Eric Cogorno Uncovers Golf's Best-Kept Secrets

Today, we've got the exceptional Eric Cogorno with us, a name synonymous with transformation in the golf coaching arena, particularly known for his massive influence and dominance in the online golf teaching world. Eric has over 72 million views, over 220,000 students taught online, over 350,000 youtube subscribers, and has taught over 30,000 in person lessons. He has been named the top teaching professional in the state of Pennsylvania and worked with the likes of Sir Nick Faldo and David Ledbetter. 

In 2023, his YouTube platform outperformed all others in the online golf teaching space. From the nuances of exaggerated technique to the finesse of striking just the right mental chord, Eric's insights offer a slice into the discipline of top performers versus the everyday golfer.

But how did he get here, and what makes his approach a so unique and effective? We'll get a glimpse into his journey from financial struggle to embracing the rich greens of golf coaching. Amid tech talks and the mental game, we'll also get personal with Eric's story of the shift from potential baseball stardom to a leader in golf coaching. Plus, we'll hear about my own brush with the surreal – yes, Eric, I'm going to tell you about my albatross.

Get ready to tee off with us as we explore golf aids, the essential ingredients of success in golf, and how confidence and frequent tournament play can shape your game. Don't miss out - this talk is not just for golfers but for anyone seeking inspiration. 

00:00 Albi praises Eric's unique teaching gift
04:45 New You Tube Channel: Lessons I've Learned with Eric Cogorno
10:37 How Eric Found Golf
13:57 Transitioned from player to coach
18:23 COVID increased competition, but also expanded opportunities.
20:07 Effective coaching can be achieved through video.
25:20 Albi shares Brad Brunner (Kangeroo) Korn Ferry tour player turned golf instructor.
26:49 Learning from Nick Faldo about winning mindset.
32:56 Improve swing by focusing on shaft line.
35:26 Tech and the future of golf.
39:21 Passionate about golf and personal development podcast.
40:42 Exclusive golf giveaways and experiences for subscribers.

Be Sure to Check Out Our Website: Dityama.fm
Youtube: @dityama
instagram.com/dityama.fm

Eric Cogorno:
corgornogolf.com

youtube: @CogornoGolf
instagram.com/ericcogorno
https://www.youtube.com/@LessonsIveLearned-EricCogorno

Creators & Guests

Host

Brandon Redding, "ALBI"

Like a walk-off Albatross to win, this podcast is a rare bird indeed. Less etiquette, More hilarious, No story is too wild for our golf podcast. sept 23 launch

Guest

Eric Cogorno

While Eric Cogorno is best known for the golf instruction he provides on his YouTube channel and Instagram page, he’s actually spent nearly two decades building a reputation as a highly respected Performance Golf Coach. He is intuitively able to combine the art and science of golf to design (seemingly) simple strategies unique to each individual student that lead to significantly improved performance for golfers at all levels. In 2017 Eric took the experience he gleaned from giving more than 20,000 in-person golf lessons to YouTube. His distinct style of clear language and simplified concepts have attracted more than 200,000 followers across his channels and many millions of views from all across the globe. Looking to bring his golf instruction into the digital age, Eric launched cogornogolf.com in 2018. He’s on a mission to make world-class golf instruction available to everyone and – through the process – create the biggest and best online golf school in the world. Born and raised in the Lehigh Valley, PA, Eric was a scratch golfer by the age of 15. He golfed throughout high school and while attending Lehigh University. Eric has been featured on Forbes.com and was voted as a Golf Digest Best In State Teacher.

What is Did I Tell You About My Albatross?

Host "Albi" made a 1/600 million, walk-off albatross (2 on a par 5) to win a 2 day golf tournament in Tampa, FL. So he started a podcast to tell the world about it and to find/share stories like his.

Welcome to ‘Did I Tell You About My Albatross’, the golf podcast that delves into the most incredible, improbable, and downright mind-blowing moments in golf.

Every episode feels like teeing it up with your favorite foursome, filled with laughter, storytelling, and the camaraderie that makes golf so unique.

The inception of this podcast is rooted in one of golf’s rarest feats: a walk-off albatross. In the 2020 Member-Member tournament at Carrollwood Country Club in Tampa, Florida, Albi (Host) defied 1 in 600 million odds, making a 2 on the final par 5, last hole/ last shot securing a miraculous win. This monumental shot wasn’t just a game-changer on the course; it transformed Albi’s life.

Join Albi and his Co-hosts: Sheppard (pro athlete whisperer/performance coach guru), and Panda (PGA Teaching Professional) as they uncover the best "did i tell you about...." moments in and around golf.

Discover the magic, the mayhem, and the moments that make golf the incredible game it is.

I've been fortunate to do some work with Nick Faldo. We did little podcast stuff

with him at performance golf. Yeah. So we get to pick his brain a lot.

And I was talking to him two days ago about this, and he said when

he would go to majors, he knew there was only maybe five to

ten guys that really had a chance to win, and the rest were kind of

just there. And I was like, what is that?

How do you get that? Are you born with that? Do you learn it? And

he said when he would get in those pressure moments, he would get

excited and look forward to it and want to show off.

He said a lot of guys get to those moments, and they get scared,

fearful and afraid. And I thought that context was

kind of pretty good there, where I'm like, you know what? I think that's correct.

