Maddog's Blog
Chasing my dreams one shot at a time
Welcome to my long overdue blog update! I left off before the final stage of Q-School, and as most of you probably already know, I was unsuccessful there in my bid to earn an LPGA Tour Card. Despite this disappointment, 2015 was still a successful year in many ways. I was thrilled to earn my first Symetra Tour win and to skip to the final stage of Q-School. I achieved the goal I set last winter to get stronger, gaining both distance off the tee and day-to-day consistency in my swing. I improved across nearly every statistical category. So, despite falling short of the LPGA, I still made considerable progress forward. I’ve been continuing that progress forward with much of the same training plan as the last few years. I spent the winter in Arizona practicing and playing on a daily basis. I have continued to work with my coach Michael Pinkey, strength train, and play competitively as much as possible. I am always striving for more solid strikes and holed putts, but I don’t believe that is where my weakness lies. As I made my way through last season, I had all the physical capabilities. I just didn’t put it all together when I needed to most. To close the gap this year, my focus is on my mental game. Instead of looking back and saying mental mistakes or lack of confidence cost me shots, I want to be able to say that my mental strength and confidence earned me shots. To make sure this happens, I have been implementing mental routines that I find comparable to the physical warm-up I learned at Exos. Just like the way I work through a basic “movement-prep” routine every day to keep my body feeling a certain way, I have been staying disciplined in a mental-prep routine as well. I use meditation and journaling on a regular basis to keep my mind calm and emotions in check, and I visualize tournament rounds before I play them. I have also continued to hone my pre-shot routine, making sure I am fully committed to my shot choice and have a clear visual before pulling the trigger. The final step in turning good mechanics and confidence into great scoring is to work on accuracy from 120 yards and in. I’ve struggled recently to turn that 73 or 74 into a 68 or 69 because although my strikes are solid, my shot choices are off. There is a big difference in scoring over time when averaging ten feet from the hole and never missing a green with wedges versus averaging twenty feet and sometimes having to chip. This is not new information to me by any means, but I have let my focus on it slip this winter. My practice time while at tournament sites this season will be geared towards sharpening distance control and determining how the ball is reacting at different courses. My results so far in 2016 have been spotty at best. I have played four Cactus Tour events around Phoenix, finishing 10th, 2nd, 4th, and 10th. I cashed checks in each one but am disappointed to not have earned a win. I also played LPGA Monday Qualifiers in Phoenix and San Diego (where as many as 84 women competed for two spots), but did not go low either time. The Symetra Tour has had just one event thus far in Beaumont, CA, and I missed the cut there by one measly shot. As I explained above, I believe these lackluster results can be cleaned up with better distance control from inside 120 yards. This is a lot easier to fix than a swing flaw, so I am positive that with the right work, the lower scores aren’t far away. As always... patience, young grasshopper. I am ecstatic that the road to the LPGA actually hits the road this week. The grass has been growing under my feet after spending almost five entire months in one place. Get that browser ready to refresh some leaderboards, because we start with three consecutive events in Florida (Lake Wales, Fort Myers, Sarasota), have a week off, then play four more straight (Greenwood, Charlotte, Atlanta, Boston). I am so ready to get back into competing every weekend, revisiting old host families, and playing with tour friends. Bring on the wrinkled suitcases, delayed flights, and jet lag- it's the gypsy life for me! A few more things of note: -I recently traded my Ping S55 irons and Ping Glide wedges in for PXG irons and wedges. I love the change so far- the PXGs make good shots feel like pure butter, and the fresh wedges were much needed. The transition has been an easy one because the PXGs have a very similar look to the Pings. An adjustment to my lie angles and moving from regular to stiff Aerotech shafts has also been hugely beneficial. I have the same Ping G30 driver and hybrids, but went from regular to stiff shafts there, too, because I am a muscular beast. ;) The ol’ faithful Odyssey Versa putter is staying put. -This season I will be flying and renting cars instead of driving my own car around the country. The geographic flow of the schedule simply made driving too difficult this year. -I have hired a new caddy for the upcoming Florida swing. He is a long time tour caddy and has been working most recently on the Ladies European Tour. I'm looking forward to working with one person on a regular basis again. I’m so grateful to everyone who has made this year of opportunities ahead of me possible. THANK YOU for all of the support and encouragement. I promise I will be giving it my all to make you proud. Here’s to our best year yet!
