From Triple Bogeys to Birdie… Lessons from Karl Morris (Driving Home from Gullane)

Triple. Triple. Triple.

After attending a seminar with world-renowned golf performance coach Karl Morris, you’d think things would improve…

Instead, Dave heads to Gullane No. 1 and shoots one of his worst rounds in years.

In this episode of How Low Can You Go, we record straight from the car on the way home — breaking down exactly what went wrong, why the round spiralled, and what we can learn from it.

We dive into:

• Why golfers fall apart under pressure
• The biggest mistakes that lead to blow-up holes
• Why practice (especially indoors) doesn’t always transfer to the course
• Course management errors that cost shots
• How to respond when your game disappears mid-round

We also unpack the most powerful insights from Karl Morris’ seminar, including:

• Why he prefers “green prediction” over green reading
• How understanding water flow on greens can transform your putting
• The importance of low point control in ball striking
• The “ones, twos and threes” framework for scoring
• Why the famous “never up, never in” advice might actually be hurting your game

Along the way, we reference ideas from Scott Fawcett and Adam Young — and show how these concepts actually apply on the course, not just in theory.

Whether you’re trying to break 100, break 90, or simply play more consistent golf, this episode is packed with practical golf tips, mental game insights, and course management strategies you can use immediately.

Because sometimes… it's your worst rounds that teach you the most.

🎧 Listen now and start turning bad rounds into better golf.

🎓 Mind Factor Certification – Listener Offer

We’re delighted to be supporting Karl’s Mind Factor Online Certification, where his life’s work in golf performance, mindset and skill-access is brought together in one in-depth programme for golfers and coaches.

💷 £100 OFF with promo code HOWLOW

🔗 https://themindfactor.net/product/mind-factor-online-certification-course/

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🏨 Big shout out to The Leddie Hotel on Scotland’s Golf Coast.

If you’re enjoying the podcast, leaving a review really helps us grow — and keeps us chasing better golf, faster. ⛳

Transcript

Section A

SPEAKER_03 0:00

And yet, what have we all been brought up on? One of the biggest cliches in the game. Never open, never, never in. You see a guy doing this on the golf course. You leave a foot a putt from 20 feet, you leave it six inches short, and he'll go, oh, land it short again. And then in the state of four balls, somebody will hit a putt online with the hold that goes five feet past. And somebody will say, Good putt! You gave it a chance. No, you didn't.

SPEAKER_05 0:47

That was the voice of legendary golf performance coach Carl Morris at a seminar Chris and I attended the other night. We will come back to that later, so keep listening to find out whether I actually needed Carl's advice there or completely ignored it under pressure. Triple, triple, triple. Have you ever had a round where you feel like you've completely forgotten how to play golf? Well, today was one of those days for me. Chris and I have just left Golem No. 1. We are in the car right now, sun splitting the sky as we drive along Scotland's Gulf Coast back to Edinburgh. And I have just had one of the worst rides I can remember in front of a couple of strangers. And the worst part, it was an absolutely perfect day for golf. On one of the best golf courses in the world. Bright blue skies, no wind, felt like spring, finally arrived. So no excuses. And yet, my driving, my approach play, my putting, all vanished. Along with my dignity. But here's the interesting bit. A couple of nights ago we were at that seminar with Carl Morris and a packed Murray Field Club out. And we actually got to spend a bit of time with him. Hear how he thinks about the game and pick up some seriously powerful ideas. So, as today's round fell apart right from the outset, all of that stuff gradually started coming back into my head. Some of it helped, some of it I completely ignored. So in this episode, we're gonna break it all down while it's still fresh, while it's still painful, while it still hurts, what actually happened out there, why did it spiral so quickly? And as we go, we'll share the most valuable insights we picked up from Carl, along with snippets from our other previous podcasts with Scott Fawcett and Adam Young, and how they can actually apply when you're out there on the course and not just sitting at home or in the clubhouse. Because if you've ever walked off the course thinking, what the hell just happened there? Keep listening as we try and make sense of it. This is a Harlow Can You Go.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

What was going through your head when you talked off the first?

SPEAKER_05 3:34

Honestly, nothing really different to what would normally go through my head. I didn't like a lot of what Dr. Raymond had talked about is like, how would you swing here if you really didn't care about what anyone's thinking? Like honestly, just like trying to feel that swing. And I just topped it. You know, it doesn't happen to me usually, so you know you're talking half an inch, a bit lower, and it's working nicely for you.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:03

So a game of fine margins is it.

SPEAKER_04 4:06

Yeah. But yeah, no, I but that it was one of those, like, you know, when you're obviously you were having a bit of a mate. I'm like conversations with that guy, like he's not ever normally like this, by the way. Like he can beat me, uh thank you, Chris.

SPEAKER_05 4:21

I was like, Oh Chris, you are my you are my partner. You are my I was having these conversations, I was like, You're my golf besties. That's like that's what golf besties do for each other.

