All Episodes
Previous Next
March 29, 2023 - Doug Collins Podcast
52:51
No one wants to see pro golfers shoot 75: The story of LIV Golf and the PGA
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
I'm back to the Doug Collins Podcast.
Got a great show for you today.
I hope, by the way, before I get to the Nuts Today Show, I hope you enjoyed the Amity Schlaes podcast from Monday and her discussion on the Forgotten Man, Coolidge biography.
By the way, also the Great Society, Amity Schlaes.
You don't want to miss this.
This is some good stuff, and it really hits at what...
It's going on in the world right now.
So share that video.
Share that podcast.
If you missed it, go back and download it.
Share it with some friends.
If you want a good look at where we are economically, that was a podcast you don't want to miss.
So go back and pick that up.
Today on the podcast, we're turning back to a little bit more of our everyday life.
I've got Mike McCall from Baja Resort Golf, a place where I play a lot.
This is where my home course is.
Mike's become a really good friend of mine.
PGA Professional.
One of those guys that can just walk up, take your club, and hit the ball straight as an arrow, you know, 200 yards.
I mean, it doesn't matter what.
I mean, just an amazing guy.
He's got some great advice for you if you're cleaning off your clubs, getting ready for another season, especially down here in the South.
You're coming down from the North.
It's time to get ready.
A lot of good discussion.
Also, great comments about the differences in the PGA Tour and the Live Tour.
So, we're going to get into that controversy, but we're going to get into that in just a little bit.
I don't want to not overlook, again, another tragedy in Nashville yesterday and this week of what happened in the shooting at the school.
Again, tragic person, mentally unbalanced.
I don't care what anybody says, you don't do that without having a problem in your life.
Also, it's really interesting to me is, again, we're starting to hear some of the, you know, take the gun mentality from this because they were using AR-15s and others in this situation.
This was someone who posted online that they were choosing targets, choose a target that was not defended.
Again, soft targets are the problem here, folks.
And it takes nothing away from the tragedy of the ones who've lost life.
I'm in prayer for them.
I've prayed for them.
And you can't make it up.
You can't take a parent and give them their child back.
That just doesn't happen.
But it is sad to me that the more we're seeing, the more and more of these shooters are picking soft targets.
In other words, targets that are not hardened.
They're not, you know...
In a way of being protected, it should be more of a concern to us.
And then you're going to have the whole issue with the transgender issue here, and you've already noticed that they're not talking about this as much in the mainstream media.
Folks, it needs to be talked about.
It was pointed out by someone just the other day, just in the last few hours about this tragedy, that they want to go after this, quote, assault rifles, in which you had seven killed yesterday, but yet at Virginia Tech, just about 15 years ago, you had somebody with a handgun kill 30-something.
Folks, it's the target, not the weapons being used.
People who have mental imbalance, who want to do things like that, will find whatever weapon they can to cause harm.
We've got to make sure, especially at these targets where our most vulnerable are, is finding ways to protect them.
A lot going on in other areas as well, but my prayers are with the folks in Nashville as they deal with this situation, and I pray that we find good solutions going forward in this.
Also, just as we look around in our communities and our society, as spring comes, as people get outside, make sure that we just get back into, there's a poll that came out this week that talked about our values of patriotism, faith, community involvement.
We're all plunging.
Folks, we're all in this together.
Okay, we got to realize Americans are Americans.
And that is what set us apart for so many years.
And so don't neglect your friends around you.
Don't neglect your family.
You never know when you, you may not see them again.
Say that you love them.
Tell them that you care about them.
Make sure that you're involved in your community's life.
Why?
Because it makes you a better person and it makes our communities a better person.
And that is just a thought for my day.
Now, let's get into some fun with Mike McCall from Valhalla Resort and Golf Club.
You will not want to miss this, especially if you love to play golf.
Talk to you later.
Hey everybody, you know about Legacy Precious Metals.
Legacy Precious Metals, you hear from, we talk once a month, we talk about Legacy Precious Metals, talking about Precious Metals being part of your portfolio, how they're your navigator.
Well, now they're not only navigating in a new way, they're actually giving you a new way to buy gold and silver.
In fact, Legacy Press Metals has developed a revolutionary new online platform that allows you to invest in real gold and silver online.
In a few easy steps, you can open an account online, select your metals of choice, and choose to have them stored in a vault or shipped to your door.
I'm more of a shipped to my door kind of person.
I enjoy having them with me, but they can do it either way, and you can now do it online.
It gives you real access to a dashboard where you can track your portfolio growth in real time, anytime.
You'll see transparent pricing on each coin and bar.
This puts you in complete control of your money.
This platform is free to sign up for.
Just visit LegacyPMInvestments.com and open your account and see this new investing platform for yourself.
Gold hedges against inflation and against a volatile stock market.
A true diversified portfolio isn't just more stocks and bonds, but a different asset class.
This platform allows you to make investments in gold and silver no matter how small or large with just a few clicks.
Remember, do as I have done.
Go to LegacyPMInvestments.com and get started today.
And now you've got a new tool to help you along in your investments.
Hey folks, MyPillow is excited to bring to you their biggest bedding sale ever.
