Chris Petefish joins us to discuss stats/analytics and how they can help you get the most out of your game. We talk about his career at Georgia Tech, Korn Ferry Tour and his bogey free tournament on that tour in Utah.
courseofactiongolf.com @chrispetefishgolf on X and Instagram
[Music] driving this 75 Cadillac. [Music] I’ve got the top roll back on a southern cloud day. Welcome to the only one shot golf podcast. I’m Jim Gallagher Jr. Last week we had Oklahoma men’s golf coach Ryan Hibble on. Did a great job as he always does. Such a smart coach and just uh was such a great player and passed on that knowledge and and one of the best in the business. Uh but today uh on uh our episode we have Chris Pete Fish who played on the corn ferry tour and US Open played his college golf at Georgia Tech uh under the watchful eye of Bruce Hepler who over 20ome years has been in the business and be retiring at the end of the year and such a a Hall of Fame coach. So he learned a lot from him and and Chris was uh a top five nationally in his high school class of graduating class of 2014. and you got Scotty Sheffer, Wills Alatorus, some really good kids out of that uh class there and headed to Georgia Tech. So, uh had a pretty solid career there and we’ll talk about that. Uh the team won the ACC a couple times. Uh he had a couple uh uh really good finishes in the summer, had kind of a down year in his junior year. We’ll talk about that as well. But, uh, turn pro and had a couple runner-up finishes on the corn ferry tour, including a bogey free 72 72, excuse me, uh, whole holes without a bogey. That That’s unbelievable. You think back Lee Trevino did it New Orleans. I think JT Poston did it at Greensboro. It doesn’t happen very often. So, uh, it’s going to be fun to hear uh, Chris’s story on that. And he’s really kind of dove deep into the statistics and the analytics, which a lot of young players do. So, uh, great to hear from him on some of those things and I think this will be very informative for you. So, uh, with that being said, uh, let’s get Chris on the phone. Well, got Chris Pete Fish on the, uh, the phone. Chris, I appreciate you spending some time with us today. Yeah, thanks for having me. You, uh, it’s quite a journey. Uh, tell us how you kind of got started. Everybody likes to know, want to get to know our our guest. How did you get started? I know family’s big part of that. How did you get started in golf? And, uh, kind of give us a little background on that. Yeah, I grew up in Northern California in the Bay Area. A lot of great golfers that came out of there during my time in junior golf. I’m 30 years old now, so this would have been early mid 2000s. Both my parents got me started. They played recreationally and and loved watching the game. And they didn’t push me too hard in any direction with sports. It was I was six or seven years old and it was kind of the time I was trying every sport to figure out what I really wanted to do. and uh pursue, I guess, for fun. And for me, that just I just got hooked with golf immediately, especially as an only child, I was able just to go to the golf course and go figure it out and try to get as good as I I could at it. And I just I loved it. It was all self-driven. And yeah, it was kind of one of those things like once I picked up a club and played my first tournament when I was seven, I was like, “All right, like when’s the next tournament?” Absolutely. Yeah. I always love to see and you’re seeing it more and you see it too cuz you’re playing kids that play multiple sports and you’re seeing it in college these the coaches are recruiting those kids. How important is it to play those other sports and instead of specializing like so many want to do? Uh how important is those multiple sports playing growing up? I think it’s really important. I mean I played a little baseball as well till I was like 10 or 11. I think that helped me as well. I I think it’s almost necessary to be a great athlete now. I mean, all these kids coming out of college are so good and they hit it so far and a lot of them have different motor patterns, whether it’s hockey or baseball and really know how to use the ground and you and have power and be athletic. And I think it’s just there’s no way to to learn that unless you do other sports and have different athletic movements. So, I like, you know, we just I’m having a son in the spring. It’s like that’s kind of if he wants to play golf, that’s something I would definitely recommend and still in him. It’s like let’s try some other sports as well cuz I want to have those those movements and be athletic. Yeah. You you talk to teachers and VJ Troio wrote the book Only One shot. Uh and he talks about that and and the movements that other sports kind of complement golf and and and also the the team concept uh cuz when you get to college it’s a because golf is such an individual kind of a selfish sport uh along the way. But you were a top five uh recruit as a junior