Feb. 27, 2026

EP54: Golf Improvement Theory Part 2: SKILL- Train Skill, Shoot Lower Scores

EP54: Golf Improvement Theory Part 2: SKILL- Train Skill, Shoot Lower Scores

Send a text Episode 54 | The Golf Intervention Podcast In Part 2 of our Golf Improvement Theory series, we break down the real drivers of performance: the three ball flight skills that control every shot you hit. If your practice doesn’t intentionally train these skills, you’re guessing — not improving. This episode gives you a simple, science-based framework for building measurable skill and transferring it to the course. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why “working on your swing” often...

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Send a text


Episode 54 | The Golf Intervention Podcast

In Part 2 of our Golf Improvement Theory series, we break down the real drivers of performance: the three ball flight skills that control every shot you hit. If your practice doesn’t intentionally train these skills, you’re guessing — not improving.

This episode gives you a simple, science-based framework for building measurable skill and transferring it to the course.

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why “working on your swing” often fails to lower scores
  • The difference between swing mechanics and skill development
  • The 3 Ball Flight Skills every golfer must train
  • How to practice with intention and measurable feedback
  • How skill connects directly to scoring and performance under pressure

The 3 Ball Flight Skills Explained

Every golf shot is governed by three variables. Improve these, and your ball flight improves.

1️⃣ Location of the Swing Arc


2️⃣ Face-to-Path Relationship


3️⃣ Speed (Energy Control)


Why This Matters for Scoring

Most golfers practice mechanics.
 Better players train skills.

When you develop:

  • Low-point control
  • Face-to-path awareness
  • Speed mastery

You shrink dispersion patterns, improve consistency, and make smarter strategic decisions.

Skill is what transfers under pressure.

Golf Improvement Theory Framework (Recap)

In this series, we’ve broken improvement into:

  1. Strategy (Part 1)
  2. Skill (This episode)
  3. (Coming next…Swing)

Improvement isn’t random. It’s structured.

If you want lower scores, you must build skill intentionally — not just chase feels.

🎙️ Why You Should Listen

If you’re:

  • A competitive player who wants measurable improvement
  • A coach looking for a clearer development model
  • A golfer tired of inconsistent results
  • Someone who practices but doesn’t see it transfer

This episode gives you a framework to train smarter — not just harder.

🔎 Keywords Covered in This Episode

Golf skill development
 Ball flight laws
 Face to path relationship
 Low point control in golf
 Distance control practice
 Golf improvement theory
 How to practice golf effectively
 Golf dispersion patterns
 Train speed control in golf

📬 Support the Show & Get Bonus Material

Subscribe for deeper breakdowns and bonus training insights:
 👉 https://thegolfintervention.substack.com/

If this episode helped clarify your improvement path, share it with a playing partner or fellow coach.



WEBVTT

00:00:03.556 --> 00:00:06.556
And welcome back to the Golf Intervention Podcast.

00:00:07.815 --> 00:00:08.656
It's a great day.

00:00:08.715 --> 00:00:12.646
I just got home from picking my son up from college in Charlottesville, Virginia.

00:00:12.976 --> 00:00:14.746
So from spring break, that was fun.

00:00:14.865 --> 00:00:19.275
And then I immediately sat down and turned my laptop on and it was dead.

00:00:19.396 --> 00:00:23.175
And now we're recording an episode 20 minutes later after we let it charge.

00:00:23.626 --> 00:00:27.286
And on tonight's episode, gonna discuss skill.

00:00:27.736 --> 00:00:32.146
This episode listener could change your life.

00:00:32.386 --> 00:00:33.076
How you doing Rob

00:00:33.094 --> 00:00:33.765
We're doing great.

00:00:33.765 --> 00:00:34.244
How about you?

00:00:35.146 --> 00:00:40.515
I'm just a little on the edge tonight, so we don't know what direction this show might go, but, you

00:00:40.594 --> 00:00:42.335
The future is always uncertain, so

00:00:43.036 --> 00:00:44.146
Future's always uncertain.

00:00:44.176 --> 00:00:45.286
I'm just excited.

00:00:45.735 --> 00:00:52.725
We've been starting to get a little busier, with the weather picking up and, you know, had a little unexpected trip I had to make today.

00:00:52.725 --> 00:00:53.475
So I'm like,

00:00:54.134 --> 00:00:54.255
I.

00:00:54.765 --> 00:00:55.875
you ready to go?

00:00:55.935 --> 00:00:57.256
Mushy brained and ready to go.

00:00:57.256 --> 00:00:58.066
But today.

00:00:59.085 --> 00:01:14.055
On part two of our series on golf improvement theory, which part one really fun and I got a lot of interesting comments from people on part one part two we're gonna discuss skill.

00:01:15.016 --> 00:01:19.875
And I think this may be this little word, this, what is it?

00:01:20.025 --> 00:01:29.566
Five letters skill, maybe literally most misunderstood not understood slash didn't,, didn't even know it existed.

00:01:30.676 --> 00:01:32.926
of golf development.

00:01:32.995 --> 00:01:33.215
Yep.

00:01:33.585 --> 00:01:43.396
And once you, as the golfer understand skill and separate it from swing, your life will change.

00:01:43.486 --> 00:01:44.926
I almost guarantee you that.

00:01:45.555 --> 00:01:46.156
Is that too?

00:01:46.275 --> 00:01:47.025
That's too heavy.

00:01:47.025 --> 00:01:47.626
Is it too heavy?

00:01:47.626 --> 00:01:47.926
Rob,

00:01:48.174 --> 00:01:51.855
I, I don't think you could possibly be heavy enough, Eric, so I think you, I think you covered it.

00:01:51.855 --> 00:01:52.215
hyper?

00:01:52.995 --> 00:01:53.236
Am I hyperbolizing?

00:01:54.390 --> 00:01:54.750
No.

00:01:54.885 --> 00:01:56.805
Late, late on a Wednesday?

00:01:56.865 --> 00:01:57.346
I don't think

00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:57.719
No.

00:01:58.165 --> 00:02:03.596
I did some lessons today, which were very much swing lessons,, but a lot of lessons are not swing lessons.

00:02:03.656 --> 00:02:04.465
Today was swing.

00:02:04.465 --> 00:02:06.025
There was some stuff that needed to happen

00:02:06.310 --> 00:02:06.549
Yeah.

00:02:07.286 --> 00:02:09.475
but a lot of times we're working on skill.

00:02:10.256 --> 00:02:10.705
So

00:02:12.615 --> 00:02:13.335
I would say that,

00:02:13.406 --> 00:02:36.086
that in the, in the golf intervention 1.0, this has been the part that's helped people a lot, like shot dispersion stuff and strategy, huge understanding who the golfer is, level 1, 2, 3, and four, what that means to their, you know, development and scoring and their habits and their strategies and what they need to do to develop huge.

00:02:36.866 --> 00:02:42.656
an understanding of how to separate swing and skill may be the hugest of

00:02:42.865 --> 00:02:43.145
yeah.

00:02:43.735 --> 00:02:48.235
So that is what we're gonna take on tonight, the hugest of all skill.

00:02:49.165 --> 00:02:55.286
So we have, I think, said this at least a hundred times, but you can never say it enough.

00:02:55.286 --> 00:02:56.635
And I know we get new listeners every

00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:57.129
Yeah.

00:02:57.205 --> 00:03:04.705
kind of fun to watch the, the stats roll through and we like to take this on again because it is so impactful.

00:03:04.705 --> 00:03:08.066
So when we discuss skill, when I say skill, rob

00:03:08.365 --> 00:03:08.574
Yep.

00:03:09.506 --> 00:03:17.515
no matter what it is, whether you're playing basketball, whether you're playing the guitar, whether you're learning who knows what

00:03:17.544 --> 00:03:17.754
Yeah.

00:03:19.105 --> 00:03:21.806
So skill is a thing and in golf.

00:03:21.806 --> 00:03:23.816
How do we, how do we define it?

00:03:23.816 --> 00:03:24.385
And also, I

00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:24.729
Yeah.

00:03:25.165 --> 00:03:35.026
for you as an instructor, like give me a, gimme a sense of the journey as Rob fails, and learning about these things,

00:03:35.069 --> 00:03:35.490
Right.

00:03:35.716 --> 00:03:36.645
skill swing.

00:03:36.675 --> 00:03:40.635
Give us, give us a little sense of what it is and how, and kind of your journey towards understanding.

00:03:40.949 --> 00:03:41.219
Yeah.

00:03:41.219 --> 00:03:43.409
So I think whether we.

00:03:44.354 --> 00:03:45.284
Whether we like it or not.

00:03:45.284 --> 00:03:50.384
I think every golfer who comes to see us is looking for skill improvement.

00:03:51.824 --> 00:04:02.645
And whether they know it or not, or whether the coach knows it or not, we're always looking for skill improvement., As a young teacher, I, very much was all about swing.

00:04:02.944 --> 00:04:15.844
Every single lesson I was looking at what the ball was doing, and then I was making a one-to-one correlation in, okay, if I changed this swing thing, it should change what the ball's doing.

00:04:17.495 --> 00:04:19.985
Now, that's not entirely incorrect, right?

00:04:19.985 --> 00:04:21.514
Because there's some minutia to this.

00:04:21.514 --> 00:04:22.714
That's, that's very important.

00:04:23.615 --> 00:04:26.134
We have the bias of skills.

00:04:26.165 --> 00:04:38.694
So if you thought about all three skills, and we're gonna talk about that here in a little bit, but if we said over the course of a year, how are the skills biased, then that would be more of a swing.

00:04:39.384 --> 00:04:40.375
Type of thing.

00:04:40.375 --> 00:04:40.615
Right?

00:04:40.615 --> 00:04:45.509
So I mean, if all you do is, is teach swing, then I got good news for you.

00:04:45.795 --> 00:04:50.425
You are changing the bias of skill already without knowing it.

00:04:50.694 --> 00:04:50.935
Right?

00:04:50.935 --> 00:05:09.084
And so a lot of golfers and coaches, that's why coaches are successful, students are successful and many times have no earthly idea about what we're gonna talk about tonight when it comes to skill, because you are in, you are changing the skills anyway when you influence swing.

00:05:10.074 --> 00:05:11.185
So I wanna get that outta the way.

00:05:11.694 --> 00:05:14.214
But it is, it is changing the bias of skills.

00:05:15.295 --> 00:05:20.995
It is not guaranteeing a specific delivered skill.

00:05:22.584 --> 00:05:22.944
All right.

00:05:22.944 --> 00:05:28.915
So a specific A, a singular delivered skill.

00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.120
It is very, very different.

00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:32.379
All right.

00:05:33.139 --> 00:05:56.870
And that's really the distinction that we, that we want to make here, is that tonight what we're talking about is how can you make the golf ball do something different on this next swing versus when you're maybe doing swing stuff, what are you maybe, and I say maybe because it is not a, it's not an exact science, alright?

00:05:57.589 --> 00:05:58.699
It's a hypothesis.

00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:00.709
We're always working with incomplete information.

00:06:00.709 --> 00:06:00.949
Right.

00:06:00.949 --> 00:06:11.509
But when you change swing, you are maybe biasing the skills in the desired way more over like a longer term period of time.

00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:12.740
Right.

00:06:12.740 --> 00:06:18.589
So backing up into the definitions of like what are the skills, and we say there are three skills.

00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:24.720
The first is arc location, the second is face to path, and the third is club at speed.

00:06:25.709 --> 00:06:25.920
Right?

00:06:26.730 --> 00:06:30.660
So we used to say Impact Spot, I think like TGI 1.0.

00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:32.670
I think we said Impact Spot was the first skill.

00:06:32.670 --> 00:06:42.350
And we had a discussion on this and we actually landed on Arc location because there's a lot of different ways that you can create the same impact spot on the face, right?

