S2 Ep10

The speakers are excited to be back and discuss their recent experiences with golf. They talk about making swing changes and how a slight pause at the top of the backswing has helped improve their shots. They also mention a round of golf where one of them shot their best score ever. They discuss the importance of attitude and course management in the game. The Greatest Show on Earth We are back! We're back! Jason's back! We are here! Oh, I've missed that song. It's great. Should we just play it? There's only like 36 minutes left. Just keep it like that. Keep it in the background. Oh, just keep it there? Yeah. Come on, producer! Yeah, mate. I love the headphones you've got there. Those are great. That's a great set of headphones. Shout out to Telstra. Rewards. Got a little freebie. You just need the little thing coming across for the microphone. You look like a pool centre. Hey, let's lead the listeners into a little secret here. Have you done a structure for this episode, Tim? I've done a little structure. Just a little one. It's got a few little points because we have a lot to talk about. We've been on a hiatus, if you want to call it that, from podcasting and playing together. But that definitely hasn't stopped us from researching, learning, and definitely unpacking the game of golf. And a lot, and I mean a lot, has gone down since we last jumped on a little episode on the Three Putt Schmuckos. And it's exciting because we've just done so much with golf. And I don't know where we want to kick it off. I think one of the biggest things is the swing changes that we've been going through. Some have been fixed through mates and others have been fixed through professionals. Not fixed, maybe, but refined. Maybe is another word for it. Tweaked. Tweaked. Tweaked. Tuned up. Definitely tuned. We've been sent into the garage. We've come out with a bit of an upgrade. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well I think if you've got the structure ready and you're ready to take the reins on the episode, I'd love that. Because I've got no idea what's going on. I've got some surprises for you. I'm going to be doing a little bit of Googling on the fly. So I'm ready for that. Okay. I'm ready for a little surprise. I actually like surprises. I like surprises. Look, I want to get into... Well, let's bring it back maybe a week and a half ago. We've got this chat with our good friend and frequent guest episode joiner of Jane's, Raynell. And we have a little group chat where we just basically... It's all golf chat, really. Just sending through videos of us at the range or at the course or any videos that we see online that we think are relevant to what will help us in a game of golf. But one of the biggest things was a video that you sent through from you in your garage. Both James and I were just sending through little pointers, little things that you can maybe tweak. And one of the biggest things that we did was for you to add in the slightest of pauses at the top of your backswing. You can go from here because the results that you've been having from that will have been pretty, pretty good. Yeah, it was such a weird thing because you see these dudes on Instagram and that where they've got this three-year-long pause at the top of their backswing. And it just looks ridiculous. And it never occurred to me that maybe that's just even a psychological thing. I took it into my practice, took it to the range a few times. And you even mentioned it to me. It doesn't even look like you've paused. In my head, I get to the top of my backswing now. And I stop. And I try to get the club in the right position. And then I start my downswing. And it's removed a lot of that over-rotation at the top because it was almost like the top of my club was trying to kiss my left knee. I was so over-rotated. It was just out of control. And by slowing that down and bringing it back, it's sharpened me up massively. And I was at the range earlier. I can't remember if it was this week or last week. But I was aiming at the 111-meter flag. And with my pitching wedge, I legitimately hit the flag. Like the floppy bit of the flag, I punched it with the ball. Yeah. Outstanding. That was like a click to me. The consistency of that shot now brought back my little baby fade. And my wedges are absolute fire. Yeah. What did the pause actually do for you, though? Because we were saying that – and look, this is a couple of schmucks giving you these little pointers. And it's probably pointers that we've seen online. And so we go, oh, just give this a try and see how it goes. But do you feel like there's been a moment or what's the defining thing from that pause that's happening with your goal swing now? It just gives me a split second to get set up correctly for my downswing. So a big problem for me has always been my club pass. And it's allowed me to get to the top of the swing and then go, okay, now I need to come more shallow with it and almost try to – the feeling is to push the ball away from me. I'm trying to hit it away. We'll get into it, but the results are excellent. I love it. I love it. And that's one of the things – I had a lesson yesterday. One of the things he was talking about was he actually stood in front of me and he helped take my