Episode Summary:
Scottie Scheffler is dominating professional golf right now — but why? In this episode of The Golf Intervention, we break down the key elements that make Scheffler’s game so effective, from his elite ball-striking and consistent process to his often-overlooked mental game. More importantly, we connect the dots between what he does at the top of the sport and what you can do as an amateur golfer to get better. Whether it’s how he handles pressure, his putting turnaround, or how he builds a repeatable swing that holds up under fire, there are valuable lessons here for golfers at every level.
Tune in if you want to understand what greatness looks like — and how to bring a piece of it to your weekend round.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Eric (00:00):
And welcome back in to the Golf Intervention Podcast.
We're so glad you're joining ustonight for this quick question
episode, and this one is adoozy.
So I'm just gonna read it to Robfails.
I think we'll both have ouropinions on this.
It'd be really, really fun.
So this one comes from John inToronto, which is kind of a cool
place to get a question from.
(00:21):
We do have lots of listeners inCanada, so if you're one of
those, thanks for tuning in.
This question says boys.
What makes Scotty Scheffler sogood?
And is there anything that ahacker like myself can learn
from him?
What a great question.
Thank you.
Rob Failes (00:39):
Oh yeah.
Eric (00:40):
Even the Canadians have great questions.
It's really good.
Rob Failes (00:44):
A great question.
Eric (00:45):
So I will say that Scotty Scheffler obviously is on this
run.
I am old enough.
I'm not sure Robbie is oldenough to have been like through
the height of Tiger Mania.
Um, I was in college.
I'm four years, I think I'mthree or four years younger than
Tiger.
I was in college studying golfmanagement, right?
While Tiger is like.
In the 2001, 2002, you know, andthen I'm Golf Pro in 2004, 2000,
(01:11):
like that run was unbelievable.
And I'm not saying Scotty's onthat type of run yet, but you
can see it.
It's building, right?
I mean, it's
Rob Failes (01:19):
Yep.
Eric (01:20):
pretty fabulous.
Nobody, I don't think everplayed golf like Tiger did.
The height of that peakdominance was unbelievable.
Um, and I don't think Scotty'squite there.
Um, but.
Good gracious.
This guy is every week.
I mean, so good.
What, what makes him so good isthat this is a, I I can't wait
(01:43):
to hear your answer to thisquestion.
I will say I wish I had somemore insider information.
I really don't, but I, I learnedlast week this kind of an
interesting tidbit.
That my brother's father-in-law,who's a lawyer in Dallas and was
president of the Royal OaksCountry Club, where the
Scheffler, you know, Scotty grewup, actually was the one that
(02:04):
basically introduced.
Scotty's parents and Scotty as ayoung man too.
Randy Smith, his coach, howabout that?
And then sponsored them to joinRoyal Oaks Country Club.
And so, um, he was, yeah, he wasa great, he was a great guy,
passionate golfer, great lawyerin Dallas.
And he's, unfortunately, haspassed away, uh, very
(02:25):
tragically.
But it was great friends withRandy Smith.
And if you don't know who RandySmith is, uh, Randy Smith has to
be, in my opinion, has to beconsidered.
The, the preeminent developer ofgolfers in our generation.
Now there's great coaches whoteach people, oh, they come, you
know, Butch Harmon got Tigerwhen he was in college or
(02:45):
whatever, but Randy Smith hasliterally raised at one country
club from like junior golfer totour player, multiple major
champions.
Justin Leonard was like hisfirst, Scotty Scheffler,
obviously, and then a.
Bunch of others, like a bunch, Idon't know how many, there are,
10 or 12 or 13, like tourplayers, um, that he's, you
know, raised from the ground up.
(03:06):
And Randy Smith is just abrilliant, um, instructor coach.
And so a, I think first thing tolearn from Scotty Schiffler is
find a great coach and stickwith him.
Right?
Um, Scotty is not changing hiscoach, like he's changing his
his shirt like some of theseguys do.
Um, he.
(03:27):
And I will say that sometimesyou can look at a coach player
relationship and wonder wouldthey be better if they moved on?
And we're not in the middle ofany of that story, so we can't
really make that assertion.
But obviously Scotty has justcontinued to get better and
better and better and better.
Why would you, why would youmove on from that?
So I think my first point ofcontention with Scotty
(03:48):
Scheffler, that that, that anygolfer could learn, find a great
coach and stick with him.
What do you think Rob?
Rob Failes (03:55):
totally.
So one thing that always doescome out in Sky's interviews is
that idea of decoupling self andcraft, So he says it.
Ad nauseum.
It's like, yeah, this tournamentdidn't define me like he just
won the Masters, but he's infront of the entire media room
saying, this tournament, thiswin does not define who I am.
(04:20):
I just thought that was sopowerful when he did that.
And just reinforces the ideathat he is not out there playing
with his identity on the line.
Eric (04:30):
Yeah.
Rob Failes (04:31):
he's out there playing golf.
it.
