S9 Ep 8: The Bull's Horns, Part Deux

[MUSIC] All right, Eli, it's episode eight, season nine. Gosh, the season's flying by. I can't believe we're on episode eight. Yeah, gracious. So we have a lot of golf action. We've got scorecards. We've got a couple of announcements. But first, let's say Kudos. Let's say Kudos, first of all, to our good friends titleist. We talked about this last week around the line on the ball. And our good friend, an EP JD, because she has such a big heart. She sent me the Provi-1 aim performance balls that are, you don't even have to draw a line on them, they come pre-lined. And so I've been using these balls. Here's what I notice. I am a really good putter. Yeah. I mean, almost every time the line on the ball is going in a red. Yeah. But I do not read, I do not read greens well. [LAUGHS] What's great about it, and it's just, I've never done it. It's almost like a cheat, because you're like, well, I know I hit that putt where I wanted to hit it. But what is, what it has illuminated in my mind is I have got to work on reading greens, because almost every putt I'm hitting where I want, and not many win in this last week. I'll just give you a heads up, a precursor to what's coming. So kudos to titleists. Also, let's say kudos to our great friends at Viori. It feels like every time we talk about Viori, we're about to get on a plane. Really tough. Do we-- can we sponsor a plane line? Like, can they have a plane line named after us? It's like the chasing scratch plane gear. You know what Viori should do? Lenny, brilliant innovation. Country-Western music, Lenny. No, corporate music. Oh, we need corporate American music. Yeah, this is corporate American music. Viori needs a credit card that gives you airline points. Ooh. Because it is the official-- The official-- At leisureware of what you wear on airlines. I like that. Shoot holes in this idea. I think, you know, like you go and get-- you know, like on the Scotty Cameron site, you can go custom-fit your Scotty. Yeah. I think you should have-- Viori should be like-- they should have a travel thing. It links to our page. And then you have to fill out a serve. It's like, how are you traveling? By air, by bus, by car, by SUV, by van, by boat. And then, as you select, it's another thing. And then, ultimately, we make a recommendation on what they should wear. Now, here's the deal. All the recommendations are going to end up in strato tech tees and joggers. Because I don't even wear any joggers. Yeah. But actually, it might be some core shorts. That's true. If it's hot, anyway. VioriClothing.com/jsonescratch, get 20% off your first purchase of butter. And then, lastly, but not leastly, today, element of good friends at the hydration station of salty goodness. Can I stop right there real quick before you go any further? Yeah. Lenny, I want you to keep some polishing music. What? I have consumed some cool mixes. Dude. Fully loaded cool mixes over the last couple of weeks is the vast majority of those picked up. And I feel like my body needs element again. I want you to know I need to get that off my chest. You've just been purposely dehydrating yourself. Essentially, yes. So I've got the element. I mean, the element is right next to me right now. I just want to say I've missed element. I've missed it. Well, you have good timing. They just came out with a new flavor. Lemonade iced tea. Oh, gosh, are you kidding me? And I have to tell you, I just tried it the other day, and it is nothing short of predominant. And, and, okay. For you, it gives you naturally occurring caffeine because it's tea. I hate to admit this. I'll end this piece before we move on. As you and I both have readily admitted, we don't like to compliment fatty cool ranch mills on anything. But, you know that me, him and VJ are in a text group of just massive insults constantly. This was the message that was sent yesterday, and I have to give him kudos. This was pretty solid. Eli, I saw Keegan's eighth grade graduation pictures. Are you back on soda twin? Do you have a question mark? (laughing) Wasn't gonna say anything, but I did notice. So, we're gonna go. How many cameras were on you? Yeah, we're back on, trust me, I saw the pictures. We're back on, we're back in our element, literally, figuratively and literally. So, there you go. Drink elementy.com/chaseyscratch and get hydrated, everybody. All right, now, let's get to what we're talking about today. We've got a lot of golf, as we mentioned, and a couple of questions, but a couple of announcements before we get into the action today, one, we are off next week. It is man-toothed week. Also notice champions week, where you and I will be ground. We will be busy winning, and number two, we're kind of not awful next week, because we do have a YouTube video of you. An Eli centric, assi-ee, Eli meets the GTS medals, and it is spectacular, and man, do those tracers look good? Come on, baby, let's go. And I didn't cheat either. I didn't make them look better than they're supposed to look. They look exactly. I did all the tracking of everyone. They're not digitally enhanced trackers. These are real, really spectacular. There's no Southern California latex inside of these tracers. There's no taco, there's no taco meat. No taco meat. Nichols, if you want to have your tracer. If you want to have your tracer, I zoom. All right, so those are the updates for next week. Now let's talk. OK. Where do you want to start? This is yet another week where you've sent me seven different audio files. I haven't listened to any of them. Do you want me to kick it off? Yeah, yeah, let's kick it off. Last week, you were in what did I call it? Well, if you were in a fun sexy time for you, you're on the fun sexy time. On the cusp, feeling good. Yes, putting work in, putting work in. So I'll give you the quick setup. Monday, first of all, as is customary, I had no life this weekend. I