Luke Kerr-Dineen is Golf Digest’s “Play” Editor. In his role he oversees game improvement content across Golf Digest’s multimedia platforms. He has penned and created hundreds of articles and videos with the mission of helping golfers of all skill levels improve their games.
Luke joins Mark Immelman on the #OntheMark podcast to discuss an article that he wrote after the 2024 Masters. That article was essentially about 10 of his takeaways from The Masters Tournament. Takeaways from watching the world’s best prepare and play in aguably the most reconized tournament in professional golf:
Understanding the nature of progress Embracing a results mindset Finding different “feels” for the same thing Embracing the new school waggle Understanding head tilts and the effect of the eye-line on shot direction Looking for patterns and trends Making “good” bogeys and avoiding “brain dead” bogeys Adopting and aggressive and smart course management strategy Avoiding nerves changing the pre-shot process, and The truth abouve golf-swing slumps.
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STREAMING: On the Mark is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts.
ABOUT ON THE MARK: Mark’s knowledge, insight and experience have made him a sought-after mind on the PGA and European tours. Through his career, he has taught and/or consulted to various Major Champions, PGA Tour winners and global Tour professionals such as: Larry Mize, Loren Roberts, Louis Oosthuizen, Patton Kizzire, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel, Scott Brown, Andrew Georgiou and Rourke can der Spuy. His golf teaching experience and anecdotal storytelling broadcasting style makes him a popular host for golf outings.
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WEBSITE: Read top-notch golf content from Mark at https://markimmelman.com
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#golf #MarkImmelman #PGA #PGATour #juniorgolf #golfpro #golftip #golfcoach
[Music]
hellow golf swing junkies and golf
instruction nerds uh you can always
count on this man to ask the good
questions at uh in in press conferences
around and on the PGA tour and I’m so
glad to have him he’s been here before
he’s Luke Kur Denine how’s it my friend
how are you I’m good Mark how are you
and I’m just grateful to be back I’m a
loyal listener and obviously love
chatting with you so always always a
pleasure to come on well the fact that
you’re listening makes me feel better
about me and what we’re doing here
because I know you are very insightful
and have an incisive mind and you ask
all the good questions so but before we
get into it tell us um when you were
last on the show you were with golf.com
you’ve now changed employers you got
something new on the go yeah so I’m over
at Golf Digest where I over see all our
game Improv content you know nothing but
good things to say about golf.com but um
I actually started my career at Golf
Digest before I moved on and and covered
some general Sports at USA Today so it’s
it’s nice to come back home for lack of
a better word you know we’re doing tons
of cool video stuff over here which is
probably the most fun part of my job um
and then obviously lots of lots of nerdy
content which hopefully will entertain
people and also inform them along the
way and help them play better golf you
have a fan here um folks because if you
follow Luke he’s at lkd I think is the
handle on Twitter X um way way back when
I was a little TT and I had a lot less
gray hair in fact it was that was about
40 something years ago um golf diges
used to have full page swing sequences
and each page you turn would be a spot
in the Stars golf swing and I cut every
single one out of every magazine I had I
still have the file filed in those
plastic sheets you know those envelopes
and I fil them all together from like in
the ’90s Luke so you reping the stuff in
digital form is a whole lot of fun for
me thank you oh it’s it’s amaz we have
the whole archive to online over at golf
Dodge and it’s so much fun to just dive
through that I mean like you were saying
full page sequences of the great Tom
wise Golf and and it’s funny because you
could see about the time when golf dig
just started realizing like oh this is a
good idea readers like this we should do
and they would just throw in sequences
of Ben Hogan and Sam sne and and it’s
just it’s unbelievable the amount of
stuff that’s in there and it’s you know
it’s a real honor to be part of this
company now and also just to look back
at what we’ve been doing every every day
over the year well all this legendary
stuff was gathering dust until you’ve
breathe life into the thing so thank you
um speaking of breathing life into it
for folks who watch shows like the Golf
Channel or whatever when you have press
conferences before big events you’ll
always hear Luke in the audience of the
press Corp and everyone’s asking the the
questions like well what do you think of
live and all this sort of boring stuff
