In match play, you're playing one person and you're not playing the entire field,
and in real life that one person is old man par And if you
can kind of have that mindset a little bit, because even when you start
out and you start out good, just eighteen holes is it's an insurmountable task.
But just having that mindset easy to talk about, harder to do.
But how are you going to do it? Go out with your buddies and
just have a fun match play event one Saturday or one Friday. You know,
just throw that in there every once in a while. Hi, this
is Sergiel Olivier from Sierra Madra, California, and I play at Altadena Golf
Course. This is Golf Smarter number nine hundred nineteen. Use match play practice
to enhance stroke play success with Joe Howard. This is Golf Smarter, sharing
stories, tips and insights from great golf minds to help you lower your score
and raise your off IQ. Here's your host, Fred Green. Welcome back
to the Golf Smart podcast. Joke Brad, It's fine. I could never
tell how much time transpires between when you and I talked to each other,
because it's like we were just talking a few weeks ago, because we always
seemed to pick up where we left off. But it's been a little while.
I think what was one of the last things. It was crazy.
I think we were going every direction from talking to playing in your major,
the club Championship, to verification of the greens. And we actually have a
topic today that we're going to try and adhere to, but I doubt that'll
work. I'm just looking up on my've spreadsheet here, when is the last
time you were on the show, because I knew we've gotten a lot of
we've milked our last conversation on on our social media, but I think it
wasn't It was January of twenty twenty three. Yeah, before Yeah, it
was just before the PGA event, PGA show, which I went to the
first time. But a lot of water has gone under the bridge and a
lot of balls are in the water since that, since that last time,
and my good friend, that is a show in itself. You could end
it right now and there is truth, and that's saying I'm mcdrop oh man.
Yeah, and unfortunately I'm playing with guys are going wait, I see
a ball in the water, I'm gonna go get it. Not now,
do that on your time. This is my time. No, you're on
my time. Go go clean divots on the green, but don't go looking
for balls that aren't yours. I'm sorry, I'm I'm sing and you're indoors
system. You've been drowning around. I do love to hear recap of what
you've been doing, what you've been working on, who you've been doing it
with. Well, just you know, time wise, one of the most
recent things, things that's happened, and it's you know, as you said,
it's hard with a podcast to you know, talk about A there's only
so many tour players in the world and they represent a rather small percentage.
And b those events happened and you know, they're already done with Sunday last
week and they're on to this week. And but I had the chance to
go over and be part of Team USA for the Solheim Cup. And I've
done that in the past before, and it's it is such an honor to
be able to go do that, and it's it's it's it's kind of neat
and I've seen so many things that you know, it's it's one of those
not what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But it's the things in the
team room and the the vulnerability and the confidence and the emotions of the you
know, from from excitement to nervousness to everything. And as a as a
coach standing there, it's really neat to see that because you're playing for your
country and you know, the Solheim Cup is the LPGA equivalent of the Ryder
Cup. So Fred, you know, it's old news. But we went
over there and the young lady that I've had so much pleasure working with for
dash going on sixteen years now, Stacy Lewis was the captain and with her
background, excuse me, with her background, not only with Julie Angster kind
of taking her under her wing as a player and showing her, you know,
the things that Julie was doing that was working, but her background in
school being an accounting and you know, and then having KPMG Aligne you know,
not only is her sponsor, but with the LPGA starting to provide all
the analytics, they took that stuff to a completely different level. That was
just crazy. It's you know, it's it's it's more than just playing with
your best friend or a person you like. Out on two and it's kind
of you know, it delves so deep and the only thing I'm going to
tell you is this, those girls did something that no team has ever done.
And I to my knowledge, what we were told was it's something even
the guys have never done. They went overseas to the European venue and they
beat the Europeans for nothing in alternate shot right out of the bat, which
is the way both contests start. And it was and I kind of,
you know, we were in the room kind of between the morning matches in
the afternoon matches, and I looked at Stacey and I said, come here,
and she goes, what I go, Statistically that should never have happened,
and she goes, but statistically it did. So Yeah, And you
know, one of the coolest things was, you know, you kind of
hear a little bit of this. You know, golf is a field game.
Well there was part of the statistics that literally four o'clock in the afternoon
the day before said these are the two people that should go off first.
But then as the captain being out there and watching specifically how two players were
playing. That's part of the magic and part of the mixes. You just
don't go play the practice rounds with your best friend. You're rotating these chess
pieces all around, and she said, two names keep coming back up as
to this player is hitting the ball as good as I've ever seen them hit.
And those two names statistically weren't the ones who were going to lead off.
But those two players were Lexi Thompson and Megan King, and those were
the two that let it off and ended up starting. There was one victory,
there was two, there was three, there was four, and you
know, as we know the final result, you know it was a victory.
We tied them on their soil. But since since they have the cup,
they hold the cup and in a great you know, just the alignment
of sportsmanship. Carlottas Saganda, who is from Spain. I mean, what
could be better. She's on the seventeenth hole. The King of Spain is
up at the green watching this, and she sticks it to two feet and
makes the putt to tie all the matches, and just you know, it
was It's one of those things. You know, there's times where you look
and you kind of go and the golf gods have decreted it. Well,
you know, it's just because just as you said it, I can see
that you had your body action as we look at each other while we're talking
about your body actually kind of had tingles all over your body when you said
that you stuck it to two feet. Was it that good? Oh?
