1 00:00:01,679 --> 00:00:04,599 Speaker 1: Hi, This is Dwayne Dusky from Portland, Oregon, and I 2 00:00:04,679 --> 00:00:08,359 play at Glenn Deevere East and West Courses in Portland. 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:10,919 This is Golf Smarter number. 4 00:00:10,679 --> 00:00:13,599 Speaker 2: Four hundred and eighty six, published on April twenty eight, 5 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:14,679 twenty fifteen. 6 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 3: Welcome to golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,559 insight and advice from the best instructors featured on the 8 00:00:23,559 --> 00:00:29,559 Golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets old. Our 9 00:00:29,679 --> 00:00:34,479 interview library features hundreds of hours of game improvement conversations 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,079 like this that are no longer available in any podcast app. 11 00:00:38,119 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: If we're talking a distance wedge, which will I define 12 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,520 us between forty yards and maybe your full swing of 13 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:45,960 your pitching wage. So let's say one twenty five or whatever. 14 00:00:46,119 --> 00:00:48,320 You don't want a bigger gap than about twenty yards 15 00:00:48,359 --> 00:00:50,079 in there. So if I hit my pitching wedge to 16 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,719 one twenty five, the next club I need to hit 17 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:54,960 at least ninety five yards And if I can get 18 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,600 those nice even spread like that, you can really learn 19 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,359 to cover any yardage with appropriate spin in trajectory. The 20 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,400 second would be the bounce options and the soul grind. 21 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:07,879 The shape of the wedge you want to have a 22 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,280 sand wedge with a lot of bounce on it. Bounce 23 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:13,799 is the difference between the bottom back of the club 24 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,680 and the soul to the leading edge, and degrees good 25 00:01:16,719 --> 00:01:20,040 sand wedge might have between ten and fourteen or fifteen 26 00:01:20,079 --> 00:01:22,079 degrees of bounce on it. If you have a more 27 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,000 lofted club, like a fifty eight to fifty nine or sixty, 28 00:01:25,239 --> 00:01:27,400 you want that one to be low and bounced, so 29 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,239 probably between four and seven, depending once again on your 30 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,760 standard technique. With the techniques that I try to get 31 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,640 people to use, you don't need much bounce because the 32 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,040 swing's very shallow and you use it as you swing. 33 00:01:39,359 --> 00:01:41,640 If that's the case, and you have a high bounced 34 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,319 sand wedge and a low bounce lob wedge, then you're 35 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,680 really prepared for any turf condition because when the sand 36 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,400 or grass is soft, the ball comes out slow and 37 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:53,920 more bounce is better than less, so you can always 38 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,319 use your sandwich. If, on the other hand, you're playing 39 00:01:56,439 --> 00:01:59,439 kind of tight, firm turf, you need more loft and 40 00:01:59,519 --> 00:02:01,359 less bounce, so you always have a choice. If you 41 00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:02,560 had that set. 42 00:02:02,319 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 2: Makeup your short game solution. Mastering the Short Game from 43 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,360 one hundred and twenty yards and in with James Siekman. 44 00:02:15,039 --> 00:02:20,199 Speaker 3: This is Golf Smarter Premium. Here's your host, Fred Green. 45 00:02:21,039 --> 00:02:22,719 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Golf Smarter Podcast. 46 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: James. Hey, Fred, thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. 47 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 2: It's my pleasure because you've got a brand new book 48 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,879 out just came out last Month's available on Amazon called 49 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,439 Your Short Game Solution, Mastering the finesse game from one 50 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,199 hundred and twenty yards and in a favorite topic of 51 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,319 the Golf Smarter Podcast. 52 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: Oh, I think hopefully a favorite topic of anybody that 53 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:45,199 wants to shoot a good score. 54 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,919 Speaker 2: And isn't that the case though? I mean, it really is. 55 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,159 And I discovered I'm not a PGA professional. I just 56 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:58,479 have the right equipment to do these recordings. And I 57 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,319 love playing golf, but I'm a weekend player and don't 58 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,280 have a ton of time to practice. But I recently 59 00:03:05,319 --> 00:03:07,960 discovered in the last year or so, how important the 60 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,039 short game is. You discovered this a long time. 61 00:03:10,879 --> 00:03:14,599 Speaker 1: Ago, Well, I did, because I mean I played professionally 62 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:18,319 and I hit the ball beautifully, and you know, it 63 00:03:18,439 --> 00:03:23,120 just was a huge competitive disadvantage when I couldn't get 64 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,919 the ball up and end couldn't kind of keep my 65 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:30,719 momentum going in the round. And if you look at 66 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:33,520 the short game is so important for a lot of reasons. 67 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,599 But if you look at just look at statistically, the 68 00:03:36,639 --> 00:03:41,919 best players make the most birdies and so you think about, well, 69 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:43,919 that means all of the best ball strikers then would 70 00:03:43,919 --> 00:03:46,319 be the best players. But you got to think about 71 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:51,240 where you make your birdies percentage wise, and typically you're 72 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,319 not making them on a two hundred and fifteen yard 73 00:03:53,319 --> 00:03:56,919 part three. You're not making on a four hundred and 74 00:03:56,919 --> 00:03:59,719 eighty five yard part four. You know you do that 75 00:03:59,759 --> 00:04:01,599 one in a while, but it's a bit of an outlier. 