00:06:42.350 --> 00:06:48.139
The bottom of the swing could be in totally different places and create the same impact spot, right?

00:06:48.139 --> 00:06:56.759
So we decided to kind of cut through the middleman, if you will, and just go straight to arc, location as a skill, right?

00:06:57.449 --> 00:07:05.790
Arc location is as it as it says, if you could think about the entire swing and the shape of it.

00:07:06.310 --> 00:07:08.769
There's actually been some really cool research by,, Dr.

00:07:09.009 --> 00:07:13.750
Jhu Kwan that shows the bottom of the swing arc is darn near planer.

00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:21.550
Like, so the club head trajectory itself at the bottom of the swing is really close to being on a plane.

00:07:21.970 --> 00:07:22.959
Quote unquote, if you will.

00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:23.230
Right?

00:07:23.889 --> 00:07:26.709
And that plane occurs on an arc, right?

00:07:26.709 --> 00:07:32.470
A on a, on a tilted angle and where the bottom of that swing arc, right?

00:07:32.470 --> 00:07:38.769
When it's kind of, we'll say like from about like waist high down, swing to waist high follow through, right?

00:07:38.769 --> 00:07:42.399
You can just kind of picture the bottom half of your swing circle, right?

00:07:43.449 --> 00:07:49.839
Where is that swing circle located in space from a height perspective

00:07:50.081 --> 00:07:51.190
Mm-hmm.

00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:58.389
as a proximity from you perspective, further away from you, closer to you, right?

00:07:58.389 --> 00:07:59.470
Those are the big ones.

00:07:59.709 --> 00:08:02.920
Now, there is also the proximity from the target.

00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:07.209
We say like behind the ball or ahead of the golf ball, like closer to the target stuff.

00:08:08.029 --> 00:08:09.529
And that's included in the skill.

00:08:10.069 --> 00:08:16.670
I go back and forth when I'm working with golfers on whether we need to spend a ton of time on that.

00:08:16.829 --> 00:08:20.370
Because a lot of time that is more of a swing intervention like.

00:08:21.225 --> 00:08:28.274
To change where the bottom of the arc is from a, from a behind the ball ahead of the ball perspective that is a little bit more invasive.

00:08:28.274 --> 00:08:31.514
It, it tends to create a little bit more swing changes, if you will.

00:08:32.445 --> 00:08:35.264
But I, I still categorize it under skill.

00:08:35.264 --> 00:08:37.245
I want them to think of it still as a skill.

00:08:37.245 --> 00:08:41.044
We still train that,, in many of the same ways that we're gonna talk about tonight.

00:08:41.445 --> 00:08:43.815
Kind of using the variable and differential differential training.

00:08:43.815 --> 00:08:49.245
So think of it like up, down, closer to you, further from you, closer to the target.

00:08:49.245 --> 00:08:50.054
Further from the target.

00:08:50.565 --> 00:09:00.014
Uh, where is the bottom of the arc in space that is gonna have the most influence on the impact spot on the face where the ball is, is touching the club.

00:09:00.644 --> 00:09:00.914
Right.

00:09:01.274 --> 00:09:13.235
Again, I go back and forth on the, on the Tor and away from the target element because then you're talking about changes in loft at Impact, potentially a little bit, attack angle at impact, like some of that stuff.

00:09:13.294 --> 00:09:25.835
But pretty much when you change the height and when you change the proximity of it relative to you closer and further from you, you're really just influencing the, the strike location on the face is really what you're doing with that arc location.

00:09:25.835 --> 00:09:27.605
So that's the skill one.

00:09:27.605 --> 00:09:28.865
We call that skill one for a reason.

00:09:28.865 --> 00:09:30.004
We're gonna get maybe into that.

00:09:30.394 --> 00:09:32.284
Skill two is gonna be face to path.

00:09:32.284 --> 00:09:44.044
So just picturing the shaft of the club itself and just spinning the shaft about itself, not changing where the club head is in space, not changing the angle of the shaft, so to speak.

00:09:44.554 --> 00:09:50.764
It's just spinning and rotating the shaft about itself to change the face orientation relative to the shaft.

00:09:51.620 --> 00:09:54.440
So we say closed face to path, open face to path.

00:09:54.769 --> 00:09:58.070
A lot of times I, I'm getting away from saying open and close.

00:09:58.070 --> 00:10:02.539
I'm just saying, Hey, face left, face right, relative to the shaft.

00:10:02.629 --> 00:10:03.019
Right?

00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:04.809
Because it's a little bit more actionable.

00:10:04.809 --> 00:10:10.139
It's a little bit more, um, meaningful, relative to, what the golfer's experiencing.

00:10:11.100 --> 00:10:12.720
And then finally, club head speed.

00:10:13.350 --> 00:10:23.169
Not handle speed, not shaft speed, club head speed at impact, which is a whole rabbit hole.

00:10:23.169 --> 00:10:33.580
That's if there were a skill, in my opinion, if we're talking about these, we, we said that the arc location, kind of ahead of the ball behind the ball has quite a few swing implications.

00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:39.879
If there were ever a skill that was mostly tied to the swing itself, it would be clubhead speed.

00:10:40.299 --> 00:10:44.830
Clubhead speed and swing are very, very much inter interconnected.

00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:57.539
They're linked., And so more often than not, when you're looking at training clubhead speed, you're going to visually see differences in the size of the swing, right?

00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:01.289
And, and whereas with the others, you might, you're probably not.

00:11:01.289 --> 00:11:12.210
You're hopefully, if you're doing this well, if you're doing skill training, well, you're not seeing a huge or really any perceptible difference in the swing when you're working through this.

00:11:12.509 --> 00:11:17.909
Whereas in club head speed, you're gonna see a, a big difference in the size of the swing as you're kind of going through it.

00:11:17.909 --> 00:11:23.879
So those are the three skills., And again, like, we're gonna get a lot more into it, but I'll let you kind of take it from here, Eric.

00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:27.159
That's,, that's kind of the, main, points of emphasis tonight.

00:11:27.836 --> 00:11:28.076
Yeah.

00:11:28.076 --> 00:11:40.255
And I think trying to reiterate to the golfer that your swing is not what really controls the ball, right?

00:11:40.706 --> 00:11:44.966
It's your ability to produce a skill through the lens.

00:11:44.995 --> 00:11:47.816
I always say skill is produced through the lens of your

00:11:47.835 --> 00:11:48.125
Yeah.

00:11:48.895 --> 00:11:49.225
right?

00:11:49.615 --> 00:11:52.855
And this is why John ROMs swing.

00:11:53.395 --> 00:11:57.505
Can look very different than Rory McElroy's swing, and they can produce

00:11:57.794 --> 00:11:58.365
Same shot.

00:11:58.554 --> 00:11:58.845
Yeah.

00:11:59.306 --> 00:12:06.806
And so their ability to control the ball, the ability to hit the ball further, the ability to curve it right to left, left to right, high to low.

00:12:07.206 --> 00:12:13.145
The, the ability to make good contact right repeatedly with swings that look very

00:12:13.274 --> 00:12:13.434
Yes.

00:12:14.135 --> 00:12:14.436
Okay?

00:12:15.186 --> 00:12:24.456
So if I'm someone that has a swing that is idiosyncratic, may be able to produce the skills I need.

00:12:24.576 --> 00:12:26.826
I may not be able to produce the skills I need.

00:12:27.306 --> 00:12:41.806
So for instance, today when I had a swing lesson, I said he was, I don't wanna say on the verge of quitting golf, but kind of,, not someone I, I regularly work with, but just like wasn't hitting it very well or very far.

00:12:41.806 --> 00:12:44.326
It was like, I've lost a lot of speed, I've lost a lot of

00:12:44.684 --> 00:12:44.774
Hmm.

00:12:44.836 --> 00:12:45.885
I don't know what's going on.

00:12:46.275 --> 00:12:47.475
And so his swing had.

00:12:48.556 --> 00:12:53.355
Yeah, it had stuff that was going, it was very inefficient in the way that he was moving and swinging the club.

00:12:55.666 --> 00:12:59.416
so we worked on the swing and actually I said, don't worry about the skills right now.

00:12:59.985 --> 00:13:00.404
Yes.

00:13:00.735 --> 00:13:01.605
where the ball

00:13:01.669 --> 00:13:02.019
Uhhuh

00:13:02.716 --> 00:13:04.245
'cause we are not focused on

00:13:04.335 --> 00:13:05.054
on the scale.

00:13:05.115 --> 00:13:05.294
Yep.

00:13:05.686 --> 00:13:10.816
I'm gonna look at track man and we're gonna try to make the club head go faster, period.

00:13:11.176 --> 00:13:12.105
We're not trying to hit it.

00:13:12.135 --> 00:13:13.936
Well, we're not trying to locate the arc.

00:13:13.936 --> 00:13:15.556
I was just saying we're not trying to hit it good.

00:13:15.556 --> 00:13:17.265
You know, this is like coach speak, right?

00:13:17.926 --> 00:13:19.785
We're, we're not trying to locate the arc.

00:13:20.086 --> 00:13:23.056
We're not trying to really control the face path relationship.

00:13:23.355 --> 00:13:24.796
We're not trying to hit a beautiful shot.

00:13:24.946 --> 00:13:29.115
We're trying to make the club head go faster when it hits the ball.

00:13:29.505 --> 00:13:29.985
Okay?

00:13:30.196 --> 00:13:39.566
Then if we can do that in a way that we think for you and feels right and feels comfortable, and we can build from there, then we'll learn how to build

00:13:39.784 --> 00:13:40.075
Yeah.

00:13:40.405 --> 00:13:40.796
Right?

00:13:41.155 --> 00:13:43.676
And he was like for it, right?

00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:46.091
And so that's what we worked on.

00:13:46.301 --> 00:13:49.961
Some days people come in and their swing is, you know, they can't control the ball.

00:13:50.380 --> 00:13:51.671
It has nothing to do with their swing.

00:13:52.510 --> 00:13:53.951
need a little skill training, right?

00:13:53.951 --> 00:13:55.990
The, we need to control the face a little differently.

00:13:55.990 --> 00:13:59.020
Or the arc location isn't quite right or usually that.

00:13:59.020 --> 00:13:59.441
It's usually

00:13:59.534 --> 00:13:59.695
Right.

00:13:59.725 --> 00:14:00.014
Yeah.

00:14:00.160 --> 00:14:00.640
I would say.

00:14:00.760 --> 00:14:01.181
Okay.

00:14:01.541 --> 00:14:15.221
So that communication to yourself or with your coach is huge because here's the story, blame shots on swings.

00:14:16.315 --> 00:14:16.495
yeah.

00:14:17.321 --> 00:14:19.600
But here's the problem with that.

00:14:20.020 --> 00:14:29.081
I can make what feels like the output from my body through the club to the ball what feels exactly the same to me, and produce two different

00:14:29.289 --> 00:14:29.710
Mm-hmm.

00:14:30.760 --> 00:14:31.211
Why

00:14:31.465 --> 00:14:31.884
Skill.

00:14:32.171 --> 00:14:32.471
right?

00:14:33.880 --> 00:14:39.160
And this is something that really, really, really, really, really smart teachers have been offered a long

00:14:39.460 --> 00:14:39.750
Yeah.

00:14:39.750 --> 00:14:40.909
It's nothing new for sure.

00:14:41.110 --> 00:14:43.331
it's nothing new and but, but it's like.

00:14:44.110 --> 00:14:46.721
It's track band newish in a way, whether, you

00:14:46.779 --> 00:14:47.070
Yeah.

00:14:47.541 --> 00:14:52.551
I remember, I remember somebody that would harp on this video, I can't remember, it was Jordan speech or something.

