Grip it & Rip It!

Growing the game of golf is why I love my job as a PGA Professional. I am lucky to get the chance to impact people’s lives every day and that doesn’t just mean their golf swings. This is what fires me up every morning! I enjoy working with junior golfers and helping them figure out the complicated game of golf. It is a game that we can all play for life. So, this tip will be centered on junior golfers but adults can use this tip as well.  The one thing in golf that an instructor cannot teach is speed. Speed is something you either have or you don’t. I like for junior golfers to hit a lot of drivers for various reasons. I don’t just like them to hit the driver but I like them to try and hit it as far as they possibly can. “Grip it and Rip it” as John Daly would say. This does several things for your golf swing. It helps juniors to develop speed at an early age and it also helps them to have aggressive swings with their drivers. One of the biggest mistakes I see adults make with the driver is that they try to guide the balls in the fairway. The best drivers in the world don’t try to guide it out there but they really go after it. Ever seen Jason Day hit his driver in person? I can promise you he doesn’t leave much in the tank. So, for the junior golfers out there really try to smash that driver next time you play. It is a lot of fun to hit the ball really far and can help get them excited about becoming a golfer!

Thanks,

Justin Sigmon, PGA

2016 Master's Trip

I wanted to wait a bit for the Master's dust to settle a bit before I wrote a blog. I didn't want to steel any of the thunder from such an awesome week of golf but where do I begin. It all started out after a 12 hour work day on a Monday before The Master's. The minutes and the hours seemed to stand still. I could not wait to hit the road and head to Augusta! I had to book a hotel room in Swainsboro, Ga to avoid paying exorbitant rates in and around Augusta due to The Masters. I stayed in a little Best Western that was not much to look at but it would do just fine considering I would only be there for a short time at night. I could barely sleep I was so excited. I woke up at 4:30 am on Tuesday morning and made the hour and fifteen minute drive from Swainsboro to Augusta. I was trying to be one of the first ones in the gate and my plan paid off. I pulled into the parking lot at The Masters at 6:15 or so and waited in line for them to let us in. I still had no badge and It was hard for me to believe that I would be able to get one for FREE! Finally, they opened the gates to Augusta National and I went and got my badge! All I had to do was flash my PGA card and I was in. This is by far the best perk I have found yet for being a PGA Member. When I walked through the gates of Augusta National I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was the most serine and beautiful place I had ever seen other than the areas around the Sea of Galilee in Israel. As soon as I walked in the gates Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson Dechambeu, and Keegan Bradley were warming up. I followed them around for 15 holes and then explored every nook and cranny of golf's Mecca that I could. I must have ate 10-12 egg salad and pimento cheese sandwiches. I also discovered that they have the best ice cream sandwiches. They are Georgia peach flavored. I also spent about $400 in the merchandise area and I even held back on a few items (like a set of $75 Masters coasters that I wanted for my office). I walked around all day and was just soaking in the experience. My day Tuesday was great but Wednesday was even better. Wednesday is the par 3 tournament and I got in really early and got a great spot on hole #6 right next to the rope. I saw everybody come through including Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson in his final Masters. It was a great experience and I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to go and to keep going back for years to come. 

