Michael Kim Talks about his Career in Golf and Making Golf Swing Changes for Success

Mark Immelman, golf broadcaster, interviews PGA TOUR—Michael Kim
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ABOUT THE EPISODE: Michael Kim is a former All-America at The University of California, Berkeley and the 2013 winner of The Jack Nicklaus Award as the National Collegiate Player of the Year. He was also the 2013 winner of The Haskins Award for the Outstanding College Player of the Year.

Michael is now a winner on the PGA TOUR and he joins #OntheMark to discuss his career in golf, winning at the highest level, golf instruction, and navigating slumps and dips in form.

Michael shares lessons learned in Junior and Collegiate Golf, including insights on acclimatizing to different golf courses and conditions.

He talks about his ascent to the PGA TOUR and his 2018 win in The John Deere Classic.

He addresses work on his technique and his golf-swing and he shares his mindset to navigating tough times.

Michael then shares advice on Method and Technique and other elements key to good golf including:

The Golf-swing Pivot and Rotation, and the influence as either a Clubface “Opener” or “Closer,” using Viktor Hovland as an example.

Putting Consistency with a reference to Strokes Gained Putting.

The Mental Game and Thought-life for Success, including insights on dealing with Nerves and Anxiety.

Making Changes for Improvement and how to do so successfully, and

Long and Short Golf-swings and how to make a longer, more powerful swing properly.

STREAMING: On the Mark is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts.

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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I’ve always loved to watch this guy swing it and now he’s become my favorite Twitter always an X follow he’s Michael Kim and it’s vacation time from the PGA tour for Michael but he’s joining us hey thanks for joining us Michael how are you I’m I’m doing great I’m uh happy to

Be here uh you’re tweeting prolifically since I’ve last looked at Twitter or you just chilling right now I try to get one a day out um there’s been a lot of stuff about the roll back too so uh just uh you know putting my thoughts out here here and

There and uh a little bit of golf advice as well well your thoughts are wise tremendously wise and super helpful and fans we on YouTube if you want to watch this um if you want to go follow Michael Kim it is worthwhile I’m not joking about being my favorite follow but

Michael before we get get to a few of your tweets and some of the advice golf wise you shared I want to take you back some and and I sort of want to introduce you to our Global audience you know you’re PGA Tour winner but a lot of

Folks don’t might not know who you are so tell us about growing up in southern Kell going to college being a stud and how you came to where you are please yeah I was uh born in Korea uh moved over to San Diego area when I was seven

Years old um picked up golf about a year later um how’ you get into go my my dad I think saw it on TV or something and and you know it was year 2000 when when I when we really started Golf so it kind of aligned perfectly with with tiger and

Um oh yeah hey I want to interrupt because you referen your Korean background I watch all Korean golfers and I remember back in the days um because I was teaching golf full-time here in Georgia and we fought more was Fort Benning lots of Korean people come there and their parents would bring the

Kids for lessons I’ve never seen a more disciplined um group of folks like ever and I say to so many young aspirant golfers I’m like look the girls are dominating the guys are coming through what is it about the culture you just got just so disciplined about everything

You do I think it’s just hard work is kind of n it’s it’s almost expected it’s not even it’s not even like a it’s it’s just a given um you see guys on the on the Range and there’s certainly a lot of South Korean golfers um grinding it out

Um and you know certain For Better or Worse certain parents can be a bit pushy which helps some but hurts others yeah and you know a lot of a lot of I think it’s just the culture it just hard work is expected and it’s you’re not there to

Kind of just Willy waggle and just kind of have fun almost you are there to have fun and part but you’re certainly there to to try and get better I feel like separated too and and you know in the era of golf being popular whatever sport

You play um now Talent is one thing but the hard work is what separates people wouldn’t you say 100% you know I I was kind of thinking about this the other day where a lot of people like to differentiate the talent and the hard work where you it’s at the end of the

Day it’s just a total package of yeah you know having that that discipline and having that work ethic is is you know a part of the talent I feel like where you have the will and the desire it doesn’t matter how talented you are I’ve seen plenty of talented guys that you know

Hit it really far or hit it pretty Sol but if they don’t have the the work ethic it’s it’s all meaningless so naturally you had yours your good Young Junior golfer in the Southern California area and that gets you to Cal Kell Berkeley um and you’ve had a PR iic

Career too they highlight by the senior year where you’re the national college player of the year win the Jack Nicholas and the Fred H Haskins award um as you look back because a lot we got a lot of fans that are like aspirin collegians too what advice would you give them

