Day Trip to Kansas

The country’s most great golf courses begin with the letter P: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pine Valley Golf Club, Pacific Dunes, Prairie Dunes Country Club, and Pinehurst Country Club No. 2 just to name a few. -Alex Brown

I’ve been blessed with another opportunity this year by becoming a Golf Digest Panelist. My job is to travel around playing and rating the country and state’s best golf courses. I’m lucky enough to play in golf tournaments around the nation but on days I want to get away from the tournament site and see a new venue, I’m able to call up an extremely famous and nice course to play and rate it. It’s many people’s dream come true.

The courses that are considered on or near the list want Panelists to come rate their course so that they may have the chance to be on the Top 100 Greatest Courses in the Golf Digest Magazine. The Panelists do not receive payment by the Magazine but it usually results in free or reduced green fees. Not a bad gig!

I’m pretty goal-oriented and have always said that I want to play golf in all 50 states. I’ve now added another goal to the list. I want to play every single Top 100 Greatest Courses. However, that goal is a moving target. The list comes out every two years and some of those courses can fall out of the Top 100 and some can jump up into the list. However, the more great golf courses you play, that moving target gets smaller and smaller. As of today, I have played 5 of the Top 100 Greatest Courses but I’m in my first two months of business. I’m a rookie! I have some tournaments coming up that are in states and areas of the country that I’ve never been. I’m excited to venture out and come away with some wonderful stories and photos!

I had a whirlwind trip yesterday, May 28, with three older men up to Kansas. I met Alex Brown and Freddie Moore at 6:00am in Edmond and headed north for a two-hour drive to Wichita/Andover, KS. We found ourselves teeing off at Flint Hills National Golf Club at 8:30am joined with Coach Mark Cline. Mark drove 14 hours from West Virginia in order to accompany us for this fun Friday journey!

Tom Fazio built Flint Hills National Golf Club in 1997. Fazio’s designs are some of my favorites: Karsten Creek in Stillwater, OK, Caves Valley in Owings Mills, MD, The Madison Club in La Quinta, and Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, GA. When you play Karsten Creek, you don’t feel like you’re in Stillwater. When you play Flint Hills, you don’t feel like you are in Andover, Ks. You feel like you are far away playing in a beautiful area such as Baltimore where Caves Valley is near. Tom Fazio makes gorgeous courses but they do favor one another. He built very demanding golf courses yet the smart, straight player will be able to score. Flint Hills’ rough was ROUGH but the zoysia fairways were absolutely perfect and the greens rolled very nicely. I lost four golf balls but shot a 78 from the back tees. It doesn’t look like a good score but I can’t wait to go back again now that I was punched in the mouth by it the first time. I’m awake and ready to go score low on it! Every hole had white poles at the beginning of every fairway and down near the green. It was an in and out for the carts to go through so that the grass won’t get worn out by the riders. I loved that idea! Here are a few pictures of Flint Hills on Friday:


Flint Hills Par 4 #2


Flint Hills Par 3 #10


Flint Hills Par 3 #17

Once we finished out on the 18th hole, the GM (who happens to be a big OU fan) had turkey sandwiches waiting on us so that we could get on the road and make it to our next tee time at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, KS. I was so thankful because I didn’t know if these crazy guys even ate on their extreme expeditions but food comes first before golf with me. A girl has got to eat! The weather was calm but very hot and humid so we were downing the Gatorades and water. I’d take heat over wind any day, especially on those two courses!

We sped a tad and made it with 15 minutes to spare. Perry Maxwell designed this course and was extremely creative by using the natural land it gave him. He adopted Donald Ross’ idea of the upside down bowl greens and placed the greens into the side wall of the sand dunes that were already there. On a few holes, you would have to take the clubs needed to finish the hole as well as clubs to tee off on the next hole before you made it back to your cart. A lot of the tee boxes were built on the top of the sand dunes, which added to the pleasure of the round. I never thought I would see gorgeous views in Kansas but check it out:


Prairie Dunes Par 3 #4


Prairie Dunes Par 4 #5


Prairie Dunes Par 5 #9


Prairie Dunes Par 4 #12


Alex told us on the tee that the green had two hippopotamuses and Dumbo's little sister buried under it.


This is the green...


