Thursday, November 30, 2017

2017 Golf Equipment Brand Perception Survey

BRANDS ARE NOT JUST WHAT THEY SAY THEY ARE. BRANDS ARE WHAT CONSUMERS SAY THEY ARE. - ARI JACOBY, CEO SOLVE MEDIA

I’ve used that quote before – twice actually – and I’ll probably use it again because its relevancy is never diminished.

It’s seldom fair, but the fact is that perception matters more than reality.

It’s within that context that we wanted to take a day to gauge your perception of the golf equipment brands we cover every day. Leaving little room for nuance, I’m calling it the One Word Survey.

Some of the words are unquestionably positive; language that golf companies want consumers to associate with their brands. Others words are unquestionably negative; language golf brands prefer you associate with their competitors.

The thing is, we’re not interested in how brands position themselves, we want to know what you think about the leading brands in the golf equipment market today.

Give us just a small amount of demographic information, then, for each word presented, choose the brand you most associate with that word. We'll share the results in a few weeks.

The One Word Survey

Mobile Users: If the survey doesn't load, please click here.



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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Empathy: How to Show Empathy in Writing

Stories create empathy. Stories bring hope. Stories change history. Yes, even yours—especially when you know how to show empathy in writing.

Empathy: How to Show Empathy in Writing

While there are many serious examples of stories affecting human rights and other causes, I’m going to start my point with something simpler.

The Little Red Lighthouse

Not far from where I live is a little red lighthouse. Here it is:

Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse 10

It’s cute, right? It’s just a lighthouse. There’s nothing special about it—except that the George Washington Bridge was built almost on top of it not long after it was completed, rendering it redundant.

For completely logical reasons, the Coast Guard decommissioned it and made plans to sell it or tear it down.

Ah, but that’s not the end of the story!

In 1942, an author named Hildegarde H. Swift wrote an adorable children’s book called The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge that made the lighthouse into a character. This lighthouse did its job with joy, leading ships to safety in the worst of fogs. But then *gasp* the bridge was built overhead with enormous lights, and the lighthouse lost its purpose.

It struggled with feeling useless and unwanted, until one day, an enormous storm came, and the boats could not see the lights on the bridge. The little red lighthouse rediscovered its purpose as it once again led people safely through the storm, and came to the realization that though it was small, it still had a place in this world.

It’s a great story, and it changed that lighthouse’s fate. When the Coast Guard tried to auction it off, the locals who’d grown up reading that book made such an outcry that instead of being sold, the little red lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

(This is all true.)

I don’t think Ms. Swift intended that outcome when she wrote the story, but it still had that effect because it was relatable. Behold the power of empathy!

The Power of Empathy

When you write, you’re writing from your barrel of experiences. Whenever you go through something, it ends up in that barrel—all your joy and pain, your fears and questions, your successes and your victories.

(This is actually one of the reasons older writers are sometimes better writers. It has nothing to do with talent. There’s just more in the barrel to draw from.)

Your readers can relate to what you pull from your barrel because they have barrels of their own. Everyone does. Your readers can relate because they’re human, too (presumably).

Quick demonstration. Ever wondered why anime, of all things, is so popular? Simple: even though Japan’s culture is distinct from others around the world, the very human experiences of the characters speak to those who watch. For example:

Those expressions and feelings work across cultures because we’re all human. We can relate to the experiences, even if we don’t know the details. I, for one, have never dealt with fifty-foot robots, but I can relate to the sorrow of a friend’s passing.

So how do you communicate this without a visual medium? Well . . . you have to pay attention.

How to Show Empathy: Your Barrel of Experience

Wondering how to show empathy in writing? Pro tip: Typing “He was so sad” does not work.

You have to draw from your barrel of experience.

  • What physical sensations did you experience when you were sad/angry/bored/happy?
  • What kind of thoughts did you have? Uncharitable? Overly gracious? Dismissive?
  • How did your view of the people and world around you change as your emotions shifted?

When I’m sad, I feel alone, which usually leads to fear. When I’m angry, I often feel robbed, like justice isn’t being done by those around me. When I’m bored, my mind wanders, landing on anything but what I’m supposed to be working on. When I’m happy, I want that moment to last forever, and smaller problems like chronic pain seem to shrink.

Do you get the picture? If your chest hurts when you’re grieving, then your character’s chest may hurt.

If you have trouble breathing when you’re anxious, then maybe your character has trouble breathing when they’re anxious.

When you’re angry, do you have trouble controlling what comes out of your mouth? Your character may say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

We all know what it is to be angry and quiet or angry and loud; any emotion and its outward expression is something we all know well.

So do your readers.

Aim For the Experience, Not the Details

Let’s say you’re writing a bad guy. A really, really bad guy who robs and hurts people. You have (hopefully) had no experience with that, but you do know what he felt: greed, anger, a sense of entitlement, fear of being caught, a certainty that he had the right to do this thing. You can put those into the story to make him slightly more relatable.

