The Golf Intervention

EP 41: How Golfers Can be Their Own Worst Enemy. Hidden Pitfalls and What Golfers Should Really Be Focused On.

• Eric Layton • Episode 41

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In this episode of The Golf Intervention, we kick things off with a quick fantasy football check-in before diving into some of the worst swing advice floating around social media. We break down why constantly changing your swing based on social media trends will hamper your development.

We focus on what golfers should work on first (everything besides the swing).  

We also dig into the mindset challenges that hold players back—whether it’s frustration on the course, unrealistic expectations, or mental hurdles that stop progress. Plus, we explore practical ways to build a process-driven approach to improvement instead of chasing quick fixes.


🔊 Tune in now and take the next step in your golf journey!

Tyler:

Today's episode is brought to you by the premium content subscribers on the golf intervention substack. And we would of course like to thank all of our listeners for tuning in, you make it all worth while. If you would like to support the show or sign up for our free monthly newsletter, you can do that at thegolfintervention.substack.com or follow the link in the show notes.

Eric:

And welcome back to the Golf Intervention Podcast. Rob Fales has a, has a super flex dynasty startup draft tomorrow. What is, what is going on? We're going to talk about that and other things today on the Golf Intervention Podcast.

Rob Failes:

Yeah.

Eric:

Welcome back Rob Fales. We don't even have like,

Rob Failes:

see you again.

Eric:

we went live. We really have to be real honest. I like texted Robbie like one line of what I was thinking we'd talk about. That's it. This is going to be like live chatter. This is going to be really good. Um, cause there's things I've got on my mind and I can't wait to kind of. Discuss it with Rob Fales. We've been off the air for a little while, for good reason though, Robby traveled with his Code Breakers group, and if you're not aware of what his Code Breakers group is, it's really, I think, golf instructors helping golf instructors is kind of what it feels like to me. Golf coaches out there, um, doing some education, so they had a retreat, and that, he had Raymond Pryor, Dr. Mike Kay, That had to have been phenomenal. Familiar voices and faces to the golf intervention. Um, and, and then I guess the week after we got an award, a PGA sports media award for the golf intervention podcast, which is pretty awesome. So we were at a black tie event in Washington, D. C., greater Washington, D. C. area, and we in a very surreal moment. Received a sports media award from Jimmy Roberts of NBC sports, Emmy award winning, like one of the all time greats. I mean, such a great, I mean, big fan. I've been a big fan of Jimmy Roberts for many, but he used to be on ESPN, if I believe I can remember correctly, but he's just good. And he was so good. He was so nice. And he said, quote, I think I need a golf intervention. I thought that was awesome.

Rob Failes:

He did.

Eric:

He asked us some cool questions. He took pictures with us was very kind. Um, so it was,

Rob Failes:

kept having flashbacks to the Olympics. Like when, when, you know, watching the winter Olympics, summer Olympics, you know, with his work with NBC, I always remember hearing his voice. And so I was like, where am I at right now?

Eric:

always has something poignant to say. That's the thing with Jimmy Roberts is like, you can take a moment and just like say something really good. He told some cool stories, but yeah, just like sitting on the stage. And I even said.

Rob Failes:

Yeah.

Eric:

wrap my mind around that. So, I want to thank the middle Atlantic PGA section, the folks that nominated us and voted for us. That was pretty cool. And, uh, obviously all the hard work, uh, for the section office and people to put that together was really fun. Um, a couple of days, my wife went up and stayed with me and then we had education the next day. So we had a PGA meeting and education. So anyway,

Rob Failes:

patients.

Eric:

there we are. And then last week I think you were on the move again. So here we are. We're back

Rob Failes:

we are. You're back.

Eric:

a brand new episode of the golf intervention podcast. And most importantly, you have a startup fantasy football. Super flex dynasty draft coming up and I, and I have to admit, I'm a bit of a degenerate fantasy football player. Not going to lie. People come to me for advice. I've won many, many leagues many, many times. And I love dynasty. So dynasty, for those of you don't know, you just keep your players forever. You know, you draft a team and then super flex means, you know, you actually can play well, you can play it. You know, a flex player, which we all kind of know, but it could be a quarterback in a super flex. So when you're drafting super flex quarterbacks become a very premium position.

Rob Failes:

Yes.

Eric:

And I am, you can see by my shirt, if you're looking on video, a Steeler fan born and bred.

Rob Failes:

are wondering who is going to play quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Eric, who's

Eric:

Listen, I'll take Mason Rudolph over the old dudes that they're trying to sign all day long. Give me Mason Rudolph at 4Million a year, sign a bunch of free agents and then we'll go on. That's what I'm thinking. But your question was, you have the number one pick in a startup.

Rob Failes:

one. Yeah,

Eric:

So I would say as a Steeler fan, so there's no bias here. There's a lot of Washington Redskins fans. I still call them the Redskins around here. Um, Jaden Daniels has got to be in the conversation for that, for that one on one.

Rob Failes:

I think I'm going to click him.

Eric:

Are you a, are you a commander's guy? Is that your team?

Rob Failes:

I'm not a commander's guy. I'm a big Jane Daniels fan. I tell you that. I mean, he's He won me over actually, like I really enjoyed watching him his last year there at LSU, actually. And so I was for him in his first year and to see him do as well as he did, um, I don't know, he's, he's got a fan in me, so

Eric:

Oh,

Rob Failes:

to click him,

Eric:

so good. So I drafted him in Dynasty last year. Uh, not super flex, but I'm really glad I did. Cause He's awesome. So, uh,

Rob Failes:

late ish, right? You

Eric:

yeah,

Rob Failes:

5th?

Eric:

I got him 10th. I got him 10th because you know, it's

Rob Failes:

Oh my

Eric:

I mean, yeah, no, it was it was a good pick.

Rob Failes:

absurd.

Eric:

So

Rob Failes:

That's crazy. That's awesome.

Eric:

Quickly some other names. I mean, I think sake one is still in the conversation when you play dynasty It's really a three row three. I think it's a three year revolving window that you're looking at I think I think sake one has three really good years left. So think sake one still has to be in the conversation there He's generational. Unbelievable. Could take you to the championship. Um, yeah, so I don't know. The wide receivers are all really good chase Jefferson, but I think you got to get wide receiver later. So I don't know. I think it boils down to a few quarterbacks. Josh Allen's got to be in the conversation.

Rob Failes:

and

Eric:

He's got plenty of time, but Jaden Daniels, just he's got such a long career ahead of. Yeah, such a long career and he. He made

Rob Failes:

too.

Eric:

football look really easy for a rookie last year. It was really pretty impressive. So he turned these Steeler fans who've been living in commander's country for better part of 20 plus years. Um, we started liking the commanders last year too, cause that they were fun to watch. So anyhow, back to the golf intervention

Rob Failes:

Oh, man, this is a

Eric:

wasn't that fun? Wasn't that fun?

Rob Failes:

podcast.

