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The best golf improvement advice I've ever heard — Transcript

by Rob McGarr · 15,455 words · 2,098 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00And I went off thinking what a fraud I
0:02am. [music] What an absolute failure of
0:04a coach. And it was actually the thing
0:06that got me from like a two handicap to
0:08a plus 4 and a half. I had a good
0:10ability to force people into better
0:12positions, but it it often resulted in
0:15worse outcomes. [music] You have two
0:16choices. You could work on your
0:18mechanics
0:20and at the end of 10 years, maybe your
0:22swing would look better. Maybe your
0:25micro mechanics wouldn't be any better,
0:26though. Maybe they'd [music] be worse
0:28cuz you're tinkering with your swing.
0:29And now you got 100 more swing thoughts.
0:30I got to hit this groove on this part of
0:32the face and control where the face is
0:34looking. What if I spent 10 years
0:36mastering [music] that? Wonder what what
0:37would happen then? I found the skill is
0:40far quicker to learn. It has the best
0:44effect long-term. It is the [music] most
0:47effective thing. I can turn a slicer
0:49into a drawer in one session very
0:51easily. And for the last [music] 10
0:52years, I haven't had thoughts outside of
0:55these. and it it's just made golf so
0:57much simpler.
0:59>> A few weeks ago, I uploaded a video
1:01saying that I was going to try a
1:02completely different way of getting
1:03better at golf. Having spent the best
1:05part of 10 years trying and largely
1:07failing to improve my golf swing, I
1:09decided I was going to try to stop
1:11obsessing over swing mechanics and focus
1:14on skills and impact instead. And a few
1:17days later, I got an email from the man
1:18who literally wrote the book on this
1:21approach,
1:23Adam Young. He said he'd seen the video
1:25and suggested that we jump on a call
1:26because he'd be able to basically give
1:29me a few pointers and help me out. Um,
1:31which obviously was great. We ended up
1:33speaking for almost two hours. Um, and
1:35there was so much good stuff in there
1:36that I decided that it deserved to be a
1:38video of its own. Um, which obviously is
1:40this video. Um, I've cut it down as much
1:42as I could, but there's still going to
1:44be more than an hour of it. Um, just cuz
1:46I didn't want to take out stuff that I
1:48thought people might actually find
1:49useful and help them get better at golf.
1:52So, um, yeah, here it is. Hope you enjoy
1:55and find it useful and I'll see you in
1:56the next one.
1:58>> It's interesting you talk about
2:00fundamentals cuz I I mean I agree the
2:02grip and stance alignment, things like
2:05that, they're important, but I mean my
2:07my opinion on it and the irony is the
2:09the winner of that week was Ryan Fox and
2:14his grip is not anywhere near what a
2:17tour what a coach would teach usually.
2:20Yeah,
2:21>> I have taught people that, you know, if
2:22someone needs that in their swing to
2:24help them close the face, I'm okay with
2:26going to that extreme with the grip. But
2:28yeah, even on topics like alignment,
2:32it's interesting.
2:34I I don't feel like everybody has to
2:36align at the target. Like that's a
2:39man-made construct. I think it's it's
2:42okay starting point for people. I think
2:45if you have issues like if you miss it
2:47to the right and you find that you're
2:50aligning to the right then that's a
2:52logical lowhanging fruit change to make.
2:55I mean I look at things as options and I
2:58categorize things into
3:01things that will close the face and
3:03things that will open the face. Things
3:05that will make the ground contact more
3:07fat and things that will make it more
3:08thin and things that will make it uh
3:10more toe and more heel. So for me there
3:14are million different ways of doing it,
3:16million different combinations. Now it
3:17doesn't mean every combination is good.
3:19There are some bad ones. Like for
3:21example, if someone talking about fewer
3:24moving parts, if someone moves their
3:25head three foot in the back swing and
3:27three foot in the down swing, they could
3:29in theory hit the ground the right place
3:31every time. So what I would do is I
3:34would look at, well, how often is a bad
3:36ground contact happening for this
3:38player? And if they're striking the
3:40ground every single time, then we don't
3:41need to change it because it's not a
3:43problem for them. They're able to time
3:45it up. In fact, if we took that player
3:47who's making this big motion and we try
3:49and centered them, now you've added
3:51something new to their swing that
3:53they're going to have to think about and
3:55that throws off the timing. So, in that
3:57case, that player may may actually
3:59strike it worse even though the
4:00technique in theory is better. But the
4:03reality is that for a for consistency of
4:06movement, it's less about what the
4:08mechanics are and more about how how how
4:12much has someone repeated it. Like if
4:14you have an old dude, you see this all
4:16the time. You get this 70-year-old dude
4:18who's like, "How on earth can he just
4:20hit the fairway every single time with
4:22that motion?" It's just because he's
4:23repeated it for 50 years probably. He's
4:26never changed his swing. Now, the the
4:28bad part with that is you can't get
4:30better unless you make a change as well.
4:32So, we've got this battle between
4:34repeatability, which is basically stick
4:36to what you're doing. Stick to kind of
4:37what's natural to you, and then you've
4:39got the change side of it, which induces
4:42inconsistency, but may open up more
4:46potential in the future. And so, there's
4:47this battle between it. I find that most
4:50players, you got two camps, right? You
4:52got the the guys, the old guy who never
4:54changes his swing, like, "Ah, screw all
4:56that technique stuff. I'm just going to
4:58swing my swing." And they usually end up
5:00pretty consistent, but they're limited.
5:02And then you got the people who end up
5:04trying to achieve
5:06betterment, and they they'll often get
5:08better to a certain point, but they're
5:09inducing their own inconsistency through
5:12the fact they're trying to change
5:13something every time. They're never
5:15sticking with one thing long enough to
5:17actually ingrain it. And I I was that
5:19player. I mean, I as an instructor, I
5:21know a ton about the golf swing. And you
5:23go back to when I was 15 and I was
5:25working on every mechanic, trying to
5:27perfect the look of my swing. And I
5:29achieved that inconsistency through
5:31shooting myself in the foot. Just trying
5:33to change things constantly, trying to
5:36perfect the mechanics. Now I'm the other
5:38side of that. And it was a hard journey
5:40to get there, but I'm the other side of
5:42that where I'm just like my swing is my
5:44swing. I'm okay with the motion looking
5:47kind of funky. I just don't think about
5:49my swing anymore. And as a result, it's
5:51become a hell of a lot more consistent.
5:54In fact, the mechanics, if you look at
5:56it on video and compare it to what is
5:58textbook, my mechanics are worse, but my
6:02impacts are better. And it was actually
6:04the thing that got me from like a two
6:05handicap to a plus 4 and a half at one
6:08point.
6:09>> What do you think was like the main
6:11tipping point? If you said obviously you
6:13used to be that guy kind of trying the
6:14different I know you said before like
6:17beautifification of swing or chasing
6:19more of like what is deemed to be the
6:21textbook motion like what was it made
6:23you decide that finally is not the way
6:25to go and you're going to go down this
6:26other path.
6:26>> It it wasn't one thing there were a few
6:29light bulb moments along the way but I
6:31really resisted them as well. The
6:32biggest light bulb moment was sitting in
6:34a lecture in university. We were sitting
6:36in a material science lecture. So this
6:39guy would talk to us about different
6:41club designs and gear effect. So we were
6:43learning about gear effect back in like
6:452003.
6:47He wasn't a golfer at all. And so we
6:50were I remember one lecture we were
6:51looking at impact physics. We were
6:53looking at golf balls hitting metal
6:55plates and the effect of face angle
6:57loft. And we were talking about spin
6:59loft all stuff way before Trackman. And
7:01I remember one of us put the hand up and
7:04we were like, "Well, what about if
7:05someone's like at this point in the top
7:07of the swing? How how does that affect
7:09the direction?" He and the lecturer
7:11looked at us as if we were idiots. He
7:14said, "What are you talking about? It's
7:16all impact physics." It's like
7:18everything the ball does is what's
7:20happening here. What you're doing up
7:22there doesn't matter unless it unless it
7:25changes down there. I mean paraphrasing
7:28I've ch I've changed that a lot in my
7:30that was basically the summary of the
7:32the argument and that to me was like
7:35>> wow okay I've never heared that
7:37philosophy before I mean I kind of knew
7:40impact was important but I never
7:42realized how important it was and I
7:45don't know whether it was straight away
7:46or maybe a couple of weeks later but I
7:47went to the range and I was just playing
7:50around and I thought well wait there if
7:51the swing doesn't matter I've always
7:53battled this big hook I'm really into
7:56out. I've worked endlessly on getting my
7:58lead arm steeper and just couldn't do
8:00it. I could not change my left arm. And
8:03I just thought, well, what if I just try
8:05and swing this club to the left? And I
8:07kind of visualized it, did a few little
8:09slow motion, and I just tried to chop
8:11across it. And I hit my first fade since
8:14like I I'd begun. I I've been drawing it
8:17for 3 years, and that was my first fade
8:19that I'd hit. And I was like, my god,
8:21like it can't be that easy surely to hit
8:24a fade. And then I just started hitting
8:25these big fades, these smaller fades,
8:27and then I just dialed in this laser
8:29shot and I was like, I wonder what my
8:31swing looks like here. So I videoed it
8:34and it was horrible. I hated it. I
8:36started take I was taking it outside the
8:38line. Uh but my lead arm was actually
8:40steeper now and I was like, interesting.
8:42So there's two bits I learned from that.
8:44Number one was the the lead arm could
8:46selforganize. I wasn't thinking about
8:48the lead arm just as the act of trying
8:50to chop across it. My lead arm was
8:52getting steeper. But number two, I was
8:54hitting it better with a worse takeaway.
