Sepp Straka: Crafted by Competition

Tony and Sepp Straka sit down to talk about his journey to the PGA tour and discuss what they’re working on to help him succeed at the highest level.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The rule of threes states things that come in threes are inherently more appealing than those that don’t with our GMC Yukon, Acadia, and Terrain. We couldn’t agree more. Step up to the family focused Yukon built for transporting your family across town to school or across the country or the 2019 GMC Acadia. Delivering available third row seating for up to seven passengers. Need something mighty? Then meet the 2019 GMC Terrain. Built with the perfect combination of styling, utility, and efficiency. Three sizes, one GMC. Choose like a pro. Step up to GMC with 16% below MSRP on most 2019 Acadia and Terrain models when you finance through GM Financial. We are professional grade GMC. Excludes SL models. Includes price reduction low MSRP and purchase allowance. Must finance through GM financial. Some customers will not qualify. Not available with some other offers. Take retail delivery by 4119. See participating dealer for details. [Music] Hi, this is Tony Rogerro, the due sweeper. You’re about to listen to an episode of the tour coach, which is going to give you an inside look at coaching golf at the very highest level from on the PGA Tour with my guys all the way to here at Mobile, Alabama in the Doucheer Dome as we help folks of all skill levels, all walks of life learn to achieve their golfing goals. [Music] So this edition of the coach is one of my players that I work with, Seep Straa, who played at the University of Georgia. And a lot of the focus of this episode is is on his experience and what his experience at the University of Georgia taught him and why he’s such a good player and and such a great competitor. Now, you know, I’ve worked with Se not quite a year actually. He’s one of the guys that, you know, kind of come on of late and he was on the web when we started working and since we’ve started working, I mean, he’s, you know, he’s had some success. He’s earned his PGA tour card and Se has become one of the really fun people to work with. He’s an unbelievable ball striker. I mean, if you stand there and you have the opportunity to just watch him hit balls on, you know, irons or drivers off the range, you’re like, damn, it’s impressive. And you know, he thinks in golf, not in how he plays golf, but like he likes the golf swing to be more simple. He enjoys the playing of the game and and he’s been an incredibly fun and refreshing person to work with. And I mean, just a really neat guy to spend time with, I’ve enjoyed. And I and I just think his ability to be such a good ball striker to drive the hell out of it. I think his future’s just so bright on the PGA Tour. and he’s a good putter and when he gets it going, I mean, as you’ve seen if you followed the PGA tour this year, he’s had several really great starts and I think as he continues to get more comfortable out there, continues to grow as a player and his ball striking and everything keeps coming together, I think he’s going to be a name out there that you see week in week out. It’s somebody I’m thrilled to work with in this episode. I think you’re going to enjoy his insights and his experience at college, kind of how he plays the game of golf and how he prepares and a little bit on the work we do. So, it’s Seb Straa here on the coach. All right, sitting in here in the dome after a good couple days of work with Seraa, PGA Tour player, middle of his rookie year on PGA Tour. Made it through the fall. So, Seth, we were talking last night over two rooms and a couple bottles of wine at the house. We were talking a little bit about your journey and how you got here and the things that have made you successful and you brought up something that I thought was really neat and you talked about the competition while you played at Georgia and I think that’s unique cuz I’ve watched I’ve obviously taught guys that have played a bunch of different programs and I think that’s why so many guys from Georgia have been successful and I also think I want you to tell the story but I think it’s also why like when you go through a period that you don’t play good or you miss cuts I mean you you’re Okay. You just keep fighting and grinding. So, talk a little bit about the competitive culture at Georgia, how that made an impact on you, and also a little bit of why you think, you know, that’s helped develop you to who you are today. Yeah, I mean, uh, at Georgia, we were very fortunate to have, um, just unbelievably good players, a lot of talent, great recruiting, and it’s just, you know, day in day out, you go out there and compete with those guys. We the way this uh the hacker has set up the system. You got to love a college coach named Hacker. That’s a perfect name, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. But the way he set up the system was that uh nobody’s exempt for a tournament. Nobody, you know, you’re not given anything. You top 10 in a tournament, you’re exempt for the next one. That’s the only way that that’s going to happen. So, you qualify for the spots. I mean, whether you’re the number one player in the country or, you know, just a guy who barely made his way to Georgia, you have a chance to play week in and week out. And, uh, yeah, any given year, you know, four, five, six guys on that team are probably going to end up on the PGA Tour. So, if you know you can beat those guys in qualifying, you know, you got a pretty good chance. [Music] We were talking last night about a junior that I teach that’s there. And you know, I remember, you know, when he was going there, you know, there was some, you know, he was a little bit reluctant at first cuz, you know, he had been recruited by some smaller schools, had a great summer. And I said, you know, hey, you if you want to play for a living, you want to play the tour, don’t you? And he’s like, yeah. I was like, “Well, I mean, you’re going to have to beat those guys at some point because when you look at the PGA Tour, I mean, there’s a bunch of Georgia guys on it.” And to me, what’s interesting about that culture is not every one of those guys that’s on the tour that played at Georgia was necessarily a 4-year all-star at Georgia. Absolutely. I mean, just myself, for example, I mean, I didn’t I didn’t play a postseason until my fourth year in college, my red shirt junior year. So, I I I was one of those guys. I really kind of uh rode my brother into Georgia cuz he was a better junior golfer. And then yeah, I just started, you know, competing day in day out against you. I mean, some of the guys, you know, some great players, Keith Mitchell, Joey Garber. I mean, day in day out, you just know, you know, you got to bring your agame or you’re not going to the next tournament. And I think that’s what transfers to playing competitive golf is that you know that there’s a lot of folks that in golf today in amateur golf in particular, the system set up to where if you’re one of those 50 best players in the world, you really never have to qualify for anything. And I think you can look through a group of those and through a lot of players where that’s made this the transition and the struggle to professional golf harder because no matter how good you were in college or amateur golf, nobody really cares when you go to the PGA web.com or the PGA Tour. Absolutely. I mean, once you turn pro, it’s a level playing field. Of course, some of the guys, you know, they’re getting sponsors invites, but once you tee it up in a tournament, you start at even par. And unless it’s the tour championship this year, I guess, but then you’ve earned your shots, I guess. But um but yeah, you you tee off a level par and see see who the best guy that week is. Hey, I hope you’re enjoying this episode so far. If you’re looking to see more of a visual side of this podcast, videos of me working with players, there’s tips, strategies, all that good stuff that you’d like for an inside the ropes, behindthe-scenes look at life on the PGA Tour or teaching and developing some of the best players around the country. Head over to golfciencelab.com/tonony and check out the content there. There’s tons of good stuff out there. There’s more good stuff coming, but uh hopefully you enjoy it. talk a little bit about so when you’re at a place like Georgia, I’ve tried to do the same thing with my juniors where I surround them with you guys when you come in here. Not just the current guys on the team, but the access and the ability to be around guys that have had a lot of success. I’ve watched it, you know, your first tour start, you know, you’re out of Napa, you played with some guys that played at Georgia that had been out there, you know, the Hud Swafffords and those guys. talk about what you’ve learned and the importance of having access to guys, you know, that have that have done what you’ve done and already found success. It’s awesome. I mean, it was great to be there. Those guys come back all the time for football games for this that the other and and just to be around, you know, Harris English and and Russell Henley and those guys when they come back, you just realize they’re they’re regular guys. They’re just really good at golf, you know? They they’re great guys. and and it’s cool to to know that they were ahead of you and they were in your position at one point and that you know you just got to work your tail off and then you you might be right there with them. And so another thing that’s come out of you know as you teach you you get to know guys and we spend a bunch of time we joke about having a couple rums and drink glasses of wine but we obviously you know find out more about you and is that I think you have a lot of