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The Performance Room
Fixes that Fail
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Fixes That Fail
Why do some changes in golf work brilliantly at first… only for the same problem to return later?
In this episode of The Performance Room, Terry Rowles and Stuart Morgan explore Fixes That Fail — a systems-thinking archetype that helps explain why well-intentioned interventions can produce short-term improvement while creating longer-term problems.
Golfers rarely operate in isolation. Technique, tendencies, perception, confidence, practice, decision-making and the environment all interact. Change one part of the system and you may unintentionally change something else.
Terry explores this from a technical and movement perspective: rather than continually layering fixes onto a player, can we better understand the golfer’s individual constraints and natural tendencies?
Stuart takes the idea into performance and systems thinking: when the same problems keep returning, are we repeatedly intervening at the symptom rather than addressing a deeper leverage point?
They discuss:
- Why short-term improvement doesn't necessarily mean you've solved the problem.
- How technical fixes can create unintended consequences elsewhere.
- Why understanding a player's tendencies matters more than chasing an ideal model.
- How ball position, grip, setup, timing and coordination interact rather than operate independently.
- The role of availability bias and halo bias in the changes players and coaches choose.
- Why experimentation can reveal more than continually adding technical information.
- How systems thinking can help players and coaches identify where change might have the greatest lasting impact.
Perhaps the most important question isn't:
“What do I need to fix?”
It might be:
“Why does this problem keep coming back?”
Because sometimes the solution isn't another fix.
It's understanding the system that keeps producing the problem.
Go deeper
Stuart explores the research, systems thinking and skill-acquisition ideas behind these conversations in The Develop Train Perform System on Substack.
Read more: https://substack.com/@stuartmorgancoach
Instagram: @stuartmorgangolf @Iceberggolf @terryrowles
Email: stuart@iceberg-golf.com
Welcome to the performance room. With myself, Stuart Morgan and Terry Rowls. In this podcast where performance thinking evolves, every episode we explore the deeper principles behind excellence, challenge-dimensional thinking, and translate research and experience into practical ideas that you can apply to your own performance. Whether you're an athlete, a coach, I seem to be fascinated by how you can perform at the best, we're glad you're here. Let's get on to today's conversation. So here we are, episode two, um fixes that fail. And this is kind of from um systems thinking. It's it's called a systems archetype in in that way of looking at things. And I think it's quite a poignant part of what we see in kind of golf today, and it'll kind of mean different things to different people, but fundamentally it is um it's a behavioral loop that kind of happens where a player might play play poorly, um, they make some kind of like technical change, gives them some short-term improvement, that can then also run into some deeper issues, like or the deeper issues remain. I think that's that kind of what happens. They then have poor performance again, and then they go back to that same loop. So that's really what what happens within the archetype. So, you know, we've had a little discussion kind of briefly, like off the record in here. And what what what does it kind of mean to you? Like what or what would it kind of jump out to you, like the term fixes that fail um in the golf world?
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's uh well, Stuart, you're so provocative. What a title. You're just like uh clickbait guy. I know, right? Um, well, I mean, there's many uh many things. I think uh uh you know, you're you're you're looking at a situation where sort of you know, when I when I coach myself, I always sort of challenge myself to say, well, how did I make that decision? Was it based on you know some ask you know, some sense that I know what's gonna happen in the future? Or am I guessing? Like this is probably the sort of continuum. And then, you know, there's a question of the biggest question about all of this is time, like how long will it actually take? You know, probably if it works immediately, whatever change, uh, then you know, there's no it could argue that maybe it's a good thing, but is it gonna work next week? Is it gonna work, you know? So it's it's not always the wrong thing, right? So um, but it it potentially is the wrong thing for your immediate need or you know, for the tournament this week or next week, or whatever. So time is a big thing. But how do you make a decision is a big deal, which comes back to um, you know, if we if we look at golfers, I mean there's all sorts of technology you can measure using motion capture, you know, uh launch monitors, force plates. And so clearly there's differences in the way people move and the way they solve the golf puzzle. Um, even within the same person, there's differences in the way that they move on the golf course versus on the driving range. So you may not even see the same person as the as on the golf course, you know, and and um you know, I know for myself, I mean, you it's not you know, people say it, right? It's like, oh, this is a layup, it's a driving range swing, which is like, oh, it's so easy. You can just you know do a driving range swing, but most of the time you've got some kind of sloping line, you know, that sort of thing. So so anyway, so um, you know, it is always a joke that you know we're all multiple personalities, and we're all multiple personalities of golfer, multiple swings, multiple situations. So, so the question is always, you know, what's the underlying cause and effect? You know, what's the what's the the difference that makes a difference? And you know, are we just you know putting lipstick on a pig or are we making a fundamental change? And then the question of if we're making a fundamental change, is it make life a lot easier? You know, then comes back to time again, which is so I'm here in uh Pinehurst right now at the US Kids, and you know, ultimately when you look at these juniors, you you've got to say, you know, you're trying to have them play well, but at the same time, you know, in the immediate term they should play well as the world championships. But in the in the real big picture, uh, you know, you're looking at a 15-year cycle of until when they play the best, right? I mean, there's some very notable players that have played here in the US kids and not won it, but they're they're championing golfers like Morakawa's a really notable one. Um so, you know, so then you've got uh, you know, a question of time in terms of you know, you know, are we developing or are we reinstating something that they can already do but they lost track of? Right. So that's kind of a waffling way of saying it depends. But you know, there's there's there's there's decisions that need to be made in terms of the direction you go before you start teaching, right? I mean, we're developing for the next 10 years. Are we taking somebody that's struggled for a year and but they're a world beater? Uh, you know, so you as a as a golfer going for a golf lesson, for example, you know, you have to sort of think about do I want to get back to where I was, which is kind of tricky because we're different a year later.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but you know, there's some general principles that you can you can measure using you know these devices that uh you know gives you some sense of best practice. Um, or are we developing for the future, in which case fine too, but you know, do you want to play well next week? You know, and develop for the future? Is there all these sort of things that we have to make decisions on before you start teaching? And then once you start teaching, you know, are you doing the minimum to get the maximum? You know, are you making decisions that really uh you know help that person? And then in your case, you know, our case generally is uh you know, are we then implementing it in a way in which they can get better? So that's a long waffly version, sorry.
