Speaker 1: It's the Son of a Butch podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Claude Harmon on the road this week in Mexico City.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to do a podcast about kind of
Speaker 1: the last two weeks for me. So was that the
Speaker 1: Masters had Dustin Johnson and Noah Kent, the amateur the
Speaker 1: book played at Augusta, so it was there for the
Speaker 1: entire week, and you know, tournament weeks, tour weeks, what
Speaker 1: we're doing with players, yeah, I mean, it's individual, it's
Speaker 1: specific to what the player's doing. So it was at
Speaker 1: a major all week, and then following the week, came
Speaker 1: home and had, you know, a week's worth of lessons
Speaker 1: at home with just average, everyday regular golfers, and I
Speaker 1: just kind of wanted to talk about my experience in
Speaker 1: the difference between those two weeks, because listen, it's golf, right,
Speaker 1: We're working with players, we're trying to help players play
Speaker 1: the game of golf. But it's very different at the
Speaker 1: elite tour level, specifically the week of a major. The
Speaker 1: things that you're working on with a player when you're
Speaker 1: working with them is very different than what you're working
Speaker 1: on at.
Speaker 2: Home with just regular golfers.
Speaker 1: So you know, the Masters, DJ one in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: so he's got good history there. He's finished second there.
Speaker 1: He loves the golf course, seventy four to seventy three.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean I had an unfortunate finish on Friday,
Speaker 1: Bogie seventeen, Doull bug at eighteen. But actually, you know,
Speaker 1: the first round eighty six percent of the fairways, seventy
Speaker 1: percent of the greens, didn't really putt great. It's tough
Speaker 1: to putt great around that place. Thirty three putts second day,
Speaker 1: didn't hit as many fairways, didn't hit him any greens
Speaker 1: seventy one percent of the fairways, sixty one percent of
Speaker 1: the greens, but twenty nine putts. So played a little better,
Speaker 1: easily could have made the cut. But listen, it's a
Speaker 1: hard golf course and you're going into that week. I
Speaker 1: think DJ was coming in with some good confidence. He'd
Speaker 1: played well in Singapore, played decent in Miami at Durraw,
Speaker 1: which is again a really really hard golf course. But
Speaker 1: for DJ major weeks, we're always trying to think in
Speaker 1: terms of okay, let's work on the putting, work on
Speaker 1: the short game, ball striking. For DJ, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: been driving the golf really really well. So when you're
Speaker 1: working with a player at a tournament, you tend to
Speaker 1: not practice their strengths. Right, We're not going to stand
Speaker 1: there and hit if someone's driving it really good or
Speaker 1: someone's iron plays really good, We're not going to stand
Speaker 1: there and hit a ton of those. We're going to
Speaker 1: work on the stuff that, you know, the golf course
Speaker 1: kind of demands and what.
Speaker 2: The weaknesses are.
Speaker 1: And I think for right now, you know, certainly DJ's
Speaker 1: weapons still even at this stage of his career, is
Speaker 1: the driver. I mean, he drove the golf ball as
Speaker 1: far as anybody at Augusta, so the distance is still there.
Speaker 1: He's been driving it really really well. The iron game
Speaker 1: has been pretty solid. I think the big thing for
Speaker 1: DJ is just putting. And so the week of a major,
Speaker 1: you're trying to figure out, Okay, they're going to be
Speaker 1: playing a lot of practice rounds, right, And a lot
Speaker 1: of the practice rounds at Augusta are very They're kind
Speaker 1: of specific practice rounds in that you kind of know
Speaker 1: where the flags are.
Speaker 2: Going to be.
Speaker 1: It's a very unique golf course in that it's the
Speaker 1: same golf course, right, So when you're trying to prepare
Speaker 1: for a major, but specifically if you're trying and when
Speaker 1: you're trying to prepare for a GUS to National, you
Speaker 1: kind of know what.
Speaker 2: To prepare for. The test is the test, right.
Speaker 1: The golf course is the golf course. So we're not
Speaker 1: spending a ton of time kind of technique wise, unless
Speaker 1: we absolutely positively need to. A lot of it is
Speaker 1: just strategy. The range at Augusta, the tournament range that
Speaker 1: they really only use for maybe three four times a year.
Speaker 1: I think it's one of the best ranges, if not
Speaker 1: the best range in professional golf from an aesthetic standpoint,
Speaker 1: from a look standpoint, and it's got great target greens
Speaker 1: and then it's got two very defined, specific fairways. A
Speaker 1: lot of driving ranges don't have anything on the driving
Speaker 1: range other than just flags, but at Augusta National they
Speaker 1: have trees, and so when we're hitting drivers, it's a
Speaker 1: great driving range to do that, right, because it gives
Speaker 1: you really really defined visuals. It also gives you really
Speaker 1: really defined visuals that look very similar to what the
Speaker 1: golf course is going to look like. So you know,
Speaker 1: from a st how a g standpoint, A lot of
Speaker 1: what you're talking about at Augusta is what are you
Speaker 1: going to hit off the tees where you're hitting drivers,
Speaker 1: where you're hitting three woods, what's the layup going to be?
Speaker 1: And the driving range there gives us a really good
Speaker 1: opportunity to kind of simulate what we're doing. So we
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time with DJ trying to shape holes.
Speaker 1: The tenth hole at Augusta National, for those of you
Speaker 1: that have been there, severely downhill, tremendous amount of downhill slope,
Speaker 1: but you need to basically almost hit a hook from
Speaker 1: where the tea box is. You almost want to have
Speaker 1: the feeling that you're trying to overdraw the golf ball.
Speaker 1: So for DJ, that's not his go to shape. He
Speaker 1: fades the golf ball, but there's no benefit and you
Speaker 1: just can't fade it on that hole. So spend a
Speaker 1: lot of time trying to draw the golf ball. What
Speaker 1: clubs we were going to hit off there? Was it
Speaker 1: going to be a three wood, he carries a seven wood,
Speaker 1: he carries a nine wood, or trying to look at
Speaker 1: what the weather is going to be like Thursday and Friday,
Speaker 1: where the wind is going to be, and how the
Speaker 1: golf course is going to play relative to the wind direction,
Speaker 1: So a lot of what we're doing before the tournament
Speaker 1: starts is basically I'd say more so than any other course,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe the Open Championship because of the weather and
Speaker 1: the kind of shots that you're going to have to hit.
