Here's a little thing I sent to my golf mailing list at St. Norbert today:

Here is a story about golf, Ebay and passion!
Last Friday on my day off, I suffered through and entire day of rain when I should have been playing 18 holes of golf. I watched the Golf Channel quite a bit and happened to catch a half-hour infomertial about something called The Inside Approach. Jack Nicklaus claims that they guarantee to "cure your slice" in six swings or less using this new golf training device.
For those of you who don't watch the Golf Channel, the Inside Approach is a device that is made of PVC pipe or some similar material. It is padded and extends about a foot back and about six inches above the ball that you are trying to strike. The theory is that you want to bring the club back in an inside arc and return it to the ball along that same inside arc to strike the ball. If you fail to come from the inside to hit the ball and come "over the top" you will hit the padded extension and knock the device apart reminding you that your swing plane is wrong.
Sowerwine Golf, the outfit that runs the commercials on the Golf Channel hosted by Jack Nicklaus, sells this device for two easy payments of $39.95. That's nearly 80 dollars for something you can make out if PVC pipe for less than ten bucks, but more about that later.
I became intrigued with this device because I've been slicing the ball off the tee on the first three or four holes in each of my last three nine hole rounds. I felt it was time to do something about my slice.
But, though I am a developing golf training aid junkie ( I own a clone of the Medicus Trainer)I am not fond of paying full price when I can avoid it.
Thus, I went to http://www.ebay.com and searched for Inside Approach. I quickly found many people selling clones of this device for as little as 8.99 and as much as about 40 bucks. What caught my eye the most though was a guy selling plans to build your own for $4.99. This sounded like the way to go. His product description includes a quote from a "satisfied customer" who built two of them for $7. I thought that the prospect of making my own sounded like a fun little project. Though I do not fancy myself a handymand and I hate the concept of DYI, it sounded like something I could accomplish and be proud of and make use of.
So today I went back to Ebay and searched for Inside Approach. Lo and Behold, I found a guy selling plans for a "buy it now" price of $4.50. I decided to buy it now. The seller accepts PayPal (this is a service which I subscribe to (it's free) that lets me send money to others via the internet directly from my bank account)and the product description promised that the plans would be immediately emailed to me as soon as I paid. I used PayPal to send a payment to Ebay user sdake at about 12:15 p.m. I waited an hour. No plans arrived. Another hour passed and no plans arrived and my PayPal payment had not been "accepted" by user sdake of Pekin, IL. I began to get nervous. I checked the product description and it says "We email the plans. No waiting!" This does not make sense so I check eBay again and find another guy selling plans. Wait! His product description is exactly, word for word, the same as that of sdake. This guy is Tnielmo. I check tneilmo's feedbacks and find that sdake has purchased from him yesterday! Can this be? sdake bought the plans from tneilmo yesterday and then proceeded to sell them on EBay today using the exact same product description? Indeed it is true.
I proceeded to buy the plans from tneilmo for $4.99. He sent the plans within a few minutes. I noticed they were in a .pdf document with a copyright notice stating "Sole property of Terry Nielsen. Not to be Resold or Distributed". I told him that sdake was ripping him off by selling his plans as if they were his to sell. I then attempted to cancel my PayPal payment but I could not.

Are you still reading? I'll get back to the eBay stuff later but now it's time to talk about Golf and Passion and training aids.
If you read this list, you know I asked if you wanted to play Wander Springs with me after work today. Only Chelvan took me up on it.
I've been thinking about that inside out swing thing for a few days now and dying to try to hit a golf ball with that thought in mind.
Could I cure my slice just by imagining a training aid above my ball?
Do you remember when I bought the Refiner, my Medicus clone swing trainer? I seem to recall shooting my best round in quite a while just thinking about swinging without breaking that collapsing club even before I bought it. If memory serves me right, I think I broke 40 at Irish Waters with that swing thought a couple years ago.
Well, Chelvan and I played the Spring course at Wander Springs today and here's how it went:

Hole 1: I tee off with a 3 wood because I fear hitting in the creek if I use driver. I think about not hitting that imaginary Inside Approach device and hit a screaming shot up the right side of the fairway and farther than I've ever hit a 3 wood before on that hole. My second shot is an inside out Gap wedge to the middle of the green. I hit my first putt about 5 feet short and can't make the 5 footer so I three putt for a bogie. (oh, I changed my putter grip after watching a Dave Pelz video in Golf Channel On Demand last night. I was overlapping the index finger of my right hand over my left hand in my Left Hand Low grip. But the little finger on my left hand seems to be getting arthritis in the end joint and it hurts to press on it. Thus I decided to wrap both hands completely around the grip only sticking my right thumb inside my left hand.)

Hole 2: About a hundred sixty yards into the wind. I hit a six iron and it's a thing of beauty. It rises slowly and has a small right to left curl at the very end. My goodness, I've been desperate to hit the ball like this all my life! That shot came up a little short of the green but I got up and down for my par.

Hole 3: First chance to use my driver. Can I imagine the Inside Approach with the driver? I try to. I don't hook the ball but I do hit it right down the middle of the fairway and fairly long. It wasn't really a very solid hit though. I'm about 150 out so I take the seven iron, think inside out, and just STING the ball. It's another low riser with a little right to left curl at the end, A THING OF BEAUTY! But it's a little long. I three putt from the back of the green for another bogey.

Hole 4: Seven wood off the tee. Low riser that is struck dead on. It hooks just slightly at the end. Second shot is another well-struck, inside out swing that lands pin high and about 15 feet away from the hole. My birdie putt is about four inches to the right of the hole and I tap in for my first par.

