Tournament Prep That Works

Tournament season is here, and the biggest mistake we see is golfers trying to “cram” right before a qualifier, club championship, or member guest. We’re coming to you from Florida and Michigan with a practical two-week tournament prep plan that focuses on what actually holds up under pressure: recovery, decision-making, and a repeatable process you can trust when your hands feel shaky over a short putt.

We talk about the unglamorous performance drivers that decide your score: sleep, hydration, alcohol, caffeine, and why showing up fresh beats showing up with 1,000 extra range balls in your body. From there we get specific on practice strategy, including one-ball reps, a consistent pre-shot routine, and ways to simulate pressure so your “tournament swing” doesn’t look like a stranger. We also dig into short game and putting, how to practice the ugly lies you’ll actually find, and why making 100 three-footers can do more for your confidence than rolling a bunch of casual putts from 25 feet.

Finally, we cover course management and conditions: how to run a practice round with useful notes, why you should write numbers instead of clubs, and how to adjust for wind, temperature, and elevation without letting ego pick the club. If you want better golf under pressure, this is your blueprint. Subscribe, share this with a golf buddy prepping for an event, and leave a review with the one part of tournament golf you want us to tackle next.

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Transcript

Welcome And Mountain Lake Golf

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Measured Golf Podcast, where you, the listeners, sit down, join Chuck and I as we discuss all things golf. And this week's a fun one. Chuck is joining us from sunny Florida, where he is down competing, playing in a member guest there for all of the money, as he always is, in full tournament go mode. And I am joining from our facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, even though the past couple weeks I've been at the house. So we're back to almost normal. Uh Chuck lives on the road this time of year. He uh is fortunate enough to know a few people and be a member at a few places and gets out and plays a lot of golf. And that's why we love to have him because we love talking about what we all can do to play better golf, especially when it means the most. So, Chuck, how's Florida? How's the weather? How is uh the tournament prep going?

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Oh man, I love uh I love being down, escaping the cold for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Um it's not that far where you live, by the way, just for the record.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yes, comparatively agreed. It is not as cold as what you deal with. Um, I don't know how you do it. Uh this has been a good good week of weather here. Um, we are at uh Mountain Lake, member guest in Lake Wales, Florida. If you have not been here, it is a gym, total architectural gym. Seth Rayner. Um, if you know someone that's a member or you get down here, it is a must-play in the state of Florida. I love coming here.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

There are very few Rayners that I have not enjoyed. Um, I think I think he does an amazing job of a picking good pieces of land to put golf courses on, but two, every hole feels like its own thought process. Like there's a commonality to the courses and the layouts, but every hole tends to be pretty interesting. You don't feel like you played the same hole three or four times. Uh, and I always think he does a really good job with the routing as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

It's uh you've nailed it. This is certainly one of those. And I love on the scorecard, every um every hole has a name, which has been like you said, it's thoughtful. It's there's um it's not just uh out of place. It's um it's got its own character to it, and every hole is different. And he does a great job with sight lines and some some fairway bunkering and how those come into play, and then um pin locations and um just like that.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

One thing I think he does really well, maybe better than most, is it's almost like he it's almost like he kind of plays the hole, if you will, and then thinks about where the best pen placements would be, and then kind of designs the greens from there to make sure that he has plenty of good hole locations.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

And they're they are not lacking for those on this golf course. And most Rainers, I would say, have some great, just those like typical kind of corner pin positions that are just but not unfair corners, like corners that were designed to be corners. Yes, not unfair, just like hey, you cannot be if you're it's a back left pin, like you can't be long, you can't be left, like you you cannot be there. Um and then to but to get it close, you do have to assume some of that risk because there may be a ridge just to the right of it that you've got to navigate, otherwise you're kind of putting over and down it. Or I I think he's probably my favorite architect.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

He's been my favorite thus far. Um, yeah. You know, it's it's funny. I'm I'm not I'm not for the things I do know about golf, golf course architecture certainly isn't one of those things to where I would throw my hat in the ring and call myself an expert by any means. Um, but I know what I like and I know what I find interesting. And one of the the great joys for me, probably one of the coolest experiences I've had on the golf course, uh, and I've had them on the podcast, but uh Mike DeVries uh has become a friend of mine and uh just a great guy, really fun, kind of uh gives me caddyshack vibes, man. I love Mike. He's just kind of he's one of those guys from that time. Um, but uh a couple years ago, I was fortunate enough to get to go and play Kingsley Club up in northern Michigan with Mike who designed it. Yeah, it's one of my favorites. Uh probably a little bit. Yeah, I would say it's easily my favorite in the state of Michigan. Um, I just love that place. And uh I got to play with Mike uh and a couple of my dear friends as well. And not only I broke my hand during that round, but I still shot I finished it out, still shot 74 and still beat Mike from the DeVries tease. Uh so I was super proud of that performance.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Um again speaks to your level of skill. Open hand still shoots in the 70s.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Yeah, I I literally, I mean, I have x-rays to prove I broke my third and fourth metacarpal in the third hole. Um yeah, and in the rough. But you know, getting out there with Mike and getting to ask questions. And it's it's funny because like you're out there and you asked this really, I feel like, insightful, kind of deep question about what were you thinking here and and why did you do this. And and Mike is just kind of this um very simple, straightforward guy. And he's like, Well, that's that's what the land said, you know. Like, I really appreciate Mike's design work because it's a very minimalist approach. And one of the really cool things that he said to me, and I and I wonder a lot of times, like what the what the goal is for these course designers, because like Mike would always say, you know, I A, I I design all the T's. Like I I don't just throw out short T's because we need them for you know the women's T's or the junior T's or whatever, but he he is planning on these T's. And I think a lot of golf courses don't do that, but he's planning these T's, and and for him, he wants every T box, whether it be the short T or the long T, to be interesting from start to finish and playable from start to finish. And I think that that's really cool because in in his head, it's it's very obvious speaking to him that the course being playable for all skill levels is really, really important. That doesn't mean they're easy, but they're playable. And I think that there's a lot of those courses that you've probably been to and I've been to, to where honestly, if you go back to the back tees for most golfers, it's not a playable golf course. You're not going to be able to finish.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, if you don't have the skill level to be back there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Yeah. A lot of force carries, a lot of like really tight corridors, stuff like that to where it's it's just it's no fun. But I've I've always really appreciated Mike's work. I've you know, there's uh Seth Rayner in Cincinnati, Ohio called Camargo. Super private, high-end club, but just an absolute gem. I mean, like I said, I've I've played a few Rayners. Uh I haven't played one that I haven't enjoyed. I mean, I I really enjoy his work, I really enjoy uh Dr. Alistair McKenzie's work. You know, I I like that stuff. I like the stuff that is fun to play and pretty to look at. And I think those guys do an amazing job with that.

Why Tournament Prep Starts Now

SPEAKER_00 7:39

They blend it well. And Rainer learning from the original uh C.B. McDonald, who's got National Golf Links, which is a total I mean, it's in my top three that I've ever played. Obviously, it's in the top five in the country, but it is the templates and the layout fantastic, and obviously Rayner learning under him. Um I think uh I think an easy segue into the mind of coach Michael Dutro is that we're in March. We just had the players, people are starting to get excited about golf. Um about to hit that coming year. Uh I'm clearly at a member guest. Tournaments are starting, everybody's getting excited about golf. Um talking to one of my best friends last night, uh, who's now become a listener of the pod, and um he was curious. He's like, hey man, do you think Michael would get into some tournament prep and what we can be doing leading into an event or the week of an event? Um two weeks before an event. Michael, could you and we we we can get granular as we go along, but walk us through let's start we're two weeks out. We've got a qualifier, we've got a member guest, we've got the member member, um we've got a local city tournament. What do you want to see take us two weeks prior?

