The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #33

Swing Your Swing, Tracking Stats, Hanging Back, Perfect Drives, Podcasts, Finding Fairways

Feb 08, 2024

“Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I've played the game for 50 years, and I still haven't the slightest idea of how to play." — Gary Player

📰 Edition #33 📰

Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter!

ICYMI, check out last week’s Deep Dive: The Best of January: Saban and The Process, 7-Woods, Golf Goals, GIR's, Speed Training, What is a Good Shot?

📫 In today’s Newsletter: Swing Your Swing, Tracking Stats, Hanging Back, Perfect Drives, Podcasts, Finding Fairways

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

Swing Your Swing

Below is a 7-minute analysis of Scottie Scheffler’s unique swing by Brandel Chamblee. Brandel expertly explains why Scottie’s swing works so well for him and compares it to past champions with unconventional swings.

It’s an excellent analysis that’s well worth the watch, but it got me thinking about amateurs and their swings. Do we focus on our swing too much? Or should we just “swing our swing” like Scottie?

I’m guilty of the former. I tinker and think about how my swing looks often. This week, I took some swings in my garage and watched the replays on my Rapsodo device. Ugh. I did not like what I saw.

The session then devolved into lousy shot after lousy shot while I focused on how my swing looked in the replay.

I would have been better off “swinging my swing” in this case. On the flip side, if we have fundamental flaws in our swing, we shouldn’t ignore them.

We need to find a balance between improving our swing and scoring. I know that’s not much of an answer, but it’s a balance that we need to be aware of if it goes to either extreme. (side note: this is where good coaching can really help!)

But I do think there is a lesson from Scottie for us swing-obsessive types…

It’s not how it looks; it’s how well you play.

🐦 Tweets of the Week 🐦

The article below from MyGolfSpy goes over a few reasons why tracking your stats is a good idea. I couldn’t agree more. Tracking shots gained is the best option, but even if you're just tracking GIRs, putts, and fairways, it can give you a feedback loop for areas of improvement.

Arccos shots gained data was a massive help to my game. It helped me identify my weak areas in granular detail, which shifted my practice focus. That feedback loop helped me track my progress and dig deeper into areas of opportunity.

I realize most of us don’t want to track all of this during a round, but it really does help.

📺 💻 T2C Media 📺 💻

Go Golf: Hanging Back

Can't get your weight into your lead leg?

Jon Martin’s latest substack post is an excellent read for those who have trouble getting our weight forward and hitting fat shots.

“What is hanging back?
Hanging back involves poor or lack of weight shift into the lead leg. Players who hang back lose a lot of speed as weight shift is a big contributor to speed and power in golf. Fat shots are the most common mishit for players who hang back.”

Check out the full post here.

The Sweet Spot podcast with Jon Sherman and Adam Young is one of my favorite golf podcasts. If you haven’t listened to it, this is an excellent episode to check out.

10 Ways to Improve Your Golf Game in 2024 (Link)

Sync Your Body & Arms (99% Of Amateurs Get This Wrong)

Paddy has another detailed breakdown for amateurs on how to get the body and arms in sync. I’m really working on keeping my body and arms connected and in sync as I tend to get too armsy, leading to all kinds of issues. Paddy breaks down how to do it properly below.

🔢 Stat(s) of the Week 🔢

This is your monthly reminder that fairways are overrated.

Rule 1: Keep it in play

Rule 2: Hit it as far as you can while following Rule #1

See below:

⛳ 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.