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The 2015 Symetra Tour season is officially over! Here is my end of the year wrap up- After my last blog, there were four events remaining and I was sitting at approximately 18th on the money list. With the end of the season drawing near and that magic top ten number in my sights, I needed just one great week to earn my LPGA Tour Card. I played very well in the fourth to last event in Garden City, KS in strong winds for a top-5 finish (74-69-70; T-4th). I might not have gotten to contend for a national title while playing at the University of Nebraska, but I swear those four years of learning to play in the wind were worth far more down the road! My head was in a great place, my putter was hot, and I managed my way around the course well on my own. The next week in El Dorado, AR caught me by surprise. The Murphy USA El Doardo Shootout was a new event. I had never been to Arkansas or heard of Mystic Creek Golf Club, and I went into the week assuming it would be like every other small town tournament on the Symetra Tour: a straightforward golf course, mediocre green speeds, shouldn’t be a problem. As they say in the South, “Well, bless your heart,” because I could not have been more wrong. As it turns out, Mystic Creek is like Augusta National’s cousin (albeit a distant one who accepts female golfers). It was an absolutely phenomenal track, but I think I speak for the entire tour when I say we were unprepared for its challenges. The greens were lightening fast and the green complexes so undulated and difficult that relying on the classic “When in doubt, hit to the middle of the green” play could leave you a 40-foot putt that you’d have to start with your back to the hole. Players were putting off the green, chipping two or three times, and withdrawing left and right. If it sounds like a hot mess, that’s because it was. I was again without a caddy, and I desperately missed the help with the hilly terrain, mapping out the course, and a second voice to keep me sane out there. I shot 77-77-77 to finish 60th… so if golf was slots, I would have been really lucky? It was no surprise to me when a player who had spent the full season playing comparable conditions on the LPGA ended up champion and the only person under par for the week. Arkansas marked the end of a five-week stretch on the road, and I flew back to Arizona for the week off. I took a quick break to celebrate my 26th birthday, but then was right back into gearing up for the final two tournaments. The season’s penultimate event, the IOA Classic at Alaqua CC in Longwood, FL, was one of my most memorable weeks of the year. I shot 70 (-1) in round one followed by a career best 63 (-8) in round two! A lot of people have asked what it felt like, and the answer is, honestly, it felt surprisingly natural. I was hitting the ball solid, but not throwing darts at every pin. I was just always in position off of the tee, got the ball somewhere on the green, and then made it rain! I chipped in for eagle, hit a couple shots close for easy birds, made several putts in the 15-20 foot range, and dropped one long bomb from about 45 feet. I hired experienced tour caddy and Florida native Jorge Olguin for the last two tournaments, and his Bermuda green reading expertise gave just the assistance and confidence I needed. It didn’t feel at all like an out of body experience or like the world moved in slow motion… everything in my game just came together at the same time. When visualizing rounds before I play, I see myself making birdie on every hole and imagine in detail how this would feel. I believe this visualization practice helped me remain calm as I got further and further under par. I had one hiccup on my 17th hole when I let my mind wander while cleaning up a 4-footer for par, thereby costing me my only bogey of the day. However, I bounced back with two great shots on the water-lined final hole and walked away with a new personal best and the tournament lead :) Sunday in Longwood was by far my most difficult test of the year. For the first time ever, I was sleeping on a one shot lead, backing up my best round of all time, and a win would just about lock up my LPGA Tour Card. Of course I was going to be nervous, but like I’ve said before, chasing that nervous excitement is my goal. My plan was to stay present over each shot, trust that I was playing well, and play like I had nothing to lose. Long story short…I didn’t do those things. I popped one OB right on my third hole, took a double, and battled just to stay close to par from there in. I never gave up, but I never completely got out of my own way either. The score