Did I tell you about my albatross? Hey, yo. Here we

go. Come on. Welcome to another episode of did I tell

you about my albatross? I'm your host, Albie. This is the golf podcast

for honest degenerates. It's like teening up with your favorite foursome every week and

diving into the best stories in and around golf. You guys

ready to tee off? Let's go. We at it. Chilling on the right side of

the green. Sip a little something.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of did I tell you about my

albatross? I'm your host, Alby, and boy, do we have a good one for you

today. I've got ericorno with

ericornogolf.com. And Eric,

actually, Eric, do you mind if I just introduce you by sharing some

stats with my audience? Okay. All right. You've taught

over 35,000 in person lessons I've got here. You've

taught over 200,000 golfers online. You've been named one of Golf

Digest's best young teachers in 2023. Golf

Digest has also named you the best teacher in the state of

Pennsylvania. You pioneered. I love this, by the way. You pioneered

the reverse slice sequence. You've been featured in Forbes. And really, I

mean, talking about golf publications, you're everywhere. You've partnered with some of the greatest

golf mines in the world, including Sir Nick Faldo. I've seen you with Ledbetter. You

name it. You have over 79

million views since 2017.

79 million. It's insane. You have a new channel that's

gonna make everyone a better person. It's called lessons I've learned with Erica Gorno.

You have over 300,000 subscribers on your golf

YouTube channel. Eric, Gorno Goff. First of all, Eric, welcome

to the show. But do I have all of that? Do I have all of

that, right? I think that all sounds correct, man. Yeah, I

appreciate. Appreciate that. Appreciate those kind words. Yeah, well, no, man. Well, I appreciate you

hopping on here. You've actually been someone. You don't even really know this, but you've

actually been someone that, you know, I subscribe to for quite some time now. I've

learned a lot from you, and you have a gift, and, I mean, I've.

So. So, Eric, just so you know, man, I have, like, I'm a four to

five handicap. I've taken lessons from probably, I

don't know, maybe 50 or so, 50 or so

instructors, and I've landed with one of my co hosts, actually, on the

podcast. He's a PGA teaching pro, and he was really upset that he couldn't join

us today. And he's awesome. Don't be wrong. He's

great. But, man, you have a special gift in the fact that you're able to

pass along a particular lesson in a very digestible

and very applicable way. Like, a lot of times I'll go through these

lessons with different instructors, and they're, I mean, you know, they're all great in their

own right, but the one thing that I think is very, very difficult is to

be able to actually, you know, translate what they're actually

saying in something that's digestible, something that's applicable, and something that you can

actually start using right away. And I feel like you, dude, you're a pro at

that. Thanks, man. I appreciate that. And, you

know, there's obviously before we started doing videos, you know, like,

I spent my first ten years trying to get really great at

coaching. And one of the things, man, I learned early on was to be

a really effective coach, you have to be great at communicating

with the person in front of you. You got to be able to distill. You

know, the golf swing is remarkably

complicated, but at the same time, beautifully simple.

Right? Which is kind of like a weird dynamic. And when you're

coaching someone to be a great coach, you've got to be able to communicate with

the human in front of you really, really well. And I think what served me

well was I studied a lot of communication and worked on that just for my

one on one lessons for ten years before we started saying, hey, let's start doing

some YouTube videos. And so it's sort of a natural transition to being

on camera for me and trying to basically communicate what I would

communicate to one person in front of me, to the masses. And how do you

take that lesson and make it fairly applicable for everyone?

So I appreciate that. That's something that was definitely a learned skill for me. Yeah,

well, I think it's one that's really important that you focus on that, because I

think it's a differentiator for you. And I know one of the reasons that you're

here today is because you're launching this new YouTube channel, which I'm fascinated by. It's

something that, you know, I, you know, with the podcast and everything that we've been

doing, obviously it's more golf focused, but really, you know, maybe it makes

sense. All my listeners can tune out. They've heard this story on just about every

episode. So let me just explain to you, Eric, how this podcast came

about and why I was so excited to bring you on, because I think it

does relate to this new, you know, this new channel that you're, that you're

launching. So, you know, really. And I, by the way, I love telling the

story. So the year is 2020. Member, member golf

tournament. My buddy and I, five, final hole, two day tournament, final

hole. It was a par five. We call it pine one. So we ended up.

We actually ended the tournament on the first hole. It was a shotgun tournament. Anyway,

so we tee off righte off, hit a really good drive,

and I was 247 out. Three wood, it goes in. Now,

that's not even the crazy part. The crazy part is that we had two buddies

that were waiting for us to finish, so they were actually at the, at the

hole. We go over there, and I start looking for this ball. And one of

my buddies, Nick, he goes, hey, man, did you hit a good shot? And I

was like, oh, that's probably one of the best three boys I've ever hit. He

was like, yeah, it went way over the green, man. It's somewhere over there. So

I start looking for this thing. Can't find it anywhere. Finally, I'm like, dude, where's

this ball? And he said it went in the hole. And so I'm like, all

right, great. So we lose our mind, we go inside, we turn our scorecard in,

and, Eric, this is where things just get, like, bonkers. They're

like, oh, yeah, by the way, going into that last hole, you were three shots

back of the lead. So with that albatross, you ended up tying

for the win of the tournament. And, I mean, we were doing a Calcutta at

our club, so we won a couple thousand dollars. Dude, I thought I was gonna

be famous. I thought I was gonna have your following by now. I thought immediately

I was gonna like, so, but no one cares about my golf shot. Like, no

one cares. My wife's sick of me talking about it. My friends, too. So I'm

like, I'm gonna start a podcast, and I'm gonna tell the whole world about it

until Scott Van Pelt and I are doing what you and I are doing right

now, and I'm on sports centers. That's the whole premise. But really, the whole reason

I bring that up, Eric, is because this new channel that

you're bringing to market, which I love, and correct me if I'm wrong, get me

on the guardrails here. But it's really more along the lines of, like, personal development,

the mental side of things, and what that one shot taught me. I mean,

yeah, it's a lucky shot. I get that. But, dude, I've started living my whole

entire life a lot differently. Like, now I kind of think that, like, really

anything's kind of possible. Like, even though, like, you know, the odds of that, which,

by the way, I have the odds. I hired a data scientist to figure out

what the odds are to be in that predicament, to hit an albatross, you know,

to tie for the win a tournament. He came back with one in 600 million.

