Why Golf Doesn’t Get Easier (Even When You Get Better) | Keeks | Part 2

What if getting better at golf doesn’t actually make the game easier… it just gives you a new challenge to chase?

Breaking 90 should feel like a big breakthrough… so why does it immediately become the start of the next challenge?

In Part 2 of our conversation with Keeks Golf, we dive into the mental side of golf improvement and discover that every golfer—regardless of handicap—is fighting a different version of the same battle.

Fresh from breaking 90, Keeks shares why she’s already chasing 85, opens up about feeling like an imposter at the legendary TPC Sawgrass, and explains why one of the greatest golfing experiences of her life wasn’t quite what she’d imagined.

Meanwhile, Chris reveals the unexpected pressure of chasing scratch golf and how the pursuit of lower scores can sometimes make the game less enjoyable, while Dave reflects on why improving one part of your game simply exposes the next weakness to work on.

If you’ve ever felt nervous on the first tee, wondered whether you really belonged on a dream golf course, or found yourself obsessing over your score instead of enjoying the game, this episode is for you.

In this episode, we discuss:

⛳ Why breaking scoring barriers never feels like enough

🧠 The mental battle of chasing lower scores

🏝️ Keeks’ unforgettable experience at TPC Sawgrass

🎯 The pressure of chasing scratch golf

💭 Why imposter syndrome affects more golfers than you think

📈 How every level of golfer faces a different challenge

Whether you’re trying to break 100, break 90, break 80 or chase scratch, this episode is packed with honest conversations, relatable stories and practical insights to help you enjoy the journey while continuing to improve.

📲 Follow Keeks Golf

📸 Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/keeksgolf/

📺 YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@keeksgolf

🎙️ ABOUT THE SHOW

How Low Can You Go is the golf improvement podcast following two amateur golfers on their journey to lower their handicaps and shoot their lowest ever scores.

Each week we sit down with the world’s leading golf coaches, psychologists, Tour players, performance experts and everyday golfers to uncover what actually moves the needle.

Whether you’re trying to break 100, break 90, break 80, improve your golf swing, sharpen your golf mindset, manage your golf psychology or simply enjoy the game more, every episode is packed with practical insights to help you become a better golfer.

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

📲 Follow How Low Can You Go

📸 Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/howlowcanyougopodcast/

📺 YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@HowLowCanYouGoPodcast

💌 Contact
howlowcanyougopodcast@gmail.com

⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and share it with a golfing friend. It genuinely helps us reach more golfers who are on exactly the same journey.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

It's almost like instead of enjoying golf, I'm labeling golf as this kind of like mission for myself now.

SPEAKER_04 0:13

Welcome back once again to Hollow Can You Go. Last episode Kicked broke one of golf's biggest psychological barriers. She finally broke 90. But here's the fascinating thing. Within days, she wasn't thinking about breaking 90 anymore. She was already chasing breaking 85. And that, my friends, is golf, isn't it? Everybody thinks the game gets easier when you get better. It doesn't. You simply swap one challenge for another. Break 100, you want to break 90, break 90, then you're suddenly after breaking 85, break 80, and who knows, maybe you'll start dreaming about scratch. So in this episode, something really struck us. Despite chasing completely different numbers at different levels, we are all fighting exactly the same battle. Kik is trying to prove to herself she belongs. I'm trying to break 80. Chris is chasing Scratch, but wondering whether that pursuit is actually making him enjoy golf less. So today isn't just about lowering scores, it's about what happens when the next target becomes the only thing you can see. And whether golf is really all about the destination or learning to enjoy the journey. I get it. Bit of a cliche, but stick with me on this. This is part two with cakes. This is how low can you go?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

How low can you go? Yeah, yeah. And I think that's a brilliant kind of segue to obviously you've just broken that barrier of 90. Do you have a new challenge for yourself?

SPEAKER_04 2:10

Yeah. Let's maybe rephrase that. How low can you go? Cakes in 2026.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Do you know? Okay, but my first medal, I broke 90 on the Thursday on the Friday. Uh well, that was like two or three days ago. I've got a medal tomorrow. I want to see how I will officially broke a 90 if I can break 90 in a medal.

unknown 2:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

So if I can break 90 in a medal, then how can I go on? My goal, I would I would love to break 85 in a medal before the summer finishes.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

Okay. I like that. Pretty realistic. Come on, you just shot 87 last week. So like we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

It's like two strokes. It's like two that's like two missed we putts. It's crazy, like how each stroke in golf counts.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