golfer. That 2014 class class you had Scotty Sheffler, Wills Al Torres. What was that recruiting process like for you? And because you went all the way across the country to Georgia Tech and right there in downtown Atlanta. I did and I have to go way back in my memory because I was being recruited in 2011. Uh I was a 14 high school grad. It was different back then because now kids are signing later whether that’s a junior or a senior year and and back then it was much more of a free-for-all like when you could sign. Um so I was being heavily recruited as a freshman in between like freshman and sophomore. Wow. You know, I had a good freshman summer uh like AJ invitationals and whatnot. And you know, I was definitely blessed to have a lot of options and opportunities of where to go. And it was definitely a lot coming at you, especially when you go from just being a little eighth grader to a year later, you have all these big-time colleges like either, you know, they’re watching you play at events or questionnaers and all this stuff. Like, whoa, this is overwhelming and crazy. And uh yeah, definitely visited a lot of really really great schools and ended up choosing uh Georgia Tech for a few reasons. I guess we can go into those reasons, but it just ends up being a great fit for me and uh I think I ended up committing sooner than later. I want to say somewhere in my sophomore year. Wow. Uh but yeah, it all happens like very quickly. What advice do you give parents? Cuz a lot of my listeners, this is why I did the podcast to kind of give some information out to people who’ve gone through this. I like the fact that they’re signing later. Man, I couldn’t even find my locker in ninth grade, uh, or or even a sophomore year or half the time, let alone sign a a letter to go play somewhere. What advice do you have for those parents and and even the kids that are kind of going through that right now trying to maybe figure out and taking the pressure off of hey there’s the coach from you know so and so here there’s the Alabama coach there’s a Georgia Tech coach there’s a Tennessee coach how do you block that out as a kid because you’re just learning kind of a lot more about yourself at that age yeah absolutely it’s definitely tough when you’re when you’re that young um I would say like really take your time and understand what you want even out of a program itself like What are sometimes when you go on these visits, I think it’s really good to ask the kids themselves like, “Hey, what is it like? What is your dayto-day like um and really even asking like the star players as well as asking the guys that are towards the end of the the bench?” Because you’re going to get much more of a real perspective of like if the guy that’s eighth that’s not playing is loving the culture, then like man, you have something really great. Um but yeah, I would say like enjoy the process. It’s it’s like simultaneously a big deal but also not in terms of like don’t overblow it like you know talking to a coach like you know they’re there to get to know you as well and you’re probably going to talk to multiple coaches so it’s really just a get to know uh them process and and being able to kind of lay down a lot of pros and cons like hey what do I really want out of a program is this right fit for me as much as are they the right fit for you. Yeah, I always kind of tell kids, you know, where would you go if you, like you said, if you’re the eighth person and you’re sitting at home or you’re hurt that you feel comfortable going to and kind of put that in your, you know, list of pros and cons and and I always tell them like, you know, when you’re being recruited, they’re so, you know, selling you fillet and lobster. When you get there, you’re actually serving it. So, uh, it’s kind of a process and then it has changed. But you went early, uh, as I Mike McGraw had you on his podcast and you what they call a gray shirt. You actually finished high school early and went to Georgia Tech early. Did you like doing that and how much did that help you maybe when you did start playing your freshman year? I definitely think it did help me uh just to be able to have an idea of what to expect and be able to hit the ground running in qualifying when I was eligible to play as as a true freshman and not getting there early. It was definitely an adjustment. I mean my again I came in 2014 this was January and my first week was when they had that snow mageddon in Atlanta and shut down they had shut down all the highways. People just didn’t they didn’t ice the roads. They just like people just weren’t prepared for this and people were abandoning their cars and walking like five eight miles home. It was chaos and this was my first week and I honestly thought what have I done? Like this is crazy. I showed up to school with two pairs of pants from California. I basically played golf in a dome and now it’s snowing and blizzarding and I like, oh my gosh, this, you know, the demands