August « 2009 « The Official Site of Tiffany Faucette

If there is such a thing as a practice heaven, I have found it in 1757 Golf Club in Dulles, VA. If you are ever near the area, you should definitely check it out. The facility has a short game area to die for. You can practice any shot you want and get a full wedge distance into the practice greens. There are four different greens to use for practice and you can chip or putt on all of them. So you can let your creativity go wild and create all sorts of shots.

Not only is the short game area mint, but there is a large grass tee to the left of the “Teaching Building” (I’ll get to that in a bit) to hit from, and plenty of hitting stalls off mats that are as good as grass – honest. The mats are so good you can put a real wooden tee anywhere in the mat and tee it up like you would on the golf course.

Now for the Teaching Building, if you want to improve your swing the Teaching Building is the place to be. The Teaching Building is a two story building complete with five hitting bays, state of the art cameras, the newest JC software to analyze your swing, oh… and did I mention air-condition! Again, it is heaven.

Now if that didn’t sound good enough for you, did I mention that it is lighted and there is music piped across the range? The enjoyment factor is off the charts!

I have practiced and competed across the globe and I haven’t seen a facility as comprehensive or as nice. I am not saying a better facility it doesn’t exist but you would be hard pressed to find something to top it. The nice thing about 1757 is that it will only get better. 1757 Golf Club opened a few months ago but it is not set to have its Grand Opening until the spring of 2010. When that happens there will be a full service bar and grill. So in time, you can have a cocktail with your bucket of balls=)

For those of you that don’t know, I am also thrilled because I have been asked to be one of the new Teaching Professionals at 1757. It is nice to be at a facility that offers so much – it is truly a pleasure to show up to work everyday at that setting.

So if you take my advice, and you go to check out the Practice Heaven at 1757 come find me and I can help you with your game. I look forward to seeing you!

You can book lessons with me online through this link – 1757 Golf Club Thanks! Tiff

Most of us have a list of things we would like to do in our life time. All of our lists vary and it depends on our personalities and individual interests.

I was lucky enough to have to opportunity to swim with dolphins last month – thanks to the generosity of my friend Courtney Rogers. To be more accurate, we got to Ride the Dolphins. It is absolutely an incredible feeling to interact with a wild creature in such a fun and safe way. (Sure dolphins can be trained but they aren’t domesticated animals.)

I got to interact with two dolphins, Stormy and Duffy weighing 600 and 550lbs respectively. It was an amazing feeling to be treading water in middle of a saltwater pond and have dolphins swimming around you and doing jumps right next to you. We had several interactions with the dolphins. At first you just stand in the pond/pool and the dolphin makes several passes and you get to “pet the dolphin”. Then we got to dance with the dolphin and he gives you a kiss.

The best part was actually riding the dolphin. I got to ride them by their holding on to their dorsal fin and belly to belly. When you ride them by the dorsal fin, you have to tread water with your arms extended and the dolphin swims in behind you and underneath your hand. Once you feel the dorsal fin, you wrap on with both hands and hold on tight. They are powerful – when I got a hold of the dorsal fin, my dolphin picked up speed. We were flying and it was fun, but my bathing suit bottoms almost came off and I was mortified that I was going to end up on the bank exposed. Luckily they stayed on around my knees and I was able to get them up before anyone noticed…I think.

The best ride was belly to belly with the dolphin. Again you tread water and the dolphin swims up in front of you and lifts out of the water to where you can grab onto their flippers. At that point the dolphin goes over backwards and swims under the water while you glide on their belly on top of the water.

All I know is being and riding with the dolphins brought me much joy and energy. I hope all of you have some experience, person, or animal that brings a smile to your face whenever your mind goes there.