It was that good? And I even have I have high videotaped and I've
got my literally my phone right just pointing at the flag and I hear one
of the caddies from our side. It was to the word darn it,
but he knew what happened, and I was like, you know, this
is what makes the game so great, This is what makes international competition so
great, and just it's it's a game that brings out the best in people,
both in attitudes and in competition. And it's crazy. You see things,
and I know that's one of our topics, and I'm not trying to
delve right into it, but no, you see stuff in match play that
you just don't ever see in stroke play. And you know, I got
a little list here of things, but one of them, friends, I
mean, you know, I swear to you, they make more putts in
match play than they do at stroke play. And I have no idea how
that happens or why it happens at all. If I had an explanation,
I will ask Mark Sweeney from main Point and see if he knows an answer.
But you know, it's you've never you know, if you and I
are going out to play and we go do this, and you go,
eh, you know, he'll probably walk away with par somehow in match play,
you go, what is he about? Eighty eight feet away? He's
probably gonna make this. That's what happens. Just you see it over and
over and over again. But well, you know, I don't you just
mentioned KPMD. Why don't we go and look at the analytics and see if
in fact that is true that it does happen more often in mad play.
I'm sure that there is numbers there. Am I am writing numbers there right
here? That is a question. So you know, yeah, I'm not
saying you're an old school Poche, but you've been around a long time.
How do you feel about the place of analytics and statistics coaching a team?
Well, I think what the golf, and let's say specifically golf. I'm
not going to buff with ball a baseball or basketball, but but for golf,
I think I think that's where the art of the coach or the captain.
Really really that's where it comes out. And you know, I can
kind of you know, gosh, I'm thinking of who was it? Like
Weaver and Tommy Lasorda and baseball and you know those coaches they did it all
by the seat of them, you know, kind of referred back to that
moneyball where all of this started coming out, and yeah, sure, you
know the good coaches still fought with it and said, my gut's telling me
something different. But that's all they had to go on before. Now,
when you start looking at players and specifically you know what what you're seeing the
best players do, but specifically on a team event like a Ryder Cup or
a or a Solheim Cup, the coach is the one with all the data
in the background, and quite frankly, they are not they know what the
data is saying, but they're studying from a coaching standpoint. They're studying,
like you just talked about, what is their body language? What is you
know, what have they been practicing on? Can you see that they're struggling
in their practice sessions or are they having a lot of fun? You know,
you know, and it's all those it's all the intangibles where once all
the numbers are neatly organized behind there. If you've got a team of twelve,
now you go, I really want to keep my eye on these three
players. And those four over there are operating. They're on autopilot right now,
you know. And just as a golfer for you and I, just
keeping very simple items, you know, is for us, just making an
informed decision should give you a hair of confidence, you know, as you
know, it's just I mean, without all the analytics. The old adage
is go play golf sometime and have them, you know, play on a
Monday when the course is closed and none of the flagsticks are in. Watch
how good you plaint? Watch how you get on the green, and you
go, well, look at that the holes right over here, I'm real
close this time, and you know, and all of a sudden, you
go, you're just playing the game at its base. But I think when
the analytics kind of interfere and supersede and confuse players and they're going, I
don't know, I don't feel like I should do that, it's that's that's
when it goes kind of the wrong way. But the numbers are hard to
here. Here's a tip for your listeners, and you could go across the
board with any of these you know, these systems that are out there.
Okay from Okay, but hold that thought for a second. We'll get tip
for the listeners. But we take a break and be back right after this.
Ah love the Cliffinger. Okay, so I interrupted you. You were
about to a tip for listeners. They're sitting on the edge of hopefully they're
sitting a red light waiting for this. But what do you got? Okay,
let's talk about that. Well, it's like you said, I'm an
old school pro. I might have forgot what I was going to tell them.
I didn't really, but think of all the statistics, of all the
statistics, there's a couple of things that really really stand out, and one
of them is you got to go for the par fives unless you have to
cover two hundred and forty yards of water. The closer you get your ball
to the green in two shots, almost at every play level, Fred,
the closer you get the ball to your green, the better score you're gonna
make. And you know, so many times they try and play it smart
and they go, I'm gonna hit an iron off the t and then'm gona
hit an eight iron over here, and then I'll hit my seven iron onto
the green, and all it takes is one of those shots not to be
so good, and you will put yourself into a world of trouble. But
if you can clawber your driver and clawber your three wood and you go,
oh no, I'm in the bunker, it's the very worst. If it
takes you two to get out, you're still butting for a par So you
know those going for the par fives, not stupidly, but getting the balls
close. And the other thing that's crazy is, and you and I have
talked about this before, putts outside of thirty feet. Everybody wants to make
those five footers and the three footers. We get that. But if you
will practice those putts that are outside thirty feet, and you know, spoiler
alert, thirty feet is not across the green, thirty feet is a whole
lot closer than you think it is. And if you can practice those and
get those down in two putts on the tour, you're gaining almost a stroke
in your own personal game. You're not giving strokes away, and you can
watch other players give strokes away there and one of the craziest things is I
can't remember. I think it came out from shot by shot or shot link
whatever. The PGA tour uses the average distance now taking all the shots that
the pros hit, and boy, those guys are good, no question about
it. The average distance of all the shots they hit for last year was
like nineteen point eight feet. So why they're practicing six footers and not practicing
twenty footers all day long? It begs the question of, yeah, you
don't want to miss the one you hit close, but if you make one
of those twenty footers that you're not making, your life could change overnight.
