The IMAGEN Golf Podcast

Podcast by Daniel Guest

The IMAGEN Golf Podcast

Golf Doesn't have to be so hard! Top 100 Coach & PXG Staff Pro and World Long Drive coach Daniel Guest shares his direct and straight forward approach on golf instruction, amateur golfers, the state of this great game today and everything in between. Hear Daniel breakdown and analyze the golf swing, the golf game and some of the biggest names in the sport. Hear how his award winning 7-7-7 Drill Protocol and Golf Better Guarantee have changed the lives of thousands of golfers worldwide. Learn from his insights after giving 36K+ golf lessons to everyone from blind golfers to professionals. For more information or to book lessons with Daniel visit our website @ http://www.ImagenGolf.com or email Daniel directly @ Daniel@ImagenGolf.com. This is Golf as You've Always Imagined! For free golf tips and more follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imagengolf/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/imagengolf Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imagengolf TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@golfbetterguaranteed?lang=en Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/IMAGENGolf

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Latest episodes

17 November 2025

Why You Need A Stock Shot, It's Your Superpower!

Welcome back to The IMAGEN Golf Podcast, everyone. I'm your host, Daniel Guest, and it is great to be with you. You know, we spend a lot of time on this show talking about the perfect swing, the latest technology, and drilling those technical points. But today, I want to talk about something that is fundamentally more important to your score than any of that: Your Stock Shot.

That's right. The one shot shape, the one flight, the one trajectory that you can hit under pressure with 80% confidence. It is your ultimate, reliable superpower on the course. And I'm going to tell you why having it and, crucially, committing to it, is the biggest needle-mover in amateur golf.

🎯 What Exactly IS a Stock Shot?

First, let's define it. Your stock shot isn't your best shot. It's your most consistent shot.

Is it a 2-yard fade? Great.
Is it a 5-yard draw? Fantastic.
Is it a low-flighted stinger with your long irons? Perfect.

It’s the shot that feels most natural to your body's movement. It's the one you don't have to think about; you just have to execute. When the pressure is on—the 18th hole, you need a par, the pin is tucked—what is the shot you go back to? That's your stock shot.

🧠 The Psychological Advantage: Decision-Making

This is where the magic really happens. Golf is a game of managing misses and making decisions. When you step onto a tee box, if you are equally trying to hit a straight shot, a draw, or a fade, your decision-making process is slow, stressful, and loaded with complexity.

But if you have a stock shot, everything simplifies:

The Target is Clear: If your stock shot is a fade, you're not trying to hit the ball straight down the middle. You're aiming down the left side of the fairway and allowing the ball to move back to the center.
Less Self-Talk: You eliminate that crippling voice in your head that asks, "Should I try to draw it here?" The answer is always: No, hit your stock fade. You save mental energy and build confidence by sticking to the plan.
Pressure Relief: When you know your tendency—let's say you always miss with a push-fade—you can strategically use that knowledge. You aim for the left rough knowing your stock shot will likely correct itself back into the fairway. You've turned a potential disaster into a manageable situation.

Remember, consistency is not about hitting the ball perfectly; it's about hitting your shot shape reliably.

🛠️ How to Find and Commit to Your Stock Shot

So, how do you find this golfing superpower?

1. Analyze Your Misses, Not Your Pures

Go to the range. Hit 30 balls with your 7-iron and truly observe the shape of the shot. Don't look at the three perfect ones; look at the 25 others. Is the majority shape a pull-draw or a push-fade? Don't try to fix the shape; embrace it. Whatever the majority shape is, that is your natural tendency and what you should adopt as your stock shot.

2. Master the Miss (The IMAGEN Principle)

Once you've identified your stock shape, your practice should focus on narrowing the window of your miss. If you hit a draw, you're not practicing how to hit a fade. You are practicing how to:

Make your draw smaller (tighter curve).
Make sure your draw starts on the right side of the target line.

The great players don't hit the ball straight; they hit the ball with a very predictable curve.

