Greetings Golfers,

Next week at this time the 41st Ryder Cup will be in full swing at Hazeltine National.

I’m not a big lover of crowds or hype … but I’m looking forward to seeing it live and in person. It’s always fun to see the best in the world … and these guys are the best.
Bubba Watson is ranked 7th in the world and may not be Davis Love’s final pick. Bubba’s a weird cat. I’m not sure team golf is his forte. And that’s what Love has to decide – can Bubba play team golf?

Patrick Reed is another odd duck – and not well liked. But he seems to thrive in team golf. He was a great college player and has played well in the Ryder Cup.

I’d probably pick Justin Thomas. He just seems like a Ryder Cup guy.

They’ve been talking about the need for chemistry, and I would agree. The European teams always seem to be having fun and enjoying the Ryder Cup. The American teams always seem uptight and freaked out … except in 2008 when America had goofballs like Bo Weekly … and they won!

Well, I hope you’re going. For most of us, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Next week’s blog will be a Ryder Cup battle of words between Marty Lass and yours truly. Marty is the venerable PGA Head Pro at Edina CC and will be representing the European team.

I’ll need luck to hold my own with Marty – team USA will probably need a little luck too.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

Yesterday, a former baseball player complained to me about how his baseball swing screwed up his golf swing. A few hours later, a former tennis player complained to me about how her tennis strokes screwed up her golf swing.

Actually, all 3 swings/strokes have the same fundamentals.

The biggest problem that people have with all 3 swings is that they over use their shoulders. The shoulder move feels strong – bit it’s too much of a hit and not enough of a swing. And that is a big problem.

The shoulder move in tennis is a chop and not a stroke. A good tennis stroke is a topspin shot – the player starts the stroke from knee height and swings up on the ball while rotating the wrists.

Same with the golf swing. The bad swing is an over-the-top chop at the ball – a shoulder swing. The good golf swing is from in-to-out … and feels like a topspin tennis stroke with the hands rotating the club which produces hook spin.

The bad baseball swing is a shoulder move that pulls the ball left and hits down on the ball and produces pop-ups. The good baseball swing moves up and the hands rotate through the swing.

In all 3 sports, the good swing is from low-to-high, the legs shift the weight to the front foot while the hips turn, and the upper body stays back.

Ted Williams did it correctly … Ben Hogan studied and learned a lot from Ted’s baseball swing. Bjorn Borg’s topspin tennis stroke is a helpful image too.

A good swing is a good swing – whether it’s golf, baseball, or tennis.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

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 efficiency 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 determining 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. 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 philosophy 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 – that 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.

People need freedom to manage their time. Sounds obvious, but when bosses, family, etc expect perfection …well, 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 their crazy insistence on control is actually not cost-effective. All of this comes down to a lack of freedom and a lack of understanding the Law of Diminishing Returns.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

In 1988, one of the greatest women golfers – Carol Mann – went to a dinner to honor the 100 greatest golfers. Ben Hogan gave a talk that was never released until Carol Mann posted this the other day. Enjoy.
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Here is the secret message from Ben Hogan – something that does not appear in anything he previously wrote or spoke about:

100 Heroes of 100 Years of American Golf New York City June, 1988
The following is a transcript of part of Ben Hogan’s remarks that evening. He held up the small dinner program cover which, in miniature, looked like Harry Vardon, and he said:

