PLANEMATE!

We recently caught up with former Sleepy Eye High School State Champion and current MSU sophomore golfer, Ben Laffen. Coming off a career best finish and a career low round this fall season, safe to say Ben's killling it. We spent our hour talking about Ben's college experience, his recruiting process, and his goals for the future. Catch a snippet of our conversation here, and check out the full interview in the November/December issue of The Golf Project Magazine releasing around Thanksgiving. Here we go! Caleb: So starting off, how would you say the fall season went? Also, what's your role on the team look like? Ben: The season went alright; I had my low career round [67]. I also had one of my higher scores in college [84], so overall it was mediocre. Lots to improve on, but also lots to take away from the good. I was consistently the number 3 golfer on our team. Occasionally I moved up into the number one or two spot, so I'm just starting to take on a little bit of a leadership role. C: This being your second year on the team, were you more comfortable coming into this season compared to last season as a freshman? B: For sure, freshman year is a big adjustment. The added comfort level definitely helped me. When you're a freshman everything is new, and one of the biggest adjustments related to golf is length of course. It's a huge adjustment distance-wise. It's not driver, wedge into every green; now it's driver, 7 iron. C: Another part that was a big adjustment, at least when I was playing, were qualifying rounds. I always thought of qualifying as a mini tournament in itself, where you had to play well if you wanted to travel with the team. What's your approach to qualifying and how similar is that approach to a real tournament? B: Definitely a big adjustment as well. One of the hardest things right away is going from being 'the guy' in high school and now having to compete each week for a lineup spot. That's gotten a little easier and more comfortable this year, but right away that's tough. I take qualifying just as seriously as any tournament because to play well in the tournament you have to play well in qualifying or you're staying home that week. C: What's the mindset in qualifying and in tournament play? Do you try to go as low as possible or play it safer and let other guys make the mistakes while you make pars? B: That's kind of my mindset [to go as low as possible]. I'm playing against the course mainly. I want the other kids in my group to play well too. Obviously I want to beat them, but my main focus is against the course and playing well there. It makes it way more fun when you're entire group is playing well. When I shot 67 at Shangri La [County Club in Oklahoma], my group's scores were -5, -2, -1, +1. It's sick when the highest score in the group is +1. Rapid Fire Questions: Best Course You've Played? Shangri La Country Club in Oklahoma Lowest Tournament Score? 67 this fall Lowest Ever Score? 65 Bucket List Course? Augusta National Dream Foursome? Himself, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka Best Player on Tour? Brooks Koepka ... or Rory McIlroy Stay tuned for the full interview in the next edition of The Golf Project Magazine where we talk with Ben about college recruiting, playing on different course conditions when travelling, MSU's outlook for the spring season, his goals for the future, and his thoughts on Tiger Woods's 2020 season!

History loves company, and we love Tiger Woods. Unless you spend the last few days under a rock, then you know that Tiger won his 82nd PGA Tour event last week in Japan. Number 82 ties him for the most wins all time with another legend in Sam Snead. Here are my takeaways from Tiger's historical week: 1) It's not how you start it's how you finish. If you only watch Tiger's first three holes and then turned it off, your prediction of his week definitely did not include him winning the event by three shots. Tiger started his week bogey-bogey-bogey, which for many of us would lead to a solid round of 97. For Tiger, 97 was more like 64, thanks to 9 birdies in the opening round. Next time you get off to a poor start, hone your focus and channel your inner Tiger and don't let that round get away. You get 18 holes to score, not the first three. 2) Practice your putting man! If you caught some highlights of that first round, what did you see? I'll tell you what you didn't see, 9 tap in birdies. Tiger made putts from everywhere during that first round! Being able to make putts (and control the ball on the greens in general) is so crucial to being a good player because it allows you to be more selective when approaching the green. Gone is the need to foolishly attach sucker pins; remaining is the opportunity to make birdie. 3) You don't have to burn yourself out to be successful. Obviously Tiger doesn't play as much as he used to. Equally obvious is that he's still good at golf. Next time you get into a funk with your game, don't press and burn yourself out trying to snap out of that funk. Golf is a game of up and downs, so you're bound to hit a bump in the road now and again. Understanding that it's a minor bump and not a career-ending decline will make your ability to react and come back that much easier.

As a coach who spends a majority of my time working with young players, I love seeing kids being athletes. Not kids being golfers, or baseball players, or softball players, but athletes. In a recent PGA of America education course, called PGA.coach, the emphasis was all about being junior athletes. Coming from a golf-first organization, I think that is an awesome approach. There are so many golf-related skills and movements that can be learned by playing other sports and experiencing different activities. I've taught different golf movements by relating them to hockey, tennis, and even baseball. Gaining these experiences from other sports is great for more than just learning the game too; other activities teach life skills and help develop great people. Golf can teach lots of life lessons. Honesty, integrity, and keeping a positive mindset are a few that come to mind. Other activities can teach great life skills too, and can help strengthen the skills learned by playing golf. Teamwork, building friendships, and communication are a few skills that come to mind when thinking about what can be learned elsewhere and brought to the golf course. Do I like when kids want to play golf and focus on the game? Absolutely! It's also important to be a kid, try new things, play other sports, and gain experience and skills that can make even better golfers and people. Encourage every kid to give golf a try, along with something else too;)