00:14:52.791 --> 00:14:56.451
They kept showing this slow motion video of Jordan hitting it off the heel of his club.

00:14:56.870 --> 00:14:59.660
And it was just like, why did he do that?

00:14:59.721 --> 00:15:00.561
Why did he do that?

00:15:00.561 --> 00:15:03.831
Like, it was, he was just baiting people into having this conversation.

00:15:03.831 --> 00:15:05.480
Like, oh, it was all this stuff.

00:15:05.541 --> 00:15:10.321
No, he missed, it wasn't, his swing broke down.

00:15:10.321 --> 00:15:12.421
This is what like, you watch golf on tv.

00:15:12.421 --> 00:15:13.561
What happened there, Johnny?

00:15:13.561 --> 00:15:16.951
Well, you know, he, shut down the lower body and flipped it.

00:15:16.951 --> 00:15:19.201
Like, you know, it's all this crazy swing

00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:19.980
Yes.

00:15:20.041 --> 00:15:22.350
just like, oh my gosh, it's nauseating.

00:15:22.711 --> 00:15:28.760
So the point is even the greatest golfers in the world don't produce the skills every single time.

00:15:28.791 --> 00:15:29.780
'cause golf is hard.

00:15:29.931 --> 00:15:30.260
Okay.

00:15:30.260 --> 00:15:30.740
It's okay to

00:15:30.889 --> 00:15:31.309
Mm-hmm.

00:15:31.880 --> 00:15:35.480
but if you can take what Robbie was saying, you can go back and listen to it again.

00:15:36.201 --> 00:15:38.561
Is we can sort out.

00:15:39.326 --> 00:15:46.676
we control the club and its interaction with the ball through how we move, which is swing, right?

00:15:46.676 --> 00:15:49.285
And then we're trying to correlate those together in a

00:15:49.429 --> 00:15:49.549
Yeah.

00:15:49.975 --> 00:15:51.775
and that produces our golf shots.

00:15:51.985 --> 00:15:57.086
And so this is not every swing works, and you can build the skills you want.

00:15:57.235 --> 00:15:58.015
Absolutely not.

00:15:58.046 --> 00:16:00.265
'cause some swings cannot produce the skills, right?

00:16:00.265 --> 00:16:01.255
Like that guy had today.

00:16:01.255 --> 00:16:03.716
It wasn't gonna happen, wasn't happening.

00:16:03.865 --> 00:16:06.326
He needed to change things and he knew it, right?

00:16:06.326 --> 00:16:06.926
So that's why he was

00:16:06.955 --> 00:16:07.195
Yep.

00:16:07.255 --> 00:16:09.385
on the verge of like, quote unquote giving it up.

00:16:09.865 --> 00:16:27.025
So I think that, sorting those out in our mind as golfers, for me as a coach or a teacher, for me as a player, for you as a player, for everyone listening as a player, you have to remember that sometimes our swing is okay and we just need to work on the skill.

00:16:27.326 --> 00:16:31.225
And sometimes our swing isn't okay and we need to work on our swing, right?

00:16:31.225 --> 00:16:32.186
It just is what it is.

00:16:32.186 --> 00:16:34.875
So, today we're gonna talk about skill.

00:16:35.176 --> 00:16:36.405
Next time we're gonna talk about.

00:16:36.765 --> 00:16:38.326
Swing, see how fun this

00:16:38.460 --> 00:16:38.700
Yep.

00:16:39.586 --> 00:16:51.625
Golf improvement theory strategy to skill to swing, and we said on the last episode, it's probably for most people, the order, of least invasive and most productive.

00:16:52.269 --> 00:16:52.600
Yeah.

00:16:53.230 --> 00:16:54.250
Yep, a hundred percent.

00:16:54.250 --> 00:17:02.539
So,, before we really get into levels 1, 2, 3, and four, there are a few more things that we need to kind of iron out when it comes to skill.

00:17:03.350 --> 00:17:11.750
the big key here in what to, to really understand is that these skills are always predictions, right?

00:17:11.750 --> 00:17:17.509
So there's a, what we call about, like a very conscious prediction that you're making.

00:17:17.869 --> 00:17:21.140
Which is the strategy stuff like, Hey, where am I gonna aim this shot?

00:17:21.410 --> 00:17:23.150
How far am I gonna try to get this thing to go?

00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:24.230
What club am I gonna pick?

00:17:24.230 --> 00:17:25.009
That kind of stuff.

00:17:25.579 --> 00:17:30.079
But there's also very much the subconscious prediction element of it, right?

00:17:30.410 --> 00:17:42.700
Whether we're aware of it or not, our brain is making a prediction that says, if I swing the golf club, with the bottom of it, in this location in space, things ought to work out okay for me.

00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:57.980
I don't care who you are and what level of golfer you are, there's always gonna be a little bit of a separation between where you perceive or where you predict the bottom of the swing is gonna be in space versus where it actually ends up being.

00:17:59.180 --> 00:18:15.410
And so skill and skill training is really the answer to over a long period of time, how can we train in a way that closes the gap, closes that perception gap between where you believe the bottom of the swing is in space, or is likely to be in space versus.

00:18:15.890 --> 00:18:18.380
Where it actually ends up being.

00:18:18.769 --> 00:18:19.039
Right.

00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:21.829
And this goes for, like I just said, arc location.

00:18:22.069 --> 00:18:23.690
This goes with face to path, right?

00:18:23.690 --> 00:18:25.519
The, the opening and closing the face.

00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:30.349
It's gonna change the start direction and the curve of the shot as well as clubhead speed.

00:18:30.470 --> 00:18:44.480
All three of these skills are always, always, always predictions that, again, I don't care who you are, you can, they can always be trained independently of swing and you can always improve at them, right?

00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:55.430
So it is the dominant, immediate feedback that our golfers experience when they're training, when they're on the range, when they're playing golf.

00:18:56.180 --> 00:19:07.099
The overwhelming, again, dominant, immediate feedback that every golfer receives at impact or as soon as they see the golf ball fly, is skill.

00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:10.634
And, and a lot of the training that we're gonna.

00:19:11.075 --> 00:19:24.545
I maybe clue you in on is, was that truly a skill error or was the general swing too different on that particular shot to allow you to be skillful?

00:19:25.234 --> 00:19:25.444
Right.

00:19:25.444 --> 00:19:28.565
And I think understanding that is like, it doesn't matter.

00:19:28.565 --> 00:19:32.765
Like whatever the error is, it was a skill error at the end of it.

00:19:33.484 --> 00:19:35.884
It was, it's always gonna be attributed to skill.

00:19:35.884 --> 00:19:41.795
Now, did you make the swing you wanted to make and it just, again, the prediction was just off again, this more stuff we're gonna talk about.

00:19:44.974 --> 00:20:01.744
All right, so before we get much more into the level 1, 2, 3, and four discussions, there's just a couple key pieces that we need to hash out when it comes to skill because again, this is stuff that being on the lesson T every single day and working through this, I see a lot of pitfalls with this.

00:20:02.345 --> 00:20:05.404
So understand, again, swing versus skill.

00:20:05.404 --> 00:20:06.904
And they, they are different.

00:20:07.414 --> 00:20:08.164
They are different.

00:20:08.734 --> 00:20:21.904
The overwhelming, dominant, immediate feedback that golfers experience at impact and when they watch the golf ball fly, when they practice and play is skill.

00:20:23.555 --> 00:20:31.144
And through swing training, you can get better at saying, Hey, was that swing in the ballpark?

00:20:31.144 --> 00:20:31.714
And.

00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:36.349
Like the skill was just off, or was that swing just not in the ballpark?

00:20:36.349 --> 00:20:44.960
Like that's, that's what we're gonna get into in our next episode, and that's what we aspire to get to, is to be able to improve the quality of that feedback.

00:20:45.410 --> 00:20:51.529
But at the end of the day, if the ball doesn't do what you want it to do, it was a skill issue.

00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:52.730
All right.

00:20:53.450 --> 00:21:01.910
All of these skills, so when we talk about arc location, which changes where the ball's being struck on the face, face to path, right?

00:21:01.910 --> 00:21:08.509
The opening and closing of the face relative to the shaft, which is gonna change the start direction in the curve, as well as the club bed speed.

00:21:08.930 --> 00:21:14.660
All of these skills in every shot, all three of them are going to occur on a bell curve.

00:21:15.470 --> 00:21:24.799
All right, so for the golfer, and we're gonna get into level 1, 2, 3 for a golfer here in a second, but every skill outcome, all three of them on every shot is occurring on a bell curve.

00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:27.109
And if you're familiar with this, you're gonna have.

00:21:27.515 --> 00:21:28.775
The very, very bottom.

00:21:28.775 --> 00:21:31.654
16% of shots are gonna be big misses.

00:21:31.744 --> 00:21:46.565
So no matter who you are as a golfer relative to your skill level, 16% of all three of those skills over the course of round of golf is gonna be again, outside of your dispersion, right?

00:21:47.164 --> 00:21:50.704
Well below what your expectation or your hope was for that shot.

00:21:51.394 --> 00:21:59.404
68% is gonna be pretty average, like just a little bit of a miss when it comes to each of those three skills, right?

00:21:59.404 --> 00:22:08.015
You get your bottom 34, then your top 34% of the middle kind of distribution, and then you get your top 16%, right?

00:22:08.015 --> 00:22:11.345
Which is the best of the best, right?

00:22:11.464 --> 00:22:13.565
Dead in the middle of the face, face.

00:22:13.565 --> 00:22:16.295
The path matched up exactly what you wanted for the shot.

00:22:16.295 --> 00:22:19.234
You were hitting the clubhead speed, exactly what you wanted for that shot.

00:22:19.835 --> 00:22:24.545
Only 16% of the time is it gonna be exactly what you want.

00:22:25.535 --> 00:22:26.075
So.

00:22:26.630 --> 00:22:32.839
Those are the, the, the two key things that, that I, I try to get across to golfers is that they're predictions.

00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:39.950
You don't exactly know where the bottom of the golf swing is going to be in space.

00:22:39.950 --> 00:22:49.789
Every golfer, every golfer, regardless of who you are, there's a separation between where you predict the bottom of the swing is gonna be in space and where the bottom of the swing actually ends up being.

00:22:50.269 --> 00:22:56.059
Where you predict the club face to path is gonna be when at impact versus what the actual face to path is at impact.

00:22:57.230 --> 00:23:02.660
What you predict the club at speed is gonna be at impact versus what the club speed actually ends up being at impact and skill training.

00:23:02.660 --> 00:23:08.299
What we're gonna talk about today is answering the question of how do we close that perception gap?

00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:15.619
How do we get you more, a better predictor of the things that are very, very subconscious predictions.

00:23:15.619 --> 00:23:23.690
They're feel predictions, they're not conscious, they're not things that you can say in words in terms of how you're doing it, which is the frustrating part of it.

00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:35.569
But those are really kind of the, the key points like skill is what the club and the ball are doing at impact and the variances between functional and dysfunctional.

00:23:35.630 --> 00:23:40.789
And we're gonna talk through level 1, 2, 3, 4 are a lot smaller than you think.

00:23:41.089 --> 00:23:53.049
Because the margins of error are so, so, so tiny you can't possibly attribute accurately typically, that one particular error to a swing thing.

00:23:54.266 --> 00:23:54.715
No.

00:23:55.165 --> 00:23:58.885
No, because it, it's the time interval is so small

00:23:59.019 --> 00:23:59.470
Yes.

00:23:59.576 --> 00:24:01.165
in which that's happening, right?

00:24:01.645 --> 00:24:06.760
And so a lot of what we talk about with skill is things that's happening.

00:24:09.596 --> 00:24:10.435
How do you say it?