Speaker 1: But I do think that from a prep standpoint, more
Speaker 1: goes into the prep at Augusta at the Masters than
Speaker 1: probably any tournament. I definitely think you can overprepare. I
Speaker 1: definitely think that it's a golf course that makes you
Speaker 1: think right. It makes you think on basically every shot,
Speaker 1: so you can't turn your brain off, you can't turn
Speaker 1: your focus off. So you know, certainly a lot of
Speaker 1: work in just trying to talk about the strategy. Spend
Speaker 1: a lot of time in the short game area.
Speaker 2: I think at.
Speaker 1: Augusta they have one of the best, if not the
Speaker 1: best short game.
Speaker 2: Area in the world.
Speaker 1: They've had two really big greens, tons of undulation, lots
Speaker 1: of bunkers, and it simulates a lot of what you're
Speaker 1: going to see on the golf course. So spend a
Speaker 1: lot of time over there in short game and short
Speaker 1: game is pretty good, and spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: putting wise.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a tough.
Speaker 1: Golf course to put wise, because the greens are incredibly fast,
Speaker 1: they have a tremendous amount of undulation, they have a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of slope, and its toured.
Speaker 2: You have to work a lot.
Speaker 1: On defensive putting. But if you get too defensive, then
Speaker 1: you're never really giving yourself chances. So the day that
Speaker 1: DJ had thirty three putts, birdie conversion rate out of
Speaker 1: all the birdie chances he has was fifteen percent. The
Speaker 1: following day, twenty nine putts, the birdie conversion rate was
Speaker 1: thirty six. So I do think that there are a
Speaker 1: lot of mind games that the golf course plays with you.
Speaker 1: So in the prep work that we were doing, it
Speaker 1: was more golf course and strategy related with DJ than
Speaker 1: it was necessarily swing related. And then I worked with
Speaker 1: Noah Kn't. Noah got to the finals of the USAM,
Speaker 1: lost on the thirty six holes of the USAM last
Speaker 1: summer at Hazeltine, and as a result of that, the
Speaker 1: Masters and the USGA gave the two finalists at the
Speaker 1: USAM they give them invites into the Masters. So for Noah,
Speaker 1: as a twenty year old sophomore at the University of Florida,
Speaker 1: he played in the Masters, and he was standing on
Speaker 1: the sixth hole, the par three in the first round
Speaker 1: two under, and he was leading the Masters. So regardless
Speaker 1: of what happened the rest.
Speaker 2: Of the week he didn't make the cut, he.
Speaker 1: Got to play with Bernhard Longer in his final major.
Speaker 1: Bernhard Longer on Thursday at Augusta hit hybrid into nine
Speaker 1: of the par fours, the nine of the ten par
Speaker 1: fours in a major at Augusta National, Bernhard Langer hit
Speaker 1: hybrids into nine of the ten. Noah kent on the
Speaker 1: first hole, had seventy four yards to the front, and
Speaker 1: I think he was under one hundred to the flag.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anyone hit a drive where Noah hit
Speaker 1: it on the first hole. Bernhard Langer beat him on
Speaker 1: the first day by five six. I mean, Noah's out
Speaker 1: driving him by fifty to seventy yards on every hole,
Speaker 1: and Bernhard Langer had a pot on the last hole
Speaker 1: to make the cut in his last major. So I
Speaker 1: think for Noah it was a massive, massive learning curve,
Speaker 1: the prep work that we were doing. From Noah's standpoint,
Speaker 1: he played the Terra Cotta Amateur the week before the
Speaker 1: week before that, he had played in the Houston Open
Speaker 1: on the PGA Tour event and missed the cut by
Speaker 1: a couple there, so that was a good opportunity to
Speaker 1: kind of see where his game stacked up. He was
Speaker 1: going to take that following week off and just kind
Speaker 1: of go up to Augusta do some practice round work
Speaker 1: early in the week, but I thought it would be
Speaker 1: a good idea in talking to his coaches at Florida,
Speaker 1: J C. Deacon and Dudley Hart, I thought he needed
Speaker 1: some reps. So he entered the Terra Cotta Amateur the
Speaker 1: week before Augusta and finished fourth, So I thought that
Speaker 1: was good.
Speaker 2: I thought that was really really good.
Speaker 1: And then we had to get him a caddy for Augusta,
Speaker 1: and you know that was a process as well. We
Speaker 1: thought about taking a local caddy. Obviously one of the
Speaker 1: local Augusta caddies definitely knows the golf course well, knows
Speaker 1: the greens well, but given the distances that Noah hits it.
Speaker 1: He played a practice round with Rory McRoy on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: They played the back nine. Harry Diamond said he was
Speaker 1: really really impressed. I think no outdrove Rory on every hole.
Speaker 1: So he has tremendous distance. He has tremendous power, and
Speaker 1: the task and the goal as a twenty year old
Speaker 1: now is just to try and get Noah to learn
Speaker 1: how to use that power, use his skills, use the
Speaker 1: tools that he has in his toolbox. So hit a
Speaker 1: new caddy that week, Jonathan Smart Smarty, who caddies for
Speaker 1: Cameron Stringgalion Live. But Smarty's been a good caddy for
Speaker 1: a very very long time and was on the bag
Speaker 1: for Danny Willett when he won the Master. So I
Speaker 1: thought that that would be a good fit to have
Speaker 1: somebody that had won around augusta national before that was
Speaker 1: still in the modern game, that wasn't you know, out
Speaker 1: of caddying and had caddied before. So that was a
Speaker 1: trying to get those two acclimated. It was really the
Speaker 1: first time on the Monday that they'd even seen each
Speaker 1: other and met. We had a bunch of zoom calls.
