The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #32

GHIN Rewind, Appreciation, ProV's, Bounce, Shallowing, Unused Clubs, and A New Book

The 2nd Cut

Jan 31, 2024

“Life is not fair, so why should I make a course that is fair.” — Pete Dye

📰 Edition #32 📰

Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter!

ICYMI, check out last week’s Deep Dive: What is a Good Shot?

(quick excerpt…)

It’s a simple question, but many golfers don’t know the answer.
In Jon Sherman’s book The Four Foundations of Golf, he has an entire chapter dedicated to this question.
Here’s Jon’s introduction to the chapter:
“Golfers are incredibly demanding of themselves, and it often hinders their ability to enjoy the game and play better. One area in particular where most of us struggle is how we evaluate the quality of the shot we just hit.”
This is so true and, without a doubt, has been one of the best game-changing pieces of advice for my own golf game.

📫 In today’s Newsletter: GHIN Rewind, Appreciation, ProV's, Bounce, Shallowing, Unused Clubs, and A New Book

If you’re new here, this newsletter is designed to provide valuable insights, tips, and ideas from around the internet to improve your golf game.

What you get:

1 - Newsletter every Wednesday
1 - Deep dive every Friday

GHIN Rewind

Those on the GHIN app have probably received your GHIN rewind. If not, check your app and see. Here’s mine below…

What’s interesting is how clean and simple it looks. I went from a 3.2 and ended at a 2.6. Of course, if you read my Year in Review from Edition #27, you know that my journey was anything but smooth (see below).

Seeing everybody’s Rewinds on social media makes me wonder why Handicaps are so weird and hard to calculate. My one buddy sent me his Rewind; he has a lower scoring average by a full stroke, yet I have a lower handicap. He’s, without a doubt, the better golfer, too.

He also asked me if I could get my HC to below 2.0 per my 2024 Goals write-up.

I don’t know. I’m more confident I can lower my average score per round as I think I can improve my “bad rounds”, but I'm not sure if I can improve a ton on my best rounds.

We shall see. I got my new golf net up in the garage and hope to get some Simulator time over the next month.

🐦 Tweets of the Week 🐦

Jon has a way with words and simplicity. It’s a fine line. Finding that balance is critical to playing good golf. We get upset or disappointed because we care. We want to play well. Why else play?

But we must balance that with realistic expectations and appreciation for the game.

Ok, this one comes via MyGolfSpy, and I’ve never needed a graphic more than the one below. I constantly forget which Titlelist ball is supposed to do what. If you play a ProV, save the picture below.

I play a ProV for a lower spin ball, but I might have to try out the left dash at some point to see if that is a better fit.

The graphic below from BSheridan Golf is an excellent illustration of what “bounce” is. I tend to gravitate towards very high-bounce wedges because I had a steep swing and would often chunk my chips and approach shots.

I’ve seen it suggested that having both a high and low bounce option is a good idea for versatility, but I haven’t experimented with it.

📺 💻 T2C Media 📺 💻

The Chasing Scratch guys are starting the 7th Season of their podcast. If you haven’t listened to them, I highly recommend it. They are great guys, relatable, and frequently have knowledgeable golf experts for interviews.

Below is Episode 1 of Shallowing the Club with instructor Jayson Nickol (who I’ve featured here before). It’s well worth the short watch, especially if you have issues with a steep or over-the-top swing.

Jayson explains the hows and whys of swallowing the club. (6:25)

Big news. Jon Sherman is coming out with a new book. I’m assuming this will be geared a little bit more toward competitive golfers who want to know how to get better in specific situations.

So it’s more niche than his original, but if this is something you want to improve at, be on the lookout this March.

🔢 Stat(s) of the Week 🔢

I should rename this section Lou Stagner’s fact of the week. Lou is spot on once again, and he brings up something most of us are guilty of (I know I am)—wasted clubs in our bags.

I have at least 2 or 3 clubs that fit Lou’s description. As discussed in the 7-Wood discussion from Edition #30, I rarely use my 3-hybrid or 4-iron. This offseason, I’m hoping to rectify this by adding a seven and or nine wood to the bag.

Every little bit makes a difference.

⛳ Thanks for Reading ⛳

I love getting your feedback, ideas, questions, and comments, so feel free to email me anytime. You can either reply to one of my emails or directly at the2ndcut@substack.com.

Thank you everyone for reading and subscribing.

Til next time.