Life has been an absolute whirlwind for me personally the last two weeks. Within the last two weeks, my parents moved out of the house that raised me, my wife’s car bit the dust, our AC farted out during the hottest week of the year and our lawnmower was in need of a repair. During that time, I was unable to write these Weekly Previews and not able to play a lot of golf so lets hope the remainder of this summer goes smoothly for both my golf game and you, the reader. We are going back to Murfield Village for the Memorial Tournament and from all reports, it seems the course is great condition given it hosted the Workday Charity Open last week. Our hats are off to you greens crew! So let’s dive into this weeks Memorial.
The Tournament:
The Memorial was founded in 1976 and by the Golden Bear himself. Ever since then, Jack has been hosting this event, bringing the PGA Tour to central Ohio. This event is one of five invitational events recognized by the PGA Tour and is iconically known for the legendary milkshakes you can get in the club house. Tom Lehman has the lowest tournament score recorded (-20) and the previous 5 winners are as follows; Patrick Cantlay, Bryson, Dufner, William McGirt and David Lingmerth.
The Course:
Murfield Golf Village was started in 1974 and designed by the Golden Bear himself. Located in Dublin, Ohio, Nicklaus wanted to design an elite golf course with the intention of hosting a tournament around his old stomping grounds, Columbus, Ohio. The course tips out at 7,392 yards and is a Par 72 (76.9/153).
The Field:
Patrick Cantlay is back to defend his title at the Memorial where last year he put on a short game and ball striking clinic. Speaking of a ball sticking Clinic, did anyone see Colin Morikawa last week? The dude looks like a robot out there with the way that he hits the ball. Given last weeks success and the Memorial being at the same course, it should be no shocker that Morikawa is 2nd in this weeks PGA Tour power ranking. The only person the be ranked higher then him? If you guessed Bryson, you would be correct. It turns out Hitting 350 yard drives straight translates everywhere, even at the demanding Murfield Village. Also featured in this power ranking is Webb Simpson and World Number 1 Rory McIlroy who could lose that title to Simpson this week if Webb wins and Rory finishes outside of the top 15. Sadly we have also made it this far into the post and not mentioned the return on Tiger, the five time winner at the Memorial. Tiger Woods will be making his post Covid19 debut this weekend which I am sure will be weird for him. He hasn’t played in a long time and I bet he can’t even remember the last time he played in front of no fans.
My personal pick is Rory McIlroy. It isn’t a sexy pick but this guy is rock solid week in and week out and I feel that he is due for one of his “elite Rory performances”. My under the radar pick is Matthew Wolff. I just have a gut feeling about this combustible guys this week!
Is it just me or should the Rocket Mortgage Classic take place in Houston instead of Detroit, Michigan? We have NASA and the NBA Franchise, the Houston Rockets, I just think it could be marketed to a whole new level. Alas, this is just a dream and this week, the PGA is heading to the Motor City with a beautifully manufactured field. Here is a quick preview for the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The Tournament:
The Rocket Mortgage Classic was first staged in 2019 making it one of the newest stops on the PGA Tour. This event is apart of the Open Qualifying Series which meant that it gave two non-exempt players a spot in The Open Championship. However, due to Covid-19, there is no Open Championships this year. Since the tournament is only a year old, the past winner is only Nate Lashley who led wire-to-wire. Lashley was so dominate that he was 6 shots clear of the field when all was said and done.
The Course:
Detroit Golf Club was established in 1899 and was designed by Donald Ross. This 36 holes complex is located on the north side of Detroit and architecturally has shared tee boxes making for a fun routing. The scoring average last year was almost 2 strokes below par (70.11). With no modifications and a temperate weather forecast, it is safe to assume that the scoring average will only improve from last year. The course will be a composite course (a combination of the North and South course) that is roughly 7,300 yards.
The Field:
eing the first event back, the field for this event is uncharacteristically deep with talent and numerous in entrants. The large PGA Tour field trend continues as 156 players will be slugging it out. The PGA Tour Power Rankings have Tyrrell Hatton as the favorite with high hopes for other players such as Webb who is coming off a win two weeks ago, Beefy Bryson and Captain America, Patrick Reed (can we really call him Captain America anymore?).
My personal pick is Bryson. Since the return of the tour, there has been no one better then him from week to week. What is even scarier about that, is that it doesn’t even seem like he is playing that well with all things considered. When it doubt, bet it on the guy that can hit over 330 yards. Someone that I am looking forward to watching this week is James Nicholas. A football playing Yale graduate turned golfer is in the field on a sponsors exemption. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about his story and following him on social media the last couple of months. Good luck to James Nicholas!
