EP 49: Choosing the Right Golf Ball + The Wildest Golf Lesson Eric Ever Taught!

Episode Transcript
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Tyler (00:00):
Today's episode is brought to you by the premium

(00:02):
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And we would of course like tothank all of our listeners for
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If you would like to support theshow or sign up for our free
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or follow the link in the shownotes.

Eric (00:24):
And welcome back to the Golf Intervention Podcast.
My name is Eric Late, and I amthe Director of Golf Instruction
at the Country Club of Virginia.
is Rob fas.
He is a PGA Elite golfinstructor at the Boris Head
Resort in Charlottesville,Virginia.
I'm so glad he is on with metonight.

Rob Failes (00:43):
Oh boy.
I think my, I think my titlejust changed.

Eric (00:46):
instructor, like the elitist golf instructor you've
ever seen.

Rob Failes (00:49):
Yes,

Eric (00:51):
development.
What is your title?
I can never get it right.
Yeah,

Rob Failes (00:55):
player development leader.

Eric (00:57):
He's the

Rob Failes (00:57):
We'll get there someday.

Eric (00:58):
leader at the Boris Head Resort at Birdwood at UVA in
Charlottesville, Virginia.
And I'm glad to have him on to.
On today's episode, we are gonnadiscuss how do you choose a golf
ball?
What are the majorconsiderations based on how you
play and what you're looking fora golf ball.
What are all the major decisionpoints?

(01:19):
We're gonna try to cover'emtoday on the episode, and we're
also gonna cover the craziestgolf lesson I've ever had in my
life, which is super crazy and Ishared it with Rob fails earlier
today.
I found the email from six yearsago, the follow up email from
the lesson, I will actually readthat verbatim on the show today
so you can get a sense of howcrazy that lesson was.

(01:43):
there is a lot to learn.
From that story.
So I'm hoping that you all todaywill get a little bit of insight
into some performance stuff hereon the Golf Intervention
Podcast.
So how you doing Rob fails inCharlottesville today.

Rob Failes (01:59):
We're doing great.
We're doing great.

Eric (02:01):
Feels like fall.
I've taken my daughter, one ofmy kids back to college already.
She goes a little early'causeshe's, on a competitive team and
has to be back.

Rob Failes (02:09):
Oh, nice.

Eric (02:10):
the weather's been really nice here.
It's been cool.
uh, man, it feels, it feelsgood.
And I'm ready for fall.
I'm not gonna lie.
August 1st, I was drinkingpumpkin coffee and lighting
pumpkin candles.

Rob Failes (02:21):
Oh,

Eric (02:21):
the, the, this

Rob Failes (02:23):
oh, nice.
Love it.

Eric (02:25):
I just feel like I endure the Central Virginia Summers.

Rob Failes (02:29):
It really is.
Yeah.
Survive and advance, right?

Eric (02:32):
to get to the next day.
But do like that my kids arehome from college.
That's the best part of thesummer.
But fall is the best time ofyear, in my opinion.
So I get anxious and I drinkthat

Rob Failes (02:42):
no doubt.
I.

Eric (02:43):
It's like a mindset thing, you know, So we had an episode,
our last episode we droppedactually this morning, was with
Dr.
Andy Royalty.
If you haven't checked out thatepisode, check it out.
Every time we put out an

Rob Failes (02:54):
Yeah,

Eric (02:55):
I think the body and the swing and health and all that,
nobody listens to it.
They're like, nah, I don't needthat episode.
but Dr.
Andy is a

Rob Failes (03:03):
I'm good.

Eric (03:04):
guy when it comes to

Rob Failes (03:05):
Yeah.

Eric (03:06):
performance, and, I enjoyed listening to, and
there's a lot of nuggets inthere.
So go check that episode out ifyou have not, and share it with
a friend or a golf friend ofyours that may have, some pain
that they're dealing with orthat you notice that they're
dealing with.
'cause it can be helpful andencouraging to hear that there
is, a light at the end of thattunnel.
Maybe if you seek the proper, ifyou

Rob Failes (03:26):
Yes.

Eric (03:27):
So we are gonna start today with a discussion on golf
balls.
We got a question from JohnEpps, who is a to the show, a
student of mine, a subscriber tothe Substack, and he asked us on
Substack, he says, I am a leveltwo golfer.
What are the majorconsiderations I need to think
about when choosing a golf ballto play?

(03:51):
So I was thinking back, and thisis episode 49, I think, I don't
think we've really talked aboutthe golf ball very much.
Have we?
Rob fails.

Rob Failes (03:58):
No, we haven't.

Eric (03:59):
I mean it,

Rob Failes (03:59):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (04:00):
that choosing a golf ball is interesting.
I think it's pretty easy.
Get a Titleist, how hard isthat?
Go buy a Titleist, get a Pro Vone and play

Rob Failes (04:07):
Right.

Eric (04:08):
hard is that?
Uh,

Rob Failes (04:10):
Yeah.
I mean, legitimately.

Eric (04:13):
we understand that there's lots of considerations when it
goes to playing golf ballsbecause.
There's everything from, some ofthe marketing stuff that you
hear about, you know, is thisball better for slower speeds or
higher speeds, or higher launchor lower launch, or more spin or
less spin.

Rob Failes (04:29):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (04:30):
there's also the price consideration.
There's the brand consideration.
You've got direct to consumergolf balls now that are
marketing themselves is, just asgood

Rob Failes (04:39):
Yep.

Eric (04:40):
or whatever you have tailor made.
And Callaway really pushinghard.
To take,, some of that golf ballmarket from title issues just
always dominated

Rob Failes (04:49):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (04:50):
Um, really good

Rob Failes (04:51):
Yeah.

Eric (04:53):
out there.
And so I think there are someconsiderations when you're
talking about the golf ball.
'cause that's a very big part ofthe equipment.
And so if we go, maybe we couldgo the old school golf
intervention route on this one,Rob, and go, Hey.
Here's your

Rob Failes (05:09):
Yeah.

Eric (05:10):
level one player and then level two player and

Rob Failes (05:13):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (05:14):
player, and,

Rob Failes (05:16):
Yeah.

Eric (05:17):
would be a really good way to take it on.
And also kind of balancing outthe other thing, which is A,
does it matter?
And B, is a more expensive ball,a better golf ball?
And,, you all could take,, thisfor what it's worth, we're gonna
give you

Rob Failes (05:31):
Yeah.

Eric (05:32):
opinion on all that.
Hopefully you can take thatinformation and use it to your
ability to purchase a golf ballthat you think will be best for
you.
So, level three consideration,or excuse me, level one.
We'll start at level one, whichis

Rob Failes (05:47):
Yeah, let's start level one.

Eric (05:48):
of a beginner golfer or some to somewhere around

Rob Failes (05:51):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (05:52):
who's a bogey golfer.
Um, shooting in the nineties,high

Rob Failes (05:55):
Yeah.

Eric (05:56):
So.
I think it's fair to say whenyou're starting off golf,

Rob Failes (06:02):
Oh, you just,

Eric (06:03):
whatever you can find or people give to you, probably not
a bad idea.
Um, just playing the game, justgetting any equipment is good,
right?
You're piecing

Rob Failes (06:13):
yeah.
Yeah.

