Welcome to Episode 50 with Scott Fawcett. If you are a big fan of Scott Fawcett and Decade Golf, then you will love this. This isn’t just your usual podcast; you will hear from Scott as we dive deep into how meditation helped both of our lives on and off the course. We also explore Decade Golf and how utilizing math can help you keep yourself more level-headed to make better decisions on the course, as well as optimizing your performance and much more!
FIND TOBY:
All the information you need here: https://www.liinks.co/tmgolf
Become a monthly online subscriber: https://skillest.com/app/profile/toby-mcgeachie
Interested in being a partner of The Golf Coach Podcast? Email me at toby@tmgolf.com.au
MAJOR SPONSOR SKILLEST:
STUDENTS: Download the Skillest app and use code TOBYM to get 20% off your first lesson package with any coach!
COACHES: Download the Skillest app and use code TOBYM to get your first 2 months free on the skillest app!
PUTTING SEGMENT SPONSOR:
BACK 2 BASICS – Putting Mirror inclusion accessories use Code TM15 for 15%
https://back2basics.golf/?fbclid=PAAaZ_-WCoOvepZOt3DqT72Fy5KqIa3j2j_q4yWnfK4rf8UnTXSwO6Oy9Ym4g_aem_AUckd5b4EW8fdKQ762-HR_iBlwxxge5909s3uLcfzBZlKCQQ4cFO6W_3Jl1JPmxIgxI
FIND SCOTT:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decade_golf/?hl=en
Website: https://decade.golf/
TOBY’S SOCIAL:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tmgolf_/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegolfcoachpodcast/?hl=en
TikTok https://tiktok.com/@tmgolf_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TMGolfCoach/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toby-mcgeachie-7a74488a/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TMGOLF
Take Care,
welcome to the golf coach podcast Scott
how you going man fantastic how about
you I’m doing really good thank you we
just had a bit of a um shift in weather
here I’m looking forward to getting over
to some warmer weather next week um what
are the temperatures like down there
right now right now it’s supposed to be
a lot warmer Scotty it’s supposed to be
it’s now today well I’m complaining but
it’s a top of 20° C but in the morning
it’s right now it was 14° C and feels
like 9
de so it’s supposed to be around about
80 to 90 if that makes sense today but
it’s not going to hence my jump up it’s
like 40 40 to 70 or 45 to 70 Fahrenheit
something like that yeah yeah yeah so
where where about are you Scotty I’m in
Dallas Texas yeah so oh okay it’s we’re
coming I mean this the the weather here
is all over the place the winter time it
could be freezing for a week and a half
straight or in the summer it’s 110 it’s
it’s pretty
extreme it’s interesting that I got
students of mine that live um in for
people listening from Australia in
Cambra where I would say it’s kind of
like a mini Texas as in its um climate
where in winter it’s just absolutely
freezing cold too cold to play golf to a
degree right and then in summertime it’s
just too too hot to play golf and it’s
really hard for him to kind of get that
balance last summer is the first time
that I’ve ever been like okay this is
It’s it’s too hot to play in the
afternoon I I normally historically
always loved it but it’s it’s finally I
turned 50 last year and I’m finally
surrendering to anything over a hundred
for for four straight hours I actually
have a question about that right and I I
I agree with that right since you’ve
I’ve noticed and um my friend Steven
Juliano as well is talking to him about
you coming on the podcast and he wanted
to know about this as well since you’ve
come back to playing
now what have you noticed different ly
compared to when you played before
professionally cuz I I me comeback I
notic that you seem to be going down the
competitive route is that correct what
Chang you seening a game and how are you
approaching it differently well it
honestly really starts all the way back
I won’t waste too much of our time with
my full story but I played I played all
the sports growing up through High
School really didn’t focus on golf until
about my junior year so I didn’t really
play much tournament golf or anything
like that and went to a good school for
for golf here and everything and then
play professionally I would say
successfully while not being successful
I mean I won 10 different times like 72
old events not just I mean like I was
competitive played had some corn Fairy
status for a while but to your point I I
uh quit playing in 2001 start an
electricity company in 2002 and ran that
it went fairly well and in about 2007 I
was missing playing golf I just did 100
hour weeks 2002 through 2006 just all I
did was work and then I finally was like
burnt out depressed
cynical just it was a train wreck and I
was like okay I got to play some more
golf so I started playing again that’s
right when I met Chris Como actually I
was playing a lot of Poker too and KO
and I met playing in an underground
poker room here in Dallas oh wow and
yeah it was really pretty funny actually
um we were friends for like a year and
then finally I was like what do you do
for a living he’s like I’m a golf
instructor I’m like you got to be
kidding me I played professional golf it
had just literally never come up it’s
crazy um but so
2007 end of six I started playing more
and I started playing well really quick
like just hitting it well I was working
with Como understanding just modern ball
flight laws like human body I’m I’m 61
225 like I’m a pretty big athletic guy
and the human body is just amazing
though when you tell it the right thing
to do it’s pretty good at doing it um
now if you tell it the wrong thing to do
like face pointed right of Target and
swing left and that’s how you hit Fades
somehow the body figures it out like
that’s not right I don’t know why you
think that’s right but I’m going to do
I’m going to do it the right way but so
then in 2007 I I decided I was or 2008
rather I decided I was going to play
like full-time you know amateur golf I
was going to really try to get my game
in shape my electricity company was kind
of running itself at that point and I
was going to uh ultimately I got to
where I was playing good I was like you
know what I’m going to enter Q school as
a 35-year-old Amer and the reason I when
when I did that one I went with one of
my buddies to dinner one night and he’s
like man you’re really playing good like
you’re playing honestly probably as good
or better than you were when you were a
full-time playing professional and you
play like two three times a week like
you know what gives and I was like to be
perfectly honest it’s my abilities as a
poker player now understanding the math
of decision-making in poker and most
importantly for me the the fact that you
just can’t get mad if you get mad you’re
going to just start spewing your money
away and so you recognize very quick
that’s a bad idea now how it never
dawned on me as a hotthead on the golf
course that I’m spewing my money away by
getting pissed off off literally never
never connected those dots like this is
just a bad idea and I don’t know if it’s
being a little bit older a little bit
less testosterone maturing meditating I
don’t know what it is but I’m way more
stoic in life in the golf which people
probably like really I’ve read your
Twitter before that doesn’t seem very
stoic okay not on Twitter but aside from
that yeah and so honestly when your
question of like like back to playing
this goes all the way back to 2008 like
decade didn’t start until 2014 already
though in 2008 the punchline of the
story is I was one of only I think six
people out of thousands that made it
through all four stages to get to the
final stage of Q school and I did that
as a for 35-year-old amateur that’s you
know playing a couple times a week yeah
and it was just entirely about applying
poker mindset to the game and then
that’s the whole reason that I started
really thinking about golf as a as a
math problem and then in 2011 I didn’t
know anything about shotlink or anything
and then in 2011 was when they first
released The Strokes gain putting
statistic yeah and I was I wrote a lot
on an online poker form back in the day
called 2 plus2 and they had a golf sub
form and I I wrote a post thank God in
June of 2011 that was just titled is dry
for show putt for dough really true now
I did a bunch of really bad math in it
because I didn’t have access to
everything at the time but you can
really it’s it’s fun to go back and read
it cuz you can really see the wheels
turning in my head and what’s Co cool
about it is there’s six other guys from
that sub form alone that are now the
directors of analytics in the NBA Major
League Baseball and NFL and then me I
mean literally nine guys were all in
there bouncing ideas off each other yeah
um and it’s just it’s really cool to go
back and look at the Genesis of it and
then once I understood in 2013 that they
were going to be releasing the en entire
Strokes game like we still didn’t even
know that at the time I was like oh at
that point then if I’ve got how many
strokes it takes to ha out from anywhere
on the course and I’ve got the size of
shot patterns from launch monitors like
we can just solve this problem it’s no
longer a mystery anymore yeah because
that’s that’s really where people don’t
understand they’re just like you know
this guy’s just telling everyone to hit
at the middle of the green like not even
close to telling people to hit at the
middle of the green I want you getting
as aggressive on the shot as the
constraints of the shot allow meaning
how long is the shot what are the
surrounding hazards what are the weather
conditions because markk Brody who’s way
smart smarter than me the guy that came
up with The Strokes gain stats I have
known this this is what decade does but
he actually then went in and proved it
through shot link is that quite often
aiming right at the middle of the green
is just as bad or worse as aiming
directly at the flag because you’re just
kind of giving up on any of your you
know profitable situations to be a
little bit more aggressive so there’s an
inflection point somewhere between the
pin and the middle of the green where
the optimal Target is on I mean 75 to
90% of shots it’s not the middle of the
green and it’s not at the flag yeah and
so really understanding the the you know
