Golf Channel Analyst Tripp Isenhour Interview- State of Golf & New Teaching Program

Fairways of Life is joined by Tripp Isenhour, a former PGA Tour player and 4-time Korn Ferry Tour winner. Tripp Isenhour is very much in tune with the professional game of golf as an analyst for Golf Channel, and he has years of experience teaching the game and imparting hard won wisdom.

Trip Eisenhower is joining as you know trip from his work on Golf Channel no doubt he also was a six-time winner amongst the professional ranks multiple wins in fact on the corn furry tour he had 306 starts on the tour 24 career top 10s and he’s got a new project going

On that we’re going to talk about in a second called Gap go Gap golf I will get to that uh with trip but first of all we say good morning to the man and see what’s going on in his world how you doing trip hello my friend good to be

Here thanks for having this is going to be fun yeah I’m looking forward to it all right so let’s jump into this thing you know I I heard I I saw you in central last night I hear the talk constantly about Scotty sheffler and the Putter and it’s with good look it’s with

Good Merit I understand but the what he did last weekend in finishing second and his uh just to just to give you some examples Strokes gain putting in the second round he’s 128th Strokes gain putting in the third round he was seventh right Strokes gain putting in

The final round he was 72nd all I’m saying is the flow and EB of the putter with guys at that level the best of the best of the best because their ball striking is always so exceptional if they get even near average they blow the field away and so that flow and E

Doesn’t wor worry me that much so Dominic put in my rundown because he puts in little suggested questions and he said ask trip if you think that there’s a problem right when I was Scotty sheffer’s putting and I’m not going to ask you that because I don’t really think there

Is I I would agree with you yes I would I would totally agree with you and and here’s the thing it’s not like he’s hitting awful putts I mean we focused on that putt on 18 on Friday where you know he three putts from six feet that first

Putt he hit was exactly where most people were reading that putt they were reading it on the top Edge and it wasn’t breaking okay so we focus oh well he missed a six-footer for for par you know and then well there he was frustrated that day it was really windy and the

Wind was hitting his shots when he didn’t think it would and you know it was Gusty conditions and that’s the worst conditions as a player when when you’ve got high winds that are up and down it it’s really tough and as good as he hits the ball every time he hits it

So dog on solid every single time he’s counting on you know that consistency of the win and and that really frustrated him and I think that red over into him hitting another good putt that didn’t go in but that is one of the things though that you know typically world number one

It doesn’t bother him I mean his process is so good and it just insulates him from so many different things and all the noise around him and it really gets him narrowed in and focused on his task at hand and nobody’s doing that better

Than him but I agree with you Matt and I mean really it’s one area and I talked about it last night on Central I talked about it on Sunday night on centr Central it’s 5 to 10 feet and he’s not putting way worse than tour average tour

Average is 56% his average for the year’s 55% so it’s not like he’s putting from 5 to 10 feet at 48% or 47% and keep in mind that’s missing one or one and a half more putts you know if he was at 47% he’s missing half a putt

Lower than the average per round but over four rounds that does add up well the thing is I I was doing because you’ve done this same thing I was doing the dedicated coverage for PGA Tour live I was with Dennis Paulson was awesome and we watched him this is twoyear point

Sunday afternoon he hit the putt on 17 and he spoke about it later on with that and 18 he hit those putts exactly where he wanted to exactly the way that he wanted to a person that’s going sideways with the putter knows the line and blows

It over here or blows it over there hits it on the inside heel catches it on toe right he hit both of those exactly where he wanted he misread them but what I did notice about Scotty which I want to ask you about not necessarily only about him

About the others too cuz you use the word focus and triggered this thought my observation was trip is that I saw some signs of what I thought were mental fatigue just you’ve you’ve won two weeks in a row you’ve going through the emotions that go with that you’re going

Through you know not so much physical they’re young guys and are strong but still and here you are in the mix again but but he’s not the only one I thought I saw some signs of fatigue from a number of different players which is interesting because we’re just about to

Go into the Masters what your your thoughts about that and handling that when you’re in the middle of the fry well to your that could be overall but but I will go and Michael Kim on on X by the way is fantastic and he he mentioned

About the golf course and how he said you know they could grow rough here and have a US Open absolutely and was very surprised because many of us me included when we were doing central early in the week I was like the the pre preluding um

Uh Houston I was like well this overseed is going to make it softer it’s going to make it easier it’s going to be an easier in fact it was harder and and and the the thing about that Golf Course is it would wear you out I mean when you go

Out and play in windy Gusty conditions and you’re having a chip and pitch and balls are running off and doing all sorts of things that drive tour Pros crazy and does wear on you by the end of the week and you saw it the mental fatigue on Friday uh from Scotty but he

