A Quick Nine with Ian Happ

August 28, 2020 fiveiron Community

Five Iron and Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ teamed up to raise money for Feeding America by offering their communities a chance to bid on a variety of golf experiences and merchandise, including a round with Ian Happ at the esteemed Rich Harvest Farms. Raising just under $15,000, the give-back initiative furthered the excitement of having Ian Happ, known for his community-driven success on and off the field, as a Five Iron ambassador. We caught up with Ian to learn more about his other charitable ventures, his golf game, and how he spent his time during MLB’s shutdown.

01 | So, Ian, when did you start playing golf and how did you get into the game?

I had a club in my hand at 18 months old. My Dad was a scratch golfer and began work as a course superintendent before working for the USGA as an agronomist, so I grew up around the game. We lived in the Philadelphia area but then moved to Pittsburg so I really grew up playing at Chartiers Country Club. I have a great relationship with the superintendent and head pro there so I always try to get out there when we play the Pirates. It’s fun to be able to go back to the place where I learned to love the game.

02 | How was life in quarantine? Did you learn any new skills?

When everything started shutting down mid-March, I invited some of my teammates to Arizona and ended up with a great group of guys living with me. Dakota Mekkes, Zack Short, and I started The Compound podcast, were able to get outside and train together and actually the golf course in Arizona stayed open, so we were playing a bunch of nine-hole rounds. We’d go in the evening and walk nine-holes, just taking anywhere from two to five clubs. Never took a full bag, we would just take something like a five iron, a putter, a two iron or a wedge. We kept it fun and played two on two matches.

Podcasting is definitely the number one new skill. It’s been really fun to connect with the fans through that new avenue while also learning how to put it all together. We discuss our baseball experiences and interview various guests. I do the editing and we had to buy new equipment for it so there was a learning curve for sure, especially for how to interview guests properly. We’ve come a long way though and have put together some nice interviews.

03 | We heard you recently shot a 69 while playing with PGA Tour player Joel Dahmen and Cubs teammate Kyle Schwarber! Unfortunately, Joel still had you by 11 strokes, shooting a ridiculous 58. How was that to experience and would you consider yourself the best golfer on the Cubs?

Watching Joel fire off a 58 was incredible, by far the craziest thing I’ve ever seen on the golf course. Schwarber and I were in awe all day. Luckily Joel and I were on the same team so we beat up on Schwarber and his partners. As far as the best golfer on the team goes… Kevin Streelman just gave me a nice shoutout in a recent interview, we play together in AZ a fair bit, so I’ll defer to the professionals on that. I think Hendricks could give me a run for my money, but he doesn’t play all that much. He’s got a beautiful swing but it’s tough to get him out on the course. So yeah, right now I could take on any of them.

04 | If you had to pick one club to play with, which club would you choose?

When I was playing nine-hole matches with the guys I got a taste of what a one club round would be like and I would definitely choose a five iron! Actually, it’s what I would recommend as lessons for anybody. Just taking two to five clubs out really made us much better players because you’re forced to learn to hit a bunch of different shots. After playing like that for almost two months, I shot three-under and even-par in my first two rounds back.

05 | Which of your baseball skills translates best to golf?

As baseball players, we learn how to generate power as hitters and that definitely helps me hit it a long way on the course. But the mental side for sure translates. My mental game in golf helps my baseball, and my baseball my golf – they work together. Because baseball is such a game of failure, understanding that one bad shot in golf isn’t going to derail your round is a huge advantage.

06 | What do you like most about the Five Iron experience?

For me, it’s the space and how it is designed. Being able to have your own area, you have all the privacy that you want. But at the same time, if you want to interact, if you want to be at the bar talking to people, you can do that. It’s cool to have the flexibility to really grind hard on your game and practice with Trackman while also having a few drinks and fun with friends.

07 | Do you have a favorite beverage you enjoy at Five Iron or on the course?

