Amateur Golfers Need To Know This Before It’s Too Late! Adrian Fryer Guest

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hello everybody and welcome back to the Matt frer golf podcast I’m Matt frer your host and today we are not joined by Tom fear and your co-host we have none other than Adrien frier my father welcome to the podcast how are you many thanks um not bad overworked underpaid aren’t we all aren’t we all so we ar on our normal location today we have traveled up to Bonnie Scotland and we are in the home of golf we are at St Andrews and we’re actually sat at the moment in the Captain’s Room at the Duke’s Golf Resort which if you don’t know um sits just above the town of St Andrews if you’re watching the video podcast you’ll see the window behind us and we’re pretty much looking down on the ninth green of the Dukes golf course and then out over to St Andrews and it is a spectacular view especially when the um the sun is shining just like it is today so a big thank you to the Dukes for having us here today and we’re we’re off out to play a little bit of golf shortly a couple of matches and some some tips and things like that how are you feeling about the uh the battering you’re about to witness well we’ll play it by here but yeah I’m looking forward to it I’m looking I’ve played a few holes on the course I don’t know three or four years ago but it was in January and very cold and a d day as they say up here in Scotland so I know they’ve spent a massive amount of money on it and it’s a great well obviously designed by Peter Thompson five times open Champion so it is I’m I’m really looking forward to enjoying the course and hoping I can do it justice and uh play well enough to batter you well that shall be seen so for those that are listening or watching and they haven’t seen you on our channels before just give us a brief um history of Adrian fry Dr golf if you will how long have they got well obviously I’m a PGA Pro as you know been involved in professional golf since the late ’70s when when did you start teaching oh about 19788 78 79 my first assistant Pros job wow so what’s that 7 what are we now 40 4 years ago 46 years yeah my birthday next week by the way I know so you know viewers if you want to send you well wishes happy birthday HB as the kids put now so 45 years teaching and was it all at a golf club or driving ranges or no in the early days uh the private golf clubs you know being assistant pro at two or three courses and then a club pro at Charlie Golf Club in Lancashire Hall at Hill as they call it where um just a year before you were born yeah and then umly 80s yeah and then the pro at warington golf club for three and a half four years and then a large driving range operation kind of two tier big 60 Bay range in 91 and that was the I know you said no it was the second actually I you said on your podcast I didn’t want to correct you but yeah second uh at the time and particularly in the northwest of England you know there’s only one in London um of that size so that was exciting you know times um uh for us and a great venue so I was there for 20 odd years and then a couple of other dve well dve ranging witness True Fit and uh then moved on to where I am now Liverpool Golf Center which is a very bus obviously in a busy town and busy place still teaching yeah five and a half six days a week solid seeing everything that a human could possibly do with a golf club in 40 odd years you know and some work in magazines as well yep that um in the early um late kind of late ’90s early you know 2000 about 1999 2000 there started a bit of magaz work with golf world and then today’s golfer golf world is that that’s not going still going yeah yeah yeah well it’s part of the kind of B Media Group and part of today’s golf but today’s golf is the big selling magazine which is great and I’ve I’m very lucky I’ve been um fortunate to um write instruction articles with them for you know 20 odd years wow and that was you know we did do video in the early days and didn’t realize at the time how big YouTube was was going to be we did it as an aside really and people say to me why didn’t you do that why don’t you do what Matt’s doing and I said well not got the face for it exactly only got the face for radio and um as they say and you know you we didn’t know at the time the internet wasn’t a big thing 20 years ago and so obviously we still create some great content it’s still a great publication for anybody who wants to get it digitally or in supermarkets and so on no fre exactly so but no but it’s great but it’s a kind of Forerunner to YouTube but of course people can get go golf help and golf information in multiple channels can’t they these days which is fantastic it’s great access for people yeah I think it’s opened the sport up um tremendously really yeah incredible it’s it’s done a lot before we get into I think having you on the podcast is great we’ll get a lot of great information for you know anything because you’ve Tau from you know tour Pros all the way to begin of golfers haven’t you so we’ll we’ll dig some information out of you before we get into into that though St Andrews obviously up here we’re here for a few days you’re going home tonight just tell us a little bit about your St Andrews experiences when was the first time you came playing the old course why is it so special oh it’s just I mean anybody who’s a a Golf Nut when you come here you just can’t believe it the history is just it’s just Mega obviously um with yourself we played three or four years ago and that that was a great opportunity and with your good pal Danny mod and your dad Brian it was brilliant and that was just a really nice was that your first time on the old course that was my first time playing the old course now I’d visited obviously my partners from Scotland and I’d visited St Andrews many times kind of passing through and on tours of Scotland and and so on and stood by the the 18th grade and stood in the old gr tune and enjoyed it but not appreciated or had the chance you know obviously played many Championship courses prior to that but but I had the chance to actually enjoy it obviously the first time was to actually enjoy the old course was with you since then I’ve you know I’ve been back half a dozen times and coming back again in February I bring um five or six of my kind of keen students and we they do a fantastic winter offer here yeah where you can get the old course and a couple of others for for you know 200 and you know obviously you got to apply and be lucky but but it’s just brilliant okay take your chances with the weather but even just to be in in the town and be around everything that is golf it’s hard to explain obviously if you’re football and you go to Wembley or for the for the the UK citizens or the oval but but it’s just unbelievable the place the history when you think this is where the game well it started with the rules and then you think of