Use Match Play Practice to Enhance Stroke Play Success

In match play, you're playing one person and you're not playing the entire field, and in real life that one person is old man par And if you can kind of have that mindset a little bit, because even when you start out and you start out good, just eighteen holes is it's an insurmountable task. But just having that mindset easy to talk about, harder to do. But how are you going to do it? Go out with your buddies and just have a fun match play event one Saturday or one Friday. You know,

just throw that in there every once in a while. Hi, this is Sergiel Olivier from Sierra Madra, California, and I play at Altadena Golf Course. This is Golf Smarter number nine hundred nineteen. Use match play practice to enhance stroke play success with Joe Howard. This is Golf Smarter, sharing stories, tips and insights from great golf minds to help you lower your score and raise your off IQ. Here's your host, Fred Green. Welcome back

to the Golf Smart podcast. Joke Brad, It's fine. I could never tell how much time transpires between when you and I talked to each other, because it's like we were just talking a few weeks ago, because we always seemed to pick up where we left off. But it's been a little while. I think what was one of the last things. It was crazy. I think we were going every direction from talking to playing in your major,

the club Championship, to verification of the greens. And we actually have a topic today that we're going to try and adhere to, but I doubt that'll work. I'm just looking up on my've spreadsheet here, when is the last time you were on the show, because I knew we've gotten a lot of we've milked our last conversation on on our social media, but I think it wasn't It was January of twenty twenty three. Yeah, before Yeah, it was just before the PGA event, PGA show, which I went to the

first time. But a lot of water has gone under the bridge and a lot of balls are in the water since that, since that last time, and my good friend, that is a show in itself. You could end it right now and there is truth, and that's saying I'm mcdrop oh man. Yeah, and unfortunately I'm playing with guys are going wait, I see a ball in the water, I'm gonna go get it. Not now, do that on your time. This is my time. No, you're on my time. Go go clean divots on the green, but don't go looking

for balls that aren't yours. I'm sorry, I'm I'm sing and you're indoors system. You've been drowning around. I do love to hear recap of what you've been doing, what you've been working on, who you've been doing it with. Well, just you know, time wise, one of the most recent things, things that's happened, and it's you know, as you said, it's hard with a podcast to you know, talk about A there's only so many tour players in the world and they represent a rather small percentage.

And b those events happened and you know, they're already done with Sunday last week and they're on to this week. And but I had the chance to go over and be part of Team USA for the Solheim Cup. And I've done that in the past before, and it's it is such an honor to be able to go do that, and it's it's it's it's kind of neat and I've seen so many things that you know, it's it's one of those

not what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But it's the things in the team room and the the vulnerability and the confidence and the emotions of the you know, from from excitement to nervousness to everything. And as a as a coach standing there, it's really neat to see that because you're playing for your country and you know, the Solheim Cup is the LPGA equivalent of the Ryder

Cup. So Fred, you know, it's old news. But we went over there and the young lady that I've had so much pleasure working with for dash going on sixteen years now, Stacy Lewis was the captain and with her background, excuse me, with her background, not only with Julie Angster kind of taking her under her wing as a player and showing her, you know, the things that Julie was doing that was working, but her background in school being an accounting and you know, and then having KPMG Aligne you know,

not only is her sponsor, but with the LPGA starting to provide all the analytics, they took that stuff to a completely different level. That was just crazy. It's you know, it's it's it's more than just playing with your best friend or a person you like. Out on two and it's kind of you know, it delves so deep and the only thing I'm going to tell you is this, those girls did something that no team has ever done. And I to my knowledge, what we were told was it's something even

the guys have never done. They went overseas to the European venue and they beat the Europeans for nothing in alternate shot right out of the bat, which is the way both contests start. And it was and I kind of, you know, we were in the room kind of between the morning matches in the afternoon matches, and I looked at Stacey and I said, come here, and she goes, what I go, Statistically that should never have happened,

and she goes, but statistically it did. So Yeah, And you know, one of the coolest things was, you know, you kind of hear a little bit of this. You know, golf is a field game. Well there was part of the statistics that literally four o'clock in the afternoon the day before said these are the two people that should go off first. But then as the captain being out there and watching specifically how two players were playing. That's part of the magic and part of the mixes. You just

don't go play the practice rounds with your best friend. You're rotating these chess pieces all around, and she said, two names keep coming back up as to this player is hitting the ball as good as I've ever seen them hit. And those two names statistically weren't the ones who were going to lead off. But those two players were Lexi Thompson and Megan King, and those were

the two that let it off and ended up starting. There was one victory, there was two, there was three, there was four, and you know, as we know the final result, you know it was a victory. We tied them on their soil. But since since they have the cup, they hold the cup and in a great you know, just the alignment of sportsmanship. Carlottas Saganda, who is from Spain. I mean, what