and then there’s you it’ll be like so
Rory tell me why you’re doing this with
your golf swing and then I’m like then
my ears perke up so after you were at
Augusta National here in 20124 you wrote
A dispatch that I saw this and I texted
you right away I’m like very smart we’re
going to do
and you quickly came back with I’d love
to and so I want to tear you off with
some of these observations for the folks
who want to go and see it it’s called
The 10 things I learned from the Masters
now as I look through these Luke it’s
not necessarily Master Centric this is
just golf Improvement stuff and which is
why I was so keen on it so um I don’t
need to ask you what the inspiration was
I kind of know that because of who you
are so let’s dive in um the first thing
I kind of laughed at
but me I’m in the throws of final edits
of a book we’re putting out from this
podcast and um it sort of embodies what
I’m feeling right now and that is the
point that you made that his progress is
slow simple and boring now I want you to
turn that into the golf swing golf
Improvement Insight that it was for our
listeners please yeah I mean exactly
right I think if nothing else that’s
what we can learn from Scotty Sheffer
and like you said I’m always in I’m
always the guy in The Press Room who’s
asking the technical questions about the
golf swing but every time I try to ask
Scotty about this he doesn’t really give
you much and it took me a while to
realize like why is that am I not asking
it correctly is he not into this stuff
and really it’s because if you think
about what Improvement looks like not
just in golf but in anything in life
it’s just having the discipline to do
the same things day after day hour after
hour week after week month and that’s
what has made Scotty Sheffer so good he
gets up there on the Range every day and
he’s checking his grip so diligently and
he’s checking his alignment and he’s
making sure he’s doing these basic
things and that stuff is really boring
you know a lot of our a lot of our minds
will wander and will try to make it
entertaining and we’ll Tinker because
we’re looking to find a new way of doing
something but in having the discipline
to to kind of push through the boring
stuff and keep doing it that’s what gets
you that 1% better each each time you go
to the range and I think that’s what
greatness looks like right it’s this
incremental but consistent progress
truly is and you talk about Scotty on
the Range I took a picture of it one
time he has a five iron with a formed or
molded grip on it where he checks his
hands every single time and he hits
balls with it and he does this without
fail at home and and before rounds he
mentions to me and it is then when you
watch him on the course in the pre-shot
routine you’ll actually see how he holds
the club out in front of his face like
this and double checks his hands on the
club before he even goes and when I see
this and I’m calling it sadly I don’t
have time enough to really highlight it
in the network show but then I watch
amateur golfers and they just grab any
old club and just swing away and kind of
hope and the results are kind of
emblematic of their manner before pull
the trigger yeah and I think there’s
something like mystical about golf in
the way that you know we all think like
oh I’m just that one I’m that one thing
away from break you know one
breakthrough moment and there are
certainly leaps you can take in golf but
like you said the the real story is a
little more boring it’s just having the
sort of discipline and the commitment to
do what you’re saying to be the number
one player in the world
going on a run that we haven’t seen
since tiger and yet every time before he
hits a shot he is meticulously looking
at where his thumbs are on the grip the
rest of us we’re just gripping it it’s
moving around we’re doing all sorts of
things different and we’re expecting the
same good results Scotty is poning in on
this stuff and for the um I want to say
the informed golfer the golf fan people
who are watching a show like this on
YouTube or listening to a podcast about
instruction they’re looking for the
fancies you know the wrist alignments
and the flexions and all the sort of
stuff where um like Russell Henley said
to me I saw him on the putting green
here at our home Club he was in the same
spot for like two hours hitting five
photos in it and I was like Russ dude
seriously and he goes I believe that
you’re going to do the boring stuff well
if you want to be consistently good and
now Scotty sheff is kind of proving that
and because he is a who he is in the
game I think it’s shining a bright light
on something that’s very important for
golfers of any skill level
yeah Jason Bale a you know teaches Lucas
Glover and Peter Yul among other a great
phrase it always sticks with the do the
ex do the ordinary stuff extraordinarily
well you know and I’m like yeah that
sums it up right that’s I think that’s a
good little mandra for the rest of us
