Out with the old, in with the new!

As an avid golf follower, I have witnessed the uprising of Jordan Spieth and the downfall of Tiger Woods. I can remember back to when the story of Tiger's affair became public and when Jordan Spieth won his first major championship. The times are changing and the younger generation of golfers seem to be taking over the game. In his prime, no one could compare to Tiger Woods, but ever since the night of November 26, 2009, he has never been the same. When he was exposed as a "serial cheater" many people changed their perception of Woods and he never recovered. From relationship issues to injury, the games biggest icon began to fade out of the picture. The golfing industry took a hit when they lost their star and they continued to see decreasing numbers of viewers. That is, until the new star of the game came knocking.

Jordan Spieth is a 22 year old golfing prodigy from Dallas, Texas. On July 14, 2013, Spieth put himself on the map by winning his first professional tournament at the John Deere Classic. With that victory he became the fourth youngest player in history to be a PGA Tour winner. Since that day he has not slowed down. He now has 6 PGA Tour wins and won the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open. This past year he won the PGA Player of the Year and PGA Tour Player of the Year awards, he was the PGA Tour leading money winner, FedEx Cup Champion, Vardon Trophy Winner, and the Byron Nelson Award winner. Not a bad resume for a 22 year old. 

This kind of play was much needed for the game of golf and who better to be the new face of the game than a young buck who has many, many years of golf ahead of him. Tiger changed the game of golf and while we will always be appreciative of the things he has accomplished, it's time for the next generation of golf to begin, and trust me; it won't disappoint.

Story Boards Are Fun

Would you say that you are good at drawing stick figures? Do you have an idea of a product or service that can better society? If you answered yes to both of these questions, maybe its time to start drawing up some story boards!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working with a group of class mates to try and think of a service/product that people 20-25 years of age would use that would help them make the transition from school into their careers. This has been a very fun and creative process that I didn't think would be as fun as it was. one of the funnest parts, in my opinion, was creating the story board to illustrate the issue at hand and how our idea of a product would solve that problem. multiple story boards came and went until we created one that truly explained how we wanted our product to be seen. I was given the task of doing the drawings and presenting them in a way that would be aesthetically pleasing. You can see our final story board below.

If you feel like you are a creative person and have an idea that could truly change the way we live, do something with it! You never know what could come of an idea. Every successful person in this world has came up with an idea at some point in their life that shaped how they live. Sure, not every idea is a great one, but when that really great idea comes, move on it, explain how it will better peoples lives, and create a story board to begin the process.

Happy Inventing!

1 Shot

Two hours ago I arrived home from sunny San Diego, California. I spent the last 4 days working toward passing my Playing Ability Test that is required to begin the PGA program. I was blessed to have my parents come with me and it turned into a little family vacation for 3 or the days we were there. On Sunday, I played my practice round at Encinitas Ranch Golf Club in Encinitas, California, about 30 miles north of San Diego. The elevation difference between Bozeman and California was a little tough to get used to as well as the difference in the grass and the way that the grass grabbed the club.

 Entering into Monday I felt confident that I would be able to play well and come back home with my PAT passed. The next morning I arrived at the course at 6:00 am to begin warming up (which was in the dark), and teed off at 7:00. When that shotgun sounded, 36 holes of nonstop golf ensued. As the day came to an end and we made our way towards the final hole, I was one stroke under the qualifying mark. A par on the final hole would mean that I passed my PAT and not have to take it again. As I walked up to the tee on the Par 3, 12th hole, one thought was in my mind; put a good swing on it and par the hole. As I watched my ball fly toward the green, I could see that it was going to be a little left of the green. When I approached my second shot, a soft chip shot was all I needed to get into position to par the hole. Unfortunately my worst fear happened. I bladed my chip over the other side of the green and needed to get up and down to get a bogey and still pass the test. As I watched my bogey putt fly by the hole, I could feel my chances slipping away from me. A 5 foot par putt stood between passing and failing. My heart sank when the ball lipped out and I ended up taking a double bogey of the final hole to miss the passing score by 1 shot.

