Greetings Golfer,

The big word in sales nowadays is connection. I love it. In my youth, I went through a lot of sales training and sales seminars – they were not about connection. They were about manipulation.

If you want to break a connection with someone – make them feel manipulated.

Ignoring isn’t good either. Ironically, people connecting on cell phones are often ignoring the people they’re with. How messed up is that?

There has been a lot of emphasis on connection in the golf swing. Jimmy Ballard was probably the first teacher to emphasize connection. Ballard also emphasized “firing the right side” – which I love. The old Jack Nicklaus idea of pulling the club down with the left side doesn’t work for most people. If you’re swinging right-handed, you’re probably better off firing the right side, rather than pulling down with the left.

Here’s the test – would you deliver a more powerful blow by back-handing someone with your left hand, or punching them with your right hand?

Most people’s golf swings becomes disconnected because they don’t fire the right side – they hang back and slap at the ball.

So, this is our year for connection. Let’s connect with the people in our life… and keep our swing connected by firing the right side.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfer,

This is ridiculous – you know what I mean … I won’t even talk about it.

But, I will talk about South Carolina. Did you watch any of the PGA tournament yesterday at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island? It was sunny and in the 70’s. Our local lad – Tim Herron – posted a 1 under par, 71. He’s always played well there – you have to be a good ball striker to play well there – that’s one of the best courses on Tour.

Harbour Town is the natural next stop after the Masters – Augusta is just a couple of hours away from Hilton Head. How good was the Masters? Every year I say “That was the best Masters ever”. Seriously – I really do … and I said it again last weekend. Obviously the back nine at Augusta National makes for an incredible finale – Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie knew what they were doing.

I’m not going to go into the whole Tiger Woods/penalty situation here. I’m not running from it – hardly. Just not enough time to do it justice. But, if you do want to read the rant of a madman about the whole situation, read my column in the May issue of Tee Times magazine – the golf magazine of MN.

We are hoping to open before May (words I thought I would never speak). As I said last week – I’ll keep in touch.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfer,

I wouldn’t call this Christmas in April. Seeing school closings running on the bottom of the screen while watching the Masters is pretty weird.

As everybody loves to remind me – we had already been open for a month at this time last year. But don’t worry about us, we’ll be ok. Business wise, May is the make or break month. The summer is pretty consistent every year. A long, late fall is not the big deal everybody thinks it is. By November, we don’t have any sunlight and usually have frost – the window to tee off is about from 10am – 12:30pm. Not worth the damage done to the course.

But May has tons of daylight – 6am until 9:30pm – that’s when we can make hay. Make hay? Yeah – we’re like farmers – dependent on the weather.

Now you know “The rest of the story”. But what about the Masters? That’s a better story. Obviously T Woods is the favorite, and off to a good start. Sergio Garcia has been playing well and this could be his time. You’d have to think Sergio will win a Major during his career, and the Masters is a pretty good fit for his game.

But what’s really interesting is the 14 year old kid from China. Think about it – at that age playing on the High School Varsity Golf Team is a big deal… but playing in the Masters? Unimaginable. Hope he makes the cut.

We were planning on opening Monday the 15th… I’ll keep in touch.

Cheers,

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

Greetings Golfer,

Have you seen the video of the Rutgers’ basketball coach throwing balls at his players? He was going crazy, also hitting and kicking the kids. This wasn’t an isolated incident – this was his “coaching style.”

Leadership comes in many forms – some not so good, some very good. I just read an article in the Sun-Sailor about the retiring principal of Minnetonka High School. He said “If you really want to have a good high school, it has to be about the culture within the high school. It’s more about expectations than rules. Culture’s tough to build, but when you do it, you know it.” That is what good leadership is all about.

Throwing balls at players? That’s lazy leadership. It’s not putting in the time and effort to build a culture where people grow and thrive.

Let’s hope that the Gopher’s new basketball coach can build a strong, healthy culture – it can’t happen overnight. I hope he’s committed and not just using the U of M as a stepping stone.

At least the U didn’t hire that Rutgers’ coach.

Cheers,

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