too he’s actually been on the show and
made that very statement okay that’ll
perfect perfect Pivot Point to uh the
second thing you learned from the
Masters and this was curious to me um
because I’ll get Sports psychologists on
the show and they’ll be like well you
got to be process minded stop worrying
about the results you know be process
minded and stick to your process then
I’ll interview one or other Pro before
the round or the the next round and
they’ll be like I just got to stick to
my process you know let the chips fall
where they may if you will and you go
Embrace a results mindset um so I’m Keen
for you to elaborate with this yeah so
you know with the with the grain assault
here that I’m not a coach I’m just
relaying stuff that coaches and players
tell me but one thing I hear pretty
consistently from players is that they
there is a process to how they walk into
a shot and things of course you know
pre-shot routine
but their goal ultimately is to go and
cash a check on Sunday to lift a trophy
and on the Tuesday they’re trying to get
their game in shape for the Thursday
right like they are trying to get a
little bit better right now um and I
think that that’s what I mean when I say
that a lot of Pros have this results
mindset that they’re trying to make
improvements to their swing and they
know they’re not going to go from zero
to 100 overnight but they are trying to
find something that’s going to work to
some extent pretty immediately if that
makes s and that could be a feel like so
for instance if I’m trying to work on
exiting a little more left you know
because I tend to get stuck in behind if
I have a feel that I’m that’s trying to
help me do that and I’m not seeing good
any level of good shots come out of that
a pro I think would to scard that and
say okay I need to find a new field
because this one’s not working for me
and they’re pretty you know they’re
pretty Snappy with how they work through
that because they’re looking for
something they can put in play pretty
much immediately they’re looking for
some level of immediate return here
doesn’t mean they’re going to get to the
end destination overnight but they do
kind of want to see like okay this is
either working or it’s not and if it’s
not that’s fine but I need to then pivot
quickly so that’s what I think I mean by
a result mindset we’ve talked about
other instructors and you talked about
Jason Bell and You Remind Me Now of
Martin Hall if you keep doing what
you’ve been doing you’ll keep getting
what you’ve been getting and it’s so
true and and your point here kind of
makes it’s kind of jves with uh the
statement the next one where you said
find a new feel for the same thing now
for me this is very important because as
a golf instructor
um when a client comes we’ll figure them
out set a chart Charter course for their
Improvement identify what they can
cannot do what the strengths and
weaknesses are and then I will say well
if you do X Y is going to happen right
and then they might try X but X doesn’t
feel right so then there’ll be many
things around X that I can do or they
can do that will help them to still
achieve y so basically we’re finding
different ways to respect the same
concept uh is that sort of what you’re
meaning there by the new feel for the
same thing yeah you just nailed it like
this is I I think this is what’s funny
is that a lot of players the stuff
they’re working on in their golf swing
isn’t really changing that much from day
to day right like the stuff Victor
hovland’s working through right now
isn’t that different than it was weeks
ago a year ago whatever but he knows he
needs to get into a certain spot on make
a certain movement or whatever it is but
sometimes you can have a swing thought
or a swing feel that works really well
for you that feels great and then for
whatever reason that just goes stale or
it stops working and you need to find
some kind of feel and some ways you need
to find a new field to keep your swing
in the same spot that you want it to you
know and I don’t really know why our
brains work this way but sometimes you
can grip a club and it feels great and
sometimes you can grip a club in exactly
the same way for whatever reason it
feels feels maybe a little stronger or a
little weaker than it does today for
whatever reason and I think that Pros
are constantly looking for just that
tiny little feel that they can take to
the course they can focus on and it
allows them in some ways to focus on by
focusing on this field allows them to
focus on performing the same move that
they’re looking to in their golf yeah um
I want to mind this a bit more because I
think the golfer at Large when they go
out to play they more the only feel that
they have and this is my voice of
experience talking from thousands of
lessons given where I say to them how
did that feel they’ll be like well it
felt good and they were just referring
to how the ball was struck and I’m like
okay what felt good and then it’s like
well the hit and I’m like yeah but what
