Latest / Golf Psycho Podcast / Golf Mental Game Advice: Do THIS To Make More Putts In Tournaments!

Transcript

Golf Mental Game Advice: Do THIS To Make More Putts In Tournaments! · Golf Psycho Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Today, we're going to be going over what every golfer struggles with putting during tournament play.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be going over some tips and advice over what you should be doing.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I can almost guarantee you're not doing it to fix those gyps over those putts, to fix that insecurity you feel when you just have no idea what the putt is going to do.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're one of those golfers that struggles around the greens and you know that you're just leaving a lot of shots out there and you're feeling insecure and not confident over your putts, do yourself a favor.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of buying a new putter, book a session with the golf cycle.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Go to thegolfsycho.com and book your mental game lesson today.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And let's change your game from the inside out.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to get you putting better.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to get you sinking putts.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to make your friends go, what the heck have you been doing?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: But if you feel like you're confidently leaving two, three, four, five shots out there because of putting, come see the golf cycle.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to get you fixed up.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, golf psycho to the golf cycle podcast.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Carlos Benavides, mental game coach out of Austin, Texas.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to be going over putting under pressure.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, big thing.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Putting, yeah, putting under during tournament play and how we can kind of mitigate and control those nerves and make sure that we stay dialed when it matters most.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, Raul.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to me, bro.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Bro, okay.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, from last episode, if you haven't seen that already, go check it out.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about basically before the tournament, me, the nerves at the tournament around the off the tee, the shots, and we didn't really touch the green.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: And this tournament was last month.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Last month.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was last month, yeah.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And this is me getting back into competitive play.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I knew I felt like I knew my game wasn't like, oh, I'm gonna win the tournament.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: I just knew I just wanted to start playing.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been practicing a lot.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Changed my putter.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: I went from my ping zing, like extra long putter to like this$20 great white putter.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been putting great, right?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Leading up to the tournament.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I got with Francis, shout out to Francis.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: He he taught he helped me understand the what do you call indulations or like the green, the curves of the green, how to read it good.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then you told me a lot about the the grain.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: The grain, I'm drawing a blank here, how to read the grain.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: I've never done that before.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: But leading up to the tournament, first few holes, like really, I didn't I didn't even think about that.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was just I was three-putting.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: So and you brought up in the last episode a lot of the nerves.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: So like the first few holes I three-putted out of like eight feet.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what is going on?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I started doing the breathing techniques to kind of relax my nerves, my body, I started noticing, like, okay, let's just not focus so much on I need to make this because I'm four over par through two holes, and let's just get it close, you know, which was my old practice routine, you know, 12, 15, 30 footers, just get it close, don't try to make it.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: And my and I started earlier, I was like, I need to make this, I need to make this, I need to make this, you know?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then, but it's still, it's still like the nerves.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it's I don't know if it's like you mentioned the fingers.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: So like I think it's that a lot to do with it.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: And my breathing is like, so here's one thing I noticed, right?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Working with you is my putting.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: When I'm putting, I'm like, you know, and I and I never thought about my breathing while putting.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Never thought about it.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: So one thing I want for sure I want to ask you, or think you can answer the to us today, is what should my breath be like when I'm putting?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's one thing.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because right now I'm over the I'm all over the place.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, we're like, and it's like inconsistent.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'll blow it past the hole or I'll be way short.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And like the first few holes, I had like a 15-footer, blew it past like 10 feet, and then the second shot coming back, I was short, but like five feet.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like so inconsistent.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I know it's a lot of nerves and and a lot of the adrenaline, but I would love to for you to kind of like break down what's a good base of like you know, like where should my breathing be so I can focus on that and not be so like like like motherfucking, you know what I mean?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like that's what I feel like I was.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: So first off, there's like a lot there.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like going right immediately into the tips that we're gonna talk about and prescribe for today, as far as you know, putting under pressure, putting in tournaments, or maybe it's just on on the weekend and when you're playing with your boys and your girls, you know.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So immediately as people are doing things on the green and maybe I'm away and I or you know, I'm I'm still waiting to putt, regardless of what's happening, as I'm approaching the green, as you know, my post shot takes care, my post-shot takes care of the next shot.