My go-to is a Tequila and Ginger Ale and I try to ride that out for nine holes!

08 | Can you tell us about The Happ Family Charitable Fund and your new Quarantine Coffee?

In starting The Happ Family Charitable Fund, the most important thing for us as a family was to give back to the City of Chicago. The city has been so great and accommodating to both me and my family. It’s home for me now. I really appreciate all the fans that come out and support us every single day so to be able to give back and help them is very important to me.

Quarantine Coffee is a venture with myself and Connect Roasters, who are based about an hour south of Chicago. I reached out to the founder after trying his coffee. I fell in love with how smooth and how great their roasting press was so I pitched him the idea of Quarantine Coffee to help the Chicago community during this crisis. We were able to bring it to the market within two weeks and $3 from every bag sold goes directly to COVID-19 relief charities, including the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Save the Children. We’re super excited about it and the response has been great.

09 | How has being reunited with your team while also playing an unprecedented season in these uncertain times been? Is there anything in particular that has surprised you about it?

It’s been great to be back into the field with my teammates and best friends. Honestly I couldn’t pick a better group of people to be going through this with. It is unprecedented, it’s definitely more challenging than I ever could have imagined but I’m just happy to be playing for the fans. I think the most surprising or interesting part is seeing different parts of the stadium I never knew existed. For social distancing purposes we’re utilizing a lot of the stadium that fans would be in that we’ve never used before and it’s cool to see the field and game from that perspective.

A Quick Nine With Tiger Hood

June 12, 2020 Colby Blanchard Community

Street photographer Patrick Barr, aka Tiger Hood, has become a local legend in NYC for bringing the game of golf to the streets. For the past twelve years, he’s been holding impromptu golf competitions throughout Manhattan with just a golf club, a newspaper-stuffed milk carton, and a crate. Team 5i is filled with fans and friends of Patrick’s so we caught up with him to see how he’s been doing and to learn more about his story.

1 | Patrick! How are you doing?

I’m good. Doing alright. Been hanging down in Florida since March 7th but heading back up to NYC soon. I got out of New York just before the city shut down because I come down to Daytona for Bike Week every year. And man, when they shut Bike Week down on its busiest day, a Friday night! That’s when I knew things were getting serious.

2 | Can you tell us how Patrick Barr, a street photographer, became NYC’s legendary Tiger Hood?

Photo courtesy of Patrick Barr.

It was back in, I think it was 2008. I had my photographs on display on the street when I saw a golf club in a garbage can. I had a tennis ball on me so I thought, I can hit this tennis ball into that garbage can. It was near a building down in SoHo that was under construction. I started hitting the tennis ball against the wall and it came back to me about ten or so times. I didn’t have a hard time hitting it right away. I just hit it straight, it went straight, and came right back to me. But after a few hits, it got stuck in the scaffolding and didn’t come back down. I was living on Bowery at the time and saw some milk cartons the next day and thought, these things will work. And as you know, the rest is history.

I’m just passing the time by amusing myself and bringing people together. When I first picked up that golf club, I didn’t say to myself, “Oh, let’s keep this thing for a while. I want to get into this game.” I had no clue this would become my lifestyle. But after the second or third day with that club, the name was instantaneous, pretty much. I didn’t even think about it really. I was just like, you know, Tiger Woods. And I’m the hood.

The main thing about hitting on the streets is having fun while being careful. I mean, listen, if I saw a guy swinging a golf club in the streets, I would be like is this guy crazy? Does this guy know what he’s doing? Is he being careful? Is he watching who’s around him? So the main thing is just to be careful. ABC. Always be careful. And that’s why I hit something soft.

3 | Nicholas ‘Nico’ Heller’s short documentary “Neighborhood Golf Association” highlights your lifestyle so beautifully. How did you two meet?