For a limited time, you're gonna get the Giza Dream bed sheets for as low as $29.98, a set of pillowcases for only $9.98, and rejuvenate your bed with a MyPillow mattress topper for as low as $99.99.
$99.99, get a mattress pillow topper.
Look, they come in all sizes, they got all kinds of stuff, blankets, they've got duvets, they got quilts, they got comforts, they got body pillows, they got bolster pillows, they got all at big, big discounts.
And also, they're extending their money-back guarantee for Christmas until March 1, 2023, making them the perfect gift for your friends, your family, and for everyone you know.
Folks, and just from a personal note here, I have the Giza Dream Sheets.
They're on my bed right now.
I slept on them last night.
Some of the best sheets that we and Lisa and I have ever owned.
They are worth, I mean, at this price, they're a steal.
My wife and I have bought bed sheets, linens, at much higher cost.
It's supposedly much higher quality.
These from MyPillow are at the highest of quality, and at a price like this, you can't beat it.
So go now to MyPillow.com, use promo code Collins, C-O-L-L-I-N-S, or call 1-800-986-3994, and you'll get huge discounts on all the MyPillow bedding products, including the Giza Dream bed sheets for as low as $29.98, and get all your shopping done while qualities last.
Remember, put in that promo code COLLINS for these discounts.
Well, Mike, the biggest thing is golf's back in, ready to go.
Spring is hitting.
You know, what's the forecast this year for people who want to get out and play golf?
If you had one thing to start for people who maybe have put up the club for a few months, what's the best thing they can do to get started back again as we get into a lot of different topics today?
You know, the first thing you know they want to do is always check their equipment.
Seems like a lot of times we put it up in the closet, we get out, and then the grips are falling apart and everything else.
So just like if you're getting in your car and you haven't drove it for a long time, why don't you just check it out?
So you just need to find someone that can go check out your equipment and make sure that what you're hitting is going to be helpful.
Because if it's not helpful, then it's going to be a hindrance.
Well, and this is something, and as folks know on the podcast, we're with Mike McCauley.
He's at my home course up at Valhalla at Ennisbrook Golf Course.
We're having a good time up there.
I go up there and hit, and if there's ever a project in the work, it is me, and Mike is working on that project to get us linked together.
But you made a comment the other day, and I want to hit on this for all of our folks.
We've got a lot of people who listen to the podcast who, you know, they're duffers.
I mean, they go out there when they can.
They play.
They have fun.
And one of the things that really struck me in a conversation you and I had recently was also a lot of our listeners probably are hunters.
They shoot.
They, you know, they're guns or bow and arrow and everything.
And one of the things that I would never...
Do when I'm shooting a gun is try to shoot the bullet for the gun or an error.
I wouldn't try to pull harder to get a better, you know, to shoot.
But yet we tend to not trust our equipment when it comes to golf, do we, Mike?
No, we don't.
Because a lot of times, unfortunately, we self-fit ourselves.
So we'll go out and buy something that is off the rack.
I know that you came up and we fit you to your clubs.
The tough part is you're not the standard height of anyone.
I mean, you're a little bit taller.
You have longer arms.
So there's no way.
I mean, if all of a sudden you self-fit yourself and you say, I'm 6'5", then I need longer, longer clubs.
And you get them.
They could be wrong.
And if the clubs are wrong, then you're going to have bad results and then you're going to think it's going to be the Indian when sometimes it is the arrow.
It could be.
Well, and one of those things is you can also do this by sort of getting your measurements together and you can work up to clubs.
You don't have to go out and all of a sudden buy $5,000 worth of clubs.
You can do this in a way that is easier on the budget, number one, but also gives you the results you're looking for, wouldn't you, Mike?
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
You got to determine, you know, in your equipment, where do you need the most help?
Is it in your irons?
Is it in the woods?
I mean, if you're hitting a driver that was, you know, created in 1988, then you're giving up a lot of yardage.
Yeah.
Okay, I'm just so funny here.
Is there such a thing, Mike, as a wood anymore?
Uh, no.
They're called metal woods.
But I think that's always been stuck.
We call our drivers our wood.
You know, in any other thing, it's just always been translated that way.
I mean, they started as persimmon woods, and now they're titanium.
So, technology.
It is pretty amazing.
You know, let's hit on that for just a minute, because we're talking about just, you know, this is your spring cleaning.
This is your getting out for golf.
You know, people are getting ready.
Down here in the South, we've had our good days.
We've had our bad days.
We're back into that mode now where people are trying to get out.
Up North, you're still waiting.
You still got a little bit of go.
This is a great time to sit with a PGA Pro, somebody who knows the business here, Mike.
In looking at equipment, Where do you see...
And I'm going to try to ask questions that maybe people don't normally ask.
You've known me a long time now.
I ask these kind of weird questions.
But where do you see most people's trouble?
If you could go to...
And you just broke that up pretty interesting.
You said the woods, our drivers, our woods, our irons, and our lower irons, which would be your chipping and putting.
Where do most people, if they could buy, say...
Where would you see the most value for people in their scores?
Honestly, the putter.
Really?
Yes, absolutely.
You've got to think, how many times are you going to use your putter during your round?
Pretty much on every hole, unless you're going to hole it out, and then you hit a really good shot.
Okay, Rory.
Rory and Scotty, we're not going to get there, okay?
