When was the Last Time You Gifted Your Time and Volunteered

As many of you are aware, our family has chosen to be Telus Ambassadors.

Volunteering is an Integral Part of Our Family

Telus' mission to provide digital services beyond devices and a connection, with a focus on community, customer care, environment and giving back is a natural fit for our family.

Our relationship with Telus began 5 years ago when our family was invited by a friend to participate in the Telus Days of Giving #GiveWhereWeLive.

It was a day full of gardening, painting and washing to help Canuck Place Children's Hospice get their property and transport ready for the season. What an experience knowing that all over the country, Telus employees, friends and family were volunteering their time to help their local communities.

In 2016 alone, Telus donated $42 million to local communities across Canada and contributed 870,000 volunteers hours.

We have no doubt the goal of one million volunteer hours in 2017 will be reached! #MillionHours

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Over the years our relationship has strengthened, and Team Telus has become great supporters of the WLFM Tribe and our vision to help others lead a healthier, happier life with richer relationships.

Each year our family uses the Telus Days of Giving as a reset. A reminder to give back, to be open to opportunities to help others, to share and inspire.

The Telus Days of Giving #MillionHours has officially kicked off!

The goal to reach 1 million volunteer hours to celebrate #Canada150. We invite you to join us and the 21,000 participants volunteering in more than 1500 activities across the country.

For further information visit http://ift.tt/2rVTy36 or simply respond to our email letting us know how you have decided to gift an hour of your time, and consider sharing how you give back via social using #MillionHours.

Obviously our family is not currently located in Canada at the moment, but that's not stopping us from participating in the #MillionHours initiative. There are a few volunteer opportunities available in Bali and we are awaiting to help with the next beach cleanup and hopefully assist with a local orphanage (supposedly they need people to just hold the newborn babies for the human contact, fingers crossed we are accepted).

Volunteering can be an ongoing relationship or the odd opportunity when you are capable. We encourage you to check your local listings. Whether it be local soup kitchens, community clean ups, food banks, beauty nights, community centres, churches, the hospitals or assisted living homes.

Monetary donations are always appreciated, but taking time to personally contribute sparks something totally different within you.

For further inspirations, last year we organized a simple shoe drive for Ruebens Shoes. Collecting 120 pairs of gently used shoes for children to be able to attend school and get an education. With the generosity of Telus we also raised $1400 donation to assist with Reuben Shoes newest project of building an actual school while handing out Vice Cream on a crazy rainy day in downtown Vancouver.

Where can you give back in your local community?

Every little bit matters. What may be simple to us, matters more than you know to someone else.

If you have volunteer ideas or suggestions, please let us know or post in the Facebook group. We already know some of you volunteer on a regular basis, total awesomeness. Thank you for your continued efforts to give back.

This post is sponsored by TELUS. The opinions and views are wholly my own…

And to be absolutely clear, this is my disclaimer: “Just so you know, I have been compensated to share my ideas on this topic. Sometimes it is in the form of products, or services or even money… But here’s the thing; I won’t  share anything with you that I don’t fully support. It doesn't matter what it is, or how much they are willing to give me if I don’t believe in it, It won’t be on my site. Seriously. You’ll just have to trust me on this.” ~ Coach Moose

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3 Whimsical Reasons to Daydream Your Story

Daydreaming is one of your greatest writing tools. Mind you, some people call it visualization. Others call it imagination. I call it story-prep, and here and now, I am officially giving you permission to daydream.

3 Whimsical Reasons to Daydream Your Story

Not convinced yet? Here are three reasons why daydreaming might just be one of the best things you do for your writing today.

1. Daydreaming Aids “Showing”

You already know you should be reading in order to write well. (You wouldn’t trust a “gourmet” chef who never ate the kind of food he cooked, after all.) Daydreaming is another super-helpful key to good writing, and here’s why: the key to show-vs-tell is calling on all the senses, and daydreaming allows you to do that.

Do you remember the smell of freshly fallen snow? What about the smell of a fire, possibly with marshmallows? Or how about the scent of hay in a barn, or horses? Or a field spread with manure, or a dank, urine-stained alleyway in a city?

How about sounds? Do you remember loud traffic at night with distant sirens? How about wind in trees, branches too high to reach? Have you ever been in a nice, quiet restaurant, and heard soft laughter and conversation paired with the gentle clink of flatware on plates?

