Relax

Breathe in, breathe out.  Don't freak out.

One common thing I see in many golfers is the inability to relax.  In order for our muscles to work most effectively, as any athlete will tell you, we must relax.

Look at any sprinter, gymnast, or swimmer while they are competing.  You will see them shaking their arms and shoulders, stretching their muscles, and doing anything to shake out any stress or tension they have.

You will also see things like this with professional golfers, some will waggle the club or pull up their left sleeve before they step in to hit the ball. 

Tension in the muscles anatomically shortens our muscles which in golf can lead to disasters.  Think about the golf swing as a rubber band.  When we turn back to strike a golf shot we are pulling the rubber band, and as we return back to the ball we are releasing the rubber band.  If we slowly release the rubber band rather than just letting go, the snap back to its normal shape will not have the same force.  For those of you who want to increase distance, and make solid contact this is of the utmost importance.

I realize that most of us are not finely tuned athletes, golfers, gymnasts, or swimmers.  However I do believe that the best thought when doing athletic things is no thought, the second best thought is to prime ourselves for action by relaxing first. 

In your next round of golf even if you only have time for 9 holes or even 3 holes,  I challenge you to let yourself relax on each shot. 

If you are having a difficult time relaxing, imagine warm liquid wax flowing through you.

3 ways to Create Clubhead Speed and More Power

What is one thing that almost all golfers, old and young, small and large want in their game? The answer is more distance and increased consistency in their particular game.

I am going to talk about 5 ways to create more distance that all golfers can use to create speed and power, 3 of which can be done without being too drastic.

1. Use the ground.  Stand tall and relaxed at set-up.  Once you reach the top of the swing, sit your butt down and flex your knees and rotate your entire body toward the target aggressively.  This will require some timing but can immediately increase distance assuming solid contact.
2. Learn to hit up on the ball with driver.  You can do this by increasing right side bend by having the left shoulder higher.  Play the ball off the left heel and feel as though you stay behind the ball like a great home run hitter in baseball.
3. Crack the whip.  Relax as much as possible. Our muscles fire the fastest when they are relaxed but ready.  Think Michael Phelps shaking his arms before he jumps in the pool or Steph Curry shaking his right arm before a free throw.  They are simply shaking out the tension so their muscles are in a peak performance state.  In order to achieve this on the golf course, feel as though warm wax is flowing through your body as you swing the club but right before impact by releasing that potential energy you created from relaxing, you can crack the whip and release all that energy into the golf ball.

Check out this video of Fred Couples in the 2017 US Senior Open.  He is one of the best at relaxing and cracking the whip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZkV8YHSZLM

Pop It Like Snedeker and Henley

Two of the best putters on the PGA Tour over the last 5 years have been Brandt Snedeker and Russell Henley. Both are multiple winners on tour and Snedeker even has a Fed-Ex Cup title to his name. What do these two have in common? They both have old fashioned pop style strokes, featuring a quick rhythm and when the putter strikes the ball, it makes a  nice noise where you can actually here the strike.

Amateurs who struggle with speed especially leaving the ball short of the cup, will do well to copy these two on the greens.

Drill: Drop 3 balls about 10 feet from the cup with a putt that breaks slightly. Take a couple tees and place 1 tee on the line behind the ball so you will need to shorten your stroke so as to not hit the tee on your backswing. Strike the putt and make a pop stroke like Snedeker and Henley on the ball to get it rolling forward. You will notice the ball will start on line and the putter head will come through impact more square and the strike will feel more solid. It is easier to manipulate the face when the putter has more space to travel to get back to the ball.

Check it out here:
https://youtu.be/Bwk2rsEuyZg

Five Quick Tips Before Playing Golf after 4-6 Months Off

1. Check Your Grips & Your Grip
2. Become Athletic, Relaxed Athleticism
3. Check Your Expectations at the 1st Tee.
4. Simply Enjoy Being Outside 
5. Don't Get Too High on a Good Start or a Bad Start

• Check your grips because if they are old and worn down, this will affect how tightly you hold the club. Gripping the club too tightly introduces tension, which is a killer to any golfer.  If you do not have time to put new grips on, wash them with warm, soapy water for the short term. 

