Ryan Brehm is a PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour winner. A native Michigander he parlayed a successful career as a player, and an Assistant Coach, into a long-time career on the PGA TOUR.
He joins Mark Immelman on the #OntheMark podcast to discuss his career in the game, and share lessons he learned along the way. Among many game improvement topics, he elaborates on:
Navigating the mental and physical challenges of the game Success by way of loving the process over the results Turning off the “noise” in the mind Willingly changing attitudes for the better Allowing yourself to free up to perform Dealing with failure “Feel vs Real” and drills to help fortify appropriate feels Using intuition and instinct for better play Accuracy over power off the tee for better scores, and Making more putts by focussing on stroke timing and cadence. Improve your mind, your attitude and your game with Ryan’s PGA TOUR proven insights.
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ABOUT ON THE MARK: Mark’s knowledge, insight and experience have made him a sought-after mind on the PGA and European tours. Through his career, he has taught and/or consulted to various Major Champions, PGA Tour winners and global Tour professionals such as: Larry Mize, Loren Roberts, Louis Oosthuizen, Patton Kizzire, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel, Scott Brown, Andrew Georgiou and Rourke can der Spuy. His golf teaching experience and anecdotal storytelling broadcasting style makes him a popular host for golf outings.
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[Music] Global audience you know the world is full of really good golfers and this man on our show Ryan brim is one of those you might not know him if you’re not really paying attention to the PGA Tour but you know I’ve come to know Ryan and I’m thankful that he would join us on the show so uh welcome mate how you doing I’m doing great I’m happy to be here it’s uh it’s going to be fun talking talking with you about the game well you and I were talking a few I shouldn’t date this it’s a podcast but it was down in New Orleans you and your partner Mark hubard were in contention it was a Saturday morning prior to the round you were out there before the time doing a very cool drill that I took a picture of and put on social media more about that in a bits and you just got to chatting and I was so struck by how relaxed you were prior to you know when they start handing out checks on the PGA tour and you were insightful and funny and I was like got to feature this guy so um I’m excited to have you I really am awesome yeah um I remember that and it may have looked like I was relaxed on the outside but it was was pretty nerve-wracking I remember what I told Rory on the first te you were griped of them exactly right yeah hey um let’s start at the very start uh for the folks who don’t know Ryan brem um come up you’re from Michigan um um go to Michigan State University very successful there three-time Big 10 Champion with your team um and so obviously there’s a lot of talent there and then you serve a brief tenure as the assistant coach so so so I want you to sort of make your way there as you as you introduce your yourself to our Global audience please yeah I mean what when I look back kind of at my journey it’s been you know it not the same as as uh most um I think I might have been a little confused when I graduated I mean I thought I wanted to play I did want to play and then I kind of um I don’t know I I just had some questions and so I I I was offered kind of the assistant job you know in between um or I was at a what was I doing I was playing in a proam and it got to know the Athletics director and he kind of talked me into trying to work with the team a little bit and so I I dabbled into that a little bit and really decided that I really wanted to dedicate myself and and see how far I could go so many questions I have first off you know if you’re up there in the northern climes in the United States I wouldn’t say golf is probably first and foremost on the sporting front you’re a big strong guy clearly athletic how did you come to golf how did you settle on golf in the end yeah so um you you may be familiar with the name of former Ryder Cup player Dan pole yeahuh uh he was he was from my hometown and he ended up designing a golf course that my grandfather built and so it was just kind of in our G in our you know that was our family time and then it became you know I would call my uncles or my grandparents or my dad and just begged to go to the golf course and so during the during the summer months you know that’s that’s where I wanted to be and then you know the winter months we just do the best you can play other sports and you know try to be creative I I want to ask you this you know for the parents listening to this you know as a PGA Tour player one on the tour um what advice would you share because you sound to me like golf was fun and I’m a dad of a daughter who’s good and golf can get a bit of a bit grindy you know when you you’re talented in your high schooler or an aspirin Collegian you have any takes over there I know you do oh yeah I mean you have to let the game come to you I think um and I’m just so thankful that I had parents that were you know the way they were they just they were always supportive but never I was always the one begging to go you know it was never there was never any push and and I wanted to be outside and and you know the game piqued my interest from from the very beginning because it’s a mental and a physical challenge and uh I don’t know there was just something about the game I think all golfers can relate to that that uh you know I was hooked for from the very beginning um I would just say to the parents out there that that uh you know growing up through the ranks I just saw a lot of players burn out yeah a lot of very players I think it was because they were pushed too hard you know it you have to keep it fun and you know not everybody’s meant to be a golfer I got to ask you this you’re right it’s got to be fun and I love the way you you describe golf as a mental and a physical