See It, Feel It, Trust It, DEAL WITH IT

In my last post, I talked abut the golf movie Seven Days in Utopia and the message I got out of it. For golf, it was SFT (See, Feel, Trust). It was seeing your shot, feeling the shot in your hands, and then trusting your shot and hitting it with conviction. My old junior college coach likes to add one more thing to it: deal with it. It's accepting the outcome of your shot, regardless. It was about remaining calm in both the good and bad. For life, it was about a relationship with Jesus and knowing that golf is merely a game.
For my first competitive round in 5 months, I didn't know what to expect. Then a text came from my dad just prior to my tee time. It said: S F T. I applied the S F T D to my game.

I won my Houston City Am qualifier with a 69.

I won it by chipping in from 30 yards on the final green. I won it by making 7 birdies on the round. I made it by making putts 20-30 feet...something that rarely happens. I won it by trusting my game. I won it because Jesus gave me a sense of calmness I haven't felt on the course in a long time.

After I chipped in on the last hole, I put my sunglasses on and gave thanks to Jesus while my playing partners finished out the hole.

You can check out my scorecard and results here

It has been a long time since I won a tournament/qualifier on an individual basis. Hopefully this great playing translates over to the Houston City Am Oct. 7-9.


Numerical Summary for the Round of 69:

7 - number of birdies and pars on the day. Like I said: roller coaster.

0 - number times I was concerned about time, checking my phone concerned about the outside world, worried about the pace of play. When you are calm and in a zone, nothing really matters.

10 - minutes spent on my warm up before the round. I hit some perfect iron shots on the range, made a handful of putts and hit 2 great chip shots. My warm up was a stark contrast to the normal 45 minute warm up I normally prepare for.

Seven Days In Utopia

If you have any free time in the next few weeks and love the game of golf, go check out Seven Days in Utopia. Last night I walked over to the movie theater (weather in Houston cooled to a nice 93*) and watched one of the best golf/life books I have read in a long time. Most golf books are either working on your physical or mental aspects of the game but this book/movie shows the true importance in life: a relationship with Jesus.

It's not a movie that will break box office records or something that will be award winning, but the message is timeless and puts life into perspective. I am not much of a movie-goer but this was too good to pass up.



Numerical Summary for the Labor Day Weekend:

4 - hours watching the Baylor/TCU game. If you didn't watch the game, you missed an Instant Classic. And you're crazy to think that I wasn't at the game. Sic Em.

1 - number of comments hurled from me to folks wearing purple after the game. Why do I mention this? Because the only time I opened my mouth, someone behind me asked if I was trying to start a fight. Who was it? The youth pastor at the baptist church near my parents house that I have visited before. Tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor.

6:45 - AM tee time the morning following the Baylor game. I got 4 hours of sleep and then was on the golf course for 4 hours. If only life was that generous to give me equal parts sleep and golf.