Feb. 17, 2026

EP 53: Golf Improvement Theory – Part 1: Strategy, Decision Trees & Shot Dispersions

EP 53:  Golf Improvement Theory – Part 1: Strategy, Decision Trees & Shot Dispersions

Send a text Golf Improvement Theory – Part 1: Strategy, Decision Trees & Shot Dispersion If you want to lower your scores, you need more than swing tips — you need better golf strategy and smarter course management. In Part 1 of our Golf Improvement Theory series, we break down the foundational principles of decision making in golf, including how to use a decision tree, understand your shot dispersion pattern, and make smarter adjustments for lie, slope, and weather. This episode is abo...

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Send a text


Golf Improvement Theory – Part 1: Strategy, Decision Trees & Shot Dispersion

If you want to lower your scores, you need more than swing tips — you need better golf strategy and smarter course management.

In Part 1 of our Golf Improvement Theory series, we break down the foundational principles of decision making in golf, including how to use a decision tree, understand your shot dispersion pattern, and make smarter adjustments for lie, slope, and weather.

This episode is about playing golf strategically — not emotionally.

What Is Golf Strategy?

Decision Trees & Shot Dispersion

Most golfers aim at flags. Better players aim based on probability.

In this episode, we explain:

  • What a decision tree in golf actually means
  • How to use your shot dispersion (your “finger dispersion”) to choose smarter targets
  • How elite players think in percentages, not perfect shots
  • The connection between strategy, scoring averages, and long-term improvement

Your shot pattern determines your target. Period.

If you’re not building your targets around dispersion, you’re guessing — not strategizing.

How to Adjust for Lie, Slope & Weather

Great course management requires contextual awareness.

We break down how to adjust for:

  • Lie conditions (tight, rough, uphill, downhill, sidehill)
  • Slope influence on start line and curvature
  • Wind adjustments 
  • Temperature, firmness, and elevation changes
  • How environmental variables should modify your decision tree

Golf is not played in a vacuum — and your strategy shouldn’t be either.

Key Golf Improvement Takeaways

  • Strategy is applied probability.
  • Shot dispersion determines smart targets.
  • Decision trees improve consistency and scoring.
  • Lie, slope, and weather always influence execution.
  • Better decisions lead to lower scores — even without swing changes.

This is Part 1 of the Golf Improvement Theory series on The Golf Intervention. In upcoming episodes, we’ll layer in skill development and swing execution to complete the performance model.

If you care about golf strategy, course management, and lowering your handicap, this episode sets the foundation.


WEBVTT

00:00:00.050 --> 00:00:03.979
And welcome back to the Golf Intervention Podcast.

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It is a great day in Virginia.

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The snow is finally melted.

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People are playing golf again.

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It has been quite a stretch here for the last month, but we are excited to be talking golf performance today on the Golf Intervention Podcast.

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My name is Eric Laden.

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I am the director.

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Of golf instruction at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.

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I've been there for 19 years I'll be there.

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Another 19 more.

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Sitting here with my co-host, Rob Fails.

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He is the player development leader.

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There we go.

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Yes.

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Nailed

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Wow.

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I think that's the first time,

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Nailed

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you've ever gotten it, right.

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On the first, first try.

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see PE people can

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That's right.

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learn the Boars Head, the Boars Head Resort, which is in Charlottesville, Virginia, home of the number one ranked U-V-N-U-V-A men's golf team.

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Did I see

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Yes.

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Yes.

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They are ranked number one.

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So cool.

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So I, I, you don't talk tons about the UBA team, although I know you work with some players on both the, the men's and women's

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Yeah.

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Yeah,

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them a

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for sure.

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Birdwood, which is the, which is the course there at Boar's Head, has probably as good of a practice facility.

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University practice

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it's hard to beat.

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the country.

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I mean, really fabulous.

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The team is really, really good.

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LED by longtime coach Bowen, Sergeant, who's just a great guy and a great coach, and a great player.

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Yeah.

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And, uh, he's got that program on track.

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I gotta say Bowen's been coaching them for probably 25

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It's been a while.

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Yeah.

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close.

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Noah, I was at Farmington, he was there and that's been

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Mm-hmm.

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years.

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So,

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Anyway,

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anyway, I'm sure you have lots of good stories about golf performance in the, in the great teams at UVA there.

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but today we're gonna start

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into a new series, which we, we talked about on our last episode, sort of the framework of our golf intervention 2.0 we're calling it.

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So trying to put some series together for the listener to try to organize.

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And, and help

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journey.

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your journey towards better golf performance.

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And our first series is gonna be entitled Game Improvement Theory.

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Oh my gosh.

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So cool.

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So I said last time,

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time,

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try to see it through the lens, hopefully there,

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the listeners picking up on this.

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We think that you can really, basically improve in only three ways in golf, right?

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So there's strategy, there's skill, and there's swing, and there's buckets of stuff there.

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but

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But

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trying to do with these

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with these series is pick a topic

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and then take me.

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you through these, the lens of strategy, skill, and swing through episodes.

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And then describe to you the listener a little bit of context about who you are as a player and how these topics can help you play better golf.

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So I think it's really cool, uh, Mr Fails as we kind of go into what we're calling Golf Intervention 2.0, that were sort of.

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Starting off with a series very similar to how we started off, in one point.

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Oh when we had absolutely, I had no idea what we were

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Yeah.

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Production quality's gotten a, a, just a, a tad bit better since then.

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you should have seen, like back

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Oh my gosh.

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and notes and we'd like be emailing each other and we'd bullet points and we're writing stuff and then we'd record and be like, that was terrible.

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And then we'd like trash it, do it again.

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But that's why

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That's right.

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now.

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We have like no notes.

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We're just

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Yeah.

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we text each other a couple things, we're off and running.

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Um, but it's good.

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And so, know, that first series on why golfers never improve?

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I can't remember exactly what we called it, but that was kind

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Why you might not improve.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Why golfers have a hard time improving or whatever it was.

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We took you through, I don't know, five or six episodes about different stuff., And we kind of laid out a lot of these topics that we're gonna talk about now.

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But I think it's interesting, you know, it's not gonna be the same discussion.

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know, as, as someone who teaches and, and learns all day long, be a different discussion,

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Hope there is.

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Yeah.

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Yeah,

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Yeah, coaches evolve.

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I saw there was this big we'll call it on, social media with somebody trying to call out an instructor of something he said in a video 12 years ago, did you see this?

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I did.

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Yeah.

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ridiculous.

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And the point is, if you're, if you are someone who teaches probably anything and you're still teaching the exact same thing 12 years later, then you're probably not learning anything and you're not growing and you're not doing your students a service.

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So you should be learning and you should be evolving.

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I don't think what we're gonna say is all that different, but I'm just saying we're constantly trying to get better, constantly trying to tell the story a better way.

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That's what teachers do, that's how you grow and you improve, right?

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So.

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We're excited to take this topic on again, slightly different way, but similar to how we started the golf intervention.

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So really fired up for tonight's show.

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We're recording a little earlier than normal, which is kind of fun.

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Maybe we'll have a little more

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Oh yeah.

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episode out.

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And so on today's show, we're gonna take you through the strategy piece golf improvement.

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Okay?

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So golf improvement theory, and then the strategy piece of that.

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So, strategy is, I think something we were talking just before we came on.

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Strategy is something that's, it's, we would define it as non-invasive in a lot of ways.

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would define it as, you could define it as low hanging fruit in a lot of ways.

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You could define it as, something never, golfers, never think about or understand.

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For most of, for me, a long time in my game, I didn't really understand it.

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All I ever try to do is just hit the ball better and hope my score's added up better.

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The, the, the idea of, yeah, like we all start that way, that now we have data, you know, data has really driven sports performance and all levels and golf is not immune to that.

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So today we're gonna talk some data for sure.

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Like this is gonna be a data-driven episode.

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We have some numbers, in front of us that we talk about, where we kind of contextualize the player that we're speaking to.

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Some of what we talk about today, kind of just kind of, it's like a blanket to everybody that plays golf should have some of this stuff.

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Uh, but then there is slight tweaks between the level of golfer.

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So when we talk strategy, fails and we're like with a student and.

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They're looking to improve and maybe they say something like, I need a playing lesson.

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This is what

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Yes.

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is what I get a lot.

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Which I think

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Yeah,

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I mean, it's really the place where you introduce it, and you, they say, I need a playing lesson'cause I don't really know what I'm doing.

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And that's where this comes

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right?

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that, isn't that where, where you see this, so where do we start with strategy?

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Yeah, a hundred percent.

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So I think we're gonna probably be doing this, In a lot of our episodes, honestly,'cause I think it's, it's never, it's never a, a bad idea to hear it multiple times, but it all starts with who you are as a golfer, right?

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So, thanks to, and this originally came from Game Forge, but thanks to some metrics that we have.

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We can basically take the levels of golfer, and tell you pretty much what metrics are gonna be most highly correlated with your improvement, right?

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So we say level one golfers shooting higher than 88.

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There are pretty much only two stats we say that you really need to keep track of as a level one golfer.

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Again, if you're averaging higher than 88, take your total score and then subtract your total putts, right?

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So you're gonna keep track of your total score and your total putts.

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And then by subtracting your total putts from your total score, you're gonna get another metric, which is called shots to green.

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All right?

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So it's basically the number of times that you make an intentional swing from all of the tee boxes until the ball gets on the green.

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Right.

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So, shots to green for a level one golfer to get, to get to the end of level one.

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So from a beginner golfer, all the way down to,, you averaging 88, you're gonna be looking at getting all the way down to 52 shots to green on average.

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So if you start to track your score again, take your score, take your total putts, right, subtract your total putts from your total score, ask yourself, Hey, am I in the ballpark of 52?

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Am I 53 or 54?

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Am I all the way up at, you know, 57, 58, 59 60?

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You're gonna wanna also be in the, in the ballpark of about 36 putts, total putts for that round of golf.

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So again, for who you are, just take a look and say, Hey, you know, where is the bigger difference?

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Right?

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And, and just keep in mind that as we kind of move through this, is that generally speaking, the shots to green number.

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Comes down at a faster rate than the total putts come down,

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Mm-hmm.

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So to get you from, I don't know if faster rate is the, is the correct term there, but, to get from, from level one all the way down to level four, right?

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You're gonna have more of a difference in the shots to green, then you are gonna have in the putting, right?

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So just keep that in mind and you'll see this kind of as we, as we move through that, but shots to green and total putts.

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We're gonna talk more about where those shots to green happen and why they get inflated for level one golfers.

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But just know that those are the two stats that you pretty much need to keep track of.

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You're looking for, you know, 52 low fifties shots to green, and then mid thirties, mid to high thirties for, for total putts.

00:09:35.765 --> 00:09:36.066
Okay?

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So once you get to level two, now these golfers are averaging from 88, so entry level two all the way down to 76, right?

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So the end of level two, you're averaging 76, which is a huge bucket of golfers we say all the time.

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And what really moves you down that.

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Scoring bracket is really gonna be, again, it, it is technically still shots to green, but it's more specifically your greens in regulation.

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So it's the number of times that you stop the ball on the green in two, less than the par value throughout a round of golf entry.

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Level two golfers are about six greens in reg, and then the end of level two, shooting 76 on average goes all the way up to 10, which is huge.

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That's a, that's a big, big, big difference in greens and reg.

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And just to show you all the difference in here, the end of level two golfers, are they, they've got about 32 putts, so just think about that.

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Like we went from 36 for end of level one to 32 putts, end of level two.

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That's only four putts.

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That's only four shots different on the green from 88 all the way to 76.

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It's only.

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Four putts different.

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Again, most of that shots to green and more specifically the, the greens and regulation getting on the green in two less than the par value.

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So on a par five, getting on the green in, in three shots or better.

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All right., Level three, these golfers are shooting from 76 to 72.

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And again, now we start to, the game starts to change a little bit, right?

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To get you from 76 down to 72.

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Not only is it greens in regulation, but this is where birdies start to become a thing and actually making some birdies starts to become more important for your score.

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So we track what's called in positions, which is basically when the, when the ball is on the green and regulation, but less than at or less than 20 feet from the hole, right?

00:11:24.956 --> 00:11:35.176
And so these golfers are looking to get in the six to seven range in terms of their, their in positions., Total putts down to 32, 31, right, is kind of what we're looking for.

00:11:35.176 --> 00:11:36.051
So again, like.

00:11:37.350 --> 00:11:38.971
Again, how different is that?

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Not that much different.

00:11:40.110 --> 00:11:42.571
It's like one putt better really.

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Right?