00:24:10.496 --> 00:24:14.036
It's, it's, it's like not consciously

00:24:14.349 --> 00:24:14.920
Yes.

00:24:14.944 --> 00:24:15.295
Right.

00:24:15.296 --> 00:24:15.625
right?

00:24:17.336 --> 00:24:24.385
no matter what Johnny Miller said about catching the ball on the face and turning it down you when the ball's on the face, I just turned it down a little bit to draw, you know,

00:24:25.630 --> 00:24:25.920
Yeah,

00:24:26.226 --> 00:24:32.885
and so yes, your swing stuff is giving you this vein of access basically.

00:24:33.036 --> 00:24:38.826
And then,, so much depends on things like,, your routine and stand at the right distance from there.

00:24:38.826 --> 00:24:44.076
Some distance that's controllable from the ball or making adjustments on the, on the environment, you know,

00:24:44.220 --> 00:24:44.509
yeah.

00:24:44.826 --> 00:24:46.296
and lie and all these things.

00:24:46.296 --> 00:24:52.355
And like, there's no question, the better you get at golf, the better you have to be at that prediction.

00:24:52.625 --> 00:24:52.634
Yes.

00:24:52.655 --> 00:24:52.925
Right?

00:24:52.925 --> 00:24:54.125
That's what we're gonna talk about.

00:24:54.756 --> 00:25:03.846
So I think that you, you were saying a little bit ago about, sometimes you can make a swing and you go, oh, well it was a skill thing'cause it didn't go right or whatever.

00:25:03.895 --> 00:25:08.175
When I was working on swing with a young lady today who could, not hit a driver.

00:25:08.596 --> 00:25:11.086
Actually a pretty good player, but just could never hit driver.

00:25:11.144 --> 00:25:11.474
Yeah.

00:25:11.596 --> 00:25:13.215
And so we had to work on swing.

00:25:13.455 --> 00:25:23.205
There was a big, big swing stuff going on there'cause, anyway, the bottom of her arc on her driver changed by 14 and a half inches.

00:25:23.355 --> 00:25:23.894
gosh.

00:25:25.424 --> 00:25:25.815
Yep.

00:25:27.016 --> 00:25:35.986
It went from hitting the ground at the low point, 11 inches after to three and a half inches before impact.

00:25:36.705 --> 00:25:40.546
You are not gonna hit a good shot doing that on the first swing.

00:25:41.326 --> 00:25:44.955
have changed it so dramatically your arc location.

00:25:46.681 --> 00:25:49.740
that the skill is not gonna be produced on the first swing.

00:25:50.101 --> 00:25:51.810
This is why it's hard to get good at golf.

00:25:51.840 --> 00:25:54.601
'cause I can stand there in the lesson and go,

00:25:55.035 --> 00:25:55.785
Great job.

00:25:56.550 --> 00:25:57.060
awesome.

00:25:57.211 --> 00:26:06.030
And they, if they understand, which they do,'cause I tell'em this, we're after and what our parameters are, like the other guy was speed for her.

00:26:06.030 --> 00:26:08.911
It was working on, well, it was working on a lot of stuff.

00:26:09.270 --> 00:26:11.971
But we were looking at the, we were looking at the path, we were looking at the

00:26:12.019 --> 00:26:12.309
Yeah.

00:26:12.361 --> 00:26:13.171
we're looking at the face angle.

00:26:13.171 --> 00:26:15.240
Like there was a lot of swing stuff going on, we're putting together.

00:26:15.810 --> 00:26:20.221
But I said, look, you can't change it by a foot, which is outrageously awesome.

00:26:21.090 --> 00:26:22.651
And it hit a good shot on the first swing.

00:26:22.711 --> 00:26:23.461
She's like, yeah, cool.

00:26:23.490 --> 00:26:24.030
Let's do it again.

00:26:24.090 --> 00:26:24.330
You know,

00:26:24.381 --> 00:26:24.721
Yeah.

00:26:25.006 --> 00:26:27.736
the context is understood, the learning context.

00:26:28.185 --> 00:26:33.615
So coaches have to explain, well, students have to understand and then that's how you train.

00:26:33.615 --> 00:26:40.006
So if that person's on their range and they're trying to do this themselves with no technology, no understanding,

00:26:40.351 --> 00:26:40.770
Yep.

00:26:41.655 --> 00:26:42.195
whiff.

00:26:42.961 --> 00:26:43.830
They're gonna go, well,

00:26:43.980 --> 00:26:44.671
Bad swing.

00:26:46.590 --> 00:26:47.431
You see our point,

00:26:47.605 --> 00:26:47.826
Yep.

00:26:47.941 --> 00:26:49.861
this is why this episode matters.

00:26:50.086 --> 00:26:50.306
Yes.

00:26:50.760 --> 00:26:53.550
That right there is a description why this episode matters.

00:26:53.760 --> 00:27:00.540
Then a few swings later, she's trying to do the same stuff and crushes one right off the middle of the face.

00:27:00.691 --> 00:27:01.500
What'd you do different?

00:27:01.590 --> 00:27:02.101
Nothing.

00:27:03.631 --> 00:27:04.770
Well, then why was it better?

00:27:05.070 --> 00:27:06.540
Because you just got used to it.

00:27:06.840 --> 00:27:07.681
The skill happened

00:27:07.800 --> 00:27:10.230
your the, her brain got feedback,

00:27:10.441 --> 00:27:11.490
Correct.

00:27:11.490 --> 00:27:14.580
And it, and it, it improved itself, right?

00:27:15.391 --> 00:27:16.381
this is what we're saying.

00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:20.980
That is what skill and swing is

00:27:21.066 --> 00:27:21.415
right?

00:27:21.490 --> 00:27:22.871
in the learning context.

00:27:23.201 --> 00:27:23.681
Okay.

00:27:23.796 --> 00:27:24.096
All right.

00:27:24.161 --> 00:27:30.040
now this is where it's gonna get I'm actually really interested to hear what you say here.

00:27:30.070 --> 00:27:32.141
'cause I don't, I don't know what you're gonna say,

00:27:32.320 --> 00:27:33.615
We haven't talked about this in a while.

00:27:33.820 --> 00:27:34.691
we haven't talked about it.

00:27:34.691 --> 00:27:36.851
We're just like, let's record, let's, let's go baby.

00:27:37.270 --> 00:27:38.351
So let's go.

00:27:38.381 --> 00:27:39.701
Let's go Skill.

00:27:40.451 --> 00:27:41.411
Level 1, 2,

00:27:41.425 --> 00:27:41.756
Yeah.

00:27:42.760 --> 00:27:45.431
which hopefully you all know what that

00:27:45.685 --> 00:27:45.955
Yep.

00:27:46.060 --> 00:27:47.320
um, as a listener.

00:27:47.351 --> 00:27:54.881
But basically, we're grouping golfers based on their scoring ability, and making some assumptions based on real life

00:27:55.135 --> 00:27:55.375
Yep,

00:27:56.230 --> 00:27:58.090
about how they play golf.

00:27:58.691 --> 00:28:00.820
And now we're gonna discuss their skills

00:28:00.955 --> 00:28:01.766
yep, yep.

00:28:01.796 --> 00:28:06.476
So four level one golfers, four entry level, one golfers.

00:28:06.596 --> 00:28:13.435
Oftentimes it's a swing centered first lesson in a way.

00:28:13.435 --> 00:28:27.476
So if you think about like of those three skills, I'm of the belief that there are some correlations to skill when we come to like the general freedom and the rhythm that the club is swinging with.

00:28:27.476 --> 00:28:32.276
So oftentimes with with entry level one golfers, I put a priority on.

00:28:32.681 --> 00:28:40.151
Swinging the club freely, getting them to understand how the club rotates and has momentum into the golf ball.

00:28:40.151 --> 00:28:45.371
It's not their job to hit the ball to muscle, the club to the ball.

00:28:45.971 --> 00:28:49.810
It's their job to swing the club freely somewhere in space, right?

00:28:49.810 --> 00:28:51.730
So oftentimes we do this even without a golf ball.

00:28:51.730 --> 00:28:58.840
It's like, Hey, can you, and I'll be queuing them in, in, in a bunch of different ways and, and then we'll settle on kind of what works well for them.

00:28:58.840 --> 00:29:08.590
But can you get to a point to where the club is rotating and swinging freely around you in a way that's fairly consistent, that you feel like you could do it, efficiently, right?

00:29:08.861 --> 00:29:15.611
Create enough club head speed to be able to play without hurting your body and without it changing much from shot to shot, right?

00:29:15.611 --> 00:29:19.111
So you can say really enough club head speed.

00:29:19.471 --> 00:29:23.490
To get going is where we start with just some very general swing stuff.

00:29:23.980 --> 00:29:47.191
Nothing really like too complicated, but really once you get to the end of level one, when you're starting to almost kind of have a swing, even though the rhythm many times is still leaves a lot to be desired, it's the arc location with these level one golfers that we're going to highlight the most in, in many cases exclusively.

00:29:47.191 --> 00:29:56.191
Like not even go into face the path or club at speed, depending on the individual we have in front of us now, not all level one golfers are created equal.

00:29:56.221 --> 00:29:56.461
Right.

00:29:56.461 --> 00:30:07.171
So Eric, I think, and maybe in our last episode you were referencing some like pretty athletic, like fast entry level one golfers that actually do make impact.

00:30:07.605 --> 00:30:11.145
But the face is wildly out of, out of their dispersion.

00:30:11.145 --> 00:30:18.405
So in those golfers, obviously we're taking a look at each golfer and looking at, hey, what skill is gonna move the needle for them in the desired direction?

00:30:18.435 --> 00:30:18.645
Right.

00:30:18.645 --> 00:30:24.496
So it's, it's not a one size fits all, but in the, for the purpose of the podcast, we've talked about big data.

00:30:25.096 --> 00:30:38.705
Really it is arc location that gets you kind of through the, the entry into kind of like the mid, level one,, phase of improvement, which is going from like complete beginner golfer all the way to shooting.

00:30:38.996 --> 00:30:42.205
88 ish on average, right?

00:30:42.596 --> 00:30:43.496
Is that what you're saying as well?

00:30:44.955 --> 00:30:45.375
Agreed.

00:30:45.496 --> 00:30:46.955
I mean, I think face can be a thing.

00:30:47.006 --> 00:30:53.425
It is pretty general to say that, beginner golfers tend to have the face wide

00:30:53.605 --> 00:30:53.905
Yeah.

00:30:54.266 --> 00:30:54.536
Right.

00:30:54.536 --> 00:30:55.705
And then it's not functional,

00:30:55.855 --> 00:31:01.256
Yeah, it's almost, I've seen it where it's so open that they, like, they literally can't hit the face.

00:31:01.256 --> 00:31:06.715
Like no amount of arc location training would get them to hit the face with a, with a, with a, that one.

00:31:06.715 --> 00:31:12.236
And I'm talking like crazy open-end impact I've seen like laying back.

00:31:12.236 --> 00:31:12.536
Right.

00:31:12.536 --> 00:31:12.895
So

00:31:13.046 --> 00:31:13.435
Yeah.

00:31:13.526 --> 00:31:14.635
there are those for sure.

00:31:14.685 --> 00:31:15.046
Yeah.

00:31:15.046 --> 00:31:15.980
So I would say face.

00:31:16.816 --> 00:31:19.476
An arc location, not necessarily some path related, just

00:31:19.536 --> 00:31:20.375
No, yeah.

00:31:20.375 --> 00:31:21.246
Not path.

00:31:21.306 --> 00:31:21.665
Yeah.

00:31:21.756 --> 00:31:24.246
functional and not even that predictable.

00:31:24.326 --> 00:31:25.586
It could be closed

00:31:25.766 --> 00:31:26.516
Oh, with face.

