Lessons from a Legend

Our final day at Jekyll Island included individual lessons for everyone with legendary Hall of Fame teacher Manuel de la Torre.
Manuel, though 87 years old gave lessons to each player, which included everything from swing mechanics, short game tips, putting help, and a talk about scoring and managing oneself on the golf course.
A hallmark of a lesson with Manuel is him asking the student many questions and it is always a great feeling when the answer is met with a response from Manuel of "yes, that's exactly correct!" Sometimes it feels like the questions he asks are trick questions as he is looking for a very specific response. For instance, one player was asked the question "What do you hit the golf ball with?" They responded "the clubface", "the proper spot on the clubface", "the front of the clubhead". With each response Manuel gently said "No, what do you hit the golf ball with?" until the response he was looking for was given..."the club". In Manuel's teaching the words he uses are specific and precise in their meaning and usage and in his concept of the golf swing, the whole club is always the emphasis, not the clubhead!
After 8 lessons and lunch Manuel told me this is the most talented group of Macalester golfers he's seen in the 9 years he's worked with Mac golfers. So now it's up to everyone to get back to work to figure out how to take those talents and translate them into top performances. Now the fun begins!

Martha

Matt Butler during practice hits a great drive

Colonel's Considerations Day 7 - "This man's a genius!"

That man would be Manuel de la Torre, as quoted by Nick (not sure I got an exact quote) and perhaps everyone else who's ever taken a lesson from him. More on that later...

I was told today that this blog has a lot more loyal readers than I thought - thanks to all of you for being so loyal! I figured it would be a good idea not to leave you guys hanging on the last day, so I'm typing this post as soon as I could after getting back to campus.

So here we go, the final day on Jekyll Island! Nick and Ben were up earlier than anyone else, leaving the condo at around 7:45 am with Angie to get to their lessons with Manuel (I mentioned in the last post, but Angie took a half hour lesson to start things off). I got up from the pull-out bed downstairs right as they were leaving and realised I was way behind after passing out so easily the night before, so I got a bowl of cornflakes and wrote my post for day 6 (I'm starting out in pretty vivid detail, let's see if I can keep this up...). So after a while Dan and Matt Butler started stirring, preparing to leave for the course at around 9 am, and during that time Ellen came over and had some breakfast on turned on MTV for a bit... After Dan and Matt Butler left I was alone in the condo - I was planning on spending some time on the beach, but instead I made a quick beach visit to say goodbye to the ocean (wasn't the final goodbye though, the picture above was the final goodbye) and then wrote a short story for my afternoon class that I missed today. After that I tried my best to clean up the place a bit before our noon deadline to checkout, so I did about 45 minutes of cleaning, hopefully the place looked ok... from there the remainder of us (me, Ellen and Jordan) checked out and headed out to the golf course.

When we got to the course everyone who was already there was just finishing their lunch (I just ate as many leftovers as I could handle back at the condo), and it appeared Manuel was eating with them - I have to stress what an amazing opportunity it was to have Manuel with us for the day, I mentioned this before but he's a PGA Hall of Fame Instructor and is now 87 years old. And he REALLY knows his stuff.

Matt Butler and I invented a new brand of Bochi Ball Golf - this time with chipping rather than putting. It mostly follows the same rules as the putting version, only we made some variations in how we took turns hitting (the person furthest from the hole always hits next). I got revenge for the trouncing Matt Butler (remember, he should always be referred to as Matt Butler, never Matt) gave me in the putting version - I pulled off a 24 1/2 to 17 1/2 victory!

I had the last lesson with Manuel. His style is that he asks a lot of simple questions with simple answers - it feels good being able to keep golf so simple. For instance, he asked a few of us what do we want when we golf, and the answer was simply "to be consistent" (might be a slight misquote too, excuse my haphazardness). I had a lesson with him 2 years ago on our spring break trip toAmelia Island, FL, and I came out with a great feeling both times. I had been struggling with my swing all week, but after a few minutes with Manuel I was hitting some perfect shots (even some with a little bit of draw, which is a shock considering m ball flight all week - at least I know it impressed Ben). Manuel is a bonafide legend - he's been driving around by himself, and after we were done Martha asked him where he was going today, and he just said "wherever I end up", and then he drove away, as if he was riding off into the sunset... (it was about 2:30 pm, so unfortunately there was no sunset to ride off into).

