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June 15, 2024 15 mins

Hey y'all, I'm Elliott Hall. Welcome back to another episode of The Journey to St. Andrews. This week, I’m diving into my recent golf lesson at Bobby Jones' Grand Slam Golf Academy Center. I’ll talk about how taking notes and tracking your progress with scorecards and apps like Arcos can make a real difference.

I’ll also share my thoughts on practicing on grass versus mats and give you some tips to get the most out of your practice sessions. Plus, I’ve started trying out a new speed training technique to boost my swing speed and overall performance – I’ll let you know how that's going.

Finally, I’ll recount a nine-hole round at Bobby Jones' Magnolia course, sharing the challenges I faced and the lessons I learned. Join me for some practical advice and tips on course management to help elevate your golf game. Please like, follow, and subscribe. You can also follow me on socials @elliottphall 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.

(00:08):
Hey y'all, it's Elliot Hall, and welcome to another episode of the Journey to St. Andrews.
So, didn't play a whole lot of golf last week. I was able to get out and play
nine holes at Bobby Jones, and also was able to get out and do a little bit
of practicing, and I did take a lesson, which was good.
I hadn't taken a lesson in a while, so it was nice to go and clean up some stuff.

(00:32):
Also, when I talk about lessons, I'm always talking about I go and take lessons
at Bobby Jones, which they have a Grand Slam golf learning center.
They've got it's great. They've got everything. They've got track man and all
the data for everything you need.
So that way you can, you know, really hone in your stuff and also,
you know, very good golf professionals who help help you learn.

(00:54):
So, as you all know, I've been working with a guy named Jason and he's the head
head pro for the for the golf academy. of me there.
Good guy, really knows how to kind of teach you what you need to know,
doesn't overburden you with a bunch of stuff you don't need to know.
And since I've been taking lessons on and off with him for well over a year

(01:15):
now, you could tell that he adds stuff as I get to that level where I need to learn more.
So what I have been doing, though, and I would recommend if you're doing this,
and if you're taking lessons, especially sporadically, make some notes,
even if it's just mental notes.
I kind of, luckily on my scorecard, I will make notes on the scorecard and then

(01:36):
I take a picture of it and I save the scorecard so that way I can go back and
see how I need to improve.
So I am right around bogey golf.
Talk about a little bit with Bobby Jones. I'm a little over bogey golf.
I'm like a 20 handicapper.
And what I can tell is I make notes.
One, I track my putts because for a while my putts were the thing that was really

(01:58):
hurting me. Now, I average about 2.2, 2.1 putts per hole over the course of a round.
So I track my putts, but then I have it on the note cards or on the scorecard.
I'll put, so if I've got a triple or if I've got a double, I'll put water off T.
So that was the driver or OB off T.

(02:21):
So out of bounds. So then I'll go back and I'll look at a few of these scorecards
before I go in for a lesson.
Or if I'm just going to be practicing myself to see what I need to improve on
and not just assume, not just walk up to the bay or to the golf simulator and
just be like, I'm going to work on irons.
I go back and I see what's been giving me the most trouble and what's been costing me the most strokes.

(02:44):
Also, the Arcos app helps with this as well, but I really like the scorecard
because I'm the one who wrote that down, so...
Quick for me to remember. Also, if you've got the scorecard,
sometimes you can see what the hole was and everything like that.
So that's why I like the scorecard. I also like the Arcos app.
I use that as well. So you've got a few options depending on what you like.

(03:05):
The scorecard, though, also, and just a little bit more on that.
So if I got a double, I put bad chip or bad approach, same thing.
That's what I'm talking about.
And with that, then I go back and I practice. And so I got to practice in.
And before I did the lesson, I went and practiced for about an hour.

(03:26):
I practiced putting and I and I worked through the bag.
I definitely worked on the stuff that I had made notes on to see if I could fix it on my own.
And a lot of the stuff I could by the time I got into the lesson,
I was feeling a lot better because I have gotten to that point in my game where
I know majority of the mechanics.
I definitely don't know it like these pros that, you know, you take lessons

(03:47):
from and stuff or people who are scratch golfers. But I understand it and I
know what I can at least do to fix it.
It's sort of like, you know, if your car is pulling to the left,
I know the tires need to be rotated and I know I just need to hold it a little to the right.
So that way the car doesn't veer out of the lanes.
Whereas somebody who's much more experienced will know exactly why that's happening

(04:11):
in the car and what kind of led up to it and everything.
So that's kind of where I am for an analogy sake. What I did do,
though, when I was practicing, and before I get into that, is mats versus grass.
If you have a place where you could hit off grass, that's where you need to

(04:31):
try and incorporate that. that I've got the mat for the golf simulator.
One of the places I go has mats, and it's great. You get the mechanics down.
You now have, like, shoot, one of the places I go even just set up track men,
or top flight trackie for each of the bays, so you get to see where your ball went.
You just hook your phone up to it, say which bay you're in. It's pretty damn impressive.

