Fascinating interview with Dylan Wu (finished 86th on the PGA Tour 2023). He talks about his time at Northwestern, the keys he learned from coach Pat Goss, how he practices, what he’s working on, and the behind-the-scenes lifestyle on the PGA Tour.
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I hit it so much worse like five times worse than the five iron I’m like that makes no sense like if you think you can change your swing somehow on Tuesday like there’s no way it’s going to perform Thursday or Friday with any pressure like I don’t really care where
The golf ball is going like when I was in high school I might just bring my own lunch or have something really quick and go putt at the club like the one thing that’s like people don’t realize is like pros don’t hit it as close as you think
Like when Rory hits a 4 iron or Brooks kka hits a 4 iron it’s unreal or tiger it’s just like it’s Landing like a like a feather and it’s a for iron so that’s that’s why sometimes like playing golf and like inside the ropes is the easy
The easy part that’s the it’s the best part all right excited to sit down with Dylan woo talk a bit about his journey how he got to the PGA Tour and then how he’s continued to level up on the pro golf tours and circuits kind of continually improving his skills year
Over year I think it’ll be a really fun conversation Dylan thanks for hanging out with us perfect no thanks for having me absolutely well take take us back I I want to figure out like how did you develop your skill like what’s your first memory of the golf course yeah so
Um I’m the oldest of four but uh luckily I kind of have pictures of myself um when I was on the putting grd when I was like one or two years old I’m lucky enough that my dad kind of I say started me young but I kind of just always been
I’ve been always around the game um so I mean ever I’m 27 now and technically probably had a golf club in my hand probably the last 25 and a half years and um my dad our dad was always better better than us I when we at least when I
Recall being a kid um but we would my memory is at the club like my especially in the summertime when there wasn’t any school my parents are dentists and pretty busy so they just drop us off at the at the at the course there’s like one country club where I grew up in
Southern Oregon um it’s a small not it’s kind of a small town but like 70 80,000 people but there’s like one course um there and they would just drop us off and we would spend the entire day there um I was literally just in Oregon the
Last two days uh seeing my parents and uh playing golf with a couple people at the club I grew up at and um talking to like the head pro who’s been there for 25 years now like he just recalls like yeah the Woos just like are everywhere
Like they got there’s there’s three of them they’re they’re there at 8:00 a.m. and they’re there till the end of the day just playing as many holes as possible um so that’s the one cool thing is when I spend time with a family like golf’s definitely a big part of that um
When we when we all get together um it’s a lot of golf and um like I played golf at Northwestern U my twin brothers they both played college golf one played at Air Force the other one played at valo and I have a younger sister who’s four
And a half years younger than me and she just graduated and she played golf at libum University um so all four of us played D1 golf which is really cool and it’s definitely stems from my dad um kind of putting a club in my hands probably the first year year or two when
I was born and um yeah I take credit for leading the way leading the way for all of us golfing when did you know that you were good yeah I think when I was basically like 12 or 13 is when I really kind of realized I was good I was I knew
I was good at in golf in Oregon I was kind of the best player in Oregon for my age and then I started like when I was 12 or 13s when I kind of was getting better and then I started playing some national tournaments in the Aja on the
West coast and then like when you’re playing in Oregon like Cal you play so much golf in California and California has like 50 times 50 times more players than Oregon so like it was definitely like I think pretty intimidating the first time playing in some tournaments
On the west coast and in California but I soon realized that my game was pretty good and um yeah I just kind of kept on getting better um I think I just the one thing for me as I just loved golf so much that I just wanted to get better
Like I never necessarily had the dream of playing on the PJ tour I probably did honestly but I just like try to really just work hard no matter what um and just love spending time at the golf course all the time and like my parents knew like my brothers and I also played
Ice hockey and we played it at a very high level starting at the age of five but I always wanted to be at the golf course no matter if it was raining um like I’d be there till dark all the time um just waned to get better and then
Yeah like 12 to 13 is when I started playing in more of the national tournaments and then playing well on those and then just kind of slowly going up from there so what do you credit for your like being one of the the best at
That young age 11 or 12 was it your Technique the way that you practiced was it just that You’ spent more time than other people learning is there anything now that you think about as like that is why I got so Good by 11 I just loved being out there I just
Loved learning about the game just learning about like the swing learning how to hit different shots I think my dad like I don’t say we read a lot of like mental books about golf but I think he always like just told me like there like some
