Jake Knapp on Tempo, Power, Training & Trusting Your Swing

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1:00Learn more at Kia.com or visit your Southern California Kia dealer. This on the Mark Podcast is brought to you in part by Sinovus. Wherever potential leads you, get there with speed, get there with scale, get there with Sinovus. Sinovus, get there. How's it my on the Mark Tribe? It's the President's Cup Week here in 2026. Happy President's Cup Week. I'm super excited supporting my boys on the team international behind the shield. And I will be on the call for the world feeds. So if you're in Australia or South Africa, maybe South America, Canada, you will likely hear me. I will be on the call, of course, alongside PGA Tour winner Graham Delette, former international president's Cup team member.

2:00And then in the booth for us, we have John Swantek, who's sensational, Brendan De Young, and Colin Swatton. So a very international sounding group to bring you the world feed. Very excited about that. Shoot me messages I want to hear from you. The best way to reach out is on my YouTube page. If you aren't subscribing there and following search and subscribe to Mark Immelman, and comment over there on any of the posts. So I'll get back to you or DM me on Instagram. This is such a cool episode. I keep lists. And I've got lists for underrated ball flushers. I've got lists for my favorite swings of all time and lists for great PGA Tour swings right now. And my guest, Jake Napp, certainly finds himself on this list. And in this episode, get this. You will learn how Jake views his own swing and why he sometimes is overly critical. So can you imagine having a swing like Jake Napps and still being critical thereof?

3:04We will learn how small swing changes can create major performance games. Why Jake believes that proper change should be driven by statistics, not just cosmetic changes. You'll learn how Jake learns to trust swing changes under pressure and how that can help you. And how he believes that discomfort in practice can actually help belief on the golf course. Which more obviously fun conversation with one of the PGA Tour stars. Just a reminder before we get to Jake, the book is lessons from the best. It's loaded with lessons from some of the best guests on the mark podcast. If you don't have a copy just yet, go to back9press.com slash emulman. BACK number nine press.com slash emulman, which is my last name to get yourself a copy there. And then I just want to highlight the fact now that we are in the understanding that statistics and good information is good for advising changes.

4:10So if you want to get yourself great ball flight data golf club data, deplane data, the whole thing. You need to go check out flat scope. You need to go and check out the Mivo plus Gen 2. It is sensational. It's cost effective. The data is so accurate and so easy to digest. And you can use the code on the mark to get yourself 10% off your flat scope code on the mark to get 10% off. Then also I'm a big one for practicing. And if you followed me on social, you'll probably see a post there sometime. And Jake and I talk about this in the conversation shortly. Now I got a video of him with a number of training aids that he was using. And he described all of that stuff. And so I want to say training aids are a good idea. Jake uses training aids. So if you want to go and get the training aid that you need to help your game, you need to go to golftraining aids.com.

5:12And you can use the code on the mark 15. That's on the mark 15 to get yourself a 15% discount. I've been loving, absolutely loving the compression ball lately. It's some really forcing me to get a bit more mobile to not make a fake backswing. So go check that out over there golftraining aids.com. And use the code on the mark 15. All right, let's get to it. Shall we Jake Napp, PGA Tour winner and a superstar with a glorious golf swing? This segment of the on the mark podcast, it was brought to you by Sonovus. Sonovus, get there. It's a nap time. I've been looking forward to this for the longest time. If you're watching on YouTube, there is it's Jake Napp. How are you my friend? Nice to see you. Yeah, I'm doing well. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, my pleasure. Listen, okay. The internet loves a hook. And I couldn't think of a better hook than to open up our conversation like this.

6:14Radio Jake. Look, I'm envious of your golf swing. It's on my list of top fives in the game right now. And I'm looking up to watch your full flag with my own two eyes. And then I'm glowing about your swing to all in Sandra and everyone will listen. Now, I want to know, do you ever look at a video of yourself and go, that's good stuff. Do you ever do that? You know, I've popped myself a couple times this year being like, you know what it is? You know, it is pretty good. You know, I think I feel like I have to look back at like old swings and realize like how far it's really come. And how much better it's gotten over time. But yeah, there were definitely some times this year where I felt like I looked at it. And I was like, man, that thing's hitting all the places. No kidding. I guess the follow up to that too is because I might have a microphone in front of me, but I'm a golf teacher deep down. And I make them stake. I'm sure I did it when I was playing.

7:16At least I know I did where if I looked upon something, I was always finding fault with it. Yeah. Now that I'm 55 and a little wiser than what I was, I look back at the era of my ways. If you ever been that way inclined, I'm sure people want to know. Yeah, I think I think I'm I think I'm still that way. I feel like I, you know, I mean, the golf is one of those sports. You feel like you can just always get better. You know, you can always shoot a lower score. You can always have, you know, when every single tournament technically. So, so yeah, I feel like I'm always I'm a little bit maybe too critical. I probably don't give myself enough enough credit for like maybe the work I've done or how much better certain things have gotten. But yeah, I feel like anytime, you know, I think that's where to me it took a while to like understand why people liked my swing so much or why everybody took such a liking to it. Because to my eyes, like, man, I still hate that I do this. I hate that I do that. Like I wish this was better, which that was better.

8:17And you know, they're not, they're not super small things. But at the same time to the naked eye, you know, like even from last year to this year, my swing probably doesn't look that much different. But, you know, for you and for people who really understand the golf swing, like it's it's significantly different now than it was a year ago. And it takes, you know, when you're trying to compete at a super high level, it takes a lot of time to number one change something and make it repeatable. But then also to make it to where it's like performing at a high level takes even longer. And that is gold there, brother. And I want you to unpack that a bit further because everyone watching the show listening to it by definition is wanting to improve, right? Yeah. Wanting to get the information from the PGA to a winner. But I don't think people give themselves enough grace when it comes to finding or working with an instructor, perhaps or PGA pro, then making a change. And there's this Instancy bias that's going on. And then all of a sudden it's not working. Then they're turning tail and they're going somewhere else.

