Course Strategy from a Pro Golfer

Teaching you how I play on the coarse and what is going through my head.

here you go John so is that just lining yourself up when I when would you like when you like step up are you just line up your back foot first and then your front foot yeah so so I’ll go I’m looking at so I got my line right and I’m looking now at lining up my club face to my line so I’m just holding it and I’ll make a little adjustment whichever way I need to and then I’m getting basically this foot established P right so I’m just lining and then I’m and then my body’s just moving until it’s comfortable to match what I want to feel to to what my intent is okay right just get just getting comfortable and then once I got it all then the pressure in my hands just slowly increases to the right amount for this particular putt right and then when it’s ready then my putter will bounce just a little bit taking all the pressure out of my shoulders arms and then I go uh hey good morning guys bright and early actually not too bright here at T the creek in um playing the creek and Stonehouse nines so we got Harold he’s a aspiring Pro really good player uh Keith sers and John little so we’re going to do uh we’re going to do a little action today a little kind of on course commentary of what I see what I do these guys will ask me a few questions um Keith is a scratch Harold’s like a plus five and John he really sucks but he’s getting better we’ll get we’ll get some of his action today too it’s pretty good uh bunch of great guys but um you know I’ll just talk through a couple things that I do for each shot what I see what I’m setting up to we’re on the fourth hole now on Creek uh so far I’ve made three pars pretty simple uh no range time we got out of the car went right to the tea I haven’t played golf in like six weeks um so we’ll see how we go all right man let’s have some fun yeah good ball riers so I didn’t hit a great t-shot but it’s a it’s a cold par five normally reachable but I’m 270 out of the rough um so I look at where the whole location is it’s in the front so you know all I’m trying to do from here is kick it down the Fairway about 170 180 yards uh which right now out of that lie it’s looking like maybe a little five iron and all I’m doing is just chipping it down there give myself a good wedge so no not trying to do anything special I’m not going to take my longest club and try to hit it as far down the Fairway as I can I’m seeing what I have out there I want my my most optimal distance for my third shot uh into this whole location that sucked well that was pretty crappy but but I didn’t get hurt so I’m still back at 113 yards out of the rough still no big deal my I’m just allowing my body to loosen up right cuz it’s still early so still to a front hole location I look at my number at 113 and I probably have about 108 to the front so I’m picking a shot that I go at least 108 yards get trying to get it close to 113 as I can if I go a little bit past it that’s fine so right now 13 the way the conditions are I’m looking at a number at close to 120 just cuz the air is super super heavy um so I got a little pitching wedge what I feel is I’m feeling the the wetness and thickness of the grass and feeling how my club’s going to go through it and as I’m doing that just my little rehearsal swings I’m getting a sense for what distance and what shot I’m going to play and it comes to me and as it does I then set up to my target which right now is the pin I allow my body to get comfortable and everything is out there external in the hole then I go just about the front edge might have a putt at it that’s my student I’m just kidding no I’m not I taught him everything even how to live even how to live so basically I didn’t hit one good shot so far on this hole um but with decent enough swings good decisions I’m still only 12T for birdie so I just keep I keep doing the next thing even though it’s not great execution it’s just going to the next thing giving it my best shot right and good decisions and decent execution can often give you opportunity for your best score no matter what your handicap is it’s just keep seeing what’s next right and assessing the situation and being able to make a good decision and again good enough execution I love when he’s like in the woods and you can just hear just echoing through the trees like well we know where John is we’ll see him up at the green yeah nice shot got I know that spot it’s in the grass on the I got 135 hole 127 covers that bunker pins over on the right a little bit so I just look I got a little nine iron the greens are soft so I can kind of go at flag sticks but I’m still not going to press short sided at least I’m going to try not to so I look at something a little bit left of the hole getting just a nice nice stock nine iron for this time of morning as I look at my shot this is stuff that Harold and I are working on right now as I dial in my number I’m starting my body’s starting to feel 135 that’s playing a little bit