Eric:

maybe we're setting up a spinoff show. That's what we're doing. Setting up a spinoff. Yeah, we could, we could actually do some,

Rob Failes:

it.

Eric:

yeah, we have some real,

Rob Failes:

think, I think we could

Eric:

golf pros are such degenerates. I mean, we could bring on some people who are pretty serious about, about fantasy football in all kinds of ways. Um, so anyway. Let's get back to the to the

Rob Failes:

do it.

Eric:

which we said we hadn't taken on, uh, the swing itself. We kind of took on everything else around the swing itself until the end. And we really had to take it on in a way that was like. The golf intervention way, right? And what we thought about the swing in general, um, and how we currently understand it. Cause I think it's always an evolving thing, right? Like we learn, we learn things all the time. Like I, I learned things, I learned things from Dr. Mike K that I hadn't really. Thought about before. And so this, the swing itself and it's understanding is in a very evolutionary phase. I think a very good place if you're someone who likes to study the golf swing mechanics, but it's also a very problematic place, in my opinion,

Rob Failes:

place,

Eric:

the problematic place is that people are obsessed with the golf swing. They're obsessed with it.

Rob Failes:

Yes. Today's episode,

Eric:

episode, when I, when I texted you, I said, Hey, maybe we do an episode on sort of like hidden pitfalls that are sort of impeding people's developments, right? Constraints pitfalls, things that people don't realize are actually kind of like. Messing them up. And my biggest one on that currently has gotta be the obsession with the look of the golf swing and this like,

Rob Failes:

the geometry, right?

Eric:

yeah, it's driving me nuts. If there's anything that you have, the listener took away from. That series that we did on the golf swing, which is kind of a loose series, few episodes. I count the Mike K episode in there a little bit on the golf swing. All that was golf swings. Listen, if you take anything away, it's this, I'm going to,

Rob Failes:

away.

Eric:

to summarize it in a sentence that you need to remember.

Rob Failes:

So I

Eric:

understand this. And I hate to say this. I think very few

Rob Failes:

I think

Eric:

golf instructors understand this as well. So hopefully,

Rob Failes:

possibly

Eric:

be a positive.

Rob Failes:

and and

Eric:

of golfers and teachers. Ready? That your golf swing

Rob Failes:

golf

Eric:

gives you access to your golf skills. Okay?

Rob Failes:

golf skills.

Eric:

skills and golf swings are two different things.

Rob Failes:

Or two different

Eric:

Okay?

Rob Failes:

A hundred percent.

Eric:

they're not completely You know, separate. But, but what I'm saying is

Rob Failes:

I'm saying is,

Eric:

the obsession with golf swings is killing golfers, killing them.

Rob Failes:

way.

Eric:

and the,

Rob Failes:

hundred

Eric:

the problem is every time you open Instagram or every time I would say Instagram, I don't have tick tock, but I think it's just as bad. Probably every time you open it up, you're. You're just hit with all this crazy golf swing stuff, and I'm

Rob Failes:

Crazy, the

Eric:

now of people who don't teach golf, and frankly, probably don't play it very well, and they think they're golf swing experts. And they, they have these pages that, I saw a guy, Robbie, I mean, this is where I kind of like, this post had 4,

Rob Failes:

I

Eric:

likes. It was some dude in corduroy with his pants hanging down, standing on a mat in a field. Talking about how he's invented a golf swing that everyone should do. Okay, you need to close your stance

Rob Failes:

can push

Eric:

throughout the whole swing and smash down on the ball

Rob Failes:

already. Mm hmm. Hmm. There's Right.

Eric:

history. What we are seeing is that people have a very huge lack of understanding about what actually makes them score better. What actually makes them score better, right? It's not their swing. It's their ability to use their swing to create skills that produce shots in the moment that produce scores. So we can, right. I mean, we've harped on this, you know, through the thing. But it started to like kind of make me nuts. I just literally was sitting here. Wait for you to come on. Jackson was being, he was, he didn't want to go to bed tonight. Sounds like

Rob Failes:

No. Yep.

Eric:

he was wanting to watch bluey or something. It was blue. It was bluey on. Is he a big bluey guy? Is he like bluey?

Rob Failes:

Uh, he's, he's big into reading at night.

Eric:

Oh, he likes reading.

Rob Failes:

he

Eric:

Perfect.

Rob Failes:

I got to, I was like, all right, Jackson, one more. And then I'd finished the book. And he's like, no, one more. And I

Eric:

One more daddy.

Rob Failes:

say no?

Eric:

You can't say no. You can't say that. Listen.

Rob Failes:

No.

Eric:

I have kids that love to read. You got to read to them. It's the best thing you can do. So, as I'm sitting here scrolling through my, through my stuff, there was this, this guy, one of the, one of these guys that doesn't teach golf, but he thinks he's a golf swing expert, pops up in my feet all the time. And he says, um, he can't understand why Cameron Champ isn't like the best player on the tour. Look at his swing. It's perfect. And here's video of him chipping. Well, look, there's nothing wrong with his chipping. Here's his putting stroke. Look, the mechanics of his Punning Stroke look fine. They look fine to me. He should be the best player on the tour. Could you miss the point anymore? Could you miss the point any more than that?

Rob Failes:

Yes.

Eric:

You see what I'm saying? There's plenty of people with swi Yes, Cameron Tramp has great speed, he hits the ball f Great. I have no idea about what his stats are like. But Your ability to produce shots when you need them in the way that you need to is the thing that gives you the skills. That's where you have the skills to make the scores. Obviously, if he was making the scores, it's not the mechanics that are doing it, right? You could have Tiger Woods putting stroke, but if you can't control the speed or read a green, you're going to be a terrible putter, right? So, point being, if there's anything that you take away

Rob Failes:

Yeah. Yeah.

Eric:

what you call the geometry or the look or the sort of general understanding and mechanics of the swing without understanding the relevance to how that gives you access to your skills, you are probably putting yourself in this terrible loop of trying this and trying that and changing this and changing that.

Rob Failes:

this.

Eric:

Your access to your skills. Changes every time and it probably doesn't immediately give it may, it may get better, may not get better. The fields are going to change and then all of a sudden you're going to have to try to find that again as well. So I don't know. I'm a little bit, I said I was fired up. I guess I'm more fired up than I thought I was. I

Rob Failes:

up.

Eric:

what I had for dinner that was spicy. But the point is, this is what we see as coaches.

Rob Failes:

100%.

Eric:

And isn't it fair, you know, you, you teach at a place, you teach at a, at a public facilities that people, you probably see more cross section of people than I do. And I'm lucky because a lot of the people that come to see me, they trust, they, they know me and they trust me. I've been teaching there for 18 years, right?

Rob Failes:

Yes.