the first Open Championship or the well not the first was at presswick of course but then the the um you know 1870 J and the the history is just just it’s hard to explain yeah it’s hard to explain obviously it was great to play with you all be it in the rain and do you know that’s the only time I I’ve played think six or sevens on seven times on the old course most times have been like between November to April time we played the first week of June or end of May was end may play yeah another time in summer that was the only time I’ve played the old C in rain I know I know I was it was the height of Summer one of my students this week and i’ seen him on social media in the rain and and every year we’ve been since we’ve come down the 17th and the 18th and it’s been cold obviously one or two degrees we’ve had our Bob hats on but the sun’s been out and we’ve just said how good is this yeah and you know you you’re striding the same Fairways that old Tom Morris Willie Park Bobby Jones Ben you know um Nicholas tiger everybody tiger Nicholas and all the greats of the game you stood sevy and whatever you stood in the actual Footprints of you know there’s very few Sports you can you can do that and then just soaking it up and and it’s not changed a lot no since then and you know and i’ I’ve been lucky enough as I say to coach a couple of guys whove both played in the Open Championship both at St Andrews so was that was who’s that Scott Arnold and Phil Archer Phil Archer yeah and Phil unfortunately that was a year remember that it was awful the weather you know but then Scott obviously in 2015 and of course he well he made the got tied 40th and shot 65 I think last round tied 65 I think it was was it yeah um last round tied Jack Zack Johnson for the low score on that day so he was a you know great player great lad and that’s just one of the nice nice experiences I’ve I’ve had here brilliant and is duffing you today wow um have you been out on the Dukes have you said once you’ve played yeah just once only played a few holes um one winter as I say um and and I say it was a Dr cold day so I didn’t see it at its best but um obviously I’ve seen it and followed you and and and I say the investment they’ve had it look looks fantastic looking out there yeah it’s uh they’ve spent a lot of money and they’re going to refurb the clubhouse as well this um throughout this year as well which is going to be one heck of a um a place to come once it’s done I’ve seen some imagery of it and it looks fantastic what they’re going for but we were just chatting to the pro um gram or minty as we know him and he was just saying the greens are absolutely pure so even just looking out the window you can see 9 and 18 where we sat and they do look good from here so I’m excited to see it you’ve not played from 15 onwards hav did you play 14 holes yeah think we played 14 yeah it was kind of we were rushing around to get through the light 16 16’s a great par three really tough 17’s a good Par Four very very tight Drive is and then narrow green to enter Then 18’s a great finishing hole but I think one of my favorite holes in the whole of St Andrews like I said earlier we’re just above the town here but we’re only I think it’s 2.1 miles from the old course Hotel so only about 1.8 from the center well from the first T um of the old course but I think one of my favorite h the third the par three is out there I think that is one of the best holes just slly downhill isn’t it yeah play anything from like 120 to about 195 off the B tea and the the Green cers from back to front and they can stick some real devilish pins on it and it’s a a fantastic fantastic little Golf Hall so I’m excited to uh to get out there um just before we move on to some coaching stuff the the first time you hit a t- shot on the old course talk us through a the nerves and what what the shot was like do we have to yeah all right well the first I think obviously was with you as I say when we played and um to be honest it was a bit of a horrid Affair obviously had excited about being just in the town but at the time Rick was here Rick was up filming and I was you obviously I’ve known Rick work with you and different things things over the years so I was just on the putting green um it was cold I remember windy and cold and I was just chatting to Rick just just talking Golf and what have you and then you said come on we’re on the tea so I kind of hurriedly got on the tea had a couple of swishes I think we had about five layers on and I don’t know it must we must have been into the wind that day cuz I hit my little for yeah and in since then I’ve hit driver many a time into the draft because that whole on a cold winterday plays a lot longer but um I hit I hurriedly hit um a little four wood fivewood halfway up the ball I think managed to um skin it down the skin it down the Fairway but obviously again as I said just standing there now having been several times and I’m a bit more relaxed and can just soak up the atmosphere and does out of bounds ever come into your mind on that it’s the widest Fairway and golf but you stand there and think yeah please don’t hit this bands I can see why people do and obviously we know historically you know Baker Finch hit it left there but you can see on the right how the the burn I get right yeah I get right and if the wind’s hard off the left and there’s that little Bush and I just aim at that bush and fortunately you know the the other four times I’ve played it I’ve whacked it down the middle but but the um the challenge isn’t over then no because then you might have you know 120 130 one 140 or 50 into a cold wind wind some days have it six iron in there yeah to to make cuz you think I don’t want to dump it in the burn and last time I know I hit a good drive and I hit had like 130 but it was into a hard wind and I thought I’m going to hit eight in here cuz there’s no way I’m leaving it short and um fatted it into the bird yeah I mean I tell you a little story one of the kind of Peter Thompson Story how true it is and someone said to Peter Thompson five times open Champion a great t ition Great Golf mind obviously and someone said to him you know you never made you’ve never made three at St Andrews in all the times you’ve on the on the first you’ve never made birdie 3 on the first in all the times you played and he said yes cuz I never tried and he didn’t mean that arrogantly it just wasn’t in his plan the way I read into that it was just going to knock it down knock it over that water yeah you know it was it a bit like Hogan used to say well you you hit that there well that wasn’t in my plan you know he had a strategy yeah and he said I never tried to make three obviously the first hole there if you watch the open coverage how many times do you see world class players dump it in the burn oh God yeah you know they put the flag a bit near the front and they’re a bit nervy you catch a little heavy yeah and so