Stevinson Ranch :: Matt Hansen Weblog

Stevinson Ranch's PGA Tour Player Matt Hansen

Start of 2009

Chattanooga

Boise, Eugene and Midland

Salt lake City

Columbus Ohio

West Virginia & Missouri

Wayne Gretzky Classic

Chicago

Melwood Prince Georges County Open

BMW Charity Pro-Am

Richmond Virginia

Stevinson Ranch is proud to team up with local golfer Matt Hansen through his journey on the PGA Tour. As our course record holder (59 - no typo), Matt takes advantage of our phenomenal practice facility and championship golf course to hone his skills that he'll take to challenge the world's best golfers. Periodically, Matt will share his experiences and insight into what life is really like on "Tour". Be sure to check in frequently to this journal - you won't want to miss anything!

MattHansen on 01.26.06 @ 06:34 AM PST [link]

Friday, February 27th

Happy New Year all! I started the year off in Panama at the first Nationwide event of the year. Panama is a very interesting place to visit. While I was there, three guys were mugged during the week. Another interesting situation was at the golf course. On five different tee boxes there were security guards with shotguns to protect us from the bandits who come down a water way that runs through the golf course. I was told that there have been many members mugged by bandits on the course, so these guards were here to fight them off. Needless to say that might be the last time that I make a trip down to Panama. There are only two social classes down there. Upper class and poverty. It is really unfortunate that there is so much poverty down there. When you see things like this, it makes you feel very fortunate for what you have.
The golf that I played down there was a little bit rusty but I made the cut and earned some money that will help me in the upcoming re-shuffle. I will not be playing in the tournaments down in Australia and New Zealand this year because my number didn't get into the field. I may not get into the field for the tournament in Lafaette, LA either but I plan to go and monday qualify. If I don't get in, then I should be in the tournament in Hayward, Ca. So until then I will leave you all with a tip to help your game.

When you are playing a bunker shot make sure to get your stance a little wider, keep 60% of your weight on your front leg and keep up the speed of your swing through impact. Keeping up the speed of the club through impact is so important because once you decelerate, the sand really slows your club down and you won't get out of the bunker or you will skull it over the green.

MattHansen on 02.27.09 @ 05:09 PM PST

Monday, October 20th

Like I told you in my last entry, I kept on working hard this past week and it is starting to show some promise. I played really well the first two days shooting 13 under. My ball striking was really good all week and I putted well the first two days. I didn't putt too bad the last two days but I didn't make anything, just burned a lot of edges. I have one last tournament in Miami next week to play my way into the tour championship. I have to get inside the top 60 on the money list and I will be in. My play last week makes me feel that I am headed in the right direction again and I expect to play well this week. If I have to go back to Q School I will keep you all updated on my progress and don't forget to send me some new ideas for the blog.

MattHansen on 10.20.08 @ 06:52 PM PST

Well, this stretch of tournaments was a disappointment to say the least. After finishing in the top ten in Salt Lake City, I felt like I had some momentum that I needed for the last run of the season. Unfortunately, the Matt Hansen that I know didn't show up for those three tournaments. I have talked with people in the game that I am very close with and they keep telling me that you just have to play through these kinds of tough times. Everyone goes through them in their careers, no matter what it is they do for a living. I promise you that I am going to keep my nose to the grind stone and continue to push through and I know that I will get through this tough time.
I would tell you more about those three tournaments but to honest with you it isn't worth talking about. I do have a question for the few people who do read this blog. What would you guys like me to write about? The same stuff or throw some ideas my way and I entertain them. Email me with your ideas. My address is Stickmann211@aol.com.

MattHansen on 10.20.08 @ 06:37 PM PST

This week turned out pretty well after some adjustment. Having to figure out how far the ball goes in elevation and in temperature changes is a bit of a challenge. The first couple of days I played quite well but had some issues with distance control. I putted well to make up for it. Then the weekend came and I got things under control and moved up the leaderboard nicely! I lipped out a ten footer on the last hole of the tournament that would have put me in a tie for 2nd. But finishing tied for 8th wasn't too bad. Salt Lake City is a beautiful place that I would suggest you should go and check out, especially in the fall. Talk to you soon.

