10th Excerpt From My Original Golf Diary-Part 2: Weighty, Dream Stuff

Written on 12-9-02.

Hello again!  No birdies to write about.  I played terribly.  Eric beat me easily.  I would like to say that I am not good sometimes.  I don’t play up to my ability sometimes.  Okay, I stink sometimes!  

        I shot a 53 to Eric’s 45!  I know that I can play better than that.  I didn’t enjoy the round at all.  Nothing seemed to work.  I’ve read that you’ve got to love golf even when it’s “bad”, but I truly hated it that day even though I did try to play the “glad game”.  

        I was thinking to myself, “What can I get out of this round?”

        I couldn’t think of anything.  My answer now is that I needed to play that badly in order to be able to say later that I used to play that badly.  It’s not much of an answer, but it was the best I could come up with.  I did catch myself getting upset after missed putts, so I reminded myself to finish my routine by accepting the results, but that was hard to do.  I made some really bonehead putts that were either too short or too long.  They were difficult to accept.

        I just finished an aerobic workout.  I watched taped footage of Tiger winning last year’s William’s World Challenge while I ran.  He made ten birdies to catch Vijay Singh.  If he can do it, I can do it!  Heck, if all of those guys on the tour can do it, why can’t I?  Every time I watch a golfer on video I pretend I am that person.  I might not look like him, but I pretend.  If they are short and stocky, but their hair is like mine, I look only at their hair and think, “That’s me!”  If they are tall like me, but have different hair, I look at their height, not their hair, and I think, “That’s me!”

        I thought of another goal I would like to attain.  I want to be the first non-pro to go pro on the Senior Tour and make more money than any other “regular” pro has ever made on the Senior PGA Tour.  Then I want to give most of that money away to charity.

        I want to be an inspiration to all thirty-somethings who think they have a shot at playing on the Senior Tour.  I want to inspire guys just like me who may not make it on the regular tour, because they are too old, or they haven’t played since they were four, or they didn’t play in high school and then college, and they want to play and do well on the Senior Tour.