Sit back and get ready to take off with Dynamic
Golf. Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to
Dynamic Golf Podcast. I am your co -host, Tim
McElvenna, and with us as always, my partner,
Sean Klotz. Hey, Sean, how are things going for
you, big guy? Hey, T -Mac. Hello, Dynamic Golf
listeners. Looking forward to talking to you
guys. We've been out for a couple weeks, and
we need to kind of get back into it. It's like
our spring training up here for golf, and this
is like getting back into the regular season
for our podcast, too. So we've got so many cool
events. The golf season is really starting to
kind of kick in. Obviously, we've got Augusta
in two weeks, and they've already played the
Players' Championship. We can't even talk about
that performance there. So there's just a lot
of... A lot of good things happening in the world
of golf right now. Yeah. Yeah. You know, getting
to a little bit about Augusta, just kind of start
off with, you can definitely see a lot of good
players in the stable rounding out and into good
form, getting ready. The Scotty Shefflers, Rory
McIlroy, Min Wu now, a lot of good players rounding
in form. So I think it's going to be a really
exciting Augusta, especially with not having
the big cat around anymore. Yeah. I mean, it's
everything has to come to an end. you know and
uh you know you and i have both kind of grown
up with tiger being you know whatever the best
best player in the world the best championship
the best putter the best up and down game the
best grinder he just he he brought so many people
to the game i mean he just he just transformed
the game of golf yeah um in many many ways uh
with the amount of people he brought to the game
honestly the economic diversity of who he brought
to the game you know so it's it's poised it's
ready i mean golf is so volatile right now with
with live and kind of that whole you know we
could do hours on that let's just kind of keep
it keep it basic for today but uh yeah i mean
seeing rory win it at the at the uh players championship
you know he arguably in my little head it's always
easier to make the comment from the couch on
sunday than playing but he probably should have
won on sunday i really kind of had it chances
a couple birdies there on 15 and 16 but uh he
made it through and he you know won the playoff
uh on monday do you happen to watch some of that
most of that yeah i watched the playoff uh you
know i i'd be honest and i think most people
would be honest when they saw uh jj spawn stick
the first one on 17 into the water yeah it would
to be honest we kind of knew he was under the
when i saw that first tee shot on 16 and he kind
of flailed it out to the right i mean i think
we all know that feeling being so nervous on
the tee and he just flailed it out to the right
and you could tell right then and there he was
nervous uh rory had him on the on the back heel
to begin with but yeah i watched all the playoff
but once jj spawn put that uh that first ball
in the water i i knew it was over especially
when i watched rory just stick it whole high
and i was like wow this guy is on fire right
now It's funny, T -Mac. Like, you know, I think
we're going to do most of our podcast today on
kind of part of the mental game of the golf.
We do a lot of mental stuff on this podcast,
but I don't think that we can ever do too much
in the game of golf on the mental side of it.
But, you know, it's again, that shot, like I've
had an opportunity to play up there. And Sawgrass
at Sawgrass TPC. Have you played it? No, I've
never played it. So I always enjoy hearing stories
about people when they come to 17 and what it
looks like, the clubs that they use, the wind
that they had to deal with. So please tell us,
what was it like? Please tell us that experience.
It's just, it's such an exciting, I mean, it's
such a great golf course to play, obviously,
because anytime you play a place where you've
seen tour players play, you get a little more
inspired. There's actually two. 18th out there
this place called the valley and then there's
the stadium course and the valley is on the property
of uh TPC as well. We played a Pro -Am back probably
about 10 years ago when I was up at Green Valley
Country Club. Two -day Pro -Am. Brought three
of my members from Green Valley. It was just
a really cool event to play both places. I did
shoot 93 at the Valley course. Yes, I am a PGA
professional. I'm okay with all that. That's
the harder one to me because the stadium course,
I shot 78. you know back -to -back days like
it's just funny like you get a little more inspired
maybe that sometimes it's kind of those courses
for horses type of thing you know like the valley
course didn't set up to me the eye lines of it
the sight lines of it um and again you're just
inspired i was definitely more excited to play
stadium course and some of the you know memories
of some of these guys hitting shots at places
so so bottom line is there's so many good holes
in it and you know, golf course is good to you,
Mac. And you've had this too, when you can still
remember it when you only played it once and
you still remember the holes, right? Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, I've got those memories of Bay Hill.
Like when I watched the tournament at Bay Hill,
like I can remember those shots and see those
shots. Cause I've got to play Bay Hill, but you're
absolutely right. I'm sure that when you're watching,
you know, the players championship, you know,
what the shot is on three or four or any of those
things. And you've got such a different perspective,
which is always amazing. When we go back and
watch tournaments, I always find, you know, even
like the Valspar, I wasn't very interested in
the Valspar, but since I've played the Copperhead,
I will watch the whole tournament now just to
kind of say, I've been there. I know what that
looks like. That's a terrible place to be. That's
a great place to be. So, you know, you get those,
those great memories like you're talking about
that mental side. It's. So the things that have
changed now, again, 53 years old playing, when
I go to a golf course, you know, for 30 years,
I never looked at tee boxes. We just kind of
always went to the back of the tee and pegged
it up and you went. To the back tee, bro. That's
what they tell us. Yeah. Now it's like, ah. I
want to play 65 or 66 or a little bit of who
you play with. If somebody wants to play 63,
you'll play there. But the days of 7 ,000 are
pretty much gone for me. I don't mind saying
that out loud. But you see these tour players,
they're playing tee boxes because there's a couple
at TPC, a couple at Innisbrook, Copperhead, like
you said, that you just didn't even know were
back there. 35 yard par threes, you know, normal.
Yeah. It's amazing when you watch tournaments,
like I, you know, when I was watching the Valspar,
I remember sitting on when they. we're teeing
off on number one and I'm thinking, God, where
are they teeing off from? And I'm thinking that
was probably 70 yards back from where we played
at. And I'm thinking, I didn't even know there
was a tee box back there. And I mean, it's just,
they're getting to the point now they're playing
74, 75, 7 ,600 yards, which is, I mean, just
wow. Oh, it's crazy. I mean, that tee box on
number one at Copperheads by the starter shock
team. Like that thing's back there. Yes. Yes.