Hole 5: Another chance to hit driver. This time, I bounce the driver off the ground behind the ball and end up in the center of the fairway about 200 yards from the center of the green. I hit seven wood on my second shot. It starts right and stays right. My sand wedge is too long and I two-putt from the far edge of the green for another bogey.

Hole 6: Par five! This time, I come over the top with my driver and slice it on the the right rough. My second shot is stung with a 5 iron well down the fairway but a little on the left hand side. Third shot is a pitching wedge from about a hundred nineteen yards. I hit it inside out and it is straight and right at the hole but lands just short of the green. I have about 5 feet of apron to putt through and I leave the putt 5 feet short. I miss the second putt and tap in for another bogey.

Hole 7: I hit a relatively wild hook off the tee into the right rough. The inside out swing with the driver isn't happening. My second is a five iron out of the rough that is hit well but ends up short of the green on the right side. My seven iron chip comes up about 20 feet short and I two-putt from there for a bogey.

Hole 8: This is a par three into the wind and about 135 yards. I decide on an easy seven iron. I sting it sweetly, it has the little right to left curl at the end and lands about 20 feet to the right of the hole pin high. I two-putt for a PAR!

Hole 9: I like to draw a five wood on this hole down the wooded corridor that is the narrow fairway. This time, I pull-hook it and it lands in the woods. I can only chip out into the fairway but manage to do that poorly and get too far to the right side. Next, I punch a five iron under some limbs and over some trees to a lovely position about 40 yards from the pin. I hit a sweet sand wedge into the low sun right at the hole but it's too long and ends up in the deep grass down the slope near the pond. My chip shot is way past the hole and I two-putt for a double bogey seven.

Where is the passion you say? You are experiencing it right now! Who else would bother to describe every shot of his golf game except someone who is PASSIONATE about the game.

The experience today suggests that the swing thoughts encouraged by Golf Training aids may be more important to me than the actual device. I have found, however, that actually practicing with the training aid helps my swing and my game.

When I got home tonight, I got email from sdake. He said that he didn't send the plans right away because he "works for a living". Well, aren't we all just so proud of him? Very few of us actually WORK for a living. He must be a great man indeed! Indeed? He steals for a living and I told him so. He rejected my PayPal payment and it's good that he did. I told him in an email that, for the $4.50, I'd have been happy to rip him a new one in my Ebay feedback to him. People like him give EBay a bad name. But, it's always "Buyer Beware!" EBay is no place for the faint of heart and the uninitiated.

So, where are we now? I stopped at Fleet Farm and tried to buy the 3/4 inch pvc pipe needed to make my Inside Approach trainer. Fleet Farm does not stock three quarter inch PVC pipe to my dismay. I'll have to get it at Home Depot. I'm sure they have it. I'll be sure to let you know when I build it and how it works.

In the meantime, I can't wait to go out again and try this swing thought. Hitting those sweet shots that have that little hook at the end just makes my blood pump happily in my veins.

Have a wonderful day and if you are Tripp or Bad Bob be afraid. be very afraid.

- Geo

It's Saturday. Friday it rained ALL DAY! I should have gone to work. What good is being on vacation when it rains all day? Would this be a good time to stop whining? We'll see.
Geoff and I have a 9:30a.m. tee time on the Glacial nine at Quit Qui Oc in Elkhart Lake today. We may not see the sun but playing golf under cloudy skies would be better than sitting inside another day.
I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I did when I first started. I envisioned blogging every day when I first started. That was back in the dark days of late winter-early spring though. Sunshine tends to make me feel better.
Being inside also tends to make me unhappy because our house is such a mess and has been for so long. There's nobody to work on the remodeling of the living room. Stuff is still piled all around from Memorial Day camping. This place just gets closer and closer to a series of "walking channels" amidst piled up possessions. I get so sick of not being able to turn around without bumping something, of having to reach and strain to get close to a light switch or put a coffee cup away. I'm so sick of having to tiptoe around the bed in our bedroom holding the wall to keep from falling over. Liz promises to pick up the "stuff" and clean up the piles of clothing but she doesn't have time. I understand that her graduate school studies have to come first now but that doesn't make it any easier to live in this mess.
I'd hire a cleaner to come in but that's not even the issue. There is just too much "stuff" laying around here and I'm afraid to throw it out for fear I'll hurt someone's feelings.
I'd better wake Geoff up so we have time to get to the golf course in time for our tee time. Looks like we might have to play in the fog.......yippee (can't make the text small enough to show how I really feel).
Buh, bye.
Ciao.

Ah, another work week nearly done!! I leave for golf in a few minutes. It's been so long since I've written anything here......
Played golf with Chelvan at Highland Ridge last night. Shot 51. . Ground was really wet. Thank goodness for water proof golf shoes. Hilly Haven should be better tonight. It's lots more, um, hilly.
Deen and Gloria are putting ends on Cat 5 patch cables. They should be blissfully occupied in that pursuit for some time. Muhahahahahahah!!!!
Nearly done with the "install hubs in the dorms" project. Only 40 more hubs to install right across the street in Madeline hall. Since I only have one hub in stock, think I'll wait till more come in.
We spent a very nice Memorial Day weekend camping at Peninsula State Park. It rained on Sunday afternoon and Sunday night and lots on Monday but we still had a great time. Chris Wolfert, Geoff Possley, Bill DeKeyser and myself played 18 holes of golf at the Peninsula State Park Golf Course on Saturday. I shot 46-44, 90. We had long drive, long putt, closest to the pin and Bingo-Bango-Bongo competitions. Geoff won by one point over me. He won a cap of his choice (Titleist) from the pro shop. The boys seemed to enjoy my direction of the competitions.
Oh, my!!! It's 2 p.m. Time to go to golf.

Buh, bye!

Ciao, babies!!!