Check your grip on the golf club to make sure you can see 2 knuckles on your left hand (right handed player) and make sure the right hand "v" points up to chin (illustration below).

• As any athlete will tell you, they tend to perform their best when they are relaxed but ready for anything.  If they are ready and relaxed they can more clearly react to whatever comes their way. This is exactly what the early season golfer should do, simply react to shots. Don't think technically just try and produce a shot.  If you succeed great, if you fail great.  Learn from what worked and what didn't and leave it at that.

• Checking expectations at the 1st tee is great for any player, early or late in the season.  It is especially important early in the season as many of us will be rusty that we cut ourselves some slack.

• To follow up on checking expectations, a great way to have lower or preferably zero expectation is to simply enjoy being outside on a nice day!

• Last but not least, stay even keel.  A great start to the season is a nice positive way to begin and can be a momentum builder but it can also cause raised expectations.  On the flip side, a bad start is not the end of the world either.  

Happy May Day! 

Kevin Trobaugh, PGA Apprentice at Des Moines Golf & CC

Ranting About the Rules of Golf

As far as I am concerned on Sunday, Lexi Thompson won the ANA Inspiration Tournament at Mission Hills CC in Rancho Mirage, CA.  She receieved a 4 stroke penalty after her 12th hole on Sunday.  From the previous day's round for failing to replace her ball correctly after marking it on the green.  Clearly if you watch the video, Lexi Thompson certainly did not play the ball from the correct place.  She moved the ball a quarter inch to the left as she marked her ball back on the green to clean up a 2 foot putt she had on the 17th hole Saturday.  

How did she get the penalty?  From a fan, a viewer at home who paused and rewound the video.  The governing body of golf allows for spectators and fans to call in if they see any possible rule infractions or discrepancies.  

Why did she receive 4 strokes?  Lexi received 2 strokes for mismarking her ball and 2 strokes for signing an incorrect scorecard. 

As I said, she definitely moved her ball a fraction of an inch to the left.  It is unfortunate that it happened and she handled it like a true champion making 2 birdies in her last 6 holes to still force a playoff before losing on the first playoff hole to So Yeon Ryu.  Had Lexi received the penalty by the end of the day Saturday, I would have no problem with her receiving a penalty of 2 strokes for strokes.  However, the additional 2 strokes for signing an incorrect scorecard is not fair to the game. Getting penalized on top for signing an "incorrect scorecard".  

These types of rules are where golf needs to make big strides in simplifying the rules of the game.  They have started to with the new rule changes for 2018 and many of those are great.  The next step is to attack this issue of having armchair rules officials being able to affect golf tournaments. My suggestion would be if by the end of the day a rules infraction is found then penalties can be added.  If not, than you CANNOT go back and add penalties the next day, week, or month.  In reality golf is the only sport affected by fans being able to call in.  

It may just take a bit of out of the box thinking in order to keep these types of disasters from happening.  The integrity of the game was not compromised by Lexi.  She gained no advantage for what she did even though it was incorrect.  Her lie was not improved at all.  As Rickie Fowler said outside influence needs to end, if the tour wants to have someone manning a camera on each green looking for these things, fine.  But fans should not be allowed to have a direct affect on outcome. 

The Data on Breaking Barriers & Parallels of Self-Awareness in Golf and Business

How do I break 100, 90, 80, 70, 60?  By going through understanding progressions mentally and physically.  Breaking barriers is basically all mental once you understand what is physically needed to do so.  Please look forward to posts and videos about our mental state and strategies on the golf course!  What I want to talk about is the actual data behind breaking barriers, why they get broken.  Now I have a lot to learn and a lot of knowledge and understanding to gain, but through learning from smarter individuals than myself, I have come to an understanding of the numbers of how and why certain barriers are broken.

The key to breaking scoring barriers or thresholds is very simple.  Improve your bad shots.  As Ben Hogan says, "golf is a game of misses, you are only as good as your misses."

No matter your skill in the game all players who shoot a good round for their skill level all have one thing in common; their bad shots are better than normal.  What do I mean by that? For a tour player who shoots a round of 64 or 65, their bad shot hits the green 25-30 feet from the pin and they two-putt par. On the flip-side, a tour player who shoots a round of 74 or 75,  rather than hitting the green to 25-30 feet, their miss ends up in a bunker or in a tricky spot.

