Golf Strategy School Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

It's been a while since Josh Boggs, PGA has been on the show but he's back!  In this episode Josh talks about how you can tell when it's time to change clubs.  Not only does he lay out a lot of great information he shares a fact that absolutely blew my mind!

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

We are back again with Chris Finn the founder of Par4Success.com talking about something we hinted at in his appearance last month - rotational exercises, specifically with medicine balls.  How you can use it to help your golf game and more importantly how to avoid hindering your golf game!

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

This is usually the weakest part for a lot of golfers, the mental game.  Let's take a look at what you can do to avoid some of these common mental game missteps.

Don't forget to check out the Golf Coach Reacts video series.

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

What an amazing Masters tournament!  I’ve been a Sergio fan since the scissor kick at Medinah.  He’s only a few years older than me and I’ve always related to him with my game.  We both have tons of lag coming into the ball which means timing is hugely important, and a fiery personality can lead to some very steep emotional, and statistical, highs and lows in a round.

When Sergio had the three shot lead on five everything seemed to be falling into place perfectly.  But as Justin Rose made his push followed by Sergio’s stumble at the turn everyone started talking about if he could “hold on”.  From what I had just watched during those first three holes of the back nine he absolutely could hold on.

One of my favorite quotes is “don’t follow a bad shot with a dumb one”, from Craig Jones of Face First Golf.  That’s exactly what Sergio had done in the past but he avoided today.  He was grinding out pars and not giving up while making bogeys.  He was smart, took his medicine (unplayable lie) on 13, and showed world class skill to save a par.  RIght then and there, you could feel the momentum switch.  This happens all the time in golf.  You just need one good shot, heck, sometimes just one good bounce and it’s like a switch goes off inside you where you know that from now on you WILL hit every shot flush and confidently.

Sergio goes on to keep his cool, even when the lead slipped away.  He knew his game, he knew his plan, and he stuck with it.  He didn’t let what was happening around him influence it at all.  That’s the biggest lesson we can learn from Sergio.  Make you plan and STICK WITH IT!

Too many times amateurs get one bad bounce, make one wrong decision, or take one bad swing and decide to scrap the entire plan for the round.  They never stop to think that golf is a game of averages and there’s a pretty decent chance that if they continue down the path they laid out ahead of time the good bounce, good swing, and great decision will come.  What would happen if every time you felt a bump in the road you pulled into an auto shop and had them check our your car?  You wouldn’t get anywhere!  Trust your plan, you made it for a reason.

The other thing that we can learn is from the low amateur, Stewart Hagestad, and his post tournament interview with Jim Nantz.  When asked about how he did it, he said played within himself and made very committed golf swings.  He stuck to his game plan and played great that week.  The other thing he said that I loved was that “Bogey’s won’t kill you, but doubles will.”

These are all important keys to solid golf, especially for higher handicapped players.  Play within yourself means quit fantasizing about that one time you hit an 8 iron 184 yards.  It was probably down wind off a cliff, that’s not your normal game.  Play your averages and when in doubt, take extra club, because you swing will rarely be perfect.

When Stewart talked about making committed golf swings, he means picking a shot that you’re going to hit and sticking to that plan throughout the swing.  Essentially the micromanager version of what Sergio taught us.  This can be harder to do than you would think, but with the right kind of practice you can make it a part of your game.  For my m

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

This week's question comes from Ben about how he can work on staying mentally focused for an entire round of golf.  He says he's been experiencing a lot of hot and cold streaks within the same round and he just can't quite seem to shake them.

We talk about how you can get focused on the micro (each swing) rather than the macro (the score you want to shoot) and how one of our Golf Strategy Academy students was able to make this same leap with some fantastic results.

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

Today's episode is a listener question from McDivot on twitter.  He says :

struggling with impact position.caster, weight even or back. just got Swingtalk. Any new drills to use with? Thanks

• ​How different types of feedback can help influence your swing and lock in those changes quickly
• How Bob Duncan uses the terrain around him​ to fix an over the top move
• How the Step Change drill from Super Speed Golf can fix a reverse pivot
• Golf Strategy Academy

Step change drill is at 3:02

Drill setup is at 2:00 

Hey McDivot, thanks for reaching out with the question. So from the sounds of it this is the classic over the top move. Meaning as you come into impact the face of the golf club is open and you are cutting across the

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

Bladed it, smiled it, chili dipper, chunk city, worm burner, gopher killer... if any of these describe your short game, then it's time to turn your ears on because this weeks' episode is here to help you get your short game under control!

• The importance of quiet hands around the green​
• How to develop a consistent touch from Hail Irwin
• Brandan Stooksbury's method of building a solid foundation for  your short game 
• Golf Strategy Academy

• Chipping/Pitching jail drill​
• Hale Irwin's touch drill (sorry the audio is so bad!)

Hey there, Golf Strategy School, Marty back with you here again and this episode's question comes from Chase. Chase is asking, his question reads, " Hey Marty, I was really burning a lot of strokes around the greens. Seems like I don't have a consistent low point in my chipping. Some are fat, some are thin, but really perfect. Any thoughts?" Well Chase, situations like this where you have inconsistent, I guess I'll say low point, it usually results from... At least with chipping, the fact that you're getting overly handsy in the actual action.