golf club back and bring it through. And the thought of bringing it through without me hitting him in front of me. So it's that come through and push through, like what you just said, push the ball away. I thought that was a really interesting way to think about it. I think that's – I don't know. For me, in improving my swing, it's more trying to catch on feelings in the swing, not so much words. So it's just through him physically moving my club to where it had to be and for my body to register what that would feel like was such a big thing. Yeah, it's been huge. That's like what John mentioned when he was on. It's that swing versus reel. It's like just necessarily because you feel like you're doing something might not necessarily mean that's what's actually happening. So for me, and like I mentioned earlier, the pause for me, it doesn't always look like the club even stops, but it's just allowing me mentally through that swing to go, okay, cool, I've stopped here, now I'm going that way. And it's changed everything. Yeah, that's so good. That's so good. But you had a pretty good round, though. You had a pretty good round a few weeks ago at the Springs. At the beginning of the year, you were talking about how you may never break 100, and now you're two shots away from breaking 90. So you are on quite a trajectory. Let's get into that real quick. I can see you're itching. Mate, I'm keen. Let me talk about it. Let me add it. It was Anzac Day, so late April. Our dear friend James and I had booked in a day at the Springs, and it was perfect. Woke up early with the family, went to the dawn service, came home, had brekkie, went to the course. I'm here. I've got all the time in the world. We've got a cart. We're cruising. It's going to be a great day out. Went around the front nine like pretty standard, like just pretty standard. A few little complications here and there. Nothing really worth riding home about, just kind of stock standard golf. So I got to the end of the nine, went, shot a 50 around the front. The front of the Springs was harder than the back, so I wasn't like, you know, going, oh, the day's over. This is ridiculous. 50 around the front for me at this point in time was like pretty good. Yeah. And we then teed off on 10. I got a par. Teed off at 11. Got a par. Gone. Hang on a minute. Something is happening. Then went 12 bogey, 13 bogey, 14 bogey. I fully switched off. And I remember saying to James, because I was getting cranky at my golf at that point. And it's bizarre, right, because like you're in the moment, you're playing bad shots, but like James mentioned to us, I was scrambling really well. Yeah. You're getting scores. I take a penalty, but then like, you know, I take the drop and then I put it on the green and I had one putt and get a bogey. And it's like, you just got a bogey with a penalty. That's a par, right? Yeah. The way I was playing, I was like grumpy about it. It was bizarre. But then I went 15 par, 16 par, 17. That hole is one of my nemesis hole. I've never done well on it. I got a double. And then I bogey 18 for a 42 around the back. Shot a 92. My best ever. James shot a 94. Shout out to him. So I beat him on the stick for the first time ever. Mate, it's an unreal back nine. Unreal. Unreal back nine. 42 around the back, but a 92, a net 64. It was just such a bizarre day. And it's something that I sent a voice memo to you today about. The attitude towards the game, we're just learning to manage that better because I still had the shits there and today when I played, which we'll get into, I had the shits today. The shits today were more warranted because I was playing poorly. But it's funny how you always feel like you've left something out there and you could always do a little bit better. But it's always going to be like that though, isn't it? You're always going to have those feelings no matter how good you get at golf. For sure. For sure. Yeah, so I shot a 92. I shot like best ever score. And for the same course a year ago, I shot 118. God, that's insane. That's so good. It's so good. That's 26 strokes better in a year. Yeah, you can just see there's just been so much more focus on golf and developing your swing and developing your game and your management and scrambling better and making better decisions and that course management what we talked about. It's just been week after week talking about it. It's just improved so much. For sure. I had today, like I said, the six holes of the springs for me is I've birdied it once but other than that, I don't think I've done better than a double. It's just a hole that has my number. That's how it feels. Like I just can't get around it. There's so many hazards around. It's like if you go right, you're out of bounds. You go left, you're in the water. You go long, you're in the water. Do you always approach it the same way? No. Depends on like where we're at and like how far I want to hit it. But like today, for example, I hit a 4-iron there and put it in the fairway and I had myself an 8-iron out. So it was like it was a good shot. But then when I went to play that approach, I was looking at the green going, OK, so right is a hazard, left is safe. I'm not going to aim for the pin. I'm going to aim for the left-hand side of the green on the