3. Change Your Aiming Strategy

This is the commitment part. You must stop aiming at the center of the target.

Draw Players: Aim at the right edge of the target (or even the right rough) and allow the ball to work back.
Fade Players: Aim at the left edge of the target (or even the left rough) and allow the ball to work back.

Commit to this strategy on every single full swing—driver, iron, hybrid. This is how your stock shot becomes a routine, not a lucky outcome.

🔑 The Bottom Line

Your golf swing is an athletic movement. You cannot force your body into an unnatural position under pressure.

By adopting a stock shot, you are doing two things:

You are cooperating with your natural golf swing.
You are injecting certainty into a game defined by uncertainty.

You will make clearer decisions, you will manage the golf course better, and I guarantee you, you will lower your scores.

Stop chasing the mythical straight shot. Identify your curve, embrace your curve, and use that curve to dominate the course.

That's all the time we have for today. Thank you for tuning into The IMAGEN Golf Podcast. Now, get out there, find your stock shot, and start playing your best golf.

🎯 Grooving Your Stock Shot: The IMAGEN Practice System

Alright, listeners, you’ve identified your stock shot—let’s assume it’s a fade or a draw. Now, we need to groove it so it's automatic under pressure. This three-point system moves you from hitting the shape occasionally to hitting it reliably.

1. The Gate Drill: Defining Your Starting Line

This drill is all about controlling the most crucial element of your stock shot: the start line. Your stock shot must always start on the opposite side of the target line from where you want it to finish.

Setup:

The Club: Use a mid-iron (6, 7, or 8 iron).
The Gates: Place two alignment sticks (or even two tees) on the ground, forming a small "gate" about 18 inches in front of your ball. The gate should be angled to ensure the ball starts where you want it to.
- For a Draw: The gate should be aimed a few yards right of your target (or $5^\circ$ open to the target).
- For a Fade: The gate should be aimed a few yards left of your target (or $5^\circ$ closed to the target).

Execution:

Hit 20 balls. The goal is simple: The ball must pass through the gate without touching the sticks.
The shot shaping doesn't matter yet; the focus is 100% on controlling the clubface at impact to ensure the ball starts on the correct line. This locks in your path and face relationship.

2. The Curve Commitment: Controlling the Magnitude

Once you can consistently start the ball on line, we work on controlling the amount of curve. We want the curve to be small, predictable, and repeatable—that perfect 2 to 5-yard movement.

Setup:

Place one alignment stick on the ground, pointing directly at your target. This is your desired finish line.

Take your stance and aim your body/feet parallel to your required starting line (right for a draw, left for a fade).

Execution:

Hit 20 balls, focusing on visualizing the ball landing on your target stick.
Draw Focus: Feel the clubface slightly closed to the path, promoting that leftward curve.
Fade Focus: Feel the clubface slightly open to the path, promoting that rightward curve.
The Key Metric: Track where the ball lands relative to the center line. If the curve is too big (too far off the center line), focus on making your path and clubface closer together on the next swing. We are seeking a narrow corridor of movement.

3. The On-Course Stress Test: Play the Shot, Not the Hole

This is the final step, translating the range work to the course. We need to create consequence and commitment.

Setup:

Play 9 holes, or just focus on 5 driving holes.
Before every tee shot, verbally commit to your stock shot. For example: "I am going to aim at the bunker on the right and let my 4-yard draw bring it back to the center."

Execution:

The Rule of Three (Non-Negotiable): Before you step up to the ball, you must define:
1. Start Target: (e.g., the right edge of the water hazard)
2. Finish Target: (e.g., the center of the fairway)
3. The Curve: (e.g., 3 yards of draw)
No Straight Shots: Even if the hole is dead straight, you must aim off-center and commit to your stock shape. This builds the routine and trust.

By consistently executing these three steps, you move beyond "hoping" you hit a good shot to "knowing" the shot shape you will produce. That is the essence of low-score golf.

