#31: [Inside the Mind] Chris Ardolina: Get to the Root Cause of Your Struggles and Accelerate Improvement

Episode Introduction and Summary
Hey fellow golfer, welcome back to another episode of The Scratch Golfer’s Mindset Podcast! I’m your host, Paul Salter, The Golf Hypnotherapist, and today we have a special guest—Chris Ardalena, a seasoned PGA professional and golf coach based in Tampa Bay.
In this episode, Chris shares his journey from learning golf at a young age to becoming one of the most sought-after instructors, especially for young professionals looking to improve their game. Chris dives into his teaching philosophy and walks us through his structured approach to helping golfers of all levels—from breaking 100 to breaking 80 and beyond.
Chris highlights the importance of consistency, developing a practice plan, and bringing intention to every round. He also shares specific drills, including how to use a golf bag to perfect your stance and swing at home. Whether you’re trying to break 100, 90, or 80, Chris outlines what separates each level and the adjustments you need to make to progress in your golf journey.
This episode is a must-listen if you’re serious about improving your game and understanding the mental and technical nuances that make the difference between amateur and elite players.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How to create effective practice routines with limited time.
- The importance of greens in regulation and distance control.
- Building mental resilience on the course.
- Key strategies for breaking 100, 90, and 80.
Thank you for tuning in, and as always, if you enjoyed today’s episode, please take a moment to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps us bring more great content to golfers like you!
P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about how mindset coaching and hypnotherapy can help you get unstuck from the proverbial bunker of poor performance on the course and in your business, click here to schedule a coaching discovery call with me.
More About Chris
Chris grew up in central New Jersey and started playing golf at the age of 12. By age 14, he started shooting “par” at his local public course and earned recognition as one of the top junior golfers in the area. Throughout high school, Chris played 4 years of varsity golf, and his 9-hole score of 3 under par 33 remains tied for the lowest in school history.
Chris’s pursuit of a golf-focused career led him to Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina where he majored in Business Administration with a concentration in Professional Golf Management. After graduating, he embarked on a journey with the Jim McLean Golf Schools in Miami, Florida, where his passion for teaching blossomed.
He now owns and operates the Chris Ardolina Golf Academy out of Cove Cay Golf Club located in Clearwater, Florida.
Beyond golf, Chris finds joy in playing ice hockey, tennis, yoga and biking along the scenic Tampa/Clearwater trails.
Teaching Accolades:
- 2021-24 Golf Digest Best Young Teachers In America
- 2024 NFPGA West Central Chapter Youth Player Development Awar
- 2022-23 GRAA Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional
- 2023 NFPGA West Central Chapter Teacher of the Year
Connect with Chris:
- Website: www.chrisardolinagolf.com
- Instagram: @ardogolf
- Youtube: @christopherardolina7330
Key Takeaways:
- Identify the root causes of your struggles in golf to develop effective practice plans.
- Practice with intention and purpose, starting with small drills and gradually progressing to more challenging exercises.
- Create a focused warm-up routine to bring confidence and clarity to the first tee.
- Follow a three-step process for improvement: understand the current state, identify areas for improvement, and implement changes.
- As you progress in golf, shift your focus to more specific aspects of the game. Consistency is key for golfers looking to break 100. Eliminating big numbers and focusing on reducing penalty shots can lead to significant improvement.
- To break 90, golfers should work on their approach shots and aim for consistent distance control. Being able to get close to the green and give themselves a chance to make par or bogey is crucial.
- Breaking 80 requires hitting more greens and having a solid short game. Golfers should aim to make more pars and reduce the number of putts.
- Becoming a scratch golfer involves paying attention to the details and making good decisions on the course. Strategy and course management become more important at this level.
- Playing in tournaments requires practicing under pressure and being familiar with the rules. Many golfers struggle in tournaments because they are not used to playing with the same level of pressure and adherence to rules.
Key Quotes:
- “You can go from hip high to shoulder to full swing all within that singular practice session”
- “I want you to take one to two practice swings for every ball that you hit”
- “The biggest thing that can help them create consistency and help them lose less golf balls or take less penalty shots.”
- “Breaking 90 comes down to a lot of approach shots and consistent distance control.”
- “To break 80, you need to hit more greens and have a solid short game.”
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Time Stamps:
- 00:00: Introduction and Background
- 03:21: Working with Adults in Golf
- 06:30: Developing Effective Practice Plans
- 09:38: Creating a Focused Warm-Up Routine
- 13:17: The Power of Positive Thinking
- 19:34: The Three Steps to Improvement
- 22:41: Progressing in Golf
- 22:50: Breaking 100: Consistency and Penalty Shots
- 24:17: Breaking 90: Approach Shots and Distance Control
- 27:20: Breaking 80: Hitting Greens and Short Game
- 31:53: Becoming a Scratch Golfer: Strategy and Course Management
- 35:47: Playing in Tournaments: Practicing Under Pressure and Playing by the Rules
Transcript:
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:02.75)
Hey Chris, thank you so much for joining me for an episode of the Scratch Golfers Mindset Podcast. How are you today?
