#28 [Journey to Scratch] New Irons Are Here, My Driver Forgot to Show Up, and It Wasn’t Pretty (But We’ll Take it)

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:02.36)

Hey fellow golfer, welcome back to another episode of the Scratch Golfers Mindset Podcast. I’m your host, Paul Salter, the golf hypnotherapist, and we have a lot to catch up on related to my pursuit of becoming a scratch golfer. And even more urgently, if you will,

The number one priority on the horizon is shooting sub 90 on or before November 13th. And in just a moment, we are going to dig in and recap everything that has transpired the past seven days coming off of a new low this year, coming off of finally getting my new clubs, the Mizuno JX9 something something’s custom fit new clubs in my hand.

Goodbye to the outdated Ben Hogan blades that I, to be frank, am not equipped or ready to play with. So I’ll catch you up on two back -to -back days of playing 18 here in just a moment. But before we do that, I just wanted to take a moment to share with you, I had a really neat experience a couple weeks ago. I was fortunate enough to be a guest on the On The Mark podcast hosted by none other than Mark Immelman.

I realize as I’ve been getting a lot of great feedback on that episode and I’ll drop that below that to date, you this is episode 28. I don’t know how many months we are into this particular podcast, but I will tell you there’s not one single episode of this podcast that really details my background professionally and personally. And I know

It always is fun. There’s a little bit of a curiosity and it needs to be scratched. If you’re going to keep spending anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes with me once or twice per week, you’d like to a little bit, learn a little bit more about the man behind the microphone. So one of the recent episodes, I think as of recording this episode, it’s still the most recent episode of the On The Mark podcast will give you not only a wonderful conversation and masterclass on the mental and emotional game of golf, the work you need to be doing away from the course.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (02:11.662)

to get out of your own way and play to your potential. But you’ll get to learn a lot more about me, my coaching background, the last 15 to 20 years of my story. And the same goes for an episode with none other than Mr. Josh Nichols on the Mental Golf Game podcast as well. Had a phenomenal back and forth conversation with Josh. And also, again, you’ll get to learn a lot more about me than I, you know.

I didn’t do the best job really digging into my story because I like to give and cater to you. But if you ever would like to learn more about me, those are two wonderful podcast episodes I will drop below. Second of all, before we dive in, quick reminder, the last two editions of the More Pars Than Bogies newsletter, like I’m going to be frank, fucking fire, fucking must read material, all about your upper limit problem, your fear of success.

And the most recent one is about the myriad of different ways you are sabotaging yourself, sabotaging your success both on and off of the course. So if you’re not subscribing to and reading the weekly edition of the More Pars Than Bogies newsletter, you are missing out on an abundance of mental and emotional strategy shifts, perspectives, new ways of seeing, thinking, doing, and believing that can empower you to play your best golf and shine your brightest away from the course as well.

Those are linked below. Let’s dive in. Last week, I found a 30 minute window to make the 12 minute drive to the golf tech to pick up the Mizuno clubs and the 12 minute drive back just in time to hop on my next call. And in those couple of days, I had the opportunity to hit hundreds of shots.

in my backyard, in the Lanai. If you haven’t seen on Instagram, I’ve got a little at home turf set up where I’m plastic golf balls right now until I figure out my backyard situation in our new home. With that said, I got a lot of reps in with the gap wedge, the gap wedge, the gap wedge. I am drilling that sucker and really breaking my swing down into a few elementary parts. So all week I’m hitting plastic golf balls, really working on

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (04:23.01)

Just the basics and for me the biggest area I’m working on is getting my wrists and my knuckles down to ensure it impact the club face is as straight as it needs to be to send the ball to my intended target. I’ve got a lot of history of pushing the ball right open club face even when I’m making great contact which was not nearly as frequently with the old clubs.

the ball was still going right. So that’s what I’ve been drilling. That’s what I’ve been addressing. I took the clubs for a test drive at the range on Thursday of last week. And yeah, I’m not gonna lie, had a really good range session. So it was making, you know, there’s so much forgiveness in these clubs compared to the old blades I was using. So really good contact. Again, starting really small, getting a feel down, working my way up from basics to hip to hip swing, three quarter swing. And with some of the clubs a full swing,

