Speaker 1: It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. We come to
Speaker 1: you every Wednesday. I'm your host, Claude Harmon. We're gonna
Speaker 1: do a solo episode of the pod this week, but
Speaker 1: wanted to take a moment and thank our partners at
Speaker 1: rap Sodo. If you've been listening to the pod, you
Speaker 1: know then I'm a big fan of their launch monitors,
Speaker 1: and I really like the MLM. It utilizes Doppler radar,
Speaker 1: so you can use it with your iPhone or your iPad.
Speaker 1: And the thing I like about this it's under three
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, right, So a lot of the launch monitor
Speaker 1: technology out there a little bit more expensive. And I
Speaker 1: think launch monitor technology is getting, you know, cheaper and
Speaker 1: cheaper because different companies like Rhapsoda are saying, okay, how
Speaker 1: can we help the regular golfers. Yes, if you've got
Speaker 1: thousands upon thousands of dollars, there are different models you
Speaker 1: can buy. You see them on tour. But for the
Speaker 1: everyday golfer that's just trying to get better, you're gonna
Speaker 1: get remarkable accuracy. You can use this indoor or outdoor.
Speaker 1: It's portable, and the cool thing is so the shot
Speaker 1: tra So we're used to seeing on TV behind all
Speaker 1: the players shows you the shape of the shot. The
Speaker 1: MLM has that has performance combines, and again, as I
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, under three hundred dollars, I just think if
Speaker 1: you're trying to get better at your golf, having this
Speaker 1: type of technology for this price allows you to look
Speaker 1: at a lot of the same numbers that the best
Speaker 1: players in the world are looking at. So obviously I
Speaker 1: work with players that are winning majors, winning tournaments, play
Speaker 1: all over the world, but when I'm not on tour,
Speaker 1: I work with regular everyday golfers and I'm always trying
Speaker 1: to figure out ways that they can get better. And
Speaker 1: I think for under three hundred dollars, you can use
Speaker 1: it with your iPhone. It doesn't really take that much
Speaker 1: to set up. It's simple to use, and you're going
Speaker 1: to get really, really good feedback and you're going to
Speaker 1: understand your numbers better. They've reacted my promo code just
Speaker 1: for listeners. Use promo code H three for fifty dollars
Speaker 1: off the MLM plus the Premiere Membership bundle. The membership
Speaker 1: unlocks combine as well as session insights, slow motion replay,
Speaker 1: and video storage up to ten thousand videos. So again.
Speaker 1: The promo code is CCH three for fifty dollars off
Speaker 1: the MLM Launch monitor plus the premium membership bundle. Rapsodo
Speaker 1: is making fantastic products. I'm a huge fan. Check them out.
Speaker 1: They can help you with your game. So I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk today about the difference between working with elite
Speaker 1: tour players and everyone else that I teach. I just
Speaker 1: got back from a fairly lengthy three weeks on the road,
Speaker 1: and it was probably nine out of the last eleven.
Speaker 1: But when I got back straight into golf lessons today,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's interesting. I think when you're working
Speaker 1: with really really good elite tour players, I mean I
Speaker 1: think that I probably spend more time on just when
Speaker 1: you know, when you're looking, I mean specifically the guys
Speaker 1: that I work with, you know, Brooks, DJ, Pat Perez.
Speaker 1: But when I look back at kind of all of
Speaker 1: the players, you know, both on the men's and the
Speaker 1: women's side, that I've been lucky enough to work with,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say there's so I mean, it's not nearly
Speaker 1: as technical as I think everyone thinks it's, at least
Speaker 1: not for me. Maybe that's just me and the way
Speaker 1: that I teach. But I mean, if I look at
Speaker 1: really since before the Masters, if I look at kind
Speaker 1: of the way Brooks has been trending and the way
Speaker 1: Brooks has been playing, the majority of the work that
Speaker 1: I think we've done over the last month till a
Speaker 1: month and a half has basically been predominantly where Brooks
Speaker 1: is con termed set up related right ball position basics.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've mentioned this a couple of times
Speaker 1: on the pod, but that's not the sexy stuff right
Speaker 1: now in twenty twenty three, right there aren't a lot
Speaker 1: of people making, you know, Instagram or YouTube videos about grip, stance, posture,
Speaker 1: and alignment. And it's something that that I think is
Speaker 1: still very very important, but I think it's probably more important. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's important for the average golfer the right grip, the
Speaker 1: right setup, the right posture, the right alignment. But specifically
Speaker 1: from you know, an elite tour player. You know standpoint,
Speaker 1: these guys have so much speed, right they're all swinging
Speaker 1: the golf club now, you know everybody, you know, it
Speaker 1: seems like everybody on tour is you know, over one
Speaker 1: seventy ball speed, over one fifteen to one eighteen, you know,
Speaker 1: over that in clubhead speed. So when the basics and
