Rick Shiels to enter The Open Qualifying!

0:00 Ricks weekend with Mercedes-Benz
5:17 It is SO difficult to make it as a Tour Pro golfer!
13:29 Should Talor Gooch have got his invite for The PGA Championship?
24:00 Rick Shiels to enter Open qualifying!
30:00 Should amateur golfer try and hit it further?
39:34 Golf is NOT too expensive!

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hi everybody welcome back to the Rick Shield Golf Show podcast episode 240 I’m here with CO’s guy um we have got another action-packed episode coming your way not you’re wrong got a rubbish one today an absolute garbage one well thanks for listening everyone um we’ll see you next week I would not waste my hour if this is an hour in length just turn it off I don’t think we might get to an hour today I think it’s got a little 45 minutes speci what’s intriguing is we don’t know but the listeners can see the time so they’ll know how it’s gone okay and also we don’t know yet if it’s going to go up Tuesday or Wednesday cuz it’s all down to Matt in terms of editing Bank holiday’s thrown us off but yeah it’s been a bank holiday over here in the UK which there’s two bank holidays in the month of May your whole Life’s a bank holiday buddy hate bank holidays me hate them yeah you see far you loved it CU it gave you a bit more time at the weekend well I did because I got back on a Saturday but in normal life got to pay everyone to have a bu day off twice this month well you did deserve an extra day off cuz you had a busy couple of days in France with your friends I was going yeah my I was over in France south of France um mon Mont peler do you class thises work before you tell people what you did can you claim this has been work whatever you got up toz you do you claim it as I’m glad there’s a bank the last couple of day oh God I’m stiff I’m sewer well no there’s a couple I’m sewer there’s a couple of things I’m really proud of myself okay so I went to the south of France with my good friend’s Mercedes-Benz and I was test driving G wagons wow I’m going to be honest with you okay and I think I’ve said this year before I before this trip I wasn’t I wasn’t a fan of G wagons no G-Class Mercedes-Benz the very functional off-road vehicles that have gained huge popularity in the last 10 years or so with cool rappers and music artists cheser Housewives and I’ll be honest I kind of thought they were a bit faty and very much footballers and end up going buying a a Mercedes-Benz G-Class and I went there and I was like well go on then go on then I’ll I’ll be entertained by these cars because they’re bringing out a brand new electric version and I went and I spent three days in the south of France with Mercedes-Benz and also my pal Seb and guy yeah I’m now officially in love with gclass Merc they’re unbelievable they but I drove them how they’re supposed to be driven Offroad throughly edge with his sunglasses on exactly that with a parking sign on the front they’re just parking tickets do they not um yeah I uh I I fully fell in love with them I probably drove about buy 10 of these things from from really old versions to the brand new electric version um and they they’re just outrageous they really are they’re unbelievable vehicles um whether I get one I’m not sure I’ve I’ve I would be tempted now before going away I thought I was a bit too old D of three bit too bit too heavy set old bit of gray in the beard can I really be driving around the G wagon thinking I’m 25 yes yes I can yeah I can you know what I’ve never driven one I’ve sat in one once the only thing I don’t like about them and this is a silly thing to say because of obviously how substantial and hard they are but they’ve look like flimsy toy cars you just bend and you’re right look like that some of the we we went through this mountain mountain area are proper proper off-road in these cars they are ridiculous but they never get driven like that do they 99.9% of of footballers and and cheser Housewives the owner G-Class do not drive them through bloody Rocky Mountains how they’re supposed to be driven I actually feel sorry for G wagons that that only going to do the school room well it’s like a Land Rover or a Rain Rover 100% not really getting used very often for apparently survey when people go and buy these G classes the fact that it can okay yeah it can go Offroad if you ever need it to well if you are an elderly Edge and you’re a a ches housewife getting your nails done and your highlights Etc without stereotyping and you decide that actually I want to take a short cut I don’t want to go on the main road anymore Rick I want to go over some Farms you can you can do what you want in it it goes everywhere um also played a little bit of golf out there played at this place honestly it was unbelievable it was called shatow the shatow DU and it spelled champagne but without the H right okay so Shadow dur campaign looked a bit rough and ready around the edges got out there unbelievable golf course we only played six holes on that on that course fortunately because we have to get to dinner and then played another golf course which a video will be coming out soon I genuinely cannot pronounce the the golf course but it was again it was near Mont peler oh what’s happening something just broke I don’t know still here Matt Matt’s still here um the camera fell down no something fell anyway played another round of golf with Seb video will be coming soon but yeah really really cool weekend got back late Saturday and um was well overdue the long weekend bankal the weekend um be honest with you yeah and the audience didn’t watch a great deal of golf no I think a lot of that to do with the PJ tour this week what was it it was mind’s gone blank I know that that young lad did really well the English lad Chris Kim yeah is he English in fact English English yeah it was the CJ cup ran Nelson um in Texas and he was the youngest youngest person to make a cut for a number of years I think it was 10 years or so um but actually on that Rick I want to ask you a question he’s 16 years old it’s crazy isn’t it Chris Kim amateur amateur from England we need to get him on the channel Pronto will he will he will he come on will he not on his kids who’s not into watching YouTube she’s just too good I’m going to message him now is that all right to message a 16y old