Eric 0:00

And welcome back to the Golf Intervention Podcast. We're so, so... I'm gonna start that over. Here we go. Are you ready? I told you, brain

Rob 0:07

Yeah.

Eric 0:08

squishy. Here we go. Three, two, one. And welcome back to the Golf Intervention Podcast. My name is Eric Layton. I teach golf. I'm here with my co-host, Rob Fails. He also golf, we are gonna bring you a discussion about short game that will change your life. Okay, maybe it's not that big of a deal, but it will help change your golf game. Let's keep some

Rob 0:36

Yep.

Eric 0:37

right? But it will help change your golf game, and so like we're gonna do in these series, we're gonna take a topic in golf, and we're gonna go through it in the way we like to look at it, through strategy, and swing, and today we're gonna do short game strategy. I would say minus putting. Probably minus bunkers. This is probably wedge play. Well, not really wedge play. It's short game,

Rob 1:01

Yeah, short game and greens,

Eric 1:02

game

Rob 1:03

side bunkers. Yeah.

Eric 1:05

Yeah. Not, not, not putting

Rob 1:06

No.

Eric 1:08

And so what is strategy? That's one thing, that we would like to get clear

Rob 1:13

Yes.

Eric 1:14

say this, short game, before we talk about

Rob 1:17

Yeah.

Eric 1:18

the most strategy.

Rob 1:21

Yeah, that short game and approach. Yeah, between the two, and probably, yeah, you're right. It's probably-- I'd probably give the, the nod to short game there, for sure.

Eric 1:28

Here's why. 'Cause strategy is

Rob 1:30

Yep.

Eric 1:32

right? It's a decision, we'll talk about a decision tree. Robby'll go through that in a second. But if we're talking about making a choice on a shot we're about to play, think about short game. you know, putting, chipping,

Rob 1:47

Yes.

Eric 1:48

lobbing, like, all

Rob 1:49

Yeah.

Eric 1:49

like, trajectory-wise that you're picking.

Rob 1:51

Yep.

Eric 1:51

I got a club that I'm gonna choose. Then I got a landing area that I'm gonna choose. I'm gonna dec- decide a strategy on how that thing is gonna bounce and roll depending on where it's landing on the slope. I would contend that short game has the most strategy, right? 'Cause a lotta times in approach shots it's not like we're like, gonna hit this low, medium, super

Rob 2:13

Yeah.

Eric 2:15

aren't well in control of their shot pattern to be able to do that. But in short game a lot of us are doing that. Even beginner golfers are doing

Rob 2:23

Mm-hmm.

Eric 2:24

an extent, which we'll talk about. So I would say short game has the most strategy, and I would also contend if you can go through and understand the decision tree and how it, related to your game and your skill set, you'll get better at golf without improving your skill set. Like, you will just score lower when you play. How awesome is that? So you could listen to a podcast and get better at golf without changing anything? Without watching crazy videos about do this and do that in my swing? Yes, exactly right, and that is what we're gonna cover today. So Rob Fails, it is nice to be on with you, by the way.

Rob 3:04

Yeah, likewise.

Eric 3:05

this, we don't do this often enough, even though we try. so

Rob 3:10

so I would say like a

Eric 3:15

is such a big part of the short game. You know, I think it's every bit as important as the other stuff, and so talk to me about that a little bit. Talk to me about how you see

Rob 3:27

Yep. Mm-hmm.

Eric 3:28

in this short game area.

Rob 3:30

so like every aspect of the game really comes down to two things, right? The decision tree, which is no different for every level of golfer. It just depends on how far down the decision tree you get based off of the size of your dispersion, really, and what your goal is, what your number one goal is for the shot. So we'll, we'll talk about that in a little bit, as well as your prediction process. Right? So when we talk about predicting, it's how is this lie, this slope, and these conditions going to influence my golf ball, right? And that's it. That's really what is your intention, what's your decision, and then how do you get it there? How are you predicting how, like I said, the lie, slope, and the conditions are gonna influence your golf ball? And those are really the two main things we're gonna talk about when it comes to the short game.

Eric 4:19

Great. So should we start in level, like, zero/one player that's

Rob 4:23

Yeah.

Eric 4:24

"I'm just learning how to play golf, so, what is my decision? What does it look like?" And I would say in short game, we're kinda defining this at 40, I would say shorter than

Rob 4:33

Inside forty, yeah. Forty and in. Yep.

Eric 4:35

I would say if you're a really short hitter, that distance could change a little

Rob 4:39

Mm-hmm.

Eric 4:40

that, that, that, you know, just depending on how they can hit the ball, but 40's a pretty good

Rob 4:44

Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah.

Eric 4:46

picture that, and we're not talking about 40 yards to the green. I'm talking about 40 yards on the shot, right? So it's like, how do you, how do you play that shot 40 yards and under? Which a lot of people refer to as finesse play, which I like that

Rob 5:00

Yes. Mm-hmm. For

Eric 5:04

Lasering the distance and knowing exactly how many yards we are and having some type of, swing dialed in for that distance. We're playing it more by feel or by finesse.

Rob 5:15

sure.

Eric 5:17

in that finesse zone with the, with the beginner golfer,, what's the... what is the, what is the strategy looking like besides just putt

Rob 5:25

Yeah. So understanding what is the s- the main stat that we're looking to improve, like what's the most relevant stat for them as they play golf. For level one golfers, it's gonna be their shots to green. Just total shots to green. How many times are you swinging the golf club from the tee box to the green? So if you lower the shots to green for level one golfers, that's gonna have the The quickest improvement in their average score. And so when we talk about short game, the best you can do in reducing those shots to green is just getting it on the green in one shot. That's gonna be the number one priority.

Eric 6:02

Mm-hmm.

Rob 6:03

now once we've checked the box of getting it on the green, then we talk about proximity to hole, right? And that proximity is really the, the definit-- like the main defining characteristic that separates the level one from a level two, and then the level three is just the same priority, just getting better at it, right? The, the, the kind of the ring or like the dispersion around the hole just gets tighter, right? And that's really the main difference between a level two and a level three in the, in that short game strategy is a level three golfer and level four golfer is really looking at six feet and in, trying to get as many of their shots inside of that proximity as possible. And then level two is looking at twelve feet, whereas the level one golfer is just trying to get it on the green in one shot.

Eric 6:52

Yeah, and as you're, as you're defining that for me, something comes to mind, which a word that we talk about a lot on this podcast from a of mindset standpoint is acceptance.

Rob 7:03

Mm-hmm. It's not like you're standing out like a, like a golfer you know, standing there But you're talking about the

Eric 7:11

And I'm standing there twelve yards off the green and thinking, "I'm trying to hit this to twelve feet." Right? That's not what we're talking about, right? We're talking about the measurement of your skill, a percentage of the time is gonna get it

Rob 7:24

regimen of skill. Yes.

Eric 7:26

you know, if you're a lower handicap, better player golfer with the same intention, you're gonna hit it closer more often,

Rob 7:35

Yep.

Eric 7:36

it's gonna average out to this distance that's shorter.

Rob 7:39

So as you're moving the ball, you said the key components are, you know, having those sequence

Eric 7:47

it's a, it's

Rob 7:48

like, it's a,

Eric 7:49

embodiment

Rob 7:50

it's a body mechanism go automatically. Yeah. you're

Eric 7:55

positions in the short area

Rob 7:57

gonna see like

Eric 8:00

you're gonna see where

Rob 8:00

right? 'Cause then

Eric 8:02

show you how well you can control the shot, right?

Rob 8:06

have to have acceptance of it,

Eric 8:07

of

Rob 8:07

right? So when you're talking about a level of golfer saying, "Okay, I'm getting it."

Eric 8:12

getting it on the

Rob 8:12

You work out the

Eric 8:13

they're

Rob 8:13

sequence of this. Okay, I've got to take

Eric 8:16

a game plan for this

Rob 8:18

it away from this. Yeah.