I mean, you're talking to the gallery back there.
I mean, yeah, absolutely. No, it's so true. It
is so true. So it's, but yes, I mean, 16, 17,
18 at TPC are just three amazing holes. You know,
obviously encourage anybody in Florida. I know
it's expensive now. That's the other thing has
changed. Yeah. It's such an expensive golf course.
It's so hard to get on. we did go up there with
some members actually from silverado probably
you know six or seven years ago it was still
you know 250 but now i think it's pretty exorbitant
um 550 i believe yeah yeah i think you're right
i think you're right so it's it it's such a good
track 16 17 18 the the good thing and you're
going to see this at augusta coming up here in
two weeks when you have to make decisions on
what shot what club to hit off of a tee box you
know verse and also what club you're going to
hit either to lay up for the normal people in
the world or are you going to go for things for
the other people in the world um you know it
that that's to me where they become more exciting
these golf courses because yeah i again i i there's
just such a limited population that can just
bomb it and hit the wedges in and you know so
to play to play that kind of target precision
sort of think about it which is kind of the way
it's supposed to be anyways that's what golf
was correct yeah you know we've kind of turned
it into this sort of circus of hitting a 350
and then hitting a wedge on and two putting and
you know going on yes uh but yeah that you're
supposed to be able to hit shots and shape shots
too and that's the other thing i would say back
nine even front nine at tpc you definitely had
to be on the correct side of the fairway. You
couldn't just, you know, kind of hit the fairway.
A lot of blocked out shots if you're on the wrong
side of the fairway. Am I right on that? Yeah.
Yeah. And then that always kind of leads into
the, you know, into the green complexes and okay,
are you going to, are you going to short side
yourself? And, you know, as we, as we get into
our topic here, you know, of our conversation
today, like the, one of the differences, one
of the differences between A sub 80 round, somebody
shooting in the 70s and somebody shooting 80
or higher is you will see that person that that's
a zero to five handicap. They won't short side
themselves. They just won't. They won't take
the risk of going at a flag. And we all call
it with the flag that the superintendent puts
in a bad spot. Well, yeah, the sucker pin placement.
Sucker pin placement. We actually have a name
for it. And yet we still do it. Oh yeah. Fall
for it every time. Yeah. Oh, I can hit that shot
with clearance on the left side of the green
and bunker. I got to cover a barn. Yeah. I can
hit that shot when you haven't practiced for
three months or whatever. Right. Correct. Yeah.
So, so, so to be able to hit to the, the different
green complexes, we'll probably talk more about
that. Maybe next week when we start really getting
into Augusta, you got to be on the correct side.
of the hole and the correct quadrant, the correct,
you know, level of the hole type of thing. But
you also have to have the correct angle, right?
You know, I think a lot of people, as far as
short sighting themselves, they always believe
that if I get closer to the hole, I'm better.
Um, but, but, you know, if I can, you know, get
myself to a point where I get a good angle and
maybe I'm not as close to the pen, it gives my
wedge a chance to, to release and run and get
a judge for it. But if I've short sighted myself,
then I've got to play something very, very tricky,
very finesse. Um, and I better have a lot of
touch and a lot of practice. And I guarantee
you 95 % of us are not doing that. No, no, or,
or to your point to team Akamok. hitting a full
shot into a green as opposed to trying to hit
this half lob wedge, half sand wedge, three -quarter,
80%. Again, if you have the opportunity to practice
80%, 56 -degree wedge shots, great, good for
you. But a lot of us are just kind of making
this up as we go while we're playing. Yes. So
they're not. Those guys on TV are not. Those
guys, they've practiced that 70%, 56 -degree
wedge shot with low ball spin coming off of it,
wanting it to stop within seven feet of where
the ball lands. They have that dialed in. Correct.
The majority of our listeners don't. And that's
not a negative to our listeners. It's just play
to your strengths. Play to what you can hit.
play to your strengths but the other thing is
is play to what you practice though too i mean
if you're a person that's out there driving the
ball and hitting irons and all that stuff then
play your full shot if you're not a guy that's
out there working on your wedges and practicing
it then why would you lay up to a to a yardage
that you don't practice to You know, if you're
practicing a hundred yard shots, then feel comfortable
with it. Don't get, don't get lost in the mental
trap that my buddy just put it, you know, 60
yards ahead of me. And I got to get close to
them, get to what's comfortable to you, have
a mental, you know, you gotta be mentally strong
on that. And I, and I think we're going to get
to that a little later on in today's subject,
but you know, you've got to have the, the, the
mental fortitude to say, listen, I want to go
to the a hundred yard mark and I want to put
it there. And I don't care what my playing partners
say or, or whoever's out there. Wouldn't you
agree? Yep. Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred
percent. Yeah. So it's funny. I don't even know
if you'll remember this team, but you and I played
in a pro pro event back at TPC Tampa, probably,
probably within, it was probably 10 years ago.
Yes. But it was somewhere between eight or 10
years ago. Yes. And, and this is a positive story.
It's going to start off sounding like I'm knocking
you and I'm not, but. At that particular moment,
at that particular time in the world, like I
did hit it further than you, probably 15, maybe
20 yards further with driver. I would agree.
But there was a par four doggy left par four.
I think it's number 15 out there. And I remember,
I remember watching you play the hole and I never
told you this story, which is kind of funny.
I watched you play the hole and all you did was
hit your drive straight, which is like your drive,
like 97 % of the time you drive straight over
just over the right -hand side of this water.
there's a water feature that kind of comes in
the left side of the hole. And I hit driver into
the right rough and you got, you know, you got
about maybe 207 to the flag. It's a long hole.
