Monday, September 23, 2024

Show Notes

Matt Cook chats with Parker McLachlin about his golf journey, mental coaching, and his unique PGA Tour win in Hawaii. They explore the creation of the Short Game Chef, Parker's coaching philosophy, and what makes his short game coaching stand out. Parker shares practical chipping tips for average golfers and strategies for Bermuda grass. They also discuss instructor rivalries, social media's role, and critiques of standardized methods. Parker introduces the Short Game Chef online program and app, discusses community building, and answers rapid-fire questions. The episode concludes with Tour Championship predictions and closing thoughts.

(0:00) Introduction and Parker McLaughlin's journey in golf
(1:04) Parker McLaughlin's early days and transition to professional golf
(6:05) Hawaiian PGA Tour winners and the role of mental coaching
(9:51) Creation of Short Game Chef and unique PGA Tour win
(13:53) Short game coaching and teaching philosophy
(18:08) Differentiating factors in Parker's short game coaching
(19:49) Chipping advice for average golfers
(28:43) Playing strategies for Bermuda grass
(34:30) Instructor rivalries and social media in golf
(36:38) Short game techniques and variety importance
(47:47) Critique of standardized instruction methods
(49:01) Media's influence on golf instruction
(50:50) Introduction to Short Game Chef online program and app
(58:22) Short Game Chef community building and rapid fire Q&A
(1:04:11) Tour Championship predictions and closing thoughts

Show Transcript

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Welcome back, everybody, to Pull Hook Golf, the
podcast.

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I'm your host, Matt Cook.

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And today, we're diving into the world of short
game mastery because if you've been listening

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to this podcast, you know my short game sucks.

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So we've got a special guest today and PGA Tour
winner and now short game guru, Parker

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McLachlin.

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I mean, your journey through professional golf
is nothing short of inspiring.

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From winning on the PGA Tour to becoming known
now as the Short Game Chef, we're gonna get

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into all of that and how you've dedicated your
career to helping golfers of all levels and

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helping them sharpen their short game skills,
which I think is the most difficult aspect of

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golf, in general.

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But once again, we'll get to that in a little
bit.

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But, folks, in this episode, we're gonna
explore Parker's background.

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We're gonna talk about how his path to the PGA
Tour helped him transition into this Short Game

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Chef and, really the success of his online
platform.

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And then we'll dive into some practical
chipping advice for all of you.

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So without further ado, welcome, Parker.

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Let's get started here.

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Let's get started with your beginning.

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Can you tell us, I mean, from the early days
of, you know, growing up in Hawaii and so

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forth, how'd you ultimately get from a little
kid in Hawaii to making it onto the PGA Tour?

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Yeah.

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I mean, good question.

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I think, no.

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I was always a gym rat.

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So my my dad was a basketball coach, and a
volleyball coach.

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My mom was a volleyball player, like, so I I
was always in the gym.

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And so, I mean, I grew up with a basketball and
a volleyball in my hands, and and those were

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sort of my first two loves.

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And then along came golf when I was sort of
like, you know, 10, 11.

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I got introduced to it, and I was like, I
started to get frustrated.

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Some of my teammates in basketball and
volleyball, they they would show up late, and

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we would have to run lines because of them.

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And I just remember thinking to myself, like,
golf is a little bit more of an individual

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sport, and so however much I work, I usually
see payoff in the end on my end as far as

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success goes.

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So that's sort of what initially attracted me
to golf, and then, you know, I didn't have

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great access to golf courses growing up.

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We weren't a member of any country club or
anything like that.

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I grew up playing at the local muni golf
course.

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It was called Ala Wai Golf Course, and it's
actually the, the most—it had like a Guinness

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Book of World Records for the most rounds of
golf on a golf course in one year, like

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something like 255,000 rounds in a year played.

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It was like the busiest golf course on planet
Earth, right?

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Because you got basically, you know, it's in
Waikiki.

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You got sunshine every day.

