Hiatus

Hello devoted readers…

Thank you for always sending your encouragement and for all of the interest you have expressed in Ron’s career and in our partnership with golf (and life).  I am writing this blog today to let you all know I will be taking a personal hiatus and will be unable to post further information at this time.  I am not sure if or when the blog will be active again but I encourage each of you to continue your support of Ron’s career.

I want to leave you all with this quote:  “You begin to find the happiness and meaning you are looking for in life when you begin to look for the happiness and meaning you are finding.”

Thank you again for all of your comments, your interest in us, and your encouragement.

~Kim

Follow up comment on my decision to caddie

**This was a comment response I posted as a reply to an inquiry about my inspiration to become a caddie and after posting it as a reply, I decided it might be a good blog***

Well honestly, if it hadn’t been for Ron, I never would have even started to play golf myself, let alone become a caddie.

A few years ago, Ron took me to the driving range with him and as I watched him, I realized then and there that this man had a talent that far surpassed the “average” golfer. Having an athletic background and family members and friends who are/were professional athletes, I have witnessed first hand what people look like when they’ve got that exceptional talent in a sport…and Ron had it!

For the better part of the next year, I worked my butt off trying to convince him to go for his dream, no matter what anybody else said. I started practicing with him, traveling to our friend’s golf course up north, watching golf with him on tv, learning how to read the greens, and becoming a player myself. We spent hours and hours, day after day, working on chipping…flop shots, bump & run shots, roll out shots, back spin…you name it. The more time inspect on the course with him, the more I learned the game, and more importantly, his game.

I will never forget the first time I “officially” caddied for him…he had back to back rounds (36 holes) to take his P.A.T. and while I didn’t have to carry the bag that day, I did have to walk the course (twice) and keep up with him, offer words of encouragement and discuss basic yardage. Back then, I was still in the process of learning his distances with each club, how the weather affected his distance, how to find the drainage angles, how to pay attention to the grass direction, etc. We were actively trying to ‘wean’ off using the sky caddy and measuring distances ourselves.

Over time, I learned to trust my instincts on the course and make recommendations when asked. I had the good fortune of caddying for Ron in the same pairing with Birdie Kim, who was caddying for her brother in a PGA qualifier…and Birdie really taught me some good things about what the golfer’s need from their caddies. From that point on, I took it upon myself to study different aspects of the game, make sure I knew the rules, and I devoted hundreds of hours to watching and practicing with the golfer I believed in.

I’m going to add that it’s funny how many people come out of the woodwork to “help” a PRO golfer…everyone has advice to offer, new tips they feel would be helpful, and I’ve come up against more than my share of people who think a woman can’t possibly learn enough about their players game to be a good caddie (let alone carry that big bag)…some truly are helpful and I certainly see the value of talking shop with other pros…but having the opportunity to work alongside Ron & watch him progress has been a truly rewarding experience!

Is a Caddie Important?

I’ve found it very interesting how many people think the only thing a caddie does is carry around that big heavy tour bag for the player. Tonight’s blog is going to be info about what a caddie does for a golfer…

A caddie is one of the golfer’s most important tools…and while she/he does carry the bag if necessary, there are numerous other functions they perform! I’m going to use the term “she” as I am a female 😉