Chris (00:09.006)
I’m doing great and thanks for having me.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (00:11.418)
Absolutely. I’ve been looking forward to this. You know, I had the pleasure of getting to know you literally on the golf course through around and you were kind enough though patient to give me some fantastic feedback on my swing, my mechanics, little tidbits I still focus on today and just watching you play. was really, really inspiring. So to kick things off, let’s give the audience an opportunity to learn who you are. Share a little bit more about your role in golf and your background playing the lovely game.
Chris (00:39.31)
Yeah, sure. So my name is Chris Ardalena. I’m located here in the Tampa Clearwater area. That’s where we met. And I’ve been teaching golf for now, I want to say about 14 or 15 years. I got introduced to the game by my grandfather when I was about 11 or 12 years old. And I fell in love with the challenge. And I think the biggest part for me was that I couldn’t blame anybody else and it was all on me. Fortunately had
a rough start on some other sports and play for some great teams and got tired of blaming other people. So I found this lovely game. It can only blame me. And it actually worked out great because it motivated me to keep working hard and getting better and better and better. you know, luck have it after a couple of years, I was shooting around par after about two, two and a half years of playing golf. was playing almost every day. And, you know, as every kid aspired to try to be a professional golfer, unfortunately I had that.
that dream shattered when I was about 16 and I realized how good the kids around the country really were and how much more I had to work. And I said, well, if I can’t make it as a professional, what can I do to stay involved in golf? And started doing some research and found these schools with PGM programs are called professional golf management programs. And so I was able to go get a degree, a full business degree, but also get a minor.
or we call it a concentration in golf management and get my PGA accreditation. And again, luck have it, I had a friend and a roommate who loved teaching. I had no idea what I wanted to do. He said, you know, Chris, we’re about to graduate. You don’t know where Avenue you want to go to. Why don’t you come with me? It’s our, 22 years old. I’m going to go down to Miami for the next seven months for our internship to finish it out. Why don’t you come and join me? You can’t go wrong. We’re going to be in Miami. We’re going to be 22 years old.
And you can learn about teaching and see if you like it. And it was probably the best decision I ever made. I really fell in love with teaching and I’ve been, excuse me, teaching ever since, since about 2007. So, and now I just try to keep up with my game as you see, we try to play a little bit here and there, but other than that, yeah, just a passion for the game. love it. And I love helping people every day get better and hopefully building their passion for it as well.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (02:59.572)
Absolutely, and your energy and enthusiasm shined through the moment I met you and what I will also add for the listeners because you may struggle to brag about yourself. This man has many teaching awards for the great work he does giving back to the game and being the excellent instructor he is. So we are really in the company of an expert and experienced veteran in the game and we’re going to take advantage of it. So we’re going to dig in.
Chris (03:21.73)
Yeah.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (03:22.868)
Paint the picture, I know you do a lot of work in the junior golf program, which I absolutely love. I wanna focus for the sake of this conversation on the adults. If you had to, I know this is a difficult question, but if you had to distill the demographic of adults you work with in the game, give us a little bit more about their experience and background with the game and where ultimately they are struggling.
Chris (03:30.382)
Sure. Okay.
Chris (03:46.766)
Sure, so first thank you for the nice words there. So I would say the demographic that I work with mostly is working professionals, probably between the ages of 22 and maybe 50. We definitely have some older clientele in later 50s, but a lot of the folks that I work with are young professionals looking to play, looking to get serious for work, for pleasure, those kinds of things.
fortunate enough, more of them seek me out, so they’re willing to work at it. So it’s not somebody that just comes as a casual appointment and things like that. So they’re coming really to get the work done. They’re willing to put the effort in. And the reason I lead in with that is because of your question, kind of where do I see their struggles, right? So a lot of people that are coming to see me, they do want to get better.
They may not know where they need to get better. And my goal is to really help them devise a plan to practice and to start implementing the changes. Because I think a lot of folks with the availability of information and videos and things like that, I think a lot of the time they have a ballpark idea of where they’re struggling, but they don’t have really the root cause of why it’s happening. So, are you raising your hand?
So I think a lot of my goal as a teacher for these people, and I wouldn’t say there’s a very common theme, there’s a few things that I see more common, but a lot of it is just trying to figure out the root cause and giving them the simplest way to do that and then more of an effective way to practice. Because I think with most working class people, you know, we have very little time. So by the time you get out there,
It’s not about the amount of golf balls that you’re actually hitting, but it’s how you’re hitting them and how you’re organizing your time. And I find that the more open to that people are, the more open to actually having a plan and not just going to hit golf balls into the range or into a net, the faster they improve. And then the more, more happy they are and more excited they are to play the game.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (06:04.552)
I think that’s brilliant. I love the clarity and detail you broke that down and I’m gonna dig even deeper into some of these elements. I’d love to hear too, this can be hypothetical or a recent plan you devised, but walk us through a common or a recent example where you had this young professional, time is one of the biggest obstacles yet, commitment to get better is there. What does a sample practice plan look like? Talk us through that.
Chris (06:09.235)
Excuse me, thank you. Sure.
Chris (06:23.8)
to do.
