I have found myself repeating one phrase in my head for most of this year. 

“I don’t do emotional leverage anymore”

A little reminder to stop and think about the conversations I’m having with people.

If it plays to my ego, I just shut it down now.

I wanted to make more decisions based on reason this year.

Not feathers in caps.

I never understood being emotionally drained until USWDGC ended.

I’ve gotten a lot better at noticing the pitfalls of the business. The times when I would say yes in order to move Mint up a ladder in some way.

The little things I’d do to make someone else happy, that didn’t necessarily benefit me or Mint. Usually cost us.

The situations that solve other peoples problems. The ones that don’t cost me today, but will in the future moment.

There’s a story from USWDGC that I’m not sure I’ve written a ton about.

The date.

March 2024

We originally bid on it to be hosted in May or October of 2024(to the best of my recollection).

We tried to line it up with the main tour.

I never expected the date window to change after we won the bid.

By January of 2023 we(Krissie and myself) had won the bid with our vision for the event.

Staff goals, side events, Dates, Sponsors, Courses, etc.

Almost all of it detailed.

We reached out to every single parks department in the area.

Leander, Round Rock, Wilco, Travis County, Austin and more.

We got as far ahead of our plans as we could by early 2023.

By February of 2023 my personal time shifted to building Sprinkle Valley.

I didn’t have time to plan anymore. I had to get to work.

By May of 2023 I was fielding calls about the possible new dates for USWDGC in 2024.

I remember the time pretty clearly because it was during COTO week. The event that takes just as much prep and long hours for me to do.

I remember exactly where I was at MetCenter when I just sort of accepted my fate.

It was going to be March.

It felt like I wasn’t going to get a choice. 

We bid on May and October of 2024. All signs before then pointed to hosting this in October.

But the tour was changing, and a good amount of our potential player base was on the tour.

We had to make March work.

But March meant a few problems:

1) A 4-week straight Texas Swing. Less volunteers, ticket sales, etc.

2) Less time to finish the course

3) New date agreements needed with the parks departments and venues. Affects costs…

4) New sponsor and vendor plans. Can they all make it now?

5) Do we even have the money and manpower for this timeline?

At one point I was very close to just saying no and walking away the event.

The problem?

I was pot committed, emotionally and financially.

In hindsight I put everything we had on the line to run this event.

The industry was starting to dip in March of 2024. Sponsors and vendors were backing out. Revenue was falling across the board in areas it had never before.

Mint was also tied to Sprinkle and the event now. 

The Wildflower tour risked some disappointment and fallout too.

Cancelling the event would have been an unprecedented decision in today’s game.

My reputation was on the line.

Emotionally I had something to prove.

I could only see two paths I wanted:

October or no event.

Oh and this other wrinkle that developed by around the time we won our bid.

The Open at Belton was moving to Austin the same year we were bringing a major.

I love the crew that runs that event, but that sucked. Two Austin events. Back to back.

I didn’t have a plan for how to make March work. I just knew we would. Somehow.

I really couldn’t have known how impactful that change would be for me.

Every reason I thought it was a bad idea to move the event…eventually came true.

You just find yourself saying yes to things because you don’t want to let people down.

You don’t want to look like a failure.

I can imagine it’s similar to how a player feels when I change their starting hole just before a round starts.

You feel like you have no choice but to say yes in these situations. 

It’s really easy to look back and tell myself I should have said no to the new date.

That notion just hides the emotions and consequences I eventually had to deal with.

By the end of this blog, I’m pretty comfortable knowing we did the best we could with what we had.

I know how to do it better next time.

I know when to say no.

I know how to take time for myself.

I know when someone is pulling at my ego.

I know what it feels like when I have nothing left.

I know what it feels like to lose control.

I don’t learn those things without USDWGC.

I know that much.

I know how to succeed.