Sit back and get ready to take off with Dynamic
Golf. Welcome back Dynamic Golf listeners. I
am your co -host Tim McElvenna and with me as
always Mr. Sean Klotz. Sean, how are you doing
today? Hey T -Mac, good to hear from you again.
Starting to enjoy some of the better weather
up here in the Boston area this summer finally.
It took a long time. It's almost July 1st. But
good to kind of get out, you know, starting to
practice and play a little bit more and, you
know, given a bunch of lessons. And I just thought
we might have a good topic of kind of something
that doesn't really, you know, we talk about
putting and all the different intricacies of
putting. And I just feel like this one is sort
of overlooked. We really drill down on the mechanics
of the grip and the stance and the posture and
sort of way to aim and all these different, you
know, things on, you know, we talked about like
aim point as a technology and just different
ways to kind of get the ball rolling. But I think
we kind of overlook some of the just basic fundamentals
of pre -shot routine, what you should do. You
know, we've talked about this in full swing.
You should have one. Yeah. You should have one.
So let's talk about it in the putting world.
I just see it come up more and more in our lessons.
And I think this is very important because, you
know, as instructors, we usually, you know, when
people come to us, they're like. I get this all
the time, and I'm sure you do too, is that I
ask them, how's their putting? They always say,
oh, the putting saves me every time in a round,
and they just want to go to the full swing. Shark
game's good. Shark game's good. Why do you not
break 90? Correct. Correct. Why do you have 40
putts on the card? Exactly. But yeah, I think
the importance of having a putting routine, where
you should position your eyes, what you should
be looking at when you putt. Wouldn't you agree?
Yeah, 100%. And, you know, again, so many levels
of this, so many layers of this. One of the questions
that I ask people, like we're talking about,
okay, well, my putting's good, my chipping's
good, I can't break 90. Okay, how many putts
do you have per round? Oh, I don't know. Well,
how many times do you get up and down? I don't
know. If you don't know, how many greens do you
hit? I don't really track that well. You've got
to have the basic stats to know what to go work
on because there may not be any point. I've played
a lot of rounds in the past. Not a lot, but I'm
starting to play a little more rounds. I always
track my four fundamental things. I always track
is fairways, greens, up and downs, and putts.
Fairways, greens, up and down, and putt. I want
the listeners to listen to that and not just
gloss over that. Really go next round of golf.
put on the, you know, you have your score on
the top line or whatever, but two lines below
that, you can put F and G and I do that. So if
I, if I hit a fairway, I've got a little check
mark in the, underneath the hole, the green,
I get a little check mark up and down. I literally
put the arrow up and down and then I put a P
and, uh, if you start to know what you're really
not good at, then you can really start to focus
on the practice of what you should be good at.
Correct. Correct. Yeah. You know, I think a lot
of our students, you know, as we come to it,
you know, they'll always remember the, the ball
they hit out of bounds. Right. And they'll say,
that's what crushed my score. Right. But I'm
like, that's, that's one or two shots that we've
lost there, but you know, you've fritted away
shots on the green three putting and stuff like
that. So that is, that is so true. What do you
want to work on? Driver. My driver's not going
good. Okay. Well, that's great. I can't tell
you. Again, I've been playing a little bit more
the last couple weeks. Just as a reference, again,
I played last week. I went par -par, double -double
-double, three doubles in a row, first from six
over through five. Unfortunately, the fifth green
is really close to the parking lot, TMAC. Uh
-huh. you know what I'm talking about? Like it's
your day off. And then you're like, what am I
doing out here? Yes. Um, and then you kind of
resettle. I had to put two of my no more bullshit
lines on the card, right? One was for the first
double. And then after the third double and the
guy, I got to put another line. Um, but at the
end of the day, I made nine pars in a row from
there. And then like finished bogey par last
year. So my, my, overall point of that story
is my greens and my fairways and regulation were
four hit four ways and four fairways yeah greens
and regulation i hit 11. up and downs i was four
for six and putts i was 31. right like if you
don't know like fairways when we and you grew
up t -mac fairways were uber important correct
how important how important is that to the tour
player now Not very. I mean, it's bomb and gouge
now. That's it. That's it. You know. The three
guys yesterday finishing up in the Rocket Classic
there. Pot Guider. I'm going to get the names
wrong. Kirk. I can get Kirk. Yeah. I can't get
the other kids. Grazerman. Grazerman. Grazerman,
right? Yeah. Now we sound like the old people,
T -Mac. We're doing good. But those guys are
just routinely. three, I mean, puck getters leading
the tour at 326 average. So, and Bryson's the
one who changed, Tiger changed that a little
bit, right? He kind of brought in the, okay,
we're going to hit it long. But when he was off
with his driver, he had to make these remarkable,
you know, kind of saving shots, right? Well,
he had the two iron stinger that he could always
go to that, you know, would hit, you know, get
out there 250 to 280. It is a fairway finder
every time for him. Yeah, absolutely. And then
that's why I say Tiger kind of brought it to
the golf world of how many fairways are important
because he hit so far. But Bryson, to me, is
really the one the last five years that has really
changed the dynamic of let's just hit it as far
as we possibly can. Like you said, T -Mac, go
find it. Hit it on the green with a wedge. And
then let's try to make a putt and go. So I know
we started this talking about putting routine,
but it all factors in, you know. So let me ask
you, Sean, what is, you know, with our listeners
here, what is the importance of a putting routine?
