Greens or Women? Which is harder to Read?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: I never know if my questions are simple ones or not. [00:00:03] Speaker B: It took you five minutes to ask the question, so. No, it is not a simple question. [00:00:08] Speaker A: No, it took me two minutes to ask the question. It took you guys three minutes to [00:00:12] Speaker C: try to what it was. Yeah, our boy's about to go try to wake up at nine o' clock in the morning and go play a little pitch and putt. Course. Let's not give him a swing overhaul and swing thought right before he goes and does that. [00:00:23] Speaker A: Well, I can't get too technical on 50 yard shots. I don't. There's no extensions. [00:00:29] Speaker C: You could, you could get a, you could get technical on a two foot putt. [00:00:34] Speaker A: That's fair. That's fair. I have to figure this out though, Tony. I don't know which it could be because I could see it both ways. Putting yesterday I hit six foot putts for I don't know how long. The first hundred, I think I hit like 55 out of a hundred. The next time, 67. The last time, I think I hit 90 out of 100 or 89 out of 106 foot putts, I went to eight feet. [00:00:59] Speaker C: Is this in. In doors at Sully's? [00:01:02] Speaker A: Yeah, at Sully's. [00:01:03] Speaker C: Okay, so no real break or anything that you have to read? [00:01:06] Speaker A: There was a little bit of break, but it was, I mean, I intentionally tried to pick a pretty straight or at least predictable putt. This was mainly just a check work on the stroke kind of thing. Right. [00:01:16] Speaker C: Are you hitting your start line? Yep, yep. [00:01:19] Speaker A: So. And I. Then I hit an eight foot putt. I think I was 64 for a hundred from eight feet. So I mean. And then I came back home and went up to the putting green up here and hit some more six footers and I think I hit like 90 out of 100. I mean, I was, I'm. I'm feeling great about my stroke and then today I put it awful. And it's getting to the point now where it's like driving me nuts because I, I don't know how much of it is. It's gotta be one of three things in my. It's either my stroke is fantastic and perfect and I'm an excellent green reader, but the greens are really bumpy and you're getting a lot of. And you really don't know because when a ball. That little six foot putt I missed today, I would have loved to have seen what it did because I am almost positive I've never pushed a putt that badly to get it that Far offline. But if it hops in the first foot or two, you don't see that. You don't know that it hit something. The other thing is, maybe I do have a fine stroke, but I can't read greens at all. That's a very good possibility. The third one is I have a great putting stroke when I'm just hitting little six footers on the putting green. But I, you know, freak out when it's. When it counts. It could be any of the three, all of the three, Some mixture of the three. I have no idea what it is, though, and I don't know how to test it to see what it is. So it's getting really aggravating. I told you the other day I was videoing my putting stroke. Things are getting bad when I'm videoing my putting stroke. [00:02:38] Speaker C: Okay, well, so. So let's try to eliminate one of the variables. So you line your ball up a lot of times when you putt. At least the short ones. [00:02:47] Speaker A: Yeah. And. But here's where I'm not. I'm not terribly strict about. If it's a left edge putt and my line is slightly left of center, then I'll leave it that way. And I'll just. When I go to line up, I'll just remind myself, you know, I'll just kind of know, like, okay, you need to be aimed left of what the line has here, and I'll kind of eyeball my alignment there. But usually I do have it generally in the ballpark, but it's not spot on because I can get so meticulous over that that I'll spend five minutes making sure the line's just right. And if it's not just right, then I freak out over the ball or something or what. [00:03:22] Speaker C: Well, the only reason I was going to say was if you have a ball that has a good line on it or you sharpie it. Right. That's why I like drawing the three lines, parallel lines on my ball, because you can really see how your ball's rolling with that. It's a really good visual. This tailor made with the band around the middle is a good one. Callaway triple track. The Shrixon like divide, where it's two colors is a good one, just so you can practice your stroke and see how the ball is rolling to make sure the ball is actually rolling end over end on your intended target line. The reason why I say to have that line and be very meticulous about lining it up or at least intentional and then rolling it on that Line is just so you can verify that your stroke isn't getting haywire on the golf course. As long as you're seeing that line roll pretty consistently end over end, you know it's not a stroke problem. Then you can start to say, okay, am I missing it high or low too much? And if you're missing it high too much, how far past the halt is it going? Is it going three feet past the hole? Well, then it might not be a reading problem. It might be a pace problem. If it's rolling end over end and it's