Speaker 1: when just the basic fundamentals get off, good players can
Speaker 1: hit the golf ball miles off line because they have
Speaker 1: so much speed, right they already are swinging the golf
Speaker 1: So in Brooks's case, with a driver, Brooks is you
Speaker 1: know over one hundred and twenty miles per hour club
Speaker 1: at speed, and you know over one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: mile per hour ball speed. So when his grip, his posture,
Speaker 1: his stance, his alignment, his ball position, when something gets
Speaker 1: off before he's hitting the golf ball, because he's already
Speaker 1: got so much speed, he can start hitting the golf
Speaker 1: ball miles offline. And so sometimes it's I would say
Speaker 1: most times it's a slight tweak here there. Yes, every
Speaker 1: player has their own kind of swing signature, their own
Speaker 1: swing DNA, and so all of the players that I
Speaker 1: work with, they all kind of have their own idiosyncrasies
Speaker 1: in their own way of doing things. But one of
Speaker 1: the things that I'm always checking is what they are
Speaker 1: doing in their setup. And listen, everybody has you know,
Speaker 1: from a tour standpoint, a lot of people have. You know,
Speaker 1: there isn't necessarily one setup. There are guys that you know,
Speaker 1: play with the golf ball a little bit more forward
Speaker 1: in their stands. There are guys that maybe like get
Speaker 1: a little bit more back in their stands. There are
Speaker 1: players that tend to get or like to get a
Speaker 1: little bit closed in their setup. There are players that
Speaker 1: like to get a little bit open. So, you know,
Speaker 1: from a tour standpoint, I think setups and they're very,
Speaker 1: very I think in twenty twenty three they are unique
Speaker 1: because not everybody has the same kind of setup. But
Speaker 1: having said that, you have to look at what a
Speaker 1: player is doing and kind of know what their DNA is,
Speaker 1: and you know, specifically for the guys you know that
Speaker 1: I work with Brooks and DJ both like to fade
Speaker 1: the golf ball. So we're looking at things that we
Speaker 1: can do in their setup that are going to help
Speaker 1: them be able to consistently fade the golf ball. First
Speaker 1: and foremost, for both of them, the ball gets back
Speaker 1: in their stance, it's going to cause problems, right, They're
Speaker 1: not going to be able to hit the golf ball
Speaker 1: the way they want to, specifically if they're trying to
Speaker 1: fade it because the golf ball gets too far back
Speaker 1: in the stance. They're going to catch it too early
Speaker 1: in circle and they can't really get the path where
Speaker 1: they need it to be. Now, if you are trying
Speaker 1: to hit Draws ball up in your stance, probably isn't
Speaker 1: going to help you because it's going to mess up
Speaker 1: your posture, it's going to mess up your alignment, but
Speaker 1: it's also going to mess up where you're catching the
Speaker 1: golf ball. So specifically with Brooks and DJ trying to
Speaker 1: make sure that they make sure they keep that golf
Speaker 1: ball forward. So a lot of times it's just basic.
Speaker 1: They can be hitting it quite poorly and then we
Speaker 1: can make a small, minor little tweak to the alignment
Speaker 1: and that all of a sudden changes everything, right, It
Speaker 1: changes the way they're catching the golf ball. One of
Speaker 1: the things that we've been seeing, even though he hasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily hit every golf shot perfect, really Brooks for about
Speaker 1: the last month to a month and a half has
Speaker 1: been hitting the golf ball as solid as I've seen
Speaker 1: him hit it maybe ever. And the misses are solid.
Speaker 1: So the misses are in the middle of the club face.
Speaker 1: So anytime the misses are solid, we're going to look at,
Speaker 1: is that mechanics or is that kind of something that's
Speaker 1: happening before he hits the golf ball. So I mean
Speaker 1: he's still fighting right now, having the golf ball too
Speaker 1: far back in his stance, which then closes his shoulders
Speaker 1: a little bit too much, which then tends to get
Speaker 1: him aiming a little bit more to the right. So
Speaker 1: a lot of what I've been doing over the last
Speaker 1: you know, three four or five weeks is just been
Speaker 1: you know, standing face on and just saying, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: let's get the ball position a little bit more forward.
Speaker 1: If you've watched any of his warm ups, you've also
Speaker 1: noticed his caddy, Ricky Elliott. Every now and again, he'll
Speaker 1: call Ricky in and he'll have Ricky kind of get
Speaker 1: into his stances. So Brooks will take his stance. He'll
Speaker 1: go ahead and take his club, the head of his
Speaker 1: golf club and kind of put it where his right
Speaker 1: toe is. Ricky'll stand in there, he'll step back, and
Speaker 1: then he'll do that for the left foot as well.
Speaker 1: And so you'll see Brooks do that a lot. Kind
Speaker 1: of go and look and say, okay, where's the ball position?
Speaker 1: Where is it? You know, where's the setup. And so
Speaker 1: we as guys on Brooks' team, we're definitely second pairs
Speaker 1: of eyes for him because he can't see himself. And
Speaker 1: I've talked about that a lot on the pod as well.
