Simplify the Swing Thoughts

[00:00:01] Speaker A: This is my process. This is what I'm doing. And I don't care how it changes or if I hit a bad shot, it's not changing. I'll say. I don't know if this is the best. Probably not the best analogy, but getting out on the golf course, once you're on the golf course, once you. Your swing is your swing, you're not changing it at that point. Trying to fix your swing or change your swing midway through the round is probably about like going on a date and halfway through, trying to find a different girl to spend the rest of the evening with. And, I mean, I have actually done that before. It didn't end that well most of the time, but. [00:00:38] Speaker B: Cheers to you, gentlemen. What is this guy wearing? [00:00:41] Speaker C: That a baby? [00:00:42] Speaker A: Let's go. [00:00:44] Speaker B: You got a Master's green jacket. [00:00:46] Speaker C: I love it. [00:00:48] Speaker A: It's a Sully's green jacket. Check this thing out. You got a little Sully's Augusta logo on it and everything. [00:00:53] Speaker C: This thing. [00:00:53] Speaker B: That's awesome. Is that because you won something? Yes. [00:00:57] Speaker A: Won the Masters Pro Am. [00:00:59] Speaker B: There you go. So, Scotty. Was it Scotty you were paired with? [00:01:02] Speaker A: Yes, me and Scotty. [00:01:04] Speaker B: Explain to us how that works. [00:01:05] Speaker A: Okay, so I gotta give both versions of the story. Last year and this year. So you play the back nine at Augusta on Master Sunday, and you pick any pro in the field, and you take your back nine score plus their back nine score plus for the combined. All right? So last year, I tied for the low round and spent about an hour putting together a spreadsheet. Of all the players in the field, who's been the most consistent? I didn't. I was very strategic not to take anybody that, you know, was in the final group because they may choke. You know, pressure, things like that. I wanted somebody who was like, you know, an afterthought would, you know, no reason to have any pressure, nothing to lose. I literally picked the worst performer by, like, two shots out of 53 people. They're like, 53 people that I could choose from, and 52 of them I would have won if I had picked them, and I picked the one guy. So this year, Michael Kim shot 43. [00:02:12] Speaker B: Wait, time out. Can you pick whoever you want, or was there like a lottery? [00:02:14] Speaker A: Yeah, you pick whoever you want. I just. I picked him because he was. I wanted somebody that I knew I would be in pretty good shape with my round. I just didn't want somebody was going to blow up. And he had made. I think he only made, like, two bogeys in the first 54 holes on the back nine, and he starts off like double, double, double on Sunday and shoots 43. So this year, I spent a grand total of about 3 seconds typing Scotty Scheffler. That was it. I was like, I'm taking Scotty, like, whatever. He's at least if he plays bad, there's a good chance that a bunch of people would have picked him. So I went with him and I shot 35, and it was a grueling 35 because they had the green set up as a 13 stint. Hard, firm greens. So it was like you just breathe on it and it goes, you know, 15ft. So. But. Well, I want to get into that story, though, so we'll welcome back to the best golf podcast ever. We have missed y'. [00:03:18] Speaker B: All. [00:03:18] Speaker A: I know y' all have missed us. It's been what we only did. Like, we recorded one episode, but we never released it. And then other than that, we did the one like, in January. So we've done like, one episode in, like four or five months. [00:03:32] Speaker B: So it's been bad. But, you know, we're back and giving the people what they want in the original format. Not trying to do things we're not cut out to do. [00:03:43] Speaker A: And that's right. [00:03:44] Speaker B: You know, all 483 people can listen to us for 45 seconds and call it a day. And that's fine. [00:03:50] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. That'll be 45 more seconds than they've. Than we've gotten in view time in the last six months. [00:03:55] Speaker B: So that's right. [00:03:56] Speaker A: There's. There's that. Yeah. We've been on a little bit of our. A little side tangent for the last few months. We've been doing some Trying to build a website, trying to build an app, and I've started playing real golf again. So I ain't got time to do a golf podcast. I gotta get play. So we haven't. Haven't done that. But yeah, lots to. Lots to catch up on. So I guess I'm gonna lose the jacket now. I just. I just wanted to show that off. [00:04:21] Speaker B: He had to rip, though. That's great. I mean, you had to flaunt it. [00:04:25] Speaker A: I mean, this thing is really. Thank you. Yeah, it's like four sizes too big, so I think that's the. The reason I might have to have it tailored, but actually with that. So I've. I now have three legs of the Su's career Grand Slam. I've won the Masters, I won the member member, and I've won the member guest. So I Just got a win club championship and I'll have the suing. So we're gonna, we're gonna call it some. Yeah. [00:04:50] Speaker B: So does the green jacket entitle you to any extra privileges when you walk in? Do you get a free beer every time you walk in or something like that? [00:04:56] Speaker A: I don't, I'm pretty sure you don't know. I, I, I did get some, I got a door prize for low amateur also, so I got like three rocks glasses with Solly's logo on it. So nice. I was telling somebody the other day, like, I really need to, like I need to get some sponsorship dollars from Solis. Like I'm wearing their hats, I'm wearing their, I've got their head cover. They have very strategically put their brand like all over me with gift, with, with giveaway stuff. And here I am just like playing golf all over Wake county, just advertising Solis left and right. And yeah, they, they are, they are good to me. But there's no money exchanged. [00:05:31] Speaker B: You know, it's a one way street. You're giving them money. [00:05:34] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't, I don't receive any compensation for, for wearing all this cool stuff that they give me. But it is cool stuff though. And the green jacket was. I, I, I probably am a little bit more in love with that green jacket than a 40 year old man should be. I mean, it's okay. It's pretty awesome. [00:05:51] Speaker C: You slept in it, haven't you? [00:05:54] Speaker A: Only the once, but [00:05:58] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:05:59] Speaker A: Hold one sec. [00:06:02] Speaker C: I want to know Tony, if he accidentally shanked a golf ball and into the front window like one of the other patrons has done, would they pay for the window or do you have to pay for the window? [00:06:16] Speaker A: I think they had to pay for it when the other, when the other person did it. I'm not sure. I didn't really pay attention to the waiver that I signed when I joined. I probably should have. That's, that's one of my, one of my many character flaws is that I usually sign first and then only read if it becomes applicable later. So hopefully it won't be a problem. [00:06:35] Speaker B: But, well, they're gonna, they're gonna tar and feather Garrett and I if we win this month's member guest tournament