Land of Lincoln!

One week down, one more to go. Last Sunday, my mom and I began our two-week journey up to Ohio. I drove the entire way up there while she sat patiently in the passenger seat, reading magazines, texting, facebooking, and making fun of small town names with me. For example, Effingham, IL…great name!

We drove 7 hours to St. Louis, spent the night, and drove 5 hours on to Cincinnati the next day. It was my first time to Cincy so I didn’t know how humid the weather could get. It was unbelievably HUMID! Memphis-like. My friend Lucy and I went to King’s Island Amusement Park Tuesday afternoon after my one-hour driving range session. We had an absolute blast riding all of the roller coasters and acting like little kids. I took my camera on almost every ride and found out at the end of the day that I was breaking a park rule by doing so, whoops!



Wednesday morning I was selected to play in the tournament’s pro am. I was paired up with a fun group and ended up shooting -12. We missed the prizes by 2 shots but I had a great time and met some cool guys. That night I had to go back up to the course for the Pro Party. We have one each week with the sponsors of the tournament. I won an iTunes gift card so I was a happy girl.

Thursday afternoon I had my one and only practice round with my usual group, Lucy Nunn, Kendra Hanson, and Jane Rah. Since Jane is higher up on the money list than the rest of us, I made her sign a contract that if she won she had to pay for all of our tickets back to King’s Island. She was tied for the lead after the first round but ended up getting 9th which is great for a 19 year old!

Friday was my first round of the Teva Championship in Mason, OH and I teed off at 1:30pm. I played alright and made some good putts but also missed two short ones and three putted a few too many times. I shot -1 and stood 5 shots off the lead. The next morning we had a four-hour rain delay that pushed my 12:20pm starting time to 4:25pm. I didn’t think there was any way we could get the round in but as we sprinted up the last par 3 and got our short knocker of the group to tee off on 18, we finished the last hole in the dark while the other girls had to come in due to the horn sounding off because of darkness. I was really thankful we didn’t have to get up and play one hole early Sunday morning. We leisurely got to the course the next morning to find out that I missed the cut by one shot. It was my second cut to miss and kind of heartbreaking to know that I played awful in the second round and only missed it by one. I could count on 2 hands the number of opportunities I had to make birdie or save par and I didn’t. I know every good player misses cuts and I just cannot let this get me down. It is one of many tournaments I play in and just because my swing is going through a lull, I’m going to work extremely hard to make sure that never happens again.

My mom and I decided to drive west and see some of my friends in Carmel, IN. But first, I went to Crooked Stick Golf Club to rate a top 100 golf course. I had no problem getting on and played a quick 18 with their first assistant professional. I warmed up next to Alice Dye giving a lesson to a member and then met famous golf course architect Pete Dye on the first tee box. Pretty neat because I always tell people he is my grandpa and he designs so many great golf courses. He was a pretty cute old man and it made my day! Little did I know that when I was on my second to last hole, I took my cart the wrong way and almost went right into a member’s tee shot. That member happened to be Peyton Manning. I wanted to go over there and get a picture with him but the assistant pro said that he is the one member that they shy away people from. Danget! At least I got to see him up close and personal though. I slow played the rest of the way around just in case he came back by the clubhouse. He never did but maybe one day I’ll get to really meet him. We had a home cooked dinner with my friends, the Savich’s, in Carmel and had a great night off from the typical restaurant and hotel room. They are the funniest people I know! Lots of laughs and stories but then we had to leave them be because the girls had a big tournament the next morning in south Indianapolis.


Grandpa Pete Dye and I!

Monday, my mom and I drove 2 hours west to Decatur, IL. It is the original home of the Chicago Bears. That’s about all it is home to. The exit we took for Decatur had a big blue attraction sign that had absolutely nothing on it. Awesome. We get to spend an entire week here too!!! This week is the Tour Championship so it will be a four round tournament starting on Thursday morning. We were only allowed one practice round on Tuesday because they had three pro ams this week. As most people know, the weather has been crazy lately. At home, OKC got 11 inches in just a few hours. It must’ve travelled up to where I am because this is what we got last night:



They are going to make one par 5 a par 3 because it is completely underwater. The tee times have already been moved back an hour and a half and who knows what will actually happen tomorrow morning before the first group tees off.


My practice round group: Tara, Jane, and I....the ones who never use pull carts!


My first official day to ever use one of these!

Since we didn’t get a practice round today, Lucy and I had a nice long morning practice and then hit the tennis courts this afternoon. We played for a solid two hours so I can only imagine how sore I’m going to be in the morning.

Welp, time to get some rest! Hopefully we can play all 18, for all 4 days and without rain delays! I don’t think we would know how to play without rain! Hope everyone has a great weekend and is enjoying their summer. I realized today that I have been home for one full day in Oklahoma this whole month. I’m ready for some home cooked meals, my bed, and my dog! Next week! Gotta make some money before I go home though!