Because you’ve taken it to the highest level in college golf I think what was really nice um when I first it ended up being kind of like a perfect storm for me where where I knew I was good enough to start I think that’s really important to not to

Not um kind of be on the bench the entire time but also I certainly wasn’t clearing away the best player I was one of the better players but you know I went in there uh with Max H um he he was a couple years older than me um max was

On the team Michael Weaver was on the team Brandon hagy was on the team that’s good yeah we had a we had a we ended up having a really good team and you know we just fed off of each other we were really really competitive um I had a bunch of you know

Little short game contest games on the short game area and we really competed every day and I felt like that was a huge huge benefit to uh my success but also the team success we just fed off of each other and and you know kind of

Going back to that hard work it was pretty noticeable for me from the beginning that um the top five guys were the the top five guys that were spending the most time on The Practice Facility practicing um The Other Guys certain guys were were a part of the team but

You know they were there more for academics and that is obviously totally fine um but you know the the hour spent was certainly noticeable the the difference of hours hey I’m a longtime believer in the fact that you know necessity is kind of like the mother of invention and playing with golfers

Better than you like you talk about you come in and Max is ahead of you and and and that almost like it gets you uncomfortable and gets you playing in a place where you might not have been there there yet but you’ll find a way so would you recommend to the golfer

Naturally working on the game is important but I’m sure just competition and playing was very important back then huh 100% um and not not just competing on your home home course hopefully you’re able to play different courses different conditions I remember the first time I traveled to North Carolina

I was from San Diego so I had never played in Bermuda grass before and that was like the most mindblowing thing like you know I had never dealt with flyers I had never dealt with you know those berm rough lies or grain and I remember finish I think I almost finished that

Last in that tournament but um you you have to kind of go through those ups and downs of tournament golf and and playing in different conditions uh to to really get yourself better and a better golfer really yeah so 2013 you’re the first Cal golfer to win Jack Nicholas and the has

Haskins award you turn pro in the end of the year get on the web.com then now corn fery tour couple Seasons you have a few good finishes and next thing you’re on the PGA tour talk about that graduation because you know a lot of young professionals are like wow I’m

Going to make it to the tour but it’s not seamless right there’s there’s things to be learned in route there correct 100% you know um my my Q School didn’t go you know it went well but it wasn’t perfect I I was I think

Back then top 45 got you a tour card I want to say a corn fairy tour card um but I I was dealing with a lot of like swing issues and um the it was still six rounds back then and after the fourth round I was in I want to say 12th or

15th Place I was I was well within the the cushion but then you know when when you know those nerves and anxiety kind of creep in and they they kind of bring out all the bad swing issues that you’ve been trying to hide and kind of put in a

Corner they come out and I finished you know one I finished Two Shots outside the outside the the 45th cut line and you know that it’s tough you know conditional status on corn fairy tour is is better than nothing for sure but it’s still tough to get into the tournament

And um and the reshuffle um luckily you know because of my collegiate career I was able to get a couple exemptions early which which ended up being huge and um I missed my tour card by uh I think one Birdie on the final hole I had

Like a 15f footer that I think that might have um got me my card um but you know I used it as motivation for the year after I knew I was going to have a full year to play with instead of kind of in and out like the first year and um

You know was able to to um use that and get my tour card that that second year hey look nerves are one thing there’s to to me I say oftentimes when I get to follow you guys on tour I’m like just weekends on CBS we see we see it

Different because we have guys playing well and there’s nerves when you’re contending for an event but there’s the nerves on a Friday afternoon trying to battle the cut are a different thing and then the the Q school back in the day nerves I mean that’s a different thing

Huh definitely um you’re not even playing to win at Q School which is kind of weird you’re just trying to get within a certain threshold of you know it was 45th then and it’s it’s weird you feel like you’re protecting a lead starting from day one you just like

Trying not to screw it up up and and it’s such a long week like it’s six tournament rounds it’s it’s usually three or four practice rounds before that and you’re thinking about it the entire week and it’s it’s draining it’s um it’s only four rounds I think now um

But it’s it’s just a long week it’s a stressful week everyone’s you’re you’re really disappointed or you’re really relieved afterwards it’s crazy isn’t it because it’s amazing how because now Michael Kim gets on tour uh just freaking Goes Bananas and blitzes the field in 2018 and wins the John Deere I

Mean I was on the call there I had a group in front of you and we were not even on the show because it was like the Michael Kim show um and I think of that and then I think of a situation where like you’re playing so free and stuff’s