It's probably the number one hardest tanning
cup hole on the course. And you hit your hybrid
up on the green and you had two putted and you
made four. And I was over there making six and
I'm like, Hmm. I probably should have done what
TMAC did. I remember looking at you after I got
done with the drive. I looked up at you and I
said, is this a par five? And you looked at me
and nope, this is a par four. That's correct.
So yeah. Yeah. I remember looking at that going,
wow, this is a par four boy. Welcome to the big
leagues. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's such
a good, you know, point of the thing of like
just play to what you just you can do what you
can do you can't overdo stuff you can't make
up shots that you haven't practiced you you know
if you if you hit a draw hit a draw if you hit
it 225 hit a 225 but you play a lot of golf courses
playing between 225 and i mean again now i sound
like you know me and you but like you hit a lot
of golf you play a lot of golf courses from 225
to 250 if you select the right tee box to play
yeah you can enjoy the game quite a bit. Absolutely.
You know, but playing from the fairway is typically
the way to start the scoring process. Let's go
with that. Yeah. I mean, if you, if you, if you
set yourself up in rough to begin with, or behind
a tree, then you're, you know, you're, you're
looking, you're behind the eight ball to begin
with. Right. And that you're always trying to
scramble to get that shot back. But if you can
just, you know, as I said, if you can just hit.
You know, I look at some of my students and they'll
hit it 200 or 225 down the middle. And they'll
look at me and go, well, you know, I need to
hit it 250, 260. And I'm thinking, well, who
needs 260 into the woods? You know, it's 225
down the middle, grab a longer iron. You're still
straight, you know, play to your strengths. But
I think, you know, you got to play to your mental
strengths as we've talked about. Well, again,
if they're picking the right tee boxes to play,
we'll start there. It really does start from
that. And don't have the ego on the first tee.
Who cares? You paid your money. You want to play
with your buddies. You're out there to have a
good time. You just got to, hey, you know what,
guys? I'm good from 6 ,200. I don't feel comfortable
from 65. Because throughout the round, it'll
start wearing on you as you do have to hit more
hybrids and kind of like five irons in the greens
versus seven irons and, you know. six irons and
even par threes i see par threes coming to play
a lot where that's a 190 par 3 instead of a 165
and that really does change the scoring part
of that I would like for them to change the name
of the teas. That's the problem is that, you
know, the red teas is called the ladies teas
and there ain't no man that's going to go up
to the ladies teas. Even when they're seniors,
they're like, I won't go up to the ladies tea.
We just need to need to, to uniform the names
and just get rid of this stigma that sticks with
these, these colors and just be like, Hey, there's
a, there's a forward tea. There's a middle tea
and a back tea. And these are the yardages. Which
one would you like to play today, sir? There's
no, you know, label or anything like. that but
i guarantee if somebody says hey the red teas
is ladies tea i guarantee a 80 year old man's
meal i'm gonna play the whites you know it's
just that stigma they've kind of started to do
that but i mean they call purple or silver or
something right they've kind of started putting
some different colors to them but you're still
right it's it's still and then you know as as
we're changing the game of golf we might as well
change the that number that says par on the scorecard
too. We know we've had this conversation before,
but I want the bogey number. I want, I want there
to be a 90 line on that scorecard instead of
the 72 line. Correct. And almost as you pick
your, as you pick your tee boxes, let's pick
your par as well. Yes. Which car are you shooting
for? Absolutely. And that should be the, you
know, there should be a 72 on the card, obviously,
but there should be a number. If you're a, you
know, a zero to 10 handicap, this is the number
that we're looking for, right? A 90 or an 85,
you know, put that number on the card, let people
see that and let them know that it's, it's acceptable.
You know, people, you know, if they don't see
that number on there and they just keep seeing
the 72, they, they, they have this self -worth
that they're not performing very well. Every
hole. Yeah, every hole. Because they walk off
with a five on a par four. And, again, I won't
get into all my little theory there, but, you
know, they should make a five on that hole. So
they think they've made a bogey, and really it's
their par. Correct. It's really their par. So
let's go with a 72, an 80, and a 90 on a scorecard.
And then if you're, you know, pretty blatantly,
if you're not good enough to get to the 90, keep
practicing. You'll get there. Yeah. But let's
make the whole thing way more achievable. let's
put three different you know pars on scorecards
with the different uh t boxes that are that are
uh Non -binary with name, with colors, whatever
you want to call it. Correct. Yeah, yeah. All
right, we've figured out a lot, T -Mac. We can
go home and call it a day. I'm with that. Exactly.
But recently you were talking about that you
came on down to Tampa and that you got to play
a couple rounds of golf. And I think the listeners
would really enjoy some of the stories or tales
between those two rounds and what you did mentally
different from the first round to the second.
round would you like to share on some of that
sean yeah i think there's there's just so much
that can be brought from this you know when when
i just come out of that mindset of teaching for
the last two months indoors in a track man you
know watching people trying to help them mechanically
and then you get into a okay now i'm going to
go play my own game of golf and i'm going to
have a target and i'm going to not have a you
know it's going to be outdoors and the weather
is going to be nice by the way uh the ball is
going to fly the correct distance or further
than it does normally not further but the correct
distance yeah um you know you're not playing
in 48 degrees and it's windy and cold you're
playing in 75 to 85 and the ball's flying what
you expect it to so i mean again there's just
so many factors you get off the plane on sunday
afternoon you go to a you drive for six hours
back and forth throughout the state of florida
you get to a golf course monday morning 12 o
'clock for an 1140 you know you get there at
1145 for 12 o 'clock tee time you hit 12 balls
in the first you know on the range you're like
oh well i should be able to shoot yeah perfect
warm -up i haven't putted since january i haven't
made a putt i haven't chipped since the middle
of march or whatever when i went to charleston
so there's just so many things that come into
the play so anyways the the the first hole par
four and then i'll obviously listeners You'll
stay awake, I promise. I won't go through this
hole by hole. But I think the first two holes
are really important to kind of share. So first
hole is a par four. The dog egg left. Diamond
Hill Country Club. Golf course down at Brandon.
