Yesterday, by wonderful coincidence, I was in Fort Worth, TX, which just happens to be hosting the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club.

I got to stand on the grounds of Hogans Alley!

Walking in the gates, I felt like a child. I was filled with wonder and enjoyment. It seems like I never get used to standing near the players that I see on television week in and week out for years and years. Watching them hit shots on television doesn’t do them justice. Standing close by gives a better picture of the situation: the wind, hazards, trees, the contours on the green, the proximity of the crowd.

I got there before 9am and it was already very warm and really muggy. By the time I left at 1pm, it was quite hot. It was also very windy all day.

I had several things I wanted to accomplish today. I wanted to take some time to really observe the Tour pros to get a first hand glimpse at the way they operate, in hopes that I can improve my own game.

The thing that really struck me is that a good Tour pro shot isn’t much different than one of my good shots. So why am I not a Tour pro? Well, they hit those good shots most of the time, and I don’t. It’s encouraging to know that I have the shots hiding somewhere in my bag waiting to come out here and there, but at the same time I realize that there’s so much more to playing at that level that I don’t have and may never get.

Enough about what is or is not to be - I still learned a ton.

One thing I observed first hand is the amount of preparation that goes into a round. These guys don’t show up on the first tee, take a few warm-up swings and bomb away. Their routine is very methodical and not rushed.

I saw Corey Pavin on the practice green hitting putts, three in a row, just before his tee time. He wasn’t working on technique. He seemed to just be getting the feel for the speed of the green. He mixed up the lengths and was basically calibrating his putting stroke.

Other players were following similar routines. No mechanics - just calibration.

The practice tee was just as enlightening. One thing I noticed that was very prevalent was the use of something as an alignment aid. Whether it was a club or an umbrella or something else, there were players that didn’t hit a shot without checking alignment each and every time.

I saw one player that I didn’t recognize (and couldn’t read his bag) that was hitting some short iron, maybe a pitching wedge or 9-iron, over and over and over. The thing that struck me was how machine-like he was. The shots looked like they were hit by a robot - same trajectory, same distance, same everything. Something wasn’t right though, as his body language to his caddy or coach seemed to indicate that he felt like he was coming slightly over the top.

Aside from player preparation, I also got to observe their techniques when hitting a large variety of shots. I tried to recall the things that I’ve been changing in my own swing and observe those things in the swings of the pros. It was interesting to take the time to watch little things like swing plane or hip shift/turn.

Colonial Country Club is a beautiful course, though somewhat flat. However, it’s not without character. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the fairways are like carpets. And the greens are like even better carpets. They’re somewhat small, though. The rough didn’t seem to be very punishing, which surprised me.

One thing I couldn’t help thinking as I roamed around is that my perception is that my home course is shorter but in my belief it’s more difficult. At home, the fairways are higher, meaning less roll on drives. They’re also more narrow. The primary rough is 3-inch rye grass. If you get to an out of the way place, the rough gets closer to a foot in length. The greens at Colonial are faster, but that doesn’t scare me. The greens at both places are fairly small. My course gets windy at times, but the Texas wind here the last couple of days has been pretty impressive.

Of course, the Tour pros would probably tear up my home course, but I’d like to see how well I could play at Colonial under Tour conditions. Since that’s not likely to happen, I’ll just have to let my imagination run wild and delude myself into thinking I would play well there.

A few random thoughts:

• The tournament staff was amazing. They made the experience really great. Everyone was so nice.
• Phil Mickelson is definitely looking pretty fit these days.
• It wasn’t hard to find Mickelson out there, even before he took the lead - his gallery was big right from the start of the day and grew as more and more spectators showed up.
• It was a weird feeling, standing close to a bunch of major winners - Pavin, Mickelson, Weir, Lehman, Ogilvy, Toms - I’m probably forgetting others.

All in all, a great time and I’m extremely happy that I was able to go. I’m off to San Antonio tomorrow!

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