Watch Golf Like a Practice Session
Stop Watching Like a Fan. Start Watching Like a Player.
Sunday afternoon. Final round. The best players in the world on the hardest courses in the world. Feet up, your favorite drink in hand. Nothing better.
But what if I told you that you could become a better golfer yourself just by changing how you watch?
Most casual golfers will watch a golf broadcast for hours and learn absolutely nothing. They track the leaderboard. They admire the drives. They watch a sand wedge spin back twenty feet and lose their minds.
It’s enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong. I get lost in it all the time. But running underneath every broadcast, invisible to the casual viewer, is an entire education on how the game is actually played at the highest level. The routines. The shot selections. The safe shots. The aggressive shots. All of it.
And it’s all right there in front of you. All you have to do is tune in.
From Fan to Student
If I could get you to remember one thing it would be this: stop watching golf for outcomes and start watching for decisions.
Once you see that, a tournament broadcast shifts more from entertainment to a free four-hour practice session. And you don’t even have to move. Unless you want your wife to yell at you.
And if she does, just tell her you’re studying. It’s “educational”.
A quick word before we continue: We’ve just crossed over 500 subscribers this week and I wanted to take a moment to thank you all. It truly means a lot to me.
That being said, I’ve decided to run a little promo offering 30% off annual subscriptions to celebrate. That’s a full year of ideas designed to help you shoot lower scores for less than a box of ProV1s lol.
I want you all to read the premium content because I truly believe that’s where a lot of the game-changing and actionable info lives, while also still making it worth my time to produce.
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Tip #1: Go In With Intent
The range is not the place to wander aimlessly and beat balls without a plan. Neither is the couch!
Before you sit down, pick one or two focus areas — pre-shot routine, tee shot strategy, short game decisions, etc… It could be anything. Then track what you see. Hole, situation, what you would do, what the pro does, result.
Tip #2: Watch the Routine
Every tour player operates from a system.
Behind the ball, they are assessing lie, wind, and slope. All of this happens before they select a club. Watch closely.
They are choosing a specific target — not a general direction. They commit to a shot before they ever step into their address.
Into the ball, it is the same number of looks, the same tempo, the same trigger. Doesn’t matter if it’s Sunday with a one-shot lead or Thursday at 7 in the morning.
Tip #3: Course Management
If you’ve watched a golf tournament on TV, sometimes they will show the same hole a dozen times. And if you watch closer, most of the pros miss in the exact same spot. That’s no coincidence.
Golf is a dispersion game. Hit 50 balls with a 7-iron. They don’t all land in the same spot — they form a pattern. That’s true even for pros (their pattern is just a lot tighter than yours lol).
That pattern is your dispersion. Tour players understand their dispersion intimately. They do not aim where their best shot goes. They aim where their entire pattern stays out of danger.
Unless they are in a position to go for it, or need to play aggressively on Sunday, they hit the safe side of a green. They take bunkers and water completely out of play. When a shot finishes close to the hole, that’s the exception, not the rule. Golf broadcasts usually only show the best shots. Remember that. They rarely show the average shots.
How to use this while watching: before every shot, ask yourself where you would aim, where the danger is, and where the safest miss is. Then watch the pro. See if you’re correct. It’s actually fun to do.
Tip #4: Short Game Lessons
Ignore the highlight reel short game shots. Take note of the regular ones.
What casual viewers see: flop shots, spin, creativity, highlight reel.
What you will notice when you start looking: most pros choose the simplest available shot, keep the ball low whenever the play allows it, and land it on a very specific spot. Count it during the next round you watch — how often do they hit a low runner versus a high-risk flop.
Also take note of run out. The highlight real only shows the hard hit pitch shots that check up and stop. Pay attention and you’ll see all the bump and runs that roll out and finish inside 3 feet with easy tap ins.
Tip #5: Putting Pace
Tour players almost never blow a putt six feet past the hole. It’s actually incredible.
They are elite at pace control, consistent routine, and committed reads. Watch how many looks they take, how long they stand over the ball, and how far past the hole lag putts actually finish.
Pick one player’s routine and match it — rhythmically. Incorporate their routine into yours. Their number of looks. Number of practice strokes. The time they stand over the ball.
Routine and consistency in putting is highly underrated.
Side Note: Featured Groups
I highly recommend subscribing to ESPN+. They offer a feature for a dedicated solo group broadcast, followed hole by hole.
I find it way more enjoyable than watching the main feed. It’s not even close.
The full pre-shot routine is on camera. The walking pace, the caddie conversations, the reads, the deliberation — all of it. None of the editorial cuts to leaderboard graphics or commercials for new drivers lol. Just unfiltered golf.
And here is the part that makes it incredibly instructive: you see the bad shots. You see the scrambling in real time. The recovery planning, the lie assessment, the adjusted target. You almost find yourself rooting for trouble because watching a tour player problem-solve from a difficult position teaches you more than watching a perfect shot.
The main broadcast shows you the highlights. The solo feed shows you the raw game.
If you have ESPN+ and have not used this feature, do it immediately.
Final Takeaway
If you know what you’re looking for, each weekend provides a masterclass on how the game of golf should be played, free of charge.
Every shot. Every decision. Every recovery.
I’m not saying to never watch golf as a fan. I’m also not saying that sitting and watching golf is better than playing — it’s not. But from time to time, if you find yourself relaxing watching the Sunday broadcast, tune in your course management ears, and note what you see.
Stop watching like a fan. Start watching like a player.
Hope you all have a great week. Get out and play! Or watch on TV! lol
Tommy
Before you go, it would help me out to know your handicap. I’m trying to gather data on which topics to cover in the future. Thanks
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