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of people ask me, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: when I see you on TV standing behind these guys,
Speaker 1: it turned it. You're not really saying that much. I
Speaker 1: mean that's, first of all, that's one hundred percent by design,
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to say as little as I possibly
Speaker 1: can because warm ups, specifically warm ups before rounds, there's
Speaker 1: not really a lot that you can do. Right The
Speaker 1: players are going to go play and they've kind of
Speaker 1: got to play with what they've got. And I mean
Speaker 1: it was really interesting. Brooks, even though he won at Oakhill,
Speaker 1: won the PGA his fifth major, he didn't feel like
Speaker 1: he was hitting it that great. He felt, and I
Speaker 1: definitely felt and I know Ricky Elliott as Catty felt
Speaker 1: the same. He hit it much better at Augusta, but
Speaker 1: he didn't win at Augusta and he hit it, didn't
Speaker 1: hit it that great. His warm up was I'd say
Speaker 1: his warm up on Sunday at o'kill was, you know,
Speaker 1: on scale of one to ten, I'd probably give it
Speaker 1: a six or a seven at Augusta on Sunday before
Speaker 1: the final round, I'd give it a fifteen. That's how
Speaker 1: much better it was. But he didn't win that day,
Speaker 1: and he was able to get it done on Sunday
Speaker 1: at Augusta, I mean at o'kill. He wasn't able to
Speaker 1: get it done Sunday at Augusta at the Masters, but
Speaker 1: he was hitting it better at the Masters, and he
Speaker 1: was hitting it at o'kill. But I think that just
Speaker 1: goes to what I've talked about a lot on the
Speaker 1: pod is technique versus execution. I mean, he was fighting
Speaker 1: a little bit of a setup, and so the setup
Speaker 1: has a lot to do with how he hits the
Speaker 1: golf ball. DJ is a little bit of the same.
Speaker 1: Right when DJ's kind of basics get off again, grip stance,
Speaker 1: past your alignment. DJ's tendency is it's the distance from
Speaker 1: the golf ball that he tends to get right. He
Speaker 1: can get sometimes a little bit too far away from
Speaker 1: the golf ball, which can really have a dramatic effect
Speaker 1: on how he strikes the golf ball. And then you know,
Speaker 1: we're we're always looking at what players do and kind
Speaker 1: of monitoring kind of their kind of DNA, right, what
Speaker 1: is it that we know makes them really good players?
Speaker 1: And I think after working with you know, both Brooks
Speaker 1: and DJ for you know, over a decade, you kind
Speaker 1: of have a really good idea of where they are.
Speaker 1: So I'm constantly to I think it's really important for
Speaker 1: everyone listening. Take videos of your setup, take videos from
Speaker 1: face on, and then take videos from down the line.
Speaker 1: And you know, especially if you get into really good,
Speaker 1: you know, spells of good ball striking, I always want
Speaker 1: I mean that's one of the things on Sunday at o'kill,
Speaker 1: you know, right before Brooks is getting ready to tee off.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously he's got a chance to win, you know,
Speaker 1: a major championship. He's playing good, he's swinging the golf
Speaker 1: club well. So I want to document that and get
Speaker 1: an idea of what he's doing. So I take a
Speaker 1: lot of video. And you know, Brooks and DJ, they
Speaker 1: want a lot of video. They like looking at the
Speaker 1: DJ probably maybe a little bit more so than Brooks.
Speaker 1: Brooks he likes to look at, you know, videos, He'll
Speaker 1: kind of he has his things that he likes to
Speaker 1: look at. So most of the time I've got my
Speaker 1: idea of what I'm saying to Brooks, and I'll say, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: these are things I think we need to do, which
Speaker 1: all of which he agrees with. But he'll kind of
Speaker 1: take my phone every now and go, let me go
Speaker 1: and take a look at that and just run at
Speaker 1: myself because he's looking for his own things, right, So
Speaker 1: the player will have things that they're looking for in
Speaker 1: their golf swing and the coach will have the instructor
Speaker 1: will have things they're looking for. I think we're definitely
Speaker 1: both on the same page with that. But I think
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that you're taking video of
Speaker 1: your golf swing, video of your setup, both face on
Speaker 1: and down the line, so you can have a good
Speaker 1: idea of what a good setup for you looks like.
Speaker 1: So if you're hitting really good shots on the range
Speaker 1: and you're in a practice session and you're flushing it
Speaker 1: and it looks pretty good, go ahead and take a
Speaker 1: video of what you look like it's set up both,
Speaker 1: you know, face on and down the line, so you've
Speaker 1: got that so you know that if you get to
Speaker 1: a place where you're not hitting it well, you can
Speaker 1: then go back and video yourself and say, okay, let
Speaker 1: me just go ahead and eliminate all of the things
Speaker 1: I'm doing before I hit the golf ball right, all
Speaker 1: of the things that don't take any athletic or golf ability,
Speaker 1: because it doesn't take any athletic or golf ability to
Speaker 1: set up to a golf ball in the right way right,
Speaker 1: to have the right distance, to have the right alignment,
Speaker 1: to get your hands in the right place, to get
Speaker 1: your grip in the right place. All of those things
Speaker 1: are really really vital. And I just think that sometimes
Speaker 1: people completely overlook basics, you know, they overlook what's happening
Speaker 1: before you're actually swinging the golf club. And I think
Speaker 1: if if golfers paid more attention to that and really
Speaker 1: really hyper vigilant on their setup, I think it will
Speaker 1: definitely help your ball striking, you know, being consistent with
Speaker 1: where your ball position is, be inconsistent with where your
Speaker 1: hands are at address. That was another thing that happened
Speaker 1: to Brooks at o'kill. His hands had just gotten a
Speaker 1: little bit back on Thursday. He said he felt it
Speaker 1: on the golf course. Why, I don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: these guys aren't robots, they're not machines. They're going to
Speaker 1: you know, do something. So really it was kind of
Speaker 1: a quick fix to where we were just able to
Speaker 1: go to the range and just move the hands a
Speaker 1: little bit more forward. Then the ball position, then all
Speaker 1: of the things that we were trying to work on
Speaker 1: just kind of fall into line. But definitely check your
Speaker 1: ball position, check your alignment, check your posture, and get
Speaker 1: good images of that that you've got with you so
Speaker 1: that if you're not playing the way you want to,
Speaker 1: if your ball striking isn't the way you want it,
Speaker 1: you can then go, okay, let me go back to
Speaker 1: three weeks ago where I was playing really really well.