Prairie Dunes Par 3 #15

We finished in four hours and headed back south for Oklahoma. I rode back with Freddie and had a little excitement as we left the parking lot at Prairie Dunes. We had no gas! And when I say we had no gas, WE HAD NO GAS! I’ve never seen a running car with as little gasoline in the tank as I saw yesterday. Thankfully we came across a gas station as the last second. Grabbed some more Gatorade and beef jerky and made it back to Edmond in four hours.


Our gas tank in the middle of nowhere...and the car was running!

I know how blessed I am to be able to make trips like this but it’s because of the people I have met along the way in this sport and also with my time at OU. It opened many doors for me. I’m going to try my hardest to play some amazing courses while I’m out traveling this summer in places and states that I’ve never been. Fishers Island is one of the courses I'm dying to play. It's on it's own island in New York where you can only get to it by boat or helicopter. It's $100 boat ride and an all day trip but well worth the time. I'm caddying for my friend Lucy in the US Womens Open at Oakmont Country Club so I'm going to stay one extra day and play it to knock it off the list. It's going to be a fun adventure and one I hope to accomplish in years to come!

From Kansas City Rain to Scottsdale Sun!

Once again I am such a slacker at updating my blog. I’m not sure how many people even care to read this but my mom constantly reminds me that I need to update and for my own sake and lack of memory, I need to update before I forget!

Kansas City was such a weird, long, wet week! A practice round canceled, the first round in the books, and a waiting game for the last two. To sum it up, the Tour decided to call it an 18-hole tournament and reduced the purse by 50%. A lot of players and controlling fathers were upset and have made their voices be heard but I think the Tour did their best to make the best decision on all accounts. My mom and I loaded up and headed back to OKC. It’s supposed to be a 5-5½ hour drive but when I get behind the wheel, I try to beat the norm. It’s a game to me and I usually win. My fastest time from Norman to OKC is 24 minutes, which I’m quite proud of. I had to or else my team would’ve left me for a tournament my sophomore year. Lucy Nunn has nicknamed me Jeff (Jeff Gordon) and I must say, she’s spot on. Mama Dye and I made it back from Kansas City in 4 hours 15 minutes, with no speeding tickets! My bladder was yelling at me but we had to make it home in record time! Once we were 15 minutes from home, traffic came to a complete stop. I’ve lived in Oklahoma for 20 years and I’ve never seen it backed up like it was. I knew a hail storm had just come through but what was the deal?! This is what happened….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFv2W7Duqiw
This video is insane


Just some hail along the road

Oklahoma cannot get a break from Mother Nature. It’s awful how much damage people have had because of nasty spring storms. Hopefully it is coming to an end.

The day after I get home from a tournament is usually spent running errands and getting things done. I took the Jeep in for an oil change and was rescued at Wal-Mart for a BBQ lunch with Mike Cluen, a longtime family friend who I’ve been going to see at Golf USA since I was a little girl. His nickname for me is “his favorite A Player.” You’ve never heard a hick accent until you hear him talk. He’s a great man with great life lessons. Later that day I went out to a public course to meet my brother and dad and watch them play in their weekly 9 hole golf league. Brother just got a new set of Titleist AP2s…couldn’t get him to switch to Ping, so I needed to go watch him stripe them. After the second hole I was sick of watching him three putt so I stayed back and watched my dad and his group play. I snuck on and played holes 2-8 with them, without paying (I’m rebellious…I did pay $6 for a dang cart so it wasn’t like it was a free round.) My dad had the night and round of his life and shot 1 over. He has been struggling with his game for a long time and since he’s been watching me play so much lately I figure it just rolled over into his game. At least that’s what I tell him ha!

My club, The Greens, was hit hard by Sunday night’s hailstorm so I was homeless the entire week without a place to practice. The pros around Oklahoma are so kind and never turn me down to play but I feel bad for asking and hate to wear out my welcome. Head pro Chad Lamb at Rose Creek in Edmond let me and my friends come out and play Tuesday afternoon where we had a death match that came down to the last and final hole…girls vs. guys….I won the final hole to bring the match to even and we called it good. It was a fun-filled match that had a lot of trash talking, my favorite kind of golf! Talking crap makes me play harder and gets my competitive juices flowing.