I mean, we know that we get fit to our irons and our woods, but there's very seldom that, you know, we have people come in and say, I need to get fit to my putter, because the length, it has all an effect.
I mean, you know, if you look at the world of teaching, there's an art to how we go about, you know, teaching the swing, but there's a science to putting.
And it's a slower movement, so you can get more data.
And, you know, if you're getting the ball rolling better, then you're going to have a much higher likelihood of making putts.
I mean, a putter is going to salvage around.
Wow.
You know, Tiger Woods has always talked about that being one of his biggest...
He was known for...
Of course, when he first came in, the 300-yard drive, that was John Daly in a cigarette.
I mean, nobody was really...
Yes, absolutely.
By the way, folks, on a tight note here, if you ever get a chance to watch the John Daly 30 for 30, rip it and grip it, hit it hard, is...
It's both sad and funny at the same time, to see somebody who could play.
And again, before we get back into golf, doesn't a John Daly story make you just question everything about golf?
I mean, here's somebody who is just all over the place in his personal life, all over the place and everything, but yet can step on a golf course, take a club, and different weights, literally, in his life, Win a PGA Championship, win a British Open, win other players, and can still shoot in the mid-70s.
Oh, absolutely.
I bet he has a lot of raw talent.
But the one thing is, you know, it don't matter how you swing.
If you know your mechanics and you know what you have to do to achieve that result and you can repeat it, then you're going to be good.
I mean, it could be absolutely wrong, but if you do it the same way every time, then you're going to end up good results because you have the ability to aim different directions.
Yeah.
The Lee Trevino world of golf, you know?
Absolutely.
Lee is one that, you know, if you try to pick a model swing, no one ever goes to Lee.
But the one thing about Lee Trevino is he had some of the best fundamentals in how we use the ground.
His footwork is impeccable.
And he understood his swing.
I mean, that's amazing.
As we look at...
One of the things that we go through...
And looking at fundamentals.
Is golf the repeatable aspect?
Is that the big thing with golf?
Is finding the right motion, the right swing that hits for you, but then repeating it over and over and over and over again?
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And you need to do that along with, you know, your PGA professional.
That way you understand your biomechanics.
You know, how you're built.
I mean, if all of a sudden, you know, you look at, for example, Adam Scott.
Adam Scott's golf swing is absolutely just perfect, but he is absolutely asymmetrical with height and arm span.
So if you try to copy his, but your arms are three inches longer than your height, then it will never happen because the clubs are going to get delivered in a different plane.
So yes, you have to know what you can achieve.
I mean, if somebody comes to me and goes, you know, my main goal is to hit the ball 400 yards and you're 5'3", it's going to be tough.
It is.
Well, back to the playing aspect here.
Going back to getting ready, getting that preparation done, and I think this is something that we've talked about, you and I talking as we go through it.
The swing, the feet, staying centered, staying steady.
What are some good things?
And you mentioned something to me that I had never really thought about.
I'm an old baseball, football, basketball player.
You know, when I warm up, it's, you know, do a 5-10 jumping jacks, pull my leg back, stretch down.
You know, over the last few weeks, though, you have forced me to take...
A pole, basically, and begin to do more stretching side to side, up and out, and spending...
I'm not through the 45 minutes yet.
I'm making a full confession here.
But at least more than just two or three minutes here.
How important...
Let's take an off-the-golf strategy.
How important is that stretching and that...
To the once, twice, at most, three times a week golfer who's just trying to stay in the 80s or break 100. How much is that important?
It's very important.
It was funny.
I was just scrolling through Instagram the other day, and then I saw someone post a picture of a golf tournament.
And the most interesting thing to me was someone had a yoga mat, and they had it rolled out right by the putting green, stretching.
And then somebody goes, don't bet against him.
I mean, basically what that tells me is that physiological change that you have to do with the body, if we have a vision that we want to get to, we want to get deeper in our swing, the club higher, if we physically can't do it, then we're never going to achieve what we want.
So, yeah, I mean, if you think about a tour stop, at a tour stop, they're going to have physio vans and, you know, people go there and they stretch out before they even play.
If you're not getting your body ready, then how do you expect it to respond?
So, you know, that side of it is super important.
Yeah.
And also measuring and seeing where your limitations are.
Hmm.
Okay.
So you're a PGA Tour.
You're a PGA professional.
You've been there.
You've been to the tournaments.
You've watched it.
You've been behind.
You just mentioned something that people don't see.
So you're telling me that those guys who we see go out there and play all the time, and you may have watched it on Full Swing, you know, the Netflix or whatever, but these...
Gym workouts that you see, Roy, or you see these stretching workouts that you see those, as you said, the physio trailers that are at these tents.
They're doing that before they ever go out to the range, right?
Oh, yeah.
They're doing their pre-round warm-ups, which is getting stretched out, making sure all the muscles are ready to fire.
They're going and playing their round of golf, and then afterwards, they're going to work out.
Because, you know, what they want to do is feel like they stay the same all the time.
If all of a sudden you took two weeks off and did nothing, and then go out there and try to hit a golf ball, your muscles are going to change.
They have a regimented program and routine that they stick to.
Right.
You know, all my college players, they have things called, you know, 5.30 a.m.
workouts.
Right.