And let me ask you, what is your putting routine?
You know, what could we take away from you? Because
you're an excellent putter and I'm sure you've
got a great routine. Could you explain to some
of the listeners of what? what your routine is
and the importance of it. Oh yeah, absolutely.
I appreciate it. And I'm going to return this
question to you. So you start thinking of yours
as I know you, I know, you know, but like we
all have different ones, right? We're all kind
of different. You know, we should have some basic
similarities of what we do. Yeah. Um, but from
the start, we'll call it from the start, I'm
coming onto the green from the cart path or from,
you know, from the fringe of walking onto the
green, my balls. And my ball is some distance
away from the hole. I've hit my iron shot on
the green. And then while the other players are
putting and chipping and doing whatever they're
doing, I'm walking the putt from the, and it's
just my normal pace, my normal stride. I count
the number of strides I take between my ball
and the hole. That's the very first thing I do.
I get my number. 10 strides is 30 feet. Eight
strides is 24 feet. I just divide or multiply
everything by three. Just an easy number for
me to keep in my head. So now I've got a number,
and as I'm walking that putt, and I know you
do this too, T -Mac, as you walk your putt, you
can feel it with your feet, up and down, side
hill, left to right, where the break is, right?
All those things are so much more, to me, innately
felt in my body rather than seen with my eyes.
I can feel it with my body when I'm walking it.
you know no different than when you walk up a
hill you kind of start to walk up the hill like
you realize that there's an uphill because your
feet have sensors or whatever so so let me just
stop right there the importance and i think this
is a very important part for our listeners is
that your putting routine starts before you even
get on the putting green correct Absolutely.
Every single time. Yeah. And I think that's something
a lot of the amateurs or listeners probably don't
do, you know, until they get behind the ball
and they market, that's when they start looking
at it. Right. You know, slow play, right? A lot
of the slow play in the world is putting and
the player not being ready when it's their turn
to go. Yeah. Right. So if you are doing your
homework and there's so much time to do homework,
people are chipping, people are putting. You
know, very rarely, not very rarely, there are
times, there are definitely times when you're
the first one to go because you're farther away.
I didn't mean to sound that arrogant. Like, no,
we're a lot of times we're the first one to go.
But there's still time because people are goofing
around and they're going from the cart and whatever.
You have time. I don't want a slow play up in
the world. I just want people to be ready when
they're about to putt, to have a plan, to have
a strategy. Uh, and these things factor in. So,
and I'll do this on the, you know, it's funny.
My number in my head is probably around three
to four feet when I stopped walking, but six
feet and over, I'm still going to pace it off.
Cause I need that number in my head of this is
a six footer uphill, left to right. This is a
12 footer downhill, right to left. It just, it's
a helpful thing for me, how I'm going to make
my shoulders work back and forth, how much pressure
I'm going to put on my hands to make the stroke,
that type of thing. Yeah. And the last part of
this part is when you're reading, when you're
walking up to the hole, where is the putt going
to break the most, T -Mac? Where is the putt
going to break? At the beginning or at the end
of the putt? At the end of the putt, when the
ball starts to die down. 100%. 100%, right? When
it loses speed. So we get so caught up in the,
again, the plumb bobbing guy. The guy who's doing
aim point. The guy who's whatever. What's the
green doing in Florida? Where's the green? Let
me go up and look at the hole. I get it, but
at the same time, I don't. I need to hit a 20
-foot putt consistently 20 feet. Correct. Pace.
Pace. How far? How hard? I don't know. I'm going
to stop mine for a second. I think I want to,
I want to, I want your feedback. I think teaching
feel and pace and distance control for putting
is arguably the hardest thing to teach. Would
you be agreement with that? Absolutely. There's
a lot of feel, um, you know, it's not as much
technique, right? It's, it's about, it's about
feel. It's about imagination. You know, it's
bringing those two things together. It's an art,
right? It's bringing the art and not the science
to it. You know, we do see Bryson get a lot more
scientific on the greens. But there's got to
be feel. There's got to be touch. There's got
to be that inner Ben Crenshaw I always think
of. So you've got to have that artistry in you
and not to be afraid to have that feel and that
imagination. Play with those ideas. That's what
I would say about that with feel for sure. Yeah.
And the thing about teaching either a newer golfer
or a mid or high handicap golfer. is they don't
have the library in their head of the putts.
