Making Golf Fun Again Starting at the Ball Moving Backwards with David Buck

your game simply by picking the right place to go. However, there's a moment at which you're thinking has to change from where the ball is going to end up to the task at hand, which is the only thing you can affect, which is the ball that's in front of you. So your target is actually the ball. All of the pre shot routine part is you deciding where you want to try to hit that ball, but you can't affect where it's going to go. You can't affect what's going

to happen over there. You can get it started, but you can only get it started in the two feet on either side.

My mom's driving me out anyways, why don't you come join me. I never played golf before. I mean, this is going back a few years. This is in the early nineties, and a golf at that point was a you know, it was the nerd game. It's like, nobody plays golf unless you got.

about you. I'm only five seven, and I mean, especially back in the day, we didn't have distance, we didn't have distance clinics teaching you how to hit it further. You had what you had, and you played it. And I hit the ball about two hundred and sixty yards and hit driver everywhere. And my my parents sat down and said, you know what, I you know, I think you've got something here, But don't play tournaments yet, don't don't get in with the guys who are physically bigger

than you. And so we took an entire year there at sixteen and played no tournaments and did nothing but practiced some drills and short game and putting and playing. And by the time I was seventeen started playing tournaments. I was I jumped right up into the Canadian junior rankings and was playing the Canadian Juniors and then qualified for the World Juniors for two years or he's going back for you two or three years, played Overseas a little bit over and over in Asia as a junior,

even got some invites to some things over there. Went to school in California and had a very short stay at the school due to some disagreements between the coach and I and turn Pro. From there my brother. My brother was out playing chasing mini tours and Monday qualifiers at that point, so I went out and joined him and turn Pro ended up playing for three years and it was absolutely wonderful and learned all sorts of stuff and had incredible heartbreak and incredible triumph and all the

things that golf golf gives to you. Uh. Then then I I I left it. I left it and and uh, you know, as I say, I left it in a way that I wasn't, you know, I was. I made the choice. It was my choice, but it was you know, you look back on it and say, ah, what if you could have thin done things differently? And I gave up the game completely for a number of years, and then you know, you get to a point where you're not able to do what you used to be able

to do. And so that's just it's just it's just frustration. And so it took me a few years to learn to enjoy the game again, and I did, And long story short, now, I mean there's no place I would rather be than on the first T, not the eighteenth green, because then the rounds over the first T, you know, the with the with the upcoming ground of go. But you know, through my through my teaching, through my experience, you know, I think the things a little bit differently

maybe than some. And I've had I had a few instans is in my career where I got you know, I got a five minute lesson from somebody that changed my golfing life. And well it's not it's not a matter of complicated. It's a matter of being able to understand what has to happen here and allowing our bodies to actually do it. So now I play golf. I raised my kids up there are nine and twelve, and learn how to play pretty well if you ask me.

But I am biased, and I coach others and help people, and my main, my main goal is to help people enjoy the game more so if that means enjoying the game more through lower strokes, fantastic. If it means enjoying the game by stopping the shanks or curing the yips, then great, fantastic. If it means that we were talking about before we start, you're the mental hurdle of getting through. You know, Hey, this thing's got to get to there somehow,

and I want to do it more joyfully. It's the best place in the world when you have contentment and joy also, but it can also be the worst place when you're frustrated and shanking it into the woods. Of course, anyways, that gives you, That gives little synopsis.

your your feet open a little bit more. And he's like, guys, I finally figured out how to cure my hook. I've got it. I've figured it out. And he stands up on the first tee and his feet were splayed almost fully open right down.

seven PGA Championship there there was I was. This was nineteen ninety eight and we were playing a pro am there and I was an am obviously, I was a junior at the time, and I double bogie the first hole after hitting just a beautiful shot right over the flagstick, pried in the back bunker, and you know, didn't get a long story, short part of the second hole, bogie the third hole, I'm three over part. From then on went on to make seven birdies in an albatross, won the tournament by four strokes.

