Hello 2019

Hi everyone and Happy New Year 2019!

Holidays are now over, and I had a great time celebrating Christmas with friends and family eating lots of good food and spending some quality time together. This off season I have been working on my game but also for the month of December I was working part-time at a Finnish liquor store called Alko. During my month there I learned many things while also making some extra money which will become useful for the upcoming season! As January started, I have had the chance to dedicate all my time for practice, workouts, and recharging batteries before the tournament season kicks into high gear.

My plan for this year is to play on the Symetra Tour, but as of now I am unsure of how many events my status from Q-School will get me in. When the season officially starts, I will know a lot more but right now I am a bit in the dark. The good thing is that there are lots of other tournaments to play in if my status will not get me into many Symetra Tour events. There are minitours, pro-ams, LPGA Monday qualifiers, and so on. These tournaments may not be as competitive or high paying, but they will still help me keep my competitive feel on during the season and prepare me for q-school in the fall.

As of right now, I am still in Finland. I have spent the last two months here, which is actually the longest time I have spent in Finland during the winter since before I started college in 2013. Despite the cold and the darkness, it has been awesome 😊 I have loved being at home close to my friends and family, and to have been able to work with my coach Petteri Nykky, even though all the golf practice is indoors. I do miss being in the sun in Florida, but this has been a nice time to spend in my home country. I am planning on returning back to the States some time in February. My priority right now is to get used to a couple of swing changes I have been working on these past two months. They are small changes, but they will hopefully make a huge difference once I get them right on the golf course under pressure!

I am very excited about where things are headed and even though last years results did not show it, I made big progress not only in my game but also as an athlete. I could not be more excited about 2019. I am ready for it to be filled with positive thoughts, stress free competing, hard work and fun times on the road.

 

Have a great weekend 🙂

– Matilda

P.S. If you are interested in more frequent updates from me, I recommend checking out my Instagram account! You can click the side bar on the right ->, or type in my username m.castren 😊

 

~ It does not matter how slow you go as long as you don’t stop