I think it's the barriers, like the barriers are always kind of there mentally. And I think like obviously, Dave, you've hit 80 so many times, and it's just one stroke, so it's like it is real, like you will they will get to break 80, we all get there. I think like say for yourself as well, it's just feeling consistently in the 80s, whether that be 89, whether that be 86, it's like sometimes like you don't want to shoot way, like I think you could personally. Like, I'm not trying to put a a ceiling on you. I think you could definitely break 80, but um, there's no pressure with that. But I think for me, mine was just when I broke 80 when I was younger, it was like just consistently shoot in the 70s and be comfortable there, and then it was like uh I want to start shooting under par, and I don't shoot under par all the time. Like I wish I would, I'd be a scratch golfer. It's been a while. Yeah, it's been a while, Dave. Um so like I'm trying to get to like do I mean consistently be there or thereabouts, and right now I'm sitting at this like three or two over or one over or level, and I'm just and it's only a few shots, but golf is so hard that those few shots like obviously Dave and I are like we have so many shots to play with.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

So when it comes to someone like you, Chris, who does have such a obviously like a solid swing and you're a good golfer. What would what would is it short game or is it your swing or is it mental?

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Mine is mental. Mine is I've got the I do have the ability, but the mental side of it is like I hit like a good I hit far enough drive. My iron play, I can press it really well, in my opinion. Um and Dave, hopefully you can learn from this. My putting great driver of the ball, great T to green. Really good T to green. Putting like I'm solid, I've got a lab putter now, so like I'm not saying that fixes everything, but it takes out some of the kind of like parts of it that could mess me up, but it's my mental game. Like I said, I get distracted when someone's walking by with their dog. Really?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

That's crazy. Because I don't get distracted. I'm so like tunnel vision on the ball, like there could be a stuff happening over in the corner and I wouldn't like I know.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

I'm literally like living vicariously for you because you don't have that pre- you don't feel pressure when you go off. I feel pressure all the time. I was speaking to Dave about this. I'm feeling pressure all the time with the curse of the content creator. I'll be standing over a ball and going, This should be an eight-iron. Why have you got a nine iron in your hand? And I'd be like, Oh, I'll just hit a nine iron harder. And then it goes short. And I'm like, you spoke to yourself and told yourself this should have been an eight iron, and it's those little so it's like I only get two shots to mess around with. So it's like it's like once or twice or three times in a round, all it takes is one lapse of concentration, or like I said, I hit the putt too hard and it would have been an easy par, and I've made a bogey, and then I start chasing it going, Well, you made a bogey now, you're like say three over, you're you're trying to go for a scratch handicap, or you need to try and chase a birdie somewhere, and then you start pressing the game too much, and then all of a sudden that's where more mistakes happen because I'm in a threat response rather than a pursuit response, if that makes sense. Like so a lot of the people we talk to they say when you get into that threat response, it's almost a little bit too late because you you're not in that kind of moment of like it's okay, like yeah, I had a few bad holes, like PARs might come, they might not, but just play some like solid golf and get the hands dirty. Um, but that's where my like my golf is that I'm trying to get to scratch, and it's just the minor, I'm at the like the minor details of golf now. But I think once I can lock them in, then I should be. We'll all get to our targets, like we all have our own little targets, and they vary for many people. Mine is more mental, like kind of thing. And then you've obviously said you just need to go out and get your short game dialed in. Dave, what would you say yours is more like you said you're driving? Yeah, I say that a lot.

SPEAKER_04 7:16

You know, I think it's uh again, it sounds really obvious. My ball striking needs to get better, and I've worked a lot on it. I used to be quite wild off the T, uh, could hit really good drives, but then would get into a lot of trouble with the driver. And you know, I've worked a lot over the winter on the driver, and I think as we discussed on our last episode, Chris, you feel like it's working. It is working, it's good. Yes, uh, and yeah, and then but it's funny, once you improve one aspect of your game, like for me, I do think I've taken my driver up a level. Um, but then you suddenly notice, oh, hold on a second, this part of my game isn't very good. You know, like I'm suddenly in these really good positions to like hit a green with a wedge, and I'm missing the green with the wedge. And like previously I wouldn't have got that many opportunities because my driving was a bit all over the place, and so yeah, it does, it just it suddenly golf. I was speaking to the head, not the head pro, actually Ali, one of the pros in the pro shop the other day at Murray, and he says golf's like whack a mole that game at the amusement park where these moles keep on popping up, where once you've whacked one down, then another one pops up that you need to whack down again, so yeah, develop your driving, and then suddenly you realize your iron play isn't that good or your button's not that good or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

You should definitely try and get a game at like either Murrayfield or in Glasgow. Um that would be that'd be fun.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Yeah, I'd be like that actually. Yeah. Have you played Glasgow before? Have we not? They've got Killerman and then they've got Glasgow Gales, so they've got a Lynx course and a Parkland course.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

I've heard Glasgow Gales um supposed to be a class course.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Yeah, I think they hosted the men's Scottish Open Qualifier. I know as a championship course, I think.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Yeah. And are you are you heading up to Nairn anytime soon again?