You’re a woman writing a male character? No problem. Men are people, too (shocking, I know), and experience the emotions you do, even if they show them differently: they can be unsure or overly certain, fearful or full of themselves, struggling with failure or relaxing in victory.

You’re writing an alien creature? Awesome! You can still use your experience to establish this character, either by giving it relatable emotions or by drawing the contrast between them. For example, maybe the alien is standing over a freshly squished astronaut and not feeling victory, not feeling the fear of being caught, but instead nothing at all—which, by contrast, makes the alien more frightening to the reader.

Every human feels these things. They know the stomach-churning feeling that comes right before doing something that requires courage—whether that’s speaking in front of a class or leaping out of a helicopter to fight in a war.

The Magic of Your Barrel

You want your story relatable? Share what’s in your barrel.

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing on earth or in space, in ancient times or modern. Your readers don’t have to have the same details to have the same experience, and as long as your characters’ reactions echo your human readers’ reactions, they will relate to your story.

Have you read something you could relate to recently? Do you have other tips for how to show empathy in writing? Let us know in the comments.

PRACTICE

It’s time to practice writing relatable stories. Pick one scene from your WIP with some kind of emotional content, and take fifteen minutes to expand it with relatable emotional experiences.

Or, think of an emotional experience you had recently, and take fifteen minutes to write about what that felt like. What physical sensations did you experience? What thoughts did you have?

When you’re done, share your writing in the comments. Be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers, too!

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The simple joy of a charming cottage with a cosy fire in beautiful Cumbria

Logs on fire at Rose Cottage Elterwater lake District - photo Zoe Dawes

Fire at Rose Cottage Elterwater

There’s something very special about sitting by an open fire on a chilly night, logs crackling, coal sizzling, flames dancing brightly as the heat radiates out around the room. Maybe there’s a pre-historic memory of sitting in cave round a fire, protected from the sabre-toothed tiger prowling around outside. Maybe it’s just the warmth and cosiness, being full of life that makes us feel much more content than a radiator or electric heater. It’s even better if you’re on holiday and can really relax and enjoy it, knowing you’ve nothing more urgent to do than, keep it fed with fuel, top up your drink and maybe curl up with your loved one. It’s one of the simple joys of life and for those of us who don’t have an open fire at home, staying in a holiday cottage with a fire is real treat.

On a recent visit to the Lake District with Good Life Lake District Cottages, I stayed for a few days in Rose Cottage, Elterwater with a friend from college days. This delightful 2 bedroom self-catering accommodation is in the heart of the village, a hop, skip and a jump over the road from the Britannia Inn. With a comfortable lounge, well-equipped kitchen-dining room, a twin-bedded room and en-suite double bedroom, it had everything we needed. We very quickly made ourselves at home, having a cuppa and biscuit whilst working out what to do over the coming days. The advantage of staying in Elterwater in the Langdale Valley, is that you’ve got everything you need; charming accommodation, a traditional pub serving excellent food, a shop, a bowling green (OK a bit random but if you’re a bowls fan …), a bus service, stunning scenery and Herdwick Sheep roaming freely around the village.

On our first evening we decided to have dinner at the Britannia Inn. I’ve eaten there lots of times and it’s always good food. If you want to eat in the dining room then make sure you book. Otherwise you can take potluck at getting a table in the bar or hall. We shared a table with a couple from Derbyshire who come up to the Lakes every year and absolutely love the Langdale Valley. There’s always an excellent array of local beers here, and the weekend we stayed the pub was hosting a beer festival so it was packed with beer lovers from around the UK and abroad.

Britannia Inn Beer Festival Elterwater Cumbria - photo Zoe Dawes

Britannia Inn Beer Festival

I’d chosen the Three Sausages with mashed potatoes and onion gravy; an enormous plate of venison, boar and chef’s recipe traditional Cumberland sausages, creamy mash and seasonal veg. Pat had the Five Bean and Vegetable Chilli, which she pronounced delicious and we both had local beers. There were lots of dogs around room, sitting, lying down or gazing beseechingly at their owners’ meals in the hope that some tasty morsel might come their way. A roaring fire kept us all warm; in fact, after our meal we had to move away as we got very hot …

Log fire at Rose Cottage

Having got heartily fed and warmed up, we returned to Rose Cottage to light our own fire. We’d arranged to have kindling and logs delivered and there were firelighters and matches above the fire-place. I used to live in a cottage with a wood burning stove, and grew up with coal fires, so I very much enjoyed trying out my latent pyromaniac skills. Very quickly we had a grand blaze burning away merrily. Pat produced a couple of glasses of wine and we settled down to enjoy the rest of the evening.