How about the sound of a subway station at night, tense with your echoed steps and distant trains? Do you recall a loved one’s sleeping breaths? A cat’s purr? A dog’s bark? A dog’s smell? The way mud looks clumped on a dog’s fur?

Dried blood on your skin. Goosebumps. Your body’s reaction to a sudden and frightening noise (heart pounding, widened eyes, maybe shaking, maybe stomach churning, quickened breath). The spurting taste of fresh strawberries. The shock of hot coffee on a cold day, or cold iced tea on a hot day. The sour-sweet tang of lemonade. The bitterness and slime of vegetables cooked way too long. The silkiness of melting chocolate.

Instead of saying, “It was hot, and I sweated,” say, “Sweat stung my lips, and I couldn’t stand my own smell, but sure as hell, that lemonade was the best that ever happened to me.” 

“

Daydreaming helps you show because it gives you all five senses to play with in your scene.

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2. Daydreaming Aids Plot

We live in a deeply visual era. This is both good and bad, but one of the benefits is that we’ve all seen a good movie, television show, or play. That means that we’ve experienced someone’s successful plot communicated in a very limited format.

Writing is less limited. We have no special effects budget, no casting problems, no broken props. When you visualize your story, it usually moves quickly. When you’re deep in daydreams, you see exactly how this tale has to play out. Chances are when you’re in that zone, you react to your story the way you want readers to react later.

How do you get from point A to point C? Daydream the scenes between them. How do you play out that conflict, and how do you resolve it? Daydream and let your imagination lead the way. Let your imagination do what it wants, and you’ll find the holes of your story filling in inch by inch.

Yes, what you imagine may seem ridiculous. A hardboiled cop drama might just daydream its way into Superman showing up to save the day, and you can’t write that—but what it really tells you is your characters need outside intervention to overcome the conflict-point you’ve been having trouble fixing.

Maybe you daydream your eighty-three-year-old protagonist flipping out, locking her fellow quilters in the closet, and driving away at top speed while singing “Single Ladies.” You probably can’t fit that in your cozy Southern mystery, but what it does tell you is your character needs a break and some time to herself before the question of “who killed Judge Brown” can be solved.

“

Daydreaming gives you clues you need to fill in the holes that keep your plot from completion.

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3. Daydreaming Helps Characterization

One of the wildest things that I’ve ever realized about writing is how much daydreaming builds my characters.

Here’s the kicker: half the time, those characters aren’t doing current-book things in my daydreams. They’ve jumped into someone else’s story (Harry Potter is a favorite of mine), or they’re on the wrong planet, or they’re suddenly in a prequel, or they’re giving me a glimpse of who they are twenty years after the current book ends.

I’ve learned to let them play.

Daydreamed characters step out of the constraints of your story, and that’s good. That means you can see who they really are.

How do your characters respond to different situations? Different problems? How much of their personality is nature vs. nurture? Does their humor stay the same? Do they maintain their philosophies of life, worth, and identity?

Those responses do more to tell you who they are than most of the “character chart” exercises out there.

Just remember to let your characters play in your daydreams. If they want to go off and do something outside your book, let them. They’re trying to tell you something about themselves, and I promise it won’t make your book any less vibrant.

“

Daydreaming gives you the freedom to play with characters and learn more clearly who they are.

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Go Forth and Daydream!

So wherever you are in the writing process, go for it. No, it isn’t childish. It’s powerful, and it can even help you fall in love with your story all over again.

Consider this your official permission. Go forth and daydream today!

Have you found daydreaming helps your writing? Let us know in the comments!

PRACTICE

This is the fun part! I’d like you to take some time and visualize your next scene. Daydream; play it out, letting the characters do what they want.

When you’re through, take fifteen minutes to write down what you saw, paying special attention to the “showing” aspect of the story. Try to call on different senses. Have fun with it!

Then post your practice in the comments and don’t forget to comment on others’ stories as well.

The post 3 Whimsical Reasons to Daydream Your Story appeared first on The Write Practice.

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First Look – Cobra KING Oversized Hybrid

The Oversized hybrid that Cobra quietly displayed at the PGA Show has a release date.