So a lot of people especially beginners or newer folks, they'll get into this mindset that the fingertips and the hands have all the feel, so that should be what's controlling all of the force that goes into the shot as well as kind of cutting out those bigger muscles. I see all the time where people just take their wrist and I kind of see them just chop right at the ball, and those ones are even less consistent then kind of what you're describing. At least you're getting a couple that do end up going on target, maybe not just on target but actually correct distance wise.

So the way we can kinda get around this, it's a really easy setup. If you have some water bottles this is a really easy thing to do. If you're on the course or if you are at your practice facility, heck, honestly you can do this at home. So you take two water bottles if you're at home they could be empty, and they should be empty. If you're on course then depending on how much when do you have, if you feel your empty water bottles are going to blow away, maybe put some water in them. But what you're going to do is you're going to take-two water bottles and you're going to set them up so one water bottle is about a foot behind the ball, the other water bottle is about a foot in front of the ball. So the idea is that these water bottles are going in the same direction as your feet, so a

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

I know we've got a bunch of league golfers out there with their earbuds on and this episode is one that you'll want to save for sure!  Ian asks a pressing question that most people don't want to admit to, but they desperately need a solution to.  How do you warm up and get your head in the game if you're running late?

· Marty’s preferred method of warming up (range, green, range)

· How a trick from Jeff Pelizarro can get you in rhythm quickly

· How Mike & Kyle of Super Speed Golf can get you hitting longer in the same day!

· Golf Strategy Academy

Ian’s question: I play in a couple of leagues and I always seem to be running short on time. I know my league is just for fun but I still want to play well, and I feel like this is starting to leak into my weekend rounds. How do I get my head in the game if I'm short on warm up time?

Hey Ian, glad to have your question for this week's episode. My first question would be what do you define as short on time? I know I like to have an hour or so at the course before each round for warm up and practice. So is short on time only 30 minutes, or is it I'm sprinting to the 1st tee to catch my group? Either way, I'll lay out my strategy for both.

If you've got 20-30 minutes to prep for your round of golf you've still got enough time to touch on most of your skills that you'll be using that day. I would break it down it 10 minute chunks.

1. 1st 5-10 minutes would be physically warming up. Hit a few balls (10 tops) with a short iron or wedge. This will help you find a good rhythm with your scoring clubs and figure out what today's shot pattern looks like (draw, fade, etc).
2. Head over to the green and set up the gate drill for a few putts (again, 10 tops). This will give you the confidence that you're square at impact and your putts are going where you want them to go. That should only take about 3 minutes. After that, set up the ladder drill. Take your time on this one because it's the most important of the bunch. See if you can work your way through it 5 times. If you go long on any drill, this is the one that deserves it.
3. Step three would be to head back to the range and play a few sample holes in your head. Go through your whole routine and remember to play the ball flight that you determined in step 1 would be your shot for shape for the day.

This should get you in the right mindset for playing your game rather than trying to fix your swing on the course.

If you've got practically no time then I would skip straight to the ladder drill because that one club you'll have to use every time. When you get to the first tee, take a tip from Jeff Pelizzaro, and do some opposite direction swings. Often times swinging the wrong way can loosen you up a lot quicker and, at least for me, the awkward feeling of doing it backwards helps me get a nice fluid rhythm for swingi

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

If you're a Patriots fan, congratulations!  If you're a Falcons, my condolences.  If you're a fan of sport in general, WOW, did we get a game to watch!  The Super Bowl did not disappoint and neither did today's GSA Q&A question from Bob in San Francisco.  Bob wants to know why he's so inconsistent on his in between distances, and more importantly, how he can fix it.  This comes down to commitment to your golf swing and the plan you've set for that shot.

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!

Today's podcast is the first in our series: GSA Q&A where we take questions from our Golf Strategy Academy members and answer them on the podcast.  Today's question is from Josh in Las Vegas about how he can change his habit of spending too much time over the ball.

• Coping techniques for an over active mind
• Geoff Greig's go to method to help golfers ditch extra swing thoughts and focus on rhythm.
• Dave Heinen's technique to prevent those thoughts from ever sinking in in the first place!

Hey Golf Strategy School Marty back with you here again and today we're featuring a question from a Golf Strategy Academy member Joshua out of Las Vegas sent an email wondering, and I love this question because Joshua saying he's struggling with too many swing thoughts. He's noticing that he's taking too long over the ball. He mentions that, let's see here. Been playing well recently but run into problems where I stall over the shot. It's gotten to the point where my League members actually give me crap about how long I take over the ball. Any thoughts on how I could help move beyond this mental block?

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The reason I chuckle is because I've been there, and I've been there with many other students. And the solution is actually rather easy.

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Like you said, you actually just get caught up, for whatever reason just hung up over a shot. For most people it's a thousand different swing thoughts going through their head. You know I've got to keep my right arm tucked in, and my left arm straight, and I've got to go 9 o'clock, and my hips got to turn, and all these different things going on in your head. And because you've got a thousand different swing thoughts happening you don't officially execute any of them.

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There's some really cool brai

Friend of the show Chris Finn from Par 4 Success has put together a free assessment to see how your four main rotation centers measure up to other golfers.  Visit par4success.com/griffin to get your free assessment!