November 19, 2025 • 27 mins
Most golfers slow down when the weather cools, but Claude says the off-season is where real progress happens. He breaks down practical ways to use the winter months to level up your game.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the Son of a Butch podcast. I'm your host,
Claude Harmon. So I had a player come in that
lives in Minnesota for a lesson, and obviously there are
a lot of people listening that their kind of golf
season is over and they're going into kind of that
off season to where the weather's changing, daylights getting you know,
(00:21):
the days are getting shorter, you don't really have a
lot of time to be outside, and so it's kind
of the off season and this player is competitive trying
to play in some USGA stuff. Really a good player
was talking about creating a plan for the off season,
and I think it's a really really important time of
the year for players. You know, when some golf course
(00:43):
starting shot, the weather's bad, you're not playing as much.
And I think it's easy to see this as downtime,
but I think off season is probably the most important
time for players. And we're kind of in that off
season right now. A lot of tour players are in
off season right now, but off season for tour players,
(01:04):
they're looking to rebuild and change things. And I think
I can talk about some things that you can do
in your golf game that I really think can help
you with your score. So why is the off season
so important, Well, there's no scoreboard pressure, right, So if
you're not playing in a lot of competitions in your
(01:26):
off season, if the weather isn't great, you're probably not
going to be playing a lot, so scores aren't important,
which means it's a perfect time to be in that
technique phase to work on your golf swing. And if
you're not worried so much about scores and not worried
so much about competing, it's also a really good opportunity
(01:49):
for you to commit to making changes that way when
the season starts. When your golf season starts, if you
playing in competitions, you can then be an execution phase,
performance phase, and not in technique phase. So that's where
I think off season is so so important.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
It's the technique phase.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
It's the time for you to work on your technique
and what you do in the off season will have
a really big, big effect on what you do during
your actual golf season. So you can make the big
swing changes. You can work on any physical limitations you have,
(02:35):
You can work on doing some changes or some testing
with your equipment. You can listen if the golf course
isn't open where you play, but the short game area
is open, or you can put indoors, or you can
get into a simulator with your short game. That's a really,
(02:55):
really good time to make changes. And these are all
things that are tough to do in the middle of
your golf season, right. It's hard to do rebuilds a
ton of technical work if you do the work in
the off season and you make the commitments to the
changes and realize that off season, if you're hitting golf
(03:20):
balls a lot inside in a simulator in a controlled environment,
are going to be the main bulk of your focus
that you're not really going to be Because that's what
this player said to me. He said, Listen, I live
in Minnesota. We aren't really going to be playing a
lot of golf outdoors for a while, so this is
a really good opportunity for me to make some changes,
(03:42):
make some games. So I think what you want to
try and not do in the off season is not
just maintain, right, not look at what you just did
for your last season and think, Okay, well I'll just
kind of maintain that and really not do a lot
and stuff, because that's really a stood opportunity because to me,
the off season is kind of you getting into the laboratory.
(04:05):
It's a time to where we can talk about that
no kind of judgment, no fear, practice set up that
you can make for yourself right to where you are
in experiment phase. You can try different things, you can
try different concepts. If you want to take lessons and
work on your golf swing, I think it's a great
(04:26):
time for you to work on that, because again, we
want when the golf season starts up for you, when
the weather gets better, when you are going to be
playing more golf, when you're going to be more outside,
that's where you want to be in execution mode, performance mode.
So in your off season, if you are still playing
(04:46):
a lot of golf and the weather isn't great and
things like that, I think that's where you want to
make sure that you're not judging yourself by score, right,
that you're in that kind of technical phase, that technique phase.
But don't skip practic this just because it's off season, right.
There are things that you can do. And one of
(05:06):
the things that I think is make a plan, right,
make an actual real practice plan for your off season
for the technical work, the technique work, that you're going
to do, because again, off season is that technical phase,
that technique phase. So you can put it into blocks, right,
but give yourself kind of, you know, twelve weeks right
(05:30):
and say, Okay, golf is really really important to me,
and I'm going to try and take the next twelve
weeks and I'm really going to try and make some changes.
So kind of the first four weeks is just going
to be pure technique work and get uncomfortable. Use those
(05:54):
four weeks as a really good kind of block of
all Right, I've been wanting to make some changes to
my golf swing for a while, but I've really done it,
and I'm really going to use, you know, four weeks
to grind. It's going to be uncomfortable. I'm going to
(06:16):
give myself permission for it to be uncomfortable, for me
to not be evaluating every single shot. To think of
it as Okay, I've got four weeks to work on
some technical changes, and I'm really going to commit to
making the changes that I've always wanted to make, or
to make the changes that my instructor or other coaches
(06:40):
or other people that I've worked with have told me. Listen,
this is kind of the main part of your golf
swing that we're going to work on. So that's that
no judgment to say, all right, going to get ugly,
it's going to get dirty.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It's again using the workout analogy. All Right, I'm really
going to get into the gym. I'm really going to
start working out, and I'm probably going to be so
or when I do that, right, I'm going to have
some musclefultigue. I'm gonna have some days where my body's
not going to feel great. But this is the time
where I'm really going to kind of grind through that.