And because of that, I'm like, now anything's possible, no matter

what. As long as you just think that anything's possible, then you have a much

better chance of realizing whatever it is that you're going after. And

so that's why when I saw this new channel, I was really excited, and I

started digging into it, man. I really think you're onto something. So that's why I

was excited to have you on here.

What a story, dude. Isn't it amazing, too?

Like, you before that shot and you after that

shot were essentially the same human, in terms of,

like, your skills, what you're able to do, your network connection,

but just a mindset shift. Right. Could

completely change your life. Totally. And that's. Yeah, I mean, that is what that

new channel is about, man. Like, for me, with golf, like, you know, golf coaching

is, like, our main shtick. I felt like I

coached golf, played golf, learned enough where I'm like, hey, let me share.

I think I can really help people. And I coached,

spent ten years trying to get great at coaching before we did that. Once we

launched this channel, and I got really into personal development and improved myself

in my life, I spent the past eight years now really studying personal

development, improving my own life, testing things out of myself to where now I

feel just like I did day one in golf. Like, hey, I know enough

now where I feel comfortable being able to share with other

people. And so just like, I share lessons of golf, this is just when we

put out a video, it's just more of like, hey, maybe this will help you.

This is what I've learned. You know, I want to do the same thing with

those, those sort of videos for those that are interested in improving themselves beyond just

the golf. Love it, man. I love it. And then to take that skill that

we were talking about earlier and being able to, you know, to really apply your

teaching style to it, I mean, I think it's going to be. I think it's

going to be really valuable for, you know, really for everyone, not just golfers. That's

why, that's why I'm really excited for it. You know, like, my family, I come

from a family that is, they're really big into personal development. Wasn't taboo. It wasn't

like, you know, it was actually encouraged, like, growing up and everything. And so, you

know, even, you know, but this golf stuff that I talk about, I've had a

lot of guests on, and they're don't, don't get me wrong, they love it. And

I have friends that, you know, tune into the podcast just cause they're my friends.

But, you know, like, people like that, that maybe aren't, like, goth fanatics will

actually be able to get, you know, something from it. Because, again,

it's that teaching style that I think differentiates you. Eric,

I got a favorite ask. Can you just kind of maybe share with me your

journey from a golf perspective? Can you maybe, first

of all, this whole concept of being scratched by age 15 is just

incredible. But maybe just share with me what your

journey and how you became one of the top online teaching pros.

Yeah, sure, man. So I grew up playing all kinds of different sports.

Baseball, basketball, football, golf. Well, I didn't start golfing until I

was probably, like, 1213 ish. But I played baseball and

basketball my whole life. And I think, like a lot of us, you know, like,

I was a good baseball player, which in my mind meant, like, oh, I'm gonna

be the major league baseball player. And you

quickly realize that, like, okay, you're not as good as you think you are. So

I started golfing in middle school. Cause my dad played on the weekends with

his friends, with his buddies. And I looked up to my dad. I think, like,

a lot of young boys do when you're growing up. And so I just wanted

to hang out with my dad and his friends, and that's kind of how I

got into the golfing. I never

forget. He gave me a. He got me this little set of clubs. It was

like a pitching wedge. And I was probably in, like, yeah, it's probably 6th grade

at this point, and I think of myself as a good athlete at this time,

right, for context, right? And I take the pitching wedge, drop a ball down in

the backyard. We had, like, an acre and a half, and I hit a ball.

My first swing. Pured it, like, couldn't have hit the ball any better like

that. And then every other shot I hit was like, a shank

duff high, left low, right that day. And it drove me nuts,

you know, I was like, gosh, I can do whatever I want with a ball

and bat and, you know, whatever, but I really had a hard time hitting that

freaking ball that was just sitting there, right. And so, you know, I think

out of wanting to have my dad and his friends and just the obsession of,

why am I not good at this? Right away from, like,

let's say, 6th grade, when I'm like, hey, I'm going to start golfing. I'm playing

all these other sports. By, like, the end of 7th grade, 8th grade, I'm like,

I'm going to quit everything else and just do this. Just golf. And

so, yeah, man, I went from just kind of playing to, like, by the time

I was 15, you know, 9th into 9th, 10th grade was like, scratch

started shooting around par under par and some local tournaments. And then I went from

thinking I was gonna be a pro baseball player to like, hey, I'm gonna play

on the PGA Tour. Which, again, you quickly

realize it's not. There's a lot of kids out there who are really good. So,

you know, by 9th grade, I'm gonna be a PGA

Tour player. By, like, 11th or 12th grade, I'm like, oh, that's probably

not going to happen. I still like the golf. How can I utilize this

to get in a good college, et cetera?

So I went and played at a small school in Pennsylvania called Lehigh.