or whatever it is, because I don't think we've lost one yet, have we? [00:06:46] Speaker C: Wow. [00:06:46] Speaker A: No, but last month was a lot closer than I thought it would be after we shot. I mean, props to whoever that was. I don't know if they listen or not. But whoever finished second, I've thought we would. I thought we walked away with it with 59, but we only won by one shot. So we. If we want to. [00:07:00] Speaker B: Very tough layout. Yeah. Very tough layout. [00:07:03] Speaker A: Yeah. If we want to stay unbeaten, we're going to have to get better. I think they're coming after us. We can't, can't be settling for where we're at. [00:07:10] Speaker B: Well, and I'm really excited because this Saturday Garrett and I are playing our first ever real golf partner tournament, the two of us. So we'll see if our simulator prowess translates into greengrass prowess. Garrett has also made some major. Okay, so what's the tournament? The member. The tournament is the member, member trifecta for the Fred Smith Golf Company group. And so we're playing it out at Riverwood. It's going to be an all day event or a long day rather. And each of the three nines is a different format. Typically it's a scramble, a best ball and a modified alternate sh. So it'll be a lot of fun. I'm going to have to do my best to not play coach and just play player with Garrett, obviously, because that's what works with us. With the Sully's thing. I just say shut up and play your ball and I'll play mine and we'll just see what happens. But I was going to say Garrett has made some major progress lately. He sent me a text message the other day. I wish I could read it, but obviously I'm working on my phone and [00:08:11] Speaker A: said, I can read it. I can tell you what. [00:08:14] Speaker B: Yeah, go ahead and read it. [00:08:15] Speaker A: I can read it verbatim. I said, [00:08:21] Speaker B: you like this, Mike? [00:08:23] Speaker A: Gosh, we. We text each other a lot. It takes me a while to get back to yesterday. I said, if I just don't mess. If I just don't mess with it, I swear my swing is the best it's ever been. Please slap me if I go down any more rabbit holes. And then he replies, permission to slap. Permission granted. I've suddenly been trying to mentally slap you all year. And I laugh. [00:08:45] Speaker B: And then he texted me this morning or whatever, he's like, you know, if I just say imposture and blah, blah, blah. [00:08:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that was. [00:08:52] Speaker B: I sent him a gif of a slap fest. [00:08:54] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that. In my defense, that was not. I wasn't in a rabbit hole. I was just making an observation that it. Because to me, when I try to stay in posture on the way down, I feel like I'm going to fat the crap out of it. But what's ironic about it is now that I'm not popping up, if I don't release the club, I swing over the top of it and I top it. I topped two balls today. I haven't topped a ball in like 10 years, probably. And I did it on back to back holes. So it's like I've got to release it now to get it down there. [00:09:23] Speaker B: It's just. [00:09:23] Speaker A: It was a weird thing I played. [00:09:25] Speaker B: See, but the problem. The problem with Garrett is observations lead to rabbit holes. So that's why I was still sending you the giphy slaps, because I knew. Yeah, I knew where this was headed. [00:09:36] Speaker C: Yeah. The Internet. That's your bugaboo. [00:09:40] Speaker A: It is. Well, I didn't have to have the Internet. I can. I can create my own rabbit hole in my own head and just figure out I can take the simplest thing and turn it into a 30 minute. Just meditation on all the different possible combinations of paging smooth golf club. So I've got to be real careful with that because to the point, I mean, I have been swinging it really well. And. And one of the things, Tony, that you told me about a month or two ago when I was, you know, again, swinging it pretty good, you were like, just groove what you're doing and let's stop trying to change your swing. Like. And I never thought about this till the other day, but, you know, when I get on a golf course, it's like I have a swing thought until I hit a bad shot and then my bad after that bad shot. The every swing thought after that is fixing whatever I did wrong on the last one. And then when I overcorrected, the next swing thought is F and whatever that was. And I was like, you know, the best players in the world have pretty much perfect golf swings. And they still hit bad shots sometimes. But what do they do on the next one? They come back and try to hit. They try to go back to the same swing that is their swing rather than trying to constantly change it. And this is the first time that I've ever been confident enough in my swing that it's like, just quit trying to change your swing and just groove the one you have and learn how to do that same thing over and over and over and over again. So I've been trying to really work on that. And it's. It's so hard for me to not go down rabbit holes, though. It's so. I love rabbit holes. They're so fun. [00:11:10] Speaker B: I know they're fun, but it's, it's like I was telling you too, like, imagine Steph Curry, if he misses a free throw or he misses a three pointer, him all of a sudden being like, let me, let me practice how I release the ball, you know, or something like that. Or let me, let me, let me change my entire thought process. You know, I guess it. No other sport would someone do that, you know, if they're proficient and you are a highly proficient golfer. Like if you are a single digit handicap and below, you're top tier, top 10 of all golfers on the planet. You know, people don't think about it that way, but if you can shoot in the 70s consistently, you are literally one of the best golfers on the planet. And so then to think that we gotta like change everything every three weeks is just like, it doesn't make much sense, you know? [00:11:53] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and I want to. Kind of part of what I wanted to get into a little bit on the swing stuff is, is Betty backing up a little bit to where I, I got to this point where it feels comfortable because there was something that I sort of stumbled on a couple of times and I never really committed to it. And once I finally committed to it, it's been, it's made my, it's just made my swing feel so much simpler. And that is that. We may have talked about this before, but I know I talked about it with Mike one time, but when I just like try to take a, like a three quarter back swing, I pretty much never miss. And it's very solid, very consistent, very straight, all that good stuff. And I only lose like a few yards of distance. It's. It's like a 9 irons 148 and a full 9 irons 155. The difference is I never miss at 148, but at 155, I'm about 50, 50 on both sides of it. So. But the strange thing to me about it is I've gained ball speed. I gained smash factor, basically, right? The club head speed goes down, but the ball speed stays the same or even goes up. So I'm making a more efficient strike. Even on two balls that are hit dead in the center of the club face. I'm getting a better smash factor there. So where I always drift on this is I say, okay, I like this three quarter swing. Now how do I add speed to it? Now how do I get this to go faster? And then I started down these rabbit holes. But one of the things that I was asking Mike about, and I want to quiz you guys on this and see this seemed. I think I know the correct answer. And if I do know the correct answer, then it was kind of mind bending to me to think about it this way. But at what point in the golf swing does. And this is not a rabbit hole. Okay. I am passing along what I think I have learned already from a previous rabbit hole, but we're not going down this rabbit hole. At what point in the golf swing would the stretch between the hips and the shoulders be at its highest transition? The beginning of transition to the end of transition. [00:14:00] Speaker C: Oh, Lord. [00:14:02] Speaker B: You mean in what point? 