did you feel are you self-aware enough
now the professional golfer the elites
like Justin Rose said to me goes when he
was working with Foley you know Foley
wants to go in places and Justin was
like all right but my feels are sacred
whatever you’re wanting to do they’re
going to fit into this box for me um so
when these guys are playing and I want
you to recount a little bit um they all
have their feels like with Rory is
looking for high and wide with his hands
and I off the top of my head I remember
Bubba I used to try and talk about
kissing his lead shoulder for a fuller
back swing you know they they all had
their little thing that was kind of
theirs during their swing and it wasn’t
just the way the ball felt off the face
right exactly and I think sometimes what
you’ll often see too is so if Rory I’m
not this is just an like if Rory does
like feeling high and wide and big and
always has that kind of draw feeling
right but sometimes you may feel wide
with your left arm sometimes you may
feel wide with your right wrist
sometimes you may feel wi with your you
know Trail arm whatever it is so he
likes this General umbrella feel of
feeling nice and wide but dayto day it
changes so he’s still trying to get like
wide for instance but there just
different ways of feeling that and some
may feel better what on a Tuesday than
they do on a Thursday versus a Wednesday
so I think that that’s something to keep
in mind that the literal thing you’re
working on probably won’t change around
that much like your Club face is too
open you need to get it closed but some
days you that feeling may win or be may
be one or lost in your right hand versus
with your shoulder versus your arm
Whatever Whatever helps get you through
that round like that’s going to work for
you that day fantastic um on to number
four quickly embrace the new school
waggle now I’ve seen too many golfers
just look like statues over the ball and
I watch the professionals day in and day
out now are constantly moving but I’m
Keen to hear your take on the new school
waggle because um you know I I remember
my Bible back in the day when I was a
kid was the modern fundamental by Hogan
and I basically what he said about the
waggle I copied identically from his
words so I want to hear about the new
school waggle from me please so I think
you know I feel like Waggles have always
been regarded as pretty important like
you got to keep moving you got to
relieve the tension it’s this is
anecdotal but it seems like more and
more players adopt that but then you
they flow into it some kind of technical
thing that they’re working on as a way
of kind of making this technical Thing
feel a little more Loosey Goosey and so
the new school waggle is instead of just
purely feeling the Travino movement get
the nervous energy out what you see is
like a rehearsal of sorts that’s
somewhere between a literal drill
rehearsal and a wagle so you know you’ll
see Rory has one of these now where he’s
picking up the club a little more
steeply in order to help him on his back
swing uh ludvic abber tends to stand a
little far from the ball so what he’ll
do is he’ll get really bunched up into
his into his his arms really close to
his legs and then he’ll place his club
Behind the ball and extend his arms out
just to help get his set up in the right
spot Max Homer was doing it a ton at the
Masters tilting his upper body down it’s
just some small technical thing that you
could miss if you if you don’t look
closely enough but just helps get their
body in the right spot gives them tiny
bit of feel and a funny way this ties in
with your first point where you can kind
of package this as um you know slow
simple and boring and kind of necessary
to me to hitting my good shot because
I’m so with you I I critiqued I’ll be
honest with you my daughter the other
day who golf swing is beautiful but
she’s still really she’s good but she’s
kind of learning the game in a way and
every practice swing she makes looks the
same and I’m like if if you trying to
head a high draw the practice swing
should look way different or the
rehearsal should look way different to
if you trying to punch something out
from underneath the trees you are you on
board with me here is it the same idea
absolutely yeah um yeah I feel like you
see Tony fow do this stuff too where you
know you’ll see
him this Technic you know this technical
change that you need to do just making
it feel a little more natural like a bit
more of a flowing movement and the best
way of doing that for a lot of these
guys is the second before you actually
pull the trigger and hit a golf shot
yeah just in the interest because we
lost you there for just a few seconds
would you mind replacing that re
revisiting please the Tony fow
observation because we lost you just for
a little while oh yeah absolutely you’ll
see something that Tony fow does quite a
lot when he’s setting up over the ball
he’s looking at his Target and then
he’ll make quite an exaggerated sort of