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by that is if I'm coming off of the fairway and I just stuck a seven iron to about 20 feet, let's just say, on my second shot.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Par four, just stuck a seven iron onto the green.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have the shortest birdie putt, but it's not the longest birdie putt.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just call this a very standard scenario, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what I mean when I say that my post shot takes care of the next shot is after I hit that second shot onto the green, on my way over, my breathing and my post shot has begun.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the post-shot routine is for.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Or a pre-shot has some breathing and some grounding and all that good stuff.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: But then the post-shot, I continue that breathing, right?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because what I'm looking out for is I don't need to get dysregulated or get myself riled up about something or nervous about something on the way over to that green.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need the wrong thoughts.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's a huge breaker or double breaker.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll deal with it when I get there.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So on the way over, I'm 4'8 breathing or I'm 4'4 breathing.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's setting me up for the next shot so that I don't arrive on the green like, what's going on?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I need to make this putting.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the grain?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the grain?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: If I make this butt, where's the water go in?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, when I get there, I'll take care of that.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if some of my friends or you know, my plane partners have putts before I do, I'm I'm I'm checking to see if anything is relevant to me.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is am I getting some information from my buddies putting that that's going to help me?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if if I don't, then I'm I'm gonna be clear headed as I form, you know, gather and form an analysis over this putt, right?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I I it in my game, when those nerves strike prior, then I don't look at all the information.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a tendency to look afterwards and go, oh my gosh, I didn't take this into account and I didn't take that into account.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And had I been clear headed, I would have been able to catch those things, you know.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, what helps me be grounded when it comes to putting in tournaments is my my uh my routine when it comes to putting and the gathering of information.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think every golfer can relate to standing over a putt and and and hitting a putt and going, I have no idea what's I hope this goes were I that feeling of like I have no putting prey, dude.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've got no clue if this is gonna break left or right.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea how hard to hit it.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's probably one of the worst feelings that you can feel on the course, and it it almost never works out.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: It almost never works out.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Every once in a while, you get lucky.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: That that worked.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: But for the most part, standing over the putt with zero confidence is a mental game issue, right?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you mentioned earlier, you know, I lose the feeling in my hands, and I I'm I'm not sure about what's going on.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like like the putter doesn't feel like you know, like a pendulum.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: It more feels like, man, this is really light.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm and I'm I'm like, am I am I even like I don't know if that makes sense where like you can't control yeah, or like I'm I'm over controlling it if that makes sense.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you can't feel the weight in your hands almost.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I can't feel like the smoothness of it, and and I'm feeling and I'm like, okay, so why can't I feel the smoother?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I was like, and I'm all these thoughts right over the butt.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thoughts, and I'm just like, man.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that breathing prior helps me stay calm so that I can get to the green.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the first things that I'm looking at is where's the grain?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the grain?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Where's this grain going?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because before I understood the grain, I would kind of have some guesswork.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: If I couldn't see undulations or rises and falls that are like very, very obvious, and it looks more like a straight putt.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'd just be and then it and then it breaks, and you're like, oh, I didn't read break, and it's like, well, the grain is shoving every as you as the ball slows down, the grain is having more and more of an influence on the ball, right?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I know now, and like if a lot of golfers don't know this, we're like, what the heck are you talking about?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you go and you look at the cup, there'll always be an ugly portion of the cup.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And where that ugly portion is, that means the grain is going in that direction.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: The grass are at least, yes, at least around the cup.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's very important for me to know because I know as the ball is dying in speed, the grain is gonna influence the ball much, much more.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: If the putt is rolling fast, the grain is influencing the ball less.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I know as this ball, as this ball approaches the cup, the grain is gonna influence it more.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: That makes me more confident over the putt when I set up and I'm not guessing.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if I am guessing, it's an educated guess.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like, hey, well, I'm gonna trust this, and it's better than just hoping and praying.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Putt and pray, putting pray.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so when I'm calm, I can go, oh, look, classic example that birdie putt that you made on the back nine.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: That was nice, yeah.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't even record it.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was a snake.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was a snake.