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It's one putt better.

00:11:44.701 --> 00:11:53.750
But again, you're, you're getting some birdie looks, you're getting some,, birdie opportunities, and you're cutting down on those, on those shots to greens still.

00:11:54.390 --> 00:11:59.791
I would expect the greens and regulation number here to be closer to 11 to 12 really.

00:11:59.791 --> 00:12:00.061
Right.

00:12:00.061 --> 00:12:07.740
So again, reducing shots to green, but it's really, yes, it's, it's greens and reg, but it's really those birdie opportunities when you're inside 20 feet.

00:12:08.400 --> 00:12:08.671
Alright.

00:12:08.671 --> 00:12:16.500
And then level four, just which we, we actually introduced at, I'm not sure exactly when we introduced the level four concept that you actually brought this up.

00:12:16.951 --> 00:12:24.150
And I thought it was a great point'cause tour players trying to say the tour player should be in the same bucket as someone averaging 76 is not, that's, that's not a thing.

00:12:24.650 --> 00:12:25.850
They are, they are different.

00:12:25.850 --> 00:12:26.061
Right.

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So, impositions go up to about seven to eight range and then they are less than 31 putts.

00:12:32.176 --> 00:12:32.505
Right.

00:12:32.505 --> 00:12:37.785
So, again, they just do, they do the same things the level, level three golfers need to do, but just better.

00:12:38.296 --> 00:12:38.596
Right?

00:12:38.745 --> 00:12:40.965
So this is a beautiful example.

00:12:41.014 --> 00:12:42.995
Colin Morikawa this weekend.

00:12:43.384 --> 00:12:44.764
So this is why we can't lump them

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Yes.

00:12:45.365 --> 00:12:46.414
we say they're not human.

00:12:47.434 --> 00:12:48.965
Mor and I didn't watch Pebble.

00:12:48.965 --> 00:12:53.144
I just, I don't watch tons of PGA tour these days, but, just'cause I'm busy.

00:12:53.144 --> 00:12:57.105
But on Sunday, I guess I was in the middle of the day.

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I had a few minutes turn the TV on in between whatever I, what I was doing.

00:13:00.375 --> 00:13:07.065
And Morra Cal was maybe on the 15th or 16th hole and he played Pebble.

00:13:07.065 --> 00:13:08.235
Did you follow the tournament at

00:13:08.280 --> 00:13:08.956
A little bit.

00:13:08.956 --> 00:13:09.615
A little bit.

00:13:09.980 --> 00:13:10.201
Yep.

00:13:10.365 --> 00:13:12.164
he played Pebble back to back days.

00:13:12.164 --> 00:13:20.865
You know, they do the rotation of courses, but he played Saturday, Sunday on Pebble, very windy conditions, off and on, like extreme wind, right?

00:13:21.485 --> 00:13:23.914
He made a putt on that whatever hole I was looking at.

00:13:23.914 --> 00:13:28.115
Dottie Pepper says, you know, that's the first putt of any significance.

00:13:28.865 --> 00:13:30.274
In distance he's made in a couple

00:13:30.620 --> 00:13:30.841
Mm.

00:13:30.965 --> 00:13:31.264
she said.

00:13:31.264 --> 00:13:31.835
Something like that.

00:13:31.865 --> 00:13:32.075
Okay.

00:13:32.075 --> 00:13:36.815
I'm like watching he birded 18 of the 36 holes on the weekend.

00:13:37.745 --> 00:13:39.605
He birded, let me say that again.

00:13:40.475 --> 00:13:44.284
birded 18 of the 36 holes at Pebble

00:13:44.350 --> 00:13:44.571
Yep.

00:13:44.615 --> 00:13:47.495
on the weekend in blustery coal conditions.

00:13:47.554 --> 00:13:51.065
And Dottie said he made one putt of, of significant length.

00:13:51.485 --> 00:13:52.534
So what does that say?

00:13:52.865 --> 00:13:54.335
Cabo Kler was hitting

00:13:54.395 --> 00:13:56.525
Inside 20 feet a lot.

00:13:57.065 --> 00:13:59.524
all I, I mean, ridiculous.

00:13:59.524 --> 00:14:01.294
He's always been a great iron player,

00:14:01.326 --> 00:14:01.625
Yep.

00:14:01.654 --> 00:14:03.394
he, he's as good as

00:14:03.410 --> 00:14:03.630
Yep.

00:14:03.695 --> 00:14:06.424
But the, the point is that is not human.

00:14:06.424 --> 00:14:16.174
Like if you drop a, if you drop a scratch golfer at 50 degrees and blowing sideways on Pebble Beach and play'em 36 holes in front of a crowd, what are they gonna shoot?

00:14:16.955 --> 00:14:19.894
he's making 18 birdies six.

00:14:19.894 --> 00:14:20.134
Yeah.

00:14:20.554 --> 00:14:22.924
Had Scotty Scheffler making three eagles in

00:14:23.140 --> 00:14:23.490
Crazy.

00:14:23.495 --> 00:14:25.414
and shooting 62 or three or whatever.

00:14:25.421 --> 00:14:25.711
Yeah.

00:14:25.865 --> 00:14:26.315
So.

00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.980
And they do it'cause they hit, to your point, they hit the ball way better.

00:14:31.460 --> 00:14:36.139
So the notion that, you know, drive for show, put for dough, all

00:14:36.216 --> 00:14:36.546
Nope,

00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:42.320
stuff, like spend all your time practicing your putting,'cause that's what's gonna make you a great, it's just not, it

00:14:42.365 --> 00:14:42.936
not true.

00:14:43.176 --> 00:14:43.505
Yeah,

00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:44.210
right?

00:14:44.419 --> 00:14:45.590
They're better putters

00:14:45.780 --> 00:14:46.201
for sure.

00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:47.120
you get at golf,

00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:47.520
Absolutely.

00:14:47.660 --> 00:14:47.880
Yes.

00:14:48.019 --> 00:14:48.350
putter.

00:14:48.710 --> 00:14:54.710
But where they separate themselves is their ability to hit the ball better so that those, those

00:14:55.100 --> 00:14:55.520
Mm-hmm.

00:14:55.610 --> 00:14:56.929
those shots to green.

00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:01.440
So, even chips and bunkers and pitching and, and all those shots, they're

00:15:01.471 --> 00:15:01.850
For sure.

00:15:03.149 --> 00:15:05.039
anyway, I think it's an amazing, it was an

00:15:05.350 --> 00:15:05.640
Yeah.

00:15:05.640 --> 00:15:10.160
It's interesting, like this is why we don't just look at shots to green, because if you look at a level three golfer.

00:15:10.860 --> 00:15:11.850
Into level four golfer.

00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:16.770
Like, that's kind of like where it crosses over where like to get better after level three.

00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:26.821
If you just looked at those two, you would say, oh, that's when putting becomes more important than ball striking because they're not actually the shots of green and the, and the putts are coming down at about the same.

00:15:26.821 --> 00:15:33.301
And then even probably from level three to level four, you're gonna see them get better at the putting relative to the shots to green.

00:15:33.900 --> 00:15:34.140
Right?

00:15:34.140 --> 00:15:47.160
So if you just looked at those two stats, then you would say, oh, well then once you become a tour pro, it's all about, well, it's not really because if you look at it's the proximity really, it's like how many opportunities are, do they have inside 20 feet?

00:15:47.311 --> 00:15:50.250
And that's really what's driving those, the, the birdie looks.

00:15:50.571 --> 00:15:54.591
And so that's, that's really even, even for the tour pros, it's, it's how do I hit it better?

00:15:54.591 --> 00:16:01.495
How do I get more birdie looks inside 20 feet, which is gonna continue to improve the elements of, of strategy, skill, and swing.

00:16:02.750 --> 00:16:06.524
But I would also say, I would also add to that, I totally agree with.

00:16:08.105 --> 00:16:10.205
They're playing way harder and way longer.

00:16:10.431 --> 00:16:10.880
Yes.

00:16:11.254 --> 00:16:14.134
like when you're looking at game forage data, which is great.

00:16:14.404 --> 00:16:20.075
This is people like you and I collecting our data and putting it in there, like, you know, the people that we teach,

00:16:20.181 --> 00:16:20.421
Yep.

00:16:20.585 --> 00:16:23.794
And then there's, there's tour player data and there's like, there's all kinds of data.

00:16:23.975 --> 00:16:33.434
But what I'm saying is if you're playing on the tour, you're playing firm greens, fast, greens, 7,500 yards, plus there's crowds there and you're on television, you're playing for your life.

00:16:33.434 --> 00:16:37.904
You add all that stuff in and then to still be able to produce

00:16:38.010 --> 00:16:38.400
Yeah.

00:16:38.715 --> 00:16:40.004
under all of that,

00:16:40.260 --> 00:16:40.890
Yes.

00:16:41.384 --> 00:16:42.375
it's outrageous.

00:16:42.825 --> 00:16:44.115
Yeah, it's just outrageous.

00:16:45.225 --> 00:16:49.544
That is, that is kind of, again, like, that's the context behind it.

00:16:49.544 --> 00:16:50.774
Who are you as a golfer?

00:16:50.774 --> 00:16:54.735
What, what metrics are you trying to drive to, to get better?

00:16:55.115 --> 00:16:57.514
That's gonna be the genesis of, of everything that we do.

00:16:57.544 --> 00:17:01.654
Now, this series is gonna be on, on game improvement theory.

00:17:01.654 --> 00:17:10.984
And like we've said in the, in the past, each episode is gonna highlight when it comes to the level 1, 2, 3, and four golfers strategy, skill, or swing.

00:17:10.984 --> 00:17:15.964
So today we're talking about strategy and like Eric said, it, it is lower hanging fruit.

00:17:16.335 --> 00:17:20.595
It's lower on the invasiveness scale, right?

00:17:20.595 --> 00:17:22.065
If there's maybe a better way of saying that.

00:17:22.065 --> 00:17:26.865
But really no one's really getting worse by improving strategy.

00:17:27.325 --> 00:17:36.674
That's why it's such a good thing to do first, especially, if you're the coach listening, if you can in, if you can, I improve their strategy first.

00:17:37.515 --> 00:17:47.984
And if the opportunity is there, then we would highly recommend you do that., And the considerations are gonna be a little bit different for the golfer, that you have in front of you, obviously in what level they are.

00:17:49.035 --> 00:17:53.444
But it is just never, it just doesn't get thought of a lot in, in teaching circles around.

00:17:53.444 --> 00:17:55.154
Oh, like what's the first thing to look at?

00:17:55.545 --> 00:17:57.255
Like, a lot of people say, oh, like, look at the grip.

00:17:57.255 --> 00:18:01.365
Like, look at your posture, look at your geometry of your swing.

00:18:01.365 --> 00:18:04.125
Like, no, like, let, let's assess their strategy.

00:18:04.125 --> 00:18:05.474
Like what are they trying to do?

00:18:05.894 --> 00:18:07.454
Which really starts with the dispersion.

00:18:07.829 --> 00:18:09.835
All right, so we're gonna have a little bit of a discussion on this.

00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:38.789
This is gonna be, again, something that we will keep coming back to, but are you aiming a dispersion or are you aiming a sniper rifle is really kind of the first key consideration, that if you have a golfer in front of you, you don't have to get on the golf course for them to understand is this can be very much some of the first things that you talk about with a golfer, because whether you know it or not, whether they know it or not, every shot, they're judging when they go out and practice Hey, they're gonna take their large bucket of golf balls or go into the range and they're just gonna hit some balls, right?

00:18:39.210 --> 00:18:47.009
You take your average, average club player and they're always judging after every shot, whether, whether they, they like to admit it or not.

00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:52.079
So are you judging it based off of was this perfect or not?

00:18:52.890 --> 00:18:56.400
Or are you judging based off of, was this inside my dispersion or not?

00:18:56.609 --> 00:18:58.140
And those are two very different things.

00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:02.460
Golfers oftentimes will go out and aim their perfect shot when they go.

00:19:03.525 --> 00:19:03.704
Right.

00:19:03.704 --> 00:19:13.335
This is the shot that I should be able to hit, which is very different than aiming the 80 ish of a hundred shots that you're going to hit.

00:19:14.144 --> 00:19:14.505
Right?

00:19:14.565 --> 00:19:22.904
So the first key to understand is are you aiming your dispersion or are you aiming a a, basically the, the one, the, the top 1% of your shots.

00:19:23.355 --> 00:19:24.734
So what is a dispersion?

00:19:24.734 --> 00:19:31.605
We have, actually on our substack, I think it's, like you said, Eric, in the, our last episode, I think this was a, a member exclusive thing.