outer in looping waggle back swing
rehearsal thing I mean it looks like a
waggle but it’s also of a rehearsal
because he’s trying to feel like he’s
going out and then looping it under and
so this is solving two things it’s
solving the technical fix that he’s
working on but it’s also um relieving
some tension helping him stay loose
keeping movement and again it’s just
it’s somewhere in between right where
you you’re you’re performing a little
bit of a movement in the last seconds
before you hit the ball helps put your
mind at ease helps relieve some nervous
tension and again it just gives you that
little feel that solves a technical
issue that may be lurking in your golf
fantastic I think the alleviating of the
nervous tension and putting the mind at
eases a biggie over there too um hey and
I’ve always believe I always say to
people I’m like if you’re going into an
examination we’ve all done it you know
you got your book with you and you just
got to suddenly look at that one
question one more time you know just
just so you don’t have a blank when the
when the when the examination is posed
um okay onward um oversimplified head
tilts and I and just open disclosure I
feel like tilts and extension and pivot
are words I’m hearing ad nauseum right
now in golf instruction so off you go
yeah yeah I agree we don’t we don’t like
jaring around these parts but I think
that the the the simplest way to think
about this is that in many ways as
Michael bre was saying um the your
club’s going to follow where your eyes
are pointing so if your eyes are
pointing out to the right your club’s
probably going to swing out to the right
too if it’s pointing out to the left
it’s going to swing out to the left so
um this is a pretty you can see it pop
up in golf swings like we keep talking
about Rory swing but he’s a bit more of
a draw guy and what does his help what
does his head do through the ball his
head kind of tilts and Tucks back into
his body and his eyes are pointing out
to the right and that’s where he swings
right so I think if it’s in some ways
you can spot it in every golf swing just
literally look at their head at impact
and see see where their eyes are
pointing and again it’s something you
can maybe use to counteract a in your
own golf swing right if you tend to
swing over the top maybe your head is
tilted in the wrong direction your eyes
are pulling out to the left um and it
it’s just a simpler way of solving a
little more confusing problem for a lot
of people how about this though you know
me I’m a a big one for respecting Bob
Jones and turning three Strokes into two
and I feel like all the golfers
listening no matter where your skill
station is if you good at shot number
three you make Bunches of Threes And one
of those shots number three is good lag
putting you know hitting put um and just
organizing your ey line on the putting
green is a big deal too tell people how
many professional Elite golfers you see
with a mirror on a green prior to round
a golf huh oh I mean yeah you know my
every single one seems I mean if
somebody told me that 90% of Pros use
mirrors I would say that seems a little
low it’s it’s might be 100% literally
every single day not all of them spend
hours on them but it seems like every
single one gets on a mirror at least for
five minutes and just make sure their
head’s not tilted in a wacky direction
that their eyes are pretty straight
relative to the golf ball because they
know that if your eyes are tilted out to
the right your puttting stroke probably
is going to be
too oh brilliant love it okay onward um
look for a pattern look I’m a Big E on
this and especially patterns on the golf
course and you’ll find PGA tattis now
I’m stepping aside but here’s just the
anecdote
um the PGA to caddy is as good as their
funds are as good as what their player
plays so they’re fiercely motivational
and they’re very factual about
everything and they’re keeping numbers
on how far the ball’s traveling on the
golf course all of the time and so and
if they see their dude hitting a certain
pattern all the time with the balls
traveling shorter they’re letting the
guy know about it so nothing is missed
prior to the swing is made now that’s
another aside that’s a pattern for how
are we going on the day we’re not going
to try and do something we can’t uh when
you talk about looking for patterns what
do you mean so I think the takeaway here
uh is just to be observant about your
own game really like a lot of people
like stat tracking is becoming obviously
huge among the amateur amateur level
maybe you’re using a system like arour
or something like that where you can
literally track it but if not like I
don’t think you should just be rinse and
repeating golf shorts and not really
thinking about what just happened after
and it doesn’t require it’s not a huge
chore mentally but just ask yourself oh
I seem to be missing short right of the
green a lot oh I seem to be pulling my
shots left a lot and just you know maybe