Public place. Let's kind of get to that because
it's a little important. Public facility. People
behind you. You know, kind of a busy day. It's
a par four that you should hit it out to the
right. I hit the driver, the three drivers I
hit on the range, I hit really well. So I'm like,
oh, okay, I'll hit driver instead of hitting,
you know, seven wood off the tee. Hold it, and
somehow, someway, I actually drove the green.
Like, literally drove the green. It's about,
you know, it's about 280 probably to drive the
green. Ball probably bounced it, you know, let's
be realistic. Ball probably bounced it 265. Might
have rolled up there the last 15, but you're
on the green. Yeah, great. You know? So immediately,
my first thought is, don't three -butt. That's
positive. That's a positive one, right? Yeah.
I got about 60 feet, and I three -butted. I missed
the second one. That's fine. Whatever. So I still
made par, but I still feel bad about making par.
Why? You know, again, you're a six -handicap
golfer. Par is pretty good. You should make par
a lot. Yes. But I'm already feeling bad about
it. Second tee shot is par five, dogleg right,
or straightaway. I decide to... Now I decide
to try to hit a draw because, you know, I...
Just hit a draw on the hole before, yeah. Yeah,
exactly. And I don't. I leave the face open.
I hit the ball in the water. Great. Okay, now
it's kind of reachable. It's about 210 for the
second shot. So I've got one drive, two penalty.
I hit my third shot. Got 210. I'm like, all right,
if I just hit this thing up by the green, chip
it on, make a putt, I can still make par. Hit
my 7 -wood up by the green. About 12 yards from
the green. Great. Life is good. Got a chance.
I chip it. Yeah, I chip it. I chip it again.
I chip it over the green. I chip it one more
time over the green. I chip it on and I chip
it for nine. With four chip shots and a penalty.
That's tough. So, yeah, exactly. So all the excitement
of the day is like. I'm looking for the cart
roll at this point. That's correct. I wish I
drank. I wish I drank. So, you know, you kind
of keep going around and start, you know, almost
getting the rust off again. You get, go, go through
the front nine, shoot 44 with the nine. So that's
five over on the one hole and eight over total.
So you're three over on the other, you know,
eight holes and okay, great. Perfect. Number
10 is a drivable par four to the right wind in
our face. And I'm like, all right, I'm going
to play smart. I'm not going to drive it over
the water. I'm going to play left, open the face
up, hit it in the water. And now I'm Roy, help
me out. Roy McEvoy? Yeah, now I'm Roy McEvoy.
I'm like, all right, I'm not just going up there
200 yards from here because I carried, you know,
most of the water. Could have just carried it,
brought it up and dropped it and hit a ball in
the green and made five. No, no, no, I'm going
to keep hitting a ball from the tee box. Right?
Hit another one in the water. hitting five off
the tee, hit that one way left, but at least
it's not near the water. Hit it, chip it on,
two putt. Now I've made my second nine of the
day. Great. 18 shots in two holes. Unbelievable,
right? And nine over in two holes. Nine over
in two holes because one was a par five. Yeah,
so nine over in two holes. Great. And then I
go birdie, birdie, par, par, par, par, par, birdie,
par. finish the day so three birdies so you finish
shooting 85 with when you got so you're 12 over
13 over for the day and you're nine over for
two holes so such a dichotomy of feelings in
that whole world right yes i mean you have any
rounds like that or have you had stuff like that
where you've had to kind of recover and kind
of bounce back I think I've had a few. I can't
really think of any per se, but there's definitely
been, you know, I've definitely had those rounds.
where it wasn't very good. And either the last
hole or the last two holes I've made birdie or
Eagle. And to me, it's, I've always said to my
playing partner, Vaz, that's like putting whipped
cream on shit. You know, that's, that's what
I kind of remember about those rounds, but yeah,
I've played with people before, like yourself
that have made big numbers on the, on the front
nine and through some parts of the back. And
then for whatever reason they find something,
you know, or, or just it clicks, you know, all
that time that they had out there trying to figure
it out, something they found mentally clicks
and then they're off running. And you're like,
wow, this is fun to watch for the last three,
four or five holes or something like that. You're
like, this horse is running. Um, but then you,
you get back to the clubhouse and you let them
know, Hey, by the way, you know what the difference
is? There's a big part. Like when you make the
nine, right? there's two ways you can go about
this do you just let the whole thing dissolve
and just kind of destroy your entire day and
or the other part of it is you've definitely
like unleashed the worry factor because there's
no more worry yeah it doesn't matter right if
you could play in doesn't matter world from the
first tee box you'd probably be pretty good but
you know as you as you kind of go along as you
kind of start oh i'm i'm one oh if you start
counting right i'm one over through six okay
as long as i could just keep it going and then
you make a double and a par and a bogey and you're
four over and you're like and whatever that is
relative to your golf game you know listeners
i don't we're just talking about this particular
type of format so if you're trying to break 90
and you you know you're four over or you're two
over after six holes and you're trying to break
90 you're in an uncomfortable zone. That's why
I call it right. You're just not comfortable.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And once you get that
done, you know, once you get that, that mess
out of the way, you know, cause. I think what
it is, is that before we start the round, we
have this, we have a clean card. We have a blank
piece of paper. It's beautiful. Nothing's been
ruined on this piece of paper. Let's say there's
hope. There's hope. It's a beautiful piece of
paper that we're looking at. And then we go and
throw a big, ugly spot on it. And we're like,
well, and then we're like, I don't know. But
if you, you know, I've always been thought taught
of it. Once you make that mess, let's figure
out how we can one, clean it up and to try to
make it part of what we're trying to do. Right.
I mean, let's not try to ignore it or anything
like this. Let's try to make it a part of what
we're doing. Let's learn from that experience.
And if you keep your head down and you keep the
work going, when you get done, you'll look at
that piece of paper and know that you made something
of what we would call art or something like that.