kid I’ll yes I’m getting on the channel yeah um what I wanted to talk to you about was this weekend was also um the lthm trophy which is one of the biggest amateur events certainly in the UK potentially globally would you agree yes and I actually don’t know who won it this year what did you see it he doesn’t follow me Chris Kim Chris Kim didn’t doesn’t follow you no he’s only ever posted did 14 things that’s the way they do it though now these kids don’t put videos Hitting off a G wagon That ain’t cool that was pretty cool no it’s a lthm trophy this year it was a 58th um lthm trophy which is obviously held at Royal lthm and it’s four rounds of golf and you see some of the absolute Elite of the elite um creme de creme amateur golfers playing and it was won this year by uh will Hopkins with a score of one under par wow must have been tough he said last round of 66 um when you look down this leaderboard there’s a load of nationalities that the winner was actually English but there’s Welsh there’s looks like the Ukraine flag actually is a Ukraine flag red sorry red blue and then yellow underneath it is isn’t it um or was it yeah I’m sure that’s the Ukraine somebody from UK yeah it is somebody from the Ukraine um Spain you name it there’s countries that are um what’s the word I’m looking for represented and our friend and and your friend James Robinson actually won the lithen trophy back in 2009 did you know that Rick I did know that and I was looking yesterday um another friend of the channel Frank Kennedy he last year well listen to this right so James Robinson this is basically the topic I’m coming on sorry another friend of the channel Alfie plant well when we look at this Chris Kim from the weekend who has made the cut on the PJ tour um it’s almost hard to comprehend how golfers this young can be this good but something else that I sometimes struggle to get my head around and you could use the many different sports of the example whether be football and obviously in this case golf of what does it take to make it because when we look at the lthm trophy in 2009 so I’m going to take you back 15 years Rick It Was Won by your friend and mine James Robinson okay he won the lith trophy which is an absolutely insane achievement and something that I know understandably so he’s still so proud of this day and he was sharing some of his stories across the week when this event was going on um on Instagram now if you look at the leaderboard and the people that James Robinson beat it’s insane so James won it obviously as I’ve just said in joint third place was Shane Lowry in 11th place was Tommy Fleetwood um I went through this list it was Eddie peppol was on there there was there’s loads of guys Andy Sullivan um the list goes on of guys that are playing that event that he beat obvious won the event that have gone on to have incredible careers on tour obviously um me Tommy Fleetwood a rerup legend Shane Lowry Open championship winner in 2019 some incredible incredible names you can go down there’s just loads Tom Lewis is on there there’s just so many people and obviously James that day came top of the well that that tournament came out top how is it then that James went on to have a career on tour and you know and and made onto the tour which was a great achievement in itself and played in the open and and these accolades and then obviously guys like a Shane Lowry and Tommy want to do what they do how hard is it to get to top level professional golf I know and and this is it like we talk about this Chris Kim now and hopefully this experience is invaluable to make a a cut a PJ it’s first ever PJ tour start it’s how it’s how they take that transition from amateur golf into professional golf because it’s such a shift in mentality and I think sometimes golfers go into the world of of Tour golf after playing a lot of Amit Golf and almost changed too many things I believe Tommy mentioned that when he turned Pro originally he felt like he had to do things differently he had to get a new coach he had to get a new sports psychologist had to sign a new equipment deal we actually doing what he was already doing really well but just continuing it I think the big thing now certainly in this day and age it feels like these young lads who are coming through the the amateur ranks at the moment and getting these opportunities they are like mini tour Pros already aren’t they so I don’t feel like much would really change in the in the if you know 10 year well not even 10 years got 10 years only be 26 in 5 years time I feel like he’ll just be a mature version of what he is already um god of the day like you remember when Rory turned up at the open at um Can first ever was it cani yeah can do it for his first he looked like an amate golfer didn’t he yeah he wasn’t in a clothing contract they’ often just have carry bags as well wouldn’t they he just he just look like no disrespect I’m sure you’ll a bit of a scruffy teenager didn’t he really at the time where you look at Chris him now he’s already got a clothing apparel he’s already got a a tailor made sponsoring him with equipment he just looks like an already made Tor Pro so I feel like the transition is going to be less severe for these young Lads coming through and and that’s one kind of side of it and and that does make sense but the the other point with this is that like for guys on this list I’m kind of using you jack senior did well in that event he’s obviously European Tour player again we’ll go with Tommy uh Lucas beards on there’s loads of guys who have made careers in the p on the at the PJ or or the European tour who who who James beat in this event now I know it’s only one event but it was a four round tournament it is it just baffles me how well it doesn’t baffle me but I just find it so interesting how some of these guys go on and and and and continue to improve and improve and improve and improve and have these long careers at the top of the game and obviously some golfers just don’t and it just just show that how hard the actual sport is so really is and I think as well whereas to some degree as well you could argue with professional football you could play for United at a young age and you could maybe score some goals and get a name for yourself now you obviously have to keep improving and playing well orse you’ll get