#16 [Journey to Scratch] Keeping Golf Fun, Breaking 100 Again, and Struggling Under Pressure

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:02.464)

Hey fellow golfer, welcome back to another episode of the Scratch Golfers Mindset podcast. I’m your host, Paul Salter, the golf hypnotherapist. And dare I say, I now am a double digit golfer? mean, 2 .99s the past 10 days or so, I wouldn’t say that I am going to definitively never shoot higher than 100 again. I will, however, say.

I am trending in the right direction. Remember, welcome back another Tuesday episode where these episodes are particularly designed and structured to highlight my journey to becoming a scratch golfer. Every single week, I’m going to simply recap my playing rounds and my practice sessions and share with

the real vulnerable insight as to what’s going on mentally for me, what emotions are keeping me stuck or posing quite a challenge and updating you on my scoring, my challenges, my obstacles and all of the wins in between. So I appreciate you being here and before I dive into recapping the past week, including two rounds and a separate practice session, I’ve got two quick reminders. First and foremost is I’m researching to better understand

how I can best serve you here on the podcast, as well as in my weekly newsletter, More Pars Than Bogies. I wanna learn more about you, your challenges, fears, desires, and goals to ultimately help me improve my content and my ability to provide you with what it is you need to get out of your own way on and off the golf course so you can play and live to your potential. So if you are currently

double digit handicap golfer destined, determined, and committed to breaking 80, I would love to hop on a Zoom call and ask you a handful of questions. And if you’re open to it, you can use the link below in the show notes to make that call happen. And second, if you’ve ever lined up for a shot, gone through your normal pre -shot routine, yet

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (02:19.584)

Moments before you initiated your backswing, felt like something was off, didn’t feel right, or you were distracted, yet you swung anyway. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it may be costing you anywhere from five to 10 strokes per round. And if you are guilty of hitting far too many anyway shots during a round,

like myself, then this past edition of my newsletter, More Pars Than Bogies, is the newsletter you need to read. This edition, simply called Stop This Specific Shot, to shoot more pars than bogies, learn to let go of the anyway shot. And you can start reading after you listen to this episode by visiting the link in the show notes below. Well, with that said, we’re gonna dive right in and what I have to recap in detail for you today.

are two separate playing sessions alongside, and I’m gonna have to pause here.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (03:43.262)

And with that said, we’re gonna dive into the meat and potatoes of today’s episode. And I have two rounds to explicitly break down in detail with you to help update you on where I am stuck and struggling and where I’m excelling and progressing. And that first round starts with what was ultimately going to be a practice round, yet a golden opportunity unfolded. There’s a neat course nearby.

more or less designating it as my home course. It’s called Rogers Park. Both of these rounds took place at this golf course. But what’s unique about Rogers Park is that they have a nine hole short course where two of the holes are about 110, 120 yards. The remaining seven are less than like 75 yards. So it’s a short game course that has, the pre -built tee boxes. It’s the turf and then a short hole. You can easily walk this thing in under an hour.

But what was really unique about this opportunity is I chipped and putted for about 40 minutes and noticed nobody was out there. It was like 11 a .m. on a Wednesday and I had time. So I thought I’m going to go play the short course and I paid an arm and a leg for this course. I mean, it was a whopping nine dollars. Well, what was interesting was not only were there no adults on the course, they were running summer camp for children.

So there were a couple groups of, know, six to eight, probably six to eight year olds with an instructor or two on like the fourth or fifth hole. That meant I had a wide open course to play. So I took my time playing that short course and I averaged playing five balls per hole. Yes, you heard me correctly. I would hit a ball, drop another, hit a ball and then go finish my chipping or putting and play out the hole and keep pace with

group in front of me, which again, was the handful of little rascals running around and who, by the way, were hitting some pretty nice shots. But I share this with you because I took advantage to really drill in a focus and priority of mine, which is my short game. I mentioned in last week’s episode, one of my priorities during my practice sessions is learning how to have better distance control when I am inside 70 yards, particularly that 40 to 70 yard range.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (06:05.792)