the background of decade and that that
that’s what the spot we’re trying to
find as quickly and efficiently as
possible is and then you know as much as
anything then from there it’s being it’s
being more committed to that Target at
the end of the day I mean Stuart sink
has obviously been a great golfer for
his entire life yeah and that guy when
he bought the app he won for the first
time in 12 years the next week and what
he said was just it takes the the
confusion a little bit of the mental
energy to make these decisions and the
system makes it for you most importantly
though then you’re far more committed to
those targets because like there’s a
reason I chose it and and your your
better players for sure at home will
know this but like if you’ve got a seven
iron and the pin’s four yards from the
left edge of the green and there’s a
lake left like you’re not an idiot you
know to aim right of that but then most
good players I don’t know what the point
of being smart enough to aim away from a
flag but still dumb enough then to hope
you pull
it which I think most most middle
amateurs would be like really you you
aim away from then hope you pull it like
I think that’s one of the main things
that like decade and modern strategy and
expectation management allows you to
commit to more is is aiming away from a
flag and then really trying to hit it
there and trusting the variance of your
shot pattern is what will do the work
for you at the end of the day I think
what you you finished on there right
with expectation management I think is
really um a really good one but what
you’re doing there is that you’re
offering Clarity to the person to
actually judge their expectation and
management aren’t they like they’re not
like you say the word confusion before
and then as soon as you it’s like any
aspect of our life that you know someone
says do something you’re like why and
they’re like oh I don’t know I’m just
going to do it and then you see the
maybe a a semi level of commitment but
if you give that person direct reason to
why if do XYZ it’s like some of the
marketing campaigns right you will lose
30 if you do XYZ then people like okay
I’ll do it you know what I mean so it
kind of does give people Clarity to kind
of fire at that pin but you mentioned a
good you mentioned and something
triggered a good story of mine about you
hopefully you pull it when you hit it to
a back left pin friend of mine who used
to play a bit of golf with Mr Craig
Perry when he HED out in the playoff
Hall and um he hold a six sign to that
back left flag in a PJ Tour event and he
pulled it he pulled it 15 15 Ys
everyone’s like that was you know the
the where where decade finally got
launched was I did all this work in 2013
and 14 and then will zalatoris was a kid
that I’ve known since he was nine years
old at my home course and he was
struggling for years as a junior and you
know I went and CAD for him he won the
Texas samon us Jr and it’s just it’s
just funny looking back at it the
expectation management of it but I bring
up will because when he was playing in
the US Open in 2020 the one that de
Shambo won who’s the second player that
I worked with after will yeah um since
he went to school here College here in
Dallas will hit the hole in one on
whatever hole at uh at um it sh Wingfoot
Wingfoot yeah Wingfoot and and Shawn
Martin the PGA Tour writer tweeted will
zator just hit a hole in one in the US
Open the only thing Scott fossil want to
talk about is that he wasn’t aiming at
the flag and so I texted will I was like
what was your Target and he he replied
seven yards right of the pin and I just
posted it because I’m like that’s
important like it’s important to know
that’s not what he was aiming at and
what most people don’t remember was
later in the round he hit another one
that he was aiming five yards right of
and it actually hit the pin and just sat
on the lip he almost had two hole in
ones in the first round of the US Open
where he wasn’t aiming within five yards
I mean 15 ft a within 15 feet of either
one of them I mean just that’s what you
just have to understand is again I’m not
going to say it it is luck period but
the better you are the tighter your shot
pattern the less lucky you have to get
just like if you’re rolling you know 100
marbles down a down a path the tighter
the the marble pattern is the more like
the hole would get in the way of it so
if you had like a golf hole out there
and you had marbles that were 6 feet
across like only a few would hit it but
if they were only 12 in apart but it
still would be lucky whichever ones
actually hit the hole yeah and that’s
what just people don’t really want to
understand and trust you know to
expectation one thing I was thinking
about when you were talking earlier was
once you know that an 8ft putt on the
PGA tour is 50/50 yeah it’s literally a
coin flip yeah and so yes if you guess
three or four coin flips in a row wrong
like if you guess one in a row wrong
you’re just not going to think about it
you’re going to guess again yeah you
start guessing three or four you’re like
well that’s weird and that would be the
point in putting where it’s like well
I’ve missed six or seven in a row like
maybe we need to work on our putting but
if you miss one like whatever move on to
the next hole I mean again you use the
data to I I use data for my pj tour
players far more often to convince them
they’re not as bad at something than I
do to find what they need to work on for
sure like 100% but I think as well what
is challenging when you talk about that
right when you talk about you know on
the PGA tour that you’re getting say
from 8 ft it’s 1.5 right so
50/50 is in practice in a controlled
environment though as well do you
sometimes like to make sure they’re
measuring that in practice as well
because every 8T put on the golf course
is completely different right we got a
gusta coming up like I’m sure 8ot from
there versus you know another tourn
shockingly it’s not as it’s not as
different as you would think yeah okay I
mean it it it is obviously yes the
faster the greens are the more break
putts break okay but I’m saying an 8ot
putt on a 2% slope versus an 8ft putt on
a 1% slope at austa yeah 2% really not
that much harder I mean it it is harder
but it’s not as much as most people
would think yeah um the speed of the
greens is going to be what dictates most
of it which is why Augusta would be
harder than most other places and slope
obviously yeah um but just so your
listeners understand Strokes gain is not
intimidating just a real quick summary
of it is since an 8ot putt is 50/50 it
takes 1.5 Strokes to hold out on average
you obviously can’t hit the ball one and
a half times so if I’ve got an 8ot putt
on number one and I make it
I’ve moved the ball one and a half
Strokes closer to the hole in one stroke
I basically gained a half a stroke if on
the second hole I’ve got another 8 foot
Putt and I two putt it well I’ve moved
at one and a half putts uh Strokes
closer to the hole in two putts I’ve
lost a half a stroke but now I’ve used
three putts in two holes so 3 divid two
is 1.5 and Bam that’s why I’m a dead on
zero Strokes gain putter in that
scenario it’s not crazy math but what
you’ve really got to start doing to to
play the game correctly I believe is
rather than thinking of I’m 100 yards in
the Fairway think I’m 2.8 Strokes to
hold out and again that’s a PJ tour
number yes but 2.8 like most people
think like again especially you watch TV
they be like oh these guys are deadly
with their wedgees like not really I
mean yes I they’re they’re the greatest
players in the world so everything I say
about them is obviously tongue and cheek
but at the end of the
day I mean you make birdie 20% of the
time just don’t make St stupid bogeys
yeah that’s not mindboggling considering
they’re the greatest players on the
planet I I would definitely say the
biggest misconception around what you
hear from the recreational Golf Art is
the two things you just said there is
proximity to hole with a wedge and putts
I’m just going to throw 8T you know
people say you know 10 foot putt right
I’m going to say 8 foot if I’ll talk
with a recreational golfer and they’ll
say you know I I missed four putts from
8T today I go how many did you get and
they might say two and go well you’re
pretty spot on you know what I mean like
you’re actually you may think you miss
four but overall you’ve done quite well
and even if you’ve only had four chances
from 8 ft and you’ve missed all four
you’re not as far off as you might
actually think that you are you know
what I mean you’re not supposed to get
them all by all means right and the same
thing people say I hit too many wedges
to like 30t like yeah it’s not too bad
it’s not too bad well that’s the key to
like when I get so upset about the
announcers giving zalatoris a hard time
for his putting it’s like like I get it
I’m not blind I know it’s not pretty
I’ve caded 100 rounds for the kid in am
golf like I I get it it ain’t pretty if
you think it’s not pretty with the
putters he’s using you should have seen
it with a short putter but at the end of
the day when they act like he’s 170th
from 4 feet on tour it’s like well
that’s a pretty good sample crew like
when if someone told you that you were
170 you’re one of the worst 4 foot
Putters on the planet yeah or excuse me
on the planet on the tour you would
think that you would be signic iFly
worse than tour average tour average
from 4 feet is 92% will is
89% it’s
like okay and so then what you’ve got to
really do the math is from 3 to 5 feet
you have 2.5 of those putts on average
per round y yep and so now if you’re if
you’re if you’re 3% worse on something
you have two and a half times round it’s
07 shots it’s not ideal he would make
another couple hundred grand if he was
07 shots better but it’s it’s not the
end of the world what is the end of the
world is when you miss a four-footer and
you walk to the next t- box and you’re
all pissed off and you you’re you’re
you’re you’re living in the past it’s
it’s it’s funny because I used to think
that a lot of like sport psychology
stuff was like mumbo jumbo like you’ve
got to stay present I didn’t really know
what that meant but what staying present
means is not getting mad about something
that’s already happened cuz Yeah by