By the fire Rose Cottage Elterwater, Lake District Cumbria - Zoe Dawes

Sitting by the Fire in Rose Cottage

In front of the fire, there was a rocking chair complete with woollen rug, so we took it turns to play ‘grandma on the rocker.’ It was so peaceful rocking backwards and forwards, wrapped in the rug, reading a magazine, listening to the gentle crackle and hiss of the wood. The smell of wood smoke and pine wafted around us and for a while the cares of everyday living faded away …

Over the next couple of days, Pat and I explored the area, enjoying being in such glorious scenery. We went for a leisurely walk beside the river to Elter Water (Norse for Swan Lake), the nearby lake after which the village is named. It only takes about half an hour to I’d recently taken ownership of a brand new Ford Fiesta from local dealership Pye Motors, so took great pleasure in driving Pat around and showing off the car’s many features.

New Ford Fiesta on Elterwater Common, Lake District Cumbria UK - zoe dawes

Fiesta on Elterwater Common

We went up the Langdale Valley and had a drink in the Old Dungeon Ghyll, where another welcoming fire warmed up the many walkers making the most of a late autumn weather to get out on the fells.  One wet afternoon we visited the quaint little Armitt Museum & Library in Ambleside. It has a permanent display of illustrations, writing and objects belonging to famous botanist, author and farmer Beatrix Potter. There’s also an excellent library and we saw an exhibition of paintings by German artist Kurt Schwitters, who lived in Ambleside for many years, and also Chapel Stile, down the road from Elterwater.

Armitt Museum Library Ambleside Cumbria - photo Zoe Dawes

The Armitt Museum & Library

We had a wonderful stay here and, without doubt, the best part was getting that fire lit each evening and rocking back and forth in front of its glowing warmth.

Quirky Travel: Guided Tour of Rose Cottage

Good Life Lake District Cottages

We stayed at Rose Cottage as guests of Good Life Lake District Cottages. Many thanks to Natalie and the team for another very enjoyable break. They have plenty of very special Lake District places to stay throughout the year. Ask them about their properties with fires – but book early as they are very popular!

Good Life Lake District Cottage Company Office Elterwater Lake District - photo Zoe Dawes

Good Life Lake District Cottage Company

More lovely places I can recommend to stay with Good Life Lake District Cottages in this part of Cumbria.

Church Gate Cottage, Chapel Stile

Daw Bank Cottage, Chapel Stile

Jonty’s Cottage, Elterwater

Braegarth Cottage, Elterwater

Knipefold Barn, Outgate 

 

 

 

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11 Training Aid Hacks Under $14

Most golf instructors have go-to training aids and drills that they use in trying to eliminate poor swing habits and promote better, more repeatable, patterns.

But what makes a great golf training aid?

The training aids that endure are the ones that are easy to use and provide instant feedback, so it should probably be intuitive, and it definitely needs to produce results for the student.

Earlier this year we showcased the Top 5 Golf Training Aids on the market today, as determined by over 4,000 MyGolfSpy readers. This list includes tools that have proven to provide real results. That list featured popular training aids like the Orange Whip, Tour Striker, DST Compressor and the Eyeline Putting Mirror. Those are, without a doubt, among the best golf training aids on the market today because they address swing flaws while providing immediate feedback.

Most of you know about driveway stakes, but have you considered that there are countless other golf training aids out there that were never designed to be used in any golf-related capacity whatsoever? Some of the most reputable instructors we know have a mix of common (and not so common) household items in their teaching arsenal.

What are some of the best DIY training aids?

We asked several of the golf instructors we know to tell us what household items they're using, and how you can leverage them to improve your game. Here is their list. 

Spoon - $9.99/ 6-Pack

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Intended use: Used primarily for eating liquid or semi-liquid foods
How to use it for Golf“I keep a spoon in my teaching bag to help golfers gain a sense of a flat or flatter lead wrist at the top of the backswing. ‘A spoonful of compression!’”Andrew Rice, The Club at Savannah Harbor, Savannah, GA

Dr. Scholl’s Odor Fighting Foot Spray - $4.99

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-AP (2)

Intended use: Combat foot odor and perspiration
How to use it for golf: “With the larger faces of modern drivers, there is a lot of room for error. It’s important to understand how your strike point will impact ball flight. For example, a slight toe strike will encourage a draw, whereas a heel strike will encourage a fade. In addition, hitting it lower on the face will impart more spin, while striking it towards the upper half of the face will keep spin down. Spray it on the face of your driver until it is covered. Then divide your driver up into four quadrants with a tee or your finger. Pay close attention to your ball flight in relation to the strike point.”Andy Patnou, Terravita Golf Club, Scottsdale, AZ

Water Bottle - $1.99

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-HH

Intended use: A container that is used to hold drinking water
How to use it for golf: “I use an empty plastic water bottle outside of the ball to give a shanker something to avoid hitting on the downswing. The water bottle or water bottles can be arranged on the ground to teach the student on their swing path and in working on a more in to out path.”Hank Haney, Golf Academy at Westridge, Dallas, TX

Pool Noodle - $13.99/ 5-Pack

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-MC

Intended use: Used when learning to swim, for floating
How to use it for golf: “We use pool noodles a lot in instruction. We have students stand on them for balance. We also use them over aim sticks to buffer accidental impact, and we use them as hurdles to work on trajectory windows.’”Martin Chuck, Tour Striker Golf Academy, Phoenix, AZ

