January 3, 2024 • 36 mins
Shane and Marty kick off 2024 with new year’s resolutions, the importance of a golf game retrospective, goal setting, and how to use stat-tracking apps and PING fitting tools for an unbiased assessment and to ensure that you have the right equipment in your bag.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The guys from Ping. They've kind of showed me how
much dequiment matters. I just love that I can hit
any shot I kind of want.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about
what goes on here to help golfers play better golf.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome back to the Ping proven Grounds Podcast. I'm Shane Bacon.
That's Marty Jerts and Marty. Happy New Year. You know
what we gotta start with, right? Do you got a resolution?
You got you got something you're gonna You're gonna set
your goals and eyes and mind and body ad at
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh, Shane, I used to be super big into the resolutions,
you know, like and for me it was always removing
something was like a good resolution. Like one year being
from Arizona, Man, I love chips and guac. I had
to give up chips. I was like, I couldn't do it.
Did you do the whole year? Did you did you
do the whole year and not do it? I did
the entire year?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
One year. I regret this, but I gave up coffee.
I like switched to tea and then I had a
I did it literally for the whole year, but I
rebounded on that now, so I'm not doing that. But
I think this year, you know, I think it's gonna
be maybe because over forty is maybe maybe diet wise,
get a little more protein in the diet. That's gonna
be my big thing for for twenty four. How about you,
(01:12):
what are you dot on your list?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I'm adding an extra leg and lower body workout a week. So,
as you know, Marty, it's super easy to do kind
of beach body workout and go do arms and things
like that. And I think at times I get a
little lazy with going to the gym and focusing solely
on lower body, like spend fifty minutes or an hour
entirely on legs and glutes and things like that. So
(01:37):
my goal, and I've been working with a trainer on
kind of getting nice a plan for this is I'm
just going to introduce a lot more leg workouts. Again,
you said it, Marty, I just turned forty, you know,
late last year, and these are the types of things
we've got to be thinking about. And so, yeah, it's
funny you and I are focused on the same stuff.
It's like diet and gym or basically what you have
to have to do when you when you when you
(01:58):
flip the calendar over, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, exactly. But I think it's good. I mean, when
we're talking about what we're going to talk about some
golf things here is just those habits. I think that's
a really big deal, is to at the beginning of
the year, is there's a good time to kind of
establish what your habits are going to be for the year,
knowing that life's going to come your way, things are
going to get in the way, But what are those
habits you can go back to? And yeah, I think
(02:23):
we've feeling good about both of ours, Shane.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, and you know, Marty, it's interesting. I mean I remember,
you know, doing like early Clubhouse podcast, you know ten,
you know, seven, eight years ago, and I would always
ask players about goals because if you remember, Justin Thomas
made it famous where he would post that notes app
at the end of the year on what his goals
were in which one he's achieved. And I think this
(02:46):
is actually something that's pretty important for even everyday golfers.
I think it's easy to say I'm going to spend
a little bit more time on the range this year.
I'm gonna spend a little bit more time on my
short game, but to actually write out goals for your
golf game. As much as we're all obsessed with the
game and obsessed with playing, what are you actually trying
to achieve in twenty four?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
You know?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
For me with my golf game, Marty, I'm going to
just simply try to play more tournaments. Not necessarily, you know,
try to do more whatever. I hope that comes with
the territory. But I'm just going to try to spend
a little bit more time in my calendar if it
allows that. Obviously I've got two little kids and I've
got jobs, but I'm going to try to just play
if I can play in more golf tournaments, get more
competitive in that space. Because I had a good twenty
(03:28):
twenty three in terms of tournament golf. But as I
look back on last year and kind of think about
this year, I wish I would have played more tournaments.
So that's kind of one of my big focuses for
next year. For this year.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, no, Shan, I love that I did that. In
twenty three. I recommitted because I had an off year
in twenty two, didn't play many tournaments at all for
me and I up. I played in all of pretty
much all of our section events in twenty three and
it worked. It forced me to kind of be a
little more dissi planned in my practice, and then you
get the feedback playing in the tournament golf. I mean,
you can be playing good like you did this year,
(04:01):
and then you play big tournament, then your next you
low your calendar. Your next one is not for six weeks.
You know, it's tough. It's tough to keep that momentum going.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I think about that on tour lot with the pro golfers.
You know, some of the guys that have great ends
to the season. You think about the way Victor obviously
played at the end of twenty three and into the
Ryder Cup and things like that, and everybody reacts the
same way, Wow, Victor's gonna win a major championship. He's
you know, he's obviously on the precipice of those types
of things. And you said it, Marty, I mean, the
gap from the end of that part of their season
(04:32):
until when they ramp things back up again in January,
and then you think about the big events early in
the season, and then you think about that first major championship.
I mean, what are you talking six seven months? For
those players, it's remembering what I did well. And for
Victor it was obviously everything. I mean, he hit the
ball great and he putted great, but remembering what those
fields were like and applying them in your practice and
(04:55):
in your planning, and then of course you know when
you get back to tournament golf in twenty four.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, and golf such a fragile game, Shane, You and
I both know, man, you can you can lose those feelings.
You know, you think they're just right there, but you
know sometimes it's you know, they're fleeting. So that's what
that's what makes this game so fun though.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, and Marty is is listeners are thinking about a
checklist for twenty twenty four, What are some of the
things that you would push them to consider to think about,
to focus on not just maybe with their playing in
their golf game, but he also in their golf bag.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah. I think it's just a good time to have, like,
you know, I like to call it like a retrospective,
you know, just take a nice, good hard look at
your game and what your goals are, Right, Shane, I
think that's a big deal. I think back to when
we had Preston summer Hates on the podcast. Hey Preston,
what do you need to do to get better? He
was like, well, I thought about this for a couple
(05:49):
of weeks and wrote a ten page detailed plan. I
don't think the everyday golfer needs to go to Preston level.
I'm not going to Preston level personally, but hey, what
a great example for all of us to do a
little look back on your game. Be like, hey, you know,
just like you did, I want to play more tournaments.
You know, what are your goals, what were your strengths,
(06:09):
what were your weaknesses? If you use any type of
stats tracking app, heck, even if you just look at
your gen trends over the years, right, take a look
at some of your stats and do a little assessment
on your game. Get you and if you have somebody
that can help you with it even better, whether that's
a coach, caddy, friend, do you play a lot of
golf with what have you? Uh? Take a look, take
(06:31):
a look at your game and see where you think
I think that the low hanging fruit is is it
you're driving, is it your short game, is it your
mid iron? Play and then you could start to start
to try to curate an action plan, maybe some habits
from a practice standpoint, and then an action plan to
take a look at it from an equipment standpoint.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, I think something you mentioned off the top there
is so smart. I mean, obviously there's so many apps
out there in terms of tracking your golf. And you know,
I battle with this, Marti at times playing golf is
do I want to be on my.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Phone when I'm playing?
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Or do I not want to be? And obviously, I
mean for me, golf is a bit of a disconnect
from the phone. It's so funny. I'll go on golf
trip sometimes, Marty, and I'll get done. I'll be on
the flight home and go, I want to post pictures
on Instagram, and I go. I didn't take many pictures,
which is a good thing. That means I had a
great golf trip, right, I mean, if I didn't pull
my phone out all the time, that typically means I
was having a great time on the golf course. But
(07:24):
I do think, considering where we're at in modern technology,
leaning on those even if it's after the run, even
if you're at you can track on scorecards and plug
it in on the back end, fairways, hit greens potts,
things like that. I think it's so important because Marty
you mentioned low hanging fruit. I'm not sure everybody understands
what they're good at and what they're bad at, right,
(07:46):
And I think being able to track that in some
capacity can help golfers understand where they should spend their
time practicing, where they should spend their time. Maybe they've
got a four year old driver, right, Maybe I haven't
driven the ball. Well, maybe it's worth spending a little
bit of time getting fit for something new in the
bag that might be able to help improve that.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, Shane, you know, we don't need to spend a
ton of too much time on stats tracking apps. But
what it does, you hit the nail on the head,
is it helps you get back past your own personal
bias of what you think is your strength or weakness
in your game. I was just recently at a big
conference talking to some of the top teachers and one
(08:24):
of them said, hey, I bring my players on the
course because you can identify the low hanging fruit to
help them get better. Almost immediately, they might they might
tell you, oh, my drivings, you know, not that good.
