Knost, Stoltz Share Mental Key to Consistent Golf

Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz addressed a listener question on GOLF's Subpar Podcast about how to play consistent, high-level golf without letting a bad shot or bad hole snowball into a bad round.

What is the mental fault that derails a round?

College coach Ethan Blair asked the hosts, via the show's Subpar Hotline, how to stay even-keeled when a round starts to slip. Knost and Stoltz pointed to the same problem: players ride an emotional roller coaster, carrying frustration from one hole into the next instead of resetting.

What is the fix?

Knost's approach is to treat a round as 18 separate contests rather than one continuous score. "Every round is broken down into 18 tournaments," he said, explaining that once a hole is finished, the next one is a clean slate regardless of what came before.

Stoltz described a similar method built around small, specific targets rather than an overall score. On a 200-yard par 3, for example, the goal is simply to hit the green, then shift focus to the next hole's objective once that is done. Both hosts cited Scottie Scheffler as a player who applies the same even-keeled approach whether he is playing a casual round or competing on Sunday at the Masters.