So use the first four weeks, So get a twelve
week plan. Use those first four weeks for just all
(07:14):
of the technical stuff you're doing. And I think it's
really important to focus on these technical changes that you
are going to make to on every swing you're making,
don't evaluate where did the ball go?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
What was the outcome? Evaluate the things that you.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Can control in this technique phase is your attitude and
your intent. What is your intent? What are you trying
to do? And then evaluate your practice sessions and your
your blocks where you're practicing and say, okay, listen, how
well did I stick with the stuff that I was
(07:54):
trying to work on. How much did I really focus
on these positions that I was trying to do, these feels,
these drills and these things like that. But if you
give it a good four weeks and just grind it
out and really stick with the process of that, don't
worry about the outcome. The outcome is is going to
be when the season starts back up for you, when
(08:17):
the weather changes, when the days get longer, when you're
back out on the golf course and you're out of
kind of the laboratory that you've kind of created. And
I really really like that as a concept. So four
weeks of just pure technical work and then kind of
those next four weeks that's the transfer phase, right where
(08:38):
you're going to say, all right, I've been grinding on
my golf swing for the last you know, four weeks,
where I've really been in kind of my technique mode,
I haven't really been you know, I've been doing a
lot of work inside in a net, in a simulator.
You know, it's really kind of in a lab environment,
a controlled laboratory environment where I'm trying different drill and
(09:00):
try and that to me that those first four weeks
are where you really want to figure out what feels
that you like, what feels work? Does the feel Do
I have any data points when I look at my
golf swing on video, or when I'm on a launch monitor,
or when I'm on a force plate, or if I'm
(09:22):
working on three D or but any of the technical
stuff that we can use to kind of quantify what
we're doing, any of the technical stuff that we can
use to measure what we're doing. Those first four weeks
you want to be able to look at data points
and go, Okay, yeah, my backswing looks better, the club
face looks better, the grip looks stronger, the grip looks weaker,
(09:45):
my posture looks better, my alignment looks better, whatever the
technical technique changes that you're trying to make. Those first
four weeks are where you're going to get uncomfortable. You're
going to make a lot of mistakes. You're going to
fall down a lot. You're not going to be workorried
about scoring. You're not going to be worried about targets.
You're not going to be worried about outcomes and results.
(10:05):
You're going to be focused on the process, the things
that you have to do to get your golf swing
technically better, to get the positions better, and what are
the feels at work on that. But that next block
of four weeks, that's where you start to add in targets.
That's where you start to put down alignment sticks where
(10:26):
you're focused on where you're aiming. You're still going to
allow yourself for missus, right, You're still going to allow
yourself for bad swings because you're trying to in this
transfer phase embed the changes.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So for the first four weeks, we're working on pure technique.
For the second four weeks, we are going to work
on kind of transferring some of the technique into Okay,
there is going to be some outcomes.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
You're still going to hit bad shots.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It's still a work in progress, but you're going to
really try and zone in on and adding targets now,
picking out different targets, working on your alignment to different
targets and figuring out and I think in this transfer stage,
you know, this these this four week block where you're
trying to transfer some of the stuff you've worked in
(11:16):
the first four weeks and embedded into your your game.
You know, give yourself some swing feels and say, okay,
in the technique phase that I was in, where I
was in that kind of experimental phase where I was
trying out different stuff, Okay, what were the feels that
felt really good for me?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Right?
Speaker 1 (11:38):
What was the things that I was doing that helped
me really I really like this feel. If it's a
length of backswing issue, what are the feels that you
really really like and that that make your golf swing,
you know, make the changes you want backswing whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
In the transfer phase, in that middle phase between technique
and and execution, technique and performance, okay, let me see
which of these in my transfer phase, how can I integrate?
You know, another way to think about the transfer phases,
it's the integration, right, how do I integrate what I'm
(12:15):
working on in my technique, in my swing and my
you know, mechanics and all of that, and how do
I transfer that or integrate that into Okay, when I
have a target in front of me, when I'm working
on making sure my alignment is good to my targets, right,
You're still going to make some mistakes, but I think
that's a really good time and that second block of
(12:37):
four weeks to try and see if the feels that
you like from a technique standpoint, Let's.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
See if any of those work.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Right, Let's see if those work when I get a target,
when i've I've got alignment. So this middle phase, this transfer,
this integrating the technique changes that we've made. You know,
you're still going to make some mistakes. It's not going
to be perfect and stuff. And then in that next
(13:08):
real four week block of that's execution, right, that's where
you're going to start to really kind of competitively practice
to where if you're indoors and stuff, you can start too.