Eric:

I don't have people walking in my bay who I teach a lot are like, Hey, yeah, like. Um, I saw this thing and I'm trying it tomorrow. Like, it doesn't happen a ton. Right. Um, what do you think about the Genkis internal shoulder thing? Like, that just doesn't happen a ton. Why? Because they trust what they're learning from their coaches. Right. But I see it a ton in new students and I see it for people who I'm friends with that play golf. Right. Who are like, trying to learn and get better outside of my country club world. Right. Like, friends of mine. Um, what are you seeing on your lesson team? It's kind of. Are you seeing a similar,

Rob Failes:

Similar.

Eric:

a similar deal out there of people kind of like constantly chasing their tail in their golf swing and not really in it? Right.

Rob Failes:

the first few minutes. I'll ask them how, how can I help today is really usually my first question I'll ask even returning students. And it's amazing how often they jump straight to about positions of the golf club, where they are in space, right? saw this video that says I need to do this, right? Um, it's, it's, it's all the time. It's all the time. And so, um, I'm constantly fighting that battle in the lesson tea of getting them to understand that the shot and the swing are separate, right? There's this whole skill piece in the middle that we need to not completely glance over. Right. And what that actually looks like is, uh, is very counterintuitive to a lot of golfers. Cause I mean, like going back to some of the Dr. Prior stuff, we can talk about like A shape beliefs versus V shape beliefs, right? So I'm on the video, I'm making this, uh, this kind of, uh, an A shape between my two hands here, where the top very little space between my fingers, the bottom, quite a bit of space between my palms. So the top is going to be our perceived margin of error. is our perceived consequences. So a lot of people believe again, swing creates shot, right? So they believe that if the shot isn't what they want, then it was a swing issue, right? And so it becomes as very much like, okay, was the shot good or bad, which is a subjective opinion. then the only solution to bad shot is Better swing. right. Well, what does that mean? Again, that's subjective as well. So we get out of this very sort of objective based feedback loop of is the bottom of the swing in space? Where is the face relative to the path? Where is the speed relative to your intent? And we get into this very of judgmental, Oh, well, if that ball didn't go where I wanted to, then there was something wrong with my swing. And that just gets golfers down this rabbit hole of believing they have to create this perfect golf swing to create quote, unquote, perfect shots. I mean, there's, there's nothing really more destructive to a golfer's long term improvement than that belief. In my opinion,

Eric:

Because it,

Rob Failes:

the, the, the inverse, right. If I'm going to go the opposite, right. So you've got V shaped beliefs, right. On the top is a ton of perceived margin of error at the bottom is very short term temporary external consequences, right? So if we believe that, Hey, I can swing the club, but really the things that are creating the shot are the skills. Which there are three main ones and they're always predictions, right? So we don't know before swinging the golf club exactly where the bomb, the swing is going to be, the face to path is going to be, where the speed is going to be, So I'm making a very much a kind of like a feel prediction those three skills with the swing that I have, assuming I'm swinging freely, right? Which is the thing that kind of stacks the odds in our favor that we produce our prediction, which is what a lot of people are looking for. But, If we start to understand like, Hey, I don't have control. Like I can swing the club in a lot of different ways, right? create the shot that I'm trying to create. As long as I'm getting better at predicting those skills. Right. And, and for me that, that opens golfers up to say, Oh, like I don't have to have. This idea of this amazing, like perfect golf swing. I can actually take what I have currently and go out and play a lot better golf, um, play a lot freer golf, And have more perceived, you know, more predictability over what the golf ball is doing. Um, is a, a fun thing to show golfers. And oftentimes they'll say, Oh, I wasn't really expecting that. I was like, yeah, it's

Eric:

right,

Rob Failes:

you give me.

Eric:

right. Um, if I, yes, I totally agree because then they're They're chasing to your point where you were saying they, they blame the swing for the shot. Right? You know, then they chase, they check, they want to change. Right? So this will happen in a lesson. Sometimes I know you coach people up on this. This is a mindset change. In my opinion is like. Hey, you know, I know this thing's going on. We, we do some diagnostics. We're doing what, you know, we're trying to

Rob Failes:

whatever,

Eric:

them through the process of whatever it is they're working on. Could be swing change, could be skill work, could be something. Right. Um, and there's a percentage of people that'll make like a swing at it and go like, well, that didn't work. Like, Oh, I hit that bad. Right.

Rob Failes:

exactly,

Eric:

And we know like, yeah, well, I know you hit it bad. I was watching, like I watched thousands of shots every day and I know

Rob Failes:

mean,

Eric:

hit that bad.

Rob Failes:

see

Eric:

Let's, let's relax for a second. And let's, let's, let's work through that intent again and again and again and see where it goes, right? Always try to judge. Are we going in the right direction? Are we going in the wrong direction? But the point is, Um, you're not going to gain control of whatever it is we're working on in a swing. It's not going to happen in one swing.

Rob Failes:

you

Eric:

you've got to sort of work through it a little bit.

Rob Failes:

through it

Eric:

Um,

Rob Failes:

bit.

Eric:

what happens if you're not being coached up?

Rob Failes:

doing what you

Eric:

I'm someone who's intelligent.

Rob Failes:

who's

Eric:

a hard worker. I research things. When I, I'm a figure outer, right? For lack of a better term, like,

Rob Failes:

my product. I'm

Eric:

something's wrong with my car. I'm going to try to figure that out, right? I'm going to figure out what's going on there. Or, um, You know, Hey, um,

Rob Failes:

you know,

Eric:

something's going on with my health. I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to figure that out right before I go to the doctor or with the doctor. I'm gonna do my own research. All that stuff is good, right? There's there's a, there's,

Rob Failes:

There's

Eric:

there's benefits all that and engulf to probably,

Rob Failes:

don't take long.

Eric:

but at the end of the day, then, you know, you're taking this perceived knowledge that you have.

Rob Failes:

and you're trying

Eric:

it into something that you don't have a great feel for. And I'm just being honest with that, right?

Rob Failes:

about.

Eric:

Most golfers don't have a great feel of where their body and club are as they're swinging it. They don't. So what feedback are they getting? They hit the shot and they go, bad shot, bad swing, bad shot, bad swing, right? And no, no, on the, on the Instagram P1, P3, P5, P whatever.

Rob Failes:

I was told this is bad. That means this must be good, right?

Eric:

I saw three different things and I swear I don't try to look at me just like as you're flipping through reels like I love reels, by the way, like, if there's anything I like about. Social media. It's the hysterical like 30 second reels that people do on all kinds of things. Like they just crack me up, right? So like if I'm bored and I'm like, you know chilling in my bed Whatever I'm flipping through drinking my coffee and these things pop up and I saw another Do these two things for a perfect backswing perfect backswing? There's no Write this down, people.

Rob Failes:

There is no perfect

Eric:

There's no such thing as a perfect backswing. And all that tip can do is hurt you because you're going to search for the perfect backswing, right? And you're going to try to do it because you have a belief. So here's another thing, while I'm fired up about it. These people know they're not helping anybody. Okay, that's not that's not what they're trying to do. They're trying to gain their notary

Rob Failes:

what they want.

Eric:

correct.

Rob Failes:

want Yes.