Eric (06:14):
potentially to see if you really like the game as a
beginner, and then, as you playmore, and really the golf ball
that point doesn't matter reallythat much, right?
You're not making great contactmost of the time.
Consistency in the flight isn'tthat important.
I will say big gashes on thegolf ball or scuffs or dirt or
mud, that does matter.

(06:34):
So you want to keep at least aclean, fresh

Rob Failes (06:37):
Yeah.

Eric (06:38):
um, to get some good feedback on how it flies.
But at the end of the day,you're just trying to

Rob Failes (06:43):
Yep.

Eric (06:43):
in the game.
as you're progressing intokeeping score and wanting to do
better, I would say a bigconsideration is probably just.
Finding something that kind ofyou like and you're consistent
with, right?
It is.
At some point you should beplaying the same ball pretty
much round after round.

Rob Failes (07:00):
Yeah.

Eric (07:01):
that, Rob?

Rob Failes (07:01):
Yeah, I would.
Yeah.
And I think like, kinda like yousaid, there's
disproportionately, the, theprice point is, is a little bit
more a thing for our level onegolfers, because let's be
honest, like if you are introlevel one, if you are shooting a
hundred.
20, 110, like you're losingquite a few golf balls in a

(07:21):
round of golf, depending onwhere you're playing, right?
So what's a, what's a pricepoint of golf ball that is not
gonna give you, uh, anxietyabout how many golf balls you're
losing, right?
Ones that you're gonna be like,you know, obviously don't love
losing a golf ball, but it's notto the point to where it's gonna
keep you from coming out and,and playing the next day kind of
thing.
So, and I would a hundredpercent echo, um, the

(07:44):
consistency of that.
So I would try to find the mostpremium golf ball that you're
okay if you lose, you know, fiveor six in a round, right?
Like what's the, what's the mostexpensive, most premium golf
ball that you're okay losing?
Um,'cause a hundred percent,like I've given some golf balls
to a level one golfer.
It's like just outta my bag.
And, and they look at it andthey're like, there's no way I'm

(08:05):
gonna play this.
Like, I, I don't, I don't wantto, I don't wanna swing.
And get this golf ball in theway of my golf swing.
'cause I know I'm gonna lose it.
Like, it's not that big a deal,I promise.
But no, I mean, that's, that canbe a thing.
So, um, like you said, like try,just try to make it consistent.
Try to find the, the, the mostpremium golf ball, um, that you
can, that, that, uh, that you'reokay losing.
Um, I'm not trying to befacetious.

(08:27):
I'm not trying to make light ortrying to make a joke of that.
I'm, I'm, I'm being serious.
That's a, that's a big thing.

Eric (08:32):
that golf balls are, a lot of marketing around golf balls,
right?
So you,

Rob Failes (08:38):
Yeah.

Eric (08:39):
of our deal on the, on the show here is to help people wade
through some of the marketingstuff.
But I will say.
At that, at that level, is thecover of the ball you're playing
being some premium high endcover prob probably not.
mainly because we're not making

Rob Failes (08:56):
Yeah.

Eric (08:57):
consistent contact all the time, right?
So that's probably not.
Now I will tell you, if you'resomeone who's a beginner golfer
and you have very high club headspeed and you spin the ball a
lot, slicing it, you know, verydeep

Rob Failes (09:12):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (09:12):
hitting into greens, and the ball spins a lot.
can be the case, you're probablygonna wanna try to find a ball
that doesn't spin a ton, right.
So that would be a considerationfor you.
but I think it kind of goes

Rob Failes (09:25):
Yep.

Eric (09:26):
Do you, you really trying to believe all the marketing
hype that surrounds differentballs?
And I think as you go throughfrom level one to level two to
level three to tour player, Someof the marketing doesn't.
It becomes less importantbecause you know what your golf
ball's doing and

Rob Failes (09:44):
Yeah.

Eric (09:45):
out of it, right?
when you know less

Rob Failes (09:47):
Right.

Eric (09:48):
golf ball's doing early on, on, in your golf career, not
as big of a deal.
And so that's where you can getthat probably bargain,

Rob Failes (09:58):
Right?

Eric (09:59):
um, something that's still decent.
You, you don't wanna be, youdon't wanna be using, I hate to
say Costco balls or whatever.
I think those ones have gottenbetter.
I think there's,

Rob Failes (10:08):
Yeah.
Like, yeah, those are, yeah, ahundred percent.
That's where I throw in likevice or like, um, what is it,
Snell?

Eric (10:16):
Yeah.

Rob Failes (10:17):
Um, like those are like perfectly fine.
Like I see backend level one,early level two golfers, quite a
few of'em.
Still, still playing those.

Eric (10:26):
And the direct to consumer stuff like Snell and Vice.
They, they come at a pretty goodprice point, and they, are they
as good a,

Rob Failes (10:32):
Yeah,

Eric (10:33):
V one?
No, they're not.

Rob Failes (10:35):
no.

Eric (10:36):
And that's not marketing hype, that's just, that's proven
independent testing.
And then just look at theplayers on the tour.
You could say, they get paid toplay those balls.
Well, no, they're gonna play theball.
They wanna play, it's soimportant for them to play the
ball.

Rob Failes (10:51):
Correct.

Eric (10:53):
And so there's a reason, but that's, again, that's down
the road as you improve earlyon, you're just trying to get
something in the bag.
Now, all the top golf ballproducers will make some value
golf balls, right?
With little less, um, expensivecover on'em, which are, they're
not premium premium, but they'repretty darn good, right?
It's like Titleist

Rob Failes (11:13):
Right.

Eric (11:13):
soft or whatever.
That's, it's similar

Rob Failes (11:16):
Yes.

Eric (11:17):
design, but, it's got a different cover, slightly
different core, but has thatsame.
Same deal, or a velocity.
And and so if you wanted to playa Titleist, they have a better,
they have one that's a betterprice point that you could get.
It may be in multiple colors andthat kind of

Rob Failes (11:33):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (11:34):
if you're into that sort of

Rob Failes (11:36):
Yeah,

Eric (11:37):
So as we go on from level, anything else you can think of
in level one that the player mayneed to think about with their
golf ball there?

Rob Failes (11:45):
no, I think we covered it.

Eric (11:47):
this is where.
If you were gonna go get fit fora golf ball, now you're probably
a pretty, pretty competentgolfer, a pretty serious golfer,
and you were gonna go get fitfor a golf ball.
This is where the data, thatwe've talked about in the past
sort of falls in line with whatyou're doing with your equipment
considerations, which is like,Hey, if I'm a, if I'm a level

(12:09):
two golfer, some of the things Ireally need to do is I need to
drive the ball better.
Straighter and longer, and Ialso need to, hit more greens,
right?
So I gotta start controlling theball into the green.
So like, when you go get fit fora Titleless golf ball at a
titleless fitting day, gonnareally start you off with,

(12:29):
approach shots into the green.
Like, how do I get this ball togo from the fairway into the
green, even before thinkingabout how it launches off the
tee.
I'm gonna guess now most of theserious level two players are in
a premium golf ball of somesort.
Right?

