Florida Swing- first 3 Epson Tour events
I’ve completed the first swing on the Epson Tour in Florida. I flew into Tampa to then spend a week in Venice and Fort Myers to get some good practice in. The first event was held at Winter Haven Country Club, a course that I thought suited my game pretty well. It was an advantage to hit the ball far and there were some tricky and long par 3’s where it helped to have an iron rather than a wood. I played some decent golf and made the cut, but couldn’t quite get it going on the greens. During the final round I had full-on 8 lipouts, that must be some kind of record. I was rolling the ball well but I must’ve been a little off with the grainy bermuda grass to cause them to just miss instead of being in all the time. However, I left Winter Haven with a good feeling with the game and 3/3 cuts made in 2024.
The second event was at Alaqua Country Club, a beautiful course with water on every hole. The course seemed to be carved out from a Florida forest in standing water and had an amazing wildlife with deers, alligators and black bears. I had another event with great ball striking off the tee and hit all but 2 fairways. However, I struggled with some wedges and shorter irons and the course set up was not working well for me and I ended up missing the cut. Excited about the third week as I heard it was an amazing course, I felt very optimistic as my game was in a good place.
We played Atlantic Beach Country Club in Jacksonville and both the course and town were just stunning. I loved this place and would not hesitate to go back! The course was in great condition and greens were a lot faster than previous two weeks. The volunteers and the club really bought into the tournament and created a first-class event for us players. I kept striking the ball well but struggled on the greens during the first round and ended up shooting 74. Then came the storm and made some damage during the second round. I was second off and the rain and wind was up for the entire morning wave. It was actually pretty crazy but I really enjoyed playing despite the weather. It was a challenge I haven’t faced in a while and it forced me to stay present. Even though it became a lot harder to score, I was very happy overall with my play and how I fought through that round. The scores were on average over 4 shots more than the first round which is unheard of, but I totally understand it considering the conditions. Very few from my wave made it through to the final day as the rain stopped in the afternoon, but that’s part of this life as a golf pro. In Morocco I had the lucky wave and here I had the unlucky wave considering the weather, and I believe it evens out over the years.
Some mental things to work on mainly as I’m finally striking the ball well off the tee. I just met with the mental coach, Joe Parent and we have a good game plan set for me in these coming weeks. I will continue to work hard these coming 4 weeks as I have some time off in the tournament schedule. Starting off, I’ll be spending some time in Lubbock, TX to visit Olle and practice at Texas Tech’s amazing facility. He has his senior day coming up which will be fun to watch and then I’ll set out for California again before the next swing. I’m very hopeful for this season even though it may not have started in the best way possible here in the U.S. My game is in a good spot and I just gotta keep plugging away.