8:56So I'm like, well, why are we trying to
8:59obsess over takeaway? So then I spent
9:00probably the next 10 minutes trying to
9:02get a good-looking takeaway and I
9:04started snap hooking everything again. I
9:06I probably put that on the back burner
9:08for maybe 6 months and then I started
9:10coaching and you know there were a few
9:14points where as as a coach I was very
9:17very technical. I wanted to I thought it
9:19was going to be easy coaching. I thought
9:20it was just going to be swing by
9:21numbers. I knew what a perfect swing
9:24looked like. I'd read all the books and
9:26I'm just like, "Ah, this is gonna be
9:28awesome. I'm just gonna put people in a
9:3010 lesson series and lesson one is going
9:32to be grip. Lesson two is going to be
9:34takeaway. Lesson three is going to be
9:36P3, P4." I thought it would be that
9:38easy. And I quickly found that I could
9:41get people in a good grip, good
9:43takeaway, good top of the swing
9:44position, and they would just hit it
9:46worse. And so I had to quickly find why
9:49why can I get someone to look better on
9:51camera and they hit it worse. What the
9:52hell's going on here? And then obviously
9:54you connect the two dots and you think
9:56well it's about impact. Another light
9:57bulb moment for me was I had a this was
10:00very early on in my teaching career had
10:03a guy who was shanking it and I tried
10:07everything with him. Even stuff that I
10:09would look back on now and say
10:11mechanically what I was doing was
10:13correct. the you know you you could put
10:16what I told in front of a bunch of
10:17teachers and they would all say yeah I'd
10:19probably do something similar to that or
10:21that makes sense yet he couldn't stop
10:23shanking it and it was only out of pure
10:26frustration I sensed this guy was going
10:28to leave me and I was just like dude can
10:31you just just tow shank one for me and
10:34he just flushed it and I said just do do
10:37it again and he flushed it and he's like
10:38wow this is awesome I haven't felt a
10:40shot like that in ages and we finished
10:42the lesson he probably flushed crashed a
10:44hundred in a row by the end of the
10:46lesson. And I went off thinking, what a
10:49what a fraud I am. What an absolute
10:51failure of a coach. I've left that guy
10:54just trying to tow shank it. And sure
10:56enough, that guy didn't come back to me.
10:58I didn't hear him for like from him for
11:003 months. And me being me, I kind of
11:03feel guilty about these things. So I
11:04just emailed him and I was like, "Hey
11:06bud, is is everything all right?" And he
11:08said, "Yeah, play been playing the best
11:10golf I've ever ever been. I haven't I
11:12haven't come back to you cuz I haven't
11:13need you needed you. I'm just playing
11:15awesome. I'm like Wait there. So
11:18that that stuff not only helped him but
11:20he's been playing for 3 months well now.
11:23And yeah, again that stuff I resisted
11:26cuz even then learning that as a coach
11:28I'm like it can't be that easy. I don't
11:30want it to be that easy. Um I feel like
11:33that's a band-aid that's thrown out a
11:35lot. A band-aid is just oh yeah just
11:37cover it up and it's it's it's not
11:39really healing the issue.
11:42But the more I thought about it and the
11:44more I experimented with that style of
11:45coaching, the more I realized it wasn't
11:47a band-aid
11:49and the way I would say it is, and in my
11:52own game as well, I started
11:53experimenting with this more. I'm like,
11:55okay, well, if I'm going to teach this,
11:56how do I make a lesson structure out of
11:58this? So, it's not just okay, hit the
12:00toe, hit the heel. It's okay, can you
12:02move it gradually? Can we um let's let's
12:05play a game out of it? Let's quantify.
12:07Let's do 10 and see how many in a row
12:09you can do from this. How many in a row
12:11can you do here? So now I have a GC quad
12:13and I might give people windows like
12:15okay hit zero to 10 millimeters toe.
12:18Let's see how many in a row you can do
12:20or how many out of 10 you can do. So I'm
12:21gifying the process and in that process
12:24of learning how to structure this stuff
12:26and doing it myself. I found my own game
12:30got a lot better and I started to
12:33transition from what I would call or
12:35what the science calls internal which is
12:38where I was constantly thinking right
12:40turn my shoulders get my arms here make
12:41sure they're nice and wide and in front
12:43of me and you know all these different
12:45swing thoughts that I had. So I I
12:47transitioned from being very internal
12:50to now I wasn't even thinking about that
12:52stuff. I'm just literally my brain is so
12:54absorbed in the task of what's the club
12:56doing? Is this swinging higher, lower,
12:58more open, more closed, more toe, more
13:00heel? And it was like I was completely
13:02we rewiring my brain. It took a it took
13:05a while though because to undo all that
13:08internal work, all the mechanical stuff
13:11wasn't an overnight thing. My preferred
13:14method is much more external now because
13:16it it gives me the results. It's really
13:19really simple. It's quick to make
13:21changes and adjustments.
13:23>> Do you think that can work for anyone?
13:25Because I feel like some people think
13:28that's all and good for you. You know,
13:30if you were like a sort of training golf
13:33coach, you've obviously got a certain
13:35level of ability and maybe you're quite
13:37sort of naturally gifted in terms of
13:40sport or propriception or whatever. So,
13:42like there's a mate of mine who's only
13:43got into golf really in his kind of like
13:45late 40s who's, you know, not got a very
13:49kind of natural looking swing, struggles
13:51to like stop hitting the kind of classic
13:53like massive banana slice. Would he
13:57still be able to kind of make changes in
13:59the same kind of way with that external
14:01focus?
14:02>> Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm not going to deny
14:05that there is a natural talent component
14:08to this, but I am not naturally
14:11talented. I know and and that's a cop
14:13out because I know a lot of people say
14:14that you know people use the oh this was
14:16me and now this is me but I genuinely
14:18remember a time when I was 16 or 17 I
14:21was playing in St. Andrews in the
14:23competition and I had to a toe bias
14:25pattern that week and I just couldn't
14:28change it to the point where I was
14:29almost at te in tears at night. That's
14:32actually how much golf meant to me as a
14:33kid and yeah there were certain things
14:35that I couldn't do. I went I went to
14:38that when I went through that process of
14:41like how am I going to teach this to
14:42people. I remember standing on the range
14:44one night as the ranger cleared and I
14:46was trying to top the ball and trying to
14:49heal the ball and I could not. I could
14:52get it close but it was maybe one out of
14:5410 I could top it.
14:56And I I was fearful as well. I was like,
14:59"Oh god, this is this is going to really
15:00mess my game up, isn't it?" Like, but
15:02but I was like, "You know what? I don't
15:04play anymore. I'm just like I'm
15:05dedicated to teaching. So I want to see
15:07how far I can push this and what it
15:09does. I practiced for about an hour
15:10trying to top it, heal it. Just could
15:12not move it towards the heel at all. But
15:16next day I tried it again and I was
15:19like, whoa, I've unlocked something
15:21here. It's like, have you ever played a
15:23musical instrument before or?
15:25>> Yeah, I learned guitar a few years ago.
15:27>> Yeah, I play guitar as well. So often
15:29you'll find like you try, you try, you
15:30try and you're like, oh my god, I just
15:32can't get this and you put it away
15:33frustrated. Then you pick it up maybe
15:35one or two days later and after a
15:36warm-up
15:38>> you're like I just unlocked that
15:40thing I couldn't do I can do it now.
15:42Yeah.
15:42>> And that's what I found with skills as
15:44well is that
15:45>> just because you can't do something
15:47initially you will get better at it the
15:49more you practice. I think most people
15:50give up straight away. Right. It's that,
15:52which is so funny to me that people are
15:55willing to grind away on something
15:57mechanical and they just can't get it.
16:00Yet with a skill thing, they're like,
16:02"Oh, I couldn't get it in one session.
16:04I'm never going to do that again." It's
16:05like, well, no, skills are just like
16:06mechanics. In fact, skills are mechanics
16:09in a way. They're they're very interlin.
16:10I call them micro mechanics. But yeah,
16:12the people who really stick to the skill
16:14stuff, you just you get so much better
16:16at it. Like so for example I couldn't at
16:21one point hit the heel at all
16:24but now if you ask me can you hit 0 to 5
16:27mm heel 5 to 10 mm heel 10 to 15 mm heel
16:32I can control it in that amount that
16:34didn't happen overnight that was years
16:36of practicing these drills in fact I got
16:38it to 3 mm at one point I could hit 3 mm
16:41windows which is about a groove width
16:43just to show you how skillful that is
16:46>> that was just that was time that that
16:50did it. And just like riding a bike,
16:52okay, I'm not at the 3 mm window scale
16:55right now cuz I don't practice right
16:57now. I'm I'm so busy with work that I'm
17:00doing like
17:01one round a month almost, but
17:03irrelevant. I'm I'm at about 5 mm
17:05window. So yes, you can lose it as well,
17:08but I will never lose the ability to hit
17:10a certain half of the face. If I'm
17:13towing it one day or if I have a shank,
17:15like I haven't shank two in a row in the
17:17last 10 years since I've been doing this
17:20because I've hit a shank, but the next
17:22one I know how to fix it and I know how
17:24to do it like that. These are very
17:27learnable skills. And to your point
17:28about the beginner, the analogy I'd use,
17:32especially relevant for Brits, is like a
17:34dart board. like you take your misses to
17:36the pub, you you get her to throw darts.
17:38At first, it's not, "Oh, can you hit
17:40this? Can you hit this treble?" It's
17:42like just can you hit the board? Oh, you
17:44keep throwing it lower the board. Hey,
17:45babe, try and throw it above the board.
17:47Try and hit the top of the board. Oh,
17:48look, now you're getting it on the
17:49board. Okay, cool. So, it's like with a
17:52beginner, you have to make the task
17:55relative to their current skill level.
17:58So, that would go through task
17:59simplification. So, it may be a case of
18:02giving them a tea like this. no no golf
18:04ball at all and just say, "Can you hit
18:06the top of the tea? Can you take the
18:07base of the tea out?" And then as they
18:09get better at that, you gradually make
18:11the tea smaller and smaller and smaller
18:12and they're refining their skills. Or
18:14can you make a swing and you you miss
18:16the tea completely closer to your feet,
18:18miss the tea completely farther away
18:20from your feet. And what you'll what I
18:22found instructing is that 99.9%
18:27of do that.
18:29They can't do it with a high level of
18:31control yet, but they can all move the
18:34needle in the right direction. And in
18:36the rare case that I found that they
18:38can't, all it requires is just a few
18:39mind tricks, just nudging them more or,
18:42you know, putting little objects on the
18:43ground and just say, "Oh, just look at
18:45this object and just try and do that for
18:46a little bit just to unlock it."
18:49>> Yeah. Yeah.