Then you get on the course, they actually drive it okay,
they miss their high handicap, or they missed a ton
of greens. They really struggle with the chipping. But maybe
they're blanking that out. You know, there's that bias in
(08:45):
there to give you that true assessment. And that's really
where the stats come in. You don't need a lot,
rely one hundred percent on them, but use them as
kind of a piece of the puzzle to help identify
where you need help. And then it's at and then
it's you know, Shane, it's maybe take a whole listic
view of your golf game. Do you need to work
on some fitness stuff, some speed stuff, some practice habits,
(09:06):
and set some realistic goals for yourself for the year? Right?
I think that's the thing is like, Hey, I think
life's gonna come at me, family, kids, job, travel, what
have you? What are some realistic things I can do?
Can I get a little putting that in my house
and and do some block practice for five or ten
minutes while I'm watching watching the basketball in the winter? Right,
(09:28):
these are those tiny things that add up a lot
over time. And then what can we do from an
equipment standpoint where am I where's the low hanging fruit
From an equipment performance standpoint.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, like, can you hit the ball longer? I mean
that's that's a simple fix. I mean I just was
messing around with the Max ten K. I love it.
I love the look of it. I know we're gonna
chat more and more about the new driver in the
coming weeks, but just simply adding a new driver in
the bag can help you pick up those five or
ten yards that maybe you've lost or that you'd love
(10:01):
to improve in terms of what you're trying to do.
I mean, these are simple fixes for the golf bag
to help somebody fill a slight hole. That's maybe there's
something they've been thinking about.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, absolutely, Shane. I try to take a look at
from an equipment standpoint to help golfers out there. Have
a little checklist of what things to look at. Number One,
you highlight it first the driver. Are you leaving distance
on the table through the driver? Fitting and performance? So
the fitting aspect is, let's make sure you have the
(10:33):
optimal launch and spin. And if you have not been
on a launch monitor, you haven't been through our copilot
tool or understand our chart we have which is angle
of attack, ball speed. What are the perfect launch conditions?
So many golfers are misfit by not having the right
launch and spin. So there's the fitting side of the driver.
(10:56):
Then there's the performance side, which is making sure you
have the latest technology in our four to thirty family,
for example, to give you that forgiveness around the face,
to give you that spinsistency, to give you that inertia,
to give you all the ball speed that comes with everything,
and marry those two things up together. The driver is
the most important club. At least once a year, it's
(11:17):
a perfect time of year before the season. Get in,
get your launch numbers and make sure your driver is
optimized for launch, and spend Marty.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
You mentioned the weather. You mentioned you know in a
lot of the areas of the country it's cold, you're
not playing a whole bunch of golf. And you mentioned
Ping Copilot, And this is my reminder to everybody out there,
spend a little bit of time with the apps that
Ping and Marty have created because it's such an easy fix.
You talk about driving, you talk about gapping. I know
we spent a lot of time in terms of gapping,
(11:47):
but that gapping app if you don't understand where this Again,
these are simple fixes, Marty. I mean, this isn't going
out and having a change or swing or spend hours
on the range working on path takeaway and things like that.
This is simply am I filling the gaps the right
way with the right clubs. Do I have a huge
hole at one twenty that I don't? I don't realize, Marty.
(12:09):
It's amazing how many buddies I'll talk to of mine that,
you know, we'll be playing a scramble or we'll be
out playing best Ball or something like that and they're like, ah,
you know, I don't want to hit driver, you ride.
I don't really have anything in the one twenty range,
and my mind's blown, you know. I'm like, this is
a scoring opportunity. You've got to at that dialed and
I love. I mean, one of my favorite things at
ping is that gapping app because it just helps it
(12:32):
helps an issue that a lot of golfers have.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, Shane, I totally agree so that that gapping app
is a great tool to lean on. Are our tons
of our fitters out there using it. If you want
to find a fitter that's using it, you go to
you go to our find a Fitter tool on ping
dot com and you can filter buy an account that
has and is using copiloting and go see them and
ask to get on the Gaping app. Because even if
(12:56):
you're not let's say you got a new set I
two thirties or G four thirty irons in you know,
the last year or two, there's still it's still worthwhile
going through the Gaping app even if you're not going
to replace you know you're not in the market for
new irons. To look at the edges of your bag,
like you were talking about Shane, the wedges. Do you
have the right gapping in your wedges? Number one? And
(13:18):
then maybe you're playing down to a four iron or
a five iron, you're struggling with that club. What's the
right replacement for that? Can you take a look at
just you know, a hybrid or high lofted fairway would
go on there, get on that Gaping app. I think
that's the next from the driver drivers Number one, make
sure you're optimized for launch and spin for your angle
of attack. Number two would be looking at your second figuration.
(13:41):
Are you are you comfortable with where what is the
longest iron in your bag? Number one. And on the
other end of the bag, like you were talking about, Shane,
you got to make let's make sure those those wedges
are scoring clubs and you have them gapped appropriately. That's
such a big deal.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah, I mean, we've had plenty of guests on that
have talked a little bit about this or around this
idea of not just the wedges. But I mean, I
love what you mentioned with the high loft at fairy Woods.
You know, I've talked so much about my love for
my seven wood and this becoming so popular. I also,
you know, I always think about this through the eyes
and the lenses of my buddies that play golf and
that are kind of all over the board in terms
(14:19):
of handicapping. But there's so many of my friends that
have a club in their bag that either they rarely
use if ever right and a lot of the time
that'll be a three wood. And so if you have
a club in your bag. And again, as we're talking
about kind of that checklist for the new year, checklist
for twenty twenty four, what can I do when I'm not,
you know, trying to find answers in the dirt? One
of those things is is there a club in your bag,
(14:41):
that's a cobweb club, right, you're not using it enough
to you know, be one of fourteen because fourteen is
in theory a pretty small number. It's just making sure
how often are you pulling it out. I do this
thing every year already, where my my golf shirts. I
at the start of the year, I flip the hangars
the way, and by the end of the year, if
(15:02):
there's hangars that are still facing the wrong way, those
shirts get donated. Obviously I'm not wearing those shirts. Right.
The same thing can be done with your golf clubs.
Are you using golf clubs enough to you know, mandate
a spot on the bag and if not, really consider
some other options.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, that's a great point, Shane. That's again where it's
hard to kind of know that from memory. Like if
you have arcos, for example, you can look and see
how how much you've hit the three wood. And one
of the fun things we've talked about a little bit
here before, Shane, is that how the three wood is
used is very different for all players out there. For example,
(15:39):
me and you, we hit our three wood probably eighty
eight out of ten times off the tee right for
the golfer out there that drives it two hundred yards,
they're the opposite. They hit it eight out of ten
times off the ground. So that's why you know, a
three wood might not be the right club for that golfer.
It might be a might be a five wood might
(16:01):
be like kind of a you know, we make a
fourwood out of a five wood. Put a five wood
in the in the big minus or a five sft
version five woods something that's very easy to hit off
the ground. But if you're a better player with more speed,
you want to be optimizing that three with off the t.
So that's cobweb club, I think is a really good
way to frame it and take a look at it.
(16:23):
Can you replace it with something that's going to be
more useful?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, If this is just my PSA here, If you
hate a club in your bag, flip it out of
the bag. Like, there's no reason to have a long
iron that you can't hit and you don't love that.
You've got to strike perfectly to hit the number that
you kind of have written down in your yardage book,
if you will, for what that number carries. Think about
(16:47):
a hybrid, think about a lofted Fairwe would like think
about these other options. There's so many options across the
board these days, with crossovers and with lofted fairwy woods
becoming more popular. You don't have to have have the
four iron in your bag if you don't feel comfortable
hitting that. I love my four iron. There's so many
people out there that don't. There's no reason to have
(17:08):
clubs in your bag that aren't helping your game. If
they're hurting your game, take them out and get a
little bit more creative.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
With the bag. Yeah, Shane. I think one of the
big things to make sure the bed the better players
listen to this is that hybrids no longer go left right.