00:31:26.516 --> 00:31:26.816
Yeah.

00:31:26.816 --> 00:31:27.205
Yeah.

00:31:27.476 --> 00:31:30.266
open like a fair amount, but they still can make some

00:31:30.415 --> 00:31:31.165
Yes.

00:31:31.165 --> 00:31:32.155
their arc is in the right

00:31:32.306 --> 00:31:32.576
Yeah,

00:31:32.635 --> 00:31:34.105
and then that gets them around.

00:31:34.105 --> 00:31:34.435
Right.

00:31:34.435 --> 00:31:35.096
So like that's

00:31:35.185 --> 00:31:35.546
yeah.

00:31:35.965 --> 00:31:38.776
Yeah, I would say that face has to be somewhat functional

00:31:38.925 --> 00:31:39.375
Yeah.

00:31:39.405 --> 00:31:39.796
It's,

00:31:39.885 --> 00:31:40.756
somewhat predictable,

00:31:40.786 --> 00:31:43.096
it'd be cool to define that, like what's the.

00:31:43.500 --> 00:31:47.490
Like plus or minus six degrees ish, somewhere in there.

00:31:47.520 --> 00:31:48.300
I, I don't know,

00:31:48.381 --> 00:31:48.861
hard to say

00:31:49.174 --> 00:31:49.684
Yeah,

00:31:49.911 --> 00:31:50.211
such a

00:31:50.224 --> 00:31:50.674
yeah,

00:31:50.750 --> 00:31:50.931
you

00:31:50.944 --> 00:31:51.275
yeah,

00:31:51.800 --> 00:31:53.750
The lady today was, she was pretty

00:31:54.095 --> 00:31:54.484
yeah.

00:31:55.050 --> 00:32:00.570
And so her face was so open TrackMan when read it so that usually it's about 13 face to path, somewhere

00:32:00.644 --> 00:32:01.005
Hmm.

00:32:01.020 --> 00:32:04.590
Have you ever noticed that somewhere in the, in the low teens,

00:32:04.994 --> 00:32:05.595
Wow.

00:32:05.684 --> 00:32:05.984
Yeah.

00:32:06.871 --> 00:32:08.221
and it wasn't reading Most of

00:32:08.355 --> 00:32:08.835
Wow.

00:32:08.835 --> 00:32:09.464
That's crazy.

00:32:10.346 --> 00:32:13.766
But she, she was, she's athletic, so she actually made it work pretty

00:32:13.974 --> 00:32:14.244
Yeah,

00:32:15.006 --> 00:32:17.855
But yeah, no, we, we just doubt, doubt an end.

00:32:17.855 --> 00:32:19.236
But we started with face, right.

00:32:19.236 --> 00:32:22.715
So that was the, gotta start there most of the time.

00:32:23.464 --> 00:32:24.575
yeah, yeah.

00:32:24.934 --> 00:32:25.234
Yeah.

00:32:25.865 --> 00:32:27.065
Just in the ballpark, right?

00:32:27.290 --> 00:32:27.510
Yep.

00:32:27.611 --> 00:32:27.840
And the

00:32:28.204 --> 00:32:32.434
For sure., And then, so as you get to kind of entry level two,.

00:32:33.095 --> 00:32:43.535
And we actually covered a lot of the, the metrics that we're referencing here, like in our last episode when we talked about strategy and kind of what stats kind of drive your improvement based off the level you are.

00:32:43.535 --> 00:32:46.835
So if you haven't listened to that, go back to the prior episode.

00:32:46.835 --> 00:33:02.535
But, really once you get to the entry level two, I would say like from entry level two all the way, pretty much through level two, it's gonna be an equal dosage of arc, location and face the path for the most part.

00:33:02.994 --> 00:33:08.484
That's going to drive the, drive the ball, striking improvement kind of where we need to be.

00:33:08.894 --> 00:33:27.164
With the caveat there being pretty much like in, once you get to the middle of level two, like if we say level two again is like from 88 all the way down to 76, but like once you get to like in the 82 ish, 83 on average range, like that's where clubhead speed.

00:33:27.779 --> 00:33:33.089
Becomes more of a thing because we need to, to really start to drive our greens and regulation a bit more.

00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:44.880
So again, like level two is kind of where it's like all three, like really truly like arc location on the beginning of level two is probably a bit more like heavily, you know, important.

00:33:45.220 --> 00:33:48.220
Middle of level two, right face to path.

00:33:48.670 --> 00:33:53.559
And then maybe once you get to the end of level two is kinda like face to path and club at speed, right?

00:33:53.559 --> 00:33:55.990
If you can kind of visualize the progression through there.

00:33:56.420 --> 00:33:59.900
Not saying arc location is, is any less important, right?

00:33:59.900 --> 00:34:10.489
Because I mean, how many level, end of level two golfers are just not quite aware enough to know like, wait a minute, you're hitting it just a little out the heel or a little out the toe on average.

00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:13.550
And I think that can, that can definitely move the needle for them.

00:34:13.550 --> 00:34:17.400
But for level two, again from 88 all the way down to 76.

00:34:17.804 --> 00:34:19.125
It's gonna be all three.

00:34:19.244 --> 00:34:26.085
Early biased, a little bit more arc, location, middle, probably a little bit more faced path, and then towards the end, a bit more club at speed.

00:34:26.085 --> 00:34:26.655
Would you agree?

00:34:28.230 --> 00:34:28.519
Yeah.

00:34:28.940 --> 00:34:29.896
no, totally agree.

00:34:29.985 --> 00:34:30.496
Totally agree.

00:34:30.849 --> 00:34:31.070
Yep,

00:34:31.335 --> 00:34:32.746
Lemme give you a for instance though.

00:34:33.826 --> 00:34:47.295
If I am a decent athlete, multi-sport, high school player has lots of speed and has a swing, that just is gonna be what it is going into golf

00:34:47.449 --> 00:34:47.670
yep,

00:34:47.925 --> 00:34:50.206
Like, Hey, I am slicing my

00:34:50.369 --> 00:34:50.590
yep.

00:34:51.405 --> 00:34:52.786
but also I need a new driver.

00:34:53.206 --> 00:34:54.615
Okay, let's fit you for a driver.

00:34:55.425 --> 00:34:57.525
he has a regular flex and he swings in a hundred.

00:34:57.525 --> 00:34:58.365
This is a true story

00:34:58.394 --> 00:34:58.724
Yeah,

00:34:58.936 --> 00:34:59.565
this is kinda like

00:34:59.744 --> 00:35:01.514
it was very specific for it to be, yeah.

00:35:01.936 --> 00:35:02.235
Yeah.

00:35:02.505 --> 00:35:06.945
So swings in 112 miles an hour, which is pretty fast by the way.

00:35:08.056 --> 00:35:15.556
kid, very strong power lifter and is not gonna change his swing'cause he doesn't really ever work on it.

00:35:15.556 --> 00:35:16.815
So he just plays by feel.

00:35:16.965 --> 00:35:17.266
Right.

00:35:17.505 --> 00:35:19.126
It just had been fun on his high school team.

00:35:20.445 --> 00:35:26.195
And so face to path numbers are path is like four degrees across, nothing crazy.

00:35:26.201 --> 00:35:26.585
A little bit

00:35:26.815 --> 00:35:27.275
Mm-hmm.

00:35:27.635 --> 00:35:27.965
Yeah.

00:35:28.085 --> 00:35:29.675
face is like six or

00:35:29.704 --> 00:35:29.945
Yeah.

00:35:30.005 --> 00:35:30.635
degrees open.

00:35:31.476 --> 00:35:35.315
Because the shaft's too weak and his, you know, he just doesn't time it up very well.

00:35:36.126 --> 00:35:49.445
So all I did was put him in an XFL with an upright triangle and I put an adjustable weight in the draw position, and his face to path number went basically to pretty

00:35:49.835 --> 00:35:50.074
Yeah.

00:35:50.346 --> 00:35:57.155
And he went from not playable with the driver to delivering a face to path in a strike location.

00:35:57.155 --> 00:35:59.885
That was pretty consistent in driving it straight.

00:36:00.606 --> 00:36:02.436
So what

00:36:02.545 --> 00:36:03.394
What would you say?

00:36:04.295 --> 00:36:07.085
was the improvement of the skill there?

00:36:08.389 --> 00:36:10.670
It was a strategy of club choice.

00:36:11.585 --> 00:36:12.905
Oh, come on now.

00:36:13.791 --> 00:36:14.090
That

00:36:14.164 --> 00:36:15.875
handed him a different club, sir.

00:36:15.875 --> 00:36:17.014
That is a strategy.

00:36:17.481 --> 00:36:19.490
that is at a, that

00:36:19.715 --> 00:36:21.454
You influence skill.

00:36:21.545 --> 00:36:23.914
You influence skill for sure

00:36:24.501 --> 00:36:25.311
with equipment,

00:36:25.505 --> 00:36:27.635
equipment, which is a strategy intervention.

00:36:27.664 --> 00:36:29.914
I can also influence skill with where I aim.

00:36:30.125 --> 00:36:38.375
I can also influence skill with my prediction process of where the ball is in space relative to the live, like the slope, like all that stuff.

00:36:38.735 --> 00:36:41.224
It all, every, all of this influences skill.

00:36:41.315 --> 00:36:46.175
Nothing doesn't influence skill, but it's like skill in of itself.

00:36:46.670 --> 00:36:59.539
Is a method of training that is isolating the, the motor pattern, the, the actual like input from your brain that is giving you that result, that outcome.

00:37:00.365 --> 00:37:02.376
So I thought that would be a good illustration of

00:37:02.570 --> 00:37:02.750
Yeah.

00:37:03.815 --> 00:37:06.606
you know, changing something changed for him.

00:37:06.606 --> 00:37:10.925
It wasn't his swing, wasn't even like some type of skill training.

00:37:11.525 --> 00:37:12.876
wasn't, it was just a different

00:37:12.949 --> 00:37:13.429
Right.

00:37:13.445 --> 00:37:13.806
right?

00:37:13.969 --> 00:37:14.989
was not skill training.

00:37:14.989 --> 00:37:15.889
It was a strategy.

00:37:16.385 --> 00:37:16.896
these are

00:37:16.914 --> 00:37:17.204
Yeah.

00:37:17.585 --> 00:37:21.815
that can, these are the things that can influence skill,

00:37:22.010 --> 00:37:22.070
Yeah,

00:37:22.206 --> 00:37:22.596
right?

00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:23.179
for sure.

00:37:23.751 --> 00:37:27.940
and to your point, just aiming a little right or left sometimes really influences skill.

00:37:28.721 --> 00:37:31.570
people don't realize that huge, it can have a huge effect,

00:37:31.750 --> 00:37:32.050
Yep.

00:37:32.590 --> 00:37:37.630
So these are some of the things that as we get into level two golfers really

00:37:37.989 --> 00:37:38.289
Yeah.

00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:47.170
I think as you move, and we've talked about this on previous episodes, the better you are at golf, the more you've paid attention to your equipment,

00:37:47.394 --> 00:37:47.635
Yeah.

00:37:48.340 --> 00:37:49.061
No question about it.

00:37:49.331 --> 00:37:59.081
The more you've paid attention to start line strategy, the more you've paid attention to, you know, working club, face delivery stuff that allows you to move the

00:37:59.320 --> 00:37:59.739
Mm-hmm.

00:37:59.831 --> 00:38:00.130
ways.

00:38:00.130 --> 00:38:08.771
Like, and so as you're progressing through and trying to march down towards scratch golfer, these are the things that really start to play

00:38:08.784 --> 00:38:09.264
For sure.