Eric:

They and they're using that to get what they want, which is eyeballs on them, right?

Rob Failes:

No,

Eric:

that gives them influence.

Rob Failes:

If you

Eric:

know full well in places that they don't talk about in public

Rob Failes:

here.

Eric:

they are quote unquote helping nobody. It's just part of what they do to get eyeballs on themselves. Now, am I being critical? But I'm not trying to be critical, but I do want to protect my students. If you tune into the golf intervention, it's because we think you need an intervention, right? And that part of the intervention is, I don't know what I don't know. That's why we call this show what we called it.

Rob Failes:

this

Eric:

It starts with, I don't know what I don't know. That's why we started with it. And in this sense, you have to realize that random swing information isn't going to help you. And I have a good story on this from the other day.

Rob Failes:

that

Eric:

came in, super smart guy,

Rob Failes:

super smart

Eric:

a couple years, put a, actually, very good, I mean, he's a newer member, just a couple years, I don't, didn't know him very well.

Rob Failes:

didn't

Eric:

Good looking swing. Like, if you take, okay, geometry of the swing, he looked like, if you watched him from the other end of the range, you'd go like, oh, that guy, good swing, right? Good balance and rhythm and follow through.

Rob Failes:

good arm movement. And

Eric:

And

Rob Failes:

it's a good story.

Eric:

he came to me and he said, Eric, I just can't play.

Rob Failes:

I have

Eric:

I can't play. This is the first lesson, right?

Rob Failes:

this is a first lesson.

Eric:

Um, okay. What's the problem? I hook everything like miles. I'm like, okay. So we start kind of looking at it

Rob Failes:

start having a

Eric:

and we do the diagnosis and I'm like, you know what?

Rob Failes:

and I'm not

Eric:

Um, here's what I think this is what you're doing. I think you did a little bit too much of this too much of that

Rob Failes:

too

Eric:

and he is one of these ones that would do a lot of research read a lot, a lot of YouTube, a lot of whatever.

Rob Failes:

that.

Eric:

And he said, Eric, I had an epiphany about 3 months ago,

Rob Failes:

three months

Eric:

and he said, what if I'm wrong about all the things I think I know

Rob Failes:

the things I'm doing.

Eric:

and he goes.

Rob Failes:

And

Eric:

You just, not on purpose,

Rob Failes:

not

Eric:

but I just realized I was wrong about all the things I thought I know.

Rob Failes:

things I'm doing.

Eric:

because he didn't know good things. He wasn't interpreting it to his swing quite right,

Rob Failes:

it.

Eric:

He didn't

Rob Failes:

putting it into context, right?

Eric:

correct. So the point is he, it was five minutes. He's hitting it better, right? It's just a couple of little things we were unwinding. No big deal.

Rob Failes:

big deal.

Eric:

At the end of the day,

Rob Failes:

the end of the

Eric:

if you are going to work on your swing,

Rob Failes:

on your slaves,

Eric:

you think you need to work on your swing, you probably need coaching. That's just,

Rob Failes:

need

Eric:

it on this show.

Rob Failes:

do that. That's just, that's, that's, that's a huge factor.

Eric:

Yeah.

Rob Failes:

Number one would be like scoring strategy. Like, are you aiming in places that's not allowing you to swing freely? Because you know you don't have the margin of error on one side that you don't on the other.

Eric:

Right.

Rob Failes:

Alright, so that could be one. Uh, your shot process. Alright, are you not predicting lie, slope, and wind? And how they're going to influence your golf ball. Therefore, you're standing over it and you're trying to use your golf swing to make up for Uh, three would just be the overall mindset that you're bringing to your play on the golf course. Are you more of like fixed mindset or growth mindset in terms of how you're your game? Right? Is this something where it's like, okay, you've either got it or you don't, or are you always looking for opportunities to learn and improve, which don't always feel like playing well. So

Eric:

Right.

Rob Failes:

would in, in what we know through the research and what Dr. Pryor shared with us, the code breakers is that your mindset is a wrong predictor of performance. Strong predictor. If you are, if you're bringing in, it fluctuates by the way, but if you're bringing a fixed mindset into what you're doing, you're going to feel on that in general, you're going to feel more anxiety, which is going to disrupt your skills and disrupt your rhythm. Simple as that. Right?

Eric:

And stunt your learning.

Rob Failes:

there's. Correct. Yeah. So there's, that's, there's three. All right. And then we haven't even gotten into skill. There's four. And then from the swing standpoint, are your clubs fit for you? Are you in posture? There's five,

Eric:

Right.

Rob Failes:

right? Are you holding the club in a, in a, in a, in a functional way? Right. So like that's all happening before the club starts moving.

Eric:

Right. And so the, the reason why,

Rob Failes:

many options.

Eric:

yeah, and the reason why that's not the popular discussion. On Instagram is because you can't pack. You can't really it's hard to package that up in 30 seconds in a way. That's interesting or attractive or for lack of a better term. Sexy like something that you're going to look at and click on. Like, you know, you're going to look at. Oh, she's, you know, click on this 1 and watch it. Right? Like, that's kind of how it goes. And. You know, it is what it is. Like if you, I guarantee you, if you, if you took one of those influencers and had them do a, a mindset, you know, like a mindset clip, I'm going to guess it doesn't get a lot of clicks, right? Processes are boring, but processes are vital. Like they're the absolute most vital thing. And so you just ran through a bunch of stuff that I was going to, I was going to say like, what are the pitfalls, right? You just ran the list down. Right? You just ran down the list of stuff. No, it's perfect because it's, it's all I really wanted to talk about today is like, what are the things that people don't realize are holding them back? And you just went through the list because they always think it's their swing. Now, some people will go like, some people have some good awareness of like scoring strategy. They'll go like, Eric, I've got no clue about scoring strategy or Eric. I've got no, I've got no routine on the course.

Rob Failes:

think

Eric:

how to judge slope. I don't, you know, so those, I think there's some awareness on those.

Rob Failes:

Yeah.

Eric:

predictability piece,

Rob Failes:

know,

Eric:

you know, skill training or practice habits, or, you know, what are your capabilities from your body or your limitations from your body equipment is very misunderstood and under an underestimated, like equipment is huge for

Rob Failes:

it's

Eric:

that plays this game.

Rob Failes:

the,

Eric:

not the, it's not the arrow over the Indian or whatever that saying is like, you've got to have equipment that works for you. Or it's going to be, you're, you're making golf harder on you, right?

Rob Failes:

calls

Eric:

On yourself. Then it's going to be, again, you're going to blame your swing for things that have it, have nothing to do with it. Right? I mean, I see it all the time. I'm lucky we've got a lot of work with a lot of people who are very growth minded. I mean, I think that's a product of probably being pretty successful in life, like, being able to learn and grow and understand. And and so.

