1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,400
Speaker 1: Hi, This is Dave Kern from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I

2
00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:06,280
play at Diamond Run Golf Club.

3
00:00:06,719 --> 00:00:09,720
Speaker 2: Golf Smarter number four hundred and seventy three, published on

4
00:00:09,839 --> 00:00:12,320
January twenty seven, twenty fifteen.

5
00:00:12,599 --> 00:00:17,640
Speaker 3: Welcome to golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain

6
00:00:17,719 --> 00:00:21,280
insight and advice from the best instructors featured on the

7
00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:27,320
Golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets old. Our

8
00:00:27,399 --> 00:00:32,200
interview library features hundreds of hours of game improvement conversations

9
00:00:32,359 --> 00:00:35,799
like this that are no longer available in any podcast app.

10
00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:37,479
Speaker 1: I get a lot of these people to shoot between

11
00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,320
like ninety one hundred and five. That's probably two thirds

12
00:00:40,359 --> 00:00:42,799
of my new students are in that range. And I say,

13
00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,320
do you want to lower your scores as quickly as

14
00:00:45,359 --> 00:00:47,920
possible by any means necessary? And you'd be surprised most

15
00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,000
people say no. They go no, I don't care about

16
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:51,439
the short term. I just want to want to hit

17
00:00:51,439 --> 00:00:53,240
the ball culture to how it pro hits. But for

18
00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,479
the guys who say yes, I do, I'll go to

19
00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,119
that guy's golf bag and I'll start throwing clubs out

20
00:00:58,119 --> 00:00:59,679
of the bag on the ground. Throw the drive, run

21
00:00:59,719 --> 00:01:01,960
the ground, throw the three on the ground. Throw the

22
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,200
three hybrid are on the ground, and maybe leave everything

23
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,120
else in. There's a four or five r and I'll

24
00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:07,920
throw those on the ground too. I go play with

25
00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:09,640
that set and the guy go, well, I can't play

26
00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:11,680
without a driver. I go, well, that's the club that's

27
00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:13,959
costing you a lot of strokes. To score well from

28
00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:17,079
a strategic standpoint, you have to know what your limitations

29
00:01:17,079 --> 00:01:19,920
are as a player, what your actual ability level is

30
00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,680
in terms of striking a golf ball, and don't try

31
00:01:22,719 --> 00:01:25,280
to hit any hero shots that are mostly based on luck.

32
00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:34,200
Speaker 2: Three critical elements for a great golf swing with Jim Waldron.

33
00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:39,280
This is Golf Smarter. Welcome back to the Golf Smarter Podcast.

34
00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,719
Speaker 1: Jim, thanks Fred. Great to be here again.

35
00:01:42,599 --> 00:01:44,519
Speaker 2: And you know, last time we spoke, I think you

36
00:01:44,599 --> 00:01:48,120
were up in Portland and where you spend most of

37
00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,920
your year teaching at the Balance Point Golf School. But

38
00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:51,879
not now.

39
00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:54,599
Speaker 4: Now I'm on the north shore of Oahu.

40
00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,719
Speaker 1: This is my twenty first year where I get to

41
00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,319
spend most of the winter time in Hawai.

42
00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,480
Speaker 2: A little little better than Portland weather.

43
00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,959
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's much better. So and you know, and

44
00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,759
I spend my my actual home is actually east of Portland,

45
00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:14,360
seven hours up in the Willawa Mountains, and so right

46
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,360
now at my house it's probably you know, ten degrees

47
00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,800
above zero with a couple of feet of snow in

48
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:20,280
the ground.

49
00:02:20,319 --> 00:02:21,719
Speaker 4: So this is quite the contrast.

50
00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, nice, nice, All right, we're all we all hate you. Now,

51
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:25,960
let's get on with the show.

52
00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:29,400
Speaker 4: I get that a lot.

53
00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:35,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet, I bet. I guess right now, you

54
00:02:35,719 --> 00:02:37,680
and I are the only two people in the industry

55
00:02:37,719 --> 00:02:39,280
who are not at the PGA show.

56
00:02:40,479 --> 00:02:42,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I've I've been a couple of times,

57
00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:44,719
but you have. Oh yeah, it's good. It's a cool thing.

58
00:02:44,719 --> 00:02:47,039
It's a it's a fun show. It's it's geared more

59
00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:52,400
toward the club professional, uh, director of golf general manager

60
00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:55,560
than teaching pros. I mean, it's it's more of a

61
00:02:55,599 --> 00:02:57,479
merchant that's what they call it, the merchandise show.

62
00:02:57,639 --> 00:02:59,840
Speaker 2: Well, isn't it more for buyers than it?

63
00:03:00,039 --> 00:03:02,879
Speaker 1: Well, it's basically a trade show for the golf industry

64
00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:05,120
that's put on by the PGA of America. But it's

65
00:03:05,159 --> 00:03:09,919
it's mainly it's mainly the equipment company. That's pretty much. Yeah, right, do.

66
00:03:09,879 --> 00:03:12,520
Speaker 2: You anticipate hearing anything new and exciting this year.

67
00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,360
Speaker 1: You know, I think we were pretty close to have

68
00:03:17,479 --> 00:03:21,080
reached the point of no return on the technology front.

69
00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,120
I mean, you know, there's only so much tweaking they

70
00:03:23,159 --> 00:03:29,199
can do given the rules, the RNA and the USG

71
00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,879
limits to what, you know, how much better technology can get.

72
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,039
So unless they change the rules draft dramatically, we're not

73
00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,240
going to see I don't think significant technological improvements.

74
00:03:41,599 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 2: So that means that people are going to have to

75
00:03:43,159 --> 00:03:47,879
keep their driver for more than a year. Yeah, yeah,

76
00:03:47,919 --> 00:03:50,120
how are we going to survive if we can't buy

77
00:03:50,159 --> 00:03:52,599
new drivers thinking it's going to add ten yards every

78
00:03:52,639 --> 00:03:53,199
single year?

79
00:03:53,879 --> 00:03:55,879
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because that's I think that is

80
00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,919
part of the reason we're hearing about declining participation rate.

81
00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,759
I think that kind of marketing strategy is sort of boomerang.

82
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,199
I think people are a lot of golfers are getting

83
00:04:05,319 --> 00:04:08,479
are feeling a bit ripped off by the equipment company

84
00:04:08,599 --> 00:04:09,560
marketing hype.

85
00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,400
Speaker 2: Really, I mean you're getting sense from your from your students,

86
00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:14,360
you hear that.

87
00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:17,560
Speaker 1: Kind of feedback, Yeah, because you know, if you're if

88
00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:19,680
you're a company that puts out a new driver every

89
00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:23,240
six months, and the driver is supposed to be seventeen

90
00:04:23,319 --> 00:04:26,800
yards or whatever it is, twelve yards further. You know,

91
00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:28,560
you totaled it up in five years. You should be

92
00:04:28,639 --> 00:04:30,160
hitting it like you should be hitting your driver, like

93
00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:31,959
six hundred yards, right, I mean, it just doesn't make

94
00:04:31,959 --> 00:04:34,759
any sense. So you know, at some point the logical

95
00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:37,079
line of the golfer kicks in and goes, wait a minute,

96
00:04:37,079 --> 00:04:38,079
this doesn't seem right.

97
00:04:38,199 --> 00:04:42,279
Speaker 2: So I don't know, they're still not getting fitted for

98
00:04:42,319 --> 00:04:44,839
the club anyway. They're just buying what their friend has.

99
00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,279
Speaker 1: Well some are some are getting fitted but which definitely helps.

100
00:04:48,319 --> 00:04:50,879
But and don't get me wrong, I mean some of

101
00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:52,879
the newer stuff in the last few years.

102
00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,079
Speaker 2: Oh, there's there was a huge change in the in

103
00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,560
the equipment. But now, like you said, they kind of

104
00:04:58,560 --> 00:04:59,240
reached the limit.

105
00:04:59,759 --> 00:05:02,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean the lower spin. If you're a

106
00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:05,759
decent player with relatively high clubhead speed, those low spin

107
00:05:05,879 --> 00:05:09,959
drivers really do help you hit the ball further. There's

108
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,199
no question, no question about it. So even though I'm

109
00:05:14,199 --> 00:05:16,120
getting up in age, I'm sixty three now, I still

110
00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,920
have fair amount of clubbed speed, and I've always struggled

111
00:05:19,959 --> 00:05:22,279
with hitting these, especially in the wind and Hawaii, hitting

112
00:05:22,319 --> 00:05:24,560
the driver high or it hits the If you have

113
00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:26,639
too much spin, it'll just carry on that wind in

114
00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,600
balloon and you lose a lot of distance. So I've

115
00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,839
been playing around with the SLDR. Haven't quite got it

116
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:35,360
figured out yet as far as where I want to

117
00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:37,600
put the setting, I'm still I'm still testing it, but

118
00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,439
it definitely hits it further because it does spin less.

119
00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:45,279
Speaker 2: Wow, does it? Shouldn't the average golfer, the you know,

120
00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:50,040
the recreational golfer who mid to higher handicap, shouldn't they

121
00:05:50,079 --> 00:05:53,480
avoid those adjustable clubs. Shouldn't they get it set once

122
00:05:53,519 --> 00:05:54,319
and just leave it be.

123
00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:56,920
Speaker 1: Well, I think that's what they mostly do. It's it

124
00:05:57,079 --> 00:05:59,240
just sort of makes it easier to do a little

125
00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,079
bit of testing on your own, because you know, you

126
00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,399
really don't have time and a fitting to totally nail

127
00:06:03,399 --> 00:06:05,879
it down, and the fitting is designed to kind of

128
00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:07,360
gets you in the ballpark and then you've got to

129
00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:09,000
got to tweak it by going to the range and

130
00:06:09,759 --> 00:06:12,439
taking to the course and playing in real world conditions

131
00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,120
and figuring out you know, most people generally play one

132
00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:18,839
to maybe five courses that are on the kind of

133
00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,680
the ROTA for for golf courses, they play frequently, and

134
00:06:21,759 --> 00:06:24,600
so they kind of know you know what, because you

135
00:06:24,639 --> 00:06:27,000
know so much. It depends on how firm the fairways

136
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,240
are and what the wind is like those two things,

137
00:06:29,319 --> 00:06:32,480
and also how long the golf course is, and and

138
00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:34,839
you've got to you've got to dial in the trajectory

139
00:06:34,959 --> 00:06:40,920
that will produce the overall maximum amount of carry and roll. Right.

140
00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:45,720
So like in Hawaii, we're oftentime you're hitting into a wind. Uh.

141
00:06:46,399 --> 00:06:49,240
Generally speaking, the good Hawaii players hit a low draw.

142
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:51,759
That's the shot you see good players here all the

143
00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,639
time off the team, I mean really low by mainland standards, right.

144
00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,160
And the only time they don't do that is if

145
00:06:58,199 --> 00:07:00,399
it's been raining a lot, then they might. If it's

146
00:07:00,439 --> 00:07:02,800
if the fairies are really soft, which isn't that often,

147
00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,279
they'll they'll they'll bump up the loft on the setting

148
00:07:07,079 --> 00:07:08,879
and then you want to get most of your distance

149
00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,959
from carry. But typically in Hawaii the fairways are pretty firm,

150
00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:15,519
particularly in the side of the island that I live on,

151
00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,399
which is the driver side, and you can get I've

152
00:07:19,399 --> 00:07:21,360
seen people all of the time get thirty forty fifty

153
00:07:21,439 --> 00:07:24,199
yards a role here all the time. Wow. And so

154
00:07:24,279 --> 00:07:27,879
if you couple a low spin driver that hits it

155
00:07:27,959 --> 00:07:30,879
low to begin with, lowish, so it'll bore through the

156
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,639
wind better. With relatively low backspin, you might carry it

157
00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,199
out there and say a two club wind, you might

158
00:07:38,279 --> 00:07:41,279
hit it out there two thirty two fifty in the

159
00:07:41,279 --> 00:07:44,920
air and then get thirty to fifty yards a roll

160
00:07:44,959 --> 00:07:46,879
on it.

161
00:07:46,959 --> 00:07:48,920
Speaker 2: For those of us who get to play golf in

162
00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:51,319
the winter, and I apologize to all of those who

163
00:07:51,319 --> 00:07:55,199
were confined for four to five to eight months and

164
00:07:55,319 --> 00:07:57,680
don't get to play, But for those who do get

165
00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:02,519
to play twelve months a year, why is winter golf

166
00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:07,600
so much more difficult? I've noticed that, you know, when

167
00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:09,319
I look back at my score as year to year

168
00:08:09,399 --> 00:08:16,240
to year, they balloon in, you know, October, November, December, January,

169
00:08:16,639 --> 00:08:19,199
things just go up. It's like, what is so different

170
00:08:19,199 --> 00:08:19,800
about the game.

