Instagram: candy for the eyes. One search on #golf pretty much nails how predictable golf IG feeds have become. Product shot after sunrise after swing sequence after hot babe with a golf club, repeat.  Thankfully, there are a handful of very clever IG accounts that stand out from the crowd. One of my favorites is a woman who goes by the handle @smooderoo. A quick glance through her account and you realize this is not your average girl golfer IG account. No selfies, no philosophical quotes and no bullshit. Smooderoo has somehow blended golf shenanigans without overt sexuality or self promotion in a unique and refreshing manner.

Despite not being a household name, Steve Wozeniak has taught some of the very best players and coaches in the world. Specifically, he spent 7 years with famous instructor Jimmy Ballard, whose ideas were learned at the feet of Sam Byrd. We’ve interviewed Ballard and discussed Sam Byrd’s contribution in other blog entries; but if you haven’t heard of him, he helped Hogan remake his swing,

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a video about a group of guys who were planning to travel the country trying to qualify for every PGA event. While attempting to Monday Qualify is not particularly unique, the fact that they were going on this adventure as a team rather than individuals was something I had never heard of. Sure, equipment and apparel companies have “teams”, but Team TourQuest seemed more genuine. So, I tracked down Sam Goulden, the guy who put this whole idea together, to get the scoop on just who and what TourQuest is.

I can always tell when students return for the fall semester in Chapel Hill because our sleepy little town swells with an additional 20,000 eager students. While most of these kids are leaving an idle summer behind, incoming Freshman Samantha Marks’s summer was highlighted by playing in the 2012 Women’s US Open at Blackwolf Run.

Anyone who watches golf (especially this year it seems) knows that no lead is safe. Given the fact that I had just watched Adam Scott card four consecutive bogeys to let the 2012 Open slip away, I thought I would start my interview with two-time LPGA winner Stacy Prammanasudh by asking her about staying focused during the final stretch of a golf tournament. She admitted that even though she was able to avoid looking at a leader board during her first win on the Futures Tour, most times it is a real challenge to stay in the moment.

Last week, I had the opportunity to interview the legendary, but often overlooked, golf instructor Jimmy Ballard. If you are not familiar with Jimmy Ballard, his impressive resume is outlined here and here. In short, Ballard’s methods are often summed up in one word, “Connection.” While everyone knows who Haney, Harmon and Foley are, the lesser known Jimmy Ballard’s list of students is a virtual who’s who of winners including Curtis Strange, Hal Sutton, Jim Colbert, Rocco Mediate as well as Jesper Parnevik and Annika Sorenstam (via his work with the Swedish golf program). Moreover, Jimmy worked with these players at the height of their careers, so while Jimmy may not have the name cache as other famous coaches, he has a winning resume that would stack up against the best of them.

If you would have told me a year ago that I would get the opportunity to speak with an LPGA player, I would have been dubious at best. Well, the stars finally aligned and I was able to spend a bit of time talking with Meaghan Francella, a member of the LPGA Tour since 2006 and a former Tarheel at the University of North Carolina. By my calculations, there is a pretty good chance I nearly ran into her in the mid 2000’s since the UNC golf course is my home practice course . . . mind you, I said ‘practice course’ as I rarely play there since the rates are a bit steep for this poorboy blogger. Anyway, Meaghan was twice the New York State Junior champion back in the day, was the 2003 ACC individual champion at UNC, and was a 1st team All-American in 2004. Badass? Check.

Much like the PGA, the women’s tour is deep with talent. Interestingly, Meaghan voiced the same frustrations I have heard from some PGA Pros in that the networks only want to focus on just a few players, even though there are compelling stories beyond the top 10. So unfortunately, plenty of great players bask in relative obscurity despite playing in major golf tournaments and making a darn good living doing something most of us can only do once a week (and poorly I might add). That is of course until you win, and Meaghan has won twice on tour – the first time just 18 months after turning pro, in a four hole playoff against Annika Sorenstam no less. When I think about my own game and knowing how I struggle to finish a good round without giving it away on the 18th green, I sometimes wonder how anyone actually manages to win a golf tournament with anything better than a bogey, but I guess that is why Meaghan is on tour and I am not.

To back up a bit, the reason I was able to speak with Meaghan is because she is affiliated/sponsored by LoudMouth Golf, whose products we have reviewed (both on the men’s and women’s side). If you are curious, Meaghan’s favorite LoudMouth patterns are the “Money” and “Carolina Blue Argyle”. Not much of a surprise with either choice I think.

She’s Money!

Ironically, the week we spoke was days after a bit of an LPGA controversy in which Morgan Pressel was assessed a penalty for slow play in a match (which clearly had an effect on her eventual loss of the match). Curiously, there were only 4 players on the entire course when the penalty was assessed. Still, the LPGA and PGA fight the slow play battle in both reality and perception. While the men just seem to waste time for no good reason, the women play slow in part because nearly every player utilizes their caddy to help line up putts. I asked Meaghan about this issue and why women tend to rely on their caddies. Her answer surprised me at first but then became obvious – “we are perfectionists” she stated. Duh. However, she did elaborate to say that she is very much in favor of eliminating caddies from the green reading equation. Now if we could just get the men to waggle a bit less and stop fretting over every gentle breeze.

In terms of the LPGA tour, I was interested in how much time she spent with the other players as it is hard to know how much time players spend with each other off of the course. I guess the fact that she was going to play an afternoon round with Morgan Pressel gives you some sense that, yes indeed, they do hang out.

Finally, I asked Meaghan which LPGA star is a serious “bad-ass”. Possibly a dumb question, but I have always believed that Tiger in his heyday unnerved players whether they admitted it or not. Therefore, I wondered if Yani Tseng or anyone else commands that same fear down in the trenches. While the fan in me wanted to hear legends of awe, the pragmatist in me was prepared for her response: respect for her fellow competitors, but total confidence in her ability to win in any given week. (editor’s note: Yani is still a bad-ass).

So that’s it, the closest I have gotten to being inside the ropes – I am now an official Meaghan Francella fan who will be keeping an eye on the leaderboard as she tees it up this year.