Having completed his first full year as a golf professional, Georgetown's Robbie Greenwell has had time to reflect and recharge, eager to jump back into the fray for another season.
The 24-year-old Club at North Halton member played nine in events on the Canadian Tour in 2009-10, making just three cuts and collecting $2,475 in earnings, with his best showing a tie for 37th at the Times Colonist Open at Victoria, B.C. in June.
He began the season working on his swing with Oakville's Sean Foley- the man who tends to a number of PGA Tour stars, including most recently the likes of Tiger Woods- and when Greenwell began to struggle, he had difficulty putting four consistent rounds together.
Later in the summer, however, the Georgetown District High School grad caught on with one of Foley's pupils, Conor O'Shea at Piper's Heath Golf Club in Hornby, while also consulting with a sports psychologist, and was pleased with the results.
He placed third at the Canadian Tour's Qualifying School event last month at Hidden Lake in Burlington, shooting a regulation-career-best 64 in the second round, and has already earned a spot on the circuit for another year.
"After I went back to see Conor, things have been great and to play really well at Q-School to get my card back helped my confidence, so I feel a lot better now than I did in July," said the 2009 Great Lakes Tour rookie of the year.
"The first year on the Canadian Tour was a lot of fun and I look forward to going back and knowing a lot more about the courses, if I don't move on to something else."
PGA Tour Qualifying School begins next week at The Club at Irish Creek course near Charlotte, N.C., and Greenwell has been tuning up by playing at home and in tournaments in the Carolinas recently.
If successful in advancing through two of the three qualifying stages, he'd be in the running for status on the Nationwide Tour, one step below teeing it up with the stars of the PGA.
"My goal is to make the second stage and I think I'm good enough to do it," he said confidently.
"It's all about getting to the final stage and then who knows what can happen. Q-schools are no fun, but it's part of the job and that's the only way you're going to move up in pro golf. Some guys play great all summer and then happen to have a bad week and they don't go anywhere. Timing is everything."
Greenwell added that his first year on the Canadian Tour helped him learn how to be better prepared and conditioned for the four-day track meet, which can be easily cut in half by a sub-par opening round when the leaders are often shooting in the low 60s.
"On the bad days, you've got to find a way to shoot even par and put a band-aid on it," he said.
"Your putting has to be so good. That's the main part of my game I'm really going to grind at this fall. It's the difference between making cuts and being further up the leader board with a chance to make a better paycheque. I found my ball striking week-to-week is pretty consistent, but my putting just wasn't where it needed to be."
Armed with a degree in sports management from the University of Memphis, Greenwell has approached this career turn as a business venture, staying with billets and sharing accommodations with friends on the tour from Ontario along the way. While he admits the pressure to improve on his career earnings is always in the back of his mind, playing well more consistently is currently his number-one concern.
"Right now -- it's tough to say it -- but it's not really about the money," he said.
"It's just about getting out there and having the exposure, and hopefully one day the money will be there. The toughest part is to be patient. I'd like to keep playing professionally into my 30s because that's when you see a lot of guys hit their peak. But definitely the difficult part is getting the purse money and the financial backing to keep going. All you can do is work hard and hopefully it will all pay off. I would love to pay those people back if it all works out in the end."