171
00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:21,839
Speaker 1: Well, you don't get the runoff, like we said, you

172
00:08:21,839 --> 00:08:23,759
don't get the roll on the driver typically, so the

173
00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:25,839
ball just sort of sits and even might even plug.

174
00:08:25,839 --> 00:08:26,920
It won't roll at all.

175
00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:29,079
Speaker 2: And it doesn't fly as far.

176
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:32,000
Speaker 1: Doesn't fly as far. The ball's colder. You're colder, so

177
00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:34,240
you're not moving, your muscles aren't warm enough, and so

178
00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,320
you're you're not you know, you're not contracting the muscles efficiently,

179
00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,440
you're not loose enough, you're tighter. That would all those

180
00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,639
things reduce your clubhead speed. And you got to deal

181
00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,480
with the mud and the bad lies. And you know,

182
00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,000
if you hit it, if it's a summertime line and

183
00:08:49,039 --> 00:08:51,399
you hit it, say like a sixteenth of an inch fat,

184
00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:53,279
it's still going to go out there close to the

185
00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,320
normal distance, right, might be five yards short or something.

186
00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,960
If your normal carry you the sixteenth of an inch

187
00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,320
fat in the ground, so wet, the ball's going nowhere.

188
00:09:01,399 --> 00:09:05,480
So it's just harder for all those all those reasons.

189
00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,080
Speaker 2: And how do we remedy that? What do we do to.

190
00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:10,000
Speaker 4: Don't play in the winter time?

191
00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,559
Speaker 2: Moved to the east coast or into the northern part,

192
00:09:14,639 --> 00:09:17,159
or moved to your place in Portland or east of

193
00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,519
Portland and just hide yourself from the snow. Okay, so,

194
00:09:20,759 --> 00:09:23,799
but those of us who are weather whimps and won't

195
00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:25,440
move to the cold weather.

196
00:09:26,279 --> 00:09:28,360
Speaker 1: Well, you're asking the wrong guy. And I'm like the worst.

197
00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:30,759
I'm the worst cold weather rain. I don't even play

198
00:09:30,759 --> 00:09:32,200
in the I just don't do it. I just don't

199
00:09:32,279 --> 00:09:32,759
enjoy it.

200
00:09:32,919 --> 00:09:37,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't either. I mean, I definitely like drizzle maybe,

201
00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:39,879
but if it's rain, I'm not interested in playing.

202
00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:42,639
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got. I don't mean I play in the

203
00:09:42,919 --> 00:09:44,919
rain here because it's warm rain, but but I don't

204
00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:46,960
like what it's cold and raining and I don't find

205
00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:47,679
it fun at all.

206
00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,559
Speaker 2: Last time I was in Hawaii, I was on Kauwhai

207
00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:56,240
and I played in Poipu and the pro there and

208
00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:58,080
he's been on the show. I can't remember his name,

209
00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,320
I'm sorry, but he was saying that that's what the

210
00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:06,600
locals know about slowing your swing speed in the big wins.

211
00:10:08,279 --> 00:10:10,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean. The idea is if you swing, see,

212
00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,120
the more club at speed you have, everything else being equal,

213
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:14,720
the more backspin you produce.

214
00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:16,879
Speaker 4: You know, on the cover of the wall, when.

215
00:10:17,159 --> 00:10:20,360
Speaker 1: The back third of the ball gets squished between the

216
00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:24,360
against the club face, that creates friction, which which which

217
00:10:24,399 --> 00:10:27,440
creates backspin. So if you have a lot of club

218
00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,320
at speed and you're hitting into a win, you get

219
00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,600
that ballooning ball effect like I mentioned where go. It

220
00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:35,200
might start out at normal trajectory, then it quickly balloons

221
00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,039
straight up and then fall straight down. You get literally

222
00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,039
no role. So the idea and the wind. This has

223
00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,279
been known for years for generations. Early you take one

224
00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,840
or two more clubs and then cut your tempo down

225
00:10:47,879 --> 00:10:50,200
by may maybe ten or twenty percent. So instead of

226
00:10:50,279 --> 00:10:52,440
between like a number ten speed, swing it like a

227
00:10:52,519 --> 00:10:56,000
number eight speed, and that that produces, you know, like

228
00:10:56,039 --> 00:10:59,200
a baseball and knuckleball. It produces almost knuckleball effect on

229
00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,320
the golf ball, so it'll bore through the wind with

230
00:11:02,519 --> 00:11:03,200
very little spin.

231
00:11:09,279 --> 00:11:11,120
Speaker 2: Do you think there's any chance that you know, we

232
00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:17,279
talked about the clubs having reaching their limit in development.

233
00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,200
What do you think about the golf balls. Do you

234
00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,039
think there's any change in the future for golf balls

235
00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,000
maybe be smaller or I mean, well, you.

236
00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:25,600
Speaker 4: Know there used to be.

237
00:11:25,759 --> 00:11:27,360
Speaker 1: Are you aware there used to be a smaller ball.

238
00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, I read that recently. I was blown away by it.

239
00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,159
Speaker 1: And they travel farther, they go further. Yeah, they're a

240
00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,480
little harder to make solid contact because they're smaller. Obviously,

241
00:11:37,519 --> 00:11:39,200
so it's a little harder to get the sweet spot

242
00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,000
on the back of the ball because it is smaller.

243
00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,279
Speaker 2: Well, but when those balls were around, the club faces

244
00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:47,600
weren't as large as they are now either, right.

245
00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,960
Speaker 1: That's true, Yeah, yeah, but that was the British ball.

246
00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,840
That's the ball they played in Ireland in the UK,

247
00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:56,759
and I forgot when it went out.

248
00:11:57,080 --> 00:11:58,639
Speaker 4: I think it was be twenty something years ago.

249
00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,960
Speaker 1: Twenty five years ago made the switch to the American ball,

250
00:12:03,759 --> 00:12:06,120
and I don't even recall exactly what the American ball

251
00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,799
is one point six eight inches. I'm thinking the British

252
00:12:09,799 --> 00:12:13,159
ball was maybe one point three five or one point

253
00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:14,559
something like that.

254
00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:15,919
Speaker 2: It was very small.

255
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,320
Speaker 4: But that's pretty small.

256
00:12:17,519 --> 00:12:21,799
Speaker 2: So where is where is the innovation in golf going

257
00:12:21,879 --> 00:12:22,480
to come from?

258
00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,000
Speaker 1: It has to come from the instruction side, which is

259
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:26,799
what I'm trying to do, as you know, have been

260
00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:27,960
for twenty five years.

261
00:12:28,279 --> 00:12:32,720
Speaker 2: AND's why we've talked so frequently, because of your instruction

262
00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:33,639
and your insides.

263
00:12:34,639 --> 00:12:37,200
Speaker 1: Well, you know, we have this quit rate. It's pretty high.

264
00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:39,720
We have the highest quit rate of any amateur sport

265
00:12:39,759 --> 00:12:42,120
and have had for a long time, but it's gotten

266
00:12:42,159 --> 00:12:44,759
worse in the last I don't know, ten, ten twelve years.

267
00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:49,480
The peak was I think in two thousand. I think

268
00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,480
we had something like thirty five million regular golfers in America.

269
00:12:54,399 --> 00:12:56,600
Speaker 2: And what years do you think that was? I mean,

270
00:12:56,759 --> 00:13:00,519
how closely did that coincide with Tigers.

271
00:13:00,919 --> 00:13:02,679
Speaker 1: Yeah it was okay, it was at the peak. Yeah,

272
00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:04,519
it was right around two thousand and two thousand and one,

273
00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:07,559
if I believe, And then we've had fining participation rates.

274
00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:10,200
So we had that little bump from Tiger, you know.

275
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:14,440
And I think the Tiger thing, people who normally wouldn't

276
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,759
have any interest in taking a golf took up the game,

277
00:13:17,879 --> 00:13:24,120
particularly the millennial generation started taking up the game. And

278
00:13:24,159 --> 00:13:26,240
then it kind of fell off pretty sharply, and then

279
00:13:26,279 --> 00:13:29,080
after the economy collapsed in two thousand and eight, really

280
00:13:29,159 --> 00:13:32,440
the participation really went down. The only place where it's

281
00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:36,360
significantly growing in participation rates right now is in a

282
00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:41,279
lot of the Asian countries China, especially India, and it's

283
00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:43,919
no secret that those two countries have the fastest growing

284
00:13:43,919 --> 00:13:49,240
middle class of any countries on the planet. Southeast Asia, Thailand,

285
00:13:49,279 --> 00:13:52,960
it's middle class has grown fairly, fairly significantly. It's pretty

286
00:13:53,000 --> 00:14:00,159
popular there. Singapore, it's popular mostly among the wealthy elite.

287
00:14:00,399 --> 00:14:04,279
It's growing. Even Vietnam it's starting to grow. So there's

288
00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,000
Asia sort of booming, but it's declining here for a

289
00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:10,279
lot of reasons. But one of the reasons is it's

290
00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:14,720
it's always been a hard game to be reasonably you know,

291
00:14:14,799 --> 00:14:18,159
at least reasonably good, which would be I guess what'd

292
00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:23,360
you call that? Maybe fifteen handicap or better. But you know,

293
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,039
a lot most people are not a fifteen handicap or better.

294
00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,960
As you know, they're higher than that. And some folks

295
00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,919
don't mind being a twenty five handicap and never getting

296
00:14:32,919 --> 00:14:34,559
any better. But I say, by the end of their

297
00:14:34,559 --> 00:14:36,519
fifth year, they get down to a twenty five or

298
00:14:36,559 --> 00:14:39,559
twenty somewhere in there, and they never see any improvement.

299
00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:44,759
But they're playing for social reasons, right primarily. But for

300
00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:49,799
the people who enjoy the challenge of getting better, they general,

301
00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:54,440
a lot of those folks hit a wall even if

302
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,240
they take what I would call traditional instruction, and then

303
00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:01,360
they get some improvement, well, i'm you will get significant improvement,

304
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,960
but the majority get little or no improvement. Uh, they

305
00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:08,960
get frustrated and they quit. So it's a big topic

306
00:15:09,039 --> 00:15:11,600
right now in the golf instruction world. How do we

307
00:15:11,639 --> 00:15:16,480
find a way to solve this dilemma? And I think

308
00:15:16,519 --> 00:15:20,559
the big mistake has been This is going to sound

309
00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,600
strange coming from me because because in early on in

310
00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:24,559
my career I was I was known for the opposite

311
00:15:24,559 --> 00:15:26,519
of what I'm about to say. But I think I

312
00:15:26,519 --> 00:15:30,799
think there's been way too much sort of onus put

313
00:15:30,879 --> 00:15:35,279
on a quick fix in terms of science and technology,

314
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,159
in terms of instruction, and we're starting to see the backlash.

315
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,200
In the last i'd say a year or two. People

316
00:15:42,279 --> 00:15:47,159
are taking track man lessons, they're taking three dimensional you know,

317
00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:53,200
three D swing capture, motion capture technology lessons, and again

318
00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,360
there will always be a minority will improve no matter

319
00:15:55,399 --> 00:15:57,080
what type of lesson you give them. But for the

320
00:15:57,159 --> 00:15:59,759
vast majority of people, they're walking. This is This is

321
00:15:59,759 --> 00:16:02,120
the I'm hearing from students who go this route and

322
00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:04,639
then come to see me, and they're saying, yeah, I

323
00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:08,120
understand now why I suck, but I can't. But I'm

324
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,679
not any better from knowing how badly how bad I

325
00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,240
am at this right and from seeing myself compared to

326
00:16:14,279 --> 00:16:17,000
Tiger in sixteen different ways. I see the Tiger's doing

327
00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,799
these sixteen things right, and I'm doing the sixteen things

328
00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:23,399
totally the opposite. But how does that help me be better?

329
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:28,480
If it's purely intellectual knowledge, which most of this sort

330
00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:32,679
of high tech science oriented instruction is geared toward. If

331
00:16:32,679 --> 00:16:36,360
it doesn't translate into the subconscious mind, which is the

332
00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,200
part of your brain that controls your body motion in

333
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,480
every sport. Right, then what good is it? Then?

334
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:43,080
Speaker 4: The answer is.

335
00:16:43,039 --> 00:16:43,759
Speaker 1: Not very much.