You know, something that we've done. But if you
just take off the you know, if you go, oh, my
God, I've got this ugly spot on this thing or
I've. you know, degraded this thing, then you
just get mentally down. You've just got to kind
of figure out a way to get yourself say, Hey,
this is what it is. Let's move around it. And
you know, I'm in a little bit of a hole. How
can I dig myself out? Yeah. So it's, it's so
good. Golf is boring golf period. Like that should
be like a bumper sticker. Scott Lynch. Good.
Scott Lynch. Uh, my, my buddy up here, Scott
Johnson, uh, tour players. uh you know scheffler
one of the descriptions sometimes he gets is
he's kind of boring yeah yeah and rory rory's
like i i want to be boring i want to be more
like scotty scheffler yeah i don't want to you
know right so so the the whole mindset of the
one shot at a time play the shot in front of
you which is not you know revolutionary stuff
this is bob rotella this is Old cliche and stuff.
I mean, they all say it, right? Yeah, exactly.
Play one shot at a time. Play the shot in front
of you. Play what you can play. You can't make
– my big one, and I said this to myself a little
bit recently, par fives, like you can't make
birdie from the tee box. No. You know? You can't
make birdie from the tee box. So what are you
trying to do hitting it 261 instead of 255? Just
hit it 255, whatever the number is in your world.
Yeah. Again, from the people that are listening,
hopefully. that are trying to break 90 and they're
like, ah, if I can just make, you know, two more
pars or whatever, uh, you know, yeah, hit it,
hit it 220 yards in the fairway and go like,
you're going to be like you said about the tree.
You can't, you can't make par from behind a tree.
No, no. Um, so yeah, so play, play boring golf.
That's, that's kind of the one of the first things.
And the other thing I go with is, and my girls
are older than your girls, but you still watch
the same Disney movies I do, is the Hakuna Matata
mentality. Hakuna Matata mentality. When the
monkey hits the lion on the top of the head,
what did you do that for? It doesn't matter.
It's in the past. It is. When you make that nine,
you cannot fix it. All you can do is move forward.
Correct. Correct. getting onto another same subject
here, you talked about how you played your second
round and you made some mental changes, uh, for
your second round. What, what did you kind of
do there to kind of help our, some of our listeners
as well? Yep. Oh yeah, absolutely. So I played
Buckhorn, uh, golf country club. So already,
and it's funny, it's just, I didn't even realize
I was going to do this, but like the kind of
the same mentality about the TPC sawgrass. Like
I was more excited to play Buckhorn cause I knew
it would be in. better shape, and for the record,
Diamond Hill was in really good shape for Diamond
Hill. But you're just kind of amped up. You're
playing in a nice place, right? You're just kind
of excited. There's not three groups behind you
on the tee box. It's a private facility, so we're
lucky enough to play some courses like this throughout
our time. You're playing with good guys. I got
there an hour and a half early, so now I could
chip and putt, and I'd already had the round
before, so there's just so many... Things already
in place, you know what I'm saying? They're already
in place, ready to go. But my biggest thing on
the range was that I committed to playing a fade
the entire day, period. Every shot, every swing.
I know how to hit a fade. You've played with
me enough, T -Mac. We've tried to work on it.
You've tried to help me. We've tried to hit a
draw on the range at Silverado. i just uh whatever
it is like it's just more body type it's just
a comfortable shot i know what to do and i can
do it and my fade is you know gotten way better
in the past five years meaning it used to be
kind of that weak butter cut they always call
it which is always just a nice way to dress up
the pig yeah oh it's a nice little butter cut
i wish i could have that i'm like but Bottom
line is like, I just decided to play this fade
the whole day. And from the first tee box on,
there's four driving holes at Buckhorn that really
scare the life out of me. And number five, have
you played Buckhorn? No, I've never played Buckhorn.
So, okay. Yeah. So number five is a pretty narrow
par four. You could literally hit seven iron
off the tee and then hit like a hybrid into it
because it's kind of a downhill. It's the number
one hardest handicap all along the course. But
if you do hit driver and if you do get the fairly
or even the right rough, you're going to have
a pitching wedge left in based on the conditions
where the tee boxes are playing and kind of how
it's rolling out in Florida right now as far
as the, you know, grass. Yeah, conditions. So,
yeah. So that was one where, you know, and I.
At that point, I was even going into number five,
so there's a little bit of that fear in my head.
I'm like, oh, don't screw it up. Don't screw
it up. You're right in your comfort zone. And
you do. You just really got to commit to aiming
at the left. There's a fence down on the left
side of the fairway and a tree to the right of
it. And I'm like, okay, aim at that tree and
play the fate. And I did, and it worked out,
and life was great. And then, you know, like
hole number 13, hole number 11, they're all.
They're all, which is part of why I like buckling
because it all sets up for good fades. Number
15, yeah, there's four holes that are really
committed that, as I'm telling you the story,
you shouldn't even ever try to hit draws on these
holes because if you're going to try to hit a
draw, all four of those holes you're aiming over
out of bounds or water to try to make the ball
draw back. So why wouldn't you just aim over
the golf course? And if it goes straight, it
goes straight. That's great. If you fade it,
you're probably going to be in a fairway. That's
great. You know? Yeah. If you roll it off the
tee and push it or something, you're still fine.
But why should you ever bring in hitting over
out of bounds, water, hazard, trees, whatever?
It's another good little lesson for our listeners.
Don't aim over stuff that's bad. Well, over the
grass. I think the other thing that you, you
really bring to the point is that if you commit
to a shot shape, you have a lot more ability
to commit to a target, right? Like you're, you're
looking at a target all the time to the left.
You're not looking, you know, when you have the
two way miss, or at least when I do, I'm looking
at things to the right, looking at things to
the left and I'm on the tee box, you know, and
it's the last minute decision. Is it a draw or
a fade? You know, but it'd be halfway down in
the swing, right? Yeah. Oh, and we're going to,
we're doing the draw on it today. Um, but if
you commit to a shot shape for the day on the
range, you commit to where you're going to be
putting your, your eyeline and your sight line.
