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Two weeks ago we quoted a stat saying driver and 3 wood hit almost the same percentage of fairways, and the comments came apart. One commenter was right, and we went and checked. The stat has a hole in it, and nobody in golf has fixed it. Not Arccos. Not Shot Scope. Not Lou Stagner or Mark Broadie.

In this one: how far you actually hit driver, the one simulation that gets around the broken stat, the physics of why a 3 wood mishit curves less, exactly how many golfers should be hitting 3 wood off the tee, and 3 rules for the tee box that cost nothing.

Isaak has been in and around club fitting since 2017. Hayden plays professionally.

CHAPTERS 00:00 How many times did you actually pull driver

01:00 The comment that started this episode

01:50 The Arccos driving distance report

02:12 The amateur distance boom that never happened

03:33 What you hit it by handicap and by age

04:00 Everybody is 10 to 20 yards off

04:40 Where the strokes actually go

04:57 12% versus 45.1%

05:37 What counts as a big miss

06:23 Your miss is the same. Your aim is not.

06:59 The free stats guide

07:40 The stat we quoted has a hole in it

09:06 Nobody in golf has ever fixed it

10:35 The one study that gets around the problem

11:22 The shortest club won

12:02 The safety club is not safe, it is just shorter

12:44 Is a driver harder to square than a 3 wood

14:06 Gear effect, bulge and roll

15:31 What the robot test showed on toe hits

16:19 Why your own tendencies beat any stat we quote

17:02 How many golfers are straighter with 3 wood

18:20 The 1 in 10 number

18:36 If your 3 wood is as long as your driver

20:03 The 5% out of bounds rule

21:20 Nobody walked in asking me to fix their driver

22:00 Cutting down the driver shaft

23:07 The 2 reasons to shorten a shaft

25:26 Is driver marketing a scam

26:22 What a manufacturer told me about their own numbers

28:10 The fitting thing nobody thinks about

30:00 Tools, not jewels

33:20 Rule 1: driver is the default

34:00 Jason Day's pattern was 74 yards wide

34:40 Rule 2: aim off the trouble by half your pattern

35:50 Tee up on the same side as the trouble

36:10 Rule 3: the only 3 reasons to club down

37:19 The forced carry mistake I made for years

38:30 If you club down on 3 holes a round

38:49 How to think about lessons

41:36 Hayden argues against the whole episode

42:46 What actually fixes a 45% penalty rate

44:16 The guy who does not trust it right now

45:34 Findable and hittable

46:17 Tiger hit driver once at Hoylake

47:37 You do not have a driver problem

SOURCES NAMED IN THIS EPISODE Arccos annual driving distance report, 25,000 golfers and 6.5 million tee shots Lou Stagner, analysis of the Arccos database Shot Scope, driver versus 3 wood fairway data Golf Digest and Golf Laboratories robot testing Mark Broadie, strokes gained Scott Fawcett, DECADE

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He plays 3 to 4 rounds before a tournament and hits balls maybe twice a week. He has a day job in logistics and just won his 3rd straight Tennessee State Amateur, something only 2 other golfers have done in 100 plus years.

Payne Denman has played 5 U.S. Amateurs, coached college golf at MTSU, Tennessee, and South Florida, and played pro golf on PGA Tour Latinoamerica before walking away. In this episode he breaks down exactly how he practices now: the 60 minute range hour he splits into 3 blocks, why he stopped hitting drivers and got better, the mirror work he does at home, and how he talks to himself like a coach talks to a player.

Timestamps

0:00 What he knows that college golfers don't

0:43 How many hours he actually practices

1:04 Mirror work, slow reps, and the 90 minute cap

2:10 Week 2: money games instead of range balls

2:33 The 45 minute session: where all the time goes

3:14 Why he quit hitting drivers (and got better)