Eric (04:33):
Yeah.
Rob Failes (04:34):
He's just playing the game.
A lot of other people who he'scompeting with are not just
playing golf, they'remultitasking with other stuff.
Maybe not during the wholeround, but I think Scotty is the
most on time and on task golferthat's playing right now.
And I, I'll tell you, it's hismindset of, of really
(04:58):
prioritizing the things that arerelevant to.
The shot in hand, uh, and prettymuch nothing else.
Eric (05:05):
I think if you even delve deeper into that, you know, his
spirituality is probably hismost important thing.
He talks about his life.
I mean, he's pretty, prettystraightforward about that.
Second of all, um, so it'sprobably faith and family and
golf in that order for Scotty,right?
He's not distracted.
He's not distracted by.
Social media, he has zero socialmedia accounts.
(05:27):
Zero.
Um, and so again,
Rob Failes (05:31):
So
Eric (05:31):
what does his brand or his image have to do with how he
plays
Rob Failes (05:35):
have
Eric (05:35):
Nothing.
Right?
Nothing.
And it's, it's so interesting.
If you look at all the things hedoes,
Rob Failes (05:42):
the things.
Eric (05:42):
look at his swing, you could look at it that I think
there's players that are vainenough.
Rob Failes (05:47):
that
Eric (05:47):
They would look at his footwork or whatever he does and
think, oh, that's my, I gottamake a swing.
That quote, unquote looks betterthan that'cause of vanity,
right?
Scotty?
When he works the ball right toleft off the tee.
It doesn't, it looks a little,what you might say, awkward in a
way.
Like he, he's learned how tomake the ball go right to left
off the T, but it's a little bitof a awkward follow through,
(06:09):
almost like a Arnold Palmer typeof swing.
Um, he doesn't care one bit inthe world'cause it's not
relevant.
What it looks like, what'srelevant is him striping that
ball down the middle of thefairway.
She does.
Wonderfully.
So again, it's like, to yourpoint, always being able to have
that mindset of like, this iswhat matters.
This is all I care about.
This is what I'm doing.
(06:30):
It doesn't, and that's it.
And, and we just heard a story.
We were just interviewed on apodcast, which is pretty cool,
which will be coming out I guessin a few weeks.
But they were talking aboutplaying with somebody who kept
saying.
Rob Failes (06:41):
somebody
Eric (06:41):
This isn't the right sh I'm not hitting the right shot.
I'm supposed to hit the rightshot from here or whatever.
It was like a, you know, someonewho's terrible at golf and, but
like couldn't chip it, but theysaid, I'm gonna try to chip it
'cause it's the right thing todo.
Um, do you think ScottyScheffler ever had a thought
like that in his mind?
Ever.
Ever.
Never.
Right.
(07:01):
That's not how he's wired.
So it goes back to growthmindset.
I'm sure Scotty Scheffler hasnever studied growth mindset.
He's been raised really well,coached really well.
He's probably wired really well,I'm sure, right?
Like there is some wiring that'slike nature in there.
Um, but it's, it's amazing to
Rob Failes (07:20):
it's, it's
Eric (07:20):
kind of watch him consistently.
Stay with he, with what he'sdoing.
Time, after time, after time.
He's not looking for answers.
He's not changing his swing forit to look better.
He's not, you know, he's, he'sjust so good.
And, and, and
Rob Failes (07:35):
so
Eric (07:35):
Spieth, I think was
Rob Failes (07:37):
York
Eric (07:37):
marveling at his club face control.
Now, Jordan Spieth uses the termclub face control a lot, um,
which I think is interesting.
You know, you and I don't usethe term control with the club
face very often.
Rob Failes (07:49):
Yeah,
Eric (07:50):
Um.
Rob Failes (07:51):
love that.
Eric (07:51):
But Jordan kept saying his club face control is
outstanding.
It's the best I've ever seen.
So I think that it's, um, whatdo, what do you think about that
quote, Rob?
What, what would you say aboutRob, uh, about Scotty and his
club face?
Rob Failes (08:06):
No, I
Eric (08:07):
I.
Rob Failes (08:07):
it is easily the most predictable.
Right?
He is.
He is producing his intent, uh,or around it.
most predictably of anyone ontour.
and it's probably not evenclose, honestly.
I mean, it is elite, like Jordansaid, it is maybe the best that
we've seen since I, I'm, I'mhaving a hard time thinking of
(08:33):
who's dispersion is more insanethan Scotty's.
Eric (08:36):
And especially, uh, as far as he hits it, right?
So he is like
Rob Failes (08:40):
Yes.
Eric (08:40):
he's not first in strokes gained off the tee, but he's
high, right?
Um, and he's not one of the 10longest, or probably not even
one of the 20 longest players,but he's probably in the top 20
to 30 I would say.
So he doesn't hit it short byany means.
Um, but his accuracy off the tis outrageously good and then he
is number one in strokes.
(09:01):
Gained, I think, approach shot.
Um.