Chris (06:30.99)
So the first question I usually ask, let me just take a step backwards. So when I first meet somebody or the first connection happens on the internet or rather a phone call, I send them a very detailed evaluation to fill out. So I kind of know how much time they have, what they’re looking for, and I think that’s really important when you devise a plan for them. Number one, because you know how much available time they have during the week, whether it’s one day,
whether it’s maybe 20 minutes, whether it’s three days. And for me to know that it’s whether can I make it very detailed or can I have to make it really simple and very short and effective, right? So I think to give you an example, I had recently, I think it was last week, I had a young gentleman probably in his like mid 20s, was an ex college hockey player and very athletic, just didn’t understand why things were happening. So.
We went through the lesson and I showed him really the root cause, what was going on. And the plan really was to start small with the ideas and the fields that we uncovered and create a practice station. And I told him that he doesn’t have to hit a lot of golf balls, but he has to create a practice station for him. He had to put his golf bag behind him so that he had some kind of feel and connection so that we have what his issue was, was early extension.
caused by one other thing going on. another, to keep it short and simple, what I devise is, okay, you don’t need to go buy any training aids. Use your golf bag, put it close to your backside and just keep your backside on it. And let’s take some practice, small practice swings about hip high to hip high, put it on a low tee so it’s in a controlled environment and just get some, the only thing I had him purchase was, I think it was Dr. Scholl’s foot spray, which is just a powder you spray on your club so you could see where your contact point is.
And I said, all I want for you to do is put a low tee in the ground, put the golf bag behind you. I want you to take one to two practice swings for every ball that you hit. And I want you to hit 20 to 30 shots, hip high to hip high. If you’re hitting the center of the face, the ball’s starting pretty straight. You could start making it a little bit bigger. If not, I want you to stay there. And then I usually try to keep it in increments of 10 or 15. So whether it’s two practice swings per ball, it’s 10 balls.
Chris (08:53.358)
And then you just keep moving. So he does really well at those 10 or 15 shots. He can go to the three quarter or the shoulder to shoulder. And then if he does well with that one, then he can go from the full swing back and through. And then if he really does well with that, he could take away the practice station and then start hitting without it to see how he does. But it’s more of, he gets direct feedback with the bag and also the, the spray on the club face. And if he’s not doing well at the small stage, she’s not allowed to move to the next stage.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (09:00.02)
you
Chris (09:22.79)
and I had him do, he had I think two days a week available to practice and I told him I wanted him to do that for two weeks and then come back and we’ll move on to the next thing. So he did send me video and it looks pretty good so far.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (09:38.816)
I wonder, I have a hunch you already know this, but I feel that there’s so much brilliance in what you just shared. There’s a very succinct, clear, rigid foundation. You need to start here, yet there’s also so much flexibility for progression. Because you know, I’m thinking from my end, and I’m sure you see this every day and everyone listening is like, okay, this is simple, this is the basic, I got that, now what, now what? So there’s an opportunity to…
Chris (09:41.176)
But mm
Chris (09:49.08)
Yeah.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (10:04.166)
infuse further challenge. kind of think like progressive overload in the gym. You can go from hip high to shoulder to full swing all within that singular practice session that allows you to really fulfill that need for challenge and resistance. So brilliantly designed. Yeah, I love that. So then digging further, you know,
Chris (10:07.982)
Mm -hmm.
Chris (10:19.214)
Thank you. appreciate that. That’s very kind of you.
Chris (10:25.878)
Mm -hmm. Sure, sure.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (10:26.312)
Let’s carry on with this example. think it’s awesome. So a couple of weeks in, he comes back and he’s consistent in the hip to hip. He’s more consistent in the shoulder to shoulder. How do you start stacking and expanding upon that practice?
Chris (10:39.342)
So the first thing I would always again, making sure double check, we’ll take some video and do some analysis and compare it to the last time he was there and see if there was actually progress made in the two weeks. If there was, then we say, where we need to go next, right? So the next thing is, okay, let’s see if you can do this. And I would actually have him start with the drill that I gave him for homework. So let’s see you work through this exercise and do it.
for maybe 10 minutes, like just go through the progression, five balls each or something of that nature and say, okay, let’s take the station away and see if you can do it. Most of the time, there is that gray area where people have half of it pretty good and then half of it’s still some of the old stuff when you start taking the thing away. So then it’s just working on that, making sure that he’s still okay with that and then building it into the full swing and then also start.
