By Jordan Holley

GolfWRX Contributor

Jordan Holley, 28, is a mini-tour player pursuing his dream of earning a PGA Tour card. He graduated from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where he was an NCAA All-American and a member of the Cleveland Golf Academic All-American First Team. He qualified for the U.S. Amateur in 2008, and since turning professional has played on the NGA Hooters and eGolf tours, as well as other minor league tours.

There is nothing quite like coming home.  You could be gone for a few weeks or gone for years, but the feeling is the same.  Just driving through the state line into North Carolina and seeing familiar ground gives me such a sense of calm. I don’t know about you, but home is where you feel centered and balanced, calm and comfortable.

Getting out of South Florida and back to where people wave when they pass and don’t give you that weird look when you hold the door for them is refreshing to say the least. People tend to use turn signals. When someone honks his or her horn it’s usually a friendly one or two taps and doesn’t sound like someone face planted into the steering wheel. People drive normal cars and you don’t see 16-year-old kids driving $100,000 Mercedes.  The only surgeries most people have around here are usually health related. All of these things make me appreciate home.

Well, I’m back and riding some good waves both on and off the golf course. Some great practice at the end of last month coupled with a few sessions with my coach Mike Adams at Medalist Golf Club led me to two top-three finishes including a win in my last two events on the Golfslinger’s Minor League Tour.  I have sprinkled in a few really low rounds in between and can really feel the difference between dedicating myself full time versus splitting my time tending bar until the middle of the night!

Here’s where things get interesting — the potential sponsors I met in South Florida (check out my past stories) have contributed to me dumping my 2000 Honda Civic, you know, the one with 175,000 miles, a broken window, no a/c and balding tires? Although we have not struck a long-term deal, they have provided me with a large portion of a payment on a new, larger, safer and definitely cooler (a/c and looks) Mazda 3!  I can’t even put into words how thankful I am and obviously made the drive home a little sweeter.

I’ve still been reliving the last eGolf event (click here for Jordan’s last story “Pure Strikes and Shanks”) and have decided that although I didn’t get the job done at St. James I have become a better player because of it.  I have learned some technical things as well as truly gained an understanding of just where I need to improve mentally. I have been blessed with a fantastic new home course this week to work out of just outside of Wilmington, NC.  It is called Cape Fear National and is one of the best-conditioned, toughest tests of golf within 100 miles or more.  My current schedule has two more events on the eGolf Tour in the next two weeks and then back to Florida.  I am excited for the challenge of getting myself back into contention and sealing the deal! I can’t thank you all enough for the support!

Click here for more discussion and a chance to interact with Jordan in the “Tour Talk” forum.

You can Jordan on Twitter @J_Holley6under or on www.jordanholleygolf.com.