What I’m Listening to: Drake - Thank Me Later
What I’m Reading: I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

Major life changing news for me: My best friend Caitlan was hired this past week at Kempler Energy in South Beach Miami! I have a hard time seeing my best friend move across country but I'm so proud of her for graduating in 5 years with her undergrad in industrial engineering annnnd receiving her MBA. Another close friend, MJ Desbiens, was recently hired as Arkansas State's Head Womens Golf Coach! Another huge hire and I know she is going to take that team to the top. She has already moved to Jonesboro and I didn't even get to say goodbye to her. My weekly lunch buddy has left me so now I have to travel 7 hours one way to have a meal with her...I will do it! So proud of you MJ! And finally, another one of my best friends, Whitney, has started her first summer in PA School at the University of Oklahoma. She is going to be one of the best PA's ever but the next two and a half years are going to be brutal for her. Please keep these three girls in your prayers. They are doing great things in the world and I'm so thankful to have them in my life!

Colorado Mountains

Team Dye

Well the week in Denver has come to an end but it has been a memorable one to say the least. The family flew up with me on Tuesday morning to Denver for the Colorado Women’s Open. It is a women’s professional event but includes a simultaneous pro am like the PGA’s AT&T Pro Am tournament. I took my brother Adam as my partner this year, knowing we could tear it up. I, however, didn’t carry my weight the first two days…

I shot 74 in the first round with only one birdie. It was a matter of not hitting as many greens as I should have and not making any birdie putts that I normally drop. I was sitting two strokes ahead of the cut, looking to move on up during round two. …My golf game had other plans. I started off the day with a tee shot that hit the cart path and missing the hazard by 2 inches. Whew! I finally caught a break. However, on the 2nd hole I went on to double from 131 yards out in the middle of the fairway. Got one back by getting on a par 5 green in two shots and two putting for birdie. A few holes later I doubled from 107 yards out in the middle of the fairway. Not cool! The 16th hole, my approach shot didn’t make it over the tree and came straight down. I had an awkward 60-yard pitch that I pushed out to the right and hit the same tree and flew into the hazard. I dropped, hit it over the green and proceeded to get that up and down for a beautiful triple. The following two holes I went on to three putt. 9 over, 45. I had my back against the wall at this point.

I can go to some pretty dark places in my head and I’d like to think I can do this but eventually bring myself out of it. When we were walking down #1, our tenth hole of the day, my mom asked if I was awake. Yep, pretty sure those doubles and triple were a cold splash of water right in my face. I was definitely awake but wishing I was in a nightmare to wake up and realize I didn’t just shoot a freakin’ 45! I put myself in deep holes all the time, holes that I can slowly crawl myself out of. Well this, was a dang mine! 9 over on top of the 2 over I shot the day before…I was looking to be in contention on the final day but now I’m thinking I’m missing the cut by a mile and hopefully making the cut for the pro am team competition. I find every green on the second nine and one birdie to finish 45-35. Now that 35 looks awesome but let me tell you, I missed a 2 foot putt on my 17th hole and my chip on the 9th, my eighteenth of the day lipped out and went six feet by, where I proceeded to two putt for par. The 35 was not that pretty.

So here I am, shooting 74-80, on a course that I tore up last year and a course that I should tear up every time I play it but I kept my spirits up because I knew there would be another day with the pro am competition.

We went back to the hotel, showered, and headed over to Boulder so Adam and my sister-in-law Jennifer, could see Pearl Street and all the weirdos that it contains. Us girls went to a lot of different stores while the boys sat outside and people watched. We saw some straaanngge people! There were great photo ops everywhere! We found a yummy Mexican place to eat called The Rio (I believe?) I don’t drink often and especially not lately so since the day sucked so bad I needed a frozen strawberry margarita to make my insides feel a little better. Turns out I had two to make myself feel on top of the world. Two is the limit at this restaurant. We had a fabulous time eating along the street, cracking jokes and speaking inappropriately. By the time dinner was over, I found out that I had made the cut on the number! There lived to be another day!

We drove back to our hotel and I passed out til morning. Best sleep I have had in a long time. Woke up feeling like I had been given a second chance to get myself back into gear. My dad wanted to caddy for me once again but I told him no for the third straight day. I just knew that if I had my bag with me, I couldn’t blame anything on anyone except myself. So he went on to push Adam’s pull cart…something my dad is very good at doing. That and cleaning our dirty balls. Ha!


My dad "caddying." Note us getting ready for the next hole in the background. God love em! :)

I started off the day by sticking an 8 iron to 6 feet. I over read the putt and missed it. Screw it, move on and try again. I stuck my next approach to four feet. MADE IT! Alright, things are feeling back to normal. The next was a par 5 where I put my approach in a bunker about 60 yards away. I stuck a gap wedge shot out of there to 6 feet. Draino! It was raining on the greens we were on. The 14th tee was moved up so I busted driver just to get the ball somewhere around the green. I was 20 yards out and made the chip for eagle! Holy moly, 4 under thru 5 holes. This was getting kind of fun. I block my next tee shot and put it in a nasty fairway bunker looking at a pretty difficult pin up ahead. I somehow manage to put that shot to 12 feet away. My triple hole from the previous day, number 16 was next and I missed the green. I had an easy chip that I somehow managed to thin 20 feet too far. I made the come back putt for par. I stuck the next par 3 tee shot to 6 feet that I went on to par. And finally the 18th, our 9th of the day, I put to 12 feet that fell in for birdie. 5 under, 31, on that side. Less than 24 hours prior I shot 45 on those 9 holes. Who does that? I still don’t believe I shot a 45.