1. She knows yardage…this includes yardage from tee to green and where bunkers and fairway hazards are.
2. She knows her players game as well as, if not better than, he knows it himself. She has studied his shots, seen his tendencies and knows his strengths and weaknesses.
3. She checks the weather for the scheduled day of the tournament…and takes into account what the weather variations will do to the flight of the ball.
4. She talks to the staff at the course to find out the “secrets”…does everything slope a certain way? Are the greens particularly slow or fast? What is the sand like?
5. She has to keep her player in the right frame of mind. Caddie and golfer have a history together and a caddie can break the tension her golfer may be experiencing with just a few well timed humerous words.
6. The caddie is also there to run interference. This can be crowd control, this can be stopping other players from getting in her golfer’s head, or allowing others to make suggestions during play.
7. Standard pay for a caddie is 10% of the players winnings, although the player may choose to give more for a big win.
8. Caddies practice with their players and travel with them to tournaments. Even though players have a lot of buddies on tour, the reality is every player is ultimately out for themselves and in the end, they know they can count on their caddie.
9. Caddies help read greens with their golfer and instill a level of confidence with shots.
10. Extras I do as a caddie: I clean the grooves in the golf clubs, wipe down the grips and make sure a new golf ball is ready at all times (and clean the grungy one on the green). I pack snacks and drinks to keep Ron’s energy level up during his round. I bring icy cold rags to cool him down during the hot summer nights. I hold the umbrella when it’s raining. On top of all that…yes, when playing in a tournament where no carts are allowed, I carry that big tour bag.

Being a caddy is a very rewarding experience. Sure, you occasionally get blamed for a misread green, and a caddie certainly takes the brunt of the player’s frustration…but the teamwork and trust in the partnership is what makes it an amazing experience!

Quotes about Golf…and Life…

As I contemplate big decisions in my own life, I often peruse quotations online…looking for divine inspiration and hope to find a little sanity in the madness of life.  I thought I’d share some recent pearls of wisdom with you all:

Golf…see how it parallels life:

• If people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they’d starve to death.
• Golf gives you an insight into human nature, your own as well as your opponent’s.
• I’d play every day if I could.  It’s cheaper than a shrink and there are no telephones on my golf cart.
• One of the most fascinating things about golf is how it reflects the cycle of life.  No matter what you shoot – the next day you have to go back to the first tee and begin all over again and make yourself into something.
• Golf isn’t like other sports where you can take a player out if he’s having a bad day.  You have to play the whole game.

Life…see how it parallels golf:

• Remember, we all stumble, every one of us.  That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand.
• Sometimes it is the person closest to us who must travel the furthest distance to be our friend.
• Trouble is part of your life, and if you don’t share it, you don’t give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough.
• Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.
• Take the time to care about others…even if you have nothing personal to gain, you will gain.

 

Life is like a long Par 5…You can’t give up and you’ve gotta follow thru!

Well I tried to post this compilation of thoughts yesterday, and somehow, the majority of the text disappeared.  I’m going to try it again though, because my message is an important one…

Life is Like a Long Par 5…You can’t give up and you’ve gotta follow thru

Let those words resonate with you for a minute…and consider this scenario.  Lets say you’ve been playing a fairly good round of golf and you are now on the long Par 5…and this monster is playing 625 from the tips.  You pull your Driver out of your bag, and as you approach the tee-box, you are already picturing your shot…you know where you want to land it, how hard you are going to swing and you know without a doubt that you are going to extend all the way through the ball.  Its smashed and your follow thru was perfect!  New plans in our lives are a lot like this tee shot.  When we make decisions to embark on a new adventure (this may be a mid-life career change, a new relationship, a fitness program, etc), we have to first look at the big picture.  We know what we want to accomplish and we know we have to take a good hard swing at it…gotta follow thru!

Your tempo was perfect and your tee shot had a great carry, in fact, you hit that drive 360 yards (yes, this is my story and yes, I have given you “tour power” for your drives)…so you are looking at 265 yards in with your 3-Wood, and you have a perfect lie in the middle of the fairway.  You’ve hit this shot hundreds of times…your confidence should be very high…but then there’s that little breeze blowing right to left, and you know you tend to draw the ball, so you’ve re-adjusted your target line and are aiming a little right…just in case you pull it.  Uh oh, did you just think about pulling it?  Is that wind stronger than you originally estimated?  No time to ponder it more, gotta take the shot…whack…uh oh, you blocked it.  Over compensated, tried to play it safe and you’ve landed in the bunker with about 40 yards to go.  Life doesn’t alwaysw happen exactly as we plan.  Sometimes we think we are playing it safe, one foot half in and one foot half out, not fully committed to something and, whack…we land in the bunker.  What is our bunker in daily life?  Well, it could be family members, not believing in us…it could be someone at work, demanding too much of us and not giving us credit…it could be that huge electric bill in the middle of summer that we weren’t expecting and can’t figure out how to pay for.  Whatever it is, we have to stay focused on the task at hand, know we are in charge of our own destiny and follow thru with our original plans!  The second we start to run from our reality, our outlook gets a bit skewed and we end up blocking our efforts (or in the case of this 3-Wood shot, block the ball to the right).