Sleep Hydration And Cutting Alcohol

SPEAKER_01 9:25

What do you want to start seeing? I want to see people, you know, let's say two weeks out, you know. I I think you know, two weeks is kind of a good period of time. You know, if if we're talking about, you know, the professional players I work with when we're coming up on a major like Augusta, you know, in a lot of these cases, you're you're working on this, you know, a month, six weeks, eight weeks prior to the event, like is when you kind of start ramping. Um, but for for the normal person out there who's playing a member guest, who's playing a qualifiers, who's just kind of doing the club level or the amateur level stuff, you know, I think two weeks is kind of a good period of time uh to really start looking at things. But to keep it kind of simple, you know, I think we got to start transitioning from the golf skills to the human skills. And, you know, I think it's a really good time to really start taking care of your body. Um, a lot of golfers, you know, really kind of overestimate the the amount of sleep that you need to perform at a high level consistently. Uh hydration levels, I think, are are really important. Um, I know, you know, it's it's a different period of time now. And I know if you look at like Anheuser-Busch's stock, it's not as good as it used to be because people aren't drinking as much and things like that. But if you've ever worn a whoop, you will figure out pretty quickly that when you drink, uh, it is not good for the recovery, it's not good for the sleep. And I think, you know, it's it's not a bad time to, you know, start cutting down on the booze after work or the booze on the weekends. It's not a bad time to start trying to get to bed at a little earlier time uh and really kind of start taking care of the body and getting the body prepared to play at its best. But, you know, what I tend to see that doesn't work well is people start trying to take it serious two weeks out and they start practicing more and they start, you know, oh, I better go take a golf lesson. And you know, that it's like they're they're kind of like that kid in the hallway sitting outside of a class in college that right before the class, they got the textbook open and they're trying to read the material, and it's like, dude, it's too late. Um, you you can't you can't really cram for golf the way maybe you could cram for an exam. So I I think that the mistake that so many people make is that they actually start working harder than they have been, and they start kind of quote unquote burning the candle at both ends. And then by the time they actually get to the tournament, they're just exhausted and fatigued and burnt out. And then obviously that shows up in the scores. So I think two weeks out is a really good time to start that transition from, you know, hey, I'm I'm working on these golf skills, I'm I'm working on my golf swing, I'm, you know, maybe I've I've put in a new technique for chipping or putting. Okay, cool. Well, now we got to go from kind of this thinking and exploring and working on the golf skill mentality to where we just start owning this. And I think, you know, getting away from the practice tee a little bit and putting it onto the golf course, if you can, playing more golf, uh, and and trying to get high quality reps, I think is really, really good. But the idea that we're trying to change things or or or fine-tune things leading up, I just don't know how much of that's really going to be useful for most people.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Lots of unpack there. Great info. Um I'm a whoop wearer, and it was amazing to me when I started wearing it. You're saying, you know, when I would have heard you say before prior to wearing whoop about her, you say, Oh, you need to cut out the drinking. It's like, okay, well, it's two drinks instead of four drinks at the you know, opening ceremony party of something or whatever. But no, it's like the two drinks are going to kill your recovery. It is going to plummet. Um I think that three or four years ago was an eye-opener for me. Wow. Okay, so if I have a two-day event or a three-day event, and I had three or four drinks the night before. Well, no wonder I feel that much off the next day. Your recovery is your recovery's limited. Um your sleep's not as good. So the and and you're right, you you cannot be cramming. So let's let's look at it from a perspective of uh the player that's pretty consistent with their practice. They've they've been putting in the work. In that two weeks leading up, you're talking about getting some high-quality reps on the golf course. Would you be spending and it's the guy that's not you know not changing his technique, just dialing it in? Are you spending more time playing than you are practicing, or if you are practicing, what would be some things you would do to simulate the types of situations you're gonna see at the event?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

The big thing I like to do is, you know, I think when you're working on, like let's just say putting, right? A lot of people go to the putting green, I gotta work on my putting, I got an event coming up, and they go out there and they've got you know three, four, or five golf balls with them. You know, I think two weeks out we we get rid of the extra golf balls and we have one golf ball. And we're putting the pressure on pressure, yeah. And it's it's really about you know, when I say high quality rep, I think the big thing that that people will mistake is, you know, I want the full routine on every single thing you do. So I want your full putting routine. If you're chipping, I want your full chipping routine. If you're hitting a full shot, you know, we're picking a target, we're figuring out the distance. What club is this? Uh, and and just getting more accustomed to what are we going to do when we go play in this event? And how do we start kind of practicing that routine?

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Because one thing that which means reps go down and the process and the um higher quality goes up.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Yeah, 100%. You know, one thing that I would say that I learned, and and I I have played my fair share of professional events, um, and amateur, high-end amateur events and and things like that. But one thing I kind of learned is, you know, it doesn't matter who you are as a golfer, it doesn't matter um how mentally quote unquote tough you are. Nervousness is going to find us on the golf course. Uh, we're going to have moments of discomfort, moments of being nervous, moments of being excited. And I, you know, that's a big thing for me is is labeling things correctly. You know, just about every junior golfer that I work with, uh, their parents tell me how nervous they are before they tee off. And I tell the parents, I go, I think you're mislabeling that. And they go, what do you mean? And I go, well, you're nervous because you're out of control, and now you have to watch little Timmy go out there and do his thing. You're nervous because you're out of control. But little Timmy likely is just excited. And excited and nervous feel very similar to us as human beings. But the connotation between the word excited and nervous is completely different. So I think it's really important that you know we recognize that even though it does feel like nervousness, sometimes it's just excited. But whether it is excited or nervous or whatever you choose to call it, I think the big thing you have to realize is that's totally a normal human reaction to having expectations and being kind of tied to the outcomes, which we are when we play in tournaments and these events. So at the end of the day, what I kind of learned through through kind of failing a lot with not dealing very well with these feelings and these emotions is that the only Superman cape that I ever learned that would protect me and help me through these things was my process. And it it's really important that people understand this, I feel like. And and I think if you go and talk to any of the sports psychologist or any of the mental performance coaches, they talk about this a lot. But if we know what our process is, if we have it stone cold dead and can repeat it and know how it works, and and look, when I say process, I mean we know exactly what we're gonna do. So we start exactly three paces behind the golf ball. It takes us exactly three paces to get to the golf ball. We know the exact routine, and literally when you do this well and you practice this a lot, the amount of time from when you're standing behind the ball to when the ball takes off gets very consistent. So when we kind of practice this routine and get good at this routine, that's your Superman cape. And now instead of being worried about the outcome and oh my God, like this is a tough shot and it's over this water, and I don't want to hit it in the water. I gotta, instead of thinking that way and being outcome-based, now we can be process-based and and we need to tell ourselves. And if you're lucky enough to have a caddy, this is a great thing to tell your caddy before you tee off to remind you. But just stick to the process, do what you've trained, do what you know how to do, and just learn to accept the outcome. And they're probably going to be a lot better outcomes, assuming that we stick to that process. But so many people, A, don't have a process, and B, the minute that they feel a little bit of pressure, they start doing weird things that they never do. So I think it's really, really important. And I think you see this in other sports. You see guys go to the free throw line, they do the same thing every single time. You see guys, you know, at the at the line in football, the quarterbacks, they're breaking down information in a process. Like this, this is how people get good at dealing with pressure, and that's where I think a lot of golfers could benefit more from doing these high-quality reps and going through the full routine and practicing that process versus thinking they're just going to go out there and ball strike it to death, which is rarely the case in tournament play.