They haven't had enough experience, especially
new golfers, to even comprehend what 30 feet
feels like in a putting stroke. Does that make
sense? Yeah, absolutely. You know, you've played
golf a long time. You play every Wednesday with
the boys. You know, all the things when you're
able to practice in between lessons and stuff.
that's what we're building up is repetitions
in our mind and our body of like how hard to
hit it to that object. Correct. Regardless of
where it's going to go left or right, just how
hard we have to hit it. When you change a putter,
when you change putters, it's a pretty traumatic
thing. Yes. Because now the weight's different,
the grip's different, the shaft is different,
the look of the club is different. Just the face
of the club, right? The inserts they have now,
the multiple number of inserts they have now.
Yes. That's how it comes off the face. I mean,
it's not rocket science. The tiger patted with
the same putter for 20 years, 15 years, like
probably 30 years now. Yeah. Right. I think Scotty
Cameron, Newport two or Newport, one of the two.
Yeah. That he got from Mark, Marco mirror, I
think at Windermere or something like that. So
90s. Right. Yeah. So, so to me, that's, that's
what, that's where like that. I am hesitant to
change putters. And I think all of this is good
information. I know we're trying to get back
to the routine. This is why I love talking about
talking with the stuff with you. Cause I think
we just, yeah, we do go off on tangents, but
it's so good for people to listen to. Yes. Even,
even just changing the grip and people, you know,
all my grips are grips worn on. I need a new
grip. Let me just try a different one. Oh, do
you know the gram weight of that? your gram weight
on this part on this grip is 68 grams you go
to a heavier one it's 85 grams now you've changed
the bottom of the club by 20 like the offset
of the counterbalance has changed yeah and oh
i don't why am i not putting better well yeah
like I don't know. There's just so many factors
to it. Well, at that point, you really got to
get out to the practice putting green. You've
just got to, you know, hone those feels again.
You've got to reconnect with your putter, right?
Your new putter. You've got to reconnect with
that. And you've just got to build confidence
seeing the ball go in the hole. And you've got
to get a feel for lag putting of, you know, how
far do I need to take this putter back? How do
I, you know. attack this ball with this putter
right and and just really you know if somebody
bought a new driver they're out there on the
driving range just pounding away on it right
but you know they get a new putter and they're
like they'll just go to the first hole and and
oh my god i can't get a feel for this thing so
you got to dedicate the time that you would with
any other club um right with that putter right
it's and what is the object of the game get it
in the hole Correct, right? It's not about who
drove it the longest or who put it on the green
as many times. It's about putting the ball in
the hole. Yep, yep. So like you're saying, they
take the putter, and I see it every day at Oakley.
They run -ish up to the first tee because they're
eight minutes before their tee time. They'll
hit three balls in the net. They'll go putt a
couple of 30 -footers. Like what? Again, I don't
care that we talk about stuff consistently because
I think all these things are just so good people
keep hearing. Me and you go to the first. If
we get to the putting green before we play, because
we're guilty of this too. We don't always get
there an hour before or two hours before or whatever.
But we go to the putting green. We putt three
footers. We want to hear that ball go in the
hole. We want to start building our confidence
up quickly. Correct. And then expand to five
feet. and miss a little bit less or more type
of thing, and then maybe roll a couple of 20
-footers to get the feel of the distance of the
green. But you don't want to sit there missing
your first 15 putts from 12 feet because you
think you should make eight of these. No, I want
to hear the ball go in the hole immediately.
I've made, I don't even know, 50 years old, 54
years old. I can't, I'm going to tell you. close
to a hundred thousand three footers in my life
between practice and play. Yeah. And I still,
I still want to go before I play hit some three
footers to get that initial for that day. For
that day, I want to see that three footer go
in and feel good on the first hole in the second
hole when I got it, do it. So I'm going to ask
you a question here, kind of a layup question
here, but I know that you have worked on three
footing putts or three foot putts. You know,
back from college, what is, and I know this is,
what is your record for how many three putts
you've made in a row? I think this is amazing.
Oh, this is pretty silly. Pretty silly. So always
putted with a chalk line. That was the goal.
Great. Never, you know, always brought the chalk
line to the practice green. And one day down
at Summerfield, it was 222 in a row from five
feet. Wow. Wow. Did you hear that folks? Wow.
222. But it was instilled in me in college where
you couldn't leave the practice green to go to
the first tee until you made 53 footers in a
row. That was the deal during practice. You had
to make 53 footers in a row. Coach would watch
you. Coach wouldn't talk to you, but he'd watch
you. And if you got to 45 and missed it, you're
not teeing up yet. Well, and I think that's important
for our listeners to understand is that the coach
was watching you make 53 footers, not hitting
50 drivers out in the fairway. That's correct.
Right. I mean, where's the importance at, right?
Where's the coach's importance and where's our
importance? It's on putting, making sure that
ball goes in the hole. So, but getting back to
your routine a little bit. So once you've kind
of looked over the putt and kind of. checked
out the topography of, of the hole. What do you
kind of do when you get behind the hole, when
you're looking from behind the hole, you know,
behind the ball to the hole, what, what is your,
your thought process? What is your routine right
there? Yeah, definitely. So, so I've done my
math. I've done my homework. I figured out what,
where I'm trying to aim near the hole. We'll
start there near the hole. Okay. Cause obviously
not normal, not normally at the hole. It's usually
right or left of it by some degree. I'm not a
cup guy. I hear that a lot, and that's just me,
and there's other people that really understand
that. Are you a ball guy or a cup guy? I'm a
point guy. I'm a point guy. I'm a target. I need
to see a blade of grass, a brown spot, a whatever.