thin spin it back in I get it you just want to you just want to get it on the green get your four get out of jail and and move on and enjoy the rest of it and breathe breathe yeah but going back to your question hidden out of bounds I mean all those things that when that wind’s off that left and if you you leak one definitely and and and um it is wide you know the Fairway obviously but some of the caddies we were chatting to them when we’ve been in the bar sometimes afterwards and a couple of them have told me that they’ve had guys and girls that have been that nervous they’ve had them put it off the first yeah so like you’re not going to make contact like the balls on the ground here just whack whacky Putter and obviously it’s a flat Fairway it’s bouncy you’ll get down to a drive would be anyway yeah but that would be that’ be one to see if you watch someone te off I get it you know for many people it’s it’s it’s it’s a big moment yeah it’s they’ve looked forward to it for years and can be really nervous can’t they yeah yeah well that is a good good look into the nerves of St Andrews and the the magic and Mystique of it yeah incredible now as you said you you’re a a PGA golf coach been coaching for about 45 years I I’ve made a a couple of statements on the Pod I think in the past that I think you’ve probably given the most golf lessons in the world ever I think that’s a a broad statement but I know I just did a feature for today’s golfer you know and probably have done about 990,000 lessons I mean there are lots of dedicated golf pros on the planet who have done similar amounts you know same as me you know I’m sure um foolishly otherwise I’ve done it kind of six days a week eight nine 10 lessons a day over the years just because of the venues and the style of yeah uh my business if you like I am trying to I would like to change that a little bit some of it is driven by the model but I’d love to kind of play more with my students I’d love to but it’s kind of it’s a different thing so for your viewers overseas and living say in the States you know and different types of tuition out there and yeah so on but in the UK and that driving ranges and you know venues where you’ve got a coaching Bay and different things and you can you know do the volume uh but yeah I’ve I’ve I’ve I’ve given a hell of a lot of lessons to a hell of a lot of people a a hell of a lot of Standards you know from beginners ladies gents Juniors tour players and what have you you know I’m very lucky and and looking at all these lessons and what you’ve seen over your year couple of things that we wanted to pick your mind with and maybe give a little bit of insight to the player listening or watching this um average handicap around about 18 now in the world isn’t it something like that if you were looking not from a a golf swing which obviously in a a bay you would see a lot of that you know you you trying to fix the golf swing if you were looking outside of golf swing um and you were looking at just improving a player where where do you think a lot of golfers could see you know not well drastic improvements not like oh drop 10 shots in in one round but you know picking up three or four strokes in a in a round where would you see that there’s probably some some basic things that a lot of golfers don’t do that if they just thought I’ll put that into play it’s going to change you know scoring and how they perform out on the course yeah I think obviously as we know you know there’s different debates of how much the golf swing is part of playing golf as it were you know 10% whatever and how much is mental and how much is preparation and practice and the emotional and and and psychological side there’s no doubt about it you know you look at tall players they can all hit it that’s why they’re there so they kind of mentally strong players or the the ones that are most prepared and some are very analytical like you Matt Fitzpatrick’s and so on and you know and so everybody has different ways of Performing but from a an amateur golfer’s Point of View kind of other than working on your your Technique which we’ll we’ll talk about um that there’s so much you can learn about the psychology of the game uh and and expectation management is a massive thing yeah in golf because what people think they should be able to do and what they actually do you know is a different thing and I think the problem is with golf it looks easy and actually isn’t no you know you watch it on tell you think that looks easy uh and I I I the boys at my work and the pros were I’ve got a lot some good friends who were all coaches were all golf nuts as it were from a coaching point of view and my pal uh Neil and and Stephen in fact I play with them last week and my pal Dave called was head of the training for the UK PGA and we discuss kind of a lot about the performance and you know what makes golf is tick and we we were on Monday in London just talking about this but but um they laugh at me because I’m quite hard on my students but in in a in a a realistic and and hopefully a nice sort of way because had a guy last week you know and he’s a 154 handicap and he’s moaning that he’s not hting every shot perfectly and Out The Sweet Spot and I’m saying to him listen fix me now I’m just well I’m saying to him listen this is not as easy as it looks and and I kind of use this analogy sometimes and I don’t do it to belittle people but I say to them if I gave you four years training every day do you think you could run in the Olympics or as fast as you say bolt and they go well of course not I say well what about snooker I’ve give you four years of playing snooker every day do you think you could play in the world championship and they say no and then I say well if I gave you four years hitting a golf ball why do you think you should be hitting it like Rory mroy in three or four years 320 yards what you see on television golf it’s easy fix yeah it looks easy but it isn’t that easy to develop the skill acquisition to hit a golf ball well the repetition the motor skill element before you even talk about course management before you even talk about handling your nerves your emotions because even like you playing on YouTube you are and Rick and Peter and Mark CR all these guys you you you you’re bearing all that’s harder than actually being a tour player tour players are playing for a living and the cameras are on everybody you’re actually there ws and all as they say and I I find it nerve-wracking filming these things yeah because you you know you’re being judged to a degree now an amate golfer feels that when they go on the first te yeah they stand on the first te and what most people say I want to be more consistent but but they just don’t want to make it make them a fool of themselves you you go and play in a competition with your friends or you’re invited to play in a corporate event or you’re playing with some other ladies or whatever different