Last week I attended a fun and truly inspiring event while passing through the Chicago area.  It started as a way to raise a few thousand dollars for a friend going through cancer treatment and 14 years later is a full-on charity golf fundraiser that raised $120,000 this year.  That money is going towards helping 9 families affected by cancer.

In total, the BTB Foundation has raised $750k helping 37 families over the past 14 years, which is an amazing feat considering it started with 30 people out on a golf course trying to help out a friend.  It’s a true grassroots event that has grown from those original golfers to selling out two 18-hole golf courses as well as a 500+ person banquet dinner later that evening.  Very impressive all around.  It is a true charity and community event where friends and families get together to help one another out.  Hearing everyones stories was touching to say the least.

For the actual golfing event, the format was all about having fun and there were random contests on every hole.  I happened to be one of those contests and drove around both courses in a golf cart challenging people to different shots during their rounds.  It might be a putt, chip, approach or tee shot; whatever it was if the player beat me they won a winner pin and if they lost there was a loser pin.  Tom and Bill made the pins, which I thought were pretty funny and great:

It was one of the best golfing days I have had to date as everyone was having a great time, I was fortunate enough to meet most of the participants, and they had everything from bouncy castles to air horns during swings to cheerleaders and even things like this:

Needless to say, it was a great day and all for a good cause.  Tom and Bill have a great way about them and have, with the help of many people to date, created an awesome annual event.  I will most definitely be there next year to participate in the 15th anniversary tournament and will do my best to beat Tom and Bill:

Their goal for the 15th anniversary is to cross the million dollar mark for money raised to date.  An incredible feet.  This is one of the great ways in which golf can be utilized.  It’s perfect for charity outings and these types of events happen all over the world.  I would encourage everyone who enjoys playing golf to find at least one fundraiser a year to participate in.  Not hard to find at least one and at the end of the day you have helped raise money for a good cause while also getting to play a round of golf.  It’s a win-win.

I want to thank Tom and Bill, as well as Dennis McKinnon (aka Silky D, who has been partnering up with BTB for the past five years and who was also on the 1985 Super Bowl winning Chicago Bears.  Great guy and lots of fun to hang out with.) for letting me join in on the fun.  You guys are amazing!  I would also like to thank all of the participants this year.  It was a pleasure to get to know a bunch of you and I appreciate the warm welcome and fun day.

The only unfortunate part of the day was that I still, even after 3 full weeks of no swings at all, was unable to come close to making a full swing.  I could putt and chip and hit half shots, but a full swing felt exactly as it had three weeks earlier when I last played a round.  I figured that amount of time off and all of the treatment I had received at the skilled hands of Shawn and Seth would have made a big difference, but the back was still unable to support a full swing without sharp pain in the right hip area.

With that amount of rest time and treatment resulting in feeling no different, I knew it was most likely not a muscular or tendon issue.  Or, if it was, it was more serious than I had imagined.  A few people recommended getting an MRI and I talked with my sister about that on my next stop in Atlanta.  She is a doctor as well as an accomplished marathon runner and we chatted about everything I had been doing to heal the spot as well as what it was feeling like and she had some ideas of what it may be.

During her running career she had a couple of stress fractures that were misdiagnosed at first and resulted in her being sidelined for a couple to a few months.  How my injury feels is very similar to what she was describing and now I am fairly convinced that a stress fracture is the culprit.  The best way to find out for sure is to get a bone scan, which is much cheaper than an MRI, but she suggested to hold off on that and rest it for a couple more weeks to see if things start to improve.  If it is a stress fracture the only “cure” is rest anyway so that’s the first step.  She told me to try and not do anything that causes pain in that area as pain could signal things getting worse.  The good news is that only rotational things hurt and day-to-day activities do not trigger the spot.  The bad news is that I have to hold off even longer before getting back to practice.  It is a frustrating place to be in, but it is what it is.

After Atlanta I drove down to Hilton Head with my parents and had planned on a number of rounds and practice sessions while on the island, but had to postpone those until the next trip.  It was nice in a way as I had all day to catch up with the folks and that’s not a bad place to rest a back.

Yesterday I began my trip back to Portland with a stop in LA.  The plan, again, was to meet up with Dr. Bob Bjork for a round near UCLA and then to play Friday and Saturday with other friends before heading back to Portland.  Those rounds will have to wait until the next time.  Another good sign, though, was that while walking through the airport with my bag yesterday my back felt so much better than when flying out of Chicago.  In the Chicago airport if I put my shoulder back on either shoulder I could barely walk without sharp pains and even sitting on the flight to Atlanta was uncomfortable.  So, progress is being made with rest as treatment.

My favorite event of the year, the Royal Oaks Invitational Tournament, is from June 5-7 back in Portland.  I signed up two months ago and have already paid for the tournament and very much hope to play, but only time will tell.  From now until June 4 I will avoid full swings and slowly start to get back to chipping and putting and then on June 4 will have to see how it goes.  If I still can’t swing I will have to withdraw, but fingers crossed it’s pain free and I can play.  It would be a shame to miss the event.

