Violent Golf Newsletter

Violent Golf.

Newsletter - 2025

I typically don't share 'street fight' footage, as there's usually little to learn from the poorly-trained, flailing combatants.

After seeing such videos, I will watch kittens on YouTube to bleach the horrendous technique from my eyeballs.

But a few days ago, I found this incredible fight on a Golf course. By the end of it, I was screaming Bang! BANG!!!! ...like Emeril making a 1960's style Batman Spinoff where he smashes people with spicy fists.

I encourage you to watch it.

There are ten things that I love about this video:

1. These are some thick Canadian accents... I've never heard this dialect wielded with such brutish impoliteness.

2. I've also never seen someone bull-rushed directly into a water trap.

3. Bang! BANG! BANG!!!!! Not many people make their own sound effects in conjunction with their punches. This man was living inside his own cartoon universe.

And while I've never encouraged my trainees to fully articulate an actual word when striking someone in the face, there is a distinct benefit to developing a signature sound when throwing a strike.

When you vocalize any noise like, "HA!" ....you need to press your vocal folds (glottis) partially together to make that sound. By doing so, you create a small, deliberate choke point in your airway.

As a result of this airway restriction, instead of immediately expelling out all of your air through a wide-open throat, the choke point build internal pressure in your lungs, called 'valsalva pressure'.

Your inflated, pressurized lungs can now give your core muscles two semi-rigid internal structures around which they can violently contract... and it's all because of that partially restricted airway, and the making of a verbal noise.

Making a sound keeps you breathing AND provides much-needed core rigidity for your strikes.

This increases both power and endurance.

5. Look at my screen capture from the video:

Drunk golfer finds a water hazard and gets his lunch fed to him.00_02_12_02.Still001 copy

That horizontal fellow is not casually striking a pose in the grass. He is air-born... and he's already flown about ten feet from the dude who threw him.

He has another 5 feet to go in his flight.

I've simply never seen someone flung that far.

6. It turns out, the guy who flung him is former NHL enforcer Nick Tarnasky:

...which would explain why he's out on the golf course, grabbing shirts and dropping bombs like Happy Gilmore.

7. I love the foreshadowing in this verbal exchange:

Nick Tarnasky: "You're not a tough guy, I promise you that."

Drunk guy's friend: "Uh... he's pretty tough."

Nick Tarnasky: "Not that f-ing tough."

Drunk guy's friend: "No... he's... he's pretty tough."

Nick Tarnasky: *proceeds to fling a human being like a wet towel*

8. For you fellow occasional golfers out there, no one likes the folks who play too slowly and then won't let you play through. What?! Tarnasky did this for us. He's a man of the people. Golf people.

9. When the drunk guy's buddy tried to interject himself as a human shield (presumably in an effort to 'break it up'), Tarnasky appropriately shoved the guy out of his personal space.

Never let the opposing side within arms reach, regardless of their apparent intentions. This is just strategically sound.

10. I find this to be excellent promotion for Happy Gilmore 2... coming soon to a theatre near you.

11. BANG! It's simply fantastic.

Enjoy your week... especially if you are that tough. If not, perhaps clear the tee box.

-Trav

P.S.

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You can also peruse Newsletters From The Past... if this one has not satisfied you.