Georgia PGA Spring Meeting & Georgia PGA Pro-Pro Scramble

For those of you that don't know already, I was up for an election for an At-Large Director in the Gerogia PGA Section board of directors. I was fortunate enough to be apart of their board meeting Sunday 3/20 at the Atlanta Marriott and the PGA Spring Meeting the next day. Whenever you are elected to one of those positions you have to campaign at the PGA Meeting. I had to get up in front of everybody and answer two questions that were drafted by the board. I was so nervous Sunday night and that next morning. The meeting did not start until 1:00 Monday afternoon, so I had to sit and think about getting up and talking. I'm not usually nervous about public speaking. I did it a lot in college. One thing that I could not get out of my mind was speaking in front of 150 PGA Professionals. These are the people that I have always looked up to! I waited until about 4:00 and it was finally my turn to talk. I got up there and was really nervous at first but I calmed down after the first question and I was able to really speak about what I had prepared. I did not win but it was a good experience. I was the new guy on the block and everyone seemed to respect the fact that I put myself out there at a young age and gave it a shot. I appreciate all of the support and anyone that actually voted for me (there may have been a few)! The next day me and my good buddy and fellow pro Bob Burk played in the Georgia PGA Pro-Pro. We have not really fared well so far in our career of playing together in pro-pro tournaments so we really wanted to give this one a good run. We played the event at Ansley Settingdown Creek which is a really difficult Bob Cupp design North of Atlanta. We started on hole # 6 and played pretty steady on the first few holes. We were -1 for the day when we made the turn to hole #10 which is a pretty long par 5 with a lot of trouble surrounding it. Bob and I bot hit pretty good drives in the fairway. We decided to play my ball because I hit it a little further than Bob's. The guys we are playing with hit a great shot into the green and had a good look at eagle. Bob hit first for us and he hit a great shot from about 265. His ball hit short left of the hole and when it hit the green it rolled back to the back tier. When we pulled up to the green we had about 20 or so feet left for our eagle putt. The guys we were playing with missed both of their eagle putts. We read the putt and decided it was about a foot and a half break from right to left. I putted first and I struck the putt on the right line but it went passed the hole and I thought we had missed. However, the ball hung out to the right and went behind the hole and FELL IN!!! We made the eagle. We thought to ourselves that surely somebody would cut us in the skins game. Little did we know that when we finished we had the only skin for the day. Out of 60 teams of two pros together we were the only two guys to make a 3 on the par 5 10th hole! There was $2400 in the skin pot and we won the only skin. Bob and I made out like bandits. When they told us we had won we both just looked at each other and started dying laughing. We made more out of that skin than the winning team! It is something that I will remember forever. It's just a reminder to keep playing every hole as hard as you can because you never know what may happen. You may end up winning the entire skin pot or even winning a tournament when you thought you had no chance. After the tournament I drove to Charlotte to visit my Grandparents and my Aunt Kristi. I spent a few days with them which is always great. I always feel like I am at home when I am with them in Charlotte. Its a beautiful city and I cherish the time that I get to spend with them. Masters week is coming up and I will be on the grounds Thursday and Friday for the first time ever so stay tuned for some blogs about that. Take Care -Justin 

PGA Show 2016

Where do I begin...We started the day at the hotel with an awesome breakfast thanks to the Drury Inn and Suites. We decided to skip taking our own vehicle to the show from the hotel and take the shuttle. Well, turns out the shuttle takes you on a trip around Orlando. Not really, but it made several more stops and pickups along the way before we actually made it to the show! We finally made it to the show and met up with my good buddy from Tampa Chad Davis an. We walked in the doors and were immediately blown away. It will never cease to amaze me how big the show is and how huge the convention center that hosts it is. It is mind blowing. You can almost literally hear money being made and spent at the same time. When you walk around the show you literally run into famous people. My dad was sitting watching Bubba Watson speak at the PGA Forum and Hal Sutton walked up to him and started a conversation. My dad told Hal that we have a member at our club that still says "be the right club today," after each good shot. Hal said, "at least somebody still remembers that." How could we forget Hal? Hitting it stiff on the 18th at The Players is an unforgettable moment especially when it was to beat Tiger Woods in his prime. We had numerous meetings and appointments to attend and put in a full day at the show. I was impressed yet again with what Oakley golf will have to offer in the future. They are by far the best company in customer service. They are going to tap into the athliesure market and I think that will end up being huge in golf. Bubba and Zack are always two of the best dressed guys on tour and I think Rory dressed his best with Oakley. They have also made a big push on Prizm golf and that will be a big deal in 2016 more than it was last year. The PGA show is a cool place. It is a big event but no matter how big it feels there are reminders of how small the world really is. I ran into both pros from Valdosta  and several other people that I have had previous acquaintances with. Tomorrow we have a tee time at Streamsong at 11:44 am. Weather permitting it should be an amazing experience. Thanks to all the people that put in work to make the PGA Show a success. It makes the PGA look good. We finally made it back to the hotel after a long day, luckily. We took our first UBER. A guy named Jose picked us up from the convention center and it was an adventure. All in all a fun day at the 2016 PGA Merchandise Show. 

PGA Demo Day

The world seemed to stand still for a moment  at the PGA Demo Day 2016. My dad and I saw all that there was to see at Demo Day. We left beautiful Valdosta at 4:30 am Tuesday morning and drove our way to Orlando and Orange County National (the host site of the PGA's annual Demo Day). I was a little reluctant to leave so early but after only an hour on the road it would have been time for me to wake up and get ready to open the golf shop at 7! We arrived at the show early and found a parking spot. They parked us in the Palmer lot which sounds nice, but it was in the middle  of a dusty old field. This wouldn't have been all that bad a week or so ago, but it was a nightmare in the new Maxima. We made our way to the gates and into Demo day in time to see the opening ceremonies and the opening to the PGA's Centennial celebration. Bubba Watson was there to kick off the festivities along with golf channel's Charlie Rymer. They showcased all 41 PGA sections with representatives for each section. After the opening ceremonies my dad and I got our full fix of all things golf. We hit every club that you could imagine. We saw several big names in the world of golf. We saw Bubba, Lexi Thompson, the golf channel crew, Michael Breed, Martin Hall, Jesper Parnivick, and Greg Norman. I would have to say that the best club I hit all day was the Callaway XR Driver, wow that thing was hot! The best set of irons I hit was surprisingly the Wilson Staff blade iron. The Wilson irons were money but that was about it for them. We tried a lot of different putters and I was really impressed with the Pure Putters and the BioMech Putters. The BioMech is the putter that Tim Clark switched to this year. I was on fire with it! All in all it was a good day made even better by the free beer from Srixon/Cleveland, Wilson Staff, and TaylorMade. Thank You! We had a blast and we are looking forward to a full day at the PGA merchandise show at Orange County Convention Center tomorrow. More to come, so stay tuned!