dropped or get sold but you could argue and it might be a bit mean and people who are fans of football might tell me I’m wrong but you can live off your name for maybe a few more seasons you might go down a league and then go down another the league but you can still because what you’ve done whereas with golf it’s not the case is it certainly like the amateur level when you first join you know if you you might have a couple of decent finishes and keep your card for a year but then if you then start to decline and you lose your card you don’t suddenly really unless you a massive name get invites back to event just because of who you are really unless you do get to a certain level it is such a brutal sport isn’t it it’s just Cutthroat the best way describing it it’s really really Cutthroat and I think the biggest difference with golf is in some sense as you’re going up the rankings there’s nobody telling you you’re not good enough I always think this like as an amate golfer as a as a wannabe tour pro at that point as long as you’ve got a backer and youve got the fund you can keep going until you attempt to get on tour or that money runs out and you fail yeah once you’re on tour it’s then out of your hands doesn’t matter how much backing you’ve got if you’re not making enough money and you lose your card you lose your card doesn’t matter how rich Mommy and Daddy are it doesn’t doesn’t matter what investment you get in it then comes down to you being you H needing to keep your card by playing your way through that process really which is just so bloody hard it really is it is and obviously speaking of hard next week that sounded like I was going to someone really weird then didn’t it when I said that but next week we have the second major of the year the [Music] uspjeh won live in Singapore he beat um Cameron Smith by Two Shots 1500 par for the week and has put him himself again right at the Forefront of everyone’s Minds to win another major imagine if he if he gets to six Majors while Rory’s on four that will um that won’t go down very well I wouldn’t put it past in there I wouldn’t put it past a little bit um but another thing that we want to kind of touch on that’s obviously a very brief of M Brooks won congratulations but the other news story from this weekend and this is something that I want to hear your take on Rick and something that might be an actual podcast clip we might share on YouTube but it came out over the weekend that Taylor G well there’s two things firstly Taylor G was not going to go for qualifying for the PJ Championship or was it the US Open sorry he made it quite clear which one was it though was it the PJ or the US Open I don’t believe you can qualify for the PGA CH I think you have to qualify for the US Open and qualify for the open he said he cator said he won’t be attempting to qualify for those events and that went down as you’d imagine on social media a certain way and he has it has now come out that he has got an invite for the PJ championship and uh um that again has has gone down social media in a certain way I personally think that Taylor G should be there and the reason for that again if you look at his world ranking right now he’s world number 644 okay so on that logic you will probably and rightly so argue well he shouldn’t be why why should the golf that’s 644 there you look at data golf whose rankings are again I have no idea how it’s all worked out but seems to be much more live and and do appear to be more accurate certainly for the guys who play live his data Golf Ranking is 35 so there’s obviously a massive discrepancy there I think last year the PJ of America invited 37 people to play in the event they’ve obviously already invited tiger Tiger’s going to be there and now obviously Taylor guci is going to be there should Taylor G be playing and is it a good thing that the US um the PJ of America are inviting him to play in the PJ Championship it really surprised me really to be honest really surprised me it came it came as a bit of a Blind Side obviously we saw the Masters as they they do did reach out and invite special um players to come and play in the Masters this year such as uh wack nean being one of them and I feel like the PJ Championship inviting Taylor G is yeah it really came as a surprise to me to be honest with you because if we actually look at this year’s results last year he had an unbelievable year on live don’t get me wrong he’s had he had three wins a second place and another top 10 finish he has three wins which is massive okay when you actually look at this year he’s now moved teams but obviously his individual performance he has yet to win this year MH he’s had three top 10 if he would won three times this year I could understand the invite I think three times last year and then no win so far this year out of seven of the 13 events that’s going to be happening on live it does surprise me he’s got an invite it does and also with him being so openly kind of not putting himself forward to go for US Open or the open sorry just a quick one it was my bad Tiger has been the US Open invite not us PJ whereas obviously um Taylor is the US PJ PJ Championship so for me it’s it’s yeah it really does surprise me um I I’m intrigued to see how he’s going to perform I’m very very very intrigued to see the reaction I’m interested to see has he actually accepted it has he actually come out and said yeah I want I want to play what did he put on he put something on Twitter I believe and I don’t know if that was him confirming that he’s going to play or just saying that he got an invite yeah he he he has confirmed it he’s put looking forward to Valhalla next week thanks invitation PJ see y all there and that has had 442 comments um read some out uh a lot of them are from accounts that are very Pro live but this one from flushing git I said welld deserved man the times are changing good luck at Valhalla um I think flushing is very friendly um a lot of the this is the thing with Twitter now a lot of x a lot of the comments at the top are ones that have got a verified tick that are kind of very Pro one way or the other um it will be interesting to see how he gets on there’s obviously there’s a lot of jokes about being in asteris Free Major the fact that he is playing so we’ll see how he gets on but when you say you’re