18:49>> So, to your answer to your question,
18:51yes, everybody can do it. It's literally
18:53just about refining it over time, making
18:57the task scalable to what they they can
19:00achieve. Like, you know, a toe and a
19:01heel thing, like I said, might be miss
19:04the miss the ball completely closer to
19:06your farther away, and then you build it
19:08from there. Or it might just be get a
19:10putter and see if you can hit off the
19:11toe end of the club, get a a putter and
19:14hit off the heel. Now, let's work on to
19:16chipping. So, it may that that's a form
19:18of task simplification as well. And then
19:20when you get to the elite level, it's
19:22like, okay, hit it three millimeters
19:23toe, hit it six millimeters toe.
19:25>> You're just refining the task over time.
19:28>> Yeah. Yeah. Just um just cuz I've been
19:30trying to help him. Like what's is there
19:32a really good way of just getting
19:34somebody to kind of do basically that in
19:37terms of their path? So if they're like,
19:39you know, 15 20° out to in all the time
19:42and because he's hitting these like real
19:44glancing blows,
19:46>> he's losing kind of any real power that
19:48he's got. Is there like a go-to good way
19:52of like getting someone to break through
19:53that and just learning what it feels
19:54like to swing it well from into out or
19:57certainly like more neutral?
19:59>> Yeah, I can I can turn a slicer into a
20:01drawer in one session very easily. In
20:03fact,
20:03>> better than me. We've done about a dozen
20:05sessions together in this. In fact, it's
20:07so easy for me that I have I had to
20:10start to question whether it was even a
20:11good idea. And sometimes it's not. So
20:13like for people listening, if you if
20:15you've played a fade for 10 years of
20:17your life, turning into a draw might be
20:19fun, but it might not be the best thing
20:21for you because you have to completely
20:22rewire even how you see the game. So I'm
20:25a little bit more cautious with using
20:26this very powerful tool. But it's it's
20:29pretty simple. Everybody can hammer a
20:31nail.
20:32>> And so I have a golf ball with a nail
20:34driven through it. And again, we start
20:36with a simple task. It's like, okay, can
20:38you hammer this nail in this direction
20:40with a a little putting swing and
20:41everybody can do it and then I just ask
20:43them to hit it harder. Now the thing
20:45with that is that the only resistance to
20:48that mentally would be if that player
20:52and it sounds like it is he is is
20:55presenting the face wide open
20:58then the first couple they might be able
21:00to hammer the nail in the right
21:02direction but then they start to see the
21:03ball go way right and they go I'm going
21:05to go back to the old way not
21:07consciously but unconsciously. People
21:09use swing path, swing direction as a way
21:12of trying to control the direction,
21:14especially in the early stages. So if a
21:16if a player sees the ball go right, they
21:18start to selforganize more left because
21:20they haven't been taught the right
21:21concept. And it's just that's what
21:23instinct tells us to do.
21:25>> Yeah. Yeah.
21:26>> But yeah, I would I would start with
21:28here's how I'd start with that player. I
21:30would actually just close the face 45
21:32degrees or even 90 degrees if we have to
21:35and then get them to grip so we don't
21:37have to think about the club face
21:38initially. Then we tee the ball up so we
21:41don't have to think about ground
21:42contact. And we start with a nail drill.
21:43It's like, "Hey, see if you can start
21:45that ball to the right by uh by
21:47hammering the nail in this direction."
21:49And uh inevitably people people can. And
21:51and if if the club face is overriding,
21:53it is too closed and the ball starts
21:55left, we just open the face out a little
21:57bit until we get the desired shot. So I
22:00use basic algorithms like if the ball is
22:02going if the ball is going left, open
22:04the face a little bit. If the ball is
22:06finishing right, close the face a
22:08little. And then we use the nail drill
22:10to change the shape. And I mean that's
22:13technically that's kind of an advanced
22:14drill to be able to change the shape of
22:16the shot. You know, with real beginners,
22:18I'm just looking for them to get the
22:19right direction. So I teach them, you
22:21could argue it's incorrect ball flight
22:23laws, but it's just the first step in
22:25ball flight laws. I teach people is club
22:27face controls direction. Now we know
22:30it's a it's actually a combination of
22:31path and face. But in the early stages,
22:34I just get people, can you present the
22:36face closed? Can you present it open?
22:38Can you get the ball to finish more
22:39right and left? And you can do it in any
22:42way. Just close the face 90 degrees if
22:44you have to before gripping it. Open it
22:4690 degrees. Play around. Have fun.
22:48people can learn how to do it. Once they
22:50can do that, okay, let's refine it a
22:52little bit. Let's let's go variants of
22:54this to see if you can make it go small
22:56right, big right, mid middle, right? And
22:59then you can start to add on the nail
23:01drill as well. So, I mean, this might be
23:03done over the course of of sessions or
23:05you might just go, hey, let's teach this
23:07guy a draw in in this one session. And
23:09that could be fun as well. And everyone
23:11can hammer a nail. Everyone. It's
23:14literally just a case of getting them to
23:16tap into that instinctive mindset. In
23:18fact, the hardest people to get to do
23:20the nail drill are the most technical
23:22and the people who have had so much
23:24instruction that when you say hammer
23:26this nail, they still go back to right,
23:28what do I have to do with my right arm
23:29to hammer this nail and you have to get
23:31them out of that maybe a process of come
23:33on, here's a club with a with a hammer
23:35on the end of it. What would you do up
23:36here? And they go, oh yeah, it's really
23:37instinctive. I don't have to think about
23:39anything. Okay, how would I do that down
23:40here? So sometimes it's like I spend a
23:44lot of time undoing what people have had
23:46in the past.
23:48>> Yeah.
23:48>> The technical instruction. So
23:51>> yeah, I mean I often wish that
23:54like 90% of what I've kind of learned
23:56about the golf swing I could just erase
23:58from my memory. But yeah, so like in the
24:01last few years I've had a few like well
24:03during that whole time I've had a lot of
24:05different coaches for diff like varying
24:07periods. There's been people I've worked
24:08with like you know regularly for a
24:10couple years at a time and there's been
24:11other people where I've maybe had one or
24:13two sessions and felt like oh this isn't
24:15you know the right fit or whatever or
24:17even like I've kind of yeah got what
24:19they're sort of trying to teach me and I
24:21don't need to necessarily go back like
24:23monthto month with that particular
24:24person but yeah so a lot of it's been
24:26the traditional type of coaching like
24:29technique based so you know had a few
24:31coaches who've said the same thing it's
24:33like oh yeah you do this in the takeaway
24:35and your swing is basically
24:38kind of breaking down from first
24:40movements and you know therefore to get
24:44better you need to stop doing that and
24:46do this more textbook thing
24:49>> and that's always been like a real
24:51battle to like change that I think
24:53>> why don't here's a question why don't
24:55you just change it I know it's a real
24:58like blunt look but hey if you feel like
25:01the takeaway is the thing that's
25:03stopping you get to scratch just change
25:05it why what stops Good question. I mean,
25:07um, I remember reading something years
25:08ago where it's like somebody went for a
25:10lesson with Hank Haney and it was like
25:12$1,000 for the lesson or whatever. And
25:14the first thing Hank Haney told them was
25:17effectively the same thing that a dozen
25:19other coaches had told them. But they
25:21were like, "Fit, [clears throat] I'm pay
25:22$1,000 for this. I'm not going to waste
25:24the next 45 minutes just letting him do
25:26that." So, they just like changed it. I
25:30don't know. Like, I just I think it's
25:31that whole feel versus real thing. But
25:34when I try to make an exaggerated
25:38like the opposite of what the problem
25:40is. So people will say basically I take
25:41it like inside flat or whatever under
25:45kind of open the face a bit. So if I
25:47feel like I'm taking it steep and you
25:49know effectively closing the face more
25:52when I then watch it back it's like hang
25:54on which one was which. Like I can't
25:55even tell which one I'm trying to change
25:57it cuz it looks so the same. And it
26:00feels so uncomfortable and weird that
26:02I'm like, I'm never going to be able to
26:04hit the ball from here.
26:05>> You're getting the worst of both worlds.
26:06You're not making the change and it
26:08feels horrible. You're having to think
26:09about it.
26:10>> Yeah. And I think like
26:12>> falls into that category. Yeah.
26:14>> Yeah. I think as well it would be easier
26:15in a way if what I do never produces
26:19good results. But because I know I have
26:22played like good golf with it and I can
26:24hit good golf shots with it. I guess
26:26part of me is like, well, it's given me
26:29some kind of like validation or I'm like
26:32it almost it's like a comfort zone. I'm
26:34like, well, it feels good for the club
26:37to be here and I know I can hit some
26:39good shots from here. Whereas this
26:42alternative, which as I say doesn't even
26:44look anywhere near how it feels, I'm
26:47like, oh god. And it's I always say like
26:50it feels really uncomfortable and
26:52horrible to do it like on the range
26:54where you know everything's in my favor.
26:56Like it's completely perfect flat lie
26:58and there's no like pressure and all
26:59that sort of stuff. But I'm having to
27:00think about it loads to try and make
27:02this like change which visually doesn't
27:05even really seem to be happening anyway.
27:07But then if you said to me, right, you
27:09want to get to a stage where that feels
27:11comfortable and natural so that you can
27:13do it, you know, on the 18th hole of a
27:15competition or a match or whatever, and
27:17you've got an uneven lie and there's
27:19like wind and all these kind of things
27:22that feels like I don't know how many
27:24thousands of hours would I have to do
27:27drilling this move to get there and
27:29would it ever get there? It
27:30>> is scary to even think. And it is right.
27:33The more pressure we're under, the more
27:35we revert to what's deeply ingrained,
27:38like I always tell people when I moved
27:40to America, the first time I saw cops
27:43their lights go off behind me, I just I
27:46put my left hand into the into the door
27:48cuz I was searching for the gear stick.
27:51>> Yeah.
