All posts by mabts232@gmail.com

A Golf Course is a Public Service

Greetings Golfers,

Just read an article in a local business magazine that said restaurants in the Mpls-St.Paul area are really struggling. Not only struggling … but quite a few are closing.

The big reason is that they can only operate at 50% capacity. That doesn’t mean that they’re making 50% less profit … they aren’t making a profit. The cost for them to open the doors and operate depends on at least 75% capacity. So, it’s not worth opening if it means losing money.

Most things work like that. Golf courses sure do. But, it’s not just capacity … it’s capacity at a certain green fee. We could be packed with $10 green fees … and lose an incredible amount of money.

That’s where it gets tricky … how many rounds at what price is enough to stay afloat? You need to know the revenue number that’s needed to pay the bills.

The rounds/green fee combo works like this: more rounds at a lower fee means more wear & tear on the course. But, if you’re going for fewer rounds, obviously you need a higher green fee which probably depends a lot on the condition of the course.

Either way … course maintenance expense is a big number.

But if you choose to be a course that is not in good shape … hopefully your cheap green fees will bring in enough rounds so that you can pay the bills. But if it’s really bad, no one will play even if it’s cheap. And, it’s still risky, because no matter how bad the condition, you still need labor and machines and fertilizers, etc. Also maintaining greens – even bad greens are expensive. You know how expensive it is to maintain your lawn … think about a golf course!

So, to try to make these numbers work … some golf courses offer a variety of rates … and try to get maximum at peak times and less at weak times. That’s tricky too. That means the peak times are basically subsidizing the weak times. Sort of like flying on an airplane – the first class seats subsidize the coach seats.

I fly coach. I’m glad to have people subsidize my fare. For me, flying is just a means to an end … not an experience. And, I’m sort of narcoleptic … so I’m already asleep by the time the plane is in the air. So the first-class experience would be wasted on me.

However, we can’t have some people subsidizing other people at the golf course. Can you imagine the vibe if we had “first-class players” and “coach players”? It’d be a nightmare. Talk about a disrespectful atmosphere. People would cut in front of people at the counter, etc. Think about it.

So, our goal is to have everyone pay a fair price (the necessary price) and run a nice friendly place that can pay the bills. Everyone is “special” … not “more special”.

I’m very sorry that restaurants are closing. That’s not a good thing. And it would be really terrible if more golf courses were closing. Unlike a restaurant, a golf course needs a lot of land. If that land goes to development … golf keeps shrinking.

Most privately owned golf courses are providing a public service. They are not gouging the customers to make money. Any profit, is reinvested.

We all love golf and want to see it survive. The reality is that it costs a lot of money to operate a golf course. We all have to face reality to make it work.

Cheers!

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

The Point of the Golf Swing

Greetings Golfers,

There are lots of ideas about how to swing a golf club.

Hopefully those ideas will lead to hitting good shots. I’ve seen lots of pretty practice swings by people who can’t hit good golf shots.

I’m not knocking pretty swings … I think good rhythm and tempo are very important factors in hitting good shots.

Important factors. Hmmm.  What does that mean? Well, what REALLY does matter to produce good golf shots. Is it the grip? Or stance? Or weight shift? Or path? Or …?

The answer is … contact. Solid contact produces solid shots. Solid contact with a square club face on a path to the target produces solid shots going at the target. But, are they the right distance? So you need: solid shots with a square club face on the correct path and the club moving at the right speed so the ball flies the proper distance.

I know people who think that if they make a pretty swing that all of those factors will naturally happen and will produce a perfect shot.  Not so.

If the player knows how to make solid contact … with a square face … on the correct path … a rhythmic swing will help produce those desired parts of the golf swing.I believe that those desired parts of the golf swing need to be understood.

When I used to give lessons … my students hit very few golf balls. It was a lesson – not supervised practice. Most of my students didn’t really understand the golf swing – that’s why they wanted a lesson. Sometimes, very good players get a little off, so their lessons are more supervised practice … the instructor needs to see why they’ve gotten off their game.

