+++Leatherass Blog+++

Not surprised at this in the slightest.

It's fantastic to hear your finally doing what you really enjoy by hitting the fairways again. As a golfer myself I will be paying pretty close attention to your progress throughout the year(s) of both your careers and I wish you all the very best in the future.

It must be exciting to be getting back into the swing of things. I hope you don't put too much pressure on yourself, particularly in the first few months, as your bound to be a little bit rusty dusty (excuse the pun) and a bag of nerves no doubt - but then who wouldn't be. Have you given yourself a breakthrough timescale or are you just wanting to grind out a career on whichever tour for as long as you can and just see how it goes?

It was interesting to hear your thoughts on your financial hardships back in the day regards golf tuition and opportunity - were you overlooked by the bureaucratic powers that be in the golfing world regards coaching's and perhaps even funding when at a younger age (I've experienced that myself so can relate to it) Anyway, I can't really imagine that being a burning issue for you any more right? You should really do an autobiography at some point it would make for an interesting read for poker players and golfers alike?

All the best and a Happy New Year to you

Originally posted by Leatherass9

Definitely not leaving Pokerstrategy.com or anything like that. In fact, intend to do as much or more than ever. As much as they will let me contribute, I am up for it.

Excellent thats what i like to hear

Good luck with the golf Dusty keep us updated

This week was really huge for my golf game. I got a lot of hard work done. I am feeling much more comfortable with everything, no question.

I started off the week playing a practice round on Monday for a 3 day event in Oceanside, CA. The course was bizarre and pretty bad to be honest. The course was called Arrow Wood Golf Club and it was a shortish course (only 6,800 yards) with fairly wide fairways. The only rub was that on about 75% of the holes if you did miss the fairway by more than 5-10 yards, you were going to either be in a hazard or OB. As long as you were hitting it decently, you should tear it up. But if you got a little wild off the tee, you were going to be in for a very long day.

Fortunately for me I was striping it off the tee. I only missed 4 fairways the whole tournament and they were mostly just a few yards off the short grass. I also hit some really nice iron shots and put myself in a great position to shoot some low scores. Unfortunately my chipping and putting (which is usually the best part of my game) was abysmal and that cost me a chance to win the golf tournament.

On day 1 I shot 74 and it was the best tee to green 74 I have ever shot. If I had any clue what I was doing around the greens, I would have shot 65. I think I missed 6 putts inside of 5 feet and missed a boatload of putts aside from those short ones that I could have made. I had one stretch where I 3 putted 3 holes in a row from inside 12 feet for birdie. Let's just say I wasn't a happy camper after that!

After such a poor putting performance, I spent 2 hours before the round on day 2 working on my putting. That meant an early wake up call for a poker player, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The work paid off quite nicely and by the time I got to the 15th tee, I was 5 under par for the round. I hit a 5 iron in the bunker and chunked my bunker shot some 50 feet away and 3 putted. I made some routine pars on 16 and 17 and then hit my tee shot down the middle on 18. The hole location was cur right over the water but I wasn't too concerned about that. Maybe I should have been. I hit my 9 iron right at the flag but didn't completely flush it and it landed about 6 feet from the pin and spun back into the water and I made a 6! So I gave back a potentially good round and finished with a 70.

Day 3 was more of the same. I missed 1 fairway and 4 greens (3 of which were on the fringe) and made nothing and shot 71. That should have gotten me a small paycheck of $500, but I learned that I was penalized 2 strokes for something that happened on day 1. On day 1 I hit it into the fairway bunker on 18 and it had a big lip on it. I played the shot out of the bunker and went for the green which was right over the lake. I thought I hit a pretty good shot, but when I ran out of the bunker to see where it went, I saw a splash so I thought it went in the lake somehow. I wasn't sure though because I thought I hit a good shot so I decided to play a provisional ball in case it went in the water. I figured I could play a provisional ball and then go up to the green to see if my ball cleared the hazard and save the group some time. As I had just dropped the ball, a player in my group said that my ball was on the green about 20 feet from the hole. I went to pick up my provisional ball and the guy told me not to and he thought I might have to accept the penalty by virtue of dropping the ball.