2016 PGA Merchandise Show

At the end of January each year The PGA of America hosts it's annual PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center. It is a huge display of every kind of golf product, gadget, or gizmo you could ever imagine that has to do with golf. I went for the first time last year and was blown away by what I saw. I was only there for about 6 hours and was able to get my picture made with Holly Saunders and Michael Breed. I saw my fair share of celebrities and professional golfers among the crowds of the game/business of golf's elites. My good friend Chad Davis went with me and he was excited to find out that there would be very attractive LPGA tour players doing meet and greets and photo ops. If you ever get the chance to go to the PGA show, take it, because it is a fun and unforgettable experience.  I told myself last year that I could go every day for a whole year and probably see something new each day. That is how big it is.  This year, I am going to take my dad with me on this journey. I am excited to share the PGA experience with my best friend, my dad. My dad and I have been fortunate enough to play golf a lot together over the years. After all, that is what golf is all about. Golf is about spending time with people you like and growing/building long lasting relationships. That is what makes it so great! For the week of the show we plan to attend Demo Day on Tuesday, the show all day Wednesday and OCCC, golf Thursday at Streamsong Red, and a short day at the show Friday. It should be a fun week in the center of the golf universe. I plan to bring back plenty of new ideas and great stuff that we can use to make our facility, Stone Creek better. I will do blogs each night that I'm in Orlando and keep you all updated on how the trip is going through social media. I look forward to sharing my experiences, so stay tuned! 

Saturday Dogfight & Sunday Blitz

There is never a dull moment when the weekend begins here at Stone Creek Golf Club. We open the doors to the golf shop at 7 AM sharp. We have a group of regulars that are usually waiting to tee off right when the doors open! These guys have been playing at 7 AM on Saturday since this place opened. They are dedicated to playing here and we appreciate their loyalty. Bob and I were laughing, because today the sun came up at 7:45 and the 7 AM group was already on the green at hole #3! How on earth do they see their ball? We may never know! Soon after the early guys/gals tee off we start getting our Dogfight rush (no actual dogs just hungry golfers). Its usually a group from 40-50 golfers that we send out in a shotgun start every Saturday morning at 9 AM. If you are looking for some quality entertainment that does not break the bank, come out and participate. I can assure you that it is the most fun you can have here in Valdosta for $50. If I wasn't in the golf business and I didn't have to work on Saturdays I would be looking for a game to play in just like the Dogfight. If you happen to be busy on Saturday and have to miss out on the fun, no worries because we do the exact same thing on Sundays at 1 PM. We have coined the Sunday game as The Sunday Blitz. So, come on out and join in on the fun with us here at Stone Creek!

Golf In 2016

What will golf be like in 2016? I hope that the game will thrive and that myself along with fellow golf professionals will see the business side of the game grow. The professional game is as healthy as it has ever been, minus the fact that Tiger is a big question mark going forward. Gone are the days of the "Tiger Woods effect." It seemed like in years past that every time that Tiger was near the lead or in the lead the golf course here was packed and people were buzzing about golf. Tiger had an impact on the game like nobody else. Who will step up and fill his shoes? Will it be Jordan Speith? Will it be Rory? Will anybody ever be able to bring in as much of a diverse crowd of new golfers as Tiger was able to do? Who knows? We do know a few things that should excite golfers this year. For starters, it is a Ryder Cup year, which is always exciting! We also have golf returning to the Olympics this year. This should be fun to watch because golf is a truly global game in 2016. Rory will be trying to complete "the Rory Slam," at The Masters in April while trying to hold off Speith's title defense. Another good story line will be Phil trying to win the US Open at Oakmont. It may be one of his last chances to win what would complete "the Phil Slam." All in all, it should be fun to see what happens out there this year. In the meantime, come on out to Stone Creek and play a round of golf!