Matt Has Moved!

I have recently opened a new site: PluggedInGolf.com

From here on, I will be posting over there exclusively.

Thank you for your support of Matt Saternus Golf, and I hope to see you over on the new site.

Best,

Matt

"Where do you want to go?"

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.



This exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat has long been a favorite of mine.  I used it constantly with my students when I taught history, and I still bring it out every now and then with my golf students.  I like it because it reminds us of an often-overlooked truth: if we don't know where we want to go, we'll never get there.

I find that most golfers are only slightly better off than Alice.  Ask them what they're trying to achieve and they'll tell you, "I want to get better" or, my own personal nails-on-a-chalkboard, "I want to be more consistent."  Better at what?  More consistent at what?  These are the sayings of someone without a plan, and, if I may use a cliche, failing to plan is planning to fail.

So, then, what is a good goal, you ask?  A good goal is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time Bound.  Here's an example:

"I'm going to improve my make % from inside 10'.  It's currently at 50% and I want it to be at 65%.  I want to accomplish this by the end of the month

Now, the Realistic part might be arguable, but this goal is very Specific, Measurable, Actionable, and Time Bound.   This is a golfer on the road to improvement.

As you start your golf season, think about where you want your game to go.  Are you aiming for a lower handicap?  More fun on the course?  Whatever your goals, make them SMART.

Act Like, Believe, Be

In my opinion, the most under appreciated aspect of golf is the mental game.  The average player, and even a lot of good players, don't adequately appreciate how much their mindset dictates how they will play.  With that in mind, I offer this quick thought:

It is easier to BE a good player if you BELIEVE you are a good player.

It is easier to BELIEVE you are a good player if you ACT LIKE a good player.

Acting like a good player doesn't mean being cocky and it doesn't mean playing slowly; it simply means you should act, and treat yourself, like a good player would.  Force yourself to smile on the course and walk with your head up; it will make you feel better.  Dress well.  Don't berate yourself for bad shots and don't sulk. 

ACT LIKE a good player, BELIEVE you are a good player, and you will BE a better player.


To discuss how you can improve your mental game, please contact MattSaternus@gmail.com

Recommended reading: the books of Dr. Bob Rotella and the books by Marriott and Nilsson of Vision 54.

"What kind of irons should I play?"

As I referenced in an earlier post (HERE), one of the most difficult decisions to make when buying new clubs is what type of irons to buy.  Part of the problem is that if you ask ten people, you're going to get ten different answers.  In this post, I'll discuss what your choices are, the two major competing theories on what you should play, and, of course, I'll give you my thoughts.

Types of Irons  

For those of you that read Golf Digest's "Hot List" (I'll tell you why you should stop doing that some other time), you're probably familiar with their categories for irons.  Though my disdain for the Hot List is immeasurable, I will give them credit for creating some useful categories: Players Irons, Game Improvement, and Super Game Improvement.  Here are the characteristics you can expect to see in each type of iron:

Players Irons

Generally, these are going to be the smallest (heel to toe) and thinnest (top line and sole) irons, and they will have the least amount of offset.  These are going to be the least forgiving type of irons, they feature shallow cavities or none at all, so missing the sweet spot will be penalized with a loss of distance.  The advantage of these clubs is that they make it easier to shape your shots: high, low, left, or right.  These irons are favored by "players" or those with lower handicaps.

Game Improvement (GI)

This is that "just right" middle that most of the irons on the shelf fit into.  GI clubs will have some offset, a medium sized face, sole, and top line, and they will have cavities of medium depth.  These clubs won't cover up your mistakes as well as the SGI clubs will, but they give you more ability to control your ball flight.

 

 

 

 Super Game Improvement (SGI)

These are the clubs designed with the beginner or high handicap player in mind: lots of offset, thick sole, deep cavity, and big, forgiving club faces.  They are designed to go the same distance no matter where you hit the ball on the face, and they encourage a high, straight ball flight. 