Speaker 1: That's why I've got you know, ten eleven, twelve thousand
Speaker 1: videos on my phone because it's a catalog. I've got
Speaker 1: albums for Brooks, I've got albums for DJ, I've got
Speaker 1: albums for pat Press, and I just dump all of
Speaker 1: the videos in there. So I've got all of this
Speaker 1: stuff that I can go look at and every now
Speaker 1: and again, you know, a player will say to me, hey,
Speaker 1: you know last year, three weeks ago, month ago, two
Speaker 1: weeks ago, whatever, many videos from that that practice session
Speaker 1: or that day or that tournament or that week, and
Speaker 1: we can always then go and compare and contrast what
Speaker 1: they're doing before they hit the golf ball. So I
Speaker 1: think it's not sexy, it's not glamorous, but really really important.
Speaker 1: And then obviously, in the lessons that I give on
Speaker 1: a regular basis to just average regular golfers, I think
Speaker 1: setup is hugely, hugely important. I think alignment is probably
Speaker 1: the thing that I see most in golf lessons that
Speaker 1: I give at home when I'm when I'm not on tour.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people really really struggle with
Speaker 1: what happens before they make a golf swing, and a
Speaker 1: lot of times it can be a slight change in alignment.
Speaker 1: It's a generalization, but I would say the majority of
Speaker 1: the golfers that I see tend to have the anti
Speaker 1: slice setup, so they're closed with their feet and their
Speaker 1: shoulders are open and with irons. A lot of times
Speaker 1: you'll see players that are in that setup. You know
Speaker 1: they're in they've read all the books and the magazines
Speaker 1: and heard all of the things that say, listen, if
Speaker 1: you want to draw it, you know, aim to the right,
Speaker 1: get closed with your chest, get closed with your shoulders,
Speaker 1: get closed with your feet. But I think a lot
Speaker 1: of times because they're slicing the golf ball, the golf
Speaker 1: ball is going to the right, they're aiming massively to
Speaker 1: the right. But then because they're so tired of hitting
Speaker 1: the golf ball to the left or to excuse me,
Speaker 1: to the right, they're going to aim their shoulders instinctively
Speaker 1: more to the to the left. And with irons, it's generalization,
Speaker 1: but I see more players struggle with the ball being
Speaker 1: too far forward at address with their irons. Then I
Speaker 1: see it being too far back, and I think the
Speaker 1: reason for that is for some I wish I actually
Speaker 1: knew the reason for that for some reason, it's a generalization,
Speaker 1: but when the golf ball with the irons gets too
Speaker 1: far forward in their stands, rarely do I see someone
Speaker 1: get too closed in their setup. What we tend to
Speaker 1: see is if that ball position gets too far forward
Speaker 1: with an iron, because the clubs are shorter, it's easier
Speaker 1: for you to set up to it, and the shoulders
Speaker 1: are going to be open. So probably the most common
Speaker 1: set up mistake that I see is feet aim into
Speaker 1: the right, shoulders aiming to the left, and so a
Speaker 1: lot of times it's you work the opposite right. You'll
Speaker 1: say to a player Okay, feel like you're a little
Speaker 1: bit open with your feet, and then feel like you're
Speaker 1: a little bit more closed with the shoulders. And if
Speaker 1: we can get you into that set up position, if
Speaker 1: I can get the player to feel like their shoulders
Speaker 1: aren't so wide open when they go ahead and address
Speaker 1: the golf ball with their shoulders a little bit more
Speaker 1: square and their shoulders a little bit more neutral. Now
Speaker 1: they see how far forward that golf ball is, right,
Speaker 1: that golf ball starts to get really, really really far
Speaker 1: forward in their stands because now their chest is square
Speaker 1: and it's not open. And then that's an opportunity for me,
Speaker 1: as an instructor and as a coach, say, okay, now
Speaker 1: we move that golf ball back to a little bit
Speaker 1: more of a neutral position. And that's going to help
Speaker 1: you with your ballflight, it's going to help you with
Speaker 1: your contact, it's going to help you with a lot
Speaker 1: of things. But I mean, I don't practice without an
Speaker 1: alignment stick down. There are tour players that are religious.
Speaker 1: DJ is one that definitely always has an alignment stick down.