Like it’s like the Ben Hogan quote like there’s never a shot you’re not prepared for so I think as a kid I just wanted to hit as many shots as possible and just really just be out there I really think it’s not like I Swang it that much
Better or had a perfect swing when I was a junior golfer compared to other players but I think I just spent so much time golfing like I told people like even when I was in Middle School like as soon as I’m done with uh school I’m going straight to the golf course like
When I was in high school um like lunch that hour lunch I might just bring my own lunch or have something really quick and go putt at the at the club that’s like 10 minutes from our high school and spend 30 40 minutes putting so just like
I just wanted to be at the golf course all the time and I think that’s the one thing I I really realized that I look back at now that that was key to my success is just I honestly myself I wanted to be out there like there’s definitely stories of like people in
That age from like 11 to 13 like they’re really good their prodigies perfect swings and stuff like that and their parents are like forcing them to do stuff but like my parents are like the farthest away from that possible I play in the Windom cup when
I’m 15 it’s like the East versus West like the top 10 boys in the west versus the top 10 uh boys from the East and that’s the girls too so it’s 20 20 against 20 and I’m playing with at the time like now I’m playing with like Sam Burns Scotty sheffler
Um trying to think of other tour players there’s like a handful of other tour players but I’m like holy crap these guys are very very good like these are the kids that were really good also at a young age that you hear their names and then you get thrown into that and
Sometimes it’s you just have such high expectations because you want to do well and I honestly didn’t do very well on some of those big events and I mean I I definitely learned a lot from that I mean I feel like I learned more than if I actually ended up performing well just
Because you learned more from your mistakes um but yeah it was that that was the toughest part when I was maybe like 15 or 16 U when I was really good but like I wanted to get even better like where I was like ranked maybe in the top 15 to
20 in the country but when you play with those guys who are like the top three or four you’re like holy crap these guys are really really good and then you just you get so focused on trying to beat them or like watching them versus actually just focusing on on your own
Game and letting your own game speak so give us those key mindset shifts that you wish you knew so if you were to make a list would you like hand to Young Dylan at at 15 or 16 yeah I would be I mean I think the number one thing would
Be the the first thing would definitely like be be more mentally strong and don’t live or die by every shot just have a better attitude honestly like I was getting I was getting pretty mad at times like I’d be like muttering to myself I still do that nowadays but when
I was a junior golfer I’d let it I’d just be pissed off like I wouldn’t be like throwing clubs or anything like that but I’d be pissed off at myself and yelling at myself and then like maybe having a negative at itude and then like if college coaches are watching that
Like they they don’t want that at all so I think I should just if I could tell myself a few things would just be like it’s going to be okay and you’re just going to learn like every every bad shot or every good shot is a learning
Experience so like don’t have to live or die by every shot um that’s like kind of the biggest thing I mean I think there’s definitely a couple things like skill-wise like if I knew about the golf swing but I don’t think I think if I talked like how I know the
Golf swing to like 15-year-old Dylan he’d be like what the hell are you talking about like I’ve I just like swing you know a little bit uh but I think that just comes with learning um I probably would have told myself to um practice a little smarter versus just
Being out there and hitting golf balls or like putting just a putt having a purpose over every shot I think those are the those those are the big differences in say junior golf to professional golf or like where I am now it’s just like every time I practice now
It’s usually with a purpose that there’s a reason I’m practicing like it’s on on One Thing versus I’m just hitting balls to hit balls to make myself feel better it’s like no I’m working on the swing to hit this shot in a tournament and to work on this this section of my game
That I think needs to improve uh when I go into the next handful of events so I think that just comes with maturity though I think that just comes with growing up and and learning like there’s not many 15-year-old kids that or 14-year-old kids that would know all
This stuff if they do it’s crazy and hopefully they don’t uh overthink too much because sometimes when you GI are given all this information like you can start thinking about it too much and getting way too Technical and overdoing it um sometimes you just need to learn
Learn on your own I I want to get to what you’re working on right now but what do you remember about going from college and then jumping through the tours like what are the key things that helped you keep making jumps did anything change in the way that you
Practiced or skill wise or like yeah um I visited Chicago and Northwestern in the middle of January it’s snowing I’m like what am I doing here but my coach there Pat Goss who’s still my instructor now on everything um was the best he was the best coach I talked to in College