Played there for a little bit. And so,

for context, this is 2008 ish, my

freshman year, when everything happens with the economy. So

I'm going into Lehigh. I'm thinking like, okay, I'm going to play

golf. I'll do finance, kind of go work Wall street, whatever. All

these kids that were in my recruiting class, that were recruiting me the year before,

they were getting these mbas from Lehigh and go getting, like, six figure jobs out

of school. And then a couple months later, right, the economy obviously goes

way down. These same kids who just went to school for six years had all

this debt from school, can't get a job anymore. So I'm like,

okay, hey, maybe I gotta pivot a little. And at this time, and I'm gonna.

This is. This is us getting the golf coaching here in a moment. At this

time, I'm working at a local golf course, Bethel golf club, picking balls in

the range, and I'm making minimum wage, maybe

six, $7 an hour type of thing, right? And I'll never forget, this

was August, and it was hot out, and I'm picking balls

on the range, and our range is bumpy. So, I mean, I'm bumping up and

down. I'm sweating. I'm, like, maybe hungover. I remember

not feeling great, right? I'm, like, pissed off about doing this thing, and I drove

the picker on the side of the range where the teaching area was, and

there was a guy there, one of my best friends named Paul viola. I saw

him as I was picking balls, giving this lesson to this old guy.

They hit maybe, like, ten balls. This guy's just butting little shots out there.

And I never. It looked very easy. He's under the shade, you know, breezy,

whatever. I'm out there sweating. So I pull up, and he made an offhand

comment that he just got paid $50 for a 30 minutes

lesson. Not like braggy. I don't remember what it. But he remembered him saying

that, and, like, a light bulb went off in my mind. That was like,

I've got to work 8 hours picking balls to make $50? You're telling

me you just made $50 in 30 minutes getting this guy to hit a ball?

I could do that, right? And so that's how my coaching started. Like,

the real. I'd love to say I had this passion. I wanted to help people,

yada, yada, but it was really financially, I'm like, hey, I

could make a lot more money coaching than I could picking balls. And the

same thing happened, dude, where when I first started coaching,

things for me typically were coming pretty easy. I was good at school, sports, whatever.

I gave my first couple of golf lessons, and I was really bad, like

anyone is. But the lessons went really poorly.

And just like when I had that first pitching wedge, where I'm like, okay, why

is this so difficult? It made me obsessed. The same thing happened

with the coaching, where I was like, damn, I'm not good at this. I'm

getting really bad lessons. And that started a ten year journey

of me being obsessed with getting better at the coaching. And

that's how we led up to, you know, then to fast forward

from there. I'm spending a lot of time doing in person coaching. This

happened like, 1819 years old. By the time I'm like

26, 20. Well, almost ten years. So 18. So I'm probably 28 years

old. I'm teaching like six days a week. I'm out there. I

feel like I'm back in this picking balls thing. I'm grinding out in the sun.

I feel I was, like, 27 and, like, burnout.

Yeah, like tired, you know? And so I'm thinking, gosh, I can't, man, if

I'm, like, 56 years old, I can't be out here, you know, doing this forever.

So that's when I started. That's when the whole thing started. Like, okay, let's start

doing some videos. How do I grow our audience? I started looking at. I saw,

like, Grant cardone and Gary Vaynerchuk, and I'm watching these videos about

monetizing online, and that's where then the YouTube idea came

from. Yeah, because. So what year was that? That was. You're saying

that was 2016. 2016. Okay. 1617.

Yeah, yeah. I mean. I mean, man, I must. I

probably started following you not too long after that, I think. Because my buddy

here remembers at a club here in Tampa, and, you know, he was

a huge fan. He took, I think. I'm not sure. I guess whatever one of

the first offerings you had that was a subscription based. He was like, you gotta

check this guy out. I hopped on board and we both took

lessons. I mean, we've been following you guys for, I mean,

shoot, however long that is. What

do you think the difference is? I've had. And it's interesting because I had Matt

Scharf on. Cause he's got these two albatrosses that were filmed and recorded and

everything. It's just insane. Unbelievable. It

changed things for him. And he was running down the course completely

losing his mind because of the joy that you had. I know that feeling. But

I was talking to him a little bit about his journey and similar. He

started at a time where they just really wanted to, you know, they love golf.

They really want to start documenting it. They came up with these crazy, like, you

know, different challenges that. I mean, like playing golf with a frying pan. Like,

they doing weird things and it somehow. But. But I think the timing was right.

And obviously, look where they. Look where these guys are now. I mean, it's just

unbelievable. I think also, too, the fact that it was before COVID So, like, it

was also a perfect transition and you were set up perfectly for

COVID when. When, you know, everything actually did convert to online. I mean, I'm

in. I'm in sales for my nine to five job and, you know, I do

a lot of customer meetings on site and everything. But, man, has that even shifted.

And it really hasn't shifted back. Like, we primarily now do online meetings

and it's all like, you know, it's all virtual. And I feel like you guys

were, I feel like you guys were, you know, set for that from, you know,

from day one. So how did COVID, did it just actually increase things for you

or how did that work? Yeah, it's interesting, dude, we, like, we

had a side note thing. I had it on albatross too, when I was in

high school. Oh, no way. Tell me about that. I'm part of that. Yeah, I

had a two, made a two on a par five driver

three iron hole number two at my home course at Bethlehem, one hop boom in

the hole. I actually birdied one, double

eagled two, birdied three. Wow, that's quite the start. And then I

got so uncomfortable and then shit the bed the rest of my hand.