Rob Failes (12:49):
Yeah, for sure.

Eric (12:50):
is

Rob Failes (12:51):
Yeah.

Eric (12:51):
man.
Like I'm, one of the reasons I'mglad I'm a golf pro is

Rob Failes (12:54):
Oh

Eric (12:55):
to buy

Rob Failes (12:55):
my gosh.

Eric (12:56):
right?
Because they,

Rob Failes (12:57):
It's insane nowadays, isn't it?

Eric (12:59):
yeah.
I must say pro our provi ones,they're, they're over 55, 50$6 a
dozen or something these days.
Is that

Rob Failes (13:07):
60?

Eric (13:07):
60.
Ooh, good gracious.
So

Rob Failes (13:11):
Yeah.

Eric (13:11):
60 bucks a dozen, you're hoping to not lose many, but
you're also hoping that you aregetting a really good golf ball,
right?
Really good golf

Rob Failes (13:20):
Yeah.

Eric (13:20):
And I think it's fair to say, one disclaimer, I'm a title
of staff player.
Um, but I think it's very fairto say there's a reason why
Titleist says dominated the golfball market, both on the tours
and on the, you know, just asthe sales to the population is
because Pro V one, pro V one X.
Pairing of golf balls is justextremely good.

(13:43):
It's just extremely good.
It's extremely consistent.

Rob Failes (13:46):
Yeah.

Eric (13:47):
it really well.

Rob Failes (13:48):
Checks all the boxes, right?

Eric (13:50):
It's

Rob Failes (13:50):
Yeah.

Eric (13:50):
into the greens.
It's really good in the shortgame.
It's really good off the t um,between the Pro V one and Pro V
one X, everyone that plays golfcan play one of those two golf
balls.
I mean, you could throw

Rob Failes (14:03):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (14:03):
there as well

Rob Failes (14:04):
For sure.

Eric (14:04):
the other premium ball, but, there's this notion that,
which I've heard in the past,and I think this comes from the
other companies, if you don'tswing at least 90 miles an hour
with your driver, you can't hita Pro V one'cause you can't
compress it or whatever.
And people started to believethat for

Rob Failes (14:21):
Yeah.
No.

Eric (14:22):
like this crazy story that maybe Callaway or somebody put
out.
I'm just kidding.
I'm, I'm, I

Rob Failes (14:28):
Yeah.
Compression, right?

Eric (14:29):
crazy notion, but no, like.
much if you play golf, you canhit a Pro V one or a pro, one of
those in that premium family.

Rob Failes (14:39):
For sure.

Eric (14:39):
and so they all do have a little bit different flight
characteristics and spincharacteristics.
Now, I am not an expert on theCallaway balls and the
TaylorMade balls and theBridgestone balls.
Do you know much about those?
Uh,

Rob Failes (14:51):
Me either.
No, no.
That's a blind spot for me, forsure.

Eric (14:55):
is we just all play Titleist.
I mean, it just is what it's, Imean, I.

Rob Failes (15:01):
Yes.

Eric (15:01):
to be ugly about it.
I was on TaylorMade staff formany years and played the tailor
made ball.
Uh, but that would've been 10years ago.
And they were, they were good.
TaylorMade, I think makes a verygood golf ball.
They have a, TP five and TP fiveX is what they're called, at
least they used to be called,should maybe still call that,
um, a similar idea to prob V oneand prob V one X from a design

(15:25):
standpoint.
Uh, Callaway's got this chromesoft, know, Chrome soft tor
chrome, soft XI don't know muchabout it.
I like the stripes on them.
I think the stripes are kind ofcool that they do for the
putting

Rob Failes (15:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Eric (15:41):
but the testing really bears out and really the
performance bears out that thetitle of the golf ball just does
pretty much perform a little bitbetter than everything else.
is what it's,

Rob Failes (15:53):
Yep.
Yeah.
And, uh, and being a pingstaffer, I'll plug their, uh,
their web fit app, right?
So web fit.ping.com you canactually download an app.
So, um, if you, if you wannasee.
All right.
Well, you want to get aTitleless option, but you also
wanna see some of the otherbrands of, what are some of the
other options that might becomparable?

(16:15):
Um, I'm a huge fan of.
Really, if you're a level one,level two or level three golfer,
um, spec, uh, specifically ourkind of early, early level two
golfers going into that app andplugging in all of the
information that you have, it'sa ping does an amazing job of
creating these algorithms oflike, okay, for, for these types
of, of, uh, you know, inputs,right?

(16:38):
We're gonna likely get this typeof output.
Um, and it's pretty amazing, youknow, as I, as I work through
the app myself and I kind ofplug in the data.
Um, it's pretty darn good.
I mean, it puts me right into aProView one X, which is the ball
that I play.
Um, but it also gives me, Ithink there was the, uh, tour
Chrome was one of'em that Icould have explored, uh, from

(16:59):
Callaway.
There was the, um, I believethere was one from Taylor made,
uh, as well that, and like itgives me, again, it will give
you three or four options thatare like, um, like S Tier,
right?
But then it'll also give you,you know.
Uh, kind of down the line, someother go golf balls that, hey,
if you don't wanna spend thatsame price point, you can look

(17:20):
at some of these as well andget, um, kind of the, a little
bit of the best of both worlds.
So, a big fan of that app.
I would agree.
Definitely.
Um, if someone tells you like,Hey, you wanna find a, a ball
that really feels good off yourputter, right?
And then off of your wedges,right?
What, what, what really feelsgood off your wedges?
And then.

(17:40):
Uh, try to build, uh, kind offrom the green back to the TI
would question that big time.
Um, we know that, uh, reallyshots to green is the, is the
driving force behind your score,right?
So if you can get the, thenumber of shots from the T box
to the green lower, that's goingto reduce your score the
fastest.
Um, so I would venture to say,Hey, let's optimize the golf

(18:03):
ball for your driver.
Uh, or perhaps even optimizeyour golf ball for, um, your
approach shots, if you wannastart with that first.
Um, and then within those golfballs that perform well off the
driver and off your approachshots, then we can try to figure
out, okay, what, what a, what'sa golf ball that feels nice to
you around the greens?

(18:23):
And then maybe the, the pitchingand the chipping and the putting
can maybe be the tiebreaker iskind of how I think about it.
Um.
But that's, uh, yeah, it's acommon question, but it's one
that we haven't really discussedyet on the, on the pod, so I was
glad we were able to, to get tothat for sure.

Eric (18:39):
Yeah, so I, that's great.
I'll link I'll, is there a linkto the app?
Is it in the app store or is itlike a

Rob Failes (18:44):
Yeah.
Yeah, I'll send it to you.
We'll, uh, we'll, we'll go aheadand yeah, we'll make sure that,
uh, that's, that's linked on thepod, but, uh, it's a great
resource, um, very similar totheir wedge fitting app.
I mean, it's, I honestly tellyou like from a, from a club
fitting standpoint, if I didn'thave the ping web fit app, um,
it's literally an app that youcan download.
Um, I think at this point.