College recruiting um it was my best visit by far um the one thing that really stuck out stuck him out from everybody else was that on my visit he’d base his success on a CO as a coach on how I developed as a player and that really spoke to me because now many
College coaches are have like experience in professional golf Like Pat Luke Donald went to Northwestern Pat coached him to number one in the world Pat’s like a world-renowned short game coach when I was in college like he be giving lessons to like Gary Woodland um Webb
Simpson Luke and like all like the best players in the world like would would pick Pat’s ear on short game and I’m like if he can take Luke to number one in the world he can definitely make me a better player and I told myself I could
Go to any school and get a great degree in whatever and live a great good life outside of golf but if I really want to get to the next level and play on the PJ tour and play professional golf I want to be with a coach that can help me get
There so that was a big re reason um that’s just a huge part of My Success like I I could have went to another school and maybe I thought I could be a professional golf I mean a PJ Tour player but who knows like I feel like I learned so much at Northwestern
And got so much better in college that um through Pat um and through his instruction that it was kind of invaluable to me um yeah so the the keys like what are the keys that that Pat taught you at Northwestern that helped you elevate your game yeah um so other
Than so like the first thing I think is like learning how to chip and learning how to putt properly I think when you as a kid you grow up putting the ball in the back of your stance and like pressing forward with your hands and then hitting hitting it low and and
Chipping that way I mean I think chipping that’s what like what was taught um to us at least when we were kids and nowadays is like the first time people are saying in the last couple years like you have to use the bounce like it’s been talked talked about way
More now than it was say 10 12 years ago go so learning how to chip was like a huge thing like learning how to open the face in the back swing and use the balance properly hitting hitting shots with spin versus hitting everything bump and run um and learning how to like just
Have touch and I think that was just a huge part of uh the success I had um in college or just made me such a better golfer like learning how to Chip and Putt and when I was 17 versus like 22 when I graduated or even 17 in like 18
When I got my first year in North Western I was just like mind blowed and like wow this is like so different um and I think another thing with Pat I loved how honest he was as a coach um he’s he’s been there for almost 30 years
Now um but my teammates and I joke all the time like there’s a few quotes that Pat has when he’s teaching us watching us play or even in tournaments like when he’s teaching us and you’re like working on say a swing thought or a short game
Shot or a putting stroke um where he’s giving you instruction he’s like better not right it’s like it was better but it’s not right so like you’re getting closer but it’s still not still not good enough but like and then another one is like if you’re
Um if you hit a bad shot and you’re like sorry coach that was a bad shot or sorry I was being stupid he’s like don’t be sorry just do better I’m like yeah that that makes a lot of sense so he was just super honest and very transparent which
Sometimes isn’t the best for some people because some people I want to say some people want to be like uh coddled but that’s kind of what it is I think Honesty is the best and it’s if you can really be honest with yourself you’re just going to you’re only going
To learn and be better so I think Pat being honest was just was so helpful um just cuz then you’re just so focused on just getting better on whatever it is like your swing short game putting or anything as long as you’re just like not feeling nobody’s going to feel sorry for
You it’s like what’s the point of feeling that’s basically what he said it’s like why do you feel sorry for yourself just do just just do better next time um and then I think the one the bigger thing too is Northwestern golf like I think it really taught me
How to practice with a purpose and like just be a better golfer by making practice as much like of a like a tournament as possible um like setting up drills every day like course management drills like doing putting drills for completion like putting things that put pressure that you have
To complete or else you or else you to restart like I think Northwestern golf is very good at developing golfers um and it might not show immediately in the Collegiate success but definitely has shown in the success uh post college and professional like with Luke Donald me
David lipsky um I mean we take matz Patrick because he was there for half a year but he won the US Open So like um Northwestern golf just definitely Northwestern and Pat just really helped me become a better golfer and learn how to to practice and learn how to be
Honest with myself and just not only then did the instruction and my knowledge of the golf game got so much better but I just learn how to practice practice smarter and more efficient in a way that um is going to help me play My best golf I think I also
Learned at Northwestern like what is my golf DNA like what’s how how’s Dylan woo going to play his best golf like Dylan wo is going to be different than any any other golfer but how am I going to attack this golf course today how am I going to shoot the best score course
Like I got to play play to my strengths and stff like that like of course you’re working on your weaknesses but you also have to know your strengths and then play that play that way um so all those things were just so huge um to my success in college and then honestly