SPEAKER_04 4:29

I was like, Dave like went body body par and beat me in a film kind of thing. Like he like I'd I've not seen him play like this in a long time. Yeah. And I was like, like, how many of you joke? I was like, it's your fault.

SPEAKER_05 4:43

Yeah, and you know how it is. I well, maybe you don't know how it is, Chris, because I don't think you've got a shocker as bad as that in you. But honestly, those days were like I started my round started triple, triple, triple.

SPEAKER_04 4:56

Well, that's why I was like, I'm gonna have to like really dig in here. Because when we were in the like third hole, to me, I play that as a part four. I always I've always seen that as because I always bowed at you, which is really nice. That like the three coming down, it was which I haven't had in a wee while. I was spraying it right, like because I'm aiming more right, and then like if I'm swinging harder at because I didn't know these clubs, I think what penalized me today was I didn't know my yardages, like say for between the four and five and the six iron. So I'm swinging harder at a four iron, which I'm then like spraying it right instead of drawing it, and that was killing me today. Um so I really need to go and walk in with my yardages. So this is the thing what we're finding is what's happening on track man, say, doesn't necessarily show up. I've seen a lot of reels on that. It was like when you practice on track man all winter and you go out and shoot, you're shooting like a s a 78 around Augusta and then you shoot 105 on your local course.

SPEAKER_05 6:10

I was I was you're probably sitting around 105 today. Do you think? I I think if I hadn't if I hadn't gone level power for the last four holes, I think I would have been looking at a above hundred score, but I might have snaked under a hundred because of that. But that's really that's bad. That's bad. That's what I'm saying. I've not seen that for a while. I yeah, it's such just such a shocker, like just such a shocker. What can you say? Um bad, let it go, just forget about it. Yeah. Was poor off the tee, but wasn't losing balls. But then even when I was getting a good strike away, then I would be like three putting, four putton, whatever. It was just not good. I think like I'm also accepting that that was probably my first proper round since since the last like winter.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

I think as well, it's like we were just saying, that is a big course.

SPEAKER_05 7:11

Like yeah, golden one's not easy. Like it's it's it's a test, golden one.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

If you're playing trash, like that will find you out. It's not like uh Murrayfield you can be playing trash and then you can actually get a score out of it. If you hit like a duff shot, you're not yeah, you're not you're not getting on the green on yeah, like whereas at Murrayfield you could do that.

SPEAKER_05 7:31

Murrayfield, you can duff it off the tee and still end up getting a decent score. Whereas on that, like I duffed on one of those long bar fours, I duffed one off the tee. And it was just and it's like you'd be lucky if you get a double bogey hair song. Is that what you thought? That's the reality.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

Did you take into account the like Tiger 5?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Like, do you remember he was saying like what Tiger V comes into play? So in in the Decade app, we tracked the Tiger had five things that he tracked when he was playing his best. Doubles, bogeys on par fives. He technically tracked bogeys with 99 or less. We changed that to bogey inside 150. Uh, three putts and blown easy save, which I turned that into two chips. So, what I really focus on is how to eliminate, not eliminate, how to minimize those five things. Not enough.

SPEAKER_05 8:19

I've that crossed my mind towards the end of the round. It was like the the Tiger Five, yeah, what's in play here. And like two chips or just a double bogey, for example.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

Yeah, I definitely think you want your driver to be playing nice when you're playing that course.

SPEAKER_05 8:39

Oh man, yeah, it's so true. Like if ever there was a course where if you are not driving it well, you're absolutely st you're absolutely toast.

SPEAKER_04 8:48

Ben, I feel like I don't feel defeated in that. Like, I feel like I played some heads of golf, my pun was like that's where you put when you play a good course like that, you know if you're punting well or not. But you couldn't seem to get the I couldn't I what the hell was going on there? I honestly was like, there's a point where like if it was just you and I, I'd be like, mate, stop hitting them so hard. But I couldn't let the other side know that we were give them any kind of juice. Um yeah, no, you couldn't get the pace of the greens at first.

SPEAKER_05 9:23

I just want to play a lot more of those links courses where the greens roll so true and like Yeah, you know, because they'll let you know. Having played winter on a soft parkland. I haven't played much in the winter, but I've played a bit, and it's soft parkland where you're sort of like feeling like you've really got to hit it.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:41

And then you go out somewhere like that, and you're just like, whoa. Like you know.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

Yeah, like we're not messing around here.

SPEAKER_05 9:47

Well, as and then I've been playing a couple like length courses, so I know that like it's been so fast, so maybe I've had a bit of uh Yeah, you well you uh exactly you've been play you've played Nair in a bit recently, you played Renaissance recently. Renaissance greens are fancy. Renaissance are like yeah. And I normally really like that. Like I like a green where you barely have to touch it and it rolls.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_05 10:11

Why do you think I like that?

SPEAKER_04 10:13

Yeah. Um like do you think it's because it's like uh you're not having to like think think about smacking it?