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And so they play sixes and six-minute interval
tee times.

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I'm not kidding you.

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It's crazy.

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You get to the third hole, and it's like a
four-group backup.

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You jump the fence, you go across to Jack in
the Box, and you get some food, and you come

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back.

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Anyway, that's how I kind of grew up.

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But I did a lot of, I was more into playing, so
I would always go out in the afternoon.

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Parents would drop me off, and I would play in
the afternoon.

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So I'd go and play nine holes, and I would just
hit a bunch of shots, and I loved the feeling

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of being creative, being behind coconut trees,
and having to shape it up and over or around

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it, left or right.

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So, and then, you know, missing greens and
just, you know, hitting a bunch of shots around

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the greens.

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For me.

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Like that was the really cool part about golf
was the creativity.

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That was what I, what really drew me to the
game.

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And, and then, you know, I was decent in high
school.

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I was good enough to sort of get a half
scholarship to UCLA and went over there and

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played for, a redshirt my first year played for
four more years.

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And then it was sort of like, I was never great
in college, but I had a couple of second-place

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finishes, but I was always kind of, you know,
15th to 35th, I'd say.

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And I, you know, I think, I think for me, I
ended up having a wrist surgery after college

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and it took some time.

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I probably had about nine months where I
couldn't touch a golf club.

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And so I took some time to really work on my
mental game.

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And I met a sports psychologist.

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I started reading a bunch of books.

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We started implementing some of the things I
was learning in the books.

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And, and then I turned pro, after sort of about
a year's time.

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And that was, you know, to me, like, that was,
that was the then separator of going from a

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mediocre college golfer to then I won on every
major mini tour, in the next two years, from

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the Hooters Tour, the Gateway Tour, the All Pro
Tour, the Spanos Tour.

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Like, I won on every single major mini tour the
next couple years after really I didn't win at

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all in college.

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And so a lot of it was just that mental part of
it that I just sort of unlocked, that proper

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sort of mental state for me and how to the
right things to feed my mind, but then also the

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right things, like how to get me into a flow
state.

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And and then I just sort of general, you know,
just gently ascended up to the PGA Tour.

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So a couple of years on the mini tour, one year
on the Korn Ferry Tour, and then, and then got

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my tour card.

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So that was you know, there there's not a lot
of us that come from Hawaii that have made it

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to the PGA Tour.

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I think I think there's been four of us that
have, that have won on the PGA Tour that have

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been born and raised in Hawaii.

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So it's a small, it's a small group.

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Can you name them?

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I I know Collin Morikawa.

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You.

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I don't know the other two, though, off the top
of my head.

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Collin is actually from L.A.

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So it's,

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Dean Wilson.

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That's right.

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The media loves to play it up around how he is
a Hawaiian kid and so forth, but you're right.

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He's L.A.

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His parents were from Hawaii.

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He spent some time there, but, so hang on.

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So let's go back to the list.

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Yep.

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So Dean Wilson, David Ishii, and Ted Makalena.

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Okay.

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And myself.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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That's a good trivia question right there.

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I love that.

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Now, you mentioned something that we talk about
on this podcast a lot, which is around the

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mental side of the game and how you got a
mental coach in order to help you really kind

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of hone in your mental side of the game of
golf.

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And I don't think this is paid enough attention
to per se, but you're going back to where, you

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know, that wasn't a popular thing to do.

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What kind of pushed you to go down that path?

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Man.

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That's a good question.

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I think that, you know, for me, it's, you know,
I was always great at short game.

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You've got Montreux as your background there
behind you.

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And on that Sunday, when I won my only tour
event, I hit five greens in regulation on that

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Sunday and I hit one green in regulation on the
first nine holes and I was 8 for 8 in up and

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downs.

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So I've always been really solid with my short
game.

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And so, you know, when I, you know, I didn't
start this out of like, hey, I'm going to just

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sort of start a business.

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It was like a caddie friend of mine said, look,
your short game's caddied for me a bunch of

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times.