You know his one that's not likegreat is Bunker Bunkers, which
is kind of funny.
But his putting this year top15, he's 15th in strokes, game
putting, which is actually kindof writing, um.
And again, like,
Rob Failes (09:20):
to the
Eric (09:20):
so here you go.
Here you go though.
Right?
So you talk about growthmindset.
'cause there's, there's adelicate balance here, right?
There's a delicate balance ingrowth mindset.
Scotty s Scheffler wins.
What'd he win nine times in agold medal last year?
Something like that.
Uh, maybe 10 times in a goldmedal.
I can't remember how that allplayed out, but it was a lot.
What does he do?
(09:41):
He changes his grip on hisputting, right?
He goes, he goes to the,whatever I call it, the clog
grip, I guess the traditionalterm is the clog grip, right?
The inverted right hand grip.
And it sort of, uh, made its,we, we saw it first at Tiger's
tournament in December, like inthat silly season event in
December.
And it was like, wow, Scottyjust won 10 times and uh, and
(10:04):
he, uh, and a gold medal andhe's changing his, putting
right.
Well.
Rob Failes (10:10):
Mm-hmm.
Eric (10:11):
probably no one I would trust more to understand what
they could gain out of theirputting from 20 feet and in than
than Scotty Scheffler and do itin a way that was extremely
thoughtful, extremely probablydata oriented, like he probably
really knew.
Where his weaknesses are, heprobably understood his control
of the start line, things thatjust weren't quite right, uh,
(10:35):
with the traditional grip.
So he goes to the, he goes tothe inverted grip and.
I mean, he rock.
I mean, he wasn't a great atputting last year, right?
He, two years ago, not great,and he didn't win a bunch, but
everybody's like, Hey, if he wasjust average at putting, he
would win every week.
Last year.
He is basically average atputting, and he won every week.
Now he's top 15 in putting, andhe's winning just by bigger
(10:58):
margins, right?
Like he's now, he won by four.
It was like a ho-hum, uh, kindof thing.
So what can we learn from that?
What can we learn from ScottyScheffler?
Try, you know, going after alittle bit.
I think it's just that continu,like that dedication to
continuously improving a skill,which I'm sure whatever that
(11:19):
skill is, maybe it's start linecontrol.
I, I don't know what, what he'sbetter at.
I don't know.
He, he probably tell you, butI've never heard him talk about
it.
Rob Failes (11:28):
yeah.
Eric (11:29):
But he was, well, I will tell you this, it was
well-defined.
He knew what he was going afterand he knew that this may be the
thing that did it.
He gave it a try.
It worked.
Awesome.
Right?
So that's different than tryingsomething new every day, right?
That's a different, that's adifferent story.
So growth mindset is not tryingsomething new every day, but it
(11:52):
is being open to trying toimprove through the right
processes, right?
Rob Failes (11:57):
for sure.
Yeah.
Eric (12:02):
So, excuse me, dry throat.
Scotty, what else about Scottydo you think, Rob, that makes
him great, that we can learn as,uh, normal golfers in the world?
Rob Failes (12:14):
Hmm.
Eric (12:16):
I.
Rob Failes (12:17):
I mean, I, I, I say this, and this is just my
preference, but strongpreference, but his rhythm is
incredibly, incredibly,incredibly consistent.
Like All the way through the bagfrom driver to iron to wedges.
I mean, if you just look at thetime of the swing itself and the
ratio of time, it's soconsistent.
(12:39):
It's incredible.
Like it just doesn't reallychange in any sort of situation.
You never see him reallyspeeding up.
You never see him really slowingdown.
He's just always kind of justdoing what he's doing,
incredibly, incredibly,incredibly consistently.
So again, some things do need tobe consistent, right?
We don't love the workconsistency, but I think the way
(12:59):
he holds it, right, he's gotthis molded grip that he's used
for forever and he's justkeeping the thing that probably
should be consistent.
Really consistent.
I don't see his posture reallychanging much.
I don't see his rhythm reallychanging much.
It's all really, reallyconsistent.
Now, the geometry changes wildlyfor the shot that he's playing.
(13:20):
He's playing a big draw, likeyou said, like geometry stuff.
definitely changes, but thedrumbeat of his swing does not.
Um, and I really enjoy seeingthat with him.
Eric (13:31):
You would have to imagine that he and Randy Smith worked a
lot on things like routine,right?
Just trying to get thingsconsistent, day to day, swing to
swing, um, and also skilltraining, right?
Because.
Rob Failes (13:44):
Right,
Eric (13:45):
You know, a lot of people would've coached out some of
that stuff with, maybe withScotty, but I think that Randy
Smith is probably really good atwatching the ball go exactly
where a player wants to hit it.
And not saying I'm not gonnachange the blueprint of that.
Right?
So if he can repeat that andcontrol that and learn to have
some skill with that, um, I'mgonna be, I'm gonna be totally
fine.