Over and out for now.  Sorry for the long delay on posting, my mind has just not been on golf lately as I can’t do it and don’t like to think about what I am missing out on.  Sometimes it’s easier to change your focus rather than linger on something not currently possible.  As soon as I can swing again I will be back on here and social media.

The entire group was super excited about this. One last big blast of an experience that we were able to do together.  All four of us had become very close over the week and it is hard to imagine a better group to play Pebble with.  We all had the commonality of golf tying us together and getting to play one of the most famous courses in the world was something that would strengthen the bond that had already been building between us.  I think that’s one of the best things about golf:  sharing the experience, both highs and lows, with a group of friends old or new.

At any rate, Pebble was going to be played and we also had the pleasure of playing it the day after the tournament and from the same tee boxes as the pros and to the exact same pin placements.  All they did for the Monday round was pick up the flags, mow and roll the greens and then replace the flags.  It was a good challenge and after seeing how the PGA guys played on Sunday it was also a great yardstick for my own progress.

Tim and I decided to go early that morning as we hadn’t really hit balls in a handful of days and wanted to make sure we warmed up properly.  We got to the Pebble range at about 7:15 and it was exciting to be the first ones out there:

After grooving the swing and short game for about an hour I headed down to the iconic putting green near the first hole in order to get the flat stick in line:

After that it was just about hearing the rules and getting everyone together (it was a shotgun event so all of the players had to gather on the first hole and get in their carts) before heading out for the round.  And then we were off.  We followed the lead and worked out way to the 15th hole which was where we would start the day.

The 15th was a good hole to start on.  You tee off through a shoot of trees and then the hole opens up pretty wide, although there are a number of bunkers throughout the fairway.  It is a forgiving hole, but one where you have to be relatively straight off the tee, although can hit anything from 3-iron to driver.  I decided to give driver a whack and was so nervous on the tee shot that I could tell I was shaking a little.

The thing is, playing Pebble for the first time is like going on a date with someone way out of your league.  I hadn’t felt anything like this on any of the other hundreds of courses that I have played in my golfing days.  On pebble, you just wanted to please the course and not say/do anything stupid.  I felt like it took a handful of holes to really relax and even then you got up to the tee boxes of some of the iconic parts of the course and it was very hard to calm down and go through a normal routine.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever have the chance to play it again, but it’s one of those courses that take a few rounds under your belt in order to really just play the course.  Just too amazing, truly.

On that first hole I was visibly shaking and nervous, but managed to move the ball more-or-less forward.  I pushed it a little but it was findable in the rough.  After we all teed off we did some poses for a few photos and were already running a bit behind.  Tim parked on the cart path (it was cart path only, but carts were enforced this day) and I ran across the fairway to speed things up a bit just to realize that I had not brought the right club, so had to run back and grab a 7-iron and then run again across the fairway.  My heart had been racing before the round even started and now it was out of my chest.  I squared up and tried to make a good approach shot, but again pushed it and it clanked on the top of the bleachers next to the green.  Probably would have seriously injured someone, but luckily there were minimal observers this day.  The ball bounced off the grandstand and I had a nice pitch up to the green and then just barely missed the par putt.  Started the round with a little bogey.

On the 16th hole I hit hybrid and then an 7-iron which landed about a foot short of the green but was on the pin side so hit a tiny chip to a foot and made the putt, my first par at Pebble.

17 is a classic Pebble par 3.  Longish hole with a very small green.  On this day it was playing into the wind as the clouds and wind had picked up on Monday.  The pin sits on the left side of a kidney shaped green playing right at the ocean and the distance was 188 yards to the hole.  I decided to try and but a 4-iron to take a little off but allow for wind and it landed pin high which was awesome.  What I didn’t realize was that pin high on the right side of the green was perhaps worse than landing short in the bunker on the left side.  Katie ended up there too and we literally didn’t have a putt.  If it was the tournament I would have hit a flop shot off the putting green over a hump, but seeing as we didn’t want to take a big pelt on a Pebble Beach green we both putted and ended up about 20 feet below the hole.  It was literally as good as we could have done for the putts we had.  Two putted from there for another bogey.  Live and learn.

And then there was the iconic 18th.  I was so happy that we didn’t start on this hole as I wanted to be warmed up and in it by the time we hit the 18th.  Such an amazing golf hole.  Being a lefty with a tendency to draw the ball on this box with nothing but water out to the left was a bit intimidating, but it also forced one to make a good swing.  I cut the ball along the fairway with the ultimate goal of hitting to the tree that’s 280 yards from the box.  Ended up nicely just through the fairway in the first cut of rough.

I don’t have a 3-wood with me right now and the thought of going for it with a hybrid didn’t sound too tempting so I laid up with an 8-iron to a good number: 120 yards.  I had a good club in my hand and a great number in front of me. I wanted to stick it close, but honestly was looking around too much and in the moment just didn’t focus well and pushed the shot to the left side rough about 2 feet off the green.  It was disappointing as I REALLY wanted to birdie this hole, but it was what it was.  I chipped up to about 4 feet and thought I hit a great putt but it broke the exact opposite way which it seemed like it would and lipped out.  Had to settle with a bogey.