We don't. We don't have that issue necessarily, and so
don't be afraid of that. Give it you if you
wiped them out forever. Five years ago you first tried
hybrids they hooked, or ten years ago, we've solved that problem.
(17:36):
We got Joaquin Nieman playing a five hybrid and stuffing
it out there. So give yourself permission that we can
always go flatter with them to get them to fly straight.
So definitely take a look at cobweb clubs. Set composition
between your driver and your longest iron. That's a really
good area to focus. And then Shane, I would say
(17:59):
after that, after those two pieces would be looking at
your wedges and making sure if you're not spinning it
around the greens, if you're hitting chip shots, pitch shots,
ball sliding up the face, you don't have that capability
when you have a really good lie to hit that
low spinner. If that's something that you want to do
(18:19):
in your technique, that'd be the next place to look.
Make sure you're starting the year off with some fresh wedges.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
And the chippers obviously something to think about as well.
I mean that's a big part of this whole You
talked about composition of the golf bag.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Right, absolutely, and I think that's where it comes to
the honest assessment of your game chain is it. Are
you going to spend the time to improve in a
certain area, Like let's say you love hitting four iron, right,
are you going to work on your speed, your technique,
everything to be able to flush that fore iron get
that ball up in the air. That's a tough challenge. Similarly,
when it comes to chipping, if you're a golfer out
(18:56):
there that struggled with chipping off of tight lies and
making managing your low point and being able to have
that delivery so you can nip it, get the ball
in the air, manage the low point. If that's a
struggle for you, take a look at the chipper, because
that has been a savior for a lot of golfers
out there. We have better players around the office. They
(19:18):
use the chipper. I have played with them and it
is very impressive what they can do around the green.
So give that an honest assessment, an honest look.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, I'm Marty. I just late last year. I wrapped
up a golf trip on my last golf trips of
twenty twenty three, and my buddy Andrew, who is I
think he's a two handicap, has the chipper in the bag.
Now he's never he's love it. I'll tell you this, Marty.
He's a guy that it's either full massive flop shot
or chipper. Like there's no you know, the simple, flat face,
(19:48):
fifty six degree pitch shot is not something he's comfortable hitting.
And so what he's learned is he'd put a lot
of those shots, but a lot of the time the
putter is just not the right call. And you could
go seven and if you feel comfortable with it. But
what I love about the chipper technology is it's basically
like using your putting stroke totally and getting a little
bit of that loft and roll out. It takes that
(20:10):
forcible speed out of the shot. You know, you stand
over a putt, it's grainy, it's kind of down on
a swell and you're up a hill. You just feel
like you gotta mash that. And so many times I'm
already I see guys putt it over the green right
because they're thinking they got to hit it so hard.
I love the chipper because it takes a little bit
of that I've got to hit it hard out of
their hands.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, totally, And I think you nailed What makes it
really easy for golfers like him to adapt to the
chipper is because we designed it so you can pretty
much use a putting stroke. It's super heavy headway relative
to chipping with their aight iron or what have you,
pitching wedge, super heavy headway, shorter and length and very upright,
(20:51):
so as all those characteristics of a putter. And Shane,
what's funny about this is the engineer here that designed
the chipper. You know, we talked a lot about solving
problems for yourself. He is exactly the same. He is
is like a scratch too handicap. He floats right in
that range. He's awesome at flop shots flop shots, but
(21:12):
he struggled with the basic chip and now he's either
chipper or flop shot in absolutely magic around the greens.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Are we talking? He's the same guys, my friend Andrew,
I don't know what has he got like a shadow job.
I'm gonna have to ask him about it. Marty, you
mentioned putting. A buddy of mine, Mike, just went through
iping and he was extremely complimentary about it. You know,
you're talking about getting yourself set up for twenty twenty
four and your golf game in the winner. Eyping is
something you can obviously do in your basement at home
(21:41):
anywhere like that, to make sure you're using the right
putter for your game and again assessing maybe what's not
working for you as you get set for the new
golf here.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, when it comes to the putter stain, I always
always again look at like the low hanging fruit, the
lowest hanging freu. Is to make sure you're in a
putter that has the right toe hang or balance right.
We talked about this with Sasho McKenzie when he was
on talking about the biomechanics of why that is super important.
So that I would say, is the low hanging fruit.
(22:13):
From a putter standpoint, do you have a miss tendency? Again,
it might be hard to remember that if you're not
tracking stats on it, but if you do have a
miss tendency. We see a lot of golfer shane tons
that are playing deep CG mallets heel shafted, missing tons
of putts to the right, and the biomechanics of this
absolutely makes sense. Right the very deep sea CG with
(22:37):
very heel shafted, you'll you have to torque the putter
a lot open on the backstroke and you can't catch
up and the faces delivered open to the past. So
going back to the low hanging fruit, get on ipin,
get on blast, Go find a fitter that has a
maybe a quintic system and understand how much you rotate
the face and the ford stroke. And if you don't
(22:58):
rotate it very much on iping, if you rotate a
two and a half degrees or less, you'll probably be
better in a more face balanced putter. If you have
a lot of rotations seven and a half degrees or more,
you'll probably better be better with a strong arc or
a very toe down putter, or you might be kind
of in the middle. So that I would say, is
the checklist item on putting. Make sure you're in the
(23:20):
right stroke type or toe hangu putter.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Marty, can you let people know if they've never gone
through iping, what to expect, like what to expect when
the package arrives at home at their home.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, Yeah, So that for that PLD custom program,
we have a mode of eping that guides you through
hitting putts and you can do it right on your
carpet in your house, a nice flat surface.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I did it.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
You're gonna do putts that are about a ten footer,
or it doesn't have to be perfectly ten feet, it
could be eight to fifteen somewhere in that range. But
you're we're gonna cue you to try to have an
intention to repeat your stroke as if you need to
make that ten foot straight putt on the golf course,
and in doing so. The sensors in the phone or
(24:08):
iPod itself are super duper accurate. They're built for playing
video games, and we can measure five key characteristics about
your putting stroke that you cannot see with the naked eye,
and I think that is the most important part. You
can't see tempo, time of backstroke, time a forward stroke.
With the naked eye. You can't see face rotation. You
(24:28):
can see path pretty good with the naked eye, but
not face rotation, and that's what we're talking about. How
much does the putter rotate on the backstroke rotate on
the forward stroke. We get a face angle delivery, which
is ultimately that's king. We talked about that with Sasho
as well, Like face angle is the most important thing,
(24:48):
and we can factor that into the fitting process as
well as your setup a shaft lean. How much you
lean the shaft will influence the loft your putter and
the lying shane. So iping is it's a you know,
we're using the cool sensors in the phone, but we're
doing a lot of things on the back end algorithmically
(25:09):
that can really help your your putting stroke. You can't
see with the naked eye.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I think the key to getting fit for a putter.
The key point to hear here is they can ping
can help you have a putter fit your stroke versus
you having to change the stroke to make sense with
the putter you're using. And I think that's so important
because there are a million different putting strokes out there.
I mean, you go to the putting green at a
PGA Tour event or an LPGA Tour event, You're gonna
(25:35):
see thirty different looking strokes, right, I mean, there's gonna
be so many different you know, inside out and things
like that. But those players have a putter fit to
exactly their stroke. And that is what ipin can do
for people listening, is it can fit a putter for
you versus you having to kind of you know, I
got to lean my hands a little bit more forward
or let's not forward press, like take all of your
(25:57):
guessing out of it and allow the technology to do
that for you. I just think that's so important.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, Shane, that was a really good, uh, really well
put on. How the tour players, you know, another way
to think about iping is it's the tour players have
been able to have trial and air. They have all
the putters out there in the putting green, they can
try them, see what works out there.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, So we fit them with iping, But you know
the algorithms that are baked in there work, you know,
in reverse to over the history of time. Right, you
have you have players who rotate the putter a lot
using tow down putters. You have players that don't rotate
the putter a lot using face balance putters. What iping
does It helps eliminate all that trial and air so
(26:43):
that we can kind of apply the science and apply
all that empirical observation. And again I think the key
is things you can't see with the naked eye and
make sure things are not fighting your stroke. I think
you frame that very very well.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
All right, Marty, So we've hit driver, We've got people
dialed on their gap and in their wedges. Putting is
now they're gonna have everybody here's listening's gonna order iping
and get fit and they're gonna make every put in
twenty twenty four, What about the golf ball? What can
people do in terms of thinking about the golf ball
they're playing and making sure that's right for their golf game.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Yeah, I view the golf ball, Shane, is like the
glue that puts it all together, all these components. The
ball is the cherry on top. And it ties driver performance,
iron performance, green side spin, feeling sound off the putter,
how that ball is going to fly through the air.
