Hi, this is Tony Ruggiero here and you're listening to my tour
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If you go there, enjoy this. Edition of the tour coach.
Joy to be here. I've all my travels back to the
Keys, able to pick the brain of this next guest.
Tell you all the time on this podcast by I love to bring on
people who I've met through my coaching and teaching and
traveled around on tour and different stuff like that.
And what this is one of the best guys I've ever had the
opportunity to work with his punting stuff.
I've never seen anybody get on the ground and watch it work -
and this is what made me think about him when he posted
something about this gift day, but one of the great teachers
out there, he's got Talk some stuff about reading dreams and
reading us. It's got a fantastic tap out
there but Ralph Bauer Ralph, how the heck are you?
And you have laid on the ground and watch more but it hit that
any human being I've ever seen Tony.
I appreciate that. You know like I said I've been
laid down and putting your hands on the PGA tour for last 15
years that you know anywhere else I can and kind of getting a
bird's eye view. Sounds crazy but I feel like
I've dedicated my entire adult life to helping people make more
punch and And you know, I say we want to go to that nice drive
but you'll feel great, making a porter walk, the next teeth,
100%, how did you get to be in? So, involved in putty, okay.
Like over time I've kind of just, it didn't start that way,
but I mean, I kind of became more.
I became more of a full swing guy, and a coach.
How did you get have all this happen?
So, you know, if your self, but I voted to her for a long time
and, you know, just trying to help people play better golf.
Right. And, you know, if you think
about a sports psych, no reason to call this for psych because
they're not in their 5-iron. Well, right.
But they are going to call this board, say, you know, if they're
not fighting while, right? So I've always just try to do
the most the best I could to help people you know scores well
as possible and for me you know that's basically just helping
with your fighting interesting. If she now let's talk about I'd
like to pick your brain on this. So when you go to work with a
good player to require and their your want to help them putt
better. Or what are the first things
that you look for and like where is your go-to to start with
somebody as a putter? Get approved there.
But if I got one kind of main thing, I'd like to get some of
you genuinely interested in making more pots, which, you
know, most people are. I feel like the big thing for
them would be if they miss a pot rather than defaulting to the
fact they think they pushed or pulled it if they could default
to the fact that they misread it, right?
So let's say you've got You know, ten footer, right to left,
you missed it on the low side, you know, he has the proper
speed, but a misses on the low side, 99% of the population is
going to think they pulled it. Well, you know, for the most
part, what happened is they under edit.
Now, they think they pulled this pot now, they gotta, you know, a
roach laughter on the next hole right now, they're trying to
think about, you know, their ball position, change their
mechanics. Probably trying to push it out
more. Yeah.
Then they're a mess on the other side.
So, They're just in there in this, you know, Paradigm of, you
know, thinking they pushed or pulled the, you know, they're
there to go around the entire whole course, they could have
pushed this. Why I pulled down when I push
this right? Push that one when the reality
is, you know, most if pots with proper speed are from Miss
Reed's, really? Yeah.
Like, it's now is that across even recreational golfers?
Is that even recreational golfers?
Like, you know, somebody that, you know, a 15-8 handicapper.
So I think he's handicapped First, let's go back to our
players, the overwhelming majority of their pot was in one
degree like over 90% of their hats are going to be started
within one degree of their start line.
That means your 10-footer should go in, right?
But the 10-foot May profess on the PGA tour, if 42%.
So the difference there really is greener eating.
Now, if you take a 50 handicap Orthodox to be able to start 90%
of their butts, you know, within one degree, but it's way over
50%. Yeah, and then but if there is
sucking a paradigm where the gets the first hole they guess
it a read. All their can be correct.
They miss it low or high. They think they pushed or pulled
it they go to the next hole you know, it's no wonder people
don't get better at finding what made me think of do in this with
you. Amongst other that I've been
weak talk to items or a couple times about doing this, but
there's an old great old teacher in Atlanta, who was a big
influence on me calmness. And I remember Time.