If you're working on a simulator, you can say, okay,
now I'm going to play nine holes, right, I'm going
to play nine holes on a simulator. I'm going to
(13:30):
pick a course, and maybe your home course is one
that you could pick. Maybe it's a tournament course that
you'd like to play, and you know, maybe do it
from different tees, right, pick the tees that you would
normally play from. So let's play to say you play
from let's just make it easy fronties, middle tees, back teas, right,
(13:52):
and then if you want to throw in ladies teas
as well, go on a simulator and play that. If
you're going to the driving range and you're hitting golf
balls and you're working, you know, maybe you're getting off
of a mat and you know, undercover and stuff like that.
You still use the driving range as kind of that
imagination playground right where you're you're creating a golf course.
(14:17):
I've talked about this on on some other pods as well,
to where you use your driving range as a golf course,
and then you play the golf course on the driver
so picking out fair ways and then picking out greens
or flags, picking out if you don't have greens on
(14:41):
your driving range, say okay, I'm gonna use the yardage
markers on the driving range as you know, targets and
things like that. But you can use your imagination and
kind of create your own golf course and say, okay,
I'm gonna play this driving range hole as a part five,
(15:03):
and I've got my defined fairway, and then I'm gonna
lay up. So then I've got again my defined fairway.
I'm gonna lay up, and then I'm gonna pick out
you know what I would kind of deem as my
green target and see if what feels improve you hitting
(15:24):
your targets. I think it's a really good time in
this transfer phase to work on your yardage is and say, Okay,
in my technique phase, I figure out how far I
benchmark all my clubs. I know how far I hit
my my wedge, my nine iron, my eight iron, all
the irons in my bag. I know what my kind
(15:46):
of max is with those clubs. I know what my
three quarter yardage is with those clubs. And then when
you're in that transfer phase, that integration phase, using the
information that you've gathered in the technique phase, and then
say if you do and then the execution phase is,
then you're just going to be straight up doing competition drills, right.
(16:10):
Bryan Krysler I've had on the pod. He has an
Instagram site called Golf Chaos Manage where it's just basically
all of his drills that are generated with an AI
person talking to you. So that's a really good resource
of kind of execution drills in that execution phase. I
think that's really really important. But that's kind of the
(16:32):
three phases and the three buckets that you want to
be working on. So you've got twelve weeks and you're
blocking it off into four week blocks and commit in
those blocks. To stay in that, don't you know, for
the first four weeks, don't be worried about integration or transfer.
(16:53):
Don't be worried about scoring and results and stuff. You're
only there in that bucket, in that room, in that
phase to just grind out technique. It's it's practice, right,
it's not results, it's not the outcome, it's process. And
don't be jumping back and forth.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Right, do the work.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Stay in that technique, that technical phase for four weeks.
Give yourself that time to fail, give yourself, you know,
a month to just fail, right, to grind it out.
And then in that next phase, you're going to try
and transfer and integrate the stuff that you've worked on
in technique. And then at the end you're going to
(17:35):
try and see if you can execute any of the
stuff that you've worked on for you know, the first
eight weeks, see if it works, and maybe you know
you need to go back and forth in between the buckets.
So let's say you work on your technique and now
you're going to try and go into that transfer that
integration phase and you're really really struggling with your technique
(17:58):
now that you've added targets and the technique seems to
be breaking down, then say, okay, let me go spend
another week back in technique. And then we go spend
another week in the technique phase, in the technical phase
and really kind of grind on some of these things
that broke down in the technical integration part.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
And then I go back into the.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Transfer and the integration block and say, okay, now let
me see if this is going to hold up. When
I bring in targets and stuff. You're still going to
make some mistakes. And then after you've done that and
feel like you're ready to move into that execution phase,
that performance phase, then all of it becomes about, hey,
let me just switch my brain off, go into kind
(18:40):
of this game mode, gamify my practice, things like that.
But I think staying in those three phases in off
season is really really important. And then one of the
big components about the off season is use the off
season if golf is really important to you, to work
on the physical side of things. About They went out
(19:02):
to the Titleist Performance Institute with Justin Johnson kind of
in our off season and we went through a physical screen,
we went through three D, we did some club testing.
He's using the off season to test equipment from a
bunch of different manufacturers using the off season to test
balls and stuff like that. So I think there's the
(19:24):
physical side, and you could throw the physical and the
equipment side into another bucket where you say, hey, listen,
I'm also going to, you know, work on my body.
I'm on the TPI Advisory Board. I would advise everybody listening.
If golf is important to you, if you want to
improve your golf, take a look at what your body
(19:45):
can and can't do from a golf standpoint. Go to
a TPI certified fitness instructor and say, listen, golf's important
to me. I've never really looked at the physical side
of things, and I'd like to get screened and see
what my body likes to do, doesn't like to do,
what my body can do, what my body can't do
from a golf standpoint, and see if there are some
(20:09):
things that I can do in the off season from
Maybe it's mobility, maybe it's stability, maybe it's flexibility, maybe
it's power. Maybe you're somebody that wants to try and
add some distance, add some length to your game, some
length off the tea and work with someone in a
controlled environment that can help you. I think there are
(20:31):
a lot of great fitness instructors out there. I think
the work that doctor Greg Rose and Dave Phillips have
done at the title is Performance Institute. I've talked about
it on the pod constantly. I think they've changed kind
of the game of golf forever with now we do
talk about golf fitness. Scotti Scheffler has a golf fitness
(20:51):
product out there.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
There are loads of golfers that endorse stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So I think you can really really use that off
season as a way to get stronger, to improve your flexibility,
to improve your mobility, to improve your stability, and if
you are carrying any injuries, it's an opportunity at time
to work on those.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Use it like the pros are using it.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Use it as off season to get some rest, but
to also work on your body, to work on your
game and so that when the season does roll around,
you're ready to go. You're you're ready to play. And
then from an equipment standpoint, go and get your equipment tested.
