Hack It Out Golf

Your gear can't play the game for you, but it can make the game easier or harder. In this episode, Mark brings his suggestions for clubs and other equipment that would help most players shoot better scores. Lou and Greg also weigh in with suggestions—and critiques of Mark's list. A different kind of ball for holes when you want to keep the spin down? Where to find us: Mark Crossfield's weekly news...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. Three-putting never feels great. Three-putting from 10 feet is a kick in the gut. In today's episode, Lou asks Greg and Mark how often this tragedy happens for golfers at different levels. Afterward, we get a couple of pointers on these putts and some epic putting stories from Greg. Each of these will be a mini-episode...

Perhaps you were watching an episode of Full Swing and thought, "This would be better if it were entirely about Greg Chalmers." If that's you, have I got an episode for you! In today's episode, Mark floats the idea of a video series on the 2025 Champions Tour season of Greg. Mark, Greg, and Lou talk about what they'd like to capture, offer some AI-suggested series names, and make plans to episodes...

What does Collin Morikawa owe you? In recent weeks, Morikawa ducked the typical post-round press conference following a tough defeat. In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg bring their differing perspectives to this incident. Should Morikawa have taken questions? Do we really learn anything from these interviews? What role does he have as an example to others? Where to find us: Mark Crossfield's wee...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. How close do you need to be to the hole so that more of your shots finish outside 30 feet than inside? That's the question Lou puts to Mark and Greg in today's episode. It turns out, amateurs are often harder on themselves than they should be—and that we don't have enough awe at how good professionals are at this game....

The TGL regular season has ended, and so Mark, Lou, and Greg offer their thoughts on the first year. In this episode, they talk about the viewing numbers, the format of the game (and the rule changes), and the ways that the league could be tweaked to make it even more engaging going forward. Where to find us: Mark Crossfield's weekly newsletter: https://www.crossfieldgolf.com/subscribe Mark Crossf...

Greg came thisclose to winning the 2025 Cologuard Classic. In this episode, Mark and Lou don their media hats to do the post-round interview, Hack It Out-style. We get Greg's thoughts on some of the crucial shots down the stretch, the pressure of sleeping (twice) on the lead, the challenge of bringing some new swing movement into tournament pressure (and having the old pattern show up at the wrong...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. Today's episode is a curveball: Lou wraps up in his Tiger Woods throw blanket and puts some trivia questions to Greg and Mark about the magnitude of Tiger's dominance. In addition to highlighting just how great Tiger was, we learn how much Mark dislikes trivia questions and what it was like to play with Tiger from Greg....

From Lou's swing laboratory: Lou is working on a way to practice hitting shots from slopes, not only to work on those shots, but to work on the various pressure shifts in the golf swing. In this episode, he talks with Mark about his plans. The discussion includes the various effects of slopes on shots (which are different with different clubs) and the different ways in which golfers apply ground f...

Almost a year ago, Mark had a lesson with highly-regarded golf coach Sean Foley. Sean recommended a number of changes—big changes—to Mark's swing. In this episode, Mark and Lou talk about Mark's process of making those changes. Mark talks about what Sean wanted him to do (and why), and then the process he's pursued to work those changes into his swing. A key idea: not all swing training needs to t...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. Today's episode: how far away is 3.19 strokes? Take a Tour Pro and a 15-index and drop them both in the fairway at the point that they will, on average, take 3.19 more strokes to get in the hole. What distances are they at? Lou puts this question to Mark and Greg, they guess, and much astonishment follows. Turns out: To...

Greg's second season on the Champions Tour is underway. This season, Greg is aiming to do more data-collection, so that he can know and not just guess what's working and what's not in his game. In today's episode, he and Mark talk through his first round using Arccos. They discuss alternatives to the tags on the grips, getting comfortable with the app, and getting started with the multitude of sta...

