The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #53
Golf Swing Update, Golf is Hard, Launch Angle Trick, Cam Smith Putting, Royal Troon, Pre-Round Warm Up Routine, Stat of the Week
"I like to just get up there and freewheel it.” - Cam Smith on Putting
📰 EDITION #53 📰
Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter!
📫 In today’s Newsletter 📫
Golf Swing Update, Golf is Hard, Launch Angle Trick, Cam Smith Putting, Royal Troon, Pre-Round Warm Up Routine, Stat of the Week
No Deep Dive this week, but check out last week’s Deep Dive here 👇👇👇
The Realistic Optimist Revisited
“Goals should be difficult to achieve because those achieved with little effort are seldom appreciated, give little personal satisfaction, and are often not very worthwhile. However..."
Golf Update
My game is still in flux. The handicap is steadily rising (5.8 with a soft cap!), similar to last year's trend. I’m hitting the ball better, but the driver is still an issue.
I shot an 85 yesterday with my dad and father-in-law (shout out Mark). Happy Birthday to Big Jim!
It was a weird mix of great shots/holes and truly ugly shots/holes.
The Good:
10 Pars
4 of 4 GIRS on Par 3’s
4 Drives 280+ yards down the middle
10 GIRs
A few excellent chips and bunker shots
The Bad:
4 Topped Drives (all under 100 yards)
Two Triple Bogeys, 1 Double Bogey
The driver yips have killed me. Even the non-topped drives are forcing me to make up a lot of ground. From now on, I will focus exclusively on getting off the tee before worrying about anything else.
Will keep you updated…
Golf is Hard
In Edition #52, we talked about Sauce’s newfound love and addiction to golf. An all-pro top corner in the NFL saying golf is harder than football is just pure gold.
I love that he tweeted this and is learning what we golfers already know. Golf is hard.
✉️✉️ Q&A Mailbag Submissions ✉️✉️
If you have a question, comment below, reply to this email, or email me directly at the2ndcut@substack.com. I will select the best questions for a future deep dive Mailbag.
🚨🚨🚨 PLEASE SEND IN YOUR QUESTIONS!!!! 🚨🚨🚨
We need more questions for a future Mailbag post. It can be about the PGA Tour, Scottie, Tiger, my game, course management, the mental game, chipping, fittings, or anything you're curious about.
All questions posted will have your first name or can be anonymous. Email me or comment below!
🐦 Tweets of the Week 🐦
I saw something similar to this video from Kerrod Gray earlier this year, and it blew my mind. No more guessing. Just stand on the club face and see where the shaft points.
This trick is especially useful in fairway bunkers.
Of course, it’s not 100%. Any club can deloft (or add loft) by the amount of shaft lean and/or closing/opening of the face. Nonetheless, Kerrods method is a good baseline for what club to use.
Anytime I see a Cam Smith putting video, I pay attention. I love how natural and relaxed Cam looks over the ball in setup and through the stroke.
Unlike Cam, I need to take a few practice strokes, but I’ve adopted several of Cam’s routines. I mainly try to have my hands around where they naturally hang, and finally, I take a long look at the target.
Focusing on the target rather than my stroke has helped me tremendously, especially on longer putts where speed is crucial.
📺 💻 T2C Media 📺 💻
We’re one week out from The Open at Royal Troon in Scottland. This video gives a great breakdown of every hole on the course.
I’ve never been to Scottland, but this is on my bucket list. Beautiful.
Here’s another Royal Troon video but this one is with the No Laying Up guys playing a match.
Always feeling stiff on the first tee? Watch this video for a good pre-round warm-up.
Coach Leo Rooney of UGP goes through a quick routine to warm your body up using bands (or no bands), lunges, rotations, and more, all within 5 minutes.
No more needing three holes to get warmed up!
🔢 Stat(s) of the Week 🔢
This is a crazy stat, but it's also a good one for amateurs to know. If you have already hit it 280+, you are in rarefied air and have plenty of length to be a scratch-level golfer.
Thank You
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Til next time.
My son played poorly. I played soso. He still beat me. 🤭