Royal St. Patrick's Golf Links
920-532-4300 in Wrightstown, Wisconin
Below are the "Links" to our most recent Newsletters that are emailed to our loyal listeners. If you think you may have missed one of our emails, or you remember it being so good you want to read it again...this is where you will find it. Enjoy!
October 1, 2019
Everyone who reads this article is currently involved in some kind of fund raising or remembers a time when they were. Maybe it’s a Walk, a Bowling Event, a Dinner Gala or my personal favorite a Golf Outing. I sit with committees all the time and I love to simply listen. Having been part of so many events, I have a few nuggets that seem like common sense but are often over looked. Let me share one of them with you: GET REAL SPECIFIC. I sat with the homeless shelter, they said they wanted to raise money, shocker, and not real specific. We all feel for the homeless, but some simply don’t want their money going to office paperclips, or sealcoating the parking lot. I encouraged them to “get real specific”. With specificity we believed more of the participants would be more enthused; and ultimately more generous. The rally call for the day became 9 mattresses. The whole day would be about 9 more beds for 9 more people…tonight!. They arranged for the mattresses store to stay open late and deliver these 9 mattresses when the event was complete. With raffle money and sponsor donations they were at 6 mattresses. Then silent auction got a 7th, then an 8th. It finished with down right pleading, and gentleman stood up and bought the 9th mattress. The call was placed, the mattresses were delivered that night and the promise of the day, that 9 more people would be accommodated was fulfilled. Everyone felt great and felt like their contribution made a real difference. People work very hard for their money, but they are willing to share. I see it every single day inside these events. Make it meaningful, make it personal, make it specific and you will do a little better.
September 2019
Just like the battle of ideas and direction in Washington, there is a war brewing behind the scenes in golf. Unless you are down the golf rabbit hole like I am, you might never realize, much less experience what is happening as it relates to the direction of Growing the Game. One of the things I have always prided myself on is giving you information you will find no where else. Let me give you both sides of this battle and you can choose for yourself. There is the side you kind of know. The big body side of Golf 20/20, the USGA, the PGA, the First Tee, the NGCOA, etc. These gigantic golf bodies believe the future of the game rests in women, inner city kids, minority groups, etc. Just look at all their promotional material. The revolutionaries on the other hand, the marketing people who have crossed from other businesses, the renegade course owners, the splintered off management companies and developers, the 3rd party resellers really see the governing bodies selling out to political correctness. These trailblazers really aren’t blazing a trail at all, as they believe the future of golf actually lies in the un-sexy, politically incorrect, beer-bellied, white male who already possess golf clubs, interest and spending power. While the big bodies could be re-connecting with the core 10 million who already play, they waste time, money and effort on politically motivated programs that “feel good”. On the flip side, the revolutionaries who plan to perpetuate status quo are merely accused of buying time. The “focus on the current golfer” crew really have no plan for the future of golf beyond the next 20 year window. Golf has been around for hundreds of years. Is all this hot air and way to sell books, articles, agendas, advertising, power? Absolutely. Seems like everything on earth is now a fight over a bigger slice of a diminishing imaginary pie. Thankfully you don’t have to worry about this. Just grab your clubs, call me, and make a tee time. As long as everyone keeps doing that…I’ll be here, which means you will be here! That looks like a good enough future to me.
Tales From The Tall Grass
September 24, 2019
Taking My Thoughts to Inquiry...
Nick Stephens, PGA
October 15, 2019
November 19, 2019
Bacon Strips...
Specific...
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Past Newsletters, Enjoy!
Shotgun blast, bacon strips and “the box”; what am I talking about? These three names are used to categorize the way people practice on the practice range. If you are lucky enough to take a divot when you practice, you probably fall into one of these three categories. "Shotgun Blast" person is the most common user of the range. If he or she sees a nice tuft of grass, you put your ball on it. When you are done, it was a nice tuft of grass and now you are looking for a new one. When you are done with your session, you generally have left 100 random holes in a very large area, it looks like the pellet damage of a shotgun blast. "Box Man" is totally different. Box man spent too much time at a PGA Tour practice range. Box man takes a divot, puts next ball on back of divot, takes another. After he has moved a foot back, he moves to the left and begins again. He repeats over and over and eventually he has removed a small patch of grass that is shaped like a box. Super nice of him, he has left grass for the rest of us. "Bacon Strip" man is like Box man. He works off the back of the preceding divot, but when he starts over at the front, he leaves a cut of grass between each of his bacon strips. Who’s right? It’s Bacon Strip Man. While Box Man seems like the right answer because he has damaged the smallest area, he has actually done the most damage. Grass will regenerate quickly over the bacon strips as it has the ability to grow in from both sides. You could say the same about Shotgun Blast, but damaging such a huge area is just rude to the next guy. Four weeks after Box Man was there, we will still know Box Man was there. His hole cannot regenerate, he literally stripped all the sod. This Fall, experiment making bacon strips. It's the right way to practice, and our superintendent Hank will love you!
Which Way Should Golf Go?