“Look at Harry Vardon.  I want to critique what I see here and there is a little bit of Harry Vardon’s swing in every good player that I have ever seen in my life. Let’s start down at the feet. I’m not here to give a golf lesson, but I’m telling you what I see in people’s swings and what will work and what won’t work.  Look at his feet. His left toe is pointed out; it isn’t in, it’s pointed out. And his right toe is pointed in; it isn’t pointed out. And even though he’s taken a swing and he’s relaxed his finish just a little bit, he has his lower body turned to the left. That’s the direction that he’s going and that’s the direction that his feet are in. he wants to go – he’s a right-handed golfer, as a matter of fact – and he wants to go in that direction. Now he wants to have all of his power in that direction.  He doesn’t want it to back up on him. He’s putting his body in a position and his hands and his arms to hit the ball straight and far. You’ll notice his finish with his left elbow down, even though the finish is relaxed somewhat. Now, in order for him to get there, he must rotate the left arm as he comes through and the left elbow will be down. If you don’t rotate it, it will be out here. Now the physics book tells us that in order to hit a propellant far and straight, you must have greater speed after you hit the propellant than before you hit it, or at contact with the propellant. Now, relating to a golf swing, you must have greater speed beyond the swing beyond the hit, than you did when you hit it. And the physics book tells us that it will go straighter and farther. Well, I’ve tried that, and it works. Another thing, I want you to rotate your left arm coming through, and you can even start it back up here if you want to because you can’t have the speed beyond the ball unless your elbow is turned – your arm, your left arm, is turned. You will hit a straighter ball and it will go farther. If it doesn’t we’ll sue the physics book … just think about and practice things that have been laid down for this hundred years …this fellow Vardon spans over 200 years… he played in the 1900’s and the 1800’s.”

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Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

What’s fun about writing a weekly blog is that it’s a way to keep in touch with people, but I don’t always have the room to really let it rip.

So – you’ve been warned. I’m going try to put into words an idea that is fundamental to how I see the world. Hopefully it will make sense and not be boring.

In his book “Tragedy and Hope”, Carroll Quigley says that people are a balance of three qualities: body, intuition, and rationality. He believes a healthy person has those qualities in balance, and that a healthy society also has those in balance.

I agree with Quigley. Think about golf in that context. You need the body to make the swing, and the rationality to know the yardage and to decide what to do, but you also need the intuition to “feel the shot. And very often you need the intuition to help you decide what to do – that gut instinct that tells you what is needed or what you’re capable of.

Unfortunately, I believe that we have almost snuffed out that intuitive quality. As we’ve become modern, we believe that rationality is the only form of intelligence – anything else is superstitious.

Probably the world’s foremost Biologist – Rupert Sheldrake – has been ridiculed for his ideas about intuition.

Science has become dominated by the need to quantify and measure everything. But science cannot explain everything. Subjects such as language and the origin of life are still unexplained.

Don’t get me wrong – I am not anti-science. And I am not anti-rationality. And I am not anti-quantifying. But, I do believe that we are out of balance.

The Wilson Golf Company invented the “Iron Byron” to test golf clubs. It was a great invention. But, Iron Byron became the model for golf instruction. People are not machines. And machines don’t have hands. I believe that hands are the key to hitting a golf ball. But modern instruction tries to take the hands out of the golf swing. Minnesota has so many good golfers because Minnesota has so many hockey players. Hockey players have highly trained hands – they seldom struggle with golf.

But golf courses are struggling financially. Why? Because courses are not trying to figure out the motivation to play golf. Golf operators need to have a feel of their operation and need to know how to appeal to why people want to play golf. Instead, they try to operate the golf course off of spread sheets. Accounting is valuable. But accounting is after the fact. Moving the numbers around on the Balance Sheet and then trying to use that as the formula to make a business successful is missing the point. Knowing by intuition what the customer wants is the key to prosperity. If that isn’t at the heart of a business – you have no business. Trying to trick people by bait-and-switch or just selling price are the only options if the business doesn’t really cater to what people want.

At my annual Ranger/Starter Meeting, I always harp on the 3 C’s – Courtesy, Communication, and Commonsense.
Some of the guys are baffled. They want a rule book. They have shut off their intuition to such an extent that they can’t function in my culture of the 3 C’s.

Back to the golf swing. I make our junior golfers learn how to hit every club in the bag to land at our 100 yard marker. Then with each club they need to turn it left, and right, and straight to the 100 yard marker. Then they’re ready to play golf.

