Well, some of you may have noticed my little blurb on the main clubhouse page, that I am attempting to qualify for the Byron Nelson again this year. I thought it would be helpful for me to have a sounding board on which I can talk about what I'm doing to prepare for it in the midst of everything else. It will also be nice to hear input from others! You know, just trying to hold myself accountable.
Now, obviously since I'm not a PGA Tour player or hold any other exemptions, I have to go through the pre-qualifying process as well as Monday qualifying should I make it through the pre-qualifier. Last year, I shot a 78 in the pre-qual and missed going to Monday by about 4 shots if I remember correctly. I played a couple of holes badly, and there ya go. But the game is there. Just have to get it back up to a high level, which is what this month (and this thread) is all about.
I plan to amp up my practice schedule as much as I can leading up to the tourney. But I'm staying away from video analysis or anything like that. At this stage in the game, I need to concern myself less about the look of my swing and more on the feel and automation of my action through lots of range reps and course time.
My practice session today went very well. I worked on my right shoulder movement on the downswing, and head position. My right shoulder has a tendency to fly out if I don't watch it, which changes my spine angle and leads to iffy contact. So I work on rotating that right shoulder down rather than around. That, coupled with a steady head behind the ball, keeps my spine angle more constant and allows me to hit the ball more solidly and consistently. The strikes were solid throughout the bag. The focus now will be to automate that motion.
I'm going to also start seriously working on my chipping and pitching. It's an area of the game which I don't practice enough. I have good technique, I hit shots crisply and I can hit a variety of shots, but my touch is not there. Back when I played a lot, the touch was a given. But now, I need to do some serious work to get it back.
As far as putting is concerned, I basically need to improve my green reading. I switched to the left-hand-low grip last year and ever since then I've been able to roll the ball very well on the line I choose...I rarely push or pull putts...but the problem is I just can't quite get the right lines in my head to get the putts to fall. I burn a lot of edges! Again, like just about everything else, I think this will be fixed by just getting out there and reading a lot of putts.
The courses for the pre-qualifying are Lantana (
www.lantanagolf.com/golfcourse.php) and Castle Hills (
www.thelakesatcastlehills.com/home). The field will be split at random between the two courses...not sure which one I will be on. Both are very nice, and very tough, courses in the D/FW area.
So there we go, that's what's on the table for now. If you have anything to share regarding tournament prep, please don't hesitate. I will keep you all regularly updated on my progress. Maybe some of you who have thought about doing something like this will be encouraged to take the plunge!
And here's a link to the tournament results:
ntpga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/ntpga12/even...&start=0&l=* 