Quick Hits:
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Wow that was fun! We had live sports back and more importantly, it was golf! As someone who really loves putting, it was a tough watch as both Xander and Morikawa missed putts inside of 4 feet on the 17th green. Xander missed in the final round and perhaps more painfully, Morikawa missed in a playoff. However the fact that it was the same hole made me think of that famous Happy Gilmore quote, “DAMN IT! IS THAT HOLE (GOAL) REGULATION SIZE OR WHAT?!?” Regardless, we must tip our hat to Daniel Berger, your Colonial 2020 Champion. Now, onward to South Carolina for a fun course and another loaded field due to Covid-19. Welcome to the 2020 RBC Heritage Classic.
The Tournament:
The RBC Heritage (Heritage Classic) was founded in 1969 and is typically known for following The Masters in mid-April. However, in a Covid-19 world, PGA Tour Events have shifted to accommodate sponsors and maintain the safety of players. The inaugural champion was a 46 year old Arnold Palmer, which I feel is so fitting. This course is short (good for a 46 year old man) and rewards good ball striking (something Palmer was good at until the day he died, R.I.P.). David Love III has the most wins at this event all time with 5 victories. The previous 5 winners are as follows; Pan Cheng-tsung, Satoshi Kodaira, Wesley Bryan, Brandan Grace and Jim Furyk who won his second Heritage Classic in 2015.
The Course:
Harbour Town Golf Links was opened in 1967 as a place to test the world’s best players. With Help from Jack Nickolas, Pete Dye designed this course to be short and benefit the player that hits all of the correct shots and could control their golf ball. This is done by having tiny greens that are on average 3,700 sqft. The modern day course tips out at 7,099 yards and is a Par 71 (75.6/148).
The Field:
Similar to last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the field for this event is uncharacteristically deep with talent and numerous in entrants. There are 153 players which includes 12 additional spots added by the tour as well as nine automatic qualifiers who are granted entry regardless of the current field size. The PGA Tour Power Rankings have the beefy Bryson DeChambeau who finished 3rd last week. DeChambeau showed that all his bulking up was not in vein as he over powered Colonial with his driver but failed to capitalize on the greens. Can his putter get hot this week and help him take home the victory? Other players high on the Power Ranking are Xander, Webb Simpson (Surprising after a missed cut last week) and Ian Poulter who has played the Heritage surprising well in his career.
My personal pick is Rory McIlroy. He hasn’t played this course since 2009 but he strikes the ball so well that he will be in contention. It will just be a matter of how many putts he is able to make. I also like Matthew Wolff this week. With a bad showing at the Taylormade Driving Relief Challenge and the successes of Collin Morikawa and his fellow OSU Cowboy, Viktor Hovland, Wolff has silently become the forgotten man. Don’t sleep on this young gun.
Quick Hits:
Morikawa is on pace for the seventh-best Strokes Gained: Approach season in ShotLink history:
I am not sure what is crazier, How good Morikawa has been as a Rookie or how dominate Tiger Woods is? How will Morikawa fair this week at the RBC Heritage?
Players who hit the highest percentage of their tee shots 320+ this season:
Despite both missing the cut, Rahm and Webb still are held in high regard at Vegas. Do you think these two guys can bounce back this week?
If you liked what you read, please consider subscribing to the blog and sharing with a friend. It helps me out a lot and help grow the community of golfers that read this blog. Follow me on twitter, tiktok and instagram (@aspoiledwalk) and check out my Twitter Thursday morning where I will post my weekly Draft Kings team. Last week was a bad beat for the Draft Kings Team. 2 players missed the cut on my team and who would have thought one of them would be Webb Simpson?!?! Check out my new team this Thursday.
It has been almost 3 months since the last time there was a PGA event played. Due to the Covid19 Global pandemic, sports leagues around the world were cancelled and sports fans everywhere were left with a void in their lives. Fear no more, the PGA Tour will be joining the Korean Baseball League and the Bundesliga German Soccer league as the first sports leagues to return. The first tournament back from this hiatus is going to be a fanless Charles Schwab Challenge. Here is a quick preview for the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge.
The Tournament:
The Charles Schwab Challenge (Colonial National Invitational) was founded in 1946 and has undergone numerous sponsor changes over the years. The iconic “trophy” for this tournament is a plaid jacket which I can only imagine is an Augusta Mockery at best. In addition to plaid jackets, this tournament’s unofficial mascot is the revered Ben Hogan, who was a Fort Worth resident. Hogan also has the most wins at this event all time with 5 victories. The previous 5 winners are as follows; Kevin Na, Justin Rose, Kevin Kisner, Jordan Spieth and Chris Kirk.
