Hack It Out Golf

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. In today's episode, we have three golfers hitting their approach into the green on a par 4 from 150 yards: one scratch, one a 10 index, and the last a 20 index. What are the odds that each make double-bogey or worse? Lou brings the Arccos data, Mark and Greg offer their guesses, and all three give advice that will help...

The legendary golf instructor Harvey Penick said, "Golf tips are like aspirin. One may do you good, but if you swallow the whole bottle you will be lucky to survive." There's wisdom there—but maybe not in your practice, when you're trying to change your swing. In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg make the case for dramatically overdoing your swing change. Why would you intentionally practice "wron...

Would you rather shoot better scores or play with flair and style? I think most of us know , if we're trying to lower the handicap, we should want to get the ball in the hole in the fewest shots, regardless if our style impresses our playing partners. In this episode, Lou brings a recent golf study to Mark and Lou: most golfers get their chip shots much closer to the hole when they hit those shots...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. As always, the best Saturday Stats the ones when Mark and Greg's guesses are furthest from the number. Today, Lou's topic are the green-light shots: a wedge from the fairway for Tour pros. How often are they hitting the green, what's their average proximity, and what's the scoring average? Once again, this is a mastercl...

Today's episode takes us to one of the "fundamentals" of golf, but perhaps not in a way you'd expect. Mark, Lou, and Greg talk ball position, and one idea that Mark leads with is that while your ball position needs to be intentional , it might not always need to be the same . You probably know that ball position can change ball flight, especially height. Have you thought about the way it influence...

Professional men's golf continues to remain in flux. There was a time when the European Tour was a near peer if not a full peer of the PGA Tour. That is no longer the case; indeed, the current arrangement has the DP World Tour sending its best players each year to the PGA Tour. Has the DP World made poor decisions? In today's episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg talk about the past, present, and future of...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. There probably isn't an "expectations management" issue that is more obvious than driving distance. In this episode, Lou asks Greg and Mark about an amateur male golfer with a median driving distance around 270: where does he rank compared to his peers? Turns out, he's way better than most—which means most of us aren't...

Project Lou returns! In this episode, Lou is the student and Mark is the coach, and Greg might be the crisis negotiator brought in to defuse the situation. The guys update us on what Lou has been working on, providing important information on the relationship of plane to path. But the conversation becomes bigger: how quickly should swing changes take root? When is it not worth it to make a change?...

Have you ever taken a swing with a towel or headcover held in your armpit? If so, have we got an episode for you! The truth of the matter is that you need some arm lift in your backswing. In today's episode, Mark helps Lou understand how arm lift works in the backswing, while Greg offers his thoughts as well. This is useful all the time, but especially if you're working on changes to your swing in...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. There's a certain approach to golf strategy that insists that there is a *best* angle into the green, and to get that angle, you should try to favor one side of the fairway over the other. In this episode, Lou looks at the data for 10-index golfers, on relatively wide fairways, with the hole cut definitively to one side...

The top of your bag, just below your driver, is probably the part of your bag where you have the greatest number of options for how your set is built. How do you know what set makeup is best for you? In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg talk about the strengths and weaknesses of long irons and hybrids. What's the longest iron you play? What advantages might you gain replacing that iron with a hybr...

This week is the debut of the new tech-heavy indoor team golf league headlined by Tiger and Rory, the TGL. In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg break down the news reports of the anticipated format. What aspects of it seem promising, and which might flop? Will the TGL have any impact on the wider popularity of golf? And should the three of them attend a TGL event soon? Where to find us: Mark Cross...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. A couple of episodes ago, Lou asked Mark and Greg about bunker play; today's episode is the much-anticipated follow-up. How often do golfers (scratch and 15-index) leave a greenside bunker shot in the bunker? It's an incredibly frustrating moment on the course, and the guys give advice to minimize the chance of it happe...

Today's episode is a listener question. If you listen to this podcast, you know that you ought to track your stats on the course—if you're serious about improvement. In this episode, the question is: what stats and measurements should you track in the off-season if you want to improve? Mark, Lou, and Greg offer their answers and a variety of advice for making the most productive use of the winter...

Today's episode is one that will likely help you hit the ball with more power but less effort: Mark talks about stretch in the swing, mostly the backswing, with Lou and Greg. What is stretch in the swing? How can someone like Rahm, with relatively little stretch the backswing, hit the ball as far as someone like Bubba Watson, who had a ton of stretch? And how can everyday golfers incorporate this...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. In today's episode, Lou joins our 10-index player at 50, 100, and 150 yards from the hole in fairway. How many strokes, on average, will it take him to hole out from each distance? Mark and Greg offer their guesses, and what unfolds is a great discussion (with data!) about what you really cost yourself when you lay up t...

Whether or not your playing season is determined by the weather, the turn of the calendar is a good time to look back over your play this last season. In this episode, in reply to the listener question, Lou, Mark, and Greg give their counsel about how normal golfers should go about evaluating their seasons. Key topics: setting goals and getting accurate data about how you really played. Bonus: fas...

Professional golf tournaments at the highest level are huge undertakings. It is customary at these events for the tournament to rely on hundreds of volunteers. Increasingly, those volunteers are asked to pay—sometimes, quite a lot—for the privilege of volunteering. In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg talk about this practice and how defensible it really is. Where to find us: Mark Crossfield's wee...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. From 30' away, even a Tour pro rarely expects to make his putt. But how often is he leaving it more than 5' from the hole? How often will his putt come up short of the hole? These are the questions Lou brings to today's episode. Mark and Greg give their answers, but more importantly, they are shocked by the 5' answer—an...

Golf instruction, like a lot of things, can be trendy. In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg look back at the past couple of decades of golf instruction. Repeatedly, there are fads in golf instruction—and not all of them were likely to have made golfers better. This is an episode that matters for amateur golfers, a reminder to recognize that we need to welcome new information, without always assumi...

Mark leads off this episode with a plea: just listen to this episode! The reality is that few golfers ever practice fairway bunker shots, and when they occur in rounds, they're costly (Lou brings the numbers). In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg give real advice about how to play fairway bunker shots and how to practice the skills needed to keep them from adding big numbers to your round. Where t...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. Imagine a driving range with 100 golfers: every golfer on that range hits his drives about 225 yards. And then there is a second range, in which all the golfers are driving their balls about 255 yards. What percentage of the golfers on each of those ranges would have a handicap index of 15 or higher? Lou puts this quest...

Recent news published the compensational package for PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. In this episode, Mark, Greg, and Lou take the opportunity, not just to talk about the commissioner's salary, but to consider the job he's done with the Tour, with the rise of LIV, and even more now, with the rising popularity of golf on other social media tools. It remains an interesting time to be a fan of gol...

'Tis the season to suggest golf gifts! In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg talk about setting up your own home practice bay. From a simple mat and net, to a full-fledged projector screen and high end launch monitor, to accessories like pressure mats, wrist sensors, and cameras, the guys bring their years of expertise to bear to give you advice on what to look for as you build a place to practice....

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. You're 120 away, in the fairway. This is a prime scoring opportunity. How many more shots do you expect to take? In this episode, Lou brings that scenario to Mark and Greg, comparing a Tour Pro to a 15 handicap golfer. After comparing their scoring differences, the guys weigh in with advice that will help all golfers ma...