It’s still amazes me when I give a lesson to a student, or look in a member’s bag, and still see a 2 or 3 iron (or both) and no hybrid clubs. Although hybrids are very popular, they have been around for quite awhile and you can see them in many tour players’ bags. I have had a 19 degree hybrid (different models) in my bag for the past 7 or 8 seasons. I do remember when I first starting using it, I was attending a Titleist Fitting Seminar. The Titleist staff member that was conducting the seminar asked how many of us (there were about 40 club pros) have dropped the 2 iron from their bag. Several hands, including mine, went up. Then he asked how many had dropped the 3 iron in their bag and stated with the 4 iron. One hand went up – mine. I was the only one that had this club configuration in their bag. The topic, of course, and the reason for his questions were to enlighten us to the value of the hybrid. But I already knew its value.

My 19 degree Titleist 585 hybrid (soon to be replaced by the 909H) basically replaces my 2 and 3 iron. It replaces my 2 iron in distance, IF I could hit a 2 iron that far – which I can’t. To explain, I can carry a 4 iron 190 yards, but I don’t think I could carry a 2 iron more than 200 yards (it’s been some time since I hit one). I just can’t keep the ball in the air long enough – which is why the hybrid is in my bag. I can carry the ball 220 yards and throttle it back to 205-210 without much trouble. Plus, it’s easier to hit out the rough and fairway bunkers, not to mention the misses are A LOT BETTER than with a long iron.

Yet, when I ask anyone why they still have a 3 iron or 2 iron in their bag they almost always respond “I use it for trouble shots – punching out of the woods – it’s great for that.” I understand that, I have to hit low punch shots too – I just take my 4 iron and put it a little further back in my stance to create the launch of a 2/3 iron. And I don’t remember standing over a shot in the woods saying “I wish I still had my 3 iron.” But I can say I’m glad when I’m faced with a 215 yard carry over water that I don’t have to hit a 2 iron!

Now you’re starting to see almost entire sets made up of hybrids. They’ll be slow to catch on because many golfers are traditionalists, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these sets are the future of golf. I’m not suggesting that you go buy a set, although I think you might want to try them. What I am suggesting is that you get those long irons out of your bag! Regardless of your handicap – no matter how low it may be - if you don’t have AT LEAST one hybrid in your bag, you’re making the game harder than you have to.

It’s rare that I talk with or meet anyone without them asking the question “How is the book doing”? Well, the short answer is the book is doing well.

See when you are writing the book, you are a writer, but then once it’s published, you become an author, which means that it’s time to sell the book - which means you become a salesman. And the primary way a book becomes successful is through publicity. People need to know the book is out there. You can build a better mousetrap but if no one knows it exists, no one will buy it. And it’s the same with books. So I hired a publicist and spent several thousands of dollars, along with local advertising, to help market the book, but for the most part came up with very little in the way of publicity. Because of my television exposure, getting local publicity (Long Island) was relatively easy, so the book did well locally. But nationally is a different story. The national publicity that you would most likely get, and need, is from the two major golf magazines – Golf Digest and Golf Magazine. Unfortunately, I have called everyone I know to try to get the book some coverage in these magazines, but to no avail. The magazines know about the book – they have copies of it. But basically, unless you are on the magazine’s own “Top Teacher” list, determined by the magazines themselves, chances are you will get ZERO coverage. And so I’ve been boxed out of the major magazines – at least for now. But trust me, I haven’t stopped trying.

The book continues to do well on Amazon, because it has received great reviews. In fact, I haven’t seen one mediocre review anywhere on the internet, let alone a poor one. And positive reviews really help. If you are someone who has written a review on Amazon – thank you – I appreciate it. And if you are reading this, chances are you probably liked my book and think it has value. I kindly ask you to consider going on Amazon and writing a brief review. You didn’t have to get the book from Amazon in order to review it there.

So I’m confident the book will continue to sell, just based on the word of mouth from all of you and the positive reviews it has been receiving. Also if anyone has any suggestions for me on how I could get some publicity for my book – please email them to me at info@joelaurentino.com. All and any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks to all of you that have supported me through all the phases of this book process. I've learned so much and genuinely appreciate all of your support.