of school were definitely rigorous. So, I definitely would just had to be thrown into the fire at at the beginning, but it definitely helped me uh just to have that experience so I can get that culture shock out of the way to then, you know, play a lot my freshman year and then help the team. Yeah, you know, it’s always interesting. It depends on the person, too. sound like you were pretty mature for your age. Some people, you know, some kids they need to stay in high school, stay home, kind of figure it out cuz when But I think they also the side of like you said when you get there that it’s not such a shock cuz I remember when I went to Knoxville the first week I was lost as a goose. I didn’t know anybody on the team. I’m in seven or eight hours from home and I grew up in Indiana. Of course, the weather was better in Knoxville than Indiana, but it was big. I mean, 25,000 students, you’re basically in town. It’s just it’s overwhelming. Uh, and it takes a little while to make that adjustment. The golf part’s the easy part. Uh, you know, juggling the academics and all that, but you played for Hall of Fame coach Bruce Hepler, and he’s just one of the best. He’s retiring, I saw at the end of the year. I know he he uh was a big influence. Uh, but what’ you learn from him playing under him? Cuz you all had some great teams while you were there. We did have a lot of great teams. Uh, I was able to have three ACC rings with the guys. Oh, the first one was when I was gray shirting. So, I was a part of the team, but I wasn’t playing in the event. Uh, but still like awesome success, uh, incredible program. And I I think the biggest thing from coach Heer is just creating an environment that was very competitive and where you had to earn you just had to earn it. whether it was playing on the team itself or competing in the classroom, like you just had to learn to be self-sufficient. And it just fostered an environment that was tough but fair. And it really helped me kind of grow up and be accountable for how was I going to get better and not make excuses. And you just see a lot of these people, a lot all these players that come out are either successful on the course or in business. And it’s it’s due to that environment that he created. Yeah. Cuz it’s life. I mean, life’s not fair. You’re going to you’re going to have ups and downs. It’s tough. I think it was your junior year. You had some struggles. Uh, and you maybe missed a few trips. I mean, what do you tell yourself? Cuz it’s not always going to be perfect for four years. Very few people have that, you know, that success, but you kind of had a down year. What are you telling yourself? Cuz you bounced back your senior year, made the winning putt uh to win the ACC for the team. But what do you tell yourself when you’re down and maybe you’re sitting at home? Cuz some of the folks that are listening, it’s going to happen. uh whether you like it or not, it is going to happen. I think for me I that was I think I really matured that junior year and was just again very accountable for how am I going to get better instead of having the perspective like I just want to play on the team. It it was more of like okay what do I need to do play better because I’m I didn’t make the postseason team and it’s like I wasn’t playing good golf. I like I felt like I was I mean I was a high recruit like I should be playing on this team and helping them compete and yeah I just did a really good job of having ownership be like hey what do I need to do and that was kind of a rock bottom that made me and forced me to really look deep and improve. Um we’ll get into the strokes game but that’s kind of really when I dove into that and help me play a lot better golf quicker. Um, and that’s how I had, you know, a really huge amateur season that summer and then, you know, was able to play on the team as a senior and you helped win ACC’s and um, yeah, that that that transition was pretty big for me. You know, I I tal you mentioned in this conversation expectations and I think it’s the ones you put on yourself that can strangle you and it doesn’t matter who you are. Tiger Woods. I remember having Hal Sutton on the podcast a few years ago and I was like, “Hey, how man, you were compared to be the next Jack Nicholas to me playing against him. You were the best amateur I’d ever seen.” He goes, “Jim, how can I live up to that? It strangled me.” Uh, and and I think everybody goes through that, you know, and just like you said, hey, I was a top recruit. I’m not supposed to be sitting at home. That’s a tough uh thing for a lot of players to go through. But you mentioned, you know, you you spent some time learning and I know Scott Faucet does decade and he helps a lot of players now. You kind of dove into that and and then we’ll get into uh the course of action what your family has there. But uh you know, I think that helps so many young people kind of have a game plan and I think that’s analytics is a big part of