2010 Canadian Tour Q-School

"It would make a great story," said Cindy Cote, Canadian PGA Tour official.

She handed me a rules sheet for the week and I nodded. "Yes it will," I said. I smiled and headed off to walk the front nine of the second qualifying course for the Canadian PGA Tour. The day's light was fading, but I was determined to use every last bit of it.

About 24 hours earlier I was in New Orleans and by chance, had received word that Canadian Tour Q-School had a player withdraw. The tournament was a day and a half away. Surely I couldn't make it to Tampa, play two practice rounds and be prepared for four grueling rounds of competition in one day!

Without a moment's hesitation, and with the support of my golf coach and family, I drove down I-10 with the Allman Brothers' "Jessica" blaring. 10 hours later, I slept at a rest stop in Florida and by late morning, arrived at Hernando Oaks GC in Brooksville, FL. I was to play a practice round at Hernando Oaks and walk a few holes on Southern Hills Plantation CC, the second tournament site.

The impulsive decision to capitalize on this opportunity led to status on the Canadian PGA Tour for the 2010 season. After days of miserable weather and numerous delays, the event was shortened to a 36 hole competition. I posted rounds of 74-69 for -1, 11th place finish. The top 16 finishers were awarded the opportunity to compete on the Canadian tour this year.

Sometimes in life, but almost always in golf, acting on your first instinct pays off. These bets always make a great story.

Kuala Lumpur Swing Video

I've discovered footage of my trip to asia never before seen on the blog. I will continue posting the videos here in the coming days. This was my corner of the range at Bukit Jalal CC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This crab grass patch of rough was where I called home for a few very humid weeks, at the end of 2007.

Painful Endings and New Beginnings

For the first time in my pro golf career, I had to withdraw mid-event due to a neck injury during last weekend's Emerald Coast Tour event. I went to see a Dr. Jaffe, an Orthopedic Surgeon in Birmingham, this week. X-ray and range of movements tests revealed there was nothing abnormally wrong, so I'm spending the week recovering.

This month, I will Monday qualify for the Nationwide Tour Louisiana Open in Lafayette, LA. The LA Open is the same event I Monday qualified for last year and missed the cut by a single stroke. This year, I expect improved results.

I am starting a new movement on this blog for the coming year. While continuing to 'tweet' results via Twitter (screen name: markbaldwin1), I will add short video blog posts to my site. This is going to be a new year with exciting results I will describe and exhibit with video.

2010: A New Golf Odyssey

"Reality is an illusion. Albeit, a persistent one." ~Einstein

There is no sport more indicative of this statement than golf. Imagine: you are playing the best round of the year, you can do no wrong. You step on the 18th tee and stare down the par 5 you've birdied 100 times. "Oh yeah, I've got the perfect baby draw working today. What water hazard on the right!? All I'm seeing is that perfect angle into the flag about 300 out."

You tee your ball up and feel a slight gust from the gods moving the hair to the right side of your head. As you take your practice swing and feel the breeze pressing your shirt into your back (you are right handed of course), it occurs to you to aim farther left to account for the breeze. You open your stance slightly too much and now aim farther left than you would have advised yourself, just to be safe.

"A miss left is better than a miss right," you subconsciously rationalize.

Your swing is a bit more aggressive than normal causing your upper body to move outside "the slot." The club face moves across the ball along your toe line, starting left and cutting. The wind accentuates the ball spin and that minor setup miscue now has you playing your next shot in knee-deep mud.

This is the golf and this is life. In my world, the two are intertwined. Previous attempts to move up the pro golf hierarchy have ended this way. The "I was so close to..." is an all too familiar story.

With 5 months of golf education in Birmingham with my coach, I am ready to rewrite this story. Tournament finishes in the past months are as follows: 5th, 2nd, 4th, 1st. This week I will play the Emerald Coast Tour in Ocean Springs, Alabama in an effort to add a second consecutive win to this recent resume and to strengthen my preparation for that final tee shot with everything on the line.

Twitter Postings

Follow my Twitter postings for more frequent updates on my practice sessions and thoughts. Click on the Twitter button in the right column and start following my Tweets.

Happy New Year Toast

My New Years toast for everyone:

The decade is over and I raise my glass,
to a fresh do-over filled with success and class,
but first we must pay our respects,
for fallen idols to be politically correct,

Walter Cronkite and Ted Kennedy,
Michael Jackson's moonwalk inspired me,
Heath Ledger awed us with the Joker's wild craze,
a tragic introduction to al-qaeda left towers ablaze,

While Bush and Agassi said farewell,
Michael Phelps swam Beijing on a mission from hell,
The Chinese bought America's excessive debt,
we fell in love with a new president's cuddly pets,

While Jon Stewart rewrote the news,
Hurricaine Katrina had New Orleans singin' the blues,
Curt Schilling snapped the curse and bloodied a sock,
Boss Brice Springstein continued playing inspired rock,

While it seems the decade of financial loss,
we better understand greed and excessive cost,
What's most important to our resolutions and now we can see,
in 2010 surround yourself with the love and care of friends and family.

Happy New Year!

Updates

Happy Holidays to everyone! The week before Christmas I played three days of competition in Florida on the Moonlight and Next mini-tours. The one day events were held on three separate courses in Orlando, two of which I'd never played. I posted 67 on day 1 for a 2nd place finish and bore through the strong winds of day 3 en route to 69 and 1st place. During the final day I edged PGA Tour member Patrick Sheehan by 1 stroke to pick up the victory. My game is improving as I've developed minor swing changes this fall. The changes require me to compensate less athletically for previously inconsistent movements because my swing is less complex. A less complex movement at a high speed equals improved consistency.

I will continue to work hard on my game playing mini-tour events to prepare for the coming season where I plan on breaking through on the Nationwide Tour. Thanks for your thoughts and Happy New Year!