What's the motivation here?

This is Slacker the Hacker and my personal journey through the game has not taken a direct route from humble beginnings to great riches and stardom, more like from humble beginnings to humble middles. It’s not that I feel stuck in a mire or slump and definitely not having a midlife deal, but competition alone has never done it for me. I remember Annika saying once that for her it was not a desire to win that drove her forward but a hatred of losing, I’m sure that’s a paraphrase but you get what she means, it wasn’t about the “glory of winning” it was about the “fear of losing”. That seems somehow to be a negative approach to me but then again, humble middles and all maybe I should try to learn something here. It is a question of what motivates us as golfers, what makes us tick, and what makes us play and perform to the best of our abilities, week in and week out. I never thought of it as competition, I just wanted to beat my buddies, and it has been hard to take that motivation into full field events as they are not all my buddies and I lose interest. Cash games are another matter because at least it’s usually all in the group, but to play all day and find yourself outside the big money by a couple of shots, it’s aggravating thinking about missed short ones, loose drives, sketchy lags, missed greens, it gets even better when some punk is bragging up how he one-putted seven times on the back to only have eleven putts, what the f*ck I had more putts than that half way through the back. The other day I was playing with The Screw and he didn’t want to have even a friendly wager on the game, he wanted to “play the course” insert eye roll here, just another hack and practice day for me I thought you know try shots you wouldn’t normally try, see what can be done in different situations, cause who cares right? Why would someone lay up with nothing on the line? How will you know if you can get home if you don’t try once in a while, right? Well I’m starting to think, WRONG, it might be the other way around, if laying up is the highest percentage shot and will therefore logically lead to the lowest score the most often, then it just makes sense to play that way all the time and become a master in that area of the game. The players on the LPGA Tour can really drive that point home, I’ve been to some tournaments and watched where they lay up from on par 5s and while at first I groaned, it wasn’t long before I started rethinking the whole deal, the birdie percentage was amazing. I also remember reading something somewhere about Zach Johnson laying up on every par 5 on the way to his green jacket, I’m not positive that’s accurate, but it’s good thoughts none the less. All of this leads us to my announcement right here on “Golf to Go” that this year will be the year I rededicate myself to my game. Hackenstein the Caddy, my mutated fifteenth club might tell you that this is not the first year I have made this announcement, but as he can’t spell or type I don’t have to worry about it. I have a competitive outlet lined up for the coming year in the form of a season long match play tourney, and a couple of biggie type individual events. What I lack is interest, motivation, enough distance off the tee, and as of yesterday afternoon I can no longer touch my toes, this is shaping up to be quite a journey. I think I’ll start out with a big, shiny, new driver that should help with the distance, especially working with The LeaderBoard. It’s been many summers since I was a young hammer, but I am wise now and have a few more tricks, but I remember when I was hammering the ball it was easy to keep my interest up and that should motivate me to touch my toes more often. I just hope it all leads to lower scores, I’ll keep you posted on what I learn, your comments are always welcome, and until we do this again this is Slacker the Hacker saying stay motivated and play the game the way it was meant to be played.

Slacker the Hacker on The Leaderboard

Hello, my friends, this is Slacker the Hacker here to tell you about this thing my pro Pants got me onto. It's called The Leaderboard and I am just bombing everybody right now, Hackenstein the Caddy, my mutated bag servant can't believe it, it's like I'm ten years younger. This thing has already paid for itself, but don't take my word for it listen to this...

Hot Product
Review - LeaderBoard Golf Trainer

We just wanted to share
with you some information on what is arguably the hottest training product to
hit the PGA Tour in many years - the LeaderBoard
Golf Trainer.



The LeaderBoard
was invented by Vern McMillan, a strength and fitness coach to many leading
players on the PGA Tour. In fact, the LeaderBoard is now one of the PGA Tour's
most widely used physical training devices.



It is used by a host
of Tour players including Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Adam
Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, KJ Choi, Rod Pampling, Stephen
Ames, Zach Johnson, Bob Estes, Steve Allan, Paul
Gow, Michael Campbell, Mike Weir, Stewart Cink, Brad
Faxon, Aaron Baddeley, Heath Slocum, John Senden, Jesper
Parnevik, and Brett Quigley.

How does
the LeaderBoard work?







In short, the LeaderBoard works
the core muscle groups that power the golf swing.



The LeaderBoard uses an innovative resistance design to develop both muscles
and movements specific to the golf swing. In addition to developing the optimum
muscle function and motor skills, the LeaderBoard is also incredibly effective
in immediately identifying swing deficiencies in posture, balance, timing and
power by physically cueing the player that something is not right and retraining
the muscles and movements for more effectiveness.