Eric 8:21

often," right? Like, where I'm

Rob 8:22

But it's-

Eric 8:23

the next shot. really necessarily mean how far away. So I'm having acceptance and understanding of my, of my skill set, but I'm not standing in the fairway thinking, "All right, I'm gonna nudge this one

Rob 8:33

So now we have acceptance. So it's like almost getting- Yeah. Yeah. Correct.

Eric 8:36

not what, that's what we're

Rob 8:37

Correct. We, we talk about this as a decision tree, meaning you're gonna try to work your way down that decision tree as- As far as possible. And it's really the size of the dispersion that we're talking about in terms of how close you can get it to the hole, right? So we can go ahead and kinda dive in here. So, you're a level one golfer, right? We're gonna start from level one. I-- Does that make sense, right? You agree this sounds good? We're gonna work, start level one, work up. Okay.

Eric 9:02

Go,

Rob 9:03

if you're, if you're shooting on average higher than eighty-eight, right? So you're inside of forty yards, really you're gonna have... Well, let's just, let's just pick a twenty-yard pitch shot. Well, even with th-these twenty-yard shots, there is a dispersion to your shots, meaning if you stood right there and hit a hundred shots, they're gonna show up in this dispersion pattern, a big shotgun blast, right, in terms of where your balls are landing. So the landing area is a shotgun blast, and then the final stopping point of these golf balls is also gonna be a shotgun blast. Right? So the number one priority is where do I need to put the center of my dispersion such that I can land the golf ball anywhere in that dispersion and stop the ball on the green? Which oftentimes, because of the size of that dispersion, all right, it, it is going to mean for quite a few of these shots, and we can show you what that dispersion looks like, 'cause ul-ultimately, th-these golfers are gonna be holding up fingers in front of their eyes and, and visualizing this, and then putting this somewhere. Because of the sheer size of the dispersion, oftentimes that is gonna determine kind of how aggressive you can be and by definition, because the dispersion's bigger, you're gonna be less aggressive in terms of where you can land the golf ball to get it close to the hole. Now, sometimes the pin's in the back of the green, sometimes the pin's in the middle of the green, and you end up just lucking out based off of where the pin is. And so when you say, "Okay, based off of where I'm putting the center of my dispersion, all of the shots in my dispersion are on the green", then you can slide it closer to the hole and try to get as many of these shots as close to the hole as possible, and that's great. That's a luxury of kinda where your ball is relative to the green and the hole. But there are plenty of shots also for these level one golfers where because the dispersion is so big where they would need to land that dispersion to get all their shots on the green, well, a lot of the times the dispersion doesn't fit, right? So oftentimes there are other shots that you can play that have a d- by definition, a tighter dispersion. Right? This is where if you're right up next to the green, we say like if you're a level one golfer, the tightest dispersion that you're gonna typically have is with a putter.

Eric 11:25

Mm-hmm.

Rob 11:26

So if you're off the green, if you can putt it as a level one golfer, it's, behooves you to at least consider it and practice it a little bit You know, when you're, when you're out training, so that you are comfortable potentially making that choice. There's also, a chip shot, which would be basically essentially hitting a putt with a club that's got some loft. Typically less than like forty-five-ish degrees is pretty good for this. A lot of pitching wedges nowadays are, are perfectly fine for this. It's kind of funny that we hit a lot of our chip shots with pitching wedges. But pitching wedges and nine irons are great. And both of those, because of the size of the swing, typically, you're gonna have a tighter dispersion in where the ball can land, right? So you can probably honestly get a little bit more aggressive with the putt, with the chip because the dispersion size, uh, is gonna be a little bit tighter than the pitch. So that's kind of the, the sequence gonna be is like if first, first priority is where do I need to put this dispersion? Where do I need to aim my shot so I can miss a little long, lis- miss a little short, miss a little right, miss a little left. And all of those shots, right, that eighty-ish percent of your shots are gonna be on the green. That's the number one priority. And then if they are all on the green and you still have margin for error, then you can move the target a little bit closer to the hole. And then for level two golfers, that's when we start playing around with trajectory. To get the ball closer to the hole. But hopefully that makes sense in terms of, you know, you're gonna pick a landing area first to try to get as many balls on the green as possible. Sometimes because of where you're having to put the target, the ball still won't end up on the green, and that's when y- you need to explore things like putting, things like chipping,, to be able to stop the ball on the green.

Eric 13:12

if it's even reasonable, if you, if you think, "Is it reasonable for me to putt here?" If you're even questioning it as a level one golfer, you probably should be

Rob 13:19

Yeah. Yep.

Eric 13:21

It's just the shot that is, like Robbie said, it's, it's easiest to control, in a skill level golfer that is looking for

Rob 13:31

Mm-hmm.

Eric 13:32

in their control. It also works like this, because I think this is something to think a lot about. When you swing a flat face club versus when you swing a lofty club, have to swing it a lot slower, To go the same distance, right? That makes sense. Like, if I was gonna hit a driver thirty feet,

Rob 13:53

Yep.

Eric 13:54

how fast would I swing the driver? It'd

Rob 13:56

Yes.

Eric 13:58

right? Now, if I'm gonna s- hit a 60-degree wedge 30 feet, 10 yards, I'm swinging a lot faster,

Rob 14:07

Yeah.

Eric 14:09

I'm playing a club where the leading edge, like the bottom of that club, is way closer to the ball than the part of the club that I wanna hit the ball on,

Rob 14:17

Yes.

Eric 14:18

right? So it's a lot easier to hit it on the bottom of the club, I'm swinging it way faster. So when I'm a less skilled golfer, again, acceptance comes into play here. I understand who I am,

Rob 14:28

Yep.

Eric 14:29

and I swing a lot faster with a club with a sharp leading edge. The miss becomes tremendous. Like, tremendous. Like, you could hit it

Rob 14:38

The dispersion gets bigger

Eric 14:40

ti- right.

Rob 14:41

for sure.

Eric 14:42

even, even if it's not right and left wide, I don't want you to th- like that, but, like,

Rob 14:46

Yeah.

Eric 14:47

short and

Rob 14:48

Yes.

Eric 14:49

You could go four times too far, like,

Rob 14:52

Hundred per-- Yeah. Ninety-nine percent. Yes.

Eric 14:56

ro.

Rob 14:57

Yeah.

Eric 14:59

and probably into

Rob 15:00

Yeah.

Eric 15:00

right? So point being, the club with the flatter face is not only easier to hit, 'cause the bottom of the club and the top of the club line up with

Rob 15:09

Mm-hmm.

Eric 15:09

right? unlike a lofty club, but I swing it like way slower. that even if I am not as skillful, just like the right and left control of the club face, the power output from the club is way easier to control, right? So having an ability to do that, and therefore also practicing putting from off the, off the green. And, and I like with, with our beginner, classes, we do putting with like a four or five hybrid

Rob 15:38

Yeah. Yeah. Um, that's good.

Eric 15:40

very easy shot. You don't have to swing as

Rob 15:42

Yeah.

Eric 15:43

it. Like you basically just putt like it's a

Rob 15:44

Yep. Yep.

Eric 15:45

just, you know, from the fairway. So I wanted to point that out because it's something that I show my beginner golfers I'll hit the shots and be like, "Which one has higher club speed?" I've never measured it on Trackman or anything, but I think it'd be pretty interesting to see the difference in the club speed,

Rob 15:59

Yes. Yes.

Eric 16:02

different between a 60 degree and a

Rob 16:04

Yeah. We, we do for our golf schools, we'll actually test the dispersion sizes. So we get the whole group,, the entire group hits a putter, like basically from... It's like a twenty-yard shot, actually about exactly from off the green. And then we look at the scatter plot of golf balls, and then we hit a chip, and then we hit a pitch. And I actually, this most recent golf school, I stood back and I, I held my fingers up, and it was like nine or ten fingers on both sides of the center. So it was like ten fingers right, ten fingers left for the pitch, and it went down to like five-ish fingers right to left for the chip and the putt. They were about the same.