00 tenth of a second difference between the beginning or end of transition transition. Is this the rabbit hole we're going down? [00:14:10] Speaker A: Yes, and you're laughing, but I think it's important. Here's why. I have always, I think, tried to stretch myself as far as I possibly can on the way back and get as much coil in every single muscle fiber that I can stretch to get it loaded up there as as much as I possibly can. And once you stretch something to its max, it can't be stretched more. That's the definition of match. Right. So when I try to start the hips down, the shoulders have to come with it because there's no more room for the. For that to be stretching any further. So when I go to the, what I call the three quarter swing, the funny thing is it's still. I'm still parallel and it's still a full backswing, but I don't really feel any stretch there. I just feel like I'm kind of just turning my shoulders until my chin's, you know, my shoulders under my chin. And then I'm not really trying to necessarily, but I think what that does is it actually gives me the. The room to be able to rotate my hips first without bringing the shoulders with it. And that's where I've. That's the re. That's the why behind where I'm saying just groove it. Even though the three quarter swing doesn't feel like I'm swinging very fast, it's actually a more powerful swing. It just doesn't look as powerful because it's effortless power instead of swinging as hard as you can. But that's been my big epiphany is like, you don't have to wind it up as big as you possibly can and do. And if you just, you know, leave yourself a little bit of. Of wiggle room there at the top, you can actually come out more efficiently. And it actually, it also makes. Sorry I'm getting a really long tangent here, but whenever I'm. If I just take a backswing and try to stop at the top and then look at it, I'll fill out my back swings too short. But if I'm videoing it, I realize that I got to parallel, but there's a little recoil at the top, right. Because it's. You take it back as far as you can, it kind of recoils well by leaving that slack in it so that when I, I don't max out until I've started the downswing. Now that recoil happens on the way down so that it's rebounding down at the ball. That's what I was kind of get at yesterday when I was texting and saying like, if I do it right, I don't even have to release the club, it releases itself. Because once I make that move, it just all fires right out. So that's where I've gotten to, where it's like, no, I just want to, I just want to do this every single time. I don't need to make any more changes. Just do this. [00:16:27] Speaker B: I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it's more efficient, right. And especially as we get older and as our bodies start to get tighter and stiffer, we're after efficiency, not wasted energy. So again, that's why a lot of people find they have a much more consistent quality of strike and better outcomes when they go to a three quarter swing, is because a lot of times people get runaway hands, you know, in an effort as they get older to continue to get a quote unquote full backswing or a full shoulder turn. All they do is keep lifting their hands. And this doesn't create any more stretch. This isn't creating any, you know, coil power or anything. All it is is making the swing longer, right? [00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:07] Speaker B: And then you gotta time more stuff in the downswing if you don't have a good sequence, which most people don't already, etc. So it's like when I text you or we were talking about it and you're like, well, I hit it seven yards shorter with the three quarter swing, but I never miss and I. So what's the problem? Yeah, we were on the phone, I was like, and. And you just said, It's 50, 50 when I go full. It's a pretty clear explanation to me of what you should be doing there if the goal is lower scores and more consistent, efficient golf. [00:17:38] Speaker A: Well, I'll tell you exactly what. So Yesterday I hit 20 balls at the end of the day. And I. I mean, I. I put it in some reps yesterday. I had. I don't even know how long I'd been there. It didn't feel like I've been there very long. I'd already get 165 balls. I think I probably get 250, 300 balls yesterday. Oh, my Lord, it was so bad. Like, I was. [00:17:56] Speaker C: I had. [00:17:57] Speaker A: I would hit one and have it re teed and ready to go again, or back in the square, ready to hit it again. All I had to do was wait for the ball to finish rolling on the screen so I could go ahead and hit like I was that ready to go. I was locked and loaded, baby. But at the end of that, I hit. I think it was 28 irons in a row. And I went back and looked at it later just to check it. There was one that got away from me left. I hit it. I think it was 15 yards left. The second most offline was 8. The third most offline was 7. And the fourth most offline was like 5. And the other 14 or 15 were all 2, 3, 4 yards. So I mean it when I say I'm not missing. I mean it's. It's straight down that line, and you just sit there and think, what kind of an idiot would try to do something different than that on the golf course? I mean, you'd have to be an absolute dumbass to do something different than that on the golf course. Until I get to the first tee, and then it's like, well, this makes sense. Yes. I need to do a little bit more. I got. Well, I don't. It's downwind. I need to do that. I mean, just do what, you know, you can do. [00:19:00] Speaker B: And isn't that why they say that Golf is like 90% mental or whatever the case, whatever the quote is, right? Because it is. It's the great challenge is the mental. Stay within yourself, make the right decision, commit to the process, whatever. Well, I was gonna say I. I haven't got to play much golf this season since, you know, it started warming up. But I have played mostly competitive rounds. So this Saturday, I got to play with my old guys group out there at Eagle Ridge in the morning. Great, fun group of guys. And every week I tell them, I got $10. That's all I got to bet, you know, because it's for whatever reason, that's the amount of cash I had in my wallet. And I said, whoever wants to take it can take it. And then by the time I Get to the first tee. They've put me in 12 bets. Everyone's got me and them versus someone else in a best ball game. I'm like, mother, these old jerks, they're like, you're good for it. Don't worry about it. Don't