Episode 14

full
Published on:

20th Apr 2026

I gave AI my golf swing data & it diagnosed everything!

Colin and Ross are back with a practice-heavy episode that covers everything from AI assisted swing diagnosis to the ongoing plague of slow play in modern golf. Colin kicks things off by sharing his weekend project of rigging up a massive monitor in his shed so he can actually see his launch monitor data while hitting balls. He then walks through the results of feeding all his swing data into Claude AI and getting back a proper diagnosis. Turns out he's been steepening the club halfway back and recovering with some Elvis style hip thrusts, which explains the two way miss pattern that's been haunting him. Ross plays the role of curious coach throughout, asking all the right questions about what goes wrong and how it shows up on the course.

Ross shares his own progress with the drills from Scott Borman, including a hilarious moment where he realised he'd been aiming 50 yards right of the green after changing his foot position. Colin has a matching story about training himself to aim 30 yards right because of a fence post on his practice mat, proving that even with all the tech in the world, the basics will humble you every time. The lads then get into a proper rant about slow play on the PGA Tour after Matt Fitzpatrick called out his playing partners, which spirals nicely into how recreational golf has slowed from three hours 45 to four and a half hours and what that's doing to club culture.

They wrap up with Ross teasing next week's topic on proper pre round warm up routines involving medicine balls and Therabands, plus a weekly competition recommendation that's a lot easier on the wallet than the £600 Dornoch entry they mentioned off camera.

Episode Highlights

🟢 Colin's DIY outdoor practice setup using a spare monitor, extension cables, and a shed, giving him full launch monitor visibility without dragging a laptop outside every time

🟢 A complete breakdown of early extension, including how to spot it in your own swing using nothing more than a chair or an alignment stick behind your backside

🟢 Chris Ryan's pitching wedge heel drill that gives you an instant visual cue when you're thrusting forward in the downswing

🟢 Ross's back to basics alignment fix after realising he was aiming 50 yards right of the flag despite all his recent coaching work

🟢 A proper discussion on slow play, Matt Fitzpatrick calling out his playing partners, and how etiquette habits like bag placement can save you 10 minutes a round

Gear & Resources Mentioned

🟢 GS Pro launch monitor software - https://gsprogolf.com

🟢 Swing Coach app for swing analysis and numerical scoring of swing faults - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/swing-coach-golf/id6739074629

🟢 Claude AI - used by Colin as a personal golf coach project - https://claude.ai

🟢 Chris Ryan Golf on YouTube - source of the pitching wedge heel drill - https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisRyanGolf

🟢 Scott Borman - Ross's coach providing ongoing lesson drills

🟢 Trackman Range and Trackman app - https://www.trackman.com

🟢 Medicine ball and Therabands for pre round warm up routines

🟢 Matt Fitzpatrick's Valspar Championship win and Players Championship interview on slow play

🟢 Full Swing on Netflix - where Colin first got to know Matt Fitzpatrick

🟢 Royal Birkdale - referenced for their on course pace of play clock system

Weekly Competitions

🟢 Burntisland Golf Club Gents Open

🟢 Location: Burntisland, Fife, Scotland

🟢 Date: 1st August

🟢 Format: Gents Open with a handicap limit of 28

🟢 Cost: £20 entry, described as roughly 50% off the standard green fee

Chapter List

00:00 Welcome and cold snap golf frustrations

01:28 Colin's outdoor monitor and launch monitor setup

03:33 Feeding swing data into Claude AI for a full diagnosis

04:22 The steep backswing and early extension explained

06:30 Breaking down the two way miss

08:46 Connected takeaway drills with towels and gloves

11:14 Feet together swings

12:04 The chair and alignment stick drill for hip thrust

14:00 Chris Ryan's pitching wedge heel drill

18:00 Setting a two month practice plan and measuring progress

20:15 Ross's speed training update with Scott Borman

24:37 Teasing next week's pre round warm up topic

26:24 Matt Fitzpatrick wins and calls out slow play on the PGA Tour

30:01 How slow play is killing club culture

35:15 Ready golf, etiquette, and bag placement habits

38:24 Ross's 50 yard alignment disaster

41:01 Colin's fence post aiming story

43:14 Weekly competition: Burntisland Gents Open

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About the Podcast

Both Sides of Par: The Golf Podcast
2 Golfers, 2 Wildly Different Handicaps, 1 Obsession
Colin and Ross share their golf journeys, from both ends of the spectrum. A high handicapper and a low handicapper, still sharing the same love of the game and all of the same frustrations!

About your host

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Colin Gray

Colin is a podcaster, international speaker, PhD and founder of The Podcast Host and Alitu: The Podcast Maker. Colin started out in Astrophysics, before realising, to his dismay, how much maths you had to do. Podcasting has less maths, but just as many puzzles, and fun ones at that.

He started ThePodcastHost.com in 2011, and it's now one of the biggest and oldest Podcasting blogs on the web, dedicated to helping you create a successful show.

He went on to found Alitu.com in 2018 to help podcasters create their shows more easily. It's a web app that takes care of the tech, by polishing, branding & publishing for you. It offers a custom set of tools for building and editing epic podcasts.