challenge um and look golf is fun when it’s going well but when it’s not going well which is the line share of the time it’s not that fun and and so I mean you’ve been there U you care to share how you because golf to me is like surfing you know you’re paddling out there against the waves and it’s hard work and it’s grind then you surf for 10 seconds if that and you fall over and you get up and you do it again um help us please Ryan I need your help here if I had the magic answer uh I’d be a lot richer than I am I think but you know I was reading actually it came on my one of my channels on my phone and I I heard a quote I think it was just this morning from Roger Federer right he was given a commence speech to some University and he said during his performances in the majors he won 80% of his matches okay but he only won 53% of the points played boy so they won the big points huh well he won the big points and he won just over half of them so that means he lost 47% of the points he played and I think he was focusing on that he was like hey you got get over it and move on to the next point and and you know do your best see see where it takes you and I I think that relates to golf quite a bit okay is that is that where the passion is I mean I’m digressing so much here but you have my mind going like you did down in New Orleans is is that is that part of the passion point it’s like that okay I I fell over now but fall down six times get up seven and I’m loving that that that’s what I’m loving about this whole journey is that part of it it is for me and I think when I first started I didn’t I didn’t love the process I just wanted the end result okay and in order to be successful you have to fall in love with the process and I don’t think that matters what you’re [Music] doing so the loving the process is do you feel like this is an innate thing or is it something that can be learned oh that’s a good question I think it I think your attitude can change uh willingly and sometimes it takes enough pain and suffering to make you see things differently sometimes it takes somebody saying it the right way um but if you’re willing to I think you can change your attitude and and yeah that is that at least that’s what it was for me I mean I I would like to be better than I am at golf I mean I’m always trying to be better but embracing that day in and day out you know the the the process is really ultimately what leads to this satisfaction I love that changing the attitude willingly and this sort of sounds like something as an assistant coach you may have noticed because you know I was a golf college golf coach for over 20 Seasons um and I think it uniquely equipped me for being a broadcaster because I see the game differently now and a lot of my players who had like an extra year would be a graduate assistant for a while and I’ll never forget them next to me on the tea or sitting next to me in the cart and they’d look at the their former teammates playing under pressure and I’d the common refrain would be coach did I do that did I act like that smiling did did did you have that sort of experience too to go whoa I mean it looks so different from this Vantage Point than when I’m mixing it up in the middle of it and the pressure’s up and there’s Mayhem in my head and all the stuff’s going on yeah yes and I Marvel at the greatest athletes ability to turn that noise off seemingly you know I I I Marvel at their ability to do that and that’s ultimately when you get to the highest level that is the that’s what everybody’s try you know that’s the entertainment right MH I think they’re seeing they’re trying to see what separates it and I think you’re right on on the money with that and and you know your players are Illuminating the point that that they’re realizing that after the fact when they’re seeing it in action you know from a different perspective that and that I I noticed that right away decision making um decision- making and attitude more than anything it’s not necessarily technique or you know how you’re swinging the golf club you know what I I find that fascinating and I want to mind that a little bit more because it is so true because we live in an era of data and you guys in the tour you have access to data for the data basically and now the amateur golf is the same thing and I’m a golf instructor inside and I I find it curious how it’s almost like I’m not playing well so I’ve got to change something physically but more often than not and this is why I find interesting about you because when you’re in contention you’ll find a way to really you know make a big splash and um so it’s like the things that the separators to use your term are almost like those immeasurables like you talk about decision making and turning off the noise I mean golly the noises ruin more golfers than car accidents in my opinion oh yeah there’s no question about it it’s it’s a it’s an endless battle up there but there is something to intuition and Instinct that is not measurable and I think that is certainly when I’ve performed my bed for some reason it’s shine through you know obviously we want to do that more often but if I had the magic answer you know I’d be Scotty shuffler true but well Scotty seems like he’s the master turning off the noise golly I mean yeah just a few weeks ago he gets arrested and a few short hours thereafter shooting 66 in the first round of a major I mean it was it was incredible but I want to talk about that that sort of that intuition that instinct wouldn’t you say that there’s an element of risk involved maybe to go all right I’m not going to worry too much about my swing here I’m going to go with my instincts because it’s like oh goodness this is a bit Airy fairy and I it’s going Where Angels Fear To Tread but often times that’s what frees one up or or am I going too far here no I completely agree with you but it’s delicate mhm there’s a tight rope to walk there because I think definitely you got to know when to hold them and when to fold him and and that’s golf in a nutshell right I mean you’re not playing offense all the time yeah I love you it’s you got to play some defense and I