things you think oh I just don’t want to make a fool of myself I don’t want to look stupid I want to be proficient you don’t NE you don’t necessarily want to be a world beer no you just want to move that ball along and make solid contact that’s half of it making solid contact yeah and move it along so going back to your kind of original question psychology you know my great pal who going back to today’s golfer in 200000 my great pal Carl Morris sports psychologist mental coach who was taught a few major winners taught a few major winners Darren Clark you know Lou t with his Red Dot and you know uh gr McDow and Alison nich many many more as well as having a fantastic I know you think you’re probably going to have him on us again guest on your show but um great podcast show and I would urge anybody to listen to those these are things you can do off course yeah I listen to every one of them and there’s some okay you can’t take it all in but there’s some great tips and he’s had some fantastic guests Mike heon Fred Shoemaker we were lucky enough to have Fred to come to our range who wrote a fantastic book extraordinary golf about the joy of solid contact the joy of enjoying the game Mike heon one of the brightest Minds in America golf PJ but it’s gone from being the most knowledgeable swing coach now to a if you like a professor in neuroscience and how to manage the game so he had he had a superb episode with him so those are things that of course people can do man yeah and again Adam Young John Sherman people like that he’s got a great book four corner I think four foundations of golf about managing your exp what what do you realistically you’re not going to hit Out The Sweet Spot all the time you know how how are you going to practice how are you going to approach the game in terms of your um swinging and and how can you make the best use of your time one question one thing we’ don’t like when we’re doing tips and things like if you’ve got a slice let’s say and you say well plan for it and well it’s all it’s all well and good saying that I can’t plan where my Ball’s going to go how’ you get around that no you can’t you know what your patterns are obviously again if you do a bit of research and technology these days with so many launch monitors and and in expensive launch monitors you can look at your shop pattern and and maybe in the tips later on today things about what you really do and what you actually do well of course I hit a 7 ey 175 yards well no you don’t you might have hit one once onto 175 yard hole but if you actually plotted how far you carry it you carry it50 yards or 145 yards so some of it is ego but some of it is um you know I think that’s the expectations isn’t it as you said basing on our best swing and our best contact which we don’t necessarily make all the time but but I think you know it is about managing that and managing your ball as you say learning I I I say to most of my students if I CED for them I’d get them around five or 10 shots less I had it with a chat last week we played in the charity day and he’s n he was very nervous and a new golf newish golf and mad ke spends a lot of time and money on Golf and I I said to him right just hit it there right knock it down no don’t put that away put that that three-wood away hit a 79 down there and flick it on the green all of a sudden he knocked it in for a four so just managing his his way around the golf course is you know now again if you have a slice and you know that’s your pattern well certainly you’re going to aim left and put it back and then you’re going to work on it with your local PJ Pro and lessons and YouTube or whatever but um but I think I think you know as I say expectation management massive how far you think you hit it again there all the information’s there on the in you know you do some work with shot scope tells you exactly what a five handicapper hits off the tea you know 220 yards and and and what having it doesn’t mean we don’t all hit 300 yard drive now and again but but knowing you know how what you do do then managing your emotions as I say and and you know Carl will talk about this a lot and and I try to do it I mean again sometimes it’s do as I say not as I do or whatever it’s hard when you like as you under the gun being grateful I’m out here enjoying golf with my buddies yeah on a great venue I’ve got my health gratefulness is you know we all beat ourselves up on the golf course don’t we yeah you know because we want to play our best and and if you kind of look at the top players yeah we on television you’re seeing the top 10 you don’t see the guys missing the cut you don’t see the guys sat in the hotel room for two or three days waiting to get the flight and so we’re always broadcasting and seeing the winners and it’s the same at Club level of course but um you’ve got to you’ve got to be grateful and enjoy it and sometimes that that’s massive from a from a nerves caling point of view I think we all just don’t want to make a fool of ourselves yeah you got to think hey hang on a minute come on I think those good rounds you know when you ever speak to anyone say oh well I went out I’ve been on holiday for two weeks I’ve not picked the clubs up I’ve been busy working went out had no expectations and I played great yeah you think right okay do that next time but then it’s well I played great last time so let’s let’s go again but moving on from there if you know you you’ve gone and you’ve played you know a little bit more to your um sort of potential your not trying to rely on your best swing every time but if you were looking at someone as they are improving their golf swing what’s probably the one thing that every golfer should be doing or should be trying to gain consistency and you know we get loads of I’m a slicer I want to hit this perfect draw but if you were looking at the golf swing obviously they’re all different we’re all different shapes and sizes but what what is one thing that all the golfers out there should be doing to try and Achieve or make the most of their golf swings I I think and maybe it’s just the area we live in because I’ve kind of grown up through very ious areas of I was very lucky to work for an old chap in one of my first jobs who was you know late 70s and he’ played in the Open Championship he was actually born around born just locally from leaving here and he was a club maker and taught me loads of things about that but but he he was kind of an old sage Alex and um in those days you know it was more about just the basics of golf and again I’ve been lucky enough to spend a bit of time with you know the most famous coach ever or the father of European Golf and John Jacobs and and you know and there’s John I kind of paraphrase but you know the purpose of the golf swing was to you know deliver the club on the right path if you like with the face looking in the right direction Center strike and and how it how it’s done is of no importance