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Raul, look at how the putt goes uphill for a second, and it looks like it's gonna take it to the right.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then once it gets over that hill, it looks like it goes left, plus the grain is pulling your ball to the left.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I would start it here, and I'm gonna count on the grain pulling that ball to the left.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you were like, Okay, you think so?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yes, and hit it a little bit harder than you normally would because we do have an uphill portion or most of this putt's actually uphill.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Raul sinks it.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, that feeling when I looked back at you, I was like, Oh my god, bro, there's something here.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a snake, it went, it went right and then it went left, and it was about 20 feet.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe 18, 20 feet, something like that.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so, again, when the nervous system is calm, it allows me to collect all of the information that I need, and I don't miss things that are gonna cost me, right?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: So another classic example is a little later down the road, as Raul and I are playing, we I noticed that there is a putt that is uphill up grain.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Raul, this putt is going to be slower than usual.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And those are those ones that leave golfers like, but I hit it the way I normally why did it come up?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's your answer.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Every once in a while you get an uphill into the grain and it plays even slower.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, the opposite can be true.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to grab this information because sometimes you get a downhill downgrain.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Holy shit, that's even faster than usual.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So having these bits of information and being calm enough to collect this information is crucial because if I didn't hit it harder on that uphill, or if you didn't hit it harder on that uphill upgrade, we wouldn't reach it.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: We bring another three putt in.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the three putt a lot of the putts that we missed at three, four feet, those were grain shots.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we didn't account for the grain.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you see the grain shove your ball, right?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And and it was in their big misses.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I say that focus getting into the green is part of the mental game because if it impacts your ability to can collect information, and if I feel insecure or less confident over the ball, then that's when that feeling arrives.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, that was me before you showed up on the on the back nine, but my first front nine, after I had the eight and then the bogey, and I started kind of balancing out, my my putting, I would still not think about the grain.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: So when I putt, it blows past the hole.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, oh, I hit it too hard.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: What happened?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Greens are running fast, whatever.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So then I go in coming back, I take it easy because I'm thinking, oh, the greens are fast, and it's way short.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Not even thinking about the grain.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't I didn't even think about the grain or reading the grain.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was just like, oh man, these are they're fast or they're slow.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then I had a lot of birdie opportunities throughout that first nine, and I missed a lot of them, like four or five feet.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, there's like four or five birdies I just left, but they're just grazing the hole.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, is that my stroke?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: So throughout the round, before you showed up, yeah, too.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: I started questioning, like, okay, am I too tight?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe do I need to move my fingers?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like I'm missing it all to the right.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe let me let me let me adjust this the backstroke.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, all this started happening, or or the position of where the ball's at.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I stand like never thought about that before, ever in a round, until like I started missing them.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then you showed up and started talking about the grain, and I'm like, oh my stroke is probably fine.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, it's just a grain reading that that's kind of taking effect.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: I need to either over over anticipate it or under-anticipate it.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and we saw it in the back nine on the front nine, but my back nine of me playing.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, dude.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just lean, why don't I remember this in the beginning?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's my whole game, is like I always start off like high nerves, like what's gonna happen?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, but let's go.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's just dive in.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then I dive in eight, four, quadruple, or whatever.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, all right, and then I start sledding, settling down into the round, and then I, you know, you see like I shot like one over in the back or something.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, why can I start that way?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, like you mentioned last episode, it happens like earlier in the day, leading up to that first t-shot.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what have you done to get your breath, you know, in in check?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and your body, your nervous system like in check, so you're not just like dive into the tournament and hoping, like, all right, let's just hope I practice for the last six months every day.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm good.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: You screw up on a hole and then just shatters you around.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: But if you had the breathing, you probably would have been under control.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's amazing how it just spills into decision making, it spills into the tension of your grip, it spills into how you design your shots.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: My stance.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I never thought about my stance until like those last few holes before you showed up.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, why am I thinking about my stance?