And so that, I think that we candefinitely learn from,
Rob Failes (14:07):
could definitely
Eric (14:08):
I will tell you that going back to the rhythm piece.
Rob Failes (14:10):
you that going back to
Eric (14:11):
I don't watch a lot of golf on tv, especially don't
watch YouTube golf, but Scottyactually did a YouTube like golf
thing, um, which seems prettyoutta character for him, but it
was like a couple months agowith, um, grant, grant
something.
Grant Horvat.
Or Grant Horvat.
Yeah.
Um, and they played at RoyalOaks and.
(14:33):
I mean, s you can just see, andScotty was a little rusty that
day.
He was like, yeah, I just gotta,I mean, it was just four days at
the beach and I'm, you know,just kinda running out on the
course kind of thing.
And um, but you could see likethat round, like it's a
different deal'cause you seeevery single shot he's talking
you through every single shot.
And, um, yeah, I mean theconsistency of what he does
(14:54):
rhythm wise with his swing isjust insane.
It's just insane.
Rob Failes (14:58):
Unbelievable.
Yeah.
Eric (15:00):
And so.
I think that would be anothergood thing that a, that a
listener could take away.
Just the consistency andtraining the rhythm and working
on the rhythm and being therepresent.
Like you said, you have to bepresent on the golf course to
make that happen or you're gonnabe
Rob Failes (15:13):
Yes.
Eric (15:13):
right.
So, um, yeah, I think that'sanother one.
I think that those are probablythe big keys there, like
learning the processes, likewhat is it that.
Rob Failes (15:22):
this,
Eric (15:23):
from his swing or not from his, don't copy his grip.
Your grip's gonna be your gripand his grip's gonna be his
grip.
It's not about that.
It's about like what does he doin his process that makes him,
and I think it really, like yousaid, it starts with that whole
like hierarchy of what'simportant to him.
Right.
Rob Failes (15:41):
I mean, you, you'd be hard pressed to say that he
doesn't probably read lies,slopes, and winds as well as
anyone out there.
obviously Ted Scott's a big, bigpart of that, right?
So, I mean, Ted's given himreally good, uh, reads on, on
the lies, given him really goodreads on wind and slope.
Um.
(16:01):
And so we can't, we can'tdiscount that.
Right?
So we don't always have a caddywalking with us.
And I mean, he's got a, he's gotthe best probably, I would say,
Eric (16:09):
He does credit him in that video, um, with keeping him.
Basically present.
I don't know, I think he usedthe word present, but he said
Ted Scott is really good aboutjust being like, alright,
Scotty, let's like, you know,let's just focus on this next
shot and let you can do the, yougot this.
Like, he's just like, and youcould see Scotty's career
trajectory completely changedwhen he, when he started now he
(16:31):
was very young.
He's only 28 years old.
Like, that's crazy, right?
Um, but you know.
He was a year or two on the tourand doing okay, but he wasn't
like his first, the first time Ithink I ever heard of him was he
made that Ryder Cup team and Idon't watch tons of golf, but he
made that Ryder Cup team.
Didn't he beat it was like hebeat John Rom or somebody in
singles.
Um,
Rob Failes (16:52):
Mm-hmm.
Eric (16:52):
was it John?
I think it was John Rom who waslike really hot at the time.
Like he was clearly the bestplayer in the world.
And they put, um, Scotty out inthe singles match against him
and he beat him.
And, um.
I was like, okay, what's thatguy's name?
Schiff Scheffler kind of cool.
Um, my brother had been talkingabout him, but he's a, he's a
fanatic on the tour and theylove Scotty, right?
'cause he's like family friend.
(17:14):
So pretty, pretty cool.
Um, anyway, so I'm trying tothink if there's anything else
that really stands out aboutScotty that I think it's just.
Repeating his processes.
Maybe get a molded grip trainerthat feels really good to you,
keeping in your back so youcould work on your grip all the
time.
I don't know, I don't know howhe does that, but, um, hire a
great coach for sure.
And stick with him and have yourpriorities straight.
(17:37):
I mean, I think that's really, Imean, I'm not sitting here as a
motivational speaker by any, anystretch of the imagination, but
it's it when things are in orderand you focus on what's
relevant, I think it's, uh, Ithink it's easy to see that
Scotty's not distracted by.
The other stuff, you know, it'spretty cool.
Pretty cool.
I'm always rooting for him,that's for sure.
(18:00):
And
Rob Failes (18:00):
I mean, he's, he is one of my favorite golfers right
now,
Eric (18:04):
yeah, I, I like him.
I like,
Rob Failes (18:06):
favorite.
Eric (18:06):
yeah, I'm a big Oberg fan.
I, I think he's super cool too.
Rob Failes (18:10):
too.
Eric (18:11):
Um, so.
Rob Failes (18:12):
Yeah.
Eric (18:13):
So anyway, quick question.
What makes Scotty Shuffler sogreat?
Anything else you'd like to addto that discussion?
Robbie,
Rob Failes (18:21):
No.