27:51>> Like my I just like panicked and I'm
27:54like I'm on the other side of the car
27:56and there is no gear stick. We're we're
27:58doing automatic here. So it's
28:01>> Yeah. We that that was a good example of
28:03me of something I already knew anyway
28:05that we revert back to kind of what's
28:07most ingrained or what's natural. It's
28:09not that you can't change what's
28:10ingrained, but the older you get, the
28:12harder it gets to change it and the more
28:15reps it takes. Most people I say, well,
28:17look, if you if you go down the route of
28:19changing your swing, you're probably
28:21going to have to be very conscious of it
28:23your entire life. So, if you make these
28:25swing changes, you're probably going to
28:27have to think about it. Now that level
28:29of thinking the first time you knew use
28:31a new move you're just going to be so my
28:33god this is there's really a lot of
28:35concentration that gets lower and lower
28:37over time but it may never become
28:40completely natural. Uh there are ways of
28:43speeding that up. You can exaggerate the
28:44motions as well but I mean the main
28:46thing I would argue is is it even worth
28:49it? Is it even relevant? Personally
28:51would be looking at things like your
28:53impact patterns and be saying well what
28:55do you struggle with impact wise? Have
28:57you ever looked at your impact patterns
28:59at all? Do you know what to look for or
29:01>> Yeah, I mean I feel like they've changed
29:02at different periods, but there's
29:04definitely been extended periods where
29:07they've been extremely consistent and
29:09not in a good way. So like there's been
29:12a couple of times where I've basically
29:13like taken extended breaks from golf cuz
29:17I just found it like so frustrating and
29:18demoralizing. And one of them was when
29:20like going back to what you were talking
29:22about is I was just hitting everything
29:23so far off the toe. It was like
29:25laughable for everybody else probably
29:27apart from me where I was like this is
29:28just absolutely bleeding. I was getting
29:30no satisfaction. I felt like if I was
29:33hitting an iron shot, everything was
29:34coming off the smooth part where there's
29:36no grooves and you know like if I was
29:38trying to hit a fairway wood off the
29:40deck, it was basically like a toe shank
29:42straight over there. And so like kind of
29:45currently it's a much less severe
29:48version of that. But I feel like I'm
29:49quite toe biased still. when when you
29:52had that extreme toe, what were you
29:54trying to do to fix it?
29:56>> So, back then I was doing everything
29:58technical that I could think of. So,
30:01going back to stuff that I felt like I
30:03was doing when I was hitting it solid.
30:05So, yeah, I kind of made this point
30:07recently cuz I obviously more lately
30:10have kind of dived into this
30:13differential style of like skill-based
30:15improvement. And somebody said to me
30:17like, you know, if you're hitting
30:18everything off the toe, have you tried
30:20hitting off the heel? And like sounded
30:22stupid, but I was like, "Well, no, I
30:23haven't really. I've just been trying to
30:26do things that I feel are right in my
30:28swing in the hope that that helps me hit
30:30it out the middle."
30:31>> Yeah.
30:32>> Rather than And then Yeah. I again tried
30:36all of that stuff. I was like a golf
30:38trip where we were playing every day on
30:40those courses and I was like desperate
30:41to play well. I was just like towing
30:42everything and every different technical
30:45swing feel I tried seemed to make my
30:48impact worse in some way. not
30:49necessarily more toe bias, but I would
30:51just chunk it and unto it or, you know,
30:54everything was worse. So, yeah, having
30:56exhausted all that stuff, I was like,
30:58right, I'm just going to try and hit a
30:59few shots where I feel like I'm hitting
31:00it really quite far out the hill and I
31:02was thinking like there's every chance
31:04I'm just going to huzzle it. But, you
31:06know, I've played with the same mate
31:08this whole week and he's obviously seen
31:09how bad it is anyway. So, it's like it's
31:13kind of a fairly safe environment to do
31:15it. Do you know what I It wasn't like
31:16I'm going to do this on the first t the
31:17old course with 50 people watching. It's
31:19like and then weirdly just immediately I
31:21started absolutely flushing it and I'd
31:24abandoned all the technical swing
31:26thoughts and I just focused on like yeah
31:28feeling like I'm trying to hit out the
31:30hill and yeah for like the remaining
31:32nine holes I just flushed everything
31:35like basically every green and
31:36everything just was flush out the
31:38middle.
31:39>> What's your concern with that then? So
31:41obviously you've seen it you've seen it
31:43works but a lot of people will then go
31:45oh yeah it works but
31:48>> yeah so like obly you mentioned before
31:50about bandaid and it feels a bit like
31:53that and because obviously that's quite
31:57a new feeling for me to be relying on.
31:59So like every time I go to play golf on
32:01like a new day, I'm like, well, if I
32:05focus on that, what if today is the day
32:06when I do just start absolutely like
32:09hing it and you know,
32:10>> well, what's the what's the logical
32:11answer? I I say to people, okay, if
32:14you're driving your car left, if you're
32:16driving your car down the street and
32:18it's got a little ve to the right, what
32:21do you do, right? Well, you turn the
32:22steering wheel a little left. If you
32:24start to go towards the left curb, what
32:26do you do? You just turn it back right
32:27again. That's what calibration is. I I
32:30get it though. I understand it.
32:32>> Yeah. I think it's just something about
32:33it's a bit disconcerting of and it I
32:37guess it feels in some ways like a fix
32:40of like, oh yeah, I'm having to try and
32:42mentally mishit it to hit it pure. That
32:46feels less kind of like purist than, oh
32:49yeah, I'm trying to flush it and
32:52therefore I'm flushing it. But when you
32:54do it in a mechanical way, right, you
32:56still have to think, "Oh, I've got to do
32:59something weird here or here in order to
33:02do it."
33:04>> I get it though. The Yeah, the feeling
33:07of trying to misit it in order to hit it
33:09flush. It's like it's it's a difference
33:10between right what I'm trying to do and
33:12what's really happening. I suppose with
33:14a takeaway thing, you're just, you know,
33:16trying to change something there that's
33:17less relevant. But yeah, I would say you
33:19pro if you have a problem, people are
33:21going to have to feel something weird.
33:23So my answer to that is it might as well
33:25be something relevant. Like if you're
33:27trying to change your takeaway and it's
33:28just not working, but you try and hit
33:30the heel them, great. What I found as
33:33well is that because I I used to have
33:35this where people would come for maybe a
33:36fiveday course in in Langa, Spain, and
33:40they would have an issue, maybe it was a
33:41shank, and we work on hitting on the toe
33:43and in the first session, we'd move it
33:45in the right direction, but maybe they
33:46couldn't fully get the toe. But very
33:49often, I would say probably 30% of the
33:51time, next day, they had the opposite
33:54problem. It's like, oh, I'm trying to
33:56hit out the toe and I'm actually hitting
33:58out the toe now. And I'm like, great,
33:59everything's flipped. Let's try and hit
34:01out the center. Okay, it's good. But
34:03yeah, these these things are dynamic.
34:05What we're trying to do and what we
34:06really do may change or it may stay the
34:09same for the rest of your life. I always
34:12have some toe bias to it. It's just the
34:16severity of it. Maybe one in a hundred
34:18times I'll wake up and it's heel. I can
34:21change that. It's scarier for me to do
34:23it, but it's I can change it as well
34:25because I know I know what the case is.
34:27But
34:28>> it's always some variant of toe. I mean,
34:30we're always going to have a problem,
34:32right? It's just the severity of that
34:34problem. So, I'm looking at, okay,
34:36you're hitting out the toe, but is it
34:39something worth fixing or is there a
34:41more relevant task we could do? And
34:43then, you know, just just doing the
34:45opposite until it's recalibrated and
34:48that may mean more of an extreme feel
34:51one day, maybe less of an extreme feel
34:53the next day. Or if it's calibrated
34:55automatically, ne you don't have to
34:56think of anything. you could go off and
34:58go off and think of something else. In
35:00fact, those days where I'm hitting it
35:02center and not having to think of heal.
35:06Some of those are my worst days cuz I'm
35:08like, I haven't got I haven't got a
35:10swing thought here. I don't have to
35:11think about anything. Sometimes when I'm
35:13battling a thought uh battling a fault,
35:16those are the best days that I have
35:17where I'm like, I have to really
35:19concentrate on setting about the heel
35:20here and trying to hit more towards the
35:22heel. So, yeah, it's different from day
35:23to day.
35:25um you're going to have to think
35:26something weird anyway and not thinking
35:29of something weird might not be might
35:31not correlate with your best golf
35:32either.
35:34>> Yeah. And then um obviously I think
35:36right at the start of the call we were
35:37talking about why one minute an amateur
35:39or can hit like a great shot and the
35:41next minute not. So So like with the toe
35:43thing it kind of made sense to me cuz
35:45it's like basically every shot I'm
35:46hitting out the toe. So like let's tweak
35:48this with some of my impact problems
35:51which seem to come and go from one shot
35:53to the next. say like heavy contact. So
35:55my bias will always be heavy rather than
35:58thin. But obviously I don't hit every
36:00single shot fat. So like is there
36:05obviously I'm therefore a bit less it's
36:08less obvious to me to be like right okay
36:10well let's just hit the ground further
36:12forward because sometimes I'm hitting it
36:15in what seems to be kind of the right
36:17area. So yeah I haven't explained that
36:19very well but
36:20>> I understand the question. Yeah, it's
36:21like it's so okay with fat with toe and
36:23heel it's obvious what the error is with
36:25fat and thin it's not obvious what's
36:26changed and that's there's a very solid
36:29reason why that is when someone hits fat
36:31or thin and this is from someone who's
36:33seen tens of thousands if not hundreds
36:34of thousands of launch monitor shots
36:37when someone hits fat or thin it's not
36:40actually the shift in ground contact
36:42that's changed that much so most people
36:44think oh I shifted too far forward or I
36:46hit it 2 in fat I must have shifted 2 in
36:49back it's actually more vertical thing.
36:52So in a golf swing, we could dig deeper
36:54or we could brush the tops of the grass
36:56or everything in between that. For every
37:00one groove that you change in height, so
37:03say you hit the fourth groove and then
37:05the next one you hit the fifth groove,
37:07that will change ground contact by about
37:09an inch.
37:11So when we pure one, you might look at
37:14it and go, "Oh, that was right on the
37:16fourth groove." So I for people
37:19listening it's spray the face and you
37:21have a look at the center of the mark.
37:23So whatever the circle was in the face
37:25just take the center of the mark that's
37:26if that's on the fourth groove that's
37:28going to be a pretty flush shot. And
37:29you've got about a groove higher or a
37:31groove lower. It's not much but it's
37:34surprising that we can actually control
37:35it. But between groove three and five
37:37are going to be okay shots.
37:39You go to groove six you hit an inch
37:41behind it. You go to groove seven you're
37:43hitting two inches behind it and laying
37:45the sod over it now. So the reality is
37:47it's only really a few millimeters. So
37:50when I'm say I were looking at you, I
37:52would look at are there any patterns
37:54there? So after 10 shots, you'd be able
37:56to see what's the average strike. You
37:58can do this yourself. Everybody can do
37:59this themselves. Look at the average
38:01groove they're hitting. If your average
38:03is on groove four, you're good. That's
38:06that gives you a nice buffer either side
38:07of about two grooves before they it gets
38:10real disastrous.
