Brian Quackenbush Golf

I shot 75 in the second round at Kannapolis. Despite poor ball striking, I was able to get 2 under through the first 6 holes. But, then I hit a few offline drives and had a couple of bad bounces. By the 11th hole I was way behind the 8-ball and had to get more aggressive than I would normally play. Result: 75. The bright side of the story is I got in 3 more rounds at Kannapolis which is my first choice for stage 1 of the PGA Tour Q-School.

So, after several days without the ability to update the website, I arrived in Charlotte on Sunday to get ready for the event at Stonebridge. That night the TarHeel Tour notified us that the event was postponed for a week due to hurricane Katrina. I played a practice round at Stonebridge on Monday and then headed down to Aiken, SC to spend a couple of days with my parents. I go back to Charlotte on Tuesday for two consecutive TarHeel Tour events.

I sent in my application for Q-School yesterday. I should find out in a week or so what my stage 1 site is. My first choice is Kannapolis, but it’s first-come, first-served. I’ll post my first stage site when I’m notified by the PGA Tour.

The slight cold I’ve been pushing through since last Thursday is still hanging around. It’s almost gone, but it definitely effected my play today in the first round of the TarHeel event at Kannapolis. I haven’t been able to get a good, steady feel over the ball for the last few days. I’ve never noticed a correlation between being sick and the quality of my play. Sometimes I play fine when I’m under the weather…other times it seems to effect me more. It’s just about gone, so hopefully tomorrow will feel less like putting with winter gloves on.

I shot a 73 in the first round at Kannapolis CC. The course is playing very hard if you get off the fairway. They may be gearing up for the first stage of PGA Q-School in October. The rough is so bad in places that it’s hard to find your golf ball even when you know exactly where it is. Looks like they’ve been cutting their bermuda rough with a rotary mower so the ball settles down to the bottom. It’s definitely playing more difficult than when we played the Southern Open here last month. The greens are still a bit soft so it’s difficult to control the spin rate. But, about everywhere on the east coast is soft right now because of the hard weather conditions we’ve had this summer.

I changed my schedule for next week. Instead of going up to the Deutsche Bank qualifier in Boston, I’m going to play the TarHeel event in Monroe, NC. Couple of reasons for this. First, it was going to be difficult to get my entry to them by the deadline tomorrow. Most of the PGA sections have online applications, but the New England section isn’t quite up to speed yet. So, I would have had to print and overnight the entry. Also, I didn’t like the feel of my schedule with back-to-back Monday qualifiers in Boston and Utah. I’m going to look at playing one or both of the Nationwide qualifiers in Utah and Idaho, but it’s up in the air right now. All the TarHeel Tour events are definite and fit well into the build-up to Q-School.

We got a ton of rain last night and this morning at the TarHeel Tour event at Raintree CC. The course kind of sits in a valley by Four Mile Run and when they get a lot of rain it gets ugly. Even though the rain stopped by noon, it was determined that they didn’t have enough time to get the course in shape even assuming we didn’t get any more rain. So, the event was shortened to the first 36 holes and I finished 4th at 8 under.

I’ve got mixed feelings about the rainout. I’m disappointed because I put myself in contention through two rounds again (similarly to Charlotte National last month) but again didn’t get a chance to compete in the final round. The strategy that Chad and I are working on - playing conservatively the first couple of rounds - seems to make it easier for me to get into contention. I just need some better weather on the final day.

On the other hand, I woke up today with a sore throat and didn’t feel so hot. A day in the muck and rain would have been miserable. Still, I would have traded feeling miserable for the chance to win.

I head up to Albany for my cousin Kirk’s wedding tomorrow and then return to Charlotte for next week’s TarHeel Tour event at Kannapolis (the site of Stage 1 PGA Q-School).

4th place after round 2 with a 69 today. Still very limited internet access. Go to the TarHeel Tour website for updates. Hopefully I’ll be back online and able to update the website soon.

I’m in 5th place after an opening round 67 in this week’s TarHeel Tour event at Raintree CC. Updates may be sparse this week because I don’t have internet access at my hotel.

The lesson with Chad the other day is paying off. Peter Pan (fighting the Hook) is gone. We moved my ball position up a bit and started releasing the club through impact. Both of these get me more open on the backswing and get me back to hitting a straight ball and a cut when I need it. I can fully release it and hit it as hard as I want. I’m putting it very well too…well enough to card 7 birdies on Wednesday at Belle Haven.

I’m starting the Sponsorship process for 2006 and 2007 over the next few days. My goal is to raise enough for the next two years through both individual and corporate sponsorship.

I’m leaving for another TarHeel Tour event on Sunday in Charlotte. After the event, I fly directly to Albany, NY for my cousin Kirk’s wedding and then straight back to Charlotte for another tournament.

My schedule through mid-September is now posted on my Schedule page. There are a couple of places where things could change, but it’s pretty firm as of now. Six TarHeel Tour events and three Monday qualifiers. Stage 1 of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament starts right after these tournaments in September. I’m probably going to Kannapolis CC (site of two TarHeel Tour events this year) for Stage 1.

I had a great lesson and practice session with Chad Moseley down at Belle Haven today. It was notable because of two things. First, we identified why I’ve been “Peter Pan” (fighting an hook) lately. Simple stuff: My ball position was too far back and I was holding my release incorrectly. I’ve got a simple drill that I’m able to use to resolve this. We also worked on my putting and actually came up with a concept for another putting aid because of our work. I was changing the shaft angle of my putter somewhere in the backswing which was causing me to hold my release just to keep the putter face square through impact.

The really encouraging thing about the session was that we identified two things (one full-swing and one putting) that I would characterize as tendencies. I classify mechanical faults in a golf swing as either a tendency or a temporary fault. The difference is that a temporary fault is just that…temporary. Perhaps you play a lot in the wind for a couple of weeks and your ball position gets too far back and you have a punchy swing shape as a result. Most likely this would resolve itself once you get out of the wind or if you just pay it a little attention for a few practice sessions. Tendencies, on the other hand, are swing characteristics that you repeatedly gravitate toward. For example, Tiger’s tendency is to get “stuck behind” on the downswing and either hit a push or a hook. Most golfers never realize their tendencies and therefore misdiagnose swing faults over and over throughout their golf career. The exciting thing about discovering a tendency is that you can ensure it’s addressed and managed continuously throughout your career. You always know to watch out for it if you start hitting it poorly. Basically, if things get out of whack, you go down your list of tendencies first because it’s probably something on that short list that’s causing the problem.

So, I came away from the session with a new putting drill and long game drill. I also have a clarified way to work on my pre-shot routine. Basically I really pay attention to what I’m thinking during my pre-shot, to the point of vocalizing my thoughts occassionally.