This was a common theme out there.  Everyone said the ball breaks towards the water, but without having a caddy help read the putts they were extremely subtle and hard to figure out.  Yet another reason why it would be amazing to play a track like this a handful of times.  Next time I’m there a caddy will definitely have to be a part of the round as they could have saved me a handful of strokes this day.  We were having a great time and playing an amazing course so it really didn’t matter, but it would have been nice to make a few of the putts coming up after this hole ;).

We made the turn to number one and my hybrid off the tee pushed left.  I didn’t have a look at the green so had to punch out, hit the green and two-putted for another bogey.

The second hole is a fun par 5.  I hit a tee shot to the middle but seeing as there was a huge waste bunker before the green I wanted to play it safe and avoid getting in here as Tiffany was:

It’s way deeper than it looks, probably about 20 feet down to the bottom and maybe 50 yards from the green, just a pure tough shot.  I hit a layup but unfortunately went too far even thought I thought I had played it totally safe with an 8-iron.  Ended up blocked by one of the trees and had to punch out and then hit the green and 2-putt bogey.

At this point I was ready to start playing some better golf.  The third hole is one that you can either play it safe and hit a 200 yard shot to the fairway or go over the trees with a driver.  I took the tree route and hit it to about 80 yards.  Finally connected well twice in a row and had a 5 footer for bird.  Miss-read the putt and tapped in a par.  The 4th is an uphill par 4 with bunkers riddled throughout the fairway and ocean on the right side. I hit driver to about 70 yards and then stuck it to roughly 5 or 6 feet and again didn’t read the putt right and had to settle for a tap in par.  The greens were just tricky.  It made me appreciate both the putting and the caddy-knowledge that goes on Tour.  You have to both be 100 percent confident in the putts you are making and also really know where they are going to fall.  Being my first time on this course I had neither of those things.

The 5th was a long par 3 with a postage stamp sized green which I doubled by not wanting to go in the ocean so ended up going OB down the opposite side and had to re-tee for the double.  Then was 6, 7, and 8, which are some incredible holes.

The 6th is a par five where you tee shot is sent about 80 feet downhill and then the approach shot is the same distance above your head and completely blind to where you need to hit it.  The tee shot is easy enough being pretty wide open as most holes are out there, just don’t send it in the ocean and you are gold.  Tim and I both hit down the left side thinking the bunkers were out of play due to hitting into the wind, but mine landed about 3 feet short of the bunkers and his bounced in.  From there I tried to hit a 5-iron up the huge hill not really knowing what to aim for but it didn’t climb enough to get up and ended up in the deep rough 90 percent to the top.  I hit a 9-iron from there, but again didn’t know what my target line was and ended up pulling it into the green side bunkers.  I hit the stick on my bunker shot and it landed just a couple feet from the pin, made the putt and walked off with par.

And then there was 7.  The shortest hole on the PGA Tour playing just 100 yards and very much downhill.  It’s a classic and when the wind is howling I hear it can be brutal.  Today was just a little windy, but there are still bunkers surrounding the green as well as ocean on most sides of it.  I punched a half 50 degree that looked right on the hole but the wind kind of knocked it left and it landed bout 5 feet from the hole.  This was another of those holes that you really want to birdie (not that all golf holes aren’t exciting to birdie, but some are just precious) and I knew it would break “towards the water” but there was water on three sides of my so which water…  I just putted straight for the hole as I didn’t want to over read anything and it ended up breaking left a hair more than the cup had to offer.  Tap in par, which wasn’t too bad all things considered.

I double 8 as I duffed my approach shot, which is a 200 yard shot way downhill over a huge ocean gorge and then had to hit it on the green and two-putt for the double.  The 9th was one where I kind of expected to bogey but was pleasantly surprised to make a par.  It’s was a par 4 playing 481 yards with ocean breeze pushing the ball left.  I didn’t connect well and poorly pushed/sliced the driver left into deep rough.  From there I didn’t have a great lie and was about 230 yards to the hole with a gorge and bunker between me and a pin that was tucked into a 8 square foot section of green.  I decided to lay up with a gripped up half swing cut hybrid and hit a good one down the left side. With 50 yards remaining I hit my 58 degree to about 2 feet and finally made a putt.  That was by far the hardest and longest par 4 that I have played to date and I was ecstatic to have made par.

I three-putted the 446 yard 10th for a bogey after hitting a great approach shot that unfortunately ended up above the hole and I miss-judged the pace.  11 is a shorter par 4 that I hit in two and made par on and then the 12th is a 200 yard par three with a green that must just be no more than 5 yards deep.  When I walked with Jason Day and Charlie Beljan I knew it was a tough hole when both of them missed the green, and kind of by far.  I ended up short sided on the left of the green and made a good flop shot, but it rolled out and it took two putts to make the bogey.

The 13th was the first hole where I felt like I finally “found” my driver and hit a decent driver shot.  It’s always unfortunate to find it late, but great to finally have found it!  I hit it right down the middle on this uphill 403 yard par 4 and had a pretty simple 9-iron to the green.  I pushed it a little and the ball bounced on the green and then hopped off and bounded down the hill to a tricky little pitch shot to the elevated green.  Made a good one as well as sank the putt for a par.

