Short Putts

When I was in the basement this morning, I went 9 for 9 in the 3, 6, 9 putting drill prescribed by my teacher Tom Torrington.

This is how it works: you take three balls and roll three putts from three feet. If you make all three putts, you move back to six feet. Make all of those and move back to nine feet. If you miss any of the nine putts you have to go back to the beginning and start all over again, until you make all nine in a row. 

I figured something out today: if I keep my head down until the ball hits my target, I have a better chance of making the putt. I'll need to overcome my habit of lifting my head to see if the ball goes in. By keeping my head down I'm able to release the putter while starting the ball on my line. But when I lift my head I have to keep the face open with my hands or it shoots dead left, which — as you can imagine — leads to inconsistency. The point is that I have to keep my head down and body still to put my best stroke on it.
    
How much longer until golf season?

Shoveling Boardom

Yesterday my sister and I got Henry a snowboard. As it is his birthday today, we went out and used it. We have a nice yard/driveway for sledding and we went out and made a run and a jump. Off we went getting some air and pulling 180's. After a few runs I went in and tried to start up the snow-blower which didn't take very kindly to that. So I grabbed shovel and started to clear the driveway the hard way and Henry, being the good guy that he is, joined me. We made quick work of it and took a few more runs afterwards. After that fun we went inside to enjoy the rest of the day. Happy 12th birthday Henry! May you have 98 or so more.

Rory Mcilroy Joins Nike

Today in Dubai, in which was probably the worst kept secret in the golfing world, Rory Mcilroy from Northern Ireland, the number 1 golfer in the world, signed a $250 million contract over 10 years with Nike Golf. He will be playing Nike equipment, driver through putter and playing the 20XI-X ball, the lower spinning tour ball from Nike. He will also be wearing Nike apparel, hat, glove, shoes, ect...

He will also be appearing in several Nike ads, along with Tiger, such as this one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3z_DWZqW8I

It is yet to be seen whether or not switching from Titleist equipment will affect his play, but I doubt it will considering all the companies have gotten so good at club-fitting and getting the correct specs on all the clubs.

Questions for TJed. #2

The second question of the 23 is:

Do I take smart risks, or do I avoid failure at all costs?

I think I take risks, not all of them smart. I'm a very aggressive person who will go out there and do what is necessary, risky or not. I am most certainly not a person that avoids failure at all cost, do I get upset when I fail? Yes. But I know that failure happens and I can only get up, learn from it, and move on. 

Questions From TJed For Teens

The first in a series of 23 questions from the book TJed For Teens. 

Do I generally trust or mistrust the universe and my future?

I've found that I trust God and my future. I think my future lies in golf, whether playing Professionally, or running a course, or as a teaching pro. I know that I'm headed down a good path by the people God has put around me. And that I can make the most of my life with the help of others and by working hard myself to get there. 

Chapter 5 of TJed For Teens

Chapter five is about the different phases of learning in TJed.: Core, Love of Learning, and Scholar phases.
So what I am in for each of the phases of TJed. is as follows.

Core phase: English, Math, Art, History, and Langues.

Love of Learning phase: History and Science.

Scholar phase: Golf.

I read chapter 2 of TJed For Teens today. I found their insights into the classics interesting and how the rich families have learned them for a long time. But the masses haven't learned them at all. Which is one of the reasons that the rich tend to keep their wealth, and the rest of the world pretty much stays where they are in life. Unless of course, they happen to get their hands on this type of thinking and go into an entrepreneurship, or move up through the ranks of a company, and make their own fortune.