Amateur golfers obsess over swing path and face angle, and with good reason. But golf is a game of distance and direction, and much of the test of distance is distance control : having a very clear idea, within a few yards, of how far your typical shot will go. In this episode, Greg and Mark (Lou is out with a bout of flu) talk through a whole series of pointers that will help you play better by h...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. Today's episode remains one of the most important concepts to grasp if you want to improve your scores. All golfers have a fairly wide range of scores. For a 10 index, breaking 80 is a good round while shooting over 90 leaves him frustrated. The question: how many birdies does he makes in those good rounds vs in the bad...

In this episode, Lou and Mark begin with some competitive banter about a hole they recently played together—especially their quite differing approaches to reading putts. Both speak of what they look for on the greens, and then they turn the stage over to Greg: statistically, one of the best putters ever to play the game. You need to putt on almost every hole you play. Reading greens is a skill tha...

You've waited for this: this is the episode in which Lou, Mark, and Greg recap Lou's lesson when they were together at the PGA Show. If you are a regular listener to this podcast, there some chance that the technical changes that Lou's swing needs apply to you. But there's an even better chance that we together need to learn how to learn: how to make changes to our game that make a difference—and...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. We've been on a roll lately with episodes that are surprising. Today, Lou's question is about really good shots: how often does a Tour pro finish within 10 feet from 85 and 120 and 170 yards? Mark and Greg guess, and the longer you've been listening to good information, the more surprised you might be by the answers. Tu...

Mark, Greg, and Lou take a listener questioner: for this player, his 7 iron swing speed is right around Tour average, but his driver swing caps out at 105mph. Why might that be? Each of the guys offer possible reasons for this discrepancy but also encourage him—and all golfers struggling with a specific issue—to seek out specific advice. Where to find us: Mark Crossfield's weekly newsletter: https...

Today, the Gears shift: instead of Lou's measurements, Greg's swing gets analyzed and tweaked. When the Hack It Out team was together, Greg had his swing measured, in today's episode, Mark, Greg, and Lou discuss what they learned. Greg talks through some of the technical changes he's been making, but the broader discussion of how to implement intentional changes in your golf swing is relevant to i...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. Today's episode brings us to new territory, as the TOUR's allows for more granular stats: how does green firmness affect how close a Tour pro can get to the pin? In this episode, Mark and Greg guess the median proximity for soft, medium, and hard greens. Lou brings the answer—and it will likely surprise you. How much di...

Project Lou continues, with Lou getting on the Gears system and getting measured. In this episode, Mark, Lou, and Greg talk about what Lou learned. An important takeaway for all golfers: even if you think you're a "feel" player, getting measurements about your swing can help you better match your feels to your intentions. In this discussion, you'll see how that happened for Lou, what Greg is antic...

The PGA Tour recently announced several changes that are designed to speed up play, including allowing rangefinders during tournament rounds. In this episode, Lou, Mark, and Greg discuss these changes. Among the topics: will this actually speed up play? What other technology should be permitted for tournament rounds? And is determining distance for your shot one of the skills of golf? Where to fin...

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. Today's episode highlights a decent 10-index golfer, 90 yards from the hole in the fairway: expectations are high. Lou's question: how often will he get up and down from there? On the flip side: how often is it going to take him 4 (or more) shots to finish this hole? Mark and Greg offer their guesses, a winner is crowne...

Gregulators: another seasons dawns, and it's time to mount up! Today's episode releases as Greg begins his second season on the Champions Tour, and so he joins Lou and Mark to talk about the final off-season preparations, his opening tournament in Morocco, and his expectations for the season ahead. Lou continues his campaign to take the bag from Dougie. Where to find us: Mark Crossfield's weekly n...

Mark, Lou, and Greg took the opportunity again this year to meet up in person at the 2025 PGA Show in Orlando. In today's episode, the recount the show itself, a battle with food poisoning, new revelations about Lou's proportions, others in the golf industry they were able to reconnect with, some of the more interesting displays, and the beginnings of some in-person measuring and coaching of Lou....