SPEAKER_05 10:21

Yeah, I think so, yeah. Just sort of feeling like you can trust the role. Just I think my big takeaway today is yeah, okay. Shocker, it happens. Well done for at least staying in the game and then playing the last four holes very well. You know, so take that as a positive. Like, don't give up, even if it's because that was so bad. Like, I was like, I wasn't gonna well obviously I'm not gonna give up and say, like, bye guys, see you later, but just check out, you know, just be like, I don't care anymore. Yeah, I could see that when you said to me, you're like, I swear I'm always joking, but I guess it was just sort of like some just to sum it up, like another totally duffed tea shot.

SPEAKER_04 11:20

I think the thing is it's better, like you're pegged to like a point at yourself because you're like you're playing such a good course. Yeah, you know, play well.

SPEAKER_05 11:31

Oh, completely. But like again, so happy that I was able to put a decent run of holes together at the end. It's a nice skill to have. I've actually heard that before from people saying if you've got a good skill of finishing the last four holes really well, that sets you up nicely. In golf, like if you're playing in competitions and things like that, if you have have it in your locker, you know, right, I can finish courses the last four holes really nicely. Do you is this a new fenced skill or is this like you've got history of it? I wouldn't say it's a new fenced skill, but it's something that I've started keeping an eye on and started to think, right, even if the whole round hasn't been good, at least I could sort of go, right, okay, last four holes or whatever. You know, you could pick any number of holes, but you could say, let's see, let's see how I can fare here, just sort of reset.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

Does that come from though having a like you've had like say you have one like birdie, and you're like, okay, then your mood shifts? Or do you think all right, do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 12:32

A birdie can really change your mindset completely, can't it? Like I had that nice birdie on what was it, oh 17? Was it? 17 I couldn't have played better, right? Had a cracker of drive down there, just a Wii, half lob wedge, really nicely struck, and then to within like four feet and holding up.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

You became more in tune with your uh putting your like jack to your third gang line.

SPEAKER_05 13:01

Do you know what I did, Chris? Watch me. Yeah, well that would have been good. That was uh a joy to watch. But I used the line on that tailor-made ball, and the last number of putts I hit, I set up the line, and I actually feel like I put it really well. Just I once heard that it was I think it's Mark Crossfield on Hack It Out golf podcast. He said that he really recommends people setting up that line. Because I I don't know, I can hear arguments either way on it. I find sometimes if I'm setting up that line, it can put me off because I'm thinking, oh, I don't think I've got that line right, and then I'm just standing over the whole pot going, right, though that's the wrong line, and you're about to try and put this, or else are you gonna try and change course and then try and hit it off this wonky line and you know just pickles your head?

SPEAKER_06 13:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:47

But he was saying, look, if you get it and you practice it and you get it right so that you're confident in the line, it's one less thing that you need to worry about.

SPEAKER_04 13:55

What if I told you that what you see from behind the ball to when you stand over the ball can be totally different? Yeah. And you have to like because I was speaking to Ali about this. Yeah. And it's he liked sitting up the line. Well, he said that like we were talking about some people, like Scotty Scheffler says that he will stand over the ball and look what the line is from what he sees in front of him. But you will have a look at like you'll assess everything around the ball. But he said sometimes it could change. Yeah. So you have to be able to, like, even if you've set that line, you don't need to change the line. You can literally go, okay, well, I know that this breaks a little bit more than I thought. So just aim a little bit more left. That's what I was doing too. There was a few times where I was like, this is the line. And then I would stand there over the ball and I'd look and I'd be like, oh no, it breaks way more. So then I would just turn the head and then just like make a stroke on it that like I could build it to. So I'm extended. Don't go, I need to change the line. Because then all of a sudden, like, I think you're just you're gonna put back and edit through that line anyway that you move it to.

SPEAKER_05 15:06

Yeah. I guess sometimes you just gotta write off. If it's a shocker, it's a shocker, and that's what happens. And hope you just hope that it doesn't happen that often. Next next weekend. You never know. Yeah. Because the boys are okay, not you. Yeah. Too right, and then the captain as well. Yeah, the captain. The captain of the ship. But the other thing I'll say about today is today, I'm also just gonna remember Colon one's a hard course, I don't know it very well. You know, turning up and playing you know, I do think a course like that, even in good conditions, you know, my handicap as a 14.8 is an eighteen. A colon one whereas at my home course is a fourteen. So that's quite a significant difference. I also think I haven't played enough golf. Like coming out of the winter, okay, so not as much opportunity to play golf, but I've tried to get to the track man. I've played I've played a few holes here and there with my son. I've played maybe one 18 hole round of golf in the last five months, four months. Actually, hold on, four months. Since since sort of late October, I would say maybe a handful of 18 holes. So I think I was like, just want to play more golf. Like, that's it. Play and practice more golf. Practice one and practice and I know for me it's it's all about ball striking. I know that's obvious to say. Get better at golf, get better at ball striking, but it's off the tee is where you use the show. Yeah, yeah. But do uh yeah, it was strange though. You know, often for me, off the tee, it's wild ones and losing golf balls. Whereas yeah, I lost I lost a couple of balls on that one hole, but otherwise didn't lose any. And it was just it was real duffs. It was hitting duffs. I know, yeah, it was like duffs, it was duffing it off the tee, and then it was duffing, hacking the the irons. Really hacking it.