Speaker 1: He likes to know where his feet or aimed. Adam
Speaker 1: Scott's one that's come to mind. He loves to practice
Speaker 1: with an alignment rod, and I think it's low hanging fruit, right.
Speaker 1: It's an easy way to make sure that you're set
Speaker 1: up that your feeder aiming where you're trying to go.
Speaker 1: And then the other thing that I think is really
Speaker 1: important is, and you can do this with an alignment
Speaker 1: stick as well, is don't get locked into just being
Speaker 1: or just aiming at one target. Right. I think that's
Speaker 1: something that I see that's very common. A lot players
Speaker 1: just get locked into that one target. They hit bucket
Speaker 1: after the ball after ball, bucket after bucket, and they
Speaker 1: never really change the target. So I think, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you're working on mechanics, and you're working on you know,
Speaker 1: very specific mechanical things, if you're doing a bunch of drills, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe stay at the same target. But after you've done that,
Speaker 1: you want to say to yourself, Okay, let's see if
Speaker 1: any of this is working. Let's see if anything that
Speaker 1: I'm trying to work on from a drill standpoint, from
Speaker 1: a technique standpoint, let me see if any of this
Speaker 1: stuff is actually really helping me in my golf swing.
Speaker 1: And that's where I think you can go ahead and
Speaker 1: then say okay, let me you can still use an
Speaker 1: alignment stick, right, You could still take an alignment stick,
Speaker 1: but go through a variety of different targets, because that's
Speaker 1: always going to help you start to get into game mode. Right.
Speaker 1: I get asked so many times over the course of
Speaker 1: the year, how do I simulate what happens on the
Speaker 1: golf course in my practice sessions? Right? How do I
Speaker 1: practice like I'm going to be playing on the golf course.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the ways that you can
Speaker 1: do that is golf I think tends to get practiced
Speaker 1: in in block practice, right, in repetition, same golf club,
Speaker 1: same target, trying to make the same swing over and
Speaker 1: over and over and over again. And I think that's
Speaker 1: great if you're working on something specific technique wise, but
Speaker 1: I've discussed this in the past. I think you definitely
Speaker 1: want to break up your practice and do half of
Speaker 1: what I'll call block practice and half of what I
Speaker 1: would call random practice. Block practice is, you know, drills
Speaker 1: a lot of repetition, working on feelings, working on technique,
Speaker 1: doing the same thing over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: You're just kind of drilling in feels. Right, If you're
Speaker 1: working on something with your coach, or your instructor trying
Speaker 1: to get that back swing a little bit more inside,
Speaker 1: maybe making the backswing a little bit whatever. The technical
Speaker 1: the technique that you're working on block practice and lots
Speaker 1: of repetition is great for that. But then in your practice,
Speaker 1: I think what you also want to do is say, Okay, now,
Speaker 1: let me see if any of the stuff that I'm
Speaker 1: working on actually is really working on the driving range
Speaker 1: before I go to the golf course, right before I
Speaker 1: get out there and take the test, let me go
Speaker 1: and practice taking the test. The test is standing up
Speaker 1: and hitting shots, hitting shots to different targets, moving around
Speaker 1: on the driving range, not getting locked into one thing
Speaker 1: and not getting locked into Okay, if I'm going to
Speaker 1: work on my golf swing and work golf swing thoughts
Speaker 1: and technique, that's going to be where I'm doing this
Speaker 1: in block practice. When I go into random practice and
Speaker 1: I'm picking new targets and I'm changing up the targets
Speaker 1: and stuff, you're not thinking about your golf swing there.
Speaker 1: You're trying to play golf. You're trying to hit shot. Now,
Speaker 1: if you find you're unable to do what you're trying
Speaker 1: to do, that's when you shut it down, shut down
Speaker 1: the random practice, and go back into block practice. I
Speaker 1: really fundamentally believe that most golfers could improve by just
Speaker 1: practicing smarter and practicing better. And sometimes that's less technique
Speaker 1: and more kind of targets, more hitting shots, more hitting shapes,
Speaker 1: more hitting it high, more hitting it low. That's more
Speaker 1: of the kind of playing of the game. And that's
Speaker 1: the randomness of the game. Right when you get out
Speaker 1: on the golf course. Let's say you've been doing a
Speaker 1: lot of block practice, a lot of repetition with a
Speaker 1: seven or an eight iron, and you've just been pound
Speaker 1: in seven and eight irons. Well, if you think about it,
Speaker 1: you could go to the golf course and it might
Speaker 1: be two, three fours, four holes it depending on where
Speaker 1: you're playing, it might even be to the back nine
Speaker 1: before you actually have a shot on the golf course
Speaker 1: with the golf club that you do the majority of
Speaker 1: your practice with. So I think everybody has a favorite club,
Speaker 1: right And if you are working on technique, if you
Speaker 1: are working on specific things in your golf swing, yes,
Speaker 1: I do think it's easier to do that with shorter
Speaker 1: clubs because they're easier to control. It's hard to work
Speaker 1: a lot of technique with your driver, because first and
Speaker 1: foremost you're worried about how far it's going. You're worried
Speaker 1: about the distance you're going to swing harder because it's
Speaker 1: the driver. But I do think it's important also in
Speaker 1: your practice sessions. It's okay to work with your favorite club, right.