even worry about it. [00:19:53] Speaker A: You're good for it. [00:19:54] Speaker B: And I'm like, fine. Well, I won all the bets this Saturday. We didn't lose any. Eagle Ridge was playing tough. It was windy and it was firm and whatever. But I wanted to say that I. I had taken some practice. I. I said, you know, this season I need to dedicate to getting better at my putting. I leave too many putts short from makeable distance, you know, like inside of 15ft or whatever. I sleep too many short. And I just spent a few days working on some practice putting and whatnot. And it translated really quick, right? Just a mental shift, a mental change of. And I don't want to say this as this is the end all, be all, but the never up, never end. Right. If the putt doesn't get past the hole, it technically doesn't have a chance to go in. So I'm not saying that should be everybody's mental, because then people run put 6, 7ft by the hole. But, you know, it was like, I didn't intend to do that. [00:20:45] Speaker A: It just happened, you know, it's crazy since the kids started doing that, and it drives me nuts. You would not believe how many times on a golf course you have 167 yards or you're between a six and a seven iron. It's like, it's constantly. All the time. Yeah. [00:21:01] Speaker B: Yep. But so anyway, I, you know, just that mental, mental shift. And I practiced a bunch of four and five footers, and I was like, okay, I can make these. You know, if it does get away from me a little bit, I can make it. It's not that big of a deal. And I putted pretty well. Like, I saw a market improvement in my putting. But aside from that, you know, before that, I had been playing in the Fred Smith match play, and I made it through the first two rounds of individual match play being the quote unquote low handicap favorite, having to give, Gosh, I think the first time I had to give seven shots. The next round I had to give like 13 shots. And the last round I had to give nine. I ended up losing the last round. But the last round I played, I was really proud of myself because I got down five holes early. Like, I was down five holes on the Front nine. [00:21:49] Speaker A: And if I remember from you, because you told me this story, if I'm. If I remember incorrectly, it wasn't that you were playing bad. It was that your opponent who was getting nine shots was always, was also knocking in like 30 foot birdie putts too, right? [00:22:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I wasn't playing great at first, but I was also not mentally getting over the disadvantage. Right. Like, and it's just the thing I've got to get better at if I'm going to continue to play these net games. But when the. Your opponent is hitting from the gold tees, the senior tees, and you're hitting from, you know, the blue or the black tees, and then the gold tees are also moved Forward an extra 20 or 30 yards because of maintenance issues or whatever, like, that's not a true handicap differential. And, you know, I had to help this guy find his ball. He couldn't see too well and everything. And it just, it just doesn't feel good, right? It's like, man, this is just not right. But yeah, he was, he was playing. He knows how to play his handicap very well, you know. And so then the other thing is, unless you want to make him drive up and hit first every time you're hitting first, even if you don't have the tee box, if you don't have the honors. And that helps his decision making, right? So anyway, I got down five in the front nine, and then I made a charge. I holed out for eagle on a hole one. The next hole, number 17, I was down by one with two to play, and I had an eagle putt. I was a little too aggressive. It lifts out and goes eight feet by. And then I missed the comeback and par and he missed his birdie. And pardon. I was like, dang. All I had to do was two putt this for a birdie and make him make a ten footer, right? So then we get to the 18th hole, number nine of river, which is a really tough hole from way in the back. And he's got like 120 yard advantage in front of me on the gold tee box. I'm like, all right, here it goes. Do or die. If you don't win this hole, you know, you toast. All that work was for nothing. I roast and drive 340 yards up the center of the fairway. I'm like, let's go. You know, I sit and drive really good. And then he steps up and pipes one 20 yards past me. Cause he's already, you know, ahead on the tee box and I was like, oh, boy, here we go. But the wind was blowing crazy, and you've got a tough shot over a bunker to a front pin. And I was like, well, nothing else to do here. Again, process. Just hit the best shot you can. You've got to make a birdie, whatever, hit it on the green to about 18ft. And it's a downhill sidewinder putt. He hits his shot on the green short of the hole but, like 30ft, and he gets a stroke on this hole. So I'm like, well, here we go. You've got to make the birdie putt and hope he, you know, messes up three putts or whatever. So I line it up. Sure enough, I make this sidewinder birdie putt dead center in the hole to make a birdie. And I'm sitting here watching. I'm like, all right, here he goes. He's only got, like, you know, 15ft. All he's got to do is two putt this. He net, birdie ties me. He wins. He hits the first one a little short. Six, seven feet. Not again. Seven, seven, eight or eight feet short. Seven or eight feet short. And he misses it and he bogeys it and makes a par and we tie or I win the hole. So after 18 holes, we're dead even. And I was like, that was the most phenomenal, like, mental lock in against the odds, figure it out, and play good golf, right? I shot. I think I shot on the front nine. It was like a 42, and then I shot a even on the back or something like that to. To get back in contention. And then this is just one of those things where winter golf, as we've talked about, or, you know, early spring summer golf, number one of deer. The fairways are just so firm. In the first iteration of the round I play, we played that hole first, and I hit a six iron. It gets all the way down to the end of the fairway on a severe downslope. And then you've got 120 yard shot over water. Well, this time I was like, okay, I'll hit a seven iron, because it rolled so far. I hit it, and the thing hits like concrete and goes all the way down that hill again. And I'm on this side slope like this, and hit it just a little off, and it just almost got over the water. But buried in the water, he, like, skips his across the water over the green. Yeah. And it's like, whatever, here you go. And so he ended up winning. But regardless, I was proud of how I fought back, you know, and overcame that deficit. It was really fun. So now we've got this next tournament we're playing in. It's going to be against some really good golfers, you know, a bunch of plus handicaps and everything. So there's nothing like the thrill of competition, no matter what format it is, and nothing to test your practice and preparation like having to count every stroke. You know, I think that's where most golfers could do so much better, is to actually play golf the way it's intended to be played and count your strokes versus, you know, raking away the six footer and saying it's good for par or whatever. [00:26:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm excited about