2nd Stage Web.com Q School

This past week I played in the second stage of Web.com qualifying school in Gautier, MS. This was the first time I had been to this site, it replaced The Hombre in Panama City where I had played the previous four years. This year is my sixth year playing "QSchool" and it does get a little easier every year just because you do get a little more confident, but honestly QSchool is a total grind. It brings out emotions that you didn't think were possible and nerves that hadn't been exposed in a good while!

So... my week. I had been preparing very well and was really looking forward to the week to begin! I traveled over to MS on Saturday and was able to see a few holes on the back nine. Sunday I went out and played all 18 and really liked the golf course. It was in good shape and a good change from The Hombre which hadn't been all that kind to me in the past. Sunday night a huge storm came thru and dumped about 3 inches on the course. Too much water in too short of time for the course to handle and it was really wet for Tuesday's practice round and played quite a bit different due to the conditions. I played 9 holes and called it a day as even the tee boxes where unplayable. It was going to be interesting to see how the course looked the following day. 

First Round. The first day I teed off at 9:20am and had a good day on the course. Hit the ball great and really managed my game well. I made 6 birdies and 2 bogeys (68) in the first round and the bogeys were just tough breaks that I had no control over... Very pleased how the day went and was sitting t3 after round 1. At the end of the week the top 19 and ties would advance to the final stage.

Second Round. The second day didn't go as well as the first as I shot +1 73 and moved back down the field and outside of the all important top 19. I really didn't play all that bad in the second round just didn't hit it as close as the first round and didn't make any putts to speak of. I was a little disappointed in how the day went but knew that I was playing well and had two days left to make some good things happen. 

Third Round. In the third round I was able to bounce back from a slow second day by shooting -3 69 and move back to -6 for my three round total. It was a solid round of golf and a great way to lead into the final round. 

Fourth Round. So here is my situation. I go to bed sitting on the cut line to final stage of qschool. Making it to final stage doesn't guarantee you anything other than conditional status on the Web.com Tour but even conditional status is WAY better than where I have been the past couple years with no status at all. The day starts off less than stellar making the turn at +2 and -4 for the tournament... I needed to make a run to get thru second stage. I had a little self talk on the 9th tee box and was determined to shoot -4 on the final 10 holes, which would be good enough to move on. Long story short I was able to make 5 birdies on the back nine to shoot 31 and 69 on the day! Good enough to move on and it felt great! I will be headed back to the Final Stage of QSchool again for the second time in the 6 years that I have been playing golf professionally. It is going to be a great week, another tough week, but I will be ready to go and play some great golf! Top 45 at finals will get their Web.com Card for the following year and have to chance to play their way onto the PGA Tour in 2015. Lots of hard work ahead but I am going to get this done! 

Thank you all for your support and encouragement!! 

Getting ready for Q School and Q School 1st Stage

It has been quite a while since my last blog... partly because I'm not very good at doing this and partly because I haven't played in an event since the Missouri Open almost 2 months ago! So after Missouri I finally made my way back to Jacksonville Beach to see my condo, it had been nearly 3 months and was beginning to wonder if it was still there. It was so that was nice! 

I have spent the last few months working hard on my game, hitting the gym, and recently some yoga. I can say that my golf game and my mental approach to the game have never been better this late in the year heading into q school.

1st Stage Q School

Last week was my first stage of Q School and was fortunate enough to have a site close to where I live in FL. It is always nice to be able to play in a tournament and sleep in your own bed, trust me that doesn't happen all that often so I enjoy the opportunity! The tournament started on Tuesday and I opened the tournament with a -8, 64. A great start to say the least as it was the low round of the day and my first competitive round in quite some time. I hit the ball great and made a few putts, a fun day for sure. Second round I shot 71. Again another good day just didn't hit it as close as day 1 and didn't make the putts to go really low. Third round I shot a 68. Again solid day of ball striking, played the par 5s well and had a few short birdie putts that I was able to make. And the final day a 71. Nothing to special here just finishing off a great week of golf and moving on to the second round of q school! They haven't yet released the field lists for second stage so I don't know for sure where I will be going but most likely I will be in Biloxi, MS. Looking forward to heading back to second stage for the 6th time now! Can't believe I have been doing this for six years now but time sure does fly. I am looking forward to another opportunity and this is going to be my year I can feel it!! Thank you all for all your great support and encouragement! It is nice to see all your comments and messages, only helps me play better knowing you all are behind me! 

