Its been a while...BIG Dreaming

  Well, Its been a while since I blogged about my BIG Dream (playing professional golf on the PGA Tour). Heres an update on whats happened and whats been happening.

  Lets start with the swing. It has changed. Drastically. For the better.

  After getting to a place where I felt I could play great golf, I decided a lesson was in order. If I was gonna make the record books that was the way to get better. Not heeding the advice of my boss; "Nate, you know your own swing better than anyone..." I took the lesson in March 2011. And almost quit golf. In one session I could no longer hit the ball. Well, thats not true. I could hit it, but not where I was aiming.

  Picture a duck gracefully soaring through the air...that was my ball flight before. Gorgeous. Now picture that same duck being shot out of the sky with a gun and twisting, turning, and crashing to the ground - my new ball flight. Not so gorgeous.

  I wanted to quit. Give up. I would continue to pursue being a golf pro, but not a pro golfer. I COULDN'T EVEN HIT THE BALL!

  But each morning God would remind me of the dream, His belief in me, and I would go back out believing it was going to be different. I waited. It didn't become different. It stayed the same. But each morning, during prayer, there was an urge to push me to keep trying. A feeling in my heart that I was gonna accomplish the BIG Dream. Not to give up. So I kept practicing. It was ugly stuff...trust me.

  The next step was my clubs. I stopped playing my beloved Nike TW Blades. I realized I couldn't hit them. I couldn't.

  At this point I was desperate. I began playing with a set of our rental clubs. Taylor Made Burner 1.0 Irons. I took them to the range, emptied my mind of all that I "learned" and tried to tap into what came naturally, get back in my flow. After a while, the beauty was back. Every shot. High draw. High fade. Great ball striking...BETTER than before. My joy was overflowing. I was so excited that I hit hundreds of range balls (the beauty of working for a golf course).

  The next step was playing. You know this, and I know this, practicing and actually doing what you've practiced in a true setting, are two totally different things. I could hit it great on the driving range, but I couldn't bring that onto the course. Until just recently.

  Enter the PGA Playing Ability Test (PAT). I had failed my first PGA PAT in April. I shot an 83 - 75. The playing ability test consists of playing 2 back to back rounds of golf and shooting a total score of 155 or better to pass. My best playing score around this time was a 79. VERY AVERAGE. I don't want to be average, I want to be GREAT. I started practicing every morning to get ready for my next PAT in July. As I neared my test date, I just felt like something special was going to happen. Out of the blue, literally, I shot a 72-74 in back-to-back rounds at my PGA Playing Ability Test (in 115 degree weather no-less). I was stoked, literally, I was on fire. It was so hot that near the end of my second round, I started getting the shakes. It was bad - and yet, I pushed through and nailed it! Passed by 9 shots.

  The present step is my current game. I'm now playing Taylor Made Burner 2.0 irons, Taylor Made R11 3 wood, and a Callaway Razr Hawk Driver 9.5 degree. Amazing clubs. Amazing.

  My game has been coming along smoothly. I started shooting rounds of 72, 73, 71, etc. I couldn't believe I was shooting just a couple of shots above par. Sometimes I still can't. It seemed so far away at one point, and now I'm close. So close I can almost taste it. But no rounds under par, at par, but not my goal of playing under par.

  My change of fortune culminated yesterday.

  Each year Trilogy Golf Club at Power Ranch has Ryder Cup style matches. There is a staff team from the course and a resident team from those who live in the Trilogy community. The final matches are Singles Matches where each team member plays against another person of the other team. Each match counts for a point if you win and helps your team finish strong, and even win.

  Yesterday, I played my Ryder Cup match. I played a great match. First hole I hit my driver out of bounds. Double bogey. Great start right? I took a moment at the tee box of the second hole, put my head down, and took some deep breaths... I didn't want to get stuck on this hole and carry it with me to all the rest. 1st hole - 2 over par. Next 17 holes I played 5 under par for a 68. A 68! 3 shots under par. UNDER PAR! Are you kidding me?!?! Only pro's and really good amateurs shoot under par. Its still hard to believe.