sixteenth hole is a downhill dog leg right. I had one hundred and sixty five yards left, which was a six iron for me at that point, and pen was back right on the next hole, and my dad whispered, assuming, let's see what you really made of now, And I remember standing over that ball still is one of the best shots I've ever hit. Yeah, I just made albatrosses hole. But that next I piped it down the middle. I had one hundred and sixty five left. I had a

little choke down punch cut six iron. Just it was I knew it. I mean even when he was said it, he's like, I said, no, it's this is going to be perfect. I'm not going to miss this. This is and those moments, those moments when you're on the course and everything's just easy. Oh so anyways, that was my first professional win, even though I wasn't professional at the time, and I had Yeah, I had twelve professional wins over the time, usually small events. But the you know, the

joy of winning never never ceases. Where there's whether there's three hundred people in the field or ten.

but I couldn't hit three wood. I always top it, Okay, And I'm planning this event down in Louisiana, and sure enough, I'm like, no, the play is of three wood. I'll play the three wood. I got to get over this thing. It's not a big deal. It was a titleist nine to seventy two, the little red, gray and red lined title of three wood. And I hit it, and of course I topped it. Didn't even get to the white teas like. It was just awful. And the tournament organizer

says to the guy. There's a guy standing next to the tournament organizer, and he says, why do you like, why do you let guys like this play in these events? Like this is, this is, this is kind of embarrassing, and the tournament organizer says to him, you just watch, he'll come in with the sixty seven. I'm sure I came in with the sixty seventh, but yes, I can still feel all of those tops off the first team. It's probably only five times I took a three foot

off the tee because of that. But they burn both ways.

How do we prevent that? How do we keep our minds straight without getting nuts about that stuff?

trusting a parachute to take you to the ground. But the hundredth time that you've done it, and you've learned how to pack your shoot, and you know where all the cords are, and you know what it's going to feel like when you jump out of the plane and how long you're going to be in the air, and how to breathe with the wind coming in your face,

and there's no more unknowns, there's no fear. So that knowledge actually conquers the fear and it is able to take over to the point where you can do crazy stuff not being afraid because you have enough knowledge to take over. But you see these guys that are seasoned pros in the Ryder Cup coming down the stretch at Majors in an unknown position that they hadn't prepared for. That they have questions that haven't answered. Maybe the question is am I going to hit at a club further

because I'm jew straight now? Or is it? You know, there's there's unknowns. But if you get there enough times and you and you do the same thing over and over enough, that allows you to overcome the fear and the pressure and be able to focus on the thing they actually have focused on. So for me, when I when I explain this to people, which is strangely quite often because the mental game is such a huge part

of golf. It comes in the pre shot routine and the repetition of that pre shout routine over and over and over, and you're trusting the process of getting the ball so that when you're over the ball, all you're thinking is center of the ball, center to club face, hit them. I can do that. What I can't do is listen to the crowd and the situation. And you know, I've got a I've got a putt for If I make this putt, I will. Oh. Now you've added more

stuff into your mind. You've added more details that you have don't have answers for, and that causes stress, which causes pressure, and as you know, at tension is the killer of the golf game. So with the knowledge of being able to answer all of your questions before you get up there where club wind, where you want to hit it, where it's going to land, what you're trying to do, make those decisions. You don't have to think

about them anymore. Then you go through your process of lining up, which all happens very quickly as you're going through your pre shot routine. I know I'm lined up, I know my club face is square, I know what shot I'm hitting. There's no more questions I have. All I have to do is center of ball, center of face.

memory bank about what's going to happen next. But the yabbo for the sky driver, the skydiver is one bat one mistake, and he's not going to remember what he's doing because he ain't doing it again. So let's let's leave the skydiving to someone else. It's not Golf is worrisome and stressful, but it's not hopefully not dangerous to hope not.