missing past the hole by 3ft high side, you've got a speed problem. See what I'm saying? So there's ways to eliminate the variables. And again, if you just take a tee and you put it in the ground two feet in front of your ball on a flat putt, if you can hit the tee every single time, you don't have a start line or a stroke problem. You have a read or a speed problem. [00:04:46] Speaker A: Yeah, but. And so the other day when I was videoing, I know we were texting back and forth about this, Technically, I could hit my start line a hundred times in a row, cutting across it with a wide open face and it. [00:05:01] Speaker C: Or pushing it. Yeah, with a closed face. Yeah. [00:05:04] Speaker A: But if I'm doing it the exact same every single time, it's not a start line problem. But that doesn't mean it's a good stroke, because at 10ft, it would be, well, offline. [00:05:11] Speaker C: No, not necessarily. I mean, because the putter has one or two degrees of loft on it, it almost imparts hardly any cut spin unless you intentionally are cutting it. Right. Like you're cutting across it by 45 degrees. So the more loft or the less loft you have, the less important that becomes as far as like toe up or heel down lie angle of your putter. And this is where it's frustrating because you'll see people with a huge. It looks like a cut stroke putt, but they still make putts because their face at impact is square. Right. It just starts rolling, and then it's. It's. It's kind of a moot point after that. Unless, again, you're really trying to do some crazy type deal. [00:05:51] Speaker A: So weren't you talking to. I think it was on the podcast one time you were talking about how Charlie woods was saying that his dad draws putts or something like that. Wasn't it you that said that? [00:06:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Who knows? I mean, whatever, right? Who knows if that's true? I'm pretty sure when I see Tiger woods line his ball up. That thing's rolling end over end, you know, so. But your, your face at impact is the most important thing when it comes to putting. And then obviously getting a good roll on the ball, making sure it's not skidding for the first two or three feet, so that the distance control is good. Right. But there was, for example, when Sam Puttlab first came out, there was a tour player who became obsessed with zeroing out his putting stroke. Cause what they found was he was like a two degree pull putter. He would pull putts, but he knew how to aim it really well. He knew how to line it up and aim it. Player gets on there, obsesses over getting a zero putting pass stroke, doesn't make any more putts on the PGA Tour because it just was different than what he had done his entire life. Right. It complete. He technically had a perfect putting stroke now, but he didn't know how to play it. He didn't know how to aim it. And everything was pushed, pushed, pushed. Because he was used to with his eyes, his aim, everything. How he lined up, how he read putts subconsciously, that little 2 degree pull or whatever it was. Yeah, so. [00:07:05] Speaker A: So, Mike, have you been playing at all, Mike? [00:07:09] Speaker B: No, I was telling Tony I have Tuesdays and Thursdays I have, you know, I'm at McGregor and I could go hit balls. And your boy's been up since 4:45 in the morning, and it's now 1:30 in the morning in the afternoon, and I haven't had lunch. And I may have my lunch with me. I'm like, I could eat my lunch and go hit some balls or I could just go home. [00:07:36] Speaker A: See, that's the difference of me and you. I would just go and hit balls. Oh, I know. I would have just skipped lunch and hit balls. [00:07:43] Speaker B: I know. [00:07:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:45] Speaker B: I think it's just I don't really sit down for hours on end. And then when I sit down in my car, I'm like, yeah, I don't want to do. You don't want to do anything else. I'm tired. But I think it's like when people schedule workouts with me, they're like, I wouldn't be here if I didn't schedule something. So I think for me, it's scheduling it. Either writing it in my calendar, just like my workouts. Like I write in, you know, 8:30. I'm working out 8:30 to 9:30 or 8:30 to 10. I need to start writing in, you know, driving range, you know, 20 minutes or 20 minutes. [00:08:24] Speaker A: That's not even worth getting the clubs out. Yeah, look, if he's here 20 minutes just to go. Just because I'm bored, and just run to the clubhouse for a minute. Oh, sorry. If he's gonna hit the. [00:08:41] Speaker C: If he's on the Garrett speed, he could hit 400 balls in 20 minutes. [00:08:45] Speaker B: I know once I get out there, it's like anything else, man. Once I get out there, I'm good to go. But it's. It's tough when. Because there's no one there to keep me accountable. Right? There's. It's like no one knows that I want to go hit balls, but I'm too tired, and I just want to go home. No one's gonna be like, why didn't you go hit balls? You know? So I think it's like anything else. [00:09:05] Speaker C: Oh, maybe, you know, there's ways to. Yeah, maybe. Maybe the impetus is to get your kids involved with it and take them out there, and then you're gonna do