longer and I look at that hole and I feel it and everything resonates and says that this is the right Club if it felt weird i’ you know it’s like I got to hit this really hard then I I’d go to eight iron but if I give a little rehearsal again I’m looking at the my target I’m setting my club head up my face at my target which right now is the is the PIN I’m allowing for all of my feels to resonate as I’m looking at my Target and then it’s go come on right I think I hit a good one oh and by the way I’m 54 he’s 27 he plays full-time wait a minute let me see one two he only got me by four yards I mean you know 2900 RPM pick the right wrench he’s super pum and I got closer than Herold again oh I think uh I think this is good right fellas yeah we’ll give that oh yeah generous and just like that so pared the first four just staying in position and then you know I find myself getting to kick in so we go to one under real quick and I really haven’t hit I mean I hit a good drive and a good second shot here but those are my first actually two good shots that I’ve hit today so I’m just allowing the round to come to me without TR to press any score sh you go you take Grands nobody likes that’s do you get for talking talk right no a I know what it’s like over there I’ve been there numerous times every time I play this all just like this like like looks like a ballerina is tling around yeah back flag so could have been a little bit further gets nerve-wracking maybe it might jump out of the boot [Applause] Stu give it to it oh good [ __ ] [Applause] yeah stand over all knees knocking yeah it’s like to to quiet the mind to do what your intent is Right hitting it whatever right Edge straight but when the Mind races of I got to make this because of my team depends on me if I miss it I’m going to look stupid and I miss these all the time but I make them sometimes but not all the time should I give it more should I not it’s like look it’s right Edge set up to it stroke it in it’s not that big a deal it’s probably going to go in it might not you’ll be okay I used to say I used to stand over putts and and this is how stupid it was I’d say if I miss this my family still loves me right it’ll be it’ll be okay so it gave me like this perspective it made it easy it’s like okay I’m still loved if I miss it right and I’m like and I make him I’m like it’s so dumb I got to there myself yeah you know that spot right a good spot I know that yeah I mean 68 I was going 80 I hit six iron and I didn’t hit great but I didn’t hit bad it’s still front edge oh what a good swing just talking with Harold about you know a lot of my career I’ve always done a pretty good job of of knowing where my club head my club face are so even if I’m not like real pure at the bottom I can always miss it pretty decent you know and this shot here was 168 and it’s still pretty cold out here and I I had the te height on a six iron to where I know it’s going to give me room for air and I hit it decent I didn’t hit it great I hit it like 10 ft from the hole you know so if I’m hitting it great I’m not going to hit it any closer than that so just knowing knowing where my body is and where my head my face are it allows me to keep the ball in front of me and again it’s what I’ve done so well in my career even if I’m not hitting it that great I can always move it forward and give myself opportunity until you know the bottom does get a lot more pure and then I can start you know attacking flag sticks in whole locations so just a good you know good observation for yourself to to when you practice just knowing where your body is and where your Club is allows you to move around the golf course a little bit cleaner than you know trying to hit every shot so perfect which doesn’t exist my family still loves me if I miss this no they still you John is definitely going to be on the right side of the park path told you park path called it told you you already hit such a beautiful draw why would you try to hit more of one I don’t know it’s a good question it’s already in there try to overdo it I told myself I was hitting a hook right out of the gate so I know see like John I’m going to hit this left or right so normally out here on these courses all the par fivs are reachable but today with the wet and cold only way I can get there is if I kind of hammer one so I got to teed up higher and I’ll try to hit up on it and try to hit a high draw to get around this corner a little bit still the same thing where I’m just feeling what I want to do my body already knows what to do so I have to make sure I stay out of the way mentally and still set up to a picture like Keith mentally said I’m going to hit a draw and he hooked the crap out of it not necessary I got a tree out in the distance that I’m looking at I’m setting up and I pulled it a little bit should be too far left you’re not supposed to get that so A few years back out here I share the course record um with one with Ricky fower on two of the nines and a couple other guys out here but I I shot