The Course:
Colonial Country Club was started in 1936 with the premise of bringing bent grass greens to Fort Worth. The original course was designed by Perry Maxwell in partnership with John Bredemus and is located on the Trinity River. The modern day course tips out at 7,209 yards and is a Par 70 (75.1/138).
The Field:
Being the first event back, the field for this event is uncharacteristically deep with talent and numerous in entrants. There are 148 players this week to make up for lack of events and includes four players who are “grandfathered” in as past championships, Keith Clearwater, Tom Lehman (Ski U Mah), David Frost and Olin Browne. The PGA Tour Power Rankings have Jon Rahm as the favorite with high hopes for other players such as Rory, Matt Kuchar and defending champ Kevin Na. See the complete list here.
My personal pick is Sungjae Im. It isn’t a sexy pick but this guy was rock solid week in and week out prior to the PGA Tour break. My under the radar pick is Sebastian Munoz, a KFT graduate the unfairly gets lost in the shadows of rookies stars Viktor Hovland and Matthew WolfF.
Quick Hits:
A friendly reminder that Jon Rahm has finished 1st or 2nd in seven of his last 18 worldwide starts…
Can Jordan Spieth get his career back on the right track? He has been in a two year slump and maybe coming home can rekindle his career.
Colonial Field- 7 of top 10 in OWGR 21 of top 30 37 of top 50 Best field at Colonial I’ve ever seen. Top 20 note- Rory, JT, Lowry never played before. Brooks 1 event(2nd-2018) DJ 2 events, last in 2014 Woodland 1 event – 2012
— Arron Oberholser (@ArronOberholser) June 5, 2020
Remember what I said about the strength of field? Sheesh this is looking tough!
Featured groupings for the first and second rounds of the Charles Schwab Challenge (Thursday, Friday on Golf Channel, PGA TOUR LIVE):
McIlroy Rahm Koepka
Fowler Spieth Thomas
DeChambeau D. Johnson Rose
Mickelson Na Woodland
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) June 7, 2020
Someone give the Marketing Department at the PGA a raise. Look at these groups!!
Hope that you guys enjoyed this quick little hit list of the who, what, and where of this upcoming PGA Tour event. I hope to continue this format to give golf fans a palatable and brief preview of the tournament so they are not completely blind going into it. Let me know if there is anything else you would like me to include in these previews. If you liked what you read, please consider subscribing to the blog and sharing with a friend. It helps me out a lot and help grow the community of golfers that read this blog. Follow me on twitter, tiktok and instagram (@aspoiledwalk) and check out my Twitter Thursday morning where I will post my weekly Draft Kings team.
As unfortunate as it is to write, the game of golf is dying. Sure the diehards are stronger than ever but the casual fan is more elusive than ever. This is made evidently clear by shrinking PGA Tour viewership and the elimination of golf courses. One area where this is very clear is the southeast metro area of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
The southeast metro area comprises cities such as Eagan, Rosemount, Apple Valley, West St. Paul, South St. Paul, Mendota Heights, Inver Grove Heights, and Burnsville. Between all of these cities, there is a mix of diversity of people and jobs but overall, this area has lots of money. Lots of money is a good thing if you are a private club, of which there are plenty in and around this area. Courses such as Mendakota CC, Somerset CC, Town & Country, Southview and Bracketts all offer superior quality of golf and better golf course design (for the most part) than the surrounding public courses. All of these Private courses “steal” the monetary potential from all of the areas Public courses. Just within the last ten years there have been numerous public courses that have folded such as Thompson Oaks, Brockway GC, Carriage Hills GC, and Parkview GC just to name a few. These places are not just losses to the golfing community but also to the community as a whole. These were public green spaces rich in wildlife, collecting rain water and adding value to the surrounding residential properties.
Despite the elimination of these courses, there still are quality courses in the area and I hope to cover those courses in future blog posts. However, like most public course tramps, I have scoured the Southeast Metro for the perfect course. In a course, I want the perfect marriage of quality maintenance, playable greens, course strategy, affordable rates and all the while giving me a challenge. The topic of the best course given these attributes is for a different blog rather in this post, I would like to highlight what I think is a hidden gem in the Twin Cities Metro area. That course is The Silver Course at Emerald Greens.
Emerald Greens is a public 36 hole golf course located just outside of Hastings on MN-55. From Downtown St. Paul, the drive is roughly 20 minutes which is about the time that it could take to drive across town to Minneapolis during rush hour. All that to say, do not let the distance to Hastings scare you away. In addition to the 36 holes, Emerald Greens has a driving range, putting and chipping area (bunker included) as well as some practice holes used for lessons. The Gold Course is a Par 72 that tips out at 6585 (71.6/127) and the Silver Course, which we will spend the remainder of the post on, is a Par 72 that tips out at 7163 (74.2/134).
