Congratulations Anthony Paolucci

Congratulations to one of my students, Anthony Paolucci, at winning the AJGA Thunderbirds Invitational in Scottsdale, Arizona.  He shot 66-69-69 at the Grayhawk Golf Club with Jordan Spieth in the field.  It's a great start in the summer schedule for Anthony.
Next up for him is the US Open Qualifier in Maryland next Monday.

U.S. Kids World Championships

One of our many talented juniors at the Four Seasons Resort and Club/Dallas, Chase Fritz, recently qualified for the U.S. Kids World Championships.  Chase is 12 years old.  There was one spot available at the qualifier in which he shot 76.  Chase tied for the lead and then won the play-off to earn his 4th consecutive trip to Pinehurst Hotel and Country Club this August.  Well done, Chase.

Two of my Stars

Two of my junior golfer students, Anthony Paolucci and Emily Collins, are ranked as Top 50 players in the Polo Rankings.  Emily is 31st and headed to the University of Oklahoma this fall.  Anthony is 9th and verbally committed to University of Southern California (USC).
Anthony gets a shot at the star of the HP Byron Nelson Championship, Jordan Spieth, this week-end in Phoenix.  He and Jordan are there to compete in the AJGA Thunderbirds Championship.

Byron Nelson Championship - Sunday

22 year old Jason Day captured the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship today.  The tournament went down to the last hole with both Day and runner-up Blake Adams hitting their second shots in the water.  In the end Jason Day got it done in fewer shots.  The youngest winner ever, 3 years ago, on the Nationwide Tour picked up his 1st win on the PGA TOUR.
However, the story of the week was, without a doubt, 16 year old amateur Jordan Spieth.  His week culminated playing his final round with Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin.  Jordan shot 72 to finish at 4-under par for the tournament.
I've been saying for the last two months that Jordan Spieth has a trait that very few tournament golfers possess.  He does not have a bad tournament.   For the last two years he has won or been near the top in nearly every event he's played.  And now, he continues his good play at the highest level.  During his post round interview he talked about needing to do a better job of keeping his emotions in check. A trait he noticed while playing with Tom Pernice and Pavin over the last two days.
Jordan's gallery, again today, was the biggest and loudest on the course.  He handled himself extremely well.
So the two youngest players in the field stole the show.  Both are winners tonight.

HP Byron Nelson Championship - Friday

Two golfers are tied at 10-under par as the 2nd round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship comes to a close.  However, the day was stolen by 16 year old Dallas native Jordan Spieth.  Jordan put together rounds of 68-69 to finish 3-under par and in a tie for 22nd place and in doing so, had the largest galleries of the day.
I had a chance to watch a decent amount of his round today.  He can really play.  You don't get to #1 in anything without being really good at what you do.  Jordan is the #1 Junior golfer in the United States and he's really good at what he does.  To me, he does two things that separate him from all other juniors and probably amateurs.  Number one, he gets the most out of his round as anyone I've seen in a long time.  And  number 2, he never has a bad tournament.  He's always in the mix, whether it's a top junior or amateur event and now a PGA TOUR event.
What happens over the week-end is icing on the cake.  Jordan became the 6th youngest amateur to make a cut in a tour event.  The kid can really play!!

HP Byron Nelson Championship - Thursday

5 golfers are tied at 4-under 66 when darkness fell on the 1st round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship.  The round was held up for almost 3 hours with a lightning delay.  One of those tied at the top is Joe Durant.  After starting his round on hole #10, Durant was 1-over par with three holes to play, then proceeded to go eagle, eagle, birdie on 7,8 and 9 to finish his round at 66.
16 year old Jordan Speith stands at even par after 11 holes and is in 38th place.  The #1 junior in the USA played in front of a big local crowd which included a large contingent of his high school buddies from Jesuit High School in Dallas.
Play will resume tomorrow  morning at 8:15am.  I'm looking forward to following Jordan on his last 7 holes.

The Legacy Lives On...

Although Byron Nelson passed away in 2006, his legacy lives on as his Championships gets ready to start tomorrow.  Tom Watson received the Byron Nelson Award on Tuesday.  This award is given annually to the player that best exemplifies Mr. Nelson's wonderful values.  At the awards ceremony Watson told many stories of how his game and life was better for having known Lord Byron.
On Sunday Peggy Nelson will sit in a box adjacent to the 18th green.  As groups finish their round each player will stop by to say hi before signing their scorecard.  One of Byron's hats usually is present in the box as well.