Eric 16:44

Mm-hmm.

Rob 16:44

So that's what I'm saying is for some golfers, the pitch shot dispersion is so big that it literally doesn't fit on the green. So then, hey, what's the strategy that I need that's gonna have a, a tighter dispersion to get more of these shots on the green?

Eric 16:57

Yeah.

Rob 16:59

the, the optimal strategy, for sure.

Eric 17:02

I have a beginner golfer who's been into it for maybe a couple years. She pitches with a sand wedge way

Rob 17:09

Yeah.

Eric 17:09

she chips

Rob 17:10

Yeah. Yeah.

Eric 17:12

there are-- That is, that does happen.

Rob 17:14

You've gotta test it yourself. Yep, hundred percent.

Eric 17:16

and s- and seeing, um,

Rob 17:19

I said it again. Yeah.

Eric 17:23

There's a new drinking game, so every time Robbie agrees with me and says 100%,

Rob 17:27

Take a sh- yeah.

Eric 17:28

water, of your sweet tea. and so yeah, you have to know thyself a little bit, right? That's part of that acceptance thing too. I know the decision tree is this, or I know that I'm thinking about it this way, but also,, I just hit this shot better or, or I'm more comfortable with

Rob 17:44

Yeah.

Eric 17:46

that's a strategy. I've got a choice. What choice am I gonna make?

Rob 17:49

Again, like level one, level two, level three, level four, pretty, pretty much it's the same decision tree. It's number one on the green, and then number two, proximity to hole. I did have a, a situation the other day where,, 'cause we talk about the approach shot decision tree being in play, number one, on the green, number two, proximity to the hole, number three. And there was a short game shot where the water comes right up next to the water. The, the water comes right up next to the green, sorry. Um, and my, my player did choose a target that was a little too aggressive, right? And the bu- and chipped it out of play. So I was like, wait a minute, okay. Probably I need to include in play is number one still, number two on the green, and number three, proximity to the hole. So it's very, it's basically the same as approach play.

Eric 18:36

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rob 18:37

how far down that decision tree are you going really.

Eric 18:41

Right.

Rob 18:41

Yeah.

Eric 18:42

So proximity for sure for the level one player is like, I wanna try almost all the time to get it on the g- I mean, that's, that's it. It's get it on the

Rob 18:50

Yeah.

Eric 18:52

level

Rob 18:52

Yes.

Eric 18:54

that story changes.

Rob 18:56

Yeah, because the d-

Eric 18:57

needs, it needs to change.

Rob 18:59

does because f- couple things. Number one, for, to get down to averaging 88, a lot of this is gonna be simply just reducing shots to green and disruptors. And if you think about what a disruptor is, it's an effective penalty, right? So it's where the, the position of the ball didn't really change, and you added a shot. Well, that's basically missing the green with a chip shot or a pitch shot, is basically what it is. So, that is such a relevant thing, until you get to, again, like averaging about 88, like absolutely on the green, basically full stop for those level one golfers. Level two, again, the skills are getting better, right? And, and you might be asking yourself, "Well, hold on, like you, you told me if level one golfers, their dispersion's way too big, then just like hit a chip or hit a putter or hit something with a smaller dispersion." That's not-- I'm not telling you to punt. I'm telling you, I, I want you to, to work on your skills, work on your swing. These are the-- what the next two level, next two episodes of the series is gonna all be about. But this is really like, hey, you're going out to play today. You need to have an awareness of, of who you are and where you're at, and so what are the optimal strategies that you can take to the golf course tomorrow with what you've got, right? So for a level two golfer, the skills are getting better, the dispersion's getting tighter, and they start to be able to hit a couple different shots, right? They'll have maybe a lower shot, maybe more of a mid shot. They might have a higher shot, and this is really, again, now their, their shotgun blast is tighter. So now it's like, okay, I'm gonna first, n-no matter what I'm doing, I'm never picking a landing area where some percentage of my shots landing in my dispersion are gonna be off the green, and that's a big one. Like I s- I see plenty of level two golfers say, "Oh, I'm gonna..." 'Cause we've, we've got zoysia, um, fairways here at Birdwood, and if you're into the green, if you land it even just about a couple feet short of the green with a pitch shot, it's sticking. It's not getting on the green. And so they will pick a target with a pitch shot and say, "Oh, I'm just gonna land a foot on." And I say, "Well, wait a minute. Hold up your four fingers on either side. Look and see how big your dispersion is from this thirty-yard pitch. Literally half of your dispersion is off the green if you, if you choose that target. So you have to move your target far enough into the green to where your entire zone here, if landing it anywhere in that zone, is on the green, number one." That's number one. But now, because it's a s-smaller dispersion, you have the ability to slide it a little bit right or slide it a little bit left or a little bit longer, a little bit shorter to get it closer to the hole, and that's where reading the green comes in. We're gonna talk a little bit about that prediction process here in a minute. We're just going through the decision tree right now. But being able to then move that dispersion a little bit, depending on the surface that the ball's landing on and rolling across to get it closer to the hole is gonna be a thing that these golfers can do. And then secondly is they can start to play around with a little bit with ball position, play around a little bit with face orientation at setup, play around a little bit with different clubs. You can hit a pitch shot with a couple different types of clubs with the same landing area, right? If the pin's in the back, maybe you play w-w-with a bit more of like a flatter face and get it kind of chasing back there. If the pin's in the front, maybe you play with a more high, like higher lofted club, so it has a chance to stop a little bit closer to get as many of these golf balls as close to the hole as possible, and really for these it's like inside twelve feet would kinda be the goal. Again, we, were talking beforehand as like, oh, not missing the green isn't a strategy. Like correct, g-just getting it inside twelve feet is not a strategy, but you need to know If you're off the green as a level two golfer shooting between eighty-eight and seventy-six, if you hit your shot inside 12 feet, that was a great shot Okay? You just need to have that awareness, right?

Eric 23:00

And 12 feet's a good number because we still have a chance at one-putting inside of

Rob 23:04

Yep.

Eric 23:05

right? Statistically speaking. There's a chance at the one putt and very unlikely to three putt,

Rob 23:10

Mm-hmm.

Eric 23:12

out over and over and over and over again, you're gonna give yourself

Rob 23:14

Mm-hmm.

Eric 23:15

you know. That's gonna happen without giving too many, more than bogeys away for sure. So that, that number makes a lot of

Rob 23:23

And you'll lu- you'll luck your way inside of six feet plenty.

Eric 23:27

Yeah, for sure. I mean, you're trying to

Rob 23:29

You are

Eric 23:31

you're just accepting of the, the wider

Rob 23:34

Yes. The bigger dispersion, yep.

Eric 23:36

that's the measurement of your skill. So...

Rob 23:40

And then again, f- level three, level four golfers, this dispersion is so tight that they can almost, with these little wedge shots, as long as their target area is on the green, and like a lot of times they're playing, if they're, if they're gonna move it off the green, they're gonna match the flight to get this thing on the green. Like, their on-green percentage is so high, and their dispersion from these pitch shots is so tight that it's very rare that they can't choose a given landing area and stop it on the green.

Eric 24:11

Right

Rob 24:12

they can essentially kinda just land it wherever they want.

Eric 24:15

Right.

Rob 24:17

the highest probability launch, spin, carry, all that good stuff to try to get as m- many of these shots as close to the hole as humanly possible.

Eric 24:27

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And that's where I feel like they start in level three and four using a lot more loft

Rob 24:35

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eric 24:37

'Cause I think the art of short game, the skill of short game is really slowing the ball down at the right

Rob 24:43

Yeah.

Eric 24:44

and left in prediction part to this too,

Rob 24:46

Yep.