it. I think. You know, I always, I appreciate the heck out of you as a coach and you know, my swing being what I proclaim and do, I do think my swinging is the best it's ever been. So thank you for that. But aside from that, what you said about, you know, trying not to be coach and just play, I think we make great playing partners. I mean, we played great and everything that we've played in together, I think. And something about, you don't coach me at all and, but something about the back and forth and talking through, where do we want to hit this? And, and there's a part of me like, I really don't want to do anything stupid around you, especially now that I'm giving you permission to slap me. Like if I try to pull a club that I shouldn't pull. You may actually slap me on Saturday, so I gotta, gotta watch that. But I'm excited about it. I have high expectations. I, I expect to win and we've never lost together at this point. I don't, I don't want to start now, but there you go. Speaking of smart decisions, I'm gonna put my jacket back on here because I, I have that right. And chilly. It's chilly. I've got my, I got my fan on here. So I did, I did a couple of things, a couple of quick lessons from that Masters thing. Number one. Uh, well, I'll kind of go in, in, in sequential order here. So, like the first two, three, four holes, I think went pretty much according to plan. I did have to make like a 15 foot over par on 10 and then 11, 12 were pretty normal 13. I think I had a one shot lead, like two, oh, five out. And I'm really struggling from like 200 yards right now. That's just, you know, we're doing the app and I'm doing these strokes gained. And I. There's like a massive cliff above 200 yards where I cannot sc. But I don't care. I'm going for it anyway, you know, So I. I go for it. Hit a lousy shot, and I was pretty nervous over, like, I got over the ball and like, I noticed my heart rate was kind of up, so I stepped off of it and then went back in and I got back over. My heart rate's up again and I'm like, oh, well, the hell with it. We're just gonna hit it. So. Hit it so bad it almost stayed short of the creek. And then I hit a really bad chip shot that I got lucky. And my club kind of bounced up into it, and where it would have been fat, it bounced up inside the circle. So I make safe par there. 14. I hit my T ball behind a tree, and Stall is in the fairway and he's about five yards behind me. So he. He goes first. Well, he, like, skulls his five iron. I've got. I had a window where I could have tried to hit a cut 5 iron from about 170 and taken it way out, you know, way down the left tree line and try to cut it back around there. I had it out and I was over the ball, ready to go. Like, he just scold it to 60 yards. You can pitch out and you're, you know, you're still. You still got your advantage, right? So I'm over the ball and I finally talk myself out of the five iron. I go back and I get the wedge and I chip out, hit my wedge to like four feet. He gets on the green like four putts for triple. So now I've got a four shot lead. Five shot lead, whatever it was. And he said to me later, he's like, I was so disappointed when you put that five iron back up because I thought you were getting ready to blow it and, like, hand it to me when you went back to the wedge, I was like, oh, man, do the smart thing for once. [00:29:40] Speaker B: There you go. [00:29:41] Speaker A: But then actually, what was interesting is I was in a hurry because I did the 8 o' clock time and I had to teach children's church at 10:45, so I couldn't be late. Like, I had to go. And our group was playing really slow. So I'm like, I didn't even really have time to be nervous. I'm like, hurry up, we gotta go, gotta go, gotta go. And I'm just like getting up and hitting as fast as I could. And I have learned that about me, I think it has something to do with add, is that I don't need to be thinking about golf when I'm hitting a golf shot. Like, I can take my mind anywhere else, but when I'm hit, when I'm over a golf ball, I need to be thinking about anything but golf. I think, I think I play better that way. So I've been trying to test different ways to, to distract myself literally while I'm hitting a golf ball, because it's the weirdest thing, but if I'm thinking about golf, I do, I play terrible. And if I'm thinking about pretty much anything else, I hit it great. So. So yeah, I've learned. And since then I have been trying to have a little discipline and, and just try to hit the smart shot once in a while. And it's, it's crazy. [00:30:38] Speaker B: To that point? Yeah, to that point I was. As we're working on different things that the viewers don't know about, I'm going back through all these books that I have about strategy and strokes gained and Mark Brody's over stroke counts and everything. And when you're in trouble, the best thing you can do is just advance the ball. If you can advance the ball 80 to 100 yards when you're in the trees, that's the best thing you can do, right? Because if you leave it in the trees or you hit a tree and it bounces back into the hazard or something like that, that's costing you not just the stroke you just took, but another one, right? So even if you just get the ball moving forward 80 yards, which is not that hard, with like a chip and run five iron or something like that, you have made the best of the scenario. You find yourself in. Where you really get in trouble is trying the hero shots, trying to get it all back in that one, versus just taking the medicine, as they say, and accepting this is where you are, right? Because again, as we, as we talked about the other day, I think Garrett, you were talking about this with me. We were talking about your Masters or something or the other. You were like, I've got 240 yards, why am I going to try to make this all up right now when there's water short of the green, I'm better off just playing to my strength, which is a 80 yard pitch or whatever, 80 yard wedge and trying to hit it in that 10 foot circle for the free putt versus trying to get it all here, right? Because then at worst you're going to make a bogey at best you save the par, but if you try to hit that hero shot, at best you're probably making bogey. At worst you're making double or triple. Right. So it doesn't, it's not fun, but it's just the decision that has to be made. Yeah. [00:32:09] Speaker A: And what we were kind of alluding to there is we, it's funny. So we wanted to try to build an app. We didn't really know how to build an app, but we decided to give it a try. I spent a solid week like just in like deep dive trying to figure out how to build an app and built a really detailed app, but it was really tough to use. And then Tony's decided that he wants to start building an app now. So I think you're building like five now. So somewhere in the lab we've got like a ton of apps going. But one of the things that I've learned a lot from is tracking my strokes to hole from different distances. And this has been a really big eye opening thing for me. So over the 15 rounds that I've got logged on this thing right now inside, call it 125 yards. I'm scratch. I mean, I average three shots or actually 2.9 from 26 to 50, so I'm pretty decent there. 