See if you're using the right irons for your game.
(21:38):
Are you using an iron that is helping you Maybe
you need a little bit more of a game improvement iron.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Maybe you're at a stage to.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Where now you're going to move a little bit away
from game improvement irons and get more into kind of
a player's club.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Maybe it's a combo of both.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It's an opportunity for you to look at your set makeup,
how far do you hit all your golf clubs and
are there gaps? Are there dead zones? Are there gaps
and dead zones in your wedges? I think if golf
is important to you and you are a competitive golfer
or you just want to improve your golf game, there
are loads of programs out there where you can track
(22:16):
your steps. We use CLIPPED, There's arcos, There's a bunch
of different ones, but Clip is the one that I
really like that pretty much all of my golfers and
all of our golfers use at the junior level, the
college level. I use it with professional golfers and stuff.
But there is data there to where you can look
(22:36):
at usage. What clubs are you using the most? Right
over the course of your golf season, you know what
clubs are you not using. So if you've got a
club in your bag that you can quantify with data
in the off season, that you're really not there's a
couple of clubs in your bag that you're never really using,
and you never use at all, Then that's an opportunity
(22:58):
for you to talk to somebody and say, hey, maybe
I add a wedge, Maybe I add a hybrid, Maybe
I add another fairway, would right, Maybe I add a
driving iron, Maybe I change my set makeup. Looking at shafts,
do you have the right shafts in your golf clubs?
Do you have the right loft on your driver? Are
you using the right Every driver manufacturer will have a
(23:24):
game improvement iron. They'll have one kind of in the middle.
They'll have more of a player's one, which is kind
of one that's going to be more of a high launched,
low spin driver. They're going to have a driver that's
a little bit more forgiving, that's a little bit more
erroring on side of power and things like that. But
(23:45):
just trying out equipment and treating the off season like
the people you watch on TV are treating the off season. Listen,
it's really hard for me as an instructor to make
a lot of changes during the season, right. A lot
of what we're doing during the course of the PGA
(24:07):
tour season is we're trying to maintain because we're trying
to not make a ton of changes to the golf swing.
We're trying to not make a ton of changes to
equipment because the players are in season, they're in their
tournament season, so we want them focusing on making changes.
(24:28):
You know, this is the time where we can make
changes across the board, fitness, equipment. I used DJ as
an example. He wanted to go out to TPI and
you know, go through a physical screen to get on
three D and then to look at his equipment. So
we're looking at places where we can make games right,
where we can make improvements. He went over to the
(24:48):
Scotti Cameron Hutter studio and did some work with Paul
Vasanko trying to figure out which putter works best for
him and what changes he can make there. And so
I just think they're are some things that you can
do now that a lot of people listening are going
into their off season, and maybe it's shifting the way
that you think about your golf game in general and saying, listen,
(25:13):
you know it's weather dependent. For me, I have you know,
a time of the year to where I'm really trying
to play more than I'm practicing, and then I have
a time of the year coming up to where I'm
not really going to be playing a lot and I'm
going to be practicing more and starting to think about
it that way, Okay, I want to be doing everything
(25:34):
that I'm doing in this off season. This kind of
weather forced situation to where I can't play a lot
where I don't want to play a lot because it's
cold and rainy, where my golf course is closed, and
the only way I can really play in warm climates
is to take a golf trip, and I don't have
(25:54):
the availability to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
So dividing your golf season.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
In there into two, right, you have your play season
where you're playing more than you're practicing, and you have
your off season where you're practicing more than you're playing.
And having a plan again, going back to a favorite
code of mind from Total Wolf, who's the team principal
and runs the Formula one team for Mercedes, trying to
(26:23):
identify is it a process that failed or is it
the person that failed? And putting a process in place
to try and affect the outcome allows you to evaluate
a lot of what you're doing. But taking a deep
(26:43):
dive into the technical, into the transfer, of the integration,
the performance, the execution, and then taking a deep dive
into the fitness, into the equipment. I think this season
where a lot of you listening are going into a
time to where you're listening to a podcast and you're thinking, man,
I wish you could be playing golf, wish I could
(27:04):
be playing. Well, use this time effectively, Use this time
so that when the weather gets better, when the golf
course starts to open up, and when you're going to
be back playing a lot of golf, you're ready to play,
you're ready to execute, and you are ready to perform.