Obviously I don’t want our junior golfers to be robots. And I don’t want our Rangers and Starters to be robots. Did you ever see the movie 2001? It’s about the advancement of humanity from the Ape Man all the way to Modern Man exploring the universe in space ships. The astronauts wind up in a power struggle with the computer H.A.L.

Are we headed for a power struggle with robots or computers? I doubt it. But the fact that we are minimizing our total humanity to try to be like robots or computers is hard for me to accept. Golf…and life…need all three qualities – body, intuition, and rationality – to be played well and enjoyed. Don’t stifle your intuition.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

I always hear people talk about course management – but I seldom see any good course management when I play with different players.

Most of the players I see are too worried about their golf swing instead of actually playing the game of golf. And, they play golf as if they’re a Tour player who needs to birdie every hole. The combination is not good.

Last week a young man came up to my office to tell me he shot 90. If you saw him at the range, you’d think he’d shoot 70. But, he was proud of his 90 – I was shocked, I figured it was a bad score for him. So we talked about course management.

I told him that I very seldom shoot at the pins when playing Deer Run – that I usually play to the safe side of the green. For example: short left on #1, short left on #5, long right on #7, short left on #10, short right on #12, long left on #14, long left on #15, and the middle of the green on #17. And on the par 5 holes, I play to the fat side of the green no matter where the pin is – even if I’m only hitting a sand wedge.

He looked at me as if I was from Mars.

The first priority to course management is to put the ball in play off of the tee. Sounds obvious, but people are too obsessed with distance. Tee shots in the woods or out-of-bounds are not conducive to good scoring. Obviously it’s better to be hitting a 7 iron approach shot than a fairway wood – but not if the longer tee shot is inconsistent.

A consistent tee shot and good chipping will beat most golfers. Then mix in smart course management and you’ve got a good player.

Tour players have to go low. They’re like a race car driver who has to keep his foot on the gas. Amateur golfers should not imitate Tour players … or they will crash and burn.

Some people would rather go for it every shot – they have fun and don’t care about their score.  But, if you view golf as a game and not as a driving range … I recommend developing a consistent tee shot and a good short game combined with smart course management.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

The other night, my wife and I were flipping through the channels and stumbled upon the movie “Caddyshack.” Though we’ve seen it a million times, we just thought it’d be fun to watch one scene and then move on. Well, one scene turned into the rest of the movie – every scene is hilarious – we couldn’t change the channel.

“Caddyshack” came out in 1980. Tennis was in full swing – the baby-boomers had adopted tennis as their game in the mid-70’s and courts had opened everywhere. But golf was sneaking into the picture. Tennis is a difficult game. Not only to play well – but just to play. Most people never get good enough to consistently get the ball back over the net.

That played right into golf’s hand. With golf, you can play the game with miss-hit shots … the ball at least advances. Miss-hit tennis shots just go off the court or into the net – not much fun.

Also, tennis can be pretty demanding physically. Not easy to ride in a cart and drink while you play tennis.

Baby-boomers were getting older and golf seemed the logical next step from the frustrations of tennis. But, did the Boomers want the Country Club scene? That’s where “Caddyshack” came in. The star of the movie – Chevy Chase – played the role of Ty Webb the Baby-boomer hotshot golfer who wasn’t into the competitive scene or the social scene of Bushwood Country Club.

Thus, the audience observes the ridiculousness of the culture of country club life. Golf comes off as a great game used as a vehicle for the social climbing of an older, snobby generation. In fact, the last scene is the victory of the young caddy and the Baby-boomer Ty beating the Old-school judge and doctor as the course is blown apart in pursuit of gophers. The symbolism says it all: the old-time country club scene is on the way out.

The 1980’s and ’90’s were the years of the golf boom. The Boomers left tennis for golf, but weren’t looking for country clubs. Thus, the advent of the upscale public golf course.

But, what about Generation X … and Y … what do they want? We need a new golf movie to help us figure out the future of golf.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

In America it’s spelled “rumor” and elsewhere it’s “rumour”. Remember the big Fleetwood Mac album in 1977 – they spelled it “Rumours”.

