Description:
Follow Brian Benedictson on his journey to the PGA Tour via the Canadian Tour. Check back with us on a regular basis for daily updates as well as score's and tips from other Canadian Tour players and Brian.
Contents:
A Long, Busy Winter...
Hello My Friend,
It has been a while since the last update. Things have been going very well this year. I've been working hard on the Swinkey business from home. It has been nice to be home and spend time with family and friends. I do miss the road and the tour. It is a life that one can get addicted to, living in a different city each week, meeting new people at every tournament, and playing golf everyday is pretty nice too.
During the last few months I have worked with my business partners Leigh Tate and Alan Cornford of Vancouver, and Todd Halpen of Calgary on the Swinkey business. Todd, Leigh and myself are all about the same age and Alan has taken the role as Godfather and together we have taken the business a long way. We have 20 players on the PGA Tour using the Swinkey so keep an eye out when you watching golf on TV.
The amount I have learned during this endeavor could be equivalent to a college business degree. Lots of long days and I can see now why 75% of small businesses fail. There is a lot of pressure, tough decisions, hard work, excitement and trying to do 10 things at a time. It's a lot like golf in many ways and I'd like to thank my coach Anne Newman for pointing that out to me. Having to do 87 things in one day makes it tough to work on one thing at a time and stay in the moment so I used the business stress as training for golf. I can feel my mental toughness and confidence growing through this business endeavor and am looking forward to the season beginning.
I practiced a little over the winter and have started to get out to the course daily during the last couple weeks. Coach Anne and I have been working on my game on and off the course and the swing has been getting better and better. It has been nice to work with the same coach for a over a year now. We have been working on the same things ever since we started together and the swing keeps getting simpler and more on target. The George Knudson book is still my bible and always will be. RIP George.
The season will kick off on the 15th of the month in Vancouver. The event is part of the Vancouver Golf Tour which is a fairly new tour that has been doing well. I will play a couple events on the VGT before heading to Mexico for the first two events of the Canadian Tour season.
This season has started later than the last few due to my financial situation and the Swinkey business. My plan is to get the business up and running with the right people in the right place and have enough money coming in to survive the season. It is going to be tough as we are a start up business, but I am looking forward to giving it a go on my own. The last four years I have had investor/sponsors supporting me financially which has given me the chance to gain the necessary experience to compete at this game. Last year I started the with just under $10,000 in my account and at the end of the season I had a debt of $2,500 on my Visa. When I returned home from the last event of the year I did some construction work to pay off my debt and then I jumped in full bore into the Swinkey business. It has been an long and very busy winter with the business and I am looking forward to getting back on the tour.
I will be sending regular weekly updates and appreciate the support.
All the best my friend,
Brian
www.swinkeygolf.com
Brian Appears On The Golf Channel Several Times This Next Week...
Hello my friend, Brian here again,
Just wanted to let you know that the Canadian Tour's Golf Channel show "Chasing the Dream" was on the golf channel today. It airs again tonight at 2:00AM, should have told you about the show earlier today but it will be on tonight, so go ahead and set record on the ol' VCR or if you have one of those fancy cable boxes where you can record TV, go ahead and do that and have a watch, it's a half hour program and my feature is about half way through the show. My new product, the Swinkey is being featured.
Also remember that on Monday November 16th, I will be on the golf channel again between 12pm & 3pm on a product feature show.
Thanks so much, and all the best,
Brain B
A Quick Update From Brian...
Hello My Friend,
Brian here with a quick update. Well it is nice to be home after nine months on the road. It would be nice to say that I've been resting and relaxing but work must be done. Since returning from Mexico my main focus has been the Swinkey. It has been a lot of work starting my own business, but the experience and amount I have learned has been well worth it. It is exciting to see my invention that I dreamed up and designed in my camper coming to life and being used by over 100 professionals. This summer was when I first started showing people and getting the business setup and we have made some great progress and are close to really taking off. We where on ESPN Sports Radio last week which was a cool experience.
