Episodes

For one last time before winter, it's time for the Gregulators to mount up! In this episode, Greg recaps his full first year on the Champions tour. Beginning with no status and only two guaranteed starts, Greg finished the season in the top 36 of the Schwab Cup rankings, securing full status for next season. He recounts for Lou and Mark the highlights of his season, the challenges of adjusting to a new roster of courses, and his planned work to be even better next year. And Lou continues his end...

Learning From Tour Pro Swings: Greg's Hip Turn and Sway

In today's episode of the podcast, we get to learn, not from Tour Pro average movements, but from the Legendary Needle himself: The Greggie! Mark pulls up Greg's motion capture data, and Greg has to beat Lou in guessing his own swing motion data. As always, the insights here help explain how different movements change the club delivery and why some numbers don't need to be bigger or smaller (but just need to match the swing). As not always, we get a history of the English language, or at least o...

SMS - Low and High Index, Percent Wild Off the Tee

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. In today's episode, the focus is on driving accuracy: for very good players and for high index players, what percentage of each category might be considered "wild" off the tee (missing the center of the fairway by more than 30 yards on at least a quarter of their drives)? The following discussion will help you understand dispersion, it's relationship to driver length, and how you can be a better player off the tee. E...

Grip Pressure

For those who want to know—and not just guess—what is happening in the golf swing, these are excited times. And there are more things to measure. One of the trickier ones has been grip pressure. In this episode, Lou, Mark, and Greg talk about a recent study presented at the World Scientific Congress of Golf by Liam Mucklow. The study measured how grip pressure changes throughout the swing in both professional and amateur golfers. There are things to learn here already, and interesting discussion...

There's always more to learn about the golf swing: even if you're a career Tour player playing in your first Champions Tour Playoff finals. In this episode, Mark pulls up the data for how the torso of the average Tour player moves throughout the swing and leaves Lou and Greg baffled and guessing. Because the results are unexpected, there is a good amount of explanation here that will help you understand how the big movements in the golf swing happen for successful golfers. Where to find us: Ma...

Learning from Tour Pro Swings: Rib Cage Sway

SMS - Shots to Hole Out, Hitting vs Missing Green, 125 FW, Scratch

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. In today's episode, Lou asks Greg and Mark the scoring difference a scratch golfer well see between hitting and missing a green from the fairway at 125 yards. After Mark concludes his complaint about the question, the guys offer a good reminder of the critical importance of getting the ball on the putting surface on the approach shot—that missing the green near the pin is likely to cost more shots than you might think...

Changes to the PGA Tour

This week, the PGA Tour announced a pretty substantial overhaul of who gets to play on their Tour and how qualification takes place. In this episode, Greg, Mark, and Lou discuss these changes: why they're being done, who they benefit, and whether they'll make the PGA Tour a better product for those of us who watch it. Where to find us: Mark Crossfield's weekly newsletter: https://www.crossfieldgolf.com/subscribe Mark Crossfield on Twitter: https://twitter.com/4golfonline Mark Crossfield on Y...

Schwab Cup Playoffs

Welcome back to another episode of the world's hottest PGA Tour Champions podcast! In this episode, recorded before the playoffs started, Greg takes Mark and Lou through the schedule of the final three events of the season: the Schwab Cup Playoffs. Greg enters the playoff in the low-20s, hoping to make a run up the standings for the final event. Join in to hear his plans, as this week is the Schwab Cup Final! Where to find us: Mark Crossfield's weekly newsletter: https://www.crossfieldgolf.com...

SMS - 110-119 to the Hole, Birdie vs Bogey, Tour Pro

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. In today's episode, the subject is Greg's peers: the guys on Tour. From 110-119 yards in the fairway, with a wedge in their hand, expectations are high: their expectations, the audience's, and certainly the announcers. What percent of the time do they actually make birdie? What about bogey? In this episode, Lou brings the data to Mark and Greg, and from there, a great conversation unfolds about dealing with setbacks o...

Angle of Attack

It's been a hot topic in the short game in the past couple of years: what is the ideal angle of attack? But this measurement has application throughout your bag, not just in your short game. In this episode, Mark guides Lou and Greg through the meaning of angle of attack, how changing it tends to influence other elements of club delivery, what AoA numbers are ideal for driver and irons, and how to go about changing your attack angle. A mountain of good information for golf improvement here. Whe...

Learning From Tour Pro Swings: Shaft Lean (Driver)

Is the driver swing different from the iron swing? If so, how? In this episode, which is the sequel to last week's episode on iron shaft lean, Mark quizzes Lou and Greg about the driver shaft lean at address and impact. The numbers are...not the same as the iron swing. Stick around in this one: the guesses that Lou and Greg provide lead to a further discussion of driver setup that might really surprise you—and might help you set up for your drives more like a tour pro. Where to find us: Mark C...

SMS - Number of Putts from 50 Feet, Scratch and 20

Welcome to the "Saturday Morning Golf Stat" from the Hack it Out Golf Podcast. In today's episode, you've hit the green, but you're a long way from home. How many putts does it take, on average, for a scratch golfer to hole out from 50' away? What about the (notorious) 20-handicapper? Mark and Greg offer their best guesses to Lou's question, but then offer some really helpful advice on how to approach these very long putts. Each of these will be a mini-episode (10-15 minutes long) about an inte...

How Would You Start Golf Differently?