But, yeah. Anyway, so we put our first video up January 1,

2017 was our first YouTube video. So we

talk about this. It's interesting. When we first started, when I was doing the

online or in person coaching, let's say 080708

into 2016, 2017, there wasn't that

many people doing videos that had membership sites and there

was maybe three or four

good ones, maybe. So the market was very

small and so in 20,

1718 1920s, we were building up. We started gaining a lot of market share

in terms of the online coaching. So on a positive note,

COVID was good because people were home. They're more open online coaching. So that helped

some. But it went from like, the competition went from like there

was five of us to there's 500, you know, golf coaches doing online

coaching. So I'm not sure, you know, looking back upon it now, I think it

sort of, the competition rose so much that it, I think it sort of

evened itself out. It'd be interesting if that didn't happen where we would, where we

would be. But certainly with the people, you know, people being. Getting nets at

home and practice mats at home and being more open to online coaching.

We actually, we just had our best YouTube year ever this past year,

2023. Yeah. So we had our best year in terms of performance

across the board. So we're still, you know, growing every year, which is, which is

good. But the COVID thing's interesting because everyone does online coaching

now. Yeah. So, you know, there was, there was far less than we were when

we started. When you get these one on one lessons online, you know, I don't

really think you lose much from the teacher being there. I mean, I guess there

is sort of a lag in the sense that you don't get that instant feedback.

You don't get that, you know, but, I mean, now there's even live. You can

even do live variations where you can actually stream it,

I guess. First of all, do you guys do that? Is that an offering that

you have right now where you can stream, or is it still just like, hey,

record a video and then I'll tweak it.

It's still like 80%. Record video and I'll tweak it. We do some of the

streaming stuff and it's like, listen, there's nothing as good as in person,

any sort of online thing. It might be 80% as good, 90% as good,

but it's also, like, wildly more affordable.

Right. Like, our offerings online start at $79. If

you even want to think about coming to see, you know, in person, we're talking

350 for an hour, 1500 bucks for a couple hour type of thing. So it's

like the bang for your buck with online coaching is. Is

very good. And I think, you know,

I've honestly, man, through doing the videos and the analysis and sending back a

plan, I found that the effectiveness is

about the same as even if I was with them in person or if you.

Yeah, or even if you're like, you're doing the live, like a Facetime or

something. The benefit of doing the live FaceTime is you

can get them to exaggerate more faster. So

you might be like, hey, yeah, I know I'm supposed to do x move, but

then when you're doing it, you're like, oh, that's not enough. Do more instead of

waiting a week, three weeks, a month. So from that perspective, like,

if I'm in, if I'm in person with you, the benefit

is there's no stones left unturned and you're going to get the full. This is

how far I got to go. If you're by yourself, which 98% of your

practice, you're gonna be by yourself in between sessions and stuff, right?

It's like, being very clear on, this is what we're doing.

This is how much. This is how I know if I've done it correctly or

not. Like, really going through those pieces, but like anything else,

dude, you know, we. Let's. Let's say we do a thousand online lessons a

month. It's like you do a thousand anything a month to get really good

at knowing how to do it, regardless of the format. Yeah. Or the person, I

guess, too. You said something really important there. I think that's. I always forget about.

It's his exaggeration. Like, my buddy. His name's

Lakin. We call him panda just cause he's got an amazing head cover. That's a

panda. But he always says the same thing.

He's like, he'll get me in these weird. It's so crazy. This is the thing

that blows my mind with golf and just golf instruction. It's like, he'll get me

in these really weird positions where I think

I'll even think that I'm like, that is. And it's exaggeration. What he's trying to

do is get me to exaggerate that particular. Whatever he wants me to do. And

then I'll look at my swing, and it'll just feel. It'll look almost

identical to me just swinging like I always do. I'll be like,

this is so weird. This looks totally weird. And then I'll look at the video,

and it's like. You can't even really tell. It's just. It blows my mind. But

is exaggeration, in your opinion? Is that how you get your students to really,

like. Like, I guess pick up that feeling or pick up what you're trying to

teach them? Oh, there's no other way. Oh, really? Yeah, there's no other

way? Yeah. You're just. You're better off just accepting what you just said as

is and just going in with, like, that's the expectation.

And then. Cause I still get the same thing, dude. When I look at my

swing and feel something, it looks completely different

than what I feel is going on, but I know it going in, so it

emotionally doesn't throw me off. Like, I know this is to come.

And what's really key, you said, is that you look at the video where people

really struggle. Like, if you. Because I get a lot of. I go

get a lot of lessons, too, just to make sure I'm on the other side.

I know what that feels like. And, like, if you're

feeling those things, this is for someone listening. If you're feeling those

things, and they feel weird and different. And you don't have

immediate video confirmation where you can look

at it from yourself or your coach. You are in

for a rollercoaster ride. Really? So most players come too far over

the top. The face is open, so they need to

feel like they swing so far from inside. It's

unbelievable. And probably that the club face is so

crazy closed. And how do you know that? You've

exaggerated enough is what the ball did. Oh, wow. So,

like, let's go back to your example. Hey, I'm swinging too far inside out. The

face is too close. Now, there'd be reasons why

you might figure out earlier on. You extend too much, you don't rotate enough,

you release too early, whatever. So you want to find root causes.

But if you swing in now and the face is too close, and let's say

you got to neutralize your path, you might need to feel like you're swinging

wildly over the top, right? Like I could. Dude, I

can't even believe that I can hit a ball from there. But then what did

the ball do if the ball flew straight right? Let's just

say you did it correctly, then by definition, that amount of

holy shit is correct. Today.