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23:57

15 November 2025

F-O-R-E Minute Friday – Stop Digging Your Own Grave - Why the Wrong Drills Kill Your Game 🏌️‍♂️

🛑 The Detriment of the Mismatched Drill

Here's the problem in a nutshell: a drill is a fix for a specific problem. If you use a drill for a problem you don't have, you are actively creating a new, detrimental flaw. You're not fixing a leaky sink; you're taking a sledgehammer to a perfectly good wall.

1. Engraving the Wrong Neural Pathway

Your golf swing is muscle memory—or, as we say here at IMAGEN Golf, it's a neural pathway in your brain.

When you do a drill, you are trying to lay down a new, correct pathway. You're creating a new groove.
But if that drill isn't matched to your actual, root cause flaw, you’re just grooving in a compensation that moves your swing further away from your most efficient motion.
Let’s say you slice the ball because your clubface is wide open. You see a drill online designed to promote an inside-out path for someone whose path is too outside-in. You work on that path drill for a month. Now? You're still slicing, but your path is aggressively inside-out, making your open face even more of a problem. You’ve just successfully trained yourself to hit an ugly, high block-slice. You’ve made the problem worse.

2. The Illusion of Progress

This is the sneaky part. Many of these ill-fitting drills will give you a temporary fix on the range, a fleeting moment of striking it better. Why? Because you've added a new, extreme movement that temporarily balances out an existing, extreme flaw. It’s like putting a bigger weight on one side of a scale to balance an even bigger weight on the other.

You feel good. You think, "Aha! This drill is working!"
But that feeling is a false feel. It’s not sustainable, and it collapses under pressure on the course, leading to massive inconsistency and, frankly, shattered confidence.

✅ The IMAGEN Golf Solution: Diagnose Before You Drill

So, what's the remedy? Our philosophy here is simple, data-driven, and guaranteed: You must diagnose the root cause before you prescribe the drill.

Step 1: Get the Facts. Forget what you think you're doing. Use technology—a launch monitor, a high-speed camera—to identify the hard, objective data on what your club and ball are doing at impact. Is it face, path, angle of attack? Stop guessing!
Step 2: Find Your Blueprint. Your swing is unique. A good coach helps you find the most efficient swing that works for your body and mechanics. We don't try to fit you into a generic model.
Step 3: Drill with Purpose. Once we have the data, we give you a functional drill that forces your body to learn the correct movement. It has to feel awkward—that means you are forcing your body out of the bad habit. The drill is a training aid, not the final swing itself. Once you’ve trained the feel, you take the drill away and apply the learned skill.

Don't spend another week grooving a flaw. Stop taking the lazy route of Googling a generic drill. Get the facts, get a coach, and drill with a purpose. That's how you unlock your potential and start Golfing Better, Guaranteed!

That’s it for this week. Remember, your game is too important for quick fixes. We’ll talk to you next time on The IMAGEN Golf Podcast.

This video provides an exclusive look into Daniel Guest's vision for Imagen Golf, which strongly emphasizes personalized and effective instruction over generic fixes, relating to the podcast's topic. Unlock Your Golf Potential: The Imagen Golf Journey with Daniel Guest! 🏌️‍♂️

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07:47

10 November 2025

The Scorecard Shift: How to Stop the Blow-Ups and Start Scoring

Are you tired of heading to the course and walking off the 18th hole frustrated by the same results? It’s a common story. We get stuck in a rut, expecting a different outcome without changing our approach. Well, today, we're going to mix it up! We’re going to give you a few challenges designed to help you have more fun and, most importantly, learn something new and valuable about your own game.

I was recently interviewed for a popular golf magazine, and I shared three strategies that I want you to go out and test this week. This isn't about buying a new club or taking another swing lesson; it's about playing smarter.

📅 Day 1: Minimize Your Blow Up Holes

We all watch golf on Sunday, and we see the pros making birdies, and we think, "That's what I need to do." But let's be realistic. For the amateur golfer, it's not about making birdies; it’s about keeping the big numbers off the scorecard. Plain and simple.