Rob Failes:

And

Eric:

It's pretty fun. I, I can't,

Rob Failes:

pretty

Eric:

I'm not going to lie. Like the last few weeks have been

Rob Failes:

few

Eric:

extremely busy. I mean, it was like the, it was like the worst winter we've had in probably six or seven years in Virginia, you know, snow on the ground for weeks at a time. Um, and then when the, it was like, there was a Saturday afternoon. Okay. We had the, we had all the bay doors down and in simulators for weeks. And then we're looking at the forecast, looking at the forecast. We're like, Oh, the snow's going to melt Friday. By Saturday at lunchtime, it's going to be 50 degrees.

Rob Failes:

Yeah.

Eric:

the bay doors up. And it was like the season hit. It was like, it was just Katie bar the door. It was, it's been nuts ever since. So we've been really, really busy and it's been fun. It's been fun kind of getting back into the groove of teaching a bunch of lessons. Um, but people want to play better. And I think that when we're, when we're doing this, we do this for one reason. And I think everybody gets it that tunes in because we don't, we don't ask for anything and we're just like.

Rob Failes:

that we're

Eric:

Two dudes in sweatshirts talking on a microphone.

Rob Failes:

on the

Eric:

Um,

Rob Failes:

Uh,

Eric:

just want you to play better.

Rob Failes:

just want to get

Eric:

There's answers out there.

Rob Failes:

answers

Eric:

we're hoping that we can guide you on a process as, as you enter 2025 golf season, that you could just play better and not necessarily have to swing a better quote unquote. To do it, right?

Rob Failes:

to do

Eric:

So,

Rob Failes:

Right? So,

Eric:

I don't know if I'm still ranting. I kind of feel like I'm still ranting. I'm going to end rant and rant

Rob Failes:

I'm just saying. I've

Eric:

hard. Stop and rant. And we're going to talk about other pitfalls. Although you kind of named them all. So what else you want to talk about? So, it's good, because I feel like what I was going to name as the, as the hidden pitfalls.

Rob Failes:

to

Eric:

going to be fixed mindset versus growth mindset. It was going to be the equipment.

Rob Failes:

fun to

Eric:

Um, it was,

Rob Failes:

will be episode 1 and 5,

Eric:

I have to be honest,

Rob Failes:

behind the

Eric:

this will be episode 41 when we put it out. And one of my favorite episodes of all of them was the one we called, I think it was called mindset. Was it called mindset? A golfer secret superpower, I think is what I titled it. And I could listen to that episode over and over again. It, it, there's so much good stuff and you were the lead on that. It was really, really good. And, um,

Rob Failes:

And,

Eric:

I kind of told the story, like, I went to UVA, which my son's at UVA, which is

Rob Failes:

some of your

Eric:

One of the great

Rob Failes:

I'm

Eric:

universities

Rob Failes:

guys.

Eric:

the world

Rob Failes:

and

Eric:

and when we went to the parents orientation,

Rob Failes:

the

Eric:

this world renowned author, like she's literally written like five best selling books. She's a psychologist. She leads their second.

Rob Failes:

reason as a

Eric:

She got up and did a whole presentation on the same research. Carol. Quick, what, uh, you know, growth versus fixed mindset. And I was like, this is incredible. It was like two weeks before we had recorded this episode. So if you haven't listened to that, I don't have the number in front of me, but we call it mindset. The golfer's secret superpower. Please go back and listen to that episode. It is, it is not just about golf, obviously it's about life. But when you think about

Rob Failes:

when you think about.

Eric:

the foundation for what it is and anything you want to develop or succeed in, is it not mindset rap fails? Like Is it not give, give us,

Rob Failes:

right?

Eric:

where it starts. So, so give us some insight. What did, did, did Dr. Prior go into some of this, uh, more in depth in the code breakers retreat? Like what was the story there?

Rob Failes:

Oh yeah, yeah, he did, uh, he did two presentations each, so basically six hours uh, of total presentation time on Mindset.

Eric:

Six hours on the mindset. I'm going next year, by the way, I'm in next year is, is I, I, sorry. I had to miss, but I will not miss again.

Rob Failes:

very, we're, we're very hopeful that we'll be able to get him back next year. Um,

Eric:

Have we picked a location for next year?

Rob Failes:

uh, so going back and

Eric:

Okay, got it.

Rob Failes:

likely Skokie country club and, uh, and kind of greater Chicago area Garrett Chassard is

Eric:

Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Okay, great.

Rob Failes:

is, uh, it's kind of the current hypothesis, but, but we'll see what happens. But yeah, I mean, Dr. Pryor just really went. Deep on it for two days and kind of overwhelmed right now thinking about it. But, um, a couple of the, a couple of the big things that I took away from it was just the power of questions. And like how you can ask golfers some very, very relevant, vital questions that get them to kind of understand the difference and get them more aware of like where they're currently at. Um, and so like a really good question would be like, why are we here today?

Eric:

Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

So like, are we here to look better or are we here to get better? Right. And so that's the first thing, like when golfers come to the range, ask yourself that question first. It's like, all right, am I here to look better or am I here to get better? And if you're really in the key to this as being honest with yourself, because I know there are so many times my golfing history, I've gone to the practice facility and I've chosen to do the thing. That I knew was going to make me look the best,

Eric:

Oh, so you were gonna make an Instagram post with your swing in slow motion? Come on. Come on. Be honest. Be honest. It's, it's

Rob Failes:

let's say, let's say my skills have been, my, my skills have been really, really, um, lining up with my short game, right? So I'm going to go over the short game and hit some like nippy little low spinners from perfect lives, right? And just in case if someone watches me, in case someone looks over, right? They're going to see me hitting these shots. And so the underlying thing there is like, that's me trying to protect my perception of how other people are perceiving me.

Eric:

very much.

Rob Failes:

the, when you peel the onion back, it's like, okay, well, why, why is that the case? Like, almost like, like keep asking why it's like, okay, like other's perceptions over your own. That's a very, very common bias turns out. humans tend to, some humans, and not everyone's the case, and it changes from activity to activity. But many of us, when it comes to how we're perceived, we value others perceptions over our own. Right? And so, a big domino. It's like, hey, like, is other people's perceptions relevant the task? The answer is no. Uh,

Eric:

hmm. Zero percent.

Rob Failes:

better? Right, exactly. Does worrying about what other people think make you feel better or worse? Worse. Do you perform better or worse?

Eric:

Worse.

Rob Failes:

right? So like, again, you're asking people these questions. very just like, and you got to be honest with them and probably be in a safe space to where they're feel open to, to actually answering them. But if you can just ask these, like kind of very sort of like leading honest questions, can really get someone to kind of turn around their behaviors. Um, so I think that's a, that's a big one. I think, uh, when it comes to, when it comes to mindset, I think, I mean, gosh, there's so, there's so many that we could go down. Um, Why are, why are we here? Are you here to, to find a guarantee, That's another good

Eric:

Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

like, Do you believe that there is a guarantee? And then the answer is, is no, right? So there's, there's no guarantee that if you swing the club in this way that you're gonna hit the shot that you want, right? There's no guarantee that if you work hard, you're gonna get the results that you want, right? There is no guarantee that if you subscribe to this training program, right, you're going to get to this point at this point in time, right? So a lot of times we go down these rabbit holes to try to guarantee outcome, right? And again, oftentimes that, that search for a guarantee is really what it is, is it's avoiding a future outcome that we're not willing to accept. It's typically what it is, right? So I had a, I had a lesson with, uh, with a student just last week. and he just came to me and was like, you know, I've got to eliminate the ball going right. I have to, have to eliminate it,

Eric:

Zero golfers in history have eliminated the ball going right, but yeah.

