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it is Masters week. One of the best weeks of the Year typically, an April around, my wife's birthday, throws a wrinkle in my master celebrations most years, but the good news is, it won't be happening this year because we're in November, so excited to dive in and did a really cool Roundtable conversation last week with, for Coaches and this is actually with golf.com that I did this, but really phenomenal conversation I want to share with you, it's with Jeff Smith
who works with Victor hovland who's actually not playing in the Masters. This year, seems kind of unbelievable, but he has worked with players in the past who played the Masters in been there. We also have Chris O'Connell Chris works with Matt Kuchar who obviously has a phenomenal track record at the Masters. So, tons of great insights from him and then we have Jamie Mulligan who works with Patrick can't lay, he is playing really well right now. Really serious Contender.
This master is so phenomenal, conversation with these guys. They have just a ton of insights into how they're preparing for the Masters, what they're doing beforehand, what they're doing? They're while on-site and some insights into strategy, this is jam-packed with good stuff. So let's Dive Right into this conversation with the guys appreciate golf.com putting this together. The sponsor for this episode is whoop. You haven't heard a whoop, it is
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Hey everyone. Welcome down to our masters Roundtable, presented by CDW. We have some awesome instructors here with us. We're going to talk about how they are getting their players ready. Let's dive in, get to know a little bit each of the instructors who they're working with that kind of stuff. Let's start with You. Chris Chris, tell us who you work with kind of your relationship, your coaching relationship with them. As far as Augusta. I'll just have one player be a Matt Kuchar, Matt.
And I started working in Six. So it doesn't seem that long, but we've had had a good run and makes makes my work pretty easy for one. You have one guy at a tournament, so this will be his man. I'm going to say, 10th, Masters since I've been with him. I think he qualified the 2010 and then he's qualified every year. So, as the other instructors, know, sometimes it tournament. You got three, four, five, guys, you're looking after. So to look after one guy is pretty. Is in math.
Pretty low maintenance, is it? Is he kind of, does it get to to ruffled? And so I'm looking forward to it. It'll be an interesting week. It's hard to wrap your head around. Here we are October 31st in the Masters is coming up. So but looking forward to it and it'll be an interesting experience. They're going to allow the instructors to stay on for the week and actually watch the tournament which will be be great.
I think I think I guest is a great course for spectators to sit and Watch. It's a tough course to kind of follow your player to get a good vantage point, but it's not looking forward to that shouldn't have any problem. Getting advantage. Point. Jamie, let's bounce to you. Good morning. Yeah, I Patrick can't lie. I've been working with Patrick since he was 7 years old for over 20 years now, I actually started playing golf with his grandfather.
When I was an assistant at the club that I'm the CEO at Virginia country club in Long Beach and then I taught his father as well. It was a club champion at our club and I have been with, you know, Patrick and basically started M and this couple watch his Ascent, all the good things that he's done. This is our 27th trip to Augusta
with pliers of that. I've been with Patrick about four or five times as well as when he was an amateur there and really looking forward to it. As Chris says, it's a, it's an amazing golf course in many ways and definitely an amazing Golf Course for a bunch of gallery. It's going to be interesting with 47 coaches out there trying to have Beth It's on lemonade to see who's Clara place better. So we're looking forward to it.
A lot and as we all know, it's a magical spot and there's nothing like the Masters. We can feel it. Now just getting ready to Adorn. Donna Lincoln, it's not even going to be there for another 10 days. Thanks Jeff. Actually this year, I don't have a player in the field but I've been to three in the last four, but some of my players are and wise, Scott, Piercy also work with Victor hovind who unfortunately would normally probably be in the field this year but With the cutoff because
of covid. He's kind of kind of left out of the field with his win earlier in the year. So yeah. Like, these guys mentioned as a coach Augusta's, not like any other week tour for us, there's a, there's a lot of restrictive movements.
There's a lot of places where we have to be and where we can't be. And so it's a for me, it's been, it's been a strange experience because it's completely different routine than what we normally have on, you know during the week where maybe we're walking practice. Rounds where our players were on the floor. On the greens are on the golf course. That's, that's pretty restricted at Augusta.