starting to bring it into other clubs. So most of the time, I forgot to mention, I try to keep them within one or two clubs when they practice, so they’re not going through the entire bag. And then in the practice, when he comes back, I would start instituting some longer clubs, some different things. And then again, depending on how fast he’s picking it up, I would start instituting kind of a pre -shot routine and how we can bring it to the golf course. Because I think that’s…
Again, I’m probably going to misquote this and I can’t remember exactly who said it, but there’s an old professional. I want to say it was a gentleman named Lee Turbino. I’m not 100 % sure, but he used to say that the space between or the area between the driving range and the first T is like the Bermuda Triangle for golf swings. Everybody seems to lose them. In that matter, my goal and one of my colleagues a long time ago said,
If you’re gonna give somebody something to work on, they can definitely do it in a controlled environment. But when they go to the first tee, it’s a whole nother game, right? So my goal is to, I guess, to further answer your question is after I feel like they’re getting it, I wanna put them in more of a pressure situation on the practice range. Like they’re on the first tee, they’re hitting a green, they’re hitting into the green. And so my goal is to teach them how to institute that into a pre -shot routine so that it becomes very natural for them
Chris (12:56.706)
to start the new movement pattern. Because I find just from going and playing a lot with amateurs, I feel like that’s where that Bermuda Triangle is, right? So you lose it in there, it’s because they’re not practicing properly when they’re warming up or when they’re doing it. So hopefully that answers your question. Thank you.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (13:17.944)
yeah, fantastic. And it reminds me too, it’s interesting. I don’t know if I’ve shared this on the air before, like I have a background in Krav Maga. And one thing that allowed me to accelerate quickly is my teacher, my coach was incredible. We would.
Chris (13:22.456)
Mm -hmm. yeah.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (13:30.164)
you know, we’d learn a choke and a maneuver and its most basic elementary components. And then we train it at like 30 % speed, half speed. And at the very end of the class, we would call them stress drills. We’d have blaring music, you’d be getting punched and kicked by five different guys and still have to execute the newly learned technique. And it was under that stress, you see first and foremost, like, I’m going to regress to what I know. You demoing that in practice allows for that rapid acceleration. So I think that’s so neat.
Chris (13:52.846)
Yes.
Chris (13:57.592)
Thank you. Yeah, it’s interesting you say that I not crowd my god, but I did some martial arts when I was a kid. And I remember our master instructor used to do a lot of the, I think they would call them defense techniques or combinations or something. And we would do them for a long time, very, very slow. And I find that a lot of sports can get a lot from some sort of martial arts or fighting because they do a lot of the movements.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (14:15.966)
Mm -hmm.
Chris (14:24.95)
very slow so it just becomes reactionary versus having to be you know so thought conscious someone doing it.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (14:32.244)
Absolutely. So I love the intention you’ve infused into these practice sessions. We’re practicing with a purpose. If we now bring that intention or purpose to the driving range, warming up before a round. And again, we’re working with this young professional, you know, maybe he’s got an average or slightly above average swing in game, plenty of opportunity to improve upon. How are you coaching someone to devise a warmup routine with
Chris (14:34.584)
Hmm.
Chris (14:38.508)
Yes.
Chris (14:51.235)
Mm
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (14:58.132)
purpose and intention aside from obviously we want to get the we want to get the body nice and warmed up and the joints loosened up. What’s the intention we bring to a warm
Chris (15:02.975)
Mm
Chris (15:06.542)
Yeah, that’s great question. And I think that you can accomplish a lot in a warm up. you know, usually the average golfer probably gets there maybe 10, 15 minutes before they have to tee off. So really, they don’t have a lot of time, right? So if they can make it, you know, eventful and purposeful, makes a big difference. And a lot of this is I’ve got I’ve gotten from my own personal experience of failing and also one of my good mentors.
He used to have all of his students do the same exact warmup with their specified intention exercises, right? Or what they’re trying to do. So what I try to guide the students that I work with, again, it’s not really up to them whether they do it or not, but is to start off with a very high lofted club, whether it’s a sand wedge or pitching wedge, and start off with those hip high to hip high swings, rehearsing two or three times.
and then hitting a ball, trying to create that intent and the goal that they created in the lesson or their other practice sessions. And maybe only focusing on one component. It doesn’t have to be many. So for this young man, could be feeling, pretend the golf bag is behind me. Let me hit five or six of these little short wedges first, just so I can get my rhythm, my tempo, my timing, my contact down, then go a little bit bigger, keep it slow and smooth, and then get a little bit bigger with the same wedge.
And then if you feel like your contact, your rhythm and your tempo stays good, then you can start adding some different clubs in there. And I would say, usually I advise them to maybe five to 10 balls with say a wedge and eight or a seven iron, go to a little bit longer iron or a hybrid and then hit finish off with a few drives. And then you’re ready to go. It’s not the, the, whole idea of a warmup is not to go out there and practice for a half hour before you go play.
It’s literally to get your mind going, your body going, so that when you get up to the first tee, you’re in the right mindset and you also have the right ideas that you have to focus on.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (17:14.676)
So if I hear you correctly, you’re still bringing that same intention purposeful drilling to the warmup.
Chris (17:18.846)
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think it goes to help somebody walk over to the golf course with some confidence because they’re only focused on one thing. think golfers really lose sight from that long walk from the driving range to the first tee and they have too much nonsense in their mind, whether it’s a tip their friend gave them, the lesson I gave them, that’s something they watched on YouTube. But if they can really
hyper -focus on that one thing. When they get up to the T, they’re only focused on that one thing and it eliminates a lot. And I can’t remember the book that I read a long time ago. My wife had me read it about habits. And they said, the only way you’re going to get rid of a habit is fill it with another sort of habit, right? And it’s kind of the same thing with thought process, right? You can’t not think about something. You have to fill your mind with something else so that you can’t possibly think about it.
for some sort of reason, right? So I think that helps a lot of golfers in that mindset.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (18:20.668)
I love that. think what you’re referring to, I mean, there’s so many good books, but ultimately distills down to the habit loop. There’s a cue, there’s an automated routine, and there’s a reward we’re seeking. So you’re right. The reward we need to get clear on what that is. There’s so many conscious and unconscious cues, it’s up to us to change the bad routine with a positive product.