One-Ball Practice And Full Routine

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Right. You're you're on the range, you grab your wedge, you're trying to hit it. You've lasered everything, you're trying to hit it 100 yards. You hit the first one. You know, a little thin. Instead of just raking the next ball back, it's okay. I'm back behind. What's my process? Visualize everything I'm doing that I would be doing if I were hitting a hundred yard shot on the second hole of the event or whatever. Do everything the same. That's what you're saying. Get back into it. Take the take it all in as you would if you're playing.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah, and I I think, you know, going back to the original question of like two weeks out, you know, I think when you go to the driving range, if if that's your particular situation, we go from buying the large bucket to the small bucket, right? And and it should take you just as much time to hit that small bucket as it does that large bucket. And just really like going through things, like clean the club in between shots. Like when you're playing in a tournament, you're gonna have a clean golf club in your hand. So don't be, you know, sitting there with a muddy golf club hitting balls and wondering why the ball is flying funny on you. Um, just really take your time and be very diligent and try to. And look, we're never you're never gonna be able to simulate exactly what you're going to experience on the golf course. Like you can't, you can't really simulate pressure all that well. But, you know, you could even, if you really wanted to get crazy, you know, I I think, and I've seen players do this, and and I know it's a real thing, but try to get your heart rate a little elevated, you know, do some jumping jacks, do some push-ups, do some stuff, kind of get your heart rate a little bit elevated, and then try to go through your routine and and get through that process. Um, I think stuff like that is very, very useful because those things do happen on the golf course to where we're standing over, and I've I've been there myself. You're standing over a golf shot, you're you're not the least, you know, physically, you know, stressed. You haven't been doing anything crazy, but your heart's pounding out of your chest just because, you know, there's something that means something to you here.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Yeah. And that doesn't, like you were saying, nervous. And excited. Yeah. You're not necessarily nervous, like I can't do this. It's just an excitement. But I think I've I've heard I can't remember who else I've heard talk about that. But you know, doing the jumping jacks, getting getting everything nearly as simulated as you can, because it sure is if you've played tournament golf where it matters, everyone understands. And and the I think you could speak to your players, the professional players, they're all feeling the same excitement levels and jitters, if we'll call it that, on the first T. And it is a different when your heart is going, and you sometimes see those whoop numbers on the telecast, when that heart rate's going, that golf swing is different.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

It's not it's it's not the uh your timing and your rhythm is all really predicated on your heart rate, you know, and the amount of literal literal pressure of the blood moving through um through the veins in the body, right? I mean, that's it's all tied together in a in a very real and tangible way. And I can't I think it was maybe two years ago, maybe a year ago, uh, but but HOMA won an event, and I can't remember which event it was. I think it was didn't he win the one out in California? Um is that the Pro Corps something like that or the one in Napa? Yeah, something out in California. It was like a home home event for him, and it was like a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Oh, was it um did he win Riviera or Tory?

SPEAKER_01 23:39

I feel like it was one of those. I I wanted to say Tori, but I didn't feel like that was right. But it might have been Tori.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

I think you went with Tori.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Okay, right. So like I remember they were interviewing him afterwards, and they were like, Max, you know, you were so stoic out there, and you really kept it together, and you know, you hold that putt. I think he had to hold a putt on 18, like an eight-footer or something to win, something kind of like that. Um, and they like kept kind of going, and I'm paraphrasing, of course, uh, my memory's not that good, but they they basically kept coming at the fact that he was so stoic and just solid down the stretch. And he's like, I was pissing my pants, you know. Like, I was so nervous and so scared, and shake he said he was literally shaking and couldn't feel his arms uh on that last putt. And that's where I think so many people get it wrong is you're watching these players on TV without any context. You're not there, you're not in the moment, you don't feel the energy of the crowd, you don't hear the groans and the applauses. Like it's a very sterile thing that we see on TV, which is why I think golf is a kind of a tough watch from time to time on TV. It's very sterile. But you're watching these players and they all look like they're just out playing golf on a Tuesday afternoon and have no worries. But like Max said in that interview, that is a conditioned response that he has worked on. And yes, he is trying to stay in the process, he is trying to stay present, he is trying to do these things, and his outward appearance, what we see on the TV, is this very stoic figure who has no emotion because everybody thinks that's the way because that's how Tiger did it. But internally, and Tiger probably wouldn't admit to this, and and I don't think I've heard him talk about this too much. Internally, dude, people get excited, people get wound up, people get nervous. And the ability of, hey, I've been here, I know this feeling, and this is how I want to react to that feeling is key. And going back to the the sports psychologist and the mental performance coaches, you know, that's what they work on is what do you want to look like on the golf course? How do you want to present yourself on the golf course? And we're trying to create this image of calm when in reality, internally, we're anything but calm.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

I I think um Cameron Young talked about it with his um, what did he have? An eight-inch putt, a 10-inch putt on the last to win the tournament. He I believe I heard him in the uh aftermath of the uh press that he was the most nervous he'd ever been in his entire life over an eight-inch putt, and he felt like he didn't do a good enough job of resetting to make it that he felt like he could have missed that with how um the emotions and everything inside him. So it's it's certainly there, and you're hearing it.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

We just saw it on Liv with uh what's his name missing a two and a half foot pot?

SPEAKER_00 26:50

You're right. Was it David Lee? Is that his name?

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Something Lee, Keith Lee or Kevin Lee or something like that, I feel like Richard Lee, something like that. Yeah, maybe that, Richard Lee. That I think sounds right. Brutal just brutal. We need to do better research on this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

We do the comments are gonna blow up on us. Um uh but he had, if I remember correctly, he had a relatively good look at Birdie prior to the Miss Two Footer. Um and I think he was like, well, I'm trying to make it to end it. Um and he runs it, you know, two feet by, and then he it does look like he did you see that putting it dude.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

He hit that putt hard enough to go ten feet. I mean, he absolutely smashed it. Yeah. Absolutely smashed it. Like, I mean, it's people don't realize like I I think it's call me crazy, but I think it's easier in that moment standing over like a 15-footer than it is a shorty. Oh, absolutely. I really do. Like when you have that expectation of I have to make this or I'm gonna look like an idiot, it just ramps it up. And he hit that putt so hard. I mean, I he didn't have to because he was in the playoff, obviously. But if he would have had to make that, yeah, I mean he dude, he had four and a half feet coming back after he missed the two and a half footer. That's how hard he hit that lip.