at all as long as you can repeat it so I think what’s happened over we’re going through an era at the moment because not just in golf but in most things we can measure everything yeah so we can measure how much force you’re putting into the ground we can measure how fast you know I’ve got my technology there in the bay I know how fast the club’s going I know the launch angle of the ball I know the Face’s relationship to the path was X many degrees open I know whether it was hit Out The Sweet Spot I know the spin rate I know the spin axis the you know the vertical plane and so on but the reality is you’re swinging a lump of metal around your head and you’ve got to swing that lump of metal around your head with it traveling in the right direction relative to the tar and you’ve got to get the face pointing in the right direction and hit it out the middle of the face at the relevant speed for the shot you’re hitting so as long as you keep doing podcast and and YouTube stuff and as long as I keep coaching that isn’t going to change and hasn’t changed since Willie park or old Tom Morris sat on stood on the tea back at yeah St Andrews there the first time in 1872 he stood there like you and me thinking please God let me put a good swing on it let me make solid contact and he he’s trying to move that club round his body in the right shape MH with the club face looking in the right direction and so on now today’s coaching and and plethora of tips and so on are potentially sometimes getting further and further away from that right do this with your left what’s the latest Trend this year let’s bow the left wrist let’s use the ground well you walk to the ball didn’t you were using the ground anyway you know yeah that happens it’s more of an effect now if you’re into Force production and you kind of go down that route great but before you get into Force production learn to move the stick so answer kind of simple answer question people need to get more familiar the S well what what look at Scotty Sheffer winning last night what’s he good at presenting the golf stick for the required shots so if he wants to hit it right to left he’ll move this club on a particular inside path with the face left of the path and the ball will draw if he wants to hit it low he’ll lean the shold if he wants to hit it high he’ll bring it in sh and so he’s good at moving the stick and you can see his feet are all over the place post impact and so on but he’s a great shot maker people say you know how did you play but you know what he’s got a nice swing but the skill in golf once you’ve learned to swing it is to become a shot maker isn’t it navigate your golf ball around the golf course so if you’re a I’ve been coaching a couple of players recently two or three players who are hockey players and they generally make good golfers because they’re good at presenting the stick so a hockey player knows he’s got to he knows how to move the stick watch for the use on YouTube you know and and move the the head of the stick and the face and tennis players you speak to people about Top Spin tennis shots or cut shots they have a a bit of a an empathy with that and so you have to be very careful as say in golf instruction World lay the club down do this with your right help but there they’re all things to help you move the stick better and produce the desired shot but what happens is sometimes I’ll say to somebody of you who’s let’s say shanking it well do you know where you’re hidden it out which part of the face you’re hitting it and let’s let’s try and hit it more out the toe I’ve never thought of that because if we’re not careful we become immunized we get further awareness isn’t it you doing some awareness and people like you know Adam Young and so on these guys I say on their pods and so on will talk about this in great depth but but you can you can become as I say immunized from the stick and the club the ball you’re that busy thinking about everything else and and and 54 moves to Magic golf that you thought oh forgot to hit that ball with the club head you know so you look at the top 10 players in the world they all swing it differently Tommy Fleetwood doesn’t swing it like Sheffer you know and so on they’re all but they’re all good at moving the stick at speed those guys and um so you know you you you your viewers and listeners they need to be aware of or don’t don’t lose sight of of um what you want the golf club to do to the golf ball you know do you know what direction and path and shape of Swing you’re swinging in do you know where the club face is can you swing it a reproducible a pace that allows you solid contact because you know every golf pro without a word of a life people come into their coaching environments and say I want to be more consistent and me being a smartass I did it yesterday with the guy said oh good I said how you going to do that then and I’m paying you you tell me do they go I was hoping you were going to help me I said well this sounds really rude or a bit blunt I said but if you stand to it correctly and consistently and form your grip consistently well and form your posture consistently well with the ball consistently in the right position and then move the club consistently around your body in a consistent shape with the face looking in a consistently good direction and hit the ground consistently in the right place you’re going to be consistent and that’s what I’m saying why golf is hard because you’ve got that amalgam of multiple multiple joints multiple movements but at the end of the day going back to Bobby Jones and you know and his affinity for St Andrews Bobby Jones copied his um coach at the golf club he’s got his Club bro Stuart maiden and they say why did Janes swing it so well well his swing was a a club bone of the old Scottish Pros Stuart Maiden swing so he copied his swing so if you think you well you’re not fortunate enough to copy my swing cuz you’re not that blessed cuz I’m not that short you’re not that short yeah but um but copying you know pre YouTube well I it’s funny you say that I remember I used to um the ride a cup was it 2003 at the belfrey yeah I think it was yeah yeah yeah I think for one of my birthdays you bought me a videotape of it so back in the old VA chest days and there was a swing tiger on the first T hit two ion and every day before a go and play or practice all it would do pop the VHS in Fast Forward I think he was like third group out or whatever and he made these practice swings and they just looks incredible I was like right okay I’ll just do that today and it does baffle me sometimes when you when you see you know whatever sport it is when you look at like oh well that that’s what they’re doing on the TV and then you go to the golf course and you see what some people you think have you ever tried like just watch Adam Scott watch Louis watch Ernie like Ernie was my hero growing up and then padri Harrington you think just