was in the beautiful city of Baltimore, Maryland. But anyway, I got in super late Sunday night. I was completely exhausted. So I did not work on Monday. And late Monday, I was just itching to play the club is closed. So I thought, well, I'll go over there to walk, I'll walk 18. But as is the case, whenever I try to do something positive, the forces of nature work against me. There was some kind of dumb event going on. And I thought, well, I'm toast. And then I sat back and I said, no, we're playing today. And let me go ahead and cue it. I went down the club is closed to go walk 18. And of course, there's some stupid event going on, which means-- Basically, I can't play. I started to scramble and lo and behold, there is a tea time available at a little place. At a little place you might know as the bull. That's right, the freaking bull. It's time to go and ask for it. Wow. I had a little session today. And the simulator worked on my setup for probably a half an hour. Worked on takeaway. And now we're going to go on and take on our old foe. [SINGING] How many times? It's my favorite thing to do now. [SINGING] Now here's the deal. If I come back singing the song where Mickey dies, you know that it was not the best round. That's not going to happen. Here we go. It's freaking to it. Wow. This is a bull voice note. You were not afraid to explore the space in the other voice note. You were afraid to explore the space. The bull, this is the same course as the infamous "The Bull's Horns" episode. I have not played this. I don't know that I've played it since "The Bull's Horns" to be completely honest. It's been a long time. OK. I don't know when the last time is I've played it. And for those who don't-- - I don't know, Sideline is the Bull's Horns episode was the episode. Actually, Lenny, just cue the, let's just, let's just run it back. Let's cue it right now. - All right. (humming) - Oh no, okay. I hit what was a gorgeous T-shot. But in a complete twist of fate, the Bull rolls off the fairway into the rough and it's, in the rough sitting down above my feet. So, I just tugged one completely left. I don't even know if it's findable. If it is, I've got probably 40 yards. If not, I've got to drop. - I am flipping the freak out. - So, I take a penalty and my ball is in the header. - You can't, you can't, you can't hit out of that, I mean. So, I end up dropping, I'm dropping about 50 yards short of the green. But the green is like, you're dropping three, hitting four. - But the green is like you're hitting your fourth. - 30 feet above me. And the pen is short-sided. So now, I have to throw a ball way up in the air and basically land it on the very start because the whole, the green also runs away from me. So, I'm like, this is. - And your, and your life's probably not good, is that great? - So, I'm like, oh my gosh, I gotta go up and down now. So, I pull the 58 back out. I open the face up and again, I'm like, the only way you screw yourself here is by decelerating. Take the confidence swing, use the club like you're supposed to use it. - But I've got to throw this thing way up in the air. - I like the way you're talking right now. - So, I take the club back, I make a gorgeous swing. My brother-in-laws right there, the ball comes up and does everything I'd hope for. And you know, when you're looking up at a hole and it's short-sided and you see that little bounce, that short little bounce, like, yes, I caught the front of the green or the fringe, like right there bouncing on it. And you, like you see it and you know, that's the bounce. Well, that's the bounce I got. So, I grab my phone and I literally take off sprinting up the hill and here's the audio I record. - I'm running like Sergio. It was on a good line, landed it on the short side blind. I'm running up the hill right now, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, no, no, no, no. It didn't get on. - What? - Yeah, it didn't get on. - What do you mean, what do you mean, it didn't get on, was it short? - It missed the fringe by a foot. I was one foot away from that ball, potentially rolling in. Even my brother-in-law was like astonished at the fact that I wasn't a foot away from the cup. So, now I'm buried in the rough, and I'm not even gonna save you. I'm just gonna cut to the chase. I chip on, I don't get a good club on it. And then I miss the putt. So, I tripled the hole. I net my handicap out at a 73, I gross out at a 74. This was the most painful, this is the most painful round of golf I've ever played. This is a worse beating I've ever had. (sniffing) - Man, I was so sure. I was so sure, it was happening. - I tripled the last hole. I tripled the last hole. - How did that taste? - That felt like a great walk down memory lane. What else you wanna talk about? I had a traumatic experience in the fourth grade. You wanna bring that one up? - Let's just cue all my life's worst memories. - I put my pants in kindergarten and showed the whole class, you wanna tell that story? - To make you feel better? - Yeah, maybe feel great. Well, here's the deal, let's just get to it. Lenny, cue the dramatic music. - Wow, two weeks in a row? - cue it right now. All right. First hole, now you might remember this, I'm only gonna, this is only a setup because the whole starters have changed. Every time you've played this, you start with the par five, little dog leg right up the hill, yeah. - Second hole comes back down and then remember, you cross the street and the third hole is no longer, the third hole is the first hole. So, - Whoa. - And all I'm thinking of is now Boone's Trace National, right? - Boone's Trace National, yep. - Home with our good friend, Eric Kermings. - That's right. So first hole did not get up and down Bogey. - Okay. - Second hole and the wind is howling. I mean, probably 25, 30 miles an hour. It's the par three, I end up short, but I hit a gorgeous chip to a tap in par