andrew scott jensen

…it was bound to happen sooner or later.  I’m glad it happened in an open qualifier and not a Can Tour event.  Today was a nightmare.  The only thing I had out there today seemed to be rust.  I shot a less than pleasing 80.

Statistically, I was horrible today.  I hit very few fairways, very few greens, and I had a lot of putts.  It was a rough day to say the least.

All that being said, I tried very hard to take away as many positives as I could.  I hit some very good shots(2 or 3) and I kept myself in it mentally.  Once the round hit the point of no return, I put myself in a mindset that will help out on the Can Tour.  I tried to teach myself that every shot I save when a bad round is happening, is one shot closer I will be to the cut line.

Today could have been an 81 or 82, but it was an 80.  If it were an event with a two round cut, I would be 2 strokes closer to the cut.  This theory would make the second round a little less pressure packed, a 68 might be needed to make the cut, not a 66 or better.

I have to chalk this round up to being rusty.  The drive across the country took a lot out of me.  It made my mind tired and my body stiff.

I still wouldn’t change a thing though.  The drive was amazing.  It was great to get my mind of golf for 5 days.  It was time to recharge before the crazy competitive life begins.

Since my round is not worth talking about.  I compiled a summery of my drive across the country.

Summary:
3000+ miles
From sea level in Bradenton to 8000 ft in Flagstaff back down to sea level in Livermore
nearly 200 gallons of gas
50+ liters of water
10+ liters of Starbucks

Highlights:
An afternoon in Dallas
The giant Starbucks with endless WiFi in Dallas
The drive through New Mexico and Arizona
Listening to Sigur Ros while watching the sun rise over the Grand Canyon
Listening to Switchfoot while hiking into the Grand Canyon
Listening to only Bloc Party while going through Arizona
Being alone
The hills of Navajo, Ca
The Livermore Valley

Lowlights:
Being alone
Las Vegas
The drive from Dallas to Amarillo
Sleeping in my car
The traffic in Dallas and the Hoover Dam
Celebrating my birthday alone in a car on the interstate
The price of gas in California

Here is a recap of my Grand Canyon and Las Vegas experiences:

I got into the canyon Wednesday night and I slept in my truck here and it was very cold.  I then woke up at 5(about an hour from sunrise) and headed out to the best observation point to see the sunrise and it was very cold.  Watching the sun rise over the canyon, and illuminate the canyon inch by inch was phenomenal.

However, it did not compare to my initial viewing of the canyon.  I got to the rim when there was just enough light to vaguely see this wonderful place.  I was overcome with awe and a realization of just how small I am.  Driving up in the night was perfect because I did not see anything that would spoil the chance to see the canyon for the first time at sunrise.

After watching the sun for about 2 hours, I had breakfast and then hiked down into the canyon at around 8:30.  I hiked down close to 2 miles, and every step was incredible.  The way back up was a good challenge.  The first step back up the trail got my heart rate really going, and it stayed high the whole way up.  This was an amazing cardio workout to say the least.

I cut my visit at those two things.  There is so much more to do there and I will wait to do it again with Chelsea.  I plan on going back there very soon, and taking a few days to see much more of the canyon.

Leaving the canyon was the hardest thing about it all.  I just couldn’t turn my back on such beauty.  I reluctantly headed out, not without making one last stop over the rim for some last minute viewing.  As I drove away I truly felt like I was leaving a part of me behind, it was almost saddening to leave.  I can’t explain what happened to me out there, but it was a surreal and very spiritual experience I will never forget and try very hard to relive.

From the Canyon, I headed to Vegas.  Along the way was the Hoover Dam.  From the 4 mile marker to the Dam it took 2 hours!!!  2 hours to drive 4 miles, and I had to pee like a race horse.  It was a less than desirable experience for sure.  Driving right over the Dam was a good conciliation for the traffic.  I saw it from right atop the Dam, right where they shot some of the Transformers movie.

As for Vegas, I was not impressed at all, in fact I really didn’t like being there.  Maybe it was because last minute planning doesn’t work there.  Everything has to be booked in advance.  I spent nearly 3 hours driving around the strip trying to get a hotel room and figure out the complicated driving instructions at each Hotel/Casino.  I was going to stay in Vegas until Saturday, but nothing could have convinced me to stay.