surprised or do you think he should have had an invite or do you think he shouldn’t right the delay says so much it just come as a surprise I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it or does deserve it I’m just very very shocked from considering he he won so many times last year and went I mean he won I suppose he won two of his events events before the PJ championship last year and won two of them after one of them after sorry um I don’t know I think what to me if you actually look I’ve just got Wikipedia up here is Taylor Gucci is Master’s before sorry major performances last year he played three Majors he had a tied 34th cut and a cut 2022 he played all four majors and a tied 14 tied 20 cut tied 34 so pretty decent you you’d have to say his best performances in the PJ are cut last year tied 20 the year before tied 44 and then cut the year before that so how he does I don’t know as po to me though what it does suggest and and this is why I’m kind of quite Pro in playing is has he set it Al like this year maybe not is he going to win probably not although I don’t know obviously however it does show that with the world ranking now regardless if you Pro live or not live the world ranking is skewed it is isn’t it there’s no way is the 600 off player in the world he is morei that 34 whatever it was that data golf have given him now players like him sorry 35 players like him that aren’t in these Majors now and have no way of being in them obviously different for your Bryson’s ET or Mickelson at the the Masters Etc I do think that where there is invitations available those those guys do deserve them and and there golf fans whether you’re Pro live or anti- live you do want the best field in the best events and I think the more events we have where we haven’t got the strongest field because X player plays on a certain tour it does start to make a bit of a mockery of golf at certainly the highest level and jokes aside I don’t believe there’s ever going to be asri next to a player’s name if Taylor doesn’t play but that could happen if there’s certain other players what if wackin nean starts not being able to play and he he continues to get better and better and better and better like does it become a point in time where genuinely could have a major tournament where you think well yeah but you know such a body’s wonn we didn’t have x y z d who play on live like that would very good would it for the majors no no it needs the best players yeah without question it 100% needs the best players and if Daya golf ranks him is 35 best player in the world through Fair dudes he should be in in it it it probably just and I’m not saying surprise me in a negative way it’s probably just a bit like well I wasn’t expecting that I just wasn’t expecting that to take place yeah no we’ we’ve looked at data golf before and again I have no idea how these things work and I don’t think many people do if they’ve being honest but they they typically if you look at them there’s sometimes there quite a discrepancy sometimes there’s not like for example Scottish sh is number one on both data Golf and World Golf Ranking and that’s absolutely right and should be another one that’s a huge discrepancy though is uh well there’s a couple but wackin nean on this one day gol is number seven in the world world ranking is 91 yeah that’s not right now I don’t think anybody who again regardless of what you believe in golf can argue that number seven in the world versus number 91 is much more aligned to number seven in the world and you know the kind of same is for tal hat and he’s eight on Dat of golf he’s 17 on World Golf Ranking and you see some even bigger ones cly as you get down the list as well Lou haen 32 on data golf 125 on World Golf Ranking Again Taylor G is 35 versus 600 nod is he the biggest discrepancy I think he is because once you get yeah it must be because once you get on data golf once your world ranking is more than 500 it’s just the greatest greater than sign and then it says more than 500 I think DJ was quite a high one as well he D mark Lehman is 73 on data golf okay let’s see what he is on World Golf Ranking what do you reckon um 300 no it’s 500 plus I’ll give me that 550th 518 so he’s another big difference uh um Sergio so okay this is Sergio is 81 on data golf I’m very intrigued to see what he is on World Golf Ranking again is z above 500 yeah he is 714 jeez um and then you’ve got like one more Paul Casey is 87 on data Golf and on World Golf Ranking he’s 590 um yeah Richard Bland is 94 on data gol this is the last one I’ll do and then I’m interest see on World Golf Ranking it’s going to be crazy I no 546 well yeah still 500 odd so yeah you can see there there’s a massive but even on the world ranking there like on the actual world ranking it’s saying that Richard Bland is better than Taylor G yeah exactly like that just doesn’t add up well and that’s the point that like I know again silly example but if and it’s a big if if Richard Bland went on to win every single live event now and win them all by 10 he still would have no way of unless he entered open qualifying whatever he’s got no way of being in the mage is so he could argue he has to has to enter up and qualify him but surely if Richard Bland of all people want this absolute spree of winning you’d want him in the Masters you’d want him in the open like it it does seem wrong that the world rankings don’t reflect that but again we’ve mentioned this many many times it still isn’t fixed so who knows yeah I think it’s it’s a good sign for golf fans we want golfers to be in the majors therefore they’re reaching out and getting the right right people in the right Majors so we don’t know if Richard Bland will be in the open do we know if Rick Shields will be entering open qualifying because Rick he said in the last Clubhouse episode released on Friday you can enter open qualifying and Paul Kooks has asked us on Facebook did Rick send his application in for open qualifying no oh ohy climax oh I have yet to enter open qualifying is that because you haven’t lit got the admin it having second thoughts I got a little bit of C feet yeah I did um that’s where I’m at at the moment I just got a little bit of cold feet and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to do it I as much as I enjoyed it from a Content