Greetings Golfers,

Next week at this time the 41st Ryder Cup will be in full swing at Hazeltine National.

I’m not a big lover of crowds or hype … but I’m looking forward to seeing it live and in person. It’s always fun to see the best in the world … and these guys are the best.
Bubba Watson is ranked 7th in the world and may not be Davis Love’s final pick. Bubba’s a weird cat. I’m not sure team golf is his forte. And that’s what Love has to decide – can Bubba play team golf?

Patrick Reed is another odd duck – and not well liked. But he seems to thrive in team golf. He was a great college player and has played well in the Ryder Cup.

I’d probably pick Justin Thomas. He just seems like a Ryder Cup guy.

They’ve been talking about the need for chemistry, and I would agree. The European teams always seem to be having fun and enjoying the Ryder Cup. The American teams always seem uptight and freaked out … except in 2008 when America had goofballs like Bo Weekly … and they won!

Well, I hope you’re going. For most of us, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Next week’s blog will be a Ryder Cup battle of words between Marty Lass and yours truly. Marty is the venerable PGA Head Pro at Edina CC and will be representing the European team.

I’ll need luck to hold my own with Marty – team USA will probably need a little luck too.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Greetings Golfers,

Yesterday, a former baseball player complained to me about how his baseball swing screwed up his golf swing. A few hours later, a former tennis player complained to me about how her tennis strokes screwed up her golf swing.

Actually, all 3 swings/strokes have the same fundamentals.

The biggest problem that people have with all 3 swings is that they over use their shoulders. The shoulder move feels strong – bit it’s too much of a hit and not enough of a swing. And that is a big problem.

The shoulder move in tennis is a chop and not a stroke. A good tennis stroke is a topspin shot – the player starts the stroke from knee height and swings up on the ball while rotating the wrists.

Same with the golf swing. The bad swing is an over-the-top chop at the ball – a shoulder swing. The good golf swing is from in-to-out … and feels like a topspin tennis stroke with the hands rotating the club which produces hook spin.

The bad baseball swing is a shoulder move that pulls the ball left and hits down on the ball and produces pop-ups. The good baseball swing moves up and the hands rotate through the swing.

In all 3 sports, the good swing is from low-to-high, the legs shift the weight to the front foot while the hips turn, and the upper body stays back.

Ted Williams did it correctly … Ben Hogan studied and learned a lot from Ted’s baseball swing. Bjorn Borg’s topspin tennis stroke is a helpful image too.

A good swing is a good swing – whether it’s golf, baseball, or tennis.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Greetings Golfers,

Here’s the American Dictionary’s definition of the Law of Diminishing Returns: “The tendency for a continuing application of effort or skill toward a particular project or goal to decline in effectiveness after a certain level of result has been achieved.”

Ok … in my words it means that “you can achieve a certain level with a certain amount of effort.” And that after a certain point, it’s almost wasted effort.

That’s difficult for people to swallow. And, for a lot of reasons. But, that is what real efficiency is all about.

Let’s talk about this … it’s at the heart of taking control of your life. The basic reality of life is that we have limited time. We need to weigh how much time and effort is worth a goal. It’s like determining how much money something is worth. Obviously if you have limitless money you can buy anything you want. If you have limitless time you can try to achieve anything you want.

Did you ever see the movie GROUNDHOG DAY? Bill Murray keeps reliving the same day over and over. After a while, he realizes that he can learn a lot of skills because he has limitless time … so he learns piano, ice sculpting, languages, etc. It’s like he has limitless money – he has limitless time.

Well, we don’t have that luxury of limitless time. Being a boss is tricky because employees need to maximize their time – you need to give them enough freedom to use their time wisely, and hope that they won’t take advantage of you and misuse their freedom.

I’ve learned that good employees respond well to freedom – that they flourish with the opportunity to manage their time. Lousy employees take advantage of freedom and misuse their time … I prefer to let bad employees hang themselves.

This philosophy of mine flies in the face of too many bosses, coaches, cultures, etc.

Micro-management loves to point out the little problems … they always miss the big picture and the main point. Their nit-picking leads to poor leadership – leaders who are afraid to loosen the reins for fear that any minor problem will be used against them … so it all becomes management by Cover Your Ass.

Years ago I had a young Asst. Pro who hit balls 40 hours a week at the range and gave very complicated lessons. I tried to explain to him my theory of the maintenance free golf swing – that people don’t have 40 hours a week to work on their golf swing. He didn’t even sort of get what I was talking about … but … years later he sent me an email that he teaches the maintenance free golf swing … wow! stuff like that gives me hope.

People need freedom to manage their time. Sounds obvious, but when bosses, family, etc expect perfection …well, we don’t have enough time to live and to be well-rounded. The more we live in a specialized, perfectionist society, the more we’ll have serious human personality problems. Business has to realize that those problems are not efficient, that their crazy insistence on control is actually not cost-effective. All of this comes down to a lack of freedom and a lack of understanding the Law of Diminishing Returns.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Greetings Golfers,

In 1988, one of the greatest women golfers – Carol Mann – went to a dinner to honor the 100 greatest golfers. Ben Hogan gave a talk that was never released until Carol Mann posted this the other day. Enjoy.
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Here is the secret message from Ben Hogan – something that does not appear in anything he previously wrote or spoke about:

100 Heroes of 100 Years of American Golf New York City June, 1988
The following is a transcript of part of Ben Hogan’s remarks that evening. He held up the small dinner program cover which, in miniature, looked like Harry Vardon, and he said:

“Look at Harry Vardon.  I want to critique what I see here and there is a little bit of Harry Vardon’s swing in every good player that I have ever seen in my life. Let’s start down at the feet. I’m not here to give a golf lesson, but I’m telling you what I see in people’s swings and what will work and what won’t work.  Look at his feet. His left toe is pointed out; it isn’t in, it’s pointed out. And his right toe is pointed in; it isn’t pointed out. And even though he’s taken a swing and he’s relaxed his finish just a little bit, he has his lower body turned to the left. That’s the direction that he’s going and that’s the direction that his feet are in. he wants to go – he’s a right-handed golfer, as a matter of fact – and he wants to go in that direction. Now he wants to have all of his power in that direction.  He doesn’t want it to back up on him. He’s putting his body in a position and his hands and his arms to hit the ball straight and far. You’ll notice his finish with his left elbow down, even though the finish is relaxed somewhat. Now, in order for him to get there, he must rotate the left arm as he comes through and the left elbow will be down. If you don’t rotate it, it will be out here. Now the physics book tells us that in order to hit a propellant far and straight, you must have greater speed after you hit the propellant than before you hit it, or at contact with the propellant. Now, relating to a golf swing, you must have greater speed beyond the swing beyond the hit, than you did when you hit it. And the physics book tells us that it will go straighter and farther. Well, I’ve tried that, and it works. Another thing, I want you to rotate your left arm coming through, and you can even start it back up here if you want to because you can’t have the speed beyond the ball unless your elbow is turned – your arm, your left arm, is turned. You will hit a straighter ball and it will go farther. If it doesn’t we’ll sue the physics book … just think about and practice things that have been laid down for this hundred years …this fellow Vardon spans over 200 years… he played in the 1900’s and the 1800’s.”

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Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com