Thanks Twomasters… noted…
I went there today… the course is so beautiful… one of my motivation to get official handicap… and hopefully could play there in the future…
as for the footnote… I hope you could comeback with a surprise again… let me know if you are going to compete in Melbourne…
My happiest time with golf was playing/practicing growing up. Most of the time it was just me, myself and the course. They are the good memories and really taught me how to play. No outside influence from anyone. No nothing. Me my clubs a ball and the course.
That’s when golf was golf and you just played. It was a game.
And that’s how I viewed golf for a long time. A game.
Once I moved to America in '95 it became more of a grind than I imagined. The money, the coaching, the travel, the golf channel, the golf mags, the companies giving you a million clubs to try out, etc etc…
Golf-Golf-Golf…It all became too much of a business and all I ever started hearing was you don’t practice enough, you need to see such and such, do this- do that
It was all bullshit- I never played golf for money. I played it because I loved it.
then along comes everyone telling me how they think I should be running my life… Little enjoyment after that. Made some money and all that got taken by the same people- so all I was left with was a WTF happened to my golf.
I liked to go out and have a quiet beer. I didn’t want to grind in the gym. I didn’t want to beat balls all day. I hated practice rounds because they started taking 6 hours-, the travel around was no fun in and out of airports and home for one day and then gone again.
The USPGA Tour lets people enter up to 5 days before an event. So I would make my plans to go to an event and then 25 players would enter on the friday before and on monday when the office opened again I would find out I was now 20th alternate for the event. So all my travel money and plans were down the tube.
So I would then not make travel arrangements until the very last minute so I knew I would definitely be in the event, and that cost double the price for airfares- and the better hotels were then booked up etc etc…THAT’S WHEN I LOST MY LOVE OF GOLF and it became too much business and not enough pleasure.
That’s also why you find many players who get their PGA card lose it again straight away. The Tour is geared to looking after the top 125 and everyone else can screw themselves especially with the way entries are handled
One year 1997 I had my US PGA card. I wasn’t getting into any of the early events as they were shorter fields so as I had come from the qualifying school my ranking wasn’t high enough to get in them. I lived in Orlando, Florida. At 5pm on wednesday the PGA called me and said 7 people had pulled out of The Nissan Open and I was in the event now. The Nissan is in Los Angeles! So at 7.15pm a couple of hours later I was on a cross country flight that cost me a fortune- being a last minute booking.
I got to a hotel room in LA at around 11.30pm that night (2.30am for me on east std time)…When the draw is made and someone withdraws you take their spot in the draw sheet. I lucked out by taking Lanny Wadkins place- the lucky tee off time …7.21am !! So after about 3 hours sleep, I managed to get a courtesy car to the course. Then I had to try and find a caddie. Then I had to go play the 1st round of The Nissan Open at Riviera CC… BLIND without a practice round or so much as a look !! Somehow I shot 73 that day and the same the next day- but missed the cut and wasted close to $3000 even attempting to do such a thing.
A month later as the Florida swing was starting I knew I wouldn’t get in any of those events as they again were smaller fields plus that was when the Norman’s Floyds, Price’s etc started their season so even less spots in each event would be available. I actually was exempt in Europe in 1997 having finished inside their Order of Merit top 115 for the 1996 season. I had won my card at US Q-school but decided I would go to Europe during those Florida events, so I could at least play and know I would be in the event 100 % for sure.
So off I went. I flew to London then down to Morocco. I played the Moroccan Open and then was getting ready to head to Portugal and I received a message from the US Tour saying I was now in The Honda Classic that upcoming week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as 30 people had withdrawn. I COULD NOT compete in Portugal as Europe was not my home tour, and that I had to withdraw from Portugal and come back and play the Honda Classic or not play at all that week!!! Make your own summation of how things are organized and why the enjoyment factor went out the window. So I had to cough up $$$ to change my ticket to head back to Florida. To get to Fort Lauderdale on wednesday night completely jet lagged and play a course unseen again. Don’t really need to tell how that week panned out either.
Had a good bitch session there- but I bet no-one knew half that stuff and how the system works and how much political crap goes on. All I wanted to do was play golf and have fun…like when I was younger and it was a game
Pippolo,
I played in Milan and Florence and near Pisa.
I would have to try and dig out some old notebooks to tell you the names of the courses. Can’t remember off the top of my head. I think one was Ugilino. Another was near Monza race track or the test track for Ferrari
I really liked visiting Italy and the history of all the different places. Milan was great downtown with all the shopping and buildings. Florence the same for that Ponte vecchio(spelling?) area and markets. Very cool. I loved stuff like that and tried to see some amazing things when I travelled that I had only heard or read about.
Yes, yes, right spelling! I love that part of Italy in Tuscany, just hill after hill, great wine, food and stunning women 
I am actually from Turin, which is about 120 kms from Milan going towards France. The region is called Piedmont and today there are 5 of the 10 best courses in Italy there. Pity I haven’t seen one yet LOL
Your post above life on Tour and the way it’s handled is very different from what you perceive from the TV or the golf magazines. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I have to agree with Pip that your story about what life on tour can be like for those not in the 125 makes hard reading.