Whoever wins this week will add a special tournament to their resume.

Nelson Week - Wednesday

The Byron Nelson Championship is in full practice mode.  Tuesday is the big practice day and then Wednesday the Pro-Am.  The players and their caddies have been very complimentary of the course conditions.
Art Sellinger and his main man Jamie Sadlowski put on a great show yesterday for the Dallas area kids.  Our range is not long enough for Jamie.
The hot putting coach team of Dave Stockin and his son Dave have been diligently working the putting green. 

My pick for the week Rickie Fowler tees off Thursday at 12:19pm with Steve Elkington and Tommy Armour III.  Lots of style in that group.

The Legend Continues...

Monday night of the Byron Nelson Championship week means only one thing.  Tommy Armour III's infamous pre-tournament party.  2010 is the 10th year TA has thrown his illustrous bash.  And, unfortunately, it will be his last as he's moving to Las Vegas later this year. 

I can assure you it's going to be quite a scene.  20-30 Tour Players are usually in attendance as well as many of the manufacturer's reps from various equipment companies.  The 'beautiful' people in Dallas will be flocking in as well.  My wife, Vicki, and I will make an appearance.  I'll have to give a recap tomorrow from the night's festivities.  Cheers.

HP Byron Nelson Championship

The HP Byron Nelson Championship is next week at the Four Seasons Resort and Club/Dallas.  The facility is looking fantastic and ready for the world's best players.  Lots of young talent, like Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson, set to test their skill against the Major Champion winners Stewart Cink, Vijay Singh and Trevor Immelman.  The week is always exciting.  I'll give you a view from the range starting next Monday.  Stay tuned.

Teaching Teachers

The last few days I've had Brian Armstrong and Nikki Suardini in from Franklin Hills CC.  They're teachers from the Detroit area in town working on their golf games and improving their teaching skills.  I've been to their club a few times to do teaching clinics for their members.  Being from Detroit, their season is just getting started so it was a re-fresher course to get ready for the season. 
It's always fun to help other instructors be better/more educated at what they love to do, which is teaching the game of golf.  Thankfully, I get an opportunity to travel throughout the world each year helping other instructors improve their craft.

End of an Era

The golf world learned Monday night that Hank Haney will no longer be Tiger Woods golf coach.  Hank resigned.  He spent 6 years as Tiger's coach.  During that time Tiger won many tournaments and several Majors.  Tiger went through stretches of golf that almost made it boring to watch.  The outcome was already determined.  His precision with his irons and wedges were laser like. 

One of Tiger's greatest assets, his willingness to always get better, may in turn be detrimental.  As he continues to improve the urge to tinker, can get any golfer lost if they don't have direction or a plan.  Where Woods will find his direction and plan for the future remains to be seen.  I do know that the man that was in charge of his plan for the last 6 years did a helluva job. 

ParTee Time

One of the very fun things I do at work is help out with a Ladies Executive group that call themselves ParTee Time.  Three high level Four Seasons Executive ladies have put ParTee Time together to network amongst other female executives in the Dallas area.  Some of the ladies are customers of our resort and some are potential customers.  They use the greatest medium available to them, golf, to break down barriers and get to know their customer better.

Once a month 10-12 ladies get together and I either do an instructional clinic or we play 9 holes.  Afterwards there's some time to socialize.  We wrap up our six month season with a scramble tournament followed by a fashion show and party.

Helpful hints for Sand Play

My latest instruction article for Avid Golfer Magazine. 

Avid Golfer Article - May, Sand Play

What a Show!!

Had a great corporate golf school last week with Sabre Travel Networks.  The school had 30 students over two days.  Before our first round on TPC a good friend of mine, Art Sellinger, stopped by.  Art's the Owner of Long Drivers of America and a past two-time champion.  He did a 30 minute show for the group and brought a friend of his, Jamie Sadlowski.

Jamie is the current two-time LDA champion at the age of 22.  And he can move it.  Warmed up hitting crossed handed 7-irons off the 1st tee of TPC about 220 yards.  Then took his normal grip and got his 7-iron going about 240 yards, followed by using a 24 inch driver and hit it about 290 yards.  Jamie finished off by hitting 6 drivers for us.  Three of which were pin high on the 1st green.  The hole is a dogleg right but it measures 464 yards from the back tees.  The most amazing thing is for someone that has a ball speed of 215 mph his dispersion of shots is very tight.  To top it off he's a great kid.