Speaker 1: They'd conversed and talked, but as a caddy, until you
Speaker 1: see a player up close. I mean I had talked
Speaker 1: to Smarty and send them videos and sent them videos
Speaker 1: from Houston and talked to him about what I saw
Speaker 1: and things like that, and I thought that first meeting
Speaker 1: was going to be really, really interesting, and I thought
Speaker 1: it was a good fit. I think Smarty was really
Speaker 1: really impressed with Noah's game and practice rounds. Tuesday he
Speaker 1: played with He and DJ played against Phil Mickelson and
Speaker 1: Michael Kim. They played the front nine. I thought that
Speaker 1: was really huge for Noah to be able to get
Speaker 1: out with someone like DJ, who obviously former world number one,
Speaker 1: has won US Open, but it's won the Masters, and
Speaker 1: they have a similar type game, and they have a
Speaker 1: similar type skill set from a distance in power standpoint,
Speaker 1: So I thought that was going to be invaluable for him.
Speaker 1: And then I can't think of anybody other than maybe
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods, that you would want to play a practice
Speaker 1: around with during tournament week than Phil Micholson. The knowledge,
Speaker 1: the skill set, the way he thinks about playing that
Speaker 1: golf course, the way he thinks about playing that tournament,
Speaker 1: and there's a reason why he has multiple green jackets,
Speaker 1: there's a reason why he's a multiple major champion. And
Speaker 1: then a player like Michael Kim, who obviously is having
Speaker 1: a really really good year, got into that top fifty category.
Speaker 1: If you follow him on social he's got a lot
Speaker 1: of really good things to say. Works with Sean Foley.
Speaker 1: I think they've done a great job on his golf swing.
Speaker 1: He's become really really consistent. And so they played a
Speaker 1: match and I think zul square going to the last
Speaker 1: hole DJ and Noah against Phil and Michael Kim. I
Speaker 1: think from the ninth fairway, Phil lipped it out, hit
Speaker 1: it to like two feet and said to Noah, well,
Speaker 1: you guys lose, and Noah hit it I think to
Speaker 1: fifteen twenty feet and then Noah buried it out him,
Speaker 1: you know, and walked it into little fistpon, which Phil
Speaker 1: was not happy about. So I thought that was really
Speaker 1: really cool to watch. Kind of the practice round set up.
Speaker 1: He took a friend that had caddy for him in
Speaker 1: the summer in the USM and the Porter Cup took
Speaker 1: him to the par three, which again really cool experience
Speaker 1: for him. But from Noah's standpoint, I mean, he is
Speaker 1: very very raw, and that's what everybody said about him
Speaker 1: that played with him. Listen, tons of speed, tons of distance,
Speaker 1: tons of power, but he has a very raw talent.
Speaker 1: Every swing is an opportunity to take control and King
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Speaker 2: These wedges adapt to.
Speaker 1: Your game and elevate your confidence. So a lot of it,
Speaker 1: again similar to what we were doing with DJ, did
Speaker 1: a little bit of technical work on his golf swing.
Speaker 1: Noah likes to fade the golf ball, so we did
Speaker 1: a lot of work the week at the of just saying, listen,
Speaker 1: let's make sure we get really really specific in our
Speaker 1: start lines where we want the ball to start, and
Speaker 1: then let's just try and get the golf ball specifically
Speaker 1: going one direction. So trying to get the golf ball.
Speaker 1: If there was going to be a miss, the miss
Speaker 1: was going to be to the right and not to
Speaker 1: the left, because it's impossible to play any tournament, let
Speaker 1: alone a major, let alone Augusta with a two way miss.
Speaker 1: So did a lot of work with him, just trying
Speaker 1: to feel like he wasn't really using his hands a lot.
Speaker 1: I think the other thing that Noah, because he has
Speaker 1: a lot of speed, but he has a very short backswing.
Speaker 1: He's six foot five, so he has a tremendous amount
Speaker 1: of speed and power. He's blessed with great genetics, long arms,
Speaker 1: long legs, so.
Speaker 2: He can move it.
Speaker 1: But I think at times his backswing gets a little
Speaker 1: bit short. So a lot of work in the practice
Speaker 1: rounds and a lot of work on the range and
Speaker 1: just saying, listen, let's make sure that you finish your
Speaker 1: back swing. So I was having him take a setup
Speaker 1: and standing and then just having him make a shoulder turn,
Speaker 1: and then I was putting my hand kind of in
Speaker 1: the middle of his back where kind of the low
Speaker 1: go on the shirt would be on the middle of
Speaker 1: a tour player's back, and I was like, listen, okay,
Speaker 1: you've got to get to hear every single time. And
Speaker 1: one of the things that I wanted him to do
Speaker 1: in his practice swings, both on the range and on
Speaker 1: the golf course, was to make a practice swing where
Speaker 1: he went to the top of his backswing and he stopped,
Speaker 1: then he started down, so he got that feeling of okay,
Speaker 1: where do we want the body to be at the top,
Speaker 1: And then did some just kind of basic impact drills,
Speaker 1: had him hit some kind of three quarter shots to
Speaker 1: where he felt like he wasn't really using his hands,
Speaker 1: really felt like the club face was coming into impact
Speaker 1: in a really really square position, and trying to feel
Speaker 1: like he was keeping his body moving his hips, his chest,
Speaker 1: his big muscles, because when Noah gets in trouble, he
Speaker 1: gets a little bit short at the top and then
Speaker 1: kind of gets way out in front of it early
Speaker 1: and then kind of has to back out of it
Speaker 1: and his body kind of can stall out and stop
Speaker 1: and the hands get active and that's where we can
Speaker 1: get that two way miss.
Speaker 2: So really wanted him.
Speaker 1: To try and feel like, you know, he was continuing
Speaker 1: to finish the turn. A phrase that my grandfather used
Speaker 1: to use, and I said this to Noah. My grandfather
Speaker 1: used to say, give yourself time to make a good backswing.
Speaker 1: And you know, that's something that I think a lot
Speaker 1: of golfers struggle with. Is in an effort to try
Speaker 1: and get more distance, in an effort to try and
Speaker 1: get more power, they're trying to hit the golf ball
Speaker 1: kind of with their backswing. And if you think about
Speaker 1: the backswing, and what I said to Noah is, listen,
Speaker 1: the backswing is the creation phase.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: You're trying to create power, You're trying to create movement.