definition you are not present you’re
living in the past and that’s the main
thing that I always harped on will when
I was helping him especially that first
year I mean he he’s a smart smart kid
picked this all up pretty quick but that
first year he’d miss a short Putt and
I’d be like cool we know we’re going to
miss some of those it’s it’s it’s 90ish
percent like you’re going to miss a
decent amount of them we have to leave
that there and move on man and and when
you say leave that there I I tell you
one thing in my life right that I
learned through like my meditation
practices and you know spending a lot of
time in India was my wife we haven’t had
a phone call on the way down like was in
the car going to an event and I was
expecting the phone call to not go the
way that we wanted it to go right
because it’s a dispute that we’ got
going on with the company and I got the
phone call and she said how do you feel
and I say well I expected it to happen
so how can I be upset about something
that I knew that was going to happen if
so when you talk about expectations
there if you know that the expectation
is what or what your average is or what
you’re supposed to do and you can get
that back um or you you have already
gotten it back like you said before you
hold the pot first and you miss the next
one from 8 ft then how can you get upset
about something that you expect to
happen and then the way you can expect
to know expectation is through
understanding what you’ve got there with
decade right the the terrible analogy I
use on that is if I told you if I just
walked up and punched you in the face
you could probably be pretty mad at me
but I told you like I’m a little crazy
I’m probably going to punch you in the
face once today and then when I did it
you’d have to be like wow he actually
did you couldn’t be as mad at me for
that as you could if I just popped you
out of the blue again terrible analogy
but it’s kind of the best one I can come
up with if you have if you expect
something bad to happen Sam Harris again
is is we’ve talked about meditation
already but Sam Harris is waking up I
think is just the best for it but one of
the things that I really love that he
talks about is like we all treat
problems like anomalies like and and
what he says in this one video he’s like
if you’re on a a video game you get to
the 12th level of it and just there’s
nothing like Super Mario Brothers you
just run straight across for three
minutes and then you get to the Finish
you’d be like this is the most boring
thing ever and and you just you have to
understand that golf every time you teed
up even when you shoot your lowest score
ever bad stuff happens I mean literally
my my my best round I ever played
professionally the first round I shot 67
or 68 with a double and a triple I was
in the afternoon morning wave literally
shot 67 with a 67 or 68 with a double
and a triple I went to dinner that night
with my buddies and I was pissed off the
entire time I went back to the hotel
room I did not sleep a single second the
entire night I was so mad and just going
through like dude you can shoot 59 on
this course I went out I birdied the
first seven holes I lipped out on 8 and
n and birdied 10 11 and 12 and I’m I’m
10 I mean I’m just I’m literally 10
under on 12T after not sleeping like I’m
going to do it and then I parred the
last six holes to shoot 10 under 62 nice
went back to the Outback steak out with
my buddies and I bit
about paring the last six holes cuz I I
missed I missed an easy up and down on a
par five hit a couple of bad wedges and
my buddy Wasing me like what are you
talking about you just shot 10 under and
you’re still complaining and I mean
again we just all treat these problems
like anomalies and and that they’re just
unexpected and that’s where you get
yourself in trouble M yes yes and and
it’s interesting just treating it for
what it is right not for what you kind
of wish it was is like just treating it
for how it is but I guess there a good
positive as well is that I was talking
one of my students who’s a
um a professional golfer and she just
came to me a couple months ago maybe a
month ago and you said this is one of
your friends or one of your clients oh
one of my students one of my students
you new student professional golfer she
plays just here in Australia and I said
to her she had a really good nine holes
and a really poor n she had a really
poor nine holes and a really good nine
holes I said how good’s that you had a
really good nine holes and then she had
another round of golf and she had just
two really po holes and 16 okay holes
I’m how good’s that you had 16 okay
holes and two po holes she go Toby
you’re always seeing that something’s
okay I’m like cuz it is you know there
that’s that’s huge you might as well
think it’s that way even if it’s not
like I mean there’s a point where we
don’t want to be kidding ourselves but
there’s also a point where it’s like
what’s the alternative right now I mean
again I’ve got if you go to YouTube um
Scott faet I think that Scott Foss might
be a decade you can search Scott fost
you’ll find it I’ve got a video in there
called solving problems and it’s it’s
Sam Harris let me voice over one of his
so he’s got these like six or eight
minute just essays you know just verbal
essays in the app and I played it once
and then I replayed it again and I I
paused it five or six times I’m like I
want you to think of this in a golf
context because
again it’s one of the reasons I never
really uh I never really did well with
the golf psychology books and going back
and reading them all now I think they’re
all amazing but at the time because it
was all written like in golf parlance it
just never resonated with me because I’d
be out there trying to think of like
Which chapter should I be thinking about
right now as opposed to when you get out
of the golf genre so we now we’re into
just Sam Harris’s stuff or honestly my
favorite book ever is Josh weit skin um
the art of learning which is honestly a
chess book yes it’s not I shouldn’t say
it’s a chess book because nobody’s going
to read at that point Josh weiten was a
chess player who wrote A Peak
Performance book but the whole thing
that doesn’t obviously doesn’t talk
about golf at all but you can picture
the situations like oh this is just like
that situation on the golf course yeah
and again it’s just it’s not magic it’s
not going to just magically happen
you’re going to have to put the work in
you’re going to have to make some
adjustments but again one of the
funniest things like the no laying up
guys hate me more than anything and it’s
funny because I have said a million
times I was the biggest lunatic ever
back in the day when I was playing
professionally and they used to always
say like I talked to this guy that
played with Scott back in the day and he
was just a total [ __ ] idiot hotthead
and I’m like yeah I’ve admitted that and
I’ve changed because of the effort and
work that I’ve put into it so I’m just
trying to bring that up because whoever
it is that’s listening right now you can
make these changes it’s not going to
happen by Magic you are going to have to
put in some work but it can be done I
mean obviously you you just opened up
immediately with meditation which always
excites me when I’m going to go on to a
podcast like this because I’m like we
we’re going to be thinking in the same
way and I I hate being in a silo Echo
chamber but also at the end of the day
it’s a good Echo chamber to be in it’s
better than some of the other ones we
could be in Yeah well yeah my um
experience was I was an extremely
hotthead as well and um you know my
experience with people listen to the
podcast have heard this many times
before and I try to kind of inspire
people around it is that I um was a bit
of a party animal after I played
professional golf and the party just
didn’t stop right I just kept I was
living in Manley here which is like I
don’t know how to put into context of
where you guys are but it’s like the Hub
of Sydney and it’s the most beautiful
place and it was just a party we never
the party never stopped and like Las
Vegas yeah pretty gaming and I was
forced I was forced to stop and then I
um found my way in India in
201 15 and then I went back in 16 and
then went back in 18 just for the
pandemic and uh yeah did many went to
the Del llamas practice up at
um Dar Masala I spent 3 days there and
uh I go to a temple here as much I can
which just got Chinese Buddhist temple
up here which is really nice but it’s uh
not Tibetan Buddhism but yeah I just do
a bit of that but have you ever heard of
ramas Ras yeah ramas from the the be
here now Network yeah so anything that
comes out of the be now network is
pretty much my
um yeah my I guess not going to the term
Bible but that’s where I do all that’s
kind of like my Hub you know what I mean
it’s like my de well there’s zero chance
I’m ever going to be a religious person
but I’ve definitely realized as you get
older you can be spiritual without being
religious yeah it still feels a little
hokey to me yeah but I’m I’m okay with
that language at this point and it’s
funny because people ask me like if you
had to choose a religion which one would
it be and it like it would be Buddhism
for sure I mean like it’s it’s it’s just
a bunch of advice yeah it’s a it’s a
bunch of great advice and they would
call it I think they generally would
steer away from the word religion as
well themselves it’s a way of life this
is what I have on my desk so yeah yeah I
got there everywhere well especially in
my life you can imagine what I get for
birthday pres right and Christmas
presentence is all around um Buddhism
stuff but the um it’s interesting though
when you talk about let’s talk about I
can even just just off topic of just
thinking about it is that you mentioned
there about
about you know religion and I read
something the other day
about people who are in religion are
genuinely happier because I’m not
religious right because there is
Direction in their life right There’s
Something to Believe In now let’s talk
about decade right genuinely happier
There’s Something to Believe In as well
to offer you Clarity and when you have a
spiritual practice or religious practice
whatever there is something you’re kind
of striving to um help you answer