I think the main reason Vegas was so unsettling for me was its stark contrast to the Grand Canyon.
I experienced such raw, natural, unaltered beauty at the canyon.  Vegas was the exact opposite: man made, fake, and ugly.  I went from experiencing something that clicked with the core of my being to something that made me sick to my stomach.

This is a harsh review of Vegas, I understand.  But, I am a person who is awed and moved by the beauty of our environment not by flashing lights and pop culture.

I may go back, I may not.  If I do, I will plan ahead and attempt to see Vegas in a different light.

As for the canyon, I will go back, and back again, and back again until I die.  I just can’t express what being there did for me.  I will try to figure it out and put it down on paper if I find the words.

I find myself in Albuquerque, New Mexico today.

I stayed in a hotel in Amarillo, Texas last night.  Getting to Amarillo from Dallas was a pig.  The drive was long and flat.  The areas I went through did not give me any comfort in maybe stopping for gas or a bathroom.  Thankfully my cars tank

was full and mine was empty.  I did take some good away from that drive.
Texas has the biggest skies I have ever seen.  All it was was sky, nothing else.  Thanks to this, when the sun set and stars came out, I was amazed.  I have never seen so many stars in the sky at once.

I woke up this morning and hit the road for Albuquerque.  It took about 4 hours to get to Albuquerque.  The drive here was great.  It was the first time I saw the Rocky Mountains firsthand.  The desert terrain along the highway was amazing.
In Albuquerque I visited the old town and had lunch at a nice Mexican place.  The best mexican I have eaten so far on this trip.  I challenged myself to see how much mexican one could consume in a trip across the southwestern states of America.  The old town was really cool, very much like an old western movie.

I also went to the Aquarium here in Albuquerque.  It was awesome, I felt like a little kid again.  I took lots of pictures of the different fishes I saw.

I am going to head to Flagstaff, AZ next.  I will then go up to the Grand Canyon right after that.  I plan on getting there tonight and sleeping to see the sunrise over the canyon Thursday morning.  I will spend the day out there and then head over to Vegas.

This is an amazing time of my life, and I am so glad to share it with all who read this.  I catch myself thanking God a hundred times an hour for this blessing.  I get to play golf and travel the world!!  It really is awe inspiring, humbling, and scary all at the same time.

This humility and awe stems from seeing God’s glory firsthand out on the road.  I have seen so many things that words cannot describe how much they move me.  I am experiencing the beauty of creation out here on the road, and it is so cool!

I am also keeping a journal of all my stops in these cities, So if anyone ever comes through here on their time feel free to ask me for the local hot spots.

Until the canyon…

I’m in Dallas today.

My trip across ‘The South’ has brought me to this cool city.  I had lunch at a great sandwich place and rode the trolley around the city.  The trolley coincidentally dropped me off in front of a Starbucks, go figure.

This Starbucks is huge and full of great seating options.  I am now in my second location in the store.  Keeping it interesting.  The wireless options are endless here.  23!! There is 23+ networks to get a signal from.

Thanks to the borrowed signal, I am taking care of some housekeeping with emails, planning, booking, etc…  Going 3 days without internet was killer.  I think I have a minor problem.

I chartered the rest of my driving.  I also booked a night in Vegas.  I will get into Vegas on Friday(my birthday) and then leave for Livermore Saturday.  I am planning to do the Grand Canyon on Thursday now.  It makes more sense time wise.

I might check out an NBA game tonight.  I’m not a fan, but it could be a cool experience.

My next pit stop will be Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Until then…

*Please Note* This blog was written Monday March 24th.

I’m given you the heads up of the day I wrote this because I don’t know when I will have internet access to post it.

I am in Lafayette, Louisiana.  I got in yesterday afternoon, and will be leaving tomorrow morning.  I’m here playing in a Monday Qualifier for the Nationwide Tour.

I did not qualify.  I shot and even par 72 and missed by 4 strokes.  I played well but never got anything going to get me sub 70.  5 birdies were offset by 5 bogeys.