(04:55):
So you can work on stuff. You absolutely can, and the mat's good for hitting
or working on your driver.
When you get into chipping, it's just not as great. And just in general,
there's just a lot of forgiveness on the mat.
So you get out there and you hit these great shots, either before a round or
when you're practicing or whatever.
And then you get out and, you know, the rubber meets the road and you have to

(05:19):
be able to play off of grass.
So you should be practicing off of grass.
If you don't have a place that has grass, I would try and find one.
There's other things you can do, like putting down a towel behind your club.
And or they have these like little plastic, plastic training aids you can buy online.
Amazon, eight, nine bucks. And they can help offset some of the forgiveness

(05:45):
of the mat, which I would recommend if you can't find a place that that does
grass or if you just can't play enough.
To learn from that way. And in that same vein about learning,
I know I've said this in the past, but it's just good to reiterate.
When you're on the course, use the shots you know you have.
When you're off the course, that's
when you practice the hero shots or the new stuff you want to learn.

(06:09):
Don't take a half-assed practice that you haven't done or completed and really
learned that shot out onto the course.
You're just not going to be happy nine times out of 10.
So use the shots you know, what you got in the bag. That's what you need to
depend on when you're actually playing a round of golf.

(06:32):
And well, that's enough about mats and grass. So with mats and grass.
I was able to practice on both this past week.
And with the grass, you immediately see so much more of your game.
And what I wanted to do is since I had the opportunity and since I was at a
place that had this new top, uh, top flight tracker, I was hitting off the grass

(06:56):
and I really dialed in and clocked all my clubs.
The Arcos app does it as well, but you know, you get up and hit a six iron and
you'll do a punch and run and stuff like that. When you're playing,
then the Argos tracks that.
So it's not, you can go in and remove those anomalies and stuff like that.
But I like sitting on the course, writing it down and going,

(07:17):
okay, out of 10 shots, this was my carry, this was my average,
and then I just create a range. And I go, my seven iron goes from X to Y.
And that's what I did. I've done that in the past. I hadn't done it in a while.
I think it's just a good lesson. I think it's a good practice to come back to.
So that way you can really, really tell.

(07:38):
And, you know, there is, I think the myth's been disproven a lot.
Sure. If you're at a really bad driving range that has super old golf balls.
Yeah. You might be losing 10%, 12% off, you know.
Your distance and accuracy won't be as great just because those golf balls are so used.

(07:58):
However, if you've got good golf balls, for the most part, from what I'm hearing,
at least in the golf circles that I run with, with the professionals,
they say it's like less than 5% nowadays with good golf balls,
new golf balls at a place.
So maybe assume 5%, but fairly accurate. it.
And what I liked about going through the bag is then I go onto the course a

(08:23):
lot more confident and go back to my last episode where I'm talking about playing
bogey golf. I like to play that in reverse.
So if the par four is 400 yards and now I know my driver is at least 205, could go 230.
Okay. So driver off the tee, unless there is something I need to be aware of,

(08:44):
like a dog leg or water that might come into play.
I'm going to hit that driver, and then I want to be in the free throw zone because
I'm playing bogey golf, and really my par 4 is a par 5 in my mind.
Then I will set up my next shot for a nice, easy chip shot, and with a little
luck, it goes on the green.
So I'm hitting a club that driver goes 215, 220.

(09:07):
I need to get something out that's going to go 160, and 160 confidently. evidently.
And then next thing you know, you're chipping, which is why your chipping needs
to be on. My chipping has been off of this because of me, some major issues here lately.
So that's the way it goes though. Then putting, you should be practicing putting
at least 10 minutes every single time you go practice.

(09:28):
If there's a putting green that you can use the, I know a lot of people don't,
a lot of people don't talk to my buddies and they're like, Oh,
I'll never practice putting. I do.
And I think it shows I'm not the best putter, but I'm averaging two or three, normally twos.
And, you know, every now and then you get a, you just miss a stupid putt or

(09:48):
you hit it weird or whatever. You didn't read it.
But looking back at my scorecards, it's not often that I throw a four up there.
And it's definitely not more than maybe once that round.
And that's even on harder courses that I've never played. So.
Definitely practice putting the next thing. So I walk into the lesson and we

(10:09):
work through the mechanics and kind of, you know, reconfirm the numbers that I was looking at.
And then we've kind of hit that point where it's time to start working on speed. beat.
So I am definitely at this moment, pretty much a slow and steady sort of swing golfer.
I don't try to crush it. I try to make good, accurate contact with the ball.