76 00:04:02,599 --> 00:04:05,560 The reality is you make your birdies on the par 77 00:04:05,719 --> 00:04:07,840 fives that you can't reach. You make them on the 78 00:04:07,879 --> 00:04:09,759 par fives that you can reach. You make them on 79 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,479 the short part fours where you can happen to get 80 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,479 the ball up there seventy yards from the green, And 81 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,120 so that type of shot called a distance wedge is 82 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,399 critical for making birdies, and making birdies is critical to 83 00:04:22,439 --> 00:04:25,279 being a good player. And of course if you make birdies. 84 00:04:26,519 --> 00:04:28,759 Another way to make birdies is to feel like you 85 00:04:28,759 --> 00:04:32,319 can shoot at pins. And if you have no confidence 86 00:04:32,399 --> 00:04:35,639 in your finesse, game around the greens, and you find 87 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,879 yourself playing in the middle of the green and you know, 88 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,240 having good shots that end up thirty feet or so. 89 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:45,079 So it really is feeds on itself in so many 90 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,439 different ways as far as just keeping momentum, being able 91 00:04:48,439 --> 00:04:51,920 to attack, take any advantage of the easy holes. And 92 00:04:51,959 --> 00:04:54,439 if you're not tidy with your wedge game from one 93 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:56,279 hundred and twenty yards at end, you really do not 94 00:04:56,439 --> 00:04:57,600 have a chance to compete. 95 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 2: Right book, I loved the story on how you started 96 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,480 figuring this out with your brother and being on tour 97 00:05:09,519 --> 00:05:11,959 and started videotaping on your own. Why did you give 98 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,519 us a little history of your own game and how 99 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:20,120 you got to understanding and becoming the guru that you 100 00:05:20,199 --> 00:05:22,240 are to seventy players. 101 00:05:22,399 --> 00:05:24,439 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of an interesting tale, you know. I 102 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,920 played in college, I played nicely, turned pro afterwards and 103 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,600 played those days. There was no such thing as a 104 00:05:31,639 --> 00:05:33,720 web dot com tour or a hoving tour. It was 105 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,480 get all the way through tour school or play overseas 106 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,920 or many tour events. So I went overseas and I 107 00:05:41,959 --> 00:05:44,519 played in Asian South America and did that for about 108 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,199 five years, traveling around the world playing great experience, but 109 00:05:48,879 --> 00:05:53,920 it became very clear to me that everything that I 110 00:05:53,959 --> 00:05:56,920 was working hard on to improve was actually making me 111 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,800 much worse. And I had a great touch around the 112 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:01,199 green when I was a kid, but I had no 113 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,040 thoughts either. I just kind of did it. And then 114 00:06:04,079 --> 00:06:07,839 as I started to get formal coaching, you know, I 115 00:06:07,879 --> 00:06:12,399 got much much worse. I quit, got married, and took 116 00:06:12,439 --> 00:06:14,560 a job working for Dave Hills, who's kind of a 117 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:19,959 famous short game coach. After two or three years there, 118 00:06:20,079 --> 00:06:22,600 having an opportunity to kind of learn from him and 119 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,720 dabbling a little bit more specifically in short game coaching, 120 00:06:28,439 --> 00:06:30,519 and an opportunity to start my own business. And one 121 00:06:30,519 --> 00:06:33,279 thing was very clear at that point, even after working 122 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:36,759 teaching short game schools for three years, I had no 123 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:41,279 clue what good technique was. I didn't know what worked 124 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:43,160 and why. I just knew that the things that I 125 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:45,839 was teaching in those schools and the things that I 126 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,879 was taught when I was going through college and as 127 00:06:48,879 --> 00:06:51,839 a pro were not working. And they were not only 128 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,480 not working for me, but they weren't helping for the 129 00:06:54,519 --> 00:06:58,360 people I was seeing. So I decided I need to 130 00:06:58,360 --> 00:06:59,920 go on a little bit of a journey or quest 131 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,000 to try and figure this out, since I was just 132 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,920 getting ready to open my own academy and my oldest brother, 133 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,279 Tom's a PGA tour player before I was on tour 134 00:07:08,319 --> 00:07:13,160 for eleven years and was close friends with Seve among 135 00:07:13,199 --> 00:07:16,319 a lot of great players, and asked me to come 136 00:07:16,439 --> 00:07:21,800 caddy for him at the Players Championship. So I had 137 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,160 a a kind of a unique opportunity to be around 138 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,199 the best wedge player in the on the planet, as 139 00:07:28,199 --> 00:07:30,759 well as many others like Raymond Floyd and Corey Pavin, 140 00:07:30,839 --> 00:07:33,319 and I had a huge need to try and figure 141 00:07:33,319 --> 00:07:36,920 out what the heck, you know, what worked and why, 142 00:07:37,439 --> 00:07:39,800 because at this point I only knew what didn't work, 143 00:07:40,839 --> 00:07:43,079 And uh, you know, I went and took video and 144 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,879 I studied it just like a football coach would study 145 00:07:45,959 --> 00:07:49,360 a film of a of a of a game, and 146 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,040 you know, kind of wiped the slate clean and just 147 00:07:52,079 --> 00:07:55,560 started my own my own theory. Since I didn't know 148 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,000 what to teach, I thought the most logical thing would 149 00:07:58,079 --> 00:08:00,439 would be to study what they'd do and atually just 150 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,480 teach what they do. And I found it to be 151 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,120 amazingly opposite and completely different than anything I'd ever heard. 152 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,079 Speaker 2: That's what I found so fascinating is the epiphany that 153 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:18,319 you had when you were doing this What was it 154 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,680 that you discovered? Well before I asked ask that question, 155 00:08:21,759 --> 00:08:24,920 I just want to announce to the audience that we're 156 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,439 live on periscope right now, and if the people watching 157 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,800 on periscope have any questions that they want to submit 158 00:08:30,879 --> 00:08:33,960 to James while we're having this conversation, please tim up 159 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,399 type them up on the screen and I'll try to 160 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:38,519 get to them as I can. I already have one 161 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:41,200 question that came in earlier today from Twitter when I 162 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:43,240 announced that I was going to do this interview with you. 163 00:08:43,879 --> 00:08:47,200 But tell me about you know, when you went through 164 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:52,360 the footage, James, what was it that you found? How 165 00:08:52,399 --> 00:08:56,559 were you able to get to the place where you're saying, 166 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,480 you know, this is very different than anything we're teaching. 