Rob Failes:

I basically come in and say like, Hey, like I, I'm looking to guarantee that I don't hit that shot again. And so what was

Eric:

Mm

Rob Failes:

is like on the range, on the range, he was actually hitting it fine. Like

Eric:

hmm. Mm

Rob Failes:

hit a couple balls right of target, a couple balls left of target. He's talking about a big miss to the right.

Eric:

hmm.

Rob Failes:

And uh, I mean he's, he was performing to, I'd say about a five handicap. Uh, but when I asked him his average score, he said low nineties, high

Eric:

Mm

Rob Failes:

right? So on the range, right, the huge discrepancy. So, turns out when he's going on the golf course, he has a mindset around, Okay, if I hit that out of bounds shot to the right, I'm basically cooked for the day.

Eric:

hmm. Mm hmm. I'm done. Mentally, I'm done.

Rob Failes:

you're, you're done, right? So that outcome for him become so threatening that he will, he's going into full on avoidance mode on the golf course. It's like, okay, I've just got to steer this thing. Like I've got to try to guarantee I've got to make sure just increasing tension levels, which is making those skills even more variable. Um, so we had to have a pretty honest conversations like, Hey, like. So before we, before we actually work to reduce that, the frequency of that happening, you've got to understand that there is hundred percent possibility that we could with whatever we do, like you stand on the golf course tomorrow, step on that first tee and hit that same shot. You can do it.

Eric:

Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

You could do it for the first couple of holes. You could do it for all nine holes. You could go an 18 hole round that ball uncontrollably to the right. Yeah, that would suck. Is it truly worth it? Like employing this avoidance based strategy. And like, I asked him some questions about like, okay, like, how does your swing feel when you just try to steer it out there? It's like, oh, it feels. Like, I don't swing like that on the range, but on the golf course, it feels awful. Like, all right, well, you know, one of the, one of the stories Dr. Pryor shared at Code Breaker is like the, um, several, um, of the armed forces use, um, kind of this stage one, stage two, um, regret kind of model. And there might actually be a stage three regret, but, um, I only right now remember the first two stages. Um, stage one is we did it the way we wanted to do it and it didn't work out. Which I personally wouldn't even call regret, but that's what, that's what they call it. two is we, we didn't do it the way we wanted to do it and it didn't work out. Which is

Eric:

That's

Rob Failes:

that's the one that they're, that's the one that they're trying to eliminate. Like they're trying to reduce as much as possible is. If they go off mission, like if they go off of the, uh, like their procedure or kind of the operation and they lose someone like that is unacceptable to them. Whereas, you know, they are accepting prior to going into that mission is like, okay, we're going to do this thing the way that we've decided to do it. If we lose someone, that's going to suck. It's, we're not going to lose someone because we went. Off script

Eric:

Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

decided to prioritize this outcome the mission.

Eric:

Yeah.

Rob Failes:

and so again, that's what it is. It's just prioritizing the outcome the processes that make the outcome more or less likely. And so,

Eric:

Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

course, of course, the, the outcome is important to us. Of course, we want to hit the fairway. Of course, we want to hit the green. Of course, we want to shoot low scores. Like, of course, those things are important to us. Um, but are they relevant? Right. And the answer is. No, because outcomes are by definition always off time. So outcomes always happened or haven't happened yet,

Eric:

Interesting. Yeah.

Rob Failes:

right?

Eric:

Mm hmm. Yeah. Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

they are always off time. Therefore, are irrelevant to the task. Again, difference between being important to us and being relevant. They are not relevant. You do not need to be placing your attention on outcome. Um, and I just think that's, that's such an important distinction between what's important versus what's relevant. The best players in the world are able to filter out what is relevant, better than all of us, essentially, right? Scotty Scheffler, he was in jail, right? He literally got sent to jail the morning of the, was it the PGA

Eric:

PGA Championship. Yeah.

Rob Failes:

PGA championship? Yeah.

Eric:

hmm.

Rob Failes:

Warming up in his jail cell, right? So, was able to, that day, still shoot, what did he shoot? 67?

Eric:

Shot under par. Yeah. Yeah. A shot under par. Yep. It's crazy.

Rob Failes:

So, he was, so, you talk about filtering out what's irrelevant? Like, that's a master class in that. I mean, it's, there's nobody better on earth than filtering out irrelevant information, I think, than Scotty.

Eric:

You know Yeah, I think he's the best. I mean, I do this with junior golfers and, and frankly, I could probably do it with, with adult golfers too, but it's just the relationships a little different, right? Like you get, you get a 14 year old boy in your, in your bay, who's trying to make his varsity golf team. And, you know, and they, and you're like, they're saying things and you're like, that doesn't matter. That doesn't matter. You know, in your mind, you're like, not relevant, not relevant, not relevant, not relevant. So, you know, I'll draw a diagram, right? Like I just draw a diagram or we make a list of like, I'll say, well, how does this affect your score? Right? Like, how does this affect me? Right? Does it go inside what matters in the circle or does it go outside the circle of what matters? And so I do this. I don't do it all the time. I do it when necessary. Right? Um, it's powerful. When they, and they take it home and they're like, oh, yeah, you know, like that wasn't relevant. This, this was really like, you know, well, Eric, I couldn't warm up, you know, there wasn't any time to, well, did anybody warm up? No. Okay. So like, you know, we, we kind of go through all these different parts of their story

Rob Failes:

of

Eric:

to get them just focused on what matters. Right.

Rob Failes:

what

Eric:

Because they're just worried about everything and I think that that's golfers just in general. There's a lot to get focused on There's a lot out there. There's all kinds of things you could be distracted by so many things that are irrelevant to your score and

Rob Failes:

a hundred percent. My

Eric:

Like that could not be any less relevant Right? Like even as a golf pro chipping on the chipping green, like, Oh, someone sees me. I'm the golf pro. Like I better do this. Well, like it's still irrelevant. Yeah. It's still irrelevant. So you have to, and this goes back to the thing about the golf swing stuff. It's just like, to your point, No, at P3,

Rob Failes:

is going

Eric:

this and that, like all this stuff we see,

Rob Failes:

percent true.

Eric:

it's not going to guarantee you anything. Right?

Rob Failes:

video.

Eric:

that you're, you're telling the story about a guy who's fixated on where he doesn't want his ball to go when he's playing golf and you can't

Rob Failes:

not feel good.

