I continue to be fascinated by the virtual and sometimes very personal ways that top athletes, especially PGA and LPGA Tour golf pros, are available and share themselves online.
I’ve been remiss in sharing an article that I wrote for Sierra Golfer that featured my Golf Twitter List and the Twitter exchange that I had with the LPGA’s Christina Kim (response shown here… I asked how she kept her good spirit while playing golf on TV etc.). Needless to say I was touched by both Christina’s response as well as her responsiveness.
Just this week, following the win by Louis Oosthuizen at the British Open (a.k.a. The Open Championship) I sent “the champion golfer of the year” a note of congratulations via his website and both pointed him to my blog post about his win and asked if the steadiness of his swing helped him overcome the pressure that he so amazingly overcame.
Using what I’m guessing was a ‘correspondence secretary’ or some other assistant from his management company, ISM, as an intermediary, I actually got an apparently authentic response from Louis (even though his answer turned my question around). The emailed response read:
Hi Jon, yes I think it did – I felt really calm the whole week and I’m sure that transferred into my swing. Will take a look at the blog when I have some time! Cheers, Louis.
Pretty cool, eh? Thanks, Louis!
The second note I wanted to make quickly doesn’t have anything to do with me directly, but I was touched by the personal share by Scott McCarren following his challenging Sunday as both leader and host of the PGA’s Reno-Tahoe Open. In addition to his openness following a less than stellar performance, I just loved the quote he posted from Michael Murphy, the author of The Kingdom of Shivas Irons
“Golf is a game to teach you about the messages from within, about the subtle voices of the body-mind. And once you understand them you can more clearly see your ‘hamartia,’ the ways in which your approach to the game reflects your entire life. Nowhere does a man go so naked.”
— Michael Murphy
11 users commented in " Online Interactions with PGA & LPGA Tour Golf Pros "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI think it all comes down to mindfulness and the happiness that is available to us at every moment. Thanks for blogging Jon
I couldn’t agree with you more, Steveo. Thanks much for your ‘conscious comment’
I find golfers to be some of the friendliest and most approachable people. Years ago, I travelled with my wife to Pebbles Beach. I really wanted to play but didn’t know anybody to introduce me, when a guy walked up to me (I was outside the clubhouse) and asked me would I care to join them. He had noticed my Ballybunion badge on the club bag and, because he had such a good time in Ireland, wanted to pay it back. The way I see it: most PGA players were ordinary players not so long ago, so don’t have a problem communicating with us, the normal folk. Which is great!
Right on, Ian. Thanks for the comment and for sharing this heart-warming story. Are you saying he treated you to Pebble? If so, that’s quite a gift! In any case, I agree and look forward to testing your theory at some point by doing more video with PGA, LPGA and Champions Tour pros. Stay tuned.
I think that Scott McCarren summed up the nerves it must take to play Tour golf perfectly – “the subtle voices of the body-mind…” I wonder which subtle voices were heard by Graeme McDowell and which by Hunter Mahan on the 17th at the Ryder Cup today?
It was certainly a great Ryder Cup. Even more than the subtle voices, I think that McDowell was able to perform despite the acknowledged nervousness & voices. Obviously, Mahan let the voices “have him” (get to him) rather than just “having them” be there. In other words, the problem, to me, seems to be when the voices have you rather than you just having the voices. We all have them, but sometimes they interfere and sometimes not. That’s the game. Just my 2 cents and thanks for your comment, Mick.
Great article. So cool to have the access to the pros with technology today.
Thanks for the kinds words!
FYI, I keep adding carefully to my Golf Twitter list, looking for quality golf Tweeters, including from the Tours:
http://twitter.com/joncombridges/golf
There’s also now a virtual daily Golf online newspaper that’s generated from the tweets on my golf list:
http://paper.li/joncombridges/golf
Thanks again for your interest.
That was cool..
We had a wonderful experience to Scotland last year. I got a gang of golfers.. friendliest.. as our fellow companions. It was the dream of my wife to have family golf vacation free from the corporate life. I was not an intense golf player but today the trip made me intimate to the sport. ThruTheLinks team organized the trip for us and i must say it was an appreciable package and travel and we are looking forward for their upcoming events. We enjoyed a lot!
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