9:18Yeah. But the one thing you guys do is you like, okay, this is what I have to do. And then you remain true to the thing. Come hell or high water for a while. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think I think that's like the tricky line that you try not to, you know, cross over on the other side too much where you're making these significant changes with the, you know, the idea that it's going to get better. But at the same time, you don't have any true proof that like, oh man, am I am I doing the right thing and is this actually going to make me better or am I just making this, you know, a purely cosmetic change that isn't going to have any real impact on my statistics or hitting it closer to the whole. Because when I started working with boy at the end of last year. That was actually one thing that he said that really that hit me and he was just like, you know, you're, he's like you and everybody on tour. It's like you guys are way too good for you to, for it to get worse before it gets better. And he's just like there's, there's nothing, you know, unless you have some insane swing flaw that you're like, man, I cannot hit this golf shot doing X, Y, or Z, you know, and then maybe that's different.

10:21But for me, I was able to like hit it high low and move it both ways. So it really wasn't about like I needed to recreate anything. It was like just how do I, how do I make it more consistent? You know, how does it become more repeatable and and just require less effort to certain shots. So when we were going through stuff, it was a lot more about, you know, like, for example, like we go on the range, we'd hit some balls, we talk about, you know, what I wanted to improve on from maybe that week or the next month or whatever it might be. And it was usually statistic driven. It wasn't really like a feel thing. And like what we would do is like we hit balls on the range and we'd, you know, maybe we were chasing a certain position, but knowing that that position is going to create the pattern that we want and create the shot that we want. And if we went out in the course and let's say, you know, one whole or two holes in, I'm like, I don't know, you know, it either doesn't feel right or it's not really moving the way I want it to.

11:21Then it's like, all right, like let's go back to the range. Let's find maybe a different feel to try to create the same thing. And then it was always pretty obvious, you know, some days it took a couple hours or some days it took all day, but it was like, once you found, you know, and it's not like I hate like the light switch analogy and stuff because like a light switch can go on just as quick as it can go off. So it's like you can, you can find it and lose it just as fast. But you would have these swings where you'd think about this one thing and whether it was thinking about something in your lower body upper body hands, whatever it might be, it was like hold on that felt like that felt really easy. And it just did exactly what I wanted and like, yeah, of course, it's not going to pop up every time, but then you kind of zone into that one thing, let's say during an off week or for four or five days in a row. And then all of a sudden, it kind of becomes seamless, you know, but, but I mean, for me, like the changes we were trying to make, I didn't probably until. I mean, I probably wasn't until like around Houston or maybe somewhere in there, like it took three or four months for for my over exaggerated feel to actually get to like, you know, the neutral place of where I wanted to wanted to live.

12:32Well, lots of when I unpack there and folks I'm going to get to the swing tempo and I'm going to get to the power and all the stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I'm on the mayor of tempo town, but I want to camp here for a minute because I feel like this is really going to unshackle folks. Um, I want to know from you because now you've done the session, which I love where you're on the range a little bit. And then you take it to the course just to put some situational pressure on it. Yeah. But here's my thing and here's the challenge I think to golfers of all skill levels. We got a recon style is like range work where I'm focusing on feel volume is X and then go to the golf course where the things targets riddled with disaster and there's somewhere I'm going to hit the golf ball. Yeah. It is Jake and have go to go, okay, the feels there. I was thinking maybe technical whatever it is now I've got to go and hit a shot. Can you help us navigate that stuff, please? Yeah, yeah, I think, um, you know, I, I feel like it's pretty easy to like get into a pattern on the range and and just kind of mindlessly go about it and hit the shot that you want and everything else and then you go on the course and you're like, gosh, why, you know, why is it when I stand over the ball now all of a sudden, I'm like, I don't, I don't know where this is going to go.

13:43I can't trust it. It's going to do this because it feels like I'm either aimed way over here or swinging way out over that way and I feel like that's the challenge of everything and for me, like, I've done a really good job of when I am making those changes, like, just you have to like fully trust it, you know, like we all have, like as good players, you have really good hands and you know what it feels like when you kind of save something or you get away with it or whatever. And that's kind of my goal was to eliminate as much of that as I could to where it's like, hey, when, when the pressure is on and I'm not feeling great and whatever, like, what are the things I can rely on. So for me, I felt like when I was trying to take those, those feels from the range to the course. I mean, the only way you can do it is try to make yourself like as uncomfortable as you possibly can and like and just kind of figure out like, like, why, like it's just a golf shot, you know, like it's, there's nothing that's going to, that's bad. And to me, if this doesn't go the way that's supposed to so like, I might as well trust it and learn from it, because if I go out there and I don't really trust it and I kind of get away with it and whatever, that's how you start building those those bad, those bad habits.

14:47And that takes it, you know, it takes a while for you to be able to trust it and like do it at a, at a high level and under pressure and all that, but it's like, once you pull it off and once you, you know, like, I would jokingly, you know, text him or not jokingly, but I would text him and just be like, you know, one of the first couple of events in the year, like I'd hit, I'd have one golf shot in my mind that I was like, man, like, you have no idea, like how excited I am about like that was that shot, like seems like nothing to everybody else on TV, but I was like, man, like, I trusted set up ball position, the feel of my swing, everything else came off exactly the way I'm like, that makes me so excited. And like when you're able to do that, that makes you believe in it more and then it starts happening more and more and more as you go. I think there's incremental improvements are where it's at because so many of us have this, all right, I went for the lesson, I'm going to go from zero to hero kind of thing, but yeah, you elite golfers, it's just a little bit, you know, every day, just a little bit more trust, whatever the case might be.

15:47Sure, yeah, and I think that was, you know, like the goal going into the year for me too was just like I was, I was like 120th or 30th in ball striking and that you know, I think I have the prettiest swing ever and I'm my head, I'm like, well, it's obviously terrible, I was like, I'm, you know, I'm like, I'm not, you know, and what about people, you want to. And I was like, I was like, it's, I was like, maybe it looks pretty, but it obviously doesn't perform very well and you know, I think when it was on, it was on and when it was off it just like I felt like I couldn't really save it and then. And then this year was like, you know, that's why I maybe didn't feel like I was playing all that different or doing anything crazy because it's like I was just in a little bit closer to the whole, you know, more often and it was like, yeah, didn't, didn't feel that nuts, but I mean, I went from like one. Whatever it was last year 130 maybe to like top 30 this year so it's like that's a, that's a big jump for me to make and you know, nine months 12 months basically. And I'm kidding. I want to ask you about the surgery too, but quickly while we on the subject, I got a video of you, I got lots of video of you thankfully.