Something on the green is going to be different
than all the other green grass. You're going
to be able to see it. Usually ball marks are
really good, old ball marks. I think that's probably
the best thing as far as a bigger thing to kind
of see. So it's something up by the hole that
I'm trying to. you know that i'm trying to visualize
where where the ball is going to start to break
and go back into the hole either left to right
or right to left whatever that is and then i'm
going to pull that spot from up near the hole
the target that i'm lucky to look at and bring
that all the way back to something six inches
to a foot in front of me that i can see from
my peripheral vision t mac mean you've been friends
for 20 years you've heard the same statement
from me for 20 years is that right yeah that
hasn't varied absolutely spot putting basically
right finding that spot that's you know two three
feet in front of you that you know you can i
think that you can consistently roll over right
instead of if i have a 12 footer that that hole
starts to get a little bit smaller when i'm focusing
on something 12 feet away is that correct yep
yep yep absolutely and um the reason i pick out
the point like i go less it's got to be to me
less than a foot It's got to be six inches in
front of me or a foot because I'm going to line
the golf ball up. And I recently this year been
using more of the text of the golf ball, the
Callaway, the whatever golf ball you play in
line with that spot putting, you know, the thing
you're talking about that six inches to a foot
in front of me that's in line with my end target.
Yeah. And that bigger text really has seemed
to help me line up because now. Now that I've
done all that, now I'm going to come alongside
the putt. And before I put the putter down as
far as behind the golf ball, I'm going to take
one, sometimes two, one mostly, practice swings
alongside the ball while I look at the hole.
That's important right there. Repeat that again
for our listeners, please. Yeah. So you do your
homework behind the ball. Great. You come up
alongside the golf ball. You're going to be on
the same level, flatness, whatever, that you
are going to make this putt because you're going
to move in three inches when you actually put
the putter behind the ball. Before I do that,
my practice stroke is done there, and I'm looking
at the hole as I'm making my stroke with my shoulders.
And that visual feedback in my head is what I'm
going to use. I'm literally saying to myself,
how far, how hard, how hard, how hard. Yeah.
That's, that's important. That's why I don't
three putt a lot. Still do, but usually pretty
good lag putter for that reason. And I think
that's a really important part because most of
my students, when I get them in for a putting
lesson or something like that. are looking at
the club head going back and forth and not at
their target. And I ask him, I'm like, where
are you trying to putt to? Well, I'm trying to
putt to that hole. Well, let's get our visual
on that hole. Like any other athlete, if I was
going to make a free throw, I'm looking at the
rim, not the ball, right? If I'm a quarterback,
I'm looking at my target, not the ball, right?
Having that visual of looking at your target
and then bringing that, as you would say, inner
athlete out with that feel starts to make the
best sense. Wouldn't you agree? 100%. Yeah, it's
so well said. I think the funny thing that you
just said, and I didn't really put it together
until literally now. When you think about the
quarterback, like the Tom Brady's, the Aaron
Rodgers, the Brett Favre's, the Dan Marino's,
whoever you want to go. Yeah. Like they're throwing
to a space on the field. because so many times
right the receiver hasn't even come out of the
break yet yeah all right there's they're throwing
to air yes and i think that's a little bit of
kind of what we do with the golf putting world
is like we're putting to a spot that's not ever
the actual target again three foot straight putt
five foot straight putt on a chalk line you can
do it 220 times in a row because it's on a chalk
line it's straight you got to have some kind
of you know consistency with what you do but
like it does become a very robotic, that's a
good term, sorry, robotic motion from five feet
if it's straight. All these other putts, especially
up here in the New England area where you've
got these kind of bigger breaks, I'll say, than
typical Florida stuff. Florida's usually a little
flatter, a little slower. You've got a putt to
this imaginary, which is what the quarterback
is thrown into, imaginary spot that you think,
with all your math and all your experience, is
going to make you give the best chance of making
the ball go in. That's a great point. It really
is. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think I never even
put that together. Glad we talked. Just learned
something today. So good. Good. All right. So
now I've done, I've done my practice stroke,
right now I've done one or two. Great. And this
is all within some type of window of time. I
don't, I don't really measure the, this time,
meaning like. we've talked before on the pre
-shot routine on the golf course and hitting
a wedge or a six iron or whatever that's between
16 .9 and 17 .1 seconds in my world that's my
pre -shot routine from all the stuff good this
one is not as it's it's definitely a a consistent
time frame it's just a little variable just a
little bit based on If I got the five footer,
I'm probably going to take one practice stroke.
It's really the longer ones outside of 20 feet
that I'm going to probably take the one, maybe
two. If I feel good with the one and I got it
in my head and I know what I'm doing. Yeah. Good.