38:12So if your average is on groove four,
38:13great. If your average is on group five,
38:15you're going to be a player who has more
38:17fat shots and thin shots. And vice
38:20versa, if your average is on three
38:23with a good player, I like their average
38:25to be closer to the bottom of the club
38:27as well. But uh it depends on your
38:29variance. But yeah, so first thing would
38:32be to look at what your average is
38:34there. And next thing would be to
38:35understand when you make a mistake, it's
38:37not a big thing that's happened. And so
38:40I say trying to make a massive swing
38:43change after a fat shot is like bringing
38:46a sledgehammer to micro surgery. It's
38:49just it's not needed.
38:51>> The reality is after a fat shot you
38:53should go into the next one saying hey
38:55I'm just going to try and pick this a
38:56little bit more. And simple visuals like
38:59in lessons I might say to someone
39:00imagine the ground is glass and you're
39:03just trying to clip the ball off without
39:05smashing the glass. That will lower the
39:07strike on the face. And people often
39:08say, the first time I do that with
39:10people, they say, "Well, how do I do
39:11that?" And I say, "Okay, well, just
39:14entertain me for a moment and make a
39:15practice swing there where you you
39:17barely" or I say, "Imagine the ground is
39:20sand and you take the top grain of sand
39:23off for me." And they'll make a swing.
39:24Sometimes they miss the ground, but they
39:26they're raising it up.
39:28>> I'll say, "Right, now take a huge chunk
39:29of sand." And they'll take a huge chunk
39:31of sand. I'll say, "Now go somewhere in
39:33between." And they do. So again,
39:35everybody has this skill, but not
39:37everybody is tapping into this. And in
39:39fact, mechanical cues can disrupt this
39:42coordinate coordination. So if you're
39:45busy thinking about left arm and turn
39:47and things like that, your body can't
39:49coordinate brushing the ground in the
39:51right place. Whereas if you're able to
39:53get purely focused on hit the top grain
39:56of sand, hit 10, 20, 100 grains deep,
40:00you will be able to tap into that. The
40:02more you practice it, the better you
40:03get. So, a drill I would do for you is
40:05to go out and hit 10 shots. Maybe not
40:08topping it. That's that's kind of
40:09extreme, but try to hit the second
40:12groove. It's actually kind of
40:14functional. It's like it's it's one of
40:16those things that would still maybe land
40:18on the front green or reach the front
40:20bunker. They don't feel great, but
40:22you're not practicing something that
40:24like people are going to look on the
40:26back at you on the range and go, "God,
40:27that guy's having an awful day." just te
40:30the tear the ball up or place it on a
40:31nice p bit of turf and then clip the
40:33second groove and try your hardest to
40:35hit the second groove. And again, you're
40:37not looking for perfection. You're just
40:39looking to say after 10 shots, is the
40:41strike moving lower on the face? And
40:44then do the opposite. Try and hit the
40:45sixth groove. So just try and dig in a
40:47little bit deeper and and then go for
40:50the fourth groove.
40:52>> And you'll find it easier over time.
40:54you're learning reference points that
40:56are very valuable when it comes to
40:59recalibrating mistakes. So, if you're
41:01having a day where it's like, "Oh, I'm
41:02I'm hitting more fats and thins today,"
41:04you'll be able to improve it. And on the
41:07other side of the scale, so that's the
41:08conscious side, you're building
41:09reference points you can use to fix
41:12issues. But even on the unconscious
41:14side, I found that when people practice
41:16these drills, just their ability to hit
41:19the right shot is better. They don't
41:21need the fixes as much.
41:23>> Yeah. It's interesting because like when
41:25you talk about the depth of it being a
41:28kind of issue. So in my mind the reason
41:31I've sometimes hit it heavy is because
41:33of the way that I'll basically deliver
41:36the club kind of like a bit of a early
41:38release. So it's kind of a the more like
41:41technical fix would be right. you need
41:43to be like more shaft lane and compress
41:45it more so you can like yeah make ball
41:48first contact and kind of take out the
41:52sort of risk of hitting it heavy in that
41:54sense but I guess that would be the
41:57opposite to kind of like if the floor
41:59was broken glass obviously I wouldn't be
42:01like if it was glass I wouldn't be like
42:02trying to deliver shaft lean and kind of
42:04you know compress the ball into it.
42:06>> Yeah. Yeah. It's a good point. And so
42:08they are what I talked about the the
42:10vertical part. That's the skill element
42:12of it. That's the micro techniques for
42:14almost everybody. That will be one of
42:17the best drills that it will do. But
42:19there are in technique in techniques
42:23things that can increase the margin for
42:25error. And you've rightly identified
42:27that yes, more forward shaft lean does
42:29give us a bigger margin for error.
42:32having a low point that is more in front
42:34of the ball gives us a a bigger margin
42:36for error as well. The tradeoff to those
42:40two things. So, it's like, okay, well,
42:41why don't pros just lean the shaft 30°
42:44forwards and get their low point 10 in
42:46in front of it? The shot height becomes
42:49nonfunctional at some point. But
42:51actually, when you look at pros, they
42:54launch it incredibly low. Someone did a
42:56study on them. And they were watching
42:57watching pros hit seven irons on the
42:59range and they looked at the launch
43:01angle. Now the average amateur launches
43:03it above 20° with a 7 iron. They're like
43:06scooping it. Pros are launching it
43:09sometimes as low as like 10° 12° with a
43:1279. So yes, they are having more forward
43:14shaft lean. Now these things more
43:16forward shaft lean low point more in
43:18front.
43:19>> They don't eliminate the need for skill.
43:23pros still have to control the depth,
43:26but I've done some of the geometry on
43:28this and someone who's got a level low
43:30point and no shaft lean versus say a
43:34Brooks Kirk who flights it really low,
43:36he's got like 15 degrees of shaft lean
43:38and a 9 degree downwards attack angle.
43:40Brooks Kirk's got about 60 or 70% bigger
43:44margin for error on on the face where he
43:46can strike. So Brooks could probably
43:49strike up to groove six and a half
43:52before it becomes a chunky shot, whereas
43:55the amateur once they strike six,
43:57they're already hitting an inch behind
43:59it.
44:00>> So it's it's
44:02in the absolute terms like it's one
44:05groove higher, but in terms of relative
44:08that one groove might be a whole 50%
44:11more that the a pro has. So
44:14>> yeah,
44:14>> you are right. All right. And so this is
44:16where we have to be careful and
44:18intelligent about how we train for you.
44:22Part of your training should be how can
44:24I get more forward shaft lean and low
44:26point in front. But the other part of
44:28the training should be how can I control
44:30my arc depth. So you might have to
44:32switch between these focuses and work on
44:35them a little. Work on both.
44:39But you have to be very careful with the
44:41technical stuff. I say it's like crack
44:43to to people technically. If you give
44:45someone a skill game and a technique
44:46game and you come back a year later,
44:48everybody's on the skill on the
44:50technique stuff and they've they're not
44:52even doing the skill stuff where more
44:55important. I I don't know. This is why,
44:58you know, asking you these questions, I
45:00feel like one one answer I got from an
45:02amateur once is that they said,
45:05>> I feel like working on a back swing
45:08thing is more controllable. It's easier
45:11for me to control than something that's
45:12happening so fast down at impact. That
45:15kind of made sense to me.
45:18But it's amazing how quickly we or how
45:22good we are at controlling impact.
45:24Actually, lots of people are very good
45:25very good at it. Like if I ask someone
45:27to like I said hit the top top grain of
45:31sand versus like 100 grains deep, they
45:34can do it pretty well. And that's
45:36controlling it by maybe six, seven
45:38millimeters. So it's amazing. we can
45:40swing this club around our body and have
45:41that level of control. Unfortunately, in
45:44golf, small errors make a huge
45:46difference. If you present the face one
45:50degree more closed normal with a driver,
45:54it's about 12 yards more offline. So,
45:56when we smack 136 yards out of bounds,
45:59the face has been 3° closed,
46:02>> which is half a second on a clock face.
46:05So just to hit a fairway, you you have
46:09about a threederee window to hit a
46:11fairway. So number one, I mean that that
46:14plays into expectations. We shouldn't
46:16worry so much when we hit a bad shot.
46:18But number two is how do we go about
46:20fixing this when it happens. Well, it
46:23only actually needs a very small micro
46:26surgery. Doesn't need you to go off and
46:28flex your wrist. That is like 30 degrees
46:31of wrist flexion. You don't want 30
46:34degrees close to face. Now, you might be
46:36able to train something like that and
46:38then hopefully it'll just gradually
46:39nudge there. And that's often why when
46:42people are working on their swings, they
46:43don't see a huge change, but they see a
46:45meaningful difference in the outcomes.
46:47Sometimes good, sometimes bad, because
46:49such small changes are having an effect
46:51on imp. But my answer when I'm missing
46:54it left, so I just open the face a
46:56little at a dress and then grip it. And
46:59if I'm missing it right, I square it
47:00back up again. And I'm constantly trying
47:02to feel and calibrate that. The
47:04difference is because I'm very attuned
47:06to that. And I've done it for so many
47:08years. I've done certain drills as well.
47:10I can feel the difference between two
47:12and three and one degree. In fact, on my
47:15launch monitor, I'll often get people to
47:17present the face one degree open, two
47:19degrees open, 3° open. People are really
47:21good at doing it. Even beginners are
47:24pretty good at doing it. And it just
47:25gets better over time the more you
47:27practice that. But people don't do that.
47:31It's the most important skill we need to
47:34adjust every day. Even if you built Rory
47:36Maroyy's mechanics and you you made
47:40numbers on a 3D vest or something look
47:43exactly the same as Rory Maroy, there's
47:46no guarantee you'd even get the ball
47:49around in in 90. And the reason why even
47:52Maroy chunked one the other day right
47:55now. Okay, people could say, "Yeah,
47:56that's rare for Maroy to chunk it."
47:58That's because his micro skills are
48:00really good. We just don't see those
48:02things.
48:02>> Yeah.