and I had this to say. - Okay, Mickey is not dead, but it is going to be a hard round of golf today. The wind, I don't know if you hear it, the wind is, you can't hear it. It's probably 30 to 35 miles an hour. It is absolutely humming right now. - All right, so wind is ripping and it's in my face the first couple holes. So, the third hole, I hit a gorgeous wind killer, wind sheet or bullet right in the middle of the fairway. I hit an awesome wedge to about 10 feet and I lip the birdie putt. So, we're one over, still took a par. Number four is the par five with the tree in the middle. - Okay. - And I hit a drive, Lenny, we're not gonna change music, but you can imagine the piercing trajectory, tidalist music. - We can change it, do it. - Can we change it? Let's hit the piercing trajectory music right now. The GTS hits a 300. - I saw a 345 yard bomb down the fairway. I had an eight out of it. - Did the wind, did you have the wind? - I had the wind a little bit, yeah. - Okay. - But I murdered this ball. I had an eight iron in on the par five. And I hit it so far, I was left of the tree and almost passed it. So, I hit an eight iron on, I had about 30 feet for eagle and missed it, tapped in birdie, so we're back to even. - Even par, okay. - All right, for the sake of time I'm gonna skip ahead here, but let's just, let me give you the front nine summary. - Okay. - With a terrible six-thole double. - Okay. - I shot a one over two birdies. - Ooh. - Yeah, and it was, we'll just say it was a stripe show with the GTS, it was a stripe show with the wedges and the putter, the putter honestly could have canned three more birdie puts. So, one over making the turn going into the 10th. - Okay. - You know the 10th, it's a par five. I hit a drive exactly where I wanna hit it. I bomb a six iron down, I killed a six iron. I've got like 40 yards in and I freaking flub. I blade a chip, I blade a little, a little 58. So, the ball blade. - Bladed or you fatted it? - No, I bladed it. - Okay. - And it went, I knifed it. - Just knifed it, it went all the way, like a bullet all the way across the green, all the way to the back green now, which is elevated on top shelf, coming back down to the bottom. It was like the worst place to be in, and I'm sitting in thick rough. - Okay. - And I was pretty hot, 'cause I was like, man, I'm gonna birdie this hole. Like, I'm gonna hit a nice wedge up. I'm putting great, like, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go canned this thing. So, but I managed to get control. I hit an absolute gorgeous green side wedge. About eight feet out from the hole, I start to walk this in. And at the last second, I mean, literally the last three inches, it turns and catches the right edge of the cup and does not go in. But, I recover well, I have a tap in, so we part it. - Okay. - The 11th, I par. - Okay. - I go the 12th, which is a really hard hole. - Still one over. - Still one over. I go the 12th, which is a really hard hole. I'm playing smart golf. So, I hit another three iron. I have a tweener as far as my wedge goes, but I hit a really, really good shot. But, because I'm coming out of the rough, I can't get it to check. So, it ends up on a knob, on the green, but on a knob, it's going downhill and it's probably 30 footer with a big nasty turn. And I can the putt. - 5.2. - 5, that 5.2, that 5.2. So, I'm now even going into the 13th. The 13th, you probably remember, it's that long shoot that's stupid tree on the right, but it's a par five and then at the very last second, The green goes uphill. - No shot, I remember. - Okay. good talk. Um, if you're the one for getting stuff in this group, we're in trouble. Um, all the sudden, all the nerve, you know that feeling, like all the nerves are back. And I was like, please, you've hit, I mean, I've hit every, every drive I've hit on the day has been a good drive. Literally the GTS is perfect up to this point. But I pound a ball down the right side, barely catches the right edge of the rough. I hit a good nine iron, it just barely misses the green. And I hit what I think is an awesome chip on it lands. I mean, literally six inches short. If it's six inches further, I've probably got a four footer for birdie. But the way it ended, I ended up with a 15 footer for birdie with a big, with a big nasty break. And I put this thing, and it basically rolls the last evolution of the ball rolls over a quarter of the hole and stays out. So that hurt, because I'd mark this one, I was like, as long as you put a ball and play, you're going to birdie this hole. So I'm still even. I'm still into that. That one hurt. I'm starting to get nervy and I can feel myself getting nervy now for the first time. And it's the stupid part three all the way down the hill. I missed the green, really hard shot and possible up and down. I burn the edge on another comeback putt, but I take a bogey. So I'm one over there. You're hitting good putts. Sounds like you're hitting good putts. The putts are so good. I mean, so good. They're really, really good putts. So I'm one over going into 15. And this is the first drive I hit that's just a little left, but not bad, but it's, it's killed. And I end up, I end up with a short chip, but it goes along and I have a giant breaking comeback putt. But again, I like putt it down. And I can't afford to just to have parts. So now I'm like, okay, we got three freaking holes. We can do this. But I am now, one over, one over three to go. I am now fully nervy. Like I'm fully nervy. And I don't like what I feel because what I, what I'm starting to have thoughts about is the worst this round could be is X. Like that's what I start thinking. And I, and I caught myself, but it was really hard to get rid of that thought. But I play 16. And I'm, I'm murderable down the left side, but it's, it's, it's pooled a little bit. So first drive, I've really pooled. And I've got to go into an elevated