Today, right now, a month from now, you might feel that

same. Holy cow. And the ball starts fading a little bit. You did too much.

If the ball's still hooking, you didn't do it enough. And so what I try

and do with students is like, let's just unemotionally accept that that's

just what it is, right? We're stepping on the scale. This is how much we

weigh. This is where we are. And then you can get into doing the, you

know, get the changes going quicker. It's not easy. It's not easy, you know,

but it's straightforward. So, Eric, I've got. I've asked. I've

asked, you know, Matt, I've had a couple other professional golfers on here. Here's the

thing that I'm. I. That blows my mind with golf.

The amount, like, okay, somehow, which, by the way, you started golf,

we said when you were twelve or 13 and you came scratched by 15, is

amazing to me. That's determination, man. That's how much you love your dad, I guess,

is because you just wanted to figure out a way you could hang out with

him more, which I love. But, I mean, you know, you.

Okay. The amount of difference between. And we've got

some amazing players at our club. We've got this one guy right now his name's

Brandon. Shout out to Brandon. He's. He is. He plays on the

canadian tour. Dude, this guy is like a plus six. I think he's a plus

six. And he's right there. I mean, right there. He is by

far, like, one of the best ball strikers I've ever seen. We've got another one,

another buddy that's a friend of the show, he played on the corn ferry tour

for years, and he's this probably the second best ball striker I've ever seen in

my life. But, dude, you take someone like that, and then the fact

that my buddy on the corn ferry tour, he's got a family now, and he

actually. He's an instructor, so he teaches now. And, you know, he's like, dude, I

just didn't want to do the grind anymore. I'm over it. Like, I would rather

help people and work. I'd still want to be around golf and everything, but

the fact that he. And, I don't know, maybe he is still trying, but the

fact that he didn't make it so far is just mind

boggling to me because the difference between someone like them and then someone on

the PGA tour, like a card carrying pro, and then you have another

layer of, like, the top ten or like the top 15, top 20, dude, it

is just mind boggling me. And, like, you know, do you think, and I've asked

all of them this, but, like, what do you think is the main difference? Because

all those guys are incredible ball strikers. They all understand how to hit the

ball. But, like, what is the difference between that extra layer of.

Extra couple layers, I guess, of talent?

Yeah, I think there's two ways to answer that. Let's say, like, one of

them is, like, physical skills. So, like, guys

that play elite college to pro, to, et cetera, you know, there can be some

level where you actually look at stats. Like they actually hit the ball better,

they chip and putt better, they get their wedges closer to the hole. But there

can be some actual tactical things. But let's say they

all. Let's say we're talking about guys who kind of all hit it the same.

Some guys get the corn fair, some guys get the PJ, some guys win majors.

I've been fortunate to do some work with Nick Faldo. We did little podcast

stuff with him at performance golf. Yeah. So we get to pick his brain a

lot. And I was talking to him two days ago about this, and he

said when he would go to majors, he knew there was only maybe

five to ten guys that really had a chance to win, and the rest were

kind of just there. And I was like, what is that?

How do you get that? You're born with that. Do you learn it? And he

said when he would get in those pressure moments, he would get

excited and look forward to it and want to show

off. He said a lot of guys get to those moments

and they get scared, fearful and

afraid. And I thought that context was kind of pretty good there,

where I'm like, you know what? I think that's correct. I think some of those

guys that get to that high level, let's say we watch them hit five

irons. They hit it about the same. They chip it about the same. They putt

it about the same. They could go out with their buddies and shoot 64 about

the same. But when you're at a tournament and the bright lights are on and

there's people in the crowd and you got to make the cut for a paycheck,

some people rise up and some people don't. And that's usually not because

your swing mechanics, a lot of people want to blame it on swing

mechanics. If I just improved my swing a little bit, I'd do

better in that scenario. I don't think so. I don't think

so. Okay. That's why, like a lot of us, like, if we go.

Common amateur problem. To answer the same question, Eric, when I go out

in the range, I hit it really good, but when I go on the course,

not as good, man, when I play with my buddy and I have a drink

or two, I shoot this, but then I go play in the tournament that I

care about, and I shot ten shots higher. Right? What happened? So it's a lot

of the same. That ain't because your swing. Yeah, that ain't swing mechanics.

Right? That same swing worked really good in the range. What happened is there was

consequences. You cared more, you were fearful of a different outcome, and

you're not in that environment enough. Like a lot. This, this, this always cracks

me up. Okay. Hey, Eric, you know, I play good with my buddies, but I

play in. I play in this tournament twice a year, and I never play as

well. I say, you just remind me, how often do you play with your buddies?

Twice a week, all year. Okay, so you play 100 rounds with your buddies per

year, and you play in two tournament rounds. Like,

which one do you think is going to go better? Totally. Yep. Okay. The thing

you do more often. So part of that, too, with those guys is, like, getting

in the environment enough, learning how to embrace it and feel excited about

it and get the show off. Like Windham Clark has been talking about with his

mental coach. He talks about just, it's. It's not all mindset, but it's a lot

of it. Well, I love that. I've actually never heard anyone say it

that way. Show off. Because I think that also, you know, that that kind

of ties into the confidence and just believing, like, having this, like,

on almost, like, obscene, you know,

confidence in yourself. And maybe, you know, a lot of these guys are kind of

quiet about it. Some guys are braggadocious and, like, you know, that's. But, like, I

did talk to, you know, my cornfury, like, in depth about it, and he was

saying that, oh, you meet, like, most of the guys on the corn ferry tour,

even the corn ferry tour, right. Or, you know, probably even more so on the

PJ tour. They have just this, like, incredible amount of

confidence that, you know, that they don't even really maybe show on the outside,

but they are, like, they're cocky dudes. Like, they're typically very cocky because

you almost have to, like, have a delusional type of self confidence. I kind of

do that. All right. So I kind of do that on a different level, Eric.