where we are now. Now guys of my age, they probably would say, “Yeah, we already do some of those things.” things, but how important is that for some of these young players and what are they doing using analytics? Uh we’ll just start kind of start with like using the decade method. Uh what did you do during that junior year that that kind of prepared yourself for uh uh getting back on your senior year? Yeah. Yeah. And this was all in 2014 2016 when all this was being when Scott FA was really creating this system with with Zotaurus as like his really first test run and so it was relatively new and not a lot of people knew about it and I was just always very good with statistics. I I love numbers and understanding like why things are the way they are whether it’s sports or business. And so I just was easily, you know, gravitated toward the numbers and like intrigued by this new system and how to play golf and understand the math of golf and probabilities. And so I really just dove in to that system and understanding more about my golf game and like, okay, why am I struggling exactly? How can I change my perspective on the golf course of like how do I strategically play or practice? And it really eventually started definitely changing the way I I think about the golf, how I think about the game and how I practice. And it, you know, it obviously led to a lot of really good results and a really solid professional career. And it definitely, I mean, it’s not the only reason, but definitely a part of the reason why uh I started playing some some really good golf after that. And I think it’s so important especially as junior players now to have um a system such as Decade or not that it’s there’s so much talent right now in the game that it’s getting harder and harder to separate yourself and these kids are coming out more prepared to win tournaments now. I mean amateurs are contending in PJ tour events and these college players or it’s Quinn or Luke Clanton. It’s just like, you know, they are learning faster how to be more professional. It’s like this is almost a requirement now, not just an advantage. Yeah, cuz we had to kind of go through the the the hits and misses trying to figure it out. I felt like, you know, and I’ve listened to Scott and and he helped with VJ Troio at one of his uh Scott was in there with some of the kids and I thought it was so good for kids to have kind of a game plan. You know, I’m not a numbers guy, so it it confuses me sometimes. It scares me to jump into that. I think a lot of it depends on the person. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it cuz Dana’s not going away. Uh cuz it actually gives you, hey, this is actually where you are good. This is where you need to work on. But so many players don’t have a game plan and don’t have that management skills that you kind of learn in college how to with time management. Uh I I think it’s interesting to watch that. But, you know, say let’s just start with a pre-ournament. What What kind of was a prep for you? I mean, you’re using numbers obviously. What was a prep getting ready for a tournament? What do you go through to kind of get yourself ready to play that week? Yeah, I would say again I’m using like my data, my strokes gained information to see, okay, where first of all like what is the engine of my game like how am I going to play my best golf? So, it’s really that knowledge and understanding and then implementing in that practice. I think a good example is like Scotty Sheffler and this example has to go with like not obsessing over the weakness of your game but also maintain your strength. And there was that time where Scotty was definitely struggling with the putter and his iron play in T Green was so good. Like he was gonna finish in the top 10, but he just was finishing with a lot of frustrating like fifth, eighth, seventh places because he was not making putts. And I think the example there is like why you have to maintain that strength. Imagine if Scotty just obsessed over putting uh to the point where it’s like, okay, he has a marginal uh gain in his strokes game putting, but now he’s losing the superpower of his overall game in iron play because he’s just kind of abandoned it because he’s obsessing over his putting. Um that’s the kind of little stuff that you have to really have awareness over of like, oh, so Scotty’s engine of his game is his iron play. He’s a generational iron player. like we need to maintain that strength while okay you know he’s working on his putting uh increasing you know getting better marginally at it over time which is exactly what he’s done over the last two years he’s done it perfectly and that way he’s been able to have that incredibly high floor and you can kind of have that same mentality uh whether you’re Scotty or you’re a 57 handicap like hey where is the strength of my game I’m going to maintain that in the way I practice and just start to chip away at the weaknesses. Yeah. I mean, there’s