336
00:16:47,639 --> 00:16:54,919
Speaker 2: I think that what I personally have experienced is the

337
00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:59,960
course management, more than swing mechanics, helped me lower my score.

338
00:17:00,799 --> 00:17:01,559
Speaker 1: Yeah.

339
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:03,159
Speaker 4: Well, that's a cool thing about golf.

340
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,200
Speaker 1: I mean, the good teachers know this, that there is

341
00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,160
more than one way to lower your score.

342
00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:09,440
Speaker 4: But the thing about.

343
00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:12,519
Speaker 1: A lot of golfers is they're not like you. They

344
00:17:12,799 --> 00:17:14,960
don't really, at least is what they've claimed. I mean,

345
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:16,480
I'm not sure it's one hundred percent true.

346
00:17:16,519 --> 00:17:18,920
Speaker 2: But is that a phone or is that really a

347
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,480
Rooster's at rooster?

348
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:25,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, roosters are all over the island. I see how

349
00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:27,359
bad is it three in the morning when they're doing that.

350
00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:29,160
Speaker 2: Oh, that's really funny.

351
00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:33,000
Speaker 1: A lot of people it's not so much about score.

352
00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:34,759
I'm in one of these, I'm in one of this.

353
00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,839
I'm in this camp. Actually, it's about how you make

354
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:41,279
the score. And you know most people though who I interview,

355
00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:44,960
you know, potential new students. I ask you, would you

356
00:17:45,079 --> 00:17:47,359
rather lower your score by any means necessary?

357
00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:49,200
Speaker 4: Or is there a precise way you.

358
00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,000
Speaker 1: Want to play golf, And nine out of ten people

359
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:53,480
will tell you they want to They want to be

360
00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:57,519
good in the long game, right, and so they don't

361
00:17:57,559 --> 00:18:01,079
care about course management. Right. It's just because it doesn't

362
00:18:01,079 --> 00:18:03,160
matter if they're on the range or on the golf course.

363
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:05,599
When you mishit a golf shot badly, you get a

364
00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:07,680
bad feeling in your mind and your body. Right, it

365
00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,880
doesn't feel good. It feels kind of embarrassing or humiliating

366
00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,160
or depressing, or you get angry. You want to learn

367
00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,920
how to find that sweet spot more often. Right, That's

368
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,720
that's the big to me, that's the big challenge to golf.

369
00:18:20,799 --> 00:18:23,640
I mean anybody, If anybody spends enough time on a

370
00:18:24,079 --> 00:18:27,960
putting green without any professional instruction, they'll figure out a

371
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,400
way to be at least a decent putter, if not

372
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,119
a great putter. Same with maybe chip shots, little short

373
00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,680
chip shots around there. You can if you spend enough time,

374
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,119
you're going to figure out a way to be halfway

375
00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,480
decent at those two skills. If someone like a three

376
00:18:42,519 --> 00:18:44,400
iron off a tight line in a fair way.

377
00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:48,799
Speaker 2: Good luck, lon's a three iron, Well, that's.

378
00:18:49,759 --> 00:18:51,480
Speaker 1: Traditionally at least to be a two iron even a

379
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:52,480
one iron when I was a kid.

380
00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,039
Speaker 2: But yeah, right, but when we're talking about these fifteen

381
00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:57,480
handicap and above, they don't known three irons.

382
00:18:57,880 --> 00:18:59,559
Speaker 4: But I'm saying that that would be the challenge if

383
00:18:59,599 --> 00:19:00,559
they have a good swing.

384
00:19:01,519 --> 00:19:02,680
Speaker 1: I mean, if you have a really good swing, you

385
00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:04,240
should be a hit a one iron off the fairway, right,

386
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,599
I mean, it shouldn't matter. The point is that is

387
00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:08,920
a hard shot that even a hybrid is going to be,

388
00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:11,559
even a three hybrid off the tight line. If you're

389
00:19:11,559 --> 00:19:14,759
an average golfer with not not a very good golf swing,

390
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:16,920
is something you could you know, you're not gonna hit

391
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,000
it that well that often. So it comes down to

392
00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:23,799
how do you master a golf swing that will allow

393
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:26,799
you to play good golf for you know, a lot

394
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,119
of years into the future. That's that's the thing that

395
00:19:29,799 --> 00:19:32,359
trust me, almost every teaching pro that's what we hear

396
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:34,519
all the time is how do I hit the ball

397
00:19:34,599 --> 00:19:37,559
more consistently, you know better, more consistently.

398
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:40,960
Speaker 2: Now we all know there's no perfect in golf. It

399
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:45,720
doesn't exist. It can't, So how do you master a

400
00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:46,279
golf swing?

401
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,839
Speaker 1: Why? That's that's like a podcast that would have to

402
00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:56,799
be like like a thousand hours long. You know, it's

403
00:19:57,319 --> 00:20:00,039
it's such a huge topic, but I mean it's it

404
00:20:00,079 --> 00:20:02,920
starts with the obvious, the basic stuff, which would be

405
00:20:04,519 --> 00:20:07,480
a you have to be reasonably healthy and fit. You

406
00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:11,519
can't have any kind of major injury like low back

407
00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:13,799
or wrist or shoulder. You got to be reasonably healthy.

408
00:20:13,839 --> 00:20:16,519
You have to have a reasonably strong core. You have

409
00:20:16,599 --> 00:20:19,799
to be reasonably flexible right in order to do the

410
00:20:19,799 --> 00:20:21,759
proper motion. So I would start there with you have

411
00:20:21,839 --> 00:20:28,039
to be somewhat fit. You have to have golf clubs

412
00:20:28,039 --> 00:20:31,240
that are somewhat close to fitting you perfectly. They don't

413
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:32,680
have to be perfect, but they have to be in

414
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:35,680
the ballpark. Can't. You can't play good golf with the

415
00:20:35,759 --> 00:20:38,599
instrument that doesn't fit your body right. So you know,

416
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,400
it's club's the right length, the right overall weight, things

417
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,799
like that. And then it's it's grip stance, grip set up.

418
00:20:46,759 --> 00:20:48,960
And by grip, I don't mean just hand position, I

419
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,400
mean overall grip pressure and some other stuff having to

420
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,640
do with your hands. You're set up, your starting position

421
00:20:55,759 --> 00:20:59,960
is really really that's that's probably the most important mechanical

422
00:21:00,079 --> 00:21:02,200
fundamental is to set up and there's no reason not

423
00:21:02,319 --> 00:21:04,599
to set up as well as a tour pro. It

424
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,759
takes zero athletic ability. All it takes is standing in

425
00:21:07,759 --> 00:21:09,599
front of a mirror for you know, a few minutes

426
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,400
a day for about maybe six weeks, and you can

427
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:16,240
master a tour pro setup and then aim. You have

428
00:21:16,279 --> 00:21:18,559
to be able to aim the club face exactly at

429
00:21:18,559 --> 00:21:23,240
your target. That's often not discussed, but I would guess

430
00:21:23,279 --> 00:21:24,640
that in our go out we do these three day

431
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,920
boot camp golf schools called Great Shot, and I would

432
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,480
estimate it at least ninety five percent of our students

433
00:21:30,519 --> 00:21:34,400
are badly mis aiming the club face, sometimes by as

434
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,720
much as thirty to forty yards off at the driver.

435
00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:39,680
Typically it's to the if they're a right hand at

436
00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,039
golfers to the right. So I'll say, aim at that

437
00:21:42,279 --> 00:21:45,599
telephone pole holding up the driving range net on the

438
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,759
far left pole, and they'll aim at the middle pole,

439
00:21:48,799 --> 00:21:50,920
which is, you know, forty yards to the right of

440
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:52,519
the far left pole, and I'll go, are you aiming

441
00:21:52,559 --> 00:21:54,480
at the far left pole and I'll point at it,

442
00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:56,759
go yeah, I go no, No, you're aiming at.

443
00:21:56,599 --> 00:21:58,480
Speaker 4: That one that's three poles over.

444
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:00,960
Speaker 1: And then he does and believe me. So I put

445
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,279
my alignment stick down in align with his club face

446
00:22:03,319 --> 00:22:06,039
so it's perpendicular the club face and hold it real still,

447
00:22:06,039 --> 00:22:08,160
and he walks behind me and sees it. And you

448
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,119
should see the look on people's faces. They're like, well,

449
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:12,680
no wonder, I can't play be cause I'm not even

450
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:14,839
aiming it close to where I think I am. So

451
00:22:14,839 --> 00:22:17,960
those those have traditionally been called the three pre swing

452
00:22:18,079 --> 00:22:22,319
fundamentals pre motion fundamentals, you know. And to be honest,

453
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,359
if you're about a twelve handicap or higher, the odds

454
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:26,400
of you being.

455
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:29,880
Speaker 4: Spot on on.

456
00:22:29,839 --> 00:22:32,759
Speaker 1: Grip, grip, pressure, set up, and aim are close to

457
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,359
zero percent. That's how rare it is if you're a

458
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,440
twelve or higher. So if you're like a you know,

459
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:43,519
twelve handicapped to thirty five handicap, there's a really strong

460
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:44,279
chance that.

461
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,359
Speaker 4: You're somewhere between a little bit off.

462
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,559
Speaker 1: And more likely way off in those three really really

463
00:22:50,599 --> 00:22:54,200
important fundamentals. So it starts with those three, and then,

464
00:22:54,319 --> 00:22:56,759
you know, the really hard part is once your three

465
00:22:56,799 --> 00:22:59,799
pre swing fundamentals are spot on, then you've got to

466
00:22:59,799 --> 00:23:02,160
get these the motion parts, you know, the body, the

467
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,839
moving body part, fundamentals to be correct, and that's where

468
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,880
it's it's I would say traditional instruction has fallen down

469
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:16,200
for lots of reasons. But in the motion itself, there's

470
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:20,119
three basic categories. There's mechanics, which is which is basically

471
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,039
how the body parts move. You know, the range of

472
00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:27,279
motion that they move on, the angles relative to the ground,

473
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:29,240
relative to each other, you know, the so called swing

474
00:23:29,279 --> 00:23:36,039
planear swing geometry stuff. That's the mechanics. And then there's balance,

475
00:23:36,039 --> 00:23:38,680
which is a really important I call it the supreme fundamental.

476
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:42,000
Speaker 2: You call that the name of your You call that

477
00:23:42,039 --> 00:23:43,079
the name of your school, don't you.

478
00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:45,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, name of my school is called balance point because

479
00:23:45,319 --> 00:23:49,559
of the three which are which are coordination, balance and mechanics.

480
00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:54,599
Balance Trump's mechanics and coordination you could have. You could

481
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,759
have the best swing in the world right now. Actually,

482
00:23:57,359 --> 00:23:59,119
I just saw a guy at the Sony Open last

483
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:00,599
week who I'm now putting up.

484
00:24:00,559 --> 00:24:01,759
Speaker 4: Tied with Justin Rose.

485
00:24:01,839 --> 00:24:03,759
Speaker 1: His best golf swing in the world is twenty one

486
00:24:03,799 --> 00:24:06,559
year old kid who shot sixty one on Friday at

487
00:24:06,599 --> 00:24:10,359
while I Justin Thomas, I didn't even know he shot

488
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:13,160
sixty one. I happened to be there early Friday afternoon

489
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,440
and I had a meeting and at lunch, and then

490
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:18,799
after that I went to the range and it was

491
00:24:18,799 --> 00:24:20,759
about one o'clock and he's out. He had just just

492
00:24:20,799 --> 00:24:24,400
shot sixty one, unbeknownst to me. But I want to

493
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,519
I always go watch was whoever has the best swing

494
00:24:26,559 --> 00:24:28,720
in the range. So I happened to just watch him,

495
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:30,559
and I was like, well, who's this kid? Justin Thomas.

496
00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,759
Never heard of him before, But for your listeners, go

497
00:24:33,839 --> 00:24:37,279
check out go YouTube Justin thomas golf swing. You're going

498
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:42,279
to see it literally a technically perfect golf swing anyhow.

499
00:24:42,319 --> 00:24:45,480
So yeah, so you could have Justin Thomas or Justin

500
00:24:45,559 --> 00:24:51,440
Rose's golf swing mechanically and their tempo and their rhythm,

501
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,960
which is the coordination part, so the timing part, right,

502
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:58,200
the sequencing part. But if you lose your balance at

503
00:24:58,240 --> 00:24:59,640
any point in the swing, you're going to hit a

504
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,799
terrible shot. Right. So so those are the three things

505
00:25:02,839 --> 00:25:04,240
you got to learn to You got you have to

506
00:25:04,279 --> 00:25:06,680
learn e motion a golf swing motion where you start

507
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,960
out in rock solid balance, you swing in rock solid balance.