00:19:31.605 --> 00:19:43.734
And I, and I do wanna keep that member exclusive for sure., So go visit our substack if you wanna learn more about the specific finger dispersions, but the general idea is you're gonna be able to, on the golf course, aim this window.

00:19:44.109 --> 00:19:46.210
Well, what is that window exactly?

00:19:47.170 --> 00:19:51.160
Well, hopefully many of you are familiar with a bell curve, right?

00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:55.059
So the bell curve, we can basically divide up into a couple different segments.

00:19:55.059 --> 00:20:01.599
Looking at it from, from starting from the left, you have your bottom 16% of shots, right?

00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:10.130
These are the shots that are gonna be big misses,, big miss on the club, face club face pointed way out, club head speed, not in the desired window, right?

00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:14.960
16% is again, you hit a hundred shots, 16% of them are gonna be big misses outside of your dispersion.

00:20:15.890 --> 00:20:18.950
Then you have the middle 68%, right?

00:20:18.950 --> 00:20:23.210
And divided up into bottom 34 of the middle, then top 34 of the middle.

00:20:23.690 --> 00:20:25.819
These are all gonna be pretty much your average shots.

00:20:25.819 --> 00:20:28.490
Some a little bit better than average, some a little bit worse than average.

00:20:29.704 --> 00:20:32.944
And then finally on the far right, you're gonna have your top 16 percentage shots.

00:20:32.944 --> 00:20:35.414
These are the, I absolutely flushed it.

00:20:35.744 --> 00:20:36.434
Face was point, right?

00:20:36.434 --> 00:20:38.265
Where I wanted all kinds of good stuff like that.

00:20:38.924 --> 00:20:44.325
So really, if we add in the middle and then the top of your dispersion, right?

00:20:44.355 --> 00:20:45.944
That's gonna give you 80.

00:20:46.515 --> 00:20:47.234
Eric, help me.

00:20:47.265 --> 00:20:47.924
Mental math.

00:20:48.734 --> 00:20:52.634
8 6, 68 plus 16 is gonna be 82.

00:20:53.189 --> 00:20:53.398
It's

00:20:53.775 --> 00:20:54.525
There we go.

00:20:54.734 --> 00:20:55.365
82.

00:20:56.474 --> 00:20:57.015
Is it 84?

00:20:57.224 --> 00:20:57.464
Yeah.

00:20:57.494 --> 00:20:57.884
Okay.

00:20:58.065 --> 00:20:58.394
Yeah.

00:20:58.424 --> 00:20:59.144
Yeah, you're right, sir.

00:20:59.234 --> 00:20:59.565
Whoops.

00:21:01.739 --> 00:21:02.098
Math

00:21:02.144 --> 00:21:03.345
Math, math, math.

00:21:03.404 --> 00:21:04.335
Math is hard on a

00:21:04.378 --> 00:21:04.709
man,

00:21:04.755 --> 00:21:05.174
podcast.

00:21:05.204 --> 00:21:05.535
Everyone.

00:21:05.535 --> 00:21:06.555
Gimme, gimme a break.

00:21:06.723 --> 00:21:07.403
math leads here.

00:21:07.403 --> 00:21:07.564
Okay.

00:21:07.575 --> 00:21:10.694
Not, you know, I haven't done mental, quick mental math in a long time.

00:21:10.875 --> 00:21:15.055
Anyway,, really, the 84% of shots is really what we're trying to aim here.

00:21:16.015 --> 00:21:16.375
Alright?

00:21:16.375 --> 00:21:23.035
So really, if the ball ends up in your dispersion, that's, that's gonna be one of the 84% of your shots.

00:21:23.035 --> 00:21:26.065
So our, our big rule here is right.

00:21:26.484 --> 00:21:31.285
We, we want to be able to aim that so that we're taking on the appropriate amount of risk.

00:21:31.285 --> 00:21:39.805
And there's been a lot of, interesting studies done,, about like the sweet spot for risk, and it always tends to come around like that 80 ish percent mark.

00:21:40.464 --> 00:21:45.775
Like basically if you had five shots, if you can pull it off four out of five times and it's probably worth it, right?

00:21:45.775 --> 00:21:53.494
You're, you're willing and able to, give up that one out of five so that you get the benefit of the, of the four, right?

00:21:53.673 --> 00:21:53.963
Yeah.

00:21:54.305 --> 00:21:56.045
so that's really what we want to be aiming.

00:21:56.375 --> 00:22:00.125
Everyone's dispersion is gonna be a different size, and that's really what improvement is.

00:22:00.125 --> 00:22:04.924
It's not about taking away the dispersion, it's about making the size of the dispersion smaller.

00:22:05.523 --> 00:22:05.943
Mm-hmm.

00:22:06.454 --> 00:22:17.795
that as for you as a golfer, you need to figure out how big does that dispersion need to be so that you're hitting essentially 80% of your shots inside of that zoom, and then within that, that is what you're gonna aim on the golf course, right?

00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:23.369
We say there's really four different games within the game, if you will.

00:22:23.369 --> 00:22:28.529
When you play golf, you have driving, you have approach play, you have short game, and you have putting, right.

00:22:28.529 --> 00:22:33.755
So there's really, when you talk about like using finger dispersions, we use it in putting too with, with aim point.

00:22:33.755 --> 00:22:36.634
But, for driving and approach specifically, right?

00:22:36.634 --> 00:22:45.605
And a little bit of short game, depending on the golfer, really these opportunities to aim your dispersion, which depends on what we say to your decision tree.

00:22:45.605 --> 00:22:53.555
So the dispersion is, is what you're aiming, but the decision tree is really your process for figuring out, Hey, where am I gonna place this dispersion?

00:22:53.555 --> 00:22:56.734
Where am I gonna aim the center of my dispersion?

00:22:57.005 --> 00:22:57.365
Right?

00:22:57.785 --> 00:23:03.644
For so for driving really the number one goal for, and by the way, this is for all golfers.

00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:10.009
This isn't just for this decision tree does not just apply for level one golfers or level two, level three, Right.

00:23:10.159 --> 00:23:17.269
The beauty of this is that as your dispersion gets smaller, you end up being able to work yourself through the decision tree further.

00:23:17.838 --> 00:23:27.798
But if you're, if your dispersion is really big, you might, most shots, you might only be able to satisfy the, the first requirement, not, I shouldn't say requirement, the first priority of the decision tree.

00:23:28.249 --> 00:23:28.429
Right.

00:23:28.429 --> 00:23:30.348
Which in driving, it's just getting the ball in play.

00:23:30.979 --> 00:23:31.278
Right?

00:23:31.278 --> 00:23:31.429
Right.

00:23:31.638 --> 00:23:34.189
And I include having a clear path to the green with that.

00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:34.939
Right.

00:23:34.939 --> 00:23:39.749
So can you find your golf ball, with a clear path to the green without penalty?

00:23:40.949 --> 00:23:41.278
Right?

00:23:41.278 --> 00:23:46.588
And, and, and we can include, we'll talk about disruptors here in a little bit, but really that's the number one goal for driving.

00:23:46.588 --> 00:23:49.318
So notice it's not fairway, right?

00:23:49.318 --> 00:23:53.159
It's just getting the ball in play to where you can find it with a clear path to the green from there.

00:23:54.058 --> 00:23:56.519
Eric, you and I go back and forth a little bit, but.

00:23:57.298 --> 00:24:08.909
Really as, as far as I see it, for most, if not all golfers, there are some exceptions depending on the course that you play, if the rough is really, really, really bad in your very low speed.

00:24:08.969 --> 00:24:12.088
So that would be maybe the, the caveat to this.

00:24:13.048 --> 00:24:16.439
But the second priority of, of driving is gonna be proximity.

00:24:16.439 --> 00:24:19.528
So how, how close can you get your golf ball to the green?

00:24:20.219 --> 00:24:20.578
Right?

00:24:20.578 --> 00:24:22.648
And that's gonna be like, Hey, can I get the ball and play?

00:24:22.648 --> 00:24:25.469
How far down there can I get it right?

00:24:25.469 --> 00:24:27.239
That's gonna be kind of the second priority.

00:24:27.239 --> 00:24:34.759
And then after that, if you can get a couple more shots in the fairway, then you can kind of slide your dispersion over to get a couple more golf balls in the fairway.

00:24:35.278 --> 00:24:36.148
But that's driving right.

00:24:36.148 --> 00:24:39.358
Before we move on, Eric, did you have anything you wanted to add to, to that?

00:24:39.432 --> 00:24:50.442
yeah, I was just gonna say there's geometry involved all kinds of ways in this because it's not necessarily that everybody who's a level one golfer has slower club speed than a level two

00:24:50.463 --> 00:24:50.884
Mm-hmm.

00:24:51.103 --> 00:24:54.972
but it's, there is a correlation at times, right?

00:24:54.972 --> 00:25:00.282
Like the better the, the very highest level golfers have good club

00:25:00.513 --> 00:25:00.804
Yeah.

00:25:00.883 --> 00:25:02.262
playing forward tees, right?

00:25:02.292 --> 00:25:02.413
So.

00:25:03.327 --> 00:25:11.067
Point being, the slower my swing speed is, the harder it is for me to hit it out of the fairway.

00:25:12.087 --> 00:25:25.317
Because just think about angles and geometry and, don't know, just think about that as you go 300 yards, four degrees offline versus going 120 yards, carry four degrees offline.

00:25:25.768 --> 00:25:28.827
A lot of times you're gonna be in the fairway, right?

00:25:28.827 --> 00:25:35.218
But you need to try to strategize for that a little bit if you have really slow club head speed, because getting it out of the rough is really hard.

00:25:35.218 --> 00:25:38.528
It can almost be a disruptor for some,, with those lower club head speed.

00:25:38.528 --> 00:25:41.167
So you just kinda have to know thyself a little bit there.

00:25:41.587 --> 00:25:49.478
But I, I do think that, like, even looking at your data, it's not like tour players are hitting tons more fairways than level one golfers.

00:25:49.478 --> 00:25:50.167
They're really not.

00:25:50.574 --> 00:25:50.903
They're not.

00:25:50.903 --> 00:25:50.933
Oh,

00:25:51.067 --> 00:25:51.518
a few,

00:25:51.624 --> 00:25:52.134
not.

00:25:52.417 --> 00:26:07.448
No, they hit way more greens and they hit it way closer on the green, but they don't really hit more fairways because they hit it so blessed far that, again, two degrees offline could be, it could be in the rough, whereas depending on how they're aiming it or the hole or whatnot.

00:26:07.448 --> 00:26:11.718
But,, if I've got slow club head speed, I, I can hit a lot of shots that stay in the fairway that I

00:26:11.943 --> 00:26:12.364
for sure.

00:26:12.498 --> 00:26:13.758
they're not, they're not booming

00:26:13.773 --> 00:26:14.074
Yeah,

00:26:14.178 --> 00:26:15.528
But they're, they're in the fairway.

00:26:15.557 --> 00:26:16.637
So anyway, yes.

00:26:16.637 --> 00:26:18.798
I think that your point, I agree with

00:26:18.963 --> 00:26:19.294
yeah,

00:26:19.518 --> 00:26:21.258
get it in play and get it down there.

00:26:21.617 --> 00:26:24.167
And that even includes, you know, the slower

00:26:24.334 --> 00:26:34.324
Because I think most of the time, you know, an exception for some, some rare cases, like if that golfer who when they hit it in the rough is getting really penalized'cause of their club head speed.

00:26:34.354 --> 00:26:35.223
'cause the ball's in the rough.

00:26:35.223 --> 00:26:37.078
It's like, well that's also the same golfer that.

00:26:37.969 --> 00:26:42.888
If they just hit it further and learn to swing it faster, like that's not as much of a thing for them anymore.

00:26:43.459 --> 00:26:43.729
Right?

00:26:43.729 --> 00:26:51.888
So like even for that golfer, we would probably prioritize, like, no, we're, we're not gonna spend a bunch of time for this golfer, getting them to necessarily hit it straighter.

00:26:52.259 --> 00:26:53.909
We're gonna teach them how to hit it further.

00:26:53.909 --> 00:26:57.449
So then getting in the rough isn't as pen penalizing usually.

00:26:57.449 --> 00:26:57.778
Right.

00:26:57.837 --> 00:26:58.438
Correct.

00:26:58.442 --> 00:26:58.653
Yeah.

00:26:59.128 --> 00:27:05.128
so that's driving and, I'm a big believer in driving is, if not one of, probably the most important aspect of the game.