However, most of my students did not have a clear understanding of the golf swing. In fact, they were over-loaded with information.

They needed to put that information into a hierarchy … much of the information was irrelevant to what they needed to learn.

So, I wanted my lessons to make sense. I didn’t want the student to just memorize some information … I wanted them to logically understand how a good golf swing works.

People came to me obsessed with head movement or body turn or a straight left arm … no one ever came with any concept of contact.

So, we went immediately to contact. Once that was understood … then it got interesting. How does a player get the club to proper contact? That’s the biggie. I believe that before impact, the club has to get into the “slot” … that from the “slot” the player can get to a good impact position. And, that it’s almost impossible to get to proper impact if the club doesn’t get into the “slot”.

So what it this mysterious “slot”? Well, it’s a position about halfway into the downswing. If you came to a stop, the hands would be about waist-high and the wrists would still be cocked … the right elbow would be almost hitting the right hip …and the weight would be more on the left foot.

No matter what your set-up looks like or what type of backswing you make … to be a consistent player … you need to get into this “slot” position.

Like anything … a good golf swing has a system of priorities. Of course everything has an effect: grip, stance, posture, turn, weight shift, etc.

However, they can not all be weighted equally. That is misguided. And, is why most people don’t understand the golf swing.

The purpose of the golf swing is to hit good golf shots. Good golf shots depend on good contact/impact. A good golf swing needs to get into the proper position…to then get to good contact/impact.

I love golf swing discussions. However, too often we can’t see the forest for the trees. All players need to understand impact … and how to get to impact.

Please spread the word.

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

Volvo vs. Ferrari

Greetings Golfers,

I just watched a video of a tennis instructor talking about the nasty remarks regarding his latest teaching video.

He’d been talking about strategy … and using his 4.0 student in his examples. People couldn’t believe the student was a 4.0 player. Why? … well, the guy was middle-age, chubby, and moved a little awkwardly.

So, I went back watched the referred to video. The guy looked to me like a good 4.0 player. Sort of like golf handicaps. Some golfers are a good 12 hcp and some are a bad 12 hcp. This guy was a good 4.0 tennis player.

I was going to write about Bryson DeChambeau this week … but, I’ll save it for another time. Everybody’s writing about him now – you don’t need my thoughts. However, Bryson is an example of what I’m talking about. His swing and putting stroke look awkward … but they work.

We all need to find a golf swing that works. Too often we get on the path to the “perfect swing” but don’t have the time or talent to develop it.

Most of us want a low maintenance swing that works pretty well most of the time. That’s about all we can ask for. We need to realistic.

Over the years, I’ve had some assistant pros who had high maintenance golf games. I tried to explain to them that as they progressed in the golf business, that they wouldn’t have much time to play or practice, but still needed to shoot decent scores.

And to do that, they needed a swing that was more of an old Volvo than a Ferrari. The old Volvo could sit outside all Winter and still start in the Spring. Could the Ferrari do that? Probably not. Would the old Volvo beat a tuned-up Ferrari? No. But it would beat an out-of-whack Ferrari.

Of course, one young guy thought that I didn’t know what I was talking about. But he thought everything I did was wrong – not just about playing golf but also how to run a golf course.

A few years later – when he was working somewhere else … his group was playing right in front of me in a ProAm tournament. It was in April, and his Ferrari struggled to get around the golf course. The old Volvo beat the out-of-tune Ferrari by over 10 shots.

College players and Tour players need to be tuned-up sports cars. And it takes a lot of maintenance.

The rest of us should be happy to be old Volvos.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

Murdoch and the Mystery of the Golf Swing

Greetings Golfers,

As you get into golf, you can’t help turning into a  detective … sort of a Sherlock Holmes of the golf swing.

