You're Still Away Podcast

Golf is a very hard, very humbling game.

I (we) feel like a broken record, but better course management has to happen and it has to happen soon. Getting a little sick of saying this!

But looking for a bright side my bunker play was on point. What really changed that was the visual of hitting UNDER the ball, not behind it. We always hear to hit 2 inches behind it, but that never really made sense to me.

Goals For Season 2:

We set some lofty goals for Season 1 and we had a fun time building the pot, so we're headed that direction in season 2. Let's lose some weight, get better scores and build that pot! You bet I gamble.

Golf Drills:

We all have a limited amount of time to practice so it's important to maximize it's purposefulness. What are some drills y'all do that make the best impact?

Do you do putting drills? What can improve strokes gained?

There's Nothing Worse in Golf

There's nothing worse in golf then trying to make the smart decision and then having a crappy result. For example, you step up to a narrow short par 4 so you decide to hit an iron, and then shank it into the woods anyway. Nothing! Worse!

We're so excited to get season 2 started, and really appreciate the support over the first season. We have a ton of cool stuff coming this year with videos, giveaways, and more great podcast episodes.

We started off Season 2 with a great trip on the books, but the weather had other plans. Adapt, improvise, overcome. We still had a blast and played some decent golf.

Booby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta is a great spot to spend a day golfing. A really cool reversible course, a free par 3 and putting course, a great range and a nice restaurant.

On we went to Sweeten's Cove, but unfortunately we'll have to make a trip back because we got flooded out. Tune into this episode and how we improvised this trip, and tune in all season more great episodes.

We wanted to take a quick look back on the season, and see what we've learned. As we all know golf can be an incredible difficult game, but we did had a lot of fun, and it was really cool to document the experience.

Golf is Hard

What do you find difficult about this crazy game we decided to pursue? Ball striking; wedges, putting, getting off the tee; the mental game? Whatever it is I'm sure we experienced at some time over the season.

Check it out and let us know your struggles. We're all in this together. ANd be sure to tune in for season 2, we have a lot of cool episodes coming out in a new format. W also plan on having some more video, and some cool trips planned.

We appreciate the support over the season, and we hope you;ll continue to follow along in the future.

It All Comes Down To This

The season long race to lower our handicaps and decide a winner was too close to call. If you've followed along this far, thank you! We decided to end the season in true golf fashion and play a match play event at the one and only Tobacco Road.

The Sh@nk$ & Bagger Vance

Shout out to the assistant pro who worked at Tobacco Road who helped calm me down and gave me a great drill to get rid of my S words before the round.

The Start(er) of Match Play

It took a mulligan but after 3-4 rounds at Tobacco Road Brian finally made it over the mounds off the first tee, and it was enough to win the hole.

There's nothing staked at Tobacco Road so we decided to play a one stroke penalty for any lost ball.

I don't want to give away too much here, but as you'll hear from the preview it was a helluva match, and it comes down to the wire.

Tune in to hear about some of the duffs, the great putts, the almost hole in ones, and the grand finale.

Match Play

Since we decided to extend the season and let it all roll in Match Play at Tobacco Road we decided to preview the round.

We go through the yardage book hole-by-hole and preview in on the screen, so if you're interested in that check out the YouTube video.

Here's a link to the yardage book if you're headed to Tobacco Road, and they also have an awesome app so be sure to download it before teeing off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xTS7D9fsqg

Major 4 is in the books but we've still got some golf left in the weekend. If you can't sleep you may as golf....sometimes.

Mind Games

Golf can be a complete mindf@#k! The minute you think something, or have a bad thought it's so easy for it to come to fruition. There was a time where I didn't want to know my score, because I didn't want it to get into my head, but I think instead of having those thoughts it's time to accept those thoughts, and become tougher mentally.

Maybe we'll trend into the direction of Stableford scoring. Instead of walking off a hole lamenting another double that'll kill your score/handicap, you just saw, "oh well I didn't get any points that hole," and move on.

Match Play

We finally committed to playing a round of Match Play. And although it was a close match, Billy's wallet continued to take a beating.

The Hackler

Hackler seemed like a real cool golf course. Super young clientele (obviously because it's at Coastal Carolina University) and from what we saw a good looking golf course. Unfortunately we had to make the executive decision and get out of there.

Shoutout to Hilton Head Prep

The Final 9

We headed back and since we skipped the round we decided to play 9 holes at the local course. Brian has won the season (we thought) so we played with no pressure and more importantly had a ton of fun!

It felt good to play golf not think about score or handicap for once. Golf can be a different/relaxing game when you're just out there having fun.

Winner, Winner

After putting in our scores for the weekend we were left with a huge surprise. Just goes to show you that you need to just plug in your scores and let the handicap formula do its work.

After figuring out who we thought the winner would be we had an epiphany! Tune in for Tobacco Road!

Sometimes a little better can lead to a lot....

Golf Junkies

We played a lot of golf over the weekend. 4 rounds of golf, a par 3 an executive and some putting contests along the way.

If you're looking for a cool laid back local type course in the Pawley's Island area be sure to check out Founder's Club.

Resort Courses

What do y'all think about resort courses? We're starting to lean more towards the local type courses. They tend to be a better value and they're not nearly as crowded.

The Love Course at Barefoot landing wasn't too bad, but overall I'm looking for a different vibe.

There wasn't a lot to enjoy about the round from a play perspective for Billy, so Brian had a day and the pot continued to build.

Waste Bunkers

What is it about waste bunked that change the golfing experience? Something about driving my cart through a bunked really makes me like a course.

Pawley's Plantation

This seemed like a really cool golf course but it was ridiculously over crowded. I get that courses are busier these days, and places need to make money, but sending people off the front and the back is a recipe for disaster.