I asked if something about getting, you know, putty teacher
and he said, he said, it goes back to as far as through this
far, how hard could it be right? You know.
And to me how that kind of goes to descend like like, you know,
I think that and I've always said that, like, compared to the
other aspects of the game. Like it's the one place that
like a 15 handicapper. Could be the closest to of one
of your tour players because it doesn't really take much
strength or speed to be able to do it right.
Like you've only got to take it back as far as dou X bar.
Like so to me that goes kind of what you say.
And if they can learn to read greens better they can still get
us started on their intended lines over 50%.
They got to be able to make more putts 100%.
So you know, he's right. The paint.
Strokes pretty is pretty simple right and people make it super
complicated, it's not that hard. They say, only goes back, you
know, less than a foot for the most part and through less than,
but right, and you Mechanics in the PGA Tour.
I mean, they're all over the place, guys.
You know, Klaus you got cross-handed, you know, you got
all kinds of different Cutters, right?
And I feel like the part that's missing is reading the greens
better, right? Let's talk about those grits.
Do you have a preference in those or do you see?
I mean in this, you know especially with all the good
players in the great players you work with and I've been around
you working with one and like do you have a preference?
If a person came to you like an idiot, you know?
They're like, wow. Have.
I don't even know how the hell. I would rip it anymore.
Is there one? You go to more than others or
does it totally not matter to you at all?
I think it's important to keep your shoulders Square.
So whatever whatever grip is going to make that, you know,
during comfortable for you that that's a good grip for you.
I feel like I call it the engine of our stroke website.
Engine of our stroke is going to be getting your shoulders square
and then having a your shoulders open and close, you know, on a
mirror image of each other. So, okay.
Grips. You have that's going to
accommodate data or allow for you to have a square shoulder
Square shoulders at address, right?
That's going to be the group that job that's going to be for
you. Okay, I love that.
All right, so now let's go into more.
So I and you know Ralph you we've known each other a while.
One of the reasons I love doing these things just like I did.
The radio is I will get the opportunity to pick the brains
of people that are way smarter than me.
Right? And you know.
So some of this is for me the like, but we I felt like with,
you know, golfers like you Chuck, it helped them, their
speed better, they would read greens better.
Like to me Debbie, is that accurate like to me, these folks
that don't, you know, they don't know how to read them and they
don't, they don't read them very well, but they don't hit them
the same speeds, all they don't even have a grasp and how hard
they're trying to get it to make, but is that pretty
accurate? Yeah, that's that's pretty
accurate like, it's amazing. You know, you'll take somebody
who Steve's off and you'll say, well, let's take it.
And roll the ball, just with your hand you know like your
bowling. Let's roll it.
And they'll roll a 15-footer 15 feet path of like well you know
maybe they would need to work on that a little bit to get your
golf ball, right? But I will say that a lot of
times. Let's go back this scenario
where you got this right to left hand flutter, the earlier,
Lieutenant footer you under read it which you know, is the
average tour players going to under read a right to left about
15 percent. Like if it's 10 inch break,
they'll see about a half inches, but so they've got this pot, the
under read it. We kind of know we've under read
it and those are the ones we tend to hit hard.
So those that we Hammer past, the whole are also ones that we
tend to under read, we kind of instinctively know it and we hit
it hard trying to make up. Up for that, you know.
So I feel like if we read it properly, you know, our app and
our system is designed for basically 12 inches past the
hole on a, you know, in every pot.
And I think that kind of cool to, to, to quantify that.
Hey, like that's where it should be.
It should be 12 inches past, right?
You know, that they had a chance to keep a so it's okay, that is
large, you know? If they barely gets the whole
that it's okay, they want her. No.
Right, so I feel like if we read it properly, we get so many good
targets. Hey, If we have default message
that you're going to Al's and his past right there, they'll
they'll get that much better at their speed control very
quickly. I'm going to go back to some
other stuff later but I like it. So I so much you think that or
you know or our we want to say that but like the majority of
tour players under read putts is what you found.