16:55It was a video of you that I got a Tory pines and it was the start of the season, farmers insurance open, maybe a couple years ago. Yeah, time blurs. Yeah, you were in the right hand corner of that range there and you had a foot wedge into your right foot. Yeah, you had a diamond rod between your belt loops. Yeah, you had a head cover under your arm, I feel like. Yeah, glove under my arm. Yeah, he was something else going on and you hitting balls like this with a pause at the top of the swing. Yeah, so I do this little thing on social media once in a while where I'm like, you know, these guys don't get good by accident. Yeah, on the range they working on stuff, not just blinding balls. Well, this got viewed millions upon millions of times and it's read done and people are critical and people, you know, this, you're getting both sides of the argument shutting it. Of course, yeah. That's then with Dana dollquist, I believe it will you.

17:55Yeah, Dana at the time, right? Yeah, with the new thing on the block and everyone's blown the hair was blown back by your gospel. Rory calls you a superstar. It's like sky's a limit. Yeah. I want you now, Jake, and I watch you pre-round and stuff. And I can see you working, but it doesn't look as in depth. And I'm using a wrong word there. Yeah. But we've gone from the real training aid guy, which I think is worthwhile, but that can also be some overkill at times. So I'd love your help for all of us because look, I'm a training aid junkie. And when I saw you doing that, they was like, I want everybody to do exactly what Jake nap is doing right now. Yeah, I was, I feel like I always was trying to find like the stick between my belt loops I use forever. Good one hurt yourself people. Yeah. So that can be a scary one. And I felt like it started with like wedges and stuff and it really helped me understand how to like, you know, slow things down and make sure things are matched up as you're trying to like take speed off and stuff like that.

18:59And, you know, like some of those training aids were good and they definitely serve the purpose, like the reason for the foot wedge, for example, like I, I always had an issue when I would take the club and I still do it, but I would take the club back and my head would kind of drop down and back. So like kind of behind like over my right foot. And so that foot wedge just helped me feel that like initial pressure of like, oh, I want to stay more centered, stay tall. And you know, it really wasn't like, you know, you don't put a hundred percent of your weight into your right heel anyway. So it's not really like you're pushing super hard into that part of your foot. So it was more of just like a little bit of a trigger and like, you know, I'm not going to sit there and hit balls like that for hours and hours. It's more of like a 10, 20 minute thing at the beginning just to remind myself of like, hey, like here's the, here's the pattern we're trying to get into. And then, you know, you want to be able to do it with no swing aids. Obviously, like that's, that's the end goal. And so, yeah. So now I feel like with void and I like, we don't use a ton of swing aids. Like when I'm at home, there's definitely a few things here and there that we've been really obvious like.

20:04That that just helps a lot. And like one thing for me was like the big thing we're trying to do is get the club set more on my hands. And just less outside and just get a little bit more connected at the very start of the swing because it's like, if you can get things right and you're set up and in your back swing. The downswing is just let it happen like just get out of your own way. So, we just focus a lot on the first, you know, four feet that the club's going to move. And it's like if we can get that correct, then the rest just takes care of itself. And, and that was one of those things like is as uncomfortable it was at first, like when I got it there, I was like, oh man, at the top, like there's no rerout, like there's no like the club's got to move way over here. And it got way easier to look like it was the same pattern hitting draws and phase, which is what I wanted. But, you know, now we use like stupid, like, you know, we were like in the, maybe in the clubhouse at Whisper Rock. And we were trying to find a way to like get this feel better because I hate thinking about my hands on the backswing like I don't, I don't like to feel like I'm setting the club.

21:06I don't like to feel like I'm moving the club head like I just let the club go where it wants to go. And I just I turned back and I turned through like I really try not to think about hardly anything. And, and, but I mean that being said, I'll hit balls for eight hours a day grinding in the same feel with my hands or overdoing it. So then the goal is all over do the heck out of it on the range. I'll go on the course. I don't think about it. And then hopefully it makes this like inch to inch difference, you know, in my swing. And, and that's kind of the goal is just to like ingrain that pattern. But, you know, we saw this like, you know, little disposable, like pack of like one single pack of like floss. And it's just this little plastic thin package. And so we put it in between basically all my right palm wedge in between like my left thumb. And so what we realized like when I applied like that sort of pressure. It just helped the club set like a little bit easier. And I didn't have to think about my hands moving necessarily. I just thought about, you know, my right palm pushing into my thumb a little bit harder.

22:08And it was like the first or second swing. I was like, you got to be, I'm like, you got to be kidding me. I'm like, that's perfect. So like, you know, I would just hit countless numbers of balls doing stuff like that. And yeah, I think I think less swing aids, the less aids you can have that, especially force you into a certain position. I think those are tough. When you still have to get there, I feel like that's fine. Sometimes it's nice having something is like a, you know, an end range or something. But, yeah, I feel like because I eliminated a lot of the swing aids that I'm going to do. The swing aids that maybe I used to use. And, you know, companies that make swing aids are great. I think they're awesome for people. But, you know, for me at a high level, I feel like it was better if I could feel, you know, when I do slightly go too far or not far enough. Yes, listening to you and I appreciate you sharing that. And for the folks watching on YouTube, you could see Jack splint on his wrist more on that. The way it reading between the lines, what I get there is that you very self aware when you're working on something.

