The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #12
Incremental Continuous Improvement, Scottie Scheffler, a Ton of Viktor Hovland, Tweets, Stats, Videos, and More
“Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out.”
Edition #12
Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter, Edition #12! Thank you all for reading and subscribing.
Feel free to email me at the2ndcut@substack.com or submit a comment at the end of the newsletter with any comments, questions, or suggestions you may have. I really appreciate the feedback.
In today’s Newsletter: Incremental Continuous Improvement, Scottie Scheffler, a Ton of Viktor Hovland, Tweets, Stats, Videos, and More
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Incremental Continuous Improvement
Viktor Hovland took home $18 million this weekend after winning the FedEx Cup Championship capping off a phenomenal year for the 25-year-old.
Three years ago after a poor round, Hovland told a reporter that “he sucked at chipping”. He wasn’t joking. Hovland ranked near the bottom of the pack, losing strokes to the field from 2020 to 2022.
But in 2023 Hovland steadily improved his short game, course management, and mental game leading to three wins with ZERO missed cuts and finishing #4 in the world.
“Throughout the year I feel like obviously short game has improved massively, course management has been a big deal — I’m not short-siding myself as much as I used to — and just handling adversity a lot better because I believe in my game and if I hit one bad shot or make one mistake it’s not the end of the world.”
Hovland is analytical, open to new ideas, and extremely curious. These are all great traits for getting better at anything in life.
Another important factor in Hovland’s success is his understanding of continuous incremental improvement. Not only does he understand how impactful tiny improvements over time can be, but he matches it with the patience required for it to bear fruit.
James Clear of Atomic Habits put it best:
“We convince ourselves that change is only meaningful if there is some large, visible outcome associated with it. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, traveling the world or any other goal, we often put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about.
Meanwhile, improving by just 1 percent isn’t notable (and sometimes it isn’t even noticeable). But it can be just as meaningful, especially in the long run.”
Maybe we get just a 5% better at putting, a little smarter at target selection, and a little better at keeping mentally calm throughout a round. Those little (and unnoticeable) improvements start to stack up and compound leading to lower scores on the course.
Some tips:
Create smaller goals. Breaking 80, 90, or 100 can be an overall goal, but to get there pick smaller goals in areas you want to improve.
Measure your progress. Whether it’s putts per round or something more advanced, you need a feedback loop to track progress for these smaller goals.
Be patient. Give it time. One of my biggest mistakes has been jumping from fix to fix. It’s not going to happen overnight.
Tweets of the Week
Just an insane stat from Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf). It highlights both how dominant Tiger was and how special Scottie is. Scottie was heads and shoulders above everyone else in the field this year when it came to almost every shot-gained statistic including: Driving, Approach, and Short Game. Link
Scottie finished 1st in every facet except one, putting. He putted terribly this year, finishing 150th in SG putting. Scottie was so good in every other category that he still finished Top 10 in three majors and Top 3 in two Majors!
If Scottie can get his putting back to just average next year, look out.
This a little reminder from Lou Stagner (@loustagner) re: course handicaps. Link
Sometimes your course handicap can be quite different than your index. The other day I played a course that was a full 3 strokes higher than my index.
Keep this in mind next time you play a new course, especially if you are giving up strokes for side bets.
T2C Media
We’re all things Hovland this week. This article from LKD (@lukekerrdineen) nerds out on how adjusting spin loft helped Hovland improve his chipping around the green. Link
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Stat of the Week:
Another week, another stat helping set realistic expectations.
This season PGA Tour pros averaged 23.5 feet from the hole on approach shots from 125 to 150 yards out.
The best this year, Chris Kirk, averaged a little over 19 feet from the hole.
Next time you stick one to 10 feet from 135 yards, thank the golf gods because you hit it better than the pros.
And if you're on the green 30 feet from the hole, that ain’t too bad either.
Thank you for reading. If you are enjoying the newsletter or have any questions let me know in the comments below or email me at the2ndcut@substack.com.
Til next time.