So finally, after having gone to Pennetta Physical Therapy back in the middle of October, I have started my exercise program. Why did it take almost 3 weeks to get started? Well, I would like to tell you that I get motivated immediately and couldn’t wait to start. But what happened is I had to run out of excuses before starting an exercise program. First, I couldn’t start because I was doing a little traveling, then I had to go to the gym and signup for membership, then I had to buy new training pants, then a couple of days later some new training sneakers, then I need to order, on the internet, some skull caps to work out in, then I had to mentally motivate myself during this time period of the reasons why I should get started. First, I wanted to lose more. But that reason started months ago when Newsday did a full-page article on me and showed a photo of me on my downswing, and you could see my belly hanging over my belt. Another reason is that I have weaknesses and need more strength and flexibility to do the thing I’d like to do with the golf club in my golf swing. I also have two small children, and at 46 I need to start taking a little better care of myself (including my diet!). And lastly I just wanted to feel better about myself and my experience with exercise in the past has proven to me that it does just that.

So finally I ran out of excuse and had the necessary motivation and realized that I had to get started. And I have been going seven days straight. I work out about 1 ½ hours a day, a combination of cardio, my golf specific exercises for golf, and some weight training. Some days it’s closer to 2 hours, which is a lot. So how do I feel? Besides feeling sore, I definitely feel physically and mentally better. So if you are like me, and many others who think they should be exercising (for whatever reasons you have), get started, you won’t regret it. The hardest part is getting started. Just try to get through the excuse list of why you can’t start exercising, faster than you have been.

Well another season in the Northeast is about to end (for some it has already ended) and another season has gone by where my son Quinten, now six years old, has shown no interest in golf. I'm always asked by people, which I guess is natural, if my son is playing and in love with the game of golf. But the answer to this point is no, he isn't. This year I had him up to Indian Hills CC, the club I work at, two times. My wife will bring him up, he'll get out the car, dressed like a real golfer, hat and all. He puts his bag, with the double straps, on his shoulders and will march over to the driving range, looking like a golfer ready to hit some balls. So I'm also asked what I do with him when he does hit balls. I always put the ball on a very small tee, put down a couple of coins to mark where both of his feet should be (gets him a good distance from the ball, feet proper disance apart, and a good ball position) and put his hands close together on the club. And that's it. Then I just let him hit balls and say very little. See the thing is that its very hard for Quinten to NOT be exposed to the game, the game practically consumes my life - sometimes too much of it. So my biggest fear is that I'll push him to play and that will chase him away from the game. So he'll hit 20, myabe 30 balls then turn to me and say "Okay, I've had enough, let's go on the course." So we'll go on the course and play one hole from the 150 yard marker in.

But the reason my son wants to go on the course is to see the wildlife. Every since we can remember, my son has been obsesssed with animals. So that's what he wants to look for; fish, birds, frogs, turtles, and the foxes that I hardly ever see, but that he's hoping to get a glimpse of. So the animal /nature angle is what I try to play up in hope that he'll take up the game. Do I really want him to play? Sure I do, but not for the reasons most poeple think. My son, at least to this point hasn't shown much interest in sports, and he's tried several. So I have no dreams of him being a future #1 player in the world. I hope that Quinten will play golf because I think it is a great scoial game and one that teaches you a lot about yourself. But one of the primary reasons is selfish; it would be something we can share together for as long as I live, just as it was with my farther until the day he died.

But to me, its much more important that my son has a passion for something, and that my wife and I feed that passion. So for now that means many trips to the Bronx zoo (along with any other zoo in any area of the country we may be), time in the library and on the internet learning about animals, along with decorating his room with a jungle theme.

So I'll "gently" continue to give him the opportunity to play golf and hopefully one day he'll show some interest in the game. If not, I'm okay with that too.

Since October 22nd, when I came home from speaking at my Alma-Mata Ferris State, not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about my experience back at my school. It’s remarkable the impression it has left on me even weeks after the experience. But now the impression got another boost. I received an email from Chris, assistant golf coach and assistant to the PGM director, giving me an update on how the golf team was doing in a tournament in Florida. In the email he asked whether I had safely received “thank you” notes from the school. I responded I hadn’t, but realized they probably went to my business address, a UPS mailbox. So I drove down to UPS and picked up my mail and found three very nice handwritten notes, from Matt the director, Chris, and Annette. In addition, there was a large envelope. I got back to my office and opened them. In the envelope were about 60 thank you letters from the students. I was shocked. Obviously, they were “encouraged” to write thank you letters to me, which I think is a good habit to get into and a great way to learn to communicate in the written form. Nearly all the letters thanked me for giving them a book and how much they enjoyed and learned from my seminar. Some of them were written in a style that was obligatory, which is fine, but many were well thought out and specific to my visit. Obviously, I appreciate getting all them, and along with that, the feeling that my time spent there was worthwhile for all.