00:38:09.501 --> 00:38:17.391
And so, yeah, I think it's, I think it's just trying to understand all the things that can play into

00:38:17.510 --> 00:38:17.800
Yeah,

00:38:18.021 --> 00:38:18.411
right?

00:38:18.771 --> 00:38:19.940
And if you have.

00:38:20.945 --> 00:38:28.146
Point being, if you have a club like that's too light or has the wrong loft, or has the wrong lie angle or setting of the way center, a

00:38:28.264 --> 00:38:28.835
a hundred percent.

00:38:29.045 --> 00:38:33.335
like loft, you, you literally may never produce the skill.

00:38:33.605 --> 00:38:33.844
Yeah.

00:38:33.876 --> 00:38:37.865
you, you, I mean, it might never happen or be a real struggle to happen.

00:38:38.976 --> 00:38:41.795
you just have to pay attention to these things over time.

00:38:41.976 --> 00:38:46.746
You know, even Height, T Height's, a thing that matters, like these are the things that all play into this,

00:38:46.835 --> 00:38:47.105
Yeah,

00:38:47.615 --> 00:38:51.045
So, the better you get at golf, the more these little details matter.

00:38:51.284 --> 00:38:51.644
for sure.

00:38:52.184 --> 00:38:52.394
Yeah.

00:38:52.425 --> 00:38:53.266
Yeah, no question.

00:38:53.775 --> 00:39:06.375
And then finally get into level three and, and pretty much once you get to level three, you're not getting here if you aren't really darn proficient at arc, location and face to path, they are still important to train.

00:39:06.375 --> 00:39:18.175
And, and what we're gonna talk about is there is this many golfers, and you can't see it on the, on the podcast, but on the video, 0.0 golfers, who aren't training all three.

00:39:18.534 --> 00:39:20.574
But it's like, what are we shining a spotlight on?

00:39:20.574 --> 00:39:29.994
What are we emphasizing the most as a proportion of all three and kind of the time allocation for level three and level four golfers, it is disproportionately gonna be speed.

00:39:30.414 --> 00:39:35.094
The speed predictability and the management of speed, especially with wedges.

00:39:35.094 --> 00:39:53.014
We talk about anywhere from, you know, green side, predicting different lies and how this little five yard pitch might come out and how much clubhead speed I need based off of the lie the ball's sitting in all the way to 130, 40 yards playing around with different winds.

00:39:53.315 --> 00:39:55.934
Like, Hey, where's the, slope here?

00:39:55.934 --> 00:40:00.315
Am I, am I landing this on a, on an up slope where the green's way down below me?

00:40:00.315 --> 00:40:08.985
Or am I landing this thing on a down slope where the green's way above me, like all of this stuff plays into its speed.

00:40:08.985 --> 00:40:16.364
It's the management of clubhead speed and it's the creation of clubhead speed, especially with driver.

00:40:17.025 --> 00:40:17.264
Right?

00:40:17.264 --> 00:40:24.195
And then when we talk about when birdies become more thin, we're trying to track how many birdie putts do you have inside of 20 feet and a round of golf?

00:40:25.364 --> 00:40:28.875
You can't drive those at the rate that you need.

00:40:28.875 --> 00:40:31.605
If you're not hitting the driver far enough, just can't do it.

00:40:32.235 --> 00:40:44.695
You have to be able to get the ball inside of 40 ish yards on par fives and two basically, you need to have inside of six iron quite a bit on your par threes and your par fours.

00:40:45.135 --> 00:40:46.664
And that's driving the ball far.

00:40:46.664 --> 00:40:48.405
That's, that's creating a lot of speed.

00:40:48.405 --> 00:40:51.074
And then also being able to predict and manage speed.

00:40:51.481 --> 00:40:51.900
Mm-hmm.

00:40:52.695 --> 00:41:09.885
again, I see plenty of level three golfers on a day in and day out basis where we, we do touch on arc location, we do touch on face to path, but man, when we do skill training, it's, it's gotta be at least, you know, 80% club head speed is, is what I typically see.

00:41:10.876 --> 00:41:11.175
Yeah.

00:41:11.175 --> 00:41:18.025
And so the point of that speed isn't just about increasing speed it's about controlling.

00:41:18.445 --> 00:41:23.936
So if I have to throttle back, especially in the short game, that's, that's another speed or energy,

00:41:24.746 --> 00:41:25.036
Yeah,

00:41:25.106 --> 00:41:25.405
right?

00:41:25.405 --> 00:41:27.146
Like, can I regulate that the right

00:41:27.251 --> 00:41:27.670
for sure.

00:41:28.315 --> 00:41:34.106
And yes, there's no question that the better you are at golf, the more you're working

00:41:34.210 --> 00:41:34.481
Yeah.

00:41:34.945 --> 00:41:35.516
Those things.

00:41:35.516 --> 00:41:36.806
There's no question about it.

00:41:36.896 --> 00:41:48.175
Even just when you're hitting a seven iron from the fairway and you want it to go X distance, I don't want it to go x plus 10 and I don't want it to go X minus 10.

00:41:48.190 --> 00:41:48.550
Yep.

00:41:48.775 --> 00:41:50.516
it to go roughly X, right?

00:41:50.516 --> 00:41:51.746
And hopefully hit it pin high.

00:41:51.806 --> 00:41:53.186
But I want it to go X.

00:41:53.186 --> 00:42:02.786
So I don't want one swing to be producing 85 club head speed on a seven iron and the next one producing 81 if I'm trying to predict the same

00:42:03.010 --> 00:42:03.340
Right.

00:42:03.715 --> 00:42:08.340
so repeatability of rhythm, like where you said like, I don't know how you phrased it.

00:42:08.346 --> 00:42:09.146
It was kind of funny.

00:42:09.146 --> 00:42:11.996
You said rhythm is kind of a mess still or something.

00:42:12.865 --> 00:42:13.315
You're talking about

00:42:13.465 --> 00:42:13.856
Leaves.

00:42:13.856 --> 00:42:15.235
Leaves must to be desired.

00:42:15.295 --> 00:42:17.005
wait, yeah, it was kinda like leaves.

00:42:17.155 --> 00:42:18.956
It leaves much to be desired.

00:42:19.226 --> 00:42:21.175
It's sounded like something outta Harry Potter or something.

00:42:21.416 --> 00:42:26.335
But yeah, But recreating rhythm so that you predict energy and the strike

00:42:26.365 --> 00:42:26.635
Yeah.

00:42:27.146 --> 00:42:27.655
huge, right?

00:42:27.715 --> 00:42:28.166
Huge.

00:42:28.226 --> 00:42:29.695
to hit it the same distance.

00:42:29.965 --> 00:42:30.505
A hundred percent.

00:42:31.076 --> 00:42:37.936
if you've ever done a TrackMan combine, they can give you some insight'cause you're trying to replicate, they give you a yardage and you're trying to hit the yardage,

00:42:38.150 --> 00:42:38.440
Yeah.

00:42:38.440 --> 00:42:38.521
Yeah.

00:42:38.775 --> 00:42:41.115
And you're trying to hit a pin high, it's better to hit a pin high.

00:42:41.775 --> 00:42:44.766
And, you know, the reports on those are pretty wild.

00:42:44.766 --> 00:42:48.365
You know, it shows you the speed of every shot that you hit, club speed, ball speed, all the stuff you wanna

00:42:48.550 --> 00:42:48.840
Yeah.

00:42:49.806 --> 00:42:54.606
And I often use that as a way to say, can I produce and reproduce?

00:42:54.606 --> 00:42:55.416
And reproduce?

00:42:56.346 --> 00:43:05.931
and, and sometimes we talk a lot about just producing one time, but I, I think producing over and over at times is really important'cause we're controlling that

00:43:06.215 --> 00:43:06.456
Hmm.

00:43:06.561 --> 00:43:06.860
right?

00:43:06.996 --> 00:43:07.206
cool.

00:43:07.356 --> 00:43:07.596
Yeah,

00:43:07.971 --> 00:43:11.210
yeah, that's a big deal for me and my good players that I work with them on for

00:43:11.286 --> 00:43:11.646
it's cool.

00:43:11.735 --> 00:43:14.496
I'll need to look in, I'll need to look more into that for sure.

00:43:15.815 --> 00:43:16.175
All right.

00:43:16.175 --> 00:43:18.155
So you ready to get into the training stuff?

00:43:20.016 --> 00:43:21.420
Get into the training stuff.

00:43:22.110 --> 00:43:22.411
all right.

00:43:22.431 --> 00:43:27.846
So for skill, there are two main ways you can train it, that we're aware of.

00:43:28.335 --> 00:43:32.085
The first is gonna be differential training, and then the second is gonna be variable training.

00:43:32.806 --> 00:43:38.326
So differential training is going to be intentional errors, right?

00:43:38.760 --> 00:43:46.710
Again, you're creating intentional errors on both ends of the margin of error of the spectrum, right?

00:43:47.311 --> 00:43:51.811
So for this, typically you're gonna start in the same place each time.

00:43:51.811 --> 00:43:57.871
So you're gonna set up the exactly how you would if you're hitting a, a stock shot on the golf course, right?

00:43:57.871 --> 00:44:01.590
But you're gonna isolate a skill or an aspect of a skill, right?

00:44:01.621 --> 00:44:07.710
So if we talk about arc location, maybe we just do the arc height for our golfer, right?

00:44:07.710 --> 00:44:15.570
So starting from the same place, can you make a swing where the bottom of the swing arc is too high on the first one right?

00:44:15.570 --> 00:44:17.641
Or higher than functional, right?

00:44:18.181 --> 00:44:21.481
Which for level one golfers, they could even miss the ball.

00:44:21.541 --> 00:44:24.331
I don't really like just go right over top of it

00:44:24.856 --> 00:44:25.215
Yeah.

00:44:25.275 --> 00:44:26.775
So you're trying to blade it or top

00:44:26.791 --> 00:44:28.110
or, yeah, exactly.

00:44:28.141 --> 00:44:29.431
You swing right over top of it, right?

00:44:30.090 --> 00:44:35.311
On the very next shot, you're gonna attempt to have the bottom of the swing too low.

00:44:35.985 --> 00:44:36.226
Right.

00:44:36.226 --> 00:44:39.826
So if you're on mats, you're gonna feel some thump.

00:44:40.096 --> 00:44:42.166
If you're on grass, you might get a chunk.

00:44:42.166 --> 00:44:46.936
And what I've had some golfers do is on that one, tee the ball up, right?

00:44:46.936 --> 00:44:52.155
Start with the club head at the height of the ball, and then have the bottom of the swing go lower than the ball, right?

00:44:52.155 --> 00:45:00.675
So basically you're pretending that the ball's sitting way up above your feet, or the ball sitting up in high grass, you're just gonna get the bottom of the swing lower than too low, right?

00:45:01.516 --> 00:45:06.405
And then on the third, and this is key, you're gonna attempt to find somewhere between the two.

00:45:07.396 --> 00:45:14.440
Not perfect, not a good shot, not quote unquote, correct.

00:45:15.135 --> 00:45:17.056
Just somewhere between the two.

00:45:18.016 --> 00:45:18.405
Right?

00:45:19.065 --> 00:45:28.755
Because as we move forward with this, what we're gonna do is we're gonna shrink what we call the bandwidth shrink the the distance of the first two from center.

00:45:29.626 --> 00:45:29.925
Right.

00:45:29.925 --> 00:45:36.226
So level one golfers, really, I don't much, I don't shrink that bandwidth really hardly at all.

00:45:36.286 --> 00:45:40.996
I was like, Hey, can the first one be just somewhere too high?

00:45:41.206 --> 00:45:45.826
Second one, be somewhere too low, third one, somewhere between, right?

00:45:45.826 --> 00:45:48.856
And then you can also do this for the arc proximity relative to you.