Which is, they're in the gym before most people are waking up.
Yeah.
Okay.
Is it, from your, you know, watching, and you see players come up, and we're going to talk about the course up there in Innsbruck just a little bit, but we're getting to the thing.
When you've launched and invented other courses, is it, the more you've studied golf, and the more you've studied swings, and now this amazing, you've got that thing on your phone that you can draw lines on, you know, like my positioning and how that works.
I've got to talk to you about that because that's pretty cool.
Anyway, in my head.
Yes, I'm a head bouncer, folks.
As you cannot tell in the thing, I move my hands and everything else.
Mike has got my legs down to where they're not moving now.
That is a good thing.
I'm not swaying tire of pizza here on something.
But is it more and more amazing to you as you get older that golfers who...
Maybe play once a week, twice a week.
Maybe hit a couple of times.
Can still be consistent.
Does that still amaze you now?
It does.
But I think the world of YouTube and Instagram and everything else is giving you aspect on how people learn and how people are teaching.
You know, sometimes it's like going to a casino and rolling the dice.
You might find something on Instagram that does fit you.
Right.
But there's a high likelihood you're going to find something that doesn't.
So that's why I say you always go to your PGA professional and say, hey, I saw this the other day.
Do you think it could apply to me?
Yeah.
Well, that brings me to a lot of these aids that are out there, training aids.
I saw one the other night that looked like a stick that broke it out.
You put your arm up under, it put up under here, and it's supposed to...
I mean, I'm sure they have some value, but frankly, I've never seen a professional use it.
But, you know, I mean, is those, like the towels under the arms, I mean, what are the things like that out there that are legit?
Or maybe there's some things that you just say, you know, like you look at the, you know, the Vegematic or whatever, say, folks, don't go buy this thing.
This is just not going to help you.
Like the Broken Indy Club, I never understood that one.
You know, where I suppose if you hit it, it stayed in.
But if you did, if you went off just a little bit, it broke.
It's like, okay, I don't understand this.
I think a training aid has a purpose.
But first, you got to decide, is it going to correct something I'm trying to do?
If it's not going to correct something I'm trying to do, then you might be, you know, jumping in the wrong realm of where you need to work.
Yeah, there's a lot of good training aid.
There's a lot of some that make me question.
But, you know, in the end of it, you know, everybody's trying to sell their widget.
And I call a training aid a widget.
And at the end of it, the reason it is for sale is it's for sale.
So the goal is to find something that will tie in to what you're working on.
And the one that you was talking about earlier that goes under your arm here is trying to stay connected, connected rotation.
If you disconnect from it, everything starts flying.
You get this chicken wing and other things happening.
But yeah, training aids are important.
But first, you got to, one, understand what it's trying to do and how to properly use it.
If you're using it wrong then it's going to create more of a problem.
Well, and it could be working on something that's not a problem for your swing.
Yeah, and that's why you have to have that trusted PGA professional that you can go talk to and say, look, I got this.
I have one of my students that his dad loves training aids.
And it don't matter what it is, I can say the word training aid and his eyes just pop up and he goes, here's my card, I'll order it now.
I mean, I think he's probably up to 15 or 20. And if I give him five more, he'll order them.
But there's a purpose for everything.
And you have to first identify why I'm going to use it and what is that effect?
If I don't know what it is, why I'm using it, what's the effect, then why do I do it?
Why do we tend to...
Is this the old guy and gal mentality?
I'm going to put it to both.
It's a sport.
I can just go out there and do it.
I'm a jock.
Why do we apply that?
Because golf...
It's so unique in its ability.
It's kind of like tennis.
In a sense, there's a flow to it.
But golf is so mechanically driven.
More than football, I mean, a good swing.
Baseball is probably your closest analogy, you know, in many ways.
It is.
The toughest part about golf is, you know, one side that we hardly ever hear mentioned is it's mentally taxing.
Because I don't know if you've been out there and hit a shot, all of a sudden you hit that shot and you think of 15 different reasons why it went that way.
And then how are you going to correct it when you get to the next shot?
And then you just hit that one and five minutes later you got to the next one and you've already created a new swing in your brain.
Well, it's like last night.
I was actually out working on, and folks listening to the podcast here don't see Mike fall out here.
I was working on my chipping with my 56 degree.
I had my flop doing about 20, 30. And it was on loose, probably part of the problem, and I'm going to blame the ground here.
You'll love this.
It was on some clover, wet ground.
Anyway, I'm doing about 30 yards, 30 yards just to flop it up.
50-50, okay?
I mean, one time I'd swing and it would go, I'd dig too much or I'd hit behind and it'd go five yards.
The next one I'd hit and I'd scull it and it'd go 60 yards.
The next three I would do.
And you're sitting there and I noticed myself last night.
I'd set my set up and I was setting up too close.
I'd set up and I'd move my feet.
Then I'd change again.
I'd lean forward.
I'd keep my feet down.
And you're exactly right.
Wasn't there a book years ago, The Mental Game of Golf or something like that, Yes.
That was real popular about 20 years ago?
They were.
I think it was called...
There's one that I've looked at.
It's called the golfer's mind.
Okay.
And, you know, all of a sudden it's how you approach things, how you...
