Almost the New Year

The experience at Athletes Performance was everything I expected, hoped for and more. The exercises worked primarily on my core muscles (from the hips to the shoulders) on both strength and stability. The exercises are basic and easy to do most of them at home. But they are hugely effective.
The past couple years, when I completed a round of golf, I had sore hips and glutes. The exercises we did (and I still do) strenghtened this area to the extent that the last few rounds of golf I played did NOT result in sore muscles. There is definitely a relationship between lack of soreness and these exercises.

The week also addressed nutrition. I learned lots, but the portion most relevant to this blog is, I learned that controlling my blood sugar while playing golf is of major importance. I used to eat chocolate chip cookies and drink soda pop during my round. My blood sugar would spike, my swing would get much quicker and my abilities decreased. An hour or so later, my blood sugar would drop dramatically (just as it had risen) and I would be exhausted and my abilities would drop again for different reasons. So now I bring carrot sticks, celery, drink water and eat peanuts and sunflower seeds at intervals throughout the round. What a difference.

They have a website www.coreperformance.com I recommend that you visit that website and try the exercise regimen they recommend.
Also training there was a girl who had just graduated from Stanford University, was on their golf team, and just got her LPGA Futures tour card.

Improving my physical fitness

Yesterday I started a week long program at Athletes Performance in the Phoenix area. This may be the top Athlete training facility in the U.S. Some of you may know I had a near fatal bicycle accident in June 2006, and this week of intensive training is my final act of recovery.

My goal is to get in the best physical condition I can get in during this and upcoming weeks. They emphasize, core strength, flexibility and diet. So far the place seems fantastic.
My plan is to learn from these best of world trainers and then take what I learn to my local gym and really develop my strength and conditioning.

This place attracts the worlds great athletes. Today, working out on the floor with me, were Manny Rameriz and Pat Perez (a real up and comer on the PGA tour.) I extended the same courtesy to them that they extended to me... No autographs!!!
I will fill you in as my program develops (if I don't die from trying too hard.)
Larry Berle

Book Acolades

My book, A Golfer's Dream, has been nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. The finalists will be announced in mid January. Now that is exciting. Here I am a first time author and I get this nomination.

I also recently won the PORKCHOP AWARD FOR LITERARY EXCELLENCE. However, you should know that Porkchop is my cat and I think he bestowed that award on me in order to increase his cat treats. You should also know this is the first annual Porkchop award for literary excellence, so I am honored to lead the way down what I am sure will become a prestigous award in years to come.
Thats it for today
Larry B

Finally in AZ for the season

I have been in Sunny AZ for a little over a week now. First two days were rain (but we really needed it) then 5 sunny days and now its raining again. The day before I left for AZ I spoke at a Rotary Club in Minneapolis about my book. It was a big success. There were lots of questions and best of all I sold 25 books.
Now since the Golf Channel interview, the orders are showing up steadily. A few weeks ago I did an interview on www. golfsmarterpodcast.com The host, Fred Green, told me they get over 1000 downloads a week.

The news editor for Pollstar, the trade publication for the concert industry, from which I retired 3 years ago, heard the blog and called me for an interview. All those years of concert promoting and I was never interviewed for Pollstar. Now I play 100 golf courses and write a book and I get coverage....

Next I am speaking at the East Mesa Rotary club on Monday Dec 17. I am looking forward to that, and I just got an invitation to speak at the Scottsdale Library this May.
Hey this is fun
Larry

Golf Channel finally on the air

My appearance on the Golf Channel finally aired on Monday and Tue Nov 19 and 20 of 2007. It turns out that they had recorded enough of an interview they decided to run it in two segments.

It was exciting to watch myself on TV with my wife and my cat (although my cat didn't really give a damn). The thrill of being in that studio came rushing back to me as I watched.
Of course I had emailed everyone I know to let them know I was going to be on.

It reminded me of an old joke about an old jewish man in a confessional: "Father I am 85 years old and last night I slept with a beautiful 25 year old woman" "Is that a jewish accent I detect," the priest asked. "Yes Father" he replied. "Why are you telling me this?" The old man answered "I'm telling everyone"

My website was overwhelmed with orders for my book and I am proud to say I am close to breaking even on this financial venture. I even got one phone call from a syndicated Golf Talk radio show called Tee to Green. They interviewed me on the phone this morning.