at the end of the day was 74 (+3) and a T-13th finish. One of my favorite sayings goes, “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” Letting that golden opportunity slip through my fingers was painful, but there was no benefit in wallowing in the disappointment. I didn’t win, so I had to learn. I should have been more specific with my pre-shot routine objectives in order to keep my mind on what I could control. I know now exactly what I would have done differently, and I have since been practicing with these specific objectives in mind so I am ready when the next golden opportunity comes around. The Symetra Tour Championship started four days later just up the road in Daytona Beach. I shot 73-71-67-71 (-6) for a T-14th finish. I was playing good golf, but in order to make the move into the top-10, I needed great golf. I could nitpick about these rounds, but at this point it feels like splitting hairs. I wound up #17 on the final money list; $8,460 short of the top ten. I am really not hanging my head on this final result. I am truly proud of the way I played this year. I earned a victory, had four top-10s, finished in the top-20 38% of the time, and dropped my scoring average by almost a full shot per round. I worked hard and gave my absolute all from the beginning of the season to the very end. I grew immensely as a player and person. The Symetra Tour is fiercely competitive, and there were nine of us tournament winners who didn’t earn our cards. I am ready for the LPGA Tour, I just have to wait until Q-school to get there. …which brings me to what I have been up to lately. By finishing in the top-25 on the money list, I was exempt through Stage II of Q-school for the first time ever! This was a huge relief and accomplishment. I am skipping directly to Stage III of LPGA Qualifying School played December 2-6 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach. There will be approximately 150 players in the field. The top-20 finishers after five rounds will earn full 2016 LPGA status, and finishers 21-45 will earn conditional status. I took ten days away from golf after the Tour Championship and have since gotten back into training. I have complete confidence that I have what it takes to earn my tour card in December, especially after my solid play at LPGA International during the Tour Championship. The only way to get tournament ready is to play tournament golf, so I played the Arizona Women’s Open last week (71-75-74, T-8th), and will play another mini-tour event at LPGA International this week. I am so excited and grateful to have this opportunity ahead! My success and growth this year has so much to do with the support I receive. I can never say thank you enough to the investors of MS, LLC who have believed in me faithfully for the last three years. I was thrilled to welcome Aromaflage and Bette & Court to my team early this year, and they have provided great support. I am continually grateful to Mike Pinkey, Terry Rowles, and Eric Dannenberg for their coaching expertise. Thank you also to every host family, pro-am partner, and friend who offered encouragement along the way. Golf really isn’t the individual sport it appears to be. THANK YOU to each and every one of you! Since I left off last, I have played six more events in five different states and Mexico. It has been a rollercoaster. I missed the cut in Albany, but bounced back with a 5th place finish the very next week in Milwaukee. I was happy with the resilience I showed after struggling so badly with my putter in New York. A lot of time on the practice putting green in Milwaukee coupled with the smooth, lightning fast greens of Brown Deer Park GC worked in my favor. A final round of -1 on a windy day at one of the hardest tracks we played all year earned the much-needed top five finish. After Wisconsin, I had one week off spent relaxing and practicing in Boise. I then flew from Boise to Boston for the W.B. Mason Championship. The week in Boston started off with some tough news- my caddy of the last year and a half, Wayne, could not make it to the event due to issues with his Canadian visa. In fact, he is officially unable to work with me in the United States for the rest of the year. Wayne has been an incredible teammate and has played a key role in my success and development as a player over the last two seasons, so his presence is missed. Packing my own bag, I fired rounds of 71-72-69 (-1) to finish T-23rd in Boston. I played decent, but just never got anything great going in order to move up the leaderboard. I travelled from Boston to Mesa and spent the first half of a two-week break in the Symetra schedule practicing back in