I'm going to fill you in on all that's been happening with my golf career since my last blog. I'm going to try and give you the short version since it has been a while. My last blog was a month ago and I was talking about the 6-12 year old camp I have been helping out with. So far, it has been great.

All the little fellas have been a blast and some of them are actually pretty good. I put a picture of Brandon Hannon on the right. He is one of my kids in the camp. He is about 7 years old and unable to show me his full potential because of a broken collar bone. He can swing but not all the way yet. He's a sport model.

I only have one more Thursday with them, next week. I only hope they have had as much fun as I had with the game of golf.

I have been at full strength for about 4 weeks now and have been practicing pretty hard every day. This past Thursday I left early in morning to make a day of it and headed to Seminole Golf Course in Tallahassee to get warmed up. I still have a prepaid range deal with them so I can hit balls, chip and putt for a discounted rate. So I got good and warm and stretched out after hitting about 120 balls and putting for about 30 minutes. Then I headed south to Wakulla to play Wildwood Golf Course. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they let you play unlimited golf for twenty dollars. Can't beat that. So I played 36 holes.

I haven't played Wildwood since about 9th Grade of high school, so I didn't expect to play the first 18 that good. I ended up shooting 74, +2, which I felt was good, especially with two shanks out of the fairway. Don't ask, it's just a bad shot you'd love to forget...

On the second 18, I played a little less conservative and shot a 68, -4, dropping 6 strokes from earlier. But on both rounds, I had way too many putts. I average 28 putts per round, but today my average was around 31 putts. I don't want to blame the greens, but they were so slow and bumpy. Regardless, I played well and I was happy with that.

As if I hadn't played enough, I headed to St. James Bay in Carrabelle...the course I love to play. I caught the twilight rate and got rolling. I always seem to play well down there. I don't know if the course is better fit for me or what, but I love it. I played very well, shooting a 70, -2. I feel that is better than the 68 I shot earlier simply because the course plays so much tougher. To show how tough the course plays, the record from the back tees, the ones that are the hardest and I play from, is a 68. So after mom let me know she was cooking dinner, I figured it was best to call it a day. 54 holes, -4. That'll do.

Speaking of mom...funny story. Back in high school when I was playing in a district tournament at Wildwood, my Mom was following me. As we were coming up on the 15th hole, there was a 6 foot alligator laying next to the tee box. Mom calmly looked at my group and me and asked "is that an ornament or is that real?" It was real! So I just had to include the picture of the "Danger Stay Out- Snakes and Alligators" sign. Ahh, the wonderful memories you make!

As for my competitive side, I am going to try and play in the Pensacola Open in the middle of August. It's a fairly big three-day tourney, with the first place paying about $6,000. This tournament has been won by Gary Player, Boo Weekley, and some other pretty big names when they were in the stage of golf that I'm in now. I'm pretty excited about this one.

Then I hope to be playing in a two-day event in Panama City at Bay Point in early September.

The exciting news is I have come across the opportunity to possibility receive lessons at Pebble Beach in California. My Uncle and Aunt live close to Pebble Beach and have graciously offered to let me stay with them for the duration of my lessons. I will be paying for the flight through sky miles, so my only real costs are the lessons and the rounds of golf out there. These will be my first lessons ever since I'm self taught in the game of golf. Finding the right person for lessons is a big deal. I'm currently looking at a teacher who is ranked in the top 50 greatest of all time. I'm still doing more research to see if he's the right person for me. At this stage in my life, California is not too far away to learn from the best.

I am trying to raise the funds for this trip by doing some club repair and other odd things to pay for the $225 an hour lessons. The rate is a little steep, but I feel it will be well worth it. If possible, I hope to receive multiple lessons while I'm out there. My goal is to gain some of the best advice and tips available and practice them on some of America's best courses. Then as the Nationwide Tour comes to Miami, Florida, in October, I can be on the top of my game and hopefully qualify on that Monday for the opportunity to play for the $120,000 first prize. I decided to try this event in hopes to do well to carry the excitement through the winter months and be able to play in larger tournaments.

I hope I haven't bored you too much. I will try to post a little more often so they aren't as much to read at once. I really appreciate all the continual support from everyone and hope to make you all proud soon!

Also, I want to give you some more information on Glen's first official sponsor, KP3. As you can see in the picture on the right, they fixed me up with some shirts and had my hat embroidered. But the main thing is that these are the guys who keep me healthy and playing. They are great guys with a great program. I will tell you more in my next blog because I don't want to misquote anything, and I want to make sure I don't leave anything out. They are building a website and I will give you that address soon. I only hope to help them out as much as they have helped me.

Thanks again to everyone!

Let me know what you think!

Be sure to read the quote on the bottom. This one is so true!

Glen Bishop

"The only time my prayers are never answered are when I play golf" - Billy Graham