So what are your two deals? Go for the par fives and practice the
thirty foot putts? Yeah, but those twenty foot thirty foot putts. You
know, even the best putter in the world's not gonna make seven out of
ten, is he? Because you know it just it's gravity, it's nature,
it's everything. It gets in the way. I mean, how even
if you're the best, really can you make them all? I mean,
I had around this weekend and I was keeping track for some reason, and
I'm using our coast now, so it really helped the average distance in my
first pot was just over fifteen feet. I was blown away and I had
thirty five pots. I'm like, because I had two three putts, three
one putts and I'm like, that's not that good. I mean, I
was really killing it with my irons. But eh, yeah, isn't it
crazy when you get back there and look? And I want to say,
and I know his record was tied this year Stan Utley, who's one of
the renowned short game people. You know he and it was tied this year,
but he held the record solo for I don't know how long. It
was for the fewest number of putts on nine holes and it was six.
Wow. And I've watched him give presentations and he's so good at people are
like, oh my god, and you know. And the funniest part is
after his round he went out and he was practicing on the putting green and
Stan being stand he's very quiet, and he said someone from the media tent
came out and they said, Stan, we'd like to speak to you in
the media tent. And he goes, for the love of God, why
I played horrible? And then they told him what had happened. And then
his question is a guy who has six putts. What do you think he
shot on those nine? On that nine and people start guessing. He goes,
nope, nope, nope, nope, thirty five one under part because
that means I hit the ball twenty nine times. So putting does help,
there's no question about it. But here's the man who holds the record and
he goes, I couldn't have played much worse. And he chipped the one
in, he hold one out from the fair way. He you know,
he I think he hit a ball on a bounce on that. It was
just one of those crazy circumstances. So wow. So you know, we
talk about the analytics, we talk about old school guys. You know,
I think that the the in all of sports, the longer you were around,
the more you're see that you've never anticipated. But you put it in
your memory bank and you go like, Okay, that has happened. Now
I can deal with it. Now I've recognized it. And I think maybe
that's why so much of the old school coaching doesn't love the analytics much,
because it takes that out of the equation. It takes like just the random
stuff that happens in all of sports, especially golf, right because you know
you're playing on No two fields are alike, you know, no two courses
are alike in the sense where every basketball courts the same, every football fields
the same, Every tennis court is the same dimensions, maybe has a different
surface, right, But there's so many things you'll see they're like, whoop,
never saw that one before, But now I have, right analytics,
I don't know if analytics puts it in place, there is and do you
do you think? And it's almost like looking at it and when you look
at the you know, all the stats and the numbers, you know,
I think the thing you would hear is you go, that's in a one
and a million occurrence. It's an outlier, right, But I think the
old timey player and the old timey coach and the old timey caddy would go,
you know, I mean, I mean it could be. And I
remember, I know, I know it was David Thomson. I know it
was a few years back, and I'm almost positive I think it was at
one of the Canadian Open venues. And you know, the old adage is
it's okay if you hit the flag because you're going to be fine. Don't
ever hit the flag stick and you know it's in here. David Tobbs hits
a flagstick literally, I mean you know what, two feet up from the
bottom as good as you can possibly hit a shot right, and with that
particular flagstick they were using, koreems Off goes off the left side of the
green down into the water hazard. Oh my, and he ends up not
winning the tournament. And I mean, you know what, it's happened on
the LBJ. But it's that old timey caddy that's gonna look at you and
kind of go, let's just let's just play to the front and see what
happens, you know, because that one current. But sometimes you're not living
in fear, but you're making a decision to go, yeah, believe it
or not, I've seen this happen, and let's just play smart exactly.
Yeah. You know, it's like you say, the announcers will going,
well, that was a one in a million O current just right, they'll
they'll put that out in the air. And yet there's, like you said,
a caddy and a coach and an old player standing there going now.
