Mental side of golf 101

Ended up being a longer 🧵

The knowledge is pretty simple. It’s the execution that’s very difficult.

FYI, this is mostly based off of Golf Beneath the Surface by Raymond Prior.
Best mental golf book I’ve read. Go give it a read if you like this thread Basics:
The mental game comes down to three things.

Commitment
Pursuit
Acceptance

That’s 95% of it. The trick is not letting ur own brain lead you down some weird rabbit holes.

Let’s get into the details…

My thoughts on “zero torque” putters

What’s the tech? Positives and negatives. Who does it benefit? Most importantly, should you get one?

I obviously like the tech as I’ve been using a ZT style putter for 3yrs now but as always, there’s two sides to this.

🧵 Basic Tech:
-It’s called zero torque because as you take swing the putter, the head stays square to the path unless the person twists it.

-The traditional necks twists on its own and the player has to make very subtle adjustments to keep the putter head stable

-This IN THEORY makes it easier to keep the putter head square and start putts online.

-Sounds like crazy tech, but I think it’s mostly just some head weights counteracting the “twisting” forces.

-Usually center shafted. Not all center shafted putters are ZT.

My 🧵 on Aimpoint!

Before you 🙄😡, I show you a way to do Aimpoint WITHOUT straddling and it’ll make your routine more simple and faster for some

Regardless, it’s a good thing to know. There’s a reason why so many pros use it. You’ll need a level that reads slope as a % The basics:
Take the middle third of ur putt and find the point with the most amount of break in that area. Straddle the line, feel the slope with ur feet. It’s weird at first, but you can get the hang of it quickly. We’ll go with 2.0% as an example in this thread.

For finishing 31st in the FedEx cup, here are 31 quick tips on improving your game. 🧵

Mental 1-5
Off the tee 6-10
Swing 11-15
Short game 16-20
Putting 21-25
Misc 26-31 Mental
1. Learn to play in chaos as opposed to trying to find peace when it isn’t available
2. Find ways to stay in the present (breathing, actively listening etc)
3. Visualization isn’t nearly as important as many make it out to be
4. Any type of confidence or feeling you try to conjure up is not sustainable
5. There’s no guarantee in golf. Having high acceptance will make it easier to move on to the next shot

How I determine my schedule for 2026

🧵

Not everyone does it like I do obv but I assume it’s pretty similar other than that I play a big schedule.

Hopefully I did it correctly this time… 😂 Can’t miss tournaments
-There are the obvious can’t miss tournaments like the majors and signature events but the Farmers is also a can’t miss tournament for me.

Everything is built around those events.
I’m a player that likes to play into big events so I won’t be taking weeks off before big events if possible.

Yellow-signature
Blue -majors

My guide to hitting the most important chip in golf:

Bump and Run w/ 60

(I know I said I’d make a short video but I didn’t like any of my short videos so I just made it into a thread) Set up

It’s a short motion so 80% of the work is the set up.
Keys:
Ball back, hands slightly ahead, head/spine tilted forward, weight about 60% forward, feet close together, feet close to the ball (2.5 club heads away from the ball) clubface slightly open but can vary.

How do I handle travel?

(I travel about 35-38 weeks a year. 30 tournaments and 5-8 weeks for other vacations or outings)

Yes, I have a lot of CC points

🧵 Flights:
Mostly I just look it up on Google flights haha. My manager used to send me options whenever I needed but it was more efficient for both of us when I’d just send a screenshot to her exactly what flight I want.
Pgatour has travel agents to call that can make the booking at most times. We don’t get any discounts or anything on flights, but we do get status on United. But I live in Dallas which means mostly American Airlines for me.
I generally fly Monday morning first flight to my destination and book the latest flight Sunday night to wherever I’m flying next.

How do corporate sponsorship deals work for pgatour players?

🧵 Before all that, thank you to my amazing sponsors!
@Binary_Defense , @Titleist , @AvidXchange , Sequoia Applied Tech, @AppliedUW @Veritiv, @DunningGolf.

I’m truly truly thankful and proud they’ve picked me to be their partner.

Back to regular scheduled programming haha

It’s the beginning of the year and you’ll see some players with new club deals.

Here’s how club deals work

🧵 @Titleist absolutely has the best stuff.

Thank for coming to my sponsored Ted Talk 😂

But seriously, their new GT drivers are really really good. Def worth a try.