00:27:05.628 --> 00:27:09.679
Because when you look at it, when you go from level one all the way through level four, it's like.

00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:17.749
Improving it, driving just it, it makes the entire game and makes kind of achieving the metric that you're going for just that much easier.

00:27:18.058 --> 00:27:27.328
So many penalty shots, so many disruptors, which I guess this would be a good time to talk about disruptor, is basically a penalty without necessarily being technically a penalty, right?

00:27:27.328 --> 00:27:30.719
So, let's say you hit it in the trees and then you have to chip out, right?

00:27:30.719 --> 00:27:36.388
So that, that chip out, even though it's not a penalty by the rules of golf, is might as well be one because you're not.

00:27:36.388 --> 00:27:40.318
Improving necessarily the, you are improving the position of the ball.

00:27:40.318 --> 00:27:47.558
But again, it's not much you're, you're having to take an added shot without advancing the ball, you know, much closer to the hole.

00:27:47.558 --> 00:27:54.028
So, things like tops, chunks, you know, balls way off the edge of the toe and the heel.

00:27:54.358 --> 00:27:59.848
And then sometimes big face,, like face to path stuff where the ball's curving way outta bounds.

00:28:00.278 --> 00:28:03.878
Those are all gonna be well outta bounds would be a, a, a penalty error.

00:28:03.878 --> 00:28:12.078
But like if you, if you were to, to really hook it into somewhere where you, you know, you'd have a hard time playing it from, but could still play it out of that would be a disruptor, right?

00:28:12.078 --> 00:28:15.189
So, essentially like effective penalties would be a good way of saying that.

00:28:15.189 --> 00:28:20.868
So like even for level one golfers, so many of those penalties and disruptors and added shots to green are happening off the tee.

00:28:21.594 --> 00:28:23.003
I see it a ton, right?

00:28:23.364 --> 00:28:26.963
For level two golfers, like, you need to drive greens and reg, well, how do you drive greens?

00:28:26.963 --> 00:28:31.253
And reg, it's usually having less than a 600 in, in regulate for your shot in regulation.

00:28:31.433 --> 00:28:32.364
So again, that's improving.

00:28:32.364 --> 00:28:37.163
Driving for tour pros, it's just gonna be improving that proximity is gonna be so huge.

00:28:37.163 --> 00:28:42.263
So again, driving kind of has a, has an amazing trickle down throughout the entire game.

00:28:42.263 --> 00:28:49.973
And, and I've said before if I ever were to specialize and be, you know, a coach of only one aspect to the game, I think driving would, would probably be it.

00:28:50.278 --> 00:28:50.557
Whoa.

00:28:50.782 --> 00:28:51.202
Okay.

00:28:51.203 --> 00:28:57.203
Because I, I think it, you could have the most, most like, widespread benefit to all golfers really.

00:28:57.203 --> 00:28:57.473
Right?

00:28:57.473 --> 00:29:05.604
So, that's driving approach now as we start to work into, really the shot that is,, approaching the green.

00:29:06.364 --> 00:29:10.003
And this would include going for it, on, for par fives.

00:29:10.594 --> 00:29:13.683
Number one is still very much like driving, getting the ball in play.

00:29:14.088 --> 00:29:15.858
So that, that's the number one goal.

00:29:16.459 --> 00:29:18.919
Again, this does not mean a hundred percent of your shots should be in play.

00:29:18.919 --> 00:29:21.199
By the way, this is 80% of your shots.

00:29:21.439 --> 00:29:25.519
We want you to pick a target so that 80% of these shots are in play, not a hundred.

00:29:25.999 --> 00:29:35.449
'cause again, if I were to aim somewhere to get a hundred percent of my shots in play, now I'm being so conservative that when I hit my best ones, I'm not really getting a benefit out of.

00:29:35.538 --> 00:29:38.148
So we want you to get your a benefit out of the best shot.

00:29:38.148 --> 00:29:41.429
So, 80% of 80 ish percent of shots in play.

00:29:41.848 --> 00:29:44.009
Number two is gonna be getting the ball on the green.

00:29:44.637 --> 00:29:45.057
Mm-hmm.

00:29:45.118 --> 00:29:45.449
right?

00:29:45.808 --> 00:30:03.509
And then if there's still room on either side of your dispersion, meaning if you're dispersion's tight enough, and or if you're close enough to the green to where you can slide your dispersion now closer to the pin while keeping your entire dispersion on the green, that's gonna be priority number three, and that's gonna be your eventual target.

00:30:03.989 --> 00:30:09.449
So really, we want you aiming as close to the pin as possible while keeping 80% of your shots in, in play, and on the green.

00:30:09.449 --> 00:30:10.199
All right.

00:30:11.219 --> 00:30:13.509
That's gonna be approach,, short game.

00:30:14.288 --> 00:30:16.669
We're gonna go ahead and say it's kind of understood.

00:30:16.699 --> 00:30:19.489
It's like getting the ball and play with your short game shot is important.

00:30:19.949 --> 00:30:22.558
But we're gonna say like, number one is to get the ball on the green.

00:30:22.769 --> 00:30:28.199
And this, I think this gets glazed over way too much when you even talking to like level three players.

00:30:28.229 --> 00:30:32.878
I see, I see level, I see level three players, especially end of level two players.

00:30:32.878 --> 00:30:36.328
Entry level three players really get tripped up by this.

00:30:36.848 --> 00:30:48.719
Is because far too often those, like end of level two golfers, beginning level three golfers are taking on shots where if you truly looked at it, less than 80% of the shot that you are taking on is getting on the green,

00:30:49.567 --> 00:30:49.917
Right,

00:30:50.009 --> 00:30:54.659
So, so getting on the green's, number one, and then proximity to hole is gonna be number two.

00:30:55.678 --> 00:30:58.057
And we're talking about, just to define

00:30:58.108 --> 00:30:58.739
Short game.

00:30:58.739 --> 00:30:59.009
Yeah.

00:30:59.009 --> 00:30:59.519
Thank you.

00:31:00.807 --> 00:31:02.577
The, we'd say 40 yards and

00:31:02.909 --> 00:31:03.239
Correct.

00:31:03.239 --> 00:31:03.328
Yep.

00:31:03.478 --> 00:31:03.657
than

00:31:03.683 --> 00:31:04.084
Mm-hmm.

00:31:04.163 --> 00:31:04.173
Yep.

00:31:04.468 --> 00:31:04.798
Right?

00:31:04.919 --> 00:31:05.429
yards an end.

00:31:05.459 --> 00:31:05.669
Yep.

00:31:05.669 --> 00:31:05.999
Agree.

00:31:06.117 --> 00:31:07.407
and that's for most people.

00:31:07.407 --> 00:31:11.998
I mean, if you're, if you're some people, I would give it 30,'cause they're just, club speed is

00:31:11.999 --> 00:31:12.358
Yeah.

00:31:12.538 --> 00:31:13.198
quite there.

00:31:13.198 --> 00:31:15.417
But I would say as a rule of thumb, it's shorter than

00:31:15.749 --> 00:31:16.048
Yeah.

00:31:16.438 --> 00:31:18.553
I would totally agree with you on the, on the Ms.

00:31:18.553 --> 00:31:25.407
Green thing, and I think the data from which I do not have in front of me, but you know, if you're off the green, just just off the

00:31:25.528 --> 00:31:26.128
Yes.

00:31:26.337 --> 00:31:29.518
versus on the green, the expected outcome is

00:31:29.729 --> 00:31:30.479
It's crazy.

00:31:31.438 --> 00:31:39.597
And so when you're, I think that strategy is really still, it still does play onto the next, like each shot is getting you in position

00:31:39.713 --> 00:31:40.134
Mm-hmm.

00:31:40.317 --> 00:31:42.538
That's why a disruptor takes you outta position.

00:31:42.743 --> 00:31:42.963
Yep.

00:31:43.377 --> 00:31:45.298
I'm not in position for the next shot.

00:31:45.298 --> 00:31:47.167
So if I'm off the green, I got it.

00:31:47.167 --> 00:31:53.438
And to your point, like especially as my, as I'm working through the levels, my skill, which we'll get to in

00:31:53.683 --> 00:31:53.903
Yep.

00:31:54.278 --> 00:31:55.597
isn't quite as good.

00:31:55.597 --> 00:31:56.018
Meaning.

00:31:56.377 --> 00:31:57.847
I don't control the shot as

00:31:58.134 --> 00:31:58.554
Mm-hmm.

00:31:58.627 --> 00:32:03.718
or as, or as,, or I can really change the, the shot height or whatever the spin.

00:32:04.438 --> 00:32:06.357
therefore I have to be more conservative.

00:32:06.807 --> 00:32:09.837
And then as I'm getting, you know, as I'm Tiger Woods, I can get

00:32:10.288 --> 00:32:10.509
Yes.

00:32:11.259 --> 00:32:11.548
Yeah.

00:32:11.728 --> 00:32:12.538
less conservative.

00:32:12.538 --> 00:32:12.867
Right.

00:32:13.978 --> 00:32:20.688
like, no, I'll hit it over the back of that hole at, at the memorial and then I'll miss the green from 20 yards and then I'll pitch it in from 15 yards

00:32:20.808 --> 00:32:21.028
Yes.

00:32:21.887 --> 00:32:22.367
I'm Tiger

00:32:22.653 --> 00:32:22.953
Yeah.

00:32:22.998 --> 00:32:23.627
can't do that.

00:32:24.183 --> 00:32:26.013
No, I mean, truly

00:32:26.028 --> 00:32:26.327
it on the

00:32:26.403 --> 00:32:27.213
a hundred percent.

00:32:27.213 --> 00:32:27.394
Yeah.

00:32:27.394 --> 00:32:29.134
Like dispersion is a fluid thing.

00:32:29.134 --> 00:32:29.554
That's the thing.

00:32:29.584 --> 00:32:33.993
That's the really the beauty of of, of aiming it this way is that.

00:32:34.999 --> 00:32:39.739
You know, there are some days where your rhythm just feels impeccable and it's like, you know what?

00:32:39.739 --> 00:32:44.028
I've got quite a bit more predictability over what's going on, and it's okay.

00:32:44.028 --> 00:32:47.298
Like if you're feeling good today to, to narrow this in a little bit.

00:32:47.598 --> 00:32:48.618
And then vice versa.

00:32:48.618 --> 00:32:54.409
There are days where just like the grip feels weird, like if feels weird in your hands, you're just kind of in a fog.

00:32:54.409 --> 00:32:56.989
Like you're not really focused, you're not really present.

00:32:56.989 --> 00:33:00.949
And it's like, you know what, like on those days it's okay to spread that thing out a little bit.

00:33:01.398 --> 00:33:06.828
And there are environmental situations that change the dispersion too, like into the wind increases, dispersion, downwind,

00:33:06.907 --> 00:33:07.127
Hmm.

00:33:07.159 --> 00:33:11.338
decreases, dispersion, in the rough makes it bigger fairway.

00:33:11.878 --> 00:33:14.519
Typically it's gonna be your stock and it'll be your standard.

00:33:14.969 --> 00:33:18.148
So like things like that, like that's where the feel comes in as a player.

00:33:18.199 --> 00:33:25.278
Especially with Aim point, people say all the time, like, oh, like, you know, aim point has taken the feel outta, like, it couldn't be the fur further from the truth.

00:33:25.679 --> 00:33:36.778
So much depends on those little like ev environmental adjustments to things like how far your fingers are away from your face, where on your fingers you look like there's so many when you're using fingers to target.

00:33:36.778 --> 00:33:41.429
So much of it is feel, so much of it is your awareness as a player and kind of where you're at.

00:33:41.909 --> 00:33:43.398
But yeah, that's, that's short game.

00:33:43.398 --> 00:33:46.489
Any other, anything you had to, to add there for, for short game?

00:33:46.623 --> 00:33:47.432
No, no.

00:33:47.432 --> 00:33:54.578
I would say one thing Have definitely done some like definitions of these terminologies, of these terminology that we use, right?

00:33:54.578 --> 00:33:57.459
Early on there was like, is a disruptor?

00:33:57.489 --> 00:33:59.588
You did a whole post on some of those terminology

00:33:59.605 --> 00:33:59.875
yeah.

00:34:00.378 --> 00:34:02.838
We did a, we did an episode on the finger dispersions.

00:34:02.838 --> 00:34:12.018
So finger dispersions, we keep bringing up, but it's like a way that you use your hands to triangulate over space to create pattern, right?

00:34:12.018 --> 00:34:19.938
And basically based on who you are as a golfer, your ability to control that either narrows or it widens, right?