The Emerald Greens property has what I would consider two portions of the property and for the most part is divided by the road to the clubhouse. The North side of the road is flat and has bland natural topography. The South side of the road is the fun half that features land movement and topography that make for fun and interesting golf. Unfortunately there isn’t one course that is all on the south side, it is shared by both the Gold and the Silver course. My assumption for this land difference is that Emerald Greens used to be a farm and was later bought and converted to a golf course. That would explain the flat areas on the north side and the calm, rolling hills that create slants and difficult angles on the south side.
The Silver course starts out with a very straight forward first hole and quickly moves to Holes 2 and 3. These two holes are fairly difficult holes using the terrain on the south side of the land to create angles and interest in the golf course. The remaining Front Nine is fairly monotonous as it takes place on the north side and has fairly little to entertain. However, If you are not careful, there are a few holes such as the Island Green Par 3 6th and long Par 4 8th that will spring up and could ruin your round. I would be remiss if I did not restate, the front nine of the silver course is certainly nothing to write home about because of its lack of land movement and generally small green complexes. After trudging through the remainder of the front nine, you stay on the North Side of the road for holes 10-12. Hole 13 is when you cross the road and enter a phenomenal final 6 holes. All of the final 6 holes invoke strategy and take advantage of the sloping ground by routing up, down and even across the grade.
Two holes that I want to highlight are holes 16 and 17. They are back to back Par 5’s (Zac Blair approved) and they each have very different personalities. Hole 16 is a 632 Yard Par 5 that faces the western prevailing wind in Minnesota. All of this to say, this hole is a monster dog leg right and plays all of the listed 632 yards and then some. One way to make this behemoth of a hole shorter is to cut the dogleg on your second shot. The uphill second shot has two options. Either you play down the fairway and have 150 yards into the green or you try to go over some trees and uphill to be inside of 100 yards. While leaving yourself with 100 yards sounds like an ideal line, this path introduces a sizable risk. The risk is not pulling off the shot and either not getting the carry you needed or clipping a tree. Anything short leaves you in absolute jail. With no visual of the hole, you now have met the threat of a double bogey tarnishing your score in the final 3 holes. Will you take the risk?
The long dogleg right Par 5 16th hole shown left with the rolling fairway of the Par 5 17th coming back. This duo of holes has got to be one of the stronger pair in the Minnesota Public Golf Scene.
The second Par 5 17th Hole is uphill and side hill for the majority of the hole. The fairway has two large (and I mean large) hills that slope from left to right. With the addition of a slight dogleg left, the hills add even more strategy to the hole. If you get to the second mound on the left side of the fairway, you will find yourself elevated and able to realistically try for the green in 2. If you miss right or your ball takes the slope, you will find your ball at the bottom of one of the hills and be forced to lay up. This is because the hole is much longer from the right side as well as that side of the fairway leaves you completely blind to the green. The 16th and 17th Hole on the Silver Course at Emerald Greens is a duo good as any you’d find in the Minnesota Public Golf Scene.
The Par 5 17th hole features two large mounds in the fairway. These mounds add strategy and visual appeal to a fantastic last 6 holes at Emerald Greens.
In addition to a great closing 6 holes, the Silver course maintenance is as good of quality if not better than most public courses in the city. The rough is a little squirrely and the tee boxes are a little unpolished but the greens, as tiny as some may be, roll pure which is what matters the most. There are a few greens that are trashed by numerous ball marks but unfortunately, it is tough to find an affordable public course where that isn’t the case.
With all of these positive attributes, it is safe to assume that Emerald Greens is near 50 dollars if not more on the weekends. With a cart, you aren’t far off as it would cost $54 to ride and $40 to walk which honestly is not bad compared to other places in the cities. However, Emerald Greens knows that they are out of the way and they offer numerous deals that make this place even better. The past two weekends, my go-to golf partner and I have each played Saturday Morning before 8 AM for $27 walking. What place offers $27 dollars on the weekend?! They also offer discounted rates starting at 4pm all the way until their $14 twilight starts at 6 pm. The beauty of participating in Twilight golf at Emerald Greens is that there are 36 holes. That means that there is space to spread out and tee it up not having to worry about being held up by other players.
The 16th Green on the Silver Course at Emerald Greens.