on Creek and Oak I shot 61 with three birdies and I eagled all four of the par FS um kind of kind of rare I don’t know if anybody’s done that but um kind of a strange way to get to 11 under and then the other uh course record 62 it’s on Creek and Stonehouse which what we’re playing today and I was doing a playing lesson and I only hit four iron was the longest Club I hit uh just cuz I’d played here so much and I ended up buring the last three holes to shoot 10 under with four iron being the longest glove in the bag and guy in the Shop’s like he comes out on like seventh hole he goes hey if you finish birdie birdie eagle you can tie Fowler’s record so I’m like Jim I’m only hitting four irons because the ninth hole here is a par five and I lay up I lay up and I make a birdie with the wedge to get the 10 under and I come in and I find out that his record’s 62 it wasn’t 61 so I tied him with just a four iron so couple course records out here uh an odd ways not your conventional way of shooting super low John’s losing it mentally he tries to talk himself through it but he doesn’t do a very good job of it 10 bucks as he hits it fat and barely gets it out of the bunker or he blades it past me hips look good John got the waggle oh man he came to play few years ago I shot 63 the first round and I made a had to make a 20ft put for bogey on on the second hole and then I made some bures I got to this hole and I hit basically hit Keith t- shot I hit it left so it was really good and I couldn’t play it down the Fairway so I had to go left and I hit more trees and then I hit it left and I end up way over there and I had to go over the trees and the pin was like up on this Ridge here and I hold it from like 80 yards from way over there for birdie and I’m like what a freaking day and I go on to shoot 63 and I’m like huh this is interesting the way I got there what a trip drop so it’s just getting comfortable and it’s not aiming left aiming left aiming left it’s just finding the part on the T box that allows you to to set up here cuz you’re set up Square here and it’s going that way if you just slowly start shifting thing to where the the points are now it’s like now you’re aiming down the left side without aiming left yeah and it’ll go down and C back in the middle okay then I’ll hit it straight the dreaded straight ball we’re through nine holes and I haven’t seen one of those yet so oh boy I got a better lineup now okay you should have just hit it like you normally do dude you like me on the last hole when I said I was going to hit a draw and I hit a hook like I told myself I was going to how far um like five yards closer his ball good old John man what kind of fancy trick shot are you going to do you’ll see I left the towel for you I didn’t bad I didn’t see that good idea hey Hasselhoff give him your bunker oh thank God you took all those Waggles and thought so much about that shot he just lag in there look at this oh my golf is so easy except for when you’re John nice butt so that’s the bonus birdie didn’t hit a good drive didn’t hit a very good second shot but rolled in a 40-footer so I end up shooting three under on the front and hit it I mean I missed it good I didn’t hit it great you know so just keeping it in front of me hit one close made a 10-footer and then knocked in a bonus one see would do On The Backs side yeah John little right that 2016 he was doing that I got a chance oh look at this ball I just hit it on top stop hey his score on the front nine looks like a phone number 22241 228 what’s a dash I got a dash in the right spot too it’s okay I got it all right here you’ll see it these guys easy on the these guys it was this guy I’m making good content for your stuff okay Eric’s YouTube’s going to be what not to do in the game of golf that’s what everyone’s trying to figure out out here anyway yeah nice John nice John videos of you I know I got chance there’s a difference between you and I John okay I’m an athlete and you’re not I am an athlete inside my head it’s about like being bettering yourself and being like it’s it’s a discipline what do you told my kids it I can’t remember what oh discipline means self-love self- Lov you have no self L at all you couldn’t even think of it you can lie about a lot of things John but work ethic is not one of them and he like practices his swing and stuff he’s going to be better but yeah clearly it’s not working for him well it helps a little bit can you imagine if he didn’t practice it in his mind how bad he would really be 50 would like I took off spin on 50 at playing at like 102 and then that came off how many yards short yeah too many from where you were yeah absolutely it’s and that’s where you could talk to any any Tour player and say what would you do different I’d get better with my wedges you could hit 50 54 pitching wedge you can probably Hammer your 60 yeah and get it to go you know was 98 playing with the heavy air 100 yeah right it was a little bit a little bit down but the heavy air so it’s a it’s a 100 yard shot