Category Archives: Had’s Corner

I’m Back

Ello ello everyone,

It has been too long I know and I am sorry that I have neglected our relationship. It has totally been my fault and I hope that you can forgive me? I have not been seeing anyone else just busy with work and family. No excuses play like a champion, right? I have not been playing well lately obviously and it dawned on me that it is because I have not been posting on HadsCorner. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I’m back baby!

There hasn’t been much to write about on the golf front the past SEVERAL tournaments, but as I stated above, I look for that to improve immediately due to my recommitment to our relationship.

There has been a lot going on with Hughes though. He has been growing like a weed. He will be nine months this Friday and he is crawling, pulling up on everything, and putting everything in his mouth. It is an absolute full time job watching him. Parenting is HARD people. He has started pitching fits every now and then when we tell him no or pull him away from something we do not want him to play with. They start with him sitting up and screaming at the top of his lungs as these big crocodile tears run down his face. He then proceeds to bury his face in the ground, still crying, in the fetal position rocking back in forth to put the icing on the cake. Full drama artist just like his daddy. So proud of him! It is seriously hard to believe that he is nine months. He has been such a blessing and we love him very much.

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I just got back to the United States after a quick trip across the pond. I was over in England for my first major ever at British Open. It was played at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, which is a suburb of Liverpool. Quick trivia, can anyone name which band came from Liverpool, England? That would be the Beatles people. What an absolute pleasure it was to play there last week. The course was absolutely phenomenal and the weather cooperated nicely all week. Golf is so different over there and it was a breath of fresh air to play a little bit different style of golf. I was hitting 60 degree wedges from 130 and 4 irons from 175. You are at the mercy of the bounce and wind out there. Oh, and the bunkers are BRUTAL as well. If anyone ever has a chance to go over there and play I would encourage you to do so. It is a different kind of beautiful.

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Amanda and I also celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary over in merry old England. It has been a privilege and an honor to be married to this woman for as long as I have. I love you Amanda.

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Also, had a chance to hang out with Bubba Watson while I was over there. We have not had a chance to do that much since I have been on tour so it was awesome getting to know him. We both missed the cut so we spent all day Saturday playing backyard golf at the house he rented for the week. We had some crazy holes set up and were using sand wedges and nine irons to hit to these makeshift holes we designed. It was pouring rain by the way, which only added to the excitement.

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The flight back to the US was long but there is only a few better feelings in the world than arriving back in the mother country. Knowing that you have your own bed, F-150 Raptor, and Bojangles at your disposal is hard to beat. Amanda and I flew separately back to the states and arrived in RDU within 20 minutes of each other. We had not seen Hughes in several days so it was a sweet reunion. My parents and her parents split time watching him while we were gone. They were very excited about keeping him and very excited about dropping him off. He is so much fun, but like I said a total handful to watch. He is continuous motion and energy.

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I had a birthday not too long ago and for that birthday my sweet, sweet wife knew just what to get me. An ICI Magnum front bumper for my Raptor. It was delivered while I was in England so naturally I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning putting it on the night that we got home. I was very proud of myself for taking on the task of putting this thing on. There is something very manly about getting under a hood or a car and taking things apart and putting them back together. There was something I wanted to tweak with the setup of the bumper so Mitch came over last night and we got it all straightened out. As I have gotten to know him over the years, I’ve learned that Mitch is just better than you at everything. Always has been, always will be. How is he single ladies? I mean really. Guy is a Christian, has a job, works really hard, doesn’t live with his parents, and is good at everything. Four words ladies. Potential candidate for you! Love that guy.

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Last year my friend Jimmy and I went down to his house in Oriental, NC, for a little fishing trip and it was life changing. Remember the post titled, Megalops Atlanticus? Yeah, we are fishing for tarpon. I leave soon for the annual event and I will be doing whatever it takes to get one of those to the side of the boat. They are the most beautiful fish I have ever seen and so much fun to catch. I will be posting pictures of the trip when I come home.

Thats about all I have for now! Thanks for keeping up guys and remember to follow me on Twitter as well. My handle is @chadleyprogolf.