125 to 1 to call it 200 average three and a half shots. So could have a little bit of work to do there. But from 200 to 240 I'm averaging 4 and from 240 and above I'm averaging 4.6. So what was really eye opening to me on that is from 250 yards I'm averaging 4.6, but from a hundred yards I'm averaging 3. So I'm no genius. But it seems to me like from 250 yards I might be better off to just get it up there to a hundred yards and try to make three as opposed, because I'm not. I mean, 4.6 from 250 yards is terrible. I mean, obviously I need to work on that part of my game. But knowing that kind of reshaped the way I think about core strategy a little bit because that was kind of what I was thinking about in the Masters that day, is that, okay, forget the hero shot. If I can get it to 100 yards, I'm averaging under three from that point. Especially with a 10 foot gimme circle, I've got a decent shot there and just. And it also kind of shows you okay, I need to work on my 220 yard shots. Because sometimes those are unavoidable. Unavoidable on par threes or whatever. But I never looked at it that way before and I think just never realized how bad I was from 250. In my mind, I'm pretty good from 250. What I usually do is headed to about 15ft in two putt, right? Except apparently that's not what I really do. Statistically, I average 4.6 from 250. So, I mean, almost took it to the extreme of like, if I'm seriously averaging over four from 200 yards, should I. Where's the line in the sand where I say, okay, I'm never going to go for the green from this number because statistically I'm better off laying up on a 220 yard par, 3 to 100 yards and then knocking it? I mean, like, I don't want to take it to that extreme, but. [00:34:55] Speaker B: No, you should do that. You shouldn't take it that extreme. I mean, you obviously just need to spend a little more time figuring out a club that will get you within the wheelhouse of that. That yardage within a certain distance, you know, 40 yards left to right or whatever. But you definitely should just get it as close to the green as possible because your distance from the hole is a pretty strong correlate to your score, your number of strokes to hole out. So definitely always try to get as close to the hole as possible while avoiding big trouble, water bunkers, stuff like that. But it's obviously a glaring shortcoming that you have. But if you think about it, most amateur golfers don't even hit the driver 250 yards. So it's not like it's that big of a deal, but, yeah, it does. It makes a big difference when you start to think differently about what am I capable of doing versus what is just a stupid decision. Right? What is more risk than I'm willing to take? Yeah, but we've been in this for 35, 40 minutes now, and Mike hadn't said but two words. So I want to check in with Mike and see how he's doing in baseball land. [00:36:02] Speaker A: First of all, [00:36:05] Speaker C: it's late. You ain't gonna get much out of me this time of day. [00:36:09] Speaker A: Yeah, Mike already told us that we. He probably wasn't going to say a whole lot today. You're gonna have to carry me, boys. Yeah. Yeah. [00:36:14] Speaker C: You might have to carry me. [00:36:15] Speaker B: I will give you at least ask about your clients. It's spring. It's golf season. You got the old guys and gals coming out of the woodwork to get you. Get them right. [00:36:24] Speaker C: Yeah, it's funny, I just. I picked up a new. A new golfer a few weeks ago, and it's really interesting. She's had two shoulder placements. She's only 40, but plays a lot of golf and sounds like she's pretty good. And so it's just interesting. Definitely range of motion issues. So it would be her backswing side. And so trying to. When you have somebody that literally cannot get more rain, you know, I guess we're trying to, but, you know, it's pretty limited, but who loves to play. And so right now we're just trying to get her back into shape, you know, but, yeah, definitely people are more excited. You know, they're getting outside more and it's getting hotter. So for me, I'm trying to remind them because, you know, we're having these swings in temperatures now, and I'm like, okay, man, you know, just. I bang that drum every, every year about hydration, you know, and making sure they're eating because, you know, you know, you work so much with the mental game. Tony. Yeah. You know, what are barriers to? What are barriers to? Performance. I've been thinking about that a lot with my baseball guys. What are barriers to performance? You know, you guys have talked about anxiety or, you know, you talked about heart rate earlier and, you know, preparation, you know, and I was thinking a lot, honestly, guys, about my dad. My dad was this champion marksman. He was a police officer, and his office was, when I say littered with trophies, littered with gold and silver medallions. I mean, the man, he just had a slow heartbeat. And I remember asking him, like, how do you do this? And he was like, you know, Mike, if you don't mind, it don't matter. And I would be like, what does that mean? What if you don't mind, it don't matter? But I, I looking back, I think for him, he was somebody that trusted his preparation. He was like you, Tony. He just, he. He trained himself and he worked really hard in. When it came time to compete, he trusted in his preparation. And for me, I was the opposite. I was always, like, I would. My performance was always up and down. And so just wondering, like, how can I, you know, why was mine up and down? And I'm his son, and his was just, you know, very consistent. And for me, I was like, well, if I'm not hitting well right now, I'm just going to hit more. And that can be for the golfer. I'm not striking the Ball well, so I'm just going to go hit more and. Or if I'm not playing good defense right now, or I just need to go take more ground balls. Take more ground balls. But that wasn't always equating to better performance. And so I think for the golfers, for my baseball guys, if doing more isn't equating to better performance, then what else are we, you know, so that's kind of where my head's been at. Because, I mean, I throw batting practice to my, my high school kids every day, and they crush me. Crush me. They're like, coach, you're. You're my favorite BP guy. And they just absolutely annihilate me. And literally the game is about to start 20 minutes later, and it's not transferring. Just like, why is it not transferring? You know, because I'm throwing. Trying to throw the ball right down the middle, you know, and then in the games, you know, if it's down the middle, it's a mistake, you know, and they're dealing with, you know, anxiety and, you know, whatever. So, yeah, so my mind now is just really thinking about performance. And so I think this spring and this summer, I want to pull out some of my old mental keys to hitting mental keys to pitching and talk to you, you know, if you guys have a good book, but just anything outside of just the actual swing itself, you know, try to just. So I can have conversations with my guys, you know, I'm not out on the course with you guys, but I still have an hour with my golfers. And so just like, how can I spark them to start thinking about what are their barriers to performance? Like, you know, so those are things that are on my mind right now. So there you go. That's Mike's. That was a two minute hot