you’re marking it down on a scorecard it
doesn’t even need I mean Jason duffner
told me once that he’s not meticulously
keeping his stats like Matt Fitzpatrick
Who records every single shot but he is
going through his round or after his
round he’s going through his round and
just saying oh I did miss that shot left
didn’t I oh I missed that one left too
oh I missed that one shot right okay
well I missed I seem to miss the and
he’s just kind of a gut check feel and
that’s something that the rest of us can
do very easily and it can be very
informative about what’s going on yeah
look it’s so important I mean it’s TR
but every stroke is worth one and they
all all those ones add up quickly now if
this was your portfolio and you’re
watching the stop you’ll be watching the
stock market because if stuff’s going
bad you’re not just going to double down
put more money in there kind of thing
you know it’s it’s the same deal whereas
golfers we can get a little little numb
maybe I would almost say intellectually
lazy because people don’t take time to
look for this stuff and when I mean lazy
they go straight to fixing the golf
swing as opposed to maybe and I would go
further if you seeing a tendency on the
golf course before you blaming your golf
swing look for the situation was it off
a certain Li was the wind in a certain
direction something like that that
certainly will have an an effect on on
on on your shot quality and result
exactly and you know Mark you’re
obviously a really good coach too like
what’s the first thing if a student came
to you and said hey Mark help me uh when
I mishit it I I I hit high right shots
and they go shorter instantly that gives
you that helps you fix that so this is
like really important stuff for the
student like me to know so if I can just
give you a baseline like hey here’s a
quick download on my game I thin my
chips and and I almost never chunk them
like hm suddenly that means a lot to a
coach they can fix you a little bit
better the right direction yeah yeah
exactly there’s a story behind that and
this is how important it is people um I
was fortunate way back in the day to
meet John Jacobs to me one of the
probably the father of modern golf
instruction um and I watched him give a
lesson basically with his back turned on
the guy heading and all he did was ask
the guy how did you strike it and he
would watch the ball flight and he got
the guy to straighten off a slice by
just watching the ball flat because he
stood face alignment swing path that
sort of stuff all he needed to know was
contact quality and and he helped the
guy without looking at him and that
speaks to watching and being OB
observant and not just looking at it as
if it’s a bad shot you know there’s
always a trend to something exactly
exactly and sometimes it’s the fix is
easier sometimes than you may think it’s
the recognition that can be the
difficult part sometimes
yeah um I love this one the former
college golf coach in me smiled when I
read
it good Bogies versus brain dead
Bogies now you could put folks you could
put any score in there it could be good
doubles versus brain dead doubles but
it’s just the concept thereof so please
go yeah exactly it’s for a pro like the
brain dead Bogies quote came from Brian
Harmon but again for you maybe a brain
dead double right and really the way to
think about this is that got bad shots
happen in golf right sometimes you’re
going to step up on a tea and you’re
just going to carve one out to the right
and that’s really really annoying but
when you do that you may hit a good shot
back into the Fairway and Chip it on and
give your next part a good go and then
you tap in for a bogey and you know what
like that’s a pretty good bogey or maybe
you get up and down for bogey because
you got in some tree trouble or whatever
it is
grinding out Bogies or you know what
whatever it may be grinding out PS
grinding out Bogies you should take
pride in that because that’s going to
happens sometimes the really annoying
doubles or the really annoying Bogies
are the ones which are just you know
self enforc errors they’re the ones
three parts is a classic brain dead
bogey um striping a drive down the
middle having a wedge into a green and
making a A bie or the famous tiger five
you know
metcs he used to do no Bogies on was
just a rule like there’s no excuse you
don’t need to birdy every one of them
but you can’t bogy them and that could
be double for the rest of us or whatever
but again it’s the you don’t need to
reinvent the wheel to play good golf but
you do need to just keep a cap on your
mistakes and I think that that’s really
the key with this I want to drill this
down a bit more because the brain dead
bogey to me is honestly brain
malfunction um I can forgive a bad swing
um but you you can maybe miss a m strike
a wedge or whatever but I think with
you’re not picking judicious targets or
having a Real Time assessment rarely of
who you are as a player and aiming for a