Metal Yardstick - $6.99

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-GC

Intended use: Measure length up to one yard
How to use it for golf: “A great household item is a metal yardstick. Place a ball in the hole on one end and hit putts. If the ball rolls off one side or the other, it was struck in excess of 1 degree off line. If it stays on the yardstick for the entire 3-feet, it was within 1-degree of perfect. This drill is ideal for ensuring that your putter face is returning square to your line at contact.”George Connor, Golf Channel Academy at Farmington Woods, Farmington, CT

Bath Or Face Towel - $5.99/each

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-TS

Intended use: Dry off when wet
How to use it for golf: “An overwhelming majority of the people that I work with slice the golf ball. The most common flaw that I see with slicers is the path is too leftward or ‘over the top.’ I use a towel and place it under the arms of my students to help them get the feeling of having their arms ‘pinned’ to their bodies, instead of lifting their hands too high. It’s hard to raise your hands while trying to keep a towel across your chest at the same time. They should be able to make normal swings without the towel dropping from their arms. In addition, I can also lay the towel flat on the ground about 3 inches behind the golf ball and have a student work on missing the towel to help improve ball first contact, while addressing the low point in their swing.”T.J. Sullivan, GolfTEC Halsted Row, Chicago, IL

Bungee Cord - $8.99

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-JK

Intended use: Secure objects without tying knots and to absorb shock
How to use it for golf: “One of my favorite household items that I use for instruction is a bungee cord. I take one end of the cord and loop it around the player’s right lower bicep (just above the elbow), then take the other end of the cord and go in front of their stomach over their back left pocket of the pants and hook it into a belt loop. I know that sounds odd, but it really promotes a better turn, keeping the arms in front of the body during both the downswing and backswing. It provides a connected feeling where the arms don’t keep running at the top of the backswing.”John Kostis, Grayhawk Golf Club, Scottsdale, AZ

Broomstick - $12.00

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-JP

Intended use: A cleaning tool
How to use it for golf: “One household item that I use is a broomstick with chipping. I ask the student to hold the broomstick at a normal club length outside their front foot. They then make practice swings keeping the longer part of the broomstick outside of their upper torso. This prevents the flips or their wrists from breaking down too soon or too much through impact.”Jon Paupore, Director of Instruction at Red Ledges, Heber City, UT

Clothes Hanger- $1.99/Plastic 18-Pack

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-DD

Intended use: Hang your clothing
How to use it for golf: “Put it on the left side of your grip, in line with your club with the hook of the clothes hanger aimed up to the sky. It’s great for clubface awareness and building a flatter left wrist at the top, if needed. It’s helpful for players who lack clubface awareness and leave the face open at the top of the backswing. You can help a student to get their arms and hands moving properly in the swing.”Derek Deminsky (Golf Better Tucson), Forty Niner Golf Club, Tucson, AZ

Carpet - Cost Varies

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-MT

Intended use: Cover a floor surface
How to use it for golf: “Being able to flop a ball off tight carpet onto a bed and have it stay is a high-level skill. This drill helps golfers to learn how to work the bounce on their wedges and slide the club under the ball to elevate it quickly with high spin. Students can start with a wiffle ball and then move up to a golf ball.”Matt Thurmond, Arizona State University Men’s Golf Coach, Tempe, AZ

Ruler - $.99

MyGolfSpy-Unintentional-Training-Aids-AK

Intended use: To measure distances or to rule straight lines
How to use it for golf: “Tape a ruler to the loft of a long iron and practice impacting the flat side of a bag with the flat side of the ruler. This is a great drill for those students that need more shaft lean at impact.”Adam Kolloff, Director of Instruction at Liberty National, Jersey City, NJ

The Possibilities Are Endless

This list just scratches the surface on household items that also serve as golf training aids. The possibilities are endless. There is no correlation between the cost of a training aid and its effectiveness. Some outside the box thinking can save you money and still help you get better.

If there are items out there that can also function as golf training aids, they will be used in that fashion. Again, the key is to find training aids that provide instant feedback and address swing flaws, whether they are intended to be used as golf training aids or not. Have fun with it and get creative.

 

 



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Tuesday, November 28, 2017

TaylorMade Countersues PXG

As reported yesterday by Golf Digest’s Mike Stachura, there’s been an escalation in the legal tussling between PXG and TaylorMade.

You may recall that this all started with PXG claiming that, with the P790 iron, TaylorMade violated several PXG patents. In an unusual step, PXG also filed suit against select retailers for selling the allegedly infringing irons. Claiming that allowing the P790 to remain on the market would do irreparable harm, PXG also sought a preliminary injunction blocking the sale of the P790. That request was denied shortly thereafter, and then things went mostly quiet until two weeks ago.

The latest salvo has TaylorMade filing a counterclaim in which it argues that while it didn’t violate any PXG patents, several current PXG products infringe on TaylorMade patents. TaylorMade has asked the court to prevent PXG from selling the allegedly infringing products. For good measure, TaylorMade has also asked the court to declare five of the patents PXG used as the basis for its original complaint invalid.