Complementing, and if you so desire, pairing beautifully, with last season’s KING OS Irons is the new KING Oversized hybrid.

As the name suggests, the King Oversized is a large hybrid designed for the Super Game-Improvement market. It features a big, wide, dare I say, oversized, footprint. Speaking directly to the demands of the category, the Oversized is a high MOI offering that includes Cobra’s PWRSHELL Face technology for more speed across the face - the first time PWRSHELL has been put in a hybrid. Cobra says the OS Hybrid is the largest, most-forgiving hybrid its ever produced.

For those of you playing along at home, Cobra is suggesting the King Oversized Hybrid hits the trifecta; it’s long, straight, and forgiving.

Of particular note, the KING Oversized features a TeXtreme carbon fiber crown; the same material used in Cobra’s drivers and LTD Fairway wood. Carbon fiber crowns in hybrids were basically unheard of before this season, but that’s changing rapidly. PXG (0317X), Callaway (Epic), and now Cobra, offer carbon fiber in at least one of their hybrids.

In the case of the Oversized, the material saves 8 grams vs. steel. That may not sound like much, but with the larger footprint of the Oversized design, and that savings is what allowed Cobra to push the center of gravity comparatively lower and deeper than it could have with a steel crown.

The KING LTD Hybrid?

While it was only a matter of time before two key Cobra technologies (TeXtreme and PWRSHELL) would find their way into a hybrid, it's a bit of a surprise that they're debut in an SGI offering. More often than not, firsts are reserved for flagship products, and that makes me wonder if the hybrid wasn't originally designed to be part of the LTD lineup. I supsect we'll see both technologies in Cobra's 2018 fall offerings.

Also of note, unlike Cobra’s most recent super game-improvement offerings, and even recent mainstream releases, the King Oversized hybrid lacks baffler rails (like the LTD fairway). That's a bit odd considering that Baffler technology has been a near constant inclusion in Cobra's SGI offerings. In fact, while the profile says SGI, the aesthetics, the TeXtreme crown, and that lack of rails, suggest a club that, if not for its footprint (and arguably its audience) would scream KING LTD.

That's not a bad thing. We're talking about a tech-rich hybrid, with a clean and classic look that just happens to be a little bit on the large size.

Specs, Pricing, and Availability

The Cobra KING Oversized hybrid is available in 3-4, 45, and 5-6 models. With Cobra’s MyFly8 adjustability, that’s a range of 19° to 29° across the line.

The stock shaft is a UST Recoil 460ES graphite, available in lite, regular, stiff, and X-stiff flex.

Retail price for the hybrids is $249. They can also be purchased as part of an 8-piece Cobra Oversized set for $1099 (steel shaft irons) or $1199 (graphite shaft irons).

Availability beings Friday, June 2, 2017.

For more information, visit CobraGolf.com.

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The Winners of the Spring Writing Contest

In March, we hosted the Spring Writing Contest in partnership with Short Fiction Break literary magazine. Entering this contest was a huge accomplishment for all our writers, and we want to celebrate the winners here on The Write Practice.

We received over 300 entries to this contest from so many talented writers. The judges thoroughly enjoyed reading all your stories, and with such an amazing selection, you made their job of choosing just a handful of winners very difficult.

You should be proud. We’re very proud of you.

We love writing contests. Will you join us for the next one? You can join the Summer Writing Contest here.

The Difficult Part of Contests

The thing about writing contests is, when you select one—or even several—winners, you create a lot of not-winners. (That’s different from being a loser, I think.) I’ve been there many times. Rejection is simply a part of writing.

I believe that if you’re measuring your success as a writer by how many times you’ve been published, you’re using the wrong metric. Instead, count how many times you’ve been rejected. That’s a much more accurate indicator of your effort, discipline, and seriousness as a writer.

Rather than trying to get everyone to like your stories, get as much feedback about how to improve as you can. Rather than trying to justify how good you are, work to get better.

If you do this for long enough, you won’t need anyone to tell you you’re a success. You’ll be a success all on your own.

The Judges

Before I announce the winners, I want to say an enormous THANK YOU to the terrific judges who have worked tirelessly over the past month to read and consider our hundreds of entries. Without their immeasurable effort, this contest would not have been possible.