green over a huge tree. I hit an unbelievable shot. It drops on the right edge of the green. But now we've got like a five degree break or downhill. I can't, I can't even judge this putt. It's such an nasty putt. It goes like 12 feet by the hole. And I can the comeback putt. Come on. So I'm now, so you're one over with two to play. I'm now one over with two to play going into that par three over the water. The par three over the water. That's right. Oh, nerves now. Cause I'm like, I can birdie 18. I know I can birdie 18. Let's just, like, we get a good shot here. He's got the cartography going again. Well, I was like, I know I can birdie 18. And I was like, if I get a good shot here, I can make a run at 17, but I got to get a birdie in the next two holes. And the nerves are full blown. Wind is blowing. I can't get a fill for the yardage. I'm sitting up there throwing grass. I'm throwing so much grass. It's ridiculous. There's a bear spot. There's a group. There's a group behind me. They've caught me back up now. And Lenny, I proceed to dunk the ball into the water. I doubled the hole. I burned the edge on a birdie putt on 18. And I finished it three over for a 75. Oh my gosh. So I know that was a lot of detail. But here's the deal. Let me just, let me just put a bow on this. Bow it, baby. This is my third round in a row in the 70s. You got 79, 78, 75. I was freaking, I was freaking there. Like, I think I had three birdies on the day. But the putter feels great. The GTS is a, it's, it was nails all day. The wedge game felt so good. This is the most confident I have been in a, it's been a while. So I love it. I'm feeling really, really good. I love to hear this. Yeah. You're still feeling cuspy. Oh, I'm cuspy. I'm mossy, Jerry. I'm fertile. He's, anyway, I'm sorry. That took forever. Give me, that was my big update. So give me, give me what you got. All right. So for me, I played, so last time we talked was Thursday. I then played nine on Friday. I could only play nine. It was in the morning with a friend of mine named Slick Lizard. Have I ever told you about Slick Lizard? I see my calf tattoo. Is that where you guys name for him? We used to work at Star Mount together. Oh my God. At the Star Mount Grill and the chef. The chef, I don't know if he's listening. Chef McCracken, if you're there. Big John McCracken, best dude ever. I love that guy. But he would, he would always, he would come down to check on us. He'd be like, what's going on Slick Lizard? And so for some reason, I just, I've, I've carried over to this is Slick Lizard. So I'm playing with Slick Lizard and his and two of his sons. He has four sons. I hope you have sons, strong sons, strong sons, sixth grade and eighth grade, I believe. At the Cardinal. At the Cardinal. First time I played the Cardinal in weeks and man is it in good shape. I mean, they had open qualifying there. Uh, last week or two weeks ago. British open. Uh, US open, local qualifying. Fantastic shape though. Um, and I just smoked the ball all day. Come on. The, the Lionel Richie GTS forward continues to be lethal. The drive, I mean, the driver was just archaic pepper. Just murder. I was on, on the ninth hole. I was farther down the fairway than I've ever been from those teas. Um, so just, just feeling, feeling great. Now, did I get beat by a rising eighth grader? Potentially. He's growing fast though. You got to give him that Slick Lizard puberty way early. Slick Lizard son Davis is a killer. I put all, I mean, it was me and, uh, me and Slick Lizard versus two sons. We had a little game going. Yeah. And this kid, every, every putt he had to win the whole. I was just talking smack like heart like, like, hey, I was like, you don't want to miss this and just drain, drain, drain. And so, uh, I shot 38, which I, I got played pretty good and make many puts, but I hit the ball well. Um, pretty sure he, he, uh, on the last hole, he got me, I think he shot 37 maybe things, uh, anyway, but kudos to you, Davis and your future golf game. Now, I couldn't, I wish I could have played the rest of the nine. Yeah. And then, um, I wish I could have entered that nine into the gin handicap. But I can simulate the second one. Uh, thanks. You just tell you what you would have scored. Yeah. Uh, hashtag, uh, grow the game. hashtag simulate the game. Um, so anyway, that was Friday. Then Monday, Lenny cue something here. The return of the powder familiar. Come on, baby. Uh, first time he's played in about a year. Yeah. We did a little, uh, forward tea challenge just to get him back. And, uh, the big news at that day was he said in the parking lot, he said, I have no known injuries. Uh, so that's a win. But, uh, careful word choice. But it was, it was, it was awesome just to be back out with, uh, with dad. It's been a while. Yeah. But didn't really keep score. Hit the ball. Okay. But it was, it was more about, you know, I wasn't, I, from the front tease, I picked a few wrong clubs for sure. Uh, but it was more like just about having fun. Tuesday was not about having fun. Tuesday was the business match. Come on. And we went to brine park champions for the third straight week. Lenny cue the ACH music. Get your, get your routing number real. Get your routing number. ACH, we got to have ACH music. And it's got to start with a little ching like ching and then, and then just go into the ACH music, Lenny. I don't care how long it takes you to find it. Lenny, if we could buy money from Pink Floyd, we'd play it, but we do not, we're not going to do that. Um, um, and I suggest doing something that I don't think I've ever done, which is play the tips at the champions course, which I've always been scared to do because they're brine park champions. Yeah, they're listed at 72 55. Yeah, I was. Um, but when we were playing it, we, you know, we've been playing it from the, from like 65. And I'm, every time we play it, I'm like, man, I'm, I'm not hitting a bunch of drivers like, yeah, I would be able to hit more drivers and it just looked fun. So we did it. And, um, you have not lived until you've played the 14th hole. I remember the 14th hole, part three on the peninsula with the, all the lake. Kind of. Okay, well, there's a separate set of teas that we've never played that you have to go over the lake. And the wind is going straight at you. It's 240. 