(19:07):
Uh, if not, it's just, it's onthe web and I've actually, you
can, you can add it as a, um, asa, as a, was it called a widget
or an app?
I'm not, I'm sure exactly whatthe term is, but you can, you
can put it onto your phone.
So I've got it in heresomewhere.
Um, I'll, I'll find it here,here shortly enough, but, oh,
yep.
Here we go.
Um, ping.

(19:27):
Is it copilot?
Oh, it's, uh, it might actuallybe called copilot.
The ping copilot app.
Yes.
Yep.
Yep.
So that's, that's what you'regonna want to get.
Um, it, it's awesome.
It'll, it'll do shaft fittingsolve, uh, for your gapping in
between, like, which clubs, uh,what, what set and makeup you're
likely to need.

(19:47):
Um, optimized driver launchconditions, uh, wedge grinds,
uh, with your color code.
Um.
You know, it's got a ton ofgreat resources on, on the Ping
Co-pilot.
So I, I recommend certainlyprofessionals, um, who are, who
are out in the trenches doingtheir club fitting, but then
also our passionate level twoand, and level one golfers for

(20:09):
sure.
Um, going in there and, anddownloading it and seeing what
information they can glean fromit.

Eric (20:14):
Yeah.
It's Ping.
Ping, is a, is an engineeringcompany.
That's their culture.
Then they do a really good jobwith their research and, um, I
don't, was there ever a pinggolf?
I think there was a ping golfball at one point in the
eighties.
Am I making this up?

Rob Failes (20:31):
There probably was.
Yeah.

Eric (20:32):
hard to overcome the Titleist dominance there.
The market share is just socrazy.
Um, but.

Rob Failes (20:41):
Hunter and I actually will.
We, we joke about how reallyPing and Titleist really should
just combine and become onesuper company, um, because they
really do a lot of thingssimilarly.
Like that they, that they dowell., And if you look through
the pink staffers, like they'realmost all playing titleless
golf balls.
Um, plenty of'em are playingtitleless putters.

(21:02):
And, and you get some mix, uh,mixing and matching of, of Ping
and Titleless clubs if you lookat our pink staffers.
But, it's funny how it's likethe titleless marketing is
really good and obviouslyeverything Titleless does is
great, but like they do reallywell with,, the marketing,
which.
Ping doesn't do quite as well,but Ping does an amazing job
with like the art, like theresearch and communication to

(21:23):
the teachers.
Oh, these are the projects,kinda the research projects that
we're doing.
Here's what we're learning.
Here's how you could become abetter teacher.
So you you wish that they couldjust like come together, um,

Eric (21:32):
they're,

Rob Failes (21:32):
our side.

Eric (21:33):
companies, which is, think, um,

Rob Failes (21:36):
Yep.

Eric (21:37):
I think why, why so much business with them as PGA
professionals, I would say that,you've got

Rob Failes (21:42):
For sure.

Eric (21:43):
the tailor made and the Callaway.
They're, they both make goodequipment, but they also,, they
also revamp their whole line.
Like every, I don't know, it'snot even yearly.
It's probably a little more

Rob Failes (21:56):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (21:57):
And, um, you know, they're, they're

Rob Failes (21:59):
Yeah.

Eric (21:59):
driven that way.
They want to, they want tocreate those, you know, those
product life cycles and movestuff in and move stuff out.
And I, I just always feel like Ireally trust the.
The title is in Ping is whenthey come out with something.
It's every few years and it's,

Rob Failes (22:14):
Yeah.

Eric (22:14):
you know, it's gonna be a great product.
And I wrote a, um, a newsletter,so this is plugging the
newsletter a little bit.
Um, you can sign up for our freenewsletter, which we come out
with probably every couplemonths.
I'll put a newsletter out withsome interesting stuff Substack
and it's free.
And,, Titleless just came outwith a new, a new series of
irons, as did Ping came outwith, uh, just one iron.

(22:37):
And, I did a review'cause I'vebeen fitting a bunch of'em.
They're both great.
So check that out.
in the show notes.
So level two golfers.
Yeah, this is probably whenyou're moving more into a
premium golf ball.
And again, like everybody has adifferent consideration.
If I were in my situation as agolfer and I had to buy golf
balls, I would have to stronglyconsider, I I, is there a budget

(23:01):
golf ball?
That's a little, that's closeenough.
And I think there probably are,out there.
But if you're looking for

Rob Failes (23:07):
Yep.

Eric (23:07):
premium, it's gonna be Titleist.
Um, and maybe some of that stufffrom Callaway Taylor made and,
and probably Rickson andBridgestone.
Those are probably your, yourbig ones.
I saw PXG came out with a ball.
I just feel like that's such aninteresting, you know, hitting
the premium golf ball.
Murray,

Rob Failes (23:23):
Yeah,

Eric (23:24):
Anyway, you bless their heart.
You know, give it, giving it theold try and see how it goes.
bless

Rob Failes (23:31):
bless.

Eric (23:32):
Bless their heart.
It's a tough, it's a tough, it'sa tough,

Rob Failes (23:36):
Uh, shots fired this tonight.

Eric (23:40):
It's, anyway, anyway, so now we go on to that really,
really good golfer and I, Idon't know, I think this is
where., Like for me, I'm a levelthree golfer.
Rob's level I, I play Pro V oneX mainly because of how I launch
it off my driver.
Um, it does hit a differentlaunch window than I need for
me, um, a

Rob Failes (24:01):
Yeah.

Eric (24:01):
bit higher launch off the driver.
Um, and so why I play Pro V oneX, right?
And, and so it helps me optimizemy driving, which is a huge
consideration for me.
The premium golf balls aroundthe green all feel pretty good.
But now the level three playeris gonna be probably a higher
speed player most of the time.

(24:23):
so how that ball lands on agreen with wedges is probably a
huge consideration.
Is it spinning too much?
Can you control the spinning theball?
Some people don't control spinvery well, they're great
players, but they just hiteverything with high spin and
they need something that spendsless.
Other people need something thatspends a little bit more.
That would be me launchinghigher with more spin.

(24:44):
And so I also believe at thistime, this is where you settle
on a ball and you play it, andyou play it, and you play it
over and over and

Rob Failes (24:52):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (24:52):
you don't, you're not gonna mix it up because golf
balls perform so differently,which you always hear about at
the Ryder Cup, right?
Like when they're, when they'repairing up, uh, players in the
alternate shot they got, theybasically feel like they need to
pair'em a little bit of aconsideration as the golf ball
they're playing, right?
Because.
Players do want to have a ball

Rob Failes (25:13):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (25:13):
similarly, if not the same to their partner when they're
playing on a new shot.
So consistency, premium, howit's launching off the driver,
how it goes in on those wedges.
Probably the main considerationsthere.
What, what else are you seeingthere for level three player
Rub?

Rob Failes (25:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I,, I would say that,, the onequestion that I have is for.
When you talk, start talkingabout tour players, you get to
massively different setups fromweek to week., Within golf ball.
I'm curious how much they'reactually changing their golf
ball, depending on the setup ofthe golf course.
Is that something that they door are they typically gonna keep

(25:53):
the ball the same and then makelittle equipment tweaks?
What have you seen when it comesto some of that stuff?