508
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,880
Rock solid balance was Ben Hogan's turn, by the way,

509
00:25:13,279 --> 00:25:17,200
and you finish in rock solid balance. Uh, and then

510
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,279
you've got to do the timing part, which is basically

511
00:25:19,319 --> 00:25:21,839
for mid to high handicap that's mainly swinging at the

512
00:25:21,839 --> 00:25:28,319
proper speed, the proper tempo with good rhythm. Right. So

513
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:30,240
that's sort of a that's sort of a very big

514
00:25:30,319 --> 00:25:34,079
picture overview, Fred, what what it would take to get

515
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:36,000
your get your mind wrapped on how do I learn

516
00:25:36,039 --> 00:25:37,559
to hit the ball better?

517
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,680
Speaker 2: I want to back up to aim for just a moment.

518
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:51,880
Are you talking about in your preshot routine a lot

519
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:56,559
of aiming? What where are we aiming? Are we aiming

520
00:25:56,599 --> 00:25:59,359
the ball? Are we aiming our feet?

521
00:26:01,759 --> 00:26:04,799
Speaker 1: One thing the only thing that matters, not the only thing,

522
00:26:04,799 --> 00:26:08,319
but the main thing that matters by far, is only

523
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,839
one thing, and that's the club face. So that means

524
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,039
the leading edge, which is the bottom edge on an iron,

525
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,119
and the top line, which which applies on a wood

526
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,759
or a hybrid. You want to have the leading edge

527
00:26:22,839 --> 00:26:25,680
or the top line, as the case may be, exactly

528
00:26:25,799 --> 00:26:28,440
ninety degrees to your target line. So your target line

529
00:26:28,519 --> 00:26:31,799
is that imagining line on the ground that runs from

530
00:26:32,039 --> 00:26:34,519
your feet when you stand at the beginning of your routine,

531
00:26:34,559 --> 00:26:36,680
when you stand behind the ball about ten feet behind

532
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,960
your ball, and you look look down on the ground,

533
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,559
and you got to put a line there, imagining line

534
00:26:42,599 --> 00:26:45,799
between between you know, where your feet are through the ball,

535
00:26:46,559 --> 00:26:48,240
all the way out to your target.

536
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:51,440
Speaker 4: That's your target line. It's imagining line.

537
00:26:51,279 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 1: On the ground. And then when you walk in and

538
00:26:53,039 --> 00:26:54,799
aim your club face, when you start to set up

539
00:26:54,799 --> 00:26:57,359
to the ball, you got to put that club face

540
00:26:57,559 --> 00:27:01,720
exactly ninety degrees to that line on the ground, so

541
00:27:01,759 --> 00:27:04,480
the club face is aiming exactly at your target. Now,

542
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,160
of course we're this is this is if you're trying

543
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:07,599
it a straight ball. You're not trying to curve it

544
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,680
on purpose. Right. It's a little different if you're trying

545
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,119
to slice it or hook it, but that's what. Yeah.

546
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,240
And then all you're doing with your body, with your feet,

547
00:27:15,279 --> 00:27:18,160
your knees, your hips, your shoulders, your eyes, your head,

548
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,079
is you're aligning your body on a second line on

549
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,880
the ground, which is called the body line, which is

550
00:27:25,039 --> 00:27:29,279
roughly three feet parallel left of your target line. Right,

551
00:27:29,319 --> 00:27:31,720
So you've got like a railroad track. You got the

552
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,799
two tracks of a railroad. Right. There's the inner track

553
00:27:34,799 --> 00:27:36,640
where you're where you're standing, where your feet are, and

554
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,079
there's the outer outer rail, which is where the which

555
00:27:39,079 --> 00:27:41,440
is where the target line is. So you got these

556
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,240
two parallel tracks, right, And so what you have to

557
00:27:45,279 --> 00:27:48,279
realize is most almost everybody who comes to see me

558
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:49,440
doesn't understand this.

559
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:50,680
Speaker 4: This is one of the reasons.

560
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,119
Speaker 1: Why I'm always talking about I always use the word

561
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,599
illusions a lot in my teaching, and one of the

562
00:27:55,599 --> 00:27:58,119
big ones is called the paralax solution, which is if

563
00:27:58,559 --> 00:28:01,440
you and I were in Kansas in a cornfield with

564
00:28:01,559 --> 00:28:04,839
a railroad track running through it, flat flat, flat all

565
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,759
the way to the horizon looking but cornfields, and we're

566
00:28:07,799 --> 00:28:10,440
standing on the railroad tracks looking out to the horizon,

567
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:13,440
it's going to look like the rails get closer together

568
00:28:13,599 --> 00:28:17,000
the further out they go, right. Yep, that's the parallax solution.

569
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:20,400
And so the reason why people mid to high handicaps

570
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,079
especially struggle with aim is a lot of them don't

571
00:28:24,079 --> 00:28:26,319
even know you're supposed to really aim the club face

572
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,720
precisely at the target, at the target alone.

573
00:28:29,759 --> 00:28:32,640
Speaker 2: Now we focus on our stants on our feet, yeah,

574
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:33,240
and your.

575
00:28:33,079 --> 00:28:33,640
Speaker 4: Body is not.

576
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:35,920
Speaker 1: I hit shots all the time in the school where

577
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:41,599
my feet, even my shoulder girdle is thirty degrees left

578
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,880
or right where my club face is pointing, and I

579
00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:47,759
still hit the ball exactly where the target is. The

580
00:28:48,839 --> 00:28:51,119
body has almost I won't say none, but it has

581
00:28:51,279 --> 00:28:54,480
very little influence on where the ball goes. But matters

582
00:28:54,519 --> 00:28:56,960
is where the club face is pointing. It's like aiming

583
00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,359
the sight line on a gun. You've got to aim

584
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:01,880
the club face precisely at your intended target.

585
00:29:02,079 --> 00:29:04,359
Speaker 2: Now, when you talk about the club face aiming at

586
00:29:04,359 --> 00:29:08,920
the target, we're talking about at address or contact.

587
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 1: Well, well contact too if you're trying to hit a

588
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,279
straight ball. Yeah, but it starts with setups. So when

589
00:29:14,279 --> 00:29:17,039
you're setting up to the ball. Part of setup is

590
00:29:17,039 --> 00:29:19,880
this aim in alignment procedure. You're aiming the club face.

591
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,279
You're aligning your body parallel left of the target line

592
00:29:24,799 --> 00:29:29,559
right and so those two lines never get further away

593
00:29:29,559 --> 00:29:32,400
and they never get closer together. So I get people

594
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,839
all the time. I had a mechanical engineer out well

595
00:29:34,839 --> 00:29:37,119
never forget, from Mexico years ago, at fifteen years ago,

596
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:39,799
come up to port and take the school. He was

597
00:29:39,799 --> 00:29:43,279
about a eighteen handicap if I remember something like fifteen

598
00:29:43,319 --> 00:29:46,400
handicap maybe, and we always explaining this. He goes, no, no,

599
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:48,559
that's not right, He goes, If I don't aim my

600
00:29:48,599 --> 00:29:50,319
body at the target, how is the ball going to

601
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,160
go there? I go, Really, I go, why would you

602
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:54,799
have to aim your body at the target? I go,

603
00:29:54,799 --> 00:29:56,599
Are you going to shoot yourself out of a cannon?

604
00:29:57,279 --> 00:29:59,359
Are you going to the target? No, you're standing to

605
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,799
the side of the In golf, we stand to the

606
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:03,880
side of the ball. We stand to the side of

607
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,160
the target line, which connects the ball to the target.

608
00:30:07,799 --> 00:30:08,119
Speaker 4: We don't.

609
00:30:08,119 --> 00:30:10,839
Speaker 1: We're not straddling it like in croquet, where you're you know,

610
00:30:10,839 --> 00:30:14,799
you're running a croque out, you know, through your legs, right.

611
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:17,559
Speaker 4: But the issue is most.

612
00:30:17,319 --> 00:30:21,160
Speaker 1: Other sports, with a few exceptions, your body line and

613
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,119
your target line are the same line. So when you

614
00:30:23,519 --> 00:30:26,400
when you serve a tennis ball, same the two lines

615
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,559
are the same. You're standing on the target line. Right

616
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,079
when you shoot an arrow or shoot a rifle. You're

617
00:30:31,119 --> 00:30:32,440
standing on the target.

618
00:30:32,079 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 2: Line shooting a basket throwing a.

619
00:30:33,839 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 4: Ball in basketball, same lines.

620
00:30:36,279 --> 00:30:40,839
Speaker 1: But imagine if if rifle shooting was like golf, and

621
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,200
I actually do this in the school, I take my

622
00:30:43,279 --> 00:30:45,119
golf club and turn it into a rifle, hold it

623
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,640
like a rifle against my shoulder, and then I stick

624
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,599
my arms out to full extension in front of me,

625
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:52,559
and then I pulled the trick, and I pulled the trigger.

626
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:57,960
In golf, you're standing to the side, about three feet

627
00:30:58,079 --> 00:31:00,759
or so to the side of the actual target. You're not.

628
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,000
You're not You're not standing on top of the target line, right.

629
00:31:05,319 --> 00:31:07,279
Speaker 4: So so the only thing that really.

630
00:31:07,039 --> 00:31:09,680
Speaker 1: Matters is though not the only thing again, but the

631
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:11,880
main thing that really matters is are you aiming the

632
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,440
club face exactly at the target or not? And because

633
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,440
of that illusion I mentioned, people, either consciously or unconsciously

634
00:31:19,519 --> 00:31:23,599
or both, they aim particularly the right, the left side

635
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:25,759
of their shoulder girdle, they aim that at the target.

636
00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:29,400
So they you watch high handicapped golfers, they look over there,

637
00:31:29,519 --> 00:31:33,480
they like they side along their left shoulder and try

638
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:35,400
to get their left shoulder in line with what they

639
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,400
perceive their target to be out there. And good players

640
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,440
don't do that because they know that their left shoulders

641
00:31:40,519 --> 00:31:43,119
should never aim at the target. Ever. No part of

642
00:31:43,119 --> 00:31:47,359
your body ever aims at the target ever. Not your feet,

643
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:49,960
not your knees, not nothing. You're standing to the side

644
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,279
of the target line, right. But if you aim your

645
00:31:53,359 --> 00:31:55,960
if you aim your your left shoulder to target. Even

646
00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:58,079
even if you did start out by aiming the club

647
00:31:58,119 --> 00:32:02,160
face correctly, if you then rotate your chest so your

648
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:04,200
left shoulder is aiming at the target, and you look

649
00:32:04,279 --> 00:32:06,200
down at your club face, which is actually aiming at

650
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:08,759
the target, it'll look like it's aiming to the left

651
00:32:08,799 --> 00:32:12,480
of the target, and you'll either consciously or unconsciously or both,

652
00:32:12,559 --> 00:32:17,319
you will rotate the face open to the right, and

653
00:32:17,359 --> 00:32:19,359
now it'll look in your mind like it's pointing at

654
00:32:19,359 --> 00:32:21,119
the target. It's not. It's pointing to the right of

655
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,319
the target. That's the most common mistake we see in

656
00:32:23,359 --> 00:32:27,240
aim in alignment, people missing the club face way way

657
00:32:27,319 --> 00:32:28,440
right at where they think they are.

658
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:33,359
Speaker 2: So now we have let's just pretend that our feet

659
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,920
are aligned just to the side of the target, not

660
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,720
at the target. Man, our club face is pointing directly

661
00:32:40,799 --> 00:32:44,240
at the target. We're in alignment there and I'm still

662
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:45,640
hooking the ball.

663
00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,960
Speaker 1: Oh there could be. But so you're asking why, Well, first,

664
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:52,319
first of all, this is one of the first things

665
00:32:52,319 --> 00:32:54,359
I tell on my new students. You have to realize

666
00:32:54,359 --> 00:32:56,400
that the game of golf, particularly the long game, the

667
00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:00,759
ball striking part we're talking about, it's so complex that

668
00:33:00,839 --> 00:33:03,640
when you fix one area and make it more how

669
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,160
a pro does it. It doesn't. It's not. It's in

670
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,079
no way, shape or form a guarantee you're going to

671
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,960
hit a good shot. It's just it just increases the

672
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:16,000
probability you'll hit a good shot right, So you can

673
00:33:16,119 --> 00:33:18,119
you could hit every you could hit. You could have

674
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,359
the perfect aim in alignment, and you can still hit

675
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:22,720
it fifty yards left or right of your target because

676
00:33:22,759 --> 00:33:25,319
the things things that are going to happen incorrectly in

677
00:33:25,359 --> 00:33:28,200
your body and club motion right.