SPEAKER_00No, but it's right. I mean, if we and and again, what what a good way of kind of thinking of that is that um like if you if you tag on from fixes that fail and you look at somebody like Donnella Meadows, her leverage points within that system, you could class that as like rules of the system, right? So you have a player or you have a whatnot, and you're kind of within that, you have those rules based on the player's development. But what I think what that does, that introduces a slightly different kind of mindset or you know, or goal to the system as well, because that like what you're talking about, is it is a player just looking for immediate performance, or are they looking at more of a kind of a longitudinal kind of development? And I think that's the that's the thing. But I but for me, like I see great players more of a case of kind of monitoring what they do, they kind of they understand their system you know pretty well, um, on on the most part, and you know then you have some who are kind of like in this vicious cycle where they just go around and round in the map in the hamster wheel, going from go change coaches all the time, right? So they go to a coach, get a slightly bump in performance, then the same thing happens. So it's it's a you know, there's all these kind of principles within that fixes that fail and within the often world. So I do believe that it's um you know, we look at it, technique is exceptionally important. It's just that I think in some cases it becomes the default, and there are other things that you can look at, but to not make it the default, I think you have to have certain principles within your technique, like what you guys do with regards to um you know looking at what the player can do, not what they can't do, for example, and help them with that to help them hit better golf shots, so when they don't perform how they want to, they have some principles that they can actually go back to rather than get in this vicious cycle again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think there's two uh two directions to comment on. There is one is um, you know, there was this uh uh Nobel Prize winning economist called Herbert Simon, and he had a phrase which I absolutely love for um for golf. And especially you'll see it at the highest level, in my opinion. Um I mean, let's take Rory McElroy, for example. You know, he's won the Masters this year, but I would say he's probably not like massively satisfied with how he hit it or how he played generally, like wouldn't say he'd highlight it as one of his best you know, ball striking years, but he's had great results. You know, he won the masters, you know. So you can't say it's a bad year. So it's so it's sort of a satisfacing year in terms of was it perfect? No. Was it did it achieve goals? Yes. You know, and so this concept of satisfacing, which is satisfactory and sufficient, sort of blended together, in economic theory showed that um if you you know there's a point where it's like it's kind of like an 80-20 principle, it's good enough, and additional effort will actually decrease the return. Yeah, right. And so that is very difficult for um, you know, people that are not quite responsible enough for their game, right? So if I see um, you know, some of the top players practicing, you know, satisfying is like, you know what? What's happening today, you know, I mean, or this week or this month. I can't afford to make any big changes. What is happening consistently? And so that could be something along the lines of, okay, let me hit some balls and see what the pattern is. Oh, it's a poll. Okay. Seems like we're aiming right this week, you know, or whatever it is. Uh, you know, but ultimately the the the sense that you know what most people come for a lesson with is they want to have consistency. They have consistency. Yeah. But because it's pulling relative to their A game, you know, maybe they lose a little bit of height and it costs them the opportunity to maybe go at some pins, or you know, occasionally they'll miss the green, or whatever it is. But there's predictable, right? So there's that really it's like it's like playing uh, you know, uh poker, right? It's like which one to go in all in on and which one do I stay at the table on? And and ultimately for somebody that's result-oriented at golf, uh, and clearly there's different people, uh, if you're in the business of keeping a tour card or uh you know winning a trophy and things like this, you have to be in the game. And there's a famous saying that Jack Nicholas used to say, right? It just has to be there on a Sunday.