WEBVTT - The Golf Lesson Checklist 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:04.640 It's the Son of a Bitch podcast. I'm your host, 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:08.360 Claude harmon a solo episode of the pod this week, 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.200 and I thought i'd kind of go over some stuff. 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:16.120 I just I'm actually in Dubai at my academy, which 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:19.680 is always fun. It's over here the other night, but 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.160 I spoke at the Titleist Performance Institute World Golf Fitness 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:29.160 Summit on Friday, kind of did a presentation, but wanted 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:31.040 to go through one of the things that I talked about, 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.280 which was kind of my checklist when I'm giving golf 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.600 lessons right what I'm looking for and how I look 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:41.760 at golf swings, and I think by doing this, I 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:46.800 think it can help you think about your own golf 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.640 swing and your own golf game. So the first thing 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:52.040 I do when a player comes in and I watch 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.520 a player hit at golf balls, I always think, what 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:59.480 is that player's DNA or their kind of swing signature. 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.400 And I think, player, regardless of your handicap, you will 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.560 have something that is kind of your DNA, kind of 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:09.880 the way that you swing the golf club. And I 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.560 think a lot of times this is why players struggle 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:18.360 over years of and they tend to struggle when they don't, 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:21.880 when they don't get regular golf lessons and they're not 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.720 working on something, they're just trying a bunch of stuff, 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.920 but they don't really fundamentally understand kind of what it 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:32.200 is that they do. So when I look at a 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:34.960 golf swing and I look at a player, I'll always 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:37.680 ask a couple of things. But one of the things 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.280 I'll ask is tell me what you're trying to do 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:43.760 in the golf swing, and tell me why you're trying 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.800 to do this in the golf swing. And that sounds 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:52.360 and should be a pretty simple question and should be 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.280 a pretty simple answer. But I think a lot of 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.520 players they don't really know what they're trying to do. 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:01.880 They struggle with the concept of what they're trying to do. 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.279 But also, and I've talked about this on the pod before, 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.720 they don't understand what their body can do as well. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:10.679 So when I look at a player, I'm trying to 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:14.960 figure out, Okay, what does that player do naturally. And 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.399 one of the things that my dad talked a lot 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:20.760 about when I was a young instructor, he said, listen, 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:22.680 I don't ever want to take away what a player 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:26.440 does naturally. And I think a lot of times for 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:31.560 the instructors out there listening. You can have a model 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.959 in your head maybe right, I'm not a huge fan 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:35.840 of that, but you can have a model in your 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.920 head about how you want everyone to swing the golf club. 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.720 The only problem with that is you might be taking 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.640 away what a player does naturally, and what they do 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:51.440 naturally could be a huge part of what makes them 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.799 who they are. So I'm always looking at a player. 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.120 Does a player have a tremendous amount of speed? Does 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:59.280 a player not have a lot of so I kind 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.480 of work. I'll give you an example. So there's two 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.600 players I work with who have a tremendous amount of speed. 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.960 Brooks and DJ on the men's side have a tremendous 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.440 amount of speed. I work with a player on the 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:15.200 LPGA Tour named Marina Alex. She played on the Solheim Cup. 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.960 She's a multiple winner on the LPGA Tour. Marina doesn't 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.880 have a lot of speed, right, Marina's back is a 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.120 little bit compromised. She's had some back issues. So there 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.600 are a lot of things that Marina does naturally that 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.320 you know, physically I can't change, even though I might 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.640 not like them. It's just she does certain things in 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:40.440 the golf swing. Her body has some limitations, so there 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.440 are some things that she does that are just part 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.080 of her golf swing and if I try and change those. 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.640 I mean, obviously everybody is trying to hit the golf 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:55.680 ball further, but on the LPGA Tour, distance is a 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.760 it's a differentiator. So the obvious thing in watching Marina 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:01.920 hit GoF balls is to say, Okay, she needs hit 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.080 the golf ball further. So there are loads of different things, now, 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.520 speed sticks, stacked, all of these different things that we 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.520 could do to try and help Marina hit the golf 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:13.800 ball further. We do all those things, her back's gonna 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.800 go down, it's gonna crash. So I have to take 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:18.760 a look at what she does physically. I have to 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:21.359 take a look at what she does naturally. Dustin Johnson's 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.560 another great example. The position he gets into at the 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.919 top of his backswing with that flat left wrist. That 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.200 is what he does naturally that he doesn't know why 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.880 he does that. He's never been taught to do that, 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.159 that's just what he does in the golf swing. So 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.880 years ago, probably I don't know, fifteen twenty years ago, 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.720 when my dad started working with DJ. Phil Michelson said, Hey, 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:46.640 I play a lot of golf with DJ. Has been 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:48.039 my partner in the money game. I want you to 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:49.640 take a look at him. My dad was working with Phil, 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.280 and I think everybody looked at DJ's golf swing when 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.920 he turned pro, looked at that position at the top 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:58.159 of the back swing. Nobody was really playing from that position. 