could be better. She's on the seventeenth hole. The King of Spain is up at the green watching this, and she sticks it to two feet and makes the putt to tie all the matches, and just you know, it was It's one of those things. You know, there's times where you look

and you kind of go and the golf gods have decreted it. Well, you know, it's just because just as you said it, I can see that you had your body action as we look at each other while we're talking about your body actually kind of had tingles all over your body when you said that you stuck it to two feet. Was it that good? Oh? It was that good? And I even have I have high videotaped and I've got my literally my phone right just pointing at the flag and I hear one

of the caddies from our side. It was to the word darn it, but he knew what happened, and I was like, you know, this is what makes the game so great, This is what makes international competition so great, and just it's it's a game that brings out the best in people, both in attitudes and in competition. And it's crazy. You see things, and I know that's one of our topics, and I'm not trying to delve right into it, but no, you see stuff in match play that

you just don't ever see in stroke play. And you know, I got a little list here of things, but one of them, friends, I mean, you know, I swear to you, they make more putts in match play than they do at stroke play. And I have no idea how that happens or why it happens at all. If I had an explanation, I will ask Mark Sweeney from main Point and see if he knows an answer.

But you know, it's you've never you know, if you and I are going out to play and we go do this, and you go, eh, you know, he'll probably walk away with par somehow in match play, you go, what is he about? Eighty eight feet away? He's probably gonna make this. That's what happens. Just you see it over and over and over again. But well, you know, I don't you just mentioned KPMD. Why don't we go and look at the analytics and see if in fact that is true that it does happen more often in mad play.

I'm sure that there is numbers there. Am I am writing numbers there right here? That is a question. So you know, yeah, I'm not saying you're an old school Poche, but you've been around a long time. How do you feel about the place of analytics and statistics coaching a team? Well, I think what the golf, and let's say specifically golf. I'm not going to buff with ball a baseball or basketball, but but for golf, I think I think that's where the art of the coach or the captain.

Really really that's where it comes out. And you know, I can kind of you know, gosh, I'm thinking of who was it? Like Weaver and Tommy Lasorda and baseball and you know those coaches they did it all by the seat of them, you know, kind of referred back to that moneyball where all of this started coming out, and yeah, sure, you know the good coaches still fought with it and said, my gut's telling me

something different. But that's all they had to go on before. Now, when you start looking at players and specifically you know what what you're seeing the best players do, but specifically on a team event like a Ryder Cup or a or a Solheim Cup, the coach is the one with all the data in the background, and quite frankly, they are not they know what the data is saying, but they're studying from a coaching standpoint. They're studying,

like you just talked about, what is their body language? What is you know, what have they been practicing on? Can you see that they're struggling in their practice sessions or are they having a lot of fun? You know, you know, and it's all those it's all the intangibles where once all the numbers are neatly organized behind there. If you've got a team of twelve, now you go, I really want to keep my eye on these three

players. And those four over there are operating. They're on autopilot right now, you know. And just as a golfer for you and I, just keeping very simple items, you know, is for us, just making an informed decision should give you a hair of confidence, you know, as you know, it's just I mean, without all the analytics. The old adage is go play golf sometime and have them, you know, play on a Monday when the course is closed and none of the flagsticks are in. Watch

how good you plaint? Watch how you get on the green, and you go, well, look at that the holes right over here, I'm real close this time, and you know, and all of a sudden, you go, you're just playing the game at its base. But I think when the analytics kind of interfere and supersede and confuse players and they're going, I don't know, I don't feel like I should do that, it's that's that's when it goes kind of the wrong way. But the numbers are hard to

here. Here's a tip for your listeners, and you could go across the board with any of these you know, these systems that are out there. Okay from Okay, but hold that thought for a second. We'll get tip for the listeners. But we take a break and be back right after this. Ah love the Cliffinger. Okay, so I interrupted you. You were about to a tip for listeners. They're sitting on the edge of hopefully they're sitting a red light waiting for this. But what do you got? Okay,

let's talk about that. Well, it's like you said, I'm an old school pro. I might have forgot what I was going to tell them. I didn't really, but think of all the statistics, of all the statistics, there's a couple of things that really really stand out, and one of them is you got to go for the par fives unless you have to

cover two hundred and forty yards of water. The closer you get your ball to the green in two shots, almost at every play level, Fred, the closer you get the ball to your green, the better score you're gonna make. And you know, so many times they try and play it smart and they go, I'm gonna hit an iron off the t and then'm gona hit an eight iron over here, and then I'll hit my seven iron onto the green, and all it takes is one of those shots not to be

so good, and you will put yourself into a world of trouble. But if you can clawber your driver and clawber your three wood and you go, oh no, I'm in the bunker, it's the very worst. If it takes you two to get out, you're still butting for a par So you know those going for the par fives, not stupidly, but getting the balls close. And the other thing that's crazy is, and you and I have talked about this before, putts outside of thirty feet. Everybody wants to make