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you can fluff it around. Um, you know, I played a thing the other day and I was having been hitting it great, haven't played a lot. But I made a whole bunch of putts on the front nine, and suddenly I was like, you know, hit it great on the back. Because yeah, for whatever reason, you know, it uh uh I wasn't worried about the score or whatever it was. So, you know, so so you never know when that thing's gonna come. But if you're chasing your swing and you lose your place in the game, you're trying to be perfect, it's not satisfacing. Like, can I get some kind of score and stay in the game until my game appears? That's a very professional way to go about it. You know, these these guys turn up at the Ryder Cup or at a major, they haven't got a choice, right? They've got to do their best, you know, that week. And that, and that that ultimately is a question of what can I do predictably?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, how do I stay in the game? How do I not lose my ball? So that's one sort of perspective, right? The other is, you know, clearly you you can make changes. And, you know, I I work at a club and uh I I feel like not everybody is quite as responsible for the total score as much as they like to hit some long drives or they feel great when they flush it. You know, people don't always have the same goal, right? Um, I mean they'll still complain about their score, but ultimately they can have a good score and complain about their contact or whatever it is. Yeah, I scored well, but you know, it didn't feel good. And those guys, you know, like you said, we can go down a what we call, you know, you could call constraints led, right? So what can you do? You know, so Mike Adams and I have um worked together for a long time working out how to give somebody the uh, you know, kind of the easiest way to swing. And it's funny when I say that, I I know there's somebody out there thinking, well, you know, I don't want the easy way, I want the right way, you know. Uh and when I say easy, it's like, you know, one of the first questions I ask people if I implement a change is does that feel easy? Right? It doesn't mean you're gonna be immediately consistent, but it needs to make some sense, right? Oh, you know, I don't feel as stuck or feels like I don't have to work to square the face. And then you work to, you know, implement it in terms of how am I going to become uh you know confident in that, what effect does it have on my ball flight and this sort of thing. So so anyway, so yeah, so we we could go that way and um you know assess people and work out what what comes easier. We'll we'll come on to it later. Like I'll I'll talk about how I uh you know go about kind of assessing what's the the easiest way, but you know, in terms of fixes that fail, um, if you're choosing something that doesn't match somebody, I mean we know if we look at um uh uh I don't know, if you look at the way that people sprint, for example, you remember Michael Johnson had those sort of short strides, and everyone's like, oh, there's no way you can do that. And then he went out and broke the world record for the 200 and the 400. Um, or you know, baseball is a really good one, right? Because you have some people that throw really high and some very low. And we know that the the way that the shoulder works and the way that the pelvis works, the joints are all different, they come out at different angles. All great stuff to explain, but nobody wants to hear it. They go, Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all great. I want to swing like Rory.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh, you know, so we're I don't see him doing that, or I don't see her doing that, or why do I need to do that?
SPEAKER_02Right. So so ultimately what we do is we try and um work out what movements, uh, you know, what dynamic movements come more naturally to them, um, which ultimately, you know, when you look at your your research, that familiarity of movement, like that you know, they throw very low. I'm not saying because you throw low, you should be low and golf, but but there's definitely some patterns that you know potentially cross over. And if you're doing something completely unfamiliar, your you know, your ability to save your shots under pressure, or you know, when you're not having an A game, you have a B game or a C game day, you probably have a very bad B and C game, for example. You know, the A is great on the range or you know, good when you had a good night's sleep and you and you didn't upset your wife, you know, on the way to the course, or you know, something like this. Um so yeah, so so for us, uh, you know, ultimately for me, I I I don't know if it's true, you're much more of an expert, but I always say if we're able to do things like that, you know, much closer to your natural constraints, then you ultimately have a higher level of hand-eye coordination and coordination, and and so it sort of crosses into more areas and gives you a better off day, and uh and and the level of effort is a lot lower. So that that would be the opposite of a fix that fails. There's oh my god, this is like you know, you have to pay attention to one joint, you have to stiffen it up, oh my god, I have to work on this for a few months, and then you you know you ultimately lose some of the things that were actually the the hidden glue that put it together potentially.