Emerald Greens is a bright spot in the ever diminishing public golf scene of the southeast Twin Cities area. While it is obstructed by other top notch courses including the recently turned public Hastings Golf Club, it is one of the best bargains in the state. On a Saturday morning, you can play a well maintained golf course that provides plenty of challenge, has an architecturally intriguing finishing stretch and costs under $30. So next time your buddies are looking for an affordable round of golf, try giving the Silver Course at Emerald Greens a try. I hope you are as pleasantly surprised as I was.
If you enjoyed what you read, please consider subscribing to the blog and help grow the community of A Good Walk Spoiled. I am active on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok (@aspoiledwalk) and would love connect with you guys about Emerald Greens or any other public golf course that you think I should check out. I am always looking forward to talk golf. Until next time.
(Edit: Emerald Greens failed to respond to a request for an interview)
As a result of what is happening in my home state of Minnesota, it seems disingenuous to talk about Golf or honestly anything other than the racism that is permeating our country. On May 25th, 2020 George Floyd, a black man, was murdered by a police officer on video for the world to see. Floyd, was arrested for suspicion of forgery, put into handcuffs and for reasons we do not understand, thrown on the ground where former Officer Chauvin forcefully planted his knee down on Floyd’s neck. The 8 minute long video shows Chauvin choking Floyd (who is in handcuffs and already detained by police) who pleads “I can’t breathe” and bystanders who are trying to intervene. Due to police interference, the bystanders are helpless and watch as Floyd’s pleads fade into unconsciousness and eventually his death.
This horrible atrocity represents a lot that is wrong in America when it comes to handling issues of race and treating people of color differently in America. The many facets of this include police discrimination, discrimination of jobs, discrimination of jail sentenances and so much more. While Golf is not as important as those topics, golf is in fact an avenue in which racism moves in America. So I want to talk about the uncomfortable situation that race plays in golf today. Before we get started, this is just a blog post to curate some facts about this issue and inspire conversation to happen. This is by no means a complete comprehensive list of the issues and reasons of why golf is so limited to people of color.
In 2018 at the PGA Championship (Bellerive Golf Course) there were 156 participants playing the event. Of the 156 golfers in the field, only one of them was “not white” and that golfer was Tiger Woods. Obviously this is just one event that we are looking at but if you look at more events in 2018, you will see that usually 1% of any PGA Tour event is people of color. In a tweet from Daniel Rapaport, 3% of recreational golfers are black. That is a staggeringly low number given that there are an estimated 77 million recreational golfers in America.
However, why this disparity exists is no mystery, there are lots of socio-economic reasons and even institutional reasons why it is difficult for people of color to get into golf. In terms of the economic barriers to golf, Harnold Varner III, a black PGA Tour golfer, said it best, “Why would I spend $30 a day to play golf when I can spend 30 bucks a month and go to the ‘Y’ and play basketball? It’s hard to get out on a golf course when you’re a kid with no money.” Money is obviously a big hurdle for getting into golf, it is actually something I have briefly written about on this very blog. It is a sport that requires certain clothing which costs money, money to practice (driving range), expensive equipment (clubs and balls), and even money to play. In America, the average black income is %73 percent of that of the average white income. For simple math, if a white family makes 100,000 then you can expect a black person to make 73,000. However, the average household income for families annually is 55,000 in America and %73 of that is 40,150. That amount of money is not a salary that is conducive to playing golf. If you were to play 1 round a week for 5 months at $30 bucks a round, that equates to about %2 of an black families annual income. In addition to that, there would need to be money for proper clothes required to play some courses as well as the cost of equipment. Spending 3-5% of your income when it is so low to begin with, is not viable for anyone. A brief summary, black people are less likely to make more money in America and therefore less likely to have the resources to golf in America.
Aside from the economic issues that face black people from learning and taking up golf, there is the long history of systematic racism that runs deep in country clubs and golf clubs in America. The first black person to play in the US Open was 1948, the first black person to be on the PGA Tour was 1961 which was allowed when the tour abolished its “Caucasian only” policy, and the first black person to play at the Masters was 1975. This was less than 50 years ago! This culture is still influencing the game to this day. I feel I need to say no more regarding the culture of golf so I will let Tiger Woods wrap up this point.
So what can we do as the golfing community? There are a lot of things that can be done but I will propose 2 points of action. 1. Just love your neighbor, regardless of ethnicity, race or religion. People of color need to know that they are loved and we need to make them feel welcomed and safe. 2. Donate to the First Tee. The First Tee’s mission statement is as follows “To impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character and instill life-enhancing values through the game of golf.” A lot of times for people of color, this is how they are exposed to the game and can set them up for a lifetime of love for golf.