problems that come arise in your life
right and help you deal with it people
think that spiritual people are just
happy people they’re not just extremely
happy people they’re just better at
dealing with problems that come to them
right and the same thing with like
decade what decade offers that you’ve
got with that system there is it offers
you an opportunity to not get as far
down and to deal with problems
right I’ve got this 13 minute this is
what’s funny is I think I’m a pretty
objective person and and this will be
the biggest Testament that I can be say
is I’m a huge Sam Harris fan and I’m a
huge Jordan Peterson fan and I’ve been
listening to this one 13 minute Jordan
Peterson video literally like once a day
for a couple months at this point
because it’s just it’s it’s right down
those lines so like I’ve said a million
times like I’m a better person when I’ve
got something I’m working towards like I
work out a little better I eat a little
better I drink a little less I’m a
little more consistent my meditation
just everything about I’m a better
person and and in this video Jordan’s
talking about like without a goal there
can be no positive emotion because the
positive emotion is in putting in the
effort towards a goal and I’d never
really thought about it that way but
when there’s times I mean again I’ve
done fairly well financially with one
company my electricity company that just
sends me residual and now decade I
really don’t have to do anything for it
it’ll just keep functioning yes but once
you don’t have that kind of pressure or
aspiration you can get pretty nihilistic
really really quick and it that again
sounds the most first world problem you
can possibly uh describe but it is a
problem and so no positive emotion no uh
excuse me no goal no positive emotion
then what he says from there is without
that goal like you just you’re just kind
of it’s just chaos you’re just you don’t
really know what you’re doing and and I
find myself feeling that way so often
it’s unbel so having some sort of a goal
that you’re working towards is just in
my opinion mandatory but then the other
thing that he says in that video that’s
just so brilliant to me he’s like well
you know when I’m out on the street and
someone will come up to me and they’ll
be they’ll just be like you know I just
want to be happy he’s like oh really
that’s it you just want to be happy like
good luck with that I mean it’s just the
way he says some things he’s like what
else is there like you just want to walk
around happy all the time that’s all
it’ll take for you to be happy is to
just be happy all the time I mean it’s
just like wow I’d never never really
thought about that because that’s I’ve
said that a million times especially
about my kids man I just want to be
happy yeah again the way he’s like well
good luck with that that’s not the way
it’s going to work and if that’s what
your expectations are and again I boy I
hate walking the line where we talk
about like the the younger generation
and stuff like this because it is we
talk about social media yeah I mean it’s
it’s I am a believer that hey it’s not
your fault that you’ve gotten yourself
into this position where you expect
everything to be easy that’s that not
good and it’s not your fault but also at
the end of the day man it’s kind of time
to toughen up a little bit and realize
there’s going to be struggles if if
every time anything goes wrong it’s a
five Alum fire you’re screwed I
mean it needs to be something again and
I can say this because my sister’s son
was undercut in a basketball game he had
two massive concussions about 18 months
later he wound up killing his mom my
sister his brother himself so I have a
double murder suicide in my direct
family not ideal but
also well the world’s not going to stop
so you can deal with this I mean again
there’s bad stuff is coming to every
single person listening this EV and if
it hasn’t hit you yet it’s coming yes I
mean it’s coming so you need to be
prepared for it and that’s what the
meditation stuff is so much about so you
can start recognizing again where I
screwed up when I was younger when I
tried it I used to try to have no
thoughts I’d get frustrated when I
couldn’t stop the monkey mind and it’s
not about having no thoughts it’s about
recognizing the ruminating thoughts
before they spiral out of control it’s
about wow that’s not a very useful or
productive thought I should probably
start stop just I should stop thinking
about it and if you can’t do that then
that’s when you actually try to actively
do a meditation wherever you’re at take
a few seconds try to click in you know
give yourself a little space again
because it’s one of the most clich
cliche sayings of medit is just giving a
little space between stimulus and
response yes I mean the amount of
trouble you can save yourself with that
I mean again most people know I got into
an argument with Brad Faxon and Dan
Hicks when will was winning the the the
his first FedEx Cup event and I was just
joking when I told Dan Hicks to go screw
himself literally even said yes this is
a joke in it but then when Faxon
retweeted it I just triggered
immediately like I just took my brain
and threw it out the window for a second
cuz I’m like I don’t need this thing
right now screw this guy I’m going to
show him he can’t do that if I had had
maybe five more seconds to just hey is
this really a good idea and you know it
definitely wasn’t wasn’t wasn’t optimal
to say the least but um you know that’s
that’s looking back on it I needed a
little more space there but and also in
what you’re saying there and what I hear
you know when people talk about when
Scott mentioned the monkey mind there
and the mind jumping
around and you know about the thoughts
and meditation how I like to wrap all
that up is that I think it’s people need
to get under the understanding of it’s
okay to have a shitty thought or an
intrusive thought or think about
something that you might think [ __ ] I
shouldn’t be thinking about that that’s
really not good you know what I mean but
what’s really important it has to be
okay to think that to have that thought
because they’re going to come they’re
going to come yes so you don’t want to a
in my experience when I talk to people
about this is push it down it’s to sit
with it understand it acknowledge it and
then try to move on from it um and and
basically what meditation practice has
given me is two seconds before I open my
mouth right that’s what I give it but
what you’re saying there was it was okay
to have the absolute shits that fax and
um reposted whatever you posted right
and you lose your top of course it’s
okay to do that right but you just
didn’t get that 2 to 5 Seconds that you
needed before you reacted just a just a
quick analyzation is this going to is
and you you know since then I mean
literally today on Facebook I wish I
could remember what it was someone had
posted something that was just so
categorically stupid and I had typed out
this thing and I was like is this going
to do anything positive for me over the
next four hours of my life do you have
the bandwidth right now to deal with
what’s going to come back from this I’m
like I don’t yeah like and what’s the
point then I mean again there’s just
there’s no point I I arguing on social
Med is the single dumbest thing you can
possibly do and considering I did it
professionally on Twitter for a few
years is just insane I don’t have
Twitter but I’ve seen you post stuff on
Instagram and you say stuff like I’ve
quit Twitter or whatever but when you
talk about talking before we get back
into decade well Instagram’s Instagram’s
a better a better platform for me and
it’s a better platform just for everyone
because it’s just not as cynical but
it’s it’s the the the medium is not like
quite as conversational as Twitter and
Twitter it’s way more like you’re
texting with your friends yeah and in
Instagram again it can’t skew that much
from the general population as far as
who you’re the demographic they got to
be more similar than people think it’s
just the way the platform operates it’s
not quite as conversational and most
importantly for me is when a dumb
comment comes in I can just delete it
and I just personally I couldn’t handle
letting that bad comment just live in my
thread so I felt like I had to answer
every single question so it was like
haha you can’t answer that one like I
just and that’s on me but you got to be
really careful with social media man one
thing I will add in what you mentioned
there about and if if you’re a person
who does post nasty stuff and to um
Scotts all my accounts right or things
the reason why I don’t reply to you is
because I don’t want to keep thinking
about what your reply is back to me so I
don’t want to be sitting there doing my
work or my online lessons or coaching
someone who’s paid good money to be with
me I don’t want be thinking about did
that what did that mother write back to
me do what did you write back you know I
just don’t that’s the reason why I don’t
write back and and put you in your place
it’s because I don’t want have to live
in my head essentially well that’s
that’s again what Sam talks about a lot
with with meditation is we all get in
these arguments and then we run them
through our head MH for days sometimes
just like ah I should have said this
should have said that or you’re
imagining an upcoming argument like I
got something on my mind and when she
says that I’m going to say this and
you’re just literally running these
iterations in your head that it’s like
probably won’t happen yeah I mean it’s
probably not the way it’s going to go at
all and you can’t change the past again
that gets always back to present if
you’re considering what an upcoming
argument might be you’re living in the
future if you’re thinking God I should
have hit him with this Zinger than
you’re living in the past like just none
of it matters yeah I know anyways let’s
let’s get back to I could talk about
that stuff all day right it’s my life
that’s I think I hope I hope I hope the
listeners at home realize this does this
is not Direct Golf talk but this is golf
talk I mean when you’re thinking about a
bogey you just made or you’ve got oh
I’ve got a birdie hole coming up like
that this is all important for golf but