48:03>> But if and I I found this out with
48:05teaching is I could force people I had a
48:08good ability to force people into better
48:10positions, but it it often resulted in
48:13worse outcomes. And you know, even when
48:15we started working with 3D data, I could
48:18make all these numbers turn green with
48:20people and then they'd hit it worse. And
48:22so that's not to discard the relevance
48:26of of technique. You don't want a
48:29horrible technique either. But the thing
48:32that makes a any technique function is
48:34the mic the micro skills. Like how high
48:37you're swinging. Are you swinging
48:38higher? Are you swinging lower? Which
48:40groove you hitting effectively? Are you
48:42hitting more toe or heel? That's
48:43probably one of the easier skills to do,
48:45especially with modern forgiving clubs.
48:47You can actually hit it quite reasonably
48:49far off the sweet spot and still get a
48:50good outcome. and then to sorry open or
48:53closed face controlling those three
48:56things
48:58cuz like I said if you put Maroyy's
49:00swing and you present the face three
49:02degrees closed he's out of bounds every
49:05time.
49:06>> Yeah.
49:06>> And you wouldn't see three degrees on
49:08the camera cuz it's half a degree on
49:10it's half a second on the clock face. In
49:12fact, if you took a 100 Maroy swings at
49:15the top of the swing, his his club face
49:17would be slightly different every single
49:19time. Sometimes it's going to be two
49:20degrees more open, three degrees more
49:22closed at the top, but somehow he's got
49:24the ability at the bottom to get that
49:26club face back into into place. And he
49:28won't know how he's doing that. That
49:30goes really deep down some of the motor
49:32learning literature and how we move
49:34differently every time in subtle but
49:37meaningful ways. On a camera, you look
49:40at the macro motion, Maroy makes the
49:42same macaroy swing every time. You look
49:44at it, you're 100 yards away from him,
49:46you know, ah, that's Maroy. that on a
49:48subtle level, if you put him into into
49:503D and you looked at everything with a a
49:52microscope at different parts in the
49:55swing, he's going to take it away
49:56slightly differently. Club face is going
49:57to be different, but at impact, it gets
50:00back to a more similar position and a
50:02very functional position. So, I mean,
50:04all that's to say, if you spent the next
50:0810 years, you have two choices. You
50:10could work on your mechanics
50:13and at the end of 10 years, maybe your
50:15swing would look better.
50:17Maybe your micro mechanics wouldn't be
50:19any better though. Maybe they'd be worse
50:20because you're tinkering with your swing
50:22and now you got 100 more swing thoughts.
50:23Or you could say, "Right, I just got to
50:25hit the ground. I got to hit this groove
50:27on this part of the face and control
50:29where the face is looking. What if I
50:30spent 10 years mastering that? Wonder
50:32what what would happen then." Or, I
50:35mean, there's a third option. You could
50:36do a little bit of both. There's there's
50:38no harm in doing that as well. You just
50:39have to be careful you don't become a
50:41crack addict. Don't go with the
50:43technique stuff.
50:45I I have I've spent lots of time
50:47teaching people both. I'm still a
50:50mechanical instructor, believe it or
50:52not. Like I can look at mechanic and
50:53say, "Okay, someone's hitting toe and
50:56I'm looking at their swing. I say,
50:57right, they got five toe elements in
50:59their swing. We could remove any one of
51:02these and it would help them." And then
51:03the skill part of it as well. But what I
51:06found in instructing, in being both
51:08instructors, I found that the skill is
51:11far quicker to learn. It has the best
51:15effect and long-term, this is the real
51:18irony, people think it's a band
51:19band-aid. Long-term, it is the most
51:22effective thing. So, say I went back
51:25earlier and I saw there's five toe
51:26elements and this player is hitting out
51:28the toe and I removed one of those. I
51:31trained them in that lesson. We might
51:33see, oh, it's player's hidden less towy.
51:35They'd come back next week and they
51:37found a new way to tow it. either
51:39they've not done what we worked on last
51:42week or those four other elements now
51:44got more extreme
51:46and so you you'd fix that one and then
51:48they come back next week and and the one
51:50that we worked on in week one has gone
51:52back and you just after five weeks this
51:55player's got five new swing thoughts and
51:57they're still hitting out of the toe.
51:59I'm like, "Oh my god, this is
52:00horrendous." But now I don't see that as
52:02much because I give them one swing
52:04thought that is going to last for the
52:06rest of their life. this player's
52:07hitting toe. Let's hit it more towards
52:09the heel. It's going to last for the
52:11rest of their life because and the
52:13reverse of that works as well. There's a
52:14golden rule there. Take the fault and
52:16feel the opposite. So, I know people are
52:18like, "Oh, what if next week he starts
52:19hitting now the heel?" Well, take the
52:21fault, feel the opposite. Always
52:23recalibrates you back. If you're having
52:25a toe day, you're going to be thinking,
52:26"Hit the heel more." But if next day you
52:29wake up and it's like, "Oh, this is
52:30shifted towards the heel. Okay, I need
52:32to hit more the toe." And eventually
52:34you'll have some days where you're like,
52:35"Oh, I don't even have to think about it
52:36anymore."
52:38>> It's like a golden rule that applies in
52:40all situations and eventually just
52:42recalibrates you.
52:44>> It doesn't mean it's easy, right? But
52:46it's at least it's simple and at least
52:48for me it's stayed consistent for the
52:51last 10 years. I haven't had thoughts
52:53outside of these. And it it's just made
52:55golf so much simpler. And it means that
52:58I can go, you know, I I played the last
53:01two rounds three uh two two underpar.
53:05I've missed one fairway. It's
53:07particularly good with the driver. And I
53:09haven't hit balls in 3 months. Now, why
53:13is that the case? Why can I play off a a
53:15plus two to plus four without
53:17practicing? Because it's not it's not
53:20all talent. Talent got me down to like a
53:23a three, five handicap. But it's it's
53:26knowledge and it's the simplicity of
53:28knowledge. I will hit balls on the range
53:30and I'll go I'll go everything's fat
53:32today. All right, I know how to hit I
53:34know how to shift that low point
53:35forwards or I know how to hit it a
53:38little lower on the face. I'm just going
53:39to feel that today. So, I'm using very
53:42simple feels that I've I've refined
53:45before I need them as well.
53:48>> And those feels will be more external
53:51rather than like
53:52>> very very external. Yeah. And they
53:55they'll change from day to day. I will
53:57need some days I will need to hit it
53:59more towards the heel. Some days I'll
54:01need to hit less. Some days I'll need to
54:03really feel like the face is open. Some
54:05days I can feel like it's square. I
54:07never really feel like the face is
54:09closed because I I suffer more with
54:10left. With ground contact, it can vary.
54:13Some days I'm hitting a little thin and
54:15I I need to think, right, I got to
54:16really try and dig in here. Other days
54:18I'm hitting more fat and I'm I'm
54:20thinking, right, I need to pick it more.
54:22So I I that can be a variable feel for
54:25me, but it's it's always the same golden
54:28rule. Take the fault, feel the opposite.
54:30And I'm trying to balance these things.
54:31I'm just hyper aware of these things. My
54:33brain is wired for this stuff now. And
54:36it took time to get there. But if I
54:38could go back 10 years ago, I or 20
54:41years ago, I should say, I would
54:43probably spend less time, not no time,
54:46but less time working on the mechanics
54:49and 80% working on these skills and
54:51wiring my brain for this stuff and
54:53playing with this as well. I think a big
54:55thing that you might have and I would
54:58have 20 years ago is this perfectionist
55:01mentality of, oh, well, I just really
55:03want to do it the right way.
55:06We got to get rid of that because there
55:08are tour players earning millions
55:10setting up way out the heel. Anakah
55:12Sorenste used to set up at the heel.
55:14Zack Zack Johnson. Yeah. Not Jack
55:16Johnson. He's the guitarist, right? Zack
55:18Johnson set up so far out the toe he
55:20looked like he was going to make a
55:21practice swing.
55:22>> Yeah.
55:24>> You've got you've got guys who set up
55:27with open faces, closed faces. I got
55:29gears which is like the 3D analysis of
55:32different pros and you see different
55:33pros set up with very meaningful
55:35differences. Tiger Woods when he was
55:37probably the most best putter in the
55:39world was setting up three degrees open
55:41every time at a dress and slammed it
55:43shut. Doesn't have to be square. You
55:46could have ruined Tiger by saying, "Oh,
55:48you need to set up more square and yeah,
55:50crystal ballwise you're going to hold
55:51more putts." It doesn't work like that.
55:53We don't have to be perfect. And then
55:55you've got Ryan Fox. You know, he's got
55:57every possible
56:00end of the spectrum outlier
56:04matchup. You super strong grip, steep
56:07left arm at the top, tilts a ton, late
56:10release. He's got good things in there.
56:12But in terms of like, okay, the good
56:14things, you've got middle of the bell
56:16curve, good things, extreme outlier,
56:19good things. He's on the extreme outlier
56:20for almost every single one of those.
56:23Again, that doesn't mean anything goes.
56:25I'm not an instructor who says anything
56:27goes, but I bet your technique is very
56:30very functional. I It's a Pareto
56:32principle. You You've ever heard of that
56:34principle. 80% of your results are going
56:36to come from 20% of your efforts. That's
56:38what skill training will get you. I I
56:40think the PTO principle skill training
56:42is 95%.
56:44>> I think 95% of your results are going to
56:46come from the the skill work. you, let's
56:49say five, 10% is going to come from the
56:51the mechanical work. Once you've reached
56:54a certain point, you've proven that you
56:56can get down to two with yours. I think
56:58you can get lower. I don't think there's
57:00a mechanical secret that's going to get
57:02you into the plus figures necessarily.
57:05If there was, it would be okay,
57:10forward shaft lean, low point, more
57:12forwards. Do you know what your attack
57:14angle is, by the way? Have you ever been
57:15on a launch monitor and had it checked?
57:17Yeah, I have at various points, not
57:19super recently, but yeah, with irons, I
57:22think it does tend to be a bit shallow
57:24and my low point will tend to be like
57:26too close to the ball or obviously bad
57:27ones that will be then behind.
57:29>> Yeah. So, a simple drill for you, get in
57:31the bunker, uh, put a line on the ground
57:34in the bunker and just try and make the
57:35middle of your divot farther forwards.
57:38And then once you can do that, just play
57:40around with making it even more more
57:41more forwards. and then play around
57:43with, okay, can I can I contact the line
57:46and make my divot really far forwards?
