Greetings Golfers,

I’m writing this from South Carolina. Don’t be jealous … MN might be warmer today than SC.

So, since Minnesota has very little snow and is enjoying a heat wave … we may have an early Spring. That means golf is right around the corner. And that means you need to be golf ready.

Am I golf ready because I’ve been Down South? Hardly. We’ve had terrible weather … actually have had snow and ice. And, I got that flu over Christmas and it never left my body … maybe it’s a return of the Black Plague.

Anyway, my game is hardly razor sharp. So, I’m going to start with the basics … this what I’m going to work on, maybe you should too.

First off is my stance. I always need to work on my stance. It can get too wide and too bent over. My natural instinct is to set my hands too low. Because I’m a hands player, this feels good, but it leads to just lifting up the club instead of making a good turn on the backswing. The too wide of stance can lead to making too big of weight shifts and not enough turning during my swing. I need to play a lot to overcome those faults that a bad stance puts into motion.

Next is my grip. My left hand can get too weak (hand turned left) and my right hand can get too strong (hand turned right). They don’t really balance each other out – my clubface gets too closed and I hit hooks.

Next is my backswing. Picking up the club is not good .. I need to swing it back and make a turn. So, I focus on going back low and slow. And, as you already know, I need to make a good turn on my backswing … I try to get my left shoulder under my chin. Hogan actually wore out his shirts where his left shoulder rubbed against his chin.

Next is the downswing. I practice pulling the club down with my left hand as I shift my weight onto my left foot. This is a good drill. A very good drill to get you to swing at the ball from the inside … and not come over the top.

Next, swing through into the finish and hold your follow through. In fact, pose … it sounds obnoxious, but if you can hold your follow through you’ve completed a balanced golf swing. Congratulations!

Better get started … we may be open soon!

Skol,

Tom Abts

GM/Head Golf Professional

Greetings Golfers,

Lately, I’ve had the time to watch a lot of golf videos. My nature enjoys the banter of discussions … whether it’s philosophy, psychology, politics, business, or the golf swing.

But, too often those discussions become too hypothetical – they don’t live in the real world. The problem is that people can get frustrated and give up … then they don’t believe in anything … or then they believe in everything!

When I reach that stage of frustration, I try to prioritize what matters … that seems to help me escape the maze, and make some sense of what I’m trying to understand.

Many times I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of golf swing philosophy and lost my mind (and golf swing).

I’m a member of a golf site whose leader is a former European Tour player. Obviously a good golfer, but never really made it on Tour. Now that he’s 50, he’s going to try to qualify for the European Senior Tour. And … he’s basically rejected all golf swing philosophies. He sent me a personal email about his new style … it was pretty long and just basically said that he’s going to play golf. Ok … but what does that mean? That’s like someone who says that their personal philosophy is that they’re “going to live”.

I get it. He needs more freedom in his golf game. But, does he mean that anything goes?

Remember that old song from the 1930s “Anything Goes”?

“The world’s gone mad today and good’s bad today,

when black’s white today and day’s night today,

when most guys today that women prize today,

are just silly gigilos.

Anything goes!”

Well, that’s the constant push-pull … isn’t it. More freedom … but not lose our base. Whether it’s a society or a person or a business or a golf swing.

My golf swing is good when it’s the proper balance of stable and free. However, it gets too rigid … then I free it up and it’s good … then it gets too free and it’s bad … the pendulum is always swinging. That ever changing balance is dynamic … and necessary. But, it does get out of whack and needs to come back. Push-pull … not anything goes!

Cheers,

Tom Abts

GM/Head Golf Professional

Greetings Golfers,

The new year is a good time to set goals. Goals need to be realistic … based in reality. You have to be honest about what needs to be achieved … and honest about what is needed to achieve the goals.

Sounds reasonable … basing goals on reality. But, not if you listened to philosopher Herbert Marcuse. About 60 years ago, Marcuse said that “science is the enemy because it denies the reality of utopia”. Seriously – he really said that.

