I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: golf is a puzzle and Al helped me lay out the pieces for the everyday club golfer.

We talk strategy — not swing mechanics — and Al hits the nail on the head: pick clubs you’re happy hitting, avoid the drama of risky shots, and aim for consistency over heroics.

I keep reminding myself (and you) that staying in play beats blasting a fairway 20 yards into a sheep field. We dig into course management: play the pins, know trouble spots, and treat each hole like an escape room where the objective is a low score, not bravado. That kind of pragmatic thinking turns a frustrating Saturday into something you can actually be proud of.

We also get into the nuts-and-bolts of daily habits that separate the good days from the disasters — hydration, snacks, and pacing. Al’s surprisingly evangelical about electrolytes and slow-release energy: keep fuel in the tank and your mental game holds.

We talk playing with better golfers, how your group affects your performance, and why the best players are simply ‘less bad’ than the rest of us.

The takeaway? Be deliberate — make small, repeatable wins (hit the one iron you can control, don’t try a YouTube trick off the tee) and frame success by progress, not perfection.

That’s the practical roadmap we can actually use next Saturday.

Links referenced in this episode:

• discounts.nop.golf
• voicemail.nop.golf

A North of Par Production