those five footers and the three footers. We get that. But if you will practice those putts that are outside thirty feet, and you know, spoiler alert, thirty feet is not across the green, thirty feet is a whole lot closer than you think it is. And if you can practice those and get those down in two putts on the tour, you're gaining almost a stroke in your own personal game. You're not giving strokes away, and you can watch other players give strokes away there and one of the craziest things is I

can't remember. I think it came out from shot by shot or shot link whatever. The PGA tour uses the average distance now taking all the shots that the pros hit, and boy, those guys are good, no question about it. The average distance of all the shots they hit for last year was like nineteen point eight feet. So why they're practicing six footers and not practicing

twenty footers all day long? It begs the question of, yeah, you don't want to miss the one you hit close, but if you make one of those twenty footers that you're not making, your life could change overnight. So what are your two deals? Go for the par fives and practice the thirty foot putts? Yeah, but those twenty foot thirty foot putts. You know, even the best putter in the world's not gonna make seven out of ten, is he? Because you know it just it's gravity, it's nature,

it's everything. It gets in the way. I mean, how even if you're the best, really can you make them all? I mean, I had around this weekend and I was keeping track for some reason, and I'm using our coast now, so it really helped the average distance in my first pot was just over fifteen feet. I was blown away and I had thirty five pots. I'm like, because I had two three putts, three one putts and I'm like, that's not that good. I mean, I was really killing it with my irons. But eh, yeah, isn't it

crazy when you get back there and look? And I want to say, and I know his record was tied this year Stan Utley, who's one of the renowned short game people. You know he and it was tied this year, but he held the record solo for I don't know how long. It was for the fewest number of putts on nine holes and it was six. Wow. And I've watched him give presentations and he's so good at people are

like, oh my god, and you know. And the funniest part is after his round he went out and he was practicing on the putting green and Stan being stand he's very quiet, and he said someone from the media tent came out and they said, Stan, we'd like to speak to you in the media tent. And he goes, for the love of God, why I played horrible? And then they told him what had happened. And then his question is a guy who has six putts. What do you think he

shot on those nine? On that nine and people start guessing. He goes, nope, nope, nope, nope, thirty five one under part because that means I hit the ball twenty nine times. So putting does help, there's no question about it. But here's the man who holds the record and he goes, I couldn't have played much worse. And he chipped the one in, he hold one out from the fair way. He you know, he I think he hit a ball on a bounce on that. It was

just one of those crazy circumstances. So wow. So you know, we talk about the analytics, we talk about old school guys. You know, I think that the the in all of sports, the longer you were around, the more you're see that you've never anticipated. But you put it in your memory bank and you go like, Okay, that has happened. Now I can deal with it. Now I've recognized it. And I think maybe that's why so much of the old school coaching doesn't love the analytics much,

because it takes that out of the equation. It takes like just the random stuff that happens in all of sports, especially golf, right because you know you're playing on No two fields are alike, you know, no two courses are alike in the sense where every basketball courts the same, every football fields the same, Every tennis court is the same dimensions, maybe has a different surface, right, But there's so many things you'll see they're like, whoop,

never saw that one before, But now I have, right analytics, I don't know if analytics puts it in place, there is and do you do you think? And it's almost like looking at it and when you look at the you know, all the stats and the numbers, you know, I think the thing you would hear is you go, that's in a one and a million occurrence. It's an outlier, right, But I think the old timey player and the old timey coach and the old timey caddy would go, you know, I mean, I mean it could be. And I

remember, I know, I know it was David Thomson. I know it was a few years back, and I'm almost positive I think it was at one of the Canadian Open venues. And you know, the old adage is it's okay if you hit the flag because you're going to be fine. Don't

ever hit the flag stick and you know it's in here. David Tobbs hits a flagstick literally, I mean you know what, two feet up from the bottom as good as you can possibly hit a shot right, and with that particular flagstick they were using, koreems Off goes off the left side of the green down into the water hazard. Oh my, and he ends up not winning the tournament. And I mean, you know what, it's happened on

the LBJ. But it's that old timey caddy that's gonna look at you and kind of go, let's just let's just play to the front and see what happens, you know, because that one current. But sometimes you're not living in fear, but you're making a decision to go, yeah, believe it or not, I've seen this happen, and let's just play smart exactly. Yeah. You know, it's like you say, the announcers will going, well, that was a one in a million O current just right, they'll

they'll put that out in the air. And yet there's, like you said, a caddy and a coach and an old player standing there going now. Happened before nineteen eighty three. It was on a Thursday fourteenth, Holly, it was rain. It's like, yeah, okay, okay, those are analytics, I guess yeah, And those things are always outliers, and you know they go that doesn't factor to the equation and you're like, well it did on that day. I mean, there was You just reminded me of

something. There was a year that you know, one of the great players who was on the LPGA for so many years, Shen Shen Feng. She's gonna go for the par five and two. And the only reason I know this is I know Stacy Lewis was in the lead. Well, you know,