replicate that well obviously easier said than done course it is but if you’re good that’s where children are great copers you know as as as you know as people into human development the you know monkey see monkey do sort of thing so again I had this conversation yesterday I said pal go on the Range there now and look at those 50 people swinging and if if you find two that you think well he’s got a nice golf swing so I say to everybody who walks in my bay when you on the first teer at the club or you’re down the range and you look around can you see the people who are swinging it well and they go oh yeah yeah they’ll say oh he’s got a really nice swing and I say what do you think of Adam Scott singing they go oh yeah it’s really nice I said why do you think it’s nice is it the rhythm is it the shape I say you’ve got a television haven’t you you know so I say everyone’s got television why don’t they just copy good golf swings but what happens is they want to kind of circumnavigate that and start breaking too many of the mechanics down and and and breaking it into too many components if if you like so if you were good copers but I say to people what you’re doing doesn’t look anything like Adam Scott scholing looks like you’re trying to Club a baby seal to death you know you might have to edit that out but um but you know because what happens is people think well I’ve got to propel that ball so this is where we get into is it’s a means to an end golf is like ballet with a stick so if your sole intent is to smash The Living Daylights out of that golf ball you probably won’t end up with something that looks like a golf swing you go on any driving range and give a human a golf club and say hit that down there unless they’ve copied the parents who play golf or unless like you’ve seen in in in this era we’ve seen kids produce brilliant golf swings and when you’ve said to them where have you learned that swing and they said oh Tiger Woods computer game so subliminally going back to you watching the video subliminally they’ve looked at that game looked at that computer game and copied the shape and the Rhythm and the timing of his golf swing they’ve not necessarily broken it down alth they’re not necessarily just obsessed with smashing that ball going back to that ride a cup incidentally I met John Jacobs down there he was happened to be down there um and I was chatting to him on the practice ground and it tiger was about to tea off and he’d never seen him CU he’ not traveled at that age he was in his late SE whatever he was it and um he said come on let’s go and see this young fell see let’s go see this young fell see if he’s any good so we wandered over to the first T and tiger smashed this thing down there and he kind of went he looks yeah he looks all right I think he I think he’ll be okay that was the kind of blessing from God but um and of course his coach Butch har was a big fan of John Jacobs m but um but yeah so what so what is that one thing then that all amatees should be doing then if I think in in a nutshell become much more aware of swinging the club be aware of the club the club face the ark and so on you know the shape of the Swing the circle you know copy whoever you admire you know on on YouTube television or whatever you know copy their swing just find a model yeah yeah not say a model but but I mean a person as a model yeah person as a model you know but but but become more aware of the club the club’s a tool what you know again in lessons I’ll say to people when you watch a violinist they’re good at moving the instrument you know that’s what they’re good at if you watch a carpenter they’re expert at using the tools so any expert with a with an Implement you know that’s what the golf stick’s just an instrument isn’t it or an Implement and and and and and this goes to chipping to putting you know we’ll talk about it later with tips you know how are you going to arange that instrument to produce the shot you want to produce it’s not as generic as as people maybe think and we’re all again we live in this world of formulas you know three ways to get fit 10 ways to lose weight you know five ways to hit it further you know 10 ways to hit it straighter but you know there isn’t an easy answer to this no and you so you’ve got to do the graft oh gosh yeah yeah yeah very very much so I always remember you say to me like to become a good golfer there was always three skills that you needed to learn like three s’s first was your strike get consistent with your strike secondly was uh the shape once you’ve learned to find the yeah find the face consistently right how do you make it curve less like left to right then right to left how’ you hit it high and then thirdly was your sort of your golf course part yeah to score and that’s one thing that I sort of pass on to my students a lot of the time thinking right okay well which which stage are you at like have you graduated lesson one yet no right okay well let’s make sure even when you watch the pros on TV um when they they’re not striking it well they’ve still got some you know control of the the shape but then they they rely back onto that third skill right well I’m not hitting it my best today it’s time to learn to just score it doesn’t have to be the best shot I’ve ever hit every single time I’ll just put it down to point a put it up to B chip it up to C knock it in for D and you go right okay there you go well that was a four still the same four someone who’s maybe hit 320 down the middle hit a wedge to 10 foot and then there there’s no pictures there’s no pictures on the scorecard and going back to that the 3 s’s was kind of you know learn to swing it then use that swinging ability to become a shot maker IE start to control the ball yeah and then use those then two to then become a scorer which then you go into the mental side excuse me mental side and and Shop making kind of managing your emotions and so on but you got to understand probably a couple of things the golf swing is a painting that’s never finished yeah you don’t you wake up some days your fingers feel fat your back like you you’re struggling with your back I’ve got a Heria God knows what so you make the best of athletes yeah super athletes you make the best of the best job on that day and and and this is the same for tour players you know they’ll turn up some days and shoot 61 they knock the flag out they feel great next day they shoot 69 70 or whatever don’t feel as great you are a human yeah end you are a human on the end of a golf club and again going back to expectation management people always say they hit a shot and I go why did I do that what what happened then I just say was just a crap swing just put another one on it you’re you’re a human the skill of duplicating this art is impossible and that’s where we go back to consistency you know and again listening to Carl and all the podcasts you can’t it is it’s a game of inconsistency because