one tomorrow before the Wednesday start.  Right now I am at the hotel watching a replay of the Irish take on Michigan.  It must have been an instant classic!  Not sure I want to watch the depressing ending, but I will anyway.  I missed the game on Saturday as Abby and I were at this great bluegrass festival in Brevard, NC.  Abby has a cousin in a band called the Steep Canyon Rangers that seems to be really hitting their stride.  They are really sounding good and creating quite a name for themselves, which is exciting to see.  They shared the stage with the legendary David Grisman on Saturday night.  Check out their new album next month.

Los Angeles, CA — On a plane back to the Midwest after a marathon session with Chappy yesterday. I started the week in Salt Lake where I made a very poor attempt at qualifying for the Nationwide event on Tuesday. I caught a 6am flight down to L.A. and went directly to the range to begin working. I was there all day with him working on various aspects of my game. We took a short break for dinner and went back to hit more balls under the lights, ending at 10:15pm. We were the last ones there and they kicked us out to close. It was a long day but very productive as I think I made a lot of progress. That’s a welcome sign for me right now and I look forward to playing some better golf in the upcoming weeks.

Savannah, GA — At the start of the day I had a second round tee time of 1:30pm.  I awoke to a downpour that continued for much of the morning.  There was a delay and I was told that my tee time would now be at 4:50pm.  Aside from putting in the room, that left a lot of time to kill and I had just the solution:  crossword puzzles.  I even completed one, every square!  That is pretty rare for me.

Talmadge Bridge

Savannah, GA — The Talmadge Memorial Bridge over the Savannah River reminded me of the Golden Gate.  The golf course sits below the bridge on an island in the river.  It is a nice course and they are used to having tournament golf with the Champions Tour hosting the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf since 1978!  I was happy to get in this event through the qualifier and as an alternate.  I just missed qualifying but fought for one of the higher alternate spots in a playoff and that proved to be the difference as the next guy behind me did not get in.  I was pretty certain that I would not get to play, but a player withdrew on the morning of the first round because of injury and I was the beneficiary.  I was prepared and had been hanging around warming up when I got the call.  That seems like a nice way to get into the U.S. Open, but not how I imagine getting into a Tarheel event!  Oh well, I do what I can.

I had a bit of a break from tournament golf with our move, but I have been updating my schedule and planning my next steps before Q School.  I intend to stay very busy so that I am in good shape for this all important event.  That means lots of tournament rounds because the competition is a great way to gauge where my game stands.  You can also check the blogroll on the right margin for a link to the Tarheel Tour

Madison, WI — Abby and I are happy to be getting settled in our new home.  It has been a very busy month with preparing for the move and then actually doing it.  And unfortunately, that left golf and my practice on the back burner recently.  After playing well in May and June I struggled a bit in my last couple of events and missed the cut at Long Beach where I previously won.  I finished off my first round with two bad holes and a 75!  I went low the second day for 66, but it was still one shot short of the cutline.   It gave me two extra days to prepare for the move, but I wish I had been playing the weekend.

I just signed up for Q School.  It won’t start until late October, but it is definitely on the radar and I will be preparing for it in the upcoming months.

Santee, CA — I missed the cut by one shot this week and that never sits well with me.  It actually came as a bit of a shock as I was within the cutline when I finished playing, but the afternoon winds never amounted to much and the scores were no higher than the morning.  In the evening I went on the internet to check my tee time for the next day and I was having a hard time finding my name.  Since I did not get to play the final round I used the day to play an early practice round for next week’s Long Beach Open and then visited Chappy for a tune-up.  My backswing was feeling jammed up and I could not get it back on plane.  I was having a hard time figuring it out on my own, but he never fails to cut through my concerns and help me understand the broken part.  I hope I can make some progress this weekend and check in with him on Monday.  I like this tournament and I would love to win it again!

SF, CA — I am back at home for the holiday weekend.  It will be a restful weekend for Abby and me.  At last week’s Golden State tournament I finished in 6th.  I have been struggling a bit with my swing, but I putted well enough to shoot 11 under for the three days and was only 3 shots behind the winner.  I can’t wait to get the feel of my swing back.  I lost it somewhere about 10 days ago.  It is funny how that happens.  Feel comes and goes, but I know I am getting better when I can keep it longer and the low points are not as low as they once were.  That is a sign of good things to come.