she's got to carry it over water a little bit. And I mean the minute she hits the shot, literally the minute she hits the shot, one of her hands comes off the club, you know, the right hand comes off the club because you know, and you can just see in her body language she's like, oh my god, I missed it. Yeah, it hits a rock over in the water. Krene's onto the green, It's going a million miles an hour. It hits the flagstick and it ends up

an inch away. Oh my god, I love it. But those are the things you're like the ana and you know what, at some point, it's kind of like you hate to be beat or you hate to win. But that's the cool part about this game. You always got a crazy thing. Oh that hold and one you made? Was it glorious? And you backed it up? You landed over the flag? No, it was horrible. I scolded it. Land forty yards short of the green, ran one hundred miles an hour, hit the flag and went in. That's what do

they You can't put that in the score box? No, And what do you do with that? With analytics? How do they? You know? Factor that I don't know because I don't know enough. Now. This past summer of twenty twenty three, the women's tennis US Open was bragging a lot about deserving so about the equity in pay for the US up in women's tennis. Mess tennis right here now you're talking about this Solheim Cup and how the US dominated, But the headlines were more about what was going on with the

with men and the you know, travesty. It was is there going to be equity in men's and women's golf on the professional level as far as our attention. I would say this in the last four to five years, and I would say that Michael Wan, who was the commissioner of the LPGA and then went over to the USGA. He really pushed that forward and the the the is there an equity and pay in some tournaments, the Women's US Open and the men's US Open. You know, I mean you look what the

US Woman's Open paid. I think it was the one back in Pine Needles was at one point eight million or two point three million went to first prize, you know, and I know it's more than that for the men. But the one thing that's happened, and I think if you talked to a lot of the players on the LPGA, the speed at which things are exponentially

the prize moneies are exponentially growing. The speed at which that's happened over the last thirty six to forty eight months is a real welcome site to see and has been. And you know something that it not only is it say they're on the right path, but it also says you know what it's It's it's

kind of like it's not going up ten percent a year. It's all of a sudden, these new sponsors are coming in and you know, these major corporations and they look at equity in the workplace and they're going, we're going to do this if we can have equity in our competition on the LPGA Tour compared to the Men's Tour, and it's helped a lot. But I don't know if that makes sense, but the increase in person money and the increase and you know, there's always kind of that one number in that one line.

And I don't live on that, but I know because I taught a young lady who finished one hundredth on them money list one year, and for so many years, gosh, I've been out there seventeen years almost now, but for so many years you could just kind of go around that ninety nine to one hundred spot. It was kind of like you're going to make somewhere

between sixty eight and eighty eighty thousand dollars. But it was always that number year after year after year after year, and that folks, I'm not I know how these ladies and these caddies, and I know how I travel. That's barely going to get you by it, but it gives you your I'm

working next year card. But all of a sudden over the last however many years, and I probably should google it during our next break, but I mean that eighty thousand, numbers started jumping up, and it went from eighty to one hundred, and went from one hundred to one hundred and twenty.

It went from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty. And this year it's probably going to be, you know, somewhere if I had to guess right now, somewhere in one hundred and eighty thousand dollars range, just you know, maybe close to two hundred thousand, which if you're finishing in the last exempt spot, you've made enough money to live and put some money in the bank and pay your bills. But you know, the cost is

staying out there. And you know, anybody who's listening in this day and age, air travel ain't cheap, and it's I mean, what used to run sixty eight to seventy thousand dollars is closer to ninety for the ladies, and you know, or for those players that are touring and that would provide to the corn Ferry Tour, provide all these things. So just being being able to play well enough to be qualified for your job and not have to go back to your golf course and go all right, does anybody want to

do the sponsorship thing again this year. You know, it's kind of cool your first year out, but you're like, well, this is your fourth year on tour, why aren't you Well, so that's a good question. I'm really a non confrontational kind of guy. But I love the path that, at least in golf, the speed at the path that they're going on, and it's helped. Good good, All right. I'm not going to make you go do that research, but we're going to take a break right

now. So you get to be inside ropes on a lot of LPGA events. What's the buzz inside the ropes about live and do women feel slutted that they were approached to create a tour like this, or you know, thinking about a lot of people think about the politics. There's no way the Saudis are going to go, yeah, let's promote women out in front, you know? Or am I just imagining stuff right now? Fred, I'm going to give you the best answer you're ever going to get to that question.