Sound familiar? All that’s missing is a cursory “I know you are, but what am I?”.

According to Stachura, the offending PXG products include entire 0311 Iron family, as well as the 0811 Driver and 0341 Fairway Wood. Stachura observes, “TaylorMade isn’t interested in stopping the sale of just one product. It’s going after nearly all of PXG’s inventory.”

Classic tit for tat and I expect that same result; TaylorMade gets to sell its 790, PXG will likely keep selling too.

Following the Script

To no small degree, this mirrors the approach Titleist has taken in its current litigation with Costco over the Kirkland Signature Ball. And while this gives the appearance of TaylorMade playing hardball with an industry outsider, sadly this is mostly boilerplate patent litigation stuff.

It goes a little something like this:

You infringed! No, you infringed!

Your patents are invalid! No, your patents are invalid!

It’s not so much a calculating war as it is what the late George Carlin would term a prick-waving dick fight.

You Just Now figured it out?

While I can’t speak to what either side actually believes to be true regarding the validity and subsequent infringement upon their respective patents, from the outside, the sudden discovery by TaylorMade’s crack team of patent scholars that a collection of two and a half-year-old PXG products infringes on its IP reeks of intellectual dishonesty.

Call it a leverage play meant to put PXG on the defensive. It's possible TaylorMade has a case - I’ve been told nearly every golf product infringes on something else if you look hard enough. The strategy might even work too, but it's hard for me to believe either that TaylorMade previously failed to notice its IP was being borrowed, or that it was previously content to give PXG a free pass to use its intellectual property to rule the premium market and potentially take dollars out of TaylorMade's pocket.

2.5 years on the market and you just now noticed? Really?

What's Next

A preliminary hearing in the case is set for early next month, and while the outcome is anything but certain, I suspect both sides will eventually agree that they’ve spent enough money and that it’s in both parties’ best interest to walk away.

My prediction, nobody wins but the lawyers.



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Parentheses: How to Use ( ) Correctly

People ask me all the time (and by all the time, I mean never), “Liz, what is your favorite grammatical/punctuational structure?” It’s hard to narrow it down to just one (although you’re probably already aware of my love for the Oxford comma), but if I happened to be in a life-or-death of language situation, it would probably be the parenthetical statement.

Parentheses: How to Use () Correctly

I bet you already figured that out.

What Are Parenthetical Statements?

Parenthetical statements are like softer em dashes.

A parenthesis is like a close friend quietly whispering in your ear, but an em dash is more like your high school graduating class arriving drunk on your doorstep and announcing that you are hosting this year’s reunion, and it’s happening right now. Notice the difference:

Angela exhaled quietly (she didn’t want Frank to hear anything) and felt her way along the wall to the door.

Angela exhaled quietly—she didn’t want Frank to hear anything—and felt her way along the wall to the door.

In the second sentence, the fact that Angela doesn’t want Frank to hear anything has the same importance as her movement towards the door. If that’s your goal, then em dashes are what you’re looking for. If you’re primarily focused on Angela’s progression towards the door, then it’s parentheses for you.

You can also use a parenthetical statement to give your reader information without adding emphasis to the aside:

Kevin yawned (he’d only had four hours of sleep) and stretched out on the floor at his sister’s feet.

The parentheses allow your audience to continue reading through the paragraph without stopping and acknowledging that, oh, Kevin’s lack of sleep is something that I need to pay attention to. Instead, they know that the action isn’t leaving them behind.

The Perils of Punctuating Parentheticals

ParenthesesThis is all well and good, but let’s talk about the things that really trip people up: using parentheses and other punctuation. Does the period go inside or outside the parentheses? How about the comma? Let’s clear up this confusion once and for all.

If the part in parenthesis is inside a sentence, the punctuation goes outside the parentheses:

Sally felt queasy (maybe eating six cupcakes was a bad idea).

If the part in parentheses is not within another sentence, the punctuation goes inside the parentheses:

Henry tracked mud across the floor as he came in from the rain. (Sorry, Mom.)

If the part in parentheses is several sentences long, or if it uses special punctuation, like a question mark or exclamation point, the punctuation goes inside the parentheses:

Mark doubted it would rain today (but for the garden’s sake, he hoped it would!).

Emily looked forward to coloring at her grandmother’s house this afternoon (although she didn’t want to use crayons. Did her grandmother have markers? She wasn’t sure).

Note in the second example that there is no period within the parentheses after “She wasn’t sure.” If the final sentence within the parentheses would use a period, there’s no extra punctuation—the period goes outside the parentheses.

Although it’s possible to cram whole paragraphs into parentheses, it’s generally a bad idea. For best effect, use parenthetical statements sparingly, for small asides. Don’t overwhelm your readers with them!

Go Use Parentheticals (You Can Do It!)