So you don't quite get the same probably detail or level of work that we would normally get on a normal tour week. Let's talk about tournament prep. Let's talk about, you know, how to get players, ready for a major, two to four weeks out. And I think, you know, what will bounce to you, Jamie? Because very interesting. Patrick coming off a win obviously playing really well. Do you find that? It's More difficult, or there's
more pressure applied. So it's, you know, that whole aspect going into a major after, you know, a big win and playing well like that. Yeah, you stole my punchline
there. I was going to say we like to win within a month of the major makes a lot easier to get ready to go. We're huge on, you know, we were on this system all the time, with all of our players and everybody that we can add the 15, LPGA RPG players that we've ever work with, we kind of put them in what we think call this the wheel and the wheel is as a matter of all these Spokes and our job is to keep the Stokes great and they all have
different mannerisms and different ways about what they need to do. And the spokes are kind of a conic for whatever they're doing in those little areas, and our job is to keep them straight. And also, our job is the instructors to see how straight we can keep them all year long and whether it's major or whether it's a regular event. So we've done, I think a pretty good job in our mind and my mind and our players lines of not changing the spokes up too much.
And if they get that Lisa Why they're bent and you try to work on them. So interesting, with Patrick like for a couple months since we got back from the break, he's been trending, really, really nice.
Like a spectacular round in an event and a really solid ground than a so so round and kind of an indifferent round but off the away from the tournament and watching him crap and watching him, do his gig rather it was nutrition or Fitness or how he was working on as motion, or rolling the ball or short game and all looked on point, but we Weren't getting quite the results that were trying to. So to have this last week and watch him come together and you know, we stayed out in Malibu
house week and my clubs and Long Beach and our member guess was going on. So I was kind of driving back and forth and every day when I drove back to go to the club before I drove out to Malibu, I was thinking that he's on point. He looks really really great. So it's fun when that thing comes to fruition and right now we're going to keep him in the bubble. He actually went out there and played yesterday and they had a great There.
We were going to go out and actually play with him and we have all the fires in California, so we thought it would be best to stay home and be safe around here, but he's ready to go. So now we'll just kind of keep them in chill mode and he's great at that as well to, he can stay, you know, in different in his mind and not quite worried about things and he's done enough. Now that we're ready. And then when we get back on Monday to start, we'll do our regular things in order to
prepare and get ready. Jeff. What about instruction? You know, as far as technical teaching what Kinds of things. Are you willing to work on leading up to a major, two to four weeks out? And what kinds of things are? You not willing to work on? Yeah, I don't really think it's any different for major than it is. You know, the normal course of the year, every player is got, you know, a set of for the fundamentals that they're working on from a technique
standpoint. And when you get to this level of coaching, those things don't change very often, it's just executing on those things better and better and better. So for a major, You're I find myself gravitating more towards like the escalation. These guys know what they're playing for. They get ramped up themselves, they know that a Majors coming up, they put more pressure on themselves and necessary. So I find myself really trying to like minimize the expectation.
Minimize the moment, make them more aware of, you know, their basic fundamentals and not really try to go outside the box and reach a lot because that's the first thing, a Laird will do when they when they feel a lot of pressure of the big moment or a big tournament, they'll be like, hey, what do you think about this? Look at this part of my swing, you know, all these things that we've never even talked about
before. Now this popping up and and I think that's just the response to stress. So my job in that moment or that role is to really just kind of deescalate, make them comfortable and make sure that they're focused on the things that actually matched, truly matter to their game and then playing their best call. Totally Chris. Let's bounce. To you two to four weeks out. What are you and Matt working on? What is kind of the weekly routine look like. And what is the practice?
You know, on a very practical standpoint, what's actually going on the stairs, a little different for us. 11 months that are actually 51 weeks out of the Year. Matt Kuchar wants to fade or even slice the ball. And then about the first part of March, he starts asking me how to hit a draw, because March he starts thinking about Augusta and If I have two conversations with Matt, number one, I talked about Jack Nicklaus who played a fade and 16 Green Jackets, to
kind of tell him. It doesn't have to draw the ball but then we will work on it. There's a couple holes, particularly 10, and 13, which are beneficial if you can move the ball right to left. So that's always an interesting whenever he asked about that. That's when I know Masters week is coming because the guy. Absolutely, I've never met. Anybody has more disdain for a ball going left than that.
Pitcher. So, and the second thing that he gets really kind of tuned in on as he wants to have complete control in his short game and I say control. He wants to see how much spin he can generate Augusta's Graves gets so firm and fast, especially late in the day and if you don't have spin on your golf ball it, I made you could hit two chips that are seemingly the same and they could end up 30 30 feet apart. So he's really big on.