You know, one of the things I think as far as in the golfer's mind, if you can create a routine, stick to the routine, get involved in the routine, and get caught up in the routine...
Then you don't start, you know, thinking about what is the result going to be.
So if we're thinking about what the results going to be versus going into the routine, then we've already set ourself up for failure.
So I like to think routine versus results.
Okay.
You know, you sounded just like a guy we've had on this podcast.
We've had John Dudley, who is a world-class bow hunter.
He has been on the world tour.
He's a hope hunter, but he also does target.
We've had on people discussing shooting, and I've watched a lot of shooting, especially marksmen.
When they talk about, you know, the Chris Kiles of the world, the American snipers, those, you know, when they talk about training shooting, it's exactly what you just said.
It is they go through the same pattern every time.
They line the gun up.
They get the gun.
They put the...
The cartridge in.
They set it up.
They sit back.
They breathe.
They look.
And then fire.
And that's what they do.
And they know it's going to hit whatever it hits at.
And that's what you've got to do in golf.
You've got to do the same repeatable motion because it puts your brain in a state of ease.
And when your brain's in a state of ease, then the pathways that you work so hard on creating to get the muscles to be responding to what you're doing, it just naturally happens.
And all of a sudden, during your routine, if something comes in and changes your perspective and it makes you diverge from what you're doing, you have to restart.
So, and that's very important.
Well, it's what you tell me all the time is being instinctual, and I can tell it in my swing.
Like, I've had a couple of times when I'm hitting on the mat, hitting into the net, or hitting on the range, and I hit a couple of bad ones, and I visibly get frustrated.
And then I'll just step up there, just line up, and just swing, and there it goes.
I mean, it just, you know, it's like your brain says, you know, let me work, and I'll do it for you.
But we all get into that pattern.
Yeah, you know, if you're measuring brainwaves, especially in putting, you know, going back to what I said earlier, there's a science to putting.
You go through your routine, you get your reads, you know where your high point is, you know where you're trying to get it to.
But before you hit it, the brain should just calm down.
And just let it happen.
If the whole time you're thinking you're trying to do it, then you're all of a sudden trying to still control the small muscles in your body and that twitch muscles is going to create a bad impact.
That brings me to an interesting question.
If I just showed you pictures, and this is leading to another question, if I just showed you pictures of people on your golf course today I showed you their swings.
I showed you their putting.
Do you think you could probably guess about where their candy cap is?
Absolutely.
Without a doubt.
Without a doubt.
And that leads to my other question.
You told me this the other day, and you showed me actual video proof of it.
What is one of the biggest issues you can tell from barely getting by, decent, getting better, really good tour?
You showed me a picture of how their body looks.
Yes.
I mean, you know, the biggest thing that we try to control is our head and our spine.
If all of a sudden people are moving out of their spine, basically you have front bend.
If they're changing the front bend, it's going to elevate everything.
If you elevate the rib cage, the pelvis, the knees, Then all of a sudden, the arms are all connected to that, so the club's going to move up.
Staying centered, staying stable is the key to getting that club back to square.
Movement is almost a double-edged sword.
You've got to have movement, but you have to have stability.
That's why we go into that world where you've got to be more rotary.
You've got to be able to turn and turn in that plane and then execute it there.
Movement is good.
But it also could be the detriment to the game as far as your game.
Yeah.
And then making that turn and having your body facing where you're hitting.
That's a huge aspect to this.
Yes.
And the other thing that I see a lot is people don't know how to properly align their self up to where their intended line is or where they're trying to hit.
A lot of times they have that, what I call that carry-on knowledge.
You know, that last time I hit the ball, it went way to the right.
So this time I'm going to aim way to the left because, you know, it's been going to the right and then it goes way left.
Okay.
You have to have short-term memory.
Okay, got to be Nemo.
Which means you got to forget about what you just did.
Yes, absolutely.
Nemo golf, I love it.
We may come up with a new podcast called Nemo Golf.
I think it's great.
Well, I'm going to confess here for all of our listeners on the podcast today.
Mike has been working on, and even my sons, who my youngest son played at golf in high school, and he's got a fairly natural swing.
He's pretty good.
My older son's working on it, and we play golf, and we play together.
And one day, about three weeks ago, we were up playing at Eastbrook, and we played, and...
Cameron, my youngest, said, well, you hit it where you're aiming.
I said, what are you talking about?
He said, look where you're aiming.
And I was set up, literally, not thinking, but last night, breakthrough here.
I am lining up, working on the chipping, and I realized that your body...
Has to be in line with your target, not your eyes.
And so I know this may sound, and for all of our listeners, I know you've learned it.
I share on the podcast a lot.
But for me, physically, I was still using what I would, and almost, and Mike, you've watched me hit, and you've actually brought this up to me.
I'm using about a 10 degree off angle.
Because I was using my eyes to say, okay, I'm looking at it.
I'm okay not realizing that I've not turned my body to where my body...
The target and the body are the same instead of like this.
I turn like this.
Yes.
I mean, I wish I would say that I hit everyone within three inches of that.
After that, it didn't happen.
But at least now I know can...
Understand what you're talking about setting up is so important and getting somebody to watch for you or even videoing you.
Is that important for a golfer who's trying to improve their score to have somebody video their swing?