It can be a lot of fun … but it can also drive you crazy. People can get more obsessed with the golf swing than with the game of golf.

The other night, I watched my favorite television detective – William Murdoch – get obsessed with the golf swing. The writers handled it perfectly.

The show (Murdoch Mysteries) is a Canadian series set in Toronto from 1895 to almost 1910. It’s starting its 14th season and moves up a year as it begins each new season.

Because of COVID, my wife and I have been watching a lot of television – it’s become our social life. Murdoch doesn’t have much of a social life – he’s pretty obsessive and works on his cases at the expense of doing anything else.

Murdoch is a bright guy, sort of a loner, but not anti-social. He’s kind and holds himself to high standards of behavior. He knows a lot about everything … but is especially keen on science.

So he’s always inventing variations of famous scientific inventions … it’s pretty clever and pretty funny. Of course he has dealings with Thomas Edison and Nikolei Tesla and Henry Ford … because we all know that they were involved in criminal activity in Toronto at the turn of the century.

I’m not doing a great job of describing the show. It’s charming and not cliche and doesn’t take itself too seriously … though it is intelligent and has good dialog and characters.

And, the mysteries are really interesting and solvable for the viewer. That’s why it was so much fun watching Murdoch get sucked into the mysteries of golf – especially the golf swing.

Did he solve the mystery of the golf swing? Yes and no. While at the driving range, his wife takes a swing and hits a beautiful shot. He was at the range struggling because his swing plane invention had ruined his swing. So he asks his wife to try again. She hits another beauty. But when he asked her what she was thinking about to hit such a perfect shot … she said “Nothing. I just cleared my head and swung.”

Murdoch couldn’t believe it. She calmly insisted that’s what she did. He got really agitated. This is a guy who never loses his cool. He told her that her answer makes no sense. He needs answers. He solves mysteries. He’s a scientist. He can’t accept that not thinking could be an answer to anything.

The next and final scene … is Murdoch calmly throwing each of his golf clubs into a pond.

You know that he’ll be back. You can’t quit golf – not really.

Take care,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

Byron Nelson

Greetings Golfers,

The 1965 Masters Leaderboard was loaded with stars. Jack Nicklaus finished first … Arnold Palmer and Gary Player tied for second. As you go down the board you see Gene Littler, Tommy Bolt, George Knudson, Tommy Aaron, Doug Sanders, Ben Hogan, Tony Lema, Billy Casper … I have to stop.

But the name that jumps out to me is that of a 53 year-old who finished tied for 15th place … Byron Nelson. He’d quit the Tour almost 20 years earlier. So, a part-time recreational player in his 50s shows up and finishes near the top on one of the most illustrious leaderboards in history, at the biggest golf tournament in the world?

How does that make sense? About as much sense as when he won 11 tournaments in a row in 1945.

Here’s what else he did on the Tour in 1945: won 18 out of 30 tournaments … and won the Vardon Trophy with a scoring average of 68.33.

Because 1945 was the last year of WWII, people have tried to minimize or dismiss his unbelievable year. However, Hogan won 5 times in 1945 … Snead won 6 times. Nelson wasn’t beating up on chumps – his scoring average proves that.

“Lord Byron” was noted for his extreme accuracy and ability to hit it dead straight. In the 1939 US Open – which he won – he hit the flagstick 6 times. Think about that. How many times have you hit the flagstick?

Because he was so straight – they named a testing machine after him – “Iron Byron”. His straight shot was a result of curing his hook by not rotating his hands … and changing to steel shafts. In those pre-war years, golfers had to learn how to use the whippy wooden shaft. Thus, they made a flat, round, swing with a lot of open-to-close hand action. Obviously it was difficult to time and control. So with the invention of steel shafts, Byron developed a more upright swing coupled with strong leg action through impact to keep the club face from turning over.  That’s why he’s been termed the “father of the modern swing”.