In all my years of golf, I never felt this upset before. I knew that I had a passing score in my hands and I let it slip away. Now I have to try to pass again at another point down the road and I can assure you, I won't let that one slip by. All in all, it was a great trip with my parents. Do I wish the outcome would have been different? Of course. But the lessons I learned throughout my round will surely help me be successful the next time around.

Design Sprinting

Have any of you ever done a design sprint for a class, or for your job? If you have, I'm sure that you all know how fun a process like this is! I am currently doing a design sprint for my Consumer Behavior class. The premise of a design sprint is to brainstorm ideas of products that might be useful for society that do not already exist. It is a very fast paced creation process where ideas are turned into prototypes and those prototypes are used to see if a product like this would be liked by consumers.

The topic of our design sprint is creating a product that young adults would use when they are just leaving college and entering the workforce. I have had a lot of fun brainstorming ideas and revising our ideas to develop a product that we think is a great opportunity! The after our group developed our product that we believed would see the most success, the next step was to test our ideas with consumers. We did this by asking our friends and family that match our target market if they would use a product like ours. After getting very valuable information from all of these people, we came together to revise our idea into a similar product but updated to meet the suggestions for our group.

So far, this process has been very eye opening for seeing designing products as a fun and exciting process. I would highly recommend doing a design sprint for yourself  and seeing what kinds of ideas you come up with. Who knows, you may be the next Steve Jobs!

NCAA Football Playoff Picture

With the college football season coming to an end, the 4 teams that have made it to the 2nd ever College Football Playoff have been selected with many other deserving teams on the outside looking in. With last years playoff being a success and adding a new dimension to the chase for the the national championship, I still believe that it needs to be fixed. 

Too many teams that have had incredible season don't even get a chance to prove themselves because of one or two losses. These teams include Iowa, Stanford, Notre Dame, and last years champions, Ohio State. Iowa's only loss came in the Big 10 Championship game against Michigan State and while they only lost one game, they don't get a chance to win the national championship trophy. 

New Football Playoff

Since the beginning of the playoff system I have thought that 4 teams is not enough. What I would like to see would be the Power 5 conference champions and then 3 at large teams. With this system is would give more teams to prove themselves worthy of winning the national championship. If this were the case, the 8 teams that should be in the playoffs would be Clemson (ACC Champion), Alabama (SEC Champion), Michigan State (Big 10 Champion), Oklahoma (Big 12 Champion), Stanford (Pac-12 Champion), Iowa, Ohio State, and Notre Dame. With this system, only one more game would need to be played to determine who is the best of the best. While some people may argue that that is too many games, I think that if these teams are the BEST in the country, they can handle an extra game. A new system like this would add more excitement, give more teams a chance, and truly find the best of the best. 

Coaching Turnover..

What is the sports world becoming? Working for Montana State Football, I have seen, first hand, the devastation of a football coach being fired. Coach Rob Ash has been a class act coach for Montana State every since he came to the program 9 years ago. Since he arrived in Bozeman he has shaped the football program into one of the top FCS teams in the country. Eight winning seasons and it wasn't until last weeks loss to the University of Montana that he tallied his first losing season. Seems like a pretty good career don't you think? But as of Monday morning, the Cats found themselves without a head coach.

Even with the huge success that Coach Ash has seen at Montana State, winning is more important in the minds of the athletic department as well as the fans. There used to be a saying, "winning isn't everything," but anymore that phrase doesn't seem to exist. Coaches are getting fired left and right in the college ranks in 2015. Even coaches with winning records have been fired due to not meeting the expectations of the university. So what is going to happen? Seems to me that if a coach isn't winning the national championship or making it to a bowl game, their job is in danger. 

I hate seeing all of these headlines and hearing negative comments made about men who not only have seen success but have changed the identity of the program. Working for the Bobcats and working under Coach Ash has been a great opportunity. His kindness and professionalism will always be the defining factor in my mind. I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors and hope that half the nations coaches aren't facing the same fate come the end of the year. 

Look Up!

What is going on with today's society? Here we are, living in a world where possibilities are endless with the ever changing technology that we have to work with. But why is it that as the world gets "smarter" we as consumers seem to be getting more "stupid"? This video came to my attention last year and the first time that I watched it, it really made me stop and think about how much I use technology.