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like Yeah, because a lot of these things, it it should be uh sort of autopiloty, right?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I just I trust my swing, I trust my putting stroke, I trust my chipping, and I just I take the information that I got and then I just do what I know how to do.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And when we're standing over a shot and we feel that lack of confidence or that insecurity, or the questioning.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, the questioning, because then you're just you're manufacturing a shot live in the moment, and that's probably not gonna work.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: The math is absolutely against you.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, here's one thing I want to say.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's a couple of a birdie opportunities that I had that I should have stepped back.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was over the putt, and I literally had like, I don't know where this is going, but I'm gonna hit straight.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: I should have backed off.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do it anyway.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: I did it anyway.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, just go, you go, you're good.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I miss it, obviously, which makes it which makes it that much worse going to the next one because I didn't I didn't answer that nervous, un uncertain issue there at the moment.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: I just kept it.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And like you're saying, like, gosh, I need to.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's one thing I'm working with you, learning like I need to step back.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm over the ball of a T shot, this iron shot putt.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: And if I don't know where I want this to go, I need to step back.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, especially over field shots.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Especially over field shots like those putts.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a birdie putt, so the brain is already, it's got more attachment over the value of that shot.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I spent like I know I spent four or five minutes already looking at this putt.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's waiting for me to finish.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm over here, let me just putt.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like when in reality, I need to just wash all that out.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Who cares what everybody's thinking?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: And let me just step back.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then get back into the routine.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: No shame in stepping out, man.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: No shame in stepping out.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big one.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Learning that.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's okay.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Come back, see if I can develop a little bit more confidence that I felt before because putting insecurity ruins scorecards.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it ruins golfers and it ruins their minds.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then the spiral starts, you know.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it was very, very interesting to get with you on the back nine and and then go, hey, let's let's consider this bit of information and what it did to your confidence over the ball.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because I, like I've said, I still might be guessing, but at least it's a very educated guess.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just like, hey, I I I I'm just putting this.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have a design.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if this is the design, but I'm gonna trust it and I'm just gonna stick with it because at least this design and I've taken in these factors, and at least this is better than just uh, let's just see what happens.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: I've had those moments where I looked at every circle, every angle around this putt, and I still don't know.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: So do I just go up and assume the best case, or should I look at a different angle?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Or like, how do how do you think is the best place to approach that?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes it doesn't happen a lot, but sometimes I'm over like a crucial putt, crucial, every putt's crucial, right?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: But like an eagle or a birdie, it's a six or seven footers, maybe it's a big break, and I'm just like, or no break, and I'm like, man, I don't know where this ball's going.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Am I gonna blow it past?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't blow it past because I need to make par coming back.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's in my head.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, oh god, I'm so glad you brought that up.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: So then let's just let's just tap it.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: If it's short, who cares?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Tap it in for par.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then sometimes either I'll blow it past or I'll put way too short.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now I got like half the distance now coming back.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, oh my God.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you mentioned that because the other half of putting is not just where to hit it, but how hard to hit it.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lonnie Alexander down at Onion Creek changed my putting for the rest of my life with this one piece of advice.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen a turns out a lot of pros do this.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm gonna answer, or I'm gonna have a almost like a rebuttal to all of the field players that I can already hear that are gonna be like, yeah, but I'm a field player.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: I need it in my fingers.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: I need to feel it.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: I need to feel it.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, feel player.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Lonnie, I went to him to help me with putting.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Who's who's Lonnie here?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Lonnie Alexander is a pro that works over at Onion Creek.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: He's a legend in the area, phenomenal golfer, he's played on tour.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: And he helped me in one, it's one of those like one lesson type of holy shit, you just changed my putting forever vibes.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he took an alignment stick, and on this alignment stick, it had tape wrapped around certain areas.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when he put it up against my feet, there were three areas of tape.