2025 was a year of motion…on the course, at the range, on-camera, and in deeper layers of life.
From winter swings at Five Iron Golf to national award recognition with the Golf Fitness Association of America...
From Detroit Golf Club ahead of the PGA TOUR’s Rocket Mortgage Classic to Yellow Stone Club on Trackman Golf...
From writing for GolfWRX and GFAA to building “Professional Golfer & Explorer” into a real identity...from meditation at Belle Isle Golf Detroit to quantum golf experiments...
From bunker work and mechanics to deeper conversations about life with my wife Jen through our new podcast...
There’s nothing like seeing someone do what they love in their true “passion space.”
In this clip, I was sharing why that can be even more compelling than a competitive “gladiator arena,” and I reflected on the real pressure that shows up when your bills depend on how you perform.
It’s a reminder that you can grow through it, but the system doesn’t have to be built that way.
In this episode of The Long and Short of It, Jennifer and Jaacob unpack the idea of “performing for survival,” when your identity and your income are tied to how you play.
Starting with a memory from one of Jaacob's tour events in Morocco and a striking moment of seeing a monkey forced to perform, they trace the parallel to life as a working pro: loving the game, yet feeling the pressure of “if I don’t play well this week, I don’t know how I’m paying my bills.”
From there, they explore the difference between competing like gladiators and playing in a true “passion space,” and why watching someone do what they love can be even more powerful than watching them win or lose.
They end with a grounded reminder: yes, you can grow through the pressure, but the system doesn’t have to be built this way, and we can treat people a little bit better.
Even on the PGA TOUR, there were players losing money once you factored in expenses like travel, caddies, coaches, and entry fees. When I played the NGA Hooters Tour, you needed about a top 20 just to break even. That meant roughly 136 guys in the field lost money every single week. I was so frustrated knowing the PGA TOUR had money to spare that I wrote a letter to Jay Monahan, and not long after the Tour introduced the Earnings Assurance Program.
But the deeper problem remains. We celebrate purses of tens of millions of dollars going to players who don’t need it while thousands of other talented players grind at a loss. A portion of that money could help fund those players with $120,000 a year to develop their games instead of getting weeded out purely because of funding.
As a kid sitting on my parents’ 33 acres, I suddenly heard a piercing tone that has never gone away. I gather it’s tinnitus, but the best alternative explanation I’ve gotten so far is that I’m picking up the hum of the electromagnetic field we all live in.
Tuning into these frequencies feels connected to the telepathic abilities that have shown up for me in recent years, including having Ben Hogan “caddie” for me in this video series.
I know how this might sound: I’m about to have Ben Hogan caddie for me…using telepathy. As a professional golfer who grew up on science and numbers in the “Show Me” state of Missouri, this may be just as weird for me as it is for you.
In this video (Part 1), I talk through how I experience telepathy, how I tell it’s not just my own inner voice, and why I’m willing to explore something this far outside the usual golf playbook. I share some personal back stories, from hearing a message for my mom that cracked something open for both of us to dealing with tinnitus now and as a kid.
This is all part of my “professional golfer & explorer” rebrand: turning on the camera, letting you into my process, and sharing with you what’s happening out on the frontier of golf.
In Part 2, I’ll take this onto the course at Detroit Golf Club to show you what it’s like to have Ben Hogan caddie for me.
PGA TOUR pro Charles Howell III once topped a fairway shot on a par 5 right in front of me, after driving it perfect all day at Del Monte Golf Course in Monterey, California.
In this clip, I talk about how that moment reminded me that even the best players in the world are still human, despite the perception you might have of them from TV highlights.
In this episode of The Long and Short of It, Jennifer and Jaacob pull a card labeled “Charles Howell III” and trace a story from Jaacob’s early years as a new pro at Pebble Beach into a wider conversation about resilience when things go sideways.
Watching a world-class player top a fairway shot or hearing Roger Federer’s reminder that even he as a GOAT barely won more than half his points, they unpack what it can take to recover after a stumble.
Along the way, Jen brings in her doctoral journey, perfectionism, and performance anxiety, and together they land on a simple mantra, “hit ball, go forward,” as one way to meet mistakes, creative blocks, and everyday stumbles with more neutrality, self-kindness, and courage to keep moving.