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.640 Maybe back in the day Paul Aigsner from there, but 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.120 certainly nobody with a tremendous amount of speed. So I 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:09.520 think in looking at his goal swing, my dad looked 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.680 at that left risk position and was like, listen, that's 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.640 what DJ does. Naturally. I'm not training him to do that. 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.360 I'm not teaching him to do that. That's what he does. 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:21.919 It's a risk position in twenty twenty four that I 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:23.800 think a lot of people are trying to get into it. 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.080 It's Brooks is a little bit on the shut side. 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:29.680 DJ is a little bit on the shut side. We 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:36.120 are seeing more players play from that position. But that's 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:41.080 what DJ does naturally. No one's teaching him to do that. 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:43.839 The other thing I'm always looking at with a player 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:45.679 is I'm asking as say, Okay, what does this player 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:50.720 need do they need speed, do they need accuracy? Do 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.719 they need consistency? There will be something that the player needs, 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:56.800 so I'm always saying, Okay, do they need to hit it? 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:01.640 So again, using Marine Alex is an example, and I've 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.680 had her on the pod as well. Marina needs speed. 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.960 The problem is we have to work around that given 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.760 what her body can do physically. So I'm always trying 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:17.000 to balance that between what a player wants to do 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:21.120 versus what a player does and what a player can do. 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.960 Sometimes I think players just it's a concept issue. They 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.640 don't know they're supposed to be doing this. They don't 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.120 know they're not supposed to be doing this. So that's 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.479 why that first question, Hey, tell me what you do 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.039 in the golf swing, what you're trying to do in 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.559 the golf swing. Sometimes they'll just be a concept problem. Listen, 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:40.599 you don't know you're not supposed to do that, or 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.760 you don't know you're supposed to do this. Sometimes it'll 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.919 be a body issue. So the physical screen, getting screen 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.800 to understand what your body can and can't do naturally, 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.640 I think is huge. I'm always asking myself how much 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.279 is too much? Meaning I think it's important as an 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.560 instructure to understand the type of learner a person is, 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:07.000 and I learn a lot by asking questions about, Hey, 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.200 what do you do for a living? Listen, if you 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.440 work with somebody that says, oh, I'm an engineer, you 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.440 can probably give them a bunch of data and it's 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.800 not going to confuse them because that's the world they 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.880 live in. But if somebody doesn't have a brain like that, 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.400 and you overload them with tons of launch monitor data 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:26.880 or a bunch of information and a bunch of numbers, 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.360 and they don't learn like that. I've worked with two 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.320 players that are on opposite ends of the spectrum, so 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.440 Trevor Immerman. When I worked with Trevor in the early 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:41.960 two thousands, I couldn't give Trevor enough information, right, That's 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.920 the way his brain worked. He wanted as much information 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:53.000 as possible. DJ wants things to be pretty simple. His 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.920 brain just isn't wired like that, is not wired to 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:01.160 get a bunch of information. He wants things to be simple. Trevor, 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.680 on the other hand, wanted I wouldn't say Trevor wanted 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:06.520 things to be complicated in the years that I worked 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:10.200 with him, but Trevor wanted more information. I mean you 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:14.160 could give I mean information for Trevor was crack for 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.119 the crack addict. Just give me more, more, more, more more. 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:21.560 And I don't necessarily think at times that was the 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:25.920 best thing for him and his career. If I tried 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.520 to overload DJ with a bunch of information and a 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.200 bunch of numbers and data and stuff like that, It's 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.920 just not the way his brain works. So with regards 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.160 to the player, I'm always asking myself, Okay, how much 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:43.400 is too much? How much is too little. The other 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.200 thing I'm really trying to do when I look at 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:49.120 golf swings is as an instructor. If I'm working with 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.120 the player, I want to try and help them build 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.720 the golf swing that is going to hold up under pressure. 