Eric 24:47

the ability to get the ball to go the right distance is really the biggest part of the

Rob 24:52

Definitely.

Eric 24:55

the better you get because you're not missing it way right and way left. You're not mishitting it very often. Although, I had a level

Rob 25:01

J-

Eric 25:01

three

Rob 25:02

Not all level three players are level three short games, okay? You can have a level three golfer with a level one short game. I've seen that before and level four driving and iron play.

Eric 25:11

this guy's a friend of mine and, and l- and listener to the show, so he'll, he'll be fine that I'll pick on him a little bit, but 'cause he was picking on himself. But, like, it was, yeah, probably 20% missing the green from 20 yards.

Rob 25:26

a level one, yeah.

Eric 25:28

but he's, you know, I'll bet you he's a plus two handicap,

Rob 25:31

Yeah.

Eric 25:32

So the plus two handicaps hit a lot of greens in

Rob 25:35

That's right. He's only putting himself in that situation a couple times a round.

Eric 25:41

you can putt, right, off the

Rob 25:43

yes

Eric 25:43

So he needed to do this well twice

Rob 25:46

Yeah. Yeah.

Eric 25:48

a round at max, and if it didn't go well, it didn't go well, that was fine. But it was like, you know, it was just a big contact issue,

Rob 25:54

Mm-hmm.

Eric 25:56

next time, but that's the,

Rob 25:58

Yeah.

Eric 26:02

You make a good point that I s- that I've talked to a few of my students about recently, which is part of their game is a little bit outpacing the other one. And I was like,

Rob 26:10

Yeah.

Eric 26:15

Into this part of your game and, put minimal amounts of practice into the other parts 'cause they're going pretty well. Lean into trying to bring up this lagging, lagging part of your game a little bit." And sometimes it's short game, sometimes it's just driving

Rob 26:30

Mm-hmm.

Eric 26:31

sometimes it's putting, right? And you just say "Okay, I just need to bring this part up just

Rob 26:36

Right.

Eric 26:38

And so it's okay to do that. But

Rob 26:39

Yeah.

Eric 26:40

when you see someone that can, like, really chip and they're a ch- they're a 16

Rob 26:44

Uh-huh. It-

Eric 26:47

some work to do with the swing, but they, they tend to always practice the short game. So it's just one

Rob 26:51

100%-- Y-yeah, I said it again. There, there you go. Take another shot. Um,

Eric 26:58

Mm-hmm.

Rob 27:00

a lot on... I, I think that's a really interesting point, is when, for a golfer, are we trying to turn a weakness into a strength versus just make it a little bit better? I think that depends on the golfer, like what level golfer they are, and then what is the weakness versus what is the strength. If you've got a level one golfer who's a level three putter, right? Well then, of course, I'm, I'm totally fine with them darn near like ignoring their putting, 'cause even if their putting takes a dip, they're still gonna be into that like level two. I'm just, this as an example, like l- it's very rare that this would happen, but like, they'll still be b- good enough, more than good enough putter because w- the time that they're spending on the driving and the approach is so much more relevant for them and actually getting better, is like that's gonna, that's where they're gonna see the benefit. So then I wouldn't mind if the, the putting dipped or even if it flip-flopped. Like for a level one golfer, I'd almost rather them just like flip-flop it and say like, "Hey, I want you being as good off the tee and, and your approach shots as possible. Short game good enough, and then let's see where you get." Whereas let's say we, you know, you got a tour player That's where, especially for that given week, you know, they're trying to win a golf tournament. Like, putting is a huge deal for them. It's in ter-- especially in terms of giving them a chance to win that week, you know. Like, let's say they're really good with driving accuracy, like they're amazing at driving accuracy, and they spend a lot of time on, hitting it straight. They really, really enjoy hitting a, a ton of fairways. They do a lot of face awareness stuff, a lot of impact,, spot stuff. It's like, all right, well, I might be okay with this golfer taking a little dip in driving accuracy, if they can bring up the putting a little bit. So I, I just think it's an interesting conversation. It just kinda depends on where you're at.

Eric 28:55

Yeah.

Rob 28:55

yeah.

Eric 28:56

your, your time for most golfers is a finite

Rob 28:59

a cost for most golfers- Right. And so like, beginner golfers will work on their iron shots because they want to, because they're like, "This is insane." And a lot of times they're not even close to it. And I think before they go in there,

Eric 29:18

missed the green, and then I take four putts." And I'm like,

Rob 29:21

is a three, this is a five. And normally on the course you're like-

Eric 29:25

I putt it

Rob 29:25

Yeah.

Eric 29:26

and don't even

Rob 29:27

Right. Think about

Eric 29:28

I'm

Rob 29:28

it,

Eric 29:29

and

Rob 29:29

right? But now if you score it a one, and so that's where I might circle around like this is what it looks like when you're struggling with your short game. I had this conversation today. I think your swing is functioning really well but it belongs. So When you practice, I want you to put more than 50% of your practice into these systems that you're working on.

Eric 29:48

finesse shots around the green,

Rob 29:50

Yeah. Right? And then spend 25% on

Eric 29:52

percent between

Rob 29:53

putting and close stuff, right?

Eric 29:55

right?

Rob 29:55

Because that's all working. And I want you to bring speed. Yeah. Yeah. No, no.

Eric 30:00

to improve. And we're

Rob 30:01

Yeah. And then the other last thing is like, okay, well

Eric 30:03

and in our

Rob 30:04

then what happens when I start to struggle? Yep.

Eric 30:07

or forty yards and shorter.

Rob 30:09

And so it'll be good. That'll work out well.

Eric 30:11

well.

Rob 30:11

They'll, they'll bring up that sort of lagging club

Eric 30:13

body part,

Rob 30:14

speed stuff. Mm-hmm.

Eric 30:14

they'll, they'll get like,

Rob 30:15

They'll get it up to speed and then they've got somewhere to build from. Yep.

Eric 30:20

right?" So, um,

Rob 30:22

think that's good. I mean, I think that you can do something similar in that vein, right? Yep. That's why we try to give you these

Eric 30:28

these

Rob 30:30

little statistical tidbits about how to

Eric 30:32

can improve your

Rob 30:33

think about things, because I feel like there's-- a lot of people are leaving a complete data analysis out of the equation, and they're wondering like, "Wow, I think it way worse than my playing level, but I have no idea." Right. What does that mean? So

Eric 30:45

mean?

Rob 30:46

let's give you some numbers. Sure.

Eric 30:46

trying to tell you is

Rob 30:47

You're in this bubble and this is the, this is the box of this stuff. Right? And that's it. You

Eric 30:54

you should build

Rob 30:55

should focus

Eric 30:56

to

Rob 30:57

on this. Mm-hmm.

Eric 30:58

accomplish those things, take a

Rob 31:00

Yeah.

Eric 31:02

need skill I do not have, and I need to go some coaching

Rob 31:06

Yeah. Yep.

Eric 31:08

where we come in, right?

Rob 31:10

Absolutely.

Eric 31:11

the coach.

Rob 31:12

So just putting a bow on some of the strategy stuff. Let me, to that end, actually, I think it'd be a good idea just to give the folks some, some benchmarks and, and, really looking at, hey, how good at this stuff do you really need to get? So, when we talk about a level one golfer, just getting the golf ball on the green in one shot, again, shooting higher than eighty-eight, you're looking to be over eighty percent. That's kind of your, your benchmark there, right? So is the ball stopping on the green in one shot at least eighty percent of the time, and that's easy to do. You can do like a five-ball set, just shotgun them around the green, different lies, different slopes, one shot at a time, and then start to keep track. Maybe do three to five sets and tally it up at the end and see, and see kind of where you're at.

Eric 32:00

That's awesome.