No, I think that's good.
Eric (18:22):
awesome.
Thanks for tuning in to the GolfIntervention Podcast.
We'll be back with another fulllength episode when Robbie gets
back from Hilton head onvacation.
And, uh, in the meantime, hitthe ball long and straight.
Golf saw that hard.
And welcome back in to the Golf Intervention Podcast.
We're so glad you're joining ustonight for this quick question
episode, and this one is adoozy.
So I'm just gonna read it to Robfails.
I think we'll both have ouropinions on this.
It'd be really, really fun.
So this one comes from John inToronto, which is kind of a cool
place to get a question from.
(00:21):
We do have lots of listeners inCanada, so if you're one of
those, thanks for tuning in.
This question says boys.
What makes Scotty Scheffler sogood?
And is there anything that ahacker like myself can learn
from him?
What a great question.
Thank you.
Rob Failes (00:39):
Oh yeah.
Eric (00:40):
Even the Canadians have great questions.
It's really good.
Rob Failes (00:44):
A great question.
Eric (00:45):
So I will say that Scotty Scheffler obviously is on this
run.
I am old enough.
I'm not sure Robbie is oldenough to have been like through
the height of Tiger Mania.
Um, I was in college.
I'm four years, I think I'mthree or four years younger than
Tiger.
I was in college studying golfmanagement, right?
While Tiger is like.
In the 2001, 2002, you know, andthen I'm Golf Pro in 2004, 2000,
(01:11):
like that run was unbelievable.
And I'm not saying Scotty's onthat type of run yet, but you
can see it.
It's building, right?
I mean, it's
Rob Failes (01:19):
Yep.
Eric (01:20):
pretty fabulous.
Nobody, I don't think everplayed golf like Tiger did.
The height of that peakdominance was unbelievable.
Um, and I don't think Scotty'squite there.
Um, but.
Good gracious.
This guy is every week.
I mean, so good.
What, what makes him so good isthat this is a, I I can't wait
(01:43):
to hear your answer to thisquestion.
I will say I wish I had somemore insider information.
I really don't, but I, I learnedlast week this kind of an
interesting tidbit.
That my brother's father-in-law,who's a lawyer in Dallas and was
president of the Royal OaksCountry Club, where the
Scheffler, you know, Scotty grewup, actually was the one that
(02:04):
basically introduced.
Scotty's parents and Scotty as ayoung man too.
Randy Smith, his coach, howabout that?
And then sponsored them to joinRoyal Oaks Country Club.
And so, um, he was, yeah, he wasa great, he was a great guy,
passionate golfer, great lawyerin Dallas.
And he's, unfortunately, haspassed away, uh, very
(02:25):
tragically.
But it was great friends withRandy Smith.
And if you don't know who RandySmith is, uh, Randy Smith has to
be, in my opinion, has to beconsidered.
The, the preeminent developer ofgolfers in our generation.
Now there's great coaches whoteach people, oh, they come, you
know, Butch Harmon got Tigerwhen he was in college or
(02:45):
whatever, but Randy Smith hasliterally raised at one country
club from like junior golfer totour player, multiple major
champions.
Justin Leonard was like hisfirst, Scotty Scheffler,
obviously, and then a.
Bunch of others, like a bunch, Idon't know how many, there are,
10 or 12 or 13, like tourplayers, um, that he's, you
know, raised from the ground up.
(03:06):
And Randy Smith is just abrilliant, um, instructor coach.
And so a, I think first thing tolearn from Scotty Schiffler is
find a great coach and stickwith him.
Right?
Um, Scotty is not changing hiscoach, like he's changing his
his shirt like some of theseguys do.
Um, he.
(03:27):
And I will say that sometimesyou can look at a coach player
relationship and wonder wouldthey be better if they moved on?
And we're not in the middle ofany of that story, so we can't
really make that assertion.
But obviously Scotty has justcontinued to get better and
better and better and better.
Why would you, why would youmove on from that?
So I think my first point ofcontention with Scotty
(03:48):
Scheffler, that that, that anygolfer could learn, find a great
coach and stick with him.
What do you think Rob?
Rob Failes (03:55):
totally.
So one thing that always doescome out in Sky's interviews is
that idea of decoupling self andcraft, So he says it.
Ad nauseum.
It's like, yeah, this tournamentdidn't define me like he just
won the Masters, but he's infront of the entire media room
saying, this tournament, thiswin does not define who I am.
(04:20):
I just thought that was sopowerful when he did that.
And just reinforces the ideathat he is not out there playing
with his identity on the line.
Eric (04:30):
Yeah.
Rob Failes (04:31):
he's out there playing golf.
it.
Eric (04:33):
Yeah.
Rob Failes (04:34):
He's just playing the game.
A lot of other people who he'scompeting with are not just
playing golf, they'remultitasking with other stuff.
Maybe not during the wholeround, but I think Scotty is the
most on time and on task golferthat's playing right now.