I decided to play 2 balls which is allowed under the rules in these cases and take it up with a rules official. When I got into the clubhouse he told me that there was no penalty. Later on the rules official called the USGA and they said the official made the wrong ruling and I ended up having to add 2 strokes and that cost me a paycheck unfortunately. It is obviously a stupid rule and I thought a lot about it and I have no idea how it makes logical sense to penalize a player in that spot. I hit the ball on the green 20 feet away and somehow by virtue of dropping a ball on the ground I somehow get 2 strokes added! Oh well, it is a stupid rule, but I need to know them all since there is nothing I can do to change them so you live and you learn.

I had a great lesson yesterday with a guy named John Ray Leary who is someone I grew up playing junior golf with. He has some PGA tour experience and is now doing some coaching. I have been working with Michael Neff in Portland, but needed someone to keep an eye on me while I am in California so it is great to get to work a little with John since they both have similar beliefs on the golf swing. It is great to have great coaches whether I am in Oregon or California so I am pretty excited about that.

It has been fun trying to work on the game of golf the way I work on my poker game. Looking back, I didn't know how to practice golf anywhere near as good as I do now. I feel now like I understand the formula for how to work on things whether it be golf, poker or anything truthfully. It is important to practice and prepare for everything you do in the most efficient and sensible manner possible. The work I have done with poker is undoubtedly going to be huge for my golf game. It has been a lot like working on poker to be honest. Especially when I get into the swing labs and I can see that for example a PGA tour player might have there shoulders tilted at 42 degrees (I am making these numbers up) and I am at 47 degrees, then I need to obviously adjust that. Just like in HEM where I might see that a great player check raises 15% in certain spots, if I am only doing it 7%, I might want to work on increasing that number. So it has been quite fun to work on my golf game in a way that I can easily relate to with poker.

Next week I have an event on Monday at El Camino CC and I might play one on Wednesday at Brookside golf club next to the Rose Bowl. I love that golf course, but I need to look for a place to live down here so I may have to take that day to find a place.

So to wrap it up, I have shot 74-74-70-71 in my 4 tournament rounds so far to start my journey. All in all, I am already seeing improvement and while I am not setting the world on fire, all in all it is not a terrible start given where I am coming from.

The clock is really ticking before Cardoza takes over the rights to my books. We are approaching "last call" for original versions of my books. If you are interested in my books, please go to Dustyschmidt.net and enter code DUSTY to receive 50% off the already reduced price. I think you can get both of my books for something like $25 once you apply the discount, so please take advantage of these cheap prices before they go up substantially when Cardoza takes over.

Originally posted by Flopper8
Not surprised at this in the slightest.

It's fantastic to hear your finally doing what you really enjoy by hitting the fairways again. As a golfer myself I will be paying pretty close attention to your progress throughout the year(s) of both your careers and I wish you all the very best in the future.

It must be exciting to be getting back into the swing of things. I hope you don't put too much pressure on yourself, particularly in the first few months, as your bound to be a little bit rusty dusty (excuse the pun) and a bag of nerves no doubt - but then who wouldn't be. Have you given yourself a breakthrough timescale or are you just wanting to grind out a career on whichever tour for as long as you can and just see how it goes?

It was interesting to hear your thoughts on your financial hardships back in the day regards golf tuition and opportunity - were you overlooked by the bureaucratic powers that be in the golfing world regards coaching's and perhaps even funding when at a younger age (I've experienced that myself so can relate to it) Anyway, I can't really imagine that being a burning issue for you any more right? You should really do an autobiography at some point it would make for an interesting read for poker players and golfers alike?

All the best and a Happy New Year to you

Thanks! Yeah, it is a long, long story truthfully, but I definitely felt like there were countless players I could beat or was at least as good as who seemed to have a lot more opportunity than I did. Not that I had none, but it was really the guidance and instruction that I was lacking.