Coming easy but then it’s the same Michael Kim then that The Following season you you start to struggle with a game and it’s amazing how golf takes you through these emotions up and down in and out and it happens in the blink of an eye sometimes yeah you know even you know

That that season in 2018 I was having a pretty poor season leading up to the John Deere and it was to the point that I had to I felt the need to change coaches I I Chang coaches from the guy that helped me get to Cal helped me get

My tour card you know had been my longtime Junior coach in James o and you know that was a pretty tough decision ision for me um but felt necessary and changed coaches to John Tillery uh three or four weeks before the deer and you know all of a sudden I catch lightning

In a bottle and I win by eight and um yeah and uh you know you just kind of assume like this is it this is kind of my this is kind of my trampoline I’m going to use this to you know move on win more tournaments you know contend in major

And and and all that but you know it just it just kind of came crashing down on me to be honest um I played well the week after at the British Open I and then from that point on it was just a a pretty steep downhill downhill slide um

We tried to make meaningful changes kind of big whole wholesale changes into my golf swing which ended up not really working out and then and then I and then I kind of kept looking around at different spots tried a lot of different things just and really just dug the ho

Deeper and deeper um until until until 2022 I guess couple years ago uh I went back to the corn fairy tour and kind of picked my picked myself and picked my game back up let’s talk about getting out of that hole because you have the win you got the two-year exemption uh

And and often times I’ve sort of seen this where you you you book The you book the job for a couple years so the golfer almost gets the mandate to go okay I got some cash in the bank I got a little time to work and then you want to

Address areas that you feel like need addressing then you start working and I’ve had golfers you know back when I was teaching Elites full-time almost said to me when they’ve come to me because you’re looking around all the time right and they’re like you know I

Feel like I’ve lost my identity I’m not even sure who I who I am as a player um that’s a space to be I want you to talk about that so I’m not saying you might have but I feel like where you were missing the line share of the cuts that

Sort of stuff happens quickly yeah you know it’s it’s it’s you know it all comes from a good good space right you’re trying to make big changes you’re not looking for that Band-Aid you’re trying to make real real meaningful change for for the long term and you know it just for whatever reason

It it it didn’t work out out for me and you’re just kind of searching you’re just searching and you’re you’re almost looking for that kind of one week to click and it never does and and you know the problem the real problem I had for

Me was you know on the Range you I was hitting it fine um and if you showed up on a Tuesday morning and saw me hit hit balls on the Range you’d be like oh that guy’s that guy is hitting it hitting it totally fine and then I would go to the

Tournament and certain nerves would creep in and certain bad habits would creep in and you know when you get nervous or and and a little bit of an anxiety in um you know those old patterns and the new patterns they if they don’t if you’re not they Collide

And they they create a little bit of havoc in your swing and your body doesn’t really know which one to which one to go to um and the problem was that I couldn’t I started losing trust in my practice because when I was practicing everything was was fine and dandy but

Whenever I go to tournaments it would it would you know it’ be it would turn pretty bad so you know that that was a a thing that I had to really grapple with was like you know what’s the point of practicing hard when it’s not showing up

At all in the tournament range or on the tournament course yeah I get you I want to ask you too about kind of the time management because look all the golfers listening to this even the club golfers you know that you know you work on the

Game and the swing’s in a bit of a tangle and then the next thing you’re working on your swing Non-Stop and the other areas of the game the scoring stuff get neglected and then that hole that you were talking about it starts to almost dig itself deeper 100% you know

You can on the PGA tour I feel like with a really good short game and putting you can you can make putts you’re probably you’re not going to contend probably but you know you can scrap it around and you can make Cuts but you know I was so

Focused on that on the full swing that I I stopped paying much attention to the chipping and putting and you know I it’s hard it’s hard to focus on the chipping and putting when you’re putting for par for from 12 15 feet every time um you

Gota get a handle on on the on the on the ball striking first which is you know why people and I certainly kind of go along that road but like you said it only makes the hole deeper and you know through the through the slumps and the humps I felt

Like I started practicing a bit better as I as I figured out what was good for me and what wasn’t um certainly wasn’t I certainly wasn’t going to get out of the hole just beating golf balls on the Range because I I certainly tried that for a while um in that that block

Practice where you’re just kind of grinding away on the range for hours or hours and that that really wasn’t going to do it for me so um I I changed how I practiced a lot um changed how I thought about the game a lot and you know and