678
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 2: And we wonder why people are leaving the game.

679
00:33:31,319 --> 00:33:33,279
Speaker 1: You see, That's what I'm saying people. I think a

680
00:33:33,279 --> 00:33:34,880
lot of people take up the game. They watch it

681
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:36,839
on TV and they think, oh it's I can do that.

682
00:33:36,839 --> 00:33:39,680
Speaker 2: It looks simple, or they play a video game and

683
00:33:39,759 --> 00:33:41,759
think I can do this exactly.

684
00:33:42,119 --> 00:33:46,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, because you know your club face can your

685
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:48,559
club face not just the club fate. The entire club

686
00:33:48,599 --> 00:33:51,000
head is rotating in a huge five hundred and forty

687
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,799
degree arc from the beginning of the swing to the

688
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:56,359
end in three spatial dimensions, is going up toward the

689
00:33:56,359 --> 00:33:58,960
sky and the back swing and then down toward the

690
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:02,000
ground on the forwards and then up toward the sky again. Right,

691
00:34:02,599 --> 00:34:05,880
it's going away from the target line on the back swing,

692
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,079
and then it's going toward the target line and on

693
00:34:08,119 --> 00:34:10,400
the downswing, and then away from the target line to

694
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,400
the finish, and it's going in a big circle. We

695
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:16,119
call that the horizontal dimension away you know, to the

696
00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:18,079
right of the target on the back swing, and then

697
00:34:18,119 --> 00:34:20,159
toward the target to the left on the forward swing.

698
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:24,239
So the club ad is moving in three spatial dimensions, right,

699
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:28,480
the vertical dimension, the fifth dimension, the horizontal dimension. And

700
00:34:28,519 --> 00:34:31,360
you have the ability because of the way, because of

701
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:33,760
human anatomy, you have the ability to rotate the face

702
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,320
way open relative to that five hundred and forty degrees

703
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,880
of path the club that's moving in or way shut,

704
00:34:41,039 --> 00:34:44,079
which people do I mean typically you know, average golfers

705
00:34:44,119 --> 00:34:47,400
do that. So the challenge is to learn something about

706
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:50,440
the basic sort of physics in the basic geometry of

707
00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,599
what the club is supposed to do, and then how

708
00:34:53,679 --> 00:34:57,599
your body motion affects that. And we basically call that

709
00:34:57,639 --> 00:35:01,519
there's there's six laws of club motion that people should

710
00:35:01,519 --> 00:35:03,599
know about it. They want to learn to masterball striking,

711
00:35:04,519 --> 00:35:07,159
and there's there's thirty laws of body motion. Now some

712
00:35:07,199 --> 00:35:09,400
of those are much more important than others. But other

713
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,559
thirty laws, there's about ten that are really important. Twenty

714
00:35:12,599 --> 00:35:16,280
not so much. But if you violate one of those

715
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:20,760
ten laws of body motion badly, right, then you're going

716
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,480
to automatically violate at least one, probably all six laws

717
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,480
of club motion. And that's why people again, that's why

718
00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:28,800
people find it difficult when I first think up the

719
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,840
game as beginners, because they are violating those those you know,

720
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:35,800
those really important ten laws of body motion.

721
00:35:42,079 --> 00:35:45,639
Speaker 2: All right, So if we had and it's hard to

722
00:35:45,679 --> 00:35:52,800
say everything being equal, but if somebody has excellent swing

723
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:57,960
mechanics and a lousy mental game playing with somebody that

724
00:35:58,079 --> 00:36:02,840
has not such great mechanics but an excellent mental game

725
00:36:03,119 --> 00:36:09,960
and attitude, and they're they're basically the same, you know,

726
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,199
a handicapped I think, I mean, like, who's going to

727
00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:14,840
be the better player? I mean, what what? What falls

728
00:36:15,119 --> 00:36:16,119
to be more important?

729
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,519
Speaker 1: Do you think it's real? A lot of it depends

730
00:36:19,519 --> 00:36:21,960
on what they're if. It depends on what their handicap is,

731
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:22,280
I think.

732
00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 2: But let say they're equal, they're about fifteens or twelves.

733
00:36:26,079 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, well yeah, I mean I mean literally, even if

734
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,039
they're equally depends what what what their skill is in

735
00:36:30,119 --> 00:36:32,199
terms of scoring. But if they were like if there

736
00:36:32,199 --> 00:36:36,320
were two high handicaps, one with uh with with Let's

737
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:40,960
say let's say there's there's uh uh two two twenty

738
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:45,119
handicaps playing together, but one of the twenty handicaps is

739
00:36:45,119 --> 00:36:50,199
actually a ten handicap ball striker, right, uh. And the

740
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,639
other guy and he and he's a thirty handicap at

741
00:36:53,639 --> 00:36:55,400
the mental game. If you could, if you could handicap

742
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:57,480
the skills like that, So he's a thirty handicap at

743
00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:02,800
the mind stuff, ten handicap at the mechanical stuff, right,

744
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,679
And then it's the opposite one the other guys he's

745
00:37:06,679 --> 00:37:09,360
a thirty handicap ball striker, but he's a ten handicap

746
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:11,880
in mental game. I would say it would be a

747
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:15,239
toss up. I would say they both would probably play

748
00:37:15,639 --> 00:37:19,079
pretty close to the same score. But where it gets

749
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,800
where the mental game becomes more important, is when you

750
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:26,039
get down around ten handicap or lower. Then I would

751
00:37:26,039 --> 00:37:28,559
give the edge for sure to the mental hand the

752
00:37:28,599 --> 00:37:32,159
guy with the better mind game. And if they were

753
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,920
thirty five handicaps, I would give I would give the

754
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,840
edge to the guy with the better golf swing mechanics.

755
00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:41,480
Speaker 2: And I've always been under the impressioner. I actually my

756
00:37:41,559 --> 00:37:44,880
whole basis on starting the show is I always felt

757
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:49,239
that if you had a good mental game and understood

758
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:54,400
course management or I like to call that strategy, you

759
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,119
can lower your score faster than if you just focus

760
00:37:57,239 --> 00:37:58,119
on your mechanics.

761
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:02,239
Speaker 1: Well, there's no question about it. Okay, yeah, from a speed,

762
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,639
from a speed of lowering your score. I tell this

763
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:07,719
to my students all the time. I get a lot

764
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:09,880
of these people to shoot between like ninety one hundred

765
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,760
and five. That's probably two thirds of my new students

766
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:16,639
are in that range. And I say to them, do

767
00:38:16,639 --> 00:38:18,320
you want to do you want to lower your scores

768
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,320
as quickly as possible by any means necessary, And you'd

769
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,079
be surprised most people say no. Like I mentioned earlier,

770
00:38:24,159 --> 00:38:25,920
they go, no, I don't. I don't care about the

771
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:27,440
short term. I just want to want to hit the

772
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:29,760
ball closer to how it pro hits it right. But

773
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:32,719
for the guys who say yes, I do, I go

774
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,159
I walked. I'll go to that guy's golf bag and

775
00:38:36,199 --> 00:38:38,239
I'll start throwing clubs out of the bag on the ground,

776
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:40,199
throw the driver on the ground. Throw the three wood

777
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:43,079
on the ground, right, throw the three hybrid are on

778
00:38:43,119 --> 00:38:46,920
the ground, and maybe leave everything else in right. Well,

779
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:48,719
if there's a four or five iron, I'll throw those

780
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,039
on the ground too. I go, okay, let's go play

781
00:38:51,079 --> 00:38:53,559
with that set. And the guy go, well, I can't

782
00:38:53,559 --> 00:38:56,440
play without a driver. I go, well, that's that's that's

783
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,400
the club that's cost you a lot of strokes, right,

784
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:03,119
So you got it to score well. From a strategic standpoint,

785
00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:05,760
you have to know what your limitations are as a player,

786
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:09,719
what your actual ability level is in terms of striking a.

787
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,119
Speaker 4: Golf ball, and don't try to hit any shots.

788
00:39:13,239 --> 00:39:15,559
Speaker 1: Don't try to hit any hero shots that are mostly

789
00:39:15,599 --> 00:39:16,360
based on luck.

790
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 2: Right. Well, that's my number one edict, which is never

791
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,159
follow a bad shot with a stupid shot exactly.

792
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:26,639
Speaker 1: And know how far you actually hit the clubs. We've

793
00:39:26,639 --> 00:39:29,079
talked about that before. Know what your actual real world

794
00:39:29,119 --> 00:39:31,599
the yardages are, not the one out of ten good

795
00:39:31,599 --> 00:39:34,599
ones you hit in the range. That one doesn't count

796
00:39:34,599 --> 00:39:36,280
because you're only going to hit a ten percent of

797
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,480
the time. You've got to know what your actual yardages are.

798
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,199
And then I go do playing lessons with people where

799
00:39:41,199 --> 00:39:43,400
they only have maybe six or seven clubs in the bag,

800
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:46,039
and I tell them where to aim and what club

801
00:39:46,119 --> 00:39:47,840
to hit and how far they should try to hit it.

802
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:50,119
And the guy who shoots one hundred and five shoots

803
00:39:50,119 --> 00:39:54,840
like ninety two the first time. We do this right,

804
00:39:55,119 --> 00:39:57,199
and they can't believe it. They're like in shock. I go,

805
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,360
they go, that's really fast improvement. I go, well, yeah,

806
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:01,400
because you.

807
00:40:01,199 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 4: Think of all the lost balls.

808
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:05,519
Speaker 1: All the penalty strokes from lost balls or you know,

809
00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:08,239
or poor shots because you hit a ball in the

810
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:13,199
rough or in the sand. You know. So strategy is

811
00:40:13,199 --> 00:40:16,599
certainly a very fast way. But then on the other hand,

812
00:40:16,639 --> 00:40:18,800
you've got a guy who's got a good strategy, has

813
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:23,840
good clubs, thoses yardages and the shooting say mid to

814
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,960
high eighties. And then a year goes by no improvement,

815
00:40:28,039 --> 00:40:32,000
another year goes by no improvement. Strategy it can only

816
00:40:32,039 --> 00:40:33,880
take you so far. Then you got to ask yourself, Okay,

817
00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:35,360
how am I going to get better at this game?

818
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:37,000
And it really comes down to is do you want

819
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,920
to work on your mental game? Do you want to

820
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:41,920
work on your on your ball striking, do you want

821
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:43,199
to work on your putting, or do you want to

822
00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:44,920
work on your short game. Those are the four main

823
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,599
skill areas. And I always tell people, look, especially if

824
00:40:47,639 --> 00:40:49,920
you're working for a living, you don't have time to

825
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:53,119
change all four areas. Just pick one area of the

826
00:40:53,199 --> 00:40:56,760
four for the next year and try to get much

827
00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:59,639
try to try to get significantly better in that one area,

828
00:41:00,519 --> 00:41:03,280
and practice just enough in the other three areas so

829
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,320
you don't lose ground there. Right. So, if you're working

830
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:10,800
on ball striking and you take a lesson from someone

831
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:13,280
like me, and I say to you, Okay, we're going

832
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:15,280
to work on your swing for the next year, and

833
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:17,000
for the first six weeks, you're going to work on

834
00:41:17,039 --> 00:41:20,519
improving the mechanics of your takeaway by doing this drill

835
00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:25,000
every day in the mirror for fifteen minutes. Right, But

836
00:41:25,039 --> 00:41:26,840
you still got to practice. You're putting a little bit,

837
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:28,239
your short game a little bit, and you got to

838
00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:31,559
work on your mental focus skills a little bit, just

839
00:41:31,599 --> 00:41:34,440
so you don't go backwards in those three areas, right, Right.

840
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:36,960
And then by the end of the year, that guy

841
00:41:37,039 --> 00:41:39,119
will be significantly better because they'll be hitting a lot

842
00:41:39,159 --> 00:41:41,800
more fairways and greens in regulation than he was at

843
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:44,239
the start of the year because the mechanics are better.

844
00:41:45,639 --> 00:41:49,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, twenty fourteen for me was a big, big year

845
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:55,079
for dropping my scores down. And it was really for me.

846
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,039
I focused a lot at what I found to be

847
00:41:58,079 --> 00:42:00,239
the biggest hole in my game, which my short game

848
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:04,440
and the concept of turning three shots into two when

849
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:08,360
you're inside one hundred yards. My problem is I still

850
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:09,840
can't put from four feet.

