Brian Quackenbush Golf

Special Thanks To My Father For His Caddy Expertise!
My parents were scheduled to fly down the day before the first round and my father was going to caddy for me. When hurricane Wilma made landfall, flights into Orlando were cancelled. So, he drove 8 hours straight through, caddied the next 4 days, and then drove 8 hours back. He’s become a very competent caddy and was a huge asset for me at the event.

I finished 3 shots out of advancing to stage 2 of Q-School yesterday. My final score was even par over 4 days for a 24th place finish. This was my fourth attempt at Q-School, and I’m much more encouraged and motivated after this attempt than from the previous three. This was because I really felt like I was one of the best in the field and really belonged there. My ball striking absolutely proved that. My comfort level with the entire experience was the best it’s ever been as well.

So, why didn’t I qualify? I will probably continue to go through it over the next week, but I have some initial thoughts. First, my putting really wasn’t good…especially in the first round and a half. The greens down there were rolling about a 12 on the stimpmeter (very, very fast), and I hadn’t played anything this fast in quite a while. What this did was bring out a mechanical flaw I’ve been fighting for the last couple of years. So, I started to focus too much on mechanics and less on making a good confident stroke along the line I picked out in my read. I rolled putts better over the last 2 and a half rounds, but didn’t really make anything. Second, my chipping wasn’t as good as it could have been. I only saved par on 12 of the 26 greens (45\%) that I missed this week. This is down from about 60\%. Admittedly, this is probably due in large part to my putting problems and the difficult rough around the greens. But, I know from my experience this week that my short game could have been a little bit better.

What was good this week? As I mentioned, my ball striking was very good. I felt like it was among the best in the field this week. I was definitely one of the longer players off the tee and was very accurate. My irons were solid and I was controlling distance and ball flight well. I was hitting my wedges close. I’m very satisfied with where my long game is. I was also very pleased with my mental game. I charted a course strategy for the week that was appropriate and only deviated from it on one hole (the 71st) when I needed to get extremely aggressive with my play. I managed dealing with slow play over the first two rounds well and didn’t let it affect my game. I rebounded from poor shots well. Difficult holes, pin placement and course conditions didn’t intimidate me. I could have improved with how I reacted to the extremely high wind on Tuesday or to a ridiculous official telling us we were out of position on Thursday. But, overall, my mental game is miles ahead of where it was when I first turned professional.

So, here’s the challenge. I have a good idea of what and why I’m doing things well and not so well. I know how I can squeeze a bit more performance out of my game. However, the season is effectively over. I know that I need a break from competition, but I feel very motivated and excited about my game. I’m going to take the next week or so to think about off-season improvements and then get back into them.

I leave from Aiken, SC to go to Lakeland, FL for stage 1 of Q-School tonight. I will arrive in Lakeland on Saturday and play practice rounds Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Here’s the issue: Hurricane Wilma is projected to hit southern Florida Monday or Tuesday. The northernmost projected path takes it right past Lakeland. Regardless, it’s likely that some portion of the storm will hit Lakeland.

So, I’ll be one of the very few driving south into Florida this weekend. I hope to get in a practice round or two on Saturday and Sunday. Based on the current projections, I doubt a practice round will be possible on Monday and there’s a chance the start of the event will be delayed. I contacted the PGA Tour yesterday and they said everything is still on (they cancelled the Nationwide Tour event for this weekend in Miami). They will contact the participants if anything changes.

There is a direct link to the PGA Tour’s coverage of Q-School: www.qualifyingtournament.com. Stage 1 for me starts on the 25th, but other sites have already started. The website has (relatively) real-time scoring and articles.

I just checked out the site and noticed something interesting about the field sizes. They all look significantly smaller than normal. In previous years, each site has had almost 80 players. This year, each site has around 70 players (my site in Lakeland only has 66). It looks like a larger percentage of players advance from each site as well. The three sites playing this week are advancing around 29\% of the players - this is up from 25\% in previous years.

My guess is that total entries for first stage are down due to economic reasons (since the entry fee alone is a whopping $4,500!). However, they still have a “quota” of players to advance from first stage so the percentages look better. This is a nice little surprise for first stage.

So, yesterday I finished up the Tarheel Tour event at Cowans Ford. I hit the ball great for the first two rounds and was tied for 11th going into yesterday. I started off very hot and was 4 under through 6 holes. I turned at 3 under and was excited about my chances. However, I lost a ball in the greenside rough on 11 and made double bogey. The rough wasn’t very long, but I know from Wednesday’s round that if you hit it there it can burrow down to the ground and you have to just about step on it to find it. It was a bad break, but I still had a few chances at birdies coming down the stretch…just didn’t convert. So, I finished at 16th place.

I was disappointed because my playing partner was also 4 under through 6, and when he kept it going to get to 7 under he got into a playoff. It was a great opportunity if I had been able to keep it going.

I found that the swing changes broke down very slightly yesterday. I’m very encouraged because they stayed together into deeper pressure this week than what I’ve been under since I made them. I’m going to do a little work to dial them in again and make a little tweak in my putting stroke this week.

I had a…challenging…drive home last night from just north of Charlotte. I went up the back way - I77 to I81. I hit I81 and for some braindead reason turned south. It took me 62 miles to realize that I was going the wrong way. So, I’m gleefully heading south on 81 and think to myself “Strange that the sun is in my eyes. It sets in the west and I’m heading northeast”. A little while longer I notice another strange thing…all these Tennessee license plates. Finally, I notice the exit signs… I’m down around number 22. I think “Shouldn’t they be getting higher in number as I drive north?”. When I hit exit 19 I realize the enormity of my stupidity and finally turn around.

But, it gets worse! As I’m driving north, I see a sign that there’s an accident on 81 and the road is closed. So, I take a back-woods detour around Staunton over to I64 and through Charlottesville. I make all the right turns and head north on route 29. That’s probably another 1/2 hour delay. Everything is going fine until I get to I66 where they have decided to close the road! Another detour that takes me way north and then back towards Manassass to get back on I66.

In all, it took me 9 1/2 hours to drive 530 miles. The trip normally is just under 400 miles and takes me 6 hours. This one falls into a tie for worst road trip alongside the trip with a 4-hour delay behind an accident on I81. That one was a longer delay, but at least I got to sleep while I waited.

I just finished up a Tarheel Tour event at Sedgefield CC in Greensboro. Over the last few weeks, I’ve worked extremely hard at solidifying changes in my full swing, chipping and putting. This week they all seemed to come together on a more consistent basis. Over the last two rounds, I hit 15 and 13 greens respectively on a challenging ball-striking course. I was controlling the ball better than I have in months and my chipping and putting was right where I wanted it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of birdie putts to drop over the last two rounds. I think a large part of that was speed control and trusting the lines I was picking out on the greens. As with my last entry, I feel like I’m exactly where I want to be heading into Q-School. The changes get a little more natural every day.

I’m spending a couple of days down in Aiken with my parents before another Tarheel Tour event next week. I’m also nursing a stomach virus that I came down with on Wednesday (this added a bit of a challenge in today’s final round!).