But the two in the other thing about the practice,
if it was a second practice stroke, it would
be a consistent flow of the shoulders. That makes
sense. Like I'm not taking a practice stroke,
setting the club down again, taking another practice
stroke. It's very loose in my shoulders and my
feel, right? You're trying to get that putter
head to kind of flow through there. Gotcha. So
from there, and that's, I mean, I think I can
almost think like you do. You want to follow
up on that question? Because that's good stuff.
But let me just finish it up. So then we go in,
then we kind of move into the ball, right? Now
we're going to put the putter face, the black
text, the white line, the two balls, whatever
the thing is on the alignment. tool of your putter.
We're going to put that through the text of the
golf ball. You know, many players use lines.
Many players use the kind of triple track technology
or the pro titles has got their little alignment
tool thing on their ball, whatever it is. I don't
care, but there's something that you're lining
the club face up with the alignment tool on the
putter through the golf ball, which is lined
up to the intermediate target six inches to a
foot in front of you. Okay, good. I put that
down. Great. Then I'm going to separate my feet
from there. A lot of people come in with their
feet already separated, and then they put the
putter face down. Yeah. No good. No good. Correct.
So now I've got the putter face down. I know
it's in line. Great. I got my feet separated.
Great. At this point, I look down at the hole
20 feet away. And I bring that gaze back to the
golf ball. I try to track from the final target
through the intermediate target with my eyes,
literally like a line, and back into the putter
face. And then I'm going to take my stroke within
two seconds. I'm not going to sit there and think
about all the mechanics of it. And then you can't
fix it from that point. Once you did all that
part, you can't fix it. You've just done the
best you can. You've got to live with the results
and go hit the next one. Absolutely. And a little
bit of a follow -up question about your line.
For me, I know what my answer is, but when you
look at a line, do you kind of see an imaginary
line or a color or something like that, something
that kind of spots out to you, or are you just
still trying to… hone in on that feel so there's
a three i might have been six video vcr go back
in the days vcr videotape golf specific uh kind
of psychological package that i got in like the
mid 80s peter jacobson was one of the main people
on this and this is basically i know it was in
the 80s uh mike reed was a really, really straight
golfer back in the 80s, one of the shorter hitters,
but they called him Radar. Yeah, yeah. And he
was a little eccentric with his thoughts. That's
the best way to describe it. A little bit out
there, but you could tell he kind of had a different,
kind of like a little bit of like when you listen
to Mickelson talking about how he's going to
hit an iron. Or a flop shot. Yeah, exactly. Just
all the factors that go in. So Reed, Mike Reed
was asked this question by Peter. Peter Jacobson,
the same question. He's like, what are you looking
at? And this is going to sound weird to the listeners.
He goes, I'm looking for this row and this line
of centipedes that's on the ground that's between
my golf ball and going towards the hole. They're
moving slowly, but it's a full line of centipedes
all the way up to the golf ball, all the way
up to the hole. And I have a little bit of that
TMAC in my head. Great. Yeah, it's either that
analogy. The better one that might not sound
so weird is gave a lesson this week. It was a
little bit dewy out on the putting green, and
then you could see the line of the putt because
the ball was going through the water. Yeah, I
love that. That's the image, right? That's the
image that you and I have in our heads. We don't
always have it perfect. Whatever, we get it.
But we have some type of line, ball. intermediate
target and target hopefully goes in the hole
or gets near the hole. Yeah. So yeah, it's not
random. It's not, it's not, uh, are you looking
at the back of the ball when you make the putt?
Are you thinking about your head movement? Are
you thinking about your right thumb on where
it is on the script? No, no, none of that. Well,
I think that kind of comes back to the idea of
when we talk about like, Tiger or something like
that. What did, what did Earl always tell him?
Putt to the picture, right? So in Tiger's mind,
he's, you know, once he gets that last look at
the hole, the only thing he sees in his mind's
eye is that last picture that, that, that frame
of that hole. And he's not looking at, you know,
the ball, the club, um, or any of that stuff.
He's just imagining the feel of his shoulders
or whatever he kind of feels. And he's got that
picture of that hole in his mind. You know, and
I think that's, that's very important as well,
is that you want to have that last image that
you looked at the hole in your mind and not get
distracted by, you know, looking at the ball,
looking at the club head, go back. That's a big
one. Right. And there you go. That's a really
good one. Right. I mean, I can't tell you how
many times I look at an amateur and they're watching
the club head go back and I'm like, that's not
good. That's not going to happen very well. Right.