Boom Birdies,

Chesson

Wife Wednesday: Easter, Our Real Reason for Celebration

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Hi all,

I can’t believe May is upon us. The past couple months have absolutely flown by. Although I have loved every stage of Hughes’ life, the age he is at right now (6 months on Friday) is SO FUN. He is no longer a needy newborn who requires our attention most of the time; he has learned independence and does a great job playing by himself. We are really starting to see his personality shine. He is laid-back, goes with the flow, and babbles/ giggles/ smiles all.the.time. He doesn’t miss anything that happens in a room and is constantly moving and jumping. I could sit and watch him all day long, particularly when he doesn’t think I’m looking. He is so funny to me and seems to learn something new every day. Anyways, this post isn’t about Hughes but I thought I would give you a little update.

We celebrated Easter in Hilton Head this year. It was a little different not being home and going to church, but it was an Easter I won’t forget. Every year, there is a sunrise service on the 18th green at Harbour Town and tour pros help lead the service. Chesson had agreed to be a part of it a few weeks prior. Due to the weather delays, the service was in jeopardy all weekend because if every player didn’t finish their Saturday round, they would have to finish early Sunday morning thereby making the 18th hole not usable for the service. Luckily everyone finished right at sunset on Saturday and it was a tough finish for Chesson. He was in the Top 5 going into hole #18 and triple-bogeyed. He was pretty bummed Saturday night and candidly, not as excited about getting up at dark Sunday morning to go lead the Easter service.

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I wasn’t all that excited about getting up so early either, but felt it was important to support Chesson and celebrate the most important day in the Christian faith!  6:30am came quickly and we both dressed and slipped out of the house (leaving H sleeping). It was cold and overcast and I wondered if only a few people would show up. As we were driving into the course, we could see people walking and biking onto the property in droves. They slowed filled in the grandstands of 18 and some musicians started playing worship songs. By the midpoint of the service, there were probably 1000 people gathered to celebrate. A couple of other pros, Ben Martin and Richard Lee, read Scripture and did a responsive reading, then they had Chesson come up and talk about his faith, why Easter is important to him, and offer some encouragement to the crowd.

I couldn’t help but think that 12 hours earlier, he was standing in the same spot making a triple bogey, and now here he was talking about how temporary everything on earth is in light of eternity and nothing that he does on the golf course defines him. It was one of those moments that is ingrained on my heart because we both believe that God has given us the platform we have right now for a reason. Although Chesson is quite outgoing and gets a lot of attention for his funny nature/ finger snap/ “Sun’s out, Gun’s Out”/ overall goofiness, we hope they also see the parts of us that really matter. (Or at least of him. I stay more out of the spotlight, which I’m totally fine with 🙂 ) We have had a lot of reason for celebration in the past year, but none of that compares to the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and forgiveness of sin, fulfilling God’s plan for the restoration of all of humanity, freely given to all who believe!

After the service, we had a quick breakfast together in player dining, just the two of us. Most of the only other people in there were the pros who had woken up to come to the service (Stewart Cink, Cameron Tringale, Jordan Spieth to name a few). We don’t get a lot of quiet moments together during a tournament, so it was a nice way to wrap up the morning before going back to the house to see our little man… who was still sleeping! Although it was a different Easter morning that I’m used to, it was a great one.

I hope each of you had a wonderful Easter celebration, and that it consisted of more than dyed eggs and chocolate bunnies… although let’s be real, the white chocolate Reese’s eggs are heavenly. But in all seriousness, our prayer is that each one of you would understand the real significance of Easter.

Blessings,
~Amanda~

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Hanging in there!

Hey everyone,

Just dropping by to thank you all for your encouragement this week. Chesson is playing awesome and really feels great out there–minus the cold I gave him 🙂 Thankfully, it has passed and it didn’t seem to affect his golf. He’s somewhat ‘in the zone’ at the moment and hasn’t had the chance to post. Bay Hill is a special place and we are fortunate to have had 3 great rounds so far. Tomorrow morning we will probably do the same thing we did this morning: eat breakfast in bed and take Hughes to the pool. I can’t think of anything more fun or relaxing. Who knows what tomorrow holds except our Heavenly Father. It will be a great day regardless.