Wednesday I rode out to Duncan, OK with my friend Christina Cung to meet her college team and my old assistant coach at The Territory. The OCU girls were getting ready for the National Championship, which is being held this week in South Dakota and I was thankful they invited me to come play with them. I haven’t been out to The Territory since high school but it’s one of the best courses in Oklahoma. I just wish it wasn’t so far away from the city. I had a good round going but lost two balls on one hole and made a big ol’ snowman. It was late in the round so I finished shooting one over par. We had a great day but had to race back and dodge ‘naders (tornadoes). This is what surrounded the Jeep going 92mph back to OKC.


OSU's Football Stadium in Stillwater

Thursday and Friday were spent at a local public course where I got in a lot of good short game practice. My brother was a bachelor Friday night so he came over and it was the original four for a night. I wouldn’t want to have spent my Friday night doing anything else other than hanging out with them. Adam and I took my dad to the range where I gave my dad a lesson. He just needs simple things to think about and that’s how my pro teaches me, simple! Their company scramble was the next morning in Perkins, OK and my dad was thrilled when he called to tell me that he was pounding 300 yard drives straight down the fairway. He is now asking for more lessons….figures. He’s been so dang hard-headed with me and didn’t want to hear any tips I had for him in the previous years but now that he sees it’s working maybe I can start charging him now. Ha! My dad claims that once I help him with chipping he’ll be shooting in the 60s. I like the confidence but come on now, going from 90s to 60s in a week? He’s not Jesus.

On Saturday morning, Mama Dye and I headed to our second home (OKC Airport) and flew out to Phoenix, AZ. I saw the whole OCU golf team and coach, and 4 high school friends at 6:30 in the morning! It was fun! My mom and I were supposed to stay in my friend's condo in Scottsdale but the AC was broke and there was no way we could stay in a 90 degree place so we checked into the nice, host hotel that was next to the course where I’d be qualifying for the US Open.

I had my first practice round Saturday afternoon at Pinnacle Peak Country Club with Bill, my caddy/Manager of VIP Ping Wrx Fitting aka Big Timer in my books. He paired us up with three more of his co-workers so we were all Ping’ed out. I was afraid all of our clubs were going to get mixed up. We had a fun afternoon playing out in the gorgeous weather. When we finished, it was early enough to sneak in some Sprinkles time…it’s a must when I’m there.


I'm fat, I know

I headed back to the course on Sunday morning for another practice round with Bill. I hit the ball well and figured out my Arizona distances (a lot further than Oklahoma distances). I’m not ashamed though, I did have to hit a bunt driver on a par 3 that was straight into the wind. Thankfully during the actual qualifier I used the 4 wood both rounds.


Pinnacle Peak CC in Scottsdale, AZ

Monday morning was the 36-hole qualifier for the US Open which is being held in Pennsylvania in July. The USGA switched it up this year and had a one-day qualifier, which I really like. I woke up at 4:45am and at 5:15am the sun was out! I’m not a morning person but if the sun is shining that early, I can deal with the early tee time! They set the course at 6800 yards so I knew that that could work in my advantage. We teed off at 7:09am and were finished in 4 hours. I had one birdie, which was a putt made off of the green. I can usually sneak in about 4-5 birdies a round but I knew to be patient and play hard in my second round. I found 0 birdies in the afternoon! Bill and I had a good time out there even though I putted like a blind fool. My speed was off all day long and it was a shame because I was finding almost every fairway and hitting all the other clubs pretty stout. I told Bill as I was walking up to a green, if I don’t make this putt, I’m switching to Scotty Cameron! He knew about how my brother talks to me and tells me I suck so on the green I birdied he told me “hey your brother called and told me you suck.” I laughed and made the dang putt for bird. Bill and the Ping company have taken such good care of me. Look at what my hotel room looked like:


You would think I played Titleist :)

Bill stole my putter one night and redid the paint on my putter and changed it to red. It looks so good now!




Here we are before I teed off

I ended up shooting 8 over with one birdie all day long. I missed making the US Open by 5 shots. I can’t dwell on it too much because I did try my absolute hardest and know that when it’s my time, I will qualify. I’m not going to give up and will just put in that much more time.

We are currently in the plane heading home for a week. I’m going to spend a lot of time on my short game because the next event, The Colorado Women’s Open, is only 6300 yards. That means whoever can make the most putts is going to walk away with the big cardboard check. My brother is my Pro-Am partner so the whole family is going…mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It was my first professional event where I got second last year. I have good memories from it so hopefully we can get a W because I need to bring home the bacon.