You kind of think that everyone is makong millions but I guess that every week there are 50 or 60 guys heading hime with nothing to show for their efforts.
I guess thats why winning an event and getting a two year exemption is such a big deal.
Many aspiring tour pros should be taught about this other side of the fence before they go chasing the dream.
joniindo,
I just looked at the scores and flicked up Tiger’s scorecard- 3 under through 12 holes—However
The scorecard is NOTHING like the normal Kingston Heath layout- 1st a par 5? - must be the normal 7th? 8th hole a par 3 must be the normal 5th?.. It all seems out of whack so I have probably given you a big bum steer about the best places to view from!!!
Don’t know why they would turn it all A-backwards but that’s the sure way to wreck a perfectly good course. Just like Royal melb is all out of order and messed with since they altered the routing for The Pres Cup in 98
Yes the 1st is the normal 7th. Sounds to me like they’re in panic mode trying to mold the course to cater for unprecedented levels of spectators. I’m sure it wasn’t to give the players a nice confident start with a birdie.
Two
Reading your tales of being on the bottom of the PGA Tour barrel brought back a lot of late night talks I had with the friend I’d loop for when he came through Knoxville on the Hogan/Nike/Nationwide et al. It is another example of the outside perception versus the reality. He made it through Q-School 3 or 4 times, and played about 8 on the now Nationwide. His tales of lying awake the night before the sixth round sweating bullets are still quite vivid. You miss a cut and pack your trunk, you miss at Q-school and you could be out of work for a year.
His rookie year he talked about, even if you knew you were in the event, getting the dreg, bumpy greens Tee-times, and having to play against guys who had played the course a ton of times compared to your measly few. He’d talk about how you had to get used to the different arrival pace, caused by the bigger crowds. Little things like going back down to the Nationwide with a wife who now knew the Big League perks, and would be really missing the place that gave out free cars, daycare, spa appointments etc etc.
Please keep the how it really is to cruise in your shoes coming. Enjoyable stuff it is.
Flop
This is so hard to believe. Where is the sense of tradition? I felt a bit chafed earlier tonight sitting on the couch as I woke up from an infant-induced Veteran’s Day nap to see on the Golf Channel a very short “Notable Winners/Finishes” list for the Aussie Masters leading off the “Tiger Tour” segment. Given the obvious quality of those names, such as G Norman, Langer, Baddeley, Allenby, etc., I think by the associative property (and as their direct competitor) that any winner, much less a two timer, of such an event would be “notable” enough to get an invite and some recognition.
Oh well. We’re all very fortunate that you’re here sharing what it’s really like with us, Hugo.
Hey Flopshot - was that the Fox Den (?) where you caddied for your friend on the Nationwide? I have a good friend who was a member there and I got to play a few years back. Very nice place.
Iron Byron
I caddied for my buddy once at Fox Den. I think it was his last year playing 2000. Before that it was held at Willow Creek (Public Course across the street) and then Three Ridges ( known by the caddies as 47 ridges). Fox den is a nice course. A little short for the bombers, but tight enough to make them work. One of my best memories was looping in the first event - 1990 I think. One of the threesome for the first two days was Jeff Maggert. I think he was playing in Australia the year before. My buddy said with his simple swing, he was going to do really well. The second day going into the back nine they were both tied at about 2 under. On 12, I think, Maggert duck hooked a drive deep into really thick woods. There was a creek on it’s backside. His ball hit a tree solid about half the way in a kicked back onto the fairway. I left him a long shot which he nutted, and then birdied the hole. He then almost birdied his way in. My buddy had a bunch of lip outs and missed the cut by one. Maggert went on to win the tournament, had a great year and got his PGA card. Another one of those - it sure can spin on a dime moments.
Flop
Iron
Oops used my wife’s log in.
Flop
was thinking today also that a two time winner ought to be getting an invite.
What’s the story there Hugo?
IMG run The Aust Masters. They own it. They promote it. They normally (99% of the time) promote their own players. They in fact gather appearance money for many of their own players to play and then take their cut from the amount!!! How’s that for self embezzlement
When I won in 1998 and tried to come back in 1999 to play as defending champion, I asked for an airfare to come back for the week. I thought as defending champ I should attempt to play even though it would cut a couple of weeks out of my early US PGA season. I knew they paid all their own players to take part, sometimes $25,000 or more so I thought an airfare was very paltry to ask for and not a big deal . I didn’t ask for money, just an airfare to save myself the $$ to come back from America and play - They said NO. They would give me a hotel room for the week -which was bogus because I lived in Melbourne where the event was played and didn’t need accommodation. So I never went back. I thought if you aren’t interested in attempting to get the defending champion back then screw it. I’ll stay and play in the USA and worry about keeping my card there instead.
The event used to be played in February but changed to November/December a few years back when the European Tour stuck their paws into it also and tried to claim it as one of theirs.
