Red Bull Day on the Greens

Words and Captions by Barak Wiser
Photos by Red Bull Sarah

This was our group. Brooke Palmer, a local event planner that works a lot the Lightning and Bucs players to plan charity events, me, and Nick Tarnasky from the Lightning

It rained for a minute, but we played through...got to love the hi-tech golf courses

Nick and I take a second to show how we’re not scared of the approaching bad weather. Sign of a true, but not-so-smart golfer. We hammered on

One of the other teams…L to R - Who dat?, Tarah Geiger - moto-x pro, Greg Weatherall - wake photographer, and CT Taylor - former pro surfer

Here’s the pro telling us how bad we suck

Unlimited balls and the pressure of being filmed - the learning never stops

When there’s this much sand on a course it’s easy to be at the beach all day

I love golf. Go ahead and start making fun of me. I can take it. Fortunately for me, Ryan Clements is privy to my affinity for golf. So when RBS (Red Bull Sarah) asked him if he wanted to go to "Red Bull Day on the Greens," he said, "Barak would appreciate it more than I would, so you should ask him." God bless you, Clements. Because, I sure as hell do. It seems that Red Bull is always trying to think of interesting ways to include SPoT in their cool events. God Bless you, too Sarah. No, I'm not religious, but a good ol' "God Bless" seems in order and not very blasphemous. If you think it is, you take religion too seriously. Seriously, you do. Unless skateboarding or golf is your religion. And in that case, "God" is usually followed by "Dammit!" and you're entitled to take it as serious as you want. Seriously.

So RBS called me up and asked me if I would like to go to the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Champions Gate, FL and take some much-needed training from some professionals. I instantaneously proceeded with a "Hell, yes!" and it was on. She told me I'd probably team up with Nick Tarnasky from the Tampa Bay Lightning, so I was extra stoked. Go Lightning!

I eagerly arrived early in the morning and was the first one there. Go figure. There were several RB employees already there setting up ice cold water, Red Bull, fruit, and snacks in the training areas and making it all nice and straight for their athletes from across America's wang, Florida. Shortly after, everyone started showing up and introducing themselves. Amongst the group were professional wakeboarders, moto-xers, BMXers, a professional hockey player, and then me? I think I was on the "friends" list.

So one of the golf pros was working with Nick and I on our swing and proceeded to film us in action. After a few filming angles and ball strikes, he took us both into this little room where he played our footy for us. Yeah, I have golf footy. Sick! Anyway, he showed us what we did right and what we did wrong. Then we went back outside to work on our swing. After another hour of that and whatever else we asked them to teach us, we had a nice, hearty lunch in the clubhouse with the full posse of golf pros, Red Bull staff, and their sponsored athletes.

Then we split up into groups and proceeded to play the international course at Champions Gate. It sure is easy to lose balls! Greg Norman designed the course. I'm curious what percentage of readers know Greg Norman, but he's called "The Shark" in golf and he's a damn good golfer. Who gives a flying flip, right? Well, designing golf courses is nothing like designing a street course for skateboarding. You have to be a damn good golfer to design a golf course. Unfortunately, it seems like any jackass out there with the proper contacts and will can design a concrete or pre-fab street course and get it built, but nobody will ever skate because it sucks donkey dong. It's too bad our world doesn't hold course designers to the same regulations. Regardless, our world is way more fun.

Thanks for the good times Red Bull and Red Bull Sarah!