SPEAKER_00And that's and that's also where you know what you kind of what's interesting because there always seems to be these sort of trends that kind of go like rate of closure was probably one of the big ones that that you know, and when you've spoken to Sasha and whatnot, some people have a high rate of closure because it's a it's it's for power for them, you know, it's like an energy for or source for them, right? So, but then there needs to be certain things that allow them to do that. Just because there's a high rate of closure doesn't mean their timing is off. So if if somebody has that or doesn't have that, it doesn't mean if we're trying to fit somebody into low rates of closure but at but needs a high rate of closure, all of a sudden you're fixing that fails, right? Because it's just you just you can keep you know going at it, but it's not gonna get the results that you kind of want. And that and that's a that's a big challenge.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think um I uh I did a presentation recently in uh one of the states here, like a section PGA, and it was um uh actually I'm gonna do it in uh in October. You you asked about it. It was um uh you know the future of AI and golf, right? And so I sort of did a uh I had to think about it because you know clearly there's a lot of guys that have taught for a long time in the audience and have built their own experience base and absolutely can you know make people better uh in their own way, maybe they can't explain it, which is probably a good thing. You know, intuitively they have a sort of set of tools that they developed over the years. And ultimately we don't have to compare our tools on Instagram or what have you, right? So they could do a good job. But if I said, you know, technology has its place, uh you know, potentially the immediate reaction is that no, it doesn't, you know, I can teach great, I don't need technology, it's probably true at that, you know, that stage. Um, but ultimately, if you say to someone who has used technology for a period of time, learn from their mistakes, would you give it back? Right? Because ultimately technology can see something that the eyes can't see. Probably they wouldn't want to give it back. I don't see too many people having technology, you know, for a few years and giving it back because you know, for me, it feels like it's uh a good assistant, you know, that can help me make more certain decisions. Um, but ultimately I had to think about it because you could go both ways, right? There's people that love technology, there's people that hate it. And so what I did is like a SWOT analysis of humans, SWOT analysis of uh technology, strengths of technology, what's clearly very consistent. Uh, you know, it does the same thing all the time, gives us data, not opinions, if we look at it correctly. Where humans, I have to say, well, what is our strengths? What's the weakness? Well, you know, ultimately you could say the best thing in the world and the person's not going to believe you, right? Um, you know, so our ability to, you know, have EQ, you know, we can communicate, we can dose the information according to how we, you know, sort of feel that person is. You know, there's lots of coaching skills. Um, but we also have weaknesses, right? So bias. Yeah. You know, to your point, uh, you know, some of the bias would be, you know, like availability bias, for example. So, for example, you know, I just saw a thing on Instagram this morning as I looked. Uh, you know, this week Jackson Coivan won and he's pretty flat-footed impact. So now clearly we're gonna have you know 100 Instagram posts saying that the longer you keep your right foot on the ground, the better golf you are, you know, where if Justin Thomas had won, it's like you've got to get off your right foot or something like this. Or, you know, Dustin Johnson was the famous one, right? So Rahm and Johnson had a good phase where they were very flat left-wristed, and everybody has to be flat left-wristed. Where you you've got Rory who's playing like this in his prime, you know. And um, you know, so so that's uh, you know, you see it enough times, it's really hard to eliminate it. And that I see that when I give lessons, even at the very highest level, um, you know, for a phase, like you said, there's a there's a there's a a theme of the week or the month or what have you. Everyone will ask uh, you know, about the same thing. They say, Oh, I've come up with this thing, you know, and they think they're the only one, right? It's amazing. I have this theory, you know, and uh I feel like you know, I need to keep my right foot down longer. And there's like, you know, 10 people in a week that you hear say it, like, oh, I uh I just want to try it out. Can you check it out for me? You know, it's like so that's sort of an availability bias thing. Uh and then you have um there's another one I I put a picture of Butch Harmon and uh George Gankus up with some halo, right? So uh that's called a uh they call it halo bias. That you know, the most famous, the most charismatic um are clearly uh always right. So, so so people receive information thinking, you know, we're all like completely rational, and we receive uh, you know, only the good stuff, and we can process it and make complete sense of it with absolutely no uh you know fashion or or theme theme biases. And but unfortunately, we do. So um so that's a long story. But basically, we uh we need to check ourselves and make sure that, you know, like like I said, I would say the players that are really good over a long period of time, and I think of like a Tommy Fleetwood here who blows my mind at how rational and professional he is at you know, preparing for a tournament, for example. You know, it's it's it's a quase a question of like if I do this, it does that, if I do this, it does that. And then organizing the pieces that there's a sense of absolute repetitiveness to it. I mean, clearly if Tommy stood up there and stepped back and threw himself at it, he'd probably gain a few miles an hour. But his predictability and the nature of his game would probably change, right? Because his game is just Very predictable, very consistent. He has a very high flaw. Um, and and uh you know to me that's through his um professionalism and really understanding like what what makes you a professional golfer.