Happy Sunday,
Amanda

Off Week to Honda Classic

Ello Ello,

It was so nice last week to be at home and enjoy everything that Raleigh has to offer. Fortunately, the weather was superb last week and I was able to get some practice in before heading down to West Palm Beach. I got out of Raleigh Sunday morning early, but not after a incredible night in Durham for the Syracuse vs. Duke game.

My good buddy Jimmy has some pretty sick tickets and I was able to watch the game from a totally different perspective. You can see from the picture below. We were on the court two rows under the basket. Boom. These kids are 18 and are seriously grown men doing battle under the basket. It is incredibly physical and it’s a good thing I chose golf because they would break me. What a great game it was too. It was back and forth the entire game and it was going to come down to the last possession. There was a controversial call all the end of the game that decided the outcome. I think it probably should have been a no call, however it was definitely more of a charge than a block. He was there, with his feet set, not under the basket, but like I said considering the circumstances it should have been a no call. Too bad. Go Duke! We will take it.

 

My flight left Raleigh at 6:55 am Sunday morning and I got into West Palm Beach at about 10:45. The Honda Classic is at PGA National which is a resort golf course so Amanda, Hughes, and I are staying on site this week. We have only been on tour for a very short period of time but we have found out that it is definitely worth paying a little more for convenience. Especially with a 4 month old baby. We don’t have to worry about putting him in a car seat every time we want to go somewhere to eat.  We just put him in the stroller and roll him right on in there. The courtesy cars this week are obviously Honda’s and they gave us a brand new Honda Odyssey. I know that Amanda is not a mini van mom and I am definitely not a mini van dad but I totally understand why people have then. This car is absolutely amazing. It has everything.

I went on ahead and played a practice round Sunday when I arrived. I had a cart so Josh and I played the course pretty quickly and conserved energy in the process. Monday, I played in the pro am in the afternoon and finished around 6. I had a wonderful time and played with some great guys. All of them are from the Midwest so they were excited to be down in sunny Florida with shorts on. Amanda and Hughes didn’t make it down to Florida till Monday. They wanted one more day in Raleigh and took the same flight out Monday morning that I was on Sunday. Tuesday, I was pretty tired after playing 18 both days prior so I just played nine with Brendon Todd. Yesterday morning I filmed Titleist Tips from the Tour and then practiced for about an hour afterwards.

Amanda and I spent the afternoon at the Spa while Hughes was at childcare. They treated Amanda to a complimentary massage this week and she scheduled me a pedicure at the same time. We then enjoyed some of the pools they had before eating lunch and then heading back to get Hughes.

The course is very difficult this week and always plays one of the toughest on tour. The game feels like it is in good shape. I am definitely getting close to the form I had the majority of last year. It just takes time and comes and goes unfortunately. I switched my driver and three wood this week because I had been struggling so much with the other ones. I switched from a 913 D3 to the 913 D2 and have a totally different shaft. Everything about my three wood is the same except for the shaft. I can tell a good difference in both of them and am looking forward to hitting them well this week. We are playing lift clean and place the first two days so hitting the ball in the fairway gives you an extra advantage. I have a little cold that I will be playing with but I feel like I have the normal energy level. Just some congestion and sniffles. It has already been and awesome week and we are super excited and blessed to be here. God is good.

Birdies,

Chesson

Phoenix

Ello Ello,

Hope that all of you are doing well and surviving the wintery blast that happened on the east coast this week. There is a little part of me that wishes I was there to enjoy in all the snow festivities. However, the weather here is pretty nice. I have been in Phoenix since Saturday evening. Amanda and I rented a car in San Diego and drove over. It was a beautiful drive crossing over the mountains. The mountains out here are covered in rocks like the mountains in NC are covered with trees. I played a practice round on Sunday for the Monday qualifier. The Waste Management tournament is one of the most popular on tour. All of the veterans and major medical guys signed up to play so my number didn’t get called. I obviously have not been playing well so I just wanted to get out there and put together a good round of golf. I did just that by shooting three under, but I did fall short of qualifying for the tournament.