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And essentially, if I took my stance, I'll go this way so that folks can see.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: I took my stance about this wide or so for putting.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: And he would basically say, you know, on this alignment stick, that first that first tape is where you go for your 10-footer.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: The next tape that was closer to my right foot, the inside of my right foot, that's your 15-foot putt.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: 20 plus goes outside of your right foot, and that's marked.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we would find a putt where the grain was just neutral, and he's getting me to practice my 10-footer.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: So when you come to a new course, you lay this down and you calibrate that 10 feet because every course is different.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: So at Lions it might be slower, at Mo it might be faster.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: But so then you're gonna know how hard to hit and how far, like that you're always gonna come back to the same spot, but how hard you hit from there changes.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there are still variables in there, and you can end up hitting it way too hard or way too soft, but generally our strokes are very much the same over and over, and it at least gives the golfer or the mind a concrete place to go to rather than just guesswork.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, yeah.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: You still have to calibrate for the course because every grain is gonna be different.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I'll do is I'll take that 10 foot, let's say the 10-footer, I'll do one into the grain and I'll do one with so that I can see the difference, and that's giving me information.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: If I am going down grain and I hit my 10-footer and it goes 15, that's information for me.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good point.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm into the grain and I hit my 10-footer and it goes seven feet, that's information, and I do that for all of them.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: So my lag putting might be one of the first things I do.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: I take the 20-foot putt where my where the the face of my club of my putter goes to the outside of my foot.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's my 20-25 foot mark.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then I go and I calibrate that, and I can't tell you how old the confidence that it gives you to go out there and go, oh, I know and I have a very, very good idea, my distances.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: So between reading, looking at the grain, and having an upgrade in the trust over my putting distances changed so much.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Mind you, Lonnie is also the one that taught me how to read grain.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: So between the grain reading and getting some Control over the distances of my putts through these measurable distances through the alignment stick, it eliminates a lot of guesswork.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of guesswork.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I said I would answer the feel players.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you like to feel your distances, I'm right there with you.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've done that for most of my golf career.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's me.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm suggesting is because you're a very, very good feeler, or you've got great feel, this is gonna work for you even more.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's this idea, I think, in most golfers' brain, because we're just so dualistic, I have to do one or the other.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: I either have to be a field player and I can't do that, or I need to do this and forget feeling.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, it can be both.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're a great field player, you're gonna be able to calibrate to the greens even better.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're gonna know, oh, this is a fast green.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is a these course, this course is fast greens, this course is notoriously, it's got slow greens.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: So so long as you calibrate to the day to the greens, you're gonna be good.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: So taking that out and tournament play, taking that out for your casual rounds changes everything.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Raul, my three putts dropped tremendously the moment I started and it was just overnight.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Just adding this new information.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta try that out.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: We've gotta try that out.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to document it with you, put it in a vlog, go out and work on it and see what it does.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because for me, it instantly changed.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: I can confidently say between those two things, my three putts dropped anywhere between I I I I I feel like a good four or five three putts around.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Which was instant instantly put me in I I was always at like 80, 82, 81, like a few years back.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: And what started keeping me in the 70s consistently was that.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then of course go on to start shooting par more often.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: But what initially initiated that was the confidence around the greens.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's a really, really good place for most golfers to start.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions over that, please leave it in the comments.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: You have any comments over that, please leave it in the comments.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love to hear from you.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, give me your thoughts over that little spill of information.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, as a field player, I think that's a good boundary, like a good uh not boundary, I'd say a good foundation maybe for me to learn because when I'm doing the three to five to ten to fifteen, I'm kind of I'm not even thinking about my backstroke.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: I just feel like, all right, how hard am I gonna hit it?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and if I think if I visually see maybe like, because you're not gonna have the stick with you, but if I know more or less as I practice how far I need to go, that's already a good way to think about my stroke.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not thinking about other things.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and then as long as I really the big one is the grain and then focus on that with the feel, I don't see why that shouldn't be helpful.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we need a concrete foundation.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take it to like cooking or I'll take it to like the oil change in your car.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine going to go get your oil change, and the guy's like, yeah, I kind of feel five quarts.