Fleetwood Mac named the album “Rumours” because of all the rumors flying around at that time about the band. I think it was their biggest album … but of course I liked them before “Rumours” when they were a blues band and Bob Welch wrote their best songs.

I’ve never really been with the current culture – even back in my youth.

But, we are in the middle of the culture as far as rumors … so I thought I’d tackle some of what’s floating around out there:

* We are not renting out the golf course for a zillion dollars during the Ryder Cup. We do have a deal with a company out of Chicago for 4 days (Thursday–Sunday) during the Ryder Cup … but we won’t have gold-plated golf carts next year.
* Telephone poles will not be strung along the golf course. I seriously thought that telephone poles were a thing of the past. I couldn’t believe it was a possibility. It was an option – but thankfully it’s not happening.
* Our staff is not leaving. They claim to be happy and not leaving for greener pastures (do such places even exist?).
* Harvey will not be our official mascot. He rejected our offer.
* Marty Lass – the venerable Head Pro at Edina CC – has challenged me to a duel. True. But it’s a duel of words. He wants to take a team before the Ryder Cup and beat yours truly with his vaunted verbal attack.

Whether it’s spelled rumor or rumour – it still means the same thing.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

I’ve got golf instruction on my mind. I hope it’s not too boring – I think it’s a fascinating subject … it’s like solving a mystery or a puzzle.

I’m a member of a few internet groups that discuss the golf swing. What blows my mind is that no one wants to go deep … the discussions are pretty superficial (that’s what I think is boring).

For example: Should the hands be quiet or active? Why? Should the legs be quiet or active? Why? Is a one-plane swing better than a two-plane swing?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Should everyone swing exactly the same? Is there a perfect model swing for everyone to emulate? Or, does every good swing have certain fundamentals which must be mastered? Should the golfer focus on the result or the process? Should the golfer be emotionless or use their emotions? Should the golfer have a set routine or be spontaneous?

Those questions open the door to age-old questions such as: Do you believe in the “Great Man Theory of History” or would history have evolved the same way no matter who lived? Is intuition real or just nonsense? Do people have free will or are their actions predetermined by their environment and genetics?

Then you can get into cultural differences. Why are Spanish players like Seve Ballesteros and Sergio Garcia, etc such feel players? And why do the Korean women have such a disproportionate amount of success on the LPGA?

Every time I go down these lines of questioning – the discussions stop. Are these questions threatening – or just boring? I’m flabbergasted … if you have thoughts and insights as to why my questions are ignored … please let me know.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfers,

The reaction to last week’s U.S. Open has been pretty brutal. Not a lot of love for the golf course or the tournament … and especially all of the negative reactions to the USGA’s rulings.

I think the intense reaction is the result of a lot of pent up hard feelings. People know – consciously or unconsciously – that something is wrong with golf.

The problem with golf is that it has evolved into two different games – Tournament Golf and Recreational Golf – but the USGA will not recognize that fact. In their attempt to keep it one game, they have managed to screw-up both games.

Imagine if Major League Baseball allowed “hot” balls and metal bats. Every ball park in America would be obsolete and the fundamental nature of the game would be changed. It’s great to go to Wrigley or Fenway and compare modern players to Ted Williams or Ernie Banks. I’d love to see the same Oakmont golf course that Hogan played and compare Dustin Johnson using wooden woods and a balata ball.

Let Recreational Golfers use metal drivers and “hot” balls – but don’t ruin Tournament Golf with that stuff.

And let Recreational Golfers relax. A basic round of golf is not the U.S. Open. Last Sunday on Father’s Day I played golf with my sons – we didn’t keep score. Is that a violation of my USGA Handicap – was I trying to get away with not posting a score?

You’re going to hear a million arguments about the problems at the U.S. Open. But the root of the problem is not accepting that golf has evolved into two different games – Tournament Golf and Recreational Golf.

Cheers,

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