Who says that the ladies were not approached by liv I don't know. And there's the answer to your question. So I mean, yes, I do get to hear a lot about that, and I don't hear enough of it to really render an informed opinion. But they're the players have been approached in the past, okay, you know, and it's and it's the one thing

that I know that the LPGA even looks at. And you know, when we go and we play the Solheim Cup, so many of the players that aren't playing our tour are overseas and they're playing the l e T the Ladies' European Tour, which really, amongst other things, does need a shot in

the arm. And you know, at some at some further point down the road, you know, maybe kind of like you know, it becomes a structure more like the PGA, where you know, we have the sponsorships, and you know, the l e T has fought so hard for everything that they have, and you know, is it, aside from the Solheim Cup, is it good to combine forces and go, wow, we could be

a much stronger entity if we were all together. And you know, some players would play on this tour and some would play on that tour and there'd be qualification on both. So yes, but it's there is talking, and it's kind of it's you know, you hear every comment and there is kind of like, boy that used to be my favorite player, but I really don't think too much of him since he went to live you know. Yeah, yeah, and it's I think I think Fred you might call it an

undercurrent. But knowing that the pressure that has been put on the men's to her, you, knowing that that could come over to the ladies tour, has propelled them. And the new commissioner, Molly, who's just she is, She is consistently out working with future sponsors and more sponsors, and how do we get this so that if that situation comes it's not like I've been

struggling out for years. I'll hop over there, you know, if that situation were to come up, and you go, man, I've been part of this this train going along called the LPGA, and it's it's really grown, and I've been part of that and and you know, and and I

help make it so it'll be interesting. But yeah, I mean, yeah, that's almost like that Apple's oranges and you're like, that's steak over there by the way, just in case you're in the produce section, and those people in the steak section the meat market are kind of signing up for a bigger paycheck. But uh who knows. All right, enough politics, Let's go to the topic that we thought would be a fun one to discuss for this episode, and that would be match play practice to enhance your stroke place

success. I love that idea. Yeah, here here, you know, And it's kind of Fred and I'll give you credit. We were talking off air and it's kind of you know, it's a precursor to something that may be popping out in some other areas here in terms of uh information or whatnot. And you know, Fred, I you know, with a smile on my face, I was friend's like, come up with some we just can't

yammer for an hour here we got, but we managed. You know, they're yeah, and you know there it's just one of those things where you kind of sit there and go, okay, it's two different forms of golf, and yes, and we go play the European They were brought up and they were always playing match play. So are they better at it? Have

they played more alternate shot? Have they done all these things? And all of a sudden, it's kind of like you see these incredible shots and we talk about, you know, it seems like they make more potts at match

play and how do they pull these things off? And you know, coach me on the other side of it is like, I wonder if there was a way you could sort of practice that way and then when it came time for stroke play, these things actually do show up instead of just going out and following the old you know, coach mcgillacutty adage, you just need to hit more golf balls, you know. But I mean one of them that

I wrote down is and it's one of the most obvious ones. It's the mindset that you take into match play because it is literally whole by hole instead of one big challenge. And Fred, I know this has never happened to you, but it's happened to me, and potentially it might have happened to one of your your listeners. You know. Let's say you start off a little less than stellar and your first hole is a complete catastrophe. Hm.

You know, in match play, who cares, I'm one down? I got seventeen more chances to even this thing up, you know, And it could be a crazy thing that happened. You might have hit the flag stick, you know, you might have who knows, you got stung by a bee standing on the tee whatever it is, but there is that that mindset, and I kind of, you know, make it equivocal to there's you either see old man par each in every hole when you're out there and you're

you know, you're gonna look at old man Par. Or it's kind of the ghost of old man par following you around in stroke play and he's in your ear going, well, you're three over now now and there's only six holes left. You realize you have to birdy half of those, and you know, and it's kind of like or you just meet old man Par at the tea every time and you go, hey, good to see you again. I missed you the last hole, you know, and can I buy

you a beer? Exactly? And you know, and again you're playing in match play, you're playing one person and you're not playing the entire field. And in real life, that one person is old man Par. And if you can, if you can kind of have that that mindset a little bit, because even when you start out, and you start out, good man,

just eighteen holes is it's an insurmountable task. You know, you put it into bite sized pieces, you know, six little three hole tournaments, and then somewhere about on the fourth of the six three hole tournaments, you're going, you know, I got to take my kid to soccer here in an hour. Can we hurry up a little bit, So all those things that kind of come in. But just having that mindset and boy, easy to talk about, harder to do. But how are you going to do

it? Go out with your buddies and just have a fun match play event one Saturday or one Friday. You know, just throw that in there every once in a while. The next thing on there is strategy which becomes kind of interesting. And you know, the par threes in match play are vitally important at the highest level because the assumption is on the par fives, the ladies on the LPGA, the men on the PGA, come on, you ain't gonna win a par five with a birdie, but everybody's gonna make birdie

on a par five. Now that's a blanket statement, that's not true. But those are the givens. It's not like you're gonna sneak in and make a birdie on the par five. But the par threes, that's where you can really separate yourself and knowing which par threes are the ones that you should maybe be a little more aggressive on and it doesn't have to be the shortest hole. You know, the postage stampole at Troon is ridiculously short. But look, if your wedge game is it good, that's not the one you

