Chattin' with Chatty

By Davis Chatfield

Editor’s note: Attleboro’s Davis Chatfield, a first-year pro on the Korn Ferry Tour, will share his experiences throughout the season with RIGA senior writer Joe McDonald. This week Chatfield is playing in the Astara Chile Classic at the Prince of Wales Country Club.

SANTIAGO, Chile – The season’s been awesome so far. I’ve met so many new people and traveled to some pretty cool places. I’m only a few months into it and this is tournament No. 6 for me. It’s already been a ton of golf and it’s going to start ramping up here in the next few months, but it’s everything I want to be doing. It’s been a blast. It’s been great.

It was nice to be back in the states last week in Savanah, Ga., and had a bunch of people watching, friends and family, so that was nice. Finished tied for 64th after rounds of 72-69-73-71 and shot 3-under. In those situations, it puts everything into perspective. I’m always going to be hard on myself when it comes to golf, wanting to get the results, but at the end of the day one tournament doesn’t define me. There were over 30 people there to support me. They planned it a few months back and they all made it. It was pretty fun. We started to plan it in January when I was at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic (at Sandals Emerald Bay). We found a good flight going out of Boston, so it was pretty cool for it to actually happen.

All those people helped me get to this spot, so having them there and seeing them watch me do what I want to be doing is pretty special. Hopefully they can make it to more events down the road.

I’m in Santiago right now. I caught a red eye Sunday night, and luckily got here after some issue with the flight going out of Atlanta. I think 50, or so, players had their flight cancelled and they all go in (Tuesday) morning. Luckily, I got down here and ready for another good week.

My favorite tournament so far has been the Club Car Championship (at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club in Savannah, just because everyone was there. It was a very well-run event. When I was done with the round, it wasn’t like all the other tournaments when I just went back to my hotel room to hang out. This time I was able to hang out with a bunch of friends and family, so that entire week was just awesome having everyone there.

The Bahamas was obviously really cool. Finished tied for 56th after rounds of 73-70-79-68 and shot 2-over at the Exuma Classic. Shot 4-over and missed the cut at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club. It was really hot at The Panama Championship (at Panama Golf Club in Panama City, Panama) and missed the cut.

The Colombia Championship (at Country Club de Bogota) was nice. Tied for 37th after rounds of 72-67-72-67 and shot 5-under. I never really played at high elevation before, and we were over 8,000 feet above sea level, so the ball was going really far. That was a pretty cool place, too, but outside of the golf course there really isn’t a ton of time in the day to go venture out. We’re really only there for the golf, but honestly, I wish we would spend a little more time doing other things. I feel like it always turns into just being golf.

That’s why Savannah was nice. I was able to spend some time away from the course, and as the season progresses, I’m going to need to do that a little more, because there’s a lot of golf coming up. I can’t just be doing one thing.

The first four tournaments were out of the country, so that was a bit of a culture shock for me. There was a language barrier in Colombia and Panama, and also here in Chile a little bit. When we get to that point during the summer when we’re on the road for seven weeks in a row it’ll be important to get as much rest when you can and take the off days when they come.

Like (Monday) I didn’t even think about going to the course, to be honest. It’s all about time management. I love playing 18-hole practice rounds, and being at the course all day, but now I’m just trying to get my work in and get out of there. I prepare as best as I can, and when the time comes to leave, I don’t need to be hanging around, hitting an extra bag of balls when I really don’t need to. It’s all about resting when I can.

Q-School was stressful. I started the third week of August, and I finished finals the second week of November. It was a bit of a process, but it was obviously really nice to go through it. To get to where I am right now has gone as good as it could have been. Obviously, I’d like to get some better results in the tournaments going forward, but I feel good about where my game is, and those results will come. I can’t put too much pressure on myself right now. I know if I just keep doing what I’m doing it’ll come.

I enjoy pro golf a lot. I thought amateur and college golf were fun, but in pro golf you meet a lot of cool people, so I really can’t see myself doing anything else.