Category: Uncategorized

In the Process of Development

No matter how you may have heard about this story, this is how it really went that day:

It was Christmas Eve. I was off of work for the winter holidays. I was off-duty from managing anything and everything related to my mom because my cousin was visiting and she wanted time with Mom that afternoon. Cool! I set up a tee time and loaded the clubs to hit Mission Trails.

I was worry-free. Mom’s care at the facility was going well and I figured we’d celebrate Christmas and the new year before making any decisions beyond that.

I was so carefree that day that my swing was on target. I hit the 2nd and 3rd holes in regulation. I had a par on the 2nd hole after opening the round with a par on a long par 5 1st hole. The 3rd hole give me grief with a my par shot lipping put of the hole.

I tackled the 4th hole like I owned it.

Anyone who has played Mission Trails before knows that the 4th hole starts with an elevated tee shot aimed at an equally-elevated green nestled in the side of a hill that makes anything that isn’t perfect roll down that hill into running water. I teed up from the whites on that elevated block of grass and ripped a shot that felt like it just absorbed all my power into it. I lost sight of the ball in the trees and i figured I was chipping from the ravine down below.

I went in search of my ball along with the rest of my foursome. I didn’t see it near the ravine and I continued to ride along the ravine, hoping that it hadn’t rolled down with so much momentum that it went on the other side of the ravine.

Leave it to me to leave the positive thinking back in the car while on the golf course.

“Hey, Man!” one of my foursome called out from just above the green overhead. “Your ball is up here.”

I made my way up there with haste. In my thinking, “up here” had to mean on the fringe or even on the side of the hill just above the green. As my cart eased into position behind the others, I could not believe my eyes. My ball was about 10 feet from the hole.

I walked up to the ball on the green to mark it, but the reality of it all was that I was checking to ensure that this was really my Pinnacle Rush with my mark on it. It was mine. I left my marker there and commenced to cleaning my ball as I pondered how my TaylorMade Burner 3 wood had proven worthy of its weight in my bag.

After the other guys worked their way onto the green with some nice chipping and pitching, even a recovery shot from behind some pine trees, we started working our way to getting the ball into the hole. I was up third with a straight but bumpy 10-foot ride to the hole. I stroked it a little too heavy and it rolled and bounced its way right beyond the cup.

I settled for a birdie.

And how does that sound?

Me. . . settling for a birdie. . . as if, you know.

That’s when I got the call.

Mom had just passed.

I had leave. I excused myself from the foursome and wished them the best as I rolled the cart at a high speed back to the clubhouse. I dropped off the cart in an obscure spot and facing the wrong way near the bar that is perched above the green of the 18th hole. I drug my clubs to my car.

I wanted to change my clothes or at least my shoes, but I couldn’t do it.

I just cried for a moment.

Breast cancer had defeated my mom after a long and hard fought battle.

She was gone now. And I felt like someone had punched me in my gut and gave me the whooping of a lifetime.

The plan is to host 2 golf tournaments. One golf tournament in December to honor the passing of my mother and the other in August to celebrate my mom’s birthday. The tourney in December would focus on a drive for donations to the American Cancer Society (San Diego), while the tourney in August would focus on supporting minority education in the greater San Diego area (a cause that my mother thrived to support throughout her lifetime in San Diego).

Subscribe to this blog and stay updated as we prepare to launch these special events in honor of Mom.

Choices Come with Consequences

Golf can be one of those ventures that has big rewards and payoffs for taking certain risks. Yet, it also has some real simple consequences for taking other types of risks. That’s just some conventional wisdom for the course for you to nibble on to start out right now.

 What I really wanted to dig into was the multiple hole playoff between Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and rookie sensation Jesper Svensson at the Porsche Singapore Classic. Those powerful drives amid strong gusts of wind along with those clutch putts made for stellar drama on the 18th hole. however, even that storyline had to take a back seat to what I witnessed among the LPGA players at Fir Hills for the Seri Pak Championship.

Ruoning Yin added a whole load of drama to the uneventful closure of the third round at Fir Hills. Everyone seemed to make more of a thing about former USC golfer Malia Nam returning to LPGA play and standing out among the top players at Fir Hills, but it appears that Yin was intent upon taking big risks to finish the day off. And that’s one thing that stole the spotlight from Malia Nam’s steady play for remaining in contention for a share of the lead and a potential shot at victory.