need to be going at. If you if you are better with a seven R and you might be better off really kind of putting the you know, the pedals of the medal on the one hundred and fifty five yard hole and just trying to So there's this strategy to know, you know, maybe you've maybe you're great with your hybrid and you're playing a two hundred and twenty yard par three and you go, I love this hole. I get to hit my favorite club. So the par threees are important. But just because they're

short doesn't mean that's the one you should go after. So before you tee off, you kind of look at it and go okay, and everybody's there and they're looking at that and go ooh, the whole location is right in the middle of the green. That's a good one for me to go to. But those holes are very very important, they really really are. I put down here because it's it's one of those things that anytime the PGA Tour

or LPGA Tour players go overseas. You know, sometimes I think they would rather just I I know they would rather have their golf club show up than their regular clothes. And sometimes their golf clubs don't show up. And literally when I was standing in the airport and I looked over and I thought, well, there's Daniel Kang's set of clubs, and I knew that she they had taken about two days to get there. And I texted and said, Hey, I'm driving in from the airport. I see your clubs at at

the Luftanza office right now. Do you want me to bring them with me? If so, call, But knowing that those players when they go over there are also kind of bringing their horses for courses, They're bringing a few extra pieces of equipment to know, are the greens elevated, what kind of bounds are they going to use on the wedge, you know, and all these things, and it is the rough longer? Is it's all that stuff

again? Going back to the par threes, do I want to try and hit a long iron or do I want to bring it in a little higher? So knowing you know, Fred, if we're going to go play Pinehurst, which is you know Donald Ross Gem. All the greens they're like upside down tea cups, right, I mean, you're gonna have to figure out.

So if you're going there, and of course you normally play is nice and plush around the green and relatively flat, you better bring a couple other clubs because the one you're used to using is not gonna work at Pinehurst. So having the right equipment and you know, not going, well, this is what the pros do. Maybe it's an old rickety putter you have and you know it's a chipper or a ping chipo from nineteen seventy four, whatever it is, it's something to go, oh, I can use this and

it's gonna help me. So having the right equipment for the courses, all right, let's take one. Let me see some you look down your list and figure that out. We're gonna take one more break and we'll be back this week on Golf Smarter Mulligans is a fascinating conversation with a returning guest golf course architect Jeffrey Brower, discussing what are the contributing factors that influence the design of a golf course including landscapes, the owner, developers, needs players,

strategy, and if it's relevant the theme. It was quite relevant for this conversation because we discuss his design of the only NFL themed golf course in the country, the Cowboys Golf Course in Dallas, Texas. Through contacts, somebody knew Jerry Jones and he expressed interest in becoming a partner in the golf course

and doing an NFL themed golf course. You know, in Dallas, Texas, we have all one hundred courses here, and we've had all the signature designers and whatnot, and probably there's no better team or brand in Dallas and maybe a lot of other places than the Dallas Cowboys. That's episode two hundred and thirty five of Golf Smarter Mulligans featuring golf course architect Jeffrey Brower, being

featured on our podcast Offspring Golf Smarter Mulligans being released this Friday morning. So if you're getting valuable insights or are entertained by what we present here each week, then don't miss the chance to get two episodes every week with Golf Smarter and Golf Smarter Mulligans episodes from our archives that revisit the best of Golf Smarter that can't be found on any other platform. They're both available for free from

wherever you're listening right now. Hi, what do you get? What else you got on that list there to help us figure out how we can improve our stroke play just by having a match play mentality or even playing match play? Yeah, you know, there's a couple more, and it's kind of

thinking. Is distance the most important? Is direction the most important? Off of the tea, And I will tell you from not only being in the coaching room and being on the side watching players, there's a lot to be in the first person to hit the green when you and I are out playing match play. I might be fred I'm going to really boost your ego up. I might be fifty yards behind you and I hit mine pretty good at

the sixty five, so we'll just go there. But the first person to hit the green, you know, and I mean, if I hit the green, great, But if I haven't hit a close shot, now that other person is going hmm, okay, maybe I need to take something into account here. So you know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the first person to hit the green has a little bit of a psychological

edge. And does that mean you have to hit it so long and vombit by the playing partner or do you have to out hit your normal distance? No, you need to have a spot where you can get the ball and hit it on the green and like that, is it important to hit the ball close to the hole. Well, that's nice, but I got to tell you something. The first person to make the putt and the first person

to putt might have a little bit of an advantage. And that's what I see a ton of in match play, is the these bombs that the players keep making because there's there's this kind of underlying thing that's Fred. If you and I are player and I'm thirty feet away and you're five feet away, you know, somewhere behind my actions and I'm main pointing and I've got my speed dial then and it's about five feet from the hole, you know, I'm not going to say anything, but at some point in my mind it's

going to go, this is really going to ruin Fred's day. But the competitive nature comes out, yeah, and it's you know, in a fun way. It's kind of like, oh, I didn't see that coming. So whoever the closer person is is kind of going, all right, let's