think when you watch Scotty shuffler play or or tiger when he was dominating he was just you know those players are so good at at taking what the game is giving them moving on and you know we talk about I hear on when I’m watching golf coverage how great of ball Strikers we are on the PGA tour and I you know I get to on a weekly basis play and see the best ball Strikers in the world and you know I think our expectations as PGA Tour players are much different than the Casual viewer you know I think from 200 yards to some of these tuck pins in firm conditions 40 50 feet is a great golf shot sometimes mhm and that’s defense that’s really not offense you know that’s hey I’m going to avoid big number here um and I’ll look for my chances elsewhere I’m uh putting my cart way way in front of my horse now with this question because you’ve teed me up for this so I’m going to go there folks if you haven’t seen Ryan brm hit a driver it’s biblical I mean this thing you’re a big strong man look let’s not beat around the bush but you got this beautifully smooth swing Arc and you punch out these drawers like with monotonous regularity and they go like homesi Angels um and so you have this weapon in your hand but the times I’ve watched you play it’s not like you’re swinging for the fences all of the time so it’s like you’re showing that instinct to play offense and defense because we living in this power era and for all the golfers watching this on YouTube or listening they’re like I want to get better Strokes gain says I must hit it farther so they are swinging like Bans and covering up golf courses all over the show and actually shooting worse where they’re not doing what Ryan brem does well which is kind of you know attack now and then I defend then kind of thing yeah I would say in general I as a golfer hit it shorter now than I ever have and so I’ve had to learn the game from the other perspective right I always could hit it really far um um but to make money you need to hit it where you’re looking yeah preaching brother yes and so like ideally you know I made it when we talked down in New Orleans I I over the last couple years after after we won I made a conscious commitment to say you know this is what I’m looking for I’m I’m looking for you know between 180 and 185 ball speed so that I can pull driver more often you know and and I think Tony fow was the epitome of that you know we he maybe not so much for me anymore but there were time I mean I could swing it a lot faster but I want to pull driver more I don’t want to have to hit two irons and three Woods because the driver is the most forgiving Club in the bag it’s the biggest sweet spot and it’s the best weapon you have interes to set yourself up in the hole you know and so I dedicated myself to to figuring out a way to hit driver more often and that means finding that you know in my opinion and I think the data would support this that 180 to 200 speed now if you look at a guy like uh Bryson he wasn’t always the longest hitter and now he absolutely smashes it so he went he gained distance you know but I will say this yeah because you know I’ll never forget with as it pertains to I was on hand for radio back in the day in Vegas when he had just won he won in Las Vegas there in the fall and I had the interview afterwards and he said to me stay tuned things are changing in the offseason I’m coming back I’m going to be bigger and stronger and faster and lo and behold the guy ate everything that was in front of him and he was twice the size the following year and bludgeoning it like it was his job but now it’s like he is hitting it harder but with not as much effort and it’s almost like he’s like you have sacrificed just a little bit because he was like I’m going to hit it as far as I can wage it on the green and see what happens and that had its merits in certain places but in other places it tripped him up a little bit so he too like you was had that weapon but now has scaled it back for more control to headed were you looking like you point out yeah and if if we got to play where did he win his us was that Wing foot Winged Foot yeah Wing foot yeah I mean if we got to play there like in those itions every week I would say hit it as far as you can because everyone’s going to hit it in the rough they’re going to be struggling and the farther you are up in the rough the better off you are but a lot of weeks on the PGA tour are not Winged Foot you know they’re we just play such a variety of golf and and if you take the totality of the PGA Tour type of golf you need to be much in my opinion you need to be in that window much more accurate you know you can’t hit it all over the place you just can’t well it’s I I think that recipe is applicable throughout the game even to the club golfer okay I agree I mentioned earlier that you sort of have a pension to show up in the big bigger moments um you play the Canada PGA tour Canada and then you graduate to the then web.com query tour and in your first season you win the very last event of the year your PGA to her car it was in Portland um I’m Keen to revisit that because I mean cometh the moment cometh the man what what was it reminisce for us what what just suddenly happened that you managed to get it done when it when it meant something you know for I I remember that week and the week going into it um this is kind of pertaining to our our conversation or kind of where we started the allowing yourself to to free up and and just perform for that every time every time I’ve won I’ve had kind of a key or a thought technique wise that’s allowed me to do that yeah and I just remember that week I was just very on command I I was shaping it both ways and you know putting well and I think Pumpkin Ridge is just a great test of golf and uh but the week before I had finished third and that was my best finish certainly uh you know of the season I think I started out I had a third third place finish in uh Louisiana and then played out the year and I was kind of hanging around then I had a third place finish in Knoxville I believe the week before Pumpkin Ridge and we just carried it in there and I just I I had a feeling