Do you need a ball that's better in the wind
or not? That is the kind of the final piece
(27:42):
of the puzzle, And I think around the first of
the year is the perfect time to make sure you're
in the right golf ball right because it's like which
ball am I going to use for the season. Of
course you can and should as new golf balls come
out take a look at this. But I think going
through Balnamic, which is golf ball finning solution and software
(28:02):
which you can do with launch modern data or without.
We'll talk a little bit about that about once a season,
maybe twice a season, is the perfect cadence to make
sure that your clubs and golf ball how you wanted
to perform on the golf course is all marrying together
and understanding golf balls is tough. There's so many on
(28:24):
the market. They have such a diversity in how they perform.
They can change one model can change a lot from
year to year, so you can't you can't really just
say I've always played this ball, played the newest version,
because sometimes they can change quite a bit, and so
we designed Balnamic to help solve these problems. And going
through this, going through Ballnamic around the first year is
(28:46):
the perfect time to do.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
It, do you, Marty? You know there's so many options
available with a lot of this technology at paying Do
you go through this stuff relatively consistent? I mean, are
you checking on the ball for your own golf game?
I mean, you're such a great player. I mean, you
know we've talked about your accolades, but are these things
you're kind of checking in on a couple times a year,
once a year or so.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah? No, absolute, Shane, I do, and I follow our
same process. You know you would if you were a
Mini Tour player or something. I schedule a fitting in
the off season, right, kind of like the Summery has
talked about, like, hey, we schedule a fitting and come in,
come in. And I kind of have to do that
because I'm so close to everything I And when I
(29:28):
schedule a fitting, I tell Brad Millard or one of
our master fitters here, treat me as if I'm I'm
just a tournament golfer, right and put me through all
the tools, the protocols, X ray my equipment, my game,
my launch condition. So absolutely, we're pulling up our launch
efficiency tool, which is one of my favorite in the
driver to make sure you're optimized from a launch and
(29:50):
spin standpoint. We're looking at the latest crop of balls
and is there a new option for me from Balnamic
because I spin my driver a little bit more than
are optimal, says, so I use golf ball to give
me net three hundred less spin in terms of driver flight. Right,
I'm always using the gaping app and that is awesome
(30:12):
to see if there's another option there, especially in my
long irons. And then iping. I go on iping at
least a couple times a year to see if anything's
changing my stroke because your stroke can evolve a little
bit over time, and to make sure I'm not making
any compensation, so one hundred percent, and I schedule that
to make sure it's kind of like a blocked intentional
(30:34):
thing on my calendar.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
What about stat tracking? How do you go about your
stat tracking? Because I know you're someone that pays a
lot of attention to those types of things.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah, so use I'm kind of in the research modes.
I use a bunch of different stat tracking apps. I
use arcos quite a bit for stat tracking, but I
experiment with a bunch of others. Golf Metrics really cool,
has some nice strokes gained features in there. Stack putting
is how I do my putting stats tracking now because
(31:05):
it gives the most granular insights for missus and I'm
pretty hardcore kind of aim pointer when I'm out there,
kind of always kind of figuring out, figuring out if
I'm at a one percent, two percent, three percent slope,
so that gives me the most granular insights from a
putting standpoint.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Do you think people that are listening to this podcast
are going to have their best golf in your ever?
I just feel like the advice you've given my goodness.
I mean, how do you not have a grade twenty four?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
You know? Yeah, they are, Shane, I would say the
big things are take take a look at driver, take
a look at second figuration, make sure if your if
your wedges are degrading a little bit and grooves face friction,
spin generation, take a look at that. Make sure you're
in the right stroke type of putter. Consider a stats
tracking solution so you get those true, non biased insights
(31:56):
to your game. Set up some good golf habits and
have an awesome year.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
And I got one last thing we haven't mentioned, but
I also see this a lot. You mentioned the groove faces,
and I think that is something people leave on the
cutting room floor way too often. They don't upgrade wedges.
They should be upgrading wedges in twenty four, especially with ping.
New wedges are meant, but grips. Pay attention to your grips.
(32:20):
If the grips are worn, you've had them for a
couple of years, and you play, you know, relatively consistent golf,
you play a couple times a month, you leave the
clubs in the trunk or whatever the case may be,
a clean them. But be consider whatever it is a
couple of hundred bucks to get your grips regripped. Because
you you mentioned the golf ball being such a such
an important part of the configuration, you know, of the
(32:42):
of the golf club and the golfer. I mean the
grips are the tires, right, I mean you don't want
ball tires driving in the rain like you want good grips.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Yeah, fresh grips is a super big deal, especially if
you if you got you're not gonna look at replacing
your irons or maybe your driver's pretty dialed. Put fresh
grips on. There is a big one, Shane. I think
a couple other things for folks to check, especially if
you swap shafts. Let's say you swap shafts with a
buddy and your driver's shaft or something. Check your swing weights, okay,
(33:09):
whether you have a swing weight scale at home, your
local shop, your your golf course. Check your swing weights
a lot of times is a very basic one. If
you're struggling with one club going left or right or
low point control, check your swing weights if you've if
you've swapped anything out and on the metal wood standpoint.
Another one's shame to throw in. There is a fresh bag.
(33:32):
I think that provides a really good kind of uh
kind of mental uh you know, freshness to the ear.
Get your bag, get all your your your tea's, your train,
make sure you got to spot for your little training aids,
whatever you carry with you in your bag. That could
be a big deal too, to get your ear started
off fresh. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I just played golf a couple of weeks ago and
Caddy walked with the first tea and he goes, man,
I love when I see a hoof for and I go,
I know, and he goes, it's just there, just the best.
I said, I know, they're the best bag. I mean,
I had them when I was a junior golfer, I've
had them through college, and I've got one now and
I love it. So yeah, I think the golf bag
is a great call as well. You know what, Marty,
I went the kind of single carry bag for a bit,
(34:15):
but the stand is unbeatable. It just it might listen,
it might be eight ounces heavier, whatever the case may be,
than an on stand bag, but I will carry the
ounces more so that my I don't love this laying
it down and picking it up. I'm just I've become
a stand guy, even when I'm carrying myself same.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
I like just getting the just a little bit easier
to get the clubs out of the bag, the switch clubs.
If you're between clubs, wind picks up. Man, It's so
much easier to throw Bindo your eight arm back in there.
Totally totally agree with you, Rob, You're seven well, Marty.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Happy new year, Man, super pumped for twenty twenty four,
Excited for all the content on this platform and what
we're going to be doing elsewhere. It's gonna be a
great year for us, gonna be a great year for
the golf world hopefully, and gonna be a great year
for the listeners because with all this advice and some
of the guests we have upcoming, I think it's gonna
be you know, I will say this all the feedback
(35:11):
I've got, Marty, I know you feel the same way
about the podcast. You know, we're eight nine months into
doing this podcast. It's been super fun to do. But
the feedback from you guys listening has been awesome. So
we always appreciate the messages and the tweets and the
and the you know, the things you guys send on Instagram.
It's great to hear from you, and we appreciate you
guys listening because it's been a lot of fun to
do so far.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Yeah, Shane, I totally agree. I've got some awesome feedback. Hopefully.
Golfers are just are. My goal with this, Shane, is
to help golfers get better, play better golf, you know
what I mean. So yeah, hopefully everyone got a little
you know, take a couple of those things from our
checklist or do them all would be awesome and get
your game dial chain. One thing we did want to
mention is for the ball fitting standpoint listeners, go to
(35:55):
ballfitting dot com. We have a discount code fifty percent
off for the listeners Proving Grounds. Enter the code proving
Grounds Capital P, Capital G and get fifty percent off
your ball fitting.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Enjoy it, Marty, that hold on, that's half. I'm almost
sure that's half off.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Exactly unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Proving Grounds Capital P, Capital G. You guys have a
great new year. Set those goals, write down the notes,
focus on the golf bag and play golf great. We're
excited to see if this is the paying Proven Grounds
podcast
The guys from Ping. They've kind of showed me how
much dequiment matters. I just love that I can hit
any shot I kind of want.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about
what goes on here to help golfers play better golf.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome back to the Ping proven Grounds Podcast. I'm Shane Bacon.