***Please understand that this is just a rough framework.  Irons exist on a continuum, not in discrete categories.  I provide the categories simply to give you a basis for thinking about iron selection.

Two Schools of Thought: "No Pain, No Gain" vs. "Make the Game Easy"

Go to any golf equipment forum (I strongly recommend MyGolfSpy.com) and you'll find that the longest, most heated discussions involve who should play what kind of irons.  Read enough of those threads and you'll see that people fall into one of two groups.

"No Pain, No Gain"

"I grew up playing blades and that's how I learned be a good player," is the oft-heard refrain from this group.  They believe that if you want to be good, you need to play blades or players clubs so that you can see and feel your misses more acutely.  They believe that being penalized in this way will force you to focus on your shots and hit the center of the face.  According to this group, playing GI clubs, or, God forbid, SGI clubs, will cause you to be a sloppy ball striker.

Fun fact: these guys all have shrines to Ben Hogan somewhere in their houses.

"Make the Game Easy"

These are the guys trumpeting the fact that KJ Choi has won millions of dollars playing clubs that other would deride as "shovels" (big, chunky SGI irons).  They don't buy into the notion that you need blades to play high level golf (and they have the evidence on their side).  These guys claim that they can feel a miss on their oversize irons just as well as they can with a butter knife blade...they'd just rather not suffer the consequences in terms of distance loss.

My Approach to Iron Selection

First, neither of those two camps is entirely right, neither is entirely wrong.

There's no debate about the fact that playing with blades will give you more feedback on your mishits than any other kind of club.  Whether or not that's valuable is very much debatable.  If hitting bad shots led you to hit good shots, there would be a lot more good golfers out there.  Unfortunately, the reality is that getting bad feedback is only useful if you know what to do with it.

With regard to the shovel-lovers: yes, absolutely there are guys who play SGI clubs on tour.  It's also true that at that level, they could play with brooms and tennis rackets and still score better than most of us.  If someone wants to learn about high level shot making, they will need a club slightly smaller than a minivan to do it.

Second, it's your damn game, do what makes you happy.

As with so many things in golf, you need to start by figuring out what you want to accomplish:
*Are you buying a new set because you want the clubs to fix your problems?  Then you probably want the biggest SGI clubs you can find.

*Are you buying new clubs as part of a game-improvement plan that includes lessons and practice?  In this case, go ahead and buy something that's a little ambitious.  If you currently play GI clubs, dive into the players irons and figure out how to make them work...if that's what you want.

*Do you want to shape your shots or would you be happy hitting nothing but high draws?  If the former, you will want a players iron.  If the latter, buy something bigger.

Another thing to consider is that most of us should be playing some kind of combo set.  The idea of playing an old school 3-PW set is dying, and manufacturers are making it easier than ever to pair more forgiving long irons with short irons that offer more control.  Many sets are even built with this idea in mind.

Conclusion

Selecting your irons is one of the toughest equipment choices because you'll likely be married to them for a number of years and they can't be changed, unlike length, lie, loft, or shafts.  The biggest thing I can recommend is to decide what you want out of your new irons and be very demanding in finding a new set that will fulfill those desires.


For club fitting or consultation, please contact MattSaternus@gmail.com

What should come first: Lessons or New (Fitted) Clubs?

As someone who has, at various times, taught exclusively, fit exclusively, and done both together, I've been asked many times, "When should I get fit?  Should I take lessons first or get the clubs first?"  This is a topic I plan to write about at length, and I'm going to get started on it by answering that question.

The short answer: Clubs first, assuming they are fitted for you.

The long answer: If you're planning to start playing golf seriously or are re-committing to improvement, there's no reason to play with clubs that are too long or short, too stiff or soft, too upright or too flat, or have the wrong size grips. All of these things will cause you to start building compensations into your swing: things that you will later have to work to remove.  For example, someone who is very tall, very short, or just uniquely proportioned might end up with a very odd posture if they played standard length clubs.  There's no reason for that.