Speaker 1: On the backswing. The downswing is where we're going to
Speaker 1: be storing that power, and then the follow through is
Speaker 1: where we're going to be unloading that power. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of golfers that kind of creation phase
Speaker 1: gets kind of lost. They don't really make a turn,
Speaker 1: they don't really wind anything up, and then they struggle
Speaker 1: with the unwine. They struggle with getting through the golf ball.
Speaker 1: So Noah just making sure that on the golf swing,
Speaker 1: the golf swing didn't get too quick, the golf swing
Speaker 1: didn't get too fast, and trying to get him to
Speaker 1: feel like with the longer stuff, he was making as
Speaker 1: big a turn as possible, but feeling like he wasn't
Speaker 1: going at it at full speed because obviously the speed
Speaker 1: is going to change when he gets to the golf course. Adrenaline, focus,
Speaker 1: you know, pressure, all of those things, so the golf
Speaker 1: swing is going to get faster on the golf course.
Speaker 1: So I thought, you know, I thought our practice rounds
Speaker 1: were really good.
Speaker 2: He wasn't.
Speaker 1: He likes to fade the golf ball. He can draw
Speaker 1: the golf ball, but the tenth hole, he made some
Speaker 1: big numbers there. The tenth hole was the struggle for him.
Speaker 1: So we were trying in the practice rounds to figure out, Okay,
Speaker 1: what do we do. Do we smash just smash driver,
Speaker 1: because that's the club he has the most confidence in.
Speaker 1: Do we hit three wood? He carries a seven wood,
Speaker 1: which he can carry well over two fifty three wood
Speaker 1: he can carry, you know, close to three hundred. But
Speaker 1: I thought ten was going to be a difficulty shot
Speaker 1: because it doesn't suit his eye. It's a nervous one,
Speaker 1: and it's one where there really isn't another option other
Speaker 1: than to stand up and hit a draw if you
Speaker 1: want to take advantage of the slope.
Speaker 2: It is a brutal shot.
Speaker 1: If you hang one out kind of to the right
Speaker 1: and it doesn't catch the slope and it doesn't go
Speaker 1: down the hill, then you're on a down slope ball
Speaker 1: can kind of either be a blow or above your
Speaker 1: feet and you're going in over two hundred yards to
Speaker 1: a green that is incredibly difficult to hit under normal circumstance.
Speaker 1: You missed the green to the left, you're you're pretty
Speaker 1: much making bogie your double. You miss the green to
Speaker 1: the right and one of the bunkers to the right,
Speaker 1: depending on where the pin is, and you're in the
Speaker 1: bunker on the right, the green slopes dramatically away. It's
Speaker 1: a very hard bunker shot. If you hit it there,
Speaker 1: you're probably gonna make bogie it best.
Speaker 2: And he didn't execute.
Speaker 1: On the golf course in the tournament the shot that
Speaker 1: we had practiced. He was able to do it in practice,
Speaker 1: and you know, trying to get him, Okay, listen, you're
Speaker 1: gonna try and hit a little bit of a draw
Speaker 1: with either probably your three wood, go at it a
Speaker 1: little bit easier, because the harder you go at it,
Speaker 1: that's when you tend to not finish that backswing, and
Speaker 1: then you can get way out in front of it
Speaker 1: early and then you can bring in the big right
Speaker 1: man where you can bring in the quick left miss.
Speaker 1: He brought in the quick left miss. He missed it
Speaker 1: left and gonna make bogear double if you do that.
Speaker 1: But really really proud of him. On Friday, which was
Speaker 1: his final round, he didn't make the cut. He had
Speaker 1: that kind of same shot that Roy McElroy had up
Speaker 1: on the pine straw on thirteen. Everybody saw Rory hit
Speaker 1: it to you know, probably six seven feet and make
Speaker 1: the putt for eagle. Noah had pretty much the same
Speaker 1: shot pretty much the same club. I think he hit
Speaker 1: a chip four iron kind of like Rory did. Hit
Speaker 1: it to a foot eagle, got some crystal. If you
Speaker 1: make an eagle out Augusta, you get some crystal. And
Speaker 1: I think that was really one of the highlights. He
Speaker 1: said afterwards that he tried to enjoy it a little
Speaker 1: bit more. On Friday's practice round, he also said, and
Speaker 1: I think this was something that was important that we
Speaker 1: saw on Thursday. He and his caddy Smarty, they were
Speaker 1: in between clubs. He chose a shot that I don't
Speaker 1: think he was one hundred percent committed to and ended
Speaker 1: up not making a birdie on a par five that
Speaker 1: he can easily easily reach. And he said he didn't
Speaker 1: let go of it right. He said, he just kept
Speaker 1: thinking about it, was pissed off about it, let it
Speaker 1: really really affect him, and he went on a really
Speaker 1: bad stretch nine, ten, and eleven, the double bogie on ten.
Speaker 1: One think he was still thinking about the fact that
Speaker 1: he didn't make birdie on eight, didn't take advantage of
Speaker 1: the par five, and so I think that was a
Speaker 1: big learning curve for him to kind of learn about,
Speaker 1: you know, what it takes to play tournament golf at
Speaker 1: the highest level what it takes to play in a
Speaker 1: major championship. But you get to play with will Zlaturus,
Speaker 1: one of the best young players in the game, and
Speaker 1: got to play with Bernhard Longer and his final masters,
Speaker 1: and Bernhard smoked him and doesn't have any of the
Speaker 1: tools that Noah has. But the tools that Bernhard has
Speaker 1: are the tools that help you win majors and help
Speaker 1: you win golf tournaments over a forty year career. And
Speaker 1: I thought that given the type of player, and given
Speaker 1: the modern type of player that Noah is six', five you,
Speaker 1: know can get one ninety five ball. Speed the task
Speaker 1: is going to be to get him to learn how
Speaker 1: to just use all that power and use all that
Speaker 1: speed in a usable. Way it doesn't do you any
Speaker 1: good to be able to hit the golf ball the
Speaker 1: distance that some of these young players can hit. It
Speaker 1: if you can't hit your wedges the numbers that you
Speaker 1: need to hit, them if you can't control the, spin
Speaker 1: if you can't control the. Trajectory so, yeah everybody that
Speaker 1: plays With noah can't marvels at the, speed the, distance the,
Speaker 1: potential the bright. Future but now he's got to go
Speaker 1: back To florida and now he's got to get his
Speaker 1: ass back to work and he's got to take what
Speaker 1: he's learned from playing in A Pga tour event In
Speaker 1: houston and playing in a, major playing in The, masters
Speaker 1: AND i was proud of. Him he doesn't know what
Speaker 1: he doesn't, know big learning curve for. HIM i think
Speaker 1: he just got an invite into The Byron nelson on
Speaker 1: THE Pga, tour so that'll be the SECOND pga tournament
Speaker 1: he's played in a. Month so he's on a good
Speaker 1: run of getting his game tested against the best.