I actually have a book deal to do an autobiography, but I just haven't gotten it done yet. Not that I would really write it to be obnoxious about it I mean I am 30 years old and writing an autobiography which sounds pretty weird. But I do think my experiences might be interesting/potentially useful to some so I think I will get it done within some reasonable time frame. Thanks for asking! I could use some inspiration!

Pfft, some football players (Soccer to you ) Have about 3 autobiographies by the age of 25, who the hell needs 3 autobiographies!? ♦

Things have been starting to improve quite nicely on the links this past week. After hitting it good but struggling around the greens, I was able to put it together quite nicely this week.

On Monday I played El Camino CC and was able to shoot an even par 72 on a course that was very odd and quirky. There was OB everywhere and the greens were pretty nuts. You could get at the course if you were really sharp, but I was just sorta average with everything which is OK in it's own way. I am starting to feel more comfortable on the course and dealing with the pressure of tournament golf. Anyway, I t10th in the event (just a 1 day event) that had a pretty strong field with some Nationwide and PGA tour guys (past and present) and earned my first paycheck of the year.

On Wednesday I played one of my favorite public golf courses called Brookside which is next to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I always get excited to play there because the golf course is very hard and challenging, yet completely fair at the same time. It is a lot like Torrey Pines golf course (site of the 2008 US OPEN) in that regard. It is 7,300 yards and in January, it is playing every bit of that. In fact, I honestly think if someone were to pour a bunch of money into it for whatever reason, it has the makings of being the next Bethpage Black.

I was finally able to minimize my mistakes both mentally and around the greens and played a very nice round of 69 (course rating is 75.0) to t1st and pick up my first win of the year. It wasn't anything to write home about in that it was just a small field Pepsi Tour event, but nonetheless I treat pretty much every competitive round the same and it was nice to shoot a nice round out there.

One thing that was pretty cool about it was that I was 3 under par and standing on the 18th tee which is a brutally hard 470 par 4 that plays every bit of it's length. OB hugs the right hand side of the fairway and the green is as small and narrow as a 470 par 4 can come.
The last time I stood on that tee in a professional event was just a few weeks prior to my heart attack in 2004 and I sliced the ball OB and made a 7. I stood on the tee and stared at that OB fence (which is pretty intimidating) and just said to myself, "Things are a little different this time. Let's show yourself what you are made of." I hit my drive exactly where I was aiming and was left with a mid iron in. I hung my second shot out to the right but was left with a fairly easy chip shot. I had a sense that I needed a par to win since it felt like 60 just might take it home, but 70 would be marginal. I hit my little pitch exactly how I wanted to, but unfortunately when the ball went to check up on the 2nd bounce, it hit a pebble and skidded some 10 feet past the hole.

I was pretty jacked up to hit that putt. I just got really excited to hit it and just felt like there was no way I was going to miss it. I saw the line really well. Almost as important, rather than getting really nervous and freaked out to hit a big putt, I could see myself making it. I felt like the kid in the basketball game who was like, "Coach, give me the ball!" I knocked the putt right in the center and it was really a nice feeling to sense how far I have come since the last time I played that golf hole.

What is so great about playing competitive golf for me is that I feel "alive" in a way that nothing else can do for me. And it is great to feel alive. After playing so much poker and living in dreary Portland, Oregon, I have come to realize just how much I truly love that feeling. How I perform may not matter to very many people, but it matters to me in a way that is very special. Having grown up in LA area and then moved to Portland for the past half dozen years, I now have a true sense of appreciation for how amazing southern California really is. I can play and compete at golf against very good if not great golfers year round in absolutely perfect weather 15+ days a month. I literally can't play any competitive golf whatsoever in the state of Oregon and wow, that is really depressing. As much as I love this place in so many ways, living where there is zero good poker action and no competitive golf, is not my idea of a lot of fun. Anyway, thank God a place like this exists!