LEMONT, Ill. - Rob Rashell is playing his first season on the PGA Tour. Throughout his rookie year, Rashell will provide a frequent glimpse of what it's like to break into the Tour.

Progress and improvement are very difficult to measure in the game of golf at this level. Some days I’ll show up at the golf course not feeling my best, not hitting it my best and at the end of the day put a great score on the board. In contrast to that, there are days that everything feels great — ball striking, short game, etc. — and the score on the board at the end of the day is nothing short of miserable. Go figure. With these things in mind, you can understand how progress becomes difficult to measure.

I’ve been working hard all year to improve my fundamentals, make my golf swing better in hopes of one thing: making my bad shots better. Whether my fundamentals are good or bad, a good shot is a good shot. Hitting a tee shot in the middle of the fairway or hitting an iron shot a foot from the flag, good is good. When you look at a bad shot though, there are many levels of bad shots. Hitting a tee shot in the rough would be better than hitting a tee shot in the trees, which would be better than hitting a tee shot in the water or worse yet out of bounds.  Keeping the bad shots to an absolute minimum makes every round of golf that much better.  Good fundamentals are a big part of this process.

In my mind, I’ve been making progress because my bad shots are getting better and better. A lot of times the score on the board does not reflect exactly what is happening on the golf course yet a player is what he or she shoots at the end of the day. I feel like I’ve made some great progress through the year and the results haven’t shown in the finishes I’ve had to this point in the year.  The US Open was a step in the right direction, and I learned a lot from the experience, yet I aspire much higher than a tie for 42^nd.

The last couple of weeks I’ve missed the cut in both New York (Barclays Classic) and Chicago (Western Open). More than anything I feel like my mind has not been as sharp as it should have been in both tournaments. My fundamentals and ball striking are improving yet I’m getting nothing out of the rounds of golf I’m playing, finishing each round with the worst possible score I could shoot. I just need to let things happen a little more and trust the time and effort I’ve put into getting better.

There are times when I wish I had more to write about than making improvements and getting better and staying positive when things are definitely not going the way I had envisioned them. A lot of weeks I write about similar themes and wait as I’m sure many of you do for the results to follow. When I think about these things I remember that working towards my goals is sometimes just as rewarding as actually achieving them. 

The process of a round of golf mirrors the process of working to improve:

• Having the patience and belief to put off immediate results for long-term improvement that in the end will be much better than the way I do things now.
• Always being honest with myself about my ability and where I stand amongst my peers.
• Accepting what is happening on the golf course and having the determination and resolve to make the changes necessary to succeed at this level. 

I hope to write soon about great achievements on the golf course, yet until then will write about all the things that lead to that achievement. 

2005 results     How Rob Rashell stacked up on the PGA Tour this year. He made six of 25 cuts and earned $84,391. — 11/3-11/6: Southern Farm Bureau Classic (70-70-69-69—278, -10, 44th-tie, $9,070) — 9/22-9/25: Texas Open (67-73—140, Even, cut) — 9/15-9/18: 84 Lumber Classic (71-76—147, +3, cut) — 9/8-9/11: Canadian Open (72-73—145, +5, cut) — 9/2-9/5: Deutsche Bank Championship (75-73—148, +6, cut) — 8/25-8/28: Buick Championship (73-69—142, +2, cut) — 8/18-8/21: Reno-Tahoe Open (77-77—154, +10, cut) — 7/21-7/24: U.S. Bank Championship (71-72—143, +3, cut) — 7/14-7/17: B.C. Open (74-70—144, Even, cut) — 7/7-7/10: John Deere Classic (72-72—144, +2, cut) — 6/30-7/3: Western Open (72-72—144, +2, cut) — 6/23-6/26: Barclays Classic (75-73—148, +6, cut) — 6/16-6/19: U.S. Open (74-72-73-74—293, +13, 42th-tie, $26,223) — 5/26-5/29: St. Jude Classic (73-68-69-71—281, +1, 39th-tie, $20,090) — 4/28-5/1: Zurich Classic (74-73—147, +3, cut) — 4/21-24: Houston Open (78-73—151, +7, cut) — 3/31-4/3: BellSouth Classic (79-73—152, +8, cut) — 3/10-3/13: Honda Classic (73-68-76-70—287, -1, 58th-tie, $12,100) — 2/24-2/27: Chrysler Classic (71-68-71-75—285, -3, 64th-tie, $6,300) — 2/17-2/20: Nissan Open (73-72—145, +3, cut) — 2/10-2/13: Pebble Beach Pro-Am (72-75-73—220, +4, cut) — 2/3-2/6: FBR Open (77-74—151, +9, cut) — 1/26-1/30: Bob Hope Classic (66-76-73-72—287, -1, cut) — 1/20-1/23: Buick Invitational (73-72—145, +1, cut) — 1/13-1/16: Sony Open (73-67-74-69—283, +3, 56th-tie, $10,608)

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