Arrowhead Pro-AM Rapid City, SD

Another Win!! Can't put into words how great of a stretch of golf I've had these past three weeks and I am very thankful for all the support I've had over the past couple years!!
This week started off for me in a great way as I stopped in on my drive across SD to see the Badlands National Park and Mt Rushmore in the Black Hills. They were both very amazing places and definitely didn't expect to see that in SD. I took some time getting away from golf and just enjoyed the drive and checking out what great Mother Nature is capable of creating! When I made it to Rapid City on Tuesday I played a couple practice rounds to see the golf course and start preparing for the tournament. The first round was on Thursday morning for me. I teed off at 6:30! Was definitely an early morning as I can't remember many tournaments beginning before 7am. The day to say the least went very well. I made three birdies on my opening 9 holes. I was hitting it very well and carried some good momentum into the back nine where I had a five hole stretch where I went birdie, par, birdie, eagle, birdie! Hit some great shots and made some nice putts. All of a sudden I was -8 on the day. I ended the round shooting a opening 63 and had a one shot lead. Round two I teed it up in the afternoon and again played a good round of golf. I shot five under 67 on the day and maintained a two shot lead heading into the final round! I have never lead a tournament the entire week so was going to be a first for me if I was able to get it done on the final day. The final round began Saturday at 11am. My first tee shot found the fairway and made a great birdie on the opening hole which was a par 5. This got me going and feeing great about my game. I played a very solid round the final day, played very smart and took advantage of opportunities when I had them. Ended the day shooting a final round -4, 67. My 3 day total was 196, 17 under for the three rounds and won by four shots. It felt so good to get another win under my belt!
I'm not there yet but I am looking forward to great things in the future on the golf course. Lots of work ahead but I'm getting back on the right track!
Thanks for following my progress, and thank you for all the great support and encouragement!!

Hillcrest Yankton Pro Am

Last week I played in the Hillcrest Pro-Am in Yankton, SD. I played this event 5 years ago just out of college and remember it being a lot of fun so decided to make another trip back! The event started off for me on Tuesday since I had to qualify for the actual tournament. The qualifier round went well as I shot 2 under to make it into the event. I was a little tired after driving up from Iowa the previous day and also from an emotional high off the win in Cedar Rapids. On Wednesday we had our practice rounds I had a light day of practice and played 9 holes to get ready for the first round.

The tournament started early Thursday morning for me and found the course to have by far the fastest greens of the year! I was one of the first groups out in the morning wave and the greens were pretty close to putting on glass, they were fast! Most of the events on the Dakotas Tour are Pro-Ams just like this event and is definitely a different way to play since your aren't playing with other pros in the event rather Amateurs that are mostly members of the club or clubs nearby. For the first three rounds I played with three different groups of Ams and we had a good time every day. I played some solid golf all week shooting 69 - 70 - 64 in the pro-am portion if the event. After the first three rounds there is a cut and the final day we are paired back with the pros. The final round I was in the final group sitting in third place, 4 shots back of the leader. The final round didn't go as planned for me as I ended up shooting an even par 72 on the day to finish 6th place. I felt as if I played well all day it was just one of those days where a few bad breaks and some missed opportunities turned a solid round into a relatively average one. Overall had a great week in Yankton! The members at Hillcrest put on an excellent event as I remembered from 2008. I got to stay with the family I stayed with in 08 and it was great to see them and their kids! Next week I'm playing in Rapid City, SD looking forward to seeing another new place.

