Long Winter

The last couple months have been pretty much a complete bust. I've played very poorly of late, and I've been struggling to figure it out. I seem to be getting things back on track, but I ran out of time. I wasn't on top of my game for the most important part of the season, making things tough heading into winter.

I started to hit some good shots at 1^st stage, which made the week all the more frustrating. I just couldn't get anything going, leaving myself a huge hole the last day. I still felt good, but the smallest mistake was going to leave me no chance. I felt like I was going to make it. I didn't take advantage of a few early opportunities, then had a couple of three-putts. I was still fighting, but then picked a poor club, picked a too aggressive line, and hit it in the water. Double. 4 over after 5 is a pretty deep hole when you need to shoot a low score. The rest of the round was just a grind to try to make birdie on every hole. Didn't do it.

So now I have to figure out a way to get through the winter while still keeping my game in shape. I've got a nice place to play next year, very nice. Winter's are always tough on a mini-tour pro. There just aren't enough opportunities to make money. The goal is to go into the off-season with a cushion, but making almost no money for two months isn't the way to build a cushion.

Where my game needs to improve this off-season:

--Driving. Usually a strong part of my game, but it's been lagging of late. The driver has been solid, but I've been very weak with the 3 wood. Need to work that out.

--Putting. Pretty strong all summer, but fell off a little towards the end of the year. Not super worried here, but being able to count on the putter helps the whole game.

--Wedge play. My distance control has been very poor late in the year with my wedge play from 90-130 yards. This seemed to improve quite a bit during the last couple weeks, but some work is still needed.

I'll work hard on it, and hopefully get to play a few tournaments in the meantime.

Luke Swilor