yeah for sure that’s all it is Harold is is you being better with whatever Club you pick to hit it 100 instead of what’ you hit it here 92 yeah right you hit eight yard short from your intention it doesn’t matter yeah you can hit 50 you can whatever you just got to be better yeah right that’s that’s because you’re online it’s just the touch of the intention of 100 yards yeah right so the technique is there cuz you I mean your your wedges have been online yeah all morning just missing missing my yardages by so why you missing your yardages right where’s the disconnect of intending to hit it 100 and you hit at 92 yeah right is it not committing to 100 cuz it’s like okay I decided 100 but I don’t want to go long there’s the interference no it’s 100 it’s 100 you have4 until you’re out of position right and you chose 92 no you have to be better and sneak that into at least get it 98 yeah right 100 yards like you can’t skip a beat on 100 yard you have one like you got to throw you’re throwing yeah you’re yeah you’re hitting at 100 yards so it’s just getting better and committing to it I know you can hit at 100 yards yeah yeah for sure like I normally like if it was me like if it was like middle pin or like it’s not like I don’t have to think about like long or short it’s like all right cool I can just throw like no you know but it’s like as soon as I can start thinking okay well long is dead that didn’t do me any good and like this is a like leaving it below the holees ideal now I’m thinking I’m like okay well it’s okay if it doesn’t like run all the way to like 100 but at the same time it’s like all right well if I played it 95 with a 50 or a wedge like pitching wedge had chase out like would you have done that instead or like how doesn’t matter whatever you feel is the right one okay right you just you just have to hit at 100 yeah you can’t be afraid of going long you your internal computer already dialed in 100 your muscles were ready to respond to 100 yards yeah but then in your mind you go uh so now the muscles go we had it yeah what are you doing to us so that that’s the interference that caused 92 yeah you got to commit to 100 yeah cuz like my lines like all my wedges like lines have been good they’ve been great and then I’m like either like a little short a little long just not got it yep to what the decision was stay committed to it don’t waver if it goes long well go get it up and down right but got to be good especially at this level you have to be committed you have to be good oh yeah wow it’s about where I would have hit 4 iron you put away the hybrid and got the driver yeah dude youwood John whatever whatever oh man the L up is G that actually wasn’t too bad I’ve never seen a a cut off of a uphill Li there well no it’s a specialty shot I just love bringing them along for all the like the commentary the laughter he makes me feel really good about my golf game do I want to challenge the front so I’m I’m trying to I’m trying to land at 56 so it gets to 60 yeah right so do I want to how close do I want to get to that what do I want to challenge 55 or 4 and be here or 58 5960 which is where I landed it and it went there yeah right so what would I rather have a 30-footer or a chip right and in this situation with this it’s like I’ll take the 30 foot yeah for sure right so I’m I’m I want 56 in the air but if the thing’s in the middle of the green like you said on the last toll it’s like yeah I’m there there is no error I’m going to hit it 56 you a lesser of two evils it’s like I’m goingon to I’m going to air if anything I’m going to air I’m still committed to 56 yeah but it it’s going to it’s going to go at least 56 I’m not going to challenge 55 to get 56 got it okay John pay attention I am you sure you don’t mean to move that no I should be above it right what do you see I 100% agree yeah you should know exactly what that does yep I know I like it oh it just stay out good hole John had to make up for that drive it was the same Drive you’ve been hitting for 17 holes like yours slow down turn like it’s going to turn a little bit at the end yours kind of wiggled just a little stayed there in what I do for a living the mind is like my worst enemy really yeah I can sit here all day long like I got to ride this weekend okay haven’t rode freestyle in almost a month I’ve been riding a whole different bike I got to ride a Yamaha been wood is what I’ve been riding now I got to go ride a Kawasaki which is my normal bike and every time I’m like flying to an event I can sit here and think think think the whole time like oh I hope I land my first jump good I hope everything you know and then I get there right around I’m nervous I put my helmet on and it’s like everything goes I know how to do it I’m like I turn to the ramp I’m like this is what I know how to do I’ve done it a million times yeah so the mind is like the it’s your worst enemy even in this like you stand over a little Putt and you’re like all these crazy things run through your mind and that’s why I always tell