And it just, to me, it just makes things so much
simpler. I'm just looking on one direction. I'm
working off that all day long. Um, unless there's
some serious hazard that I can't do, then I'm
maybe adjusting that, but I'm still going to
play my fade or whatever it is. Right. But it
just commits you to looking on one side of the
course and working off of that. That's what I'm
getting from this. It's so true. And then, you
know, second shots, same exact way. You know,
iron shots are just same exact way. You're not
I don't think I'm not sure that I aimed at a
flag the whole day. I really aimed at either
left side of the green or center of the green
the entire time. And the stats of the day, and
this is kind of like another good one for some
listeners to, first of all, understand which
stats to sort of pay attention to and which ones
don't. Don't pay attention to. So I'm in the
plane Wednesday morning flying back, and I'm
just kind of thinking about my round. So I go
through shot by shot the round. A shot 73 was
the score, which is great for me. I'm pretty
excited about that. That's great. Yeah, exactly.
And I had a double. I doubled number 16. Um,
it didn't, didn't let it affect me. I got, uh,
I went far birdie on 17, 18, which is good. Um,
but I hit, this is a pretty, this is a pretty
2025 PGA tour round of golf here that I'm going
to explain stat wise. I hit four fairways. Okay.
Okay. I hit four fairways, but the fairways that
I missed, they were not, um, like penalty areas.
Like I just, happened to miss the right side
of the, you know, it was on the right side of
the rough or whatever. I did hit it into three
fairway bunkers, but I made par out of all the
three fairway bunkers, which is pretty good.
That's amazing right there. Right. Yeah. Like,
like I hit, I hit three greens from the three
fairway bunkers with pitching wedge, nine iron
and pitching wedge. That's feeling confident
with a short game right there. I can tell. Yeah.
Yeah. Or, or ball striking or where the low point
of your swing is or all the things we talk about
and other stuff. You know, that's pretty, you
know, you got to be stable, whatever. So four
fairways, 12 greens, huge. That's PGA, starting
to get PGA Tour average. They're pretty dumb
with what they do. They're like 14 now. But 12
greens in regulation, up and down four out of
five times. Good. Guess what? That's important.
Yes. Two bunkers up and down, green side bunkers.
and then uh 31 putts and you know the whole putting
world is like if you hit 12 greens your putts
per round is going to go up because you're on
the green more often right so i think it's a
misleading stat sometimes you hear on tour i
i like the strokes gain one i think i understand
it but you know i'm saying like it's a if people
track stuff you should really track to me it's
those four numbers fairways greens up and downs
putting you can tell a ton about what you need
to work on if you can track those four stats
yeah so just for our listeners right there and
i think you bring up a really good point with
just that number of 31 putts that meant that
you only swang the club 42 times Right. So why
would I go? And this is what I'm trying to get
at. Why would I go to the range and pound a thousand
balls? Right. It took you 42 shots to get around
the course. It took you, you know, 31 putts where,
you know, the, the, you had that club in your
hand the most of any club. Right. So I think
the big point here and what we need to get to
is if you really want to work on your game, work
on that putting, right. Work on that putting.
I chipped it five times, so that's 36, 31 putts
plus five chips. So now we're 36 and 37, right?
We're 37 times hitting the golf ball. We are
11, 12 times a hit driver. So, yeah, you start
breaking those numbers down, you get micro on
it, T -Mac, you're right. But I think the keys
that I took from the round, first of all, was...
A couple things like, okay, prepare, be there
on time, get enough practice in, commit to what
you're doing. And it was such a measured round,
for lack of a better word. It was so even keeled.
And again, when you're playing well, right? If
our listeners are trying to shoot 82 or they're
trying to shoot 88 or they're trying to shoot
75 or 95. Yeah. Not being like emotionally. up
and down if something bad sort of happens. And
this is what you saw. This is what you see with
tour players. And I see it with Scott Johnson,
who's my head pro. And I think watching him play
in Charleston for those four days and seeing
how many greens he hits, he hits a lot of fairways
too. He's just a really, really, really good
ball striker. I'm okay with me being a little
bit off on my driver as long as my iron play.
is good and i can you know i know that i can
still hit from the right side of the rough or
whatever and there's not much rough in florida
right now anyways but you get my point right
like hey maybe it's more important for you for
me to kind of go work on your ball striking the
low point of your swing the consistency of where
you're delivering the club that's the only way
that you get out of three bunkers uh from 120
to 140 yards away yeah is to know and to be confident
that Right. There's a lot of people getting ferry
bunkers and they're petrified and they hit it
fat. Yeah. Typically. Yeah. You know, the big
thing for me, at least for fairway bunkers, is
I get that back in my stance. And the first thing
I'm doing is I'm getting that ball. That's, you
know, that's my thing. Other than, you know,
the the green side bunker, it's completely the
opposite. But that fairway bunker, I'm going
to get a little bit back in my stance and I'm
going to try to pick it or pinch it or whatever
it is. But I'm not going to try to get in before,
you know, before into the sand before that. That's
for sure. that's really like i said like knowing
where the bottom of your swing is and you and
that's not something you can figure out while
you're in there no you've had to figure that
out prior to uh hitting the leaf in the backyard
at my house in peabody massachusetts for you
know the first three years of playing golf or
hitting the t at the driving range just you know
hitting the t knowing where it's at just really
really understanding that right yeah recalling
those mental uh those mental memories to, to
bring you through this moment. Right. You know,
those practice hours. That's it. And we both
teach a ton and, you know, there's so much mechanical
stuff going on with what sometimes when we get
into teaching, but it is at its essence, a athletic
motion and a, and a non -mechanical sport. Yeah.