Speaker 2: Players in the. World so really really cool to see.
Speaker 1: That it's always shitty going Home friday Night saturday morning
Speaker 1: from a, major specifically From, augusta so had to do,
Speaker 1: that went back Watched rory. WIN i mean it was
Speaker 1: only a matter of, time, RIGHT i, mean the guy.
Speaker 1: Here isn't a golf course on the Planet earth that
Speaker 1: has been designed more for one player's game than the
Speaker 1: skill set That rory McElroy. Has sunday nervy, start WHICH
Speaker 1: i thought was to be, expected but got it. Done
Speaker 1: it wasn't, pretty but he gets his fifth, major he
Speaker 1: gets The Grand, slam and exactly what a player of
Speaker 1: his caliber. Deserves he's been one of the, best if
Speaker 1: not the best player in the game for a number of.
Speaker 1: Years fun to, watch exciting to. Watch The, masters always
Speaker 1: a great. Tournament so last WEEK i was home and
Speaker 1: again coming off a, major coming off working with some
Speaker 1: of the best players in the, WORLD i go home
Speaker 1: AND i give golf lessons to, normal regular people trying to.
Speaker 1: Improve so one of the gore some things with two
Speaker 1: or two junior girls actually probably you, know in that
Speaker 1: kind of twelve to fifteen, range you, know just starting
Speaker 1: to play tournament. Golf so in a lot of, ways
Speaker 1: very much still kind of beginning. Golfers and obviously that's
Speaker 1: incredibly different than working With Dustin johnson at The, masters
Speaker 1: who's a two time major, champion former world number, one
Speaker 1: and has got a green. Jacket, Right so when we're
Speaker 1: looking at the difference between tour players and regular, GOLFERS i,
Speaker 1: mean to, me And i've talked a lot about this
Speaker 1: on the, podcast WHEN i go home from working on
Speaker 1: tour and go back to teaching normal, golfers just, everyday
Speaker 1: regular non tournament, GOLFERS i Think i'm always focused coming
Speaker 1: back from those tournament weeks on contact on the quality of,
Speaker 1: strike because you stand on a range at The, masters
Speaker 1: nobody's shanking, it nobody's topping, it nobody's hitting it. Fat
Speaker 1: they all hit it, really really. Solid the sound of
Speaker 1: a tournament major driving range is very different than the
Speaker 1: sound of our driving ranges at.
Speaker 2: Home so worked with the.
Speaker 1: Girls she's probably thirteen, fourteen and she just needed impact.
Speaker 1: Right the impact wasn't, Solid AND i think in a
Speaker 1: lot of, WAYS i see a lot of young juniors like.
Speaker 1: This she's made that jump FROM Us kids.
Speaker 2: Clubs to regular.
Speaker 1: CLUBS i think she's right on the borderline of that in, that,
Speaker 1: yes she's almost two young FOR Us kids, clubs but
Speaker 1: she's almost not big enough for the regular set that she's.
Speaker 1: Playing SO i think a lot of her, issues like
Speaker 1: a lot of junior, golfers, specifically in my, experience a
Speaker 1: lot of junior girls is moving the golf club takes
Speaker 1: coordination and strength and, speed and so this, girl she
Speaker 1: was really struggling like a lot of. Players you, know
Speaker 1: four or five good, ones two or three bad, ones
Speaker 1: three more good, ones ten bad, ones eight good, ones
Speaker 1: two or three bad, ones and the bad shots almost
Speaker 1: exclusively are Not, yes they're directional, misses but they're directional
Speaker 1: misses caused by poor. Contact and so in an effort
Speaker 1: to try and make that jump FROM us kids clubs
Speaker 1: to real golf clubs to getting maybe starting to play more,
Speaker 1: tournaments to, me she's just overswinging the golf club and
Speaker 1: she couldn't really control what was happening at the bottom
Speaker 1: at the moment of contact where she's striking the golf.
Speaker 1: Ball so a lot of impact drills got her own
Speaker 1: swing catalyst and was able to kind of show her
Speaker 1: where her weight was, transferring how her weight was. Transferring
Speaker 1: like a lot of, girls in effort to try and
Speaker 1: get that golf ball in the, air she had more
Speaker 1: weight on her back. Foot she's a right handed, golfer
Speaker 1: so her trail, foot which is her right, foot had
Speaker 1: more weight on her right, leg her right side and
Speaker 1: impact so did a lot of waist high back waist
Speaker 1: high through swings just to get her kind of this
Speaker 1: concept of where her body needed to be at contact
Speaker 1: at the moment of.
Speaker 2: Impact AND I i think.
Speaker 1: That's a really important thing if you're struggling with, contact
Speaker 1: make the movement patterns. SMALLER i always try and make
Speaker 1: analogies When i'm giving golf, lessons and so to, me
Speaker 1: contact is just learning how to control the. Car when
Speaker 1: you're learning how to, drive, right we're not giving you
Speaker 1: A ferrari and telling you to get From, Jupiter florida
Speaker 1: To West Palm, beach which is about an hour and
Speaker 1: a half.
Speaker 2: Tour we're not.
Speaker 1: Giving you a car when you're just learning how to
Speaker 1: drive A ferrari and, saying all, right drive and get
Speaker 1: there as fast as you possibly, can because what's going to.