another thing we throw in there when I watch players, especially in match play. Of course, college game is in match play now to to win the championship. Something VJ Troio kind of taught me that I never even thought about. Everybody has a pre-shot routine. He actually timed my pre-shot routine and showed me when I hit good shots that was nearly to the point whatever second. How important is a pre-shot routine? It doesn’t have to be long. I’m not trying to advocate for slow play, but how important, especially under pressure, is that pre-shot routine or the process, as we like to say. How important is that for you and for a lot of our listeners? No, that’s a great point. I’m glad you talked about it. That’s something I I harp on a lot is that routine because a lot of poor decisions and poor swings come from an emotional place of, oh, I’m worried about this coach, you know, coach Helper’s watching me right now. like if I hit this great shot, I might get recruited or hey, I need to birdie to the last four holes to make the cutline in the corn ferry. Like um a great example would be Rory and his routine at the US Open in 2024 at Pinehurst. Uh it’s a great study just to go back and watch that round just to see his routine because really the first 11 12 holes he would look at the hole four times every time on an approach shot and he just looked very fluid and athletic and there wasn’t a lot of space for like Scott would say wandering thoughts and then the moment he makes his birdie putt I believe on 12 to tie Bryson the next T- shot he literally takes twice as long TA on that drivable par4. He takes 11 looks at the target and it’s just so obvious to see like what is he thinking about in there because he’s taking an extra 10 to 12 seconds and what he’s thinking about is probably what is live from going to talk about is he finally going to give him a break now he’s gotten over this decade long hump of winning major. He’s probably thinking about his his uh daughter and his wife greeting him on the 18th green. like he’s thinking about all that stuff other than the golf shot that’s at hand. And so like being able to time and monitor your routine creates not only you going to play better golf, but it also creates that awareness of like, oh, something’s wrong and I’m thinking about the stuff I shouldn’t be thinking about. Yeah, it’s it it it’s true. And I think that’s something is when I’m, you know, calling shots or or even on the golf course or or calling holes, I look for that kind of change. Hey, look, he took an extra look there. He he did this and that. he got out of the same thing he was doing. And I think when you look at match play, you’re not really studying your opponent, but you can kind of tell when things get pressure, do they speed up? Like you said, he take twice as many looks. Uh and and that’s a great point. And when VJ did that with me, I was like, why are we timing this? He goes, look, bro, you’re doing it subconsciously. This is what you do when you’re, you know, you’re on, so let’s just practice that a little bit. Uh and it made some sense cuz I took some time off. I I kind of retired or semi-retired at 40 and did TV for a while before I turned 50. And it was hard to get back in to playing just to have a basic routine. I think that was the diff the toughest part for me is trying to figure out, you know, what what makes me tick when I’m playing well. It just I play with freedom and that’s what we all look for. And I think having that process and when we people talk about the process, that’s exactly what it is. Another thing I know VJ works real hard with his players is like shot dispersion patterns. It’s kind of back to like the decade or even what you’re talking about playing the smart shot. He works really hard with his players on that. You know, say you get pulling it one day or pushing it one day. I don’t like to make changes, but I like to make adjustments. What would you be doing? I’m all right. I’ve pulled four shots in a row. Do you do you make an alignment change? What do you do to kind of change that or make that adjustment while you’re even playing? Yeah, that’s all the concept of aim. And I think it’s it’s a skill that is not talked about enough, definitely not practiced enough to where you just can’t expect to have your only your good rounds be when you’re hitting exactly where you’re looking or really really close to that. Um, and that’s where that aim comes into uh into play. It’s like if you’re able to hit, you know, let’s say 27s on the range, like ideally I want 10 of them left of the target and 10 of them right. And just because I’m trying to hit it straight, as someone like myself that hits a draw, I I may need to like adjust my feet and my actual aim three, four, five yards right of that target to account for some of the shots I may overdraw. And that’s why being aware of that before an event, maybe on the range of like a Tuesday or Wednesday before we’ll say like a cornfairy