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I need you to make sure you put in five quarts, you know, like nah.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: I feel five quarts.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a penzo guy, you know?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a penzo, yeah.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're at three quarts.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Three and a half.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're good.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So a good mix between the two, why not?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's almost like MMA, right?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like if it's a skill from this or from that, if it's judo, if it's boxing, if it's wrestling, it's greco, if it's striking, if it's if it works, like Van Dam.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: You told me using any tactic that works, never to limit myself to one style.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Keep an open mind.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Why not?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you can add it to the skills that you that you have in your in your war chest when it comes to golf, why not?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think one thing you're talking about that I that I'm noticing on my game is I don't have much dead air time to my thoughts between shots and like over the shots.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: So before, like, I'm like, all right, what am I looking for here?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Do I is it first off, is it breaking?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is before I knew about the grain stuff.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: Is it breaking and how uh is there like hill?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Is there like a hill?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is it downhill or is uphill?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's really it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I thought about.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then I go for feel from there.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: But now incorporating, like we do in the back nine, grain, I'm like, okay, that's another thing I'm thinking about.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: So throughout my whole pre-shot and over-the-ball routine, my mind is like thinking of those things and not other stuff, like, oh man, I three butted two, three times before.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do it right now.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's how my old was.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, well, last time I missed a three-footer, I blew it past three feet.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: So don't hit it that hard right now.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Not even thinking, like, you know, but what's going on here?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even think about that at the time, you know?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that was a big thing problem I had.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think working with you, getting these like little, I don't know what you call instructions or these little to-do lists between the shots is huge.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: I've never thought about that.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, like after a t-shot, you're walking or driving to your next shot.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: That I'm like, what am I working on?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: The breath.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the shot?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Not thinking about other stuff or not getting amped or pissed off that I duffed or or messed up a previous shot.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm already just thinking, all right, breath, what is this doing?
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: What am I working on?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Execute.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just like dead space.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it becomes more crucial the closer you get to the green, because the closer to think we get to the green, the the higher the chances, or not this chance, but we're guaranteeing that we're playing more with feel, dude.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh fine, fine shots, fine motor stuff.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: I want to tell you this real quick.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: So the the so the shot, this is a perfect example of the mental game, guys.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: So after the eight, I bogeyed the second shot.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Going into hole 12 was at par five.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: They have bunkered off to the right, right?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: I worked on the breathing before the t-shot.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: T shot was in the fairway.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Worked on the breathing before the second shot.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: I flushed the second shot.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was going for a draw, but it hit straight.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: And working with France, he was like, Where do you want your misses at?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Which is another thing I didn't think about.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I went in my miss right side of the green.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: If it's in the bunker, it's fine because I'm up there in two, right?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in the bunker.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not mad.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm breathing.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm getting down there.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: I have a tough bunker shot, but I have to go across the green to the pin.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I focused on breathing and just focused on fluid shot.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't think about anything else, not grain, nothing.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hit it, knocked it within three feet.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: But I missed the putt.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: I missed the butt because I was like, oh my god, oh I got it close.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: I can I can make bird.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh just like I didn't even think about the grain.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't think about nothing.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was just like, okay, I got it.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, this last hole, you three putted with the for bogey, you blew it past, you hit it short.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just you see these thoughts.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: When normally I could have just hit like, yeah, just nice and smooth.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that what you're saying, and I probably would have made the bird.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: All that calm just to get there.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm saying, dude.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where, like, again, we're gonna talk about this in a future episode.