Wow. Years ago. I tell you, man. He bought one of my photographs when I used to sell them on the street. It was a couple of years after that when he saw me playing golf. I’m embarrassed to say I don’t remember him buying one of my photos. That’s the beauty of it. He bought my photograph before and then recognized me as a golfer. I mean, that’s really cool.

Then I was out there playing on Jersey Street one night and when I took a swing, these kids were like, “Hey, man, you’re cool, bro.” And I, you know, sarcastically, was like “Hey, man. Oh, you just figured that shit out.” You know, just being silly. But Nico videotaped that, sent it to NBC and ABC and they used it! They bleeped the “shit” out. But anyway, that was I think the first time he documented me on film. It’s amazing to see what’s happened with Nico, man. He’s my brother growing up from another mother.

Must have been 2010, ‘11 when I got on Instagram. All thanks to Nico. I’m not sure when my first post was but I was out there playing on Jersey Street and Nico said, “Hey man, you should get on Instagram.” And I said, “Ok, how do I do that?” He opened up my @tigerhoodnyc page right then and there.

4 | We saw you sent Nico one of your wedges to carry on your NYC legacy while you were away! Any other updates to share?

Oh my, yeah. Those Haywood clubs are beauties, too. You guys at Five Iron saw them straight out of the box. You know what’s so cool too? First of all, Mark Baldwin. He’s out in Arizona and plays on the Korn Ferry Tour. He interviewed me and they put it on the Korn Ferry Tour’s social, which is really cool because that’s all about professional golfers. All professional golfers and then Tiger Hood! And then the Golf Ball Gallery. I don’t know if you’re familiar with him but it’s @golfballgallery on Instagram. The page is nothing but golf balls and now has my milk container on it. My milk container is now a golf ball in a golf ball gallery! I’m telling you it’s crazy. It’s like I’m that square peg actually getting into the round role. And it’s so cool.

5 | Do you have a favorite memory or person you’ve played with?

Oh, man. I’ve had so many fun moments with people coming to swing. I’ve had total strangers get it in on the first try! Like what’s up with that, man?! I had this girl who didn’t know how to swing for beans. And oh my gosh, I showed her the basics and I tell you what, after about maybe five to ten minutes, she got one in!

Justin Timberlake passed by once but he didn’t have time to take a swing. He walked back to take my picture though. I’d like to find out what he did with that picture. I think, Justin, you know if you take a picture of somebody the least you can do is send them a copy! You know what I mean? But Will Smith. Will is for sure my favorite. He just hit it and quit it. You know, he not only beat me, he beat Troy Mullins for crying out loud! C’mon now! Everyone lost it.

6 | How about a dream playing partner?

Obama and Tiger Woods. Those two are easy picks off the top of my head. And maybe Justin Timberlake. He owes me at least a picture, if not a couple of swings. You know what I’m saying? C’mon, it’s only fair! He needs to do the Will Smith Challenge. He owes me that much, especially since he’s a golfer. If he’s really any good, he’d come out to NYC and try it.

7 | What is the Will Smith Challenge?

Oh, it’s just three swings and that’s it. Will Smith got it in the basket in just three swings! I mean, listen, this is how it went down. This is how I look at how he did it, his thought process. His first swing was like reading a script as it comes in from the mail or is delivered to him. He reads the script so he knows what the show is about. Ok. His second swing was his dress rehearsal. And his third swing was his performance of a lifetime. He hit it and quit it. He won his award. He won his Neighborhood Golf Association Championship. He won his green jacket. He won a green jacket!

I don’t know if you know but the green jacket he gave me has a milk carton on the back! It’s not just an imitation of the real green jacket. It’s not a rip off of it. Well, of course, it is a ripoff. I am a ripoff. But it was specially made. Will had it made for me. So I only use it for special occasions. So I only use it for special occasions, like when I put it on Troy Mullins when she made one and then on Will when he did. I keep it nice and clean and only use it for special occasions.

8 | Do you have a favorite Manhattan street to play on?

