After a successful week at
the PGA Championship, I postponed my trip to Greensboro, North Carolina, and
the Wyndham Championship for a couple of days.
Thanks to my job and the travel demands it requires, I miss most of the
“little moments” that take place in my children’s lives. Whether it’s their first steps, first words
or the trips to the ball field or dance studio…I have and will continue to miss
almost everything. I know, I know…I play
a game for a living and I will be the first to admit that I am very blessed and
fortunate when it comes to my career.
However, no success or achievement will ever replace those “moments”
that I have lost along the way. It makes
me sad to look back over the last five years and think about how much the road
has taken from me. With that being said,
there was no way I was going to miss another “first”…especially when my last
tournament was only a few hours away. I
left Kiawah Island immediately following my round on Sunday and drove home to
see my little shadow, Jake, begin his journey into Kindergarten bright and
early Monday morning. He begged me
during the week of the PGA Championship to “please come home so you can take me
to my first day of school.” Without even
blinking, I assured him that I would be there. I played chauffer to and from school on Monday
and then Tuesday morning before I headed north to Greensboro. I cannot tell you how excited he was to have
his Daddy (and Momma and Libby) alongside him as he walked through the halls
and into his classroom. I will always
remember his face, his excitement and his thankfulness that I was there. And to me…that’s better than any amount of
success I will ever achieve on the golf course.
The 2012 Wyndham Championship
was in some way, more of an experiment than a tournament. After putting a new putter in place on the
Sunday of a Major (crazy!), I kept it in the bag to see what it could do for an
entire week. The unexpected change at
the PGA Championship was the first new look in almost two years! I decided to switch the normal size Winn grip
on my TaylorMade Spider putter for a bigger/fatter one (Super Stroke), which I
truly believe gave me better feel on the greens. I didn’t have a 3-putt during the entire week
and I definitely made more putts beyond 10 feet than I had with my old
putter. In terms of statistics, I
finished the week near the top in the two most important Putting Stats complied
by the PGA Tour (6th in Putts per Green in Regulation and 13th
in Strokes Gained). In my opinion, the
experiment was a success and I am looking forward to what it can do in the
coming weeks.
I left Greensboro after
another made cut and headed north to begin the most important stretch of the
PGA Tour season…the FedEx Cup Playoffs. New
York City is the site of this week’s tournament (The Barclays) as we begin the
first leg of a four-tournament elimination style format. The infamous PUBLIC golf course, Bethpage
Black, plays host for the week and from all indications…it is going to be a
Monster. In fact, when Lucas Glover won the
U.S. Open here in 2009, it was regarded as one of the toughest Opens in
history. Players were unable to reach
the fairways on several holes due to the extreme length. I played the course for the first time on
Tuesday and it certainly lived up to its reputation. My swing coach, John Tillery, made the trip
up from Georgia on Monday and we worked extremely hard on all areas of my
game. I feel really good heading into
tomorrow’s first round and I am excited about the upcoming challenge that is
Bethpage Black. If I can drive the ball
well off the tee then I WILL find myself in contention come Sunday. Ball striking is a premium and judging from
the last few days of practice…I am ready. Besides, shouldn’t I get a nod from
the Golf Gods or have some sort of an advantage when the course’s name is Beth?
I certainly hope so!
This week’s question comes
from James in North Carolina. He
writes: Blake, what is the key to your success in the Majors?
Thank you James for the email
and question. I truly believe that my
success in the Majors is a result of three things. Number
1: My Game Plan. I have a very conservative but aggressive
game plan. The conservative approach
begins at the tee with my main focus being the fairway. My goal is to find the widest part of the
fairway…regardless of what club it takes to get there. Fairways are a premium! For example, at this year’s U.S. Open I hit a
3wd or Hybrid off the tee on the treacherous 630 yard par 5, 16th
hole just to make sure I hit the fairway.
When I am able to find the fairway, I can then play more aggressive and
attack the tough pin locations. Hacking
it from the rough makes for a very, very long day! Number
2: My Mind Set. Every Player knows that when they tee it up
at a Major, they are in for a battle.
Birdies are hard to make while Ol Mr. Bogey is usually lurking around
the corner. You have to be prepared
mentally to accept a few hiccups along the way but strong enough to bounce back
from them. As many of you know, I have a
very even keel and laid back personality.
This certainly helps in my Profession when things aren’t going according
to plan. Golf can be a rollercoaster and
if you let your emotions get the best of you...Good Luck! Number
3: My Overall Game. I have always been a Player that has thrived
on the tougher courses and setups. I
normally drive the ball well and as I mentioned earlier, fairways are a
premium. My iron play, short game, and
putting are certainly respectable and I am able to contend in the Majors
because these aspects of my game usually keep me away from the Big Number.
Thankfully, this week’s
tournament at Bethpage Black will play like a Major!
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