And I, I'll tell you, it's hismindset of, of really
(04:58):
prioritizing the things that arerelevant to.
The shot in hand, uh, and prettymuch nothing else.
Eric (05:05):
I think if you even delve deeper into that, you know, his
spirituality is probably hismost important thing.
He talks about his life.
I mean, he's pretty, prettystraightforward about that.
Second of all, um, so it'sprobably faith and family and
golf in that order for Scotty,right?
He's not distracted.
He's not distracted by.
Social media, he has zero socialmedia accounts.
(05:27):
Zero.
Um, and so again,
Rob Failes (05:31):
So
Eric (05:31):
what does his brand or his image have to do with how he
plays
Rob Failes (05:35):
have
Eric (05:35):
Nothing.
Right?
Nothing.
And it's, it's so interesting.
If you look at all the things hedoes,
Rob Failes (05:42):
the things.
Eric (05:42):
look at his swing, you could look at it that I think
there's players that are vainenough.
Rob Failes (05:47):
that
Eric (05:47):
They would look at his footwork or whatever he does and
think, oh, that's my, I gottamake a swing.
That quote, unquote looks betterthan that'cause of vanity,
right?
Scotty?
When he works the ball right toleft off the tee.
It doesn't, it looks a little,what you might say, awkward in a
way.
Like he, he's learned how tomake the ball go right to left
off the T, but it's a little bitof a awkward follow through,
(06:09):
almost like a Arnold Palmer typeof swing.
Um, he doesn't care one bit inthe world'cause it's not
relevant.
What it looks like, what'srelevant is him striping that
ball down the middle of thefairway.
She does.
Wonderfully.
So again, it's like, to yourpoint, always being able to have
that mindset of like, this iswhat matters.
This is all I care about.
This is what I'm doing.
(06:30):
It doesn't, and that's it.
And, and we just heard a story.
We were just interviewed on apodcast, which is pretty cool,
which will be coming out I guessin a few weeks.
But they were talking aboutplaying with somebody who kept
saying.
Rob Failes (06:41):
somebody
Eric (06:41):
This isn't the right sh I'm not hitting the right shot.
I'm supposed to hit the rightshot from here or whatever.
It was like a, you know, someonewho's terrible at golf and, but
like couldn't chip it, but theysaid, I'm gonna try to chip it
'cause it's the right thing todo.
Um, do you think ScottyScheffler ever had a thought
like that in his mind?
Ever.
Ever.
Never.
Right.
(07:01):
That's not how he's wired.
So it goes back to growthmindset.
I'm sure Scotty Scheffler hasnever studied growth mindset.
He's been raised really well,coached really well.
He's probably wired really well,I'm sure, right?
Like there is some wiring that'slike nature in there.
Um, but it's, it's amazing to
Rob Failes (07:20):
it's, it's
Eric (07:20):
kind of watch him consistently.
Stay with he, with what he'sdoing.
Time, after time, after time.
He's not looking for answers.
He's not changing his swing forit to look better.
He's not, you know, he's, he'sjust so good.
And, and, and
Rob Failes (07:35):
so
Eric (07:35):
Spieth, I think was
Rob Failes (07:37):
York
Eric (07:37):
marveling at his club face control.
Now, Jordan Spieth uses the termclub face control a lot, um,
which I think is interesting.
You know, you and I don't usethe term control with the club
face very often.
Rob Failes (07:49):
Yeah,
Eric (07:50):
Um.
Rob Failes (07:51):
love that.
Eric (07:51):
But Jordan kept saying his club face control is
outstanding.
It's the best I've ever seen.
So I think that it's, um, whatdo, what do you think about that
quote, Rob?
What, what would you say aboutRob, uh, about Scotty and his
club face?
Rob Failes (08:06):
No, I
Eric (08:07):
I.
Rob Failes (08:07):
it is easily the most predictable.
Right?
He is.
He is producing his intent, uh,or around it.
most predictably of anyone ontour.
and it's probably not evenclose, honestly.
I mean, it is elite, like Jordansaid, it is maybe the best that
we've seen since I, I'm, I'mhaving a hard time thinking of
(08:33):
who's dispersion is more insanethan Scotty's.
Eric (08:36):
And especially, uh, as far as he hits it, right?
So he is like
Rob Failes (08:40):
Yes.
Eric (08:40):
he's not first in strokes gained off the tee, but he's
high, right?
Um, and he's not one of the 10longest, or probably not even
one of the 20 longest players,but he's probably in the top 20
to 30 I would say.
So he doesn't hit it short byany means.
Um, but his accuracy off the tis outrageously good and then he
is number one in strokes.
(09:01):
Gained, I think, approach shot.
Um.
You know his one that's not likegreat is Bunker Bunkers, which
is kind of funny.
But his putting this year top15, he's 15th in strokes, game
putting, which is actually kindof writing, um.
And again, like,
Rob Failes (09:20):
to the
Eric (09:20):
so here you go.
Here you go though.
Right?