SPEAKER_06 17:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:20

Like hacking it.

SPEAKER_04 17:21

Like that's that's what I was kind of just like watching and I was like, what's going on? You were I'm sure you were because I think because like you don't get me wrong, you've seen you've seen me play some of the things.

SPEAKER_05 17:31

You're on an extension of me, and I'm an extension of you. But you you've seen me play that golf, but I don't think you've seen me hit so many just doffs or like. I used to look like I looked like such a duffer.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

Honestly, it was so funny. So you're on the first so you're on the first uh hole when you like obviously you doffed it and then you chunked it over to the right and then you shanked it. I was like, ah, for give me a break, bloody. Hagarama? And then when you got onto the green, I was like, right, there he is, come on.

SPEAKER_05 18:05

Six putting I was like, I'm just just like there were a few just pick it up there's moments and that to that No, that was that was a bit of a a weird one because like like I say, I have tried to get to the track man committee Not I I don't think every week throughout the winter, but I've tried to get there regularly because it's you know decent facility we have at our home course but like I'm not I'm not hitting shots like that on that.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

I don't know if you've kind of found this comfort in the track, man. Honestly. It's possible. And if you think about it as well, you're hitting off of mat all the time. Yeah, yeah, oh absolutely. So like today was your first kind of like, if you think about it, hitting off turf all the time. Yeah. Whereas in Murrayfield we'd been off mats for like so long. Yeah. I found that like when I went and played uh with Eagles, they they don't have mats. So it was like the first couple I was hitting, we were fat. And then I got to a certain point where I was like, right, okay, stop like relying so much on like the bounce back of a mat. Right. And I think that's where like I don't know what's going on, but maybe you find it like a comfort attack now where you can almost hit it as hard as you want. Yeah. With no actual target.

SPEAKER_05 19:34

What do you think about that? Yeah, I think that's fair. I think if that's all you're able to do, you it's good to do it. And there's a lot of good information you can get from it. There is a stroke scale though. Yeah, yeah, that is. Yeah, Duncan said that up for me the other day. Like that, I think you benefit from using that. Yeah, yeah, I do want to use that more. And I I think as Adam Young said to us, is like if you're hitting it quite well in practice, which I've hit it pretty well, like I'm not saying I'm hitting it like world-class shots, but I'm hitting it decent in those sort of practice sessions. He's like, work more on a bit more on transference.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

But if your issue is I can perform it on the range, but I suck on the course, then you need to do more randomizing the cue cards, picking different clubs, picking different targets, hit a wedge, then hit a driver, hit a seven, picking different shots, adding pressure to it. We call this contextual interference. We're adding context, we're making it more realistic, but yeah, it interferes with the performance and makes it more difficult as well.

SPEAKER_05 20:38

Like those strokes-cained games that you can play on the track man, like those sort of tests that you can do. I'm gonna start doing that more. Those guys in our pro shop are just so big on those tests these days. They're saying like that should be your practice. Just test test all the time.

SPEAKER_04 21:00

Yeah, that's what yeah, because you want to put yourself under kind of pressure such as you shouldn't be often. Because like, do you feel were you playing just against the course today, or do you feel like you were playing against the guys that we were playing with as well?

SPEAKER_05 21:18

Oh, I don't know, Chris. I was just trying desperately to get out of this slump that was just in the bunkers as well. I'd say. Yeah, it went in the bunkers a few times. Even like even it was one of those days where even when I had a good shot, it went in the bunker. I think yeah, one of those days where you just find them every bunker of the shit go. Yeah, yeah. Or it's just one of those where you just like, this is just not happening today for me.

SPEAKER_04 21:45

I love it. See, I think I go like when I'm aiming at stuff, I'll actually find myself of like seeing bunkers as like a kind of like whoa.

SPEAKER_05 22:02

Your bunker plays normally very, very good. Yeah, it is, but I just don't want to go on a b I'd brand it. Like of course I don't know, absolutely. And that's the thing. I think there's sometimes you hear all this all the pros prefer to be in bunkers, you know, which I lots of stuff. But maybe maybe Yeah. Yeah. But I don't think many players would be advised to end up in a bunker.

SPEAKER_04 22:23

I think there was a moment where it was like a fourth error from you was on the third where you should have just gotten you hit run a fair with the thing.

SPEAKER_05 22:34

Oh, that was it. Yeah, that was it. Because I I was close-ish to the edge and it was a high lip to get out of. And I just seen the full swing, and I was like, that as soon as you went, I was like, that's hitting the lip. Well, it's one of those stupid moves that you do in golf where you're getting greedy. And so I took a 54 and a par five at some point. And it was a par five as well, Chris. It was a power five. And I'm thinking to myself afterwards, like so I had the full swing hit the lip. And I go on, what like what extra yardage were you going to get from that 54? Whereas I had my 58, which got me out. Like the extra yardage I would have got potentially would have been 10 maximum yards. And what? Like, was that worth it? Was that worth leaving yourself in the bunker?