This helped me kind of on the rebound and and last year was one of my best seasons ever and hope to um keep keep going on that on that path well yeah the Michael Kim I’ve seen um year in 2023 and Beyond uh it looks like you got a

Real handle almost a maturity about it um what was the Tipping Point was there like a water shed where you’re like all right I’m going to change the practice I believe you hooked up with Shan Foley too um that would obviously have some some influence but but was

There a moment where you’re like okay I’m I’m done with this I’m not I’m G to change the way I’m approaching it I think that was kind of a uh there was no one big moment um there was a lot of little changes here and there kind of tweak the the practice

Sessions um certainly you know CH oh yeah changing to or going to see Sean was a was a really big moment of change for sure um I went to him when I was probably um in my career at my lowest I just lost my all my eligibility on the

PGA tour I had one year of corn fairy tour status excuse me um left and you know for better or worse I was like you know what whatever you need me to do I am open to it because everything I had been doing wasn’t working I was like you know you

Could tell me to swing like Jim fck and I was going to do it um it it wasn’t going to matter all right and um and Sean you know obviously didn’t didn’t say that but um he’s like all right let’s let’s let’s see what we have

And and it was it was a fairly smoother transition than than what I had what I had um in the past cuz we kind of went back to some of my older junior golf swings and my you know he he calls it your your swing DNA where you know if

You if you go too far away from how you grew up swinging it it can be problematic and so you know we went kind of back to my junior golf swings we certainly changed it a little bit here and there and put some I would say like

Modern techniques into it um but you know that’s kind of how we went and um I think that’s why the transition was was a lot was a lot smoother for me from afar this is the golf teach room coming out from afar when I’ve seen you on the

Wrench I haven’t had the luxury yet um this is coming soon um of calling you on the course but but from afar it almost looks to me like like you’re less handcuffed by technique and you’re more creating shots am I crazy in this because you look liberated when you

Swing the club to me right now it’s um I’m not well yes and no I’ve I’ve I’m certainly not searching for anything anymore I am pretty pretty clear on on what I what I want to do what I have to do um and that comes with uh me knowing exact L the ball

Flood I’m going to hit on 95% of shots with it which is my draw um I spent like a year and a half to two years trying to work in a fade because that’s what everyone everyone told me that that’s the straighter shot and that’s kind of

The the shot that I need to play but you know I had growing up playing a draw I was a short hitter growing up and so I had kind of been hitting a lot of draws to kind of get that little extra distance here and there and I think it

Comes a lot more natural to me um and so kind of a funny story at one of the first tournaments um I played was the was the Safeway open I Monday qualified and Sean wasn’t there but you know I was talking to him and I had we had talked

About you know I’m hitting pretty big draws for a PJ Tour player like 10 15 yard draws with a lot of my clubs and on on I get to the PJ tour and kind of these old habits kind of pop up and I’m you know not really confident in the in

These fling draws and that I’m hitting and so I call Sean on like a Wednesday I was like you know I I think I’m GNA go back to a little fade U because that’s what I had been working on for like two for the last two years and he goes okay

Okay um he goes you gotta play with what you’re what you’re comfortable with at at at tournament in tournaments and I played terrible just God awful I finished almost dead last and I think Sean col Sean called me on Friday he goes look Michael he goes I don’t want

You to hit a hit a fade for for a full year he goes unless you’re behind a tree don’t hit a fade for a full year and I I got it I got it no problem and uh since then I the funny thing is Silverado

North loves the draw I I lost so many holes turned from right to left at that place yeah yeah nine Nine’s a good draw um I think I think that first hole was um you know for me it’s like that first start was so important and like you the

First just because the first toll doesn’t set up for for a draw I I I must have gotten caught up with the with the fade or something yeah got that’s a really cool story um so now you’re back on track um if you had to sort of give

Advice to The Listener because look the reality about golf is all the elite golfers to me are like one swing or one swing thsh away from playing well and or playing badly all us mortal golfers we spending more time hitting the ball not as well as what we do when we hit it

Well so for the folks who battling to kind of find it again could you kind of package something and go here’s my gift to you and my experiences as I look back on it this is what you can go ahead and this is the mindset to

Adopt I think you know for one I think you can’t go too wrong with just at least getting a full turn in your back swing um it’s two amateurs get two pick up with their hands and arms and because you know your hands are the only one connecting you to the club they

Get a little too cut up with with the hands and rightfully so but you know at the end of the day it’s still a pretty big body motion that you’re doing it’s like a it’s more if you think like of a pitch where it’s like a full turn and