standpoint I didn’t think it was very bullish to announce this kind of literally live on a podcast that you’re going to do it I’m going to do it all right okay so what’s the delay I don’t know I need to save up the 200 quid um cuz remember for those people that may not have listened to the podcast it wasn’t necessarily A of you genuinely qualifying for the open it was could you break 75 in open qualifying the golf course setup will be tough there’s amazing players playing there the pressure etc etc it would be an impressive feat it just I really want to do it it’s that is that I mean you might not it’s that funny feeling where when I went skydiving okay I was really excited but nervous naturally you get that nervous in your tummy and when you stood at the the plane door opens and you go oh my God I’m I actually going to do this and I’m at that stage at the moment where I’m like the plane door has opened and I’m I’ve filled out my details I’ve literally got the form in front of me now and I’ve filled it all out and I’m like do I jump do I jump do I jump and I think part is thinking there is a a possibility I might crash and die well that’s the thing that’s the absolute reality of a jumping out of a plane that that could happen that you could literally die what what’s the worst case then of the open qualifying um I have an absolute nightmare 93 well I mean that would be really really bad yeah that’d be a nightmare that 87 but thing is that once you get a nightmare for me would be I think 82 and Below you can kind of live with it’s bad around a golf someone should start getting 85s 87s 90s that’s however actually haven’t said that one more thing I think a 93 weirdly is like something must have happened you know what I mean on the way he got his arm chopped right makes sense so I almost rather 93 want I turn up with both my arms yeah 86 he like oh 86 is crap is he 93 like I’ll let him off cuz he what I don’t what I don’t want to happen I would take I don’t know what I’m saying i’ taking 88 you taking 88 right now if I had 15 really good holes and three like proper proper blowouts and ideally it’d be 16 17 and 18 cuz it’s like oh would it be 1 two three and then you could recovered just like massive like nines and tens and 11s for some reason then have an 88 and have like no birdies and like two PS and all Bogies do you think though this is this is why I’m I’m quite Keen to to really explain the difference that if you were genuinely saying I’m doing open qualifying I’m put myself out there I know obvious Jimmy Bard’s doing this year I think Pete’s probably doing it again I think he is and they lit I guess they get their goal I haven’t watched the content so I’m not kept up with the um Jimmy B one just yet I will watch it soon I’m guessing he wants to get to the first stage his real ambition and see what happens from there like if you go in the thing of I Want to Break 75 does that not some relieve some of the pressure a little bit that people are expecting you to shoot a 62 yeah I am going to do it I just need to have that little bit of faith and jump I’ve already had a look at my biggest fear is looking at the schedule between now and I think it’s the 20th of June um or around that time is genuinely how much practice can I actually get in can I can I dedicate set amount of time to practice and if I if I can and the schedule looks like I can I will I will do it um I’ve just not proper planned out yeah in my head do you think you’d need a hell of a lot to break the 75 or I think it’s more it’s more for my own confidence obvious I know any like if it’s hesker if it’s I’m trying to think about the other go golf of course wasn’t out let’s say oh hes or CDI they’re probably the ones are most likely going to get picked I don’t know I can shoot a good score around those SC those golf course don’t get me wrong but doing it open qualifying with the pressure everyone watching and it’s also like we want to make a video from it the other thing I was thinking from a Content standpoint everyone’s going to know the result before the video goes out does that matter well no everybody but because I my my idea was the events on the Monday get the video out on the Friday so it’ be a super quick turnaround and I still think people would want to see because let’s say you shot 72 and you’ve made up well I want to see how you did it or maybe you know and also we don’t want be share the result it’s only people that go activ looking for the result that would see it so a lot of the audience would some a lot of them wouldn’t be bothered about looking themselves or if you did shoot 88 as much as that might pain to put it out people don’t see how that happened okay I think the worst would be like it was like a bogey bogey bogey you didn’t write the second Oh I thought you your fingers went hot then I’m going to do it all right okay literally as you speak though well I’m going to do it right now wow uh I have an exemption from all qualifying can I tip that box no I need to qualify through Regional and final qualifying uh Joe blogs sorry I won’t do this now it boring do it do it later on but um I will enter okay so to Paul krook’s question um you haven’t sent off yet but you will be doing it very very soon I am entering the open 20 24 said it now set it up um I’ve had a question um from a listener we’ve had a lot of emails in recently which is great and I love having them back so if you want to email us please do podcast Rick shields.com correct um this is a bit of a of a nerdish one Rick but I think you’re someone that is qualified to answer this and also bear in mind it’s an amate golfer that’s asking this question so okay is this a dck not really it’s just more of a we can call it one if you want okay it says hi all but I’ll dear Rick that that changes the mood do it it just dear Rick eyes a shist finally caught up and I’m a member of the clubhouse thanks for all the great content well first of all and I can say his name Lee um well done we appreciate you thank you um I was wondering if you felt speed training was worth it I’m officially a 10.9 handicap but playing somewhere near a 15 after a return from injury debating whether speed training can it fit along uh technique style work or should I focus purely on striking it consistently and swing mechanics Etc um I would welcome your thoughts