Chris (18:26.572)
Yeah, right.
Chris (18:39.469)
Right, correct.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (18:40.968)
That’s fascinating because I’m just thinking like, I warm up and I have a general approach, but I already see and listening to you and learning like I have so much opportunity to add more intention. And I love what you said. Like I have my own little practice routine at home, just working on my like one piece takeaway, then, know, hips to shoulders. If I start with that on my warmup, my confidence is through the roof. I can trust my swing. I’m making that clean contact. It feels good. And that’s the person, the mindset, the attitude I would love to bring to the first tee.
Chris (18:56.046)
Right.
Chris (19:01.912)
Right.
Chris (19:09.966)
And correct me if I’m wrong, I mean this is your area of expertise, but if I’m not mistaken, the brain remembers negative things much more often, can’t remember, like three or four times more than positive things. So if you can just keep filling with the positive as you’re saying, right, it’s a lot easier to bring over than all that negative stuff.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (19:34.932)
Spot on, well said. The brain loves to identify and latch onto all of those negatives. You’re right, we need to count less three to four times as many positives just to kind of equate or negate rather that negative experience. Yeah. So talk me through this, you know, and doing my research getting to know you, I love kind of this, I’m going to use the word general philosophy to improvement, seeing where somebody is to where they want to be. Walk us through, I believe you refer to them as kind of your three steps to improvement, what that process looks like.
Chris (19:38.783)
yeah. You’re not kidding.
Chris (19:44.066)
Yeah.
Chris (20:00.782)
Sure, so it’s something that I’ve naturally adopted from a mentor of mine. And it just makes it very easy to understand like where you have to identify when you have to change and then how they you know how the change happens, right? So to keep it really simple as I remember my my old mentors name is Jim McClain is one of the top coaches in the world and he just advised us to keep it very simple for us when we were learning, but also simple for the student, right? So he used to say,
What are you doing right now? Right, that’s step number one. What are you doing now? And the reason he came up with that, and I really love it so much, is because everybody comes to me, regardless whether they’re advanced or beginning golfer, and my friend told me I was doing this. I saw this online and I’m doing this. the reality of it is, okay, well, you’re probably not doing any of that. What are you doing? And that’s why we capture it on the video.
because the video just captures what’s in front of it. There’s no baloney, there’s no, know, in there. It’s just whatever’s in front of it is there so we can see it. So what are you doing right now? And let’s figure out what’s going on and what your problems are and why you wanna fix them, right? And then once you get there, we have to figure out, well, what do we want to fix, right? What do we need to do?
And that’s kind of where I kind of jump in and we analyze and say what’s going on and those kinds of things. And then the last step is well, how do we make the change? Right. OK. And that goes back to what we were just talking about is OK. This is a practice swing. It’s going to take this much time. It’s going to be it has to be a commitment on your end also, you know, make sure that you can put the time in or you’re actually open to making the change. Because that’s a that’s a huge part of this. So I think.
I think a lot of golfers think that they’re open to making the change and then they’re really not.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (21:57.874)
Yeah, I hear that all the time. I like to differentiate it between you’re committed to a goal and you’re interested. I’m interested in a lot of things as are all of us. I’m committed to very few and how you spend your time for everyone listening. Like go look at your calendar, how you fill those hours where you’re not working. That’s a direct reflection of what you’re truly committed
Chris (22:17.368)
Correct. Correct.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (22:18.804)
So I love that. Now, given you have coached so many individuals from all, not only walks of life, but all different skill levels and experiences, I’m curious, when we start, I’m gonna use the phrase, making the turn from shooting sub 100 to breaking 90 and ultimately breaking 80, like walk me through from your unique perspective as a player and a coach, like.
Chris (22:35.576)
Mm
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (22:41.764)
What are the areas of focus that kind of progress as someone starts shooting lower and lower that identifies what they need to work on most?
Chris (22:50.232)
Sure. So let’s just take it to keep it easy. Let’s just say, okay, let’s start with someone who wants to break a hundred, right? Most of the time, what I find for people who shoot over a hundred, it’s a consistency factor, which produces a lot of lost balls or penalty shots. And I would say that’s probably the number one thing that I see for people who shoot over a hundred. So the biggest thing that I try to see when they come in, they tell me, I’m shooting over a hundred and I want to break a hundred and say, okay, where is the
biggest thing that can help them create consistency and help them lose less golf balls or, you know, or take less penalty shots. Cause just have to get rid of the big, big numbers and you get rid of a few of those. And before they know it, there really are below 90. doesn’t take, I mean, below a hundred, excuse me. Doesn’t take all that much to do that. I would say that’s the first step to getting below that. Just finding the biggest error that’s causing the flaw and consistency and saving.