The bogeys were all sloppy ones.  My focus slipped and a bogies bit me.  Bogies happen, but a real shortcoming of the round was my play on the par 5’s.  I had irons into all 4 of them and only managed to birdie 1 of them.  Those 3 iron shots could have been enough for me to get into the tournament this week.

All that being said, I am happy with my play.  I feel that my game and head has come along lots from the qualifiers played last month in Florida.

While here, I had lunch with Brad Fritsch and he gave me a lot of inside information and pointers for my year.  It was really great to see him and spend some time with him.  Brad was 68 today, birding the last 3 to get to that number.  Good playing.

I had a great moment today where I realized how lucky I am to be a professional golfer.  This amazing game of golf has allowed two boys from small town Manotick, Ontario to be eating lunch in the deep south of Louisiana.  How cool is that!

This game is so cool, I love it.

Next up is a Monday qualifier for the Nationwide Tour in Livermore, California next week.

With that being said, I have just under a week to get there.  I will take my time and take in the sights along the way.  The main attractions will be Dallas, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.

With my birthday coming up on Friday, it will be a great gift to spend the day in the Grand Canyon.
Vegas will be fun to see.  I promise to make it brief, just enough time to play a few hands of hold’em.  When in Rome!

For those of you keeping track, my job has now brought me through Alabama, Mississippi, and now Louisiana, states I would never have seen if not for this great game.

The next leg will cover: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and finally California.

Until my next pit stop…

My time in Florida has come to an end.  I leave tomorrow for Louisiana, the next leg of my trip around North America.  I am taking today off to spend time with my Dad and The Meloche’s(my adopted family for the past two months).  Tomorrow will be a brief practice session in the morning, then packing, then hitting the road.

I am now reflecting over the time spent down here.  Looking back and evaluating whether or not I achieved the immediate goals set for this “off season” training.

These goals were far more than just golf related goals.  I had goals for my fitness, my nutrition, my mindset, my blogging, and mainly my ability to cope with being away from my friends and family.

I have made great strides in preparing myself for this seasons competition.

My game is the best it has ever been.  I have improved a great deal with the things I was focused on improving.  Most importantly, I trust it out on the course.  My confidence is at an all time high because of this.

My fitness has come along amazingly.  The loneliness allowed me to spend more time in the gym, and also let out some of the frustrations that have come with being lonely.  Because of that, I am in the best shape I have ever been, and it can only get better.

My nutrition is maintaining the same high level as was when I left.  This is a hard thing to do when I don’t always have the luxury of the right foods all the time.  I quickly learned how to make the right choices.  This is a good start to the hotel life to follow for the coming months.

My mindset is also very good.  I feel like I belong on this career path.  I am confident it will be a successful time on tour this year.  Ultimately, not once have I doubted why I am doing this.

My blogging has been the best release for me.  It has formed into something so much more than I had imagined.  I understand how important it is to communicate and communicate honestly with all of my fans and supporters.  I am so proud of this thing and hope to maintain it for as long as I am playing professional golf.

Coping with being away from my loved ones is difficult.  It has been hard this whole time.  If that is any indication, it will be hard the whole time.  The relationships I have mean more than anything to me.  It is so hard to stretch them out to long distance.  I don’t think it will ever get easy for me.

For example: I am missing out on Chelsea(my amazing girlfriend) growing and maturing into an amazing woman.  I just get it second hand through the computer and telephone.  It is not the same as seeing it in person.

I am missing out on Andrew(my best friend) and his planting of his first church.  It is something I wish I could be around to help him with.  But now it is left to phone conversations to help him out when it gets stressful.

I am missing out on everything that my family is doing.  That’s very hard.

I am missing out on everything that is happening with my second family(the people at Boston Pizza Orleans).  I don’t get to share in all the fun and success that the restaurant has.  I will only get a taste of it for a few weeks when I am back in town, and get a few shifts(right Bob?).

I could go on and on, but I think this is enough evidence on how much people mean to me and how hard it is to be away from so many of them.

All and all, these two months have been amazing.  I am so grateful for this opportunity.  There are so many people making this possible and I am forever indebted to them.