You know, just, you know, you've got to take
your mental clarity and you've got to kind of
imagine yourself out of your body a little bit.
and focusing on that spot you know that last
image that you have and for me personally i always
see when i'm really putting well i will in my
mind i will see like a yellow line tracking to
that hole okay so that that's personally me that's
that's me but i really like the idea of what
tiger always said put to the picture um you know
have that mental image in your mind's eye of
of that last image that you saw and not all the
crazy stuff that's down below you at the time,
right? Because you can get lost in the sauce
there. It is why the chalk line is still one
of the best training tools for putting. Because
if you can get a five -foot straight putt and
you can putt enough putts on a five -foot straight
putt or three feet, start at three feet, I don't
care. But then when you go on the golf course
and you have this visual image in your head of
the... line on your putter the alignment tool
going back on the blue line or the red line of
the chalk line yours is yellow that's great i
don't care whatever the line is you know whatever
it is but now it's just a visual image okay i
just got to keep the the white line you know
on the on the blue line it's such a yeah um so
i think aren't you reading something didn't you
tell me you're reading something recently about
Kind of an older golfer that kind of had this
mindset 70 years ago? Yeah, I've been reading
a book by a gentleman, and I like going back
to the oldies, and I'm talking about the real
oldies, a gentleman by the name of Horton Smith,
who was the first winner of the Augusta National
Championship before we called it the Masters.
Oh, okay. Because Bobby Jones was too, he didn't
like the sound of it. He thought it was a little
too... you know, yeah. So he, uh, even back then
he was talking about the importance of spot putting
what we're talking about. Um, and he used the
analogy and I, I, he was a, he was a avid bowler
at the time and he, and what he would say is
that when you're bowling, right, you're looking
at those little spots that are on the ground.
If anybody's done any bowling and he would always
say psychologically, it's so much. it's so much
easier for the mind to predict where that ball
or that bowling ball will go over that little
spot to go through instead of looking at the
pin way out in the distance. So that's where
he took his, you know, idea of spot putting and
all that. That's a great, great analogy. So good.
And, you know, Bobby Jones would say that he
was the only person he never saw three putts.
Okay. You know, and we're talking about Bobby
Jones, probably one of the best putters at that
time with Calamity Jane, right? And they're also
not putting on good surfaces, T -Mac, right?
And look at those old putters. I mean, they're
almost like a one iron in today's age, right?
I mean, it's so much different. Not round. Yeah,
we hit a ball like, you know, on a car path.
We could take out a play immediately because
we're too good to play with that thing. These
guys are playing with. got a percha and feathers
and whatever, you know, like, Oh yeah. They're
not, not quality controlled at the, uh, at the
Callaway plant. Yeah. It's, it's amazing. The
book that I'm reading, you can look at the ball
cause he's, you know, giving demonstrations and
he's got a line on the ball, which, you know,
was kind of, you know, ahead of its time. Yeah.
He had a little line on the ball. He put like
a little line with an arrow on it and he'd get
like an old pen and he would put that on there
to demonstrate stuff. But you look at this old
ball and you're like, Oh my God, we would just
throw that in the trash if we, found it somewhere.
I mean, it's just a terrible looking thing. Um,
but you know, these are the things that, you
know, and I think that's why it's important to
look back at the older days of generations. It's
not, it's not anything new. It's not like we're
reinventing the wheel here, but what we're trying
to do is just bring back some of these great
ideas that some of these great golfers had some
really tough conditions, what worked for them
and how can we apply it in today's age? Absolutely.
So, so run through your pre -shot routine. Is
it similar to mine? Do you do some of the same
things different? What do you do different? Yeah,
I think we do a lot of similar things. I think
a lot of professionals do, but for me, when I
start walking up to the green, I start imagining
to me, I start imagining if there was a rainstorm,
where's that water going to flow, right? Where's
the water going, right? I'm trying to imagine
what's it going to look like in a rainstorm,
right? Um, and then once I get on up there, I
want to feel what it is with my feet and my up
down, kind of get that in my mind. Um, and then
once I kind of get behind that, I, I, I'm basically
looking at a spot, like you said, probably two
to six inches, you know, or a foot in front of
me somewhere where I can get that ball to roll
over and I can feel confident about it. And the
big thing is, is that I'm always trying to, and
for me, I'm always looking at the hole as I'm
taking my stroke, as you said, and just getting
a feel with my hands and my shoulders of what
I'm trying to do there. And then it's just basically
line that ball up to that line, make the best
stroke that I can. And I think it's important
for the listeners to understand that even if
you make a great putt and you don't make it,
you still need to go in your mind and say, I
made that putt. I did everything I could just
because it hit a spike mark or it didn't go exactly
the way that I went. You know, that's, you know,
I made the best stroke that I could. Now it may
come down to maybe I'm not reading the greens
correctly. Maybe I need to look at it from the
other side of the hole, which I think is important
too. If you have time to do that, make sure that
you're looking from both sides to get a, get
a read on that. But you really want to get a
feel. I think of looking at the hole, getting
a feel with your arms and shoulders of what that,
what that's going to do. And then just really,
once you step into that putt, imagine that last
look that you had at that hole and that's it,
you know, just fire away. Right. Just, and don't
sit over and freeze over the putt, you know,
don't be, Oh my God, if I make this, it's a par
or it's a birdie or it's a course record. You
just gotta, you know, it's. every shot counts
and it's just as important as the first shot
that you had on the tee, you know, just make
that putt, let it go. And once it, once it's
gone, make sure for me, I keep my head down and
I watch the spot where the ball went past. And
I'm, and for me, I'm making sure that the ball
is passing by my eyeline and I'm not looking
at it. I think that's important as well. Cause
once I start looking at it, the left shoulder
comes up and wipe city, it goes. Yeah. I do think
that's, uber important for most golfers that
are maybe listening to this, because I'm a big
fan of practice putting practice putting with
my eyes closed, you know, that old drill of kind
of like putting four footers and getting everything
set up and then basically just shutting your
eyes and then making your stroke. And you will
be surprised at how many you do make with your
eyes closed. Yeah. Because you're still, you
know, And the other one, I just did TMAC this
weekend. I had a little break in between lessons.