SPEAKER_00And what you're saying there as well, that you know, these you know, flavor of the week or or whatever happens like with you know these idiosyncrasies that you see and and and whatnot. You know, I think that so the interesting part for me when we look when you look into the system stuff is that from a leverage point of the biggest thing that would influence, and it sounds like I'd say Tommy is very tuned into this from what you've said, it's called the power to transcend. And what this means is the recognition that any model of performance is just a model, and it and and the players rema remain remain open um to fundamentally different ways of understanding how they perform and how other athletes perform. So they're not they don't get drawn into these these models or these fixes or these they they work out that it's just something, and sometimes they're very good at filtering, they're very good at like going, I know that's just not for me because I understand what I'm doing the best, you know. That's and they also have which I think we we're losing, especially within with some of the the AI and whatnot, and what you're saying about those those behaviors and those um those biases players are because of the so much information around, and they're looking at these kind of these so-called fix of the week or whatever it might be, they are they're losing the ability to actually think and go, is this actually right for me, or is it just information that's coming into me? Because they're just jumping on it like so much, rather than actually being a bit like you said, more rational about it, which is sometimes a hard thing to do, but be much more kind of locked in to go, yeah, that that's not for me, and I know this because of X, Y, and Z.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think some sense, you know. I always ask uh if I give a uh uh you know piece of advice, or I'm always asking, well, it depends on the context of what they present, but if they want to feel something they had before or whatever, you know, but ultimately I always ask, is it does it feel easier? Right. So, you know, can you coordinate it better? That doesn't mean it's you they're used to it yet. It doesn't mean it's the best shot in the world, but does it feel better? Like the first the first thing I think anybody who's implementing something into their game has to feel, does it feel better? If it feels like an additional layer of complexity and they're gonna have to manage it. And oh, don't worry, I'll go away and practice it for a week. Um the ultimate worst one is I'm not gonna play this week, I'm just gonna go to the range and work on it. That's already like Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't do that, don't stop playing. Um, but ultimately, uh, you know, so some sense that it, you know, it doesn't mean it feels familiar in some ways, like it could be a new thing, whatever. But is there a sense that an overall athletic movement it feels more coherent or something like this? I think that's a really, really important thing. And I, you know, I think as coaches, you and I, we could see a player, you know, like a kid I'm here with, I saw him hit a driver from a hundred yards away. I'm like, wow, what a great swing, you know. And I feel like we we you know, we and he hit a great shot. And I said, What do you think I saw that made me say that? And he goes, Well, I don't know, I struck it well. I said, Well, I couldn't tell that from a hundred yards away, you know. But um, uh, you know, and I think it's very interesting. I I I I moved to the US and uh went to watch um you know the San Francisco Giants like 20 years ago, and uh as um Barry Bonds came out and practiced swinging. I'm like, who's that guy? I didn't know anything about it, right? But you could tell some magic, like something about his movement. And I feel like you know, Steph Curry's another one, or you know, Leonel Messi recently in the in the World Cup, the way that he you know goes to the ground is like it's very experienced. Um, you know, the way he moves is beautiful, you know, and you can tell the difference, even if you like are not an expert of the sport. And so if you can have like a sense that you know, we're moving towards something like that. Uh, you know, nobody ever said, uh, oh, I played the best round of my life. I really restricted myself to uh, you know, the I had exactly the right amount of stiffness, or I squeezed my muscles like you know together, or whatever. No one says that. It's like, oh, if you know, there's always some level of like, oh, it's a good flow, or whatever. So so what I'm saying is that the the thing that you do potentially should feel better in the in the way that humans see better movement in other people. Now, you know, you can then change the ball position or whatever, grip, whatever it might be to create the result that you want, but it should it should feel better quite quickly, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_00And that and I I think like you said, like players use the words of like, oh, I was like super free today, I felt like nice and loose. And like you know, you mentioned Rory, and I remember being at the Ryder Cup in Wisconsin Straits, and he was in like he was just trying to do stuff that just was not connected to him, right? Yeah, and I think if you ask him like where he is today versus where he was then, you know, he was very much trying to restrict certain things. And if you look at him, he's always been relatively free-flowing, right? Ever since he was a young, a young junior. And you know, it kind of that again it makes complete sense because it's tied into, like you said, degrees of freedom, where you know, the great the best players are the ones that kind of like release that, you know, under tournament conditions rather than the ones that kind of where does the word freezing come from? Well, it's freezing degrees of freedom. Yeah, you know, and that's that's why again I like that concept or that what like what you guys do with um the player will feel it, like that coordination. Like if you look at some of the great scientists from a movement like Carmuel, Paul Glazier, you know, they all say coordination is the essence of like technique because it's it's coordinating limbs, you know, and with an implement in your hand to hit an object. So if you're not coordinated within your movement, that's gonna be really hard.