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:59.480 For the tour players that I'm incredibly lucky enough to 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.080 work with, that is the back nine on Sunday right, 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.440 that is coming down the stretch in a major, that 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:09.360 is trying to win a tournament on a tour somewhere 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.800 in the world. For the majority of you listening to 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:16.439 this podcast, pressure is trying to break one hundred for 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.560 the first time, trying to break ninety for the first time, 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:20.520 trying to break eighty for the first time, trying to 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:24.520 win the club championship, the city amateur. So pressure comes 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:31.120 and is different for everybody, but pressure's pressure, right. So 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.240 when I look at golf swings, I'm always thinking, Okay, 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:38.400 what am I doing to help this person while they're 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.680 on the golf course. I'm not thinking about how to 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:42.920 make their golf swing look good on the driving range, right, 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.840 I'm not thinking about a model in my head that 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:52.640 I have a specific swing model that I am going 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:57.960 to try and get everybody into. So for the instructors 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:02.199 out there, but also for everyone else listening that's playing. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.520 If you aren't working on things in your golf swing 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:11.840 that are going to help you score and perform better 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.920 on the golf course, you're wasting your time. The reason 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:16.880 I say that is I think a lot of people 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.840 are trying to have their golf swing look better. Right. 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.600 I worked with Graham McDowell when he just turned pro, 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.040 probably Gosh two thousand and three, two thousand and four 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.440 won the Italian Open. But I worked with Graham in 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.600 two stints. I worked with them for a while and 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.120 then he moved on to another instructure, and I think 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.280 like five six he came back to me and said, hey, 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:42.800 I want to try and work with you again and stuff. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:44.960 And I've got some video somewhere that I'm still trying 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:49.120 to find. I've got pictures of Graham McDowell looking like 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.560 Tiger in two thousand, right knee flexed, club online at 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:56.440 the top, club face dead, neutral, left wrist in a 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:01.880 perfect position. Looking at it on TV, the video looked 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.720 like Tiger Woods in two thousand. The only problem was 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:09.200 from that position Gmac could not get the club onto 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.440 the ball, couldn't make contact. Looked great on film, looked 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:17.360 great on video. Positions were perfect, just couldn't hit the 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:21.280 golf ball from there. So, when you're looking at your 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:27.280 golf swing, aesthetics or function, I am far more interested 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:30.719 in function than I am in aesthetics. Esthetics are the 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:34.800 way a golf swing looks and the style of a 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:38.600 golf swing. But golf is not figure skating, right, Golf 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.680 is not gymnastics. There's not judges saying, oh, yeah, he's 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:44.960 got the best looking golf swing. If that was the case. 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.960 Adam Scott, Nellie Corda, Tommy Fleetwood, the people that have 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:54.760 beautifully fundamentally sound golf swings that look really, really good, 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.760 they'd win all the time, but they don't. Across the gamut, 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:04.520 there's golf swings that are very, very different that are 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.720 winning golf tournaments. There's not one specific way to swing 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:09.680 the golf club. If you look at the Hall of Fame, 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:12.800 and you go to the World Golf Hall of Fame 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:14.560 and you go and look at all the people that 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.440 have been inducted, is there anybody out there listening that's 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:21.840 a golf instructor that has a junior golfer, female junior 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:24.920 golfer fifteen sixteen, Is anybody trying to teach her to 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.800 swing the golf club like on Akasians damp the greatest 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.320 golf female golfer of all time, one of the greatest 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.319 golfers of all time. No one's trying to do that, right, 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.040 No one's trying to teach any I don't see anybody 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.600 coming in. I don't see anything on social media where 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.319 people are trying to have everybody swing like on a 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:46.960 Coasorians dam right. I don't see anybody teaching putting like 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.760 Jack Nicholas putted, one of the greatest putters of all time. 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.920 Jack's one of the greatest putters of all time. Jack's 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.559 one of the greatest pressure putters of all time. But 0:12:55.600 --> 0:13:00.240 nobody is trying to emulate that, right, but under pressure 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.400 Jack made every put So my point behind that is 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:08.959 your golf swing has to be functional. Yeah, it'd be 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.120 great if your golf swing looked good, but some of 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.800 my favorite golf swings don't necessarily look that great, but 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:21.079 they are one hundred functional. Great example would be Bubba Watson. 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.680 Anybody trying to swing the golf club like Bubba Watson. 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.400 Anybody trying to swing the golf club and shape it 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:30.560 and curve it like Bubba Watson. Nope, guys won two Masters, 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.160 Guy's got two Green jackets, been on Ryder Cups, He's 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.240 been on President's Cups, a hell of a player, has 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.360 had a hell of a career. But again, no one's 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.600 trying to swing like that. No one's trying to actively 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:45.000 work on the things that Bubba Watson does. But under 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:51.959 Pressure won two majors, one two Masters. So if you're 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.440 taking lessons, if you're working on your own game, you 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.120 have to think of it like this, what am I 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:04.240 working on in Will it help me score on the 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.000 golf course? Not will it make my golf swing look better? 