Tri County Golf Ranch

If you have hung out with Larry and me for any period of time, you know that this isn’t just about golf. We love being a steward and stewardess of this land. And in honor of Earth Day, I thought I’d share all of the reasons we love this patch of earth. This 88 acres was originally cared for by the Miami and Shawnee Indians, then settled by John Morrow Cochran and most recently tended to by the Cassinelli Family.  The land has been farmed and supported livestock. The ponds still hold bass, bluegill and carp as well as turtles, frogs, herons, and ducks. The ponds are also home to our resident kingfisher, the Golf Ranch spirit animal. The kingfisher is a symbol of prosperity, abundance and new experiences. He lives life in the air and in the water, feeding on fish, crawdads, frogs, and insects. He reminds us to dive into the waters of life without fear or hesitation (or a retirement plan). On dry ground, we host several deer, coyotes, fox squirrels, gray squirrels and Glendale black s...

 One of my junior golfers had her first big tournament yesterday. She was great. Her dad reported back that she had some great shots and some not great shots. Mind you, she is eleven and already had a basketball game, a golf lesson, and was teeing it up at 4pm on a cold, wet day. ANYONE would have seen a mix of good and bad shots under those conditions. Often, we are looking for a GUARANTEE that the bad stuff won't happen, but that is out of our control . What's next then? We can make the bad stuff better by raising the floor . We work on the places where we tend to struggle so that the bad gets better.  For example, if you tend to lose your tee shot both left and right , we work on eliminating one of those shots.  Which one makes you want to crawl into a hole when you hit it?  For me, it's a shot blocked immediately to the right.  So I work on hitting the golf ball left, so that I rarely miss a shot right. That allows me to have an idea of where my golf ball wi...

What makes a great putter?  I'm not sure I know.  I consider Larry to be a great putter. Why? He seems to make the putts when they count.  When I am caddying for him and I help him read the line, he seems to make them every time.  I've even called him off a putt because I saw, felt something different right before he pulled the trigger.  That's a great team, or maybe even a better putter. Or maybe he had it the whole time and I just feel good about my caddying skills.  I've been searching for a perfect putting stroke for 37 years now.  My grandfather always said I wasn't a good putter. And as much as I don't want to BELIEVE it, it sticks. At least for right now.  Just like he used to nervously play with the tees in his pocket while he waited for me to hit a shot. I don't change putters very often, but Larry does on almost what feels like a weekly basis.  He switches to whatever he is trying to feel. No face balance if he really wants to feel ...