something with the kids and you're there. Like, I've been. I think I told y', all, or I told Garrett, maybe. I don't know who it told. I've been doing this thing in the side yard with the kids called Sip and Chip. Everybody gets a drink, we take some snacks, and we have a closest to the pin chipping contest. Every time it's worth a point. First to five points wins. We throw a target out there, and it's just closest to the pin, and, you know, daddy might have his adult beverage, and the kids got their little juice in their fancy wine glass to make them feel like they're doing something. Juicing. Sparkling water and chips and dip and sunflower seeds and cheese, and it's just a blast. But I'm especially right now since I can't do anything because of my injury. It's fun to just be out there and hit these little pit shots with them and see them and just have fun with them, you know? So there's. There's ways to still practice the game even when you can't find the time or you can't practice. There's always something you can do. [00:10:07] Speaker A: Yeah. So I've got an exciting event tomorrow, so I'm playing in your. Your. Your buddy's par three tournament, Preston. And are you gonna go do that? Yeah. So that's. I think, 9 o' clock in the morning, so. [00:10:20] Speaker C: It's a fun place, man. It's so much fun. [00:10:23] Speaker A: I'm. I'm pumped about. I think they listen so shout out to you guys at least Preston. I said, he listens. But yeah, I got a text from Preston the other day, said we have a spot free. It was the day after you told me about your injury. I texted him back, so did I take Tony's spot? Was he playing in it? But anyway, so I'm. Yep. [00:10:41] Speaker C: You are my. You're my step in. [00:10:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So what's the longest hole out there? [00:10:48] Speaker C: Because when I go like 40 or 50 yards. [00:10:51] Speaker A: Oh, no, it's not even there. [00:10:53] Speaker C: There is no preparing for this man. So. [00:10:56] Speaker A: Yes, sir, I'll find a way to prepare. [00:10:58] Speaker C: No, let me give you a preview of what you're about to experience. It's David Kahn, who's a golf course architect, and he basically took a backhoe to his backyard and said, I want to build an 18 hole pitch and putt. But really it's just pitch because the whole point of is that he lets the, lets the weeds and everything grow. And they paint like a three foot circle around each flagstick and there's Astroturf tee boxes all around the place. And then they move the pins for different back nine. And you have to chip. You can only use one club. So you hit your wedge shot, you know, and one ball, one wedge, you hit your wedge shot and then you've got to chip it through the weeds and everything. And once it's in the three foot circle, it's good. So they're all par threes. And so let's say you hit your first one and the full ball is not past that three foot circle. You got to try to hit a little chip through the weeds and everything, or try to roll it like a putt or something. It is insanely fun. But don't expect like anything. Just go and have a good time with it. It's a lot of fun. [00:11:57] Speaker A: That is not even. That is not even possible for me. I'm going to win this thing. I mean, it's. [00:12:04] Speaker B: Is there a green jacket? [00:12:05] Speaker A: No, but there's money involved. See, I didn't know this when I, when I signed up for it, but I got the email from it the other night. It' sixty dollar entry fee, but first place gets like four hundred bucks. And I'm like, damn it, I can use that 400 bucks right now. So I'm going to work at it, you know, and. But I was expecting like when I heard he had a par three in his backyard, at first of all, I thought, he's got a massive backyard. And I'm thinking, you know, is this like you know, do I need. Is it nine iron or less? Like what have we got? So it's good to get a preview of. Okay. It's basically, it's basically what I'm doing. [00:12:35] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:12:35] Speaker A: It's basically what I do out here in this little field. I just take a. And so that's, that's my work for tonight. I'm gonna go throw my hat down 30 or 40 yards and see if I can hit my hat from whatever distance. But. But it's. You said it's intentionally grown up, so you're not gonna get like a good lie probably ever. [00:12:51] Speaker C: That's the whole point. It is like backyard awesome weeds, crabgrass, dandelions. But each hole is uniquely designed. It's a lot of fun. [00:13:03] Speaker A: See that, that, that sounds like the shot that I hit out of the hazard at Riverwood that day. [00:13:08] Speaker C: Sounds like playing at Old Liberty. [00:13:09] Speaker A: Yeah, that's exactly what it sounds like. Except the ball will stop when it hits the target. Now you should be. [00:13:16] Speaker C: You should be fully prepared. [00:13:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I'm in. I'm in good shape. I like my, my chances here. No, I'm looking forward to that. Sounds like they're some fun group of guys and should be a lot of fun. So I'm looking forward to that. Definitely something different. Something to, you know, a little, little break from just