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.079 On video will make it look better on the range 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:13.720 because none of that matters for the instructors out there. 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:17.800 Build a team, right, Build a team around you. Find 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:23.760 a physio, chiropractor, medical in your area. Right, So if 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:28.320 you have players, I think the guy Greg and Dave 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:30.680 Greg Rose and Dave Phillips, both who've been on the pod, 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:32.960 and you can go check them out the work that 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.760 they've done at the Titleist Performance Institute. They were big 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:38.960 on that, right, Create a team. So I'm currently at 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.240 my academy in Dubai. I have seven full time instructors 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.600 here and we have two full time fitness guys. Right, 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.920 that's mandatory for us. At my academy, at my dad's 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.680 academy in Florida, at the Floridian where I work, we 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.560 have instructors and then we have a fitness guy. Just 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.920 open up an academy out in Bangkok. We're in the 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:02.720 process of hiring. So we're building a team of people 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:07.520 around us. You want to work. If I'm taking lessons, 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.800 I want to find an instructor that if there's something 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.600 wrong with my body, he's got somebody that he can 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.160 send me to. If I'm doing something in my golf swing, 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.600 if I'm in pain hitting golf balls. He's got somebody 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.680 that I can go to. So I think building a 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.560 team as an instructor, building a core group of people 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:35.120 around you hugely important. I'm always trying to build a 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.960 strength with players, right. I think in order to be 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.640 a good golfer, you've got to have a strength, right. 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.160 I always say that at the elite tour level. Right. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:47.920 If you look at the best players in the world, 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.840 they all have a strength, right, and their calling card 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:59.200 is that strength. Brad faxon great putter, Patrick Reid, Sevy, 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:05.640 bi Astero's unbelievable short game, Rory DJ Brooks. The strength 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:11.440 is speed the driver, Luke Donald unbelievable wedge player. Right. 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.720 So when you're looking at your own game, think about 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:21.040 do you have a strength? Right? And I listen, when 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.680 we're looking at strengths with players, I really don't care 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.200 what that strength is. Are you a good green reader 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:28.760 that could be a strength. Are you a good win 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:31.000 player that could be a strength, Or you a good 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.280 bunker player that could be your strength? Right? And then 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.280 you look at that strength and you try and ride that. 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:42.400 So let's say you're a really good wedge player, right, 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:44.960 You're gonna want to try and lay up to where 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.200 you lay up to your strength. Right. If you're a 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.480 great putter, you're gonna try and hit more greens so 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.560 you can take advantage of your putting. Right. If you're 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.880 not a great putter, if your short game isn't great, right, 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.920 then you've got to try and hit more greens. Right. 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.520 So I also when players come in and take a 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.480 golf lesson for the first time, I try and find 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.440 something in their golf swing that's a strength. Hey you've 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:10.760 got a great grip, that's the strength of yours. Hey, 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:14.840 you've got a great setup. You've got great posture, you've 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.200 got great tempo, you've got great rhythm. I don't care 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.000 what it is. It's easy for me in a golf 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.000 lesson to look at a twenty five handicapper and tell 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.280 them all the things are doing wrong, right. I want 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.159 to find some things. Hey, listen, I really like a 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.119 lot of these things in your golf swing. We just 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.439 need to clean up a couple of other things. But 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:34.879 you do a lot of really good things in the 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.800 golf swing. And when I say that to a fifteen 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.480 twenty handicapper, hey, I think you do some really nice 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.439 things good things in the golf swing. They're like, well, 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.480 why am I twenty five handicap? Why am I still 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.320 at fifteen? Right? Then I can say, well, these are 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.719 the problems, but you do this really really well, so 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:59.800 make sure you keep doing that really really well. Another 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:02.520 thing that I look at when I look at players, 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:04.600 and it's something that I've talked about before on the pod, 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.639 but I will continue to talk about it because I 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.000 think it's hugely important. Start line where the golf ball 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.720 is starting. When I'm looking at a player, I am 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:18.000 evaluating how good a player they are on their ability 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.400 to start the golf ball in the direction it needs 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:23.600 to start for the shape they're telling me they're trying 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.119 to hit. So if a player is trying to hit draws, 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.600 and we give them a target and say, all right, 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:30.440 you know, take a seven iron out. You know it's 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:32.320 one hundred and fifty yards one hundred and forty yards 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:34.960 hundred However, are you hit a seven iron? Right? What 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:37.320 shape you hit? And I do this before I tell 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.080 them anything, right, I do this at the beginning of 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.560 a golf lesson. Watch a player hit some balls. I'll 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.080 have them watched some you know, once they get warmed up. Hey, 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:45.920 hit me some seven irons. Tell me what you're trying 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:47.680 to do. What kind of shape you are you trying 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:50.120 to play? What kind of shape do you like to play? 