event. That’s why that’s really important. So you’re not in the middle of the tournament trying to change your swing. You’re able to go into the tournament and adjust your aim and actually truly play the game of golf without having to play perfect in order to go compete and contend. You know, that’s a great point because and this isn’t about me, but Memphis off of Zoya and I always hit a cut shot or a push fade or whatever you want to call it. It kind of fell right well off of Zoya and with the clubs I was actually playing at that time. I was hitting a draw on the range and in the proam and so I had to kind of aim for that the whole week, which was totally against the way I played. But that’s another example of making that adjustment that this is what I’m doing. Sorry, this is a shot I have. I’ll figure that out later, but this is what I got to go with. And I think that’s uh uh a lot of the good players that are able to do that. But tell us a little bit about course of action and how you use strokes gained and the stats and the analytics because I’m very I guess I’m naive to the strokes gain. I understand the basic concept but how do you and how you know try to give us a little information on course of action that you and your family are uh working with. Yeah absolutely. So course of action started about 10 years ago with my mom and she started helping players mostly juniors kind of strategically plan out their junior careers and and help them get noticed uh by colleges and the recruiting and it was a part of a group a lot of consultation companies kind of happened and started about 10 plus years ago and for me I really jumped in about this past year about a year ago you know kind of as an arm of the company in more of a performance performance coach aspect using, you know, players personal strokes gain information and analytics to be able to improve performance without touching their swing. Uh, which is the cool part and really kind of taking my experience as a player that’s been in their shoes and, you know, been able to play luckily like where they want to play and where they want to get to in golf. So, I’ve just done so much trial and error of like, oh, I know what doesn’t work. I’ve spent years figuring out what does work and being able to kind of expedite that process for not only juniors but all players and how to play golf better golf quicker. Um, and so I’m really using those strokes gained almost as like an X-ray, like a a CAT scan of like, okay, I’m able to really see this like a doctor and be like, okay, this is exactly kind of the blueprint of your game. Here’s how you’re going to get better. Here’s the areas we need to work on and how we’re going to do it quickly. Is there a certain category you kind of if you’re just kind of the person out there listening that they really kind of put more emphasis on or is that more the strength and weaknesses in your game by using the strokes gain categories? I can answer that two way two ways. I would say every player is very individual. I see all kinds. It’s like a DNA. It’s like a fingerprint. Uh you know, no two players are going to do it the same way. But I would say like iron play and approach play is the most important part that separates like great players from average or uh yeah just iron play indefinitely just because of how the difference in the scoring with hitting greens versus not and just how much easier it is to two putt from 30 feet than it is to get even up and down from five yards off the green. Um it’s just like your up and down rates are, you know, unless you’re a top 10 short game player on the planet, like you up and down rates are, you know, good players are around 65% or something. So it’s just like and even 50footers on tour like 80% of the time that they’re going to two putt. So it’s just like you just have to hit greens and a lot of the stuff is how do I avoid bogeies? And there’s just many ways to do that because there’s so many categories of golf compared to other sports. Um that there’s just many ways to kind of slice that. Yeah. I think people get all caught up in the proximity and that stat kind of varies from where you’re coming from. You know, the slopes of the greens, the shot you’re hitting in there and we always have to be a little bit careful of that. Frank Nabalo pointed it out to me when we were doing TV. He said just be careful on the proximity. It isn’t always the truest gauge. I I thought that was a good good point. How do you keep your students from not getting too bogged down in the analytics? And this is someone who played very much by feel uh and didn’t, you know, not that I’m scared of, we just didn’t have those things. How do you keep your students from not getting too bogged down with all that information? Yeah, I feel like I’m good at taking the complicated and being able to simplify it for them. M um you know whether I’m talking to guys that are 50 or people who are kids that are 15 16 years old like I feel like I’m