00:45:48.856 --> 00:45:56.385
Can you get the first one too far away from you such that, hey, you could even miss the golf ball on the other side of it, right?

00:45:56.385 --> 00:46:01.166
To where the club head passes,, on the other side of the golf ball from where you're standing, right?

00:46:01.166 --> 00:46:11.186
If, if it hits the he, if it hits the ball at the ball's, gonna hit the heel on the second one, can you get the bottom of the swing too close to you such that it hits the toe if the club hits the ball.

00:46:11.726 --> 00:46:15.505
And then the third one, again, just like somewhere in between, right?

00:46:16.615 --> 00:46:19.106
For a level two golfer, right?

00:46:19.106 --> 00:46:30.065
If we start to, to get a little bit more in depth with this, I would want both of those shots to make impact with the surface area of the face, basically, right?

00:46:30.065 --> 00:46:35.266
So like, hey, I want the, I want the heel to still be on the face, but can be basically just inside heel.

00:46:35.266 --> 00:46:36.556
It could still be a shank, really.

00:46:37.306 --> 00:46:42.675
The second one I want to be on the mirror, if you can think about like the mirror of the, of the toe, right?

00:46:42.675 --> 00:46:45.646
And then somewhere between those two, right?

00:46:45.646 --> 00:46:50.985
And then once you get to level three, you're like, okay, well the heel is gonna still be a functional shot.

00:46:51.496 --> 00:46:53.806
The tow ball is still gonna be a functional shot.

00:46:54.286 --> 00:47:03.556
And then the third, because now the, the bandwidth is so much shorter, just somewhere between the two is likely gonna feel great right off the sweet spot.

00:47:03.556 --> 00:47:08.445
And I don't care if it's exactly on the sweet spot, but it needs to be imperceptible to them.

00:47:08.445 --> 00:47:09.706
Like when I ask like, Hey, like.

00:47:10.126 --> 00:47:13.106
Was that sweet spot, like I want them to say yeah, that felt great.

00:47:13.826 --> 00:47:14.065
Right?

00:47:14.065 --> 00:47:20.246
So that's, that's kind of like what that differential training is gonna look like for arc.

00:47:20.425 --> 00:47:22.195
This, that's just specific to arc location.

00:47:22.195 --> 00:47:26.246
We do it for clubface, we do it for club head speed for levels 1, 2, 3.

00:47:26.246 --> 00:47:28.076
And then for golfers are gonna be the same.

00:47:28.076 --> 00:47:32.126
I want it to feel pretty good, but on the toe pretty good, but on the heel.

00:47:32.246 --> 00:47:34.286
And then that third between the, between the two.

00:47:35.606 --> 00:47:35.846
Yep.

00:47:36.925 --> 00:47:39.025
And then there's variable training as well.

00:47:39.626 --> 00:47:39.775
Right?

00:47:39.775 --> 00:47:55.585
So variable training is, can you find the, quote unquote InBetween the one that you prefer, but changing the starting conditions, changing the, changing the setup, essentially like changing where the ball is relative to where you're starting.

00:47:56.096 --> 00:47:58.826
And so you can think of variable training as essentially playing golf.

00:47:58.885 --> 00:48:02.485
'cause in, when you're on the golf course, you're trying to deliver the same skill.

00:48:02.485 --> 00:48:05.815
You're trying to deliver the, the, the ball in the center of the club face.

00:48:06.565 --> 00:48:07.076
But.

00:48:07.706 --> 00:48:08.815
You're on a down slope.

00:48:09.025 --> 00:48:11.036
You're standing on an up slope, right?

00:48:11.215 --> 00:48:12.115
Ball's below your feet.

00:48:12.206 --> 00:48:15.416
Ball's above your feet, ball's sitting up in the grass, ball's sitting down in the grass.

00:48:15.416 --> 00:48:18.806
So the starting conditions change, right?

00:48:18.806 --> 00:48:21.266
So there's variability, what's why we call it variable training.

00:48:21.266 --> 00:48:26.635
There's variability in the environment, but you're trying to create the same delivered skill.

00:48:27.235 --> 00:48:32.456
And this is where like you can throw people, in all sorts of different lies and slopes.

00:48:32.795 --> 00:48:36.485
And on a mat like I, during the winter especially, I teach off of a mat.

00:48:36.786 --> 00:48:40.476
I'll just have them set up and then I'll grab the ball and I'll just move it a little bit.

00:48:41.195 --> 00:48:41.735
I'll move it

00:48:41.971 --> 00:48:42.050
Hmm.

00:48:42.186 --> 00:48:48.856
closer to the target, further from the target, closer to where I'm standing away from them, closer to them, put the ball up on a t.

00:48:49.396 --> 00:48:53.985
And then, and then like again, you can do the same variable training for a club face.

00:48:53.985 --> 00:49:00.255
Like you would grip it a little bit too open and try to deliver it square, grip it a little too close, try to deliver it square, right?

00:49:00.255 --> 00:49:03.286
So again, you're trying to create the desired shot.

00:49:03.840 --> 00:49:06.030
Just in all sorts of different starting places.

00:49:06.420 --> 00:49:12.630
And then to, to change the challenge point, what you're doing there is you're changing the size of the dispersion.

00:49:12.840 --> 00:49:16.621
So it's like for level one golfers, they have like a 10 finger dispersion.

00:49:16.621 --> 00:49:19.831
Like, Hey, how many of these shots can you get inside a tent?

00:49:20.311 --> 00:49:26.161
It's like five fingers on either side of the target, but I'm gonna change the starting position every single time on you.

00:49:27.061 --> 00:49:27.391
Right?

00:49:27.391 --> 00:49:34.351
Whereas level two golfers now you have a tighter window to get it into maybe three, four fingers on either side.

00:49:34.351 --> 00:49:39.871
And then for level three golfers, you only get three fingers on either side of the target, to be able to get the ball into.

00:49:39.871 --> 00:49:55.360
But again, you're, you're changing something in terms of how they're having to do it, each time, which, which some golfers much prefer that to the differential training, because they like to have the feeling of the good shots.

00:49:55.880 --> 00:49:56.300
Mm-hmm.

00:49:56.485 --> 00:49:57.085
As a coach.

00:49:57.085 --> 00:50:13.436
However, I actually prefer the differential training more often than not, because an added benefit of the differential training is that you get to experience how they're different, how the toe feels different than the heel, how it sounds different from the heel.

00:50:14.246 --> 00:50:19.525
It gives you the differential training, gives you the awareness when you're playing golf.

00:50:19.525 --> 00:50:26.106
So like, hey, you're on the golf course and you're playing and, you mess up on one of the skills.

00:50:26.945 --> 00:50:32.135
If you've done differential training, you are way more likely to know actually what happened there.

00:50:32.945 --> 00:50:44.255
Whereas, like, if you aren't doing differential training, if you're not giving yourself those intentional errors and practice on purpose, then there're gonna be some percentage of shots on the golf course where.

00:50:44.826 --> 00:50:48.335
A skill is outside of your dispersion and you don't know why.

00:50:49.295 --> 00:50:59.735
And that's, as a coach, that's really what we're trying to get to, is we got to get you to know without a shadow of a doubt, which skill was it that was out of place on that shot.

00:51:00.306 --> 00:51:00.576
Right.

00:51:00.576 --> 00:51:03.096
And that's a huge benefit of differential training.

00:51:03.275 --> 00:51:08.166
The variable kind of, it transfers nicely to the golf course, potentially, maybe a little bit.

00:51:08.735 --> 00:51:19.766
But for long-term learning, I almost prefer the differential because it does give you that error feedback that gi, that allows you to,, detect a pattern, when it arises on a golf course.

00:51:20.981 --> 00:51:33.701
Yeah, I think I told this story on here before, but a couple years ago I remember playing in a Pro-Am at the country club, I don't remember the context of it, but the rough was just outrageous the James

00:51:33.880 --> 00:51:34.101
Yep.

00:51:34.150 --> 00:51:40.030
can't remember if we kind of came out of a rainy period or if we were leading up, might have been leading up to the Dominion Tournament.

00:51:40.030 --> 00:51:40.601
I don't remember.

00:51:40.601 --> 00:51:41.621
But the rough was crazy.

00:51:42.806 --> 00:51:49.766
The whole front nine, the club face for me was closed on my driver and I'm, I'm hitting it in the left rough all day.

00:51:49.766 --> 00:51:54.626
And it was like crazy, healthy, thick, deep Bermuda.

00:51:54.626 --> 00:51:57.686
And I was just not getting it on the greens.

00:51:59.275 --> 00:52:04.346
I think I shot 40 on the front and I was like, not in a good, you know,

00:52:05.186 --> 00:52:05.476
Yeah,

00:52:05.695 --> 00:52:10.545
upset, but I get to the 10th tee and I'm like, okay, I've hit it in the left rough like six times today.

00:52:10.635 --> 00:52:12.525
Like, what is going on?

00:52:12.525 --> 00:52:12.675
You

00:52:12.690 --> 00:52:12.990
yeah.

00:52:13.036 --> 00:52:21.135
of think about it and like, the irons are good, the driver's not quite good, but, so I'm just going, okay, what do you do to change the club face, Eric?

00:52:21.135 --> 00:52:22.755
Like, think about this for a second.

00:52:22.755 --> 00:52:23.206
Right?

00:52:23.251 --> 00:52:23.550
Yep.

00:52:23.596 --> 00:52:33.465
And so I saw enough of a pattern, was aware enough in my practice, where I work on things like hitting the ball more left or hitting the ball more, right?

00:52:33.496 --> 00:52:35.146
'cause I'm, I'm training the club

00:52:35.420 --> 00:52:35.641
Yep.

00:52:36.451 --> 00:52:40.050
And so I weakened my left hand grip, which felt terrible.

00:52:40.050 --> 00:52:44.190
And then I rip it right off the temp tee, straight down the middle and I'm like, oh my gosh.

00:52:44.240 --> 00:52:45.231
I got it right.

00:52:45.231 --> 00:52:48.291
And I shot, I think one or two under on the back nine'cause I hit in the fairway,

00:52:48.471 --> 00:52:48.760
Yeah.

00:52:48.771 --> 00:52:50.871
And so ended up salvaging the round.

00:52:51.201 --> 00:52:55.880
But the point is I was hitting it, you know, 20 yards more left than

00:52:55.971 --> 00:52:56.391
Mm-hmm.

00:52:57.320 --> 00:52:57.981
on the whole front.

00:52:57.981 --> 00:52:59.661
Basically on the whole front nine, the driver.

00:53:00.050 --> 00:53:05.030
And so I had to come up with a way to adjust it on the fly.

00:53:05.030 --> 00:53:06.831
And to your point, if you never train that,

00:53:06.905 --> 00:53:07.206
Yeah.

00:53:07.251 --> 00:53:08.900
how are you gonna have access to it?

00:53:08.900 --> 00:53:13.311
All you're thinking is, especially if you don't understand skill,'cause then you're gonna think your swing is

00:53:13.596 --> 00:53:14.226
Mm-hmm.

00:53:14.811 --> 00:53:14.990
right?

00:53:14.990 --> 00:53:15.081
I

00:53:15.096 --> 00:53:15.516
Correct.

00:53:15.831 --> 00:53:17.001
my swing, right?

00:53:17.001 --> 00:53:20.481
I gripped it differently in my left hand and then was able to,

00:53:21.201 --> 00:53:21.471
Yeah,

00:53:21.800 --> 00:53:22.851
you know, put the ball in the fairway.

00:53:22.851 --> 00:53:30.150
So point being, this type of training is important and no one no one does this.

00:53:30.541 --> 00:53:30.721
Like

00:53:30.976 --> 00:53:31.786
not enough.