you’ve got 14 tools of and and today we’ll go out there looks like it’s windy you know the temperature changes all these things so so it’s not you’re not playing on the same size pitch with the same stick or bat uh you know so it is a game of inconsistency and the sooner the golfer realizes actually this is a moving Target it’s going to change every day let’s see what I’ve brought today to the golf course and make the best of it I might have a good ball striking day I might have an indifferent one I might be feeling stiff I might be feeling great you know and of course you might feel great for nine holes or eight for 13 holes and then the wheels come off so then you’ve got to have the the emotional tools to to to handle that the adversity that golf um gives you you know and it’s a cruel cruel game at times and and sometimes how hard you practice doesn’t relate to your performance my life yeah you might see the results weeks months later sometimes you you you you you practice hard for tournament and the other week I practiced really hard on a particular shot I thought this shot I’m hitting under pressure and I keep tugging it left right I’m going to hit balls and then I got on the golf course and within three holes I hit this very same shot and the smoke was coming out my ears and I thought I’ve stood here for a week in between lessons hitting this shot and then I’ve just gone and tugg this one left and and and that’s at my level so I’m thinking God almighty you know so I I wasn’t best pleased but just got to get back on the horse you know it’s like riding the bik say why they do that will you will you fall off a bike will you fell off get back on it yeah go again so so sometimes you just make poor swings very true just got to get on with it and play the next one no one cares as I said to you I was hard on you when you were um uh learning or we’re all trying to learn but still but you know used to oh it’s not fair that was bad and and I just said no no one cares was the wind the wrong color was the grass not to your liking yeah and you know it’s bit of you know my hero was Tom Watson find the ball hit it find it again hit it again no one bothers we’re all wrapped up in our own game to bother about who else we’re playing with you know with the greatest respect we’re all we’ve all got our own stuff to deal with very very true well I think some very very good stuff though I think you know easy to easy just to pick a few things of make sure your expectation match your your ability um and be true to actually what your level of golf is as well and then that shape of the golf swing we’ve had some questions coming from uh Instagram and some followers over the couple of weeks so we just wanted to fire through these before we wrap up uh with you and head out to school you on the golf course but um one of the first questions was from a Colin Wallace and I think you’ve pretty much answered this but um his question was as an older golfer 61 18 handicapper what is the best thing to focus on to reduce the handicap is it that yeah I would be aware of your I would say be be aware of the the clubs and and I’m just a little older than you Colin but um doesn’t mean we we still can’t get the thing round the golf course and obviously I say that the whole world at the moment is all about power power power and as I say Force production but kind of you know for the older golf get the thing in the Fairway get it on the green get get your little seven wood manage your golf ball round of course get the basics right you know if you can if you can get a good swing shape where you can draw it and trundle it along the Fairway and get a bit more out of it but I again I get young guys in my bay and every one of them with a S9 a lot of them you know and they’re all aspiring golfs and the 92 93 94 I get some people said you’re F you’re swinging it faster than average you know with a seven iron but they still can’t break 80 or 90 so that’s got to be more about controlling the club again and consistency and um getting the thing round so but as an older golfer you know Fairways and greens you know work on your short game you know if you’re hitting it over just 200 yards off the te around 200 yards and you can chip and put you can still get it around a six and just 6,000 yard typical yeah golf course you know in in good numbers so I think older golfers you don’t want to get sucked into this of course we want to hit our best shots more often but you don’t want to get sucked in so much into the power thing but more about controlling that ball and getting it on the short stuff very nice um next one de de lamb uh as a teaching pro what questions from a new student in advance um would you set would would you think sets up a good session what would you like them to ask as they’re coming in not just give me the answer give me the secret what what do you think the student would like yeah if I’m a new student I come in to see you what questions should I be ask asking to make the most out of my session I think that’s varied depending on as you say where they are I think from the coach’s point of view they need to know how much time that player has to practice do they enjoy practicing do they just like playing you know because you do need to to practice this game yeah you know so I think you know they may need to know how much they need to practice what they’re going to practice of course again there’s tons of information about different types of practice should you do random practice should you do block practice and everything you know there’s been a pendulum swing on the internet oh you must do random practice cuz golf all these shots are different you must you know practice you know your woods and chipping and do all these different things and hit to different targets and of course at the the great range we have top Tracer technology and all the technology on Range these days there’s so many games that ask you to do random practice brilliant that said you need a technique first so so please by all means move on to random practice but once you can stand there and hit a seven iron or a nine iron repetition relatively straight each time so gain some degree of control before you then start to then try and play to different targets I think nowadays people think well we’ll shortcut that and go straight to random practice but but I can assure you if you look at Hogan and Faldo and Nicholas all the great of the game have spent thousands hundreds of thousands of hours just hitting ball after ball you know to a tree or in my day you did into a tree and have to pick your own balls up that’s what Alo said to us yeah so we all me and my pals we all grew up on golf courses where there was no driving ranges per se we had a little practice ground cuz all the golf courses in the UK built around the turn of the century the practice practice wasn’t a thing you had a little practice area or whatever so we’d all hit balls with a