167 00:09:00,399 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: Yes, I mean so so. I mean it's different in 168 00:09:04,519 --> 00:09:06,799 every single facet. I mean I could run through and 169 00:09:06,879 --> 00:09:10,080 list seventy things that are completely opposite of what you 170 00:09:10,759 --> 00:09:13,279 should be doing in your full swing to generate power, 171 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:14,679 and it just kind of just kind of came to 172 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:20,679 the realization as the goals change and the goal becomes 173 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:25,159 to be weak, to have a soft touch to control 174 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,799 the speed instead of generated to use loft and bounce 175 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,559 to the club. That the technique should change right along 176 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,960 with the intent. And you know, I wasn't thinking this 177 00:09:38,039 --> 00:09:40,720 far ahead, but after a while I kind of I say, well, 178 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:43,120 this makes sense to me. Now, why wouldn't it be different? 179 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:45,720 But you know the first thing I noticed was that 180 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,519 these great players Sebe Bellisteros, Raymond Floyd, what not, Corey 181 00:09:50,519 --> 00:09:54,519 Payment had a little reverse pivot in their backswing, which 182 00:09:54,879 --> 00:09:57,559 you know that they might start with their weight fairly even, 183 00:09:57,759 --> 00:10:00,679 which is another difference. I was taught to left and 184 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,399 you put your hands ahead that they had to weight even, 185 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,559 and they reversed weight shifted to add pressure in their 186 00:10:08,919 --> 00:10:11,679 left or lead leg a little bit, and the backswing, 187 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,559 their head literally moved two or three inches towards the target, 188 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:18,879 and then as they delivered the club, their head would 189 00:10:18,919 --> 00:10:22,559 stay forward. And if you think of a full swing 190 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:26,840 or even a seventy yard shot, as you turn back 191 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,279 behind the ball and swing your arms and turn your shoulders, 192 00:10:29,279 --> 00:10:34,320 you actually load pressure into your trail leg and your 193 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,120 head typically moves three or four inches behind the ball 194 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,200 as you deliver a lot of times to add especially 195 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:43,919 with a driver, to hit up on it or at 196 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,720 least hit a level. As you shift your weight your body, 197 00:10:47,759 --> 00:10:51,840 your upper body tilts back. So the entire motor pattern 198 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,360 was different, not only with balance, but with the sequence 199 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:58,679 of events, with the setup, with how they released the club, 200 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:05,080 or the role of the of not the role the 201 00:11:06,279 --> 00:11:09,279 rotation of the arm movement. Everything about it was completely opposite. 202 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,159 So I just started to just write down the common 203 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,159 allies that Sevy had. He was my main guy that 204 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:17,279 I studied because I had the most footage of him 205 00:11:17,279 --> 00:11:19,240 and he had the reputation of being the best. But 206 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:22,320 Graymond Floyd and Corey Pave and my brother who was 207 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,919 an amazing wedge player, and you know, I have Wayne 208 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,519 Grady and Jody my lot of great players that I 209 00:11:29,519 --> 00:11:32,360 had this footage of, And I just thought, well, you 210 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:33,759 know what, I don't know what the heck I'm doing, 211 00:11:33,759 --> 00:11:36,559 so I guess I'll just write down what they're doing, 212 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:37,480 and that's what I'll teach. 213 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 2: And it's worked for you. 214 00:11:39,919 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: It has it's you know, it not only worked for me, 215 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:45,360 because now all of a sudden, it's like I started 216 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:47,919 to rediscover some of the touch and feel I had 217 00:11:47,919 --> 00:11:50,799 when I was young, and I had no thoughts, but 218 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:54,600 the students that I began to teach once again, you know, 219 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:56,840 when I was working for Dave pel Squad, honestly, people 220 00:11:56,919 --> 00:12:00,799 were not getting leaving those schools improved in my opinion. 221 00:12:02,159 --> 00:12:04,360 Now on my own, I really started to see some 222 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,039 major growth, you know, some excited phone calls and emails 223 00:12:08,039 --> 00:12:09,919 of people telling me how much better they were doing. 224 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:13,399 And you know, at some point you need that confirmation 225 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:14,799 as a coach that things are working. 226 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 2: I'm fascinating you said they weren't improving at schools. Is 227 00:12:23,279 --> 00:12:26,559 that the nature of the schools themselves or it was 228 00:12:26,919 --> 00:12:29,799 what was being taught, because I've talked to so many 229 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:33,200 people who've gone to golf schools and they feel so 230 00:12:33,639 --> 00:12:36,799 great after doing a long weekend or even up to 231 00:12:36,919 --> 00:12:40,000 five days in a school, and they go home and 232 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:44,279 without somebody there to you know, keep correcting them and stuff, 233 00:12:44,279 --> 00:12:49,039 they don't remember much and very frustrated and feel like 234 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:53,039 they spent money that didn't really turn their game around 235 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:53,360 at all. 236 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,039 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a little bit of both, but I would 237 00:12:57,039 --> 00:12:59,879 say more than anything, it's just really bad information. And 238 00:13:01,279 --> 00:13:06,279 you get bad information on technique. That's bad enough, but 239 00:13:06,639 --> 00:13:12,679 Unfortunately those schools don't say this appropriately. I would say this. 240 00:13:14,279 --> 00:13:18,440 I am a coach. I'm not a teacher. So if 241 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:21,399 you came to me and needed help and I said, hey, 242 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,879 I'm going to teach you to do this technique that technique, 243 00:13:24,919 --> 00:13:28,279 and we're going to perfect this movement, you could walk 244 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,159 away with perfect movement. But Fred, but you won't be 245 00:13:31,159 --> 00:13:35,080 a better player because as a coach, I'm interested only 246 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:39,120 in performance, and so you can improve technically to improve, 247 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,080 but you can also make your training time more effective 248 00:13:42,759 --> 00:13:47,399 so that you develop skill, which is really what performance is, 249 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,960 and that those skills have nothing to do with technique. 