Orange County National

April 3-8: Coming off the Horseshoe Bay trip, I was psyched to rebound with my performance at the Golf Channel Am Tour Event in Orlando at Orange County National, host of many PGA Tour Q-School Finals.  I definitely came with less expectations and an attitude of building confidence, not the expectations to shoot 72s.  My Dad and I arrived a few days early to play the Waldorf Astoria GC and a practice round at Orange County National - Panther Lake.  Both days were overcast, windy, and mixed rain.  There was severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings that ended up moving south of us, so we were pleasantly surprised to easily get in our rounds.

Day 1: Waldorf Astoria is a top shelf, well manicured, fair and fun layout.  The two of us cruised around, scraping off some rust.  I almost had a hole in one on number 7 from 181, landing inches from the cup.  I made a sliding 4 footer for birdie.  My Dad found himself in a plethora of sand traps throughout the course.  He is now well-skilled from fairway traps, including hitting a 3 wood out!  After the round, we spent an hour or so at the immaculate driving range and putting green, running into Christina Kim, who practices here regularly.  We settled inside during the afternoon rains and then had an amazing dinner at the hotel's steakhouse.  Lastly, we surprisingly ran into the Arthur Murray World Dance Competition being held at the resort's conference center.  Talk about fun!  We watched pretty woman in glitzy dresses dance the ramba, swing, mambo, etc. like you see on tv.  It was a four day competition.  We watched a few times during our stay.  I almost tripped a few times in awe of some of the women.

Me at first hole of Waldorf Astoria

Day 2: Tee'd it up at Orange County Panther Lake with my Dad and another father/son duo, the father was competing in the Golf Channel event.  They were from Virginia.  It was a very slow round, over 5 hours.  The conditions were sunny, but heavy winds - difficult to control distances.  My Dad made a fantastic birdie on number 9 from 170 yards, ball well below his feet, and water lurking right.  He carved a beautiful iron into a tucked right pin and made a 10 footer for bird.  My shot of the day was a 3-wood from 250 into the par-5 7th over water into wind.  We cancelled out steak dinner bets on those shots!  Before the round, we practiced a lot at the nation's largest driving range at Orange County and huge short game areas.  A disappointing driving range, not generous of giving golf balls, no distance markers, and almost no flags.  Then, we checked into the Orange County lodge, disgusted by the chemical laden and dirty tub room.  We immediately cancelled out after my Dad claimed heart problems.  We luckily found a room back in Disney where we stayed the prior two nights.  Do not stay at Orange County Lodge!

Day 3 (Tournament Round 1): I played Round 1 at Crooked Cat course on Orange County.  The morning tee off was cold for Orlando, low 50s and a crisp, cool wind.  I was shivering at the first tee.  Throughout the round, I was striking it well, but couldn't judge distances well in the wind and my short game was below average.  The middle of my round was strong, even par on nine holes (holes 14 through 4).  My driver was great.  I was greenside in two on every par 5, birdieing 2 of 4.  I finished by bogeying 4 out of 5 holes to shoot 80.  Played with a guy in his 50s from Wisconsin and a guy in his 30s who owned an electrical contracting company in Florida.  Post round: Got some pool time, watched a great Louisville-Michigan final

Orange County Panther Lake - Par 5 14th

four game over Italian dinner with my Dad.

My Dad - Waldorf Astoria fairway bunker

Day 4 (Final Tournament Round): Early morning tee off at Panther Lake.  My playing partner was a middle aged guy from PA and a 22 year old from FL.  The PA withdrew after nine holes, was at least 9 over par and said he ran out of golf balls!  I was on fire out of the gates, almost landing my first approach shot in the hole.  My ball striking was the best its been in a long time, I hit the first 12 greens in regulation, made 1 birdie and 1 bogey.  Numerous birdie putts edging the cups.  On holes 13-18, I finished six over par, 4 straight bogeys, 1 double, and 1 par.  Frustrating! I three-putted 14,15, and 16, not taking advantage of good shots.  My birdie putts just missed and ran by 4 feet as the greens sped up.  Once I missed a short one, it got in my head.  16 of 18 GIRs and I shoot 78.  Looking back, I'm thrilled with how I managed my game and it gives me great confidence going into the Massachusetts season, knowing if I keep this going, I'll have great success.

My goals are high and can't wait to play more.  My Dad and I had superb weather on the weekend in Orlando, high 70s and sunny.  I cherish these times and so grateful for the opportunity to have these experiences.  We finished the trip with pool time, range time again with Christina Kim, and more Italian food.  We both dislike the Orlando airport, nothing is easy there.

To confident and fun golf,
Kurt

Horseshoe Bay

Mar 2-3:
My Dad and I visited Austin and Horseshoe Bay, TX for a Golf Channel Amateur event.  It was a quick trip.  We flew in Friday morning and left Sunday evening.  In the middle 54 hours, we packed in a trip to Whole Foods' flagship store for lunch, 54 holes at Horseshoe Bay Resort, and some Texas barbeque.

The golf courses we played, Ram Rock and Apple Rock were both very difficult courses, with significant elevation changes, small greens, firm fairways, and many hazards.  With the Texas winds blowing all weekend and temperatures mostly in the 50s (low 40s in the morning and climbing to mid-60s on Sunday), my golf ball was traveling all over the place.  I actually could have used winter gloves to drive the golf cart in the am, it was that cold.

In the first round, my ball striking was excellent and I barely broke 90.  Hour glass greens were brutal.  My first hole of the tournament was the par-3 image below.  I won a skin on a different par-3, hitting a 7-iron to inches from the hole.  Hit a few drives 350 yards with the firm fairways.  The second course, Apple Rock, was one notch lower in difficulty, but still harder than most.  I shot worse, struggling off the tee and poor ball striking overall.  My expectations were not met.  Only one player broke 80 in my division over 36 holes.  There were only 12 birdies on the first day across the entire championship field.  I think I made 3 of them.  Clearly, most players struggled.  You needed to have complete control of your golf ball and feel comfortable playing different trajectories and shot shapes.  I didn't have that feel, let alone short game, coming out of the winter.

Hotel experience was mediocre.  The Marriott at Horseshoe Bay is nice, (cool putting course, nice wedding reception area), but the general area is lacking energy and the Horseshoe Bay community appears to face financial challenges, with mostly underdeveloped real estate lots, short staff, limited food options (and not that good), etc.  Don't plan on going back.  Austin looks like a great party city.

Best food might have been nacho dip at Slick Rock Golf Club.  Biggest mishap, beside my golf scores, was following the rental car GPS from the airport, took us in a loop that added one hour to our commute and left us scrambling to make our practice round tee time (showed up a few minutes late, no warmup time).  Biggest upset was my Dad beating me in a game of horse at the hotel.

2013 Season Underway!
Kurt