That's Marty Jerts and Marty. Happy New Year. You know
what we gotta start with, right? Do you got a resolution?
You got you got something you're gonna You're gonna set
your goals and eyes and mind and body ad at
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh, Shane, I used to be super big into the resolutions,
you know, like and for me it was always removing
something was like a good resolution. Like one year being
from Arizona, Man, I love chips and guac. I had
to give up chips. I was like, I couldn't do it.
Did you do the whole year? Did you did you
do the whole year and not do it? I did
the entire year?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
One year. I regret this, but I gave up coffee.
I like switched to tea and then I had a
I did it literally for the whole year, but I
rebounded on that now, so I'm not doing that. But
I think this year, you know, I think it's gonna
be maybe because over forty is maybe maybe diet wise,
get a little more protein in the diet. That's gonna
be my big thing for for twenty four. How about you,
(01:12):
what are you dot on your list?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I'm adding an extra leg and lower body workout a week. So,
as you know, Marty, it's super easy to do kind
of beach body workout and go do arms and things
like that. And I think at times I get a
little lazy with going to the gym and focusing solely
on lower body, like spend fifty minutes or an hour
entirely on legs and glutes and things like that. So
(01:37):
my goal, and I've been working with a trainer on
kind of getting nice a plan for this is I'm
just going to introduce a lot more leg workouts. Again,
you said it, Marty, I just turned forty, you know,
late last year, and these are the types of things
we've got to be thinking about. And so, yeah, it's
funny you and I are focused on the same stuff.
It's like diet and gym or basically what you have
to have to do when you when you when you
(01:58):
flip the calendar over, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, exactly. But I think it's good. I mean, when
we're talking about what we're going to talk about some
golf things here is just those habits. I think that's
a really big deal, is to at the beginning of
the year, is there's a good time to kind of
establish what your habits are going to be for the year,
knowing that life's going to come your way, things are
going to get in the way, But what are those
habits you can go back to? And yeah, I think
(02:23):
we've feeling good about both of ours, Shane.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, and you know, Marty, it's interesting. I mean I remember,
you know, doing like early Clubhouse podcast, you know ten,
you know, seven, eight years ago, and I would always
ask players about goals because if you remember, Justin Thomas
made it famous where he would post that notes app
at the end of the year on what his goals
were in which one he's achieved. And I think this
(02:46):
is actually something that's pretty important for even everyday golfers.
I think it's easy to say I'm going to spend
a little bit more time on the range this year.
I'm gonna spend a little bit more time on my
short game, but to actually write out goals for your
golf game. As much as we're all obsessed with the
game and obsessed with playing, what are you actually trying
to achieve in twenty four?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
You know?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
For me with my golf game, Marty, I'm going to
just simply try to play more tournaments. Not necessarily, you know,
try to do more whatever. I hope that comes with
the territory. But I'm just going to try to spend
a little bit more time in my calendar if it
allows that. Obviously I've got two little kids and I've
got jobs, but I'm going to try to just play
if I can play in more golf tournaments, get more
competitive in that space. Because I had a good twenty
(03:28):
twenty three in terms of tournament golf. But as I
look back on last year and kind of think about
this year, I wish I would have played more tournaments.
So that's kind of one of my big focuses for
next year. For this year.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, no, Shan, I love that I did that. In
twenty three. I recommitted because I had an off year
in twenty two, didn't play many tournaments at all for
me and I up. I played in all of pretty
much all of our section events in twenty three and
it worked. It forced me to kind of be a
little more dissi planned in my practice, and then you
get the feedback playing in the tournament golf. I mean,
you can be playing good like you did this year,
(04:01):
and then you play big tournament, then your next you
low your calendar. Your next one is not for six weeks.
You know, it's tough. It's tough to keep that momentum going.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I think about that on tour lot with the pro golfers.
You know, some of the guys that have great ends
to the season. You think about the way Victor obviously
played at the end of twenty three and into the
Ryder Cup and things like that, and everybody reacts the
same way, Wow, Victor's gonna win a major championship. He's
you know, he's obviously on the precipice of those types
of things. And you said it, Marty, I mean, the
gap from the end of that part of their season
(04:32):
until when they ramp things back up again in January,
and then you think about the big events early in
the season, and then you think about that first major championship.
I mean, what are you talking six seven months? For
those players, it's remembering what I did well. And for
Victor it was obviously everything. I mean, he hit the
ball great and he putted great, but remembering what those
fields were like and applying them in your practice and
(04:55):
in your planning, and then of course you know when
you get back to tournament golf in twenty four.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, and golf such a fragile game, Shane, You and
I both know, man, you can you can lose those feelings.
You know, you think they're just right there, but you
know sometimes it's you know, they're fleeting. So that's what
that's what makes this game so fun though.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, and Marty is is listeners are thinking about a
checklist for twenty twenty four, What are some of the
things that you would push them to consider to think about,
to focus on not just maybe with their playing in
their golf game, but he also in their golf bag.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah. I think it's just a good time to have, like,
you know, I like to call it like a retrospective,
you know, just take a nice, good hard look at
your game and what your goals are, Right, Shane, I
think that's a big deal. I think back to when
we had Preston summer Hates on the podcast. Hey Preston,
what do you need to do to get better? He
was like, well, I thought about this for a couple
(05:49):
of weeks and wrote a ten page detailed plan. I
don't think the everyday golfer needs to go to Preston level.
I'm not going to Preston level personally, but hey, what
a great example for all of us to do a
little look back on your game. Be like, hey, you know,
just like you did, I want to play more tournaments.
You know, what are your goals, what were your strengths,
(06:09):
what were your weaknesses? If you use any type of
stats tracking app, heck, even if you just look at
your gen trends over the years, right, take a look
at some of your stats and do a little assessment
on your game. Get you and if you have somebody
that can help you with it even better, whether that's
a coach, caddy, friend, do you play a lot of
golf with what have you? Uh? Take a look, take
(06:31):
a look at your game and see where you think
I think that the low hanging fruit is is it
you're driving, is it your short game, is it your
mid iron? Play and then you could start to start
to try to curate an action plan, maybe some habits
from a practice standpoint, and then an action plan to
take a look at it from an equipment standpoint.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, I think something you mentioned off the top there
is so smart. I mean, obviously there's so many apps
out there in terms of tracking your golf. And you know,
I battle with this, Marti at times playing golf is
do I want to be on my.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Phone when I'm playing?
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Or do I not want to be? And obviously, I
mean for me, golf is a bit of a disconnect
from the phone. It's so funny. I'll go on golf
trip sometimes, Marty, and I'll get done. I'll be on
the flight home and go, I want to post pictures
on Instagram, and I go. I didn't take many pictures,
which is a good thing. That means I had a
great golf trip, right, I mean, if I didn't pull
my phone out all the time, that typically means I
was having a great time on the golf course. But
(07:24):
I do think, considering where we're at in modern technology,
leaning on those even if it's after the run, even
if you're at you can track on scorecards and plug
it in on the back end, fairways, hit greens potts,
things like that. I think it's so important because Marty
you mentioned low hanging fruit. I'm not sure everybody understands
what they're good at and what they're bad at, right,
(07:46):
And I think being able to track that in some
capacity can help golfers understand where they should spend their
time practicing, where they should spend their time. Maybe they've
got a four year old driver, right, Maybe I haven't
driven the ball. Well, maybe it's worth spending a little
bit of time getting fit for something new in the
bag that might be able to help improve that.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, Shane, you know, we don't need to spend a
ton of too much time on stats tracking apps. But
what it does, you hit the nail on the head,
is it helps you get back past your own personal
bias of what you think is your strength or weakness
in your game. I was just recently at a big
conference talking to some of the top teachers and one
(08:24):
of them said, hey, I bring my players on the
course because you can identify the low hanging fruit to
help them get better. Almost immediately, they might they might
tell you, oh, my drivings, you know, not that good.