Why is this true? Let's take look at some simple stats and scenarios of a tour player and a bogey golfer.

The 100th ranked player on tour from will 2 putt or better 91% of the time on average from >25 feet and the 100th ranked player will make about 7% from 25-30 feet.  Quick mental math means that tour players only 3 putt 2% of the time from >25 feet.  So simply if a tour player can get on THE GREEN his chances of making par or better are high.  IF the player misses the green for his bad shot rather than hitting it to 25-30 feet, his chances of making par or better go down and his bogey percentage goes up.  A quick stat shows that the 100th ranked player on tour has a 60% scrambling percentage or they will get up and down 60% of the time.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, let's think of a bogey golfer.  This is the player who on a good round may shoot 85 but during a bad round on a tougher golf course than they may be used to, will struggle to break 100.  For a bogey golfer it can bit more volatile because golfers struggle in different areas, HOWEVER, most bogey golfers who play the correct tee boxes for their driver distance give away strokes within 125 yards.  Although many bogey golfers struggle in this area, they may struggle with slicing the ball, inconsistent contact, lack of distance, etc.

This is where understanding your game comes into play.  It takes self-awareness of your game to know what your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are.  Just like an entrepreneur who is building a business, they must be self-aware and perform a SWOT analysis.  Please, be honest with yourself.  Maybe you absolutely suck at bunker shots (Look for my video on bunker shots soon!). If that is the case, the way I see it you have two choices: either avoid that weakness as much as possible or adapt and learn to play from the beach.  Maybe you have a great idea for an app, but you don't know to develop and build it.  Again, the way I see it is that you have two choices: learn how to build an app or find a product developer who can do it for you. If you can't do it internally yourself, you may need to go external and hire or partner with someone who can.

Either way it takes self-awareness and an honest understanding of where we need to improve in order to break scoring barriers. 100% the point I am trying to make is that the bad needs to be better in order to break scoring barriers whether you are a tour player, a bogey golfer, an aspiring entrepreneur, or a successful business.

Please, please, PLEASE if you want to learn how to break scoring barriers, please contact me. 😊

Take a look at this data. This table shows the importance of better bad shots because simply getting on the green or fringe improves scoring for all players regardless of scoring ability.

The King

Are you a member of Arnie's Army? Who exactly was Mr. Arnold Palmer?

Yes he was a hall of fame golfer with an impressive résumé. A 7 time major champion, 3 Masters, 62 professional wins, successful businessman, a member of the Great Triumvirate, and a cool, refreshing drink to his name. Everyone recognizes that famous colorful umbrella.  Mr. Palmer along with Jack Nicklaus was also instrumental in the starting of the Golf Channel and the PGA Tour which helped shape the PGA Tour over the next 40+ years.

Mr. Palmer was also a man of extreme character. He was known to make everyone around him feel important and loved and he did it with a twinkle in his eye. He has said many times that he is grateful for fans that gave him everything because without them, he would have had nothing.

He was a trendsetter. He was the type of man who would take the time and write handwritten letters to players, especially those young in their careers after they achieved something. He even was his own pilot, flying to his tournaments, before it was popular to travel that way. He was aggressive, go for broke, and fearless. He lives by the repeating the "Hit it hard and find it" method.

He is old school. If you are around Mr. Palmer it is best to be clean shaven and take your hat off in the clubhouse. If you have a scruffy beard, he may ask if you missed a meeting this morning?

"What meeting Mr. Palmer?"
"The meeting with Mr. Gillette in the bathroom."

I never actually talked to the man, but I the first time I saw him was at the 3M Championship in MN, around the age of 8 and even as young as I was, I noticed that he had a different aura about him.

If we can so much as adopt a few of Arnold Palmer's characteristics, the world will be a better place.

Arnold Palmer was the embodiment of the Great American Dream, during the Great Depression, growing up through wars and tragedy. Palmer grew up in a working class family in Latrobe, PA where his father was both Pro and Superintendent at Latrobe CC. Palmer was taught to work hard by his father, to love people and to be happy by his mother.

After joining the military for 3 years, Palmer began his golf career and from there, the rest is history.

After his playing career, he began his he gave some of his good fortune back to the people. In 2009, he won the Congressional Medal unanimously. Some have said that it may be the only unanimous vote in the history of the Democratic and Republican parties.