(10:32):
And that has worked well for the most part, but I'm in my mid thirties.
I know I've only got a few years, several years to develop that swing up to
the peak that it could ever get to before you just inevitably start losing it
with age and they say it's about you hit 45 50 you're gonna lose about,
10 plus yards per decade a yard or two per year

(10:54):
and so part of why i love golf is because i want to be able to play this until
i'm 80 and if i don't get up to 250 250 drive in the next few years then you
know i'm definitely going to be under 200 once i start hitting my 70s and sure
Sure, you can move up in tees and that's fine.
And, you know, that's way off thoughts I'm not worried about.

(11:14):
But, you know, I like to plan out and think long term about things.
And it's just it's just important.
So with that being said, we're now just starting to work on like speed training.
And the speed training is pretty fascinating.
Didn't really even know about it until until this last lesson with Jason,
which is get warmed up, hit through your bag and then get your driver.

(11:38):
And he says, start with your driver.
You just swing away at the ball. Make sure you're loose. Make sure,
like, don't go out there, you know, without warming up and everything.
You might hurt yourself or pull something.
And then that way you can swing as fast as you want.
You don't care if it goes 10 feet in front of you to the left.
You don't care if it goes 80 feet into the water.

(11:59):
You don't care about any of that. Your only thing that you want to do,
you don't care if it's a sliced boomerang, sky high, toe it,
heel it, anything. thing.
The only thing you care about is swinging it as fast as you can.
And I practiced that. And sure, I did all of those things I just said,
but eventually you start to make decent contact with it.

(12:20):
You're not going to hit it nearly as accurately as, as you are with a slow,
steady swing, but you start to see, oh shit, man, I could crush the ball if
I'm swinging it this fast.
Just in that practice, I was up 15 miles per hour in my swing.
Very first time I did it. Now that was not 15 miles per hour hitting it accurately

(12:42):
and consistent consistently, but it just shows you can get it up that, that much quicker.
So the whole point of it is, is then you start to slow it back down and it's
like lifting weights. What if you go and lift.
If you don't lift weights at all and you try to go curl 30 pounds,
it's going to be pretty hard to do that. It's going to be pretty hard to curl 30 pounds.

(13:05):
If you do that every single day, eventually that 30 pounds is not going to seem heavy at all.
Or it's like picking up your kid. When your kid's born, they're like 7 pounds.
And the next thing you know, a year later, they're 20 plus pounds,
whatever, and you don't even notice it. So it's the same concept with the speed

(13:25):
training is that you swing faster and faster.
And yeah, you're jumping up 15 miles per hour. That's going to seem crazy fast,
but you slow that back down.
Maybe you're up four miles per hour now, five, three, whatever it is.
And then you continue to grow on that over time. And the next thing you know,
swinging 10 miles per hour faster, which used to seem impossible,

(13:48):
you've just kind of reached that over the period of a few months with good accuracy.
Now, like I just said, we never practice this out on the course.
This is practiced in-house in a simulator on the driving range.
And my little thing I would add, at least I have for myself is even when I'm
doing that, I then go back and I slow down and I get my normal swing back.

(14:11):
So that way I walk away feeling confident that even though I just hit balls
all over the damn place, oh yeah, just slow down.
And there, there's the accuracy back in your regular golf game.
So the only other thing to talk about in this episode is the round I played
at Bobby Jones. It was nine holes. We played the Magnolia course.
It was super slow.

(14:32):
Don't want to give excuses, but when you got to stand around for minutes between
each swing and you're just waiting and talking and looking at your phone,
it does throw off your pace game a little bit. And that was definitely this.
It was a beautiful day. The course looked great, but it was a slow day.
It was a Friday afternoon and a lot of people were out. It was a beautiful day.

(14:53):
So shot a 48, did a few stupid things, did some very stupid things because I
actually had two pars and a birdie and I shot a 48 on nine.
So a few triples that were just not good.
It's the first time in a while I've lost two golf balls on the same hole and
put them both into the water.

(15:14):
Both were good shots, just didn't really manage the course the way I should have.
And that goes back to what I was talking about
in the last episode is it's easier said than done but of
course management is the most important thing probably right now in my game
and I highly recommend it if you're not familiar well that is it for this episode

(15:34):
please like follow or subscribe if there's somebody who you might know who would
enjoy this please share it with them and as always I'm Elliot Hull have a good day y'all.
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