I’m writing this from Florida. No, I’m not involved in the political primary going on down here … though I was in SC last week when the primary was happening there, too … sort of weird being constantly bombarded with political ads everywhere I go …

On a much nicer note, I’ve been in Orlando for the Merchandiser’s Convention and the PGA Show.

This has been the liveliest show since 9/11. Something good is going on and I think I know what it is – it’s youth.

People in their 20’s and 30’s are running golf companies and bringing an energy and excitement that has been much needed.

Unlike the worn-out political rhetoric that I’ve been listening to – these kids are bringing fresh ideas, enthusiasm, and confidence to the golf business.

I can’t wait to show you what we’ve bought for the Pro Shop … we’re plugging into this youthful resurgence … I can feel it’s going to be a great year.

Cheers,

Tom Abts

Greetings from the Merchandisers of the Year Convention in Orlando. Today was a non-stop flurry of seminars and break-out groups. The theme of the convention is “innovation”. There are many ways to sell things. Lately, box stores and the internet have focused on efficiency and thus can sell things at cheap prices. I have no problem with that … it’s great to be able to buy basics such as soap at a bargain. But, that model doesn’t translate to everything – especially not golf. What makes the sale with important things in our life is the relationship – mostly trust. Too often sales training focuses on manipulation and tricks … it should focus on knowledge of the product and what is best for the customer – and the sales person needs to do that in their own way with their own style. That is true innovation.

I have to tell you – I played golf the other day. In fact, I’ve played twice this week.

On Monday, I played at The Sanctuary – isn’t that a great name for a golf course? I like to feel that Deer Run is a sanctuary – a place to get away from the craziness of the world – a relaxing, safe place.

Speaking of a safe place – on Tuesday I played at the Parris Island Marine Base golf course – that’s a true sanctuary.

Sanctuary can also mean a sacred place … for me, a golf course is a sacred place. It can also mean a place where you’re free from arrest by the law … we can’t offer you that at Deer Run.

I’d like to hear your thoughts about Deer Run GC as a sanctuary – how it is and how it can be … please send me your thoughts at tabts@deerrungolf.com

Cheers,

Tom Abts

I’m only recently appreciating balance. Not only in the golf swing – but in everything. I was always a pretty black and white guy – I looked at balance as wishy-washy. But … I’m starting to understand the reason for balance: winter/summer, cold/hot, hyper/mellow, left/right, etc.
Let’s relate balance to the golf swing. I see the left hand as the control hand – sort of the robot of the golf swing. The right hand is the feel hand – sort of the artist of the golf swing. The left hand needs to be in control to allow the right hand to do his job. When I was a young man, I had a totally right handed golf swing. I hit the ball far and hit a lot of really cool shots … I was also inconsistent and could shoot any number low or high. Then, as I got older, I began to focus on my left hand. My game became much more in control. But, I went too far focusing on the left hand. In fact, I took my right hand out of my swing. My swing began to lose power and I even began to lose feel. As my game got worse, I focused even more on my left hand … not pretty.

So, here’s what I’m now doing: I’m taking the club back with my left hand and hitting the shot with my right hand. I don’t mean totally left on the backswing and totally right on the downswing … but definitely more left than right on the back and more right than left in the hitting zone.

Bobby Jones once said that he felt he was “freewheeling” as hit went through the ball … that’s a great expression and definitely a right handed feel … Jones also consciously took the club back with his left hand.

I’m even trying to do this with the putter.

Blogging can be addictive … I’m pretty obsessive, so look out.

We have to talk about the golf swing. At the moment, I’m in Beaufort, SC – been here for a week. Probably played more golf this week than I did last summer. I play quite a bit with my neighbor – an ex-Marine who’s really gotten into golf. So this neighbor is always reading about the golf swing and asking me questions. He gets frustrated because much of what he reads contradicts itself – which it does … and here’s why: Golf instruction needs to be understood in the phases or evolution of the golfer’s swing. What might be great advice for an expert, can be terrible advice for a beginner. But, you say “aren’t fundamentals true for all players?” Yes! But, golf instructors don’t agree on what are fundamentals.

