andrew scott jensen

Well, another tournament is under my belt and unfortunately another missed cut is under my belt as well.  I shot 74-72 this week and missed the cut by a lot.

There is nothing nice about missing cuts.  It has nothing to do with making a pay check or not, It’s all about competing.  I am out here to compete and give it my all for 4 rounds, and having it cut short at 2 is very hard to take.

This week was much better than my scores entailed.  I hit the ball very well, my driving was suspect but my iron play; more specifically, my wedge play was great.  My putter really let me down this week.  I never got a feel for the grass and struggled finding good lines on almost every hole.  I stroked it well, my ball was hitting every part of the cup except the bottom.  It was the most frustrating experience on the greens I can recall.

It’s too bad, really.  I went into this week with high hopes.  I worked very hard on my iron play on my time off between Modesto and Stockton and it really paid off.  Unfortunately, my tee ball got a little squirrelly.

This course was there for the taking.  6700 yards: driver on every hole, 5 reachable par 5’s, and 5 par 3’s all under 170 yards.  It was a pitch and putt.  The only defense the course had was it’s rough.  If you hit it in the rough you had to scramble for par.  Statistically, I hit half the fairways(ouch), I hit 12 greens each round and couldn’t manage to get sub 30 putts either round.

The up side of these two weeks is a reflection of the state of my game.  Even though I did not make a cut and left a lot out on the course each round, my scoring average is 73.5.  That won’t pay the bills I know, but it is a great improvement from my competitive scoring average from years past.  That is all I am trying to do, get better every year.  If I can work on this and lower this average as the season progresses, it will be a fun summer.

I fly out of San Francisco tomorrow morning for 3 weeks off before my Mexico swing.  I am planning to put in lots of work for these 3 weeks.  I will be in Vancouver the entire time, so I will be at Eaglequest(the facility that has given me access) everyday.  I will also put in lots of time in the gym.  I am going to work so hard.  I want to compete, and just 2 rounds is not doing it for me.

It’s Thursday morning and I am passing the time before my 1:25 tee time today.

I feel really good going into this event.  One week of experience under my belt has done a great deal for my head.  My mind has calmed down a great deal from last week and I am better adapting to the changes from amateur to professional golf.

I really like the course this week.  The shape of the holes really fit my eye, so I hope to translate that into low scores.  It’s a course where people will go low.  It’s a great driving course, and if you stay out of the gnarly rough you will have a wedge in your hand on almost every par 4.  There are 5 pars 5’s and each one is reachable, if your drive finds the fairway.  The greens will be the hardest test, the poa grass is so inconsistent that you really have to be patient with all the bounces.  If the wind doesn’t blow too hard, a score close to 20 under will win.  I certainly have a good challenge in front of me if I want to compete this week

What I am looking forward to is the test for precise iron play.  This is what was lacking last week, and I have done lots of work to hit it closer with the short irons.  This part of the game will be make or break on whether or not I am in the hunt this week.  It’s much harder to compete when you have 20-25 feet for birdie instead of 10-12 feet.

There’s my prediction for the week.  If I can keep the irons under control, I think it will be a good week.

Today will be my day to see if I am up to the challenge.  It’s nice knowing that there is one part of the game that is the make or break, not a few things.  I will play todays round very aggressively.  There is no sense trying to just get by on trying to make the cut, I have to try to go low and get as close to the top of the leader-board as possible.  We will be cutting 100 people after 2 rounds, so I must be aggressive to play this weekend.

As I write this, my confidence is increasing.  It’s doing a lot for me; writing out my expectations for the round.  Seeing them in front of my face is much different from having them in my head.  I have inadvertently written out my playing focus.  This is something from the Vision 54 school.  I must have a playing focus for each round, and then work backwards on how to accomplish it.  My playing focus for today is precise iron play.  This is what I will focus my energy on out there today.  Wow, this blog really does help, haha!

I play at 8:50 tomorrow morning, so I might squeeze in some time before the round to write something about todays round and then figure out tomorrow’s playing focus.

Check out my round as it happens here.

Now that I have had some time to reflect on my first tournament out on the Tour, here are some of things that I experienced and learned from the Spring International.

ATMOSPHERE
The atmosphere at this event was great, much like the atmosphere of a PGA Tour event.  We were treated like Kings.  This was hard for me at first because I don’t really think that I’m such a big deal.  The difference from this to amateur tournaments was so big, I loved it.  It took me some time to adjust to it, but as of right now I really feel that the atmosphere and treatment is something I now embrace and am not overwhelmed by.

