Joe Dolby, PGA

Throwback to 2012 TaylorMade US Open party when we got to meet 2017 Masters Champion Sergio Garcia! Very happy and proud of my TaylorMade brother!!

Great article about what it's like to grind on the mini-tours. I lived that life in 2006-2007, and though it was stressful and disappointing in the end, it was also an amazing experience and provided some of my favorite memories. Those that make it through the mini-tours have lots of support from sponsors, so they can focus on golf and not finances, as well as the talent to know the mini-tours are just a stepping stone on their career path.
Though I didn't make it playing, I still ended up in a great place for my career and family and I wouldn't change anything about it!

For golf's mini-tour grinders, it's a long way from the top One cut can make or break a season -- or a career -- and it's a constant struggle just to make ends meet. But the dedicated players on golf's lower levels aren't the types to give up easily.

Played my first round with the new TaylorMade TP5 golf ball yesterday in the NCPGA Pro Series 3 tournament at Contra Costa CC. Literally took them straight from the box and onto the first tee with no other testing at all. How'd they do?? How does 92% fairways, 89% Greens in regulation, +6 strokes gained tee to green, 5 birdies and a 3-under 69 sound!? Go out and find this ball ASAP! You won't be craving Kirkland Signature balls ever again!

I think maybe I need to figure out how to practice more...Just got back from Cabo playing in a Pro-am and came back with some scary stats (5 rounds):
Par 5 Scoring - +6 (1 birdie)
Proximity inside 15 feet from 25-50 yards - 37%
Proximity inside 15 feet from greenside bunker - 23%
Proximity inside 45 feet from 50-100 yards - 60%
Hit the green from 200+ yards from fairway/rough - 0/10

Good news:
70% Fairway accuracy with Driver
Break-even Strokes Gained Putting
Proximity inside 15 feet from 0-25 yards - 96%
Proximity inside 45 feet from 125-175 (the distance I practice!) - 80%

I stink at golf...

Shocking news about Rancho Canada! The site of CCS golf playoffs for the past 20+ years is closing! I wonder where they will move the championships to now?!

140 acres of Rancho Cañada golf course to become parkland. The country club is converting back to country.

The sweetest words an instructor can hear are those words of appreciation from a satisfied student who just played a great round as a direct result from a lesson. Last week I gave 16-year-old Sophie Siminoff a lesson on uneven lies using the Orange Peel training platform from Jim Hackenberg, PGA and https://www.facebook.com/Orange-Whip-Trainer-190075146092/. She went to play in the Future Champions Golf Tour event at Primm Valley Resort in Nevada the following weekend, hit great shots from all her uneven lies and finished in a tie for 2nd place, one stroke behind! Here is her scorecard below:

https://fcg.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/fcg16/event/fcg1620/contest/13/contestant/10763/scorecard.htm

Great shooting Sophie! And anyone wishing to simulate uneven lies of any kind should check out the Orange Peel at www.orangewhiptrainer.com.

WORLD SERIES EVENT - FCG LAS VEGAS CHAMPIONSHIP - Scorecard for Sophie Siminoff Future Champions Golf: WORLD SERIES EVENT - FCG LAS VEGAS CHAMPIONSHIP

I gave a lesson today to a promising 14 year old boy on controlling distance and trajectory with wedges from 100yds and improving impact conditions with long irons. I mentioned how Tiger's swing from pre-2004 was a great example of both, and was shocked that because of his age, he had no real experience of how good Tiger was from 99-02. A short Google search yielded these two incredible shots from arguably the greatest year from a single golfer in history: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wZTuhV4v0H4

Tiger Woods' 4 best shots of 2000 http://tinyurl.com/ybxktxu

Who says you can't play golf on a rainy day?! Today's X-Golf lesson was about how to manage your game when the weather is bad