250 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,000 They could be picking the right club, picking the right 251 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,279 landing spot, adapting for upslopes and down slopes. What do 252 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:59,039 I do? You know when the balls into the grain? 253 00:13:59,480 --> 00:13:59,639 Speaker 4: You know? 254 00:13:59,799 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: So that type of stuff was just not being taught. 255 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,879 And what's worse is that the technical information was poor. 256 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,720 What's worse yet, is that when you're thinking about technique, 257 00:14:11,759 --> 00:14:16,200 the thoughts are internal. And so, Fred, if I could 258 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:18,159 ask you, as a recreational player, what's the worst thing 259 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:19,360 you could do on a golf course. 260 00:14:21,759 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 2: The worst thing that I can do on the golf 261 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:27,679 course is keep doing I keep repeating the mistakes over 262 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:28,519 and over again. 263 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:33,399 Speaker 1: Well I would, I would argue that it's thinking too much. Absolutely, 264 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,679 you overthinking golf and you, you know, especially with internal thoughts, 265 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,399 it's so harmful for your game. Great golf is not 266 00:14:41,559 --> 00:14:45,720 internal thoughts. It's external. You're you're you're picturing your you're 267 00:14:46,759 --> 00:14:50,440 feeling energy to the target, your you know, the thoughts 268 00:14:50,679 --> 00:14:52,759 live outside your body, not in Well, you go to 269 00:14:52,799 --> 00:14:56,039 this golf school, you learn this great technique. One hundred 270 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:00,600 percent of the time is is focus. Uh, have internal thought. 271 00:15:01,519 --> 00:15:05,320 There's no mention of skill development, there's no mention of 272 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,759 how to improvementally. And yeah, it's long and tiring, and 273 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,480 you do this for three days, you get sent home 274 00:15:12,519 --> 00:15:15,960 and it's no wonder people weren't getting better because they're 275 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:20,960 doing going about the process of improving all wrong. There 276 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:25,360 has to be not just this technique that I discovered. 277 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,399 I mean, that's great and it works, but more importantly, 278 00:15:28,399 --> 00:15:33,279 there has to be an approach to improving and an logical, 279 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,360 simple way that you could spend a few minutes each 280 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,679 day to get better, to not only improve your technique 281 00:15:40,679 --> 00:15:44,600 but your skill and the confidence of what great golf 282 00:15:44,639 --> 00:15:48,840 demands and that's really what coaches do that teachers do not. 283 00:15:49,039 --> 00:15:52,440 You know, they think about the whole picture as opposed 284 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:54,039 to just some little technical tip. 285 00:15:54,799 --> 00:15:58,799 Speaker 2: Oh that's amazing. Actually, I guess the answer to your 286 00:15:58,919 --> 00:16:02,799 question is that I'm actually struggling with right now with 287 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:05,600 my putting, is I'm getting in my own way. 288 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's well. I got the putting book coming 289 00:16:08,759 --> 00:16:10,519 out next year, Fred, so we'll have to do this 290 00:16:10,559 --> 00:16:14,120 again in the year. Okay. But it's the same whether 291 00:16:14,159 --> 00:16:16,279 it's people getting their own way off the tea, they 292 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,120 getting their own way when they chip, they get in 293 00:16:18,159 --> 00:16:23,879 their own way when they putt. But if I was 294 00:16:23,919 --> 00:16:29,759 going to share with you, that's such a multifaceted, interesting problem. 295 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:31,519 And I do go into great detail on this next 296 00:16:31,559 --> 00:16:34,799 one about that very topic because that's I think a 297 00:16:34,879 --> 00:16:37,679 very common problem, that might be the most common problem. 298 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,039 But if you're getting in your own way, there's two 299 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,440 things happening. Once again, thoughts are internal. You're thinking about 300 00:16:44,679 --> 00:16:46,960 how to move the club. You're thinking about a position 301 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,600 of your head or your arm, or the motor of 302 00:16:49,639 --> 00:16:52,120 your stroke, or what you want the club to do. 303 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:59,000 And I would move your thoughts and train to try 304 00:16:59,039 --> 00:17:05,680 and think of external and kind of a subconscious reaction 305 00:17:05,759 --> 00:17:08,599 to what you picture. And the way I do that 306 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:13,240 with my students is I separate training time by intent. 307 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,720 So if the intent of training is to work on 308 00:17:16,799 --> 00:17:21,519 and improve your technique, then we eliminate the whole we 309 00:17:21,559 --> 00:17:25,759 put into open space and we think of only technique. 310 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,079 Those are those internal thoughts, and we do it in 311 00:17:28,559 --> 00:17:31,119 a manner where there's some feedback whether we know we're 312 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:33,759 doing it right or not. So might just create a 313 00:17:33,799 --> 00:17:37,599 simple workstation for your putting or for your wedge play 314 00:17:37,839 --> 00:17:41,599 or your bunker player or whatever, and it just might 315 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,240 be some swings without the ball or certainly without a 316 00:17:45,279 --> 00:17:51,519 pin where we evaluate the technique. Then you just have 317 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:54,839 to flush that completely and you have to think about skill. 