00:53:31.815 --> 00:53:32.686
Yeah, for sure.

00:53:32.971 --> 00:53:34.110
people do this, right?

00:53:34.471 --> 00:53:35.791
Not enough people do

00:53:35.925 --> 00:53:39.815
And to just comment on, on the, on, on that right there.

00:53:39.815 --> 00:53:50.766
So the key being is that you intentionally have trained getting the golf ball to do different stuff, right?

00:53:50.766 --> 00:54:02.766
It wasn't like you were just grasping at straws and saying, oh, let me just, I bet my grip is wrong, so let me just like look at Instagram and try to find this new grip that that is gonna solve all my ailments.

00:54:02.766 --> 00:54:07.536
Like, no, like you have worked on this before and you called upon.

00:54:08.195 --> 00:54:19.525
A tool in your toolbox to be able to change that one particular skill that was a little bit off?, I would actually, I would tend to think that a grip would be more of a swing intervention technically.

00:54:20.036 --> 00:54:25.655
So you wouldn't have to, in terms of what we're talking about tonight, that would be a way you could do it.

00:54:25.655 --> 00:54:31.536
It wouldn't be purely a skill thing because you're not keeping everything else.

00:54:31.536 --> 00:54:35.106
You're not keeping the swing stuff, quote unquote the same.

00:54:35.405 --> 00:54:44.615
You are changing grip, which would be like more technically like a swing thing, but the, beauty of that, the beauty of that is it doesn't matter.

00:54:44.615 --> 00:54:51.905
Like, it doesn't, like you've worked on changing the face, so you were able to change the face, like,

00:54:52.101 --> 00:54:52.820
that's not it.

00:54:52.911 --> 00:54:56.451
To me, in my feels, there's no input on the swing that's any different.

00:54:56.976 --> 00:54:57.965
yeah, yeah.

00:54:58.041 --> 00:54:59.960
hold it differently, which opens the face to me.

00:55:00.231 --> 00:55:09.920
If I'm hitting a driver, path is generally in to out two degrees with a face just slightly closed with nothing changed to the

00:55:10.146 --> 00:55:10.565
Mm-hmm.

00:55:10.630 --> 00:55:13.061
Just, just being able to deliver the face.

00:55:13.360 --> 00:55:16.601
It was probably coming in four degrees closed, and then all of a sudden it was one or two

00:55:16.900 --> 00:55:17.201
Yeah,

00:55:17.201 --> 00:55:17.501
again.

00:55:18.295 --> 00:55:19.585
So no input from me.

00:55:19.585 --> 00:55:21.175
It was not me searching in my

00:55:21.460 --> 00:55:21.940
right.

00:55:22.001 --> 00:55:22.990
Yeah, exactly.

00:55:23.201 --> 00:55:23.501
Yeah.

00:55:23.755 --> 00:55:25.045
how do you deliver the face

00:55:25.271 --> 00:55:25.570
Yep.

00:55:25.675 --> 00:55:26.036
Right.

00:55:26.246 --> 00:55:31.465
And to your point, it was a little more input conscious, whatever, but it still changed

00:55:31.570 --> 00:55:32.800
Yes, correct.

00:55:32.860 --> 00:55:33.190
Yep.

00:55:33.266 --> 00:55:39.135
And in a way that, when I practiced face to path stuff, I change my grip to, if I'm gonna hit a draw, I strengthen my

00:55:39.175 --> 00:55:39.596
Mm-hmm.

00:55:39.675 --> 00:55:40.936
If I'm gonna hit a fade, I weaken my grip.

00:55:40.965 --> 00:55:42.346
That is how I manipulate.

00:55:42.436 --> 00:55:42.675
And

00:55:42.811 --> 00:55:43.590
That, yeah.

00:55:43.666 --> 00:55:43.815
the

00:55:44.070 --> 00:55:44.701
Yeah.

00:55:44.746 --> 00:55:45.885
Like, that's just how I do it.

00:55:46.141 --> 00:55:46.590
That's cool.

00:55:46.590 --> 00:55:46.621
I.

00:55:46.695 --> 00:55:49.936
that's part of how IS you know, see it and work

00:55:50.175 --> 00:55:50.835
That's awesome.

00:55:50.835 --> 00:55:51.076
for.

00:55:51.315 --> 00:55:56.085
And what you also did was you didn't just do it after one skill error.

00:55:56.806 --> 00:55:57.045
No.

00:55:57.076 --> 00:56:02.146
You did it after like three or four, and it was outside your dispersion.

00:56:02.476 --> 00:56:08.865
It wasn't like if the ball's inside your dispersion, typically what we say is just like, throw yourself a party.

00:56:09.615 --> 00:56:10.755
Like, like

00:56:10.876 --> 00:56:11.146
It's not a

00:56:11.295 --> 00:56:12.166
it's not a big deal.

00:56:12.166 --> 00:56:15.735
You could hit every shot within your dispersion a little bit left.

00:56:15.735 --> 00:56:16.425
And guess what?

00:56:17.206 --> 00:56:18.315
I don't want you to change a thing.

00:56:18.751 --> 00:56:19.141
There's no

00:56:19.275 --> 00:56:20.356
There is no fixing.

00:56:20.490 --> 00:56:20.820
percent

00:56:20.956 --> 00:56:22.155
in your dispersion.

00:56:22.576 --> 00:56:26.266
You accept it, you find it and you let it go.

00:56:26.746 --> 00:56:30.226
It's only if it's outside your dispersion and there's a pattern.

00:56:30.525 --> 00:56:33.226
And so again, how do you know what your dispersion is?

00:56:33.496 --> 00:56:37.545
We have, this video on our substack, so feel free to go check that, check that out.

00:56:37.545 --> 00:56:41.905
But, if you see me or if you see Eric, we can clue you in on what your dispersion, could likely be.

00:56:42.206 --> 00:56:44.726
But the point is, again, another way of saying that is like.

00:56:45.235 --> 00:56:56.036
Hey, within that bell curve, it needs to be like your bottom 16% of shots, three or four-ish in a row, pretty close together before you're making an intentional error.

00:56:56.036 --> 00:57:01.646
And with a lot of the skill training stuff, what we tell people is just do it.

00:57:02.135 --> 00:57:06.385
It's literally like working out Hey, just do it and then forget about it.

00:57:06.896 --> 00:57:10.496
Like you don't need to go thinking about how you're doing it.

00:57:10.496 --> 00:57:19.706
As soon as when you're doing the skill training, as soon as you start coming up with, oh, my left elbow is doing this differently, and my right hip is doing this differently.

00:57:19.706 --> 00:57:22.826
So that means that I need to always be doing this with my elbow.

00:57:22.876 --> 00:57:23.416
Stop.

00:57:24.106 --> 00:57:25.036
We are not.

00:57:25.786 --> 00:57:28.126
Looking for a swing fix with this.

00:57:28.126 --> 00:57:30.615
There's not, we're not looking for a new swing thought.

00:57:31.186 --> 00:57:33.315
This is literally just perception.

00:57:33.315 --> 00:57:37.996
It's just feel, it's a very, very slight feel tweak.

00:57:37.996 --> 00:57:48.405
What I can tell you is that for impact location in particular, and we talk about the arc height, you have about a half an inch on either side of the sweet spot to work with,

00:57:49.471 --> 00:57:49.891
Mm-hmm.

00:57:50.016 --> 00:57:52.425
Mm-hmm.

00:57:52.806 --> 00:57:53.865
Hm, it's not much.

00:57:54.286 --> 00:57:54.706
all right?

00:57:54.885 --> 00:57:56.655
With face to path, okay?

00:57:57.525 --> 00:58:06.045
You have about, I'd say six degrees to keep it on the golf course, to keep it in play, right?

00:58:06.045 --> 00:58:12.076
So as soon as you're six degrees off, pretty much with most all full swings, the ball's outta play.

00:58:12.376 --> 00:58:13.846
Well, how much is six degrees?

00:58:14.476 --> 00:58:19.876
It's one second on the clock, right on, on a clock face, it's six degrees is one second.

00:58:20.971 --> 00:58:23.791
So there is no swing thought guarantee.

00:58:23.791 --> 00:58:32.380
There is no,, when you're doing this, like, oh, if I just do this, then like, I will always,, deliver this skill.

00:58:32.380 --> 00:58:39.791
Or I will never experience this other skill that I've exp like, no, it is, it's just something like, it's like brushing your teeth.

00:58:39.871 --> 00:58:44.010
You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you forget about it.

00:58:44.490 --> 00:58:50.510
And in my opinion, every training session needs to have some of that brushing your teeth element to it.

00:58:50.510 --> 00:59:00.380
Like, I'm just gonna spend 10 minutes with my, my brain learning where this golf club is and then I'm gonna forget about it, right?

00:59:00.380 --> 00:59:08.210
And it's going, I promise you, if you stick with it, it will pay massive, massive, massive, massive dividends

00:59:08.400 --> 00:59:08.701
mr.

00:59:08.701 --> 00:59:11.311
Fails, we're an hour and 10.

00:59:11.731 --> 00:59:12.960
We're an hour and 10 in.

00:59:16.481 --> 00:59:19.300
We did receive some questions, which we're not gonna do tonight.

00:59:19.351 --> 00:59:33.985
We will answer these questions, so if you have questions for us, like I said on the last show, you can, you can ask on the substack if you follow us there, or you can, email us at the golf intervention@gmail.com or you can DM us on Insta if you like to do that.

00:59:34.161 --> 00:59:36.800
So don't be afraid to ask the questions.

00:59:37.251 --> 00:59:38.121
Questions are great.

00:59:38.391 --> 00:59:41.690
That's why we have the show to answer questions you don't know you need.

00:59:41.690 --> 00:59:42.981
That's why it's called intervention.

00:59:43.010 --> 00:59:45.380
That's why we started with that, with that name.

00:59:45.380 --> 00:59:51.391
So that was fun, Rob., Hopefully people gained a great understanding.

00:59:51.911 --> 01:00:04.181
Swing and skill are not, they're not inseparable, but if you understand the differences, you can, I think really train and understand and keep yourself on a good track.

01:00:04.210 --> 01:00:05.740
I feel like so many people.

01:00:06.791 --> 01:00:12.101
Quote unquote monkey around with their swing, that they just never give themselves time to develop skill.

01:00:12.971 --> 01:00:24.161
And if you, if you stay the course and you try to work on skill with a swing that you feel like is functional or works well, or that somebody has blessed, like, you know, Eric told me my swing's pretty good.

01:00:24.190 --> 01:00:25.510
Why can't I hit the ball straight?

01:00:25.601 --> 01:00:29.081
Well, you just gotta practice some skill stuff, right?

01:00:29.081 --> 01:00:33.411
And you'll get the skill right, and then you'll, you'll learn to, to produce those shots.

01:00:33.411 --> 01:00:38.960
So I think that has helped me over the years really tremendously.

01:00:38.960 --> 01:00:42.291
And again, track man has really, really helped.

01:00:42.391 --> 01:00:43.621
Really, really helped.

01:00:44.251 --> 01:00:48.360
So that is our episode for today.

01:00:49.081 --> 01:00:51.811
If you wanna support the show, you can check us out on Substack.

01:00:52.300 --> 01:00:53.800
I'll put the link in the show notes.

01:00:53.800 --> 01:00:55.931
We're so glad that you tune in with us.

01:00:56.201 --> 01:01:01.840
Hopefully everybody likes this episode and we'll catch you next time with a discussion of.

01:01:02.275 --> 01:01:02.815
Swing.

01:01:02.876 --> 01:01:05.815
We'll actually go into some swing stuff next time, which will be super fun.

01:01:07.496 --> 01:01:11.425
Alright, everybody, have a great week of golf and we will catch you next time on the Golf Intervention Podcast.