Our final hole was a great one to end on. It’s a 572 yard par five that has such a crazy green I didn’t seen anyone go for it in two all week.  The part of the green that the pin is perched on is about 10 square feet and to the left is a huge hill of rough, in front of it is a crazy bunker and to the right the green slopes down at least 6 straight feet to another tier. The play is to hit a good drive and layup to your gold number.  I hit a decent drive but then sliced my hybrid far somehow.  I had to then hit an 120 yard shot over some trees to the tiny island of a perched green and thought I hit it masterfully, but it turns out the ball clipped a branch coming down and ended up on the hill of rough.  I chipped it on and the ball rolled down the hill to the lower tier.  I had no clue what the putt was going to do, but somehow managed to get it in the hole.  It was truly blind luck, but an fantastic way to end an incredible day.

Here is my scorecard from the event:

I know there is a long way to go from where I am to where I want to be, but after watching these guys and then playing the same course from the same boxes and tees I have a deeper understanding of what I need to do to get to where I need to be.  They definitely do everything better, as they should.  But, if I had the same skill-set test a year or two ago I don’t think that I could have sniffed the 80s. There is a lot of work to be done and that’s the whole point.  I, very hopefully, look forward to having similar opportunities in the future as this was a great way to see exactly where I stand compared to the greats.  In comparison, they are still great and exactly why it is so fun to watch professional golf.

Over and out for now.  I have been back in Portland for a few weeks and the season is about to kick off.  My second “tournament” (it’s a team event so still not exactly tourney) is a two-day event next weekend and I will definitely be posting about how it feels to start a brand new golfing season.  I am very excited the winter is ending and the golf is starting back up.

Thursday started with a bright and early east-coast radio interview talking about the trip to date and then I met the group downstairs to head over to the tournament.  I have only been to one PGA Tour event in my life and that was back when I had just three clubs, so I was very excited to see how they managed the course as well as approached each shot.  Today felt like a bit of research for my own future development and I had goals to see how the different pre-shot routines varied.  And, I wanted to see some good golf as well as some entertaining celebrity golf.

Even the walk down to the course from the main entrance was exciting.  Not the best picture, but as you are approaching the course you start to see the ocean and can sense the history of the place:

The first thing that I did was watch some groups tee off on the first hole.  The pros all took long irons or hybrids as you just want to send it out about 200-210 yards and then the Ams were using anything from hybrids to drivers.  I felt for the Ams on this first box as a lot of the ones who were not celebrities and not used to performing were visibly nervous on this first box.  I could only imagine what it must be like to tee it up on the first hole in front of a huge crowd for the first time.  Made me a little jealous as I wanted to be in their shoes, but at the same time empathize with the tension.  A couple of them straight topped or shanked the ball, even though on paper these guys were anything from a 2 to 12 handicap.  It’s one of those things that takes experience to adjust to, I sensed.

After a few of those groups I wanted to head over to the triangle where you can see the green of 6, the entire hole 7 and the tee shots for 8.  It’s an amazing little spot on a peninsula cliff that contains the shortest hole on the entire PGA Tour, the 100 yard par 3 7th:

I couldn’t wait to play this one.  I hear it’s a crazy hard hole when the wind is up that actually averages a 4.7, but without wind it was just a little half gap wedge layup that almost every pro hit.  Still exciting and fun to watch them pitch it down and have the ball spin back towards the hole.  For a fun fact, the longest club anyone has ever used for a hole in one on this hole during competition was a 3-iron.  Playing just 100 yards, that is a ton of wind to knock that thing down.

Later in the day we stopped by the media room and got to sit down at the press table where they interview golfers after their rounds.  It was fun to check out and see the behind the scenes stuff that goes on.  And, got to sit in the same seat as the future winner:

It was a good seat to be in.

After that the final groups were starting to come in and as a special treat we were going to get to chat with Herm Edwards who had just finished his round playing along side John Daly.  Herm was an amazingly kind and funny man who had some great insight in the sporting world, including his thoughts on Tiger’s state, which to sum up is that Tiger needs to go out and focus on finishing four tournament rounds instead of putting the pressure of winning right out of the gate.  First finish a tournament and get back into playing four rounds, follow that up with getting back into the winning circle down the road.  Herm and I chatting with Tiffany giving fist bumps to John Daly:

It was an incredible first day.  One for the ages.  And, there were still three more rounds to watch and enjoy.

To keep it a bit on the briefer side, the second day’s action was watched from Monterey Peninsula Country Club in the AM and then back to Pebble for the afternoon.  Around 2 we decided to go and play 9 holes of golf in order to at least warm up before our Monday round so we headed to Black Horse to tee it up.  After watching two days of pros play and having 4 lessons the day before that there were a ton of swing thoughts going on, so it was good to get them out over 9 holes instead of bringing them all to Pebble.  Nice course, too:

After the round we had yet another treat in store.  We had a chance to meet “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky who had just finished a round with Dustin Johnson:

Not the best picture of Wayne, but fun to meet him and chat some golf.