His contact in short game and trying to spin the ball and then, you know, he wants to be able to draw the ball, you know, where 10 and 13. Other than that out there, I don't think drawing the ball is that important, but it's always what we spent 51 weeks trying to not, make it go that way. And then all of a sudden he thinks, he, he need to size a little bit. What Jeff said were sometimes, I think players maybe make it over complicated instead of just kind
of sticking with, with what? From there, they all said and think they got to do something special to win a major and the majors are it's still 72-hole, golf tournament. I mean, it's nothing more than that. So did you get the text where he was asking how to hit a draw this year already? Yeah. Okay. But it didn't happen to me, I think you kind of forgot that the Masters was coming up so he didn't ask a month in advance. He just asks a last week, that's
great. So I the theme is kind of desk. Elation that I'm hearing from all of you is we're just kind of, I think Chris what you just said right there is do what got you there and not try to go outside the box or do anything. Different is kind of the key concur here, for sure. I love the word, the escalation and when you think about it, I mean, this is what they do for a living. This is what we do for a living, the moments.
Going to make it bigger than it is and they're preparing their whole life in order to make the moment, you know, the way that it is, so they can perform and they can grab a trophy at the end and The more normal that you do in our business to make everything whether they're practicing playing around at home, playing around with somebody playing in a tournament or playing you know overseas whoever they are the more normal you can make it the more similar that you can make it the better
that it is nitty-gritty details. Is there any kind of like games that you're having people use? Is there anything of are you guys a fan of, you know, visualizing a certain whole and trying to, you know, hit shots to that and trying to dial and you know, shop patterns or any kind of games are Eels which you feel are really helpful when preparing for some big tournament. Yeah that mean you just
mentioned it right there. I've stood on the range with you know the yards, a book from Augusta, some of my players in preparation and they're kind of going through every tee shot in their mind. You know, will will create sort of a visual barrier on the Range that represents, you know, the second hole where you got to hit a big draw around the corner or whatever and you know, it's a lot of players will do that.
Ln Fact, one of my players was practicing this week at medalist and tiger was out there doing exactly that. So had his yardage book out, what's going through every single tee shot. I think that's a pretty common common thing. The other thing that a lot of my guys will try to do and It's Tricky, it's very difficult to replicate because Augusta's greens are so fast and so there's so much, slow bottom. We don't really get the practice or look at greens like that very often.
And so, you know, a lot of My guys, will you nobody up to the Greenskeeper at the club wherever they practice and say, hey can you can you can you double roll them? Can you speed up this back? Shipping green for me and they'll try to get some kind of a, some kind of a realistic look at, you know, what? They're going to be playing that week because I mean, honestly, like Chris mentioned chipping,
chipping at a place. Like, Augusta is so difficult because you never chip on speeds, that aren't on green. Is that fast with that much slope and so I think It's a hugely underrated skill, that's necessary to play well at the Masters. And that's why you see guys like, you know, Bernhard longer every single year at the top of the leaderboards. It's not necessarily because he's out ball-striking everybody, he just knows how to navigate those greens and can save a lot of those shots around
there. So that's just a couple of little little things that I'll see guys do. Yeah, Frederica and Sea Island. They've got a bunch of Tour player members, their coach is a member Zach Johnson Harris, English I got a bunch more but they I know they will leading up to the Masters, get the greens, just 14 fast, as they can get them, which is great for the guys there because they get to kind of train for a week or two heading into Augusta.
It's not not such a shock when you all said and show up but that Augusta the course changes. So dramatically we've gone in before on a Sunday before the tournament week and it's pretty benign and then they have the ability to ramp that. Lace up exactly how they want. They can get moisture out of
that place overnight. So it has the we go, the course changes quite a bit, but there's sometimes when they late in the afternoon and there's some wind blowing, I mean, those screens are just your defensive puting, I mean you might have an 8-footer and you're trying to figure out how can I to but this thing. So it can get dicey around there. You can argue guy like what we call running the movie all the time. Meaning today's junior, golf And tour players Saturday at our
club. And for three decades at 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon, we'll have to tour players in a couple of young people that were working with and they'll go out and play and if there's two groups of them will go out and play and I'll watch golf probably watch more golf than we will ever stand on the Range. Watching people play.
And we're running to the movie the whole time and we get to a certain whole whether it's a whole that looks like the temples out of gasca or whether it's a whole that looks like the 8th hole at Muirfield. Lawless bring that up so the movie sauce going maybe at nauseam for players but not even listening to Patrick talk about Augusta couple days ago.
He's like you had painted the picture from all the times that you've been there so well when I got there and with TV, I already knew what it looked like and I think that's a big thing that they have in their head and they know what they're going to do and they know how that are actually going to play there.