THOUGHTS
My thoughts for the first 9 holes on Thursday were awful.  I took myself far too seriously and tried to think and act in a way that was the opposite of my personality.  This over seriousness was me trying to be a “pro golfer”, not Andrew playing golf professionally. Once this foreign personality crept in, foreign thoughts followed.  The main thoughts that got into my head were thoughts of the cut.  6 holes into the tournament I was thinking about the cut!  I was 3 over through 6 and started wondering what the cut would be and  started fearing that I would miss it.  As you can guess, I went on to bogey the next 2 holes because I was focusing my thoughts on the wrong thing.  On the 9th tee I snapped out of it and returned to being myself.  I still made mistakes, but at least I was myself and not trying to be someone else.

From that experience I had a goal for the second round: by myself and focus on the shot at hand and nothing else.  I figured I needed a 67 to make the cut, but never gave up when I felt it might be out of reach.  I kept my head much like I did at Q School and broke par for the first time as a Pro.  If I can continue working on this, great things will happen with my game.

EARLY WEEK ROUTINE
For me to perform well week in and week out, I will need to find a strong routine for the Monday-Wednesday part of the week.  Those 3 days are the days where my goal is to be 100% prepared and 100% confident for the tournament rounds.  About 3 years ago, I saved an article that Aaron Baddeley wrote for the Golf Channel.com.  I saved it because I new it would be important in my future.  In the article Badds describes what his Tuesday’s are like on tour.  I will do my best to copy that Tuesday routine.  From that I will be able to create routines for Monday and Wednesday.

TOURNAMENT ROUND ROUTINE
I will need to develop a routine during the rounds of the tournament, a routine that will allow me to maintain, or improve certain things about my game.  I will need to really figure out the right amount of practice needed after each round.  I will also need to figure out what exercise routines will fit best during the tournament rounds.  Unfortunately, I could only figure out half of this puzzle since I only played 2 rounds, haha!  I plan for next week being a time for me to figure out what to do during the 4 tournament rounds.

PROCESS
This tour, much like any tour is a process.  Each round builds into the next.  There is no time to get caught up on the last round you played, you must always focus on the next.  Doing this will help me improve as the year goes on.  If I can build on Friday’s round; even though I missed the cut, next week can be a great event.  This is a year long tour and even if I missed this cut, there is lots of time to improve and begin to climb the leader boards.

I BELONG
Ultimately, I feel like I belong out here.  I don’t feel like I’m in over my head or that I really can’t compete.  I feel that my game, body, and mind are very strong, if not the strongest out here.  I just need to tap into more of my potential.  Feeling like I “fit” out here will make it a lot easier to see and find my unused potential.  If I felt like I really was in over my head, it would be hard to believe that I have potential to compete, which would make it next to impossible to tap into any kind of unused potential.

On a side note, yesterday I went to the Monterey Peninsula and played golf at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club.  It was spectacular.  The best part was driving along the 17 mile drive and seeing every course out there.

Having said that, I saw Pebble Beach!  It was something that blew me away.  When we turned a corner and I saw the length of 18 from the other side of the Bay, I yelped like a little girl.  Someplace that seemed so distant and unreachable for a kid from Ottawa was right in front of me.  It was beautiful.  I went into the Lodge and saw the 18th green and also saw a few holes on both nines.  Now, I can’t wait to actually set foot on the course and tee it up.  At least the initial shock and jitters will be come since I have already been there.

That moment was something that made me realize how truly blessed I am to be doing this.  My perspective was rocked yet again for the 100th+ time in the past few weeks.  I get to travel the world, play the game Ilove and see some of the most historic places out there.  How cool is that?

Ultimately, this opportunity is because of all of the people that help me out.  Thank you so much!  Thank you to all my financial supporters, emotional supporters, and all the people that are doing something to allow me this opportunity.  You are all a blessing and I will never forget all that you are doing.  I can’t wait to come back to Ottawa and see so many of you.  I come back May 9th for 4 days, it will be so great.

Off to watch Immelman win The Masters(I Hope)…

Yeah, I missed the cut this week.

I went out yesterday and mainly focused on changing the way I was thinking out there.  It went a little better.

I shot 71, my first sub par round as a pro.  I have lots of positives to take away from that round.  I also have some things to work on from that round to get it lower, mainly getting my iron play honed in a little tighter to the flag.

My consolation is getting to go to the Monterey peninsula and play at the Monterey country club.  Why, you ask?  Well the family I am housing with in Modesto are members there too, so we will make the drive and play the beautiful course.  I’m so excited to see the 17mile drive of the peninsula, and seeing Pebble Beach will be amazing.

When I get back, I’ll post some more of my thoughts and lessons learned from my first event out on Tour.

So many rookie mistakes made today.

77, with all those mistakes made on the front nine.  By the back nine I settled down and at least played something that resembled golf.

I need at least a 67 to make the cut tomorrow, here’s hoping…

It’s the eve of my first round on the Canadian Tour and I am very nervous.

First things first: I go into Modesto safely on Monday night, and arrived at the amazing house of the great people I am staying with for the week.  Private housing is a true blessing.  I am so grateful for their hospitality and understanding that this is a million times greater than a hotel room all alone.

