Golf Course Design

I just read an article in a magazine about the return of good golf course design. The article said that in the early 20th century, Donald Ross, Alistair McKenzie, etc designed great golf courses. But later on, Robert Trent Jones, Pete Dye, etc designed unplayable golf courses - I couldn't agree more. In fact, read my column on course design - TwinCitiesgolf.com has all of my columns on their web site.

Good golf design allows for different routes to the hole. Different routes allow for strategy and shot making - poor designs only offer one route to the hole ... not very conducive to strategy or shot making.

The ugly courses started popping up around the same time that ugly baseball and football stadiums started appearing. The country lost its taste in architecture (and about everything else) during those years. Bigger was better ... and massive was great ... talk about an immature culture ... it was really pathetic. I'm so glad that golf and baseball and football architecture is reviving the classical styles.

But ... the games themselves have put too much emphasis on "big". The long drive, the home run, the slam dunk, etc. Sports are about using physical talents to perform in a strategical way - not just be an ESPN highlight film. But too many "fans" just want to see the obvious, so the owners manipulate the rules so that the sports lose their strategy and skill players ... so they have a bunch of big steroided-out goofballs performing highlight film tricks instead of playing the game.

Common Sense

You've probably heard the saying "Common sense isn't so common anymore". I think it's true and I think I know why. To have common sense, you have to see things clearly. If you see things clearly, it's pretty obvious what has to be done. But, if you don't see things clearly ... you're apt to miss the obvious.

Well, people have always tried to manipulate other people. But in the modern world, there are many more manipulators, and the good ones are very good. And, they have technology on their side: television, movies, ads, radio, song lyrics, etc. Evil-clever people try to enslave and use people - brutes and thugs do it with force, clever ones use lies, psychology, and promises to control people.

Signs to watch out for: "I'm doing this for your own good", "There is no I in team", etc.

Without free will, life would be pointless. Decisions give life meaning. Mankind has always fought for freedom and liberty - the power to decide one's life. Otherwise - we're just robots.

People often get mad at God because life isn't perfect. Ok, let's think about it. Imagine that when you played golf, every shot went in the hole - every shot was a hole-in-one ... would that be fun? Would you enjoy playing golf? Would you enjoy living? Life HAS to have uncertain consequenses, and there has to be a bad side - otherwise our decisions are pointless and our lives are meaningless.

God is that voice in your head - God is your conscience. You can listen to your conscience ... or ignore it ... the choice is yours. Evil people try to shut off that voice in your head - they want to play God ... (they know what is "good" for you).

Liberty doesn't just mean license - it comes with responsibility. Golf is the real test of responsibilty ... you hit it there, now you have to play ... it's your decision.

Common sense has been lost because people are making fewer decisions and are confused by all of the mumbo-jumbo being thrown at them.

Merry England

Do you ever look up things on Wikipedia? Well, look up Merry England ... because that's how we want Deer Run to feel. Merry England was supposed to be England at its best: thatched roof cottages, pubs, country lanes, sheep, corgis, row-boats, Sunday roast dinner, and of course ... golf. I think most people are rushing around for more-more-more ... instead of looking for quality and a quality life-style. Also, the people of Merry England were supposedly jolly ... how cool is jolly? How often do you meet someone who is jolly? Help us try to make Deer Run jolly ... maybe we'll become known as Merry Deer Run.

I wish somebody would have told me this about the golf swing: Bad shots are not a result of not having a perfect golf swing. People believe that once they achieve the perfect swing, that they will always hit perfect shots. This goal of the perfect swing is not only unrealistic, but also harmful to your golf game. Golfers need to learn a few fundamentals, but then they have to learn to trust their swing. Golf shots need to be played by feel, instinct, and trust. The brain needs to be used for strategy - not to control the swing. When people are trying to think through their golf swing, they overlook strategy and make poor decisions. When the pressure is on, the good player trusts his swing - the poorer player loses trust and tries to think it through. Learn to think your way around the course while you trust your swing.

Pace of Play

I enjoyed the responses to my last blog about driving a car ... yes, the roads are full of knuckleheads. These same crazy views of driving also infect peoples views of playing golf. The reality is that the golf course is like a one lane highway. We try to get people to play at a speed that produces a 4 hour round - I'd compare it to driving a car about 60-70 mph. Now if people want to play in three hours (like driving 90 mph) the 4 hour pace seems slow and they have to wait. But we don't believe it's fair to make people play faster than a 4 hour pace - but they can't play at a 5 hour pace. People think that because they paid their money that they have the right to play at whatever pace they desire. No ... they paid for a slot on the course ... they don't have the right to screw it up for everybody.

Driving a car

While driving to work this morning on Hwy #7, I came to a place where two lanes merged into one ... the car behind me on my left, shot ahead to pass me before the lanes merged ... I figured that this driver was really in a hurry and needed to get in front of me to motor on ... but I was wrong, this person was obcessed with passing me but, whe in front of me slowed way down ... the speed limit was 55 and they were going 48 ... what is that about?

