The 2nd Cut Newsletter, Edition #1
Intros, Journey from 15 to 3 Handicap, Golf is Hard, Lessons, Top Tweets and more
“The road to success is always under construction.” - Arnold Palmer
Introducing The 2nd Cut
Welcome to The 2nd Cut! Whether you are a scratch golfer or just starting out, this newsletter is designed to provide you with valuable insights, tips, and ideas to improve your golf game.
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1 - newsletter per week
1 - daily golf quote
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The 2nd Cut Weekly Newsletter
The newsletter will include anything interesting that could be beneficial to you the reader. Practice methods, golf strategy, useful tweets, videos, or books I’ve come across, etc.
There is a wealth of information out there and one of my goals is to create a heavily curated newsletter containing high-quality and informative content. Then you the reader can pick and choose what peaks your interest and deserves a deeper dive.
Daily Golf Quote
Short and sweet with a little explainer from myself. Read it in under a minute and apply it to your golf game that day.
Background: My Journey to a 3-Handicap
A little background. I’m a father of two that came back to golf after my kids got a bit older. The classic aging former high school athlete that turned to golf in my 30’s. I swung the club way too hard, had poor fundamentals, multiple OBs per round, etc.
When I got back into golf I thought all I needed to do was go to the range and play more rounds. Although that certainly helped, it was an incredibly inefficient and counterproductive process. My golf journey was a roller coaster with dozens of swing changes, poor practice habits, flawed course management, and all the ups and downs that come with it.
I began to improve my process and started to approach various aspects of my golf game differently. Eventually, I became fairly decent, shooting in high 70’s and low 80’s consistently. But it wasn’t because of my swing, which is still less than ideal (more on that later). I believe most of the improvement came from better course management, practice methods, and an improved mental game.
The good news is what got me to this point are all things you as a golfer can control and apply to your own game. I hope through this newsletter you’ll learn how to avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered and pick up some of the good habits that have helped me along the way.
Golf is Hard
Billy Horschel, the 38th-ranked golfer in the world, gave an emotional interview after shooting an opening round 84 at The Memorial. He looked absolutely lost and was in borderline tears. This was just one year after winning the same tournament!
If you watch til the end, Horschel stays positive by staying focused on the process rather than his result. Although he ended up missing the cut he bounced back with an even-par 72 the next day.
If it can happen to the pros it certainly can happen to us. There are going to be good rounds and bad rounds. Stay positive and stick to the process.
Get Lessons!
I finally started getting lessons and it’s made me realize how much time I’ve wasted on my own. Sure my swing improved over the years and became functional, but every time I thought I figured it out, the same core fundamental flaws would come back to bite me. Sound familiar?
Over the years I’ve tried dozens of drills, moves, feels, and slight tweaks to try and shallow my swing with little success.
After three lessons with my new coach, Ryan Mouque, he quickly identified my issues and was able to get me to shallow out the club. My swing is still a work in progress, but I’m no longer jumping around from swing change to swing change. There is finally a plan.
Trust me. Get a lesson. Whether it’s at your local course or online through the Skillest app. (you can find my coach Ryan Mouque by clicking here)
FYI Skillest is having a 20% off promotion for the US Open! Use code LA20.
T2C Tweets of the Week
I like this putting thought from PGA Pro Michael Kim (@mike_kim714). If you have trouble with pressure putts where your tendency is to jab or decelerate, maybe give this a try. I think Michael’s method shifts your mindset from a tentative one to a more aggressive one, but with a margin of safety built-in. Let me know if you find it helpful.
Great advice here from PARGolf (@pargolfapp). There is nothing worse than starting out with a double (or snowman) on the first hole. It’s usually a combo of not being warmed up and nerves that make this all too common for many amateur golfers.
While your on the range visualize your tee shot for the first hole. Am I hitting driver? Where’s the trouble? Play a nice fade off the left side? See it. Build confidence. You will be more comfortable arriving at the first tee box and it forces you to have a game plan.
LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) tweets some excellent content with a heavy emphasis on the golf swing. He also writes for golf digest. He’s a must-follow. Man, I wish I could get shallow like Hagen here! What a swing.
T2C Media Corner
Ryan Mouque (@ryanmouquegolf) produces great content and explains the why’s and how’s of the swing in an easy-to-understand way. This is one of his latest videos that really helped me understand early extension better.
A great article from LKD about how his approach to Par 3’s was costing him strokes. It’s worth the read but the TLDR version is LKD was taking dead aim at the flag, costing him stokes. Aka pin seeking, aka trying to be a hero. This occasionally produced an amazing shot, but more often than not left him in the sand or short-sided.
Scottie Scheffler led the tour in both par-3 scoring average and in greens in regulation last season. That's not a coincidence. I asked him about his strategy earlier this year, and his advice was simple: Forget the pin. Aim at the middle. Don't be tempted by anything else.
"I'm almost always aiming slightly away from the pin," he says. "It's a very rare occasion that I'm aiming anywhere near a pin on the short side of the green."
Most amateurs go pin seeking and it’s costing us serious strokes. Jon Sherman (@practicalgolf) and Lou Stagner (@LouStagner) are big proponents of playing the odds. Those odds say definitively to aim away from trouble and toward the middle of the green regardless of where the flag is. This was a game-changer for me. It’s hard to commit to but I promise you you’ll get more GIR’s and start shaving stokes off your score.
Subscriber Q&A:
Have any questions about your golf game or the newsletter? Subscribe and send your questions to the2ndcut@substack.com. I’ll post my answers in a future edition.
Parting Words
Thank you for reading The 2nd Cut Newsletter! I hope you enjoyed it and found something helpful for your golf game.
Please subscribe below or share with a fellow golfer who might find the newsletter helpful!
Til next time.