hole that you shouldn’t be aiming at and
then you hit it in a bunker or water or
whatever and you make a big number
that’s the deal so to that folks this is
what you can practice this is the
college coaching me coming in um I used
to have a rule with my team they used to
go play where if they had inside 125
yards okay the club that they hit that
shot with was the club they had to hit
uh pardon me so they it had inside 125
yards the rule was when they out playing
the next shot had to come with a putter
so if they hit a stupid shot and they
miss it in the bunker they had to use
putter from there on until they got the
ball in the hole or if they Tred to gas
a sand wedge and it came up short 50
yards whatever it is it was the same
kind of deal and all of a sudden you
would see these kids smart up because
because they’re like okay he’s real so
they would aim to the middle of the
green make four or option three and get
out of there as opposed to making those
brain dead Bogies exactly dumping it in
a bunker with a whatever getting greedy
thinking oh this is this is my time to
hit one cloth you know or even it’s
funny I was on the phone with Eduardo
Molinari the other day for an article
that I wrote and he was saying that
basically it’s still true for tour
players that when you’re in a bunker
anything on the green is a shot is is a
marginal shot game and this is for tall
you know like it’s it’s again it’s it’s
it’s just about taking the disaster off
the table here so the whole like oh
maybe I can get cute with this you know
maybe I can sneak a sixe over this lip
instead of a instead of a sevene and
then drilling it into the lip that’s
that’s a brain dead that’s a brain dead
mistake I’ve seen a few of those golly
um look um Victor hin was a little
unlucky at oakill last year with that
Fairway bunker shot but if he picks one
more Club Brooks keco may not be the
winner of the PGA and Victor might have
his first major exactly a couple more um
we’ll kind of work them in together
because I kept you for a long time and I
know you’re busy aggressive doesn’t mean
dumb that’s the first one and the other
one is don’t let nerves change your
process now folks you can find this
article if you go follow at lkd or Golf
Digest but talk about aggressive doesn’t
mean dumb um I think that was a Scotti
ISM as well there from the master
yeah so gust is so unusual because the
greens are so sloping obviously you know
better than anyone that there are a lot
of these Shelfs right there’s big slopes
and then there are flat tiny flat spots
and so sometimes you’ll just see a pro
aim straight at the pin and you’ll be
like whoa what’s he doing and it’s it’s
because effectively the rest of the
green is big and sloping that that
effectively that green that part of the
green doesn’t exist right he’s aiming at
the Ping because he has to because
that’s the only real flat spot so I
think that’s just a really interesting
qu about austa quirk’s the wrong word
but you know what I’m getting it’s a
it’s an interesting design kind of
quality about Augusta that
sometimes the pin in some ways is
irrelevant you’re just you’re just
trying to take a line in which your
ball’s going to be in a relatively good
spot and that means being creative
sometimes I’m glad you say that because
it’s don’t know where I first heard this
probably eons ago and it wasn’t mine but
I’ve heard it being said that you make
aggressive swings towards conservative
targets now yes if you have to play to a
certain area given the situation
understood but otherwise swing
aggressively just to the middle of the
green or whatever you’re deciding as
opposed to going well wishy-washy and
I’m going to die during my swing when
I’m approaching one or other
shot exactly exactly you’re not you’re
trying to find a spot that’s going to
leave your next shot in a better
position ultimately right you’re like
kind of constantly playing one shot
ahead of the one you’re about to hit and
it is just a fascinating case study of
that because the pin obviously it
matters but the slopes and hitting your
ball into the middle of the green and
having it cream off the left side of the
green that’s what you’re trying to avoid
there so you’re just really going
hunting from spot to spot to spot to
spot that’s what Scotty ultimately does
well so well yeah Daddy pepper talks
about point A to point B golf okay the
last one I’m interested to know if this
is from a player or if you just were
watching people intently which I
probably I think was the answer you like
don’t let nerves change the
process yeah so I was walking around
with uh ludig o and and his Co H his
coach excuse me Hans lson who’s been his
coach since junior and he was saying
that a big Trend in sports psychology
used to be that uh you know if you’re
nervous go to your happy place take lie
down in a bed take deep breaths and just
get rid of all your nerves and I and he
said that the biggest shift he’s seen in
recent years is that that mindset just
gone out the window because it’s