Rebounded and and I I just think it was it’s a frustrating golf course and I love to see that as a tour player I didn’t like playing them but as an analyst and someone watching it I think it’s entertaining I I like the golf course I I I’m glad that they found this

Home in Houston I hope they’re there for a long long time it’s right in the heart of Houston what a good US Open it would be to have there eventually at some point but uh or a major or PGA even but I I think it the golf course was

Introduced to the world in a new way because in the fall it was never going to AB absolutely the way it played you know with the dormant conditions it it wasn’t that way yeah probably some of the players are fatigu but look Scotty’s been around long enough he knows how to

Get his where he needs to be come Thursday his tea time Channel his energy for that 72 whole race I I I wouldn’t put it as much to mental foot fatigue from that as I would the fatigue from running that race in that environment in Houston yeah to your point too about the

Golf course in particular trip the I loved loved the par 3s I thought they were so well done really spectacular 121 yard 15 hole on Saturday 121 yards was the hardest hole on the golf course that that says it all right there brilliant absolutely brilliant all right uh

Because we’re I I want to make sure I get this in before we run out of time we’ve got a lot to go through with you including Gap golf which we’re going to talk about probably after we take a break but we’re on the threshold of the

Masters we have the Valero Texas open this week pretty good field Andrew could you throw that that that field up there so trip can see it in terms of guys getting ready for the last chance that they have to to get in some competitive reps before they head up to Augusta you

Can see Rory Brian Harman orberg AA Fitzpatrick Fleetwood Matsu yam morawa spe Tom Kim Fowler Eric Cole amongst those that will be in the field your thoughts about the big story lines the major story lines as we’re entering the first uh men’s major of the Year well the elephant in the room I

Mean it it’s live and PJ tour and where is this gonna how is this going to come together it’s it’s going to come together it has to um you know the PGA Tour is made mstep after misstep after misstep in handling this and it makes

Sense I mean look they were they were a monopoly for a long time and they played the Monopoly Playbook Unfortunately they it didn’t work this time and they they’ve had to uh you know bring in a lot of different things and I think it’s going to help the PGA tour in the long

Run because look I was one of the ones on the player advisory Council on both tours corn fery tour and the PGA Tour yelling and screaming that this to this um you know management team at in Pon ofra was very reactionary they weren’t very Visionary and I think I think this

SE change is going to help the PGA tour get more Visionary and when you have private Equity groups and those type people involved and people that make a lot of money they they make a lot of money because they have vision and they’re able to see down the road a

Little bit so again I think it’s been a rocky road for the PGA Tour I’m not a fan of the Signature Events I’m all for having Signature Events but I don’t want limited Fields you don’t need to compete against Liv by acting like Liv and narrowing your starting Fields I think

You can have the big money events and I love them I I think they’re they’re great if you give the opportunities for uh most of your membership at least starting out if you want to narrow them down to 120 that’s fine to start but at least have a cut because the spirit of

The game and 72 holes um that is the measure the standard of golf Liv has brought a couple of things to to you know to bear I would say um possibly the team aspect of it has some Merit but the 54 hole thing has no merit in my opinion

I I I that’s the one thing I don’t like about Liv and I don’t like starting a field with with you know 48 to 54 guys I think you you the best thing about golf is you have you know as many guys as you can get in the field Thursday and Friday

And then you can cut to whatever you want if you want to cut to 48 and then have a shotgun start on the weekend that’s fine but I I think the the some of the most times that I learn the most and unfortunately I was on way too many

Cut lines but I learned the most about my game in the you know in in in where I was trying to make the cut and and you know really get in my game where it needed to be to try to uh compete uh you know on the weekends and when obviously

You know when you’re winning tournaments and you or or you’re not when you’re in contention you learn a lot there too but you know what most of the players are around those cuts more than they are winning golf tournaments and I as a player that that definitely is the the

Biggest self teer that you can get is how you how you thrive or don’t thrive in that kind kind of environment when you’re struggling coming down the stretch and find a way to you know hit a couple of good shots and make a couple

Of key putts and make that cut by one or two shots and then have a good weekend I learned more about my game in th in those times than I ever did winning tournaments oh learning about your game is the the perfect segue to where we’re

About to go in just a couple of minutes but to your point about the merits of a full field event or even a modified full field event and having a cut look what just took place Stephen joerger who is a brilliant player and we were all kind of

Waiting for him to do on the PGA tour what he did on the corn fery tour which is the ability to fearlessly go low he took down the number one ranked player in the world so to the point where if people talk about weaker Fields okay tell me about a weaker field then