Rate review, subscribe wherever you get your podcast. It's the
(27:24):
Son of a Butch podcast.
It's the Son of a Butch podcast. I'm your host,
Claude Harmon. So I had a player come in that
lives in Minnesota for a lesson, and obviously there are
a lot of people listening that their kind of golf
season is over and they're going into kind of that
off season to where the weather's changing, daylights getting you know,
(00:21):
the days are getting shorter, you don't really have a
lot of time to be outside, and so it's kind
of the off season and this player is competitive trying
to play in some USGA stuff. Really a good player
was talking about creating a plan for the off season,
and I think it's a really really important time of
the year for players. You know, when some golf course
(00:43):
starting shot, the weather's bad, you're not playing as much.
And I think it's easy to see this as downtime,
but I think off season is probably the most important
time for players. And we're kind of in that off
season right now. A lot of tour players are in
off season right now, but off season for tour players,
(01:04):
they're looking to rebuild and change things. And I think
I can talk about some things that you can do
in your golf game that I really think can help
you with your score. So why is the off season
so important, Well, there's no scoreboard pressure, right, So if
you're not playing in a lot of competitions in your
(01:26):
off season, if the weather isn't great, you're probably not
going to be playing a lot, so scores aren't important,
which means it's a perfect time to be in that
technique phase to work on your golf swing. And if
you're not worried so much about scores and not worried
so much about competing, it's also a really good opportunity
(01:49):
for you to commit to making changes that way when
the season starts. When your golf season starts, if you
playing in competitions, you can then be an execution phase,
performance phase, and not in technique phase. So that's where
I think off season is so so important.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
It's the technique phase.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
It's the time for you to work on your technique
and what you do in the off season will have
a really big, big effect on what you do during
your actual golf season. So you can make the big
swing changes. You can work on any physical limitations you have,
(02:35):
You can work on doing some changes or some testing
with your equipment. You can listen if the golf course
isn't open where you play, but the short game area
is open, or you can put indoors, or you can
get into a simulator with your short game. That's a really,
(02:55):
really good time to make changes. And these are all
things that are tough to do in the middle of
your golf season, right. It's hard to do rebuilds a
ton of technical work if you do the work in
the off season and you make the commitments to the
changes and realize that off season, if you're hitting golf
(03:20):
balls a lot inside in a simulator in a controlled environment,
are going to be the main bulk of your focus
that you're not really going to be Because that's what
this player said to me. He said, Listen, I live
in Minnesota. We aren't really going to be playing a
lot of golf outdoors for a while, so this is
a really good opportunity for me to make some changes,
(03:42):
make some games. So I think what you want to
try and not do in the off season is not
just maintain, right, not look at what you just did
for your last season and think, Okay, well I'll just
kind of maintain that and really not do a lot
and stuff, because that's really a stood opportunity because to me,
the off season is kind of you getting into the laboratory.
(04:05):
It's a time to where we can talk about that
no kind of judgment, no fear, practice set up that
you can make for yourself right to where you are
in experiment phase. You can try different things, you can
try different concepts. If you want to take lessons and
work on your golf swing, I think it's a great
(04:26):
time for you to work on that, because again, we
want when the golf season starts up for you, when
the weather gets better, when you are going to be
playing more golf, when you're going to be more outside,
that's where you want to be in execution mode, performance mode.
So in your off season, if you are still playing
(04:46):
a lot of golf and the weather isn't great and
things like that, I think that's where you want to
make sure that you're not judging yourself by score, right,
that you're in that kind of technical phase, that technique phase.
But don't skip practic this just because it's off season, right.
There are things that you can do. And one of
(05:06):
the things that I think is make a plan, right,
make an actual real practice plan for your off season
for the technical work, the technique work, that you're going
to do, because again, off season is that technical phase,
that technique phase. So you can put it into blocks, right,
but give yourself kind of, you know, twelve weeks right
(05:30):
and say, Okay, golf is really really important to me,
and I'm going to try and take the next twelve
weeks and I'm really going to try and make some changes.
So kind of the first four weeks is just going
to be pure technique work and get uncomfortable. Use those
(05:54):
four weeks as a really good kind of block of
all Right, I've been wanting to make some changes to
my golf swing for a while, but I've really done it,
and I'm really going to use, you know, four weeks
to grind. It's going to be uncomfortable. I'm going to
(06:16):
give myself permission for it to be uncomfortable, for me
to not be evaluating every single shot. To think of
it as Okay, I've got four weeks to work on
some technical changes, and I'm really going to commit to
making the changes that I've always wanted to make, or
to make the changes that my instructor or other coaches
(06:40):
or other people that I've worked with have told me. Listen,
this is kind of the main part of your golf
swing that we're going to work on. So that's that
no judgment to say, all right, going to get ugly,
it's going to get dirty.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It's again using the workout analogy. All Right, I'm really
going to get into the gym. I'm really going to
start working out, and I'm probably going to be so
or when I do that, right, I'm going to have
some musclefultigue. I'm gonna have some days where my body's
not going to feel great. But this is the time
where I'm really going to kind of grind through that.