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Um God, how long is that? That's like a four-hour trip? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

It's like three hours twenty from Chris has a down. I I go up there all the time. I know Yeah. Just as as a did you enjoy the course?

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Nair's a nice course.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Yeah, it's really good. I'm a country member there and I absolutely love it. It's just so good. So good. So if you ever want a game up there, you could always there's a bit of a trek as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah, I was with Land of Raid. We actually we played quite a lot of courses. We played a few other ones, I can't remember the name of them. Then then we played World Ornoch and Nairn. Um the weather was good. The only place the only thing that twists me off up n up north is how cold it is.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Did you play when did you play in the winter?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

No, we played last sum in this last summer and it was fine.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Alright, okay. Where's the best course you've ever played?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

People always ask me this and I get frustrated because the best course I've ever played, I'm gonna say TPC taught because it's TPC Tograss.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

I I I I topped like I said, that's why I'm so unbothered about embarrassing myself. I topped off the first T. Like I whiffed the ball. So we've done, we've all I've just so bad at golf, so it kind of ruined the experience. That's that sounds kind of because anyone's like, oh my god, I'd love it, even if our whoever had to have a lot. But it's it's not until I feel some people maybe play golf as like a hobby and it's ooh, fun, they don't care how they play. Whereas I almost have myself working at golf, so like I feel my like yeah, like do you know what I mean? I figured like I'm sure you guys must do that as well. So I played so bad that day that I almost just didn't enjoy it, and I was embarrassed to be there because I'm like, Remember, you've been given I think um for a Peter Sogras, and you're a rubbish player. And I think maybe that's just not driving me to be a better player. So I'm not so when I'm given these amazing opportunities, I've like, I've earned that, I've worked for it, I'm a good golfer, and I don't need people saying, You don't need my wife has played college golf and she doesn't she's not even a really I get so many comments like that. So it's almost maybe now I'm trying to prove to people that I'm like, you know what, I'm good golfer now. I I've earned the right or that obviously I shouldn't think like that. No, you should.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

You should definitely back yourself because like if you don't feel like that, then you'll always have those see the moments where you're like, Oh, I'm not I'm not a good golfer. Then you you won't ever be able to hang your hat on when you the time where you said I am a good golfer, I know that I'm a good golfer.

SPEAKER_04 11:54

Like TPC sawgrass, like, come on, you know, you it's hard for the pros are are not are not the first to be embarrassed by TPC sawgrass, and you won't be the last. I think just a quick one. You may have noticed the audio got a little bit patchy over the last minute or so, thanks to some technical issues. So we decided to leave the conversation in because what Keeks was talking about really struck a chord with us, something that we feel like a lot of golfers can relate to. She just told us that TPC Sawgrass was probably the best course she'd ever played, but instead of simply enjoying the experience, she admitted she almost felt like she didn't deserve to be there. And I guess whether it's playing a dream course or teeing it up with better golfers or stepping into an environment where we wonder if we really belong is something I think we've all been through. So with that in mind, we couldn't resist asking the obvious question how did Keks get on at one of the most famous holes in golf, the iconic Island Green 17th at TPC sawgrass.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Did you film it?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Uh I think I did actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

How far is it when you're actually there? Is it way longer than what people think?

SPEAKER_00 13:18

I for me it was I think it was my nine iron where the women were way far forward. I think I can't remember. My caddy and I picked the club. We were there in January for the PGA show. It was so cold. It was like the caddies were bad clavas. It was uncredibly cold. So I think and it was wind, it's like a microcloud, it was so windy. So then like it was actually a good strike, but like the wind caught it.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

I always think, see, when you play these, like I remember playing the I'm sure you've probably played the old course because you were in St. Andrews. You I remember the first time that I played the old course off the first T, I sliced it out of bounds. I was just like so scared of the T because there's obviously a gallery that's always behind you when you play the old course. And I stood up and I was just like, and I just threw and I I remember like closing my eyes as I hit the shot because I was just so like, where's this gonna go? And I just looked up and was like, oh no.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

And you're gonna be sick, you're gonna be sick of hearing me say this, Chris, and I say this a lot, but Keeks, one of the things I think that is that has helped me a lot as a golfer and getting better is A, playing with a good player like Chris, but B, seeing Chris hit really bad shots. Because I was like, it shattered the illusion. I was like, oh, I didn't realize guys who are knocking on the door of scratch golf could hit shots that bad. He doesn't do it very often, but I've seen it like that charity thing that we did in front of my a lot of my mates, Chris, and they were like, you know, they'd been listening to the podcast, they've been watching you online, and they were standing there in the first team. Chris completely topped it into a bush.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Oh, I mean that feels so good to hear, bro. So sorry.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

David's like, guess we'll take my drive then, and that'll be fine.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