So you talk about growthmindset.
'cause there's, there's adelicate balance here, right?
There's a delicate balance ingrowth mindset.
Scotty s Scheffler wins.
What'd he win nine times in agold medal last year?
Something like that.
Uh, maybe 10 times in a goldmedal.
I can't remember how that allplayed out, but it was a lot.
What does he do?
(09:41):
He changes his grip on hisputting, right?
He goes, he goes to the,whatever I call it, the clog
grip, I guess the traditionalterm is the clog grip, right?
The inverted right hand grip.
And it sort of, uh, made its,we, we saw it first at Tiger's
tournament in December, like inthat silly season event in
December.
And it was like, wow, Scottyjust won 10 times and uh, and
(10:04):
he, uh, and a gold medal andhe's changing his, putting
right.
Well.
Rob Failes (10:10):
Mm-hmm.
Eric (10:11):
probably no one I would trust more to understand what
they could gain out of theirputting from 20 feet and in than
than Scotty Scheffler and do itin a way that was extremely
thoughtful, extremely probablydata oriented, like he probably
really knew.
Where his weaknesses are, heprobably understood his control
of the start line, things thatjust weren't quite right, uh,
(10:35):
with the traditional grip.
So he goes to the, he goes tothe inverted grip and.
I mean, he rock.
I mean, he wasn't a great atputting last year, right?
He, two years ago, not great,and he didn't win a bunch, but
everybody's like, Hey, if he wasjust average at putting, he
would win every week.
Last year.
He is basically average atputting, and he won every week.
Now he's top 15 in putting, andhe's winning just by bigger
(10:58):
margins, right?
Like he's now, he won by four.
It was like a ho-hum, uh, kindof thing.
So what can we learn from that?
What can we learn from ScottyScheffler?
Try, you know, going after alittle bit.
I think it's just that continu,like that dedication to
continuously improving a skill,which I'm sure whatever that
(11:19):
skill is, maybe it's start linecontrol.
I, I don't know what, what he'sbetter at.
I don't know.
He, he probably tell you, butI've never heard him talk about
it.
Rob Failes (11:28):
yeah.
Eric (11:29):
But he was, well, I will tell you this, it was
well-defined.
He knew what he was going afterand he knew that this may be the
thing that did it.
He gave it a try.
It worked.
Awesome.
Right?
So that's different than tryingsomething new every day, right?
That's a different, that's adifferent story.
So growth mindset is not tryingsomething new every day, but it
(11:52):
is being open to trying toimprove through the right
processes, right?
Rob Failes (11:57):
for sure.
Yeah.
Eric (12:02):
So, excuse me, dry throat.
Scotty, what else about Scottydo you think, Rob, that makes
him great, that we can learn as,uh, normal golfers in the world?
Rob Failes (12:14):
Hmm.
Eric (12:16):
I.
Rob Failes (12:17):
I mean, I, I, I say this, and this is just my
preference, but strongpreference, but his rhythm is
incredibly, incredibly,incredibly consistent.
Like All the way through the bagfrom driver to iron to wedges.
I mean, if you just look at thetime of the swing itself and the
ratio of time, it's soconsistent.
(12:39):
It's incredible.
Like it just doesn't reallychange in any sort of situation.
You never see him reallyspeeding up.
You never see him really slowingdown.
He's just always kind of justdoing what he's doing,
incredibly, incredibly,incredibly consistently.
So again, some things do need tobe consistent, right?
We don't love the workconsistency, but I think the way
(12:59):
he holds it, right, he's gotthis molded grip that he's used
for forever and he's justkeeping the thing that probably
should be consistent.
Really consistent.
I don't see his posture reallychanging much.
I don't see his rhythm reallychanging much.
It's all really, reallyconsistent.
Now, the geometry changes wildlyfor the shot that he's playing.
(13:20):
He's playing a big draw, likeyou said, like geometry stuff.
definitely changes, but thedrumbeat of his swing does not.
Um, and I really enjoy seeingthat with him.
Eric (13:31):
You would have to imagine that he and Randy Smith worked a
lot on things like routine,right?
Just trying to get thingsconsistent, day to day, swing to
swing, um, and also skilltraining, right?
Because.
Rob Failes (13:44):
Right,
Eric (13:45):
You know, a lot of people would've coached out some of
that stuff with, maybe withScotty, but I think that Randy
Smith is probably really good atwatching the ball go exactly
where a player wants to hit it.
And not saying I'm not gonnachange the blueprint of that.
Right?
So if he can repeat that andcontrol that and learn to have
some skill with that, um, I'mgonna be, I'm gonna be totally
fine.
And so that, I think that we candefinitely learn from,
Rob Failes (14:07):
could definitely
Eric (14:08):
I will tell you that going back to the rhythm piece.
Rob Failes (14:10):
you that going back to
Eric (14:11):
I don't watch a lot of golf on tv, especially don't
watch YouTube golf, but Scottyactually did a YouTube like golf
thing, um, which seems prettyoutta character for him, but it
was like a couple months agowith, um, grant, grant
something.