So use the first four weeks, So get a twelve
week plan. Use those first four weeks for just all
(07:14):
of the technical stuff you're doing. And I think it's
really important to focus on these technical changes that you
are going to make to on every swing you're making,
don't evaluate where did the ball go?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
What was the outcome? Evaluate the things that you.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Can control in this technique phase is your attitude and
your intent. What is your intent? What are you trying
to do? And then evaluate your practice sessions and your
your blocks where you're practicing and say, okay, listen, how
well did I stick with the stuff that I was
(07:54):
trying to work on. How much did I really focus
on these positions that I was trying to do, these feels,
these drills and these things like that. But if you
give it a good four weeks and just grind it
out and really stick with the process of that, don't
worry about the outcome. The outcome is is going to
be when the season starts back up for you, when
(08:17):
the weather changes, when the days get longer, when you're
back out on the golf course and you're out of
kind of the laboratory that you've kind of created. And
I really really like that as a concept. So four
weeks of just pure technical work and then kind of
those next four weeks that's the transfer phase, right where
(08:38):
you're going to say, all right, I've been grinding on
my golf swing for the last you know, four weeks,
where I've really been in kind of my technique mode,
I haven't really been you know, I've been doing a
lot of work inside in a net, in a simulator.
You know, it's really kind of in a lab environment,
a controlled laboratory environment where I'm trying different drill and
(09:00):
try and that to me that those first four weeks
are where you really want to figure out what feels
that you like, what feels work? Does the feel Do
I have any data points when I look at my
golf swing on video, or when I'm on a launch monitor,
or when I'm on a force plate, or if I'm
(09:22):
working on three D or but any of the technical
stuff that we can use to kind of quantify what
we're doing, any of the technical stuff that we can
use to measure what we're doing. Those first four weeks
you want to be able to look at data points
and go, Okay, yeah, my backswing looks better, the club
face looks better, the grip looks stronger, the grip looks weaker,
(09:45):
my posture looks better, my alignment looks better, whatever the
technical technique changes that you're trying to make. Those first
four weeks are where you're going to get uncomfortable. You're
going to make a lot of mistakes. You're going to
fall down a lot. You're not going to be workorried
about scoring. You're not going to be worried about targets.
You're not going to be worried about outcomes and results.
(10:05):
You're going to be focused on the process, the things
that you have to do to get your golf swing
technically better, to get the positions better, and what are
the feels at work on that. But that next block
of four weeks, that's where you start to add in targets.
That's where you start to put down alignment sticks where
(10:26):
you're focused on where you're aiming. You're still going to
allow yourself for missus, right, You're still going to allow
yourself for bad swings because you're trying to in this
transfer phase embed the changes.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So for the first four weeks, we're working on pure technique.
For the second four weeks, we are going to work
on kind of transferring some of the technique into Okay,
there is going to be some outcomes.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
You're still going to hit bad shots.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It's still a work in progress, but you're going to
really try and zone in on and adding targets now,
picking out different targets, working on your alignment to different
targets and figuring out and I think in this transfer stage,
you know, this these this four week block where you're
trying to transfer some of the stuff you've worked in
(11:16):
the first four weeks and embedded into your your game.
You know, give yourself some swing feels and say, okay,
in the technique phase that I was in, where I
was in that kind of experimental phase where I was
trying out different stuff, Okay, what were the feels that
felt really good for me?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Right?
Speaker 1 (11:38):
What was the things that I was doing that helped
me really I really like this feel. If it's a
length of backswing issue, what are the feels that you
really really like and that that make your golf swing,
you know, make the changes you want backswing whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
In the transfer phase, in that middle phase between technique
and and execution, technique and performance, okay, let me see
which of these in my transfer phase, how can I integrate?
You know, another way to think about the transfer phases,
it's the integration, right, how do I integrate what I'm
(12:15):
working on in my technique, in my swing and my
you know, mechanics and all of that, and how do
I transfer that or integrate that into Okay, when I
have a target in front of me, when I'm working
on making sure my alignment is good to my targets, right,
You're still going to make some mistakes, but I think
that's a really good time and that second block of
(12:37):
four weeks to try and see if the feels that
you like from a technique standpoint, Let's.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
See if any of those work.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Right, Let's see if those work when I get a target,
when i've I've got alignment. So this middle phase, this transfer,
this integrating the technique changes that we've made. You know,
you're still going to make some mistakes. It's not going
to be perfect and stuff. And then in that next
(13:08):
real four week block of that's execution, right, that's where
you're going to start to really kind of competitively practice
to where if you're indoors and stuff, you can start too.
If you're working on a simulator, you can say, okay,
now I'm going to play nine holes, right, I'm going
to play nine holes on a simulator. I'm going to
(13:30):
pick a course, and maybe your home course is one
that you could pick. Maybe it's a tournament course that
you'd like to play, and you know, maybe do it
from different tees, right, pick the tees that you would
normally play from. So let's play to say you play
from let's just make it easy fronties, middle tees, back teas, right,
(13:52):
and then if you want to throw in ladies teas
as well, go on a simulator and play that. If
you're going to the driving range and you're hitting golf
balls and you're working, you know, maybe you're getting off
of a mat and you know, undercover and stuff like that.