Happened before nineteen eighty three. It was on a Thursday fourteenth, Holly,
it was rain. It's like, yeah, okay, okay, those are
analytics, I guess yeah, And those things are always outliers, and you
know they go that doesn't factor to the equation and you're like, well it
did on that day. I mean, there was You just reminded me of
something. There was a year that you know, one of the great players
who was on the LPGA for so many years, Shen Shen Feng. She's
gonna go for the par five and two. And the only reason I know
this is I know Stacy Lewis was in the lead. Well, you know,
she's got to carry it over water a little bit. And I mean
the minute she hits the shot, literally the minute she hits the shot,
one of her hands comes off the club, you know, the right hand
comes off the club because you know, and you can just see in her
body language she's like, oh my god, I missed it. Yeah,
it hits a rock over in the water. Krene's onto the green, It's
going a million miles an hour. It hits the flagstick and it ends up
an inch away. Oh my god, I love it. But those are
the things you're like the ana and you know what, at some point,
it's kind of like you hate to be beat or you hate to win.
But that's the cool part about this game. You always got a crazy thing.
Oh that hold and one you made? Was it glorious? And you
backed it up? You landed over the flag? No, it was horrible.
I scolded it. Land forty yards short of the green, ran one
hundred miles an hour, hit the flag and went in. That's what do
they You can't put that in the score box? No, And what do
you do with that? With analytics? How do they? You know?
Factor that I don't know because I don't know enough. Now. This past
summer of twenty twenty three, the women's tennis US Open was bragging a lot
about deserving so about the equity in pay for the US up in women's tennis.
Mess tennis right here now you're talking about this Solheim Cup and how the
US dominated, But the headlines were more about what was going on with the
with men and the you know, travesty. It was is there going to
be equity in men's and women's golf on the professional level as far as our
attention. I would say this in the last four to five years, and
I would say that Michael Wan, who was the commissioner of the LPGA and
then went over to the USGA. He really pushed that forward and the the
the is there an equity and pay in some tournaments, the Women's US Open
and the men's US Open. You know, I mean you look what the
US Woman's Open paid. I think it was the one back in Pine Needles
was at one point eight million or two point three million went to first prize,
you know, and I know it's more than that for the men.
But the one thing that's happened, and I think if you talked to a
lot of the players on the LPGA, the speed at which things are exponentially
the prize moneies are exponentially growing. The speed at which that's happened over the
last thirty six to forty eight months is a real welcome site to see and
has been. And you know something that it not only is it say they're
on the right path, but it also says you know what it's It's it's
kind of like it's not going up ten percent a year. It's all of
a sudden, these new sponsors are coming in and you know, these major
corporations and they look at equity in the workplace and they're going, we're going
to do this if we can have equity in our competition on the LPGA Tour
compared to the Men's Tour, and it's helped a lot. But I don't
know if that makes sense, but the increase in person money and the increase
and you know, there's always kind of that one number in that one line.
And I don't live on that, but I know because I taught a
young lady who finished one hundredth on them money list one year, and for
so many years, gosh, I've been out there seventeen years almost now,
but for so many years you could just kind of go around that ninety nine
to one hundred spot. It was kind of like you're going to make somewhere
between sixty eight and eighty eighty thousand dollars. But it was always that number
year after year after year after year, and that folks, I'm not I
know how these ladies and these caddies, and I know how I travel.
That's barely going to get you by it, but it gives you your I'm
working next year card. But all of a sudden over the last however many
years, and I probably should google it during our next break, but I
mean that eighty thousand, numbers started jumping up, and it went from eighty
to one hundred, and went from one hundred to one hundred and twenty.
It went from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty. And this
year it's probably going to be, you know, somewhere if I had to
guess right now, somewhere in one hundred and eighty thousand dollars range, just
you know, maybe close to two hundred thousand, which if you're finishing in
the last exempt spot, you've made enough money to live and put some money
in the bank and pay your bills. But you know, the cost is
staying out there. And you know, anybody who's listening in this day and
age, air travel ain't cheap, and it's I mean, what used to
run sixty eight to seventy thousand dollars is closer to ninety for the ladies,
and you know, or for those players that are touring and that would provide
to the corn Ferry Tour, provide all these things. So just being being
able to play well enough to be qualified for your job and not have to
go back to your golf course and go all right, does anybody want to
do the sponsorship thing again this year. You know, it's kind of cool
your first year out, but you're like, well, this is your fourth
year on tour, why aren't you Well, so that's a good question.
I'm really a non confrontational kind of guy. But I love the path that,
at least in golf, the speed at the path that they're going on,
and it's helped. Good good, All right. I'm not going to
make you go do that research, but we're going to take a break right
now. So you get to be inside ropes on a lot of LPGA events.
What's the buzz inside the ropes about live and do women feel slutted that
they were approached to create a tour like this, or you know, thinking
about a lot of people think about the politics. There's no way the Saudis
are going to go, yeah, let's promote women out in front, you
know? Or am I just imagining stuff right now? Fred, I'm going
to give you the best answer you're ever going to get to that question.