My near hole-in-one

I knew I still had a lot more golf to play and I had to keep digging out of that 10 over par hole I put myself in. 5 more birdies was the goal. I had plenty of opportunities, hitting every single green and hitting every single fairway. I found only one birdie on the second nine and that was on #5, par 3 that was 154 yards. I hit a 9 iron and saw it bounce in front of the hole, tap the pin and finish 5 inches from the cup. I was so disappointed. How could that thing not go in?! I had a tap in birdie and pared the rest of the way in. 66, -6, +4 overall. I moved from T44th to T12th. Not awful but man the whatifs! I like that I graced my presence in each category. I saw the 70s, 80s, and 60s all in a matter of three consecutive rounds. Team Dye shot 64 today, 68 on round one and 66 yesterday, -18 which got us 6th in the pro am competition. Adam was able to get two brand new Vokey wedges with his golf shop money so he was a happy boy. I wish I could’ve helped more in the first two rounds but I was glad to play well in front of him and show him that I’m not wasting my time playing professionally. I think he believes I can do it, but it’s nice to show the brother I can score well. I made a decent check of $2200, which will be nice to put back into the golf account and hopefully see a few more bigger checks in the coming weeks.



We are currently flying back to OKC for one full day then heading northeast in the car to Mason, OH. I am thinking we will stop in St. Louis Sunday night to check out my friend Sammy B’s new town and then head on to Ohio Monday morning. I am thinking about playing and rating Canyata Club in Cincinnati since it’s a top 100 course. There is also King’s Island Amusement Park which I’ll be finding some free time to visit. I’ll play in the Futures event in Ohio Friday, June 11-13 then drive over to Decatur, IL to play in another Futures event June 17-20. I’m thinking about rating a course called Camargo Golf Club in Illiniois that is another top 100 course and a must-see! Mama Dye and I will be driving home on Father’s Day and will stay home for one full week before I head out for another three weeks.

I’m so tired and can’t wait to see my puppy dog and get into my own bed! We had a great week full of laughter and memories and I’m so glad the entire family got to go with me. Hopefully it won’t be the last. Until next time…

One Sweet Scenario

Check out this sweet scenario:

My family (mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law) flew up to Denver this morning with me and it's the first time we are all together at a professional golf event. What's even better is that I'm getting to play in a professional golf tournament with my brother as my partner!!! How many professional athletes get to say that they've played in a professional competition with their sibling as their teammate? Not many. I'm blessed!

My brother is one of the main reasons why I even play this game. He is and has always been the much better golfer and someone I strive to beat every time we tee it up. Golf is one of our best talents and you can truly say that it is God-given. Some of our family members play(ed) golf and love the game but the both of us have worked hard to get to the level of play we are at. Adam has never seen me play in a professional tournament so this is a special week for all of us. It would be great for us to come away with the cardboard check Friday. Friday's results are already destined so all we can do is give it our all and have fun!



We are playing in the Colorado Women's Open in Denver, CO at Green Valley Ranch. We had our first and only practice round this morning with my college teammates Kelly Jacques and Ellen Mueller. My dad walked around with us trying to find wildlife...his favorite thing to do. He got me excited because he said there was a bobcat and I quietly walked down the cart path to see a dang calico cat going through the weeds. He got sleepy and kept losing us when he fell asleep on tee box benches. We could never keep track of him. Adam and I are lugging our bags around this tournament so we were worn out after the round. We had a nice, senior citizen (5:00pm) mexican dinner and were back at the hotel at a early time tonight.


Hopefully this year's results will be one place better!

Adam and I tee off at 12:20pm tomorrow for the first round and play with one other girl. Hopefully she won't feel like the third wheel in our group. They have the course set up for 6,325 yards so with the elevation as it is, we should have some good opportunities at birdie. I've been putting on greens that have been rolling about a 7 and these greens in Denver are creeping up to 12 on the Stimpmeter. We better be aware of where we are! I'm hitting the ball so dang far up here so that's another thing I have to be aware of. I'm planning on hitting a lot of fairway woods and hybrids off the tee this week. Last year I was a little more aggressive but ended up getting 2nd individually and 2nd as a pro-am team which seemed to work out alright. I feel like I've gotten a lot better since last year's Open and a lot more wiser and feel that I can score even better this year. I'm really excited and know that if I enjoy my time out on the course, good golf will come. Hope everyone has a great first week of June! Crazy how fast the time flies!!!

They might have live scoring found here: Live Scoring

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!!!