SPEAKER_02I lost you for a second. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it's like that, like I said, that coordination, that's that freedom to you know, and there's loads of like express what you have. Well, yeah, that's fine, but if I'm battling against what I'm doing, it's very challenging, isn't it? You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think uh, you know, when um you know, again, I think I'll probably say this every single time because I know there's a bunch of bunch of people that uh don't don't like to uh do what you do. Uh um you know, the the words like release degrees of freedom or you know be more natural or something. I I think you know, as I think Bernstein insinuated, there there is relative to skill. So all of these comments that we make have a sense of you know what level of player, you know, what's their immediate term goal, what's their destination. Uh, you know, so time is always a component and skill is always a component. And skill could be, you know, athletic ability or you know, golf hand-eye coordination, right? So they they have a sense of the club face or whatever it is. And you know, so if you were to ask, I don't know, a hundred uh golf people, you know, what is uh what's important about the golf swing, you know. Um, I mean, some people probably say something like uh, you know, sequencing, right? And you know, so sequencing ultimately, you know, um one really good player again, it's like, you know, when they feel like a good change, it's oh, you know what, Terry, that feels like I've got time and space. So somehow the sequencing allowed, you know, the club to be in a place where they can still do something, right? Where you know they can they can help it turn over a bit or they've got time to, you know, they're not in a hurry, right? So the the timing and the sequencing was in a place. Now, interestingly, I've never really heard anyone you know talk about this, but I you know, in in terms of degrees of freedom, uh, you have to have disassociation, right? So, you know, so whilst the the lower body is doing something, the upper body might be doing something else at a different rate in a different time. You know, so so the best players, you know, if you look at a backswing, for example, you know, there's a sense of like a shift, and but you know, they shift more, you know, like someone like Scott Scheffler, for example, he shifts towards the lead foot very early with his pelvis. But as he's doing that, he's still completing his shoulder turn, uh, you know, for another whatever, quarter of a second, third, you know, tenth of a second, whatever it is. Uh, and there's there's a difference in, you know, it's a disassociation in that his lower body started the downswing and his up body still has to finish his backswing, right? So we could look at uh you know a classic slicer, for example, and say, oh, it's very easy. You're you know, you're shifting to the right for too long, you know, ultimately your shift and your shoulder turn, maybe they finish at the same time. So you're not starting to downswing with your backswing, with your pelvis or your lower body enough, you're not pressurizing the ground properly, whatever it is. But you get them to do that, and their upper body then starts to downswing also, right? And so now they're too steep. Um, but you go, oh, you know what, you know, you need to whatever. Uh, you know, turn your shoulders like this. So, so the the the point is in order to create these timings and sequences, you know, in the process of learning, you know, there's a way for that person who's all stuck together to play the best golf they can that day. You just have to understand what they can do, what options do they have? They've got a very limited number of shots, a very limited height, you know, but there is definitely something that they can do to strike it relatively consistent for themselves. And there's also something you can do for the next two years, you know, maybe, you know, some combination of gym work and disassociation training, you know, in order that at some point they can move in a way that, you know, is a more highly skilled version of themselves, right? And you know, that doesn't mean it's the wrong thing today, but if you tell them that today, they probably can't take off tomorrow because anytime they try and fix one of those two linked variables that shouldn't be linked, the other one goes with it. You know, so so so those are kind of uh, you know, over time it may not be the wrong uh the wrong the wrong thing, but over uh in a moment, that's why, you know, they're kind of understanding each person as to not just what they say, is what they what they they do with their uh you know, patronage as to whether you got the timing right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So yeah, so I I got one piece to add, but um, you know, which is you know, when we talked about fixes that fail, you know, for us, you know, clearly um we you know we we we teach people their way, but you know, it clearly is sort of general skills. And for me, uh, you know, I have this concept, I was I wrote it down, so I've got to say it, is like layering, right? So I just gave this example uh before, like you know, for example, someone has their ball position too far forward and their chest is open, right? So if you say, well, you know, I want you to increase your degrees of freedom, and they flush it. Uh, you know, so they flush it and it goes straight left, straight pull, clearly. Now, you know, what do they then do? Which is the most common thing, is I don't want to pull it, I want to hit it straight. So now they'll side bend and they'll pull the handle and they say, Oh, you know, I'm holding it off and it's going pretty straight. But always, if you don't intervene at the cause and effect level, in my opinion, which rewards degrees of freedom, right? This is actually a layer which you know not too many people talk about. Everyone says rhythm is important and go off, but can you fix the swing in a fashion which, when you then have good rhythm and degrees of freedom, you actually get better?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right. So so you so then they have to rush and hold the face off and all this sort of thing. So so they might hit it straighter, but they lose. Like to me, if you don't solve a uh a swing riddle correctly, you always chase disconnected variables, right? So, for example, in that case, they pulled it, so they're swinging their face to a left, but they hit the sweet spot. You know, maybe their attack angle's good, whatever. Then they go, okay, no, I'm not gonna change anything, I'm just gonna try and hit it straight, which is effectively what everyone does. They sidebend. So now their path is closer to zero. Maybe the face is a little bit inconsistent, but their contact quality is bad, their speed went down, and their attack angle is wrong. Something like this. So you go, oh well, you know, you've got to fix your attack angle or whatever it is. So anytime you try and solve like a single variable, it usually results in a problem, right? So this situation is very obviously, you know, you move the ball position to a place which allows them to be squarer and therefore more balanced. And, you know, ultimately with more balance, you can probably uh you know swing in a more effective fashion. And you know, maybe they still hold it off. So, you know, you have to train them to let it go again. But um, you know, so that that to me is uh layering, right? And so effective coaches would understand that the the real problem is the pull. And all of the other problems, the the thin to the right, you know, the push, all that sort of thing, if you try and fix it, you know, you you actually cause the original uh problem that caused it, if that makes sense. So my my point here is that uh everybody, in my