And then I was going to say a couple of years ago we got to go with Phil and prepare and Patrick and fill after they played in the morning one day they just took their filter A 64 and Patrick took their 60 and they were out there for three hours on the back, nine hitting pitches. And Phil was kind of saying the same thing that Chris and Jeff alluded to that. There's not really any place that you pitch like here that sees unique is this and what was
before the tournament. And obviously it was slower to go out there and just work with the guy that won the tournament three times. So watch the pitches. Did he hit you? Watch them. Try to spin the ball to the slopes and allow the ball to matriculate down. And then lastly, every time that were there, when we get there on a Monday, also, Like walking up the golf course and looking out, of course we go.
Oh my God, this place is so pure regardless of where we are because we get to go to such special venues but there's no different. There's no place like a guest of that changes as Chris said, more from Monday to Sunday and they can do what they want last year, you know, got drizzly or a year
and a half ago, got drizzly. And then by the time that you got to Saturday you're like well I thought there was some moisture and it was completely gone from a golf cart so it's like they can turn the buttons pretty. Well, let's dive into At the tournament week, right? Like what, what you do, let's start with the pudding because you guys are talking about it. What are the best things you can do to help a player calibrate to a different environment like
that? Yeah. That's that's a very tricky one there. I think one of the goals of the folks that put on the tournament are to make the tour players as uncomfortable as possible and that's sort of the defense mechanism for the golf course. They want to keep you on your toes. Keep you off my Balance and so you won't see things like putting equipment down on the practice putting green, you know, you're you know, I was there a couple years ago and
Bryson pulls out. The GC quad sets it down there and 10 seconds later here, come the Green Jackets you know get this thing off, the putting green, you not going to see guys putting levels down so there's a lot of like secrecy around the green self, you know. There's a lot of guys on tour who use, you know stuff, I came point where they're very used to you know having slope. To knowing exactly what the slopes are calibrating their aim point and all of that.
So you know, as far as that stuff goes, those routine stay the same. You know, the guys are spent a lot of time doing speed work on those screens again, I think to putt well or to play. Well there you got to have great distance control and you got to be really really solid around the whole because a lot of your a lot of your, you know, 30 40 foot lag putts. They're not they're not going to end up. Up as close to the hole on that first attempt is you would see at a normal Tour event.
So you're going to have a lot of five or six Footers left and you'll see, you'll see it guys, guys, doing a lot of drills around the hole and stuff like that during preparation. I like the word texture work. We like this, a lot. How the ball is actually coming off your putter, regardless of where you are and with great Putters. And, you know, Chris has gotten that probably does that as well
as anybody. The strike looks the same, whether the greens are eight on the stamping or 14 on the stem attorneys. We could controlling Distance by letting the putter swing longer and I love that look with choirs and I think about placement is really important. I was also going to say, wow, the new driving range is almost better than most golf courses and you could stay there forever, for me, being an old traditionalists.
I'm not quite sure if the new cutting green over there is similar to the one on the golf course, but I've never seen a putting green more similar than the putting green. That's right between the iconic one. That's right between one and ten, it feels exactly like the
golf. Course. And I think that's a really good barometer green, and we love going out there on Monday. When Patrick was an amateur and he stayed in the Crow's Nest, you know, meet him there every morning, for like an hour pot where we were just doing texture and speed work, and it's amazing how that thing gets quicker. John Merrick could really nicely there.
His rookie year and finished six and had like a backdoor. 65 that where he finished Sixth and I remember there was this like 20-footer that we are hitting on the far right side of the fighting green and this 5-footer that we're hitting our way. Can I do literally saw that pocket twice as quick including
the up a little 5-footer. So I think you got a gauge that and as Chris says there is some defensive putting out there but getting more comfortable to that on a daily basis and watching what they do to make it evolve through the week is really important. You know. I think obviously you'd love to have I mean as a teacher it's great to have a great putter. I mean it makes you makes you
look good. But the one thing about Augusta that doesn't seem Like people assume you have to be a great putter to win at Augusta. And man, I can go through and list some kind of dodgy Putters that have wanted a guest. I mean, Bubba, Watson Bernhard, Langer, Fred Couples.
You get some people who aren't known as great Putters that, that still managed to win, Augustine people assume because the greens are super fast, you have to be a great Putter and I think sometimes when they get super fast at the fact, you're putting defensive takes away that skill to where you're not, you're almost Trying to but you're not you're not making Cuts. Also when they're that you really don't have to even make a stroke.
You just kind of have to nudge it and just kind of get it going somewhere down near the hole. So everybody thinks you have to be a great putter. I mean I would certainly I'd love to have been crunch up putting for me at Augusta but there have been some now when I say week they're great Putters but by 2 or standards not their strength.