I have been getting up to the range a couple times a week to maintain my game and for not putting much time in on the game the last few weeks the swing is feeling great. I have been thinking about my game and making lots of swings with the Swinkey while working away and I can really feel some strong golf coming up. I am really starting to find my way and feel comfortable out on tour. This season was another big step in the right direction. I can feel my confidence growing.
This winter I will be working full time on the Swinkey and full time on my game. To be able to do this I will have to make my practice count and my work efficient so keeping my golf journal and business planner going and staying fit will be top of the list.
It would be nice to be at PGA Q-School right now but working on the Swinkey for the winter and committing to playing the Canadian Tour is right for me at this time. My plan is to get Swinkeygolf Inc. off the ground and running smoothly this winter so when I go back on tour in February I will be ready to go. Being able to support myself is something I want to do. I have always been independent and take pride in taking care of myself. The last three years I have played full time tour golf except for about a month of construction work a year and I have been in the hole every year. Without the support of my sponsors I would have an awfully tough time staying out here. On the other hand maybe if I didn't have any sponsors I would bear down a bit more and win more tournaments. Hard to say on that one but, I honestly do think that getting SwinkeyGolf Inc. going and supporting myself I would play better golf. My goal is to make the PGA Tour and I will stay true to my way and do whatever I have is needed to get there. If Swinkey doesn't go then I will have to go raise sponsorship or go to work for a few months, live with my Mom, and save up for another season.
Anyhow that's what is going on here, take care and all the best my friend.
Brian B
Brian Benedictson
Swinkeygolf Inc.
brian@swinkeygolfinc.com
250.897.5750 (mobile)
Brians Finish To The 2009 Season & The Launch Of Swinkeygolf...
Hello My Friend,
Well the season has come to an end on the Canadian Tour and it is nice to be home. I finished the season 76th on the Order of Merit earning $10,651 and kept my card for next season. This was my best season on the Canadian Tour and it is nice to have my status secured for next year. The Canadian Tour is an excellent place to play as the skills learned and improvement I have made while playing the tour is what is needed to move up to the next level.
In the off season last winter I made some swing changes working on getting back to basics and my natural swing. The improvement was obvoius and I am pleased with the progress that was made this year. Early in the season I had to go back to Canadian Tour Q-School to secure my card for the 2009 season, and was successful in doing so. From there the Tour began in Mexico where I got off to a strong start. From Mexico the tour moved to Canada where my play was a little up and down. When our last regular season event, The Canadian Tour Championship, came up I was sitting at 83rd on the money list and needed a strong finish. I was successful there with my best finish on the tour earning a check of $3,500 and guaranteeing my card for 2010. It felt good to have a strong finish in a tournament which was very important to me.
All season long I was working on the Swinkey project. As you may or may not know the Swinkey is a multi-functional golf training tool that I invented. It has been exciting starting my own business and seeing the idea of the Swinkey begining to flourish. I sold over 70 Swinkeys to the guys on the tour and those guys don't pay for anything so that shows how good the product is. Go to the driving range at any Canadian Tour event and you will see half the players using the Swinkey. It's a nice sight. At this time in the season many players will be going to PGA Q-School. I would love to go but at this time my expense account is very low and I feel that the best move for myself is to take the winter and work full time on the Swinkey, my golf game, and put myself into position to have a great season next year. 2009 was my fourth year of full time professional play and I have had sponsors/investors help me out financially. This has been great and I couldn't have gone for it like I have without this support. I feel that I can only go back my supporters so many times and I would like to support myself. The Swinkey is the road to supporting myself and over the winter I am going to work very hard on the Swinkey business and my golf game so next season I can go out and be self sufficient and play some great golf.
The past years competing and traveling as a Professional Golfer has been a great advernture. I have learned so much about golf, myself, business, the world, my mind, fitness, nutrition, coaching, and being a professional. Over the winter I am going to take all I have learned and set myself for next season. I will get the Swinkey business going, continue to hone my golf game, work on my fitness regularly, and get my mind in a place where I am ready to play some great golf next year.
Thank you for your support and be sure to check out http://www.swinkeygolf.com/ as we are making some big upgrades to our website one of which is to open our online store, which will open for business this Friday October 23rd.