Winter is beginning to rear its ugly head here in Minneapolis and next Friday I'm outa here for the winter to Phoenix--- I think I'll play some golf-- but don't worry I will still have time to post on this blogsite

Berle on the Golf Channel

I wasjust notified by the Golf Channel that the interview I taped will be aired in 2 parts on Golf Central on Monday and Tue 19 and 2o Nov 2007 Tune in
Larry

Larry Makes the Golf Channel

Yesterday, October 30,2007 I was in Orlando to record an interview on The Golf Channel. My interview was with Steve Sands, host of Golf Central. It was lots of fun and the people at the Golf Channel were wonderful to work with. I don't know when it is going to be on the air but I suspect it will be sometime before Thanksgiving. As you can imagine, the interview was around my book A GOLFER'S DREAM, and my quest to play the Top 100. After we were done the producer told me. "Our viewers are truly going to relate to this, They see an interview with a pro and they know they will never go out and shoot 65, but a quest like this they will be able to relate to, possibly even attempt"

My friend, Howdy Giles tried to arrange for me to meet Arnold Palmer while I was there. He was in town and I called his secretary to try to set an appt. "He has several people in from out of town today and tomorrow, but if there is a break in his schedule, I will call you" The next morning my cell phone rang. "Hi this is Mr. Palmer's asst. Are you near enough that you could be here in 20 minutes? he is here now and has a bit of free time" I wasn't dressed yet and on top of that I was 40 minutes away, so my opportunity to meet the king slipped through my hands. Oh well, hopefully there will be a next time

Off to the Golf Channel

Well, I haven't posted anything on this site in a couple weeks, but I have some news.

For those of you in the Phoenix AZ area I will be autographing my new book A GOLFER'S DREAM at the Grand Opening of the new Golf Galaxy in Chandler AZ (located on Ray Road a few blocks west of Hwy 101.) on Friday Nov 9 I will be there from 11AM till 1:00 AM, maybe longer, so come and say hi

What is even more exciting, is I am leaving for Orlando tomorrow morn and on Tue Oct 30 I will record an interview on the Golf Channel. all about my book and my quest to play the Top 100. I don't know when it will run yet. (I will post the info as soon as I have it) but I expect it to run on Golf Central shortly thereafter.
More Later
Larry Berle

US Open coming to Interlachen

The U.S. Women's Open (golf) is coming to the Twin Cities in summer of 2008. It will be played at Interlachen Country Club in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina MN.
Interlachen is one of the two courses in Minnesota that are on the Golf Digest list of Americas Top 100 golf courses.

I played it on my quest to play the Top 100 and have had the privilege of being invited back a few times. It is a magnificent course with rolling hills, serene ponds and fantastic fairways and greens

You can read more about my experience there in my book A GOLFER'S DREAM: How a Regular Guy Conquered the Golf Digest list of America's Top 100 Golf Courses. Read more about it at www.GolfersDreamBook.com

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

I know that most of you are expecting this blog to be about Golf and my quest to play the top 100 golf courses in America. But I also spent my career in the music business and tonight I saw a film that I want to tell you about its called Pete Seeger: The Power of Song.. it is playing in independent film houses and probably wont be around for long-- so see it if you can

It profiles the enormous influence this humble man had in both music and politics. He wrote such greats as "This land is your land" "To everything Turn turn Turn" and a host of other songs about loving America and protesting what he thought was wrong and standing up for the working class of this country. He even joined the communist party at one time and was banned from TV radio and lots of performing for years.. the film features many greats talking about him like Peter, Paul and Mary, Springsteen, Dylan Joan Baez etc etc.

I promoted concerts in Minneapolis with him three times, two of them with Arlo Guthrie (Arlo's dad Woody, and Pete were close friends and wrote songs together.)
The first time I promoted Pete and Arlo, they came out on stage. Arlo sat at his piano bench and Pete stood. When it came time for Arlo's solo, Pete sat on the floor. I got all flustered and thought "Damn I was supposed to get him a stool or chair and I blew it!!" but he had intended to sit on the floor all along..
If you get a chance, see the film.. there were not many like him

First Fed ex cup completes at East Lake

East Lake Golf Club was virtually unknown when I played it as part of my quest to play the Top 100 Golf Courses in America. Tiger decimated the field yesterday at the first ever Fed Ex Cup and it brought back memories when I played there as part of my quest several years ago.