the same thoughts I do is that everybody’s different and you just try to be yourself and I think that’s important. I think that’s why you’ve had success. And you mentioned that Hud and Harry and those guys, they’re just they’re regular guys. But I think one thing that’s important to achieving success is to not get lost on the way up in trying to be another player that maybe you’ve idolized or you’ve maybe even not beaten, but learning to do what you do and believing that you can get there and figuring out how to do that, but being yourself 100%. I go back to the story I heard from Tiger Woods. He was talking to I don’t know if it was Sevy or somebody. Uh this was back when Tiger was really young and and he was watching him hit this flop shot. It was just the most unbelievable shot and he just couldn’t couldn’t believe how how he’d hit that shot and Tiger Tiger’s in awe. So that’s that’s saying something. And uh he’s like I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hit that shot. And then he said himself he was like shortly after that he realized he doesn’t have to. He can just do it his way, you know? So yeah, I think finding what you do and being yourself out there is is really important. Me, for example, I’m not a big big workout guy. I never have been. So that let’s you know, that’s a pretty good story. And and maybe that’s why we get along. There’s no gym in my house, obviously. Might trip over a chicken biscuit on the way to the way to the room. But anyway, so you know, and and and that’s what’s unique is like I we’ve got guys that work out that hit the gym really hard, but you’re not going to do that. So I don’t you’ve never heard me say, “Sep, man, we got to get in the gym and and because that’s not you.” But we’re always trying to find ways to do what you can do to make you be the best player you can be. Absolutely. And if I one day think that the gym is really going to uh take my game to the next level, I’ll do that. But I just feel like if I if I hit the gym really hard right now, that’s definitely going to change something in my golf swing. So I just I don’t know. I I’ I’d like to stay away from it. I’ve been lucky. I haven’t had any injuries so far, which is a big deal at your age. Yeah. So it’s been it’s been it’s been really good. So yeah, for right now, I’m going to stay away from that gym. Wow. [Music] And so being you learning to figure out what you do, you know, when along the way did you figure out like, hey, you know, I think one of the reasons that we’ve worked well is we’re pretty simple, right? And and everybody’s different. I tell folks all the time like the guys that would go to uh you know whatever. You could pick any teacher out there that’s real into real into Trackman and real into some of these things may not be a good fit for me even though we use plenty of it here. But you’re you know you you like things with that are simple and with feels. Did it take you a long time to figure that out or did you just kind of always know that? Because I think some players bounce around a good bit and can’t figure it out. Yeah. Uh, no. I I was lucky enough, you know, at Georgia you see guys get through and there’s all sorts of guys. There’s guys who want to use the Trackman. There’s guys who who who stay away from it. And I’m I’m I’m a little stubborn. So, I just I’ve never liked thinking about the Trackman numbers. I don’t really know what most of them mean. So, uh I’ve been pretty good at staying away from that kind of stuff. But, I mean, definitely, you know, there’s something works for everybody and everybody’s got to find that thing that works for them. Some people like, you know, the way that, you know, the numbers explain stuff to them and there’s coaches for that. And I feel like that’s how we’ve we’ve worked pretty well cuz, uh, you know, the fields that we talk about are I don’t know, they’re they’re turn, they’re this, that, but they’re they’re really simple stuff. And, you know, I think we sneak in the numbers more than, you know, we had a we had a talk today about launch attack angle. I mean, and, you know, couldn’t do that without a trackman, obviously, right? you know, so we use more of it. But I think that it’s a good lesson for people out there in the fact that like you know what makes you successful. So like getting into a lot of numbers you figured out isn’t going to make you play better. And I think that’s where folks get I think and I think it’s part of the like everybody thinks that like if I have one little piece more of information, that’s what’s going to make me a great player. I’m sure you’ve seen that with tons of guys coming up and it’s that chase. like they keep chasing one more piece of information that’s going to that’s going to make a difference. And I think what has separated you is you figured out that it’s not one more piece of information. It’s you getting better at what you need to do. Absolutely. And