Grant Horvat.
Or Grant Horvat.
Yeah.
Um, and they played at RoyalOaks and.
(14:33):
I mean, s you can just see, andScotty was a little rusty that
day.
He was like, yeah, I just gotta,I mean, it was just four days at
the beach and I'm, you know,just kinda running out on the
course kind of thing.
And um, but you could see likethat round, like it's a
different deal'cause you seeevery single shot he's talking
you through every single shot.
And, um, yeah, I mean theconsistency of what he does
(14:54):
rhythm wise with his swing isjust insane.
It's just insane.
Rob Failes (14:58):
Unbelievable.
Yeah.
Eric (15:00):
And so.
I think that would be anothergood thing that a, that a
listener could take away.
Just the consistency andtraining the rhythm and working
on the rhythm and being therepresent.
Like you said, you have to bepresent on the golf course to
make that happen or you're gonnabe
Rob Failes (15:13):
Yes.
Eric (15:13):
right.
So, um, yeah, I think that'sanother one.
I think that those are probablythe big keys there, like
learning the processes, likewhat is it that.
Rob Failes (15:22):
this,
Eric (15:23):
from his swing or not from his, don't copy his grip.
Your grip's gonna be your gripand his grip's gonna be his
grip.
It's not about that.
It's about like what does he doin his process that makes him,
and I think it really, like yousaid, it starts with that whole
like hierarchy of what'simportant to him.
Right.
Rob Failes (15:41):
I mean, you, you'd be hard pressed to say that he
doesn't probably read lies,slopes, and winds as well as
anyone out there.
obviously Ted Scott's a big, bigpart of that, right?
So, I mean, Ted's given himreally good, uh, reads on, on
the lies, given him really goodreads on wind and slope.
Um.
(16:01):
And so we can't, we can'tdiscount that.
Right?
So we don't always have a caddywalking with us.
And I mean, he's got a, he's gotthe best probably, I would say,
Eric (16:09):
He does credit him in that video, um, with keeping him.
Basically present.
I don't know, I think he usedthe word present, but he said
Ted Scott is really good aboutjust being like, alright,
Scotty, let's like, you know,let's just focus on this next
shot and let you can do the, yougot this.
Like, he's just like, and youcould see Scotty's career
trajectory completely changedwhen he, when he started now he
(16:31):
was very young.
He's only 28 years old.
Like, that's crazy, right?
Um, but you know.
He was a year or two on the tourand doing okay, but he wasn't
like his first, the first time Ithink I ever heard of him was he
made that Ryder Cup team and Idon't watch tons of golf, but he
made that Ryder Cup team.
Didn't he beat it was like hebeat John Rom or somebody in
singles.
Um,
Rob Failes (16:52):
Mm-hmm.
Eric (16:52):
was it John?
I think it was John Rom who waslike really hot at the time.
Like he was clearly the bestplayer in the world.
And they put, um, Scotty out inthe singles match against him
and he beat him.
And, um.
I was like, okay, what's thatguy's name?
Schiff Scheffler kind of cool.
Um, my brother had been talkingabout him, but he's a, he's a
fanatic on the tour and theylove Scotty, right?
'cause he's like family friend.
(17:14):
So pretty, pretty cool.
Um, anyway, so I'm trying tothink if there's anything else
that really stands out aboutScotty that I think it's just.
Repeating his processes.
Maybe get a molded grip trainerthat feels really good to you,
keeping in your back so youcould work on your grip all the
time.
I don't know, I don't know howhe does that, but, um, hire a
great coach for sure.
And stick with him and have yourpriorities straight.
(17:37):
I mean, I think that's really, Imean, I'm not sitting here as a
motivational speaker by any, anystretch of the imagination, but
it's it when things are in orderand you focus on what's
relevant, I think it's, uh, Ithink it's easy to see that
Scotty's not distracted by.
The other stuff, you know, it'spretty cool.
Pretty cool.
I'm always rooting for him,that's for sure.
(18:00):
And
Rob Failes (18:00):
I mean, he's, he is one of my favorite golfers right
now,
Eric (18:04):
yeah, I, I like him.
I like,
Rob Failes (18:06):
favorite.
Eric (18:06):
yeah, I'm a big Oberg fan.
I, I think he's super cool too.
Rob Failes (18:10):
too.
Eric (18:11):
Um, so.
Rob Failes (18:12):
Yeah.
Eric (18:13):
So anyway, quick question.
What makes Scotty Shuffler sogreat?
Anything else you'd like to addto that discussion?
Robbie,
Rob Failes (18:21):
No.
No, I think that's good.
Eric (18:22):
awesome.
Thanks for tuning in to the GolfIntervention Podcast.
We'll be back with another fulllength episode when Robbie gets
back from Hilton head onvacation.
And, uh, in the meantime, hitthe ball long and straight.
Golf saw that hard.
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