A huge thank you to these incredible writers:

Christa Carmen lives in Westerly, Rhode Island with her husband and a beagle who rivals her in stubbornness. Her short stories have appeared in numerous eZines and anthologies, and her 2017 publication schedule includes Comet Press’ ‘Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volume 2,’ Alban Lake Publishing’s ‘Only the Lonely,’ ‘Anotherealm,’ ‘Mad Scientist Journal,’ and ‘Blood Moon Rising.’ Links to her writing appear on her website, and you can find her on Facebook and Twitter (@christaqua).

Justin Boote is a writer of horror/suspense stories who lives in Barcelona, earning his keep as a stressed waiter in a busy restaurant. Currently he has 5 stories accepted for publication. He can be found at Facebook where he has succumbed to social media pressures. When not writing or working, he is usually . . . asleep!

David Chase decided to write a book. It sucked. So he wrote another book. It too sucked. Then he wrote another book! It read like a history textbook, was too long and sucked. But the fourth book! He worked with some other authors and got some help and so The Gods Themselves: Artemis was born! And so it begins!

JD Edwin is a lover of all types of stories, from Stephen King to Sophie Kinsella and everything in between. In between managing a full time job and a family, she writes short stories, drafts novels that never seem to be completed, and creates art in oils, pens, and digital mediums. Her artist pages can be found on Facebook and Instagram.

David Emery was found on the back porch in a puddle of green slime (according to his sisters). He has two published short stories, has won a Writers of the Future Honorable Mention, and has acted as a writing contest judge. You can find free stories here, his blog here, and sign up for his mailing list here.

Jeff Elkins is a writer living in Baltimore with his wife and five kids. He is the author of four books, including Mencken and the Monsters. He regularly blogs at Vagrant Misunderstandings.

Erin Halden writes. Sometimes she gets paid, sometimes she doesn’t. She keeps writing anyway. She got her start as editor-in-chief and sole reporter for Spot News, the main daily newspaper on Jupiter (at the age of seven, no less). She can be found on her website and on Facebook and Twitter (@erinhalden).

Lesley Howard’s fiction has appeared in The Lascaux Prize Anthology 2015 and her poetry was included in an installation at the Moss Arts Center. She is currently an MFA candidate in Warren Wilson College’s low-res program, and leads writing workshops upon occasion, too. She blogs about writing at The Art of Practice, and you can follow her on Twitter @LHowardwrites.

Phil Logan is a fiction writer and poet whose stories cross several genres. He loves travel but has lived for many years among the sugar cane fields of Queensland, Australia. Much of his writing highlights unique features of the wet tropics. You can find him on Facebook.

Alice Nelson is a regular contributor to Short Fiction Break. She currently co-hosts a flash fiction podcast called A Creative Mind Fiction, where she narrates her original stories. She also co-moderates a flash fiction writing group, and is in the midst of editing her first e-book of short stories. You can hear more of her writing here and read her short stories here.

Cathy Ryan enjoys writing, gardening, and playing piano. A graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop, Orson Scott Card Bootcamp, Heritage Workshop at GMU, and Donald Maas’s High Tension Workshop, she is a member of “Write by the Rails,” a local branch of the Virginia Writers’ Club, and has been published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Deep Waters.

Alice Sudlow is a professional editor who works on our team here at The Write Practice and edits Short Fiction Break literary magazine. She has a deep love for young adult novels and a talent for scouring dirty countertops and comma-spliced prose.

Bill Wells has worked for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies for over 30 years. He has extensive experience in business writing and technical communications. He has written white papers, positions papers, policy and procedure manuals, and developed reports and presentations for audiences of all organizational levels. He is an accomplished public speaker and known regionally for his expertise in information security and privacy. You can learn more about Bill on his website.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! (Everyone, say thank you to the judges in the comments.)

The Sponsors

We were supported in this contest by some pretty amazing sponsors who have provided incredible prizes. They’re definitely worth checking out:

The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories, see what works, pinpoint problems, and inspire original creation. With over 25 years of experience, Coyne has worked with some of the best selling fiction authors in the world. His book The Story Grid is the essential guide to telling a story that works.