It’s the offseason for pgatour players. What do we do during the offseason? It’s different for every player but here’s the gist
🧵

(If there’s any questions or comments, let me know) How long do I not touch a club?
Some are different than others but I generally take about two weeks off and not touch my clubs. This yr was a little different from years past because I was really happy with the way I was swinging it so I hit balls about once a week for the first three weeks of the offseason, just so I didn’t lose all feel. Our wrists, spine, and shoulders take a beating throughout the year so I think it’s important to give them a bit of a break when we can.

I’ve played with close to a 1000 different amateurs during my career. Everyone is different but there are some common mistakes I see every week. Some basic concepts 🧵 Full swing: 95% of ams go over the top and chop at the ball like they’re chopping wood. The reason it looks this way is because they don’t turn their hips and shoulders nearly enough in the backswing. You can go over the top from the top if you have good turn in the backswing. It’s a bit scary to swing with a big turn but it must be done. Many ams set up in a way that makes it harder. You shouldn’t look so robotic. Way more relaxed with ur feet flared a little bit.
Think of a heavy medicine ball throw. Use your entire body to turn back and thru.
If you can get a better turn to ur right side, then you can shift into ur left side better (side bend) and get the club to not go over the top as much.

Many years back at Memorial, Jack was in the booth doing some commentary. They show Jim Furyk on (older design) 15, in the right green side bunker to a short sided pin. Jack comments that Furyk was gonna have a tough time getting inside 10ft from there… well Jim hits it to almost tap in. That really annoyed Jack.
So the following yr, he decided to use these wooden bunker rakes with super wide teeth marks and what happened was you either had a lie that was half plugged or it was perfectly teed up. (I think it’s called farreling or something? I couldn’t find a pic)
All the players showed up onsite, was surprised and obviously hated it. After Thursday’s round, a high profile player at the time (not Tiger), goes to player dining and walks straight to Jack. He says Jack, if you ever do this to the bunkers ever again, I’m NEVER coming back. I spent 20 years perfecting a technique to beat these guys in the bunker and you took that away from me.
They never went to it again. Not Phil either

Hole Breakdowns of 15, 3, 5, 11

Augusta National for the most part gives you plenty of room off the tee which provides different angles into the greens. As everyone knows, it’s a 2nd shot golf course and I’ll go into the greens in more detail

15 is first because its my favorite hole 15: Gives you plenty of room off the tee, and you want to be on the right side to give you a clear view for the 2nd shot.
If you can go for it, 95% of the time, players will go for it. With a longer club, that false front on the right isn’t really in play since even if you land it there, it’ll bounce up to the middle of the green. That bunker is a really nice bailout you can use and most aim for the right side of the green. The water long doesn’t really come into play unless you land it long left of the green. There’s about 17 yards of room there.

The reason you go for it so often is because the wedge shot is so difficult especially to that left pin. I wish people could see how narrow that left side looks even from 80 yards out. It looks like a sliver. The very left pin (A), has a natural camber to it and with a downhill lie for ur 3rd, you need to have really good spin control, because you might spin it off the front left but too low and hard and it’ll bounce to just off the green.
An awesome risk reward hole

Yesterday, I mentioned that I have gained 20 yards since I turned pro and some followers asked me how I did it. There are lots of things that went into it and here’s a somewhat detailed 🧵

🧵 goes Strength-Speed-Technique-Technology
Feel free to skip to the one you want

First is strength. Pretty easy concept. I worked out much harder, and got stronger. My college coach, who was great in many many aspects, didn’t like us working out. Old school 🤷🏻‍♂️. Max homa, Pace Johnson and I would sneak out to the regular student gym to workout lol.
Once I turned pro, I could do what I wanted. I weighed 145 lbs when I turned pro lol, I now weigh about 165 depending on what time of the yr. I’m the guy that struggles to put weight on and lose throughout the yr.
My trainer and I are not a huge fans of “golf specific workouts” I do general strength stuff like Trap bar deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, incline dumbbell bench, pull ups, core work etc.
Glutes and core are a must to make sure the back is healthy.
I’m obviously not a fitness expert, so I highly highly recommend listening to the @hubermanlab pod episode with @DrAndyGalpin. There’s so much easy to digest proven info there on speed, strength, power, nutrition etc.