I actually never played the event again after my 1998 win until 2004- because i wanted to play the early US events and couldn’t see the point of missing US events and the big picture of keeping my card for the sake of one event. In 2004 it was played in the Nov/Dec time slot so it fit it well for me to come back. And darn it if I didn’t lead until the 72nd hole and drove it into a tiny bush 5 yards off the right side of the fairway and took double to lose by 1 shot!!!
In fact in 1998 when I won with a record 24 under par score- breaking The Shark’s previous record by 5 shots- the head of IMG Australia didn’t even congratulate me , he said “Well looks like we can get Norman back next year to play now that you broke his record”. What a knob
When I won in 1993 I defended my title in 1994 and they didn’t schedule me an interview as defending champion and they also had 12 signs with names of drawcard players along the street outside the Huntingdale course promoting the players and mine was not one of them even as defending champion.
They are into self promotion BIG time and it’s a shame. So you are either with them or against them and now they sold out to the European Tour and made it co-sanctioned they took away the past winner category too, which is why I wasn’t in the event and ended up not even bothering to enter.
I don’t worry about it Styles… Just pointing out how it works and how they think…All the more ammunition to come back with a vengeance with Lag’s guidance and succeed on my terms
Thanks for filling us in mate. The whole thing just doesn’t sit right. I feel aggrieved on your behalf!
Keep working the bag mate, I’m looking forward to seeing you at St Andrew’s next year! - I’ve still got the gig for carrying your bag, right?!!
TM - I was wondering if you could update us on how you feel you’re coming with the Modules and what you’re working on. Back in the summer I asked about whether you were swinging/hitting by Lag’s definition and you replied you were naturally a swinger with the longer stuff, with some hit in the short stuff, but (I think) that hitting seemed to be filtering in with the modules. How has this filtering process gone, and do you feel your old naturaly swing dynamics are coming back, or do you feel like you’re developing an entirely new transmission?
I feel I have had lightbulbs understanding-wise all the time (although not sure my swing shows it yet, but it’s coming!), and I see/sense everything in myself and other golfers in a different light, particularly watching swings on the GC latenight. But I’m obviously coming from a very different place having had limited instruction and limited playing experiences. Do you feel you have new lightbulbs or has it been just a reawakening process?
Cheese,
I have done a decent amount of work on the modules. Not anywhere near as much as the reps numbers some of you guys are posting however!! I still work on module 1 and module 3 the most. That’s my majority of my work. I will sometimes use a ‘lag board’ and incorporate all 3 modules into one swing, especially if I am down the range hitting a few.
Lag taught me to do a lot of observation when I do hit balls… and then use the modules to fine tune what needs to be worked on.
I have done module 4, module 5 and module 6 is sensational for you all once you get to that stage. Big eye opener
I feel I am working more towards Lag hitter protocol- even though I have always been more of a switter with the longer clubs throughout my career. The module work is tightening the screws to becoming a more consistent golfer again.
The HUGE thing I notice is that by doing module work the game becomes easier for me. I can not hit a ball for weeks and then just stand up on the range or when I show a student during a lesson a swing and what I am getting at- and- VOILA- I flush it perfect… so that tells you just how much this system helps your game. The modules replace hours of range work. The bag resistance trains the muscles. The correct muscles get involved. The swing naturally occurs with less effort or brainwork. Very basic easy stuff that brings results
Are you planning to play many events next year Hugo?
TM,
I found as I read your explanation of how IMG handles the Australian Masters… I found myself getting a little peeved. That’s a terrible way to handle ‘people’ and it’s one of those things that just reminds how money driven a lot of this is. I can only fathom how much Tiger is played just to appear. I wonder if he charged IMG extra for that picture in his backswing yesterday?
The funny thing is when it comes to a defending champion, unless the guy poops the bed… it’s instant ‘drama’. It makes for good T.V. just to have the guy back. Too bad.
I look forward to the day when you can show up on your terms, with your experiences and confidence and with trophy in one hand… stare at the camera and flip the bird at IMG. (Okay, I know you wouldn’t do that… but it would be tempting… no?)
Seriously though, back to the swing, I find it interesting that you mention ‘switting’ for longer clubs. Recently I regained something I lost during the last 3rd of the season. I was using my arms way too much because I wanted/needed more distance. I found although I could swing much harder, I lost accuracy. A significant loss to be honest.
In the past while, I regained my ‘better’ form that had me scoring much better, but again, I measured out that I had lost club head speed again in the driver (but the accuracy is night and day for me). I actually stood there at the range and wondered… what if I developed a ‘swit’ style for the driver, and just ‘hit’ every other club in the bag.
And here you are mentioning that very same idea. Is this something you’re comfortable with? Lag shows us some very strict protocol. You know from Module 4, arm release is a big no-no. So how do you see that working into your bag competitively? If you work lots on module 3, you must be making a real attempt at hitting, but does this mean you’ll still be a ‘switter’ in your long clubs?
Two
Congratulations on winning a tournament twice that Tiger’s only won once!
Flop