Rob 32:04

basically inside a twelve feet proximity, you're looking at like fifty-ish percent. Fifty percent inside of twelve feet is kind of a nice, a nice benchmark, at, at least fifty percent. And what's funny is that, for level three golfers it stays fifty percent, but then it goes into six feet,

Eric 32:24

Mm-hmm.

Rob 32:26

tour, tour players just do it better. All right. So let's get into some of the prediction process stuff, right? So the strategy is really two things. It's your decision-making and it's your prediction process, right? So how are you predicting the lie, the slope, and the conditions are affecting this? So for level one golfers, again, to get this thing on the green, a lot of it is gonna be, and we'll talk about this in our next episode, but just the, the prediction of where the ball is located in space and getting the bottom of the swing in the appropriate location for a pitch shot. So the ball's touching the face consistently, the ball's in the air, it's landing, and it's getting on the green. So, to that end, really it's, it's a matter of for them, especially when they're in the rough, especially when the, the, the location of the golf ball is variable, like it's sitting up, sitting down, you've got into the grain, you've got down grain,, understanding for them like how much the speed really needs to change a lot for these little shots, I think is huge. And we're, we're not really asking a level one golfer to really change things like flight Things like spin, things like, you know, they're not gonna be super in tune with just like, like reading the green, reading what, the deflection stuff and then the rollout stuff is doing. So for a level one golfer is the prediction is, is again, very much, skill-based. Like how do I get the bottom of the swing, how to... in the, in appropriate location? How, can I predict generally the speed that I need for this shot, based off of my chosen landing area? And then a lot of the prediction too is, let's say you're putting through fairway. Well, learning how the ball rolls through the fairway grass and being able to predict speed, for those shots. This is a lot what we're g- we're gonna repeat this, a lot of what we're saying here in our next episode. And then same thing with the chipping, right? Because a lot of times with chipping you're having to predict, you know, that first bounce of, of when it's hitting the ground, what, what is this thing doing? There's a little bit of a prediction process, process to that as well. But pretty simple for a level one golfer, really.

Eric 34:34

keep it as low to the ground as possible,

Rob 34:37

Yeah. I guess knowing

Eric 34:40

is, is probably

Rob 34:42

where uphill and downhill is. Yeah.

Eric 34:44

of

Rob 34:44

Yeah. Um,

Eric 34:46

You

Rob 34:46

you know,

Eric 34:47

it,

Rob 34:47

it, it surprises me sometimes, you'll hear, "Wow, that green was really fast."

Eric 34:52

"Well, no, it was just

Rob 34:53

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eric 34:55

or it really rolled. Well now it's coming out of the rough. These are the things that level one golfers need to

Rob 34:59

You know, it's like, you know,

Eric 35:02

the only

Rob 35:03

they really weren't rolling off coming off the rough, but these are

Eric 35:06

we're

Rob 35:07

the things that normally Yep. And the only way you can learn to do it is you just have to have a little bit of knowledge or get experience and then you gotta go practice it. You gotta practice it. You gotta be able to find a short game area that you can practice.

Eric 35:15

or downhill, uphill, sidehill, you know, those, those

Rob 35:18

Yep.

Eric 35:19

those types of stories for sure.

Rob 35:21

Yeah,

Eric 35:21

yeah, to your point, it's a simplified

Rob 35:24

it's important to

Eric 35:25

right? That's what you're

Rob 35:26

Yeah. It's really,

Eric 35:27

as we

Rob 35:28

totally. If you're, if you're hitting a putt, the main thing is, like you said, predicting the slope, right? And then the surface that it's rolling across to really predict speed, right? It's not like the face direction at impact is gonna be that egregiously open or closed to where the green isn't in the dispersion. Most of the time the face is gonna be pointed close enough,, especially with putting and chipping the, arc location's gonna be, you know, reasonable enough. It's really when you get to pitching is it's just a matter of landing the golf ball kind of where you want. And that's where it's like wherever the slope of the green's taking the ball, it's gonna take the ball. Like it's, I'm not gonna really fight it for a level one golfer. I'm just saying, hey, can you get as much of your dis- like dispersion on the green as possible? If you land it inside your dispersion and the ball stops anywhere on the green, I'm pretty happy as a coach for sure.

Eric 36:20

Totally agree. Totally

Rob 36:21

So now when we go to level two, this is when, again, inside 12 feet, this is where reading the lie becomes a little bit more important, reading the slope becomes a little bit more important because now that this dispersion has tightened, I go from like five, six fingers down to four, basically. This is when I can get my entire landing area on the green. Now, where do I need to move this while keeping all of my dispersion on the green to get as close to the hole as possible? So a good example would be like a short-sided shot, right? So for a level one golfer or just it's ir-- it's an acceptance of like, "Hey, it's gonna land on the green. It's gonna chase 15, 20, 30 feet past. It's okay."

Eric 37:06

Right.

Rob 37:09

because the dispersion's tighter, well, they are gonna be landing it closer to the front of the green just because the dispersion is tighter, right? So that in of itself is gonna s-get the ball stopping closer to the green. But then it's like, all right, well, keeping this landing area on the green, what will we need to do to accommodate the lie and the slope and even sometimes the wind stuff to get the ball as close to the hole as possible, right? So in general, it's understanding,, the difference in lies are gonna change the difference in the launch, the ball speed, and, and the spin. Right? So off the fairway, you know kind of what the golf ball's doing, right? There, there's no real adjustment or prediction based off of that. Depending on where the, the pin is relative to the green, obviously you're gonna be changing, the loft stuff at, at setup maybe a little bit to change that, but, not too much to get into there. It's really in the rough, right? Where understanding how is this lie gonna change the speed of the ball, the height that it launches, and the spin and accommodating for that. If you play a lot on, Bermuda, this stuff can change pretty rapidly. We have some Bermuda lies, around our short game area at, at Birdwood where you can get some weird ones that really, really spin because the ball's sitting way up on top of the, of the Bermuda, almost like a tee, like it's sitting up on a tee. So what's your ability to predict that versus when it's sitting down, the ball launches,, considerably lower, it's way-- it's coming out way slower, and the thing's got no spin, right? So then you're gonna have to play with a lot more loft, make a, a little bit bigger swing. And the, that's really the main considerations for a level two golfer is predicting kinda how the ball's coming out of the lie a little bit and then what's the slope Doing when it's, when it's hitting the green, when it's rolling out, am I able to make some subtle adjustments? I'm not talking about big, like a little bit of adjustments to the loft, right? Like, or is the face a little bit open or more closed? Is the ball a bit more up in your stance, back in your stance? Club selection is really kind of maybe sometimes a big one here. Just to take again that same landing area and stop it closer to the hole, right? And that's when you are change-- like I said, adjusting for the lie and the slope and, and maybe able to change some, some launch and spin stuff accordingly.

Eric 39:37

Mm-hmm. If you're this level golfer and you've never taken a short game lesson where you just walk around a green and drop balls and have the coach coach you up on, adjustments, you should do it tomorrow. this is something that in this level, level two golfer, 'cause you're working so hard on this prediction piece, you have the ability to hit the shots. You do for the most part, for the mo- for the most part. I'm making generalizations, but this golfer is developing a lot of ability to have some skill with their

Rob 40:08

Mm-hmm.

Eric 40:09

making these adjustments on the predictions are like... It's such a huge deal,

Rob 40:15

Yes.

Eric 40:16

And so, "Eric, how do I hit this shot down in the rough?" Top of the rough, halfway down the rough, all the way down in the

Rob 40:22

Yeah.

Eric 40:24

lots of green to work with, uphill, downhill, into the green, down green, like a

Rob 40:30

Yeah.

Eric 40:30

over a bunker, from

Rob 40:31

Mm-hmm.

Eric 40:33

way around and saying like... I did this last week with a golfer, and he literally filmed every conversation we had.

Rob 40:40

Yeah.

Eric 40:40

his phone out and he'd say, "What do I do here?" And I would just talk him through it,

Rob 40:44

That's cool.