play golf today and is she listening now? Okay, today she announces to me, I want to play golf with you again. I would like to go back now. I'm interested in going back out and playing with you again. I'm like, but you know, we've got a net back here. We can we can work a little bit on the net, and you know, have you take a call? No, no, no, I just want to go out. It's just to have fun. I don't want lessons. I just and I'm happy to pick up the ball. How do I make that fun

for me? How to give me some advice of what I can do to not get caught up because I'm not going to give lessons during the round. I'm like, oh, good shot.

goes with playing with the guys. I have recently spent quite a bit of time beside golf courses just listening to groups, going by the language, the sarcasm, the jabbing, the ribbing that happens in these golf groups is very, very strong and prominent until you get a husband and wife with another husband and wife coming by, and then there's no more ribbing, and there's no more jabbing, and then there's no more yelling at each other as they hit a terrible shot and topped it into the bunker.

It's a much different environment one group to the next, and your fun has to be based on your choice of what fun looks like to you out there with

your wife. So for her, as she says, happy to pick up, so you say, okay, look, your fun is I'm going hiking and I'm hitting a few balls, and I'm spending time with my husband, which means walking to my ball, and you set parameters around her golfing as okay, the main point is we keep up to the group in front of us, which means if that means skipping a hole and walking along with me, if it means hitting more shots, if we're waiting, hey sweet, hit a

few more shots around the green and try putting it into the hole. From here, your fun becomes I'm choosing to enjoy this time with my wife and we get to hit a few golf balls while we're at it, but I would strongly recommend not to keep score during that round.

this springtime, she's been hitting drives nicely. Now we just got her a lighter three wood that she's able to hit off the ground. She can put Uh, just learned how to chip this year. So she played four years not knowing how to chip and just putting it everywhere.

But being with us learning how to play, and it's not even so much learning how to play, for it's just like a little bit of joy hitting the ball or not hitting it on the water in this hole, or having colored balls that she gets to play with instead of it's it's a different it's a different expectation, but it's the same game. So if you set your expectation of I get to spend time with my wife today and we're outside and hiking and hitting some golf balls, you you will have fun.

a family enjoy. That's the only sport in the world that you can do together with your level of golf and with her level of golf, and do it together and just enjoy the time together.

round ball, flat surface, hit it that direction. Same with baseball. You got a flat surface in a bat and the ball coming at you, and then you try to connect the two and make it go a certain direction. Ping pong is the same thing, and the same principles apply to golf if we don't let all of the other stuff come in now. Don't get me wrong. That doesn't mean that I think that all you know in depth technical instruction is bad. There's a certain level at which

you want that technical instruction. However, if that comes into your game too early, or or you start technicalizing. See that's an English word is made up there. Check it the golf swing where you don't need to. You need to come right back down to the two feet on either side of the ball that actually matters. There's a flat surface, there's a round ball, and the only thing that matters is where that flat surface is pointing when you hit it, and the path at which it's coming

through on. Those are the only two things in the golf that actually affect what you're doing. Yes, I realize there's descent angle, and there's spin right, and there's a flight, But for ninety five percent of golfers around the world, the direction that the club face is pointing and the way it's moving through the ball. Okay, we have to remember that where the club face is pointing is always

where the ball is going to start. And then the path that the club is coming through on is going to apply right to left spin or left, right spin, right to left or lever you know, one of the spins either way, and it's going to spin from there, which means somebody says, oh, well, I hit everything right. Fantastic. I'm so glad to hear it. You're telling me that

you're consistent. Everything is going to the right. All you have to do is spin the club in your hands so that the face is pointing more to the left. Do the exact same thing that you were just doing, and then it's going to start to the left. Oh well, it's starting to look too far to the left.

is flat surface ball go that way. Yeah, And if we start there and then just apply speed to it and go longer and longer and longer, and try to realize that everything else that we're doing is just applying speed to those that two feet on either then we can start to build our own swing around the part of the swing that matters, the impact position, that the hitting of the ball in a certain direction.