take. [00:41:15] Speaker B: Hot take by Mike. [00:41:17] Speaker A: I have a feeling, I have a feeling now that I'm playing real golf, that the best golf podcast ever is going to take a bit of a turn down to mental land, a little bit more than where we have in the past. Because I think the human mind is an absolutely fascinating thing in the way it works and because that you. What you just described about yourself is exactly the way I would describe me playing golf as a kid, too. And it's. And I'm starting to learn a lot about it and learning. Some of it's just. I joke about it a little bit, but it really is. A lot of it's add. When I looked up, like, what does ADD do to golfers? It's like, oh, Crap, that's me, that's what it's doing. So as I've started to understand that, that's also why I can't stick to the swing thought for 18 holes. Because by the 16th, 17th, 18th hole, I can't even remember what my swing thought was on the first hole. So that's where I've really got to just. This is my process, this is what I'm doing. And I don't care how it changes or if I hit a bad shot, it's not changing. It's. I'll say about that. I don't know if this is the best. It's probably not the best analogy. But getting out on the golf course, once you're on the golf course, once you've your swing is your swing, you're not changing it at that point. Trying to fix your swing or change your swing midway through the round is probably about like going on a date and halfway through trying to find a different girl to spend the rest of the, of the evening with. And I mean, I have actually done that before. It didn't end that well most of the time, but. [00:42:40] Speaker C: You have, [00:42:43] Speaker A: but it's one of those things like when you're, when you're out there, you don't need to be doing that. And I'm trying to remind myself of that. But. [00:42:51] Speaker B: Well, two things with that I'll just share. So I work on Monday evenings with the Lonnie Pool, Little League, since kids aged, you know, six up to like 13, 14 year olds. And we rotate, you know, work with different groups of kids on different things. So like this week I did, on Monday I did driving range and I took another girl out of the course for the second hour. And on the driving range I had seven little kids. And one of these kids just hit a ball, wouldn't even watch where it went. Rake a ball, hit a ball, wouldn't even watch. Hit a ball, hit a ball, hit a ball. And he's like, I need a refill. And I was like, hey, buddy. Like, what are you working on right now? You know? And he was like, well, I'm just trying to hit this shot. And I was like, well, let's slow down, let's go through a process of aiming or whatever. And I'd be like, and I'm watching you, you know, because like, he'd hit and they'd be like, ah, go, go behind the ball, aim, do all this stuff. It's almost like a dopamine hit. He just wanted the satisfaction of whack. Hit a solid Shot, you know, and if you don't need a solid shot, it's, let me get another one, get another one. Tie, whack, hit it again. So I think a lot of golfers have, when they get into practice on the driving range or similar, whatever, it's very much, it's. It's almost there. The dopamine hit overrides the actual learning that is taking place. You know what I mean? And so it's like, I've just got to hit a next ball. I've got to get the next shot. I got to hit the next one good. So that's part of it. The second part of it with the rabbit holes and the mental side of things is I'm working with a new golfer right now. Really good player. He's like a three handicap within our first lesson. Second lessons, he's already won something. He already won like a par three tournament. He played in shot one under, helping him with flighting his shots. He hits it really, really high. He doesn't have a lot of attack angle. Gave him one thing. He worked on it, mastered it almost instantly. And he's working with it. Then he sends me this email and he's like, hey, you know, I'm starting to hit balls a little left with the driver and long irons, whereas with the shorter clubs and the wedges that feel we worked on is helping me hit those nice flighted shots. And I already am hitting him in the wind. And I was like, that's fine. He's like, but I feel like I'm getting over the top of it now because he used to be like, super into out. So he sends me three videos and I look at him and I say, look, until I get to see you in person, I'm not going to diagnose this video because the. What you're looking at on camera is super, super dependent on you setting the camera at the exact same angle and the exact same height every single time. And he was like, oh, yeah, good call. He's like, now that you say that, my camera was a little lower than normal, so it looks more over the top, right? And he's not. He's not over the top. I can guarantee you he's not. And he was like, thanks for, thanks for catching that. Because I was really, like beside myself thinking I needed to re haul my swing. So again, video and technology and all that stuff is great only to the extent that you set it up properly. And that's a huge part. So people go down these rabbit holes of thinking they need to fix a million things when they watched two or three videos of their swings, but they didn't realize they didn't set the camera up exactly the same way again, you see what I'm saying? So I think all that has to be taken into consideration. We think about how we practice, how we prepare and the things we're working on. Whereas again, let's, let's just become really good at one thing at a time. Let's become masters at this one swing thought. Get off the video, get off the sim, whatever. Just be like, this is my swing thought. I'm going to commit to this and get really good at it and see how far it takes me. And then you add something to it. Right. You get to there, you've mastered that. Well, now I'm really good from my irons and whatever. I need to tweak my driver a little bit. Okay, maybe it's the driver setup. Maybe you need to sweet, just change one thing pre swing. Maybe you just need a slightly different T height. Maybe you need a different shaft or we need to open your driver face a little bit more or whatever. Because what was working for you before is not working now. Versus saying I've got to add a new 500 different swing pots to my game, you know? [00:46:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's something that I've been the video, especially here lately. I've been really strict on myself with it. I think I've taken one, I've got one video in my phone right now, probably from the last six weeks. And that was literally just that day that I was trying to hit the three quarter swings. I was just curious how far back my three quarter swing actually was. And it was almost parallel. And that's the only video I've got. Because what I've found, especially with me, is that when I'm videoing my swing, I'm much more concerned with how to get it to look the way I want it to look. And when I don't have that crutch to lean on, I'm. I'm forced to create feels in my swing and to try to replicate the feeling of the sensation. And I think that's been a big part of my progress probably over the last couple of months has been having to rely on that as opposed to trying to go, you know, make it look a certain way. And it's funny like after I've. After I do that for a while when I do video and it's like, oh, how about that? It looks better too. That's cool. But sometimes I Think for me, it, it works better just trying to, to get the feel that you're looking for. And to Mike's point too on that earlier, I mean, sometimes when you're struggling, the worst thing you can do is just go pound balls and try to fix it because you're just reinforcing bad physical habits and also reinforcing bad mental, I don't know, energy, confidence level, whatever. Because all you're doing is just repeatedly failing over and over and over at it. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just walk away, man. Go, go find something you are good at and do it, you know, and if you can't find anything on the golf course that you're good at, then go home. Go find something else. You're not, you're not helping anything at that point. Yeah, I promise, Mike, we would do 30 minutes and I, I gotta, I'm just proud of you for staying awake, man. It's, it's 8:25 as we're recording this, so. I'm just impressed that you stuck around this long, man. [00:48:28] Speaker C: Good job. [00:48:28] Speaker A: Yeah, well, thank you. [00:48:29] Speaker C: I've had three late nights in a row. I had a, a guy's weekend in, in D.C. so it was a couple late nights and then I was talking to a girl last night. So like just kind of these facts, [00:48:42] Speaker A: we should have led with that. That's, that, that should have been the headline story. Who's the girl? [00:48:48] Speaker C: Well, I'm not gonna tell her. I have a podcast. [00:48:52] Speaker A: He's ashamed of us, Tony. [00:48:54] Speaker B: Yeah, fair enough. I got a podcast with Tweedledee Tweedledum. [00:48:59] Speaker C: Yeah, I just met her today, but she is a, a middle aged tennis player and she's the last two ladies in my life were both tennis players. And my buddy said, well, you know, the, your, your track record isn't real great with tennis players, but you know what, you just keep trying. We'll, you'll see. [00:49:21] Speaker B: They say third time's a charm, right? [00:49:23] Speaker C: Third time's a charm. We'll just see what happens. So. Yeah, we'll see what happens. But yeah. Very nice. Very nice. [00:49:30] Speaker B: Cool. Well, hopefully by the time this airs, Garrett and I will have won both the April member guest and the Fred Smith member member. [00:49:42] Speaker C: Well, I don't know. [00:49:43] Speaker A: I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try. That's, that's my commitment to the process is I'm gonna try to turn these things around a little bit faster. So for, for our listeners, this might [00:49:52] Speaker B: not age well then. [00:49:53] Speaker A: Yeah, this may not age well when it's out tomorrow. But I am. I think we're gonna try to do these a little bit more often. I think we were doing, like, one every couple of weeks. I think we're gonna try to maybe keep it a little shorter, but try to do one maybe once a week. Especially as we're kind of into season now. There's not a shortage of things to talk about. So, yeah, I'm excited about the weekend, though. I don't know. My expectations are too high to say I expect to win. I mean, it's gonna be tough competition. We might be long shots to win, but I still. That's what we're there for anyway. [00:50:26] Speaker B: Hey, that's what Tiger said. That famous interview where they were like, what do you. What do you hope to accomplish? He was like, I want to win. And he was like, oh, you'll learn. You know, it seemed to work for Tiger to have the mentality, if you're not there to win, what are you there to do? Right? Just there to have fun. Which, of course, is a great time. But everybody wants to win. But. [00:50:44] Speaker A: Well, the flip side, though, I love Kisner's quote, though, when they asked him. Like, you have to feel like you can win anytime. You've probably seen this, Tony, but, Mike, have you seen the Kevin Kisner quote when they asked him, do you feel like you can win every week? No. [00:50:57] Speaker C: What? He said. [00:50:58] Speaker A: He's like, no, probably not. And they're like, you don't think you're going to win this week? And he's like, no. He said, I'm not going to win at Beth Page Black. He didn't hit the ball very far. He's like, I'm not going to win at Beth Page Black or Tory Pines. That's never going to happen. They said, well, then why do you bother showing up? He said, because they give away a lot of money for 20th out here. [00:51:15] Speaker B: That was the same thing Lee Trevino said when they said, were you disappointed didn't win more? He goes, hell, no. Second place is good money, too. Honestly, a perspective. [00:51:27] Speaker A: Being like the 25th best player on the PGA Tour is probably the best job in the world because nobody knows who you are. And you rack about 3 million a year to play golf. [00:51:35] Speaker B: That's right. [00:51:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:37] Speaker B: But they're also not paying to play in these tournaments like we are, so we try to get our money back, at least. [00:51:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. I'm excited about alternate shot, though, because that's. That's a really interesting format. And. And now you have to play my dumb shots. If I. If I do something stupid, I got. [00:51:56] Speaker B: I gotta. That's when I will be playing culture back. Garrett. Garrett, don't you go for this. Don't you stick that knife in your leg, Ricky Bobby. [00:52:07] Speaker A: We really should probably. We should probably live stream the. The nine hole option shots thing. [00:52:13] Speaker B: You just see a lot of me like this. [00:52:17] Speaker A: Oh, man. We'll enjoy it. [00:52:19] Speaker C: Guys. [00:52:19] Speaker A: Missed Niss doing this. We all. This is fun. So we'll. [00:52:22] Speaker C: Good to see you boys. [00:52:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:24] Speaker C: Keep me up to date on how it goes this weekend, boys. [00:52:29] Speaker A: I'm not. I'm only halfway kidding about the live stream we may end up doing. There's some version of it when we're. [00:52:35] Speaker B: When we're in dead ass last place, we're like, all right, live stream. [00:52:39] Speaker A: Here we go. [00:52:39] Speaker B: Best golf podcast ever. Here goes Garrett from the bushes trying to hit him. Hero shot. [00:52:46] Speaker A: Am I allowed to go ankle deep in the pond if I have to? Oh, you. [00:52:50] Speaker B: You'd most definitely should go ankle deep in the pond if you have to. [00:52:53] Speaker A: Okay. All right, good. [00:52:55] Speaker B: I'll be doing that. But you could do it. [00:52:57] Speaker A: But I can do it. Okay, cool. All right, see y' all later. [00:53:01] Speaker C: All right, bye. [00:53:07] Speaker A: Were you gonna add something to that or. Or change topic? [00:53:09] Speaker B: I was gonna transition. [00:53:10] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. [00:53:11] Speaker B: Something new topic. [00:53:13] Speaker A: Okay, well, I'll let you have a turn. Since I took the first 19 minutes. Why don't you go? It's been so long since we've been together. We. I don't want to miss anything. [00:53:21] Speaker C: I don't want to miss you, baby. [00:53:24] Speaker B: This mic's already dropping stuff. [00:53:26] Speaker A: Oh, boy.