Yeah. So I tested now that we've got
actual data on how much upon actually breaks right with with
her app, I tested 12 tour players which is a decent sample
size, you know, 12 pieces, who are players be decent sample
size on left to writers and then right to laughter's right on
left to writers. They were seeing about 70% of
the break, right? So if you know, if it's a two
foot brake, you know, there are seeing you know, 18 19 inches of
it so they're going to be missing this that pot Low, by by
6 inches on the right laughter. It's going to be a little
better. It's going to be 15 percent now
those All 12, those people were right-handed players, right?
So why is it that? Why do putter, why?
And I agree with you, because it's exactly the same thing.
I give, I stood out there and I'm thinking as you're talking
about my, to our players, guys, I've worked with, like, I agree
1000% with the specially under reading for a right-handed
player left to right. And that's where I see a lot of
what you talked about a minute ago, whereas they're over it and
they know that plain enough breaks, so they try to firm it
in and make it in three feet by or You know, they'll say hey
Ralph is a 12 inch by 12 inch brake.
I know it's 18 they pull it and it goes in and there.
I see I told you I'm like yeah but you you know you're if
you're hope you you go on the golf course hoping to misread
them enough with a terrible stroke that they go in, right?
I'd rather have guys, you know, read it properly, you know, have
a good stroke and have going that way.
I feel like that'd be easier way to go sleep at night, but yeah,
I mean that clay and to make a bad stroke.
You get lucky Make, it's probably not good plan, right?
I can't tell. Probably not going out there a
couple times and hope to worked out.
But why do why do you think player so dramatically under
read? Like, if you're a right-handed
player, the left to right? Is there any reasoning behind
that or is that just the way it is?
I think most right-handed players are better right-to-left
putts, right? And I feel like growing up most
most people practice. What they're good at and it's
the only growing up, you know, they had a lot more
right-to-left putts and they're just better reading it.
Keep the, I said, they just study.
And if they said take 48 years to become a world-class screen
reader, we've got a system now Tony.
Yeah, which I bleed trial and error takes a long time, you
know, like, oh, yeah, for sure. You know, imagine if magic me
and you're trying to build a rocket or trial and error, send
them one up and blows up. We'd start all over again and be
it take a while, right? But So now we've got a system
where people can learn to read green very, very well at a tour
player level in a couple weeks, right?
So, I mean, you know, we live in an instant society, and I feel
like if I said summer, hey, John spend eight years, doing
something, or doing spend two weeks doing it, you know, for
the most part, we get the answer with the, you know, with the two
weeks leave of people play for a living.
If you said, hey, I got the single make you great reader,
but it's go take a leak supposed to be like, I'll just Match
against its of the hell. Yeah, let's go take eight years,
right? Not a week.
Yeah. Now the guys on tumor though,
and, you know, ladies and hi, you know, they've already put
most of those eight years in, but that being said, when we put
our app down on a putting green against a PGA Tour player, the
app is undefeated, right? So, you know, we'll, we'll have
them read it already with the app and then we'll get, you
know, the Perfect putter out and roll some balls down the trough.
And, you know, we're undefeated make sense.
I mean, how can human I compete with, you know, technology?
Yeah. So how did you let us start with
that? So I've seen you users, I read
all of your stuff that comes out about it.
What led you to create this app, and how did you figure about
having a mean it Ralph, I know you're smart.
But how the hell do you figure this out?
So, you know, I guess, you know, not Not to get too political
here on you but you know, I'm Canadian and we had all these
logs that, you know? I mean so we had all these
lockdowns up here and you know I had all these theories on on
green reading with charts and you know levels and I had
theories on. I feel like nobody was a
dressing up and downhill component like people were
trying to address, you know, right to left left to right.
Anyways, so then I was giving a lesson to a friend of mine is
that, you know, an engineer and He's like, Ralph green reading
Camp is as simple as like. Yeah.
That's it's not that hard, and he's like, hey, we should turn
this into an app, you know, we have some time on our hands and,
you know, so basically what we're doing is we're using the
you know the internal chronometer like the 360 level
in the phone, you know, to measure the ground, right?