of you. So your target is actually the ball. All of the pre shot routine part is you deciding where you want to try to hit that ball, but you can't affect where it's going to go. You can't affect what's going to happen over there.

can do. And then that's the beautiful thing about the game of golf is it's a lottery. Every time you strike it, it's like, oh, let's see where it gets to

go this time. Oh no, I've buried myself in the face of the bunker and now have to So yes, I realized that's a little unconventional because there, you know, there's some really great instructors and there's some great teaching that through the years of of you know, the Harvey panic, take dead aim at at where you're trying to hit it, and I understand that, but there's this disconnect between where the ball ends up and what we actually have to do, and it's hundreds of yards apart, and I think it

becomes a lot easier if your actual task is hit the thing that's in front of you as opposed to try to connect with something that's hundreds of yards away.

of way to get the ball going. Now it's it's way better, uh than it used to be. In fact, I can play golf without them now. But I strongly believe that that the yips, the shanks, that kind of stuff is all to do with the miscommunication between our eyes and our body, you know, our our our head, our head actually tilts and moves in ways where we think we're aimed somewhere, but we're not act aimed there, and there's a miscommunication between our eyes and our body.

But we can you know, that's a that's a topic for another day. But yeah, I know there's there's a there's a number of guys I know speak used the look at the whole method for quite some time and seem to seem to win. You know quite a number of events doing that, and so that's fantastic. If you can do it, fantastic, go for it.

But if that means for me that I'm five yards shorter with each of my irons, or five yards longer, or if I have to play with a different grip that's not accepted by the majority, or I have to aim right and pull left, or I have to aim left and pull right, it doesn't really matter to me as long as I know that when I get to the ball, I'm going to hit it a direction, and I wanted to go that direction, and my best playing in my lifetime, I was. I was averaging fourteen greens around.

I did make a lot of birdies, Yeah, I was. I was middle of the greens. I could two putt from everywhere and some of them would go in. So let's call it three or four birdies around, very rarely bogies, almost never double bogies. Certainly, like the three putts were. Speed putting was a fortape and that consistent and knowing. I remember being able to stand in the fairway and be like, Okay, well there's a little gap there that

I can hit. I'm going to hit it there. That's where I want it to go, and it would just go there because I could do that. I believe that the more clubs that you have in your bag that are the same length and weight, the less variables you have in your clubs. Okay, I know full well when I'm playing, Okay, i have seven sets of golf clubs in my garage. I'm crazy, and I probably need another one.

through four iron. Then I have a second set which is lob wedge through eight iron that are that are all nine iron length, and then seven, six, five, four are progressively longer. Okay, so let me let me just talk about the concept here first. Any experience with it, m when I'm playing the same length ten club seven iron length things. There is a level of accuracy and predictability that comes with all of the clubs that you

cannot understand until you've tried it. I mean, I have custom fit sets of verible length clubs that are fit to my body and my swing and fantastic and I hit them well. But to be able to pull any club out of your bag, that's an iron, okay, Obviously it changes when it gets to woods and hybrids and driver and you pull any of those irons out of your bag, it's the exact same setup. It's the same weight,

it's the same feel, it's the same grip. The only thing that changes is how high it's coming off the face. And incredibly to me, once I started using them, I documented my social media documented my first round with them and my first shots with them. Didn't even go to the range with them, and didn't know the yardages of them. They're very close to your regular variable length irons. The switch over from a yardage perspective is almost nothing to

give you to give you exact yardages and differences. Shall we say, standard length four iron would fly about two twelve, let's call it, and the same length fore iron will fly two oh six, So there's about a five or six yard difference, and it is lower because it's a it's a lower lofted and lower spin. So there's a consideration that has to happen. But there's an accuracy that

goes with those. So there's there's gives and takes it with everything, but there's an accuracy that goes with those that is unmatched with other irons that I have played and didn't.