00:34:19.938 --> 00:34:21.918
And then this brilliant way to use it.

00:34:21.918 --> 00:34:25.909
And there's other, there's other strategy systems they use, ma, a lot of'em use math, right?

00:34:25.909 --> 00:34:30.188
And they're just They're mouthing all day long, but the math just to be is so distracting to me.

00:34:30.628 --> 00:34:38.369
And so just being able to use your fingers to triangulate just like, you know, somebody would do to, to try to judge when the sun is gonna go

00:34:38.545 --> 00:34:38.925
Yes.

00:34:39.018 --> 00:34:55.179
So as an example, the target green that we hit at all day outta my teaching bay is 171 yards slightly downhill, And so when I'm showing people tour player dispersion just to give'em a for instance, it looks to me and I should go out and measure it someday.

00:34:56.048 --> 00:35:02.829
looks to me like it's probably 17 feet, right?

00:35:02.829 --> 00:35:07.059
And, and 17 feet left of the flag, I would guess from 170.

00:35:07.059 --> 00:35:07.898
Does that sound about right?

00:35:07.898 --> 00:35:09.039
I don't know what the math is.

00:35:09.429 --> 00:35:10.898
I would say it's probably somewhere.

00:35:10.898 --> 00:35:13.358
So 35 foot dispersion on the green.

00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:24.349
um, yeah, that's gonna be, so, so it's gonna be, again, if we talk about average dispersion, it's gonna be in the eight ish percent range.

00:35:25.550 --> 00:35:30.050
So take, take 170, so, so 10% would be 17 yards.

00:35:30.050 --> 00:35:36.409
So less than, so we're talking about, you know, I don't know, quick more mental math on this episode, but probably like

00:35:36.514 --> 00:35:37.534
14, 14

00:35:37.699 --> 00:35:39.590
14 yards ish, somewhere in there.

00:35:39.634 --> 00:35:42.063
that's 30, 42

00:35:42.260 --> 00:35:42.920
Four, two feet.

00:35:43.023 --> 00:35:44.344
I'm not far, I said 35.

00:35:44.344 --> 00:35:44.643
Like I'm

00:35:44.780 --> 00:35:45.199
Yeah.

00:35:45.289 --> 00:35:46.400
Yeah, that's about right.

00:35:46.923 --> 00:35:48.543
So think about that.

00:35:48.543 --> 00:35:52.534
So you're, you're at 170 yards, 40, call it 40 feet is the spread.

00:35:52.550 --> 00:35:52.880
Yeah.

00:35:52.923 --> 00:35:53.344
feet, right?

00:35:53.344 --> 00:35:53.853
20 feet

00:35:54.050 --> 00:35:54.380
Yeah.

00:35:54.423 --> 00:35:55.293
from a tour player.

00:35:55.474 --> 00:35:55.923
Guess what?

00:35:55.923 --> 00:35:58.293
They're hitting from 170 yards people.

00:35:58.534 --> 00:35:59.494
They're hitting nine

00:35:59.644 --> 00:35:59.914
Yep.

00:36:00.215 --> 00:36:00.755
Eight, nine.

00:36:00.755 --> 00:36:01.025
Yeah.

00:36:02.103 --> 00:36:03.063
here we are

00:36:03.559 --> 00:36:03.980
Mm-hmm.

00:36:04.264 --> 00:36:04.954
seven iron

00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:05.179
Yep.

00:36:05.284 --> 00:36:05.943
or whatever.

00:36:07.264 --> 00:36:09.159
this is why when you talk about.

00:36:11.088 --> 00:36:13.219
Game improvement theory.

00:36:13.639 --> 00:36:16.518
There's a lot of layers to this that you start to unravel.

00:36:16.518 --> 00:36:16.969
Right.

00:36:17.838 --> 00:36:22.728
And if I can have a shorter club in my hand, this goes back to your tee shot thing.

00:36:22.728 --> 00:36:30.108
If I could have a shorter club in my hand, my ability to tighten the dispersion is more because I put less side spin on the ball with a club that has more loft.

00:36:30.168 --> 00:36:31.489
It's just the way that it works, right?

00:36:31.489 --> 00:36:34.719
And it's a shorter shaft, so I'm standing closer to the ball, contact becomes a better.

00:36:34.748 --> 00:36:36.099
So anyway, that's skill stuff.

00:36:36.099 --> 00:36:39.219
But point being it all sort of builds one to the

00:36:39.505 --> 00:36:39.804
Yeah.

00:36:39.998 --> 00:36:41.108
up through the levels, right?

00:36:41.108 --> 00:36:45.099
And you stand there and you think, my goodness, they're hitting pitch a wedge from here and I'm hitting six iron.

00:36:45.385 --> 00:36:45.715
Yes.

00:36:45.938 --> 00:36:47.949
but that's kind of, for some of people, that's the

00:36:48.175 --> 00:36:48.565
Yeah.

00:36:48.775 --> 00:36:49.135
Yeah.

00:36:49.375 --> 00:36:49.945
Absolutely.

00:36:49.945 --> 00:36:49.954
I.

00:36:51.398 --> 00:36:56.048
It's just a very thing when you start to calculate it.

00:36:56.048 --> 00:36:58.148
But it also gives you the visual to work

00:36:58.344 --> 00:36:58.885
Mm-hmm.

00:36:59.588 --> 00:37:01.298
oh my gosh, I can see how that

00:37:01.585 --> 00:37:02.155
Yes.

00:37:03.128 --> 00:37:05.389
And, and I didn't mean to cut you cut off your

00:37:05.465 --> 00:37:05.945
No.

00:37:05.945 --> 00:37:06.335
Yeah.

00:37:06.378 --> 00:37:09.699
I was just like, it, it's so,, it's eyeopening.

00:37:09.878 --> 00:37:11.378
It's eyeopening when you start doing it, for

00:37:11.514 --> 00:37:12.085
A hundred percent.

00:37:13.014 --> 00:37:13.344
Yeah.

00:37:13.344 --> 00:37:16.014
And then finally, right, working into putting, right?

00:37:16.014 --> 00:37:20.335
So really with putting, there's, there's two main considerations, right?

00:37:20.335 --> 00:37:25.144
Is as you, move through how far your ball is away from the hole, right?

00:37:25.144 --> 00:37:28.114
So really it's gonna be, are you going for proximity?

00:37:28.164 --> 00:37:30.144
How close can the ball stop to the hole?

00:37:30.534 --> 00:37:31.554
Or are you trying to convert it?

00:37:31.585 --> 00:37:32.635
Are you trying to roll it in?

00:37:33.405 --> 00:37:35.505
And again, this is very much player dependent, right?

00:37:35.505 --> 00:37:39.824
So we'll get into this a little bit more in our putting series'cause we will be doing a, a putting series.

00:37:39.824 --> 00:37:44.454
But really, for level one golfers, it's Probably 10 feet.

00:37:44.965 --> 00:37:46.585
That's kind of where like the cutoff is.

00:37:47.094 --> 00:37:50.175
I'd say entry level one golfers, people who haven't putted before.

00:37:50.175 --> 00:37:52.425
It's probably closer to like six feet, to be honest.

00:37:52.634 --> 00:37:54.134
let, let's describe that a little bit.

00:37:54.134 --> 00:37:54.523
So.

00:37:55.259 --> 00:37:57.929
The at 10 feet, and, and Jack Nicholas said this, I

00:37:58.170 --> 00:37:58.460
Yeah,

00:37:58.648 --> 00:38:01.619
at 10 feet, he would say I'd start lagging was his term.

00:38:01.768 --> 00:38:02.188
And what

00:38:02.324 --> 00:38:03.014
no kidding.

00:38:03.014 --> 00:38:03.855
Did he actually say that?

00:38:03.855 --> 00:38:04.425
That's really cool.

00:38:05.159 --> 00:38:05.429
Yeah.

00:38:05.608 --> 00:38:10.199
So basically what we're saying is center of dispersion is gonna be the middle of the

00:38:10.394 --> 00:38:10.784
Correct.

00:38:11.009 --> 00:38:11.309
at,

00:38:11.445 --> 00:38:11.715
Yep.

00:38:12.059 --> 00:38:13.768
at 10 feet and longer.

00:38:13.829 --> 00:38:14.338
Relatively.

00:38:14.355 --> 00:38:15.255
level one golfers.

00:38:15.255 --> 00:38:15.585
Yeah.

00:38:15.958 --> 00:38:16.108
for,

00:38:16.125 --> 00:38:17.659
Or apparently Jack Dickless.

00:38:18.389 --> 00:38:19.438
well, I think he said

00:38:19.605 --> 00:38:20.025
Yeah.

00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:20.579
go back and

00:38:20.625 --> 00:38:20.835
Yeah.

00:38:20.835 --> 00:38:21.375
That'd be cool.

00:38:21.418 --> 00:38:23.699
up, but maybe he was saying for beginner

00:38:24.070 --> 00:38:24.360
Yeah.

00:38:24.364 --> 00:38:24.795
Yeah.

00:38:24.929 --> 00:38:25.588
I'd have to find the

00:38:25.724 --> 00:38:26.085
Yeah.

00:38:26.188 --> 00:38:37.728
point being not trying to ram it past the whole, so the, the point is, you try to hit it past the hole from 20 feet, every single time putting your center of dispersion

00:38:37.869 --> 00:38:38.289
Mm-hmm.

00:38:38.869 --> 00:38:43.938
you're gonna bring in way more three putts without making more one putts.

00:38:44.088 --> 00:38:46.489
So therefore, you're losing, you're losing there.

00:38:46.489 --> 00:38:48.619
Now, people will argue with you, with this.

00:38:49.474 --> 00:38:50.583
they're blue in the face.

00:38:50.583 --> 00:38:54.693
Like this is one thing that people I think, don't believe me when I'm teaching them this.

00:38:54.813 --> 00:38:55.623
It's like, no, no, no.

00:38:55.949 --> 00:38:56.170
No,

00:38:56.224 --> 00:38:58.264
don't have to hit it past the hole at 20 feet.

00:38:58.313 --> 00:39:01.074
You can leave it two feet short and be really happy with that put, right?

00:39:01.103 --> 00:39:01.673
'cause you're in a two

00:39:01.969 --> 00:39:02.349
for sure.

00:39:02.603 --> 00:39:08.634
and you try to give'em the stats and their eyes glaze over and they're like, my dad told me I have to hit it past the hole, or I have to do 10

00:39:08.750 --> 00:39:08.969
Yes.

00:39:09.833 --> 00:39:10.164
You're like,

00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:10.489
Yeah.

00:39:10.974 --> 00:39:17.043
You know, it is what it's, but so hitting it always past the hole isn't actually the goal.

00:39:17.043 --> 00:39:20.853
A good co and really good putters will tell you that Brad Fon doesn't try to do that.

00:39:20.853 --> 00:39:22.233
It's the best putter I've ever seen.

00:39:22.264 --> 00:39:24.054
You know, unbelievable putter.

00:39:24.173 --> 00:39:27.833
And he'll tell you, he tries to quote unquote die it at the hole every time.

00:39:27.833 --> 00:39:28.914
So he's saying, you know.

00:39:29.259 --> 00:39:32.409
Center of dispersion is at the bottom of the hole, essentially.

00:39:32.409 --> 00:39:32.648
Right?

00:39:32.648 --> 00:39:34.449
He's trying to stop his ball right there.

00:39:34.748 --> 00:39:44.079
He's not trying to run it past, but as you get on short putts, you do wanna run it past, you do want to have a little bit more speed'cause you never wanna leave it short.

00:39:44.079 --> 00:39:46.929
These are the putts that you actually can make.

00:39:47.244 --> 00:39:47.574
Totally.

00:39:47.619 --> 00:39:53.168
And so you're saying over level 1, 2, 3, 4, those numbers can

00:39:53.335 --> 00:39:54.144
Yes.

00:39:54.235 --> 00:39:54.414
Mm-hmm.

00:39:54.489 --> 00:39:55.268
when you feel like you're

00:39:55.344 --> 00:39:55.795
For sure.

00:39:56.858 --> 00:39:58.028
versus trying to get it past the

00:39:58.045 --> 00:40:03.355
Like the data would suggest, like level four golfers for tour players is like thir a little over 30 feet.

00:40:04.809 --> 00:40:05.018
That's

00:40:05.235 --> 00:40:13.210
they would actually, what's very interesting, they would put better, if they moved it closer to the hole, if they got to actually at 30 feet, they would actually put better.

00:40:14.375 --> 00:40:20.344
So tour players are actually a little bit suboptimal in their strategy for putting based off of the data that we've seen.