Greater Cedar Rapids Open

What a week I had this past week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa! The week started off Wednesday as I traveled from the Quad cities where I was staying and practicing with a college room mate of mine. I had some great practice and played some good golf while I was there so was feeling good about my game.
I got in an early practice round Wednesday as there was a Pro-Am that I wasn't in on Thursday so had to see the course a day early and was going to get a nice day of rest and practice in Thursday. First round was Friday, I teed off early in the morning and got off to a solid start shooting 69 -3. I hit the ball very good and was pleased with how the day went. Walking off I knew that I was hitting it well and did leave a few shots out there with some short putts but only used that for motivation for the rest of the tournament. Round 2 I teed off in the afternoon, It was a chilly day for the time of the year. I again played a solid round of golf shooting 68 on the day. Again hitting it very good and I did make a couple nice putts to save some pars and even for birdies. Thru two rounds I hadn't made a single bogey! I went into the final round in a tie for the lead at -7 with one other player. I was feeling very good about my game and looking forward to the last day.
So the final round began for me at 11:29. My first tee shot was less than optimal, I didn't hit it solid at all and hit it well right of my target into a fairway bunker. I hit a great shot out to 20 ft and made par. The next couple tee shots where similar as they found the right side of the fairway but I kept everything in play and was able to shoot 33 on the front nine. I birdied both par 5s on the front and made another birdie on the 5th hole.
I started the back nine with a 1 shot lead I believe over my playing partner, not sure exactly where the group in front of us were relative to par? I made birdies on 11 and 12 to get to 12 under for the tournament. I was enjoying the round to say the least! Unfortunately I slipped up on the 14th missing a short putt and made my only bogey of the week. I was a little upset but came back with a great birdie on the par 3 16th where I hit my approach from 210 to 15 ft and made the putt! The 17 hole is the hole that won me the tournament... I hit a poor drive that barely stared in play and was forced to chip out back to the fairway. From there had to lay up again as it was a long par 5. I had 108 yards and was able to hit that to 6 ft and make the putt for a GREAT par save! I made par on the final hole and ended up with a one shot win and a nice little pay day!

I have been looking for this week to happen for way to long and glad it could finally come. I have been working hard and practicing well so it was a great feeling to see some good results! Hopefully it will be the beginning of another great run of golf to finish the year strong.

Up next for me I will be playing on the Dakotas Tour in Yankton, SD and Rapid City, SD. Then off to the Iowa Open. Thanks to everyone for all your support and encouragement and for following my progress!

2013 Golf Update

Hello everyone! It has been ages since my last post, I am seriously going to try and stay on top of this. I have been updating my facebook page the last couple weeks (Chris Baker golf on FB). So to start off this year has been pretty slow and honestly I haven't had much success. Have made a few cuts here and there but nothing too great to speak of. As of today I have played roughly in around 8 eGolf Tour events, 2 NGA Tour events, 4 web.com Monday qualifiers, and a few other locally run events.

So... all that mess is behind me. Moving on I am ready to make a run at the end of this year! I am working hard on my game and am realizing that I have a lot of great things going for me and looking forward to what is coming my way. I am currently out in Iowa playing in a few events. Up next for me is the Cedar Rapids Open. The event starts on Thursday and am looking forward to a fun week. After the CR Open I'm still not completely sure where I am going, possibly out to South Dakota for a few events and then swinging back thru Iowa for the Iowa Open.

The most important thing for me at the end of this year is to gain some "status" somewhere for 2014. I will definitely be entering the web.com tour school this year and I have even had thoughts of going back to Europe. All plans are very up in the air for me right now but it is all going to work out!!

Thanks for following me, please check back for updates and also check out my FB page!

Winter Golf

Since my last post there hasn't been a whole lot of excitement on the golf course for me. Been working hard on the game and also in the gym, one day maybe I will find the long ball off the tee but not counting on it... So a quick update of where I have been, I have played in three small tournament in Florida. One in Kissimmee, one in New Smyrna Beach, and finally a scramble with a lot of stacked teams just for fun! The first event I shot -4 for the two days. Very consistent but definitely nothing special. I hit the ball very good for the first time out of the winter break so was quite pleased with that. The following week I played an event in NSB Florida. Same thing really as far as the golf went for me. Ended up shooting -4 just couldn't hole any putts but I know it will come sooner than later! And finally the scramble, it is a big event in the FL scramble swing. Believe it or not GMac was there, for some crazy reason he skipped Torrey Pines for the scramble but I could understand we are good competition. Our team ended up shooting -19 and tied for 1st with 4 other teams. Winning teams share was $10,000 so nothing to blow off. We ended up losing the playoff but none the less it was a great day and a lot of fun. I hit the ball great that day as the previous two events so I am starting to see a trend in my game that has me looking forward to the coming year!

Up next for me is the Indian River Open in New Smyrna Beach this coming weekend (Feb 3, 4). I have played this event the last several years so know it well and looking forward to some more competition. After this the eGolf season is starting up Feb 14 in HHI, SC. Really looking forward to 2013 on the eGolf Tour and wherever else I might find myself. 

Keep following my progress I will be better this year with all this social media and website business!!