Leading the Pack Since Round 2

Yin was ahead of her fellow players at -11 coming into the 18th hole. Her tee shot landed her in the rough amid some trees with low-hanging branches. That left her with a decision to make. And this is where many of us recreational golfers could both readily and easily empathize with the Chinese golfer’s agonizing decision. She decided on a low punch shot between the trees rather than a high percentage shot like a pitch back into the fairway from the rough.

As I watched on, I recognized the predicament. No one was within any closer to her than 2 strokes. She had the outright lead and her game seemed to be working for her.

Yin Pays the Price

Yin drew back and made an attempt at punching it, and then all you heard was the thud of a golf ball striking bark. Anyone who has played on a course with any kind of woods on it knows that sound. It’s so distinct that it’s almost haunting.

In fact this sound was merely the awakening of a steady dwindle on a downward spiral with little to no chance of return or even redemption.

And that’s putting it lightly.

Consequences continued to come against her as she and her caddie sought some relief from her ball ending what looked like a drain and within a club length of a work shed. But even with that drop and hitting 4 from the rough, Yin ended up short of the green on the 18th. That left her pitching upward to try to finish up the hole.

Things didn’t work out well for her at all on 18. She finished the hole with a triple bogey. She finished the round even at 71 for the day. She ended up tied for third at -7 after holding onto the lead most of the day.

Look at the Lesson

Yin isn’t by herself.

I’ve been there before.

How about you?

Have you ever had that one hole that just tore up everything that you have put together throughout a decent round? I bet it burned you intensely. I would imagine how badly it would feel to have everything going right and then BOOM! It all just falls apart.

Yin is the defending champion for the tournament. She even had a better understanding of the course layout and structure from the prior year’s victory. Hopefully, she recovered and can make the most of this final round at Fir Hills today. But, like many of us, she took a high risk and it cost her enough strokes to shock her. Either way, it surely caught my attention away from Svensson and Aphibarnrat battling for a new Porsche and $450,000.

Who knows? If given the opportunity again, I might try to punch it through the trees, too.

Golf is anything but easy.

More Golf During the Holidays

I haven’t played in a long time. Yet, despite such a long layoff, I didn’t do too bad. In fact, I had some pretty good moments.

I’ll dig into that later on, but for now I want to just say that age and injuries along with life’s letdowns are going to come. You brace yourself for them and ride it out. You play golf to enjoy being outdoors and among like-minded folks as well as having the courage to face any challenge these golf course designers could throw your way.

Play on and just keep swinging!

Been Away But Been Busy

I took some time to recover and heal properly before jumping up and playing 18 holes of golf. I know I’ll be rusty once I hit the links, but I’ve been preparing mentally and physically for the challenge.

In the meantime. . .

I recently released an ebook of poetry called Words from the Underground. It comes from the perspective of a person living on the streets of urban America with mental illness and suffering from poverty. It is in “the Underground” where I find my ministry work. It is in “the Underground” where I feel most connected to living out God’s Word coming alive in my life as I can serve and support others.

Buy a copy of my ebook during April (National Poetry Month) and the profits will go towards Life Path Mobile Ministries. It is through Life Path Mobile Ministries that I have focused my ministerial work on serving and supporting the poor and needy.

Poetry’s not your thing? Help us serve and support the poor and needy in San Diego through our GoFundMe campaign for Life Path Mobile Ministries.

You can get more of the story behind launching Life Path Mobile Ministries via my blog and also through Live @ Lunch Bible Study which I host weekly on Wednesdays at 9 AM PST via YouTube.

Injuries, Illness and Inspiration

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”

John Lennon

I learned about this John Lennon quote in my younger adult days. It always seemed to make sense logically. However, at the time, my circumstances did not truly reveal how much the quote actually speaks to various situations in life.

Injuries

I’ve been trying to get out onto the golf course for nearly 2 months now. Initially, my schedule of work and coaching interfered with finding free time. Then, the rainfall and winter storms came crashing into town.

But that wasn’t the worst of it all.

Injuries plagued me almost at every turn when the sun did come out and the grass dried up from the rain. First, the ankle was swollen and aching. Next, the shoulder became limited in its rotation. And, of course, aging in general never helps.