Then kind of that the pitch is happening throw is happening kind of the last last bit oh and um at least if you get a full turn I think you have a better chance at it um and I would say at least when you get on the Range I would hope that you

Have a specific thing you there for and not just and not just there to randomly hit balls unless you know unless you just kind of want some time off and you just want to kind of think about something else other than work or something like that

So at least get a full turn and and hopefully on the Range you have so exactly a purpose you’re there for okay for the folks on audio I flipped the screen I’m sharing the screen now with Michael and I’m showing him his Twitter feed which is one of my favorites so if

You want to see this go to YouTube and search and subscribe to Mark imman and then you can see these tweets now I’ve picked five Michael um and I’m going to go through them and these are all pretty recent and I’m dating this it’s um in

Late December 2023 but man before we go here it’s like all of a sudden Michael Kim shown up and you bringing golf wisdom I’m you youing this stuff and it’s like you’re such a giver and I’m like God bless this man because you know most PGA Tour Pros are keeping the stuff

Close to the vest because they’ve got the secret but but you just so open in sharing this what was the inspiration man I think um a part part of it was um I keep going back to that SafeWay open or the Safeway open um but uh La last

Year I played with Max H and Max to me is is a is a dear friend he’s a guy that I grew up playing a lot of junior golf and obviously a lot of college golf together and to me he’s just he’s just max um but then I go to Safeway and for

Whatever reason Max and I are careers never never like matched up to where when he was playing well and when I was playing well it seemed like when he was playing well I was playing bad and when I was playing well he was playing bad

And so it was one of the first few times where where I played you know PGA to around with him and just I remember being really surprised at at the following that he had at Safeway um I was part of like the freeer group with with um Max and cam champ who’s

Obviously very popular there um but you know seeing the the reach had from from Twitter was eye opening and you know I remember thinking to myself well if I want to if I want to start tweeting again or you know really making this a focus I I don’t want to be the the

Everyday like you know those everyday posts you see from Pros like here excited toor play the yeah here excited to play the wind of championship post a picture of the win the championship or or swing like I definitely didn’t want to do that like you know if you’re going

To do this you you certainly want to kind of differentiate yourself from others and and what and I kind of thought like what would I have and and you know through the through the ups and downs that I’ve had and mostly the downs I had seen a lot of coaches and I’ve

Seen a lot of um different theories and ideologies about Golf and I was able to kind of picked their brains off and I felt like I had kind of amassed a decent amount of knowledge and and kind of figure out what has worked for me and I

And I felt like it could help others as well and so you know maybe that could be my Lane of of um trying to give golfers amateurs out there a little bit of help and also um and also some you know cool stories that I’ve picked up along the

Way so that’s kind of that’s kind of been my content I guess going say folks he’s mikor Kim 714 on X to be correct he’s posts are fantastic right you’re a real Giver this stuff is kind of golf um golf game improvement Centric a lot of your stuff

Is I almost call it like Michael’s Diaries because it’s like all of a sudden you come out with this thing I’m like dang I’m so glad he said that and so for all of our on the mark folks go check him out because it’s a treasure Trove of golf information and I’ll it

Off here we’re going to talk about rotation putting anxiousness um change and then you did a nice post on the long swing and this is just folks we scratching the uh the tip of everything here’s the post I’ll read it and just let you comment I think I think some of

You think rotating your body in the down spring closes the club or helps release the club rotating your chest and hips is an opener you say jumping with your lead leg earlier rotating releasing your hands more earlier or staying back with your head is a closer if you’re hitting

It right and trying to rotate more on the down string you are not helping yourself out and when I saw this I was like choirs of angels preach brother because I find so many golfers they open social media they find some tip and they see some PGA Pro talking about rotation

And then everyone jumps on the bandwagon there’s early extension wrist you know all sort of stuff and I see Club golf is turning open turning open and his right hand is they are littering the right side of the golf course so please elaborate on your observation yeah you

Know like you said like there’s a lot of you know there’s so I’m sure I’m sure you’re very whereare where aware but so there’s a lot of Trends in the golf swing right there’s a lot of Trends and I think the trend these days is the is

The bow left wrist and kind of the the very Victor hin like where you’re holding off with your with your body you’re rot ating hard and I I got caught up in that trend for for about a year trying to get the the closed Club phase trying to quote unquote like take your

Hands out of it and really let the rotation of the club a rotation of the of the body kind of you know hold the club face square and really you know I see so many people struggle struggle with slices and that you know that’s generally coming

