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Rick Shiels @ the Lumine Pro Am


STUDque

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This came across his Twitter account today:

https://twitter.com/rickshielspga/status/962744657053671424

 

"played awful this week & came in dead last place, but hey ho I had tonnes of fun"

 

Had tons of fun.....

 

In DFL.....

 

 

I guess you've gotta give it to him for remaining positive. I'd have a hard time doing that if I finished a pro tournament at +41 (3 rounds). On a 6300y course, I'm pretty sure many of us spies could beat that score.

 

 

What do you guys think? Too many eyes on him? Focusing too much on everything else? Off week?

 

I know these YouTube pros are just personalities but I'd still love to see better results when they compete. Is that so wrong to hold them to a higher standard?

 

 

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I know being a playing club professional, even a minor tour pro is extremely tough. My instructor here in TX was Illinois state champ many moons ago. Locally, when his game is on, scratch golfer, there's no way of beating him. However, further along into Southwest regionals with unfamiliar courses or lack of prep, he shoots what I shoot locally, often high 70s, (low 80s of putter goes). Still a superb teacher, and overall nice guy, tried going to mini tours, but I digress.

 

There is a bit of a standard, because “we” as interested golfers, occasionally get quick, instant swing advice or buying tips via YouTube professionals. In a pinch, they serve as quick gratifiers, and extra enforcement, even though they have never seen or heard us. Those like Shiels, Crossfield and the like implore proper swing/ technique, and fitting are highly coveted over branding. Their swings are robotic when testing, so if they shoot poor, the internet public questions them. Probably just thought too much about being pro, than playing like one. The mind, she is very fickle.

 

 

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He's just a teaching pro, so don't really hold him to some sort of higher standard.  There is a huge gap between teaching pro and touring pro.

 

Shiels is also hugely streaky.  One minute he can be roping drives and the next he is hitting hooks.  He also doesn't have the greatest short game (relative to pros that are traveling and competing on a regular basis).

I think it was fun because he got to play golf and met some great people.  It also served as a barometer for where his game is relative to those that play more competitive golf than him.

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So quick thing Stud, the course is measured in meters, not yards. The Lakes, which they played twice is just under 6900 yards, the Hills, just over 6900. That changes it a little bit, but in no way are those what I would consider good scores. 88, 88, 79 is a tough look for a pro, regardless if they are teaching, touring, or YT.

 

The issue I think with Rick is this. There is no doubt he hits the ball along way, but his short game is not good, not even passable for any type of competition against any other professional. He plays golf swing and driving range than actually being able to score the ball. At least his buddy Peter Finch understands. Ever since Pete stopped that Quest for 350 nonsense that destroyed a solid swing and got back into his groove he's been playing quite a bit better as well as actually focusing on improvement with his Quest for the Open series. 

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I know being a playing club professional, even a minor tour pro is extremely tough. My instructor here in TX was Illinois state champ many moons ago. Locally, when his game is on, scratch golfer, there's no way of beating him. However, further along into Southwest regionals with unfamiliar courses or lack of prep, he shoots what I shoot locally, often high 70s, (low 80s of putter goes). Still a superb teacher, and overall nice guy, tried going to mini tours, but I digress.

It's funny, I had no idea how truly difficult it is to maintain your game when working a full-time job as a club/teaching pro until fairly recently. The head pro at the club I worked at growing up was a former tour player, regularly contended for state open titles and played his way through the CPC to the PGA championship once. And one of our assistants made it through first stage of Q-school a couple of times before giving up the dream (he's made it to the Senior PGA at least once). It's a tough ask.

 

It doesn't seem like many of these YouTube pros play all that much, especially not competitively. That's why I've started watching Andrew Jensen. He's trying to make it onto the Canadian Tour, and his back story is great.

What's in the bag:
Driver - :cobra-small: F8 - Aldila NV Blue 60 ( S )
3 Wood (13.5*) - :titleist-small: 980F 
4 Wood (18*) - :cobra-small: F8 - Aldila NV Blue 60 ( S )
3 Hybrid (19*) - :taylormade-small: RBZ
4i - PW - :wilson_staff_small: D7 Forged - Recoil 760 ( S )
52* - :cleveland-small: CBX
58* - :cleveland-small: CBX Full Face 2
Putter - :ping-small: Craz-e
Bag - :1590477705_SunMountain: 2.5 (Blue)
Ball -  :titleist-small: AVX
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This came across his Twitter account today: https://twitter.com/rickshielspga/status/962744657053671424

"played awful this week & came in dead last place, but hey ho I had tonnes of fun"

Had tons of fun.....

In DFL.....

I guess you've gotta give it to him for remaining positive. I'd have a hard time doing that if I finished a pro tournament at +41 (3 rounds). On a 6300y course, I'm pretty sure many of us spies could beat that score.

What do you guys think? Too many eyes on him? Focusing too much on everything else? Off week?

I know these YouTube pros are just personalities but I'd still love to see better results when they compete. Is that so wrong to hold them to a higher standard?

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I sometimes wonder if all of the club testing he does hurts his swing. There are videos of him I've watched that he is just spraying them all over the place. Does all that testing just make you complacent after a while?

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It's funny, I had no idea how truly difficult it is to maintain your game when working a full-time job as a club/teaching pro until fairly recently. The head pro at the club I worked at growing up was a former tour player, regularly contended for state open titles and played his way through the CPC to the PGA championship once. And one of our assistants made it through first stage of Q-school a couple of times before giving up the dream (he's made it to the Senior PGA at least once). It's a tough ask.

 

It doesn't seem like many of these YouTube pros play all that much, especially not competitively. That's why I've started watching Andrew Jensen. He's trying to make it onto the Canadian Tour, and his back story is great.

 

I don't know, it seems to me based on his channel that he gets to play at least a few times a week.  He essentially has to in order to keep putting out new videos for people to watch.  Now I will say that playing those rounds while filming them probably doesn't lend itself to really making the most out of the practice but he plays a lot more than most average 9-5 working people do.

 

As others have stated, he's a driving range pro that spends more time on GCQuad than on the putting/chipping green.  He admitted in one of his latest videos that he struggles from 30-40 yards but I would say he struggles at most of the short game.  If he gets wild off the tee AND combines that with his lackluster short game then those scores are easy to post.

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That's not going to help his confidence for Open qualifying.

 

 

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That's not going to help his confidence for Open qualifying.

Hopefully it's motivation for him. When I finish DFL (or otherwise really poorly) in a tournament, I take a picture of the scoreboard and make it my computer's wallpaper. And it stays there until I play in a tournament and have a decent finish. It's a reminder to work harder.

What's in the bag:
Driver - :cobra-small: F8 - Aldila NV Blue 60 ( S )
3 Wood (13.5*) - :titleist-small: 980F 
4 Wood (18*) - :cobra-small: F8 - Aldila NV Blue 60 ( S )
3 Hybrid (19*) - :taylormade-small: RBZ
4i - PW - :wilson_staff_small: D7 Forged - Recoil 760 ( S )
52* - :cleveland-small: CBX
58* - :cleveland-small: CBX Full Face 2
Putter - :ping-small: Craz-e
Bag - :1590477705_SunMountain: 2.5 (Blue)
Ball -  :titleist-small: AVX
Instagram - @hardcorelooper
Twitter - @meovino
Facebook - mike.eovino

 

 

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