seven iron to a tree and you’d go and have to pick your golf pick your own golf balls up so you became good at hitting them close around that tree cuz you and then you’d go and Chip the balls to the tree so you you were doing two things in once you were learning how to control the club face how to control the the path and and so on and then you chip them so you were chipping them from all these random lies where the ball had finished and uh it’s you know I had a good session with a young man the other day and I’m digressing but we were talking about launch angles and tour players launching six sign at 14 degrees and whatever and most people who come in my bay and the’re launch in a 7 I plus 20 odd degrees and I and I said how do you think I led it low cuz I didn’t have a launch monitor I didn’t know what 14° look like or 16° did it so I’d read in a book I used to have in the 70s of Henry cotton a great great english golfer going out and sticking a shooting stick on the Range ahead of him and firing balls at the shooting stick until he knocked it out with a kind of long iron and I thought well I have a bit of that so by doing that in a reverse engineering point of view you end up leaning the shaft forward maybe both in your wrist dof in the club so you’ve learned the skill backwards it’s only now I know that I can hit it 14° or 10° or whatever but I didn’t know that neither did Tiger neither did Faldo he stood there and learned to hit it low learned to hit it high learned to move it right to left and again he learned how to move the stick he made the stick do make the ball do what it wanted to do very very true so what what should they ask you yeah oh forget that question yeah yeah it’s not what they say ask I think it’s a two-way street that I’d always ask somebody when they come in you know how much obviously we want to know their golfing history you want to yeah their job what they’re like as a personality because that’s massive people’s personalities some people’s personalities aren’t suited to golf no you can see that the way they behave yeah we can see the way they behave on a golf course they’re short tempered they’re impatient they they may be successful I get it with good Sportsmen who come in and you ask them again so you know it’s a two-way street this I’ll find out and you I I’ll get people in and i h a few balls and I’ll I’ll say have you played golf or did you parent oh no no I had a guy the week and he he was bombing these seven ions and and then then I asked him I thought I said have you played before you know he’s only been he was he was at University in in Liverpool and he no no no I’ve only been playing six months said if you watch YouTube yeah watch a bit of YouTube and then it turned out he was a tennis coach so he had transferable skills so again you know you’ll see on the internet these days about getting kids to do mult multiple Sports yeah but you know so his question it’s a two-way street yeah you know it’s more about the coach asking a bit more about them yeah and their time availability their time to practice their background in sport their personality type and and so on and then you’ve got to stylize you know your your game if you know around that but the reality is you’ve got to hit a lot of balls with the right Basics and yeah very true right one last one to finish and a quick answer if you will please if you could go back and offer young Matt any advice on his game what would it be oh my Joe that was take up hockey take quit fish you should should have stuck to fishing yeah stuck to fishing and BMXing and and so on and it’s that’s a difficult one isn’t it you’ve thrown me a curve ball there I mean I think I think one one thing to improve my game then I think you’ve done well I think as a young Matt yeah you were too hard on yourself psychopath Club throwing all that usual I used to kind of find I used to say Where’s that ping putter you know and then find it in the garage in two pieces and whatever so in the early days you were hard on yourself now whether that was you trying to please me or please people or had a reputation I I don’t know but that was not never the intention you know so I think enjoy it more enjoy it more you know I think for most people you know we’re not trying to we’re not trying to persecute ourselves and again we’re back to expect expectation management aren’t we you look at Sheffer and and and the guys at the top of the game the tiger they’re so together yeah mentally you know and emotionally and they know how hard the game is but you know and they work hard and so on and and and I think so that’s where the kind of emotional side and so it be to enjoy it more and enjoy you know you you see Sheffer there you know last week or whatever being stopped by the police and then having a baby and everything else and still comes out wins so that that’s got to be mental it’s nothing to do with technique it’s allowing like all of us and hopefully today for us allowing giving you technique an opportunity to to shine through yeah you know try to find that balance where you can encourage your your best swings to happen more often and it’s tough this is the toughest game you’ll ever and that’s why we play it cuz you never know what you’re going to what’s going to turn up today do you that’s no we do not that’s the joy of golf it is well thank you very much for that I think we’ve got a lot of insight there and hopefully the the listeners and viewers can pick some nuggets out of that and go and maybe enjoy the game a bit more and not be so hard on themselves and if they’re looking to find lessons with yourself is it solid golf on Instagram Twitter yeah solid golf on Instagram as you say Twitter or find see if you can get in this year with you well no I’m pretty busy so as usual but so um but yeah Adrian Sol golf .co.uk brilliant well we’re going to head out onto the Dukes and if you haven’t already as well make sure you’re following the Dukes on all their socials and check out some of um the offers that they have got going on this summer because they’re pretty pretty good um new Fleet of carts just come out here upgraded halfway house cour has had loads of do spent on it and uh it is looking magnificent so we’re going to go and Sample the pleasures of the dukes’s now 18 holes and then some tips um so make sure you’re watching those if you haven’t already as well do make sure you’re leaving a review on the podcast if you’re listening to it on Spotify Apple really helps us um follow us and if you’re on YouTube make sure you’re following the Matt Fry golf podcast Channel and also the main channel so you don’t miss our match and tips with Adrian thank you for that sir thank you and sorry to rabbit on as usual we’ll get we’ll get that scout timeing next time he’s a bit more quiet yeah he’s yeah you’ll be able to edit all that rubbish out no we don’t edit this one right thank you and we’ll see you next week for your next episode