Afterwards so you mentioned like practicing with a purpose is being really important a couple times now tell us like this week what does your practice look like and and like what are you working on right now and how are you structuring that yeah so this is is offseason so offseason’s a little
Different so basically I kind of like go through all my stats the entire year like what was good what was bad so a lot of stuff was a lot of improvement for my rookie year second year was a lot better but I’m like kind of going through like
What I need to improve and I just saw Pat this past Monday he came to Arizona and like right now I have a little break we until the Sony where like the beginning is just a lot of technical work like we’re doing a lot of back
Swing stuff and like um just like the swing was getting not necessarily in the in a perfect spot at the end of the season just you’re playing all year round you you develop some I don’t say bad habits but like it’s really hard to make changes in the middle of the Season
Like there’s just there’s especially like tournament week there’s no chance like if you think you can change your swing somehow on Tuesday like there’s no way it’s going to perform Thursday or Friday with any with any pressure like it might you just got to bleed things
Into it but um like right now like my practice it’s it’s pretty block practice like where I’m like really trying to slow it down and like um do like drills to put myself in positions that I don’t really care where the golf ball is going like really right now I just want to
Make sure I’m doing the the swing or like whatever I’m working on right like right now like in my back swing at the end of the season the club was getting a little too deep and like I W say across the line but like just deep in behind me
And across the line so like right now I’m trying to feel like the club folds more in front of me and halfway through the takeaway and then gets a club for me it feels like a little more up and laid off so like when I first hit it I’m like
God I’m pointing the club like way this way I’m like I’m going to hit slices whatever but um that you just got to embrace the process of just making changes cuz like I think with the golf game in general like when you think you make you swing so differently on this
One move like the club might have moved like this much in a better position so you just right now it’s all about trying to kind of embrace the change and spend time working on it um but say like coming back back I’ll do that for a
Little bit but then closer to say like two weeks before I go to Sony like I’m doing drills uh and more practice with a purpose where I’m like trying to get myself ready for tournament so like the things I’ll do during that is like I’ll work simple stuff is like I always check
On my distance control with my irons like all how far everything is going I’ll do drills with the my track man like making sure I’m hitting distances from from 50 yards all the way to 240 yards um there’s uh the trackman has a great um uh Strokes gain uh drill you can do
So like every so like your Target in the distance constantly changes like you’re still aiming at the far flag but that flag could be instead of in the center of the green every single time it could be a back right pin location front left all these different things um different
Distances so it’s like you’re kind of creating tournament tournament like um conditions in practice and then you just get so focused on completing the drill that you’re like you just get in get in the zone of doing that versus uh just hitting balls just to hit balls like for now I’m really
Trying to hit balls just trying to work on this motion to see if I can help help basically I help my golf ball curve a little more left to right and not draw as much and kind of just get my ball striking a little my iron play a little
Better um and then getting closer to Sony like some of the putting drills I do like I’m spending maybe only 10 15 minutes just doing checking to see if I’m hitting my start lines like I use putting plates um putting plates there’s a lot of guys on tour use it it’s
Basically like this like any basically it’s like this Square uh like metal plate that you put on the ground just to hit your start line to make sure you are starting to put online like I’ll spend like 10 15 minutes on that it’s like a chalk line or anything like that making
Sure I’m hitting my start line and then other than that I’ll just be doing a bunch of drills like I’ll do speed drills where like one speed drill I love to do every single time I get to a tournament on a Tuesday or Wednesday when you’re constantly going on new
Greens is you do a you put a box that’s 3 feet uh by 3 feet um and you go it’s usually like pretty flat or maybe just slightly on a hill and then you go on one side that’s uphill and then one side that’s downhill you start at 15 ft on
One side then 15t on the other side but you’re not just only trying to hit three golf balls in that box for Speed you’re trying to go like front middle back or back middle front so like if I hit that first Putt and it’s going halfway already halfway through the box box and
That’s my front then I have that much room behind it to get it in and so it’s like you’re not you’re just trying to like barely get the ball in front or past or in front or uh below the ball before um and then that’s a great speed
Drill versus just like trying to hit it in a 3ot box you know you just get so consumed on the of just trying to hit that ball just past the other that it makes your practice just so much more narrow narrowed Focus was that technical change of data was there like you