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And he's like, your short game is ridiculous.

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You should do some tips on Instagram about how
people can get better with their short game.

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Like I've never heard anyone describe it the
way you describe it.

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And so I was like, all right.

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So he filmed a dozen videos for me, little
one-minute videos.

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And he helped me sort of set up an Instagram
account because I'd never, I'd never been on

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Instagram before.

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And, and he's like, okay, now you gotta come up
with like a, like a catchy name.

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And I was like, can't just use my own name.

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He's like, no, no, no, come up with like a
catchy name.

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And so I came up with Short Game Chef because,
you know, every shot around the green requires

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some type of different ingredient or some type
of different recipe.

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If you want to go high and soft, or if you want
to go low and spinning, there's all sorts of

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different shots and each shot calls for a
different type of a recipe.

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So for me, I was like, well, short game guru,
not a little too self-serving, short game

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wizard.

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So I was like, I sort of settled on it.

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I knew it was going to be about the short game.

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I wasn't going to be talking about the long
game.

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I was going to be talking about the short game.

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So then I said short game and then chef.

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And then I started as time has gone on, I, you
start to see even on the PGA Tour feed now.

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Someone will hit a short game shot and they'll
be like, that was so saucy.

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Or they'll just have like the chef's kiss, the
chef's kiss emoji.

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Right.

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And it's like, oh my gosh.

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Like, I don't know if it was sort of me that
sort of started that or if it's just the short

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game and, you know, saucy chef, all that
recipe, all that stuff kind of goes together.

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But, but yeah, anyway, that's how it all sort
of got started.

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And literally two days after I had put my
Instagram account up, Kevin's real man reached

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out to me and said, hey, I see you're doing
some short game teaching.

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I'd love to spend a couple of hours with you.

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And so my first paid lesson was to the guy
ranked 93rd in the world.

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And I was like, I better figure this out.

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And then it's just been, it's literally just
been word-of-mouth ever since.

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That's incredible.

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Let's go back though, because most people can't
even dream, or they do dream of winning on the

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PGA Tour.

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And I gotta ask you because this was a unique
win on the PGA Tour, because you mentioned it

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before as to how many greens you hit, but I
believe you only hit one green in your first 10

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holes in that final round and ended up still
winning by seven shots.

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I mean, that's it.

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That once again, another great trivia question.

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What is the who is the only player to hit 1
green in their final 10 hole or their first 10

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holes of the final round and still win by 7
shots?

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It's like, tell us about that experience.

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Oh, man.

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It was, you know, like the first three days, I
just felt like my golf swing was just right in

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the slot.

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I just, I couldn't miss.

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My putting was on point, and, you know, I shoot
68, 62, 66, and I've built up a six-shot lead

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over second, a nine-shot lead over third, and
an 11-shot lead over fourth.

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So, like, I was blitzing the field.

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And then all of a sudden, like the last, like
hole and a half on Saturday, I started feeling

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a little bit tighter through impact.

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The ball started coming off the clubface a
little bit more low heel, which is sort of like

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handle raise and hold onto it for me.

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And it was just like it just I knew it just
didn't quite feel right.

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And I was like, uh-oh.

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I think I might've lost it.

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So, and so I didn't sleep much that night
because I was just, like, you know, in my own

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head, you know, like, oh, I've got a six-shot
lead.

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You know, these are the days of Tiger Woods
where you're like, Tiger's the only guy that

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wins by this much.

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And so I've got this huge lead and, you know,
all the negative thoughts that could possibly

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go through your head go through your head, and
you just all the mental work that I'd done, it

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was, like, trying so hard to just, like, just
keep out the bad thoughts and harness the good

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thoughts.

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Like, Happy Gilmore.

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Right?

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It's like, keep out the bad, harness the good.

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And it was hard.

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It was just hard to do, and it was a it was a
it was a tough night.

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I didn't sleep, hardly at all.

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Late tee time the next day, get out to the golf
course, and and I was just like, okay.

