The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #9
Intentionality, Routines, Driver Strikes, Tweets of the Week, Stat of the Week, and More
“99% of the putts that are short don't go in the hole.” - Lee Trevino
Edition #9
Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter, Edition #9! Thank you all for reading and subscribing.
In today’s Newsletter: Intentionality, Routines, Driver Strikes, Tweets of the Week, Stat of the Week, and More
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
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Intentionality
Intentionality is key in golf. Just this past week I learned this lesson the hard way.
I had another online lesson with my coach Ryan Mouque where we worked specifically on my downswing. My tendency is to slide my weight forward, hang back, and flip my hands through impact. This can lead to issues with low point control and is heavily reliant on timing with the hands. Big blocks right and pull hooks left.
Here’s a quick clip from the lesson:
Ryan broke down my current swing, explained where we wanted it to be, and how to proceed. He gave me multiple drills to help engrain the feel.
Two range sessions later I was feeling quite dejected with my swing. I couldn’t get the new feel down and just kept hitting ball after ball in frustration. Finally, I sent Ryan a note pretty much describing the above.
He then wrote back a simple message. <Paraphrased> Focus only on what we talked about. Don’t worry about other elements of the swing, otherwise, you’ll be lost. Are you doing the drill we discussed? No? Do it. Are you hitting full swings? Yes? Don’t. You should be doing slow, small swings. Engrain the feeling. He basically asked, “Are you doing what I said?”
He was right on all accounts. I wasn’t focusing on what we talked about, I wasn’t doing the drills, and I was swinging full go. Essentially I wasn’t really doing what he told me to do.
For the next range session, I went out with intention. I decided I wasn’t going to take a single full swing. I was going to do all the drills as explained. I was going to take it slow and work on nothing but that one feel.
It’s pretty obvious, but the results were MUCH better. In the pic below you can see the difference in just one range session. The picture on the left is very flippy with my body sliding forward, the picture on the right actually has a bit of shaft lean and no flipping.
I’ve now done multiple range sessions focusing just on this one feeling. I’m still doing smaller swings and only occasionally doing full swings, but I can tell it’s working and moving toward a more fundamentally sound swing.
So what’s my point? One, I’m an idiot. Two, despite knowing something, we still fall prey to our biases. Whether it’s working out, dieting, sleeping better, etc. We know HOW to do these things, but are we actually being intentional with it? Are we actually doing what we already know?
Tweets of the Week
This is a quick video from @Jonathanyardwood on implementing a swing routine. He has some great tips here. I especially like the idea of an imaginary line, where once you step over it you should be in “auto mode”. Meaning, you should be committed to your club, yardage, and just focused on the target.
I also like the bit about picking an intermediary target a few feet in front of you to aim at while on the tee box. Link
Great visual from @adamyounggolf on how different strikes on the driver face affect your distance. As you can see the low-heel strike is a distance killer at almost 50 yards less than a center-of-face hit. And a high toe shot; although not great, is significantly better than the heel strike. Link
T2C Media
Here’s another great video from Ryan on playing from various lies in the greenside rough. It’s 12 minutes, but well worth the watch.
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In my old deep dive on putting drills, I described this exact game. Jordan’s video does a great job of explaining it in a simple way. Check it out and give it a try. It’s fun and great for honing in distance control on longer putts.
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Megan’s video is a quick illustration of how your head should be at impact with the driver. If you have issues with topping your drives this might be the issue!
Stat of the Week
The above stat is for Greens in Regulation from 175 to 200 yards on the PGA Tour year to date. As you can see the tour average is 54% with the number one player being at 65%. So next time you are 190 yards out keep this in mind. The pros are GIR from this distance only 50% of the time.
Post Round Wrap Up
Be intentional. Even if you KNOW something, it doesn’t mean your actually doing it
Have a pre-shot routine. It’s one of the few things you control
Toes strike > Heel Stike
Pro’s average GIR from 175-200 only 50% of the time
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.