4:41 Where college players waste unlimited hours

6:33 A lack of intent repeats what's easiest

7:10 How a coach fixes wasted practice

9:22 Talking to yourself like a coach

10:59 No coach? Write it down, 1 goal, max time

12:53 Separate mechanics from target practice

13:54 The 60 minute range hour: 3 blocks of 20

15:31 Why range games die on the course

16:22 Serial ball beating and why failure is the point

17:44 Playing scared: fear and embarrassment off the tee

19:14 Merion: the hardest course he's ever played

21:39 How he preps for championship setups

23:45 Adjusting to new grass, climates, and fog

26:45 The day job advantage

27:45 Down with 5 to play: birdies on 4 of the last 5

30:52 Fighting off the three-peat thoughts

32:22 What pro golf taught him about failure

33:35 The day he knew pro golf was over

36:32 What he tells players who want to turn pro

38:51 Reinstatement: the 4 year wait

41:31 PGA Tour Latinoamerica and the $4,000 career

44:32 What recreational golfers get wrong

46:45 What's next for Payne

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CHAPTERS

00:00 How many of your 14 clubs did you actually hit

01:19 The hybrid Isaak loved and had to take out

02:15 The Arccos study nobody talks about

03:37 This happens at every handicap level

04:04 The 5 most abandoned clubs in golf

05:18 Why the 3 wood is a security blanket

06:30 You carry it so you are not the guy without one

08:18 The free stats guide

09:28 You did not pick 14 clubs, you inherited a slot

10:47 The 1935 US Open and the guy with 32 clubs

12:00 Lawson Little and his 7 wedges

13:03 Why the USGA actually made the rule

14:20 The man who invented 14 said 14 was too many

16:56 Francis Ouimet won a US Open with 7 clubs

17:27 A limit is not a quota

18:20 Your 7 iron has the loft of a 1990s 5 iron

19:21 Isaak on 8 years in club fitting

20:24 The gap wedge exists to patch a hole

20:57 The case for owning more than 14 clubs

22:22 Hayden's qualifier, 14 holes, zero drivers

25:20 Why leaving a gap on purpose works

26:22 Rule 1: every club needs a job you can say out loud

28:01 Rule 2: two clubs cannot share a job

29:30 Rule 3: the receipt rule

30:46 Hybrid versus long iron, the Shot Scope numbers

31:58 Why long irons fail, and it is not your swing

33:05 What being the outlier actually costs you

36:00 Rule 4: replace it, do not just remove it

37:03 Driver versus 3 wood

39:09 Humility with a receipt

39:39 Arguing against our own episode

40:49 The USGA study on what golfers do not know

42:37 Where this data comes from and its limits

42:50 What to take with you

44:59 Hayden on discipline and the Ohio Open

SOURCES NAMED IN THIS EPISODE

Lou Stagner, analysis of the Arccos database, March 2023

Shot Scope, long iron versus hybrid greens in regulation

Arccos, driver versus 3 wood accuracy and distance

USGA TrackMan study, December 2023, 627 recreational golfers

Robert Harris, Sixty Years of Golf, 1953

Rand Jerris, USGA, on the origin of the 14 club rule

World Golf Hall of Fame on Lawson Little

Golf Digest and Ralph Maltby on iron loft changes

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Andrew Chapman shot 90 in the first round of a U.S. Am qualifier and wondered if the USGA would send him a letter. 4 years later he won the Michigan Amateur as the 32 seed, and today he builds custom furniture, raises 2 boys, and still chases USGA qualifiers. We get into the line between supporting a kid and pushing one, the multi-sport locker room at Michigan, the rebuild that started with grip and stance, the wedge ladder that carries his whole bag, AimPoint with a carpenter's level, and what a craftsman knows about the difference between good and right.

Timestamps

0:00 Harder to watch than to compete

2:07 The temptation a champion dad resists

3:27 Family golf: 9 holes, 2 hours, 2 boys

5:33 Quick to the ball, then take your time

6:52 The line between helping and pushing

7:45 Playing golf swing instead of golf

9:43 What his parents got right

11:04 Too serious, and the try less lesson

13:19 The 12-second pre-shot fix

15:17 The golf bug at 13

17:49 Every Michigan player was multi-sport

22:29 Rock bottom: the 2009 qualifier

25:42 The 32 seed run, and where belief comes from

28:50 His practice: the 40 to 110 wedge ladder

30:13 AimPoint with a carpenter's level

32:12 The 9 shots drill

34:18 Good vs. right: lessons from the shop

37:40 Build this first: the beginner slab table

39:19 The 20 foot table at a golf course

40:36 What he wants his boys to take at 18

42:59 The reinstatement debate

47:24 Bring back the 36-hole qualifier

47:47 Staying with Scottie Scheffler at the U.S. Am 4

9:05 Where to find Andrew, and what's next

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Tour pros make about half their putts from 8 feet. From 100 yards in the fairway they hit it inside 3 feet 1 time in 25. The standard you grade your golf against does not exist. Not for you. Not for them.