Knuckles down, knuckles down, knuckles down. So a lot of work on the iron, really deconstruction and reconstruction of my swing with the irons are what myself and Coach Melvin and I have been working on. And that’s where the bulk of my practice has been. Now, I will say, I ordered and it’s already been delivered, but I’ve yet to complete a full practice session. One of, fuck, the name alludes me like the birdie.

at home putting, you know, mimics the real feel of a green in your home. So I’ve got a two by 12 putting mat that I just set up and installed in the garage. And I will put a lot of time on that as we move forward as well. But let’s get to the juicy stuff. Let’s show up. It’s Sunday morning. We’re playing 18 with Mr. Max, one of the crew in the four dudes, one car podcast. I was fortunate enough to be on there.

Four college and high school friends staying in touch every week, getting together to podcast, shoot the shit, talk all things golf and improvements, golf swing, golf technique, golf equipment, and everything designed to help you play better golf. So really cool episode, really cool podcast, and so neat that he’s local. So we went over to Temple Terrace Golf Course.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (06:28.91)

And I’m gonna dig in and just give you some highs, some lows, what’s going well, what’s not working, and the overall impression of the new club. So again, leading up to this point, outside of lot of repetitions with my gap wedge in the backyard, I’ve had one range session. And lo and behold, I get to this beautiful golf course. And there’s not a range. And here I am prepared on a Sunday morning. I’m up at the crack of dawn, 5 .30, wake up, we’re ready to go.

getting the morning gratitude and breath work done, heading to the course, the cooler’s packed and I’m there about an hour and 15 minutes early and there’s a tiny putting green, chipping is not allowed. And if you drive a couple hundred yards away from the clubhouse, there is a little mock, there’s a green 40 to 60 yards of space, two mock holes, a bunker, a lot of pitching opportunities. So I spent a good 40 minutes there to be frank, just getting a little bit more acclimated.

to the distance of these clubs. I will tell you, the gap wedge I was practicing primarily with in the pitching wedge were just flying, jumping off the ball. And you’ll notice that as a theme in the two rounds. But we get to the first hole and I’ve hit a couple balls into an impromptu net that’s right by the first hole and we’re just ready to run.

And this is how the first hole begins. It’s me, it’s Max, one of his best buds named Mitch. We’re here at a threesome. There’s nobody on the course. Beautiful, we can take our time, have a great day. And we absolutely did. First drive, rocket, open club face, way out to the right. Sayonara, okay, we’re using a breakfast ball. The next one, just a nasty hook. You know, I hit it low on the club face. We’re not off to a good start.

Meanwhile, neither are Max and Mitch, because they forget something in their car. So they both tee off and we’re playing from blue, because Max is a really good golfer, Mitch is a great golfer, and there’s only about a four or 500 yard distance between blue and white. So I agree, let’s make it easier, let’s all play from blue. So my drive goes maybe 175, terrible fucking shot. They go up to their car, I’m like, okay, I’m gonna go ahead, I’m gonna hit my shot, because know, theirs all went further than mine.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (08:50.018)

And I just top my five wood and it’s like, okay, are we going to allow this to set the tone for the day? There we are. We’re excited. We’re there early. We’re ready to rock and roll. Maybe the nerves are a little too far on the spectrum of becoming counterproductive because clearly we’re not hitting ball great. So we top that ball and we ended up scoring a triple bogey on the first hole. And you and I both know there’s only one

way to appropriately respond on the next hole with the triple bogey. And that’s a par. We’re right back at it. We par the next one, a par four, playing about 365, a great one putt, and we are off to the races. And now we bogey the next hole. So we’ve got two bogeys in a row. And here’s where things get interesting. It’s the fourth hole, par three, 177 yards. No idea what club to use here. So I’m like, all right, I’m going to pull out a seven iron.