I have a friend who lives in the Scottsdale area and he has been kind enough to allow me to stay with him for the week. I did decide to head over to TPC Scottsdale and play a practice round. The 1st – 10th alternates all have the right to play a practice round and be onsite. I figured I would be playing the course next year so I went on and played a practice round anyway. This course is absolutely awesome to play and at 5:15pm on a Monday there were people in the stands on 16 yelling at me. Cannot image what it is like on a Saturday when there is 20,000 in the stands who have been there all day drinking. I spent quite a bit of time at TPC Scottsdale this week and didn’t see any of the alternates there that were ahead of me. I figured I would hang out at the course on Thursday incase three guys withdrew from the tournament. Dudley Hart withdrew before the round even started so I was down to 2nd alternate, but no one else decided to take the week off. Oh well.

This place is a mecca for golf so I have been playing all over the place this week. Several guys have stayed in the area because the next tournament is at Pebble Beach so we have had a couple of fun matches. I was fortunate enough to play Whisper Rock yesterday, which is a super exclusive club. Unfortunately, Lee Janzen took some green off of me, but we are going to tee it up again today and I have all intentions of taking care of business.

I leave tomorrow for Monterey. I fly out tomorrow night around 7. That’s right, I am probably going to miss the entire Super Bowl. DANG IT! I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I guess if I had to choose someone it would be the SeaHawks. I am flying Southwest and I think that you can get DirectTV on their flights so hopefully I can watch some of the game.

I have been really working hard on getting my game back in shape. I just need to get a good tournament under my belt and that will restore the confidence that I had during 2013. Just have to stay patient and know that good things are going to happen. I believe!

Birdies,

Chesson

Wife Wednesday: Aloha from Hawaii

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Hi y’all!

Happy 2014. We had such a a great offseason and it was bittersweet to get the engine going again. It was so nice to be home and to see our friends and family as much as we did. We left for Honolulu last Saturday and I wish I had taken a picture of our luggage. So.much.stuff. I didn’t even pack that many clothes for myself or Hughes, but a car seat, base, stroller, adapter, bouncy seat, diapers, wipes, blankets, and clothes for all climates take up a ton of space in addition to all of Chesson’s golf stuff. Thankfully, we got upgraded to first class for our flights over here and it was a huge blessing. I laid my seat flat and Hughes slept on me for a large portion of the flight. I think everyone around us was grateful.

We landed at 3pm (8pm EST) and got to our hotel around 4:15. By 4:30, we had showered, put PJs on Hughes, and crawled into bed. Exhausted doesn’t even begin to describe how we felt. And one of us- Chesson- has been getting great sleep 🙂 Little buddy isn’t quite adjusted to the 5 hour time change so he and I are up every 3 hrs at night. Thankfully he eats and goes right back to sleep. We were staying at a hotel in the heart of Waikiki. It was nice for all the shops and restaurants around it, but not at all conducive to a baby. The room and bathroom was small and catching the shuttle to the course and having to drag the car seat around was beyond annoying. One step inside the host hotel and Chesson and I were desperate to switch. Thankfully someone cancelled on Monday and we moved over to the Kahala. This place is ridiculous and ridiculously expensive. We certainly won’t stay at places like this often this year, but it’s a great way to start the year and we are soaking it up. It’s similar to Pebble Beach Resort in that they treat us like royalty. If you ever come to Honolulu and want to splurge, stay at the Kahala Resort.

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Between nursing, changing diapers, naps and meeting Chesson for meals, I don’t have much down time. If Chesson isn’t headed to the course until mid-morning or gets back early, sometimes I can sneak away to the gym for a little bit but other than that, Hughes and I are connected at the hip. I’ve had a blast experiencing some firsts with him- first time in the ocean, in a hot tub, etc. He pretty much is game for anything we throw at him, although he thought the Pacific ocean was cold!

