Out on the Nationwide Tour with rookie Shawn Jasper

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Editor's note: Each week during the season one of our five Nationwide Tour bloggers will check in with a quick note about how their season is going and what life is like out on the road with the Nationwide Tour. This week's player blog is from Shawn Jasper, who is in his rookie season on Tour after picking up his card at Qualifying School. He's a 2007 graduate of the University of Missouri and previously played on the Canadian Tour. So far this season, he has yet to make a cut in five starts.

My first year as a Nationwide Tour member is off and running. So far it has been a blast, even though my golf game has been far from stellar! Since graduating from Mizzou in 2007, I've been playing on various mini-tours. To step up to the Nationwide Tour has been an amazing experience. The volunteers, security, grandstands and ropes are all things you don't get on the mini-tours. Not to mention there are spectators other than friends and family out watching us play. And club trailers? I'm like a kid in a candy store every time I go to the course. And I haven't even reached the PGA TOUR yet.

In just a few months I have been able to go to countries I had never visited. Panama and Bogota were both great golf courses and I was able to meet some cool people in the pro-ams. I just wish the weather in Bogota would have cooperated. You could feel the amount of time and energy sponsors had put in to make us feel welcome. It was fantastic.

Because of the two-week breaks early in the season I have been able to go home to St. Louis and sneak in some time working with my coach, Pol Montano. Through the first four events I have really been struggling with getting the club stuck inside and underneath the swing plane on the downswing. A lot of my shots go left and it's hard to control. To solve this, Pol and I have really been working on swinging the grip left faster, allowing the club head to get back in front of me and more on-plane. I can feel it getting better everyday.

It wasn't all work at home though - I was also able to catch a couple Cardinals games, which is always nice!

I am fortune that another former Mizzou golfer, Jason Schultz, has been out here for a couple years and can kind of show me the ropes. His coach and my coach teach the same swing concepts, so we tend to work on the same things in our practice. This is a great advantage when we're on the road because we can give each other a set of eyes to see how our progress is coming along.

Between the help from Jason and the extra work with my coach, I think I'll start seeing some tournament results that will be more satisfying. Being able to go home and work on things early in the year is a nice way to stay fresh and work out the kinks in the game. I guess I'm fortunate the schedule gets off to a bit of a slower start. I have been able to use our first couple events in the states to get a feel of what to expect week-to-week.

Now I'm looking forward to our schedule picking up so we can play multiple events in a row and develop some type of rhythm. I am beginning to feel comfortable with the pace of the week and what I need to do to perform at my potential. It's time for the work to generate results, which I am confident it will.

Follow Jasper's progress this week at the Stadion Classic at UGA.