three quarter, you know, I’m going to choke up a tad, maybe three quarter to a full swing. So I blast the ball, great contact. It pulls a little left. hits the edge of the, of the, the fringe and kicks way left. So kicks way left. We’re about 20 yards to the green. Well, this is where I got caught in a game of how many times can you hit it over the green back and forth. My second shot.

hits the edge of the green and rolls over. My third shot, same thing, I caught the downward slope. I am struggling to gauge the distance, the power, the trajectory with this gap wedge. I had taken out of my bag my 50, my 52, I only left my 60, and now I’ve got a gap in a pitching wedge. So I’ll make an adjustment as you’ll learn. So I triple bogey that hole. And to be frank, I’ve never been happier with a triple bogey in that I hit the ball so well, all of my shots were great contact, you know.

the trajectory, everything I wanted was there except for the distance. And I know that just takes repetition. we move on, we bounce back with a bogey on the next par five, we double, we’ve got a nasty triple that comes into play. We’ve got our second three putt of the day on eight, and then we bogey nine to come in with a 52, 18 putts on the front. And the contact is there.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (11:08.366)

after minus the first hole, I hit the ball fairly well, just did not feel I scored well on this hole and that’s okay. So we moved to the back nine and it’s a lot of the same. We start horrendously, we three putt and we hit out of bounds and end up tripling on 10. We bounce back with a bogey double, then bogey, bogey, another triple where I hit out of bounds and two triples in a row. So here’s where we’re really running into mental trouble here. Like what are we gonna do to finish strong?

How are we gonna regroup? So I put myself in timeout. And what I mean by that is I drove my car a little bit of ahead after 16. And I just took about 60 seconds by myself. Did a couple deep breaths, refocused, asked myself how I wanted to finish, what my intention was to finish. And I had a one putt bogey on 17 and a one putt par on 18. Finished with a 51 shot of.

103, 17 putts on the back and a 35 total putts. New course, playing from blue. I did a lot of things well, but here’s where I really want to put our attention on. First and foremost, because I just caught myself, I got to celebrate the win. There was a lot of frustration this round, but the win is a lot of clean contact with the irons. Very pleased. The ball’s just jumping off there, like I mentioned. 20, 30, sometimes feels like 40 yards further. I mean, I was blasting gap wedges, what felt like a three quarter swing.

120, 130, and it felt effortless. mean, over the green we go, over the green we go. I’m half swing and it’s still going 80 or 90 yards. So a lot of room for repetition or really know my yardages and it’s on my horizon already. There’s a local golf club where they have like 10 stalls with the track men set up. It’s 20 bucks an hour. So I’m going to go do that and start locking in my distances. But what I also did well was come back to grounds myself. I told you, I put myself in timeout to refocus to

not allow those two triple bogeys to define me or define how I was going to finish that back nine. I executed my putting routine well, as you heard, 35 total putts, not much to write home about. I a lot of, I had three three putts on the back nine. I executed my routine well, I just couldn’t gauge my distance quite well today, on that day. So we live and we learn. So there were.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (13:29.762)

five total three putts and four, five, six, one putts. So the opportunities there, the putting is trending in the right direction. But here’s where I am a little taken aback.

My driver disappeared. My three wood disappeared. I got all out of whack. I think I hit two fairways, but it’s not even the number of fairways I hit that is alarming. It’s I developed this nasty low line drive hook of a drive. And if you followed these Tuesday episodes before, I typically poke my three wood 240 to 260.

I would say 75 % of the time it’s doing what it needs to do. Sometimes I push it. This hook is totally new and that the last week and I think I’m taking too much of my iron swing and I’ve been so routinized in my mechanics, making sure I’m rotating around my body that I’m forgetting how to swing my driver a lot less or a lot fewer repetitions. I couldn’t hit a driver three would to save my life did not do well. Max gave me a couple good pointers and it was a tough day and to be frank,

I didn’t drive with much confidence and going into each hole a little timid and uncertain about where and how you’re going to start the hole isn’t a recipe to play confident, committed, focused golf, the rest of the hole and the rest of the round. So there’s a real opportunity for growth for me there and let’s move because boom, the next day, Monday, Labor Day, we’re back at it again. We’re playing 18 with Mr. Colin, who is the president of the University of Tampa club golf team. Great guy, great golfer, had a lot of fun.