Right now it’s Minetta Lane, where the Will Smith Challenge happened. But there are so many places that are undiscovered. Just so many. Like how there are so many golf courses around the world to discover, there are so many neighborhoods and blocks in just Manhattan alone. But I like my little world down there in

the village. Minetta Lane and Jersey Street are like a little oasis in the city. They’re in the middle of all this activity yet both blocks are kind of quiet sometimes.

But I try to expand my horizons. That’s how I found you guys! I was down in the Financial District and saw your golf sign out front. I was by myself and walked in to check the place out and was like, wow! First of all, I love the colorful murals you guys have painted on your walls. Very nice.

And then I was greeted by the brother with dreads and thought, this is my kind of place! Then one of the young ladies down there, a cheering machine, she recognized me and I was like, “WHAT? How?” And we made that little video together doing that dance.

But man, they treated me like royalty! I’m a nobody and they treated me like a celebrity. And right then, I knew I loved Five Iron. You guys treated me like gold from the very beginning and I just appreciate that so much. I mean, immensely, man. Every time I go to your Flatiron or Financial District location, I get treated like a celebrity. I told you, I’m a nobody! And you all are so awesome to me. You guys have really hooked me up with the swag. I love my pink Five Iron polo and carry it with me everywhere to represent. I love the texture and make of it because I also really love fashion. I used to collect fashion magazines in high school. Anyways, I always wear it and every time I do I think, real men wear pink.

9 | What motivates you to keep going?

Well, you know, I enjoy my life. I enjoy the game of golf. I didn’t expect to be down in Florida so long but you know, I’m excited to get back to New York. But it’s going to be bittersweet. We’ve lost a lot of people. Some of them I hardly knew but they were really close with Nico and Nico’s friends are friends of mine too. I mean, Vinny Peanuts, I met him once but what a cool guy. Jimmy Webb, I knew him for a few years before I even started playing golf. As a street photographer, I met him at his clothing store on St. Marks. And Moe Albanese, I met him years back when I first started playing and was hitting just a few yards outside his meat shop. It’s going to be strange going back to a New York without them and so many others but I am excited to get back. I can’t wait to get some new projects going.

Troy and I have talked about doing more things to get kids in the game, like working with the East Harlem girls golf team again. There are a few others I want to work with that I feel can just be unstoppable at getting these rugrats into the game. I mean, the PGA cannot ignore the number of people we might be able to get into the game, starting with the rugrats. I’m telling you, it’s been a surprising part of playing as Tiger Hood. It’s the craziest thing. I didn’t get into this for the kids. And most of the kids I’ve played with just happened to be passing by on the streets. So you ain’t seen nothing yet. With real golfers wanting to get involved, we can go to these different schools and show kids how to make golf containers at first. You know, like an arts and crafts project where they recycle their milk containers by making golf containers. Then we teach them how to hit them safely. ABC. Always be careful. You never know, this could be the hunt for America’s next top golfer. We’ve just got to get them from the streets to the indoor driving ranges like Five Iron and out onto the course.

Be on the lookout for Tiger Hood on the streets of NYC and in more collaborations with Five Iron. You can keep up with him on Instagram at @tigerhoodnyc.

Cover image courtesy of Ray Neutron.

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Matching club face and path

March 15, 2020 fiveiron Instruction & Technology

Dan McCracken – NYC

Some golfers slice, some golfers hook, and others may push or pull the ball. Some golfers may even suffer from all four of those directional misses. Regardless of what your miss is, all golfers miss their target at times. The first step to correcting these misses is understanding why they happened. To find these answers, it’s best to get yourself in a simulator and start charting your club face and club path numbers. These data points tell the story of why your ball flew where it did, so let’s dig in.

Perhaps the best place to start is with this fact that you are not going to hit the ball perfectly straight consistently. Almost every golf ball struck will have some degree of curvature to it, certainly some more than others. So with that said, I believe the best players own their curvature so that they can consistently shape their golf ball towards their intended target.