So I was out there, you know, I just love to
go to, there's a great chipping and putting area
in the back of Oakley. And, you know, you're
just kind of quiet, whatever. And so I did some
of the Jordan Spieth, like looking at the hole
type of stuff. Yeah. As I was making, as you're
actually making the stroke, right? Mm -hmm. And
I, again, sort of amazed. I showed it to one
of my lessons yesterday, actually. And he was
like. I can't believe I just made three out of
five. I'm like, yeah, it's, I'm not saying play
that way, but it's such a good sort of, again,
look at the target. Your body knows what to do.
Like you don't have to look at what we're doing.
It's a great analogy. Same thing. Like the free
throw shooter. You don't, you're not looking
at your hand or your right arm when you make
a free throw. Why would you ever, why would you
ever anything athletically? Why would you think
about your left leg when you're about to plant
for a pitch in the baseball? Right. Are you going
to look at where your left leg is going to land?
No. No. No. The glove or the inside left part
of the plate or wherever you're trying to throw
it, same deal here. You know? Yeah. It's fine.
I think we can keep going with this. This is
great. I'm going to re -listen to this one, T
-Mac, because I've learned some stuff today from
you. This is just good stuff. Yeah. My last little
thing, T -Mac, is let's go with the three to
five footer. Okay. Because the three to five
footer is the one that people arguably put the
most amount of pressure on themselves out of
any shot they hit on the golf course. Yeah. Right?
Because they're supposed to make it. Because
you're going to look silly if you miss it. Yeah,
the expectations of making that, right? Right.
How could you miss that? Correct. How could you
miss a birdie? Oh, no, I've hit it in there three
feet for birdie. Not, oh, good job, I've hit
it in there three feet for birdie. Oh, no, I
better not miss this because it's three feet
for birdie. Correct. Or in other people's worlds,
maybe it's they hit it in there three feet for
par or three feet for bogey, whatever their level
is. But it's so we put the pressure on ourselves.
Yeah. Nobody else in the world cares. If you
miss that, it doesn't affect the global economy.
Right. Well, let me ask you this, right? So talking
about the three and five footers, and I know
you know this, right? How many times in your
playing group does the guy next to you make the
10 footer, the other guy makes the eight footer,
the other guy makes the seven footer, and you've
got this three footer and you're like, I better
not be the SOB that misses. Right. I put it in
here to three feet. I've got a birdie. And what
usually happens, we're thinking about what all
these other people just did and not focusing
on what we're supposed to be doing. Right. And
and we usually miss it. Right. Because we put
all this pressure on ourselves because everybody
else in our group made it from further out. Right.
And then we're like, oh, my God, I better not
be the guy that misses. I don't want to be the
you know, the guy that chokes. Right. I play
with better people than I do. I'm not sure. I'm
not sure about that, but we have a good time.
Let's put it that way. No, it's funny. But so
the, what I was going to get to before I went
on my little rant was I three to five feet. I
really visualize the ball going in the hole.
I see the ball over the blade of grass that I'm
trying to aim at. And the ball is going in the
hole before I take my stroke. Like that is part
of that little. That's a great visual. Right?
Like, when you look at the hole and you bring
your gaze back, in your mind, you visually see
the ball going in the hole. Yeah. And, again,
I think, to me, I think that's what I learned
this weekend when I was doing the putting or
looking at the target, looking at the hole as
I'm making the five -footers. It really does
help with the idea of, oh, because now your eye
is looking at the hole. You're looking at the
blade of grass. Mm -hmm. looking at the part
of the left side of the cup that the ball's got
to roll in from and then again you kind of free
yourself like you just your body just does it
yeah yeah it's part of we talked about that like
why we don't get in a car accident because you
know we we visually have this acuity it's probably
it's got to be practiced just like everything
else in our world and you got to get better at
it you can't just it doesn't just happen you
have to get better at it But to have the confidence,
as opposed to the situation you just described,
which was, oh no, if I miss this, I'm going to
look bad, which is every amateur golfer over
a water hazard from 100 yards, what if I hit
the ball in the water? And you and I are thinking
about... How close can I hit it onto the next
to the flag? Well, we start thinking about performance
instead of technique, right? We start to put
this, this idea of performance in our head, right?
And that puts more pressure on us than just the
technique, right? Just go through the process.
You know, like Nick Saban says, enjoy the process,
not the result. Right. Just keep going through
the process and the results will come. Right.
So I think you're absolutely right. The amateur,
once he gets over a thing of water or something
like that, or even the small, you know, five
footer is that they're thinking about the result
before the action where you're thinking about,
you know, the action already being taken place.
