Back At It

After three weeks completely off due receiving injections in my shoulder and trap muscle, I will be starting to get back in shape this week.  I'm looking forward to 2013!  I will start by strengthening my shoulder with rehab-type exercises and gradually get back into a full workout routine.  Golf-wise, things start from the ground up -- putting and short game for a week and as my body gets stronger, back into full swings.  Hopefully I'm back at it in 3 weeks!!

More Iowa in December

Also got to do a little sitting in a tree stand! It's so serene sitting quietly while the forest comes to life as the sun rises. #favorite

Iowa in December

At a wedding for Ashley's cousin, Jenny, in Decorah, Iowa. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

Fun to see family!

Oh Happy Day...

Yesterday, Sunday, July 15th, two lovely ladies had birthdays! Ryan's cousin Jaime (and hubs Craig and big brother Charlie) welcomed Beverly "Paige" into the world! Happy Birth Day sweet baby girl! Momma and baby are doing well!

And my Grandma Nora (yes, my British grandmother!) celebrated her 75th Birthday!!  This is one impressive lady... She gets up everyday and walks 5 miles with their Huskie, does her daily devotional and has a cup of tea before most people have even woken up!  She taught me to knit, to love English Breakfast  tea (she only has it like four times a day...) and she is funny and loving to no end!  Though we say "tomato" and "schedule" and "banana" (to name a few) differently, I could not love her more!

We love yall!

Hawkeye State

We are in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Ash's parents live, for a little while. I didn't go low enough in the qualifier for the John Deere this past Monday, so we have had a week off of just chilling...surrounded by corn fields.

Next weekend I'm playing in the Waterloo Open, which is only about an hour away.

Hot Iowa!

This past Thursday I shot 69 in the PGA John Deere pre-qualifier, which successfully got through to the Monday qualifier.  The John Deere is in the "quad cities" region on the Iowa/Illinois border.  After Thursday's round, we drove a couple hours to Ash's parents' place in Cedar Rapids, which is where we are now.  Then we go back for the qualifier on Monday.

It's SOOO HOT! It's been about 100 degrees every day that we've been here!!

Action Packed Couple Weeks

In the last two weeks, we have done quite a bit.  I flew home from Iowa thinking we were going to pack our things in a PODS for storage for a couple months while our new place was getting ready.  So, we started packing our things.  Then we received word that the place would be ready a couple days later, which would be the day before we were supposed to leave for West Virginia.  In a matter of 3 days, we packed up all our things, did the necessary paperwork, and then in one afternoon did the actual move.  

After getting about 5 hours of sleep per night for about 5 days, we hit the road to West Virginia for a PGA Tour event qualifier.... The Greenbrier Classic.  We arrived on Wednesday, and due to fatigue for obvious reasons, I decided to practice instead of play a practice round.  The next day was the pre-qualifier (qualifying takes two parts), and my easy going 72 was easily good enough to advance.  The next couple days we were planning on resting with maybe a fun day of white water rafting or zip-lining.  Unfortunately, two things happened... 1) Ash got sick, presumably from the lack of rest over the previous week; and 2) a freak storm came through West Virginia and knocked the power out in approximately 80% of the state.  The people in the state were so ill-prepared for anything like this, that over the next 26 hours, we never were able to eat, spent 2.5 hours in line to get the rationed 9 gallons of gas, checked out of our hotel, and drove 2 hours to Virginia where there was power and food.  Maybe it's because I grew up in Miami where we are always "hurricane-ready" and people own a back-up generator for their home, but it was hard to believe that no one within an hour (talking gas stations, hotels, and restaurants) had a back-up power source except for the state-owned travel plaza off the interstate.  

When Monday came for the qualifier, we woke up at 5 am to leave at 5:20 for our 2-hour drive to the course.  Ash was a trooper as she drove the whole way to allow me to close my eyes so I could be ready to play.  I played very well, shooting 66, which was tied for the low round of the day.  Unfortunately, there were 6 of us at that number and only 4 qualifiers.  We went into a playoff that lasted 3 holes.  It became 4-for-3 after the first hole because of a birdie and a bogey.  We all parred the 2nd playoff hole.  The 3rd playoff hole, I hit great shots, but misjudged my adrenaline and sailed a 9-iron 165 yards (usually hit it 148) right over the flag, over the green, in a tough spot.  I was unable to get it up-and-down and was thus eliminated.  Tough to swallow. 

So, we got the in car and drove about 4 hours to Lexington, KY, where today we are concluding our drive to Moline, IL... about 8.5 hours.  

The Smith Wedding!

Ash and I got to be a part of our friends Josh and Margaret's wedding!  Ash did Margaret's hair and makeup!

The day of the wedding, I got to hang out some with Josh, but while Ash was doing this....

....... I was doing this.....

It was a beautiful ceremony on the beach in Hilton Head, and a really fun reception!

CONGRATS to the Smiths!!!

Moving Day

We are packing up our things in our town home, getting ready to do an entire move in one day, this Monday!!  We are moving into a different town home, in the same community, only a few blocks away, but the scheduling is only going to allow us a day to move before we hit the road Tuesday!  It will be pretty crazy, but we are really excited!

There have been some changes to the schedule.... it's updated!!