I told you many times, I don’t have to have a perfect golf swing to play good golf. So, and and sometimes I have a perfect golf swing, I play bad golf. You know, it’s it’s it it goes both ways. And for me, it’s realizing that, you know, working on your golf swing is important, but once you’re under the gun, you need to be able to perform and think about the shot you’re trying to hit rather than what you’re trying to hit. And which you which is a funny story, like so we joked one, we joke that every time we’ve worked, it’s taken about two weeks for you to have any success, right? Like, you know, and that’s probably part of that process where for a week you’re probably trying to do it a little bit and not focusing on the shot. And then I said, “Well, hey, when you won in Kansas City or when you finished, you know, and you got your tour card at uh in Atlantic Beach at the Web Tour Championship, were you doing the stuff we were working on or or just winging it?” And you were like, “Well, probably a little of both.” And at the start of the week, you know, working on it more, but those were two weeks you striped it. But I think that’s an I mean, like to me, that’s an honest answer. There’ll be people that would say, “Oh, no, no, I was doing it.” But you’re like, you know, I tried, but when I got out there, I just played. Yeah, for sure. And uh you know, you you always want to you know, be fundamentally sound because it’s going to give you a better chance at playing good golf. Um but you know, sometimes it just doesn’t feel right and you just got to go with your gut. You sometimes you just go out there, aim right, and sling it. And and I can tell from when I watch when I you know, that’s one thing I I enjoy going to watch you guys play because it’s so different than the stuff we see here at the dome. Like you know, at the dome, you’re sitting on a swing catalyst mat. everything’s aimed perfect. I mean, the ground’s flat. I like to go out there and watch you and see like what’s it like, you know, when it everything’s not perfect and you get a good you get a good sample of that watching you play. And I think it’s interesting though because you transition really well into that. Like once you kind of step onto the golf course, I mean, you may start aiming right and just say, “Hey, I’m just going to start slinging this thing in there if I don’t have it going today.” Mhm. Definitely. And then, you know, you can always go back to the range after the round and figure out what’s going on. But you don’t I never want to be over a shot wondering, you know, if this maybe flattening the swing is going to help me or this that the other. I just that’s when I go with something, you know, it’s kind of like a go-to shot, right? Where you just forget about everything and all you’re focusing is hooking it into that target or slicing in the target, whatever it is for that person. So, the last couple days we’ve we’ve actually, you know, you came in, we sneaky had a plan of things to work on. You know, we looked at some I looked at some stats. I’ve shared it with you. I felt like we needed to become better at pitching and chipping the ball for sure. And so, you know, we got you to get the club to be hinged a little more on the plane, right? Instead of lifted outside. And, you know, at first when you did it, you didn’t like it, right? You were like, “This is crazy.” But then you hit a few and it was better. Yeah, for sure. And knowing the knowing the fact that too, I mean, you’re a great player. Like you knew like, hey, I I really do need to be able to chip it more consistent and pitch it better. Yeah, definitely. Generally for me, I don’t play my best golf when I’m thinking about something technical. So, I’ll do some work on the range and try to really, you know, get it to where it feels normal, right, to be in those positions. So, yeah, the first one felt terrible, but then I hit, you know, couple more and start getting better and better. And, you know, that that’s that’s why we practice. And then lastly, like with the full swing, you’ve mentioned feel probably 10 times sitting down here and sitting, you know, sitting in the chair last night, watching the bowl game, having a couple cocktails. I mean, you mentioned how things feel multiple times. That’s one thing I’ve noticed, you know, in the in the length of time we’ve worked is that you you talk about feel. Mhm. You know, so at various times we talked about the fact that you’d always played a lot of great golf, but it would tend to get too much across the line at the top. Yeah. And what’s amazing to me is if you look at the videos we shot yesterday, I mean, we fixed it. It was as good as I’ve ever seen it, but we did it with giving you something to feel, which I thought was interesting cuz it wasn’t like telling you where the club has to be. It wasn’t telling you point it here or whatever. It was just giving you a feel, which