Saving some shots there. Yeah.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (23:50.516)
And I’ll chime in. I played yesterday. mean, it’s what is, didn’t know. Today’s Monday, August 26th when you and I are recording. So I played Sunday the 25th. Shot a 97. It’s my best round to date. But on the back nine, I had six penalty strokes. So of course my mind is like, what could have been? So I hear you there and I’m aware of where my consistency needs to be cleaned up. There was also some, my clubs are in the process of being switched. There’s no grip on them. That’s half the battle. So.
Chris (24:06.008)
Right.
Chris (24:17.622)
Okay.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (24:18.748)
I hear you there on the consistency. If you can keep the ball in play, it actually becomes fairly simpler, borderline easy to break a hundred if the ball is in play the majority of the time.
Chris (24:27.446)
Yeah, that’s right. I always say if you have a stance, you can make a swing, right? But the ball’s out of bounds or in the water and you can’t make swinging at it, right?
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (24:35.188)
So then what’s next? Breaking 90. Where do we shift to?
Chris (24:39.95)
So breaking 90, I think, comes down to a lot of approach shots. From the 15 years I’ve been doing this, feel like, doesn’t, again, and don’t get me wrong, I don’t think everybody has to hit greens to break 90. That’s not necessarily the case. But I think you have to be consistent with the distance that you’re hitting your shot. So meaning, say you have 150 yards shot into the green.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (24:47.38)
Mmm.
Chris (25:09.774)
you cannot be hitting the shot 165 one time and then 135 another time because you’re leaving yourself too difficult of an opportunity or a shot to get up and down and save your bogey or whatnot because really breaking 90 is really shooting bogey golf and maybe making a par here and there. That’s all it is. But if you’re, if you’re not consistently getting fairly close to the green, giving yourself a chance to chip it up and get close to making a par or
chipping it up and getting a two putt or something of that nature, I think it becomes very difficult to break down. So I would say if there was one thing to really narrow down to try to break 90 is really trying to get your distance control and a little bit of your dispersion on your approach shots better.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (25:56.724)
I love how you do exactly where I was going. What is that one area of focus? Brilliant there. And so I’m curious to amend that, have that clarity, that consistency. Would you recommend someone going to a range that has a tracker? really ironing out, taking a notebook, know, hitting a seven iron 15, 20 times, averaging the distance and just getting intimately familiar through repetition, what their distance is for a given club.
Chris (26:21.038)
Sure, one of the things that I get asked a lot, like what training aids should I buy? What should I do this to help myself get better? And I probably recommend over anything else, the cheaper version of the launch monitors, because not every driving range has like the cool technology that you Topgolf or whatnot, but they do sell fairly decent launch monitors for like under 500 bucks that you can get. And again, they’re not perfect, but they’ll give you a pretty good idea of how far you’re hitting it.
I think that’s really important to your point, just so that you have an idea. think too many people aim at a flag or aim at a target on the driving range and they think it’s going that distance, but the reality of it is probably 10 or 15 yards short or 10 or 15 yards long and it’s not accurate. So I think that’s where the biggest flaw I see is in their practice. Yeah.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (27:10.644)
No, that’s brilliant to know. Yeah, I love that. So then let’s go one step further. We’re breaking 80. Where does the shift in progression of focus and skill occur?
Chris (27:14.796)
Sure.
Chris (27:20.334)
Sure, so I would say most folks that I see shooting 80 or below, their drives are fairly good, they’re in play most of the time, not every time obviously. Their approach shots are fairly good, they’re around the greens and whatnot. I think when you’re shooting 80 or trying to break 80, you need to hit more greens and make sure that you’re on the green so you have a better chance of getting in the hole around par.
Right? mean, you need to think about it. Let’s just say the average golf course is par 72. You you just need to make eight bogeys and you shoot 80. Right? So you need to shoot 79. You need to make seven bogeys. So you need to make, what is that? 11 parts, right? So 11 parts and seven bogeys and you shoot 79. So you have to give yourself a lot of opportunities to make your two -pucks or when you’re missing the greens, your short game has to be good. So I always say that you’re chipping and pitching.
have to be pretty good to break 80. So you’re chipping it within five or 10 feet each time and giving yourself a reasonable chance to make par, even if you miss the green.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (28:30.162)
Now, if I hear correctly, the kind of the theme as we progress to shooting lower and lower is the greens and regulations, the approach shot, just the value on them becomes more important for the reasons you just shared. If you had to rank a number two area of priority, so we have greens and regulation and approach shots is number one. Is it number of putts or fairways hit that someone should also focus on?
Chris (28:37.494)
Yeah
Yeah.
Chris (28:55.662)
to break 80? That’s a good question. I know it’s individualized most of the time, but I think…
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (28:57.406)
Mm -hmm.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (29:03.707)
It is.
Chris (29:07.915)
I guess you can look at, I would say number of putts, more likely. I would say number of putts.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (29:14.644)
I think it’s a great answer. And you’re right. It’s very subjective. But I ask it because as I’ve kind of crunched down on my goal to break 90 by the mid November, I kind of I have these metrics I want to hit of greens and regulations, fairways and number of putts. And I think when I first led just naive getting back in the game, fairways were so important. And then I was starting to analyze my rounds. like, I was 10 yards off the fairway hit a great approach shot. I’m fine if I don’t have the fairway every drive, whereas
Chris (29:18.187)
Yeah.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (29:40.328)
My approach shot is incredibly chaotic or inconsistent. There’s so much room for opportunity. I’m saving a shot alone, just not having to chip up. And then now I’m putting more and then I can reduce my number of putts. And then the fairways comes into play.