36 Holes of Golf

We wanted to up the stakes on the third major, to get the pot to a nice balance. It's been awhile since we've played against each other and the pot has been stagnant. Let's see how these 36 holes of golf go, and how big the pot is getting

Pre-Round Thoughts

All season long we've talked about having the right attitude, and not turning into a little crybaby when things aren't going our way on the course. How did this round go, and what are some of y'alls pre-round thoughts that can help lower scores?

The Bet

There was a lot on the line, and it was a clean sweep! The pot is getting bigger as we get closer to the end, after being a bit stagnant for awhile.

$5 Nassua that double if you sweep, $2 dots, and best combined score between both rounds with the caveat of taking the best score on that hole for either round.

The Takeaways

Attitude is everything!AdjustmentsTee it forwardPotential Are 3 putts the score killers we think they are?

The Stakes

We upped the stakes for the second Major and also moved up a tee box. Tee it forward...just like the USGA suggests.

One Golf Ball

Brian played Major #2 with one ball. Is this is an exclusive club or does it happen pretty often?

The Scores

Brian took down the major shooting a 90 and beating me by 1. He's getting much more consistent and avoiding the big number. I'm still struggling to get some of the higher numbers off the scorecard.

I had 4 pars in a row but couldn't keep the momentum going with a double and an 8. One of the reasons I've been struggling with alignment issues, but it's something Ive been working on.

Brian has gotten good at getting steady and learning how to score. His ball striking has always been pretty good, but the scores weren't there, but it's starting to come together.

Chips & Putts

Neither one of use had a particularly good day putting and Brian left a little disappointed with his chipping. Getting rid of double chips and three putts is a great way to lower scores (of course) but none of that matters if you can't get the ball off the tee.

Find your go to club off the tee and get the ball in play. There's more then one way to lower scores but that would be my advice to newcomers or people looking to play bogey golf.

Driving

What does it take to be a 10 handicap? Not going OB is my biggest hurdle to this, and we both need a little more distance off the tee.

Common Mistakes

One of the most common mistakes is coming up short on approach shots. I don't know if it's people lying to themselves or what, but it happens all the time. Start taking distances to the back hit more greens.

PGA Rants

We've had a few beers and around the 37 minute mark we start going off on some PGA rants. Considering these our ice cold takes. All-time money winners, Tiger, major winners, and some others topics we have no business discussing.

What's Next?

We still got two more majors coming up and the 4th Major will be a golf trip to Myrtle Beach. We need to up our bets to keep the fund growing so the winner gets a nice chunk of change at the end of the year.

We're also both itching to play Match Play. Side note check out the Golfer's Journal. It's an amazing magazine and they have a great issue on Match Play.

Club Fitting & Jacked Up Lofts

I'm going to get fit in the next few days, so lets see what happens there. My set is so miss-matched these days so it'll be nice to have a complete set that I'll feel more confident in.

Is anyone else annoyed at jacked up lofts as much as I am? I don't know why it bothers me so much. There should be standardization for lofts and what makes then a certain iron.

Rants, More Rants & Mullets

About and hour and five minutes we start going off the rails again, so if you're still listening thank you and we're sorry! I blame Google and I could be wrong about the JPX SEL so go look it up yourself.

We played 2 rounds in 3 days and we're going to take a look at the rounds from a different perspective; we're going to analyze the par 3's, par 4's and par 5's separately. Where are we losing strokes and what needs to improve?

Golf Stat Tracking

How many of y'all keep solid stats of your golf game? I think there's a lot to learn by keeping accurate stats and really looking into what can improve backed by data.

Par Threes

We both think that par 3's are now becoming a way to improve our scores. Brian came out of one round at par, and his next at 3.7. Ball striking is improving and scores on par threes are coming down.

Par 5's

Bogey golf on par 5's for Brian. Played 8 holes at 6. Is that good enough to lower the handicap? That's probably good enough but if we want to drop our handicaps that number needs to be closer to 5-5.5.

A different change in mentality can go a long way and it's nice when it pays off. What's the opposite of smart golf syndrome? Second shot can be everything on a hole, but overall course management can absolutely lower your scores. Playing smarter golf is FINALLY paying off.

Learning to play golf can be a beautiful thing!

Tee Box Tangent

We go off on a little tangent about our next round and playing a tee box forward. What do you do after you hit a great drive? Flush an iron or chunk you're next shot?

It's amazing what moving up a tee box can do. Turning 280 yard rives into 220. If you're struggling, or play the same course a lot, think about moving tee boxes. It can be a lot of fun.

Par 4's

This is where the ugliness comes out. Why are par fours so difficult? Way to many doubles, and quite frankly way too many big numbers. I need to change my strategy entirely on par fours.

The Scoring Method

The scoring method is a different way of playing golf, but I really think it's just having a different mentality. It's really interesting and Will Robbins seems like a great dude. Check it out.

Taking them out of the bag!

Sometimes certain clubs just need to come out of the bag. At a certain point some clubs will hurt our game more than they can help us.

Brian shot an 88 but shot 6.6 on par 4's, and had an 9 and an 11 on par fours. Way too many doubles. A double-double end is also becoming a common theme for Brian. How can we finish rounds strong?

Do you guys and gals think about, or know about scores when you play? I think it's ok to know, but it's just about how you handle. I used to avoid knowing my scores like the plague but knowing your score, and dealing with it in the right manner can make a big difference.

What Do You Actually Do To Improve At Golf?

Ego, strategy, decision making, getting greedy, play comfortable? There is a mental shift that needs to happen to improve at golf, and specifically for now on par 4's. Next round I'm going to completely change my mentality on par 4's. Maybe that's just accepting getting there in 3 no matter the length. That can take pressure off and lead to playing more comfortable.

I guess some people just find it easier to just lie about there scores.