I woke up from a great sleep Tuesday morning and tackled my first tournament week out here on the Canadian Tour.

What has taken place from Tuesday morning until now is the cause for the many nerves that are trying to take me down.  I’ve played 27 holes of practice, getting used to the course, and I have spent a good bit of time on the range and I am really struggling to get anything that resembles a golf game together.

This is forcing me to want to spend this entire afternoon working on things and trying to get it all figured out. Herein lies the problem, force and want.  I am forcing things out there too much, and I am wanting them to get right so badly, instead of trusting the months of preparation for this day.  In all reality, I am thinking too much, and I am trying to ignore rather than embrace my nerves.

I am really trying to change my thought process and accept and embrace the nerves I’m feeling.  I’m so damn nervous, it’s crazy.  The atmosphere at the tournament course is like nothing I have ever experienced in my golfing career.  It is so professional, it’s really a completely new world for me.  This atmosphere is the main cause for my nerves, and those nerves are affecting my golf game for the time being.

My nerves are coming from the fact that I am really out here!  No more wishing, hoping, dreaming.  This is it.  Trying to deal with these nerves will be a challenge, but once they are overcome it will be great for my game.

Thankfully, I ran into a player I played amateur and university golf against, so I have tagged along with him to make this experience less difficult.  Through him, I have met and played all of my practice round golf with Craig Matthew.  This is a great pair of guys to follow around; and believe me, I am bothering them with a thousand questions.

As I said earlier, my nerves are making my golf game crumble.  Nerves cause thoughts, too many thoughts.  Thoughts are the first killer of the game.  All these thoughts are trying to shake the confidence I have built up since January.  I am hitting weak shots to the right, when my usual shot is a strong, slight draw.  This is doing a number on my mind.

I am trying so hard to acknowledge that the main cause is my nerves, and understand that it will pass, and things will get better as I better deal with them.

Typically, Wednesday is a day to get some work done in the morning and then relax for the rest of the day until your tee time on Thursday.  That is what I’m trying to do right now, RELAX.  It is very hard because my mind is moving so fast.  I am trying to relax, put it all in perspective and truly embrace the nerves I have.

Hopefully, the rest of this afternoon will allow me to calm down and be in a better state for tomorrow morning.

I tee off at 8:25 pacific time.  I’m so excited for tomorrow, I feel that I will get over the nerves; much like I did at Q School, and I will have a great week.

I play at 1:25 on friday, so a 36 hole report on the blog might be overlooked that evening.

Off to the couch and the endless Master’s programming on the Golf Channel.

I Find myself in the Phoenix International Airport this afternoon, waiting on my connecting flight to San Francisco.

You might be wondering what has happened to get me here, and why am I flying?

Well the past week was a very welcome rest that came my way.

After firing my sizzling 80 in Livermore, I was very burnt out from the non stop golf since January, and especially tired from the cross country drive I had just finished.

I was left with an option: stay in a hotel all week in California and basically waste time and money until today, or get in the car and drive up to Vancouver and surprise my girlfriend on her birthday with a visit.

I think it’s obvious what choice won out.

I hoped in my car first thing Tuesday morning and drove due north, only stopping for gas, nothing else.  Needless to say I was very determined to see Chelsea.

I got into Surrey at 7 that night.  5AM to 7PM straight driving, it was a very focused drive.  The mountains of Northern California were the best things I saw across the entire country.  Mount Shasta National Park was absolutely stunning in its beauty and size.

I arrived to very welcome arms.  I spent those 5 days purely relaxing and really getting prepared for these next 2 weeks in competition.  I found a great practice facility that accommodated to me and will continue to every time I am in Surrey.

*Surrey will be my second Canadian home base*

So even with the break, I got in some great practice sessions, working out the rust from all the driving.  I also experienced the great relief and security of un-packing the truck and knowing that I won’t have to load it up until early June.

For the next month and a half I will live the jet-set life, flying all across North America.  With breaks every couple of weeks out in Vancouver.  After all the driving I have done, a stress free flight is a very welcome change.

The break wasn’t all apple pie and ice cream.  I experienced some minor anxiety attacks when it cam to travel arrangements for the next few months.

I was very stressed over all the details of booking flights and renting cars.  I stresses me out because I am very worried about exhausting all of my funding too early in the season.  Even though my team has assured me to only worry about the golf, it is hard to take my mind off the financial.

I have to come to terms with the idea that even if it costs a few more bucks, it is more beneficial to be rested and fully prepared for an event.  Sure, it could have saved money  to drive back down to the States, but I would have been tired and not fully ready to perform at my peak performance.

That’s what it is all about, making peak performance the most likely thing.  I just have wrap my mind around peak performance not having a price tag associated with it.

I’ll keep you posted on how the event goes, but you can also check it out on the Canadian Tour website here.

Check out my website HERE I changed the look of the entire thing.

I also added pictures and a video from my trip across the Southwest.