and this is what gets a bit awkward I haven’t seen this bit especially from guy as we know he’s the long driver of the group which I’m not anymore that might answer the question so why it’s worth it um I also have an RS merch tiger putter head cover um I’ve put it on a fer golf putter it was my junior Putter and I’ve had it extended and reconditioned it I Reon it’s the weirdest Club to hide under one of your putter head covers nice wow so fer so is speed training worth it Rick and more so is it worth it for the average bear speed training is very interesting because it’s it’s it is a process that um can be very fruitful but also is quite challenging um I’ve done it a couple of times over my kind of golfing life probably done about three or four times and if you’re willing to put the in and to really go through speed training not only using speed sticks and actually purposely doing speed training sessions where you trying to hit the ball literally as fast as you possibly can to increase your maximum Club head speed and therefore increase your average Club head speed it’s it’s a big big Journey it takes months and months and months to finally see results the question I really you’ve really got to ask yourself is is hitting the ball longer going to benefit your golf and I think that’s the biggest biggest question for me I reason why I wanted to explore speed training over the last few months was I found myself playing a lot of long golf courses like really long golf courses um whether that’s over in America whether that’s here in the UK and certainly if I’m playing these 10 shot challenges Against tour Pros they hitting driver 30 yards past me comfortably and where they’re hitting a 7 iron or an eight iron into greens I’m trying to hit a four iron or a five iron and it gets very very very taxing and I certainly think from my own game as much as everyone say oh it’s your short game you you need to work on I’m missing more greens with a four and five I and I I’m with a seven and eight iron if I can be hitting greens every time with my mid irons and short irons because I’m hitting the ball long off the te then I’ll miss I’ll miss less greens I’ll put more I won’t need I won’t make silly Bogies by just missing a green so for me it’s it’s very very beneficial and I in my own personal Journey over the last probably since October time last year I went on a real fitness journey until about January January doing a lot of weight training working really hard on on my golf Fitness in conjunction with speed training I saw my average Club head speed go from about 108 to 109 miles hour which is lower than what I would normally see to now being able to get my maximum up to about 117 and my average sitting closer to 112 113 and we’ve seen that statistically like in the hit studio and I’m testing drivers my club speed’s definitely increased I would say I’ve seen signs on the golf course that I’m hitting the golf ball further and longer um however it has come with a detrimental effect I don’t believe I’m hitting it as straight as I was doing I’m finding that I’m creeping some bad habits of hitting like Snap hooks out of nowhere which I’ve not done for a long time so it’s now a case of I’ve got the speed well how do I house it back into a position that gets me gets me play about on the golf course so a lot to digest there it does work from my experience it works if you want to hit the ball further if you want to swing it faster speed training Works does does it work for you in your game that’s something every single individual listening and watching needs to ask themselves and that’s it and you think about it he says here that he’s playing off about well he’s off 11 10.9 but he’s playing more towards a 15 handicap after a turn from injury so what we don’t know with that is is it the injury that’s then cost him a lot of distance and that’s why can’t plays with handicap you might have lost distance CU I think you said at the start something would would hitting it further help him whatever I think everybody would love to have 30 yards overnight added to the to the distance and I think everybody would improve if they did obviously but if he’s playing to about 15 handicap now that’s not a bad level of golf it’s better than the average handicap in the UK I believe but it’s probably not distance that’s making him play off 15 and not off nine is it it’s probably that little chips around the green and that odd one that you just slice out of bounds that you just shouldn’t have done all that whatever it might be so it’s like well realistically if he wants s to improve to a decent level to a to a nine handicap whatever is it distances should be chasing or is it just Tiding up his game without knowing him you don’t know exactly and and you’re right then and ALS so you don’t want to cause any more injuries because I feel like in exactly in the last 6 months since kind of doing a lot more weight training and speed training I feel like I’ve been more injury prone than I ever have done I would also say as well and this is a very broad statement and I’m not going to any real data to back it up just my own kind of anecdotes I believe you can be a what I don’t if it is even still called category one golf but a five handicap or better at a normal kind of regular golf club by being a relatively short hitter there was lots of BLS at my Golf Course who didn’t hit it very far at all but could play off four or five at a golf we play week in week out because they understand the course they know where to miss it they’re pretty straight now that’s different if you want to get on the DP world to tour or PJ tour and you have to be long these days or there’s the odd exception the guy that’s short but just boss everything else but I think realistically for Club golfers it’s not that important is it really not really it’s not I remember I played a scratch match once against a guy from another club a couple of years ago and I was well longer than him but my drive was going really badly so ended up hting a two eyon round and it was a similar distance to my two eying so not you know not short short but not long he ended up beating me cuz he didn’t make any mistakes and it’s like for that level of golf that’s fine that’s great if You’ have put the same guy who off like two in open qualifying he wouldn’t live