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Will Mitchell was a standout junior golfer during his teenage years as a member of the Canadian Junior Golf Association (CJGA). As a former CJGA National Champion and captain of a victorious CJGA Team Canada at the Mizuno North America Cup, Will graduated from the junior ranks with an accomplished competitive golf resume. In 2008, Will embarks on a professional career as a full time member of the Canadian Tour. His blog will provide an inside look at what juniors can expect if they pursue a professional career as well as some helpful tips and insights from an individual who is very familiar with the competitive junior golf scene. CLICK HERE FOR A FULL BIO June 25, 2008 Hey Everyone, With the Canadian swing of the tour well underway now, I have to say that this week was a week of firsts; some disappointments and some great experiences. For the first time in the tour season, I was able to find a billet for the week. They were a great married couple in their sixties. They owned a house right on the ocean in White Rock, B.C. that was only a few minutes from the course. It was like staying at your grandparents house. They would want to hear about my day each time I came home. They would have dinner ready for when I got home from the course and would always have breakfast laid out for me in the morning. The only downside that I found was that I think I would get a little too relaxed and casual about the accommodations. I would carry that overly relaxed feeling and attitude onto the golf course. The golf course on any other week of the year would not be considered hard. At a mere 6600 yards it is considered short by most tour standards. However the grounds crew of the course did an excellent job growing some VERY healthy seven inch rough and tightening up the fairways. The rough had not been cut for the week previous to the tournament and the greens were not watered once during the tournament week. With the combination of the cement hard greens and the tight fairways guarded by the seven inch rough, the course would make you pay for any mistake. I spend the majority of Monday exercising my caddie skills for a fellow tour player Tyler Martin as he tried to Monday qualify for the event. Tuesday and Wednesday seemed to fly by, as they were each full of driving range time, practice rounds and some enjoyable strolls by the ocean. When Thursday came around I was feeling good about my game but was disappointed to see that I had an afternoon tee time. I have found that when I have an afternoon tee time, I have a lot of trouble passing the time in the morning. I usually find myself awake in the mornings around 7 am perplexed as to what I will do before my 1:40 tee time. With a high cut three wood off the 10th tee which landed in the fairway bunker, I was off to start my seventh tour event. As I dug my feet in to the sand and stared down the pin, the words of my caddie came through the air, “no reason not to take a rip at it, it’s not the first bunker shot you’ve ever hit.” With a clean sweep of the club, I watched my Callaway Tour I X ball fall from the sky just inches from the hole. “Well that’ll do lefty,” utters my caddie as he rakes the bunker. With the confidence of an early birdie I stood in the fairway of the second hole and from 283 yards lashed at my X Tour Hot 3-wood and was delighted to see the ball pitch in the up slope short of the green and dribble its way onto the green. With a failed attempt at my eagle and a tap in birdie I was well on my way. As two more birdies and a bogey dropped I rounded the front nine in a tidy 33. Now all I can say about the back nine is that it seemed like a bad dream that I couldn’t escape. I wasn’t able to hit the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 9th greens in regulation, and was unable to salvage par on any of those holes. A resulting 42 back nine concluded my rollercoaster of a first day. Knowing I needed a good round on Friday I was eager to start my round in the morning. However, with two birdies and four bogeys on the second 18, my hopes for making the cut had been dashed. I have to say that honestly I am happy with the way I have been hitting the ball lately. I honestly can’t explain why I’m not scoring better then I am. So as I close out this blog I guess I will just keep plugging away at my dream in hopes that my hours and hours of practice will eventually pay off. Will Mitchell Have a question for Will? Email will.mitchell@cjga.com and he’ll do his best to have it answered here in a future blog. Note: Follow Will's progress on the Canadian Tour BLOG INDEX April 18th, My First Year on Tour |
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