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"