yes let’s hit the tiger five or whatever
you want to go to I actually actually
wanted to I’m G to kind of Branch off
that a little bit to a question I had
where you want go do you know my friend
Steven Juliano do you know Steven
Juliano sjj golf coaching in Singapore
he coaches no well maybe yeah I mean you
know a lot of people right but yeah he
he actually wanted to ask he went to one
of your seminars right um somewhere he
said to a long time ago a long time ago
not in Singapore no well he’s in
Malaysia now might have been I can’t
remember he told me somewhere he
actually corrected himself and he told
me anyways he’s listening to this I feel
like it might have been in Houston I
feel like I had a guy that that possibly
in Houston but car on anyways he’s
listening to this right now he’s
probably thinking Toby it’s this it’s
this anyways he wanted to for those
listening home I’ve met a 2,000 people
in the last three years course no no of
course he wouldn’t give a [ __ ] he wanted
to ask you a question about the
evolution of the system he noticed it
was
more I kind of paraphrased it and I
should have written it down but I should
have wrote it down exactly what he said
but he told me that the system from when
he earlier first looked at it has now
moved more I’m going to use the term
psychological that he he he he wanted to
understand the evolution of it
uh yeah you want to talk about the
growth of it yeah so so 2014 was when I
caded for xotur again I literally
created all this just for my own game
and then because I had an injury the
week before the Texas Sam it’s the only
reason I went and caded for will instead
of playing myself okay and
so as I caded for him I’m like my God
this is so this is so simple he’s just
destroying this field same thing at the
US
jor go to the uh the US Amer and my
buddy who was the SMU coach at the time
I’ve known since junior golf he came up
to me he’s like I think you’ve got he’s
like I can tell you’re doing something
with will I had this laminated sheet of
paper I mean literally just like a
laminated sheet of paper where I was
doing kind of this math in my head and
he’s like I don’t know what you’re doing
but de Shambo Fires at every pen and I
can’t get him to stop is there any way
you could like organize this into and
again this is where like I come across
as super cocky I get it but
like none of the actual business has
been my idea he’s the one that said if
you can put this into some sort of a
seminar you can teach this at scale yeah
and the reason he said a seminar was I
for me to do it at SMU I we had to do it
indoors so I wouldn’t be considered a
third paid coach which is illegal by the
NCAA okay that’s the only reason that I
made a seminar so to your friend’s
question it initially was just like shot
patterns approach shot strategy t-shot
strategy putting and then like 30
minutes of mental stuff at the end yeah
and I did that that
version 15 times at places like Duke
Oklahoma State Wake Forest like all
Florida USC yeah Cal Stanford UCLA like
the biggest programs brought me into do
these seminars and as I was doing it
there were so many little you know it’s
it’s like a like a comedy show it feels
like the guy’s just up there riffing ad
living but obviously it’s all basically
memorized that’s how it was but there
would be times when I was like this shot
pattern thing and something I normally
said in the mental part I would say it
up here and so I slowly throughout doing
this now another 50 times realized well
I’ve I’ve said everything I wanted to
say about the mental section like by the
time I got to it I’m like we’re kind of
done here and that was the evolution of
realizing I can teach you the math of
decade the strategy system in 30 minutes
y but it’s the mental portions that
allow you to commit to it
and understand why you’re doing it again
it’s it’s just the why is everything and
so he’s dead on accurate that it it
shifted to where I used to end with the
mental stuff and now I open with the
mental stuff and even if you buy the
decade app the table of contents is
Introduction mental approach like that
is okay that’s the first thing I’m
working on is the introduction is just
shot patterns the art of scoring what
actually makes your scoring average go
lower which which is again technically
all mental stuff like we need to
understand this side of it yes and then
it’s about 30 or 45 minutes of mental
content and then we get in the actual
strategy and so much so that even if
you’re a foundations member where I take
it’s all the same content I just instead
of having five hours of tutorial content
that you get day one of when you buy
Elite I just break it up into six equal
segments to send it to you over six
months to to force players to slow down
and really think about the ideas before
moving on yeah I get you you don’t even
you don’t even start getting into
strategy until like month three now yeah
because we I want to lay down the the
background of the mental side cuz again
is a hopefully reformed lunatic that is
yeah that’s everything and again this is
I’m not going to rag on fax in too much
but when you get a guy like that who
like he made it he didn’t he never
struggled he was on I don’t think he
ever lost his card I mean he’s one of
the best players of all time never won a
major but
Kidd he’s one of the best golfers in the
history of the game but as a result he
he didn’t really struggle he never had a
point where he had to go back and
analyze what did I do wrong and in a lot
of the decade stuff is like man I
traveled with Chad Campbell and Chris
Riley played a lot of practice rounds
with those dudes and in every single one
of them two future Rider cuppers I was
like I feel like I’m as good as these
guys again I won but not as I didn’t
wasn’t doing what they did and at the
end of the day I think they just they
just got it more than I did they just
understood the game and that’s
experience that’s the other quote too
that steuart sink said this year in
Hawaii they asked him about all these
Young Guns and you know how are they
playing so great without the experience
and his answer was he’s like you don’t
need experience anymore at this point
you can just buy experience it’s just
for sale for
325 like you don’t need 20 years of
experience to to figure out all this
stuff and he’s like I’m not mad about it
I use all the tools too I use shotlink I
use analytics I use data I use it too
but it sure would have been nice to have
that at 19 and not at
47 that I mean he literally after he won
the British Open he didn’t win for 12
years and I always remember watching him
because we’re the exact same age and so
I was always like man this guy is
amazing but winning is so hard on tour
it’s ridiculous like a great win rate is
2 or 3% is is off the charts that’s a
win like every 18 months but if you’re
good enough to never lose your card and
win a major and then you don’t win for
12 years like it’s kind of weird yeah
and once he again he bought the app and
won the following week and then won
again six months later and it’s just
like for him well his caddy I won’t
mention him by name but he’s definitely
an arguer on Twitter and I’ve offered to
help him before even Stuart fired him I
offered to help him like he was so
confrontational with me on Twitter and I
was just like
dude let’s hop on a webinar I’ll just
show you what it is I do before you like
bash it and literally steuart fired him
had his son caddy the next week and play
him like a video game and he won yeah
and it’s like sorry man I tried to help
you but sometimes you just got to
there’s no reason to it’d be like
someone intentionally playing Blackjack
intentionally not knowing the rules yeah
like just I’m going to hit whenever I
want to I’m going to hit by feel I’m
going to hold by feel like
that’s not how it works there is a
system you’re still going to lose but
there is a system you can play that
makes it much better than than what
you’re doing on your own yeah
narrow-mindedness is a very bad tradeit
isn’t it you know like when people are
just even even if you
don’t uh believe in something I think
it’s important that you if someone’s
offered you the opportunities to listen
to them listen to them you know what I
mean and you might they might convince
you or you might learn something from
them or you can at least have a
discussion about it but being a bit
narrow-minded like that it’s interesting
because you’re talking about his CAD I’m
like going God I hope you’re not [ __ ]
can and his son here because he’s at the
start of the conversation I know that
his son um have had some good success
and uh it’s kind of yeah you’ve kind of
painted a little bit more of a clearer
picture there for us all right well it’s
like Steve Williams to bring up an
Aussie yes like it’s not a mystery like
the dude’s the best caddy in the history
of the game Ted Scott’s going to
probably give him a run for his money
but that has as much to do with his
horse that Steve’s does but it’s like
that dude understands the game and how
to play and how to manage your way
around a
course as good as any player ever has I
mean he doesn’t have the physical skills
but he certainly has the rest of it yeah
and he he’s clearly got a really good
understanding too of um it’s one thing
having the information but also the the
implementation of delivering that
information at the right time how to
deliver it
how to read a player like having
information is
fantastic but talking to a player in
that moment um is a is a huge skill huge
skill I think one of the most people can
talk about all these amazing shots and
amazing this and everything I think the
most amazing thing in the history of
golf and I actually like I literally
mean this there was that one shot I
think it was in the British Open where
tiger is over it he is about to pull the
trigger and Steve calls him off he’s
like wait a second that’s not the right
Club cuz they kind of debated I think it
was like between like four and five iron
got Tiger Woods over like cuz cuz I’ve
been in that position with zalot Taurus
like in the US Junior where it’s like I
really want this guy to win and I’m just
watching him I’m like God this is the
right Club buddy back off let’s let’s go
through this again and getting him to
change a club cuz now it’s on you dude
if this is wrong it’s on you and to do