What I have been working on is I use primarily my 52 degree wedge is A, I am choking up on the club a little bit. I’m taking my normal grip and then moving down about an inch and a half or so. And then from there, I’m working on a half backswing and a three quarter

Well, as you can imagine, playing the short course five balls per hole gave me ample opportunity to practice and better gauge my distances between a half back swing and a three quarter back swing. by the time I was on the fourth and fifth hole, I was hitting almost every green in regulation and it was a really encouraging and positive training experience. And I write down like I encourage you to do or I voice note them into my notes app.

post -round recap after every session I played, I noticed significant improvement using my wedge, particularly between 40 and 60 yards. And I think one of the biggest challenges and to be frank, fears I faced getting back into the game of golf was how I would handle par threes. And what I mean by that, I was just so doubtful in my ability to consistently hit irons

There was a lot of fear of embarrassment and judgment on completely shanking the shot or just completely missing the green. If there was water, it felt like there was a magnet between the water and my ball. I’m playing some pretty damn good par three golf and I scored well on the par three course. I shot well and those holes in which I had to use my nine iron or my pitching wedge, I was solid. was consistent, great contact overall. And that’s where I’m at in my

You know, I alluded to it in a past episode. You my first initial goal getting back into the game was like, don’t fucking miss the ball. Like priority number one, really underneath the surface was hit the ball, don’t embarrass yourself. Number two was, okay, hit the ball and have an appropriate backswing that was taught to me so that the ball would start going in the direction I would desire and to go in that direction consistently.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (08:14.548)

The third evolution of my progress was, okay, my backswing, I know what to do and I can do it consistently, was now you need to hit down onto the ball. Have your hands lead through the swing and that’s producing the trajectory and more or less the direction I want. The fourth phase, if you will, where I’m really at in my learning and skill progression journey is following through, getting that toe up on my follow through so that I’m not hitting the ball.

even with, you know, perfect contact, if you will, with an open club face, because what I still noticed playing the short course was I was still pushing the vast majority of my shots right. Perfect trajectory, apex and distance, clean contact, yet 10 to 25 yards to the right of where I was aiming. So that’s definitely where I need to continue to push my effort and my practice.

It’s actually Monday as I’m recording this. So I decided either tonight I’m playing a round of nine or I’m getting a practice session in. and I’ll put this recap on next week’s episode, but I’m going to do a lot of short course work again tonight, really finding that level of comfort, confidence and consistency swinging down and through the ball to get the shots going exactly where I am. So I can begin to take a more aggressive approach, approach attacking pins. And that’s where I’m at today.

What I really want to focus on today is digging into my round of 18. I broke a hundred again. It was an ugly 99. I grinded out a 99. It was to be frank, a humbling experience. know, coming off my 99 and a 104 the week or the 10 days prior,

I had felt a lot of progress. was seeing progress. My confidence had leveled up dramatically when it came to hitting off the tee box, hitting both my long and short irons and things were starting to click for me. I was humbled during this last round. And yes, I scored a 99 and yes, there were a couple, you know, to be frank, it was probably more between a 100 and a 104. There were a couple of weird shots where I lost a ball and I didn’t take the shot because I knew it was in place somewhere. The rough was so thick.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (10:31.176)

Regardless, I did not play well. And I want to unpack some of the learning lessons and the challenges and I’ll sprinkle in the wins because there were many wins in there. But right out of the gate, one thing I noticed that I’m struggling to put together, and this is good feedback for you, and I’m going to share how I would put my coaching hat on and how I’m speaking to myself about this is I am still so young in my return to the game that I don’t yet have a consistent.

warm up routine prior to playing 18. And something I teach with my high performers, my entrepreneurs and business owners and my coaching is when it comes to having a morning routine, you need two variations. You need a short bare minimum morning routine that is five minutes or less that at least primes you and sets the tone and intention for a fantastic day. And then you create more of your standard

optimal morning routine, which maybe it’s 20 to 30 minutes when all the stars align and you have the bandwidth to do so. That same principle applies here. So for you listening, my challenge to you, and I’ll talk about my structure in a moment, is you as well need two variations of your pre -round warmup routine. One of them likely should be about 10 to 15 minutes.