Book Launch: For the last eight years, author and book marketer Tim Grahl has helped top bestselling authors like Daniel Pink, Hugh Howey, and Jeff Goins launch their books and reach the bestsellers list. His book Your First 1,000 Copies is an invaluable resource for getting your book into readers’ hands.

Prizes

Just to recap: The grand prize winning story will be featured on the front page of Short Fiction Break. The winner will be invited to become a monthly contributor to the literary magazine. They’ll receive one year of free membership to Becoming Writer, normally $180, as well as a cash prize of $300. They will also receive a print copy of The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne.

Two runners-up will have their stories featured on the front page of Short Fiction Break. They will also receive one year of free membership to Becoming Writer, normally $180, a $100 cash prize each, and a print copy of The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne.

Ready to hear the winners?

Here we go.

Shortlisted Stories

The judges were faced with a slew of excellent stories to choose from. I’m not exaggerating when I say your great writing made their job very difficult.

You can find a shortlist of the judges’ favorites on Short Fiction Break. They are all well worth a read, so head over to Short Fiction Break and check them out.

Honorable Mentions

All these excellent stories, listed alphabetically by author, were featured on the front page of Short Fiction Break:

Still Friends by Tim Grahl
The Red Herring League by Bradley Harper
Arthur Went In by Bart Mann
Pearl’s Bucks by William McCauley
The Warmth of Blankets by David H. Safford

Runners-Up

“Up In Flames” by KG. This is a quirky tale of an ungraceful wife, accidental arson, and unwelcome discoveries.

“Bread and or on Water” by Gayle Woodson. This harrowing tale of war, captivity, and desperate hope takes a surprising turn.

Grand Prize

The winner of our Spring Writing Contest and recipient of the Grand Prize is . . .

“The Porthole” by Sef Churchill. This is the odd story of a mystical porthole and the unpredictable consequences of whimsical decisions. It’s delightfully bizarre, a surreal dance full of intriguing visuals and unusual twists. Its gradually mounting tension and believable (though unlikeable) protagonist won the judges over, and we’re pleased to declare it the winner of this contest.

Congratulations to Sef, and to everyone who entered this writing contest! This was a lot of fun, and I can’t wait for the next one.

Will you join us for our next contest? Our Summer Writing Contest is now open, and we’d love to read your story! You can enter the contest here.

Share your congratulations in the comments!

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Closer Look: Toulon Indianapolis Putter

We refuse to believe that putter innovation is dead. -Toulon Design

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, synthesis (“putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole.”) represents one of the higher levels of thinking. I view synthesis as the connections between the disconnected. You take knowledge from seemingly unrelated areas, find the connections, and build something novel from the union of the components.

If you take a moment to think about it, there are a number of current pieces of golf gear out there whose designs are exercises in synthesis.

Think about the Callaway XR line of drivers. What was the “big deal” about the XR? Thinking back to the 2016 PGA show, Callaway had a giant airplane in their booth to promote their partnership with Boeing in designing the XR. Callaway and Boeing were combining knowledge to produce a better driver. Boeing engineers’ expertise in aerodynamics helped create a driver shape with less wind resistance, which enabled faster head movement and thus produced longer drives.

I’m sure that you can cite other examples of golf gear synthesis. There are numerous examples of disconnected industries coming together, and producing something new as a result.

Today, that connection is between putters and racecars.

Open-Wheel Putter

Introducing the Indianapolis, our first foray imto the world of super-high MOI mallets. This design has been in development for well over a year, and every single detail has been examined and perfected. When we first started developing Indianapolis, we knew we wanted to create something that was revolutionary in terms of performance and aesthetics.

In other words, Toulon Design (and Odyssey Golf) has tapped into the world of Indy Cars to design the new Indianapolis mallet, connecting the materials and even the shapes of the Indy Car to the putter.

Today, we are going to dive a bit deeper into the Indianapolis, exploring the connections Sean Toulon has made between the car and putter realms. We will take a look at the racecar tech incorporated into the putter, and I’ll give you my impressions from my test drives with the Indianapolis.