going into that week it was going to be something really good I remember playing the practice round with Tom Gillis and uh and Justin Hicks and and they were like oh man this is it was it was good that week so that but you know you don’t always know you’re going to end up winning and and it was just that was just a crazy crazy week for me it surprised me really because I fell in love with the process as was happening I just kind of looked up on the 18th hole and I had a two- shot lead and I’m like wow I didn’t even wow I didn’t realize it you know I was just in love with hitting the shots yeah okay well then fast forward to your biggest win in your career I’m guessing um in Puerto Rico in 26 hold on 2018 22 um yeah your wife’s on the bag you you hadn’t finished inside the top 10 on the PGA tour you show up in a place where the wind is blowing sideways and like a hulie and you shoot 20 under or something silly and dust the field by six it’s like I’m going golly run if if I could if if I could get the ingredients inside your head and your body from that week I mean we could make millions you me what help us a little bit please oh well I’ve been looking for that recipe for a lot you know I I I know it’s in there and that’s what motivates me to keep playing but that week was special too and kind of the backstory to that week is that might a lot of people might not know is I was scheduled to play that year at the Zurich with Joel my buddy Joel Damon and he had won the Dominican tournament punana and we stayed in the house you know celebrated got back home and then met up again in Valero and we went down I’m sure you’ve been to Valero there where we’re all staying in the same hotel or whatever Four Seasons there and yeah we went down and had a couple beers and uh that was during the time where I think it might have been the third or fourth event back from covid yes MH and I’m convinced I got covid down there okay so had to do a at home test and I called Joel and I said hey man I can’t I can’t make it I can’t leave because I know I have covid and I’m just going to test positive so you’re gonna have to find a different partner so we finish out the year and I lose my card and the tour calls and says hey you have one Minor Medical start left and I was like whoa I didn’t realize that because I had to sit out for the Zurich so I was looking on the schedule and I’m going I committed to play corn fairy that year the following year and just decided I was going to sign up for Puerto Rico that’s what got me in the event was one start left from covid and we ended up winning like you said it was crazy yeah because I mean I don’t remember the scores but I looked through them and they added up to 20 and thear um and winning by six it’s still still you know I remember watching the footage and I remember you know the final stretch of holes around they are daunting visually you see ocean everywhere and the winds cross winds and stuff and and I remember how hard it was blowing there coming down the stretch and you had your wife on the bag and it just looked like even though you had the big win it’s still the big lead it’s still it looked from my vantage point like it was still challenging and difficult walk us through dealing with the pressure of trying to finish well that final round uh chelse my wife and I had a game going where every three holes we were kind of competing against each other so we had a series of three-hole matches right and for me to win I had to be under par each three-hole segment okay cool pretty simple but you know it was very effective and I think the wind and the rain because it came the Wind and Rain came in sheets I think that was advantageous for me being in the position I was in you know right because it kind of hindered somebody else from going really low okay and yeah there’s a lot of trouble around there and it’s a very good test T to Green but I got I got a a few good breaks and I was you know I was hitting the center of the club face so it was uh obviously very challenging but fun you know it was like I was like okay it was one of those moments where I’m like you know instead of really being scared I was like you know what I can do this so MH know one shot at a time and just plot your way around there and make a few putts and the next thing you know I remember we were on the 18th hole and I hit it in the right trees and I was about to do something stupid because I wanted to win that final three- hole match and then finally finally I to turn to J I was like this is dumb I’m gonna give up the match and make just make sure we win this golf tournament so I I chipped out and hit a wedge up there you know that being said I I love the you know how do they say if if if you want to uh take a journey of a thousand miles it’s one step at a time so you break the big effort down into bite-sized chunks and I think it’s a neat idea for golfers listening to go all right I got something special to do but let’s just set little mile markers for ourselves and and sometimes I feel like maybe that reduces the chances of making a rash decision because you feel like you’re few overpower and all of a sudden you got to do something special where it’s just like you got to improve your lap by just a little bit each time time yes and if you really watch Scotty or tiger you know when they played that’s what they did they let the game come to them they really they’re just masterful at it I mean it’s impressive to see it’s impressive to watch would you say because I made the statement to a young baseball player yesterday and I remember my daughter saying how do you know this much about baseball and I’m like it’s sport um really well you know at his core it’s still the same thing and and I said to him I’m like you’ve just got to you know stick to what you’re doing and winning almost I feel like is a function of understanding that you’re okay with losing because sometimes when you got there and you have that big win there was a shot that you had to hit where it kind of could have been all on the line and you were prepared and watched Scotty and it’s like Scotty’s okay with failing I know he’s winning a bunch