Who says that the ladies were not approached by liv I don't know. And
there's the answer to your question. So I mean, yes, I do
get to hear a lot about that, and I don't hear enough of it
to really render an informed opinion. But they're the players have been approached in
the past, okay, you know, and it's and it's the one thing
that I know that the LPGA even looks at. And you know, when
we go and we play the Solheim Cup, so many of the players that
aren't playing our tour are overseas and they're playing the l e T the Ladies'
European Tour, which really, amongst other things, does need a shot in
the arm. And you know, at some at some further point down the
road, you know, maybe kind of like you know, it becomes a
structure more like the PGA, where you know, we have the sponsorships,
and you know, the l e T has fought so hard for everything that
they have, and you know, is it, aside from the Solheim Cup,
is it good to combine forces and go, wow, we could be
a much stronger entity if we were all together. And you know, some
players would play on this tour and some would play on that tour and there'd
be qualification on both. So yes, but it's there is talking, and
it's kind of it's you know, you hear every comment and there is kind
of like, boy that used to be my favorite player, but I really
don't think too much of him since he went to live you know. Yeah,
yeah, and it's I think I think Fred you might call it an
undercurrent. But knowing that the pressure that has been put on the men's to
her, you, knowing that that could come over to the ladies tour,
has propelled them. And the new commissioner, Molly, who's just she is,
She is consistently out working with future sponsors and more sponsors, and how
do we get this so that if that situation comes it's not like I've been
struggling out for years. I'll hop over there, you know, if that
situation were to come up, and you go, man, I've been part
of this this train going along called the LPGA, and it's it's really grown,
and I've been part of that and and you know, and and I
help make it so it'll be interesting. But yeah, I mean, yeah,
that's almost like that Apple's oranges and you're like, that's steak over there
by the way, just in case you're in the produce section, and those
people in the steak section the meat market are kind of signing up for a
bigger paycheck. But uh who knows. All right, enough politics, Let's
go to the topic that we thought would be a fun one to discuss for
this episode, and that would be match play practice to enhance your stroke place
success. I love that idea. Yeah, here here, you know,
And it's kind of Fred and I'll give you credit. We were talking off
air and it's kind of you know, it's a precursor to something that may
be popping out in some other areas here in terms of uh information or whatnot.
And you know, Fred, I you know, with a smile on
my face, I was friend's like, come up with some we just can't
yammer for an hour here we got, but we managed. You know,
they're yeah, and you know there it's just one of those things where you
kind of sit there and go, okay, it's two different forms of golf,
and yes, and we go play the European They were brought up and
they were always playing match play. So are they better at it? Have
they played more alternate shot? Have they done all these things? And all
of a sudden, it's kind of like you see these incredible shots and we
talk about, you know, it seems like they make more potts at match
play and how do they pull these things off? And you know, coach
me on the other side of it is like, I wonder if there was
a way you could sort of practice that way and then when it came time
for stroke play, these things actually do show up instead of just going out
and following the old you know, coach mcgillacutty adage, you just need to
hit more golf balls, you know. But I mean one of them that
I wrote down is and it's one of the most obvious ones. It's the
mindset that you take into match play because it is literally whole by hole instead
of one big challenge. And Fred, I know this has never happened to
you, but it's happened to me, and potentially it might have happened to
one of your your listeners. You know. Let's say you start off a
little less than stellar and your first hole is a complete catastrophe. Hm.
You know, in match play, who cares, I'm one down? I
got seventeen more chances to even this thing up, you know, And it
could be a crazy thing that happened. You might have hit the flag stick,
you know, you might have who knows, you got stung by a
bee standing on the tee whatever it is, but there is that that mindset,
and I kind of, you know, make it equivocal to there's you
either see old man par each in every hole when you're out there and you're
you know, you're gonna look at old man Par. Or it's kind of
the ghost of old man par following you around in stroke play and he's in
your ear going, well, you're three over now now and there's only six
holes left. You realize you have to birdy half of those, and you
know, and it's kind of like or you just meet old man Par at
the tea every time and you go, hey, good to see you again.
I missed you the last hole, you know, and can I buy
you a beer? Exactly? And you know, and again you're playing in
match play, you're playing one person and you're not playing the entire field.
And in real life, that one person is old man Par. And if
you can, if you can kind of have that that mindset a little bit,
because even when you start out, and you start out, good man,
just eighteen holes is it's an insurmountable task. You know, you put
it into bite sized pieces, you know, six little three hole tournaments,
and then somewhere about on the fourth of the six three hole tournaments, you're
going, you know, I got to take my kid to soccer here in
an hour. Can we hurry up a little bit, So all those things
that kind of come in. But just having that mindset and boy, easy
to talk about, harder to do. But how are you going to do
it? Go out with your buddies and just have a fun match play event
one Saturday or one Friday. You know, just throw that in there every
once in a while. The next thing on there is strategy which becomes kind
of interesting. And you know, the par threes in match play are vitally
important at the highest level because the assumption is on the par fives, the
ladies on the LPGA, the men on the PGA, come on, you
ain't gonna win a par five with a birdie, but everybody's gonna make birdie
on a par five. Now that's a blanket statement, that's not true.