Think about Tiger winning the Masters with no double bogeys. The guy who finished second had two doubles on the back nine and lost. The fact is, if you can get rid of the big numbers—the doubles, the triples—it's not that hard to keep racking up pars and bogeys and keep yourself around the score you want to shoot.

The problem is, most of us are programmed to see a par four or a par five and immediately think: "Driver." We grab that big stick without thinking: How's the driver been going today? How tight is this hole? Where is the trouble? We just assume because it’s a long hole, we have to hit it.

Here is your number one rule: Keep the ball in play at all costs.

If your driver is your straightest club, fantastic, hit it! But if you're worried about keeping the ball in play, I would much rather be 200 yards out than taking three off the tee.

Now, some of you are thinking about Mark Broadie's Stroke Gained research, which suggests you should get the ball as close to the green as possible on every hole. I actually asked Mark this exact question, and his answer was clear: "No, you have to get the ball as close as you can safely to the green without losing your golf ball or getting a penalty."

The mindset shift we need is this: Yes, we want to hit it far, but we absolutely cannot do that if we're risking hitting it in the woods or the water. Choosing smarter clubs means choosing smarter aiming points. It's learning how to play the game strategically and choosing a practical approach that fits your ability.

🛠️ Day 1 Homework

I want you to golf for 18 holes and see if you can just keep it in play the entire time, no matter what. That means no chipping out sideways and no penalty shots. Make a challenge out of it, and then—if you really want to see a change—do it for 72 holes.

📅 Day 2: Track This One Stat – Proximity

How many times have you said, "I'm a terrible putter. I had three three-putts today"?

The next question you need to ask yourself is, "What was the length of my first putt?"

If the answer is 60, 70, or even 80 feet, I've got news for you: the problem is not your putting! No one can consistently two-putt from those distances.

You’re most likely struggling with your chipping and pitching, not being able to get the ball close enough to the hole for a one or two-putt.

Consider this: If you're 150 yards away from the green, and you hit it to 30 or 40 feet from the hole, even as a single-digit golfer, you've hit a fantastic shot. But if you're 25 yards off the green, and you chip it to 12 to 15 feet, you've just shot yourself in the foot because the likelihood of making that putt is low.

We've all walked in and said, "I would have had a great score if I hadn't putted so badly today." We’re debunking that myth right now.

My belief is that you have the potential inside you, but you may not have the patience or the understanding of where the strokes are truly being lost. Once you get that "aha" moment, you can literally go from a 92 to an 82.

Here's the problem: Most people's technique is actually much better than it needs to be, but their ability to put the ball in the hole—to play the game—is very weak. They scratch the surface rather than diving into the strategic side. They start keeping the ball in play, tracking proximity, eliminating three-putts, and the next thing they know: "Wow, I just broke 80 for the first time, and I haven't been to a range in a week!"

If you are consistently frustrated, maybe it’s time to try something different. Don't go to the range, don't buy a new driver. Do what the best golfers and statisticians are doing: improve your strategy.

🛠️ Day 2 Homework

Play 9 or 18 holes, score your putts, and note the length of your first putt.

Crucially, note where you hit it from. Was it a chip inside 25 yards? A pitch inside 50? A wedge shot inside 100? An iron shot inside 150? At the end of the round, total those first putt lengths for each category, then divide to determine your average distance from the hole when you're chipping, pitching, and wedging. That will give you real clarity.

📅 Day 3: Mindset for Scoring

The final step is getting better at accessing the skill we already have.

What I tend to see is that our thoughts lead to our emotions. A better player is often very loose at one or two over par, but they start to tighten up when they get one or two under.

That tightening leads to more thought. Those thoughts lead to anxiety. That anxiety leads to struggling to commit to the shot, which, of course, leads to a bad shot. Then the player says it was a "swing" or a technique problem.

But was it a technique problem, or was it a commitment problem?