Do you feel prepared to use parenthetical statements? (It’s okay if you don’t; it just takes practice.) Try using them in your writing, and keep an eye out for the ways other writers have used them.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll find you love them as much as I do (and that’s a lot of love!).

Are parentheticals important in your writing? Let us know in the comments.

PRACTICE

Write for fifteen minutes on the following prompt. Use parenthetical statements to enhance your story, and be careful to punctuate them correctly. For extra practice, change your parenthetical statements into em dash asides when you’re done, and take note of how the tone of the story changes.

Prompt: Victor leaned forward in his chair and looked at Kayla, who was tracing the rim of her mug with her fingers.

Share your writing in the comments, and be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers!

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Monday, November 27, 2017

How to Finish a Novel in Three Days

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) ends on Thursday. That means you have to figure out how to finish a novel . . . in three days.

How to Finish a Novel in Three Days

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first—you might not make it.

The good news is that it’s not impossible. With the right strategy and enough determination, you can finish writing your book and win NaNoWriMo.

10 Steps to Finish a Novel in Three Days

Wondering what the right strategy is for how to finish a novel? Follow these ten steps

1. Clear your schedule.

Take all three days off from work or school. You need to make the time to write.

2. Review your old writing.

Review short stories/false starts/last year’s NaNoWriMo attempt and every other unpublished thing you’ve ever written to see if it can be re-appropriated into your current attempt.

3. Outline your novel.

This may be controversial, but outline whatever is left of your novel. If you haven’t started yet—outline the whole novel.

There is a longstanding controversy between “planner/plotters” and “pantsers.” The former plans her novel in advance. The latter writes by the seat of her pants.

People have very strong opinions about which method is better. But if you’re struggling to finish your book in a matter of days, this might be the perfect time to try outlining, even if you normally wouldn’t.

Not sure what happens next? Try adding one of these word count-boosting scenes to your story.

4. Boost your energy.

Prepare an energy boost. For some, that means scheduling a quick run or yoga session. For others it’s buying a 24-pack of Red Bull.

Whatever helps boost your energy, anticipate needing it at some point and get it ready.

5. Get rid of distractions.

Delete all social media apps from your phone and alert loved ones that you will be MIA for three days. They should only make contact in case of an emergency.

6. Set goals.

Set a word count goal for each day. If you don’t reach it the first or second day, adjust.

7. Embrace imperfection.

Throw away all expectations for yourself. The first draft is going to be terrible. Accept it.

8. Write.

Day one, write.

9. Write.

Day two, write.

10. Finish your novel (that is, write!).

Day three, write until you’ve completed your novel.

You Can Finish Your Book

Feeling the pressure of the impending deadline? Don’t worry! There’s still time, and you CAN definitely finish your book by the end of NaNoWriMo.

That said, I’ll add a caveat: although these ten steps will give you a huge boost, success is not guaranteed. You’ll have to do the hard work of putting the words on paper.

Even so, don’t quit. Your NaNoWriMo goal impacts so much more than just this one book. And even if you don’t make it to 50,000 words, you still have something to celebrate: you wrote all the way through November to the very end, and you’re this much closer to a finished first draft.

We’re all cheering you on. Good luck!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? How’s it going? Let us know in the comments.

PRACTICE

To show solidarity with our NaNoWriMo-ers, today we’re all going to write under pressure. Write 300 words about one of the following topics in fifteen minutes or less:

  1. Thanksgiving
  2. Babies
  3. Skyscrapers

When the timer beeps, stop! Then, share your writing in the comments. Be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers, too!

The post How to Finish a Novel in Three Days appeared first on The Write Practice.



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Mondher Latiri & The Zen of Golfmechanix

What, in your mind, was the Golden Age of Golf?

Was it Hogan, Snead, and Nelson bashing it around in the '40s? How about the rise of Arnie’s Army in the late '50s? Or the Arnie-Jack rivalry, followed by Jack’s dominance in the '60s and '70s?

Or was it the All Tiger, All The Time era of the early 2000s?

Mondher Latiri puts the Golden Age of Golf just a few years before the Tiger Slam, in the early to mid-1990s.

“Golf’s greatest players included Faldo, Payne Stewart, Greg Norman, and Tiger,” says Latiri. “Callaway was becoming the world’s biggest golf company, reaching $1 Billion in sales, while Cobra was selling to Puma for over $700 Million. Golfsmith was fast becoming the biggest component distributor on the planet, with over 650 employees.”

Interesting take, but who the heck is Mondher Latiri?

If you’ve never heard of Mondher Latiri, you’re not alone. But the company he runs has nearly as much to do with your game and the equipment you use to play it as Callaway, TaylorMade, PING or Titleist. Latiri, you see, is the founder and CEO of Golfmechanix, the industry’s leading manufacturer of the tools, gauges, instruments and heavy duty machinery OEMs use to design and build your golf clubs.

And Latiri believes that when it comes to equipment advancement, nothing beats the '90s.

“Serious dollars were being spent on R&D to decipher shaft performance,” he says. “There were new casting technologies that made oversized titanium drivers possible. This is also the period that coincided with the biggest level of participation of golfers in the US, Europe, and Japan.”

