Having a Catch

The Simple Pleasure of Short Game Practice, TGA Style

"Hey, Dad."
"Yes?"
"Wanna have a catch?"
"I'd like that."

It’s okay to admit that Ray and his dad having a catch while the lights come up on the Field of Dreams hits you in the feels. Fathers and sons, ya know? We’re all about the feels in the Thomson Golf Academy—in every sense of the word—so we picked up on that vibe.

The endless pleasure of practicing our short game is a frequent conversation topic in the TGA. I taught the guys the straight-arm pitching method, drawing inspiration from players like Steve Stricker. Simplicity and repeatability are key principles in our pursuit of mastery. The timing was less than ideal, however, as we spent the majority of the spring and summer on lockdown. The creation of the TGA simulator is proof that it takes more than a lockdown to stop us.

In the evenings, after guys finished working out, we started playing catch in the rec room. We set up carpet squares about 20 paces apart and hit practice balls back and forth. Once we felt solid in our feel for motion, contact, distance control, and flight, we added a wrinkle: disc golf targets on the floor. We worked on envisioning ball flight and run-out as part of our pre-shot routine. When the carpet square got too easy, I switched to a thin, tacky exercise mat, figuring that if I could make clean contact on such an unforgiving surface, grass would be easy.

Foozles meet with encouragement, near misses elicit exclamations that echo throughout the camp, and direct disc hits…pandemonium. It didn’t take long for onlookers to gather for this nightly ritual. This crowd was much more akin to the well-lubed mob at the Waste Management than the respectful patrons at The Masters. They demanded excellence and heckled shortfalls. Easy to be a critic when you’ve never played golf before and assume that pitching a foam ball off sticky concrete with a 9-iron to an 18-inch target 20 yards away is equivalent to hitting a free throw. Whatever—we figured the audience was good training for staying calm under pressure and welcomed the scrutiny.

A particularly memorable moment came when Terry joined us for the first time. He watched for a bit, then jumped in. Terry is an avid golfer but had not participated in my instruction sessions. When he set up, I immediately sensed something was off. When he rifled the ball over my head, my suspicions were confirmed. For reasons known only to him, Terry was attempting to flop the ball onto the pool table behind me, as if he were Phil Mickelson at a corporate outing. You know that guy who, in the middle of a pleasant game of catch, decides he wants to work on his curveball and makes you repeatedly chase wild pitches? That guy is Terry. That’s how he got the nickname Tabletop.

When we finally got back outside, The Beard asked the landscaping crew to mow us a practice strip, and they obliged. My theory proved correct: the challenging indoor practice conditions made pitching real balls from real grass a comparatively effortless joy. It was so fun that the first time I hit the disc from 25 yards, I temporarily lost my mind, dropped my club, and charged toward Beard with the intention of chest-bumping him. As I launched into the air, he thought better of it and turned his shoulder into my ribs, causing minor bruising. Upon the painful return to sanity, I realized our wild celebration was the equivalent of Ray lobbing the ball to his dad and then bowling him over at the plate. That won’t happen again.

There have been several takeaways from our TGA catch sessions. The targets give us specific feedback as we practice aiming small and missing small. Terry taught us not to be that guy. My hijinks taught us to remember our age. And most importantly, we were reminded to keep it simple. Just grab a buddy and a club, and go have a catch.

Making time for simple exchanges of attention with loved ones is central to living a worthwhile life. It doesn’t have to be fancy. A walk. A chat. A catch. As my homecoming nears, I look forward to sharing meals with friends and family, walks and runs with Lisa, chipping and putting contests with Henry, and career chats with Jack. Simple stuff. The stuff relationships are built on—and sometimes, healed.

For more TGA stories and golf musings, check out previous posts:

• An Open Letter to Rory McIlroy: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/an-open-letter-to-rory-mcilroy?r=ueii6

• The Birth of the TGA: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/the-birth-of-the-tga?r=ueii6

• What About Rosey?: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/what-about-rosey?r=ueii6

• The TGA Simulator: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/the-stimulation-of-simulation?r=ueii6

• Who’s in Your Foursome?: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/whos-in-your-foursome?r=ueii6

• TGA Storylines: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/summer-storylines?r=ueii6

• JJ’s Journey to the Equanimous Edge: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/jjs-journey-to-the-equanimous-edge?r=ueii6

• How We Roll in the TGA: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/how-we-roll?r=ueii6

• From Prison to Perth to Portrush: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/from-perth-to-prison-to-portrush?r=ueii6

• A Caddie’s Confidence: https://jasonway.substack.com/p/a-caddies-confidence?r=ueii6

And for the story that started it all, my piece Yard Golf from The Golfer’s Journal:

https://www.golfersjournal.com/editorial/yard-golf/?srsltid=AfmBOooNaEqrC2U5ACYhr3k-QTWedzJEKK-T1-9-PeA0vCRvja1EuM9s