The King's legacy will be etched into history with the greats that lived before him.

I am a member of Arnie's Army.

We are members Of Arnie's Army.

Long live Mr. Arnold Palmer, The King.

#ArnieWould

Videos

A short but important post!

I will be starting to post videos which will hopefully represent a good visual to some of my posts.

If you would like to send swings to me for some feedback on how to improve please send some videos my way!  Or come see me in Des Moines in about a month! 😀

I would prefer either a direct message on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook so the videos will be private between myself and the sender...

Stop Practicing Mindlessly, Start Mindful Practice

How often do you catch yourself at the end of the day, when you have some quiet time thinking, "Wow, I literally just went through the entire day, what happened?" Or how about you interacted with a customer or guest? This has been me so many times. I wish I had been mindful years ago in high school and earlier in college about where my time was actually going and I wish I had been mindful about the quality of the interactions I was involved in. It was just not something that came to mind. I did not fully understand what it really meant to be mindful.

Mindfulness is actually extremely simple, but in today's fast-paced convenience economy, many do not pay a thought towards this.  Being mindful simply means you think before you speak and act. One takes in their surroundings, including who, what, where, when, and why or the "Five Ws".  

Doing the little things like this enables us and puts us in the right frame of mind to make clear decisions and really execute.  Engaging a guest when they arrive by offering a nice greeting goes a long way. I always try and audit myself during interaction with everyone I meet and communicate with to see how next time, I may handle the situation differently or the same. How I decide is simply based on the quality of the interaction that took place.

Literally in a nutshell, being mindful means to listen, observe, and learn with an open and objective mind. There is no need to let emotions take over and cloud, rather we learn from mistakes, plan on how to do better next time, and forget it. I have found when I really break down a day both good and bad, it allows me to realize how my day was used. Did I actually work smart and hard or did I just waste the day, practicing things they didn't help...

How does this relate to golf you ask? If we cannot be mindful in business, at home with our families, or out in public, how can we expect to be mindful when we practice and play golf?  Instead of mindlessly beating balls, raking one after another repeatedly, take a second and try and understand what caused a certain shot to happen. Work smarter, not harder.

Only 2 hours a week to practice? No problem.

March is here and the spring golf season is right around the corner, and still, many golfers struggle wondering why they don't get any better at the game.  Many players believe that just because they are one year wiser and more experienced they should get better at golf.

Unfortunately, golf does not work this way.  Nor does that work in many other areas of life.  I can guarantee you that a surgeon did not become a surgeon by simply getting one lesson.  It takes hours and hours of practice and SUSTAINED EFFORT. Golfers often complain that they do not have the desire or the time of a professional to work on all aspects of their game.  They have their career, wife and kids, and their finances to worry about.  Many say that two or three hours a week is all they can muster to practice and are lucky to play twice a week.

If a golfer who consistently shoots in the 90s and 100s comes to me and says, I want lessons with you to help me lower my scores, what would my answer be?

"I will say are you sure you are ready to make this commitment? (Crickets will probably often follow this question). If you really want to get better then it will take more than one lesson from me. It will also require sustained effort on your behalf." And then I would hand him a wedge and say "Here is where we start."

BUT if the golfer truly does not have the time outside of the two or three hours a week, I will teach him three shots in our lesson; the chip, the pitch, and the bunker shot.  I will suggest that instead of hitting 3 range buckets per week, that he go to the chipping green and practice these three shots.

Many professionals and coaches have different ways of teaching short game shots but for golfers who do not have the time I believe these basics will go a long way.

How to play the chip: Setup close to the ball with the club fairly vertical, by playing the ball in the middle-back of the stance, grip down toward the steel, with the club SLIGHTLY leaning towards the target.  Have 60-70 percent of weight on left foot.  Next, with relaxed hands, turn the chest and arms back and through and brush the grass, letting the ball get in the way of the club.

Goal? To get the ball rolling onto the green and toward the cup as soon as possible.

How to play the pitch: Similar to the chip, but utilizing more loft and a longer arm swing.  Setup to the ball with the ball in the middle of the stance to a touch forward (Ideally, the bottom of the swing). Again with relaxed hands, turn the chest and arms back and through and brush the grass, letting the ball get in the way.