Nervous Or Excited Label It Right

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah. Um I remember uh last summer I was in a like a five for two playoff to get into the state am and on the last playoff hole. I had like a two and a half footer, three footer that you may come in. And I had that HOMA experience of I can't even feel anything. I would have much rather wanted maybe an eight-footer than I'm not so concerned with like you gotta get to speed, and I'm like jacked up. Um and it went in, but it was just a very much feeling of I would almost rather have that longer one than I would that one where I've really had to breathe and just get every bit of me calm so that I could make that stroke. And I did feel bad for that guy because that's just a bit a terrible feeling. Yeah, missing that one.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

It's brutal. I mean, but it's it goes back to you know, you you've gotta kind of go back to our original point and and trying to get ready for these tournaments and stuff, you know, it it's the simple stuff, man. It it always comes down to the simple stuff. And you know, the better you can be with your routine, the better you can be with your practice. You know, unfortunately for him, you know, I don't I don't recognize his name as well as I do a lot of other golfers. No disrespect to him, just I don't recognize his name as much. So he's probably not been in that position too many times. And and that's the thing, right? Is you know, that's where I think tournament golf uh is really, really good for people because it's going to expose where you're weak and where you're strong. And if you if you go out and you play in a tournament, you know, maybe for the first time ever, you know, you're gonna have like, and I see everybody do it. Like, there's so many people I work with that, you know, one of the goals because I always talk to people about what are your goals of taking golf lessons and stuff. And a lot of people I work with, and I'm I'm super proud of them and I support them in this, but they're like, I'd I'd like to go and try to play in a tournament. And whether that's like a golf week, AM event, or or whatever, you know, I think that's awesome. So these these people that I I work with and are going out and playing their first tournament, you know, I get a text message from them the day or two before the tournament, they're like, Oh, I've been practicing great and everything's feeling really good, and I'm so excited, I think I'm gonna go out and shoot this score. And it's like, man, um you do realize, and there's some there's some pretty hard research and science on this, but anytime we go from a practice to a performative state, um, if you if you really do an amazing job of controlling the controllables and really preparing well, like if you do like an absolute A plus banger of a job, we're gonna expect to see like a 10% drop in performance. So, like let's say that you average 30 putts around, just using like in your practice rounds when you're playing golf with your buddies. Let's say you you track total putts, which is kind of a meaningless number, but let's say that you average 30 putts. Okay, that means when you go play in a tournament, you can expect to see 33 putts. Well, that's three strokes higher right there. Like we're gonna see this 10% kind of drop just moving from a practice kind of less stress environment to a high stress performative environment. And there's pretty hard research on that. So uh you have to once again, and and I think I've kind of danced all around this without saying it, so maybe I should just be a little bit more uh on the nose with it. But you know, really the big difference between people who achieve and do well in tournaments and people who don't do so well in tournaments is we've got to go from being outcome-based to being process-based. And that's huge. You you just really have to kind of be at the poker table and be okay pushing your chips in, and whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen. Whether you have the lead, you don't have the lead, heading into the turn and the river. Like you've got to accept that statistically, maybe you have the edge, but it's it's poker. Things happen, right? People catch lucky cards all the time. So it's it's really about getting your money in at the right time and and and trusting your process, and then let it be, let it ride, because the outcome is the outcome. And and we, as much as we would like to be, are not in control of that outcome. But that's that's difficult for a lot of people to kind of wrap their heads around. And and the better job we do managing that process, generally the better we're gonna see that outcome.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

So hopefully that's insightful for the listeners because I had not heard that or knew that, that there was research done showing the expected decline of performance um going from a practice state to performative state. And when you put it in those terms, that if you've got 30 putts and you should expect 33. That's really reframing the mindset. And so that would be something leading in to the tournament that if you can keep reframing it, that hey it's expected for this to have a bit of a drop-off. So that it isn't that oh my gosh, I just three putted um on the first hole, and it's this, oh well, I never do that. It's not it's not this shock to the system, like and kind of what you're saying, all right, we've got to accept that and move on, uh and get up off the mat.

unknown 34:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

The odds that you shoot your career best in a tournament round are pretty low. Right? Like the the chances of that happening, I've only seen it happen one time in my entire career. Um and it's it's funny. Um, I've got a really good college player that I've worked with for a long time. I've taken him through high school, now into college. Uh, he does not have aspirations of playing professional golf, uh, which is a bit of a bummer, but he is going to do just fine in finance uh and probably make a lot more money. So I'm I'm okay with his life decisions. But we uh we played or he played in a tournament this past this past summer, and I feel like, you know, as the coach, and and I've talked to you about this off air, but you know, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid harder than anybody, and I believe in my people. Uh, and I'm I'm a big over the wall with people, so not just in the trenches with them, but I'm going over the wall. And I've always felt like this player had had more in him, uh, and and really had a gear that he he hadn't even explored yet. And we go out and we get we get to the range and we're warming up a little bit. And I'm you caddying for him? I was caddying for him, yeah. I carried the bag, like no push cart buggy. Like, no, I'm I'm carrying the bag. We're gonna go out here. And I told him, you know, I said, hey man, um, warm up however you warm up. And I was literally there on kind of a fact-finding mission and just kind of like looking at his processes and kind of what what he would do. And I wasn't really prompting him into how to warm up or anything like that. But once he kind of got done warming up and we were getting ready to go, I said, Hey, here's the rules today. You're my quarterback and I'm the coach. Period. I'm calling the plays and we're gonna get this done. Like we're gonna go out here and we're gonna play golf today. And literally, I want you to only worry about your process and let me handle the decision making, right? Wow. And he bought into that. I think he was very comfortable with that. I think honestly, it really freed him up, and he shot 64, which was his his all-time low uh in this tournament. Unfortunately, somebody else shot 60 in the same round, and it's it's kind of amazing shooting 64, walking off and getting boat raced a bit. Um, but at the same time, like you know, we came off that and debriefed because it was a 36 hole. He ended up shooting, I think, 68 the second round or 69 the second round, finished second. Uh, the the gentleman that shot 60 followed it up with like a 68, so he was going to be tough to catch. Um, but at the same time, like when we were debriefing, he's like, Man, just today was so easy, and and you know, it just felt stress-free. And part of that is because I had taken a big part of the workload away from him and done all the decision making for him. But I truly believe what really made it better for him was his ability just to lock in on his process and go through the process every time. And and literally before every shot he hit the entire day, I would look just like a tour caddy out there, and I would be right next to him and I would say, Hey, two things right before he went, stick to the process, and you can do this. And just that, you know, getting him to do what he knows how to do and can do rolling out of the bed in the morning, just really allowed him to kind of free up and play golf. And it's pretty amazing stuff, but it's the only time I've ever seen a player shoot their career best in a tournament round. Wow.

Short Putts Pressure And Tour Stories

SPEAKER_00 37:56

That had to be fun to watch. Yeah, that had to be fun to watch. So we've got the the the ingredients that we've got so far from you leading up to a tournament. We've got um or the things to do is taking care of the body. Some good mental framing of what our expectations are. We've got um more um looking for as far as practice goes. Intentional. Intentional practice of one ball process. Um I imagine the same would be kind of working on your short game, you're over there with one ball, playing some up and down games with yourself, make it matter.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Um make it hard, make it ungodly hard. Give yourself terrible lies. You know, like that's that's the thing that drives me nuts, is so many people that go, A, people don't go to the short game area, but B, when they do go to the short game area, they like have a perfect lie every time. And as you know, after playing a lot of golf, as I know after playing a lot of golf, you know, it's funny when you play in tournaments like A, you especially if you're playing a tournament somewhere that you know and you play at a lot, you'd be amazed at how many times you find some new spots you didn't even know existed. Like that happens a lot, and then it's amazing how often you just find a bad lie. And I know you know that probably doesn't happen to you as much because the the course that you're at is such high quality, but you still find weird, awkward, bad lies. And you know, I I I always kind of liked Kepka's approach to this, and I've heard it from a few people. I've talked to Pete Cowan about it quite a bit, but Brooks practices in such a maniacal way, and he makes it so hard, and you know, he does a lot of like worst ball stuff, and and that's a great game to play leading into a tournament too, where you hit two balls every time you play the worst one every time. Like that's a great way to get ready. But Brooks would would make it so maniacal and so hard on himself that when he got to the tournament, it felt easy. Like this is way easier than what I normally do. And when it starts feeling easy, then all of a sudden you're freed up and can kind of do some things. But you know, when you do go to that short game area, you know, give yourself some bad lives in the bunker, you know, give yourself a couple fried eggs. Like we don't encounter fried eggs a lot, like maybe that's something that the listener's never experienced in their life before. Well, the last thing you want to do is have a fried egg and a bunker in a tournament that you've never dealt with before, and now what it will feel, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:41