with those guys and that would be one reason because of distance but it doesn’t really matter at this level does it even even when I played with Seb quite a few times played him a few times in in August when we went over there played a few times with him in austral in Australia hell France when we went recently he’s impossible to beat and I I have 50 yards off the tea on him yeah comfortably there you go 50 even there’s a couple of drives I was 60 yards past him and he he is someone who’s so bloody hard to beat because he’s always in the Fairway it’s it about 200 I don’t want to discourage him probably 230 240 250 at a Max he doesn’t always hit the green but he gets up and down from everywhere i’ take that he gets up and down from everywhere when my game is totally different style I don’t get up and down ever so I feel like I’ve got to advance the ball as far as I can to be able to kind of Hit the green more consistently but it’s but then again if I hit the ball too far and I get within that kind of inside 70 yards that’s why I don’t like it again so it’s it’s all game dependent you can get the ball in in the hole in many many different ways um you know it’s you look at probably the big the biggest case study well I would say there’s two case studies out on tour over the last five years Matt Fitz M huge increase in distance because of speed training he’s now a major winner MH he’s competing almost every single week he’s hitting the ball outrageously further he’s a real stat statist stat statistics sta oh God I know the word as well I was thinking when you couldn’t say it statistician yeah sounds good to me he really measures his stats and he has added distance that wouldn’t have been a a a Pursuit without any evidence he’s pursued that with idence that he understands his game certainly at a tall level needs distance also when you when you look at that who else has tried to add distance over the last five years who’s also very much in stats like Bryson D Shambo has very much increased distance in stats distance at a tall level is very very important that’s the thing they’re looking at gaining half a shot around whereas this guy is looking at you know he’s off 15 how can he get playing a bit better golf yeah is it worth the risk yeah cuz even even like the best play like when Bry or mat Fitzpatrick increases distance they don’t hit it worse offline really like it wouldn’t be obviously always worth well yeah I’ve played with Bryson he hits it very very very straight for how long when they do it offline it’s typically when they know they kind of can and they’re going have a little wedge flicking anyway the S so it’s it’s not offline where it’s they’re knocking off the face of the planet where amateur golfers if they did increase the speed but they they’re um and again I think I’m in this position at the moment technique’s not as good but you increase the speed it’s like putting a turbo engine inside a mini like Suddenly It’s like oh crap how do I control this really last question then how far in know we Matt we said we know how long it’d be intrigued me minutes oh is that all it is okay well it’s going to be a short and sweet but this is the last question Rick and it’s something we’ve discussed before we’ll discuss it again and I think we’ll discuss it until the cows come home cows waiting for those cows to come on the way home um just going past tbay now W be too long anyway it’s from John C I think it is the John car who has been a a very for a long long time and it’s a question that and it’s I’m not annoyed at him for asking it but I I get a bit annoyed about this and it says it’s very simple said it before but is golf getting too expensive now I don’t know what your take is Rick well I’m definitely in the camp of no I bought a packet of tegs the other day and I couldn’t believe the price but and bought them at the wrong place at the wrong time oh yes and I think that summarizes golf in a nutshell you can pay a lot of money for golf equipment you can if you go about your ways correctly and you know I bought God there was 25 T’s in this bag for £250 you’ll get a heart attack okay I could probably buy 5,000 t’s for a 10 off eBay well I’m just looking straight not quite that value but even here these are bamboo which nor madir there’s a jumbo bag of a ,000 for 25 quid in Amazon so I’m sure you can get obviously much much cheaper than that but that just kind of shows that kind of scale cost p t is cheap and it goes into anything with golf equipment hopefully you all enjoyed the Costco Drive review of did the other day Costco Drive was 190 go to Costco you can pick one up obviously it’s not the fitting properties but that was an unbelievable driver for the price we’ve also shown you on this channel where you can even buy even less price clubs than that like you can buy a package set for for £250 or you can go to golf bidder and pick up some secondhand equipment for for very very reasonable costs I would say where costs have potentially increased I think green fees have potentially G up would that be fair to say I don’t know um I don’t know the answer to that question I think practice facilities have gone up in cost certainly good ones um but I feel like they’re officing off offering more of a service now certainly practice facilities whether it’s a driving range they’ve got top Tracer technology or or other technology on the driving range like they’re offering a bit more golf courses I think because of the demand of golf at the moment that or certainly over the last couple of years the Green fee price has gone up potentially membership has gone up a little bit as well because of that again that that drive and that demand it’s that is frustrate frustrating on that standpoint because but that is business if if there’s more people going to facilities naturally there’s obviously businesses they’ve got to try and make more money they go well hold on if we’re getting more people let’s ramp the price up and and hopefully make more more pound per yeah I I have mixed views on this and I think it’s why it somewhat annoys me because I I understand it and and if you are a golf fanatic and typically people that listen to this podcast week in week out obviously really enjoy the golf and and spend a lot of the free time playing golf and I think when that is the case naturally