Eric 40:46

which isn't my favorite, you know how I teach. I like them to

Rob 40:48

Yeah,

Eric 40:49

a little

Rob 40:49

yeah.

Eric 40:50

than that, but made sense because he and I had done that before, and he's like, "I just don't always remember." He's like, "I have a day job and I've got

Rob 40:57

Yeah.

Eric 40:58

of forget. And when I come out and practice, I want to just be able to look at it and go..." So he would literally say "Okay, 15 yards short sided over a

Rob 41:05

Mm-hmm.

Eric 41:06

down on the rough." And then, you know, he'd hit it.

Rob 41:08

That's cool.

Eric 41:10

of ways that he can practice

Rob 41:11

Yeah.

Eric 41:12

little adjustments.

Rob 41:14

Yeah, yeah,

Eric 41:15

we've

Rob 41:15

yeah.

Eric 41:15

They're just little tweaks that you're doing here and

Rob 41:17

Yep.

Eric 41:19

chance at the

Rob 41:20

Yeah.

Eric 41:20

like playing a little higher percentage.

Rob 41:22

think for level two golfers in particular, um, and honestly a lot of level three golfers, it's like I'm, I'm using setup variables as much as possible to get the golf ball kind of responding off the club and on the green kind of the way I want,

Eric 41:38

Yep, yep,

Rob 41:40

I'm not changing my swing, the, the rhythm and the freedom of it as much as poss- I'm not changing my grip. I'm not changing what the club's doing in swing as much as I am changing things like ball position, distance from the ball, the, the face at address, you know. And just like I said, there's a lot of more little subtle little tweaks that you'll learn as a level two golfer, just to, again, get, get that ending spot of the golf ball a little bit closer to the hole without sacrificing, getting that whole entire dispersion on the green. This is a

Eric 42:14

are developing that pitch shot. They're

Rob 42:16

model where golfers are developing that. Yeah. Yeah.

Eric 42:18

they're just getting, they're

Rob 42:20

That is- Yes.

Eric 42:22

to your point, you don't tell a level one golfer never to practice those, but you're telling

Rob 42:26

You

Eric 42:26

work on

Rob 42:27

don't play a level one golfer and have them focus on this for two,

Eric 42:29

Like pick some pretty specific places on the

Rob 42:31

three months. Yeah.

Eric 42:31

it, and then you're growing that skill set. So

Rob 42:33

A lot of that really happens.

Eric 42:37

like

Rob 42:37

Agreed.

Eric 42:39

golfer. It's also shots you're using less. Like

Rob 42:42

It's

Eric 42:42

about, as you get to

Rob 42:43

also- Mm-hmm. Actually true. When a golfer- Mm-hmm.

Eric 42:49

you need more out of

Rob 42:50

Yeah.

Eric 42:51

weight to it that you really need to start getting that ball up and down for

Rob 42:55

Yes.

Eric 42:56

of the

Rob 42:56

Yep.

Eric 42:57

for

Rob 42:57

Absolutely.

Eric 42:58

right, what about

Rob 42:59

All

Eric 42:59

three

Rob 42:59

right, here we go. All right, this is where the game really changes because now if we think about, again, six feet becomes a little bit more of like the goal for these golfers. So think about like a twelve-foot proximity around the hole. How often is it that you're gonna be able to start the golf ball reasonably close to the hole, from a direction standpoint, like launching it toward the hole, but if it's landing in the right place, in the right landing angle, right, with the spin that you want, it's gonna... if the distance of the, of the rollout is reasonable, then it's gonna be inside twelve feet more often than

Eric 43:40

Mhm.

Rob 43:42

necessarily inside six. And so this is where for these level three and level four golfers, an added emphasis on reading the break of the sh-- of what it's doing when it's landing on the green. So when the, when the ball lands on the green, what direction is the surface deflecting the golf ball? Is it deflecting it left? Is it deflecting it straight? Is it deflecting it, deflecting it to the right? And then reading the rollout. So we like to say, and then we'll, we'll talk about this in putting, but short game shots are essentially lag putts for level three golfers. I want them choosing the highest line po- the highest start line possible and still maybe give the ball a chance of going in, right? And so this is where, yes, like they do all the same stuff better. The dispersion gets ti- even tighter, and then that's where like You know, there are still targets that I wouldn't prefer a level three golfer to choose. Basically, anytime it's like for a level three golfer, if you're landing it on the edge of the fringe, that's not my preference. You need to give yourself at least a couple feet on the green, as just a, as a general rule. You know, I, I kinda like two steps on the green for, more often than not. Right. So they're all doing the same stuff better. They're reading how the ball's coming out of the rough. They're able to make a lot more detailed, sort of specific-- And again, not all this is conscious, by the way. This is a, th-this is skill development. They're able to make,, more adjustments to the club delivery to accommodate for the launch and the spin, right? They're reading the slope, right? Is it landing on a downslope, landing f-flat, landing on an upslope and they're, and they're mo- and they're making adjustments for that. But then they're definitely reading, like I said, the direction that thing, that thing is deflecting, how it's breaking across the green, and they are truly are reading it like a putt. So, um, this is where the green reading element for a short game really, really comes into play and is super relevant for these golfers.

Eric 45:50

Mm-hmm.

Rob 45:51

I would also say that if you see a level three player especially from, like, a hundred and forty yards in, it doesn't always make sense to them because they haven't analyzed the situation. Mm.

Eric 46:04

and

Rob 46:05

Yep. Like when they're first starting out,

Eric 46:09

a

Rob 46:09

they see these long blades of grass wherever they're, it's almost landing in front of them. Yeah. And it's stopping.

Eric 46:16

and it's stopping

Rob 46:17

Yep. Right? Totally.

Eric 46:20

can you play that all the time? No, 'cause... But I'm

Rob 46:23

Can you play that all the time? No. Because you

Eric 46:24

they

Rob 46:24

get up there and you're like, "Okay, I can handle it." And then you hit it and it keeps spinning and spinning and spinning and really close to the hole. This is not really land it, let it roll on and roll it across the green. Mm-hmm. They are spinning because

Eric 46:38

They are

Rob 46:39

they can't get that break and they are doing- Yeah.

Eric 46:42

you know, like the golf ball spins.

Rob 46:45

The golf ball spins while you are throwing it on, like,

Eric 46:46

Like, you

Rob 46:47

spin it,

Eric 46:48

it. You

Rob 46:48

stop it, and then roll it.

Eric 46:50

it. So

Rob 46:50

the prediction of the slope becomes less and less. Yes, that's why they're doing that in my opinion.

Eric 46:56

why they're doing it, 'cause it becomes less relevant

Rob 46:59

Because now the golf ball is spinning. Yep. You

Eric 47:01

hole, and it's

Rob 47:01

up high-

Eric 47:02

very much. So

Rob 47:02

Yeah. ...and flat. That's what it's like. Right? So if you're talking about only one slope- Hey, that wasn't me saying it that time.

Eric 47:12

and

Rob 47:14

out of the rough and, you know, get the ball to spin more

Eric 47:23

at that

Rob 47:23

of that. So- Yeah. ...you've got to hit it softer and lower and all that stuff. And I like what you said about learning about the highest point. I think that-

Eric 47:33

think that's

Rob 47:33

100% right. And going back to when we talked to Marc Sweeney about putting, if you know that the ball if it keeps itself rolling towards the hole on its own, it's gonna break less across that slope, right? And it's gonna end up...

Eric 47:49

up... Y- you,

Rob 47:51

Put, put to you this way. You want your ball rolling towards the hole on its own. Mm-hmm.

Eric 47:55

have it not rolling away from the

Rob 47:57

Like if it keeps itself rolling towards

Eric 47:59

to

Rob 47:59

the hole.

Eric 48:01

from 20

Rob 48:02

Yeah. And so when those are your misses, right? You have a one-yard, two-foot long putt. Mm-hmm.