Chris (29:44.355)
Mm
Chris (29:49.304)
Yeah.
Chris (29:52.718)
Correct, yeah. And I think, you know, you can, the technology today with the apps and stuff that you can keep track of everything, I think is extremely helpful. As long as it doesn’t become too distracting. You know, I mean, I still do it. I don’t keep so much on the apps, which I really should myself for my own game. I still do it the way that I learned when I was a kid, is I just put on the bottom of the scorecard my name on the top and on the bottom I have fairways, greens, and number of putts.
and then I might write like an R or an L if I miss one right or left, but just so I have an idea. And even with those three statistics, can really kind of narrow down where you’re losing a lot of shots.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (30:33.78)
I do the same thing. I add one additional just based on where I am penalties or OBs that way I’m tracking that and I’ve learned I’ll detail this more in my episode that comes out tomorrow the 27th like I still use the Grint app I think you said you use that in the past. I love it for the GPS But yesterday I decided not to log my score in it to do it the old -fashioned way Upload it after just so I’m not seeing my score total the whole time and all the stats in real time I just want to focus on playing one shot at a time
Chris (30:38.236)
yeah.
Chris (30:46.362)
that’s great,
Chris (30:54.861)
Yes.
Chris (31:00.206)
I think that’s, I think it’s interesting you say that because I’m, I’m like that too. I get very distracted and looking at all the numbers of where I’m at. And maybe that’s because I grew up without having that kind of thing. And I grew up with just having on there. Whereas I find some of the kids are actually the younger generation are really good about just putting it in and not paying attention to it. But for me, it’s very distracting. I have to actually, if I do start doing it, I have to put it in after the round. I wouldn’t be able to do it.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (31:13.417)
Hmm.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (31:27.476)
Yeah. I mean, used to like the Grint has your score just in like bright purple in the lower left corner. I like cover it when I’m logging my score. I don’t want to see my total yet. I’m not ready for that. So talk us through this. know, someone’s progressing sub 190, 80 onto scratch. What’s the next one? We’ve talked about breaking each of these decades, not decade, 10 year, 10 score increments. There’s the word I’m looking for.
Chris (31:30.382)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Trust me.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (31:53.492)
What’s the difference maker between someone who has just broken 80 and is now on their way to becoming a scratch golfer?
Chris (32:00.334)
So it’s interesting you asked this question. heard this and I don’t remember if it’s on another podcast or just something I was listening to the other day. And this is from a tour player, his perspective of breaking 80 and then getting to scratch. And I can’t remember who it was. It’s gonna bother me now. But he said, you know, it’s much easier and takes much less time to go from shooting 80 to say 76 or something like that.
He said it takes much more time and it’s much more difficult to go from 75 or 76 to shooting even par or under par. He said because the answer is really in all the details and every little thing that you do matters when you’re trying to shoot par. So I guess to answer your question again, it is very subjective to the individual, but I think a lot of it is keeping track of your numbers and seeing really where you’re losing a lot of strokes. I would say
A lot of when I see someone who’s shooting right around four five over par but wants to get to scratches, their strategy is not usually very good on the golf course. They’re making poor decisions, whether it’s trying to hit a shot around the green, trying to hit a shot off a tee that they shouldn’t be doing, maybe going after a pin location that’s not a good idea. And honestly, when you’re talking at that level, one miscue can cost two or three shots, right?
And there’s a great system that I don’t use it completely but I use there’s a little card that comes called the decade system and it’s a core strategy or system and I really like how he organized it and I use some of that quite a bit when we’re trying to get them from 75 or 76 down to the other thing because it just shows you where you need to aim in the fairway, where you need to actually aim on the green to get the best chance of getting below the score.
Whereas a lot of people think you always have to go right at the pin and it’s not the case at all.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (33:59.71)
Yeah, I love hearing you say that because I find often in my own journey as well as my work with golfers, it’s the ego like, but I could play take the bold aggressive approach. And yeah, sometimes you’re rewarded. But more often than not, the risk is not worth the reward because the risk is so detrimental, catastrophic. It’s two, it’s three shots on one given hole. And it’s like, come on, you just took three steps backwards from the goal at hand. And it’s all because you couldn’t, you couldn’t
Chris (34:03.598)
Mm
Yes.
Chris (34:18.35)
Mm
Chris (34:23.48)
Yeah. Right.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (34:27.636)
put that muscle away, you couldn’t put the ego or the testosterone away. In fact, one of my mentors and coaches in the game, he told me, every time you get out of the car, leave your ego and your testosterone in the front seat, strap them in, tell them you’ll see them in a few hours. I said, that’s an interesting way to think about it. Yeah, please feel free. So let me ask you this, I think I really would love to hear you, we’ve walked through the progression of technical aspects and some mental aspects to get to scratch.