Marcuse would not have liked golf. Golf is based on reality. You hit it … you find it and hit again … until you get the ball in the hole … and that’s your score. The rumor was that former North Korean dictator – Kim Jong-iI – played a round of golf and shot 34 (38 under par) … they say he made 11 hole-in-ones during that incredible round. And, it was his first time playing golf! Kim Jong-iI was probably a devoted student of Marcuse.

Kim Jong-iI was the father of the current ruler of North Korea – Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Un’s half-brother was murdered last year in the Kuala Lumper airport by some women who gagged him with poison. Maybe his brother was worried that his half-brother had inherited the golf genes.

You probably don’t have to deal with such a jealous family member. At least not that jealous. Another reason to live in reality. The half-brother was probably in denial of how jealous Kim Jong Un was of him – especially of his golf game.

Your golf goals should be realistic. Even a score of 44 isn’t very realistic (10 shots higher than Kim Jong-iI). Our course record is 63. We don’t have a local dictator … so we probably won’t have anyone shoot 34.

It’s a shame that Kim Jong-iI didn’t make any golf videos. Herbert Marcuse could have been his director.

Cheers,

Tom Abts

GM/Head Golf Professional

Greetings Golfers,

Every year I plan on practicing and playing more golf – unfortunately, every year I practice and play less golf.

So, this winter, I’m going to do something about it. If I start now, I’ll probably carry it into the golf season.

My plan is pretty simple … if it’s too complicated or difficult, I know it won’t happen.

Step one: Swing a weighted club. Nothing tricky – just swing a weighted club back and forth for about 5 minutes. If I can do that almost every day, it will drastically improve my rhythm, flexibility, and golf strength.

Step two: Chip with my sand wedge. This I can do in my office and at home. Again, all I need to do is 5 minutes a day. Chipping will greatly improve my feel of the clubface and improve solid contact with the ball. Not only will it improve my chipping, but it will improve my full shots with all of my clubs.

That’s it. Obviously, if I stretched, lifted weights, rode a stationary bike, swam, etc … I would improve my strength and flexibility. But, I need to take realistic, baby steps. My two step routine would only take 10 minutes a day and probably not put me in the hospital.
For those of you who want to improve your golf game this year, I recommend my two step program. For those of you who really exercise and work out … my hat is off to you … but I still recommend my two step program.

You won’t see me in a swimming suit at the beach next summer, but my two step program will have me playing better golf.

Have a Happy New Year,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Greetings Golfers,

Time is running out!

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Gift cards and envelopes are ready for you to personalize and sign.

Cheers,

Tom Abts

GM and Head Golf Professional

tabts@deerrungolf.com

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Greetings Golfers,

Well, it seems that the firestorm about the abuse of power is just getting warmed up.

Good.

I’ve always hated bullies in any form. Abuse of power is always disgusting.

So often bullies fool decent people. Most of them “kiss up” and “kick down”. They seldom “speak truth to power”.

The concept of being noble has been ridiculed as being old-fashioned. How sad. Being noble is about standing up to bullies.

My wife and I are taking care of our son’s 2 pups while he and his wife are out of town. Our dog Harvey is older, bigger, and stronger. Trying to feed the weakest of the 3 dogs is a nightmare. It’s watching the natural bullying of the animal world.

I like to think that human civilization is about being better than an animal. Bullying is not being fully human.

The legal system should be used to keep disputes civil. It should be about justice. Too often, the legal system is used as a weapon for bullies. Not pretty.

Abuse of power is never attractive.

When I was in a fraternity during my college years … I got rid of Hazing when I was Pledge Trainer. When the jerks who loved Hazing had a fit at our weekly Active Chapter Meeting because they couldn’t bully anymore … I said that they couldn’t continue being pedophiles. That really made them crazy.