The other one should be 30 to 40 minutes. That way, if you arrive later than desired to go play, you have something that you can begin to put into place, kind of turn your brain off while simultaneously beginning to warm up your body, your mind, and connecting your mind and body so you can swing fluidly and confidently and feel warmed up, prepared to play. Now, with that said, this warmup routine I’m mentioning is specific to on the course

We’ll talk about the guided hypnosis and visualization before the round another time. With that said, if you’re looking for a free hypnosis recording, I have one you can get at the show notes below. It’s called Play Your Best Round. Listen to it the night before or the morning of and go watch yourself play your best round yet. And of course, let me know how it goes. So what I did the other morning is I teed off at about 730 in the morning.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (12:41.472)

is I had a leftover quarter bucket of large balls in my trunk from another range session I didn’t finish. So I hit a few 52 and 60 degree wedges, might’ve hit my pitching wedge a few times. I chipped and putted for about 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes total, and that was

So I hadn’t touched driver or three wood. hadn’t touched any of my long irons. I did some general calisthenics to loosen my backup. I’ve got some back issues. I’ve been plaguing me for years that recently flared up and I’ll bring that up. I’m sure later in this episode, because there’s a key point I want to share, but that’s where I’m at. I did a little general body routine, a little range work, a little chipping and putting, and I hit the course. I shanked my drive off of the first hole. Just completely shanked

And to be frank, I was less than stellar off the tee box for all 18. And I’m looking at my stats here. Again, I use the Grint app, Paul J. Salter, or seven, if you want to connect and follow along with my journey there, I might’ve hit one or two greens in regulation on the front, three, not greens, fairways, excuse me, maybe two or three on the back. I was just inconsistent. And what I noticed was first and foremost,

is I was hooking my drive driver or my three wood, which for me is a very big indicator that A, I am tight and B, I am gripping the club too much. I’m over swinging. I’m thinking too much. So I learned there not only the importance of me of getting a strong start, perhaps bringing out my three iron should I need to on the tee box. I got to get the ball in play. I lost so many strokes by just being an idiot and

just choosing the wrong club off the tee box. was some ego involved. Again, I was riding high from the last couple of weeks of golf going so well. I also wasn’t warmed up effectively. And there were a lot of things I could have done differently with my warmup routine and my decision making on the tee box. So circling back to the warmup routine, I’m in the process of A, writing down my dream warmup state. And I’m

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (14:49.184)

yet finalized on what it will look like, but it’s gonna consist of, you know, in a perfect day, 10 minutes of putting, 10 minutes of chipping. And I know my putting is gonna start with hitting 10 that are three feet or less, making all 10, moving to six feet, moving to nine feet, doing a quick distance practice just to make sure I’m understanding the speed of the green. Then I’ll move on

or then I’ll move on to start my round. On the range, there’s gonna be some half swings with the pitching wedge or the 52 degree, excuse me, some three quarter and some full swings. I’ll go 52, I’ll go pitching, I’ll go eight, I’ll go six, I’ll go three, I’ll go three wood, I’ll go driver. I don’t know how long that will take. To be frank, 15, 20 minutes. So we’re looking here with some five to 10 minutes general calisthenics before probably a 35 to 40 minute warmup in an ideal situation.

and I’ll call it what it is, I work my own schedule. I typically have an opportunity to create that on the days I desire. I know however, it won’t always happen. So with that said, I need a backup routine. I need a short routine that allows me to be physically warm and to quickly build the confidence I need to play my best.