23:11So you take thought, which is getting this club face from outside of me to more of my hands to get it up and down the plane a bit more simply. Right. Yeah. And that's turned into a feel for you. We're like a bit more pressure right hand onto thumb kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Where we all should be striving, I guess, there's a postage is kind of hitting and thinking we're doing it. It should elicit some like brain to feel sensation because the feel is what you take to the course. Yes. Of course. Yeah. And that's why like, you know, you see me this year, hitting with like maybe a water bottle in a certain place or a stick in a certain place. And that simply is like a check mark. So like I'd have the ball. If I'm hitting that way, like I'd have the ball here in a stick lane here. And it's like, well, if I get that club set too far outside, like I'm going to hit the stick. So like very plain and simple like just being athlete and miss miss the line. It's sick. You know, like just just miss it. And I think that that sort of stuff became very easy to me. Like I was very good at reacting to stuff. Whereas if you gave me something to put in between my arms or put something on my wrist or whatever.

24:11It just didn't really feel like it had as positive an impact. And I think that's where Boyd's really good. He's not really somebody who he's not going to tell you what to do. Like he knows what, you know, we both know like what we want the outcome to be. And like it, and he's like, you know, like a teacher can tell you what to do and put you in the right position. But it's kind of on the player in terms of like how they're going to find it because it might, you know, I might have to think like I told him I was like, I can't think about my right arm when I swing. I was like my right arm is like all of my feel and it's all of my touch and everything else. And if I'm thinking about how that thing needs to get into a position. I it's going to throw everything off and I can't do it like any of that sort of stuff. And so it's like, well, OK, like then let's think about left arm or left shoulder or you know your head or your right hip or whatever it might be. And that's where it's like you go through those, you know, it's a benefit of us living close together in Scottsdale. We can spend all day together and we can go through a hundred different fields. And then eventually you find one that you're like, wait, that was way easier than everything else was. So, you know, you kind of grind in on that. Folks, there's gold in there. I want you to pay attention to what Jax said. OK, I need to ask, how is the thumb? How are you recent procedure here in 2026?

25:19Yeah. Tell us what went down and how you guys fixed it, please. Yeah. So basically, you know, I thought I'd never I'd done in Miami when I had to withdraw for the first time and got a few different opinions early on and it kind of just looked like a like a sprained ligament or something like that and just needed some time. So I, you know, I took a month off and then I was like, Man, it's just so you were having pain in your left thumb, right? Yeah. Yeah, it was like it was super inflamed. I dealt with issues with it for like the last three years, but nothing is severe is what it became and I even took time off last year in the off season to to choose to let it heal and get it better did physical therapy and everything and it was pretty good at the start of the season. It just kind of was like a slow burn, I would say and just kind of slowly got a little worse over time. I was kind of on a ball count in terms of how many like drivers I could hit and things like that. And just really didn't feel like I had the ability to like push with my left hand feel like I really couldn't create the speed I wanted to with my hands, but, but yeah, I had an MRI like after Miami when I withdrew, you know, took some time off and everybody kind of thought it was just like an overstretched ligament, so not like torn or super damaged. It was more so like, all right, how do we, you know, get some stability into the area.

26:41And then obviously playing with that split really helped to just kind of kept my it kept my thumb from like hyper extending basically like if I just tried to hold the club on my own, my joint would just as soon as I got into transition, it would just kind of give way and I couldn't really swing. So I just helped it, you know, do with the leg minutes supposed to do and just hold it in alignment, but, but yeah, I, I had a surgery booked for like basically a couple different surgery dates depending on how everything went. And obviously got the surgery just over two weeks ago. And when I got out of the operating room, she was like, you know, she was like a bit surprising in mind you, I had an MRI the day before the surgery to just to make sure, you know, we know we're operating on and she knows what she's doing and what the plan is and I like the sound of it and everything was good. So, yes, she was like, you know, it's really surprising. She's like, even in the MRI, it was really hard to see if it was fully torn or fully intact or whatever. And she basically was like, she's like, when I got in there, she was like, it was fully ruptured. So she's like, it basically just looked like two ends of a mop just dangling next to each other. And she's like, that's, you know, that's why it's not getting better.

27:52But yeah, they they reattached it. She was super happy with how it went and then yeah, I have like a little pin in there right now to hold it in place and let it heal for the next month. And then I mean, it's actually pretty crazy. Like I get the pin taken out the first week of October. And then she, you know, can't start full bore swinging right away, but she's like, really it should feel pretty great because your pain came from instability. And you really just don't need that much mobility in that area. So I'll be able to start kind of getting back after it in October, which I'm I'm very excited about. So folks, essentially Jake on his left thumb, right? The guide thumb for the right hand got. Yeah, was playing with what looked like the splinter of them that you had to get bigger gloves. You could get your glove over this thing. If I, yeah, I just I just overstretched the heck out of it every morning. I just take the thumb and I just stretch the heck out of that thumb and try to get that thing to squeeze over it. It was the funniest thing we're in Memphis where it is like hell hot. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I see Jake try to get because now everything's sweating. And if you ever try to put on socks when it's hot and sweaty.

28:59Oh, it's brutal. You on the one hole trying to get this glove back onto your thumb, which was yeah, I couldn't report that on TV, but I felt for you. And I found it funny all the same time. Yeah, I mean, on number on in that, I think it was in the last round. I was yeah, you I like yeah, number six that dog leg left par four. Like I hidden, I was hitting it like okay or whatever to start the day, but like I went to I you know the way it was taped was like it was taped around my wrist and then to my thumb to hopefully like try and hold it in place. But like you said, it's so sweaty. I could grab the tape of my wrist and I could just turn it like it wasn't stuck to my hand at all. And so walking down the fairway on six and it's like a pretty, you know, it's a like make shift kind of Jerry rigged like hand taping job. Like I've you know, I just figured it out on my own, but I I literally like ripped it all off and taped it walking down the fairway. And my cat he was like he's like you're going to say you're retap it right now. And I was like, yeah, it's not even on my hand. I was like, I can just pull this thing off. So it was yeah, I didn't realize how troublesome that was going to be in that hot of water.