Both Nelson and Hogan developed swings to cure their hook. And they probably hit the golf ball as well as anyone who ever played the game. But, I would like to see golf instruction teach people to hook the ball like those guys did … then, find ways to control or cure the hook. Learning to hook the ball needs to be learned before copying Nelson’s or Hogan’s swing.

In our Men’s locker-room, we have framed pictures of 3 guys all born in 1912 … Ben Hogan Byron Nelson, Sam Snead. How would you have liked to have played in their foursome in 1947 when they were 35 years-old?

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

Cheaters

Golf has always prided itself as a game of integrity. The players self-police without officials watching their every move and calling penalties.

We all know the cheaters. Whether it’s moving the ball from a bad lie or mis-marking the putt or even giving the wrong score. No one is really fooling anyone. Same with handicaps. Some people have “Hollywood Handicaps” so they can brag at the party that they’re a single digit handicap when they’re really a 15. Some people are the opposite – sandbaggers who claim to be a 15 when they’re really a 9. Either way, it’s not cool.

Cheating is the same thing as stealing – it’s really that simple. A lot of bad behavior is at essence stealing … but comes in other forms.

Last week, I caught a guy sneaking on the course and playing a few holes. Not the end of the world, but it’s still basically stealing. And, what if everyone did it? What if every neighbor just hopped on the course and played when they wanted to? Where are these lines drawn? Is it when there is no one around? Who determines that? Also, how is that still not stealing?

Last year, I caught a guy sneaking on the course and playing a few holes. His response was that it wasn’t hurting anybody. My response was that I noticed he had a swimming pool … and would he mind if I just jumped in and went swimming when no one was around? He went nuts and said “That’s not the same thing!”. I told him that it was the same thing … the golf course is private property … just like his swimming pool.

Back to the guy sneaking on last week. He’d just bought an expensive golf cart. This fellow is not starving. He doesn’t want to pay his Trail Fee and doesn’t want to pay green fees. He’s actually proud of the fact that he’s using the golf course for free while he cruises around in his beautiful golf cart.

This guy and the sandbaggers don’t think of themselves as criminals. But they’re not really different from the kids stealing at the convenience store or the guy robbing the bank or the CFO stealing from his company. It’s the same mindset … just different circumstances.

I don’t like to play Sheriff. My nature and my role is to be hospitable. This is a golf course with a range, pub, and shop … it shouldn’t be run like a police state. With freedom comes responsibility.

Fortunately, most of the neighbors at DRGC are great. They get it. They’re respectful and realize that we are neighbors … not just a business – but a neighbor. The point of this blog is to talk about cheaters – not to disparage the neighborhood. And I think it needs to be talked about.

Our society is going through some painful times. We need   to look at ourselves in the mirror and be honest about our behavior. My hunch is that cheaters rationalize what they do … hopefully this is the mirror they need.

Take care,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

Golfers and Race Car Drivers

Greetings Golfers,

The other day I read an article about the handicaps of Tour players. That basically, you need to be a plus 6 handicap that can play to it anywhere. Not just be the star of your home course.

Also, I don’t think most people understand how crazy good a plus 6 really is. In fact, I don’t think most people understand how good a scratch player is … and a plus 6 Tour player is in a totally different world than a scratch player.

Here’s what I’m talking about. Years ago, when the Oldsmobile Scramble was a big deal, our tournament here was so big that we qualified 4 teams for the State tournament. That meant 4 PGA pros to play with the qualifying teams … so, I needed to invite one or two Pros from different clubs to fill the teams. And, I always invited Pros who were good players.

One year after the State tournament, one of our teams complained to me that their Pro wasn’t great and they didn’t use many of his shots. I asked if he was a consistent player and usually hit playable shots. They agreed that he hit decent shots, but not great shots. I explained that a scratch golfer isn’t always a great scramble partner. He’s scratch because he’s consistent, keeps it in play, plays smart, and has a good short game. They didn’t get what I was saying. They wanted a Tour player – someone who could overpower the golf course.