Mentioned iron play was like was your approach G was there something there that were like hey we need to address this this kind yeah so like basically all my stats this year improved all across the board for my rookie year like I think I finished an approach play like
50th strok gain on tour and then top 40 in putting um like I’ve always been a player that I feel like I’ve been pretty decent in every category and but like my iron play and my putting has kind of grown into a strength so my ball
Strength at the end of the year just kind of got a little inconsistent for me a little bit like I’m a very smart player and always like numbers like if I have a five iron or four iron in the hand I’m just trying to hit it to 30
Feet and tup like I if I’m just I’m not going to be aggressive with a five iron and four iron just cuz I until I feel like my skill level where I can hit the shot on demand and really control my dispersion really well later on um but I
Know like my strength is like my short irons my just flighting the golf ball in the wind like wedging it putting and stuff like that so like um I just want for me as I think uh to get better as a professional golfer um and to get at a
Higher level on the PJ tour where I get into contention I think I need to hit as my my stats show I think I need to hit uh the ball a little better with my long irons I’ve always it’s always been a struggle for me um like for some reason
I always tell joke with my coach I’m like I can some I’m hitting it really good on like 6 iron and 5 iron flush soon I hit a 4 like for some reason the 4 IR is just like a little longer a little smaller I hit it so much worse
Like five times worse than the fiveon I’m like that makes no sense this goes like eight yards farther and I’m hitting it way way way more way worse but um yeah I’m just trying to find like little improvements to get better because there’s a lot of positives right now um
But yeah I’m talking with my coach and with my stats guy to just trying to find like ways to get better like what was good this year what what do we need to maintain and what things can we improve on um so like right now it’s mostly the
Swing I think think honestly from 150 yards or 175 yards in in I think I’m good enough from 175 yards in in with the ball striking and the short game and the putting where I feel like I’m a top 50 in the world top 50 player in the
World I can be if it was just only that so like improving the long irons from like 175 to 225 and then just driving the ball a little better um is something I can I think I need I can I can improve this offseason a little bit or make
Changes in my to help me accomplish those goals love that a quick a quick test for you how tight is your dispersion pattern with some of your lower irons do you know like the from like top to bottom and then width do you know how tight your dispersion is I just
Know my proximity this year on tour was pretty good um I like it’s people think it’s like really low but like honestly if you hit it say from a 125 yards to 150 like I want to say my average is probably like I want to say it’s lower but like it’s probably realistically
Like 23 or 24 ft and that’s probably actually pretty good like the one thing that’s like people don’t realize is like pros don’t hit it as close as you think when pins are tucked and like conditions aren’t super easy like Dome conditions all the time when it’s windy and tough
And it’s like you’re in the rough whatever or greens are firm whatever there’s just so many different variables but like hitting it to 20 to 24 ft like most time you’re never going to three putt you’re always giving yourself a chance so um I’ve always been just I’m
Very smart player and I try to be very objective um in my like Target line every single time um I play um I would say I take I would say I don’t take risk but I’m just very very smart I’m not I’m a very smart player that’s not just
Going to fire at pins just to fire at them like if I’m feeling good I’ll fire at pins but like if I feel really good with my game I might aim only like 5et closer five or like two two or three yards closer to the pin like I’m never
Really just aiming directly at the PIN and firing it just cuz even though you’re hitting it really good there’s still dispersion either way um but yeah I’d say I’d say like I’d probably be top yeah 50 got to be top 50 on tour from 125 to 15 I think that’s
Like my bread and butter is like a pitching wedge nine iron even an eight iron um like that distance I think I’m really really good but I definitely want to get better at hitting the five iron five iron four iron and hitting that higher shot that like you see the best
Players in the world that also hit the ball really far do um that’s just a shot that like looks pretty I mean there’s definitely you definitely want to be more functional but it’s definitely so cool when you can actually hit that shot in competition or like just hit the shot
In the range like there’s no better feeling than seeing yourself hit like a forearm just like high and perfect or like high cut or high draw like that just looks perfect versus when you flight it it looks cool when it’s windy but like it just doesn’t look as good
Like you see the shot tracers on tour with people like high towering two irons or four irons it’s just like it looks so good like when Rory hits a four iron or Brooks capka hits a four iron it’s unreal or tiger it’s just like it’s
Landing like a like a feather and it’s a four iron I’m like yeah I can do that with a seven eight iron six iron but I’m like those guys are doing it from like 225 yards away yeah I mean what what are your key habits and routines for you