57:49That's going to change your low point.
57:51That's going to have an effect on shaft
57:52lean as well. And the other thing you
57:55can do is in order to reduce the loft is
57:58just feel as if you splash the sand more
58:01forwards and less up. So if you start to
58:04scoop it, they're going to add more loft
58:06and splash the sand more up. Really feel
58:08like you're driving the sand forwards.
58:11So that will get a lot of the mechanics.
58:13The only thing I'd say with that is
58:15don't ever try to hold off. Right?
58:17[snorts] Lots of people try to force
58:19forward shaft lean. Really whip the
58:21sand. Let the club release because it's
58:24natural to release it. Let the so slap
58:26the sand but slap it for forwards as low
58:30as you can. And that will get a lot of
58:31the mechanics for you. So you could
58:33spend you know maybe 20% of your time
58:36practicing that then reduce it as you
58:38feel it gets more natural and spend the
58:41rest of the time the 80% of the time
58:43working on
58:45build reference points in other words
58:48can you okay how can I learn to hit more
58:50toe can I do that today what's my
58:52success rate out of 10 can I hit more
58:54heel what's my success rate out 10 okay
58:57which one's weaker let's practice that
58:59one more often all right today I'm going
59:01to work on vertical strike strike. Can I
59:03hit lower on the face? Can I hit higher
59:04on the face? What's my success rate with
59:06each one of those? Okay, practice the
59:08weaker one. Can I hit it
59:11more left and more right? I watch your
59:13video where you're doing shaping. That
59:16can be fun, but I would say that's
59:18almost necessary. I would say that's
59:20good at the start to get a feel for it.
59:23But I would just say for you, can you
59:25can you aim at a target and make it fall
59:29slightly to the left and slightly to the
59:31right of that target? And and sometimes
59:33when I do that drill with people, so I'm
59:35say, right, your target is the is the
59:37flag. Make these next shots fall as
59:40close to the flag as possible, but left
59:42of it. People start to hit it more right
59:46because they haven't learned that skill
59:47yet. So, it's just about figuring out
59:49that skill and just doing it through
59:51club face changes. Just set up the club
59:53face differently, take a subtly
59:55different grip if you need to. Um, I
59:57mean, there are there are things you
59:58could feel like the face is closing if
1:00:00you wanted to, but I think grip and
1:00:02setup is enough to make the changes cuz
1:00:04we're talking about two or three degrees
1:00:05really.
1:00:06>> Yeah. Yeah. I feel like now is the first
1:00:09time I've kind of really opened myself
1:00:11up and said, "Right, I'm going to do a
1:00:12load of this." Is there
1:00:15a kind of sweet spot, if you'll excuse
1:00:17the pun, of like how much different
1:00:20stuff to do within this realm kind of at
1:00:22once? Because I feel like I've almost
1:00:24said, right, what are all the different
1:00:25possible drills and like if I just throw
1:00:28everything at the wall? I mean, is it
1:00:30better to like, yeah, have two different
1:00:32things that I'm working on for like a
1:00:34few weeks until I feel like I've made
1:00:35some real progress there and then kind
1:00:37of do different things or
1:00:39>> Yeah, the short the short on time answer
1:00:42to that is exactly what I do because I'm
1:00:44very short on time. It's number one,
1:00:46identify the biggest priority.
1:00:48Number two, then try and do the opposite
1:00:50of that. Number three would be okay, if
1:00:53you don't if you can't do the opposite,
1:00:55then you have to go off and practice,
1:00:56get reference points. But usually the
1:00:59first two will be enough. So identify
1:01:00the priority. It's always going to be a
1:01:03ground contact, face contact, or
1:01:05direction issue. Is it fat or thin? Toe
1:01:07or heel? Or maybe you hit it the right
1:01:09distance, but it was left or right.
1:01:11Okay, that's a club face error. In in
1:01:13almost all cases, club face has been
1:01:15presented differently. So you're looking
1:01:17at which one of those is happening more
1:01:19often. So you have a look at it and you
1:01:22say, "Well, I'm hitting a lot of fat or
1:01:23thin shots here or just just fat shots.
1:01:26Okay, I need to go off and what's the
1:01:28opposite of that? Okay, I'm going to try
1:01:30and hit it off the second groove for the
1:01:32next one until the pattern is balanced.
1:01:35And if you can't hit it off the second
1:01:37groove, you have to say, right, I got to
1:01:38go into my safe space here. Maybe take
1:01:40go on the range or play with a buddy who
1:01:42doesn't care and say, "Right, I got to
1:01:44really try and figure out how I can hit
1:01:45the second groove. I've got to try and
1:01:47overexaggerate this. Maybe try and blade
1:01:50a few just just to get that reference
1:01:52point. Two or three is enough." and then
1:01:54go to the middle ground. Or if in in my
1:01:57case yesterday I was hitting the driver
1:02:00left. And so I would go off and I would
1:02:03practice variance of right. I would just
1:02:05okay for me I just weaken my grip a
1:02:08little or just set the face slightly
1:02:09open at a dress and I see if I can make
1:02:11it fall to the right side within an
1:02:13acceptable area. Just practice that for
1:02:15a bit and then go back to center. So
1:02:18it's yeah the low low on time plan is
1:02:21identify the priority
1:02:23ground ground contact phase contact face
1:02:25direction hit it with the golden rule
1:02:28take the fault feel the opposite and if
1:02:31you can't feel the opposite go off and
1:02:32build some reference points for it once
1:02:34you've got the reference points there
1:02:36they're pretty much there for life you
1:02:37just need to tune them every now and
1:02:39again most people don't have reference
1:02:41points and that's their biggest issue
1:02:42what I mean by that is one of the first
1:02:45lessons I have with someone is I say to
1:02:47them Okay, hit the next 10 from the toe
1:02:49side. Hit the next 10 from the heel. And
1:02:51I see if they they have that skill. Then
1:02:54I say, hit them on the second groove, on
1:02:56the sixth groove. Do they have that
1:02:57skill? Make these fall a little bit more
1:02:59left, more right. They have that skill.
1:03:02We're looking at, okay, what skills
1:03:03don't you have? Or what skills are not
1:03:06refined enough? Okay, let's go in and
1:03:07refine those. Build better reference
1:03:09points. Now, let's go and use them.
1:03:11>> I found that the better players have a
1:03:13better sense of this, which makes sense.
1:03:15It's like if I get a tall player, they
1:03:18if they hit it one groove low on the
1:03:20face, they'll tell you. They've got such
1:03:21a refined sense of it and then you get a
1:03:2320 handicapper, they can shank it and
1:03:25think they've towed it. Like their sense
1:03:27is so off. So yeah, a lot of this is
1:03:29building awareness. I mean, that's
1:03:31that's the first key is like, are you
1:03:32even aware of what's going on? So, you
1:03:35know, before I go through the skill
1:03:37stuff with people and ask ask them and
1:03:39try and identify their skills, I just
1:03:41make them warm up with like 20 shots and
1:03:43then at the end of it, I say, "Can you
1:03:46can you give me a summary of those
1:03:48shots? Like, where do you think you're
1:03:49hidden on the face? What do you do? You
1:03:51think you're more fat or thin? Is more
1:03:53left or right?" It's kind of obvious cuz
1:03:55I'm on a simulator, so it's there in
1:03:56front of them. But very rare do I see a
1:03:59high handicap who even can tell you
1:04:01whether they've hit it too high or low
1:04:02on the face or too toe or heel. And so
1:04:04the awareness is key. Sometimes it's
1:04:06because they're just not paying
1:04:07attention to it. Sometimes they they can
1:04:10tell you if they hit a shot and I say to
1:04:13them in that moment where was that shot?
1:04:15They might be able to tell you but
1:04:17they're so wrapped up in technical cues
1:04:19that they're just not aware of it. So
1:04:21whereas I am constantly so in tune with
1:04:24it every single shot I'm like ah that
1:04:26was 5 mm off the toe 6 millm off the toe
1:04:28I got to move it more heel and good
1:04:31players will do that really good players
1:04:34will almost look at you as if you're
1:04:36silly after asking that I'm like was
1:04:38that off the toe or the heel towy like
1:04:40why why you even asking that was obvious
1:04:41wasn't it
1:04:42>> whereas so yeah awareness is is key
1:04:46>> whole technical first side of golf
1:04:48coaching seems to have always been you
1:04:50know the mainstream, but I feel like
1:04:52it's worse than ever because, you know,
1:04:54like my M I was talking about, he's
1:04:55fairly new to it. We'll be trying to
1:04:57change things in a very kind of
1:04:59rudimentary way of like, yeah, can you
1:05:00just say hit this side of the golf ball
1:05:02with the face closed or whatever, and
1:05:04he'll maybe do one. He's like, yeah, so
1:05:06I saw this video that like all I've got
1:05:08to do is this, this, and this. It's
1:05:09like, no, we're trying to get away from
1:05:10that. But, you know, and I'm as bad for
1:05:12it as anyone. Like, if I'm struggling,
1:05:14then you go on social media or YouTube
1:05:16or whatever, and it's like here's
1:05:18another 20 different ways. Um, I've
1:05:20probably watched every different like
1:05:22Instagram video about how to hit a chip
1:05:25shot.
1:05:26>> I think this is part just part of human
1:05:28nature that when something is so
1:05:30difficult and golf is insanely
1:05:32difficult, we automatically assume that
1:05:35difficult equals needs a more complex
1:05:38answer. And so when you see things like,
1:05:41oh yeah, you got to do this with your
1:05:42wrist or arm motion, and you're like,
1:05:44whoa, I've never heard that before. And
1:05:46then you go off and try it. Do you think
1:05:48that? Cuz I remember a time where I
1:05:51thought there was a secret to this game.
1:05:53I thought if I literally just copied
1:05:55Tiger's swing frame for frame, I would
1:05:58find the answer. And I didn't. I found
1:06:01worse golf and I found injuries in fact
1:06:03because I couldn't put my body into
1:06:04similar positions. I tore my rotor cuff.
1:06:08So yeah, I think we associate difficulty
1:06:11with complexity. Whereas the right
1:06:14answer is actually difficulty often
1:06:17needs a simpler solution. And what I
1:06:20found is the more I learn I had to go
1:06:22really deep into motor learning science
1:06:25to learn this stuff the more I and micro
1:06:28mechanics as well like learning things
1:06:29like wait an out of bounds shot is three
1:06:32degrees left.