30:04Well, what I need to tell you folks, you know, is a guy competing in the top 50 on the PGA tour with a thumb that's ligaments, but bust. So yeah, or excuses, it's moody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, well that being said, I want to ask you this because look, you've well built you clearly haven't missed by September. You're in right. All the time. There's a point of your career where I want to talk about resilience, but you spend time in the gym and I've seen footage of your worker. Now correct me if I'm wrong, Jake, but it seems to me like you're just an athlete trying to get faster and stronger. It's not necessarily golf specific stuff. Am I right or am I wrong here? Help me because I asked this with a purpose in mind for the golfers you've got to get in shape. Yeah, yeah, I think like training's always been like my second passion behind playing golf. Like if you know, I don't, I don't really train. I don't, I mean, I trained like more golf specific now in terms of like, you know, I do a lot more like longevity stuff, just in terms of making sure I'm mobile and whatnot, but, but I really do just love training.

31:12And you know, as I've gotten a little bit older, like my training has changed slightly, you know, a lot, I do a lot of stuff to make sure I protect like my lower back and things like that. But yeah, like I was raised kind of by a, you know, a trainer who like didn't didn't really believe in like sports specific training for the most part. Like if we trained for an hour, the last 10 minutes were like sports specific, you know, and he was like, he's like his, his line was always like, I train athletes and then they go, they go play their sport. And I feel like there's something to be said about that. It's like in any sport, you want to be, you want to be fast, you want to create power, like you want to create speed, all this sort of stuff. And you know, yeah, of course, like, I don't, I don't need to be the same size of an offensive lineman in the NFL, but at the same time, like you want to learn how to use the ground correctly, you want to learn how to move fast, you want to, you know, feel strong over the ball. I feel like there's any shots or any lies that you can't hit because your body want to allow it. And, and that's kind of where it started for me was I was like, man, if I can just find these like one or two shots, a tournament, like who knows maybe it could make a big difference.

32:19Or if I can hit some of these golf shots and like, I feel like there are times where I'm able to get it out of a certain line, the rough or hit a certain shot super high or whatever it might be that I'm like, I don't think there's like a lot of people that can probably even think about doing that. So, you know, in this course is get more difficult. The rough gets longer like I feel like it's shown to be more of an advantage now than it is, you know, at the lower levels and whatnot. But yeah, I love training like it's something I've always enjoyed and and I feel like, you know, the other side was like growing up and watching Tiger like, you know, even just looking at his posture and like how he carried himself compared to everybody who was playing with, you know, in the early 2000s, especially before training was really a thing. So I was like, you know, I was like, I want to walk up on the first t-box in the in the last group and I want, I want the person who like looks at me to be like, shit, like I got to play against this guy today. Oh man. And so it's I feel like there's something about that just to have that like physical presence, you know, as well. Well, you got it for the folks who don't know he's gotten rid of the Samsung flow at the back to.

33:21Yeah, it's coming back slowly, but surely. Yeah, I'm okay. We're getting here. This is what everyone wants to know. In fact, I was on an interview for a different show entirely before you. And I said to the guy, well, please excuse me, I'm going to talk with Jack nap. And he goes, oh, the powerful guy with a good tempo. And this is someone who's not in golf, right? So I love that. Exactly the one. Okay. So everyone wants to hit the thing farther. You have this beautiful blend where it looks like it's unhurried. It's uninterrupted, which is the thing I love about the club. It from the top of your backswing to the follow through. There's no jerking. There's no hitching. It's a gradual acceleration of pace. And what people don't realize is that you've probably got a bunch in the tank when I was when you decide to let one go. I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to have some leaves in the hurry. Yeah. I use the term homesick angel to describe when your T shots when it took off.

34:23Took off like a home is angels. Okay. Clearly there's some talents and some athleticism involved here. But but but help us to. To to make this long language past, but accelerate at the right time. I think there that's that's where my curiosity lies. Like this is kind of about that, you know, people know about like that X factor trying to create that that torque and that wind up and I feel like for me. Everything's about like not like not building tension necessarily, but really feeling like things are getting getting tighter and more solid like as I term like for me. Like I don't like it when I lose a bunch, you know, if I can't train and I lose a bunch of weight because it feels like there's no end range in my swing feels like there's no. There's no stop and it'll keep on going, whereas like when I feel strong and I feel like everything's kind of where it should be. It feels like as the club goes back like I'm fighting to turn a little bit and it's not because I don't have the mobility to turn. I can always have a longer golf swing.

35:24It's just like the way I'm trying to, you know, my upper body's turning turning back, but my lower body, I'm trying to feel like stays really nice and solid. So it's creating that wind up and then from there, it's really like, you know, I'm trying to feel like I'm moving my chest as fast as I can and my arms are staying behind me and. You know, and that's what creates that kind of like, you know, I've always loved the look and just like I feel like the idea of like your arms releasing like really like like like long after impact basically, you know, and like if if I want to hit it a little bit harder. Like I think about my arms moving a little bit faster and that just creates a couple more miles an hour, but. You know, I feel like if you want to hit it, hit it, hit it far with a good tempo and all that sort of stuff like it should be more driven by big muscles, not small muscles like if I went out there and tried to hit it with my hands only it would look real. It's like a little jerky and slappy and like it wouldn't look very like it has a good rhythm or flow to it and that's honestly where I think training comes into, you know, into play I feel like that's that's a big part of it.

36:29That makes a lot of sense because back in the day, the tour asked me to do that this series called swing theory, we're doing down people's swings and it's like in depth, you know, deep dive and look under the hood. And the thing that grabbed me about you amongst others, you've talked about how your body lowered going back. It's from the top of your swing. It's not like there's a rigidity in your arms too when you turn the left or the lead arm actually sucked in a little bit and it was a little crooked it wasn't ramrods. No, yeah, I've always had that. But for me, that's another lever that you're able to accelerate and extend it the right time for sure, you know, people would be better serve now you don't make a backswing where everything just collapses. But because your body's leading and there's no attention in the arms, right? Yeah, ball and then sling through the golf ball, which you do so nicely. Yeah, and that's how like that's how like I feel the club head too. Like if you told me to swing with the hard left like a straight left arm, I feel like I would lose a little bit of that like softness.

