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