Specifications: Toulon Design Indianapolis

• Materials: 6061-Aluminum, 303 Stainless Steel, Carbon Fiber, & Tungsten
• Head Type: Mallet
• Loft: 3°
• Availability: RH/LH
• Standard Length: 33/34/35
• Lie: 70°
• Offset: Full Shaft
• Toe Hang: Face-Balanced
• Head Weight: 360g
• Face: Deep-Diamond Mill
• Options: Counterbalanced versions available

Indianapolis Tech: Multi-Material Design

We channeled the engineering spirit of IndyCar racecar technicians, past and present, and crafted a design that incorporated four different materials. The face is made up of aircraft grade 6061-aluminum, giving you a soft, crisp feel. The sole is made up of 303 stainless steel, giving you maximum stability. The crown is made up of a lightweight carbon fiber composite, giving you a sleek look, while allowing us to distribute weight more effectively throughout the putter. Two 303 stainless steel or tungsten weights located on the back wings boosts the MOI to unbelievable highs, making this the best performing putter we’ve ever created.

Usually, when I am listing materials for the spec sheet, I have one, or maybe two, materials to list. Today, there are four different materials. Toulon has really pushed the envelope here. While this is supposed to be a connection to car design, the materials used and their specific locations around the putter remind me of more of modern driver design. Golf engineers have incorporated different materials into drivers to move weight around, influencing MOI and other play characteristics. The Toulon Indianapolis pushes the boundaries of multi-material construction in a putter beyond what we have previously seen.

Each of the different materials has a purpose. The face is aluminum for feel, the sole is stainless for weight, the body is carbon fiber for “non-weight,” and the tungsten and/or stainless plugs in the fins keep the whole thing nice and stable through the stroke.

I’m not sure that this putter design would even be possible with any other composition. Maybe it could all be milled from a billet of aluminum, but I some of the angles the carbon fiber allows for would prove troublesome to mill, and you would likely still need stainless or tungsten weights to bring it up to a comfortable playing weight. Bringing together the different materials allows for a unique putter design.

Indianapolis Tech: Alignment

The Indianapolis doesn’t just have the components of an IndyCar, it has the looks too. The silver finish of the aluminum face contrasts beautifully with the matte black shade of the carbon composite crown, making it incredibly easy to align properly. The Indianapolis also features nine prominent lines in the design that are either parallel or perpendicular to the target; add all that up, and you have one of the easiest putters to line up ever.

The Indianapolis has nine parallel and perpendicular alignment lines in its design to help you aim. I know that you are saying ‘There is only one line there”, but if you allow your eye to wander along the edges of the putter and the edges of the body cavity, I bet you can see more of the lines/edges.

The silver face does stand out quite dramatically when compared to the black body. This gives the Indianapolis an almost blade-like profile at the front end. I’ll give you my take on this later, but this silver perpendicular rectangle could also help someone line up putts to target.

Indianapolis Tech: Feel

Our unique pattern was designed after rigorous testing of 25 different mill patterns. The deep cross-hatch grooves control the sound and feel by channeling vibration and the small groove inside each diamond pattern is designed to improve the quality of the roll. The result is a putter where the sound and feel are tuned to match the distance that the ball rolls.

I found the feeling at impact with the Indianapolis to be very muted. There is a tone, but it is a deep/dull one as opposed to a bright click or ping sound. No judgment there, just pointing out that it has a lower resonating impact. The tone of impact does change when you wander the face, with the edges sounding harsher.

There is also a bit of vibrational feedback when you hit the heel or toe. That’s a nice way of saying it feels like crap when you hit out there. The lesson there is that if it hurts when you poke your thumb in your eye, then stop poking your thumb in your eye.

Experiences On The Course

So what did I think when I took this out on the course?

Regarding alignment, I found that the Indianapolis took some adjusting to at address. The black carbon body and the aluminum face set up quite the contrast at address, and that was a bit too much contrast for me.

When first rolling the Indianapolis, I was not totally sure where my eyes should go at address. Do I focus more on the silver face, or on the large white alignment line on the body? After the first few rounds and practice sessions, I came to view the Indianapolis as a small silver blade with some black stuff hanging on the back that keeps it stable. Though it’s a large mallet, the Indianapolis feels more blade-like to me.

Even with this perception swing, the more I played with the Indianapolis, the more I wished that it was all black. Though I knew to focus on the front part, I still needed to remind myself to focus on the front part, thus adding another thought to my pre-putt routine. Additionally, the sun’s glare on the aluminum at noon was almost unbearably bright. On that hole, I didn’t care about putting as much as not going blind while looking at the putter. This alternative focus probably isn't helping me to hole putts.