After Manuel left us awestruck, we successfully packed the van back up and headed to the beach one last time to get a group picture (the very on at the top of this post). While we were still on the beach, Angie took a couple of pictures of Dan and Ben that are instant classics - I'd put them on this blog, but I need permission from Dan and Ben first... stay tuned in case they say yes... I think common concensus was that the Dan/Ben pictures pretty much formed a perfect summary of the trip (Jordan also took a good one in the van ride back to Jacksonville).

So yes, after leaving the beach we left Jekyll Island, and then after a quick transition at the airport we left Jacksonville, had what I'd call a pretty decent plane ride (we had some good stories to tell about the players we played with from Ferrum College in Virginia - at least Dan did), and then we landed as MSP at almost exactly 8 pm local time. Then we waited for our bags for a good half hour, Vanessa came and picked us up in a van and we made our way back to Mac, stopping just past the intersection of Macalester Street and Grand to unload the van and go our seperate ways. At that point I guess you can say the trip was over for good. It's gonna take a little while to get back into Mac mode (writing this blog entry is helping to delay that a bit), but we're all pleased to be back.

And that was Mac Golf Spring Break 2009, Jekyll Island!!! I hope you had a lot of fun reading this blog, thanks to those of you who've been checking every night (and everyone else reading this at all), it's been a pleasure!

I guess my only regret is that I didn't get to say a proper farewell to Junior... probably for the best, I wouldn't have wanted him to confuse me for a deer...

Oh, and guess what JUST happened - JAPAN ARE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC CHAMPIONS!!! They just beat Korea a few minutes ago. And guess who were the two key players for Japan in the final? Uchikawa and Ichiro, the two players I honored with my ball markings during the tournament! Coincidence? I think not!

- Colonel

Colonel's Considerations Day 6 - Japan wins!!! As for Mac golf...

So on #18 yesterday (Sunday, day 6) I DIDN'T hit it over towards the alligator woods on the left!!! Instead I was in the trees on the right, BUT I hit a clutch knock down 8-iron off of the pine straw to about 7 feet and made the putt for par! Good things happen when you avoid the gator on #18!!! By the way, the big gator on #18 has a name - Junior. The starter told it to me as I was teeing off on the first tee. Now that I knew he had a name my feelings changed a bit about hitting it left on #18, instead of feeling frightened I almost kinda wanted to hit it left just to go over a chill with Junior (actually, not really, Junior is still after all a pretty huge gator - apparently he almost caught a deer on Saturday, and I did indeed see a deer right at the same spot I saw Junior on Saturday...)

Sorry to get this blog post off so late by the way, last night I pretty much crashed pretty early (I say pretty much because I didn't end up in a bed, I took a nap sitting upright at the table, and then passed out on the couch watching the final two innings of the Japan vs. USA game - Japan won 9-4 for those of you who weren't paying attention).

Sunday's round was on the most part pretty rough; the winds didn't die down, play got backed up for the first time all week, I think people on the most part were pretty tired after a full schedule of golf over four straight days, and in the end most of us ended up shoting our highest round of the tournament. Here are the scores: Nick 78, Ben 81, Colonel 84, Matt Butler 91, Dan 94, and for the women, Jordan 83, Ellen 100.

I'd like to thank my fans (aka my family) who have been in touch about the blog, for your benefit I'll give a few more details about my personal round (I was pretty happy with an 84 when all was said and done). I guess you've already heard of my exploits on #18, that was pretty rad. On #9 I got my first (and only) birdie of the tournament; I pounded my drive down the left side of the fairway, shaped my 5-wood left to right around the bunker in front of the green and ending it up 10 feet from the hole, and then my Aussie putter hit a perfect birdie putt dead center! The rest of the day was a struggle, Aussie came through in the clutch a lot (I had five one-putts for bogey, ended up with only one double-bogey on the day, and only four double-bogeys for the tournament). Today I played with a nichi, "日", on my ball, for nihon, "日本", which is Japanese for "Japan", in honor of the whole Japanese team. I also didn't lose that one, so I didn't lose a ball all tournament long! Maybe I should mark all my balls with Japanese characters for good luck (along with the Southern Cross, of course - I've been using that since freshman year).

I think the men's team either came third form last or second from last, but pretty much our only goal was to use this as a training trip, and we got five intense days of golf in (today we're getting golf lessons from Manuel, Martha's coach and a PGA Hall of Fame instructor, so that brings the total to six days of golf). Jordan was hoping to boost her chances of making it to Nationals at the end of the spring, I don't know how that went.