Eric (25:59):
changing ball week to week.
Yeah.
I'd be surprised if they'rechanging ball week to week.

Rob Failes (26:04):
Yeah.

Eric (26:05):
maybe when they go play

Rob Failes (26:06):
Yeah.

Eric (26:06):
in Colorado or at in Mexico City where the elevation
becomes a big thing.
But I I doubt even there,.
Tour players are veryinteresting.
I mean, they'll, they'll play, tTitleist will make Pro V one
from 10 years ago.
Still, if, as long as they're onthe conforming list still,
they'll make'em.
And players will, they'll beplayers that wanna play that Pro
V one from 2018 or whatever.

(26:29):
'cause that's the ball they

Rob Failes (26:30):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (26:30):
the one they wanna play.
And they'll keep getting it intheir locker at the tour event.
Um, and so I, I think that.
They typically become creaturesof habit when it comes to that
stuff, right?
They're marking their ball thesame way.
They like to

Rob Failes (26:43):
Yeah,

Eric (26:43):
number.
A lot of'em makinggeneralizations, but, um,

Rob Failes (26:48):
no, for sure., Some of the equipment that you see,
even like some of the.
I think especially when it comesto three woods and things like
that, like playing three woodsfrom 15, 12, 15 years ago is, is
not crazy abnormal.
Like that, a lot of these levelthree, level four tour tor
players are, um, they aresticklers when it comes, when

(27:08):
they find a club that they love,they will stick with it until,
until it breaks.

Eric (27:13):
I think like the driver, they're gonna be incentivized to
switch very often, right?, Hey,you're gonna play the newest
driver'cause that's in yourcontract or whatever, but free
wood hybrid.
Even some irons,, Corey Paymanwas playing some irons a couple
of years ago that were like,2005 Taylor made like TP r

(27:34):
sevens or something.
Some cra like,

Rob Failes (27:36):
Yeah, yeah,

Eric (27:37):
They're,

Rob Failes (27:38):
yeah.
I'm not surprised actually tohear that.

Eric (27:40):
I think like you said, you get the feel and you wanna build
consistency and you're buildinghistory with your equipment.
And the golf ball is a very

Rob Failes (27:48):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (27:49):
'cause you just want to see it do the same things over
and over and over again.
So, that's probably the mainconsideration as you go into
level three and four.
But yeah, even in theirpractice, like they practice
with their golf ball like on therange, they're, a lot of'em are
gonna be hitting that golf ball.
and I know this'cause I run atour range and on the

Rob Failes (28:08):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (28:09):
they only get Pro V ones to hit.
But some of them will stillbring,, we'll find STRs on balls
and Callaway balls and stuffmixed in with the balls that
they'll be

Rob Failes (28:18):
Mm.
Cool.

Eric (28:19):
I got my track man out and I'm trying to dial in my driver.
I'm gonna hit, I'm gonna hit twosleeves of STRs on, into the,
into the range.
It just is

Rob Failes (28:26):
Yeah.

Eric (28:27):
that they're paying for 'em, right.
So they don't, they don't care.

Rob Failes (28:30):
Right.
No.

Eric (28:31):
so yeah, I think they're pretty

Rob Failes (28:33):
Yeah.

Eric (28:34):
locked in on the ball.
They like to play.
But that, so hopefully Now Iknow Titleist does have a golf
ball selector tool on theirwebsite too.
So, um, if you're listening tothis and you're thinking, I
don't know which ball to play,or you're trying to make a
decision based on that, I thinkit goes back to, the big
decision points are gonna be,how premium are you willing to
play.

(28:54):
the more premium, the better, nomatter what the marketing tells
you, to those really, reallygood Titleist tailor made
Callaway.
on Bridgestone balls, and thinka lot of it boils down to how it
launches on your driver and howit feels whenever you're hitting
it into a greenhouse, reactingon the green, and then how you
like it to feel in the shortgame.

(29:16):
Even on the putting, the pig appon the putting, maybe there's a
feel that you.
I could not care any less abouthow a ball felt in my putting.
I don't think, I don't think

Rob Failes (29:25):
Yeah,

Eric (29:25):
ze a zero consideration for me even using a blade putter
still all these years later.

Rob Failes (29:31):
Did you see the Odyssey?
Happy Gilmore Putter yet.

Eric (29:34):
Is it a,

Rob Failes (29:35):
It's a hockey stick.
It's pretty sweet.
Yeah.

Eric (29:38):
Nice?
it,

Rob Failes (29:40):
Yeah.
It looks just like a hockeystick.

Eric (29:42):
you

Rob Failes (29:42):
Yeah,

Eric (29:43):
or.

Rob Failes (29:44):
it's a real, it's a, it is a, it is A-U-S-G-A
conforming putter.
You can go out and you can putwith the Happy Gilmore putter if
you'd like.

Eric (29:51):
have you seen the movie?
Have you seen the new?
Is it, how would

Rob Failes (29:54):
Yeah, I saw it.

Eric (29:55):
you get out of, out of, out of five

Rob Failes (29:57):
Oh my gosh.
Oh man.
I would say that I enjoyed it

Eric (30:05):
go.

Rob Failes (30:05):
quite a bit.

Eric (30:06):
That's

Rob Failes (30:07):
There were some really, really funny parts,
especially when they brought inthe tour pros.
Scotty in particular they usedhim really, really well, I
thought in the movie, John Daleywas basically like their, like,
they like that essentially like,oh, don't, don't be afraid.
Don't forget to feed, feed, feedJohn daily right when you leave.
Um.

(30:27):
Which was, which was hysterical.
I, it was basically a Liv, likethey were commenting on Liv and
they had Brooks and, Brysonplaying on the the PGA tour
side, which was really funny.
So I love how they use the tourpros.
Will Zel Torres was, was the oldcaddy from the first version.

Eric (30:46):
He looked just

Rob Failes (30:47):
He was.

Eric (30:47):
kid, but yeah.

Rob Failes (30:49):
He looks just like him.
Which I thought was hysterical.
So yeah, it, it got a littleunhinged, I'm not gonna lie.
A couple parts were just alittle too out there for me.
But, no, all in all, like it wasentertaining.
I it,

Eric (31:01):
I I have not yet seen the, the new one, but obviously a big
fan of the old one.
So, I don't know, one of thesedays we'll

Rob Failes (31:07):
yeah.

Eric (31:07):
probably when my younger daughters are not

Rob Failes (31:10):
Yeah.

Eric (31:10):
they're not

Rob Failes (31:11):
Yes.

Eric (31:11):
Sandler movies yet.
Um,

Rob Failes (31:14):
Yeah.

Eric (31:14):
so switching gears here, I I wanted to, I, I was gonna
think about doing this as a soloepisode, just as like a short
story.
'cause I thought it was superinteresting and a lot of insight
to

Rob Failes (31:25):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (31:26):
um, from it.
But this came up in my mind theother day, the craziest.
Lesson that I probably evertaught, and I've been teaching
golf a long time, right?
20 plus years.
I had one of our interns inobserving me teach the other
day, and it was one of thosereally interesting, unique 30
minute lessons where, you know,comes in, doesn't really take

(31:48):
lessons, is a 30 handicap,slices the ball, whatever.
And we changed his grip and likehe stops coming

Rob Failes (31:56):
Yeah.