What I see from most good players is that they are not getting fully committed on a golf shot. That’s why they struggle, not because their technique is fundamentally wrong.

🛠️ Day 3 Homework

At the end of every single shot, I want you to note and track your level of commitment to that shot. Did you visualize it? Did you actually see your nine iron, a soft cut, landing on the left edge of the green?

Too often, we doubt the decision—"maybe it's an 8 or a 9 iron"—then we rush the shot, duck hook it into the water, and blame technique. Start tracking your commitment on a 1–10 scale for a round of golf and see how that correlates with your score.

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07 November 2025

F-O-R-E Minute Friday – Ditch the Static Warm Up, Embrace the Dynamic!

Welcome back to The IMAGEN Golf Podcast, I'm your host, Daniel Guest, and today, we're tackling a massive variable that far too many amateur golfers completely neglect: the pre-round warm-up.

If your warm-up currently consists of a hurried arrival, two half-hearted practice swings on the first tee, and a prayer, you're not just risking a poor first tee shot—you're flirting with injury and leaving strokes on the table.

The Problem with the Traditional Warm-Up

For years, the gold standard was the static stretch—the long, held touches of the toes, the held tricep pulls. But the science on pre-activity stretching has evolved, and for an explosive, rotational sport like golf, holding those long stretches before you play can actually be detrimental. It can temporarily decrease muscle power and make you feel less stable.

We need to ditch the idea that a warm-up is just about stretching. It’s about preparing the body to move powerfully and efficiently.

The Tiger Woods Blueprint: Structure and Specificity

When you look at the greatest to ever play, Tiger Woods, his pre-round routine is a masterclass in structure. It’s a complete dress rehearsal.

He’s not just hitting a random bucket of balls; he's on the practice green over an hour before his tee time, hitting a specific number of putts, often starting with one-handed drills to ensure pure face control. Then it’s a measured climb through the bag on the range: 5 wedges , then 2 driver. 2 3 wood, 3 mid-irons, 7 driver, 6 3 wood, etc, and finally, play some imaginary holes. This meticulous process isn't just about warming up muscles; it’s about dialing in rhythm, gapping, and ensuring every single club feels familiar before he steps onto the first tee. It's about eliminating variables—a core principle of lower scoring.

The Power of Dynamic Warm-Up: The Miguel Ángel Jiménez Way

But what if you don't have an hour and a half? This is where the dynamic warm-up comes in, championed by golf's most interesting man, Miguel Ángel Jiménez.

"The Mechanic's" famous routine, which might look like a wild Tai Chi performance, is actually a brilliantly designed dynamic sequence. He’s not holding stretches; he’s moving his body through the full range of motion it will experience during the golf swing.

Torso Rotations: Getting that thoracic spine—the mid-back—loose and ready for rotational power.

Hip Swings & Openers: Mobilizing the hips, the engine of the golf swing, which prevents energy leaks and protects your lower back.

Shoulder Circles: Loosening the shoulders to ensure a full, unimpeded backswing arc.

Dynamic movement increases blood flow, elevates your body temperature, and essentially tells your nervous system, "It's time to fire up those golf muscles!" This is scientifically proven to increase clubhead speed and improve accuracy because your body is ready to move fluidly, not stiffly.

Your Two-Minute Dynamic Fix

You don't need a full hour. You just need two to five minutes of dynamic movement.

Hip Swings: 5 forward/backward and 5 side-to-side on each leg.

Torso Rotations: 10 gentle twists side-to-side, letting your arms follow.

Overhead Club Stretch: Hold a club overhead, do 5 side-bends to each side, and 5 slight rotations to open the chest.

Shadow Swings: Take 5 slow, deliberate practice swings, focusing on a full, free turn.

Do this before you hit your first range ball or, if you’re running late, right before you walk onto the first tee. You'll be amazed at how much better your opening shots feel. Stop treating your body like a cold engine you’re trying to redline. Warm it up, prime it, and watch your consistency—and your scores—drop.