240. Yeah. It's a special it's a special time, but other than that the whole I mean it wasn't like that big of a difference You just got to hit a few more drivers. Yeah So we play and then I have a video to send you no, I'm gonna tell you about the round this way. Okay. I got it Let me tell you what I was on the cusp. I was on the cusp of That's what it was. I thought it was something good. No, no I suck so bad I just can't believe it Really hurts my feelings Screwed off screw the podcast screw everything and screw fault First of all, I wanted to take back what I said about Fulton. I hope to work for him one day Let's go say it's not the way. That's not the type of language you need to use for a potential referral source Yeah, that's right for my future boss. Hopefully. Okay. I don't like this Apart from the funny the funny side of it man, it's I mean that was like right after the round Pure emotion. Yeah, but how bad was it? Not that bad. I mean the score was bad. It was yeah 87 I lost five shots off the tee. Oh, probably not the best day to play from the backs. Yeah When I just I but it may was all start lines. I just could not start a ball online until the back, but yeah We're not freaking out. We we got I got a list. I got a lesson with Jason today I'm sure we're gonna find something. Yeah, very simple that I was doing as I said three days before I was smoking the ball I don't think yeah, but it was it was definitely a bad day It was a it was a bad day. That was a concerning reaction well, it was it was just like the reaction you had After nine the other week. Yeah, but I'm allowed to have those reactions. I'm psychopath I'm not You're way more rational than me Well the rationality came back the rationality came back. Yeah, I'm still I'm still in a good place Even even in that even after that. I still think Still think we're close. Still think still think to still feel and cuspi overall Okay, and speaking of cuspi right on time Josh Nichols joins us on the fresh take hotline Welcome to CC's Wow, I love the hat Eli that is sick You like it talking about it. Yeah, come on That's a shop. It's it's in the shop. Maybe it's the new one Josh Nichols everybody has joined us. We just got done talking about him We have Josh. We now have ACH music for when I play you Okay, right the bank transfer we keep the routing number and the account number and then we do a transfer online. It's a new segment We I actually then know you lie Q the Vennma music Yeah, actually real quick, Josh You I'll give you 20 seconds describe describe what happened What was my problem? Why did I just why did yesterday happen like it did only 20 seconds. God Lot of I say a lot. There was like four or five big t-shot misses big big big big Misses. No, I mean they were they were shots where drive out of play that no no shot at the green right at least a recovery shot So yeah, immediately a lot of punch five iron's though. Yeah, yes, you got you were getting good at that work in that punch five iron Well after the round That we really just got it's perfect timing because we just got done talking about Josh but after the round me and you were in a cart and you handed me An assayable This to go yes, he handed me a printed out color coded come on It's amazing. Let me cue it here with Josh Nichols We just finished the business round, but Josh has some has some papers here. Mm-hmm some printed papers with old colors Got the colored printer for this that that's impressive. Yeah, okay. This is the Basic checklist practice plan walk me through it. We're looking at here Okay, so Down the left is our time breakdown So you told me three hours Yes Okay, so you think after eight and a half years of recording on a golf course I would notice when it gets too windy to record But I guess I didn't right here most of Josh and I's recording was destroyed by the wind Let me try to fill in what was said here We'll also post a visual of what this practice plan looks like on the social so you can see it But basically it's a two column format down the left side is a breakdown of the total practice time and for me in week one I have three hours of total practice 30 minutes of t-shots 90 minutes of approach zero minutes of short game. We'll talk about that later and 60 minutes of putting then the right column of the sheet There's a list of five to 20 minute modules Listing out exactly what I'm tasked with doing for this week. So for instance the first one is a module of five minutes Pudding block practice posture eye line stroke start line I do that at any point in the week and I get to check that activity off from my week one plan There's 12 total activities like that So I check one off and then I move to another which might be 15 minutes of t-shot challenge Playing narrow fairway game on the range. There's no specific order. I need to hit I just need to check all the activities off before the end of the week Okay, so now we'll go back to our conversation with Josh and Eli and I and you can hear Josh present Eli's plan with less wind plenty, so I now have my Checkless plan and I would like you to see that yesterday Can you see that I have checked four off? Yes, why didn't felt fantastic to check them off and I've got a disc check check check check check check check check check check check check check check he tricked me beating you with your own mind me Beating you with your own plan But I also have Eli's plan Print it out. I'm gonna give you this next week Eli. Okay, so you can have