Then you get on the course, they actually drive it okay,
they miss their high handicap, or they missed a ton
of greens. They really struggle with the chipping. But maybe
they're blanking that out. You know, there's that bias in
(08:45):
there to give you that true assessment. And that's really
where the stats come in. You don't need a lot,
rely one hundred percent on them, but use them as
kind of a piece of the puzzle to help identify
where you need help. And then it's at and then
it's you know, Shane, it's maybe take a whole listic
view of your golf game. Do you need to work
on some fitness stuff, some speed stuff, some practice habits,
(09:06):
and set some realistic goals for yourself for the year? Right?
I think that's the thing is like, Hey, I think
life's gonna come at me, family, kids, job, travel, what
have you? What are some realistic things I can do?
Can I get a little putting that in my house
and and do some block practice for five or ten
minutes while I'm watching watching the basketball in the winter? Right,
(09:28):
these are those tiny things that add up a lot
over time. And then what can we do from an
equipment standpoint where am I where's the low hanging fruit
From an equipment performance standpoint.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, like, can you hit the ball longer? I mean
that's that's a simple fix. I mean I just was
messing around with the Max ten K. I love it.
I love the look of it. I know we're gonna
chat more and more about the new driver in the
coming weeks, but just simply adding a new driver in
the bag can help you pick up those five or
ten yards that maybe you've lost or that you'd love
(10:01):
to improve in terms of what you're trying to do.
I mean, these are simple fixes for the golf bag
to help somebody fill a slight hole. That's maybe there's
something they've been thinking about.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, absolutely, Shane. I try to take a look at
from an equipment standpoint to help golfers out there. Have
a little checklist of what things to look at. Number One,
you highlight it first the driver. Are you leaving distance
on the table through the driver? Fitting and performance? So
the fitting aspect is, let's make sure you have the
(10:33):
optimal launch and spin. And if you have not been
on a launch monitor, you haven't been through our copilot
tool or understand our chart we have which is angle
of attack, ball speed. What are the perfect launch conditions?
So many golfers are misfit by not having the right
launch and spin. So there's the fitting side of the driver.
(10:56):
Then there's the performance side, which is making sure you
have the latest technology in our four to thirty family,
for example, to give you that forgiveness around the face,
to give you that spinsistency, to give you that inertia,
to give you all the ball speed that comes with everything,
and marry those two things up together. The driver is
the most important club. At least once a year, it's
(11:17):
a perfect time of year before the season. Get in,
get your launch numbers and make sure your driver is
optimized for launch, and spend Marty.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
You mentioned the weather. You mentioned you know in a
lot of the areas of the country it's cold, you're
not playing a whole bunch of golf. And you mentioned
Ping Copilot, And this is my reminder to everybody out there,
spend a little bit of time with the apps that
Ping and Marty have created because it's such an easy fix.
You talk about driving, you talk about gapping. I know
we spent a lot of time in terms of gapping,
(11:47):
but that gapping app if you don't understand where this Again,
these are simple fixes, Marty. I mean, this isn't going
out and having a change or swing or spend hours
on the range working on path takeaway and things like that.
This is simply am I filling the gaps the right
way with the right clubs. Do I have a huge
hole at one twenty that I don't? I don't realize, Marty.
(12:09):
It's amazing how many buddies I'll talk to of mine that,
you know, we'll be playing a scramble or we'll be
out playing best Ball or something like that and they're like, ah,
you know, I don't want to hit driver, you ride.
I don't really have anything in the one twenty range,
and my mind's blown, you know. I'm like, this is
a scoring opportunity. You've got to at that dialed and
I love. I mean, one of my favorite things at
ping is that gapping app because it just helps it
(12:32):
helps an issue that a lot of golfers have.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, Shane, I totally agree so that that gapping app
is a great tool to lean on. Are our tons
of our fitters out there using it. If you want
to find a fitter that's using it, you go to
you go to our find a Fitter tool on ping
dot com and you can filter buy an account that
has and is using copiloting and go see them and
ask to get on the Gaping app. Because even if
(12:56):
you're not let's say you got a new set I
two thirties or G four thirty irons in you know,
the last year or two, there's still it's still worthwhile
going through the Gaping app even if you're not going
to replace you know you're not in the market for
new irons. To look at the edges of your bag,
like you were talking about Shane, the wedges. Do you
have the right gapping in your wedges? Number one? And
(13:18):
then maybe you're playing down to a four iron or
a five iron, you're struggling with that club. What's the
right replacement for that? Can you take a look at
just you know, a hybrid or high lofted fairway would
go on there, get on that Gaping app. I think
that's the next from the driver drivers Number one, make
sure you're optimized for launch and spin for your angle
of attack. Number two would be looking at your second figuration.
(13:41):
Are you are you comfortable with where what is the
longest iron in your bag? Number one. And on the
other end of the bag, like you were talking about, Shane,
you got to make let's make sure those those wedges
are scoring clubs and you have them gapped appropriately. That's
such a big deal.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah, I mean, we've had plenty of guests on that
have talked a little bit about this or around this
idea of not just the wedges. But I mean, I
love what you mentioned with the high loft at fairy Woods.
You know, I've talked so much about my love for
my seven wood and this becoming so popular. I also,
you know, I always think about this through the eyes
and the lenses of my buddies that play golf and
that are kind of all over the board in terms
(14:19):
of handicapping. But there's so many of my friends that
have a club in their bag that either they rarely
use if ever right and a lot of the time
that'll be a three wood. And so if you have
a club in your bag. And again, as we're talking
about kind of that checklist for the new year, checklist
for twenty twenty four, what can I do when I'm not,
you know, trying to find answers in the dirt? One
of those things is is there a club in your bag,
(14:41):
that's a cobweb club, right, you're not using it enough
to you know, be one of fourteen because fourteen is
in theory a pretty small number. It's just making sure
how often are you pulling it out. I do this
thing every year already, where my my golf shirts. I
at the start of the year, I flip the hangars
the way, and by the end of the year, if
(15:02):
there's hangars that are still facing the wrong way, those
shirts get donated. Obviously I'm not wearing those shirts. Right.
The same thing can be done with your golf clubs.
Are you using golf clubs enough to you know, mandate
a spot on the bag and if not, really consider
some other options.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, that's a great point, Shane. That's again where it's
hard to kind of know that from memory. Like if
you have arcos, for example, you can look and see
how how much you've hit the three wood. And one
of the fun things we've talked about a little bit
here before, Shane, is that how the three wood is
used is very different for all players out there. For example,
(15:39):
me and you, we hit our three wood probably eighty
eight out of ten times off the tee right for
the golfer out there that drives it two hundred yards,
they're the opposite. They hit it eight out of ten
times off the ground. So that's why you know, a
three wood might not be the right club for that golfer.
It might be a might be a five wood might
(16:01):
be like kind of a you know, we make a
fourwood out of a five wood. Put a five wood
in the in the big minus or a five sft
version five woods something that's very easy to hit off
the ground. But if you're a better player with more speed,
you want to be optimizing that three with off the t.
So that's cobweb club, I think is a really good
way to frame it and take a look at it.
(16:23):
Can you replace it with something that's going to be
more useful?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, If this is just my PSA here, If you
hate a club in your bag, flip it out of
the bag. Like, there's no reason to have a long
iron that you can't hit and you don't love that.
You've got to strike perfectly to hit the number that
you kind of have written down in your yardage book,
if you will, for what that number carries. Think about
(16:47):
a hybrid, think about a lofted Fairwe would like think
about these other options. There's so many options across the
board these days, with crossovers and with lofted fairwy woods
becoming more popular. You don't have to have have the
four iron in your bag if you don't feel comfortable
hitting that. I love my four iron. There's so many
people out there that don't. There's no reason to have
(17:08):
clubs in your bag that aren't helping your game. If
they're hurting your game, take them out and get a
little bit more creative.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
With the bag. Yeah, Shane. I think one of the
big things to make sure the bed the better players
listen to this is that hybrids no longer go left right.
We don't. We don't have that issue necessarily, and so
don't be afraid of that. Give it you if you
wiped them out forever. Five years ago you first tried
hybrids they hooked, or ten years ago, we've solved that problem.