Being able to communicate with others instantly is a privilege that has become necessary for our world to function. Using technology constantly has become a way of life but it is ruining the world at the same time. There is so much truth in this video and some of it is scary. It's sad that parenting nowadays is as easy as giving a child an Ipad to keep their attention.


When I was growing up I was outside for 90% of my free time. I was exploring, taking advantage of nature around me, and always using my imagination. When I raise my children I will be sure to raise them the same way that my parents raised me. Sure communication is important but at what expense?


It's so easy to miss an opportunity because we are too busy looking down at our phone, and I made a promise to myself that I won't let life pass by me as I don't see any of it. I guess you could say I'm an old school mind in a new school world that is letting the new school take control of what truly matters. So take a few minutes to watch this video. It may just change the way that you view the technology in front of you.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

I'm not sure if any of you have ever heard of the documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop, and if you haven't, I strongly suggest that you watch it! If you enjoy street art and want to get an inside look at some of the world's most famous street artists and how they do their work, it will be worth 90 minutes of your time. I was assigned to watch this documentary for a class that I am currently taking and we had in-class discussions for a couple of days talking about if we believe that street art is art. What do you think? Do you find street art to be art or is it just graffiti? Personally, I have always enjoyed seeing street art, especially when it makes you stop and think about what the artist is trying to portray. I have attached a few images of the art that is featured in the movie. Great documentary!

Originality and Chaos

Recently I was told a quote from Keith Johnstone that said, "People trying to be original always arrive at the same boring old answers. Ask people to give you an original idea and see the chaos it throws them into. If they said the first thing that came into their head, there’d be no problem." I thought about this quote for some time and tried to understand what he was trying to say. After some deep thought on the subject, I came to the idea that Johnstone is trying to say that in our pursuit of trying to be original, we eventually try so hard that we subconsciously think an ordinary idea is original. Though this may sound very confusing when first read, I agree with Johnstone completely. In the past, when I have been given the task of coming up with an original idea, I find myself overthinking things. More times that not, stating the first thing that comes to mind is more original that an idea that you have thought about for hours.


At first, when I read this statement I thought it didn't make much sense, but as I thought about it deeper, I realized that in the past I have been a victim of over thinking. Subconscious thoughts are always playing factors in every decision we make. Even when we feel like no thought is going into a decision, it is. If you think long enough about something, these subconscious thoughts begin to play a factor in your mind, and they can be traced back to anything you've seen or known in the past. Lets use Coca-Cola as an example. You are given the task of creating a new and completely original ad for the upcoming Super Bowl. You begin thinking and as you open up your mind, you're being influenced by every ad you have ever seen for Coke. This can be traced back to when you were a child, watching TV on Saturday morning and an ad for Coke comes on TV. The thing that many people don't realize is that anything that we have ever experienced is subconsciously stored in our mind. So when thinking of this new ad, you are thinking of all these great ideas that you feel are original but are in fact, very similar to an ad that you've seen in the past but that you have loved. So when Johnstone says that if we said the thing that first comes to mind there would be no problem, he's right. Not giving your mind time to find those thoughts deep down is more beneficial than spending a lot of time thinking about it.


What do you think this statement means?

San Diego Bound!

A plane ticket is bought and hotels are booked! At the beginning of December I will be traveling to Encinitas (just north of San Diego) to take my Playing Ability Test. It is exciting to be starting the process of becoming PGA certified and I can't wait to prove my ability on the golf course. I will be accompanied by my parents, who will be enjoying a little vacation of their own, but it will be great having them there to support me! Golf has been such a large part of my life and I can't wait to start teaching the game that has got me to where I am today. December can't get here soon enough! T-32 Days!

New Face of Rap

Tupac, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar; all names that you think of when you talk about rappers who made a big impact on the rap world. But anymore, names like, Future, Ty Dolla $ign, and Fetty Wap have taken over the "rap" game. Unfortunately, their music talks about the same thing in every song and there seems to be no creativity. One name, however, that seens to be getting the rap game back to the art that it used to be, is G-Eazy; an up-incoming artist from Oakland, CA.

