December 6, 2024 • 25 mins
Claude reacts to recent posts by John Sherman (@PracticalGolf) about playing practical golf for 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 for everyone listening in the United States. Hope
everyone had a good Thanksgiving break. I saw some stuff
on social media this week on X Twitter, I just I.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Can't get used to calling it X.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
One of the sites I follow Practical Golf John Sherman,
who stuff I really really like. He posted some stuff
that really really kind of resonated with me about how
to play, something that I'm always talking about on the pod. Yes,
I mean technique hugely important helps to have better golf swing,
but as I keep saying, everybody's trying to make their
golf swing better. And I just wanted to kind of
(00:38):
go through some of these things because it is a
lot of really good information and knowledge that I think
can help you, and I wanted to kind of expand
on it. So one of the first things, a typical
PJ Tour player lands the ball twenty feet from the
pin from one hundred to hundred and twenty five yards
in the fairway, And I think that's really important to
(00:59):
realize because they are so influenced when we watch golf
on television, right, I think that is something that you
know I've been involved in golf pretty much my entire life.
But when I look at the average golfer and I
look at the way the average golfer thinks about their
own game and plays, I think they're very skewed by television, right.
I think they're very skewed by television massively. From a
distance standpoint, right, how far you feel like you hit
(01:21):
the ball with your clubs? How far you hit a
nine iron, how far you hit a seven iron, how
far you hit a five iron? And I think it's
easy to get caught into that trap because we watch
so much golf on television. You've got the you know,
the guys in the booth. You know, you've got Jim
Manton Trevor and they throw it down to cult nose
and they say.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Cult, what's he got?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And you know, he's got one hundred and seventy five
yards and he's going to hit this club. You hear
that enough times, right, and you hear that over and
over and over again, because a lot of the distances
on the PGA Tour iron wise, are the same. Yeah,
there are some longer hitters and some guys that can
really really vomit. But I think once you get to
the Elite Tour level. Distance wise, there are a lot
of players that you're going to be watching on television
that hit a seven iron the same disc, that's a
(02:00):
hit a five iron the same distance, right, And I
think you hear these numbers, they are arbitrary numbers for
your game because they're somebody else. It's Roy McElroy, you
know from that distance. It's not us, right, it's not
us mere mortals. And then you have this thing that
I think one of the great things about tech, and
one of the great things about the data age that
we're in is now we can kind of look at
(02:21):
data and quantify, you know, what is a good shot
and what is a bad shot. And I think most
golfers are very skewed in what they think a good
shot is. So if the best players in the world
in the men's game are averaging twenty feet from inside
of one hundred to one hundred and twenty five yards,
I do think it it can somewhat change what you
(02:41):
think is a good shot. So if the best players
in the world from one hundred yards to one hundred
and twenty five are averages around twenty feet, if you
are a higher handicapped player hit the green. Hitting the
green is a good shot. Right from one hundred yards
it is a good shot. Let yourself off the hook.
Don't beat yourself up if you're one hundred yards out.
(03:04):
If you're one hundred and twenty five yards out and
you hit it to forty feet, maybe given your skill set,
maybe given what you can and can't do, and maybe
the control that you have over your golf swing and
control that you have over your golf ball, maybe from
those distances one hundred to one twenty five, just basically
hitting the target, hitting the green, having the ball finished
(03:27):
anywhere on that green, maybe that's a good shot for you,
and maybe it's a good shot for a lot of
golfers as well. So I think golfers in general, and
I think the higher the handicap, the harder on themselves
they are, right, The higher the handicap, the higher the expectation,
the greater the expectation, and I think there are times
(03:50):
where if you're more realistic about your skill set, more
realistic about what you can and can't do, it's going
to make the playing of the game easier because I
just don't think you're gonna put so much pressure on
yourself if you're struggling to break one hundred for the
first time, if you're struggling to break ninety for the
(04:10):
first time, if you're struggling to break eighty for the
first time. Hitting greens anywhere on the greens is a
good shot. Giving yourself a chance to putt for a birdie,
giving yourself a chance to put for a birdie anywhere
on the green.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Is a good shot.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Given how difficult hitting greens is, even from the middle
of the fairway right dead flat lie no end one
hundred and twenty five yards out, the amount of players
that consistently hit the green from that distance is much
smaller than you think. The amount of players that not
g it close. And we hear that all the time.
Player you know, he's got one hundred yards in his hands,
(04:47):
one hundred and ten yards in his hands, hits it's
about ten feet. What did the announcers say, Eh, he's
not gonna be happy with that. Yeah, he's probably not.
But the statistics and the data show you that that's
a pretty good shot and is a really good shot
four or the best players in the world, So lowering
your expectations, but also on the golf course. Managing your
(05:07):
expectations right. You don't have to hit it to ten
feet to improve your handicap. You don't have to hit
it to five feet to break one hundreds for the
first time. What you need to do is hit more
greens right, hit more greens anywhere on the green. That
is a win. So when you're standing in the fairway,
if you can get the golf ball anywhere on the
(05:29):
green as a massive, massive win. And then another stat
that I saw, tour players average bogie eighty percent of
the time from a recovery situation, most likely in the trees.
They're out of position, they make bogie. They average bogie
eighty percent.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Of the time.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Something I talk about on the pod all the time.