So would you think it's good to have a Mindset shift, potentially, when potting is a good change and say, I'm going to be a little bit more defensive this week in my putting than I was last week. What do you think? Well, I mean, you hate to put defensively but you really? There's so many putts out there. You're simply trying to get it close to the hole. I mean, Jeff talked about doing
speed drills. Matt, Matt, does the speed drill where he tries to hit each putt a little bit longer than the last. If he comes up short, he starts over and then Has kind of a he's trying to say how many in a row he can get and then he runs out of room. Well normally and this drill, he'll set up say 20 feet with his first but 40 feet would be his longest and he starts trying to go 21 feet, 22 feet. Well normally he can do that. He could probably get 10 in a row.
It Augusta. I mean, it makes you feel like an absolute beginner because you'll hit what feels like the same pot. But haste with it that speed a A slight more potterhead, speed, doesn't equate to 6 inches. Pass it equates to 3 feet pass, so we'll do that drill. But I mean there's times when you do that drill and he almost it's somewhat defeats him because he realizes how challenging it really is. And so, I just think there's very few putts at Augusta that you feel comfortable, putting
aggressive. And I think probably when Jamie was talking about Patrick being out with Phil, where you're chipping, From is hugely important. I mean, if you're chipping from the right spots it's very easy to get up and in. But you know, number one, you go over number one, green and forget, it's just a cardinal sin. You cannot go over number one green. So if they have a pin in the back, their number one, it's going to be really boring.
Everybody's going to hit 30 feet, short, and trying to, but no, nobody's going to make a birdie unless that whole long putt, if they hit a close that hole, they're taking my opinion. They're taking terrible strategy because you just there's so So many situations there where you're trying to, I hate to say it but you're trying to avoid a certain a certain position on
the course. Yeah, I would say the further elaborate, you know, Chris's point there on, you know, nullifying, you know, the importance of being a great putter there. When you look at the data, you know, at Augusta, you know, the separation value from player to player, doesn't come from cutting. It doesn't come from on the greens, you know, for example, Shadow Creek, Here, two weeks ago, kokrak wins and he gains
over 11 shots on the greens. You just not going to see that happen at Augusta. So no one can really separate themselves that way from the rest of the field. It's definitely a ball Strikers. Golf course, you know, Augusta is a second Shot, Golf Course and you know so going into that you know that you might have some leeway off the tee but you've definitely got to be on, you know, on point and be very
precise with your iron play. Again, like Chris mentioned there's, you know you've got to be very Very precise with your second shot on that golf course, because there's certain sections on those greens to where if you hit the ball in the wrong section, it's almost an auto 3 but sometimes you can't stop it. So it's not necessarily A measure of how well you're putting. It's a measure of.
Did I hit it on the right section of agreeing to not two not three but here so definitely I would agree with him and say that historically the great ball Strikers are the ones who are putting themselves in position to win the I do say, I do think that you have to put what, you know, you have to put well to want to give yourself a chance to win any golf tournament on tour but you don't have to you know, go crazy on the greens. There let's talk about short game prep there.
Any kind of shots that you feel like your particular important to work on Chris, you mentioned controlling spin is something that Matt works on a lot of any other kind of shots that are particular to Masters week that you like to get players comfortable with and and working.
On being Jeff touched on it in moving short game, they're kind of you know, back even to the 100 and 110 yard shot that you're going to need for say, if you have to lay it up on hole number two, and you got left the location middle location down right hole location, where you going to land the ball where you're going to use this thin there. And another place is a masterpiece, you know, and there's so many reasons for the fact that it is a masterpiece.
You know, we could argue between us whatever. We think it's a parting course, or a ball hitting horse, but it really makes you deliver all the goods to play. Well, there, I love sitting. With the whole caddies, especially back in the day and they're talking about, you know, what we would call Big Picture topography, how everything gets to a point in rank pre-race Creek down by whole number 11, and it's not actually just the race Creek.
It's a little spot in the pump house or they think things break too. And whether you believe in that and completely stuck on a point and you don't think that matters or not, but the ball is definitely moving down towards that way. And when you're hitting shop stuff, see if the winds going there, you got to be thinking about that. So, I like in the prep work through the week and they do a great job with their driving range, or when you're out playing your practice rounds.
Kind of figure out, where do I have to hit my ball in order to let it matriculate or manifest down towards the hole, which is almost different than any other venue that we go to, because you can use some land in the slopes and the wind so nicely there to your advantage. And also, to make you really look really bad, if you miss one of those, slopes Chris, when you and matter go this week here on strategy.