It's not it's not fun when you're right when you're there for that.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

So, like give yourself that in practice, you know, put some balls up against the lip and what would you do to get out of here? And you know, maybe get on one leg in a bunker. And and look, I'm not saying you need to devote a ton of time to this, but at least have a little bit of experience with these things to where if you do encounter them, you you have an idea of like what you might try to do and what you've seen work before. Um, so I I definitely like the go the deep rough when you're chipping and pitching. Uh, don't just you know pitch out of the faraway moan stuff, uh, get off the collars of the green and just like make it hard. Give yourself, you know, I I think the one that people don't practice enough is close to the hole, you know, in terms of like chipping and pitching, like, hey, I only need to to fly this golf ball two or three yards. You know, I never see anybody practice, they want to practice the 40 yarder, but they don't want to practice the four-yarder. Um, you know, that stuff is gonna be very appropriate to practice because you're likely to see a lot of that when you're playing out there in tournaments.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

I think you were telling me a story you were with one of your players at a major, I think it was a major, um, definitely a professional event, and you had asked them if they had had spent any time. I can't remember if it was a bunker shot or something, there was a certain shot that you thought you might there is a chance we see this this week, and they had not done that. And I I think you said they spent maybe 10 minutes doing it, but just to get acquainted with um I think maybe it was the British. It was like it was the British open. I know what you're talking about, yeah. So tell this, tell the story, just the just that you spent a little bit of time just to experience it so that it wasn't a freak out moment them when it happens in real time and under the gun.

Make Short Game Practice Miserable

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Yeah, it was at uh Hoy Lake, and I believe it was 17, the par three. And it I mean, it it's not that it's a short par three relative to tour standards, um, but very slopey, severe green. Obviously, at the open, the weather can be quite extreme, and the bunkering around this hole was just god-awful. I mean, just the stuff nightmares are made of. And, you know, the player I was with is a phenomenal short game player, probably, I think statistically, top 10 all time and and and good from anywhere around a green, but you know, generally, because we know that about this player, we we don't spend as much time on those things because this player is very, very good at that. And I remember specifically, you know, we were basically grabbing the stuff to walk off uh of that green. And I was like, hey, you know, let's just go over here, let's let's spend a little bit of time on in these bunkers because they are extreme and visually they're very intimidating. And the thing I love about this particular player is the scarier and the meaner and the nastier it is, the more he likes to rise to the occasion. Um, for sure. So he's a he's a bulldog and he's not afraid of a fight. But at the same time, you know, I thought it was important that we spend some time there, and uh sure as. Sure as can be, he found that bunker uh during regulation. And uh, you know, he was able to kind of get up and down from there, which was a heck, I mean, it was very impressive because it wasn't easy either, kind of drew a bad lie in it. Um, but it it's just, you know, I think so many of us, if there was one thing that I could could sell um to my players in a in a more meaningful way, is is uh, and it's not so bad on the tour level, but my college players, high school players, amateur players, you know, they just they go out and they play a quote unquote practice round and they just play the course. And they're like playing it for a score for some weird reason. And it's like, you know, hey, let's hit a couple balls off each T just to kind of figure out like where we need to be. Let's, you know, hit a couple extra shots into the screen to like and pretend the pen's over here or pretend the pen and kind of get a feel for these things. And then, you know, green complexes are green complexes, but they all kind of have their little tricks. So I think you know, putting some across the green and getting a good feel for the brakes, I think shipping from some like dead areas and kind of figuring out, like, oh, if I hit it here, even though the pen may be here, I'm gonna have to play away from this thing because if I go anywhere near that, I'm I'm risking, you know, whatever the situation is. But I I really think that the thing that drives me the craziest with practice rounds is, and I've I've experienced this a lot, and going back to the player I alluded to earlier, uh, super good player, but like in his book, you know, they they get a yardage book when they go to these college tournaments, some of them, and like he'll put driver. And like I I've been with him, and I open up the book and it says driver, and I go, What's this mean? And he's like, Well, coach, it means I hit driver here. And I go, Well, yeah, but what was the wind when you hit driver in the practice round? Uh I don't know. And I'm like, So this is useless. So I want to know how far yardage you can hit it off this T. Because depending on the wind, now all of a sudden your driver may go 15, 20 yards farther and now it runs through the fairway. Or now all of a sudden, because it's into the wind, it doesn't fly that carry that was so easy yesterday when there wasn't any wind. So I think the big thing that you got to get players to do is to really map out the golf course. And I think, you know, Scott Fawcett from Decade Golf talks about this a lot, but getting numbers in the book versus clubs in the book is huge because the the clubs are going to change day to day based off the elements which are ever changing. So I think really going through and doing your due diligence and like you know, noting, you know, hey, to that big tree out there at the end of the fairway is 295. Okay, cool. Well, I can hit it right at that in these conditions. But if it's downwind, I can't hit driver at that tree because I'm gonna be right underneath the thing. So it's really important that I think people put numbers in the book and then really pay, do their best. You know, the one thing that people can do that's like cheating, I think, is pull up like pull up the weather, you know, the morning of the event and look and get a like sense for what the wind is gonna be that day. Now you're gonna have to kind of develop some feel for what it actually is in the moment, but if you know like they're expecting a 15 to 20 mile an hour wind that day, that's really useful information to know when you get out there because most of the people that I've spent time with on the golf course drastically underestimate the wind.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

This is kind of off topic, but since you're talking about the wind, because that is a unique thing you deal with, and that is something leading up to an event, it's difficult to practice for wind because where you're hitting, you may not the range may not be directly into the wind or downwind, or it may not be the type of wind you're gonna see. Do you what kind of what do you suggest? Let's say you're let's start with an into the wind shot. Um do you like to see and you know there's that like light wind that you can still hit your high ball, like, hey, I'm just gonna take half an extra club, or I'm gonna take an extra club. I'm still hitting my ball up in the air. I want the wind to hit it. It's but it's not gonna really affect it too much, it's just gonna slow it down a little bit. There's a wind that's different, that's like, okay, this thing's howling, or this is like two clubs worth of wind. If this ball gets up in that, it's probably going to like stand it up, um, where you would need, let's say you had 140 and you would probably need like 165 yard shot, 170 maybe to get it there. Are you someone that would say, Okay, yeah, you start getting that wind, you better have a shot for kind of back of the stance, lower ball flight, less spin, take more club, let it get less affected. Where do you fall in that?