This will be an amazing year, and it’s humbling to know that so many people are going to share in it with me.

Here is a taste of the progress made with my conditioning since I started working with EFL

December 1st
Weight: 206 lbs
Body Fat: 22%

Today
Weight: 195 lbs
Body Fat: 11%

On top of those figures; my strength, flexibility, and stamina have drastically improved.  I also feel the best I ever have.  I feel like I actually am becoming a true athlete.

I have made great strides towards getting my body into peak physical form.  Getting to that peak state will allow me to better reach my peak performance on the course and better reach the long term goals I have for my career.

All that being said, I have this guy to thank for all this great progress.

As you have probably noticed, I have been absent from the blog world lately.

Here is a brief rundown of the past week and a half that I have left you in the dark about.
-play golf
-taking 2 days off with a day in Orlando to unwind
-play golf for 3 days
-get burnt from 2 months of work and take 2 days to shut down and do nothing
-Dad gets in town and the marathon of golf begins

This brings us to the weekend.

Yesterday I was at Bay Hill and it was an amazing time spent with my Dad.  Above all, I went there to observe, learn, and compare.  After leaving the tournament I was very inspired and motivated about my own golf game.

The greatest difference I noticed about my game and theirs was the focus and consistency.  My focus wains and the result of that is my consistency suffers.  My ball striking seemed to be close to that level, so that was very encouraging.

I watched Trevor Immelman a lot yesterday, I love his golf swing.  He played poorly but was a pleasure to watch.  After his round he hit the range and worked on a few things and it was great to observe the work he was putting in.  I am the most motivated I have ever been to get to that level.  It means a lot to me to see that I’m not too far off, and I am confident that hard work and experience will only get me closer to playing at Bay Hill eventually.

I took this motivation onto the course today, and had a solid round, I putted the best I have this year and hit it well off the tee, I just struggled a little with honing in the irons.

This week will be a busy week.  I have games planned everyday.  I will have to try very hard to fit in some range time between the rounds and time spent with my Dad and all the people down here form Ottawa.

On top of all the golf to be played, I also have to tie everything up down here and get ready to hit the road Saturday night for Louisiana.  I am so excited for it all to begin, and hope that all the golf I play this week will be a good confidence boost before my departure.

Here’s to an exciting final week in Florida…

Today brought some bad news my way.  Due to scheduling conflicts, I will not be able to attempt qualifying for the US Open this year.  I was reluctant to accept this, but it would cost too much time and money to make an effort to qualify.  I guess there is always next year.

I find myself in another Starbucks in my town.  This is my number 2 on the rotation of the bucks’.  This one is much much smaller but I pick up a free wireless signal so I can get online in this Starbucks.  They also make better drinks here, so if they keep up this work they will gain my number 1 spot of area Starbucks’

With all that aside, reality is fast approaching yours truly.  Yesterday was a day where reality hit me hard.  I booked my hotels for my first 3 events, and I booked my airfare to get to Mexico for my next 2 events.  It is very hard to believe that my touring career will officially start very very soon.

I have found motel 6’s in every town I am headed, and all within 10 minutes from the golf courses I will be playing.  I think my year alone will keep motel 6 in business.  Apart from Mexico I can see myself staying in a motel 6 at every stop along the way.  For around 50 dollars a night, I can’t go wrong.  Hotels to me are beds and thats it. I will spend all my time out of my room, so all I want is a bed.  My time in Mexico will be resort living since the arrangement with the Tour is at resorts.  I will soak up that experience but never get too posh for my motel 6.

I booked my flight from Vancouver to Cancun in May.  The Tour schedule was changed a little bit so it makes the most sense for me to drive up to Vancouver and leave my car at my girlfriend’s house as opposed to San Francisco Int’l Aiport.  The schedule change also gives my a week off relax and tune up for the next leg.

As you can tell I am booking early.  I can’t stand last minute arrangements, I need to know the itinerary weeks in advance.  I think this trait will help me in the long run when it comes to traveling to play golf.

I guess this means I am growing up.  Weird.

Here’s to being prepared well in advance…