people when they’re taking a million test runs at a ramp over and over and over again because they’re second guessing themselves normally you’re going to make a mistake by doing that because you’re overthinking it and you’re going to give it too much gas not enough gas if you just turn the corner be like I’ve done this a million times same thing with back flips and all the above so what look’s uh how do we use our mind as an asset these guys are waiting we’ll continue it up on the te how do we use the mind as an asset right what if what if flying to those events you replaced as soon as you felt that anxiety and the stress of am I going to land my first jump what if it the whole flight was replaced with with visualizing how masterful the landing of your first jump would be yeah right so every time every time that anxiety comes it’s like stop replace it you can’t just stop thinking about it it’s got to be replaced by something right so then then all of a sudden we’re we’re so calm getting off the plane getting in the rental car getting the hotel getting the first thing it’s like it doesn’t take all that nervousness and some might perform better that way as soon as the helmet goes on everything goes away right but going there it’s like what if we just like go into this tea this is a hard tea shot right so if I if I prepare prior to this t-shot of visualizing how good it’s going to be with confidence yeah that’s the the whole thing is like I try to doing what I do instead of second guessing myself I tell myself and that’s like a lot of people think that us freestyle guys are like almost arrogant to an extent but it’s it’s like self-confidence of like I have to go risk my life every weekend for a job like how many people go to work going like I could steer around a wheelchair with a straw for the rest of my life I could die I mean I’ve had eight friends die doing what I do so instead of like the incompetence of like oh I don’t know if I remember how to do this correctly like you know and being nervous and everything else if you just turn the corner be like no this is what I do you know and that’s the confidence same thing standing over a three-foot putt like I can make this putt you know instead of going like my family loves me my it doesn’t need those gymnastics it it did for me at times but it it doesn’t cuz I’m so confident what I have and what I do my parents I’m not risking my life right but my financial life is on the line I have to whether you’re eating if you’re a professional it can mean whether you’re eating you know keeping a roof over your kid’s head or food in the on the table this month or yeah it’s it’s a lot goes into it it’s the same thing yeah your family must hate you yeah they do so when we talk about confidence right in a really any level player when I play I’m and like Keith when he jumps confidence is built in when I play it’s built in I don’t have to stand over a shot and be confident or have belief and trust it’s already in there I just play right so over time when I continue to hit shots the way I want it builds confidence but I can also start with confidence and allow that to be the driving Factor behind my mentality over every shot I got a better chance going in that way than being not confident and hoping so and that it’s it’s exercising the mind to think a certain way all the time it’s not just thinking a certain way and then going into a golf chot and go okay I’m going to be confident now it doesn’t work like that we exercise the brain like we exercise our muscles in the gym and it’s constant it’s on and off the golf course it’s eating breakfast it’s it’s making sandwiches it’s all these little things that you do in your day-to-day life that you have so much belief in that when you find yourself yeah good shot when you find yourself not being confident over something it’s like well just stop and replace it with I got this i got this i got this i got this right and over time that starts to build into something pretty valuable that you bring to to the golf course or anything else you do automatically it’s not something you have to manufacture at the moment God that was so bad it was so bad before you even hit the ball was I a up was I twisted up uh at that address yeah it was okay it was what you do yeah yeah but the the transition was so much trying to get it that you like really was there yet but I should do that I’ll hit it straight you want me to do one of those I can hit it straight then how far am I the long ways did it hit him four yeah good you guys are awesome you’re a stick man thanks for joining us so backside was one birdie one bogey kind of uneventful um but it just felt good to play it’s been a while so I end up shooting 69 which isn’t bad just keeping the ball in front of me so it’s important knowing knowing your game and just committing to whatever decision you’re making keep the ball in front of you keep making good decisions and get the ball in the hole as quickly as possible so you can suck less of golf thanks for joining