Are you guys pretty? Then Matt obviously has a great track record there over the years of so many good finishes. Are you guys pretty dialed in on strategy knowing what clubs are going to be hit off? T's kind of aim points into greens or you pretty conservative or more aggressive talk, a little about strategy, maybe. Yeah, I mean that would that wouldn't change a whole lot. That would only change if the course if it were cold or soft. Matt's going to struggle to reach the par 5.
If it's firm and warm, he's fine now. He's going to be hitting more. Club in there than in other guys. But you know when you saw Zach Johnson went in there that it was really really cold. I think it kind of took away that couldn't get to the par-5 so he had to rot rely on his short game. Other guys that could get their had to hit so much Club into those holes that they weren't as offensive holes is normal. So that year the score was pretty high winning score.
So that that would I mean Matt's wedge game. Is important, especially there if it's soft and it's playing long. But if if it's firm, Matt kuchar's not going to be hitting a lot of wedges around there because the par fives, he'll be on the green or chipping and the par fours are too long for him to where he would get wedges. So, let's games important for him.
I would say the longer that Golf Course plays because it comes into play on them, on a par 5. Now Bryson D Shambo wedge game is going to be important no matter what because As you know, he's going to have you start thinking about the club not just Bryson, I mean you know. Rory, Dustin Johnson Brooks koepka, you can go on and on Bryson is changed his game but a lot of talk about how prices changed the game that style of play has been going on for a long time.
Just let's just hit drivers far as we can't get a shorter Club as we can get in. But you start thinking about the clubs at that, he will be hitting in or those other guys if they choose to hit driver. And I mean 11 11 is. It's over 500 yards, couch, a lot of times is coming in there with with the hybrid. And I mean he'll you know, those guys Bryson hit some kind of wedge and 11.
I mean, it just did there's not going to be any long holes out there for for Bryson or Rory or DJ if if it's warm. And infirm. Yeah. What about you? Jamie with Patrick and looking at strategy just a ton of drivers hit it as far as possible. Look In at the attacking every pan or more conservative into greens. Any thoughts or prep on one strategy? I think you could get Chris and Jeff.
And I have to agree with Chris said, for sure why we might disagree with something's, everybody's been hitting it far for a long time and trying to get it for her for a long time. The interesting thing about a guest, if you look historically, you know, it's kind of its favorite, a lot of players, you know. Mike Weir, didn't vomit. Crenshaw didn't moment jacked and vomit. You know, Max played unbelievably around. They're not. So, I think it's putting it in the right spot. Right.
Patrick's got a really good look at he was hello amateur you know last year he or a year and a half ago Escapes Me we barely made the cut and then got in the cut on the number and then he tied the low score on the weekend or close to the low score on the weekend, and we had a really good chance to win coming down the stretch. And I think he sees it the right way, and the one thing, if you're much, like the iron shots, if you're using the slopes, and using the land and
losing using the win, right? The right way. You're turning. 300-yard carry a lot of times into 330 and 340 yard carry and then there's some holes where you just got to hit
it straight out there. Like for me seven changed almost as much as any whole lot there, when I first went out there, you know, I saw why stop the first time I was out there almost driving in the greenside bunker and then you know, now you're back on that whole sometimes sitting on five, six, seven eight iron into the hole and and it doesn't matter how far you hit it if price is going to go ahead and take a swing at that one. I'm going to hit it on the green
and better. Be a really good one. I can't imagine you being able to do that for holes in a row. So we have our lines, you have a lines in our head picked out really. Well, we have our wine Jarhead picked out on how fast it goes and what the wind does and are catty, does a really nice job at figuring out how the lines move over based on the circumstances. So we're ready with the driver. I think I agree with what Jeff said, that Augusta being a second shot. Golf course.
I think guys that have won there have been have been great iron players and I think Tiger Woods is probably the greatest iron player in the history of the game and so I think Augusta is you play aggressive off the tee and then I think you turn around, I think he played more conservative into the green. And so that's where it's an, it's an interesting golf course but a great iron shot at Augusto. A lot of times doesn't mean you're close to Holy Angie, hit it to the right. Right.
Spot on the green. Yep. I would, I would agree with that. I mean, well, I think we're all kind of anticipating, you know, to see what Rice and does with taking some of those lines. And we've all like, I've already played the golf course in my head, thinking about 200 ball speed and where I would hit it on Sir hose and, you know, I'm curious, you know, we're all excited to see to see those lines, but the end of the day
you still have to make the pots. You still have to have play ball position, you know, he's got to play really well to, you know, to win their Jeff. We saw the other day that that you had a Victor, getting his Club head speed up there and some some pretty pretty big. Changes. Is that kind of off of that Bryson wave and have you guys thought about talked with players at all about gaining
speed? Yeah. You know for Victor know it really had nothing to do with with Bryson, you know as I started to work with him and evaluate him as an athlete, I saw someone who statistically was leaving a lot on the table Victor's, an incredible ball Striker, you know, always has been since since youth and was doing a lot of things to really like, you know, Governor on his on his, his speed, Victor, the great athlete, he's very fast which he's strong and he has the capability of swinging.