That evening I was beat.  It had been a handful of long days and by the time we got back to the hotel it was about 8pm.  I think I fell to sleep by 9 and didn’t wake until 15 minutes before we were supposed to meet at 7 for our ride back to the course.  It was good to get solid sleep as the sun and excitement of the week to date had caught up to me.  And, I wanted energy for the weekend rounds as well as for Monday.

On Saturday I explored Spyglass throughout the morning, which I could tell was by far the hardest track of this tournament, and from what I hear is perhaps the hardest course in the area.  It is like Pebble, but longer and tree lined with tight fairways.  The scores were nowhere near what they were on the other two courses even though it was again a beautiful day.

I followed Bill Murray and his partner D.A. Points for a few holes and then Larry the Cable Guy for a few.  Both were quite entertaining and Bill was a surprisingly good golfer.  I saw him hit the par 5 first hole on his third shot from 230 yards after having to punch out from under a tree on his second.  He just tossed the wood in the air in a fit of success.  Always the entertainer, he is a fun one to follow.

Later in the day I went over to Pebble to catch up with the rest of the group.  The ladies had been walking behind the ropes with Jordan Spieth all day and I wanted to catch them on the 18th hole as they were walking in.   It sounded like they had a great time and I was excited for my chance to be behind the ropes with Jason Day and Charlie Beljan the next day.

Tim and I arrived early in the day Sunday to check in as Honorable Observers and then hung out until our tee time with Charlie and Jason was about ready.  We were introduced to them both on the first tee and then were excited to get going and watch some great golf first hand:

They were both nice guys and once the round started were totally in work mode.  It was Sunday and this was their office.  They were each 6 off the lead at the start of the day and you could tell they were hunting for birds and eagles to catch up and make a push.

On the first hole Jason was in the middle of the fairway and Charlie was blocked by a tree.  I have no clue how he did it, but Beljan managed a great shot and they both ended up on the green.  Here’s Tim and I watching Charlie make his shot:

The most impressive part of each of their games, to me, was their long iron play.  They hit their long irons as accurate as I hit my wedges.  Their putting was good, chipping good, driving the ball they hit it far, but the huge difference between where they are and where I am is that fact that 190-230 yards out they are going to stick it to within 20 feet whereas I’m just happy if I hit the green.

Charlie didn’t even have a hybrid or wood.  His set goes from driver to 2-iron and he could really pound that 2-iron.   they both hit the driver within 5 yards of each other and on Pebble didn’t hit driver on that many holes as it’s not a very long course, playing around 6,900 yards.  Even on the par 5 6th hole neither pulled driver and both got on the green in two.  Jason Eagled it from 6′ after having birdied the 5th and then birdied the 7th to bring his score down to 17 under and within 2 of the lead.  Later on Jason had a couple bogeys when he was pushing contention and then ended up 4th overall.  Charlie had a late push and birdied the last 3 holes to end up 3rd overall.  It was great golf on a beautiful Sunday and fun to watch them try and make a charge.

Tim and I walking down the 18th fairway:

Jason Day hitting his tee shot on the 18th box:

After the round we hung out behind the 18th green for a while and randomly ran into David Feherty, who Tim happens to know through his charity golf outings:

He was a nice guy and quite funny.  I reminded him that he was once quoted about my project and when asked what my chances of making the Tour, he said that “I’ll be generous and say it’s a snowballs chance in hell.”  It gave me a chuckle years ago when he said it so I had to get him to autograph my hat:

After spending some time behind the 18th we went up to watch the final groups come in and out of nowhere a fog began rolling into the 18th hole.  It went from sunny to where you could barely see half way down the hole in a little over 5 minutes:

Perhaps this was a bad omen for Monday’s weather.  No matter if it was sunny of 60mph winds, nothing was going to keep us from playing this course the next day.

Perhaps I was wrong with the whole “3-part” thing.  This post ended up being much longer than I thought and I haven’t even gotten to the part of playing the course.  So, the fourth, and finally final, piece on Pebble Beach will have to wait until next time…

The next morning we were invited to the Pebble Beach Golf Academy, which is essentially the main driving range for Pebble Beach with a golf teaching school attached, and were able to individually work with four of the instructors there.  This was an amazing experience as these guys have been around it all and are on the top of their respective games. It was two-fold inspiring: I had hands on work with instructors that have helped countless PGA Tour players and at the same time there were a number of big name players on the range working on their own swings in preparation for the week.  I was hitting balls on the same range as guys from Snedeker to Kenny G, who happens to be a 2 handicap.

The outside of the academy:

After a little warm up the lessons began.  My first one was all about putting and utilized the SAM putting lab, which I had been on years ago.  It looks like this and is a machine made to very precisely measure how you aim and swing the putter:

That is putting instructor Kevin syncing my SeeMore putter with the machine.  What he found was that I have extremely accurate and consistent aim as well as stroke, but my tendency is to cut across the ball from out to in which isn’t optimal as it can put a bit of side spin on the putts.  He gave me a few drills to work on to get the ball rolling more end-over-end and then it was off to the second lesson.  Since then I have been working on my putting stroke and have seen some good results.  He also suggested I look into a more face weighted putter as mine may actually accentuate my own putting flaws.  Something to keep in mind down the road.