it because it's so pretty and print it out But you're gonna laminated can you laminated for me? That's a good idea. No, because you have to be able to check it off Not a good idea that idea But we were gonna just really quick Josh walk through Eli's practice plan and how you came up with it. Yeah, so Should I send it to you Eli Mike? Is that please? Is that is that okay? Yeah, send it. Let me I'm gonna text it. Is that okay? That's yeah, okay, do you get text do you have a phone? Let me let me turn it on real quick hold on he gets text. He just doesn't respond right You can that's not true. It's the the reservation. I just got to find there's 366 unread text I just got to figure out which one is yours. It should be the time you live like that All right, I got it. Okay, gosh, that's pretty. Okay. She's an angel. I told you Okay, so as you'll notice on there, there's a lot of putting do you notice that there's a lot of green right there Okay, all down the left is the time breakdown and then the percentage breakdown of the different parts of your game T shots approach short game putting As we have it now T shots is 10% of your practice time So approach is 20 minutes short game is 30 minutes putting is 60 minutes and Then the breakdown as it goes further down is the of block and challenge Block random challenge block random challenge. Yep But of each part of the game and the great out ones are are where we're not putting any time into those for this first week Okay, and then and this changes this this can change. This isn't the same every week. This is just week one Okay, this will maybe slowly adapt over time Depending on shot pattern stats and you know, right. It's really you know, it's based on a we could say a five to ten round Kind of average strokes gained per part of your game and we would say okay, what part of Eli's game needs for Eli to play better the most work and That will get the most of our time especially at two hours of a week We don't want to try to hit everything equally. It kind of spreads things too thin. So we want to kind of dial in on the most important stuff So for this first week half of it is putting and You can see on the on the main Check list side of the plan the different breakdown of Okay, here's the things that you want to check off as you go through the week So I don't have to go so so I don't have to pair these. This isn't like a wine and cheese pairing. No This is not a Merlot type deal. It's all you can eat buffet. You can pick and choose and you just have to get them all checked Yeah, okay, got you Okay, eat everything. Let's call it the eat everything plan the golden curve We could be lobster ate this plan Right, so no, it's not it's like a oh okay. I've I'm planning on Thursday to have an hour practice session at the golf course So I get to the golf course. I'm gonna go and knock off some Some putting when I first get there because I don't need to be necessarily warmed up for it and then I'll maybe go do some short game and then some approach on the range. Oh shoot, my practice session got cut short. I only have 45 minutes instead. So that's okay, my practice session isn't ruined, I still get to check off a few things. But the next time I show up, I'll hit some more things on the plan. - Yeah, okay, I love that. - And yours? - What's your reaction to this, Eli? - Well, my first reaction is, I can't believe all this is only two hours. - That's what I'm about to say. - And I mean, that in a good way. - Yeah, I'm like, I can't believe, in my head, you can't get that much done in two hours. So I'm like, oh my gosh, that's a lot that gets accomplished in a two hour block. And two hours is the time period. I feel so confident that I can put work in during the week and achieve that goal. So that's really, really, really positive. But I'm curious, so I've been doing some block practice with the putting over the last two weeks. And Mike, you know, Mike sent us the little laser optics. I've been using that a ton in the simulator on the practice screen. It's really helped. Just walk me through what does block practice, like what does your block practice look like on the short game side? 'Cause that's where I'm having some issues right now. - Short game block practice? - Yeah. - Okay, basically, rake and hit sort of practice. That's the general idea. Yeah, you wanna kind of step away from the ball and maybe make some practice swings of the feel that you're trying to get, but then you step in back into the ball. And you're working on technique or contact or I'm just building the skill of hitting this one shot. So I'm posted up in a spot. I've got 10 golf balls. I'm trying to hit, I'm trying to land it there and hit a little bit higher shot with my 60 or something. Or I'm trying to work on the gap wedge low runner sort of thing. But you're just doing that repeatedly. So for your first short game chunk on here is 10 minutes of block. And it says technique focus. But with short game, the other one that says skills focus where you're like changing up clubs, like you're at the same spot but you're trying different ways. - Hit a high one, a skipper or whatever, yeah. - So if there is something that you are working on technique wise with chipping, that's the time to do it. As opposed to in a challenge or on the golf course where it's tempting to want to do it, you focus it there. So when you go play, you can, okay, let's test what we've done technically. - Love it. - Makes sense? - Okay, yep, love it. - Okay, this is great. - Yeah, so yours is more chunked up into smaller. Smaller pieces than mics are a lot of kind of 15 minuteers and 20 minuteers. He, we planned his at three hours for a week for practice. So his is kind of like the same amount of lines but a little bit longer per line. So yours is like, okay, I just got in just a little bit of putting, I'm not standing over a putting mirror for 30 