So…here’s the reality.  You are in the bunker and you don’t have a choice other than to get in there and do something about it!  You step into the plush sand and you’ve dug down with your cleats.  You grabbed your 58-degree wedge and are ready to make a great flop shot onto the green.  This can go one of two ways…

Scenario 1…disaster.  Lots of people are watching you, several expect you to fail, a few may even want to see you fail and then there are one or two who believe you can do it!  You take your swing and instead of following thru on the shot, you stop short and the ball chunks about 2 feet ahead of you…still in the sand…but deeply embedded now.  Now what, give up or press on?  Get pissed and throw your club?  Walk off the course cursing yourself and everyone else around you?  Quit?  As with life, obstacles are continually in front of us.  Sometimes the people we have spent a life time relying on and believing in, don’t believe in us…and it’s scary not only to realize that, but to take a ‘swing’ at new plans on our own.  Maybe we try…in the past, we have stopped short and not followed through so not everyone thinks we will succeed…and even worse, some people even want to see our plans fail! 

Scenario 2…empowerment.  The same people are watching…some expecting failure, some wanting failure, and one or two who believe in you.  You see where you want to land the ball, take a confident swing and the ball sails cleanly out of the sand, landing a few yards above the pin and spinning back within 2 feet of the hole.  Deep Breath.  That was a rough shot, one you could have given up on…but instead you knew you had the proper tools to make the shot and you confidently followed thru.  I’ll add that it was really cool to spin the ball out of the sand.  Guess what was going through your mind…only success.  Did the people who looked down on you matter at that moment, no.  Did the person who believed in you even matter at that moment, probably not consciously, but you already had the confidence that you were going to succeed.  Life can be really hard and sometimes it seems like we keep having set back after set back…but when we are in our moments of biggest adversity, those of us who don’t give up are the ones who end up succeeding.

Final shot…you’re putting for birdie on this Par 5!  You’ve checked out this putt from several angles, carefully brushed away any specks of dirt with the back of your hand, lined up your shot, focused on a target point and…tap…you’re in.  625 yard Par 5 and you made it in 4…it sure seemed like a monster hurdle, but guess what, YOU did it!  Life is the same way.  Sometimes things feel like a monster hurdle.  Maybe you are going through a nasty divorce or child custody battle that seems like there is no end in sight…maybe someone who has always been near and dear to your heart has said awful things about you or someone you love, and you feel torn between the loyalty you once felt for that person and the reality of your current life…maybe you decided to open your very own small business and it’s not starting out as lucrative as you had hoped and people are questioning your choices…who knows…the world is full of different lives intersecting at random times.  Sometimes we have to carefully push aside those specks of dirt and focus on our target in order to succeed. 

The moral of this story:  Just when you think things are heading in a direction where you see no positive end in sight, remember that life is what you make of it.  Don’t be a coward…don’t sacrifice your dreams.  Take a chance on life…it truly is like a long Par 5…you can’t give up, and you’ve gotta follow thru! 

Its HOT!

It is really difficult to play golf in the scorching Arizona summer heat…add in the Monsoon weather and our typically “dry” 115 days become thick and wet with humidity.