Very, very fast and in fact he was doing things. Like you know you got Bryson going 48 this kid was playing an inch short driver. So there's a there were some things like that that were like no-brainers and in the beginning it was like let's let's test it. Let's see, can we still be a world-class driver of the ball being is accuracy. He is, I mean hitting over, 65% of Fairways but just push it
down. The Fairway a little bit further because I thought that it would definitely change his game as a player, if because he's a great iron player and a great driver, if I could give you a few more shorter irons wedges, come things in his hand and I think it would give him an even a bigger, a bigger Edge, you know, tee to green. And so, you know, we weren't really trying to chase Bryce thing. Like Chris said, I mean, speed has been a differentiator since Getting of golf.
And although I've always tried to get all of my players to hit it far, I think you just see more of an emphasis now on guys working on their body training. Making sure their equipment is dialed in to just sort of Max. There's a lot of reason why distances think coaches understand how to generate force and speed now, like they never have before. And so you got these great athletes in front of you that can do this stuff. There's just, there's a reason
why everybody's, I say a say it now. 180 ball speed is like the new 165 ball speed. I mean I've got 15 kids under 18 years old with 180 ball speed. You know, some of them that 190 ball speed and Equipment doesn't have a lot to do with that. It's that the type of athlete and how they're, you know, how they're producing Force now. So yeah that's just that's my two cents on the on the Bryson thing Cordy it would be really interesting to take the players for every generation.
Sharon, just look at their body types and look what they look like compared to what they look like. Now, we played a practice round on Tuesday at Sherwood with Jess guy, Victor, and he's impressive athlete.
Like when you get close to him and realizing the kid is fit, as can be, he's making a bunch of speed, the way he walks, you know, he looks like he can put them in, you know, I don't think plenty of baseball but you look like, you could make them short stop if you wanted to. And if you look, if he had to play college football, you can make them the free safety.
I mean, he He looks like an athlete and they all do and, you know, a lot of the speed, like there's different ways to go about getting speed, you know, think of what's going on in our world with the physios and the trainers and the gym world and what they're doing. I know what our guys are doing and so I don't think that's going to change.
And makes makes me proud watching at that, we've become more athletic than anybody, almost thought that we ever were going to be Chris. What's your take on this? Obviously, Matt being of a little bit older but Raishin right then Victor and Patrick potentially in that conversation. But what is your if you guys talked about that at all speed at all and is that ever come up in the last six months? Yeah I would love for Jeff said,
18 is the new 165? I'd love to see, Matt Kuchar at 180. I can get 18, you know, to church through up. Yeah, which is 4. Titoo now and so he was right. As tiger was kind of coming on seeing because I can remember being at Augusta when tiger was an amateur in all the stories about tiger hitting nine iron and 15 and this and that. And I mean, he was hitting, you know, it's a 43 and a half inch steel driver and it was just crazy to places, he was hitting it.
I think think that had a big influence on kids growing up and seeing how far they could hit I think Launch monitors have had a huge issue. I mean there's nothing like swinging and getting feedback is to was that faster or not and it just it motivates kids, it's a scoreboard but you know couch would be. We have worked on getting him
more more distance. We probably eight years ago we started looking at it and everybody I think Matt hits it further and he's ever hit it but everybody else has gotten longer. So we realize that for him to have more chances to win and for him to extend his career, he needed more distance. We've you know, he's probably a club head speed, probably a 110 guy, we've gotten him up to 115 before and it just doesn't feel it.
Feels out of control to him and I said it should feel out of control to you, but his game revolves so much around precision and control that he has not felt comfortable today, trying to put that into play, but it would soaking I can give you like 50 or 60 million reasons why Precision spent pretty important for him to know.
It's pretty interesting. It was the last week at Sherwood. They got five par fives there and one of them everybody's kind of handcuffed because the Fairway runs out, I think it's 13 but the other ones you know, Madel hit a drive, say 280 and he's coming in there with with the three. Would you know he's got 260 coming in there. R. And at the end of the week, he said, I felt like I played pretty good golf. He said I did not play the par
5S very well. I said I felt like I put pretty good golf and I finished 45th or whatever and I was talking to him about the par-5 swear. I said, imagine if you had say, say 20 are if you're coming in there and said, you know, 250 or coming in there to 30 and so that on that particular course, 15 20 yards or shoot 40 yards, makes a huge difference.