SPEAKER_01 49:19

I'm I'm kind of a play it by the numbers, right? So, meaning that for me, like you were saying, if if you have that wind that's pretty heavy and pretty severe into you, it's like, okay, well, let's figure out the actual yardage first, right? So if it's that 140, 145, and we figure out that you know it's a plus 30 wind or whatever the case may be, it's like, okay, this is 175 yards. Cool. Okay, well, what's the 175 yard club that's going to, you know, get to the fat of the green here? You know, that's kind of we're playing to the fat of that green, right? You know, to to kind of steal from Scott Fawcett a bit. But okay, we we know the club now, and we know kind of where we're aiming this. Cool. That's still directly into the wind. All right, so is it that club and just kind of hit it, like you were saying, depending on the wind and how heavy and severe it is, or is it another club on top of that, and we're like three-quarter in this thing, which is naturally gonna bring the launch and the spin down and kind of be more of a bullet shot. And for me, it it's really about club selection more so than it is about trying to work the ball up and down. Don't get me wrong, if if you're playing in the open, like we were talking about earlier, you're gonna need some of those shots to where like you keep it low because the wind is very heavy over there or typically tends to be heavy. Um, but I I think you I think there's a lot of different ways of going about that. But I think where a lot of people get in trouble is they just start trying to hammer clubs and flight them down. And and that's just generally a recipe that's that's not going to be great because if you're if like let's say you know it's playing 175, and and for the normal person, that's like a seven-iron, six-iron situation, it's like if you if you play that club and just move it back in your stance and try to trap it a little bit and lower the ball flight, because you're hitting it hard and likely hitting more down on it, you're probably going to create as much spin or more spin than you normally would on that shot. So if you don't trap that thing just right, it's getting up in the wind and now it's coming up 20 yards short. So I think that it's really important that into the wind, I'm I'm a big fan of, hey, let's let's we got the yardage, let's take an extra stick and let's three-quarter this thing and try to keep it down that way. Because now, because I'm not hitting it as hard, I'm not as severe with my attack angle, I'm naturally lowering the spin rate on that golf shot. And even if I do get it a little higher than I wanted, it's still got a chance to at least maybe get to the front edge of that green.

SPEAKER_00 52:06

So you're you're not really changing ball position much. You're just kind of changing the intent of the swing and going up in in club, but you're not changing the ball position to try and trap something or really like bring this thing down.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

Yeah, I I would prefer, I would prefer to have the right stick in the hands and be three quarter in this thing for sure. Because I just think that that's an easier I never want a golf, I never want a golfer in general standing over a golf shot going, I have to hit this perfect to make this work. Right? Like I I never want that to be the case. Like I feel like that's just a misclubbing in general. I want a player feeling like, hey, I can give this a B plus and it's gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

Yeah. And then on the uh flip side, kind of the downwind, are you um because the well it's uh I can't remember the ratio, but it's like every whatever miles into you it affects distance, but every mile behind you, it does not carry it as far as it does knock it down the other direction.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

Yeah, I think the big thing that I do with the downwind stuff, uh nice segue, by the way. But I think the thing that I do downwind with players is I do like to see the ball get a little more forward in the stance. Because, like you said, you know, the problem with being downwind is it affects the launch angle of the ball. So the thing that I really like to see is getting the ball up a little bit when we're downwind, uh, feeling like we're really trying to hoist that thing up in the air, and then we're kind of calculating how much yardage we're gonna gain, but we're not losing descent angle and peak height because we got to get that ball, especially when it's downwind, you got to get that ball to land soft on the green. So I think that's why you see so many guys when they do find that downwind, you know, they would almost rather hoist it way up in the air and leave it short than they would to kind of hit that shot that's kind of flat and hits the green and bounces over the back of it. So I definitely like a little more forward uh with the downwinds and trying to really create maximum height because we're gonna gain uh a little push from the wind, and it's okay that we hit it a little higher than usual because it's gonna carry out from that peak height a little bit farther than it normally would. And like, I mean, the thing that I think is interesting too is like what's the elevation in Chattanooga?

SPEAKER_00 54:43

I think it's only like 600 feet or something, like in the valley.

SPEAKER_01 54:48

Yeah. I mean, I'm I know we're 800 feet here in Michigan, but like where you're playing golf today is zero. Yeah. Right? So it's like, you know, I I think that's that's something that a lot of golfers, especially golfers who travel, go on golf trips, um, you know, depending on where you're at in the country right now, a lot of us are going to Florida to play golf this time of year because it's one of the few warm places you can go to. But you really gotta kind of pay attention to that elevation because that is really going to affect your numbers as well.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

And along with the elevation, the and this can go into uh kind of bringing us back to tournament prep, but knowing am I playing in 90 degree heat? Am I playing in is it 70? Um and is it 70 at midday? So that means it's maybe 58 if I'm teeing off at eight in the morning. And how I mean would you be surprised if someone lost eight yards of I mean from uh from a 60 degree day to a 90 degree day, maybe more?

SPEAKER_01 56:01

One of the very competitive uh college teams that has recently won a national title. Um I don't know that they won it last year, but I think they they've won it in the past three for sure. But they uh it's very interesting. I was talking to their golf coach, and one of the really smart kids that's not on the golf team, um he's some kind of some crazy, crazy degree engineering type. He was he came to the golf coach and he was working on I think his PhD dissertation or something like that. And they were figuring out, and and he showed me this, it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. But they had a chart that this guy was making for the golf team, and it was showing how the because you know, in college, one of the days of your tournaments, you're playing 36 holes, you're out there all freaking day long. So he had developed a chart that started at you know midnight and went to you know 11.59 p.m. And it showed them the temperatures throughout the day, the barometric pressure throughout the day, the like it had all this factored into it, and then was like plus three to minus eight or something like that, in terms of how that was going to affect the yardage of the golf ball carried. It was one of the more impressive things. I think this guy is probably gonna end up selling this to the to the tour guys at some point. But yeah, I mean it it's you're going you're going to hit clubs different distances throughout the day, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 57:37

And you need to um I mean I have to do it myself. You need to not let your ego get in the way of hey, it's also are you teeing off in the morning and your body's not moving as well. And being able to just accept again, reframing of okay, my body's not gonna move as well. It's a little colder. This eight iron that's a 165, 168 carry for me is probably now closer to 62 max. Like that's probably the max I'm gonna hit it. Um and not letting your ego be like, oh well you know, it's a I've got I've got to carry it 160 for this pin. And yeah, it's probably a seven at that point rather than than the eight.

SPEAKER_01 58:31

Yeah. Or even just like a three-quarter seven, right? Like, I mean, I I just like building in a bit of especially, you know, we we've talked a lot about like professional players, but the people listening to this podcast are not generally not going to be professional players, and it's build in a margin, man. Like I said, you you don't want to be standing over that ball going, man, I have to absolutely hit this thing perfect to get it where it needs to be. Like, if if we can get uh a little longer club, if you if we can subdue that ego, to your point, and kind of get a longer club in our hands and just kind of smooth it, you know, the chances of you hitting a a or having a positive outcome, it's way more stacked in your favor that way. You know, the the chances that, you know, like you were saying, you go from that max eight to you know a three quarter seven, if you make that three quarter seven swing, like the chances of that thing going over the green are pretty limited, I feel like. So I I feel like the chances that we get it over the front edge of the green it uh get higher. And I feel like the chances we hit it over the back of the green don't really increase as much as the odds increase of getting it onto the front edge of the green. And generally, and I can't recommend this enough, and in tournament play, um, especially if you're somebody that doesn't have a ton of experience with this, the quicker you can get the ball into the green, the better. The better, the better, the better. Like get the ball on the green, get the putter in your hands. Like the chances you make a catastrophic mistake with the putter is way lower than the other clubs. So get the ball on the green as quickly as possible and and make your peace with it. And you know, if if you do hit that one, you know, 20 feet past the pin, great. Like there's nothing wrong with 20 feet. And I think the problem for so many golfers is we all watch golf on TV and we see these guys just flagging it, flagging it, flagging it, but that is a made-for-tv show, and they only show you those shots. And I thought it was really interesting. Um, Akshay Bhatia, you know, he's got a quote that's kind of floating out there on the internet right now that Scott Fawcett's all about, but he's like, I accidentally hit it close to the hole. Like, like he's not, and I think it's true for a lot of these players, man. Like, they're not aiming at that pin. Rather, they are aiming at the correct place relative to where things are around the green. And you know what? I push it, I pull it a little bit, and it winds up close to the pen. But those guys aren't just sitting there licking their chops, looking at every pen, going, hey, let me flag this thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:07