How does this affect golf?  Well…for starters, it makes the golfer and his caddie want to seek refuge indoors in the air conditioning, lol.  On the course, the humid weather knocks the ball down quite a bit, so distances are hard to measure.  Lets say a 7-iron typically goes 175 yards…well, on a really humid day, that same 7-iron may only go 160 yards.  That loss of yardage not only plays with the mental game (which club should I use…what if I get the full shot and it sails over the green vs lands short), it affects the golfer’s confidence to some degree as well (am I suddenly weak…did I loose distance because I changed something, etc).

In short, give us the 115 degree, 2% humidity days ANY DAY over the 60% humidity.  We managed to golf 36 holes on July 31st, 2009, in 118 degree weather (I walked this double round, by the way) and I’d take that any day over the humid days.  10 minutes out in this weather and I’m ready to throw in the towel, haha.  Life should be interesting when we have to play on the east coast in the summer!

Happy Fathers Day!

I have to laugh when I think of how much I disliked golf growing up.  My dad was an avid golfer, as were most of my uncles and even a few cousins.  Once in a while my dad would take me to tag along when he and my Uncle Bill were playing a round…and even though I’ve always been a total daddy’s girl and love my special father-daughter time, going to the course was pure torture…watchng golf on tv was double torture!

Basically, I grew up thinking golf was a pointlessly aggravating game and I’d never be interested.  Boy was I wrong!

Fast-forward 30+ years and bring an old friend into my life, and golf suddenly had some appeal.  Did I think it was cooler than baseball, not at the time, but I could appreciate the focus and talent that was being shown.  The first time I went to the driving range with Ron, I was impressed.  He had me take a few swings and showed me how to properly address the ball, and despite my tendency to do a baseball swing, when I made good contact, the ball sailed!  Hmmm…

Ok…Im highly competitive and a perfectionist with anything athletic I do, so my desire to succeed and not be lumped into “typical female” category got the better of me.  The next thing I knew, I was spending several hours each week on the range and on & around the putting green.  The more often I went and the better I got, my confidence grew and I became one of the pitiful souls, hooked on golf.  Once I started understanding all facets of the game, I began watching golf on tv…for techniques, to think where the ball needs to land…and my dedication and eagerness to learn is what prompted my eventual caddie life.

I have had the great pleasure to play golf several times with my dad over the past two years.  We don’t get out together as often as I’d like because I spend most of my golf days practicing or traveling to tournaments with Ron, doing my caddie duties.  Additionally, my dad isn’t as young anymore and 18 holes takes its toll because he likes to walk.  I have a great memory from last fall when I played an executive 9-hole course with my dad and my 10-year-old son…priceless memories!

So back to today being Fathers Day…I have to say that I have been truly blessed with the father I have.  He is my greatest mentor, a trusted friend and advisor, an intellectually stimulating conversationalist, a similarly humored jokester, and my real-life hero.  I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to surround myself with awesome dads…because lets face it, I am in the company of mostly fathers out n the course, and I get to work side by side daily with another wonderful dad!

Happy Fathers Day to all the guys out there reading my blog!  Now go spend the day golfing…

Casino Night 2011

Lots of happenings over the past couple of weeks.  We have been devoting a lot of time to fundraising endeavors and are very excited to announce our upcoming Casino Night!  It will be a night filled with fun…entry donation includes a wonderful dinner, a drink ticket, casino chips for playing either Blackjack or Texas Hold’em and a raffle ticket where everyone has an equal chance of winning some amazing give-aways!  $40 – Couple and $25 – Individual.

The fundraiser will benefit Ron’s continued golf career as well as an organization called the Wounded Warrior Project.  We are excited to have teamed up with a local VFW post and look forward to this event.

If you or someone you know would like to participate, send me a note and let me know…we’d love to have you join us for this event, and what a perfect “date night” idea too!  I will be happy to provide you with all the details!

 

 

The Time is Now…

If you are one of the dozens of people who have said you’d like to give support to Ron’s Professional Golf career, there has never been a better time to step up and get involved! I’ve noticed that quite often, people hesitate to donate because they think they can’t make a big enough impact financially. Well guess what my friend’s, no donation is too small. Additionally, there are people who sometimes keep waiting because they are expecting a big amount of money to free up which they can in turn donate…but we aren’t greedy, lol. Little bits at a time are just fine too!

