No cheap Hotel for me!

This week I didn't have to go very far. We played at Summerbrooke Golf Course in Tallahassee, Florida. We had a fair turnout of about 24 players.

The Nationwide Tour had a tournament in Valdosta Georgia that I was thinking about trying to play in. They hold a Monday qualifier at a different location and this year one of them were at Glen Arven in Thomasville. I ended up not trying for it because I didn't feel as if I was on top of my game. They have about 144 people try for 7 spots. Pretty intense.

I had the honor of playing with 3 Nationwide Tour members during the Sumerbrooke Tourney. They only had partial exemption and were not invited to the Valdosta Tourney, so they played with us. One of them even was kind enough to jump my car off with his after I left my lights on during the first round.

Tuesday was a practice round. I played well but had to somewhat rush through the round because Matt had a baseball game at home.

On Wednesday, my tee time was at 8:38 in the morning. I got there my usual hour ahead of time, warmed up and felt good about the round. I ran into a little trouble off the tee on the first two holes, but recovered very nicely with an eagle on Hole #3. Back at even par, I continued to play well through the front nine. I had two bad tee shots on the back nine, giving me two double bogeys and finished strong to shoot 2-over 74.

The way it broke down at the end of the first round, I was in first place among the Emerald Coast Tour players. However, for the overall tournament field, I was tied for fourth place following Wednesday's round, behind the three Nationwide Tour members.

Instead of going to the banquet that night, I decided to hit about 500 balls and go to bed early.

I had one of the later tee times Thursday morning because of how high I finished on Wednesday. I did my usual routine prior to teeing off and felt good and ready to play. After the first seven holes, I was 1-under and second overall in the tournament. However, I caught a bad case of the snap/pull hooks. (For those who do not know this terminology, it's similar to when a right handed baseball player hits the ball very hard and foul down the third base line.)

That's a problem that's extremely hard to correct during play. Although the cause of it can be multiple things, I determined that my hands were getting too far ahead of my body. From the eighth hole on, I struggled with pulling the ball the rest of the round and for the those who know Summerbrooke, precision is a must. I made some great saves and some tough shots from bad areas, but wasn't able to keep my scores as low as I would've liked.

I ended up finishing the round and coming in 6th place overall, and in 3rd place for the Emerald Coast Tour. This is one of my highest finishes yet, and I am pleased that it has come this soon in my career. However, I am not satisfied with my second round this past week and will continue to work hard to correct it.

As of now, I have no tournament this week, which worked out well because Mr. David and I are holding our charity golf tournament Saturday, May 2. My next competitive tournament will be May 6-8 at the Holiday Golf Club in Panama City. I will also posts how my charity tournament went.

I have found out that leaving comments on the blog is not working so please send your comments to my email address listed below.

Thanks to everyone for the support and for the individual who sent a gift with no name or return address. To whomever you are, thanks.

Thanks to my family for covering the tournament costs last week!

Benjamin "Glen" Bishop
850-508-4536
benjaminglenbishop@gmail.com

Never, Never, Never Quit!
- Winston Churchill