Kind of on your day-to-day obviously you’re you’re working on technique right now in the offseason we got some of that going on um you’re doing some practice as well but there’s there’s probably a lot of other time in the day so what are the other routines and habits which are
Really important for your kind of week to week yeah for some like one of the things I wanted to work on this offseason is like uh some like corrective stuff for some of the deficiencies I have um so like talk with my trainer we do like body scan like
Tests like I did a really good job of taking care of my body the whole year never was injured um the tour has great access to pts and chyos every single week and so like the one thing I’m I’m trying to really work on now is like my
Overhead Mobility like for some reason with my right shoulder here like it’s really hard for me to get anything overhead here and that’s probably why I shallow the club quite a bit cuz like when I get the club get to the top it’s really hard for me to like hold it like
There you know like Hideki pauses a lot I’m like there’s no chance like I mean I try to pause and it’s like when I feel like I pause sometimes it’s just a good swing you know um so like like that’s that’s some of the corrective stuff like
Doing more exercises where I do that um like I went to talk to my trainer and like I want to gain a couple miles per hour speed I think every player wants to hit the ball a little farther and instead of like I feel like I don’t necessarily need to gain more muscle
Mass or like lift heavy or like do more like workout stuff I just need I feel like to do more corrective stuff um like small muscle stuff and like make sure all parts of my body are working well and the biggest thing for me is like that I haven’t really tackled honestly
That much one of my sponsors is my fitness pal and they’ve been great to me and like nutrition and fitness has been so huge to professional athletes like making sure I eat well and eat I won’t say eat clean but eat well and making sure I’m kind of properly nutrition I
Mean just eating the right stuff in the offseason um to work out and G to gain some muscle um but also just take care of my body um it’s nice to have a offseason just because in in the middle of the season and you’re traveling all the time like your body is just
Constantly on the go so like when you’re able to like take care of your body um rest a little more and kind of like just have some time off it’s it’s really nice um and I think just all the small stuff like there’s just so much more sometimes
The golf is the easier part like me going to practice on the Range and like working on the golf like that’s the more fun part but it’s like all the other small things that are that normal people just don’t think about that go into the kind of the life of a professional
Golfer it’s like making sure you eat well making sure you’re just making sure your body’s um moving well you don’t want to like the biggest thing for golf is like it’s not like other sports where you have like a set like you have a peak age like golf
You can play I I hope to play on PJ tour for like another 20 years like versus other sports you have the short window the more you can kind of ingrade that in a daily routine not necessarily daily but like more often than not is just
Going to be so helpful then cuz then it’ll be easier to do that when I’m on the road in that tournament so like a big thing is like yeah tracking what I eat like I mean it’s off it’s holidays it’s offseason of course I won’t like enjoy myself but like making sure I’m
Eating enough protein in the morning that’s why like with my fitness pal has been great they’ve been a great sponsor to me and and all my sponsors have been great but like nutrition and fitness are just so important to any professional athlete like golfers I think the last
Couple years people are realizing that golfers are just as like the better golfers now are actually good athletes like that wasn’t the case maybe like 10 15 years ago but like ever since tiger came like like every golfer even in golf like golfers are doing what other sports
Are doing we’ve hit on golf swing practice um body what you’re eating we haven’t talked about your routine around like your mind or your brain is that something that you do as well working with like sport pych or like things like that yeah very important too like honestly like Northwestern again with
Northwestern I got introduced to a sports psychologist with Pat um we he worked with all of us on the team his name is Fran pisolo and I still work with Fran day like a lot of the stuff like without Northwestern Golf and without Pat like I honestly think I
Wouldn’t be a professional golfer be anywhere close to where I am today I mean I like to believe I was good enough but like you just can’t sometimes you just have to thank people that were there and made a huge um like we’re just a huge part of your success um but like
Yeah mental game is just so important like golf is just golf’s a brutal sport mentally I mean you watch I mean any person that plays golf it’s like this golf this golf sucks golf is so hard it’s like they’re making these changes trying to make golf harder it’s like no
Golf is really hard but mentally uh no mental mental stuff is just so so important like like it sounds cliche like all the stuff like that that Steph Curry talks about or like that tiger or any big golfer talks about like like controlling what you can control staying
In the moments like focusing on the process like all that stuff that people talk about it’s like it’s easy to say because it’s getting told so much more and more lately and it’s become mental mental just mental strength and taking care of yourself mentally is so much more important in professional sports