As stated earlier in this post, this is by no means a comprehensive list of issues that plague people of color from playing golf, but it is a conversation starter to help make the golfing community more aware of this issue that we face. While there are larger issues and institutions of which racism exists, the battle cannot be won until all institutions are scrubbed of this hate and golf is no different.
I want to thank Wikipedia, PGA of America, and the IRS for the minor information and quotes that I put into this brief post. An even bigger thanks to my friend Tim for the picture and mural of the late George Floyd. Show him some love on instagram (@twest332). If you liked what you read, please consider subscribing to the blog and following me on social media @aspoiledwalk (Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok). I hope this post has paved the way for conversation, thinking and learning for you and the entire golf community.
There is an old cliche that says “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Despite the cliche, I have found this to be true. A great photograph can invoke emotion, a sense of awe or wonder and can even bring you into the moment captured in that picture. It can take you from your current scenario, mentally kidnap you and bring you back to that moment in history or take you to that beautiful scenic beach. In this time of social distancing and being trapped in our houses, I have caught myself being encompassed by beautiful pictures of destination scenery. In addition to this scenery, I have also been observing more photographs of golf courses. Old pictures that bring back to life experiences I have had or looking at pictures of famous golf courses, longing for the day that I will tee it up in that exact location.
One specific type of photograph that I like of golf courses are drone photos. Drone technology has changed photography as a whole because it now allows photographers to get angles and shots that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. The Drone can now take off to the air and capture breathtaking views. Specifically with golf courses, drones allow the photographer to capture the topography and show aerial shots. Both create better pictures but they also more accurately convey the feel of the hole as well as the strategy.
Because of my love for Drone photography, I have been in the market for one for about 6 months. After saving and researching, I found the drone that I wanted and pulled the trigger. If you follow me on any form of social media, you have most likely seen the pictures and videos that I have been posting. I do not want to focus on
The drone that I bought was the Mavic Mini by DJI. While it is not the fanciest drone on the market, it does meet all of my immediate needs for drone photography. The most important thing for me when buying a drone was the cost. I wanted to get a quality product but it did not need all of the bells and whistles because I was a beginner. With a case, extra batteries and extra protective gear, the Mavic Mini came in under the cost of most other drones on their own. This made it a no brainer for me.
The DJI Mavic Mini is about the size of a cellphone when it is folded up.
Another thing that I was looking for when buying a drone was ease of use. Prior to purchasing the Mavic Mini, I had never flown a drone. Thankfully DJI provides all of the instructions needed right when you open the box providing you with QR Codes, stickers and pamphlets with all the information that you need. This also includes a pilot video in the DJI app which I found very helpful. It is quick, informational and clear in presenting the information. With this video and other resources located in the DJI app, I was confident and able in my abilities before I could even charge the batteries to full capacity.
Currently with the current state of the virus, I am unable to get photos of golf courses but I have not been wasting my time. I have been out flying almost daily practicing my photography skills as well as my Piloting skills. I want to make sure I am able to position the drone appropriately and know where I need to be to get the shots when it comes to shooting golf courses. Unfortunately, who knows when that will be.
The Mavic Mini comes with additional batteries, cords and a case where everything fits nice and neat.
Thanks for reading this article, do any of you have drones? If so, do you have any tips or great resources you would be willing to share? Reach out to me on Twitter, instagram or TikTok (@aspoiledwalk). Admittedly I am probably too old for TikTok but I have found it to be an easy software to edit little drone footage montages. They have all of the editing tools as well as some music loaded in the app, it has been very convenient to work in for these smaller projects. If you liked what you read, I would appreciate it if you shared this article with friends and subscribed to the blog post, it helps me out immensely.
A fun part of golf is all of the style and personal touches that you can add to your bag. In addition to custom fitted clubs tailored to your swing, you can add flair to your set up. You could have a cool bag, a colorful grip, a creative head cover and now with colorful Ferrules .
Ferrules are the black piece of plastic that blends the head of the club into the shaft. They come in all shapes and sizes but if you have your standard, manufactures ferrule, they are most likely black. After finding Boyd Blade & Ferrule Co. on instagram (@bbandfco), I was mesmerized by the possibility of how you could personalize your clubs. They offer a variety of colors and designs to add character to any club in your bag. After having my instagram followers pick which ferrule design to buy, I purchased the ferrules and replaced them myself.
Pictured is my 52 Degree wedge before I swapped out ferrules. As you can see, they are just black and not visually appealing.
In this blog post, I want to go over the procedure that I used to change out my ferrules in hopes to help you guys if you ever want to upgrade your clubs style.