seems easy that way but would you agree really that for the listeners and the viewers here to say okay it’s not that bad to lose as long as you’re doing your very best on everything because if you keep doing your process then surely success is at the end of it yes that that uh reminds me of a couple a couple responses one is anything I’ve ever really learned has been from failure more than success in terms of in terms of progressing as a golfer right and I Mort Crim had a good a good quote on that and it was if you’re learning how to look to serve in tennis right you have to hit you know you toss the ball in the air and you hit it with the Racket and it has to cross uh crosscourt and land in that square yeah and if if every time and when you’re learning you keep hitting it into the net but every time you’re getting closer and closer to that square where were they all failures or were they all closer to success you know it just depends on how you define it you’re preaching Reverend Reverend Ryan brim yeah you’re right it’s funny you say that because last night we got a little putting mat in the house yeah we nerded that way and and so my daughter just played in a tournament and she Struck it beautifully I hit like 12 Greens in regulation but didn’t really score that well and she happened to I’m going to expose her you have six three puts so now you play the game high level this is not the recipe for success and a lot of it is lag putting but for the listeners yeah I just had her practicing you know rolling the ball between 5 and 10 ft and if she rolled it through the target then she got to put the ball in the right side of the mat and if it didn’t she put the ball on the left and then you were measuring short and long and so at the end of it she if she had 10 pchs was like 73 and I’m like that was successful but she’s like but I missed three and I’m like no no no you made Seven I I see you’re go ahead no that’s that’s what we that’s what we were talking about earlier the the you can willingly change your attitude if you see things you know through a different lens yeah okay part of that now let’s get to the drill I teased it um folks what Ryan was doing and you can see it on my social media he had this long piece of uh string rope that was laid down on the ground this was on the Range prior to the round and that was basically charting where the ball in Target line was and you were hitting balls just down the inside of it like this and I love this because I feel like so many golfers really don’t know where the target is and they get a bad perspective of it and you said to me like it helps me Define feel and real CU you were making these pretty little draw swings off there and you were like you know I feel like I’m swinging left doing this because showing me where the target line is yet the ball’s coming out with this perfect draw and then you struck the ball beautifully over the weekend so so let’s talk about feel versus real and and your use of drills to help to Galvanize that belief please well as a teacher you will know this right if you’re working with an amateur you have to beg for a mile to gain an inch right that’s true if you’re trying to if you’re trying to see some like a different pattern or or make the adjustments needed to you know to to come closer well for for the Layman Eng golf you know we’re we’re trying to know where zero is basically and zero would be an absolute dead straight shot at the Target right and then as a player I think as you work off of zero with either draws or Fades the variation is you know how tight can you make that variance right that’s that’s going to lead that’s going to lead to a lower handicap yeah if that makes any sense I’m not really good at explaining things at times but you know and and as it pertains to the Rope that’s where zero is right and so that’s just helping me work off of that to to kind of find my shapes you know what it’s to me too because I’ve done this countless times I mean I’ve open disclosure um I’d used a rope before with a young talented Australian player and then when I saw you do it I was like oh well this is kind of um fortified my belief in that the thing that works that’s why I gravitated to it and when he would stand down the Rope CU he always battled right um when he stand and looked down the Rope the Rope would always look way farther right to him than where the target was because of the fact that we stand to the side of the golf ball so I feel like what you there is so valuable to Golfers because most folks when you stand to a ball and the ball’s on this side of you and the target’s down there the target always seems more left than what it really is so then they start swinging all cross stuff to get to this perceived version of the target where yours was that’s the target line that’s what I’m operating with not necessarily the target am I making sense to you there yeah and and it goes kind of what you were just saying feeling real that almost changes daily with your perception I mean some days you get out there and it’s like looking left some days it’s looking right some days it’s right on the money but at least you’re building some consistency to say okay today I know this feel produces you know this type of start line and shape and then when I’m navigating the course and I’m trying to hit my shots I’ll kind of work off of where that is you know okay changes that changes I would say that changes don’t you think I mean oh yeah I do and that’s why that’s where I love the because golf is it’s there’s an abstract element to it and like you say stuff is changing all the time I mean the lies are never the same the wind’s never the same one hle can play differently from morning till afternoon um but when you have that line there and you understand that’s like the only real concrete thing in the game the only reliable thing then you can build off that and so it’s sort of it’s you you’re going to say something go ahead oh no no I’m just agreeing with you I’m I’m agreeing with you and when when I saw you in New Orleans it was true that really the line was down there for me because I’d worked so long at getting draw built