Nowadays but it’s actually just very true like it’s it’s really easy to say but it’s really hard to do like when I hit a ball hits a tree and goes out of bounds like be able to move move on and like be able to step up hit and hit the
Next shot and like kind of calm my mind from like wanting to go in different directions like sometimes people think that golfers are like immune to like bad thinking it’s like no I go up on a T box I’m like oh there’s OB like there’s like
OB like way over there you know like there’s OB way over there there’s water over there like but then the course the correct thinking is like oh I’m going to hit this golf shot this I’m going to hit this shot right here at this target this way so you’re just like changing your
Focus like I think it’s one good thing mentally is to like acknowledge the what’s out there in the bad like yeah acknowledge you you might be nervous or you have thoughts or like oh I don’t want to hit this out of bounds right there’s water over there but it’s like
You acknowledge that like and then I’m like oh I’m going to hit the shot like this at this Target and that that so like deep down you’re not like just like faking faking it in your head like oh I’m just trying to hit this just trying
To hit the Fairway here and it’s like then deep down you’re like but there’s OB left and there’s water right you know like but if you acknowledge it and you’re like okay there’s Obie there’s Obi left and water right but I’m going to hit this my driver I’m going to te it
Low hit this low cut starting here and here and you’re just so focused on hitting that shot then when you hit it you’re like oh you don’t even notice the Hobe that’s why when like when you play a golf course for the first time and you
Hit a shot and you’re like oh I didn’t know that was up there and I’m like that’s honestly sometimes like the mental game is just so yeah so important um but yeah my sports psychologist is is very important to the team I mean there’s so much that goes into
Professional golf that it’s it takes a team it’s not only like your family and your supporters but my coach my trainer my my sports like and like my caddy I have my younger brother caddy for me so one of the twin brothers he he Cates for
Me so like I have that Dynamic to have to deal with like when you’re the big brother and when your brothers you just want to like sometimes when you’re mad you just want to yell at your brother just cuz he’s your brother you know um but so there’s just so many different
Things but the mental side is just so important just like if you can just be nice to yourself sometimes I feel like you can get achieve your goals if you’re just mentally tougher like sometimes you just need to find uh small things that kind of give you a Competitive Edge and
Like for me I honestly thought like the last four or five years like when I was in college that I what I’m going to do better is I’m going to have a better mental attitude and like mental just mental grit than a lot of other players
But it’s just so hard too like it’s you just you it’s really hard to be nice to yourself mentally just because like golf’s not a game of perfect like it’s all if you hit like two or three shots exactly how you want to in the round that like that’s awesome like most of
The time it’s like you’re managing your misses and you’re you’re not you’re not uh executing it perfectly and then with golf like only one person wins out of 156 player field like it’s a lot lot of losing there’s a lot like finishing the top 20 top 10 making the cut it’s a
Great thing but like there’s still people there’s still so much more like you’re not winning it’s not like every other sport where you can rely on somebody else it’s all on yourself so that’s why like the highs and golf are great but then the lows are are tough
But like the lows are always worth it I mean I mean the highs are always worth it because like some of the lows like really suck like I’ve had time mentally I’m like why am I playing this game like everybody everybody has those thoughts like like why am I doing this like this
Sucks this is no fun like this is not what I signed up for but then like all the hard work and then when you fin finally see it come to fruition and a good tournament where you actually execute and you finish well um there’s no better feeling like the be the best
Feeling ever is playing inside the ropes and hitting shots and and doing what you love and the one thing for me is I love golf and um I’m learning how to just yeah be I’m learning how to be a good professional golfer where I try to do
Every single part well it’s like if you I feel like you kind of need all those parts like if I’m not if I’m not eating well if I’m not training well if I’m not practicing well if I’m not mentally taking care of myself like if
One of those things kind of falls out of place that’s another reason why you can not play well it’s like it’s not just cuz I hit a bad shot it could be like maybe the night before I didn’t get good enough sleep because I was doing something I don’t know there’s so many
Different things so um yeah that just goes all into it so there there’s definitely a lot that goes into it but luckily I feel like I’m doing a good job of of trying to take care of every category and hopefully I can just get get better at it every single day or
Every year I play and that can only help me so that’s the plan well it sounds like you got a good plan leading into the season it’ll be it’ll be fun to see uh see those towering for erands come come January no I would love that I if
You if you see one one or two that sounds great one or two one or two a week would be unreal awesome thanks still in no of course no anytime
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Medford Oregon is very proud of Dylan Wu! Best of luck in 2024!