kicking it up with him and playing some good golf. So we started on the back nine and I’m just getting my scorecard. And again, the driver, where did we go? We’re out of bounds on the first hole. So we’re starting double. And again, what I tell you, the way you respond to a bad start is you come back with vengeance with another par. So we’re onto 11, a par five. We have a one putt par on 11, a double on 12 with a one putt, another one putt.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (15:35.118)

bogey on 13 and then we hit a triple. And as I’m looking at the scorecard now, because it is just a couple hours after I finished the round, I don’t recall what even happened. It just wasn’t a good hole. Wasn’t a good hole. Went on to again, we bogey the next one, bogeyed again, bogey it again and another triple. So two triples there, uncharacteristic, should not have be there.

we didn’t play well off the tee box, finding a lot of trouble off the tee box, 150 to 200 yards way, way left, feeling no control, no confidence with the drive. So we come in and we make the turn and I’m starting to have a conversation with myself. How do I want to handle the tee box? Because I shot a 50. I didn’t know it at the time. I didn’t add up my score until the very end. shot a 50 with 18 putts on the front, on the back nine, but the first night of the day.

And I didn’t know if I should just succumb to hitting iron off the tee box. I’m playing pretty well. I’ve got a four iron or I’m hitting my irons pretty well. And ultimately I made the decision unless a hole specifically called for it. I was just going to swing confidently and swing aggressively and do the best I can. And I’m proud of myself for committing to that approach rather than showing really timid, not even sure where or how to initiate my takeaway.

But I was fucking frustrated to say the least. The drive, the three wood completely absent. But anyway, we go on and we’re starting, we’re out of bounds with a double on one. We’re coming back, I’m bogeying two, bogeying three, double four, bogey five, bogey six, bogey seven, bogey eight, and double nine.

hard to fit 48 15 putts coming out a 98 with 33 putts. But here’s what I want you to really take away from what I just shared. I had one, two, three, four, five, six bogeys and one par.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (17:45.038)

I grinded out those bogeys. I did not hit the ball well today. I felt inept off the tee box. And when I sat down to total up my 18, I was pleasantly surprised to see a 98 and to see a 48. I was pleasantly surprised to extract just how many bogeys I actually have, which again, right now, my goal of breaking 90 by November 13th requires one, you know, it’s bogey golf with one par.

So I extract this as a positive. I see the potential there. know, of those bogeys, there’s a handful of one putts, a couple two putts. I’m putting for par or in a very advantageous position. So as I reflect back on these two days, a 103 and a 98, I can see progress is being made, which is why I remind you it’s so valuable to have.

multiple ways to see, feel, engage progress. Commitment, motivation, need progress, or at least the perception of progress as the fuel to strengthen commitment and motivation to keep going. I’ll be frank, today felt like a fucking grind. It was hard, I was frustrated. I did a lot of breath work to calm myself back down. I was a little bit in disbelief, but I knew I couldn’t try to fix my swing in the middle of a round.

I’ll take it up at the driving range and with the coach later on, I had to deal with the swing that showed up today, deal with the swing that was dealt. And that’s what I did. But again, like looking back again, six par, I mean, six bogeys. I’m very, I’m very happy with that. It is progress for me. I’m trending in the right direction. A 98 is not where we want to be. I think I had ended up losing four to penalties. I’m just looking at the scorecard. It looks that way. So.

Again, what I hear and see is a lot left on the table. Because if I can learn to score well when I don’t have anything close to my best, that’s encouraging. I know the foundational elements of my game are going to continue to improve repetition, coaching, and practice and feedback. And I’m choosing to latch onto that.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (20:07.744)

latch on that progress is happening. It’s not the progress I quite wanted to see, which is, know, I want to see some 94s, 93s on the scorecard here sooner rather than later. Some of the balls were not pretty, but they got closer to the hole. I got the ball in the hole and fewer strokes than normal. And that’s my reminder to you that so often we let ourselves not fully embrace experience or acknowledge the wins, the progress, because it didn’t look a certain way.