Speaker 1: Happen you're going to crash the. Car so a lot
Speaker 1: of WHAT i like to, do especially with, juniors is
Speaker 1: get impact, first BECAUSE i think a lot of people
Speaker 1: listening to the podcast still on a regular, basis struggle with.
Speaker 1: Impact they struggle with quality of, strike AND i think
Speaker 1: that's something that a lot of golfers don't learn long,
Speaker 1: enough early.
Speaker 2: Enough so WHAT i mean by that is they.
Speaker 1: Don't stay in contact. Enough they want to start working
Speaker 1: on their backswing, plane the position at the top of
Speaker 1: the back. Swinging they're trying to hit the golf ball,
Speaker 1: further all of which is vitally, important, Right that's what
Speaker 1: the best players we don't have to work. On So
Speaker 1: i'm at a major WITH no AND. Dj we're not
Speaker 1: working on, contact, Right we're not working on making sure
Speaker 1: they hit the golf ball. Solid they do, that that's
Speaker 1: why they're. There SO i think most golfers just never
Speaker 1: stay in contact drills long enough and don't revisit them
Speaker 1: on a regular, Basis and so what they think is
Speaker 1: the issue is directional. Misses how where the ball is,
Speaker 1: curving slices and. Fades but if you hit the golf
Speaker 1: ball more, solid you're going to catch it more in
Speaker 1: the center of the. Face the ball speed's going to.
Speaker 1: Jump and however you're curving the golf, ball you're going
Speaker 1: to curve it less because you're hitting it more in
Speaker 1: the center of the. Face so with this young, junior
Speaker 1: just a lot of impact drills and getting her to
Speaker 1: see where her body is at. Impacts so a lot
Speaker 1: of video, work, right videoing the first couple of golf
Speaker 1: swings that comes in, with and then showing her kind
Speaker 1: of the difference between where her body is and where
Speaker 1: the club is and where the quality of strike is through.
Speaker 1: VIDEO i like to do. THAT i like to use
Speaker 1: launch monitor. TECHNOLOGY i like to use swing, catalysts.
Speaker 2: Force plate stuff like. That BUT i like to marry
Speaker 2: that with.
Speaker 1: Visuals, okay so look at where your body is in
Speaker 1: your full swing weight a lot on the right. Leg
Speaker 1: you kind of get scoopy with that left. Wrist so
Speaker 1: we did a little kind of nine to three impact
Speaker 1: drill to where you're taking the golf club back kind
Speaker 1: of standing within the dial of a, clock kind of
Speaker 1: at that waist high nine o'clock on the backswing if
Speaker 1: you're right, handed and then following through to that waist
Speaker 1: high on the funnel, through which is kind of if
Speaker 1: you're standing in a clock kind of at that three,
Speaker 1: o'clock so that nine to, three and then using the
Speaker 1: video to, say, okay your weight's. Different we can get
Speaker 1: swing catalysts to show you. That but now all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you've got a little bit of forward chafflein that.
Speaker 1: Impact the quality of the strike is more, consistent and
Speaker 1: you are controlling the golf club better as opposed to
Speaker 1: the golf club controlling. You when you look at your
Speaker 1: golf clubs and you look at a bag of golf
Speaker 1: clubs that you, Have so when you go to the driving,
Speaker 1: range and you take your bag to the driving range
Speaker 1: and you pour all the golf balls out and you're
Speaker 1: going to start hitting golf. Balls always remember. This your
Speaker 1: golf clubs do not have a mind of their. Own
Speaker 1: they cannot move. Themselves so your golf clubs are a
Speaker 1: little bit like your. Car, right your car will sit
Speaker 1: in the, driveway will sit in a parking lot until
Speaker 1: you get in the, car turn on the engine and
Speaker 1: drive the. Car and very much like driving a, car
Speaker 1: if you think about the speed at which you're trying
Speaker 1: to drive a, car you can drive a car too
Speaker 1: fast and lose. Control you can swing the golf club
Speaker 1: too fast and lose. Control and then the steering wheel
Speaker 1: the car is going to go in the direction you
Speaker 1: point the steering. Wheel so the steering wheel of the
Speaker 1: car is kind of THE i always think of the
Speaker 1: steering wheel of the car kind of like what my
Speaker 1: hands are, doing what the grip is, doing what the
Speaker 1: club face is. Doing so wherever your hands are at
Speaker 1: impact is going to affect where the club face is at,
Speaker 1: impact and where the club faces at impact is going
Speaker 1: to affect where the ball. Is so coming back from
Speaker 1: the tour where everybody hits the golf ball, solid and
Speaker 1: then working with a young junior girl that's struggling with
Speaker 1: contact spent pretty much out of the hour and a,
Speaker 1: HALF i spent with, her probably almost an hour of
Speaker 1: it just working on impact and contact, drills which is
Speaker 1: going to help her development and going to help her
Speaker 1: hit the golf ball more solid and help her distance,
Speaker 1: wise help her direction, wise and help her contact. Wise
Speaker 1: and then had another junior. Girl it was about probably
Speaker 1: fourteen fifteen range and really interesting backswing move in that
Speaker 1: had a lot of reverse spine at the top of
Speaker 1: the back, swing AND i think at some point she
Speaker 1: was told to not move her, head to have her
Speaker 1: head stay very very still and video to be. Honest
Speaker 1: on the, backswing her head in her nose was actually
Speaker 1: going forward on the back, swing so she was standing
Speaker 1: up out of her posture at the top of her back,
Speaker 1: swing going into that kind of extension to where she's
Speaker 1: bent forward at her dress as she's making her. Backswing
Speaker 1: her backswing gets a little bit too. Long she's trying
Speaker 1: not to move.
Speaker 2: Off the golf.
Speaker 1: BALL i don't know, why BUT i hear so many
Speaker 1: more golfers worried about swaying off the golf. Ball they're
Speaker 1: so worried about swaying off the golf ball that they
Speaker 1: basically just don't make any move off the golf. Ball
Speaker 1: their weight goes. Forward and as their weight goes forward
Speaker 1: and they kind of come out of their posture on the,
Speaker 1: backswing then on the downswing they have to get their
Speaker 1: body back in, position their weight has to go back
Speaker 1: to the right. Side causes a lot of, problems and
Speaker 1: in this, case that's what this girl was.