SPEAKER_04 23:17

See to m like for me there. Right. Save if I'm you, I would literally play that bunker shot like I was beside a green. Get it out and just aim out left. And then my third shot, I would just hit a low iron, knowing I'm not probably gonna hit the green. Yeah, yeah. And then my second, my chip shot. Basically, if like for you, I'd be like nothing worse than a bogey here.

SPEAKER_05 23:43

Yeah. That's so true.

SPEAKER_04 23:44

And I ended up tripping.

SPEAKER_05 23:46

Because you made it you made a unforced error and then Yeah, yeah. Because I'd hit I'd actually hit a decent drive, a decent strike with the drive. It was okay. Well it wasn't great, but it was it was fine, and then it ended up just ending up in that bunker. It rolled into the bunker in the in the fairway. But that's it. That's that's the crazy thing about golf. You just you get greedy, don't you? You just go, ooh, but maybe I could if I last touch this, I could get right down there.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

No, you're on that par five, um the power five on the back nine after the like the fifteenth or something. Yeah, the fifteenth. I've been there before in that same position and caught greedy and I've just smashed it into the bunker. Like I've smashed it into one of those bunkers.

SPEAKER_05 24:31

And yeah, yeah, your man was saying that that's a tough green. I would say if you're in one of those green tide bunkers, you're in trouble.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. So that's why I just hit the two iron up the right side of the green.

SPEAKER_05 24:50

It was so interesting, like Scott Fawcett saying that. Scott Fawcett, who's played professional golf, he's I think he played in the US Open, maybe, and he's also like he was close to qualifying for the champions tour or or some sort of Q school that he was doing recently. And he was like, if he's in a bad spot in a green side bunker with a tucked pin, he's saying to himself, just don't make double here. Just don't make double. Yeah. At that level. That's what he's telling himself.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Don't make double. If I get myself into a spot where I need a flop shot, I just need to not make double. Like I don't practice. So for me to get back to plus six, yeah, I would need to get better at flop shots. My bunker game would have to not suck. But I'm accepted, like, most important for me is keeping my driver and irons intact. That's that's better time for me than trying to get better at a shot I might have won one and a half times around.

SPEAKER_05 25:45

Which I guess it sounds very negative, though, but I sort of understand where he's coming from. Like, that's interesting being that good a player, but knowing what is potentially on the table here, what's potentially in play here. Definitely, definitely, and I think.

SPEAKER_04 26:03

Yeah. It's when you get yourself out of position, you need to go, right, what the hell am I doing here? And how do I stop a blow-up?

SPEAKER_05 26:22

Let me tell you, Chris, thank you for having my back and vouching for me and saying to our host today at Gullen, oh, he's not normally this bad. Like, let me tell you, this guy's not normally this bad at golf. Like I've seen him play some bad golf, but he's not normally this bad. Because that is so true though.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

Imagine if I went, sorry about him, but just start.

SPEAKER_05 26:43

They would have believed you. Man, if you'd say he's like, oh, how long is your mate? Yeah, uh seven months. Oh, they would have believed you if you'd said that. If you said, Oh, sorry, he's a beginner. They would have believed you. They would have said, Oh, that's fine. Yeah. They would have been like, oh mate, you're you've actually got a wee bit of potential.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

Dougly did say he was like, Your mate's like really sound. He's like, shit, go off, but no, he didn't say that. He's welcome to say that.

SPEAKER_05 27:04

That would have been a fair assessment. You didn't say that. But I think that was so funny. Who was it saying that the other day? It might have been Dr. Raymond, where so much of like people go mental if you're having a bad round, you're almost trying to protect your ego. You're trying to say, Yeah, it was actually on that Swing Thoughts podcast I listened to with Harry Glassman and Tim O'Connor. Um, where it's like you're trying to say to everybody, listen, this is unacceptable for me. This is not the way I normally play. That's why I'm getting so annoyed because it's just so ridiculous that I could possibly stoop to this low level. Whereas I've stopped. I I think I used to do a bit of that, but I don't do that anymore.

SPEAKER_04 27:46

Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_05 27:47

Yeah, I'm just trying to be like, right, I'm having a shocker, but like I'm just going to walk and try and hold my head high here and try and still be a nice playing partner for these people and and congratulate them on their good shots. At least they're having a decent time here.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Just be like a good plate. Yeah, be a decent, do you be a decent citizen? Well, there was one point where like I hit a bad shot, and I was like, oh, but that's when I blocked it so far right, and I was like, oh my god, man, and I didn't even look for my golf ball. Like I didn't even look to see where my yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:21

I think I was I saying that to you or I said it to Dougie, was you're so disgusted whenever you see a ball just go way, way, wayward, and you're worried it's going to be a big thing. I did look for it. That's when you should be looking the most at your at what where it's going. It's when you should be, and I should be saying that as much as anybody because I've lost a lot of golf balls in my life. So, you know haven't we all? You should put like, come on, you should you should keep you should be watching that like a hawk.