MattHansen on 10.20.08 @ 06:28 PM PST

Thursday, July 31st

This was quite the week! One of the things that I can say about it is that I can assure you that next week will be better. I am sure that everyone is curious as to how I made a 14 on my fourth hole during the first round and I will tell you.... I didn't make my 13th shot from the bunker! haha Actually I hit the ball into the water five times and it all added up to a beautiful "14". I have been having some difficulties with my ball striking but I am working on getting it fixed. I really believe that my struggles on the course are coming to an end. Everyone that has played this game understands how much of a struggle it can be sometimes and this has been one of those times for me. I will get through it and I appreciate the continued support from everyone back home! Talk to ya next week.

MattHansen on 07.31.08 @ 06:21 PM PST

Sunday, July 20th

I don't really have much to say about these two weeks because they weren't my best. The good thing about the two weeks was the weather. It wasn't nearly as hot as it was last year. As for my golf game, I am just staying patient because I know that I can jump up and play great at any point and time. I have been working hard on my game during my past two weekends off and I feel good about next week in Columbus. It is a good golf course that requires precision off the tee and a smart game plan. It won't be 20 under winning like in Springfield. I will keep you updated after next week!
By the way if some of you haven't heard, I asked Megan to marry me and she said YES! I am a lucky man!

MattHansen on 07.20.08 @ 02:24 PM PST

Thursday, July 10th

This week we were in a beautiful area about an hour and a half north west of Toronto. We were at the base of the Blue Mountains. This area is well known for skiing in the winter and a fun summer vacation spot for the people who live in Toronto. It was awesome to see all of the beautiful green scenery! This tournament was just like the BMW pro-am that I played earlier this year in North & South Carolina. My amatuer partner was a cool guy who seemed to have a really good time.
The two golf courses we played were very well manicured, but pretty forgiving. If you hit 80 percent of your fairways for the week then you were probably ranked 70th in driving accuracy! You could land a 747 on some of these fairways! I finished 18th this week and that was definately the worst it could have been. I played great, but unfortunately didn't get as much out of it as I would have liked. I made 19 birdies and 2 eagles during the four rounds. Too many bogies were made! My game is definately taking great shape as the year goes on and I expect to play great from here on out. I will keep you updated after the first million dollar event in West Virginia.

MattHansen on 07.10.08 @ 06:51 PM PST

This was a crazy week for weather! Monday, it was your typical warm day in the mid 80's with a bit of humidity. Tuesday was like winter though! The temp never got above 40 degrees and the wind was blowing about 30 mph. Then on Wednesday, fall arrived with temps in the mid 50's. Thursday spring was on the way with a beautiful day in the 70's and then on Friday summer was here. We had extreme humidity with warm temps and extreme thunderstorms that produced a tornado warning! Needless to say, we got to see all four seasons in a week. Aside from all of that I played some pretty good golf. The only day that was a little bit of a struggle was Saturday. But the great round on Sunday, that moved me into my second top ten finish of the year, made the week a productive one.

MattHansen on 07.10.08 @ 06:21 PM PST

Saturday, May 24th

We moved up the east coast about 500 miles this week to Prince Georges County which is about 25 miles outside of Baltimore, MD. When we got here, they said that it had rained 12 inches in the past ten days! This golf course was a great course that required imagination and precision off the tee. It is an old style course that is tree-lined with long rough and in great shape. Unfortunately all the rain made the greens a little bumpy. The first round I didn't putt very well at all and hit the ball decent. But the second round I gave myself a great shot at making the cut with a 4 under 32 on my first nine but then caught a flyer out of the rough on my 12th hole that went into a harzard over the green and I made double. I made a couple more birdies coming in but it wasn't enough for the cut.
I am looking forward to next week in Chicago. This will be the third time that I have played this tournament and I am going to conquer it this time!!