able to kind of break it down into simplified terms of like oh here’s where you’re specifically losing shots here’s how we’re going to get better whether it’s like a drill or something. I’m not trying to add too much to their plate. I’m trying to take the time that they would practice normally and replace it with more productive drills that will kind of help, you know, these specific key areas uh that they need help with. And being able to kind of teach them, here’s the math of golf and like here’s how this is happening. And I think for a lot of it’s like a light bulb moment like, okay, that makes sense. Like I can relate to the math of that and why that what I’m doing doesn’t make sense and why I’m losing shots there. Yeah. Clarifies things. You just think, oh yeah, I’m a great iron player. and you find out, well, you’re not really as good as you think you are, or you’re not as bad as you think you are when you use some of those stats. But one thing that stood out to me I thought was amazing, you went 72 holes without a bogey. I mean, talk about playing with with freedom. I I think of Lee Trevino at New Orleans. I think that was back in the 70s or 80s and JT Poston did at Greensboro. I mean, we just kind of go through that not not the whole week, but just that whole mindset. I mean, the pressure of like, hey, I made a bogey. I know cuz it had to enter your mind at some point. You know what? Funny enough, it it did for a second maybe in the fourth round, but at that point, I looked at a leaderboard like maybe five, six holes left to go. And I was like one or two shots back and to me then it just became about, you know, making the right decision, staying present, and winning the golf tournament. I didn’t care about the bogeyree thing. It was just like, okay, I got a chance to win this thing. Like, let’s go do it. Um, I mean, I think in order to go that many holes without a bogey, like it takes a lot of skill. It definitely takes some luck for sure. You just think about all the tiny bounces of like this drive ended up a foot in the fairway. If it ends up at foot in the rough, like, you know, the bo the chance of bogey just skyrockets, especially on a course that’s very firm like Utah. And it was just kind of I guess you could say it was the perfect game. Like I just I had a great mindset. that I felt like I was in a flow state. I made great decisions and I just wasn’t I felt like I wasn’t afraid to fail that week. I mean, I almost came in last the week before. It was really terrible golf in Chicago and I can’t say I came in with a ton of expectations, but I just had this mindset of like if I fail, I’m going to do it with full confidence and I’m just not going to be afraid to hit bad shots. You know, it’s kind of like it’s you’re describing the zone where every decision becomes easy. Uh, I think that’s the it’s hard to describe it to people, but everything is just Hey, it’s a seven iron. You don’t doubt it. It’s it’s it’s amazing. You don’t get in it often. Now, Tiger Woods was in it a lot, but uh I know he was Well, I’d say he’s in it 90% of the time when you look look back at it, but one thing I always like to ask our our guests and and it’s always a little different definitions is what separates and we kind of hit on a little bit. What separates that elite player from the rest? and you’re playing at that level. You know, what separates those and you were at that level. Uh maybe, you know, from the the rest of them. Yeah. I I’d say two things. If I’m playing around with the first answer, I’d say maybe some people are just incredibly gifted and like Dustin Johnson and they’re 6’4 and they can roll out of bed and hit a 320 yard baby cut. If you can do that, you’re going to make a lot of money. Uh if that’s not you, I would say great players have really good systems. like they’re aware of the game, they know how to practice, they also surround themselves with the right people. Like it it takes a good team. Um it’s very much an individual sport, but it takes a team in order to play great golf. And I also think there’s an intersection between like the right amount of confidence, but also not being overcocky. And I say that all in like it kind of leads to humbleness. like I need to be confident in what I’m doing, but I also need to be like accepting like, hey, I can get better in these areas. I think people can get stuck uh in motion when they’re like, oh, I I’m going to blame blame everything else. Like, I’m doing everything perfect. I’m just getting the bad mistakes or or whatnot. Yeah. I think my wife always says it the best. It’s can you live the life as a pro golfer? And that may mean going back to your hotel and watching TV and being living a little bit boring, working harder. Uh, you know, I I just think that’s that’s a big part of the success is can you live up live that life. I think that’s the tricky part. One thing we didn’t talk about is is we and you hit on it. Golf is such an individual sport. And for some of