But those are the givens. It's not like you're gonna sneak in and make
a birdie on the par five. But the par threes, that's where you
can really separate yourself and knowing which par threes are the ones that you should
maybe be a little more aggressive on and it doesn't have to be the shortest
hole. You know, the postage stampole at Troon is ridiculously short. But
look, if your wedge game is it good, that's not the one you
need to be going at. If you if you are better with a seven
R and you might be better off really kind of putting the you know,
the pedals of the medal on the one hundred and fifty five yard hole and
just trying to So there's this strategy to know, you know, maybe you've
maybe you're great with your hybrid and you're playing a two hundred and twenty yard
par three and you go, I love this hole. I get to hit
my favorite club. So the par threees are important. But just because they're
short doesn't mean that's the one you should go after. So before you tee
off, you kind of look at it and go okay, and everybody's there
and they're looking at that and go ooh, the whole location is right in
the middle of the green. That's a good one for me to go to.
But those holes are very very important, they really really are. I
put down here because it's it's one of those things that anytime the PGA Tour
or LPGA Tour players go overseas. You know, sometimes I think they would
rather just I I know they would rather have their golf club show up than
their regular clothes. And sometimes their golf clubs don't show up. And literally
when I was standing in the airport and I looked over and I thought,
well, there's Daniel Kang's set of clubs, and I knew that she they
had taken about two days to get there. And I texted and said,
Hey, I'm driving in from the airport. I see your clubs at at
the Luftanza office right now. Do you want me to bring them with me?
If so, call, But knowing that those players when they go over
there are also kind of bringing their horses for courses, They're bringing a few
extra pieces of equipment to know, are the greens elevated, what kind of
bounds are they going to use on the wedge, you know, and all
these things, and it is the rough longer? Is it's all that stuff
again? Going back to the par threes, do I want to try and
hit a long iron or do I want to bring it in a little higher?
So knowing you know, Fred, if we're going to go play Pinehurst,
which is you know Donald Ross Gem. All the greens they're like upside
down tea cups, right, I mean, you're gonna have to figure out.
So if you're going there, and of course you normally play is nice
and plush around the green and relatively flat, you better bring a couple other
clubs because the one you're used to using is not gonna work at Pinehurst.
So having the right equipment and you know, not going, well, this
is what the pros do. Maybe it's an old rickety putter you have and
you know it's a chipper or a ping chipo from nineteen seventy four, whatever
it is, it's something to go, oh, I can use this and
it's gonna help me. So having the right equipment for the courses, all
right, let's take one. Let me see some you look down your list
and figure that out. We're gonna take one more break and we'll be back
this week on Golf Smarter Mulligans is a fascinating conversation with a returning guest golf
course architect Jeffrey Brower, discussing what are the contributing factors that influence the design
of a golf course including landscapes, the owner, developers, needs players,
strategy, and if it's relevant the theme. It was quite relevant for this
conversation because we discuss his design of the only NFL themed golf course in the
country, the Cowboys Golf Course in Dallas, Texas. Through contacts, somebody
knew Jerry Jones and he expressed interest in becoming a partner in the golf course
and doing an NFL themed golf course. You know, in Dallas, Texas,
we have all one hundred courses here, and we've had all the signature
designers and whatnot, and probably there's no better team or brand in Dallas and
maybe a lot of other places than the Dallas Cowboys. That's episode two hundred
and thirty five of Golf Smarter Mulligans featuring golf course architect Jeffrey Brower, being
featured on our podcast Offspring Golf Smarter Mulligans being released this Friday morning. So
if you're getting valuable insights or are entertained by what we present here each week,
then don't miss the chance to get two episodes every week with Golf Smarter
and Golf Smarter Mulligans episodes from our archives that revisit the best of Golf Smarter
that can't be found on any other platform. They're both available for free from
wherever you're listening right now. Hi, what do you get? What else
you got on that list there to help us figure out how we can improve
our stroke play just by having a match play mentality or even playing match play?
Yeah, you know, there's a couple more, and it's kind of
thinking. Is distance the most important? Is direction the most important? Off
of the tea, And I will tell you from not only being in the
coaching room and being on the side watching players, there's a lot to be
in the first person to hit the green when you and I are out playing
match play. I might be fred I'm going to really boost your ego up.
I might be fifty yards behind you and I hit mine pretty good at
the sixty five, so we'll just go there. But the first person to
hit the green, you know, and I mean, if I hit the
green, great, But if I haven't hit a close shot, now that
other person is going hmm, okay, maybe I need to take something into
account here. So you know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure
out the first person to hit the green has a little bit of a psychological
edge. And does that mean you have to hit it so long and vombit
by the playing partner or do you have to out hit your normal distance?
No, you need to have a spot where you can get the ball and
hit it on the green and like that, is it important to hit the
ball close to the hole. Well, that's nice, but I got to
tell you something. The first person to make the putt and the first person
to putt might have a little bit of an advantage. And that's what I
see a ton of in match play, is the these bombs that the players
keep making because there's there's this kind of underlying thing that's Fred. If you
and I are player and I'm thirty feet away and you're five feet away,
you know, somewhere behind my actions and I'm main pointing and I've got my
speed dial then and it's about five feet from the hole, you know,
I'm not going to say anything, but at some point in my mind it's
going to go, this is really going to ruin Fred's day. But the
competitive nature comes out, yeah, and it's you know, in a fun
way. It's kind of like, oh, I didn't see that coming.