the desert. I got in some tough workouts at Exos, worked on my swing with Mike Pinkey, and did a ton of on-course practice at Alta Mesa. Once you adjust to the 100º plus temperatures, it is actually really fun to have a deserted golf course all to yourself. The next stop was Monterrey, Mexico for the inaugural IGPM Golf Classic. This was a non-Symetra Tour, 35-player, invitation only event put on by the group that sponsors the Mexican professional golfers. I cannot speak highly enough of my experience in Monterrey. Our hotel rooms were comped, sightseeing activities were planned for each afternoon, food and service was top notch everywhere we went, and the tournament was run impeccably. We played at the beautiful Club de Golf La Herradura for three rounds; a twisting, turning mountain track with challenging tee shots and elevation changes on almost every shot. I had so much fun conversing in a combination of broken Spanish and charades with my local caddy, Lupe. After opening rounds of 69-72, I was only one shot out of the lead going into the final day. I was surprised by the amount of nerves I felt the morning of the third round. I birdied my first hole, but the tension got to me soon thereafter. On the fifth hole, I missed my first fairway of the week by 30 yards in a hazard and walked away with a triple. I ended up shooting 74 and finishing 5th. As disappointing as that finish was, I am grateful to have had another opportunity to play in contention. Nerves are a funny thing. There is an important distinction between nervous excitement and nervous fear. When I won in Battle Creek, I was feeling nervous excitement. When I lost in Mexico, I felt nervous fear. I was afraid of how I might mess up on the greens that day. They were very slow and bumpy, and I didn’t have confidence in the way I had changed the rhythm of my stroke during the week in order to adjust to the speed. I was more focused on what might go wrong than what I wanted to go right- a poisonous way to think in golf and in life. Back on the Symetra Tour the next week in Sioux Falls, SD, I missed the cut by one shot with scores of 75-71 (+4). The GreatLife Challenge boasted the biggest purse size of the year at $210,000, so this MC stung more than most. I was playing with what I would consider my B game, which is typically sufficient to make the cut, except I started off the tournament by building a snowman (8) on my very first hole. That triple put me in a position where I needed to make a comeback, and I just didn’t have the game to do so that week. The next stop was a few hours southwest in Mayetta, Kansas. I had a fantastic second round of 67….bookended by two 75s for a T-33rd finish. Again, I played a lot of good golf, but a few bad holes dampened the overall result. You might be noticing a theme here. Big numbers. Poor putting. Bad starts. There is no doubt the end of the season has been weighing on me. I have been making every effort to shift my focus to what I can control on a day-to-day, shot-to-shot basis, and I know this has helped me some. However, it just isn’t like me to feel anxious over four-footers and take a triple every week. I want to feel nervous- that means I am pushing my limits and testing myself. I just need to make sure I feel that nervous excitement, not the nervous fear. I have nothing to be afraid of in these final five weeks of the season. For starters, I am only chasing a little white ball around fields in America- quite possibly the safest place to be in a world plagued by terror. I have health, a (different) roof over my head every night, and I work every day at something I truly love. Most importantly, I am surrounded by family and friends who love me for who I am as a person, not who I am as a golfer. That is what matters in life, and no number I shoot can change that. LPGA card or no LPGA card, I have an incredible life full of meaningful relationships. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to every single person who is a part of that. During this next stretch of golf, I will be chasing the nervous excitement and leaving the nervous fear behind. It is a fearless attitude and tireless work ethic that has gotten me this far, and that’s what I plan on using to take me to the next level. No excuses. No self-abuse. Just golfing my ball with everything I’ve got. We play: Garden City, KS this weekend; El Dorado, AR next weekend; skip a week; Longwood, FL; then finish in Daytona Beach. Follow every step at www.SymetraScoring.com. |
Madeleine SheilsAn inside look at my journey in professional golf Have Maddog's Blog delivered directly to your inbox:
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