You’re com coming out path and with a super open Club face and you know Ro rotating your body more is only is not it’s not helping that sentiment at all yeah um and you know I took a lot of lessons with George gankas okay and he’s all about rotation but his the biggest

Thing with him is you have to get really good turn on the back swing feel like too many people are focusing on the turn on the down swing but without if you don’t get good turn on the on the back swing the the down swing it doesn’t it

Makes you you have no chance from there so um and so you know you for guys that are missing it right trying to rotate it more on the down swing is is is a recipe for disaster I’m so glad you would say that because it’s easy to get locked up

In Trends because you know there’s always is something sexy me as a golf teacher who’s been around teaching golf since 1996 I’ll sometimes open something up and I’m like that is sexy as heck and then I’m like but wait a second I might be trying something that I cannot do and

Yeah your voice of experience almost as like tweeting about it 100% like you know Victor hland is an incredible ball shreer and incredible golfer but if you look at kind of the old if you look at the hall of fame of golfer in totality

There’s he he is almost a one of one or he is maybe in like the 1% that swing it like him so many more swing it with kind of the neutral Rift and kind of a good full release of a club and way way more there’s way more of those you know

Victor hogin might be more of a a u in baseball maybe like a sidearm thrower where you know just because he throws it so great that way doesn’t mean you should teach everyone else to throw it that way Amen brother okay if you’re watching I scrolled past

Michael’s thoughts on the golf ball roll back and other things and we’ve got to one year um and it’s about putting and look as an OnCourse announcer I’ve oftentimes said that you know he’d like to try and leave himself under the hole here you know if it’s a really you know devilish looking

PUD and you tweet here you go trying to leave yourself an uphill put but is a bad move no matter if you’re Hing an approach or chipping Strokes gain shows us distance is King and in that just trying to get it as close as possible is the best strategy a tough three-footer

Has a higher make percentage than an easy five footer I’d like you to elaborate there because you do it at the highest of pressure um and those three and five Footers I mean those things keep rounds alive no matter whether you’re a PGA to a winner like Michael

Kim or Club golfer who play to 20 handicap yeah you know I I I like putting up tweeting stats or golf stats because there are stats there’s no bias in that you know certainly with with certain swing stuff it might help some but it might hurt others but stats is

Stats to me and you know putting it’s it’s pretty simple like distance is the most important part in in your putts where the shorter the putt it’s no matter if it’s a downhill slider or an uphill straight putt distance is the is the most important factor when it comes

To your make make probability and I feel like we can get caught up especially um if you’re around the greens of like oh maybe if I leave myself in that area of the green where I might have easier putt but often times we’re not good enough to

Actually put it on that spot and trying to get it to that spot we might put ourselves further away from the hole which is not not ideal and you know ideally you just try and get it as close as possible and and and go from there tremendous um you referenced this

Earlier in our conversation and this was a tweet about it um and you talk about nerves or anxiousness and I’ve got on the screen your you tweet I’ve hit shots great when I was anxious I’ve hit terrible shots when I was anxious I’ve hit great shots feeling confident I’ve hit terrible shots

Feeling confident there’s no need to freak out about a negative thought that might pop up before or during your swing the bigger your reaction to it the longer it will stay in your mind your thoughts are your thoughts your thoughts about your thoughts matter a whole lot

Try to accept and move on I mean this is it sounds TR and sort of simple but this is almost the thing that unlocks all the other things right you know I’ve um over this last over this last year I’ve worked with a mental coach and I’ve

I’ve learned a lot more about the mental game um in years past I thought your mental game was you know just don’t get mad on the golf course course and try to keep even Keel and that that was kind of most of it but you know that is

Certainly a part of it but so much of so much more than that there’s so much more than that where it’s it’s about you know like I said the uh like I said on the Tweet your thoughts about your thoughts matter in the sense that if you you know

Everyone has a negative thought on the golf course your brain if if the shot really matters to you and there’s consequence to the shot mhm your brain it’s more designed to survive than it is to thrive in that it’s G to automatically go to worst case scenarios

If if it’s an important shot to you let’s say you’re on the last hole you have a one shot lead in your in your member guest and there’s water down the right and automatically the first and most you know blaring noise you will hear or the thought you will see is oh

No don’t hit into the water don’t hit into the water right and you might be able to kind of keep that away for a little bit but as you get closer to the ball as you’re about to swing that you know that that noise is going to get