edge because if I then hit a bit of a fade, it'll land on the green. If I hit a bit of a cut, it's going to be left and safe. That's where I think a lot of those good results are coming from now where before I would have just aimed at the pin. If I had a mishit, it would have been lost. Yeah. Where now it's I've hit it right, I've hit it good, and I'm on edge and I've got myself a little chip that's like you could Texas wedge it, right? Like it's not a complicated shot. That's where we've come a long way. And that was the other thing I wanted to get into about how far we've come. That day that I shot the 92, that was off the back tees. We didn't play the standard whites. We played the blues, which are the members' tees, and everything was further back, which I kind of think it made the springs easier. Believe it or not. Because on like the first hole, for example, you get to the tee. If you're playing off the whites, if you can hit a ball 200 metres, the water on the left is in play. You go back to the blues, you're not going to reach it. And there's just a lot of that throughout the course where it's usually you have to like rein it back and go, oh, I can't hit a big, long, wide shot here because all these things are in play. You go back to the blue tees, they're not in play. That's mainly the par 4s and par 5s. The par 3s, on the other hand, there's some where you hit an 8 or a 9 iron, now you're hitting a 4 iron. Yeah, that's a different story. Like that one over the water. Yeah. It's a different animal. And it was super interesting to see because getting off the tee with a 4 iron, I'm comfortable with. Where getting off the tee with a 3 wood, trying to avoid hazards that are long, I'm less comfortable with. But take me back a bit and give me the driver, I can't reach those hazards and let's go. So it calms you down a little bit. I think that might have been part of why I did so well that day was because I was a little more free. Because we'd get back and it'd be like, well, it's driver every day of the week here. Yeah, that's an interesting thought. I like it. Yeah, look, I've always been one to say I'm never coming back. I might have to. I think you have to. I think we have to play the blue tees because it's a completely different course. Yeah. And 6 is the prime example of that. I hit a 4 iron there today. It was a good shot. Probably could have hit 3 iron. Maybe it could have gone a bit longer. But anything longer than that is risky. Yeah. When you go back to the blue tees, it's a driver. You're another 50 metres back. Everything's out of the way. You can really rip into it. I feel it kind of changes the dynamic of the game a little bit. Because it's like the course has been designed from these situations that are further away. The people who can hit the ball further, we can't hit the ball further. Yeah. So it just puts you right in a good spot. Yeah. It felt like the distances were just working for us that day. And I shot a 92. My best ever round from the harder tees. Yeah. And you went there again today and hit a 95. So you're consistent. Did you go off the back tees today? No. I went off the whites. Right. So I went forward tees and I shot worse. I thought you would have learnt something. Yeah. I was on my own. I was in a rush. Yeah. But I had my best front nine. What, today? Yeah. What did you hit on the front nine there? 46. Yeah. We need to go down and play again. We do. I was thinking about it while I was going around. That my start to the back nine, I went a bogey, a double, a blowout, like four over. And I just sat and I thought to myself and I was going, this is really, really not good. This is really not good. But it's okay. You've had this little collapse and you can bring it back. And that was cool. Yeah. But then I started thinking and going, these used to be the norm over three holes. These used to be all the time. Yeah. Like going bogey, double, quad bogey, bogey, double, quad bogey. Yeah. But now it's like, I've had two bad holes. Yeah. And I'm having a meltdown. Like, what's going on? Yeah. There's actually no need for it either, because you're just out there by yourself. It's just like, what's the point? No good. It doesn't matter. No. After 12, I was like, why the fuck have I played this back nine? Yeah. I should have gone home after nine, because I had a great front. I was feeling good. I was like, I should have just bailed. Yeah. I got greedy. He wanted it. I wanted it. Yeah. It brings, like, just a while back, you were talking a little bit about attitude, which I just wanted to get back into a little bit, because we all know that that's been a big work on for me, when I'm out on the golf course and get angry and lose my shit. And I feel like a big part of that has been that I've never truly understood what a golf shot should actually feel like. I feel like I've always just, like, gone out and done the same thing and expected better results without actually putting the work in and understanding what it needs to feel like to produce better results, so that when I'm out there and I'm having a bad round, I'm like, I don't know what I can do better to fix it, because it's always the same. And it was like our weekend away, where on the first day, not to tease, I'm hitting them all