Travis Robinson

Short term goals(this year): -Shoot a par round of golf (I shot 1 over a week ago!) -Get down to a 3 handicap (currently at a 6.2) -To not get mad and always focus on the shot at hand Mid term goals(the next 2-3 years): -Get to a scratch or better handicap -Get rid of debt and save money for tournaments, golf, instruction, etc. -Move to Florida Long term goals(2016 and on): -Play competitively -Pick up sponsors -Compete in mini tour events, Web.com events, Monday qualifiers -Become a regular in a pro tour series.

If I'm playing a round of golf, I clean it off so the grooves are clear. If I play a tournament round, I make sure the whole clubface looks good, I don't know how much it helps but mentally, it makes me feel like I'm ready to hit a ball without any distraction or obstruction. When I'm practicing on the driving range, I clean the club but I leave the debris in the grooves BECAUSE I practice a lot and I don't want to wear out my grooves from hitting range balls when I don't care about spin. I also don't have money to buy brand new sets every year so I need these babies to last!

A common mistake is that many amateurs are at a nice position at address, but in between the backswing and downswing, they move forward towards the ball and in turn, the ball hits the hosel. A good drill to try if you think you might be moving towards the ball is thinking about following through with your weight going to your left heel. Or another one, take your setup, put a chair behind you so the back of the chair is maybe an inch or two away from your butt. On the back swing, make sure your right butt cheek makes contact with the chair, and during the downswing, make sure your left butt cheek makes contact ---if you're right handed golfer obviously.

Talent is overrated. Let's take a look at one of the most "natural" and "talented" golfers in the history of golf or maybe the history of sports all together, Tiger Woods. I'm borrowing this from the book "Talent is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin by the way: "Wood's father, Earl, was a teacher, specifically a teacher of young men, and he had a lifelong passion for sports." "Earl had plenty of time to teach his son and was intensely focused on doing so." "Tiger is born into the home of an expert golfer and confessed "golf addict" who loves to teach and is eager to begin teaching his new son as soon as possible. Earl's wife does not work outside the home, and they have no other children; they have decided that "Tiger would be the first priority in our relationship." "Earl gives Tiger his first metal club, a putter, at the age of seven months." "He sets up Tiger's high chair in the garage, where Earl is hitting balls into a net, and Tiger watches for hours on end." "Before Tiger is two, they are at the golf course playing and practicing regularly." "Amid all that has been written about Tiger, a couple of facts are especially worth noting. First is the age at which he initially achieved outstanding performance at a level of play involving regular international competition. Let's call it age nineteen when he was a member of the U.S. team in Walker Cup play. At that point he had been practicing golf with tremendous intensity, first under his father and after age four under professional teachers, for seventeen years." Sorry for the long read but some people forget even though this "kid" at 19 years old was amazing, it's not because he was necessarily born with talent, but he was working extremely hard for a very long time.

Great job!!!! 5-10 times last year is quite a bit so I don't know if I'd judge a month and a half as being fair ;) but nonetheless that's great! You pinpointed it that the short game was your problem. It's the fastest way you're going to knock off strokes so make sure you give that a lot of time to practice. I was the same way sort of, I picked up the game for the first time and played maybe about 10 times shooting 100-120. I fell in love and really worked on the game the following year when the snow melted. I didn't shoot a low 90 score until mid summer I'd say. I think I broke 90 the end of the year and then broke 80 the following year though. Practice a lot, and especially work on that short game, and keep up the great work!

Very true about the fake sellers and clubs. The nice thing is that you can usually tell certain vendors on eBay sell A TON of clubs. Just make sure you check their seller rating and feedback. Many sellers you'll see has a 100 percent rating at 20,000 or so. Very reputable but yes make sure you buy from one of those sellers.

Yes eBay is a great place for new clubs for sure!

Thank you very much for the reply. Yes I'm very flexible on moving anywhere and also it would be very long term. And yes also, weather is the most important thing I'd say, temperatures and precipitation are key. Thanks again!

Hello everyone, I'm eventually looking to move somewhere warmer to be able to progress all year round on my golf game. Can some of you shed some light on the Jacksonville area or Florida in general as where would be the best places/areas to be living to immerse myself in golf with awesome courses and resources and all that? Thanks everyone!