SPEAKER_06 28:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:48

Literally. But that's so true. You are, you're just you're turning away. Absolutely raging, aren't you?

SPEAKER_04 28:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:00

Just like, oh, I don't even know.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

And I was like, looking for, I was like, why did I do that? Why did I do that?

SPEAKER_05 29:08

No, I think for you, Chris, you should be happy enough with the day. You'd had you'd had a couple of bottles of wine with your good lady last night. You know, you went out and had a nice time in the sunshine at Gullen. Um you hit a lot of great shots. You had how many birdies? Four. Four birdies. You know, if you were really locked in, not hung over.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Yeah, I know. I did start flagging. See, like though that's what I was saying, those holes where it was like three or four holes. I mean, I started proper flagging.

SPEAKER_05 29:39

I was interested in that I yeah, towards the end, whenever I was actually heating up and starting to play some golf, last four holes you were running out of steam. You you were like starting to duff. Not duff, but chunk, you chunked a few of those weddings.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

I was just getting tired. Like my hands were like feeling really heavy, and I was like, I'm okay.

SPEAKER_05 29:56

Let's just pause there for a second. Because this is something we picked up from Carl Morris the other night. And it's one of those ideas that's so simple, but might really change how you see the game. He doesn't really like the term green reading. He prefers to call it green prediction. And the key idea is this golf course designers don't build greens randomly, they design them to shed water, to drain properly, and to stop them from getting saturated. So next time you're on a green, instead of just crouching down and guessing, ask yourself this if water landed here, where would it flow? Because the ball is going to want to follow that same path. And once you start seeing that, how the slopes feed, how everything moves away, how it gathers, you're no longer guessing the break. You're predicting it. The Carl Morris seminar the other night It didn't help me much today.

SPEAKER_04 31:07

No.

SPEAKER_05 31:08

No, it didn't.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

No, it did actually. Because you said to me Which way's the water running? And you already knew, and then what did you do? I hold the pot. Hold the pot. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So like see where I put the where I said I think the you should be aiming.

SPEAKER_05 31:25

Would you have aimed at uh that hive for the I wasn't w my initial read wasn't far away what yours was. I think I just tweaked it slightly after speaking to you.

SPEAKER_04 31:38

That's good though.

SPEAKER_05 31:39

Yeah. That wasn't too far away. But that was interesting, Carl. He didn't he didn't go into detail about that, but he was saying he has a strong view on he doesn't like using the term green reading. Yeah. Whereas he says he prefers green prediction. He prefers prefers prediction as the terminology. See that putt that I hold off of the green?

SPEAKER_04 32:04

Remember like I had Yeah, that was a craft. It was the eighth hole. That was clean. I honestly, and I never I don't feel like I have that much confidence when it comes to stuff like that. I'm probably like, oh just roll up, it's not gonna go in. But um Yeah, green prediction. Yeah, I see you standing over that putt and I was like, I could make this. I had that like that. I feel like that's what pro golfers must have where they're like, this is going in.

SPEAKER_05 32:28

Is there a better feeling in life, or well certainly is there a better feeling in golf than you know those very rare moments when you just feel like you just know you're gonna hold a pot.

SPEAKER_04 32:37

What's a cult again? It's uh when you're in that mode, they they say out like, oh, it was a cult. We talked about it with Scott Fawcett. Um You basically it's like when you're in a total like Zen mode where you're not really thinking, you're just so oh, it's a cold. Like they say Messi's seemingly in it a lot of the time when he's playing. What's that called again? Flow state. Flow state, that's it. Yeah, they say the zone. They say Messi's like constantly in like not constantly, you can't be constantly in flow state, but he's just an absolute freak and knows how to do it.

SPEAKER_05 33:15

But I felt like today on like putting after like a couple rolled in, I was like, Oh okay, yeah, uh that uh lab putter, whatever you're doing seems to be working because you were holding a lot of putts today. I actually think that you should have been around where you could have gone very low.

SPEAKER_04 33:36

Oh yeah, I hadn't gotten a pints of that.

SPEAKER_05 33:39

Definitely me. I do think that. But um what were your other big takeaways from the Carl Morris seminar the other night? It was great to meet the man. Like we'd met him once before, but we didn't really feel like we knew him then.

SPEAKER_04 33:53

I felt like he was really uh that we were very relaxed with him, which was class. Like I felt like he had like so much time for us as well, which was really nice.

SPEAKER_05 34:02

Yeah, no, absolutely. And he's a proper big lad. He's a giant. Yeah. Like I'd say I'm a big lad as well, but he made me feel small. Yeah, and I'm a tall, a tall man, and I did not feel tall in the presence of Carl Morris, but he he's he's just a very big presence, isn't he?