ESPN Golf Talk Radio (California), and The Golf Club Radio Show (Hawaii) will be doing a features on us this Saturday, October 24th. Here are the instructions for listening in online if you are not able to tune in 'live' via your radio.
0825AM PST: http://www.espnradio1280.com/ and when you go to that site click the "Listen Live" button on the top left hand side of the page, you can't miss it...I would test it prior to make sure you can get the sound!
11:00AM PST: http://www.radiogolfclub.com/ for this one click the "Listen" button on the left hand side menu bar on the sites home page...again, please test prior to make sure you can get sound.
I look forward to hearing from you all upon the launch of our online store and after the Radio shows.
The best new email address to get ahold of me on is: or
Thanks and take care! Brian B
An Update From Brian In Mexico...
Hello My Friend,
Brian here from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. How's it going? I hope all is well. Things are going good down here. It is nice and hot and the golf is good.
Last week in Cancun was a good one. It was very hot and humid and the golf course was quite challenging. Lots of trouble off the tee and greens with large slopes which made for tough chipping and putting. The resort was unreal and I passed the test of maintaining focus on the golf and not the pool. I probably did over indulge at the buffet though. I have an ice cream weakness.
The first round I played pretty well for the most part but a couple of poor short game shots lead to a round of +3. The second day I hit the ball very well but had a tough time converting my birdie putts and ended up shooting 72. On Saturday I played quite well hitting all but one fairway and shooting -3, 69. The final round was a little crazy. On the first hole I three putted and the second I made a double bogey with a pitching wedge in to the green. Talk about throwing shots away. I maintained my composure and birdied the difficult third, a long par three only to bogey the next hole which is a 285 par four. The sixth hole is one of the toughest on the course and I missed a two foot birdie putt and then double bogeyed the 7th. Ouch, 5 over after 7! I shrugged it off and birdied 8, 9, lipped out on 10, lipped out on 13, and eagled 14 to get it from five over to one over. On 16 a pretty easy par five I had a bit of trouble and made a triple bogey. It was a tough way to finish, but that's the way of the road.
This week the course is beautiful with 8 holes on the ocean and my game is feeling very good. The game plan this week is to keep it simple, have fun, and let go. By letting go I mean to play with freedom, and peace of mind, to let go of score and swing to my target, to leave worries and fear behind. Basically to play golf like a little kid.
The Canadian Tour does feature articles on players throughout the year and they have just posted an article on myself. Go to the Canadian Tour website to have a read at www.cantour.com
Anyhow my friend. All the best and I will touch base when I arrive home next week. Thanks and take care.
Brian B
The Iberostar Riviera Maya Open Tees Off Tomorrow...
Hello there friends,
Well as many of you may remember, back in May three Canadian Tour events had to be cancelled due to the Swine Flu virus outbreak in Mexico. The Canadian Tour worked long and hard to get those events re-scheduled and they had success with two of them.
This week the Iberostar Riviera Maya Open tees off with the first round of play commencing tomorrow morning at 7:00am off the first and tenth tees.
After a fantastic finish at the Canadian Tour Championship which allowed Brian to avoid the dreaded trip to Fall Q-School, Brian was unsure whether or not he would make the trip down to Mexico for the final two events of the season. After a short few days Brian had made his decision and is in the field at this weeks event and also in next weeks as well.
Heading into the Tour Championship Brian was 83rd on the Order of Merit and new he had to perform under pressure to avoid a return trip to the Fall Qualifying School. With an 18th place finish that vaulted him to 71st on the O.O.M he new his card was all but secure for the 2010 season. Heading to Mexico is strictly to keep the game going and add a little insurance on his playing privileges for the 2010 season.
For much of this year Brian has been doing a very delicate balancing act between his golf game and his new business Swinkeygolf Inc. So needless to say, it was fantastic to see him have a strong finish at the Tour Championship. The time and dedication that has gone into this project thus far has been incredible and to maintain a positive attitude through a rough stretch in the middle of the season was no easy feat, but if there was anyone who could pull it off, Brian could and he did. This is the sign of a true champion, which Brian will be one day soon.