will be a five minute condensed general calisthenics. It’ll be an abbreviated chip and putt, five minutes of each of those, and it will be 10 minutes or less on the range. So now we’re at about 15 to 20 minutes, if I’m being frank there, which is much more doable and will allow me to still walk away with a better mindset. Cause I felt like my warmup was rushed, unorganized and chaotic. And that showed on the course. Now, as I’m looking through my notes here, the

The element I really wanted to discuss today was I had two blow up holes and they caught me by surprise. on number nine, par five, I shot a triple bogey. And then on 18, a par four, I had a double par, just ugly out of bounds shots, shank, not even shanking

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (16:54.654)

just caught up in some bad, thick rough and not judging the distance appropriately, hitting one too many anyway shots, feeling a little bit rushed. And it was really humbling because I can reflect back struggling to recall exactly how I felt during those moments simply because they happened on autopilot. It was just

automatic unconscious reaction taking place where before I knew it, I teed off, shank the tee shot, and then the hole was over and I was struggling to grasp just how many strokes it took for me to finish that hole. And as you can imagine, it was frustrating, it was challenging. And for me, the trigger of some of these holes, like I look at my scorecard and it’s like double par, bogey, bogey, triple, bogey, double, bogey, triple, like those triples.

were preceded by a poor shot off the tee box, easily corrected. And that’s where I’m gonna spend a lot of my time in my course management and mental approach as I prepare for this next round. So for me, I’m digging in, I’m getting more intimate and connected with those blow -up holes, really seeking to understand why they took place. I found myself buried in a bundle of trees having to pitch out. I found myself uber aggressive trying to hit over a

of trees and lo and behold I hit the hit the ball exactly where I wanted to if you will but it ricocheted off the trunk of the tree and moved backwards or moved sideways great clean contact did everything right except leave my ego by the door and just punch out so a lot of mental game course management strategy will remain a focus for me and the last interesting aspect of the round before I wrap up my takeaways and updates for this episode

I played the front nine by myself. Coming off of eight, I had shot a 42 through eight, accidentally looked at the score. You know, the Grint app, I used the GPS feature the entire round. It displays it in the bottom left corner. I’m typically pretty good at avoiding that, but I happened to see, okay, I’m at a 42. And I honestly, looking back, don’t think I gave it much conscious thought. Like, oh, if I par or bogey this hole, it’ll be the best nine I’ve played to date.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (19:13.792)

But like I mentioned, I blew up. ended up shooting a triple bogey on that hole and a 50. So for me, continuing to understand that I need to focus on one shot at a time and I need to really make sure I place my emphasis on getting a strong start to the

On the back nine, you know, I was starting to run into some traffic, the majority or the back end of that front nine. I joined a threesome of rambunctious, rowdy, kind, hysterical, genuinely good people to golf with, you know, a threesome playing in a bigger group of like 22 gentlemen, all ages, probably low forties to mid sixties. They were kind, they were funny, they were great golfers.

And it was an interesting experience because they pulled up behind me as I got ready to tee off on 10 They mentioned hey, we were the group in front of you. We just grabbed some beer Do you mind if we join up? No, not a problem at all yet a lot of my playing right now early in this return to golf is by myself and I know I’ll be very frank with you my fear I need to overcome is playing with others There’s this pressure I place on myself to be perfect to perform to live up to my potential and the expectations I place on myself

Well, as you can imagine, I shanked that tee shot, even hit another one, shanked it again. I hooked the second one. was playable. moved on, doubled 10, bogeyed 11, 12, really good. Bogeyed that, it had a double on 13, but I starting to shoot better. My point is it took me about two and a half holes to really settle in just from the novelty of playing with a group of four. And it

frustrated me because I recognized in hindsight, I started to lose sight of having fun. I was so overly concerned with playing well, with impressing others. I was overly fixated on their opinion. They gave zero fucks about my ability to play golf and how good I was. And I got distracted. I was tense. I was tight when I’m overthinking, I’m over correcting, I’m hooking a lot off the tee box, which is exactly what I did. Every hole but one on the back nine, it felt like.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (21:22.298)

and I didn’t play well. really here, I recognized I lost sight of keeping things fun. And that’s a great reminder to bring top of mind. And two, I started to feel the pressure of not only playing with others, which I need to get over fast. It’s a social game. And I plan to play with more people, which is why if you’re in Tampa, hit me up. I’ve got a couple rounds scheduled the next six weeks with local Tampa guys I’ve never met. Should be a blast to start getting more comfortable playing with other people.