Eric 48:04

an

Rob 48:04

That goes left. No. Yeah. Like they wanna make sure it's quick. This is not about uphill down, side hill. And that maybe will make you play it safe. Now there's, there's people that can, they

Eric 48:15

can go like,

Rob 48:16

are somewhat way better

Eric 48:17

better putting

Rob 48:18

at putting uphill than they are like left to right. But you'd rather be,

Eric 48:21

be,

Rob 48:22

you know, downhill four feet than you would be- Yep uphill two feet, right? Yeah. So you

Eric 48:28

trying to

Rob 48:29

kind of the

Eric 48:30

to the hole as

Rob 48:30

difference there. Yes. And when we

Eric 48:38

unless you

Rob 48:38

see that out in the wild,

Eric 48:40

then you're

Rob 48:41

we're likely going at the ball a little harder. Mm-hmm.

Eric 48:46

it's rolling towards the hole

Rob 48:47

Because we don't wanna see it slow. So this is- Yeah when you're rolling away from the hole, that

Eric 48:53

can get away from you,

Rob 48:55

ball's gonna roll away from you, right? To a hundred-- Yes. Because it slows down faster when you hit it on the

Eric 49:00

the high line,

Rob 49:01

high end. Mm-hmm.

Eric 49:02

it down when it gets underneath the hole.

Rob 49:04

You can slow

Eric 49:05

That's just physics,

Rob 49:06

it down if it gets on the up slope. Yep. That's just physics. Physics man.

Eric 49:08

to the Bark Sweeney episode that we did with the founder of AimPoint, 'cause he will explain it to

Rob 49:12

Yeah.

Eric 49:13

Okay.

Rob 49:14

But once you get up the slope, it picks back up again and starts going straight. Yep. Yep. And I'll say like the, the last parting thoughts about that is like level three, level four golfers can start to become, to your point, um, a little bit pickier about the slope that they're landing the ball on. So I, I don't, I don't tend to see level three, level four golfers love landing the ball on down slopes. That's a big one. So again, that's just where they, they sort of lose the predictability of, of what this golf ball is doing. They tend to like to land it on flat or maybe even up slopes when possible, and not landing it off the green when they can help it. That's again, for a level three golfer, a level four golfer, the predictability you, you do tend to lose at times when you're landing it off the green. Now there's some shots, especially short sided in the fairway, sometimes it's like that's really for these golfers their only shot of stopping the golf ball and that, that's something different. Again, because their dispersion's so tight, they can afford to have a little bit of that dispersion on, on, on the short side and still maybe get the golf ball on the green. But if possible, trying to avoid landing it on down slopes and, and avoid landing it off the green, tends to be, tends to be a good idea.

Eric 50:22

Yeah. still

Rob 50:24

This process in my brain where I'm, I'm moving more wide

Eric 50:27

the

Rob 50:28

and slow- Yes versus what I used to do. So I'm trying to figure out

Eric 50:33

out,

Rob 50:33

is what got me where

Eric 50:35

have access to

Rob 50:36

I

Eric 50:36

This

Rob 50:36

am today. Yep. And what, what position do I want to be in

Eric 50:42

result

Rob 50:43

make that? Yeah. So I'm like,

Eric 50:45

at.

Rob 50:45

Mm-hmm

Eric 50:46

as the lie

Rob 50:48

as I lie, it works.

Eric 50:48

worse,

Rob 50:50

As I get more short-sighted, as the slope

Eric 50:52

the slopes

Rob 50:52

more difficult, I'm starting to widen out,

Eric 50:56

out my, um,

Rob 50:59

of where I want that ball. Absolutely. And I'm-

Eric 51:02

that's where I start bringing

Rob 51:03

Mm.

Eric 51:04

like that land off the

Rob 51:05

Yes. Yep. And- Right,

Eric 51:08

y-

Rob 51:08

because depending on how I play it, you know, if my bang list into the slope and it stops dead short side, I'm putting 80 feet from the edge. Yeah. Yeah.

Eric 51:18

Right? 'Cause if I... Then

Rob 51:19

But then if I pitch

Eric 51:20

the down

Rob 51:21

over the hill and I

Eric 51:21

and it

Rob 51:21

get down to where it rolls, now suddenly my next shot is much easier. Yep.

Eric 51:25

me. So

Rob 51:26

I know my ability that shot. I can count on flying it more. Mm-hmm.

Eric 51:30

Area of acceptance as

Rob 51:32

But if the pin is up close, then- Yeah.

Eric 51:35

I don't,

Rob 51:35

I don't expect myself... I would say with

Eric 51:38

with elite

Rob 51:39

a useful career, maybe 25.

Eric 51:43

green,

Rob 51:44

So say sometimes pin is- Mm-hmm. So if I don't happen to hit it, that's pretty rare. But if I put two blinds, especially on

Eric 51:51

time

Rob 51:52

like pin high front. Yep.

Eric 51:54

that's the,

Rob 51:55

That's the big one.

Eric 51:56

So

Rob 51:56

So you kind of like Look at what you've got going on and go, "Okay, um, what is the shot? And what should I take on?"

Eric 52:02

should I

Rob 52:03

Mm-hmm.

Eric 52:03

my skill set,"

Rob 52:04

Yeah.

Eric 52:05

And so we've been giving you some numbers, some parameters, but then there's shots that are just yeah, this is gonna be outside of that

Rob 52:11

This is it. Yeah.

Eric 52:12

right?

Rob 52:12

For su-- Yeah.

Eric 52:13

okay with

Rob 52:14

Yep.

Eric 52:15

Um, I think Mark Sweeney also said that...

Rob 52:17

Eighty-five

Eric 52:24

85% of

Rob 52:25

time I'm gonna be

Eric 52:28

and shorter.

Rob 52:28

short. It's not gonna be more than 16 feet. Mm-hmm.

Eric 52:30

right?

Rob 52:30

Right? And they get up and down from

Eric 52:32

in

Rob 52:32

that area- Yeah six feet. Yeah. Yep. Six-- Yeah. Again, I can tell, I can tell you. Yep, s- uh, 57. Yep. I thought it

Eric 52:45

it was

Rob 52:45

was lower. Yeah. That-- And that number doesn't include

Eric 52:47

doesn't really change

Rob 52:48

the years

Eric 52:49

that

Rob 52:50

where it converts to like getting to this area and that's close to a part two of getting up and down from somewhere halfway. Yep.

Eric 52:59

they're 85%

Rob 52:59

Eighty-five percent of the time they convert

Eric 53:02

put the

Rob 53:03

the first shot inside of 10 feet. Six feet.

Eric 53:05

feet from

Rob 53:06

Yep. Yep.

Eric 53:07

So that kinda gives

Rob 53:08

Yep.

Eric 53:08

an

Rob 53:08

Yep.

Eric 53:09

about getting up and down. It's,

Rob 53:11

Yep. So- It's not a, not really a, a thing until you get to level three.

Eric 53:17

Correct. Correct. And so you, you just have to judge your... What

Rob 53:22

so you, you just have to

Eric 53:24

in level one and a lot of level two golfers, depending on their

Rob 53:27

judge

Eric 53:28

in the short game, is to just not give strokes away

Rob 53:31

your-- what you're really trying to do on level one and a lot of level two golfers is that level of consistency. You just want to make sure- Y- Not, yeah, not, not either l- not d- not either missing the green or being too far outside of twelve feet to where now three putt percentage from where the ball ended up starts to, starts to hike. And

Eric 53:44

Yeah. I think that choosing the right shot for

Rob 53:48

then the next shot is going to be very difficult because like if you're trying to hit a green in regulation, go back to what we were

Eric 53:54

Robbie was

Rob 53:55

about with the processes and

Eric 53:56

just

Rob 53:56

just

Eric 53:57

to choose the

Rob 53:58

gotta choose the right shot for the situation. You gotta choose the, the right shot for the situation. Yep.