00:40:20.585 --> 00:40:26.135
It's like even at 30, they're still trying to roll it past a little bit and they would actually put better if they, if they didn't.

00:40:26.204 --> 00:40:30.195
Again, that's big data over like every single tour pro taking a look at what's going on.

00:40:30.704 --> 00:40:33.135
So that's pretty much the range, like level one entry.

00:40:33.135 --> 00:40:36.644
Level one is six end of level, one 10 feet.

00:40:37.034 --> 00:40:46.784
Once you get to level two, like that's where it kind of floats into like the 12 to 18 foot range to 20 foot, depending on where you're at in level two.

00:40:47.255 --> 00:40:55.804
And then again, like Tor pros, they, they, they're out closer to 30 as when they, when they go from trying to convert to trying to lag it.

00:40:56.474 --> 00:40:58.905
And it is a little bit pot dependent too, like if you're.

00:40:59.550 --> 00:41:10.260
If you're a level three golfer and you're standing over a 12 footer and it's straight downhill across a 4% slope, then you might say, you know what, on this particular putt, I just feel better about trying to lag it.

00:41:10.260 --> 00:41:18.179
And, and there are processes that we have,, that involve taking the, the most break that you can possibly take, to try to account for that.

00:41:18.719 --> 00:41:30.869
But with so much of that, again, that's pretty, that covers basically the, the element of strategy that is going through the decision tree based off of your dispersion, right?

00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:34.250
It's really your, what are you trying to do here, right?

00:41:34.250 --> 00:41:44.480
There's a whole other element of strategy that is answering the question of how you're gonna do it, because you can take everything that we've said today and apply it to a Google map.

00:41:44.789 --> 00:41:51.090
You could map out a golf course with Google and let's say you played a hypothetical round and you put the golf balls exactly where they ended up.

00:41:51.510 --> 00:41:57.800
You could go through this decision tree that we just laid out for you with a driving approach, short game and putting on Google Maps.

00:41:58.820 --> 00:42:08.179
What you couldn't do, however, is make the necessary adjustments for how the environment is gonna change, what the ball's gonna do, right?

00:42:08.179 --> 00:42:10.639
And there's a couple things to keep in mind here, right?

00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:14.929
We talk about the lie, which is basically the surface the ball's resting on.

00:42:14.929 --> 00:42:16.639
Is it in the rough, is it in the fairway?

00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:18.050
Is it in, in a bunker?

00:42:18.590 --> 00:42:20.750
What's the medium that the ball is sitting in?

00:42:20.750 --> 00:42:24.079
We, we say lie, then there's slope, right?

00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:25.730
Which is what the ball is resting on.

00:42:26.159 --> 00:42:33.239
Whether it's uphill, downhill ball above your feet, ball below your feet where the ball is landing, right?

00:42:33.239 --> 00:42:36.900
So the ball could be landing above where you are or below where you are.

00:42:37.454 --> 00:42:40.125
And the surface that it's landing on and rolling across right.

00:42:40.125 --> 00:42:47.264
When it lands, is it landing on a side slope or is it landing uphill downhill, or is it rolling across a side slope, uphill, downhill?

00:42:47.264 --> 00:42:55.364
A lot of this looking at each of those slopes individually is gonna be probably most important for short game and, your shorter approach play.

00:42:56.385 --> 00:43:00.255
But those are gonna be really the environmental factors.

00:43:00.255 --> 00:43:01.965
It's the, it's the lie in the slope.

00:43:01.965 --> 00:43:15.855
And then finally is the weather, right, which includes wind, which includes things like temperature, humidity, elevation, like all the weather stuff that can change what the golf ball's doing is another part of the equation.

00:43:16.125 --> 00:43:26.815
So you have your, what are you trying to do, which is kind of like the decision tree and your, and your dispersion and then the how you're trying to do it, that's kind of making your adjustments for live slope weather.

00:43:28.150 --> 00:43:29.380
And that's pretty much it.

00:43:29.380 --> 00:43:33.519
Like that's the, that's all of the conscious decisions that you're making on the golf course.

00:43:33.519 --> 00:43:39.760
And you can kind of picture this, like when you're going out to play, you're gonna pick a target and then you're gonna make your environmental adjustments.

00:43:39.940 --> 00:43:41.440
And that's, that is strategy.

00:43:41.570 --> 00:43:50.150
Pretty much can we get you better by improving those very, very conscious decisions before you swing the club back?

00:43:50.630 --> 00:43:50.900
Right.

00:43:50.900 --> 00:43:53.239
That includes things like club selection, all of that stuff.

00:43:53.239 --> 00:43:53.750
Pretty much.

00:43:53.989 --> 00:44:02.574
Once the club is swinging back, or I should say even like a little bit before the club is swinging back, pretty much before you walk into the shot, basically.

00:44:03.255 --> 00:44:05.465
What are the things that you can quote unquote, control.

00:44:06.454 --> 00:44:10.054
And that's why a lot of people have success with working with strategy.

00:44:10.414 --> 00:44:12.425
It's because it is more under your control.

00:44:12.514 --> 00:44:15.994
Like you can control those conscious decisions, right?

00:44:15.994 --> 00:44:23.074
Once you're walking in and once you take your looks and win that club, swinging back it's skill or swing, it's gonna be one of those two.

00:44:23.585 --> 00:44:28.175
And it's trying to figure out Hey, what's gonna move the needle, the fastest for the golfer?

00:44:28.594 --> 00:44:32.045
And what we're saying is there's a lot you can get done before you start walking into the shot.

00:44:32.164 --> 00:44:32.494
Right.

00:44:32.704 --> 00:44:34.264
And that's, that's, that's strategy.

00:44:35.193 --> 00:44:38.614
It's essentially all the things you hear the players and the caddies

00:44:38.735 --> 00:44:39.215
Yes.

00:44:39.244 --> 00:44:39.905
Exactly.

00:44:40.114 --> 00:44:40.264
It's

00:44:40.264 --> 00:44:40.655
Yep.

00:44:40.684 --> 00:44:41.103
all it is.

00:44:41.134 --> 00:44:42.034
I mean, essentially it is.

00:44:42.304 --> 00:44:43.384
And over time.

00:44:43.458 --> 00:44:43.518
Yeah.

00:44:44.088 --> 00:44:46.849
Strategy has been more quantified, like we're talking about.

00:44:46.849 --> 00:44:47.088
Right?

00:44:47.088 --> 00:44:47.239
It's

00:44:47.315 --> 00:44:47.675
For sure.

00:44:48.018 --> 00:44:49.309
understood better with Track.

00:44:49.369 --> 00:44:50.719
TrackMan has helped a lot on this.

00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:59.929
It's helped with the adjustments for altitude and wind and, you know, temperature of the day and, and also understanding dispersion

00:45:00.219 --> 00:45:00.440
Yep.

00:45:00.469 --> 00:45:15.929
and where you should aim all that's come together because of this data that we've, we've gotten, and this is why I think, back in the day, you know, when Tiger Woods came on the scene and he said he was gonna try to win every tournament he played in, and they the old timers kind of scoffed at him.

00:45:15.929 --> 00:45:22.438
Like, you'll see, like, it takes, I think what they were saying is it takes a lot of time to understand the strategy, whether that's what they meant or not.

00:45:22.489 --> 00:45:25.248
Do you, do you learn quote unquote learn the golf courses?

00:45:25.248 --> 00:45:27.608
Do you quote unquote, understand, you know,

00:45:27.980 --> 00:45:28.269
Yeah.

00:45:28.688 --> 00:45:30.489
where the, where the mountain is that

00:45:30.619 --> 00:45:31.159
Oh God.

00:45:31.389 --> 00:45:31.778
to,

00:45:31.789 --> 00:45:32.079
Yeah.

00:45:32.978 --> 00:45:34.688
but this is all that stuff that they.

00:45:35.378 --> 00:45:37.869
You know, and Tiger just came in and nuked it all right?

00:45:37.869 --> 00:45:44.528
Like he just destroyed all of it and his strategy was just way better than everybody else's, right?, He just understood this stuff.

00:45:44.679 --> 00:45:46.268
We should probably do a series on Tiger.

00:45:46.298 --> 00:45:48.418
I keep saying this, we've learned so much from

00:45:48.619 --> 00:45:48.909
Yeah,

00:45:48.958 --> 00:45:49.469
should just do the

00:45:49.514 --> 00:45:50.565
yeah, yeah.

00:45:50.625 --> 00:45:51.105
I like that.

00:45:52.528 --> 00:46:03.318
so point being, if you're a, if you're someone listening to this that shoots, you know, that shoots in the nineties, you're probably not thinking to yourself wow.

00:46:03.318 --> 00:46:09.168
Do I need to like, think through all the stuff I see Scotty Scheffler talk to his caddy about before he plays?

00:46:09.528 --> 00:46:12.108
And the answer is no, not necessarily.

00:46:12.108 --> 00:46:14.329
I mean, not to the level that he does it.

00:46:14.418 --> 00:46:14.869
Why?

00:46:15.108 --> 00:46:17.809
Because he's just way better at controlling it, right?

00:46:17.989 --> 00:46:21.668
So you're gonna be making more best guess and best case scenarios.

00:46:21.818 --> 00:46:24.728
And we're gonna tie this into the skill piece of this conversation.

00:46:24.728 --> 00:46:24.878
When

00:46:25.030 --> 00:46:25.519
Correct.

00:46:25.659 --> 00:46:27.889
episode, we're gonna talk about the skill.

00:46:28.248 --> 00:46:37.458
So as you're becoming more skilled golfer, your predictability of what's gonna happen and how you're gonna adjust becomes more important, right?

00:46:37.458 --> 00:46:41.449
And so you don't have to spend all day figuring all this stuff out.

00:46:41.478 --> 00:46:44.599
This is where dispersion can come into play.

00:46:44.898 --> 00:46:55.878
And then making your, best case, like having a good routine you know, figuring out how you make slight adjustments for the last slope and wind or slash slope and weather and just play, right?

00:46:56.119 --> 00:46:57.378
It doesn't become overwhelming.

00:46:57.378 --> 00:46:58.789
It just becomes part of your.

00:46:59.733 --> 00:47:01.054
part of your process, right?

00:47:01.054 --> 00:47:06.574
And the better you get at golf, the better that prediction's gonna be, and the more important your adjustments are gonna be.

00:47:06.735 --> 00:47:07.224
Percent.

00:47:07.614 --> 00:47:09.289
Yeah, I, I would, I would totally agree.

00:47:09.289 --> 00:47:21.409
And, and I think we said this, before we hopped on, but, if you're a level one golfer listening to this, what I'll tell you is that you'll probably get the most bang for your buck with strategy when it comes to putting right.

00:47:22.760 --> 00:47:27.260
Predicting, where am I going to aim this putter face and how much speed?

00:47:27.559 --> 00:47:34.880
Again, that's, that's kind of a skill, but really like the, the most conscious prediction we make in putting is really where am I gonna aim this putter face?

00:47:34.880 --> 00:47:36.860
And basically, where do I want the ball to stop?

00:47:37.460 --> 00:47:37.849
Right?

00:47:38.119 --> 00:47:44.000
So you're gonna get the most bang for your buck strategy with putting if, especially if you're a level one golfer.

00:47:44.559 --> 00:47:49.300
And that's why if you come take a putting lesson with me or with Eric, we're pretty much gonna look at strategy first.

00:47:49.300 --> 00:47:50.769
That's the first thing we're gonna look at.

00:47:51.170 --> 00:47:53.059
You might hear us call it green reading, right?

00:47:53.059 --> 00:47:54.940
So that is strategy really.

00:47:54.940 --> 00:48:03.880
It's a very conscious, you can literally say out loud, Hey, this is where I'm gonna start the golf ball, and I'd love for the ball to stop either around the hole or a little bit past it, right?

00:48:03.880 --> 00:48:07.880
So that's all very conscious, I would say that., Honestly.

00:48:07.880 --> 00:48:15.289
Then from there, it's gonna be aiming your dispersion because again, as a level one golfer, you need to know kind of like how, Hey, how big is this dispersion?

00:48:15.409 --> 00:48:27.500
Because again, the last thing we'd want for you as a level one golfer is to increase your shots to green because you're picking targets that you're not getting the benefit of your, of your very average shots from.

00:48:27.710 --> 00:48:27.920
Right?

00:48:27.920 --> 00:48:43.210
So as a level one golfer, can you just literally understand how big is my dispersion and where do I need to aim this so that all of these shots in my dispersion, again, 80 ish percent of my shots end up in play and pretty much like go through that to a t.