Let’s start at the beginning: most people are poor golfers because of one of two things (or both)

1.) They want to scoop the ball up into the air.

2.) They pick up the club and smash down into the ball. Ironically, they scoop iron shots and smash down with the driver off the tee – they would be much better off scooping tee shots and smashing down on iron shots. The expert player doesn’t have these problems – what he’s looking for is a more controlled swing. But, the suggested ways to tighten up the expert’s swing are usually the worst advice to the average player who needs to free up and develop his swing. Most people need to learn to make MORE of a weight shift and MORE of a turn. They also need to learn to keep their wrists firm on chip shots and learn to rotate their wrists on full shots. Average players also have to learn to swing inside-out.

Expert players already make a good weight shift and a good turn and rotate their wrists on full shots and swing inside-out … they are usually working on toning down those actions so that they are more in control. Thus, golf instruction has to be fitted as to where the golfer is at in terms of his evolution. And you can see why so often “tips” are not beneficial.

A recent survey by GOLF WORLD magazine listed the PGA Tour players’ top ten courses … I was pleasently surprised.

They picked the older, shorter, classic courses – the courses where you have to hit shots – not just bomb it and make some putts. Number one was Augusta National – maybe obvious, but still a great pick. Number two was Harbour Town – very surprising to me – I love Harbour Town, it’s short for a Tour course and has little greens, and you have to work the ball – you can’t just slug it. From there it’s: Riviera, Pebble Beach, Colonial, Muirfield Village, Shaughnessy, Aronimink, Innisbrook, and Congressional.

That’s great sign for the future of golf. Very often Tour players design courses because course owners want to use their famous names – so if these guys value the good courses, hopefully we’ll see more quality courses in the future.

This could be the The Year. The year when golf courses open in March and cruise through a beautiful Spring, then meander through a delightful Summer, and conclude with a glorious Fall.

We all deserve it.

So, in anticipation of the perfect year, we are making improvements to the golf course, and developing new and better ways to operate and provide service. In other words, our mission is the spoil you – the Deer Run customer.

For example, we’re getting more into social media. Starting this week on www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf, we’re having the first of weekly drawings for golf passes and other swell prizes – take a look.

Get ready – the fun has just begun.

Happy New Year,

Tom Abts

This is a topic that I’ve been wrestling with since I was in high school.

We did a role-playing exercise in English Class, and I couldn’t figure out how to role-play and not be phony. It’s really tough to be authentic when you’re young … you don’t know who you are and you don’t have enough power to take the chance of being rejected, and rejected because you are being yourself – you could starve to death. So, hopefully with maturity, you can become more secure and self-knowledgable … and thus trust being your self. Being your self means also loving your self – that’s not narcsissm … narcsissm is loving your reflection, not your self. That’s why narcsissists are so concerned with what everybody thinks of them – their self-worth is dependant on other’s perception of them … so they become obssessed with how things appear, not as they really are.

I think narcsississm is basically immaturity. And an immature society is obssessed with appearances … that’s why young and/or shallow people are obssessed with fashion, the latest look, tv, celebrities, etc … sounds like the city of Los Angeles … Also, for immature people, other people are nothing more than things – he’s a golfer, she’s a waitress, he’s an executive, etc … not that he’s who he is and plays golf – no, people are defined by surface roles in society … Ever watch terrible tv shows where the charecters are not developed into real people? but are just caricatures of people who are part of a sit-com format with formula jokes, etc … not watchable … Also, when people are young/shallow/immature/narcsisistic … they turn occasions into spectales instead of just what they were meant to be … for example, these mothers having over-the-top birthday parties for kids … it’s obviously not about the kid – it’s about how it all looks …

The surest way to bad vibes is phonyness … we can all smell it … To be authentic, trust your gut and don’t worry about how people perceive it … you’ll like yourself and the people who get you are the only ones worth caring about anyway …

Here’s the American Dictionary’s definition of the Law of Diminishing Returns: “.The tendency for a continuing application of effort or skill toward a particular project or goal to decline in effectiveness after a certain level of result has been achieved.”