But also, ever since announcing last week, my goal was to break 90 in four months. And then I had a wonderful podcast on the mental golf show podcast with Josh Nichols. And he asked me about my goal, what I’m working on in the short term. And, know, in his words, more or less like that’s a challenging all day or ambitious goal.

It’s great. Your mind is made up. You’re going to hit. You’re going to reach it, but it is a challenging goal. And I think I started to feel a little bit of the pressure of this goal, which is so silly to say out loud. And I say that to illustrate to you, like, this is kind of how our subconscious works. It wants to keep us safe. It wants to protect us. It really is good at deploying several sabotaging behaviors and unconscious reactions to keep us safe. And it means, you know, performing below expectations. So we don’t have

ride and carry the pressure of playing better or performing to our potential. There’s so many ways the subconscious tries to sabotage. And I have a clear set of takeaways in what I’m going to focus on. Some of the wins that I didn’t mention is I had one three putt on punched greens nonetheless.

I crushed every par three. And when I say crushed, I’m looking at the scorecard now, bogey, bogey, bogey. Okay, I bogeyed every par three, but clean great contact every single time. I only hit one of those greens in regulation and that’s the one I happened to three putt as well, which is still why I ended up with a four. I also had a lot of great shots sprinkled in and it just, you know, it’s so frustrating when you see the potential. You know, you’re capable of playing so much better.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (23:26.1)

I had a great birdie look on a par five. I punched out of trees a couple of times really well when I did put my ego aside and I had a couple good saves for bogey where I got up and down to save bogey so to speak. And all of that to say there were a lot of low hanging fruit opportunities for improvement that had a bright spotlight shined on in this past couple of weeks. And I’m excited. I’ve got my range list to do is I’ve got my short game.

Priorities I need to work on and the other extra step I’m taking is my back has been bothering me It’s very tight and might just be just the exacerbation of such increased rotation and power being being Implemented into my weekly routine So I’m getting some work done on my back to help loosen that up really doubling down on mobility flexibility and recovery and Actually beginning next week. So I believe that’ll be the week of July 28th. I will be stepping back

from my hypertrophy muscle building specific resistance training program and crafting as well as putting in place a golf specific resistance training program with again more emphasis on mobility on flexibility, rotational torque and power designed to help me feel loose, strong, flexible and mobile at every point of the golf swing for 18 holes.

every single day would be the goal, but we’ll get there and playing 18, but the meaning being I’m going to have a lot of endurance in all of these movements as well. And that’s where I’m at. I appreciate you taking the time to tune in. This is a real human playing a real game of golf, going through real challenges. And I look forward to sharing my progress and updates with you next week. Like I mentioned.

Today is Monday the 22nd as I record this. I’m slated to potentially play nine this evening down in St. Pete. If that doesn’t work out, because I’m potentially playing with a buddy, I’ll just go to my local practice course and go practice instead. And then I’ll get a round in this Sunday and potentially next Monday and get to update you on all of that and potentially more. So thank you for listening. If you are serious about taking your game to the next level, go ahead and make sure you check.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (25:34.368)

out the more pars than bogeys newsletter. It’s the number one in my opinion, I’m biased. know newsletter where you can get digestible action steps to apply immediately to begin shooting more pars than bogeys. And if you found today’s episode helpful, if you’re enjoying this podcast of my journey, it would mean the world to me if you took 30 seconds to leave a genuine rating and review on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you’re listening to today’s

Have a wonderful next round of golf and I’ll catch you in the next episode.