The next lesson was outside on the range and it was a little more “old fashioned” than all of the others simply because the instructor didn’t use much technology.  But, he had great eyes for the swing and that’s worth a ton in golf.  This is the two of us chatting swing styles:

The coach’s name was Dan and we talked about some issues I was having with my ball striking and he had some good tips to share after seeing me hit the ball. The one that stands out most is that he said my lower body was overactive and I needed to focus more on hitting the ball with my shoulder turn.  Good stuff.

The next stop was with something that I had never seen in person and was pretty excited about.  It was with Scot Nei and his Robo Golf Pro robot.  It’s probably easier to show this rather than try to explain it:

It’s a robot that you can program to swing any type of swing at any speed and then you hold on to the club and it moves you through the motions that you are trying to learn.  I found it interesting as instructors have told me to “feel” certain things in the past and have even been hands on trying to place my swing in specific positions, but with this robot you can actually feel exactly where an instructor wants you to be through an entire swing.  You let it guide you for a handful of swings and then turn around and hit a couple of balls and you can immediately feel the difference.  I hear there is one up in Seattle, might have to make some trips up there in the coming months to get more reps in.

The final lesson was with Laird Small, who has been the director of the Pebble Beach Golf Academy since 1996.  Laird’s strength, outside of massive experience in the golfing world, is his ability to communicate what needs to be said.  There are a number of people who are extremely intelligent when it comes to golf biomechanics, but far fewer who can reach people in a way that makes sense.  This was the case with Laird and what he told me (we talked about my turn, chess positions, arms, etc) made sense to me and I have been able to implement some of it already.  He’s the kind of guy you want to see weekly and if he was in Portland I would most definitely do that.

That was a great start to the day.  I wish the lessons could have been all day, but with such a busy week there was a lot of work for the guys to do.  We spent a little time on the range watching some Tour players hit balls and then hit the road.

The next stop was lunch and the whole group sat down at a table with a guy eating by himself.  About 30 seconds in I realized it was David Duvall that we happened to be sharing a table with.  Here is Tiffany showing him how to take a selfie:

He was a upstanding gentleman and we all had a nice lunch chatting golf and life.

The rest of the day was filming a few interviews and random things for the story as well as a bit of down time in the late afternoon before heading to dinner.  Where we were able to eat dinner this night was at the players “tent” as part of the Pairings Party that happens after the official tournament pairings are released.  The party and dinner were good and it was fun to celebrity watch. But, the most fun came when this man randomly came over and asked if he could join our table.  Completely random, and amazing:

It was a treat like no other.  Bill Murray just happened to join our table and hung out with us for the better part of two hours.  That is him and one of our hosts for the week Jena.  Bill was incredibly kind and, of course, funny.  He talked golf, wine, life, charity work, art, etc.  I could not have been happier as he is perhaps the only celebrity alive that I really wanted to meet.

Honestly, I could have left that night and felt like it was an incredible trip.  Played an amazing course, had lessons with four incredible people, got lunch with David Duvall and then spent an eve with Bill Murray.  Life was feeling good and it was literally just the third day of the trip.    See, it’s hard not to sound like I’m bragging, but at the same time I can’t imagine not writing about this experience.  I won some sort of fantasy lottery.

The next day began with a historic tour of Pebble Beach. We had breakfast at Pebble Beach’s famous The Bench restaurant and then got in carts and toured the 18 with historian Neal Hotteling (who literally wrote The Official History of Pebble Beach):

Neal showed us around the course and described some of the more interesting ways in which things have changed over the years as well as the history of the property, which was originally purchased for $500 a couple hundred years ago.  We also got to stop by and see Bing Crosby’s house, which has an amazing putting and chipping green in the back yard and overlooks some of the better holes of the course.  It was great to get his insight into the course.

After that I was able to watch some of the celebrity shootout that happens on Wednesday and see the groups come in at 18, which might be one of the most beautiful finishing holes in golf:

And…  Just when we thought the day was over and had been blown away by everything so far, AT&T Fans Eye View had another surprise for us.  We got to meet one of the golfers and Katie was actually able to have a short putting lesson from this guy:

Jordan Spieth was a really good dude.  Wise beyond his years and a nice guy all around.  He signed stuff for everyone and I got the flag on 18 signed for my buddy Eric, who I think loved it:

We were all pretty blown away by everything that had happened so far.  It was incredible and seemed to just keep coming.  So, by the time dinner rolled around and we were away from the course we all assumed that the day was over.  But, there was one more surprise that nobody saw coming.  As part of the kickoff event a bunch of the celebrities were putting on a show down the street.  AT&T invited us to not only watch the show but we also were able to go backstage and shake hands with a bunch of them including Larry the Cable Guy, Colt Ford, Jake Owen, Michael Bolton, Kenny G, Clint Eastwood, Ray Romano, Tommy Gainey and a more that I can’t seem to recall right now.  It was great.  After our 15 minutes backstage, the group was leaving but I kind of “lingered” and got lost and then ended up getting to spend the next couple of hours back there.  It helped that I was a photographer in my past life as there were a number of active-duty marines who got the same meet-and-greet treatment that we did who also wanted photos with the big names and I wasn’t afraid to go up to people like Clint and ask if he would take a photo with those soldiers.