Glare aside, once I became more comfortable with the looks, it was very easy to get the ball rolling along the target line with the Toulon Indianapolis. Rarely did I find the ball wandering to someplace unintended. Obviously, this means that I made every putt. Well...

Truth be told, I had a problem getting the ball to the hole. Though the copy says that the “sound and feel are tuned to match the distance the ball rolls,” for me, that distance was typically short. After a few rounds with the Indianapolis, I had a putting instructor watch me putt, and he said my issue was deceleration. In close, the tempo was fine, but when the putt got longer, I tended to put on the brakes mid swing.

I was a bit surprised with this assessment because I found the Indianapolis to be so easy swinging. It is amazingly balanced and stable through the swing, yet something was causing me to not finish at pace. Aware of this, I proceeded to blow balls past the hole by yards. Given time, I thought this would change, and it has a bit, but even after a few weeks, I’m either a bit short or way past with the Indianapolis. Just can’t quite dial in distance.

This is especially maddening for me because although the feel changes as you wander the face, the roll distance is pretty darn consistent. Misses go the same distance, likely due to the huge MOI keeping the mallet from moving much at all at impact. I know that if I can dial in that distance, that the tech of the Indianapolis design would help correct for my poor strikes. Unfortunately, I can’t quite get that distance dialed in enough to where the putter will fix my follies. Perhaps one of the counterbalanced versions of the Indianapolis might help with the pace issue.

The Indy $400

The multi-material design on the Toulon Indianapolis is going to set you back about $170 more than a traditional Odyssey mallet (O-Works 2-Ball retails for $229.99). Yes, that does mean that the Indianapolis costs $399, with the counterbalanced models running the price up to as high as $499.

While I’m not going to argue that $400 for a putter is not a lot of money, I do see how the Indianapolis needs to cost more than a traditional Odyssey. The materials are different, and the design and build times required for the Indianapolis are likely much longer than a cast Number 7.

Dave’s Take: Test Drive the Indianapolis

All in all, I found the Toulon Indianapolis an enjoyable putter to drop into the bag. The stability of swing and the alignment designs both fall deeply into the plus column for me. Distance control was off for me, but the miss was consistently short. This may be something that improves with continued use or something that might be reduced if I switched to the counterbalanced version of the putter. I’m hitting my line every time, just not the hole. It’s a bit maddening.

The only real lingering criticism I have with the putter is the reflective nature of the glossy aluminum at address. Its brightness is consistently distracting to me when the sun is overhead. Your mileage may vary with this, but I would recommend some outside demo with the Indianapolis before purchase. I am seriously considering sending this putter off to Labworx to have them do the front in their black armor. I’ll lose the blade with a wing look that it has now, but I believe that the loss of reflection and increased continuity through the head will make this putter look amazing.

Regardless, get out there and take the Indianapolis for a spin. I’m interested to see what you think. You should be able to find one in a shop near you after May 17^th.

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An illuminating bus tour of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg, Germany

I so very nearly didn’t go. There were a number of tours on offer that day and I was torn between culinary (and beer) highlights of Nuremberg, a walking tour of this historic city in Bavaria or the Train Museum. The idea of visiting the Nazi Party Rally Grounds was not so appealing, mainly because of the very negative connotations of the name, a part of history many of us want to forget. However, a number of people had already done the tour and said it was excellent. I am so glad I listened to them. Here’s why …

The Nazi Party Rally Grounds Tour

Lest we forget; that’s the resonant message from World War I, yet we do forget and we shouldn’t. The Nazi Party Rally Grounds Video Bus Tour is run by Geschichte Für Alle (History for Everyone) and outlines ‘the use of architecture as a theatrical backdrop to the various events, explains the function of the rallies themselves and the way in which Nuremberg has dealt with its National Socialist legacy.’ I was on a shortened version of the full day tour; we had three hours to get an idea of what Hitler envisaged and what remains today.

Map of Nazi Party Rally Grounds Nuremberg 1940 – image Lencer

Our guide, Werner Fiederer, welcomed us aboard the coach and told us we’d be seeing some video footage from A Triumph of Will. This 1935 propaganda film of Hitler and the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, was was directed, produced, edited, and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. He then gave some background history to the ‘success’ of the Nazi Party and Hitler’s megalomaniac plans for Germany and the world. He explained why they resonated with a populace exhausted from one world war and broken by the privations of the Weimar Republic.