One of the ways that you are going to lower
your handicap is to make more bogies and eliminate the
big numbers. So if eighty percent of tour players are
averaging bogie from the trees, that means that they're probably
playing way more conservative than you are. They're probably way
(06:10):
less risk averse. Like most average golfers that are just
trying to break one hundred ninety eighty, they're so hyper
hyper aggressive when they get out of trouble or when
they get into trouble, so as a result, they don't
get out of trouble, and they compound a situation that
maybe didn't need to just go so horribly wrong.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Right, So.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I say this on the pod all the time. I
will keep saying this on the pod all the time.
Get out of trouble in one shot, right, Just find
a way to get out of trouble in one shot
so that your next shot can be a risk somewhat
free shot from the fairway from somewhat of a flatish lie.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
But it's not going to be.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
So you're trying to hit a recovery shot and you
try and hit the hero shot, you don't pull it off.
Now you have to hit what another recovery shot, right,
And if you didn't make a good decision on the
first one, you're probably not going to make a good
decision on And I laughed because I was teaching. I
teach a kid really good junior legit chance to play
(07:20):
Division one college golf finish top ten in the state
championship this year as a sophomore, I think it was
a freshman last year, finished third, right, but he made
two double bogies in the high school state championships individual
two doubles and finished I think top ten, like seventh
or eighth.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Right, the two doubles, turn those into bogies.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That's two shots better. Turned the two doubles into just pars.
I mean, he probably would have finished second or third.
And when I talked to him over text about it,
I was looking at a scorecard. We were going back
and forth after the first and for the two double
bogies that he made, he said to me, it was
the wrong decision. I made the wrong decision. It wasn't talent,
(08:00):
It wasn't hours spent on the range, it wasn't technique,
wasn't laying the shaft down, it wasn't shallowing it out.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
It wasn't getting to.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Handle more forward and impact, all of the technical stuff
that everybody's trying to work on in their golf swings.
Here's a kid that's you know, he's a scratch golfer, right,
it's probably a plus handicap.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
The kid's legit player.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
He's telling me, the two double bogies I made are
from bad decisions. Yeah, you hit a bad shot to
get himself into that position, right, But then what happened
was twice. He compounded that situation and made it even worse.
He didn't take the easy way out, he didn't hit
it in the trees and say, Okay, eighty percent of
(08:39):
tour players average bogies when they get into trouble. Right,
he just said, I'm all in. I'm gonna try and
be super aggressive, try and be a hero, try and
do something crazy. And for two holes it didn't work,
and he made two double bogies, and it hurt him.
It cost him an opportunity to win a state championship.
He's good enough to win one, finished top five last year,
(09:02):
and he's only gotten better this year. But decision making
on the golf course is hugely, hugely, hugely important. And
I just think, if if we can all when we
get into trouble, realize that the best players in the
world eighty percent of the time make bogie, not par
by the way bogie. So get into trouble, off the tee,
(09:25):
get out of position wherever the mindset has to go. Okay,
the worst I make here is bogie. Right, the worst
I make here is bogie. And where is the easiest
way for.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Me to get out of jail? Here?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Where's the path of least resistance? Where can I hit
a shot to where my next one I'm gonna have
a clear, unobstructed view of the green from somewhat of
a flatish fairway, lie and take my medicine. I made
a bad swing, I got myself into the position, but
what I'm not going to do is compound it and
make it worse. So really really like that, That really
(09:59):
really reson with me. Another slide that John put up
that I really really liked. Typical tour player averages three
point five birdies per round, and most of them are
on the par fives, right, so scoring averages on tour
par three's average round three just a little over par.
(10:21):
Same with the par four scorings over par, and par
five scoring is under par. So and these are just
some basic numbers, but a kind of one to five
handicap range is kind of going to be right around
that one and a half birdie's per round. And then
as the handicaps get higher, the amount of birdies per
(10:42):
round you're going to make becomes almost non existent. So
if handicap golfers that are kind of low single digits,
they're not even averaging two birdies per round. So if
you're trying to break one hundred for the first time,
if you're trying to break ninety or eighty for the
first time, if you're trying to break seventy for the
first time, a realistic understanding as to how many birdies
(11:04):
per round you're going to make. And I've said this before,
I'll keep saying this, Make more pars and bogies, make
more pars, make more bogies, not birdies, but also not
doubles and triples. So not making eagles, not making birdies,
(11:27):
not making doubles, not making triples. So what does that leave.
That leaves pars and bogies. And I think if the
focus can be on let me just throw a bunch
of pars at them today, right, let me just try
and make a bunch of pars. And I've talked about
this before. If you're a higher handicapped golfer, try and
bogie every hole, just trying bogie.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Every single hole.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
If you're trying to break one hundred for the first time,
play bogie golf.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Try and bogue every hole.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So the part three is you're trying to make fours
par fourst you're trying to make fives and the par
fives you're trying to make six.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
So if the par five's the goal is.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
To make a six, you need to hit driver off
the tee, maybe hit a hybrid, maybe hit hybrid again,
and then maybe you hit a nine iron a seven iron,
and you've got a putt legit putt for birdie. Right,
So having a realistic understanding as to what your capabilities are.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
But also I think given.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Handicap ranges and given the fact that the best players
in the world are making less than four birdies around
and most of them are on the par five, So
the par fives are the legit scoring chances.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It's hard to make berdies on par threes. Why well,
you would think it would be easy because those are
the shortest holes, But that's where they're going to tuck
the pins, and that's where the majority of golfers are
just going to become hyper hyper hyper aggressive. So birdie
averages on tour, everybody's BERTI in the par five. You've
got three four In majors, sometimes you have two of those,
but those are the legit chances. So when you're looking
(12:52):
at your scorecards, I'll keep saying this. If you're tired
of me saying this. If you think it's repetitive, good,
it's my podcast. I'll keep saying it. Look at your
par three scoring, look at your par five scoring. Don't
be given tons of shots away on par fives, right,
those are the legit chances you've got. I really liked
when I saw this post from Practical Golf on X
(13:14):
I just was like, Yeah, this is kind of the
world that I'm trying to live in with my players.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
To get them.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
I immediately screenshoted these sports slides and sent it to
the kid that double buggy two holes at the state championship.
