Historic Brownsville Open Notebook: Duramed FUTURES Tour players prepared for conditions

It can be really hot. It can be really windy. It could even be both.

But no matter what how the weather shapes up for the Historic Brownsville Open, the Duramed FUTURES Tour golfers are ready for it.

It also helps that some of them are used to the expected conditions.

"I actually like it to be windy because it makes the course that much tougher, it almost makes me focus more," Michaela Cavener said. "You have to get out there and grind every single shot, it’s almost like a fight."

Cavener is from Oklahoma and went to school at the University of Tulsa. To her, a calm day is "15 miles per hour" winds.

When it’s windy out, she hits at a lower trajectory, so the ball can’t get up in the air. She said a rough estimation is to aim your shot one yard for each mile per hour of wind, so if the wind is blowing 10 miles per hour to the west, you aim 10 yards more to the east.

Cavener is used to doing that and adjusting for that, which was not the case for Arizona-native Tiffany Tavee when she first came to the tour.

"When I first started playing in the wind it (frustrated me)," Tavee said. "You try and guide your swing and things kind of change. It doesn’t go where you want it to go."

But Tavee is now in her fifth year on the tour, making her quite used to the kinds of windy conditions golfers see as they travel the country.

However, it is expected to be over 90 degrees today and Sunday. And that is a built-in advantage for someone who grew up sweltering in the desert heat.

"(I) try and stay in the shade and stay under trees," Tavee said. "Some girls will use umbrellas."

Amanda Costner, now in her third full year on tour, also has a plan of attack to combat the heat.

"When I go places down further south, where you’re prone to get dehydrated, I pack a cooler and just stick bottles of water in there," she said. "I also try to eat every (few) holes to keep my energy up."

Costner, Tavee and the rest of the golfers might get a break come Saturday. The temperature is expected to only be in the high 80s.

HOSTS WITH THE MOST

Much like minor league baseball players, golfers on the Duramed FUTURES Tour rely on host families to house them for their week-long stay in the various cities to which they travel.

While some, mainly those with sponsorships or those traveling with friends or family members, do stay in hotels, most are paired with a host family.

Mo Martin, who has been on the tour since 2005 and won the 2007 El Paso Golf Classic, is no different. For the second year in a row, she is staying with a family that lives at one the houses at Racho Viejo Golf & Country Club.

"I had a really good time," Martin said. "It’s a very big part of our experience."

Sometimes, though, the pairing just doesn’t work out.

"I’ve moved into other housings once or twice," Martin said. "Sometimes families aren’t really expecting a player to come in and live there for the week … Everyone has different rules, we visit interesting parts of the country."

Though that isn’t the case for her in Brownsville, as Martin spoke very highly of her experience. She even made a spaghetti and sautéed vegetables dinner Wednesday night.

"More often than not, we go into great houses, great families," she said. "We wind up staying, year after year. Like this year."

THE LONG ROAD

Julie Wells-Shenfield hasn’t been home since Christmas. And that was just for four days.

The tour veteran and Oregon-native went on a cross-country road trip earlier this year, driving with her husband from Palm Spring, Calif., to Tampa, Fla., over the course of four nights and five days.

She stopped in San Antonio, New Orleans and Pensacola, Fla. on her journey to get to Florida for the early tournaments on the tour schedule.

"(We saw) some different cities, some different cultures," Wells-Shenfield said. "And met a whole lot of different people."

She even got a nail stuck in her tire right outside of El Paso, which was an experience in and of itself.

"It made Texas that much longer," Wells-Shenfield said. "Everyone says it takes forever to go through Texas, and they weren’t kidding."

Todd Orodenker writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@brownsvilleherald.com.