in that my swing path was seven or eight degrees to the right and so putting the line down I had to feel more like I was slicing it but I was still drawing it you know what I mean and the Curious Thing folks and correct me if I’m wrong Ryan you told me that you used to hit a fade shot and then you started working toward the draw and then the draw got out of bounds some because you were going inside out started go from like zero to more and more and more so you were dialing the thing back and that reminds me of Nick price said to me goes you know when I’m working on my golf swing it’s kind of like getting in the shower you know you turn a little hot little cold little hot little cold you don’t go big turns of the foret either way there’s always little adjustments one way or the other yeah I love that I love I I think the older I get the more I play and experience the game it’s it’s so true and I think the younger version of me always just wanted it to be one thing all the time and easy and it’s just not g to be that way you know and I think that’s probably what amateurs are looking for they they want one thing one feel one solution and that’s rarely the case goodness gracious me that is true that gets to the feel in the real thing crazy um okay I I we I want to talk about the driver and I want to talk about the way you ha out because I feel like a lot of folks watching this will do well if they hit those two straight face clubs well so you’re naturally powerful and you’ve geared it back but if I had to sort of categorize your swing I love the relationship of your arms to the movement of your body you know you hit it hard but you don’t have like big over swings either way do you have secrets to hit in the driver well that you would share or any sort of keys well the the one thing that I’m grappling to accept but am hesitant to say but actually I think I agree with is that the driver is different than the rest of the bag right because it’s teed up and so you’re not going to swing at the same way as your seven iron as much as I want to feel like you are you know as a player I want to make the same feels but with the driver you know you need you need some side Bend you need more tilt you need your body working more up on the plane to keep get the ball airborne and keep it Airborne yeah uh for me I don’t really think about those things but if if if anybody’s struggling with a driver I would say start there you know what are your tilts relationship right you know if if you’re looking in a mirror are you tilted away from the target a little bit is the ball somewhat forward in your stance so you can get it airborne and then after that if you maintain the side tilt and have the ball forward it’s just about your path how is that club into the ball yeah tell the listeners this because you know I often get the question I I get the luxury of walking up and down the range and watching you guys at your very best and when CBS is on we talking with golfers who playing the best for the week because you and our show and everyone know well what are they doing and I’m like the truth is these guys are checking fundamentals like Lyman ball position especially and when you said ball position I’m like yeah for every golfer listening to this let’s say 10 we’re listening I would say probably seven I’m missing on ball position half the time and they’re just moving it around to change trajectory and they’re not realizing it affects the swing path as well and how you’re likely to spin the ball without question the the the the threedimensional uh variables are tough to navigate in the head sometimes because the more forward you move the ball the more left the path will get but the more you tilt behind it that neutralizes the left path it’s going to P push it out to the right I mean these are all variables that we’re constantly checking and I think I think you understand the variables but sometimes you need another set of eyes or a a piece of technology like a track man or something just to reinforce where that is because we even get tricked too I mean we’re golfers and some days we you know we think this is let’s say you know two degrees in out or you know in a two degree face angle or in or what am I yeah two degrees and four path if we’re thinking that way and it’s really double that you know and those the variables negotiate and that two four relationship was kind of if I remember correctly my memory might be serving me but uh failing me it was that’s kind of your magic area where the path was for right and the face was two to the right so for the folks who want had a cool drawer like Ryan brem it’s not like you’re shutting your face left to the the target line is the face is just a little to the left of where the path of the golf club’s going and you on the day man you were hitting some draws that got me sort of somewhat excited there before the round was going on that if that would be my zero I want to live right there at two and four right you know like I want to make a normal swing and see that I don’t want to hit a straight shot and then when I need to cut one or if I need to draw it more I’ll go off of that and it for me to feel a cut I got to really feel over you know but that’s where that’s I was but that’s where the Rope helps just to keep the thing in perspective because you know often times like I say to a lot of golfers I’m like degrees matter and you can go from 10 to the right to 10 to the left because you’re trying to chop across it then you’ve got yourself a disaster on your hands 10 right moving to like two right that’s a pretty big change there yes it is and everybody perceives it differently that’s the challenge of the game right you know we’re talking with words but until people like feel exactly where that is it’s hard to make adjustments necessary yeah hey I want to ask this and then I want to ask a little bit about haing out um I was watching you on the very same day you know hit these it’s like the driver was in the air but the wedges were flighted and and I almost feel like so many amateur golfers hit the wedges entirely too high from Green side to stuff from inside 100 yards um you you