318 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,119 And so you do that through random practice instead of 319 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:02,480 one ball after the other. In the same you scatterballs everywhere. 320 00:18:03,279 --> 00:18:04,880 You have all your clubs, and you go through an 321 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,720 organized process to get yourself ready. And in the book, 322 00:18:07,759 --> 00:18:13,960 I talk about this process starting with assessment of the lie, 323 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:16,799 the wind, the grain, all the factors that would influence it, 324 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:21,720 choosing a club, choosing a trajectory, choosing a landing spot, 325 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,079 visualizing the ball go in. So now all of a sudden, 326 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,240 as I visualize, the thoughts are external, Right, have my 327 00:18:28,319 --> 00:18:32,319 thought walking in clear and committed, taking a rehearsal swing, 328 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:37,160 thinking of nothing more, that kind of energy to your picture, 329 00:18:38,279 --> 00:18:42,319 and then then reacting like you tied your shoe this morning, Fred, 330 00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:44,440 which is you don't know how you did that, you just. 331 00:18:44,319 --> 00:18:47,079 Speaker 2: Did it, you think about it. 332 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,039 Speaker 1: You can take that approach to putting as well. When 333 00:18:51,079 --> 00:18:53,680 you're taking a rehearsal swing or you're over the ball, 334 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:59,480 are you reacting to a vision or are you consciously 335 00:18:59,519 --> 00:19:03,799 trying to move the club a certain way? And that 336 00:19:04,039 --> 00:19:06,799 that's the definition of to some extent of getting in 337 00:19:06,839 --> 00:19:10,559 your own way, you know. So that's the pre shot 338 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,759 kind of portion of that equation. There's also a post shot, 339 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:19,160 a portion where the most important time in golf is 340 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,000 what you do after a bad shot. What's the what 341 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,279 do you what's the first five seconds you after a 342 00:19:23,319 --> 00:19:25,920 bad shot? How do you react? How do you respond? Well, 343 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,440 the typical person, let's say you miss a short pot, 344 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:36,599 you miss a two footers. If they get angry, they 345 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:40,160 get frustrated, they get despondent, they go, oh, I can't pot, 346 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:45,160 I'm horrible at this, you know, all the negative self talk, right, So, uh, 347 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,079 that's certainly not making the next one easier, right that 348 00:19:48,079 --> 00:19:51,400 that your your self image is taking a big blow 349 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:53,240 every time you say I can't do this, I'm no 350 00:19:53,319 --> 00:19:56,240 good at it, this is frustrating or just feeling that 351 00:19:56,279 --> 00:20:02,519 negative emotion. So that's not what champions do. Champ think 352 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:07,960 about the results unemotionally and allow them to direct direct 353 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:09,599 them in a positive way so they can do the 354 00:20:09,599 --> 00:20:13,400 next one better. So that's literally why I titled my 355 00:20:13,519 --> 00:20:18,960 book Your Short Game Solution, because as a coach, I 356 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:23,359 ask the same question probably five hundred times a day, 357 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:27,279 and I always asks, Okay, what's the solution of that? So, Fred, 358 00:20:27,319 --> 00:20:32,039 you missed this two footer? What's the solution? Well, it 359 00:20:32,039 --> 00:20:34,920 could be more break could be less energy, could be 360 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:39,160 more commitment, could be I didn't quiet my eye and 361 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,039 do my breathing or whatever it is that we're working on, right, 362 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:46,559 and you say, well, next time, I'll just recommit and 363 00:20:46,599 --> 00:20:50,599 I'll do that foundational thing better. And so therefore you 364 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,640 missed your two footer, but you've recommitted in a positive 365 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,319 way to your plan, as opposed to missing your two 366 00:20:56,319 --> 00:21:00,079 footer and going wow, I suck. I can't put. So 367 00:21:00,279 --> 00:21:04,200 there's a lot of little pitfalls mental pitfalls to to 368 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,279 putting or performance in golf that people just don't quite 369 00:21:08,319 --> 00:21:10,440 get right. They just don't quite have the mental discipline 370 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:14,240 or the knowledge to to kind of self coach in 371 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:20,440 a positive way. 372 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:26,440 Speaker 2: You know, your your book. It's actually it's very hard 373 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:29,240 to do in an audio podcast go over the book 374 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:33,599 in detail because it's such a technical book and there 375 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:37,240 are great drills in it. There's there's so much great 376 00:21:37,279 --> 00:21:39,319 information that it's the type of thing that you need 377 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:41,960 to go over multiple times. But there are a couple 378 00:21:42,039 --> 00:21:44,240 of things in the book that I'd like to talk 379 00:21:44,279 --> 00:21:48,960 about and just get your you know, rough explanation on 380 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,359 this and tease tease the audience to obviously go out 381 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:55,559 and buy the book. And that Let's talk about the 382 00:21:55,799 --> 00:22:00,759 the choosing the correct wedges for for your your game. 383 00:22:04,079 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: Right, so in your set makeup, you know, you're looking 384 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:17,640 for some versatility and the bounce options, okay, and also 385 00:22:19,319 --> 00:22:22,720 kind of an even gaps total distance between your wedges. 386 00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:25,960 So let's just look at those two criteria. You know, 387 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,599 if we're talking a distance wedge, which I define as 388 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,519 like between forty yards and maybe your full swing and 389 00:22:33,519 --> 00:22:36,000 your pitching wage. So let's say one twenty five or whatever. 