Speaker 1: Everybody has one. Everybody has it's for a lot of players.
Speaker 1: It's seven iron, it's an eight iron, something like that,
Speaker 1: maybe even a six iron. But those are great things
Speaker 1: to Those are great clubs to use if you're just
Speaker 1: working on drills and mechanics. But then you have to go, Okay,
Speaker 1: now let me go try. Let me do odd numbers, right,
Speaker 1: So let me go through my bag. Let me give
Speaker 1: myself five shots with all of the odd number clubs
Speaker 1: in my bag, pick out my targets, figure out where
Speaker 1: I want the ball to start for the shape that
Speaker 1: I'm trying to hit, and let me go through all
Speaker 1: the odds. So nine, seven, five, if you carry a
Speaker 1: three iron or three hybrid something like that, right after
Speaker 1: you've gotten warmed up, do that five balls with each
Speaker 1: and pick different targets. So five balls with each club
Speaker 1: and pick out a different target with every ball, right,
Speaker 1: So you're gonna go through all the evens, and then
Speaker 1: the following day you could go through the odds. Whatever
Speaker 1: it is. I don't really care. But give yourself five
Speaker 1: shots with each club, so you've got if you're doing odds,
Speaker 1: nine iron, seven iron, five iron, and then three iron,
Speaker 1: you've got five with each. Go through five different targets
Speaker 1: with each, go through your routine on the driving range
Speaker 1: with each, and treat each shot like you would treat
Speaker 1: it on the golf course. So however many practicings you make,
Speaker 1: do that, however many waggles you make, do that, but
Speaker 1: go through your full routine of practice swings, getting behind it,
Speaker 1: how you walk into it. I think that's really really
Speaker 1: important because I just see a lot of players practicing
Speaker 1: and when you're on the driving range, so many golf balls,
Speaker 1: and if you hit a bad one, you just rake
Speaker 1: another one over, and hey, I'm just gonna use that ball.
Speaker 1: I hit a bad one, let me fire one over.
Speaker 1: The other thing that I think is really important is
Speaker 1: give yourself a pitch count. Right when you're practicing, Say, okay,
Speaker 1: I've done my block practice right, I've hit however many
Speaker 1: balls I've needed to hit to try and groove this
Speaker 1: technique or this theory or this thought or this feeling.
Speaker 1: Let me go ahead and hit a bunch of balls
Speaker 1: like that and then say, okay, now I'm going to
Speaker 1: go for quality over quantity. Right, so I'm going to
Speaker 1: not rapid fire golf balls. I'm actually going to go
Speaker 1: Now I'm in random practice. I'm going to take now
Speaker 1: my seven iron I've been grinding working on Let's say,
Speaker 1: I'm working on shortening in my backswing and getting the
Speaker 1: club more in front of me on the downswing. Right,
Speaker 1: So I do my practice work on that. You know,
Speaker 1: do a bunch of technique drills, do a bunch of feels,
Speaker 1: do a bunch of different things, and say, okay, now
Speaker 1: let me see if any of this stuff works. So,
Speaker 1: now I'm gonna hit five shots with my seven iron,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to choose five different targets. Now I'm
Speaker 1: going to take five shots with my five iron. I'm
Speaker 1: going to choose five different targets. And I'm going to
Speaker 1: take five shots with my three iron, five different targets. Right,
Speaker 1: you're going through your full routine. You're going through how
Speaker 1: you would approach the golf ball, and then you know
Speaker 1: The other thing I think is really good is on
Speaker 1: your phone, go ahead and time that in time how
Speaker 1: long your pre shot routine is. I think sometimes you'd
Speaker 1: be really, really surprised. One of the things that I
Speaker 1: do with players, specifically elite golfers, is I'll look at
Speaker 1: and I'll film and time their pre shot routine, how
Speaker 1: many times they look at the whole, how many waggles
Speaker 1: they have, and then I'll make them watch that. Most
Speaker 1: of the time, I think they're surprised at how long
Speaker 1: it's taking them to hit the ball. I think they're
Speaker 1: probably surprised as to how many waggles they're taking. One
Speaker 1: of the things that I see consistently when I'm home
Speaker 1: with the average golfer is they glance very quickly at
Speaker 1: the target, stare at the golf ball, glance quickly at
Speaker 1: the target, stare at the golf ball, and then just
Speaker 1: kind of get frozen staring at the golf ball. Whereas
Speaker 1: you look at the best players in the world, the
Speaker 1: best players in the world glance at the golf ball,
Speaker 1: stare at the target, glance at the golf ball at
Speaker 1: the target, so they're always kind of looking at where
Speaker 1: they want to hit the ball. The golf ball is
Speaker 1: not going to move right, What are you looking at
Speaker 1: the golf ball? And what are you staring at the
Speaker 1: golf ball for so much it's not going to move.