just had this beautifully low spinning little wedge that was Target hunting the entire time you move the ball around for that how do you do that yeah I do I I mean I play it farther back certainly with a wedge and I point the face more to the right um to get the spin the reason why we’re trying to flight them so low is to is to get that ball spinning hard and flying through the air to get to our Target distance you know the wind doesn’t touch it as much you know if it’s flying at such a low trajectory with spin that that took me a long time to learn though I I’ll admit when I was a college player even an early Pro I had no idea how to hit that shot wasn’t it crazy how it’s like most golfers as soon as they get to a short shot they see high first where you guys are looking the other way around you’re looking to try and set that send that thing as low as possible into the Target and that’s where I feel like there’s gold to be mined by most golfers watching this to learn to hit the wedges lower even around the greens lower and uh with more Spin and and honestly I don’t know if I should say this but sometimes the best advice is to do the opposite of what you think you should do in golf or at least explore that option oh yes amen I mean go yeah go and Fiddle around like like that’s what all you figure yourselves out a little bit you talked about figuring yourself out um okay the other straight face Club is the putter um on the PGA tour you one of let me look here you are you’re 90% from 5 ft and in which is really solid and from about 4 to 8T you’re 74% now I know anyone listening to this if they got anywhere even remotely close to those numbers they’re going to watch their scores plummet yet most of them are going to go and try and hit drivers like Ryan brem but you got to get the thing in the hole man um so help us a little bit there I have some fundamental beliefs with putting that I that I just try to do over and over again and honestly it’s probably the thing that I practice the least and when I practice when I practice it more I tend to putt worse and I’m I’ve always been a streaky Putter and I’m okay with that you know like some weeks you’re gonna make a lot and other weeks you’re just not gonna because matching up the speed in the line is is is difficult at times but I think the two to one relationship between I always get these confused two to one relationship between the back swing and the through swing yeah right is very important because that does two things it gives you Rhythm for distance control but it also helps with squaring the face at impact okay and I I I forget who figured it out I think it’s called like tour Tempo or something maybe but it doesn’t necessarily how quick or slowly you’re doing it it’s more about the relationship in which you complete your back swing and then complete from your back swing to the follow through right yeah or is it inact for me it’s just a two to one ratio and that’s what I’m always concentrating on in my head and when you thinking a two to one it’s two beats going back and then one down to contact am I correct in my me listening to you here yes I it takes half the time to go from the end of your back swing through as it does to go back so you’re however however you want to divide that up you can be really long and fluid or you can be kind of short and quick yeah just as long as that relationship stays the same so it’s it’s a matter of counting for me it’s just counting in my head rhythmically and some some days I’ll speed that Rhythm up and other days I’ll slow it down depending on you know how fast or slow the greens are or whether or not I think I’m being lazy or too you know jabby yeah I I’ve had a guy on here his name is Dr Chia Chow um concert award concert winning pianist folks if you haven’t listened go listen and he has figured out that there is a real relationship between you know the space between beats and heading the golf ball well so he came and visited me over here here and he had various golfers and he’d watch them hit and then he’d give them like a sound Cadence like a time stamp that they had to swing with yeah and man you could he he’d say hit the ball to there and then he’d give them like a a sound and they’d match the sound and the ball would go there every single time when the greens so that’s kind of what you’re saying where people are looking Visual and they’re trying to think and feel and all the rest of it but it’s how much and how fast in the emphasis of which the club’s moving so I kind of love the two to one ratio but I love your take even more where it’s like you know it doesn’t have to be languid it can be a little shorter and those beats could VAR as long as the relationship is two to one I in my experience as a player I would say I’m I have a a quicker Cadence on the shorter butts okay and a slower Cadence on the longer putts all right you’re not bound to one thing whether it’s long or short no but the relationship is very important and I would say of all the prams I’ve played the the best and as you progress as a putter you’re tighter to that relationship so the worst Putters have a terrible relationship between the back swing and the through swing and the best Putters have a great relationship I would say between those two things I that like that’s the one thing that I would because it requires very little athleticism to hit a put right I mean it’s not like it’s hard to do anybody can do can hit a putt a six- foot putt I mean you’re moving the a golf club this far and rolling a ball it’s it’s about how cons consistently can you time up impact and start that thing online with the correct distance okay I’m feeling like everyone listening to you right now and I’m a fan and I’m like I’m going to go and try this so when you go and do this on the even Under Pressure I’m sure um is it like let’s say you said Counting one start two top of the back swing three contact is is that what it is or is there variation that’s what it feels like to me um but I think it’s more about being so I’ll start my back swing on the beat of one I’ll complete the back swing on the beat of two and then I will be all the way to my follow