Chris (34:37.71)
Mm
That’s a good one. I like that one. I like that. I might use that one. That’s a good one.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (34:55.826)
When someone is then embarking on, want to start playing in tournaments at my local country club. What are you finding as, let me think about phrases. What are you finding to be the mistakes or the challenges they face most when starting to play their first handful of tournaments that can be easily fixed with some swing coaching or feedback from someone like yourself?
Chris (35:00.334)
Mm
Chris (35:18.478)
Sure, so I would say probably the number one thing, regardless of level, because again, you could play tournament golf even if you’re a 25 handicap, which is really great. The one thing that I see is that people don’t play with enough pressure on them on a normal basis, meaning that if they’re playing with their friends, their friends are giving them putts within four or five feet, so they never really have the opportunity to putt it in. Or if they hit a bad shot, they’re not overly worried, they can kind of…
push it around in the grass, himself a good lie. They’re not used to playing from really bad lies because they never have it. So I would say they’re not really used to playing under the pressure conditions and the entire, I would say the complete rules of the game most of the time. And that’s what I see. And I worked at a country club for many years and we used to see the folks go into playing their local club, the championship or like a tournament.
And they would shoot five to 10 shots higher and nobody could understand. one of my, my friends and also another coach used to say, listen, you haven’t hit a putt inside five feet in two years. How can you expect to make it under the pressure? Right? You haven’t hit a putt like that. You’re going to get nervous or you play on a Saturday game, but you, take a mulligan off the first tee every time, you know, so those are the things that I see that really affect. And even at a high level, like when I go play with my high level juniors and they’re getting ready for tournaments.
A lot of it is they’re just not used to playing with that sort of pressure. They’re playing with their buddies. They’re having a good time. It’s not the same environment. So I would say that’s probably the biggest thing that I see.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (36:54.58)
Yeah, I’m so happy you share that. I feel like it goes back to that old adage like practice like you play, you know, and I think you bring up a good point like everyone listening has a different goal within the game. Some is some just want to play recreational and like they play with their group, their boys and you know, it’s a breakfast ball and a mulligan on nine or on 18 and that’s totally cool. You just have to align your action steps with your goals and if your goal is tournament golf, your practice and your round should reflect the same environment.
Chris (36:56.824)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris (37:05.25)
Right.
Chris (37:18.465)
Absolutely.
Chris (37:22.878)
Absolutely. Spot on.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (37:26.644)
actually it was so funny I was playing around yesterday and there was a junior tournament going on wrapping up so me and this this random guy great guy we’re on the first hole and I’m about to putt off the fringe probably like 30 feet or so I sink it he drops like a good 12 to 15 foot putt we turn around there’s like 12 to 15 golf carts behind us the tournament has gone to extra or to playoffs so there
Chris (37:48.904)
heheheheh.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (37:50.62)
they had drove into us and we didn’t know because it was an obstructed view and we’re like making these putts with this huge audience. We’re like, thank God we made them. But just even that dynamic people watching in a tournament can definitely throw your fur loop as well.
Chris (37:53.614)
That’s funny.
Chris (37:58.04)
Yeah.
Absolutely,
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (38:04.85)
Yeah, so fun. Well, Chris, I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to share your wisdom, your experience. Where can the listeners go to learn more about you, to connect with you, and to learn how to work with you?
Chris (38:17.614)
Sure, so I would say the easiest way to go is I have a couple social channels. The best one to go to is my Instagram is that at Ardo Golf, A -R -D -O -G -O -L -F, Ardo Golf, or you can go directly to my website, which is chrisardolinagolf .com, and you can pretty much find all the information there. And currently I’m over at Cove K Golf Club in Clearwater,
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (38:43.326)
Yeah, thank you so much. And all of that will be linked below and like his website is fantastic. The Instagram is fantastic and even better. He’s a hell of a human and a coach. So thank you so much for joining Chris.
Chris (38:51.736)
Thank you. That was very kind of you. Thank you very much. It’s been a pleasure.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (38:55.4)
You’re welcome. for the, yeah, man, absolutely. We’ll do it again. We’ll get on the course soon.
Chris (38:59.822)
I’m looking forward to that. It’d be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to see what you bring with you, the snacks. I’m gonna learn a lot about that there.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (39:08.296)
That next time you see me I’ll have new clubs a better game. It’ll be like a whole different person Well for those of you listening Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the scratch golfers mindset podcast if you found today valuable Which I know you absolutely did do Chris and myself a favor share this show this episode with a fellow golfing buddy And if you haven’t done so already
Chris (39:10.894)
All right.
Paul Salter | The Golf Hypnotherapist (39:32.116)
It would mean the world to me if you took 30 seconds to leave a genuine review and rating on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you are listening to today’s episode. Thank you again for listening. Have an outstanding week of play ahead of you and I’ll catch you in the next episode.
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PAUL SALTER
Paul Salter - known as The Golf Hypnotherapist - is a High-Performance Mindset Coach who leverages hypnosis and powerful subconscious reprogramming techniques to help golfers of all ages and skill levels overcome the mental hazards of their minds so they shoot lower scores and play to their potential.