Blog: Glover on practice, goals and looking forward  Editor's note: Lucas Glover is one of the PGA TOUR's bright young players. The Clemson graduate won the FUNAI Classic at The WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort in 2005 and posted nine top-10 finishes last year. Glover, who will be writing a blog for PGATOUR.com this year, filed his first installment Thursday prior to teeing off in the first round of the FBR Open.  (WireImage)
It's been pretty cold and rainy here in Phoenix this week. I don't think anyone expects weather like that in the desert. It's cool today, too, but things are supposed to get better as the week goes on. I was blessed with great weather back home in Greenville, S.C., during the offseason, though, so I can't complain. The weather was so good that it was hard not to practice and play a lot over the holidays. I probably worked on my game five days a week. When it was colder, I'd go out and play because it's easier to stay warm then when you're standing around hitting balls. But I put my time in on the range, too. Then I spent some time with my coach, Butch Harmon, at his place in Las Vegas before I played in my first tournament at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. We spent about four or five hours a day working on my game, so I really felt ready by the time I got to Palm Springs. Most of what we worked on was pretty basic stuff, like my ball position, which was causing me to take the club inside. Everything went along with my position at address. If you have something to work on like that, it's fun to see it finally get grooved. And it was at the Hope. I overdid it a little last week, I think, but I feel like I got it back the other day. So we'll see what happens. Hopefully everything will be back the way it was. I just have to go out and play golf this week. I have to go out and trust it. The final round at the Hope was disappointing because I had played so well up until that point. I just got caught up in the weather a little bit, and I didn't have any putts go in early. It's hard to play well when you lose confidence on the greens. If I had made those two 2-footers that I missed on the first two holes, it might have been a different deal. I probably would have been more frustrated, though, if the conditions had been perfect and I had played bad. No one can get in a rhythm when the wind's blowing 50 mph. And as it turned out, I still had a chance to win with three holes left if I had birdied all three. I hit my second shot into the water at the 16th hole, though, and made double bogey, so that was that. But I'm not going to dwell on that day. People ask me how long it took to get over it, and I tell them about 30 minutes. I am going to look forward this year, not backwards.
I have three primary goals in 2007. I didn't win a tournament last year, so I want to win. I want to play better in the big tournaments, too, like the majors, THE PLAYERS and the World Golf Championships. And obviously, I want to make the U.S. Presidents Cup team. I'm going to play a lot early in the year and try to get everything taken care of right off the bat. I'm off next week, and then I'll play five in a row. I'll take another week off and then play five more. I like to play a lot, though. I have to keep my card this year, and I want to get that locked up early so I can concentrate on some other things. I don't go into each week thinking about keeping my card; I am thinking about winning the tournament. But it's a reality and I know I can do it. A lot of the first 20 tournaments are ones that I really like, so I'm looking forward to playing. Thankfully, I am young and healthy and in pretty good shape, so I'm ready to see how things go. I work with Randy Myers, who is the fitness director at Sea Island Resort, where my sports psychologist, Morris Pickens is also based. Randy and I have been concentrating on getting my stamina up and improving my flexibility. The TOUR makes it easy on us when we're out here at a tournament with the fitness trailer on site. So I get in as much work as I can, usually about four or five days a week. Like today, I play late, so I'll go over there and stretch and loosen up before I play. Tomorrow, when I tee off early, I'll work out harder after I'm done. I'm staying with my friend Charles Warren and his wife and baby this week. We were teammates at Clemson, and we play a lot of practice rounds together. We have a good group of former Tigers out here. It seems like there's always someone to go to dinner with and hang out with. It certainly made my rookie year a lot easier. Now I know a lot more people and I'm comfortable out here. But it's nice to have that support system. I've also been fortunate to get to know Jay Haas. He lives in Greenville, like I do, and he's a pretty good role model, if you ask me. I don't actually go to him for advice as much as I've watched how he handles things and how he handles himself. He's a great guy, and No. 2, he's a heck of a player. So that's really helped me grow out here. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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