Injuries are a definite setback to any plans of playing 18.

Illness

In the midst of struggling with inclimate weather and injuries, I fell ill. The type of illness that the health professionals identify as not being anything close to COVID. That’s the only consolation when you’re told that it could be a severe virus or just allergies.

It’s never been my thing to be out long term with an illness. Even when I had a “serious illness” some years ago, I still did as prescribed and took a short-term period off work like a Thursday and Friday, rested on the weekend, and returned to work on Monday.

This was something different, though.

Inspiration

Downtime doesn’t have to lead to a downturn in all that you have on your plate.

Im involved in the inspiration business. That’s part of what I do. It’s an indication in part of the why behind me doing what I do. I’ve been saying for a while, but maybe some haven’t heard it yet.

Just a little bit of what I’ve managed to do during my downtime:

I’ve come out the illness and I’m back on track. I think I’m ready to hit the course again. My cousin Robert is town again and I might be able to get out there soon. Let’s see what happens.

Keep swinging!

John Lennon

John Lennon was an oftentimes misunderstood musician and the epitome of an enigmatic idealist. He is misquoted many times. His message of peace and love got overshadowed by many of his offhanded and flippant comments as he searched for his own identity and the meaning of life.

Open Box contains flower quotations including one by Lennon. Plenty other bloggers quote Lennon on everything from peace to imagination.

Please, take the quote used in this post for its application to what is described here, not how it might have been used outside of it in other situations.

The Biggest LPGA Purse Yet

Thi year’s CME Group Tour Championship will provide the biggest LPGA purse yet.

Equal pay for equal work is an argument for social equity and economic equality. The “pink tax” (also known as the “tampon tax”) has been an example of women working for less pay on the job (many times the same exact position) and paying more for consumer products. It also includes a higher degree of markup in costs for certain consumer products targeted towards women, items men do not have to even consider like tampons, pantyhose, and makeup.. This has been played out across the board in corporate America as well as among K-12 educators and higher ed institutions.

Sports are a totally different ball game when it comes to the gender pay gap.

Originally hitting the mainstream through the the lawsuit filed for equal pay by U.S. Women’s Soccer team in 2019. Despite winning back-to-back titles, the FIFA World Cup prize money for the women and men has a gap of 114.89%. In terms of dollars, that boils down to $360,000 difference.

What we’re seeing being done through the LPGA and CME Group Tour Championship is literally a move in the right direction to close the gender pay gap.

Prior Attempts at Gender Pay Equality

The U.S. Open made efforts to close the gender pay equality gap this season. With such a wide gap in pay between women and men professional golfers, the tournament’s move to raise the prize money this season has been seen as a sign and gesture of both good faith and a step in the right direction. This stemmed from a newly-established partnership reported in January of this year where the USGA secured a major sponsorship from ProMedica in order to provide top a record $10 million purse for the U.S. Open. The 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles included a winner’s share of $1.8 million.

Rising LPGA Prize Money Not Resulting in Equality

In March of 2021 by BBC Sport shared research reports that showed an ‘overwhelming majority’ of sports offering ‘equal prize money’ to both men and women at the top level. Given the rise in LPGA prize money, the gender pay gap has yet to arrive at a point of closure. LPGA golfers still run the risk of losing money after making the cut for certain tournaments and in certain situations.

As Kikue Higuchi reports for the LPGA, the top 60 women professional golfers of the LPGA Tour will compete for a $2 million winner’s purse at the CME Group Tour Championship, the final event for the 2022 season. This represents “the largest purse of any non-major tournament,” a total purse of $7 million for the tournament prize money. The prize money for the tournament winner of the CME Group Tour Championship is 28.57 percent of the overall purse. In comparison to average LPGA Tour events, 28 percent is 13 percent higher than the average percent of the overall purse to the winner.

These are major shifts towards closing the gender pay gap. Golf seems to be doing its part to bring more attention to the women who are playing on the course. The LPGA has established partnerships and sponsorships to push forward with making headway in this area.

The gap has yet to see widespread moves towards closure throughout sports.

The Messy Business of Golf

Back in August, I talked about some thoughts on LIV Golf vs the PGA Tour. It’s still raging as a firestorm and causing a divide in the golf community as well as among the tour pros.

I cannot expect this thing to end any day soon.