I have followed the rise of G-Eazy for quite some time now going all the way back to his first songs. The messages in songs have grown to be content that you stop and really listen to. He talks about his personal life, how his rise has changed the way he looks at fame, and about how hard he has worked to get to this level. Today he just came out with his new music video for his song Me, Myself, and I, and I must say; it is the best rap song that has came out in 2015. The messages within the lyrics of this song really make you think about how fame can change someone and how there are underlying catches with becoming famous. G-Eazy is the new face of rap, and eventually he will break through into one of the biggest names in the game.

Beginning My Journey to the PGA

As I begin the process of becoming a member of the PGA of America, I have started to see how becoming a professional in golf is more business than golf itself. Though I will be giving lessons, playing in PGA sponsored tournaments, and spending my leisure time on the links, the business side of golf may be more important to my success. Retailing, book keeping, and business planning are just a few of the every day activities that will be in my job description and all of which I will continue to hone throughout my career. I look forward to beginning my journey to the PGA and hopefully my background in business will allow me to see much success!

As the month of October is coming to an end, as well as the golf season in the northern Rockies, here are the top 10 trick shots from the Bryan Bros through the 2015 season! What is your favorite golf trick shot? Share your video and enjoy watching some impressive golf skills!

Black Bull: A Golf Community

Over the past few months I have been lucky enough to work at Black Bull. A private golfing community in Bozeman, MT. What started as a summer job has turned into the possibility of a career. At the beginning of May, I started working at Black Bull as a bag boy. I would welcome members, help them with anything they needed, and make sure that they enjoy every experience that they have at this amazing course. While the practice and playing privileges are a bonus, the best part about my job is interacting with members, getting to know them, and truly feeling like I am part of the community. 

I recently approached the head golf professional about possibly being an apprentice for the following golf season and working my way towards being one of the assistant golfing professionals. It didn't take much convincing for him to tell me that he would be more than happy to help me with this pursuit. Since that day, I have been working closely with him as well as the current assistant professional with figuring out the steps that I need to be taking to best position myself for success. As the golfing season comes to a close, I am happy to be staying around the sport until the snow melts and the grass gets green again. I look forward to starting my journey in the golfing profession and I can't wait to start the next step in the process. 

Winning and the Losing

As the football season nears the halfway point, the Montana State Bobcats are sitting at 3-2 on the season. 3 wins at home and 2 loses on the road. The first loss of the season came to a very talented Eastern Washington team in Cheney, Washington. The first road game of the season and the Cats came away with a 50-55 loss. The following week, a very convincing win over Cal Poly made the season look like it would be a good one. That is until we traveled to Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Another offensive shootout ended in a 41-49 loss of the Cats and took their season to a 2-2 mark. home field advantage so far this season has seemed to be a helping factor as we have seen 2 wins at home and 2 losses on the road. 

This trend continued after yesterday's win against conference foe, Sacramento State. Another home win for the Bobcats and with the Bobcat's schedule alternating home and away each week of the season, continuing this winning/losing trend will not be enough for the team to make the playoffs. Another test will come this weekend as we travel to Portland to take on the 4-1 Portland State Vikings. We are entering must-win territory and any more losses for the Cats can truly hurt their playoff chances. 

Do You Think America Is The Greatest Country In The World?

For the longest time, America was seen as the greatest country in the world by a lot of people and a lot of other countries. I used to think that I lived in the best place I could. But as I've grown up and seen the things going on in our country, I've started to think that we aren't the greatest country anymore. This video clip is from the show, The Newsroom, and when I first saw this clip, a lot of the things that were said about why America isn't so "star spangled awesome" I agreed with and still to this day agree with. What is happening to the United States? According to the Good Country Index,

http://www.goodcountry.org/overall

the United States actually ranks 21st in worlds best countries based on science and technology, culture, international peace and security, world order, and other deciding factors. 21st is a very eye opening position in my opinion. From a young age we have been told that we live in the greatest country and that not many people have it as good as we do. While there are a lot of people who don't live as good of lives as us, there are countries who have a better living situation. So what do you think about the US's ranking of 21st? Do you think that that number is accurate? Or do you believe that numbers don't mean anything and we do in fact live in the greatest country in the world?

