How important is a comfortable pairing? ‘It absolutely matters,’ says this pro

Do you scroll tee times early every week, looking to see when your favorite player tees off come Thursday? You aren’t alone. PGA Tour players, who are texted that information before every round, are interested too, but more so to see who they are playing with.

Why? Because “it matters,” says Beau Hossler. The 26-year-old pro recently joined GOLF’s Subpar Podcast with co-hosts Drew Stoltz and Colt Knost, and those comfortable pairings were just one of the topics they discussed.

“It matters; it absolutely matters,” Hossler said. “You want to get to a place where it doesn’t matter, but the fact is like, you know there are some dudes you get paired with and are like, ugh. And then other guys you are thrilled, right? Just cause you know, it’s nice to have some chill stuff in between shots even. Shoot the s—. Talk about football, whatever. It’s a long round, man. You are out there close to five hours, and five hours of important shots is mentally grueling. I think there’s a big advantage of being able to really dial in your focus for short periods of time, and then somehow get away from it. And I just think if you get that type of pairing it has to help in that regard.”

Knost referenced Pat Perez, saying he’s one of the best at being able to turn it on and off during rounds, i.e. focusing on a shot one second and then talking about the previous night’s basketball game the next.

“It’s a big advantage to be able to do that,” Hossler said, “because I think you are sharper if you only have to focus for an hour and a half instead of five hours.”

You can listen to the complete podcast with Hossler below.