Both parties just seemed entrenched in it.

Messy Media Coverage Doesn’t Help

The Wall Street Journal is known for its business and financial coverage. It also covers the business aspects of sports. Its latest article on PGA Tour executive jet usage as a sign of potential corporate corruption has a sensationalized title that will definitely draw in readers with some interest.

When the media coverage from even the top level journalism platforms seem to drift into the mess, it can get really messy.

The media spin on this rivalry is the makings of a reality TV fiasco before production has even launched. It most probably won’t be played out on the Golf Channel. It most assuredly will continue for a while and with no immediate end in sight.

LIV Golf vs PGA Tour

Bunch of Noise = Big Distraction

The famous of English Prime Ministers was a golfer

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”

Winston S. Churchill

LIV Golf came onto the scene in a whirlwind of controversy. That might be an understatement.

It seemed to really pick up steam once Lefty opened his mouth back in February. Basically, Phil Mickelson called the Saudi Arabian backers of LIV Golf “scary” and spoke on how they have a “horrible record on human rights.” He was also critical of the PGA Tour using what he called “manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics.” It is all documented with his quotes and other details.

Phil got all of the criticism and backlash, but LIV Golf got plenty of press coverage and social media buzz. It gave way to a widespread recruitment of top golfers from the PGA in a style that resembles what many would consider poaching. The big ticket offers to play and party-style jets and events for LIV Golf attracted some big names like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Pat Perez, and others.

The PGA Tour and its commissioner Jay Monahan have not been sitting back watching things go down quietly. The latest developments have led to a court case that seems hinge upon the PGA’s authority to suspend players for defecting to the LIV side. It’s an antitrust lawsuit with a 105-page complaint against the PGA Tour.

So far, we’ve seen a lot of mud slinging and muscle moves from both LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.

Fans Want to Pros Play Golf

The classic golf reporting of Bubba Watson disregarding a spectator’s advice and working his magic on a recovery shot is the type of stuff true golf fans live for these days. It speaks to the golf fan’s desire to see the pros play their game in plain view. Golf fans want to be in the gallery in person or sitting on the couch watching Golf Channel to see the best doing it facing tough course designs and unfathomable pin placements.

Most golf fans could care less about whoever promotes, sponsors or hosts the tournament. They just want to see the pros play golf.

That’s the big deal.

Don’t Buy into the Nonsense

I think we can honestly say that the disruption has led to a major distraction. In fact, LIV Golf’s biggest critic at the onset was Lefty, and now he’s going to join the LIV Golf Tour. Conversely, some of the initial defectors from the PGA Tour have reportedly backed out of their commitment to the LIV Golf Tour. These types of changes are o be expected and will most probably continue as “developments” in the process of such a disruptive and divisive time period in the world of golf.

Don’t give it much attention.

If you love watching golf, Brooke Henderson is doing some amazing stuff within the ranks of the LPGA. She’s 6th in world ranking and #3 on the money list. Her latest victories have been stunning displays of golf to witness. The televised PGA Tour might be missing some big names, but it still has some exciting play. If you really want that good ol’ days feeling, then watch the Champions Tour.

Swing it like you mean it!!

If you love playing golf, play an extra round or hit the driving range more often as this LIV-PGA business gets sorted out. At the end of the day, it’s not helping your handicap much. It’s not a major factor for your own golf game. It’s just another ounce of small talk to discuss while awaiting the other foursome to tee off since the starter has groups backed up at the first tee due to the great resignation and supply chain issues.

Just play more golf and carry on.

Back to Swinging

Looking back at my blog posts, it has been nearly a year since I was last actively posting. That was a post on Cantlay’s hot streak. My, oh, my, how things have changed since then. Undoubtedly, I have been actively keeping an eye on things in the world of golf. yet, I have yet to get back to full swing yet.

At the end of July, I got a chance to go to the driving range with a good friend and show him a few things. It also gave me a chance to get back into the swing of things with golf.

I felt like I was ready to tackle the course, but I know that I need a few more driving range sessions and a round or two on a par 3 course before I play a round of 18 at a par 72 course again. But I’m feeling that itch and I’m back to swinging the clubs like a winner.

I’m looking forward to getting back on track and back to swinging the club on a regular basis. Until then, check out the video and enjoy.