I had never heard of East Lake, except for it's place on the Top 100. But what I learned from going there was very exciting. One thing I have noticed, is that TV and radio coverage rarely tell you about the course where a tournament is being played or much about its history.

East Lake was designed by the late great golf architect, Donald Ross, and it is where the great Bobby Jones cut his teeth on golf. The house where he grew up , is right across the street from the club. (I got a picture through the fence and stopped to have a better look when my round was finished). It is an inner-city neighborhood in Atlanta GA that had since fallen into severe disrepair and blight. As a youngster, maybe 11 or 12 years old, Bobby beat his father in the finals of the East Lake Club Championship and he was on his way to becoming the greatest amateur golfer of all time.

After the neighborhood took its downturn, Tom Cousins came along and started the East Lake Foundation, with the intention of turning a blighted neighborhood in a success again. Lemons into lemonade, as the say. The course has been restored, the club house is now a glorious tribute to the great Bobby Jones and it was a fantastic place to play. At the time I was there it was $250,000 to join and $50,000 of that went to the club and $200,000 of that went to the foundation. If you weren't willing to support the foundation, then you weren't welcome to join.
You should read about it at http://www.eastlakefoundation.org/. The world would be a better place if more golf course developers would put forth a vision that Tom Cousins put forth.

I got there in my usual way of networking till I found a connection. My friend Dan Demuth, a golf pro from Minneapolis, introduced me to a friend who was the head of the Tiger Woods foundation at the time. He called Sam Puryear, who ran the inner city junior golf program for the East Lake Foundation and Sam invited me to play as his guest. The program Sam ran was a big success and so turning the neighborhood around was not only about real estate development, but about improving the lives of at risk kids. It is only coincidental that my connection to East Lake was through the Tiger Woods Foundation, and then Tiger steps up and makes history there.
So there is a little bit about East Lake for you. Keep this in mind when you watch the tour championship next year at East Lake.
You can read more about this in my book, A Golfers Dream: how a regular guy conquered the Golf Digest list of Top 100 courses in America. Visit www.golfersdreambook.com

Hello from Switzerland again,
It is day 4 . The first days were wonderful.. Day one was in Chamonix where we took a fantabulous cable car ride up to see the Mt. Blanc Massif beautiful day seeing this from every direction... Chamonix is a wonderful resort town tucked in the French Alps-- skiing and hiking and mtn climbing abound
Day 2 we took a lift ride up about 1000 feet and hiked to a small very adorable village of Argentiere- still in France it was another 1500 feet of elevation gain and 2500 feet down 8 miles altogether over rocky and tree root filled terrain.. beautiful though exhausting through the valleys and passes of the alps .Our hotel was Hotel Montana and it was charming. Dinner and a bed were a welcome site.

There are 10 guys on this trip with 10 different personalities but I really like them all. a terrific bunch. 3 of us from Mpls try to team up against the St.Paul seven but its no use.

Day 3 took a van 3-5 miles up past Trient and over the Swiss boarder.. It is a small road but there was no guard at the boarder station Our driver just sluffed it off as though it is a regular occurrence. It made me think about the enormous effort the US now goes through to protect its boarders-- fences, security --on and on and here they are very lax-- It was similar on the bus trip from Geneva Switz to Chamonix France.

This was a very challenging day of hiking 10 miles over 7 hrs and lots of footing challenges over boulder fields--but magnificent scenery. we went up 4500 feet and down 5500 feet to the village of Champeax and a less wonderful hotel. Belvediere

The next day looked to challenging for me after my bicycle accident of 14 months ago so I went with the baggage to the next hotel in the van.

Let me tell you a bit of hist of Switzerland--- I has 4, yes 4 official languages, Italian, French, German and Romanch. Romanch is spoken in very few small villages. but official non the less.
Switz has always done its best to be neutral.. thus they were the original home of the League of Nations, and even though they have chosen a limited form of membership in the UN, Geneva is home to the European HQ of the UN.

Neutrality also motivated the founding of the Red Cross here in Switz. The symbol and name come from here. The red cross is the reverse of the Swiss Flag (white cross on red flag).

They did not join the EU and subsequently their Swiss Frank goes up and down with the US dollar.. The vote to not join was close, but one motivation was the secret Swiss banking system
The EU was going to make them disclose everything.... terrorist money is so important that they are losing their grip on that too. Might joining the EU be long off?
Well, more later.

