The beginning of my professional golf career

Hi folks,

First off, this blog is pretty long. It will explain what I'm actually doing and it's in depth. The next ones won't be as long. I'll just let you know how I did and what's going on.

As many of you know, I have officially started my professional golf career, as of Jan. 11. I decided to turn pro and take some time to pursue golf after finishing up at ABAC this past December. This year will be different - traveling all over the place, sleeping in different hotels every night and eating breakfast at every Denny's I can find. It's very stressful now trying to register for tournaments, find a place to stay, all while I'm driving around Orlando trying not to get in a wreck. Thank goodness for the people that invented the In-Car GPS!

I am playing on the Moonlight Golf Tour out of Orlando. They travel all around Orlando, even over to Tampa and a few other places. Most of their tournaments are one-day matches, but they do put on an occasional two-day event. At the end of every month, they have a big tournament that you have to qualify for. The prize money is a lot higher but the competition is at its peak.

My first tournament was in Clermont at Palisades Golf Resort on Sunday (Jan. 11). I went down the day before to find the course and find a place to stay. I pulled up at the course only to be met by Porsche's, Mercedes, BMW's, and Cadillacs in the parking lots. I wasn't at Jefferson Country Club any more. The course was beautiful and in immaculate condition. The Clermont area is extremely hilly for Orlando and the course is just as bad. I had a lot of blind shots of the tee and many approach shots to the green that were 20-30 feet above me.

On the first tee, the tour always records your first shot and posts it on the Web site for you to view later in the evening. So, my first ever professional golf tournament, in a place I've never been, on a course I've never played, you can imagine I was a touch on the nervous side. I blocked it out very well and placed a nice drive on the left side, about 290, off the fairway to start things off. I was 1 under after thirteen holes, but then ran into a little trouble closing out my round. I lost a little concentration and made some mental mistakes and finished up my round at 8 over, 80. Par was 72 which was also the number that won the tournament. I placed 12th out of 35. However, I felt very good about my round and saw the areas that needed improvements and what I needed to focus on during my future practices.

I went up the road to my next destination, which was Windermere Golf Course. I found the course and pulled in behind a Corvette through the gated entrance, only to be greeted by the Estates patrol in a golf cart. He turned his siren on and I pulled over. He said I didn't have the Windermere Estates Decal on my car. I just figured my 2000 Honda Civic with 160,000 miles and a little paint peel on the hood stood out from the $60,000 dollar vehicles lined up in every driveway. I told him I was a professional golfer just checking the course out and he became very apologetic and let me through. After that laugh, I ended up at the Red Roof Inn. I booked a room and, as I was filling out the frequent traveler card, under occupation I put professional golfer. The lady thought that was so neat and upgraded my little single bed and bath to the most expensive suite they had. It had a jacuzzi tub, heated tiles, 38 inch flat screen TV, the works! I thought to myself, I could get use to this! That will probably never happen again, but it was fun for the time being. I told Mom on the phone that night that my head wouldn't fit through the door and you couldn't tell me anything! She just laughed.

After a great nights rest, I went to Denny's to start the morning off right. Then off to Windermere. Having a better grasp on what I needed to do, I made my way to the first tee. I was paired with the person who had won the Windermere tournament the week before and an extremely good golfer from England. We started on the back nine because the front hadn't dried out yet. So, at 8:38 I was called to the tee box. The 10th hole's tee box is place behind a huge pond that takes about a 270 yard drive just to carry. It had waste bunkers on the left and out of bounds to the right. The previous Windermere tournament winner went first and put his drive out of bounds left. Then the golfer from England went next and put his drive in the pond. I couldn't believe it. I calmed down and stepped up to the box. The man recording me said, "Next to tee off, Glen Bishop". I was thinking "great", as if this isn't nerve racking enough. I took a breath and placed a 315 yard drive in perfect condition right down the middle. Here we go again.

On number 12, which was my 3rd hole since we started on the back nine, there was water on the right of the fairway and the left side of the fairway slanted over a little rise that you can't see past. I aimed at the edge of the water and drew my drive away from the pond, it was struck good, but the guy playing with me said to hit a provisional because there was out of bounds on the other side of the rise. So, I hit another one. Just a solid as the first and when I went to go see where they went, they were both out of bounds by about 8 inches. It was just an instance where not knowing the course hurt my score. Now I know not to hit driver on that hole. So, I took the long walk back and hit my fifth shot off the tee. I ended up making an 8 on the par four 12th. It took me a few holes to shake that hole but I did and posted 6 under for the next 10 holes, including a 3 inch tap-in eagle on the par 5, 1st hole. I had made eight "3's" on 9 holes.

I finishes my round at even par, 72, and placed 7th out of 54. I was very pleased with the round especially with the disastrous12th hole. The winner shot 67.

After talking to the man that puts the tournaments on, I decided to go home on a good note and practice on what needed to be fixed. He said if I played all the time, I would burn out on golf and not have the desire to play. He was right, and to be honest, I never imagined being so mentally tired after playing golf. This is a whole new level of competition for me. So, I headed home.

After thinking things through, I've decide to play about 2-3 days a week rather than 5-6 and practicing on the days I'm not competing. The lessons and experience I learned just in the two days I played are going to help me more than I could imagine. I now know what areas I need to practice on rather than just practicing golf. This will also help with the extremely high cost per day. Golf is an expensive sport!

I am very excited about my upcoming tournaments, and my future with this sport. I hope I haven't bored you too much and made you not want to ever read another blog by a Bishop. For you who this may be a first blog by a Bishop, they can tend to be long. I will be posting updates on my progress at least once a week if not more. I will also be building a Web site later on in the season when I start playing in bigger tournaments. Feel free to email or call me anytime.

My next tournament is at Hunters Ridge near Kissimmee. I will be leaving early on Monday, Jan. 19, to play the course and competing on Tuesday, the 20th. Then I will be returning late Tuesday night.

Thanks to everyone for the support!

Thanks to Dixon Hughes for the Prepaid American Express to help with my dinners and many Denny's Breakfasts!

A big thanks to my family for the total cost sponsorship for last week!

Glen Bishop

benjaminglenbishop@gmail.com


"I never exaggerate in golf, I just remember big."

- Chi Chi Rodriguez