2010 Schedule

I have contemplated writing this blog but since you all have been loyal followers I feel I owe it to you. I have received a few emails and blog posts about my 2010 schedule. Well... after months of thinking I've decided I'm retiring from professional golf...
There are many reasons why but basically I just lost the drive and desire to compete at the professional level. I absolutely love golf, I love reading about it, I love watching it, and I love playing. However, if you are not on the LPGA, you are probably not making a living and that was not okay to me. I remember driving to Kentucky last year (12 hours), playing really well to make the cut (75-70) having a bad 3rd round and clearing $17 for the week after my entry fee. I spent $150 in gas and not a penny more really since I did private housing and they fed me for the week so I still lost money on the week. I was crying on my car ride home, it was a mess... I really think I became depressed over summer because I was missing something in my life. I finished the season because Albany is always a great event, but I didn't even want to be there. Imagine doing something you don't want to do, maybe you already do, but I hated it. For some reason people think the Futures Tour is this glamorous life, traveling to cities, free clubs, and playing golf everyday but it's really not. I bought my clubs at Edwin Watts and I traveled to tiny towns with maybe one Wal-Mart if you're lucky, and you stress and stress about the cut (well I did at least) and I just want to go back to being good at what I do. Division II Women's Golf is a heck of a lot easier than Professional Golf, mark my words. Some of my friends have also decided to retire, some have made the LPGA, and some are remaining on the Futures Tour. I do not judge anyone on their decision, but I do know that it is my time to leave. I had too many lows and not enough highs. I know my game well enough that I'm not going to be able to suddenly work for hours on end and magically be shooting under par everyday. It's common sense really. If you aren't succeeding on the Futures, you won't succeed on the LPGA. Call me negative, I prefer realist.
However, I am so glad that I played for three years. I was on a TV show with my brother, and I started a business. To me, that was the coolest part. I did play in a US Open (but as an amateur at Rollins) and I did meet the most unbelievable friends which I'll always have. But, after going to try to get a home loan a few months ago and the loan officer basically laughed when he learned I play "minor league sports", it was a big eye opener. I'm ready to have a real income, and still play golf for fun. I'm ready to use my brain again other than crunching yardages. I'm ready to reinstate to an amateur and probably be able to compete again... As an amateur I actually won tournaments, what a concept huh? I look forward to getting back to that level again.
I am working at the University of Central Florida as the Women's golf director of operations. I took the job after Albany last September to see if I even liked working day to day. I have really loved it! I do recruit tracking, scheduling, fundraising, and budgeting. It's everything I've been doing for myself the last three years so it comes naturally to me. I'm looking for other jobs but for now it's been great. I've played 3 times and still have the same game...
For my last Futures Tour hoorah I'm filming their new commercial next week which will be on the air this year so look for that. I am still doing Blingo and that's still going great. I really appreciate all of you following me and all of your support, it made it fun each week! I will unfortunately miss the 2010 US Women's Mid-Am by 1 week since you have to be out of golf for exactly 1 year before you can be an amateur again, so I'm looking forward to the 2011 Women's Mid-Am and more. THANKS AGAIN!!!!

PGA Show

Hi All,
I will be at the PGA Show next Thursday at the LPGA/Duramed Futures Tour Booth, anyone else going? We also hope to stop by some booths with GolfproGirls.com and shoot some fun stuff.... I have just been playing for fun with friends and family and it's been great!
More to follow, glad it's warming up, it was freezing for a while!!

~Charlotte

GPG Launch

Golfprogirls.com will be launching today at 2pm! Take a look if you get a second and let me know what you think. We've been working hard on details and I think it's turned out pretty well. There is a giveaway to subscribers and first up is a trip to the Greenbrier for 3 nights with golf, dinner, and lunch valued at $5,000!!! I want to go!!
The weather has been great here... We've had probably three cold days but otherwise it has still been really hot. I've been playing some just for fun and it's been great. Looking forward to the Holidays! Blingo is having a 10% discount on all holiday orders if anyone is interested.
Thanks and have a great Thanksgiving!!!