Thanks everyone, and thanks for those last couple of posts. All is well, I'm improving and working on my goals. I just paid off my student loans and I'm going to become debt free before 2013 ends. That's about 43k in a year which is crazy, one of my big goals that will definitely help along the road. I've been getting fit, I've lost 20 pounds and am really trying to be conscientious of staying fit and injury free. I've been working with golftec still to create a sound and repeating swing. I'm signing up for a handful of tournaments this summer. I've gotten fitted for some nice MP64s which are so freakin nice. New taylormade r1 driver which I love. This year besides continually restructuring my swing, I'm going to focus intensely on my 100 yards and in game. Still on track with all goals, be scratch and have money saved up and move to Florida by 2015. All is well everyone! Follow me on twitter as I check that more than I check this, but I'll be on here from time to time. Follow me here @travdaddy226 Take care and well wishes!

Wow thanks for the tips guys! Yeah I don't know about 400-600 a day. I'm realizing that I'm actually cutting down to 150 swings a day, not 200 BALLS. I'd say I hit about 75 balls and then I hit 75 imaginary balls as well. It's working out and a good balance. Thanks for the tip on the practice clubs, I didn't think about that one and have been doing that. I also like the 100 in the morning and 100 at night kind of thing. If I really want to put in some work then I've been planning on stuff like that. I appreciate all the input. Another question....how do you guys practice your short game during those winter months if you're in the northern states?

Thank you everyone for your responses I appreciate the feedback! Yes I'm planning to move there but will be saving money as I am with a few friends there. I also have some music networks there as I am a musician who could benefit there as well. Luckily, I'll have the freedom to play on weekdays almost whenever so I don't have to always get stuck in those long weekend rounds. I'm also not talking about exactly Los Angeles, All the areas around it as well. I might be transferring to the golftec in Pasadena since I take lessons at golftec up here in Wisconsin.

Hello everyone! I'm planning to move somewhere warm all year round in about 2 years and one of the possible options is Southern California. Can anyone explain to me the golfing scene there? Mini/developmental tours? Major courses and practice facilities? To specify I might be moving close to Los Angeles with a friend to save money, I know there probably could be better places in socal for golf but I don't have many options as far as saving money. Can anyone give me some insight on the area? I appreciate everything!

Also to follow up on Striking It Rich with Reid Sheftall, here is a little spotlight that golf central did on him:

Alright, here are my suggestions and two of them have not been suggested yet or at least I think so. First off, I'm a big fan of true story average joe to pro type books because that is my dream as well so hopefully I'll be writing a book about it too one day ha.... Paper Tiger by Tom Coyne - it was already talked about and in my opinion, it is a great read about personal struggle and the battle of will. Some people talk about how it's not so believable of his handicap. It is hard to believe but he said he has posted some pretty low rounds and the handicap is kind of based on what your best round can be rather than what you always shoot. Dream On by John Richardson - A regular joe, 9-5 job kind of guy and a wife and kid, regular weekend hacker who couldn't break 100 and then decides to shoot a par round in one year and he goes through his story of his journey which is great. My personal favorite: Striking it Rich: Golf in the kingdom with Generals, patients, and pros by Reid Sheftall - A guy who used to golf as a young kid and was pretty good but then chose his profession as a doctor and for the next 20 years he golfs maybe once a year. Then gets invited to play at a nice course in which a pga pro notices how talented he is and tells him that if he really worked on his game he might have what it takes. A good review of the book right here: http://thesandtrap.com/b/tvmedia/striking_it_rich_book_review

I live in Wisconsin and they can sometimes have unforgiving 4-5 month winters here. The short game is so hard to work on and losing feel is INEVITABLE. I do have a homemade indoor driving range which is pretty awesome so I still swing quite a bit but I'm more worried about my touch and feel of my short game pitch shots, low chips, chips with spin, lag putting, short putts, ALL OF IT. How do you guys practice your short game especially during the winter months? There's just nothing at all that truly gives you a good feel of your short game practice than actually practicing on a real green.