When, when you're playing well, it is, it is
a hundred percent muscle memory. mental you know
there's no mechanics of where's my right elbow
halfway down on my downswing how is my left hip
rotated it's not it's just not No, no. I mean,
you're, you're really, to be honest with you,
at least when I'm in the zone and playing like
that, uh, probably the last thing I'm thinking
about is my golf swing. You know, I'm just thinking
about scoring, you know, where am I going to
get on that green? I'm looking at things. I'm,
I'm, you know, there's not even a thought about
how to take the club back or where it needs to
be or a pressure point, or it's just point and
shoot. You know what I mean? And I think you,
you brought up a really good point, especially
for tour players as well, is that you get excited
about certain courses, right? You get mentally
into it. Right. And I think it's important to
understand. And when you feel that mental, you
know, that I'm really excited about this course,
you know, I'm going to go play, let's say stream
song or something like that. And I'm excited
about the course. I want to go check out the
facilities. You know, you're just. you're already
at an advantage. Right. Um, but when you go play
and not to knock it down, you know, I'm not nearly
as excited. I probably played it a thousand times.
Um, I'm going out there with my buddies. Um,
my results are not going to be that good. Right.
I went in there with a five minute practice,
probably, you know, the turn I'm going to buy
a beer or something like that. My round's not
going to be that good, but if I'm going to a
place that I'm mentally excited about and I'm
going to be challenged by other golfers, then
you can bet that, that at least us pros, we're
going to get mentally excited about that and
play well. Mostly back. I'm going to bring it.
I'm going to bring it to this. If you go to play
stream song, or if you go to play X golf course
around us, I don't want to name the names, but
we, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. I'm
telling you, it comes down to the wardrobe. right
no yeah all right you're gonna all right you're
cleaning your shoes your clubs you're cleaning
your shoes you're wearing a different shirt you're
but there's so many times that we've you know
because we played let's just use silverado because
we we've been there forever and played so many
league rounds and wednesday nights and you know
fun saturday afternoon but i mean it's just it's
it's jump out of work it's go go meet up with
the guys but it's It's 5 .30 at night. It's the
end of the day. There's so much to have a different
mindset. The ultimate casual golf, right? Right,
yeah, to a 10 a .m. tee time that you're going
to play with three other guys that you enjoy
playing with. The golf course is pristine. It's
just such a mental thing. So I guess the point
is it's okay because both are good. You need
some of the relaxed fun playing with your buddies
rounds too. But that's where you do work on the
draw. Right. That's the type of rounds you do
work on the draw. But when you're playing and
you're trying to do something or whatever, yeah,
dance with the girl you brought. That was my
University of Tampa. senior golf coach, Rick
Christie, you know, that was what he told me.
Klotz, just dance with the girl you brought.
She might be ugly, but just play with her. Absolutely.
Okay. Coach. Okay. I get it now. I think I get
it. Right. And, and you're right. It doesn't,
you know, and you're absolutely right. They don't
draw pictures on the scorecard. Nobody cares
if you play an ugly fade or a snap hook, but
if you put a 72, 73, 74 on the card and you're
whooping people. booty then they're going to
be like well maybe maybe i need to be doing that
instead the last thing i'll say about all that
t -mac is so a couple things so you know 85 73
two different days yeah you can you some people
some people listening don't have the ability
and don't take that arrogantly to have that differential
some people are going to shoot 88 to 92 for the
rest of their lives yeah great that's fine now
If you want to try to shoot 82 or 81, come see
us because we can probably help you try to go
from 88 to 81. But there's some of that. There's
definitely some of that. There's like, hey, you
know what, Sean, that's great. I can't shoot
74. Okay, well, if you're shooting 95, let's
try to shoot 85. Whatever the differential is,
that's not the point. The other thing I would
say is, do you know how much my three daughters
cared about me shooting 73? none right do you
know how much my ex -wife not like people don't
care it's it's it's important to you we put the
time into it we put the effort into it but in
the reality of the world it doesn't matter so
don't put so much pressure on yourself because
realistically you're gonna get up the next day
you're gonna go to the gym you're gonna go do
your job whatever it's fun it's fun to play well
it is that you you know to me it's the and you
have this too you get you like wake up the competitive
spirit in your oh oh yeah this is actually this
is oh yeah yeah i like grinding i'm a big i like
crying i love crying i love getting up now i
love getting up in a bunker you know from a green
side spot that somebody's like ah okay he's gonna
make bogey and then you make make a good shot
you make a par oh great shot you know like it's
it's a fun feeling yeah And I think that's what,
what those guys chase all the time in professional
sports in general. You've got to have, what I'd
always say is that Tom Watson attitude, right?
When you get that bad lie, you'd look at, he'd
look over at Bruce and say, Hey, watch me do
this. Right. And most of the people I play with,
they'd like. Oh man, I can't believe this course.
Look at what it gave me. I mean, there's every
complaint in the world, but it, to be honest
with you, look at it as an opportunity for you
to overcome something and to achieve something
great. And to be honest with you, if you pull
it off correctly, people are probably going to
remember that more than they are the score that
you put on the card. So, so nobody in my foursome
knows this on the last day at Buckhorn. When
I, like I said, I doubled 16, 16 was just up.
Badly played hole. I hit six bad golf shots.
Made double. Great. I'm a little bit in my head
because I just dirtied 15, so I was one under.
I went to one under, and I got a little bit in
my head of like, we're out of the comfort zone.
What are we doing? It's not even the PBFU type
of thing. If you don't know what that is, go
look it up. The ABFU type of stuff. Just that,
like, you're just out of your element. You're
like, oh, I feel so comfortable. For me, even
par. Now I'm one under. Oh, no, I got three holes
left. So anyway, whatever. Make double. Par 17
from the ferry bunker, by the way. I just realized
that. Hit a pitching wedge again. Actually, it
was gap wedge onto the green. Nice. So 18. Yep,
18. I asked the guys. I'm like, and. There was
a little match going on, and now we're back to
even because we lose 16 -17. So there's some
of these exterior factors coming in, right? Now
we're on 18, and we're like, okay, this is for
everything, right? Hit driver right down the
middle. Hyped it. Beautiful little fade. Life
is good. Get up to the ball, T -Mac, and my ball
is not in the middle of a divot, but it's on
the front edge of the divot. Okay, that's not
the worst. Sandy divot. sandy divot not not david
david right exactly so in my head i am saying
to myself during this 45 seconds i'm like gd
like tour players don't have to play from this
they play from conditions that are perfect all
the time and i'm like yeah no they don't actually
they don't they don't always hit from perfect
blood okay you've got an eight iron in your hand
We're going to hit down through it. We're going
to make ball first contact anyways. That sand
behind the ball shouldn't affect your shot at
all. As long as you make ball first contact like
you've done for the last four hours, you'll be
fine. Hit the 8 -iron T -Mac. The flag was left
side of the green. I aimed it at the flag. Perfect,
because I knew it was going to fade. It fades
25 feet. I happen to make a 25 -footer down the
hill for birdie. Woo! Hole. Might have gotten
in the way, but, you know, we're going to walk
off saying it's a good putt. Because that's the
goal. The goal is to make it in the hole. Yeah.