So there are certain courses benefit certain players, but like Jamie say, That means when you play a tournament, you most likely it kind of got to do everything well and the beauty of golf is that it's not just one skill. There are so many skills involved and so maybe you as a shorter hitter maybe you're giving up after the tee shot your to disadvantage but then, you know, I'll take Mac picture
from that point. Forward all the way to the hole over most players, but there are certain holes, certain courses, where an average length header is given up. Yardage. Let's wrap with what you do week of the best week of the year comes in November this year. Who knew what are you doing? What are the keys for a good warm-up? So a player feels that security going into the round that they've done everything.
They can to prepare themselves when they step on that First Tee. Well, I think Jamie's got to figure out, get your guy to win the monthly, the end of the tournament. So I need to figure that figure that strategy. Yeah, I think obviously going into the weekend, good. Arm is that takes away a lot of stress, trying to trying to find your game at a major.
Any week trying to find your game is not not the ideal scenario, but I think in the warm-up going through certain certainty shots, you know, kind of painting a picture of okay can't miss left here. Can't miss right here, some tee shots, it would be uncomfortable for mad. It would be, I'm going to I'm going to work on such a couple drawers but I don't want to overdraw it 12 at Augusta is Is always a, we don't work a lot in terms of shit on the Range.
We would work on shots, tee shots, avoiding one side of the other, not so much approach shots, but 12 at Augusta is a
different story. 12 in Augusta were always talking about that whole, Matt likes to fade it and I think I think that's very dangerous on that whole, I think you need to play that that whole to the right over the bunker, front edge of that green, right over that bunker, hit it straight or try and hook it no matter where the pin is. The way that great setup, long, lapse, terrible, and short rights terrible and that's your Miss pattern for a right-handed golfer.
So that hole is a people think they've got an eight or nine or and I think it's a birdie hole, it's not it's a it's a potential disaster whole. So we'll work on that the where we'll kind of paint a picture and no matter where the pin is try to get him. He's going to hit it here or left. It's a lot of visualization like working through shots on the Range.
Just testing it out. Yeah. Yes, we're going to keep running the movie that we were talking about, you know, we've been painting the movie for this guy for a long, long time ago, this would have looks like you knows what it feels like, you know, as Jeff and Chris can I test fit? We're on the minute and our business meeting.
I'm sure when Aaron Wise is going to go warm up, Jeff knows what time he's going to walk out onto the fighting green and the driving range, you know, and I know what fabric will do the whole week, we will set up camp, you know, will stay in them in a place that we know that's familiar. It's one of the weeks when our whole team will stay together. From, we're away from the golf course to try to make it loose. And he seemed to have fun and not worry about golf, King much.
And then when we get there, we'll kind of go through our whole system and be adaptable, you know, I think that stress for everybody is not knowing the outcome of what's going to happen and our job is to eliminate all the pictures of that stress. And if something does come up stressful to go back into our bubble and make it really really low key and kind of figure out how we want it to be.
And then tap the end of the day, I remember sitting in the the in the locker room with a veteran player one time and we were kind of getting ready and to go out and walk out and I said, man, it's nice to be here and he says, when you're here, you feel like you've done something right? You know, this is a spot and that one kind of resonates completely. We know we've done something right to be there and the object is to be there all the time.
So we're looking forward to having a great week at that iconic, special place. And nobody runs the golf tournament like the master. So they do a pretty tremendous with a bunch of So there, it's going to be really interesting and intriguing to see what they do with this, the, the coaches and our bubble there. And we're really looking forward to it. It is a special week, they leave
no stone unturned there. I mean, the things that are, there's a thousand things, they think about their one of them that nobody talks about that I didn't know about. Let's depends on the green or actually they're made out of steel because if it happens to be a windy day, they don't want the flags blah. Hopping all over the place and I mean just little details like that. When you add up all those little details, you really know that this is a special week in like plate.
JB's head. You've done done something. Right? If you're there and I think everybody the energy that place is great because everybody is excited to be there. And everybody feels very, very blessed to be there during that week that seems like the perfect place to wrap this conversation. Thank you guys so much. For hanging out with us and sharing some insights, and getting ready for the Masters week. We appreciate your time and I hope everybody enjoys this week.
It's one of the best of the year, that's for sure. So thanks for hanging out. Thank you to CDW, for presenting this conversation. Thanks for having us, Jeff, and Chris. Thanks for all the good things you continue to do. Keep your record, appreciate what you do as well. All right, guys. Thank you all.