minutes, right? - Right, gotcha. - What's your reaction to all that putting, Eli? - Well, Josh, you missed what we've been going over but Mike, I told you like, I've actually spent time putting over the last two weeks and it's made my gosh, it's made it and I've, I've done it different, I think taking the laser out, I think I've sent you the video you posted. - Yeah. - I went about 12 feet out. That way I had an automatic feedback mechanism on whether I was getting the ball started on the right line. I hit whatever, probably 18 to 20 just, and I stepped in, I stepped away, I stepped in, I sat over my putt, even though the laser was on it and I knew what I was trying to hit, I just hit those and then I, but then I immediately turned around and I went through about 25 minutes of skill practice where there's whatever seven or eight practice holes on the green and it was all like 30 foot lag putts where I would line them. Like, I'd walk up, read the putt, line it. And it was a little, I mean, about two minutes in, I was like, all right, let's freaking move on to something else here, but in all seriousness, I was thinking about what you said and I was like, no, I just gotta get used to doing this all the time and not measuring results. Like I'll measure in November or October, whatever we said. And so I actually finished it through, I spent probably, I don't know, 40, 45 minutes doing it, but I've putted great, I mean, for two weeks I've putted really, really well. And the biggest change is the lag putting. That's where I was killing myself was on lag putts and the lag putting has been so much better. So I don't, honestly, I don't have any issues with this. It makes sense to me, I think it's very doable and it still leaves me plenty of time. This is a practice routine that still leaves me time 'cause, you know, my car goal was what? It was two rounds a week and I've hit that for two or three weeks now. So it still gives me a window where I'm like, okay, I can still go play. - Do this and play. - And play my two rounds, you know? So, no, I think it's great. - Awesome. All right, so Josh, we do these practice plans, then we report back to you with the checks and then you judge us and then you, but then each week, depending on how things are going, you might tweak them a little bit. - Yeah, so I think every week, here's my updated, we'll call it five rounds, shop pattern stats, including nine holders. Here's my five rounds of shop pattern stats and based on that each week, it'll be, okay, let's slightly adjust it or nope, it's still putting, that's Eli's thing still. And for Mike, we don't have any short game for his first week because he's the most recent round. Yeah, he's that good. The most recent round shows things that, okay, the practice plan wasn't maybe dialed in for that round specifically, but that's why it's again called shop pattern, not shop one round, right? It's your pattern across a range of rounds. - Your pattern. - And do you get your pattern for free? - You get the pattern, you get the shop pattern app and then you get your patterns for free. - And then you pay for the shop pattern app, so technically it's not free, but you get the results for free. (laughing) - But you pay for it yearly and you forget, you pay for it, so it seems like it's free. (laughing) - Shop pattern worth every penny by the way. - It really is. - I used it by the way, the entire round Monday, I used it and I played that course a thousand times and I was like, nope, I've never really thought through this way, I need to think through it so. - It's so good. - All right, Josh, thank you so much. - Yes, thank you. - And we will report back, but we're on it, man. We are on it. Let's get some check marks. - All right, I like it. - All right guys, we'll see you. Thanks, man. Gosh, always good to see Josh. - It is. - Even after paying him a bunch of money. - And it's always good. There's something about knowing that this, like he's a player and this is the plan, this is how he puts his stuff together. It's like, oh, I don't need to rethink this. Just let's just fine tune it to the time we have in our game and we're good to go. So, thank you, Josh. - And that was the other thing that, you know, the round we just talked about. That probably would have caused more panic. I realized the emotional video I sent you. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Red, that was fresh. That was fresh, right off the round. - Just letting frustration out. I mean, literally two minutes after that, I was fine, but one of the reasons that, I mean, I think in the past, I would have immediately messaged Nickel and been like, we're in trouble. I'm lost, like, I don't feel, there's no loss. It's just like, okay, we, I know there's a plan. I know there's a plan, I know we're following the plan and we're gonna get there, so. - Love it. - All right, Eli, we've only got time for a couple questions actually. - Okay. - But one of them was very timely, because next week we will be at the man-tooth, defending champions in our minds. - That's right. - I don't remember where we finished. It was not in a champion spot, but-- - It doesn't matter, we were different people then. - But our good friend Ken Mendonsa says, "Mike, you should have Eli rewatch the 14th hole from PGA West Mountain on the Desert Slasher's video last year." Then discuss if you guys would do anything differently. Basically, the 14th is the par five. We find out we're one shot down. I hit it, I barely go out of bounds. We think you're out of bounds, but you're in play. - Oh, I remember that. - Yeah. - And then you decide, hey, let's go try to make eagle and go for the green. And I said, so I responded back to him. I was like, there's nothing to discuss. That was just dumb AF. Like, that was so stupid. - Yeah, I had one ball in play. We've never played the chorus. Don't know what's up there. - Yeah, I'll be honest, even on the