Wouldn’t it suggest that the number one player in the world is going to blow away everybody else he didn’t Steph joerger won and so for me as a golf fan I think that that’s the ultimate thing we saw the same I keep going back to

Eric Cole and and and Chris KK at the Honda that was one of the most entertaining tournaments of the year and I was very entertained this past weekend because of precisely what you’re talking about well but you’re eliminating the Eric Kohl’s by by by making these fields

Like said you’re what his story last year I love that and and I love what it did I mean here’s a guy who was on the mini tours making you know as much money as you could possibly make on the mini tours but he was you know that he was he

Went through that journey and he was able to finally break through but we’re putting roadblocks for the Eric Kohl’s of the world we’re putting roadblocks for even the guys like Victor hin and Scotty Sheffer who came through the corn fairy tour that we’re we’re making their time a lot longer when you’re putting

These roadblocks to get in the elevated events where there are more points and all the different things that’s why I say you know give the opportunity let the meritocracy of of golf do its thing because it’s the ultimate meritocracy and and that’s that’s one of the things

That I think is being shaved away in this environment of these oh we only need 50 60 guys in a field uh to make it special you know what US open’s been special for a long time they start their field with 156 and you know what how

Many of them are qualifiers that you’ve never heard of those are always pretty good stories so you know uh it’s not just the 50 that drive everything so a couple of things that we’ve learned so far in terms of management style don’t react in vision and then consider that

Uh more instead of less is probably a better way to go okay Andrew do me a favor throw the the the odds up there for the Masters trip to wrap up here because I want to make sure we have enough time on the other side of this

For Gap golf uh two guys two names I’ll give you two from this list or otherwise for your favorites for the Masters you gotta say Scott chefer I mean how do you not say Scotty sheffler and also who plays really good with a chip on his shoulder John

Rong uh we could see Nick falo here I I’m just saying I I think uh we could see back-to-back Masters champions I I I just think um he’s got a lot to prove that his his going to live was the right thing which I think it was at the time I

Mean why wouldn’t you I I don’t blame John at all because he knows now there’s going to be a pathway back and go take the money and and you know play less but have still have the majors you know what uh they’re going to be maybe eating to

Us uh two years in a row at the Champions dinner all right Scotty Sheffer John ROM officially in the books for trip Eisenhower you know I’ve had the privilege of playing against and analyzing the best players in the game it’s the things that happen away from the Golf Course away from the tournament

Site that you never see that makes these great Champions exactly what they are that’s what I want to help you with I want to teach you these tour proven techniques and strategies that consistently deliver lower scores come along with me let’s bridge the gap between where your game is now and where

You want it to be that’s it that’s Gap golf that’s the concept that trip has put out to the world so trip I guess the place where I’d want to start base level right what is it how did you conceive it and what are you doing with

It well the Genesis of it Matt was um you know my best friend is Bill McDonald the coach at University of South Carolina and we played golf at Georgia Tech together we were like brothers and and he he had a team that was struggling in the fall back up it was about five

Six years ago and he said hey you know you’re really good with uh you know your scoring clubs and you were always really good with those and your short game and he said just come talked to my team he said I I got to get these guys motivated

They’re not working you know in the right areas of the game they’re not they’re he said they love hitting balls and they they they but they’re they’re just not they’re not scoring and uh so I came I went down in in first of January

And I met with a team he he made me the volunteer assistant men’s golf coach so I could come down and work with him occasionally and um and um so I I I talked to the team and um just kind of told him what I did how I went about you

Know hitting wedges and and how important 150 yards and in you know I worked with Dr Bob Rotella since the time I was 16 years old and he hammered it in my head that you if you want to be good at golf this isn’t the sexy stuff

This is the this is the meat and potatoes and if you really want to you know get really good this is where you got to spend your time and it it helps build your mental confidence and everything else so I started I worked with that team and and then um explain I

Call it the core number system now which is a system that I kind of came up with for getting your numbers with each of your wedges and then I told them how to kind of practice their uh spend their time on on on their short game and

Putting and that team went on and they bought in and they worked you know at this stuff and they won three of their next four tournaments that year and that it was a team that hadn’t won anything so you know that was that was great and

And I I just I’m still with Golf Channel I have you know all this stuff and I would occasionally go down and work with some kids and then when I would do it the kids that would buy in they would go on and win tournaments and play well so

I was just doing it kind of on the side and um you know I this last year I I I have U not a full-time uh contract with Golf Channel for the first time really in 12 years I’m still you know with Golf Channel and have a great great deal but

I’ve got a little bit more time so I was like I’m really passionate about this and and um I I started doing it I I you know worked with another college team um in the fall and and one of one of their players went on and won a tournament by