Ok … in my words it means that “you can achieve a certain level with a certain amount of effort.” And that after a certain point, it’s almost wasted effort.
That’s difficult for people to swallow. And, for a lot of reasons. But, that is what real effiency is all about.

Let’s talk about this … it’s at the heart of taking control of your life. The basic reality of life is that we have limited time. We need to weigh how much time and effort is worth a goal. It’s like determing how much money something is worth. Obviously if you have limitless money you can buy anything you want. If you have limitless time you can try to achieve anything you want.
Did you ever see the movie GROUNDHOG DAY? Bill Murray keeps reliving the same day over and over. After a while, he realizes that he can learn a lot of skills because he has limitless time … so he learns piano, ice sculpting, languages, etc … because it’s like he has limitless money – he has limitless time.

Well, we don’t have that luxury of limitless time. Being a boss is tricky because employees need to maximize their time … you need to give them enough freedom to use their time wisely, and hope that they won’t take advantage of you and misuse their freedom.

I’ve learned that good employees respond well to freedom – that they flourish with the opportunity to manage their time. Lousy employees take advantage of freedom and misuse their time … I prefer to let bad employees hang themselves.

This philosphy of mine flies in the face of too many bosses, coaches, cultures, etc.
Micro-management loves to point out the little problems … they always miss the big picture and the main point. Their nit-picking leads to poor leadership – leaders who are afraid to loosen the reins for fear that any minor problem will be used against them … so it all becomes management by Cover Your Ass …

Years ago I had a young Asst. Pro who hit balls 40 hours a week at the range and gave very complicated lessons. I tried to explain to him my theory of the maintenance free golf swing … people don’t have 40 hours a week to work on their golf swing … he didn’t even sort of get what I was talking about … but … years later he sent me an email that he teaches the maintenance free golf swing … wow! stuff like that gives me hope …

I have to wrap this up … people need freedom to manage their time … sounds obvious, but when bosses, family, etc expect perfection … we don’t have enough time to live and to be well-rounded … the more we live in a specialized, perfectionist society … the more we’ll have serious human personality problems … business has to realize that those problems are not efficient, that they’re crazy insistence on control is actually not cost-effective … look at the problems that the military is having with suicide … all of this comes down to a lack of freedom and a lack of understanding the Law of Diminishing Returns …

2010 was an odd year. It felt like the country was on the verge of an economic depression … maybe that’s why the year seemed so unfocused, sort of like everyone was living in limbo waiting to see what was going to happen. It was definitely not a bold, clear year.

Speaking of limbo … how about those Vikings? How come no one is talking about since Childress has left, that the defense is playing with agression and finally blitzing. Obviously, the offense has been more agressive … but why no talk of the defense? And … why all of the hatred toward Favre? He was handcuffed by Chilly all year …or he was hurt … why does Chilly have a free pass? His ridiculous style of football is why the season was a disaster. The local media boys hate Favre and love to pound on him while he’s down … they were always on Chilly’s side … they love mediocrity … they should read a little Nietzsche and grow some stones.

Speaking of Nietzsche … he would have seen this year of limbo as a classic example of modern herd mentality. I just read a moronic review of TRUE GRIT … it’s a great movie, and this reveiwer only saw it from a Marxist point of view … he was disturbed that it wasn’t politically correct … well, the era that the movie takes place in wasn’t politically correct … what does he expect? This constant need to blame independent personalities (Favre) and love the weakness of mob mentality is shocking. I would have thought that the advent of industrialism and technology would have freed up people enough to break away from the herd … instead, the herd mentality seems even stronger than ever … you’ve got the commune weanies on one side and the Babbitt idiots on the other side … where are independent individuals?

Let’s start to loosen up the reigns and start living like real people … how’s that for a goal for 2011?