Back to School at Last!

Not including this past spring semester, when I only took 2 classes, I'm finally back to school full-time. School started yesterday bright and early at 7am. That's 7am EASTERN time folks, so while all of you were comfortably sleeping, or tending to the many needs of new-born Ellie, I was sitting in the classroom. Fortunately for me, Wednesday's are the only days I start class at 7. Mondays start at 10 but only for an hour then it's tournament time in the afternoon. Tuesdays start at 8 and end at 10, then it's free golf in the afternoon. Wednesdays start at 7 and don't end until 1. Thursdays are packed, class from 8 until 3. Then Fridays class from 8 until 10. So having only been to my Wednesday and Thursday classes so far, here are my first impressions of the staff and classes:

My Attitude and Motivation Assessment teacher is crazy. She's straight out of Brooklyn, short, husky, and pretty cool. She talks at a hundred miles an hour, runs around the classroom and loves interacting with us students. Right at the start of class, she has us all stand up, close our eyes and wait for her to tell us it's ok to look. While standing there with our eyes closed, Eye of the Tiger comes on. She gives us the ok to look up and she's wearing a pink hoody with "Eye of the Tiger" written on the back, and she has children's sized boxing gloves on her tiny hands. She starts going in and out of the aisles punching all of us guys in the chest trying to get us the play along and spar with her. None of us knew what was going on so we basically just stood there and watched as she beat up every single one of us. She realized that no one really knew what the point of the demonstration was, so she laughed it off and put her costume away and let us sit down. (The music went on to the next song of the Rocky soundtrack, so I was quietly singing along.) She wrote on the board a question. The question was "Are you willing to put everything on the line to achieve your dreams?" Do we have the Eye of the Tiger? So basically she's going to be helping us build self-confidence in ourselves and help us take adversity and turn it into a positive experience so we can grow as people and as professionals. All in all, I think I'll enjoy the class.

Oh yeah, and I am also stuck with the biggest group of immature losers. In orientation, they had us grouped by last names. So I was in the A-D group, and I thought that was just for orientation, and that my classes would be a mixture of all the incoming first semester students. I was wrong. I am stuck with that same group of kids for the entire semester. These guys are anywhere from 18-35. In terms of maturity, I would much rather hang out with our sort-of-cousin Dalton, if that puts it into perspective for anyone. These guys are only there to party and hit the night clubs. So I'm pretty dissapointed to not have any friends in the classes, but I'll make friends on Mondays and Tuesdays when we are randomly paired with people to golf out on the course, where you get the true sense of someone's character.

This afternoon I had my first Short Game class. That teacher is pretty laid back. He's a self-proclaimed awesome touch/feel golfer. That means that he doesn't know a whole lot about the mechanics of the golf swing, he just does what feels right, and he gets the results he wants. Only a very select few golfers are like this, I am not one of those people. So having that natural touch or feel is a great advantage in the short game. The short game is considered anywhere from about 50 yds or closer to the green. So putting, chipping, green-side bunkers are all considered part of the short game. That is the part of the game of golf that makes or breaks you as a golfer. Anyone can get the ball close to the green, but the hard part is getting the ball in the hole as quickly as possible. So the teacher gave us the run-down on what to expect in his class. We'll only have 5 classroom days, while the other 10 are out on the course. At the mid-term and finals time, we will have a skills test. This is where most people lose ground on their grade. The class work is an easy A, but this test is hard. You have 10 tries for each type of shot. The shots include green-side bunker, chipping, pitching, and putting. For each of the non-putting shots, you must get the ball within 5ft of the hole or else you lose points. There will be circles of varying distances chalked on the green so we know how many points we get for each shot. If you hole the shot, it's 3 pts. If you're within 5 ft, it's 2 pts. If you're within 6-10 ft, it's 1 pt. If you're outside 10 ft you get 0 pts. So the pressure is on to be able to get the ball close to the hole. Then the putting test includes making 10 three footers, 10 six footers, and 10 eight footers. All of those putts will have left to right breakers, and right to left breakers. That is extremely hard to do. Then there's a lag putting test. You have putts of 30 ft, 40 ft, 50 ft, 60 ft, and 70 ft and you must get the ball within 5 ft on the attempt or else you get 0 pts. So I've decided I'm no longer going to the driving range, I am strictly going to the putting green and devoting my practice time to the short game. Without a solid short game, shooting low scores is extremely difficult, and getting an A in this class is impossible without maximum practice time.