Speaker 2: Doing so trying to figure.
Speaker 1: Out ways to get her in a better position and
Speaker 1: talk to her a lot About, okay don't be afraid
Speaker 1: to let your head. Move, okay especially on the, Backswing
Speaker 1: so let your head move off the golf ball to the.
Speaker 1: Right don't try and keep your head so. Still go
Speaker 1: ahead and feel like you're kind of getting into your
Speaker 1: right heel on the. Backswing don't be afraid to let
Speaker 1: that right hip get, high that right leg straight and
Speaker 1: so that you've got some. Load and again using swing,
Speaker 1: catalysts we were able to show her the difference in
Speaker 1: kind of where her backswing was the position to where
Speaker 1: she was actually getting some weight into her right, side
Speaker 1: WHICH i talked about this, earlier the creation phase of the.
Speaker 1: Backswing she was able to create a little bit more.
Speaker 1: Power she was able to get her backswing into a
Speaker 1: position to where her downswing was going to be easier
Speaker 1: for her to do, consistently not come.
Speaker 2: Over the top of.
Speaker 1: It she comes over the top of it because she
Speaker 1: kind of gets to that top of the backswing position
Speaker 1: where she's leaning, forward she's almost tilting. Forward then when
Speaker 1: she goes to shift her body back to the, right
Speaker 1: the arms kind of fire get out to end comes
Speaker 1: over the top and contact, issues quality of strike. Issues
Speaker 1: But i'm also more worried about her getting injured because
Speaker 1: she's kind of hanging on that left. Side she's got
Speaker 1: a lot of curvature at the top of her back
Speaker 1: swing from her hip up to her shoulder on her left,
Speaker 1: side so she's got a lot of force kind of
Speaker 1: going down on her. Spine and so just trying to
Speaker 1: get her in a better back swing position so that
Speaker 1: the downswing is easier to. Manage and THEN i had
Speaker 1: a player of you, know probably ten, handicap probably in
Speaker 1: his you, know mid, thirties plays a lot of golf
Speaker 1: from The East, coast came down and, said, listen the
Speaker 1: number one thing THAT i need to improve is my wedge.
Speaker 1: Game AND i, said, okay what's the? Issue and he, said,
Speaker 1: WELL i don't hit it close. Enough but the main
Speaker 1: REASON i don't hit it close enough is because of the.
Speaker 1: Contact the contact is, bad the quality of the strike is.
Speaker 1: Bad and SO i when watching this, player you, know
Speaker 1: really from that kind of fifty to one hundred and fifteen, Range,
Speaker 1: yeah a lot of, thin a lot of, heavy and
Speaker 1: he was very much working a lot of practice, swings
Speaker 1: a lot of drill. Swings says he hits a lot
Speaker 1: of golf. Balls he has A TrackMan simulator in his,
Speaker 1: basement so hits a lot of balls on a launch.
Speaker 2: Monitor inside in a controlled.
Speaker 1: Environment and SO i was trying to think WHAT i
Speaker 1: could do to help this, player and WHAT i didn't
Speaker 1: want to do was throw more technique at him because
Speaker 1: he was kind of in that technique rabbit, hole, right
Speaker 1: tons of practice, swings kind of never really looking at the,
Speaker 1: target kind of obsessed with staring at the golf, ball
Speaker 1: glancing at the.
Speaker 2: Target stare at the.
Speaker 1: Ball was taking a lot of time to hit a
Speaker 1: fifty yard web, shot and it wasn't. Solid SO i just, said,
Speaker 1: listen let's get on a launch monitor and let's just
Speaker 1: see if you can hit your. Numbers and he, said,
Speaker 1: LISTEN i do this a. Lot i'm really good at
Speaker 1: hitting my. Numbers so we did some fifty yard shots
Speaker 1: and it was just basically a carry, distance and we
Speaker 1: did some seventy five yard, shots and then we did
Speaker 1: some hundred yard. Shots and SO i said to, him,
Speaker 1: right let's go back to the. Fifty let's take your lob,
Speaker 1: wedge AND i want you to hit five. Balls and
Speaker 1: we hit five, balls and the distances were, varied, right
Speaker 1: some of me hit kind of around that fifty fifty
Speaker 1: one to fifty two, mark but then he had one
Speaker 1: where he hit it like thirty five, yards and then
Speaker 1: he had one where he hit it like sixty five.
Speaker 1: Yards so three decent ones and two bad. Ones and
Speaker 1: so when we looked at, it obviously a, massive massive distance,
Speaker 1: loss you, know almost a thirty yard distance loss on
Speaker 1: a shot where he's trying to hit it fifty and
Speaker 1: he hits it. Thirty and SO i said to, HIM i, said,
Speaker 1: listen rather than focus on the, distance why don't we
Speaker 1: focus on the clubhead.
Speaker 2: Speed and so.
Speaker 1: NOW i want you to have five, balls and you're
Speaker 1: trying to hit your lob wedge five. Balls WHAT i
Speaker 1: want IS i want you to try and swing the
Speaker 1: golf club the same speed for five, balls and so
Speaker 1: we hit five balls and the clubhead speeds were pretty close,
Speaker 1: together so we were looking at kind of a one
Speaker 1: to two mile per hour clubhead, speed different on every.
Speaker 1: Club and so we just spent the next half hour
Speaker 1: not even talking really about the distant city was carrying
Speaker 1: the golf ball from fifty, yards we were doing five ball,
Speaker 1: challenges ten ball challenges from seventy five. Yards we were
Speaker 1: doing five ten ball, challenges and the challenge wasn't how
Speaker 1: far you're carrying the golf. Ball can you have your
Speaker 1: clubhead speed be, similar be the, same be very close.
Speaker 1: Together and as soon as we started doing, that and
Speaker 1: he started thinking about how fast he was swinging the
Speaker 1: golf club and trying to swing the golf club the
Speaker 1: same speed for every single, shot what do you think
Speaker 1: happened to the? Contact the contact got. Better SO i
Speaker 1: spent an hour and a half with this, guy AND
Speaker 1: i never once talked about, contact quality of strike or.