851
00:42:11,679 --> 00:42:13,719
Speaker 1: See, that's part of it. That's why you can't like

852
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:19,320
you know, it's I'm always reluctant to make really ironclad

853
00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:23,360
statements about how to improve because so much of it

854
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:25,719
depends on the person, So much of it's an individual,

855
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:29,519
case by case basis. So I always usually try to

856
00:42:29,559 --> 00:42:33,119
like sort of temper my remarks with like in general

857
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:35,400
or for most people, or with a certain name and

858
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:38,360
within a certain handicap range. This is this, this statement

859
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:40,880
is likely to be true. But it really comes down

860
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:42,960
to if you study your game, and there are there

861
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:45,719
are applications now you can put in your smartphone for

862
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:49,360
basically when you finish the whole you can quickly, you know,

863
00:42:49,519 --> 00:42:51,800
type in you know how many pots did you get

864
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,039
up and down? Uh, even track the length of your drive,

865
00:42:55,159 --> 00:42:57,119
whether you get the fare away. You want to figure

866
00:42:57,159 --> 00:42:59,960
out what is what is the weak area, what's the

867
00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:03,239
what's the number one weakest area that's costing you the

868
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:04,880
most strokes? And then you want to you want to

869
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,239
fix that area. You want to fix that that issue.

870
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:10,199
That's how you do right. But again, we talked about this.

871
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:12,000
I think the last time I was on your show,

872
00:43:12,079 --> 00:43:14,840
we talked about sort of the new burgeoning field of

873
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,440
golf statistics, and I think Mark Brody's book was brought

874
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:20,400
You brought up his book and some other people.

875
00:43:20,639 --> 00:43:21,400
Speaker 2: Mark was on the show.

876
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, And to me, that's Iron Klett.

877
00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:27,480
Speaker 1: And I've been teaching this for over twenty five years now.

878
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:29,000
I always tell people, look, you know, I know you

879
00:43:29,039 --> 00:43:32,360
hate to I know what defies conventional wisdom that putting

880
00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:34,719
is really important and then short game is really important,

881
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:38,400
and it's just not true. What what what costs specially

882
00:43:38,599 --> 00:43:42,239
especially mid to high handicapped golfers where they lose strokes.

883
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:44,639
You know, again, there could be one out of one

884
00:43:44,679 --> 00:43:46,719
hundred people where this doesn't apply, but nine to ninet

885
00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:50,079
of one hundred people who are right around fifteen handicaps

886
00:43:50,119 --> 00:43:54,519
or higher, if they could improve their long gain by

887
00:43:54,559 --> 00:43:58,199
say twenty five percent, they would score so much better

888
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,199
because they're they are losing golf balls, they are hitting

889
00:44:02,199 --> 00:44:04,320
balls out of bounds, they are hitting balls in the

890
00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:07,440
deep rough you know, behind trees, in the fairway, bunkers,

891
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:10,599
they're missing they're typically missing the green in their next shot.

892
00:44:10,679 --> 00:44:12,639
So now they have to rely on a really, really

893
00:44:12,639 --> 00:44:15,639
good short game thin get up and down for par right.

894
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:19,440
Speaker 4: So I don't mean an average I mean like a

895
00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:20,280
tour pro quality.

896
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:22,880
Speaker 1: If you get in a really bad situation and your

897
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,239
second shot on a part four where you're short sighted

898
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:28,320
yourself right, or you've got a really bad lie in

899
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:31,280
a bunker, or you're in the long grass, you'd have

900
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:33,360
to have a tour pro quality short game to get

901
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:36,079
up and down right, which one of the odds of

902
00:44:36,119 --> 00:44:37,880
the average golfer is going to have it. Even if

903
00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:39,440
you practiced a lot, it's going to get to a

904
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:44,199
tour pro quality short games not not very practical. So

905
00:44:44,199 --> 00:44:46,159
so you know, I think we talked about how last time.

906
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:48,599
My belief is that you need to need to learn

907
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:50,840
a good enough golf swing where you can hit the

908
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:54,360
driver long and straight, because if you can hit a

909
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,039
driver long and straight, you should be able to hit

910
00:44:56,079 --> 00:44:58,719
your irons and your hybrids in the green also, you

911
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:00,320
know the right distance straight.

912
00:45:06,679 --> 00:45:09,920
Speaker 2: Let's talk about tour players who are playing every day

913
00:45:10,079 --> 00:45:14,679
all day and have phenomenal mechanics and hopefully have a

914
00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:17,400
decent enough mental game to get or maybe they have

915
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:20,079
none whatsoever because they've just always been a good golfer.

916
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:25,119
How much help is a coach at that point?

917
00:45:26,039 --> 00:45:27,880
Speaker 1: Well, that's interesting you bring there, because that's the big

918
00:45:28,119 --> 00:45:30,280
thing that's being talked to in the golf industry because

919
00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:33,039
a tiger, right, yeah, yeah, I got is what his

920
00:45:33,039 --> 00:45:37,000
fifth coach since he turned pro? I think it's his

921
00:45:37,039 --> 00:45:39,519
eighth coach in his in his lifetime. Chris Como's his

922
00:45:39,519 --> 00:45:43,480
new coach. Yeah, well, I can tell you this. There's

923
00:45:43,519 --> 00:45:45,480
only a handful of people on tour right now, on

924
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:48,440
the regular tours, European Tour, PGA Tour, who do not

925
00:45:48,519 --> 00:45:50,639
have a swing coach, very very few do not.

926
00:45:52,559 --> 00:45:55,679
Speaker 2: But should they be tweaking these mechanics that they've gotten

927
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:56,760
them to this level?

928
00:45:57,320 --> 00:45:59,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the big That's the big argument, isn't it.

929
00:45:59,559 --> 00:46:02,760
I would say say, if you look at the track

930
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,519
record overall, it's more positive than negative. And more words,

931
00:46:06,559 --> 00:46:08,920
when when a tour pro works with a coach, most

932
00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:13,559
of the time, they see somewhere between a minor level

933
00:46:13,599 --> 00:46:16,639
improvement and a dramatic level of improvement. But there's there's

934
00:46:16,679 --> 00:46:19,639
always that sort of maybe twenty percent of the time

935
00:46:19,679 --> 00:46:22,239
where they can get worse. There's that that there's sort

936
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:24,199
of like that level of risk. Right.

937
00:46:25,559 --> 00:46:26,800
Speaker 4: My philosophy is.

938
00:46:28,679 --> 00:46:32,559
Speaker 1: You have to do a really really close statistical analysis

939
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:37,159
of what their ball striking stats are to see would

940
00:46:37,159 --> 00:46:40,519
it ever justify making a radical In general, if a

941
00:46:40,559 --> 00:46:41,840
tour pro came to me and wanted to work on

942
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:45,119
a golf swing, I can't imagine that would make a

943
00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:48,920
radical change to their like Tiger's gone through with his teachings.

944
00:46:52,159 --> 00:46:55,480
I would I would be inclined. I'd be more as

945
00:46:55,519 --> 00:46:58,760
a coach, more along the lines and making like minor

946
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:04,079
to moderately changes to their golf swing, but also work

947
00:47:04,119 --> 00:47:07,159
on their mental gain, their mental focus, their routine, controlling

948
00:47:07,199 --> 00:47:10,480
their emotions and the short game and their putting kind

949
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:13,760
of a mixture. But to do what Tiger does, Yeah,

950
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:15,440
it's pretty it's pretty radical, isn't it.

951
00:47:15,599 --> 00:47:18,039
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, what would you do if if Tiger called?

952
00:47:18,039 --> 00:47:20,760
What would you tell Tiger if he called you and said,

953
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:21,400
I need some help.

954
00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:24,280
Speaker 1: I like a lot of the stuff that Sean Foley

955
00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:28,440
did with him in his golf swing. Obviously, Tiger like me,

956
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:30,679
I'm in the I've been in the bad, bad back

957
00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:33,719
camp and golf for two decades now, so I've been

958
00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:36,000
through the ring around. I've pretty much tried everything, so

959
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:41,119
I know how that can affect your game. I wouldn't

960
00:47:41,159 --> 00:47:44,920
make I would only make one major change. I actually

961
00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:47,360
believe Tiger Woods only has what I would call one

962
00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:52,559
major swing flaw. Right now, you know that the swing

963
00:47:52,599 --> 00:47:54,679
we've seen since he came back from his back what

964
00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:58,760
two months ago, He's already made some changes that are better.

965
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:01,480
He has less forwards athleen than he had had the

966
00:48:01,559 --> 00:48:06,119
last two years. There were some There were some driver swings.

967
00:48:06,159 --> 00:48:08,960
You can find him on YouTube if you positive impact.

968
00:48:09,519 --> 00:48:12,719
His hands were like eight inches ahead of the ball

969
00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:16,199
that impact with the driver, which is way too much shaffleen, right,

970
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:18,800
and not just the driver, all the clubs in the bag.

971
00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:22,440
He was getting too much shaffleing and that that could

972
00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:25,480
creates all kinds of problems with solidness of contact and

973
00:48:25,519 --> 00:48:29,280
also accuracy. Right. So he seems to kind of fix

974
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:32,760
that for the most part. So assuming that fixes is permanent,

975
00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:36,320
he still has one really big flaw. That is something

976
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:39,239
you would see like in a twenty five handicap. You

977
00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:42,719
know what I'm talking about it? No, well, well he dips.

978
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:44,840
He and I don't mean dip a little bit. Most

979
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:47,159
good players dip about one to three inches, so they

980
00:48:47,159 --> 00:48:51,840
increased their forward tilted. The torso spine angle toward the

981
00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:55,199
ground increases a little bit most good most pros do

982
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:58,559
like an inch or so on the transmission. He dips

983
00:48:58,599 --> 00:49:02,400
down like eight to ten inches, so his chest gets

984
00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:03,079
too close.

985
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:04,679
Speaker 2: To the ground on a down swing.

986
00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:07,079
Speaker 4: As soon as he starts his downcing.

987
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:10,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, he dips. Yeah. Yeah, So that means he's gonna

988
00:49:10,519 --> 00:49:13,639
hit He's gonna hit really really fat unless he stands up,

989
00:49:13,639 --> 00:49:15,719
which of course he does most of the time. He

990
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:17,840
has to stand up by almost the same amount he

991
00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:20,800
hit the ball solid, So talk about a compensation move.

992
00:49:21,079 --> 00:49:23,239
He's got to totally stand up as he's striking the

993
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:26,920
ball by several inches. And you know, he's been doing

994
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:28,679
this since he was a kid, so it's a really

995
00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:32,000
strong habit. But I think it's good. I think it's

996
00:49:32,039 --> 00:49:35,800
really holding him back. And if it were me, I'd say, Tiger,

997
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:37,440
I know you don't want to fix this. Probably because

998
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:40,800
it's something it's so natural to you, so deeply ingrained with,

999
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:43,159
you know, probably a million golf swings in your life.

1000
00:49:43,199 --> 00:49:45,840
But I think it could be fixed. I would fix that,

1001
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:50,760
and I wouldn't fix much else. Uh. Mechanically he has

1002
00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:53,559
he has a known tempo flaw, which is if you

1003
00:49:53,559 --> 00:49:57,159
look at his driving range swing, it's noticeably slower and

1004
00:49:57,239 --> 00:50:02,559
smoother tempo, particularly with the drive. And he's talked about

1005
00:50:02,559 --> 00:50:04,440
this where he gets the driver on the range like

1006
00:50:04,559 --> 00:50:07,880
really long and really straight with a much slower, smoother tempo,

1007
00:50:08,239 --> 00:50:09,960
and he walks to the first tee and he gets

1008
00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:13,599
short and he gets fast. Wow, I mean really fast.

1009
00:50:13,679 --> 00:50:15,400
So he has again a flaw you would see in

1010
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:17,599
a mid to high handicap amateur, right.

1011
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:19,599
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, like I can't tell you how many

1012
00:50:19,599 --> 00:50:23,000
shows that we've done, and and just on taking your

1013
00:50:23,039 --> 00:50:27,280
game from the range to the course, knowing that amateurs,

1014
00:50:27,559 --> 00:50:29,840
it's one of the biggest complaints. I'm a scratch golfer

1015
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:34,280
on the driving range, right, but even for that level,

1016
00:50:35,039 --> 00:50:35,559
I'm shocked.

1017
00:50:35,559 --> 00:50:38,400
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, although I have to say I would say

1018
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:41,039
he probably suffers from that more than any other well

1019
00:50:41,079 --> 00:50:43,960
known pro. And again his credit he talks about it.

1020
00:50:44,039 --> 00:50:44,320
He says.

