andrew scott jensen

Well, Q School is finished, and I’m disappointed to have not gotten status back out on tour.  I played well today and shot another 2 under, 70.  This was only good for confidence since my second and third rounds really took me out of the race for a card.

This is not what I had worked toward nor expected.  It’s very humbling to work very hard for months in preparing for these four days and coming up short.  It’s a very different feeling than that of missing out last fall at Q School.  I’m not as defeated, discouraged, or depressed as I was in September, so that is progress in the right direction.

I learned a few important things this week about both my game and myself personally.  I learned that my game is SOOOOO good.  I’m making great strides of improvement with my abilities to play elite golf.  My stats were great this week, all and all my stats were better than all of last year, which is forward progress.  My mental game and my putting was solid, not great but solid enough to compete.

More importantly, I learned what is really holding me back.  When things got rough during the second round I was attacked with thoughts of “you did it again, you always do this, you always screw it up”.  Which looking back, was the thoughts to killed me all of 2008.  I tried to ignore them going into the third round but once the struggles came the same negative talk came.  Bottom line, I have to work hard on my self-belief, self-confidence, and self-talk on the golf course.  Failures happen, they don’t mean I’m a failure, I have to truly believe this if I’m to succeed as a pro golfer.

Today I went out with positive self talk and self belief as the sole objective, and it was a great experience.  I didn’t play perfect golf, I made mistakes, I left a lot out there, but not once did I let the negative talk get into my head and bring me down.  I’m very happy with todays round.

The fact that I succeeded today at a positive self-belief encourages me into knowing that I can get back out on tour.  I don’t really know what the path will look like next…and that’s okay.  Believe me, I’m still going to be working hard on getting better. This tournament just brought another thing to my attention that needs to be improved, so it’s not all lost.

Sometimes we have to take some steps backwards before we can go forward again…and I’m okay with that because at the end of the day, I’ll still be moving in the right direction

I have a long trip back home to Ottawa to think about what’s next.  I’ll write about what my future will hold when I have a better idea.  I do know one thing though, I need to get a regular job as soon as I get home.  Not the dream scenario but all part of the process!

Today was a struggle yet again.  Very disappointing to say the least.

I will more than likely not get my card for 2009.  Only a miracle round of 64 or better with some help from the players inside the number will get me back into the hunt for a conditional card when tomorrow is said and done.  I could do it, I hope to do it, but I’m not holding my breath.

…crazier things have happened…

I’ll write more tomorrow night.

Today didn’t go as hoped.  I struggled today and carded a frustrating 5 over 77.

My day started with hitting my first tee shot out of bounds and making a double.  I was on the uphill climb right away.  I did re-group well and give myself many birdie looks over the ensuing holes, but failed to convert them.  Then came my 8th hole; another ball OB, and a triple.

I was really behind the 8 ball now.

I did all I could to give myself chances at birdies(14 to be exact) but didn’t get any positive momentum going(36 putts).  The two birdies I did make were offset by two bogeys.

I was very upset after my round with the immediate thought that I threw it all away with this score.

Thanks to the long drive home I had lots of time to think and discuss my round and my “demons” with Brian, my caddy.

After some time removed from the immediate frustrations, I’m back in the positive.  I’m sitting 4 strokes out of a conditional card, and 5 strokes out of an exempt card.  This is not too daunting a gap to cover in 36 holes.  The most important thing I’m drawing on is the fact that I’ve done this before.  I’ve played well over the final 36 holes of Q School, which are the most important holes.  There are no guarantees after 2 rounds, all ground is made up or lost over the final two.  I’m hoping to draw on the experience from 2007 Q School to allow me to do it again this year.

I tee it up at 8:40 tomorrow morning with a good buddy, which will be great to push each other to play well.

Well, one round is in the books here at Florida Q School and I’m very pleased with my start to the tourney.  I fired a two under 70 today and sit in a tie for 7th place and 5 back of the lead.

Looking back on the round, I’m very encouraged!  I didn’t have my best stuff out there but managed to get something out of it.  I really struggled off the tee and was band-aiding it the best I could.  Thankfully, I was keeping it between the trees and my irons were finding the greens.  I made some nice putts early that allowed me to trust that the putter could potentially save the ball striking today.

I made the turn even and then proceeded to hook a 5 iron way let and into a hazard on the 11th, which led to a double and put me at 2 over par for the day.  I settled down on 12 and then had a big turn around on 13.  I made a great swing and stiffed it to 4 feet for a birdie 2…

I missed the putt!

As opposed to getting frustrated and thinking that my putter would let me down yet again, I dug deep and focused on giving myself chances for birdies coming home.

I birdied the next 4 holes in a row! I made an 8 footer, 2 footer, another 8 footer and a 15 footer.  The putter was not letting me down like last year.  I made a great up and down on 18 for par and was very pleased with the start to Q School.

Today is very encouraging because my mind and my putter kept me in it, which is exactly what I’ve spent the winter months working on.

Tomorrow we play Silverthorn, not Southern Hills like today.  I really liked Silverthorn when I saw it Sunday, which is always a good feeling.  I hope to carry the momentum from my last 5 holes today into tomorrows round.

Here’s to another solid round tomorrow…

With Q school approaching fast(a mere 8 days away), I am very excited to get at it!  This week was a very productive week of practice.  I accomplished some amazing work in every aspect of my game.  Most importantly, I gained confidence with every area of my game: putting,chipping,swing,pitching,mental.  Increasing my confidence is perfect for what’s in store next week.

Having said that, I’m still nervous/anxious/excited/pumped for Q school.  I understand quite well the impact it will have on my 2009 season, and it’s both intimidating and exhilarating.

It’s intimidating because of the large pressure that can be put into those 4 rounds of golf.  I hope that all of my mental work will down play that pressure and turn into something that will fuel my excitement of succeeding as opposed to my fear of failing.

It’s exhilarating because it’s 4 rounds that dictate the next 9 months of my life!  I love it!  I love that I have the chance to truly shine in those 4 rounds and reap the benefit of another year on the Canadian Tour.

As you can tell, I’m still left trying to process everything that is happening in my head.  I love it!  I love trying to shake off and dismiss the negatives and grab hold and own the positives.  This is a far cry from last fall when I had nothing to fuel positivity heading to Q School, I was just hoping to get lucky.  I can confidently say that this time around, there is going to be very little that is left to chance or luck.

Here’s to another great week of practice!

Here’s a video I made a few weeks back giving you all a tour of my hotel room at my first event of 2009.

check out my tumblr to find out what I have to share that isn’t related to my golf game!!