37:29You know, I think there's a reason why like in all sports like when they say getting like an athletic position or something, there's not a single joint that's locked out in that position, you know, their elbow isn't locked out their knees aren't locked out. They're hit. They're not standing straight up and and like I, you know, if you look at any any of it like athlete at a high level across any sport. I don't care what it is. There's very little athletic motion with a like straight locked out joint like you think about like I've always thought about the golf swing in terms of like I want to get the club is far away from music I can. And then, you know, basically in that wind up. Yes, things look like they get closer together and then at some point. If you're moving efficiently and you're moving well, they should get far away because that's you letting the energy out. And so like if you look at a picture, it's not like a picture gets to the top of his motion and his arm is dead locked and he's trying to throw it with a stiff arm. It's like he starts in close. He gets that ball is far away from his chest as he possibly can.

38:29And then that thing stays back there stays back there. And then once the chest gets, you know, square to his target, then the arm just looks like it gets slingshot right through. And so it's similar in the golf swing. It's like I try to get that right arm really, really far away from me. It gets a little bit closer and then once my chest gets to that kind of like maximum rotation. It's like, okay, now the arms go and they just they're just following my body at that point. But I feel like that's where like if you told somebody like I've always like kind of the way I think about it. It's like if I gave somebody a really, really heavy object. Your body's going to have to learn and I told you to, you know, to throw it somewhere, move it somewhere. And like staying down side, Dealy, but if I told you to throw this medicine ball, like you'd have to learn how to like move really efficiently over time to throw that ball as far as you possibly can. Whereas if I gave you something that weighed two pounds, you can just overpower it with a right hand left hand whatever it doesn't matter. You don't have to move all that well. So I feel like that's the training aspect and not telling people to try to go move something insanely heavy.

39:31But like, you know, you go try to take a sledgehammer and slam it into the ground. Like if you don't move very well, like it's going to feel really awkward and it's going to kind of jerk you or pull you around. But you learn how to like use the ground well and you know, go from your feet up. It's like things start to move, you know, and your body learns really quick how to move a lot more efficiently. Your club's heavier than standard. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Very heavy. My driver for any swing junkies out there. My driver is usually almost in the e category. It's like D8 usually and that's that's like, you know, partially we've thought about that sort of stuff is like, oh, maybe like I should lighten some of that stuff just like overtime. You know, you don't want to swing something super heavy all the time because maybe it will have more impact on joints and stuff. But like, I've just, you know, I've always been strong enough to where like I like the feeling of heavier clubs. And if something gets too light, that's where I do get like a little too handsy. I'll start lip missing it left more and it's like, yeah, I'm just not going to not going to mess with it. I haven't changed my clubs since college basically.

40:36I've got another nugget for the upcoming broadcast seasons. In the interest of complete understanding, I've got to say this and I want you to take because you see program players every day. You say I get to the top. I'm trying to widen and then it narrows and then it slingshots out there and I'm trying to turn my chest as fast as I can. I'm like sweet. And then I'm thinking, oh my gosh, for the 15 handicap are out there, they're going to try Jake nap. And if they ride ahead and they're hitting this thing right. Yeah, I was all day long. Yeah. What I want you to explain is you get that club face back in front of you in square. Even you're trying to turn open that club. It is going faster than everything else that you turning hard, right? Yeah, yeah. So I mean, I guess that's the one. And this is where like, you know, it can look deceiving on on camera or something. But like if you really look at at like how my hands get closer to like my body or something like my like if I like when I go to turn, I'll see if I can kind of show like when I go to when I go to like make my backswing, my arm, my arm and my chest or creating kind of like a 90 degree.

41:47So that's like that's like as far away as my hand can possibly be from or my hand can be from my chest. But if I move my hand now like across my body, like technically my hand is going to be closer to my center line when it's across my body, then it is when it's out in front of me. So in my backswing when I go to turn, like my hand or my arm, it's not as much across my body. It's a little more out in front. You know, it's 90 to 45 degrees. And then as I go to turn, like my trigger for me, especially with driver is to feel like my chest is going to hit my bicep. And I'm just going to turn like I'm not trying to pull with my left arm or do anything crazy. I'm trying to feel like my chest is going to be what's pushing my left arm through the ball. And so it looks like it gets closer, but in reality, like if I'm standing like this, yeah, if I'm standing like this and then I just turn my chest away, like my chest gets farther away from my hand. So that's like people think of like when the club gets close to you, like it's me pulling the club in.

42:51And that's not really what it is. It's really like my hands are staying here and I'm just turning and it just looks like my hands are getting closer. And so I think that's where when some people are like, oh, like, you know, I tried to do what you do and I get up to the top and I hold the handle down. Well, that's like I don't want to do that. Like that's when things go wrong usually is like when you get up to the top, you know, as you know, your chest doesn't turn, your arms come down. And it's like, oh boy, like now, where do I go from here? Yeah, exactly. That was that look that I always hated. Like my neck always looked sideways and my left shoulder looked like it went straight up and I was like, okay, like if I, you know, I think a good way to think about golf swing is like, where do I, where do I want to finish? Like where do I want my finish to be? How do I want to feel through impact? And it's like, well, let's work backwards from there. Like what's the easiest way for me to get to that position? You work backwards and you're like, okay, like that's not that crazy of a feel or like I can, I should be able to do that. But I think sometimes we get so focused on like hitting the ball and we get worried about result and all those sorts of things that it starts to manipulate, you know, golf swing in a bad way.

43:55But yeah, that's that's kind of the, I feel like my, my swing IQ has gone up when I've like learned things like that because there are certain things in my swing like that that I didn't love how, you know, it looked like the club got really close to me. And like, like, well, if I just like threw my arms out, like if I was a Scott piercing and I just cast in the club, like, it's going to look like I have all this width, but like, it's not super efficient for like how I move the club. So, so yeah, I think that's that's like one of those misleading things that it's like my hand to really just stay in the place. I'm just my body's turning. My hands are just kind of staying there. Oh, man, you've helped a lot of people there. One thing you have to do folks, I can promise you, not just the stuff you see on TV, whether it's being launched at 195 miles an hour or 65. It's always in balance, which brings me to something that I feel like every golfing needs to have. Because we're preparing for our best, but we don't always have our best. And you've got a driver and then you've got a mini driver. And I feel like the mini driver outside of your putter is kind of the superstar in your bag.