Fairways and greens…

Update on my foot:
I went to the foot doctor on Thursday afternoon and had a lot of x-rays taken. He discovered that I have a shattered fibular sesamoid bone in my right big toe. There is no way for it to heal except for surgery. He shot up my foot with a cortisone shot and can continue to do that until I have surgery. Rehab will be three weeks so I'm going to try to prolong the operation until Christmas time.


This is right before I got a shot


Pedicure girl did not know she was messing with a broken toe


End result of the pedicure, slightly bruised but I love Cha Ching Cherry OPI polish!

Kansas City Blues

PRAISE AND THANK GOD is all I have to say. The past 8 hours have been hell! My 12-year-old puppy Yorkie Penny had been missing but she’s been found!!! My mom’s friend let her out at lunch and was eating in our kitchen as Penny was barking at her for food as she always does and the next thing she knew, she was gone! The back door was opened so Penny could go in and out to play. My mom’s friend couldn’t find her anywhere and so she left and went back to work. Our neighbor checked on her a few hours later, with the dog nowhere to be found! I found out around 5pm that my dog was lost so I tried to remain as calm as possible. My mom and I are in Kansas City and were at a restaurant trying to eat but it wasn’t really happening because my mom was sitting across from me bawling into her napkin and me trying to act like nothing is wrong. The waiter must have thought we were crazy. We walked out in our sunglasses and went straight to the hotel. I lost it. And continued to lose it for hours. My dog is my prized possession and we kind of love her to death. Everyone knows that who knows us. I texted everyone I knew and they all went to my house to start searching for her. She loves to hide and sleep in the weirdest places in our house so we had a feeling she was somewhere in there. Nope. They were making Craigslist ads, posters, going door-to-door, etc. My mom and I were helpless bawling in our hotel room all the way in Kansas City. I had awful thoughts going in my head after hours of hearing no good news. Finally, my dad texted and said we found her. My neighbor found her wandering around and put her in the backyard with the rest of her dogs. I guess she didn’t think to call the number that was on Penny’s collar??? When I get home, I will be knocking on her door and thanking her and then asking her what in the world she was thinking? I know Penny is the cutest dog in the world but does she not know that she’s someone pet?!?! Crazy.


Isn't she sweet? This was taken on my birthday night.

Anywho, enough of that. I’m so relieved but am still so emotional about it which is so unlike me!

My mom and I have been in Leawood, KS (Kansas City) since Monday afternoon. We had to drive through some rainy weather but I drove and made it in 4 ½ hours so that was nice. Little did we know that F-3 tornadoes were following close behind. As soon as we checked into our hotel, we saw the awful things Mother Nature was doing back home. People in Oklahoma City, Norman, Choctaw, etc. had homes flattened, cars flown, family members lost in that awful storm. It was terrible and I’m afraid it might not be the last storm of the year.

We are staying in the nicest, newest area of Leawood with everything you can imagine in walking distance of our hotel. We are staying in the most modern hotel you’ve ever seen before! I love it! I’ll let you all know where it is once I leave town just in case there are unwanted visitors!


My mom in front of a cool fountain!

I have had practice rounds at Leawood South Country Club Tuesday and Wednesday with my friends Lucy and Kendra and a new addition to the group, Courtney Mahon. She’s from Missouri and got an exemption into this week’s tournament.





We got over 6 inches of rain last night so the course was closed all day today. I found a fun little driving range to hit at and made it a short day of practice. Leawood South is tight, green, pretty, and hopefully will favor my game this week. My short game has never been so good and if I can fight through the pain of my feet and find fairways and greens, things will be looking goooood!! More than anything, it’s mental and I know that I can make any putt out there, so I’m looking and planning to go low and play consistently for 3 days. I’m not sure how the weather is going to hold up this weekend but at least tomorrow’s weather will be nice. I go off at 9:40am with two friends so we should have a fun day!

People have been asking me if I knew Erica Blasberg who passed away this last Monday. I knew who she was, not sure if I ever played with her but it is an awful story and touches close to home. We are asked to put ourselves out there to promote women’s professional golf and there are a lot of responsibilities and risks in doing so. Playing golf around the world is a blast and people think how easy and great it is but it is an emotional rollercoaster and to play your best, a lot of things have to go in your favor. I could write a book on how hard it is and I’m just in my first full year on Tour! I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else but I’ll be honest and let everyone know it’s not all happy times. The Blasberg family is in my prayers and I want to thank Erica for making the LPGA and women’s golf a better place.