It's been quite a while oh man. Well I know many people aren't that interested but I figured I might as well keep posting anyways. I like discussion. I've been golfing for 4 years now, my handicap is at a 7.5 now and my plan is still in place. I was hoping to be around a 5 HC about now but a nagging injury severely limited my practice as I had to take off golf completely for about a month of my summer. The biggest issue is money right now (Usually the issue for anything), I am in debt and need to save up a lot of money for when I move to focus just on my golf game. I have been doing that as I'm working quite a bit and am hoping to still get out of debt and save up enough money in 3-4 years or so. I'll continue to chop my handicap down as I save money. I'm hoping to be around scratch by the time I'm ready to move. I'm still on the road, I still have my plan in place, I'm moving towards my goals, and I'm still motivated as ever to do this. Hope all is well with everyone! Also, you can follow me on twitter @travdaddy226

Hey sorry guys, haven't been on here in awhile. I bought an Accupsort Vector X on ebay and it works great. My only complaint is that I really have to make sure the launcher is lined up correctly or otherwise it can show some weird things like me pushing or pulling the ball way left or right, I'm going to make a mat with measurement lines on it so it'll be easy to line up. Works great though. Yeah the "homemade range" that I made is perfect. I just hit off my thick carpet which is fine, I have a heavy duty tarp that connects to some screw hooks that I drilled in...I put some pillows on the ride side for the shanks ;) and I'm good to go. I also set up a webcam behind me so I can videotape my swing and then look at it afterwards. The one thing I'm missing is a mirror straight ahead (to the right of the ball). Otherwise, it works fine.

Hey, an easier and less annoying way to follow me is on twitter if you guys want to: travdaddy226 I will be keeping track of my progress on there and keeping you informed so please follow as this will take awhile! A few things: I played 18 holes today at Geneva National. It was cold, definitely not the 61 degrees like they promised. There was no sun, whipping winds, and it was more like 45 degrees. The first 9 holes was terrible, 49. I changed my mindset and just relaxed for the back 9 and ended up shooting a 39. The funnier thing is that the 39 included a hole where I scored a 10 on. I tried to get on a par 5 in two and pushed my iron into the drink. I then stubbed my wedge fat to hit it in the drink again, good times! But, for that back 9, I hit 6 fairways, 7 GIRS, made 3 birdies, should of had 4 or 5 of them, and with that double digit number 10 on one of the holes, I shot a 39. I felt really great about it actually. Also, I got hooked up with another teacher at a college 5 minutes away that has state of the art indoor practice facilities so I will be down there a lot! Cheers to everyone.

Thanks Matthews, I agree with you matt and respectively disagree with turtleback. Talent isn't something you're born with. It's dedication, practice, hard work, basically what turtleback was describing as ability. Does Tiger have more talent than me? Obviously yes but that's because he started playing golf when he was 18 months old. He supposedly racked up about 15 years of experience playing golf when he started winning big stuff when he was 18. Talent is what you make of it. You'll miss every shot you don't take. That's my whole mindset. I will take a look at the talent code as well, thank you for the tip!