Mondher’s resume is long and impressive, and his fingerprints can be found not only at OEM’s and at casting houses but also at your local clubmaker and fitter and on the workbenches of those of us who like to do-it-ourselves. Latiri has a fascinating back-story and a truly unique perspective on the game, its equipment, and its future.

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Golden Years

Browsing through products on the Golfmechanix website is a lesson in engineering. You’ll find, in no particular order: lie and loft measuring gauges, digital swing weight scales, analogue frequency analyzers, digital shaft testing rigs, club head mass property scales, club MOI pendulums and MOI speed match systems, modern gripping and grip alignment stations, lie and loft bending equipment, shaft extenders and epoxy curing stations.

Visit a Tour Van or virtually any fitting center, and you’ll see plenty of Golfmechanix equipment. It’s no exaggeration to say that in some way or another, Mondher’s equipment has helped your 9-iron be the club that it is today.

We tend to think golf's tech-heads came out of the womb thinking about MOI, CG and discretionary weighting, but more often than not, fate brings these people to the game. Mondher, whose background is in marine engineering - that's boat building to the likes of you and me - is no different.

“Somebody asked me if I knew anything about golf, specifically about lie and loft,” says Mondher. “I said when you build boats you do a lot of lofting. Lofting is designing the hull on a one-to-one scale on the floor, so I said I knew a lot about loft, what do you want to know? They said it was for golf, and I said let me look into it…"

“It was a little bit of a word game, but that’s how I got into the golf business.”

Mondher started his golf career in 1990 as head of product design and marketing for a small company called Mega Golf. Inspired by the work of both Ralph Maltby and Tom Wishon, and in need of performance analyzing and quality control tools, Mondher started inventing. His first patent filings included a digital swing weight scale and a loft and lie gauge, as well as the first fully functional digital shaft flex profiling machine.

In 1992 Mondher finally met Wishon and the two formed a mutual-admiration society. At the time Wishon was the Chief Technical Officer at Golfsmith, and he convinced Mondher to join his R&D team. His first task was to create a line of affordable tools for clubmakers, ultimately designing over 600 products.

“If you’re passionate about something, that something will find you,” explains Mondher. “You want to understand the why’s and the how’s. You ask yourself a lot of questions, and it often comes down to simple problem-solving.”

Opening Doors, Pulling Strings

As far as Mondher is concerned, nothing could touch the '90s as golf’s Golden Years.

“From 1990 to 2000, the golf industry saw unparalleled and unusual growth,” he says. “Consumers hit the greens in droves.”

If you look at golf not as a game, but as an actual consumer product that includes golf equipment, golf courses, and golf accessories, a case can be made that golf is no different from any other consumer product – technology drives demand. Mondher believes three specific technological advances drove those Golden Years: the shift to metal woods, the advent of the launch monitor, and the introduction of the shaft adapter.

“When metal woods started becoming mainstream, that was the biggest revolution we’ve seen,” says Mondher. “That’s what made golf playable today; otherwise we’d still be hacking away with persimmon woods.”

Launch monitors also changed the game, because for the first time consumers – and in theory marketing departments – could match slogans with numbers. Vague concepts like spin, launch angle and ball speed now became real and tangible.

“Before you used to be able to sell by bullshitting your way into the market,” says Mondher. “Now we have launch monitors, so the truth is on the table.”

“It’s a shift in paradigm because now we have the tools for determining the truth. From a qualitative and quantitative analysis, it’s obvious: I hit this golf ball, that’s my launch angle, that’s my RPM, that’s my distance. It’s measured. Of course there are some inaccuracies, but I’d rather have that truth than have somebody else’s truth making you believe some club is going to make a big change for your game.” - Mondher Latiri

The third key technology is the one that spikes Mondher's blood pressure.

“The shaft adapter destroyed the livelihood of lots of clubmakers,” he says. “They sell this adapter for $30 or $40 and let you swap out your shafts. That’s why the shaft market is so hotly contested now. You can try ten different shafts when before you couldn’t really do that.”

Mondher acknowledges that the shaft adapter has helped shift more power to the consumer, but he adds more choices can often lead to more confusion and endless tinkering in the pursuit of the proverbial unicorn: ideal spin rate, launch angle, smash factor and distance - which launch monitors made it possible to track.

“The consumer is a little bit lost in a forest of shafts,” he says. “Are the golfers really benefitting? Are the companies really benefitting?”

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Offer good through 12/1/2017

There’s My Baby, Lost That’s All…

Golden Years don’t last forever, and Latiri says the long, slow decline started as far back as 2000.

“China opened up to the world,” he says. “They had a billion workers, and golf is a tremendous consumer of labor. The casting houses moved to China in pursuit of lower and lower labor costs, and those savings could be transferred into marketing to grab market share from somebody else.”

Mondher believes his old stomping grounds Golfsmith was an unintended victim of that market share grab.