basically impossible if if you’re
nervous about something I can’t tell you
to not be nervous and I can’t tell you
that nerves are bad the the problem
isn’t being nervous the problem is when
you let your nerves change the way
you’re doing stuff you know so if I’m
nervous and all of a sudden I start
pressing the panic button and I pull a
five iron off a te CU I don’t want to
hit a driver into the trees or whatever
it is that’s when it starts becoming a a
problem so this is where having these
Little Creature Comforts for yourself
can really come in handy whether that be
a pre-shot routine maybe you can do a
new school waggle maybe that’ll help you
get comfortable whatever it is some kind
of rock that you can lean on in these
moments when the nerves do come that
won’t last forever but you just need
something to get you through these
moments and this idea that you can just
not be nervous it just that doesn’t
exist so you need to find something else
to help you get through the nerves yeah
um I’ve spoken to a bunch of experts you
have two U the the deep breathing is a
big a way to sort of at Le settle the
heart rate down but then I think and
this is top of mine because of the work
I’m doing just prior to this call um out
of the book Rella you know said it on
the show where he goes I’ve to I’ve
worked with many Top Flight
professionals and the golf ball has n
canny ability to go in the direction of
your last thought so if you so basically
paraphrasing if you’re nervous and
you’re like oh my gosh there’s kingdom
come down the right hand side you’re
going to redirect your thought in your
process to a more constructive Target
which almost gets us back to your second
to last Point yeah exactly and you know
it’s funny Tiger Woods used to talk well
he still does he’ll say this stuff all
the time where he’ll just say yeah I’m
not trying to be not nervous I I he he’s
just trying to reframe reframe his
nerves as a good thing he’ll saying
nerves are good the adrenaline is good
helps me hit the ball further helps me
focus more I like when the nerves come
so he’s not trying to deny how he’s
feeling he’s trying to use what he is
feel and I think that’s something that
we can we can all learn a little thing
from speaking of learning you’ve taught
us a whole lot and folks this man is my
favorite follow on social media because
you get everything from Old School
swings to Insight like this sort of
stuff it’s all encompassing so please
shf for the people Luke where they can
find you oh thanks Mark you’re way too
nice but um yeah lkd golf on Instagram
um you know Luke cine or lkd on Twitter
too um my stuff’s kind of constantly
flowing through Golf Digest I’ve got a
newsletter called golf IQ so um all all
all good things all all the you like it
because you’re you’re a golf swing nerd
at heart Mark which we love so that’s uh
that’s that’s that’s what we’re doing
around here I’m amazed I can only
imagine what you have cuz at the RBC
Heritage in
2024 um in preparation for the weekend
broadcast on Friday afternoon I just
walked around like a fan now granted I
was a fan inside the ropes my colleagues
called me out on this I wasn’t in the
Fairway I was just walking inside the
Rope line and I was watching Scotty you
know i’ I’d called him before you know
working but I didn’t want a producer
voice in my head I just wanted to walk
along and sort of take stuff in kind of
like you do and he hit some shots I was
struck you know talk about targets and
and and and smart
playing uh I watched him had 12 approach
shots only one was on the weak side of
the flag only one so he played to the
smart side of the flag all the time not
necessarily 30t but always on the safe
side of the Target and then he hit this
three-wood on the power five the 15th
off a tight eye up and over those trees
down the left in the middle of the green
and I happen to get a video of this
stuff and I put it on Twitter and the
thing is and countings way over a
million views already so I can only
imagine the kind of interaction you get
with your
account exactly I mean that’s what’s so
great is that with social media you know
for all its for all its faults the thing
it does great right is that it allows
certain communities to find each other
and so you know that’s the side of this
golf ecosystem that we live in right we
get to talk about golf swings we get to
nerd out about this stuff you know
sometimes I’ll do an interview with a
player and I be like good news I care
zero% about live I care zero% about all
this stuff I just want to learn what
makes you good at golf because I want to
be good at
golf look I mean you ask it like a fan I
I host this podcast like a fan too and I
love to feature bright minds and you are
one so thanks for joining us I
appreciate you oh thank you Mark I
appreciate you too
how’s
1 Comment
Fantastic Mark and Luke. I'm on the verge of making a single figure handicap and information like this is absolute gold. I really appreciate this 🎉⛳️ Thanks guys