Eric:

does not feel we've all been there. By the way. I know this because I've been there. I've been there too. I had a big right miss, but at the end of the day. Okay. You can't focus on what you don't want to have happen, right? You have to focus on what you do want to have happen. And that's a positive mindset that helps you, guides you through this whole process. And hopefully, hopefully the things you do want to have happen are also relevant at the same time, because there could be an irrelevant part of that equation. So,

Rob Failes:

And just the things that the things that I got two other things that that are coming to mind as you're talking, again, the things that are irrelevant are off time, right? So if we think about things that that haven't happened yet, I think it's helpful to reiterate the fact that the future is Always uncertain again, like when it comes to the skills, I don't care who you are. You, you don't know, you never know exactly where the bottom of the swing is going to be in space. You don't know, right? You don't know exactly where the club face is going to be relative to the path at impact.

Eric:

definitely don't know that. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

prior to swinging the golf club. And there is nothing that anyone can tell you that will make you know prior to swinging the golf club. All right. For some of you, this might be sounding like I'm. Kicking your cat or something like the almost like I'm telling you Santa Claus isn't real, right? Because this is like what people go when people get in really really dark and stormy places in their golf game It's when they're trying to find certainty in something that is always uncertain

Eric:

Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

Right and so then the the belief becomes oh, I have to control everything that I can that I possibly can, right? so that becomes control or I just have to control everything. So I got to control the future, which means I need to worry about it. I have to control the past, which means I need to ruminate about it. Right? I need to control all of these things, maybe that are on time, but not relevant, right? So it just becomes this laundry list of conditions, right? And this is another, he said, if you hear people say common things like, if I can just do this if I can just do this, right?

Eric:

Yeah.

Rob Failes:

know what? If I could just do, if I could just do that. If I can just do that, then I'll be able to enjoy the game. These are the people, this is, this is not the people, but this is the state mind that we're talking about. That is very common that we see every day is like all of these conditions that we believe that we have to impose upon ourselves in order to play well. And we went through, it was kind of a fun little exercise I did with a, with another attendee. Part of the thing we love about code breakers is that talent, there's a lot of talent in the room, right? So you get to. To brainstorm with other kind of like minded folks. We were talking about what are the actual conditions to playing your best? All right, well, number one, you got to get to the tee on time. You got to get to the first tee on time, right? Got to do that. You got to have all your clubs. You gotta have at least however many clubs you need to play, right? Um, you gotta have a certain number of golf balls. I don't know how many, right? But you need to have golf balls, right? don't need a tee. You can play golf without a tee. You can play golf without a glove. You can play golf without a warm up. You can play golf Without liking your playing competitors, you can

Eric:

Mm

Rob Failes:

golf

Eric:

hmm.

Rob Failes:

having good weather, right? You can't play in lightning, but you can play all sorts of different conditions. You don't have to have a certain cut of grass. You don't have to have a certain wind direction, you know, like all of these things like there's pretty few conditions that are actually true to playing your best and again, like The, the Scotty thing kind of what made me talk about like, cause if people think, Oh, I've got to have this 45 minute warmup and I've got it. Oh, and then another one that you hear like that, that I see all the time is like people practice to try to find that, like, Oh, I've, I've got to hit a couple of good ones. Just to tell me that tomorrow is going to be okay.

Eric:

Right.

Rob Failes:

that certainty. And this is where you're like, all right, last ball. And they hit it off the toe. Like, no, no, no, no, no. Last ball.

Eric:

Got a hand on a good one.

Rob Failes:

keep going. Keep going. You got it. And like, I've stopped doing that completely. Like, no, you do not have to end on a good one. What happens if you're playing the 18th hole and your last full swing is a shank. Right? You're going to be ending on that shank, right? And you've got to pre accept. Here's the deal. Again, if it's when we don't pre accept everything or in anything and everything that could possibly happen, is when we start creating like these very, very kind of conditional avoidance strategies. have to be willing to accept, not have to, but like to be helpful. Right? Could be helpful. If we accept,

Eric:

be willing to. Yeah.

Rob Failes:

we could strive to, we could strive toward, uh, again, I'm trying not to impose conditions on people, but it's hard, um, we could, we, we could strive toward all potential future outcomes. Right? It's like a radical acceptance, right? Because people like they judge the shot. They judge every single shot is either and they know they're going to do it beforehand. Right? And that's where a lot of this anxiety comes in. It's like, all right, here we go. Is it going to be a good one or a bad one? Right? And just like stop, like just play around a golf where it's just like, okay, the ball was the here. is currently there. End of sentence. Stop.

Eric:

That's it. It

Rob Failes:

right? The ball was here. Now it's there. All right, now the task is, can you put one foot in front of the other until you get to the golf ball? Put your clubs down, figure out how far you're going to hit it, out what direction you're going to hit it, take your club out, do whatever you hit the shot, right? And then wherever that ball went is now where the ball is and go do that, right? And just repeat that. And just get out of this judgment, right? This, this, that was a good shot. That was a bad shot. Again, if it feels good to our brain to tell us that the shot was good, but the problem is that it's a double edged sword, because if you're always judging it when it's good, it's going to make you feel twice as crappy when you're judging, by the way, golf, you're going to hit more. Shots that you're going to perceive as poor relative to the ones that you perceive as great You're going to be beating yourself up the entire it's it's not worth it I can probably see like the high that you get from like saying. Oh, that was amazing is not worth low that you get from beating yourself up constantly throughout a round of golf. And I'm not saying don't enjoy good shots, but enjoy playing shots for the enjoyment of the feeling of playing the shot itself. Like, I guarantee you, when you hit the ball out the center of the face, that feels a heck of a lot more pleasurable than hitting out the toe or the heel. Or like, when the ball goes in the direction that you want, generally, feels a heck of a lot more fun and better than when the ball's not. Right? And just I appreciate that. I've told players like, Hey, you can go a, have the best burger in town and enjoy the burger, but you don't have to write a review, right? You can go to a restaurant and have a like the food took forever, right? It was undercooked, whatever. can say, all right, well, I caught him on a bad night, right? Or just, I got a bad, I got a bad one. All right, but you don't have to leave a review. Like All right. Yeah. I was just one, right? You don't have to label yourself as a bad golfer or a great golfer. You don't have like all these subjective opinions that we're layering on top of this are not helping in my opinion. So I guess that was, that was my rant. So in rant

Eric:

was a good, good. We're ranting tonight. We won't rant all the time, but you know, every now and again we rant. It's okay. Um, that's because we are so, we desire. Everyone to enjoy the game because we and I enjoy it at a high at a very high level and all we ever.