Six shots after uh you know applying the things that I told him it’s no it’s no secret it’s what tour prayers do I mean this is what makes us tour players is the fact that we we don’t just stand on the Range and hit balls and our time is

Very important to us so we figured out ways to spend that time efficiently and uh use the tools that are available to anybody and it just is a matter of putting in the time and like I said it’s not the sexy work it’s the grunt work

But it’s it’s the stuff if you do it it always pays dividends and then you know I did a project with Dr Bob Rotella uh years ago 17 18 years ago and um we had a great run with that and it really all of his mental stress iies are interwoven

In this and you know I have a lot of that material that I I was just like I talked to Doc the other day I’m like this stuff is timeless I’m like and he’s like I’ve been saying it for 40 years because much of the game they want to

Sell the long game that’s the sexy thing I mean we got driving ranges we got all this different stuff but what we don’t have is you know people focusing totally on the mental and the and the practice and how to spend it efficiently so that’s really the Genesis of it and and

Where I am now and I you know what I’m having a ball with it it is fun because it’s great to help people get better and that’s the one thing that I do know if if you apply some of these things in in your practice and how you go about the

Game of golf no matter who you are you’re gonna get see Improvement there were there were three things that that you said to the course of this that stood out trip to me one of them is the phrase you just you just uttered which was no matter who you are

You used the word anybody and then you talked about tools so for our people that are watching or listening to is wherever they are around the world how does the rubber meet the road in this how how do they get involved what do they get from this is this you coaching

Them one-on-one is it a library of services available to them like they go on the website how does it all work well if you’re if you join the membership you get access to a Treasure Trove of of mental game content with Dr Bob Rotella that I mean just watching that is is

Going to help you and there’s going to be a lot more of that to come um you you get uh drills you got information I mean I have a conversation with Zach Johnson in there where he and I sat down and and and we talked for you know 15 16 minutes

And Zach on short game it it is so good I’ve got Stuart sink and I did the same thing uh you know there’s all sorts of video content and and there’s a whole Library drills and games and information on green reading on you know how to practice your your drills just that’s

For members they get tons of that I have premium memberships that are more where you get to work with with me as far as I I look at some of the stats through two of my my partners are Aros which is you know very familiar in there and and

Upgame is another beautiful data platform where I can take a look at your stats and I can prescribe you know a platform now that’s typically for the better player and and that’s more for um you know the elite Juniors and that’s really not not necessarily Elite Juniors or just Juniors or college

Level players or even young Pros trying to get going I take my expertise as a as an an analyst that I’ve been doing now for 13 years and I say okay here’s our weak points here’s how to spend your time and oh by the way here’s some mental strategies from Dr Bob Rotella

That’ll really help you in these areas so uh th that’s kind of the stratification I do have an Elite Series um and and that’s by invitation only because those are the the players that that get my full oneon-one attention and that’s not going to be a high number

That’s going to be like 10 to 12 people but that that that is an application and and I I want to screen people for that make sure that they’re they they will put in the time so that I’m not wasting their time and they’re not wasting mine

And and again that’s the Elite Series aspect of it but just joining Gap go and there’s going to be so much more I’ve got video content um you know just tons of it that that will really help your game and in a lot of different ways all right it’s called gapgolf coach.com

The website gapgolf coach.com so Andrew could you could you put that up there someplace so if if people didn’t understand what I just said and and Matt one other thing just so you get the name and why I came up with Gap golf is I I I want to bridge

The gap in Tradition teaching and coaching not not to say that that’s not important go please go with and get lessons and get better physically you know do all that stuff there’s a gap between that and performance in short game and what tour players do and I’m

That’s what I’m doing is trying to bridge that Gap I can’t wait to see it I’m going to head on to the site because I’m really interested in some of this video content that you’ve put together obviously you’ve put in a tremendous amount of time to create all that it is

Not easy to do and then the different levels that people can make a commitment what what are you willing to do for your game how high do you want to Aspire with the game that you have do you want to work with one of the best in the world

Do you want to work with a tour pro on making your game better you can do it at Gap golf coach.com gapgolf coach.com there it is Andrew put it up on the screen so that you know exactly where to find it trip it is always a pleasure my

Friend love catching up with you I love whenever we get a chance to work together up at NBC Sports for Golf Channel and I believe I think uh in April I think they’ve assigned do again so you’re burdened with me one more time all right I love itk love my days of

Math we got to do good luck with everything talking gol with you I enjoy I love it too man it’s awesome we’ve been doing it for years and it’s awesome Gap go golf coach.com is where you can find the website with what trip is working on super excited about it and

Looking forward to get an update on that very very soon we’ll talk to you again my friend okay all right mat we’ll see