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Ep. 27, why the range is the most expensive habit in your bag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R9mVHabK0c

If you went 10 for 10 at the range last night, you didn't practice. You performed.

Adam Young, one of the best practice coaches in golf, wants his players making somewhere between 3 and 7 out of every 10. Most of us build every range session around never missing. That's why the good nights never show up on Saturday.

In this episode, Isaak and Hayden get into how much you should actually be missing, what Rory McIlroy did after blowing the 2011 Masters, and the 3 dials (distance, target size and randomness) that make any drill show up on the course.

Hayden also tells the full story of his 2024 Canadian Q School week in Dothan, Alabama. He was 7 under after two rounds. Then came a double on a 200 yard par 3, a misread tee time and a DQ before the final round. He shares what he does differently now.

Tell us in the comments: what's your next drill, and how many out of 10 do you make?

Studies and people we mention:

Adam Young, The Practice Manual

Guadagnoli and Lee (2004), the challenge point framework

Robert Bjork, desirable difficulties

Wilson et al. (2019), Nature Communications, the 85% rule

Human Movement Science (2025), when a task gets too hard

Jared Porter, LSU, moving from blocked to random practice

Low and colleagues, 14 studies on pressure training

Annie Duke, Thinking in Bets

Sisk et al. (2018), the growth mindset meta-analysis

Chapters:

0:00 Why 10 for 10 at the range is a bad sign

1:59 How much should you be missing?

3:08 Adam Young's 3 to 7 out of 10 rule

4:00 The 3 dials that change any drill

4:31 There's no such thing as a good drill

5:26 Why easy practice feels so good

6:46 The 85% rule for faster learning

7:34 When hard practice backfires

7:49 Signs your practice is too easy

10:26 What Rory did after the 2011 Masters

10:48 Rory's 496 for 496 inside 3 feet

14:54 Hayden's Q School blowup

17:23 The tee time mistake

19:42 How Hayden bounced back

22:04 Handling emotions after a miss

24:20 The 3 part plan

24:29 Part A: turn one dial

26:57 Add a consequence: Colby's match

28:56 Part B: stop judging by results

30:41 The 3 buckets for every miss

31:37 Part C: is growth mindset enough?

32:37 Playing to your personality

35:50 Ask: how many did I actually miss?

36:31 Isaak's GC3 ladder drill

37:37 Hayden's takeaway

40:15 New Friday schedule

New schedule: episodes with just Isaak and Hayden now drop every Friday. Guest episodes are bonus episodes early in the week.

Isaak is a competitive mid-am who helps busy golfers improve with the time they already have. Hayden is a professional golfer. Play Ready Golf helps you practice with purpose, so you show up to the first tee ready to score.