Eric (31:56):
without ever talking about his swing.
And she was just like.
How did that happen?
How did that, you know, and soshe was like, that was amazing.
And I said, well, I mean, thatkind of stuff happens all the
time.
I mean, that's, that's fine.
Um, but I was, I was thinkingabout sort of the craziest
lesson.
'cause you were saying like,what was the craziest one?
So it came to mind.
So the context around it is thisgentleman came to me, member of

(32:21):
the club who I would maybe seefor a little tune up here and
there.
Nothing crazy.
He was a D one college golfer.
around 40 years old at the timeor late thirties you know, with
kids and job and stuff.
He wasn't playing a tom, buthe's still competing a little
bit.
he had a match play event.
A match play event at CCV.
They're our biggest tournamentsof the year.
We have individual match playsand uh, two man match plays and

(32:43):
they're huge.
he's in like the highest level,um, because he's a plus handicap
and all this.

Rob Failes (32:49):
Yeah.

Eric (32:50):
And so he has a match.
The next day he comes with thislesson and he's really funny.
He's like.
Oh, I just went on this golftrip, you know, a two day event
I played in, and I don'tremember what he told me he
shot, but it was like not great,maybe 80 each day or something,
which for him was really poor.
And, so I'm like, okay, and wehave a 30 minute lesson.

(33:10):
He's like, I got a matchtomorrow.
I'm just, you know, hoping, ormaybe it was two days, something
like that.
He's like, oh, I'm hoping we canfind a little something.
I'm like, okay, whatever.
So

Rob Failes (33:19):
That's fantastic.

Eric (33:20):
there's, there's.
Good takeaways from this story.
so I'm out on the range, uh,just at West Hampton on the
grass with my cell phone usingit for camera.
And that's, that's it.
No track band, no nothing inthis lesson.
And, um, you know, he's hittingshots and he's just like, I just
can't find, I can't hit, I can'thit solid shots going all over
the planet.

(33:41):
And I'm looking at it and I did,I did, what I typically do is I
filmed him straight on and I'mwatching, I see some things I
film him from, from the face onview, and I said, Hey, tell me
what you think about this ballposition.
And he looks at it and he goes,it looks like the ball
position's really far back Itlooked to me like he was playing
like a seven iron off his backheel.

(34:02):
That's what it looked like tome, right?
But I wanted to know what his

Rob Failes (34:05):
Nice.
Yeah,

Eric (34:06):
as you know, like as you, if you're an avid listener to
the show.

Rob Failes (34:10):
that's a, that's a great lesson for our young
teachers who are, who arelistening to this.
That's a, that's a great lessonright there.

Eric (34:16):
so I, I showed it to him.
I said, let's talk about theball position.
And he said, well, it looksreally far back.
I said, okay, well let's justmove it up a little bit.
'cause you're making the contactis not good.
Face is being delivered all overthe place.
Let's just see what happens.
so we move it up a couple swingslater, he's hitting it really
good, you know, just like hitit.
Great.
And that's.
I said, all right, well, I mean,I think that's it.

(34:37):
So what did we do?
We worked on that skill offinding the, finding the ball
and the club face at the bottomof the yard, right?
That's all we did.
And he's a highly skilledplayer, right?
D former D one college golfer.
um, so I said to him like, wow,you know, that was fun.
You're in it.
Great.
Let me know how your match goes.
He goes, I'll let you know.

(34:58):
So I found this email today.
It was from six years ago and Isaved it'cause it's really funny
and I sent it to you, so I'mgonna read it.
It says, this is from May 6th,2019.
It says, Hey Eric, you asked meto check back in with you after
our lesson to let you know howit went.
Let's just say the weekend waspure golfing comedy.
I almost didn't play as ourmatch on Sunday.

(35:18):
'cause I jacked up my rightshoulder playing with my kids on
Saturday.
But I took a bunch of Advil andgot out there.
So I'm like, okay, this isinteresting.
I ended up making nine birdiesat the river for my career low
round.
So, and then it goes on a littlebit and he says,

Rob Failes (35:36):
That's awesome.

Eric (35:38):
this is, this is a really interesting part, he said.
I felt like I was going to hit apull top on every shot,
obviously things worked out inthe results department.
So glad I got a checkup lastweek.
Thank you for your help.
So I think the point there is a,he and I worked through a

(35:58):
solution that wasn't reworkinghis whole swing the day before a
match.
A big match'cause he mentionedwho he played against with.
So it's one of the betterplayers at the club.
He shot 63 that day on the JamesRiver, so he made nine pars and
nine birdies.
The James River is no joke.
Uh, we hosted two US Amateur onthat golf course.
It's a William Flynn,, 10 yearsin a row now at Charles Schwab

(36:21):
Cup playoff event on thechampion store.
So that is not what you wouldcall a cakewalk golf course.
And he went nine birdies.
Nine pars and he said, I feltlike I was gonna hit what a pole
top on every shot.
So I think the thing to notethere is, um, a couple things
like you were pointing outbefore, just, how do we work

(36:43):
through a solution?
But at the end of the day, hekinda went out there going like,
I don't really trust what'sgoing on, but I'm just gonna be
really open-minded.
'cause what I'm doing wasn'tvery good.
Right.
I wasn't hitting it on theplanet.
So I'm gonna go out with thisnew feel and see what happens.
And mean,

Rob Failes (37:01):
Mm.

Eric (37:02):
I wonder what percentage of golfers, in a legitimate and
competitive round of golf couldshoot

Rob Failes (37:07):
Oh my gosh.

Eric (37:08):
birdies.
I mean, it's planet Earth.
Like very few, very,

Rob Failes (37:13):
Yeah.

Eric (37:13):
few people could shoot around like that.
it was just really cool.
It was, it was really fun to geta follow up email like that,
and.
I think that it was, I say it'sthe craziest lesson I've ever
had because of the score, but Ialso kind of feel like he was so
far away from feeling like thatwas an easy fix.
You know, like for us it waslike, ah, move the ball up three

(37:33):
or four inches in swing.
And he's such a good player thathe was, like, I don't know if I
could find anything with this,but I'm just gonna do it because
I'm just, I'm, I'm used totrying to figure it out.
so growth mindset there forsure.
And, um.
You know, I wish I had,

Rob Failes (37:50):
Yes,

Eric (37:52):
love those, I love the follow ups and I always tell my
lessons.
I'm like, let me know how itgoes.
And I, I rarely get too manyfollow up emails like that.
But that one was pretty fun.
So, um, I thought it'd be reallyfun to share that story just
'cause I think there's a lot tolearn there.
Don't you think?

Rob Failes (38:07):
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
I mean, I think a lot of timeswith what we're asking golfers
to do is appreciate the factthat their perception is not
matching reality.
Right?
There's a disconnect.
Right.
So.
It is a leap of faith.
It is definitely a, uh, a skillthat is easier said than done to
go out on a golf course withother people playing around you

(38:29):
and a scorecard in your pocketand commit to doing something
that actually feels wrong.
Not many people are willing todo that.