After that I hung out and got to know a few of the guys:

I’m not sure I even scratched the surface of what it was like.  I can’t imagine two more amazing days than these.  And, the tournament hadn’t even started yet.

On the final installment of this series I will talk about the tournament itself as well as what it was like to play Pebble beach from the same boxes as the pros and to the exact same pin placements.  That is coming in a couple short days.

Somehow, someway, I was invited down to Pebble Beach this past week to be a part of AT&T’s Fans Eye View and I can’t get over how amazing the entire experience was.  It was like winning some fantasy lottery and the only hard part of the entire experience is figuring out how to write about it without sounding like I am bragging.  In total, a foursome of golf entangled individuals was chosen to experience the event from very unique perspectives that are usually reserved for high VIP status.  All of us were essentially in shock the entire week as we got to meet some amazing people, play world class courses, walk behind the ropes with Tour pros during the weekend and be in the thick of the entire experience. Before I get to into my story, here is a video of all of us that does a good job summing up the week: Some of the best parts were about building a better understanding of how events like this one make a huge impact in the local community.  We spent time with one of the non-profits that benefits from the AT&T Pebble Beach, the Veterans Transition Center, and were able to meet the vets whose lives the VTC has helped transform.  It was a heartfelt and eye-opening experience and if I sound like a fanboy right now it’s because I have become one, especially when I learned that AT&T has raised over $120 million for charities in the 30 years they have sponsored the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.  That’s amazing. Here’s a shot of the group hanging out in the bright sun of Monterey, sans camera-man Dan: After that we headed over to Monterey Peninsula Country Club and played as a foursome in the Boys and Girls Club charity event, which was absolutely amazing as it was the first time I’ve played a course that was literally going to be a PGA tournament later that week. SUCH a beautiful course, too: Considering we had never played together and had an 8-person camera crew following us for the entire round and considering none of us had hit balls on that course before, I think our team did pretty darn well…  : We are the team right in the center of the shot.  Look for Tiffany’s name on top.  Just three shots outside of 3rd place and four shots from tying first.  Considering some of the names on there I think we held our own. After the event we stuck around and enjoyed a nice reception where I literally ran into Davis Love III.  Then we got to hear some incredible stories from the high schoolers who were receiving college scholarships from the day’s charity.  These young adults were amazing and I wish them the best as they take on the next steps in their lives.  The stories they told about their childhoods would have brought tears to Blain’s eyes (Think Jesse Ventura in Predator).  And now they are off to a whole new beginning. By the end of day one I already knew that I would become fast friends with this group.  When we landed we hadn’t a clue as to who each other were, but after a day of volunteering and a round of golf we all knew each other’s personalities and I could tell we would be staying in touch.  It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone during a round of golf.  That might be my favorite thing about this great game; it’s a great way to explore the human psyche. On the next blog post I will talk about everything else that happened before the actual tournament started, including four lessons at the Pebble Beach Golf Academy, meeting a swing robot, dinner with the funniest man on the planet and a random encounter with an up-and-coming golf star.

The shoot was quick, too.  I basically just taught the TV host how to hit a golf ball as he had zero experience in the sport (a la Dan 2010) and then told a quick summary of my story to date while we played a couple holes of the St Jörgen Golf Club.  I love when these things go well as my journalism background likes to get things correct the first time and be efficient.

Afterwords I had 48 hours to explore and reflect on the trip as well as the past few weeks.

Walking around Gothenburg I was reminded how important it is to have an extremely strong sense of self belief in your vision.  I’m not exactly sure why that thought came to mind while exploring the 17th century neighborhood of Haga Nygata, but I suppose when exposed to the countless options of this world it can be easy to have a wandering mind. It’s important to have a bit of that old fashioned tunnel vision to keep the train moving along.

For me it is also important to step back and appreciate everything that my work has accomplished both on and off the course to date.  Never would I have imagined that I would get flown to both Australia and Europe in a single year to make an appearance.  It’s important for me to relish these experiences as there are a lot of things that have been foregone over the past 4 years in order to get to where I currently am.  Short term (or even longer term) sacrifices lead to the long term payout.  This is true with just about everything in life, not just one man’s chosen path or his golf game.

So relish I did and I had a great time during the trip.  In a way it felt like an end-of-the-summer vacation and seeing as I only golfed a few times and didn’t get much practice in it might as well have been my annual time off.  When I returned I felt refreshed and ready to get back at it, too.  It took about an hour to warm up the body as 15 hours on a plane does no wonders for your golf game, but once I get the swing back on line I hit some good shots, including birdying my first hole back in the states, which is a great sign of things to come.  Of the 9 holes I played I birdied 3 of them and felt good rolling the ball.

Now that I am back and refreshed I am ready to make the next push of the Plan.  The first step is to meet with Michael Neff again and get my clubs better fit for my current swing.  He texted me while away and said he had it figured out and would tell me in person when we were on a range.  We shall meet early this week and I am excited to hear what he has “discovered.”  I have no clue, but trust that he knows what he is doing and will set the sticks accordingly.