You still use the driving range as kind of that
imagination playground right where you're you're creating a golf course.
(14:17):
I've talked about this on on some other pods as well,
to where you use your driving range as a golf course,
and then you play the golf course on the driver
so picking out fair ways and then picking out greens
or flags, picking out if you don't have greens on
(14:41):
your driving range, say okay, I'm gonna use the yardage
markers on the driving range as you know, targets and
things like that. But you can use your imagination and
kind of create your own golf course and say, okay,
I'm gonna play this driving range hole as a part five,
(15:03):
and I've got my defined fairway, and then I'm gonna
lay up. So then I've got again my defined fairway.
I'm gonna lay up, and then I'm gonna pick out
you know what I would kind of deem as my
green target and see if what feels improve you hitting
(15:24):
your targets. I think it's a really good time in
this transfer phase to work on your yardage is and say, Okay,
in my technique phase, I figure out how far I
benchmark all my clubs. I know how far I hit
my my wedge, my nine iron, my eight iron, all
the irons in my bag. I know what my kind
(15:46):
of max is with those clubs. I know what my
three quarter yardage is with those clubs. And then when
you're in that transfer phase, that integration phase, using the
information that you've gathered in the technique phase, and then
say if you do and then the execution phase is,
then you're just going to be straight up doing competition drills, right.
(16:10):
Bryan Krysler I've had on the pod. He has an
Instagram site called Golf Chaos Manage where it's just basically
all of his drills that are generated with an AI
person talking to you. So that's a really good resource
of kind of execution drills in that execution phase. I
think that's really really important. But that's kind of the
(16:32):
three phases and the three buckets that you want to
be working on. So you've got twelve weeks and you're
blocking it off into four week blocks and commit in
those blocks. To stay in that, don't you know, for
the first four weeks, don't be worried about integration or transfer.
(16:53):
Don't be worried about scoring and results and stuff. You're
only there in that bucket, in that room, in that
phase to just grind out technique. It's it's practice, right,
it's not results, it's not the outcome, it's process. And
don't be jumping back and forth.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Right, do the work.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Stay in that technique, that technical phase for four weeks.
Give yourself that time to fail, give yourself, you know,
a month to just fail, right, to grind it out.
And then in that next phase, you're going to try
and transfer and integrate the stuff that you've worked on
in technique. And then at the end you're going to
(17:35):
try and see if you can execute any of the
stuff that you've worked on for you know, the first
eight weeks, see if it works, and maybe you know
you need to go back and forth in between the buckets.
So let's say you work on your technique and now
you're going to try and go into that transfer that
integration phase and you're really really struggling with your technique
(17:58):
now that you've added targets and the technique seems to
be breaking down, then say, okay, let me go spend
another week back in technique. And then we go spend
another week in the technique phase, in the technical phase
and really kind of grind on some of these things
that broke down in the technical integration part.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
And then I go back into the.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Transfer and the integration block and say, okay, now let
me see if this is going to hold up. When
I bring in targets and stuff. You're still going to
make some mistakes. And then after you've done that and
feel like you're ready to move into that execution phase,
that performance phase, then all of it becomes about, hey,
let me just switch my brain off, go into kind
(18:40):
of this game mode, gamify my practice, things like that.
But I think staying in those three phases in off
season is really really important. And then one of the
big components about the off season is use the off
season if golf is really important to you, to work
on the physical side of things. About They went out
(19:02):
to the Titleist Performance Institute with Justin Johnson kind of
in our off season and we went through a physical screen,
we went through three D, we did some club testing.
He's using the off season to test equipment from a
bunch of different manufacturers using the off season to test
balls and stuff like that. So I think there's the
(19:24):
physical side, and you could throw the physical and the
equipment side into another bucket where you say, hey, listen,
I'm also going to, you know, work on my body.
I'm on the TPI Advisory Board. I would advise everybody listening.
If golf is important to you, if you want to
improve your golf, take a look at what your body
(19:45):
can and can't do from a golf standpoint. Go to
a TPI certified fitness instructor and say, listen, golf's important
to me. I've never really looked at the physical side
of things, and I'd like to get screened and see
what my body likes to do, doesn't like to do,
what my body can do, what my body can't do
from a golf standpoint, and see if there are some
(20:09):
things that I can do in the off season from
Maybe it's mobility, maybe it's stability, maybe it's flexibility, maybe
it's power. Maybe you're somebody that wants to try and
add some distance, add some length to your game, some
length off the tea and work with someone in a
controlled environment that can help you. I think there are
(20:31):
a lot of great fitness instructors out there. I think
the work that doctor Greg Rose and Dave Phillips have
done at the title is Performance Institute. I've talked about
it on the pod constantly. I think they've changed kind
of the game of golf forever with now we do
talk about golf fitness. Scotti Scheffler has a golf fitness
(20:51):
product out there.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
There are loads of golfers that endorse stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So I think you can really really use that off
season as a way to get stronger, to improve your flexibility,
to improve your mobility, to improve your stability, and if
you are carrying any injuries, it's an opportunity at time
to work on those.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Use it like the pros are using it.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Use it as off season to get some rest, but
to also work on your body, to work on your
game and so that when the season does roll around,
you're ready to go. You're you're ready to play. And
then from an equipment standpoint, go and get your equipment tested.