  My score card read like this: 1 eagle, 5 birdies, 2 bogeys, and one double bogey. It was the best round of golf I have ever played. Up to this point. I am convinced that this is what my scorecards are going to look like from here on out. I've put the work in, hard work, daily. It's my time to see results.

  Where do I go from here? Since the PAT in July, my momentum has been growing. In January I wrote down my golf goals for the year, and as of today, I've completed them all. I reached my year end goal of playing scratch golf (par or better) 4 months early.

Sweet.

  God is amazing. He pushed me through a desert place in my dreams to a place of a more solid and foundational hope.

  Its been a while...but its happening. BIG Dreams.

Buy one pair football boots online

  Are you a footballer? If you are then you need to find a pair of football boots that are built for your sport. There are many kinds of football boots, but choosing which brand to get is usually very difficult to do. There are many factors which you need to consider such as size, color, brand, and overall price, which can influence what kind of shoes you buy.

  When people think of golf they think of a sport that is based more on mental capabilities than physical aspects, however there is also another part of golf that is perhaps the most necessary and that is the equipment carried with him or her. What it is the set of clubs he or she is using to play with, the balls they choose to hit, gloves, shoes and so many more, golf equipment is a huge part of the game. But can everyone afford to buy the best equipment? Put straight, no, they cannot, but don’t fret. There is a way to buy discount golf equipment online and you can save vast sums of money doing so. As we all know, there isn’t a cheap piece of equipment that goes along with playing golf. If you take a look at the price of an average set of clubs in your local golf store, you will notice that the price is most of the time over your budget. There are many discount golf stores available all over the country, but if you could not be bothered looking for one nearby, do what everyone else is doing, search the internet. There are a myriad of discount golf stores online and all of them will do anything to get you to buy something from their catalog, so use this to your advantage. Ask these stores if they can improve upon their current prices. Shop around first to see if there is the same piece of equipment for sale somewhere else that’s cheaper. This way you can get these discount golf stores to bring down their prices. Of course you aren’t going to be able to reduce the price of a set of golf clubs, for example, by a couple hundred dollars, but you are going to save ‘some’ money that you can spend on other equipment, like golf balls, because we all know you can’t have enough balls right? Quality and Price any seller can give you discount golf products at any time of the year but stocking up at end-of-season summer clearance sales might be a good idea when golf shops are getting rid off inventory before winter. Brands such as Nike, Adidas, Mizuno and Callaway sometimes have promotions and discounts on all their golf products, ranging from their golf clubs to golf balls and golf shirts to shoes. These discount golf products do not lack in quality just because they are on sale, as the same amount of effort is put into each product because they are backed by the manufacturer’s brand name. Accessories you could save money on golf apparel as even though it looks great to be in correct golf gear from head to toe, it is not necessary for your game. So do not scrimp on golf clubs.

  But now there is a way for you to get fabulous golf equipment at low prices on online store. A lot of qualified equipments have been on sale on this website for a long time to convenient customers. All our products are of good quality, such as the Callaway Razr Hawk Driver. Callaway has made a giant leap forward with Forged Composite technology in the new RAZR Hawk Driver. This new material gave engineers the freedom to position weight exactly where needed for maximized distance, accuracy, and workability. With the RAZR Hawk Driver, there are no tradeoffs.

Review Callaway RAZR Hawk Driver

  The Callaway RAZR Hawk Draw Driver has become designed for you to bring strength and distance to the drives. The almost all titanium clubhead delivers the ability you should out get your participating in partners women and men Diablo includes sheer brute pressure with probably the most generous nice spots within a Big Bertha drivers. Using Callaway's fresh Edge know-how the team delivers a superior MOI as well as CG is found especially to match the Sketch or Simple models to make long, penetrating flight considering the shot shape you absolutely must have. Edge technology increases the Diablo a specialized shaping containing let your designers go the weight over the clubhead along with helps close up the clubface in impact that will encourage ever more efficient impact. The Diablo capabilities Hyperbolic Experience Technology to place it along at the forefront connected with clubface style and design with math and anatomist combining to produce the best ever Major Bertha baseball speeds through the entire skin. The callaway diablo edge irons additionally features S2H2 Layout which strips discretionary weight through the hosel along with adding stableness by redistributing which weight inside the perimeter belonging to the clubhead

  The RAZR Hawk is designed for golfers who want a cannon in their hands. The 460cc head is more than 6 yards farther then Callaway's FT iz. It has all the pop and forgiveness that modern technology can provide. Although the driver is a little more subtle then the flashy 460cc Diablo Octane.