There were many really good letters, but one student wrote something that really left an impression on me. Anyone who knows me, or for that matter, has read the preface to my book, will appreciate what this student said. In the last paragraph of the letter, the student wrote:

“I thought it was inspiring to hear that when you were at Ferris you were somewhat of a rebel. I try to dress different that everybody and have my own style on and off the course. It was also interesting to hear that you play the drums - I too have a passion for playing the drums. It gives me hope to hear that someone like you who reminds me a lot of myself can be so successful in life. You have motivated me so much and I would just like to thank you for that.”

I paid quite a heavy price for my book – time (five years), energy, and a lot of money to publish it. And now I’m reaping the rewards, and many of them are not monetary. And when you receive letters like this, its value is pretty much worth the price of admission.

Distance measuring devices have now become common place. There are now many different companies marketing these products. I’m only familiar with two of them - the Bushnell Rangefinder and the SkyCaddie GPS units. Basically they are two very different units. The SkyCaddie, like most GPS units gives you the yardage to things like bunkers, hazards, and the front, middle, and back of the greens. All of this is done automatically and there is no need to point at anything to get the distance. There are several companies out there making these types of units. On the other hand, the Bushnell unit does nothing for you; you have to point at the object and press a button to get the distance. The big advantage is that you get the actual number to the flag. I’m not looking to review the products here, but I will say that regardless of whether you choose one type of device or the other is not important, but rather if you don’t have one, you should consider getting one. It’s funny how when I talk to golfers and suggest they own one, most of them say “what’s the difference I can’t hit my iron 162 yards, isn’t it go enough for me to just eyeball it?” That’s a fair question, but here are four reasons why I think you should own one:

1. If you at time need to look for a marker (sprinkler head, etc) or pace off yardages, this will clearly save you time and slightly pick up pace of play.

2. It takes out any indecision in your mind. When you eyeball the yardage, your mind is not giving you an accurate number (especially if you are hitting out of the adjacent fairway!). With the device, no questions asked, the number is what it is and that can help you make a more committed swing.

3. By knowing the exact numbers, you will come to realize how far your ACTUAL carry distances are for all the clubs in your bag. This can only lead to more realistic and better club selections when facing shots on the course.

4. If you get a device that gives you the exact distance to the flag, the accuracy of your wedge game will improve. It is especially helpful to develop feel for those in between distances and half shots. It’s made it much easier for me to learn the difference in what my 70 yard wedge swing feels like versus my 80 yard one. More accuracy with the wedges leads directly to better scores.

So there you have it -- my reasons that I think a distance measuring device can help your game. Now get online, start doing some research, figure out which one works best for you and your budget, and buy it. And if you’re one of those traditionalists that feel it isn’t right to use one of these devices, well the USGA has approved it, so ONWARD AND UPWARD and take advantage of them.

Yesterday, I attended the MET PGA fall meeting. Immediately following, was an educational forum (seminar) with guest speaker, Hank Haney. Haney is somewhat of a household name, since he became Tiger Woods’ coach five years ago.

I have to admit, the primary reason I attended the seminar is my interest in seeing what Tiger's coach’s philosophy is on teaching and the golf swing, and of course to see how inline, or out-of-line, it was with my own personal philosophies. Interestingly, Haney’s theory is very much similar to mine in the sense that he works off of ball flight, then impact, then what the club does to cause impact, then what the player can do to influence the club differently. Of course, there was some difference of opinion, among other things; Haney appears to look at the backswing as somewhat non-negotiable, for cause and effect reasons. But at the same time I didn’t get to ask him a direct question about it. Of course most of the Q and A was questions regarding Tiger and here were a few things I didn’t know that I found interesting. First, in the five years they have been working together, they have only used video 3 TIMES when working on Tiger’s swing! This totally shocked me. He said the reason is Tiger understands his ball flight and what the club did to cause it and possesses a very keen sense of what he is doing with his club. Another interesting thing was Tiger takes a tremendous number of practice swings when learning to integrate a new move, before he actually hits balls. Tiger also uses the method, which I discussed in my book (I didn’t claim to discover it) of doing things slowly before speeding them up. He’ll hit a driver with a full swing 50 yards with a new move he is trying to integrate, and then keep turning up the speed until he can execute at full speed; learning to crawl before he can run.

Overall it was an interesting talk and I thought Haney did a nice job with his presentation. The last thing Haney said was that if anyone is betting that Tiger will come back and not be as good, they are going to lose that bet. Of course I think he has to say that, but I think he really does believe it. And I have to admit, I agree with him.