double check, let's make sure I read it right. Let's get to practice swings, and all of a sudden, what was a natural flow now becomes you know, you have two minutes left in the test and you have twelve questions to answer on your SAT and you're trying like heck to make sure you get them right, and you know, and then kind of looking at you know, what is the practice that you would need for going to a match event? And you know, really there's a couple of things. One of

them is the conditions. You have to bring the right equipment if you can, but sometimes it's about learning a little different technique. Now I'm going to put my hand up and go go see your PGA professional and have him show you if you's like, how do you hit that bump and run? This is what I've always done, and he might show you three different ways, and all of a sudden, now you've got something. When you go and you play your member guest or your friend's member guest, you're prepared when you

get out there. And then playing some games with pressure or practicing some things with pressure and accepting the outcome I think it was Molinari the year he won the British Open. I think he had like a fifteen footer and he drained it. And you know, he wasn't being egotistical, but he told the story of every time he went and practiced putting, he literally would finish off with one fifteen foot putt and his deal was, this is to win the Open. And he and there was know, oh, try it again,

try it again. He either made it or remissed, and that's when he left the course. And he didn't just keep going until he made it. He learned how to handle that and make that pressure. And then, you know, the other thing is just kind of your your use of time and the time it takes to get things done on the course and being able to amp yourself up and more importantly when you go play, slow yourself down, because that's you know, Lee Trevino was one heck of a golfer. But

if there was a guy who was a gamer, Trevino was it. And boy could he speed up a match or slow down a match depending on what he saw his opponent doing. And while you don't have that, you do have it in stroke play when you start playing good everything's amped up, and you're like, you don't want to take the joy away, but you kind of go okay, just you know, operate at a better speed. And when things aren't going good, you're amped up again and you're kind of going,

god, I wish this day would get over faster. And you take a little bit of those match play things, just of the simple ones. Where's your mind, what's your strategy, what equipment do you use? What could you do in practice playing the golf hole or playing the par threes on the practice range. You do those things, you might surprise yourself next time you step out there. And if you're not playing good enough, you simply look at your playing partners at the turn and you say, what do you

say we play match play to back nine? Because I'm really hating this game right now. Do you think there's more gamesmanship going on in match play? Yes? Yes, And I want to say, wow, well, there there is. And it's kind of like, you know, it's calling for a ruling and you know, and it's kind of like, I mean, it's not, but there's there's all the little things about who's further away, and you know, the caddies are like, well, I got one fifty one, and the other caddy goes, I got one fifty one. Your

four yards behind us. Yeah, but the green is at such an angle that we're literally the same. And you know, all of a sudden, that can help reset a player half the time. If again, if you're amped up or your energy, your excitement is kind of going. There's all kinds of little things, you know where you know, you make the pot, I'm the first one to pot. I make the putt, and I quietly go put my putter in my bag and I walk right off the green.

And you know, I don't see too much of that. I probably see it more in the college levels when they get to the r end of the NCAA's and they're kind of you know, because they've learned all the tricks from you know, their pros who were the younger generation, and it's going you know what, if you're in a tough situation, you know, step back off the ball and throw that grass up in the air, and you know the other players looking at you, going, there hasn't been a breath

of wind in forty five minutes. Here what is this guy doing? But all of a sudden, you've got him kind of off of his mindset and there you go, this is horrible. It's like I'm giving you aways to cheat legally. Then it's not cheating, then it's taking advantage of the situation. So who is the best that you ever saw at that kind of gamesmanship of like knowing that they were being watched by the opponent and wanting to get

in their head. I you know, and with the utmost respect, they they always said that Ballasteros was one of the greatest at orchestrating you know what was going to happen in the match, and you know, I mean there'd be times that you know, I mean, you know his ball is not plugged, but he thinks the ball is plugged, and yet the thing is sitting on top of the grass. He was always one for calling for rulings and I remember years and years ago and it was either at the Masters or

at a Ryder Cup. Ken Green literally stood there while the rules official came over and it was like, you're not pulling this stuff on me, buddy, but knowing you know, and just look it's a whole by whole experience and knowing how to bring that second man on your team, which is nervousness, it's time, it's rhythm. It's kind of things to either help you or to kind of throw your opponent off a little bit. I'll tell you something funny. And this is not a match play thing, but this is

how golfers are. Years and years ago, Tom Kite Brad Faxon and I forgot who the other person who was involved in this was, but they were doing an apparel wear with doctor Bob Rittella and certain colors, you know, and certain patterns, red for confidence and blue for calmness. And Faxon went to Furman and I remember we played a practice round somewhere when he was off

tour, and on the back of his putter he had this. He had taken some of the take that the players wrap around their finger, just a white adhesive tape and it had a little kind of part of it was colored in with a black sharpie and it was white in the middle and it was blue on the other side. And I said, oh, facts, I know you got all this stuff going. What's what's that tape for? And he goes said, that's kind of hard to explain, And I said, no, I know you got the you guys got this and reds for that,

