MudBall Newsletter - Henry Shimp
Fellas, we back for another newsletter. This week, it’s me, HS, bringing you the goods (and bads). Let’s go launch em!
Drinking:
A lot of people get home from the work day and feel the need to reach for a glass of wine or a beer. That’s not me, but my night time vice as of late has been, you guessed it, TOPO CHIIIICO! By about 7:30 every evening I hear it whispering to me from the corner store about 500 yards from my apartment and all too often I’m there about 10 minutes later. **shrugging emoji guy**
Eating:
I have a dilemma. I have been playing golf, as I desperately prepare to keep it under the big 8-0 in the US Amateur, around 6:30 most evenings this past week which is such a tweener time on do I have a 5:45 dinner and then waddle around the course in the 100 degree Austin heat? Or, do I wait and eat t 8:45 or 9:00 and sleep like hell? You all know we take our sleep seriously roun’ here, so I’ve opted for the former, but it is far from ideal. That said, what is in your mid twenties??
Reading:
Did a fun pod this past week with Geoff Shackelford on the great par 3’s of California (check that bad boy out if you haven’t HERE) which got me reading a bunch of course history profiles on websites, of course, the great work of Ran Morrisett from golfclubatlas.com always works into the fold for some light or heavy GCA reading, and finally I ripped through The Spirit of St. Andrews once more to get some of the good doc’s thoughts on par 3’s for that exercise as he has as big an impact as anyone on the immaculate par 3’s of the (should be greater than it is) state of California.
Thinking:
This could get a bit zany, so bear with me here. If anyone is familiar with Alex Honnold from the Free Solo doc about free climbing El Capitan, you’ll know he likes to “mentally contingency plan” which is to say to prepare himself for being mentally resilient if things start going badly when he climbs. Although not *quite* as dangerous, I’ve been doing a little thinking along those lines for competing in the US Amateur next week. I’m going to make birdies, I’ll slip a 10 footer for par in here and there, there WILL be bombs off the tee, but most importantly, there will be debits to offset those credits. How I respond is what will determine the quality of the overall outcome. Crazy? Probably. But who knows, maybe that’s what keeps me below the 80 mark?
Culture:
I have been running the full spectrum of golf experiences lately. From top 10 courses in the country, to competing at great places, par 3 courses, public golf, and seeing new architectural gems, there has been no consistency in what I am feeding myself in terms of golf quality. And you know what? It’s been awesome. The contrast is awesome. If you’ve been on cruise control in terms of the courses or type of courses and experiences you are getting into, consider a curveball or two. It’s great for the golf palate.
Competition:
We’ve got some great golf on hand in the coming weeks… The US Women’s Am this week, The Men’s Am the following week. The AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath. Both the Ryder and Solheim Cups will be here sooner than we all know. Just a ton to look forward to. You excited? I’m excited.
Architecture:
Made it to New York for the first time in a little while to get an early check in on Sleepy Hollow in advance of the big dance (The Mid Am) next month, and wow, place is even better than I remembered. Shocking to once again see Gil do some simple yet great stuff to an architectural gem. It’s really not as easy as he makes it look to take really strong courses and make them even better. As always, hats off to the Gilly man. Also got to play Garden City GC for the first time, and yeah, it hits. Hard. Devereux Emmet is definitely a lost name in architecture, alongside Walter Travis who later worked on the place. Both of them have a ton of great places worth seeking out that don’t get the run that they should. See below for a few pics of each course.
Guest Check In:
Former guest at The Tie (Click ittt), Emma Carpenter who is a fellow podcaster at The 5 Clubs Golf Podcast which is headed by another former guest at The Tie, Gary Williams, (You know the drill) is playing this week at the US Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air CC. Cool to see someone who is a full time podcaster, content creator, college student and athlete, and up and coming broadcaster also playing some really high level golf. Looking forward to seeing how Emma does this week at Bel-Air. You can find the scoring on the USGA’s website. Type USGA into your browser. It ain’t hard. I have faith in you!
That’s all she (He) wrote!
Schedule for the Week:
Monday: MBM. Fueling For On Course Performance!
Wednesday: WS on the keys for a long form piece
Thursday: Interview szn. We’ll holster the guest for later in the week.
Cheers everyone!
HS