Right? That's the goal. So, yeah, sometimes the
hole gets in the way, but the goal, the intention
before you made the stroke was to hit it in the
hole. So, you know, again, you feel good, but,
like, it doesn't matter. Nobody really cares.
Doesn't need to stop crying. Yeah. No, nobody
cares. And you know, that's right. Nobody really,
at the end of the day, your dog's still going
to love you. Your kids are still going to give
you a hug, you know, argue with you or love you
no matter what, you know, but the, the, you know,
at the end of the day, it's just about having
a, a positive experience out there on the course,
right. Enjoying your time with your friends that
you do have. Um, and, and just. Trying to work
on the things that you can control and staying
and playing within yourself. But, you know, don't
ever let this game get you to the point where
you feel like your self -worth is not worth something.
Because at the end of the day, it is just a game.
And I do come across people that, you know, they
feel like, you know, their self -worth is a little
less because they can't, you know, shoot a 85
or an 80 or something like that. And I'm like.
This isn't life and death guys. This is just
a game. This is something to go out and enjoy.
As I tell some of my, my students think of this
like a camping trip with golf clubs. Okay. You're
going out there camping, you're hanging out.
You're going to be four hours away from wife
and kids. Enjoy your time. Don't, don't be miserable
for those four hours and have to come home and
then be miserable again, you know? Right. So,
and you'll bring that attitude to your house
too, you know, and that's a big thing you got
to realize is once you're done with that round,
leave it in the parking lot. Hey, I shot 73.
That's great. Like you said, your daughter's
not going to really care. That's great, dad.
That's good. I shot an 85. That's great, dad.
Really don't care. You know, leave it in the
parking lot and go enjoy your day, but don't,
don't let those bad feelings or bad things affect
you. Off the golf course, for sure. Please. Absolutely.
Good stuff. Good stuff. Hopefully we taught some
people something there. Yeah, I think we dove
into the mental aspects of the game a little
bit. You know, I think the big thing people can
take away is that if you keep a single -minded
vision as far as, you know, your game plan. and
stick to it you know that's that's going to help
you with your mental fortitude even if you do
or do not execute it for the day if you keep
to your game plan and you keep that thought it
will start to produce results for you yeah my
my last words would just be uh play play on the
golf course and practice on the range you know
work on work on different things on the range
absolutely try try to try to see what you find
on youtube try to see what you're you know, your
instructor is working with you on, uh, try to
hit it, try to hit a draw when you normally hit
fades, but do that on the range. When you get
to the golf course, really be committed. You
hear that on tour a lot too, right? The one,
the one shot at a time. And I was really committed
to the shot. And when you, like you were saying,
saying during your, uh, you know, when you're
not committed to that swing to that shot, the
result is usually not a very good result. But
when you're committed to something and you, you
said, okay, I'm good. Long par -4. I think it's
a par -5 before you're teeing it up. When you're
teeing it up, it's like, it's par -5, great.
I'm going to just hit it to the right side of
that water hazard, and I'm going to have, you
know, Sean's in trouble, so I really got to find
the fairway. But you were really committed to
that drive on hole number 15 at TPC Tampa, and
you did it. And, you know, there's hundreds of
shots I've seen you do like that, and that's
partially why we play a little bit better than
most, because we're committed to it. Yeah. I
wouldn't say we've got any more talent than them.
It's just, you know, the sticking to that mental
facet of the game, you know, gets us through,
gets us a little bit better score than some of
our students, I would say. Yeah, absolutely.
So, but with that being said, if anybody needs
help with their lessons or needs help with their
golf game, please give me or Sean a call. We'd
love to help you. But that kind of wraps up today's
podcast. If there's any last words that you'd
have for us there, Sean. Just that we launched
our new Instagram account at Oakley country club.
Yeah. So Oakley CC golf shop. Yeah. I should
know that. Yeah. Oakley CC golf shop. Love for
you guys to follow us on Instagram. We're going
to start as we go throughout the summer, the
weather gets a little warmer. We're getting,
we are going to start doing some of these reels
and kind of some of the little short video clips,
help you guys with your swing and your game.
And just a lot of good information on there.
Obviously for our Oakley members up here in Watertown,
Mass, we'd love for you guys to follow that,
but Oakley CC golf shop, and then, you know,
definitely go to the dynamic golf .org as well.
Yeah. So yeah, check out that Instagram page.
That's going to be really exciting for us coming
in the future. That's, that's kind of the way
people are really digesting their, their information
and content now is Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.
Um, so we're just trying to get out there and
help you guys. So if you guys have any questions,
please reach out to us. We'd love to help you.
All right. Well, we'll see you guys next week.
Master's week, next week, TMAC looking forward
to talking about that. Absolutely. Absolutely.
So real quick, any picks? Oh, I'm going to reserve.
I'm gonna wait till next Monday. All right. I
like that. I like that till next Monday. Very
good. We got a week to digest. All right. Very
good. So want to thank everybody for listening
to the podcast today. If you guys have any questions,
reach out to us. You can reach us at dynamic
golf podcast .org, or please go over to the Oakley
CC golf shop golf shop on Instagram for us and
get ahold of us. We'd love to talk to you. Sounds
good. Alright, have a good one.