and I go, what's you know? What does it help you with? I must asked him questions on that for four holes and then finally looked at me and he goes, Joe, it means nothing. But you haven't been thinking about your game for the last four holes. All you're doing is asking me about this piece of tape on my putter. And he goes, and guys on tour are doing the same thing. Oh, that's the greatest

story that is. Isn't it incredible? Because everybody knew what a great putter Faction was and if you know, He's like, what does that tape do? What does that tape do? Do I need to tape because faction is one of the best butters I've ever seen. What does it? Does it help the ball roll better? Does it give you confidence? Does it keep

your cross eyed? They're trying to figure out a million things, and he's just just colored and put on the back of my plutter because and all you all you've worried about is that beas to take for the last four holes. I was like, Oh, man, did I ever there's a life lesson you guys sucked in? And who wouldn't Oh, my god, that is so good. Uh, what do you guys coming up this winter? What

do you you know? I mean you're in Florida right, so well golf I will I will be heading out again this winter towards PGA West for a few months. And as where we did your last interview, because you were outdoors now you were, yes, yes, in the cave. Now, we we have so much going on at our course at Legends. We just redid the range and rested everything. The Vanderbilt golf team bases out of there and they are building a clubhouse next to their team clubhouse, which is the

same size as their clubhouse and it's awesome. So that is currently we were done with the range. We're rebuilding. Uh, they're adding on to the team house and about ten days we are renovating our clubhouse. So I mean, I feel like I should go buy Loew's or Home Depot, buy a yellow hard hat and go anyone that wants to come out for a lesson, come on, let's go. And what should we be thinking about this winter? Oh man, you know it's do you put down your New Year's resolution

tips or do you literally I would tell you this much. Just get a little get an index card or put it on a quick little note on your on your iPhone or iPad, you know, and it's I forget who that. I think it was the the Cubs manager who they're saying was don't suck. It's like, figure out what you're the worst at. And in the old adage, just maybe it's a new piece of equipment, maybe it's a

different way to practice, Maybe it's taking a lesson. Don't suck. You know, if you got one part of your game that, oh, you know, I'm great at everything except bunkers. Well, you know when you're gonna play your best golf when you don't hit a bunker. But I'm going to tell you that ain't gonna happen all too often. And you know,

maybe it's spare way bunkers. Find that one area of your game and be real honest with yourself and commit a little bit of attention to it, because, as Harvey Penock once said, you know, every part of this game is related to everything. You know, if you have a good grip and putting, you're probably going to have a good grip and chipping. So anything you would learn with a new technique is going to carry over into another part

of your game and then the catastrophe is sort of avoided. H awesome Joe. As always, you're just so much fun to have on because we just don't know where it's gonna go, and it always ends at the pot of the end of the rainbow. Thank you so much for coming back on BRED. I look forward to the next time, and as always, thanks for making this fun. And if I didn't mention it already, and this is the first time you've heard one of our conversations with Joe Hallett. He's a

PGA Master Professional, which means he's the instructor that teaches PGA instructors. And if he's having this much fun doing that, why aren't we having more fun on the golf course too. Speaking of frustration, I had one of those rounds last weekend where my confidence was high, was scoring well, having a great time, only six over after twelve holes. Then what seemed to be out of nowhere, I fell into a double bogie funk over four of the

next five holes. That's not where my game is these days, but that's golf, right. I was tracking the ball well, but my short game just disappeared, reminding me who is the boss the golf course. But thanks to all the insights that I've learned from our great instructors, I didn't lose my cool. I stayed with my preshot routine, kept drinking water and played on Luckily part number eighteen, a great finishing hole with water all the way

down the right side leading up to the edge of the green. But still it's a hole that always introduces doubt to everyone who's ever played it. The highlight of the day was running into a Golf Smarter listener and upcoming ambassador David Lamb, who recognized my voice in the parking lot. That was a first for me. Well, we had a great visit and hopefully we'll be playing together in the near future. Now, this week's Ambassador, Sergio le' levier,

gets a special shout out for two reasons. One Sergio seventy five years young and he's still playing golf, and he's listening to podcasts. And why did I say two? I get meant three reasons. He's our one hundredth and ambassador to introduce an episode. Sergio is from Sierra Madre, California, and because he followed our simple instructions on how to record his episode opening that took less than a minute. He received a private link to Tony Manzoni's video

The Loss Fundamental. As of right now, we've got enough listeners sharing where they're from and where they play for the next twenty weeks, but I'd still like to hear from you too, And when you become a Golf Smarter Ambassador,

you'll have a choice of a free gift. Check out today's show notes to see more and links about each gift you have to choose from, whether it's Tony's video, a box of Odin, next one balls with a Golf Smarter logo, or a glove and glove storage compartment from redroostergolf dot com.

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