Brian will be teeing off tomorrow in the first round at 11:50am off the tenth tee. So be sure to check in and follow along and see how Brian is doing. You can find the live leader board right here at www.questforthecard.com in the menu bar across the top of the page.
For those of you that are interested in helping support Brian's new business, Brian's revolutionary golf training aid the Swinkey is now available for purchase. If you are interested in more information on this fantastic product, please do not hesitate to send us an e-mail to: contactus@swinkeygolf.com and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the product. If you head over and have a look at www.swinkeygolf.com you can read some of the testimonials from other Tour players and amateur golfers alike who are dedicated Swinkey users. The online store is almost complete and with a few more minor tweaks should be up and running within the next week or two.
We are happy to report that we have had many phone calls stating how the Swinkey has improved customers golf games in a short amount of time. One call we received yesterday was a gentleman placing an order for four of his golfing buddies as his game has improved so much since using the Swinkey his playing companions are sick of him beating them every round now, so they all want Swinkeys as well! That was a very cool phone call to receive!
On behalf of Brian, thanks so much for following along and we look forward to hearing from you whether it be about Brian's game or any questions you may have regarding the Swinkey.
Warmest Regards,
QuestfortheCard Admin
PS. there may no update from Brian this weekend as they are having troubles with the Internet connection's at the resort in Mexico. He said he would try his best to send an update from the tour stop next week.
Brian Finishes Tied For 18th At The Tour Championship...
 Hello My Friend,
It was a long drive from Toronto and it sure is nice to be home and off the road. Our Tour Championship was held last week at St. Catharines Golf Club just outside of Niagara Falls.
The course was set up very nicely with tight fairways, long rough, fast greens and the par 72 was converted to a par 70 which made it play tougher than normal to par. The Tour Championship is our biggest event of the season with a$250,000 purse. It was a big tournament for me as I was 83 on the money list going into the week and the top 80 players keep their card for the following season. I needed a strong finish to avoid going back to Q-School.
Heading into the week I was focusing on staying loose and dialing in my short game. Everyday during the week I worked on my putting and chipping for a couple hours and only a little time on the range. Playing a tournament that spans a week it is important to stay fresh and mentally strong. Every shot I hit during the week on and off the course I went through my routine and treated it as a tournament shot. I was preparing myself for tournament play as opposed to working on my swing on the range, or hitting putts again and again from the same spot.
Heading into the first round my game plan was to stay loose, have fun, swing within myself, and play BB golf. I fired clean 69 with only one bogey. The second round was a big day for me. This season I have been struggling a bit on the second day and missing cuts due to that. This is common as many players seem to miss cuts by one or two shots week after week. I stuck to my game plan and did my best to play carefree golf and stay loose. I played very well the second day shooting 68 which could have been five shots better pretty quickly.
The third round was my best round of the week even though it was my highest score. After getting off to a good start at -1 through five holes I made three putt bogeys on 6, 8, and 10 taking me in the wrong direction to two over par. I stayed loose, maintained my composure and finished strong with birdies on 16 and 17. These are the crucial times during a tournament. When you are struggling how do you handle it? What happens after a couple bad holes? I was proud of the way I handled this adversity and looking back it is what kept me in this tournament.
My tee time for the final round was 10:00 and the guys and myself at the camp ground where talking about loading up the RVs and taking them to course so we could leave after the round to get the drive home started. Usually I wouldn't want to be messing around with the trailer the morning of the final round of a tournament because I would be worried that it would take away from my pre round focus. My mindset for the week was to play like I was 14 years old which to me meant that I wouldn't think of swing mechanics, worry about what I did the night before, or the morning of the round. If this was a fun round with some friends would I be concerned about getting the trailer ready? No I wouldn't. I wouldn't even think about it. So why would I stress about it before a tournament round. What I am getting at here is that to play my best golf I need to play worry free golf like I am 14 years old. Here's the ball there's the hole, make the swing.
The last round I played very well and was the loosest I have been all year. I knew the round was a big one for me so I made a even bigger effort to say loose and play carefree golf. My 67 the final day was one of the best scores of the day and moved my from 38th place to 18th and earned me a check for $3,500. This was the biggest check of my career by $100 and moved me into 71st position on the money list.
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