that to tiger in a major as he’s over
the ball about to pull the trigger and
be like this isn’t right and the club
and be
correct
that’s BSB even saying that and takes
brass balls takes a lot of trust in the
relationship but when you talk about
Steve Williams Steve Williams is the one
that gave Scotty the re when he won the
um when he went Masters in 2013 he gave
Scotty Scotty told him Adam Scott said
this is my line and Steve said no it’s
not it’s here and that’s why when he
kind of holds it I’m not sure why but
it’s obviously highly emotional but you
know he’s kind of looking at Steve and
Steve’s happy and has this kind of
situation where you’re right buddy you
know what I mean kind of like that
there’s just there’s just things that
sometimes you just you can’t quite
explain as a person with experience I
talk about this one thing all the time
this one putt that will had in the Texas
AM it was in the final round it was an
important putt it was like an 8ot par
Putt and you know my eyes I was 40 at
the time they’re starting to get a
little bit weak and he was like he’s
like I got this thing just outside the
left cuz I always let him read it first
and then I could just kind of tell from
the general slope and everything that
I’d come in and if I didn’t like it and
he’s like the pin was on the right side
of the green it was like four from the
right and there’s a bunker over there
and he’s like I got this thing just
outside the left and I’m like hold on
there’s no chance I’ve read it I’m like
I see what you’re seeing but I think
it’s everything long that’s giving you a
little bit of a of a of a
distortion he’s like it’s got to be
outside the left I’m like it’s not I
guarantee you it’s not he’s like how do
you know that I’m like cuz there’s a
bunker right there the water cannot
drain into the bunker so there’s just no
chance this putt goes materially left it
might be inside left but it’s from with
with as close as this thing is to the
bunker it’s just not on a 1% slope I see
what you’re seeing but trust me on this
one and he put it inside left and it
didn’t move an inch like it still kind
of caught the left lip and and went in
the hole and he was just like I would
never make that putt by myself like like
I didn’t even like I never would have
thought of that until like in that
situation it’s just like yeah the
water’s just the water they have to get
the water off the green and there’s no
chance it’s going into that bunker yeah
interesting very interesting a bit like
Windam Clark mate PA wer what’s that
Windom clar’s lip out on last week oh my
god well he just hit that putt too hard
he did he did I mean that putt just had
too much speed and I guarant I would
like to know and I’ll ask him if I ever
see him I’ll ask him did you not want to
leave that putt short yeah of course cuz
that’s just part of the range of
outcomes from that distance you have to
be comfortable leaving some short
otherwise you’re hitting them too hard
because as well when you look at the
we’re talking about the eight the 7
second hole here at the play
Championship wind Clark had that dirty
lip out people listening but what you’ll
actually notice there too and you’ll
even see Brian harman’s ball every ball
that kind of goes past the hole from
that direction goes an extra foot or two
than what you probably expect you know
what I mean like you always like when
you saw Brian harman’s Puck come back he
definitely had like about a 5 and a half
to six footer coming back and whenham
Clarks was on that same trajectory and
that brings the whole that narrows the
whole size down so much at that speed
right yeah all right so yeah I mean if C
can you tell me we speak about the
system right can you give me a nutshell
what um before we move into some
questions what the system is in decade
is there any way that you can kind of
explain it to us in a nutshell
I mean essentially so the traditional
playing lesson advice is going to say
like okay this is a a green light spot
let’s aim at the flag oh this is a
little bit more difficult here let’s
let’s go towards the middle of the green
and the key to that is is golf is the
only sport in the world that’s not
played on a uniform field of competition
so every soccer fields the same I assume
every rugby Field’s the same what do I
know never played rugby Cricket all of
them I assume they’re all the same but
golf is the only sport that’s that’s you
could have anything I mean it could
literally be anything so number I try to
use some iconic holes number 10 at
Pebble Beach is 500 yard long from the
US Open te box the green is 17 yards
wide and there’s an ocean on the right
number 18 at St Andrews is 354 yards
long and the green is 52 yards wide so
middle of the Green in both of those
situations is just different information
and so you really have to start taking
the length of the shot in combination
with the surrounding hazards and then
start making a decision on where to aim
so let’s say that we’ve got just a
pretty average width green especially
here in the states I don’t know about
Australia a pretty average width green
is about 24 yards wide MH yeah um and so
if we’ve got a sand wedge and the pin is
five yards from the left
Edge you know 100 yards we’re probably
going to be aiming for the unless
there’s a water left we’re probably
aiming right at that flag but now let’s
back it up to where 160 yards and we
have an eight Iron same situation pins
five from the left yards we need to
start moving it towards the middle of
the green but we don’t need to go all
the way to the middle of the Green in
that scenario just towards it so again
there’s that inflection point but now if
the green was 52 yards wide we’re not
even close to the middle of the green so
decade is really about helping you
choose it’s it’s a simple process of I
mean decade is is just an acronym D
distance how long is the shot that’s the
first input that we need to consider
this is a bit of a placeholder to make
the acronym work but the first e is
expectation um which I think again in
hindsight it is the first step you know
let’s have some proper expectations of
what’s a good outcome here yeah C is
correct Target now because of the length
of the shot we’re going to figure out
how far we need to be aiming from the
edge of the green so that’s where we
start of is is wherever the pin is
located we’re going to start choosing
our Target from that edge of the green
and then a analyze is analyzing the
surrounding hazards the weather
conditions How firm the course is and
then from those inputs we’re going to
choose the the proper Target relative to
where the hole
is which again starts becoming
regardless of how wide the green is I
mean again I don’t disagree quite often
when we’re out there with a six iron or
longer the middle of the green on an
average green is going to be
about correct yeah but par is a hell of
a score from I mean technically for
excuse me I’m sorry for most amers par
is a hell of a score from anywhere yeah
I mean you know what I what I had
alluded to earlier with the tiger 5 is
Tiger had these five things he tracked
and one of them was bogey with nine iron
or less and so I turned that into bogey
inside 150 because I think that back in
the day that’s probably about what is n
iron was before these lofs started
getting out of control and what’s just
crazy is that everybody on tour
literally they bogey 15ish per of the
time from inside 150 and it’s just like
yeah it’s just you can’t make enough
birdies to offset even the occasional
bogey the birdies are just so precious
that you’ve got to protect those and not
make dumb Bogies yeah I used to call
them even before T came out with that I
used to call them wedge Bogies like I’d
be in the car getting the shits wedge
Bogies but can we just elaborate a
little bit more there when you spoke
about that number right let’s call it
you know you said 160 yard you know pin
5 yards off the
left when we’re dissecting or analyzing
this shot dissecting would be after a
post right but pre I see a lot of stuff
out there from athletic motion talking
about making sure that you try and hit
the shot that is as standard as possible
so if that 160
yard right you’re saying there that it’s
say it’s the perfect Adine right let’s
say it’s a perfect Adine 160
what what if it’s halfway between clubs
how much do you vary does it does it
widen your dispersion I think your
amateur at home you’re you’re I mean I
hate saying this because like a five
handicap is a great player yeah of
course but but your five and certainly
10 and higher handicap they don’t need
to do that really ever the variance
their shot pattern is so deep so we’ve
got a shot pattern width and we’ve got a
shot pattern depth their shot pattern is
so deep like it’s going to it’s going to
randomly be the right Club sometimes
it’s going to randomly not be the right
Club sometimes once you start getting
down below a five you’re starting to get
enough skill that you could probably
have a full shot and
a I would say half off but like half
between the next Club shot um steuart
sink Tour player I’ve got videos in the
app of him in the 18th Fairway at
harbort toown and he and his son are
trying to decide is it a five off or a
10 off so basically Stuart’s going to go
full shot five off 10 off next Club full
shot five off 10 off next Club full shot
five because especially on tour again
without getting into trigonometry and
geometry but like the the if you’re in
the left side of the Fairway and you’re
using a pin sheet and sprinkler heads
those the sprinkler head is to the front
of the green and then the pin sheet goes
directly up the green and so if if
you’re on the left side of the Fairway
and the pin’s on the left
as the crow flies you’re closer to the
hole for sure yeah than it would tell
you otherwise yeah and the opposite is
true if you’re on the left side and the
pins on the right you’re further from
the hole than your distance tells
you now when you start for the amers at
home kicking in okay well I’ve got a
laser I know exactly how far I am okay
cool the subtle variances in
Wind change how far the ball is going to
go like we’re just trying to be I do
believe we’re trying to be a little too
precise in this game and it’s funny we
actually had a friend we used to play
professional golf with that we were