pounding balls at Solis and all that kind of stuff. [00:13:35] Speaker C: So you better represent since you're taking my spot. [00:13:38] Speaker A: I know I. It's an honor that I. I do not take lightly. So I will do the best that I can to be the best Tony that I can be. [00:13:50] Speaker C: So just smile and wave, boys. Just smile and wave. That's all I gotta do. [00:13:54] Speaker B: Well, I want to know if this thing starts at 9:00', clock, is Garrett going to get there at 7:30, 7:45? Going to try to hop a fence and start getting some practice cuts in. [00:14:06] Speaker A: He said we could be there as early as eight to get some warm up holes in is what is the way the email read. Problem is, see, Garrett works really, really hard on his golf game from 10 o' clock on, but I'm not exactly a 7 o' clock in the morning kind of guy. [00:14:21] Speaker C: So if I don't, it's in Durham too. So it's a little bit of a trek. Yeah, I think it's probably gonna be like 45 minutes from you or an hour. [00:14:27] Speaker A: Yeah. At least. So I'm have to put that in the gps. I'm more worried about being on time for the first hole than I am getting there early to. To cheat some or to get some extra warmup time in cheat. But I'm excited for it. But it'll be a little something different. But hope I still want to win. If it involves a golf club, I want to win. So there is no, let's just go have fun. Pretty much anything. [00:14:53] Speaker B: Well, are you gonna have some Baileys in your coffee in the morning up there? [00:14:59] Speaker A: I don't have any Baileys to know. I guess not. [00:15:01] Speaker B: Okay. [00:15:03] Speaker A: At 9:00 in the morning, I'm more worried about the coffee than I am the Baileys, but I gotta get woke up. Not a. Not a morning person. [00:15:10] Speaker B: Shocker. [00:15:11] Speaker C: But yeah, it's a lot of fun. And yeah, Preston's good supporter of the show and he's a solid dude. As you know, Dave is a solid dude. So you have a lot of fun. [00:15:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I enjoyed meeting those guys when we did the. [00:15:24] Speaker C: Yeah, you tested their, their simulator course. Yeah. [00:15:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that was a lot of fun. That was a fun course that if it wasn't Chicago, I'd say I'd love to play it one day. That was a fun, a fun design that they had there. But anyway, excited for tomorrow? Am I allowed to ask swing questions on the podcast anymore? I guess because I know that I'm not allowed to, but there might be other people out there that would like some swing tips. It's not for me. [00:15:50] Speaker C: It's not for you. Yeah. [00:15:52] Speaker B: Friend. Friend of the show. Friends of the show. [00:15:54] Speaker A: Yeah. I was thinking about this a little bit today on the way back and number one is all kind of sins from like trying to. Because I told you this the other day, my little three quarter swing is basically all upper body and I hit the ball fine. But anytime I try to get my lower body involved, it's not good. So I've been trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong with the lower body and because, you know, sometimes you gotta get the ball in the air and hit it a little hard and all that stuff. [00:16:20] Speaker C: Well, timeout though. You're saying what do you mean by your swing is all upper body? Because I guarantee if I watched upper body swing on camera, your lower body is going to be doing something. [00:16:31] Speaker A: You're correct. If I basically try to hit a. I, I took video of this the other day just out of curiosity. I tried to hit a nine iron where I literally just made a big putting stroke. All shoulders. That was it. Just all shoulders. I hit it 135, 140 yards and my lower half was Moving the entire time up until, like the end of the swing where I just didn't have much of a follow through. That was pretty much it. [00:16:55] Speaker C: Yeah, it's kind of how the whole chains work, right? Those chains we've talked about. [00:17:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'm learning that. But I don't like. I mean, I can't just hit a driver where I don't. I've got to have some weight shift at some point there, especially shifting back to the left side on the way down. So I'm trying to, you know, I'm just trying to piece all this together a little bit. I've definitely learned that I don't need to just swing the crap out of my hips. My hips swing move plenty on their own just from being attached to the upper body. So I've got that part. [00:17:25] Speaker C: Garrett's hips don't lie. [00:17:27] Speaker A: That's right. [00:17:28] Speaker C: Shakira would be proud. [00:17:31] Speaker A: But whenever I do try to get that left leg extended a little bit, get my weight over on the left side, that's where I just. I'm not. I'm not getting that part right. So here's a. My. The real question I wanted to get to, though. You know, where I've talked about, like, this popping out of it that I keep doing with. Or that's been the miss is where I pop out of it. I don't feel like that's something I fight on the three quarter swing, but it's something that I fight on the full swing. And what I was thinking about is it's. If you think