390 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,240 You don't want a bigger gap than about twenty yards 391 00:22:40,279 --> 00:22:43,119 in there. So if I hit my pitching wedge one 392 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,640 twenty five, the next club I need to hit at 393 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,519 least ninety five yards, The next club I need to 394 00:22:48,559 --> 00:22:51,400 hit at least seventy five full. And if I can 395 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,359 get those nice even spread like that, then through this 396 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,640 distance wage system that I expound upon in the book, 397 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,319 you can really learn to cover any yard which with 398 00:23:00,559 --> 00:23:05,920 appropriate spin and trajectory. Okay, so that's one criteria. The 399 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:11,599 second would be the bounce options and the soul grind, 400 00:23:11,759 --> 00:23:15,079 the shape of the wedge. And I mean that's a 401 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:17,480 book in itself, just kind of going to all the 402 00:23:17,519 --> 00:23:21,160 different detail there. But if I could just generalize it 403 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:23,599 to this one point, I think it would be helpful 404 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,680 for anybody listening. You want to have a sand wedge, 405 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,279 your middle wedge, whether it's fifty four or fifty five, 406 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:36,319 fifty six doesn't matter with a lot of bounce on it. 407 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,759 Bounce is the difference between the bottom back of the 408 00:23:39,759 --> 00:23:43,119 club on the soul to the leading edge and degrees, 409 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:48,759 So good sand wedge you might have between ten and 410 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:52,559 fourteen or fifteen degrees of bounce on it. If you 411 00:23:52,599 --> 00:23:54,759 have a more lofted club like a fifty eight to 412 00:23:54,799 --> 00:23:57,400 fifty nine or sixty, you want that one to be 413 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:03,960 low and bounce between four and seven, depending once again 414 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,599 on your standard technique. So with the techniques that I 415 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,680 try and get people to use, you don't need much 416 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,359 bounce because the swing is very shallow and you use 417 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,759 it as you swing. So if that's the case and 418 00:24:17,799 --> 00:24:20,759 you have a high bounced sand wedge and a low 419 00:24:20,799 --> 00:24:24,559 bounce lob wedge, then you're really prepared for any turf 420 00:24:24,599 --> 00:24:31,480 condition because when the sand, the sand or grass is soft, 421 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:34,759 kind of like it usually is in the Northeast or 422 00:24:35,519 --> 00:24:40,559 maybe up there in the northern California or whatever, you 423 00:24:40,839 --> 00:24:46,279 kind of soft conditions, the ball comes out slow and 424 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,759 more bounce is better than less, So you can always 425 00:24:48,839 --> 00:24:52,279 use your sandwich perfect you need you need a little 426 00:24:52,279 --> 00:24:54,519 bit more energy, you need more bounce. If, on the 427 00:24:54,519 --> 00:24:58,480 other hand, you're playing kind of tight, firm turf you 428 00:24:58,519 --> 00:25:00,599 get in a lot of places, whether it's exis or 429 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,799 maybe it's just have a little bit of a drought 430 00:25:03,799 --> 00:25:07,119 going on the course or whatever, or firm sand sand 431 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,559 that's been where it's rained and it's kind of packed 432 00:25:11,599 --> 00:25:14,839 in and baked. Then you need less bounce is more 433 00:25:14,839 --> 00:25:18,480 effective and the ball comes up fast or flies off, 434 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,000 so you need more loft and less bounce. So you 435 00:25:21,039 --> 00:25:27,119 always have a choice if you had that set makeup awesome, 436 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,599 that makes sense, I hope. I mean, no, it does. 437 00:25:29,839 --> 00:25:30,119 It does. 438 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,559 Speaker 4: Topic, Yeah, it is, but there was there was a 439 00:25:33,599 --> 00:25:35,880 line It's almost not a throwaway, but it was kind 440 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,160 of buried in there that I also thought is actually 441 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,480 perfect for what Golf Smarter is all about for this 442 00:25:41,559 --> 00:25:43,440 podcast and how we approach. 443 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,440 Speaker 2: Golf here, well, how I approach golf, and that is 444 00:25:46,799 --> 00:25:49,359 bad decisions versus bad shots. 445 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:55,079 Speaker 1: Yeah, there are certain conditions or trajectories that you might 446 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:59,400 play based on the lie, and of course this is skill. 447 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,960 Once again, this is not technique. It's a judgment. And 448 00:26:03,039 --> 00:26:06,160 so the most common one that I see is a 449 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:11,319 ball laying into the grain on a tight lie. And 450 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:14,039 in that case, a lot of people they may have 451 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,920 their favorite club out, which is a lob wedge, and 452 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,640 they might see a little lower shot with it because 453 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,480 they have some green to work with, So they lean 454 00:26:22,559 --> 00:26:25,480 the shaft a little forward and they take this club. 455 00:26:25,799 --> 00:26:29,039 When you lean the shaft forward, you reduce the effective bounce, 456 00:26:29,079 --> 00:26:32,160 and he's sharpened the leading edge, which is just an 457 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,960 awful thing to do into the grain, where if you 458 00:26:35,039 --> 00:26:37,240 hit just a little behind it with a sharp leading edge, 459 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,720 it's just going to dig a trench. I mean, we 460 00:26:39,759 --> 00:26:43,359 all saw that. I think the listeners think back at 461 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,400 Tiger the Hero World Challenge where he's into the grain 462 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,119 on that sticky Bermuda and he's digging the leading edge 463 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:52,799 in the ground, just duff and shot after shot. That 464 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,680 is much about that certainly was technique in his case, 465 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:00,759 but it's more about shot selection. So if you take 466 00:27:00,799 --> 00:27:03,480 your sand wedge and just just roll back the clock 467 00:27:03,519 --> 00:27:08,359 to nineteen seventy pre lobledge and take your sand wedge, 468 00:27:08,559 --> 00:27:11,960 and we can hit the same trajectory shot as we 469 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,200 did with the sixty by hitting a little higher than 470 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,400 normal shot with that sandwich, and effectively you add bounce 471 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,720 and soften the leading edge and it just works so 472 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:27,079 much better. Now the problem is that skill development, that 473 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:33,519 judgment element requires decision making and training. How are you 474 00:27:33,519 --> 00:27:36,559 supposed to learn that? How did I learn that? You know, Well, 475 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:38,880 the way I learned it is that I trained properly 476 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:45,400 by throwing balls everywhere, and you know, learning through experience 477 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:49,039 of a bunch of different trials. But that's not what 478 00:27:49,319 --> 00:27:52,319 average golfer does they. I mean you, even at my 479 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:54,839 own club. You think these people would have read the 480 00:27:54,839 --> 00:27:57,640 book and known better or whatever. But they go out 481 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,000 to the sharcame area. They stand in the same spot 482 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,559 for twenty minutes, and they'll hit ten shots to one pin, 483 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:06,880 and they'll hit ten shots to the next pin, and they're 484 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,279 all from the same lie, and they tee them up 485 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:14,799 and it's just horrible practice for trying to develop skill 486 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,599 and learn the little nuances of being a great player. 