Perfectionism

You know how people always say "Life isn't perfect ...". Well, they're right. And trying to make it perfect only leads to misery. Shooting for perfection and not making it doesn't make things better - it only leads to frustration and a lack of priorities. We have limited time and energy - they should be used on getting what matters right - perfectionists get hung-up on the little things at the expense of the big things. This relates to everything - even the golf swing. Modern golf instruction tries to turn golfers into having the "perfect" swing. They hold up a model of a "perfect" swing and try to make people fit the model. Thus, too much emphasis on meaningless parts of the golf swing. What matters in the golf swing is impact. And the correct use of the hands and wrists makes the correct impact position. But again, the perfectionists are trying to turn people into machines - and machines don't have hands. In fact, this type of instruction wants to take the hands out of the golf swing. These folks emphasize the "big muscles". Ok, let's talk golf and football players - usually quarterbacks are good golfers - they have good hands and smaller muscles. The linemen are usually poor golfers - they have big muscles and bad hands. Common sense has gone out the window.

Babble

I've been too busy to blog ... I know, I know ... it's a terrible excuse, but true. So I have to babble on a number of topics, to make up for my lack of blogging. First, Phil's win at the Players Championship was very impressive - he actually played under control - Tiger had better watch out ... and the Butch Harmon factor could really liven things up. The Twins are still fine - it's way too early to panic - glad they got rid of Ponzone, he was terrible - what's with Punto? He's killing 'em - the number 2 batter needs to get on base, Punto hits long fly balls ... Mauer should bat #2, Cuddyer #3, Morneau #4, Hunter #5, Kubel #6 ... also, what's with Nathan? he just throws fastballs ...

the weatherman

Here we go again ... the weatherman predicted a rainy weekend (including Friday) and, surprise-surprise ... it's not raining. This has become a sick joke. Is this some sort of a twisted power trip? Like the tribal shaman that gets his power by predicting trouble so that everyone has to listen to him, the modern weatherman is always forecasting weather problems. But of course, this is done in the name of "safety". "Better to error on the side of caution". Sometimes. But what about common sense? Is rain that dangerous? Does a 20 percent chance of rain warrant a "rain cloud" symbol in the newspaper weather section? We're more and more living in a world of people "looking out for us" - I don't need to be saved from myself - I can make my own decisions - just give me accurate information so I can make a decision.

Bullies

One of the most disgusting forms of humanity is the bully. You'd like to think that people are on a higher level than animals, but bullies aren't - they are the ultimate "might makes right" folks.
Animals don't have moral dilemmas - they don't worry about right or wrong - it's just kill or be killed. Civilization only exists because some people can see that life doesn't have to be the law of the jungle. Bullies are the animals taking advantage of civilization. Ironically, some people think it isn't civilized to stop bullies - actually it is the opposite - civilized people stop bullies in their tracks - otherwise life becomes "Lord of the Flies". A certain local sportswriter respects bullies. This writer gets his thrills when coaches bully their teams - he thinks that's motivation. Golf is supposed to be a game of gentlemen. The term gentleman sometimes gets a bad wrap - some people think it means a rich snob - I think that it means a good-hearted, respectful, gracious person - money has nothing to do with it. In fact, the snob is definitely not a gentleman - lot's of bullies use silence as a weapon, especially snobs. What are your thoughts?

Let's Blog

This is my first attempt at blogging. Though I write a local column, I still have more to say - I'm probably lucky I don't have a radio show - I wouldn't want to join Don Imus.
Thank God for the internet ... people need a venue to speak, the world is becoming so politically correct that anything that challenges the "progressive" view is destroyed. Teachers and professors will fail students with the "wrong" views ... and the media and its sponsers will turn on "outspoken" people with a vengenance.
So, I think you know what I want to do with this blog - I want opinions! They don't have to be well-thought-out or even based on fact .... I want to hear what people know in their gut. Usually our gut has it figured out, then we try to rationalize what we know. Sort of like listening to music - we like the song, then later on we put into words why we like it.
Does it have to be about golf? No. Have to be about sports? No. Just take a swing at any subject.
I'll start it, but it can go anywhere ... and change topics if you want - just take a swing.
So this is about swings - not golf swings, but baseball swings. Years ago, I helped coach one of my son's Little League teams. It was the first year after Coach Pitch, so the kids had to bat against someone trying to get them out. Well, they didn't want to screw up - they just wanted to walk. So I had to make them swing. In fact, if they walked, I pulled them out of the game. The first few games they were swinging at everything and striking out - the parents went crazy. But we kept at it, and by the middle of the season, the kids could hit. So we won the second half of the season and played the winner of the first half for the championship. The first half winners never learned how to hit - they always hoped to get a walk, and it worked for them for a while, but they never got aggressive and/or learned how to hit. Obviously, we killed them in that final game - but what was really sad is that they never really played baseball. Life is about swinging the bat.

Tom's Top Office Blog

2007 is here!