So whoever the closer person is is kind of going, all right, let's
double check, let's make sure I read it right. Let's get to practice
swings, and all of a sudden, what was a natural flow now becomes
you know, you have two minutes left in the test and you have twelve
questions to answer on your SAT and you're trying like heck to make sure you
get them right, and you know, and then kind of looking at you
know, what is the practice that you would need for going to a match
event? And you know, really there's a couple of things. One of
them is the conditions. You have to bring the right equipment if you can,
but sometimes it's about learning a little different technique. Now I'm going to
put my hand up and go go see your PGA professional and have him show
you if you's like, how do you hit that bump and run? This
is what I've always done, and he might show you three different ways,
and all of a sudden, now you've got something. When you go and
you play your member guest or your friend's member guest, you're prepared when you
get out there. And then playing some games with pressure or practicing some things
with pressure and accepting the outcome I think it was Molinari the year he won
the British Open. I think he had like a fifteen footer and he drained
it. And you know, he wasn't being egotistical, but he told the
story of every time he went and practiced putting, he literally would finish off
with one fifteen foot putt and his deal was, this is to win the
Open. And he and there was know, oh, try it again,
try it again. He either made it or remissed, and that's when he
left the course. And he didn't just keep going until he made it.
He learned how to handle that and make that pressure. And then, you
know, the other thing is just kind of your your use of time and
the time it takes to get things done on the course and being able to
amp yourself up and more importantly when you go play, slow yourself down,
because that's you know, Lee Trevino was one heck of a golfer. But
if there was a guy who was a gamer, Trevino was it. And
boy could he speed up a match or slow down a match depending on what
he saw his opponent doing. And while you don't have that, you do
have it in stroke play when you start playing good everything's amped up, and
you're like, you don't want to take the joy away, but you kind
of go okay, just you know, operate at a better speed. And
when things aren't going good, you're amped up again and you're kind of going,
god, I wish this day would get over faster. And you take
a little bit of those match play things, just of the simple ones.
Where's your mind, what's your strategy, what equipment do you use? What
could you do in practice playing the golf hole or playing the par threes on
the practice range. You do those things, you might surprise yourself next time
you step out there. And if you're not playing good enough, you simply
look at your playing partners at the turn and you say, what do you
say we play match play to back nine? Because I'm really hating this game
right now. Do you think there's more gamesmanship going on in match play?
Yes? Yes, And I want to say, wow, well, there
there is. And it's kind of like, you know, it's calling for
a ruling and you know, and it's kind of like, I mean,
it's not, but there's there's all the little things about who's further away,
and you know, the caddies are like, well, I got one fifty
one, and the other caddy goes, I got one fifty one. Your
four yards behind us. Yeah, but the green is at such an angle
that we're literally the same. And you know, all of a sudden,
that can help reset a player half the time. If again, if you're
amped up or your energy, your excitement is kind of going. There's all
kinds of little things, you know where you know, you make the pot,
I'm the first one to pot. I make the putt, and I
quietly go put my putter in my bag and I walk right off the green.
And you know, I don't see too much of that. I probably
see it more in the college levels when they get to the r end of
the NCAA's and they're kind of you know, because they've learned all the tricks
from you know, their pros who were the younger generation, and it's going
you know what, if you're in a tough situation, you know, step
back off the ball and throw that grass up in the air, and you
know the other players looking at you, going, there hasn't been a breath
of wind in forty five minutes. Here what is this guy doing? But
all of a sudden, you've got him kind of off of his mindset and
there you go, this is horrible. It's like I'm giving you aways to
cheat legally. Then it's not cheating, then it's taking advantage of the situation.
So who is the best that you ever saw at that kind of gamesmanship
of like knowing that they were being watched by the opponent and wanting to get
in their head. I you know, and with the utmost respect, they
they always said that Ballasteros was one of the greatest at orchestrating you know what
was going to happen in the match, and you know, I mean there'd
be times that you know, I mean, you know his ball is not
plugged, but he thinks the ball is plugged, and yet the thing is
sitting on top of the grass. He was always one for calling for rulings
and I remember years and years ago and it was either at the Masters or
at a Ryder Cup. Ken Green literally stood there while the rules official came
over and it was like, you're not pulling this stuff on me, buddy,
but knowing you know, and just look it's a whole by whole experience
and knowing how to bring that second man on your team, which is nervousness,
it's time, it's rhythm. It's kind of things to either help you
or to kind of throw your opponent off a little bit. I'll tell you
something funny. And this is not a match play thing, but this is
how golfers are. Years and years ago, Tom Kite Brad Faxon and I
forgot who the other person who was involved in this was, but they were
doing an apparel wear with doctor Bob Rittella and certain colors, you know,
and certain patterns, red for confidence and blue for calmness. And Faxon went
to Furman and I remember we played a practice round somewhere when he was off
tour, and on the back of his putter he had this. He had
taken some of the take that the players wrap around their finger, just a
white adhesive tape and it had a little kind of part of it was colored
in with a black sharpie and it was white in the middle and it was
blue on the other side. And I said, oh, facts, I
know you got all this stuff going. What's what's that tape for? And
he goes said, that's kind of hard to explain, And I said,
no, I know you got the you guys got this and reds for that,
and I go, what's you know? What does it help you with?
