If I Was King…

Since this my first column of the new season, I thought I should probably take some time to explain the changes you will see on this page each month. You see, as editors are want to do, I was asked to change my focus. For the last few years, I pontificated about the advent of new technologies in the golf industry.

This year, we thought it might be fun to expand the topics. Anyone that knows me understands that I am not shy about stating my opinion. This might get some people riled up from time to time, but it is never dull.

With that, the column is called “If I was King…” Obviously, the three periods suggest that topics will change each month. Sometimes it will be something I’ve always hoped to see in the industry. Sometimes it might be my thoughts on a current situation in the game.

To start things off, I’m going to talk about something which we are all familiar with. If I was…a Minnesota golfer stuck in the snow.

Believe it or not, not every golf professional gets to travel to the warmer climates of Florida or Arizona in the winter months. We have families, year-round responsibilities at home or simply can’t afford it. While a white Christmas is nice to see, like everyone else, we start pining for the chance to tee it up.

While at first thought, it might seem simple… just head to one of the many courses like Bunker Hills and sign up for a simulator league. While those are indeed fun, and they do keep the golfing muscles from atrophying, they really are not effective at helping me take my game to the next level.

No, if I were a snow bound Minnesota golfer, I’d make it a point to do something each day to improve my game. So… where to begin? Given my profession, you would be safe in assuming that I would suggest taking lessons. And… you are correct!

Think about it, there are dozens of great instructors here in the Twin Cities that, like you, don’t fly south as soon as the frost hits. The advent of all the new teaching technologies (see my previous two years’ worth of columns) make it much more affordable and even more effective in certain areas of the game than taking lessons on the range.

In every other sport, the off-season is the time to make changes or even improve areas the athlete is already good at. The great ones take their time away from the field, court or rink to analyze what they did well last season and formulate a plan to get better. But for some reason, most golfers (yes, even some golf professionals) find themselves sitting around watching football, planning for the holidays or working more.

Well, not this year. This year let’s make a pledge to improve our golf game. I get… “That’s easy to say. What are YOU going to do to get better?” Well I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you my plans, you tell us what you are going to do.

So here we go. My plan to get better this winter starts with a simple goal. Lose weight. At a recent wedding for my niece, my loving mother, said to me “Jimmy… you are grotesquely overweight!” Thanks mom.

She was right. I was carrying at least 30 pounds more that my body could handle. Since I’m turning 50 in April, it would be wise for me to drop the weight. As for my golf game, losing the weight would help me significantly increase my clubhead speed. It would also help my mental game. As my body would fatigue, the brain would go too.

Fortunately, I have a nephew that is not shy about placing wagers to increase the pressure. So with that, I took the bet to lose 32.5 pounds in six months. Since that fateful day in November, I’ve dropped 23!

But that is just part one. Part two comes from actually taking lessons from one of my fellow golf professions. We evaluated my game, my goals and came up with a plan to drop five strokes from my game. Those five strokes will come in three areas.

First, I need to find a driver that I am confident in every single time. I can hear it now, “You always say that a new driver is not going to really get you better, but swinging better is the way to go first.” True, but it’s no secret that if you don’t like your equipment, you won’t make a confident swing. Then making that swing more efficient is obviously a good idea.

The second area to improve is my putting. One again, I am going start with finding a new putter (or maybe an old one in my garage) that not only fits my body and stroke, but also instills confidence. Once that is decided, I need to improve my make percentage from 6-10 feet. On the PGA TOUR, the make percentage from 8 feet is 50%. When Jordan Spieth was winning everything, he was seven percentage points higher than the average. Me… this year I was 29%. Not good.

The third area is to hit my wedges closer. As Hogan said, “If you want to improve your putting, hit your irons closer.” From inside 100 yards, my average proximity to the hole was 22 feet – really not good.

So now, I count calories every day, ride my bike indoors every few days and do strength and conditioning 3-4 times a week. I work on my wedges at my center two days a week for about 30 minutes. Two days a week I work on driver for 30-45 minutes and EVERY day I putt from 8 to 10 feet. Every few weeks I give myself a performance test and weigh in.

Simple right? The food envy on Thanksgiving alone was almost enough to make me ditch the whole thing. Fortunately, I got through that.

So that’s it. This month in, “If I was… a Minnesota golfer in the winter,” I challenge myself, and maybe you, to improve our games.

Not very opinionated you say? OK, here it is, I don’t believe our readers are going to follow suit. Why? It’s not easy, and in my opinion, we’ve become a society based on easy. Disagree with me… prove it.