Warning: This is a general How-To blog post, I am not responsible for any injury that you may incur on yourself. Please use proper safety equipment, best practices and common sense to ensure your safety when working in your shop.
You Will Need:
Ferrules (I highly recommend Boyd Blade & Ferrule Co.)
Epoxy
Tip Weights
Drill and ¼” Drill bit
Blow Torch
Pliers
Work Gloves
Safety Glasses (just wear these all the time when you are working in your shop)
Vice
Pictured are a few of my tools. The Blow torch, the vice, and drill that I used.
Optional Supplies:
Nice enjoyable beer
Steely Dan Playlist with
Before you do anything, you need to do some homework about your clubs. Ferrules come in different diameters as do shafts. So figure out what the diameter of your shafts are so you can properly buy the correct size ferrules. In addition, try to figure out what the Swing Weight of your clubs is. If you do not have a scale, you can typically find Manufacture information online regarding what the swing weights are. Once you know what your swing weights are, you know (or at least can get an idea) what Tip Weights you will need. (Tip Weights is a whole blog post in itself and I will cover it no further than I just did).
While wearing safety glasses, put the club into the vice and use the blow torch to heat the heel of your clubs. This is to melt the existing epoxy. Heat the heel a little bit and using a glove (careful it is obviously hot), see if you are able to remove the head. If you are not, repeat until the head slides off of the shaft. Once the head is off, remove the tip weight if there is one. Careful as the head, tip weight and shaft will both be hot.
Clean the components of the club. Using the drill bit, clean out the head of any debris and old remaining epoxy. Do the same if the shaft, removing anything in the shaft. This is also the part where you want to clear the shaft of any blockage, you should be able to look down the shaft and see light coming through. I replaced my ferrules and grips so seeing light was not an issue. If you are changing ferrules and not your grips, you may need to drill in the top of your grip so that you can see light down the length of the shaft. If you see light, that means there is space for air to move and this will help ensure we are able to make a solid connection when we assemble the club. (SEEING LIGHT THROUGH THE SHAFT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT).
Once you have all of the parts cleaned. Mix your epoxy for application. I always mix mine on a disposable piece of cardboard or some other piece of parchment. Apply epoxy to the inside of the ferrule. The epoxy helps lubricate the ferrule so getting it onto the shaft is made easier. Barely get the ferrule onto the shaft and proceed to step 5.
Apply the epoxy on the tip weight and the tip of the shaft. Insert the tip weight into the shaft. Generously coat the inside connection of the head of the golf club. Insert the shaft and tip weight into the hosel of the club. Ensure that the shaft is inserted into the head all of the way. I always push down on the shaft with the head with the grip on the ground. That way, I can use my body weight to help ensure the head is pushed on as far as it will go. Use a towel to wipe up any additional epoxy.
Repeat steps 2 through 5 for as many clubs as you would like.
Let the clubs cure for over 48 hours. The instructions on your epoxy may read shorter but I error on the side of caution. If we do not let the clubs cure long enough, all our hard work will be undone and we will have to do it all over again. Patience is key.
After completing all of these steps, you should be left with beautiful ferrules like this.
There it is, a simple 7 step process to replace the ferrules on your clubs. I hope it was informative and if you have any questions, reach out to me on twitter or instagram (@aspoiledwalk). Also send me your new ferrules if you do replace yours, I would love to see the photos. If you like what you read, please consider subscribing to the blog and sharing this article with your friends. It really helps me out. Until next week!
As everyone is surely aware, we are living in the middle of a global health pandemic. Covid19, a strain of Coronavirus has swept through the world, locking down countries, crippling economies and (at the time of writing this) killed over 120,000 people. It is easy to hear those numbers and think nothing of it but represented in that gigantic number are the individual lives of people. Mothers, Fathers, sons, daughters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and the list goes on and on and on deeply impacting the ones around each of those deaths. Our hearts and prayers go out to anyone impacted by this horrible disease.
Because there isn’t a vaccine for this virus and to prevent overcrowding of hospitals, experts and doctors everywhere have recommended that people start to social distance from each other. This means leaving 6 feet of space around you at all times when out in public. The idea is that if this 6 feet of space is maintained, then the disease cannot spread as easily. To encourage this behavior, governments have been limiting what businesses can be open and how large group gatherings can be. In Minnesota where I live, “all non-essential” businesses are closed and there is an issued shelter-in-place. Non-essential businesses, according to the State of Minnesota, include retail stores, restaurants, some manufacturing jobs, portions of the business world as well as outdoor workers. However recently, the governor of Minnesota has made some revisions to his stay at home order, scheduled to end May 4th. He recently allowed landscapers and other outside employees to go back to work.