I must asked him questions on that for four holes and then finally looked
at me and he goes, Joe, it means nothing. But you haven't
been thinking about your game for the last four holes. All you're doing is
asking me about this piece of tape on my putter. And he goes,
and guys on tour are doing the same thing. Oh, that's the greatest
story that is. Isn't it incredible? Because everybody knew what a great putter
Faction was and if you know, He's like, what does that tape do?
What does that tape do? Do I need to tape because faction is
one of the best butters I've ever seen. What does it? Does it
help the ball roll better? Does it give you confidence? Does it keep
your cross eyed? They're trying to figure out a million things, and he's
just just colored and put on the back of my plutter because and all you
all you've worried about is that beas to take for the last four holes.
I was like, Oh, man, did I ever there's a life lesson
you guys sucked in? And who wouldn't Oh, my god, that is
so good. Uh, what do you guys coming up this winter? What
do you you know? I mean you're in Florida right, so well golf
I will I will be heading out again this winter towards PGA West for a
few months. And as where we did your last interview, because you were
outdoors now you were, yes, yes, in the cave. Now,
we we have so much going on at our course at Legends. We just
redid the range and rested everything. The Vanderbilt golf team bases out of there
and they are building a clubhouse next to their team clubhouse, which is the
same size as their clubhouse and it's awesome. So that is currently we were
done with the range. We're rebuilding. Uh, they're adding on to the
team house and about ten days we are renovating our clubhouse. So I mean,
I feel like I should go buy Loew's or Home Depot, buy a
yellow hard hat and go anyone that wants to come out for a lesson,
come on, let's go. And what should we be thinking about this winter?
Oh man, you know it's do you put down your New Year's resolution
tips or do you literally I would tell you this much. Just get a
little get an index card or put it on a quick little note on your
on your iPhone or iPad, you know, and it's I forget who that.
I think it was the the Cubs manager who they're saying was don't suck.
It's like, figure out what you're the worst at. And in the
old adage, just maybe it's a new piece of equipment, maybe it's a
different way to practice, Maybe it's taking a lesson. Don't suck. You
know, if you got one part of your game that, oh, you
know, I'm great at everything except bunkers. Well, you know when you're
gonna play your best golf when you don't hit a bunker. But I'm going
to tell you that ain't gonna happen all too often. And you know,
maybe it's spare way bunkers. Find that one area of your game and be
real honest with yourself and commit a little bit of attention to it, because,
as Harvey Penock once said, you know, every part of this game
is related to everything. You know, if you have a good grip and
putting, you're probably going to have a good grip and chipping. So anything
you would learn with a new technique is going to carry over into another part
of your game and then the catastrophe is sort of avoided. H awesome Joe.
As always, you're just so much fun to have on because we just
don't know where it's gonna go, and it always ends at the pot of
the end of the rainbow. Thank you so much for coming back on BRED.
I look forward to the next time, and as always, thanks for
making this fun. And if I didn't mention it already, and this is
the first time you've heard one of our conversations with Joe Hallett. He's a
PGA Master Professional, which means he's the instructor that teaches PGA instructors. And
if he's having this much fun doing that, why aren't we having more fun
on the golf course too. Speaking of frustration, I had one of those
rounds last weekend where my confidence was high, was scoring well, having a
great time, only six over after twelve holes. Then what seemed to be
out of nowhere, I fell into a double bogie funk over four of the
next five holes. That's not where my game is these days, but that's
golf, right. I was tracking the ball well, but my short game
just disappeared, reminding me who is the boss the golf course. But thanks
to all the insights that I've learned from our great instructors, I didn't lose
my cool. I stayed with my preshot routine, kept drinking water and played
on Luckily part number eighteen, a great finishing hole with water all the way
down the right side leading up to the edge of the green. But still
it's a hole that always introduces doubt to everyone who's ever played it. The
highlight of the day was running into a Golf Smarter listener and upcoming ambassador David
Lamb, who recognized my voice in the parking lot. That was a first
for me. Well, we had a great visit and hopefully we'll be playing
together in the near future. Now, this week's Ambassador, Sergio le' levier,
gets a special shout out for two reasons. One Sergio seventy five years
young and he's still playing golf, and he's listening to podcasts. And why
did I say two? I get meant three reasons. He's our one hundredth
and ambassador to introduce an episode. Sergio is from Sierra Madre, California,
and because he followed our simple instructions on how to record his episode opening that
took less than a minute. He received a private link to Tony Manzoni's video
The Loss Fundamental. As of right now, we've got enough listeners sharing where
they're from and where they play for the next twenty weeks, but I'd still
like to hear from you too, And when you become a Golf Smarter Ambassador,
you'll have a choice of a free gift. Check out today's show notes
to see more and links about each gift you have to choose from, whether
it's Tony's video, a box of Odin, next one balls with a Golf
Smarter logo, or a glove and glove storage compartment from redroostergolf dot com.
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