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Just gotta get to the range, and then it'll
it'll all be fine.

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And then I get to the range, and I didn't hit
one shot in the center of the clubface in my

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warmup session.

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And it was just like, oh man, this might be a
rough one.

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I better buckle up and really be ready to
grind.

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And so I did, I grinded one green in
regulation.

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The first nine holes, I was even par.

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Missed the green in regulation on 10, made
bogey.

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And, yeah, I mean, I really never felt
comfortable at all in that entire round until I

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hit my second shot on 18 onto the green.

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That's not we.

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It was a brutal, brutal day.

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I've talked about this with PGA Tour caddies
that sometimes for them, even when their player

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has a big lead, that they're most fearful at
that point because it's like the thoughts start

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creeping in and all of a sudden it's really
hard to sleep on a big lead on Saturday night.

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So everything that you just said resonates with
the audience, resonates with me specifically,

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as I'm like, wow, that fits perfectly in line
with everything else I've heard from everybody

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that's kind of been in that position.

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But clearly, you've got an insane short game
because you missed nine greens in your first 10

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holes and still ended up winning by seven.

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So now we gotta get into the fact of you
transitioning into the Short Game Chef and

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getting into that side of the business.

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You've already talked a little bit about this,
as we've been talking about how you kinda had a

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buddy set up an Instagram account for you.

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You gotta create a cool name, so the recipes, I
totally get that with each of the different

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short game shots and so forth.

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But, in that transition, I mean, you knew that
you had a good short game, but what made you

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think, oh, you know what?

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I can actually teach this, and what's being
taught isn't necessarily the right stuff right

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now.

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Yeah.

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So I think I think where I saw a gap in, like,
playing a bunch of pro-ams, seeing amateurs

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struggle, you know, I saw a gap as to, like,
well, what is it that they're trying to do and

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then what is being taught?

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Like, what are they telling me that they're
being told what to do?

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You know, a lot of them were telling me, like,
oh, I'm trying to get the ball in the back of

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my stance.

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I'm trying to get the shaft forward.

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I really want to get good ball contact.

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And they would inevitably either get really
good ball contact and it would go over the

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green, or they would fear that really good ball
contact and then they would back out of it and

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then they would chunk it.

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And then the second that they went into that
chunk mode, they went back here and then they

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would flip at it, and then all of a sudden it
would become a blade.

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So their really good shots were actually, like,
10 to 15, 20 feet too far.

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And then their bad shots, they were still
chipping again short of the green or over the

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green.

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They're chipping back.

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So I just started looking at this stuff, and
I'm like, boy, the information that they're

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being given is not necessarily right.

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It's not what tour players are doing.

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I think that there's a way that I can explain
this to people in a simple and digestible way

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that can really help them to make their chip
shots a little bit easier and not so precise

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and not so difficult.

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Man, that is music to my ears because I'll tell
you.

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I mean, I'm one of those guys that you just
described to where it's like, okay.

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I'm either going to have it a little bit heavy
and leave it short or I'm blasting it over the

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green.

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So, I definitely think I could use your help by
all means.

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But that being said, do you think the short
game side of it is kind of a competitive area

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where there are certain guys that have this
niche of being a short game guru, so to speak?

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But how do you differentiate yourself?

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Is it from a PGA Tour standpoint that, hey, I
played, I won?

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Or is it something different that you feel like
is your unique approach?

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Yeah.

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I think there's a handful of things that I do
really well.

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One of them is my pedigree.

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Right?

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So obviously having played on every sort of
mini tour, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour, having a

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win on the PGA Tour, you know, that gives me
the understanding of what it feels like to play

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and sort of choke at the highest level and then
what works the best under those high-stress

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situations.

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So that's one sort of part of it.

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I think the other part of it is, you know, I
was mentored for about seven years by Paul

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Azinger, who, in my opinion, has got one of the
best short games when he was playing.

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He still does.