Yeah, so that that can bring us back to the turn of the prep work of um we can practice when we are intentionally practicing. Hey, we're hitting our full eight iron. We're also working on the three quarter seven for that. Like, all right, I I need this shot to be maybe my hey, the conditions have changed. I need this, this is my safety net to make sure we're getting it on the green, like you're saying, like even if it's 20 feet, we're there. It's a we may luck into a birdie, we may make a long one.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:46

Um I mean, I told you this the other day, you know, Augusta on the mine, because I'm getting ready to head down there in a couple weeks, but you know, watching players go up to the the trees on the right of 13 and hit shots from there during a practice round. Um, I think that's something that that's really under practiced and underutilized. But, you know, if you're out there in a practice round for a tournament or a member guest and you know there are trouble areas, you know, go go put the ball in trouble, like drop one in trouble and hit one out of there. And you know, can you hit that low stinging seven iron from the pine straw? Like, can you can you do these things? Kind of like we talked about with going into that bunker and trying that out because we might encounter this, you know, like I said, the the chances that you just go out there and ball strike it like a madman in a tournament or a member guest, probably not all that high of a likelihood. So, you know, we tend to find some loose swings, we tend to find some nervous swings, we tend to kind of hit it in some places we wouldn't normally. You know, we got to be prepared for that. And if if you're sitting there in the pine straw or you're sitting there um, you know, behind the trees or underneath the trees, you know, have you have you practiced that shot? Have you hit that shot before? Do you have any comfortability with doing that? So I think spending a little bit of time with with the things, you know, you don't do. I I think that's important because we, you know, prior to this two-week window that we're talking about, you know, it's really we're working on the full swing, we're kind of doing these things, but you know, as we get closer and closer, we need to start making sure that all those boxes are checked, not just the hey, what would I do from the middle of the fairway in perfect conditions?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:27

And and to to start to wind us down, um, yeah, you've taken that two-week out approach. We're cleaning up the swing, we got some intentional practice, we're starting to put some things under a little bit more pressure. Um then we get to maybe a week of we're kind of working on the miscellaneous. Like, hey, I need to be able to hit a little stinger here. I need to be able to make sure I'm comfortable with hitting maybe this slice or this big hook, you know, in case I get in some trouble, bothers me. You know, here's a a place that maybe bothers them. I need to go kind of hit a couple from here to get comfortable. And then um is there any anything else that that week of, or how do you how are you then telling your players, okay, because we we need to be peaking during the event that week of. What are we doing? Any uh, you know how many are we getting out and playing? Hey, maybe it's just nine holes you play, or it's it's here's your practice round, and that's the only 18 you're gonna you're gonna play that week, or what are you doing?

Wind Strategy And Smarter Clubbing

SPEAKER_01 1:04:40

I like nine holes at a max that week. Um even if I mean and and I know it's different for everybody, but you know, I wasn't thrilled. So you're down there uh in Mountain Lake, and we had a uh we had a little virtual lesson, and I think this is funny, so I'm gonna say it, but uh I work with a few of the players at your club. I've I've been lucky enough and fortunate enough to visit and do a little bit of work down there. So there's a few of the guys down there with you at Mountain Lake that I've worked with before. Uh, and their group chat name is the Deutro Disciples, which I find quite hilarious. Uh, but the uh Deutro Disciples were out on the range, and you know, I didn't love the fact that you guys played 27 holes yesterday, and then we're like wanting to pack in a lesson at the end of that, right? Like we don't need to be burning ourselves out and and really high repping it like that. But I think, you know, the week before, the week of, um, you know, nine holes a day is plenty, especially if we're if we're going through our practice routine, uh, spending more time, you know, close to the hole, like I said. You know, if you're going out and you're practicing your putting and you're and you're spending a bunch of time outside of 20 feet, you're wasting your time. Um, you know, one big thing that that I really Like is I like starting um starting the practice routine with with the short game. Um I'm sorry, I like ending the practice routine with the putting, I should say, not necessarily the short game. But I, you know, I think a big big thing, and it takes a little bit of time, and I understand that, but make 103 footers before you're allowed to leave. Like you're gonna have to, like this, all of a sudden we have to make putts, right? Like that's we're we're not playing gimme's, we're not playing, oh, that's good, pick it up. You know, make yourself hit it 103 footers before you leave. That seems really simple and childish, but you know, I've had players that have texted me at 11:30 p.m. on the putting green because they can't get 100. They get to like 70 and miss when I have to start over. Um, but hold yourself accountable to that, that simulates pressure. Um, I think that's really important, but I think nine holes a day is plenty if you're doing the practice routine. Uh, and the big thing I think the week week of as well is like you know, trying to get some extra sleep, trying to, you know, really eat clean if you can. And and it goes back to like human skills, right? Like try to be in a good frame of mind, you know. If if if you can, you know, you know, there's there's a lot of good that comes from feeling like you're in a positive good place. You know, this is a good week, and this is funny, but like this is a good week to buy your wife flowers. Uh, this is a good week to like do something nice for your neighbor. This is a good week to to just do some of those things that make you feel like a better human being. Uh, because it, you know, having gratitude is something you hear a lot of the mental performance coaches talk about and and sports psychologists, but you know, getting into a place to where you feel like, you know, you should never do things because you feel like you're owed something. But going out on the golf course and feeling like you've been a good boy and you're owed a good round, like that's a good place to operate from, right? And you've been doing the right things. So, you know, I I think that stuff is really, really important in terms of getting in the right headspace, getting in the right frame of mind. Um, but you don't want to be like fighting with your wife the night or the day before you go out and play. Like that's it's not putting anybody in a great headspace. So trying to kind of get things lined up, get things in order, uh, and and really just confirming to yourself through the week, like, hey, you know, you start thinking about this on your drive to work, or you start thinking about this on your way to practice. And it's like, hey, I've I've really been doing a lot of good things. I've really been putting my best foot forward here and really trying to give yourself some of that agency and some of that positive reinforcement that, hey, you know, like I've done what I can do and I'm excited, not nervous, I'm excited to go out there and and see what my hard work is is done for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:53

The uh speaking of gratitude, I I know for me when I can put myself in that state, you know, I'd I'd I've spent this last year so really committed to spending intentional time and this may not be for everybody, but spending some intentional time in prayer of just being grateful and that state of gratitude. You do feel it really does reshape your mindset when you get on the golf course of you know how many people would love to be doing this on a whatever day of the week, or that the worst thing that happened to them that day was a three-put. That that's the worst thing that's gonna happen to them. There are a lot of people that would gladly portray places with you and reframing of just Man, I'm grateful, and this is awesome, and I think that does help. And and to clear something up, it was not I was not the disciple that needed a lesson yesterday. I agreed. Agreed, it was not me. Agreed, I was not a part of that. I was maybe filming for him, but I was I was an excellent cameraman.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:59

You did sneak in at the end, though. I I I have to full disclosure, you did sneak in for a few swings at the end.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:05

But I uh just to just a check, just to see what you thought. And then and but you you can't keep me off this golf course down here. Like I it it's so much fun. I am gonna be out there all day, and it may hurt my performance this weekend, but it's an incredible place. And I'm a sicko that likes to just play a lot of golf.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:26

Yeah, I mean, I I honestly think member guests are some of the hardest events to perform well in. You know, generally you're traveling, impossible, uh, you're not sleeping in your own bed, your routine is completely disrupted. Uh, member guests tend to uh have a little more uh social activity involved with the drinking and the cigars and the late nights. You know, I I think member guests are are some of the hardest events to kind of like lock in and really perform well. So yeah, I mean it it's one of those things to where, you know, are you are you gonna be as diligent with that as you would maybe your club championship? Probably not. Um, but at the same time, I I think there's still a lot of things that you can take away from the conversation we've had today that you can kind of try to employ to the best of your ability. I mean, if you're gonna drink, like you're gonna drink, and I I can't stop you uh from doing that. But you know, if you're gonna drink, then hydration becomes way more critical and way more important. So, you know, what I always tell people, and and I have a ton of guys that you know playing a ton of member guests, and it's like, look, man, you know, for every drink, you got a pound of bottle of water. Like, I'm not I know you're gonna drink, but like get some water involved with that too, right? And you know, they make a ton of products now, hydration products that you can kind of add add to uh the water you're drinking and things like that. But if you if you're gonna drink, uh, which I get is socially part of this experience, you know, you you've really got to step up the hydration game. You you can't be, you know, waking up and grabbing a diet coke and and thinking that you're gonna be okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:07

Yeah. And drinking, if if you get it in earlier in the day, it is going to affect your recovery less. I mean, it's not optimal, but it's is going to affect you less than if you're doing it right before you're going to bed.