But you’re not judged for how pretty a ball you hit. You’re judged for how many strokes it takes to get the ball in the hole across 18 holes. Keep that in mind. Now, where does Paul go from here? Paul’s got a crazy next seven days. Paul will be fortunate enough to get to the range once.

Paul’s got family in town, it’s opening weekend. The Washington Redskins come down here to take on the Tampa Bay Bucks in Tampa Bay. We’ve got a crew of 16 rolling deep to the game. If you’re going, shoot me a message on Instagram at Scratchgolfersmindset. Let’s connect. Let’s hook up for the tailgate. Not a lot of golf in the next seven, eight days. lot of backyard work, a lot of putting in the garage, which is where I installed the putting green. Might get out of there on Thursday.

might try to squeeze out one morning with a younger brother who’s coming into town, but it’s doubtful and that’s okay. Because a lot of my work is really gonna be done in my mind. A lot of visualization will be prioritized between now and next week when I can get back on a regular twice a week playing schedule, because there’s a lot of work to do. So here is where my priorities are and I will sign us off and get us out of here. First and foremost, a lot of visualization from the T -box.

A lot of visualization spent there stepping up as that confident golfer who can put the ball exactly where he needs to at will on command effortlessly and effectively. A lot of visualization will be done there. Self -hypnosis number two, I’ll be really getting some feedback on some swings. I’ll send some video footage to my coach.

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (22:15.582)

on the driver because something is off. I’ve forgotten a cue or am missing a cue, struggling to communicate with a cue that served me well in the past. But I will tell you this, there’s a little voice in me who says, go to the range today, go hit a hundred drives. I don’t think that’s the cure. I don’t think that’s going to fix, help anything in the longterm. It might be a short -term dopamine -laced band -aid that makes me feel good in this moment. The truth is I know how to swing a driver.

I have dozens if not hundreds of very good drives under my belt this year, driver or three wood for this context and conversation. My mind knows what to do. My body knows what to do. I don’t need to overwhelm myself with more swing thoughts, more feedback. I’m gonna straight fucking chill for 20 or 24 or 48 hours. Not worry about it. Let the dust settle if you will and trust the next time I put driver in my hand, things will come back. Of course, accelerated by the mental and visual work I will be doing.

There will be strong intention and quality practice sessions with some of my longer irons out in the backyard with the plastic golf balls just continuing to gain familiarity, confidence and comfortability with those clubs because I haven’t had to hit them that often yet. And then continuing to feel like my gap is my right hand man. I’m I am just totally comfortable confident hitting that at any distance I need to within 120 and getting a lot of routine repetition done.

on the putting green as well. So there’s an honest look, a lot of wins, a lot of things to work on, some highs and lows, but at the core, we’re moving in the right direction. And we have more than two months, 15 plus rounds or so to shoot sub 90. We’re in a good place. I know we’re moving in the right direction so I can go to bed, rest my head on my pillow with a sense of calm and peace of mind knowing we’re heading in the right direction, but I’m gonna be very candid.

There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. A lot of work that needs to be done to clean up some consistency and get that confidence and clarity back off the tee box, start to finish, hole to hole, round to round. And I thank you so much for tuning in, catching up, hearing where I’m at, what I’m focusing on, what I’m struggling with, what I’m excelling at every single week here on the Scratch Golfers Mindset Podcast. So thank you so much for tuning in. I genuinely appreciate you listening and

Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (24:36.526)

If you’re still listening, you’re finding these episodes relatable, perhaps entertaining at times and hopefully valuable in some capacity, and you haven’t yet taken 30 seconds to leave a genuine rating or review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, it’d mean the world to me if you took the moment to do that now. And the last thing I’ll share.

is that I can’t quite say whether or not the new clubs are the answer, but I can tell you this, the new clubs make things a hell of a lot easier when the ball goes 20, 30, even 40 yards further. So I look forward to dialing that in and shooting sub 90 in the weeks to come. Hit them straight this week. Have a fantastic rest of your day and I’ll catch you in the next episode on Thursday.