right. And I'm going, what am I doing? Like, I don't know how to fix it. And I look around at you guys. I'm like, I don't know how to fix this. And then the next day, the same thing happened again. It's just like those same things kept happening and happening, which then, you know, sent me down a doomspire, because I'm like, I don't know what to do here. I don't know how to fix this. And it's just this time away from us playing and going to the range heaps and having a lesson, and I'm going to try and get another one, but just really getting a little bit more of an understanding as to the feeling. And I think that if I was to go back out and start having a bad round, I think I have that understanding of what the feeling should be now and how I can bring it back, rather than just, like, hitting and hoping. That's like the definition of insanity, isn't it, though? Like, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Like, you're just sending yourself nuts. Yeah, and I was. I was going nuts. I'm like, fuck this. I'm quitting. I'm quitting golf. And it was like, you can't just keep – you can't keep going out there and thinking something's going to change if you're not working on it or if you're not researching it or studying the game of golf. Like, you see me now when I'm watching all the pros golf swings, and I'm, like, pausing at each part of their backswing. I'm like, oh, right. And then on the downswing, I'm like, oh, right. That makes sense. And then the little hinge in the wrist and where the club face should be. Like, actually studying the game and researching it and having lessons. And, yeah, it's just been a really interesting month and a half, I reckon, just to step back a little bit and really view it differently and not just keep doing the same thing over and over. It's such an interesting thing where you fall into those habits and you go, like, I'm out playing golf. And I did it today. I was out there playing, using my new swing, the front nine. Like, there was that video I sent to you and James, and I've hit my pitching wedge on a par three. I've landed it within a metre to the pin, and it's razzed and spun back past the pin. Like, as close as you can get to a hole-in-one. I think it's, like, the closest I've had to a hole-in-one in the last year. Like, insanely close. And I was, like, as soon as it landed, I went, like, oh, my God, now I've got no camera and I'm by myself. No-one's going to believe me. No. No-one's going to believe me. Couldn't be any worse. Could not be any worse. Yeah. And it was millimetres from being a hole-in-one, but it razzed back. What was I saying? Where did we start with that? I got distracted there. Well, you got distracted because you only just got a hole-in-one. Valid. Well, just talking about the attitude and then the time away and the sanity and all that sort of stuff. He's lost. Fully lost now. He's lost. Anyway, mate, I could tell all you were thinking about was just hole-in-one. You're like, yeah, great point. Anyway, hole-in-one. No, it's something I was thinking about. Shit. Hey, we can come back. I'm fully going somewhere with that. I don't know, I've just lost it. Hey, I know what we can do. I know what we can do, because if it does come back, just hit the drum roll and I'll stop talking and then you can just continue with what you wanted to talk about. Yeah, copy that. What else is on the schedule for tonight, Tim? Well, actually, if you can say the word right, that would be great. What, schedule? That's better. You said you had some surprises for me, and we initially were talking about trying to do a little scramble event. There it is. I love it. We are talking about playing in an event. What we need from you, Timbo, is to get a GolfLink number, which means you either need to join a club, or we need to look into something like Future Golf, which I actually think either Future Golf or joining somewhere as a country member might suit us better because we play all over the place. Because there is heaps of scramble tournaments all over the place. Cool. Like, for example, on Sunday the 14th of July at War Hope Country Club. Huge. Huge. Bad news. I'll be in Vanuatu. How dare you. But Sunday, July 21st in the Hunter Valley. Ooh. Okay. These aren't just two people, though. These are groups. We need to get a team of four. Sunday, August 11th at Foster Tunkari. Sunday, August 11th at Port Macquarie Golf Club. Huge. Absolutely massive. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's a big one. Woo up. Cowinda Waters Golf Club. Mixed open. Friday, August the 23rd. That's near me. So what other caveats do you need to get into these? So you need a golf link number. What else? Yeah, basically you need to be a member, you need to get a team of four together, and you need to be able to enter. Okay. So we just need to assemble a team of four, which we can do, and we all have to have handicaps, which means you have to have a golf link number and you have to have three rounds associated with that. Yeah. Which we could work on between now and, like, August. And then we can enter Scramble tournaments. Cool. And potentially pro-ams, where, like, in a hypothetical wonderful world, you, James, and I could get partnered with a pro for a game. That's so cool. I thought I was the pro. Who are we inviting? Who's the third? Who's the third? Who's the third? What, Tim? Tim? Who's the third? The third person? What? What are you doing? The cheering button. Move four, buddy, not three. Continue. Anyway, we can enter a Scramble tournament. I think it's something we need to look into, right? Like, we're always... We're already looking at the longest day, but the longest day is more of, like, a... It's like an ultra golf race. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Like, you play 72 holes in a day. It's just, let's get through it without injury. That's all that matters. With this, you can compete and you can win prizes. I want prizes. Yeah, I want to compete. So we need to get a team of four. We need to assemble. Maybe we can, like, call in some favours from the podcast community and tee something up for a Scramble tournament somewhere. For sure. You think in a team of four Scramble, you're going to go pretty well. Yeah, but everyone's thinking that. Yeah. Everyone's thinking that, dude. There's got to be a whole lot of 70 to 80 scores, isn't there? Yeah, but there's, like, there's all these rules regarding handicap. So you can only have, like, so many people below five and so many people above 15. You can't have more handicap than X and you've still got to fit within a window. You've still got to get your team within a window. Right. So I think we look into it. I think it's an exciting option because even if it's, like, in a hypothetical world, I'm just going to throw out a little shout here to John Takawa. It's, like, halfway between us and him and he wanted to join our team and then we found someone else in a hypothetical world. Damn. It's very hypothetical. So hypothetical, but it could be cool. I think it could be an amazing option and something we definitely need to do. And I need to get on top of because I don't have a golfing number. Can you believe it? So, John. John. John, if you're listening, send us a message about the scramble. OK. You don't need to whisper, you can just ask. Righto, Timbo. What else is on the agenda, mate? Mate, the agenda is covered. I think we've had a pretty good catch-up here and a bit of an unpacking as to what's been happening and where we've been these last few weeks. And... Didn't you play golf recently? What? I went out and played six holes and lost all my balls. What about before that? What about before that? Didn't you go play somewhere, TC? Oh, yeah. I played Port Macquarie. I played Port Macquarie for the first time. It's a beautiful course. Port Macquarie is a beautiful course. I love how you just brought that up. It was. Oh, by the way, I played my local course for the first time. Maybe I'll just bring this up. Yeah. It's funny. It's not my local because there's a golf course closer to me than Port Macquarie, but it's only another five minutes down the road. But it was a pretty cool course. It's basically right next to the ocean, so you can hear the ocean the whole time you're there. We played on a Monday. It was super quiet. And the front nine was pretty flat and then the back nine became a little bit undulating. And I think I shot like a 99 or 100 for the first time there, which I was pretty happy with. Yeah, I mean, I had no idea what to expect and it was pretty chill just heading out there with my brother-in-law but I'm definitely keen to get back up there and I want you to come up and have a go at it because it's a beautiful course and it's kept well. Yeah, I'm dedicated to come play Port Mac and Wachopie. Wachopie is an absolute must. That would be a really good weekend because they're two entirely different courses. Warhope definitely feels more like a very country course, like that sort of blue mountains feel, just like nice, big, tall trees down the sides of the fairways and, yeah, very much a country course. And it would be cool if we played a winter day there because it would just feel like really... I think it would feel pretty special, like just such a beautiful place. So, yeah. Another thing we need to try and tee up is our trip up to Bonneville for later this year because I'm dead keen to go play that course. Well, that could be almost like, you know, you come up, play a couple of games in Port and we go up and play Bonneville on a Monday when it's open to the public. It's quiet. Who are you looking at there? I thought I heard someone laughing at my idea. Like, yeah, right. Yeah. But, Tom, you're overdue for a Port Macquarie visit and a game of golf because I've done a few trips down south for springs and gothy and all that. It's a lot. I'm due to come up. Do you know what I'm actually dead keen to do is go play Emerald Downs again because that was where this all started. It was that round at Emerald. Yeah. And I think I hit a 110 that day. Yeah, I'm not sure. Maybe. It was a long time ago. It was a long time ago. But Emerald... Yeah, Emerald's a great little course, mate. I really want to come back and play Emerald again. It's been over a year. Yeah. So I'm dead keen. I'm dead keen. Like, those three over a weekend would be huge. Yeah. The Port Macquarie Royale. The trio, yeah. Trio of dips. Yeah, that was good. Nice to be back and we'll see you on the next episode. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.