Eric 54:05

don't

Rob 54:05

So that you don't make shots that are-

Eric 54:07

'Cause

Rob 54:07

I see that derail so many rounds in professional golf or whatever.

Eric 54:15

80s or, you know, nine, where

Rob 54:17

They like, they just don't choose the right shot. They make one into a bunker. Mm-hmm. They chip it out of the bunker into another bad lie. They still haven't done anything to help the situation.

Eric 54:27

on

Rob 54:28

Yep.

Eric 54:28

there, right?

Rob 54:29

Because then you go to the next shot and now you're like, well, because they're chipping a lot. They haven't done anything to

Eric 54:33

that have

Rob 54:34

help the situation. Yes. So like, I'm gonna have that

Eric 54:37

shot coming

Rob 54:38

right back at me. I mean,

Eric 54:40

I've

Rob 54:40

I've gotta be able to figure out how I'm gonna get this thing in the green. I mean, just barely. And if they had just chosen to play the putter and put it this close, even maybe ball a little bit

Eric 54:45

and it

Rob 54:45

to the base of

Eric 54:47

pulled

Rob 54:47

the green.

Eric 54:50

making

Rob 54:50

Mm-hmm. They still would have been out there in two. So you just have to

Eric 54:55

to

Rob 54:55

take in those considerations and just play it out in a way that you understand it,

Eric 55:01

it can keep you moving through the

Rob 55:03

you can execute it and you have a chance to make it. Yeah.

Eric 55:13

to putt from 20 yards off the green. I know a

Rob 55:16

That's it. Yeah. You just don't wanna overcomplicate it. You just gotta choose the right shot for the situation. Yep. Mm-hmm.

Eric 55:19

I

Rob 55:19

And then move on. Yep. And then just keep doing it. Yeah.

Eric 55:29

You can do this. You're good enough.

Rob 55:31

then you'll start

Eric 55:32

the skills. Rah, rah.

Rob 55:35

come down. Yeah.

Eric 55:35

in

Rob 55:36

You'll start to feel a lot more confident. Yep. Love it. All right. Well, I'll do, I'll do just a quick little recap, right? So level one golfers, again, the decision tree is always the same. Number one priority is getting the ball on the green. Number two is proximity to the hole. If you're a level one golfer, it's likely gonna be a lot of putting from off the green. If you can't putt, hit a chip. If you can't chip it, land the ball on the green in a place to where you can stop it on the green. All right? As you get into level two, now it's probably again, entry level two, you're still gonna be doing a lot of the same stuff But as you get to the middle of kinda level two, it's gonna be a lot more of kinda landing it on the green, but can you land it a little bit flatter? Can you land it a little bit steeper? Can it be coming in from higher? Can it coming in from lower? Right? It's pretty, pretty simplified. And again, you're gonna be reading the lie, the slope, and the wind to, to, to make that prediction for what the shot needs, right? There's, there's a lot of times, you look at it face value, and you're like, "Well, oh gosh, I need something really high here for this shot." But after you read the lie, after you read the slope that it's landing on, after you read the wind or things like the conditions, you can be like, "Wait a minute, actually, I don't need something very high. I need something just kinda normal here, and it should be fine," right? So that's kind of like the, the level two and kinda getting to the end of level two. And then once you get into level three, where six feet, not twelve, becomes the, the, the main priority, you're gonna be a lot pickier about exactly from a, from a distance and a landing angle and spin standpoint, where you're landing this golf ball, and then reading the break, reading the high-low stuff and getting the direction correct to maximize the number of, of,, inside six-feet shots you're gonna get kinda becomes the main priority. And that's pretty much it. That's what we talked about.

Eric 57:29

That's short game

Rob 57:30

Yep.

Eric 57:30

baby.

Rob 57:30

take the hook.

Eric 57:35

think about it, practice the strategy, practice going through it. I

Rob 57:42

I

Eric 57:43

golfers too much

Rob 57:47

golf is a practice. Mm-hmm. I think the

Eric 57:55

which is heavily important in, in, short game where you have to predict the first one, and when you stand there and hit 20 shots from the same place, you're predicting

Rob 58:05

same way. Only the first one.

Eric 58:08

they're

Rob 58:08

Yeah, well, the first one- You're right. You're right. They're just hitting it and seeing where the ball... You know? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I think that you need to have a little

Eric 58:14

zero.

Rob 58:15

practice of how to get the

Eric 58:20

a little bit of repetitive practice at times just to kinda work on your s- stuff we'll talk about the next two episodes.

Rob 58:26

club to work on. However, how hard are you hitting the shot?

Eric 58:31

about this,

Rob 58:32

Yep.

Eric 58:32

through a process. Get yourself some

Rob 58:34

I like to hit the ball

Eric 58:35

clear the

Rob 58:36

up the green, take my club

Eric 58:37

my

Rob 58:38

you

Eric 58:38

V1x,

Rob 58:39

to add, go out there and hit this one guy and then run it straight through the green. So it's, it's, it's, it's

Eric 58:44

goes,

Rob 58:45

over quantity.

Eric 58:48

part of the

Rob 58:48

Yep. And that's, that's what you gotta be

Eric 58:53

right? And that's, that's what we...

Rob 58:54

to hit the first one. Yes.

Eric 58:57

out there on the course. It's imperative.

Rob 58:59

I think the

Eric 59:04

evening.

Rob 59:04

got is the episode.

Eric 59:07

A lot going on., I'm glad to have recorded again with my friend, Rob Fails. It's been too long, but we're back at it. uh, yeah, so U- does UVA play this week in the national-- is it the national

Rob 59:22

the women are, the women are at regionals. And yeah, I think the guys will be heading out here in the next few days. Yeah.

Eric 59:31

regionals,

Rob 59:32

Yeah.

Eric 59:32

nationals

Rob 59:33

Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

Eric 59:37

UVA is very good, so wahoo wa. Let's go Cavs. Let's win some national tournaments this

Rob 59:43

Let's do it.

Eric 59:45

one still going into

Rob 59:46

Yeah, I think they're o-one or two. They're up there.

Eric 59:52

their, um, number one player is Ben

Rob 59:55

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Eric 59:56

How much do you see him work on his

Rob 59:58

A ton. He's out there all the time.

Eric 1:00:02

his, superpower?

Rob 1:00:04

You know, I, I, I haven't gotten a chance to watch him play a ton, but it just does not look like there's a single weakness to his game.

Eric 1:00:12

Yeah.

Rob 1:00:15

really, really, really well.

Eric 1:00:16

Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense, 'cause he's ranked as one of the top amateurs in the

Rob 1:00:21

Yep.

Eric 1:00:21

mean, I think he's, like, way up there in the rankings. you, you don't have a lot of

Rob 1:00:25

No.

Eric 1:00:27

a single-digit world ranking number beside your, beside your name. And, yeah, I've never, I've not seen him. I know some folks that went down to the tournament UVA hosted, a month ago or so and watched, wanted to follow him specifically and said it was really impressive. So a little UVA golf talk there at the end. thanks again, Robbie.

Rob 1:00:48

Mm-hmm.

Eric 1:00:49

you're, hope everything's going

Rob 1:00:51

That was great. Yeah. Thank you.

Eric 1:00:52

have to, we'll have to get together

Rob 1:00:54

Yes.

Eric 1:00:55

even play some

Rob 1:00:56

Let's do it.

Eric 1:00:58

it. We'll do it. We'll put tracers on our shots and

Rob 1:01:00

Oh, God.

Eric 1:01:03

and putting me- hashtags and

Rob 1:01:04

Yes.

Eric 1:01:07

Anyway,

Rob 1:01:08

we're not doing that.

Eric 1:01:09

y'all for tuning into the Golf Intervention. We're glad to have you listening to us. We hope you're getting better at golf, that's it. Have a great night.

Rob 1:01:18

Cheers.