487 00:28:19,559 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 2: And what would you walk up to them and have 488 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:22,599 them do If. 489 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,279 Speaker 1: I would not, I would just say, you know what, 490 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,079 the reality is, if they're not going to practice properly, 491 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:31,839 they're better off just going to have a beer because 492 00:28:32,599 --> 00:28:36,319 they're probably doing more harm than good at that point. Interesting, 493 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,200 think about it. When you're in a pile, you hit 494 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,519 a bad shot, what do you do? Well? You think 495 00:28:40,559 --> 00:28:42,880 internally about what you did wrong, and then you fiddle 496 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,519 and you try something new, and then you at some 497 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,119 point you stay there long enough, you're going to hit 498 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,440 a shot you don't like, you know, it's just there's 499 00:28:52,519 --> 00:28:55,279 no resiliency in it, there's no toughness in it, there's 500 00:28:55,319 --> 00:28:57,640 no skill development in it, and so they're just better 501 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,599 off just like skipping all together. 502 00:29:06,799 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 2: You mentioned Tiger and I'm That kind of leads into 503 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,640 the question that did come across on Twitter today from 504 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:17,119 Nick at Golf Progress. What did you see in Tiger's 505 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:22,440 wedge play that was so radically different between Augusta and Phoenix. 506 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let's just backtrack a little. Let's say what 507 00:29:27,319 --> 00:29:33,359 was so radically different between Phoenix and what he did 508 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:37,480 in two thousand? Technique in two thousand, when he was 509 00:29:37,519 --> 00:29:43,079 at the top of his powers, there was spotless, very 510 00:29:43,119 --> 00:29:48,119 fundamentally sound that this technique in Phoenix and before was 511 00:29:48,319 --> 00:29:53,839 just absolutely awful. Everything awful. Know, the setup was bad, 512 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,480 He's backing up in the middle of his motion. The 513 00:29:56,559 --> 00:29:59,880 backstriing was wrong, and he think, how could a person 514 00:30:00,079 --> 00:30:06,920 of that talent regressed that far? Uh? And the reality 515 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,440 is only when you the only way to get that 516 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:12,839 far is to work hard on the wrong things. So 517 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,319 he got some bad information at some point, practiced it diligently, 518 00:30:18,599 --> 00:30:21,079 you know, wasn't quite getting what he wanted out of 519 00:30:21,119 --> 00:30:23,799 it and the whole thing regresses. And in this case, 520 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:29,240 I know for a fact that the changes he was 521 00:30:29,319 --> 00:30:31,960 making in his backswing, with the way he moved his arms, 522 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,200 and you know he's working on his full swing first 523 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,960 with Haney and then with Sean Foley, that the arm movements, 524 00:30:39,039 --> 00:30:42,519 the motor patterns that he was working on hard or 525 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,519 change that dramatically. He was. He just kind of crept 526 00:30:46,519 --> 00:30:49,000 into his finesca and he was literally moving his arms 527 00:30:49,039 --> 00:30:54,240 exactly the same way, and that ultimately ended up making 528 00:30:54,319 --> 00:30:56,960 him change his set up and the whole motor pattern. 529 00:30:57,039 --> 00:31:02,720 So that's very common mistake. The major premise of my 530 00:31:02,759 --> 00:31:06,039 book is that the full swing and short game are opposites. 531 00:31:06,079 --> 00:31:09,319 They're not the same, and if you use the same 532 00:31:09,359 --> 00:31:12,279 motor pattern for both, you'll only be good at one. 533 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:15,480 You know, you just got to pick your one you 534 00:31:15,519 --> 00:31:16,119 want to be good at. 535 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,240 Speaker 2: I guess I was very I was very surprised when 536 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:22,160 I came across that part in the book. Is like, wa, wait, 537 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:24,920 completely different swings on your short game. 538 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:31,039 Speaker 1: Now, I should say I finished that comment. I guess sure. 539 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:37,200 Tiger's new coach, Chris Como, a smart guy friend of mine, 540 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,319 has a ton of knowledge and he inherited this issue 541 00:31:42,319 --> 00:31:45,680 with Tiger, he didn't create it. So I think the 542 00:31:45,759 --> 00:31:49,200 reality is I think that was a shocker as a 543 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:51,119 coach when he shows up and he's working on full 544 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,240 swing and to find out that his player can't ship. 545 00:31:54,279 --> 00:31:56,240 Kind of found that out after the fact, and then 546 00:31:56,519 --> 00:31:59,359 I think, given, you know, then Tiger takes a break 547 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,599 and they sit there and they focused on that part 548 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,160 of the game and worked it through. And I think 549 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,759 now the difference that Augusta is just operating with good 550 00:32:07,759 --> 00:32:13,119 information and everything has changed. Like setup is completely different, backswing, 551 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:17,160 arm movement patterns different, is balance, and the way he 552 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:22,480 releases the club was completely different. So one technique interesting. 