In Lexington, KY this week. Played with a 100 yr old man today in the Pro-Am. What an experience! It was so impressive to see a guy play 18 holes at that age! He also dropped a 40 ft putt on one hole!

I'm off at 1:33 tomorrow.

Road Trip

Long day on the road: Orlando to Lexington, KY with a dinner stop at The Stallings residence in Knoxville. Thanks Scott and Jen!

First of 7 weeks on the road. Ash joins me Saturday for good!

Piracy

A routine night out with the guys in Champions Gate/Celebration, FL....

Back At It

Last week was my 2nd week of playing and I finally started to feel comfortable with the game and competing.  I figured it would probably take one "warmup" tournament to do it, and it did.  I had a solid week that was played in windy and cold conditions, finishing 13th in the NGA Tour event in Windsor, NC.  The reason for playing well was probably because Ash was able to come up for most of the event!

This week I'm in the the southeastern part of NC, playing an eGolf Tour event that starts tomorrow.  I'm at 8:40am.

Day One

During the last week, I have seen some great progression in the healing of my finger.  So, today I went to the range and finally hit a few balls.  I've been able to chip and putt recently, but today was the first time taking full swings.  All I did was hit some wedges, but after 8 weeks off, it felt so great to be out there!  I only hit 27 balls today, but hopefully I can increase a little each day.

Ash had her first week of work this week!  She is the pastoral assistant at our church, Celebration Community Church.  If you are ever in Orlando, I encourage you come to a service on Sunday.  You will hear truth!!  The job as proved to be Ashley's cup-of-tea.....she did administrative work while on staff for a Congressman in Washington, DC.  Her job hear is a lot of administrative work AND it's a "field" that is a passion of hers = CHURCH!  

We are so grateful for the friends we have made at CCC, and now being able to plug in the church and be a part of the growth is so fun!  

Let the Healing Begin

The stitches are out in the leg! I'm hoping to run tomorrow.

The finger/knuckle is starting to feel better.  I'm going to try to practice short game today with my fingers taped together.

Therapy on the neck/shoulder is going well, but it's also going slow.  It has been tough to assess the progress because I haven't been able to swing (which might have been a good thing) due to my finger.

All in all, things are getting better, but it doesn't look like I'll be ready for Tallahassee....hoping for Ocala.

Injury Update

#1:  As in the last post, I'm starting Physical Therapy on my neck and shoulder, so hopefully the healing is starting strong.  The next 3 weeks will be a lot of time spent with my PT, Alex.

#2:  Got the MRI results back on my hand today.  Basically a strained tendon and sprained ligament.  But, no placement damage or straight tears.  That's good news!  The recovery time should be short!

#3:  The stitches in my left leg should come out in a week!

Long Hiatus

We apologize for the long absence!  There have been a few things going on in the last few months, and we would like to update everyone as briefly as possible.

As most of you know, I was not able to advance through 2nd stage of PGA Tour Q-School.  Shortly after, I had some various MRI's done to try to find some answers to a mystery pain down my right arm that I had been playing with all year.  We found out that I have a perforated disc in my neck  (C3,C4), and some minor tears in my right shoulder.  It even showed that at some point I had dislocated my shoulder without realizing it.  December 27th, I had an Epidural done in my neck and two Cortisone shots in my right Trapezoid muscle.  I started Physical Therapy just this past week which I am hoping to go hard with that for three weeks before the tournaments start to crank up.  I am allowed to practice while doing PT, so hopefully I can be healthy and ready!

Staying with the injury theme, I recently had a really weird one while hitting balls a couple weeks ago.  While warming up, my hand started to really hurt, and after a while it turned purple and swollen.  Pending yet another MRI result, doctors think it's something called "Boxer's Hand" where the sheath that holds the tendon in place over the knuckle is damaged.  That causes the tendon to slip to a side of the knuckle, rubbing against bone and nerve, resulting in quite a bit of pain.  Luckily, the recovery time is short, and I should be back to practicing soon!  Here's a picture of my knuckle an hour after leaving the course....

One more injury happened a couple days ago.... since they come in three's.  I was doing box-jumps Thursday morning at about 7am, and I pushing myself that morning, hoping to jump longer and higher than I usually do.  Well, I was succeeding, then I missed one - it was the first time I've ever not made a jump and I thought I had just scraped my shin, so I did what any athlete pushing themselves does: I kept jumping.  A few jumps later I looked down and saw some red fluid spraying everywhere, so I went to go clean myself up and that's when I realized that this wasn't just a scrape since there was white cartilage visible in the wound.  Five hours and an ER visit later, I had 6 stitches in my shin and off I went.  The good news is that I should healthy and practicing hard within a week!

Okay enough with the injuries.....

Ash and I had some great Holiday time with family.  Thanksgiving was in Miami with my family, and Christmas was in Iowa with Ash's family.  Both were a lot of fun and pretty relaxing.  A few days prior to Christmas, we were able to go see A Christmas Carol in Chicago..... it was phenomenal!

For New Year's, we decided to remain at home and have a "Formal Picnic" on our Living Room floor for a date night.  So much fun!

We have had a great offseason enjoying time with friends from our church!  It's been such an answer to prayer to find a solid church to call "home" and develop relationships that allows us to grow together as a congregation!

Hopefully there will be much much shorter lengths of time before our next post!