Goal? To fly the ball in the air over and beyond obstacles such as rough, fairway, or bunkers and onto the green and then the ball will bounce and roll to the cup.

How to play the bunker shot: Setup with a wide stance and dig the feet in for balance, with your hands lower to the ground than normal and the club face open.  We DO NOT want the club vertical like we do with the chip shot, actually the opposite.  Take a long, fluid swing, hitting the sand about an inch or two behind the ball and watch it soar onto the green. 😄

Goal? To get the ball out of the bunker on the first shot EVERY TIME, preferably on the green!


For golfers who only have a couple hours to practice per week, take those few hours and develop these three shots.  Practice these shots from all lies and experiment with opening the face of your wedge. This will develop the touch and feel that is required to handle more difficult shots you will undoubtedly face on the golf course.  I believe 100% golfers will be surprised at the feel and creativity that will be born even from just a couple hours of practice if you work on these three shots.


"Small changes eventually add up to huge results"

True Champions Stare Adversity in the Face

Rickie Fowler wins the 2017 Honda Classic and moves back into the top 10 in the world rankings.  He held a 4 stroke lead after 54 holes and closed out with a 1 over par, 71 to win by 4 strokes over Gary Woodland and Morgan Hoffman in difficult, windy conditions.  It wasn't a pretty round by Fowler who rinsed his tee shot on 6 and on 17.  The victory was Rickie's fourth career PGA Tour win.

Four wins doesn't seem like much for someone of his immense talent and yes, I mean immense.  Rickie now has 3 top 10s in his first four events to start off his 2017 campaign.  Last year he had his lowest career scoring average but did not claim a PGA Tour victory.  He has had many close calls where he just didn't quite get it done on Sunday.  Before today, Rickie was 0-4 in turning his 54 hole leads into victories.  That can certainly wear on a person when they fail to close and think is it ever going to happen?

I believe the turning point was when Rickie really acknowledged it. He even did it in the media center.  Rickie said he believed it is time he started to finish some of these leads and turn them into wins.  A top 10-20 player of his caliber is measured by victories and Rickie has basically been that caliber since 2012 when he won his first tournament at Quail Hollow.  Sometimes all it takes is to verbalize something and make it real, and then take steps to change it.

The best part is it couldn't have happened to a better person.  Rickie is an absolute star in the media center, with his massive fan base of bright orange lookalikes.  Who relates more with the kids than Rickie Fowler?  He hardly has a bad word to say about anyone or anything.  Johnny Miller said after his round that Rickie really didn't finish like a 'true champion'.  I believe that he stared adversity in the face after making double on 6 and bounced back over his next 9 holes with 4 birdies.  I believe that is the mark of a true champion.

How many times did Tiger Woods go out and shoot around even par and win?  Did Johnny Miller say he wasn't a true champion?  Of course not.  Rickie handled it beautifully saying "Hey, a win's a win."

"Never panic, just manage."

Jordan Year

Happy Valentines Day!  In just 228 days I get to marry to my amazing fiance, Paige!  But today, I turned 23 years old and in 3 days MJ himself will turn 54 years old. For anyone following my career, I want to use this post to talk about where I will be in 2017.  After graduating college, I was in Minnesota for 6 months and I will be in Arizona until the end of April.

First, I want to thank everyone at Edinburgh USA an for allowing me an opportunity to begin my career  as an Assistant Golf Professional.  I enjoyed my time there and can't wait to come back and visit.  Which leads me to...

Starting in May, I will be back in Iowa while continuing my career as an Assistant Golf Professional at Des Moines Golf & CC.  I am excited to continue to learn and grow at such a beautiful facility! I truly love the Des Moines area and for anybody who didn't know Des Moines, IA was ranked in 2016 by BusinessInsider as the 11th best place to live in America!

As for the state of my game, we have been working hard on the weaknesses in my game. With that being said, it is difficult to say exactly where I am at until I play in some sustained competition over a period of time.  My last tournament experience was fairly positive, so I can draw on some positives.

Thank you to everyone who has been following my progress as I continue to build my professional career.  It has been a slow and challenging process with a lot of failure along the way.  We will just keep plugging along, try and learn from our failures and see where the journey takes us us next!