about the three quarter swing, the difference in that and the full backswing, what happens there is your lower back extends into that top of the swing. Is. So I'm wondering if this extension that I'm seeing in the big full swings isn't necessarily just the fact that I never release that tension that gets created at the very top. Because I think what I was trying to think today a few times is basically do nothing with the. Whatever you're at at the top with the upper body, leave it there, and then just like, you know, turn your hips back through. Well, you need to do something with that upper body. If you've gone. If you've gone into that extension with the lower back, otherwise you're still going to be extended at impact. And what releases that lower back is the lower body. Right. So if I'm not doing that correctly, if I'm not pushing off that left foot, that left foot seems to be what triggers the release of that lower back. So is. Is that why the 75 to 100% swing has that extension and this three quarter swing doesn't? Because I'm just not releasing that extension. Does that make any sense at all? [00:19:08] Speaker C: Without seeing the swing I'm trying to mentally create. Look at Mike's. Mike's just sitting there grinning. I'm sitting there trying to take the [00:19:16] Speaker B: data and see you like do a swing with your back arch because you're trying not to flex. [00:19:22] Speaker A: Well, that's the big. That's one thing that I'll say for sure is that for, I guess without realizing it, for years that's been a big flaw in my swing is that I have a very arch lower back from the top pretty much all the way through. I mean, that's for whatever reason in my mind, extending the hips. Something got crossed in my brain on that and instead of extending my hips through impact, I extended my back through impact and that created a whole lot of problems. But when I try to arch my back instead, that doesn't solve anything. I just hit it really fat. Because I think what should be happening is whatever extension you, you do have in the back at the top of the swing should be released by the releasing of the hips if you're doing it correctly. But I'm not doing it correctly. I don't really push off the left foot, I just rotate around it. So I'm wondering if that's why I'm still extended at impact is because I just never. I didn't add extension. I just didn't release the extension I already had at the top. [00:20:21] Speaker C: I think I'd have to see the swing and you have to walk me through what you're talking about. I'm trying to piece it together in my head and I'm just not able to see it right now. Sorry. [00:20:29] Speaker A: I'm not trying to confuse things. I just, I didn't know if that was a. I never know if my questions are simple ones or not. They're just questions I have. I don't know if there's. [00:20:38] Speaker B: It took you five minutes to ask the question, so no, it is not a simple question. [00:20:43] Speaker A: No, it took me two minutes to ask the question. It took you guys three minutes to. [00:20:46] Speaker C: To try to identificate on what it was. [00:20:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't realize it was a complicated question. [00:20:52] Speaker C: There's also the part of me that is doing my best coaching hat to say our boy's about to go try to wake up at nine o' clock in the morning and go play a little pitch and putt course. Let's not give him a swing overhaul and swing thought right before he goes and does that. [00:21:07] Speaker A: Well, I can't get too technical on 50 yard shots. I don't. There's no extension. [00:21:13] Speaker C: You could. You could get a. You could get technical on a two foot putt. [00:21:18] Speaker A: That's fair. That's fair. [00:21:21] Speaker B: Well, hey, I. I've got to go help my buddy attach his bumper. I'm getting from getting a text message. When are you coming? So I got to go downstairs and help hold a bumper. If Garrett's got any more questions, I'm gonna have to just leave them for Tony here. [00:21:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:41] Speaker C: All right, thanks, Mike. [00:21:45] Speaker A: Well, you have fun reattaching the bumper. I'm gonna go work on my 50 yard game. [00:21:49] Speaker B: All right, man. I wanna. I wanna hear how it goes. Please let me know if you're coming home with 400 bucks in your pocket. You're buying drinks the next time I see you. [00:21:57] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:21:59] Speaker A: I'll hold my breath. We'll see. All right, see y'. [00:22:04] Speaker B: All. [00:22:05] Speaker A: Okay, these. Hang on. I gotta sneeze again. I can mute this time, though. [00:22:15] Speaker B: The whole camera is shaking. [00:22:17] Speaker A: That one didn't sneak up on me quite as bad as the last one did. I actually had some time to prepare. [00:22:23] Speaker C: So now we need to update. We need to update on. [00:22:26] Speaker A: So I think we can talk about that public Real podcast came out. I mean, just in case. Yeah, see, I edited that out last time. [00:22:33] Speaker C: No, I'm sorry. I didn't know if we were still doing the podcast or whatnot. I'm just saying at some point, we need a update. [00:22:39] Speaker A: Yeah.