We have all the physics dialed in and you know, it's out where
it's going to break and then Tony.
I'm not sure how much you spent with this.
So it tells us where it's going to break and then we've got ways
to win. You off the app so that your,
you know, having to guess yourself you'll make an educated
guess and then go ahead and do it, you know, yourself and have
had, you know, I've I had a clinic I was doing and I had a
30 handicap lady, nice lady, you know what she went through the
whole thing and she came up with this pot and she said, Ralph is
5 inches. I knew it was too.
And I think I've, it was two and a half and she's just not
getting it, but we had to test her.
So we rolled it and she was right and I was wrong.
You don't? She'd spent an hour with it and
hate to admit it, but she know she read that but there and I
did after an hour of working with the system.
So, you know, it's it's pretty neat to be able to have.
I always felt bad when I had a student who, you know, want just
wanted to play better on the weekend and what had one have
some chance of reading the greens properly and I would have
no way of of helping them do that.
I had a few things I tried, but it was basically, you know, I'm
guessing. So now it's kind of cool to me.
God for me, we can give to people and, you know, I've had
tremendous, like, I started giving it to a certain width to
our players first, right? Like, you know, vendors coach
told me, he used it for hours first, they got it and, you
know, I've got a bunch of tour players using it as at the
Masters this year, I have player hug me, said Ralph wouldn't be
here if it wasn't for your app, right?
But then it's a lot funner or work just as fun, you know,
having people say around like, you know, putting fun for me
now. Right.
And again if I could see one like and what kind of my main
point and kind of I'm a point is if we could hit a putt like we
were playing the 3rd hole at are you know home course.
We get a part of the third hole and misses on the lower high
side. We she's assumed we misread that
and then we'll get better for the next hole if we assume we
pushed or pulled it. Now, we're in a downward spiral
of thinking, our mechanics are no good, right?
No. I like so explain how the Yo,
that given away all your secret to everything.
This is great for and here's why I thought you would be a great.
Yes, one I think the information is fantastic and it can help any
golfer, but for whatever reason we have lots of teachers golf
instructors and listen to this podcast.
And I think that for both groups of people, this is fantastic
information because you talked about there's a lot of people
out there trying to help folks make more pus at the club level
or they're developing teachers or whatever and this app can
help them. So Take us through kind of how
you can use it and also how about Rambo sometimes like I
mean if you have like any people that you would say these are
great hunters, use it and where they reading them the same every
time as the app. I mean if you have people where
they were just great Putters and you put them on in like they did
basically exactly what the app said.
I've had more of the opposite were okay, like I go to a Tour
event and a player with the hell I want to.
I want to test myself. Can see have be like?
No, it's Wednesday. Like I don't want you to, you
know, think you're a bad putter. Lets you know, let's wait till
next week and do it on a Monday, right?
But if you insist you know I had a player you know he read a pot
12 inches outside, right? Edge of a cash reward.
A look at that again like they know that if I think it is like
I did my whole routine and it was you know, it was I think it
was 32 inches, right? And I was like wow, like that's
just the way I do it. I'm not good at reading greens.
Like like I had a, how do young lady last year who, you know,
Junior, golfer, you know, good, good player right?
With a lesser writer, she had a 20-footer, she read it at one
inch outside left Edge, it was 20 inches outside the left Edge,
right? And then you know, got her the
app got her practice screen reading.
I worked on now summer. No.
Since then she's she's one akane amateur.
She made the You have two new girls need to cut us, Junior,
Amateur, and made the cut it if PJ or LPGA Tour of it, right?
And and then I went to tester, you know, a year later on a very
similar pot, you know, it was actually 18 inches and she gets
in 17 inches. So it's a graph, you know, golf
lot easier when, you know, you know where to aim your putter,
right? So, you know, and if we can, at
least have a system now to work on that and to, you know,
continue to get better. Sure, at that.
Like, if you think about green, I've always liked Greenery, is
very important. And I've worked with some guys
like Matt Hughes and his kind of Peace.
Walker are very, very, very good readers, right?