I was like, do you see now, do you understand
how important it is to play the game. So scratch golfers,
single digit handicapped golfers don't make a ton of birdies.
They just don't. Birdies are hard to make. So again,
going back to the first thing we talked about, realistic expectations. Okay, yeah,
(13:44):
if you Berty won of the par fives, that's bonus.
But bertie one of the par fives and play the
other three in bogie, And I'm telling you add it
all up. Do that for a year, do that for
a summer, Do that for a period of time. But
just say, listen, I'm trying to break a hundred for
the first time. Try to make a bogie every hole.
(14:05):
I promise you it's gonna work. It's going to help
you get better. And then obviously I've talked about this before,
but I think this is really really powerful as well.
Eight feet on the PGA Tour is where the make
rate goes fifty to fifty eight feet. So if you're
not a PGA Tour player, you don't play on DP World,
(14:25):
if you don't play on Live, you don't play in Asia,
you don't play on the LPGA, you don't play on
the Champs. If you're not on one of those tours.
Eight feet is where it's fifty to fifty. These are
stats from Mark Brody. Three feet tour players ninety six
percent scratch golfers, ninety three percent ninety shooter eighty four
(14:45):
percent five feet for tour players seventy seven percent scratch
golfers sixty six percent five feet according to the data
for I would say for the average, I'm gonna go
maybe fifteen in higher. I think five feet you're probably
at fifty to fifty from a make standpoint. Based off
of data, so if you miss one, don't beat yourself up.
(15:07):
By the time we get to the PGA Tour fifty
to fifty, which is eight feet, the average ninety shooter
is at twenty seven percent. Ten feet PGA Tour players
are at forty percent. If you're shooting in the nineties,
you're at ten feet, you're at around twenty percent. And
so twenty feet on the PGA Tour make percentage just
(15:29):
fifteen percent. And I just see so many regular recreational
handicapped golfers. They're just too hard on themselves, and they
don't expect what the data says their game should produce. Right,
they think they're going to make every ten footter they
look at. They expect to make it from twenty feet.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
The numbers just plummet the further you get away from
the hole. So realistic expectations. How do you get real
life stick expectations of your game? And I think that
takes some honesty. I think it takes putting a little
bit of your ego on the shelf. But the data
is all out there, right, I mean, if you want
(16:11):
to search these stats, these numbers, all this information, you
find it on the internet, right, you can search it,
and I think knowledge is power, right. But some of
the just basic things that we touched on today are legit,
legit ways that you can lower your scores, that your
(16:33):
handicaps can get lower, that you can hit more fairways,
hit more greens. I mean, one of the easiest ways
to hit more fairways is if you struggle to hit
fairways with your driver, maybe choose a different club. Right,
the game of golf, there isn't other than the rules
of golf governing scoring. You know, penalties and the rules
(16:58):
of the game. The way you can play the game
is infinite, right. There are a million different variations on
how you can play a Part three. You can do
what tour players do. Hit it to twenty feet, make
the putt right, hit it to twenty feet, miss the putt,
two putt, and get out with par Do that on
a par four, You do that on par five. But
(17:20):
how you go about doing that, what clubs you're hitting,
what strategy you're using, and how you're employing that strategy
based off of your skill set, your handicap, what you
are good at, what you are not good at, what
you're comfortable with, what you're not comfortable with, and I
just don't see a lot of players going to the
(17:40):
golf course and kind of trying to ride the things
that they're comfortable with and they're good at.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
We practice golf on the driving range, right, We do
not practice golf on the golf course. When we're on
the golf course, we are playing golf. We are playing
the game of golf. The game of golf is one
of the great things that everybody loves about golf. One
of the things that is nostalgic about golf. One of
(18:08):
the things that is iconic about golf is that it
has rules, right, and you call penalties on yourself, and
if you hit one out of bounds, you've got to
go back to the tee. Right, All of the rules
that govern penalty shots, all the rules about where you
have to play from the tee markers. I mean, if
you're three inches a foot in front of the tea markers,
(18:29):
someone in your group is going to tell your tea
and off in front of the tea markers. Right, So
everybody knows what the rules are. But there is an
infinite amount of ways to play each hole that you play. Right,
first hole, you could top a driver have to bust
a three wood and then with an iron.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Hol it out.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
That is the same score. So you could top a
driver or three wood, then have to hit another shot
to get somewhere close and then chip in that three
looks the exact same as if Rory McElroy hammers a
drive down there three sixty, hits a wedge to two
feet and taps it in right. It is the same thing.
It is the same score. Now how you got to
(19:08):
that score is very different. But that is a conversation
for after you're done playing golf, right, not while you're
playing golf right. You do that afterwards. You evaluate. You
look at your practice, You look at the things that
you're good at, look at the things you're not good at.