Kick him out and I was done. Oh, brilliant stuff, Keeks, and yeah, let's definitely get that organized. Uh if you'd be up for it, I think we should play maybe in Glasgow or you could certainly come through and play in Edinburgh or even we could try and get up to Nairn again. Um, but we definitely want to put in some general play scorecards on that day if we do that. Like you do seem like a bit of a purist though, isn't it? Because Chris, like I haven't been playing regular golf for that long, as long as you certainly have, Chris. But it feels like Cakes' approach is quite old school in that it used, am I right in saying it used to be that you could only shift your handicap whenever you played in metal metals? It wasn't like you had general play back then.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Yeah, I think it's more competitions and stuff like that. Well, as a junior growing up, that's the only way that we we'd play on like a Friday and a Saturday, and that's how you moved your handicap, but that's when it was at the point where if you had a bad round, it would only go up 0.1, and then if you had a better round, it could come down. Does that make sense? But now it's the general play score. There's a lot of people at the club that would rather you put in like just medals kind of thing. Yeah, I think most people feel like that's the way it should be kind of thing. Yeah. I think like as like Dave and I have said, because we play like I work shift work, and then like you tend to be it's after you've finished work. It's like in the in the evening when you can't really play any competitions, and then on a Saturday I'm working or like I've made plans.

SPEAKER_04 16:41

Um so it's cakes is a 20 handicap who pretty much plays golf for a living, which is very jealous. Just incredible. Uh yeah, so let's make that happen. Cakes, we'll we'll do a general play scoring golf day. Can Cakes break 85? Can Dave break 80? Can Chris break 70 on the day? Yeah, I'm just gonna throw that down. Let's go, let's do that.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Yeah, yeah. I've broken my 70 before, but I'll definitely go under par. We'll try and do that.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Who can do it closest to the goal they do?

SPEAKER_04 17:19

That sounds good to me. It's happening, it's happening. Yeah, we'll get that organized. Stay tuned, everyone. Um, well, thank you so much, Keeks. It's an absolute pleasure to have you on here. As Chris mentioned, we would love to check back in with you later on in the season. We'll definitely get that game organized, but definitely let's keep in touch and let us know how you're getting on. We have every faith, every confidence that the way you keep on putting yourself into more challenging situations in golf, getting your hands dirty, uh, the better a player you're gonna be, and I think you're gonna smash through your next target, no doubt about that. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

No, it was a good chat. I learned a lot.

SPEAKER_04 18:03

Pleased to hear it. Yeah. Hopefully, hopefully, Chris and I can can reach our goals.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

I know soon. That's the that's the thing about it. There's so I I'm finding like so much pressure on this. I am like, and I've said I messaged Dave the other day because when we were playing Dornich, the last time I played it, I shot two over, and it was one of these where it's because it's a harder the score differential is like so much higher, it was like I got like a one a 0.8 or something like that on my thing, and it brought me down like a lot. But I'd said to Dave, I was going up on the train, and I I was like, I don't I want to just go and enjoy the match, right? So I was like, I don't want to put a card on it, but I found the whole way around I was like just watching my score, yeah. And I just didn't enjoy it, like Dornich, like one of the greatest clubs in the world, and I just didn't enjoy the game because I was just so locked in on my score. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

So how do you mean on your scores? That means like so.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

If you were to go on the seventh, like what you on, I'd be like one over.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

And then be like Chris sort of knows his score all at all times. Whereas I'm like, I've got a vague idea, but but yeah you know how it is, Keeks. You kind of know if you've had a good day, you sort of know that you're close to something pretty good, but I don't know the exact number in my mind anyway.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

But mine like sits like this little thing, this little bubble above my head, like in the back of my head, of like, okay, I'm three over, okay. A power five's coming up. Okay, which we've talked to like these professionals about, they say you shouldn't be trying being like, I should get a boutie here. But I'm like, this is a short power five, I should be getting a boutie, and then say I hit it like too far right, put myself out of position, and then at worst I make a bogey, then I'm spiralling for the rest of the round. Because then I'm like, I know what my score is, I should have shot better, and then I come off the 18th, and I've it's almost like instead of enjoying golf, I've let I'm labelling like golf as like this kind of like mission for myself now. It's like becoming it feels like this just the cloud is floating away from me, but then it comes back and then it floats away of like scratch handicapper. But we'll get there. We'll get there. But yeah, no, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 20:23

Yeah, thanks a million, Keeks. Yeah, absolute pleasure. Really looking forward to making the game happen, and yeah, we look forward to hearing more scoring barriers broken through very soon. Thank you very much once again. Kicked Kicked Golf. Will she break 85 in a medal before the end of this summer? Can Chris finally get to scratch? And can I break 80 people? I feel like it is getting close. I feel like I might do it in 2026. Let's hope. Let's hope. Anyway, different numbers, team, obsession, and that's gulf, and that's the beauty of it. So thank you very much everyone once again for listening. And we'll see you next time on Hilo Can You Go.