Speaker 1: You'd be better off staring at your target. So go
Speaker 1: ahead and video your from face on. Go ahead and
Speaker 1: video your how you get into the golf ball and
Speaker 1: everything you do before you hit the golf ball. And
Speaker 1: the other thing I'll do is I'll ask players the
Speaker 1: looks that they're looking at right. You know how many
Speaker 1: looks Sometimes you'll see players have three, four, five, six
Speaker 1: looks from ball to target, ball to target, ball to target.
Speaker 1: They tend to be quite quick. I'll ask a player,
Speaker 1: what actually are you looking for? What are you trying
Speaker 1: to see? Now? If they're using visualization, if they're trying
Speaker 1: to visualize where the ball is starting, they're not going
Speaker 1: to be doing that right. They're not going to be
Speaker 1: glancing at the target, staring at the golf ball, glancing
Speaker 1: at the target, staring at the golf ball. If they're
Speaker 1: really working kind of their visual and really want that
Speaker 1: kind of visual of what the SHOT's going to look like,
Speaker 1: they are looking at where they want to start the
Speaker 1: golf ball they're looking at where their target is. They're
Speaker 1: glancing very briefly at the golf ball, and I think
Speaker 1: that everyone that's listening, if you can improve what you're
Speaker 1: doing before you hit the golf ball, to me, those
Speaker 1: are easy wins, right, that's low hanging for Those are
Speaker 1: gains that everybody can make because they don't take any ability. Right.
Speaker 1: You could take someone that was blind and deaf and
Speaker 1: you could put their hands on the golf club. You
Speaker 1: could set them up to the golf club. You could
Speaker 1: physically get them into the posture, ball position, posture alignment
Speaker 1: that you would want them to do. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: they could be able to hit the golf ball, but
Speaker 1: you could definitely get them to set up right. And
Speaker 1: when we're talking about setups, if you think about let's
Speaker 1: say you're going to tee off. There's a group in
Speaker 1: front of you Saturday morning. You're waiting to tee off,
Speaker 1: so you get to the tee early, and there's putting
Speaker 1: green right next to the first tee, and you're watching
Speaker 1: the group in front of you tee off pretty much
Speaker 1: by looking at the way each individual player. Let's say
Speaker 1: there's threesome in front of you and you're gonna watch
Speaker 1: all of them t off, you're probably making a good
Speaker 1: evaluation of how long the round is going to take
Speaker 1: based off of what these players do before they ever
Speaker 1: hit a golf ball, Right, You're probably so. If you
Speaker 1: watched Rory McElroy, and Roy McElroy was in the group
Speaker 1: in front of you, you didn't know it was Rory
Speaker 1: basically by the way how many practice swings he made,
Speaker 1: how many looks at the target, how many looks at
Speaker 1: the ball, his waggles, his movements, his posture, his alignment.
Speaker 1: If you're watching someone like a Rory McElroy or a
Speaker 1: Dustin Johnson or a Scotty Scheffler set up to the
Speaker 1: golf ball, you're making an evaluation of the type of
Speaker 1: player they are based off of how they're setting up
Speaker 1: to the golf ball and based off of what they
Speaker 1: do before they hit a golf ball. So, if you
Speaker 1: see a player that kind of has that kind of
Speaker 1: tour player kind of pre shot routine to where they're
Speaker 1: getting behind the golf ball, they're making a couple of
Speaker 1: practice swings, they get behind their golf ball, they're really
Speaker 1: kind of focusing in on their target. They walk in
Speaker 1: and if you watch them on the golf course, you're
Speaker 1: probably going to see them do the same thing every time,
Speaker 1: and the amount of waggles they're going to have are
Speaker 1: probably going to be about the same. How many times
Speaker 1: they look at the ball and the target and all that,
Speaker 1: that's probably going to be the same. So I think
Speaker 1: if you watch someone you put a mask over Rory
Speaker 1: McElroy and you watched him go through his pre shot routine,
Speaker 1: I think you would be shocked if he topped it,
Speaker 1: if he shanked it, if he hit it one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty yards, or sliced it or laid the sod
Speaker 1: over it or whatever. I think you'd be surprised based
Speaker 1: off of what was happening before he hit the golf ball,
Speaker 1: if he hit a bad shot in the same way
Speaker 1: that you look at that player that's all hunched over,
Speaker 1: and he's got the four knuckles and an elbow grip,
Speaker 1: and he's got the quick waggles, and he's not even
Speaker 1: looking at where he's aiming. His feet are aiming to
Speaker 1: the right, shoulders are massively open. Everything tends to be
Speaker 1: kind of quick in the movement pattern. But then they
Speaker 1: get over and there's a million waggles and there's a
Speaker 1: million kind of shuffling of the feet and all that.
Speaker 1: You're surprised if that person pipes one two ninety down
Speaker 1: the middle of the fairway. I mean, we've all been there, right,
Speaker 1: So you're making value judgments based off of how good
Speaker 1: a player is, based off of their grip, stance, posture,
Speaker 1: and alignment. So if you're doing that and you're looking
Speaker 1: at the best players in the world, and you're looking
Speaker 1: at the way that they set up, and you're looking
Speaker 1: at it and it seems maybe different than what you do,
Speaker 1: I think it's really important to go ahead and video
Speaker 1: of that video you're set up from face on down
Speaker 1: the line, and video you know, five swings, and then
Speaker 1: see if anything looks the same. Is the ball position
Speaker 1: the same, is the alignment the same, or the feet
Speaker 1: in the same place. How many waggles are you making?