The data point I like to look at first is the club face angle. Where the club face is pointing at the moment of impact is the primary controller of the ball’s starting direction. So if your club face is open you’ll almost always push the ball, and if it’s closed you’ll almost always pull the ball. Regardless of what you do, it’s only a bad thing if it curves away from your target (or a better way to phrase it for the more advanced player, over-curving your target). When it comes to which way your ball is curving, we now need to take a look at club path.

The club path angle refers to the direction the club head is moving at the moment of impact. Golfers tend to swing either inside-out or outside-in. For a right handed golfer, inside-out would mean swinging more to the right which would generally create a hook or draw bias. Golfers who fade or slice the ball generally swing outside-in, for the right handed golfer this is swinging more to the left. So to figure out how to curve the ball the way we want to, we need to look at the relationship between club face and club path.

The ball flights I generally like to help create with most students would be push-draws or pull-fades. So if your ball is going to curve to the left, I want it to start to the right and vice versa. The relationship I like to see is about a 2:,1 path to face. So if your path is 4 degrees inside-out, I want your club face 2 degrees open. Same goes for the other side of the spectrum. The bigger that match-up gets, say 10 inside-out and 5 open, the more curvature you’ll see, but it should still end up pretty close to your target. To be able to apply your natural ball flight to as many situations as possible, I usually like to see less curvature than more.

There are many variables that go into changing your club face and club path. You can look at grip, club face alignment, body alignments, ball position, dynamic posture, pressure shift in the feet, take away, hand path, arm structure and many more things. If you find yourself lost or overwhelmed, that’s what our 5i Golf Pro’s are here for. However if you choose to walk the road alone, remember that face angle controls starting direction. If your path is left of the face angle, the ball will curve right and vice versa. This knowledge is the starting point to make real change in your ball flight.

You can book a lesson with Dan in NYC by clicking here.

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Ball Position

March 2, 2020 Colby Blanchard Instruction & Technology

Matt Brady – Chicago

Ball position is considered a fundamental for many instructors, including myself. But, there are conflicting schools of thought. Let’s clear the air and see which one works for you and why. I was taught as a kid that wedges through 7 iron are played in the middle of your stance, 6 iron through 3 wood is played a ball or two more towards our left foot and the driver is played just inside your left foot or left knee. Other instructors emphasize more of a singular ball position in line with your left ear or the logo on a golf shirt. There are benefits to doing either method. The first method is the variable ball position. Benefits would, this can help ensure more of a downward strike into the ball in the middle of your stance using shorter irons which could help create better and cleaner contact. On the other hand a stable ball position means its a constant in your swing and requires less thinking with one less variable to be conscious of. This could help if you’re still in the learning phase. Now my favorite method or way of thinking was made famous by Jack Nicklaus and republished in Golf Digest in 2010. He thinks about keeping the ball position just left of center with the only adjustment being the width of his stance. It may look like he’s playing the ball in different spots but it’s only because his feet are closer together for short irons and progressively wider as the club he’s using gets longer. These are three very distinct methods of ball position, all have pros and cons. I would encourage any new player or even scratch golfers to play around with these and see what you have the most success with. After all, it’s your golf game, your swing, and your puzzle to put together.

You can book a lesson with Matt in Chicago by clicking here.

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Connection and Efficiency in the golf swing

March 2, 2020 Colby Blanchard Instruction & Technology

Matt Brady – Chicago

Connection and Efficiency are hot button words when it comes to the golf swing. If you’ve ever taken a golf lesson or spent time browsing youtube videos, odds are you’ve heard one, if not both mentioned before. Lets define what these mean in very general terms then dive into how they apply to the golf swing.

