Lessons from European Legends with Robert Lee

·1 hr 7 min·4 clips

Robert Lee describes a Monte Carlo round where a flyer led to a 27 and a 61.

1. On On the Mark Golf Podcast, Mark Immelman ties the episode to Players’ Championship week, TPC Sawgrass, and his book “Lessons from the Best.” 2. Robert Lee joins as a European Tour legend and broadcaster, and his long relationship with Immelman gives the conversation its inside-the-rope perspective. 3. The episode asks what Lee learned from five European Tour greats and how those lessons apply to game improvement. 4. Lee recalls shooting 27 on nine holes in Monte Carlo, then finishing with 61 after a chance at a 59 disappeared on the greens. 5. He says the Monte Carlo round came in the late 1980s, when 59 had not yet been shot on the European Tour. 6. Lee also describes another 27 on the front nine of a par-34 layout, which still produced a 61 and later a victory in Portugal. 7. His explanation for those rounds is simple: birdie the first three holes, then “anything’s possible after that.” 8. He says he learned as a young pro by watching Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, and other top players on the European Tour. 9. Lee calls that environment his “college,” because he turned pro at 20 and learned different currencies, grasses, temperatures, and countries. 10. He says the best players carried an aura on the range, and that they looked and behaved like they knew they were better than everyone else. 11. Lee’s main self-critique is that he would have practiced more with purpose instead of out of guilt. 12. He says he would have targeted wedges, distances, and shots more deliberately instead of hitting full swings through the bag by habit. 13. He argues that golfers should stay “shot centric” rather than becoming too swing centric. 14. Lee uses Justin Leonard and modern coaching as examples of how hitting shots can also stabilize the swing. 15. He says every good swing fix eventually gets overdone, so a player has to “neutralize it” and return to balance. 16. Mark Immelman echoes that idea by comparing golf adjustments to a shower that runs “little hot, little cold.” 17. The Seve Ballesteros segment is built around Lee’s first round with him at El Prat and the memory of Seve’s aura, clothing, and confidence. 18. The conversation is loose, anecdotal, and instructional, with both men moving between tour stories and practical swing lessons. 19. Listeners who enjoy European Tour history, classic ball striking, and practice advice will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for a tight, instruction-only lesson with no tour stories may skip it.

As heard by us

A Players' Championship Week episode that turns into a useful short-game lesson.

This Players' Championship Week episode opens with Mark's world-feed call at TPC Sawgrass and then settles into a plainspoken lesson about purpose-driven practice and simple recovery shots.

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Want a Seve-flavored short-game lesson wrapped in Players' Championship Week buzz?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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