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: That was a perfect example of mental game hole, dude.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Focus, man.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Being able to focus for an entire hole, shot after shot, against all of these stories that are happening happening as a result of all of these shots, right?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then just to get right there, and then dude, I was like, oh, and editing the video because I have it on the channel, and I'm watching this, I'm just like, oh my god, dude.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: You were doing the breathing before, like all those steps when you had that three, four-footer for Bertie, you just went out the door.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: What happened?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we can say, Oh, it, you know, well, was it the breathe?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: We'll never know.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: But like I've said before, I can't tell you how many times I am, you know, staying focused, using my breath as an anchor, and everything's fine.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: And what a coincidence the moment I stopped.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Stuff like that happens, you know.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: So these are some really, really good takeaways.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's the focus and the breathing leading up to you getting on that green that's going to decide the information that you're gonna pull.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna decide where your attention goes.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna decide whether or not you're gonna play to the numbers and you're gonna use all of the information that's at hand to essentially increase the probability that things are gonna go the way you want.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: And when our nervous system is, hey, wire approaching these areas, and it plays a huge, huge factor in the confidence over the ball.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And confidence over the ball is a mental game issue.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So if we can use these tools to gain confidence, to feel secure and more sure over a putt, that's going to benefit us nine out of 10 times.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Go out, try this for yourself and see what you think.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: I I can confidently tell you, and I've done this myself, that a lot of golfers once post and we we've three or four putted, and we look back and we're like, oh shit, that was uphill.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that was down.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Why didn't I see that?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because you were riled.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you weren't you weren't there.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: You were thinking about so many different things, and you're you're fixated on outcomes that we forget the process.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes these answers are sitting right there, waiting for us to notice.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually incredibly uncomplicated, but when we're in those flustered fight or flight states, we make things very complicated when they're.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, dude.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's like you said, developing a plan, which I think I love that you're doing this podcast, because I think these episodes playing back here and I'm not just when you're on the course, but when you're on the range, when you're mowing the lawn, when you're at the gym, like constantly work on these, you know.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: When before I never thought about the mensa game where you're breathing when work started with you until I was on the course, which in reality, like I should have been practicing leading up to this moment.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I started incorporating, especially with with the Kimberly, my the my two-year-old, when when she can, if you have two-year-olds out there, you know, like you get frustrated, you're losing sleep.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: But this was huge, dude.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes I'm out there and working on my four-year breathing as I'm like changing the diaper, it's like 3 a.m.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, oh my god, I need to go to sleep.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, I can do this.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, dude.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a repetition, like you're saying, you know, like all these leading, it noticing like, hey, I'm flustered, I'm stressed, I'm not on the golf course, but I can still work on the four-year breathing because it'll benefit me when I'm out there.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I noticed those little things here and there as it improved my game, especially this tournament, was a clear example.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, especially that hole was like, but yeah, so it's just it was it's I'm so happy you're doing this.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: And this, of course, applies to your to your green side chipping, looking at the grain.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: When this ball lands, if I bump and run, if I flop it up, where is this ball gonna go once it lands?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just a great place.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, it nobody is really gonna talk to you about the state in which you arrive to the green, you know, how flustered and how much it has an impact on the confidence that you're gonna feel over that ball.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because feeling confidence over the ball is what we all strive to feel.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: We want to feel good over that putt.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the last thing we want to do is go out there and just guess and guess and guess.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work out very often, you know, it doesn't work out at all very often.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if these takeaways are resonating with you, be sure to leave your comments.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: If there's something you disagree with, leave it in the comment.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: I want to hear about it.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let's have a discussion about it.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: But thank you so much for tuning in to this episode.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna keep it going.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this one, make sure to catch the next one because we're gonna do another breakdown here shortly and we're gonna keep this conversation going over Raul's most recent tournament.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: But thank you so much for tuning in.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to like and subscribe if you like this video.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Send it to a friend, send it to that friend that's got all the mental gaming tricks.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: We'll help them, we'll get them figured out.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for tuning in.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Catch you in the next one.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.