Like, you know, and I think he was maybe 10th or 11th this year
in Strokes gained on tour and, you know, very good Greenery
directors had 14 years and he was a great green reader, you
know? But it'd be like semi staying
behind us, you know, beside a quad guessing the spin rate with
your eyes, as opposed to seeing the numbers.
Like, you just not to give accurate All right.
Yeah it's been fun you know and and what I think about people
enjoying their round of golf. If you're playing 18, holes and
continue to think you pushed or pulled all your pots, it's not
doing any free confidence, right?
Yeah, you know, whereas if you think hey I under read that you
know that must have been a two percent slope and I thought it
was a one point five. Then that's not going to hurt
your confidence. At least your you got something
in your memory bank to help you for the next time out.
Yeah, now I love it. And I like to me the ways that
it can be integrated into practice where you know, I like
you did with that girl, you talked about we're like you
could measure them and make it use it and then you can show
them that over time. I think any time you could show
somebody over time that they're getting better.
That the work is validated is like it's a great tool for you,
you know? Yeah.
But Tony, you've done a good job, you know of you and your
coaching of using technology to prove to a player that they're
good, right? Like that's one of the great
things about technology is like, I don't know if I'm doing this
right here. Like well, I mean here's a
number they don't lie and you're very doing this.
Well, you know, it's hard for the person not to feel energized
and confident with, with their game.
If you can prove to them that it's rather than, you know, Tony
ralphing hey, where you don't worry you, don't you them
better, you know, which is part of it.
But boy, it's it's nice to be able to show them the number to
look at is clearly better. I agree.
I think one of the best. I think one of the main ways I
use technology isn't as much for diagnosis but to like prove one
that they're better than that anger and to prove that what
they're working on is the right thing and that is the balls
getting better. They're doing more of or less,
or whatever it is that you're asking to do and being able to
validate the plan that you put in front of them as they go
along. I think that's a, I think that
having that I don't know that everybody thinks of technology
in that former fashion but like to me that's one of the best
ways you could use it is to help people.
People see that they're getting better, because one of the real
frustrating things is people put a bunch of work in and they're
like, so am I getting any better and, you know, you got to be
able to show. Yeah, for sure.
And, you know, it's funny. So, you know, we have the tool,
you know, I've had it in my pocket option for longer than
anybody else. Because, you know, we had a in,
you know, it with a prototype and all that kind of stuff, you
know. But it's fun to see how the
other coaches say, hey, like, texting me and saying, hey
Ralph, here's what I'm using it for McCluskey.
Good idea, right? Like just like, Some people use
that for site for different reasons, you know, every coach
can use a little different, you know, some people like to use
this little bit different. But, you know, it's a great way
to, you know, if green readings important.
You know, we weren't doing a very good job of having people
practice that, you know, or so, this has been a lot of fun.
So, to me, I've always thinking about, you know, how can I use
this with my students? I'm big on putting practice
plans together for a specially like, you know, Ralph, I've got
some nice college players. Up and come and juniors that are
really talented and I feel like sometimes they go think they're
working on their game but like there's just not a lot of
direction, right? And they think that hitting
balls all day and then just going to hit the bunch of pots.
Chips has his real practice and I try to structure it for him.
So my initial thoughts as we're talking is like we you can put
in a practice plan, I dropped practice plans with ball counts
for players and that you could you could put in there where
they hit X number of putts each day.
Using the app where they read it and they go through and then you
can then you could have them go through and do X number of putts
without it and see if they get better.
You know, like yeah you could be, this could be a useful part
of a person's practice plan and they're structured practice.
Yeah, absolutely. And I kind of have some bread
and butter drills that are in the app that that I like that
one is basically just a circle drill, right?
So I'll give them to a circle drill, put the ax down.
It'll give me information and then Then they do another Circle
drill. And there's this, there's a
feature called height or read that will still give you the
slope of the ground, but it won't give you the answer.
So you have to guess and then it'll give you the answer.
