D.A. Weibring
This is an off week on the Champions Tour and it has given me a chance to get home and try to get caught up on our golf course design business and our rapidly growing operation at D.A.'s Spring Creek Golf.
My son Matt also took the week off from the Nationwide Tour. He's had a busy summer, playing the Tour, and has been a little frustrated as well as disappointed that he hasn't been getting the production out of his golf game. As I observed him during the week I flashed back to when I was first coming out of college and trying to get my card and working on my game.
I'm now 53 and I'm still doing the same things, and although my golf is still very important, my priorities have certainly switched to family and my business. But I was really proud of what I saw in Matt this week, because he was really using his resources to go down his checklist and get prepared to go back out and finish the rest of the year. Only 26 years old, I think he's a much better player in this his third year on the Nationwide Tour.
He worked on his short game, the mental approach and how to manage his game and he checked each of those things throughout the week. He also checked in with Randy Smith, who has been a mentor for him for a long time, and did some work with Chris O'Connell, a senior instructor at D.A.'s Spring Creek Golf, who has been a good friend, and a kind of a big brother to him. He spent time with Marius Filtmalter, who is the putting instructor for Tiger Woods and many other professionals, and is now part of the team at D.A.'s Spring Creek Golf. Matt also spent a lot of time on the phone with Chuck Hogan evaluating the mental side of his game, and in between all of it, he was working out with Bob King the former strength coach of the Dallas Mavericks and a number of other professionals teams.
So, for those who think that the golf professionals go home and take a week or two off and sit on the couch and put their feet up, think again. Certainly, you need to get away from it now and then. Everyone needs rest to recharge their batteries, but Matt was home for a day and couldn't wait to get back, hit balls and start to work on his game. He went through an evaluation from both the mental side and the physical side, to working with Marius on his putting. He spent some time with me on his wedge game and his short game and visited with Chris and Randy as well. It was all about trying to learn more about himself and getting himself prepared to be the best player he can be.
Next week he's back on the Nationwide road to Boise to play one of their top events. He's got 6 weeks left as the season winds down and he's hoping to finish strong. He's very close to achieving some of the goals that he wanted to achieve in 2006. Then he'll have to deal possibly with the qualifying school to move up to the PGA Tour.
It was interesting for me to watch him. My approach is a little bit different. I really try to get away. I do some physical workouts, get rested up, work my way back to hitting balls, and work on my short game and get ready to go to Baltimore this week for the Constellation Energy. I've played pretty well in this event the last couple of years.
After a week off observing, it pretty clear that golf from the perspective of a 53-year-old tour professional who's played for 30 years is very different from a 26 year old as he prepares to move his way to the PGA Tour. So, keep an eye out for Matt Weibring on tour in the near future, I know I'll be watching.