If you're not a good driver of the golf ball,
work on hitting hybrids off tees, and then say, listen,
(19:29):
I don't drive it that great, so I'm just going
to get the ball in play with my three wood.
Maybe get a driving iron. So let's say you hit
your seven iron one hundred and fifty yards right, and
you could tee off with that. So if you hit
it twice off the tee and then again and you
hit it your distance right, let's just some round numbers.
(19:50):
That's three hundred yards as opposed to trying to hit
a three hundred yard drive. So whatever distance. Let's say
you hit your seven iron one hundred and thirty five yards,
you hit two of those right, hit one off the te,
get it and play, then hit another one, so that
would equal up to around two hundred and seventy yards.
(20:11):
So you got a four hundred yard Part four, you
get hit seven iron off the te, seven iron again,
and if you hit it, whatever.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
That distance is, think about that.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Think about how far you hit your five iron, Think
about how far you hit your six iron. Think about
how far you hit all of kind of five iron
down right, and then look at the course that you're
going to play, Look at the par fours that you're
going to play, Look at the par five's that you're
going to play. Right, So you have a five hundred
yard par five and you hit a seven iron off
(20:41):
the te one hundred and fifty yards, you got three
hundred and fifty yards left. Then you hit another seven iron.
The math starts to add up to where you're getting
closer to the hole, but you're hitting golf clubs that
you can control. And I think each and every one
of you listening has your own game, right, has your
own skill set, your own toolbox, your own physical abilities,
(21:03):
your own years playing golf, your own natural talent, your
own athletic ability, all of those things, right, But maybe
think about playing golf more logically, and you go out
and play nine holes and take your driver and your
three wood, take all of your woods out of the bag,
(21:26):
and then you'd have hybrid's left and you'd have irons left,
and say, all right, look at the last time you
played nine holes, look at what your last score was.
And then go play with no driver, no three wood,
no five wood, no four ward, just irons, some hybrids, wedges,
and look at what you shoot, look at what you score,
and I think you will be surprised at you'll definitely
(21:50):
probably get the ball and play more often. So whatever
your favorite club is to practice with, right, I think
most people that's kind of in that eight seven Maybe
it'd a push six iron, but I think everybody's kind
of in that eight to seven range. Maybe some higher
handicap golfers it's a nine iron, but I think a
lot of people feel pretty comfortable playing with seven iron. Well,
(22:11):
how about just played all the poor fours, t off
with the seven iron, and then hit another seven iron,
and then see where that leaves you and see if
you can then say, all right, let me hit this
on the green and give myself a chance to putt
for part.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I miss it.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I get out of here with bogie. But there is
no right way to play golf. There is no right
way to play golf, And to be honest with you,
there's not really a right way to swing the golf club,
because if there was, everybody would swing the golf club
the same way. So I really liked what I saw.
(22:45):
You know, this this tweet from Practical Golf. It's a
good follow a lot of good information, but I just
wanted to expand on it because as soon as I
saw it, I'm like, yeah, that's exactly great information that
regular recreation golfers need to hear. But if they actually
really look at it and understand it, they can maybe
(23:07):
change the way that they play golf. And if they
change the way they play the game of golf, maybe
that will help reduce scores, lower your handicap. Maybe there
is more to it than just pounding golf balls on
the driving range. Massively important. You need to have a
decent golf swing. Gave a lesson this morning to a player,
higher handicap player who was just really really struggling. I
(23:30):
mean just legs were moving around all over the place.
Feet were moving around all over the place. As a
result of the legs moving around, balance was off a
lot of club place manipulation. That was an example of
a player to where we had to say, listen, these
are basics. Now you have lost kind of your ability
to get club ball contact, to hit the golf ball solid.
So let's go back to the beginning. Let's go back
(23:53):
to hitting some wedges. Let's go back to hitting some
bumping runs. Get you contact back, get your feel back,
all of that, regardless of that, right, regardless of what
I'm working on with a player and a lesson, regardless
of what they're working on in the range on the range,
when they go to the range by themselves, if they
are going to play golf, they have to go to
the golf course with whatever golf swing they've got. They're
(24:15):
not going to show up to the golf course and
have Nelly Corda's golf swing. If you're a twenty five
handicapper and decide to practice all week and work on it,
and work on it, work on it. You have what
you have.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
You're not going to go to.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
The first t and become Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McElroy, Scottie Scheffler,
Max Homer.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
We can keep going right.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
You are who you are, and you have your skill set.