He was a much better player than they realized. To be in control of your shots is a difficult thing to achieve. To be in control with power and razor-sharp feel … well, that’s freakish … and that’s a Tour player.

A good scramble player is a youngster with a lot of power and an aggressive personality—and is probably about a 12 handicap.

Here’s an analogy: A Tour player is like a race car driver – they can’t take their foot off the gas if they want to win. But, if most of us played golf like that … we’d crash and burn. The scratch golfer won’t win the race … but he won’t have accidents – or at least not fatal ones.

Would it be fun to have a Tour player on your scramble team? Sure, but you probably wouldn’t hit many shots. You’d probably just watch and say “nice shot” … again and again. That’s who a plus 6 handicap is.

Take care,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

A New World

Greetings Golfers,

We’re always learning (hopefully) … and usually we learn more when life is hard, rather than when things are easier.

Probably, because when things are good, we take it for granted … and when things are tough, we step back and try to figure out what’s going on.

Well, we’ve been learning at the golf course. Actually, things are tough AND good. Much better than expected or even hoped for. Like most people, we were really worried about our business when the pandemic hit. When would we open? Would we even open? Would people play golf if we opened? Lot’s of questions. Scary questions.

So, we got the green-light from the Governor on Friday, April 17 and opened the next day. That weekend was stuffed. In fact, both days sold-out in 15 minutes right after the Governor’s announcement.

And the barrage of golfers has continued. If the weather is decent, we’re sold-out. And from what I’m hearing … it’s the same at every golf course in the Metro area.

So now the big question for golf operators is: Will this continue?

I’m not sure that this will become the “new normal”. But, I  think golf will see the resurgence that we’ve been hoping for. Ironically, it’s not the result of an initiative or an intense marketing campaign. It’s because people realized it’s a great thing to do outside. And, once they start playing golf with a new awareness … they have a new appreciation of the joys and benefits of the game.

Golf is always waiting there to be discovered … and rediscovered. It’s never needed tricks and gimmicks to keep it going. What it needed, was a slowdown in our normal pace of life. Too often we get too busy for the good things in life. We put off what matters so that we can hurry and get to that place in our life where everything is perfect … and then we can finally have the time for family and friends … and golf.

Well, I’ve been very guilty of putting off what matters until I get “there”. I’m proud of my work ethic … but I’m not so proud of when it dominates my life at the expense of family and friends … and golf.

Maybe the answer is to combine all three: family, friends, and golf.

Another example of learning. I just wish that I didn’t need tough times to wake me up.

Take care,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

A Good Grip

Greetings Golfers,

One of the prettiest sights in golf is a good grip. And, unfortunately, it’s a rare occurrence.

If you ever give golf lessons to beginners, you’ll see one of two swings. The first one is the caveman swing. The club is gripped in the palms, squeezed in a death grip, then lifted straight up in the air and then pounded down on the ball as if it’s a deadly snake.

Or, the goal being to get the ball airborne … they close the club face on the back swing while their weight shifts to their front foot so that they can use their wrists to scoop the ball up in the air as they shift their weight to their back foot.

Both are not good ways to use a golf club ( you notice that I didn’t say “swing”).

Ironically, if they used the snake killing method for iron shots … and the scooping method for drivers off a tee … they would be sort of ok. But, they do the opposite. Thus the snake killer breaks the tee and pops-up the ball … and the scooper hits the ball on the way up so that it’s topped and is a wicked grounder.

Both actions are usually performed with the grip of the club in the palms of the hands. The same way that you would grip the rope in a tug-of-war.

The club needs to be held in the fingers … of both hands.

And, the grip should be most felt between the thumb and forefinger of both hands. That’s the start of a good swing. It will feel weak and out of control at first. But, it needs to be learned in order to swing and not hit or scoop.