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02 November 2025

F-O-R-E Minute Friday – Get Some Putting Tech Into Your Game!

Daniel Guest: Welcome back to The IMAGEN Golf Podcast, where we don't just talk about golf; we guarantee improvement. I'm your host, Daniel Guest—Top 100 Coach, founder of IMAGEN Golf, and the guy who’s given over 39,000 lessons. Today, we're diving into the part of the game that separates the winners from the "what ifs": putting.

And specifically, we're talking about the digital revolution that's happening on the short grass. Forget the old days of guesswork and "feel." The future of putting practice is technology, and if you're not using it, you are flat-out leaving strokes on the table.

The Three Questions Technology Must Answer

For two decades, I watched golfers try to feel their way to a better stroke. The problem is, your feel is a liar! You might think you're swinging straight back and straight through, but objective data often tells a different story.

The best putting technology simplifies your improvement process by answering three fundamental, non-negotiable questions about your stroke:

Where is your putter face pointing at impact? This is the number one determinant of your ball's starting line. A face that's off by just one degree will miss a short putt. Devices like a launch monitor or a simple mirror will give you immediate, irrefutable feedback on this.
What path is your putter traveling? Is it inside-out, outside-in, or truly on the path you intend? Path impacts the quality of your roll and consistency. Technology like Blast Motion or a stroke arc template gives you that blueprint.
How consistently are you striking the ball? Center-face contact is everything for speed control. Technology reveals if you're hitting it heel-to-toe, which instantly costs you distance and line.

If your tech doesn't give you objective, measurable answers to these three questions, it's a glorified gimmick.

Making Technology Work For You, Not Against You

I see the skepticism. You don't want to get so lost in data that you forget to simply hit the putt. I get it. The key is to use the technology strategically.

Diagnosis, Not Dependence: Use a high-speed camera or a launch monitor for a diagnostic session. Pinpoint the specific mechanical flaw—the three-degree open face, the inconsistent path—then turn the tech off.
Drill with Purpose: Once you have your problem, use simple, physical training aids (like an alignment mirror or putting gates) to train the feel that creates the correct data. The training aid reinforces the change, and the data validated that it was the right change to make. For example, if your issue is a pulled putt, the launch monitor tells you your face is closed. Your subsequent practice with a gate drill forces you to feel what a square face feels like.
Skills-Based Training: Forget endless ball-rolling. The best technology, like putting apps, gamifies your practice and gives you structure. It forces you to hit five putts from 8 feet or focus on lag putting consistency. This skills-based approach is how Tour Pros train, and it’s how we train here at IMAGEN Golf.

The Takeaway

The modern golfer has access to the most powerful tools in history. Stop guessing, start growing! Don't let your practice be a matter of 'hope' and 'feel.' Embrace the technology that gives you objective data, allows you to practice with laser-like focus, and ultimately, guarantees you'll make more putts and shoot lower scores.

Now, let's get out there and golf better, guaranteed!

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27 October 2025

Why You Need To Practice On A Golf Simulator!

Stop guessing and start quantifying!

Welcome back to the Imagen Golf Podcast, where guest host Daniel delivers a deep dive into the modern practice revolution. For too long, the driving range has been a place of guesswork, but with the rise of high-tech simulators, that all changes.

In this in-depth episode, Daniel breaks down the three massive advantages of practicing indoors on professional-grade systems like Trackman and Foresight:

The Swing Lab: Learn how precise data—including Club Path, Face Angle, and the critical Smash Factor—eliminates guesswork and gives you the exact technical recipe for improvement.

Repetition with Purpose: Discover how to use a simulator for targeted, scenario-based drills and scientific club gapping that is impossible to replicate outdoors.

Train Like a Pro: We share quotes from top professionals like Tiger Woods on why year-round, data-driven consistency is the secret to maintaining your edge and lowering your scores, regardless of the weather.

If you’re ready to move past hitting buckets aimlessly and start training smarter, this episode will convince you that the golf simulator is the most indispensable tool in your arsenal.

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