(17:36):
We got Joaquin Nieman playing a five hybrid and stuffing
it out there. So give yourself permission that we can
always go flatter with them to get them to fly straight.
So definitely take a look at cobweb clubs. Set composition
between your driver and your longest iron. That's a really
good area to focus. And then Shane, I would say
(17:59):
after that, after those two pieces would be looking at
your wedges and making sure if you're not spinning it
around the greens, if you're hitting chip shots, pitch shots,
ball sliding up the face, you don't have that capability
when you have a really good lie to hit that
low spinner. If that's something that you want to do
(18:19):
in your technique, that'd be the next place to look.
Make sure you're starting the year off with some fresh wedges.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
And the chippers obviously something to think about as well.
I mean that's a big part of this whole You
talked about composition of the golf bag.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Right, absolutely, and I think that's where it comes to
the honest assessment of your game chain is it. Are
you going to spend the time to improve in a
certain area, Like let's say you love hitting four iron, right,
are you going to work on your speed, your technique,
everything to be able to flush that fore iron get
that ball up in the air. That's a tough challenge. Similarly,
when it comes to chipping, if you're a golfer out
(18:56):
there that struggled with chipping off of tight lies and
making managing your low point and being able to have
that delivery so you can nip it, get the ball
in the air, manage the low point. If that's a
struggle for you, take a look at the chipper, because
that has been a savior for a lot of golfers
out there. We have better players around the office. They
(19:18):
use the chipper. I have played with them and it
is very impressive what they can do around the green.
So give that an honest assessment, an honest look.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, I'm Marty. I just late last year. I wrapped
up a golf trip on my last golf trips of
twenty twenty three, and my buddy Andrew, who is I
think he's a two handicap, has the chipper in the bag.
Now he's never he's love it. I'll tell you this, Marty.
He's a guy that it's either full massive flop shot
or chipper. Like there's no you know, the simple, flat face,
(19:48):
fifty six degree pitch shot is not something he's comfortable hitting.
And so what he's learned is he'd put a lot
of those shots, but a lot of the time the
putter is just not the right call. And you could
go seven and if you feel comfortable with it. But
what I love about the chipper technology is it's basically
like using your putting stroke totally and getting a little
bit of that loft and roll out. It takes that
(20:10):
forcible speed out of the shot. You know, you stand
over a putt, it's grainy, it's kind of down on
a swell and you're up a hill. You just feel
like you gotta mash that. And so many times I'm
already I see guys putt it over the green right
because they're thinking they got to hit it so hard.
I love the chipper because it takes a little bit
of that I've got to hit it hard out of
their hands.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, totally, And I think you nailed What makes it
really easy for golfers like him to adapt to the
chipper is because we designed it so you can pretty
much use a putting stroke. It's super heavy headway relative
to chipping with their aight iron or what have you,
pitching wedge, super heavy headway, shorter and length and very upright,
(20:51):
so as all those characteristics of a putter. And Shane,
what's funny about this is the engineer here that designed
the chipper. You know, we talked a lot about solving
problems for yourself. He is exactly the same. He is
is like a scratch too handicap. He floats right in
that range. He's awesome at flop shots flop shots, but
(21:12):
he struggled with the basic chip and now he's either
chipper or flop shot in absolutely magic around the greens.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Are we talking? He's the same guys, my friend Andrew,
I don't know what has he got like a shadow job.
I'm gonna have to ask him about it. Marty, you
mentioned putting. A buddy of mine, Mike, just went through
iping and he was extremely complimentary about it. You know,
you're talking about getting yourself set up for twenty twenty
four and your golf game in the winner. Eyping is
something you can obviously do in your basement at home
(21:41):
anywhere like that, to make sure you're using the right
putter for your game and again assessing maybe what's not
working for you as you get set for the new
golf here.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, when it comes to the putter stain, I always
always again look at like the low hanging fruit, the
lowest hanging freu. Is to make sure you're in a
putter that has the right toe hang or balance right.
We talked about this with Sasho McKenzie when he was
on talking about the biomechanics of why that is super important.
So that I would say, is the low hanging fruit.
(22:13):
From a putter standpoint, do you have a miss tendency? Again,
it might be hard to remember that if you're not
tracking stats on it, but if you do have a
miss tendency. We see a lot of golfer shane tons
that are playing deep CG mallets heel shafted, missing tons
of putts to the right, and the biomechanics of this
absolutely makes sense. Right the very deep sea CG with
(22:37):
very heel shafted, you'll you have to torque the putter
a lot open on the backstroke and you can't catch
up and the faces delivered open to the past. So
going back to the low hanging fruit, get on ipin,
get on blast, Go find a fitter that has a
maybe a quintic system and understand how much you rotate
the face and the ford stroke. And if you don't
(22:58):
rotate it very much on iping, if you rotate a
two and a half degrees or less, you'll probably be
better in a more face balanced putter. If you have
a lot of rotations seven and a half degrees or more,
you'll probably better be better with a strong arc or
a very toe down putter, or you might be kind
of in the middle. So that I would say, is
the checklist item on putting. Make sure you're in the
(23:20):
right stroke type or toe hangu putter.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Marty, can you let people know if they've never gone
through iping, what to expect, like what to expect when
the package arrives at home at their home.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, Yeah, So that for that PLD custom program,
we have a mode of eping that guides you through
hitting putts and you can do it right on your
carpet in your house, a nice flat surface.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I did it.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
You're gonna do putts that are about a ten footer,
or it doesn't have to be perfectly ten feet, it
could be eight to fifteen somewhere in that range. But
you're we're gonna cue you to try to have an
intention to repeat your stroke as if you need to
make that ten foot straight putt on the golf course,
and in doing so. The sensors in the phone or
(24:08):
iPod itself are super duper accurate. They're built for playing
video games, and we can measure five key characteristics about
your putting stroke that you cannot see with the naked eye,
and I think that is the most important part. You
can't see tempo, time of backstroke, time a forward stroke.
With the naked eye. You can't see face rotation. You
(24:28):
can see path pretty good with the naked eye, but
not face rotation, and that's what we're talking about. How
much does the putter rotate on the backstroke rotate on
the forward stroke. We get a face angle delivery, which
is ultimately that's king. We talked about that with Sasho
as well, Like face angle is the most important thing,
(24:48):
and we can factor that into the fitting process as
well as your setup a shaft lean. How much you
lean the shaft will influence the loft your putter and
the lying shane. So iping is it's a you know,
we're using the cool sensors in the phone, but we're
doing a lot of things on the back end algorithmically
(25:09):
that can really help your your putting stroke. You can't
see with the naked eye.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I think the key to getting fit for a putter.
The key point to hear here is they can ping
can help you have a putter fit your stroke versus
you having to change the stroke to make sense with
the putter you're using. And I think that's so important
because there are a million different putting strokes out there.
I mean, you go to the putting green at a
PGA Tour event or an LPGA Tour event, You're gonna
(25:35):
see thirty different looking strokes, right, I mean, there's gonna
be so many different you know, inside out and things
like that. But those players have a putter fit to
exactly their stroke. And that is what ipin can do
for people listening, is it can fit a putter for
you versus you having to kind of you know, I
got to lean my hands a little bit more forward
or let's not forward press, like take all of your
(25:57):
guessing out of it and allow the technology to do
that for you. I just think that's so important.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, Shane, that was a really good, uh, really well
put on. How the tour players, you know, another way
to think about iping is it's the tour players have
been able to have trial and air. They have all
the putters out there in the putting green, they can
try them, see what works out there.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, So we fit them with iping, But you know
the algorithms that are baked in there work, you know,
in reverse to over the history of time. Right, you
have you have players who rotate the putter a lot
using tow down putters. You have players that don't rotate
the putter a lot using face balance putters. What iping
does It helps eliminate all that trial and air so
(26:43):
that we can kind of apply the science and apply
all that empirical observation. And again I think the key
is things you can't see with the naked eye and
make sure things are not fighting your stroke. I think
you frame that very very well.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
All right, Marty, So we've hit driver, We've got people
dialed on their gap and in their wedges. Putting is
now they're gonna have everybody here's listening's gonna order iping
and get fit and they're gonna make every put in
twenty twenty four, What about the golf ball? What can
people do in terms of thinking about the golf ball
they're playing and making sure that's right for their golf game.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Yeah, I view the golf ball, Shane, is like the
glue that puts it all together, all these components. The
ball is the cherry on top. And it ties driver performance,
iron performance, green side spin, feeling sound off the putter,
how that ball is going to fly through the air.