45:02Yeah, you can disagree with me all you like, but this is me. Wow. Yeah. And folks when Jake hits this mini driver, the ball's teed back in the stance, but the tea's low. And with a more lofted club with the driver, the ball comes out lower. And sometimes big, I you leave a divot off to the tee and it is so sexy. Yeah, getting along with it to say to folks, he doesn't always hit driver. Yeah, fairway find that he goes to as well. So talk to us about the virtues of the fairway find a place. Yeah, I feel like that was a lot of like growing up and watching watch entire hit stingers and stuff and things like that where, you know, I know secret that he struggled off the tee at times, like throughout his career. And I just, I feel like at like there's so many guys on tour who hit like just the same beautiful window every time, just like high draws and it's, you know, right down the middle and it looks great and whatever. And for me, I just always I always struggled like off the tee with like hitting it up in the air like that.

46:07I felt like I was either trying to hit it too hard or I was chasing a ball flight when I was like, what do we, like what are we truly trying to do? Like you don't get extra style points for hitting it high or whatever. I'm like, this is just a position golf shot. Like we just need to get it into this area. And for me, I felt like just hitting it low and getting it on the ground. You know, I'm somebody who's steep already like just naturally with my pattern. So I was like, why would I try to go create a new pattern with this longer club and, you know, for me, the feel was always like, I'm just going to step up. I'm going to tee this thing low, you know, put it kind of a neutral or back my stance, depending on the ball flight I need to hit. And I was like, I'm just going to feel like I hit like an 80 yard 60 degree wedge like I'm going to, you know, like my feel was literally just like I'm going to feel like I hit the top half of this golf ball straight into the ground, a foot in front of me. And I'm just going to, you know, focus on, you know, like a little intermediate target and hitting over that spot. And to me, it just, it felt so easy like it felt like the sometimes the softer I swung or the slower I swung, you know, it would go farther because it's like more optimized launch wise or whatever it might be, but it just just felt like this little chip shot and I feel like I got really good at it in 2022 up in Canada.

47:22I used to just go straight from driver to to iron and I didn't have anything in between. And it's like I tried to make driver more of a like if I'm hitting driver, I'm hitting driver because in the past I used to like try to chip it manipulate and do all this and I'm like, no, like I'm going to have like two or three swings of driver where it's like either, you know, I hit it hard, harder and hardest and that's it, you know, and anything less. It's like then okay, we're just going to suck it up. We're going to take less club and just like chip it down the fairway and I feel like that was a big learning curve for me in terms of like being able to use my distance like when I can and making sure that my distance stays in advantage and doesn't become a disadvantage because you see it all the time with guys who hit it far. You know that they don't hit it straight all the time like it's hard to hit the ball far and straight and so their souls were like, yeah, I can hit driver. It's like or I can chip this out there and I can trust that I can hit a nine or an eight iron just as close as I could it a wedge or whatever. And so I feel like that's the that's you know the art behind like knowing when to use it and when not to.

48:28But I feel like it's taking a lot of stress off my like my driver and things like that I feel like I don't have to be as perfect I feel like I don't have to push it up there all the time. Yeah, and that shot's been been a you know a game changer at times. My dogs going bananas in the background so forgive that. What I love here is that you weren't really married to a narrative you know where like I'm a little steep my pattern anyways what you say to me and you're like I'm just going to embrace that there's a lot of folks would yeah that then they start changing who they're getting away from their natural golf DNA. Yeah, yeah, I think that's the thing I mean you know I think shallow was like all the all the craze maybe yeah five 10 years ago whatever it was it was like I'd be shallow got to be shallow and it's like. Shadows great on you know short municipal public golf courses or you know your average your average golf course but I was like you get on tour the US open like good luck being shallow like you know I mean there's just no chance like good luck getting in the rough at Torrey pines or some of these places and trying to be shallow I'm like you just have you have no chance yeah.

49:37So I feel like you know yeah like Tiger will talk about how like when he hits it well like he doesn't take the bits for certain guys like don't take the bits but it's like you know then you can watch a thousand shot highlight real of them taking the biggest divots on the planet so I felt like I didn't want to go against my natural pattern and how I think like you know we all we all have like an idea of like how you should play golf or should swing the club and to me like I like playing was I like playing with spin I like playing with different launches I've never been somebody to be. You know hit the same pattern over and over make the swing the same swing for 72 holes in a golf tournament like I like to like to move it around and you know be okay with. Hit different shots and you know and yeah getting getting steep and taking the bits of the ferry what is the worst thing ever yeah target gets hits no divot by what happens after the ball not on the way down I do I do when I got to ask you for a short hit is. Is it cool to crank one and you know you've hit it you know this things hit the button and you get down the fairway and you 20 or 30 in front of your playing partner you walk past the game yeah I am the man do you do.

50:47Everyone's every once in a while you know I mean like there's like there's obviously certain courses on tour where it's like it's an advantage to hit a long ways and like you know I love it's no secret like I like places like Tori or Houston or places like that where you can hit a lot of drivers and. And it's like you know if you the more drivers you give me just naturally over time just statistically it's going to be an advantage so there's but yeah there's certain holes where you know especially where let's say there's like a force carry and I can carry something that's 320 yards but everybody else is going to lay back short of something that's 270 or whatever and I'm like man I just I just put myself in an 80 yard advantage on this approach you know whatever it might be. And yeah everyone's while you know you kind of just you're walking up there getting the number and you look back and you're like and like this was a lot harder for some people. You too modest okay one more question so many a sleight of your brain out what people don't get about Jake nap is the story I don't say that the dream remains alive but you couldn't college at UCLA you came out golf became hard for a while you worked as a bouncer that's well documented.