Q&A Time!
This week, David asked, “how tough is it to adjust from course to course with different speeds on the greens?
A: David, it can take some time to get used to the different green speeds and that’s one reason why we get to a tournament site so early in the week. Golf courses are generally the same everywhere you go. Hit it in the fairways...hit it on the greens. Depending on what state you’re can change how far you hit each club but I think the main difference between each course are the green speeds. We have been in Florida and Mexico and southern Texas so we’ve been on nothing but Bermuda greens…not my favorite. There’s a lot more to think about when putting on that grass but here in Leawood, we have smooth bent grass greens and zoysia fairways. The greens are going to get speedy if it dries out and zoysia itself won’t allow for a lot of roll and with all this rain, we aren’t getting but a few inches of roll off of our drives. Thanks for your support and question!!!

Check out live scoring on futurestour.com this weekend and hopefully we can get it going and keep it going!!!

What I’m Reading: “Swinging from My Heels: Confessions of an LPGA Star” by Christina Kim
What I’m Playing for this Week: My dog Penny!!!!!!!

My Week Off

This week has been CRAZY BUSY! I’ve worked really hard on trying to better myself on the course and so far, the results have been positive. I was able to play with my head pro/coach twice this week and the time we spend together is always beneficial for me. I let him know pretty early on in the week that I was frustrated with a lot of parts of my game and since we have such a good relationship, he told me to get my head out of my ass for a lack of better terms and to quit being such a perfectionist. I tweaked a few things on my putting stroke and have some new simple swing thoughts that will hopefully keep the ball in the short grass this coming week.

The weather in Oklahoma this past week was hot but WINDY. It was annoying to play in but great for preparing myself for poor conditions. There is a great chance of storms in Kansas City this coming week where I’ll be playing in the Mercedes-Benz Kansas City Classic. I’m hoping the putter can stay hot but more powerful than that, I have my head in a good place and am ready to play solid golf and hopefully be in contention on Sunday afternoon. Anyone in the surrounding area of KC should come over to Leawood South Country Club and watch some great golf. The tournament starts May 14 and runs through May 16. For further information you can check out futurestour.com.

A while ago I put up a post that anyone could ask me a question and I’d answer it. Here’s a response to Glen:

Q: How far are you hitting your driver?
What type of putter do you use?
What ball do you prefer?
After playing Kierland in Scottsdale in October, I can understand why sometimes the pros don't want to much interaction after a round( I was ready to go to he club house on #16 and I was in a cart) How do you do it physically and mentally day in and out. I know conditioning is huge but 100 degrees is still dang hot. I guess my question is how do you cope?

A: Hey Glen, thanks for caring so much about what I play with and how I deal with things out on the course. First off, it depends on conditions and what state I’m playing in as to how far I hit my driver. It could range from 250 yards all the way to 290 yards. Last week in San Antonio I was reaching 280-290 yards consistently except for the fact I was in the trees. I’d rather bump it down 250 yards and be in the fairway! I switched in March to a Ping Redwood putter with a really pretty Starshot finish. It’s only 33 inches with two degrees flat. They added tungsten weight in the heel and toe because I prefer a heavier putter. I put on a Scotty Cameron baby T grip because I like a little thicker grip to get my hands out of my putting stroke. I play a Titleist ProV1 ball and am thankful that they have been so good to me since turning pro last May. Lastly, I am not too much of an emotional golfer so I try my best to stay neutral on great rounds and bad rounds. I study so much about the mental side of the game rather than the physical side of the game so I know what I should be thinking about and how I should be acting out there. The wonderful thing about golf is a score is not going to determine the type of person you are. If you shoot the absolute worst score you can imagine, God willing, you are still going to be alive the next day. One bad shot is not the end of the world, same as a bad round or a bad tournament. Live in the present, enjoy the GAME, and stop and smell the roses along the way!


The orange dot will be red soon, don't worry!

If anyone else has a question of any sort, comment on the blog, write on my wall, or find me on Twitter, Kendall_Dye.

Will shout back later this week from Kansas City!!!