courses, like, you know, I've played the bull, I've played the bull a thousand times, green briar. There is so little, there's really no like, go at it in my vocabulary anymore. And I don't just mean on drives. - Yeah. - Like, almost every par five, I'm sitting there going, boy, I have to pull off a really, really, really good shot. And if I don't, it's gonna leave me in a spot it's real. hard to get up and down from or I can just play up to 60 yards short and have a real comfortable wedge in that I think I can put pretty tight and have a great birdie putt. So like the whole idea, the whole go for it, I think the longer we do this it just gets pushed further and further out of the vocabulary. I don't know if you feel the same but that's all right. Oh yeah, but I just can't believe, I mean, and I can't believe that we're so different from just a year ago or that we didn't know that. But I mean, if you take out that club, it's in the same situation. I'll tackle you. Like, I'll be like, no, what are you doing? I'm out of play. Like, you have to just, you have to stay in play. Just hit an iron. You're the shot that will guarantee you're not out of bounds. Yeah. Or would have pulled up shot pattern. I mean, did we not pull up shot pattern? Was it too hot? I'm gonna blame the heat. Yeah, I'm fine with that. We're also stupid. Okay, last question. This is from last episode. It's it's let me give you something on this. This is from Brian Pugh. He titled the email a thin red line. And it says, you might remember, I said the thin red line last week, kind of kind of in that cuspi part of the curb. He says, Mike and Eli, first time, long time. I've consumed every ounce of this show. And I'm deeply connected to your success. I'm a 43. I'm 43 myself. I'm a 12. He's a 43 is a big handicap. Yeah, no, he's, I'm 43 myself a shaky 12 handicap. Your journey feels like my journey to the thin red line stuck out to me. You've put in the work, coaching, strategy, mechanics, mindset, preparation, all of it. And the result is you've become really good golfers. At this point, it feels hard to say the ability isn't there, which makes me wonder if the final step isn't waiting for it to click, but trusting that it's already clicked. Not waiting to feel ready, just playing freely and trusting the game is already there, because from the outside looking in, it feels like you both have what you need. Long story short, the question I have for both of you is, what if the thing holding you back is believing there's still something holding you back? I like that. I thought that was pretty good. I thought it was a great saying. Unfortunately, I could show you some down the line, slow-mo swings. And there is more than that holding me back. No, I mean, it's a fair, it is a fair move. I buy that to a degree. I do. I do. I don't know. That's something, I, I just say it's something to think about. Let me ask you this. Yes or no? Is your game at a point where, is your game at a point where it's a two-handy cap or better? Do you have what you, do you have enough to be a two-handy cap right now? I, I think it's, I don't know, it's weird. Yeah. What would you say? I'm on the border. I'm, I think I'm right on the border. Yeah, we're on, it's on the cusp. I'm on the border. I'm on the cusp music. It's cute again. Let's just find a reason to play it. I'm, I am, I'm on the border. I don't know there's enough there yet. Like to consistently get there yet, but I, I do think I'm right on the border. Border cusp, cuspy. All right. Borderline Madonna, whatever it is, just play it. All right, so we're off next week. We will be back the week after with a full recap of what happens when bear shark comes back together. Come on. Let's freaking go. Until then, fight hard. Let's go, let's go. Thanks so much for listening to us today. We're mixed as always by Lenny Sturner, inspired by KF Rager. Production support came from Flatside and Drupal media. Special thanks to our friends at Titleist and Special thanks again to our good friend Josh Nichols. Check out the mental golf show podcast every week. And if you'd like to work with Josh, check out his website joshnicholsgolf.com. Special thanks to the Velkren. This show is not possible without your support. If you'd like to join the community, check us out chasingscratchgolf.com/velcro. Kudos to Kregger's yet to kneel out of what to carry. Love the carol and fight like courage. Music credits are in the show notes. We'll be back in two weeks for episode nine. We'll talk to you then. It's going down today. It's about to go down. We're going to lock stocking them. I'm coming in lock stocking bearer. So why are we recording? Because I wanted to sing. Did you listen to the last episode? I did. I also listened to, I also listened to the training montage and the car for probably 20 minutes yesterday driving home. Christina, did you listen to going the distance? Sorry, I meant going the distance. Christina kept going. Why are you keep restarting it? I was like, because I have an eight hour drive and I'm going to listen to this as much as I can because it makes me excited. You don't think the song? I was like, it doesn't matter. Are with me on going the distance yet? It's pretty darn good. You can, man. It's probably edged out. I'm going to fly now. Barely. Barely. Good to fly now. It's pretty good, though, man. It's very good. Bill Conti. I mean, you can't, you can't mess with Bill Conti. Yeah. No, it's pretty, it's pretty legit. I'd say it edged it out. It was, it was close, though. But I did probably for a solid 15 to 20 minutes yesterday, just kept hitting restart like 68 seconds in. That's aggressive. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It was real well received. There was a quick headphone placement by my wife. She went, she went to the audiobook super quick. She shot into that audiobook coma pretty quick after like the ninth rewind.