51:56So there was a resilience to you then in your win on tour in Mexico look the fairways are wide I know that it's all so is you pass ballam everywhere whatever it is but in the final day the driver went sort of missing but you kind of a way to get the job done still because of the stick to it to this this like I'm going to do this thing yeah about the jack nap mindset before I let you go please. Yeah I feel like yeah I think for me like I don't know like I'm well aware of like how hard I work and there's you know golf comes easier to some people than it does for others and for me I felt like I. You know my maybe just like I didn't work as smart as I could have when I was younger I felt like I didn't really you know I didn't grow up with. DJ tour players coaching me and like a ton of people around me that played at a super high level so we're all just trying to kind of figure out in the fly and. But yeah I know like I know how hard I work and like I know how much time I put in and how much I love this game and love getting better and I think in moments like that where.

53:07It's it's not going the way obviously you planned it you know it's like you have four shot lead and you'd love to think like I'm going to go play great and win by 10 like you know who cares. But you know when things is kind of immediately hit the fan and you're just like oh boy like what do I do now I think just being able to rain yourself and like you know what like it's fine like I like what am I busy for me like what I kind of think about is like. Tomorrow like when I wake up in the morning like what am I going to wish that I did today like am I going to wish that I. Got really upset at myself and and like powdered about like how it's not going where I want it to or whatever am I going to be like. Oh you know what like even if I don't win like I'm proud of like how I hunkered down you know battled until the last hole and all that so I tried to just. Keep that in my mind because I think it's easy when things aren't going well. You know you hit you hit a bad shot or maybe if you hit a bad chip and you have like six feet and you're like gosh like how do you how do you hit a chip to there like these like what a silly like I now I'm going to make bogey and whatever it's like that what do we don't you know like I work way too hard to think like that or or put myself in that state and.

54:12You know I felt like for me it was like I kept telling myself like I earned the right to be in this position like I you know I'm ready for it and and like. I kind of knew instinctively going in like hey I'm hitting the ball stupid good those first three days like let's go chip a lot I didn't chip well because I was like to hit like three chips in the first three days you know I didn't have to and then I chip to bunch on Saturday because I was like hey like I'm going to be nervous tomorrow like I'm it's going to be nerve racking like I have a four shot lead I'm not going to be playing as aggressive so like I may have some longer pitches I may just have to chip more and so I spend a lot of time chipping like Saturday afternoon. And just like building confidence in that and then sure enough had to chip a bunch on Sunday and I was like that's like that's that's why you do it you know. That's why you're on your way to the stars my boy Jake are so appreciate you spending time with us. Of course you're on your wrist you've got W I N tattooed yep yep what's important now what's important now and I think the story you've just.

55:16Shared the sort of that way you everything's going good and you like man I might be nervous tomorrow i'm going to be nervous I might have to chip a bit i'm going to go work on that stuff that is. wise golf IQ there so thank you thanks for joining us thanks for being so candid about everything for the folks who want to support you follow you whatever send them to where they should go please social. Yeah, Nap time nap time LTV on Instagram get in there and I don't post enough necessarily but I do my I do my best to keep people happy and post from swing videos yeah i'm going to leave you leave us with this. I will offer you right now your ducks winning the Stanley Cup. Or you winning the players championship. In terms of next year or just in general. Uh you're making me think too much next year next year i'm taking i'm selfish i'm taking the players all day long let's do it okay bro thank you for your.

56:19Speedy recovery appreciate you very much thank you appreciate you that segment of the on the mark podcast was brought to you by son of us who is doing business as pinnacle. Financial holders no not pinnacle the golf ball and if you see me wearing a pinnacle logo on my color well that's the reason why. What you'll also see if you've been watching some of my golf instructional stuff on social media lately you'll see a logo AI sensor on my sleeve. Now AI sensor I have to tell you about it is sensational it is the most easy to use force mapping system ground reaction force force measurement system really that there is you have an app you have a mat that fits in underneath a. Synthetic turf mats you can just stand on it in your living room you can take it on the driving range you can use this thing anywhere and it communicates quickly with your app and your app will give you AI information. On each or certain positions in the golf swing as it measures you going through the journey so you don't need some bio mechanists to make heads or tails of this information it's easy to digest it's easy to comprehend.

57:32And as an ambassador you will see some of my videos at AI sensor dot live that's AI sensor dot live go over there go check it out it is well worth your investment I when I was on it yesterday or the other day I'm losing track of time I was mind blown. You know I was moving well through the positions but I was not putting the commensurate force into the ground. And when I saw that from the app and I got my golf number all my grade I was like wow so I started to do this and low and behold yesterday when I played golf I hit my driver way more squarely because I did that I got a little bit more pop in my bat. So my journey to to a hundred mile hour with a clubhead speed as well on its way and I feel like if I measured myself after just one session and getting a complete understanding of how I should be moving across the ground I feel like I might be there already so watch the space there are videos coming.

58:41Remember to again the book back nine press dot com slash a moment go and search for lessons from the best I've talked to you about golf training aids dot com remember the code is on the mark one five I do want to talk a little bit also and this is following up on the data that Jake was talking about. I'm hack motion I've been a long time partner of this and they do such great work and I've just talked to you about how your feet move and how you react with the ground well that's important but remember your hands and your wrists are the only way you communicate with the golf club. And with a hack motion you can get real time feedback on how your wrists are moving through space and to me the wrists are kind of like the tip of your spear. So if you want to gain better control of the club face get yourself a hack motion wrist device it is as simple as that it's easy to use. It's idiot proof which I love and it will quickly help you square that club face better for better golf shots.

59:44Simple to do go to hack motion dot com and you can use the code on the mark to get yourself a discount or just go to hack motion dot com slash on the mark to get yours you will enjoy it trust me. I enjoyed this conversation with Jake I enjoy the fact that you guys trust us for your preferred source for golf information share with your friends. Go and follow us and subscribe on YouTube and in the meantime if you're going to play golf have lots of fun make lots of birdies eliminate those dumb mistakes please take it easy. Sonovus is the bank of here here is where roots run deep and familiar faces welcome you home here's a place that keeps getting better with time because every generation leaves it better than the way they found it. And here's where bankers are helping turn ideas into business realities because they understand what it means to be from here it's where we smile when we see our customers and where they smile back. Sonovus the bank of here Sonovus member FDIC equal housing under.

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