“Golfsmith’s success was intimate with club making, and they had very successful lines, like Snake Eyes,” he says. “They could keep three technicians at each story very busy, but since their lines didn’t advertise, and companies like TaylorMade did...he who screams the loudest gets the business.”

Another victim was the club maker, who found himself marginalized by the big boys and their rapid release/discount two-step. That gave consumers choices like they never had before, all at pretty attractive prices.

“Why would someone who’s pressed for time working for corporate America, spend two to three hours with a clubmaker to get custom fit, and then pay the price for it? Especially when all the game is about for him is maybe a corporate outing, and he needs the new clubs to show off to the boss. That’s when everybody started playing golf, wearing all those nice golfy shoes, golfy pants, having a good time with the boss and your co-workers.” – Mohnder Latiri

The 2008 financial crisis popped that particular balloon, and the common narrative says the air has been leaking out of the golf industry ever since. It was in this atmosphere that Mondher started Golfmechanix, a continuation of his work with Golfsmith, to create tools for clubmakers, hobbyists, and OEMs.

Roughly 20% of Golfmechanix’s business is with OEMs, with products to analyze the design and performance of club heads and shafts, as well as measuring tools to make sure products meet R&A and USGA standards. Mondher says he keeps a stable of parts on hand to experiment and provide custom solutions for OEM engineers.

The core business, however, remains with club makers.

“Golfmechanix are tools of the trade,” says Latiri. “I recognize there are guys out there that need to make a living, and that I am a capital expenditure for them. Without my tools, they cannot do their job. They enable the clubmaker to make a living without needing to spend an arm and a leg.”

Run For The Shadows

Gloom and doomers may think otherwise, but Mondher does not believe golf is in crisis mode. The problem, he says, is overproduction combined with the rising cost of retail.

“The only differentiator right now is advertising dollars and how fast you can go to market,” explains Mondher. “You look at all those minor improvements to golf clubs, they’re really just incremental.”

On the retail side, fitting boutiques such as Modern Golf or Club Champion are appealing to the hard-core golfer with money to spend, but the small, independent club maker is being left behind.

“And that concerns me, because golf is a popular game and should be affordable. Clubmaking helps you, with what Golfsmith used to do, and what Golfworks and Dynacraft are still doing. You used to be able to go to clubmaker and buy a set with all the bells and whistles, a nice putter and a bag for $300 or $400. It was really popular, it was inexpensive, and people could enjoy the game without spending a fortune.” –Mondher Latiri

Mondher also sees OEMs trending towards something called Mass Customization; creating small manufacturing cells to build custom clubs while competing directly with retailers and clubmakers for fitting sessions and dollars. And they already have a huge head start with their technology, their advertising budgets, and their online presence.

“All they have to do is refine their production processes where some of the custom clubmaking can be automated,” says Mondher. “Instead of mass producing clubs, they’ll have smaller cells with maybe three people turning out 100 sets a week, just enough to satisfy demand. All of the OEMs have internal programs where they’re systematically getting into clubmaking.”

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Walk Tall, Act Fine

Even though OEM’s make up 1/5th of his revenue, Mondher remains passionate about providing high-qualityGolfmechanix machinery to the small club maker at what he considers reasonable prices compared to his competitors. And despite the industry trends, he still believes the clubmaker is irreplaceable.

“An independent clubmaker works for himself,” says Mondher. “He has so much at stake, and he won’t bullshit you. He looks beyond that first set he makes for you because he wants you to be a returning customer.”

While Mondher remains optimistic about golf’s future, he is branching out and producing tooling for the tennis and biking industry. As for golf, he believes the industry is just going to have to adapt and that a new era may be dawning.

“The next ten years are going to be just like this year,” he says. “Technology is evolving and we are entering the era of the hardcore golfer. These are people that are taking the game seriously and aren’t just playing casually. The bottom of the market is stagnating.”

The cure for that stagnation, he believes, is the independent clubmaker and getting back to what brought people to the game back in the 90’s – affordability and fun.

“With the world the way it is today, our time is being monopolized, and we’re being marginalized,” says Mondher. “All of us should start playing golf like we did in the early 90’s. It was Democracy; it wasn’t as elite. We need low greens fees, we need affordable golf clubs, cheap golf balls, and we need to drink plenty of beer on the golf course and let people blow their lungs out with cigars!”

There are all kinds of passion in golf. Players are passionate about their equipment, OEMs are passionate about their technology and Mondher Latiri is passionate about all of that, and he has the tools that help everyone in the chain fuel that passion.

“Nobody makes a fortune in golf except the players and maybe big corporate America and their investors,” says Mondher. “For the rest of us, what drives us is our passion."

“That’s what brought people to the game and the people who are still playing after 10 or 15 years, that’s how they got started. Let’s not kill that flame.”

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Save 15% Sitewide

For a limited time, you can save 15% sitewide at GolfMechanix.com. Orders of $300 or more will also receive 50% off shipping charges.

Use code: spyday2017 at checkout.

Offer valid through 12/1/2017



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