"I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan

Tales of the Tour and Phoenix Open

It's the eve of the Phoenix Open and there are many reasons to be excited for this week in the Valley.  FINALLY, the Valley of the Sun has received some sun.  After receiving weather in the 40s and 50s with considerable rain and wind, finally Phoenix lived up to its name. This week has been steadily getting better and now the forecast for the tournament is now in the mid-upper 70s!  With names like Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, and defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, the field is as strong as its ever been.  Last year Rickie Fowler basically had the tournament in the bag before an unlucky bounce off the downslope in front of the green after a perfect drive.  His ball ended up bouncing over the green into the water.  Fowler managed to get into a playoff with Matsuyama and played admirably through the adversity of what happened at 17.  

For the past few tournaments, on Monday before the Phoenix Open, an event called Tales of the Tour takes place, this year being at Scottsdale Bible.  The event features a panel of speakers and an MC to lead the conversation.  The topics are of experiences from inside the ropes and in the locker room on the PGA Tour.  This year's panel included Aaron Baddeley, Andrew Yun, Ted Scott (Caddy of Bubba Watson), and Tom Lehman.  

It was a beautiful Monday afternoon at Scottsdale Bible and anticipation was mounting.  Once the panel arrived onstage, they settled in showing their charisma.  Ted Scott is absolutely marvelous with a mic on telling stories of his first opportunity caddying for Grant Waite.  Aaron and Tom were tremendous as well.  All of the players are believers in God and many of their stories reflect that.  Their motivations for getting up in the morning and becoming the best they can be are because of their belief in God's plan and purpose for them.  Hearing the human side of the players was a humbling experience that I won't soon forget.  

The theme for Tales from the Tour in 2017 was "We didn't do it alone" and it was very fitting.  We all need mentors, encouragement, constructive criticism, and help from many on the path to our success. Lehman and Scott talked about how team-oriented the Ryder Cup team was and that each player was willing to do anything to help the team win.

One of the many things I gathered from Tom Lehman was some talk about the Ryder Cup.  Jordan Spieth posted this message the Sunday of the Ryder Cup into the team's group text, which was fittingly called "Return the Cup"this powerful quote:

"Fate whispers to the warrior, you cannot withstand the storm.  The warrior replies, "I am the storm."

Turning a Negative Into a Positive, and Why I Dislike Math

In math, when one takes a negative number and multiplies it by a positive number, the number will be negative.  When you takes a negative number and multiplies it by a negative number, the number will be positive.

I strongly dislike math for this concept.  In real life, two negatives do not make a positive in my opinion.  I believe one negative can be turned into a positive.

I was talking one of my coworkers today and he used to be a football coach.   He told me that he played football in college and went on to coach for the next few years as a youth, high school coach at the varsity level and as an assistant college coach.  I played the part of listener and asked some engaging questions.  He stopped coaching because he didn't like the way the kids were being treated and his gut told him that having young kids playing.  So he gave up coaching football and for some reason when he said that it really bothered me and I didn't know why.

He explained when he was coaching at a division 2 college program about a kid who received a large football scholarship.  After two years in the program the player never really realized the potential the other coaches had hoped he would achieve.  Suddenly my coworker said, the other coaches started trying to entice the kid to quit the team so they could use the money on the next prospect.  He believed that this was completely unfair to the player, a negative part of the job.  Theoretically of course, the players who play on a team are at the discretion of the head coach, even if it some of the things are ethically questionable.

I had an opportunity to talk to him about it when we went out and played 9 holes in the afternoon.  I told him that he shouldn't give up because of a few negatives, especially if the positives are so many. I told him he should turn this into a recruiting tool.  If he decides to go back to coaching football he can tell the student-athletes he is recruiting what some coaches are actually thinking.  He can tell these kids that many coaches don't care about them outside of football and that he is the exact opposite of those negative coaches.  This is turning a positive into a negative in my eyes.

I feel that this lesson is particularly important because, on this day, President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.  Many people are upset about Mr. Trump becoming president, while others are ready for some change.  Either way it is imperative that we give the new president a chance just like we gave President Obama his chance.

Happy Inauguration Day and God Bless America,

Kevin Trobaugh, PGA Apprentice

"Be the change you wish to see in the world"

How Good Is Justin Thomas?