This week we tear up the fake report card most golfers carry in their heads. Where it came from (the broadcast, the Ben Hogan legend, and your own inflated numbers), what breaking 90 actually looks like for a 15 handicap, what a real 68 and a real 63 look like in strokes gained, and a 4 rule grading system that costs nothing and starts working your next round.

Sources named in this episode: Mark Broadie (Columbia, PGA Tour ShotLink), Shot Scope, Arccos and Lou Stagner, Jon Sherman (Practical Golf), Adam Young, Bob Rotella, and the Ben Hogan story as told by Dan Jenkins.

Chapters

0:00 The number that ends the argument

1:35 Mad about a birdie

3:11 Tour averages, 3 feet to 300 yards

6:52 Tiger missed 4 putts in 4 years

10:01 Where the fake report card came from

11:37 Hogan graded himself on 3 shots

15:51 The 24 yards you don't have

17:57 Your handicap is not your average

18:59 The break 90 data dump

21:35 Playing US Open qualifying with tour pros

28:53 A 68 and a 63 in strokes gained

33:04 Shooting a gajillion and smiling

39:49 The new report card

42:27 Grade putts by the second putt

45:03 Steal Hogan's scorecard

48:39 Ambition vs unrealistic expectations

50:48 Why golfers actually quit

51:20 Hayden is coming to Instagram

57:07 Give the scorecard back

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Support the new home of the Ole Miss Patterson School of Accountancy: https://accountancy.olemiss.edu/new-building/

Brett's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bpatterson03/

Brett Patterson is the 5th ranked mid-am in America. He teaches 300 accounting students at Ole Miss, has 2 girls at home, and touches a club 3 or 4 times a week at best. In college he hit 300 balls a day and got worse. Then he left tournament golf for 5 years, came back, and started winning everything. We get into the 4 weeks off before he opened 7 under, the wedge and putter plan that replaced the bucket, the mental spiral that almost ended his golf, and the piece of advice he says actively hurts amateurs.

Timestamps

0:00 The #5 mid-am barely touches a club

0:53 4 weeks off, then 7 under in round 1

2:18 A Tuesday with 300 students and 2 kids

3:52 College: 300 balls a day, sun up to dark

7:19 Less practice, better golf. The flip.

8:39 5 years away and the 2022 U.S. Amateur

14:22 What he'd tell every college golfer

16:54 His practice now: wedges and lag putts

19:59 An accountant's take on tracking stats

22:35 Bring back Golfstat

26:09 The biggest mistakes amateurs make

28:58 Never the most talented. What separates him.

31:08 What scratch golfers miss about scoring

34:16 Championship golf vs weekend golf

35:42 The advice that actively hurts amateurs

37:05 Pressure putts and choosing confidence

38:36 How to stay sharp after time off

40:43 The reinstatement debate

50:49 What he wants his daughters to know

53:48 A shoutout to the mid-am wives

54:02 Prepping for the U.S. Mid-Am at Sand Valley

56:26 Support the new Ole Miss accountancy building

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Your short game problem is not your hands. It is the order you pick shots in. In this episode of the Play Ready Golf Podcast (Ep. 31) we use Shot Scope and Arccos data to show why golfers at every handicap level fail from 50 yards, why the flop shot became everyone's default, and the 4 question menu that fixes it without a single lesson.

Timestamps:

0:00 Nobody has hands

1:42 The data: up and down by handicap

2:56 The app in 30 seconds

3:22 The highlight reel raised you

5:57 Extreme sells: the wedge industry

7:00 Jason Day: one motion, many clubs

8:53 Option 1: the putter

10:17 One email a day for 30 days

10:33 Option 2: the low chip

11:11 Option 3: the pitch

12:34 Option 4: the flop

13:40 The cost of ignoring the menu

14:17 Judge every shot by its miss

15:27 What Hayden sees caddying

19:19 Rule 1: can I putt it?

20:18 Rule 2: lowest loft that clears the trouble

21:59 Rule 3: pitch only when something is in the way

22:45 Rule 4: the flop is the fire escape

23:37 The menu in order

25:20 What about bad lies?