1021
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:46,760
Speaker 4: He says, I'm ranger Rick, meaning on the driving range,

1022
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:47,440
Ranger Rick.

1023
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:51,280
Speaker 1: He goes. But the longest walk, that's the old saying,

1024
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:53,119
is from the range to the first te he goes.

1025
00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:56,199
He says, he's always struggled, apparently his whole life with

1026
00:50:56,280 --> 00:51:00,920
taking his range swing to the golf course. It's surprising,

1027
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:01,360
isn't it.

1028
00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:05,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really is. I'm kind of stunned here.

1029
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:06,199
Speaker 4: Yeah, let me tell you else.

1030
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:08,440
Speaker 1: I would tell Tiger, so other than those two physical

1031
00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:11,719
one being temple, the other would being the dipping too much.

1032
00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:18,000
I would say I would have him do extreme exaggeration drills.

1033
00:51:18,039 --> 00:51:20,360
I'd have him open the club face on his driver, like,

1034
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:25,280
you know, twenty degrees and aim way way left. I'll say, Tiger,

1035
00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:26,840
let's see if you hit one hundred and fifty yard

1036
00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:28,840
slice and have it end up at that tree in

1037
00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:30,920
the right side of the range. Then have him do

1038
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:34,840
the opposite hundred and twenty five yard hook. Show me,

1039
00:51:34,920 --> 00:51:37,159
show me a driver that never gets higher than fifteen

1040
00:51:37,199 --> 00:51:39,920
feet off the ground. Then show me a driver that's

1041
00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:42,800
sky high right, And then I just I would have

1042
00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:46,480
him do major changes to his normal golf swing in

1043
00:51:46,559 --> 00:51:48,840
other words, I have n't I have him do bizarre

1044
00:51:49,119 --> 00:51:54,119
exaggerated body mechanics and therefore club motion mechanics to produce

1045
00:51:54,280 --> 00:51:57,400
unusual shots like super high shots, super low shots, shots

1046
00:51:57,440 --> 00:52:02,360
the curve a lot, right, you know, hit shots like

1047
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:06,559
put a put a styrofoam coffee cup upside down and

1048
00:52:06,599 --> 00:52:08,199
put a golf ball on top of it. Try to

1049
00:52:08,239 --> 00:52:10,239
hit a golf ball off of that, or go out

1050
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:10,920
in the golf.

1051
00:52:10,679 --> 00:52:11,800
Speaker 4: Course to extreme side.

1052
00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:14,679
Speaker 1: He'll lie where the mall's way above its feet, right,

1053
00:52:15,559 --> 00:52:18,519
because because what I know is that because he used

1054
00:52:18,519 --> 00:52:22,400
to practice like this with his dad, right, And that

1055
00:52:22,559 --> 00:52:27,400
is a proven way of speeding up the mastery process

1056
00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:32,079
in any sport of learning new movement patterns. I think

1057
00:52:32,079 --> 00:52:34,440
a lot of the golfing public thinks you learn what

1058
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:36,559
the model golf swing is and then you just try

1059
00:52:36,559 --> 00:52:38,760
to match the model. And that certainly is a big

1060
00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:41,679
part of it, for sure. But one of the ways

1061
00:52:41,719 --> 00:52:44,000
we teach here at balance Point is the opposite way,

1062
00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:47,119
where we have people do these sensory awareness exercises with

1063
00:52:47,159 --> 00:52:51,320
a club in their hand, right, and it does two things.

1064
00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:54,159
It expands your mind so you can start to feel

1065
00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:57,039
more what your body and club are actually doing. Anytime

1066
00:52:57,039 --> 00:53:00,519
you can increase your level of feel awareness for body

1067
00:53:00,519 --> 00:53:03,840
and club motion, that's a good thing, right. And because

1068
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:06,239
you're hitting shots that by their very nature are very

1069
00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:08,679
difficult to hit well, and you're actually hitting them well,

1070
00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:11,239
which you will for most people will you know within

1071
00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:15,280
a few minutes, it helps your confidence. Right. Like one

1072
00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:16,920
that I do a lot is we actually do it

1073
00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:19,239
as part of the segment we do this. We do

1074
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:21,760
like a half a day on swing plane swing geometry

1075
00:53:21,760 --> 00:53:25,400
in our three day boot camp golf school, and at

1076
00:53:25,400 --> 00:53:27,800
the end of that, this is a segment of that.

1077
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:30,880
For people who have this typical high handicap over the

1078
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:33,119
top golf swing, you know, where they hit a lot

1079
00:53:33,119 --> 00:53:36,960
of polls to the left, we do about I don't

1080
00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:39,199
know ninety minutes of drills on that. And the last

1081
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:42,119
drill for people who have a severe over the top move,

1082
00:53:42,239 --> 00:53:45,079
we call it the backwards drill. And it's sort of

1083
00:53:45,159 --> 00:53:47,760
like it's an actual drill that I've known about for

1084
00:53:47,840 --> 00:53:49,800
over thirty years. But it's also a little bit of

1085
00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:53,719
comic relief because what I do is I actually hit

1086
00:53:53,719 --> 00:53:57,400
the ball backwards. I stand so my back is facing

1087
00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:01,679
the target, my club face is in the normal position, right,

1088
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:04,199
So my club face is directly aiming at the target,

1089
00:54:04,239 --> 00:54:07,119
but my back is to the target. And everybody starts

1090
00:54:07,199 --> 00:54:09,840
laughing because they think, oh, yeah, of course nobody could

1091
00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:11,559
hit it, and I hit it really usually hit it

1092
00:54:11,599 --> 00:54:14,039
really good, like I usually hit a hybrid about two

1093
00:54:14,079 --> 00:54:16,800
hundred yards or about a ten yard draw on it,

1094
00:54:18,239 --> 00:54:21,199
and it looks impossible. So people are thinking, holy, how

1095
00:54:21,199 --> 00:54:24,840
can he possibly hit a I mean, how can he

1096
00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:28,239
hit a ball backwards? It doesn't even you think it's impossible.

1097
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:29,920
But you know what, it's not that hard to do.

1098
00:54:30,480 --> 00:54:32,239
So I have the students try it, and yeah, the

1099
00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:35,440
first maybe three to five they hit really bad, and

1100
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:37,519
then by the fifth or sixth or seventh one they're

1101
00:54:37,559 --> 00:54:41,760
hitting it as good as their normal setup. Right from

1102
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:44,400
a starting position that should be impossible to do. And

1103
00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:48,000
so that really helps your confidence. And what Tiger needs

1104
00:54:48,119 --> 00:54:51,920
right now is a huge, huge jolt of confidence, don't

1105
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:55,039
you think? Yeah, absolutely, because when you look at his

1106
00:54:55,079 --> 00:54:57,440
body language, he doesn't have the com he doesn't walk

1107
00:54:57,480 --> 00:55:00,840
around on the golf course with that like that Tiger

1108
00:55:01,320 --> 00:55:03,760
King of the Jungle type of body language he used

1109
00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:04,039
to have.

1110
00:55:04,119 --> 00:55:14,880
Speaker 2: Well, he intimidated the competition, right didn't Tiger at that

1111
00:55:15,039 --> 00:55:19,519
point or at any point, or hasn't he exhibited the

1112
00:55:19,559 --> 00:55:24,199
most creative use of shots and the widest range of

1113
00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:28,719
different types of shots that you've ever seen.

1114
00:55:29,360 --> 00:55:31,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's what I'm saying. He was known for that,

1115
00:55:31,559 --> 00:55:34,079
and he kind of got because he not so much

1116
00:55:34,119 --> 00:55:37,480
into Butch, because Butcher knows about what. I'm sure Butch

1117
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:40,599
used a similar drills with his tour pros, but he

1118
00:55:40,639 --> 00:55:43,280
got to Haney. Haney was a much more technical teacher

1119
00:55:43,400 --> 00:55:45,199
than than Butch Harmon.

1120
00:55:45,119 --> 00:55:47,800
Speaker 4: Was, and Sean Foley was like orders.

1121
00:55:47,519 --> 00:55:52,039
Speaker 1: Of magnitude more technical teacher than even Hani was. So

1122
00:55:52,320 --> 00:55:55,360
the problem with it with I think too much of

1123
00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:58,719
a technical approach is if you don't mix in equal

1124
00:55:58,760 --> 00:56:01,639
parts of the creative part of golf the artistic part.

1125
00:56:02,119 --> 00:56:04,440
If it's all technique, technique, look at video. Put you

1126
00:56:04,480 --> 00:56:06,320
on track man, try to try to get the try

1127
00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:09,039
to try to get better numbers, like Tiger was always saying,

1128
00:56:09,239 --> 00:56:12,800
on track man, try to hit better positions, replaying the

1129
00:56:13,199 --> 00:56:15,760
video and slow motion. If you start getting too much

1130
00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:19,199
down that road, it inhibits the artistic and the creative

1131
00:56:19,239 --> 00:56:22,119
side of golf. And one reason I called my company

1132
00:56:22,199 --> 00:56:25,480
balance point is, I don't see those things as antithetical

1133
00:56:25,519 --> 00:56:25,840
at all.

1134
00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:27,159
Speaker 4: I see them as complementary.

1135
00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:31,440
Speaker 1: But they can become antithetical if one becomes too dominant

1136
00:56:31,480 --> 00:56:33,320
relative to the other, Do you know what I mean.

1137
00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:37,360
So here's Tiger Wood's one from being probably if you

1138
00:56:37,360 --> 00:56:39,119
wanted to put it in percentage, I would say he

1139
00:56:39,199 --> 00:56:42,679
was a ninety percent field player as a junior, only

1140
00:56:42,719 --> 00:56:46,679
ten percent technical. Right. Then he's when he was seventeen

1141
00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:49,800
years old senior in high school, started working with Butch,

1142
00:56:50,599 --> 00:56:53,039
and Butch is sort of closer to called. I would say,

1143
00:56:53,039 --> 00:56:56,719
Butch is probably more you know, maybe seventy percent feel,

1144
00:56:56,800 --> 00:56:59,199
thirty percent technical and rough approximation.

1145
00:57:00,079 --> 00:57:02,000
Speaker 4: And then he went to Haini, who was.

1146
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:07,079
Speaker 1: Probably sixty forty sixty percent technical, forty percent field. Then

1147
00:57:07,079 --> 00:57:10,280
he went to Sean Foley, who was like technical, ten

1148
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:14,320
percent more creative oriented. And I think I think Tiger

1149
00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:16,159
just got off track, and I would have him go

1150
00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:19,599
back toward maybe you know, for six months or maybe

1151
00:57:19,639 --> 00:57:22,079
a year, just just get don't look at any video,

1152
00:57:22,199 --> 00:57:25,840
don't don't go on track, man, literally right, just take

1153
00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:27,159
a vacation from that stuff.

1154
00:57:27,519 --> 00:57:29,000
Speaker 4: Learned to play golf by feel.

1155
00:57:29,039 --> 00:57:31,519
Speaker 1: Again. I think that would be the most important advice

1156
00:57:31,559 --> 00:57:32,519
I would give him for sure.

1157
00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:36,800
Speaker 2: Wow. Wow, Well, let's talk for a moment so people

1158
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:39,360
can get in touch with you about Balance Point Golf School.

1159
00:57:39,480 --> 00:57:41,280
I know that I got an email the other day

1160
00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:44,840
from from one of the women that was on our

1161
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:49,119
prog trip years ago, who's still a listener, and she

1162
00:57:49,199 --> 00:57:51,159
said that she's on her way to Hawaii and she

1163
00:57:51,239 --> 00:57:55,239
wanted to reach out to you in March. She was

1164
00:57:55,280 --> 00:57:56,519
on the East coast.

1165
00:57:56,880 --> 00:57:59,400
Speaker 1: She said, so yesterday I'm going to try calling her

1166
00:57:59,400 --> 00:58:01,239
tomorrow and go over some options for her.

1167
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:02,480
Speaker 2: She's awesome.

1168
00:58:03,159 --> 00:58:07,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, BJ right, yeah, yeah, J. Well, you know, I

1169
00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:09,400
guess what can I tell you? I've been doing this.

1170
00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:13,440
This is my twenty sixth, sorry, the twenty first year

1171
00:58:13,800 --> 00:58:16,679
I've had the schools. I started in nineteen ninety five

1172
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:19,239
in the winter time over here in Hawaii. Actually that

1173
00:58:19,280 --> 00:58:22,639
was over in the Big Island. I'm pretty proud of

1174
00:58:22,639 --> 00:58:26,119
the company. I've got four assistant pros that work with

1175
00:58:26,159 --> 00:58:30,400
me in the busy summer season in Portland, and in fact,

1176
00:58:30,400 --> 00:58:32,599
one guy's been with me. This will be his eighteenth year.