You have your toolbox. Find out what that is, find
out the things that you're comfortable with, that you're good at,
the distances that you hit solid shots from, and then
just ride that stuff. Ride it as long as you
(24:55):
can stay on that horse.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Just ride what you have.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
If you're trying to break a hundred for the first time,
you are going to have a club in your bag
that you have confidence in. So play to those clubs,
play to those strengths. And I really liked the stuff
that I saw from Practical Golf John Truman. I just
liked it. I think it's good. I love a lot
of his stuff, and I wanted to give him a
(25:19):
shout out, but also just expand on some of the
information because I think it's power, and you know, having
this kind of knowledge on how far you need to
hit the golf ball, where you need to hit the
golf ball, what club selection you're using. Those are all
the things that go into playing the game, not practicing
the game. So I can't thank everybody enough for listening, rate, review,
(25:41):
subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It's the Son of a Butch podcast
It's the Son of a Butch podcast. I'm your host,
Claude Harmon for everyone listening in the United States. Hope
everyone had a good Thanksgiving break. I saw some stuff
on social media this week on X Twitter, I just I.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Can't get used to calling it X.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
One of the sites I follow Practical Golf John Sherman,
who stuff I really really like. He posted some stuff
that really really kind of resonated with me about how
to play, something that I'm always talking about on the pod. Yes,
I mean technique hugely important helps to have better golf swing,
but as I keep saying, everybody's trying to make their
golf swing better. And I just wanted to kind of
(00:38):
go through some of these things because it is a
lot of really good information and knowledge that I think
can help you, and I wanted to kind of expand
on it. So one of the first things, a typical
PJ Tour player lands the ball twenty feet from the
pin from one hundred to hundred and twenty five yards
in the fairway, And I think that's really important to
(00:59):
realize because they are so influenced when we watch golf
on television, right, I think that is something that you
know I've been involved in golf pretty much my entire life.
But when I look at the average golfer and I
look at the way the average golfer thinks about their
own game and plays, I think they're very skewed by television, right.
I think they're very skewed by television massively. From a
distance standpoint, right, how far you feel like you hit
(01:21):
the ball with your clubs? How far you hit a
nine iron, how far you hit a seven iron, how
far you hit a five iron? And I think it's
easy to get caught into that trap because we watch
so much golf on television. You've got the you know,
the guys in the booth. You know, you've got Jim
Manton Trevor and they throw it down to cult nose
and they say.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Cult, what's he got?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And you know, he's got one hundred and seventy five
yards and he's going to hit this club. You hear
that enough times, right, and you hear that over and
over and over again, because a lot of the distances
on the PGA Tour iron wise, are the same. Yeah,
there are some longer hitters and some guys that can
really really vomit. But I think once you get to
the Elite Tour level. Distance wise, there are a lot
of players that you're going to be watching on television
that hit a seven iron the same disc, that's a
(02:00):
hit a five iron the same distance, right, And I
think you hear these numbers, they are arbitrary numbers for
your game because they're somebody else. It's Roy McElroy, you
know from that distance. It's not us, right, it's not
us mere mortals. And then you have this thing that
I think one of the great things about tech, and
one of the great things about the data age that
we're in is now we can kind of look at
(02:21):
data and quantify, you know, what is a good shot
and what is a bad shot. And I think most
golfers are very skewed in what they think a good
shot is. So if the best players in the world
in the men's game are averaging twenty feet from inside
of one hundred to one hundred and twenty five yards,
I do think it it can somewhat change what you
(02:41):
think is a good shot. So if the best players
in the world from one hundred yards to one hundred
and twenty five are averages around twenty feet, if you
are a higher handicapped player hit the green. Hitting the
green is a good shot. Right from one hundred yards
it is a good shot. Let yourself off the hook.
Don't beat yourself up if you're one hundred yards out.
(03:04):
If you're one hundred and twenty five yards out and
you hit it to forty feet, maybe given your skill set,
maybe given what you can and can't do, and maybe
the control that you have over your golf swing and
control that you have over your golf ball, maybe from
those distances one hundred to one twenty five, just basically
hitting the target, hitting the green, having the ball finished
(03:27):
anywhere on that green, maybe that's a good shot for you,
and maybe it's a good shot for a lot of
golfers as well. So I think golfers in general, and
I think the higher the handicap, the harder on themselves
they are, right, The higher the handicap, the higher the expectation,
the greater the expectation, and I think there are times
(03:50):
where if you're more realistic about your skill set, more
realistic about what you can and can't do, it's going
to make the playing of the game easier because I
just don't think you're gonna put so much pressure on
yourself if you're struggling to break one hundred for the
first time, if you're struggling to break ninety for the
(04:10):
first time, if you're struggling to break eighty for the
first time. Hitting greens anywhere on the greens is a
good shot. Giving yourself a chance to putt for a birdie,
giving yourself a chance to put for a birdie anywhere
on the green.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Is a good shot.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Given how difficult hitting greens is, even from the middle
of the fairway right dead flat lie no end one
hundred and twenty five yards out, the amount of players
that consistently hit the green from that distance is much
smaller than you think. The amount of players that not
g it close. And we hear that all the time.
Player you know, he's got one hundred yards in his hands,
(04:47):
one hundred and ten yards in his hands, hits it's
about ten feet. What did the announcers say, Eh, he's
not gonna be happy with that. Yeah, he's probably not.
But the statistics and the data show you that that's
a pretty good shot and is a really good shot
four or the best players in the world, So lowering
your expectations, but also on the golf course. Managing your
(05:07):
expectations right. You don't have to hit it to ten
feet to improve your handicap. You don't have to hit
it to five feet to break one hundreds for the
first time. What you need to do is hit more
greens right, hit more greens anywhere on the green. That
is a win. So when you're standing in the fairway,
if you can get the golf ball anywhere on the
(05:29):
green as a massive, massive win. And then another stat
that I saw, tour players average bogie eighty percent of
the time from a recovery situation, most likely in the trees.
They're out of position, they make bogie. They average bogie
eighty percent.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Of the time.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Something I talk about on the pod all the time.