What do the Tour players say about the LeaderBoard?



Some of their comments include:

Adam Scott - 2007 Shell
Houston Open Champion: "I use the LeaderBoard not only to train my body
to move with maximum power but also to technically reinforce the proper timing
of my swing. The training I do on the LeaderBoard
is paying huge dividends in my performance."

Geoff Ogilvy - 2006 U.S.
Open and World Match Play Champion: "The LeaderBoard
has been a part of my tournament preparation for the past two years. It is the
most versatile training device I have ever used, and proved invaluable in the
lead up to my victory in the U.S. Open. The exercises train those golf specific
muscles to 'fire' at the right times, resulting in greater accuracy and longer
hitting. I love it."

Stuart Appleby - 2006 Mercedes
and Shell Houston Open Champion: "I am not only a faithful user of the
LeaderBoard, I am an owner of the
business as well and I would not jeopardize my reputation on a product that
does not deliver results - so many of the guys use the product on Tour now that
in 2007, it will probably be bigger news if a player does not train with the
Leaderboard."



Where can I buy the LeaderBoard?



You can buy the LeaderBoard online at Leaderboard
Golf Trainer.



Check it out the LeaderBoard now - it will do wonders for your game.

Slacker, Fast Greens and Dave Pelz

Hello once again my friends, this is Slacker the Hacker and I’m here to ask you about fast greens. I recently played on a nice private course that doesn’t get much play so the greens were excellent. Myself I like a nice smooth, fast green, it makes me feel like a TV pro. My usual is to play on courses that host many, many rounds and are well worn by my fellow grinders and their overweight spike dragging friends, but I have promised not to lecture, soap box, or judge people here, all are welcome and you know who you are anyway. Now back to greens that turn other golfers green with envy. I prefer at the moment to not leave too many tracks around our discussions so for now I won’t mention the name of the course I was on but it was a hook-up which is the best way to play and the conditions were everything I was led to expect going in. I know a guy who knows a guy who knows the Assistant Superintendent’s cousin and she let us know we were in for a treat. Usually when someone is rhapsodizing about the condition of their lawn I pull a quick snooze and rejoin the conversation later but I had to listen to her, she’s a player and she drove a beer cart through college so she knows what she’s talking about. The greens were the stuff to talk about at this track, big, undulating, and with a nice slick look, the kind of look you could never get with Bulky and his buddies playing in front of you, that’s like putting on a Parcheesi board. My wallet was happy because I had my secret weapon with me, Hackenstein the Caddy, and even though he spent the night before sleeping in the van and looked and smelled like he slept in the monkey cage, his eyes were clear and I could tell he was getting excited when we were warming up on the practice green. You see Hackenstein has a Ph. D. on the greens and can figure out speed and break better than anyone and explain it to me in a way that I understand, and even though he was playing and not carrying, he was still going to be helping me since we were partners. Plus he was getting nine strokes which for him is bullshit both ways but I wasn’t going to argue, I just upped the wagers, bought the bloodies, and double checked my meds. The whole thing went like clockwork, our opponents were nice in a “we don’t drink alcohol” type of way, and they stayed nice even when they gave us a fat sack of cash at the end of it all, good people, good times, and nice memories. Now if you don’t have a walking set of genius eyeballs to take with you to the golf course, then you might have to find a way on your own to improve your performance on the shortest grass, because practice alone won’t do it, my friend, you need better information. Lessons work well if you can find a good pro, I call my guy Pants, because he never wears shorts no matter how hot it is. Lessons can be good, especially if you are having specific problems, but more information can sometimes be found in the library. Now until someone puts forth some effort into their own cause, I don’t like to hear ‘em bitch about it. If you’re hoping for some advice on putting this week then I’ll just say, go to the library. Not just any library, but the biggest library ever written on the subject (I think) and that would be the Dave Pelz library. I’ll tell you right up front, I do not putt the way Pelz would have me putt, but the information, both scientific and theorized, is an excellent source for improving your performance in that part of the game that will get you the most fanfare, lower your scores, and probably get you more love in your life. I’m not joking, when you are happy and confident, the fairer golfers will notice you more often, no one likes being around grumpy, pissed off three putters for long. Until again, this is Slacker the Hacker saying knock ‘em up there tight and expand your mind.

Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving from Slacker the Hacker and here's wishing you good fortune in your Black Friday tournaments. Hackenstein the Caddy wanted me to remind you that "when you've got your extra layers on, remember to take an extra club or two and just put a good move on the ball, no need to be thrashing around like Thor when you're in your goretex...drink lots of cough syrup before you go out and don't be bashful when its your turn to pull on the schnapps bottle, but keep your wits about you and ..." sorry that's enough, he'll continue like this for awhile. Lots of guys are going to be playing in tournaments on Black Friday, it's kind of a tradition around the game, and some of these are looser than others. Myself I like a nice Wild West type of loose affair where you show up and the action just starts flying. Dr. Hack used to say the action would determine the field and we'd usually end up with a couple of small fields within the crowd, some wanted quarters and they found each other , some wanted dollars and they found each other, and others wanted action which needed a smaller field anyway, usually just the top two foursomes. This action would build throughout the round with fortunes changing quickly and in large swings and if you lose your game here for a hole or two then my friend, you are toast, which in these deals always meant you were taking somebody down with you for the ride. Best to take Hackenstein's Management Techniques to heart, just club up and stay in the game, weaker putters will and do falter in the end. The clubhouse is the great meeting ground after the game is played. Dr. Hack theorizes (his word) that since the action is relative, the stories are equal. We listened to two guys comparing how they played the par 3 sixteenth like a couple of morons and how they both lost a giant sack of cash on that hole, one guy tripled and lost his overall match and something like three presses, and the other dude took an 8 with two in the water and lost the back nine and total of his nassau after winning the front by one, thinking he was going to beat his brother in law for the first time in nineteen years. They toasted each others misfortune and then toasted their vows to hit more balls and hook it on 16 every fing time from now on. When they parted company and went to tell more poor sacks their sad stories, Dr. Hack and I compared notes. He had played with the guy who lost the nassau deal and I was behind the guy that tripled his way to failure and ruin. Their stories had been shared and they felt like equals because the action was relative to what each wanted, the amount didn't matter...nassau dude lost five bucks...match and presses plus the rest of his nightmare was a g and a half, but they felt equal pain in losing it. The good news was Hackenstein turned out to be partners with the guy who took that dude's thousands and we hit a casino on the way home like kings who owned the joint, good memories. If you want to share any parts of your journey through the game, just post a comment. Until again, this is Slacker the Hacker saying Happy Holidays and practice your putting, in the end it'll be all you've got.

Introductions

I am Slacker the Hacker and we are here to talk about golf as the journey. I don’t know exactly what that means but, they say I have to get off the couch and do something so here we are. Know this now before we start that many stories will follow and most are embellished, exaggerated, fictionalized, or otherwise completely lacking any basis in reality whatsoever, oh and all the names have been changed in order to blackmail the innocent later. When I’m not doing nothing I like to be out golfing, whether hitting balls, playing, or side betting on TV pros, I just love the lifestyle. My caddy’s name is Hackenstein, again not his real name but because he limps, gimps, and is best kept separate from the general population. Hackenstein is a genius when it comes to making it to the first tee on time with bloodies in the cart. As a caddy the best thing I can say is he drives the van, this is huge for me because my meds often leave me not wanting to operate heavy machinery and I like to take naps. He can read greens, too. He read some breakers down in Alabama once that paid rent for the whole winter and left us with a little bar money too. He doesn’t need much and he’s easy to feed and keeps himself entertained for the most part, and he’s dead helpful when it comes to managing the course, with luck he’ll throw some tips your way along the journey. Gotta get for now, teeing early tomorrow, don’t ask me why, we’re hooked up through a friend of a friend of a friend on some private club deal, sounded like easy bank at the time but now it just feels early. I hear they do have good greens, nice and fast with lots of undulation, having a quality pair of eyes like Hacks is going to help a lot plus he’s my partner and he’s getting 9 strokes, I think the dude must want to do business or something, maybe I’ll let you know how it goes later, in the meantime hit ‘em hard and shout if you need me.

Where to go?

Where would you go if you could go anywhere to play golf? Would you seek warmth, water views, and ocean breezes? Would you seek out new experiences on higher mountain courses full of fresh air, wildlife and valley views? Golf is just one of many ways to see the world and whether you seek out the solitude of lonely areas or the hustle and bustle of the busiest tracks it comes down to the experiences you have along the way and that is the sights, sounds, smells, the touch of the turf and the taste of the snack bar that stays with you. How many memories come flooding back when we leave a cold course for a warm clubhouse and smell the fire, can you remember the sound of steel spikes on concrete, tell us where you have been or where you want to go. All comments are welcome and lets hear some good stories, my name is Slacker the Hacker and I want to hear all about it.