Lots of good stuff here, please keep it going. First, I know that I don't have what it takes right now, I had a typo somewhere in a post and said that I definitely know that I have the talent right now. Ha, very different point that I was trying to make ---I KNOW I'M NOT READY YET. :P I have my gameplan currently: Practice at least 20 hours a week - check - Also, as I start working less, I'll obviously be practicing more and in 4 years, I'll be in a position to triple my practice and go all year round. I'm also not talking about mindlessly hitting balls. I'm talking about deliberate and precise practice to work on all aspects of my game. I have come to a big conclusion that one of the reasons why people practice A LOT but don't get much better is how they leave out detail in their work ethic, or how they don't have a certain goal, or how they don't take their full pre shot routine even though they're on the range, or they don't get in the proper mind set, or they neglect the mental game, or maybe they're super great but they have no tournament/pressure experience. I will be deliberately practicing on all that. Save up $1000 each month - check - No more Taco Bell :( Work less each month - check - I've posted before and it's true, I work about 70 hours a week. That includes 3 jobs. I'm quitting one, and the other I'm not taking on any more students as well as organizing them better to save a bunch more time. I'll still be able to save $1000 each month as well. For the next 4 years I'll be able to put about 35 hours into my game during the school year(I'm a teacher), and then obviously I'll be going non stop in the summer. This has averaged out to around 1700-1800 hours each year. Get suitable indoor practicing equipment - check - I've got an indoor driving range and launch monitor, I have an indoor putting green, I'm working on all my clubs indoors except for driver and my 4 wood because they make dents in my ceiling! Get a golf/swing coach over the winter - check - The other BIG reason I have found that a lot of practice doesn't improve is because a player will practice bad habits and the more he practices, the more it becomes ingrained in their head. I have someone that is going to be working with me throughout the winter, he will be analyzing the swing, I'll be going to his indoor facility, and I'm going to work hard on a grip, posture, alignment, swing, chip, putt, etc. Work on mental game - sort of check? - Like I said before as well, I know that there are so many good golfers that are probably better than some pros on tour except that their mental game isn't up to par(ha....ha....) and that is a HUGE problem. I said sort of check because the best way to work on pressure situations and etc is to obviously play in tournaments and be in those pressure situations. I can't at the moment obviously but I'm working on positive thinking, visualizing, confidence, a proper mind set, etc. It sounds weird but I think it will help quite a bit - before bed I close my eyes and pretend that I'm in those situations and that I'm dealing with the pressure and hitting shots crisply. Enjoy the passion and keep the determination - check so far - This is obviously going to be the hardest goal to keep. ABSOLUTELY anyone could become a pro if they practiced, lived, and breathed golf for 40 years 14 hours a day. I'm not going to do that but when I move, I'll hopefully be practicing 10-12 hours a day and again this will probably be more like a 10-15 year journey. The funny and huge advantage I think I have over other golfers though is that I really really have fun when I practice. I also mix it up quite a bit to keep things interesting. Again, my future goals are: Saving up $60k in 4 and a half years Moving to Florida(or somewhere warm, I'm just going to say Florida) to work on my game all year round. Get a job at a golf course. I feel it's very solid, if I get a job at a golf course in Florida, I will be able to golf for free and probably get discounted lessons from pros in the course. I'll be able to work on my game all year round and with the money saved up, I'll be comfortable for quite awhile. I can also build a repetoire of guitar students and make good money from that just from let's say 10 guitar students which would only be 5 hours a week. I'd be able to live off what I make right then and not have to tap in to my savings. Let's say 5 years later, things are definitely not going well, I have money saved up to go back home and that's that. Also, I know that 60k could go by very very fast if I'm trying to do some mini tours and that'd be a slight problem. I do want to get the pressure situations comfortable but I'd rather not put in a lot of money if I'm not ready to win money yet. There are other ways to do this on a lower level of pressure but easily achievable still. Local tournaments are everywhere and would definitely help, or small tours of some kind. I know I've got infinite amounts of work to catch up on but I have my gameplan, I'm achieving my goals so far, I'm making progress, and I'm in it for the long haul. Oh and the biggest thing, I'm having fun!

Hey Mihi, Wow, very inspiring, thank you for posting and sharing. I feel like I'm going through the same things you were when you decided that you wanted something and why not try and get it. This is really great to hear and I appreciate the vote of confidence. You are exactly right, maybe I will, maybe I won't, but I'm going to give it my best! This is truly great to hear about how determination and passion will get you VERY far. Please stay on board!

Holy crap guys, I meant to say that I definitely know that I don't have the talent right now!

Hey Hairy, Thanks for the goals advice. I know right now it's only 15-30 hours a week is what I'm putting in but slowly and surely, I'm changing things to make myself available to practice more and more. I'm going to be working less and practicing more and this could be a 15 year project for me. I will be working on some short term goals, that's a great idea, perhaps monthly goals I'll try to set for myself. The handicap timeline that I posted wasn't really a goal, it was just a thought in my head but obviously I'd like to get to scratch as quickly as possible. And yes, as I've said before, my dream is to be a pro golfer. I guess I've said being a pro would be my ultimate goal though, but I see what you mean. I know that there are no shortcuts and it's going to take time and hard work. Right now, I'm starting to put in time and I'm doing hard work. We'll see what happens as the years go by. Thank you very much for the insight. Please stick around, you are very knowledgeable and I'd love to keep in touch with ya!