  Both drivers are made with materials developed with the help of Lamborghini. Yes, I'm talking about the race car. (Wait, does that mean that the drivers at Wal-Mart are made out of old Volkswagens?) This material is a forged composite that is lighter than air. (Not really -- but it is really light.) Whereas just the Diablo's crown is made of the carbon fiber, the entire body and crown of the RAZR Hawkis made of Lamborghini.

  Enough with the materials. Does it go far? The answer is an unequivocal yes. The driver is light and fast, and the sweet spot is huge. Toe and heel hits feel like center hits. This driver has all the bang of the Diablo edge , but you have more control for moving the ball either direction.

  On the down side, I'm not a big fan of the look of the crown. I don't like the silver curved seam with the two-tone. (Of course you don't see any of this at address.) And the only other flaw I can find is: Although the club is workable, it doesn't have a lot of feel. Mis-hits feel the same as regular hits.

Callaway RAZR Hawk Driver Review

Looks:

The head – being 450 CC, seems a lot smaller than it actually is – and looks great at address. Again I may be biased, due to my love for the FT-3 and the fact that from address these two drivers look very similar… but nonetheless – I’m a fan. The club sets up well – slightly open at address, and to me, a naturally drawer of the ball, this is exactly what I’m looking for. The shaft, the Aldila RIP needs no introduction, it looks great, and I must commend Callaway’s choice in adopting this shaft for this driver. The crown features an arc across the front (which I’ve gotten used to) and the usual Callaway “V” for alignment.


Performance:

I hit likely 40-50 balls with this driver (I had a problem putting it down). It had a similar feel to the FT-3 (at least in my books), but if anything a little solider feeling and sounding – if you’ve ever hit the FT-3, you’d likely know what I’m talking about here. I’ll admit I haven’t hit many composite drivers (Cleveland Composite being an exception) but I do enjoy the feel with this material. There is a considerable difference in feel for off-center hits… but it remains a solid one. My swing speed was solid around the 105-108MPH range and distance was also up there at the 290 yard range. The trajectory was slightly lower than expected for a 10.5 degree driver at around 10-11 degrees. I usually hit a lower ball, but I have a feeling the high kick of the Aldila RIP had an effect here. This shaft’s ability to maintain a low ball flight may be a point of contention for players who enjoy a higher trajectory, but on the other hand you’d be hard pressed to balloon this driver.


The Callaway RAZR Hawk also had a surprise in store for me. Spin levels for solid hits we’re pretty normal, if on the lower end around 3300 RPM, but off-center hits showed a significant decrease in spin, which equated to more ground roll. This feature helps contribute to the consistency this club has to offer – most hits were within a 25-yard dispersion pattern, and off-center hits only lost about 10 yards in distance, despite maintaining a solid feel.

The workability of this driver was also great. I’ll bet the Aldila RIP had something to do with this – it’s a really solid shaft. I felt in control at address, and knew how the club would perform when trying to work the ball to the right or left. The club also performed well when jumped on – Callaway made a good choice partnering with Aldila on this club.


Final Thoughts

Callaway has a winner with the Callaway RAZR Hawk driver – however, despite their investment in technology, the clubs overall performance has not significantly improved from previous models (at least in my books). I will admit that this driver did great things for ball spin – especially for off-center hits. The addition of the Aldila RIP shaft is what really makes this club special. The price point of only $449 is a little much for this driver in my opinion, and the good news is you can already find this model for much cheaper (~$200) online.