So the first trip around the loop, I like to give them the
answer. The second trip around the loop,
you know, go to a slightly different position to like
basically the other side of the T if you know what I mean.
So like about a foot away and then, you know, have it'll
basically wean you off the Right.
And then you know, then had some random punch and you know, do
the same thing. I hit some random spots where
you're giving you information. I always want to give people
information first because I don't want them to feel bad
about their party or their green rating, right?
So if we give the information first, then they can think in
their head. Yeah.
I would have had that or they would have or not is another
story and then we start taking away from them once they become
a little bit more proficient. I also find two or three in
Reading you know it comes and goes like We could have our
green reading completely dialed in.
You know, we take a few days off, right?
Where are used to seeing the ball roll again?
You know, we have to have a little refresher course every
now and again on how much balls actually break on the greens.
It's kind of like you have to calibrate it each time after you
taking a break. Do you think like I calibrate
your eyes and your brain wants to let you take its time off?
Yeah, calibrates. Perfect word.
Yeah, like you know you take some time off or I've had let's
say arrange. The greens are a lot slower.
Like wow, look how much these actually breaking right and
then, you know, we can you complete, you can tell exactly
how much you're breaking on or you go to places, you know,
we've all gone to a place, you know, that our greens are super
fast. Processor were used to and you
know, it's nice to be able to calibrate real quickly on the
putting green, you know, in 5-10 minutes how much those pots were
going to be breaking on that new green speed.
Last question. Okay, this is good.
What the heck? How did you get started?
Getting down on the ground to watch buds.
And laying behind the putter. I remember, that's the first
time I ever saw, you never walk it up with you working with
Lucas. And I was like, what the hell is
this guy doing on the ground and, and what from all of those
times laying on the ground watching?
Plus, what's the biggest thing you've learned?
So I started I play myself, McCain amateur and I was
struggling with my alignment and I had my caddy lay behind me and
was telling me, you know, where I've lined up and we did that
for we did that and I start a course record next day, so it
kind of, you know, stuck with That, hey, you know what?
Let's maybe there's something to this alignment.
So, you know, and then when I got into teaching, I was like,
well, I'm you worked worked for me.
I might as well help, you know, my students with that.
And the biggest thing I noticed the biggest thing I learned from
watching. Yes, so many pots with with from
tour players is kind of what I said they typically start the
ball where they think like what where they're where they're
lined up. They're very, very good at
starting is there and most Miss Potts are Reached, right?
So I before we had the app in the proof to show players, I've
laid behind them, and then it's I've pulled them.
Like know, you didn't pull that that that broke more than we
thought. Let's aim another 2 inches.
Don't the right and they would even know that you would use to
the right and go in, right? So and if they'd argue with me I
said okay I got a pretty good view down here and you know you
know and I that did that again you know always ended the
argument pretty quick but you know I think I'll feel a lot
more fun. And people make a lot more punch
if they practice their green reading and you know, I'm really
quick, a quick sales pitch here. You know, we have a two week
free trial in the app. It's in the App Store.
It's called to read things money and it literally is helping
people all over the world, you know, I the feedback I get some
believable so to or read is how you get the app to be that.
I think it's great and I'm going to pick your brain off the air
on some ways to use it more with my players in my Elite.
Lead students stuff like that, but I think it's awesome.
And I just wanted to pick your brain on that.
I always enjoy the opportunity to hang out with you and when I
run into you and I mean, over the years, I've learned a lot
from being around you on the same team, and you always got
great Insight. So thanks for taking time and
this is awesome stuff. And the cool thing I think is
sometimes stuff comes out, you're like, well, this be
really good for a good player, but maybe not for, you know,
1580 ever. But this is good for anybody to
be at mean, this can benefit. Anybody is Doesn't take straight
speed. So forth.
This could help anybody's game. Tony, thank you very much and I
will jealousy and coming back from the keys.
So travel safe and we'll talk soon, buddy.
Thanks for listening to this edition of the tour coach.
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science lab, as well as my sponsors trickshot Buick
Bushnell and Vineyard Vines for helping make all of this
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