SPEAKER_04 34:23

Yeah, I think because in that setting as well, it was quite cool to see like him and Johnny, there's like a lot of respect for each other. Yeah. Um but I definitely think when you're talking to him, like you just want to listen because you feel like you could get a little sent like a little nugget of totally and information.

SPEAKER_05 34:46

I would strongly recommend, like we I guess, you know, not blowing our own trumpets here, but we suggested to Johnny, let's get Carl to Murrayfield to run that seminar. And you know, fair play, Johnny knows him a bit and got it organised. But I would recommend anyone that you know Carl would happily come fill your clubhouse one night. And how much does he just own the room? Yeah, Chris, like he properly he's got real aura, he's so compelling. That seminar, he he talked us through so many interesting ideas and I'm not gonna say tips. Tips feels too cheap to say what Carl talks about, but really like kind of practical uh suggestions to really help make a difference to how you approach the game of golf. But it it just that 90 minutes just flew by. Yeah. Like I was just sitting there, I was thinking I could take on way more of this. So no really interesting. One other big thing he said, and I thought I could hear some gasps in the room. There were a lot of people, it was like they'd never heard this before. Or based on a lot of the research that he's mentioned, you know, out of the big three that Adam Young talks about, that Carl really endorses those big three, the uh ball striking big three, where you you're where you strike the ball on the face, heel, toe, high, low, face angle, whether you're hitting it right, left, or center, you know, where the ball's going initially to start with. And ground strike, he was saying the research is in ground strike, low point. If you get better at that, that is the biggest factor that'll make you way better at golf. He said if you get better at like, remember he showed us that on that divot board, he had the divot board, and he was like swiping his hand to show, to demonstrate where he wants you to brush the turf, where if you're gonna take any sort of a divot, that's where you should take it. But like he's saying, like, if you start doing that after the ball, hit the ball first and brush afterwards, and you get better at that, and if you focus on nothing else, that will transform your game. And did you hear like there were people around the room, people around the room were like, wow, you know, they'd like never heard that. Like we we sort of live and breathe this sort of stuff now because we listen to these guys all the time. Yeah, but like I I just thought that was really interesting to see the reaction in the room, people like people scribbling down notes, you know, all right, okay, I've not heard that before. And like I say this, I think I've said this on our podcast a number of times, Chris. This is a relatively new concept for me.

SPEAKER_04 37:42

The ground strike, yeah, the SME as well. Like I always say I know that you should like your ground strike's a massive one, but I never knew that it was like basically you want to hit ball, then ground. Yeah. I didn't I didn't know that. And it was Johnny that told us that and basically told us about the magazine drill.

SPEAKER_05 37:59

Yes, the magazine drill, yeah. Where you like set a magazine down a little bit behind the ball.

SPEAKER_04 38:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:05

And you've got to like wing miss the magazine, but then just collect the ball. And it changes your low point. Yeah, we did that a few times with Johnny on the track. I know, Chris. I was actually felt like I was doing slightly better at that drill than you were for a little bit. But whenever we started to get it, and that's the thing, like it's it's not easy, but if you get it, like the difference in the quality of the strike, but also the sound of the strike is quite amazing. Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

I I think uh for me though, if that will if that becomes more technical, then that's when I start to make like these mistakes, these forced like on forced errors and stuff like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:48

He also then, as he said on our podcast not that long ago.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

So so when you play golf, the reality is that every round of golf that Chris plays and and and you play for the rest of your lives, every round of golf is going to contain what I call ones, twos and threes. In the sense that a one is a good shot, two is good enough, and three is poor. Now, even if you know, even if Chris goes and shoots 64 and he's best ever round, breaks the course record, I guarantee even in that 64, there'll be some threes, there'll be some poor shots in there. Yeah, those ones, twos and threes, so so good shots, good enough, and poor. I I'd ask everybody to think about your current relationship to the ones, twos and threes, which got a really big reaction from our listeners, and certainly on Instagram was that whole thing of in a round of golf, you'd be playing ones, twos and threes.

SPEAKER_05 39:46

I knew this is where you're going with this, Chris. And I mean twos and threes. Did you have to like I just I was it was it was it was just threes all the way for the first six or seven holes. Do you think you actually went three, three? Well, let's have a look at the first hole three, definitely, then another three, yeah, because it that was another sort of duff, then another one up to the right three, yeah, maybe a two, and then maybe at best a two, and then a three with the pot because a three butted. Yeah, so that was about four or five threes. Jesus You string three you string a number of threes together on a hole and you're getting bad scores, like this.