On the other hand, does the beginner need to be fit to the highest level?  Of course not.  Someone who doesn't know their swing yet probably doesn't need to be dialing in spin rates with different high end shafts.  It is likely that they will be changing a number of things about their impact conditions, so that's not going to be money well spent.  For now, a decent stock shaft should suffice, as long as it's the right flex.

The toughest question is, "What type of irons should I get?"  There are lots of ideas about who should play what type of clubs, so I will address that question on its own at a later time.

If you have any thoughts or questions about this topic, please feel free to share them in the comments section.

Club Fitting: Method Fitters

While discussing club fitting on MyGolfSpy.com, I was inspired to coin a term: "method fitters."  Just as golf is cursed with many "method teachers" it has just as many "method fitters."

Let me define my terms: a method fitter is someone who tells you what you should play without asking many, or any, questions.  He tells you, "This is what you should play.  Buy it and leave."  Just as a method teacher is convinced that everyone should swing the club a certain way, the method fitter thinks that he knows the right club for every golfer.

Why do we have method fitters?  I think there are two primary reason.

1) Too much technology, not enough knowledge.  Over the last five to ten years, the advancements in launch monitor technology have been nothing short of amazing.  Flightscope and Trackman can tell us everything we would want to know about what the golf ball and club.  What's more, these technologies are more accessible to the average golfer than ever before.

Here's the catch: the machine can't fit anyone.  The machine is just a tool, no different than a hammer or a saw.  Without a skilled fitter operating it, the machine does nothing more than flash numbers and pictures across a screen.  It is the fitter's responsibility to take all the data and use it in a conversation with the player.

Unfortunately, what happens more often than not, is that the fitter uses the machine as a shield: "Here are your numbers, these numbers are good, these numbers are bad, buy this club."  The golfer, likely already intimidated by the setting and his own lack of knowledge, is left to nod and accept the recommendation, playing an utterly passive role when he should be no less than an equal partner in the decision making. 

And why does the fitter use the technology in this way?  I don't ascribe any malice to his actions, just ignorance and sloth.  Depending on the setting, the fitter's "training" may have consisted of watching a PowerPoint presentation and filling out a quiz.  He is likely as overwhelmed by the information as the golfer!  And why doesn't he get active and educate himself?  Because he doesn't have to...he has a shield.

The problem of too much technology and not enough knowledge contributes to the second cause.

2) Fitting is seen as a science, not an art.  There are many things about fitting that are scientific.  For example, we know exactly the best combination of launch and spin, at any given ball speed, to produce the longest drives.  But does that mean that a fitting should end the moment those numbers are achieved?  Absolutely not.  What if those ideal numbers are achieved with a club that the player hates the look, sound, or feel of?  What about accuracy; how much distance should we give up to be in the fairway?

The ultimate goal of club fitting should be to find a club that allows the player to perform his best.  The fitter doesn't know if he's reached that point without input from the player. 

There are many levels of custom fitting

While still not the norm, custom fitting is becoming much more common.  I would guess that if you're reading this, you have had your clubs fit.  What I hope you take away from this post is that there are many levels of custom fitting, and the next time you are in the market for clubs you should look for a "better" custom fit.

A bare bones, method fitting is still better than buying off the rack.  Even the most uneducated fitter can get you into a club that is the right length with the right grip size, and that's a start.  But the next time you are buying clubs, I would suggest finding someone who not only has the tools to fit you, but also the knowledge.  Finding a fitter like that might be a little more difficult (though if you're reading this, you've found one), and working with them might be a bit more expensive, but when you consider the cost of clubs and the frustration of playing badly-fit equipment, I think the difficulty and expense are worth it.

For a custom-fitting or club consultation, I can be reached at MattSaternus@gmail.com.

How to Take a Golf Lesson

If you type "Golf How to" into Google you'll get results like: "How to hit a draw," "How to fix a slice," "How to putt," and "How to chip."  What you won't find is, "How to take a golf lesson," and that's a shame because I can tell you, based on teaching hundreds of lessons, that most people are bad at taking golf lessons.