sitting there bsing at dinner one night
and my buddy noticed he’s like every
shot you ever tell us you were 100 or
105 or 110 or 115 or 120 like you’re
never 112 he’s like I just rounded to
the closest Five and my my buddy Robbie
was like you don’t try to hit at 102 if
you’re 102 he’s like you seriously think
you H at 102 and he’s like well I’m
trying to but it’s like in hindsight
like yeah good luck with that I mean you
just you just don’t have that much
control so I I do
believe if we’ve got a half club and the
pins on the front go with the longer one
and just hit it yeah if we’ve got a if
we if if we got a half like a not
perfect yardage and the pins in the
middle go with the longer one and maybe
take a little bit off and if you’ve got
a half Club in the back probably go with
the shorter one and hit it full I mean
again it’s it’s I I hate making generic
statements about specific example but
that advice is probably not going to
screw anyone up well majority golfers
come up short right so it’s it’s not
really majority of tour players come up
short yes yes I mean yeah it’s not
really I mean the the numbers again this
is where back to arguing on Twitter
there was a a golf announcer that was
probably named Randle that was talking
about the best play like the DJ and Jack
Nicholas had this Advantage because they
were because of their fade they were
coming up below the hole more often than
your normal Tour player and they were
coming up below it and right like the
fade was coming in short right of the
hole so they had these uphill right to
leers all day and I’m like yeah and they
also would have tacked on 15 fet to
their proximity like implicit in that
statement is that Jack and DJ Mish hit
it more often than the average guy the
best again I hate making this this is
way too concrete of a statement but the
best Strokes gained approach players get
the most shots past the hole in
regulation so like tiger and DJ average
42 or
43% overall getting and and and I should
say we’re we’re controlling out the fact
they just hit it further so on par five
ising I’m saying from like 100 to 200 in
the Fairway the best iron players get
the most balls past the hole now part of
that is they hit at the most solid
obviously but also I think they just
understand their distances much better
because if you think about taking this
shot pattern now that’s like an oval
shape and if I Center it the exact same
size shot pattern and I don’t know if
you use video or not in your in your
podcast but like imagine we’ve got an
oval and I only 30% of it is past the
the the middle of the the past the pin
or 40% of it is yeah my proximity is
going to lower with the exact same size
shot pattern just by centering it better
over the hole and people all the time
will be like yeah but you’re going to
have a bunch of downhill slick comeback
putts then like well that’s better than
having a putt twice as long from short
of the hole or being in a front bunker
like it’s just it’s it’s it’s literally
not even debatable either do you know
one thing I would consider about that
Scott though I’ve thought about this
right how majority golfers do come up
short always said every golfer sorry in
the world does
um I think there’s also a little bit of
the fear of what you can’t see and
unknown psychologically W in inside of
you where when you’re looking at your
intended target majority of the time
we’re hitting uphill right like we we’re
looking at a green circumference that’s
up we can’t see past the flag that well
because it’s generally a little bit of a
drop off or whatnot I think you know and
even if you think about hitting a shot
if you’re on a golf course and you’re
not 100% familiar with it or whatnot or
even if you are familiar with it and you
see it go over the green there’s also a
bit of a oh I hope that’s okay you know
I hope that’s all right but if you’re
short you know where it is it’s just say
I can see it everything’s okay I can go
up there and Chip it on do you know what
I mean I I think there’s a little bit of
issue about that well there was
definitely a cliche back in the day I
assume it’s dead at this point for tour
players was you can’t keep your card
from long because everyone thought that
if you’re going long you’re chipping
back down the hill you’re putting down
the hill and just all this stuff and
it’s like okay maybe but nobody goes
long too often I mean literally nobody
goes long too often so it’s like it’s an
irrelevant statement yeah I get it it’s
probably better to not be long too often
but but this is where people get
themselves in trouble is they they let
one potential negative outcome Drive the
entire decision yeah you can’t remove
all trouble yeah there’s something bad’s
going to be in play and this is actually
Adam shank when he finished second last
year there was a I I think it was a nine
and 10 in the final round on nine he
made like a maybe a bad Bo you wed I
wish I remember these details exactly
but he made like a bad Bogey and then
the next hole the pin was on the front
right with a bunker short right and and
he smoked it way long left and made
Bogey and we talked after the round and
he was like I was just so didn’t want to
hit in that front bunker I’m like well
you accomplished that you had a 25 foot
Chip Shot coming back like you can’t let
like that’s in play that front bunker
has to be in play if you have the
correct Target shot patterns are too big
to remove all of the trouble it’s just
again it’s just not the way it works
shot patterns are so much bigger than
most people would recognize and I posted
a bunch of stuff this weekend from
shotlink on this idea I I took it all
down because I don’t want to post too
much shotlink stuff and make the tour
mad but course shot patterns just blow
your mind how big they are yeah people
listening shot pattern I think you could
use the term like hate map as well would
you say like where the balls are
finishing right yeah it’s not as tight
as people think they are it’s it’s
definitely not as tight well and this is
where the PJ tour in in in television I
should say more than pj2 or does
everyone a disservice Yeah
by they they’ll say like on this par
three average proximity is 32 ft and
then they just throw this circle this
32t circle exactly Over the Hole so it’s
like any shot inside of this is it’s
like no that’s going to be skewed
towards the middle of the green because
they’re not just hitting a third of
their shots in the water so like using
the average proximity you’ve got to
understand what you’re looking at in
order to say like the average proximity
like a shot 42 ft left might be
fantastic and it falls within the shot
pattern of that 32t proximity
I think yes I completely agree I yeah
you painted it beautifully and I think
one of the um other disservices that
they do is that when a tour player hits
a wed shot to 20 ft and they go oh he’s
going to be disappointed with that or
that’s a poor shot it’s like well it’s
actually not too bad you know what I
mean in some circumstances I see them on
average yeah yeah he actually not too
bad at all but
um I actually I saw something on
Instagram last night when I was doing my
um my secret investigating that’s to on
your public forum Ser investigating you
put on there about um there was a really
cool video
with
a Frederick from what he what’s he got
Frederick Fredick L yeah that’s it he’s
got some training aid um about you
showed him an example of a ball in the
rough from 98 yards or just call it 100
yards versus can you can you just run me
through that statistic that I that I
watched well the rough is again it’s
about a quarter of a shot penalty on
Tour on average so 100 yards in the
Fairway is 2.8 Strokes 100 yards in the
rough is 3.02 Strokes yeah and that
number is pretty consistent from 160
it’s exactly that 160 is 2.98 in the
Fairway and it’s 3.23 in the rough so I
get it that it seems like oh the rough’s
not long enough or whatever like the the
rough is a penalty and so again you’ve
got to consider the entire shot pattern
is going to contain some shots in the
rough and contain some shots in the
Fairway and this is why if there’s any
one thing that I definitely feel like
I’ve accomplished with changing strategy
overall is when you see all these kids
hitting driver just everywhere and the
announcer is like these kids play so
aggressive these days and then you got
the older people saying I hate bomb and
gouge it’s like you can hate it all you
want it’s correct yeah I mean and that’s
what that video if I remember it
correctly we did that one two years ago
but it’s just like hitting driver
everywhere
because back to xotur there was this one
hole that he was planning on hitting
like four iron Sand Wedge on he’s like
I’ll just put this forign out there in
the Fairway and I’ll have 110 I’m like
fair enough first of all you’re not
going to hit the Fairway every time with
a for which is hard for people to
believe but that’s just not going to
happen and with driver you’re not going
to miss it every time and where the math
gets skewed is even if you only hit the
Fairway 30% of the time up there with
driver those are some real scoring
opportunities but then your expected
score your expected score from 60 or 70
yards closer with a driver versus your
long iron it’s you could put it in the
rough 100% of the time with driver and
in the Fairway a 100% of the time with
your long iron and you would still be
better off with driver yeah and that’s
just where again people overthink it
especially with like I’ll just drop back
to three-wood here and get it in play
like you don’t hit your 3-wood any
straighter than your driver and cuz I
guarantee you somebody’s listening at
home right now like I do like okay well
your driver is not fit for you very well
then it’s not it’s not because you’re
amazing with your three but it’s because
your driver sucks you just I just cost
you 600 bucks for listening this podcast
cuz you need a driver fitting I love
that you said that because I talking to
one of my students once and I’m so glad
you said that about you know his Fairway
finder with his three-wood or whatnot
and I was going man if you want to hit a
fairway it’s it’s there’s no point
hitting three over
driver and well that’s good sorry yeah I
was like there’s no point hitting three