It's very important because, you know, if you look back, what I look at is how do we learn?
I mean, how did we learn to walk?
Yeah, we watched.
How did we learn to write?
We watched.
You know, I always use the analogy as a small child.
I'm sure the first thing that was on our brains was there's food over there.
I've got to get up and go to it because, you know, if it's there, I got to get to it.
So we learn by watching what other people do.
So with the new technology, You know, phones can video the gosswing at such a good rate that you can see everything.
So that is very critical to know where we're lined up.
You know, it's that old analogy of the two train tracks.
You know, train tracks are parallel.
But if you're looking at them, they start to look this way.
And that's when we get off because we think there's going to converge at some point in time.
But it's equal distance no matter where you go.
And then the other thing you have to use is an intermediate target.
I mean, when you're trying to identify where you're trying to hit to, if you're looking at 200 yards out, your brain will start playing tricks on you and you change your alignment based on what you see versus something, you know, 18 to 24 inches in front of you.
Just aim the club at it, square your body up to that club or get it perpendicular.
And then you're good.
And then identify what you're trying to hit.
You said a little while ago how the eyes play a major role into it.
And it's also a major role in putting.
And that's why one of the first things we want to do is you got to have your putter length proper enough where you're getting your eyes over the ball.
That way, when you do turn your head, You're looking down your line.
So that is probably the only time in golf we're trying to get over top of it to see the line where it's in our true form.
Wow.
Okay.
And that's why the lines on the...
And I've watched this, and I have actually an aide here that...
A ball marker, putting the line on the ball, those kind of things like that for those who are watching our video.
I always wondered why.
I always just thought it was something for the good golfers.
They just do this because they want to look good.
It really matters how that ball rolls when you're putting it.
I mean, we think about the 300-yard, like I was watching the match play this weekend, and it really just, you know, at a moment, watching Rory and Scheffler and calling these guys their perfect turn.
I mean, 300...
I mean, 360-yard drives, I mean, just unheard of.
But yet, when they get on the golf, on the putting range, you still see their balls that they have on the green have the lines.
They're looking for that line.
What's that difference?
I mean, the main thing is what you're trying to do is, you know, going back to that routine.
You have a routine.
On what you do when you're looking at a green.
You're trying to find that apex.
So that little line that you have you draw on there, you set that ball down and point it at that apex.
So that gives you your intended direction.
And then you can square yourself up to it.
So there's very seldom in putting that you're actually aiming at your intended target.
You're just trying to let the slope of the green and gravity feed it along where the grain could be pushing it to where you're trying to get it to.
Good putters never try to hit it at the hole.
They try to hit it to their apex where it'll feed.
It'll feed into it.
TaylorMade now has, and I'm sure if this is popular, it'll be others will start doing it.
And TaylorMade now has made a stripe, basically, ball that sort of incorporates that into it already, correct?
That's cool.
I mean, I can't wait to look at that as we go forward.
All right, folks, one of the things, before we go, we're going to transition here, because if you've got a tour pro on there, we've got to talk fun about the tours.
But biggest lessons out of this, let's just recap real quickly.
Consistency, good consistency.
And for me, here's the problem.
Practice doesn't make perfect.
It makes permanent.
And so if you've got a bad swing and you keep swinging the same way, you either better know how to overcompensate for it or it's just going to stay bad.
So practice is good, but good practice is better.
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's one thing.
Number two is getting equipment that fit.
Even if it means two clubs a year, you know, just find you clubs that fit and then adjust the rest.
And then number three, again, having some, you know, save up, ask for it for, you know, birthday money, save your money if you can, go to a professional or watch the professionals and get some help, you know, as you go along.
So Mike is great.
If you're in Helen, if you're up in that part of the way, we're going to give you some more information about the course and the resort here in just a minute.
But, you know, you can go see him.
There's other PGA professionals.
But this is just a morning, you know, that we're sitting here talking, saying, hey, look at these ideas about your head, your swing, your stance, your lineup, your equipment, putting.
Those are the kind of things that will get you there.
Because remember, we all like to have the huge drives.
We all like to have the 300-yard drive.
But most of your swings are going to be from your 7-iron down.
And if you don't know how to hit from your 7-iron down to your putter, you can hit 380-yard drives all day long and you're still going to bogey, double bogey off.
So those are the things to talk about.
Switching gears now for a minute.
You made a comment the other day that I absolutely loved.
I have been going back and forth on this PGA Live deal for a little while.
I get what some of the Live players were talking about, saying, you know, we're the reason that people come to watch these tournaments.
We should get more.
And the PGA, of course, holding out like the PGA always seems to do over the years.
Well, you know, we're the tournament of champions, not giving them money.
So they went to Liv.
But now you've set this up, and you made a comment the other day, and I'm going to let you repeat it.
And it was, I said, well, how long do you think Liv will, you know, is this going to actually last?
And you made a comment about Phil Mixon.
I want you to tell me, tell me that comment again.
Well, basically what I said is, you know, Liv was set up on the player's benefit.
I meant, you know, the tough part is you got people that have been playing golf for 20 years.
And if you add up what they've earned in that 20 years, they can make that in one.
The tough part is, I don't know anybody that works for a living that says, if I can make the same thing in one year that I've done in 20 years, then I'm going to go do it.