1:06:34Wow. So wait there what's all this big
1:06:36stuff we're changing and then you learn
1:06:38that wait we make a different swing
1:06:40every time. So how do we coordinate it
1:06:42then? How does the brain coordinate
1:06:44those small things? And then that leads
1:06:46to external focuses, right? Internal
1:06:49thinking, body motions, external
1:06:51thinking about what the club is doing
1:06:52with the ground. And then you look at,
1:06:53wait, there's 20 years of research on
1:06:56external versus internal and it all
1:06:58points towards external being better in
1:07:00like all these different domains. Huh,
1:07:02maybe I try this here. And then after
1:07:04about 20,000 hours of instructing, I
1:07:06come to the conclusion that yeah, this
1:07:08external stuff is really, really good.
1:07:10And it so I I've got all these things.
1:07:12Most a lot of instructors are only
1:07:15technical instructors
1:07:18and they've never delved into the
1:07:20skill-based or field-based stuff because
1:07:22it's like, oh, how do I teach that
1:07:24stuff? I can't teach someone just hit
1:07:25out of the toe. They don't want to
1:07:26because it's hard to monetize that.
1:07:28>> Yeah. Yeah.
1:07:29>> Whereas I I was super technical as a
1:07:31player. I was the most technical player
1:07:33you could get. Even now, if you sit me
1:07:35down and say, "Adam, talk about swing
1:07:37mechanics for me." I'll be like, "Yes, I
1:07:39love this stuff. Let's talk about
1:07:40forces, pressure, leaderous flexion,
1:07:42supernation. I love all that stuff, but
1:07:45I don't play like that and I don't teach
1:07:46like that for a reason. As I said, I've
1:07:49I've because I've been that side. I was
1:07:51a lead better instructor. Like lead
1:07:53better has 11 links. We have to go
1:07:56through it. Link one, two, three, four,
1:07:58five. And I love that I learned that
1:08:01stuff because I have that in the back of
1:08:02my head. I can pull it out when I need
1:08:04it. But after I've learned both, after
1:08:06I've been both instructors, after I've
1:08:09seen the effects on pupils of in
1:08:11intervening with both of these types of
1:08:13training, after I've done it myself and
1:08:16seen the effect on it, after I've done
1:08:19it, looked at the motor learning
1:08:20research, the big picture just all comes
1:08:23to skill is like the parto principle of
1:08:26of golf.
1:08:27>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think yeah it's a
1:08:30exciting time really in my journey
1:08:32because this is something that's so
1:08:33untouched like when I went for that
1:08:34session with James you know some of the
1:08:36basic things he was like oh you're
1:08:38really bad at this.
1:08:39>> Yeah,
1:08:39>> which is good to learn cuz it's like
1:08:41okay I got a weakness here I can
1:08:42improve.
1:08:42>> Yeah. Um, and I think in a way it was
1:08:44almost better cuz if I was great at all
1:08:46the drills, it's like, okay, yeah, you
1:08:48know, I'm see like an okay golfer and I
1:08:51can do all these things. There's less
1:08:53room for improvement, but it's like,
1:08:54yeah, I can't hit a seven iron without
1:08:56hitting that towel that's like 2 in
1:08:59behind it.
1:09:00>> Yeah, the towel drill is a good one for
1:09:02getting shaft lean and low point
1:09:03forwards as well.
1:09:04>> Yeah. So, yeah, it's almost like, okay,
1:09:06well, there's obviously plenty of like
1:09:09opportunity for growth there. So yeah,
1:09:12if I can get some of that and get some
1:09:15of the technical stuff out of my head a
1:09:17bit, then yeah, hopefully that'll be a
1:09:20decent step forward. Like
1:09:22>> so I'll leave I'll leave you with what I
1:09:24call the dirt method. D I R T. They say
1:09:28secrets in the dirt. D is diagnose. So
1:09:31after each shot, every shot, good or
1:09:34bad, can be diagnosed into how I how I
1:09:36hit the face vertically, horizontally,
1:09:38and whether my ball was on target or
1:09:40not. So you're looking at ground
1:09:42contact, face contact, face direction.
1:09:44That's the diagnosis part. Don't
1:09:46diagnose it as in, oh, I felt weird here
1:09:48or I got quick from the top. Get rid of
1:09:50all that crap. Ground contact, face
1:09:52contact, face direction. That's the
1:09:54diagnosis. I is intervene. All right.
1:09:56The intervention is take the fault, feel
1:09:58the opposite. And if and then the R part
1:10:01is refine. So that's where you're
1:10:03building more reference points. So you
1:10:05know, you're just constantly
1:10:06calibrating. Oh, that was too low on the
1:10:08face. I need to hit a little deeper. And
1:10:10you'll get frustrated with this. You
1:10:11won't always get the shot you want. I've
1:10:13had days where I'm like, this is I'm
1:10:15hitting too high on the face. I'm trying
1:10:16to pick it and I'm just not doing it,
1:10:19but you just keep doing it and you get
1:10:21better at it. And sometimes you have to
1:10:22find out what is the block here. Like I
1:10:24I know you mentioned earlier trying to
1:10:27hit it more from the heel. one of your
1:10:28fears was, "Oh, I don't want to shank
1:10:30it." And that's very relevant if the
1:10:33fear of overdoing it is stopping you.
1:10:36That's where you have to say, "You know
1:10:38what? Maybe for the next two or three
1:10:39shots, I try and really shank it." And
1:10:41even if I do hit a hoszle rocket, I'm
1:10:44just going to try and get that reference
1:10:46point in so I can come back. And you'll
1:10:48probably find those ones where you're
1:10:49trying to hit the the Huzzle Rocket are
1:10:51some of the best ones you've hit. And
1:10:53that will be a Okay, it's safe to do
1:10:55this now.
1:10:56>> Yeah. So diagnose, intervene, take the
1:10:59fault, feed the opposite, and then
1:11:00refine through just constantly
1:11:02calibration. Calibrating the T part, the
1:11:05trans is transfer. So that's to the
1:11:09point where it's like, okay, well, I
1:11:10know what I'm doing. I can do it and I
1:11:12can change it on the range, but when I'm
1:11:14on the course, it gets a little funky. I
1:11:17can't transfer it on the course. That's
1:11:18where you just switch up practice and
1:11:20you do more simulating on the range. So
1:11:23that means hit a driver, step back, hit
1:11:26a wedge over to a different target, step
1:11:28back, hit a seven iron towards a
1:11:30different target, and you're constantly
1:11:32still trying to go through the DIR part
1:11:34of it as well.
1:11:35>> I think, yeah, it's exciting time to try
1:11:38out some of this stuff, and yeah, as I
1:11:39said, I'm so kind of new to it, and I've
1:11:41done so much of the opposite. Feel like
1:11:43I've almost
1:11:45not quite, but almost exhausted the kind
1:11:47of opposite side of trying to get better
1:11:49and Yeah. whereas this is like a whole
1:11:51new world.
1:11:53That was probably all relevant as well.
1:11:54The the old stuff isn't irrelevant, but
1:11:57you might have to undo some of the
1:11:59mindset behind that. Like the hardest
1:12:01part with people in your situation is
1:12:03doing the skill stuff without still.
1:12:06It's not an addition. It shouldn't be an
1:12:08addition. Like you shouldn't be
1:12:09thinking, "Oh, I got to do all this
1:12:10stuff with the movement and get the club
1:12:12to do this." No, you got to really say,
1:12:14right, for the next hour or so, I'm just
1:12:17as blank slate as I can be with my swing
1:12:19and just literally tapping into like a
1:12:21child, can I brush the tops of the
1:12:23grass, bottom of the grass, more toe,
1:12:25more heel, tweak the face at a dress.
1:12:27There's so much you can do at a dress as
1:12:29well, just with the club face.
1:12:31>> Yeah. I mean, the first session I did
1:12:33this kind of stuff, I found it quite
1:12:35like freeing really, whereas I think
1:12:36>> I saw I saw it. I I would say the only
1:12:38thing with that is you were doing quite
1:12:40extreme stuff
1:12:41>> like topping, fatting, super toe, super
1:12:44heel, big shapes. I would say I mean if
1:12:47you're comfortable doing that, do that.
1:12:49But I would want you to get to a point
1:12:51where you're refining it down to okay,
1:12:52which groove am I hitting? Am I hitting
1:12:55like which finger on the face am I
1:12:56hitting? So am I hitting the center
1:12:58third, the toe third, the the heel
1:13:00third? Trying to play around with more
1:13:02subtle variants of it.
1:13:05>> Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, don years
1:13:07ago when I first started. I can't
1:13:08remember how we first got in touch, but
1:13:10yeah, you sent me the book and
1:13:12>> you know what? I didn't remember doing
1:13:14that. I because it was years ago, right?
1:13:16It's probably like nine years ago. So,
1:13:19but I watched a video of yours where you
1:13:20said, "Oh, yeah, Adam sent me sent me
1:13:22the book." And I was like, "Did I?" And
1:13:23I typed in your email and I was like,
1:13:24"Oh, yeah, I did." So, at some point,
1:13:26I'd watched a video of yours and I was
1:13:28like, "I think this this person would be
1:13:30a good candidate before he goes too far
1:13:32down the rabbit hole."
1:13:33>> Yeah. Yeah. That's that saying, isn't
1:13:35it? when the student is ready, the
1:13:36teacher will appear and it's like, yeah,
1:13:38maybe nine years ago I kind of wasn't
1:13:39ready, but
1:13:41>> not many students are ready for the for
1:13:43this kind of stuff. But that's that's
1:13:44been my lifelong passion is is like
1:13:47explaining this to stuff, explaining why
1:13:50someone can spend years making their
1:13:52swing look better and not achieve the
1:13:54results they want out of it. And the
1:13:56funny thing is like if I said to
1:13:58someone, how long have you been working
1:13:59on these mechanics? and they say 10
1:14:01years, I'm in the back of my mind
1:14:03thinking, God, imagine if this player
1:14:05spent 10 years working on the skill
1:14:06stuff. How much better they would be at
1:14:08that just refining that stuff.
1:14:11>> Yeah, I don't want to think about that
1:14:12too much.
1:14:13>> Yeah. No, we can't get that time back.
1:14:15>> All right, mate. Well, yeah, thanks
1:14:16again for your

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