the face is just easy. Okay. North American courses typically you have to fly longer shots higher because you got to carry bunkers. You got to stop it on the greens. You may be landing onto a downslope. So the the what the company calls a combo length set are six clubs nine iron length and then seven, six, five, four that get progressively longer, and so you have in your

scoring clubs that same kind of consistency. And the way that I'm actually using them is I'm now gripping down on the seven, the six, the five, and the four to make them same length. Then if I need the extra height or the extra few yards, then I will add length in my grip. You have to be disciplined enough to do it. And now I've got the big grips on there too, So it feels good no matter

how high you are on the shaft. But there is definitely some accuracy that leaves as soon as you length then out those four or five ins and it's not I mean, I don't get me wrong, It's not a lot, but it's noticeable. And so then I have to ask myself, if I'm sitting there at two oh five, do I want to hit a hard five high or do I want to pick that spot up the middle with the forearm that I know is going to go that direction and just and just hit that shot. And so I've

I've I've found myself. I had to play with I say, I had to. I had to play with my my variable set just before a trip because I had all the clubs packed up, but I still wanted to play. So I went I would played, and you know, I found things like the gap wedge. You know, I'd stand over it and be like, this doesn't it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like a pitching wedge or a nine iron. It doesn't feel like a wedge. There was some unusual stuff for me when I went back that wasn't there

with with with the same length system. So the way the way I explain it to people now is the more of the exact same waiting and length clubs that you have in the bag, the better you're going to be for accuracy. But you have to understand that there are some trade offs. The you know, the further you go in either direction from the seven iron, Yeah.

Bunch of people through it said hey, this is great, fantastic, and I'm like, well, I want to know what it's like. And I can't do it because I already know how to play golf right handed. So I'm like, hey, stupid idea. Why not try to learn the game all over again left handed? Okay?

the recording. I know the publish a publication is going to come out a little bit. But I my first ever round left handed, without going to the range or anything. I rented a set of left handed clubs and went out and played and documented it, scores and everything. All the strokes hit five balls out of bounds on one hole in the same spot with a giant place there was some good stuff, but there's some really really ugly stuff, and so I've been I've been working on it daily

since then, and I'm gonna document it publicly. You'll be able to go to the channel and see the left handed series and how it's progressing. But some really interesting things came up, and in our pre chat before this podcast, we're talking about, you know, the mental game and how you can eliminate strokes, even my first round left handed to my second round left handed, changing my thinking to

There was one shot in particular. It was on the tenth hole of my second round left handed, and I had one hundred and seventy yards to the hole, but in order to get to the hole, I had to carry a desert area and some pot bunkers and really some death zones for your scorecard. But to the left of the green was a big open fairway area and I've never aimed there before in my life right handed.

It's just not somewhere I would have even thought. But as I'm standing there in the fairway, I'm like, well, if I can just hit it into that big fairway section, I could chip, I could put from there, I could get it up onto the green and I'd make bogie instead of risking a double or triple bogie instead of

the part. And I hit it. I hit it over to the left and I hit it into the big ferry part and I actually got up and down for par Wow, And I thought, how interesting that just changing how I'm thinking to being like, no, no, I don't even care where the pin is. I care where the biggest part of the fairway is. And because I don't even know how to hit a bunker shot left handed, yet I don't want to get in there, I can't get out, so I have to stay in the fairway.

How can I stay in the fairway? So sometimes that meant hitting eight iron instead of five iron and just playing thirty yards short. Sometimes it meant aiming like absolutely the other direction of the water and then having a longer shot in. And now I'm starting to think of the game differently from the people that I'm trying to help, perspectives like, well, how do we help them? Well, you have to aim for your your ability always. So it's so interesting.

We all know that we suck. And that's what makes it so much fun is that we can make fun of ourselves and we can see our errors in life. It's like, it's like how we should think about life. It's like, ah, we mess up all sorts of places, and we're okay looking at ourselves and saying, yeah, you know what, that actually does need to change. And that's what I love so much about helping people in golfers that we all know that we need help.