opinion, this is a very clinical uh experience-based thing. Everybody has it's a useful uh story, let's say. Uh everybody has one bad shot. And I say, Well, what do you mean? I say, Well, everybody has a bad shot that feels good, you know, you flush it, you got pretty good speed, and that actually is the starting point for fixing it very easily. So fix that's a success. Yeah, yeah. But if you're going up a layer and you say, Well, I'm thinning it out to the right, you know, there's a layer on top of not pulling it, which nobody pulls every single shot. This is what you know, a lot of slicers don't realize. They I said, Well, you know, you've got a left, I wouldn't say it, but you know, I'll think they got a left problem, but it presents as a right problem. So all of the things that stop it going right actually make it go back to the originating problem, right? So so anyway, so um, so then you know, you you you're you're you're fixing the thin. Oh, we've got to work on your attack angle, you know, let's draw a line on the ground and make sure you hit down on it, or whatever it is. And each of them is more and more complicated to coordinate because they're further and further from good sequencing, good timing, good rhythm, good balance, you know, the things that you know create the flushed pull in the first place, like without the ball position. Right. So, so as a as a principle, and this is I think what people and you know, if there's teachers listening, but if people are trying to fix their own swing, this is uh a really nice way to fix your own swing, in my opinion, is make sure the swing feels good. Like you might do like three swings in a row, for example, you know, really feel like good tempo and balance or something like this, and then work out what the real miss is. Like even if it's you know, flush pull, I mean, most people's miss is like somewhat left, it could be grip or it could be uh you know, balls ish and what have you. And then from there, uh you then have to fix that shot because then you have maximum coordination, timing, sequencing, speed. You know, usually that fix will fix face angle, you know, face to path, all that sort of thing. Whereas if you're trying to fix at a ever-increasing level of complexity, and then also abstractly, right? You then add, oh, my ball's not going at once. What's everyone else doing? So that's not even like connected to the original bad shot. It's like, you know, completely in a different universe. So you so then uh to you've talked about this a lot, you've got to get rid of the belief that that's like a magic thing, right? Because it's ultimately disconnected from their experience of being a golfer. So anyway, so the layering part, I think, is a really key piece to understand, you know, fixes that fail is because you're choosing to intervene in the wrong place. Yeah. Or completely abstractly. You know, there's this uh device that came out, I have to have it. It's got you know nothing to do with like the series of misses that you have. So anyway, so so yeah, I mean it exactly.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it is it is like you used the word there, complex, right? And it is that, you know, we can't it's very difficult to just you know, like you said, if we fix one common or one thing, right, it then goes on to something else, right? So it's it it it needs to be, and that's why again, I think people get into this battle all the time. Because they because it's not a process that they go through and they don't actually know they don't go through that, do they? You know, exactly. They don't understand, okay, what like you said, what is when I'm just giving it a rip here, what's like what's my ball flight doing?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's you know, so Mike Adams calls it the golf enema. And if you know Mike, that's a that's a good Mike joke. But basically, you know, you you uh unblock your swing, you do three swings in a row, and then you copy that, and then you see what happens, right? Now, very few people can tolerate a bad shot on purpose. But let's say the swing feels amazing, like the balance and rhythm and all that sort of thing is pretty good, and the ball does something, then you have to solve that because you've actually got the the you've you've increased your you know chance of success by by being balanced or or having timing. Um, but most people can't accept that it goes left at that point, and they still try and add constraints to make it go straight. No, no, no, no, you know, I don't want to do that. Uh you know, teach me how to have a good one. So so for example, like I believe that uh a grip controls the timing of when the face squares, right? So for some people, having a stronger right hand makes it close too early. And for some people, having a weak right hand makes the club face close too early. You know, clearly you've got to work out who you are. If you just swing with one hand, you know, you work out which version of the right hand enables you to be unrestricted and time the face at the right time. Um, you know, so so there's two ways to do it. You could teach them the grip first, in which case they feel very uncomfortable. And usually the miss is like a thin out to the right until they learn to, you know, let it go.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02But then they get rid of the left shot. And then the other way of doing it is you go, okay, well, your grip's horrible. Just keep releasing it, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, feels good. And then you use the grip to fix the hook. Yeah. Right? So you have a choice of which way you can go, but nobody likes the hook, hook, hook, hook, hook. You know, feels good, flush it, fix the grip. In my opinion, it's actually a slightly easier way to do it because now the grip becomes incentivized. Whereas the other way is like, oh, the grip feels horrible and the shot's also horrible, right? I haven't got contract, you know, I haven't got uh, you know, contact quality or or any like rhythm. But ultimately that's sort of the direction people prefer to go. But you know, so you can go both ways. But the point is that um you know, you have to have a sense of the process that you're in, you know, you're you're going into, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I I do think in that respect, I do, you know, I think we've got into a um a horrible world in in golf coaching, golf instruction, however you want to term it, where and this is also this is on both sides, right? This is from a player's perspective and a coach's perspective. Nobody has the time or or wants the time to explore stuff right now. Yeah, it's it's too much like I go in, I get information, it needs to be better, rather than actually spending half an hour, 45 minutes, just exploring what happens.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love that.