So a quick post-round summary for Sunday. We came back at around 3:30 a chilled for the afternoon (Ellen and I rented bikes and did a little tour of the island - we went to a fishing pier on the northern tip of the island and then came back south about halfway to the golf course before turning around). Nick and Dan grilled hamburgers for dinner (and maybe others, sorry if someone lost out on getting credit), and after dinner we did an encore of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Then of course Japan beat the US, but I think everyone was asleep by then (including me).

So yeah, today everyone is getting a 45 minute lesson from Manuel (Angie had a half-hour lesson to lead things off, as I type she probably finished it 10 minutes ago). We're doing it in waves, Ben and Nick are the first wave, followed by Dan and Matt Butler, and Ellen, Jordan and I are taking the afternoon session.

We'll leave Jekyll Island at 3 pm for a 5 somethingish flight out of Jacksonville direct to MInneapolis/St. Paul. I will definitely do a final post when we get back to Mac, hopefully at least by the end of Tuesday so keep checking for it, it'll come.

I'm off to enjoy my last 6 and a bit hours on the island. Peace.

- Colonel

Alligator on my mind...part 2

Not too much to add to the Colonel's colorful and amusing tale of danger and intrigue at Jekyll Island, except this lurking gator captured on "film"...the same one that almost did in both coaches on one day!
Seriously, though, for golf stuff...the team is doing well despite our only preparation for this tourney being hitting balls indoors. Everyone is working hard and we are making great strides building towards bigger and better things for our future...not always an easy thing to swallow when you want it now, but according to both coaches, many great things are happening which will show up in future events. In addition to dealing with gators all over the place, we've had incredibly strong and tough winds to negotiate each day. For those of you who don't play golf, playing in tricky swirling and gusty winds is physically tiring, but more so, mentally exhausting...trying to guess what effect those winds may have on the ball flight and carry is a complete guessing game. It's been crazy with those winds here most of the week and I can only speak for myself (and I'm not playing) but I'm ready for them to stop!

One day of competition to go...let's see what tomorrow brings and if you're so inclined, send your well wishes our way with the winds!

Coach Martha

Colonel's Considerations Day 5 - Alligator, on my mind...

... and I was on his. Yes, I hit the ball right by the woods on #18 again today. This time, as I passed the water hazard by the woods the alligator was RIGHT there on the line between the hazard and the rough, just staring at me. I stared him down - he wasn't moving. I walked passed him to my ball, and then proceeded to turn my back on him as I took my swing, a knock down 8-iron under the trees. I stuck it to 10 feet, AND I kept all of my limbs... I consider that an accomplishment. The rest of the day I was in really good spirits, amazing what not being eaten by an alligator can do for your day. Dan Allen was in the group behind me, and by that point the gator had moved himself out of the hazard and fully into the rough. Dan hit his shot RIGHT over the gator, the ball ending up 10 feet away. I have no doubts that Dan probably could have taken the gator down, but he decided to take a drop on the other side of the fairway and abandon any hope of retireving his ball. Probably the right move.

More crazy happenings. On #14, I hit my drive along the treeline on the right side. I didn't think I'd have a hard time finding it, but it wasn't anywhere to be seen. My whole group (and my playing partner's parents) all started looking, and after a while a ball just dropped right beside me. I thought it was the group behind hitting into us, but it was MY all - it had gotten stuck in the tree and sat up there for a few minutes before falling down. It was an incredibly lucky break, but unfortunately I ended up with a double bogey on the hole.

Again, I can only really say what happened in my personal round, but all my fans will be pleased - I ended up with an 80, a whole 6 shots better than yesterday. I was putting light out all day - I make no secret of my passionate love for Australia (for all the readers that don't know, I created the "Macalester Australia New Zealand Adoration Club"), and after only a few rounds I have to admit I'm passionately in love with my Aussie putter; let's just say I was considering naming this post "Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi oi oi!!!" My chipping was also pretty lights out, which was necessary since I only hit 4 greens all day. My playing partners told me after the round that it was fun to watch me play - they were pretty impressed with my short game (I kind of need a good short game, because I've never played with a college golfer who hits it shorter than I do... get it, SHORT game?).

Anyway, here's the other scores for the day: Ben 76, Colonel 80, Nick 81, Dan 85, Matt Butler 88. For the women: Jordan 88, Ellen 97.