Here’s an example many of us can relate to: let’s say someone is a fast food junkie…they decide to cut ONE day per week of their unhealthy eating habit and put that money aside (and choose to eat a healthier meal also on that one day)…at the end of the month they not only save about $35 but they actually drop a few pounds! If they donated $20 of the saved food dollars to the golf fund, they could used the other $15 to go to a matinée movie with a friend or some other little treat for themselves. Sounds like a cool idea!

Just think…something so simple can make a huge difference!

Reasons to get involved now:
> Ron is playing the best golf of his life
> Ron’s mental focus and physical stamina are very refined
> This is the main part of the touring season
> You can earn money AND gain exposure by supporting Ron
> Its fun to know a professional athlete

There are many other reasons to get involved but HERE IS A BIG INCENTIVE for those of you who like a little guarantee on your investments: For those who contribute towards entry fees into a specific tournament, your contribution will be refunded if Ron wins the event or places in the top 3! Yes…you read that correctly…it’s kinda like a “loan” that gets repaid!!

So many options…and again, no amount is too small (or too large, Hehe). If you Click on the Donations link, you can make a donation via PayPal and it will be put towards tournament entry fees right away! If you’d like to fund a specific event, make a note of that as well. Thanks again and have a great day!

Life goes on after qualifying rounds

I know many of you have been anxiously waiting for an update on the US Open qualifier Ron competed in on the 12th.  While he actually had a very good round of golf, he unfortunately did not make it in the top 7 spots…which is what was needed to continue on to the Sectional Qualifier.

Disappointing…yes.  Learning experience…YES!  Motivation for the next event…YES YES YES!!!

Some really valuable lessons came out of this:

•  First, we learned that walking the courses is so much better than riding in golf carts.  There are several reasons for this including not getting stiff between holes, having ample time to discuss the next shot and strategy, and most importantly, it kept us mentally in-tune and relaxed.  I have to say that even though Ron did not qualify, his mental presence was fantastic during this round. 
• Another lesson learned was trusting the shot 100% and knowing we can count on his abilities to hit precisely where he needs to.  That may sound simple, but it’s not.  For those of us who are just hackers, striving to break 100 and just have a lot of ‘fun’ on the course, we hope we can hit our irons in the general vicinity where we need to and stay in play.  For a Professional Golfer, there is no doubt what distance each club is going, that the ball can be worked to fade, draw, cut, flop, run-out, spin back, land soft, (and many other options too)…that’s his job…and he has refined his skills to perform that job.  The kicker is the mental space and making sure that’s working in unison with the rest of his body.  Not letting a doubt or altered thought creep into his mind during a golf shot has allowed Ron to advance his game even more.
• When the pressure is on…jokes ease the tension!  We knew this…afterall, we are constantly joking and messing with each other during practice rounds, but until this tournament, we’ve stayed more rigid during events.  Well…lightbulb…staying relaxed keeps the game fun and the attitudes positive!  We had the good fortune of being paired with a very cool guy who joined in on the joking, along with his caddie, toward the end of the round.  It’s always such a pleasure to pair up with fun people on Tour!
• People quit…Ron will NEVER be one of them!  One of the guys in the pairing (it was all 3-player pairings for this event), withdrew after 9 holes…ouch.  Now granted, there is some rule about being banned from PGA events if you shoot over a certain score and maybe this guy felt he was in jeopardy going into the back 9.  Regardless, having a fellow golfer withdraw mid-round actually does impact the other people he was golfing with.  Ron managed to block that out and continue playing well.

So what’s next on the agenda?  Fundraising and mini Tour!  There is a 3-day event here in Arizona, at the end of the month that would be a great opportunity for him.  There’s decent money to be made in 3-day events and again, great experience and exposure for future touring.  As always, thanks for your continued support and stay tuned for more exciting golf news!