The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #7
Accepting Variance, PRGR Launch Monitor, Tweets of the Week, Escaping the Trees, Weight Forward Drill
“Lowering scores in golf is mostly stacking fractional strokes in your favor over a long period. They’re even harder to notice as you get better, but they are there. Sometimes we get too caught up in the “big wins” or “big losses,” which skews our perception.” - Jon Sherman
Edition #7
Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter, Edition #7! Thank you all for reading and subscribing.
In today’s Newsletter: Accepting Variance, PRGR Launch Monitor, Tweets of the Week, Escaping the Trees, Weight Forward Drill
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.
What you get:
1 - Newsletter every Wednesday
1 - Deep dive every Friday
Sign up below for free to receive the weekly newsletter and deep dive in your email inbox.
Accepting Scoring Variance
It took me a long time to accept that my golf scores will fluctuate (a lot). Not every round can be great. Everyone including pros has scores that fluctuate, sometimes as much as 15 - 20 strokes. Why would we be any different?
Our scores are like a barbell curve with most of our scoring being within a certain range around our average. Outside of this first standard deviation, we start getting into lower-probability events (good or bad).
I’ll use myself as an example. In my last 10 rounds, I’ve averaged 81 strokes. My standard deviation is 4 strokes, which means about 70% of my rounds are between 77 and 85. That last 30% is either a really good round or a really bad round. It’s not going to happen that often, but it’s going to happen.
So what can we control? Over time we can tighten our variance. I don’t have the data but I used to have a much higher variance. This was generally due to the fact that when things weren’t clicking I would check out mentally, chalking it up to a lost round. I would lose focus, get frustrated, and start piling on triples and doubles.
My biggest problem was not matching expectations with reality. As Jon Sherman said, “[Golfers] go out hoping for their best scores. Additionally, they have a tough time accepting their higher scores.” By accepting the variability of golf I was better able to match my expectations with reality and in turn, stay more focused throughout a round.
We of course can lower our average score. This comes with practice and just getting better at golf. But no matter how good we get there will always be a variance! Don’t fight it. Accept it and you’ll play better golf.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Jon Sherman’s The Four Foundations of Golf:
“These ranges are a fundamental truth about the game. You are in control of shifting your scoring ranges and making them tighter, but no matter how good you get, these rules will still apply.”
Product Review: PRGR Launch Monitor
The PRGR is not a must-have product. But if you are a golf nut looking for a launch monitor to give you swing speed and club distances this is the simplest and cheapest device I’ve come across. It’s straightforward to use and about the size of a small iPhone.
Set the PRGR on the ground about 3 feet behind the ball and start hitting. After each swing, the device will give you carry distance, total distance, club speed, ball speed, and smash factor.
I use it for swing speed training and confirming my club distances. It can be used indoors or outdoors. It goes for $230 on Amazon but occasionally will drop to below $200. Link
T2C Tweets of the Week
This was a really interesting tweet from @Jonathanyardwood. Using the right hand to line up the putt and then setting up your stroke around the club just makes sense. I’ve done this before, but not on a consistent basis. Give it a try next time you are practicing your putting it might help you line up better. Link
T2C Media Corner
In the above clip, Eli from Chasing Scratch Podcast demonstrates a drill his coach gave him to help get his weight forward. If you have a tendency to hang back this might be a good drill to try that’s not too technical and focuses more on a result.
If you ever wondered how to hit a low punch shot under the trees, give this piece a read. Or just watch the accompanied video below with golf teacher Molly Braid. This shot is a great method for saving par and reducing big numbers.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Post Round Wrap Up:
No matter how good we get there will always be a variance! Don’t fight it. Accept it and you’ll play better golf.
Use your right hand to line up your putt while keeping your left hand on your front leg
Try a low punch shot to avoid tree limbs and double bogeys
Reader Poll
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 and on Instagram @The2ndCut_t2c
Til next time.
-T2C
My putts will be better after this set up.