It's been a while since I last posted but I was waiting for something to write about and now I have it thanks to Justin Thomas.

After successfully defending the CIMB Classic at the end of October, Justin Thomas seemed poised to break out in 2017.  He has exploded during this wraparound season by completing the Hawaii Slam winning the Tournament of Champions and the Sony Open by three and seven shots respectively.  The 23 year old is taking the week off of this week's CareerBuilder Challenge at PGA West in Palm Springs and rightly so.  Thomas is now ranked 8th in the OWGR.  Don't quote me but I believe his next appearance in a tournament will be down by me at The WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.

JT now has 4 PGA Tour wins 3 in the last 3 months.  After becoming the youngest on the PGA Tour to shoot 59, where does he go from here?  He has always been a great player, the results just haven't come as quickly as they did for Jordan Spieth.  Thomas admitted that the difference has been his maturity and preparation. Last year at the TOC, he said he spent more time at the beach and doing activities than he did practicing.  He vowed that would change and boy did it ever change.  Instead of spending an afternoon at the beach, Thomas spent it on the putting green.  He has putted beautifully while winning the Hawaiian Slam. 🏆

Thomas is now playing with house money, meaning he has no fear of keeping his card.  His card is secure.  He can now freewheel his way through 2017 just like that free-flowing beautiful release he puts on the golf ball.  I love basically everything about JT's game.  He swings the club with beautiful rhythm and balance.  His short game is outstanding which is one factor for a player's ceiling.  Getting a timely up and down for par is much more important for maintaining good rounds than a 300+ yard drive.

Thomas has shown that he can win some smaller tour events, the next step is probably winning an event where all the best in the world are in attendance such as a WGC, The Players, or dare I say, a major championship.

In my opinion, the floodgates are wide open as Jordan Spieth said after the TOC.


Aloha,

Kevin Trobaugh, PGA Apprentice

"Even if the results don't happen right away, stay confident, stay poised, and keep working"

Sponsorship in Golf and the Direction It Is Heading

There has already been some major news in golf for 2017 on the sponsorship side.  Jason Day has officially signed with Nike to wear their apparel and shoes going forward into 2017 and beyond.  Dozens of tour pros and hundreds of Nike Golf staffers will need to find new equipment to use if they haven't already.  Brandel Chamblee said on Golf Channel during the Hero World Challenge that Tiger Woods is in a "dream situation" being able to choose his clubs.  Rory McIlroy is also a part of that dream.

No Laying Up was the first to post about Rory McIlroy who announced that McIlroy will will be playing the new Callaway GBB Epic Sub Zero driver, Callaway Custom Apex MB irons, and the ProV1x golf ball.  During the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National, Rory still had his Nike equipment through the bag.  In China at the WGC-HSBC Championship, he had put the Taylormade M2 driver in the bag and fairway woods to match.  McIlroy will also use Titleist Vokey wedges and a prototype Odyssey putter.  McIlroy has also said he doesn't plan on signing an equipment deal in 2017.  

This begs the question will we see a trend?  Will others test equipment of all brands looking for the exact tools and equipment that suit their game the best?  

I am actually surprised this hasn't been the case by more high profile players.  Looking for every edge and advantage available to them seems like a favorable course of action.  By auditing their equipment this could allow players to gain advantages they didn't even know were available.  Whether it is a little bit more forgiveness on mishit irons or an extra 2 mph of ball speed on the driver, every advantage big or small is still an advantage.  I believe this is the direction of the game.  Sponsorship is certainly in for a change over the next few years.

What can the average person take away from an elite player like McIlroy changing his equipment? Conduct an audit in your own golf bag and decide if the club is helping you or hurting you.  If the club isn't broke, don't fix it.  In other words, if you hit your old Cleveland 5 wood well, don't put a new one in the bag.  Take in information, test the information for yourself, and then decide.  Arm yourself with equipment that fits you and that you enjoy using.

Jason Day wearing new Nike gear

 Golf is expensive enough and difficult enough without buying new clubs every year.

Cheers to a great 2017

Kevin Trobaugh, PGA Apprentice

"Audit your circle" - Gary Vaynerchuk

P.S. 
If anyone knows of anyone who might be interested in helping a young pro out let me know :)