26:33 2 honest notes about the data

27:29 The takeaway

Missed the double bogey episode we reference? Watch it here: https://youtu.be/D1ZK1E_06Xs

Data in this episode comes from Shot Scope, Arccos data via Lou Stagner, PGA Tour scrambling stats, and Edoardo Molinari via Golf Digest.

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Follow Scott: https://www.instagram.com/cachill21

Scott Cahill had full status on PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He gave it back, took a full-time job, and barely touched a club for 5 years. Then he fell back in love with the game and won the Arizona Mid-Amateur at Grayhawk, on a course where the field made 1,158 bogeys in 3 days. He did it with a newborn at home and a practice routine he calls a cram session. This episode is the blueprint for playing your best golf with the least time you've ever had.

Timestamps:

0:00 Walking away from the Tour

2:17 The pro golf grind nobody sees

5:37 Five years without touching a club

8:11 When golf stopped feeling like work

11:35 What he'd change about his pro practice

14:02 Golf with a newborn and a full-time job

18:24 Inside his boring practice routine

21:30 The stat that surprised him

25:21 Winning the Arizona Mid-Am at Grayhawk

32:00 The 59 at Tobacco Road

35:55 Signing with the Grass League

38:04 The reinstated pro debate

48:42 What winning actually gets you

51:17 Lessons for his son

Sick of 1 hole wrecking your whole round? Grab the free Disaster Card. It has the 4 rules on the front and a 3 round leak tracker on the back that shows you exactly where your strokes are going: https://playreadygolf.beehiiv.com/disaster

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Your golf handicap is not decided by your swing. It is decided by 3 or 4 blow-up holes a round. In this episode of the Play Ready Golf Podcast (Ep. 29) we use Shot Scope and Arccos data to prove that double bogeys, not birdies, separate every handicap level. Then we walk through the 5 leaks that cause blow-up holes and the 4 rules that stop them. None of it requires practice time.

Timestamps:0:00 The number that breaks your brain1:14 Hayden's triple at US Am qualifying4:45 The data: doubles by handicap5:58 The free Disaster Card6:18 Why golfers blame the swing10:54 Birdies happen by accident12:30 The 5 leaks behind every blow-up hole13:00 Leak 1: tee shots into trouble14:20 Leak 2: the hero recovery15:43 Leak 3: the short-side miss17:47 Leak 4: the double chip19:01 Leak 5: three-putts21:15 Hayden's worst blow-up holes27:04 The Disaster Card: 4 rules27:59 Rule 1: count your doubles (the Train Game)29:52 Rule 2: the one-job shot30:56 Rule 3: get long putts inside 3 feet32:39 Rule 4: short-sided means middle of the green34:57 Is this just playing scared?37:26 2 honest notes about the data38:14 The takeaway40:15 What to watch next

Data in this episode comes from the Shot Scope Annual Report (74M+ shots), Arccos data via Lou Stagner, Mark Broadie's Every Shot Counts, and Edoardo Molinari via Golf Digest.

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FIND NATE

Mountain Creative Construction, licensed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Teton Valley, Idaho

Nate on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/ndizzle4shizzle/⁠

Nate Smith made it to pro golf, then walked away at 30 because he did not like who the game was turning him into. He got an MBA, moved to Idaho, built a construction business, and barely touched a club for eight years. Then he came back as an amateur and started winning, beating players half his age who practice every day.

If you love golf but cannot give it your whole life, this one is for you. Nate plays a few weeks a year and still competes at the top of the amateur game. He breaks down how he practices with intent, why not being obsessed with results is his biggest edge, and what he would tell anyone trying to get better with limited time.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Walking away from a Tour card at 30

01:48 What eight years away taught him

04:23 The hardest lesson, he was not always first

05:53 What pulled him back in 2022

07:36 Coming back after eight years off

09:56 Winning right away, and why it did not surprise him

10:41 Competing while running a construction business

13:26 How much you should actually practice

15:04 Practice with intent, hit 20 balls and leave

18:04 Taking your practice to the course

20:12 North and South week, identity over outcome

22:10 Playing at elevation versus sea level

24:36 Grass League and the Hollywood Hitters

28:06 The truth about amateur reinstatement

33:48 What he would tell his 25 year old self

35:14 What is next on his schedule

38:03 Where to find Nate