And the one thing I've got going for me is my 60 degree. I've become,

they call me, they call me Magellan at our

club because I can get up and down, but, dude, it's because my irons. I'm

like, I've been put in the situation where I need to get up and down

so often because I can't hit the green. That, yeah, I've become pretty good with

my wedge, but different type of confidence, I guess. But

I love that, man. It's a really interesting way to put it. And that goes

to show, even though you're saying jokingly, it's like you got really good at chipping

because you had to do it a lot. Yeah. So, like, for those that are

listening, right, if you want to play better in this member tournament or whatever, once

or twice per year, you got to play in a bunch more tournaments leading up

to that. That's got to be your normal. The normal has got to be the

tournament. I could do a speech all day long in front of a mirror, but

as soon as I step on stage in front of 10,000 people, way different. How

do you get better at that? You got to step on stage more, right. You

got to put yourself in the environment more. No doubt. Yeah. All right. I'm a

big swing egg guy, what do you think? I mean,

I've literally, I could point to. I could probably show five right here. I've got,

I've counted, Eric, I've got 36 of these things I've been doing. I'm going to

do a segment where my, where my, my co host and I, we're going to

be breaking down all the swing aids and we're going to be rating them and

reviewing. Um, obviously, I would think that the swing aids are

probably good for certain people and certain, you know, other ones not, I think, probably

different. Different strokes for different folks. But, I mean, is there something that you

think could benefit, like, to all the listeners out there? Is there just something that

maybe has worked for a lot of your students that, you know, maybe more so

than others? Yeah, it's a good question. So,

like, you know, we've had our, this is our 8th year of the channel. I

probably personally tested, without exaggerating,

maybe between 102 hundred training aids realistically.

And we. So I get sent training aids all time. People are like, hey, try

this. What do you think? You want to promote it? And we've, we've, we've promoted

four in eight years out of 100.

Interesting. So, so I don't,

you know, I think there's, like, certain things for certain people, you know, that are,

that are pretty good. I get a lot done with a lot of people with

like an alignment rod and a pool noodle or like a range

bucket. So the four things we promoted, to

give you an idea, I mean, the hanger, the wrist. Yeah. Got that one. Yep.

Then it goes on. Works great. You know, I think for certain

people who need that, I think that's really effective. We promoted the precision impact.

The thing you snap. Seen that one? Yep. It clicks. Right?

I like that. You know, it clicks. And this one holds you in it. Oh,

okay. Which I like. Yeah. Keeps you. It keeps you back in there like

that. We did, we did one other with performance

golf and then we have. So I just got done testing.

Did you see the thing with David Ledbetter the straightaway? Yes, I've got that one

little line on it. So,

you know, I go into all those things extremely skeptical. Okay. You know, I think

there's like a, literally one in 2030 chance that I'm gonna like the

thing, but I like that. Okay. You know, now it's another one where

I'm like, I don't know that it's for everyone, but if someone struggles with the

takeaway, getting way under plane or way out, the little visual that that thing

gives on you, that gives you the takeaway. So we're gonna do some videos on

that. That's top of mind for me.

Here's what I would say. This isn't the training aid, but like,

you know, eight out of ten golfers, you

could probably make a really big improvement if you

could, when you take your setup, draw a line up the shaft

like a swing plane line, and just learn to

keep your club on that line. If you watch really good

ball strikers, and I'm talking only from takeaway to about hip high

on the way back and then for about hip high on the way down and

impact. If you look at any ball strikers like this could be a challenge for

you guys. Go on YouTube and look at it even just use your finger, a

little line on their club head from hip high into the ball and from setup

to hip high and you look at enough swings, the top hundred ball

strikers, 95 of them would have that thing riding almost right

on that into the, into the golf ball. Getting the club on plane, however

you do that, like for you, that hits hooks, you're probably almost too far under

for sure. Into the ball, you're probably too far under. And so getting the club

on plane, whether you're a slicer and you're over it, and you got to learn

how to feel under it. Or for you, if you're a hooker, you're under it,

you got to feel over it. That solves a lot of problems if

you can combine that with learning how to get the face

square to the path, which is a loaded suggestion, because there's a lot of

ways to do that. Yeah,

I would say the one takeaway would be figure out a way to get the

club on plane if there's a one sentence takeaway. Love it. Yeah, no, I love

that. I mean, yeah, most of them are snake oil. I mean, and I'm just

a sucker for them. We had these one guys, by the way, I would love

to get your opinion on this, too. So I had these long drive guys on

and they, you know, they compete competitively in the long drive stuff. And

by the way, one of the guys shout out, this guy Sam, he's got Eric.

This blew my mind. He is one of like maybe four or five people on

the planet that people know about that has a ball speed of over

240 mph. It's just crazy. I mean,

dude, these guys listen to this. They crack. Like, this is a problem for them.

