Hey Cole —
Here's the picture of what you're building this season.
You strike a golf ball better than almost anyone your age. That's not a small thing and it's not luck — it's a real, repeating swing that a lot of golfers chase their whole lives. So let's be clear about what this summer is actually about: it's not fixing your swing. Your swing is good. It's about getting your scores to finally tell the truth about how well you hit it.
- You flush your irons. Your contact and your tempo are ahead of your age, and that's the hardest part of golf to build. You already have it.
- You want the pressure. You don't hide from the hard events or the putts that matter. That competitive wiring is a weapon.
- You're starting to think your way around the course instead of just hitting shots — knowing when to take the safe play is a skill most kids don't learn for years.
- You broke 80. A 78. And you did it the right way — not with a miracle round, but by not letting one bad hole wreck the card.
One thing to focus on this week
The thing that's been costing you isn't a swing — it's the hole after the bad one. When you make a double, everything in you wants to get it all back on the next tee, and that's exactly when the next double happens. Here's the truth: a bogey is a good score. A double is the enemy. If you make a mess of a hole, your only job on the next one is to make a boring bogey or par and move on. Do that, and the blow-up rounds just stop happening. You've already proven it — the 78 was the round where you did exactly this.
The range work isn't glamorous — the 50-yard wedges, the same driver drill over and over, the three-footers when nobody's watching. It doesn't feel like it's adding up. It is. The player who shows up in September having done the quiet reps is the one who trusts his wedge from 80 with the tournament on the line. You have the swing. You have the fight. This summer is about the last piece — turning good golf into good scores. Keep going.