Tiger Woods EA Sports

I got an email yesterday asking why I wasn't playing in Futures Q-school. So, thought that was a perfect opportunity to update my blog.

As some of you may know, I am a stats girl. I keep track of my results, money made, money spent, etc. I know professional golf seems glamorous, but I need it to be more than a hobby. I broke even for the year between expenses and earnings, and in women's golf that can be considered a "good year". I pay my way to play, I don't have sponsors or my parents to pay for me, so I am pretty tight when it comes to playing in tournaments. I decided to WD from Q-school because there was not a huge reason for me to go. I kept some conditional status by finishing between 90-120 on the Money List this year. I also did that last year but decided to go to Q-school to up my status, only to miss the cut by a shot which disabled me from doing so. This year I decided to try the opposite, save my thousand dollars and keep E status for the year. It's not bad to have conditional status if you're like me.... I'm not amped up to play in every event next year, and would prefer to pick and choose which tour I play on from week to week just as I did this year. Alternate lists aren't great, but you can move up pretty quickly and get into about 95% of the events. You can also improve your status throughout the year based on performance. It's a long week at Futures Q-school, the scores are low, and just because you decide to go back doesn't mean you'll get full status. I've noticed a lot of the usuals from the tour are having a tough week which is a little surprising to me.... But, girls are getting better and better every year and you have to earn your spot.

On another note I was given the opportunity to do the "Motion Capture" for the 2011 Tiger Woods EA Sports game. We suited up in the reflective, velcro suit and did around 240 different motions for the game. Everything from hitting a neutral shot, to jumping around dancing after making a putt, to imitating Natalie Gulbis' swing. It was a great experience. I know some people say, "are you wanting to be a TV star, or wanting to play golf....", but at the end of the day I have to pay my bills somehow so when little things come up I have to grab them. I wish women's mini-tours were actually lucrative as the men's can be, but unfortunately it's just not the way to make a living...

I also have to get new clubs due to the groove change... uggghhh... but hopefullly the companies will work with us? I need new clubs anyway, it's been a while so it's not all bad.

Anyway, I'm working on updating the Blingo site so stay tuned! My 3rd annual Birthday Golf Outting is coming up and I'm looking forward to that!

GolfProGirls.com

I just got in from Jupiter, FL which is about 2 hours south. I am part of a new project called GolfProGirls.com. It hasn't launched yet (expected to at the end of the month?) but it's actually really cool. The name can be misleading but it's based up of 5 girls that play on Futures (Katie Miller, Amber Prange, Susan Choi, Stacey Bieber, and myself). We go around to great courses and interview the top instructors in the country. So far girls have gone to Pebble, Sleepy Hollow, Chicago area, and now Jupiter. My instructor was Rick Martino and he was pretty cool to talk to. I got a lesson, interviewed him, and had a par 3 challenge with him (not revealing who won....) This was all filmed and will make up an online magazine that viewers can subscribe to for $6.95/mo. The idea is that for an entire year of a subscription you can get multiple tips, lessons, and videos from top 50 instructor's rather than just getting one lesson from your local pro. I was hesitant at first but it's very professional and I learned so much yesterday. We taped at the Ritz in Jupiter and we got to play after the filming. It was a great course and in perfect shape. I had 4 birdies and I really think Rick gave me something with my putting.... Anyway, I encourage you all to browse around the site (I actually have no idea what is even up now), but I think it would be something everyone could benefit from. If you like women's golf and are interested in getting better, this is the perfect thing for you!
On another note I'm playing in a Suncoast event Oct 12-13 at Lake Region. It will be fun to get out and compete again even if it is only a small event. It's been nice taking a break though, not going to lie!! I need to get practicing again or this could be rough.... haha. Hope you all are enjoying the Fall, it's my favorite time of year!

