Posted March 22nd, 2011 @ 10:43pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Wow, what a day.
We learned a fair amount of "stuff" in the morning session, a bit of which I already knew and a bit of which was totally new to me, but the afternoon sessions on the course were incredible.
Special thanks to Double-T for showing how to play while using AimPoint on the really long putts - a little mix of traditional greens reading blended with a whole lot of AimPoint.
It's clear to me now that the thing with which I'll struggle most, early on, is identifying the percent slope of the greens. This will be especially important to remember when I begin teaching AimPoint, as we've all been assured that we'll start to become really good at this.
General rule of thumb: at eight feet (because 8 feet is 96 inches), the inches above or below is the slope because 96 is close enough to 100 to approximate pretty well. A golf ball is 1.68 inches. And most greens except the really, really flat ones are 2%.
My group stayed on the golf course until 7:15pm, an hour or so after the other groups had gone in. The weather was nicer, but it gets cold in Las Vegas really, really fast when the sun goes down.
Posted March 21st, 2011 @ 08:33pm by Erik J. Barzeski
After spending three days in San Antonio, Dave and I boarded a flight at 2:30am local time (Las Vegas) and arrived just in time to wait for an hour at the Dollar car rental booth. 😉
Then it was off, past the strip, to TPC Summerlin to attend the first of three days of AimPoint training.
AimPoint is a system for reading greens. It's based on simple physics that govern how a ball actually rolls along a putting green. It asks that players estimate slope, find the straight putt (a putt aimed straight at the hole, not necessarily a putt with no break), and understand some simple geometry to correctly place themselves on the green.
The weather today was absolutely brutal - 50 with a chilly spitting rain that was often 30 MPH or more. It felt like it was below freezing. Dave and I visited the Adidas outlet to stock up on some more warm weather clothing.
As lousy as the weather was, the information was great. Quite frankly a lot of it hasn't sunk in yet, but we have two more days of training and I'm confident we'll be packed full of knowledge by Wednesday afternoon.
Posted March 20th, 2011 @ 10:26am by Erik J. Barzeski
Awesome changes. First time implementing our subtle change to the driver pattern (hit up on the ball, play a baby fade) and great work from all involved.
Once again, the closing short game section is well received and though it doesn't top the full swing stuff, its simplicity and ease of application makes it an incredibly valuable addition to the schools.
We'll look to teach some short game schools specifically later this year.
Posted March 19th, 2011 @ 10:23pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Can't say much more than "another awesome day of students getting great information and getting a lot better at golf."
One golfer has yet to play golf on a course because he doesn't feel he's ready. The first fundamental he had to get down pat? Hitting the ball first, and then the ground.
He's got that now and will be just fine on the golf course when he chooses to venture forth.
More tomorrow.
P.S. The real treat is getting to spend some time with folks afterwards at dinner. Thanks to Sean, RC, and the others who went to lunch with us and shared a beer, a story, and a laugh.
Posted March 18th, 2011 @ 08:34pm by Erik J. Barzeski
And with this little adventure, Crowne Plaza goes on the shit list.
We booked and paid for tickets through Priceline for a Crowne Plaza in San Antonio, TX. Our flight arrived on time at midnight, and we arrived at the hotel at 1am. "Did you call ahead for late arrival, sir?" "No." "I'm sorry, we've booked your room to someone else and we have no other available rooms." "But the room is pre-paid. It should be empty." "Sir, maybe you shouldn't have used Priceline."
That doesn't cut it. We ended up sleeping in our car. For three hours. Then we showered at the club.
Not a day goes by, however, when five or six people don't ask whether the app is an iPad app.
It's not at all confusing to me, of course, but a lot of people think that the iPhone runs the iPhone OS, and the iPad and all "Macs" run the same OS. There's a disconnect there - they see the size of the iPad and think "computer" and not "phone." The OS, despite looking essentially exactly the same as the iPhone/iPod Touch, is not considered.
Posted March 8th, 2011 @ 02:22pm by Erik J. Barzeski
This sign hangs in our local Smokey Bones restaurant.
I think it's rude. It's condescending and, well, rude.
The same night, the waitress forgot to put Carey's order in. I was halfway done with my meal before she got her Buffalo chicken fingers.
Now, obviously she wasn't going to flip out over something like this, but "get over it"? That's just rude. Customers - CUSTOMERS - have every right to get mildly bothered by a server forgetting something. It's part of their job.
Imagine you telling your boss to "get over it" when you fail to do something that's part of your job.
This sign, by the way, bothers me a lot more than any time a server forgot anything. It's representative of a poor attitude.
P.S. We still tipped ~20% of the original cost (pre-coupons). The post title is not indicative of our actions.
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