My other classes are kinda boring. I have a business writing class, and that's basically English 101 but put into terms related to the golf industry. The teacher kept saying "Our writing markets our product along with ourselves as professionals." So that might get boring in a hurry. Golf Fundamentals should be pretty easy as well. The best golf pro on staff teaches that class, and he's really cool. Not a whole lot of studying in the classroom, just studying our ball flight when we play then using that information to find out what we're doing wrong in our golf swing.

I have my first open-play round on Tuesday at 1:30. I'm paired with 3 guys from the other parts of the alphabet, so I'll be meeting at least 3 new people. I'm playing at a course called Indian Wells, and it's considered the nicest course on our 15 course rotation. I think there are four groups on each course, so it's a random draw who plays where. Also, one of the golf pro's will be playing nine holes with us. This is so they can evaluate our skills so they can accurately place us in the appropriate Tour for tournaments. There are multiple Tours, and depending on what you shoot one week could change what Tour you play in the next week. So if I go out and shoot in the 70's, which I intend on doing, I should be placed in the Nationwide Tour, which is the second best Tour at the school. But if I shoot 85 the next week, I might drop a Tour or two, but that doesn't effect my grades or anything, they just want people of like skills in all of the Tours. Prizes are awarded to the top 7 or 8 from each Tour, so that's a nice incentive to play well. Also, the Tours are all of the students at the entire academy. I could be in the same tour as one of the fourth-semester guys, so that's cool that we'll be pitted against the veterans of the academy.

Well, I think that's everything about school for now. My apartment is fine, I can't get my mailbox open though.... hopefully I'll figure it out some time soon. No neighbors that are my age or that wanna talk. I walk by them on the way in and they just look at the ground and run passed me, so I just sit here in my apartment when I'm not in school or practicing. At least I have golf channel, though. Without it, I might be back at home by now. Not really, but I'd be bored out of my mind. Did I leave anything out? Just ask if I left something out and I'll fill ya in. Toodles.

Cardinals v. Brew Crew

Yesterday was my first time attending a St. Louis Cardinals game at their new stadium. I was really excited to finally be there, and it was a really good time, until the top of the 9th inning. With a 3-2 lead and 2 outs away from the victory, the Cardinals closer fittingly gave up a go-ahead 2 run homerun to none other than Ryan Braun, my so-called cousin. As much as I hate to see the Cardinals get beat, it was pretty cool to see the first Braun in the MLB to win the game. I wish I had more pics of the stadium, but the camera died after I took the first few... so here's some pics of the trip.

The view from our hotel window

The view of the hotel fountain. The arch is directly right and Busch Stadium directly left.

The view from our seats.

Another view from our seats

Left field seats

The Pictures I Promised...

These were in someone's backyard so I wanted a picture under them. Much nicer than Cali Palm Trees :)
A cool picture I took of the dunes
Dad being gangster without even knowing it.
Some of the millions of hotels and condos lining Ocean Blvd.

Close up on Dad

Saturday afternoon Dad and I cruised along Ocean Blvd. and got out right here. Here's Dad on the Beach

My new home. It's the one I'm pointing to on the bottom.

Day 2 in Myrtle Beach

Today was a good day in Beach Town. Dad and I got to sleep in a little bit and then we headed off to an iMax movie in 3D located in a place called Broadway at the Beach. It was about a guy and his daughter boating through the grand canyon. It had some really cool shots of the canyon and some cool stuff popping out at us. Robert Redford was narrating, so obviously it was very political and full of propaganda about global warming. Once we tuned him out, the movie was much more enjoyable. After the movie we walked around Broadway at the Beach. Basically, it's a culmination of a bunch of shops and rides and things to do all surrounding this big lake with ducks and huge fish in it. It is like Six Flags but without all the roller coasters. After walking around for a couple hours we went to a barbecue place called Big D's. My new landlord reccommended it, but it wasn't very good.

