Better Golf Academy: Strategy to Awesome Golf

Annika Sörenstam used to three-putt on purpose as a junior. Not because she was afraid of losing, but because of something way more surprising. Her story opens the door to research that breaks fear of failure into five separate pieces.

I'm pretty sure you'll recognize yourself in at least one of them. I found myself in three. And once you know which one is yours, the fix gets a whole lot simpler.

Scott Hoch stood over a two-foot putt to win the Masters, and missed. I found a psychiatrist's idea that explains exactly why a putt that short can feel that terrifying, and it has a lot to do with the smoke detector in your kitchen.

This kicks off my new series, Scared Money, all about the fear that quietly costs you strokes. If your heart has ever pounded over a short putt, start right here.

About seventy percent of amateur golfers barely warm up, and one study showed exactly what that's costing them. The number surprised me, and I've been playing this game a long time.

This is the Winter Game finale, and it's all about your first round back. I'll show you how to turn that rusty first tee into an actual fresh start. And I made a free worksheet that puts the whole series on one page.

Seve Ballesteros wasn't allowed to play the course as a kid, so he taught himself on the beach with one beat-up 3-iron. That story turns out to be the perfect example of a study that totally changed how I think about practicing at home.

If you've ever made fifty putts in a row on your carpet and then three-putted on Saturday, this one explains why. And the fix is surprisingly simple.

Harvard researchers had beginners practice piano without ever pressing a key, and their brains still changed. When I read what happened next, I immediately thought about every golfer stuck inside this winter.

Jack Nicklaus had his own version, and he won 18 majors with it. I'll show you how to borrow it in five minutes a day, no club required.

teve Stricker went from one of the best players in the world to Q-school, then rebuilt his game hitting balls out of a heated trailer into the snow. What happened next is wild, and it ties right into a surprising study on British postal workers.

If you think you need a free Saturday to get better, I want you to hear this one. The answer to how much you should practice might be a lot less than you think.

Annika Sörenstam walked away from championship golf for thirteen years, then came back at fifty and won by eight. I dug into the research on why that's even possible, and it's way better news than I expected for anyone taking a break this winter.

If you're putting the clubs away for the season, or you're just slammed at work, this one's for you. I'll tell you what actually goes rusty first, and spoiler, it's not your swing.

A study once found golfers made more putts just because they were told their ball was lucky. The magic didn't fully hold up, but what it says about trusting your clubs absolutely does.

In this series finale I bring everything together, the numbers, the driver, the shafts, the fitting, and the one spec no launch monitor can measure. It might be the most important one in your bag.

We've all hit that one perfect shot on a simulator and wanted to buy the club on the spot. It's one of the most expensive feelings in golf.

In this episode I walk you through what real fitters actually look at, and it's not your best shot. You'll walk into your next fitting knowing exactly what to ask.

I always assumed a lighter shaft meant more speed, and then I found a test where most golfers hit it faster with the heaviest one. That surprised me, and it might change what you buy next.

In this episode I break down what shaft weight and flex really do, in plain English, and how to test them yourself. Spoiler, the label on the shaft is the least helpful part.

I dug into the Trackman tour data and found that the women on the LPGA Tour get more out of their swing speed than the men on the PGA Tour. The reason why could be worth more yards than your last new driver.

In this one I give you the simple driver window to look for on the sim, launch, spin, and attack angle, in plain English. You might be one small setup change away from your longest drives.

I found out the radar on your favorite golf simulator was built by an engineer who used to track missiles, and what it proved flipped decades of golf lessons upside down. Once you hear it, you'll never blame your slice on the same thing again.

In this episode I break the whole wall of sim numbers down to the five that actually matter. If you've ever stared at that screen and just looked at carry distance, this one's for you.

Some of the greatest players who ever lived had swings a teacher would've "fixed" in five minutes. So why are the rest of us chasing a new swing tip every single week?

This is the finale of our Every Shot Must Have a Purpose series, and I'm pulling the whole thing together into one simple game plan for your next three rounds. No new swing required, I promise.

You can probably describe your worst three-putt from last weekend in perfect detail, but can you name one great drive? There's a reason for that, and a famous psychology paper summed it up in five words.

Today I'm talking about the Memory Box, the part of every shot that happens after the ball lands, and how one LPGA winner learned to manage it. Plus a two-minute habit you can do in the parking lot that changes what you bring to your next round.

Annika Sörenstam's coach used to ask her one question after rounds, and it had nothing to do with her score. When I heard it, I realized I'd never once tracked it in my whole golf life.

In this episode I'm giving you a second scorecard to keep, and all it takes is a pencil and a few dots. Fair warning, your first number might be humbling. Mine sure was.

Bill Murray went on Joe Rogan's podcast and, of all things, gave credit to two golf coaches and a book for his handicap heading down. What he said about it is not what you'd expect from Carl the greenskeeper, and I can't stop thinking about it.

Today I'm breaking down the invisible line that sits behind every golf shot, the one that separates thinking from swinging. Once you see it, you'll start noticing exactly where a lot of your bad shots are coming from.

What's the lowest score you actually believe you could shoot? In this episode I tell you about a coach in Sweden who asked her team one strange question in 1991, and the teenager in that room who went on to do something no woman in LPGA history had ever done.

We're kicking off a brand new five-part series on Every Shot Must Have a Purpose, and I'm giving you a five-minute scorecard exercise that might change the number you think you're capable of. Fair warning, it might be lower than you're comfortable with.

Some days I play badly because I'm too wound up, and some days because I'm too relaxed, and for years I couldn't figure out which one was the real problem. Turns out Tiger Woods had an answer for that in his book, and a strange old experiment with mice explains exactly why.

This is the finale of our Tiger series, so I also bring all five of his strategies together in one place. If you've been following along, this is the one that ties it all up.

Tiger Woods got just as mad at bad shots as the rest of us, but he had a rule that gave his anger an expiration date about ten steps long. I break down where that rule came from and why nobody can quite agree on the number.

There's also a brain study from UCLA that explains why one tiny thing you can do on the walk to your ball might turn the volume down on a blown shot. It's the simplest reset I know.

In the summer of 2000, Tiger Woods played four rounds on a course with over a hundred bunkers and never stepped in a single one. The way he pulled it off is so simple it's almost funny, and you can do it this weekend.

I also share a stat about how often even scratch golfers come up short that genuinely surprised me. Once you hear it, you'll never pick a club the same way again.