The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #11
Old Habits Die Hard, Putting Reads DTL vs. From Behind, Stat of the Week, and More
“Simply by making the effort to start something, you will be miles ahead of almost everyone else.” — Gary Player
Edition #11
Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter, Edition #11! Thank you all for reading and subscribing.
In today’s Newsletter: Old Habits Die Hard, Putting Reads DTL vs. From Behind, Stat of the Week, and More
If you’re new here, this newsletter is designed to provide you with valuable insights, tips, and ideas to improve your golf game from around the internet.
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Old Habits Die Hard
If you’ve been reading this newsletter you already know I’ve been getting lessons and working on some swing changes. I got another lesson last week where it became apparent my grip needed some work (again).
Over the past few months, I improved my backswing position quite a bit and recently have been focusing on shifting less in the downswing while ingraining some shaft lean at impact.
At some point, while focusing on these changes my grip gradually drifted back to my old grip. My old grip was very strong (especially in my trail hand), which contributed to my dipping/sliding in the downswing.
Here’s my grip in the above pic. You can see my right hand is underneath quite a bit with the V of the the thumb and pointer finger pointed outside of my right shoulder. The slide and lack of shaft lean are in the last pic.
In my very first lesson in May, my grip was literally the first thing mentioned. We weakened it some, but over time I unconsciously drifted back to old reliable (thanks baseball).
I had no idea I was doing this until I saw the latest video. When did this happen? Why did this happen? I don’t know.
The point is, it’s normal. It happens to everyone no matter how good we get. This is golf. We’ll never have our swings figured out and set in stone. Our swings are going to change leading to some new issues and yes often some old ones.
I was frustrated to see I had reverted to an old habit, but the good news is the other things I’m doing are elevating my floor. Think of it as a stock chart that goes up and down but over time trends upward with higher lows over time. We just need to check in periodically, especially during the lows, and make sure we’re doing the right things.
Tweets of the Week
This is a really really good thread from PGA Tour player Michael Kim (@Mike_kim714). He writes about reading putts from behind the ball (DTL) vs. over-the-ball reads and how those two things can sometimes conflict. Link
I highly recommend you read the whole thread, but essentially Michael says to go with the over-the-ball read when it conflicts with the down-the-line read. He also says most players tend to read less break from the down-the-line view (guilty).
I’ve been over the ball so many times where the read looked completely different than the DTL view, but I stuck with the original read and ended up missing to the low side.
If you suffer from an over-the-top or steep swing give this video from Jonathan Yarwood a watch. Link
T2C Media
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Trevor Salzman (@trevor_salzman_golf) has phenomenal content on YouTube, Twitter, and Tiktok. In the video above he shows how to stop lifting the arms and keep the body and arms in sync. Great follow.
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Yours truly in the video above. You can follow me on TikTok @the.2nd.cut and Instagram @the2ndcut_t2c for more videos featuring rounds and practice.
Stat of the Week
We’ve talked many times about Fairways Hit as a highly overrated stat. The graphic above shows the top 4 players in fairways hit %. You’ll notice that although they are good, none are top PGA players.
On the flip side, the top players in shot gains off the tee include names like Scottie Scheffler, Rory Mcilroy, and Patrick Cantlay but their average fairways hit % ranks 46th, 158th, and 16th on the PGA Tour.
Rory is #1 in Distance off the tee, #2 in shots gained off the tee yet he only hits 53% of fairways.
This applies to amateurs as well. The most important things off the tee are distance and staying out of trouble (water, OB, bunkers, etc.). Sure a fairway is nice, but just remember Rory and Scottie.
*You can read more in Finding Fairways and check out the graphic below from Edition #4.
Post Round Wrap Up
Old habits die hard. Our swings will drift. Accept it and adjust
When reading a putt trust the above-the-ball read over the behind-the-ball read
Fairways are overrated!
Thank you for reading The 2nd Cut Newsletter! I hope you enjoyed it and found something helpful for your golf game.
Follow me on Twitter at @The2ndCut_t2c, on TikTok @the.2nd.cut and on Instagram @The2ndCut_t2c
Til next time.