Do you need a ball that's better in the wind
or not? That is the kind of the final piece
(27:42):
of the puzzle, And I think around the first of
the year is the perfect time to make sure you're
in the right golf ball right because it's like which
ball am I going to use for the season. Of
course you can and should as new golf balls come
out take a look at this. But I think going
through Balnamic, which is golf ball finning solution and software
(28:02):
which you can do with launch modern data or without.
We'll talk a little bit about that about once a season,
maybe twice a season, is the perfect cadence to make
sure that your clubs and golf ball how you wanted
to perform on the golf course is all marrying together
and understanding golf balls is tough. There's so many on
(28:24):
the market. They have such a diversity in how they perform.
They can change one model can change a lot from
year to year, so you can't you can't really just
say I've always played this ball, played the newest version,
because sometimes they can change quite a bit, and so
we designed Balnamic to help solve these problems. And going
through this, going through Ballnamic around the first year is
(28:46):
the perfect time to do.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
It, do you, Marty? You know there's so many options
available with a lot of this technology at paying Do
you go through this stuff relatively consistent? I mean, are
you checking on the ball for your own golf game?
I mean, you're such a great player. I mean, you
know we've talked about your accolades, but are these things
you're kind of checking in on a couple times a year,
once a year or so.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah? No, absolute, Shane, I do, and I follow our
same process. You know you would if you were a
Mini Tour player or something. I schedule a fitting in
the off season, right, kind of like the Summery has
talked about, like, hey, we schedule a fitting and come in,
come in. And I kind of have to do that
because I'm so close to everything I And when I
(29:28):
schedule a fitting, I tell Brad Millard or one of
our master fitters here, treat me as if I'm I'm
just a tournament golfer, right and put me through all
the tools, the protocols, X ray my equipment, my game,
my launch condition. So absolutely, we're pulling up our launch
efficiency tool, which is one of my favorite in the
driver to make sure you're optimized from a launch and
(29:50):
spin standpoint. We're looking at the latest crop of balls
and is there a new option for me from Balnamic
because I spin my driver a little bit more than
are optimal, says, so I use golf ball to give
me net three hundred less spin in terms of driver flight. Right,
I'm always using the gaping app and that is awesome
(30:12):
to see if there's another option there, especially in my
long irons. And then iping. I go on iping at
least a couple times a year to see if anything's
changing my stroke because your stroke can evolve a little
bit over time, and to make sure I'm not making
any compensation, so one hundred percent, and I schedule that
to make sure it's kind of like a blocked intentional
(30:34):
thing on my calendar.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
What about stat tracking? How do you go about your
stat tracking? Because I know you're someone that pays a
lot of attention to those types of things.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah, so use I'm kind of in the research modes.
I use a bunch of different stat tracking apps. I
use arcos quite a bit for stat tracking, but I
experiment with a bunch of others. Golf Metrics really cool,
has some nice strokes gained features in there. Stack putting
is how I do my putting stats tracking now because
(31:05):
it gives the most granular insights for missus and I'm
pretty hardcore kind of aim pointer when I'm out there,
kind of always kind of figuring out, figuring out if
I'm at a one percent, two percent, three percent slope,
so that gives me the most granular insights from a
putting standpoint.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Do you think people that are listening to this podcast
are going to have their best golf in your ever?
I just feel like the advice you've given my goodness.
I mean, how do you not have a grade twenty four?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
You know? Yeah, they are, Shane, I would say the
big things are take take a look at driver, take
a look at second figuration, make sure if your if
your wedges are degrading a little bit and grooves face friction,
spin generation, take a look at that. Make sure you're
in the right stroke type of putter. Consider a stats
tracking solution so you get those true, non biased insights
(31:56):
to your game. Set up some good golf habits and
have an awesome year.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
And I got one last thing we haven't mentioned, but
I also see this a lot. You mentioned the groove faces,
and I think that is something people leave on the
cutting room floor way too often. They don't upgrade wedges.
They should be upgrading wedges in twenty four, especially with ping.
New wedges are meant, but grips. Pay attention to your grips.
(32:20):
If the grips are worn, you've had them for a
couple of years, and you play, you know, relatively consistent golf,
you play a couple times a month, you leave the
clubs in the trunk or whatever the case may be,
a clean them. But be consider whatever it is a
couple of hundred bucks to get your grips regripped. Because
you you mentioned the golf ball being such a such
an important part of the configuration, you know, of the
(32:42):
of the golf club and the golfer. I mean the
grips are the tires, right, I mean you don't want
ball tires driving in the rain like you want good grips.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Yeah, fresh grips is a super big deal, especially if
you if you got you're not gonna look at replacing
your irons or maybe your driver's pretty dialed. Put fresh
grips on. There is a big one, Shane. I think
a couple other things for folks to check, especially if
you swap shafts. Let's say you swap shafts with a
buddy and your driver's shaft or something. Check your swing weights, okay,
(33:09):
whether you have a swing weight scale at home, your
local shop, your your golf course. Check your swing weights
a lot of times is a very basic one. If
you're struggling with one club going left or right or
low point control, check your swing weights if you've if
you've swapped anything out and on the metal wood standpoint.
Another one's shame to throw in. There is a fresh bag.
(33:32):
I think that provides a really good kind of uh
kind of mental uh you know, freshness to the ear.
Get your bag, get all your your your tea's, your train,
make sure you got to spot for your little training aids,
whatever you carry with you in your bag. That could
be a big deal too, to get your ear started
off fresh. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I just played golf a couple of weeks ago and
Caddy walked with the first tea and he goes, man,
I love when I see a hoof for and I go,
I know, and he goes, it's just there, just the best.
I said, I know, they're the best bag. I mean,
I had them when I was a junior golfer, I've
had them through college, and I've got one now and
I love it. So yeah, I think the golf bag
is a great call as well. You know what, Marty,
I went the kind of single carry bag for a bit,
(34:15):
but the stand is unbeatable. It just it might listen,
it might be eight ounces heavier, whatever the case may be,
than an on stand bag, but I will carry the
ounces more so that my I don't love this laying
it down and picking it up. I'm just I've become
a stand guy, even when I'm carrying myself same.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
I like just getting the just a little bit easier
to get the clubs out of the bag, the switch clubs.
If you're between clubs, wind picks up. Man, It's so
much easier to throw Bindo your eight arm back in there.
Totally totally agree with you, Rob, You're seven well, Marty.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Happy new year, Man, super pumped for twenty twenty four,
Excited for all the content on this platform and what
we're going to be doing elsewhere. It's gonna be a
great year for us, gonna be a great year for
the golf world hopefully, and gonna be a great year
for the listeners because with all this advice and some
of the guests we have upcoming, I think it's gonna
be you know, I will say this all the feedback
(35:11):
I've got, Marty, I know you feel the same way
about the podcast. You know, we're eight nine months into
doing this podcast. It's been super fun to do. But
the feedback from you guys listening has been awesome. So
we always appreciate the messages and the tweets and the
and the you know, the things you guys send on Instagram.
It's great to hear from you, and we appreciate you
guys listening because it's been a lot of fun to
do so far.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Yeah, Shane, I totally agree. I've got some awesome feedback. Hopefully.
Golfers are just are. My goal with this, Shane, is
to help golfers get better, play better golf, you know
what I mean. So yeah, hopefully everyone got a little
you know, take a couple of those things from our
checklist or do them all would be awesome and get
your game dial chain. One thing we did want to
mention is for the ball fitting standpoint listeners, go to
(35:55):
ballfitting dot com. We have a discount code fifty percent
off for the listeners Proving Grounds. Enter the code proving
Grounds Capital P, Capital G and get fifty percent off
your ball fitting.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Enjoy it, Marty, that hold on, that's half. I'm almost
sure that's half off.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Exactly unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Proving Grounds Capital P, Capital G. You guys have a
great new year. Set those goals, write down the notes,
focus on the golf bag and play golf great. We're
excited to see if this is the paying Proven Grounds
podcast
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