Update

I had a post from someone regarding my final Futures tour event and it made me want to write a new entry rather than just respond. I had a great time in Albany, NY other than what I shot. I had the best pro-am group ever. It's our third year playing together and we won it our first year, this year we lost by a shot... :( They are so fun to play with and actually paid for my entry fee this year. I don't think they get how much that helps, and that was so generous of them to do that! I also won closest to the pin on a hole during the pro-am which made me $200. It was weird to already be up before the event started, but I wasn't complaining! My brother came to caddie and I had great host housing. The only bad thing was I had the 7:40am tee time on Friday with 2 amateurs... I was kind of bummed about this. I usually get great groups and love playing with good players. Instead, I felt like I was adding up their score, telling them to stop walking when I was hitting, and they were just a bother. One girl took her shoes and socks off and played the last 4 holes like that. She also would yell I HATE GOLF!!! after missing a putt, and she would lay down on tee boxes.... I was disgusted. I actually went to the tour official and said it just wasn't acceptable and it was making our tour look bad. Not that we have tons of spectators coming out to watch, but the ones that did were awfully confused at her behavior. So, not that I'm blaming my 77 on that, but it didn't help! I then got the 7:30am tee time and the group was fine... I really feel like I can play with just about anyone, but I do prefer to be with better players, who doesn't?
All in all it was a great week. I love all of my friends out there and I hope they'll come stay in Orlando this winter. I finished 119th on the money list which gives me non-exempt status for next year. That's what I had this year and I was on alternate lists which wasn't great, but it was fine. I will go back to Futures Q-school to try and improve that, but this year there are going to be 416 players over a 5 day tournament. I kind of feel like it's a money making thing, but hey if they can get that many players I guess they should do it... It will be tough to make top 90 but I'm familiar with the courses and really have nothing to lose. I'm so so glad I kept some sort of status because anything can happen over that week with 4 different courses and 416 players. I'll play in the Suncoast Q-school prep series to get back into the playing mode and try to make some money. I have nothing else to do so that will be fun.
I think that's about it for now... I should go back to making Blingos... Take care!

Albany, NY

I can't believe it's already the end of the year! I guess it seems like it went by faster because I only played in a third of the events on the Futures Tour schedule this year. It's a little sad because seriously all of my friends are on the tour. We are all sprinkled across the US so when the off-season comes around, your social life gets pretty boring. I'm excited to spend this last week with all of my friends and cheer everyone on. The top 5-10 race on the money list is intense. I can't imagine how they are feeling. I'm already crunching numbers and I'm not even involved! Who knows, maybe they aren't nervous but I highly doubt that... That's the reason most people play on the futures tour, to get the top 5 card, so obviously this is a huge week.
The Albany course is great. It's not too hard, and the scores are usually pretty low. The last two years there has been bad rain, but I checked the weather today and it seems like it will be fine. My brother is going to come up and caddie which should be great! I'm used to going alone so this will be a nice treat. I typically always carry my own bag so that's a weight off my back and it will just be a great week. I hope to get in a lot of practice this week before the event goes and just relax and have a good time. I have stopped worrying about results and just started playing more care free which is better. I don't know why I have done this but it's better and I'm going to continue to do this. I hope to finish top 120 on the $ list because that keeps status for next year, but if I don't, no big deal. I can go back to Futures Q-school right down the road and get status that way.
LPGA Q-school is the week after Albany but I've decided not to go. I was so down about golf half way through the year that I just took a break from practicing and cleared my mind. I don't feel like I'm prepared for LPGA Q-school but maybe next year? I want to decide from the beginning of the year that I'm going to go and work towards that for the entire year. You really need to be 100% committed financially, mentally, and physically before you can go and I only have 2 of those right now. Next year, maybe I'll have it all and will go.
This year has been a lot better though. I figured out my driver last November and that ultimately allowed me to play so much better. I could actually start out in the fairway and in play, rather than all over the map. If I can get my putting a little better, I hope next year will be even better!
Solheim Blingos are sold out... So, all of the orders are on hold until after Albany but it's been really fun. I got a ton of emails from people that actually went to the cup and saw the Blingos and wanted their own. I don't know how they found me but I'm glad they did! I'm excited to work on Blingo and my game for the off-season! Thanks for following me this year and I'll update as the off-season progresses.