our listeners who might be college players, the pressure of that going from an individual now you’re the team pressure. I mean, how do you juggle that? How do you kind of get that out of your mind and separate that? Uh, because that’s probably even more pressure than than playing as an individual sometimes. It definitely is more pressure. I mean, especially when you think about when you’re in college and you’re playing postseason, you’re playing at regionals and you’re there is no next tournament, you know, at least when you’re in the regular season, you’re like, “Oh, if I didn’t play great, I get to go to the we’re going to the next tournament. We’re, you know, we’re going to get on that plane where, you know, regionals like there is none no next term. You don’t play well. ACC’s championship conference, like there is no next tournament.” I I think it again it goes back to like it’s a team sport, but you really need to be in command and ownership of your situation and your game so that you can help the team. Yeah. Um and when you’re in that situation where it’s like, hey, it’s it’s do or die, need to help your team, like you’re going to dig deep because you guys have been through a lot of stuff when you’re on a team and doing workouts at 5:30 in the morning. Like you’re going to step up for your guys. Yeah. Ryan Hibble who was on uh the podcast uh our first of the of the new season he said do your job and if you do your job and I think that’s the thing everybody has a one two three sometimes that pressurees on that four and fifth guy and then if they don’t play well the first two three guys know they have to play well so it’s a tough juggle but uh you know that’s why we do it and we live for that moment to be in under the pressure that’s why you work so hard that’s why you go through the statistics that you’re talking about why you hey here’s my strengths here what I need to work on my weakness es what’s up next for you and how can folks get a hold of you and get in touch with you. Yeah, I mean the weather’s getting a little worse here, so we’ll see if the Atlanta weather can uh hold off and and and play a little golf. But I I full status on on America’s uh next year. But I’m also focused a lot on on this business and helping people play better golf. It’s been really fun to be able to do that, especially with a lot of junior players and being someone that’s been in their shoes to be able to kind of pay it back and and help others do that is is pretty awesome feeling. Uh, you can get in touch with me several ways. My website’s courseofactiongolf.com. Chris Petefish.com also goes to the same place. Uh, any inquiries, you can email me at chriscourseofactiongolf.com or I even am on uh Instagram at chris petefishgolf. Uh, so many ways to kind of get in touch, uh, be able to work with me and, you know, get to play some better golf. Yeah, this has been this has been fun. And, you know, we talk about statistics. I’m not anti, but you look at the football fourth down and you see you think of somebody like Lane Keif and these guys look at the analytics, they look, hey, this is what’s going to work. This is why we go for it on fourth down. So, you can’t hide from it. It’s part of life, folks. But, uh, Chris, we appreciate you being with us. Good luck and good luck with the baby in May. Uh, that’s going to be exciting time in your life. Uh, and uh, hopefully our listeners get in touch with you and and I know you’re enjoying the part where you are still playing, but you can also give back because that’s what it’s all about. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it’s been really fun to to be on with you and appreciate you having me. Well, we appreciate Chris being on there. That was fun. Uh, you always learn so much from different guests and their perspective on things and how they approach the game. I mean, the data and analytics is a part of our life. Uh, and it’s a big part of golf now. All the sports you think about it as I mentioned there towards the end of the podcast, Lane Keifin, you know, he went for on fourth down for this reason or coach Hypel fourth down here. I mean, they do those things because the analytics say this is the better percentage. And I think uh using those, you know, stats and numbers, I think it gives players and people confidence. But, uh, we appreciate you being with her with us and and whether it’s life or golf, you may have only one shot. Thanks to VJ Trolio who’s written the book uh Only One Shot. It is available at Amazon. Uh he’s put I think it’s a new part out there. Kind of added another chapter or two. So that’s out there now. And Steve Azar, appreciate you, buddy letting us use your music. Uh until next week, I’m Jim Gallagher. And uh have a great week. [Music] Fertile fields of flat lands and heels raised bite a thing whatever a farmer can dream. Slug burger shrimp bowl catfish fried up in all. Oh good gosh you’re mighty just a husk a hot tamalei now. Now that’s Mississippi.