After the round we chilled for a bit, then headed to "Mudcat Charlie's" for dinner - it's a seafood place a little ways up the Georgia coast from Jekyll Island. It was our night for a splurge dinner - a couple of the guys ordered the full seafood platter, another couple got "flounder stuffed with devilled crab", Ellen got "grouper fingers" (and a purple "Mudcat Charlie's" t-shirt), and the people who had shrimp agreed it was absolutely delicious (we're in a shrimping hotspot down here). I had fried flounder, made for pretty good fish and chips.

Nothing much to report after that. Oh I can't forget - Ben pretty much saved the day with his mix CD. It was very much appreciated.

OK, I mean it this time I PROMISE not to hit it at the gator on #18 again - I might just have to get out my putter and tap it down the hole to make sure... Angie and I were talking about what to do if I ended up in a footrace with this gator, we agreed that if that happened I'd probably have some pretty good adrenaline and be able to get surprisingly high up a tree... Oh, and last thing - today I marked with an ichi, "一", for Ichiro, staying with the Japanese baseball theme. Actually, I only decided that the "一" stood for Ichiro on my second last hole, I just had it on there anyway, and I still have it, didn't lost it either (those gators keep trying though...). I'll have to decide how to mark my ball tomorrow.

We're off early again tomorrow, everyone's teeing off around 9 am, men and women. It's the final day of the tournament, stay tuned on this blog for results!

Much love,

- Colonel

Colonel's Considerations Day 4 - Dream On

"Dream On" is the song that is played during the credits in the movie Miracle. Naming blog posts after songs just seemed like a really cool idea. So I did - it doesn't have any particularly deep meaning (unless you want it to...)

So today was the first round of the tournament - there was a pretty stiff, semi-frigid breeze blowing when we (the men's team) got to the course at around 11:30 am, and it stuck around pretty much throughout the round, though thankfully it warmed up when we started playing. The women went out at 9:30 am, so I don't know how it was for them.

We were paired up with Trinity (San Antonio, TX) and Washington and Lee (somewhere in VA), and it turned out to be a pretty quick round considering it was tournament play (some of our tournaments get to be well over 6 hours - today we played in just over four and a half). I can't really speak for more than my own personal round since I didn't get to see any of my teammates at all during the round, and I don't really want to go into too much detail about my round, so either you can just imagine what happened or ask one of the other players.

OK, I won't be that harsh, I'll give you some highlights. Dan had three birdies in the first 7 holes, and Matt Butler (never referred to as Matt, always Matt Butler) was one of four players in the tournamnet to birdie #13. I personally managed to have a pretty flat round, mostly just a mix of bogeys and pars. On #18, for the second day in a row I hit my second shot right by the edge of the woods. Those happen to be the very same woods where we saw the 10 foot gator on the first day... needless to say I was pretty cautious when approaching my ball. I'm gonna make sure I don't hit it there again. Oh, and in the spirit of the world baseball classic, I honored one Seiichi Uchikawa today (I put the Japanese character uchi, "内", on my ball). I played the whole round with the 内 ball, I almost lost it in the woods on #18, but luckily still have it in my possession... hopefully that'll mean good luck for Japan in their semi-final against the USA (the USA beating Japan would be an upset of "Miracle" proportions - I think they can dream on. If it looks to you that I'm a U.S. citizen cheering against the U.S., you'd be right...).

So scores: Ben 80, Nick 83, Dan 84, Colonel 86, Matt Butler 88. On the women's side, Jordan 82, Ellen 90. I haven't asked anyone permission to post their scores, I might ask them before I post the scores tomorrow... It wasn't the greatest first day, but the goal is to get the scores lower each of the next two days, I feel pretty confident that we will.

So not much else to report. We went to a dinner with all the other teams at the Chamber of Commerce... nothing much went on. We sat at a table with a checkerboard tablecloth (the garbage cans had a checkerboard pullover covering too, it was a little weird), and we sat at our table and had a spaghetti buffet with a variety of mystery desserts... and VERY sweet VERY southern sweet tea... I don't quite know what the meaning of the dinner was, if the teams were supposed to interact or anything, but I'm pretty confident none of the teams talked to any others. Yeah, was pretty strange overall.

We're teeing off pretty early tomorrow (men starting at 8:30 am, women starting at 9:30 am), so I think we're all checking out pretty early tonight. The men are playing with Trinity and Washington and Lee again, I'm pretty sure.

Before I forget AGAIN, the photos on the first two installments of "Colonel's Considerations" were taken by Coach Angie - sorry for not acknowledging that until now.

Be excellent to each other (and party on).

- Colonel