Stronger and stronger and what I what I did learned trying and trying not to do is it’s like oh no that reaction of like oh no I can’t be having this thought it’s that’s I you know I shouldn’t be having this thought that’s almost the worst way to think about it it’s you

Know the better way to think about it is you know it’s it’s natural to have this thought and then and then try and refocus on but what am I actually trying to do and that is to hit your shot in into the left into the Fairway or whatnot but you

Know you’re reaction to those negative thoughts creeping is a real is really important yeah I I I do want to ask you a followup to that let’s say water down the right you get Daniel like shark Stone H in the water um for Michael Kim and I’m doing this for advice for The

Listener um I think the tendency with most folks is to aim more left does Michael Kim go all right I’m going to trust my draw you I’m just G to make sure that that face is closing or not pointing at said water through contact is it is it as simple as that I

Certainly don’t aim like edge of the Fairway because my misses are more left with anything um if it’s my last whole of the day I have a decent sense of of how my swing is feeling for for that day and I’m sure I have hit shots with my driver where I

Was not feeling 100% confident where I’m not just swinging freely and I kind of use that as database of how I’m going to to hit this shot yeah if for example you know in a hole prior I’ve aimed it at the right edge of the Fairway and just made sure I turned

It over as really hard and that has worked that had worked really well I very well might aim it at the right edge of the Fairway on the edge line of the water and just try to release the heck out of it that’s such a cool observation

Which brings me to the first t-shot you know because the the the data and I use that air quotes that you have is maybe your last few swings in the driving range is it a similar sort of thing there for that first T-ball because that first t-shot makes even you know makes

All amateurs nervous and I’m sure you guys get jacked up for the first t- shot as well 100% um you know we we at least I have a plan for each t-shot um that might that plan might change based on how I feel my swing is doing

But um I whatever that first t- shot it is I’ll before I go to the te I’ll hit a few trying to feel trying to hit whatever shot I’m going to hit on that first T and that’s generally what I go with unless unless the conditions are so

Different that um if it starts rainy all of a sudden I might have to change clubs but that’s pretty rare you know I’ll ask my caty um what what the wind is doing on the first toll um what our plan is and and certainly get a couple reps of

What I want to do on that first te lovely okay two more um this one is sweet it has a picture of a really cool looking back swing with you look at that torque and the rotation and a club shaft nice and short of parallel and then you

Got John Daly from back in the day on the right side of you with the John Daly back swing and your um observation was and I read most of you have in air quotes too long of a back swing turn less to keep it near parallel which is

The reaction in actuality you have too long of a swing because of your wrist not from turning too much I think if you have too long of a swing try to really limit risk and keep your body turn if not turn more I have a very

Big turn but my club never gets past parallel notice where my hands are compared to John not a big difference but his wrist coock is making his swing longer there are certain benefits to this but the negatives far outweigh the positives in my opinion there’s a lot we

Can mine here and I want your take please this is like this is I am tweeting this but Sean Foley might as well have tweeted this he he’s uh a lot of my uh current swing beliefs are because of sha and so you know using are you using the pro sinder I’m

Sure yeah certainly a part of it uh okay you know this is right up Sean’s alley where we he and I both don’t like a ton of RIS you get you certainly get a few more miles per hour because you you load the risk better but at the end of

The day we feel like um that’s that those are just more angles that we have to deal with um as we get closer to impact um so you know he and I like a big turn and if you kind of can see the the picture of the back string I certainly

Get a massive turn yeah your hands behind your head almost similar to he’s just hire with a whole lot more um wrist extension there correct and and you can kind of see how my back is kind of is that in extension I’m not 100% sure golf nerds extended you can actually see a

Little arch in the back I mean it’s a big turn you got a yellow shirt on the wrinkles in the shirt I mean your hips you you’ve allowed the hips to free up there as well that’s a big turn across your uh pelvis area too correct correct

Um and so you know I I do this once in the Blue Moon where I ask people to send me their swing videos and I’ll do a quick comment of of what I think they should be working on and so much so much of the um of the problem is the lack of

Turn like I said and certain people really their wrist hard and it and it fakes the motion of them getting a big turn which is a big problem like they they think they’re getting enough turn because of all the of all the angle that their wrists have created and it

Just doesn’t set them up very well in my opinion so and you know a lot of people like a shorter swing because they feel that it’s more accurate um and they kind of point to John ROM or or Tony feno um but they forget the fact that those guys

Are monsters basically they’re they’re if they did a full back s they would hit it you know 190 miles per hour ball speed if they wanted to um and so yeah I it just prevents them from getting a big turn which which what which I deem very