Rob Failes:

playing the game, like literally just playing the game is enjoyable,

Eric:

Oh, my gosh. I mean, just being in nature. Yeah, we're, we're gonna get to that. You know, you get those feelings this time of year because, you know, here we have the dormant Bermuda grass and it, you know, it's starting to, you know, come into starting to turn green and then. You know, the trees are blooming and the leaves start popping out and the sunshine is out and the days are warmer and like, you start to realize what it is you, why you connect to this game so much, right? Because you're, you're in this environment that's so inspiring. It feels so, you know, it's just, it's just good for your whole soul in my opinion. Right? Like, my, my opinion, there's one, there's going to be one sport in heaven and it's golf, like, period, like, it's. It's the Lord's game is my opinion. So, like, you know, you, you just, you feel that you feel it when you're playing it. It's meant to be in nature. And it's like, if we go out there and we lose that, that context, if we lose that, like, everything turns into a judgment on our self worth. Every time we had a shot and we. We forget like how blessed we are to just be on a beautiful piece of property hitting a golf shot. Like it's,

Rob Failes:

yes.

Eric:

cool. And I think if we can always keep that in mind, you're going to play better. You're going to play in a more enjoyable way. You'll play freer. You'll play better. Probably. I mean, there's no guarantees as you said, but like,

Rob Failes:

gosh. And that's, we, we didn't get even into that, but like there's been, know, when you talk about the, the effects of being off time versus on time. So like when you're present. And typically the downstream effects of being present is going to be drastically reduced tension levels, improvement of the quality of your breath. All right. So going back to Dr. Mike K, okay. Your swing literally feels easier, freer, and more fun. Like literally the act of swinging the golf club feels like a fun activity or a more fun activity when you're present. Like Um, from start to finish, like, Hey, like if you can stay present to whatever you're doing from that club breaks away to the end of the swing, I can promise you it's going to be a more fun and enjoyable experience than if you're always saying, okay, I've got to make sure this outcome doesn't happen. got to make sure that prior outcome doesn't happen again. I've got to make sure this looks like a good swing in front of my buddies. Or I've got to like make sure that I do these 16 things that I've, that I've been told that I have to do. Right? Like though, that does not feel as much fun as, uh, or is that, or is nearly as effective as being present. And on time and on task.

Eric:

No question about it. So I guess our rants today were really about how we tend to get in our own way when it comes to our golf performance. Right? I mean, that kind of, kind of what we were talking about.

Rob Failes:

will be a, like a mindset constraint, right? Like

Eric:

Yeah.

Rob Failes:

how fixed, more of like a fixed mindset, can create a constraint.

Eric:

And I think that, you know, when we started off with, with my rant on the golf swing stuff, it's just That's part of the whole story, right? Like it's part of the, that's part of the mindset too, is like understanding what is relevant to you. And, um, and I just kind of feel like, again, just chasing our tails with trying to change our swing every day. It's just, it's just not, it's just not, or every swing. Hey, I've got this new swing. Okay. Okay. Um, but at the end of the day. Yeah, you've got to be a little weary about who you're listening to when it comes to that, what their intentions are. Right. Um, and make sure that you're well aware that you should only be listening to people that are really, truly invested in your performance. Right? Like, that's, that's the way I would look at it.

Rob Failes:

and if you're going to change your swing, if you're going to go down that rabbit hole, just make sure it wasn't the very first thing, number one, then number two, make sure we're doing it for the right reasons. So a couple of things that I share with my players is like, we change swing when It's going to reduce the likelihood of injury or if like there's a way that we get you moving the club that Alleviates pain right so that's going to be a great reason to change swing We change swing to make it more efficient terms of clubhead speed or ball speed, right? So less perceived effort,

Eric:

Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

more ball speed. And then third, we do it to bias your skills in a desirable way or like a

Eric:

Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

if you're, if your swing is really biasing your skills in a certain way, we can change your swing or we can improve your swing or however you want to think about to adapt and change the bias of those skills. But it is not, we do not change swing to guarantee an avoidance of outcomes that we don't.

Eric:

Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Rob Failes:

And that's, that's the biggest thing is like, you know, Oh, if I just do this, it's going to make then this feature outcome, not willing to upset, except is, is not going to happen. There is no swing on earth. There's no such thing as a golf swing that that can do that.

Eric:

Yeah. There's no guarantees. And I think that's the That, that's the crux of this episode, think that was, that was the, uh, that was the whole point. So, thank you, Rob Fales. I think that worked out pretty well.

Rob Failes:

Thank you.

Eric:

Anything else you want to add? I mean, do you have any other names you wanted to add to the, um, potential list who you're thinking of at the 1 1 in the, uh, Dynasty Superflex League? I mean, I've got some other names. Like, I'm a big fan of the, of the running back from Boise, and I know we haven't seen him on the field yet, but man.

Rob Failes:

can't do

Eric:

I'm just going to tag, I'm just going to

Rob Failes:

superflex.

Eric:

I'm just gonna tell you right now, get a special. Get a special. Write it down.

Rob Failes:

he's special. He just hasn't, again, I could,

Eric:

tackle him.

Rob Failes:

I could, I could see, oh my gosh, the stiff arm.

Eric:

He's,

Rob Failes:

I don't

Eric:

he's a, he's impossible to tackle. He, the Penn State played him, if you go back and watch the Penn State game, Penn State bottled him up for the most part. Like, every time he got the ball, there was four people, and Penn State has athletes that Boise State couldn't, couldn't handle, right? Like, These people are outrageous athletes. He still ran for a bunch of yards and made like, he still had like 12 four Smiths tackles in the game. Like in a game where he was bottled up, like it was outrageous. Like this guy. is outrageous. He's

Rob Failes:

their contact.

Eric:

no, he's contact balance. Yeah, you can't tackle him. He's super strong. I don't know what the deal is. Contact balance, whatever there's something he has. He has it. It's like Ebbets Smith a little bit in that way, but he might be a little faster than him. I don't know. It's he's pretty impressive. Anybody else you were thinking?

Rob Failes:

be Jayden. gonna, it's probably gonna be Jayden. Probably gonna be Jayden, which I'll be happy with.

Eric:

Yeah, go, go, go with your guy. Go with your guy. It'll be fun to root for for the next. Hey, if he's your guy, you gotta go with your guy. Well, people, thanks for tuning in. If you Thoughts for Robbie on who he should draft. I mean, you know, let him know,

Rob Failes:

send him in in the next,

Eric:

send him in. He's got a few days,

Rob Failes:

hours. No, I've got seven hours. It

Eric:

seven hours. Okay. So this episode will not be out before then, but we'll get an update next time. And if you want us to do a spinoff show, let us know. We've got plenty of degenerate golf professional friends. That we could do a show. Um, alright, Rob fails. Well, thank you for, uh, for indulging me in another episode of the Golf Intervention Podcast. Um, appreciate your time and your thoughts and, uh, we will be back again next time with another exciting episode. No ranting next time. It's gonna be a, it's gonna be more fun. Next time. Be lighthearted.

Rob Failes:

Yeah.

Eric:

Take care everybody. Hey,

Rob Failes:

Cheers.

Eric:

cheers. Have a great night.

People on this episode

Contributor

Eric Layton

Host
Contributor

Rob Failes

Host