Out on the Nationwide Tour with Jimmy Brandt

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Brandt is in the field at this week's Mexico Open presented by Banamex.

Editor's note: During the season a different Nationwide Tour player will check in with a quick blog 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 Jimmy Brandt, who has conditional status after going through q-school. He played his college golf at Auburn.

What can I really say? It's been tough.

This is my rookie season and I have conditional status on the Nationwide Tour (Conditional Q Tournament/61-100 Prior Year Money List). It's been really close each week. I don't think there's been one tournament where I've officially been in the field the week before. I enter each week as an alternate, waiting around for the number to move.

The Monday before the tournament is usually when the field numbers change a lot as people withdraw. Sunday I may be eighth alternate, but by Monday I could be three or four. I tend to arrive at tournaments early Monday or Sunday. If I make it to about third alternate, there's a good chance I'm going to play, but it's not always a sure thing -- as I learned earlier this season at the BMW Charity Pro-Am.

I was third alternate on Monday in South Carolina. I thought I was definitely going to get in. We practiced the different courses Sunday and Monday. If you are 10th alternate or less, you get to play practice rounds before the tournament starts. By the end of Monday I had moved to second and by Tuesday I was the first alternate.

Then the number didn't move.

As an alternate, you wait around until everyone is off on Thursday. But no one dropped out. That was the only week that happened. Usually, I've gotten in. I've just been cutting it close. It wasn't that great of a feeling. But it's my fault. If I played better, I wouldn't have to worry about this.

The next week I played early in the Monday qualifier at the Melwood Prince George's County Open. Whether or not I play in the qualifiers really depends on my number. If I'm not in the field, even if it's close, I'll usually play just to give myself an extra chance. One time I was warming up for a qualifier and got pulled off the course because I got in as an alternate -- which is a good feeling. Another time I had finished and missed it by a few strokes, but got a call 20 minutes later that I had made it in the field -- an even better feeling.

After I finished my qualifier round at Melwood, I knew my score was going to be close to the lead. So I had to sit there for literally five hours. I tried to play video games to distract myself. I watched people walk up 18. Five hours! And at the end of it, I had made it into a playoff. There were five guys vying for three spots. I bogeyed my first hole and stamped my ticket back home. It's tough when you're not guaranteed a spot. I hope the guys who do get in each week don't take it for granted.

That's the way it goes -- different week, different challenge. At my last event, the Rex Hospital Open, I got in as an alternate. I actually felt good going into it, but come tournament time my iron game went awful. I actually drove the ball decent off the tee. I was making bogeys from the middle. All year it's been one thing or another. My driver one week, my putting the next week and then it was my irons. I can't put everything together. I'm almost to the point where I'm trying too hard and not having any fun. I really need to focus on keeping a good attitude and staying positive.

Last year I played the mini-tours, including the Peach State Professional Golf Tour, where I was the leading points and money winner. That earned me entry into q-school, which is how I qualified for the Nationwide Tour. Right after q-school, I started to get approached by equipment companies, and I signed with Titleist. I did a lot of equipment changing in the beginning of the year and it's taken me longer than I thought to get adjusted to it. The guys at Titleist have been great and are working really hard to get me set up. So far the hardest part has been finding a driver. It took probably 10 shafts -- just swapping them and clicking away -- before I finally found something that felt comfortable with my swing.

When it looks like I'm on the border of making a Nationwide Tour event, I'll try to go back and play some mini-tour events and make some money. I can't really waste a week out here. I basically live on the road these days with my dad, who is my full-time caddie and coach. We're living in and out of hotels. I know my girlfriend doesn't like it much, but hopefully someday I'll be playing well enough to bring her out here with me.

I've already put about 23,000 miles on my car this season, and added another 2000 last week to make it up to Wichita, Kansas for the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open. I got in as an alternate so I rushed up from playing a mini-tour event outside of Atlanta.

The day before the BMW started I played a round with my friend Travis Hampshire (read his blog here). We played a little match -- and I took $20 off him. He couldn't make any birdies. The very next day he went out and made 10 birdies, plus an eagle, to shoot 60. It was great to see him play like that, though I did let him have it after. But stuff like that motivates me a lot. I know I can play at this level, with these guys.

I'll check back in a few weeks from now to let you know how my season is progressing. Have any questions or comments? Stay in touch with me on Twitter @BrandJM.