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And Paul's, you know, from what I can tell and
the people that I've talked to, Paul's got a

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top-three golf IQ of all time, and he's in that
upper echelon of people that just think about

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things differently.

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And so I was able to learn quite a bit from
him, and in learning that, I take some of that

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and I'm able to pass that along to my clients
in a way I communicate to them in a very easily

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digestible way.

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And I think that part of it is hard to quantify
because, you know, when you go through my

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website and you go through the app that we've
created, the videos are made in like one and a

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half to three and a half minute videos so that
you're able to digest that information, take it

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in, and then you can move on to the next video
or just take down your notes or go practice it

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right then.

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So I think one of the greatest compliments that
I feel like I continue to get is that I make it

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so simple.

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I make it so easy and so simple and so easily
digestible for people.

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And I think that in a teacher, being a good
communicator is extremely valuable.

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It is huge.

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Yeah.

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Cause I could go and say, you know, I could go
and say a bunch of big words.

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Right.

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And tell you like, well, you're done, done,
done, done, done, you know, every, you know,

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and use all these huge words that were all of a
sudden it it you may think I'm smart, but you

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haven't necessarily learned anything because

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you got no idea what the hell you're saying.

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So far over your head.

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Yeah.

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Exactly.

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100%.

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So, you know, the point is, like, yeah, I want
to make it so that you can understand what I'm

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saying, that we can talk about a handful of
different things, and that hopefully one of

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those things fits and sticks and that you're
able to take that in and be like, that's your

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light bulb moment.

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That's a feel or a thought, or a cue that you
can latch onto, and that'll help carry you

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through when you're hitting your short game
shots.

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I

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love that.

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Now we're gonna get into just some average
golfer chipping advice here.

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Alright?

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So we're gonna test you a little bit and give
the audience some tips that hopefully are going

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to help them.

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But chipping obviously can be one of the most
intimidating aspects of the short game for any

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golfer.

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But what's the first piece of advice you'd give
to any average golfer who struggles with

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consistency around the greens?

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Well, I would say that you would want to look
at a chip shot more like a bigger putting

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stroke than you would want to take it from your
normal 7-iron and shrink it down.

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I don't necessarily love being like, let me get
in a wide stance with my feet, let me push my

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hands forward, and let me just make a smaller
iron swing and hit this chip shot.

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Because then your body doesn't move, your feet
are too wide, hands are pressed forward.

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A lot of things are leading to this ball coming
off hot.

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I think that a chip shot should be closer in
relation to a putting stroke than it would be a

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full swing with like a 7-iron.

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So I would always start with if you don't know
where to start chipping and you want to just be

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like, let's build a baseline foundation, bring
your feet all the way together, get them just

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touching, and just start there.

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Start moving your body, start moving your
torso, start moving your rib cage, start moving

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your arms in unison with all that.

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Don't start using the wrist just yet, but just
learn to turn, learn to pivot.

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That would be the very first place to start.

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And I would start with a lower lofted club like
a 50, 52 or a pitching wedge.

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Start there if you just start, you know, two to
three yards off the green and start to build in

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a baseline, that would be my biggest suggestion
for someone who's maybe just starting out or

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maybe just unsure of what philosophy to sort of
go with.

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I love that because it is so tough to put
everybody into a box and to have general advice

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for people.

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00:22:12,105 --> 00:22:17,340
And that right there was probably, I mean, I'm
sitting here going, wow.

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00:22:17,340 --> 00:22:22,460
That's a really good freaking answer because
I've heard a lot of different answers to that

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question.

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I'm like, wow.

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That's actually really, really good.

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So clearly, folks, Parker knows his stuff.

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I don't think that is up for debate.

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Now I will get a little bit on the personal
side of where my member guest over the past

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weekend.

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I struggled.

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I had the yips.

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I was chunking.

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I was thinning.

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There really wasn't any good ones in between,
and granted, I'm a 3.5 handicap right now.

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When I played and played on the mini tours,
like, you said that you were going all around