We are beyond grateful to be in warm weather this week and not in the bone-chilling cold with most of the continental US. You guys stay warm- I seriously feel for you!!

We are excited to get the new year underway and appreciate all of your prayers and support. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so here’s to a great year of golf, travel and family!

Blessings,
Amanda

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Here We Go!

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Hey Everyone,

I hope that y’all had a tremendous Christmas and New Year! Amanda and I certainly enjoyed our time off with friends and family. We kept if pretty low key for most of the holiday. We did Christmas morning with her parents then moseyed over to my parents house later in the day. What a wonderful Christmas to share with baby Hughes and both sides of the family.

We are now in Honolulu and absolutely loving our time here. We switched hotels today for a little bit of added room and convenience. I am so glad that we did because this place is ridiculous and will guarantee me an extra couple birdies per round this week. Boom baby!

The course this week is awesome. It plays firm and fast which is great because it feels like it has been a while since I had to pay attention to the distance through a dogleg. Everything is so wet these days that you just tee up a driver and smoke one down there. I feel a little rusty but I have been putting in some time and am liking how things are progressing. Should be ready to roll by game time.

We have a bunch of great pictures of the trip and Hughes. I’m putting a couple here and I’m sure Amanda will add more on Wednesday. I wanted to put a post up and get the ball rolling again with the blog. Expect some other posts this week! They have resident dolphins here at my hotel. Enough said.

Birdies,

Chesson

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Handsome Hughes!

Amanda and I were in Target the other day and Hughes looked like he was going to start smiling so I got my phone out and the above happened (make sure your volume is turned up!) Amanda and I are both proud parents! Haha.

Birdies,

Chesson

Thanksgiving and Off Season

Hey everyone,

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Amanda and I just stayed here in Raleigh and went over to my parents house. They invited Kent and Laurie, my in-laws, over for Thanksgiving, so everyone was there and got to see baby Hughes. My grandparents made their way over as well and we started grazing around 5. It was a delicious Thanksgiving and I fulfilled my yearly quota of eating turkey. I think that it is a perfect once a year kind of meat. It is incredibly dry and after about the fiftieth chew it starts to get a little chalky. Brute.

It has been pretty chilly here lately. I really like it when it gets cold because it just puts me in the mood for the holiday season. I love building fires and wearing all my winter clothes and turning up the Christmas music. I can only handle the cold for so long though. If it could be cold for one month that would be perfect. Like, right when December ends it went right back to Summer that would be so tight. Little heart to heart there.

Friday and Saturday of last week I participated in my first CGF Retreat. College Golf Fellowship is a ministry that witnesses to college golfers. I had the best time getting to know all the guys down in Pinehurst. We played Mid Pines and Pine Needles, which are two Donald Ross design courses that I have not played in forever, especially Mid Pines. Ben Martin and myself were the two PGA Tour pros that hosted the event. We shared our testimony and story of how we got to where we are. Other professionals like Cameron Tringale, Webb Simpson, Ben Crane, Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd, and Scott Stallings are some others that have retreats. Hundreds of kids from all over the world get a chance to play golf with PGA Tour players and hear the gospel. It was really great and I am looking forward to hosting another one in the future.

Amanda and I are just hanging out and getting everything ready for Christmas around here. We are also getting all our expenses together over the past year and that is starting to be quite the task. So brute. I put the tree up today and went out to the course to hit a few balls. You have to take advantage of the days where it gets into the fifties because the weather changes so quickly around here. The game actually felt pretty good. Made a few putts and drove the ball beautifully. That is something that I have not done since July. I have been planning on playing in a NGA Tour Carolina Winter Series event in Myrtle Beach, SC, sometime over the offseason just to stay sharp. I will keep you guys updated when that happens. Since it is the offseason Amanda and I will not be posting as regularly. We are excited to announce that Hadscorner.com will be a sponsor of ours again next year on the PGA Tour. We are getting everything together and organized for next year regarding sponsorships so we will keep you updated on that as well. It is certainly a lot harder with baby Hughes crying, eating, and pooping every hour! Haha.

Birdies,

Chesson