Eric (38:41):
And this is why people struggle to grow, in my opinion,
right?

Rob Failes (38:45):
Yes.

Eric (38:46):
trying to do something that feels right.
Right?
that's a, and it's like, I wantthe, I want to control it.

Rob Failes (38:53):
Yep.

Eric (38:53):
to have it right.
I want to have it safe.
it's, it's like anything else,you're not

Rob Failes (38:58):
Yes,

Eric (38:59):
not gonna get in shape.
To run a marathon by, notpushing yourself, you outta your
comfort zone, right?

Rob Failes (39:06):
correct.
Correct.

Eric (39:08):
always having to try to find that thing and then go for
the next step, right?
And in golf for some reason,

Rob Failes (39:14):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (39:14):
tend to revert to a safe space a lot.
Golfers do this a lot in theirpractice.

Rob Failes (39:20):
Okay.
Yes.
Yeah, absolutely

Eric (39:23):
mindset of just challenging yourself to get
outta the comfort zone and tryto do something a little bit
better and a little bitdifferent.
It can really pay off.
Otherwise, you'll probably justend up being the same type of
golfer that you've always been.
Right?
Like, we can, we can improve alittle bit at different rates
and, and have better

Rob Failes (39:38):
a hundred percent.

Eric (39:38):
but you really, really challenge yourself to find that
bigger, you know, that level upkind of feel, probably

Rob Failes (39:46):
Yeah.

Eric (39:47):
in the same spot.
So, growth mindset, man.
It's

Rob Failes (39:50):
Yeah.

Eric (39:51):
deal.
Huge deal.

Rob Failes (39:53):
It's, it is the thing, right?
And that actually leads inperfectly to kind of a story
that I had And, and I, uh, alesson, I had a, I had a guy
reach back out after, oh mygosh.
It had to be.
If not a year, it was darn closeto a year.
And I've got the emailsomewhere, but, for the sake of
having to, having to find it,said, basically just updating me

(40:16):
like, Hey, I've, I've gottenfrom, I mean, I think he was
like a 20 when we first startedall the way down to an eight
and, um.
I will tell you,'cause we saweach other pretty frequently.
For the first, I wanna say sixmonths of that, we were working
together and I didn't see himmuch after that.

(40:37):
At least for the first twomonths.
He would tell you that histor,his scores did get better.
If anything, they got a littlebit worse, right?
But.
In the first lesson that we had,and this is why I'm gonna just
keep beating this drum of, oftraining skill, is because in
the very first lesson that wehad, we got him to see something

(40:58):
different in the ball flightright away, right?
Without him feeling like hisswing is that much different.
So really, I presented thisskill training as like an
exercise.
I was like, Hey, this is likethe first five minutes of what
you're gonna do when you go outto the range.
When you go practice, if youwant to do it before you go out
and play, you can, I'm gonnaleave that up to you.

(41:20):
If you feel like it's too much,just, just warm up and, and just
go play.
But if you're gonna go out andtrain, this is gonna be the
first five to 10 minutes of whatyou're doing.
I need you to find yourreference points, your actual
margins of error for archheight, arc, location, forward
and back, and clubface.
And he absolutely like boughtin.

(41:41):
He was like, yeah, this is justwhat I do.
Right?
I just go out and the first 10minutes, I'm just hitting tops.
I'm hitting fat, I'm hitting toeshanks, heel shanks.
I'm hitting big hooks, hittingbig slices, and then I just
check the box.
I'm like, all right, I'm done.
That's, that's, that's all I'mdoing.
And he got to the point, again,through, through again, through
like six weeks, eight weeks, notreally seeing scores change.

(42:04):
But he freaking stuck with it.
He kept doing it over and overand over again.
And then it was like, you know,that, um, you know that cartoon
where the, where the, where thelittle guy's gotta pick Axe and
he's trying to, to pick his wayout of the tunnel, right?
And he gets to the very lastone.
He is like, oh, if you just, ifyou just do one more, if you
just go one more swing, you'regonna, you're gonna, um.

(42:27):
Find your way out of thistunnel, but he just turns around
and walks the other way.
Well, this guy actually, he wentfor it.
He went for, he actually gotthat last, and he saw his way
out, and then all of a suddenhis score just plummeted.
I mean, he's like, I got, I gotbetter.
Like I wasn't getting better.
And then I got way better reallyquick because at some point it

(42:48):
just clicked and it was like,all right.
Like, I'm seeing like a couplehooks, or I'm seeing a couple
fades and it's just like, no bigdeal.
I just like change a little bitwith my feel and then ball
flight's back to straightishand, and he said he really
started to be able to do it onthe golf course because he,
again, he's, he's very growthminded.

(43:09):
He waits for just a, you know,three to five of, of something
kind of similar before.
He's like, all right, cool.
That's just where I'm at today.
And there's a high level ofacceptance of that.
I think golfers are, are a lotof times unwilling to accept
that for whatever reason todayyou're just like bottom swings a
little bit higher than what youwant or a little bit lower than

(43:30):
what you want.
Or the face is a little bit moreopen than what you want.
Like who cares?
You don't have to know why it'shappening.
You just need to know what itis.
And if you have field referencepoints to be able to change it,
you can change it without.

Eric (43:43):
Yeah.

Rob Failes (43:43):
Missing a beat.
And this guy did it.
And I, I told him in the email,I was like, like, what have you
been doing?
Like, like, clue me.
Like, he's like, yeah, I, I justkeep doing skill stuff and, and
I just could not be more proudof him because he just, he just
kept sticking with it, keptsticking with it.
And then,, he sees the benefit.
That's, uh, that's probably my,one of my crazier stories.

(44:06):
I mean, I've, I've just off, offthe dome, but, um, but I think
that's a great lesson is like,hey.
Don't go switching your putterif it's, if it's not working, if
you're not seeing theperformance in your putting that
you want after four rounds,

Eric (44:20):
I.

Rob Failes (44:20):
Don't go switching your, your, your coach.
Don't go switching, um, yourgolf ball.
Don't just wait for there to bea large enough sample size for
you to be able to confidentlysay, okay, things are moving in,
in a direction that I want orthey're not.
And then even if they're not.
Right.
Seek some help, seek someprofessional help, and just look
and see.
Okay, what are my actual optionshere?

(44:42):
Am I, am I just misinterpretingthis just slightly or do I
really need to take a step backand pivot and go in a completely
different direction?
Like I think a lot of timesgolfers are just so willy-nilly
about going in completelyopposite paradigms.
Like, okay, today I have thisparadigm and I played well, so
I'm gonna stick with that.
But then the next day they don'tplay as well and they're like,
oh, that must not be, that mustnot be correct.

(45:03):
Like, wait, hold on.
No, just take it, take a deepbreath.
Just sit there for a minute andjust say, Hey, like.
We are human beings.
We are not robots.
We cannot step in the same rivertwice.
Just allow for some of thatnatural variability that happens
as a result of you being human.

