Wrapping It Up in Anna

The three week loop in Texas has finally come to a close. Bitter sweet for sure. I’ll run through the recap of this past week and then give everyone a little reflection on how the trip went overall.

This week was another memorable one. There wasn’t any host housing, but Haley (the girl I was housed with last week) and I split a hotel together. So the living situation was still a blast. Another notable occurrence is that I had a different caddy this week! No, I didn’t fire my mom. Don’t worry. She is still awesome and will be my loyal companion. It just worked out that my friend Alex was in town. Alex is also a competitive golfer and an assistant pro who I met while I was playing in Beaumont. Now, while my mom does a great job at being someone for me to talk to and performing other basic caddy duties, she doesn’t help me with yardages or read greens. That’s where Alex comes in. He had reached out letting me know he was in the Dallas area and could caddy if I wanted him too. I’m not a big fan of change, but I decided it couldn’t hurt to have someone who knows about playing golf and helping me make decisions. So, he was hired for the week.

Day one of the tourney was rough in some ways, but also fun in many others. Nerves were a little high and I started the day with a double. Yikes. Alex did great at helping keep the mood positive and moving forward. He helped read the greens, we rolled some putts, and made some great pars. 9 1-putts that day to be exact. That’s looked great for my putting stats haha. Only drawback is that all of those putts were for par. I think I hit 5 greens in regulation that day. I was hitting great tee shots, just struggling to hit the green from the middle of the fairway. Happens to the best of us sometimes.

Day two I knew I would need an under-par round to make the cut. My game was better but hitting the greens was still a struggle. And starting the first four holes with four bogies was not the way to reach red numbers haha. But I’ve gotta give credit where credit is due. Even though I didn’t have the round I wanted, I couldn’t have still played as well as I did if it hadn’t been for Alex. Caddy of the week in my books. He was golden with yardages, provided all the confidence to keep moral in the right spot, and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in between shots. Golf was fun. Missing the cut hurt because I can see just how close my game is. My tee shots were great and the short game is solid. I just need to tighten up that middle piece in the fairway.

Nonetheless, what a fun week. An overall blast. I got to cheer on Haley as she made the cut and had a top 25 finish, and Alex stuck around and became my practice buddy the last two days too. I think a big take away from this week was getting better at not letting golf define me.

Regardless of score, I still had my friends. Regardless of score, I get to continue to compete. Regardless of score, my mom still hugs me and tells me how much she loves me. Regardless of score, my dad will be my number one fan. And regardless of score, my Heavenly Father has paid the price and saved my soul.

It was hard missing all 3 cuts, but that’s a part of the journey. Thankful God continues to provide the opportunities to keep going! Now for a week off, then it’s time to tee it up again!