But the hard part is there's going to be only so much time That people are going to say, well, I want to go watch these professionals shoot 75 day in and day out.
Because they have, I mean, there's no cut.
Right.
Which means that they are guaranteed to make a check.
Yep.
Which in turn, it makes me question, you know, how much are they going to put into their craft?
I believe you're already seeing that.
And look, I was one, and again, for me, all these folks out there, and I get it, there's just a lot of hypocrisy going on about Saudi Arabia and Dubai and all these others.
I mean, we go play tennis matches over there.
We do Formula One.
I get it that this is being basically bankrolled by the Saudi government and all their human rights abuses.
I'm not taking away from that.
But they're also the same ones who bankroll in these Emirates countries and these others where human rights violations go on all the time.
They're bankrolling those events too.
So let's just be honest about that part of it.
Is there a problem?
Sure, they need to be addressed.
But you're hitting that perfectly.
What I notice is after the first, when you have, you know, number one in the world, Dustin Johnson.
I mean, beautiful swing, competitive.
I mean, you had Mickelson, who, you know, ranks in top 10 of players in history, okay?
You know, you get up, then you get some of the up-and-comers, the Kepkas, the Cameron Smiths, the others.
But what I have noticed is, is if, is, I don't see any of them winning the tournaments.
It's the others that we really never heard of that decided to go take a paycheck that are winning the tournaments.
The ones who sort of, you know, wanted the money, so to speak, have said, well, I've got my money.
I'm not up against Rory this week.
I'm not up against Tiger this week.
I'm not up against Jon Rahm this week.
I don't know if you've watched any of it, but I seem to have noticed a fall off in their play.
Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest, I haven't watched any of the live.
And, you know, you hear about it a lot.
You know, it's probably one of the biggest talked about things in golf.
You know, the fundamental thing that I have against it is it's only 54 holes.
Every other event, there's a cut.
And then there's four rounds.
I mean, and there's no cut in live.
And it's only 54 holes.
I mean, I understand that it gives, you know, the player more time to spend with his family.
That's their choice.
But day in and day out, you know, I don't think there's enough There's not as much pressure to perform.
And when you do that, then you're not going to work as hard.
Right.
And I think you're seeing that.
Also, you brought up a great point when we were talking about this the other day, and that is some of these are going to come back and play the majors.
I mean, if they've won the major, they get a right to come back and play.
But they don't get a right to come back to play PGA or US Open, right?
If they've been banned from those, they've been banned from them.
But they can play the Masters.
They can play the British Open.
And it's going to be interesting here in a couple weeks when the world comes back to that beautiful hamlet of Augusta.
And you see a Dustin Johnson.
You see a Phil Mickelson down there.
You see these, you know, champions.
And as you made a great point, they've not played four rounds of golf in a while.
Competitive golf.
Especially for, yeah, competitive golf at a location that I mean, if you walk the grounds there, by the time you're finished, you know you went on a little hike.
There's a lot of ups and there's a lot of downs.
Exactly.
Well, in the Masters, I mean, it's just, you know, the event like none other.
You know, it's just none other.
And I guess maybe the close second will be St. Andrews on a blustery day or something.
But, you know, but...
But this is where it's going to tell, and I think that's what's going to really happen.
But what really bothered me, though, Mike, and I want your opinion on this, it really bothered me that after Liv started up, after Greg Norman, and they all got started last year, and all this started going down, that Tiger and Rory, now this didn't bother me, but Tiger and Rory got everybody together, and Rory has really...
I had a different opinion than I watched that series, The Full Swing, and talked about what his motivations are.
And I gained a lot of respect.
And I'll be very frank with it.
But they got together and they said...
They got the players together last...
I think it was August or whatever.
And they said, okay, look.
Here's what we got to do.
And then the PGA, whether they want to admit it or not, except for the no cut, and except for the 54 holes, have basically...
Adopted a great deal of the live strategy as far as paying the golfers.
And I read an article in Golf Digest or one of the other day that said basically that some of the 75 to 150 ranked players are saying, now you sort of made this, if you get the top 50, we're going to cater to you.
And I said, okay, I can see that.
Why did it take the live for PGA to actually do that?
I think, you know, the hard part is we get very caught up in doing what we do the same all the time, even with our golf swing.
I think it just opened the eyes to the tour, and they're saying that we've got to protect the integrity of our players.
I mean, if we don't have the players there, will we have the draw?
And if you don't have the draw, then how do you stay, you know, active?
Yeah.
Well, I think that's going to be it.
I'm looking forward to this, and maybe we'll come back on later in the summer, and we'll, after the two big majors, the Masters and the Open, and say, okay, here's what live players did, and here's what live players didn't do, as it goes through there.
Because I really feel like, and to me, though, and I read something the other day, and I was watching, Dustin Johnson seems like he was ready to retire.
It was almost like he was burned out.
He went, he got a lot of money, and basically he's going to play and do what he wants to do.
And he said, you know, I don't care anymore.
But now Ian Poulter, God bless him.
Go get your money, Ian.
I mean, you got to love players like that.
As we go.
Alright, before we get gone though, this is, I also want to emphasize, especially for our listeners all across the country, but it's in Georgia as well.