See if you're using the right irons for your game.
(21:38):
Are you using an iron that is helping you Maybe
you need a little bit more of a game improvement iron.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Maybe you're at a stage to.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Where now you're going to move a little bit away
from game improvement irons and get more into kind of
a player's club.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Maybe it's a combo of both.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It's an opportunity for you to look at your set makeup,
how far do you hit all your golf clubs and
are there gaps? Are there dead zones? Are there gaps
and dead zones in your wedges? I think if golf
is important to you and you are a competitive golfer
or you just want to improve your golf game, there
are loads of programs out there where you can track
(22:16):
your steps. We use CLIPPED, There's arcos, There's a bunch
of different ones, but Clip is the one that I
really like that pretty much all of my golfers and
all of our golfers use at the junior level, the
college level. I use it with professional golfers and stuff.
But there is data there to where you can look
(22:36):
at usage. What clubs are you using the most? Right
over the course of your golf season, you know what
clubs are you not using. So if you've got a
club in your bag that you can quantify with data
in the off season, that you're really not there's a
couple of clubs in your bag that you're never really using,
and you never use at all, Then that's an opportunity
(22:58):
for you to talk to somebody and say, hey, maybe
I add a wedge, Maybe I add a hybrid, Maybe
I add another fairway, would right, Maybe I add a
driving iron, Maybe I change my set makeup. Looking at shafts,
do you have the right shafts in your golf clubs?
Do you have the right loft on your driver? Are
you using the right Every driver manufacturer will have a
(23:24):
game improvement iron. They'll have one kind of in the middle.
They'll have more of a player's one, which is kind
of one that's going to be more of a high launched,
low spin driver. They're going to have a driver that's
a little bit more forgiving, that's a little bit more
erroring on side of power and things like that. But
(23:45):
just trying out equipment and treating the off season like
the people you watch on TV are treating the off season. Listen,
it's really hard for me as an instructor to make
a lot of changes during the season, right. A lot
of what we're doing during the course of the PGA
(24:07):
tour season is we're trying to maintain because we're trying
to not make a ton of changes to the golf swing.
We're trying to not make a ton of changes to
equipment because the players are in season, they're in their
tournament season, so we want them focusing on making changes.
(24:28):
You know, this is the time where we can make
changes across the board, fitness, equipment. I used DJ as
an example. He wanted to go out to TPI and
you know, go through a physical screen to get on
three D and then to look at his equipment. So
we're looking at places where we can make games right,
where we can make improvements. He went over to the
(24:48):
Scotti Cameron Hutter studio and did some work with Paul
Vasanko trying to figure out which putter works best for
him and what changes he can make there. And so
I just think they're are some things that you can
do now that a lot of people listening are going
into their off season, and maybe it's shifting the way
that you think about your golf game in general and saying, listen,
(25:13):
you know it's weather dependent. For me, I have you know,
a time of the year to where I'm really trying
to play more than I'm practicing, and then I have
a time of the year coming up to where I'm
not really going to be playing a lot and I'm
going to be practicing more and starting to think about
it that way, Okay, I want to be doing everything
(25:34):
that I'm doing in this off season. This kind of
weather forced situation to where I can't play a lot
where I don't want to play a lot because it's
cold and rainy, where my golf course is closed, and
the only way I can really play in warm climates
is to take a golf trip, and I don't have
(25:54):
the availability to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
So dividing your golf season.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
In there into two, right, you have your play season
where you're playing more than you're practicing, and you have
your off season where you're practicing more than you're playing.
And having a plan again, going back to a favorite
code of mind from Total Wolf, who's the team principal
and runs the Formula one team for Mercedes, trying to
(26:23):
identify is it a process that failed or is it
the person that failed? And putting a process in place
to try and affect the outcome allows you to evaluate
a lot of what you're doing. But taking a deep
(26:43):
dive into the technical, into the transfer, of the integration,
the performance, the execution, and then taking a deep dive
into the fitness, into the equipment. I think this season
where a lot of you listening are going into a
time to where you're listening to a podcast and you're thinking, man,
I wish you could be playing golf, wish I could
(27:04):
be playing. Well, use this time effectively, Use this time
so that when the weather gets better, when the golf
course starts to open up, and when you're going to
be back playing a lot of golf, you're ready to play,
you're ready to execute, and you are ready to perform.
Rate review, subscribe wherever you get your podcast. It's the
(27:24):
Son of a Butch podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.