Connection is defined as a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else, easy to understand right? In the golf swing this is most often referenced in the relationship between the players arms and their body. Meaning that for most players we would like to see the arms establish and maintain connection throughout the swing from static setup positions to the backswing and through the contact point with the golf ball. There are minor exceptions to this rule, but not as much as you might think. The player that comes to mind is Justin Thomas, he has very high hands at the top of his swing and it looks like his arms come away from his body and they do just a bit. But, one of his first moves to the downswing is to reconnect his arms to his body and maintain that connection through the hitting zone. So, the question begs itself, how do you get better connection through the swing? There are lots of ways and things you can focus on, whether it be the right elbow tucked into your rib cage at address and keeping it close to your body back and through the swing, or feeling your left arm across your chest at the top of the swing. The answer is, whatever helps you get the repeatable ball flight that you want is the correct way to do it.

The second part of this post is about efficiency, its defined as, achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or preventing the wasteful use of a particular resource. This points us back to the first part of the post. Connection and efficiency, for my money, are very similar when it comes to the swing itself,and you cannot have one without the other. Yes, they can be referring to different portions of the golf swing, but start with the connection piece mentioned above and I hope this helps clear up any fuzzy thoughts you had about these. Lets keep it simple and find more fairways.

You can book a lesson with Matt in Chicago by clicking here.

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Tuning Up Your Tempo

March 2, 2020 Colby Blanchard Instruction & Technology

Dan McCracken – NYC

Tuning Up Your Tempo

Everyone wants a good tempo to their golf swing, but what are you doing to improve yours? When it comes to playing good golf consistently, I would make the case that your tempo/timing is as important as your swing mechanics, maybe more. Proper swing mechanics allows a golfer to generate their desired ball flight. Once a golfer is capable of hitting a good shot, the focus then shifts to the ability to repeat that good shot. When it comes to putting something on repeat, it’s all about timing. If a golfer can improve the consistency of their timing, they can improve the consistency of their ball flight.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “swing smooth” before. I’m sure you’ve also been told to not rush the club back in the takeaway. What you might be surprised to hear is that most people suffer from swinging the club back too slow. Yes, when I see students struggle with tempo it is almost always a result of them swinging the club back much too slowly. Allow me to explain. Club head speed creates ball speed and distance. The faster we swing the club, the farther we can hit the ball. In most full swing golf shots, the player is looking to generate a considerable amount of club speed. So if you focus on taking the club back slowly, this puts all the speed generation responsibility on your downswing. When this happens we create an inefficient tempo. Generally this is the culprit when a golfer mentions they felt rushed or quick during a swing. A golfer who needs to work overtime to build speed in the downswing will almost always lose control over their arm and wrist structure. This is how poor tempo can result in poor technique.

The phrase I like to use with students is this: “Free up the backswing. There is no need to rush, but we want momentum built with our backswing. If we can build some momentum, this will allow us to transition smoothly and control our body through the ball.” If you’re waiting until you get to the top of your backswing to crank up the speed, you’re most likely in trouble. Controlling your change of direction from backswing to downswing is vital to quality ball striking. If you are working to create force at this moment, you’ve most likely lost control.

For a long time, working on your tempo meant experimenting somewhat aimlessly with different feelings. Now, with the help of technology like Blast Motion Golf, we can measure and quantify our tempo. Tempo is the ratio of your backswing time to your downswing time. By placing these sensors on the best players in the world, Blast Motion learned the average tempo for a professional golfer is somewhere between 2:1 and 3:1 depending on whether they are holding a wedge or putter vs. a driver. As we see people struggle with their tempo, that ratio usually grows 4:1 and above. Slower backswings resulting in worse shots.

What we can take away from all this is that we are trying to achieve a balanced and efficient tempo. If you plan on swinging down fast, don’t swing back slowly. Also, in your search for consistency allow your timing to take center stage. Consistent tempo generally leads to consistent technique, this does not always prove true the other way around. Whatever comes the most naturally to you will always almost be the easiest thing to repeat. So own your tempo, keep your transition smooth and have fun out there.

You can book a lesson with Dan in NYC by clicking here.

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