One of the ways that you are going to lower
your handicap is to make more bogies and eliminate the
big numbers. So if eighty percent of tour players are
averaging bogie from the trees, that means that they're probably
playing way more conservative than you are. They're probably way
(06:10):
less risk averse. Like most average golfers that are just
trying to break one hundred ninety eighty, they're so hyper
hyper aggressive when they get out of trouble or when
they get into trouble, so as a result, they don't
get out of trouble, and they compound a situation that
maybe didn't need to just go so horribly wrong.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Right, So.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I say this on the pod all the time. I
will keep saying this on the pod all the time.
Get out of trouble in one shot, right, Just find
a way to get out of trouble in one shot
so that your next shot can be a risk somewhat
free shot from the fairway from somewhat of a flatish lie.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
But it's not going to be.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
So you're trying to hit a recovery shot and you
try and hit the hero shot, you don't pull it off.
Now you have to hit what another recovery shot, right,
And if you didn't make a good decision on the
first one, you're probably not going to make a good
decision on And I laughed because I was teaching. I
teach a kid really good junior legit chance to play
(07:20):
Division one college golf finish top ten in the state
championship this year as a sophomore, I think it was
a freshman last year, finished third, right, but he made
two double bogies in the high school state championships individual
two doubles and finished I think top ten, like seventh
or eighth.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Right, the two doubles, turn those into bogies.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That's two shots better. Turned the two doubles into just pars.
I mean, he probably would have finished second or third.
And when I talked to him over text about it,
I was looking at a scorecard. We were going back
and forth after the first and for the two double
bogies that he made, he said to me, it was
the wrong decision. I made the wrong decision. It wasn't talent,
(08:00):
It wasn't hours spent on the range, it wasn't technique,
wasn't laying the shaft down, it wasn't shallowing it out.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
It wasn't getting to.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Handle more forward and impact, all of the technical stuff
that everybody's trying to work on in their golf swings.
Here's a kid that's you know, he's a scratch golfer, right,
it's probably a plus handicap.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
The kid's legit player.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
He's telling me, the two double bogies I made are
from bad decisions. Yeah, you hit a bad shot to
get himself into that position, right, But then what happened
was twice. He compounded that situation and made it even worse.
He didn't take the easy way out, he didn't hit
it in the trees and say, Okay, eighty percent of
(08:39):
tour players average bogies when they get into trouble. Right,
he just said, I'm all in. I'm gonna try and
be super aggressive, try and be a hero, try and
do something crazy. And for two holes it didn't work,
and he made two double bogies, and it hurt him.
It cost him an opportunity to win a state championship.
He's good enough to win one, finished top five last year,
(09:02):
and he's only gotten better this year. But decision making
on the golf course is hugely, hugely, hugely important. And
I just think, if if we can all when we
get into trouble, realize that the best players in the
world eighty percent of the time make bogie, not par
by the way bogie. So get into trouble, off the tee,
(09:25):
get out of position wherever the mindset has to go. Okay,
the worst I make here is bogie. Right, the worst
I make here is bogie. And where is the easiest
way for.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Me to get out of jail? Here?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Where's the path of least resistance? Where can I hit
a shot to where my next one I'm gonna have
a clear, unobstructed view of the green from somewhat of
a flatish fairway, lie and take my medicine. I made
a bad swing, I got myself into the position, but
what I'm not going to do is compound it and
make it worse. So really really like that, That really
(09:59):
really reson with me. Another slide that John put up
that I really really liked. Typical tour player averages three
point five birdies per round, and most of them are
on the par fives, right, so scoring averages on tour
par three's average round three just a little over par.
(10:21):
Same with the par four scorings over par, and par
five scoring is under par. So and these are just
some basic numbers, but a kind of one to five
handicap range is kind of going to be right around
that one and a half birdie's per round. And then
as the handicaps get higher, the amount of birdies per
(10:42):
round you're going to make becomes almost non existent. So
if handicap golfers that are kind of low single digits,
they're not even averaging two birdies per round. So if
you're trying to break one hundred for the first time,
if you're trying to break ninety or eighty for the
first time, if you're trying to break seventy for the
first time, a realistic understanding as to how many birdies
(11:04):
per round you're going to make. And I've said this before,
I'll keep saying this, Make more pars and bogies, make
more pars, make more bogies, not birdies, but also not
doubles and triples. So not making eagles, not making birdies,
(11:27):
not making doubles, not making triples. So what does that leave.
That leaves pars and bogies. And I think if the
focus can be on let me just throw a bunch
of pars at them today, right, let me just try
and make a bunch of pars. And I've talked about
this before. If you're a higher handicapped golfer, try and
bogie every hole, just trying bogie.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Every single hole.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
If you're trying to break one hundred for the first time,
play bogie golf.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Try and bogue every hole.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So the part three is you're trying to make fours
par fourst you're trying to make fives and the par
fives you're trying to make six.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
So if the par five's the goal is.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
To make a six, you need to hit driver off
the tee, maybe hit a hybrid, maybe hit hybrid again,
and then maybe you hit a nine iron a seven iron,
and you've got a putt legit putt for birdie. Right,
So having a realistic understanding as to what your capabilities are.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
But also I think given.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Handicap ranges and given the fact that the best players
in the world are making less than four birdies around
and most of them are on the par five, So
the par fives are the legit scoring chances.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It's hard to make berdies on par threes. Why well,
you would think it would be easy because those are
the shortest holes, But that's where they're going to tuck
the pins, and that's where the majority of golfers are
just going to become hyper hyper hyper aggressive. So birdie
averages on tour, everybody's BERTI in the par five. You've
got three four In majors, sometimes you have two of those,
but those are the legit chances. So when you're looking
(12:52):
at your scorecards, I'll keep saying this. If you're tired
of me saying this. If you think it's repetitive, good,
it's my podcast. I'll keep saying it. Look at your
par three scoring, look at your par five scoring. Don't
be given tons of shots away on par fives, right,
those are the legit chances you've got. I really liked
when I saw this post from Practical Golf on X
(13:14):
I just was like, Yeah, this is kind of the
world that I'm trying to live in with my players.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
To get them.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
I immediately screenshoted these sports slides and sent it to
the kid that double buggy two holes at the state championship.