553 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:26,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, I've asked a number of different coaches that we've 554 00:32:26,759 --> 00:32:32,160 had on the show, if you had the chance to 555 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:34,720 talk to Tiger for fifteen minutes or you know, if 556 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,200 he called you and said would you help me? What 557 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:41,039 would you do? And so many have said, just go 558 00:32:41,119 --> 00:32:43,039 back to what got you here in the first place, 559 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:44,640 stop playing with it. 560 00:32:45,359 --> 00:32:47,279 Speaker 1: Yeah, but how do you do that? I mean, it's 561 00:32:47,279 --> 00:32:50,799 like putting the toothpaste back into the tube once you 562 00:32:50,839 --> 00:32:54,720 sweeze it out. It's just like it's impossible motor patterns 563 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,599 have changed, your body, motor memories have changed. You know, 564 00:32:58,799 --> 00:33:02,319 everything's different. So you like the reality is that's why 565 00:33:02,759 --> 00:33:05,160 you got to have foundational beliefs. They need to be 566 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,960 well defined. You got to have ways to train so 567 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,839 that you never really degenerate or get lost and move 568 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,119 away from them. And I think that's that's really what 569 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,960 happened when he switched kind of coaches. He switched complete 570 00:33:20,039 --> 00:33:22,759 concepts of how to do it, and then at some 571 00:33:22,839 --> 00:33:25,319 point he didn't know. It was kind of like me 572 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,680 when I was teacher. It's like, well, I don't know 573 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:36,559 what's right, but I know that's wrong, you know, So. 574 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,039 Speaker 2: So tell us where where you're teaching now, and if 575 00:33:36,039 --> 00:33:39,480 people wanted to reach out and work with you, where 576 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,200 they would go and how they would get in touch 577 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:41,400 with you. 578 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:45,079 Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I have a golf academy in Omaha, Nebraska, 579 00:33:45,279 --> 00:33:49,440 Shadow Ridge Country Club. The easiest way to get a 580 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:51,079 hold of me would pre to send me an email. 581 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:56,480 Just go to my website JS golf Academy dot com, 582 00:33:57,279 --> 00:34:01,119 and there's a place where they can kind of see 583 00:34:01,119 --> 00:34:03,240 some tips and do all those sort of things, but 584 00:34:03,279 --> 00:34:08,559 also a place where they can contact me. I honestly, 585 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,599 not here very often. I work in one on an 586 00:34:11,599 --> 00:34:16,559 airplane pretty much every week, working with tour players and 587 00:34:16,599 --> 00:34:21,559 doing different things. But I'm usually here, you know, two 588 00:34:21,679 --> 00:34:25,239 or three days a week, and you know, if they 589 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:26,760 want too bad enough, we can certainly find a way 590 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:27,320 to get together. 591 00:34:28,039 --> 00:34:30,800 Speaker 2: How about giving us a quick tip right from the 592 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,199 book again, it's your short game solution mastering the finesse 593 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:36,639 game from one hundred and twenty yards and in how 594 00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:38,159 did you give us a quick tip from the book. 595 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the key issues around the green, especially 596 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:47,559 inside thirty yards, is to sequence your swing properly. And 597 00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:51,800 there is a power sequence where you start your downswing 598 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:56,639 with your body some shift and some wire on your hands, 599 00:34:56,679 --> 00:34:58,320 move faster in the club and you get this little 600 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:00,679 down cock so you get this little whip there. Well, 601 00:35:01,199 --> 00:35:03,480 the short game is opposite, so I call it a 602 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:06,239 finesse sequence. And the easiest way to learn what the 603 00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,239 finest sequence is, which is essentially at the start of 604 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:12,960 your down swinging the club moving faster than your arms 605 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,360 at the start of the downsing so these angles are 606 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,920 starting to be let out, is to chip with your 607 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:24,800 trailarm only just in training. So I just pretend like essentially, 608 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:26,320 like I have a ball in my hand which I'm 609 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:28,039 gonna grab here, and if I was going to do 610 00:35:28,079 --> 00:35:32,880 a little underhanded toss, I wouldn't do it by starting 611 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:36,559 my hips. I'd start my arm, the club would come out, 612 00:35:37,119 --> 00:35:40,880 and then I just release the club past my body 613 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,039 to get this nice, gentle little toss there. And it's 614 00:35:45,039 --> 00:35:47,280 the same motion. And only think I'm gonna do differently 615 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:48,599 is I'm gonna do it with the club in my hand, 616 00:35:48,679 --> 00:35:51,719 So just grip the club and the trail arm only 617 00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:54,599 set up to this normal I really like to level out, 618 00:35:54,639 --> 00:35:56,079 so I'd like to put my left hand kind of 619 00:35:56,079 --> 00:35:58,320 down on my thigh. Now I'm just gonna make a 620 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:00,519 one handed swing. Just pretend I can do it a 621 00:36:00,559 --> 00:36:05,719 little five yard toss with my trail hand, and that 622 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:09,320 gives you the perfect perfect sequences. You release the club 623 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,960 past your body, and I get a lot of calls 624 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,840 and or texts saying, well, I chip so beautifully one 625 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,199 hand only doing your drill, but when I put my 626 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:20,280 left hand on there, it's not quite as good. It's 627 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:24,480 just the perfect drill that allows you the sequence your 628 00:36:24,519 --> 00:36:28,719 swing properly, release the club pastor body and nice soft 629 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:29,679 touch around the greens. 630 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,440 Speaker 2: Fabulous tip. Thank you, and I'm just so impressed that 631 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,159 you can hit balls around the house and not get 632 00:36:37,159 --> 00:36:37,639 in trouble. 633 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:40,639 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I watch out found that's the only reason