030 - Heaven on Earth @ Mistwood Golf Dome w/ Eric Russell & Ben Hutchison

We’re back Cannonballers in our largest indoor studio yet! Augie and Uncle Stu kick off the 2019 podcast season (v. 2.0) at Mistwood Golf Dome in Bolingbrook, IL….also referred to by Uncle Stu as Heaven on Earth.

Intro

The boys start off with a 9-hole putting match at Mistwood Dome, ending with Uncle Stu up one bloody mary. That won’t stop Augie though, as he proceeds to boldly predict a season that will be “A Little Crazy” using his Revolution Brewing beer selection. The boys go for the drink hat trick adding Miskatonic Brewing Co’s pale ale Shield Maiden to the mix. We get an update from Augie’s personal life (Surprise! It’s twin girls!) and Uncle Stu provides a horrendous serenade from The Lion King.

Happings in the Golf World [6:21]

The big tour has changed the playing schedules around, and surprisingly we both approve! The Mo’ Majors we come upon, the less problems we see.

“Rules!” We discuss our opinions on various items:

Leaving the pin in on the green - Augie hits us with the “coefficient of restitution”. Uncle Stu attempts to provide statistical reasoning, but he is not a Mad Scientist like Bryson DeChambeau.

Loose Impediments - [14:25] Augie reminds himself “I’ve hit it in places you could spend five minutes clearing the area there’s so much junk”.

Dropping at the knee - [15:40] Augie asks “why are you doing this courtesy little thing?!”

We get our first 2019 Masters winner prediction (hint: it’s not Tiger Woods)

Interview - Eric & Ben from Mistwood Golf Club, Dome, et al [18:30]

Studio Location: Mistwood Golf Dome

Uncle Stu introduces his hometown neighbor, Ben Hutchison. Ben is a casual golfer, and former TV broadcaster and anchor (shout out to Rockford, IL and Milwaukee, WI). He recently joined the Mistwood family, and is now the Marketing Specialist helping to promote the entire Mistwood portfolio.

Augie introduces Eric Russell, a Kalamazoo MI native who has been in the Mistwood family since 2012. Eric is a Performance Specialist at both at Mistwood Golf Dome and Mistwood Golf Course. Eric is Trackman certified, a Science and Motion Certified Putting Instructor, a certified Club Fitter, and part of the Mistwood team tagged as one of “America’s 100 Best Clubfitters by Golf Digest (yes, they are official!)

The boys give a visual podcast tour of Mistwood Golf Dome (Bolingbrook, IL), the first golf dome in America with an EXCLUSIVE Top Tracer technology contract. We highlight the plethora of amenities and technology available for use during the cold winter months in the Chicagoland area. Eric also helps clarify the difference between Trackman and TopTracer technologies (don’t worry, they have both!), and Ben discusses the “What’s In My Bag” phone app.

We discuss the Mistwood Golf Club (Romeoville, IL) in detail. A prestigious public course that also has memberships available - including unprecedented year round access to the Dome. Eric walks us through the Performance Center (5,000 sq. ft.), the Clubhouse (20k+ sq. ft.), and Augie shares his regretful Trackman story - it was in his backyard the whole time!

Ben shares the History of Mistwood Golf Course and tells us about the owner’s - Jim McWethy - vision and Scottish Heritage. He also speaks to the Architect - Ray Hearn - who designed, and re-designed the course, and modeled it in the Scottish and St. Andrews feel. The course offers 19 stacked sod-wall bunkers! Eric provides additional details on the multi-phased renovations, and Uncle Stu speaks to some elements of design planning.

Eric tells us how Mistwood sets a Guinness Book of World Records (YUM)! They were featured on Golf Channel for the delicious feat.

Ben touches on the non-golf related sides of Mistwood - on course human 5Ks, a dog 5K “Ruff Run” - who doesn’t like dogs?! They are embracing the family side of golf.

Ben rounds out the Mistwood portfolio with Green St. Grille (Bensonville, IL) and Joliet Ballroom (Joliet, IL).

We double back to speak more about McWethy’s Tavern (Romeoville, IL). “It’s filled with rich Mahogany”....ya, “I heard these guys hand beat the wood with machetes!”

Cannonball Golf Happenings [1:11:30]

Augie and Uncle Stu dive into more details of the TaylorMade demo day experience at Mistwood Golf Dome as both boys hit the new M5 / M6 drivers. Thank you to Donald Tanski of TaylorMade for stepping us through the fitting experience.

“We talked about a lot about the Twist Face last year…..but this year, there is a resin injected Twist Face”. Augie believes it’s “steroids”, Uncle Stu believes its “whatever Tiger has injected in his backbone”. Engage Rocket Thrusters!

The boys end in usual fashion with their song additions.