not everybody but naturally you become more into gear you know if someone that plays once every year maybe for a corporate do or something might have a set of clubs that they got given by their uncle or the Granddad that are Rusty they don’t care cuz they use them once a year if you play twice a week or three times a week There’s typically a correlation the more you play not always the case I must admit but typically and certainly with our listeners the more you play the more bother you are about gear and when you more bothered up gear you often like the latest the greatest the shiny new things and if you look at golf clubs now from the big Brands versus where they were a number of years ago certainly like the irons and and even Putters they have gone up up a a massive amount and if you look now I’m just having a quit looking like American gol for even like a set of um tail made Qi 10 which kind of a game improvement I in if you want those five to gap wedge you’re looking at a grand now that is a lot of money I remember only about six years ago when a set of forg D and these aren’t forged by the way the qi1 you look at like 599 699 so I know we’ve had inflation and all that kind of stuff without getting too kind of mathematical it definitely does does feel a lot more expensive and you look at golf balls you look at gloves you look at you know golf shoes now you can get very expensive golf shoes and it also really kind of it’s what you’re looking at as well and how expensive you want it to be so you can see Nike have got a Jordan golf bag I in a few times on the Nike Golf website and I’m sure it’s like 400 quid for a Jordan golf bag now obviously that is ludicrous and you’d only be buying that if you are literally wanting a Jordan golf back it doesn’t mean that golf has to always be expensive you can go on to Amazon you can go on to Sports Direct you can buy all right golf I mean here there’s a Jordan golf club for 50 Quid and there’s a Jordan golf bag for 460 quid now in isolation you could post those on Twitter as a picture and say look at golf it’s ludicrously expensive and people would engage with it and they’d say I agree but you can get cheaper stuff and you can get decent secondhand stuff from golf bidder Etc from Facebook Marketplace that still will get you out there and I think it’s only really for me the people who want the latest and greatest that naturally get affected by it so much if you took up golf today and you wanted to get something just to get you around a golf course you could buy a package set for 100 quid Max you could buy Lake balls you could go to your local mun and I mean looking now on like tea off times or play more golf or whatever you can go and play golf courses that are half decent for relatively cheap but equally you could go and play at some very exclusive golf courses and pay literally hundreds and hundreds of pounds which again I think is why we have this thing in our head that golf is expensive I think it does frustrate me that people perceive it as that only because it it’s going to naturally put people off start in the game because you see it as being expensive if you look at a lot of the golf shoes now sorry I’m ranting but a lot of the golf shoes now and you can even use echo in this this um discussion as well make a lot of onc offc course shoes and yes they’re better than the trainer because the water to proof but they’re still breathable Etc But ultimately they’re not a million miles of a trainer so if you turn up at a golf course in a and a pair of black pants and a secondhand set or a package set you can go and play golf yeah you’re absolutely spot on I think what what is quite interesting as well is like I was just looking at a few online only Brands as well I’m not going to drop any names but like golf equipment you can buy online only the price there reflects what major brands were five or six years ago so you can still pick up reasonably priced irons golf equipment Etc um yeah and just but even you’re right but even that to your point though about what you can pick up when we’ve done videos or whatever we’ve used some of like your fans and an example of this would be when we did the uh the first golf to make a birdie wins 10 grand yeah ironically that was obviously a lot of money but we had four golfers come who were big fans of the channel who love the golf right and I was looking at their gear and most of them had the kind of latest and greatest think about it if you are that that much into your golf you buy a motor caddy or a power caddy whatever 500 quid you then might buy a bag that is better suited to an electric trolley that’s a couple hundred quid then you even have to be got a laser or GPS watch then you might have a Scotty Cameron or even an Odyssey Putter and your wedges your your your ions you drive your three-wood then they’ve got Galvin green waterproof they’ve got foot Joy golf shoes then they’ve got a PA of spiked golf shoes they were then they’ve got the macet or whatever the waterproof gloves like it can get ridiculous and you wonder how people afford it but that is because they aspire to have that stuff and they found a way to afford it but again that doesn’t mean everybody has to have that and I think that’s just the difference it’s like what you want and what you need are two very different things like gas prices and food prices is is a real pain in the ass for most people naturally because it’s we need those things but you don’t need a new laser range finder because you just want one I that’s the difference I think you’ve put that perfectly well do you want to do a Clubhouse episode I would love to do a Clubhouse episode I um I read a book to my daughter last night wow and it featur I do it most nights but I uh it featured a page on golf okay and I knew want to rip the page out rip it up and tear it up so we’ll talk about that in the podcast I’m excited what could it have done wrong it did lots wrong too many things wrong guys thanks for listening hopefully you enjoyed the episode be sure to clock clockin Nick that from another YouTuber who says that uh Mike Mal make sure you clock into the night shift make sure you cocky jeez that’s another podcast we’re going to set up um guys thanks thanks everyone thanks see you oh by the way prop g off football okay let’s get to next podcast