1177
00:58:32,719 --> 00:58:35,840
I won one eighteen year old veteran eighteen years with me,

1178
00:58:36,079 --> 00:58:38,639
A fifteen year old and a thirteen year old and

1179
00:58:38,679 --> 00:58:41,079
a seven year old, so they've all got a lot

1180
00:58:41,119 --> 00:58:41,760
of experience.

1181
00:58:42,039 --> 00:58:42,440
Speaker 2: That's great.

1182
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:47,239
Speaker 1: They're all good players, good golf swings. I usually I

1183
00:58:47,239 --> 00:58:50,679
consider myself a holistic instructor, and I teach all phases

1184
00:58:50,719 --> 00:58:52,920
of the game, all parts of the game, mental game,

1185
00:58:53,039 --> 00:58:56,559
short game, putting game, golf swing mechanics. Although I spent

1186
00:58:56,599 --> 00:58:59,159
about eighty percent of my time teaching golf swing mechanics.

1187
00:58:59,159 --> 00:59:02,400
That's that's that's what the marketplace demands. People want want

1188
00:59:02,440 --> 00:59:05,079
to have that type of instruction. And I call it

1189
00:59:05,159 --> 00:59:07,639
balance Point because I use a mind body connection model,

1190
00:59:07,679 --> 00:59:10,519
which is basically it's a model based on neuroscience, which

1191
00:59:10,559 --> 00:59:12,400
is how does how does.

1192
00:59:12,239 --> 00:59:16,159
Speaker 4: The brain mind slash body?

1193
00:59:16,280 --> 00:59:19,079
Speaker 1: How does that system work in terms of learning new

1194
00:59:19,119 --> 00:59:22,920
movement patterns and in terms of performing to your highest

1195
00:59:22,920 --> 00:59:24,079
potential when you play?

1196
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:30,440
Speaker 2: And the website is balance balancepointolf dot com.

1197
00:59:30,159 --> 00:59:33,599
Speaker 1: Correct balancepointgolf dot com. And we have schools from May

1198
00:59:33,639 --> 00:59:37,920
through October and Portland, uh spring and fall in Palm

1199
00:59:37,920 --> 00:59:41,960
Springs and wintertime in Onawahu. Teach at Coalina Golf Club,

1200
00:59:41,960 --> 00:59:46,679
which is about twenty minutes west of Waikikiwa.

1201
00:59:45,800 --> 00:59:48,400
Speaker 2: And you were telling me that you have an ebook

1202
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:50,719
now for us all to take advantage of.

1203
00:59:51,360 --> 00:59:54,480
Speaker 1: I have our Great Shot, our most popular golf school

1204
00:59:54,480 --> 00:59:56,920
is called Great Shot exclamation Point, and it's a three

1205
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:00,280
day boot camp, eight hours a day, really intensive total

1206
01:00:00,320 --> 01:00:04,639
immersion training on the range on those thirty laws of

1207
01:00:04,679 --> 01:00:08,000
body motion, six laws of club motion. But again mainly

1208
01:00:08,039 --> 01:00:11,280
it's the ten really important ones, ten important loves of

1209
01:00:11,280 --> 01:00:14,679
body motion. And that school has a two hundred and

1210
01:00:14,679 --> 01:00:17,960
five page training manual that I've spent most of the

1211
01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:22,599
summer rewriting and updating, and we've turned it into an ebook,

1212
01:00:22,679 --> 01:00:25,360
and it'll be up on our website. I'm hoping by

1213
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:29,119
the end of next week, which would be what around

1214
01:00:29,119 --> 01:00:31,480
the eight twenty ninth of January something like that.

1215
01:00:31,559 --> 01:00:34,880
Speaker 2: Okay, so by February first it should be ready.

1216
01:00:35,360 --> 01:00:36,400
Speaker 4: It'll be downloadable.

1217
01:00:36,719 --> 01:00:40,000
Speaker 2: And this is twenty fifteen that we're talking about.

1218
01:00:40,119 --> 01:00:42,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a PDF version right now, but you

1219
01:00:42,559 --> 01:00:44,239
have to call the office to get that one. But

1220
01:00:45,000 --> 01:00:47,440
this will be epub. Epub will play on any device

1221
01:00:47,480 --> 01:00:50,440
from a tablet to a smartphone to a desktop computer.

1222
01:00:51,559 --> 01:00:54,239
And I'm also while I'm here in Hawaii, I'm working

1223
01:00:54,280 --> 01:00:59,119
on updating the short game, putting game and mental game

1224
01:00:59,159 --> 01:01:03,400
training manuals. So those will be available as ebooks. I'm

1225
01:01:03,440 --> 01:01:07,280
hoping by middle to end of the summer. And I've

1226
01:01:07,320 --> 01:01:12,400
involved in reshooting our Great Shot golf Swing training program

1227
01:01:12,639 --> 01:01:15,760
which I did. It's been twenty years ago, which was

1228
01:01:16,320 --> 01:01:19,920
back in the VHS tape days. Yeah.

1229
01:01:19,960 --> 01:01:21,199
Speaker 2: Time to reshoot that one.

1230
01:01:21,760 --> 01:01:25,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, with a brand new Panasonic twenty fourteen high def

1231
01:01:25,119 --> 01:01:27,000
camera with a really good audio system.

1232
01:01:27,440 --> 01:01:30,000
Speaker 2: I'll tell you the video that you shot it with.

1233
01:01:30,159 --> 01:01:32,639
Then you could shoot with your phone now and it

1234
01:01:32,679 --> 01:01:33,400
would look better.

1235
01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:36,920
Speaker 1: Well, I know it was, there's no question amazing. So

1236
01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:39,960
we're about a third through the shooting. We've got module one,

1237
01:01:40,119 --> 01:01:42,320
Module two almost done. We're going to sell them as

1238
01:01:42,320 --> 01:01:46,360
individual modules. It's going to be five modules total. It'll

1239
01:01:46,400 --> 01:01:49,639
be almost exactly twenty four hours of viewing time. It's

1240
01:01:49,639 --> 01:01:53,320
everything I know about the golf swing, and it's designed

1241
01:01:53,360 --> 01:01:55,920
to be a self directed sort of training program, so

1242
01:01:55,960 --> 01:01:58,800
you can you can download the whole thing and you

1243
01:01:58,840 --> 01:02:02,400
can take one year, two year, four years, five years,

1244
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:04,599
whatever long you want to learn the golf swing and

1245
01:02:04,639 --> 01:02:07,800
its sequential order. Where there were certain things are more

1246
01:02:07,800 --> 01:02:09,559
important are the things like I mentioned at the start

1247
01:02:09,559 --> 01:02:13,480
of the conversation, and a beginner golfer could take this

1248
01:02:13,559 --> 01:02:15,840
program and by the end of the first year have

1249
01:02:15,920 --> 01:02:19,480
a really good golf swing, and professional golfer could go

1250
01:02:19,519 --> 01:02:23,039
to the parts where they apply more to them. So

1251
01:02:23,119 --> 01:02:25,719
it's going to go from the real simple, basic, sort

1252
01:02:25,719 --> 01:02:29,679
of introductory fundamentals all the way through when you get

1253
01:02:29,679 --> 01:02:32,480
closer to the twenty hour mark to the really advanced stuff.

1254
01:02:32,519 --> 01:02:34,400
So I'm pretty proud of It's everything I know about

1255
01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:36,119
the golf swing awesome.

1256
01:02:36,559 --> 01:02:38,679
Speaker 2: And you do know a lot. I mean, it's amazing

1257
01:02:38,679 --> 01:02:40,679
to me how fast an hour can go by when

1258
01:02:40,679 --> 01:02:41,800
we get on the phone together.

1259
01:02:42,239 --> 01:02:43,199
Speaker 1: It's been an hour.

1260
01:02:43,719 --> 01:02:45,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, we've been recording for over an hour.

1261
01:02:47,199 --> 01:02:47,760
Speaker 1: Incredible.

1262
01:02:48,039 --> 01:02:51,159
Speaker 2: All right, Well, Jim, as always, I just love having

1263
01:02:51,239 --> 01:02:54,000
you on this podcast. I love to listen to you.

1264
01:02:54,159 --> 01:02:58,079
I learned so much. I really appreciate that you share

1265
01:02:58,119 --> 01:02:59,159
so much time with us.

1266
01:03:00,119 --> 01:03:00,360
Speaker 4: Problem.

1267
01:03:00,360 --> 01:03:02,599
Speaker 1: It's always a pleasure chatting with you. As you know,

1268
01:03:03,239 --> 01:03:05,079
we got to do the time meal again this summer.

1269
01:03:05,320 --> 01:03:09,719
Speaker 2: Okay, we got to go out for somewhere food and

1270
01:03:09,800 --> 01:03:14,639
that was episode number four hundred, and we're approaching this

1271
01:03:14,679 --> 01:03:16,880
summer we're going to be coming up to number five hundred,

1272
01:03:16,920 --> 01:03:18,559
So maybe this summer we'll get together.

1273
01:03:19,159 --> 01:03:21,039
Speaker 1: I'm honored. I got to I think this is my

1274
01:03:21,119 --> 01:03:22,840
tenth time. I think right ninth or tenth.

1275
01:03:23,119 --> 01:03:25,800
Speaker 2: I I haven't looked, but yeah, I wouldn't be surprised

1276
01:03:25,840 --> 01:03:29,840
if it was at least ten times. Jim, let's wrap

1277
01:03:29,880 --> 01:03:31,159
this up with your closing tip.

1278
01:03:31,480 --> 01:03:35,360
Speaker 1: Well, I think the main tip is you need to

1279
01:03:35,599 --> 01:03:39,679
understand that in golf, you never aim your body at

1280
01:03:39,679 --> 01:03:42,480
the target. That is, aiming the body at the target

1281
01:03:42,639 --> 01:03:47,880
is one of the most common golf swing misconceptions that

1282
01:03:47,880 --> 01:03:49,960
the new students bring to the table when I work

1283
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:52,960
with them in schools and lessons. I mean to the

1284
01:03:52,960 --> 01:03:55,440
point where people will actually take a club and put

1285
01:03:55,440 --> 01:03:57,480
it across their shoulders and kind of look at their

1286
01:03:57,519 --> 01:04:00,400
target and go like that aim their should People do

1287
01:04:00,440 --> 01:04:04,239
that usually almost always high handicapped to do that. Your

1288
01:04:04,239 --> 01:04:07,320
body has no relationship to the target involve The only

1289
01:04:07,400 --> 01:04:11,239
relationship to the target is with the golf ball hopefully

1290
01:04:11,320 --> 01:04:14,440
going to the target when you're done hitting it, and

1291
01:04:14,519 --> 01:04:17,119
your club face. So the key is to aim your

1292
01:04:17,199 --> 01:04:22,639
club face exactly at your intended target and never try

1293
01:04:22,639 --> 01:04:25,280
to aim your body to the target. Your body does

1294
01:04:25,360 --> 01:04:30,880
not aim to the target. Your body positions itself parallel left.

1295
01:04:31,119 --> 01:04:33,440
Speaker 4: Of a three foot long chunk.

1296
01:04:33,159 --> 01:04:36,079
Speaker 1: Of target line, with the ball sitting in the middle

1297
01:04:36,079 --> 01:04:38,599
of that three foot long chunk. So once you're done

1298
01:04:38,639 --> 01:04:41,880
aiming your club face precisely at the target, you simply

1299
01:04:41,880 --> 01:04:44,719
look down at the ball and you see an imaginary

1300
01:04:44,840 --> 01:04:49,639
line eighteen inches either side of the ball. Right, that's

1301
01:04:49,679 --> 01:04:52,360
your three foot long chunk of target line. And you

1302
01:04:52,440 --> 01:04:56,239
position your toe line, your feet, your knees, your hips,

1303
01:04:56,320 --> 01:05:00,280
your shoulder girdle, even your eye line parallel to that

1304
01:05:00,360 --> 01:05:03,280
three foot long chunk of line, like you're standing on

1305
01:05:03,320 --> 01:05:06,400
the inner rail of a railroad track and the ball

1306
01:05:06,480 --> 01:05:08,639
is and that three foot long chunk of target line

1307
01:05:08,719 --> 01:05:10,760
is the outer rail. Right, You want to keep those

1308
01:05:10,800 --> 01:05:14,920
two rails parallel to each other. Never aim your body

1309
01:05:14,960 --> 01:05:17,239
out to the target. Only the bug base

