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