Week-Of Plan Gratitude And Expectations

SPEAKER_01 1:12:21

Yeah. And I mean in general, you know, one thing that I look, you know, we're we're in uh a society that thrives off of caffeine and energy drinks and things like that. But, you know, trying to cut some of that too. I I didn't really bring that up, but you know, trying to, you know, look, if you're gonna have a couple coffees in the morning, that's fine. But you don't want to be like slamming a five-hour energy or a Red Bull or something like that when you're walking to the first T. Like that's generally not going to put us in the most performative state uh that we can be in. So I I would, you know, nicotine, there's starting to be some research about that maybe doesn't help us the most on the golf course, even though we feel it does. Uh a lot of people don't know this, but nicotine actually increases your heart rate. Uh so if you're nervous out there and reaching for the nicotine, like that, that might not be the best way to go. So not the one. Yeah. So I mean, there's there's just a lot of human human elements to this, right? That I think far outweigh the golf. Because, like I said, from a golfing or golf skill perspective, the chances that you find something the week or two weeks before, or the the chances that you overhaul a technique or swing, like it's pretty limited. Um you kind of have to dance with the one you brought.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:41

Yeah, exactly. You're not putting whatever tweaks you've made. I mean, maybe you move the needles fractionally, but it to put that under the gun and under pressure is gonna be nearly impossible. Yeah. I think this was great. Um I learned a lot. Um things that I could certainly implement in uh getting ready for different events and tournaments, and we are we're there. We are like you said, Augusta right around the corner. The instable A tournament is happening this weekend, so the big major sports are ending, and we are full-on golf coming at us.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:21

Yeah, I mean, it's hopefully gonna be uh an early spring here in Michigan. Um, I know we're we're catching more of these 70 degree days. Um, I mean, I'm gonna be in New York City uh presenting at the Five Iron Coach Summit this coming Monday, and I think it's gonna be like 70 degrees in New York City. So uh the weather's starting to turn. Uh people are excited to get on the golf course. Like you said, Augusta's right around the corner. I'm excited to be down there. Uh check out the Azaleas. And uh yeah, man, I I think it's gonna be a good golf season. And I'm excited for you. I know you've you've worked your tail off, and uh, I don't know very many people that are as committed as you are to your golf game. So uh I guess I'll sign off on you playing a lot of golf because you're you're ready for this and chomping at the bit.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:06

It's only because, as I tell people, I have no other hobbies, and uh I'm an interesting person when it comes to that.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:14

Welcome to the spectrum, brother. I think we're uh we're very like-minded that way. This is what we choose to do with our lives, and and I'm very you know thankful and grateful to have the opportunity to do this because if I didn't do this, God only knows what I would do.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:30

I'm I'm right there with you on the golf spectrum. It's I'm on it. I'm on it. But I'm I love uh love this journey we've been on and especially the the conversations we've had and uh not just on the podcast, but this is this is great getting to bring this to uh everybody, and I hope people are enjoying it.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:48

Yeah, for sure. And I I think, you know, to to kind of wrap this up, you know, if you're listening to this and you're a parent of a junior golfer, you know, one thing that I think that we haven't talked about, but having having realistic expectations, you know, before you tee it off uh in any kind of competitive environment's big. And it it doesn't need to be outcome-based. And I I want to say that again. It does not need to be outcome-based. Should not be sitting in the car with your junior telling them that the target score is X. You know, the the expected outcome should be that we walk off 18, we shake everybody's hand, and we have a smile on our face, uh, and we're good with with what we've done, and and we realize that there's a process to this and it takes time. But, you know, I really think it's important to, and and yes, for the junior golfers especially, but for the adults too, you know, get away from the outcome. And I I have players mad at me all the time because they'll come off the golf course and want to tell me what they shot, and I won't ask. Instead, I ask, like, how what percentage of the time did you run your process? Like, that's what's most important to me because I know if that number is high. And by the way, like people always try to tell me round numbers, like you can track this, right? Like every shot you hit at the end of that shot, did I do my process? Yes or no? Was I fully committed to that process? Yes or you can score this out. And if we can get that number, and nobody's perfect, nobody's a hundred percent. Like, I don't even see tour, like tour players talk about it all the time. I wasn't fully committed to that shot. But if we can get that number into the high 80s, we're probably gonna have some pretty decent outcomes. So, kind of understanding what you hope to get out of this before you start is a great way to kind of keep from getting into that super depressive state because we didn't shoot the score we thought we should have shot. Right. So that was fun. Uh good time. What do you got? That's it. That's all I got. That's all you got. You're probably ready. I can see a twitch coming on Chuck because he knows there's a golf course right outside his window that's sunny right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:55

Yep, it's sunny. Um gonna start doing a little mobility work here in a second. We've got a little practice round coming up.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:02

And you're old enough. You've seen a Christmas story, right? Yes. Yeah, when he's talking about his dad and the turkey and how he had a certain gleam in his eye. You remember that part? Oh, yeah. That's you right now, my friend. It is.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:17

I love being here. And anytime you get to get on a golf trip, especially when your buddies are around that we're lucky to have. The disciples, they're all there.

Junior Golf Mindset And Closing

SPEAKER_01 1:18:27

Yeah, lucky to have some guys here, and and uh it's been so much fun. Awesome. Well, I think that's gonna wrap us up for this episode of the Measured Golf Podcast. If you haven't already, uh, I know there's a lot of people that reach out about this, but there is a video version of this podcast that we do post to our YouTube channel. It goes up on Saturday mornings at 8 a.m. And you can find it by searching Measured Golf on YouTube. If you prefer just to listen to us instead of see us, now you might want to see Chuck, you probably don't want to see me. So if you just want to, if you want to tune me out of this and just listen to us talk, you can do that by downloading the Measured Golf Podcast or subscribing to the Measured Golf Podcast anywhere you download your favorite podcast. And you also can find us on social media by searching measured golf on Instagram, or you can find me at the ForceplateGuy at on Instagram. And you can also find Chuck at Hudlow, what is it, 2423423? Hudlow423. One of these days I'm gonna remember that. Uh and lastly, and lastly, if you can't remember that, uh, you can always head over to the measured golf website at measuredgolf.com and everything is linked up there. So it's been a great episode. Can't thank Chuck enough for joining us, even though he's out of town. I think it's been a good one. And let us know what you think and leave us plenty of comments and feedback. And you never know, if you reach out to one of us, we might actually talk about the things you want to hear about. So it's been great. Thanks so much, and as always, keep grinding.