00:48:43.210 --> 00:48:48.010
You pretty much don't need to, like, even for level one golfer, like obviously we said that the decision tree is for every golfer.

00:48:48.010 --> 00:48:56.030
So yes, proximity, and then fairway would be third, but then like going even from, approach play, same kind of stuff.

00:48:56.030 --> 00:48:58.369
Like it's okay to be aiming off the green with your approach.

00:48:58.369 --> 00:49:01.909
Play for a level one golfer, you're gonna be aiming off the green quite a bit..

00:49:02.510 --> 00:49:03.170
That's okay.

00:49:03.469 --> 00:49:17.960
Like you, you can have your absolute best shots be a little bit off the green, but that might also mean that a lot of average shots kind of misses are gonna be on the green and way fewer of those shots are gonna be in, in penalty areas.

00:49:18.480 --> 00:49:22.530
And then for short game, it's, it's do what you need to do, get the ball on the green.

00:49:22.800 --> 00:49:23.969
That's the number one goal.

00:49:24.250 --> 00:49:30.000
If you need to put it, put it, if you need to take a hybrid out and put it with a hybrid, put it with a hybrid,, you know, do what you need to do.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:33.030
Again, as a level one golfer, proximity's, kinda like a cherry on top.

00:49:33.030 --> 00:49:33.989
It's like a luxury item.

00:49:33.989 --> 00:49:39.269
It's kind of nice, like, hey, it's great for the ball to end up close to the hole, but it's, it's not the number one priority.

00:49:39.269 --> 00:49:40.800
It's, it's getting the ball in the green.

00:49:41.460 --> 00:49:48.480
So yeah, just wanted to kind of, I, I wanted to do real quick, kind of run through,'cause we're gonna have some level one golfers listening, um, and then level two.

00:49:49.304 --> 00:49:53.804
Obviously you can go back and rewind and listen as we kind of work through that decision tree, but that's basically what it is.

00:49:53.804 --> 00:49:58.625
It's how big is your dispersion, how far down that decision tree, can you go?

00:49:58.625 --> 00:50:01.505
And then are you making those kind of adjustments that, that we need to make?

00:50:02.733 --> 00:50:06.364
Do you feel like level two is kind of where strategy kicks into

00:50:06.664 --> 00:50:07.894
Yeah, agreed.

00:50:08.014 --> 00:50:08.284
a lot.

00:50:08.673 --> 00:50:21.014
'cause a lot of times you see some level, and again this is just generalizations, but you see some level two golfers that are someone, maybe your age, Robbie, you know, that's getting into golf and played a couple years and they're pretty athletic,

00:50:21.014 --> 00:50:22.099
exactly who you're talking about.

00:50:22.099 --> 00:50:22.380
Yeah.

00:50:22.693 --> 00:50:28.594
they're just munching the ball and they're playing better and when things are working it's like they can shoot a pretty

00:50:28.719 --> 00:50:29.139
Mm-hmm.

00:50:29.313 --> 00:50:32.373
and when they're off they hit the ball all over the planet.

00:50:32.914 --> 00:50:38.673
And because their clubhead speed is kind of high, their or maybe is very high.

00:50:39.003 --> 00:50:43.114
Their ability to not have disruptors off the tee is.

00:50:43.579 --> 00:50:44.148
It's crazy.

00:50:44.148 --> 00:50:54.588
And then they're like, on every par five, whether there's a hazard or outer about whatever, they're just ripping it at the middle, you know, ripping it right at the flag, ripping at every flag, and then just like taking on what comes.

00:50:54.679 --> 00:50:57.498
And then all of a sudden they look and they go there's gotta be a better way.

00:50:57.498 --> 00:50:59.599
I'm, I'm getting better at this now.

00:50:59.599 --> 00:51:01.789
I need to find some refinement in my game.

00:51:02.059 --> 00:51:02.358
Right?

00:51:02.838 --> 00:51:16.938
And that refinement is the thing that can really drive that strategy piece to a, understand in the moment how to play a better round of golf, but b, have a bigger understanding of what I need to work on to get to the next level.

00:51:17.239 --> 00:51:17.418
Right.

00:51:17.418 --> 00:51:22.398
Because I think that's the beauty of when you really can visualize dispersion.

00:51:23.119 --> 00:51:23.898
We use this term.

00:51:23.898 --> 00:51:25.219
I mean, if it was a drinking game

00:51:25.295 --> 00:51:25.985
Oh my gosh.

00:51:25.985 --> 00:51:27.815
Someone is absolutely wasted right now.

00:51:29.539 --> 00:51:31.458
I'm drinking water right now.

00:51:31.804 --> 00:51:32.644
I'm not drinking anything right now.

00:51:33.588 --> 00:51:34.039
come on

00:51:34.204 --> 00:51:34.594
I know.

00:51:34.699 --> 00:51:35.179
So.

00:51:36.798 --> 00:51:39.378
Point being when you can visualize that all of a

00:51:39.635 --> 00:51:39.784
Yeah.

00:51:39.949 --> 00:51:41.119
and you're like, oh my gosh.

00:51:41.119 --> 00:51:44.449
Like I see the picture has become clear to me.

00:51:45.318 --> 00:51:47.148
And just holding your hand up in front of you and,

00:51:47.230 --> 00:51:47.449
Yep,

00:51:47.659 --> 00:51:50.358
figuring that out is wild, right?

00:51:50.358 --> 00:51:54.878
And then for a lot of people that have a competitive spirit, right?

00:51:54.878 --> 00:51:58.208
That it drives'em, they're like, I see what I need to

00:51:58.210 --> 00:51:58.429
yep.

00:51:58.748 --> 00:51:59.199
better.

00:52:00.278 --> 00:52:02.798
um, yeah.

00:52:02.858 --> 00:52:09.188
As a store, as a story on this dispersion, I caddied in, in a champion store qualifier this year, Monday qualifier.

00:52:09.579 --> 00:52:12.398
And I made notes on this one hole.

00:52:12.398 --> 00:52:15.369
I feel, I mean, to this day, like I, it just drives me nuts.

00:52:15.369 --> 00:52:16.449
And I miss this, right?

00:52:16.898 --> 00:52:18.429
I made notes on this hole.

00:52:18.429 --> 00:52:19.628
It's a dog leg left.

00:52:20.978 --> 00:52:27.518
And then there's this big tree that guards the right side of the green, you're ripping drive and hitting eight iron ends.

00:52:27.518 --> 00:52:28.869
It's not a short hole, right?

00:52:29.574 --> 00:52:30.804
It's not like you're hitting sandwich.

00:52:30.804 --> 00:52:37.853
We over the tree in the practice round I made a note like, miss right here.

00:52:37.884 --> 00:52:38.844
Like, cannot miss.

00:52:38.844 --> 00:52:43.943
There wasn't a hazard, wasn't a bunker actually.

00:52:44.634 --> 00:52:53.684
was just hard pan, half dormant Bermuda and a cart path and a massive hill that was gonna kick this ball into pine straw or whatever.

00:52:54.373 --> 00:52:58.813
I made this note, like, cannot mis right, cannot mis right, especially if it's a right hole location.

00:52:58.813 --> 00:53:00.193
It's a super steep slope.

00:53:00.673 --> 00:53:05.143
And we're in the fairway kind of going through this, you know, like where his ball was.

00:53:05.143 --> 00:53:08.603
We're making the wind adjustments, we're going through this process.

00:53:08.664 --> 00:53:14.353
Every single shot, and when we picked the target line, I just didn't move it enough.

00:53:14.353 --> 00:53:14.773
Left.

00:53:15.103 --> 00:53:22.034
Like it, like the, the round was kind of, it was like the 11th hole and we're kinda like even or whatever, like nothing had happened.

00:53:22.083 --> 00:53:23.583
And in your mind, I think you're.

00:53:24.438 --> 00:53:27.679
and I both were, I think trying to get one in there with an eight or

00:53:27.684 --> 00:53:28.105
Mm-hmm.

00:53:28.188 --> 00:53:28.818
like, you know what I

00:53:29.045 --> 00:53:29.335
Yeah.

00:53:29.449 --> 00:53:35.028
And we just needed to move those fingers left 20 feet and we just didn't do it.

00:53:35.298 --> 00:53:42.108
And he misses like four yards right of the flag and made double bogey, like to a place where he couldn't get it on

00:53:42.164 --> 00:53:42.454
Yeah.

00:53:42.588 --> 00:53:45.648
it was a, it would've been an almost impossible shot to get it on the green.

00:53:46.378 --> 00:53:50.539
So you're putting yourself through this and you just go through it again and again and again

00:53:50.599 --> 00:53:50.929
Yeah.

00:53:51.018 --> 00:53:51.378
again.

00:53:51.768 --> 00:53:59.418
And whether you're a level four player, whether you're level one player, level two is probably where a lot of this starts to come together.

00:53:59.719 --> 00:54:02.268
You make a decision and you want to do it over.

00:54:02.298 --> 00:54:02.989
And it's what data?

00:54:02.989 --> 00:54:05.688
That's how data is, it's not one at a time.

00:54:05.748 --> 00:54:08.708
It's over and over and over.

00:54:08.978 --> 00:54:10.329
And I'm consistent and I'm

00:54:10.360 --> 00:54:10.900
Yes.

00:54:11.108 --> 00:54:14.498
and I'm in my process and I do it, and I do it, and I do it.

00:54:14.498 --> 00:54:15.548
And if I do that.

00:54:16.898 --> 00:54:19.478
a period of time, my scores will improve.

00:54:20.228 --> 00:54:23.018
the moment you might feel conservative, right?

00:54:23.289 --> 00:54:24.068
But that's okay.

00:54:24.159 --> 00:54:26.168
'cause you're, and that it plays out in the short game.

00:54:26.168 --> 00:54:29.559
Like when you're saying put around a bunker, that feels really weird.

00:54:29.619 --> 00:54:34.809
It feels weird to put around a bunker and leave myself 25 feet for par.

00:54:35.289 --> 00:54:39.998
But if I try to, if I don't have the shot to hit the lob wedge over the bunker to get it

00:54:40.150 --> 00:54:40.420
Yeah.

00:54:40.480 --> 00:54:41.500
Eight out 10 times, right?

00:54:41.769 --> 00:54:42.099
Yeah.

00:54:42.579 --> 00:54:47.369
Eight outta 10 times so anyway, point being, just wanna, you want to be disciplined.

00:54:47.398 --> 00:54:49.978
Like that's where dis that's where decision process comes in.

00:54:49.978 --> 00:54:55.349
Like, it's something that you want to be disciplined to do over and over and over and over and over again, right?

00:54:55.409 --> 00:54:58.739
And where you stand in year round, right?

00:54:59.954 --> 00:55:00.840
No, it does not.

00:55:01.378 --> 00:55:03.028
And that's where discipline gets really

00:55:03.239 --> 00:55:03.960
It does.

00:55:04.679 --> 00:55:07.318
like whether you're playing great and you're like, I'm gonna go right at

00:55:07.710 --> 00:55:08.190
Yes.

00:55:08.219 --> 00:55:09.239
all had those days.

00:55:09.614 --> 00:55:17.463
Right where you feel like every ball's off the middle of the face and right at the flag, and then you get to that hole where you can see is the flag and you hit it two yards, right?

00:55:17.463 --> 00:55:20.313
And you short side yourself in a bunker and you're like, I can't get this up and down.

00:55:20.494 --> 00:55:21.393
Like, what was I doing?

00:55:21.693 --> 00:55:22.534
Why am I here?

00:55:22.563 --> 00:55:23.793
That was a decision, that was a

00:55:23.905 --> 00:55:24.195
Yeah.

00:55:24.543 --> 00:55:24.873
Right?

00:55:25.474 --> 00:55:29.224
And so, and that could really derail some rounds, right?

00:55:29.224 --> 00:55:38.614
So I think that being disciplined to just do it over and over again is such an important aspect of this decision making strategy.

00:55:38.824 --> 00:55:39.213
Right.

00:55:40.443 --> 00:55:43.023
And um, you know, I'm not great at it.

00:55:43.864 --> 00:55:44.824
I'm not that disciplined, right.

00:55:45.094 --> 00:55:47.494
But we're trying, we do better, actually, I am pretty

00:55:47.690 --> 00:55:48.079
Yeah.

00:55:48.230 --> 00:55:48.769
With that.

00:55:48.769 --> 00:55:49.130
Yeah.

00:55:49.264 --> 00:55:50.313
that took years.

00:55:50.313 --> 00:55:51.123
I'm old now.