They actually have to, like, they crack between four and like

six golf balls every range session. Like crack em. And I mean, like, they're like,

we have to think about it because, like, especially if they're hitting into their net

at home, they're like, we have to get special balls because we don't wanna, like,

we don't wanna break our face in our club, but we also don't want to,

like, go through a bunch of, like they're not getting balls for anyway. It's just

crazy. So, like, I was talking to them, they came out, and, you know, and

it's, you know, it's a speed training, it's a speed training aid. But, like, I

guess my point is that, you know, I'm a tech guy, right? So, like, I

think the technology and, like, just golf instruction moving forward

is going to be so cool to watch, though. You know, I think that, you

know, one, a couple, couple last questions here before, and I'll

get you, I'll get you on out of here. All right. I ask every, I

ask everyone these two silly questions, Eric. These are not, like, these are not really

golf related questions, but I ask everyone just because I'm also, I, like,

silly. And, and these are, these are certainly, certainly silly. So can

a human being, Eric, can a human being eat a golf

ball and survive?

Hmm. Man, I feel like

it'd be hard to swallow a golf ball, huh? Could a human being eat a

golf ball? Could they swallow a ball, have it live in their body and survive?

I would say yes. I think human beings are resilient. Okay. All right, cool. I

don't, by the way, I don't have an answer to any of these. I just

like collecting. These are the worst because everyone's, like, waiting for the answer,

and I don't know. Yeah, I mean, you take someone like Shaquille O'Neal, like a

big dude, like, I'm imagining you probably get it down. But, you know, the whole,

the whole reason this came up is because, you know, after a certain number of

subscribers, I don't even know the number, but my co host was like, all right.

I told him, I'm like, if we get a certain number of subscribers, I can

do this full time. I'm not going to tell the albatross story anymore. And he

was like, there is zero chance. And if you do, you have to eat this

golf ball. And so anyway, and I'm like, are you trying to kill me? Because

I think it would. I don't know. I go back and forth anyway, that's how

I, that's how it goes. Came up. So then the second question, if you. Could

get it down, I think. I agree. I think it's more of, like, the down.

Yeah. All right, second question. Not goth related.

Are there more. Now, think of anything alive. So anything that's

alive in the world. Are there more eyes or more

legs in the world?

Mmm.

Yes. I mean, like, immediately my mind goes to, like, there's a lot of creatures

with force. Four legs, right? A lot of creatures with four legs. There's

spiders with lots of legs. There's thousand leggers. But I think everything

only has two eyes. So I'm gonna. In my

mind, that just clarified to me that it should be, obviously, legs, which makes me

think, am I missing something else? Aquatic. Are there things with eyes with.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I am missing something else.

We don't even know what's in the ocean. I would say there's more. Ooh.

I would say there's more legs than eyes, but I'm not, like, throwing money. Dude,

thank you so much for caring enough to actually answer that question with some thought.

Yes, I'm. I'm an eyes. I'm a nice guy. I've gone back and forth this.

I've asked everyone, and it's so great. I love these questions, Eric,

because fish. Out there, though, too.

Yeah. That's. You ask 100 people, you can get 51 way and 50 the other.

And, man, people blow up about it. Like, they get all worked up over, like,

trying to figure out and, like, trying to debate it. So, anyway, it's just. It's

a fun question. Well, any. Anything else before I let

you run, man, anything else that you want to promote or, I mean, anything that

we can, you know, obviously send people to if you want to mention your sites.

And I'm going to be putting all of your, you know, all of your websites

and all of your channels and stuff in the. In the comments or in the.

In the description. Yeah, no, I appreciate you having me, man.

I feel like I'm here to serve, hopefully help. Help some people golf

better, live better, obviously, our. Our YouTube channel. Like, you mentioned being there, golf. You

guys are into golf? Stuff that we share there. A

lot of, like, little quick tips on Instagram, but the full YouTube videos, we did

just start that second YouTube channel. If you're into personal development lessons I've learned with

Eric Gorno, that's a working title, but that's how you search it right

now. And it's cool, man. It's cool. Starting from day one, like, starting a new

channel from day one, like, literally not having any subscribers, no views, and having to

build it back up has been a cool,

humbling, exciting thing to do that I

think over the next ten years we'll build up similar to the

golf thing, and maybe we'll do another pod as that grows and talk more about

that. No, I'll totally look forward to it. I think you're onto something, man, because

these are two things I'm really passionate about. Obviously, golf is a huge passion of

mine. But man, I think it's actually more interesting on the personal development stuff

because to your point, earlier in the conversation, it's like,

we are who we are. It's just like a different shift in

mindset can really unleash, like, who you

really want to be or who you really want to become. And it's just, it's

not that you're a different person, you're not born different, you're not like, nothing really

changed. It's just simply this idea of like, changing the way you think

about things. And that's why the albatross, it's the whole reason I wanted to start

the podcast is because if I can just get more people, like, obviously we love

talking about golf, and golf's just such a great metaphor for life and how we

can get, get to, I mean, that's what I love about it. But if I

can just even a couple, a handful of people, if they can just start thinking

about, like, wow. Like anything truly is possible, I mean, that's a

great shift in the right direction. And then, you know, you can really be whoever

you want to be. So I appreciate you saying that earlier. And yeah, man, I'm

looking forward to kind of stay, you know, staying all over and staying tuned to

your new channel. I'm excited to see you grow it.

Likewise, man. I'm going to, I'm going to keep watching the stuff that you put

out. And this was cool. I'd love to come back whenever

you need to fill a spot. Awesome, man. All right, well, Eric, thanks so much

for joining us. And until next time, everyone, thanks for tuning in.

Did I tell you about my albatross? Thanks for tuning in, everyone. Don't miss

out on our upcoming golf giveaways and experiences. They're exclusive to our

subscribers and all you gotta do is subscribe. And until

next time, golf's easy. Think fairways and greens.