Improve your Golf IQ with Tom Patri

December 15, 2025·1 hr 3 min·5 clips

And you're like, but wait a second, what the hell is correct mean? What does that mean? Exactly

Mark Immelman opens from South Africa and sets a warm, vacation-side tone before getting back to helping golfers improve. He thanks listeners, asks them to keep sharing the show, and invites people to say where they are listening from. The conversation then shifts into golf IQ and the way players think through their shots. Mark keeps returning to a simple question: what matters more, a pretty shape or a shot you can actually rely on? He and his guest revisit the common habit of falling in love with the shot you do not own. Mark says the only thing that matters is the last box, then uses that idea to push back on the expectation that every round, or every swing, should behave the same way. He asks whether two rounds are ever identical, or whether even two shots in one round are truly the same. The point comes through quickly: golf changes from swing to swing, so pretending every shot should behave identically is a mistake. Mark then moves from scoring into shape preferences and asks about draw versus fade. The exchange leans into the familiar club-golfer dream of hitting a draw, while noting that many elite golfers do not want one if it is not dependable. The lesson is not that one shape is pure and the other is wrong. It is that dependable beats glamorous when the ball is in the air and the fairway is waiting. Mark then tells a story about his own game. He says he cannot hit a shot left, but treats that as a strength rather than a flaw. His son teases him about how much more distance he might get if he turned it over. Mark answers that trying to force that move might leave him with a ball he never finds again. He explains that he has played that way since he was a kid, through college and through professional golf, and that the consistency has meant he does not remember recently losing a golf ball. The show closes with sponsor mentions, gift ideas, and a reminder to have fun and make birdies, but the takeaway stays the same: golfers often want the shot they do not have, while the smarter play is usually the shot they can repeat under pressure.

As heard by us

A practical reminder that a reliable fade can beat a shot shape that will not repeat.

On The Mark Golf Podcast keeps its focus on game improvement and on the value of trusting the shot a golfer can repeat. Mark Immelman sets up a clear contrast between a dependable fade and a draw that comes and goes, and the point is easy to follow: lower scores tend to come…

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Why you'd press play

Stop chasing the shot shape that looks best but costs you control.

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