MattHansen on 05.24.08 @ 04:03 PM PST

This week in Greenville, SC is a special week for us because every pro in the tournament has an amatuer partner. I had a really fun partner this year. He was the 14 year old son of the guy who runs the tourament. His handicap was an 8 but he played great and shot 77 a couple of the days. We ended up finishing 6th as a team and it was a great highlight for him to play on the weekend. This year we played three new golf courses that were pretty nice. It was interesting because two out of the three couses were only about 6,800 yards long, which is pretty short for today's standards. The third course was 7,200 yards long and was fairly new, so it was nice and firm. I hit the ball really well during the week and just stuggled on the greens quite a bit. The good news is that I have changed my putting routine a little bit and I am rolling it well again so I am looking forward to the upcoming tournaments.

MattHansen on 05.24.08 @ 03:43 PM PST

Monday, April 28th

February 2009

Well, I guess that I will start from the beginning. The week started off with a fun experience for Dan and I. We got to play a game on the golf channel called "Who's your caddie?". Jerry Foltz from the golf channel asked Dan ten questions about me and then asked me the same questions on camera to see how many Dan got right. Unfortunately, Dan only got two of them correct. But of course afterwards Dan thought that I was the person who was wrong! HAHA! I had to remind him that the questions were asked about me and I was the one with the ANSWERS! Dan is a great guy but I guess he doesn't know as much about me as he thought he did. No big deal because we had a great week without the caddie knowing everything about his player. HAHA
To give Dan some credit, on Tuesday he noticed that my club face wasn't aimed where it was supposed to be. As we started to check it out, I was aiming about 10 to 15 yards right of my target. I had been reading too much into the fact that I had been hitting a fade for the past week. I kept thinking that I was doing something wrong in my swing, but come to find out, I needed to go back to the basics. As soon as I got the club face squared up, I started hitting the ball just where I wanted to.

In the first two rounds, I hit the ball very well and didn't get all that much out of it. I understand that I was 8 under par, but one of the guys that I played with told me that he thought I should have been 15 under par.
Saturday, everything really started coming together. I played great and got the job done under the pressure of "moving day".
Now onto the final round. This was the most fun that I have ever had in a golf tournament. Being in the final group on Sunday is the position that I want to be in every week. I felt a little nervous at first but fell into a comfortable state quickly. I kept telling myself that this is where I belong, this is where I belong. Making a couple of birdies early on set a really good tone for me. After I made double on number 8, I had to dig deep and tell myself that I could come back from it. I have been in situations similar to that before and I was able to draw from those situations to help me move forward. On the back nine, after I made birdie on number 12, I hit a lot of quality shots and a bunch of great putts that I felt should have gone in. As I walked off of the 17th green, the leaderboard wasn't working, so I didn't know where I stood in the tournament. But on the way to 18, a camera man told me that Greg Chalmers had missed a biride putt on 18 and we were tied. As soon as I heard that, I felt surge of adrenaline rush through my body and I was ready to go and win the tournament. I hit the best tee shot of the day on 18. When we got down there to the ball, I walked off the yardage and we had 198 to the front of the green and 21 more to the pin. 219 yards into a little bit of a breeze from the left and the only club that entered my mind was the 3 iron. Dan felt exactly the same and we were both completely comitted to the club. When the ball left my club I didn't have a doubt in my mind that I had enough to cover the water. So to see the ball hit the wood short of the green was as big of a shock for me as it was for everyone else.
If I was put in that same position again, I wouldn't change the club I hit because I did everything in my power. I hit the shot flush and just got a gust of wind that turned into a little bad luck. I have so many good things to take from this week and I am ready to move on and get it done!
Thank you so much to everyone that was watching and rooting me on. I really appreciate all of the support and wouldn't be able to do this without it. See you all in a week!

MattHansen on 04.28.08 @ 04:18 PM PST