This brings me to the topic of this post and something that turns out to be highly debatable. The topic of golfing during a global pandemic. This question was posed by the GOLF.com twitter account this past week and I replied with my genuine thoughts at the time. Little did I know that ensuing replies and messages that would come from it. Below is the pair of tweets that I fired off in reply to the question proposed by GOLF.com.
As a golfer, super torn on this. I sould like to say yes but I can’t help but think it’s for selfish reasons and that I’m disregarding the general safety of the public. I think I’d tend to lean towards the side of public safety. (1/2)
If I could give up a month of golf and have this all go away or golf and have these weird regulations and restrictions on life, I think I’d take the former.
I didn’t think anything about it because I do genuinely feel torn by this very topic. Living in Minnesota, the season is about as short as they come in the United States. I of all people would LOVE to golf right now. However, the nasty realm of the “twitter-sphere” came out in response to these tweets and I was getting replies and DMs calling me “illogical” and accusing me of killing an already dead industry. One response even said that if “Golf Courses can’t be open, then why are grocery stores even open?” That is where I had to bite by tongue (or ummm twitter fingers) and not reply. If someone can’t mentally grasp the difference between golf courses and grocery stores when it comes to survival, it isn’t worth my time to try and reason with that person.
I believe whether or not courses should be open goes far beyond that. There are questions like what would doctors say about the matter, would they want golf courses open? What about the people that are working the course, how can we protect them from this disease? Sure we can make precautions that limit human interaction but you can NOT guarantee that someone will not transmit Covid19 on to another human being. My summarizing thought on these lines of questions is “if it isn’t helping and it isn’t a need, we should not be doing it.”
I love golf as much as the next guy but at the end of the day, golf is just a game. This virus is taking lives away and impacting living lives in severe ways both emotionally, economically and psychologically. People have given up A LOT and I mean A LOT during this battle with the virus. We have nurses risking their lives, doctors quarantining their families to keep them safe, and we have countless American’s without a job, the least I could do in response to these circumstances is put away the clubs for a couple weeks to help fight the virus. So as much as it pains me to say this, the nation should shut down all of its golf courses. To have some courses closed while allowing others to operate is like having a “pee section” in a swimming pool. That is great that you are limiting the areas where you can “pee” but at the end of the day, that metaphorical “pee” is going to infect the whole swimming pool.
My approach to a long par 4 last golfing season. By the punches on the green, you can tell this was taken after Labor Day, the prime maintence weekend in Minnesota.
Again, this is merely an opinion piece and as I write this more golf courses keep opening and last I saw, over 48% of the courses in America are open. That is fine, there is nothing I can do about it but do my part and respect the government of Minnesota who has closed golf courses until May 4th. I am not bitter about this either rather I genuinely praise the way Governor Walz has handled things in Minnesota. He is using the best information he has and exercising his authority to keep his state safe just as good leadership should do.
So again, I want to reiterate, I think all golf courses in the country should be shut down. I believe that anything that isn’t helping and isn’t required for living should be halted or closed immediately. I feel that it is my duty as a citizen to serve the community around me and one way that I can do that right now, is to not golf. Stay healthy, and stay safe out there everyone.
If you liked what you read please subscribe and share this post with a friend, It would greatly support me and help grow this golfing community. Also if you have not already, please consider following me on Twitter and Instagram (@aspoiledwalk). Using those platforms I have been able to interact with a reader or two and it is fun to have discussions about golf, especially in this time where I cannot play any. Thanks for reading and again, stay safe.
This is it, the end of the week of daily posts from me. What started as an exercise in discipline evolved into an exercise in writing skills and rekindling my enthusiasm of golf. At the beginning of this week, I was still in disbelief of what the Covid19 virus had been and is still doing to this day. Postponing a trip planned in July, shortening the already short golf season in Minnesota and taking away family time as well as the lives of loved ones. Despite the situation being terrible, my horrible attitude was making it worse. Writing these blogs made me remove myself from the situation and just focus on something other than my current circumstances, even if it was just for an hour. I am thankful for the mental escape that this blog and golf provided for me.
So while this blog post is extremely short, I just wanted to be real and say thank you to anyone that has been reading this blog. I look forward to the coming weeks when I can write more involved posts and expand upon ideas and topics that interest me in particular. If you have appreciated the posts this week and don’t yet subscribe and follow me on Twitter and Instagram (@aspoiledwalk), it would mean a lot if you did. I want to continue to grow this community and set up some fun events when the time is right.
So stay strong all you quarantined golfers, this will end and when it does, there is golf to be played.
A Good Walk Spoiled 