through on the beat of three okay gotcha I see it but my follow I also think the best Putters don’t have a very long follow through I think it’s more like low yes yeah that when when I was covering you it’s the first thing I noticed how on the shorter putts you know so many golfers are told to accelerate through it right and the next thing you see this blade taken off the ground and they Mish hitting balls and it’s all over the show where yours always look like it followed through and it it was only lifting off the ground when it couldn’t go forward anymore if that makes sense to you 100% And what I would say is if somebody is missing putts to the right they have too much acceleration yes if they’re missing puts to the left they don’t have enough con acceleration so the feel of that yeah gotcha to be consistent at putting it would be con I would call it more constant acceleration I don’t think that’s correct mathematically I think it’s not actually happening but that’s kind of what it feels like yeah but again I think we’re getting back to the theme of our conversation here where it’s feel and real are different and when you find that feel that should be kind of Justin Rose I’ll never forget funny enough there’s a loop here the year he won in New Orleans when it was still a individual event I caught up with him afterwards had the Winner’s interview so I said to him yo you hadn’t been playing well what’s happening and he’s like I went to Foley and I said all the stuff you giving me is good but my feels are sacred so whatever we’re doing here it’s got to fit in with what I like to feel when I’m playing and I was like breaching brother but then again you got to have the bravado to be able to say these are my feels and this is what I got to do whether it you know keep my head more down whatever the case might be just so I can respect those feels on the day I love that answer that’s probably why he’s so good at golf I mean he’s had a long career and that answer is as good as any that I’ve ever heard he’s like listen I’ve played a lot of golf I know these field work I’m I’m going to rely on these I love that yeah but what you added which was so good too because when I we can say that to someone they’re like okay my feel today was that my left hand was dominating the stroke a bit more right but then a few days later you do that and you’re blocking shots off to the right hand side then the feel should still be that it’s like well I’m leading the handle but I may want a little more pop with a right hand just to square up the face it’s that’s where you added color and context to to this whole feel thing which I love yeah I think for me as a putter it’s it’s Cadence I think that really solves a lot of the I mean you can grip it any way up and down sideways up your forearm however it’s about rolling at the right distance on the correct line and to me there’s just no other way to think about that other than Cadence and that just helps with both it helps with you squaring the face and getting the correct distance and the teacher in me will just come in the of what Brian has said and say this to you folks when you have a time barrier you will find the most efficient way to get from one to the other between those if you got no time stamp you know you can do all sorts of gyration and stuff and the club just suffers and if the club suffers the ball’s going to suffer so that’s where I love what you’ve added with the T with with the time and the Cadence thing do you ever notice how how the guys who win all the money on the golf course are the ones with the oldest p and the worst stroke the worst looking stroke but they always just make the putts right I mean they just have that relationship ingrained in there and it’s they’re not even thinking about it you know they’re not thinking about well you’re an athlete and I’m sure you’d say to folks too hey with your kid go and get the athletic but think about a three-point shooter think about anything a a bowler any sort of sport batting it’s it’s the there’s timing involved and and like the great Bob Jones said if someone could find a way to teach timing you’d have the secret to it all but I think it’s as simple as understanding Cadence and and and the counting as you say yeah and it’s directly relatable to putting where I just not a huge believer that mechanics are super important in putting I will say in the rest of the game I think mechanics matter a lot but in putting there’s just so many ways you can do it and and and the most important thing to me is Cadence to accomplish that fantastic well Ryan I wish you many many long straight shots and some irons that travel the right distance so you can get a lot of those short putts so you can go and Shred in uh in Detroit coming up um if folks want to find you more can they follow social media do you do any of that sort of stuff I I have um I have an Instagram handle bremia there we go eh but I have to admit I am not very good at social media I I I don’t really I grew up in the time when I was playing golf and in college like just before Facebook just before trackman just before all this stuff started Chang in the game you know and I think if I could go back I’d done things a lot differently but that’s okay all right well go go and check him out watch out for Ryan brm Ryan I appreciate you joining us man it’s been super insightful and lots of fun to catch up and uh I’m looking forward to seeing you on the weekends on the PGA tour in the future yeah I appreciate you having me on are when’s your next are you coming out to Detroit or yeah um US Open week this week this podcast will go out later today and then uh it’s Travelers which we’re doing and then Detroit so I’m looking forward to it I love I love I love the golf course there Detroit Country Club I think it’s an awesome Place well I’ll I’ll come find you on the Range I’ll come find you first you take care of yourself man thank you just look for the hot green rope I got you go thanks so much for your time thanks again we’ll talk soon bye how
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Great chat guys – interesting about using a rope on the range ..