SPEAKER_00Because I think when we have that, all of a sudden, it also you know, I do it with with a lot of players that we always find the time in their schedule to explore some different ideas or different shots or or whatnot. But when we when we have that kind of um that space to explore in, then all of a sudden it takes the stress away from having to hit it great because they're not going into a tournament tomorrow. And all of a sudden the player becomes so much more open to try out different ideas or some some different things. So it's almost like I think sometimes when when players go in and a club level at every level, you know, just find a session where you can just if you're battling with something, find some time to explore some solutions and come up with some conclusions then.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I think um again, watching these kids here in uh Pinehurst, I think as they develop. So we did a study. Um, I've got to run here soon, but we did a study on phase. Versus draws, just measuring, you know, pros, hit, phase, draws, straight, and whatever the default shot was. And ultimately, there's very few things changed, right? They primarily change the setup. That's really my message of this story is um, you know, you can change your hand and face relationship, which you know changes the face delivery, and you can change your stance aim. It's all very boring stuff, right? For for people that like sexy things. Um, but ultimately that's more or less what these pros did. And, you know, we were trying to find some magic stuff that was happening, and it really wasn't. It was almost entirely like a normal swing with different setups. Um, and you know, we we have a system to measure grip, stance, you know, things that um most people don't have access to. Um and so when I watch these kids here, there they're ultimately there's a need to hit different shots, right? You've got to hit high shot over the water, yeah, you've got to hit off a side hill lie, you've got to um, you know, hit a down slope. And you know, from a skill level, uh you know, all of almost all of those things can be accommodated within a full swing with uh setup. Yeah. So you just understand, okay, what does this slope do? You know, and most players have solved this like perfectly at a high level, intuitively or systematically, or they've learned something on the way. Um, you know, but the kids or I say kids, but you're you know, somebody who's played golf for 10 years, kind of a golf kid too, uh, that there'll be shots that they're able to swing normally and achieve, but the time when they try and draw it around the corner, you know, and they use their body to pull the face around, you know. So ultimately, if people are uh, you know, using their swing to do the work of the setup, then ultimately, you know, consistency is going to be really killed. So I think um, you know, that's just another kind of a linear thought is that as people get more skillful, they separate the shot need from their swing and are able to be more consistent with their swing and change their setup variables. Now, my point to this is what you're saying. So, in terms of experimenting, uh, you know, instead of going for a lesson and saying, okay, your ball position is like this, your grip's like that, your whatever, just having a range, right? Coming back to Tommy Fleetwood, he he did a uh he gave a golf magazine guy a lesson the other day and he had a range of ball positions. Yeah. And he said, if you do this ball position, the ball does that. If you do this one, it does that, which is great if you can just buy that on the internet, but it's even better if you can experience it, right? So if you go to your golf teacher and you have a ball position lesson, I always say to my people, try and prove me wrong, right? Put it too far back and see what it does, put it too far forward, see what it does. Change the grip too much, see what it does. Is there a predictable curve? Yeah. You know, if you move it more, does it do this? If you move it less, does it do that? Then you own it, right? And so we always say you've got a dial, you've got a set of dials that you can move around, right? So you change the ball position, you change your aim, you change your grip, distance from the ball, whatever it is. What you're trying to create is a linear, predictable thing as opposed to a perfect shot. And then when you understand, you know, the range of things that changes, you can then put them together into a perfect shot. But if all you do is you go to the golf teacher and it says, okay, do this, you know, you're limited to one shot, which doesn't scale very well to actually playing golf, right? Because sometimes you go, Yeah, you know what? That ball position that's too far back, it doesn't, you know, it's it's fine. But you know, when I go on an upslope, it's amazing. Like I always hit it well over there. You know, and so so these are the sort of the ways that people learn, but you can actually accelerate it, knowing, you know, as probably the way we teach is you can just experiment with a single setup variable and see how it affects the launch angle, the launch direction, the contact quality, and the sense of ease, easiness in your swing. Uh, and then you can blend them together, right? It's not like one thing. You have a certain type of grip, certain type of aim. You know, aim is not a fundamental in terms of nobody, not everyone aims straight, right? Scheffler's a bit of a closed stance, or you know, Rams has been open. So so God's a perfect example, right? Whatever it is that he does, he blends it really well and it's predictable. Yeah, it's amazing, right? So I've got to run.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, but great.
SPEAKER_02Stuy, great to be with you.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. You got me at peak topping time, so um very talk to that. Trying to find the um the challenge for everybody to leave on that, is trying to find which part of the system to actually you know that's gonna have the most effect, basically. And I think where we come to that conclusion is that if people want to do want to get better and over a longer period of time and like you said, more consistent, is just go and explore some ideas, you know, and have somebody there with you that can actually help that and guide it rather than explicitly tell them you have to do this.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And that that creates you know exponential growth potentially.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think uh again, you know, for uh teachers or consumers, uh you know, the three swing, Mike Adams, uh, golf enema is is a is the starting point. And for example, you can do three swings in a row, just hit the grass or something, put the ball on the left, get a sense of what what's the net effect. Oh, I swing more to the left. Oh, there's the net effect, I swing more to the right. You know, if I tilt more, what does that do? And then you start applying it. And now we we have to know that you have to continue to unrestrict it during the swing. Because if you you know, that's the development is that you know, not very good players use their swing for everything, fade, draw, uphill, downhill, and that's why they're inconsistent.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh but you have to break that. You know, it's not going to want to break easily, so you go, okay, I'm just gonna swing it freely. You're not gonna be completely free. Yeah, you're gonna get in the way a little bit. But the self-awareness of helping is is is something that you can develop. Uh, but then you know, when you want to go and play, it's comes back to a timing point. You you have to work out what you can do most effectively. And if it's a bit low and it's a cut, that's fine. Use your strategy to help you to stay out of trouble and you know, don't go for a uh front left pin on on the hardest hole in the course or something like this. Yeah, exactly. So that's you know, so that's where the tactics sort of play into it, yeah. Also, so anyway, Sirius, fantastic to be with you. Yeah, love. Speak to you soon. Thanks, mate.