How can you get better at taking golf lessons?  I'm glad you asked.

Before the Lesson

1. Start with the end in mind.  Before you start calling instructors or researching them on the internet, before you drive out to meet your instructor, and certainly before you reach for your wallet to pay for a lesson, you need a SPECIFIC, CONCRETE GOAL that you want to accomplish.  What do you want to be able to do, or know how to do, when the lesson is over?

"I want to be more consistent" is NOT a good goal.  What does consistency mean?  Are you referring to your score, your putting, your ball striking, your driving, your mental approach, or something else?  "I want to hit the ball more consistently" is not good enough either.  What's the current problem?  Do you hit it fat, thin, too far right, too high, too low?

A good goal might be, "I hit my driver too far to the right.  I want to know how to hit it straighter or possibly with a little draw."  That is a specific, measurable goal that addresses a problem you have in your game.

Shooting a certain score can be a goal, but only if you know why you don't shoot that score already.  "I shoot 90 and I want to shoot 80" won't fly on my lesson tee unless the student and I are immediately heading out for a playing lesson or they have five or ten rounds worth of (good, honest) statistics that I can analyze.  There are dozens of reasons why you might shoot 90: bad driving, bad iron play, bad putting, bad course management, etc.  As I wrote about here, I helped a student drop 20 shots without doing much to his swing; I just adjusted his attitude and expectations. 

A good score-related goal might be, "I want to shoot under 80.  I hit 80% of the fairways, but I only hit 3 greens per round, so I need to improve my iron play to bring my score down."

2. Set a timeline.  Sometimes you go take a lesson because you want a little tweak before a big match.  Sometimes you want to start an overhaul that you expect to invest hours and hours in.  Figure out how much time you want to invest in improvement and when you want to see changes.  Communicate both things to your instructor and discuss them with him.  A timeline that includes both the required investment and the expected "completion" of your plan is a big part of a specific goal.

3. Research your instructor.  Taking a lesson with a guy because he happens to work at your course is a roll of the dice: he might be great or he might be terrible.  If you're going to invest time and money into making changes to your golf game, you want to know who is going to be guiding you.  Call around and talk to multiple instructor.  Ask about their background, their experience, their philosophy, and their methods. 

During the Lesson

 

4. Ask "Why?"  A lot.  I think a lot of people are intimidated during the golf lesson, so they don't ask questions.  Golf can be an intimidating game, and, as a student, you are dealing with someone who is supposed to know more than you, an expert.  This causes a lot of people to be submissive and just do what they're told.  The problem is that these behaviors do not lead to good learning, and they don't push the instructor to do his best work.

Asking "Why?" is not an insult to the instructor; all it means is that you want to understand the reasons behind the change.  If the instructor can't answer that question, they shouldn't be telling you to make the change.

Equally importantly, you are more likely to learn if you are engaged in the process.  If you understand the change and why you're making it, it's more likely to stick; you won't have that "Should my elbow be here or here?" feeling two days later.

5. Demand a good answer to "Why?"  "Because (insert name of Tour player here) does it," is not necessarily a good answer.  What's good for Tiger may not be good for you.  Push your instructor for a solution that makes sense for your game and your goals.

After the Lesson

 

 6. Practice.  Practice.  Practice.  A friend of mine took a couple of lessons with a golf instruction company and reported that, "It didn't work.  I took two lessons and got worse."  I asked how much he practiced the things he was taught.  I think you can probably guess the answer: not a bit.

Is it fair to blame the instructor if you don't get better?  If you did everything that was asked of you and you don't see the promised results, sure, blame the coach.  But if you don't practice or you abandon the change because "it feels bad" or "I hit some bad shots," well, in that case the person to blame resides in the mirror.

Once the lesson is over, the burden for improvement falls back on your shoulders.  You fueled up the car and packed your suitcase when you defined your goals and found the best instructor for you.  Your instructor gave you a map that will lead you to success.  Now, it's up to you to get in the car and drive down the road to better golf.