Our fraternity was supposed to be based on the concept of fraternity. Not “Lord of the Flies”. My nature is to be warm, and kind, and fun. But, I have no problem being the sheriff and “shooting” the bullies.

Same thing at Deer Run. We welcome everyone with open arms: rich & poor, young & old, scratch player & rookie. But, bullying will get anyone kicked out.

I’m glad to see the bullies getting called out in these public arenas. I hope it spreads to all parts of our society. Golf is inherently a civilized game. There’s definitely never an acceptable reason for bullying at Deer Run GC.

Cheers,

Tom Abts

GM and Head Golf Professional

tabts@deerrungolf.com

Greetings Golfers,

This past week, I read two very interesting articles in golf magazines. I have the links right here:

https://www.golfdigest.com/gallery/9-things-that-should-be-banned-from-golf

www.golfwrx.com/477002/match-of-the-ages-30-years-of-tech-goes-head-to-head

The first one is a link to a GOLF DIGEST article called:

9 Things That Have to Change in Golf. When I first saw the headline, I figured that I wouldn’t agree with most of the 9 things. Wrong. I think that I agree with all 9. Some I don’t really care about, but some I’m pretty passionate about.

The second link is to an article in GOLF WRX. It’s written by a guy who grew up in Bloomington. Looking at his name – Laz Versalles – he must be related to former Twins’ shortstop Zoilo Versalles. Laz conducts a test where he plays with a set of clubs similar to what he had 30 years ago … against the set he uses now. I think you’ll get a kick out of it.

Both articles are about the present state of golf. As you’ll see … some things are better, and some things need changing.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Greetings Golfers,

Usually when we close for the season, we still have good enough weather to complete projects on the golf course. This year we probably can’t … so I won’t tell you what we have in the works. Hopefully, they can be finished next spring – maybe even before we open.

But, fall projects, whether completed or not … we had a very good golf year in 2017. And I would like to thank everyone involved – staff and golfers … vendors and investors … local and national golf organizations … and the media.

Though we had a very good year … we are in a “growth” mindset, not a “fixed” mindset. A new book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck is about the difference in two mindsets. The “fixed” mindset is stuck in who you “are” … not who can become. The “fixed” mindset believes that you can’t grow … you just are who you are. If you have a great year – you rest on your laurels. If you have a bad year – you give up.

When NASA was selecting applicants for astronauts, they rejected people with pure histories of success and instead selected people who had had significant failures and bounced back from them.

Think about golf. Isn’t golf about constantly learning from failure? How about running a business? How about just living?

I think this relates to power. You know that famous saying by Lord Acton: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I disagree. I think power “exposes”. What I mean is that when someone changes after they get power … they didn’t really change … they could finally be who they really are.

Of course people have flashes of obnoxious change … and the younger they are, the more I give them a break. And, I give everyone a little time to bask in new power or glory or money. But, I expect them to come back to earth. If they don’t, now I know who they really are.

Which goes back to the mindset of either “fixed” or “growth”.

Here’s a pretty gross quote from a French executive named Pierre Chevalier “We are not a nation of effort. After all, if you have savior-faire (a mixture of know-how and cool), you should do things effortlessly.”

That’s mind-boggling. I believe in effort. I believe in growing. Maybe that’s old-fashioned. Maybe that’s not cool. But I can’t imagine living without trying.

Well, we had a great year. And next year will be better. Because we’ll keep trying.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Greetings Golfers,

“The end is near”. Isn’t that what some people are always warning? They probably aren’t talking about the golf season.

Well I am, and the end is near – very near. In fact, we’re closing for the season on Sunday night.

Hopefully, we’ll be open today, Saturday, and Sunday. As you know, snow is supposedly on the way. But, as you also know, those predictions are not 100% accurate.

So, hopefully we’ll see you before we close on Sunday night.

If not, hopefully we’ll see you at our big Christmas Sale on Saturday, December 2.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com