Eric (45:20):
I think it's super interesting that golfers some,
whether they think thisconsciously or unconsciously,
think, gonna find this one thingand then just repeat it forever.
Right.
And then if, if I don't repeatit exactly right, this very high
skill thing that I'm

Rob Failes (45:34):
Right.

Eric (45:34):
then I've done it wrong.
And I think that's what we justkeep trying to preach on the
show is like, no, no, no.
It

Rob Failes (45:39):
Right.

Eric (45:40):
that.
And Tiger Woods said, I justkeep going back to Tiger.
Tiger would say, yeah, I warm upand kind of see what I have.
Right?
Or like, you know, on the frontnine I was kind

Rob Failes (45:49):
Yep.

Eric (45:49):
everything.
So I made this little adjustmentand I was able to, know, get the
ball to go to the right a littlebit if I needed it to.
So.
Tiger was the most skilledplayer that probably ever played
the game, from driver to

Rob Failes (46:01):
Mm-hmm.

Eric (46:01):
I don't know that there would be any argument from
anybody saying that, he wasalways training like that,
right?
He was always, he was alwaysmuddying it up and trying to
figure out how to make itbetter, and hitting all the
shots he talked about.
I would warm up with the nineshots, I would hit these nine
ball flight windows and all

Rob Failes (46:16):
Yeah.

Eric (46:17):
Tiger always skill trained like that so it, it was never

Rob Failes (46:21):
Yes.

Eric (46:22):
Which is interesting that he, went through the phases of
changing his swing the way hedid.
But I guess he, know, I thinkthere's some other, other parts
at play there psychologically.
But at the end of the day, tigerwas giving us the, the
blueprint, and then golfers arelike, no, no, no.
It worked yesterday.
It should work today.
It should work tomorrow.
It should never change.
I should always hit it likethis, da da da, da.
And all we're saying

Rob Failes (46:43):
Correct.

Eric (46:43):
just, just, just

Rob Failes (46:44):
Yeah, exactly.

Eric (46:45):
And acquire skill.
And I think it, it's fair to sayto your

Rob Failes (46:49):
A hundred percent.

Eric (46:50):
And eventually acquired skill, right?
He worked on skill.
He didn't

Rob Failes (46:54):
Yeah.

Eric (46:55):
skill, and then one day he was like, wow, I've got these
skills.
I've acquired it.
You know, like I

Rob Failes (47:00):
Yes.

Eric (47:01):
I've gone through some phases where I've played a
little more tennis than othertimes, right?
It's not anytime recently, youknow, you can, you can tell you
play a little tennis, you're nothitting it in the good part of
the racket.
You don't really know why.
You keep hitting, you keeppracticing, keep playing with
your friends.
Next thing you know, You gottahit that forehand and bam, it's
right off the middle of theracket strings.
Why?

(47:21):
Well,'cause you acquired skill.
There's no answer to it, right?
Like you just, you, you got tothat point where you were able
to, your brain was figuring itout.
And golf is like that too, ifyou let it and if you train it,
and if you accept it and youwork on it.
And, so I think that's a really,really good encouraging story.
About one of your students.
For the people that listen tosay like, just stick with it.

(47:42):
Stick with the things that youknow, especially this time of
year, like this is the time ofyear to work on your skills.
Build'em up, don't look for newswing changes.

Rob Failes (47:51):
Totally.

Eric (47:52):
skills and see, and see what you can do with it.
So I really, I really appreciatethat story.

Rob Failes (47:57):
And if in that first lesson he didn't see the golf
ball do something different,like it's one thing to stick to
an idea of like, oh, your elbowshould be in this position, or
the club should be in thisposition, or Your left hip
should be doing this, and you'relike, well, there isn't really
any obvious evidence that it'sdoing anything.

(48:19):
Uh, productive for me, it's justbecause this person believes
that I should do that, versus anidea that you directly
experience in the moment makes adifference to something that you
care about.
Because if in that first lesson,if I didn't get him to go from
not ever being able to hit aball, left of target to being
able to hit a little draw thatactually finishes at or just

(48:43):
left of Target.
Then I probably wouldn't havehad him buy in and continue that
process.
So I think again, that's, that'sas much of a, a lesson for our
coaches as possible is like,even if the swing isn't exactly
what you want, even if therhythm's a little bit off, or if
the grip's not quite what youlike, or the posture is not
quite right.

(49:04):
It's so worth it.
Just to give them the tools andgive them the autonomy and to
give them the power to be ableto do something different with a
golf ball when they want to doit.
That I just think it's such aneasy, no-brainer play call to
make in the, especially if youknow that you're gonna see the
person again.
If you know that you've got somebandwidth with this player and

(49:25):
it's not gonna be just like aone-off and you know okay, well
I can give them this skilltraining.
They're gonna do it for twoweeks and I'll come back and fix
their grip and they'll come backand I'll, I'll adjust their
posture, I'll, or they'll comeback and I'll improve their
rhythm.
I just think that if they can gofrom hitting a top and then
looking straight at you andsaying, oh, why did I do that?
To hitting a top and then havingthat relationship and that kind

(49:48):
of, that conversation withthemselves to say, oh, how
interesting.
The bottom of my swing was justa little higher than what I
wanted there.
Cool.
Let's.
Make another swing and see ifthat changes or not.
Right.
It's so worth it to make thatintervention.
Um, pun intended.

Eric (50:03):
No, agree.
Totally agree.
that is a great story and anencouragement to the listeners
to go out there and work on yourskills people.
Well, Rob, that was a goodepisode.
I feel like anything else youwant to add here at the end of
the

Rob Failes (50:18):
Yeah,

Eric (50:18):
conversation?

Rob Failes (50:19):
no, we've been kind of going through this new, uh,
this format of having a quickquestion.
A discussion of like levels one,two, and three, and then like
some stories from our lessontee.
And uh,, we got like a two forone when it comes to the golf
ball stuff, which I thought wasgreat.
And then, uh, yeah, no, that wasa couple,, what I thought would
be really valuable stories forthe listener for sure.

Eric (50:38):
thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Golf
Intervention Podcast.
We are pushing on 50 episodes,which is so cool to think about.
it's been awfully, awfully funride, and I think we'll be
pumping these episodes outweekly.
Um, if not a couple a week from,for the next, foreseeable
feature., I'm just excited thatyou tune in.

(50:59):
Hopefully you learned somethingtoday.
And if you haven't subscribed tothe feed, please subscribe.
Just hit the subscribe button.
We appreciate that.
if you'd like to rate and reviewwith that five star review, we'd
appreciate that as well on bothApple and Spotify.
And, that's it.
That's all I have for today.
I'm very appreciative of youtuning in.

(51:19):
If you have any questions forus, you can find us on socials,
you can find us on substack,which the link is always in the
bottom.
sign up for that free newsletterand you can also communicate
with us on there and ask us aquestion, which we will
definitely try to answer on theshow if we haven't already.
thank you for tuning in.
Hope you make a lot of birdiesthis week, and we will catch you

(51:40):
next time on the golfintervention.

Rob Failes (51:42):
Cheers.

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