I was like, do you see now, do you understand
how important it is to play the game. So scratch golfers,
single digit handicapped golfers don't make a ton of birdies.
They just don't. Birdies are hard to make. So again,
going back to the first thing we talked about, realistic expectations. Okay, yeah,
(13:44):
if you Berty won of the par fives, that's bonus.
But bertie one of the par fives and play the
other three in bogie, And I'm telling you add it
all up. Do that for a year, do that for
a summer, Do that for a period of time. But
just say, listen, I'm trying to break a hundred for
the first time. Try to make a bogie every hole.
(14:05):
I promise you it's gonna work. It's going to help
you get better. And then obviously I've talked about this before,
but I think this is really really powerful as well.
Eight feet on the PGA Tour is where the make
rate goes fifty to fifty eight feet. So if you're
not a PGA Tour player, you don't play on DP World,
(14:25):
if you don't play on Live, you don't play in Asia,
you don't play on the LPGA, you don't play on
the Champs. If you're not on one of those tours.
Eight feet is where it's fifty to fifty. These are
stats from Mark Brody. Three feet tour players ninety six
percent scratch golfers, ninety three percent ninety shooter eighty four
(14:45):
percent five feet for tour players seventy seven percent scratch
golfers sixty six percent five feet according to the data
for I would say for the average, I'm gonna go
maybe fifteen in higher. I think five feet you're probably
at fifty to fifty from a make standpoint. Based off
of data, so if you miss one, don't beat yourself up.
(15:07):
By the time we get to the PGA Tour fifty
to fifty, which is eight feet, the average ninety shooter
is at twenty seven percent. Ten feet PGA Tour players
are at forty percent. If you're shooting in the nineties,
you're at ten feet, you're at around twenty percent. And
so twenty feet on the PGA Tour make percentage just
(15:29):
fifteen percent. And I just see so many regular recreational
handicapped golfers. They're just too hard on themselves, and they
don't expect what the data says their game should produce. Right,
they think they're going to make every ten footter they
look at. They expect to make it from twenty feet.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
The numbers just plummet the further you get away from
the hole. So realistic expectations. How do you get real
life stick expectations of your game? And I think that
takes some honesty. I think it takes putting a little
bit of your ego on the shelf. But the data
is all out there, right, I mean, if you want
(16:11):
to search these stats, these numbers, all this information, you
find it on the internet, right, you can search it,
and I think knowledge is power, right. But some of
the just basic things that we touched on today are legit,
legit ways that you can lower your scores, that your
(16:33):
handicaps can get lower, that you can hit more fairways,
hit more greens. I mean, one of the easiest ways
to hit more fairways is if you struggle to hit
fairways with your driver, maybe choose a different club. Right,
the game of golf, there isn't other than the rules
of golf governing scoring. You know, penalties and the rules
(16:58):
of the game. The way you can play the game
is infinite, right. There are a million different variations on
how you can play a Part three. You can do
what tour players do. Hit it to twenty feet, make
the putt right, hit it to twenty feet, miss the putt,
two putt, and get out with par Do that on
a par four, You do that on par five. But
(17:20):
how you go about doing that, what clubs you're hitting,
what strategy you're using, and how you're employing that strategy
based off of your skill set, your handicap, what you
are good at, what you are not good at, what
you're comfortable with, what you're not comfortable with, and I
just don't see a lot of players going to the
(17:40):
golf course and kind of trying to ride the things
that they're comfortable with and they're good at.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
We practice golf on the driving range, right, We do
not practice golf on the golf course. When we're on
the golf course, we are playing golf. We are playing
the game of golf. The game of golf is one
of the great things that everybody loves about golf. One
of the things that is nostalgic about golf. One of
(18:08):
the things that is iconic about golf is that it
has rules, right, and you call penalties on yourself, and
if you hit one out of bounds, you've got to
go back to the tee. Right, All of the rules
that govern penalty shots, all the rules about where you
have to play from the tee markers. I mean, if
you're three inches a foot in front of the tea markers,
(18:29):
someone in your group is going to tell your tea
and off in front of the tea markers. Right, So
everybody knows what the rules are. But there is an
infinite amount of ways to play each hole that you play. Right,
first hole, you could top a driver have to bust
a three wood and then with an iron.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Hol it out.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
That is the same score. So you could top a
driver or three wood, then have to hit another shot
to get somewhere close and then chip in that three
looks the exact same as if Rory McElroy hammers a
drive down there three sixty, hits a wedge to two
feet and taps it in right. It is the same thing.
It is the same score. Now how you got to
(19:08):
that score is very different. But that is a conversation
for after you're done playing golf, right, not while you're
playing golf right. You do that afterwards. You evaluate. You
look at your practice, You look at the things that
you're good at, look at the things you're not good at.