If you enjoy playing golf, if you enjoy getting away, Helen, Georgia is one of the prettiest places in the state of Georgia.
For my listeners all across the country, you may not know this.
Helen, Georgia, in the mountains, it's about 25-30 minutes away from my home, is the third most visited City in the state of Georgia after Atlanta and Savannah, which most people don't realize.
Helen is this little hamlet.
The history behind it is pretty incredible.
About 45 years ago, 50 years ago, they made a Bavarian-style little village.
It is now grown up.
The big draw for Helen back in the 60s and 70s was it was the only wet city in the whole county, and really several counties, so a lot of people came over to Helen.
But there is a place called the Valhalla Resort, Ennisbrook Golf Course.
This is where Mike works.
This is where he is the general manager of this property.
Jerry and them have bought this.
Mike, tell us about the golf course.
I know it's changed over the years.
Some people may have remembered it a long time ago.
I know y'all are doing some improvements.
What makes your golf course so special?
I think the number one thing is just natural surroundings.
You're playing golf.
In, you know, the foothills of the Appalachia Mountains.
And what I love about, you know, Valhalla Golf is every hole is unique.
There's many times that you can go play a golf course and afterwards you're like, I can't remember this hole.
Was it four?
Was it six?
What was that hole?
Every hole here is unique.
It's an old style course.
It has, you know, smaller greens, tight fairways.
You know, one of the things that's happening in the world now, they're talking about restricting the distance a golf ball will fly.
And I've always said, well, if you change the parameters of the golf course, then you're going to restrict how far someone wants to hit it.
You know, this is a target demanding golf course.
You have to You have to come here knowing where you're aiming and where you're going to hit the ball.
And then once you get on the greens, there's so much undulation.
You know, there's greens here that are very similar to a little place in Augusta, that the greens are so much slope.
It's a course that you can come play You know, every week, you know, 50, 60 times a year, and it's a unique experience every time.
And now that we're paired with the hotel, which is a luxurious boutique hotel with everything with King Suites, we have, you know, three different dining options, a world-class spa.
I mean, we have everything that that traveler would, you know, want In a setting that makes you feel like you're at home.
It's a wonderful place.
Lisa and I love it up there.
It is just great.
I go and this is, you know, get to play.
Mike is right about the uniqueness of the course and it's a course at Target Rich.
I'll just say this.
If you're a, and let's just say this, if you're a Florida golfer or you're a, even Atlanta area and you shoot 90-ish, bring extra balls.
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah, it is a tight course, and it's frustrating, but don't get frustrated.
The natural beauty of this course is worth coming for.
And it's, like I said, and especially in evenings and others, you come up on some of these holes that are just, one of my favorites is, is it 15, this right after the big part three?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes.
15 is a par 3 that goes straight down the hill.
It has about a 200 foot vertical drop straight down.
So it plays like a, you know, on the scorecard is 178 yards.
But then when you get up there, you hit it 135 and it just feels like it's in the air forever.
And then finally it lands on the green.
We hope.
Yeah, and they got a little creek right in front of it.
And then the next one, 16, is just beautiful, backing up into the green area.
There's a house that sits on the other side, and you just look at it.
It's just absolutely incredible.
So, folks, look, I'm going to put in the liner notes for the show, the show notes.
I'm going to have the link for Valhalla Resort.
It's where you can get in touch with the hotel part.
If you're just coming up, I mean, even coming for a few days, go to the hotel, got a spa, you've got the quaintness and the fun of Helen, and then you can get in a great round of golf.
Or if you've got a few days to spend, call Mike ahead of time, see if you maybe could get in on some lessons, but also they have a...
What do you call it?
Simulated golf as well.
I mean, there's things that you can play there.
If the weather happens to be bad, you can always look into that option as well.
But again, the folks at Valhalla are great folks.
They mean the world to me.
And Lisa, can't think of just a cute more place to go.
Lisa and I have spent...
Several nights up there just, and it's only, like I said, about 30 minutes from the house, but it's a getaway.
With the Sky Bar, you're overlooking the Appalachian Mountains, Chimney Top, there's just so many things up there that you wanna, and for me, especially in the spring, summer, and then into the fall, you get up there and you go in one of the cabins, or you sit out back on the Sky Bar up there, And the fires, the campfires are rolling through the mountains.
It is just a beautiful place.
The smells, you will want to keep coming back.
So you're going to see this in the liner notes.
You'll see how to get in touch with Valhalla.
This is the first, but not the last time I'm going to have Mike on to talk more about golf as we go forward here on the Doug Collins Podcast.
But folks, got a lot of good things here.
Keep your head still, keep your body straight, make it a consistent swing, and this year's golf will turn out better for you.
Mike, thanks for joining me today.
Thank you for allowing me to be on the podcast with you, and we look forward to people visiting our wonderful resort.
I mean, just take that moment, look us up, and it's easy, but hollowresorthotel.com, and you'll be amazed with what we have to offer you.
It is a respite, it's a great place to get away, and the funny thing is, when you get here, it's like time stands still.
You get to enjoy the experience and just enjoy this beautiful piece of property.
And this is the only place that I've ever played golf where you might encounter a bear.
I mean, they just like to hang out and watch you play.
And deer.
And I've seen a lot of deer on them already.
Deer.
▲
Export Selection