Speaker 1: How many times are you looking at the golf ball,
Speaker 1: how many times you looking at the hole? How long
Speaker 1: are you taking over the shot? And I think if
Speaker 1: everyone could improve what they're doing before they hit the
Speaker 1: golf ball, it can make a massive, massive difference in
Speaker 1: what's happening when you're trying to hit the golf ball. Now,
Speaker 1: if you've got a great setup, great ball position, great alignment,
Speaker 1: great posture, and then you have a garbage golf swing,
Speaker 1: maybe it's not going to help you. But I do
Speaker 1: think that based off of what I see day in
Speaker 1: and day out, just specifically on tour, grip, stance, posture,
Speaker 1: alignment can have a massive effect on how you're hitting
Speaker 1: the golf ball. And I think that's true whether you're
Speaker 1: a tour player or you're a regular golfer. But like
Speaker 1: I said at the beginning, it's not sexy. There's not
Speaker 1: a lot of Instagram videos on posture. There's not a
Speaker 1: lot of Instagram videos on ball position and set up.
Speaker 1: There's tons of those on backswing, laying it down, handle,
Speaker 1: center of master's, tons of all that new stuff that's
Speaker 1: out there. But I promise you what you're doing before
Speaker 1: you hit the golf ball has as much effect on
Speaker 1: the outcome as anything that you're doing in your golf swing.
Speaker 1: So posture, set up, alignment, grip, where your hands are at, address,
Speaker 1: where that ball position is. Make sure that you have
Speaker 1: a good idea of what the basics are before you
Speaker 1: hit a golf ball. When you're hitting your golf ball
Speaker 1: your best and if you can have a video record
Speaker 1: of that picture reference of that to where if things
Speaker 1: get off, you can go, okay, I'm hitting it sideways now,
Speaker 1: because as soon as the average golfer starts to hit
Speaker 1: it bad, they start trying to make massive, massive, massive changes.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you don't really have to make these big changes.
Speaker 1: Maybe you just need to move your ball a little
Speaker 1: bit more forward, Maybe you need to move your ball
Speaker 1: a little bit further back. Hey, maybe you just need
Speaker 1: to watch where you're aiming. Maybe you just need to
Speaker 1: make sure that you don't get too far away from
Speaker 1: the golf ball, that your head isn't too down. All
Speaker 1: of these things can be fixed and attended to before
Speaker 1: you hit a golf ball. And if you can get
Speaker 1: in the process of making sure that, okay, when I
Speaker 1: hit a shot offline, I want to be able to
Speaker 1: eliminate my posture as an issue, my grip is an issue,
Speaker 1: my ball position as an issue, how far away from
Speaker 1: the golf ball I was, all of the basics, then
Speaker 1: you can go, Okay, it wasn't my alignment, it wasn't
Speaker 1: my posture, it wasn't my ball position, wasn't anything that
Speaker 1: I was doing before I hit the golf ball. So
Speaker 1: then you have a good idea of saying, okay, if
Speaker 1: I can tick those boxes off as being issues, then
Speaker 1: I can start to say, okay, well, the single biggest
Speaker 1: effect on where the golf ball is going to go
Speaker 1: is where you, as the player, present it at the
Speaker 1: moment of impact. So wherever that face is pointing at impact,
Speaker 1: that's where the golf ball is probably going to end
Speaker 1: up if it's shot, if it's open. But if you
Speaker 1: can sometimes I see players hitting really good shots that
Speaker 1: miss greens and they think it's a terrible shot, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's exactly where you were aimed, and they're like, really,
Speaker 1: that's exactly where you're in. You were aimed in the
Speaker 1: right bunker on this part three. Let's go and get
Speaker 1: you feeling like you're aiming a little bit left of
Speaker 1: the flag right and the player will say, oh no, no,
Speaker 1: that's way offline. Then they hit the middle of the
Speaker 1: green and you show them where they're aiming and they're like, ah, okay,
Speaker 1: so I don't need to make a massive overhaul my
Speaker 1: golf swing. No, you just need to make sure that
Speaker 1: your basics are good. So maybe not the fanciest, coolest
Speaker 1: stuff to talk about, but wanted to do a pot
Speaker 1: on it because it's something that I see both on
Speaker 1: tour but at home when I'm giving lessons to regular golfers. Basics,
Speaker 1: the way you set up to the golf ball massively,
Speaker 1: massively important. So get a good idea of what your
Speaker 1: setup looks like when you were playing your best, when
Speaker 1: you were hitting the golf ball solid. And I do
Speaker 1: think if you do get off, you can then go
Speaker 1: check that, and I think you'll be surprised that maybe
Speaker 1: it's not your golf swing, it's your setup that's causing
Speaker 1: some things in your golf swing. It's been a crazy
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. I want to thank everyone for listening.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep trying to get good guests and keep
Speaker 1: trying to give good content to help you with your
Speaker 1: golf game. Son of it. Butch comes to you every Wednesday.
Speaker 1: We will see you next week.