Off to the alps

I made it to Europe safe and sound Mpls- Amsterdam then on to Geneva-- a beautiful French style city in Switz on the shore of Lake Geneva----- walked the town, found the flower clock and the jet d"
d'eau the water fountain that must be as tall as the one in Fountain Hills AZ... The next day I found that Circus Knie is in Geneva.. So I found it and went to the Sunday matinee. This was the Natl Circus of Switz at one time-- it is one ring and in its own tent... The Juggler was like noone I have ever seen before, and I have seen most of the best jugglers in my day...
Then it was the 5:00 bus up into the mtns of France to Chamonix--- our hotel is teriffic... Mon morn meat up with my group of 8 guys and we took the tram to Midi-- to a fantastcio view of Mt Blanc the highest mtn in the alps..

Tomorrow our hike begins and it will be off to Argentiere--
more later
Larry B

Headed for hiking in Switzerland

Today is Thurs Aug 30. Tomorrow night I leave for a week of hiking in Switzerland. There are 8 of us hiking the Haute Route from Chamonix France to Zermatt Switz, under the famed Matterhorn. If there is a computer avail I will post some blogs and tell you all about my trip

Stricker Wins

What a great moment today, for Steve Stricker at the Fed Ex cup playoffs. A win by two strokes, he was having trouble holding back the tears as he was being interviewed on the 18th green. He said he was beginning to wonder if he would ever win on the PGA tour again. His relatively new caddie was there to share it with him since his wife Nicki has now retired from being Steve's caddie in order to raise their child.

Steve is one of the more respected and liked players on the PGA tour. I have never met him, even though we are from neighboring states, Minnesota and Wisconsin but I have always been a big fan of both he and Jerry Kelly another Wisconsin Badger. I have, however, played a round of golf with Jerry Kelly.

When I was on my quest to play the Top 100 golf courses in America, I played the Olympic Club in San Francisco with Mike Butler. Mike had played on the PGA tour years ago and as we were on the first tee, the head pro came out of the pro shop and said there was a guy here, who was in town, between tour stops who wanted to play Olympic and it turned out to be Jerry Kelly. He was on a mini tour then and neither Mike nor I had ever heard of him, but it was quite a day. They swapped stories about Mikes old days struggling on the PGA tour and Jerry's struggling to move from his mini-tour to the PGA tour. I just played my usual game, but the competitive juices came flowing from both of them and it was a pleasure to watch these two go head to head.

We all exchanged phone numbers and a couple years later Jerry called me. He remembered I was a concert promoter and was looking for some help getting tickets to a concert in Fla. I certainly knew who he was when he called. He had won 2 million dollars on the tour that year.

I have seen him a two or three times since, at the Greater Milwaukee Open, The Masters and the Tour Championship.

The story about that round is in my book A GOLFERS DREAM; HOW A REGULAR GUY CONQUERED THE GOLF DIGEST TOP 100 GOLF COURSES IN AMERICA. You can find more about the book at www.GolfersDreamBook.com or www.amazon.com

More later
Larry Berle

Playing the top 100 golf courses in America

Hello
This is my first blog, hopefully the first of many. From 1992 to 2002 (in 10 years) I played the Golf Digest Top 100 golf courses in America. I have written a book about it which you can find at www.golfersdreambook.com It is the story of my quest to play all of the top 100 (over 10 years I ended up playing 117, as the list changed every two years). It is the story of the courses and their history and most importantly the networking that I did to get invited onto these exclusive clubs.

I visited the best from Shinnecock to Pebble Beach to Augusta National and Pine Valley and more.

I am often asked what are my favorites. For years it was two!! Cypress Point and Merion. Cypress Point, just up the road from its more favored brother, Pebble Beach, Sandy Tatum once called it the Sistine Chapel of Golf. It's setting along the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean are fantastic.

Merion, in Philadelphia may have some of the most interesting holes in all of golf. It is where Bobby Jones closed out his Grand Slam,where Ben Hogan staged his great comeback after his nearly fatal car accident. it is also the home of the famed wicker baskets on top of pins, designed to keep golfers from reading wind conditions from the flags. For years it was thought that it was too short to ever be awarded another major championship-- but low and behold the USGA has awarded it a U.S. Open in 2013. I, for one, can't wait.
Larry Berle