Selling "New" Items

Being currently enrolled in a class called Consumer Behavior, I'm starting to realize the different ways that the golf course that I work at utilizes the behavior of our members to its advantage. One way that I have noticed this is by selling "new" items. The reason I say new like that is because they aren't actually new, we just make them seem new. How we do this is by rearranging our merchandise in a way that items, that may not have been seen often, are now front and center. This causes our customers to believe that we just received these pieces when in fact we have had them for a while. Even though we don't do much by moving items around, we find ourselves selling more merchandise than if we left everything where it is. Consumer behavior is fun!

How often are you wrong?

Recently I was asked the question, "How often would you say you are wrong?" The question kind of caught me off guard and when I thought a little bit about how often I think I'm wrong I answered with, "Probably about 30% of the time." As the day went on, I continued thinking about my answer of 30% and began thinking that I'm probably wrong much more often than that. How often do you think that you're wrong? I then began trying to think of times that I was clearly wrong and it was more difficult that I thought it would be. Because of our arrogance and our unwillingness to admit that we were wrong, I think that people don't even consider the fact that they may be wrong.

Thinking back to last semester I can recall in instance where me being wrong not only hindered myself but three of my classmates. One day I received a group text message from the members of a group project that I was a part of. The message simply asked when the next part of the project was due. None of them knew the exact date and evidently neither did I, but i thought I was right when I told them the date. We showed up to class the day before the date that I thought and that is when we found out that that I was wrong about the date. Needless to say I felt extremely bad and i was afraid that I ruined everyone's chance to get a good grade on the project. 

After class, I approached the professor and told him the situation and asked him to not count us having it in late against the others for it was my fault that it was late. He thanked me for coming to him to talk about it and said that he wouldn't dock the others but dock me 5 points of the total if we could get the assignment in by the next class period..He seemed to be very forgiving about the situation but I still felt extremely bad for letting the group down. After he told me that he wouldn't dock the others i felt a little better but I still hated knowing I was wrong. When I informed the rest of the group of the news they were all extremely relieved and thanked me for talking to the professor.

Admitting to being wrong is never a fun task but it is one that can fix situations. I was glad that I talked to the professor and admitted my wrong doing and that it did not affect my class mates. Can you think of a time in the recent days where you were wrong?

Nudge

Have any of you experienced a nudge? Not someone physically pushing you but the psychological nudge? Before I started reading the book Nudge by Cass Sunstein, I had no idea what a nudge was. It is very similar to the verb of nudging someone, but instead of the physical act, it is something where you are pushed to do something that someone wants you to do. I know this may sound kin of confusing but I have an example of a nudge that many of you have probably seen. 

The example that I want to use can be seen in the picture above. At first sight it just looks like an escalator running along side steps that look like a piano. While the piano steps are very arty, they serve a different purpose. Not only do they look like piano keys, but they also sound like piano keys when stepped on. This is an example of a nudge where the purpose is to get people to not go right to the escalator and instead  use the steps. As you can see in the video below, most everyone walked right to the escalator, but as soon as they installed the piano steps, the "nudged" people to take the steps. 

There are nudges all around us where ever we go. Colorful recycle bins nudge us to recycle. Smaller plates at a buffet or restaurant nudges us to eat less. Before reading this book and discussing this topic in my consumer behavior class, I had no idea that all of these things are nudges and that others can almost control what we do by strategically placing nudges in different aspects of our everyday life.

Welcome to The Rocky Mountain Golfer! A blog for the avid golfer who loves mountains, fresh air and the links! My name is Brian Morse and I am currently an employee at Black Bull; a private golf community located in beautiful Bozeman, Montana. I have worked my way up the line of command and this winter I will be one of the assistant golf professionals. The game of golf has done so much for me over the years and I want to expand my golfing horizons by starting this blog and communicating with other golfers from around the Rocky Mountains and the world!

If you all haven't seen this challenge yet, check it out and challenge your friends!