‘The Triumph of Will’ by Leni Riefenstahl.

Our first stop on the Nazi Party Rally Grounds tour was be the Congress Hall (Kongresshalle). It was intended to seat 50,000 with a self-supporting roof. It was started in 1935 but was unfinished. Left derelict for many years, in 2001, the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds) was opened with the permanent exhibition Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and Terror), located in the northern wing. In the southern building, the Serenadenhof, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra have their home.

Aerial photo of Nazi Party Congress Hall – photo Nicohofmann

As we drove into the Congress Hall arena, the sheer size of the edifice took my breath away. It represents the audacity of Hitler’s terrifying vision. A few months’ before, I’d seen the Colosseum in Rome for the first time; this massive monument to Imperial Rome is genuinely awe-inspiring. The Congress Hall in Nuremberg, by which it was inspired, is simply chilling. We got out of the coach and had time to wander around and get a feel for what it might have been like in Hitler’s day. Incongruously, the wooden stalls for the famous Nuremberg Christmas Market (Kristkindlesmarkt), are stored in the ground floor.

Inside the Congress Hall arena

From here we drove past a tranquil park. Through the coach window, I glimpsed yachts drifting across the lake, rowing boats skimming cross the water, runners jogging round the perimeter, children playing beside on the shore and a colourful mural celebrating Nuremberg’s Volksfest. Behind this tranquil scene loomed the Congress Hall …

Next stop was the Zeppelin Field, so-named because in 1909 Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin landed with one of his airships in this location. Werner told us it was one of architect Albert Speer‘s first works for the Nazi Party and was based upon the Pergamon Altar, a monumental Greek structure built in the 2nd C BC, now reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. It was here that Hitler laid on his biggest shows, with seating for up to 200,000 to witness his messianic speeches from the ‘Führer’s Grandstand‘. There used to be a huge gilded swastika towering over the stadium. It was blown up by occupying American soldiers  on April 25, 1945. This clip (uploaded onto YouTube by themadchopper) was edited from the original filmed by L.B. Fenberg.

Werner explained, “Speer designed the stadium to become a “cathedral of light”, created by 130 high-power anti-aircraft searchlights ringing the field at intervals of 40 feet (12m) casting brilliant beams of light high into the sky. For an audience with very little to entertain them, this would have been a stunning spectacle, equivalent to a huge firework display today.” The podiums for the searchlights can still be seen.

Zeppelin Field Grandstand

Today the area looks shabby and run-down. A car with L plates waited for us to cross over to the grandstand. The area is now used for learner drivers,  various sports and races, concerts and festivals. However, the grandstand is in grave danger of crumbling away, as the German authorities decide what to do with it. ‘Albert Speer … claimed that he had used special building materials to ensure that the complex would be like the remains of the Roman Empire and “last for a thousand years”. He could hardly have been more wrong.’ (The Independent article.)

Nazi Party Rally at the Zeppelin Field

Back on the bus, we watched more video clips of the Nazi Rallies and Hitler’s speeches to the masses as well as a short clip from Charlie Chaplin‘s 1940 movie ‘The Great Dictator‘. In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he could not have made the film if he had known about the true extent of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at the time.

The Great Dictator- Charlie Chaplin

Then it was time for our final stop on the Great Road (Große Straße), almost 2km long and heading directly towards Nuremberg Castle, which we could see in the distance. It was originally intended as a parade road for the Wehrmacht, the united armed forces of Nazi Germany. We saw the original grey and black granite paving slabs, apparently made to be the exact length of a Nazi goose-step. As we drove back into the city, I glimpsed the remains of stone ‘seats’ where the crowds would sit to watch the troops march past. A chilling reminder of what might have been …

The Great Road 2017

For more details of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds Video Bus Tour, which includes a visit to the Palace of Justice where the Nuremberg Trials were held, go to Geschichte Für Alle. Many thanks to Werner Fiederer for his informative and balanced insight into this challenging era and to German National Tourist Board for inviting me to visit historic Nuremberg.

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