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.760 Where's the miss what's the contact like on the golf course? Hey, 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:55.280 you know, I really like to try and draw the 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.919 golf ball. All right? Cool? Okay, So there's the target 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.000 flag and then we're gonna give you ten balls. And 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:02.320 the only thing I'm going to ask you to do 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:03.879 in these ten balls is can you start all ten 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:06.480 of them to the right? If you're a fader of 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.720 the golf ball, Hey, you like to hit fades? All right, 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:10.840 We're gonna pick out a target, give you seven iron, 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:12.840 give you eight iron, whatever the club, and say, all right, 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:15.080 just hit me ten balls. And the only task here 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:16.639 is all ten of them start. If you're trying to 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:18.040 fade it, all ten of them start left of the 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:22.000 target right. So I'm as much interested in that as 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:25.480 to how their golf swing looks right and how they're 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:30.520 I want to know, can you just concept wise what 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:32.720 would you need to do? I take a lot of 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.880 video and I'll show a player. Okay, let's say you're 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.800 trying to draw the golf ball and the club's working 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.760 very much on the outside on the takeaway. And then 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.239 we go to try and have you hit more of 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.440 a draw and feel like the club works maybe a 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:50.880 little bit more on the inside so that it can 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.160 work a little bit more into out on the downswing. 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:54.480 And what I'll do is say, all right, this is 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:56.520 the first swing you were making with the club you 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:00.359 know is working way outside, and now this is you 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.760 trying to hit a draw the club going back. So 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.400 I'll put the two pictures on the screen and say, 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.360 all right, if you didn't know this was you, tell 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:12.200 me which one hits fades and which ones hit draws. Right, 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:14.520 you should kind of be able to look at a 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:16.560 swing and say, yeah, I mean, it would look to 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:19.400 me like that swing would produce fade. It would look 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:21.760 to me like that swing would produce a draw. And 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:23.480 again that goes back into one of the things I 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:25.600 talked about at the beginning, which is concept Right, if 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.800 you're trying to draw the golf ball by take if 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.520 you're trying to fade the golf ball by massively taking 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.679 the golf club inside, right, you're going to have to 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:39.520 do more than likely what Hail Irwin did take it inside, 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:41.880 come over the top and hit a fade that way? 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.560 So I think also this always leads me in a 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:48.919 golf lesson to talk about intent. What is your intent? 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.080 What is your intention? What are you trying to do? 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:57.240 I think intent is really really important to me. The 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:03.960 intent is for regular handicapped golfers, non elite tour players. 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.920 I think intention is something that is missing. I think 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.560 you've got to ask yourself, Okay, what are you trying 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.840 to do with your golf swing? What are you trying 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:17.760 to do with this shot? Right? What is your intention? 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:23.399 I think that is incredibly powerful, I really do. And 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:26.840 I think start line ken. If you're a right hand 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.240 if you're right handed, you're trying to hit a draw 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:32.480 a ball, damn well needs to start right of your target. 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:35.639 If it starts at your target and curves, you're you're 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:39.240 gonna miss greens right, You're gonna be in trouble. You're 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:40.720 gonna have to have a hell of a short game. 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:42.760 So whatever shot you're trying to hit, if you're trying 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.239 to fade it, just stand up and say listen. If 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:47.600 you want to fade the golf ball, pick your target 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:49.879 flag out and say all right, I'm gonna hit ten balls, 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:51.600 and the only thing I'm going to do so if 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:53.639 I can start all ten of them left of my target. 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:55.960 If I'm trying to draw the golf ball, I'm just 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:57.520 gonna try and see if i can start all my 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:01.560 golf balls. Where the ball starts for me, is as important, 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:03.840 if not more important, than when the ball where the 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:07.119 ball finishes. But I think I've said this before. I 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:11.000