Here’s a good analogy. When I was a young boy, my stern Scottish grandfather took me to a steak house. I held my knife and fork like a caveman in the palms of my hands and my elbows stuck straight out. He insisted that I hold the silverware in my fingers and tuck in my elbows. I thought I was going to starve. It felt weak and terrible. I was not happy. But, he was right (as always).

I had to go through the same process with a golf club in my hands. Practice gripping the club in your fingers. I used to do it while watching tv – gave me the excuse that I was doing something useful.

Keep at it. Pretty shots will become more common. Pretty shots begin with a pretty grip.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub

It’s a Golf “Swing”

Greetings Golfers,

Some players golf games get better as they older … some get worse. I was one of those “worse” guys.

I started noticing trouble in my 50s … then around 60, it was pretty obvious that things had changed. Not only had I lost distance and swing speed … but I was hitting fat shots and other goofy stuff. And not only were my shots flying shorter, but they were getting lower … and lower.

The problem was that I was more of a “hitter” than a “swinger”. My swing was more of a punch than a sweep. I loved to punch wedges into greens – it was probably my best shot. And, I basically used a long punch swing as my normal golf swing. More of Lee Trevino than Payne Stewart.

It was a good way to play for my job. Was low maintenance … seldom wild … not exciting, but worked. If I chipped and putted decently, I could score decently.

Well, I played the other day with an old friend … and he was going through the same stuff. He’d played college golf at a big-time school … but 40 years later he was struggling. Though not a big guy … he’d been more of a hitter than a swinger. He’d always had a great short game … but you still have to get the ball around the golf course … he’d become short and wild.

Ironically, the wilder he got, the more that he “held on”. We all think that “swinging” leads to wildness … that control comes from no hand-action.

Wrong. Here’s why: You need to square-up the clubface at impact. If you don’t square-it-up with your hands … you’ll try to square-it-up with your shoulders.

And, he was trying to get power from his legs. He was trying to drive his legs into the shot. After he told me that’s what he was doing … I asked him to punch me and  drive his legs into it. He couldn’t do it. The leg action stopped his punching motion.

Here’s an analogy: Our high school catcher could throw a rocket to second base without coming out of the crouch position. A pitcher pitches because he can throw. His windup doesn’t throw the ball.

Your golf swing should feel like throwing a golf club. That’s the right motion. But here’s the secret to make it work: The left hand has to throw the club back-handed through the ball like a frisbee. So (if you’re right-handed), the golf swing is like throwing the club sidearm at the target. And … during that motion … the back of the left hand also throws the club out to the right and up. If it doesn’t go right and up … you’ll hit a low hook. But, right and up, you’ll hit a high draw … not a bad little shot to have at your disposal.

In fact, since I first wrote this blog, I played 9 holes with the first Club Champion (1990) here at Deer Run GC. We hadn’t played together in 25 years … and he couldn’t believe how high my tee shots had become and that they drew back in. He was struggling with the same stuff as my old friend – not swinging the golf club. So he tried my left-hand frisbee throw. His last two drives of the day were semi-high draws. He’d never been able to hit that shot. I wish I had a video – he was pretty excited.

That is a free action – not a punch. You’ll need a lighter grip and softer hands and arms … in fact, just a more relaxed body. This is not the Arnold Palmer action. You want more of a Louie Oosthuizen swing. In fact, Tiger Woods has become more of a swinger than he used to be.

If you’re shut in and looking for something to do … take a look at videos by Manuel de la Torre, Ernest Jones, Bob Toski, and Mike Malaska.

And just watch videos of Sam Snead. Snead won on Tour at age 52 … and made the cut in a US Open at age 61. Snead played great golf into his 80s. He played everyday and never had the knee and back problems of modern golfers.

We can play well as we get older … but we need to be “swingers” and not “hitters”.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
www.facebook.com/DeerRunGolf
www.twitter.com/DeerRunGolfClub