was pretty interesting. Yeah, exactly. Uh, you know, all I felt was keeping my right elbow a little closer to the body and it just dropped that club right on plane. I mean, and we didn’t I don’t think you ever even told me that we’re going to try to get it on plane, you know. All you said was just keep that right elbow closer to the body and sneaky. Yeah. Very sneaky. Sneaky. Sneaky. And And I think that’s, you know, Yeah. Because you had said like, I don’t want to try to lay it off. And I’m like, yeah, I know you don’t want to try it, but let’s, you know, I’m thinking I think that this is something that would help you. Cuz when I look at you, I’m like, “Hey, I your good is great. You won on the web.” I mean, heck, at Napa, you know, through two rounds, you were at the top. Like, but we’ve got to make your your days that aren’t as good better. Yeah. I think to to contend week in week out on the PGA tour, we want your the days cuz in a to me, in a 4-day tournament, even if you’re playing great, you’re going to have one day that not everything goes your way. 100%. You know, and it could be like we were talking about at Atlantic Beach where you really did hit it good all four days. You had one bad swing and you didn’t make very many putts in the one round. Yeah. Right. So, we’ve got to tighten that up. And I was like, well, we got to do that, but we’ve got to find a way for you you to do it. And so, you know, to me, we we went back to the things that we started with, which you had a lot of success with, which was one, fix your posture and get you to turn more behind it cuz you tend to get stacked on the front. And then the other was to just keep the right elbow there and that feel seemed to work. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it it’s coming out more online. I’m swinging more down the line and less curve. So, and it was I mean, like I said earlier, it’s very simple stuff. It’s not trying to lay the club on the plane or trying to figure out where my club is. All it is is keeping that right elbow closer to the body. And and I think for you and for lots of golfers, like that’s something that you could go play with. You know what I mean? Like it’s not really much thought. Like you know what that feels like. And if you hit a bad one, you’re like, “Hell, I just didn’t keep my elbow close enough or whatever.” Exactly. Yeah. Awesome. Well, as always, one, thanks for sitting down, but two, thanks for coming down, hanging out for a few days. It was It’s always entertaining when we get a chance to hang out. And, you know, next time we hang out, it’ll be with MJ hitting toe shot, so it’ll be so it’ll be good. I think he’s fixed the toe. We’re good. Thankfully, we talked him off the ledge. All right, that’s Seth Stro. I’m Tony Roger. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Tour Coach with Tony Ruiro. If you enjoyed this, make sure to hit subscribe, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you are listening to this podcast, you can stay up to date cuz we have weekly episodes coming your way with fascinating people in the world of golf instruction at the highest level. Make sure to subscribe and stay tuned. If you want to learn more about Tony, head over to do sweepersgolf.com to get all the details on what he’s up to. Maybe you want to see him. grab a lesson or go to one of his camps, pick up his book, Lessons from the Legends. You can do that there. If you want to see Tony in action with some videos and other content, head over to golf sciencelab.com/tonony to get more info there. This episode was powered by the golf science lab and was edited, mixed, and produced by Just Hit Publish Productions. [Music] There’s one thing if you know about me, if you’ve listened to the Deuce Sweepers, you’ve come to listen to me talk is you know I’m big on loyalty. We give 100% here at the De Sweepers. We put a lot of emotional investment into everything we do with every one of our players. And the same can be said for our partners and the folks that have been with us for the long haul and help the de sweepers, help our juniors, help us get to our tour players. And so I want to give a special thanks to our sponsors. Our sponsors are first and foremost Buick and our local Buick dealers here around the southeast. Shrixon Cleveland Golf who’ve been with me for over a dozen years and their belief and support of what we do here with the Deuceers. And lastly, the folks at Vineyard Vines. The folks at Vineyard Vines love what we do with Junior Golf. They support us on the road. There isn’t a better family or group of people that are going to help us look our best, play our best, and have more fun than the folks at Vineyard Vines. So, special thanks to our sponsors. Please support those as you get the opportunity. And for more information about any of those, check us out at deweepersgolf.com. Or you can always check me out on Instagram at the deweeper.