over driver if you want to get something
let’s look at maybe more of like your
two IR or something that you want to
maybe muscle like your three IR down
there let’s look at that as a fairway
finder you know potentially building a
shot for this guy he’s 100 130 mile
driver right very very very fast I said
your three-wood there’s no 90% of 90% of
the time that that 3-wood is a better
option than driver it’s because it stays
short of a Crossing Hazard that’s it
that’s that’s the vast majority of the
reason but this goes back to De Shambo
what’s funny about him is so so salauris
was 2014 de Shambo was 2015 he wins the
NCAA Amer two months after sitting
through my seminar and we’re sitting
there uh in the middle of the summer so
before he wins the US Amer we’re sitting
there uh I went up to caty for zotor at
the pat Coast AM and Eugene Oregon and
we played with Maverick mcney de Shambo
and will in the practice round and
Bryson Just Hits this little his little
Fairway finder off like the first five
holes and I knew he had the big ball and
the Fairway finder and so after like
four or five holes I’m like let me see
the big ball dude this is I just want to
see it like this golf course may we may
not even get to see it at all he tees
this thing up like an inch higher and
just puts an extra 15 mil hour of ball
speed on it like it was truly incredible
that he just threw this on it and I was
like what are we doing here buddy yeah
and he goes well I’m just afraid that
I’m going to hurt myself if I if I do
that very much I’m like well I would get
over that and it would be so amazing to
go back to this 21-year-old kid who’s
afraid of hitting his big ball driver a
couple times around and be like you’re
going to finish second in the world long
drive contest in five years like it’s
the craziest [ __ ] yeah ever I I mean I
just literally I mean that yeah and my
people have officially showed up to take
our pictures but uh you got anything you
want to finish it up with I hate being
I’ve never had to say that before but I
can hear them vacuuming down I can hear
too it’s okay he mate it’s okay I’ve
actually got big day on myself but the I
actually wanted to add you a little
question on that and I’ll put the links
below for people want to get decade
right and kind of find out what you are
your Instagram page um if anyone wants
to kind of reach out to you I guess
that’s where the place to probably get
you through there or through the decade
uh website but has has Bryson had an
influence in decade at all since you got
him on board because I know he’s an
extremely wise man well you know
smart people ask me all the time is
that’s where I thought you were going to
go earlier when you said it’s changed
from the guy in Singapore and I’m like
it hasn’t changed at all oh you’re
talking about the structure and the
timing of it yeah the math is never
going to change it could theoretically
change a little bit as players get more
committed to their targets and shot
patterns become smaller because of it
because I do believe like there’s
there’s holes on the PJ tour especially
on par 3s where it’s like I as a
50-year-old Amer can create a better
shot pattern than what you guys just did
on this 200 yard par three which is not
possible that just shows to me a lot of
non-commitment and confusion to shots so
I do expect to see that keep tightening
which might change the math by a yard
maybe to but no I mean again
Bryson I mean just zero in this is
what then when you’re talking about him
no no no 100% but what was cool with
Bryon is that that semester so I I
taught them all of this in February of
2015 to him and we did
what’s crazy is we did a seminar at SMU
for the whole team and they wound up
being four USGA champions in the room
they that eventually won and three of
them played on tour um but the deal with
with with Bryson and Coach Eno coach Eno
is like dude you’re he was ranked like
67th in the world at the time and he’d
always been beating on him like you play
like an idiot let me so he literally
walked how these college coaches they
usually switch off who they walk with
enlo walked every single hole with him
that spring semester and just played him
like a video game just like I did with
zotor and again luckily he had success
early I say this all the time like if I
give a seminar to 50 players I’d be like
by definition like a third of you going
to play well tomorrow a third are going
to play average and a third are going to
play bad like I feel sorry for the third
that play bad because you’re going to
think well this wasn’t for me yes and
the third that play good I’m going to be
like yay for you cuz you’re all in yeah
Bryson played well his first tournament
and he’s like this is interesting played
well again hm this is interesting wins
the NCAA championships is like I’m all
in same thing with zot torus if he had
just happened to play Bad at the Texas
am even I probably been like H whatever
yeah but he he he wins he had even won
an ajga and the guy goes and win the
Texas am yeah it’s it’s getting a little
bit of success early is is hugely
important unfortunately to to being able
to commit and stick to the process yes
yes and I think he’s got a good brain
for it too right like to convince as
well you know like would have a good
mind
hey but I’ll let you go well I say this
I say this all the time when when when
he won the USM I was sitting I was
actually at a movie with my wife and my
phone just starts lighting up I’m like
well I guess Bryson won and she said to
me she’s like that’s got to be good for
business right I’m like I mean maybe I
could also see where it’s negative
people like well yeah he’s smart he gets
it and I’m always like and I’m always
like when people ask me like well do you
have to be smart to do it I’m like no
but it sure doesn’t hurt yeah but I mean
that’s just like it’s just another it’d
be like is being a fast Sprinter
important in sprinting like yeah like to
be one of the best players of all time
yeah you’re not going to be an idiot I
mean one of the things about DJ the
guy’s actually really smart I mean this
is what’s funny is like Patrick Reed
literally says the smartest people I
know he doesn’t sound real smart when he
talks but he’s a savant at the game I
mean he is as smart of a golfer as
you’re going to get yeah and and I guess
as well like when I mean that doesn’t
mean that brusson um I know that he was
SM that he got decade but I saying that
he’s got a brain that would understand
that you know math math here like he’s
taking out the word feel essentially and
putting it’s like it’s like Fitzpatrick
I mean Guy’s super smart he’s he dug in
I mean he was such a fan of it he paid
me to work with his brother Alex when he
was in college I mean yeah it it it
never hurts but I don’t want that to
intimidate people because the math of
decade is literally no harder than 2
plus two you might have to sit at home
and think about it for a little bit
but again my my can joke that I’ll end
it with is if you think you should have
shot lower every time you teed it up you
either made mental or strategic mistakes
or you’re not as good as you think you
are like there it can literally be
nothing else and so if it is the the the
the former the latter I don’t know which
one it is if it is the fact that you
make mental and Street mistakes what I
would always say to you is what’s your
plan for stopping that my plan and I
definitely have not realized this until
recently like within the last year just
kind of doing some soul searching and
thinking I always think that I
thought I’m just going to have to get
better in order to start stop making the
Bogies with the wedges the [ __ ] that I
would talk about with my buddies at
dinner then like oh you won’t believe
what I did on six in order to stop that
I needed to get better at the game I
didn’t need to get better at the game I
needed to make better decisions and
that’s what Chad Campbell and Chris
Riley wore me out with so again to to
upsell as hard as possible like if you
think you should have shot lower what’s
you don’t have to buy decade but you do
need to tell me what’s your plan to stop
doing that now you can spend a decade
trying to figure that out it’s literally
why I use the word decade or you can
join the membership and again like it’s
what’s funny like literally 100% of our
players are our members improve we can
track the scoring averages yes it’s
literally Bonkers they all improve I
think to even end on all of that my
friend Richard he said to me a long time
ago Richard Woodhouse and he said golf
is the most poorly trained sport in the
world right and not only are we the most
poorly trained sport in the world we’re
also when you look at strategies around
other professional sports and how
they’re approaching each play and
defensive and attacking coaches and and
in golf we’ve just got a technical swing
coach that’s it it it is the most poorly
trained sport in the world but also
similar to how I say it’s the most it’s
the only sport in the world that’s not
played on uniform field of competition
yeah it’s the only sport that’s not
taught on the field of competition yes
yeah like that’s a problem and like I
used to get Junior golfers parents is
would get mad at me like the my son’s
coach isn’t getting on the course with
my player like well did you give him 600
bucks yeah well that’s ridiculous I
agree like the price of course
management lessons is way too high they
need to be taking three or four kids out
at a time cutting their rate down toward
where it’s the same hourly rate they
would be getting but they’re chopping it
by four that’s the way it should be done
and I’ll get junior golf parents that
are like well I don’t want my player to
go out with Bob he’s not as good it’s
like that’s what you want to see you
want to see the ball going into dumb
places and watching the instructor
assuming they know what they’re doing
talk them through how to make better
decisions like that’s actually what you
want you want three or four kids in a
playing lesson I like it hey Scott you
been great I’ll let you get to the rest
of your day mate and um I appreciate you
decade. golf at this point is the
easiest way to find it thank God we
finally got that website up I appreciate
your time cross your fingers I sell this
house thank you very much man
