by Tom | Sep 19, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, This week the US Open returns to Winged Foot (I’m writing this before they play on Thursday). The rumor is that the course is playing very difficult, and that the scores will be high. I heard talk that 8 over par will win. That’s a big number for...
by Tom | Sep 11, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, Once upon a time, sports were played for the love of the game. The best in the world were amateurs … the Olympics, the US Amateur in golf and tennis, college sports, etc. Then, businessmen saw a market … sort of a version of the Barnum & Bailey...
by Tom | Sep 4, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, Most golfers have heard of Tommy Armour. I don’t mean his grandson – Tommy Armour III – I mean the great man himself, probably the greatest golf instructor of all time. He was also a big time player. He won the US Open, the British Open,...
by Tom | Aug 28, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, Almost 30 years ago, when Deer Run GC was a baby, I used to give free golf clinics to get people to come out here. We were a funny little place (though charming) out in the country. Those clinics quickly grew huge (free) … and so I directed those...
by Tom | Aug 21, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, Golf is infinitely worthy of discussion. We could talk golf swing forever – the concepts, the nuances, the technical aspects, etc. Or course design – links style, parkland, risk-reward, target golf, etc. Today, I’d like to talk about the...
by Tom | Aug 14, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, History was made last week in Minnesota golf. Our own Lori Money was the first woman to play in our state PGA Senior Championship. I know, I know…she doesn’t look like a senior. And she doesn’t play golf like a senior. However,...
by Tom | Aug 9, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, “If a puddle of water is made sufficiently muddy, most people will think it’s deep” – Nietzsche. I like things to be clear. I hate misunderstandings. And I think that’s normal … do you like to be confused? However, I constantly see and read...
by Tom | Jul 31, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, So, they just announced that the US Open will be played at Winged Foot GC on Sept 17-20. And, it will not have spectators in attendance. The PGA Championship – which takes place next week – will also be held without fans. I’m glad those...
by Tom | Jul 24, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, Just read an article in a local business magazine that said restaurants in the Mpls-St.Paul area are really struggling. Not only struggling … but quite a few are closing. The big reason is that they can only operate at 50% capacity. That doesn’t...
by Tom | Jul 17, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, There are lots of ideas about how to swing a golf club. Hopefully those ideas will lead to hitting good shots. I’ve seen lots of pretty practice swings by people who can’t hit good golf shots. I’m not knocking pretty swings … I think good rhythm and...
by Tom | Jul 10, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, I just watched a video of a tennis instructor talking about the nasty remarks regarding his latest teaching video. He’d been talking about strategy … and using his 4.0 student in his examples. People couldn’t believe the student was a 4.0 player....
by Tom | Jul 3, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, As you get into golf, you can’t help turning into a detective … sort of a Sherlock Holmes of the golf swing. It can be a lot of fun … but it can also drive you crazy. People can get more obsessed with the golf swing than with the game of golf. The...
by Tom | Jun 26, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, The other day, I was picking up sandwiches at the grocery store for one of our events. Obviously, we’re running golf events differently than in the past … however, people are in a supportive mood and happy to play golf … so it’s been working out....
by Tom | Jun 19, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, The 1965 Masters Leaderboard was loaded with stars. Jack Nicklaus finished first … Arnold Palmer and Gary Player tied for second. As you go down the board you see Gene Littler, Tommy Bolt, George Knudson, Tommy Aaron, Doug Sanders, Ben Hogan, Tony...
by Tom | Jun 12, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, Golf has always prided itself as a game of integrity. The players self-police without officials watching their every move and calling penalties. We all know the cheaters. Whether it’s moving the ball from a bad lie or mis-marking the putt or even...
by Tom | Jun 5, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, The other day I read an article about the handicaps of Tour players. That basically, you need to be a plus 6 handicap that can play to it anywhere. Not just be the star of your home course. Also, I don’t think most people understand how crazy good a...
by Tom | May 29, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, We’re always learning (hopefully) … and usually we learn more when life is hard, rather than when things are easier. Probably, because when things are good, we take it for granted … and when things are tough, we step back and try to figure out...
by Tom | May 22, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, One of the prettiest sights in golf is a good grip. And, unfortunately, it’s a rare occurrence. If you ever give golf lessons to beginners, you’ll see one of two swings. The first one is the caveman swing. The club is gripped in the palms, squeezed...
by Tom | May 15, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, Some players golf games get better as they older … some get worse. I was one of those “worse” guys. I started noticing trouble in my 50s … then around 60, it was pretty obvious that things had changed. Not only had I lost distance and swing speed …...
by Tom | May 8, 2020 | Newsletter
Greetings Golfers, You know that saying “April showers bring May flowers”? Well, I think for Minnesota it should be “May showers bring June flowers”. We’re about a month north of most of the country. But, a little rain shouldn’t stop your golf plans. Monday and...