The next step is to decide which clubs to play with that new configuration.  I have been hitting my Titleist set for 20 months and still like them, but have a call with Titleist and two other club manufacturers in the near future (i.e. this week).  I have been offered similar deals to what a typical club pro might get (14 clubs, hats, gloves and balls) from three manufactures right now and need to decide whether it makes any sense to try out something new or to stick with what I have.  It’s a good problem to have.

On a side note, here is a story from a Swiss newspaper about my time over there:

The link:  http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/sport/weitere/Spielt-er-2018-gegen-Tiger-Woods/story/22975901

As you can see, I’m decked out in my Titleist, Vokey and FJ gear.  Like the world’s cheapest billboard.  I truly appreciate the gear that I have gotten to date and think I have repaid everyone who has sent it in media and social media outreach.  Seems to be a fair trade in my opinion.

Perhaps it’s time to start adjusting the tone and approach of the blog in order to expand the reach and truly inspire instead of just telling my own story.  The original idea of telling my story seems to be getting stale and I think the more useful information would be to tell the story of what research and findings people across the globe are currently discovering that can help us all improve.  I have met a number of these people and think that focussing more on their work, albeit through my training eyes, is a better approach for both myself and every potential blog reader out there.  It is time to seriously step back and scrutinize the path this blog has travelled down and figure out where it needs to go for my own sanity and the readers’ sake.  I’m not saying that my training or practice will be different, just that I will focus more of this site on human performance in general while entangling it with one person’s expeditions.

At any rate, this wasn’t supposed to be a blog about shifting directions; rather my aim was to talk about the Europe trip and about what comes next, although I suppose the jet lagged mind wanders when wide awake at 4am and what I worry about during those middle-night times is often how to continue funding this expedition.  Mountaineers and explorers have similar issues, although once they finally raise funds and set off their concerns shift from funding to survival.  I suppose I have a leg up in that respect as it is very unlikely that getting lost or an avalanche will be my demise.   Everything has it’s plusses and minuses.

Perhaps that is the point.  You can travel the world and see all of the amazing people doing their amazing work stuffs and fantasize about what their lives may be like but at the end of the day you have to trust your heart compass is pointing you in the right direction.  Without that faith all is quickly lost.

There are countless ways to get from here to there, just pick one and stick to it.  That, in a nutshell, is talent.

And now I shall force upon you a photo slideshow of my 11 days in Europe.  You knew it was coming and like the good relatives you are you will do me a kind and take a look.  Perhaps pretend you just found this in a thrift store laptop 100 years from now and are trying to create a novel around it about the lives of those involved.  Or feel free to skip it.

In a couple more hours the sun will come up, at which point practice is in the equation.  For now I will continue the mental process of organizing my goals for the rest of 2014 and then begin to think about the year to come.

Taking off from Chicago, one of the last images of the states I would have before rising above the clouds was that of the city outskirts snuggled into a nice Fall evening:

I landed in Zurich on what was to be their first true day of Fall and sluggishly found my way from the airport to my brother, who I hadn’t seen in the better part of a year.  He has made this city his home for 3 years and I haven’t had the ability to visit until now, but am very glad for the opportunity to see the life he has created here.

I explored the city the first day, and enjoyed watching the people and seeing the buildings and old cobblestone streets.  My former sister-in-law took me around with her new baby boy:

We got some good coffee and some local dessert and then checked out a handful of architectural sights before heading back to their place for an evening of family catch-up. The next morning a new friend, who found me through this website, picked me up and we set off to play my first round of golf on European soil.  From first appearances, golf in the outskirts of Zurich looked very similar to Oregon with the lush greenery and trees surrounding the course.  It was rather cold that day so Robert and I had on our winter golfing gear for the round:

It was my first round in rain gear since the Spring and it took a while to both warm up the body and get used to golfing in multiple layers again.  The round was fun and the course was quite a challenge, especially for being on the shorter side.  In 40 degree weather with winds and very moist soil you found yourself with long approaches on shorter par 4s.

The rough was different too.  I think it may have been from the fact that the course is closing for the winter next week and because it dumped rain two days prior, but this course had some of the longest and thickest rough I have ever played on. When the ball landed off the fairway in the deep rough you literally had to hit a wedge 20 yards back to the fairway instead of trying to advance the ball.  It took a couple of tries to hit long irons or hybrids out of it to realize that was not going to be possible.  Once you learned what your options were it was a good challenge and a fair course.  Had some pretty holes too, especially the par 3s:

The grass on the greens was different too, it was like a combination between bent grass and bermuda.  I’m not sure what it was, but it looked like bent but had grain similar to bermuda.  I’ll have to do some research and figure it out.

The round was a great introduction to Swiss and European golf and I am excited to explore some more courses while here.  In the meantime, though, I went on a nice hike with my brother the next day to do some exploring and catching up.  The landscape here is incredible, it truly lives up to the reputation:

One more with the author getting a bit lost in the woods:

I have another round scheduled for Monday and some practice to do tomorrow morning and Tuesday, then it’s off to Gothenburg for a couple of days before returning to Portland.  Let me know if anyone is around southern Sweden, I would love to meet up and tee it up if possible.