SPEAKER_04 40:27

Yeah, and in the second hole three. That's bad. Your board was three, yeah. Your second show was a three. Yeah. Your chip was a three, your pot was a three, you went too far, then you hit a three back down the hill after because that was the moment, like, see, because we play so much together, like I I almost have to rein in, so it doesn't look like we're basically telling each other off when we like it's just more disappointment with each other. Uh I knew you were so you were so you were so disappointed when they quit. I was like, you just didn't pass like five feet, mate. Why did you not just tap that? I was literally watching you and I was like, I think Dave's gonna just tap this and it's gonna roll. And it might not go in, but it'll just roll up beside the hill, um the whole tapping. And then you like smashed it, and I was like, what the hell is he just done? And then that was a what what would you call when you just pick up the ball because you're done?

SPEAKER_05 41:20

Is that a four? Like a yeah, like I sometimes call it a ding. If you just just have a ding on your card where it was just a blow-up hole where you just didn't put a score in. So you just picked it up. But they didn't. My round my first round was like my my first few holes were like ding ding ding ding ding ding.

SPEAKER_04 41:40

You won the the casino. I'd like I think the third hole though, your drive was probably like uh a one.

SPEAKER_05 41:48

It actually was, but then it ended up in the bunker. So I suppose maybe somebody somebody might say, oh well then it's not a one because you had no.

SPEAKER_04 41:54

So maybe a two, and then at that after was a three, three, yeah, and a yeah. And then a three because the weather sprayed it right. And then a three, and then you put the absolute you nearly put off the green. Is that when you said to me you were like, what's it called? Dead sheep? Yeah, dead sheep, still you still you to put. Uh yeah. I know. Oh, I knew nearly got all in one on the fourth by the way.

unknown 42:21

You did?

SPEAKER_04 42:21

Still close by I know. Mark.

SPEAKER_05 42:24

Was it Dougie or was it uh Allie was asking you, how many? How many all-in-one's do you have? Per, Chris.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

Someone in the group chat as well saying you get picky with what all ones you have.

SPEAKER_05 42:38

Yeah, so always I think, yeah, those the ones, twos, and threes. I don't care, Chris. I know yet it was a three fest for me out there today, but I'm sticking with that. I like what Carl's talking about. I'm gonna start keeping a bit of a track of that as we go into the new season. He said, do that over a few rounds and then see how many. I think it was I think it was what he was getting as is see if you can start reducing the number of threes and increasing the number of twos and ones, then you're gonna see better golf. Like there's no doubt about that. Um what was the then the last thing as well, I think, which was great, he really's validated what Scott Fawcett has been saying. Another one of our uh little shorts that we did that came out of our Scott Fawcett conversation was about never up, never in.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

Never up, never in is is is the single worst advice that's that's ever existed in golf.

SPEAKER_05 43:30

And uh Carl was saying, Oh yeah, you know, those guys who like hit a good pot 20 footer and it's lands six, six inches short, and somebody's going, Oh no, it's not short again. Whereas somebody blasts it, it goes four or five feet past, and everyone said, Oh, well, at least you gave it a chance. Carl is like, No, no, you didn't. No, you didn't. Oh, that was hilarious. Yeah. Hopefully people uh took heed of that because I think that's really solid advice.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 44:12

That was the the trip to Golan. That was the trip to Golan. Let's never speak of it again, Chris, apart from the last four holes.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:18

Level power for Dave. We'll not speak of it. Level four to level power for Dave with a nice birdie in there. I know I have indeed. Yeah, wee glow in my cheeks. I usually get a wee glow from the like of that. What I will say, Chris, after a shocker, I'm gonna quote in the words of Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel. In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade, and he carries a reminder of every glove that laid him down and cut him till he cried out. In his anger and his shame, I am leaving, I am leaving. But the fighter still remains. Hope springs eternal, Chris. Hope springs eternal. So it's what is one of those gloves a hundred? Yeah, let's hope for very few more of those. Nope. How low can you go? Are you like Chris and I, and you're thinking right now, this year could be my year? Do you want to develop skills, but then most importantly, be able to access those skills? Or maybe you're a coach and this year you want to see if you can get your players to the next level by helping them access their skills more regularly when it matters on the golf course. Why not sign up for the new Mind Factor certification course with Carl Morris? This online course is a brand new learning management system. You can study at home in your own time at your own pace, and you will gain access to all the systems Carl has used successfully over the past 30 years at every level of the game, from beginners to major champions. The course is set out in manageable chapters with a manual, video content, practical exercises, and questions to track your progress. Once you purchase the course, you will have access to the content for life and also become part of the Mind Factor community. For a limited time, if you click on the show notes and type in promo code HOLO, you will get £100 off your purchase. The course is a full curriculum dedicated to help golfers develop skills and then, more importantly, be able to access those skills on the course. As part of this certification course, you will also receive two personal one-to-one mentoring sessions with Carl Morris at the start of the course and then upon completion. You will get access to the monthly Mind Factor Zoom calls as part of your support on this journey. You will also get the opportunity to attend one-day Mind Factor Coach Days at venues across the UK in 2026 at a significantly reduced cost. Once again, type in promo code HOLO in the link below to get 100 pounds off your purchase. Let's see what's possible in 2026. Sign up for the new Mind Factor certification course with Carl Morris.