And now it's just have my technique flow through.
Would that be correct on that? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
How old are the girls now? Three and six. When
you miss a putt when you play with Voss on a
Wednesday night match for $10, you miss a putt.
When you come home, do they care about any of
that? No, no. They just care about Dad being
home and being in a good mood, right? Does your
wife care? No. Nobody cares. I'm not what we're
trying to do, and we're trying to get better.
have our personal goals, do what we can, and
beat our buddy for five hours or whatever. It
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
mean when I play golf today at 1 o 'clock, I'm
not going to try on every single shot. I'm not
going to try to win $10 from Scott Johnson. I'm
going to try because it's part of why we do it.
That's why I was practicing on Saturday at 4
o 'clock because I knew I was playing Monday
at 1 o 'clock. I had a window. I knew I could
practice. I played okay on Thursday, and I'm
looking forward to today. In summary, basically,
figure out what your pre -shot routine is. Listen
to podcasts multiple times. There's so many good
things we just talked about. Absolutely. Loves
the golfers. Have confidence. The way you get
confident is by practicing the right way. It
is in your head of the ball doing what you want
it to do, which is going in the hole or getting
close to the hole. Yeah. It's not going to happen
by you sitting on the couch. It's not going to
happen by you listening to this podcast. You
have to take what we talk about, go do it. And
then two months from now, you'll be a better
putter. Applied science, right? Apply that science,
you know, to, to what we're doing. Right. Um,
coming back to the three or five footer for me,
at least what I kind of envision a little bit
is when I get over those, I always try to pick
out a spot in the back of the cup. And that's
the only thing when I, you know, and I really
believe in, in having that in my mind's eye.
And that's what I'm looking at. I'm looking at
that tiny little speck that's in the back of
the cup or something like that, or that little
piece of grass in the back of the cup. And that's
all I'm focusing on. And I've always believed
in what Ernie L said, aim small, miss small.
There you go. Yep. So absolutely. That would
be not two cents for that. Good stuff, man. Yeah.
So, well, good. I think we'll wrap it up there.
Sound pretty good. Absolutely. Yeah. That was
great. That was a lot of fun. I think we look
forward to doing some, some podcasts here in
the future with some of the members from Oakley,
you know, kind of diving into sort of what makes
them successful in their world. And then how.
how that applies to golf. Um, this is a kind
of maybe like a preemptive quick note for the
future. I was talking to a gentleman this, this
yesterday who is just, I mean, you know, super
successful in the, in the scheme of kind of financial
and sort of like business world. He's super successful,
uh, older gentlemen. And, uh, he said to me,
which, you know, you, me, you've heard this.
He said, he said, John, you know, if I ever,
thought about the decisions that I'd made in
business over the years, as much as I think about
trying to hit a wedge, I wouldn't be successful.
And I'm like, yeah, that's exactly right. That's
exactly right. So I think as we talk to some
of these members and kind of, you know, drill
down on sort of what makes them tick, I think
that's a good thought for a lot of people too,
is if you guys ever out there. thought so much
about making a three -footer as you do about
your business decision or whatever it is your
thing you'd be in paralysis yeah on your business
analysis by paralysis right yeah exactly yep
100 so well good i'm excited to have a chat with
him because uh you know having that mental freedom
to to free you up and and just be reactionary
instead of uh you know as you said being analysis
by paralysis is important and it it comes into
business and sports and every kind of aspect
of our life. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. So good
stuff. All right. Well, Hey, dynamic golf listeners.
We enjoyed you guys coming along, listening to
us. If you guys have any questions, please reach
out to us. We'd love to answer any of the questions
that you may have. You can find us on YouTube.
You can find us on other platforms like Spotify
and everything like that. Sean, any last words
before we break for today? Again, go re -listen
to this one. This is not one to be able to listen
to one time. Come up with your own routine. Do
it in your own time. Be consistent with it. Make
it your own. And track. Track the number of putts
you're making. And you can't track the number
of putts without tracking the number of up and
downs. Because you can't tell me that you have
40 putts. And you got to get the greens and regulation
matter, too. So you might as well do all of those.
Might as well do fairways, greens, up and downs
and putts because they just all matter. And they
really kind of know what you really know what
to work on. And they got apps now for that. Right.
You can download an app and, you know, you can
do it on your scorecard. But if you're one of
the new age, you know, younger fellers, maybe
you might want to get an app and you can just
kind of. press that around and, and it'll, you
know, statistically track that in your computers.
Right. So 18 birdies, I think is when I've seen
a lot team act, which seems to be pretty good.
And, you know, yeah, you can get super technical
of like, okay, two putts with inside of 30 feet.
Cause you can mark how far you are from the green,
you know, from the hole and you can put that
in the app and yeah, have the stats there. I
mean, yeah. So. Good, good. So as I said, I want
to thank everybody for coming along and listening
to us. As I said, if you guys have any questions,
let us know. I'm Tim. That's Sean. And you guys
have a great day. Thank you so much.