Speaker 1: Technique the only thing we really worked on was kind
Speaker 1: of clubhead. Speed and then we went out on a golf,
Speaker 1: course Our schurt game, area which is going to simulate
Speaker 1: what the golf course is, like we had a thirty yard,
Speaker 1: shot a fifty five yard, shot and a seventy five yard,
Speaker 1: shot and SO i, said, okay the thirty yard, shot
Speaker 1: talk to me what you were going to. Do so
Speaker 1: RATHER i had him talk me through what he was
Speaker 1: going to try and. Do, right what his intent. WAS
Speaker 1: i think, Intent i've talked about. IT i think intent
Speaker 1: is really really. Important tell me what you're trying to.
Speaker 1: Do explain to me what you're trying to do with the. Shot,
Speaker 1: so from a thirty yard, shot he chose the club
Speaker 1: which was his lob. WEDGE i think he had a
Speaker 1: fifty eight degree lob. Wedge he told me the length
Speaker 1: of the backswing and the length of the follow through
Speaker 1: that he. Wanted he told me where he wanted the
Speaker 1: golf ball to. Land and SO i, said, okay now
Speaker 1: make me two practice swings that feel the, same and
Speaker 1: if they don't feel the, same we start over from
Speaker 1: a speed, standpoint from a length of backswing, standpoint from
Speaker 1: a length of follow through. Standpoint and it took him
Speaker 1: a couple to get used to that. Feeling but once
Speaker 1: he got that concept of what is my? Intention what
Speaker 1: AM i going to try and? Do and THAT'S i
Speaker 1: think very different than talking about your, technique, RIGHT i,
Speaker 1: think what is your intent on this?
Speaker 2: Shot, okay, yeah that's.
Speaker 1: Going to involve some. Technique but tell me what you're
Speaker 1: trying to. Do and then, okay now make me too practice,
Speaker 1: swings trying to execute what you told me you were
Speaker 1: trying to, do and then hit the golf ball with
Speaker 1: your practice wing and just let the golf ball get
Speaker 1: in the way of your practice. Wing and it really
Speaker 1: was interesting how much better this player's wedge game. Got
Speaker 1: the contact issue wasn't even an issue, Anymore like we
Speaker 1: didn't even have to talk about. It we weren't even
Speaker 1: focusing on anything to do with. Contact we were just
Speaker 1: working on having the speed of your golf. Swing and,
Speaker 1: listen it's hard to do that when you're ramping up
Speaker 1: and hitting full swings with your, drivers, right but from
Speaker 1: fifty yards you know, again it's driving the car a lot.
Speaker 1: Slower it's learning how to control the. Car it's learning
Speaker 1: how to steer the, car it's learning how to accelerate the.
Speaker 1: Car it's learning how to break the. CAR i, mean
Speaker 1: if you think about when when we were all learning
Speaker 1: how to, drive the way that you would slam the
Speaker 1: brake on the way that you would slam the accelerator.
Speaker 2: On you have to learn.
Speaker 1: That AND i just thought that focusing on more feels
Speaker 1: and more kind of swing speed would help this, player
Speaker 1: and it, worked and he was no longer thinking about the.
Speaker 1: Contact his confidence went through the, roof which wasn't, surprising
Speaker 1: but his confidence went through the roof because it was
Speaker 1: hitting better. Shots SO i live in really two constantly specific,
Speaker 1: worlds And i'm kind of going in and out of
Speaker 1: both of these. Worlds a world Where i'm working and
Speaker 1: lucky enough to work and be around the best players
Speaker 1: in the. World so the nuances and what we're trying
Speaker 1: to work on and the changes that we're trying to
Speaker 1: make and how we deal with those changes are incredibly
Speaker 1: different than having a hour golf lesson with a twenty
Speaker 1: handicapper on A tuesday, Morning but there are. Similarities AND
Speaker 1: i take a lot of WHAT i see from the
Speaker 1: tour and try and apply it in my lessons with
Speaker 1: the average, golfer AND i also take things THAT i
Speaker 1: do in golf lessons with twenty handicappers in the way
Speaker 1: That i'm trying to make the delivery and the concepts
Speaker 1: and everything kind of simple and not difficult to understand and.
Speaker 2: Repeatable so, YEAH i.
Speaker 1: Was just WHEN i was flying home From, AUGUSTA i was, Thinking,
Speaker 1: Okay i've just come from, that and Then i've got
Speaker 1: a week ahead of golf, lessons and those two worlds
Speaker 1: are are very, different but at the end of the,
Speaker 1: day they're very much the same because you're just trying
Speaker 1: to help a player get. Better you're just trying to
Speaker 1: help a player understand his golf, swing his her golf swing.
Speaker 1: Better you're trying to make it as simple as possible
Speaker 1: and really cool. WEEKS i enjoy the weeks That i'm
Speaker 1: on the road working with professional, golfers AND i enjoy
Speaker 1: the weeks i'm at home working with the average. GOLFER
Speaker 1: i don't THINK i ever want to get into a
Speaker 1: situation to WHERE i just work with tour, players because
Speaker 1: that's not the real. World that's not real. Golf And
Speaker 1: i'm lucky in THAT i get to do. That But
Speaker 1: i'm also incredibly lucky that people come and see me
Speaker 1: and allow me and seek me out to help them
Speaker 1: with their. Game to break one, hundred break, ninety break.
Speaker 1: EIGHTY i enjoy that as much AS i enjoy the tour.
Speaker 1: Stuff so two weeks in the life of a golf,
Speaker 1: instructor one that's on tour and one that's at, home
Speaker 1: but some really good work last. Week i'm on the
Speaker 1: road now for two. Weeks it was home last. Week
Speaker 1: BUT i look back on that week And i'm, Like,
Speaker 1: YEAH i did some really good work with some players
Speaker 1: and hopefully can help try and develop, them try and
Speaker 1: develop their, games and ultimately just try and help them
Speaker 1: enjoy their golf, more because that's basically what we're all
Speaker 1: trying to. Do The son of A which podcast comes
Speaker 1: to you almost every, Week rate, review subscribe wherever you
Speaker 1: get your. Podcast we'll see everybody next. Week