Important in the golf swing yeah and you’re so right I mean l you said it earlier wrist alignments your hands are your only connection with a club if you can isolate that area your chance of controlling the club face which talks to the golf ball is more important or is

The most important thing okay final one here and this is about change and you start this tweet off with I’ve given a lot of advice on here while I do try to give advice that covers most amateur golfers the advice could definitely make you worse the most important thing I

Think is to try it for yourself it doesn’t work after a few if it doesn’t work after a few tries throw it away absolutely this goes for any advice you see even if it’s from tiger or Jack or Hogan or whoever the wor first thing to

Do is assume it won’t work for you now and then not even try it things might have changed since you last tried something I’ve had that happen multiple times where it wasn’t working in the past but it worked great other times um super insightful here about change and

On the tour it’s like everyone’s got rabbit ears and radar eyes because you’re looking at the guys who playing the best all the time and it’s hard to stay in your Lan but then by the same token you know I advise people I’m like look don’t don’t go try and take another

Man’s man’s medicine but that mustn’t be that doesn’t mean you must should be myopic and never look and try something because it might be that that secret so so finish us off with this with with your observation please yeah it’s tough you know like we’ve been talking about

Golf is so personal and you know I mentioned Jack and tiger and Hogan and you know all these guys you there are similarities in what they talk about but they also so differ in in a ton of different things in their swing or or how they went about it and you know even

For me I’ve had times where I’ve seen something on video where where tiger kind of explains how he chips and I’ve tried it out and and you know I’m I’m the same person trying this technique out but you know maybe like a year before it didn’t work out but now I

Try and and it works and works better for some reason and you know there and there are things that I’ve tried with the swing where I’ve tried to copy you know whether it’s Victor or or someone else’s swing thoughts or or how they how they hit the ball and and it certainly

Hasn’t worked and you know I just kind that response is along a lot more because of the responses I get from my tweets on Twitter where everyone is so quick to kind of shut down like no that that doesn’t work for me or that that no you’re wrong that doesn’t work

And while that might be true it might not work for you that you should there’s no way that you should just shut it down so simply like that and you know I I just hope that from my advice or any any advice you see on on on social media or

Or your coaches or or whoever you should certainly give it a try I mean there’s there’s you can’t you can’t get much worse um just by trying and whether if it doesn’t work then absolutely throw it away and um don’t don’t try it um but certainly no no hurting and giving a go

On the Range it reminds me of two things first Martin Hall quote it was made both these observations have been made on this very podcast um not this one previous ones Martin Hall if you keep doing what you’ve been doing you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting and

Then you’ve talked about Vector hland a bunch he was on here a little ways ago and he the the takeaway from Victor for me was he just kept on talking about being open-minded and he’s like when I went to college I was open-minded now I knew how

Who I was so I didn’t follow blindly but I was always prepared to listen and look it’s worked out nicely for him it begs the question from me to you so you try things do you keep notes or journal on what you do so sort of give Impressions

Thoughts you know reminders because we all tend to want to forget when things are going wrong definitely um I’ve in the past I’ve kept um notes kind of Swing thoughts here and there or um not just full swing but but short game stuff and um even Pros like me look

Up stuff on YouTube of like oh maybe like see how how that guy does it and you know the algorithm usually spits out something else from another guy so you you can get definitely get into the rabbit hole rabbit hole of of of golf instruction out there um we we you know

Pros are not that different than than regular amateurs when it comes to that stuff all we’re all we’re all at the end of the day we’re all just trying to get better um so I feel like the YouTube algorithm certainly U keeps me up to date with with all all the different

Kinds of stuff and and you know I’ll see something I’ll be like oh you know I haven’t tried that in a while maybe I’ll try that tomorrow stuff like that you’re such a giver I appreciate you sharing not just your time but all these insights um again folks it’s like a a

Michael Kim Journey uh journey and and journal on on golf Improvement so thank you Michael um please share with the folks where they can find you uh if there’s a website social media and stuff so they can follow you uh no like uh Mark said um check out my my Twitter

It’s where I’m most active and I I actually got rid of my Instagram a couple years ago so that’s that’s basically the only place you’ll be able to find it very few spots on Twitter or X folks that is uplifting or are uplifting Michael Kim’s feed certainly

Is so give him a follow hey Michael thanks for joining us I so appreciate you enjoy the time off and I look forward to seeing you soon sounds good you too Mark how’s