00:55:51.123 --> 00:55:51.784
It's easier to be

00:55:51.980 --> 00:55:52.369
Yeah.

00:55:52.384 --> 00:55:54.934
when I was 22 trying to play the

00:55:54.980 --> 00:55:55.429
Right.

00:55:55.443 --> 00:55:55.864
I could.

00:55:56.434 --> 00:56:00.784
So I think that that, know, that comes into play for sure.

00:56:00.860 --> 00:56:01.340
Hundred percent.

00:56:01.340 --> 00:56:08.570
And that's where I think like, just convincing people that you're, you're taking on the appropriate amount of risk.

00:56:08.570 --> 00:56:25.659
And I say this a lot, but it's like, what we don't, what we don't want you doing is, and I know you said it there and, and everyone knows what you mean, but we don't want you on the golf course saying, I cannot go here or I cannot go there.

00:56:25.659 --> 00:56:30.409
And standing up on the tee just filled with all of this avoidance, avoidance, avoidance.

00:56:30.409 --> 00:56:38.119
Because like you, you hear other, other people talk strategy and it's all about avoid this, avoid that.

00:56:38.449 --> 00:56:43.869
You can't have a three putt, you can't have a two chip, you can't have and, and that's not how we want you to play golf.

00:56:44.349 --> 00:56:46.840
We want you going out there and.

00:56:47.889 --> 00:56:53.139
Going for it, but going for it with a mathematically correct amount of risk.

00:56:53.139 --> 00:57:03.489
So in that scenario, the error really for your player there was, we needed to understand that where to move that dispersion was inside, was actually on the green.

00:57:03.489 --> 00:57:05.530
Like I needed to get my dispersion here.

00:57:05.739 --> 00:57:07.539
Like you said, Hey, I was four yards ride of the fly.

00:57:07.539 --> 00:57:13.329
Well it, it sounded like it kind of, it hit on the hit on a green that had some slope and the slope took it down.

00:57:13.329 --> 00:57:18.420
So we need to clearly define like, hey, where is the margin of this penalty area actually, right.

00:57:18.420 --> 00:57:21.650
So that hey, it actually was a little bit further left than what we thought.

00:57:22.130 --> 00:57:26.269
The fact that like you hit the, the ball in the penalty area.

00:57:26.320 --> 00:57:26.829
Who knows?

00:57:26.829 --> 00:57:34.210
That was the one out of, you know, that could have been the one out of like five that we're talking about where just the face had a me a little bit more.

00:57:34.210 --> 00:57:34.630
Right.

00:57:34.630 --> 00:57:37.869
But being able to diagnose this after the fact, well.

00:57:39.079 --> 00:57:43.159
It was not technically a skill error, it was a strategy error because

00:57:43.443 --> 00:57:43.594
No.

00:57:43.594 --> 00:57:43.623
A

00:57:43.670 --> 00:57:55.869
we didn't, we didn't realize where, so I guess my point is, is we want you going out here and attacking the golf course, quote unquote, with putting this dispersion in places where you want the ball to be, right.

00:57:56.199 --> 00:57:59.800
We want, we want you putting this Hey, I, I want you to hit it here.

00:57:59.804 --> 00:58:01.539
I, I, I would like to hit it here.

00:58:01.539 --> 00:58:07.000
I, but it's never, I have to hit it here or I can't possibly hit it here because you never know.

00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:11.869
Like, again, like think about like Rory playing, in the Masters last year, like his shot on 13.

00:58:12.320 --> 00:58:20.750
I think if you had, if you pulled an entire room full of like golf strategy experts, they would all probably agree.

00:58:20.750 --> 00:58:24.320
Like you can't hit it in the penalty area there with a wedge.

00:58:24.409 --> 00:58:24.980
Can't do it.

00:58:24.980 --> 00:58:25.219
Right?

00:58:25.219 --> 00:58:27.340
Like quote unquote, not Well, what did he do?

00:58:27.969 --> 00:58:29.289
He knocked it in the penalty area.

00:58:29.860 --> 00:58:30.730
What else did he do?

00:58:32.019 --> 00:58:32.949
He won the tournament.

00:58:33.190 --> 00:58:33.250
So

00:58:33.568 --> 00:58:33.918
right.

00:58:34.360 --> 00:58:36.610
you never know how this stuff is gonna play out.

00:58:36.659 --> 00:58:39.389
If you start saying to yourself like, I can't double the first hole.

00:58:40.050 --> 00:58:45.289
Well, let's actually think about, did you play a round that you were actually okay with, where you did double the first hole?

00:58:45.469 --> 00:58:46.760
And most people can say yes.

00:58:46.809 --> 00:58:49.480
I had a great round that I was really happy with where I tripled the first hole.

00:58:49.539 --> 00:58:50.349
Absolutely.

00:58:50.920 --> 00:58:51.130
Right.

00:58:51.135 --> 00:58:55.420
Can you think of a round that you were really happy with where you had a three putt or maybe two, three putts?

00:58:55.510 --> 00:58:56.679
Yeah, absolutely.

00:58:57.130 --> 00:58:59.289
So golf is a game of variability.

00:59:00.110 --> 00:59:03.019
Everyone knows you're gonna have some error with this,

00:59:03.679 --> 00:59:03.978
Yeah.

00:59:04.039 --> 00:59:04.699
but it's like,

00:59:04.818 --> 00:59:06.829
where the, that's where the process comes in.

00:59:06.829 --> 00:59:08.239
yes, yes,

00:59:08.418 --> 00:59:09.739
then you're not so emotional.

00:59:10.248 --> 00:59:10.728
Can't do

00:59:10.969 --> 00:59:16.309
You stay in the game and you, and you keep staying present with each, every individual shot.

00:59:16.460 --> 00:59:18.079
And at the end you see what happens.

00:59:18.085 --> 00:59:20.510
You, you add'em up and you see how you fared.

00:59:20.510 --> 00:59:22.579
And that's, that's kind of how we like to see it.

00:59:23.010 --> 00:59:25.230
So, so we're very big on, on.

00:59:26.054 --> 00:59:31.454
Precepting the fact that you're gonna have, again, 16% of your shots are gonna be outside your dispersion.

00:59:31.514 --> 00:59:35.625
Hopefully they're in, like when the 16% of shots come.

00:59:35.804 --> 00:59:37.755
Hopefully they're in a place where you can find the golf ball.

00:59:37.994 --> 00:59:38.985
Sometimes they're not.

00:59:39.525 --> 00:59:51.675
But our goal here is to, is to choose a strategy to where if you hit the middle, 84% of your shots, then you're gonna be able to find the ball in play with a clear path to the green, on the green if you're in short game, right?

00:59:52.045 --> 00:59:54.699
And you're gonna be able to kind of, you know, get the most out of your round.

00:59:54.699 --> 00:59:54.860
So.

00:59:56.978 --> 00:59:58.398
It makes total sense.

00:59:59.349 --> 01:00:03.653
Well, Rob, like to add to this lovely discussion?

01:00:04.344 --> 01:00:05.094
I don't think so.

01:00:05.278 --> 01:00:05.398
I

01:00:05.784 --> 01:00:13.635
I, I think, you know, we, we've said that we want to, to go through some mailbag and, or some, lessons from our lessons, but I mean, I'm looking at the clock right now.

01:00:13.784 --> 01:00:16.914
It's an hour 15, so that was a, that was a big episode.

01:00:16.914 --> 01:00:24.554
I think we, we covered some of the score, some of the metrics in the beginning, so I think that was good,, especially on this episode to kind of go through that again, first off.

01:00:25.184 --> 01:00:33.614
But yeah, as we, as we move through the, it won't be an hour of level one to three, although I don't know you, y'all can tell us as a listener if you, if you enjoyed that.

01:00:33.614 --> 01:00:36.494
But, a little more long-winded on that tonight, but I think it's,, I think it's good.

01:00:37.318 --> 01:00:37.798
No worries.

01:00:37.798 --> 01:00:45.878
So what, what we'll do, maybe another good way to do it is do maybe we can collect some questions,, related to

01:00:46.195 --> 01:00:47.034
I like that.

01:00:47.498 --> 01:00:48.608
to the topics,

01:00:48.789 --> 01:00:49.119
that.

01:00:49.239 --> 01:00:51.608
as, as folks listen through the series.

01:00:52.088 --> 01:01:03.619
You can send us questions and if you had a question about this episode, you can email us at the golf intervention@gmail.com, put in the, the subject line question for golf intervention.

01:01:03.648 --> 01:01:04.639
That would be great.

01:01:05.059 --> 01:01:07.248
That way we can sort through it very well.

01:01:07.278 --> 01:01:17.798
So if you had a question on strategy, so we could either start our next episode, you know, by answering those questions, then go into it or we may collect them and just do, an episode just of questions.

01:01:17.798 --> 01:01:18.099
So we'll

01:01:18.204 --> 01:01:18.494
Yeah,

01:01:18.849 --> 01:01:20.168
you know, kind of

01:01:20.289 --> 01:01:20.980
I love that.

01:01:21.039 --> 01:01:22.090
No, I think that's a great idea.

01:01:22.090 --> 01:01:27.099
And our next, our next episode will be on skill, which I'm very excited about.

01:01:27.099 --> 01:01:29.739
And we're gonna have plenty of lessons from our lessons on this.

01:01:29.739 --> 01:01:30.519
I have a feeling.

01:01:30.519 --> 01:01:31.880
So,, very excited.

01:01:31.884 --> 01:01:42.318
I think that no question we've said and said again I think the misconception with golf improvement is it's all about swing.

01:01:43.159 --> 01:01:45.708
And what we would say is swing is important.

01:01:45.949 --> 01:01:46.998
A hundred percent.

01:01:47.719 --> 01:01:50.539
But also there's also skill and there's also strategy.

01:01:50.778 --> 01:01:56.148
And in that hierarchy we're, it's probably least invasive to work down

01:01:56.385 --> 01:01:56.605
Yes,

01:01:56.628 --> 01:01:57.259
strategy to

01:01:57.304 --> 01:01:57.525
yes.

01:01:57.559 --> 01:01:57.858
swing,

01:01:58.155 --> 01:01:58.445
Yeah,

01:01:58.548 --> 01:02:01.429
most impactful with that, with the least amount of cost.

01:02:01.759 --> 01:02:06.438
And when you start to take on swing stuff, you know, there can be a cost there.

01:02:06.454 --> 01:02:06.875
for sure.

01:02:06.889 --> 01:02:07.068
know

01:02:07.275 --> 01:02:07.835
A hundred percent

01:02:07.878 --> 01:02:08.208
that.

01:02:08.568 --> 01:02:11.028
Coaches know it, players know it, everybody understands.

01:02:11.449 --> 01:02:20.028
And so if we can, if we can work through skill, and or strategy, you know, there's, they tend to be, steps backwards tend to not be taken

01:02:20.034 --> 01:02:20.454
agreed.

01:02:20.605 --> 01:02:20.894
Yeah.

01:02:21.018 --> 01:02:21.528
in those.

01:02:21.648 --> 01:02:23.778
Hopefully they go straightforward, like you said with strategy.

01:02:23.778 --> 01:02:27.259
It's hard to go, it's hard to have, your strategy and get

01:02:27.425 --> 01:02:27.994
By improving

01:02:29.389 --> 01:02:29.719
Yeah, that

01:02:29.945 --> 01:02:31.420
doesn't really typically happen.

01:02:33.259 --> 01:02:37.849
So thank you again, listener for tuning in to the Golf Intervention Podcast.

01:02:37.849 --> 01:02:39.139
We've enjoyed our time.

01:02:39.528 --> 01:02:42.228
And,, we will be rolling out new episodes, hopefully weekly.

01:02:42.228 --> 01:02:46.059
Now we're in the rhythm, and, we look forward to your questions.

01:02:46.298 --> 01:02:47.858
And thank you again for listening.

01:02:47.858 --> 01:02:51.969
Next time we talk about skill, everyone has a great week.

01:02:52.298 --> 01:02:55.329
You know, the sun is shining in Central Virginia.

01:02:55.329 --> 01:02:59.259
Hopefully everybody's finding some warm weather and we can start to play some golf.

01:02:59.259 --> 01:03:00.009
What do you think, Rob?

01:03:00.280 --> 01:03:00.909
Fired up.

01:03:01.639 --> 01:03:02.269
Let's do it.

01:03:02.469 --> 01:03:02.648
up.

01:03:02.648 --> 01:03:04.719
All right, everybody, have a great evening.

01:03:05.070 --> 01:03:05.489
Cheers.