If you're not a good driver of the golf ball,
work on hitting hybrids off tees, and then say, listen,
(19:29):
I don't drive it that great, so I'm just going
to get the ball in play with my three wood.
Maybe get a driving iron. So let's say you hit
your seven iron one hundred and fifty yards right, and
you could tee off with that. So if you hit
it twice off the tee and then again and you
hit it your distance right, let's just some round numbers.
(19:50):
That's three hundred yards as opposed to trying to hit
a three hundred yard drive. So whatever distance. Let's say
you hit your seven iron one hundred and thirty five yards,
you hit two of those right, hit one off the te,
get it and play, then hit another one, so that
would equal up to around two hundred and seventy yards.
(20:11):
So you got a four hundred yard Part four, you
get hit seven iron off the te, seven iron again,
and if you hit it, whatever.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
That distance is, think about that.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Think about how far you hit your five iron, Think
about how far you hit your six iron. Think about
how far you hit all of kind of five iron
down right, and then look at the course that you're
going to play, Look at the par fours that you're
going to play, Look at the par five's that you're
going to play. Right, So you have a five hundred
yard par five and you hit a seven iron off
(20:41):
the te one hundred and fifty yards, you got three
hundred and fifty yards left. Then you hit another seven iron.
The math starts to add up to where you're getting
closer to the hole, but you're hitting golf clubs that
you can control. And I think each and every one
of you listening has your own game, right, has your
own skill set, your own toolbox, your own physical abilities,
(21:03):
your own years playing golf, your own natural talent, your
own athletic ability, all of those things, right, But maybe
think about playing golf more logically, and you go out
and play nine holes and take your driver and your
three wood, take all of your woods out of the bag,
(21:26):
and then you'd have hybrid's left and you'd have irons left,
and say, all right, look at the last time you
played nine holes, look at what your last score was.
And then go play with no driver, no three wood,
no five wood, no four ward, just irons, some hybrids, wedges,
and look at what you shoot, look at what you score,
and I think you will be surprised at you'll definitely
(21:50):
probably get the ball and play more often. So whatever
your favorite club is to practice with, right, I think
most people that's kind of in that eight seven Maybe
it'd a push six iron, but I think everybody's kind
of in that eight to seven range. Maybe some higher
handicap golfers it's a nine iron, but I think a
lot of people feel pretty comfortable playing with seven iron. Well,
(22:11):
how about just played all the poor fours, t off
with the seven iron, and then hit another seven iron,
and then see where that leaves you and see if
you can then say, all right, let me hit this
on the green and give myself a chance to putt
for part.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I miss it.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I get out of here with bogie. But there is
no right way to play golf. There is no right
way to play golf, And to be honest with you,
there's not really a right way to swing the golf club,
because if there was, everybody would swing the golf club
the same way. So I really liked what I saw.
(22:45):
You know, this this tweet from Practical Golf. It's a
good follow a lot of good information, but I just
wanted to expand on it because as soon as I
saw it, I'm like, yeah, that's exactly great information that
regular recreation golfers need to hear. But if they actually
really look at it and understand it, they can maybe
(23:07):
change the way that they play golf. And if they
change the way they play the game of golf, maybe
that will help reduce scores, lower your handicap. Maybe there
is more to it than just pounding golf balls on
the driving range. Massively important. You need to have a
decent golf swing. Gave a lesson this morning to a player,
higher handicap player who was just really really struggling. I
(23:30):
mean just legs were moving around all over the place.
Feet were moving around all over the place. As a
result of the legs moving around, balance was off a
lot of club place manipulation. That was an example of
a player to where we had to say, listen, these
are basics. Now you have lost kind of your ability
to get club ball contact, to hit the golf ball solid.
So let's go back to the beginning. Let's go back
(23:53):
to hitting some wedges. Let's go back to hitting some
bumping runs. Get you contact back, get your feel back,
all of that, regardless of that, right, regardless of what
I'm working on with a player and a lesson, regardless
of what they're working on in the range on the range,
when they go to the range by themselves, if they
are going to play golf, they have to go to
the golf course with whatever golf swing they've got. They're
(24:15):
not going to show up to the golf course and
have Nelly Corda's golf swing. If you're a twenty five
handicapper and decide to practice all week and work on it,
and work on it, work on it. You have what
you have.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
You're not going to go to.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
The first t and become Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McElroy, Scottie Scheffler,
Max Homer.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
We can keep going right.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
You are who you are, and you have your skill set.
You have your toolbox. Find out what that is, find
out the things that you're comfortable with, that you're good at,
the distances that you hit solid shots from, and then
just ride that stuff. Ride it as long as you
(24:55):
can stay on that horse.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Just ride what you have.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
If you're trying to break a hundred for the first time,
you are going to have a club in your bag
that you have confidence in. So play to those clubs,
play to those strengths. And I really liked the stuff
that I saw from Practical Golf John Truman. I just
liked it. I think it's good. I love a lot
of his stuff, and I wanted to give him a
(25:19):
shout out, but also just expand on some of the
information because I think it's power, and you know, having
this kind of knowledge on how far you need to
hit the golf ball, where you need to hit the
golf ball, what club selection you're using. Those are all
the things that go into playing the game, not practicing
the game. So I can't thank everybody enough for listening, rate, review,
(25:41):
subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It's the Son of a Butch podcast
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.