From there, we drove to the beach, which was about a 5 minute drive from my apartment :) We drove along Ocean Dr. for about 30 mins until we found a nice spot to park and we got out to take a look around. It was cooler than any beach in Malibu or Santa Monica (sorry Tamara, but it's true). There's hotels lining the beach for miles and miles and miles. Planes flying overhead with big advertisements on the back, people everywhere, it was just really cool. So we walked around for a while and took a few pictures and decided to head out. When we went to the iMax movie earlier, the ticket girl said we could come back and see another different show for only 5 dollars if we still had the tickets from the first show we saw, so we decided to go see another show. This one was about the deep sea creatures. It was realllllly cool. Sea turtles and coral and sharks were all popping out close enough to touch. If you ever have a chance to see a 3D iMax, do not pass it up. It is soooo cool. Once the iMax ended we hit up a few more shops and decided to call it a day. I know I said I wouldn't post again until Tuesday, but I didn't think this could wait. I'll post all the pics from this weekends festivities when I get home, I forgot to bring the USB cable....

The first trip to Myrtle Beach

Well folks, it's time for the baby bird to spread his wings and leave the nest. As you all know, I will be attending the San Diego Golf Academy in Myrtle Beach starting August 27. Dad and I drove 13 hours to find an apartment for me to live in and to tour the school. This morning we took a tour of the school. I think Dad said it best when Mom called him after we left the school. Mom asked how it went, Dad responded with "I'm quitting my job and I'm going to school here, too." Basically, it's all golf, all the time.

The school has 2 practice rooms, yes you read correctly, practice ROOMS, as in INDOORS with constant air conditioning, with big practice greens and state of the art swing analyzers. The first practice room we entered was 800 sq ft with a cool undulating practice green with tons of holes to putt to. On the other side of the room are 2 huge launch monitors. For the golf-impaired, a launch monitor uses lasers and cameras to tell the golfer how much sidespin, backspin, launch angle, face angle, distance the ball went, etc. I have never used a launch monitor before, and I wasn't expecting to when I came in for the visit, quite frankly. So one of the PGA professionals, also my future teacher, told me to step on up and take a few swings. I'm very shy and hesitant to look at myself on camera, not sure why, but I was pretty nervous when I stepped in. First shot was pretty close to a shank, and the teacher told me that with a big grin. So I was pretty shocked, and took another swing. Crushed it with a 6 iron. Dad claims the guy turned to him after I hit the ball and winked at him. One of the statistics on the launch monitor is called the "Smash Factor". That's a 1.50 scale that tells the golfer how solidly, or how much he smashed, the ball. The monitor read 1.49 after that shot. I felt pretty good about that one, but then he showed me my swing in slow motion. He found a few things right away that I need to fix. I noticed a few things that I didn't like, so I was relatively unhappy with the way I hit those shots. Even though I hit a good shot, I hit 5 really bad ones.

From that room, we went to the next practice room, which is 1,200 sq ft. This practice green was probably 3 times as big as the other one. And in the corner, my very own practice bunker! Indoors! My dream come true. Down the hallway from this room, was another, even cooler launch monitor. We walked in and found one of the PGA pros and another student having a contest. This monitor has a screen about 10 yds in front of the matt you hit off of. The screen can be programmed to bring up a bunch of different golf courses virtually. So you hit the ball into the screen and the computer program collects the information like how hard it hit the screen, where it hit the screen, etc to show you where the ball goes in real life on the virtual course. So this teacher and student were just playing the same par 3 over and over again and whoever was closest to the pin got a point. We walked in and I heard the score, 11-7. I couldn't believe it, this kid had a break in between classes, so he just found that teacher and started playing around. How cool is that? They were even talking trash. Last time I talked trash to a teacher I got detention...

The apartment I chose is located on a country club golf course called Arrowhead Country Club. I had to get a 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom unit because they leased their last 1 bedroom right before we walked in. It was only 30 dollars more, so I went ahead and took it. But if something happens and a 1 bedroom opens up in the future, I'm guaranteed first on the waiting list. I guess having a 2 bedroom leaves the possibility open for getting a roommate if I ever meet someone I could trust enough to live with. That would definitely help save some money. I have a couple pictures outside my future apartment and I will post them once I get home and get them uploaded. Dad and I are going to Broadway at the Beach tomorrow, which has all sorts of cool stuff to do all surrounding a cool lake, so we'll have some pictures from there as well. August 27 will be the official start of my dream coming true: getting better at golf while training for my career IN golf. Expect the next post on Tuesday or Wednesday.